- Name everyone Lavos for maximum hilarity/confusion!
- Also, stealing is amazing, but only Kid and Fargo can do it (only Kidd and Fargo can steal, but Mel also has a steal element (Lv.3 Snatch)). Kid's always joining and leaving but once you get Fargo, use him forever and make sure to always steal from the bosses, because you'll get some amazing items.
- When you start fighting the Dragons, get Fargo in your party to try to steal their colored Plates. The Black one especially, which makes getting the Mastermune much easier.
- I also recommend choosing "Not to save Kid" so that you get Glenn. Most people obviously pick to save her (even though the choice doesn't really matter) and miss out on the coolest character in a game of mostly mediocre party members.
- Learn to love trap elements. They will make the midgame much easier.
- Yes, Miguel is like that for everyone. You gotta get lucky and/or pick the right companions.
- The chance to steal an item is exactly the same as your current chance-to-hit using a FIERCE attack. Therefore you should always use WEAK attacks until you hit 99%, and then use Steal/Pilfer/Snatch.
- It is okay to put an element into a lower ranked slot. An excellent example is filling most of your Lv.1-3 slots with RecoverAll (White Lv.3±5), then you can heal everyone with only one WEAK attack, and the reduction in healing power is negligible.
- When you fight Son-of-a-Gun, run away and go buy like 5-10 Holy Light traps, then capture them from him. He uses it regularly, and you won't be fighting anyone else that uses it for a long time (and there is only one chest per game that contains it). Holy Light is the only multi-target White element you are going to see for most of the game, and it's pretty great even against non-Black enemies.
- Sprigg starts with Lagunate form learned, it hits like a truck and has almost perfect accuracy FIERCE attacks.
- Get Janice (Bunny girl pokemon trainer), and put her as the head of the party. Walk everywhere looking ridiculous.
- I wouldn't bother with trying to get Field advantage in battles. Bosses seem to know you are doing it and having stamina boosting equipment is really helpful.
- Pip evolves mid-battle. The information is stored in the RAM, not the save, so it is lost as soon as you reset your PS1. This is fixed in the PC remaster, and you can avoid resetting by using save states if you use an emulator like Duckstation.