Quote Originally Posted by NoctisUmbra View Post
Soot Black!



Last color I was at was Bark Brown.

I worked out on paper what fruits I had to give using +/- 5 points per fruit, and counting only the feeds that give the new feather message.

From Bark Brown it was 9 Berries, 8 Pears, 6 Apples, 1 Plum.
Ok, I haven't tested this yet, so I want to hold my "thanks" until after I prove this theory of sorts. But I think I'm finally catching on to this, and it's all due to this post here and how wonderfully he worded it.

So, this is what I've come to as a hypothesis and hopeful conclusion. I keep seeing people find ways to get to Soot Black, and not just by the same necessary method either. However, due to the +5/-5 theory it ALL makes perfect sense now. That was the missing piece to the puzzle I needed to fully understand this. Apologies to anyone that pointed this out already pages back, but this post made me finally catch onto it due to the Soot Black being shown. I could be entirely wrong here, but please, hear me out for a second.

Here are some things you need to know first: 1) the RGB values of whatever color you're at, and 2) Soot Black's RGB color.

If you're really friggin close to Soot Black, like I've been, you've probably have been going crazy trying to solve this puzzle. I challenge you now to take Deepwood Green / Kobold Brown and apply the +5/-5 theory to the test.

Here are my results, and I have to say, either I'm clueless or someone else screwed up on their reports. I was under the impression that feeding one Doman Plum to a Kobold Brown chocobo would finally net me my Soot Black. If you check my post from a few pages back, you'll see that I did not. I instead got Ink Blue. But why did that happen? Well, I have a theory that adding 2 Doman Plums, by referring to the +5/-5 point per fruit theory, would net your RGB values ALL in the 30's. Guess what's ALL in the 30's? I can tell you it's NOT Ink Blue. It's actually Soot Black's value. So, what does that mean? It means feeding 2 Doman Plums that BOTH give you a "beginning to grow new feathers" message should more accurately put you at Soot Black. Again, this math adds up based on what Noctis Umbra gave. It makes much more sense than what I've been reading lately, and I fail to see any other way of it working. Even for the sake of argument, if you want to argue that the RNG comes into place with how many points you get per "beginning to grow new feathers" messages, it still gives us a much better outline to follow when trying to figure out what the hell we should be giving our birds for every 6 hour attempt we get.

Here are the results I got by just using simple math, and the +5/-5 technique:

Soot Black RGB Value -> 37 (R) / 35 (G) / 30 (B)
Kobold Brown -> 42 (R) / 28 (G) / 23 (B)

We want to use Doman Plums for this to work and I'll show the procedure down below: (Doman Plums remove Red and ADD Green + Blue aka "lighten" Red hues)

42-5= 37
28+5= 33
23+5=28

So, 2/3 are in the 30's with Soot Black, but Green is still in the 20's. Round all you want, it's not a guaranteed Soot Black. I already proved earlier it's not 100% from my personal tests with just a single Plum.

Let's try one more Plum...

37 - 5 = 32
33 + 5 = 38
28 + 5 = 33

And now you have all 3 colors in the 30's matching up the CLOSEST to Soot Black than any other color. Unless you can show you another color that is in the 30's with Soot Black, nothing will stop you from getting it now. Let's just say, giving the benefit of the doubt, that 1 Doman Plum could still get you Soot Black based on some RNG chance, I hypothesize that getting all 3 colors in the 30's (as closest as possible) is your best chance at getting Soot Black, over one Plum that knocks you back to another color, like it did to me with Ink Blue and several other players multiple times.

Again, I just want to make clear, I HAVE NOT personally reached Soot Black yet, but lets just go over one last of the reported Soot Black finds.


Soot Black RGB Value -> 37 (R) / 35 (G) / 30 (B)
Deepwood Green -> 25 (R) / 36 (G) / 28 (B)

For this, the 1 Valfruit strategy will be explained by again using the +5/-5 strategy that Noctis Umbra brought to our attention: (Valfruits remove Green and ADD Red + Blue aka "lighten" Green hues)

25 + 5 = 30
36 - 5 = 31
28 + 5 = 33

And would you look at that, the accurate reports of 1 Valfruit + Deepwood Green = Soot Black

ALL RGB values are in the 30's making the game take the closest numbers and giving Soot Black in return as a result to it being the closest choice.

That's the end of my understanding. I have NOT proven this other than the handful of Soot Black owner's that I have read, studied and taken notes from. Please prove me wrong and explain otherwise, because this mathematical approach makes more sense to me than anything else I've tried thus far.

So, am I off by a mile with my understanding or am I right on the money? Help me out here.