Sphere Grid

Standard Sphere Grid by DoctaBasco/Zeric

The Sphere Grid is the leveling up system of Final Fantasy X. In all its glory it looks like a huge grid with hundreds of nodes which are connected to each other. However not all of them are connected to each other just some. You can view a large representation of the Sphere Grid by DoctaBasco/Zeric simply by clicking on the link.
When you start the game (and you have the PAL version of the game) you will be given a choice of which Sphere Grid to choose the Basic Sphere grid or the Expert Sphere Grid. The only difference between the two is the positioning of the abilities and the fact that in the Expert Sphere grid you can move into the other characters sphere grids sooner than in the Basic one. However, it also has the disadvantage of having fewer nodes.
Regardless of which one you choose they work the same way which will be explained below:

[edit] Moving Around

Gaining Sphere Levels works like the level system in all previous final fantasy's. You gain AP (although in previous FF's it used to be EXP) and when you gain a certain amount of AP it raises your Sphere level. You can at anytime have a total of 99 unused Sphere Levels for a single character. After that they wont gain anymore AP until you have used the Sphere levels that you have already gained.
Using the sphere levels is a simple thing to do. You can use the Sphere levels to move around the Sphere Grid. You can do two things when moving:

• Go forward one Node For each Sphere Level that you have
  
• Go back four nodes for each sphere level that you have</ul>
  When you go back, you can only go back to previously visited nodes using previously visited routes.
  You can also find that there are other ways of travelling around the spheres grid besides gaining sphere levels and they are by the use of Special spheres. There are four in total each with a different effect:
  
  • Return Sphere - Return to any previously activated node (defeat Chimreageist)
    
  • Friend Sphere - Move to any ally's location (defeat Vorban)
    
  • Teleport Sphere - Move to any node activated by an ally (defeat Sleep Sprout)
    
  • Warp Sphere - Move to any node (defeat Nemesis)
  
  

  This is all you need to know about moving around the sphere grid, now onto the main part...
  

  [edit] Activating Nodes

  The first thing that you will see in the Sphere Grid are the various Nodes. You will also see that they are all dull representing the fact tha they have not been activated. To activate a node you simply need to go to a node adjacent to the one you want to actiate (or onto the one that you want to activate) and use the correct sphere.
  There are many spheres that you can use to activate the nodes however the main four that you will be using are:
  

  • Power Sphere - Activates Strength Plus & Defence Plus Nodes
    
  • Mana Sphere - Activates Magic Plus and Magic Defense Plus Nodes
    
  • Ability Sphere - Activates Ability Nodes
    
  • Speed Sphere - Activaes Evasion Plus, Agility Plus and Accuracy Plus Nodes
  
  

  There are however more Spheres which can be found as you progress through the story, however these are special spheres which you will need to work hard to find:
  

  • Fortune Sphere - Activates Luck Plus nodes (defeat Earth Eater)
    
  • Attribute Sphere - Activates any one Attribute node already used by ally (bribe Maelspike)
    
  • Special Sphere - Activates any one Special node already used by ally (bribe Adamantoise)
    
  • Skill Sphere - Activates any one Skill node already used by ally (bribe Zuu)
    
  • White Magic Sphere - Activates any one White Magic node already used by ally (bribe Dark Flan)
    
  • Black Magic Sphere - Activates any one Black Magic node already used by ally (bribe Black Element)
    
  • Master Sphere - Activates any one Ability or Attribute node on the sphere grid, does not need to be activated by an ally (rare Dark Aeon drops)
  
  

  The above spheres will just simply activate the nodes on the grid, however once you have reached the airship you will realise that you need to customise the Sphere Grid. To do this you will need to help of some more special nodes which are hard to come by:
  

  • Clear Sphere - Turns any non-empty node to empty node (buy from monster arena keeper)
    
  • HP Sphere - Converts empty node to HP node (defeat Ironclad)
    
  • MP Sphere - Converts empty node to MP node (defeat Vidatu)
    
  • Strength Sphere - Converts empty node to Strength node (defeat Juggernaut)
    
  • Defense Sphere - Converts empty node to Defense node (defeat Tanket)
    
  • Magic Sphere - Converts empty node to Magic node (defeat Jumbo Flan)
    
  • Magic Defense Sphere - Converts empty node to Magic Defense node (defeat One Eye)
    
  • Agility Sphere - Converts empty node to Agility node (defeat Fenrir)
    
  • Luck Sphere - Converts empty node to Luck node (defeat Greater Sphere)
    
  • Evasion Sphere - Converts empty node to Evasion node (defeat Pyeryx)
    
  • Accuracy Sphere - Converts empty node to Accuracy node (defeat Hornet)
  
  

  [edit] Locked Spheres

  The above will help in customising the sphere grid however whilst playing the game you will notice some locks on the sphere grid which can only be opened by Key spheres. There are four types of locks and four key spheres which can open them:
  

  • Level 1 Key Sphere - Opens Level 1 lock (defeat Master Coerl)
    
  • Level 2 Key Sphere - Opens Level 2 lock (defeat Defender Z)
    
  • Level 3 Key Sphere - Opens Level 3 lock (bribe Demonolith)
    
  • Level 4 Key Sphere - Opens Level 4 lock (bribe Chimera Brain)
  
  These are the basics of using the sphere grids and they apply for both the basic and the expert sphere grids. Also visit the AP Gaining Tricks to learn how you can gain AP Quickly and rack up those sphere levels.