Quick note: Before you enter this area, make a trip back to The Hideaway. You can now purchase new equipment, notably a Bastard Sword. Get one and upgrade it with some Meteorites so you're ready for the battle to come. it's a bit of a doozy.
Upon entering The Eye of the Tempest, no less than a cyclone generated by Garuda, Clive is promptly separated from Cid and Torgal by flying debris. He's also given a chance to face off against the hooded man he's been tracking... though, uh, something significant keeps getting in the way. This area is a straightforward walk through terrible weather, so just enjoy the visuals. Reach the end, and...
Garuda
The monster contained within Benedikta - and Clive, to an extent - Garuda is no joke. She's an enormous, four-winged monster who makes her host look like a wimp. Garuda starts the battle using the following attacks:
- A single-claw wing slash
- A two-claw wing grab
- A wing sweep
- A leg sweep
Garuda's attacks hurt, and knock Clive for a loop, but her great size makes it easy to spot and avoid them all. Whenever Garuda rises up a bit off the ground and goes still you know she's about to attack, and a sideways dodge is typically enough to get past all of her potential attacks. Garuda keeps her head low to the ground during this phase, and although you can damage her entire body you'll hit harder if you aim for her head.
Get Garuda's health down far enough and you'll issue both a Takedown and, eventually, a full Stagger. You'll receive a little tip here to use Deadly Embrace when this happens. Doing so when facing Garuda's head is highly recommended, as bopping off of her skull and spinning will inflict a ton of damage. Keep doing it until she gets up again.
Once you Stagger Garuda she'll start using some new attacks:
- Aerial Blast, which after a second generates several tornadoes to try and catch you if you're not standing in a clear zone
- An attack associated with Aerial Blast that leaves behind exploding land mines of magic
- A series of three ground-pounding wing smacks
- Tornado, which creates a cyclone that follows you around the arena while Garuda tries to hit you normally
- Periodic land mines that appear on the field throughout the rest of the fight
- An improved leg sweep that generates an extra wind shockwave as Garuda attacks
This sequence is far more dangerous than the first, thanks in large part to the added magic effects. It can be difficult to track Garuda's physical attacks, the land mines, any active tornadoes, and the shockwaves from her leg sweeps. The leg sweep shockwaves always come straight for Clive, regardless of positioning, so that makes this segement extra fun.
For the most part you want to, where possible, ignore the magic exploding all around you and try to focus on Garuda. Make note of anything in your immediate vicinity, then look away from the flashy special effects and watch Garuda's movements, strafing to the side so you don't get caught by anything. The vast majority of the time avoiding Garuda's physical attacks will also get you away from her magic. Give up on the offensive once Garuda uses Aerial Blast and focus instead on circling her until she stops.
Eventually you'll be forced into a few Cinematic Strikes and a Cinematic Clash, and Clive will finish Garuda off with one decisive stab. You'll receive a bundle of Sharp Fangs for defeating Garuda... though, ah, you're not done battling her just yet.
After a sequence of terrific cut scenes you'll be facing off against Garuda as... well, let it be a surprise. You have three familiar moves - Melee, ranged, and dodge - as well as a lunging attack similar in range to Phoenix Shift, though not as fast. Garuda uses the following attacks in this fight:
- A charging attack
- A combo of claw swipes
- A long-range Wind blast
- A cluster of smaller Wind blasts
- Tornado, which generates a cluster of large tornadoes that move slowly towards you
- Aerial Blast, an AOE Wind attack that strikes you multiple times if you're caught in the blast zone
A large chunk of this battle is cinematic, especially near the end, but you do need to perform some grunt work. In general you want to be aggressive with Garuda, as you'll otherwise never get close enough to hit her. Your ranged attacks won't hit all that often, but they can goad Garuda into sending attacks your way. You can use the lunge attack to zip right through them, take a small amount of damage, and then slam into Garuda. Pound the Square button to shift into a punishing combo. So long as you can stay reasonably close to Garuda you shouldn't have any trouble taking her down.
You'll receive a Wind Shard, Wyrrite, and Meteorites for defeating Garuda a second time. What follows is one of the coolest collections of cut scenes ever to appear in a video game, and it'll be a while before you regain control of Clive. Enjoy!