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Abilities are special skills that lie dormant within the people of Gaia, the world of Final Fantasy IX. Your characters can "rediscover" and activate their abilities during the course of their adventure. These skills are particularly useful in battle, enabling your party to defeat the mightiest monsters. Indeed, you'll often find that choosing the right set of abilities is the key to winning battles. There are two basic groups of abilities: Action Abilities and Support Abilities. Support Abilities do not need to be "used", but rather take effect automatically when certain conditions are met. Action Abilities, on the other hand, must be specifically selected as battle commands. This category includes, for example, offensive spells.
Action Abilities
Abilities used as commands are called Action Abilities, and are marked with a red gem symbol and the letter
"A" in the Equipment Menu. Nearly all Action Abilities use up MP. Each character can learn a different set of abilities, some of which may change when a party member enters Trance during battle. You may sometimes find it more effective for a party member to use an Action Ability than to attack an opponent physically.
For example, Vivi inflicts far more damage with his Black Magic than by wielding his weapon. Scan is a  particularly interesting Action Ability. It reveals most opponents' weaknesses, allowing you to fine-tune your battle strategy. Concentrate on the monster's
weaknesses by using the corresponding abilities or (in the next battle against such an opponent) by equipping specific items. Of course, you can always take a peek at the monster's statistics in the Monsters chapter of this strategy guide, but gaining the knowledge by fair means is surely more satisfying ... You can use this ability to scan party members. This can be informative if one of these party members isn't one of the eight main characters.
Support Abilities
Abilities that automatically support you during battle are called Support Abilities, and are marked with a blue gem symbol and the letter
"S" in the Equipment Menu. Many Support Abilities protect against status effects or increase the damage your characters can inflict on specific kinds of monsters. You can activate
 Support Abilities by equipping magic stones. These are obtained automatically by your party members during their adventure. The more powerful a Support Ability, the more magic stones a character needs to activate it. Always equip the abilities best suited to your particular situation. Well-considered changes of Support Abilities can make all the difference during battle. Specific combinations of Support Abilities give your party members an unexpected advantage. For example:
Use Auto-Potion + Chemist if you want to avoid health worries: Auto-Potion ensures that your character automatically uses a Potion when
s/he suffers damage, while Chemist doubles the effect of any medicine. This combination of Support Abilities drastically reduces the probability of your character being KO'd.
Ability Tips and Strategies
Using items in specific situations: Have your party members equip items with the most suitable abilities for dealing with the situation at hand. As you are not bent on obtaining a maximum number of AP, you do not need to do battle too often. The downside is that you must always carry a large number of items for use by your characters. Keep changing the party members' equipment to ensure that you are prepared for all eventualities.
Balancing your playing style: Have your party members learn useful abilities such as "Life", "Loudmouth" or "Alert", and have them equip items in order to use other abilities. Although you must take care when selecting the abilities you want your characters to learn, many gamers will find this style of playing very convenient. The ability tables below will help you choose the best abilities for your adventure
Striving for power: Have your characters learn all abilities contained by your
items. This requires your party to battle many monsters in order to obtain AP,
but you'll be glad you made the effort: the more abilities your characters learn
now, the fewer problems they will encounter towards the end of the game.
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Spiras Destiny
Yunalesca
Final Fantasy World
Final Fantasy Synthesis
Enix Squared
Forgotten Memories
Final Fantasy Republic
