You guys want help with the game ask me in simple questions - I read all of that above but I can't tell if people are helping or hurting

. I finished the game last week, 88% well on my way to 100% in my 2nd game now (up to 94 in chapter 1). I played without a guide except for the dungeon of Via Infinito - 100 level dungeon you'll run into near the end. It's somehwat of a sidestory, but there is 2% of the story line you get there so make sure to complete it - I did and it was a major ***** on the bottom floors.
Anyway, forgive me for answering already asked / half-answered questions. But here I go

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Lightning Towers: Don't worry about them - they attribute 0% to the story line. The only thing you will get is a Garment Grid for completing all 10 (yes there's 10, and #10 & #7 I gave up on) - from what I know of it, it's not a fabulous one so just do it for as long as you can and when you go insane on #7 and #10 you can move on like I did after about 9 hours.
2nd Set of Ciphers: He was mostly correct when he said you get it from the Calm Lands in Chapter 3. When you go to the cave at the bottom of the gorge, the one where you had to go in FFX to find Yojimbo, you'll find that something bad has happened and the Gullwings help is required. One of the gentleman you rescue in here will give you the Besaid Key. With that key you can unlock the Treasure Chest in the Temple of the Fayth on Besaid. In here you'll find the Search Sphere. The Tutorial from the old man in the adjacent room is easy enough to follow and the 4 locations remain the same but the
numbers change from game to game. If you want exactly locations ask, I'll be happy to post them, I just need to go in game and make sure I explain them well enough and don't feel like doing that atm

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