ultima

Having trouble getting Ramza to learn the Ultima spell? You're not alone. It's quite an accomplishment to learn Ultima, especially early in the game. There are 3 opportunities to teach Ramza Ultima, so you'd better jump on one of them, or go without one of the game's coolest spells.

Step 1: Learning the spell
There are 3 battles in which to aquire the Ultima spell, and it's hard to even survive most of them, let alone learn Ultima in the proccess.
The first time you can learn Ultima is the second hardest time to do it. You've got to get one of the Assassins, Celia or Lede, to cast it on Ramza; add to this equasion that Ramza's job class MUST be Squire. You'll be lucky if they'll cast it at all, let alone on Ramza. Anyway, all you have to do is get hit by it and survive the attack. Sounds simple, right? Well, it's incredibly hard to do. By the time they cast Ultima, your party is likely to be weakened to the point that they won't be able to survive the 100-200 HP infliction. If they do cast it on Ramza and he lives to tell his tale though, then good for you! You won't have to strive though the later battles to learn the elusive spell. It will be hard to get them to cast it, though. Since they both have far more powerful attacks, it will be rare for them to cast Ultima. Ultima is their longest range spell, so if you're out of range for the other two, but in range for Ultima, you'll likely get lucky. Just make sure you don't knock either Assassin down to critical level, or they'll both teleport away to saftey, ruining your chance (this time) to learn the spell.
The second opportunity to learn Ultima is the battle right after the first opportunity: and it's the hardest this time. Celia and Lede are back, along with their blood-sucking friend, Marquis Elmdor. Rembmer him? He tried to kill Rafa. Anyway, once again you've got to watch out for knocking Elmdor down to critical HP. If you do, all 3 enemies disappear, and you'll have to wait a while to learn Ultima. But, there's good news: If you kill either one of the Assassins, they'll change into Ultima Demons. No more Stop Bracelet or Shadow Stitch! Plus, both of these new enemies are able to and commonly do cast Ultima. Stay out of range of Elmdor, and stick close to one of the Ultima Demons. It's hard in this battle, because Elmdor can use Blood Suck, a move that causes you to loose control of one of your characters. They'll attack the closest person, who is usually Elmdor when they first turn vampiric for nearly 120 HP. This could mean death for Elmdor, effectively ruining your second chance to learn Ultima.
The third and final time for you to teach Ultima to Ramza is the battle when you must fight Ramza's elder brother, Zalbag. He can also do Blood Suck, and if he dies, so does every other enemy in the room: including the one Ultima Demon. If you can get the Ultima Demon to use Ultima, then you'll finally have learned it.

Step 2: Making good use of Ultima.
It may or may not be worth making Ultima into a powerful attack, depending on how much you like Magic Defense. When you first get Ultima, it will seem very weak: 60-80 HP damage at the most. You'll have to raise Ramza's Faith up to damn near 100 for it do do the 100-200 it so deserves. This also would mean that Ramza would be very prone to getting seriously hurt by Magic attacks. It it means that much to you to make Ultima powerful, then you'll need to have a Mediator use the Pray Faith on Ramza many times during battles. It will raise your Faith 1 point for every time the spell is sucessfully cast on Ramza. It will take a while, but keep at it: it'll be worth it when Ramza can finally do an extremly powerful attack from long range for only 10 MP.