Walkthrough:Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2/Chocolancer/Gameplay

Controls

• attacks, confirms actions, interacts with objects, starts conversations, etc.
• cancels actions. Also allows Chocobo to sprint.
• does nothing.
• opens up the menu to show your stats, items, settings, etc.
• START buttion opens up the status screen for quick reference to your equipment, energy gain/loss, and partner HP.
• SELECT button does a close-up of the mini-map while inside a dungeon
• throws a stone or an empty bottle if you have it equipped. Can be used in tandem with to select the feathers you want to use with a book.
• L2 speeds through messages.
• R2 held down speeds up scrolling. Pretty useless function as the basic speed is fast enough.

To obtain an item, simply go up to wherever it is and Chocobo will pick it up, provided that he has enough space in his inventory. If he is sprinting and the item is on the ground, he will go over it. It can be picked up with the Examine command in the menu. Also, if you have a friend, he could also control your partner by setting NPC Mode to 2P. There are risks to doing that though as your partner loses its special ability and becomes a "monster" with its own ATB gauge and can attack Chocobo accidentally. The only thing good about doing this is that he/she can move freely without using up a turn.

Interface

Eveything's explained in the screenshot above. If Chocobo runs out of HP in a dungeon, he'll lose half his Gil and all his items and equipment, and you'll return either at the dungeon entrance or Shiroma's house in the first dungeon, or Mom Bomb's house later in the game. You can pick up your equipment again once you reach the floor where you passed out, but any items you had then will be gone. If you had equipment that aren't equipped on you before you passed out, those will be gone too. HP and Energy can be recovered using the right potions and nuts. Remember that SELECT gives you a closer look of the mini-map. Also, your partner will always trail behind you, unless you toggled NPC mode to 2P, in which case that partner becomes a "monster" that can attack you and move freely using the second player controller. If you are split from your partner in NPC Auto mode on the current floor, he/she will attempt to rejoin you. Unless you are within vision range of your partner, any enemies he/she will come across will not attack him/her.

Pressing the START button brings up the status screen as pictured above. Here you'll see a few things:

• Chocobo recovers 1 HP every 20 turns. Turns are always taken when you attack, use a stove, light a torch/restart a generator, take a step, or use an item. The enemies move constantly as long as you're walking in a dungeon. This is recorded as the turns you've taken when you save the game.
• Chocobo loses 1% of energy every 24 turns. Energy is vital to Chocobo's survival in the dungeon. If he has less than 10%, the game warns you that you are low on energy. Once it hits 0%, you will lose HP every 3 turns until you pass out (similar to a Poison effect). This number of turns decreases when you wear equipment in which case Chocobo's wearing Wood equipment, which makes him heavier, hence he will lose energy faster. Energy is also used up when summoning with feathers and eating the wrong nuts.
• Chocobo's maximum energy. You can increase and decrease it with the right nuts.
• Your equipment is listed here with the most important stats. The ATK and DEF parameters are bonuses to Chocobo's base stats. DUR gauges the durability of the equipment, which can be increased by getting them repaired by Gamedon in the Monster Village, or by using Repair Cards. When it goes down to 10, the game warns you that they're damaged, and by around 5 it will warn again they will break soon. If the equipment name is in blue, it means it was combined via a stove. Combining claws and saddles will be touched upon later.
• Lastly, your partner's HP. You can also find this out by facing your partner and talking to them, along with a comment from them gauging their current status. You can restore their HP by kicking potions at them, but there's a chance that you can miss while doing so.

During your dungeon treks, you're often going to use your menu screen to access your items.

Pretty self-explanatory. The Feathers option shows, obviously, which feathers you've obtained. You're going to have to select here if you want to use a summon feather. Feathers will be explained in its own section in this page. The Spell level option shows Chocobo's proficiency with the 6 elements of the game. Each time you use a book, you're increasing the level of that element, denoted by the number for every next level. The maximum level is 20 and the spell itself changes form once it reaches level 9 and 17. I highly recommend using books often as the effects you see will definitely be worth the work =)

The last thing in this tab are Chocobo's stats. When you enter the menu, you see the number of exp needed to level up, the amount of Gil he has, and four parameters. I've already explained ATK and DEF which are Chocobo's base stats plus his equipped claw/saddle bonus. SPDEF is defense against special abilities and magics, and DF tells you how many dungeon runs you've done so far.

Status Effects

Like any other Final Fantasy game, you will suffer status effects during your dungeon trek. They can be received from monsters, traps, or by drinking specific potions. All status effects wear off after around 20 turns. Using a Remedy will immediately remove the status effect.

Status Effect	Image	Description
Sleep		Renders you vulnerable and unable to act. Enemies can deal damage to you, but you will not awaken until the effect wears off. Caused by the Worm's long-range attack, a Sleep Trap, or by using a Sleep Card.
Slow		Causes your actions to slow down, making all other actions to be at least 2 turns faster. The Zombie's breath attack, stepping on a spell trap, or using a Slow Tonic causes this effect.
Haste		Causes your actions to be faster, allowing you to take at least 2 turns against enemies without Haste. Wild Rats have the ability to cast Haste on themselves, and you can give yourself Haste status by drinking a Haste Tonic, eating a Speed Nut, stepping on a spell trap, or casting Haste via a Spell Book.
Confusion		Targets with Confusion move and attack in random directions. This doesn't affect spellcasting, which will still hit the specified target. The Lamia's Charm ability, stepping on a spell trap, or using a Confuse Card causes this effect.
Mini		Targets with Mini have all their stats halved, even spellcasting. Floating Eyes have this ability, and spell traps can inflict this status effect.
Poison		Causes you to lose HP every 3 turns. The Skeleton's Poison Gas ability, stepping on a Poison Trap, or drinking Poison will cause this. Antidotes are available to cure this.
Silence		Prevents spellcasting. Most enemies do not have a Silence ability, but spell traps and Silence Cards do.
Invis		With this status effect, you can't be seen by enemies. They'll retreat if you attack them instead of retaliating (or they'll attack your partner instead if he/she is nearby). An Invis Tonic and a spell trap will cause this one.
Toad		Dwindles your attack and defense, making you very vulnerable. Attacking while in Toad form turns other monsters into Toads, which can then be killed in one hit. While in Toad form, you also have the ability to walk on water. You will only revert back to your normal form on dry land. Be careful if your partner becomes a Toad because they can also die in one hit when attacked. Spell traps and Toad Cards will cause this status effect.
Amnesia		This is an enemy-only status effect. Kicking an Amnesia Tonic or a Lost-Child Card at an enemy causes them to wander aimlessly, letting you pass by safely without drawing aggro.

Item Types

A dungeon isn't complete if there aren't rare items to find, and damn there are craploads of them, so I'm only gonna skim past and summarize each type.

Item	Icon	Description
Potions		Potions include the actual healing and restorative Potions, damaging and status tonics, and essences from monsters. They're quite common to find and rarity varies from item to item. Potions could also be filled from empty bottles via springs. An example of some dangerous ones are Nitro and Poison Tonics.
Nuts		Nuts are another common item to find in dungeons. Peanuts restore a good amount of energy and Tasty Nuts restore HP and energy. Rotten Nuts cause damage but restores energy and Lethargy Nuts decrease your max energy by 20%. There are also seeds that can be used when mixing together claws and saddles to create some really good effects such as elemental attributes, but these items are much harder to find.
Cards		Cards are supplementary items that can be used by itself or kicked at enemies. Some useful cards are Map Cards which reveals the map of the current floor, Identify Cards which does what it says on a single unidentified item, Verify Cards which does a similar effect on all items, and Polish Cards which increases the chosen equipment's level. Cards that can be used at enemies are usually status afflicting such as Sleep Cards and Lost-Child Cards. Note that kicking these cards will not guarantee a direct hit.
Books		Books are your primary source of magic. There are six basic books for each element, in addition to Cantrip Books (status afflicting), Spell Books (higher-level magic), and MegaSpell Books (ultimate magics), which are much rarer books that could only be used effectively with feathers. Otherwise, they have a chance of failure when used.
Summon Stones		Summon Stones are used for some really strong and cool summon attacks, and are quite rare to find. Following standard Final Fantasy fare, you've got Ifrit, Shiva, and Ramuh summon stones, as well as higher level ones like Bahamut, Asura, and Carbuncle stones.
Tags		There are three common tags in the game. Teleport Tags allow you to leave the dungeon at any time, and is extremely important to carry with you before you enter a dungeon. Memory Tags allow you to save the game after each floor, and Carry Tags increase your item space by 1. The other two are very rare to find, and one of them is a novelty item.
Miscellaneous		Miscellaneous items include Teleport Boxes and Whistles which are used in tandem with the storage system in the village, provided that you began renting for storage. Thief Keys are only available in Cid's Tower and can be used to open special Thief Chests.

Unidentified Items

Items found in dungeons are typically unidentified, going under certain names such as Bubbly Tonic or Bent Card. It takes trial and error to find out what these cards are and what their effects are, making what would seem an easy game pretty hard. As I explained above, items such as Identify and Verify Cards find out what these items really are. Similarly, leaving the dungeon automatically identifies all items. If a single item is identified, and you carry items with the same name, they're all going to be the same item as identified.

Equipment

Besides claws and saddles, there are other equipment in the game that can be equipped by Chocobo. Different types of equipment have different attributes and effects, but we'll go over each type of equipment first.

Equipment	Icon	Description
Claws		Claws are Chocobo's primary weapons in the game. Some standard ones include Wood Claws, Iron Claws, and Mythril Claws, but there are other rare types out there that have much better effects such as Blitz Claws, which is Thunder-elemental, Cross Claws which allow you to attack four-way, and Vibro Claws which often miss, but hits with a powerful critical attack.
Saddles		An armor is to a human as a saddle is to Chocobo. Saddles come in different types, like claws do. Rarer saddles include resistances against elemental attacks and status effects, as well as higher defense capabilities and overall effectiveness.
Stones and Empty Bottles		Stones come in different kinds and all are equippable. Besides books, stones are another form of long-range attacks, but aren't very effective in my opinion. Power Stones deal more damage than normal stones, Crash Stones explode to create springs and pathways through walls, and Warp Stones cause enemies to be warped to another part of the floor. Empty bottles on the other hand are really useful. If kicked at an enemy and it's a fatal hit, you can obtain that enemy's essence. Try it on different enemies for different types of essences.
Collars	File:Collar.jpg	Collars are rare to find, and not all of them are beneficial. Most of what collars do is to give Chocobo special abilities and stat bonuses. The Waterwalk Collar allows Chocobo to walk on water while the Endure Collar locks Chocobo's HP recovery and energy loss. Unlike claws and saddles, collars require to be identified explicitly to define its ability.

Claws and saddles have a durability (DUR) stat that gauges its condition. When it breaks at a certain level (via synthesis or through the use of a Polish Card), it will give you a specific feather appropriate to that claw or saddle's ability. Feathers are touched upon in its appropriate section.

Cursed Equipment

If a piece of equipment has a -1 modifier, it's automatically a cursed item with reduced stats. Cursed equipment cannot be taken off unless you drink a Dispel Tonic, walk into a Spin Trap, de-equipped by an Onion monster variant, or if they break. Only Dispel Tonics can permanently remove the curse. Some collars are cursed when worn. The only way to prevent cursed items to latch onto you is to wear a rare special collar. A Cursed Collar will automatically curse any equipment you wear regardless of its modifier, and certain enemies, such as the Mummy, curse all your equipment when they attack.

Stats

Claws

Stat	Definition
ATK	The claw's attack power. It adds to Chocobo's base attack power.
DUR	The claw's current condition. The game warns you that it will break soon if it goes down by 10 or 5. This stat can be increased and decreased through the use of Repair Cards and Rust Cards. Gamedon can also increase this stat by 10 for 1500 Gil or 2000 Gil if you upgrade your storage.
Energy	The claw's weight. The higher this stat is, the less it will decrease the number of turns Chocobo's energy decreases.
Toughness	The claw's hardiness rating. The higher the stat, the lower the rate of DUR decrease when attacking.
LV Limit	The highest modified level a claw can go. When it hits this limit, it cannot be increased further through synthesizing or through Polish Cards, but it can still be decreased through the use of Dull Cards.
Hit Rate	The claw's hit percentage. If it's less, it means you miss your attacks more.
Critical	The claw's crit rating. The higher this stat, the higher the chance of Chocobo scoring a critical hit. Chocobo's base crit rating is a hidden value with this stat being a bonus to that.

Saddles

Stat	Definition
DEF	The saddle's defense power. It adds to Chocobo's base defense power.
DUR	The saddle's current condition. The game warns you that it will break soon if it goes down by 10 or 5. This stat can be increased and decreased through the use of Repair Cards and Rust Cards. Gamedon can also increase this stat by 10 for 1500 Gil or 2000 Gil if you upgrade your storage.
Energy	The saddle's weight. The higher this stat is, the less it will decrease the number of turns Chocobo's energy decreases.
Toughness	The saddle's hardiness rating. The higher the stat, the lower the rate of DUR decrease when an enemy attacks you.
LV Limit	The highest modified level a saddle can go. When it hits this limit, it cannot be increased further through synthesizing or through Polish Cards, but it can still be decreased through the use of Dull Cards.
Dodge	The saddle's dodge rating. The higher this value is, the more likely enemy attacks miss.
SPDEF	The saddle's defense rating against spells and special attacks. Elemental and status saddles such as Calm Saddles or Earth Saddles have a high rating on this stat. The saddle's SPDEF adds to Chocobo's base SPDEF.

Synthesis

Mixing claws or saddles together makes for an important part of the game if you wish to preserve them or make them more powerful in the dungeons ahead. The entire synthesis process is very simple, but it requires a bit of giving and taking as you are swapping the properties of two different claws or saddles.

First, and most obvious step, you need at least two claws or saddles.

If you have any essences (you get essences by kicking empty bottles at monsters until they die) or nuts that are meant to be used for the synthesis process, you will be prompted to use them. You can press the cancel button if you don't want to use them now.

If you're using a dungeon stove, you must choose either a Fire or Thunder Book. It doesn't matter which one you pick, but you will get better at either spell if you use one. If you've finished a sidequest in the Monster Village, you can use a stove there for 300 Gil a pop, without the need for books.

Now, here's the good part. You get to pick the dominant piece that gets to come out of the synthesis process. If either claw or saddle is unidentified, the stats that will come out will be marked as ??, but in this case, I've worn/identified both claws, so I get to see what stats I get for mixing them both. Like I said at the beginning of this section, you have to give and take properties to get the equipment you want. In this case, I'm giving away durability and hit rate for toughness and attack power, and vice versa. This also goes for additional effects and elements. If you already have one element in a claw or saddle, you lose the existing element for the new element that is in the nut/essence or the claw and vice versa if you pick one pattern or the other. If either of them has a modifier (+1, -1, etc.), the sum will be guaranteed to result, as you can see above (+2 + -1 = +1).

So, you pick a pattern...

And voila! You get your new piece of equipment. Didn't I say it was simple?

You can alter the synthesis process to your favour with the right essence or nut. They don't just add or subtract an element or effect. They can also be used to give you the best stats, the best modifier, or even give you a completely different claw with combined previous stats!

Magic

Magic is straightforward in this game. Get a book, use it at an enemy, marvel at the fireworks. Magic is very useful in the game as you go along because not only is it powerful, but it keeps you alive as well as you delve deeper into the floors. Magic is both a tool and a weapon in the dungeon as it is useful for:

• opening sealed chests (you will do this very often as you progress).
• lighting torches and generators.
• activating stoves

There are six basic elements in the game. The maximum spell level is 20, and when an element hits level 9 and 17, the spell changes form into a more powerful version (Fire becomes Fira, which becomes Firaga):

Element	Usage
Fire	Used for lighting torches and great against undead. With the Fireball feather, you could create a small square area attack.
Blizzard	Great against fire-types. With the Blizzard Storm feather, you can shoot out a pyramidal breath attack from your position.
Thunder	Used for activating generators. Does well against machines and water-types. With the Thunder Cross feather, you can project lightning in a cross pattern.
Aero	Great against flying monsters. Isn't exactly used for much else. With the Aero All feather, you can attack all enemies in your current vicinity.
Quake	Works even against flying types, but not as effectively. With the Quake All feather, you can attack all enemies in your current vicinity.
Drain	A great alternative if you're saving on potions and nuts. At high levels, you can grab lots of HP from enemies and kill them at the same time. It doesn't work against undead and machine-types, though. The Drain UP feather increases effectiveness of the spell by 50%.

Aside from the basic elements, there exists the Cantrip Book, which is a status-inducing magic book, a Spell Book, which is a book of stronger spells, and MegaSpell Book, which is a book of ultimate spells. Note that like any Final Fantasy game, some enemies are immune to certain status effects.

These three books require a feather to garner a better chance of casting it. If a spell fails, Chocobo takes damage.

Cantrip Element	Note
Slow
Poison
Sleep
Mini
Frog
Confusion
Silence
Spell Element	Note
Haste
Remove
Gravity
Meteorite
Flare
Doom
Bio
MegaSpell Element	Note
Meteor
Ultima
Holy

Gotta catch 'em all! The feathers, I mean...

Feathers

So, I've been talking tons about feathers, but I haven't gone in-depth about them yet. Basically, feathers are an essence of magic. They are either a supplement to the books for stronger spells, options to attack a wider area of enemies, stat-boosters, or summoning companion spells. There are a ton of them to collect, but it's not easy to collect them all.

To get a feather, you must break a claw or a saddle. Said claw or saddle MUST be at a certain level (upgraded either by card or by synthesis) when it was broken to get a feather. Different claws or saddles at different levels give different feathers, but by breaking the same claw or saddle at the same level, you get the same feather. It's not a random thing.

The only other way to obtain feathers is when you finish the game. You'll get a chance to play through the dungeons that you previously went through again, and when you beat these dungeons, your reward is a random feather of a specific category.

The types of feathers are as follows... under construction

Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2 Walkthrough by Chocolancer
Main Page (Index) | Gameplay | Dungeon Elements | Characters | Monsters | Monster Village

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