After you finish the events at Lindblum on Disc 1, you will explore a section of the overworld that gives you access to a place called Chocobo’s Forest. This will be across the bridge that’s east of Qu’s Marsh. Upon entering for the first time, you will meet a moogle named Mene, who hands over some Gysahl Greens to call a chocobo on the world map. Doing this near chocobo tracks will allow you to ride a chocobo on the overworld, where you will be free from enemy encounters. Upon returning to the Chocobo’s Forest, you can begin playing the Hot and Cold mini-game, where you will have 60 seconds to dig in the area for treasures.

These will include lesser items like Potions, but it can also include better items. As you dig, you will get clues from Choco, the chocobo you have for this, in the form of “Kwehs.” The following are the different reactions you can get and how close you are to the treasure:

• Kweh - Cold
• Kweh?! - Warm
• Kwehhh!? - Hot
• K-KWEHHH!!! - Found item

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(1 of 3) The small Kweh!? means you are close to the item

Every item you find has a point value attached to it, starting from 1 and being as high as 20 points (for a special item that will be talked about in a bit). These points you accumulate from that can be traded with Mene for items. You can get some extra points, too, depending on if you find an item within five seconds of another one, as well as reaching the maximum of eight items in a single round. In addition to this, finding four items in a single round will have Mene grant you an additional ten seconds, as well as reward you by doubling points for all items you find. The items that can be traded for are as follows:

Chocographs¶

As you continue to find items when you’re digging, you will increase Choco’s Beak Level, making it so he can dig faster. The maximum level for his beak is level 99, which is required in order to get the Follow Your Nose trophy/achievement. The main draw of the Chocobo Hot and Cold mini-game is the Chocographs, which function like treasure maps that lead to some nice items. All of the Chocographs lead to treasures found on the world map, where you will need to use Choco to dig them up, similar to the ones found in the mini-game. Note that the first one you find will be called “Stone With Patterns,” but they will be called Chocographs afterwards.

By pressing the menu button as you’re riding Choco, you can bring up a picture of the Chocograph you want to find. This brings up the fact that as you find more Chocographs, you will undoubtedly uncover new abilities. These abilities will enhance the movement options for Choco, who only starts out with the Field one, allowing Choco to only travel on the main pieces of land (wherever your character can travel). There are four more abilities to unlock, which will eventually allow Choco to fly in the sky, similar to an airship. There’s a total of 24 Chocographs in the game and all of them are needed to earn the Diggin’ It trophy/achievement.

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(1 of 4) The main draw of Hot and Cold is digging up Chocographs

Upon finding all of the Chocographs in a location, Mene will tell you that there are no more to be found. There are multiple locations for playing the mini-game, with the Forest being the first one you have access to and once you get the Reef Ability, then you’ll be able to go to the Lagoon. Whenever you gain the Sea and Mountain Abilities, you will be able to get to new areas in the Forest and Lagoon. Finally, the Sky Ability will grant access to Chocobo’s Air Garden, the final site for the mini-game.

Items and Points¶

The following chart will list the items you can get from the Hot and Cold mini-game, as well as the number of points you will receive for said items. Note that points will be doubled for every item after you find at least four items within the time limit. Also, the Lagoon will double your points for each item, and the Air Garden will triple your points.