Pearl Rouge (Final Fantasy IX)

The Pearl Rouge is a mid game add-on in Final Fantasy IX that female characters can equip. It teaches Level Up, which allows the character to gain more EXP from enemies; Loudmouth, which inoculates against Silence; and Reflect-Null, which allows the user's spells to pierce Reflect. The Pearl Rouge gives a high bonus to the wearer's Magic and Spirit when they level up with it equipped and strengthens the wearer's Water damage while halving Holy damage.
==Obtain==
The earliest the Pearl Rouge can be obtained is from Treno Auction House for around 17,100 gil. When Princess Garnet and Captain Steiner come to Treno with Marcus, the player may lack the funds to get everything the town and the auction house have to offer, but the "Cotton Robe gil farming trick" is available at this time. 
The rouge is also synthesized after the party returns from the Outer Continent in Alexandria, Treno, Lindblum, and later on Daguerreo, for 5,000 gil, a Moonstone, and an Elixir. Moonstones and Elixirs are limited items; there are only four Moonstones in the game and the player will need to use one for the friendly monsters quest.
==Mechanics==
The Pearl Rouge gives +4 to Magic Evasion. It gives a +2 bonus to the wearer's Magic and a +4 bonus to the wearer's Spirit when they level with it equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Magic affects spells' outcomes and the character's MP growth. Spirit is a generally good stat that affects aspects such as the HP a character is revived at, the duration of expirable statuses, how often Regen and Poison tick, how frequently the character enters Trance and how many turns they get while in Trance, among other things. The rouge has the best Spirit bonus in the game alongside the Rebirth Ring.
Wearing the Pearl Rouge boosts the character's Water damage by +50%, compatible with Dagger's Leviathan, and halves Holy damage.
==Use==
The Pearl Rouge has some good abilities to learn. Level Up can be useful when exploring dungeons or the world map. Loudmouth can be good against Mandragoras, Nymphs, the enemies in Desert Palace, Gimme Cat, Abomination, Quale, the friendly Yan if the player decides to fight it, Tiamat, and the final boss. Reflect-Null is good if the party is wearing Auto-Reflect.
Dagger is good with the rouge as it makes her Leviathan stronger. As summoning is costly to MP, it is worthwhile to use equipment to get the most out of each individual summoning.
The Pearl Rouge's Holy-halving effect can be useful against the final bosses and Ozma, though for the latter the player will likely want to wear a Pumice Piece instead to absorb Shadow.
The Pearl Rouge's level up bonuses are good and the +6 combined bonus is the highest from any equipment piece. However, level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary for a normal playthrough even when preparing for superboss encounters; the player can view any extra stats as simply a nice bonus. The best stat boost equipment pieces will be available in the end of the game, and so the player would be best limiting EXP intake until then if they wanted to focus on stat maxing.
Beatrix can also equip the Pearl Rouge, but the player should not equip it to her as she is a guest party member.
Category:Add-ons in Final Fantasy IX