Ribbon (Final Fantasy IX)

The Ribbon is a mid to endgame add-on in Final Fantasy IX that everyone can equip, but which has special relevance to Eiko. It teaches Ability Up, which allows the character to master abilities faster; Concentrate, which boosts the healing power of spells; and Madeen, Eiko's strongest summon. The Ribbon gives a bonus to the wearer's Strength and Magic and Spirit when they level up with it equipped and it protects the wearer from almost all elemental damage. The Ribbon is one of few equipment pieces to have a Tetra Master card. Getting the Ribbon as part of the story enables Guardian Mog, even though it does not teach the ability.
The Ribbon is a recurring equipment piece in the Final Fantasy series that protects against status abnormalities. It protects against elements in Final Fantasy IX instead, as status-protection is done via support abilities.
==Obtain==
The Ribbon is obtained as part of the story at the end of Mount Gulug. The player can also get three more from side content.
One is also found in the Forgotten Island chocograph. After the player has Hilda Garde III, they can play Chocobo Hot and Cold and search for chocographs until Choco can fly, and then head to Chocobo's Air Garden and dig around until they find the Forgotten Island chocograph, which points the player to the island northeast of the Forgotten Continent.
After the player has the Invincible, the Ribbon is sold for around 80,000 gil in Treno Auction House (sold once), and if the player bought all of Stiltzkin's items along his journeys, he will reward the player with a Ribbon when spoken to in Alexandria. The reward from Stiltzkin was added to the overseas versions of Final Fantasy IX and was not present in the original Japanese version.
==Mechanics==
The Ribbon gives Defense +1, Magic Defense +1, Evasion +5, and Magic Evasion +4. It gives a +1 bonus to the wearer's Strength and Spirit and a +3 bonus to the wearer's Magic stat when they level with it equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Strength is used for damage calculations and for determining HP growth. Magic is used for calculating spells' outcomes and determining MP growth. The Ribbon has the best Magic bonus in the game alongside the Anklet. 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 Ribbon protects against all elements besides Shadow and Earth. It absorbs Water and Wind damage, and halves damage from Fire, Ice, Thunder, and Holy.
Though Eiko can learn Guardian Mog earlier, the ability will not function until the story scene where Eiko receives the Ribbon.
==Use==
The Ribbon has good abilities to learn, but the player should prioritize it for Eiko so she can master Madeen, her strongest summon whose power she can further with Elem-Atk: Holy gear. Concentrate is good for both Eiko and Dagger, and Ability Up helps learn abilities faster, helpful for Eiko to master Madeen as well.
The Ribbon's elemental protection is good against any enemies that use elemental abilities, besides those who use Shadow (Ozma and Hades and Vivi's Doomsday) or Earth (Lich). It can be good against Quale and Yans and the enemies in the final dungeon and the final bosses.
The Ribbon's level up bonuses are excellent, though 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-boosting items are available at the end of the game, and so for the best stats one would need to restrict their EXP intake until near the end of the game.
== Tetra Master ==
The Ribbon has a card in Tetra Master, obtainable from racing Hippaul in Alexandria as Vivi, and from playing Tetra Master against certain opponents. The Ribbon card has high defensive stats.
==Merchandise==
Eiko has the Ribbon in her Bring Arts figure.
==Gallery==
Eiko and Quina Bring Arts from FFIX.png|Eiko's Bring Arts.
Mog's ribbon.png|Concept art.
Ffix-amano-mog.jpg|Yoshitaka Amano artwork of Mog with a ribbon.
Category:Add-ons in Final Fantasy IX