Help 100% Ragtime Encounter Method

[TheMixedHerb]

No seriously.

I've yet to have it work with the other friendly monsters, but at least you don't have to waste as much time looking for Ragtimer with this method. I'll C&P my video description since I'm lazy and I'd just be rewording the same thing anyway:

The only problem I have with this method is how fiddly it is, but with the success rate it takes a lot less than counting on it randomly.

The basic idea is that when you're in a forest on the World Map of FFIX, you start to make trails as you run, if you tap the directional button so that you don't make any tracks, you'll get a Ragtime Mouse/Mouth encounter, 100% guaranteed.

Don't forget you can only encounter the Ragtimer if it's your FIRST battle on the map, only saving/loading (as I do) or entering and exiting a town resets your chances. If the first battle isn't a Ragtimer, it won't be until you do either of the two.

I haven't had this work with regular friendly monsters yet but I think it could work, if anyone can confirm it let me know since it'd be very helpful in reaching Ozma.

Oh, if anyone's curious, I did this during my Vivi Solo run which is why everyone else is dead.

Don't think you can get the Protect Ring on disc 1 though, you can only encounter him on disc 1 4 times, then another 6 on disc 2, then another 6 on discs 3 and 4, making for a total of 16 questions, then you need to encounter him once more for him to give you a rating and a reward based on it, if you got 100% you'll get Exp, AP, the Protect Ring and a shedload of Gil.

 

[Bad_Brett]

This is a well-known trick. I've encountered him 4-5 times in a row using this trick. I'm not even sure about the saving/loading... Surely the odds are improved by doing that, but I don't think it's impossible to encounter him anyway.

I'm 99% sure that this trick works for friendly monsters as well.

 

[TheMixedHerb]

I didn't know it was well known, in all the years of playing FF and discussing it with other people not once has it been mentioned to me. I only found out about it the other day and I've definitely never heard anyone mention it at all.

I save/load because I'm pretty sure if Ragtimer is encountered he can't be encountered again until you exit and re enter the world map somehow, either way it still works. I tried it for friendly monsters though not as much but I still didn't find any.

I didn't mean it was impossible to encounter him but I think if so the chances aren't very good if you've already encountered him in one run (or he doesn't appear again which I didn't bother testing).

 

[Bad_Brett]

I didn't know it was well known, in all the years of playing FF and discussing it with other people not once has it been mentioned to me. I only found out about it the other day and I've definitely never heard anyone mention it at all.

The trick is actually over ten years old. It can be found in several FAQ's from 2000-2001:

Tip #6 To Encounter The Ragtime Mouse Easily: [By Aaron B Tadeo] -------------------------------------------- Now, here's one trick that I actually discovered. I did this in the Forest just outside Dali. All I did was to stay in the center of the forest. The Ragtime Mouse is there. But, in order to encounter him, what I did was I kept tapping the Analog Stick back and forth and tried my best to stay in the center of the forest. Now, when you move through a forest, you'll see the leaves sway behind Zidane right? But, when you tap the Analog Stick, the leaves won't sway. Just keep on doing that and you'll encounter the Ragtime Mouse AT ONCE. That's all. I hope this would help all of you who are frustrated in encounter Ragtime Mouse.

I save/load because I'm pretty sure if Ragtimer is encountered he can't be encountered again until you exit and re enter the world map somehow, either way it still works.

At least in the PAL version, he can be encountered again and again (until the limit of the current disc is reached, as you mentioned). I've never tried the NTSC version though.

I tried it for friendly monsters though not as much but I still didn't find any.

Remember that not all friendly monsters are encountered in forests. But they are usually easy to find as long as you know where to look.

 

[TheMixedHerb]

Ah fair enough, was still new to me though. =P

I did try it for the friendly monsters who appear in forests and I had no luck, I own the PAL version by the way. It worked for the Ragtime Mouse up until his defeat but after that it didn't seem to work for me.

Oh well, it's still handy to know.

 

[Tyler Breeze]

I've done this plenty of times and for the most part it worked. Then again, I probably fucked up when I was trying to do it. Thus explaining the failed attempts. Either way, I've done this method and succeeded most of the time.

Ragtimer was awesome. I couldn't get enough of that guy. XD