Bronze Vest (Final Fantasy IX)

The Bronze Vest is an early game light armor piece in Final Fantasy IX that everyone besides Steiner and Freya can wear. It teaches Jelly, which immunizes against Petrify. The Bronze Vest provides a bonus to the wearer's Spirit stat when they level up with it equipped.
==Obtain==
The Bronze Vest is first found in Lindblum's Industrial District outside the pub. This location becomes inaccessible, and so the player should pick it up while exploring the town as Zidane during the initial visit.
The Bronze Vest is also found in Gizamaluke's Grotto's second area . The party must fight a few black mages upon entering, one dropping a bell to enter one of the three doors. Entering the top left door takes to the overpass the party walked under when entering the room. The bottom corner will have a hidden chest containing a Bronze Vest.
The Bronze Vest is bought for 670 gil in Burmecia, Summit Station, Treno (when Princess Garnet and Steiner visit with Marcus), Lindblum (second storyline visit), and Black Mage Village (before entering the Shimmering Island portal).
==Mechanics==
The Bronze Vest provides 9 Defense and 1 Magic Defense, mainly mitigating damage from physical attacks. The vest gives a +1 bonus to the wearer's Spirit when they level up with it equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Spirit is a generally good stat to raise that determines the HP a character is revived at, the duration of expirable status effects, how often Regen and Poison tick, how frequently the character can enter Trance and how many turns they get while in Trance, among other things.
==Use==
The player could equip the Bronze Vest onto Zidane after finding it in Lindblum for the Festival of the Hunt. Afterward, the player can also use it on Vivi or Quina after recruiting them after leaving Lindblum on foot. The superior Chain Plate for Zidane should be available for him after the view point switches back to his party from Dagger following the events in Burmecia. For Vivi and Quina, the Mythril Vest can be found in Cleyra's Trunk to replace the Bronze Vest.
Jelly is not crucial to learn at the earliest as few enemies use Petrify, but it will be good to have mastered before the end of game, as the final boss may inflict it. The vest's level up bonus is good but it is not advised to level-grind early on unless the player is stuck in a boss or a dungeon; level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary in a normal playthrough even when preparing for superbosses. The best stat boost gear will be available in the end of the game, so for best results one would need to limit their EXP intake.
The guest characters from Tantalus can also wear the Bronze Vest. Cinna and Blank are in the party too early for the player to be able to equip them with the vest in a normal playthrough, but Marcus can wear it during the time he is traveling with Dagger and Steiner, though there is no obligation to outfit him and he will leave the party with anything he has equipped at the moment.
Category:Armor in Final Fantasy IX