Final Fantasy X Tip Guide Things

Chosenminecraft · June 16, 2014

OK. So I generally consider myself a PC gamer but when Final Fantasy X HD came out I did need to pick it up. The original game was my childhood. I still have it on the PS2 and I have the save files and everything. Best game Ive ever played. Period. There are a million guides on this game but I'm doing something a little different. Instead of telling you how you SHOULD go through with things I am going to tell you how I did it because as we all know, there's a difference between how you should do things and how you actually do them

Chocobo Race Survival Guide

You want to give yourself a lot of time and prepare to hate yourself and the game for a long time here.

Tip 1: Bird hitboxes.
Even after the bird seems to disappear the hitbox for the bird is still there till the bird is COMPLETELY gone. The birds are also able to hit you and the trainer at the same time. I had problems with the bird disappearing at the end of the track. looks will deceive you here as the bird will look like its gone but it really isn't gone. The bird hitting you and the trainer will most likely happen right after the first turn where you go on the first half of the long stretch.

Tip 2: Getting ahead of the trainer.
You want to do this. It will save you from more raging than you need. When the races start you don't want to go after any balloons to the left side. (Where the trainer is) Unless you are in front of her. Then when the first turn comes in she will most likely pass you. After she does (it happens about 80% of the time) you NEED her to get hit by a bird and you ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT get hit by a bird. This will save your bacon in the next stretch.

Tip 3: Birds and Balloons.
The birds and balloons have slightly larger hitboxes than the models will suggest. And the birds will hit you if they're swooping down from their spawn point. (This happens mostly when your about halfway through the second stretch. The bird spawn will back up to the final turn instead of the middle of the stretch.) The birds will also rotate who they target. It goes every other, so for example, say the trainer gets ahead of you on the first turn. You will see 4 birds spawn. Bird 1 and 3 will go after the trainer and bird 2 and 4 will go after you. If you get ahead of her you will have a bit of free time since the spawn order went from her to you since she was in front of you. so bird pair 3 will go after her and if you do this right you should be able to get to the middle of second stretch before your birds spawn. If you manage to make it there your spawn will be skipped since your bird's spawn point is backed up to the eastern wall by the Monster Arena and Remiem Temple. So collect as many balloons as you can here. You know how the trainer says that birds add 3 seconds and balloons take off 3 seconds? That's almost true. Balloons do take off 3 seconds but birds however add a total of about 4.8 seconds. Since you get stunned buy a bird when it hits you you will also have that time added on as well. It adds about 1.8 seconds when you get hit. Dodging birds is more important than grabbing balloons. Unless you are able to grab 2 or 3 and get hit by 1 bird (Since the other will despawn if its a bird that is meant for you)

Tip 4: Controller.
This may sound weird but its how I got it done on both the PS2 and the PS3, use your thumbs on the D-pad to maneuver your chocobo. I had my right pinkie on the top right part of the controller. And my middle 3 fingers on the top middle of the controller. then my right thumb on the right button on the D-pad. My left hand was in a normal positioning for the D-pad. I had a weird hold on the controller where I held the left side up but rested the hand grip on the right half on my bed. You want to keep the left side elevated so you dont accidentally move your chocobo due to you just moving around.

Tip 5: Chocobo Positioning.
You want to make sure you do NOT grab the first left balloon at the beginning of the race. Its a trap. You will regret doing so. You want to pick up 3 or more balloons in the first section. (I got 5 when I beat it but that was luck so don't count on getting 5. You will most likely get 3 or 4). You will want to generally stay to the right on the track since the birds spawn towards the left side of the track ESPECIALLY when going to the second turn. if you hug the right "wall" (more on that in a bit) you can snag up a few more balloons here. I highly recommend doing so because their basically freebees since their is no bird spawning. You CAN get hit by the trainer's birds. Stay out of their way. I had the word wall in in quotes earlier because their is no real wall. There is an invisible one that when you go near it you will have your chocobo veer off in the opposite direction in a 90 degree angle. Most likely into a bird. Avoid the "wall", You will thank yourself for it. Also you will most likely hit a bird in the last section in the track by Mt. Gagazet. This is normal and you will more likely hit one here than not.

Tip 6: Staying Sane
OK OK. I know how hard this is to do here so ill put it to you straight. Its harder than all balls. From bird stun locks to accidentally weaving through the balloons instead of picking them up to getting stuck behind the trainer then being stun locked and I'm not even going to begin my rant on the horrid controls. Finally to the text that will make you feel like a dick no matter what option you pick. Believe me. Ive raged at them all. Hard. My advice here is to give yourself about 30 minutes to an hour of warm up time. Some time to regain the feel of the game and to remember how to move your chocobo correctly and not mess up over and over in time. During the warm up period you will be god awful at it. Its normal. dont allow yourself to really think you are able to get this until you get AT LEAST 30 minutes of non stop play. Don't take breaks. I know that this goes against keeping you sane but I'm serious. It takes a LOT longer to get it done correctly if you take breaks. Patience is key. (I unfortunately have almost none so this was the hardest part). When I finished I had 14 balloons and 0 bird hits at a run of about 37 seconds. Most people will go 14 and 1 (The bird at the very end). Hopefully this helped someone and attempted to minimize the raging that you have (99% of you will still do it. Even if you have the patience of a god). If you survived the suffering, congrats. You earned a bronze trophy and a part of you had most likely died.

Lightning Dodging Rage Less Guide

It seems like when Square used to make Final Fantasy games they wanted people to give up on life in order to get the best things. I like that. Keep it up, but similar to the Chocobo Race with the trainer this is also very difficult (if you have a hard time staying consistent like me). The objective this time, instead of trying not to throw your controller at a giant lovable bird, is to dodge 200 CONSECUTIVE lightning bolts. This is fairly easy if you dont let your nerves get a hold of you (I am terrible with that. That is why I still only have 123 out of 200 consecutive bolts dodged).

Tip 1: The Crater.

In the Thunder Plains you can find craters all over the place that are filled with water. The one we are looking for is not however. It also does not have the "classic crater shape" to it either. When you are traveling north from Macalania if you look at the minimap you will see the path offset to the right a bit. Go to the top left corner right before it offsets and you will see the no water crater (the one you are looking for) and 3 other little ones in front of it and to the left of it. there will be 2 of the little craters fairly close together and one a little farther out. What you want to do is to go to the waterless crater and as soon as you step in it there will be a GUARANTEED lightning strike.

Tip 2: Decisions.

No matter if you dodge the first strike or get hit by it you will also be guaranteed at least 1 more strike a few seconds after the first. Or you can circle the

2 closer craters and go back to the waterless one for another strike. I personally did the 2nd option because it gave me more control of when the strike hit.

Tip 3: Timing.

ALWAYS give yourself a little time to get used to the timing of the lightning strike and when you need to press X to dodge. Especially with the input lag of the Dualshock 3 controller, you will want to get used to it. NEVER jump the gun. The game is FAR more forgiving if you go a little late rather than too early.

Tip 4: Silence, my brother.

Please do yourself a favor and mute your TV/Vita. You will really appreciate this in the long run. Since there is thunder when lightning strikes you and the general ambient thunder you will want to mute your TV and just use your screen flash as the indicator of when to press X. Music is optional but it can distract you. So do at your own risk.

Tip 5: looking around.

People argue this but I found it to help. Don't stare right at Tidus. I personally looked at the little craters when I got near them and when I got close the the big one I looked slightly behind him near his feet. Its debatable if this does anything at all but it helped me out so... yeah...

I am also open to suggestions on what to add. Please let me know if you think of something.