Final Fantasy's Painful Side Quests

[@gnosis_gaming]

Sorry the for poor audio quality on this video! I had to use my iPhone for this one. Next vid will be better! 😇

[@bray1872]

It's unlistenable if you are using speakers with any bass output at all, I tried.

[@accountname-tu2om]

You give us far too much credit. Is the internet man's voice coming from my speakers? Yes it is. Did I remember to put both socks on this morning? I think so. All is right with the world.

[@chernobyl169]

I completed every one of these side quests, except one. For context: I collected all nine ultimate weapons in FF7 and crafted two Master-Summon materia. I collected Excalibur II. I collected all cards in both FF8 and FF9. I taught every character every skill they can learn in FF9. I got every damage cap lifted ultimate weapon in FFX and taught every character every skill. I am a FF completionist junkie. That jump rope reward is never, ever, EVER going to happen.

[@R0kkh0und]

A fellow FF-addict :) ... I am one short though - 1000 jumps? never; regarding Excalibur II I refuse to even consider trying to this day.

[@anthonyjackson9654]

I second this. Fuck that mini game 😂

[@owangejewice]

This is cheating the game a bit, but i got excalibur 2 very easily by playing the steam version. You can speed up the game to (I think) x3 or x4, and the game still leaves the timer at real world rates. Cut scenes, dialog blocking, all battles are accelerated and cut so much time as a result. I got it pretty easily with a few hours to spare.

[@riversart2030]

I couldn't even manage to get the Alexandria card (200 jumps.) Next time I play that game I am going to play the PC version with mods so I can just cheat to get it.

[@nihadtanja]

Right there with you brother, my usual ff9 play through is like 350+ hours lol

[@Valerius123]

Nah, that ff9 jump rope is the hardest thing by far. I've done everything else in this list *multiple* times. That 1000 jump ropes? Never. Not even close. I think the best I ever done was mid 300s.

[@atomicgrave4340]

Agree. Me and my friend were even competing against each other trying to see who will get the highest score. And i believe we both failed around 175 or so and it was our highest result.

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

Final Fantasy 6 = Uncursing the Paladin Shield ... Cursed Shield + Ribbon, 255 fights

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

the jumps in Super Mario RPG were a pain iun the A cuz the timing changed :S like that jump rope, think the same dev might have been responsible for both, with FF9 and SMRPG

[@garadak7.]

​@@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914 that one is easy because you have the motivation to get a great item

[@user-rb1zh3pl5p]

⚡never again fuck no harder than 1000 jumps ur high 😅

[@GyprockGypsy]

Chocobo Race was WAY easier than the jump rope. Like, orders of magnitude easier.

[@danielgehring7437]

Yeah, I guess I must just be lucky, or, like, some sort of chocobo racing savant or something because it's only ever taken me a few tries, each time I've played.

[@janihelin8170]

Yeah. I got it on first try long ago on ps2 and have gotten it on first or few tries many times after. Jump rope and lighting dodging I've only done once and would never even consider doing again given how tedious they were. I'd easily put ff9 frog catching over the chocobo race too given how tedious it was to wait frogs to spawn and run across the globe for the marshes. Or ff9 chocobo hot and cold if you wanted the high end rewards for how grindy it became for them.

[@gnosis_gaming]

@@GyprockGypsy I guess I really suck at this kind of challenge

[@Thisstuffagain]

@@gnosis_gamingi had more trouble with the stupid temple chocobo race all chests no poles than i did 0.0 choco race

[@deralteeckardt1803]

Chocobo Race is pretty easy. I did it multiple times

[@MmeCShadow]

The .1% Zodiac Spear is in the original game, too. Amusingly the RNG seed in XII has also been so thoroughly reverse-engineered that there are step-by-step guides to ensuring that the chest will spawn with the Spear. They involve hitting yourself in the face a few dozen times while you descend the mines.

[@QuantemDeconstructor]

Don't they also have Seitengrat seeds mapped out as well for IZJS/Zodiac Age?

[@poneyroux]

It was indeed a .1% chest in the original game, but it's a 1% chest in Zodiac Age. Much more doable without manipulating the RNG!

[@wax99]

What's weird is that I got 0:00 in FFX three times, back to back, on the PS2 just to confirm there weren't any other prizes and didn't bat an eye. I think I used my lifetime supply of luck because I tried it again on the remaster and never could. Chance is a cruel mistress.

[@ericgrimes341]

As a 14 year old i got 0.0 no problem on my PS2. As a 34 yo playing the remaster now? Such a struggle. I mustve used all my luck earlier in life too lol

[@matthewperutelli-zj7fc]

I have the same issue. I'm wondering if it's some kind of frame rate issue or something to do with the version we got on the PS2. It wouldn't be the first time things were made easier for us in the west

[@asdfgoogle]

​@@ericgrimes341haha totally! In my endless time after school (hardly endless, but little responsibility compared to being an adult), I managed to get that one. I recall it wasn't easy, but I did manage it. Not a chance that would happen now. I would use save states after I tried a few times.

[@jameswallis4220]

i think they made it harder on the remaster i seem to read somewhere they tweeked it

[@samfivedot]

If you don't want regional Triple Triad rules to spread, keep challenging an NPC and then hitting cancel. Eventually you'll get their normal dialogue instead of their mixed-rules dialogue, and you can just play them as normal. Very handy for keeping Random from spreading

[@j800r_aswell]

The trick to Triple Triad was to abolish rules and play with as few as possible while only spreading favourable ones. Then it mostly became easy. Tetra Master was rng bs.

[@Zafire063]

Yep, I never truly understood Tetra Master. It seemed TOO random. Triple Triad always made sense, and I played it in middle school.

[@spectrasoulfaire215]

One time, as a joke, I entered the required Tetra Master tournament using five Flan cards that had zero in all stats. I won. Screw that game.

[@Megamibunny]

This

[@drachefly]

@@spectrasoulfaire215 Arrow placement was critical. A zero card with an arrow hitting a card with a blank wins. And if you place a card with all of its arrows covered, it can't be used to infect other cards.

[@tinyetoile5503]

This era of FF sure loved torturous side quests...

[@danielgehring7437]

I hate to tell you this but we're still in that era. "18 hour boss fight" springs instantly to mind.

[@AzureRoxe]

@@danielgehring7437 That was from FFXI my dude.

[@homerhat420]

Downloaded a script to get me the jump roap achevements. Not ashamed one tiny bit

[@gnosis_gaming]

You got your revenge on the devs

[@Zafire063]

That's a thing? Thanks for the tip! I hope I can find it

[@mattsully2238]

​@@Zafire063 For sure. You'll have to play online and make sure you have robust Internet connection. Literally turn every device in your house off that connects to the Internet. Took a couple tries but you'll get it

[@MeWojak]

Did the same thing, just remote connect laptop to ps4 and run the script :) had to adjust the network delay in the script and after a few tries it worked Never would I have done the 1000 jumps by myself, never!

[@kaiseralex96]

​@@MeWojakWill use this when I reach FF9. Thanks

[@derrickobara6806]

Surprised Kimahri's infuriating butterfly run didn't make it here, but it's probably easier than young me thinks with modern guides..

[@djrakman3909]

i never ever pulled off the butterfly or the lightning. the chobo race was easy, at least more fun than the others and a bit more variable....

[@MrR2TheZ]

When I was younger, I got the Chocobo and Lightning quests (with much effort), but I don't know ANYONE who beat the butterfly quest.

[@JonTalbain777]

Butterfly (and Lightning in a way) is very easy and quick with a guide at least. Chocobo, imo, is the absolute worst. Takes too long to re-race and very prone to bad luck. OG first playthough did all of them, but Chocobo was and remains the worst.

[@One.Zero.One101]

The Cloister of Trials in FFX made me want to kick the devs in the penis. I love FFX but it had the worst mini games in the franchise.

[@Ktjnn]

I always do the lightning dodges my first run through the Plains by using the "wedge Tidus between the cactuar stone and the wall" method, because you're technically standing still even during the dodge, so you can't get encounters.

[@sezcam79]

I must remember this for when i play again

[@rosaheartlily]

My best tip for the lightning dodge - stay in one spot, dodge 20 lightning bolts and pause the game to give your eyes a rest, repeat 10 times :)

[@StephenSingleton3]

That’s what I did back in the day.

[@Smilley85]

@@rosaheartlily I once got 199. I was just a wee bit furious. I did get it on my next try, at least. And I did so without breaking or biting a piece off my keyboard. My trick was to go to a secluded part of the plains and wedge myself in a way that Tidus wouldn't move around when dodging.

[@Threesnap]

The trick to make this laughable... stand underneath a lightning tower.. when you walk out from underneath it a lightning strike will happen within 2 seconds.. immediately walk back under the tower, rinse and repeat, the lightning strike will always happen as soon as you knave the safety of the tower.

[@Hypeman10]

Crater strategy. Makes it 10 times easier.

[@Big.Joe.Grizzly]

Yep crater strategy works best. You literally just run in a circle and press the button at the exact same spot every time

[@ThePageofRage]

That lightning sidequest still gives me nightmares. Still never 100% FF10 :(

[@TheRealNameless1]

Same, it's caused me to rage quit every time

[@Isac01]

Ya I said fuck it and just bypassed it all together by just having the onion knight and them building another doll with the same stats. End result is the same.

[@user-rb1zh3pl5p]

Ikr ⚡ fuck no never again

[@eternallove4248]

Had a hard time with this one before too. I remember failing at 164th dodge and raged. Later on when I played the remaster I read and followed a few tips like don’t count but instead set a timer like 30 minutes, pausing and taking a 2 min break every 5 minutes. There’s also a specific spot where you can run into and lightning always strikes there, giving you the option to control the timing. So what I did was, go to the spot, put on some music, practice a few times to get into rythm, and took breaks. By the time I checked if I’d done it I was at around 390 dodges 😂

[@TheRealNameless1]

@@eternallove4248 I've read the guides and tried the suggestions yet fail around halfway. If they had a buy out mechanic for a ludicrous amount of Gil I would just do that. Who knows, they might just re-remaster the game with built in microtransactions. I'm not saying I would throw money....ok I would lol

[@Emelenyt]

The Zodiac spear quest is criminal

[@Zontar82]

hope someone went to jail for that

[@nezrafallon4086]

After all these years, im still mad about it. The only way to know how to get it, is to look it up. And by the time you've done so, you've long since fucked it up and are probably in the last quarter of the game at least

[@bitsuuuuuu]

It will be hilarious if someone mod the game ang change the plot and dialogues into "Zodiac Spear"

[@nico_river]

the toughest in my opinion is the queen card mission of ff8, just because it’s nearly impossible to do that without a guide or tutorials. Plus, the quest is very long and propagates throughout almost the entire game. Ff9’s rope jumps is also nearly impossible but at least all you have to do is pressing X. Beautiful video by the way, cheers from Italy

[@gnosis_gaming]

Thanks! By the way, I love your Mega Man speed drawings.

[@nico_river]

@@gnosis_gaming Thank you man i didn’t expect that 😂

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

Final Fantasy 6 = Uncursing the Paladin Shield ... Cursed Shield + Ribbon, 255 fights

[@raulrojas9253]

"No is not" oh...without a guide....yeah....I have a Guidebook of FF 8 (Non official) and I was "like are players supposed to know all this stuff?" once you know is quite easy.

[@jekw23]

I followed it with a guide and still managed to mess it up. Shame as I like the game but no way am I playing random rules.

[@thephotochad]

FF8's card game was truly amazing. Should be its own game tbh. Loved playing it back in the day.

[@gametender1]

im replaying ff8 now never really finished it but i love playing triple triad. i wish more ff games had a card game included like ff10 or something

[@Sasuke83]

Toughest side quest for me was the darn Hippaul racing in ff9. I never finished it.

[@andrewdavies3091]

Hippaul lives rent free in my nightmares

[@Dontgetenslaved]

The side quest to get Cloud in FF tactics was nuts.

[@msp720]

AND by the time you can actually get him, he's woefully underpowered because he starts at level 1, and you already have OP characters like Orlandu at that point.

[@Dontgetenslaved]

@@msp720 Yes. I had seen my brother go through the trouble.

[@b1ackgamma]

Getting the complete collection of cards in ff9 was insane. Because it wasn't just getting all the cards. It was getting all unique attack directions for each card with no duplicate attack directions for each card

[@mogos.arcker22]

Did u try playing against those ghosts in memoria, they are very hard and have top cards

[@b1ackgamma]

@@mogos.arcker22 there were so many hard to get cards, i remember spending forever getting Alexander card the one other thing i forgot that made it i the completion of the set insane, is you can only hold 100 cards max. so you have to purposefully lose games or do card inventory management so you dont risk cards disappearing when you win or find a card

[@mogos.arcker22]

@@b1ackgammaAlexander? there is an alexander card in one of the digging treasures with the chocobo no?

[@b1ackgamma]

@@mogos.arcker22 yeah but might end up needed the other one based on your collection

[@BigBoyAdvance]

In the original FF12 on PS2, you can also find the Zodiac Spear with 0.1% chance. 10% for a box to appear in a specific place, 10% it will have an item inside, and 10% that this item will be a Zodiac Spear. There's even guides on how to RNG manip the spear to appear most of the time. That's how I got mine.

[@jonathanprince707]

There was a website I used to go to where you would go into your game, stand in front of the chest you want to open, cast Cure three times on yourself, and then put the resulting numbers into a set of boxes. Then the website would spit out a list of RNG numbers and you'd just go down the list until you find the specific value you need to get exactly what you want out of the chest. Made getting zodiac spears for everyone a cake walk. It was made by Mark Egli. And holy shit, it's still around!

[@GymnopedieTornado]

wait, sometimes the box appears but there’s nothing in it?? actually according to you most of the time??

[@rud5101]

​@@GymnopedieTornado It'll just have a small amount of gil I think.

[@BigBoyAdvance]

@@GymnopedieTornado read the wiki on zodiac spear, it's explained there

[@BYERE]

Don't you also have to avoid 4 specific chests that are NOT marked or mentioned, and if you do open any, it automatically stops the Zodiac Spear chest from ever spawning?

[@BoatShoesBlitz]

My most hated 'side quest' in any Final Fantasy are the chests found in FFX's Omega Ruins. Basically, there are twelve chests spread out in groups in the ruins. Each time you open one, you get the next item in a predetermined list. Sometimes, the chest will be a Mimic, which will trigger a battle. Win or lose, the remaining chests in the group disappear, and you start back at the top of the item list. The chests that disappear never come back, so you have to open all twelve perfectly your first time through to get all the items in the list. The thing is, whether a chest contains an item or a Mimic is completely random, and is determined when you enter the Ruins. Nothing in the game tells you any of this, and nothing you do once you enter the Ruins will influence it. Whether or not you can get all twelve items is all luck.

[@LordMajicus]

Shout out to the FFIV Adamant Armor side quest. To obtain the most powerful armor in the game, you must go deep into the final dungeon and get a Pink Tail from a specific enemy, then go all the way back out of the dungeon to Earth and trade the tail to the tail collector. The Pink Tail is only dropped by one specific enemy that only appears in one very specific, very small room, at a 1/64 chance encounter. The enemy then has a 1/64 chance of dropping said pink tail, meaning you only encounter them 1.56% of the time, and when you DO, they will drop the item 1.56% of the time. Most players won't even get into a single random encounter in the room this enemy exists in, let alone encounter the Pink Puff and get the item to drop. It's pure insanity.

[@drunkdrag0n]

Tip - you can use the Alert item in that room to force the Pink Puff to appear 100% of the time

[@DarkEinherjar]

There are two ways you can get the cards from the Card Queen sidequest without doing the sidequest itself: 1. Remember the pod from the space station? It's still accessible in Disc 4, and the Card Queen will be there. You can play her right then and there for her exclusive cards. Be warned, though: she has every bad rule in the book against you, and no Open, so you can't see her cards, making it a nightmare to win; 2. This second method is a bit convoluted, but it's the easiest way to get almost every card in the game. First, you need to manipulate Trabia's game rules so that it gets the Open rule and its native rules, Random and Plus, are abolished. You can accomplish this in Disc 1 by first changing Galbadia's rules so it gains Open and loses Same, then talking to a transfer student in Galbadia Garden. This particular guy comes from Trabia Garden, so you can use him to manipulate Trabia's rules. Once you're done with that, the next step is to complete the CC Group sidequest by defeating all of their members. You can do this starting halfway through Disc 2. With these accomplished, play the game normally until Disc 4. If you've completed the CC Group sidequest, its members will all be inside the Ragnarok. The member we're looking for is Left Diamond: she uses Trabia's rules, and she'll have any rare card you don't have (except PuPu). She'll even have cards you lost in other games or changed into items, allowing you to farm them from her, and of course, she will have the Card Queen's exclusive cards.

[@Chanse1989]

Blitzball ends up actually just being a time sync rather than being hard. It is pretty easy to manipulate the Blitzball AI so long as you have the proper players recruited (also pretty easy, just requires a bit of walking).

[@veghesther3204]

The time sink is why I'll NEVER TOUCH the mini game AFTER you LOSE the FIRST required one it just takes TOO long only to have me still LOSE.

[@CoralCopperHead]

@@veghesther3204 ANNOYING things like THAT also cause me to YELL RANDOMLY during my SENTENCES, they bug me that much.

[@Zafire063]

There are two players you can get in Luca (One being the second best goalie in the game, the other being one of the best passers), and it lets you win against every team pretty easily. Al Bhed Psyches are still annoying, but they're beatable with Jecht Shot. I had a file where I farmed tons of teleport and return spheres just to play the game differently. Think I did 40 hours of blitzball. My favorite mini game of all time in an FF.

[@thuongn85]

I did that ff9 jump rope quest as a kid at a cousins house back when I was young and still had good reflexes and time on my hand.....Never again will I subject myself to that.

[@chaosknight8428]

That chocobo one cracks me up because I'd heard how tough it was before ever doing it... and then I completed it in 21 minutes. I kept track. Meanwhile, the lightning dodging took all day. Failed attempts after failed attempts.

[@Paulmolive08]

FF9 jump rope is by far the hardest. I've done the other sidequests and they don't compare. I had a friend come over and we spent hours trying to reach 1000 until finally he was able to achieve it for me. It was a huge relief to have it finished.

[@gnosis_gaming]

Yeah the worst part about the FF9 jump rope one is that you get JUST a trophy 😅

[@SquallLeonhart93]

You can also play with the son of the Queen inside a house in Dollet, he holds every single rare card that you lost to her. That way you can simply shift her between Balamb and Dollet and get the job done quickly.

[@PastorJustinWade]

I just recently played my first FF game and it was FF9. It was amazing. Then I played 8 and then 7. These games are amazing and I can’t explain way.

[@TheCreapler]

Man I spent about 4 hours trying to get 0.0 on the chocobo race and after I got it I went over to a friends house to hang out he had been trying to get 0.0 for about 2-3 hours I was like here let me see the controller and did it my first time luckily, made it look easy it was not, but he flipped out and pounced on me, he was so pissed, lol good times.

[@gnosis_gaming]

🤣

[@JosephHutzulak]

For the lightning dodging quest, what I did way way back was keep my eyes closed, and the lightning causing the screen to flash can be seen through eyelids.

[@andrewhudson7108]

It wasn’t the hardest side quest by a mile but the Chocobo Treasure Hunt in FFIX was beyond tedious.

[@mehdidelteil3672]

Nah, took me like 30 minutes, nothing close as hard as the stupid jump rope mini game (dangerous for the health at this point);

[@CrnaStrela]

@@andrewhudson7108 it was extremely fun though and the rewards make it worth

[@blancfan1]

The Chico race difficulty is completely overblown.

[@gnosis_gaming]

I'm really bad at racing stuff 😅

[@ericgrimes341]

I agree. Its not *that* hard

[@gnosis_gaming]

@@ericgrimes341 which side quests / mini games would you rate as being the most difficult?

[@ericgrimes341]

@@gnosis_gaming Theres so many guides for everything these days. Challenges like the Butterfly challenge in Macalania Forest are made so simple just a map. I remember the battle saucer in FFVII very frustrating. But that was also 20 years ago. I feel like back then we all had to find answers for ourselves. Usually just find a way to break the mini game and exploit it lol

[@RRViper7777]

One of things is to help with the lightning dodging is to have control over how and when the lightning strikes, as well as the number it does in succession. My favorite spot is right by the southern exit in the Northern part of the Thunder plains (where there are two exits, one would lead to Rin's Travel Agency, the other exit to the Southern part of the Lightning Plains.) At that point there's an area where the lightning will always drop in sets of three, so as long as you are successful in the timing for the first dodge, the second, and third doges are guaranteed. A bit of warning though; since the dodging count resets when you exit a zone, you need to give yourself a bit of room to dodge three times without leaving the stage. But once you get used to the range and the timing, it's probably the fastest spot to rack up 200 dodges. But don't get me started on that chocobo racing. The only way that works for me is that I have to take in consideration that I will be hit at least 3 or 4 times, so I aim for about 17 or 18 balloons and pray the controls work.

[@veghesther3204]

WELL ALL of FF9's mini games that aren't digging up the Chocograph's are all pure CRAP are are NOT worth it.

[@mehdidelteil3672]

The mog post side quest was very good tho.

[@CrnaStrela]

@@veghesther3204 impressing queen brahne with choreography was fun honestly

[@AdrienMorley-ck4eb]

I got ptsd from the rope jump. It's not a joke. It broke me. Just watching it makes my tension up the roof.

[@gnosis_gaming]

The worst part is there’s no good reward 😅

[@AdrienMorley-ck4eb]

@@gnosis_gaming The real worst part is that I KNEW, I bought the official guide detailing the method to use and its rewards, it didn't help...Still my favourite FF anyway.

[@johnenslinger6168]

"...You don't steal from friends..." *Yuffie pops up* 🤣

[@RecoveringNihilist]

Gotta remember that a couple of these side quests are included to give you a reason to buy the walkthrough book (sold separately). The internet made walkthrough books irrelevant, so these kinds of side-quests are rare now. My tip for the chocobo race is to use the D-pad.

[@BenKii]

That jump rope quest was the bane of my existence. I could not even get past 100. Handed the controller off to my bro and he managed to get just over 16000 jumps. Turns out all you get is an achievement but that don't change the fact that my bro is my hero. :D

[@KezVanBeck]

Just over 16000? Even if you meant 1600…. If you’re gonna lie on the internet, make it seem at least reasonable

[@BenKii]

@@KezVanBeck That's the thing, I'm not. I couldn't believe it either when I saw it. I wish I had recorded it so I'd have proof but I didn't know how back then. Maybe I can convince him to do it again for a future video on my channel.

[@DDocps18]

Jump rope is the hardest by a mile. The Chocobo race is annoying and can rely a bit on RNG but very doable. Though I do love that if you get the perfect time you can get 0.0.0 and still not get the reward because you hit the number exactly rather than go below it. 😂

[@dmhenderson]

Upon seeing this video: "The lightning dodging BS better be in there" (and it was). That mini-"game" was utterly demoralizing. Eons ago, I managed to do it with a friend counting the dodges outloud while I did the actual dodging. It took several days and multiple failed attempts/ragequits.

[@atomicgrave4340]

Rope jump is a menace for me personally. Never was able to finish it, and i can't do it with a cheat as well, because the whole setting for it is difficult for me to do, with the pc and everything. I managed to dodge lightning 200 times in ffx but can't finish the rope jump. The chocobo racing was the easiest one tbh, i find second part of it more challenging than the original one. Usually the winning pattern if the balloons are on your side and if you use d-pad. As for lighting dodge i used another spot - right behind the agency, near the lightning tower, it strikes there every 2 seconds i believe, so you jump and move forward and jump again, there's basically no delay, and i know some people recommend to turn off the music, but i just turned off the game volume and found a music track that is 3 minutes 45 seconds long (or 4 minutes 25 seconds long) and used that as a reference for time. This would be enough to do 200 or 220 jumps. I really don't like counting in my head.

[@Belveth44]

I player FF10 when i was a child, tried to 100% it, but i couldnt do de lightning, i was literally at 180 and dropped it, my eyes were bleeding. Years later, my childhood best friend got to play FF10, and he completed everything, as i did, an just left the lightnings for the end. He invited me over to his house, and told me it was time to surpass my fears. We did a hangout, it took me at 10 hours of tries, but eventually i manage it, it is one of my most beloved FF memories

[@jamesdiato]

Bro i remember doing the JUMP ROPE quest in FF9. Literally just sitting there for hours doing mf jumprope without a care in my mind how much time i was wasting.

[@gnosis_gaming]

Haha, good memories!

[@TheTigerfan99]

Completed all of these side quests, and by far the hardest for me in this video was the jump ropes. I would eventually get to 200 jump ropes with no problem, but could never get the double-tap from 200-300 jumps down. I basically just got lucky. You mentioned the lightning dodges and the easy "cheese" method with the crater, which made that one easier for me. Other than the chocobo race, the other one from FF10 I struggled with was those butterflies that you had to collect in a certain amount of time, but if you ran into the wrong color you had to do a random battle. It was especially annoying because of the camera angles, and I think the butterflies took me the longest out of any FF10 side quest.

[@MURPH10US]

I've never done the jump rope and don't intend to. But that stupid chocobo race was the bane of my FFX run.

[@santiagodrexler1624]

Grinding chocobo race in FFX was the only time I've ever broken a controller. Chocobo controls like it's drunk.

[@jonjamesminer]

X is one of my two favorite games, and I've played it multiple times. Have never been able to beat the chocobo race or lightening dodge. I knew for sure they'd be on this list lol

[@jonirischx8925]

I might be in the minority, but I absolutely adored the triple triad from FF8. It's a great game, and sometimes I booted FF8 up, just to play the cards, and find them. You don't have to play it, but the game give you plenty of incentives to do so, as some of the special cards can be turned into rare items, which in turn can be turned into powerful spells, which you can junction for insane stats. I never finished the Queen of Cards quest all the way tho...

[@whiplash5643]

I could eventually dodge 200 lightning bolts in a row, but I'll never be able to get that jump rope trophy as long as I live lol.

[@melodywhispersong9541]

Hearing the thunder plains music brought my trauma back to the surface

[@lucaslennan3356]

Chcocobo race took me 4 days of attempts (high schooler with infinite free time) and then I found out my copy crashed before Sin. Restarted from the beginning on the HD version and it took me another week and a half. In that time I: Got 0 on the first race win that doesn't count. Got EXACTLY 0 which unbelievably doesn't count for it (you have to get BELOW zero), TWICE! And spent probably 60-70 hours total. Hell. And I would rather do it 3 more times than 100% FFX-2 again.

[@Vagrant7z]

Had the same exact issue with my PS2 copy, spent 12 hours overnight in a single sitting doing the chocobo race nonstop until completing it, only to find out that my copy crashes at the sin fight. Fast forward to when I got the HD version on my steam deck and I got 0:00 on the very first try but it still counted for me somehow.

[@AndiePlaysGames]

I’ve done all of them, but the jump rope was easily the most annoying of them to me.

[@DetroitMetroRetro]

You are single handedly making the FF content creator space so awesome right now well done. Looking forward to more content the new video has me wanting to secret hunt in 7 and 9 now lol

[@gnosis_gaming]

Wow, thank you! These videos have been fun to make and the comments are really rewarding. Welcome to the channel!

[@pseudomaso]

I remember setting my TV brightness settings down to nothingness and contrast settings up in a mode I cant remember anymore doing the lightning dodge event, my room was a lighthouse that night. The TV mode somehow filtered the flashes from its surroundings, didn't see anything else and the contrast+brightness amplified whenever a lightning struck lul Had a giga headache after but was a safe route

[@fwobebe5164]

Getting Quistis's Shockwave Pulser without cards was long and annoying. Mugging 100 dark matter from TriFace enemies takes forever, because TriFace aren't a very common encounter, at least in Ultimacia's Castle.

[@jaylowry4082]

My brother and I as kids were able to scour what we could at the time and found out just how you explained it the quest to earn every single card in that game. You have to lose specific cards at specific times in order to obtain new cards and get your old cards back. Man it was daunting and fun.

[@meltingkeith7046]

This may have been mentioned in the comments already, but there's actually a glitch that makes the chocobo racing even worse - you don't want a time of 0:0.0, you actually want a time LESS than that. There seems to be a bug where the game doesn't check if your time is 0, it actually checks if it's LESS than 0, so a time that is perfectly 0:0.0 actually won't give you the sigil.

[@TKailan]

getting the Morbol Mount in FF14. beating the highest dificulty of the Bahamut and Alexander Lair with a full team of Blue Mages. which all need to go trough several Extreme Dificulty Dungeons to earn the nessesary Skill so they have a chance to win.

[@jaykay1223]

Ff9 rope jumps and ff10 butterfly chase. The Chocobo race with the balloons is quite easy for me, also the lighting dodging

[@martinfabian2744]

I loved Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII. It was the Tic-Tac-Toe greatest number wins game. You had to pay attention to your numbers on the cards and the strategy in placement in the spaces. And the fix to make it easy is to find her in the region you are ready to lose the card in, then save your game. Go to play her and when she notifies you of the rules being used, reload your save file if they are bad rules, until you get the favorable rules you want to play with.

[@gnosis_gaming]

How did you feel about FF9's card game?

[@rodelcorton8815]

Ahhh fond times of my youth ff8 card games was definitely my favorite i solely played FF8 just for those cards so it wasnt as tedious to me. FFX though was a pain luckily blitz ball can be cheesed after getting world champion so and dodging lightning was just a matter of patience the chocobo was annoying though

[@RwnEsper]

Without a guide, the Zodiac Spear was one of the most missable items in any FF game. My highest score jumping rope is like 7. 😂 I've only played the Remaster for a few hours though. Triple Triad sounds like a nightmare for completionists.

[@TryhardSnake]

Yep, I also imagine the same to be true for getting the Barrett date in ff7. Not a missable item, but it is a missable trophy when that became a thing.

[@MICHAELTUMANGDAY]

I just realized that the Jump rope minigame is similar to Vagrant Story's Chain mechanic. The timing starts changing past a certain limit. For VS the timing changes at 25 combo in FF9 it randomizes every 100(?) Reps

[@SeanUCF]

I remember nearly putting an actual spear through my PS2 while attempting the lightning dodge challenge in FFX

[@user-nv3iz7wn8o]

I have done the jump rope quest when I was a kid. Keep in mind this was on the Playsation so it was all blurry. Had to not blink through the entire thing or I would miss a jump. The hardest thing I have ever done in a video game. Edit: Also wanted to add that I learned quickly that I couldn't look at the controller either. If i looked away from the screen it was game over.

[@WasLilChrisnowbigish]

Considering out the ones shown, only the FF9 Jump rope I have never managed to complete ( I usually get around 136-150 on a good run), its def the hardest.

[@ComfortZoneComic]

wtf last 20 seconds is an X-File?

[@gnosis_gaming]

It's a very weird FF8 side quest... I've been thinking about making a video about it.

[@ComfortZoneComic]

@@gnosis_gaming i did find a few of those just after seeing your vid ....up to you , see if the yield is worth it . Bless !

[@eamonisgood]

I have completed FF9 jump rope & Excalibur 2 side quests in the past plus gotten all the cards in FF8

[@SLouiss]

My cousin dodged lightning 192 times and got hit. He eventually did the challenge again and completed it, but it was demoralizing.

[@gnosis_gaming]

@@SLouiss ouch! I can only imagine gettin so close and getting hit is traumatizing 😂

[@danditzel7271]

I absolutely loved Triple Triad so getting all the cards was actually fun for me. Choco racing I needed many attempts. Zodiac Spear I needed a guide. Jump rope and lightning I needed drugs...

[@JoshHolden-Aka-evani]

no way that chochobbo race was a cake walk compared to that dam rope game.

[@tuomashoffren534]

I'm all for difficult quests, but I think the chocobo quest caused my early balding - it's almost f'n mandatory!

[@SenkaZver]

Oddly, I never had an issue with the chocobo race. I found the butterfly sidequest in FFX to be the hardest. I always struggle the most with that one. When I learned the RNG trick with the lightning, that stopped being as difficult. The jump rope is still the hardest minigame in the entire series IMO. I have never once beaten it and I stopped even trying. It's so brutal lmao.

[@narutofan4545]

These hard ass challenges is why our Gen is so tough

[@Killtacboy]

I did the lightning mini game 3 times successfully before just moving on. Fast forward 20-30 hours and I realized, I had to come BACK for it later because there was the chest. So, I was both relieved and thoroughly annoyed.

[@kevinflynn1299]

All of them are very doable except the Jump Rope in FF9. That is impossible without cheating on the newer systems/Steam. In the PS1/PS2 the hard wired controllers made it where it didn't have the slight delays so it was very hard but doable.

[@andronikoswendsofchange1151]

I got FF9 when it first came out on the Playstation. I was never able to complete the jump rope mini game until I got FF9 on PC a few years ago and used one of those auto clicker/auto key presser programs.

[@saterdei]

FFVIII card collection is the hardest one by far. Queen of Cards aside, you also need to lose cards to Martine and maybe Callaway (can't remember it all) and there are also many, many missable card players at various stages of the game. As for side quests not mentioned here, FF7 Rebirth has gone pretty far to create some insane challenges: Queen's Blood survival, Cactuar Crush, Gears n' Gambits, the last part of the Protorelics side quest and of course, the battle sim - specifically Rulers of the Outer Worlds.

[@QuantemDeconstructor]

I always found a few of the Bazaar sequences in XII to be obtuse to actually get, most notably the ultimate weapons needing multiple high value items, such as the Tournesol

[@hutch13133]

As a teenager I spent hundreds of hours trying to get all the cards. Back then there was daily up so unless you wanted to waste hours waiting for a page to load you would have to figure it out yourself.

[@420neoclash420]

There is one spot in the thunder plains where lightning will strike 3 times in relatively rapid succession very predictably. Its north of the inn and is at the top of a little hill. Go to the top of the hill facing away from the screen. Lightning will strike, then again, then a third time. Tidus will hop back after each strike. After the third return to the top of the little hill. It is not exactly cheese, but it is way faster, more consistent, and you only have to count to 67 instead of 200. I have also never seen or heard of anyone else finding this spot, but I have played through FF:X at least 7 times and on several different versions and it works for me every time.

[@AuronFAnatic]

I know that exact spot you are talking about and I use that spot all the time. It makes doing this side quest so much easier. I always try to point this out in an video talking about the lighting dodge mini game. My banes for getting the sigils are always the butterfly mini game and the chocobo race. I almost beat the trainer one time, but right at the end I got hit by three bird in a row. I still beat the trainer but didn't get perfect time.

[@Magistrella]

The Ultimate Weapon in FFX couldn't have been that bad, I remember getting them all in my first Playthrough back on the PS2. Replacing the whole original Spereboard to beat all Dark was the real headache. Thank's for the Tonberry fight for enless AP in the monster Arena...

[@EterniR]

FYI - you have to get UNDER 0 seconds for the chocobo race. If you get perfectly 0 seconds you DONT get the sigil. ....I witnessed it. It was upsetting

[@tellmewhenitsover]

I'd like to know how exactly the devs thought a normal player would ever uncover some of these side quests. The zodiac spear being a great example, the only way anyone would find it is by knowing the dev who set it up or data mining.

[@kazuyazynoha8661]

You can manipulate the triple triad rules and the card queen, which makes it less painful.

[@mehdidelteil3672]

Due to my completionist nature, I've finish once the Jump rope mini-game. I will never do that again. By far the hardest and stupiest "side quest" / mini- game ever in Final Fantasy.

[@sahilhossian8212]

Lore of of Final Fantasy's Most Painful Side Quests momentum 100

[@lightsageala]

Got every Triple Triad card in FF8 remaster a few months ago, but it was a little more intense than I expected. I followed the 100% card guide to the letter until I got to the final rare Squall Card. I accidentally saved and missed setting the card rule in Esthar to something sane enough to complete the card quest with, so it made Laguna unintentionally like a final boss using some of the worst rules on Random. It's really hard to fix the ruleset after spreading it that far, so I just savescummed and went at it until I finally won the Squall Card. My friends that were watching at the time got more hype about that than beating Ultimecia. Felt amazing finishing it, but for the love of god please remember to rng those rules first for your own sanity, lol.

[@Lionblaze-Prime]

Hot take: FFX's chocobo mini-game is actually pretty easy and kind of fun. Sure, it can be frustrating, but it's nothing compared to the lightning bolt's skipping mini-game

[@vincentlangel8555]

FF8 well forever, be one of my favorite entries in the series, but man, it is convoluted. I remember that shortly after it came out, there was an Internet, rumor that you could unlock Sephiroth from FF7 as a character, but only if you did specific actions that took you all the wayto desk 3. It sounded as plausible as any other weird stuff in the game. Obviously, after many hours, I came up empty-handed.

[@arohk4415]

FF12 in particular had some very obscure and cryptic puzzles and mechanics, i would have never figured them out without a guide book

[@countD8852]

A part of me is curious why the 3D version of Final Fantasy IV isn't on here, but then I realized that a lot of the challenge from that game is just how it's all RNG Hell...and it doesn't really have mini-games, just item collection and beastiary entries

[@seanhollibaugh3776]

Queen of cards isnt really hard if you use a guide, it just takes a bit of a grind, but that grind cuts down a lot on the length of the combat sections of the game.

[@Igones]

Nicee, another video on this kind of topic, loved the one about the sword and noticed you uploaded another one, my man is working overtime!

[@gnosis_gaming]

When you find a good thing, so more of it! 😅

[@johnpatton7533]

if you put on headphones and turn off the background sound for the the jump rope section of ff9 its actually pretty easy. The lightning dodging one is pretty easy if you find the one crater where you can manually trigger it and just time it. These are pretty easy, just long. The lightning one is the worst because if you lose count you dont know when you have hit it because it doesnt tell you. Choco 0 sec time was WAYYYY harder than those

[@Kazmahu]

I wish I could find a source on this but I remember reading somewhere that the Zodiac Spear's completely arbitrary requirements was actually the result of a bug. Apparently it was supposed to reply on something much more sensible (nobody's sure what), but either the variables were rearranged or the pointers were set wrongly in the first place because the Zodiac Spear is checking a completely random-ass bit of memory compared to similar items.

[@ItalianAvalanche]

I really enjoyed the card game in FFVIII once I learned how to manipulate the rules to eliminate the scourge that is random! The Chocobo racing game and lightning dodging were MISERABLE but I did them. I’m absolutely never doing the jump rope game lol. Chocobo breeding in FFVII and getting all the hidden items in Deep Dungeon in FFT are pretty tough too.

[@tomsoya]

Fun fact: you need a chocobo racing time of BELOW 0 seconds. I learned this after getting exactly 0 and still losing.