Promist Ring Detour

Now it's time to buy those Promist Rings. With careful calculations I've been able to determine that having 132,000 gil at the end of the auctions will be enough to get me through the rest of the challenge. I could actually go a bit lower by selling some more things in Esto Gaza, but I decided this was good enough. With my current gil, this gives me target prices of 20,400 for each Promist Ring, 16,000 for the Dark Matter, and 23,000 for the Thief Gloves.

NOTE: If you're going to have Steiner take the experience from Abadon, then you're going to need some more money to compensate for the fact that you won't be doing an extensive training session like the one I'll be doing later. You basically have two choices. You can either increase the amount of gil you finish the auctions with to 170,000 or you can use an extra Dead Pepper to get the mountain crack on the Lost Continent when you go there. The contents will sell for 38,000 gil, making up the difference quite nicely.

In my first auction I bought a Promist Ring and the Dark Matter. I allowed myself to go over budget because it will be easier to make up the difference when I don't have to buy the fourth-slot item anymore. I then equipped the Promist Ring and saved. In my second auction I got the Promist Ring for a price considerably lower than my budget price, so I went ahead and left without getting the Thief Gloves just yet. I got them in my third auction for pretty close to my target price. At this point I was 1,500 gil over my budget, so I adjusted the target price for the remaining Promist Rings. I bought two more rings, equipping one to each member of my party and having one more in my inventory. I then went back to the Blue Narciss and put Eiko in my party, equipped her with the remaining Promist Ring, then switched in Steiner, Freya, and Amarant.

At this point, it was time to do some more Chocobo Hot & Cold. On my very first try I got Green Plains, a Chocograph Piece, a Dead Pepper, and a decent limit bonus, so I was very happy with that. It took quite a while after that to get a good second game but I eventually got a game with Forbidden Forest, another Chocograph Piece, and two Dead Peppers. I need two Dead Peppers at a minimum right now, so having three is nice.

With that done, I ran up to the South Gate entrance on Bohden heights to get the Elixir Card that Steiner couldn't reach earlier, then returned to Treno to buy the rest of the Promist Rings. It wasn't too difficult to buy the rest of them now that I didn't have to worry about getting anything else. I ended up buying the Mini-Cid in my second-to-last auction, but I kept it because the auction went super fast (1:23 save to save), and I got the Promist Ring for about 18,000. This made the last auction slightly more annoying, but it didn't give me too much trouble.

Now that I'm finally done with that accursed auction house I can get back to the story. Before I did that, I made a few more stops. I looted the South Gate entrance below the mist on the Alexandrian side, then dug up the Forbidden Forest Chocograph. I then hopped over to Gizamaluke's Grotto and traded my Kupo Nut for an extension. After that, I hit both sides of North Gate, getting a good view of the rainbow only visible there on disc 3. With all the gates looted, I climbed the mountains again to dig up the Green Plains Chocograph, then swam across the ocean to reach the Black Mage Village. The scenes there didn't take long, and then I was off to Kuja's secret palace. I saved next to the quicksand with a time of 07:50:25.

Chocobo's Lagoon and Catoblepas

Now it's time to get some essential Chocographs. I followed the roundabout way you have to take to get to Chocobo's Lagoon and got the Dawn Lagoon Chocograph in my first game. I then saved and went back in. I decided not to insist on getting a Chocograph and Chocograph Piece in the same game because it's so difficult at this point. Instead I played a game and got a Chocograph, then immediately played another game without saving and got the Chocograph Piece. On my way back to the Blue Narciss I selected Dawn Lagoon and checked to make sure I had Dusk Plains.

When I got back to the Blue Narciss I sailed over to the Chocobo tracks by Chocobo's Forest and called Choco again. (On one attempt I got a random encounter on my way to these tracks, which was really annoying.) I went and dug up Dawn Lagoon for the mountain transformation, then ran over the mountains to Treno and entered. I ran to Mogrich, equipped Vivi with the Running Shoes and activated Auto-Haste, then saved.

With that done, it was time to take on Catoblepas. I used Vivi because I no longer have a Needle Fork. According to the Battle Mechanics FAQ, Vivi's Stop should have a 16% chance of working against Catoblepas, which is slightly better than the Needle Fork. However, Stop takes a few seconds longer due to the spell animation. With Catoblepas defeated, I unequipped Zidane and Vivi and purged my inventory of things I don't need. I bought a Coral Sword and sold all of the following except where noted:

Remedy
Antidote
Soft
Magic Tag
Tent
Mage Masher
Multina Racket
Mythril Rod
Stardust Rod
Ritual Hat
Mage's Hat
Headgear
Feather Hat
Mythril Gloves
Chimera Armlet
Mythril Armlet
Leather Wrist
Oak Staff
Ice Staff
Lamia's Flute
Golem's Flute
Healing Rod
Silk Shirt
Magician Cloak
Survival Vest
Cotton Robe
Magician Robe
Mythril Armor
Desert Boots
Glass Buckle
Madain's Ring
Coral Ring (all but one)
Yellow Scarf (all but one)
Gold Choker
Fairy Earrings
Angel Earrings
Cachusha

With my backpack much lighter, I saved once more in preparation for buying Promist Rings. I now have 355,319 gil and my time is 07:19:15.

NOTE: I forgot that I still had things equipped to my other characters that could have been sold. If you sell more than I did here, you will need to adjust your target gil amounts accordingly.