 |
| Final Fantasy X owned by Square Enix. Images used for educational purposes only. |
Main Walkthrough
Calm Lands - South
- After a quick cut scene you'll have a full run of the Calm Lands. To your right is a dead end; to the left is the ramp down onto the vast plains. On the way down you'll meet Maechen, who rambles on about the usual historical info. You'll also meet a chocobo rider who will guide you back to the entrance of the Calm Lands if you get lost. (Trust me, it's not as easy as he says to get lost.)
- At the bottom of the ramp you'll be approached by an Al Bhed who will sell you things, courtesy of Rin Travel Agency. His wares are expensive, but they're also pretty awesome on average.
- Speaking of Rin's, travel there now. His outlet is sitting smack in the middle of the Calm Lands, beside a Save Sphere on your map. You'll watch a brief cut scene before being able to interact with the shopkeeper. Afterward, check around the rear of the shop for a chest containing a Lv. 2 Key Sphere.
- You've probably noticed by now that the Calm Lands are enormous. Annoyingly enormous. You'll take forever getting across them on foot. Fortunately, there are chocobos to be ridden out here - you just need to train 'em first. Go northwest of the Travel Agency and look along the cliff edge. You'll find a chocobo rider who says she needs some assistance training chocobos. Agree to help her and you'll enter a Chocobo Racing minigame. Complete the basic course and you'll have a chocobo to ride, as well as an X-Potion or an Elixir for a prize. Complete the other courses and you'll have the potential to get a whole lot else, as well. More on Chocobo Racing on the sidebar. Either way, help her once and you'll have a chocobo to ride around. This makes the Calm Lands much more tolerable to navigate.
Chocobo Racing
Wobbly Chocobo. The first course gives you a chocobo with terrible controlling. You have to guide it to the end of the course in the allotted time, no other strings attached. Not too difficult - just don't let your chocobo veer off too much to either side. Rewards are an X-Potion or an Elixir.
Dodger Chocobo. Your chocobo now runs in a straight line, but some mystery force hurls blitzballs at it. Getting hit by a blitzball will stop your chocobo for a second or two. Start your chocobo off at an angle so it sweeps past the line of blitzballs, then angle back the other direction when you hit the line of balloons. Keep doing this until you hit the end of the course. Rewards are Lv. 1 Key Spheres and Mega-Potions.
Hyper Dodger Chocobo. In addition to exploding blitzballs which hit an area, your chocobo now has to dodge birds that home in on it to a small extent. The best way to tackle this challenge is to veer sharply to the left and right whenever an obstacle is incoming. Your turns won't be so graceful, but you should be able to get past both blitzballs and birds to claim the prize. Rewards are Lv. 2 Key Spheres and Ethers.
Catcher Chocobo. Race time. The trainer will zip across the Calm Lands with you in a bid to collect balloons and avoid birds. Your ultimate goal is to come in under 45 seconds, but the balloons you collect will shave three seconds off of your final time once collected. Birds that hit you will add three seconds. Consequently, if you manage to collect balloons along the way while avoiding all the birds, you can end this race with a potential zero seconds. I can only recommend a lot of practice, as this minigame is really annoying. Rewards are Lv. 3 Spheres and Turbo Ethers, and if you manage to hit that elusive zero seconds mark you'll win a Sun Sigil.
- Follow the cliff's edge south of the chocobo trainer. You'll quickly come across an item on the ground - Al Bhed Primer Vol. XXIII.
- Ride north of the chocobo trainer. Along the northern edge of the cliff you'll find a small path that you'll have to personally walk down. At the bottom is an emblem set into the wall. Bring the Sun Sigil and the Sun Crest here and this emblem will open, granting you the Caladbolg, Tidus' celestial weapon.
- Ride back south. Southwest of the Travel Agency, in a small crater, you'll find Belgemine. She's ready to fight, as usual, and will bring out Shiva to test Yuna. With Bahamut on your side, this battle is pretty easy - just whittle her down with normal attacks and use Mega Flare when feasible. Upon winning you'll earn thirty Power Spheres and the Aeon's Soul, which allows you to upgrade the stats of your aeons. Handy.
- Ride along the edge of the massive scar in the north of the Calm Lands. You'll receive a little history lesson when you find someone here.
- To the northeast is your destination. Before going there, however, check the eastern wall for a small location worthy of note: the Monster Arena. Using weapons bought at the arena you can capture monsters and return them here to battle for prizes. The Monster Arena is noteworthy enough that it deserves its own article. (Eventually.)
- All done? Not yet. Climb back on your chocobo and ride it back to the entrance of the Calm Lands. Go left at the branch this time and you'll find a chocobo feather. It'll catapult your ride onto a nearby ledge...
Remiem Temple
- Oooo, this place is fancy. Start by crossing the huge bridge leading to the Temple. Once you're standing in front of it, skirt around the western side to find a chocobo standing near a gate. A little ways down from this chocobo you'll find the Al Bhed Primer Vol. XXIV on the ground.
- Also here is a sphere on the ground. It will tell you of a chocobo riding contest wherein you must race another chocobo down to the very bottom of the Temple. Along the way you can open treasure chests; the more you open, the better your prize will be at the end. The first time you race you'll earn the Cloudy Mirror, no matter how many chests you open. Subsequent prizes are detailed below.
| Chocobo Racing Chests Opened |
Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | Elixir |
| 2 | Megaelixir |
| 3 | 30 Wings to Discovery |
| 4 | 30 Pendulums |
| 5 | Three HP Spheres |
- Enter the Temple after mucking about with chocobos. Belgemine's inside, and she'll challenge Yuna to one last aeon contest. Think you have what it takes? Hopefully so, because this fight is a bit different from the previous battles. You're still facing Belgemine's aeons one at a time, but they're a fair bit stronger than normal. Even her Valefor at this point can probably take down your Bahamut. If you beat these aeons you will win prizes, noted in the sidebar; nevertheless, it's probably wiser to come back later and fight her. If you manage to beat all of Belgemine's aeons, you gain the option to do... something (spoiler)... to her. Do it and you'll earn the Moon Sigil.
- Valefor - 4 Lightning Gems
- Ifrit - 30 X-Potions
- Ixion - 10 Chocobo Feathers
- Shiva - 60 Mega-Potions
- Bahamut - Flower Scepter
- Yojimbo - 8 Shadow Gems
- Anima - 60 Stamina Springs
- Magus Sisters - 40 Shining Gems
- Behind Belgemine is a sealed door. If you manage to collect one more aeon, you'll be able to unlock this door. We'll come back to it on a return trip, as it's not possible to open now.
- Enough mucking about. Return to the Calm Lands and head north. You'll ditch your chocobo automatically as you approach the northeastern exit. Cross the bridge beyond and you'll hit a cut scene, after which you'll wind up in a heck of a battle. Hope you used that Save Sphere!
BOSS: Defender X
This battle is either very easy or very hard. Defender X has three attacks: a normal physical attack, Blast Punch (cuts your character's HP in half), and Haymaker (does a ton of physical damage). All three are terrible, and even a normal attack is enough to take out weaker characters - say, Lulu - in a single hit.
The hard way to win this fight is simply to duke it out. Use magic and Auron's Armor Break to pound away at Defender X's HP while Yuna heals and casts Protect on the party. Though Defender X is apt to kill a character each turn, it can only take out one per turn. Tidus with Haste (or possibly Hastega, at this point) can maximize the number of turns before Defender X gets to go and keep you well ahead of its assaults. Painful, but not impossible.
The easy way to win is to have Tidus use Provoke on Defender X. This seems an unwise move, considering all of its attacks will now be focused on a character whose defenses are passable at best, but Provoke mucks with Defender X in a great way - it will thereafter only use Blast Punch on Tidus. Since Blast Punch cuts Tidus' HP in half, he will, theoretically, never die. (Or not for a long time, anyway.) That leaves your team open to pound on Defender X until it crumbles. Seemingly a bit cheap, but nobody said you had to fight fair.
- After beating Defender X, you have a choice. Either press northward, across the bridge, and make your way to Mt. Gagazet... or head down into the valley, as Lulu quietly indicates. We'll go down into the valley first and see what's down there.
- You'll find a few Crusaders roaming the next screen. Start by heading east along the narrow passage of the valley; near the end, by a training Crusader, you'll find a Rusty Sword sticking out of the ground. Yes, it's actually useful.
- Run back to the Save Sphere you passed earlier. Beside it is a cave with obvious significance to Lulu. Head inside.
Cavern of the Stolen Fayth
- One thing to note about this place, before you enter. Every now and then you'll run into monsters known as Magic Urns. Unlike other fiends, Magic Urns will reward you with prizes for defeating them. The catch? You have to strike the correct eye on their urns. The eye is determined randomly, so there's no way of knowing if you're going to hit the right eye or not. If you choose wrong you'll take damage, and given the odds (and the prizes) they aren't really worth the bother. You especially don't want to Steal from Magic Urns, as they'll Self-Destruct and likely kill your whole party.
- Proceed inward. Take the first right off the beaten path to find a chest. Inside is a Megaelixir.
- Continue. Past a small cut scene room you'll come to another crossroads. To your right is a chest containing a Lv. 2 Key Sphere; to the left you'll find yet another crossroads. If you carry on north you'll find a chest containing a Fortune Sphere. To the west...
- ... yeah, more crossroads. There's a chest sitting in plain sight here which contains two Mega-Potions, and if you take a left you'll find the Al Bhed Primer Vol. XXV sitting on the ground. To the right is a Save Sphere... and beyond that...
BOSS: Yojimbo
Is that an aeon? Fancy. Yojimbo is a surprisingly simplistic boss, and his attacks do very little damage. The main thing to watch out for here is his Overdrive, Zanmato, which will deal 9,999 HP of damage to all of your characters. This is, needless to say, an instant kill. You can avoid this by substituting in an aeon to take the hit before Zanmato goes off on your party... or, y'know, by beating Yojimbo before he reaches Overdrive.
- After the battle you'll find a teleport pad. If you jump into the chamber to the west you'll find a chest containing a Flexible Arm, while if you jump into the chamber to the east you'll find a chest containing two X-Potions. Leap northward to reach the Chamber of the Fayth.
- Thought all your aeons would be free? Hardly so. Yojimbo's fayth doesn't care about prayers, he wants cash. To earn Yojimbo's services you'll have to pay him 250,000 gil... or perhaps less. You can bargain with Yojimbo, offering less money to see if he bites. If you bargain correctly (don't go less than half of what he wants) he'll lower his price. Go too low, though, and he'll outright reject you, forcing you to start again. With some luck and wise offering you can bargain him down to around 190,000 gil in exchange for his services... though if you're willing to triple what he's asking for, Yojimbo will toss in two Teleport Spheres as a thank-you. Considering how important money is to Yojimbo in determining which attack his aeon will use, you may want to come back here after you're fighting in areas with enemies that drop more cash.
- Return to the previous chamber and use the teleporter. It'll zip you back to the entrance. Run out of the valley and you can proceed to Mt. Gagazet.
Part Sixteen: Mt. GagazetMain Walkthrough