************************************** * The Chocobo Manifesto * * ver 1.0 * * by Nick Adams * ************************************** * Send Input or Requests for Newer * * Versions to adamsnb@muohio.edu * ************************************** Feel free to use or distribute this guide, but please don't change it, or use it without giving me credit for my work. ======================================================================== *Preface* If you're like me, you spent a lot of time looking for a reliable cho- cobo breeding guide somewhere on the web. In an attempt to save somebody some time, I've written a guide that actually works. Follow this to the letter, and you'll get a Gold chocobo with minimal irritation. If you find it helpful, write me at adamsnb@muohio.edu and say so. ======================================================================== *Why Should I?* It's not necessary to breed chocobos to win the game, but it's a cool side-quest, plus each special type of chocobo (Green, Blue, Black, and Gold) gives you access to a new cave with special materia, including the ultimate Summon materia. Green, Black, and Gold chocobos also enable you to reach the Forest of the Ancients (near Cosmo Canyon) without defeat- ing the Altema Weapon. ======================================================================== *Needed Materia* First off, it's much easier to get a gold chocobo once you reach disk 3. Here's why: when you return to Midgar at the end of disk 2, once you reach the tunnels that look like subway tunnels, go all the way down. This will take a while, but it's worth it. At the end of the road you will find the W-Item materia, which will make your chocobo breeding much easier. Trust me! Also, it helps to have your Chocobo Lure materia mastered. If you use it to fill an extra space on your armor or weapon during the whole game, this is no problem. ======================================================================== *Chocobo Hunting* Before you start hunting, buy some stalls at the stable. I recommend getting all six stalls (10,000 gil per). When you catch a chocobo it'll be kept in the fenced area outside. You can keep up to four out here for free, but you won't know what rating they have until you move them in- side to the stalls. Actually, the chocobo hunting part shouldn't take you very long. You'll eventually need three different chocobos to achieve your goal. You need to get the first two right away: 1) A Great Female chocobo from the tracks near Mideel. 2) A Good Male chocobo from the tracks SE of Gold Saucer. Be careful; there are several types of chocobos here, but you MUST have a Good chocobo. 3) Eventually, you will also need a Wonderful Male chocobo from the tracks on the North Continent. **Once you catch these birds, be sure to give them names which clearly indicate their rating and gender. ======================================================================== *Greens* Next, go to the Chocobo Sage's house. It's a lone house in a small valley on the North Continent. Talk to him and purchase two Sylkis Greens, the best greens he has. If you're interrested in hearing all that the sage has to say, leave and come back periodically. He'll remem- ber everything bit-by-bit. Now you should fly to anywhere with weak enemies. Make sure to remove any Counter Attack materia your characters might be wearing, as you'll want to leave one enemy alive. Here's where the W-Item comes into play. Using W-Item, select the Sylkis Greens and give them to an enemy. For the second item, also select the Sylkis Greens, but instead of giving them to an enemy, hit X to cancel. This will increase the number of greens you have by one! Con- tinue to select them, then cancel (O,X,O,X,...) until you have 99 of them, then kill the last enemy. Get used to this procedure: it's a good idea to feed 90 Sylkis Greens to each chocobo that you plan to breed. It might be overkill, but it works. Your chocobos will now be maxed out in all areas: Speed, Endur- ance, Intelligence, and Cooperation. This, coupled with racing parents to S Class (explained below) phenomenally increases the chances of get- ting the chocobo you want, as well as making the babies stronger and better. **If you don't want to use the W-Item procedure because you consider it cheating, that's your choice, but it takes a lot of money to buy 99 Sylkis Greens. A good way to get enough cash is to sell off a couple of mastered All materia. ======================================================================== *Chocobo Racing* This part is time consuming, but it makes breeding so much easier! Go to the stables and feed the soon-to-be-parent 90 Sylkis Greens. Next go to the Chocobo Square at Gold Saucer. Talk to Ester (standing to the left) and register the chocobo. You'll start off in C Class, but every time you win three races (I recommend the short race), you'll go up a class. After going through C, B, and A Classes, you'll reach S Class. I HIGHLY recommend feeding all your parent chocobos 90 Sylkis Greens then racing them up to S Class before using them for breeding. **Racing is made MUCH easier if you hold down L1, L2, R1, and R2 the whole time. This will keep your stamina meter from being drained so quickly while dashing, and actually refill while running normally. ======================================================================== *Nuts* When you breed chocobos, you have to use a nut. This nut determines the type of the offspring. As you will be breeding a total of four cho- cobos, you'll need four nuts: 1) Carob Nuts: You'll need three of these. You could buy these from the Chocobo Sage, but it's cheaper to steal them from Vlakorados. To do this, go to the grassy area south of the excavation site on the North Continent. Wander around and eventually you'll fight a red dinosaur-type creature. Steal from him to obtain the Carob Nut. Make sure to do this three times. 2) Zeio Nut: You'll only need to get one of these. To do so, go to the small, forested island in the NE corner of the map. Wander around in the small forest here and you'll fight Goblin, a small creature with boxing gloves. Successfully steal from him to obtain the Zeio nut. ======================================================================== *Breeding* You're finally ready to breed chocobos! Now that you know the basics, this part is easy. 1) After feeding 90 Sylkis greens to both your Great Female and your Good Male, and racing them both up to S Class, save your game. Now go into the stables and tell the boy that you want to breed them. When he asks which type of nut to use, select a Carob Nut. This will result in a Green or Blue chocobo (probably Green). If it doesn't, load your game, but it SHOULD work. Make note of this baby's gender. Feed it 90 Sylkis Greens and race it up to S Class as well. 2) After racing your new chocobo up to S Class, its parents should be able to mate again (if not, try getting into the first materia cave or going through the Ancient Forest near Cosmo Canyon if you got a Green chocobo [To take your new chocobo to another continent, go to the stables tell the boy that you want to ride him. Once on the world map go into the airship as normal; when you get off, you'll be on the chocobo. When you're finished, just ride it back into the stables.]). Save your game and mate the original parents, again using a Carob Nut. This time you should get the opposite color and opposite gender chocobo (if you originally got a Green Female you should now get a Blue Male, etc.). If you don't, load your game and try again, but you shouldn't have to. Feed this baby 90 Sylkis Greens and race it up to S Class. 3) When your Green and Blue chocobos are at S Class and are able to mate, couple them and use yet another Carob Nut. Make sure to save your game first, and load it if you don't get a Black Female. If you do, feed it 90 Sylkis Greens and race it up to S Class (sound familiar?). Also do this with the Wonderful Male chocobo that you caught. It is impossible to get a gold chocobo without racing your Wonderful Male up to S Class! 4) Mate your black chocobo with the Wonderful Male using the Zeio nut to get a Gold chocobo. Once again, save beforehand and load it if you fail, but you should be okay. Congratulaions! You're now the proud owner of a Gold chocobo! ========================================================================