[Snowball]

I don't know if this is an actual quest or not, since I have had a look around the FFXl sites (allakhazam.com, somepage.com e.t.c) and cannot find it listed.
Anyway, I was just in the Choco stables in Windy woods speaking to the NPC who asks you to return the choco to either one of the stables in each of the cities.
I know that it varies with each of the choco NPCs you talk to, and you return to a different city at a different time of day. But on this occasion, it was the elvaan NPC in the middle who asks you to take the choco back to the stables in South Sandy.
So I agreed to take on this task and try and return the choco to said city.
Here's the route I attempted to take.
Starting off at East Sabby, (Sabby for short. I'm too lazy to type its full name ) I went from there onwards to......
Tahrongi Canyon to
Meriphataud Mountains to
Sauromugue Champaign to
Rolanberry Fields to
Passhow Marshlands
From there, I was hoping to continue through the regular route to
Konschtat Highlands to
Valkrum Dunes to
La Theine Plateau to
West Ronfaure to
South Sandy. (at the stables)
But what happened?....... Oh no!!
My poor choco ran out of steam just as I had reached the end of Pashhow Marshlands! (thus he ran off on me and I could not continue with this little quest) I even bought myself a pair of choco boots too beforehand.
A fat lot of good THEY did! *Hmph!*
How on earth am I expected to carry out this little task if my daft choco decides to run out on me before I have made it back to sandy?? It makes the whole task seem very pointless indeed! Is there something I'm doing wrong here?
Is there a shorter route than the one I tried to take?
Please can someone help me out here?
I'm also just wondering what you get for returning your chocobo.

[Icemage]

East Sarutabaruta >
Tahrongi Canyon >
Meriphataud Mountains >
Sauromugue Champaign >
Rolanberry Fields >
Batallia Downs >
Jugner Forest >
La Theine Plateau >
West Ronfaure >
San d'Oria


Icemage

[Taskmage]

Even using the shortest route that Icemage gave, it can be challenging to get from Windy to Sandy or Bastok in the 30 minute time limit. You have to learn some shortcuts through the zones and make sure not to get hung up on any mobs or scenery.

[Icemage]

The big time-wasters on the above list are Meriphataud (there's actually a couple of REALLY fast ways to get through the zone if you know where to go), and West Ronfaure (again, easy to get caught by mountains if you don't know what you're doing).

You can actually make this trip in under 30 minutes without the aid of any chocobo-boosting gears with a bit of time to spare if you know what you're doing.

Hint: Don't follow the "roads".


Icemage

[Greylynx]

Here are the details for the prizes and time limits if you leave from Windurst:

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/A_Choco...%28Windurst%29

I am currently working on the Bastok to Sandy run. If I can shave off 22 secs I can get the experience scroll (Dragons Chronicles or something like that). It takes alot of work I have been trying for at least a month!

[Snowball]

Hmm...... this could be quite tricky for me. I always like to follow the roads through every zone, otherwise I'd probably end up going off course and not knowing where I am or where I'm going.
Could you possibly make it any easier, even if I means that I might have to leave the main roads to do it?

[Taskmage]

Honestly, no. Someone would have to take each of the nine maps and draw a path through them. You're going to have to blaze your own trail for this one. Do some exploring on your own through those zones and get a feel for the shortest route if you're really interested in completing this.

[Caspian]

I really need to run Meriphataud more. I think I go a different way each time.
Snowball, you have a map, that solves the problem on 75% of all zones. If you'll just keep looking at your map, then you can be very far from the road and still know where you're going. Rolanberry has a LOT of open areas where you can cut corners by avoiding the road, and only like one or two spots where you'll hit a dead end trying to take a shortcut, rather than 50+ spots in Meriphataud. Most zones are quite easy if you'll just check your map fairly often and see what you need to expect for the next few turns.

[Feenicks]

And don't forget to enable autorun before you look at your map as well.

[Icemage]

These are the fastest chocobo routes I've found through Meriphatuad. Red line goes to Jeuno, blue line goes to Zi'Tah.


Icemage

[nazlfrag]

As Icemage said, Meriphutad and West Ron are the real timewasters. To not follow the roads, put it on autorun (7 on keypad) and use the /map to guide you generally, though each zone has obstacles not obvious on the map. You can /map then hit [Esc] fairly fast, and have a general guide of where you are headed at all times.

There is a shortcut in Taronghi (I won't spell any of these right ><) Canyon, take a left after you zone then the second path to the right, though this won't save much time.. Meriphudad Mountains are much faster by staying near, but not on the roads and cutting corners where needed. This involves switching sides a few times but is an easy way to get through fast, there are much faster routes away from the roads though on Icemages map.

Sarumounge to Jugner is straightforward, in Sarumounge stick to the roads to the north then turn west, or head west early and go the opposite route to Jeuno->Garliage Citadel. Rolanberry just head to Batallia, and in Batallia just head west and avoid the hills on the map to get to Jugner. Stick to the road in Jugner.

In La Theine head west, stay slightly north of the crag, head to a valley with a lake and continue past the bottom of the lake. When you get to the open area with a crevasse, there is a path up on the left hand side below the northwest corner of the valley. From there, head back to the road all the way to sandy.

Good luck with it ^^

Edit: West Ronfarue can be tricky, best to head north past the outpost, then head northeast at the next mountain. Check the map regularly, and don't get stuck behind any mountains.

[Snowball]

Originally Posted by Feenicks

And don't forget to enable autorun before you look at your map as well.

Actually that can be a quite a pain for me, because the map opens right over the top of everything in the game and you can't see where you are going! *sigh!*
(therefore I can't walk/run while looking at the map at the same time)
Another game I play has a more easier map option where you can open a slightly smaller version of the map just at the side of the screen in one corner and not covering everything up. I think it would be a nice idea if SE made a similar choice with FFXl but it probably won't happen anytime in the future, so I just have to stick with what's already available, even if it isn't perfect.
Anyway, back to the game at hand.......
While taking about 2-3 seconds to make a quick glance at the map every now and again means the possibility of running off course and making a wrong turn somewhere.
For this reason, I always have to stop to look at the map, trying not to take too long over every glance I make.

[Snowball]

Originally Posted by Icemage

These are the fastest chocobo routes I've found through Meriphatuad. Red line goes to Jeuno, blue line goes to Zi'Tah.
Icemage

Thanks for that! I might just print that out. It may come in handy.

[Snowball]

Okay, one last thing for now before I go do other stuff.
Something has occured to me which probably isn't possible for the jobs I have taken on in FFXl, but I'm just wondering if it would work for the specific job which uses it.
There is a spell or trait called "Flee"
Away from the game I cannot remember which job uses it, but I think it increases the speed of a player for a certain length of time. Now, if the player with that job had this spell/trait enabled while riding a chocobo...... would it make any difference to the riding speed or would it still be the same as usual?

[neighbortaru]

Originally Posted by Snowball

Okay, one last thing for now before I go do other stuff.
Something has occured to me which probably isn't possible for the jobs I have taken on in FFXl, but I'm just wondering if it would work for the specific job which uses it.
There is a spell or trait called "Flee"
Away from the game I cannot remember which job uses it, but I think it increases the speed of a player for a certain length of time. Now, if the player with that job had this spell/trait enabled while riding a chocobo...... would it make any difference to the riding speed or would it still be the same as usual?

It's a THF abilities gained at 25, but no, it won't do anything. Actually, you can't even activate the ability while on choco.