To start raising chocobos, you first have to complete the "Clean Sweep"
optional mission in the Calm Lands. This mission is available during either
Chapters 2 or 5, depending on whether you gave Clasko a ride on the airship or
not. Once you’ve completed the mission, Clasko will set up a Chocobo Ranch at
the former site of the Monster Arena in FINAL FANTASY X.
•How to capture chocobos•
Once Clasko has set up shop in the Calm Lands with his Chocobo Ranch, it’s up to
you to capture chocobos to fill it up. Clasko will give you a variety of chocobo
greens. The majority of them are for raising your chocobo, so the only ones you
need to be concerned with at this juncture are Gysahl Greens.
Chocobos show up in random battles in different parts of Spira. The main areas
they can be found are Besaid, Kilika, the Mi’ihen Highroad, Macalania Woods, the
Bikanel Desert and the Calm Lands. You may have seen them earlier in the game,
most likely running away shortly after a battle begins. Once you have Gysahl
Greens, however, the mood changes. Most chocobos get downright nasty and attack
you during battle. To chill them out, feed them Gysahl Greens from your
inventory. After you’ve eliminated all of the enemies in a battle, feed the
chocobo more Gysahl Greens and you’ll have yourself a new chocobo. They will
automatically end up at Clasko’s Chocobo Ranch.
You can keep up to 14 chocobos in the Ranch at one time, 4 active Choco-Runners
and 10 Choco-Reserves. If you want to get other chocobos, you have to release
one from the ranch first.
•Treasure hunting with chocobos•
So you’ve captured chocobos and filled the ranch, what’s next? That’s where
Clasko comes in. The main purpose of the chocobos in this game are for treasure
hunting in various locations all over Spira.
There are three different chocobo personality types: Normal, Timid and Bold.
Certain personality types work better in certain locations. Chocobos lose
"Heart" when they go out treasure hunting. The harder they have to work in a
location, the more heart they lose. If they lose all heart, they’ll run away.
Sending a chocobo with the proper temperament to a certain location will
increase the chances that they don’t run away. Also, the more chocobos you have
in your stable, the less likely it is that they’ll run away. Here is a list of
treasure hunt locations and which personality type works best in each location:
Besaid – Normal
Mi’ihen Highroad – Bold
Djose Highroad – Bold
Thunder Plains – Timid
Bikanel Island – Timid
Mt. Gagazet – Normal
Kilika – Timid
Mushroom Rock – Bold
Moonflow – Normal
Macalania – Normal
Calm Lands – Bold
Zanarkand Ruins – Timid
•Raising Chocobos•
When your chocobos return from treasure hunting, they’ll be low on Heart. You
always want to have full Heart for your chocobos before sending them out, so
it’s wise to feed them. You can restore lost Heart to 100 with Pahsana Greens.
Your chocobos start out at level 1 when they first arrive at the stables. Select
the "Raising Chocobos" option if you wish to feed them greens to raise their
level. The level a chocobo is at determines how much and what types of treasure
they’ll bring back to you. The highest level chocobo available is level 5.
Any time you are running low on greens, check in with Clasko. He gets a fairly
steady supply of what you need. All you have to do is fight a few battles and
he’ll get more in stock. Raising your chocobos up to level 4 requires various
amounts of both Pahsana and Mimett Greens. To level your chocobos up to level 5
you’ll need a more rare green called Sylkis Greens. Clasko stocks those too, but
they’re harder to come by for some reason. The best thing to do is go to the
"Nutritive Greens" option and change the ratio of green distribution so that
you’ll receive 100% Sylkis Greens for a while. Once you have enough, say around
200, go ahead and switch the green distribution ratio back to normal.
•How to find the secret dungeons, the Fiend Colony and the Ruin Depths,
through chocobo treasure hunting•
Besides the treasure you obtain from your chocobos, there is an added benefit to
sending them out hunting. There are two hidden dungeons that you’ll be able to
explore that can only be found by your chocobos. Both hidden dungeons become
available during Chapter 5. Their locations are as follows:
The Fiend Colony is located on the Oldroad section of the Mi’ihen Highroad near
the save point. You must send out a level 4 or 5 chocobo to the Mi’ihen Highroad
and back for this dungeon to become available.
The Ruin Depths are pretty much located right under your nose: the entrance is
in the back end of the Chocobo Ranch. It’s getting the entrance to show up
that’s the trick. You need to send out 3 chocobos of each level on treasure
hunts. It doesn’t matter which locations you send them to, as long as 3 chocobos
of each level get dispatched and come back. (You can also dispatch the same
chocobo 3 times.) Once you’ve sent out the last group, return to the Ranch and
Clasko will tell Yuna about the hidden area of the Ruins.
The unfortunate thing about both of these secret dungeons that your chocobos
have found is that they don’t have a map in the upper-left corner. Just follow
these walkthroughs and you’ll do fine.
•Fiend Colony at the Mi’ihen Highroad•
This is the easier of the two dungeons to navigate through, but that doesn’t
mean it will be a cakewalk. There is a series of walls that will block your
progress. No worries, though: remember those bombs you’ve been getting from
battles, the S-Bomb, M-Bomb and L-Bomb? Hopefully you didn’t use too many in
battle, because this is where they’ll really come in handy. Press the square
button next to the wall you want to blow up and select which bomb and how many
bombs you want to use. On average, most of the walls in the Fiend Colony will
take 5 or 6 S-Bombs to blow up, although a couple will take as many as 30. To
conserve your bomb inventory, switch between using S-Bombs, M-Bombs and L-Bombs.
Each bomb does a different amount of damage to the walls. Oh, and if you run out
of bombs, don’t worry: the enemies in the cave drop them on a regular basis.
Generally, if you’re looking for a wall that can be blown apart, wander around a
wall slowly until you see a breeze hit Yuna’s skirt. That indicates that there’s
a passage on the other side.
From the entrance, go up until you reach the first wall. This wall takes 6 small
bombs to blow up, so use whatever combination of bombs it will take to blow it
up. Keep walking up to the next wall and blow it up as well. Walk until you
reach a 4-way intersection. Walk left and blow up the wall. Follow the path and
make a right at the next intersection. Follow the path to the wall and blow it
up. Walk to the intersection and you’ll see a series of treasure chests. Ignore
the chests, as they are not only empty but will prevent you from progressing
should you decide to open them. Walk past the chests and blow up the wall. Walk
up, stand in front of the left wall and blow it up. Follow the path as it turns
right and keep walking. The wall you need to blow up to proceed is along the
right wall toward the end of the corridor. As you get close to the dead end,
keep an eye out for a breeze. Blow up the wall and walk right. Walk up to the
next wall and blow it up. This wall will require a lot more bombs than usual to
fall. Blow it up and keep walking to the intersection, where you’ll turn right.
Walk to the end, make a left and blow up the wall. At the first intersection
make a left and hop across the stone to the other side. From there, hop across
the next ledge and keep going until you reach the wall. Blow it up and walk to
the next wall. This wall will also take lots of bombs to bring down. Once you’ve
taken it down, walk up and you’ll encounter the boss of the Fiend Colony, "King
VERMIN!" Defeat it and your work here is done.
•Ruin Depths at the Calm Lands•
Once you’ve entered the Ruin Depths, proceed straight past the first and second
intersections. Hop across the stones and follow the path to the end, where
you’ll turn right. You’ll then make an immediate left, go right and take another
immediate left. Hop off the ledge, take the path to the other side and climb
another ledge. Hop across the stones to the other side and open the wall up.
There you’ll find the Boss of the Ruin Depths, the Anything Eater. Defeat it and
you’ll be able to proceed through the rest of the dungeon.
You’ve opened one of 5 sub-gates in the Ruin Depths thus far. To complete your
exploration of this dungeon and get an "Episode Complete" standing for the area,
you have to search the dungeon for ways to get to the other 4 sub-gates. After
opening a sub-gate, go to the back wall and that will open up for you as well,
allowing you access to a back row behind all the sub-gates. This will enable you
to more efficiently explore the dungeon. Once you’ve opened all 5 sub-gates, go
to the middle of the back row to open the main gate. Behind it is…a chocobo!
Seems anticlimactic, doesn’t it? Don’t worry: the real (read: useful) treasures
you’d want to explore this dungeon for are a manual for repairing the Experiment
at Djose Temple, the Key Item Machina Reactor for Rikku’s Special Dressphere,
and the AP Egg, an accessory that enables your character to get triple the
amount of AP during battle.
