FINAL FANTASY IX
51 Achievements
1,000
60-80h
It's All in the Cards III
Win 100 Tetra Master matches (some NPCs can be re-challenged after further game progression).
40
0.55%
How to unlock the It's All in the Cards III achievement in FINAL FANTASY IX - Definitive Guide
Xboxoholic
TrueAchievements
TrueAchievements
Overview of the game
You win the game if at least 6 of the cards on the table are blue. You lose if 6 or more are red. If both you and your opponent have 5 each, the match ends in a draw and nothing happens.
You "win" cards on the table by claiming them outright or by battling them. If one of your card's arrows is pointing toward another card's arrow, a card battle ensues (more on that later). If your arrow is pointing towards an empty part of your opponent's card, the card turns blue with no fuss.
If you win, you can pick an opponent's card to keep, so long as you "won" it whilst playing. Similarly, if you lose, your opponent takes one of your cards. If the score is 10 - 0, the winner takes all of their opponent's cards.
If you lose one card, you can probably replay the NPC to reclaim it and register a win in the process. If you suffer a 10 - 0 defeat and lose your whole hand, I would strongly consider reloading your game, as building a decent deck can take time, especially if you've been levelling up cards (more on this later).
Mechanics of the game
Card battles can be the most confusing aspect of the game, often differentiating between victory and defeat. The mechanics of card battles are not made explicitly clear in the game (though you can find some strong hints if you go looking). Let's break it down.
Each card has 4 values: For example, your card may read "3 P 0 1". What does this mean?
3: This number is your card's attacking power. The values range from 0 to A, with the value switching to the letter F instead of the number 10.
P: This letter denotes your card's attack type. There are four attack types:
- P: physical
- M: magic
- X: cross (pits your card's attack power against the lowest defence value on the card it is attacking.
- A: assault (pits your card's best stat (attack or defence) against your opponent's lowest stat.
0: The third value denotes a card's physical defence.
1: The fourth value denotes a card's magical defence.
When you initiate a card battle, your attack value is pitted against the other card's defence value. If your attack type is P (physical), then your attack value (the first value) will be pitted against the other card's physical defence (its third value). Similarly, if your attack is M (magical), your attack value will be pitted against the other card's fourth value.
The X and A attack types can seem confusing at first, especially A. In reality, it is quite simple. A attack type cards simply replace the first value (attacking power) with the highest value on the card.
For example, your card has the following stats: 0A83. Because your card is the A attack type, your attacking value is not 0, despite what it says in the card. Your attacking value is 8, because that is the highest stat on your card. If your card is the A attack type and the attacking value is the highest value (8A20, for example), then the attack value will remain at 8 and will be pitted against the opposing card's lowest stat.
Final Words
There is an element of RNG to this game, unfortunately. Just because your attack value is higher than your opponent's defence value, it doesn't mean you will win. When cards begin battling, they are assigned a random number based on their value, and there is significant overlap of the random number ranges from each attack value.
Watch out for combos: If you win a card battle, the card you have just won will turn all other cards its arrows are pointing to in your favour. This also works when your opponent wins a card battle. A common tactic used by NPCs is to play a very weak (0P00) card in the centre of the board that has many arrows, and they will win your superior cards by winning a card battle with the weak card after you've turned it. Count the arrows, and plan accordingly.
Levelling your cards up: every time you win a card battle, there is a small chance the victorious card will level up. This means any of its stats can increase. Most importantly, it can go from being a P or an M attack type to an X attack type. X attack types can level up to an A attack type, which is ideal.
Based on this, cards like Genji Glove and Alexandria (both of which can be obtained by playing the jump rope game at the beginning of the game) can become exceptionally powerful if they win enough card battles and upgrade to A attack type. As previously discussed, even though they appear to have 0 attacking power, the A attack type means their highest stat (probably physical defence) becomes their attacking power, which makes them very strong indeed.
That's more or less it. If you have any questions or comments, please post them here so other people can benefit. Also feel free to PM me if you desire.
As long as you play every NPC you can play at least once as you encounter them, you'll quickly find a deck that works for you, get good cards and be able to level them up. When building your deck, make sure you strike a balance between arrow coverage, offensive and defensive cards and make sure you include both P and M cards.
I'm not sure if you can rack up multiple wins against the same NPC and have them county. I think think the achievement requires beating 100 different NPCs, but as the description states you can rechallenge some of them after certain points in the story and it'll count as another win.
When a battle starts, each card gets a hit point value depending on their attack/defence (whichever is being used) value. For example if it's 0, it'll be from 0-15, and if it's 1, it'll be between 16-31, a value of 2 has 32-47, etc.
So let's assume a battle between a card whose attack value is 3 against a card whose defence value is 0. Let's say the number generated for the attacking card (A) is 50, and the value for the defending card (D) is 8.
Next, a random value between 0 and that chosen value is generated for each card. So for A, a random number between 0 and 50, and for D a random number between 0 and 8. Let's say A gets 14 and D get 7.
Finally, this new value is subtracted from the initial value. So for A, 50 - 14 = 36, and for B, 8 - 7 = 1. In this battle, A wins as it has the higher final value.
In theory, A has the highest chance of winning because it's inital value is so much higher, but there IS a chance it can lose. Even a value of 0 can defeat the highest value of F, though the chances are extremely small.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to make it clear that by RNG, you're not saying the game will just decide without any rhyme or reason - there IS an algroithm that makes your chances better the greater your value is to your opponent's, but because of that luck factor it means you've got to assess risk vs. reward. Are you winning by 2 cards? Then you probably don't need to risk capturing that one card if losing means you combo your own cards.
Legendary J Man
TrueAchievements
TrueAchievements
First you need to have cards with arrows on all 8 directions (I call them perfect cards) I waited until disc 4 (after I had the Invincible) to start this so I did not have perfect cards, but what I did have is cards with 7 directions covered, so I started with that. You gotta use what you got and keep a look out for perfect cards.
The trick is you need 1 weak card with as many directions covered and then you need 4 cards that are better than the weak card. So it doesn't matter what the card's stats are as long as your 4 cards can take the 1 weak one.
During the game you stick your weak card in the middle so that as many spaces as possible are available around it. The opponent will of course take that card. Then you use your next card to take it back it will also take the opponent's card next to it. It will then be a back and forth battle with you and the opponent each taking over the weaker card and claiming all the cards next to it. That is it. You are only concerned with being able to beat you own card, what your opponent uses is irrelevant.
The difficulty with this strategy is that you need to make sure you are the one taking the last space to claim the weak card. I have lost many a game where I did not plan ahead and the opponent was able to take the weak card at the end and I could do nothing to stop it.
This strategy allowed me to win 100 games as well as beat all the opponents at the Treno Card Stadium. All without needing to pay attention to card numbers. At one point my weak card did level up and wasn't as weak, but by that point I had another near perfect weak card to switch to.
Now what happens if you do lose? Well, you don't want your opponent to get the cards you need so you gotta reset. Luckily we are talking about the xbone version which means it has an auto save every time you go to a new screen. So each time I got a win I would leave the screen and come back. That way if I did lose I just had to quit to the title screen and select continue to reload the last time I walked onto that screen. Just make sure you hit up a moogle for a real save after a while just in case.
Grimlord XVII
TrueSteamAchievements
TrueSteamAchievements
It is possible to gain this achievement from not playing a single game until Disc 4, although it is advised to play some in every town you come to in order to mark off a few wins, collect better cards, and overall get better at the game.
A big thanks to the author of the Google doc linked at the bottom of this post for the list below. The author admit there are some more that they were unable to find on Disc 4, but this list comprises 99 duelists, so finding one on your own isn't too bad.
Names in square brackets may not always be present, or may leave the screen. Exit and re-enter in this case.
Alexzandria - Main Street 1
1. Old woman (next to Ilia)
2. Ilia
3. Old Man (next to Ilia)
4. Immigrant from Lindblum
Main Street 2
5. Michelle
6. Nikolai
7. Ovenmeister
Square
8. Ryan (running)
9. Man (left)
10. Tour Guide
11. Shopkeeper
12. Tom’s Mother
Inn
13. Red Mage
14. Red Mage
15. Fish Man
Alley
16. [Synthesist]
17. [Ashley]
Steeple
18. Old Lady
19. Flower Girl
20. Weimar
21. Retired Boatman
22. Boatman
23. Tom
Treno – Gate
24. Thug
25. Noblewoman
26. Nobleman
Treno Slums
27. Mario
28. Natalie
29. Thug
30. Shopkeeper
31. Carpenter
Pub
32. Barkeep
33. Thug
34. Waitress
Knight’s House
35. Drunk
36. Old Man
King’s House
37. [Nobleman]
38. [Noblewoman]
Card Stadium
39. Father
Bishop’s House
40. [Adventurer]
41. [Nobleman]
42. Noblewoman
43. Young Noblewoman
Synthesist
44. Scholar
45. Shopkeeper
Queen’s house
46. Female Adventurer
47. Criminal
Queen’s house – inside
48. Queen Stella
49. Servant
Walkway
50. Girl
Tot Residence
51. Tot
Dali – Wpn. Shop
52. Part-time Worker Mary
53. Part-time Worker Jeff
Windmill 1F
54. Trude
Lindblum – Main Street
55. Young Lady
56. Craftsman
Shopping Area
57. Oliver
58. Joanna
Residence
59. Card Freak Gon
Square
60. Carpenter’s Apprentice 2
B.D. Station
61. [I.D. Engineer]
T.D. Station
62. Attendant
Station Area
63. Card Boy
64. Card Freak
Studio
65. SPA Michael
Daguerreo – Entrance
66. [Adventurer]
67. Booklover (Accessed from 2nd floor behind old man)
68. Bookworm (Other side from Booklover)
Left Hall
69. Adventurer
70. Weaponsmith
2nd Floor
71. Librarian
72. Old Man
73. Scholar
74. Engineer Zebolt
Right Hall
75. Scholar
76. Synthesis Expert
Mage Village – Entrance
77. Nameless Tailed
78. B.M. #24
Water Mill (Chocobo hatchery)
79. Nameless Tailed
80. B.M. #33
Inn
81. B.M. #234
82. B.M. #123
83. Nameless Tailed
Pond
84. B.M. #44
85. Nameless Tailed
86. B.M. #189
Synthesis
87. B.M. #192
Cemetery
88. B.M. #56
Chocobo’s Paradise
89. Gold Chocobo
90. Yellow Chocobo
C.P. (near fat chocobo)
91. Red Chocobo
92. Fat Chocobo
93. Teal Chocobo
Mdn. Sari – Kitchen
94. Lani
Memoria – Stairs of Time
95. Master Phantom
Recollection
96. Defence Phantom
Lost Memory
97. Strong Phantom
Time Warp
98. Rare Phantom
Stairs
99. Dark Phantom
(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bLD1m1YyEIPOBDoRLsRH3Nwz...)
PlagueStallion
TrueTrophies
TrueTrophies
The, Pants, Party
Tetra Master is a card game that can be played with nearly every NPC in the game. Despite the achievement description, you need to defeat 100 unique NPCs to obtain this achievement. Beating the same opponent multiple times will not increase your total for this. You need a minimum of five cards to play, which you should get very early in Alexandria. However, you can lose cards when losing a match, so try to reload an earlier save if this happens. If you walk up to someone and see two bubbles, pressing 
will initiate a match. Choose your five cards and the match begins.
I will once again defer to the PST guide here for the specifics on how to play these matches. The rules are fairly complicated and he lays it out very well.
There are more than 100 battles when on Disc 4, so you could travel from town to town and defeat every person at that time if you wish. Or you can work on this slowly as you play through the game. Whichever method you do, try to keep track of who you've beaten in each location so you don't waste too much time battling people more than once.
DarthKrid, and, PapasitoPenguin
Tetra Master is Final Fantasy IX's answer to Triple Triad. Throughout your travels in Gaia, you will come across Tetra Master cards by defeating enemies, locating them in chests or on the field or as rewards for sidequests. In fact, you receive your first cards right at the beginning of the game when the Ticketmaster gives Vivi his cards as a consolation gift for being duped into buying fake tickets.
It is simple to initiate a Tetra Master game. With five or more cards in your inventory, press 
near any NPC that has a card bubble appear when you approach them and they will ask if you want to play a card game. Accept and you will be thrust into a Tetra Master match with them.
The fundamentals of Tetra Master are rather simple. Both you and your opponent must choose and play five cards. Tetra Master is played on a 4x4 grid, usually filled with some 'grid blocks' - blocks that occupy a space on the grid where no card can be placed. A coin flip determines which player acts first. As you and your opponents place your cards down in alternating fashion, you can capture your opponent's card by placing a card with an arrow pointing towards it and capture it. If you've captured more cards than your opponent once all cards have been played, you will win the match.
The specifics of Tetra Master are much more confusing and frustrating. There is an element of chance that plays a large part in Tetra Master games. This randomness factor determines a lot in Tetra Master matches, from how much health a card has to how much damage it inflicts.
To start, on a Tetra Master card, you will see arrows and four values. For example, you may have a card with these values:
2P10
- The 2 corresponds to the card's strength. The higher this value, the more damage it can do during battles.
- The P corresponds to a card’s class. P is for physical, M is for magical, X is for flexible and A is for assault. P cards will cause physical damage, M cards will cause magical damage, X cards will cause damage based on the opposing card's lowest defense stat and A cards will attack with the highest stat on the card against the lowest stat on the opposing card.
- The 1 corresponds to physical defense. It corresponds to how much "health" a card has when attacked by a physical class card.
- The 0 corresponds to magical defense. It corresponds to how much “health” a card has when attacked by a magical class card.
Aside from a card's class, the values increase from 0 - 9 and then A - F. In other words, 0 is the lowest value, F is the highest value and A is higher than 9. The higher a card's strength stat, the more damage it does during a card battle. The higher a card’s defense stat, the more damage it can sustain during a card battle.
The arrows around the card correspond to what directions the card can attack or defend from incoming attacks. For example: If a card has arrows pointing up, down and left, it can either attack other cards in those directions or defend from attacks coming from only those directions.
When a card is placed beside another, three things can happen:
1: If no arrows on either card face each other, nothing happens.
2: If the card has an arrow facing the opposing card with no arrow facing the other way from the opposing card, it is captured.
3: If the card has an arrow facing the opposing card and the opposing card has an arrow facing the card in the opposite direction, a card battle ensues.
During a card battle, the two cards will battle and the winner of the battle is determined by the values on both cards. The card with the higher strength stat will generally deal more damage and the card with the higher defense stat will be able to sustain more damage. For example: if the two challenging cards are:
3M11 and 2P10
You can see that the challenging card is a magical class card and the defending card is a physical class card. The challenging card has a higher strength stat, 3 compared to 2. The challenging card's physical defense stat is 1, whereas the defending card’s magical defense stat is 0. Therefore, the challenging card can sustain more damage from the defending card's physical attack, whereas the defending card can sustain less damage from the challenging card's magical attack. In other words, the challenging card would be the favourite to win this card battle but due to the randomness of Tetra Master, this isn't necessarily always the case.
Depending on who wins the card battle, the opposing card will be captured. Even if a defending card wins the card battle, the challenging card will be captured. Therefore, there's a risk to losing a card battle even during your turn.
A card that is captured after a card battle will also capture all the cards in which it has arrows pointing to. This can and should be used to your advantage to capture as many cards as you can during the match. However, there is some risk to your opponent capturing your cards with the same method, especially if you play a lot of cards that have many arrows around them. On the other hand, if you play a lot of cards that have little to no arrows, you will leave yourself very open to your opponent easily capturing them without having to engage in card battles. You need to find a comfortable middle ground between cards with many arrows and cards with a minimal amount so that you can adapt to any situation.
In order to obtain this trophy, you must defeat 100 unique Tetra Master opponents. The keyword is 'unique' - it is not enough to simply defeat the same opponent one hundred times. Luckily, there are more than enough Tetra Master opponents to overcome this feat without much trouble, even on the final disc of the game. However, it is strongly recommended to start playing Tetra Master matches at the very beginning of the game in Alexandria with Vivi. You will be given three cards from the Ticketmaster and you can easily find two other cards, giving you the five cards needed to play.
Finding opponents is easy. When you approach one, a second bubble will appear with a card in it. This signifies that the NPC can be battled. Press and they will ask if you want to play cards. Say yes and the card match will begin. When you win, you can choose which of their card you want to take (or you will take them all if you get a 'Perfect' by capturing all of their cards during the match). If you lose, your opponent will take one of you cards.
The auto-save function can be abused for this task. The game auto-saves whenever you enter a new screen. Therefore, if you play a Tetra Master match and lose, go to the menu with 
, select 'Config' then select ‘Title Screen’ at the very bottom. On the start screen, choose 'Continue' and you will reload at your last screen and you will be free to challenge the same opponent again until you finally win.
As stated earlier, the earlier you begin playing, the sooner you will obtain this trophy. There are enough Tetra Master players in Disc 4 to reach 100 but it is much easier to start in Alexandria and challenge every opponent you come across while you play through the game. By challenging everyone in Alexandria, Dali, Lindblum, Treno, Cleyra, Conde Petie and the Black Mage Village, you should obtain this trophy in Black Mage Village before even completing Disc 2. However, later on there are even more players in Daguerreo, Chocobo’s Air Garden and Memoria for you to face so you will never be short of players to defeat for this trophy.
After your victory against your 100th unique challenger, the trophy will pop.
Damien
stratege.ru
stratege.ru
https://www.ffforever.info/index.cgi...ff9;p=cardgame
Sunflower
stratege.ru
stratege.ru
