keskiviikko 4. syyskuuta 2013

IN DEPTH GUIDE - Gold Chocobo without Racing

Let's begin blogging by reviewing the most popular Final Fantasy VII guide of my channel. The video has been watched over 60 000 times and liked by more than 1000 people. Before proceeding on to the review, let's mention that I am not the mastermind behind this method; all credit goes to BrutalAl. I just happened to create a simple step by step video guide of this method and it got really popular.


Prequisites
The question that I am most frequently asked is "Does this method work when Cid or Cloud is in the lead?". Yes. You can get a gold chocobo right after you get Highwind and buy the chocobo stables, which means the earliest possible moment is when Tifa is the leader of the party. The video has been recorded exactly at that point. So basically that means you can cast Knights of Round against Ultima WEAPON in Mideel! (Note that you cannot defeat him yet. Even if you dealt enough damage, he would escape and have 1HP left the next time you encountered him.)

The method - why and how does it work?
The Gold Chocobo without Racing -method takes advantage of the Random Number Generator (RNG) of the game, particulary the Chocobo breeding RNG. To use it to our favour, we must know how to manipulate it and which values we want to get.

We also must know the difference between "soft" and "hard" reseting. Soft reset, which is never used in this method, means pushing L1 + R1 + L2 + R2 + START + SELECT. Soft reseting does not change the value of the RNG (that is if you soft reset and reload the same file). Hard reset means either pushing the "reset" button of your console or completely turning the console off. The RNG value resets back to 0 when you save, perform a hard reset, and reload the file.

There are also other things that affect the RNG value and can be manipulated. Entering the Chocobo Ranch field screen raises the value by 2. Feeding one Krakka Green to any chocobo increases the value by 1. Also spending time in the ranch field screen, moving chocobos from the pen inside the stables and breeding chocobos affect the RNG value. In this method you must avoid spendig time in the field screen. The RNG value raises from 0 to 2 when you enter the field screen and run inside immediately - being too slow makes the RNG raise from 0 to 3, and that will mess up everything. That is why "running inside as fast as possible" is mentioned often.

"You are guaranteed to get a Gold Female" - but why?
You have caught a Wonderful Chocobo from Icicle Area (you know that it is a Wonderful one because it appeared with one or two bunnies) and a Great Chocobo from Mideel (appeared with Spirals). Their genders are not decided until you move them inside the stables from the pen. So, bring the RNG value to 0 by hard reseting the game and reloading. Run inside the stables very quickly to make sure the RNG value stays at 2. If you move in a Great Chocobo at RNG value 2, it will always be a female. It will also make the RNG value raise to 6, at which moving in a Wonderful Chocobo will result in it being a male.

At this point you must hard reset the game to bring the value back to 0.

Now that we know that running inside quickly raises the RNG value from 0 to 2, we can be certain that the RNG value is at 2 when we talk to Choco Bill. We also (somehow) know that at RNG value 3, with a Carob Nut, a Great Female and a Wonderful Male will always breed a Blue Female. To get RNG value from 2 to 3 we simple need to feed one Krakka Green to any Chocobo.

The two chocobos can't mate again immediately, so you need to go out and fight 6 random battles. You can fight more if you want, but that is the minimum requirement for the two yellow chocobos to be able to mate again. After that hard reseting and reloading will bring the RNG value back to 0.

Running in will raise the value to 2. We know that at RNG value 52, with a Carob Nut, a Great Female and a Wonderful Male will always breed a Green Male. To get the RNG value to 52, you must feed 50 Krakka Greens (52-2=50) to any chocobo.

Now you must fight 8 random battles to make the newborn Green Chocobo to be capable to mate. Save and hard reset to bring the value back to 0.

Run in to get the value to 2. At RNG value 7, with a Saraha Nut, a Blue Female and a Green Male will always breed a Black Female. To get the value to 7, feed 5 Krakka Greens to any chocobo. You are getting to understand this method now, ya?

Now you must fight 3 random battles to get the Black Female ready to mate. I have been reported that sometimes it requires more than 3 battles (after 3 battles Choco Bill says the Black Chocobo is not reasy to mate). If that is the case, fight more battles, usually 4-5, to get her ready. Save, hard reset and reload.

Time for the final step. Get the value to 2 by running in. Feed 6 greens to any chocobo to get the value to 8. At RNG value 8, with a Zeio Nut, a Black Female and a Wonderful Male will always breed a Gold Female. And that's it. By keeping track of the current RNG value and... somehow... knowing the correct values we managed to breed a Gold Chocobo in no time!


Now you know how the method works. Every RNG value has its own result when breeding two chocobos. By experimenting and trying different values one would be able to breed a Gold Male as well. EDIT: At RNG value 182 you should get a Gold Male

Thanks for reading! Have fun with your Gold Chocobo!
- YGTFF

All credits to BrutalAl!