Really I would say that these are the only things that irk me. Not the harvesting nodes that sparkle, but the items that you have to literally be pressing X constantly to find. It would be infinitely better if an ! Popped up above your head to just let you know something is there. I LOVE exploring an over world map to find secrets and treasures, but with really no rhyme or reason for their placement, it makes it tedious. In fact I ended up buying the guide for the sole purpose of finding these, and even then i really just check against it when im moving to the next area.

Again, hunting these things down is fun. But without any context to know where or what they may be hiding in, you will need a replacement X button before you're halfway through the game.

I only just realized these existed. They don't seem to be essential, so I'm not really bothered by it.

Yea, it be neat if there was some way to track them sorta like the chocobo hunt in FF9. That was my favorite side quest of all the FF games.

There are some decent weapons and accessories that you can get from them. I know from the GI review that you can get an ability late in the game that will show them on your map, but at that point most of them are trivial.

For example at the beginning of the game you can get a well-worn sword and a giants tooth well before they are actually available any other way.

You can see the locations in the in-game wizard book. The little keyholes on the map -- I've got all of the ones I can reach so far with no guide. I also read that later you get a spell that makes them even easier to find. It doesn't really seem like anything to sweat.

Wait, what? Did I miss some tutorial in the early game that explained this? I had no idea there were just random items on the over world map.

You get a spell later on that shows you exactly where they are. But I still wish they were just big ol' treasure chests.

@oulzac said:

Wait, what? Did I miss some tutorial in the early game that explained this? I had no idea there were just random items on the over world map.

No tutorial that I saw, I just found them because I was reading the book and wondered what those spots on the map were. It's this games hidden items. There's a x/100 stat in the completion section of the telling stone.

!!! You're right! Listen to that man. They are right on the map in the book. Well chalk on more cool thing up to this game, because that is a great way to do it. Atleast this guide is nice lol.

wow, that's good to know, I didn't know there were hidden items on the map. I have to start reading the in-game wizard book...

Now I wish I had the actual book so I wouldn't have to keep juggling between the in-game book and the actual playing.

I was wondering what those symbols on the map were.

Wow, I had no clue.. I should.... look at my map more often.