Festival of the Hunt



The Festival of the Hunt refers to an event in the world of Final Fantasy IX. The Festival of the Hunt is an annual competition hosted by the church in the Business District of Lindblum. It began centuries prior to the main storyline, when the city of Lindblum was a huge forest.

Rules
Warriors from around Gaia are called upon to test their strength in combat against ferocious beasts. In the streets of Lindblum, various creatures are released, and can be defeated, each for a certain amount of points. The Hunt lasts 12 minutes. Whoever has the most points at the end of the competition wins the title of Master Hunter.

The points earned for killing the foes varies. It seems the player is rewarded more points the faster they dispatch the enemies, and whether they take damage. Mus give the least points, Trick Sparrows give slightly more and Fangs give the most points, apart from the one-time-only battle Zaghnol. If the player wins the Zaghnol battle, they always get enough points to win the hunt.

Story
Vivi is initially interested in the competition because he has the impression he will be seeing animals, not battling creatures to the death. Zidane offers that whichever of the two is victorious can have a date with the princess, a prospect for which Vivi has no interest. Freya is a regular at the competition, and probably hopes to encounter Sir Fratley, her lost love, should he choose to test his prowess. Zidane enters for his typical reasons: to show off in front of Garnet and win the prize money.

Although Freya, Vivi, and Zidane all participate in the hunt, they fight independently unless the Zaghnol is encountered, in which case Zidane and Freya must join forces to defeat the beast; strongest in the competition, and save two children from its fury.

Each character chooses a different prize. Although the player must play as Zidane, the entire party can benefit as long as one party member wins.

Prizes:
 * Freya Add-on : Coral Ring
 * Zidane gil : 5000 Gil
 * Vivi Tetra Master card : Theater Ship card

Although the player can only control Zidane, and briefly Freya, it is possible to control who wins the festival. For Vivi to win, one must allow the Zaghnol to defeat both Freya and Zidane. To obtain the Coral Ring, the easiest way is to avoid the smaller battles, particularly against Fangs, and make sure Freya strikes the killing blow on the Zaghnol. In some versions of the game Zidane must be KO'd in order for Freya to slay Zaghnol, otherwise it will not fall regardless of how much HP it should have left. Obviously, for Zidane to be victorious, one must fight as many battles as time allows, and make sure to let him put the final blow on the Zaghnol.

Finding Zaghnol
Zaghnol is found in the Business District's Fountain Square, where the shops are, but it won't appear until there is less than four and a half minutes left on the clock.

Music
The aptly named "Festival of the Hunt" is the musical theme that plays throughout the whole event, whether the player is running around the city or fighting a monster.

Trivia

 * Lani, Amarant (under the moniker of "Scarlet Hair" or Red) Genero and Quina Quen (under the moniker of "Strange Gourmand") all take part in the hunt, as shown by messages at the top of the screen, but not seen in person.
 * The previous hunt's champion is someone named Belna, who is also shown participating via the messages at the top of the screen, however, this character is never seen in-game, nor mentioned again after this event.
 * The Festival of The Hunt's name may derive from the name of an Ancient Greek hunting festival in honor of the goddess Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt, moon, and newborn creatures.
 * The Festival of the Hunt may have been inspired by the practised mainly in Spain and Portugal, which involves letting loose a dozen or so bulls on a course of a sectioned-off subset of a town's streets, and participants have to run in front of them. Unlike bullfights, which are performed by professionals, in the Running of the Bulls anyone may participate.
 * "Festival of the Hunt" is a quiz answer on an Academia quiz terminal in Final Fantasy XIII-2.