______ _ _ ______ _ | ___(_) | | | ___| | | | |_ _ _ __ __ _| | | |_ __ _ _ __ | |_ __ _ ___ _ _ | _| | | '_ \ / _` | | | _/ _` | '_ \| __/ _` / __| | | | | | | | | | | (_| | | | || (_| | | | | || (_| \__ \ |_| | \_| |_|_| |_|\__,_|_| \_| \__,_|_| |_|\__\__,_|___/\__, | __/ | _ , _ _ _ _, |___/ '\/ | | | ~ ) /\ | | | ~~ / ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ MN7 MN87 MNMNNN$ NNNN MNMNNMNN NNNNMNN MNNMNNND NNNN NN M$MN++++ MN NMDDN N NNN MNNN I+I==? MD MDDD8NN MNNNNNNNMDD MN8~+7~=? MZ 888DNIDN MNDNDDND88 MIOO~,=?~ MM MD88DNNDNN MN MDDDDD8N8ONO =D88,O=::7 MZ MDMZ8IODDMN MZN MNNDDNN888 =8O,?++~~$7DM$ MO8Z8O8II8NMNNN N8DD88OZM MN+=,O.~7O MD DZZ$O888DDDZ 8N88888O M8MOL_ ~,.$,:~ M7 O$OOO778$MD MD888OO \Z $ $7,:=: M+$ 8OZZ$OO$888D8888OOZ MD7$M?+ D:~7Z7OM=7 MZ$ZOOO$OONO8OOOOOOO M8777OOO77= ~=$Z7:?7 $ $ZZ$$OOODOOZOOZZZZ M$I7?I++Z+===?I+=+$IZ MZZ$Z77Z$ZZOZZZZZ$ 7I?I?=+?+I=?=+??I$ M$NZ$ZZ$ZZOOZZZ$O D777III++++I$ZI$?I7777$ OII$Z$$7$NZZZZM$$ O???7O?II? 77$M7 M?+ZZZ 8MOZ$ M$$ III$8III7 7Z$ I7Z7 MZM8Z$$ $$ IIIN87I77 $$$ M$Z7ZZ M$O $ 777$ I77$7$$ +I?$NNZZ M$7ZZ7 $O M$7ZOIZ D$$7$ M$O DIOOZ $$7Z MO DZ$D M$$$IZ7 M$$O ZZN DZZ?I$I77O MDZO NZ8 =+O$ZON N MZ8 MOO8 =O~~ M8N DOON M8ON N8D+D DNMD8N MDOO8 N8D M$OD MD888 NOZ8MN8 MI~:D MDDD ODDN M~Z$DNNDDD _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 400 Pages 160,000 Words 900,000 Hits $0.00 The writers on GameFAQs are people like you who happen to enjoy helping others. We don't get paid for it and any appreciation you give, we would be very thankful for. If a guide has helped you out, please try to donate (if possible) so we can continue writing guides or give us a pat on the back with a recommendation in the top middle of your screen. Thanks! www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=BT5BJTYTEVWN4 _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Preface - x000x --------------- Welcome to my Final Fantasy XIII-2 Guide. It's still a work in progress so please be kind. I'm working on refining it and including as much information as I can. Version - x010x --------------- Version: 1.0 Date: Feb 9, 2011 -Main Quest complete _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Table of Contents x100x _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Preface.......................x000x Version.....................x010x Table of Contents.............x100x Controls......................x200x X360........................x210x PS3.........................x220x Walkthrough...................x300x New Bodhum 3AF..............x301x The Meteorite...............x302x Gogmagog....................x303x Next Morning................x303x Historia Crux...............x304x Bresha Ruins 5AF............x305x Two Capsules................x306x Cie’th......................x307x Atlas Stumbled..............x308x Atlas.......................x309x Yaschas Massif 10AF.........x310x Oerba 200AF.................x311x Caius.......................x312x Yaschas Massif 1XAF.........x313x Lost........................x314x Sunleth Waterscape 300AF....x315x Exploring...................x316x Archylte Steppe ?AF.........x317x Faeryl......................x318x Familiar Places.............x319x Academia 400AF..............x320x Cocytus and Zenobia.........x321x Augusta Tower 200AF.........x322x Augusta Tower 300AF.........x323x Return to 200AF.............x324x Proto fal’Cie Adam..........x325x Academia 4XXAF..............x326x The Void Beyond.............x327x World of Dreams.............x328x A Dying World...............x329x New Bodhum 700AF............x330x Academia 500AF..............x331x Pacos and Pacos.............x332x More Blocks.................x333x Chaos Bahamut...............x334x Caius.......................x335x Caius 2.....................x336x Bahamut.....................x337x Paradox Endings...............x400x Wild Artefacts................x410x Fragments.....................x420x Crystarium....................x500x Legal.........................x900x Copyright...................x910x Thanks......................x920x Contact.....................x930x _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Controls x200x _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ________________________________________ XBox 360 x210x ________________________________________ Combat ------ A - confirm B - cancel Y - Execute* X - Feral Link LB - Paradigm Shift RB - Enemy info Start - Pause LS - Choose action/enemy RS - Move Camera R3 - Center Camera *Ends action selection and executes chosen actions. During execution, cancels all actions after the action currently being executed World Map ----- A - Examine/activate B - Jump Y - Open Menu X - Map LB - Aim Moogle** RB - Throw Moogle** Start - Pause Back - Toggle Mini-map LS - Move leader RS - Move Camera R3 - Center Camera **Skill must first be learned. First use LB to pick up Mog, RS to aim, and RB to throw. ________________________________________ PS3 x220x ________________________________________ Combat ---- X - confirm O - cancel triangle - Execute* Square - Feral Link L1 - Paradigm Shift R1 - Enemy info Start - Pause LS - Choose action/enemy RS - Move Camera R3 - Center Camera *Ends action selection and executes chosen actions. During execution, cancels all actions after the action currently being executed World Map ----- X - Examine/activate O - Jump Triangle - Open Menu Square - Map L1 - Aim Moogle** R1 - Throw Moogle** Start - Pause Select - Toggle Mini-map LS - Move leader RS - Move Camera R3 - Center Camera **Skill must first be learned. First use L1 to pick up Mog, RS to aim, and R1 to throw. _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Walkthrough x300x _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ________________________________________ Valhalla x300x ________________________________________ This is Final Fantasy so unless you’ve already watched the opening cutscene you should look away from this guide and watch it. The first battle will start shortly but it’s very easy. Once your first battle begins, you’ll be offered a tutorial for combat. If you didn’t take the tutorial, the short version is that you have an ATB bar that will fill up and you’ll be able to choose actions. Choose which actions you’d like to execute. When you run out of space on your action bar and try to add another action OR if you hit the Y/triangle button after you’re done choosing, you will execute these moves when you are ready. If you have actions chosen which cover 5 sections of ATB bar, your actions won’t actually execute until the bar his filled up 5 sections. However, if those sections are full, your actions will execute as soon as you specify that you are done. With that in mind, combat begins. If you are in doubt or afraid you will die, hit the Auto-Battle button which is the default position of your cursor if you haven’t changed it. This battle is quite easy. Lightning has both offensive attacks and healing magic so if you continue to hit auto-battle, she will fight and heal as appropriate. If you are interested in handling the battle yourself, Lightning has three abilities. Lightning strike takes up three sections of ATB a piece, dealing two hits for roughly 900 points of damage apiece. This comes to about 3600 damage if you execute it twice per turn. Snipe on the other hand, requires only 1 ATB section but only does 450 points of damage each. That’s roughly 2700 points of damage per turn. Lastly is the Ulir’s Shield ability which takes up your entire ATB bar but heals Lightning for a large amount and adds a few beneficial status effects for good measure. You may have to use Ulir’s shield once or twice during the course of this battle but as long as you use it when you hit about half health, you should have no problem with this battle. After you defeat the Chaos Bahamut, you’ll see another cutscene and then the words “Cinematic Action” will appear in the top left of the screen. Basically, that’s just fancy talk for Quick Time Event. You’ll only ever see actions about one third of the way up the screen and, if there aremultiple actions, they will appear from left to right. Your first action will be to push the left stick up as noted by the arrows and the motion of the stick that appear on the screen. Also notice the circle that appears around this that slowly disappears. This is your timer. You must execute the action before that runs out. Usually there is no large penalty for missing an action but there are bonuses for getting them all right such as extra items or additional damage to an enemy. For this sequence, you will have to push up on the LS as previously mentioned, then shortly after you will have to push A/X depending on your console. After a little more watching, you’ll come to another Cinematic Action where you will have to push X/Square repeatedly (as denoted by the downward arrows above the button). Keep hitting the button until the white circle turns into a red to green circle. Hit the button until this gauge fills. Watch more and you’ll be presented with the third type of Cinematic Action which is actually a choice. Depending on which button you press, Lightning will either execute a melee attack or a magic attack. Usually, to make a choice you have to hit either X/Square or B/O to choose. After you make your first choice, you’ll be greeted with a second choice after which will begin a regular Cinematic action. Complete the appropriate response (depending on your choice). You will have to choose another option, either ruinga or graviga. Then you will have to press the A/X button, LS to the right, B/O button, and then A/X button. Not long after you finish that, you will enter another battle but it’s rather similar to the previous battle. You still have a magic attack, a shot attack, and a healing ability. They have been renamed but they all operate the same. You’ll get to watch more shiny video after you defeat him a second time and then the game will truly get under way. ________________________________________ New Bodhum (003AF) x301x ________________________________________ You now have control of Serah, Lightning’s sister. Head over to the door of your room. When you leave Serah’s room, you’ll come to your first "Live Trigger" event. You will be given the chance to pick any of four options (sometimes it will be less). You can choose whichever you like. Some answers are more correct than others but the rewards are generally just "adornments" which have no effect on stats. In some cases, if you go back and play a section again later on (through Time Reversal, more on that later), some options of the Live Trigger will be different allowing for more exploration of events. Adornments are clothes for monsters that you will tame later. You will enter a larger living area and have to hop over the furniture on the ground by hitting B or O. Make your way to the front door of the building you are in which is called NORA House. When you get outside, you’ll be greeted with another Live Trigger. Make your choice and head outside. When the world returns to normal, Noel will meet up with Serah and give her a weapon. Your first real battle starts now. You’ll have to fight some Meonekton and nekton. I recommend going for the nekton first. They are small and have far less health than the bigger enemies, allowing you to take them out quickly and limit the number of enemies attacking you. The Meonekton are bigger and tougher but you shouldn’t have too much trouble with them. If you feel comfortable with doing a paradigm shift, hit the LB or L1 to bring up the list of Paradigms. For right now, I would switch to Slash and Burn because the Ravager roll is good at building up the chain gauge (upper right) and causing stagger. Most Nekton will die before that point but the bigger Meonekton will take additional damage and, after each additional hit, will be stunned for a short period. You will have plenty of time to master this but make sure you try to because paradigm shifts and the chain gauge become very important to combat strategy later on. Once you’ve defeated this group, you’ll have to run around this area and kill the rest of the monsters. To start a battle with them, just run into them. Most of these battles should play out very similarly to the previous battle. Use this time to practice Paradigm shifting and building stagger. After the area is clear, you’ll have a proper meeting with Noel and then set off for the meteorite to the N. ________________________________________ The Meteorite x302x ________________________________________ You’ll want to head N. If you don’t have the mini-map in the upper right then hit the back/select button to open it. You can adjust the settings for the map in the options menu by hitting the Y/triangle button. By default, the map is stationary and always points N. Jump over the broken fence and head for the wooden ramp that leads up and to the right. When you get close to it, you’ll be given the tutorial about the Mog Clock. Enemies in this game can already be present on the map or (more frequently they can appear through a rift in time. These rifts will be quite sudden and when the enemy appears it will be disoriented for a second. If you manage to swing your sword and hit them (using A or X) then you will begin combat with an advantage. You will deal a small amount of damage, all enemies will start with their chain gauge at 120% and your party will start with the haste status effect which makes your ATB gauge fill more quickly. Immediately after you finish the tutorial, an enemy will appear. Hit it to start combat with your advantages. This enemy is a Pulsework Soldier and is a prime example of why staggering is important. In some cases, staggering does more than cause extra damage or cause the enemy to stumble, it will change the enemy. In this case, without staggering the enemy, you will do very minimal damage but once he is stagger, his midsection will open up revealing his core. When you attack him while he’s like this, he will take significantly more damage. Use the Slash and Burn paradigm to cause stagger and then change back to Double Trouble. In Double Trouble, both characters will be Commandos which do more damage than Ravagers but can’t build the chain gauge nearly as fast. They do have an important role in gauge building though because they slow the speed at which the gauge drains and resets itself. Ideally, you want at lE one command in the party while building the gauge OR at lE have one attack the enemy every few turns (through paradigm shifting) to keep the gauge from draining too quickly. Also keep in mind that after staggering, if the enemy is tough, it may benefit you to keep Ravagers in the party because the higher the chain gets, the more damage you will do. However, in the case of the Pulsework Soldier, once he is staggered, he will fall with probably a single turn with two commandos. Once he is defeated, hop up onto the ramp and then onto the giant root and piece of land beyond. As soon as you hop off of the root, turn right and you should see a treasure orb at the corner of this platform. Walk forward a little ways and you’ll be able to talk to Noel about Cocoon. After you are done talking, you can wander around the area and talk to all of the NORA troops in the area, including the leaders. This will lead to Live Triggers and possible rewards (as well as some fun dialog). Watch out for monsters on the way and enjoy the Live Triggers as you like. You’ll only actually be able to take one route through this section for now. Head down the stairs to the N, take the path that goes slightly NW to come to a settlement area. On the way to the settlement, you’ll pass a Treasure Orb on the right. From here you will u-turn to the left and head back SW. You’ll see some kind of distortion ahead and just to your right. You’ll take another u-turn to the right and head N again. Along the outside of this turn will be another Treasure Orb. Follow this path N and it will curve to the NE. Eventually it will curve back N and then W. You’ll come out to be over water and the path snakes back around to the crater site. The path will split with a high road to the left and a low road to the right. At the point where the road splits, you’ll find a Treasure Orb. When you are done here, take the low road to meet up with your first Boss, Gogmagog. ________________________________________ Gogmagog x303x ________________________________________ After you get a tutorial about Paradigm shifting, you also need to take note of the Items command. This allows you to use items like potions and phoenix down. Since it’s a little bit tougher of a fight and you haven’t unlocked the Medic role yet, it’s important to keep the items command in mind. For this fight, you need to watch for when Gogmagog goes to execute his Swipe attack. He will make a big wind up and the word Swipe will appear in a red box. When you see this, switch your paradigm over to Twin Shields. Even if you don’t manage to activate any of the abilities, a character in the sentinel role will automatically take less damage anyway. The more people in that role, the stronger the effect for everyone. Whenever he isn’t using Swipe, you should try and raise his stagger bar. He staggers quite easily. He’ll stagger at 120% and you will likely be able to kill him before the stagger effect wears off. Just use Slash and Burn to raise his stagger bar and then switch back to Double Trouble to finish him. For defeating him, you will be rewarded with your first Fragment. Fragments are pieces of an ancient era that will unlock certain abilities like the ability to use Time Reversal on a specific area allowing you to replay it from the beginning. Some of them will get you bonus abilities from someone in a place called Serendipity which you won’t be able to visit for a while. Collecting fragments is optional but there a large benefits for it. After Gogmagog is dead, continue on to the crater, open the Treasure Orb on the second small island and then there is another Treasure Orb on the rim of the crater to your left. It can be hard to see but grab that before hopping into the crater. Go down to the meteorite and inspect it. ________________________________________ The Next Morning x304x ________________________________________ When you wake up the next morning, a Treasure Cube may appear to your left. Walk out of your room and you’ll be given your Crystarium introduction. If you visit the Crystarium through the menu, it will give you a more in-depth look at the Crystarium. Once you walk out of your room, turn right to talk to Lebreau. The rest of the gang will be in the living area proper. Talk to them if you like and then head outside to meet back up with Noel (I wonder where he slept?). You can talk to him a few times if you like for more information but when you are done, head towards the coast and talk to the woman sitting by the water to the N. She will give you a side quest to find a medical kit for her. After you accept, you can find the Medical Kit at the turn just before where you met Gogmagog. This is the turn just before the fork. This is optional but when you return the Medical Kit, you will get the Heart Prism fragment. When you return to her, you will notice a blue marker over her head. This is a Side Quest Marker showing you where you originally got the quest and (usually) where to turn it in. Whether you do or don’t go to get the Medical Kit, inspect the area by the tree on the beach that has the golden exclamation point over it. This is a Main Quest Marker. Check it out to find Lightning’s Knife. If you turn back S, Mog’s bobble will glow and lead you to a group of cats. You’ll have to chase a cat around until you catch it. After a brief talk about the cat, Mog will direct you to a group of children. Make your way over and talk to them. After the talk, one of them will run off. Chase after him to find out what’s wrong. He will run off to the N through all the monsters. Catch up to him and find out what’s wrong with him. You can try all the funny options for this conversation but you’ll have to be kind to get through the conversation eventually. After you find out that he stole a necklace, head back towards town. Noel and Serah will have a small talk about what’s going on. A new objective will pop up telling you to look for the artefact (again). Head towards NORA House and you’ll find everybody crowding around your bedroom window. Go into the building and check out the new mirror in your room for your Artefact. As soon as you have it, a Treasure Cube will appear next to you. Check the Cube and head back outside. Make your way back N towards the meteorite crater. This time, take the road that was blocked off before. Go N, sticking to the E side. Just after you come down the sloping hill, you can hop to another section of land. This part was under water previously but no longer. Hop over to it and unlock the Treasure Orb just to your left. About half way up, there will be a wider section with two black, rectangular platforms. The one on the left is of particular importance but not right until you learn Mog’s Search skill in the next chapter. For now, continue past it while keeping it in mind and almost all the way up before, before you climb back up to the main road, there will be a Treasure Orb to your right. Climb back up and finish making your way to the crater. When you get back to the spot where fought Gogmagog last time, he will appear again. He isn’t remarkably different than he was before except that this time he is a little bit more aggressive (don’t be shy about shifting to Sentinel) and he will occasionally put up a shield. The shield will protect him from most damage but if you stagger him, it will destroy the shield so your strategy isn’t really any different. Build up stagger and then wreck him. For doing this, you will unlock another Fragment piece and chocobos. Chocobos will allow you to travel quickly and without incident. They will cost you one Gyshal Green to ride them until you get off. If you dismount, it will cost you another Green to ride again and while riding you can’t use any of Mog’s special skills that you acquire later. You will only be able to move, jump, talk, and open Treasure Orbs and Cubes. Right now it will be expensive to ride them frequently but later on, they will be very useful for looking for Fragments without being bothered by bothersome enemies. Once you finally get to the crater and the Time Gate, you’ll say your goodbyes and head into the future! ________________________________________ The Historia Crux x305x ________________________________________ The Historia Crux is what allows you to move from time period to time period and place to place. There are two views for the Historia Crux. The Matrix View will show you the entire thing and how each place is connected to each other. So, for instance, if you need to unlock a gate in New Bodhum in 3AF to get to the Bresha Ruins in 5AF then you will see New Bodhum 3AF and a line leading directly to Bresha Ruins 5AF as well as information on how many Gates you have opened in the highlighted time. Right now New Bodhum will have a single Gate icon in a yellow color meaning that the only gate is open. If you highlight Bresha Ruins, however, you will find there are three gates and they are grayed out because none of them have been opened yet. While the Matrix View is very good at ensuring that you are opening all of the different Times in the Historia Crux, sometimes if you want to just find a single place, the Overview view is much more useful. It breaks the Historia Crux down into categories. Each tile represents a place, and if you highlight it, you can press up or down to change time periods. The places are arranged in the most likely order that you’ve unlocked them. So if you want to be in New Bodhum in 3AF, you want to go to the far left because it’s one of the first places you’ve been (the first tile is actually Valhalla but you can’t get back there yet). If you want New Bodhum in 300AF then you go to the New Bodhum 3AF tile and press up until you find what you are looking for. For now, use either view to go to the only other gate that’s open. This Gate is Bresha Ruins -005AF-. ________________________________________ Bresha Ruins (005AF) x306x ________________________________________ Hey, this is cool. New time period, new place. Have a chat and… wham! Boss battle! This is Atlas but thankfully, you’re only going to be fighting his hand right now. This battle introduces wounding. When you are wounded, a section of your life bar will be cleared out and can’t be restored. Red bar can be restored but the empty section cannot. Later on you will have potions that can heal wounding and some creatures that you tame can heal small amounts of wound damage with their feral link ability. For right now, just keep in mind that wounding damage is very dangerous so when you are first wounded, try to speed up the battle. For this fight, play conservatively though because this battle is largely dictated by Cinematic Action. Whenever Atlas moves to execute a big attack, change to Twin Shields to absorb the damage and limit the amount of wounds inflicted. Otherwise, chip away at his health. You won’t be able to stagger him through normal means but after a short period, Atlas will attack and you will be presented with a Cinematic Action. The first action is to move the LS to the right. After a little more fighting, he will make another big attack and give you another Cinematic Action. First command is LS right, then LS up and finally that A/X button. This will inflict stagger on Atlas. From here, just switch between Commando and Sentinel. Once you kill him, you’ll be presented with a final Cinematic Action where you will have to repeatedly tap the Y/triangle button. After the battle there will be a small misunderstanding and you’ll be taken into custody. Follow the guards and talk to the leader. After talking to him, you’ll be put in a holding cell. Talk to the guard outside your cell and then talk to him again. After you talk about the Grand Elevator, one of the researchers will come to let you out. You’ll all soon agree to take down Atlas. Bresha Sights ---- Hand over your papers to the guard in front of the ruins, but before you head off into them turn around to find a Treasure Orb containing a Black Belt. Head up the stairs just to the left to get to it. From here, if you head E and turn left, you should find a woman dressed up in a crazy Phoenix colored Chocobo costume. Her name is Chocolina and she serves as the shop for the entirety of the game, following you from time period to time period. Feel free to shop if you’d like but be forewarned that she is a rather annoying person. However, she will already have a new set of weapons for you so check it out. From her, head S and on the right you should see another Treasure Orb with 350 gil inside. Continue SW and you’ll see some catwalks on the S side of the ruins. If you climb up to the top and go E, you’ll find another Treasure Orb with 400 gil. More importantly, if you head to the W side of this platform and round the corner near the terrified man, you should find a Treasure Cube containing the "Leaving" Gate Seal. This will allow you to close and reopen the New Bodhum 3AF Gate, allowing you to play through it from the beginning again. There is a Treasure Orb in the middle of the ruins, above Atlas’ hand and a path that leads to away at the NW corner of the ruins but both are inaccessible at the moment so head to the NE and head into the ruins. Making your way up the stairs behind the guard who checked your papers, you’ll find a Treasure Orb at the top. Turn left (W), take a few steps and you’ll be attacked by a couple of creatures. They are called the Zwerg Scandroid and Cait Sith. Go for the Cait Sith first because he’s a healer and then go for the Scandroid. Once this battle is over, the two creatures will turn into crystals. You’ve now tamed these two creatures and can use them in battle as your third party member. In your menu, you can "equip" creatures to your combat party using the "paradigm pack" option in the menu, allowing them to be used in paradigms. You can only have three creatures and each one will have a role that they cannot change from. The Scandroid will always be a Ravager and the Cait Sith will always be a medic. However, you can assign them to paradigms and the creatures will change depending on the paradigm you’re using. While it may seem strange, you will want to base your paradigms around your creatures since these are the limiting factors. Soon, Noel and Serah will be capable of switching to any role while the creature slot will only have three roles to choose from. Set up your Paradigms so that you have each creature in your paradigms because both will be useful. You can also level these creatures up in the crystarium but they require items instead of CP to level up. You’ll collect Monster Materials and each type of creature will require different materials to level up. Lastly, during battle, as a monster executes actions that are part of its main function (for instance, when Cait Sith heals), they will build up the Feral Link meter. When it is full and reads Synchronized, you can hit the X button to execute an action that is special to each creature. During these attacks, you will have to input certain button commands similar to a Cinematic Action. Each creature has its own Feral Link bar and it can really pay off to have all three of your creatures synchronized before a boss battle. Keep in mind that ending a battle with a Feral Link attack will increase your odds of gaining the enemy creature as a companion. Paradigm Recommendations: 1: Commando, Ravager, Ravager (default) 2: Commando, Ravager, Medic 3: Commando, Commando, Ravager 4: Commando, Commando, Medic 5: Sentinel, Sentinel, Medic (or Sentinel if you have one) 6: Ravager, Ravager, Ravager If you want to pick up a sentinel, you can head back to New Bodhum (3AF) to try and get the Pulsework Soldier that you fought earlier. It will set you back some time but having a Sentinel creature will make your life a lot easier. Creatures: Gremlin* Nekton Meonekton Hoplite Pulsework Knight Alright, so you’ve tamed two creatures and set up your paradigms, so go W and then N up the stairs. About half way up, Atlas’ arm will come through a wall but it won’t do anything else. To your right will be a wall that follows the stairs down. You can jump over this later with a special ability or a chocobo but for right now, don’t be too concerned with it. At the top of the stairs, make your way to the W and you’ll come to a small camp with a Time Gate. You’ll also find another Chocolina shop here and one of the guards will give you a side quest to find a couple of experimental drugs that have been lost. Before leaving this area, turn W. While you’re facing the pathway that leads out of this area, you should see a guard just to the left of that archway. Walk up to him and you should see a faint outline of a Treasure Orb floating in space but you can’t interact with it. Talk to the guard and you’ll learn Moogle Hunt. Hit the RB/R1 button to activate Moogle Hunt and Mog will pull things that are only partially in this world the rest of the way in. In this case, the Treasure Orb will completely materialize so open it to collect a Wild Artefact which is used to open extra Time Gates aside from the Story Gates. If you would like, you can head back to the excavation area for another phased Treasure Orb. This orb is just to the W of the guard who checked your papers before you entered the ruins behind some crates. ________________________________________ Two Capsules x307x ________________________________________ This side quest starts when you talk to the Red armored guard in the small camp by the N most gate. Talk to the guard to receive this quest. Make your way W through the archway. Talk to the stationary guard just to the left of the gate if you haven’t learned the Moogle Hunt ability (RB/R1). Go W and then take the left fork instead of taking the tunnel down. By some rubble just to your right should be the shadow of a phased Orb. Hunt for it to receive the first capsule. The Second capsule will be in the tunnel you didn’t take at the fork. From the camp, head W and go into the tunnel. It will curve S and then there will be a sharp left turn. If you take the left turn, you will find an Orb with the capsule. Return to the Red Soldier to turn in the quest and receive the Unio Mystica Fragment. ________________________________________ Cie'th x308x ________________________________________ You get this quest by talking to a yellow soldier to the W of the N most gate. Leave the camp heading W and then take the left instead of going into the tunnel. Follow the path a little way past the rubble on the right and you should see a yellow soldier. Talk to him and he will complain about a Cie’th. Accept the side quest. Follow this path as it turns Nward. As you come to the end, you’ll see a ramp leading up to a doorway above you, a tunnel to your left, and a path to your right. Go right a little so you can get up on that ramp. Go into the door at the top, go as far N as you can and then turn left. You’ll walk into a tunnel that slopes slightly upward. There will be a phased Orb at the corner of this tunnel. As you make your way over to it, the Cie’th will appear. Make sure you get the drop on him. The Cie’th can be tough if you’re too aggressive. He has a few attacks that are hard hitting and can also hit multiple targets if your party is too close together. I recommend having a Medic in the party for a good portion of the fight or at lE being cautious when your health gets below half. Otherwise, just work towards staggering him because otherwise you will do very minimal amounts of damage. Once he’s staggered, it will still take a little work to take him down so be patient. He’ll go down but not fast enough for you to throw caution to the wind. Once you’ve taken out the Cie’th, head back to the yellow armored soldier to get the Ghast Fragment. ________________________________________ Atlas Slumped x309x ________________________________________ From the camp by the N most time gate, head W. If you head into the tunnel, it will wrap around to the S and then come to a cavern. If you head left, you will find a Treasure Orb at the dead end and if you follow this cavern to the W, it will go back N and meet up with the other path outside. From here, head N until you see a closed gate to your left, a ramp to the N, and a path to the right. Go up the ramp and into the tunnel. Before you get there, Atlas will appear again and you’ll be asked what you want to do. Choose to use the control device and then head up the ramp. When you get inside the next cavern, you will see a few platforms above water. The left platform will have Chocolina’s shop and the right platform will have a phased Treasure Orb. Make your way N and then turn right (E) and follow the tunnel. This tunnel will eventually lead to a large room with some kind of device in the middle. Activate the device to be sucked into a Time Paradox. To resolve this time Paradox, you need to collect all of the crystals without falling. Stepping on a tile will cause it to start to disappear. It’s good to think through how you’re going to get the crystals and get to the gate at the end before you move. Puzzle 1: From the starting tile, move forward 4 spaces, go left one space to pick up the first crystal. Go forward one space, right two spaces and then forward one space to pick up the second crystal. From here, go left one space and then forward to the Gate. Puzzle 2: Move forward four spaces, move right one, up two spaces (crystal). Move left one space and down one space (crystal 2) then left one space (crystal 3). From here, move up three spaces (crystal 4), right one space and then up to the Gate at the end. Puzzle 3: Move up four space, left two (crystal 1), then up 1 (crystal 2). From here, move two spaces right and one space up (crystal 3). Move one space right, one space up (crystal 4), then two spaces left (crystal 5). From here, just move up to the gate. Solving this puzzle will grant you the Delicate Crystal Fragment. You can also now use the controls for Atlas. This will slow Atlas down. Head back out of the tunnel and down the ramp. Once outside, keep heading E to fight Atlas. Just before you reach him, you should pass Chocolina’s shop on the right and a Treasure Orb with a tuft of Phoenix Down in it on the left. ________________________________________ Atlas x310x ________________________________________ **Defeating Atlas without activating the control mechanism will cause a Paradox Ending. This battle with Atlas is actually fairly simple. Atlas will attack with strong physical attacks but he has to wind up for them every time, giving you plenty of time to change to a sentinel heavy paradigm. While he sports a relatively small amount of health (because of the control device), until he is staggered, he will take very little damage. You should have no problem taking him out as long as you switch between sentinel roles when he attacks and staggering him otherwise. Once he’s staggered, just let rip. He will likely not attack and will fall very quickly at this point. Once he’s "dead" he will start a Cinematic Action: LS Right --> B/O LS Right -->A/X LS Right -->A/X LS Right -->A/X After the battle ends, you’ll receive the Atlas Fragment. Head E and check out the Epitaph that’s highlighted by a Quest Marker. After a conversation with Alyssa, head further W to find a phased Eclipse Artefact. On the N side of this area will be a Treasure Cube with the Lucky Clover adornment. If you head back W, towards the ramp, you’ll find a Treasure Orb with 2 Gysahl Greens in them. Inspect the gate to the W and you’ll see a phased Reunion Artefact just on the other side of the bars. Approach them and use Moogle Hunt to reveal and collect it. Now that Atlas is dead, some tougher enemies may appear like the Dendrobium (the first Saboteur monster you’ll find) and the Uridimmu (a decent commando creature). Now that you can ride chocobos in this area, you can open the Orb back in the first area of the ruins that is sitting on Atlas’ finger. With the two Artefacts you have, you can open both of the accessible gates nearby. Open one which will take you back to the Historia Crux. From there, head back into Bresha Ruins and open the other. ________________________________________ Yaschas Massif (10AF) x311x ________________________________________ Once you land, talk to the man dead ahead for a map. To the right will be a Treasure Orb containing 500 Gil. There’s only one path here right now so head E and then N. Go back W and you’ll come to an area with search lights. Stay in the lights to avoid battles. Many of the monsters here are quite tough so I highly recommend staying safe. There are a few Treasure Orbs scattered around here but you don’t need to get them just now, you’ll have a chance to do so more safely later. Exit through the N side of these next two big areas. Up by Chocolina is a Treasure Cube on the right side. Open it up for a fragment that will allow you to Time Reverse Bresha Ruins. From here, make your way S E, E and then N. Make your way N to the blocked off area at the end. A woman there will tell you that only authorized personnel can enter the ruins. As she says this, another rift will appear, Aloeidai, who is rather similar to Gogmagog except tougher in almost every way. He has more health, will do wounding damage, uses the shield ability frequently and Swipe can really hurt now. He does also have a new ability called Landshatter which does significant damage to your entire party. Otherwise, this fight operates the same way as Gogmagog. Play a little more conservatively now but you still want to stagger him. It may take a couple of staggers to take him down at this point but he doesn’t grow any tougher as the fight goes on so it’s just a matter of time before he goes down. At the end of the fight, Aloeidai will try to suck you into a vortex. Hope will come to your rescue. After a short talk, you’ll receive the Aloeidai Fragment. Follow Hope for a walk. There’s an Orb just under the stairs you follow him up. When you get to the plaza there will be a Treasure Orb in the SE corner. Follow Hope the rest of the way to the command center. He’ll show you the Oracle Drive. Hope will give you the Hollow Artefact. You can head over to the ornate statue head. Head all the way back down and then take the ramp at the W side of the ruins. After a few turns, you’ll come across a Treasure Orb containing 3 Remedies. Continue to follow this walkway. At the top, you can see a phased Treasure Cube in front of the chin of the statue. Do a Moogle Hunt to reveal it but you’ll have to wait until you’ve learned the Moogle Throw to get the cube. If you have it, collect the cube, otherwise, you will learn it in the second half of this episode. This cube contains the Pathos Jewel Fragment. Make your way to the S from the ruins. You should see an area with a crimson floating orb that was previously blocked off. Hop down and follow this path to another Gate. Open it with the Hollow Artefact. ________________________________________ Oerba (200AF) x312x ________________________________________ Most monsters in Oerba can be taken out quickly with commandos but the Ghasts may be a little tougher. Using a Ravager can be very helpful with them. None of the Cie’th type enemies can be tamed. Monsters: Clione Chonchon Ghast Seeker Once you land in Oerba, go straight forward towards the end of the road. At the end, do a Moogle Hunt to reveal a Time Paradox. All of Oerba’s paradoxes have the same puzzle structure. In each one, you must complete the form shown to you at the beginning by connecting the crystals of the same color before time runs out. It’s imperative that you remember the shape that is made at the beginning because that really helps you make connections. In this case, the outline is that of a Cait Sith. As an example of why remembering the form is important, you want to connect the point of the ear on the left side to the base of the ear on the left side. Sometimes these crystals won’t be the same color but soon they will be and you need to connect them. Knowing where you are going to have to make connections limits how much of the area you have to look at. Unfortunately there is no easy solution that I can give for this, you just have to learn how to solve the puzzles but once you do, you will fly through them. In this Paradox, you will only have to solve one level. Finish it and another segment of Oerba will open up for you and you will gain the Time’s Stardust Fragment. Head along the road and on the right you will see an Orb and a spot for you to jump down to a lower level. Open the Orb for 2 Gysahl Greens and then hop down. Head to the N side of this roof and you should see a section of wall that has crumbled slightly. You can jump down from here. To your left will be an orb on the other side of a giant tank. You’ll need to go around the building to the N to get it. If you enter the building to your SE you will find another Orb. If you head up the stairs in this building, you will find a Treasure Cube with the Gate Seal for Yaschas Massif 10AF. Chocolina should be near where you dropped down. Don’t go down the ramp to the E side but head to N side of this area to find another Paradox entry. Solve that Paradox to get the Time’s Shell Fragment. Go up the ramp directly in front of you. This will lead you Wward. Go up the ramp and then when it levels off, continue to head as far W as possible. On the left side of the big tree that you pass will be another Treasure Orb. If you pass the tree on the right side, you will see a little section of land that sticks out over a gap further than the rest. Right now you can’t see it but if you return later, there will be a Wild Artefact on the side of the building S-SW of where you are. It will be in the distance and be hard to see so stand still and watch for its bobbing. Make sure you return for this later. When you get to the W side, follow the small set of stairs to the N. You will come to another end point. Hunt for another Paradox entrance. Solve the three levels of the paradox to open the last of Oerba and gain the Time’s Coral Fragment. Go E from here and follow the walkway down to the sand. Follow the sand E and watch for a Treasure Orb on the right. When you get close to the Time Gate, there will be two sets of stairs heading down. Go down the stairs and then follow the beach W. You’ll find some wooden stairs leading up into the building. Scamper up the stairs and watch for the Treasure Orb on the right side at the top. Open the Treasure Orb and continue down the hallway. You’ll find your way to the roof. Turn around and approach the Quest Marker. Use the Oracle Drive. ________________________________________ Caius x313x ________________________________________ 1: Ravager, Ravager, Commando 2: Medic, Medic, Commando 3: Commando, Commando, Commando* *Not necessary. **Defeating him with the Paradox Scope active will cause a Paradox Ending I highly recommend these paradigms for this fight. Caius is not an easy battle and the most important thing is that you enter stagger strong. What I mean by this is that you want to approach Caius’ stagger point (300%) but not go over it immediately. Change to Paradigm 2 to top off your health while the Commando keeps Caius’ Chain gauge filled. Then switch back to Paradigm 1 and let loose. This way, you can stay on the offensive as long as possible while you are capable of doing the maximum amount of damage. You may want to maintain this Paradigm for a little while so that you can get the chain gauge even higher and then switch to Paradigm 3. The rest of your Paradigms you can arrange however you want. You can use Synergist, Saboteur and Sentinel in any of those. Synergist is an obvious help but Caius is also susceptible to Saboteur attacks as well. If you can manage to land some just before you send him into stagger, you can make the fight a lot easier. Caius is not an easy fight. You may have to try a few times before you defeat him. Watch out for his attacks, all of which are pretty hard hitting. He also has a restorative spell that adds a bunch of positive effects, heals, and increases his healing speed. Keep an eye out for this because sometimes it will take two staggers to kill him and if he restores all his health in between staggers, it can extend the fight indefinitely. After he is defeated, you will receive the Artefact of Origins. Go out of the house and head back E. Go up the stairs and you should see the Time Gate to the E. Use the Artefact to open it. ________________________________________ Yaschas Massif (1XAF) x314x ________________________________________ The area of Yaschas Massif is now much brighter and safer. You can run about and collect any of the Orbs you missed earlier without running into Behemoths. Make your way back to the ruin and you’ll meet up with Yuel again. After a brief chat, head further into the ruins to where you left Hope. He will be waiting for you. Talk to him to find that things had changed. After you’ve talked to them, you can go back and keep talking to them. Then try move a little and Mog will comment that it’s time to find another key and gate. Turn left (E) and pass by the open barricade that was closed in the main 10AF time line. Follow the catwalk to the top and do a Moogle Hunt at the Quest Marker. You should find an Artefact and a Treasure Orb. Head back into the mountains and you’ll find a Time Gate at the S end of the mountains. It will be marked off on your map with a Quest Marker. ________________________________________ Lost x315x ________________________________________ The first tile in the Historia Crux is Serendipity. Visit it and open the lone Treasure Orb to the left of the main gate. You can’t do anything else here at the moment but you will be able to return later so leave for now. Go into the third tile to visit the Coliseum (they spelled it that way, not me). Walk down to the middle and talk with the keeper of this Arena. Noel will talk him into giving you an Artefact. Visit the second tile to visit the Void Beyond. Explore the area but you won’t be able to go far. There will be a few Treasure Orbs scattered around. Once you are done, head back to the rift to leave. ________________________________________ Sunleth Waterscape (300AF) x316x ________________________________________ After Serah has a vision, she’ll run off and you’ll have to follow her. Once you find her, you’ll have to battle His Royal Ripeness. You could have done this part instead of Yaschas Massif first but the monsters are tougher here. Paradigms: 1: Ravager, Ravager, Ravager 2: Commando, Commando, Commando 3: Medic, Medic, Medic You can walk into this with pretty much any paradigms you’d like as long as you have a good healing paradigm and good offensive paradigms. Snow is actually a commando so you don’t need to keep one on the party to keep the stagger bar up. This battle is rather slow and unremarkable until you get close to the end. When His Royal Ripeness gets to about 25% of his health, he will start causing wounding damage. This will start to stack up fast so you’ll have to hurry up quickly. Having Antidotes or Medics with Esuna is somewhat important because he will hit you with poison occasionally. Once you’ve killed him, you will flee. After a short catching up session, you’ll decide that you need to figure out how the flan is getting so big. ________________________________________ Exploring x317x ________________________________________ Talk to Snow to get a map of the area. Start making your way S and W. The creatures in this area are quite tough and you may be able to find some upgrades for your monsters in this area. Head S from here and you’ll come to a dead end with a vine. Use the vine to swing to the next area. You’ll land and not far to the S-SE, you should see Chocolina’s shop. From Chocolina’s Shop, head SE. The S path will lead to a Treasure Orb but you’ll have to do a Moogle Hunt by the edge first to reveal some Flan blocking your path. Grab the chest and head back up. This time, take the E path. Moogle Hunt again to reveal more Flan. You’ll find another Treasure Orb a little further in. Follow the path as it curves S and then swing on another vine. Take the path E, jumping over branches as you go. When you get to the end of the path, you will have to fight a group of Flan to grab an Artefact. It is definitely best to go with a Rav, Rav, Rav combo on the flan since they are susceptible to magic. Make quick work of them and grab the Artefact. You’ll also get a Treasure Cube before you leave. Grab the vine and head back to Chocolina’s Shop. Head back past her shop towards the Time Gate NW of her. Just before you get to the Time Gate, you’ll come to a round area with a few different paths leading off. You want to travel SW from here. You’ll come to a "dead end" but then Snow will solve the problem for you. During your ride, you’ll learn the Moogle Throw. Use it to open the Orbs along the way. (At this point, you can return to Yaschas Massif and collect the Treasure Cube on the statue head). At the end, you’ll have to climb off the beast's back. You’ll come to another Chocolina Shop and W of there will be a Treasure Orb to throw Mog to. When you do, you’ll be attacked by monsters so back off and run away until they leave you alone or you get Mog back. After they have been dealt with, head to the SE end of this platform and swing on the vine to the next area. SW of where you land will be another Time Gate and SE will be a path to another area. Make your way SE. At the far end of the branches, you’ll be able to jump down to the lower level. Get down there, Moogle Throw to the S and then head N to confront the Flan. Kill them and take the Artefact here. After you’ve gotten the second Artefact, you can use the Chocobos to get around. Head back toward the Time Gate you just passed. Open it and jump inside. This gate will lead you to the Coliseum in case you hadn’t visited before. Head down to the middle and talk to the Keeper for an Artefact. On the way out, Moogle Hunt for the Orb to the left of the Time Gate. Head Back to Sunleth Waterscape. In Sunleth Waterscape, head back to the Time Gate to the far N. Go through this one to reach the Archylte Steppe. When you read the bE back across the gap, make sure to keep an eye pealed on the right side about half way up and just before the turn for a Wild Artefact. You’ll have to through Mog over to it to get it. ________________________________________ Archylte Steppe (???AF) x318x ________________________________________ Meet the hunters of the Archylte Steppe. They’ll run off to their camp. The monsters around here can be on the tough side so be very careful. The Red Chocobo might be a good companion if you can kill one. Follow them and enter their camp. There’s only one building in the camp and at the top will be a male hunter. Talk to him and he will give you a map of the area. Talk to him again and he’ll ask you to take care of a pesky monster for him. He’ll point you out into the plains. Follow the Quest Marker and when you get close, you’ll be ambushed by a group of Goblins and a Goblin Chieftain. The Goblin Chieftain will buff the Goblins in his party but if you kill the Chieftain, one of the regular Goblins will turn into the Chieftain. If you don’t have a sentinel by now, keep killing the Chieftain so that each Goblin will turn into a chieftain in turn. This will increase your odds of getting the Goblin Chieftain as a party member. He isn’t the toughest of Sentinels but his Feral Link ability heals 50+ points of wound damage and provides a bunch of positive status effects for the party. Head back to the camp and talk to the man who gave you the quest. Just N of where you fought the monsters should be a Cactaur Statue which will teleport you back to the camp. Talk to the quest giver and he will point you to help someone else in the camp. The person you need to talk to is actually just down the stairs. She will request that you collect some wool from the sheep in the plain for her. The three sheep you are looking for are SE, S, and SW of the camp. They move around a little so you’ll have to find each one. Each is slightly larger than a normal sheep. Catch them to collect their wool then report to the quest giver. She will tell you about a Weather Machine upstairs. Go up the stairs and talk to the woman in the corner of the room. She will explain how to use the machine. Move the right lever first, then the left lever. This will make a monster appear in the SE. The man nearby will tell you about this creature that’s been eating a whole lot of flan. Before you can get over there, a Long Gui will appear. You won’t be able to defeat this creature just yet so go back to the weather machine, we need to make it move. Move the right lever again and the Long Gui will disappear but the bE will stay. ________________________________________ Faeryl x319x ________________________________________ 1: Ravager, Ravager, Commando 2: Sentinel, Sentinel, Sentinel 3: Ravager, Commando, Medic 4: Sentinel, Medic, Medic 5: Commando, Commando, Commando When you first start off the battle, you might be able to get a move off but then you want to change to paradigm 2 because he will likely execute a hard hitting attack. Be careful when he charges up for his flying attack. He will crouch down for a short period and then lunge. You want to enter paradigm 2 for this attack as well and stay there until he’s landed again. Otherwise, you want to use paradigm 1 to build up his gauge, 5 when he’s staggered and his gauge is sufficiently built up, 3 for minor healing (to keep chain gauge up) and 4 for when you really need to patch up. This is a pretty tough battle but you should have a diverse group of creatures now and some of them (like the Goblin Chieftain) may do something that does more than just do damage so make sure to keep an eye on your Feral Link and keep in mind that sometimes those gauges can build even if the creature isn’t out. Abuse that ability because it is basically a free, high powered, action. If you execute it at the appropriate time, you can boost a stagger gauge by a significant amount, do tons of damage, or bring your team from the brink of defeat to top form. Once he is defeated, you’ll get a the Black Hole Gem Fragment. You’ll also get a Treasure Cube for your Live Trigger choice. The Gate you are looking for is S of the camp but you can’t open it yet without killing the Gigantuars and you can’t do that yet. You need to have a sentinel with at lE 2k health or a stronger party in the 3-4k health range. For now, head back to Sunleth Waterscape. You will face a different flan this time named Mutantomato. He doesn’t have nearly as much health as his predecessor but he does more damage, he’s more aggressive with his poison attack, and he starts dealing wound damage at the outset of the battle. Having Esuna and Raise for the Medic class will really help as will Launch for the Commando class. You have to play a little more aggressively on this boss fight if you want to succeed but otherwise, use the same general strategies. Collect the Artefact left behind with a Moogle Throw. Take the Artefact back to the gate to the S. ________________________________________ Familiar Places x320x ________________________________________ Before you get to Academia, you’re actually going to visit the Void Beyond again. There’s more space but you still can’t get far. Open Orbs around here and head back to the rift to get back to the Historia Crux. This time you are going to visit Serendipity. Serendipity has had a few changes. First and foremost, you should be able to get in. Talk to the woman at the gate. You can run around and sample all the different things there are to sample if you like but of particular importance is the first building on your left. Inside will be a single woman in a yellow chocobo outfit. She will grant you "Fragment Skills" based on which fragments you have collected. You’ll learn a few skills now which have to be turned on in the "Fragment Skills" section of the menu. The most important Fragment Skill you will learn is the Paradox Scope which you learn when you visit here after completing the game. This causes boss fights to be tougher during Time Reversal but if you succeed during some of these key fights, you can get a Paradox Ending. This will give you a Fragment piece as well as a large sum of CP. Also of note in Serendipity is the game room to the right. In this room, you can get coins to play the games. It costs 10 gil for every coin. Of particular interest are the items you can buy from this shop. You can buy a Wild Artefact, a Chaos Crystal, and some fragments but all costs are in coins so it will cost quite if you attempt to just buy it by changing gil to coins. After you are done enjoying this place, return to the Historia Crux and visit Academia. ________________________________________ Academia (400AF) x321x ________________________________________ When you finally get to Academia, you’ll be noticed and attacked. For the entire time you are here, monsters will spawn all over the area whether you are moving or not so be careful. Thankfully, most of these enemies are pretty easy. This actually provides you with a great chance to farm CP. It’s possible to let your controller sit and gain CP. Monsters will attack on their own and your party might be capable of fending them off without your input. You would just have to hit A a couple of times every now and again to clear the "success" screen. Anyway, from where you touchdown, head E and active the panel next to the escalator to the N. This will change the direction that the escalator travels. Hop on and go up. Move N along the alleyway and go E at the end. You will be trapped but if you activate the nearby panel, the barrier will go down. Crossing any green barrier will cause an alarm to trigger and you will be attacked. Head E a little and then take your first left turn. You will find a woman by another terminal and Chocolina at the end. Talk to the woman by the terminal to gain a quest to collect and verify every map in the game. Turning them in will result in fragments. Check out Chocolina if you like and make sure you loot the Treasure Cube nearby for a Gate Seal. Exit the area to the NE. Then head down this hallway E and then S. You will come to an open section of the alley which is occupied by a Fencer. Kill the fencer, loot the Orb to the E of him and then exit up the stairs to the N. You’ll be forced into a battle but it’s no different than any other fight you’ve had so far. And soon after, you will be forced into another. After talking to Caius and beating both battles, activate the panel to the E and travel down the stairs (or, conversely, just jump repeatedly down). At the bottom, turn W and make your way along the road here. Continue to make your way W, even after another chat with Caius. At the end of the road, turn N and fight another Fencer. N of the fencer, you will have a choice of going down or up an escalator. Go up the escalator and turn left. Head Wward towards the Quest Marker. Be Prepared for a series of tough fights. ________________________________________ Cocytus and Zenobia x322x ________________________________________ Paradigms: 1: Rav, Rav, Com 2: Sen, Med, Med 3: Com, Com, Com 4: Sen, Sen, Sen* 5: Com, Rav, Med *Not particularly necessary but it can be useful and it puts your Sen monster in for its Feral Link. This battle isn’t much different than most battles except that the enemies are a lot stronger. That’s not saying a lot however, since most enemies in this area are so weak. Make sure you keep an eye on your health because they sport higher strength along with the extra health. The tough battle is Zenobia, the last fight. If you happen to lose, you can pick up on the last boss fight and you can change your paradigms before you restart. The first thing you need to watch out for are the tentacles. Every so often, he will put his tentacles into the ground and they will come up behind you. Kill the Vaballathus first and he will lower his Tentacle shield. Don’t bother attacking him when he’s defended. Once his tentacles are down, attempt to stagger him quickly. If you don’t stagger him quickly enough, he will pull out the Vaballathus again and you’ll have to try and get rid of them before his chain gauge replenishes. If you keep on the offensive as much as possible, he shouldn’t pose too much of a threat. The real problems come when the fight drags out because he does extensive wounding damage. Use 1) for most of your offensive combat. Only switch to 3) once you’ve staggered him and driven his chain gauge higher. Use your judgment. You will want to switch when you’ve raised his chain gauge high enough that you feel confident that switching to 3) will kill him before his stagger wears off or when you hit a point where you know that a group of commandos will still reach maximum chain gauge before stagger wears off (usually around 800-900%). Paradigm 4 isn’t particularly necessary but you want to get your Sen in there for his Feral Link (you’ll need every Link you can get for this one). For heavy healing, use 2) and use 5) when you just need to top off a little but want to keep on the offense. Otherwise, there are no particularly bad moves that he has to watch out for. You should watch out for yourself however. No matter how badly you want to keep attacking him while he has his shiled up, just because he has so little health left, do not! Attack the tentacles first, always. Cinematic Action: LS up LS left --> B/O LS right --> B/O LS right Tap A/X Yuel will leave the Tower Artefact and the Zenobia Fragment. Head for the Time Gate by going N and then E. At the intersection, head N and open the Treasure Orb at the top of the stairs for some Gil. Enter the Time Gate. ________________________________________ Augusta Tower (200AF) x323x ________________________________________ You’ll come to a room with orange panels. Examine them all and one of them will respond differently. Instead of an intruder alert, it will actually give you information. This will also open the door to the W. Turning right will show you two Treasure Orbs, one of which will require a Moogle Throw. Turning left instead will lead you to the next room. Before entering that room, open the nearby Treasure Orb for 1500 gil. Enter the room and examine the orange terminals again. When you find the right one, it will require a password. The correct password is said by the scientists outside as you pass them. The solution is 9261. You’ll get the map for Augusta Tower at this point. Go back to the previous room and out through the other door. This will put you on an inner ring of the tower. If you go left, you should find a Wild Artefact on this ring just before the edge. Head back to the right this time and you’ll come to a panel that you can’t activate because of a Paradox. Go back to the Historia Crux and travel back to Yaschas Massif 1XAF and unlock the gate on the W side of the map with a Wild Artefact. ________________________________________ Augusta Tower (300AF) x324x ________________________________________ **You’ll find both the Flanitor and (later) the Dragoon. They are both fantastic creatures and you should catch both. When you get into the first room, you’ll see a golden terminal nearby. Activate it to spin the room. Spin it once and you will be able to exit the room. When you exit the room, a computer will say "1". The numbers you hear now will be a passcode later so write them down or just wait and I’ll tell you the answer later. Take a left and head to room number two (SE). Rotate this room and exit onto the outer walkway. There’s a Treasure Orb to the N, then head W and use this terminal to spin the room twice. Use this room to get back onto the middle ring. Hop onto the elevator that has come down for you. On the next floor, an elevator will come down on the outer ring. That’s your goal. Check to the W to find Chocolina and then S of her is a terminal. Use that to spin the W room twice. Make your way to that room and loot the Treasure Orb. You’ll find yourself on the outer ring. Head S to get to the other room. Use the terminal to spin the room you are in. The first time will allow you access to a couple of Treasure Orbs and the second time will give you access to the lift. Get on and go upstairs. On Floor 15 run straight ahead to room 7 and walk inside. Walk out of the room to the right. Just outside of the room is the terminal to spin it. Spin room 7 three times and then use room 7 to get to room 2. Just outside of room two is the terminal to spin it. Spin the room twice to gain access. Use the Computer in this room and you’ll be asked for a passcode. The code is 1237172. You will gain the Circuit Board Fragment. You will also get the Access Key 50. Head back to the Historia Crux and travel to the same tower in 200AF. ________________________________________ Return to 200AF x325x ________________________________________ Head back to the console that you couldn’t activate earlier and use it. This will raise an elevator from bellow which will allow you access further on. Cross the bridge and talk to Alyssa. She will teleport to the middle. Activate the nearby terminal to raise another platform. Make your way to the center platform. Before going up the elevator, make sure you spend your CP. Use the elevator and you will end up in a few battles. During these battles, I recommend you try and tame the Dragoon. These battles shouldn’t pose a significant threat. Deal with the enemies and when you get to the top of the elevator, you will be in a large room similar to the one you just left. Around the innter ring are a bunch of terminals that rotate the rooms in front of them. You’ll need to turn each one to make one flowing path. Spin the SE room once, the SW room once and W room three times. You’ll have to follow the path now until you get to the last room. Use the terminal in the room to spin the room. Make it face the middle and exit onto the inner ring. Make sure you use the computer in this room. This will give you the Access key for floor 52. Once you’ve collected the treasure orb from the inner ring, go back into the N room and spin it back so you can head back the way you came. Make sure you collect all the treasure orbs scattered around and keep your eyes peeled on the walls. There are lots of items scattered around on the walls where you can’t reach. You can throw Mog to these however. When you get back to the inner rings, use the elevator to go up to floor 52. On floor 52, go to the NW, through the room to the Treasure Orb beyond. On the middle ring, head E and around to the SW room. Along the way, you’ll find another Treasure Orb. Walk through the SW room and travel along the outer ring. On the outer ring, look for another Treasure to throw Mog to for a Platinum Ticket. Go back to the SW room. Use the terminal inside and then head SE to open the Treasure Orb. Go back through the room and out the other side. When you make it to the next room, use the terminal inside twice and make your way to the middle ring. Operate the next terminal twice and open the Treasure Orb here, then go back to the previous room and spin it twice to return it to its original position. Move back to the outer ring and head N to the next room. Use this room to get to the next segment of the outer ring. Follow the outer ring around the N side and enter the NE room. In this room, use the orange computer to get the Access Key to the top floor. Exit back to the outer ring and head as far east as possible. You’ll find a Treasure Orb on the wall ready for a Mog Throw. Head back to the main elevator and take it up to the top floor. On the way to the top, you’ll have to find a Behemoth. It’s important that you raise the Behemoth’s chain gauge as high as possible and then, when he hits about half health, switch to an all commando role to kill it. When a Behemoth reaches half health, it will stand up and completely recharge its health. It’s still beatable when he stands up but it’s always nice if you can kill him before then. At the top floor, there is a Chocolina shop to the north. On the way, open the Treasure Orb. Go up the stairs near here and at the top you’ll bump into Yuel. Talk to her and she will get you into the nearby Time Gate. ________________________________________ Proto fal'Cie Adam x326x ________________________________________ Paradigms: 1) Rav, Rav, Com 2) Rav, Com, Med 3) Sen, Sen, Sen 4) Com, Com, Com (cross) The Proto fal’Cie is actually a pretty easy boss. Make sure that you take out the manipulators on either side first because these are capable of some pretty devastating damage. Otherwise, just stagger the fal’Cie and lay on the hurt. He should fall pretty quickly. After you beat him the first time, you’ll have to fight him again. This time he will pack more than twice the health, will use beneficial status effects on himself and negative effects on you. Otherwise, he the fight will play out almost exactly the same except being drawn out more. Make sure you abuse 1). Both of the manipulators and the fal’Cie body take massive damage when staggered. Once you’ve defeated him again, you will go into a Cinematic Action. LS right LS up LS right --> B/O Tap A/X LS right --> Tap A/X After the battle ends, you’ll succeeding in kill the fal’Cie. When you are given the Live Trigger choice, choose to scream at Hope. Once you regain control of Serah again, use the computer and then activate the Time Gate and head to Academia 4XXAF. Beating this boss again later with the Paradox Scope activated will cause a Paradox Ending. Copyright - Brandon Fusco/ExtremePhobia ________________________________________ Academia (4XXAF) x327x ________________________________________ Hope will greet you in Academia. It’s a long story but do as he says and meet him at the Academy’s headquarters. To do this, just keep heading north towards the big building. Inside, go around the front desk to the large doors in the back. Inside, talk to Hope and Alyssa over and over until they ask you to retrieve the Graviton Cores for them. If you have the Advanced Mog Throw Fragment skill, toss Mog into the green sphere. There’s a Silver Chocobo around here somewhere and he is one of the best Sentinels in the game. Head to the front desk of the Academy for a listing of Graviton Core locations. There are more than just the five cores needed and you can collect any cores that you like. Here’s my recommendations. New Bodhum 3AF - If you remember, WAY back I told you to remember a specific spot on the east side of the map. The spot you are looking for is close to the water (it was actually under water at the beginning of the game) and has two raised platforms. On one of them is the Graviton Core. This will be the last fragment in New Bodhum 3AF. Bresha Ruins 5AF - Make sure you have Gysahl Greens and grab a chocobo. Near the middle east of the map will be a set of stairs with a raised area of grass next to them. You can’t reach that area normally but if you stand on the high part of the steps and jump (and hold B/O), you should be able to get over the wall. At the back of this area is a phased Orb hidden by the grass. You need to do a Moogle Hunt to find it. Open the Cube for the second Graviton Core. Oerba 200AF - This is similar to the previous one. Grab a Chocobo and head back to the beginning of Oerba. Head north and just before the intersection will be a broken stone wall with a pile of sand near it. If you look over the wall, you’ll see a rooftop. This is the rooftop of the building near Chocolina. Float jump over to it and do a Moogle Hunt to find this Graviton Core. Academia 400AF - Assuming you start off at the Time Gate you left through at the end of your journey here, head S, then W to the area where Yuel died. Head S along this area and then E to Chocolina’s Shop. Standing where Chocolina is, look N and you’ll see a red escalator coming up towards you. Jump your way down this ramp to collect the phased Graviton Core at the bottom. Just remember to Moogle Hunt. Yaschas Massif 100AF - To get here in the first place, you have to get to the Time Gate south of Chocolina’s Shop. Make your way down two escalators to street level. Then head strait S to the blue Time Gate. Use a Wild Artefact to open it up. When you get there, make your way back to the search light area. You want the southern of the two search light areas. On the W side of the big crack, about half way up will be a hidden Graviton Core. You’ll have to do a Moogle Search to find it. Once you have them all, return to Academia 4XXAF and give the cores to Alyssa. After you give them all to her, she will give you an Artefact for the Time Gate SE of the Academy HQ. Take this with you and, when you are ready, use it on that gate. Later, when you have the Paradox Scope, you can turn it on and then refuse to take the Artefact from Alyssa causing a Paradox Ending. ________________________________________ The Void Beyond x328x ________________________________________ Once you gain control, walk through the hallway and up the stairs. You’ll soon come to Yuel. There aren’t a whole lot of enemies around here so make your way up to Yuel and talk to her. She’ll bounce around a few times. Just make your way over to her over and over until a set of stairs appears to lead you higher into the building. Make sure you loot all the Treasure Orbs around here and climb those stairs. When you get there, you will find one final Yuel. Prepare for a tough fight before you talk to her. It’s time for a 1 on 1 (+1) with Caius. Fighting Caius is always a balance of aggressiveness and caution. He packs some pretty powerful attacks so you can’t let your health get too low but if you take too long to kill him, his status effects will keep stacking until he kills you with a single attack. For this battle, you want to stay on the offense. Paradigms: 1: Rav, Com 2: Med, Com 3: Sen, Sen 4: Com, Com 5: Rav, Rav* *Optional With the exception of paradigm 3, everything has some form of offense to keep the chain gauge going. I recommend starting with 1, landing a hit with the Com and then switching to 5. Get him staggered as quickly as possible and then switch to 4. Caius has the ability to break the chain gauge so you should try to maximize the damage you can do while you’ve got him staggered. If he gets to half health, he will use a spell that heals him, causes positive status effects, and significantly ups his health regeneration. The more he does this, the tougher the battle will get so it becomes imperative that you finish him quickly when this happens. Unfortunately, if you aren’t leveled high enough, this battle will take a little bit of luck but it’ll be doable. ________________________________________ World of Dreams x329x ________________________________________ When you wake up, talk to your friends. Explore the area and then head inside of NORA house for a surprise. To your right will be a Treasure Cube with a reward for you. Head over to the dock on the beach to find someone waiting for you. Talk and then choose to stay. Choosing to stay will cause a Paradox Ending which will grant you a Fragment and 1,500 CP reward. Then just re-enter this time period and say no. After you say no, head on over to the crater site. When you get there, move to the center of the crater and talk to the people there. Once you have, explore the edge of the area, particularly to the east. You should find two Treasure Cubes spread out and each one will have a Fragment for you. Once you have these, use the rift in the middle to exit your dream. ________________________________________ A Dying World x330x ________________________________________ Make your way to the first Quest Marker in this desolate wasteland. After the cutscene, go east for another cutscene. Now talk to Caius. Walk into the village. Noel is the green dot on your radar. When you get close, he’ll move. Move into the village further and when you get in a little ways, Mog will make sounds and indicate that he’s found Noel. Do a Moogle Hunt to find him. After the cutscene, talk to Yuel and Noel will move. You’ll soon come out of the village to wide open area. Find Noel in the middle of this area. You will now fight Caius. Fighting Caius one on one is not that difficult. Just be aggressive and stagger him. Once he’s staggered, change to Commando and kill him. Sometimes the fight will draw out and you’ll have to heal which may essentially start the fight over again. However, this fight is about as straight forward as it gets so keep trying. If you activate the Paradox Scope and defeat Caius, you will get a Paradox Ending. After Caius is defeated, you can find Noel beyond the N boundary of the village. Catch up to him. Watch the cutscene and then follow after Noel. Noel will run across the wastelands. Just keep following after him. When Noel finally snaps out of it, an old friend will appear. Gogmagog is very easy this time around. In fact, it’s "Writhe" ability actually causes negative status effects on itself. Just play a Rav, Rav, Com paradigm from beginning to end and it’ll die. To leave the Dying World, you’ll have to make your way back to the statue that Yuel was at. You’ll find Mog again and have a chat with him. He’ll fill you in a bit. Blow this pop stand. ________________________________________ New Bodhum (700AF) x331x ________________________________________ Make your way up the beach to the pier. Do a Moogle Hunt at the pier by the Time Rift. After some story unfolds, you can find Chocolina to the west of NORA house and you can find an Artefact directly north of the pier and SW of NORA House. Take that Artefact to the end of the pier and use it on the Time Gate. Time for the final battle. ________________________________________ Academia (500AF) x332x ________________________________________ Go N from where you are dropped off. After a short scene, go east and jump on the I-block. The blocks here frequently move when the water effect makes it to the end of the block. Jump off the other end of the block. Go N again but return W this time. At the end, turn N and wait for the block to flip to face NW. Hop on and make your way over. Take the stairs to the platform with the Cactuar stone. Turn E and cross that block. Loot the Orb for the map of the area. Head N from here and take the next set of stairs to the N. Wait for the block to turn NW. Cross over to it and go N, go down the stairs and turn S. Wait for the block to connect SE then get off and wait for it to change to NE. Approaching the Quest Marker will start a Boss Battle. ________________________________________ Pacos and Pacos x333x ________________________________________ 1: Rav, Med, Com 2: Sen, Sen, Sen 3: Rav, Rav, Com That’s all you should really need to defeat these two. That battle isn’t overly complex but it is taxing. They both hit pretty hard but the real key is 1). You can try and play aggressive if your characters are strong enough but if not, you can likely make it through the fight by abusing Paradigm 1. Once you kill one of the two, deal as much damage to the other as you can because it has the ability to split and restore its partner. The up side is that it can only restore its partner to health equal to what it has meaning that you can slowly wear these two down, even if they keep restoring each other. However, if you are going to go the slow and steady route, it’s very important that you get Wound Potions from Chocolina’s shop to counter the large amounts of wound damage they do. If you struggle with this, the coming fights will only get harder. Keep trying though. ________________________________________ More Blocks x334x ________________________________________ Go S and jump on the block there then quickly use the block to the E to get to the SE platform. Cross that platform to the E block. There is a cactaur statue here. Move N and then NE from here. Use the stairs to the N and activate the cube to make it blue. There’s no path from here so return up the stairs to the S use the block there to get to the NW platform. Head W and hit the Cactuar checkpoint. Change the cube back to red and take the block to the N. Wait until the block brings you around to the W platform. Activate the cube there so that it’s blue. Now get back on the T black and ride to the east. Wait for the stairs to turn to you and then climb further E. Cactaur Block that. Jump to the block N that isn’t rotating and then take it to the W where there’s a rotating T block. Jump on that, hope to the middle platform and then get on the next T block to the W. Wait for it to take you to the west, then follow the block down to the lower platform and hit the Cactaur block. From here, if you have the gravity jump fragment skill, jump E to land on the stairs that don’t spin. Fall down to get back to the Cactaur statue. Turn the cube red again. Wait for the N block to turn to the left and follow it to the end. Look down and land on the small platform below. Collect the Treasure Cube and then fall off. When you get back up above again, wait for the block to the N to spin back to its original position. Now get on the block and follow it to the end and stand on the unmoving block next to it. Wait for the T- block to the E to come back around to you. Hop on and ride it to the N platform. From here, take the stairs to the W, take the L block N to the next set of stairs. At the platform, take the stairs E to the top. At the top, hit the Cactaur Statue. The Red Statue will take you back to the beginning. Walk up the path to the N and enter the building. ________________________________________ Chaos Bahamut x335x ________________________________________ 1: Sen, Sen, Sen 2: Med, Med, Med 3: Com, Com, Com 4: Rav, Rav, Com 5: Med, Med, Com When I started this battle, I had Serah’s health at 2592 and Noel’s health at 2774 with most of my points in Com, Rav, and Medic. I highly recommend that you go into this battle significantly stronger if possible. Or you can stock up on a lot of Wound Potions. Thankfully, Chaos Bahamut doesn’t really regenerate health. He does have some pretty hard hitting attacks though. When he’s close, he’ll use physical attacks and most of these won’t be too devastating except for the wounding. Watch out when he’s at a distance though, he has a Breath attack that does massive damage so you should change to 1) for that. Worse still is Megaflare which can kill you at lower levels if you don’t change to 1). If you are strong enough to manage the lesser amount of healing, you are going to want to swap between 4) and 5) for the most part except when you are in 1) for an imminent attack. The Com in 5 will keep the Chain Gauge up where 2) will likely let it fall. Once you get his Chain Gauge up there, change to 3). Chaos Bahamut can’t be staggered so you’ll have to just settle for the additional damage. Remember to abuse your Feral Links on this one. This is a rather simple fight otherwise. He doesn’t do a whole lot of crazy things and there’s no unusual strategy to success here. ________________________________________ Caius x336x ________________________________________ This battle can be pretty tough. Watch out for his debuffs and self buffs. At first he will only attack one person but when he hits half health, he gets really aggressive. He’ll start casting his beneficial spells frequently making him stronger and stronger while dealing wound damage. Also watch out for his Chain Break ability which will completely reset his Chain bar. There are really two strategies to this. Fast paced: Start with Rav, Rav, Com and lay it on thick until he is staggered. Immediately change to Com, Com, Com and start beating on him until he hits half health. At this point, he will likely break the stagger gauge. If you need to, top off your health at this point and then switch back to the Rav, Rav, Com. Stagger him again and then change to Com, Com, Com. At half health he almost always does a Chain Break but after that, it will be a little bit before he does another so you may be able to bring him down before that. This strategy will likely nearly kill you though because of his strong attacks after you lower his health past half. Optionally, you could start the battle with a Syn, Syn, Med paradigm and boost yourself up. He will usually debuff you eventually but it might help you stay alive longer while you are being aggressive. Medium paced: This is similar to the previous strategy. You want to keep on the offensive but don’t be shy about healing. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a whole lot of success with this strategy against Caius. ________________________________________ Caius 2 x337x ________________________________________ This battle is actually rather similar to the previous battle with three main differences. The first is that he can cast Ultima, which he will likely do early on. Usually I can get a Rav, Rav, Com round out before he does. Then switch to Sen, Sen, Sen to survive the Ultima, then continue towards staggering him. The slower pace is actually a viable possibility in this fight because Caius is susceptible to Provoke now. If you want to try and keep him provoked by a Sen, you can do this but when he hits half health, he’s going to go back to his Area Effect attacks again which will somewhat negate the Sen. The last thing of note is that when you’ve downed him, he’ll revive like he did at the end of the last fight, except that the battle won’t end and you’ll have to defeat him again. As soon as he goes down, I would swap to a Med, Med, Med and heal up quickly. Try to get to top health and back to Rav, Rav, Com with a full ATB before he’s back on his feet. Then just repeat what you did previously. He should have no buffs and he may not instant Chain Break at half health this time so this may actually be slightly easier than downing him the first. ________________________________________ Bahamut x338x ________________________________________ I found this fight to be significantly easier than the previous fight if you keep your eyes peeled. There are three different Bahamuts. You have to kill the Garnet and Amber ones before the Jet Bahamut will step forward to fight. Both of these Bahamuts will revive themselves after a certain period of time. Thankfully, it seems that they revive relative to when they die so that it’s staggered a little bit. There are four attacks you have to watch out for. The first is that you need to watch out for. The first (and far more minor) is his Seeds of Destruction. It lays a bunch of seeds on the ground which will explode after a period of time. They aren’t really devastating and they may not even harm you at all but if they hit at the wrong time, it can be depressing. The next two attacks aren’t particularly damaging if you switch to Sen, Sen, Sen. The first is Judgement Blade. He’ll raise his giant sword over his head and plunge it down. The second is his Dark Flames attack which rains fire on your head. Neither are particularly damaging and they give you enough notice to protect yourself. By far, the most damaging is the Gigaflare. You will see the Jet Bahamut counting down to it. It’s an attack that he will execute alone if he’s alone but if the other Dragons have revived, they will do the attack together dealing far more damage. The real tricky part is that you have to watch that countdown because when it hits 1 (or just before), you want to change to your Tortoise paradigm. It’s probably the most painful thing about this attack that you can’t change paradigms once the animation for it starts. Later on, he will start using the Dying Sun attack. It’s another attack you should Tortoise for but it’s not particularly damaging or interesting compared to the other attacks. Otherwise, the combat is actually pretty standard. All of the Bahamuts are pretty prone to staggering and that’s the route you want to go. Light them up with Rav, Rav, Com. If you have the Cerberus-X paradigm (Com, Com, Com with a Cross tuning), it’ll definitely benefit you here. You can take your time because they won’t cause Wounding damage so feel free to play conservatively. Just make sure that as soon as Garnet or Amber appear, you take them out so you don’t get wiped out by Gigaflare. Once you have finished this battle, sit back and watch the credits roll! Wait, WTF!? In classic JRPG tradition, you’ll be able to continue playing as if you were just before the final boss but you’ll have picked up some goodies. The most important is that if you go to Serendipity, you can learn a new Fragment Skill called Paradox Scope which makes certain battles more difficult and if you succeed, will cause a Paradox Ending. Make sure you grab that. It’s time to tackle some Paradox Endings! And by that I mean, level up first. Trust me. _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Post Game x400x _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ________________________________________ Paradox Endings x400x ________________________________________ A Giant Mistake - In Bresha Ruins 5AF, you will have to fight the giant Atlas. You’ll fight him right after you enter the ruins. The second time, you have the choice of activating a control mechanism which will weaken him or fight him directly. If you skip the control mechanism and just fight him, victory will bring a Paradox Ending. Mog’s Marvelous Flan Plan - In Sunleth Waterscape 300AF, you’ll have to fight his Royal Ripeness once when you meet Snow. Afterwards, you can search for a Paradox to resolve before you fight him Royal Ripeness and weaken him (to a Mutantomato) or you can fight him directly. If you just fight him directly and win, you will cause a Paradox Ending. Vanille’s Truth - You will need to Paradox Scope which is gained in Serendipity after beating the game. Turn it on and return to Oerba. Time Reverse Oerba and then proceed to the battle with Caius again. He’ll be tougher this time but if you beat him, it’ll create a Paradox Ending. Test Subjects - You will need to Paradox Scope which is gained in Serendipity after beating the game. Turn it on and return to Augusta Tower 200AF. Time Reverse Augusta Tower and then proceed to the battle with the Proto fal’Cie Adam again. Fight the fal’Cie and win for a Paradox Ending. The Future is Hope - You will need the Paradox Scope which is gained in Serendipity after beating the game. Turn it on and return to Academia 4XXAF. Time Reverse Academia and return to the Academy HQ. Turn in all of the Graviton Cores again but don’t skip the cutscene or you’ll skip a very important Live Trigger. Alyssa will offer you an Artefact. Refuse to take it. Beneath a Timeless Sky - You will need the Paradox Scope which is gained in Serendipity after beating the game. After you get the previous Paradox Ending, turn off the Paradox Scope and proceed normally until you get sucked into the Void Beyond (with all of the Yuels). Make your way through here and just before you talk to the last Yuel, activate the Paradox Scope again. Fight Caius and win for a Paradox Ending. Fate and Freedom - You actually don’t need the Paradox for this one. After you get the previous Paradox Ending, turn off the Paradox Scope and proceed normally through the fight with Caius. You’ll come to a point where you are in a fake New Bodhum. After talking to Snow in NORA house, Lightning will appear on the pier. Talk to her and when she offers to let you stay, say Yes instead of No. This will cause a Paradox Ending. Heir to Chaos - You will need the Paradox Scope which is gained in Serendipity after beating the game. After you get the previous Paradox Ending, turn off the Paradox Scope and proceed normally until you get to the Dying World. Activate the Paradox Scope and make your way to the fight between Noel and Caius. Fight this battle and win for a Paradox Ending. You need to be fairly strong since it’s a one on one fight. I’d start with Ravager, stagger him and then immediately change to Commando. This should bring him to half health when he will break the Chain Gauge. Ravage and stagger him again, then kill him as a Commando. After he revives, heal up and then Ravage, Stagger and Commando him again to beat him. ________________________________________ Wild Artefacts x410x ________________________________________ Bresha Ruins 5AF - Make your way to the N most Time Gate. You’ll be in a little camp area and there will be a man to the west by the exit out of this camp. Talk to him and then do a Moogle Hunt near him. The Artefact will reveal itself. Bresha Ruins 300AF - Go to the NE area by where you fought Atlas. In the graveyard will be a shade of a man. Moogle Hunt for him and then talk to him. He will send you to talk to his friend in the middle of the map, underground. This man is a jokester. Talk to him and answer all the Live Triggers with jokes. When you have, he will send you back to the man in the graveyard. Talk to him for a Wild Artefact. ________________________________________ Fragments x420x ________________________________________ New Bodhum 3AF ---- Gogmagog Fragment Alpha - You got this during the Story. Gogmagog Fragment Beta - You get this during the Story. Heart Prism - This is gotten retrieving a Medical Kit for a woman in New Bodhum. At the last turn before you get to the Meteorite site (as the path turns NE), Moogle Hunt for a treasure chest. You’ll find the Medical Kit inside Return it to the woman on the shore of New Bodhum. Graviton Core Alpha - On the E side of the map is a lower area that was underwater at the beginning of the game. Use Moogle Hunt on one of the dark raised platforms to get this Fragment. New Bodhum 700AF ---- Cartesian Board - This is found on the raised section all the way to the E. It will be just out of reach and invisible so go as far E as possible, Moogle Hunt, then throw Mog to it to get it. Laplacian Board - This is in a phased chest in the far SW corner. You’ll have to get close, Moogle Hunt, and then Mog throw behind the rocks to get it. Hope’s Message - This is in a phased chest SE of Chocolina’s Shop Noel’s Message - This Fragment is directly south of the phased Chocolina’s Shop (which is in the NW corner of the map). Serah’s Message - This Fragment appears NE of the pier along the coast. Just follow the coast to find it. New Bodhum ???AF ---- Transcript: Fate and Freedom - This is achieved through the Fate and Freedom Paradox Ending. See x400x for details. Vanille’s Fruit - When you get to the Meteorite crater. Talk to Vanille and Fang there. After that but before you leave, check the east side of the site for both of these fragments. Fang’s Crown - When you get to the Meteorite crater. Talk to Vanille and Fang there. After that but before you leave, check the east side of the site for both of these fragments. Bresha Ruins 5AF ---- Atlas Fragment - This fragment is gained by using the control mechanism and defeating Atlas, which is a story requirement. Ghast Fragment - You pick up a side quest NW of the N most Time Gate from a yellow guard named Chester. He will ask you to kill a Cie’th for him. Do so and return to him for your reward. The Cie’th is in the NW most tunnel on the map. Delicate Crystal - Make your way to the control mechanism for Atlas. Solve the Time Paradox within the control mechanism and then use it to receive this Fragment. Vita Lyrica - After learning the Moogle Throw ability in Sunleth Waterscape 300AF, return to the Bresha Ruins near Atlas’ hand. In the NW area will be a newly unlocked area. Talk to Morris in the Command Room to find out he’s lost his Comm Device. Head into this new area and you should find it in a phased chest in the ruins. Anima Miseria - There is a researcher in the NE section in the graveyard (Lamentable Rest). Talk to him and he’ll ask you to find a Silvery Petal flower. This flower can only be obtained from the Bresha Ruins in 300AF. It should be in roughly the same spot in 300AF as the researcher is in at 5AF. Grab the flower and return it to him for this Fragment. Ars Symphonica - Just S of the command center will be a woman who needs to find her notes. Talk to her, head to the command center and Moogle Hunt in the NW part of the Command Center. Return the notes for this Fragment. Graviton Core Beta - This can be found SE of the N most Time Gate. There will be stairs leading downward and a wall running along the E side of the stairs. You need either a chocobo or the Gravity Jump skill to get over the wall. Then Moogle Hunt at the north side of the grassy area. Transcript: A Giant Mistake - This can be gained from the Giant Mistake Paradox Ending. See x400x for details. Bresha Ruins 300AF ---- Iridium Ring - Go to the NE area by where you fought Atlas. In the graveyard will be a shade of a man. Moogle Hunt for him and then talk to him. He will send you to talk to his friend in the middle of the map, underground. This man is a jokester. Talk to him and answer all the Live Triggers with jokes. When you have, he will send you back to the man in the graveyard. Talk to him for this Fragment. Platinum Ring - Talk to Jonah the researcher who is on the stairs directly ahead of where you start in this area. He will ask you to retrieve a Recording Device. The Recording Device is in the Echoes of the Past section in the NW corner. The Device is in a phased Treasure Cube. Mythril Ring - In the middle of the map, to the E of where there was a Time Gate in 5AF, you should find a researcher who wants to blow up the ruins. Talk to him and he’ll send you to find the Commander who is on the steps by where Jonah the Researcher is E of here (outside). Go there and talk to the Soldier with the unique helmet. He’ll send you back with his findings. _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Gameplay Mechanics x500x _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ________________________________________ The Crystarium x500x ________________________________________ Noel and Serah will always accumulate the same amount of Crystogen Points (CP) and their Crystarium will always expand after the same number of crystals has been unlocked. You unlock crystals in a linear fashion, from one to the next. Each locked crystal can be made into a crystal of any of the roles that you have unlocked. Each time you assign a crystal to a particular role, it levels up that role by 1. In the lower right hand corner, you will see the skills you will unlock for the highlighted role when you reach the given level. When you’ve unlocked every crystal on the current level of the Crystarium, you’ll unlock the next level and start the whole process again. Before you move on to the next level of the Crystarium, though, you’ll be granted a bonus. You get to choose from a few different things. The first two options will be a bonus to one of the two roles you leveled up the most in that level of the Crystarium. This will be things like faster chain gauge charging when you are in the ravager role or a bonus to defense when in the sentinel role. If you haven’t unlocked all of your roles, you will also have the option of unlocking one of the roles that you haven’t unlocked yet. The last two options are always the ability to add a segment to the ATB gauge (until you’ve reached five segments) and adding an additional 20 points to your carry weight. This allows you to execute more abilities per turn and the gauge will fill slightly faster so that your turns came at the same rate. The increase to your carry weight allows you to wear more accessories, giving you more bonuses. _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Legal x900x _______________________________________________________________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Copyright - x910x ----------------- Copyright ExtremePhobia (Brandon Fusco) 2011, all rights reserved. Permission to host is granted to: GameFAQs SuperCheats This guide is mine, all other marks, names and Skyrim logo are trademarked or copywrite Bethesda or their other respective holders. Thanks - x920x -------------- These people provided additional information that I was lacking in my guide. Thanks for the help, it saved me a lot of time. Contact - x930x --------------- Feel free to contact me if you have anything constructive to add and please don't take offense if I don't use your submission. Like most guide writers, this isn't my day job. Please keep that in mind when you write. GuidesbyExtremePhobia gmail.com