Final Fantasy X owned by Square Enix.
Images used for educational purposes only.
Highroad - South End
- There's a Save Sphere on the left side of the road when the cut scenes come to an end. Access it to trigger Blitzball as a menu option.
- After a tutorial battle that tells you how to use Auron in combat, you'll start running into random battles on the Highroad. Most of the enemies here are straightforward. The only exception is the Bomb, which boasts high HP and will do a ton of damage via Self-Destruct if you hit it three times without killing it. Lulu's Blizzard spell is the go-to weapon for dealing with these without taking excess damage.
- A man in a blue shirt walks the Highroad, usually stopping near the stairs where you entered the area. He'll give you a Hunter's Spear.
- Another man, this one in yellow, will give you a Hi-Potion.
- North of the Save Sphere you'll find a girl with pigtails, on the right side of the road. She'll give you two Antidotes.
- Also north of the Save Sphere you'll find a man in green. This is Maechen, a wandering scholar who will provide you with info about the world in general. He'll appear sporadically throughout the remainder of the game; talk to him if you wish to learn more about your surroundings.
- Continue north and Maechen will tell you more. Once he's done chatting about the ruins on the side of the road, enter the ruins and check the rear wall to find a message in Al Bhed. (Come back later for a full translation.) Behind the ruins is a chest containing an Ice Brand.
- Carry on up the road. A cut scene will ensue with a few more recurring characters.
- Near the end of this section of the Highroad you'll see a clearing to your right. Here you'll find a woman named Belgemine who will challenge Yuna to a one-on-one summoner battle. She'll bring out Ifrit, forcing you to use Valefor. Fortunately, this isn't a difficult battle either way; just freeze Ifrit with Blizzard and use Shield the rest of the time. If you can get into this fight in Overdrive you'll also be able to whomp Ifrit rather quickly. You'll win an Echo Ring for defeating Belgemine.
- Continue north to leave this section of the Highroad.
Highroad - South
- Run east. You'll find Elma, one of the chocobo knights, in a small clearing nearby; in a chest beside her is a Remedy.
- Running up and down the road is a Crusader. He'll give you a Fire Ring.
- Shortly after a brief cut scene, you'll see a blitzball just sitting around. Kick it for some fun with a nearby kid.
- Nothing else to be seen here. Continue east.
Highroad - Central
- A Crusader in purple on this section of the Highroad will give you a Lv. 1 Key Sphere. These Spheres allow you to destroy locks on the Sphere Grid and access skills and attribute boosts which are normally out of bounds for your characters.
- Another Crusader, this one in yellow, will give you four Antidotes.
- Follow the road north. Before you reach the cart in the distance you'll find a clearing to your right. In it is a chest containing 2,000 gil.
- Before you reach the cart you'll also encounter another Crusader in yellow. He'll fork over 600 gil.
- Approach the cart. It will move away. Look to the left of where it was to find a Crusader in green. He'll give you an Ether.
- Past the cart and within view of a green sign you'll see a woman on the side of the road. She'll give you a Hi-Potion.
- On the right side of the road, opposite the previous woman, you'll find a small meeting of repeat characters.
- Further up the road you'll see a woman and a man speaking. The woman, Shelinda, is another recurring character. Poor, goofy Shelinda.
- At the end of the road, near the entrance to the next screen, is a chest containing three Eye Drops.
Highroad - Agency
- After a quick cut scene you'll wind up in Rin's, an Al Bhed shop. Save to restore your HP.
- Maechen's in here. Huzzah!
- The woman at the desk will sell you items and weapons. A Shimmering Blade purchase for Auron isn't a bad idea; otherwise, you'll probably skip most of the weapons. Just sayin'. You may also wish to grab a Map while you're here, though they're hardly compulsory.
- Go outside for a long cut scene.
- Once you're back inside, approach the door. A man will stop you and give you a Lv. 1 Key Sphere. Keep trying and another man, Rin himself, will stop you - and hand over the Al Bhed Primer Vol. VIII. After you hear a noise outside, Rin will give you two Mega-Potions.
- Save the game and go outside. Boss time!
BOSS: Chocobo Eater
This is a tricky boss, but only if your intention is to beat it. (Sounds strange, but you'll understand in a moment.) The Chocobo Eater is a rough-and-tumble ice-based creature which will typically hit you with physical attacks. Either it will attack once for normal damage, 'tag' a character on one round and then do extreme damage the next (you'll know this is coming when it say 'You're next!'), hit everyone for moderate damage, or cast Blizzard on a single character.
Sound easy? There's a trick to this fight. Your party and the Chocobo Eater are sandwiched between two cliffs, and it's possible for either side to get shoved off of the cliffs. The battle ends when one side or the other is shoved off. You push the Chocobo Eater back by knocking it onto its back with over 1,000 HP of damage and then dealing another 500 HP on top; the Chocobo Eater pushes you back with its all-hitting sweep attack. There are three possible outcomes:
- You get shoved off the cliff. The battle ends and you wind up in a small valley. You'll have to walk back.
- You kill the Chocobo Eater. Rin rewards you with a free chocobo ride.
- You shove the Chocobo Eater off the cliff. Rin rewards you with a free chocobo ride and two Lv. 1 Key Spheres.
So long as you've been keeping up with your Sphere Grid upgrades, this fight isn't too bad. Start by using Dark Attack on the Chocobo Eater to blind it, then Power Break to reduce the damage dealt when its hits do get through. Bring out Lulu to cast Fire over and over, and have Tidus cast Haste on her to maximize her number of turns. So long as you're hitting consistently the Chocobo Eater won't spend much time off of its back, and you should be able to shove it off the cliff within a handful of rounds. If you can't be bothered with that approach, you can also bring out an aeon (Valefor is great here with her high evasiveness) and largely ignore the whole shoving thing.
- If you beat the Chocobo Eater you can now rent a chocobo for free, which I recommend. If you lost, you'll have to backtrack to Rin's Travel Agency and rent one for 1,000 gil. Either way, this next section of the walkthrough will assume that you're on the back of a chocobo, as you can't reach several treasures in the next area without one.
Old / New Road
- Follow the road north. Just after crossing the bridge you'll come to a turn in the path. On this turn is a barely-visible chocobo feather. Touch it while riding a chocobo to leap up to a chest containing a Heat Lance.
- On this same screen you'll see Maechen and Shelinda. South of them, on the side of the road, is the Al Bhed Primer Vol. IX.
- One screen north of these two you'll come to a gate. Ignore it for now and check the chest beside the two kids on the left side of the screen for two Hi-Potions. Take the south-eastern path out of this screen.
- Run south one screen. You'll be in a thin valley corridor. Run south, watching the left side of the valley wall. You'll soon see a yellow feather. Interact with it to reach a Thunder Blade and a Scout.
- Run south another screen. You'll now be in a large valley with the chocobo knights. Follow this path all the way south until you find a Save Sphere and O'aka. Waaaaaay at the end of this path, where you would've been pushed off, is a Mars Crest.
- Just north of O'aka, on the right side of the path, is a small side path. Go down it and interact with the chocobo feather on the ground. This will boost your chocobo up to a Fortune Sphere.
- That's enough chocobo hunting. Run to the northern area with all the carts and dismount. You can save, talk to Dona and Barthello, and check out the cart in the north. Do the last and the cart will move.
- You can't get past here, but speak to the soldier in blue and red, under the structure. He'll ask for donations to Operation Mi'ihen, whatever that is. 100 gil will earn you a Scout; 1,000 gil earns you an Ice Lance; 10,000 gil earns you a Moon Ring. You can earn these items multiple times if you pony up the dough, but they're not really worth getting more than once (and the Moon Ring isn't worth 10,000 gil period).
- Leave the structure and a cut scene will get you past the barricade. After quite a hefty trip, you've managed to get past the Highroad! Woo!