Desert Palace



The Desert Palace (デザートエンプレス) is Kuja's lair in Final Fantasy IX, located in the desert on the Outer Continent. It is an immense underground fortress, filled with traps and can only be entered through a mock Antlion pit. Desert Palace is one of only two places where one can obtain the Namingway card, which can be shown to a man in Daguerreo in order to rename the player characters.

Story
The Desert Palace is one of the locations from Terra that ended up on Gaia 5,000 years ago due to Garland's failed attempt to merge the two planets into one.

When the party is captured by Kuja, they are nearly killed when the floors of their cells drop away. Regent Cid manages to save them by releasing them from their cells, and the party begins to search for a way to escape Kuja's fortress.

Navigating the dungeon is tricky and requires the completion of several puzzles, which involve candle lights and hidden passages. The security system of the Desert Palace is the Valia Pira, which the party can make weaker by turning off the Bloodstones scattered across the palace. The Bloodstones also yield treasure for them.

Because of Kuja's request for Zidane and the anti-magic nature of Oeilvert, players tend to send their main physical attackers there, which forces them to rely on magic at the Desert Palace.

Enemies

 * 1x Drakan
 * 2x Drakan
 * 2x Grimlock
 * 1x Ogre
 * 2x Ogre
 * 1x Torama
 * 2x Torama
 * 1x Valia Pira (Boss)

Treasures

 * Hourglass Key
 * Promist Ring
 * Anklet
 * Shield Armor
 * N-Kai Armlet
 * Black Hood
 * Venetia Shield
 * Namingway card

Trivia

 * Complementing Kuja's tastes, the Desert Palace contains many works of fine art, including a trio of statues arranged in a triangular fashion. Two of these are decidedly demonic looking, replete with bat-like wings and tridents, and are referred to as the "Promise of the Evil God" and "Truth of the Devil". The white angelic statue in the middle is called the "Illusion of the Goddess". This is a pointed allusion to the Warring Triad from Final Fantasy VI.
 * The Desert Palace can be skipped if the Gold Chocobo Bug is carried out in early versions of the Japanese and North American versions of the game.
 * When Zidane is choosing his party for his trip to Oeilvert, the order in which Kuja calls them in their cells depends on the character's priority. Eiko has top priority over the non-Zidane party members, so she will always be called first regardless of who else is chosen. Steiner has the next highest priority, followed by Vivi, Freya, Amarant, Quina, and Garnet, who will always be last.
 * The leader of the party in this area depends on whom the player chooses to send with Zidane to Oeilvert. The party left behind will depend on its members, as well as who has priority over whom. This priority is stated in the above note. Thus, if Zidane's party does not contain Eiko, then she will automatically be chosen to lead the party through the palace. The character with the next highest priority to lead is Steiner if Zidane's party does contain Eiko. If Zidane takes both Eiko and Steiner, then Vivi has the next highest priority to lead the party. Finally, if Eiko, Steiner, and Vivi are all with Zidane, Freya will lead the party. Amarant, Quina, and Garnet, the three characters with the lowest priority rankings, are guaranteed not to lead the party in this area.

Palacio del Desierto