Excalibur II



The Excalibur II, also called Excalibur2, is a recurring weapon in the Final Fantasy series. Like Excalibur, it is usually one of the most powerful swords and is Holy-elemental.

Final Fantasy IX
The Excalibur II is the most powerful weapon available, and can only be equipped by Steiner. It has an amazing attack power of 108, its element is Holy, it has no status and teaches Minus Strike, Climhazzard, and Stock Break. It is a well adorned sword, with a red-orange hilt and an opaque-green blade.

Requirements
Excalibur II is one of the hardest weapons to obtain in the entire Final Fantasy series, as it cannot be bought from a shop or dropped or stolen from any monster. The only way the player can obtain the Excalibur II is to make it to the final dungeon, Memoria, into the room Gate to Space (where the party fights Lich) without exceeding 12 hours of playtime. Once Lich is defeated, the player must search the pillar on the right of the room to receive the sword. A message is left near the sword for Gilgamesh, written by Enkido, which reads:

Challenge
Passing three discs in 12 hours is a challenge on the PlayStation version, however, it is even more difficult on PAL where the game runs at a 5/6 speed of NTSC due to a lower frame rate caused by the 50/60Hz conflict, while the internal clock still runs at normal speed. This essentially requires the challenge to be completed in less than ten hours if it ran at the NTSC frame rate.

A trick to help reduce the time required is to open and close a PS1 or PS2 disc tray during an FMV scene to skip it as the internal game time is active during these sequences and will shed the time saved. The FMVs make up about 35 minutes to game time. However, this cannot be done on the PS3 as opening the disc tray prompts the system to return to the menu screen, or on the digital downloaded version from the PlayStation Network.

The Steam and mobile release makes the challenge substantially easier as cutscenes can be skipped, random encounters can be disabled, the player can stat boost their players to defeat enemies quicker, the battle intros can be disabled and the player can speed up their game by five times without affecting the internal clock. Even without speeding up the game, it is easily possible to claim the sword in under nine hours by making use of all other enhancements. In these versions, claiming the sword earns the player the achievement The Ultimate Sword. Usage of enhancements does not prevent the player from earning the achievement, however, as with all such enhancements, it is at the player's discretion whether such use constitutes cheating.

The Excalibur II is not technically missable, although it is missable within reason. It is possible to reset the game clock to allow a player to gain the Excalibur II again if missed the first time by allowing the game's internal clock (not the displayed time) to overflow and restart from the beginning. However, this means 232 / 60 seconds (over two years) of gameplay, assuming that the game is continually on for that time.

Perfect game
If one is going after a "perfect" game save, there is much more that needs to be considered, such as many items, key items, and such cannot be obtained after their respective disc. This is made harder by the fact that to get one key item later on, one will need to have not missed any treasure. Another issue is achieving "perfect stats"; if one is to make the most of a character's stat potential one must play a "level 1 game" until disc 4, when the best stat-boosting equipment becomes available.

There are four battles in which EXP must be gained: the three battles fought in Pandemonium, and Tantarian. So players have to choose what characters absorb what EXP. So "perfect stats" and the issues mentioned above make the challenge probably the hardest challenge available in Final Fantasy on pre-Steam/mobile versions.

For years, this challenge was thought impossible on the PAL PlayStation version, but recent runs have shown that a PAL playthrough is possible, but extremely difficult. Similarly, the challenge is possible in the PS-one "classics" downloaded version, but difficult due to the inability to skip FMVs.

Final Fantasy XII
Excalibur II is a name of a weapon used by Gilgamesh, but this name only appears in the Japanese version; the English calls it "NOT USED". It is a fake version of Tournesol, one of the strongest weapons. Excalibur II has 30 points in Attack Power and inflicts Sap on hit.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Excalibur2 is the strongest knightsword and provides +87 Attack, +3 Magic, +4 Speed, and +5 Evade. It can be obtained after completing the post-game mission, "Mission 98: The Hero Blade".

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Excalibur II makes another appearance under the name "The Fallen Angel". It is obtained during the Frimelda quest chain, and is referred to as Frimelda's weapon. It can be bought for 17,800 gil in the shop after creating it in the Bazaar after using a Lightwing Crystal, Mythril, and Hero Tonic, and provides +72 Attack, +4 Speed, +3 Magick, and +5 Evasion.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Excalibur II is one of the strongest swords. It is a level 99 sword with an ATK of 67. It gives +100% Experience Gain, and can be used by Warrior of Light, Emperor, Onion Knight, Cecil, Cloud, Squall, and Tidus. It can be obtained as a drop from defeating the Steiner Friend Card.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Excalibur II now requires the character to be level 100 in order to equip, but still maintains the same effects as the first game. Along with the characters listed previously for the first game, it can now be equipped by Zidane, Exdeath, Lightning, Vaan, Laguna, Kain, Gabranth, and Gilgamesh. It can be obtained as a drop from defeating the No. 1 Moogle Friend Card.

Etymology
Exkalibur II Excalibur II