Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Guide - 100% Achievements, Missables, Maps & More!

Hello there! Been having a ton of fun with this game so far, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling on a 100% achievement guide, as well as some helpful extras! Community support totally welcome!

Introduction

Hello there! I didn't see a guide posted for this yet, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling to help each other out.

Note: There will absolutely be spoilers in here, although I will do my best to avoid you accidentally seeing one!


No worries Gustave, this Guide will help!

I make ample usage of the spoiler tags just like these in many places throughout the entirety of this guide, but even so, please be careful if you haven't progressed past certain points before consulting this guide!

Status/Progress Update:
ALL 55 Achievements (and the collectables related to them) have details on how to get each one; *however* I will still be continuing to flesh out details for those that are still unclear or have additional information uncovered.


This could be you!

I'll also be checking in with the comments section on a regular basis, to add more information that y'all find and report (and confirm!)

Note: if any additional achievements are added in the future; I'll be absolutely sure to cover those as well.

If you are so inclined, you can hit the Favorite & Like buttons up top to easily come back and consult this guide in the future. It also helps with overall visibility! Cheers and Santé!

Spoiler Free Tips & Tricks

Saving & Loading

There are no manual saves! The auto-save is fairly generous though, and you can scroll down past the "Load Previous Saves" menu beyond the most recent 3. It's a bit hard to see, but there is a down arrow there! There are 20 auto-saves total, starting from your most recent save.

If you start a New Game, you can choose a save slot to store it in. There are 10 of these in total, if you feel like starting a New Game without blowing away your current one.

If a fight isn't going to plan, or you just want to practice Dodges & Parries, you can open the Pause Menu during combat and just reload your last save quite quickly.

Triggering Auto-Save Anywhere

In order to trigger an auto-save anywhere, go into your menu, swap a weapon, then close the menu to force the game to auto-save. This way, you can "checkpoint" yourself directly before a tough fight and retry directly from the menu without having to look around for the auto-save triggers.

Making a backup of your Saves (Windows)

Hit the Windows key and type in %LOCALAPPDATA% for a shortcut, otherwise navigate to this location here manually:

C:\Users\[YourUsernameHere]\AppData\Local\Sandfall\Saved

Make a simple Zip file of that entire Saved directory, and that counts as your backup. Replace it whenever you like to Restore Your Saved Games!

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Dodge & Parry

Same with the save/load tip above, any time you enter a new area/encounter new enemies, save right before to take the opportunity to learn their attack patterns. If you've got a decent setup, the loads should be fairly quick and let you practice to your heart's content.

If a Dodge says "Perfect" instead of "Dodge", then the timing is identical to that of pulling off a Parry. So, if you've practiced Dodging a set of moves that now show up as "Perfect", then that means you're good enough to Parry them all now instead!

Additional Avoidance Assistance (Accessibility)

If you have Camera Movement Enabled under Accessibility (by default it is on), then when the camera zooms in at the last minute is also a significant part of the timing for a Dodge/Parry.

If you're having trouble with those, I found that Disabling Camera Movement also made some attacks a little clearer - due to the lack of camera movement, making the wind-up a little easier to read.

For some (not all!) enemies, there is a sound cue before their attack is about to land. Technically speaking, if you wanted another Accessibility option, you could turn down the Music from 100% to 50% (or even 0%) in order to hear these cues better.

The caveats are that the sound itself isn’t always the same, and the Dodge/Parry timing is relative to the cue, but not necessarily consistent between enemies.

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Attributes & Leveling Up Your Stats

The 5 Attributes you can level up are:

• Vitality - Primarily correlates with Health which "Increases the character's health pool."
  
• Might - Primarily correlates with Attack Power, which "Increases all damage dealt."
  
• Agility - Primarily correlates with Speed, which "Makes the character play more often."
  
• Defense - Primarily correlates with Defense, which "Reduces incoming damage."
  
• Luck - Primarily correlates with Critical Rate, which "Increases the chances of dealing critical hits. Critical hits deal 50% more damage."

While it may seem like Might is the best option, you can actually fairly safely ignore it, even though it does boost your damage, quite slightly (we're talking 10-20% or so)

All healing from skills and items is *percentage* based, so Vitality & Defense dramatically boosts your survivability, as well as allows you to safely learn all the enemies' timing for Parries & Dodges.

The different being a 10% damage boost OR taking 50% less damage is hard to pass up during your first experience. Later it it may make more sense to go all out, but for now your damage will not suffer greatly as a result.

Agility influences Speed, which is great for the Action Economy (more turns than the enemy -> more damage overall, and sooner) With enough Speed, you can even double up on turns before the enemy has a chance to move once!

Many skills have additional triggers from critical hits, so that is also a completely valid option, and Luck also boosts some of the other stats as well. Later on it's possible through some combinations to reach 75-100% Critical Rate, so eventually it could be dumped for another Attribute altogether.

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Zones & Dungeons

Your Compass

Getting lost without a mini-map? Hit Y (or Triangle) on your controller, or Y on your keyboard to show a Compass in the middle left of your screen. Extremely useful to get your bearings, especially for some of the more maze-like areas.


Included as an image for emphasis!

For any text directions given in this guide, it will make use of those Compass directions, so please check it out and remember that it's an incredibly valuable tool in your kit!

Locating Grapple Points (Accessibility)

If you have a controller with vibration enabled, then it will vibrate if there are any Grapple Points nearby for you to use. If you're playing with it disabled, or you are on mouse & keyboard, then you'll miss out on this feature (and potentially the harder to spot Grapple Points)

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Overworld/World Map

Always try to fight enemy groups on the Overworld/World Map at least once, as they tend to drop New and/or Upgraded Weapons & Pictos for your party. These item drops can only happen once, but you can still fight them multiple times if you like (after resting)

Missables - Prologue (Items & More)

The game opens up significantly *after* the Prologue, but until then, it's all world building and character development. Here's the quick rundown before you proceed to the main continent.

Note: These are "missables" in the sense of a single playthrough without NG+, and without needing to restore auto-saves.

Donated Furniture

In the giant circular plaza near where you first meet Sophie, there'll be some Furniture that is left behind by those about to Gommage, for future generations. Interact with it for 1x Colour of Lumina. Don't worry if you miss this, there's plenty later!

Richard & Jules

Speak with Richard, Sophie's sewing teacher, in the bright red suit (wearing flowers) on the critical path down to the Harbour (hard to miss him). If you don't talk to him, then you'll miss the opportunity to give the uniform to his son, Jules, during the Expedition Festival to receive the "Crimson Uniform" outfit for Gustave.

Eloise

Speak with Eloise right behind where Richard was, also on the critical path down to the Harbour, then have Gustave destroy the Balloon in a single hit (essentially a mini-tutorial for Gustave's Overcharge mechanic), then you'll receive 1x Colour of Lumina! You'll get plenty of these later, but still a good scene not to miss out on.

The "Life Enjoyers"

Behind Eloise is a door where some "Life Enjoyers" are doing exactly that before the Gommage occurs. Interact with the door exactly 33 times (hah!) until they tire of your shenanigans... They'll give you 1x Colour of Lumina for you to go away! You'll get plenty of these later, but it's still a funny scene to miss out on.

Nicholas the Painter

There's a painter, Nicholas, further down the path to the Harbour. If you talk to him and finish a duel with Sophie, essentially a mini-tutorial for the Dodge mechanic, then you'll receive a Recoat item! The Recoat allows you to "re-spec" a character; they can be quite pricy from shops later on, so give yourself some extra options by doing this! If you miss it, then don't worry, as they are farmable much later on.

Trash Can Man

In the same area as Nicholas the Painter (if you're facing him, it's to his right) keep interacting with a non-descript Trash Can until it starts talking! You'll get 1x Chroma Catalyst for the trouble (an early Weapon Upgrade material). Don't worry if you miss this one, as you'll get plenty of these later, but it's still a silly scene to miss out on.

The Mime

Near the Harbour area, head to the right as you approach it; you should see a stage with people performing. Just to the right of that is a Mime which you can fight for a MISSABLE ACHIEVEMENT, as well as the Lumière Record for winning, which is required for the "Connoisseur" achievement to "Find all 33 music records".



Note: you can still get the Lumière Record later in another location, but the Mime Achievement "A Peculiar Encounter" will require a New Game altogether. Since there are only auto-saves and juggling save games can be a bit of a pain currently, it's best that you get it now.

The Expedition Festival (after Gommage/Harbor cutscene)

During the Festival before departing for the main continent, there will be 3 booths that you can redeem tokens for rewards. You start with 1, and you can get the other 2 by dueling Maelle (and winning) as well as completing Antoine's Quiz.

The solutions for Antoine's Quiz are: When was the Fracture? "67 years ago." Which was the first expedition to depart for the continent? "Expedition Zero." What is a "Lumina?" "Abilities you internalise by using a Pictos in battle after enough times."

The rewards for your tokens are: a Weird Pictos, a Bun (haircut style) for Gustave, and an Old Key. If you can only get 1 of these, make sure you get the Old Key as it unlocks something later in Act 2 that provides a Record for the "Connoisseur" achievement.

What the Weird Pictos does: in Act 1 you can give it to a Gestral Merchant called Jujubree, the first one you encounter in the Gestral Village Market. You'll get a "Augmented Aim" Pictos (Lv 5, 39 SPD, 5% Crit, "50% increased Free Aim damage.") in return. Not a huge deal if you miss this, as there's other sources of that Pictos' Lumina passive ability.

Missables - All Acts (Items & More)

Act 1 Missables

After recruiting the 3rd party member, you'll meet a Gestral Merchant, named Noco! Eventually they will move on from that location, so try to buy everything you can from him before then.

Regarding a Unique Weapon after speaking with a friendly village leader: in the Gestral Village, after speaking with Golgra, win the Tournament with Maelle to get the unique "Medalum" Weapon (Physical Damage, DEF/AGI Scaling, Lv 4 "Start in Virtuose Stance.", Lv 10 "In Virtuose Stance, every Burn applied is doubled.", Lv 20 "In Virtuose Stance, Burn deals double damage.")

You can win with your other party members, but they'll just be weapons you likely already have, which will then just get a simple Level Upgrade.

If you miss it here, you'll have another chance if you defeat Golgra (the "Chef"/Chief) with Maelle... but be warned that the fight is MUCH harder than the tournament, and you'll likely be well into the Act 3 Endgame before being able to accomplish it.

There's a someone asking for your help in the same friendly village named Karatom (the same one you first met in the Ancient Sanctuary) You can find them in the far west side of town working on the "Ultimate Sakapatate".

To fulfill their request: when navigating Esquie's Den you can find a "Mushroom" Quest Item next to the Mime. Take it back to Karatom to get a 1:1 duel with the "Ultimate Sakapatate"! Beating it rewards 3x Polished Chroma Catalyst and the Pure Outfit for Gustave. You cannot complete this after Act 1!

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Act 2 Missables

There is a missable camp scene directly after Achievement #27: i.e. after defeating the 1st Axon that you can miss. Be sure to "Check up on the others" at the campfire every chance you can get! Directly after the scene with Verso, Maelle (and Esquie) playing on the Piano, you'll get the "Lettre à Maelle" Record.

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Act 3 Missables

Regarding one of your party member's relationship levels: for Maelle - after doing her Side Quest and reaching Relationship Level 6, do NOT lie to her, or you'll miss out on the "Maelle" achievement, which will become completely locked out.

More details for this are in the "Achievements In Order - Act 3 (32-41)" section under "39 - Maelle".

Regarding a request from a friendly Nevron: in the Floating Cemetary you'll meet the Chalier, another one of the friendly Nevrons you've been encountering throughout The Continent. they will ask you to kill them after fighting them. The reward for granting his request is the "Auto Powerful" Pictos (Lv 19, 241 SPD, 20% Crit, "Apply Powerful for 3 turns on battle start.")

You will completely miss out on this in a playthrough if you refuse to kill him, as that is the ONLY place to get that Pictos & Lumina passive.

If you talked to a certain someone in the Prologue: check in with the Trash-can Man once you've returned to Lumière for 1x Perfect Chroma Catalyst!

If you did NOT speak with him in the Prologue, then nothing happens. This one's missable in the sense that Perfect Chroma Catalysts are limited per playthrough (i.e. not a infinitely farmable item)

Achievements In Order - Prologue (1-4)

01 - A Peculiar Encounter

Defeat the Mime in Lumière.

[MISSABLE - You can try again in New Game Plus, or start a quick New Game just to fight it]
While exploring Lumière before heading to the harbor, explore to the right where there are some dancing people on a stage. There's a Mime just next to them. Interact with it, fight it, and defeat it!


Once you're near it's location, it'll really stand out.

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02 - Time to Spill Some Ink

Break an enemy.

[Can be done in any combat]
The simplest way to achieve this is to use Gustave's Overcharge ability (if you fight the Mime, it's a prime candidate for this)


The break bar for an enemy is the yellow one directly underneath their health bar.

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03 - Overcharge

With Gustave, use a fully charged Overcharge that Breaks an enemy.

[Can be done any combat]
Also on the Mime in Lumière, build up your AP to 10 then unleash Overcharge! You can still get this later on any enemy if you missed the Mime.


Parry attacks and spend your extra AP on Lumière Assault to gain 10/10 Overcharge (leave some AP unspent to use it)

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04 - Lumière

Embark on the expedition.

[Required for Progression]
Continue the story until you've officially departed on the expedition.


Title card drop shortly after this!

Achievements In Order - Act 1 (5-13)

05 - Professional

Defeat a boss without taking any damage.

[The earlier the better]
I ended up doing this one on the first area/zone boss, Eveque. Later boss fights are also possible with this same strategy: practice the boss fight, primarily with dodging until you learn all their moves and their timing. If you get hit, you can pause the game in the middle of the battle and easily load your last save to try again.

You can also accomplish this on "Mini-bosses" as well, as the "Chromatic Lancelier" (the one Lune says "looks dangerous") in Spring Meadows also counts!


Eveque here has some pretty predictable moves; many you'll learn quickly if you repeat the fight for practice.

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06 - Spring Meadows

Find your way through Spring Meadows.

[Required for Progression]
After defeating your first area/zone boss, Eveque, this one will trigger once you've reached the World Map!


The end of Spring Meadows is right after defeating Eveque (and some light climbing)

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07 - Paint Cage

Break a Paint Cage.

[Can be done in many areas]
The first Paint Cage you can find is in Flying Waters, near the beginning. "Paint Cages contain rare loot. To unlock the Cage, find its 3 locks and shoot them."

If you're having trouble with any of the Puzzles or Paint Cages found throughout the game, I've included a section below titled "Puzzles - Paint Cages & More" down below with all of the solutions!


The "locks" in question look like this. Use your ranged attack while close enough to trigger them.

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08 - Weapon Upgrade

Upgrade a weapon once.

[Can be done anytime in camp after The Manor]
After finding and recruiting Maelle in the Flying Waters, leave to the World Map and set up camp. The Curator will have followed you there, and offers Weapon Upgrades.


Now you can get everything up to Level 3, then choose your strategies for each party member!

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09 - Lumina

Consume a Lumina point.

[Can be done anytime in camp after The Manor]
After finding and recruiting Maelle in the Flying Waters, leave to the World Map and set up camp. The Curator will have followed you there, and offers Expedition Upgrades.


You'll finally be able to use all those Colour of Lumina items you've been hoarding!

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10 - Flying Waters

Find your way through Flying Waters.

[Required for Progression]
Once you've reached Goblu, just beyond the Lumieran Streets Rest Point, you'll know you've reached the end of the Zone. This boss also has some pretty easy tells, so this is another good opportunity for the "Professional" achievement as well (no damage taken from a boss) if you don't already have it.


With enough dodges during the jumps and avoiding the 2-hit combo, you can take this boss down in fairly quick order.

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11 - Curious

Witness an optional scene at camp.

[Can be done anytime in camp after Flying Waters]
After Flying Waters, you'll automatically be in your camp. After checking the campfire, you'll get the option to "Check up on the others." Hit it, and you should get another cutscene with your party discussing what's happened so far.


Really hard to miss this one!

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12 - Perfect Flow

With Lune, consume Stains 4 turns in a row.

[Just need Lune and a battle that lasts long enough]
If you have the "Trebuchim" weapon (dropped in the Ancient Sanctuary) that "Generates a random Stain on Free Aim shot.", then you'll basically have unlimited Stains to consume. Combine this with the skill "Thermal Transfer" (for AP) or feed Lune all of your AP items to make sure she can keep spending every turn.


Good targets for this (that last long enough) are bosses, the Mimes, and the Pétank.

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13 - Synergy

Maelle, use Percée on a Marked enemy while in Virtuose Stance.

[Just need Maelle and a battle that lasts long enough]
After recruiting Maelle, you'll start with the skill "Percee", and soon unlock other that trigger her "Virtuose" stance. Gustave has a "Marking Shot" skill that guarantees that the enemy will be marked. Make sure Maelle has enough AP, the correct stance, and the target stays marked to trigger this one. Note: you can skip other party members turns if you don't want them to use up the "Marked" debuff!


Lots of setup but a really big payoff! Good targets for this (that last long enough) are bosses, the Mimes, and the Pétank.

Achievements In Order - Act 1 (14-19)

14 - Ancient Sanctuary

Find your way through Ancient Sanctuary.

[Required for Progression]
This one will trigger right as you defeat the final boss, the Ultimate Sakapatate.


Final boss of the area; keep an eye out for his weak spot on his arm behind the shield!

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15 - Gestral Village

Find your way through the Gestral Village.

[Required for Progression]
Talk to the "Chef"/Chief of the village, Golgra, then win the Arena Tournament.

Depending on who wins the tournament, you'll get a completely different weapon as a reward:
Lune - Trebuchim
Maelle - Medalum (GET THIS ONE! - You cannot get another until much, much later!)
Gustave - Sakaram

You'll get the password for Esquie's Nest from Golgra directly after that! Once you leave the village, this achievement will trigger immediately before the next cutscene.


"Get outta my way!"

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16 - Maximization

With Sciel, consume 20 Foretell on a single target during Twilight.

[Requires Sciel but can be done any combat]
Can be done after you recruit Sciel at the end of Gestral Village. This one, like Lune and Maelle's achievements, are more easily done on longer fights, like Mimes and Bosses.

Method 1: Feed her AP boosting items! Build 10 Foretell before the Twilight phase. Foretell gained is doubled during the Twilight phase, so leave 10 on an enemy, then apply another 5 (doubled to 10) until you reach the new 20 Foretell max during Twilight. Spend it before Twilight wears off in 2 turns, and you've got it!

Method 2: Feed her AP boosting items! The Spectral Sweep skill (with critical hits) during Twilight can generate 20 Foretell all on it's own (some luck required!), otherwise save up for Final Path much later, which applies 10 (20 doubled) Foretell. Spend it all with a cheap skill, and you've got it!

Method 3 (easiest): Get the Chation weapon for Sciel, from Greatsword Cultists in the Stone Wave Cliffs. At Level 4 it provides: "Sun Skills always apply 10 Foretell, but all damage taken is doubled." It goes without saying but this weapon makes this achievement a total cakewalk!


"It's a lot of info to absorb, but play around with Sciel and you'll get used to it!"

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17 - Legend

Unlock Esquie.

[Required for Progression]
Triggers at the same time as Esquie's Nest. The entire area is pretty simple, all you need to do is beat up Francois then talk to Esquie again, although there are some side shenanigans to get up to in here, since there is also a Mime and a Pétank to beat up after some light exploring.


"Faster travel! The blue rocks are now crushable!"

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18 - Esquie's Nest

Find your way through Esquie's Nest.

[Required for Progression]
Triggers at the same time as the "Legend" achievement. The entire area is pretty simple, all you need to do is beat up Francois then talk to Esquie again, although there are some side shenanigans to get up to in here, since there is also a Mime and a Pétank to beat up after some light exploring.


"Thanks Francois!"

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19 - Stone Wave Cliffs

Find your way through Stone Wave Cliffs.

[Required for Progression]
One of the longest areas/zones we've been to yet; you'll know you're near the end after the 5th Rest Point and a boss fight with the Lampmaster. Feel free to prepare and explore as much of the World Map and this landlocked part of the Continent as you can before progressing. The whole world will open up much more once Act 2 begins (after several cutscenes in a row, of course)


"Simon Says: see if you can solve the Lamp Trial while you're at it!"

DO NOT READ THIS unless you've started Act 2, I'm Serious, Spoilers:
SAFETY SPACING details further down below SAFETY SPACING























Gustave will die after a final stand against the White Haired Man, and you'll recruit Verso in his stead.

If for some reason you don't have the "Overcharge" achievement by now, then that does in fact, become missable.

Anything optional with Gustave is no longer possible, including the getting the Pure Outfit as a Side Quest from the Gestral Village, as well as buying the Sakapatate Outfit & Gestral Haircut from the Gestral Merchant on the far west side of town.

With this knowledge in hand... note that you can still reload an auto-save from before the end of Act 1, so you can finish as many Side Quests & Achievements with Gustave as you possibly can.

Achievements In Order - Act 2 (20-31)

20 - Perfection

With Verso, reach Rank S.

[Available after recruiting Verso, can be done in any combat]
Just like with the other Challenge achievements related to each character, you need enough time for setup to reach full potential. In Verso's case, it's much easier than the others, since you can just skip turns and keep dodging/parrying until you've reached Rank S.

Additional Method 1: When helping out the Nevron Troubadour in the Stone Quarry, you keep your rank throughout the trial, so if you intentionally fail the trial, you'll eventually get to rank S without much trouble (or needing to gear him up at all for that matter!)

Additional Method 2: For a significantly easier time, use Verso's Sakaram weapon which provides "Can't lose Perfection. No damage increase from Rank."


"Just need enough time to build up Perfection and you're golden!"

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21 - Forgotten Battlefield

Find your way through Forgotten Battlefield.

[Required for Progression]
Once you've reached the Ancient Bridge Rest Point, you'll encounter the Dualliste boss right after trying to cross the bridge. Defeat it, and the end of the area is very shortly after that. Leave out of the other end of Forgotten Battlefield, and the achievement will trigger!


"2 phases to this fight, just like with the Lampmaster."

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22 - Expedition 33

Unlock all playable characters.

[Required for Progression]
Right after meeting Monoco at Monoco's Station, defeating him in a duel, then defeating the Stalact boss, you'll officially recruit Monoco as your final party member and trigger this achievement!


"Should be a relatively easy fight, but watch out for the elemental absorbs when it changes element!"

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23 - Monoco's Station

Find your way through the Grandis Station.

[Required for Progression]
Right after doing Monoco's tutorial (or skipping it) this achievement should trigger immediately.


"It also comes with a free Nevron foot!"

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24 - Expeditioner

Reach level 33.

[Can be done any combat]
You're likely to trigger this one automatically at or around Old Lumière.


"If you've memorized certain enemy patterns, you'll get that +20% Exp Boost from 'No Damage' way more often"

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25 - Old Lumière

Find your way through Old Lumière.

[Required for Progression]
Triggered directly after the boss fight with Renoir at the end of Old Lumière. You'll have to fight this one with Lune, Maelle, and Verso to start; and if you don't do a Gradient Parry he will make your party members disappear!


"Good to know he can bleed..."

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26 - Wheel Control

With Monoco, cast an Upgraded Skill 4 turns in a row.

[Just need Monoco, can be done any combat]
You can get this achievement any time after recruiting Monoco, but you very likely will build up a collection of Skills for him first, from all the Nevrons you'll be defeating (de-feet-ing?)

Highly recommended after you recruit Monoco to leave him in your party at almost all times, because he will NOT learn the Skill unless he's in the active party.

Ended up doing this one with these low AP Skills & feeding Monoco Energy Tints (gives AP):
Abbest Wind (2 AP) - Agile Mask (Purple)
Rocher Hammering (3 AP) - Heavy Mask (Green)
Braseleur Smash (4 AP) - Balanced Mask (Red)
Chevalière Piercing (3 AP) - Agile Mask (Purple)
Bruler Bash (4 AP) - Caster Mask (Blue)
Cruler Barrier (4 AP) - Heavy Mask (Green)

All of these Skills can be learned if you bring Monoco into every single fight after recruiting him, and finishing Old Lumière. A good enemy that will last long enough are the ones directly West of Old Lumière on an island on the World Map, but any enemy will do.


"Any cheap AP Skills will do, just make sure you have 1 of each color!"

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27 - First Axon

Defeat the first Axon.

[Required for Progression]
You can tackle the 2 Axons in any order. In my case; I ended up tackling the Visages area first.

You can fight the boss directly through the path they mention at the start, but exploring the 3 side paths are well worth doing first. When you defeat the Mask Keeper through the direct path, the achievement will trigger shortly after the boss fight.


"Another 2 phase fight, both with some massive spectacle!"

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28 - Second Axon

Defeat the second Axon.

[Required for Progression]
The Axons can be fought in any order, but in my case, I ended up fighting Sirène second.

Before you fight Sirène, get the "Anti-Charm" Pictos (and learn the Lumina passive from it) from the optional boss fight with Tisseur. It makes for a significantly easier fight - but you can still avoid the Charm status effect if your timing is on point.


"With Anti-Charm enabled, this fight should be fairly breezy."

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29 - Monolith

Reach the Monolith.

[Required for Progression]
The crescendo of your critical path, as soon as you've breached the barrier with the weapon forged from the 2 Axons, it'll trigger after a few turns of trying to attack the "Paintress".


"Get ready for the longest area yet...!"

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30 - Paintress

Defeat the Paintress.

[Required for Progression]
You'll get this one for defeating the 3rd and final phase of the Paintress fight at the very top of the inside of the Monolith.


"Congrats on a winning a difficult fight! Sit back and get ready what comes next."

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31 - Back to Lumière

Go back to Lumière.

[Required for Progression]
The final achievement for Act 2, this one will automatically trigger shortly after defeating the Paintress.


"Huzzah for a happy ending! Unless...?"

Achievements In Order - Act 3 (32-41)

32 - Sciel

Reach relationship level 7 with Sciel.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
If you've been speaking with Sciel consistently; a short ways into Act 3 you'll be able to reach Max Relationship level with no extra fuss! Afterwards, she unlocks the Level 3 Gradient Attack "End Slice".


"The lead up can be a little spicy too, depending on your choices..."

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33 - Plane, Train, and Submarine

Discover all of Esquie's abilities.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
You'll unlock Esquie's ability to swim underwater by reaching Relationship Level 6 with him! Just make sure you're speaking with him consistently, and a short ways into Act 3 you'll be able to do it.


"The whole world is now open to you and your crew!"

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34 - Esquie

Reach relationship level 7 with Esquie.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
Shortly after unlocking Esquie's ability to swim, you should also be able to Max out his Relationship Level with no additional fuss. Afterwards, Verso unlocks the Level 3 Gradient Attack "Angel's Eyes".


"The adventures continue!"

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35 - Lost Gestrals

Find all of the Lost Gestrals.

[Can be done any time in Act 3 - No combat required]
Check out the section titled "Lost Gestrals - Locations & Rewards" for the full list of Lost Gestrals, including which Acts they can be first accessed on, as well as their full set of rewards!


"Sastro thanks you! Back to doing his one true passion..."

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36 - Chroma Proficiency

Use a level 3 Gradient Attack.

[Must have reached Relationship Max/Level 7 with anyone first]
Once you're in Act 3, Relationship Levels will now be available to be maxed out (Level 7) Reach Level 7 with anyone you want, then enter a fight long enough for you to build up to and spend 3 Gradient Points on a Gradient Attack.


"Takes a while to build up, but the payoff is pretty grand!"

---

37 - Aiding the Enemy

Finish all of the Nevron quests.

[Can be done over the course of the game, with the last few being in Act 3]
See the "Friendly Nevron Quests - Locations & Rewards" section for the full list of Friendly Nevrons, including which Acts they can be first accessed on, as well as their full set of rewards!


"The final prize for this one is actually worthwhile, so give it a go!"

---

38 - Trailbreaker

Reach level 66.

[Can be done at any time, most likely in Act 3]
There are many, many locations that will absolutely destroy you if you try to tackle them immediately after starting Act 3.

The safest place to go right at the beginning while still making decent progress is The Reacher in the very northwest near The Crows, which is required for Maelle's 6-7 relationship levels.

Now that you have a way to breach 9999 damage, you can also now tackle Frozen Hearts and the Dark Shore which should both now around your overall power level.

Progressing like normal in Act 3 without any kind of grinding session will absolutely get you to Level 66 no problem. There's more than enough enemies, dungeons, and zones to explore and fight, even though most are completely optional if you just want to go straight to Lumière and finish the game.


"The Act 3 power level fluctuates wildly, but if you find a good spot, take advantage."

---

39 - Maelle

Reach relationship level 7 with Maelle.

[MISSABLE - Can only be done in Act 3, after getting Maelle to relationship level 5]
Unlike Sciel and Esquie, you'll need to do a Side Quest through a major Optional Dungeon/Zone first before getting Maelle past relationship level 6, and then 7.

You'll get a map marker for The Reacher, just above The Crows on the northwestern-most side of the World Map. The power level for this dungeon is such that it can be done very shortly after starting Act 3. Breach the dungeon, then progress all the way to the end and defeat the boss. You'll return to camp shortly afterwards.

HOWEVER, this achievement is MISSABLE if you say the wrong thing to Maelle during a scene at camp.

The moment of truth... (literally) is here. Do NOT lie to her; you must tell the truth or you'll be completely locked out. Afterwards, you will unlock Maelle's Level 3 Gradient Attack: "Gommage".



"There's a life lesson in here somewhere..."

---

40 - Sprong

Beat Sprong.

[Can be done anytime shortly after Act 3 starts]
After completing The Reacher (and probably Frozen Hearts, or the ability to clear out Dark Shore) you should have enough damage to take out Sprong, the large monster Nevron on the ocean, just outside of the Blades' Graveyard.

If you like, trigger the auto-save trick on the island just south of it, so you can re-try and practice the timing for it's attacks.

The reward for defeating Sprong is absolutely key for tackling the rest of the optional Dungeon and Superboss content in Act 3: the "Cheater" Pictos (Lv 24, 1198 HP, 400 SPD, "Always play twice in a row.")


"Sprong is now Sprung!"

---

41 - Lune

Reach relationship level 7 with Lune.

[Can only be done in Act 3, after getting Lune to relationship level 5]
Another Side Quest that you must do to unlock level 6-7 relationship with Lune, is to head to Sirène's Dress on the eastern side of the same island that you completed the Sirène dungeon. You can't get in here unless you've talked to Lune first about it, so make sure you get the Quest first!

Unlike Maelle's Side Quest with a full dungeon area, here you'll only need to fight a single enemy, the Chromatic Glissando. If you recall the fight in the Sirène dungeon area, then there will be some familiar patterns!

Defeat it, get the Journal in the back, then return to camp to unlock level 6-7 relationship with Lune! After reaching level 7 specifically, you'll unlock Lune's Level 3 Gradient Attack: "Sky Break".


"Treat yourself!"

Achievements In Order - Act 3 (42-47)

42 - Monoco

Reach relationship level 7 with Monoco.

[Can only be done in Act 3, after getting Monoco to relationship level 5]
Speak with Monoco in camp until you get a request to bring Noco back to life at the Sacred River. It can only be reached by flying (just north of Monoco's Station) and it will be highlighted on your map after accepting the Quest from Monoco.

There's a Gestral merchant here with some valuable Lv 20 Pictos (after fighting them) and 1x Colour of Lumina, but the main attraction is right in the middle with the option to resurrect Noco. Give it a try, then Golgra will stop you! Monoco challenges her to a trial by combat, which you must win with only Verso and Monoco.

With enough damage, you can skip Golgra's 2nd Phase, which is significantly deadlier, and with harder combos to avoid. You can come back later if your damage is still not good enough.

Afterwards, you'll bring Noco back to life, and head back to camp. Speak with Monoco to reach Relationship Level 6-7! Monoco will then learn his Level 3 Gradient Attack: Break Point.


"The bromance continues!"

---

43 - Gestral Games

Win all of the Gestral games.

[Can be done over the course of the game, but can only be finished in Act 3]
There are 5 Gestral Beach locations on the World Map, one in Act 1, three in Act 2, and a final one in Act 3, accessible only by flying.

There is no combat, only timing and parkour challenges, so your experience may vary greatly on finishing these!

Gestral Beach #1 (Act 1) - Parkour Training: Part of the landlocked area of the continent for Act 1, directly west of the Gestral Village.
Tips & Tricks: Some sprinting is required for the first set of logs, but you can slow down for the rotating ones near the end to make the jumps easier to land.

Gestral Beach #2 (Act 2) - Rafting Volley Club: Swim directly to the Northeast of the Stone Wave Cliffs, after Act 2 starts.
Tips & Tricks: For the Achievement, you only need to defeat "The Weakest" one and "Just a normal one" to trigger it. For the timing on "The Strongest"... the best advice I can provide is that if you miss one, then let the next one go, so that you can completely re-orient the timing of your attacks.

Gestral Beach #3 (Act 2) - Gestral Ascension: Directly to the west of Monoco's Station, after exiting through it's northwest exit.
Tips & Tricks: Take this one slow and steady if you can; since a fall means almost certainly that you'll have to repeat the entire thing. It's also good practice to learn how your character determines "when" they'll grab a ledge to pull themselves up. Keep at it!

Gestral Beach #4 (Act 2) - Gestral Race: On a small beach to the east of Sirène.
Tips & Tricks: Sprint all the way through, then when given a fork in the path at the very end, make sure you take the one on the right.

Gestral Beach #5 (Act 3) - Wall Climb: Found directly to the south of Gestral Beach #4, after Esquie learns how to fly.
Tips & Tricks: Watch the balls at the top primarily instead of where your character is located; then anticipate your moves in advance! When in doubt, play it slow and safe.

Still having trouble? Here's an extremely quick video (no commentary) that shows all 5 games being completed, as well as their rewards. Hopefully there's a technique or two on display that help you complete them!

"A time honored JRPG (FRPG? J'RPG?) tradition!"

---

44 - Weapon Mastery

Fully upgrade a weapon.

[The item for this can only be obtained in Act 3]
The best place for the final weapon upgrade material is the Flying Manor, which is on a floating island, high above Monoco's Station, to the south.

You'll need to defeat 4 powered up bosses that you've fought before, and *most* of them will drop a Perfect Chroma Catalyst, which will take a weapon from Level 32 to Level 33. The enemies in here also drop weapons at around Level 28, so it's a small leap to get them to max level.


"Of course it maxes out at 33, for good measure"

---

45 - À On

Beat the Serpenphare.

[Can be done any time during Act 3.]
The Serpenphare is hanging out in the sky just above White Sands, in the eastern side of the World Map. It'll absorb all of your AP at the beginning of the fight, and use it to deal massive damage later on. You can power through the restriction with enough damage, otherwise practice avoiding it's moves by auto-saving nearby.

Similar to the bosses from the Flying Manor, it'll drop a max level weapon upgrade, a Perfect Chroma Catalyst!


"It'll either be the fight of your life, or with enough power, a short distraction."

---

46 - Carreau Parfait

Beat the Chromatic Pétank.

[Can be done any time during Act 3.]
In the large area completely landlocked in the very southeastern part of the World Map, there will be a gigantic Chromatic Pétank you can chase, just like within the zones & dungeons. Chase it from the very northern tip, all the way down to the south until it becomes trapped. Fight it, defeat it, and get your achievement.


"By now, these don't put up much a fight, and neither does this one!"

---

47 - Noir et Blanc

Solve the Painting Workshop’s mystery.

[Can be done any time during Act 3.]
There are 3 Painting Workshops located throughout the world. Halfway down the workshop (leveraging your parkour skills, of course) you can speak with a Faceless Boy. In each one, you'll get a Light of the Beast, Shape of the Beast, and a Heart of the Beast.

Use all 3 on the statue at the very bottom, right next to the Rest Point Expedition Flag. After that, you'll fight another Lampmaster. Defeat it to get the achievement.


"How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?"

Achievements In Order - Act 3 (48-51)

48 - Clea

Beat Clea.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
After the 4 boss battles in the Flying Manor, and a rather intimidating door opening sequence... you'll face off against Clea, or at least, a heavily modified version done by the real Clea.

The fight itself is a test of all of the Nevrons you've been fighting all game, with the exact same timings for Dodging, Parrying, and Jumping; so in that sense, it's a genuine test of your skill if you fight it legit!

If you're looking for some cheese though, then the Flying Manor itself is a good place to start experimenting with new strategies, and that's when I stumbled upon a combination of boosts for Maelle, then blowing up bosses before they can react.

I used Maelle's "Medalum" Weapon (boosted to Level 33) which starts her off in "Virtuose Stance". You can get it either in Act 1 for winning the tournament with Maelle, or now, by defeating Golgra in a duel.

The 2 skills that'll annihilate bosses in short order are "Stendhal" and "Burning Canvas".

With "Stendhal", all you need to do is stuff every damage boost on Maelle as you can, with the others playing support (or her going solo)

With "Burning Canvas", just stack as much burn as you can with the other party members (we're talking in the 100's) and it'll do roughly equivalent damage as well.


"Actually rather appropriate for Maelle to be destroying things in one hit now."

---

49 - Feet Collection

Acquire all of Monoco’s skills.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
Check out the "Skills - Monoco (Enemies & Locations)" section for all the details on where and how to get all of Monoco's Skills!


"Just enough for Monoco to start his own OnlyFans..."

---

50 - “Endless”

Reach the top of the Endless Tower.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
The Endless Tower can be found in the southwestern side of the World Map (just look up, you can't miss it)

It starts out with a roughly normal power level, enough for you to start it at the beginning of Act 3, but eventually, you'll be facing off against multiple powered up bosses at once in the higher tiers!

If the fights start getting too tough, there's no penalty for leaving and coming back later, and your progress will be saved. If you're capable of tackling the Flying Manor, I'd say you're completely ready to take on the full Endless Tower as well.

There are 11 Stages, with 3 Trials each, for a total of 33(!) fights that you must successfully complete in order to "Finish the Endless Tower". There are quite a few unique rewards here, and if you want any missing Monoco Skills, you can also get *most* of them here.


"A rematch with the Paintress (and then some)"

---

51 - Peace At Last

Beat Simon.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
Simon can be found in The Abyss, just past the Golden Tree Rest Point in Renoir's Drafts, THE final optional dungeon.

Let's be honest, you're either doing this one legitimately, or you're gonna try to cheese it! See below for the full details...

Legitimate Strategy:
Simon will do all of these things and more, so bring things to counteract them:

• "Simon steals all Shields." He'll take ALL of your team's shields, and add them to himself. You can use that against him, or you can avoid bringing any to prevent him from getting them.
  
• "The Expedition is removed from the Canvas." At 1/4 health in Simon's 2nd phase, your primary party will be completely wiped away and there is NOTHING you can do about it. Your reserve team will have to finish the job.
  
• "Simon gathers Chroma around ******." He'll reduce a party member's HP to 1. Can't be avoided.
  
• "The dead are removed from the Canvas." Anyone who's dead will be permanently removed from the fight, leaving only the living.
  
• The rest of the 2 phases are full on Dodge & Parry combo fests, so best of luck to you! Note that some of the attacks will come so fast that you MUST Parry them; Dodge recovery is too slow.

Cheese Strategy:
Boost Maelle's damage as much as you possibly can, with support Skills and Luminas, then use the "Stendhal" Skill in "Virtuose Stance". You can kill Simon in BOTH phases with over 50,000,000 damage in a single hit.

Any Weapon will do as long as it's Power is high enough, though I used Maelle's "Medalum" Weapon (Maxed at Lv 33) for this.

Various Lumina to equip on Maelle for the "One Shot" build (you do not need all of these):

• Augmented First Strike (+50% damage on the first hit of battle)
  
• Burn Affinity (+25% damage on burning enemies)
  
• Burning Shots (+20% chance to Burn on shot)
  
• Cheater (Always play twice in a row)
  
• Confident Fighter (+30% damage but can't be healed)
  
• Critical Burn (+25% crit on burning enemy)
  
• Critical Moment (+50% crit if health below 30%)
  
• Empowering Last Stand (Gain Powerful if fighting alone)
  
• First Offensive (+50% damage first hit dealt)
  
• First Strike (Always play first - you don't want Simon acting first)
  
• Full Strength (+25% damage on full health)
  
• Glass Canon (+25% damage, take 25% more damage)
  
• Greater Defenceless (+15% damage amplification)
  
• Greater Powerful (+15% to Powerful increase)
  
• Immaculate (+30% damage until hit)
  
• In Medias Res (+3 Shields but -50% max health)
  
• Inverted Affinity (Inverted on self for 3 turns on battle start, +50% damage)
  
• Last Stand Critical (+100% crit when solo)
  
• Marking Shots (+20% chance to Mark on shot)
  
• Painted Power (damage can exceed 9999)
  
• Powered Attack (+20% damage but consumes 1 AP)
  
• Powerful Shield (+10% damage per Shield on self)
  
• Roulette (50% chance to do either 50% or 200% damage - just try again if you roll low)
  
• Shield Affinity (+30% damage when you have Shields - synergy with "In Medias Res")
  
• Solo Fighter (+50% damage if solo)
  
• SOS Power (Auto Powerful when below 50% health)
  
• Stun Boost (+30% damage on stunned enemies)
  
• Tainted (+15% damage for each status effect on self)
  
• Teamwork (+10% damage while all allies are alive)
  
• The One (max health reduced to 1)
  
• Warming Up (+5% damage per turn, stacks 5 times)

The other party members are there to boost Maelle's damage further w/ support Luminas (you do not need all of these):

• Auto Death (Kill self on battle start - synergy with Maelle's solo skills & "on death" skills)
  
• Breaking Death (Fully charge enemy's break bar on death - synergy with "on break" skills and "Stun Boost")
  
• Burning Break (3 stacks of burn on break - synergy with Burn skills)
  
• Burning Death (3 stacks of burn on death - synergy with Burn skills)
  
• Energising Death (on death +4 AP to allies)
  
• Shielding Death (+3 Shields to allies upon death)

"Pretty fitting for Maelle to erase him, though Verso gets the loot, of course"

Achievements In Order - Act 3 (52-55)

52 - Follow The Trail

Find all of the journals from prior expeditions.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
Check out the "Collectables - Records & Journals" sections for all the details on where and how to get all of the Journals! Note: this can only be done after getting the "Peace At Last" achievement, as you get one of the required Journals for beating THE optional superboss.


"There are some hidden ones, so don't completely rely on this menu."

---

53 - Survivor

Reach level 99.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
Renoir's Drafts is THE highest level Dungeon by far. You can get there by using Esquie's swimming underwater ability in-between the 2 Axon Islands, Visages and Sirène.

The 2nd Rest Point, the Golden Tree, is the place where you'll set up shop for farming the experience necessary to hit Level 99. The enemies here will also infinitely drop up to 2x Colour of Lumina, 2x Grandiose Chroma Catalyst (Lv 32 Weapon Upgrade Materials), and 1x Recoat, if you still need additional power boosts.

The average for winning a fight will be about 2,000,000; with a +20% boost for "No Damage". With the right combination of Luminas (Passives), you can blow through each fight in less than 30 seconds.

Fight the 3 groups of enemies around the building with the Gestral Merchant on it, then simply rest and repeat! You can also just fight the Gestral Merchant repeatedly, if you just want experience funneled into one party member.

Here's an extremely quick video (no commentary) that shows the loop, how fast the battles can be done, as well as the full kit for Maelle who will be doing most of the work:

"33 just divides and multiplies into so many pleasant numbers (probably why they chose it)"

---

54 - The End

Reach the end.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
If you've been following along this guide thus far, then you'll have completed most if not all of the side quest content by now. In which case, Lumière and the final boss will be absolutely trivial!

After defeating Renoir in front of the Tower in Lumière and regardless of whether you decide the fate of the Canvas by choosing Verso or Maelle, you will get this achievement.

After beating the game, restoring your save will drop you off at the last Rest Point, along with a Record - "Our Drafts Collide". At every Rest Point, you'll now see a new option to start "New Game +" (NG+).

You can continue playing your existing game from that point, with no pressure to start New Game Plus. You can do that any time, at your own leisure, so don't worry about beating the game locking you out of anything.


"You may wish to stall a bit in order to trigger some dialogue..."

---

55 - Connoisseur

Find all 33 music records.

[Can only be done in Act 3]
Check out the "Collectables - Records & Journals" sections for all the details on where and how to get all of the Records! Note: this can only be done after getting "The End" achievement, as you get one of the required Records ("Our Drafts Collide") for beating the game.


"Yet another 33... Must be a lucky number! (or an inside joke)"

World Map - Act 1 - Tips & Tricks

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There's been a good amount of discussion around "beating one's head against a wall" for exploring difficult areas a little early; so I thought I'd also include maps with star ratings (★) to let people know the overall "Combat Difficulty Relative to the Start of the Act".

Additional World Maps Note: Any unlabeled location icon simply means that you can't go there yet! Just passing by it will add it to your map, though.

---

Flying Waters

MISSABLE - After recruiting the 3rd party member, you'll meet a Gestral Merchant, Noco! Eventually they will move on from that location, so try to buy everything you can from him before then.

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Gestral Village

Berrami

Found in the Gestral Village Market just next to Jujubree, he'll reward you for showing him all of the Journals you've collected thus far.

Come back to him every now and again once you've got a fair amount and he'll give chunks of 20x Colour of Lumina at certain "Journals Found" breakpoints, with a total of 100x Colour of Lumina for all Journals found!

Victorifo

On the left hand side of the street on the way to the Arena from the Chief's place, there will be a sleeping Gestral named Victorifo. You can see some loot behind him... but trying to jump past him doesn't work.

To get the loot: shoot his mirror from the doorway! He'll tell you "he was taking a nice nap, and he hopes you didn't wake him up just to steal his stuff"...

Proceed to steal said stuff (1220 Chroma) then commence the consequences!

Tournament

MISSABLE (sort of) - Regarding a Unique Weapon after recruiting the 4th party member: in the Gestral Village, win the tournament with Maelle to get the "Medalum" Weapon! (Physical Damage, DEF/AGI Scaling, Lv 4 "Start in Virtuose Stance.", Lv 10 "In Virtuose Stance, every Burn applied is doubled.", Lv 20 "In Virtuose Stance, Burn deals double damage.")

You can win with your other party members, but they'll just be weapons you likely already have, which will then just get a simple Level Upgrade.

If you miss it here, you'll have another chance if you defeat Golgra (the "Chef"/Chief) with Maelle... but be warned that the fight is MUCH harder than the tournament, and you'll likely be well into the Act 3 Endgame before being able to accomplish it.

Karatom - The "Ultimate Sakapatate"

MISSABLE - There's a Gestral named Karatom (the same one you first met in the Ancient Sanctuary) in the far west side of town working on the "Ultimate Sakapatate" who asks for your help.

To find what Karatom's looking for: when navigating Esquie's Den you can find a "Mushroom" Quest Item next to the Mime. Take it back to Karatom to get a 1:1 duel with the Ultimate Sakapatate! Beating it rewards 3x Polished Chroma Catalyst and the Pure Outfit for Gustave. You cannot complete this after Act 1!

---

Hidden Gestral Arena

The order of difficulty for the fights here aren't signposted, but the easiest is at the top and the strongest at the bottom (★ = Overall Difficulty):

• Matthieu the Colossus (★) - 2228 XP, 391 Chroma, "Last Stand Critical" Pictos (Lv 6, 168 HP, 50 DEF, "100% Critical Chance while fighting alone.")
  
• Bertrand Big Hands (★★) - 8506 XP, 686 Chroma, "Accelerating Last Stand" Pictos (Lv 6, 168 HP, 34 SPD, "Gain Rush if fighting alone.")
  
• Dominique Giant Feet (★★★) - 19190 XP, 1022 Chroma, "Protecting Last Stand" Pictos (Lv 6, 168 HP, 50 DEF, "Gain Rush if fighting alone.")
  
• Julien Tiny Head (★★★★) - 31248 XP, 1392 Chroma, "Empowering Last Stand" Pictos (Lv 6, 168 HP, 10% Crit, "Gain Powerful if fighting alone.")

The Reward for beating everyone in the arena is the "Solo Fighter" Pictos (Lv 6, 168 HP, 50 DEF, "Deal 50% more damage if fighting alone.")

The fights are all infinitely repeatable for XP & Chroma, but they only provide the item reward *once*!

This place is particularly great for the 4 fight requirement to learn Lumina passives from a Pictos (especially later when you've got tons to learn) but you don't want to switch out the Pictos on your team too often.

Just equip 3 Pictos w/ unlearned Lumina, choose Matthieu the Colossus again, then blow him up!


Bagara will absolutely call you out for these shenanigans though; c'est la vie!

World Map - Act 2 - Tips & Tricks

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Yellow Harvest

If you skipped Yellow Harvest in Act 1, now's the perfect time to do it; as it's level is roughly on par with the Stone Wave Cliffs (or a little past it)

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Dark Shores

Once you encounter the enemies here, you will find out very quickly why Expedition 33 has been coined the "Disaster Expedition". If you're feeling brave (and can juke an enemy or two) you can get some items well beyond your current level here. Other than that though, it's a recipe for disaster to try and take them on now!

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Frozen Hearts

Very similar to Dark Shores, if you're feeling brave (and speedy) you can get some items well beyond your current level here. You can definitely try to take on some enemies, but you're probably better off waiting until you've gained a bit more power first.

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After gaining the ability to traverse reefs, the World Map opens up exponentially! The newly accessible areas have mostly enemies running around the Overworld proper (as well as some tantalizing looking areas just out of reach...) but there is one new optional dungeon area in the form of Falling Leaves, to the far west of the Forgotten Battlefield.

You can take this one optional dungeon fairly handily before taking on the 2 Axons on the Visages or Sirène islands.

---

After Defeating the 1st Axon (Visages or Sirène)

MISSABLE - There is a camp scene after defeating the 1st Axon that you can miss. Be sure to "Check up on the others" at the campfire every chance you can get! Directly after the scene with Verso, Maelle (and Esquie) playing on the Piano, you'll get the "Lettre à Maelle" Record.

---

Sirène

Manor Door

The Manor Door in here takes you back to The Manor, as usual, but the room it takes you to is seemingly empty, compared to all the other times you've visited. The trick here is: to destroy the mirror in that bathroom, for a "Shape of Health" item that upgrades the effectiveness of your Healing Tints!

Tisseur

Just after the Sewing Atelier Rest Point, you'll see a massive enemy called the Tisseur, with a warning that it works for Sirène. It's completely optional to fight, but taking it out does indeed provide an advantage, not only for the "Anti-Charm" Pictos & Lumina, but also it provides buffs to Sirène during the boss fight later, if it's still alive.

World Map - Act 3 - Tips & Tricks

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Early Act 3

You can make a beeline for Lumière after Act 3 starts, but there's quite a few places to head to first if you want to run the gamut of the optional side areas! The power levels can feel rather overwhelming, until you find a few areas that are significantly more reasonable to take on.

Recommended areas for first starting Act 3 - See Map for Locations
(★ = Combat Difficulty Relative to Act 3 start)

• Lumière (★★ - Leave to do other optional areas afterwards)
  
• Endless Night Sanctuary (★★)
  
• The Reacher (★★ - Maelle's Side Quest)
  
• Sacred River (★★ - Monoco's Side Quest)
  
• Sirène's Dress (★★ - Lune's Side Quest)
  
• Frozen Hearts (★★★ - If you didn't do it in Act 2)
  
• Crimson Forest (★★★)
  
• Dark Shores (★★★)
  
• Dark Gestral Arena (★★★)

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Camp

MISSABLE - Regarding one of your party member's relationship levels: for Maelle - after doing her Side Quest and reaching Relationship Level 6, do NOT lie to her, or you'll miss out on the "Maelle" achievement, which will become completely locked out. More details for that are in the "Achievements In Order - Act 3 (32-41)" section under "39 - Maelle".

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Floating Cemetary

You'll meet the Chalier here, another one of the friendly Nevrons.

MISSABLE - Regarding their request: they will ask you to kill them after fighting them. The reward for granting his request is the "Auto Powerful" Pictos (Lv 19, 241 SPD, 20% Crit, "Apply Powerful for 3 turns on battle start.")

You will completely miss out on this in a playthrough if you refuse to kill him, as that is the ONLY place to get that Pictos & Lumina passive.

---

Lumière

MISSABLE - If you talked to a certain someone in the Prologue: check in with the Trash-can Man once you've returned to Lumière for 1x Perfect Chroma Catalyst!

If you did NOT speak with him in the Prologue, then nothing happens. This one's missable in the sense that Perfect Chroma Catalysts are limited per playthrough (i.e. not a infinitely farmable item)

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Late Act 3

You should absolutely eliminate the world boss Sprong (south of Blades' Graveyard) if you haven't already!

Once you've done a few of the early Act 3 locations, then you can hit up the pinnacle(!) optional areas (the superbosses & significantly more challenging enemies):

• Endless Tower (★★★ to ★★★★★)
  
• Flying Manor (★★★★)
  
• Renoir's Drafts (★★★★★)

---

Flying Manor

After defeating the final boss Clea, make sure you speak with the Young Boy in the middle of the main plaza. You'll the the option to choose a garment (The "Clea" Outfit) for Lune, Sciel, or Maelle. You can only get 1 of these each playthrough!

Collectables - Act 1 - Records & Journals

Prologue - Records & Journals - In Order

Found in Lumière

• Record - Lumière - From defeating the Mime near the harbor.

Act 1 - Records & Journals - In Order

Found in Spring Meadows

• Journal - Expedition 81 - The first one you find, can't miss this one since it's part of a cutscene when you meet the friendly Jar Nevron (the one that wants you to "find light")

Found in Flying Waters

• Journal - Expedition 68 - Directly in the critical path to the end of the zone; can't miss it!

Found in The Manor

• Record - Nocturne pour un masque de tristesse - In the room with the dining table and the piano, there will be 4 interactable wall fixtures you can flip to reveal a hidden passage with this Record. You can get this any time you visit The Manor, no matter how you got there. Image below for additional visual assistance:

Found in Ancient Sanctuary

• Journal - Expedition 63 - Found just off the brick pathway that leads to the end of the area.

Found in Gestral Village

• Journal - Expedition 52 - Located past a small path just to the right of the Infirmary Doctor.

Found in Esquie's Nest

• Journal - Expedition 66 - After completing the area and Esquie knocks over the pillar, follow and explore that path.

Found in Stone Wave Cliffs

• Journal - Expedition 78 - After the first Rest Point, hug the right wall until you reach a rope. It'll be just at the top.
  
• Journal - Expedition 56 - Once you reach the cliffs area, hug the left side and you'll see it near a statue.
  
• Journal - Expedition 50 - After the Paintress Shrine, hug the left side again and you'll see it near the cliffside.

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Found in The Small Bourgeon - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 53 - At the very end of the area.

Found in Yellow Harvest - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 38 - After the Harvester's Hollow Rest Point, on top of a large ramp next to the lake.
  
• Journal - Expedition 44 - After the Harvester's Hollow Rest Point, next to the giant lake, before the cave with the Mime.
  
• Journal - Expedition 59 - in a cave to the left of the Yellow Spire Wrecks Rest Point.

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Found on the Overworld/World Map/The Continent

• Journal - Expedition 62 - Behind some blue rocks breakable by Esquie north of Gestral Village.
  
• Record - Goblu - Bought from the merchant just north of The Small Bourgeon.
  
• Record - Lights of the Past (Requires Esquie first) - Found in the Ancient Gestral City, east of Flying Waters on the World Map.
  
• Record - Un 33 Decembre a Lumière (Requires Esquie first) - Found in the Twilight Quarry, south of Esquie's Nest on the World Map.
  
• Record - Aline's Glasshouse (Requires Esquie first) - Found in the Lost Woods, just past the Yellow Harvest (a completely optional area/zone)

Collectables - Act 2 - Records & Journals

Act 2 - Records & Journals - In Order

Found in Stone Wave Cliffs

• Record - Gustave - Where you fought the Lampmaster. There's a rear entrance for quick access once you've started Act 2.

Found in the Forgotten Battlefield

• Journal - Expedition 41 - Found directly to the right of the Battlefield Rest Point, in the trenches just before the Chromatic Luster Nevron. Hug the left wall to find it.
  
• Journal - Expedition 57 - Found shortly after the Battlefield Rest Point, on the way to the Ancient Bridge.

Found in Monoco's Station

• Journal - Expedition 65 - At the end of the zone near the East Exit, past where you first met Monoco across a train track bridge.

Found in Old Lumière

• Journal - Survivor - When the party is split up and you're in control of Maelle and Verso, you'll see a large pipe sticking out of the side of a cliff. Climb on, drop down inside, and use the Old Key from the beginning of the game to unlock the gate.
  
• Journal - Expedition 58 - Can't miss this one, it's the Journal that Lune finds in the cutscene at the end of their path.
  
• Journal - Expedition 42 - Facing towards the Manor at the end of the zone, head right before the hedges, then down a rope to find this Journal.
  
• Record - Renoir - On the left side of the Manor at the end of the zone, behind the hedges, there's another door to a room in the Manor that has this Record.
  
• Journal - Renoir - Also in the same rooms where you found the Renoir Record.

Found in Visages

• Journal - Expedition 69 - Found in the leftmost path (Joy) Continue hugging the left wall until you find it under a stone outcropping.
  
• Journal - Expedition 39 - Found in the middle path (Sadness) Hug the right wall and climb the cliff to find it at the top.
  
• Journal - Unknown (1) - Found in the path just to the right of the middle path (Anger) Hug the right wall until you find a cave; a Manor door will be in there. Go inside to find the Journal.
  
• Record - Verso - In the same place in the Manor as the Unknown Journal.

Found in Sirene

• Journal - Expedition 55 - From the Dancing Classes Rest Point, head up the stairs and you should see it fairly easily on your right.
  
• Journal - Expedition 67 - Next to the Dancing Area Rest Point, near some boxes and corpses.

Found in The Monolith

• Record - L'Amour d'une M'ère - Past the Tainted Battlefield Rest Point, you'll encounter a cave that leads to The Manor. It'll take you to a greenhouse with the Record.
  
• Journal - Aline - Next to the L'amour D'une Mere Record in the same greenhouse.
  
• Journal - Expedition 70 - Past the Tainted Lumière Rest Point, you'll find an alleyway past a large circular set of stalls. Continue down that way, and the Journal will be there.

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Found in Stone Wave Cliffs Cave - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 54 - Right next to the Chromatic Hexga. You can just grab it and try to fight it later, if you are so inclined.

Found in Crushing Cavern - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 45 - After the Giant Sapling boss, follow the critical path behind it and you'll find the Journal.

Found in White Tree - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 36 - Right in the middle, can't miss it.
  
• Record - Honeymoon in Lumière - Right in the middle, can't miss it.

Found in Stone Quarry - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 48 - Right next to the friendly Nevron Troubadour that you teach how to play.

Found in The Meadows - Optional Area

• Record - Our Painted Family - Right in the middle, can't miss it!

Found in Blades' Graveyard - Optional Area

• Record - Révérence - Right in the middle, can't miss it!

Found in Boat Graveyard - Optional Area

• Record - Alicia's Birthday Party - Right in the middle, can't miss it!

Found in The Carousel - Optional Area

• Record - Le Grand Cafe de Lumière - In the main carousel area after entering, there's a low key path to your left. The Record is at the end of that path.

Found in Falling Leaves - Optional Area

• Record - Alicia - After the first Rest Point there's a couple ropes to go down. There's a Manor door down here, go in to find the Record behind it.
  
• Journal - Expedition 35 - Near the Manor door, there's a climbing spot which leads to this Journal.
  
• Journal - Expedition 49 - Behind the Young Boy, after doing what he asks.
  
• Record - Until Next Life - Given by the Young Boy, after defeating the boss.

Found in The Crows - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 34 - This Journal is one of the only things here, except for these ominous looking crows...

Found in Frozen Hearts - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 51 - Past the first Rest Point. Enter the area with all the broken trains (straight ahead after crossing the train track bridge), and you'll find the Journal next to a patrolling enemy.
  
• Record - Clea! Don't Pull Your Sister's Hair! - Past the cave with a rope. There'll be a grapple point at the end, which leads to a Manor door. Enter that door to get the Record.

Found in Sinister Cave - Optional Area

• Record - Nocturne pour Lumière - When you first enter the area, you'll see a light above and what appears to be a merchant. Hug the right wall, until you reach a grapple point. Turn around after grappling, to grapple again across the chasm. Follow the path until you see the Merchant down below... but do NOT drop down. Instead, keep following the path until you find a tiny hole to drop through, and the Record will be there.

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Found on the Overworld/World Map/The Continent

• Record - Lost Voice - A trader, Strabami, is selling it north of the exit when you finish the Forgotten Battlefield.
  
• Journal - Expedition 64 - East of Twilight Quarry, after landing on a small beach.
  
• Journal - Expedition 47 - Far west, as far as you can go on land, after exiting Monoco's Station from it's northwestern-most exit.
  
• Journal - Expedition 43 (Esquie Reef Break ability required) - Decently far east of the Coastal Cave.
  
• Journal - Expedition 40 (Esquie Reef Break ability required) - On an island very close to the Paintress' Monolith barrier, this is the island you'll be on once the barrier is broken.
  
• Record - Robe de Jour (Esquie Reef Break ability required) - On a small island south of the entrance to Sirène. You can buy it from the Merchant there.

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Found in The Camp

• Record - Lettre à Maelle - Found after choosing to "Check up on the others." in Camp after defeating the 1st Axon. You'll get it after Verso and Maelle (and Esquie) enjoy some music.

Collectables - Act 3 - Records & Journals

Act 3 - Records & Journals - In Order

Found in Lumière

• Journal - Expedition 60 - Just before the Opera House Rest Point, there's a small walkway leading to water to the east. There'll be an input to have Esquie fetch it for you!
  
• Record - Lumière (2nd Chance) - Inside the Opera House, in case you missed it during the Prologue.
  
• Record - Our Drafts Collide - Added automatically after beating the game.

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Found in The Fountain - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 84 - This Journal can be found just past the Noire named Blanche, another friendly Nevron.

Found in Sirène's Dress - Optional Area

• Journal - Expedition 46 - In order to unlock the door to Sirène's Dress, you must have Lune at relationship level 5, then she'll ask about her parent's Expedition. Defeat the Chromatic Glissando, and it'll be right behind it.

Found in The Canvas - Optional Area

• Journal - Unknown (2) - This starts in The Canvas, on the floating island west of The Monolith. You pick up the Dessendre Family Portrait from there, and you take it to any of the doors to The Manor. In the Main Foyer, there will be an empty portrait just up the stairs to the right. Place the Portrait you picked up, and the door far in the back will open, with this Journal in it.

Found in The Flying Casino - Optional Area

• Record - Rêveries dans Paris - When you reach the main Casino building, loop around back to the right to find this Record.

Found in White Sands - Optional Area

• Record - Aline - Once you enter, you'll notice it's a very small area to navigate. You can easily find it at the very end.

Found in The Reacher - Optional Area

• Journal - Unknown (3) - From the 2nd Rest Point, move forward and drop down into the lowest level. There will be another Manor Door will be right in the middle, next to stack of wood. Enter to find and unlock another Manor Room, as well as this Journal.
  
• Journal - Expedition 61 - Right on the critical path (can't miss it) just before a hot air balloon that takes you further up.

Found in the Endless Tower - Optional Area

• Record - Clea - Automatically awarded upon completing the Endless Tower (all 33 fights)

Found in Renoir's Drafts/The Abyss - Optional Area

• Record - Endless Light - When first entering Renoir's Drafts, keep progressing but hug the left wall as much as you can. You'll enter a path with a grappling point at the very end. Grapple onto the roof, and on the other end is the Record.
  
• Journal - Simon - You must defeat Simon in The Abyss to get this Journal! There's no sneaking by this one...

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Found on the Overworld/World Map/The Continent

• Record - Forlorn - There's another Manor Door in the southeastern side of the World Map. This is the same area where you chase the Chromatic Pétank. Inside you'll find another Manor Room with this Record in it.
  
• Record - Children of Lumière - Bought from a Gestral Merchant just outside of the entrance to the Sacred River.
  
• Record - Linen and Cotton - Bought from a Gestral Merchant just outside of the entrance to the Isle of the Eyes.
  
• Journal - Expedition 37 - In the northeastern side of the World Map, there's a Gestral Beach where you play the handhold mini-game (the one with the water bubbles). When you enter, on the right, the Journal will be there.
  
• Journal - Julie - Directly west of the northern exit from The Forgotten Battlefield, there's a small area that you can only reach with a flying Esquie. There's some dangerous enemies here, but you can just swoop in and grab the Journal without fighting them.
  
• Journal - Verso - Same as above, but a little further in.

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Found by increasing Relationship Levels

• Record - Sciel - Reach Relationship Level 6 with Sciel!
  
• Record - Lune - Reach Relationship Level 6 with Lune!
  
• Record - Monoco - Reach Relationship Level 6 with Monoco!

Additional Journals & Records Notes

While your Journal can be completely "filled out" (e.g. all greyed out Journals filled in), there are hidden Journals that do not show up in the greyed out list.

So, if the "Follow The Trail" achievement (All Journals from prior Expeditions) is not triggering, double check specifically that you have all of the hidden Journals too.

Collectables - Tracking & Full Checklists

Want to track your collectables over the course of the game, or just see which Records you're missing? You can use this text checklist for an easy way to keep track! Copy & paste into a text editor of your choice, then mark the [ ] with an [X]. Enjoy!

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Journals Checklist (49 Total) - In order (same as in-game)

1. [ ] Verso - The Continent
   
2. [ ] Aline - The Manor
   
3. [ ] Renoir - The Manor
   
4. [ ] Unknown (1) - The Manor
   
5. [ ] Unknown (2) - The Manor
   
6. [ ] Unknown (3) - The Manor
   
7. [ ] Fracture Survivor - Old Lumière
   
8. [ ] Expedition 34 - The Crows
   
9. [ ] Expedition 35 - Falling Leaves
   
10. [ ] Expedition 36 - White Tree
    
11. [ ] Expedition 37 - Gestral Beach
    
12. [ ] Expedition 38 - Yellow Harvest
    
13. [ ] Expedition 39 - Visages
    
14. [ ] Expedition 40 - The Continent
    
15. [ ] Expedition 41 - Forgotten Battlefield
    
16. [ ] Expedition 42 - Old Lumière
    
17. [ ] Expedition 43 - The Continent
    
18. [ ] Expedition 44 - Yellow Harvest
    
19. [ ] Expedition 45 - Crushing Cavern
    
20. [ ] Expedition 46 - Sirène's Dress
    
21. [ ] Expedition 47 - The Continent
    
22. [ ] Expedition 48 - Stone Quarry
    
23. [ ] Expedition 49 - Falling Leaves
    
24. [ ] Expedition 50 - Stone Wave Cliffs
    
25. [ ] Expedition 51 - Frozen Hearts
    
26. [ ] Expedition 52 - Gestral Village
    
27. [ ] Expedition 53 - The Small Bourgeon
    
28. [ ] Expedition 54 - Stone Wave Cliffs Cave
    
29. [ ] Expedition 55 - Sirène
    
30. [ ] Expedition 56 - Stone Wave Cliffs
    
31. [ ] Expedition 57 - Forgotten Battlefield
    
32. [ ] Expedition 58 - Old Lumière
    
33. [ ] Expedition 59 - Yellow Harvest
    
34. [ ] Expedition 60 - Lumière
    
35. [ ] Expedition 61 - The Reacher
    
36. [ ] Expedition 62 - The Continent
    
37. [ ] Expedition 63 - Ancient Sanctuary
    
38. [ ] Expedition 64 - The Continent
    
39. [ ] Expedition 65 - Monoco's Station
    
40. [ ] Expedition 66 - Esquie's Nest
    
41. [ ] Expedition 67 - Sirène
    
42. [ ] Expedition 68 - Flying Waters
    
43. [ ] Expedition 69 - Visages
    
44. [ ] Expedition 70 - Inside The Monolith
    
45. [ ] Expedition 78 - Stone Wave Cliffs
    
46. [ ] Expedition 81 - Spring Meadows
    
47. [ ] Expedition 84 - The Fountain
    
48. [ ] Julie Search and Rescue - The Continent
    
49. [ ] Simon - The Abyss

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Records Checklist (33 Total) - In Descending Alphabetical Order (same as in-game)

1. [ ] Alicia
   
2. [ ] Alicia's Birthday Party
   
3. [ ] Aline
   
4. [ ] Aline's Glasshouse
   
5. [ ] Children of Lumière
   
6. [ ] Clea
   
7. [ ] Clea! Don't Pull Your Sister's Hair!
   
8. [ ] Endless Light
   
9. [ ] Forlorn
   
10. [ ] Goblu
    
11. [ ] Gustave
    
12. [ ] Honeymoon in Lumière
    
13. [ ] L'Amour d'une M'ère
    
14. [ ] Le Grand Café de Lumière
    
15. [ ] Lettre à Maelle
    
16. [ ] Lights of the Past
    
17. [ ] Linen and Cotton
    
18. [ ] Lost Voice
    
19. [ ] Lumière
    
20. [ ] Lune
    
21. [ ] Monoco
    
22. [ ] Nocturne pour Lumière
    
23. [ ] Nocturne pour un masque de tristesse
    
24. [ ] Our Drafts Collide
    
25. [ ] Our Painted Family
    
26. [ ] Renoir
    
27. [ ] Robe de Jour
    
28. [ ] Révérence
    
29. [ ] Rêveries dans Paris
    
30. [ ] Sciel
    
31. [ ] Un 33 Décembre à Lumière
    
32. [ ] Until Next Life
    
33. [ ] Verso

Quests - Lost Gestrals & Nevrons

Lost Gestrals - Locations & Rewards

Note: ALL of the Lost Gestrals are found on the Overworld/World Map/The Continent. There are none inside any of the zones or dungeons.

1. Act 1 - Right in front of Esquie's Nest, can't miss it!
   
2. Act 1 - Just east of the Stone Wave Cliffs entrance, past a giant Bourgeon (the ones that eat you)
   
3. Act 2 - On the same island as the White Tree area, just across the water from the first Gestral Beach.
   
4. Act 2 - East of the Monoco's Station south entrance, in front of 2 distinct green trees surrounded by snowy ones.
   
5. Act 2 - North of Old Lumière, on a Red Island behind 2 Mimes.
   
6. Act 2 - On a small beach just north of the Coastal Cave entrance.
   
7. Act 3 - Near the Endless Night Sanctuary entrance, far to the east.
   
8. Act 3 - North of The Reacher entrance, in a landlocked clearing.
   
9. Act 3 - On a distinct floating island, high near and above the Endless Tower entrance.

Rewards for Lost Gestrals (Speak with the large Gestral named Sastro at the back of your camp)
1 Saved: Gestral Hair Style for Maelle
2 Saved: Gestral Hair Style for Lune
3 Saved: Gestral Hair Style for Sciel
4 Saved: You can now destroy Paint Spikes with Paint Break! Time to start backtracking for all those Blue Paint Spikes you've been seeing all game.
5 Saved: Gestral Hair Style for Verso
6 Saved: 3x Colour of Lumina
7 Saved: 3x Colour of Lumina
8 Saved: 5x Colour of Lumina
9 Saved: The "Pro Retreat" Pictos (Lv 19, 1019 HP, 203 SPD, "Allows Flee to be instantaneous")

Friendly Nevron Quests - Locations & Rewards

You are given the option to "Attack" the friendly Nevrons after helping them. You can do so, and still get the "Aiding the Enemy" achievement, but there will be consequences for your choice later on.

1. Act 1: Jar (Spring Meadows) - Find the "Resin" Quest Item from just up ahead, give it to the Jar, then shoot the tip of the staff. Rewards 1x Healing Tint Shard.
   
2. Act 1: Démineur (Floating Waters) - Find the "Intact Mine" Quest Item just past Démineur, then return it to them. Rewards a weapon for Lune: the Deminerim (Lv 3, 81 Power, Lightning Elemental)
   
3. Act 1: Bourgeon (The Small Bourgeon) - Give the Small Bourgeon a "Bourgeon Skin" Quest Item, from defeating any Bourgeon. You can just leave and come back immediately for your reward: 1x Colour of Lumina.
   
4. Act 1: Hexga (Stone Wave Cliffs) - The Hexga is found overlooking a cliff just before the Tide Caverns Rest Point. Get 3 "Lustrous Rock Crystal" Quest Items from the darkened cavern area ahead, then return back to the Hexga. Rewards the "Auto Shell" Pictos (Lv 7, 411 HP, "Apply Shell for 3 turns on battle start.")
   
5. Act 1: Bénisseur (Red Woods) - Pay 5000, then 10000, then 25000, and finally 50000 Chroma to fulfill their request. Rewards the "Recovery" Pictos (Lv 20, 2000 HP, 324 DEF, "Recovers 10% Health on turn start.")
   
6. Act 2: Troubadour (Stone Quarry) - Accept it's request then dodge the Red Notes and let the Green Notes hit you. After 3 phases, you'll have completed it! Rewards the "Healing Parry" Pictos (Lv 10)
   
7. Act 2: Portier (Esoteric Ruins) - Retrieve the "Wood Boards" Quest Item at the end of the zone, then return it to the spirit. Rewards the "Protecting Heal" Pictos (Lv 10, 395 HP, 78 SPD, "Healing an ally also applies Shell for 1 turn.")
   
8. Act 2: Danseuse (Frozen Hearts) - Parry all of the attacks from the Danseuse teacher to complete their request. Rewards the "Danseuse" outfit for Lune.
   
9. Act 3: Chalier (Floating Cemetary) - Defeat Chalier in a fight after helping them choose 1 of 3 weapons, then they'll ask you to kill them afterwards. The reward for granting their request is the "Auto Powerful" Pictos (Lv 19, 241 SPD, 20% Crit, "Apply Powerful for 3 turns on battle start.") If you refuse, it will still count for the "Aiding the Enemy" achievement, but they won't give you anything. When you return later they will be dead, impaled by all 3 weapons, and there will instead be 11680 Chroma on the floor in front of them.
   
10. Act 3: Noire/Blanche (The Fountain) - Help MOST of the other friendly Nevrons without killing them (except Chalier) to count as helping Blanche. Afterwards, speak with them to receive a whopping 100x Colour of Lumina! If you've been helping and then killing them afterwards (even 1 or 2) instead... then Blanche will attack you! The Battle Loot for winning this fight is only 10x Colour of Lumina, which absolutely pales in comparison.

Puzzles - Paint Cages & More

Act 1 - Paint Cages & Puzzles

Flying Waters 1

Flying Waters 2

The Manor 1

The Manor 2

Ancient Sanctuary

Stone Wave Cliffs 1

Stone Wave Cliffs 2

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Act 2 - Paint Cages & Puzzles

Old Lumière

Sirène

Inside the Monolith 1

Inside the Monolith 2

Note: This one requires the Paint Break ability from rescuing 4 Lost Gestrals.

Inside the Monolith 3

Stone Wave Cliffs Cave - Optional Area

Esoteric Ruins - Optional Area

The Crows - Optional Area

Shoot all of the crows pictured to reveal a Chromatic Chapelier. Defeating it will provide 10,833 Chroma, the "Shielding Death" Pictos (Lv 22, "On death, allies gain 3 Shield points."), 5x Colour of Lumina, 2x Grandiose Chroma Catalyst, the unique "Minason" Weapon for Sciel (Lv 22, Physical Damage, VIT/LUK Scaling)

Frozen Hearts 1 - Optional Area

Frozen Hearts 2 - Optional Area

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Act 3 - Paint Cages & Puzzles

Isle of the Eyes - Optional Area

Similar to the Paint Cages, instead you'll be popping the 3 eyeballs shown here to cross the bridge and fight the Chromatic Boucheclier.

Crimson Forest - Optional Area

With every sword you pull, the enemies here will get progressively harder (and more monochromatic) After pulling the 3rd and final sword, the final fight with a Chromatic Gold Chevalière will become available at the end.

Endless Night Sanctuary - Optional Area

Flying Manor 1 - Optional Area

Note: This one requires the Paint Break ability from rescuing 4 Lost Gestrals.

Flying Manor 2 - Optional Area

Skills - Monoco (Enemies & Locations)

Important Note: if you're not a fan of hunting down disparate enemies (or using Monoco at all) you can just take him through the entire Endless Tower gauntlet and he'll learn *almost* every single skill that way instead. Also, all of the skills can be learned in a single playthrough.

Full Infographics for Monoco's Skills

Monoco's Fully Completed Skill Tree; see below for ALL fully mapped details


Open image in a new tab and zoom in for the best resolution

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List of Monoco's Skills in Alphabetical Order + Locations

Important Note 2: Nearly all of these can be found in the Endless Tower, so that location is not included. The ones that are NOT in the Endless Tower are the Grosse Tête, Contorsionniste, and the Catapult Sakapatate.

1. Abbest Wind - Abbest (World Map - South of Monoco's Station)
   
2. Aberration Light - Aberration (Renoir's Drafts, Lumière)
   
3. Ballet Charm - Ballet (Sirène)
   
4. Boucheclier Fortify - Boucheclier (Visages)
   
5. Braseleur Smash - Braseleur (World Map - West of Old Lumière)
   
6. Bruler Bash - Bruler (World Map - Southwest of Monoco's Station)
   
7. Bénisseur Mortar - Bénisseur (Sirène)
   
8. Chalier Combo - Chalier (Default - Monoco starts with this Skill)
   
9. Chapelier Slash - Chapelier (Visages)
   
10. Chevalière Ice - Gold Chevalière (Old Lumière)
    
11. Chevalière Piercing - Ceramic Chevalière (Old Lumière)
    
12. Chevalière Thrusts - Steel Chevalière (Old Lumière)
    
13. Clair Enfeeble - Clair (Monolith - Tainted Meadows)
    
14. Contorsionniste Blast - Contorsionniste (Visages)
    
15. Création Void - Création (Renoir's Drafts, Lumière)
    
16. Cruler Barrier - Cruler (World Map - Southeast of Monoco's Station)
    
17. Cultist Blood - Greatsword Cultist (Sirène)
    
18. Cultist Slashes - Reaper Cultist (World Map - Northwest of Monoco's Station)
    
19. Danseuse Waltz - Danseuse (Sirène)
    
20. Duallist Storm - Dualliste (Flying Manor)
    
21. Démineur Thunder - Démineur (Monolith - Tainted Meadows)
    
22. Gault Fury - Gault (World Map - South of Monoco's Station)
    
23. Glaise Earthquakes - Glaise (World Map - North of Endless Night Sanctuary)
    
24. Grosse Tête Whack - Grosse Tête (World Map - West of Coastal Cave, Flying Manor)
    
25. Hexga Crush - Hexga (Monolith - Tainted Cliffs)
    
26. Jar Lampstorm - Jar (World Map - Next to Endless Night Sanctuary entrance)
    
27. Lampmaster Light - Lampmaster (Flying Manor)
    
28. Lancelier Impale - Lancelier (Monolith - Entrance)
    
29. Luster Slices - Luster (Monolith - Tainted Waters)
    
30. Moissonneuse Vendange - Moissonneuse (Visages)
    
31. Obscur Sword - Obscur (Monolith - Tainted Sanctuary)
    
32. Orphelin Cheers - Orphelin (The Reacher)
    
33. Portier Crash - Portier (Spring Meadows, Monolith - Entrance)
    
34. Potier Energy - Potier (World Map - a red island Northwest of Old Lumière)
    
35. Pèlerin Heal - Pèlerin (World Map - Northwest of Monoco's Station)
    
36. Ramasseur Bonk - Ramasseur (Visages)
    
37. Rocher Hammering - Rocher (World Map - South of Monoco's Station)
    
38. Sakapatate Explosion - Catapult Sakapatate (Ancient Sanctuary, Monolith - Tainted Sanctuary)
    
39. Sakapatate Fire - Ultimate Sakapatate (Monolith - Tainted Sanctuary)
    
40. Sakapatate Slam - Robust Sakapatate (Ancient Sanctuary, Monolith - Tainted Sanctuary)
    
41. Sakapate Estoc - Ranger Sakapatate (Ancient Sanctuary, Monolith - Tainted Sanctuary)
    
42. Sapling Absorption - Sapling (World Map - a small beach North of Coastal Cave)
    
43. Stalact Punches - Stalact (Default - Monoco starts with this Skill)
    
44. Troubadour Trumpet - Troubadour (World Map - Southeast of Monoco's Station)
    
45. Échassier Stabs - Échassier (The Reacher)
    
46. Évêque Spear - Évêque (World Map - North of Stone Quarry, Flying Manor)

Luminas - List & Details (1-60)

I was keeping track of these in my notes to see which Pictos/Luminas I had collected for potential buildcrafting. Basically ended up polishing it and placing it here in case y'all find it useful! Enjoy!

Note: as of writing, I *believe* there are a total of 192 Pictos/Luminas in the game. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!

Lumina Name [#] - "Lumina Passive Effect Details"
[#] = Lumina Point Cost

• Accelerating Heal [5] - "Healing an ally also applies Rush for 1 turn."
  
• Accelerating Last Stand [3] - "Gain Rush if fighting alone."
  
• Accelerating Shots [3] - "20% chance to gain Rush on Free Aim shot."
  
• Accelerating Tint [5] - "Healing Tints also apply Rush."
  
• Aegis Revival [5] - "+1 Shield on being revived."
  
• Anti-Blight [10] - "Immune to Blight."
  
• Anti-Burn [15] - "Immune to Burn."
  
• Anti-Charm [10] - "Immune to Charm."
  
• Anti-Freeze [15] - "Immune to Freeze."
  
• Anti-Stun [5] - "Immune to Stun."
  
• At Death's Door [5] - "Deal 50% more damage if Health is below 10%."
  
• Attack Lifesteal [15] - "Recover 15% Health on Base Attack."
  
• Augmented Aim [3] - "50% increased Free Aim damage."
  
• Augmented Attack [7] - "50% increased Base Attack damage."
  
• Augmented Counter I [3] - "25% increased Counterattack damage."
  
• Augmented Counter II [5] - "50% increased Counterattack damage."
  
• Augmented Counter III [7] - "75% increased Counterattack damage."
  
• Augmented First Strike [5] - "50% increased damage on the first hit. Once per battle."
  
• Auto Death [1] - "Kill self on battle start."
  
• Auto Powerful [10] - "Apply Powerful for 3 turns on battle start."
  
• Auto Regen [10] - "Apply Regen for 3 turns on battle start."
  
• Auto Rush [10] - "Apply Rush for 3 turns on battle start."
  
• Auto Shell [10] - "Apply Shell for 3 turns on battle start."
  
• Base Shield [20] - "+1 Shield if not affected by any Shield on turn start."
  
• Beneficial Contamination [15] - "+2 AP on applying a Status Effect. Once per turn."
  
• Break Specialist [1] - "Break damage is increased by 50%, but base damage is reduced by 20%."
  
• Breaker [10] - "25% increased Break damage."
  
• Breaking Attack [10] - "Base Attack can Break."
  
• Breaking Burn [5] - "25% increased Break damage on Burning enemies."
  
• Breaking Counter [3] - "50% increased Break damage on Counterattack."
  
• Breaking Death [5] - "Fully charge enemy's Break Bar on death."
  
• Breaking Shots [1] - "50% increased Break damage with Free Aim Shots."
  
• Breaking Slow [5] - "25% increased Break damage against Slowed enemies."
  
• Burn Affinity [10] - "25% increased damage on Burning Targets."
  
• Burning Break [3] - "Apply 3 Burn stacks on Breaking a target."
  
• Burning Death [5] - "Apply 3 Burn to all enemies on Death."
  
• Burning Mark [15] - "Apply Burn on hitting a Marked enemy."
  
• Burning Shots [3] - "20% chance to Burn on Free Aim shot."
  
• Charging Alteration [10] - "+10% of a Gradient Charge on applying a Buff. Once per turn."
  
• Charging Attack [7] - "+15% of a Gradient Charge on Base Attack."
  
• Charging Counter [10] - "+20% of a Gradient Charge on Counterattack."
  
• Charging Critical [10] - "+20% of a Gradient Charge on Critical Hit. Once per turn."
  
• Charging Mark [10] - "+20% of a Gradient Charge on hitting a Marked target. Once per turn."
  
• Charging Stun [5] - "+5% of a Gradient Charge on hitting a Stunned enemy."
  
• Charging Tint [2] - "+5% of a Gradient Charge on using an item."
  
• Charging Weakness [5] - "+15% of a Gradient Charge on hitting a Weakness. Once per turn."
  
• Cheater [40] - "Always play twice in a row."
  
• Clea's Life [30] - "On turn start, if no damage taken since last turn, recover 100% Health."
  
• Cleansing Tint [5] - "Healing Tints also remove all Status Effects from the target."
  
• Combo Attack I [10] - "Base Attack has 1 extra hit."
  
• Combo Attack II [20] - "Base Attack has 1 extra hit."
  
• Combo Attack III [30] - "Base Attack has 1 extra hit."
  
• Confident [20] - "Take 50% less damage, but can't be Healed."
  
• Confident Fighter [15] - "30% increased damage, but can't be Healed."
  
• Critical Break [5] - "25% increased Break damage on Critical Hits."
  
• Critical Burn [5] - "25% increased Critical Chance on Burning enemies."
  
• Critical Moment [5] - "50% increased Critical Chance if Health is below 30%."
  
• Critical Stun [5] - "100% on Critical Chance on hitting a Stunned target."
  
• Critical Vulnerability [5] - "25% increased Critical Chance on Defenceless enemies."
  
• Critical Weakness [5] - "25% increased Critical Chance on Weakness."

Luminas - List & Details (61-120)

• Dead Energy I [2] - "+3 AP on killing an enemy."
  
• Dead Energy II [2] - "+3 AP on killing an enemy."
  
• Death Bomb [5] - "On Death, deal damage to all enemies."
  
• Defensive Mode [1] - "On receiving damage, consume 1 AP to take 30% less damage, if possible."
  
• Dodger [1] - "Gain 1 AP on Perfect Dodge. Once per turn."
  
• Double Burn [30] - "On applying a Burn stack, apply a second one."
  
• Double Mark [20] - "Mark requires 1 more hit to be removed."
  
• Draining Cleanse [15] - "Consume 1 AP to prevent Status Effects application, if possible."
  
• Effective Heal [30] - "Double all Heals received."
  
• Effective Support [5] - "+2 AP on using an item."
  
• Empowering Attack [10] - "Gain Powerful for 1 turn on Base Attack."
  
• Empowering Break [3] - "Gain Powerful on Breaking a target."
  
• Empowering Dodge [5] - "5% increased damage for each consecutive successful Dodge. Can stack up to 10 times."
  
• Empowering Last Stand [3] - "Gain Powerful if fighting alone."
  
• Empowering Parry [5] - "Each successful Parry increases damage by 5% until end of the following turn. Taking any damage removes this buff."
  
• Empowering Tint [5] - "Healing Tints also apply Powerful."
  
• Energetic Healer [10] - "+2 AP on Healing an ally. Once per turn."
  
• Energising Attack I [10] - "+1 AP on Base Attack."
  
• Energising Attack II [15] - "+1 AP on Base Attack."
  
• Energising Break [3] - "+3 AP on Breaking a target."
  
• Energising Burn [10] - "+1 AP on applying Burn. Once per turn."
  
• Energising Cleanse [10] - "Dispel the first negative Status Effect received an gain 2 AP."
  
• Energising Death [5] - "On death, +4 AP to allies."
  
• Energising Gradient [10] - "+1 AP per Gradient Charge consumed."
  
• Energising Heal [10] - "On Healing an ally, also give 2 AP."
  
• Energising Jump [5] - "+1 AP on Jump Counterattack."
  
• Energising Pain [10] - "No longer gain AP on Parry. +1 AP on getting hit."
  
• Energising Parry [15] - "+1 AP on successful Parry."
  
• Energising Powerful [10] - "Give 2 AP on applying Powerful."
  
• Energising Revive [5] - "+3 AP to all allies when revived."
  
• Energising Rush [10] - "Give 2 AP on applying Rush."
  
• Energising Shell [10] - "Give 2 AP on applying Shell."
  
• Energising Shots [10] - "20% chance to gain 1 AP on Free Aim shot."
  
• Energising Start I [5] - "+1 AP on battle start."
  
• Energising Start II [10] - "+1 AP on battle start."
  
• Energising Start III [15] - "+1 AP on battle start."
  
• Energising Start IV [20] - "+1 AP on battle start."
  
• Energising Stun [10] - "+1 AP on hitting a Stunned target with a Skill."
  
• Energising Turn [20] - "+1 AP on turn start."
  
• Energy Master [40] - "Every AP gain is increased by 1."
  
• Enfeebling Attack [10] - "Base Attack applies Powerless for 1 turn."
  
• Enfeebling Mark [10] - "Marked targets deal 30% less damage."
  
• Exhausting Power [2] - "50% increased damage if Exhausted."
  
• Exposing Attack [10] - "Base Attack applies Defenceless for 1 turn."
  
• Exposing Break [5] - "Apply Defenceless on Break."
  
• Faster Than Strong [10] - "Always play twice in a row, but deal 50% less damage."
  
• First Offensive [5] - "First hit dealt and taken deals 50% more damage."
  
• First Strike [10] - "Play first."
  
• Fueling Break [5] - "Breaking a target doubles its Burn amount."
  
• Full Strength [15] - "25% increased damage on full Health."
  
• Glass Canon [10] - "Deal 25% more damage, but take 25% more damage."
  
• Gradient Break [5] - "+50% of a Gradient Charge on Breaking a target."
  
• Gradient Breaker [5] - "+50% increased Breaking damage with Gradient Attacks."
  
• Gradient Fighter [5] - "+25% increased damage with Gradient Attacks."
  
• Greater Defenceless [15] - "+15% to Defenceless damage amplification."
  
• Greater Powerful [10] - "+15% to Powerful damage increase."
  
• Greater Powerless [15] - "+15% to Powerless damage reduction."
  
• Greater Rush [10] - "+25% Rush Speed increase."
  
• Greater Shell [10] - "+10% to Shell damage reduction."
  
• Greater Slow [15] - "+15% to Slow Speed reduction."

Luminas - List & Details (121-192)

• Healing Boon [10] - "Heal 15% HP on applying a buff."
  
• Healing Counter [10] - "Recover 25% Health on Counterattack."
  
• Healing Death [5] - "On death, the rest of the Expedition recover all Health."
  
• Healing Fire [10] - "Recover 25% Health when attacking a Burning target. Once per turn."
  
• Healing Mark [20] - "Recover 25% Health on hitting a Marked enemy. Once per turn."
  
• Healing Parry [5] - "Recover 3% Health on Parry."
  
• Healing Share [5] - "Receive 15% of all Heals affecting other characters."
  
• Healing Stun [10] - "Recover 5% Health on hitting a Stunned target."
  
• Healing Tint Energy [1] - "Healing Tints also give 1 AP."
  
• Immaculate [10] - "30% increased damage until a hit is received."
  
• In Medias Res [10] - "+3 Shields on Battle Start, but next Health is halved."
  
• Inverted Affinity [5] - "Apply Inverted on self for 3 turns on battle start. 50% increased damage while Inverted."
  
• Last Stand Critical [3] - "100% Critical Chance while fighting alone."
  
• Longer Burn [15] - "Burn duration is increased by 2."
  
• Longer Powerful [10] - "On applying Powerful, its duration is increased by 2."
  
• Longer Rush [10] - "On applying Rush, its duration is increased by 2."
  
• Longer Shell [10] - "On applying Shell, its duration is increased by 2."
  
• Marking Break [5] - "Apply Mark on Break."
  
• Marking Shots [3] - "20% chance to apply Mark on Free Aim shot."
  
• Painted Power [5] - "Damage can exceed 9,999."
  
• Painter [10] - "Convert all Physical damage to Void damage."
  
• Perilous Parry [5] - "+1 AP on Parry, but damage received is doubled."
  
• Piercing Shot [2] - "25% increased Free Aim damage. Free Aim shots ignore Shields."
  
• Powered Attack [10] - "On every damage dealt, try to consume 1 AP. If successful, increase damage by 20%."
  
• Powerful Heal [5] - "Healing an ally also applies Powerful for 1 turn."
  
• Powerful Mark [5] - "Gain Powerful on hitting a Marked enemy."
  
• Powerful On Shell [10] - "Apply Powerful on applying Shell."
  
• Powerful Revive [3] - "Apply Powerful for 3 turns when revived."
  
• Powerful Shield [5] - "10% increased damage per Shield Point on self."
  
• Powerful Shots [3] - "20% chance to gain Powerful on Free Aim shot."
  
• Pro Retreat [40] - "Allows Flee to be instantaneous."
  
• Protecting Attack [10] - "Gain Shell for 1 turn on Base Attack."
  
• Protecting Death [5] - "On death, allies gain Shell."
  
• Protecting Heal [5] - "Healing an ally also applies Shell for 1 turn."
  
• Protecting Last Stand [3] - "Gain Shell if fighting alone."
  
• Protecting Shots [3] - "20% chance to gain Shell on Free Aim shot."
  
• Protecting Tint [5] - "Healing Tints also apply Shell."
  
• Quick Break [3] - "Play again on Breaking a target."
  
• Random Defense [5] - "Damage taken is randomly multiplied by a value between 50% and 200%."
  
• Recovery [10] - "Recovers 10% Health on turn start."
  
• Rejuvenating Revive [3] - "Apply Regen for 3 turns when revived."
  
• Revive Paradox [5] - "Play immediately when revived."
  
• Revive Tint Energy [10] - "Revive Tints also give 3 AP."
  
• Rewarding Mark [5] - "+2 AP on dealing damage to a Marked target. Once per turn."
  
• Roulette [5] - "Every hit has a 50% chance to deal either 50% or 200% of its damage."
  
• Rush On Powerful [10] - "Apply Rush on applying Powerful."
  
• SOS Power [5] - "Apply Powerful when falling below 50% Health."
  
• SOS Rush [5] - "Apply Rush when falling below 50% Health."
  
• SOS Shell [5] - "Apply Shell when falling below 50% Health."
  
• Second Chance [40] - "Revive with 100% Health. Once per battle."
  
• Shared Care [10] - "When healing an ally, also Heal self for 50% of that value."
  
• Shell On Rush [10] - "Apply Shell on applying Rush."
  
• Shield Affinity [15] - "30% increased damage while having Shields, but receiving any damage always removes all Shields."
  
• Shielding Death [10] - "On death, allies gain 3 Shield points."
  
• Shielding Tint [10] - "Healing Tints also add 2 Shields."
  
• Shortcut [5] - "Immediately play when falling below 30% Health. Once per battle."
  
• Slowing Break [5] - "Apply Slow on Break."
  
• Sniper [15] - "First Free Aim shot each turn deals 200% increased damage and can Break."
  
• Solidifying [10] - "+2 Shields when the character's Health falls below 50%. Once per battle."
  
• Solo Fighter [1] - "Deal 50% more damage if fighting alone."
  
• Staggering Attack [1] - "50% increased Break damage on Base Attack."
  
• Stay Marked [10] - "50% chance to apply Mark when attacking a Marked target."
  
• Stun Boost [10] - "30% increased damage on Stunned targets."
  
• Survivor [20] - "Survive fatal damage with 1 Health. Once per battle."
  
• Sweet Kill [5] - "Recover 50% Health on killing an enemy."
  
• Tainted [5] - "15% increased damage for each Status Effect on self."
  
• Teamwork [5] - "10% increased damage while all allies are alive."
  
• The One [1] - "Max Health is reduced to 1."
  
• Time Tint [10] - "Energy Tints also apply Rush."
  
• Versatile [5] - "After a Free Aim hit, Base Attack damage is increased by 50% for 1 turn."
  
• Warming Up [15] - "5% increased damage per turn. Can stack up to 5 times."
  
• Weakness Gain [3] - "+1 AP on hitting an enemy's Weakness. Once per turn."

Luminas - Builds & Buildcrafting

The "(Auto) Death & Destruction" Build

Build Enablers

• Auto Death [1] - "Kill self on battle start."
  
• Death Bomb [5] - "On Death, deal damage to all enemies."

This one can be used essentially to get a huge boost at the beginning of a fight, if you're willing to make the sacrifice. It changes massively depending on later Lumina support, but you can still use it quite early! With enough additional Lumina support, you can even end fights before they begin!

Earliest Possible Assembly

Act 1 - All enablers can be found in Yellow Harvest

In Yellow Harvest, head Northeast after the Harvester's Hollow Rest Point; there will be a large & obvious land ramp angled upwards. To the right of that ramp, on level ground, is the "Death Bomb" Pictos. Then, buy the "Auto Death" Pictos from the Gestral merchant Pinabby, which you can find by going up the ramp. At the end of the area at the top (with all the lamps) there will be a grapple point with Pinabby at the top of it.

Additional Build Support

• Any other Lumina that boosts damage by a percentage
  
• Second Chance [40] - "Revive with 100% Health. Once per battle."
  
• Solo Fighter [1] - "Deal 50% more damage if fighting alone." (On the Lone Survivor if everyone else is dead)

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The "Lone Wolf" Build

Build Enablers

• Solo Fighter [1] - "Deal 50% more damage if fighting alone."
  
• Accelerating Last Stand [3] - "Gain Rush if fighting alone."
  
• Empowering Last Stand [3] - "Gain Powerful if fighting alone."
  
• Last Stand Critical [3] - "100% Critical Chance while fighting alone."
  
• Protecting Last Stand [3] - "Gain Shell if fighting alone."

This one's fairly simple, stack as many "fighting alone" Luminas as possible on a single character, then reap the benefits! The other characters in your party can still be included, but you'll probably want to equip Auto Death on them to guaranteed the solo Luminas are triggered.

Earliest Possible Assembly

Act 1 - All enablers can be found in the Hidden Gestral Arena

In the Hidden Gestral Arena, win against all combatants to get all of these Pictos & Luminas.

Additional Build Support

Equip these on other party members that don't have the "fighting alone" Luminas.

• Auto Death [1] - "Kill self on battle start."
  
• Breaking Death [5] - "Fully charge enemy's Break Bar on death."
  
• Energising Death [5] - "On death, +4 AP to allies."
  
• Shielding Death [10] - "On death, allies gain 3 Shield points."

Misc - Paint Spike Locations & Rewards

You'll gain the ability to destroy Paint Spikes (the large blue "this definitely looks like I could destroy it somehow" spikes) after and rescuing 4 Lost Gestrals. Speak with Sastro in your camp to unlock the ability.

There are only 2 Lost Gestrals accessible in Act 1, so the earliest you can unlock the Paint Break ability is in Act 2, shortly after finishing the Forgotten Battlefield.


Here is the first one you'll encounter in Spring Meadows (next to the friendly Jar Nevron) but you won't have a way to destroy it for a while.

Act 1 - Paint Spikes - Locations inside of Zones only

• Camp - The first one you'll encounter is right next to Sastro in Camp. Underneath it is 1x Colour of Lumina.
  
• Spring Meadows 1 - At the Abandoned Expeditioner Camp Rest Point, head to the right of the friendly Jar Nevron. You'll find 1x Colour of Lumina and the "Aegis Revival" Pictos (Lv 12, 218 DEF, 108 SPD, "+1 Shield on being revived")
  
• Spring Meadows 2 - In the area directly after Abandoned Expeditioner Camp, before where you fought Eveque. Behind the Paint Spikes are 3x Colour of Lumina.
  
• Flying Waters - Starting at the Lumieran Streets Rest Point, hug the left wall until you reach some handholds. Climb it, and see a patrolling enemy. To the right of them will be a Paint Spike with 1x Colour of Lumina underneath it.
  
• Ancient Sanctuary - After the Sanctuary Maze Rest Point, move forward until you see a fork in the path, then hug the left wall. Continue hugging the left wall until you find the Paint Spike, which has a new area behind it, with the Gestral Totem Rest Point. The loot here is: 1x Resplendent Chroma Catalyst (Lv 19 Weapon Upgrade), 1x Colour of Lumina, 6570 Chroma, and the "Piercing Shot" Pictos (Lv 12, 546 HP, 15% Crit, "25% increased Free Aim damage. Free Aim shots ignore Shields.")
  
• Gestral Village 1 - On the east side of town next to the "This is fine" Gestral, there's a Paint Spike with a weapon for Lune behind it: Betelim (Lv 12, 859 Power, Nature Elemental)
  
• Gestral Village 2 - Directly east of the Infirmary is a house with a Paint Spike in the entrance. Behind it is the "Powerful Shots" Pictos (Lv 12, 983 HP, 44 DEF, "20% chance to gain Powerful on Free Aim shot.")
  
• Stone Wave Cliffs - At the Old Farm Rest Point, head east near where the Paint Cage was; just below it in the alcove is the Paint Spike. Behind it there is hidden Pictos "Rejuvenating Revive" (Lv 12, 546 HP, 218 DEF, "Apply Regen for 3 turns when revived.") and the Chromatic Gault. Defeating it gives the "Tainted" Pictos (Lv 20, 1022 DEF, 12% Crit, "15% increased damage for each Status Effect on self."), 5x Colour of Lumina, and 2x Resplendent Chroma Catalyst.

Act 2 - Paint Spikes - Locations inside of Zones only

• Forgotten Battlefield - At the Fort Ruins Rest Point, climb across the handholds past the chasm, then you'll see the Paint Spike next to a Troubadour Nevron. Behind it is 1x Polished Chroma Catalyst, and a sort-of-shortcut.
  
• Sirène 1 - From the Dancing Classes Rest Point, head to the plaza ahead. Hug the left wall for an entrance, then hug right. Destroy the Paint Spike for 1x Resplendent Chroma Catalyst.
  
• Sirène 2 - From the Dancing Classes Rest Point, head to the plaza ahead, and keep going until you reach the circular platforms that take you to other parts of Sirène. When you land, hug left until you find the Paint Spike, underneath it is 1x Colour of Lumina.
  
• Inside the Monolith - From the Tainted Sanctuary Rest Point; there's a crawl space near the end that leads to a Paint Cage. The Paint Spike is hiding one of the Paint Keys you need to destroy to unlock the Paint Cage.

Act 3 - Paint Spikes - Locations inside of Zones only

• Lumière - At the Harbour Rest Point, simply head upstairs and hug right to see a Paint Spike with 4,900 Chroma underneath it.
  
• The Reacher - Near the Entrance Rest Point, progress and hug right until you climb a rope, at the top is the Paint Spike with 1x Colour of Lumina.
  
• Flying Manor - In the same chapel that houses the 3 Évêque bosses. This is the Paint Spike you need to destroy to reveal one of the Paint Keys to unlock the Paint Cage.
  
• Renoir's Drafts - Just before the Golden Tree Rest Point. Behind it is the Chromatic Creation, which drops the 1x Perfect Chromatic Catalyst for max level weapon upgrades.

Misc - Easter Eggs & References

A simple catalogue of all the discovered Easter Eggs in-game, as bonus content! (Note: an Easter Egg in games in the sense of hidden messages, meanings, images, or features)

In-Game Easter Egg 1 (All Characters): All of the various Pianos in-game have different tunes that play depending on which character you have actively selected! Sophie, Gustav, Lune, Maelle, Sciel, Verso, and Monoco ALL have their own unique themes; give it a try!

You can find a Piano for Sophie outside in the Prologue, and for everyone else inside of The Manor.

In-Game Easter Egg 2 (Final Boss): If you approach the final boss, Renoir, in the Lumière finale with everyone wearing Swimsuit Outfits, then Renoir will also be in a Swimsuit Outfit!

The things Renoir will do to relate with his children...

In-Game Easter Egg 3 (New Game Plus): New Game Plus (NG+) ONLY! If you take the Expedition Festival Tokens (without spending them) with you to a New Game Plus Prologue, then interact with the "Boulangerie" (French Bakery) that is right after you pick up Sophie, you can redeem them for Secret "Baguette" Weapons for ALL party members!

If you're curious about the weapon stats or the exact location, check this out!

External Reference 1 (Middle of Act 1): In the Gestral Village, there's a Gestral named Lorieniso playing the main theme of the game, Alicia, with an acoustic guitar. He can be found in the Theater area just east of the entrance. This is a direct reference to the game's composer, Lorien Testard!

Lorien's Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lorien26

External Reference 2 (Middle of Act 1): In the Gestral Village, there's a Gestral sitting in a house that's completely engulfed in fire. When you talk to them, they say "This is fine." Just in case you've somehow never heard of it before, it's a reference to one of the internet classics!

Full details here: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-is-fine/

External Reference 3 (Middle of Act 1): In the Gestral Village, in the western side of the village where they are building more Sakapatate, there's a Gestral Worker that says "Harder! Better! Faster! Stronger! Let's show these kids how we engineer around here!"

This is a reference to a classic Daft Punk song: "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"

THE original French electronic music duo!

Full details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daft_Punk

External Reference 4 (Middle of Act 1): In the Gestral Village, enter the Manor Door in the eastern part of the village, just before the Theater. Once you enter, you'll be in the kitchen. If you activate the Statue Bust, a Frying Pan, and a Candelabra, you will unlock a room up ahead with a picture of the entire Sandfall Interactive dev crew!



External Reference 5 (Middle of Act 1): In the Gestral Village, there's a pair of Gestrals trading "Double Dyad" cards in between the Casino and the Arena. This is a reference to the Triple Triad card game introduced in Final Fantasy VIII, and later added to Final Fantasy XIV.

Full card game details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Triad

Speaking of Final Fantasy XIV, the Dualliste boss has an attack called "Stormblood", and Sciel's Level 1 Gradient Attack is called "Shadow Bringer" which are references to the subtitles of FFXIV's expansions!

The developers have publicly stated that they were greatly inspired by the Final Fantasy games (especially VIII and X), so all of these references 100% track as fun homages that series!

External Reference 6 (Act 3 Optional Area/Boss): The Simon superboss fight in The Abyss - in both mannerisms (Two-handed sword over shoulder), location (The Abyss), and sheer evocation of nostalgia - absolutely appears to be a callback to Artorias of the Abyss from the Dark Souls/Soulsborne series.

That series also is the likely influence for the Chroma Elixirs replenishing like Estus Flasks at Rest Points/Expedition Flags (the equivalent of Bonfires), as well as respawning all enemies in the area when resting.

Given several of the team's favorite games mentioning at least 1 of the Soulsborne series (especially Elden Ring) you can see why it's blood lives within this game's veins!

Full details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Souls:_Artorias_of_the_Abyss

Start of Act 3 Reference 1: In case you missed it in between Act 2 & Act 3, you'll make a few discoveries in Epilogue Alicia. Specifically, if you explore thoroughly, you'll find that Noco and Monoco are named after the Dessandre family's dogs, Noco and Monoco the Third.

Start of Act 3 Reference 2: Expanding further on the previous reference, Monoco is also the official "Happiness Manager" at Sandfall Interactive! "Favorite games: Eating wood and chasing broomsticks :)"

Check out Monoco's profile here, along with the rest of the Team: https://www.sandfall.co/team

Start of Act 3 Reference 3: If you check the front door during Epilogue Alicia, you'll get the only reference (in words, at least) to the fact that the Dessendre Family Manor is located in Paris.

Less Obvious French Reference 1: The "Pétank" is a reference to "Pétanque", a popular game in the south of France! In this game you must throw metal balls as close to a smaller ball (called a "cochonnet" a.k.a. the "small pig") as you can. This is why all of their attacks are all full of large metal balls!

Full details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9tanque

Less Obvious French Reference 2: "Sakapatate" is from the phrase "sac à patate" which basically stands for "bag of potatoes"! It's used as an idiom for carrying things, typically over your shoulder.

Less Obvious French Reference 3: "Lumière" translates to "light" in English, and since Paris is quite famously known as the "City of Lights"... Giving the city the name of "Lumière" is exceptionally fitting!

Got any more you've spotted? Let me know in the comments!

Misc - New Game Plus (NG+)

I'm seeing a lot of questions about New Game Plus... so, those will go here!


"The official disclaimer!"

• More Difficult Enemies & Battles (in general)
  
• Keep All Character Progression (Levels, Pictos, Lumina, Weapons, etc.)
  
• Lose All Side Quest Progression
  
• Lose All Quest Items
  
• Lose All Relationship Levels

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Making a backup of your Saves (NG+)

Want to make a backup of your save games before starting New Game Plus?

On Windows

Hit the Windows key and type in %LOCALAPPDATA% for a shortcut, otherwise navigate to this location here manually:

C:\Users\[YourUsernameHere]\AppData\Local\Sandfall\Saved

Make a simple Zip file of that entire Saved directory, and that counts as your backup. Replace it whenever you like to Restore Your Saved Games!

On Playstation/Xbox

No idea! Community support for this one would be much appreciated.

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Additional Changes & Details (NG+)

SPOILERS Do not touch this additional section unless you've beaten the game! SPOILERS

Additional changes & details about "New Game Plus" not explicitly covered in the disclaimer given by the game:
You will keep your entire team from the very beginning: Sciel, Lune, Maelle, and even Monoco, until Act 2 begins, when Verso takes over for Gustave.

Monoco will keep ALL of his learned Skills; you do not need to collect those again. If you're still missing any, then NG+ is a great opportunity to pick them up from bosses you'd never fought with Monoco initially.

Gustave inherits all of Verso's weapons, and they even have a unique pistols that you never would've seen with Verso. He also inherits his same passive Luminas equipped you've had just before starting New Game Plus (Note: If you had the "Auto Death" Lumina equipped on Verso prior to starting NG+, then you'll be soft locked during the Prologue, whoops!)

Any Outfits & Haircuts you've unlocked for Gustave previously will still be there, and he'll have a few that you unlocked for Verso, like Renoir & Renoir's Suit.

Chroma pickups will be vastly increased in value, everywhere!

Pictos drops in nearly all instances will also be significantly increased in level. For example: the "Dodger" Pictos from the fight after Lune initially finds Gustave is now Level 21 instead. In NG+2, it becomes Level 31 instead.

Item drops are also increased! For example: the Mime in Spring Meadows now drops a Grandoise Chroma Catalyst (Lv 32 weapon upgrade material) instead.

This one's sort of implied from the "Lose All Side Quest Progression" part of the disclaimer, but you definitely lose the Paint Break ability and will need to rescue 4 Lost Gestrals once again.

The "Fog of War" clouds on the World Map will absolutely be back, and you'll have to uncover it all once you start over again.

There will be a Star (★) next to your saved game profile for every NG+ run you've started on the same save (NG+1 = ★, NG+2 = ★★, and so on)

New Game Plus - Exclusive Content (and an Easter Egg):
If you take the Expedition Festival Tokens (without spending them) with you to a New Game Plus Prologue, then interact with the "Boulangerie" (French Bakery) that is right after you pick up Sophie, you can redeem them for Secret "Baguette" Weapons for ALL party members!

If you're curious about the weapon stats or the exact location, check this out!

SPOILERS Do not touch this additional section unless you've beaten the game! SPOILERS

Outro

Spot anything I missed or found something you would like to add? Add a comment and I'll look into it when I get the chance!

Major credits for additional details, guidance, and information in this guide:

• CaldinEllana (less obvious french references)
  
• And everyone contributing in the comments! Check 'em out!

Still TODO & Additional Assistance Ideas:

• Any interest in a Walkthrough?
  
• An Items section?
  
• Maybe some Maps?

Spot anything I missed or found something you would like to add? Add a comment and I'll look into it when I get the chance!

Want more? Then please check out my other:

• Guides
  
• Mods
  
• Games[llamakazi.itch.io]

Please do not copy without my permission! (I'm talking to you, random data scraping blogs online) If you'd like to support my work by buying me a coffee I'd greatly appreciate it!
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Also if you can, please help out with this guide's overall visibility by hitting the Favorite & Like buttons up top - Cheers and Santé!

[angelicaalice]

How difficult is the platinum trophy on easy mode? Would you rate it a 3 out of 10?

[MiksU.U]

I seem to have gotten the Connoisseur achievement with only 32 records as I was missing Gustave. I got the achievement after collecting the one in The Carousel , and only after I went to get Gustave in stone cliffs.

[Kaelys]

A probably french-only reference: the achievement "45 - À On", for beating the Serpenphare is a wordplay.

Serpenphare = "Serpent" + "Phare" ("Snake" + "Lighthouse").

In the movie "Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra" (2002), Numerobis makes a joke at some point about the "Phare à On" (On's Lighthouse, "On" being the guys owning the "Lighthouse"), which also contextually sounds when you say it in french exactly like "Pharaon" (Pharaoh).

To add a bit, "À On" is never used in this order in french, as it would be gramatically incorrect.

[Devilmoon]

yes you can, just enter old lumiere from the exit and go back from where the manor was towards the beginning, you'll be able to reach the gate
also rip Maelle one shot build

[Ch3rry]

Can't you enter Old Lumiere from other side and just walk from the beginning?

[Sheo]

Just FYI im not blaming you. Great guide. I am just mad as hell. Had to get modding involvied to fix this. That is not my fault they can't put grappling hook to Left Street so we can go back. I had the key, ffs.

[Sheo]

Fucking hell man. You should probably say that if you DONT USE OLD KEY DURING SOLO MAELLE EPISODE YOU CAN NEVER USE IT. I just beat everyt fucking thing in the game, barely managed to kill Simon and now i see that you CAN'T FUCKING COME BACK to loot that shit. For no fucking reason.

[Llamakazi]

@Shestick
It's all good - easy to get turned around with no mini-map, that's for sure! And aye once we get millions of damage in the endgame, it's very easy to miss boss dialogue and mechanics Did my best to catalogue the ones I encountered though!

@PanzerPotato
I'm glad it helped you - cheers! Also awesome to help the Playstation & Xbox crews too (hopefully easier to navigate than some of those advertisement filled sites, that's for sure, lol)

[PanzerPotato]

Hello dear @Llamakazi. I just got platinum today on my PS5. Thank you very much once again for this amazing guide. The game itself was a wonderful adventure, and you made this adventure way smoother! Take care mate and all the best!

[Shestick]

Simon was something I definetely did not expect(tbh I almost missed the path to the Abyss, thinking that there is nothing after defeating Chromatic creation. Minimap lacking is the only thing I'm really pissed about this game) after beating the infinite tower and literally one-shotting Clea with Gommage dealing 74.5 million damage(I giuess it was somehow instakill, as it is way too much). Never intended Maelle to be a true onepunchman, just maximised her damage output. With this, I still half-cheesed Simon, by first punching him for ~20% by hands, then Gommage(It took me like 3-4 retries to even be able to charge it, and then we had a gamle that I lost like twice in a row) with ~33 million on a winning gamble, and last push to get him out of his remaining 3-4% hp. Wouldn't even know about his expedition erase if not for this guide, this is bonkers.