All Missable Collectibles Walkthrough for Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

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This is our guide on all collectibles for Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. We have all treasure chest locations, all character notes, all affinity, all enemy names and locations, all optional quests, all map completion, all landmarks, all Grimwald Nox, an optional boss , and talking to all merchants.

We won’t cover all materials, you’ll get that naturally as you reach endgames, and it’s pretty much unmissable. We don’t cover Azure Petal locations.

There’s a lot of grindy trophies throughout too, like play each character for 5 hours, max all skill levels, etc., you can do those whenever. 

Make sure you’re playing on Normal or above difficulty, you can do a Nightmare mode run on your second run (NG+) for another trophy. You get plenty of NG+ bonuses that you can carry over (your level, equipment, skill levels, etc.) so it makes Nightmare difficulty a cakewalk. 

There are sections of the game I call “Prison Adol” sections where you’re a prisoner. I keep running counters of everything in the game using the options menu and I notice the treasure chest counter doesn’t increase when grabbing Prison Adol treasure chests. Prison Adol’s monsters DO count so be sure to fight them. 

As well, monsters in the “EXTRA” subsection don’t increase the Monster List counter. You can get these to be safe though, we have covered all of them. Defeating the monster is enough to record it into your Monster Book, there aren’t any lens items for anything to use like in the Cold Steel series. The enemies sometimes are the same, but count multiple times, so in general if you’re in a new chapter or a new Grimwald Nox mission I recommend beating at least one of each enemy to save yourself time.

You will also see “enemy warp points” on the map where you can run into these warps and fight enemies. There’s a special version of this with a red mark too that has slightly harder enemies. It’s recommended to do these each time you reach a new chapter and are able to do them, the same enemies will keep reappearing but they count. You’ll get a lot of these enemies in the Grimwald Nox missions too, but sometimes they’ll be missing a few so be sure to fight a few enemies in Balduq. I’ll point it out when I do this.

If your counter is above mine, it may be possible you grabbed a chest that I’ll get to later or you defeated a monster we’ll get to later, so no worries. I save the Balduq City treasure chests for last because you unlock “Gifts”, which are abilities that make exploration extremely easy, which include climbing up walls, gliding, and even a scanning kind of ability that lets you see treasure chests as glowing through walls, so you can grab all the chests at once endgame. You need one ability to go underground using the L2 button to get past guards in the city guarding some of the chests, which is unlocked near end-game.

When exploring a new area, always run around to fill out the map, there’s a trophy for 100 % map completion, which means just running around and filling all regions of the map.

Note that “Gifts” as in “the abilities” is a different context to “gifts” that are “items you give to characters”.

For Character Notes, it is linked with optional quests and affinity. Affinity is in the Records Characters menu where it gives information on the major characters, affinity is measured for each character out of 3 stars and you need to give a gift to each character to help raise their affinity. The trick is that affinity and character notes are related. As well, there are optional quests that increase some side characters’ affinity and add character notes. My advice is that if you should do everything on a single run, and if you missed something and need to do NG+ for character notes for instance, you’ll want to do all of these collectibles again because they are very linked with each other. Another example is all recipes and azure petals, you can 2 recipes from collecting a threshold of azure petals. 

Another example of interrelated things is the treasure chests. I’m assuming you get all treasure chests in the game while doing everything. Treasure chests contain food recipes, sacramental recipes (sacramentals are not needed for trophies but help you out a lot such as one that increases your mapping range and sprint speed, I’ll mention these), and gifts for characters. I don’t point out the contents of all treasure chests because 99% of them just have gold or materials, but get all the chests to save yourself a headache. 

There is a menu you unlocked called Sacramentals, they’re artifact items that let you get bonuses such as a faster running speed or increasing your mapping range. You can increase the number of Sacramentals by collecting Apocrypha books, found in chests or from vendors, we don’t list them but you can keep an eye out for them, they don’t count for the trophies but can make the game easier for you.

Unlike Cold Steel games, in this game your choices will never matter, so when doing sidequests choose anything you’d like. 

You get useable items that will instantly give you a level up. Save these for reaching level 99, it takes more and more experience to level up and the highest enemy level is only in the 80’s or so. I’ll let you know when to use them, it’s pretty much best to do it before the point of no return. You get a trophy for leveling one character to level 99.

Herein I’ll be referring to the characters by their character name and not their Monstrum name, so I’ll say Krysha instead of Cat, for example. 

If you’d rather watch this walkthrough in video form, please see our YouTube playlist at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-Hm3rGMVE2uE5pqYeAinUKNyVz2_1DVx

Prologue: Prison Escape

Balduq Prison Depths

• 2 treasures (mandatory, but don’t actually count) (0/322)
• New Enemies: Ratoo, Noose, Plutoad
• New Boss: Maretudo (Monsters 4/223)

Chapter 1: The Monstrums of Balduq

• Proceed past the prison events and the city events, you’ll need to do a Grimwald Nox, which is just a “defend the crystal” event.
  • There’s a trophy for S ranking all of these, you’ll do this endgame when you’re all leveled up and you can access them anytime later on, so no worries if you don’t get an S-rank this time.
• Complete the mandatory Grimwald Nox – Lemures Extermination
  • New Enemies: Tarylux, Garguleo, Snerpent, Gevaudan (Monsters 8/223)
• There’s treasure chests and graffiti in the city, best to save them all at once, you need to progress through the story to unlock field abilities to get to all of them.
  • We’ll grab all of these chests in the endgame all at once, the abilities you get are extremely handy.
• Did you accidentally grab chests from Balduq and you still want to use my treasure chest counter? Well actually it’s no problem, hit the left directional button to see the world map and hover over Balduq, it shows you how many treasure chests you collected only in Balduq City. Now check your records via Start/Options button on the PS4 controller, then Journals, then Records. Then take your chest count there, and minus the number of Balduq treasure chests you have, simple!

Chapter 2: The White Cat’s Melancholy

Balduq and Dandelion HQ

• The building you’re in is your HQ, it will get populated with more people as you progress the game
• Prioritize blue and green map markers over red map markers, remember that red map markers progress the story so hold off on that. Little blue markers are for graffiti, big blue markers indicate optional quests. Green markers indicate landmarks, needed for a trophy.
• Talk to merchants with grey question marks to reveal a new icon on the map, this is needed for a trophy
• New Shops include: Peddler Ihne (Ihne’s Wares), Henri (Henri’s Produce), Shady Dealer Maxim (Maxim’s Black Market), Perry (Perry’s Pub), Marion (Le Bistro Blanc), Rosalie (Rosalie’s Prison Goods), Edouard (Edouard’s Bookstore) (Shops 7/32)
• First Blue Marker is Fountain Plaza Landmark (Landmarks 1/21)
• Second Blue Marker is inside Balduq Cathedral, you can give each type of food to Sister Mel
• Go to the red marker, meet the Pendleton Company people
• New Shop: Salesclerk Conze (Pendleton Company) (Shops 8/32)
• You can use fast travel now
• 2 new red markers, Andelph (Andelph’a Armory) and Doctor Eric (Eric’s Clinic) (Shops 10/32)
• Agricultural District unlocked, new shop: Susie (Susie’s Wholesale) (Shops 11/32)
• Progress the story, you’ll need to activate a “dark warp” in the Agricultural District, which spawns enemies (Lemures), then do that 3 more times to progress
• To dispel the Miasma Vortex you need to do a Grimwald Nox – Farmland Pest Control (if you don’t get S-rank don’t worry you can repeat all of them later), and 100 nox will be consumed
• New enemies: Odh, Garguleo, Logier, Tarylux, Snerpent, Grosporte (Monsters 14/223)

Tranquil Underpass

• 2 Treasure Chests (Chests 2/322)
• New Enemies: Moorgarth, Anxigas
• New Boss: Geelzebub (Monsters 17/223)
• There are actually 3 treasure chests in this location, but we will get it later
  • EDIT: Turns out there is a timed lever, so just press the lever then quickly go into the door using your R2 hook Gift, you can get the chest for now and your chest count will be 1 higher than mine, we get the chest later in Chapter 8.

Shantytown

• Progress story, there is a new dungeon but you cannot progress in it yet
• New dark warp points are present to fight enemies on the way, you can find other optional dark points around the city as well
  • Note that you can get a lot of enemies from these dark points, we’ll tell you new enemies as we run into them, they’re not missable but it’s best to get them done as you go along.
• New Shop: Benoit (Nirvana) (Shops 12/32)
• Progress story events and you will recruit Krysha
• There’s a new location after you recruit Krysha, warp to Balduq Cathedral, switch to her with the circle button, and use L1 to run up the Balduq Cathedral and use R2 to launch yourself to the top of the cathedral, unlocking another landmark (Landmarks 2/21).
  • You don’t need to switch characters to use each ability, all characters can use any ability you’ve unlocked.
• Look for the green marker in Shantytown and talk to Sue for a sidequest, Little Girl’s Plea, catch 3 butterflies nearby using Krysha’s ability and return to Sue (Quests 1/40)
• Now to the red marker to go into the Underground Waterway – Cloaca Maxima

Underground Waterway – Cloaca Maxima

• 16 Treasure Chests (Chests 18/322)
  • If you have trouble, make use of your ability to run up walls and hook. If you’re having trouble, you get a gliding ability in the next chapter, but all of the chests are doable right now.
• Landmark: Stream of Soothing Light (Green Marker on the map) (Landmarks 3/21)
• New Enemies: Anxigas, Plutoad, Cuhanni
• New Boss: Glemandy, Dragia Haman (Monsters 22/223)
• There’s a prison section afterwards, but with nothing of interest except a fight against knights
• New Enemies: Guardsman (Does not count!) (Monsters 22/223)

Chapter 3: The Feral Hawk’s Fury

Dandelion

• Krysha Character Note 1 and Carla Character Note 1 acquired automatically from story (People 2/78)
• You are in Dandelion, talk to people to get their character notes, but I list who have updates to save you trouble, we will never miss a character note, we’ll always tell you who to talk to and when to get them all
• Examine the lantern, it counts as a shop! Lantern (Lantern of Crossing) (Shops 13/32)
  • Use this lantern to trade for materials if you want to craft or trade for something and don’t have materials. Very useful for getting gifts from Maxim don’t forget about it.
• 4 red markers to progress
  • Yufa shows requests, these include missable quests, I’ll let you know when to examine and complete them
  • Make sure to examine the Bulletin Board she shows you, and go through the list of quests, this adds them for you, you’ll need to do this every chapter and sometimes multiple times in one chapter, but we’ll remind you, if you ever can’t find a quest in Balduq just check the quests on the board for it to unlock
  • Examine the Bulletin Board
  • Chante has a store, talk to him (Dandelion) (Shops 14/32)
  • Talking to Dogi will let you repeat Grimwald Nox missions and upgrade the defenses, you’ll eventually need to upgrade the defenses as you proceed through the storyline, but there’s no rush
  • Talk to Parks to report map completion, he’ll give you rewards as you fill it out

Balduq

• Consider buying new weapons and acquiring healing items, use the doctor outside of Dandelion to fill empty bottles using your materials
• Move to Fountain Plaza, accept Missing Family Report from Geoffrey
  • Talk to 3 people with green markers nearby
  • You will go into Grimwald Nox, defeat the enemies
  • Tito and Arche recruited (Quests 2/40)
• Talk to Tito (Tito’s Forge) and Arche (Arche’s Warehouse) (Shops 16/32) 
  • Don’t upgrade your weapons, buy stronger weapons from the smith you found earlier, you don’t want to waste upgrade materials, only upgrade your weapons when you are near the endgame or have the ultimate weapons, and remember that ultimate weapons can even be upgraded twice
  • Talk to Arche if you are missing materials, you can trade for materials from her too, use her and the Nox lantern if you are having trouble securing materials for Maxim’s shop
• Move to Agricultural District, accept Illness Inquiry from Jake and Kaia
  • Go to the green marker by the well to a new area and defeat the enemies, then return (Quests 3/40)
• From previous sidequests, new enemies: Odh, Garguleo, Logier, Kosmarion (Monsters 26/223)
• Move to Shantytown, accept Sowing Seeds of Joy from Hannah
  • Talk to 3 people with green markers, one of them is in Central District, you’ll probably want to teleport there, and if you don’t know how to get below, look for a building with stairs (on the map it has a yellow line showing a zone change), it takes you to the lower level of the Central District where you’ll find the ferryman
  • Return to complete the quest (Quests 4/40)
• Let’s get all Blue and Green Markers (shop and landmarks, respectively)
  • In Shantytown, talk to Benoit for Baked Potato Recipe
  • In Central District, talk to Marguerite, you can give her Azure Petals, you will need to do this to get recipe rewards from handing in the petals so don’t forget about her
• Go to the Central District to do the next Grimwald Nox – Main Gates Siege 
  • New Enemies: Snerpent, Pyrion, Tarylux, Gevaudan, Kahazh (Monsters 31/223)
  • If your number doesn’t match up or if you missed an enemy, try doing the dark warps in the area or redo the Grimwald Nox by talking to Dogi, it’s best to kill at least one of each enemy as you go along to save yourself time
• You unlock Main Square, new events:
  • New Shops: Nora (Nora’s Gift Shop), Durfee (Durfee’s Butchery), Hale (Hale’s General Store) and buy Straw Hat, Giselle (Giselle’s Tailoring), Angela (Angela’s Grocery) and Paulette (Paulette’s Produce) (Shops 22/32)
  • You get a Gift Tutorial message when you visit Hale’s shop, we need to buy any gifts in shops and they’re sometimes missable, but you need them to max all characters’ affinity. I’ll tell you where to find them, buy the Straw Hat for now as I mentioned earlier. If you don’t have funds, sell old equipment! If you miss a gift, it usually appears in Maxim’s shop later, but best to get them right now
  • Go to a dark warp, there was a red dark warp in the circular amphitheater in the Main Square, it had the enemy Tudhor (Monsters 32/223) (can also be found in the dark warp in the baths)
  • New Blue Landmark: Balduq Amphitheater (building behind juggler, climb up) (Landmarks 4/21)
  • Another Blue Event is for the Balduq Bathhouse
  • Accept Pickpocket Pursuit from Market Manager
    • Go to the green marker and chase down the thief to complete it (Quests 5/40)
• After these Main Square events, you need to grind your Nox to the second level by fighting the red dots on your map, they will respawn.
• Go to the blue orb, do Grimwald Nox – Lemures Infestation
  • New Enemy: Grosporte (Monsters 33/223)
• Go into the Trading Bureau to continue the story
  • Talk to Renee (Trading Bureau) (Shops 23/32)
• Chatelard Character Note 1 and Belger Character Note 1 added automatically (People 4/78)
• You have to escape from the army, you can actually fight Hieroglyph Knights, they don’t count for the enemy list though.
  • Make your way to the statue which leads to the Dry Moat Ruins

Dry Moat Ruins

• You can warp out after you learn how to glide, teleport back to Shantytown and talk to Hannah (Le Petit Fleuriste) (Shops 24/32), then return to the dungeon, or you can talk to her later

• 13 Treasure Chests (Chests 31/322) (The map has multiple levels, so we’ve shown multiple screenshots on different floors, count to make sure you have 13)
  • To get all treasure chests, just keep using your glide ability all over the place, the platforming is not that hard, just be careful not to miss one of the peaks, there’s high peaks and low peaks, and worse case just loop back around and try again
  • Enemies don’t respawn as long as you don’t leave and re-enter the zone, so it’s best to do it in one-shot
• 1 Landmark: Balduq Canal Falls (Landmark 5/21)
• New Enemies: Vazuli, Zafange, Dunpede, Roche, Hornville 
• New Bosses: Rene-Vagullion, Malefious (Monsters 40/223)
• Afterwards, you will be Hieroglyph Knight’s HQ

Hieroglyph Knight’s HQ

• When you enter there is a red marker event with a battle against knights, after this there’s a green event that has an optional request! 
• Accept Maid in Amiss from Girl in a Maid Dress (her name is Silhouette)
  • Go to the opposite room, defeat the enemies, and acquire the Prison Key
  • Then go down the hall, unlock the door with the Prison Key to get Prisoner’s Effects, then return to the maid to complete the request (Quests 6/40)
  • New Ally: Silhouette
• Ascend ladder and progress the plot
• Credo Character Note 1 added automatically (People 5/78)

Balduq Prison

• Go through the events, examine the graffiti to be safe because these “Prison Adol” may have truely missable items, but my graffiti count didn’t go up!
• As far as I know, treasure chests and graffiti in the Prison Adol sections don’t count
• Progress story

Chapter 4: The Doll’s Search

Dandelion

• Talk to Yufa to give recipe book, always do this after obtaining a new recipe, there’s a trophy for all recipes but we’ll get that later on
  • Some recipes are in treasure chests, quests, or talking to people during certain chapters as blue markers, we will cover everything, I am under the assumption you are finding all treasure chests (treasure chests will also contain Sacramental recipes and gifts for characters)
• Examine the Bulletin Board to get new quests
• Talk to Silhouette, she can visit shops you visited, but certain items won’t be in her list! For example, for buying gifts you need to go out and talk to the merchants directly, I’ll let you know when and where when that is the case.
  • Talk to her again because she counts as a shop (Silhouette’s Errand Runs) (Shops 25/32)
  • When you talk to her you will get Silhouette Character Note 1 (People 6/78)
• Talk to Vallin, you can report your graffiti count to him for rewards

Balduq

• Buy gifts for this chapter
  • Trade for the Floral Hat Pin from Shady Dealer Maxim in Central District (we didn’t have the materials yet, but get it when you can, the girl near the blacksmith downstairs in Dandelion can trade you materials and the lamp downstairs can let you trade for materials as well, or you can wait until you find them from enemies)
• Teleport to Fountain Plaza, accept One In a Bouillon from Chante and Roscoff
  • Go to 3 green markers, which are in the Pendleton building, Main Square Marketplace, and the Agricultural District, then return to Fountain Plaza to complete the quest (Quests 7/40) and recipe is added
• Teleport to Trading Bureau, go out and accept Bathhouse Debauchery from Old Man Guindeau
  • Examine all the windows around the bathhouse, you’ll get a scene for one of the windows
  • You’ll also have to examine the chimneys
  • Return back to Old Man Guindeau to complete the quest (Quests 8/40) 
• Teleport to the Cloaca Maxima dungeon in Shantytown, and choose to teleport to the Depths
  • Defeat 4 Maretudos, then report the quest by heading to the Fountain Plaza then going west to the top of the tower and talking to Aprilis, make sure to “report” it properly don’t just talk to her to complete Wanted: Maretudos (Quests 9/40) and Maretudos added to Wanted Monsters List (Monsters 41/223)
• Teleport to Dandelion and accept Prison Rescue from Parks
  • Then go to the green marker and talk to Shady Dealer Maxim
  • Talk to Marie in front of the bulletin board outside of Dandelion to get the flyer
  • Return to Maxim and buy the information
• We went to some of the warp zones on the map to fight monsters and grind Nox, we added new enemies: Odh, Garguleo, Snerpent, Kosmarion, Logier, Tudhor (Monsters 47/223)

Balduq Prison

• Keep going, eventually you get to a blue marker with a prison map, and a green marker that has a Small Beast (Xavier) in a pot, examine the left shelf for free healing items before talking to Xavier

West Dumping Grounds

• Watch out for traps, I have marked them on the map as red X’s and I’ll explain them too, be careful because you only have a single jump, try to look out for “slits” on the ground
  • You will get an option to retry from a checkpoint if you die to a trap, but don’t choose to skip the dungeon because the enemies may be missable
• First room has an obvious trap in the center of the room
• Next in the room with a lever and boxes on both sides, the sides to get through the doorways have a pitfall trap
• There’s a robot, use the pendulums to kill it
  • New Enemy: Graem-Gil (Monsters 48/223)
  • The other monsters are already recorded, but you can kill them to be safe
• 3 treasure chests in total, BUT, the treasure chest counter in the game doesn’t go up, I’m extremely sure that these prison chests don’t count towards the total, but get them to be safe. (Chests 31/322)
• There’s 2 chests you can get now, the first on the right is easy, but the second on the left is tricky, see our video on how to do it but carefully jump and hit L1 to get extra distance. For that left chest, we platformed right onto the drawn-up bridge then onto the other side. There’s still another chest above the drawbridge leading straight down we’ll get later on.
  • Or if you want, just grab all 3 of these later on, you’ll return here with your party and abilities soon.
• Moving on, there are steps where arrows get shot at you, use these to defeat the robots, there’s one right in front of a chest
• You’ll get to a lever with a slot in front of it, do NOT stand in front of it, pull the lever while standing on the side!
• Continue and examine the books
• Maxim Character Note 1 added (People 7/78)
• Talk to Parks again to continue the rescue mission, follow the green markers, run up the wall, then turn left and look for a place to hook with R2
• Prison Rescue quest completed (Quests 10/40) and Iris recruited

Balduq

• Give Yufa new recipe
• Grind to 200 nox
• To Main Square, new Grimwald Nox – Ride of the Monstrums
  • Careful, don’t kill all the Lacrimae (the pink crystals) until the time is up, only destroy most (but not all) of them to trigger the boss spawn, then kill the boss; otherwise you will miss the boss fight entry. When you kill the boss you’ll instantly win so no worries if you get close to the time limit. It’s not missable, you can always redo the Grimwald Nox missions by talking to Dogi, but why not just save yourself some time.
  • New Enemies: Anjy and Grautney (Monsters 50/223)
  • Artisan Lane area unlocked, head there

Balduq – Artisan Lane

• Yufa Character Note 1 acquired after cutscenes (People 8/78)
• New Landmark – Memorial Tree (Landmark 6/21)
• Go to green marker, accept Chapterhouse Repairs from Knight Huon
  • Go to the 3 green markers, and automatic quest return (Quests 11/40)
• Examine Blue Orb, do Grimwald Nox – Cruel Angel’s Assault
  • Unlocks Artisan Lane (Warehouse)
• New Shop: Master Artisan Marcel (Marcel’s Smithery) (Shops 26/32)
• Progress the story via red markers, do another Grimwald Nox mission
  • Adol Character Note 1 added automatically (People 9/78)
  • New Enemies: Logillon, Gevaudan, Zeraphan, Pyrion, Luciluphan, Grosporte, Disastro (Monsters 57/223), if you’re missing any do the enemy warps around the city
• We forgot to visit the Antique shop after the cutscene, teleport there, talk to Roderio (Rijndael Antiques) (Shops 27/32) and buy gift Razor-Sharp Knife for 1400
• When ready leave the city

Estatte Road

• Anemona recruited after you walk a bit into the map, new Gift “Third Eye”, use the PS4 controller’s touchpad to use it
  • This is very useful for finding hidden chests too! As well as graffiti and azure petals in Balduq City. If you’re ever stuck, use this ability.
• New landmark: Springwater Reservoir (Landmark 7/21)
• 16 Treasure Chests (Chests 47/322)
• New Enemies: Channam, Ratni, Lubregia (Monsters 60/223)
• Continue red events, go through the deserted home

Concealed Path

• You need to use Anemona’s Gift to proceed
• New Landmark – Cave-in Runoff Deposit (Landmark 8/21)
• To get all the treasure chests easily, keep using Anemona’s Gift to look for bricks that can be used to activate secret paths, the second half of this dungeon is a large open area, check all the paths above and below you, and continue, remember to use R2 gift frequently and glide
• For dungeon boss use Anemona’s Gift to find weak points!
• 16 Treasure Chests (63/223)
• New Enemies: Culeiyo, Mudhu, Mushahr, Tarantiel, Tarantiel Egg, Veidon
• Bosses: Mes Bellator, Regirania (Monsters 68/223)
• Although you open a chest at the end of the dungeon, it’s just a dummy chest, it won’t count towards the chest total

Balduq Prison

• Continue the story

Chapter 5: The Raging Bull’s Treasure

Dandelion

• Yufa Character Note 2 added automatically (People 10/78)
• Talk to Krysha for Krysha Character Note 2 (People 11/78)
• Examine Requests Bulletin Board

Balduq

• We did a few dark warp zones that spawns monsters, New Enemies: Zes-Pyrion, Odh-Mea, Valdoriga, Grautney (72/223)
• Buy gifts for affection with other characters
  • You can trade for the Floral Hat Pin gift now at Shady Dealer Maxim, you likely have the materials required 
  • Shady Dealer Maxim has a new gift, Trick Deck, but we didn’t have the materials to trade for it (talk to girl, Arche, by the blacksmith downstairs in Dandelion to trade for materials or examine the lamp downstairs to trade for materials)
• Accept Prison Liberation quest from Parks in Dandelion, we’ll finish this later
• Go to blue marker in Central District, you will acquire a recipe, give it to Yufa in Dandelion
• Teleport to the Trade House, go to the green marker, accept Hazardous Harvest from Baldwin
  • Teleport to the Estatte Road, go to the green marker, leads to a cave which counts as 2 dungeons 

Mount El Dore – Cave and Mount El Dore

• This dungeon consists of caves and outdoor mountain paths, back and forth several times
• You complete the Hazard Harvest quest after passing through the first mountain after the first cave (Quests 12/40), but we might as well explore it completely since we’re here
• 14 treasure chests (8 on the mountain zones, 6 in the cave zones) (Chests 77/322)
• New Enemies: Mushahr, Jaganni, Mundura, Hornville (Monsters 76/223)
• New Landmark – Summit of Mount El Dore (Landmark 9/21)

Balduq

• Teleport to Artisan Lane, accept Owner, Where Art Thou? from family
  • Use Anemona’s Gift to track footprints, go to the Antique Shop to find foot prints outside, and then go inside and talk to Roderio
  • Teleport to the Amphitheater, talk to Receptionist
  • Teleport to Fountain Plaza, talk to Dolce or Butler Avan, quest is completed (Quests 13/40)
• Next, Wanted: Tarantiels 
  • Teleport to Dry Moat Ruins – Depths, kill the enemies, and teleport to the Belfry Tower and report the quest to Aprilis make sure to report it (Quests 14/40) (New Enemies: Tarantiel Egg, Tarantiel) (Monsters 78/223)
• Grind to 200 nox
• Teleport to Artisan Lane, do Grimwald Nox – Lemures Plague
  • You can now go to the Entertainment District, do so
  • New Enemies: Gi-Anjy, Rabby, Logillon, Kahazk, Zeraphan, Grosporte, Neflude (Monsters 85/223) (If you’re missing any, try doing some dark warp zones in the city to find these monsters)

Balduq – Entertainment District

• Explore everywhere except the actual coliseum for now, the first red marker leading into the Entertainment District is fine to trigger, but when the red marker is in the coliseum, don’t go to it for now…
• New Shops – Talk to Lillet (Lillet’s Gift Shop), and Jessica (Jessica’s Brewery) and buy Coffee Beans gift (Shops 29/32)
• Might as well give out the gifts we bought earlier, we have Floral Hat Pin, Straw Hat, Coffee Beans, and Razor-Sharp Knife (Our Affinity before giving gifts was 13/54)
  • Give Coffee Beans to Silhouette (Silhouette Character Note 2), Razor-sharp Knife to Tito (Tito Character Note 1), Floral Hat Pin to Krysha (People 13/78), (Affinity 16/54)
• New Landmark – Balduq Coliseum (Landmark 10/21)
• Go to the green marker, accept Scam On The Lamb from Coliseum Staff
  • It’s another catch the thief quests (Quests 15/40)
• Now continue Prison Liberation quest by talking to Shady Dealer Maxim twice

Balduq Prison – Depths

• 5 treasure chests (Chests 77/322) (Doesn’t count for Prison Adol sections)
• More instant death traps, but I didn’t mark them on the map. The checkpoints are very generous in this section so you don’t have to repeat much if you die to a trap. As usual keep an eye out for “slots” in the floor and also new laser beam eyes you need to dodge around
• Follow the green marker to ambush the caravan, quest completed (Quests 16/40) and new ally, Lucien

Balduq

• Go to the blue orb near Central District (grind nox if you didn’t unlock it!) and do Grimwald Nox – Mad Fool’s Banquet
  • This is like the earlier one where you need to defeat Lacrimae (pink crystal objects), as before wait for the boss to spawn, and win the mission by defeating the boss, otherwise you’ll miss the boss entry for your journal! Also try to defeat any “new-looking” enemies, but you can always repeat these missions by talking to Dogi so no worries
  • New Enemies: Malvillon, Pieretta, Luciluphan, Varlukan (Monsters 89/223)
• Prison Outskirts area unlocked after previous Grimwald Nox
  • Talk to Worker Witham in Prison Outskirts for a new recipe
  • New Landmark – Prison Entrance Gate (Landmark 11/21)
• Progress story using red marker in coliseum

Dandelion

• Yufa joins, new hammer gift that can be used to unlock secret areas later on by holding down the square button
  • If you ever see a wall that looks crumbly and can be destroyed, use this ability, we will cover secret areas in Balduq City in the endgame all at once
  • If you also see an enemy or boss you’re fighting guarding or not taking damage as usual, you can use this ability during battle in the same way, by holding down the square button to attack, it’s very useful for guard-breaking
• Give Straw Hat gift to Yufa (Affinity 18/54)
• Give Chante new recipe
• Talk to Saradhi, accept All That Glitters quest, you will be teleported to Decrepit Underpass

Decrepit Underpass

• Remember to use Anemona’s Ability to find bricks to unlock passages (controller touchpad)
• Complete All That Glitters quest by going through the dungeon
• 2 treasure chests (Chests 79/322) (Look in the game records, treasure chests from the “prison Adol” sections don’t count towards the total!)
• New Enemies: Moorgarth, Gloggury (Monsters 91/223), strangely the minibosses we fought aren’t counted as new enemies

Dandelion and Balduq

• Talk to Saradhi and choose Brew, new shop (Saradhi’s Dispensary) (Shops 30/32)
• Teleport to Coliseum, interact with red marker and hold down square to use Yufa’s Gift

Groaning Grotto

• New Landmark – Colossal Windhole Deposit (Landmark 12/21)
• 12 treasure chests (Chests 91/322)
• New Enemies: Formi, Formian, Disgaze, Adamangelo, 
• New Bosses: Sectocanom (Monsters 96/223)

West Dumping Ground Revisited and Beast Enclosure

• Get any treasure chests you missed, we left 1 chest above the drawbridge
• 1 treasure chest (Chests 91/322) (These chests in the “Prison Adol” section don’t seem to increase the counter, you can get them to be safe)
• Go back to where the swinging axes were, use glide to get to the other side to the Beast Enclosure
• NOTE: There is one enemy I forgot to defeat now called Graem-Ganeaux, we come back to it later near the end, but if you choose to defeat it now your monster count will always be +1 higher than mine. It’s not a missable monster, you can get to the West Dumping Ground via Groaning Grotto at any point in the game, I’ve done it right before the final boss.
• New Boss: Avolodragil (Monsters 97/223)
• Prison Adol section, keep progressing the plot via red markers

Chapter 6: The Renegade’s Secret

Dandelion

• Talk to Anemona for Anemona Character Note 1
• Talk to Tito for Tito Character Note 2 (People 15/78)
• Check Bulletin Board for new quests
• Buy gifts around the city, listed as follows
  • Buy gifts from Maxim’s Black Market, we bought Trick Deck and Stylish Glasses from him (examine the lamp in the basement of Dandelion to exchange twilight shards for materials if you don’t have them, also get materials from Arche in Dandelion basement if you need to)
  • Give Stylish Glasses Gift to Credo for Credo Character Note 2 (People 16/78)

Balduq

• Teleport to Coliseum in the Entertainment District, talk to Felix or Promoter DeSalle at the green marker to accept Calling All Strongmen quest, you will fight monsters and complete the quest (Quests 18/40)
• Talk to Jessica at the blue marker in the Entertainment District, new recipe – Gratin
• Warp to the Amphitheatre in the Main Square, talk to Tetra at the green marker (she’s on the lower level, look for stairs or use glide to reach her) to accept quest A Legend of Heroes
  • Teleport to Antique Shop to the west, exit, go to the green marker and use Anemona’s gift on the graffiti then examine it
  • Warp to Agricultural District, go to the green marker and repeat
  • Warp to H. Knights Chapterhouse, go to the green marker and repeat
  • Return to Tetra via Main Square teleport, quest completed (Quests 19/40)
• Do Wanted: Dragia Haman by teleporting to Springwater Reservoir in Estatte Road
  • New Enemies: Dragia Haman (Monsters 98/223)
  • Report it by teleporting to Ruined Belfry and reporting it to Aprilis, don’t forget to report it to her by choosing it as an option while talking to her
• Grind to 100 nox and get new monster entries by fighting enemies at the “dark warp” points around Balduq
  • We got these: New Enemies: Zes-Pyrion, Odh-Mea, Valdoriga, Grautney (Monsters 102/223)
• Do Grimwald Nox – Biding Reapers
  • Kill one of each enemy for new entries, and also make sure to kill the boss that spawns, don’t destroy all the Lacrimae (pink crystals), destroy most but not all of them so that the boss can spawn
  • New Enemies: Kahazh, El-Tarylux, Zerasporte, Curimanthe (Monsters 106/223)
  • Noble District unlocked, head there

Balduq – Noble District

• Forgot to mention earlier, automatic Dogi Character Note 1 acquired from coliseum story events (People 17/78)
• In the Noble District, do a few red marker story events, automatic Ingrid Character Note 1 (People 18/78)
• Do more dark crystal warp battles around the Noble District, we found New Enemies: Neflude (Monsters 107/223)
• New Landmark (blue marker) – Four Guardian Gargoyles (Landmark 13/21)
• Talk to Michele at the green marker, accept Masking for Trouble quest
  • Talk to the green markers to finish the quest (Quests 21/40)
• Talk to Parks to accept Tobacco To Go quest
  • Give him Trick Deck, Parks Character Note 1 acquired (People 19/78) (Affinity 20/54)
• Give Chante new recipe
• To continue Parks’ quest, go to Shady Dealer Maxim, Ask for a Request, then teleport to Amphitheater and talk to Nora, then return to Maxim to give him his payment

South Dumping Ground

• 6 treasure chests (Chests 91/322) (counter remained the same because of “Prison Adol” chests, they don’t make the treasure chest counter go up, but I get them to be safe)
• Quest completed (Quests 22/40), Margot joins as an ally

Balduq

• Farm 100 Nox if you haven’t reached that amount already
• Go to the blue orb in the Noble District for Grimwald Nox – Coliseum of Madness
  • You can’t defeat the boss in this one, it’s too powerful, just defeat one of each new enemy and destroy all the Lacrimae, we’ll defeat this boss later and we’ll remind you later to do so (the boss doesn’t count for the enemy list, but we’ll get it anyways)
  • New Enemies: Gi-Anjy, Pieretta (Monsters 109/223)
  • Noble District (Warehouse unlocked), go there
• Talk to Aristocratic Woman at the blue marker for Broken Charm
  • Talk to Tito in Dandelion to fix it into Feather Charm
  • Teleport to Ruined Belfry and give it to Aprilis (Affinity 22/54), best to do this as soon as possible so do it now
• Progress story by following red markers, consider upgrading weapons and armor as well as your Sphene defenses by talking to Dogi
• Complete story Grimwald Nox
  • New Enemies: Logillon, Rabby, Grosporte, Malvillon, Luciluphan, Zea-Grautney, Valron, Vakhmedhu (Monsters 117/223)
  • Jules is a new ally
  • Shadow Dive is a new gift you can use by pressing L2, you now have all gifts you can use on the maps
  • Continue through the south gate

Milianne Plains

• New Landmark: Sunlit Greenery (Landmark 14/21)
• 14 treasure chests (Chests 108/322), there are more chests here, but they’re behind a part you can’t access yet. Remember to make use of your climbing and gliding abilities!
• One of the treasure chests here in the northeastern portion gives “Boots Rubric”, give these to Tito, your blacksmith in Dandelion, and you can craft a Sacramental that increases your sprinting speed, it’s extremely useful
• New Enemies: Gublin, Rob-Gublin, Vrogium (Monsters 120/223)

Emain Macha (Catacombs)

• 19 treasure chests (Chests 127/322)
• New Enemies: Gaspard, Zol-Gublin, Hyueille
• New Boss: Condemned Norns, Rene-Nygilger (Monsters 125/223)
• New Landmark – Great Bell Bridge (Landmark 15/21)
• In the dungeon you’ll eventually find a treasure chest with Eagle Eye Orb, go to the menu and equip Sacramentals, this item is extremely useful because it increases mapping range
  • The sacramental to increasing running speed and this eagle eye orb are the ones I use throughout the game, they’re extremely handy
• There’s a large type of enemy you cannot defeat for now, we’ll defeat them later, its name is Bualadh-Orgh (the version of this enemy in this dungeon actually counts towards the EXTRAs menu in the enemy list so it actually doesn’t count to the Monsters total, but there is a Wanted quest where these do count in a different area), we’ll still remind you to come back at the end of the game to defeat them though

Prison and Jillian Mines

• 6 treasure chests (Chests 127/322) (Counter doesn’t go up from Prison Adol sections)
• There’s another treasure chest at the end that you need to leave for later, you cannot reach it yet, remember to get it next time you have control of “Prison Adol”, I’ll remind you when it comes up too

Chapter 7: Capriccio of the Prison

Dandelion

• Jules Character Note 1 added automatically (People 20/78)
• Check Bulletin Board for new quests
• Give Yufa new recipe
• Talk to Krysha or Carla, Carla Character Note 2 added (People 21/78)
• Let’s buy gifts, sell old weapons and armor to get more money if you need it
  • Buy Minature Teacup gift from Maxim’s Black Market, exchange for materials if you don’t have them
  • Buy Rainbow Earrings gift from Pendleton Company in Central District
  • Buy “The Five Dragons” gift from Edoudard’s Bookstore in Central District
  • Buy Esterian Apple gift from Paulette’s Produce in Main Square
  • Buy Potent Ointment gift from Lillet’s Gift Shop in Entertainment District
  • Buy Vintage Wine from Nirvana (Benoit’s shop) in Shantytown
• And let’s go on a gift-giving spree!
  • Give Rainbow Earrings to Chante, Chante Character Note 1 acquired
  • Give Esterian Apple to Dogi, Dogi Character Note 2 acquired
  • Give Vintage Wine to Margot, Margot Character Note 1 acquired
  • Give “The Five Dragons” to Jules, Jules Character Note 2 acquired
  • Give Miniature Teacup to Anemona, Anemona Character Note 2 acquired
  • Give Potent Ointment to Lucien, Lucien Character Note 1 acquired (People 27/78) and (Affinity 29/54)

Balduq

• Teleport to Main Square – Marketplace and go to blue marker, use Anemona’s gift ability, Morbihan becomes a new ally
  • Give him 1 of each food item to increase his affinity (Affinity 31/54)
  • Check out his shop (Shops 31/32)
  • He gives a new recipe when you give him 4 food items, give this to Yufa
• Do Aprilis’s Trial quest by talking to her in Ruined Belfry
  • Defeat the 2 waves of enemies to complete the quest (Quests 23/40), can be a little bit tricky on the second wave, so be careful
  • New Enemy: Enamudien (Monsters 125/223) (This is an “Extra” category of monster, it doesn’t count towards the total)
• Talk to Marc, Elle, or Eudes in Agricultural District and start Gamberg Family Errand
  • Go to the 3 nearby green markers and choose to talk to the vendors, automatic quest return afterwards (Quests 24/40)
• Teleport to Cultural Heritage Site, start Warehouse Stakeout quest by talking to Butler Clint or Count Edgell
  • Examine the 3 green markers, then chase down Gaston (Quests 25/40)
• Teleport to Artisan Lane, talk to Master Artisan Berling or Master Artisan Marcel to begin Arti-san Is Suffering quest
  • Teleport to Milianne Plains – Southwest, and talk to Potts at the green marker
  • He gives you Prototype Shield, kill 15 mushroom enemies with this shield equipped and quest will finish, you don’t even need to keep count, the game will tell you when you’ve met the requirement (Quests 26/40)
• Talk to Iris in Dandelion basement for Iris of the Storm quest
  • Teleport to Four Gargoyles Statue, and head to green marker, then to the roof and look for a hatch, after the cutscenes the quest is finished, Iris Character Note 1 acquired (People 28/78), (Quests 27/40)
• Teleport to Milianne Plains – Bridge and do Grimwald Nox – Heretical Sealkeepers, afterwards Keening Highlands unlocked
  • New Enemies: Valron, El-Tarylux, Rabby, Malvillon, Aspiyus, Neflude, Varlukan, Logillon, Zea-Grautney, Melgevauden, Baturolle (Monsters 137/223)

Keening Highlands

• Talk to Vallin at the green marker for Tree Stumped quest, go to the marker to complete the quest (Quests 28/40)
• New Landmark – Ninefold Falls (Landmark 16/21)
• New Enemies: Ras-Gublin, Jyacomo, Vaume, Ratnilarda (Monsters 141/223)
• 12 treasure chests (Chests 139/322) – There are more treasure chests here, but the map is blocked by barriers for now
• Farm 100 Nox to get blue orb in Milianne Plains Southwest
  • While grinding to 100 Nox, we got new enemy entries: Fol-Odh and Luciluphan (Monsters 143/223)

Milianne Plains Revisited – Southwest – Mundt Marsh Area

• Do Grimwald Nox – Flight of the Monstrums
  
  • For the new Grimwald Nox, remember to not destroy all the Lacrimae (pink crystals), you need to spawn the boss and defeat the boss for its monster entry. Also defeat one of each enemy type.
  • New Enemies: Lu-Anjy, Zerasporte (Monsters 145/223)
• New Landmark – Mushroom Mimetoliths (Landmark 17/21)
• 2 treasure chests (Chests 141/322), Milianne Plains treasure chests and map completion is now complete
• New Enemies: Vrogium, Mushahr (Monsters 147/223)
• Progress the story via red marker

Quarry Ruins

• 5 treasure chests (Chests 146/322)
• New Enemies: Gaulgium, Diglem (Monsters 149/223)
• You will go to a warp tile and go to another Prison Adol section, you will be going back and forth for the next portion of the game

Jillian Mines Continued

• Careful, go back to get a treasure chest you didn’t get earlier, it’s missable, but at the same time the treasure chest counter doesn’t go up for Adol Prison sections, I get them to be on the safe side though, there’s another chest before the red marker as well
• 2 treasure chests (Chests 146/322) (Chest counter doesn’t go up from Prison Adol sections)
• Warp back to Quarry Ruins

Quarry Ruins Continued

• 8 more treasure chests (Chests 154/322)
• New Boss: E-Mes Bellator (Monsters 150/223)
• New Landmark – Natural Lava Furnace (Landmark 18/21)
• New Enemies: Piouvre, Dig-Merta (Monsters 152/223)
• Teleport back to the green warp and use it to switch

Jillian Mines Continued

• 6 more treasure chests (Chests 154/322) (Prison Adol section does not add to the Treasures Found total)
• There is an enemy you can’t defeat. For first Droll enemy, have it ram into the door so that you have an exit, then run away
• Eventually you need to fight a second Droll enemy, have him destroy the pillars around the room, then have it slam into the cracks in the center of the room and it will teleport it to the Quarry Ruins dungeon, progress via red marker

Quarry Ruins Continued

• Droll appears near the red marker because it fell from the previous dungeon, kill it to get it into the monster list, don’t forget, then climb the newly added rubble for a boss fight
• New enemy: Droll (Monsters 153/223)
• New boss: Ostroflambe (Monsters 154/223)
• Progress plot

Chapter 8: Thus Spoke the Alchemist

Dandelion

• Adol Character Note 3, Aprilis Character Note 1, and Chatelard Character Note 2 added automatically (People 31/78)
• Examine the Bulletin Board for new quests
• Talk to Silhouette for her affection event, Silhouette Character Note 3 acquired and she has 3/3 stars of affinity (People 32/78) (Affinity 32/54), she also takes off her mask from now on as an added bonus!
• Talk to Chante for his affection event, Chante Character Note 2 acquired, and he has 3/3 stars of affinity (People 33/78) (Affinity 33/54)
• Talk to Dogi to start quest Peril of the Bells, we’ll finish it up later

Balduq

• Go to the new shop icon just outside Dandelion, and talk to Jeanette (Jeanette’s Memorabilia) (Shops 32/32) (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Shopaholic – Attain 100% of shops discovered.)
  • Return to Silhouette to report all shops, she will give you a Fairy Necklace
• Go to Maxim’s shop for an event, he has a new gift: Portrait of a Girl, if you’re missing materials to trade for it use the lantern in Dandelion, or try Arche or Morbihan
  • Give Portrait of a Girl gift to Iris (Affinity 34/54)
• I forgot a treasure chest in the old dungeon, Tranquil Underpass, it’s in Balduq hover on the map to find it, get the 1 chest, it’s a timed lever that activates a door (Chests 155/322)
• I triggered a red event, automatic Ingrid Character Note 2 (People 34/78)
• Continue Peril of the Bells
  • Talk to Old Man Guindeau by the Amphitheater
  • Teleport to Main Gate, talk to Kiosk Attendant
  • Teleport to Fountain Plaza, talk to Perry
  • Teleport to Cloaca Maxima dungeon, you’ll need to run through the dungeon, then defeat the enemies to complete the quest (Quests 29/40)
  • Margot Character Note 2 acquired (People 35/78)
  • New Enemies: Zea-Grautney, Exeflude (Monsters 156/223)
• Teleport to Prison Entry Gate, talk to Saradhi below, give her Mandragora Root (a gift found in an earlier dungeon, Quarry Ruins), Saradhi Character Note 1 acquired (People 36/78) (Affinity 35/54)
  • Talk to her to do A Fool And Her Treasure quest
  • New dungeon: “Path To Hidden Treasure”
•  
  • 3 new treasure chests (Chests 158/322)
  • New Enemies: Aspiyus, Varlukan, Garguleo-Roa, Mudhu, Disgaze (Monsters 161/223)
  • Saradhi Character Note 2 acquired upon quest completion (People 37/78)
  • Quest completed (Quests 30/40)
• Teleport to red markers, which lead to the Cemetery, Anemona will rejoin, and then you will have to return to Dandelion
  • Anemona Character Note 3 acquired automatically (People 39/78)
  • Chatelard Character Note 3 acquired automatically (People 40/78)

Dandelion

• Examine Bulletin Board for new quests
• Talk to Iris for her affection event, Iris Character Note 2 acquired and affinity 3/3 stars (People 41/78) (Affinity 36/54), she’ll also be wearing an apron after this quest!
• Talk to Dogi for his affection event, Dogi Character Note 3 acquired and affinity 3/3 stars (People 42/78) (Affinity 37/54)
• Do quest Wanted: Drolls, teleport to Groaning Grottos – Beast Enclosure, defeat all the droll enemies, then report back to Dogi (Quest 31/40)
  • New Enemies: Droll (Monsters 162/223)
• Do Prison Infiltration quest next by talking to Maxim in Central District and then select Begin Infiltration, and proceed through the prison
  • Maxim joins as an ally, Maxim Character Note 2 acquired (People 43/78) (Quest 32/40)
• Teleport to Keening Highlands to the red orb, complete Grimwald Nox – Legions of Calamity, Ciel Canyon Trail unlocked, go there
  • New Enemies: Zerasporte, Valron, Lu-Anjy, Dei-Rabby, Disastyrfe (Monsters 167/223)

Ciel Canyon Trail

• New Landmark – Hidden Herb Garden (Landmark 19/21)
• 10 treasure chests (168/322)
• New enemies: Cel-Ratni, Nipantu (Monsters 169/223)

Balduq

• Don’t proceed to red event yet, grind for 100 Nox first
• Teleport to Deserted Village Home in Estatte Road, examine the blue orb and do the new Grimwald Nox 
  • New Enemies: Dio-Manthe, Fol-Odh, Geo-Tarylux, Melgevaudan (Monsters 173/223) 
  • It’s a destroy Lacrimae (pink crystals), don’t destroy all of them, make sure to kill each type of enemy as well as kill the boss
  • Unlocks Woodlands of Woe area, go there

Woodlands of Woe

• New landmark – Forbidden Alter Ruins (Landmark 20/21)
• 9 treasure chests (watch out for one near the end, use the hook then climb up the stone structure next to Tetra) (Chests 177/322)
• New enemies: Gloggury, Wogene (Monsters 175/223) 
• Talk to Tetra to get Inscription Inspection quest
  • Go to the 3 green markers, then return to Tetra (Quests 33/40)
• Now continue via red marker in Ciel Canyon

Hidden Research Wing

• 15 treasure chests (Chests 192/322)
• New Enemies: Divarse, Voldon, Valvalchia, Niktravha, Avaluga, Adichivo (Monsters 181/223)
• Belger Character Note 2 acquired automatically (People 44/78)
• Carla Character Note 3 acquired automatically (People 45/78)
• New Boss: Master Chatelard (Monsters 182/223)
• Chatelard Character Note 4 acquired automatically (People 46/78)
• Aprilis Character Note 2 acquired automatically (People 47/78)
• (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Shopaholic – Attain 100% of all “Materials” in your journal.)
  • You’ll get this soon or you may have gotten it earlier, getting all materials comes naturally if you get materials on the map, fight the enemies at least once, and progress through the story, this is when we obtained this trophy, it’s not missable.

Chapter 9: Monstrum Nox

Dandelion

• Automatic Zola Character Note 1 acquired (People 48/78)
• Automatic Aprilis Character Note 2 acquired (People 49/78)
• This is the final chapter, the game ends when you beat the sections after the “point of no return”, we’ll complete everything else before the point of no return and we’ll warn you when the cut-off point is.
  • Thankfully, the “point of no return” is actually just a door with the final boss right behind it, you can enter the final dungeon with no punishment 
• View new quests on Bulletin Board
• Talk to Krysha for affection event, Krysha Character Note 4 acquired and 3/3 affinity with her.
  • I noticed I had Krysha Character Note 3 already recorded in my game as well but I didn’t list it earlier in this guide. Krysha Character Note 3 from the description alone also looks like a automatic story event character note as well so no worries. (People 50/78) (Affinity 40/54)
• Talk to Morbihan for an affection event, Morbihan Character Note 1 acquired and 3/3 affinity with him (People 51/78) (Affinity 41/54)
• Talk to Saradhi for an affection event, Saradhi Character Note 3 acquired and 3/3 affinity with her (People 52/78) (Affinity 42/54)
• Progress via the 2 red events in Dandelion, Xavier joins as an ally
• Buy Prime Smoked Meat gift we bought from Durfee’s Butchery in Main Square
  • Give it to Maxim in Dandelion (Affinity 43/54)
• After giving the gift, talk to Maxim for an affection event, Maxim Character Note 3 acquired and 3/3 affinity with him (People 53/78) (Affinity 44/54)
• I was able to max out my defenses for my Grimwald Ritual Relics by going to Dogi, you should be able to do this soon, you have money by now and you can buy materials from Morbihan, the girl by the blacksmith and the Nox lamp (all in Dandelion’s basement) can also sell you materials
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Heremetic Bastion – Attain 100% of Ritual Relics enhanced.)
• I also walked 300 Krimelye by this point, you should’ve gotten this trophy or close to getting it
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: I Would Walk 300 Krimelye – Travel a total distance of 300 krimeyle.)
• See if you can make a separate save, then sell everything you have and see if you can reach 1 million gold, if not you can always do it later
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Errant Millionaire – Have 1,000,000 Gold in possession.)

Balduq

• Talk to Jeanette via the blue marker nearby for a recipe, give to Chante
• Teleport to the northeastern dungeon, Alchemy Wing – Depths to do Final Dispossession quest
  • You enter the room you technically couldn’t enter originally, you can finish the map completion of this dungeon by doing this too
  • Marius Character Note 1 added automatically (People 54/78) 
  • Parks Character Note 1 added automatically (People 55/78) 
• Teleport to Noah’s Residence for His Father’s Son quest
  • This is needed to for map completion, this area is a region of Balduq
  • Teleport to Balduq Cathedral and go to the red marker, then warp to Nors Shrine Ruins and head to Smirnov to complete the quest (Quests 35/40)
• Teleport to Rijndael Antiques, talk to anyone for Wreath Restoration quest
  • Teleport to Main Square – Marketplace and talk to Giselle
  • Teleport to Ciel Canyon and go to the red marker, I warped to the dungeon then ran back out
  • Return to the Antiques shop to complete the quest (Quests 36/40)
• Let’s take a break and check Dandelion again, the red events triggered requirements for more affection scenes

Dandelion

• Talk to Jules for his affection event, probably my favorite one in the game, Jules Character Note 3 acquired, affinity 3/3, (People 56/78) (Affinity 45/54)
• Talk to Parks for his affection event, affinity 3/3 (Affinity 46/54)
• For an easier time with an upcoming quest, switch Credo’s weapon to the weakest, and unequip his armor and accessories. Don’t worry, he’s not going to die or anything!
• You also have a forced solo battle with Adol coming up, so make sure he has your best equipment and accessories on.

Balduq

• Warp to the Antique Shop again and head into the back room red event
  • Then teleport to Dandelion, Belger’s Request quest obtained
  • Teleport to Estartte Road – Start, and continue the plot (Quests 37/40)

Dandelion

• Credo Character Note 2 acquired automatically (People 57/78) (Affinity 47/54)
• New Enemies: Berserker Hawk added in Extra menu (Monsters 182/223) (Extra enemies don’t count to the total)
• Re-equip Credo
• Check Bulletin Board for new quests
• Talk to Margot for her affection event, Margot Character Note 3 acquired and affinity 3/3 (People 58/78) (Affinity 48/54) 
• Talk to Arche for 3 Dry-Aged Meat
• Talk to Iris for 3 Mushroom Potage
• Talk to Smirnov for 3 Panacea
• Talk to Chante for 3 flaky baguette
• Talk to Credo in the downstairs beds area of Dandelion for his affection event, Credo Character Note 4 acquired (People 59/78)
• Talk to Anemona for her affection event, Anemona Character Note 4 acquired and 3/3 affinity (People 60/78) (Affinity 49/54) 
• Talk to Yufa for her affection event, Yufa Character Note 3 acquired and 3/3 affinity (People 61/78) (Affinity 50/54) 
• Step outside for dialogue, then go back inside and talk to Aprilis for her affection event, Aprilis Character Note 3 acquired and 3/3 affinity (People 62/78) (Affinity 51/54) 
• Grind to 200 Nox

Keening Highlands Continued – Ancient Battlefield

• Teleport to Keening Highlands – Ancient Battlefield and examine the blue orb to do Grimwald Nox – Neverending Threat
  • Ancient Battlefield barrier removed
  • From grinding Nox and doing this mission, we had the following new enemies: Valron, Fol-Odh, Lu-Anjy, Geo-Tarylux, Dei-Rabby, Aspiyus, Varlukan, Garguleo-Roa, Melgevaudan, Exceflude, Dio-Manthe, Baturolle, Disastyrfe, Guarmedhu (Monsters 196/223)
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Conqueror of the Nox – Clear all Grimwald Nox.)
  • There’s another trophy for S-ranking all of them, we’ll do that soon
• New Landmark – Watchtower of the Hundred Years’ War (Landmark 21/21)
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Intrepid Tourist – Attain 100% of landmarks discovered.)
  • After you finish up here, see Alex in the Visitor’s Center next to the Dandelion building to report all your landmarks, you get Blast Grimoire, it teaches Adol a new skill
• 13 treasure chests (we missed 1 you could’ve gotten in an earlier part of the Keening Highlands), you’ll now have all the chests in the Keening Highlands area (Chests 205/322)
• New Enemies: Ras-Gublin, Reyzard, Yammer, Mudo-Veidon, Diglem (Monsters 201/223)
• Talk to Xavier to start quest Life By The Sword
  • Go to the green markers and defeat the enemies, then go around the building to find the holy sword
  • After quest is completed, Xavier Character Note 1 acquired, 3/3 affinity (Quests 38/40) (People 63/78) (Affinity 52/54)
  • It’s optional, but there’s great dialogue from Xavier and Aprilis in Dandelion’s basement

Balduq

• Next do quest Wanted: Bualadh-Orgh in the northern part of the Keening Highlands
  • Defeat the enemy, consider grinding levels or getting better equipment if you have trouble, report it back to Aprilis in Dandelion (Quests 39/40) 
  • New enemy: Bualadh-Orgh (Monsters 202/223)
• Warp to Groaning Grotto dungeon in the north to accept The Errant Knights quest from Lucien
  • Keep following the green markers through the dungeon and defeating the knights
  • New enemy: Hieroglyph Knight Gilbert (Monsters 202/223) (Extra section enemies don’t count to the total)
  • After completing it, Lucien Character Note 2 acquired (People 64/78)
  • As well, all quests completed (Quests 40/40)
    • (Silver Trophy Acquired: Good Samaritan – Attain 100% of all quests.)
  • The quest ends and leaves you at the Main Square in front of the Knights HQ and in front of Lucien, you can now do Lucien’s affection event, if you teleported away just look for the heart icon on the map, Lucien is not in Dandelion
  • After doing Lucien’s affection event, Lucien Character Note 3 acquired (People 65/78) (Affinity 53/54)
• Prepare equipment, healing items, and go to the final dungeon (the point of no return is the final boss door in the dungeon, so we will return after, but it’s good to be prepared for the final dungeon, it’s long with many enemy types and minibosses)
  • Progress red event via Cemetery and keep fighting battles until you’re in the final dungeon
  • New enemy: Vakhmedhu (Monsters 203/223)

Balduq Fortress of Yore

• 8 treasure chests (Chests 213/322)
• New Enemies: Chilvalier, Melai-Siga, Vrovollo

Balduq Fortress – Abyss

• 7 treasure chests, but we can’t get them all yet
• New enemies: Freizie (Monsters 207/223)
• You will warp to Fool’s Jail before you can grab all the chests here, you will go back and forth

Fool’s Jail

• 4 treasure chests
• New boss: Chimeral Bourdon (Monsters 208/223)
• Return to Abyss, explore new areas, then to Heretic’s Jail

Heretic’s Jail

• 4 treasure chests
• New enemy: Dymitri (Monsters 209/223)
• New boss: Chimeral Roussilon (Monsters 210/223)
• Return to Abyss, explore new areas, wall climb to get the 2 treasure chests up high in the center room, then to the new area
  • You can grab all treasure chests in Abyss area, so adding 4 + 4 + 7 treasure chests to our total we have chests at (Chests 228/322)

Marionette’s Jail

• Use Anemona’s Gift to see hidden platforms (PS4 controller touchpad)
• 6 treasure chests (Chests 234/322)
• New enemy: Lamdian (Monsters 211/223)
• New boss: Chimeral Chard III (Monsters 212/223)
• After, you warp back to Abyss and use the center teleporter

Balduq Fortress – Nexus

• You can explore this area, the door at the end of this zone is the point of no return, you can examine it if you want for a prompt, but don’t go through it!
• 3 treasure chests (Chests 237/322)
• New enemies: Depusa, Depth Gigan (Monsters 214/223)
• Return to Dandelion

Dandelion

• Talk to Tito, give him Legendary Blueprints, make a legendary weapon for the character you use
  • Afterwards, his affection event is unlocked, do it, Tito Character Note 3 acquired, 3/3 affinity (People 66/78) (Affinity 54/54)
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Ambassador of the Dandelion – Attain 100% of Affinity with all characters.)
  • More trophies for forging an ultimate armor, and for forging all 6 legendary weapons (remember that the salamander, the girl by Tito, and the Nox lamp can all sell you materials)
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Dressed to Kill – Forge an Ultimate Armor.)
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Golden Anvil – Forge Ultimate Weapons for all Monstrums (6 in total).)
• You can now grind to level 99. You can make the food that increases experience gained, also look for any accessories that increase your experience gained, then go to the Emain Macha dungeon and fight Bualadh-Orgh enemies over and over. These were the enemies you had to run away from earlier in the game.
  • New enemy: Bualadh-Orgh (but it’s in the Extra menu this time and doesn’t add to the Monsters count, you don’t need to fight these if you don’t want to) (Monsters 214/223)
  • You only need to grind 1 character to level 99 for the trophy. There’s an item that instantly levels you up, so calculate how many levels you can level from those and use them for last because it takes more and more experience to level up the closer you are to level 99.
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Apex Predator – Reach level 99 with any character.)
• When you have legendary equipment, and are level 99, talk to Dogi and S-rank all Grimwald night missions. Also, remember we skipped a boss from one of the missions, it was “Grimwald Nox – Coliseum of Madness”, so fight the boss from that mission too. Turns out it’s an Extra monster in the list, you don’t have to defeat it if you don’t want to.
  • New Enemy: Disastro (In the Extra tab of Monsters, does not count towards total) (Monsters 214/223)
  • Afterwards, a new orb appears near the Prison Ourskirts, it’s an endgame optional boss, new enemy: Vakh Medios (Monsters 215/223)
  • (Silver Trophy Acquired: Vanquisher of the Nox – Achieve an S on all Grimwald Nox.)
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Banisher of Dawn – Defeat the ultimate Lemures, Vakh Medios (Excludes Time Attack).)
• I FORGOT one enemy unfortunately, but you can get it now! Go to the Groaning Grotto dungeon – Beast Enclosure, then go backwards a few zones to get to the West Dumping Ground. Find and kill one of the robot sentries there, new enemy: Graem-Ganeaux (Monsters 220/223)
  • We’re good for monsters, the remaining 3 are the final bosses!
• Let’s do “secret areas” next! We need to do them for map completion and for their treasure chests.

Secret Areas

• (See video on a video guide on all secret locations in Balduq and follow the descriptions below as well.) These are required for map completion and for treasure chest completion.
• From Dandelion, go outside, go right into the sewer area, then press L2 to go right into the sewer drainage, it leads to a new area, Waterway Vault, which contains 1 treasure chest (Chests 238/322)
• Teleport to Central District next, go forward and bit and keep looking left, there’s a thin alley you can drop down to, then use Anemona’s ability to scan the wall for a brick, use it to reveal a passage into Secret Medicine Stash, which contains 4 treasure chests (Chests 242/322)
• From the Secret Medicine Stash, go outside, go across the bridge and turn to the left, see the square building on your map screen? Go there and find a breakable wall, you will go into the Blocked Path dungeon. 

• • 5 treasure chests (Chests 247/322) (A fifth chest is the arrow where my character is standing, not circled)
  • New enemies: Plutoad, Roche, Cuhanni, Tarantiel (Monsters 219/223)
• Teleport to the Antique Shop, then walk out, head to the building in front of you, then look for sewer drainage nearby that have no grating, and use the L2 ability to go into Forgotten Armory, it has 1 treasure chest (Chests 248/322)
• Teleport to Main Square – Marketplace, turn left and keep going forward to a waterfall, then go through the waterfall to get into Waterfall Storeroom with 1 treasure chest (Chests 249/322)
• Teleport to Prison Entrance Gate, and go towards the bread grocery icon in Shantytown, but stay as high as possible. Drop about 2 levels from the bridge, then use Anemona’s ability to find a brick revealing a dungeon, Concrealed Storeroom. There are 4 treasure chests (Chests 253/322)
• Teleport to Cultural Heritage Site, then go to the circular structure nearby and find a doorway you can enter, it leads to the Vacant Ritual Room. It has 1 treasure chest (Chests 254/322) and if you mapped everything out you get the 100 % mapped trophy
  • (Gold Trophy Acquired: Cartographer – Complete the map of Balduq.)

ALL Treasure Chests in Balduq Locations

• We have 254 treasure chests, and we need to find 68 in Balduq City
  By the time you’re finished, you will have treasure chests at (Chests 322/322), if you’re missing one or two, check the secret locations I mentioned earlier. 
  • (Silver Trophy Acquired: Seeker of Fortune – Attain 100% of all treasure chests.)

ALL Graffiti in Balduq Locations

• Find the 44 graffiti in Balduq
• You unlock some optional blue markers on your map from some of the graffiti called Thieves’ Treasure, they’re optional and aren’t needed for any trophies, but why not do them anyways…
  • Teleport to Prison Entrance Gate, examine the blue marker, get 10000 gold
  • Teleport to Agricultural District, examine blue marker for 200 gold
  • Teleport to H Knights HQ, examine blue marker by the tree for 4000 gold
  • Teleport to Balduq Amphitheatre, examine blue marker for 1000 gold

ALL Azure Petals in Balduq

• Find all 120 azure petals scattered around Balduq
  • Sorry, unfortunately I cannot make a video for this because I collected them without realizing it early-game, and I don’t want to play through the whole game again for them. They’re not hard to find though, you can even use Anemona’s Gift (PS4 controller touchpad) to show them glowing if you need extra help.
  • They’re needed for trophies unfortunately!
• For 40 and 110 azure petals thresholds you get a total of 2 recipes, give them to Marguerite in Central District to report them and get the recipes, then give those recipes to Chante to get all recipes trophy (we got the other recipes in chests and we did all blue events to get recipes during the story)
  • You can also cook 1 of each of them and give them to Sister Mel in the Balduq Cathedral for more rewards
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Fields of Blue – Attain 100% of Azure Petals found.)
  • (Bronze Trophy Acquired: Haute Cuisine – Unlock all 13 recipes at the Dandelion.)

Final Boss – Get Final Character Notes and Monster Entries

• Make a backup save before the final boss!
• Check your records in your game, you need People Entries 66/78 and Monster Entries 220/223 before entering to get the trophies, and during the final boss and epilogue we’ll get the rest of these, there’s an epilogue that gives many character notes from talking to the characters
• Go to the “point of no return” door
• As soon as you defeat the final boss (egg form)…
  
  • (Silver Trophy Acquired: Monster Zoologist – Attain 100% of all “Monsters” entries in your Journal.)
• And you have to say your goodbyes to get the remaining Character Notes…
  • Automatic Character Notes for Aprilis 4, Adol 4, and Zola 2
  • Red marker – Chante Character Note 3 automatically acquired
  • Talk to Iris for Iris Character Note 3
  • Talk to Morbihan for Morbihan Character Note 2
  • Talk to Xavier for Xavier Character Note 2
  • After red marker at Pendleton Company Building, exit, then Parks Character Note 3 and Ingrid Character Note 3 automatically acquired
  • Red marker – Jules 4 Character Note automatically acquired
  • Red marker – Yufa 4 Character Note automatically acquired
  • Now, before you exit the gates, make sure your Records say People 77/78, the game ends after you leave Balduq’s gates! So if you don’t have People 77/78, talk to everyone again to be safe, the ones you have to talk to manually aren’t the red marker events such as Iris, Morbian, Xavier. Make another backup save to be safe.
  • You get the trophy as soon as you leave the gates and talk to Warden Belger, Belger Character Note 3 automatically acquired
  • (Silver Trophy Acquired: Debonair Socialite – Attain 100% of all “People” entries in your Journal.)
• When you’re able to save, choose to save in a new slot to be safe, you will need the clear save data but you’ll still need to go back to your old save too.

Cleanup Trophies Before the Point of No Return

• A lot of grindy trophies unfortunately
• Trophies not mentioned in this guide but you can go and get or may have already obtained…
  • Kill 2000 regular enemies
  • Kill 1000 Grimwald enemies
  • Inflict break status on 1000 enemies
  • Trigger 100 flash guards
  • Trigger 100 flash moves
  • Trigger 100 Extra boosts
  • Trigger 100 Extra skills
  • Have 2000+ Nox points
  • 100 % maxed skills, so go to all shops and buy all books, they’re not missable and Maxim will have missed books too, and also ensure you get all treasure chests because they have books too
    • Then go into your inventory and use up all the books.
    • Reporting Landmarks to the visitor center next to Dandelion also gives Adol a skill book. Each of the 6 characters should have 10 skills. Equip the accessory that reduces SP consumption to 2/3 and equip the accessory that gives 4x Skill Experience, then keep grinding them out, try grinding in Grimwald battles, redo them by talking to Dogi, etc.
  • There are trophies for 5 hours of playtime with each character, you can get this while grinding for mastering skills
  • You’ll have gotten all of the main story chapter trophies already.
  • If you haven’t, make sure to S-rank all Grimwald, fight the optional boss in Grimwald, craft all ultimate weapons and 1 ultimate armor, sell everything to get 1 million gold then reload, etc…

Time Trial Trophies Guide

• They’re not bad at all
• One trophy for clearing a Time Attack under 30 seconds (can do it on easy difficulty, choose the first one, it’s easy)
• One trophy for clearing a Time Attack challenge without taking damage (can do it on easy difficulty, choose the first one, it’s easy)
• One trophy for clearing the boss rush
• One trophy for clearing the boss rush without retrying (just do it on easy, it’s easy enough, get the above trophy and this one in one shot)

Nightmare Trophy

• Like Cold Steel games, you need to complete an entire game on Nightmare difficulty, and never change it. You can actually choose a harder difficulty than Nightmare mode if you want, but I find it best to play it safe and just choose Nightmare difficulty. You can get through the game quite fast skipping through all the cutscenes. 
  • You can carryover many things into your Nightmare run to make it easy! To do this, load your clear save and choose to start a new game, don’t just start a new game on Nightmare mode otherwise it won’t prompt you to carryover your goodies.
• For us, it took us a little over 5 hours to beat Nightmare mode, skipping all cutscenes. You can do sidequests to get Nox quickly to unlock the main areas if you’re confused where to go (the Journal says something such as “We should explore around Balduq”). But otherwise you can skip chests, landmarks, pretty much everything else. You’ll need to do Grimwald Nox main missions again, but if you had any upgrades you’ll carry them over so they’re no problem.
• You can skip the trap dungeons in the “Prison Adol” sections with no punishment, making it even faster! Just choose to skip the dungeon when prompted, or if you skip the prompt by mistake then die to a trap, then choose to “proceed as if you finished the dungeon”, and you’ll still get the trophy no problem. 
• We used a level 99 Adol with maxed ultimate weapon and ultimate armor, and you can use accessories like the Hilt to make your skills do high damage and there’s an accessory that will let you heal a percentage of your damage dealt, very useful but you can use any accessories you’d like.
• Sell any old items and buy 99 consumables and a bunch of revival items, and you’ll get through the game just fine. We only used these items for the final boss, but 99 is more than enough. You get to carry over 3 empty bottles too so fill those up.
• Are you wondering about what you can take with you on a NG+ playthrough? We’ve screenshotted the NG+ transfer below for you! A big one is the character levels, so use up all your level up items on your favorite character, also craft best equipment and armors and upgrade them too since equipment carries over, then go into NG+.

Done everything? Congrats on the platinum trophy! Take a break now!