Got the book today. It’s very nice but I really wonder why the maps couldn’t include labels of where each crystal/blue gate leads to. 9__9  I haven’t really gone through the book thoroughly so I dunno if there’s some flowchart or any equally handy chart that’ll list where all the gates are and their destinations.

Hmmm … I’m thinking I should make a list of everything I want to achieve before the end of the game such as monsters, items, equipment, and fragments cuz there sure is a lot. @_@; Yeah, I do realize that I can continue after completing the main story but I pretty much lose motivation at that point so I might as well get as much as I can now!

I’m definitely not aiming for all 160 Fragments because I detest things that require luck to obtain like the Lucky Coin one which requires you to get 7,777 coins from the slot machine.  I have better things to do than sit at a bloody machine and hope that it’ll give me jackpots.  I also don’t think I’ll be going for the Paradox Endings. I might though … if I’m feeling masochistic enough one day.

On the subject of slot machines, apparently, auto-playing them is a very bad thing to do even when the machine “is on fire” or “like a hot summer’s day”.  According to the guide, the chances of winning are reduced if you just sit there and hold onto the L1 button (PS3 version). 😦  The Eternal Crystal which, I believe, can only be obtained if you have a save file of FFXIII on your console’s hard drive, is supposed to better the odds.  Dunno how much help it is but since I’ve been doing the L1 thing, I suppose I wouldn’t notice any difference. 😛

On a somewhat unrelated note, I’ve been looking at incoming search terms for my blog and thought that I should address a few things that haven’t been answered in my previous entries (see More FFXIII-2 babbles~ (minor spoilers) and FFXIII-2: About getting 100% on the maps for Oerba 200 AF & Academia 400 AF):

• Where are the three fallen stars in Yaschas Massif 01X AF?
  The “three fallen stars” for the Mirror of Atropos fragment/quest in Yaschas Massif 01X AF are actually crystals. Ivory and Onyx Crystals are fairly easy to come across.  Mog Hunt is needed for the Onyx one. The Emerald Crystal requires the Mog Throw ability which isn’t available until Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF. See screenshot here for the Emerald’s location.
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  Edit on Feb 17th: Since there’s a bunch of search terms that lead to this entry, I figure I should just show the locations so here, I’ve done a crappy scan of the map from the guidebook. The locations of all “stars” are indicated by the blue and white squares numbered 3 to 5.
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• How to get the sixth/6th fragment in Yaschas Massif 110 AF?
  You can’t get this until you obtain a sidequest from Bresha Ruins 100 AF.  Then you have to go to Yaschas Massif 100 AF to get a key item called Thorne’s Information from Uma. She can be found in the area where you met Hope and Alyssa in Yaschas Massif 010 AF. Finally, return to YM 110 AF and use Mog to reveal the wandering spectre in the dead end of the east side of the map (Pass of Paddra). Answer his question and you should receive the fragment.
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• How to solve Temporal Rift puzzles (especially the clock puzzles/Hands of Time)?
  The only Temporal Rift puzzles that aren’t randomized in the games are the Tile Trials and Crystal Bonds. There are video walkthroughs for these on YouTube by various players. However, you are essentially on your own for any clock puzzles because someone or some people at Square Enix were sadists. Hell, it’s probably payback for all the flak gamers gave them for FFXIII. 😛 Seriously though, these things are randomly generated so the chances of you getting the same puzzle as someone else is unlikely.
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• How to get 100% completion for the Bresha Ruins map?
  Completing it is only possible once you gain access to its 100 AF era. Basically, you need to travel to the Ruins in 3 different eras in order to get 100%. The grassy area right of the stairs on the east side of the map can be reached in 005 AF while riding on the back of a chocobo. Just get onto the slab of rubble that’s on the stairs and leap into it.
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  In fact, if you’re finding that you can’t get 100% on maps and still have some locked areas in the Historia Crux, there’s a good possibility that one or two of those locked ones are a location you need to go to get to places you can’t in the current map. However, the exception to this is The Archylte Steppe. There’s a good chance you’re just missing this little stump of land. In the image, I state that you need a chocobo.  I’m not 100% sure about it but the gap does kind of seem too large for the Anti-Grav Jump to work. I’ll try to make the jump without the bird and update this part with my findings.
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  Edit on Feb 12: Looks like attempting to jump to the pillar with the Anti-Grav Jump falls just short so I would still recommend a chocobo.
  

• Where are all the red cactuar statues in The Archylte Steppe? Where is Immortal? Ochu? Yomi?
  See here: https://koukoupuffs.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/steppebosses.jpg
  
  Oh, and those waystones? Some of them only appear in certain weather. .__.; Sorry about neglecting to mention that in the image but here’s the info:
  1. The two statues on the east side of the map appear in all weather conditions.
  2. The one on the west side of the Grave Ridge only appears in cloudy weather. It’s also hidden in a whirlwind.
  3. Out of the two in the Clearwater Marshes, one of them appears only in stormy weather. I THINK it’s the farthest one.

  Also, all of them need Moogle Hunt except the one closest to the Nomad Camp.

• Why isn’t Miss Horizon taking the Academia map for the Paradox Professor sidequest? It’s at 100%!
  Despite the fact that the map shows 100% for Academia 400 AF and 4XX AF, there’s actually one more year to explore. Progress the story a bit more to get to the final Academia era. 
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• What gates goes to/How do I get to [ location name ]?
  The story/shiny gates shouldn’t be too much of a problem since you have to go through those ones so getting the corresponding artefacts generally come in some story-related event or finishing Live Trigger conversations with key individuals. It gets sort of tricky when you’re doing sidequests because you have no idea if the Crystal/Blue Gate that’s in front of Serah and Noel will bring you to the location you want. It doesn’t help that you’re also limited to about 8 Wild Artefacts prior to Episode 5.  Lucky for you, I’ve compiled a mini guide that pinpoints blue gate locations AND their destinations~! Check it out here: https://koukoupuffs.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/ffxiii-2-crystal-gate-locations-destinations-minor-spoilers/
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  Still on the subject of the Wild Artefacts, you can technically get the 9th one from Serendipity but only if you’re up to doing some chocobo racing, playing the slot machines, or even grinding for gil to exchange for the required 10,000 Casino Coins to obtain it. (You’ll need 100,000 gil if you’re taking this route. Monsters with the Gilfinder II ability can speed things up a wee bit.) However, if you wait until after Episode 5, you will get a Fragment Skill that will bring the price down to 7,500 Casino Coins or something. BTW, the 10th Wild Artefact is also found in Episode 5.
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• What are Time Reversals? How do I do a Time Reversal? What is the point?
  To do a time reversal, you will need to find the respective Seals for each location. I think the main purpose of a reversal is to allow you to select other conversation choices as well as try different things like taking on Atlas without weakening it first in Bresha Ruins 005 AF.  (This is a very bad decision if you haven’t been regularly beefing up your characters and monster ally. Actually, I’m not sure it can be defeated without using the device. ^^; I tried it a couple of game hours back but one punch from Atlas did the entire party in. Haven’t tried it again since.)
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  There may also be instances where you actually need to reverse time to get to certain areas. For example, on the 51st floor of Augusta Tower 200 AF, if you left certain rooms facing a certain way after taking off to the Historia Crux, it may not be possible to rotate them back without the control panels on the inner-most walkway which, if I remember correctly, disappear once you get the key for the 52nd floor. So if you performed a time reversal here, you can redo the tower again and have access to the panels.
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  Oh, time reversal may also be needed if you’re going for any trophies that require 5-starring certain boss fights.

You can ONLY complete either map once you progress the story; that is, it’s not possible to achieve 100% when you first arrive at those places.

Like the other ages of the Bresha Ruins, you will get access to different eras of Oerba and Academia throughout the timeline.  Both areas have eras that are integral to the main storyline so there’s no way you can miss out on completing the maps.  I got 100% on both in Episode 4 but I think — not entirely certain due to my crappy memory — it might be possible to finish all eras of Oerba in Episode 3; it just depends on whether or not you have enough Wild Artefacts and patience to go through all the Temporal Rift puzzles. XD

Edit on February 10th: Additional info about the Academia map — the 100% WILL NOT count against the Paradox Professor sidequest until you fully explore the map in the 500 AF era. 9_9

I’m currently in the last era of Oerba and I have 7 more puzzles to suffer through.  I really don’t know who at Square Enix thought it was a good idea to include all the damnable clock puzzles. I’ve taken to solving them on paper first since, given the fact that a lot of them are randomized (not sure if they are ALL random as some of them don’t have timers), I can’t afford to make mistakes.  So yeah, if you’re looking for solutions for the puzzles on YouTube or something, keep in mind that whatever the player has in his or her video is most likely not the same as yours.

Actually, the connect-the-crystal ones are becoming a pain as well as there are several of them that have gaps between tiles. =__=  I usually lose time in the beginning because I have to move the camera around to spot the ones with the identical colours.  What I’ve started doing is just selecting the closest crystal and dragging the line to one of the ones that have a matching colour.  That way, the damn crystals won’t change places on me before I get there.

Ah, back to the clock puzzles! The logic behind them is simple. The problem is figuring out the starting number. I find that it’s easier to weed out the number to being with in the puzzles that contain 9 or more numbers because there will usually be an odd one out; that is, a number that either no other numbers can reach or only one other number can.

Don’t mind my ugly scribbles.  I don’t have the best handwriting in the world. XD  Anyway,  an explanation of all the numbers in pencil: The outer numbers indicate where the numbers will land. The first x = x is counter-clockwise movement.  The second x = x is clockwise.  Actually, now that I look at it again, it’s done in a way that only makes sense to me. XD Regardless, jotting down where each number ended up is what I wrote down. 😛 Interior numbers represent the order the numbers should touched.

Again, these are puzzles *I* encountered.  There’s a very good chance you will never see any of the layouts shown above.

Many times, it takes me a few tries to figure one out … which is why I have the order written in pencil. I got a handy eraser right next to me in case I have to redo things. 😀 The only ones I never have to write down at the ones that have about six numbers and have 1, 2, and 3 as face numbers.  The highest face number I’ve ever seen so far is 6.

I wonder if there’s anyone out there that can solve these fairly quickly?

Edit: Derp. The starting number in the second puzzle should have been 2 on the top right which leads to 5. >_>;

Currently on Chapter 4 looking for the Graviton Cores (see YouTube video here — not made by me — for all the locations ) but here are some random thoughts up to this point:

• Some of the stupid answers can be fun to select just to hear the replies/reactions. ^O^  I love the  one at the Bresha Ruins 5 AF when Serah’s pondering about something that shouldn’t exist in that time and place.  I chose “Mog!?” as my answer when visiting again after a time reversal.  Noel’s answer was “Your thought process shouldn’t exist.” ^O^;;
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• I wonder if the game remembers what you chose or this only happens if you follow the “same train of thought” but in Augusta Tower 200 AF, when Noel and Serah wonder who was pulling the strings, one of the answers was “Someone unexpected!”.  Turns out Serah was trying to say it was Mog again. ^O^ I love Noel’s reaction. ^-^;  It’s just so horrible that you can make Serah so ditzy if you want. I’m not sure Noel’s answers are ever as ridiculous.  For the record, I’m choosing all the logical choices first and only opt for the stupid ones after a re-visit via time reversal.However, I must say that the boss battle in Augusta 200 AF threw me for a loop.  Took me 3 tries to get the correct answer since that one was kind of a strange option. ^^
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• I LOATHE Academia 400 AF.  In fact, I just loathe the layout to Academia in general. It’s really terrible to navigate when you’re force to fight every battle. It’s a shame that girl that asks for the 100% maps doesn’t appear again in the alternate time. .___.  But then, why would she if the hacking/paradox is resolved? Ergh. I still have to find the stupid blue gate in 400 AF.  This will be fun … although I suppose I could just wait until the guidebook arrives so I can just use the map.  Of course, that’s assuming the author marks the location and that it’s correct. 😛
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• I also hate the clock puzzle in Yaschas Massif 110 AF. I got up to Stage 3 and then got stuck trying to solve it. I wish the puzzles weren’t random. I wonder if these are the only random puzzles in the game? :V
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• I got up x100 Victory Mode in the slot machines but the stupid thing wouldn’t give me a jackpot even when I was down to like 1900 coins.  I think I got there from 3500 or so. >:/ Typically, when it comes to trading in coins and such for gifts, I tend to use the method of buying the currency with gil and then getting the stuff that way.  The problem is 10 gil = 1 Casino Coin.  I’m usually hovering around the 20,000 gil mark (since I spend money to buy greens and adornments and other silly things now and then).  I need to find a way to get over 100,000 gil.  Well, I did have 99 Tears of Remorse thanks to running around in Academia 400 AF but those things don’t sell for all that much. 😐  Why can’t the Cie’th there drop Perfumes? XD
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• Chocolina needs to die.
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• Mog Throw can be hilarious at times. I love watching him bounce all over the place or just hurl him into a chasm. XD
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• Random screenshots. (Please don’t ask me for all the locations. I think there’s a YouTube video for it so check that instead. ^^)  And the quality is kind of crap because I’m screencapping via S-Video and not HD.  Oh, there’s not an actual chocobo at this particular spot; I rode one here. XD

Edit: More screencaps! XD

Edit: Another screencap! :3