Stephanus: If you go to www.gamefaqs.com you should find an in depth walkthrough regarding Chocobo Forest. Here: http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/final_fantasy_ix_chocobo_hot_cold.txt and here: http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/final_fantasy_ix_chocograph.txt.
Basically the footprints that you refer to are just out side the first Chocobo Forest, near to the beach. You'll need the Choco Whistle (IIRC) to call the Chocobo. When you are in the Chocobo Forest you basically have to dig with your Chocobo to find items, each time you find an item, the next one gets better. The maximum items you can get in one go is 8 (but you only have 60 seconds (IIRC)). When you get above 5 or 6 items, you might start getting Chocographs. These point you to a location, where you can do some more digging and find treasure chests on the world map with some very nice items. Ultimately, you will get Zidane's Ultimate Weapon, using this method. Please note, finding all of the Chocograph locations takes a long time indeed, I have done all of them, but I must admit, I did some hacking so that every time I found an item in the Chocobo Forest, it was a Chocograph.
Read the FAQ, it will make sense I'm sure. (I have a save with all the Chocobo stuff done if anybody's interested).
Also, dont forget to do all of your Moogle stuff before you get to disc 4, since all/most of the towns/cities are not accessable on disc 4 (I found out the hard way
)
Basically the footprints that you refer to are just out side the first Chocobo Forest, near to the beach. You'll need the Choco Whistle (IIRC) to call the Chocobo. When you are in the Chocobo Forest you basically have to dig with your Chocobo to find items, each time you find an item, the next one gets better. The maximum items you can get in one go is 8 (but you only have 60 seconds (IIRC)). When you get above 5 or 6 items, you might start getting Chocographs. These point you to a location, where you can do some more digging and find treasure chests on the world map with some very nice items. Ultimately, you will get Zidane's Ultimate Weapon, using this method. Please note, finding all of the Chocograph locations takes a long time indeed, I have done all of them, but I must admit, I did some hacking so that every time I found an item in the Chocobo Forest, it was a Chocograph.
Read the FAQ, it will make sense I'm sure. (I have a save with all the Chocobo stuff done if anybody's interested).
Also, dont forget to do all of your Moogle stuff before you get to disc 4, since all/most of the towns/cities are not accessable on disc 4 (I found out the hard way