Master of Time

After 106 hours of gameplay, I finally got my platinum trophy for Final Fantasy XIII-2 (FFXIII-2)! My final statistics are Serah and Noel both fully developed with completely unlocked ultimate weapons (to unlock their ultimate weapons' full potential, one must collect all 160 fragments); these fully developed monsters in my party: Chichu (commando), Grand Behemoth (ravager), Flanitor (medic), Yakshini (synergist), Silver Chocobo (sentinel), Black Chocobo (saboteur); captured these rare monsters (I didnt fully develop them due to better choices for my party): Twilight Odin, Omega, Don Tonberry, Gigantuar, Cactuarina, Rangda, Nanochu and many others; 100% filled bestiary, 100% explored all areas, 713000~ gil (I have a stable means of farming gil easily via chocobo racing) and a stable means of farming high-tier monster materials.

Now that I've completely finished FFXIII-2, I can say that the post game is a lot more enjoyable than the first playthrough, especially once you have fully developed Serah and Noel's crystarium, have a stable income and some strong monsters. Also, this is something I should have realised long ago. Always play on Normal difficulty whenever you are ready. As far as I can observe, the only difference in difficulty is that monsters have less HP on Easy mode. Their stats and damage potential are unaffected. Also, playing on Easy severely hampers your item drop rate (but monster capture rate is unaffected).

A couple of notes on the last few trophies I obtained today.

• Saddle Sore: If you haven't been using chocobos regularly throughout the story like me, I suggest you find all 160 fragments and obtain the Clock Master fragment skill from the Mystic at Serendipity ??? AF. Set Clock Master to High-speed and ride a chocobo in circles in the Archlyte Steppe ??? AF for a while. Dismount from your chocobo whenever you think you should have done 10000 steps. If the trophy pops after a few seconds, congratulations! If not, mount your chocobo and do a few more laps and dismount again later. I only used chocobos whenever they were absolutely necessary to proceed with the story or sidequests so with Clock Master on High-speed I took 30 minutes of chocobo riding to get the Saddle Sore trophy.
• Beast Tamer: Set these fragment skills: Clock Master to High-speed, Battlemania to Attract tougher enemies, Monster Collector to Obtain more monster crystals, Encounter Master to More enemies. Now run around in the grassy area in Bresha Ruins 100 AF until a space-time distortion appears. This is Don Tonberry. REMEMBER TO SET CLOCK MASTER BACK TO NORMAL SPEED BEFORE YOU ENGAGE DON TONBERRY! If you have a fully developed party with strong monsters, you should have no problem defeating Don Tonberry before the first stagger ends. Try to finish Don Tonberry off with a Feral Link to boost capture rate as it is quite hard to capture him even with Monster Collector. Difficulty does not affect capture rate so feel free to set it to Easy (but he should not pose any threat even on Normal). I captured Don Tonberry on my fifth encounter with him. Using the fragment skill setup I mentioned earlier, I was able to encounter Don Tonberry 6 times out of 8 battles in that location. Battlemania seems to greatly boost Don Tonberry's encounter rate in the grassy areas of Bresha Ruins 100 AF
• Anomalous: To get the secret ending to trigger, you must have watched all 8 other paradox endings (if you have 8/8 paradox ending fragments, you have done so). Now this is very important. SET PARADOX SCOPE TO EXPLORE NEW POTENTIAL HISTORIES BEFORE YOU ENGAGE THE FINAL SERIES OF BOSS BATTLES! I forgot to turn on Paradox Scope before fighting the final set of bosses in Academia 500 AF and didn't trigger the secret ending. As a result, I had to turn on Paradox Scope and replay the entire set of battles. More annoying than hard, really. Unlike the paradox endings, the final set of bosses do not get buffed when Paradox Scope is turned on. Enjoy destroying Jet Bahamut with your overpowered party! ^_^ 
• Fair Fighter: There is no easy way to go about this. Using the same fragment skill setup I mentioned for Beast Tamer, you should be able to encounter the space-time distortion that is Raspatil extremely frequently in the Ashensands area of Oerba 400 AF. I encountered Raspatil on first try with that setup   and right after I got the trophy I encountered him again while running back to Chocolina so I'm not sure of the actual encounter rate, but it must be incredibly high with that setup. REMEMBER TO SET CLOCK MASTER BACK TO NORMAL SPEED AND DIFFICULTY TO NORMAL BEFORE YOU ENGAGE RASPATIL! If you are using the right strategy (found on ps3trophies.com) and have a fully developed party including a fully developed synergist monster with Bravega and Faithga (I had a level 70 Yakshini with 9500~ HP, 700~ strength, 800~ magic, 26% resist physical damage and all buff spells learnt), Raspatil should be quite manageable on Normal.  

Serendipity

Okay just woke up and checked my fragment list in Final Fantasy XIII-2 (FFXIII-2). I got the Lucky Coin fragment! For people having trouble with this fragment, here's what I did.

My walkthrough for Serendipitous PSN trophy and Lucky Coin fragment   

1. These steps are only valid if you have a fully developed Silver Chocobo with all chocobo racing abilities (mine didn't have Free Spirit but that didn't seem t affect its performance) available for Chocobo Racing and are sufficiently knowledgeable in the techniques used to win races (can trigger Sprinting Start regularly, know the different chocobo racing strategies etc.).
2. You can start with 0 gil in Chocobo Racing as races use Racing Points (RP) to enter, not casino coins or gil.
3. The first four races that you enter in your chocobo's career should be graded or secret in order to unlock the Fal'cie class races quickly. Fal'cie class races have the highest payout.
4. After that, only join races which have a payout of 320 or 480 coins for first. Also keep an eye out for Dahaka Stakes races which have a Collector's Catalogue as the first place prize. You can repeatedly farm these Collector's Catalgoues and leave with as many as 10 in one career. That's a whopping 110000 gil if you sell them to Chocolina.
5. You can attempt races that have interesting prizes such as adornments, weapons and accessories if you want. This only minimally affects your total winnings per career.
6. You can bet up to 100 casino coins on your chocobo per race to win a net gain of 120 casino coins if your chocobo wins first place. WARNING: DO NOT BET IN RACES THAT HAVE A RIVAL CHOCOBO WITH * RATING. Betting will buff all rival chocobos' stats significantly and reduce your chances of winning. Only bet if you are attempting any race lower than Weapon class.
7. You do not need Chocobull or Chocoboost. They are a waste of casino coins. If you win them as prizes though, feel free to use them in Fal'cie class races.
8. You should use Shuffle only if you are purely grinding for gold as it is not cheap in terms of casino coins. Use Shuffle to find Dahaka Stakes races quickly to farm Collector's Catalogues.
9. If you deplete your chocobo's RP, simply retrieve it to retire it and register it again to start a new career. Note: you have to repeat step #3 to u'nlock all race classes again everytime you start a new career.
10. If you follow these steps, you should obtain the Serendipitous PSN trophy in 2 careers. You should be able to make 6000 casino coins on average per career. There is a lot of misguided information out there. Serendipitous trophy requires you to win 10000 casino coins from Serendipity ??? AF. This includes the slot machines AND chocobo races over any number of careers or sessions (cumulative). Chocobo racing is by far the safer option of the two.
11. Once you have made about 20000 casino coins (or you can just buy them using the gil you made from selling Collector's Catalogues; remember, casino coins that were bought with gil or redeemed with tickets do not count towards the 10000 casino coins needed for the Serendipitous trophy), you are ready to try for the Lucky Coin fragment. To obtain this fragment, you are required to win at least 7777 casino coins from the slot machine. Only casino coins won from the slot machine are counted towards the total needed (NOT BOUGHT WITH GIL, TICKETS OR WON FROM CHOCOBO RACING). You can also amass this total from any number of slot machine sessions as it is cumulative.
12. Ask the attendant near the slot machine about the slot machine's mood.
13. If she says "It's like a hot summer's day!", proceed to step #12. If she says anything else, return to the Historia Crux and reenter Serendipity ??? AF to reset the slot machine's mood until she says "It's like a hot summer's day!".
14. Play the slot machine. Use a rubber band or cellophane tape to tape down the L1 button of your controller to leave the slot machine on Auto-play. 
15. Turn off your televison screen and leave your PS3 on for half a day. The most efficient time to do this is when you're going to sleep at night so you don't lose any precious hours.
16. Check your PS3 in the morning. Look at your fragment list. If you have the Lucky Coin fragment in the Serendipity ??? AF location list, congratulations! If not, repeat steps #12 to #15 but you can use less starting casino coins because you would have earned at least a decent amount of casino coins in your first attempt. 

To give you perspective of what to expect, this is my experience. I had a fully developed level 45 Silver Chocobo with all abilities except Free Spirit; 500000~ gil from finishing the story, collecting 157 fragments and defeating Raspatil, Ochu, Yomi and Long Gui multiple times; and 2000~ casino coins from redeemed tickets. I amassed 22000~ casino coins from 3 full careers in chocobo racing and sold 8 Collector's Catalogues I won as prizes for 88000 gil. I bought an additional 5000 casino coins using 50000 gil (1 casino coin costs 10 gil; that's why it's advisable to not buy casino coins and earn them through chocobo racing).

I started the slot machine with 27000~ casino coins in the mood "It's like a hot summer's day!" at 9PM last night and left it on overnight. I checked it this morning at 8AM, which means that I left it on for 11 hours. The slot machine had stopped Auto-Playing, I had 4 casino coins remaining (one play requires 5 casino coins) and 22 triple seven jackpots. Each triple seven jackpot bonus gives 250 casino coins and sends you into Victory Mode (which uses 10 casino coins per play). Each triple seven jackpot bonus in Victory Mode sends you into Super Victory Mode (which uses 100 casino coins per play). By calculation, 22 triple seven jackpot bonuses indicates that I won 8250 casino coins from triple seven jackpot bonuses alone without counting the other bonuses along the way such as triple chocobo bonus, triple cactuar bonus etc. I am unaware of the mechanics of triple microchu jackpot bonus as I have never gotten any.

I was monitoring the slot machine on Auto-Play for the first hour that I left it on. When I won two consecutive triple seven jackpot bonuses, I did not get the cutscene that gave me the Lucky Coin fragment. This disproves the myth that some people have been spreading that the Lucky Coin fragment can be obtained by winning a triple seven jackpot bonus. The ONLY way to get the Lucky Coin fragment is by winning at least 7777 casino coins from the slot machine. On the play that pushes you past the 7777 casino oin mark, you will get the cutscene. Sadly, I was asleep when it happened. Oh well, there's always Youtube.

Monster Professor

Finally achieved 100% completion of my bestiary in Final Fantasy XIII-2 today. If you're having problems completing your bestiary, I suggest looking up a user named LiquidHooch in Youtube. His monster location video guides really helped me. To complete the sidequest that requires you to achieve 100% in your bestiary, you just need to defeat every monster in the game once. You don't have to capture or discern 100% Libra information, just defeat at least one. That includes all versions of a certain monster or boss in every available timeline, paradox and era.

I also just discovered today that loot drop rate in FFXIII-2 works exactly like Tales of Graces f. Once you can handle it, try to always play on Normal difficulty. The difference in drop rate is extremely significant. Also try obtaining a Collector's Catalogue from Chocobo Racing in Serendipity ??? AF and upgrading it to Durable Collector's Catalogue as soon as possible to really boost your drop rate. Fight Microchus in Archlyte Steppe (sunny) with Battlemania fragment skill OFF and get 2 Sunpetals (rare drop from Microchu). If you have completed the story or are close to completion, you should have obtained at least 2 Phoenix Bloods by now. These 4 components along with 30000 gil are required to upgrade the Collector's Catalogue to Durable Collector's Catalogue at Chocolina's shop in Archlyte Steppe ??? AF.

With Durable Collector's Catalogue equipped, if you finish a battle on Normal Mode with a 5 star rating, you get a whopping +500% item drop rate and +320% rare item drop rate! That pretty much ensures you will be getting loot almost 9 times out of 10 battles and at least 3 of those battles will drop rare items. You also tend to get item drops in larger quantities.

Now I'm left with 3 fragments from Serendipity ??? AF, one of which unfortunately requires playing the slot machine. I made enough casino coins to afford 2 of the final fragments I need, but the last one requires winning at least 7777 total casino coins from the slot machine. This is going to be a pain. =.=

Blog Update: Label Changes #2

Renamed "academia" label to "education" to better reflect the content of associated posts. This was also done to avoid confusion with the Academia locale in Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Time Explorer

Here are a few tips for achieving 100% map completion in certain areas in Final Fantasy XIII-2 (FFXIII-2). I experienced difficulty in these areas and here are some parts of the map that are often overlooked.

General Tips for Map Completion in Final Fantasy XIII-2

• During your first visit to a new area, always try and explore as much of the map as possible to reduce downtime needed to return later as some parts of the map are only accessible during your first visit.
• If you missed some parts of the map that are only accessible during your first visit, just find the corresponding gate seal and close the gate to that area from the Historia Crux. This lets you replay that entire area as if it is your first visit (but you keep all records of opened treasure spheres and explored terrain).
• The dark blue areas on your map are unexplored areas. They become light blue when you travel over those areas. This makes it easy to track where you have already explored. Keep in mind that some areas have multiple layers so you need to check under the displayed map areas if any.
• The description of the map key items you acquire through the story have a "% explored" at the end. View your map key items to check which locales you have not fully explored. Alternatively, you can check a certain locale's exploration progress by opening the map via the square button.
• Some locales have multiple eras associated with them. To get a 100% map completion, you must fully explore ALL eras associated with that locale.
• Some parts of the map can only be accessed once you have the Anti-Gravity Jump fragment skill, chocobo access or key items obtained via sidequests.

New Bodhum

• The part that most people overlook is the NORA house. Walk over every inch of land in and around the NORA house. This includes the two sides of the patio that can be seen if you stand in front of the NORA house and look directly at it. Manually walk over the entire space of the patio; just going near them is not enough. The patio is not clearly noticeable as dark blue even if it is unexplored so the only way to be sure is to walk over it.

Academia

• There are a lot of corners and hidden alleys in Academia 400 AF and 4XX AF that need to be walked over manually. But this might come naturally when you are attempting the Captain Cryptic sidequest.
• On your first visit to Academia 500 AF, explore every part and make sure you step foot on every platform (especially the central platform that can be reached by jumping down from the two rotating platforms above it). If you miss this opportunity to get a 100% map completion on your first visit, you will no longer be able to reach most of the platforms once you have finished this part of the story. You will need to find the gate seal for Academia 500 AF, close the gate from the Historia Crux, proceed with the cutscenes until the boss fight with the two giraffe cie'th and regain access to block switches. DO NOT TOUCH THE BLOCK SWITCH. Instead, you can now reach the central platform again.

Augusta Tower

• Complete all three Paradox Agent sidequests to obtain Access Key 13 which allows you to reach floor 13 in some of the eras associated with this locale.
• You must fully explore every floor of every era to get a 100% map completion.
• Some eras only have access to certain floors so check every era.

Archlyte Steppe

• There is a raised stone formation south of the Nomad Camp near the edge of the map. You can reach the treasure spehere on it with Moogle Throw but you can't step foot on the stone formation without a chocobo. Anti-Gravity Jump will just miss it. 
• Touch all five cactuar waystones (four are red, one is gold) and defeat all three Gigantuar. Some waystones appear only in certain weather conditions. All waystones must be revealed with Moogle Hunt. After you have done so (if you touched the five waystones you should have the bottom five fragments on the Archlyte Steppe fragment list), talk to the person standing by the chocobo stables in the Nomad Camp to unlock chocobo access in this locale. Ride the chocobo to the cliff facing that stone formation, jump and glide to it. You should easily reach it if you're in the correct place.

The Aggro Drifter

I made a couple of downloadable tracks in ModNation Racers (MNR) today specifically for grinding technical trophies such as number of drifts, power-ups used, sideswipes made etc. Just search text "Demirincar" without the quotation marks and you can find my tracks, as well as custom mods and karts that I've made. The tracks are very long so you can easily get more than 200 drifts in one race if you set the laps to 9. Set the speed to Rookie, difficulty to easy and set any number of A.I. racers (having more racers means more chances to sideswipe and takedown, less racers mean less interruption if you're aiming for clean laps and drifts). These tracks are also good for practising your cornering, drifting and handling skills in addition to learning how to successfully takedown other racers, depending on the race type.

Set the race type to Action Race if you're grinding for takedowns, shield usage, successful secondary weapon hits, the Trigger Happy trophy or training your offensive driving skills. The Pacifist trophy and the Slow and Steady trophy can be obtained from my tracks, but it is advisable to choose shorter tracks for those trophies due to the length of my tracks; any single mistake can easily cost you 1st place.

Set the race type to Pure Race if you're grinding for drifts, sideswipes or training your handling skills. Due to the amount of curves and bends in my tracks, you can almost always have your boost meter completely filled by drifting at every opportunity. By setting the number of A.I. racers to 11 (maximum), you have plenty of opportunities to sideswipe. 

If you are unable to search for my tracks via my username "Demirincar", search these track names.

• Thousand Drifting Aggro
• Drifting Aggro Peaks 
• Drifting Aggro by the Sea

Please vote for my tracks if they were useful to you. Also be sure to check out my other creations such as mods and karts. Thanks!

Drifting on the Road

Today I returned to ModNation Racers (MNR) after a two year hiatus. Man, I'm rusty. But I still managed to get 12 new trophies today. Yay me! Here's a word of advice for people going for the Drifting Superstar (bronze) trophy in MNR. Search for Pesico's created track titled "Drifitng Superstar" without the quotation marks and download it. That track is the best track you're gonna find that will allow you to drift 100000 drift points in a single drift. Just try and get your drift started as early as possible just before you enter the spiral ramp and tap the left analog stick left or right accordingly to stay in the centre of the track Use the crocodiles as a marker. Don't worry, they will jump if you steer into them and you won't actually bump into them. They're there to give you a general guideline on how close you are to the track boundary. As soon as you get 100000 drift points, stop drifting and you should et the trophy (but don't run into a wall when you stop drifting or it won't count).

That track can also be used to get the Pacifist (bronze) and Slow and Steady (bronze) trophies easily. Since the A.I. is too stupid to drift continuously through the entire track, you should easily get 1st place when you perform the 100000 drift points drift. Avoid booster pads and don't use weapons and the two aforementioned trophies will be obtained.