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Very famous brand of armor.

Description

The Genji Armor is a late game heavy body armor in Final Fantasy IX for Steiner and Freya. It teaches Accuracy+, which allows the character's Attack to always connect, and Body Temp, which immunizes against Heat and Freeze. It gives a bonus to the wearer's Magic when they level up with the armor piece equipped. It is the only armor piece to have a Tetra Master card.

Obtain[]

ChocographLoc21

Outer Island chocograph location.

The Genji Armor is found in the Outer Island chocograph treasure. The player can find it the earliest by progressing the Chocobo Hot and Cold quest after they have Hilda Garde III. The player needs a flying Choco and to find the chocograph in the Chocobo's Air Garden, then head to the island on the eastern edge of the Outer Continent.

It is also stolen from Maliris in the final dungeon.

Mechanics[]

The Genji Armor provides 45 Defense and 1 Magic Defense, mainly mitigating damage from physical attacks. It gives a +2 bonus to the character's Magic stat when they level up with the armor piece equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Magic determines Steiner and Freya's MP growth; even their Swd Mag and Dragon skills use their Strength stats to determine damage.

Use[]

The Genji Armor is a late game heavy armor piece that can be good all the way until the end of the game. Freya's Dragon Mail has lower defensive stats but better level up bonuses. The Grand Armor is stronger and halves Shadow damage and gives a level up bonus to Strength, but only Ozma and Hades and Vivi's Doomsday deal Shadow damage and in these cases Shadow-absorption would be preferable to Shadow-halving. Freya's Minerva's Plate has lower defensive stats but slightly better level up bonuses and Steiner's Maximillian has better stats and a much better level up bonus.

Accuracy+ is good when characters use their Attack commands, but will not affect character abilities. Body Temp can be useful against some enemies in the final dungeon.

The Genji Armor's level up bonus to Magic is not so useful for Steiner and Freya, who only use Magic for MP growth. Using Maximillian (Steiner only), Minerva's Plate (Freya only), or Grand Armor would be better. However, level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary in a normal playthrough even for superboss encounters. The Genji Armor becomes available around the time level-grinding becomes worthwhile as the best stat boost equipment pieces will be available. As bosses forgo EXP, the level up bonuses do not matter for these battles.

Beatrix can also wear the Genji Armor, but the player cannot see this in a normal playthrough.

Tetra Master[]

Tetra Master
Genji
#079
Location: Jump rope minigame (100 jumps), Hippaul racing (LV70), Card Freak Cil (Treno/Card Stadium), Black Mage No.123 (Black Mage Village Inn), Strong Phantom (Memoria Lost Memory), Rare Phantom (Memoria Time Warp)

The Genji Armor has a card in Tetra Master, won from the jump rope minigame in Alexandria for skipping 100 times and from racing Hippaul to Level 70. It is also won off Card Freak Cil in Treno card stadium, Black Mage No.123 in the Black Mage Village inn after the events in Pandemonium, and from the Strong and Rare Phantoms in Memoria.

Etymology[]

Genji equipment is a recurring set of equipment in the Final Fantasy series. The surname of Genji refers to the onyomi reading of the Minamoto Clan. Minamoto was a surname commonly bestowed on the children of the Emperor who were not eligible for the throne. According to history and legend, they were most active in the days of the late Heian era, and were samurai who became known as the fighters of evil and keepers of peace. The time was said to have been fraught with disorder and anarchy. Many future samurai claim lineage from the clan, including Miyamoto Musashi and Tokugawa Ieyasu who were subject of literary discourse from The Tale of Genji, which follows royal figures, to The Tale of the Heike, focusing on the major figures and the events of the Genpei War.

Genji is also a short period in Japanese history, lasting only a single year from 1864–1865.

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