Did you get Bahamut?

To get him you needed to go through two Behemoths. If you were able to do that, you are good to enter the final areas of the game.

Make sure that you grab the Crystal Sword and gear on your way down.

Just before you use the Crystal on Zeromus use the Masmune as an item on everyone (casts haste).
The safest way to take him out is to wall Kain, cast flare & white on Kain. Attack with Cecil, throw the Excalibur with Edge followed by all the ninja stars.

He'll be dead very quickly.

You should be mid 50's to low 60's when you fight Zeromus.

NOTE:

The DS version is MUCH harder. I leveled Cecil like crazy and have him at around 70ish and I still have a hard time. I'm about to enter the Giant of Babil. The game is just scaled to be much harder.

Syd Lexia wrote:

Have you been to the Land of Monsters and earned the Asura and Leviathan call spells? As GP said, you have Bahamut, but Asura is a very good call spell to have as well, because she has the chance to cast LIFE or CURE3 on all your party members, which is a useful back-up to have in case Rosa "All I'm Good For Is Healing Stuff" Farrel gets raped and killed by Zeromus.

Asura is hit or miss.

Definitely worth having, but it is a 50/50 shot that it will do something you need.

Also, She casts Cure 3, Cure 4, or Life on everyone. All of them are much more powerful than Rosa's versions at the same level.

Syd Lexia wrote:

Yes, she is hit or miss, but when Zeromus pulls some crazy shit that wipes out half your party, sometimes she's your best option. I'll often do the battle using Rydia and Rosa as defensive characters, casting Asura and Cure 4 every turn, and beat him down with Cecil, Edge, and Kain.

Definitely a winning combination if you are in the upper 60's or higher. What will determine the outcome with that style of battle is the amount of MP you have. If you can keep it up, you will win.

Somehow I find that Edge dies every single time I do the fight. It doesn't seem to matter what level I am. Without being in the back row, he just doesn't have the defense he needs to be fighting upfront with Cecil and Kain.

Oh, one other great end game strategy.

There are two party members who matter the most in the final battle.

Rydia and Cecil.

So, in the crystal floors you should let everyone die except for those two. Then level them up. Go back to the save point and repeat until they are about 10-15 levels higher. It sounds ridiculous, but they will gain levels so frigg'n fast.

When the final battle comes, you won't find yourself scrambling to heal Cecil since you will have gained him about 2000 extra health. Rydia's magic will become insanely powerful and she should live through some of the more random inopportune attacks that Zeromos throws.

You might need to invest one hour of grinding if you choose to do this.

Ah.. the gold old spoon. Memories.

As for some of the other comments, the additional summons are just there for fun. They add no additional utility to Rydia's spell casting portfolio.

I have never tried to get Bahamut without Ashura or Leviathan. I might play through just to see what happens and what the dialog is.

As for the Adamant Armor... oh boy... here it goes.

There is a room inside the final dungeon where there is a 1/64 chance that you will encounter Pink Puff enemies. They are very difficult and generally come in groups. Should you kill them, there is a 1/64 chance (per Pink Puff) that you will receive a Pink Tail. If you get a Pink Tail, you do what you would normally do with a tail... The result from the chain is an amazing set of armor that any character can wear.

As far as the Dark Matter goes, does it exist in the original FFII? I was under the impression it was introduced in the GBA version. As far as what it does, I think it reduces Big Bang's effect. But I've never wasted my time with it. I just let Edge die and kick Zeromus in the nuts with Cecil and Rydia.