Hmm. Still so many folks looking to pirate Adventure Dungeon Village. I wonder if they realize it hasn’t been localized yet? I suppose I should just assume they don’t care that it’s in Japanese.  Well, have you tried the Lite version yet!?

Now, onto the other search terms!

Most of the answers can be found in various posts! The Graviton Core ones, along with the location of Paradox Agent Type C, are found as screenshots at the bottom of this post: https://koukoupuffs.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/ffxiii-2-almost-at-the-end/ (No spoilers.)

Captain Cryptic locations: https://koukoupuffs.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/ffxiii-2-captain-crypic-needs-to-die/ As for the answers to his question, you’re probably better off getting the guidebook or you can thank this kind soul for taking the time to type up all questions and answers, including the ones from the Brain Blast terminals.  Of course, if you’re playing on the PS3, the buttons shown in the posts will be different. :E  But really, the official guide is quite good and comprehensive!

Green Cactuar & Red + Yellow Cactuar statue locations: https://koukoupuffs.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/ffxiii-2-got-the-collectors-edition-of-the-guidebook-today-plus-some-faqs-so-expect-little-spoilers/

Uh … the searches for slot machine? Are people looking for cheats cuz there aren’t any!  But I did write about it here: https://koukoupuffs.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/ffxiii-2-possibly-the-last-post-about-the-game/ I should change the title of that post. XD

Oh, and what’s with the searches for Oerba 400 AF? If it’s about HOW to get there, check https://koukoupuffs.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/ffxiii-2-crystal-gate-locations-destinations-minor-spoilers/

Quite curious what people are trying to find out when they’re searching for “FFXIII-2 tonberry“. If it’s for its location, he just kind of randomly appears in Bresha Ruins 300 AF in a distortion field. When I first encountered it, it was by the steps by the walled-off grassy area near the location where Noel and Serah first gate in. (Heh. Stargate terminology kicking in. XD)

Once I got the Battlemania fragment and ran around to other places in the ruins, it started appearing all over including the tunnels. .__.;;

If people are trying to find tips on how to beat the little green monster, it’s highly recommended that you have a Sentinel (ideally with high HP) in at least one of your paradigms. I would say to forget about attempting to stagger it since its resistance is fairly high and you need to reach 666%. It’s also resistant to every debuff except Wound (and Death and Debrave and Defaith but you don’t have to care about those) so a Saboteur is not needed. The best thing to do, really, is to hit it hard and fast.

As it halves physical and magical damage, you’d want to buff your characters and fuse any offensive monsters you’ll be bringing into the fight with abilities that strengthen their attacks and, most importantly, ignores its resistances (like Armor Breaker).

Basically, it’s ideal that you have Synergists, Medics, Sentinels, and ye olde Commandos and Ravagers in your paradigms. Combat Clinic (MED MED SEN) is a fantastic paradigm to have.

The Medics are important since the Tonberry will deal progressively stronger attacks as the battle goes on so you need to keep everyone healthy. (Pay attention to the little messages that pop up above its head. They’re indications that it’s moving onto a beefier attack.) I typically ignore the poison since the HP of most of my characters and monsters are over 5000.  Once it starts going into the yellow, that’s when I start to worry.  Of course, if your party members have substantially less HP then use Esuna, Remedy, or Antidote as necessary but you may want to consider having at least one person or your creature ally still dishing out damage along the way since lengthy recovery breaks will work against you.

For what it’s worth, the guidebook doesn’t suggest any poison resistance accessories. I take it that they’re useless against the Tonberry anyway? I just have random accessories that I used for other fights most of the time. XD (Too lazy to switch them out.) My Serah is permanently using the Impeder’s Opal — even when her SAB role isn’t needed — and Durable Grimoire’s Hat. ^^;  But, you may want to invest in some accessories that increase the amount of physical damage Noel and Serah can take.  Or, if you can and want to risk it, you may opt to up their strength and magic power instead.

Anyway, once it starts coming after you with Rancor Knife, shift into Combat Clinic to raise and heal any fallen members. It’s IMPERATIVE you do this unless the Tonberry only has a few specs of HP left and can be finished off with a few hits.  Otherwise, you want all three to be alive.

Rancor Knife will go on for a few rounds so make sure you have Raise or a good quantity of Phoenix Downs handy.  However, once new messages start appearing above the enemy’s head, you might as well just pause the fight and select Retry because at that point, it’ll be gearing up for Ultimate Grudge.  This attack will annihilate the entire party without fail as its damage will always be 66,666 HP.  It kind of sucks that once it joins you, this attack will not do this much damage to enemies.

Well, certainly, if you figure you can finish off the Tonberry before it activates the special move, then go for it. ^^

Incidentally, since distortions are stationary, you can always manage to get in a pre-emptive attack.  It’ll probably be a good idea to use the time to throw on a bunch of buffs.

If you have any other tips, please feel free to post a comment! 😀

Edit on Feb 19: Here’s a recording I did today~! (Don’t look at the text in the vid. It’s hella blurry.) Took out the Tonberry in under 2 minutes. :3 And yeah, I don’t take my own advice above since I was trying to do something different like what would happen if I fought it aggressively.  I’m usually much more reserved and spend more time healing. ^^  Turns out I don’t need to! (Please note that my characters are maxed out.  Yakshini and my Tonberry are also maxed. ^^ More information about the party and setup can be found in the video description on YouTube.)

Aw man, you can miss Twilight Odin? D:  I was looking through the list of enemies in the guidebook today and it stated that Twilight Odin had a 100% drop rate.

Well, I never got him even though I completed the sidequest. Closing the gates to either Vile Peaks eras does squat too. 😦  (And considering that the questing was complete, I didn’t expect him to show up agai but I thought it was worth a shot. Oh well. I’d probably rage in getting the materials to level him anyway. :3

Since I couldn’t get Twilight Odin, I just went around to get the remaining chocobo that I didn’t tame yet. 😀  The process went rather quickly for the most part.  It did take a while to locate the Green Chocobo.  While you can get it at Yaschas Massif 110 AF, I opted for 100 AF since its location is listed as that in its Bestiary information page.  You can find this creature in the western area with the 2 depressions in the ground.  I encountered it rather frequently when I was hanging around the south part in between the two holes.

I’m pretty certain turning on the Battlemania skill will prevent it from appearing so don’t do it. In fact, I think most or all chocobos tend to not spawn if that skill is active.

I also had to hunt down the Black Chocobo in Vile Peaks 010 AF. This one tends to hang around the tunnel near Another Man’s Treasure.

Finally, there was the Purple Chocobo in Bresha Ruins 300 AF.  I found it inside the tunnel closest to the wide area to the south with pillars and a mutant chocobo.

Now, I have every chocobo! :3

I also spent some time trying to get a Metal Gigantuar. I ended up obtaining many Hermes Sandals in the process but no monster crystal. >_>

Oh yeah, I threw Mog all over the place in YM 100 AF and BR 300 AF and managed to get 3 new adornments. ^^ It’s really a lot more fun to do the Moogle Throw with the Mobile Mog skill enabled.

In regards to chocobo racing, I lost 1 race. 😦  The final results of my Silver Chocobo’s career was something like 31-0-1-0. I did manage to get the Fortitude title before I retired it. Strange. I could have sworn I got it before (as indicated in the Chocolog #1 post) but I didn’t! ^^

Now I get to register it again for some more racing fun! I think I might try for the Grade-Getter title this time around.  I want that Tonberry figurine. XD

Random asides:

• Noel doesn’t seem as muscular (or his muscles aren’t as defined) in FMV renders. Odd.
• Hope’s eyes are weird in the ending FMV. @_@; It’s almost like he’s wearing a bit of mascara! Although I think it may just be the shape of his eyes.

I’m not sure I’ll really need to number these kind of posts since I doubt I’ll do many of them. XD

I started racing my Silver Chocobo in earnest today and was focused on getting the Derby Champ title. The problem with this was that I didn’t realize that the game provides no indication of which races you’ve already done in the current career! Instead, it puts a little badge or medal next to every race that you have ever done throughout ALL racing careers.

This didn’t become apparent until the Atomos and Wild Bear Derbys kept showing up in the list of available races to enter. This means that I most likely wasted as few race points on ones that my chocobo already did! Sigh. 😦

WTF, Square? Or maybe I’m just blind and can’t see an option to switch between total races raced between every career and one for races raced in current career?

Regardless, I’ll be taking down the names of all the races manually this time around. 😛

Anyway, in the current career run, I’ve managed to nab the Trooper, Moneybags, Bird on Fire, and All-Rounder titles. I previously obtained Victorious, Speedster, and Fortitude on my second run with my Silver Chocobo. (I did one run with my Golden Chocobo but its stamina isn’t up to snuff to participate in the 1800 meter races. .__.)

Not quite sure how I’ll manage to get Underdog without throwing in a barely raised chocobo because my Silver Chocobo is always among the favourites and never loses (unless I make a poor call on when to use Boost). It might take a miracle to win with a bird with low stats. Perhaps the only way is to fuse it with some spiffy abilities? I suppose I should read up on some tips for this.

Random, non-chocobo-racing thoughts:

• Hmmm … almost tempted to make a stupid video recording of putting various adornments on a Gigantuar and Don Tonberry. It’s funny to put them on a Gigantuar — or any type of cactus monster — because some of the things will be attached to the arm that’s bent upward so they end up waving the object up and down. ^o^~
• Oh yeah! I never did catch myself a Tonberry. I suppose I’ll do that now! Got one! ^o^
• Really wondering if I want to purchase the Sazh side story. I’ve never been into card games and I’m certain that it’s probably mandatory and part of the plot. Besides, I’m not entirely curious how he ended up where he was. 😛  Snow’s story is supposedly going to be novelized so no DLC for him unless it’s in the form of a text adventure? 9__9

Or maybe I’ll continue writing about it to keep a log about my exploits in chocobo racing because once I’m done everything, I’m off to the races! ^O^

I already did a few with my trusty Silver Chocobo~! I messed up raising it along the way though and only managed to get its magic strength to 776. Would have liked to see it at 800 but oh well. It’s got enough stamina to last the 1800 meter races so it’s all good.

I got the Collector Catalog from one of the races and upped it to a Durable Collector Catalog. Love the amount of gil that rolls in with that thing. I’m slightly disappointed I didn’t get this before because now, I can buy all sorts of things — like those casino coins! XD

Speaking of which …

Messed up the contrast here by accident while taking the screenshot. 😦 Anyway, I started off with about ~33,300 coins — most of which were obtained from exchanging gil — and ended up with a decent profit! 😀 But look at the number of turns that was required to get the 13,200+ profit! :E

What I did for this was simply autoplay. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had to make sure that the employee next to the machine mentions that its mood was “like a hot summer’s day”. I then pushed my Dual Shock 3 controller up against the wall of the hutch of computer desk while I took off to the dentist and grocery shopping. About 3 hours later, I came back and everything I needed from the damnable slot machine was done! XD

So now, I just need Saddle Sore and Anomalous and then I’m done! ^o^ First Platinum ever!

When I went back to the Historia Crux, I got this:

Of course, the actual message wasn’t censored. I just did that for the benefit of those that haven’t seen/reached this point yet. :3

Man, it sure takes a while to get 10,000 chocobo steps. 😦 I’ve been listening to the Pulse de Chocobo for almost half an hour already. I suppose I really should have rode on chocobos more often throughout the course of the game but I wanted to fight everywhere I went so I usually had the characters travel by foot. ^^;

Oh, to hell of this. Let me go get the OTHER trophy first. This can wait since it’s not counting consecutive steps. 😛

Update: Dear lord, why are the credits so long? I could have been back on a chocobo getting my steps!!!!! Anyway, just got Anomalous so it’s back to getting that chocobo to walk into the wall at the Steppe. :3

Update #2: HUZZAH! PLATINUM’D!

I wonder when Noel will get an outfit that I would actually WANT him to wear?

http://andriasang.com/comzzt/ffxiii2_dlc_screens/

For some reason, it looks like he’s missing a helmet or something to complete that attire. 😛 (Also, why’s he armed with a spear? D:)

Hmm. The Sazh DLC seems to include some card game that involves playing cards and a clock. I’m pretty sure we don’t have to solve clock puzzles while playing cards so it should be okei. 😛 Maybe it’s like a roulette wheel thing?

So, about the slot machines, I got triple 7 twice so far and a bunch of chocobo and moogles. I only started about 40 minutes ago too! I have it set on autoplay but I did intervene during the first Victory Mode. It didn’t last very long. 😛

(I had to re-enter Serendipity twice from the Historia Crux to get the right playing condition (“It’s like a hot summer’s day!”) though.)

I anticipate that I will obtain both the Lucky Coin fragment AND the 10,000 Casino Coins trophy (Serendipitous or whatever) today. 😀

When all the trophies are done and over with, I can go back to chocobo racing! ^o^/

OOH! Just hit my third 777! Go, go slot machine!!!

Got all the Paradox Endings now.  I think the best one is the one from Academia 4XX AF.

Random thought: I really do believe Yeul has some sort of walking deficiency; it’s not that she’s animated funny or anything. 😦  She kind of tries to run in one of the endings and it comes off as looking kind of silly. I felt bad for laughing though because I thought about how people in real life actually have this handicap too. ^^; I wonder if this is explained in the Ultimania or some other Japanese source?

Anyway, I’ve been spending part of the day beating up rare enemies. I fought the Tonberry seven times and it never once dropped its damn crystal. I have the Monster Collector Fragment Skill enabled and even threw in the Blue Chocobo that had the Item Collector ability. >:E I eventually gave up and ended up going to fight Raspatil instead.  The battle wasn’t as dreadful as the guidebook described!  I think I 5-starred the thing too. ^^

I moved onto Don Tonberry after that fight. Surprisingly, this one only took 3 tries before it dropped a crystal. I started having a little fun with the little monster too! XD

So now, I have most of the Gold trophies. :3  I think I’m out by 2 or 3 though.  Off the top of my head, I know that one requires dealing 99,999 damage and another is getting all 160 fragments.

Honestly, if I got the Brain Blast and the stupid slot machine fragments, I’d be up to 159. The only one I’d be missing is the monster collecting one. Not entirely sure I’m up to completing any of these. But I kind of want so since if I do, this would mark the first time I got Platinum for any PS3 game. ^^ Well, I still have some other bronze trophies to get too like the chocobo steps one.

Sigh. I still want a cactuar and a tonberry. I only have the cactuar variants obtained from hurling Mog everywhere. And the regular tonberry isn’t as creepy looking as Don. 😛

Update on Feb 15:

• Got the Clock Stopper trophy. Finally. Had to reload twice since I managed to break the chain. Thank God I was saving frequently between fights. :3
• I have 4 more monsters left to complete the Monster Professor sidequest. I REALLY wish I didn’t skip that rare one in the last dungeon. Sigh. Go me and my insistence of getting 100% map completion over everything else. 😛 Finally finished it! XD

Just have the stupid slot machine fragment to get. Yay. .__.

Update #2: I magically got the Giant’s Fist trophy! I took the guidebook’s advice and threw 4 Delicate Iron Bangles on Noel to get the HP Power Surge ability but I had him equipped with Odinblade instead. With 159 fragments, the boost to stats wasn’t bad at all! Since I didn’t bother creating/purchasing the post-game weapons, this was the only one that was strong enough for the task! Well, I did the whole Meteor Javelin after switching Noel to commando thing when Long Gui was recovering from its first stagger but I think I messed up the timing. 😦

The silly thing is that the trophy notification came when it was down a second time. The party was in a RAV SAB SYN formation with Noel as Ravager, Serah as Saboteur and a Yakshini as a Synergist. ^^; I suppose it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since a debuffed and staggered Long Gui being hit with a weapon that’s enchanted with Enthunder should deal heavy damage to it.

I’m going for Saddle Sore right now and have the left analog stick of the controller up against the guidebook while I do other things. XD