FFXIII-2: Crystal Gate Locations & Destinations Guide (minor spoilers)

Why in all hell is there no proper guide for the destinations of the crystal (a.k.a. blue) gates?  I mean, if you’re thoroughly exploring every map, you’ll most likely find all the locations but no one ever compiles the information of where each gate LEADS to.  Or maybe it’s out there somewhere in the form of a message board post?  Regardless of whether or not it’s readily available in some corner of the Internet, I threw together the list myself with the help of Split Infinity’s walkthough. (All I did was do a search for “crystal gate”. XD)

Note that all these kinds of gates require a Wild Artefact to unlock them. Check this video for their locations. If you look at the video description, you will find anchor links to jump to specific points in the video for each artefact. (No, the video is not mine.)

As there are 10 Wild Artefacts (one of which must be “purchased”), there are exactly 10 Crystal Gates. I’m listing the places in alphabetical order based on the locations where you find the gates.

For the screenshots, click on the thumbnail for larger images. 😀

Academia 400 AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Yaschas Massif 100 AF
Isn’t this place a joy to go hunting for treasures and gates? To relieve you of the frustrations of running around in search of it, here’s a handy screenshot of the gate’s location in New Town.

Academia 4XX AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Vile Peaks 010 AF
This gate is in a rather busy part of Grand Avenue (re: where all the shops are.) It’s actually quite easy to locate since Chocolina is right across from it.

Archylte Steppe ??? AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Vile Peaks 200 AF
The access this gate, you’ll have to defeat three Gigantuars first. While you won’t have to face all three at the same time, you’ll still want a party with an ample amount of HP since  its 1,000 Needles attack can decimate your group quickly if you’re not careful. It’s definitely recommended that you have some paradigms that involve a Medic and a Sentinel.

The statutes are not immediately visible and require Moogle Hunt to reveal them. On top of this, you also need to change the weather for two of them. The one located among the cacti southwest of the Nomad Camp will show up in any weather condition. The remaining two — only available in either sunny or rainy weather — are in the Clearwater Marshes which can easily be accessed by touching the yellow cactuar statue during windy weather. Like the green cactuar statues, the yellow one needs Moogle Hunt to make it visible. Incidentally, this statue to the west of the crystal gate and is hidden in a whirlwind. (Note: All statues will not return to their invisible state after examining them regardless of weather conditions.)

Here’s a compilation of three screenshots that show all the locations: https://koukoupuffs.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/gigantuars.jpg

Augusta Tower 200 AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Oerba 300 AF
The gate is hard to miss but what prevents you from getting to the floor it’s on (which is the 49th Floor) is the fact that during the initial visit here, the elevator will only take you to the upwards as dictated by the story. However, once you finish your business on the top floor, you can go back to the elevator and head to any floor at your own leisure.

Bresha Ruins 005 AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Bresha Ruins 300 AF 
The gate is located in the southwestern tunnel, just west of the holding cell.  You will need to retrieve the Holding Cell Key to open the cell door.  The key is in a treasure sphere floating in the circular area just north of the shiny/story gate to the south.  While you can hop onto the pillars while riding on the back of a chocobo for some reason, you can’t physically get to the sphere; you have to hurl Mog at it instead.

Bresha Ruins 300 AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Yaschas Massif 110 AF
Find this gate northwest of the graveyard (Lamentable Rest) which was an area previously inaccessible in Bresha Ruins 005 AF.

A Dying World 700 AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Bresha Ruins 100 AF
It’s in the southwest Black Sands area. You’ll only have access to this section and the Abyssal Fissure to the north when you re-visit A Dying World from the Historia Crux. The earliest you can do this is when you return to the timeline after New Bodhum 700 AF.

Oerba 300 AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Oerba 400 AF
Ah, the joys of the Oerba eras. They are ALL infested with anomalies. Unfortunately, this means that you will have to go through some Temporal Rifts to even get the option to use a Wild Artefact on the gate.

The guidebook notes that you will need to solve the Rifts that give you the following fragments: Sparkling Runestone, Thrilling Milestone, Dewy Bloodstone, Spinning Moonstone, and Astonishing Limestone. Thankfully, only one of the five will put you up against the Hands of Time. Once you get these, you’ll get yet another Rift which will happily manifest itself right in front of the crystal gate. And what do you know? It just so happens that this anomaly contains a clock puzzle! How splendid!

Yaschas Massif 01X AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Augusta Tower 300 AF
Found in the western part of the map in the wide open area with the two depressions in the ground.  It’s just a few steps to the left from the spot where you find the Emerald Crystal for the Mirror of Atropos side quest.

Yaschas Massif 100 AF
Crystal Gate Destination: Sunleth Waterscape 400 AF
You should be thankful that the Waterscape 400 AF isn’t a mandatory location as this crystal gate can be rather annoying to unlock. To activate it, you have to complete most of the fragment sidequests in this era … which means solving several Temporal Rifts that consist of the ever-so-aggravating Hands of Time puzzles.

If you’re out to get the Graviton Cores and want to steer clear of these things, just get Alpha to Epsilon as you only need 5 of them to continue with the story. Eta and Zeta both require some degree of traversing through Temporal Rifts to obtain. Of course, if you’re gunning for all 160 fragments then you will have no choice but to endure the pain.