Following the map, from Dragon’s Gate, walk North-East and enter the Qu’s Marsh. The second screen in, you’ll see the pair from Teach Me, Mogster. If you’ve forgotten how to play the game for some reason, he’s who you talk to. Go through the path through the grass behind the pair of moogles. Walk to the next screen where you’ll see a large person walking about. Catch a frog and give it to the creature. This type of person/creature is called a Qu. Give him/her a name (Default: Quina). After the automated scene, go back to the frog pond where we are introduced to a new min-game, Frog-Catching. The object of this game is to catch frogs, just in case that wasn’t clear. You want to catch as many frogs as you can leaving three behind to spawn the next bunch of frogs. A male (smaller, no stripe) a female (bigger, big black stripe) and the Golden Frog. After so many frogs, Quale will come and give you a reward for your trouble.
Quina is your Blue Mage of the game. However it learns Blue Magic much differently than in other games. Quina has to EAT the monster. This means getting the monster down to low HP and using the EAT command. From this chapter on, I will put any new Blue Magic attached to their respective monster in the lists at the beginning of the chapter.
When you’re ready, using your world map keep going North-East over a bridge past a round forest (we’ll hit that later). Follow the river to the mountain and directly right you’ll see South Gate. Inside the South Gate, going right up the root, you’ll find the first of the three rare coffees, Moccha. The water in the stump is a healing spring. There’s also an ether at the corner of the waterfall.
Now is a good time to level/AP grind out on the world map. First equip Quina with the Needle Fork (High Tide 250), Steepled Hat, Glass Armlet (Antibody 20) and Yellow Scarf (Millionaire 100). It’s also a great time to do some Blue Magic Hunting. You should mainly worry about teaching Zidane, Vivi and Quina the Jelly ability and getting Freya up to the best equipment rather than the cheap stuff. Freya should also be on the Coral Ring. And make sure you teach her Undead Killer through the Silver Gloves.
After grinding, now it’s time to enter that round forest we passed up earlier. This is Chocobo’s Forest. We will be introduced to our next mini-game/side quest: Choco Hot-Cold. You pay Mene 60 gil and for one minute you can use the square button to dig around for goodies. You are looking specifically for something called Chocographs. You can find up to 9 on Disc 1. The first one will always be called Streamside. I suggest going ahead and getting all 9. It may take an hour or more but it’s worth it. Included is a map of all the treasures you can possibly find on the Mist Continent. The only two you can get now is the Streamside and Between Mountains but I will include this map whenever we go and find more of these goodies.
At first, Choco will run away but Mene says you can use gysahl greens at chocobo tracks to call him back. There’s a set right outside the forest, by the water. As usual riding on a chocobo means you can’t be pulled into random battles. The good news is this time if you get off, Choco will wait for you right there. Call Choco and head back to the forest to dig up those 9 chocographs. Again this will take a while but it is worth it. Choco also levels up with points from digging up items. Some items are worth more than other items. The deeper the item is buried the more points it is worth and the more valuable it is to you. If it’s buried deep the chances of it being a chocograph are very good. Points also accumulate and Mene has a little Point Exchange Shop. The Robe of Lords if the best item but unless you have no life and a lot of time on your hands, you likely won’t get that high. To check out your chocographs, talk to Choco. Each chocograph has a label. Talk to Choco to take a look at the chocographs, select Streamside.
Do you have all 9 chocographs? Okay, leave the forest by simply walking to the exit. Zidane will automatically leap onto Choco’s back and away we go.
Streamside is very easy to find. It’s located across the bridge on the beach. Inside you’ll find 2 Elixirs, 3 Hi-Potions, 4 Ethers, 2 Germinas Boots. Next hit the triangle and open the chocograph menu to find and select Between Mountains. Return to Dragon’s Gate and ride around the mountain counterclockwise until you reach the spot between the main mountain and a mountain on the peninsula and hit square until you get it for 5 Potions, 5 Hi-Potions, 2 Tents, 2 Cotton Robes.
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| Streamside |
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| Between Mountains |
Alright, time to move on with the plot. Go straight north and you’ll find Gizamaluke’s Grotto between two mountains. Just use the map below or the map included in the beginning of the chapter.
GIZAMALUKE’S GROTTO – Enemies: Hornet, Skeleton, Lamia
We enter the outside of the grotto to find a pair of slaughtered soldiers, much to Freya’s sorrow. Going into the caves, turn left and talk to the dying soldier to get a Gizamaluke’s Bell. Equip the Butterfly Sword and go to the door with the bell on it. Ring the bell, it’ll shatter and the door will open. Inside, you’ll see Zorn and Thorn who will sic two Black Mages (Type A) on you. Use Soul Blade (Zidane’s skill) and with the Butterfly Sword you can hit them with Silence. Clear the room of the Black Mages and win another bell. Reequip the Ogre. You will see three doors. From the left, I will name them 1, 2, and 3. Use the bell on 1 and go through the passage and in the first corner pick up the Bronze Vest then proceed to talk to the next soldier for a third bell. Go back and use 3 now. Walk up and around the stairs and grab a pair of Mythril Gloves on the way up and a Magus Hat under the bridge. Give Vivi the Magus Hat to start him learning Slow (20). Return now to the first room, where you got the first bell. Talk to the soldier’s body again to get another bell. Use this bell on door 2. Approach the big bell in the center of the next room to trigger a short sequence. When that’s done, check the chest for another bell. Go through the door on the right of the screen and talk to the moogles. Use a tent, save, read the letter Mogmi got from Moodon. Talk to Moguta and tell him you like Kupo Nuts. Turn to leave and Moguta will give you the Holy Bell. Use the bell on the other door on the left door of the Chapel. Make sure you’re healed and that you have the Bandit ability equiped on Zidane. Enter the door. We’ll now meet Master Gizamaluke.
We pan back to Zidane and Co. as they are recovering from the attack of Master Gizamaluke and trying to ascertain just what could have caused his madness. We end tonight with the crew leaving the grotto. We will pick up tomorrow with retrieving a few more Chocographs, getting at least one more Blue Magic spell and heading to Burmecia for the Disc 1 Finale of Final Fantasy IX.
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