Essentially, the steps must be followed as shown, and there cannot be any number of those weapons or shields in the player's inventory: * The player must enter a battle with a monster with the preferable steal item * On the options screen, the player must have the "active battle" option selected. Edge should target an enemy and have him select the Sneak command. * The player must quickly enter the item menu with the character they want to equip the weapon/shield with. If the player entered the item selection screen before Edge stole the item, it won't be grayed out, even if the character wouldn't normally be able to equip it. * The player can just select the item, and scroll up to the equip screen and the character will be able to equip it.