FAQ And Guide - Guide for Final Fantasy XIII-2

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Final Fantasy 13-2 guide

++++Introduction++++ [intro1]

Hey there, and welcome to my Final Fantasy XIII-2 guide. FFXIII-2 is the latest
installment in what I would call the best videogame series ever. That's right
I'm a big fan. Anyway, I hope you'll have just as much fun playing the game 
I had. 

This guide is written to help players get through the game, collect all 
fragments, beat all the uber-enemies the FF series is known for and ultimately 
rake in that platinum trophy.

Are you ready? Let's get it on!

++++Copyright++++

This FAQ is property of me, Marcel van den Ham, and may be not be reproduced in
whole, or parts of it under any circumstances except for personal, private use.
It may not be placed on any web site other than the sites listed below or other
wise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide
on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited
and a violation of copyright.

Sites allowed to use this guide
-Gamefaqs.com
-Neoseeker.com
-Supercheats.com
-Cheathappens.com

++++Table of Contents++++

-Introduction.........................[intro1]
-Copyright
-Quick Story Recap....................[qustr1]
-Strategy 101.........................[strat1]
-Character Levelling..................[chale1]
-Walkthrough
  -Prologue...........................[prolo1]
  -New Bodhum 003AF...................[nb0031]
  -Bresha Ruins 0005AF................[br0051]
  -Sunleth Waterscape 300AF...........[sw3001]
  -New Bodhum 003AF...................[nb0032]
  -Bresha Ruins 005AF.................[br0052]
  -Bresha Ruins 300AF.................[br3001]
  -Bresha Ruins 005AF.................[br0053]
  -Yaschas Massif 010AF...............[ym0101]
  -Oerba 200AF........................[oe2001]
  -Yaschas Massif 01XAF...............[ym01x1]
  -Augusta Tower 300AF................[at3001]
  -Sunleth Waterscape 300AF...........[sw3002]
  -Archylte Steppe ???AF..............[as???1]
  -Sunleth Waterscape 300AF...........[sw3003]
  -Yaschas Massif 01XAF...............[ym01x2]
  -Serendipity ???AF..................[se???1]
  -Academia 400AF.....................[ac4001]
  -Augusta Tower 200AF................[at2001]
  -Yaschas Massif 110AF...............[ym1101]
  -Yaschas Massif 01XAF...............[ym01x3]
  -Academia 400AF.....................[ac4002]
  -Yaschas Massif 100AF...............[ym1001]
  -Academia 4XXAF.....................[ac4xx1] 
  -The Void Beyond ???AF..............[vb???1]
  -The Void Beyond:New Bodhum.........[tvbnb1]
  -A Dying World 700AF................[dw7001]
  -New Bodhum 700AF...................[nb7001]
-Post Game Play.......................[pogap1]
  -Bresha Ruins 005AF.................[br0054]
  -Archylte Steppe ???AF..............[as???2]
  -Serendipity ???AF..................[se???2]
  -Archylte Steppe ???AF..............[as???3]
  -Vile Peaks 200AF...................[vp2001] 
  -Vile Peaks 010AF...................[vp0101]
  -Vile Peaks 200AF...................[vp2002]
  -Sunleth Waterscape 300AF...........[sw3004]
  -Bresha Ruins 100AF.................[br1001]
  -Yaschas Massif 110AF...............[ym1102]
  -Bresha Ruins 300AF.................[br3002]
  -Bresha Ruins 100AF.................[br1002]
-Boss Strategies......................[bosst1]
-Usefull Monsters.....................[usemo1]
-Trophy Information...................[troin1]
-Version History......................[verhi1]
-Special Thanks.......................[speth1]
-Contact Info.........................[conin1]

++++Quick Story Recap++++ [qustr1]

FFXIII took us on an epic quest through the worlds of Cocoon and Gran Pulse.
As the story progressed, Lightning, Serah's older sister, and her comrades
unraveled a story of betrayal, manipulation, and defying fate.

In the end they realized that all their defiances were made to happen by the 
ruler of Cocoon all along, and that he meant for them to kill him, thus 
releasing the power that held Cocoon together and their will to survive would 
mean the end of the world.

The only thing stopping the already lost Cocoon from also destroying
Gran Pulse was the sacrifice made by Fang and Vanille, two of Lightning's 
comrades...

++++Strategy 101++++ [strat1]

In this section I will try to provide some basic strategies that will carry
you through most of the battles you will encounter. I will also give an 
explanation on the 6 different roles and their uses. I will not go into detail
on every skill, since that would just be too much. If there are fights in the
game that require a special strategy, or a single skill that needs to be used
it will be mentioned in the walkthrough.

First, Let's start with the different Roles.

Commando (COM)

Your basic physical damage dealer. Used to stabilize the stagger gauge.

Pros
High damage output.
Can launch staggered enemies rendering them helpless.

Cons
Can't stagger an enemy by itself.
With multiple enemies, multiple COMs won't attack the same enemy.


Ravager (RAV)
 
The magic damage dealer. Used to rack up the stagger gauge.

pros
When you know an enemy's weakness, does decent damage.
Multiple RAVs can stagger opponents quickly.

Cons
RAVs alone can't effectively stagger enemies, the gauge needs to be stabilized.
Some enemies have high elemental resistances, meaning a low damage output.


Sentinel (SEN)

The tank, SENs draw enemies attention and have a high defence so they take 
little damage.

Pros
In battles with powerfull enemies, a SEN can draw their attention while your
attackers pick off the enemies one by one.
3 SENs at the same time can absorb strong attacks to save turns on healing.

Cons
Sentinels cannot attack so in most normal battles they're useless.


Sabouteur (SAB)

The debilitator, SABs are used to lower enemies defences, poison them and the
like.

Pros
They can turn down tough enemies a notch.
Like the COM, SABs can stabilize the stagger gauge.

Cons
Although their attacks cause wounding damage, it's pretty low.
Some powerfull enemies are immune to anything a SAB can throw at them.

Synergist (SYN)

The enhancer, SYNs enhance your party with various buffs.

Pros
Obviously, they enhance your party.
Together with a SAB, some fights can become a whole lot easier.

Cons
The buffs tend to not last very long.
A SYN can't directly damage an enemy

Medic (MED)

The healer, any rpg is impossible without one.

Pros
Helps you stay alive.
Can revive fallen party members.

Cons
One MED in your party usually can't keep up with the damage being dealt.
MEDs can't damage enemies


Now, let's talk about some Paradigms that I think you should (almost) always
have in your deck.

COM+RAV+RAV

This should be your standard paradigm, as this enables you to stagger an enemy
quickly, while the COM keeps the gauge stable.

MED+MED+MED

This enables you to rapidly heal your party, usually within seconds, so you
can keep focused on attacking.

SEN+SEN+SEN

Some enemies have powerfull attacks that can be easily blocked with this.
Just switch to it as soon as you see it coming.

COM+COM+COM

If you're fighting a single, staggered enemy, use this to quickly dish out a
whole lot of damage.



Of course, there are a lot more different possibilities, let's look at a few
more specialized Paradigms that can be usefull.


RAV+RAV+RAV

Especially usefull against bosses and other powerfull enemies you want to 
stagger asap. Just remember, using this Paradigm alone won't get you there, use
together with COM+RAV+RAV

SAB+RAV+RAV

For if you want to debilitate an enemy, while still driving up the stagger 
gauge.

SYN+SYN+SYN

If you need to quickly boost yourself, best used at the start of a fight, or
just after a stagger.

SAB+SAB+SAB

Pretty much the same idea as SYN+SYN+SYN

COM+RAV+SEN

If a large group of enemies is tearing you up, or if an enemy's attacks simply
hit too hard to fight effectively, use the SEN for distraction.

COM+MED+MED

If you need to heal but don't want to lose the stagger gauge.

As you can see there are a lot of possibilities, and I could go on for hours
about all the different strategies and efficient Paradigm Decks, but the best
thing is to figure out what works best for yourself. One thing to remember
is that you can only have 3 monsters, meaning 3 roles in your pack at a time.

This somewhat lowers the number of options you have and forces you to plan
ahead. You can of course always swap the monsters in your deck to suit your
immediate needs.

As for the standard monster trio in your deck I would advise a MED, a SEN, and
either a RAV or a COM. But feel free to experiment all you want.


++++Character Levelling++++ [chale1] 

FFXIII-2 has a fairly unique levelling system, it's very similair to FFXIII's
system, but where in FFXIII it really didn't matter what you unlocked when,
in this game it does.

Whenever you unlock the last orb in the crystarium level you are in, you 
recieve a bonus based on the role you just leveled. This means that when your
last level in the crystarium was for RAV, you'll get a RAV bonus.

What this means, if you want ultimate damage machines toward the end of the 
game, consider what you're going to level.

As Serah is mostly magically inclined, it makes sense to try and give her as 
many RAV bonuses as possible.

Noel is mostly physically inclined, so for him go for the COM bonusses.

What this means in the long run, is that when you learn all the skills in those
respective roles, don't level them too much.

The max. level for each role is 99, so if you get, let's say, for Serah, the 
RAV role at 99, while the other roles are still around their 50's, in the end
you'll have way less magical power than you could have.

What I mean is, as soon as you learn all the skills, don't upgrade RAV anymore,
untill you think you're at the end of the Crystarium level. Just keep a look
out, if you see a big orb and no other ones are in sight, you probably reached
the end, so upgrade the RAV. You can also use the right stick to move the
camera around to get a better view.

The same goes for Noel with the COM role.

Another thing to think about is the bonus you get to choose whenever you 
complete a Crystarium level. Of course the obvious first choice would be to
unlock all the roles, to give you more flexibility.

Afterwards I think the best choice would be to unlock the ATB segments, giving 
you more attacks per turn, then the bonus boosts for the roles you use most 
often. And finally increase the Accessory capacity and bonus boosts for 
secondary roles.

Monsters however have a totally different way of levelling. You level them by
using items. The items differ per Crystarium level, and wheter your monster is
mechanical or biological.

The items come in 4 different types:

Potent, this raises hp, strength and magic
Vitality, this raises hp
Power, this raises strength
Mana, this raises magic

So, the obvious choice, and in my opinion, only item you should give monsters
you intend to use in battle should be the potent ones.

You should only use the other items on monsters you only intend to level untill
they learn the skill you want before infusing them.

Which brings me to the next subject: Infusion.

You can infuse one monster with another so the monster learns some of the 
other's abilities, they can be passive abilities or actual skills.

Let's say you have a Bunkerbeast as your monster SEN, Bunkerbeast can't learn
the Medguard skill by itself, but if you infuse it with a monster that can
learn it, like the Pulsework Knight, level up that monster untill it learns 
Medguard, and then infuse Bunkerbeast with it, It can now use Medguard.

There is almost an infinite number of options you have with this, so experiment
as much as you want.

However, honestly, I haven't experimented a lot with it, because I never really
felt the need to do so. So I can't give you any good examples. 

I'll also provide locations where you can farm for the potent items.

-Droplet, Lv1 biological:Bresha Ruins 005AF, most bio enemies can drop them
-Sliver, Lv2 biological:Sunleth Waterscape 300AF, Ceratoraptor
-Orb, Lv3 Bological:Archylte Steppe ???AF(any), Buccaboo
-Essence, Lv4 biological: Archylte Steppe ???AF(rainy) west side, Swampmonk 
-Crystal, Lv5 biological:Archylte Steppe ???AF(rainy) west side, Microchu

-Bolt, Lv1 mechanical:Bresha Ruins 005AF, most mech enemies can drop them
-Chip, Lv2 mechanical:Augusta Tower 200AF, Orion
-Engine, Lv3 mechanical:Augusta Tower 300AF, Flanborg
-Booster, Lv4 mechanical:Academia 500AF, Yeoman
-Generator, Lv5 mechanical:Archylte Steppe ???AF(stormy), Vampire

++++Walktrough++++

Ok partypeople, Final Fantasy is known for it's great stories. This one is 
divided in episodes so this walkthrough is as well.

I will assume you have read the strategy 101 and Character Levelling sections,
and thus have an understanding of the game's mechanics. I'm not going to tell
you when or how to level up, I take it you can decide for yourself when you 
have a decent amount of CP.

I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but I fear at times it 
can't be helped.

One last thing about the guide, the suggested Paradigm Decks throughout the
guide are always in this order: Serah+Noel+Monster, so if it says RAV+COM+RAV
it means Serah as RAV, Noel as COM and a RAV monster.

Alright, it's partykicking time.

++++Prologue++++ [prolo1]

Take the tutorial if you wish.

All you need to do here is just fight using auto-battle, nothing can go wrong.

When in the upper left corner the words Cinematic Action appear, get ready for
a QTE.

The sequence is: up,X, repeatedly [],[] or O,[] or O,right,[] or O,repeatedly X
right,O,X. 

Seem complicated? Don't worry, you'll have more than enough time to react to
the button prompts, in fact, the only time I ever screwed up a QTE in this game
was when I did it inentionally, just to see what would happen.

From now on, if you need to repeatedly press a button I will describe it as rX,
for repeatedly press X, r[] for repeatedly [], and so on.

Afterwards, the fighting will continue, just keep auto-battling.

When the pretty awesome cinematics end, it's time for...

++++Episode 1++++

++++New Bodhum 003AF++++ [NB0031]

When some more cinematics end you can take the tutorial af you wish.

When you're in control of Serah, examine the door to open it, You'll get a Live
Trigger, these things happen all the time throughout the game, for most of them
it doesn't really matter what option you choose, usually picking the dumbest 
possible awnser is the most funny one. For the ones that DO matter, I'll 
provide the answer. This one doesn't, so awnser any way you like.

From now on I'll call Live Triggers LT's and only mention them if they matter.

Move towards the orange circle on your map.

After the next LT has ended, just walk around untill Serah falls down to her
knees.

After the following cinematic, you'll get to play with Serah.

(that sounds dirtier then I meant it to be), your new buddy Noel will be there 
too. Again just auto-battling will do the trick.

When the fight is done, just go around killing all the monsters, it shouldn't 
pose any problems. When you attack the first monster you can take another 
tutorial, take it if you want.

Switch to Slash and Burn (com+rav) to race through it. Also in regular battles,
don't get scared about your hp too much, after the fight all hp, status changes
and wounds(a new kind of status for the FF series, it decreases your max hp)
will be healed.

When the fighting is over and the cinematics have ended, move towards the 
orange quest marker, you can check where it is by pressing [] to view the map.

As soon as you jump over the fence, you can view another tutorial, take it if 
you wish.

Jump onto the wooden walkway, onto the tree trunk, and from there onto solid 
ground. From here, if you look to your right, you will see a floating sphere,
this is a treasure chest, open it to get 3 potions.

From there, follow the only path you can take, untill you reach another 
treasure chest which holds a map of New Bodhum.

Go north as far as you can, to run into Gadot, and view a conversation.

Again, follow the only path you can take, untill you reach a chest with a
Librascope, you can use this to gain some intell on monsters strengths and
weaknesses, usefull against bosses.

After getting the Librascope, follow the path once more untill you see the 
words Live Action in the top left of the screen, then talk to Yuj for another 
dialogue. 

Afterwards, open the chest for a Phoenix Down. If you take the left path from 
here, you will get into another conversation, with Maqui this time.

Now turn around and take the right path, you'll run into the first boss.

+Boss+ Gogmagog

When the battle starts, switch to slash and burn. At some point(pretty quickly)
you'll stagger him, you have probably already staggered some normal enemies
on your way here, but this is the first time staggers really matter.

Staggering an opponent means you can do a ton of damage.

As soon as you stagger him, switch to double trouble and tear him apart.

Use potions freely, when a character's hp falls below 40% use one and you'll 
get through it easily.

You'll get Gogmagog fragment Alpha for beating him.

Continue onwards and open the chests containing 300 gil and 2 Gysahl Greens
on your way.

Examine the giant egg shaped thing and watch the scenes unfold.

You'll wake up in Serah's room and can now level up using the crystarium and
decide your own Paradigms.

You can read all about what I think is a good way of levelling in the character
levelling section, and some usefull standard paradigms in the strategy 101 
section. If for whatever fight you need to change paradigms, I'll mention it 
when we get there.

The cube shaped thing you see to your left, is another sort of treasure chest,
it contains a golden flower.
 
Walk outside and view some scenes. Afterwards, walk towards the orange quest
marker to get Lightning's knife. BTW did you see Mog go mental? That means
there is treasure nearby.

When the scenes end, walk towards the sea and talk to the woman sitting there,
This is Nell, she'll ask you to find her medical kit for her. You can't get it 
quite yet, but agree to it anyway, I'll give a heads up when you can.

When you're done, talk to Lebreau to get some background info.

Then walk west into the residential area and see Mog go mental again. Play the
game of hide and seek with the cat to get into another dialogue.

Follow Mog and examine the vegetable garden on your way to see another scene.

Talk to the kid with the speech balloon, then follow him around untill you 
finally catch up with him and you'll get into an LT, you'll need to pick
several options to proceed into the next one, then press /\ to end it.
You'll recieve Snow's necklace.

After the ensuing scenes, follow Noel back into the town, and after yet some
more scenes, head into the house to find some weird mirror in your bedroom,
examine it to obtain the Giant's Artifact. Open the treasure cube that appeared
to get a potion.

With the Artifact, you can now get the Medical Kit Nell asked for, it's near 
the treasure chest with the Phoenix Down, so get it and bring it back.
You'll get the Heart prism fragment and 50CP for you efforts.

Most side quests end up with a fragment as a reward, the more fragments you 
have, the better you are doing. Also, in the future, there will be a place
where you can learn skills based on the fragments you have, so aside from the 
CP you get, there is a point to collecting as many as you can.

When you're done with Nell, go toward the orange quest marker, you can take 
the shortcut if you want, personally I say take the long way around, to get a
bit of a head start on your levels.

When you get to the chest with the Poenix down, go to the crystarium.
There's probably not a whole lot you can do, but every bit helps.

When you get close to the crater it's time for another boss fight.

+Boss+ Gogmagog part 2

Suggested paradigm Deck   
COM+COM
RAV+COM
RAV+RAV

Although Gog has a little more hp than last time, the fight is basically the 
same. Go 2 rounds with RAV+COM, then switch to RAV+RAV to stagger him.
When staggered go to COM+COM to lay on the hurt.

Repeat this process if needed and again, when your hp drops to about 40% use a
potion.

After the fight you get Gogmagog Fragment Beta and 1000 CP.

Move further towards the crater, watch the scenes, during the LT tell Noel 
you're ready and be done with this episode.

++++Episode 2++++

++++Bresha Ruins 005AF+++ [br0051]

As soon as you arrive, you get into a fight with a giant hand. 

+Boss+ Paradox Alpha

Just keep pounding it with RAV+COM, keeping an eye on your health.

You'll get into a cinematic action. It is: right.

From now on I will call these things CA.

Afterwards, continue pounding it untill the next CA starts, it is: right, up,
X. This will stagger it so switch to COM+COM, and take it out.

This leads to yet another CA: r/\. If you did it right you'll get a perfect, 
and a Silver Gear as a reward.

When you're done you get arrested for helping them out, no good deed goes 
unpunished...

Just follow them and talk to the captain and you'll be put in a cell.

Talk to the guard a few times untill a woman named Alyssa comes to bail you 
out. Follow her when you're so asked and talk to her when she stops, you'll 
get a comm device and the map for the Bresha Ruins.

When the conversation ends, head south towards the gate you came from, go up
the stairs and right to get to a chest with the Leaving Gate Seal.

From the stairs to the left there is a chest containing 400 gil.

Go back down the stairs and head right the first chance you get, to a chest 
holding 350 gil. At the end of this path, the pink dot on your map, you'll
find Chocolina, the merchant you will run into everywhere throughout the game.

For now, just buy the two weapons she sells, to upgrade your damage output a
little and don't forget to equip them.

When you're done, head left into the building for a chest with a black belt. Go
north from here, up the stairs and open the chest with two potions.

Follow the path untill you get attacked, kill the enemies, they will both turn 
into crystals, enabling you to have a third partymember. Take the tutorial to
learn all about it. For now just take a second RAV with you.

Continue going up the stairs, and when you reach the top, go left. You'll run 
into a gate you can't open yet, so continue. 

When Mog goes bananas again follow him and talk to the soldier, Mog will learn 
a new ability, he can make out of phase items appear. Press R1 and take the 
Wild Artifact. This can open certain gates, but not the one you just passed.

Anyway, with this new ability, go back down all the stairs. When you get back
in the area you started, go right and follow Mog, press R1 and take the 
Librascope from the chest.

Now go back to where you came from. When you get back to the gate, talk to 
people untill you meet Chester, who asks you to kill a Cie'th in the tunnels.
Agree to do it. Also look araound for the captain in the same area, he'll ask
you to find two capsules. So let's get to it.

The first capsule is in a "Mog chest" on the southern path just past the 
captain. For the second one, go into the tunnel just north of where you are.
When the path goes south, immediately go east, down the ramp and open the 
chest for the second one. Take them back to the captain to get the Unio Mystica
Fragment and 100 CP.

While you are in the tunnels, it is a good idea to grind around and explore the
southern part of the tunnel to get a Rune Bracelet and 8 Mana droplets from
the treasure chests, find another gate and most importantly, try to recruit
a Pulsework Knight. This is the best SEN you will be able to get for a while,
and you'll need it to make your life easier.

When that's finally done, proceed to the quest marker. After the LT, open the 
chest for 2 Gysahl Greens, and continue east.

When you get to the area with Chocolina, open the chest with a Phoenix Down.

Now you have 2 choices, either fight Atlas head on right now, or use the 
machine to weaken him first. If you decide to fight now, I'd say good luck and
be ready to recieve a lesson in how to get wiped efficiently. So head for the 
quest marker in the tunnel.

On your way there, open the chest with the Orange Newsboy Cap.

If you go to the northwest room in this area you'll meet the Cie'th Chester
asked about, might as well take it down. It's not very hard to beat, just keep 
an eye on your hp and use potions when necessary. You'll recieve the Ghast
Fragment and 600CP for killing it. Also open the Mog chest for a star Pendant.

Move towards the machine and you'll end up in something new to the FF series, a
puzzle area. In this one you're supposed to pick up all the crystals before 
heading to the gate, there's just one catch, all the platforms you walk on will
fall down, so you have to figure out the route. For these there is a pretty 
simple trick, the platforms won't fall immediately, so if you need to think on 
where to go next, just inch forward platform by platform, untill you know where
to go.

Now for the first one:
Imediately go left taking the first crystal.
Go up and right.
When you're directly under the second crystal, go up, left and up to the gate.

Stage 2:
Don't take the crystal in front of you yet, instead, go right on the square
under it. 
Go up taking the rightmost crystal.
From there, left and down for the middle one.
Then go left and up taking the other two crystals and move on to the gate.

Stage 3:
Immediately go left when you can, taking the crystal.
Continue left and up taking the leftmost crystal.
From that square, go right and up, taking the now downmost crystal.
Go right, up and from there left and up to take the last two crystals.

Puzzle complete!

You'll get a delicate crystal fragment and 200CP for completion. Examine the 
machine and head for the now weakened Atlas.

Before you face him, spend your CP, try to unlock the medic role for both
Serah and Noel.

+Boss+ Atlas

Recommended Paradigm Deck
RAV+COM+RAV
COM+COM+RAV(or COM, if you don't have a SEN)
MED+MED+MED
SEN+SEN+SEN(or COM, if you don't have a SEN)

If you couldn't get a Puslework Knight to join you, don't worry too much.
Just replace it with either a COM or a RAV.

This is quite an interesting battle, as Atlas attacks real slow, with huge 
tells at what it's about to do, almost like in an action game.

When he raises his hand, switch to SEN+SEN+SEN(or RAV/COM) to absorb most of
the damage, then switch back and continue pounding him. Switch to COM+COM+RAV
upon staggering him.

Whenever your hp bar turns yellow, switch to MED+MED+MED for some quick 
healing, and you will take him down effortlessly. 

The CA for this fight is: right, O, right, X, right, X, right, X.

For a perfect, you get a fragment crystal, and for beating him you get an Atlas
Fragment and 2500CP.

Afterwards, go to the marker and examine the tombstone. When the over the top
dramatic scene ends, head to the marker and press R1 to reveal the Eclipse 
Artifact. Also open the cube just east of the chocobo to get a lucky clover.

Turn around and head west, take the southern path, and go to the marker.
Again, press R1 so Mog will reveal the Reunion Artifact.

Head for the gate in the tunnels and open it to create a path to...

++++Episode 3++++

++++Sunleth Waterscape 300AF++++ [sw3001]

Storywise, we're not supposed to be here yet, but you can learn a new skill for
Mog here, as well as getting another Wild Artifact along the way, so let's get
to it.

When the scenes end, follow Serah to meet a familiar, and be thrown into battle
with another boss.

+Boss+ Royal Ripeness

Recommended Paradigm Deck
RAV+RAV+COM(a maxed out Hoplite kicks ass here)
COM+COM+COM
RAV+RAV+RAV
MED+MED+MED

Because you're probably way underlevelled at this point, it will take a while.
Start out with RAV+RAV+COM for 1 or 2 rounds, then switch to RAV+RAV+RAV untill
you stagger it, keep going untill the gauge reaches approximately 450, then 
switch to COM+COM+COM to dish out some real damage.

You will get a CA at some point, it's [].

Keep your hp up and you should eventually be able to kill it.

The CA is: up, [], r[], rO, right.

For a perfect you get a crystal heart.

Now, back to why we came here in the first place.

Start by heading south, open the chest for 625 gil and swing across the vines.
By the way, if you talk to Snow, he will give you a map of the area.

Continue south untill you come to the 3-way split on your map. Take the 
southwest path. Follow this path untill you are prompted to ride the beast.

While riding, the party decides Mog can be thrown away to fetch treasure.
Practice this by throwing him at the chests containg a Librascope, a Silver
Bangle and 8 Mana Chips, also be on the lookout for a Wild Artifact, it's on
the same side as the Mana Chips, just throw Mog to get it. Keep riding back
and forth untill you got it all.

Chocolina here sells some new weapons, so buy and equip them, and it might not
hurt to buy a few Wound Potions and Phoenix Downs, just to be safe.

Now that we have what we came here for it's time to go Fragment hunting.

Start by going to the Historia Crux and head to New Bodhum 003AF

++++New Bodhum 003AF++++ [nb0032]

You should start at the gate, basically where you left of. If you go somewhere
with the Historia Crux you have already been, you'll start out exactly where 
you left.

Anyway, head back towards the town, taking the eastmost path on your map.

Open the chest with a Phoenix Down, continue the path untill you reach a 
chocobo, press R1 so Mog reveals another chest, this one holds the Graviton
Core Alpha, you'll also get 500CP.

Continue the path and open the chest with an Iron Bangle.

While we are here, we might as well go for 100% map completion, It's not going 
to do any good for a long time, but doing it now will mean there is no reason 
to come back here for the rest of the game.

If on the map it looks like you have been everywhere, but still haven't got it
at 100%, try going under the houses on the west side of the map and be sure 
to go everywhere, hug every wall if you have to. If you played Star Ocean 3,
you'll know what I'm talking about. 

++++Bresha Ruins 005AF++++ [br0052]

Head towards the area with the gate you originally came from, when you get to
the stairs where Atlas attacked you, just past the gate, look to the left over
the railing. You'll see a chest, throw Mog at it to get 8 Power Droplets.

When you get to the area where you started out on your first visit, you'll see
a white quest marker above a chest, Throw Mog at it to get the Holding Cell Key
with it you can open the gate to the west, so go there.

Open the treasure chest to get 10 Vitality Chips. Now turn around and talk to 
Morris, he's the first guy you run in to.

He'll ask you to find the guy with the same comm signal as him, agree to do so.
Now go into the newly opened path.

Follow Mog as he flips out again, and reveal and open the chest with the Army
Comm Device.

Don't return it just yet, in this tunnel are 2 more chests to take, one with
a Unicorn Horn and the other with a Butterfly Bow, at this point, a pretty good 
weapon for Serah. There is also a gate here, this one is opened with a Wild
Artifact.

Now go back and give the comm device to Morris, you'll get the Vita Lycra
Fragment and 200CP.

Afterwards, go into the large open area and try to locate Cordelia, she'll ask
you to retrieve her notes, agree to do so and head to the computer terminal 
thing you just came from, let Mog do his thing and open the chest.

Take the notes back to Cordelia and recieve the Ars Symphonica Fragment and 
100CP.

From here, grab a chocobo and go back north, remember the wall you threw Mog 
over a few minutes ago? With a chocobo you can get there yourself and take the
next fragment, just jump from the stairs to the west of it and fly, well sort
of, by keeping the button pressed, reveal the treasure chest and claim the
Graviton Core Beta Fragment and 500 CP.

Walk all the way back to were you fought Atlas, and talk to the guy standing 
by the tombstone, this is Jed, he'll ask you to go get a silver petal for him.
Agree to do so, it's right here in this area, there's only one problem: it's
in another time.

But no worries, we can go there right now. Go all the way to the gate in the
tunnel we opened with the Holding Cell key and use a Wild Artifact.

++++Bresha Ruins 300AF++++ [br3001]   

To get the silver petal, you need to walk all the way to the area where you 
fought Atlas. But first, throw Mog over the same wall you did in 005AF to get
the Labyrinth Gate Seal.

Now walk over to the northeast and on your way pick up the hard to miss Unicorn
Horn from the chest in the newly opened area on the north side.

The enemies in this area might be a bit strong, but they're manageable, just
watch out, whenever something spawns that looks like a black hole, run.
Seriously, if you try to fight it you'll run into a Tonberry, if you played
other FF games you know what this means, you cannot hope to kill it yet, 
although they make a pretty good COM late game.

When you reach the area, go to the back of it, the silver petal is roughly
in the same place the Eclipse Artifact was.

Now we can go back and give Jed his flower, but, there are a few easy to do 
side quests here, so while we're here let's do them. 

Start by pressing R1 near the shadowy figure where Mog is. This reveals Lex,
he'll ask you to find his buddy in the area, agree to to so.

Look at your map, in the southern tunnel, you'll see 2 green dots 
Lex's buddy is the western one. This guy thinks he's a stand-up comedian and
challenges you into some sort of dissing contest.

This contest will play out in the form of LTs, I'll just give you the awnsers.
I'm too lazy to completely type them so I'll describe them instead.

1 shoe salesman
2 Noah guy
3 Salt merchants

While you're here, also talk to the eastern guy, Thursten, he'll ask you to
talk to the commander, so let's agree. The commander can be found way back 
where you entered the area, so get to it.

Go back and talk to Thursten, you'll recieve the Mythril Ring Fragment and 
400CP.

Now go back to the area where the commander is and talk to Jonah, on the steps,
this might seem weird, I know, but you can only have 2 side quests active in
an area at one time, and this one involves moving to the other side of the map
and back again, so this'll still save a few minutes.

Anyway, Jonah will ask you to find his recording device, it's in a Mog chest in
the room you fought the Cie'th back in  005AF.

When you have it, first go back to Lex to finish that quest and get the 
Iridium Ring Fragment and 400CP, also, don't forget to take the Wild Artifact
that appears.

Once again, go all the way back to Jonah to give him his device and get the 
Platinum Ring Fragment and another 400CP.

Well, this about wraps up all we can do here for now, so head back to 005AF,
and finally give Jed his silver petal.

++++Bresha Ruins 005AF++++ [br0053]

Your reward for this will be the Anima Miseria Fragment and 200CP.

Finally, we're done here, head to the only gate around here we haven't opened
yet(the one near Chocolina) and proceed with the story.  

++++Yaschas Massif 010AF++++ [ym0101]

When you're in control, to your immediate right there will be a chest with 500
Gil,if you take the path now in front of you and at the end turn right(don't go
down the stairs), just before the blockade, you'll see a floating chest. Throw
Mog at it to get 10 Power Chips. Now turn around and go back to where you 
started.

Talk to the guy with the speech balloon to get a map of the area. On the west 
side there will be a Mog chest, it holds a Metal Armband.

Go back towards where you got the powerchips, but instead go left. Now look at 
your map. Take the path going north, then the first path west, at the end go 
north again for a chest with 960 Gil.

The Behemoths in this area are tough, but fairly easily taken down if you 
employ a SEN, it just takes a while and try to beat at least 1, you'll get a 
Behemoth Fang, an item needed for a quest later.

If you're not having too much trouble beating them, it might also be a good
idea to try and recruit one, they're decent COMs with a very usefull Feral Link
ability.

From the chest, move to the east side of this area, pretty much in a straight 
line to find the Tablet of Paddra in a cube, again, used for a quest later.

Go north, hugging the east wall to find a chest containing 8 Mana Bolts. Now go
around the cliff in the centre and to the west side for a chest with 8 Mana
Slivers.

If you go north from here you'll run into chocolina again, she doesn't really
have anything interesting to sell though.

If you keep following the path from here you'll run into a few more chests, 
they hold a Scar's Gate Seal, Gysahl Greens, and behind a rock, just before the
path heads north, a Mog chest with a Pearl Necklace.

Take the northeren path and talk to the person there to get into a boss fight.

+Boss+ Aloeidai

Suggested Paradigm Deck 

RAV+COM+RAV (or RAV+RAV+COM if you recruited a Behemoth)
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

If have been faithfully collecting Fragments, by now this boss should be real 
easy, just stay on the offensive and stagger it asap. Don't worry about the
debuffs it casts too much, just do some quick healing when your hp turns yellow
and you'll be fine.

If you're having trouble staying alive, you might want to add SEN+SEN+SEN to
your Deck to absorb it's swing attack.

For beating it you get the Aloeidai Fragment and some CP (because I got 
distracted by something, it was gone before I could see how much).

Afterwards, follow Hope and keep talking to him.

When all the talking is done, we can continue with the story, the gate is 
located at the dead end to the south, but first it's Fragment collecting time.

If you go down the stairs and east, you'll find a Warding Talisman in a chest 
in the corner.if you go north from here, there's a Mog chest with Gysahl 
Greens.

Talk to the guy next to the stairs, he'll ask you to get a battery for him, we
can't do it yet, but agree to it anyway.

Now go towards the ramp on the west side of the area. Before going up them, 
follow Mog to the Mog chest that holds a Serenity Satchet. 

Go up the ramp. On your way to the top you'll find a chest with 3 remedies.
At the top is a chest with a Carbuncle Figurine. Now, if you stand near the 
giant head, you'll see something floating in front of it, first, press R1 to
reveal a treasure cube, then throw Mog at it to get the Pathos Jewel Fragment
and 300 CP. 

Head towards Chocolina. A little southward is a woman named Brenda, she'll ask
for a fang, give her the Behemoth fang and recieve the Misery Bead and 300CP.

Go back towards the ramp with the giant head on top, but walk past it. Near the 
chest with the Warding Talisman is a woman named Shannon, she wants us to go
get her watch, we can't yet, but accept anyway.

For now, this as about all that can be done here, so head to the gate in the 
south.

++++Oerba 200AF++++ [oe2001]

Does this place look different than in FFXIII or is it just me?

Anyway, on your right side is the Giant Egg Fragment, pres R1 to reveal it.

Move forward, watch Mog go bonkers and press R1, examamine the large portal 
looking thing and be teleported to another puzzle area.

These puzzles are easy, it's just your basic connect the dots with a twist.
You need to draw lines between the crystals to create an image, but the 
crystals will have different colors and you can only draw lines between 
crystals of the same color. The crystals also change color from time to time 
and there is a time limit, but this shouldn't pose any problems.

You'll get the Time's Stardust fragment and 200CP for the effort. Continue 
north and open the treasure chest for 2 Gysahl Greens. West from here is 
another chest, this time with a Power Wristband.

Go east and jump through the hole in the wall. keep going east. When you come
to a split, go left onto the town square. From here, head into the house on 
your left, take the map of Oerba from the chest downstairs and the Visions Gate
Seal from upstairs.

Back outside and to your left will be Chocolina who, again, doesn't sell 
anything noteworthy.

If you go north from Chocolina, you'll run into another puzzle, solve it and
get Time's Shell Fragment and 300CP.

From here, go between the ramp and the stairs next to the house and take the
Magician's Mark from the chest.

Go up the ramp this time and take the treasure chest with 550 Gil on your way
west.

Check your map. There are some parts sticking out northward. At the westmost
one look north. You'll see something sticking out of the building that looks 
like an airplane wing. Just in front of it is a Wild Artifact, throw Mog there
to fetch it. 

When you reach the end, go north, down the small stairs and solve another 
puzzle. It's going to be a bit harder here, since now you will have to deal 
with holes in the floor, and connecting crystals by walking around them. The 
time limit is still pretty lenient though.

You'll get the Time's Coral Fragment and 300CP when all the dots are connected.

Continue the path as it goes east, a little south and east again. Pick up the
3 Cie'th tears from the chest. 

As you reach the stairs to the beach, first go up the small stairs to your 
right and press R1 so you can take the Hypnocrown from the chest.

Go onto the beach, take the Librascope on your way there, and head into the 
building on the west side. Take the 600 gil at the entrance, examine the device
on the roof and prepare for a boss fight.

+Boss+ Caius Ballad

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV (or RAV+RAV+COM if you have the Behemoth)
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
SAB+RAV+RAV (maybe, if his buffs cause any trouble)
MED+MED+MED
 
Like pretty much every boss untill now, if you've been collecting all the 
Fragments up untill now, you should be strong enough to make this battle a 
joke.

Just pound on him a few turns with RAV+RAV+COM, then switch to RAV+RAV+RAV and
when staggered, COM+COM+COM(yawn...).

If you haven't spent too much time sidequesting, and thus don't have as high a
level as possible, you may want to switch to SAB+RAV+RAV as soon as he buffs 
himself(provided you already learnt dispel) to remove them.

And again use MED+MED+MED when you need some healing.

For beating him you get nothing, but take the Artifact of Origins in front of
you. Jump down through the newly formed hole in the roof, for a chest with 10 
Power Bolts.

Go back outside and grab the chocobo, go south, past the gate, and west, then
north when you can. Go up the ramp and the jump on the roof, press R1 to get 
the Graviton Core Gamma and 500CP.

Now head to and move through the gate. 

++++Yaschas Massif 01XAF++++ [ym01x1]

You start out at the exact same place you left in 010AF, just head north and 
on your way there, open the chest with the Encounter's Gate Seal.

When you get to the camp you'll find Chocolina, but again, she doesn't sell a
whole lot, move to the marker and talk to Hope.

When the conversation ends, go through the newly opened path, towards the 
marker and when you reach it, press R1 to make a treasure chest with 600 Gil
appear and also the mysterious Artifact.

Go back downstairs and talk to Duncan, he's standing near the stairs. He'll
ask you to kill a Cie'th, we can not hope to kill it yet, but accept it anyway.

Then talk to Marlow, he's in front of the northmost pillar, he will ask for a 
stone tablet, this is the Tablet of Paddra you should already have, give it
to him to get the Orb of Clotho Fragment and 300CP.

Now locate Lester, he's walking around the lower area with all the ramps, he 
wants you to find 3 falling stars. Accept it and go to the large area that's 
divided by a cliff, the first one can be found in the hole in the ground in 
the southwest of the area, it's right next to a gate. Throw Mog in to get the
Emerald crystal.

If you go east from here, you'll find the next one in a Mog chest on top of a 
stone, right after the path goes south, take it for the Onyx crystal.

Now for the last one, go to the metal stairs near the south gate, the crystal
is located right next to the stairs at the bottom, it's the Ivory Crystral.
Head back to Lester to claim your prize, the Mirror of Atropos and 300CP

There's one thing I almost forgot to tell you about, hidden behind the crates,
directly south of the chocobo, is a chest with the old battery, the item for
Cole, back in 010AF, take it, but don't go there just yet, first we're going
to get another quest and we need to go back to 010 to finish it.

Grab a chocobo and ride it towards the large open area. When the path starts to 
go down (as in altitude), fly to the ledge, dismount and talk to Bridget, she
wants us to pick a fruit, it's in 010, right around here. Also open the chest
with a Unicorn horn.

Travel to 010 via the Historia Crux, give Cole his battery to get the Amur´s
Sphere Fragment and 300CP. Grab another chocobo and ride it to the ledge where
we met Bridget, take the fruit of fenrir and head back to 01X, give Bridget the
fruit and get the Sword of Lachesis Fragment and 300CP. Go to the white gate
you can see in the distance and use a Wild Artifact to open it.

++++Augusta Tower 300AF++++ [at3001]

Story wise, we're not supposed to be here yet, but the enemies are easy enough
to deal with, and there is one paticular enemy here, the Flanitor.
Do not leave here without recruiting one, in my opinion it's the best MED in
the game. It's feral link is called hyper rescue and fully restores hp.
There's also a key item we'll need later in the story, so might as well pick 
that up too.

You start out in a room, flip the switch and the room rotates, opening a path.
You'll end up on the inner ring, move south to another terminal and flip that 
switch as well.

Go through that room and onto the outer ring, go north to grab a chest with 9
Mana Slivers. Now go the other way and when you reach the terminal, flip the 
switch twice to continue.

Through the room, go north for a chest with 800 Gil, and head for the elevator
to go to the next floor.

On the platform to the north is a chest, throw Mog to get 2 potions. Now head 
west and flip the switch twice. On the other side of this platform you'll find
Chocolina, again, nothing worth your time.

In the room we just rotated, open the chest containing 8 Vitality Bolts and
head out the other door.

Examine the terminal twice again and head onto the inner ring and open the Mog
chest for 6 vitality slivers. Go back through the room and onto the plateau to
go to the next floor.

If you turn around here, you'll see a chest in the distance, give Mog some more
airtime to get a Phoenix Down.

Go through the room and examine the terminal twice to gain acces to the next 
room, examine the computer and when the LT pops up, press [] to get the Entropy
Board Fragment, 500CP and also the floor 50 keycard.

If you have recruited the Flanitor, go back to the Historia Crux, and select 
the Sunleth Waterscape 300AF as the next destination

++++Sunleth Waterscape 300AF++++ [sw3002]

When you arrive, you should end up near the beast you rode to get the Mog throw
abilty.

At the south side of the path, continue south, and take the western path  
after pressing R1 right behind Chocolina to get a Frost Ring and also get the
Unicorn Horn from the Mog chest, just a little further south.

Go back north and take the eastern path, from this area take the Zephyr Ring
from the chest near the gate, take the eastern path from here.

At the end of the line, throw Mog at the chest for an Ember ring, then turn 
around and fight some Flans. They shouldn't pose any problems, afterward you
get the Combat Artifact, now head to the gate marked by the, well... marker.

You'll end up in the coliseum, there's not a whole lot to do here, just watch 
the scenes, get the White Hole Gem Fragment and 300CP. Go back up the stairs 
to open a Mog chest with a map of the coliseum, and head back to Sunleth.

From here, go north all the way untill you come to the 4 way split on your map,
now go east.

You'll run into Chocolina again, if you have 8 or more Cie'th tears by now, you
may want to create 2 Delicate Power Wristbands for Noel and 2 Delicate 
Magicians Marks for Serah, although a single one raises your stats less than a
normal one, 2 of them will raise it more, and you can't equip 2 normal ones.

When you reach the split, press R1 twice to give Mog some peace of mind, and
first take the southern path. This leads to a chest with 960 Gil. Turn around
and take the northern path.

Open the chest for 9 Vitality Droplets, and continue. After you swing across
the vine, turn around and jump down the branches. At the end of the path look
east and up, you'll see a Fragment floating on some branches, it's the 
Extraordinary Egg Fragment, throw Mog to get it together with 300CP. Go back
up and now go to the end of the path.

You'll get into another Miniflan battle, take them out and take the Artifact,
again, head for the marked gate. This one takes you to the Archylte Steppe 
???AF, just steer clear of Royal Ripeness, you can't beat it.

++++Archylte Steppe ???AF++++ [as???1]

There are a lot of Fragments to obtain in this area, most of them involve 
fighting powerfull monsters, so we'll just do what we need to do for the story
and recruit one monster, and leave the rest untill much later.

Anyway, when you start out, don't head to the marker yet, instead head 
southeast, you'll come to some small ravine, in here a monster named Cloudburst
resides, recruit it because in my opinion, it's the best RAV in the game.

When you have it, I suggest putting Behemoth to rest, and make Noel COM again.

There are also a lot of treasure chests in this area, none of them have very
special items, so because it's hard to guide you to all of them, just open them
as you go, I won't mention them.

When you reach the marker, talk to Tipur, he'll tell you to kill some Goblins,
agree to it, go to the marker, and get the Goblin Fragment, kill the goblins 
and report back to pop up the next quest.

If you use the red Cactuar stone, you'll be teleported back to the camp and
get the Crimson Crystal Fragment and 300CP in the process.

You can also check out Chocolina if you wish, but there's nothing new that's 
worth it.

Alright, this lady wants us to collect 3 types of wool, just walk around the 
steppe examining the large sheep, and you should get all of it in no time.

Report back to Myta to get the Wooly Stone Fragment and 300CP. Talk to Myta 
again to learn about the weather controlling device and change the weather to
sunny(both levers down) and talk to Tipur again.

Head for the quest marker to get a taste of how strong you WILL become at some 
point. Right now, it really doesn't matter what you do, there is no way to kill
it. When done, go back to the camp.

Move the right lever up to create stormy weather(purple clouds), and confront
the monster.

+Boss+ Fearyl

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED
SEN+SEN+SEN

At the start of the fight, the boss will prepare a flying attack, this one 
hurts, so switch to SEN+SEN+SEN to take the blow.

Then switch to RAV+COM+RAV for a few turns, only to switch to RAV+RAV+RAV to
stagger it. Then COM+COM+RAV to finish it off in under 2 minutes. By now, you
know why I put in MED+MED+MED.

Are you also starting to wonder why they even bothered putting in an easy 
mode?
 
For killing it you get the Black Hole Gem Fragment and 3500CP. Also open the
chest that appeared for the Dragon Hide Backpack.

Now, before going back to the Waterscape, I suggest going to Augusta Tower,
to farm some potent engines to level up Cloudburst, although it's not 
necessary.

++++Sunleth Waterscape 300AF++++ [sw3003]

Finally, it's time to deal with that god**** Flan. Head to the marker and 
finish this.

+Boss+ Mutantomato

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED

When the fight starts, use Cloudburst's feral link for some buffs, then unleash
your wrath using the standard boss strategy we've been using so far, it should 
go down quickly.

For killing it you get the Mutantomato Fragment and 3500CP.

When it's over, head south and throw Mog at the Artifact that appeared. Now
go to the 4 way split and head west. Open the gate to get in an 'alternate'
historia crux. There are 3 locations, the Coliseum, the Void Beyond and Locked
location, go there first.

There's not much to do here, just open the chest with the Casino Ticket and 
head back, now select The Void Beyond as your destination.

Again, not much to do. Open the chest near the gate for a map of the Void 
Beyond. Then, on the southwest side, throw Mog over the fence for 5 potent 
chips and on the northwest side, press R1 to reveal a chest and throw Mog at it
to get 800 Gil. Now head back through the gate.

Head back to Yaschas Massif 01X AF.

++++Yaschas Massif 01XAF++++ [ym01x2]

There's 1 gate we haven't opened yet, go there and and open it.

If you choose to take the route that leads through the southwestern area, 
you'll run into an enemy called Grogyra, the Cie'th Duncan asked us to kill.

Normally, you should be able to take it by now, there's 1 problem: when it gets
close to death, it casts Doom, a status you can't cure and it kills you when 
the timer reaches zero. By now, you probably don't have the sheer damage output
needed to kill it quick enough, so don't fight it yet.

Again, you'll end up in the 'alternate' historia crux, just head into The Void
Beyond this time.

Again, there's not a whole lot to do. At the southwest side throw Mog to fetch
the Prediction's Gate Seal, on the northwest side, the Calm Gate Seal.

Now examine the giant crystal in the center and head through the portal.

This unlocks a few locations. First of all, the Locked Location is changed into
Serendipity ???AF, go there first.

++++Serendipity ???AF++++ [se???1]

This is a casino. You can play slots here, bet on and even paticipate in 
chocobo races and, most importantly, talk to a woman named the Mystic to learn
skills based on the Fragments you have collected. I'm not sure what fragments
unlock which skills, so check in here periodically.

Right now you'll learn the Mog's Manifestation and Haggler skills, check the
Fragment Skill menu to learn all about it and don't forget to turn them on.

There are 4 fragments to collect in this area, 3 of them involve spending a
great deal of casino coins, you can either buy them at 10 Gil a piece(not
recommended) or win them through chocobo racing or the slots machine

Since you don't have a good racing chocobo yet, and the slot machine does
credit to it's nickname 'the one armed bandit' I wouldn't even bother to try
and get them yet. In the post game section I will provide a section on how
to get the Fragments efficiently, for now just go into the chocobo racing area
and at the west side examine the chocobo chick to get the Chocochick Down
Fragment and 500CP. Also, open the chest with the Fall gate seal just north of
the Mystic's tent.

That's it for now, head to Academia 400AF.

++++Episode 4++++

++++Academia 400AF++++ [ac4001]

I really don't like this place, it's hard to navigate and the enemies, although
pussies by now, come at you at an insane rate.

Anyway, when you start out, head west, then north (you can change the direction
of the escalator with the control panel next to it, (if there's no panel, just
jump) for a chest with 3 casino tickets.

Go back to the starting point and head east this time. Head north using the 
escalator, take the map of Academia from the terminal, then continue east.

Go north as soon as you can and talk to the woman to start a quest, she wants
you to explore nearly every area in the game for 100% map completion. For every
map you complete, you will get a Fragment. Right now I wouldn't bother with it
too much, since most maps need completion in multiple times. I will dedicate a 
section to it in the post game section.

Take the Farewell's Gate Seal from the chest near Chocolina who, amazingly 
enough, sells some new weapons, buy and equip them.

Go east now and when you can, before going north up the stairs open the chest 
with a Mark of the l'Cie. From here go east again down the escalator, and head 
back west south of it.

When you can't go any further west, head south and jump onto the platform to
take the Kaiser Knuckles from the chest, then head north.

Go west when you have to, and then north again. Change the escalator's 
direction, then ride it up.

Head west, then south the first chance you get, then, the southern path west 
and at the end, head north again. and open the chest with a phoenix down, now
go up the escalator and head west yet again to get into a few scripted fights
and eventually, the next boss.

+Boss+ Zenobia

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
RAV+COM+SEN
MED+MED+MED

At the start of the fight Zenobia will enter defensive mode, which summons some
tentacles you need to destroy, if you're having trouble just ploughing through
it using RAV+COM+RAV, change to RAV+COM+SEN.

When the tentacles are gone, go all out offensive the usual way, RAV+COM+RAV a
few turns, RAV+RAV+RAV to stagger, then COM+COM+RAV for damage. Repeat if 
necessary.

A CA will start upon defeating it, it is: up, left, O, right, O, right, rX 

For a perfect you get a crystal petal and for killing it you get the Tower 
Artifact, the Zenobia Fragment and 6000CP.

Before you head to the gate, go south, west and when you reach Chocolina, throw
mog down the escalator and jump after him, press R1 and take the Graviton Core
Delta and 500CP from the chest.

Head to the gate, take the 1050 Gil from the chest and be done with this 
godforsaken place for now.

++++Augusta Tower 200AF++++ [at2001]

When you start out examine the computer terminals, I don't know if the correct
one is decided randomnly, in my case it was the southwestern one.

When the door opens, get out and go north, take the 2 remedies from the chest
and head to the other end of the platform, take the 1500 Gil from the chest and
head into the other room.

Examine the computer terminals again, in this case, you need to guess the 
password, it is 9261. You'll get a map of the area for your troubles.

Step out the room and head back to where you came from, go through the room and
head north on the inner circle to find a Wild Artifact. Now, go to the other 
end and examine the terminal to find out you need access key 50 to proceed, 
good thing we already got it a while back, so examine it again to raise a 
platform.

Go towards the marker and enter the room, again Chocolina is useless, but from
her position, turn around and look up, there is a chest floating in the corner
so throw Mog to fetch the Paradox Agent Type A. Now head out to the outer ring
to get a Twist Headband from the south and a Librascope from the north.

Examine the panel to rotate the room and enter it. Examine the computer and it
will ask for the Paradox agent, examine it again to give it and get the Idea
Circuit Fragment and 400CP. Examine the one behind you and it will ask for a
Paradox Agent Type B, we can't get it yet, but accept the quest anyway.

Now head to the marker, but before you talk to her, take the Train Conductor 
Beret from the chest to the north, then talk to her.

Examine the terminal to raise another platform and step onto the elevator.

Talk to Alyssa's duplicate again to go up and fight some scripted battles, 
don't worry, they're easy.

When you get to the next floor, take the southeast path, on the left side of 
the room, you'll find a chest with the Silence Gate Seal, throw Mog to get it.
Also take the Bloodguard from the chest to your right.Go back across the 
walkway and rotate the room once, using the terminal in front of it.

From here on out, you can run into a monster named Dragoon, if you want a COM
you can use untill the very last parts of the game, recruit it.

Now go to the southwestern walkway and also rotate this room once, go back 
southeast and head through the newly opened path to the outer walkway. 

Right in front of you, you'll see a chest floating in the distance, throw Mog
for a Phoenix Down, a little to the south is another one, do the same for a
Sniper's Eye. Now head back to the inner ring and use the western terminal 3
times.

Head back to the southeast room and all the way to the marker. When you get
there, examine the computer to get the access key 52 and examine the terminal 3
times to create a path to the chest with a Platinum Casino Ticket. 

Head back into the room, rotate it once and head back to the elevator. Examine
the terminal to reach the next floor.

First, head to the east side of the middle ring for a chest with 8 Vitality 
Orbs, then head into the northhwest room to reach a ledge, open the chest for
1450 Gil.

Now, go to the southwest room and onto the outer ring, throw Mog at the chest 
in the south for a Platinum Casino Ticket.

Back in the southwest room, examine the terminal once and go to the small 
platform south-ish for a chest with a Magistral Crest.

Go the other way and when you reach the room to your east, head inside, examine
the terminal twice, open the chest for 8 Mana Engines and examine this terminal
twice too. Back in the room, examine the terminal twice more to be able to
reach the north side of the outer ring.

To your immediate left is a chest with 8 Vitality Engines. A little north, in 
the distance is another floating chest, it holds 2000 Gil. All the way at the
end of the walkway is yet another chest floating, this has a Phoenix Blood.

Head into the room with the marker and examine the computer to get the Top 
Floor Access Key. You guessed it, head back to the elevator and go to the top
floor.

On your way there you will be attacked by a Greater Behemoth, although it hits
pretty hard and heals itself once, it's nothing to worry about.

On the top floor, head north and open the chest for 3 potions. Chocolina is
here too, but big surprise, she sells nothing usefull. Head up the stairs and 
prepare for the next boss.

+Boss+ Proto fal'Cie Adam

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

This fight is very similar to FF13's first boss. it has 2 Manipulators that 
need to be destroyed first. Just RAV+COM+RAV their asses into oblivion, then
turn your attention to the main man. You know how to do it by now.

+Boss+ Proto fal'Cie Adam part 2

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED
SAB+RAV+RAV
   
A little stronger, but essentially the same, if it's buffs are bothering you,
dispel them with a SAB.

A CA will start upno beating it, it's: right, up, right, O, rX, right, rX.

You will get a Crystal Apple for a perfect.


When the fight ends, you'll get into a LT, whatever you do, don't awnser 
'Scream at Hope' yet, there is 1 more form of this boss, to get a full
bestiary, you'll need to fight all three forms, the full bestiary is needed for
a quest in the future. 

+Boss+ Proto fal'Cie Adam part 3

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED
SAB+RAV+RAV

Again, just a powered up version af the last fight, although it has less hp and
therefore should go down quickly.

Now pick the 'scream at Hope' option.

When it's over, you get the Proto fal'Cie Adam fragment and 6000CP, also open
the chest that appeared for a Light Bulb. Now examine the computer and open 
the gate. 

This leads to Academia 4XXAF, but first, let's go on a Fragment hunt again.
Head for the Bresha Ruins 300AF and go to the gate we haven't opened yet, it
leads to...

++++Yaschas Massif 110AF++++ [ym1101]

Talk to the red orb in front of you to recieve a quest to go find her sister.
She is located in the 'middle-eastern'part of the map (the part you couldn't go
before). But before you go there, on the ramp leading to the giant face, open
the chest to get the Maleficence Gate Seal.

When you see a shadowy figure walking around, press R1 to reveal Millie, talk
to her and she'll give you the Wedding Jewelery, take this back to the red orb,
but first, go to the northern side of the large area with the cliff in the 
center. Throw Mog at the chest that's floating in the distance between the 
mountains to get the Outdoor Watch for Shannon, back in 010AF, we'll go there
after we're done here.

When you give the Wedding Jewelery to the orb you'll get the Gerhilde's Blossom 
Fragment and 500CP. Now go down the stairs, and talk to the newly activated
red orb to be tasked with speaking to the technician.

First, head into the tent with the computers, then press R1 to reveal a chest 
with the Service Manual. Now grab a chocobo, but make sure you have a stock of
Gysahl Greens, the red chocobos consume them while riding them.

Anyway, head to the plateau you can only reach with a chocobo and talk to the 
guy standing there, when the LT starts, select 'the manual' to get the 
technician's note and take it to the orb to recieve the Waltraute's Flower
Fragment and 500CP.

Go to the top of the ramps on the southmost side of the Paddrean Archeopolis
area on you map, again, talk to the orb, this one wants us to fetch evidence
of terrorist activities.

Go to the large area with the cliff in the center and on the east side of it,
to find another Mog chest, this holds the terrorist mask, return it to the orb
to get the Ortlinde's Bloom Fragment and 500CP.

Completing this quest has unlocked a puzzle area, in the southwest of the map,
indicated by a white marker, go there for a nasty puzzle.

These puzzles are real nasty, you're supposed to eliminate all the numbers on
the circle by moving the clock's hands. The hands move the number of spaces
based on the number you just activated. If both hands end up on an empty space,
you're screwed, and can start over. What's worse, the puzzles are generated
randomly, and have a time limit so you can't really take time to figure out 
what to do. 

The only advise I can give you is to try to find a number no other number 
leads to, this is the starting point, and will reduce the number of 
possibilities you have.

Sadly, this doesn't hold true for every puzzle you can get into and somtimes
you need to just start at a random number, go from there and hope you get it 
right.

There is one last thing I can do for you, copy and paste this URL to your 
browser for a nifty program that solves the puzzles for you.  

http://nyusuke.com/game/ff13/ff13-2puzzle.html

-Thanks a whole lot to whoever wrote this program-

You get the Book of Avalon Fragment and 500CP for solving it.

That's all we can do here for now, so head to Yaschas Massif 010AF to give
Shannon her watch, and get the Innocence Sacred Sphere Fragment and 300CP.
Head for Yaschas Massif 01XAF now.

++++Yaschas Massif 01XAF++++ [ym10x3]

Upon arriving, head to the southwest part of the map to fight the Cie'th for
Duncan.

+Boss+ Gorgyra

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
SAB+RAV+RAV
MED+MED+MED

Start the fight with SAB+RAV+RAV, first use Cloudburst's feral link for some 
buffs, and inflict deprotect and deshell. When that's done, switch to 
RAV+RAV+RAV to stagger it, keep going untill the gauge reaches approximately
550, then COM+COM+COM.

When the stagger ends, it should be close to death, Go RAV+COM+RAV a few turns
and repeat the process, it's doom attack shouldn't even bother you now.

For beating it you get the Gorgyra Fragment and 500CP.

Head to Academia 400AF.

++++Academia 400AF++++ [ac4002]

Take a look at the map. From the gate, go back the route you used to get here.
After going north, istead of going east, go a little west, then north again.

+Boss+ Geiseric

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED
SEN+SEN+SEN

Although this thing doesn't have a lot of hp, it's attacks will probably 
one-shot you at this point, every time you see an attack coming, switch to 
SEN+SEN+SEN to take the hit.

Also, because you will get KO-ed many times during the fight, bring about 40
Phoenix Downs, this revives faster than using the MED skill raise, and it
also gives some buffs.

For the rest, it's just about dishing out as much damage as possible, as fast
as possible.

For beating it you won't get anything special.

Now, head back towards the gate, but instead, take the northeren path west,
down the escalator. Head south when you can and open the gate.

++++Yaschas Massif 100AF++++ [ym1001]

While you're here, be on the lookout for a monster named Bunkerbeast, it's one
of the best SENs in the game, recruit it and infuse it with Pulse Knight so
it learns Medguard.

From where you start, head to the large open area and talk to the orb, it will
ask you to fetch a picture frame. It's located at the dead end, just south of
Chocolina, who, surprise surprise, only sells crap, you might want to restock
on Phoenix Downs after that last fight though.

From Chocolina, throw Mog down the ramp to get the Reminiscense Gate Seal.

When you get there, press R1, take the picture frame and return it to the orb.
You'll get the Helmwige's Nightshade Fragment and 500CP.

Go into the tent up the ramps and press R1 to reveal a chest with the bulb of 
hope.

The next orb is located at the split, south of Chocolina, it wants us to go get
the bulb of hope, talk to it again and recieve the Siegrune's Spiritbloom
Fragment and 500CP.

Head back north, and when you come to a rock with a plant in front of it on
your left side, press R1 to reveal another chest, this one holds a comm device.

Orb number 3 is located at the far southeast side of the map, this one wants us
to send her friend a message, speak to it again to give the comm device and get
the Schwerleite's flower Fragment and 300CP, on your way there open the chest 
with a Blessed Blade.

Go into the portal you see ahead of you and solve the next clock puzzle, you'll
get the Book of Valhalla Fragment and 500CP for the trouble.

Now head to the large area with the cliff, on the west side of it, you'll find
the Graviton Core Epsilon Fragment with another 500CP after pressing R1 near 
it.

Contiue north, and talk to the final orb who wants us to find a tablet, it
can be found under the ramp that leads up to the giant face, just throw Mog to 
get it. Upon delivery you'll recieve the Rossweisse Skyblossom Fragment and 
500CP. 

Head to the portal on your map for another clock puzzle. For finishing this one
you get the Book of Shambala Fragment and 500CP.

There are some more Fragments we could collect at this point, but with the 
Graviton core we got a few minutes ago, we now have everything we need to 
continue the story, so let's do just that.

++++Academia 4XXAF++++ [ac4xx1]

When you look at your map, you'll see several pink squares, these are quiz 
terminals. It basically means you get asked some questions and need to awnser
them through LTs. If you correctly awnser 10 (or 15 I'm not sure) questions in
a row, you'll get a fragment. At the time I'm writing this, it's Sunday morning
and I have a huge hangover, so I really don't feel like doing this now. I'll
create a section on it in the post game section. But if you want to do it now,
of course, be my guest.

Another thing, there is quite a lot of treasure lying around here, but because
the area is a little hard to navigate and my descriptions would probably just
make it even more confusing, I'm not going to guide you to everything.

You'll get across all the treasure when going for 100% map completion anyway.

For now, just head to the far southeast corner to get a Wild Artifact and then 
head north towards the marker. 

Inside the building, speak to the guy that's standing to the right of the desk.
This is Dr. M he wants us to complete the bestiary. Accept it for now, but we
won't be able to finish it for a long time, in fact, it will probably be the 
last quest you complete.

Throw Mog over the desk to get the Facts' Gate Seal from the chest.

If you go to the northwest side of this area, right next to the quiz terminal,
you'll see a shadowy figure, press R1 to reveal him. It's Captain Cryptic,
like the terminals this guy will ask you questions to awnser, only this one is
an even bigger pain, every time you awnser his questions, right or wrong, he
will hide himself somewhere else and you need to go find him. Like the quiz 
terminals, I'll create a section on it in the post game section.

Head through the door at north side and talk to Hope, he wants you to go and 
collect 5 Graviton Core Fragments. Good thing we already have them. Give them
to Alyssa one by one. After giving the third one Hope will tell you about 
the Chaos Crystal Fragment to create a weapon, it's sold in Serendipity for 
10k casino coins, your best bet to get it right now would be to sell stuff you
don't use anyway untill you have 100k Gil, then go to Serendipity to exchange
your Casino tickets and buy the rest of the coins.

While you're there also check in with the Mystic, you'll get the eyes of the 
goddess fragment skill, if you've been following this guide, that is.

When you're done, give Hope the crystal, and he will create the weapon for you.
Give the last two Graviton Cores to Alyssa. You'll get the Vagabond Artifact.

Before we leave, open the chest that appeared a little to the northeast, it has
a crystal star. Go to the west side of this area and throw Mog at the platform
the giant green sphere is floating on, you'll get a Silver chocobo. After 
levelling it a bit, this will be the best racing chocobo in the game, as 
promised earlier, there will be a section in the post game section on racing.

Now, head to the reception desk and talk to the girl on the south side. You get
to choose between a weapon for Serah and one for Noel, pick whichever you want.

This weapon has a unique passive ability: it grows stronger as you collect more
fragments. If you have been following this guide, you should have 54 Fragments
now. This will upgrade your weapon quite a bit.

Head to the northmost gate on your map. When the LT pops up, select 
'I'm ready'.

++++Episode 5++++

++++The Void Beyond ???AF++++ [vb???1]

When you're in control, just follow the only path you can take, untill you 
reach Yeul, talk to her to recieve the Etro's Sorrow Fragment and 600CP.

You might want to take a look at your Paradigm Deck now and make some changes 
if needed, don't worry you won't run into anything major, yet...

Continue following the path and talk to Yeul again to get the Pulse's 
Resolution Fragment and 600CP.

Again, head for Yeul, but on your way there, don't forget to open the chest 
with a Librascope on your left behind a wall. Also open the chest to the right
of the stairs containing Serah's Mask.

After talking to Yeul, you'll get the Lindzei's Desire Fragment and 600CP.

Yep, head for Yeul again, this time to get the Mwyrn's Tenderness Fragment and
another 600CP.

How many more Yeuls are there?, Anyway, this one isn't on this map, so head up
the stairs, and in the next area talk to Yeul to recieve the Bhunivelze's 
Sleep Fragment and 600CP.

Head up the stairs, but when you are in front of the final stairs, press R1 to
reveal Chocolina, although she doesn't sell much, buy some wound potions, just
in case. Now head up and talk to Yeul, this time to start a fight.

+Boss+ Caius Ballad part 2

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM
MED+MED
SAB+RAV

When the fight starts, Caius will get the first strike. There is no real point 
in trying to stagger him, since he can use chain break. This will reset his
gauge, so just stay on the offensive as much as possible, taking quick healing
breaks when nescessary.

He will buff hinself at some point, dispel it with a SAB.

For 'beating' him you get squat.

++++The Void Beyond: New Bodhum++++ [tvbnb1]

You can go about and talk to everyone you run into, then head into the NORA
house.

Head to the pier, you'll find Lightning, talk to her and you'll get into an LT.

Awnser 'yes' to unlock something called a Paradox Ending, this is kind of an 
alternate ending. You'll recieve the Transcript: Fate and Freedom Fragment and
1500CP.

There are more of these endings, most of them can't be unlocked untill after
beating the game and/or involve fighting powerfull enemies. They are all 
mentioned in the post game section, whenever we get there.

As for now, select Hollow Seclusion from the Historia Crux to go back to just
before talking to Lightning, select 'no' this time to continue the real story.

As you probably saw during the scene, a chest has appeared, open it to get a
potion. Now head all the way to the gate in the east.

After the scenes, before you head through the gate, there are two Fragments 
lying around, the Vanille's Fruit to the north and the Fang's Crown southwest
for a total of 1200CP. Now head through the gate.
  
++++A Dying World 700AF++++ [dw7001]

I don't know why, but this part really reminds me of the very last section of
God of War 3, must be all the depressing grey and red...

Right now, I'm not going to bother with collecting treasure, we're coming back
here later, with a full party anyway.

Anyway, just walk west and you'll run into Noel. Afterwards, head back east and
after the scene, talk to Caius.

You'll end up in some sort of village, head south untill you reach some sort of
upside down trapezium shaped object on your map, stand next to the shadowy
figure there and press R1 to reveal Noel. Talk to Yeul now.

Now, follow Noel, you'll end up in a fight.

+Boss+ Caius Ballad part 3

No sense in going over a Paradigm deck here, just keep whacking as COM and it 
should end quickly. Heal when nescessary.

Again, you'll get nothing for beating him.

Just keep tailing Noel untill you reach a monument of some sort. After the 
scene tail Noel some more, if you lose him, just look for a green dot on your 
map.

You'll run into Chocolina on the way, again, checking her out, well, what she 
sells anyway, is a waste of time. Chase after Noel some more and it's time for
the next boss.

+Boss+ Gogmagog part 3

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

Another joke battle, just use the usual pattern and be done in under a minute.

For beating him you get the Gogmagog Fragment Gamma and 15kCP for your time.
Also open the chest in front of you for a crystal rose.

Walk all the way back to the marker now, enemies will attack you from here on
out to keep you company, just so you know.

When you reach the town, open the Mog chest for a map of the area.

Upon reaching the marker, talk to Mog and examine the portal to end up in 
another version of New Bodhum.

++++New Bodhum 700AF++++ [nb7001]

Go down the trunk and open the Mog chest to the north for a Phoenix Blood.

Then continue west to reach a portal, examine it. Mog will get a new upgrade,
he can now reveal the treasure with the rings around it you may or may not have
noticed.

Look at your map, there are 3 big rocks, basically forming a line through the 
middle, on the north side of the eastern one is a 'Ring' chest, open it to get
a map of the area.

Head to the west side of where NORA house used to be, then reveal and take the 
Artifact of the Ark. On the west side of the westmost rock, take the supply 
sphere acces code and Hope's Note Fragment and 600CP.

Head to the northwest corner now, and press R1 to reveal Chocolina, again not
very useful. Go to the southwest corner now for a chest, after revealing it, 
throw Mog to get the Laplacian Board Fragment and 600CP.

Before you leave, there is one more Fragment to get, it's all the way at the 
east side, where you entered, reveal the chest and throw Mog to get the  
Cartesian Board Fragment and 600CP.

Now head for the gate and leave this place. 

Before you go to Academia 500AF, make sure to upgrade your monsters a bit, the 
road will get tougher from here.

++++The Last Episode++++ 

++++Academia 500AF++++ [ac5001]

This area seems really confusing at first, but actually it's a lot easier to 
navigate than the other Academias.

The enemies in this area can be pretty tough, make sure you have a Paradigm
available with a SEN.

Open the chest with the Determination Gate Seal in front of you, then jump 
accross the gap to the north, when you come to a 4 way split, go east and open 
the chest for a Phoenix Down.

Examine and activate the cactuar stone, if you ever fall of a platform, you'll
get sent back to the last stone you activated. Talk to Chocolina to find out 
she sells some new weapons, buy and equip them.

From the northeren edge of this platform, head east across the beam, then take
the only route untill you get to a chest with Phoenix Blood. Now either jump 
off or head back and go west across the other beam.

Head north when you can, then follow the path untill you get to the next 
cactuar stone, activate it and head east across the beam to get the map of the 
area.

From this platform, look down, you'll see another platform, jump down to it and
open the chest with a Brawler's wristband. Jump off the platform to get to back
to the cactuar stone.

Go north from here, but before going to the marker, wait untill the L-beam
goes west, then go there to the end of the path and take the Shaman's Mark
from the chest. Now head for the marker.

+Boss+ Pacos Amethyst & Pacos Luvlite

Suggested Paradigms

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

At the start of the fight use a Librascope, Amethyst is weak against fire,
Luvlite weak against ice. In this fight, speed is vital. As soon as you kill
the first one, the other can revive it, so the key is to take out the second
one asap.

If you're having trouble doing this you might want to consider first weakening
both of them, and then take them out. The only drawback of this is that 
together they dish out damage real fast. 

For beating them you get the Amethyst and Luvlite Fragment and 8000CP.

After activating the cactuar stone, head south, and east when you can.
When you reach the eastern platform, go north after activating the next stone.

Continue north and east, and then north again to change the cube's color and
with it the beam placement. Head back south and west, when the L-beam rotates
to the north, hop on and go to the next marker.

When you reach the marker, activate the stone, and change the cube's color, get
on the T-beam and jump off on the west side. Change the cube's color again and
head east.

On the platform, open the chest with the Sister's Gate Seal, and continue east.
When you reach the next platform, activate the stone, change the cube's color,
then when the L-beam points east, jump off the edge to reach a ring chest with
an Elixir. Jump off the edge and return to the previous platform.

Change the cube's color again and head west this time. When you get to the
central platform, look north, throw Mog to get the 7 Vitality boosters from 
the chest. Continue to the marker.

Activate the stone and change the color, wait untill the L-beam points west and
jump down at the end for a chest with a Royal Armlet. Jump down from here.

Get back on the L-beam when it points east, stand on the small platform on the
south untill the T-beam is on your side, jump on and when it points north, get 
off.

From here, it's easy to get to the marker, just a heads up, on the final round
platform north west, you'll face a Proto Behemoth, if you can beat it, you're
golden, if you can survive untill it gets on it's hind legs, you're probably
strong enough too. If it's hopeless from the start, go and collect some 
Fragments, for CP.

Anyway, from the marker, go to the northeast-most platform and fight the 
enemies, it's not nescessary per se, but this way, you'll make sure you only
have to repeat the whole process of getting here only once more, instead of 
twice, to complete your bestiary.

When that's done (or not), open the chest with the Final Battle Gate Seal.
Activate the stone, and be sure to also activate the red cactuar stone. This
teleports you to the start of the area and back here.

Also, stock up on Phoenix Downs at Chocolina, spend all your cash if you have 
to, as you probably already have guessed by now, it's time to end this.

++Final prep work++

Before I'm going to try and talk you through this, create a Paradigm Deck that
should get you through the final battles without the need to retry to rearrange
it. If you feel like you need to change Paradigms anyway, you can always select
Retry from the menu, change them and begin at the start of the battle you
retried. If you select quit, you'll have to start at the beginning.   

Okay, here's what I suggest:

RAV+COM+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
SEN+COM+RAV (not a typo, make Serah SEN)
SEN+SAB+RAV (not a typo, make Serah SEN)
SEN+SEN+SEN
MED+MED+MED

Also, make Noel team leader, for controlling the SAB.

No more bullshit, let's end it.

+Boss+ Chaos Bahamut

The warm up lap, make no mistake, this thing hits hard, but it is still pretty
easy, there's only one attack to really watch out for: Megaflare. If you see
this come onscreen, switch to SEN+SEN+SEN immediately.

For the rest, just stick to RAV+COM+RAV, taking healing breaks when needed.
Use Cloudbursts Friendly Fire whenever it's available, but try to save 
Flanitor's Hyper Healing for emergencies only, you can probably guess why.

+Boss+ Caius Ballad part 4

Now the real fun starts. This guy is no pushover, when the fight starts, switch
to SEN+SAB+RAV, try to keep him poisoned at all times, input it manually.
He has an ability that casts Regen, poison will negate it.

Also, Caius really has a grudge with Serah, and will only attack her, that's 
why Serah should play SEN. Every time he buffs himself, make Noel SAB to 
dispel it asap, and try to keep on the offensive as much as possible, when
downed for the first time, he'll get back up again.

Just keep it up, the second part is harder, he'll be a lot more agressive and
attacks relentlesly. Watch out for Ultima but try to keep attacking as much
as possible, when he's at about 30% hp, go all out, being defensive won't cut
it, and don't be afraid to use any Elixirs you may have, they're replacable.

He'll get up a third time, but if you focus on all out attack, he'll go down in 
no time.

+Boss+ Amber Bahamut, Garnet Bahamut and Jet Bahamnut

Ok boys and girls, this is it, the final showdown.

There are 3 Bahamuts, the middle one is the one you want, there's one problem,
you need to take out the other two first.

Just go all out offensive, keep with RAV+COM+RAV while killing the first one,
so your second COM won't attack the other one, then for the second one,
COM+COM+RAV upon staggering.

When they'tre gone, it's time for the main guy. again, just go all out 
offensive, he will probably summon a few smaller enemies, but ignore them.
After the first stagger, he'll summon his buddies back into the fray, then kill
the smaller enemies before focussing om the main attractions again.

From this point onward, keep a close eye on the middle one, if you see a 
counter going from 3 to 1, SEN+SEN+SEN when it reaches 1, he'll unleash his
ultimate attack, the name and strength of it is based on how many Bahamuts are
alive.

His two buddies will have new attacks now as well, megiddo flame and sorry,
but I couldn't make out the name of the other one, you'll recognize it when it
happens, just SEN up for them.

Another attack to watch out for is it's Judgement Blade attack, whenever you
see this coming, it's a big sword, SEN up.

When he gets close to death, he'll start using an attack called Dying Sun,
again SEN up to take the hit.

Again, don't be afraid to use any resource you have, everything can be 
replaced.

When it's done, there will be a CA it is: [] or O, pick whichever you want, it
makes no difference for what's about to happen next.

Sit back, grab a box of tissues and enjoy!

After the ending credits have ended you'll get the Paradox Scope Fragment, 
60kCP and the Hope's Gate Seal.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congratulations! You have just finished Final Fantasy XIII-2, but keep reading,
the fun is just starting! 

++++Post Game Play++++ [pogap1]

As you have probably realised, there are a lot of Fragments that could have 
been collected way before fighting Caius, the reason I didn't is because I like
a final boss to be challenging, and collecting them all would have turned the
fight into another joke.

In this section I will provide info on how to get all remaining Fragments,
get all Paradox Endings and try to provide strategies to kill the 
uber-monsters.

Let's just start at the beginning and work our way through it.

Start by going to Serendipity, and talk to the Mystic, you'll get the Bargain 
Hunter, Anti Grav Jump and Paradox Scope skills, don't forget to turn them on.

++++Bresha Ruins 005AF++++ [br0054]

At the Historia Crux, close the gate with R1, so you can essentially replay
the area as if you were there for the first time.

Just run through it as fast as you can, or want.

Now, instead of using the machine to weaken Atlas, we're taking him on at full
strength.

+Boss+ Atlas part 2

Suggested paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
SEN+SEN+SEN
MED+MED+MED

Atlas is a lot like an action game boss, all his attacks have tells, you can
see them coming from a mile away. Whenever he  does something else than just
standing there, switch to SEN+SEN+SEN to take the hit. Just be carefull, if
you're too slow, he CAN one shot you. Also note that he can follow up his fist
slam with a second one, if he slams, wait a few seconds before switching back.

If you happen to stagger him (not likely) go all out.

After killing you'll get into the same CA as before, it is: right, O, right, X,
right, X, right, X.

For beating him you unlock another Archylte Steppe, go there to watch a Paradox
Ending and get the Transcript A Giant Mistake Fragment and 10kCP.

Reopen the Bresha Ruins and head for the real Archylte Steppe.

++++Archylte Steppe ???AF++++ [as???2] 

We're not here to collect fragments yet, first let's farm some monsters so we
can level up our Silver Chocobo. With a maxed out silver chocobo, we'll be
almost invincible in the races, so we can farm the coins needed to get those 
fragments, and try to get a Collector's Catalog in the process, which will make 
grinding out enemies for parts needed for the ultimate weapons easier.

Anyway, for now, change the weather to rainy, head for the western part of the
Steppe and grind away untill you have 46 potent essences and 23 potent 
crystals.

Nearly all enemies here can drop the essences, the crystals are dropped by
Microchu. Also, recruit a Microchu while you're there, for infusing your 
chocobo, details on it later.

While you're here, look at your map. On the west side is a L-shaped rock.
If you stand at the northern end of it and look over the edge, you'll see a
chest, throw Mog to get a Wild Artifact.

Change the weather back to sunny, if you use the red cactuar stone, you'll get
the Amber Fragment and 300CP in the process.

Now, run around in front of the nomad camp area and recruit a cactuar (not the
one with the flower on it's head), again for infusion.

When that's done, change the weather to cloudy and recruit a Pulsework 
Gladiator, it's in the southeast.

All that done, cool. Now, head to A Dying world 700AF, here fight the 
Garganzola enemies on the west side of the map untill you have 31 Potent Orbs. 

Now it's time to max out the chocobo with the Potent items we just farmed. Also
get Microchu to level 24, use whatever you have on hand, buy whatever else you
need from Chocolina, this is just about getting it to 24.

Infuse your chococbo with the Microchu, Pulsework Gladiator and cactuar to 
create the ultimate racing chocobo. Head to Serendipity.

++++Serendipity ???AF++++ [se???2] 

Head to the chocobo racing area, the tent where you got the chocochick 
fragment, and enter your chocobo. Don't worry about RP, when your chocobo can't
race anymore, just retrieve and reenter it.

Press X the second the gun goes of to get a sprinting start. It takes some
practice to time it right, but when you get it, you'll almost always get it 
right.

To buy both Fragments (I'll assume you already bought the Chaos Crystal), and
the Wild Artifact you'll need 22350 coins if you have the Bargain Hunter
Fragment Skill turned on. You can speed up the winnings a little by betting on
your chocobo.

Keep a lookout for the Collector Catalog won from the Dahaka Stakes race in
the Fal'Cie class. Make sure to win it to make your farming life easier.

Also keep in mind that there is one final Fragment to be had here, it's 
obtained by winning 7777 coins at the slot machine. This will be very long and 
very boring, just take a coin and some tape and lock your L1 button for auto
play and let it go overnight, you'll need about 10k coins to be sure you have 
enough. Only play if the attendant next to the machine says: This machine is
on fire. You might even end up with a profit.

Now it's time to gather the materials needed for the ultimate weapons, head for
Archylte Steppe.

++++Archylte Steppe ???AF++++ [as???3]

From here on out I will not tell you to reveal stuff with R1 anymore, unless
it's hard to see.

While we're here, we might as well collect all but one Fragment, the last one
means beating what I consider the hardest fight in the game, so let's leave 
that one, for now at least.

Make sure the weather is cloudy.

Anyway, look at your map. From the nomad camp, Head south, towards the 
southern gate, just a little north of it, is a cactuar stone, activate it to 
get the Azure Crystal Fragment and 300CP.

From the last cactuar, head west and activate the next stone for the Forest 
Crystal Fragment and 300CP. If you're having trouble finding it, head for the
tornado.

From where you end up, head back to the nomad camp and change the weather to
stormy. Then, on the west side of the steppe, way south, find another cactuar
stone, this one gives you the Violet Crystal Fragment and 300CP.

Change the weather to sunny and from the camp, take the western exit, and head 
southwest, you will see a cluster of small rocks on your map, examine the green 
cactuar stone to get into a fight with Gigantuar, take it down by any means.
It shouldn't pose much of a challenge by now.

Anyway, you'll need to kill two more of those to unlock the quests to fight the 
monsters that drop the ultimate weapon materials. Head to the western part of
the area, and at the northeast there's another green cactuar. Examine it and 
kill the big guy.

When that's done, head back to camp and change the weather to rainy, the final
Gigantuar is located southwest of the last one, do your thing and head back to
camp.  

In the camp, talk to Chocolina, upgrade your Collectors Catalog to a Durable
one using 2 Phoenix Bloods, if you don't have them, you can buy them in 
Serendipity for 1200 coins with Bargain Hunter, and 2 Sunpetals, dropped by
Microchu, and equip it.

On the northeren side of the camp, talk to the hunter near the fence to be able
to use chocobos, change the weather to anything but rainy, go to the Historia 
Crux, reenter the steppe and talk to Tipur, near the weather machine.
He'll ask you to kill Ochu, on the west side in rainy weather. Agree to do so
and head west. You can't miss it.

Ochu

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+SEN
RAV+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED

Although not a boss, It's pretty tough so I'll provide some strategy anyway.
At the start of the fight Ochu will summon a bunch of Microchus, just ignore
them, let the SEN keep them busy while you take out the main guy.

If you're strong enough to cope with the Microchus, then go for RAV+COM+RAV to
be done with it sooner.

When it's dead, switch to RAV+COM+RAV to finish off the Microchus.

You'll get the Ochu Fragment and 30k CP. It can also drop the Grashita and 
Gandiva weapons, both needed for the ultimate weapons. Don't worry if it
doesn't drop anything, it can be respawned.

Head back to camp and talk to Myta, the sheep chick, she'll ask you to kill
Immortal, it's in the southeastern area in cloudy weather.

Immortal

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+COM+SEN
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED
SAB+RAV+RAV

Again, not a boss. At the start of the fight it will use it's forge blade skill
to summon a nasty sword. Get deshell and deprotect on it and switch to 
RAV+COM+SEN or RAV+COM+RAV if you're strong enough to take out the sword, then,
stagger Immortal before it can summon another sword, and try to kill it while
keeping it launched.

For killing it you get the Fragment of Invincibility and 30k CP.

This one can drop the Indrajit and the Romulus&Remus weapons, also needed for
the ultimate weapons.

Back at the camp, change the weather to sunny, and go kill the Long Gui near 
where you fought Faeryl long ago. Don't worry, it's not nearly as impressive as
it's FF13 cousin.

Long Gui

Suggested Paradigm deck

RAC+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
SEN+SEN+SEN
SAB+SYN+RAV
MED+MED+RAV

Start out as SAB+SYN+RAV to deshell, deprotect and imperil one of it's legs,
then stagger and take it out. Repeat for the other leg.

At some point (early on), it will cast ultima, SEN up to take the hit, then 
continue your onslaught.

When both legs are gone, switch back to SAB+SYN+RAV to inflict imperil, 
deshell, deprotect and poison, then RAV+RAV+RAV to stagger it, keep going 
untill the gauge reaches 999, then switch to COM+COM+COM and you should kill
it before it gets back up, if not, go grind some levels first.

For killing it you get the Long Gui Fragment and 30k CP.

This one can drop Adamantite, you'll need 4 to create both ultimate weapons.

As you can see, you'll need to fight all of them multiple times. You can 
respawn them by changing the weather to another condition than the one needed
in the first place, head back to the crux, back to the steppe and change the
wheather to what they like.

Personally I like to take them down with as little going back to the crux as 
possible, so this means, when all 3 are dead, in the camp switch the weather to
stormy, then head back and rainy for Ochu, back in the camp, cloudy for 
Immortal, then sunny for Long Gui, and finally, back in the camp stormy, to the
crux and repeat the process.  

When all that is done, head to Chocolina and buy the Arcus Chronica and In
Paradisum weapons.
If your luck is as bad as mine, you will probably be close to maxed out, if so
and you haven't gotten the Giant's Fist trophy yet, equip Noel with 4 Delicate
Power Wristbands and fight Long Gui one more time. If Noel's strength is around
1150 now, it should pop during the stagger.

Head for the southern gate and unlock it to get to the Vile Peaks.

++++Vile Peaks 200AF++++ [vp2001]

When you are in control, head to Mog and press R1 to reveal Torreno, he'll ask 
you to find his buddies, agree to do so and head north. You will also get a map
and Torreno's Last Light Fragment and 500CP. 

Open the chest with a Unicorn horn, head west and then south. Follow the path
untill you reach another soldier, talk to him and chase after him.
Talk to him when he finally stops and you'll get Falcon's Last Light Fragment
and 500CP, continue west.

When the path heads north, just past the tunnel, open the chest to get a 
Phoenix Down. Now go and talk to Corporal Thunder, he will yammer about some
monster, and will ask you to kill it, agree to do it and you'll get the
Thunder's Last Light Fragment with 500CP, Now head back to Falcon and Torreno.

Talk to them and you'll get into an LT, awnser Thunder, and you'll get the 
Falcon's Compass Fragment, again with 500CP.

Now, to find the other 3 soldiers, you need to be in another time, go to 
Academia 4XXAF and head for the gate on the east side of town, near a chocobo.
While you're here, also open the chest with an Elixir on the north end of the
small passage just east of the gate.

++++Vile Peaks 010AF++++ [vp0101]

Upon arrival head west and open the chest with 8 Vitality Bolts, then head
south, and follow the path untill Mog goes crazy again, press R1 to reveal
Baxter, talk to him to hear about his friend Ray, agree to find him, and get
the Baxter's Last Light Fragment and 800CP.

Head to the marker on the east side of your map, on your way, you can run into
a monster named Yakshini, if you want a good monster SYN, this is your guy, or
thimg, or whatever you want to call it.

Anyway, when reaching the marker, talk to Ray to get the Ray's Last Light 
Fragment and 800CP, now return west, taking the northern path this time.

Open the chest with the Royal Armlet at the end of the bridge, then when you 
reach the marker, go behind the hill and open the chest with 8 Mana Orbs.

Stand near the marker, look up and examine the Paradox.

+Boss+ Twilight Odin

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

If you have been following this guide, this should be easy. Just the standard
attack pattern to finish it of quickly.

When done you get the Twilight Fragment Alphga and 3000CP.

Continue heading west opening the hard to miss chests containing an Entite 
Ring, Saint's Amulet, Hero's Amulet, Zealot's Amulet, 2x Platinum Casino 
Ticket.

On your way west you'll also run into Sergeant Blitz, reveal and talk to him to
get the Sarge's Last Light Fragment and 800CP.

When you are back at the gate and have the map at 100%, head back to 200AF to
finish this.

++++Vile Peaks 200AF++++ [vp2002]

After arriving, head straight for the marker for another boss fight

+Boss+ Twilight Odin part 2

Suggested Paradigm Deck
RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

This fight is basically the same, but with 2 differences.
He is more aggressive and hits harder and if you take too long, he will 
decimate you with his Zantetsuken attack.

Solution: go full frontal.

For killing him you get the Twilight Fragment Beta, 3000CP and his crystal.

Head back east, when you exit the first tunnel, reveal the shadowy figure and
talk to it to get the Father's Song Fragment and 500CP.

When you reach the squad, talk to Torreno to get the Blitz Squadron Mission
Report Fragment and 500CP.

At the south end, near where you are, reveal the figure and talk to her to get
the Words of Light Fragment and 500CP.

Aaaaaaaaaand, we're done here, go back to the crux, close the Sunleth 
Waterscape 300AF gate and head in with the Paradox Scope Skill turned on.

++++Sunleth Waterscape 300AF++++[sw3004] 

First, follow Serah and finish of Royal Ripeness as you did before, this should 
be a matter of seconds now. Then, take on the Flan at full strength.

+Boss+ Royal Ripeness part 2

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED
SEN+SEN+SEN

The biggest danger in this fight is poison, it drains your hp pretty fast, and
on top of that it can hit pretty hard. Whenever the flan raises both his arms,
SEN up to take the hit.

Keep your hp up and use Cloudburst's Friendly Fire whenever it becomes 
available and you should be able to take it down.

For beating it you unlock Sunleth Waterscape ???AF, go there to view the 
Mischievous Mog's Marvelous Plan With Flan Paradox Ending, the Fragment with 
the same name, and 10k CP.

Reopen the gate and head for A dying world 700AF, go to the southwesternmost
area and open the gate to reach Bresha Ruins 100AF

++++Bresha Ruins 100AF++++ [br1001]

In this area, whenever a black hole looking thing appears, it's Don Tonberry,
a powered up version of the normal one, you should be able to take it now, it's
also a good COM and recruiting it leads to the Beast Tamer Trophy.

When you arrive, talk to the second person you see with a speech balloon, it's 
Pat, she'll ask you to get her some weapon materials, they're located in the
northeren tunnel, between the 2 paths leading north, grab it and give it to Pat
to recieve the Palladium Ring Fragment and 1000CP.

Head back west and then south, talk to the guy next to the chocobo, it's the 
professor, he'll ask you to find his assistant, he's located in the tunnel 
you're in front of, on the southeast side, after speaking to him, head back to
get the Osmium Ring Fragment and 1000CP.

Time to go east, on your way, when you reach the open area, open the chest with
the Eternity Gate seal. On the eastern side, go into the now open area and 
open the chests with the Elixir and the Chrysalis Arc. This should also finally
get your map at 100%.

Now, talk to the guy standing here, it's Walter, he wants you to talk to 
Raymond, this leads to 3 LT's, awnser Are you the famous Raymond for the first 
one, That's an extraordinary weapon for the second and I'd love for you to
teach me how to fight for the final one. You'll get the Ruthenium Ring Fragment
and 1000CP for your trouble.

Doing these three quests unlocks the next one, head for the area where you 
fought Atlas and talk to Ronan, he wants you to go get his monitoring device,
it's located exactly where you are, but in 300AF, pick it up and give it to him
to get the Rhodium Ring Fragment and 1000CP.

This will have unlocked the next quest, go to the Atlas weakening machine and
talk to Porter, he wants you to find two passwords, agree to it and take the 
Disaster Gate Seal from the chest.

The clue was Paddra ruins in Yaschas Massif, there's one time where we haven't 
collected all Fragments yet, so 110AF it is. But first, go to 100AF and talk to
Uma in the computer tent to get Thorne's information. Now head to 110AF.

++++Yaschas Massif 110AF++++ [ym1102] 

When you arrive, head to the dead end on the east side of the map, directly 
south of Chocolina and talk to the guy, when the LT comes up awnser Thorne.
You'll get the Control Device Password 1 and 300CP.

There is 1 more Fragment to be had in this area, go to the marker on your map,
and talk to the orb, it asks you to kill a beast, agree to it and head for the 
marker.

+Boss+ Ugallu

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED

If you get a preemptive strike on it, it will already be half staggered.
Just go 2 rounds with RAV+COM+RAV, then RAV+... well, you know the rest, don't
even bother dispelling it's buffs, you're just wasting time. It should go
down in under a minute.

For beating it you get the Ugallu Fragment and 1000 CP.

Now for the second password, it's in Bresha 300AF.

++++Bresha Ruins 300AF++++ [br3002]

Head for the Atlas control device and talk to the Government Agent, he will ask
you to examine the device, this leads to another puzzle. Crystal collecting 
again, but this time with grey squares, these ones won't fall untill you walk 
over them a second time.

Stage 1

Head left when you can, take the first crystal and the second one on the top 
middle square of the grey T 

Go down and take the crystal on the left side.

Slowly walk back and wait for the crystal to appear just above the right square
of the T, take it.

At the 4 way split, go either right or down, take all the crystals and be sure
to wait for the moving one before heading for the gate.

Stage 2

Head right and take the crystal.

From the grey square, head left, take the crystal above the next grey square,
then continue left.

Take the crystal below the leftmost grey square, head up and as soon as you can
go right to take the crystal that doesn't move.

Head up and right to the next grey square, from there, wait for the moving 
crystal to appear on the right, head right across the top row, go down onto
the grey square, take the crystral below you and make a beeline to the gate.

Stage 3

Take the moving crystal on the left side, then up and right and up again to 
take the next crystal, right and down to the grey square.

Wait for the moving crystal to appear to your right, on the other grey square,
Then first take the one below you, the one to your right, and the one to the 
right of the moving one.

Slowly walk up and wait for the top right crystal to appear, take it, go left
for the last crystal and head for the gate.

Puzzle complete!

You'll get the Contol Device Password 2 Fragment and 400 CP for solving this
nasty one.

Head back to 100AF and give the passwords to Porter.

++++Bresha Ruins 100AF++++ [br1002]

You'll get the Adamantite Ring Fragment and 1000 CP.

Talk to Porter again for the final quest here, this timne you need to take out
the monster that appeared so head for the marker.

+Boss+ Kalavinka

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED

This piece of shit hits hard and also causes quite a bit of wound damage, have
some wound potions, just to be safe and keep your hp up.

For the rest, it's just same old, same old...

If his attacks cause too much trouble, consider putting a monster SEN in place 
of the abovementioned RAV

After beating it you get the Kalavinka Fragment and 4500 CP.

Another area cleared in all times, next stop  Sunleth Waterscape 400AF, to get
there go to Yaschas Massif 100AF, and head for the gate way south.






++++Boss Strategies++++ [bosst1]

+Boss+ Gogmagog

When the battle starts, switch to slash and burn. At some point(pretty quickly)
you'll stagger him, you have probably already staggered some normal enemies
on your way here, but this is the first time staggers really matter.

Staggering an opponent means you can do a ton of damage.

As soon as you stagger him, switch to double trouble and tear him apart.

Use potions freely, when a character's hp falls below 40% use one and you'll 
get through it easily.

You'll get Gogmagog fragment Alpha for beating him.

+Boss+ Gogmagog part 2

Suggested Paradigm Deck   
COM+COM
RAV+COM
RAV+RAV

Although Gog has a little more hp than last time, the fight is basically the 
same. Go 2 rounds with RAV+COM, then switch to RAV+RAV stagger him.
When staggered go to COM+COM to lay on the hurt.

Repeat this process if needed and again, when your hp drops to about 40% use a
potion.

After the fight you get Gogmagog Fragment Beta and 1000 CP.

+Boss+ Paradox Alpha

Just keep pounding it with RAV+COM, keeping an eye on your health.

You'll get into a cinematic action. It is: right.

From now on I will call these things CA.

Afterwards, continue pounding it untill the next CA starts, it is: right, up,
X. This will stagger it so switch to COM+COM, and take it out.

This leads to yet another CA: r/\. If you did it right you'll get a perfect, 
and a Silver Gear as a reward.

+Boss+ Atlas

Recommended Paradigm Deck
RAV+COM+RAV
COM+COM+RAV(or COM, if you don't have a SEN)
MED+MED+MED
SEN+SEN+SEN

If you couldn't get a Puslework Knight to join you, don't worry too much.
Just replace it with either a COM or a RAV.

This is quite an interesting battle, as Atlas attacks real slow, with huge 
tells at what it's about to do, almost like in an action game.

When he raises his hand, switch to SEN+SEN+SEN(or RAV/COM) to absorb most of
the damage, then switch back and continue pounding him. Switch to COM+COM+RAV
upon staggering him.

Whenever your hp bar turns yellow, switch to MED+MED+MED for some quick 
healing, and you will take him down effortlessly. 

The CA for this fight is: right, O, right, X, right, X, right, X.

For a perfect, you get a fragment crystal, and for beating him you get an Atlas
Fragment and 2500CP.

+Boss+ Royal Ripeness

Recommended Paradigm Deck
RAV+RAV+COM(a maxed out Hoplite kicks ass here)
COM+COM+COM
RAV+RAV+RAV
MED+MED+MED

Because you're probably way underlevelled at this point, it will take a while.
Start out with RAV+RAV+COM for 1 or 2 rounds, then switch to RAV+RAV+RAV untill
you stagger it, keep going untill the gauge reaches approximately 450, then 
switch to COM+COM+COM to dish out some real damage.

You will get a CA at some point, it's [].

Keep your hp up and you should eventually be able to kill it.

The CA is: up, [], r[], rO, right.

For a perfect you get a crystal heart.

+Boss+ Aloeidai

Suggested Paradigm Deck 

RAV+COM+RAV (or RAV+RAV+COM if you recruited a Behemoth)
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

If have been faithfully collecting Fragments, by now this boss should be real 
easy, just stay on the offensive and stagger it asap. Don't worry about the
debuffs it casts too much, just do some quick healing when your hp turns yellow
and you'll be fine.

If you're having trouble staying alive, you might want to add SEN+SEN+SEN to
your Deck to absorb it's swing attack.

For beating it you get the Aloeidai Fragment and some CP (because I got 
distracted by something, it was gone before I could see how much).

+Boss+ Caius Ballad

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV (or RAV+RAV+COM if you have the Behemoth)
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
SAB+RAV+RAV (maybe, if his buffs cause any trouble)
MED+MED+MED
 
Like pretty much every boss untill now, if you've been collecting all the 
Fragments up untill now, you should be strong enough to make this battle a 
joke.

Just pound on him a few turns with RAV+RAV+COM, then switch to RAV+RAV+RAV and
when staggered, COM+COM+COM(yawn...).

If you haven't spent too much time sidequesting, and thus don't have as high a
level as possible, you may want to switch to SAB+RAV+RAV as soon as he buffs 
himself(provided you already learnt dispel) to remove them.

And again use MED+MED+MED when you need some healing.

+Boss+ Fearyl

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED
SEN+SEN+SEN

At the start of the fight, the boss will prepare a flying attack, this one 
hurts, so switch to SEN+SEN+SEN to take the blow.

Then switch to RAV+COM+RAV for a few turns, only to switch to RAV+RAV+RAV to
stagger it. Then COM+COM+RAV to finish it off in under 2 minutes. By now, you
know why I put in MED+MED+MED.

Are you also starting to wonder why they even bothered putting in an easy 
mode?
 
For killing it you get the Black Hole Gem Fragment and 3500CP. Also open the
chest that appeared for the Dragon Hide Backpack.

+Boss+ Mutantomato

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED

When the fight starts, use Cloudburst's feral link for some buffs, then unleash
your wrath using the standard boss strategy we've been using so far, it should 
go down quickly.

For killing it you get the Mutantomato Fragment and 3500CP.

+Boss+ Zenobia

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
RAV+COM+SEN
MED+MED+MED

At the start of the fight Zenobia will enter defensive mode, which summons some
tentacles you need to destroy, if you're having trouble just ploughing through
it using RAV+COM+RAV, change to RAV+COM+SEN.

When the tentacles are gone, go all out offensive the usual way, RAV+COM+RAV a
few turns, RAV+RAV+RAV to stagger, then COM+COM+RAV for damage. Repeat if 
necessary.

A CA will start upon defeating it, it is: up, left, O, right, O, right, rX 

For a perfect you get a crystal petal and for killing it you get the Tower 
Artifact, the Zenobia Fragment and 6000CP.

+Boss+ Proto fal'Cie Adam

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

This fight is very similar to FF13's first boss. it has 2 Manipulators that 
need to be destroyed first. Just RAV+COM+RAV their asses into oblivion, then
turn your attention to the main man. You know how to do it by now.

+Boss+ Proto fal'Cie Adam part 2

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED
SAB+RAV+RAV
   
A little stronger, but essentially the same, if it's buffs are bothering you,
dispel them with a SAB.

A CA will start upno beating it, it's: right, up, right, O, rX, right, rX.

You will get a Crystal Apple for a perfect.


When the fight ends, you'll get into a LT, whatever you do, don't awnser 
'Scream at Hope' yet, there is 1 more form of this boss, to get a full
bestiary, you'll need to fight all three forms, the full bestiary is needed for
a quest in the future. 

+Boss+ Proto fal'Cie Adam part 3

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED
SAB+RAV+RAV

Again, just a powered up version af the last fight, although it has less hp and
therefore should go down quickly.

Now pick the 'scream at Hope' option.

When it's over, you get the Proto fal'Cie Adam fragment and 6000CP,

+Boss+ Gorgyra

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
SAB+RAV+RAV
MED+MED+MED

Start the fight with SAB+RAV+RAV, first use Cloudburst's feral link for some 
buffs, and inflict deprotect and deshell. When that's done, switch to 
RAV+RAV+RAV to stagger it, keep going untill the gauge reaches approximately
550, then COM+COM+COM.

When the stagger ends, it should be close to death, Go RAV+COM+RAV a few turns
and repeat the process, it's doom attack shouldn't even bother you now.

For beating it you get the Gorgyra Fragment and 500CP.

+Boss+ Geiseric

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED
SEN+SEN+SEN

Although this thing doesn't have a lot of hp, it's attacks will probably 
one-shot you at this point, every time you see an attack coming, switch to 
SEN+SEN+SEN to take the hit.

Also, because you will get KO-ed many times during the fight, bring about 40
Phoenix Downs, this revives faster than using the MED skill raise, and it
also gives some buffs.

For the rest, it's just about dishing out as much damage as possible, as fast
as possible.

For beating it you won't get anything special.

+Boss+ Caius Ballad part 2

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM
MED+MED
SAB+RAV

When the fight starts, Caius will get the first strike. There is no real point 
in trying to stagger him, since he can use chain break. This will reset his
gauge, so just stay on the offensive as much as possible, taking quick healing
breaks when nescessary.

He will buff hinself at some point, dispel it with a SAB.

For 'beating' him you get squat.

+Boss+ Caius Ballad part 3

No sense in going over a Paradigm deck here, just keep whacking as COM and it 
should end quickly. Heal when nescessary.

Again, you'll get nothing for beating him.

+Boss+ Gogmagog part 3

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

Another joke battle, just use the usual pattern and be done in under a minute.

For beating him you get the Gogmagog Fragment Gamma and 15kCP for your time.
Also open the chest in front of you for a crystal rose.

+Boss+ Pacos Amethyst & Pacos Luvlite

Suggested Paradigms

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

At the start of the fight use a Librascope, Amethyst is weak against fire,
Luvlite weak against ice. In this fight, speed is vital. As soon as you kill
the first one, the other can revive it, so the key is to take out the second
one asap.

If you're having trouble doing this you might want to consider first weakening
both of them, and then take them out. The only drawback of this is that 
together they dish out damage real fast. 

For beating them you get the Amethyst and Luvlite Fragment and 8000CP.

++Final prep work++

Before I'm going to try and talk you through this, create a Paradigm Deck that
should get you through the final battles without the need to retry to rearrange
it. If you feel like you need to change Paradigms anyway, you can always select
Retry from the menu, change them and begin at the start of the battle you
retried. If you select quit, you'll have to start at the beginning.   

Okay, here's what I suggest:

RAV+COM+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
SEN+COM+RAV (not a typo, make Serah SEN)
SEN+SAB+RAV (not a typo, make Serah SEN)
SEN+SEN+SEN
MED+MED+MED

Also, make Noel team leader, for controlling the SAB.

No more bullshit, let's end it.

+Boss+ Chaos Bahamut

The warm up lap, make no mistake, this thing hits hard, but it is still pretty
easy, there's only one attack to really watch out for: Megaflare. If you see
this come onscreen, switch to SEN+SEN+SEN immediately.

For the rest, just stick to RAV+COM+RAV, taking healing breaks when needed.
Use Cloudbursts Friendly Fire whenever it's available, but try to save 
Flanitor's Hyper Healing for emergencies only, you can probably guess why.

+Boss+ Caius Ballad part 4

Now the real fun starts. This guy is no pushover, when the fight starts, switch
to SEN+SAB+RAV, try to keep him poisoned at all times, input it manually.
He has an ability that casts Regen, poison will negate it.

Also, Caius really has a grudge with Serah, and will only attack her, that's 
why Serah should play SEN. Every time he buffs himself, make Noel SAB to 
dispel it asap, and try to keep on the offensive as much as possible, when
downed for the first time, he'll get back up again.

Just keep it up, the second part is harder, he'll be a lot more agressive and
attacks relentlessly. Watch out for Ultima but try to keep attacking as much
as possible, when he's at about 30% hp, go all out, being defensive won't cut
it, and don't be afraid to use any Elixirs you may have, they're replacable.

He'll get up a third time, but if you focus on all out attack, he'll go down in 
no time.

+Boss+ Amber Bahamut, Garnet Bahamut and Jet Bahamnut

Ok boys and girls, this is it, the final showdown.

There are 3 Bahamuts, the middle one is the one you want, there's one problem,
you need to take out the other two first.

Just go all out offensive, keep with RAV+COM+RAV while killing the first one,
so your second COM won't attack the other one, then for the second one,
COM+COM+RAV upon staggering.

When they'tre gone, it's time for the main guy. again, just go all out 
offensive, he will probably summon a few smaller enemies, but ignore them.
After the first stagger, he'll summon his buddies back into the fray, then kill
the smaller enemies before focussing om the main attractions again.

From this point onward, keep a close eye on the middle one, if you see a 
counter going from 3 to 1, SEN+SEN+SEN when it reaches 1, he'll unleash his
ultimate attack, the name and strength of it is based on how many Bahamuts are
alive.

His two buddies will have new attacks now as well, megiddo flame and sorry,
but I couldn't make out the name of the other one, you'll recognize it when it
happens, just SEN up for them.

Another attack to watch out for is it's Judgement Blade attack, whenever you
see this coming, it's a big sword, SEN up.

When he gets close to death, he'll start using an attack called Dying Sun,
again SEN up to take the hit.

Again, don't be afraid to use any resources you have, everything can be 
replaced.

When it's done, there will be a CA it is: [] or O, pick whichever you want, it
makes no difference for what's about to happen next.

+Boss+ Atlas part 2

Suggested paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
SEN+SEN+SEN
MED+MED+MED

Atlas is a lot like an action game boss, all his attacks have tells, you can
see them coming from a mile away. Whenever he  does something else than just
standing there, switch to SEN+SEN+SEN to take the hit. Just be carefull, if
you're too slow, he CAN one shot you. Also note that he can follow up his fist
slam with a second one, if he slams, wait a few seconds before switching back.

If you happen to stagger him (not likely) go all out.

After killing you'll get into the same CA as before, it is: right, O, right, X,
right, X, right, X.

For beating him you unlock another Archylte Steppe, go there to watch a Paradox
Ending and get the Transcript A Giant Mistake Fragment and 10kCP.

+Boss+ Twilight Odin

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

If you have been following this guide, this should be easy. Just the standard
attack pattern to finish it of quickly.

When done you get the Twilight Fragment Alphga and 3000CP.

+Boss+ Twilight Odin part 2

Suggested Paradigm Deck
RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+COM
MED+MED+MED

This fight is basically the same, but with 2 differences.
He is more aggressive and hits harder and if you take too long, he will 
decimate you with his Zantetsuken attack.

Solution: go full frontal.

For killing him you get the Twilight Fragment Beta, 3000CP and his crystal.

+Boss+ Royal Ripeness part 2

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED
SEN+SEN+SEN

The biggest danger in this fight is poison, it drains your hp pretty fast, and
on top of that it can hit pretty hard. Whenever the flan raises both his arms,
SEN up to take the hit.

Keep your hp up and use Cloudburst's Friendly Fire whenever it becomes 
available and you should be able to take it down.

For beating it you unlock Sunleth Waterscape ???AF, go there to view the 
Mischievous Mog's Marvelous Plan With Flan Paradox Ending, the Fragment with 
the same name, and 10k CP.

+Boss+ Ugallu

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED

If you get a preemptive strike on it, it will already be half staggered.
Just go 2 rounds with RAV+COM+RAV, then RAV+... well, you know the rest, don't
even bother dispelling it's buffs, you're just wasting time. It should go
down in under a minute.

For beating it you get the Ugallu Fragment and 1000 CP.

+Boss+ Kalavinka

Suggested Paradigm Deck

RAV+COM+RAV
RAV+RAV+RAV
COM+COM+RAV
MED+MED+MED

This piece of shit hits hard and also causes quite a bit of wound damage, have
some wound potions, just to be safe and keep your hp up.

For the rest, it's just same old, same old...

If his attacks cause too much trouble, consider putting a monster SEN in place 
of the abovementioned RAV

After beating it you get the Kalavinka Fragment and 4500 CP.

++++Usefull Monsters++++ [usemo1]

In this section I will provide some basic info on monsters I find usefull.
The info will look like this:

Monster Name
Monster Role
Location
Reason why I think it's usefull

Pulsework Knight
Sentinel
Bresha Ruins 005AF
Can be aquired early in the game, and is a pretty good Sentinel for a long time

Hoplite
Commando
Bresha Ruins 005AF
Can be aquired early in the game, is a pretty good early game COM and can 
easily be leveled up because it drops it's own level up materials. You'll 
fight a lot of them trying to recruit the Pulsework Knight.

Feral Behemoth
Commando
Yaschas Massif 010AF
It has a pretty high strength stat, but more importantly, it's feral link gives
multiple buffs.

Flanitor
Medic
Augusta Tower 300AF
Really usefull feral link ability that fully heals your hp, therefore, in my
opiniom it's the best monster medic in the game.

Cloudburst
Ravager
Archylte Steppe ???AF
In my opinion the best ravager in the game, if only for it's feral link that 
gives several buffs.

Dragoon
Commando
Augusta Tower 200AF
Easily maxed out, it has high hp and a lot of strength.

Bunkerbeast
Sentinel
Yaschas Massif 100AF
Great Sentinel because it has a ton of hp.

Yakshini
Synergist
Vile Peaks 010AF
Very efficient late game Synergist.

++++Trophy Information++++ [troin1]

++++Version History++++ [verhi1]

V0.0 February 11th 2012
Got the platinum trophy, decided to write this guide.

V0.6 February 18th 2012
Got the walkthrough up to Augusta Tower 200 AF(episode 4).

V0.7 February 21th 2012
Finished the walkthrough.

V0.75 February 26th 2012
Got the Post Game Play section up to obtaining the ultimate weapons.
Took out some typos

V0.76 February 29th 2012
Got the Post Game Playsection up to fully completing Bresha Ruins.

++++Special Thanks++++ [speth1]

-SquareEnix, formerly Squaresoft for creating my all time favorite videogame
series, I've been there from the start(yes, I'm that old =p) and plan to stay
for quite a while.
-Sony for creating the PS3.
-Everybody who uses this guide

++++Contact Info++++ [conin1]

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this guide, you can 
send an e-mail to [email protected]. Just state that it is about this
guide and I will get back to you asap, just be nice,and use normal English or 
Dutch(my native language) is fine too. I won't awnser if you just
kick this guide down, or I have a hard time reading it. If your e-mail helps 
me learn things about the game I didn't know or the info is otherwise helpfull, 
I will put it in here and off course credit you.