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Chocobo Riding makes traveling Final Fantasy 16’s maps much easier. Many of them are quite large, and to be honest, Clive Rosfield runs kind of slow most of the time. While you do have a fair amount of teleport points in Square Enix’s latest epic RPG, you will also be running between locations frequently. Thankfully, you don’t have to walk forever. Eventually, a side quest will show up, allowing you to unlock Chocobo Riding - but you could easily miss it.
If you’re worried about that, don’t worry. We’ll go over when this side quest unlocks and what you need to do to secure a Chocobo to ride across Valisthea. It will no doubt make your exploring much easier.
Note: This article contains minor spoilers for FF16.
When Chocobo Riding unlocks in Final Fantasy 16
In Final Fantasy 16, Chocobo Riding unlocks during the Main Story Quest, The Gathering Storm. After you set the Bearers to rest, you’ll be told to return to the Hideaway. However, before you do that, you’ll see a green quest on Martha’s Rest map. It also shows up on the World Map. This has a “Plus” in the green circle, indicating it unlocks a feature.
The quest giver will assign you a quest, “The White Winged Wonder,” which will ultimately unlock Chocobo Riding after a very short quest.
How to complete the side quest and unlock Chocobo Riding in Final Fantasy 16
Head to the nearby merchant, who has the quest marker over his head. This character will be familiar if you did another side quest earlier in the game. When you head to Martha’s Rest for the first time, a merchant will ask you to bring a package up to the nearby village.
This Final Fantasy 16 NPC will once again ask for Clive Rosfield's help, not realizing you were the Branded that aided him earlier. A white-feathered Chocobo is in need of help as bandits are hunting it. Apparently, this Chocobo has been protecting the people of Martha’s Rest. This is how you unlock Chocobo Riding in the game.
The first quest location in Final Fantasy 16 will show a white feather, which will then lead you deeper into the marsh. Head out of town, and you’ll see a green circle on the map down in the marshes. Move to the point on the map, and you’ll notice the white feathered bird protecting some yellow Chocobos.
Before the bandits can harm them, you show up and lend a hand. You’ll have a small group of thugs to batter, but none really pose a threat. You may want to defeat the spellcaster first, but other than that, you have more than enough power.
None of them do anything special. That said, a second wave of enemies will appear - a few wolves. These aren’t a threat, either. Just overwhelm them with the power you possess, and before you know it, the fight’s over.
The only challenging enemy is the Huntsman, who is the boss of this group. They’re a large character with a huge axe. Just evade the heavy strikes and combo this enemy down easily. His swings hurt, though, so beware of that.
You’ll learn this was your mount all along, and you’ll receive the barding and the ability to summon it wherever you want. Just press R3 to summon your Chocobo and the “X” button to mount it. Now you have a much faster mode of transportation as you explore Final Fantasy 16. You can read our review of the game here.
