Part 66

P-P-Princess!!! What have you done!?
I know! Zidane broke your heart, didn't he!? How dare he-
I-I-Is that true!?
Whoa, hold on. Don't jump to conclusions!



!?
Dagger! You can talk again?
Yes... I'm sorry I made you all worry.
It's okay, but your hair... It was so beautiful.



Oh, no. You look great!
Thanks, Eiko.
It's still too early to celebrate...



Yes, Ipsen's Castle on the Forgotten Continent!
That's right. We'll go there to find out how to enter Terra through the 'Shimmering Island.'
I'm sure we'll find out more about what's going on once we reach Terra.
Yeah... And hopefully, we'll learn about what Kuja wants to achieve...



You can also press (X) on the bright spots on the map, and the ship will take you to those locations automatically.



We can "fast" travel to any point on the map now, which is a bit convenient.



Please let me know if you'd like to switch out your party members! I shall assist you in any way that I can during your journey.
You don't have to be so formal. Let's just relax and enjoy our flight.



Dagger has a new portrait to match her new hair style.

Party doesn't really matter for right now.





Our new airship opens up the rest of the various Disc 3 sidequests, and of course it's a giant fucking airship with sweet music that we can use to see the world. It's really good stuff.



Unlike the Blue Narciss, all party members are available to talk to throughout the ship.



Dagger's finally moved on, focused on the future after Kuja is defeated.



Eiko's still grieving Mog in her own way. It's still a recent loss, after all.



Steiner's thinking of the future of his country. His home is always the foremost of his thoughts.



Quina likes food.





Freya ponders about her own home nation, and how it might have fared if circumstances were different. Freya never really knew how much she loved her nation until it risked falling completely.



Vivi's just happy to take a break from the daily misery and woe life constantly inflicts him with.



Amarant's still too cool for this shit.



We'll get this a little later.



I end up rolling with the women since they kinda need the most AP and because Zidane, though I don't really get in any battles with this group anyway.



Because top priority is to finish up Chocobo Hot & Cold. There's no new Chocographs, but the last two Chocograph Pieces are available.



But you need to stop! I'll go out of business if you keep going, kupo! I'll give you special bonus if you'll just quit now!



I lucked out on my first run and found eight items, which prematurely ends the round and gives a point bonus based on how much time is left.





There's one...



...and the last one!



They make up one Chocograph now, kupo! Take a look at what it says on the back. Go treasure hunting, kupo!



Five of the six chocograph pieces actually have hints as to where to find the last site for Chocobo Hot & Cold. I'll explain it more in a bit.



Because first, we have to find this chocograph.





Guess what time it is!







You can take off and land in any forest.







Choco can now fly! This actually lets us access a couple islands that the airship cannot land in, though Choco can only take off and land in forests and is generally a little slower than the airship.

Apparently in early versions of the game you could unlock the Gold form earlier, letting you skip Oeilvert, Desert Palace, and Mount Gulug. Of course, this means Dagger stays depressed and you miss out on a rare Pumice Piece, among other things.



We can now access this Chocograph.



It's on an island north of the Outer Continent.



11 Sapphires, another Pumice Piece, a Hilda Garde 3 card, and the Circlet. The best hat, it nullfies Earth damage and teaches Clear Headed and Jelly, abilities your party should've learned long ago already.



That's all the Chocographs we can find so far, so let's talk about the last area. Five of the Chocograph pieces have clues as to where to find this area. One's on the Mist Continent, one on a peninsula on the Outer Continent, one on the Forgotten Continent, one in the archipelago south of the Forgotten Continent, and one pretty much in the middle of the map. Its location is random between these five areas, so you'll have to do a bit of searching to find it. The good news is once you do find it, it'll show up on your map so you don't have to waste time finding it next time.





Once you find this shadow, use a Dead Pepper to fart your ways upwards.





Welcome to Chocobo's Air Garden, our final site for Chocobo Hot & Cold.



Say... Did you notice, kupo? This island is floating on clouds.



Ground is pretty firm. What strange place, kupo.
You're the strange one, Mene...



This area sucks to play in.





There are two separate land masses that Chocographs may be in. You could very well travel back and forth between the two, so generally if you're farming points this is a bad place to do it.



There are three Chocographs here so we do need them.

There's also one other important thing hidden here, but I'm going to wait until Disc 4 to tackle it, because that thing happens to be the game's superboss and, uh, I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle it quite yet.



I think you're ready to go to the unmapped Chocobo's Paradise! Choco wants to go, too, kupo! Try using the Dead Pepper! That's what I think...

We'll do so in a minute. First, let's finish this minigame off by finding the final three Chocographs.





This one is on another remote island off the Outer Continent.



21 Amethysts, 16 Garnets, Genji Armor, and Ragnarok. The Genji Armor boosts Magic and teaches Body Temp and Accuracy+ (Attacks never miss), which are handy. Meanwhile, Ragnarok is Steiner's best sword in the game that doesn't require beating the game in twelve hours. 30% chance of inflicting Slow, teaches the bugged Thunder Slash (instead of dealing large thunder damage, it deals 19% of a target's max HP with 0% accuracy) and Shock (roughly a regular Knight Sword attack except the Attack stat is tripled for base damage and Spirit isn't added in for bonus damage). Since Steiner's big thing is shitting out large damage, this is a nice grab.





This next island is also off the Outer Continent, southwest this time, and is quite large. There's something else important here, but I'll save it for the next update.



33 Potions, 15 Annoyntments, a Dark Matter card, and the Holy Miter. This mage helmet boosts Spirit and Magic and teaches Body Temp and Insomniac. Just a regular helmet we can get early.



This last island is off the Forgotten Continent.



Nothing new (besides the Ark card but who gives a shit about cards), but the items are still solid. 13 Amethysts and another Ribbon and Rebirth Ring. Again, those latter two have some really nice perks, with the Ribbon giving nice elemental resistances/absorptions and buffing Magic, while the Rebirth Ring boosts Holy damage and has the highest Spirit boost in the game, really nice if you're trying to level up the very useful Spirit stat.

And that's it for Chocobo Hot & Cold! We have found all Chocographs now and every Dead Pepper spot except one that only shows up in Disc 4.



All that's left is to find Chocobo's Paradise, and it happens to be right here, in this unmarked island that's in the corner of the world map.



One Dead Pepper later...







Mene!? When did you get here?
Kupo! I followed you because I thought you'd find this place soon. I'm speechless, kupo...



The chocobos aren't very talkative right now.







It would have been better if you'd come here without the help of humans...but they have taken good care of you.



Kweh.







K-Kweh?
I'm Mene! I'll live here, too, kupo!
...Little one. Only chocobos can live here.
...No exceptions?
No exceptions...
...Choco...
Have you finished your goodbyes?



Choco, were you not looking for peace and companionship? Are there things you must take care of?
...Kweh.







Yeah, Choco can't join paradise quite yet because of that one pesky treasure we'll have to wait to find.





This area is mainly around to give hints to all the Dead Pepper locations. You know, the ones with really good loot that I used a walkthrough to find early.



You can also max out your Dead Peppers here, which would be handy if I already didn't have more than I'd ever need.





Use these abilities and seek out the treasures. I'll wait here for your return...



To talk to the blue chocobo, we have to climb up and take a waterslide to land on it, scaring it out of the water.



This is our first hint to Mognet Central.



Kwok, kwek, kweh. (But it's very hard to find.)



Anyway, we could access this area with a Mountain Chocobo, but it's not like we can do anything with this place yet anyway, so whatever.





Really, the only reason to come here now is to listen to FF9's version of the Moogle theme, which made its first appearance in FF5 (but is likely best known from FF6).



This is the central hub for moogle delivery.





Though it's kinda under right now due to a malfunction.



I only did it because it makes my coat so soft and shiny...but after I used it all up, the gears started to grind...

We'll have to come back to this later.



Last thing we'll tackle today is Quan's Dwelling. If you have Vivi and Quina in your party at this stage of the game, you get a cool little scene.





What's wrong, Quina? You just came out of nowhere...
You no smell? Something smell wonderful...
No, my nose doesn't work like yours does...



Wh-What happened!?
I-Is amazing, Zidane! Is miracle!
?







I not know where to start! What I eat first?





I-Is sooo good!





Is delicious!!!





Hey, Quina...
I no eat anymore...
Oh, man...



Oh, what happen!? Feast is gone...



I-Is not true! I saw with own eyes!
But you were just running around...



Hey, Quina! Geez...







-----



Wh-Who you!? You the one show me illusion!?



Is illusion only if you see illusion... You saw because you travel around world.
Wh-What you mean!?



Master!? What you talk about!?
He my former master! He run away and escape training!



What!?
To eat everything not true way of gourmand! Your student already start to realize!



I-I not know... But it taste like real food!
Is all good... You travel around the world and gain imagination. People who have no imagination no taste until they actually eat!
Mmm!?
You use imagination, is possible to taste all food in world! It no matter if it story somebody else tell. Is possible to eat with your imagination!
......
H-How did Master's master learn to do this...?
Is because...

FADE TO OCEAN SOUNDS





Is thanks to Vivi I learn about imagination...



Grandpa...
To eat same as to live... Vivi, you understand?



Life end when you die. But imagination share with others, live forever. My spirit almost gone. Is where my imagination end...
No... Are you going away again, Grandpa?
No need be sad... Vivi, as long as you imagine, I by your side.







What?







You no see, ZIdane?
See what? I saw you guys talking into space.



Never mind, Zidane. I'll tell you about it some other time.
?
Let's get going! There are still so many things to understand!
Y-Yeah...

To summarize, Quina decided to eat through the power of imagination, which allowed Quina to experience a massive imaginary feast until they got imaginarily full. Then Quina, Quina's master Quale, and Vivi talked to a Qu apparition and held a four-way conversation with it using the power of imagination. Zidane could not see this because he does not have as strong imagination as a golem and two weird frog things that eat a lot.





Oh yeah and there's a pair of shoes in this clock, but that's completely normal at this point.

Next time, we'll check out a new town and catch up on a few old ones maybe.