Gold Saucer; Battle Arena
At the Battle Arena, one member of your party can participate in a series of battles to win Battle Points that can be exchanged for valuable prizes. The cost is 10 GP (not Gil) and there's very little risk.
The basic premise is simple. The chosen fighter can fight up to eight random encounters of increasing difficulty. Any damage or negative effects from a previous fight are carried over to the next fight. After any win, the player may choose to continue or stop. If the player stops, he/she receives any Battle Points collected up to that point. SHould the player choose to go on, your fighter is hit with a random effect, chosen via a one-reel slot machine.
Note:
Fighters aren't actually killed in the Battle Arena.
Even if they're defeated, they leave the arena with exactly the same amount of HP
and MP with which they entered.
Before giving it a try, equip some of the following Materia and equipment. Equip a powerful weapon with plenty of Materia slots and choose armor that drains or blocks magic effects (the Tetra Elemental is particularly effective). The Ribbon is the must have accessory for the Battle Arena. It can stop any negative effects monsters might try to lay on your fighter. It can even prevent some of the slots effects like Poison, Frog, and Mini.
Equip Materia slots with the essentials, including Restore, Time, Barrier, and Counter. COunter Attack and COunter come in handy, as do Deathblow and Mega All. These enable you to inflict as much damage as possible with every attack. The more Counter Attack Materia you equip, the more times your fighter can take addvantage of an enemy's attack. Also, equip the Added Effect-Contain combination to your weapon. This will Stone a lot of your enemies before the battle gets underway. The Final Attack-Revive combination will save you if the enemy manages to overcome your fighter. Also, drop any "All" Materia that aren't combined with an attack Materia. It won't do any good to have a spell like Cure - All when there's only one person in the battle.
The Slots effects can make or break any battle. Most aren't too serious, but a couple can really hamper your progress. In some ways, the worst effects are the most beneficial because they bump up your battle points. Here's a quick glimpse at all the effects and what they do.
| All Materia Broken | All the Materia you have is disabled, but your HP rises quickly. |
| Command Materia Broken | All Command (yellow) Materia is disabled and all extra commands are lost. |
| Independent Materia Broken | All Independent (purple) Materia is disabled. |
| Support Materia Broken | All Support (blue) Materia is disabled. |
| Summon Materia Broken | All Summon (red) Materia is disabled. |
| Magic Materia Broken | All Magic (green) Materia is disabled. |
| Mini | Fighter is shrunk at the beginning of the next battle. |
| Frog | Fighter is transformed into a frog at the beginning of the next battle. |
| Poison | Fighter is poisoned at the beginning of the next battle. |
| Speed | Fighter's speed is reduced to half of current speed. |
| Sword Broken | Fighter's sword is broken, base strength is used to determine damage done. |
| Armor Broken | Fighter's armor is broken; base defense is used to determine resistance to attack. |
| Accessorty Broken | Fighter's accessory is broken and its effects is lost. |
| Item Command Sealed | Fighter can no longer use items during battle. |
| HP | Fighter's maximum HP cut in half. |
| MP | Fighter's maximum MP cut in half. |
| HP & MP | Fighter's maximum HP and MP cut in half. |
| Zero MP | Fighter's current MP reduced to zero. |
| 10 Levels Down | The fighter's level is reduced by 10, which causes a loss in statistics. |
| 5 Levels Down | The fighter's level is reduced by five, which causes a loss in statistics. |
| Time x30 Damage | Fighter losses HP equal to the time in the fighter's time bar at the end of the last battle times thrity; doesn't kill the fighter. |
| Cure | Fighter is fully cured at the beginning of the next battle. |
| Lucky 7 | Fighter receives no handicap. |
The Maximum amount of BP you can have at any one time is 64,000 which is enough to exchange for the best item. Spend any points you collect before you leave the Battle Arena or you'll lose them all. You can exchange for the following items: Remedy 100; "Enemy Lure" Materia 250; "Pre-Emptive" Materia 1000; Regan Greens 2000; "Speed Plus" Materia 4000; Stardust 8000; Championship Belt 16,000; Omnislash 32,000; "W-Summon" Materia 64,000.
After collecting 64,000 Battle Points, you're offered the chance to compete in the special battles. However, you must have also purchased the Omnislash and the W-Summon Materia. This is tougher fight, but there are different prizes to win. The prizes include: Gambler, Masamune Blade, Combat Diary, and Autograph.