The Calm Lands is a huge open area, and you can find a few of the game’s side quests here.
One enemy to keep an eye on in this area is the Malboro, which can be very dangerous.
It has access to the Bad Breath attack, which can inflict many negative status effects on your entire party.
Any armor you have that resists negative status effects will help a lot (Confusion and Berserk resistance are particularly useful so you don’t lose control of your characters).
Use Al Bhed Potions to help recover from the attack if it’s used, and take it down as quickly as possible.
Kimahri can also learn Bad Breath as a Ronso Rage from Malboros by using Lancet on one.
Head down the ramp, then make your way to the southeast part of the map to find two chests containing 5,000 gil and 10,000 gil. Then, make your way to the camp in the center of the area. You will see a cutscene here, and will be able to buy weapons and items if needed. If you do not wish to do any of the side content in the Calm Lands or find any more items, you can make your way to the northeast section of the map and skip to the ‘Defender X’ portion of the walkthrough.
Just north of here you should find a woman on a chocobo.
She will tell you that you can’t ride her chocobos because they’re not trained.
If you offer to train one, you will start the Chocobo Trainer minigame. (See the section below).
If you complete the first part of this, you will be able to ride a chocobo throughout the Calm Lands.
Chocobo Trainer Minigame
This minigame consists of trying to control your chocobo to reach the finish line within a time limit, while also avoiding obstacles. There are four total stages to this minigame, but you will only be able to access one at first. The four races are: Wobbly Chocobo, Dodger Chocobo, Hyper Dodger Chocobo, and finally Catcher Chocobo.
Wobbly Chocobo
Wobbly Chocobo does not involve any obstacles — in this one your goal is to keep your chocobo moving as straight as possible to reach the finish line quickly. Completing it will earn you an Elixir, and the ability to ride a chocobo around the Calm Lands.
Dodger Chocobo and Hyper Dodger Chocobo
In contrast, Dodger Chocobo will have you dodge blitzballs while you are trying to make it to the finish.
Meanwhile, Hyper Dodger Chocobo will add seagulls on top of blitzballs, but they will mostly act the same way: flying into your face and stunning your chocobo on hit, hurting your chances of finishing the challenge on time.
Catcher Chocobo is the final stage of the minigame, and it works differently than the rest. Here, you will race against the chocobo trainer, trying to beat her time. While running through the course you will have to grab balloons you spot on the way: these will lower your finish time. At the same time, you will have to avoid seagulls, which will increase your time if you get hit. Beating the trainer will earn you a Lv. 3 Key Sphere.
Catcher Chocobo — Extra Challenge
There is an extra challenge you can complete in Catcher Chocobo, where you can attempt to finish the race with a time of 0:00. This is arguably one of the hardest things to accomplish in the game and will likely take some practice, but completing it will earn you the Sun Sigil.
While there is some luck involved, there are some ways to give yourself a better chance at reducing your time, and you can find a more detailed breakdown of this challenge in Tidus’s Celestial Weapon guide.
When you’re done with Chocobo Training, make your way south of the camp, and you will find Belgemine for another Aeon challenge. As with the other fights, she will heal your Aeons before the battle begins.
Shiva
Shiva shouldn’t give much of an issue, as you will be able to summon Bahamut against her. After you summon him, use physical attacks or Firaga (or use Mega Flare if you have an Overdrive ready), and she should go down quickly.
In addition, whether you win or lose, you will gain the Aeon’s Soul from this challenge. Theoretically, this will allow you to increase your Aeon‘s stats in a way similar to teaching them new abilities. However, this is a very inefficient way to make your Aeons stronger, since their stats improve much more effectively from battles and from leveling Yuna (meanwhile, it could cost around 30 Power Spheres just to increase their HP by 100). It’s a bit of a waste of time, definitely a huge waste of your spheres, and is not recommended to use.
If you gained access to riding chocobos from the Chocobo Trainer minigame, there is a bonus temple location you can find here. Head back to the beginning of the area and head east until you reach the end. There you will find a chocobo feather to jump across. Walk down the pathway once you land to reach the Remiem Temple.
Remiem Temple
In this area you will be able to find an additional minigame, as well as a side quest. Note that you cannot complete the side quest at this time, so you can wait until later to do it. Either way, make your way to the west side of the temple to pick up the Al Bhed Primer Vol. XXIV.
There will also be a sphere on the ground which will explain the Chocobo Challenge minigame, which you can begin on the east side of the temple. If you want to start the minigame and the side quest now, you can check out the side quest section of the walkthrough. (For full details on what you can earn at the temple, as well as tips on how to win the chocobo race, you can check out our dedicated Remiem Temple guide.)
Otherwise, leave the area and get back to the main Calm Lands.
Monster Arena
Head northeast and, near the top of the map, you will see an area to the east. Here you will find the Monster Arena, which is another side quest you can start now. For full details on how the side quest works, you can check out the Monster Arena guide.
If you do decide to start the side quest, it is recommended that you buy weapons from the shop here for your physical attackers, since they have the ‘Catcher’ passive. This will allow you to slowly make progress on this quest throughout the rest of the game: just make sure you finish enemies off with a physical attack while having these weapons equipped in order to capture them (Overdrives will not count).
When you’re done here, leave and head to the northeast corner to go to the next area and continue the story. Continue north to initiate a boss fight.
Defender X
The boss has two main attacks: Blast Punch, which will hit a party member for half of their current HP (meaning this attack cannot kill you), and Haymaker, which is a powerful physical attack that targets one character. He can counter attacks with Blast Punch.
Have Tidus use Provoke on it — this will cause the boss to only use Blast Punch (so it won’t be able to kill you). Use Armor Break and Mental Break with Auron, and have Lulu use -Ga level spell do deal damage quickly.
When Defender X gets under 10,000 HP, it will cast Mighty Guard on itself. This will make it take less damage from all attacks. Just keep using the same strategy, and the fight will go smoothly.
After the battle, there is another bonus area you can go to from here, if you go down the pathway on the right. However, if you want to just continue the story, head north and skip to the next part of the walkthrough.
Gorge Bottom
After you get into the area, you can go to the left from here — it will take you to the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth. You will be able to find an optional Aeon here. However, you will need at least 200,000 gil or so to recruit him. If you have the gil and want to get him now, you can check out the Yojimbo guide for more details.
Head to the right and go down the path until you reach the end. There you will find the Rusty Sword laying on the ground. This item is required to obtain Auron‘s Celestial Weapon later.
There’s nothing else in this area, so go back to where you fought Defender X, and head north to proceed to the next area.
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KainHighwind27
I'm a huge gamer who especially loves the Final Fantasy series. I will play just about any game, especially if it has anything resembling a Dragoon.
