Final Fantasy IX Walkthrough

Written by Shotgunnova

Contributor

1.7: Back on the World Map

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The Festival of the …

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Gizamaluke's Grotto

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Enemies: Ironite, Ladybug, Serpion, Vice, Mandragora, Hedgehog Pie, Axe Beak, Carve Spider, Bomb, Gigan Toad (A), Clipper

Treasures: Wyerd, Tent, Gysahl Greens

The festival completed, a one-rat envoy from Burmecia will suddenly arrive and tell of bad news in that country. Everyone will want to set out immediately. Some events take place and the current lineup will be: Zidane, Vivi and Freya. After the 'feast' is done, Freya suggests heading to Gizamaluke's Grotto, the under-mountain roadway to Burmecian territory. Stock up on equipment in town (sorry, no price reductions like normal holidays) and try to get setup something like this (optimized for new skills + defense):

	Zidane	Freya	Vivi
Weapon	The Ogre	Javelin	Mage Staff
Headgear	Headgear	Iron Helm	Headgear
Arms	Glass Armlet	Bronze Gloves/Mythril Gloves	Glass Armlet
Body	Leather Plate	Linen Cuirass	Cotton Robe
Accessory	Yellow Scarf	Coral Ring	Glass Buckle

There's a new character coming up too, so turn on spoilers if you want to prepare ahead of time.

Use the castle's elevator and take it to the 'Base Level' where there are two trolleys. Detour on the one that goes to "Serpent's Gate," because at the station one can find a chest with a

Wyerd; then, go to "Dragon's Gate," from which we can exit to the world map. A moogle (Moonte) can be found here and gets a letter from Stiltzkin. A pirate-looking man sells items here, too. There's a hidden

Tent chest around this tiny area, obscured on the right side of the door.

Optional: Pinnacle Rocks
Accessible from Lindblum Plateau (exit Lindblum through Hunter's Gate), this road is essentially the tail-end of the woods. You can't access the rest of the area because of cliffs, but at least you're able to make off with the Elixir and Phoenix Down by the creek's head. There's a report of a geezer's ghost 'round here, also… More on that later. More

Optional: South Gate
You may recognize 'Bohden Arch' from the ATE "Baku and His Crew." Remember that Cinna wanted to make coffee and all the fixin's, but got yelled at? Search by the natural spring to find the Moccha Coffee key item, part of Morrid's coffee sidequest. Marcus also left an Ether by the bridge, which you can reclaim as your own. Because there is a natural spring here for easy-access healing, this location is a prime source for grinding levels – Ironites and Mandragoras appear right on the doorstep, practically. More

Optional: South Gate

You may recognize 'Bohden Arch' from the ATE "Baku and His Crew." Remember that Cinna wanted to make coffee and all the fixin's, but got yelled at? Search by the natural spring to find the

Moccha Coffee key item, part of Morrid's coffee sidequest. Marcus also left an

Ether by the bridge, which you can reclaim as your own. Because there is a natural spring here for easy-access healing, this location is a prime source for grinding levels – Ironites and Mandragoras appear right on the doorstep, practically. More

Optional: Chocobo's Forest
Enter Chocobo's Forest to find Choco the Chocobo and Mene the Moogle. He will give Zidane a Gysahl Greens item to catch Chocobo on world map footprints (such as the ones conveniently just outside the forest). Use the greens at that location and summon Choco; then, ride him into the forest. Mene will then allow you to play the "Chocobo Hot & Cold" minigame where Choco digs up items… for 60 gil a pop. This is mostly chump change, but you can dig up 'chocographs' that show portraits of the world map where items are buried. Choco can, in turn, dig 'em up for sweet, often rare items. The following chocograph key items can be dug up so far (pre-Gizamaluke) with ones possible to get on disc one listed with their rewards - I will refer back when you can pry open some new treasure chests. For now, there are two available (Streamside and Between Mountains); keep a lookout for updates throughout the walkthrough as more chocographs become available or the complete Chocobo Guide a gander for more information and a complete listing. Oh, and Mene will sell Gysahl Greens (80g) apiece. Buy some! Note: This gate will remain open until you've completed Gizamaluke's Grotto. After that, you will not be able to get back to use the trolley to get back to Lindblum (although the Dragon's Gate will remain open). More

Optional: Chocobo's Forest

Enter Chocobo's Forest to find Choco the Chocobo and Mene the Moogle. He will give Zidane a

Gysahl Greens item to catch Chocobo on world map footprints (such as the ones conveniently just outside the forest). Use the greens at that location and summon Choco; then, ride him into the forest. Mene will then allow you to play the "Chocobo Hot & Cold" minigame where Choco digs up items… for 60 gil a pop. This is mostly chump change, but you can dig up 'chocographs' that show portraits of the world map where items are buried. Choco can, in turn, dig 'em up for sweet, often rare items.

The following chocograph key items can be dug up so far (pre-Gizamaluke) with ones possible to get on disc one listed with their rewards - I will refer back when you can pry open some new treasure chests. For now, there are two available (Streamside and Between Mountains); keep a lookout for updates throughout the walkthrough as more chocographs become available or the complete Chocobo Guide a gander for more information and a complete listing. Oh, and Mene will sell

Gysahl Greens (80g) apiece. Buy some! Note: This gate will remain open until you've completed Gizamaluke's Grotto. After that, you will not be able to get back to use the trolley to get back to Lindblum (although the Dragon's Gate will remain open). More

Enemies of the World Map: Ironite, Ladybug, Serpion, Vice, Mandragora, Hedgehog Pie
In Lindblum Plateau: Axe Beak, Carve Spider, Bomb
In Qu's Marsh: Serpion, Gigan Toad (A),
Around Qu's Marsh: Clipper, Serpion

Before we progress the story, however, there is an optional detour that I highly recommend, to the point that we won't even mark it as optional here!

Qu's Marsh is where you can get the semi-optional character, a Qu who's a Blue Mage of sorts (learns action abilities from enemies). I say semi-optional because this person is only optional for the moment - you will have to get him/her later. And, yes, it is genderless.

Make your way north of Mogster to find a pond where a strange creature's walking around a frog pond. When one of the frogs nears the shore, move Zidane over and try to catch it. When you do, talk to the stranger, to whom you can rather suddenly assign a name [Default: Quina]. There's a quest about marsh frog-catching, which can be done in part now (getting you a better robe in the process!).

Quina's master scolds her (him?) and asks that s/he join your party to experience the world. She will come with literally nothing equipped, though, so hit up Lindblum to help amend that. Anyway, Quina needs to use the 'Eat' command to learn magic from critically-injured enemies only (HP is below 25% max) so here's a list of monsters to get nearby:

Enemy to Eat	Location	Blue Magic Learned
Bomb	Lindblum Plateau (forests)	Mustard Bomb
Serpion	Qu's Marsh world map region	Mighty Guard
Axe Beak	Lindblum Plateau	Limit Glove
Carve Spider	Lindblum Plateau	LV3 Def-Less
Ironite	South Gate world map region	Angel's Snack
Vice	South Gate world map region	Vanish
Axolotl	Qu's Marsh world map region	Aqua Breath
Gigan Toad (A)	Qu's Marsh (interior)	Frog Drop
Hedgehog Pie	Qu's Marsh region, in forests	Pumpkin Head

Note that there is often more than one monster from which you can learn a particular skill, but some monsters are preferable to others - why eat Mandragoras if Axe Beak are available, for instance. If you've already learned a blue magic from a monster, using Eat on it again will have no additional effect.

Gizamaluke's Grotto is in the north, and should be marked on the world map (press select twice). Note that as soon as you enter, you will not be able to get back into Lindblum for quite some time! So it's not a bad idea to grab the items lying around the Pinnacle Rocks and the South Gate. Doing some chocographs in the Chocobo Forest for an equipment advantage ain't a bad idea either…