This is it! Our final stop on our main story quest to save Cocoon. This is the games final dungeon if you will, but is still just as linear as everything else, but with a few more side passages. I guess they saved most of the exploration for after the game's story. Or maybe they just wanted to make my, Cymbeline's job eaisier.
Chapter 13: Orphan's Cradle[]
When you arive, run up the stairs and you will get a scene showing that the Calvery are now Cie'th and the walls turn into some weird dimensional place due to Eden or something of the like. Run forward and save, then make your way around to the other side of circle part. Head up the red ramp and at the intersection you will see Eden open up two portals, one to Eden (the city) and one to Gran Pulse (Base Camp) and it will add some more areas to the Central area. The game starts you off in the right direction so head down and to the left around the circle and down the path, saving if you want.
Follow the path all the way to its very tip for a treasure sphere with a Librascope. Now is a good time as any to tell you about the enemies in this area. You alread know about the Sacrifices, but the Aquild Velocycle is weak to Fire and Lightning, the Megrim Thresher is weak to nothing, but halves Fire and Lightning damage and the Dragonite (Sadly, not the Pokemon) is weak to Lightning.
From the treasure sphere, turn around and head up the path to your right, and at the top here you will see two treasure spheres with some Millerite and a Cherub's Crown. After you have that, follow the path back to the central hub area. When you get here, head across to the other side and talk to Eden. When you do she will bring over two platfomrs one in front of you and one behind you. Take the one behind you first.
In this new area your going to run into an intersection right as you get off the thing. Take the right path all the way to its end to reach a treasure sphere with Superchargerx4. Now go back to the intersection and take the path straight in front of you this time. When you reach an area with a random gap in the middle, head around to the left of this and once behind the red thing thats sticking up go to the right and open the treasure sphere you see for Perfect Conductorx4. Now go back and jump up so you get to an even higher area. Go to your right and head up avoiding the path to your right for now, and open the treasure sphere you find here for Particle Acceleratorx2. Now go back and take the path we ignored all the way to the end and open the treasure sphere at the end for soem Uraninte. Now make your way back to the area where you got the Perfect Conductors. Head down the ramp near the treasure sphere and open the treasure sphere down here for Turboprpx5. Now make your way back to where Eden opened up the two paths.
When you arrive in the next area (by taking the other moving platform) head over to the bobbing treasure sphere you see and open it for Seaking's Beardx20 (If I remember correctly Seaking didn't have a beard.) Turn around and make you way up the path and when you see a path to your left take it and head up the ramp. Head to your right and open the treasure sphere guarded by a Sacrifice for Agrisolx2. Turn around and head up the path, and when you reach an intersection take the left path first for a treasure sphere with Tear of Woex9, then take the other path for a treasure sphere with a Gale Ring. Now make your way back down and continue forward. When you reach an intersection guarded by Dragonites, head straight before heading to Eden and open the treasure sphere here for a Shamanic Spear. Now, before talking to Eden, save, because you don't want to do all that collection again.
After talking to Eden, she makes the place rearange itself so that we can technically say we are in a new area, but to be honest we are still in the Tesseracts. Save, if you want then head down the ramp to an intersection. Take the path to your right, then ignore the path to your right here because all it does is take you back to the "hub" area. Jump down to another area, then head all the way up (Towards the Sacrifices) to get to a treasure sphere with a Tetradic Crown. A lot of the fights around here are weird combinations of enemies that if they were on their own it would be much eaisier, but together they really complicate things. Anyways turn around and head back but when you see a path to your right take it and ride the moving platform to the next area.
Once here, follow the path and save. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to develope your characters. Vanille should work on her Saboteur role, then her Ravager role, while Fang works on her Commando role, then her Sentinel role, and Hope works on his Synergist role then his Medic role. When your ready head down the path, ignoring the path to your left for now, and at the end of this path you will find a treasure sphere with Starblossom Seedx6. (I'm seriouly wondering if the treasure is worth the difficulty of the fight before it, though it did teach me the the Velocycle is vulerable to every status effect we can throw at it, actually so is the Scantum Templar.) After you have that make your way back, and take the path we ignored. Head to the right and jump down to another area. When you see a side area to your left jump down there and head to the end of the area to reach a treasure sphere with Black Myceliumx8. Then make your way back to the main path and follow it, ignoring the paths to your right and instead heading to the next path on your left to a treasure sphere with some Rhodochrosite. Now take either of the paths we ignored and head all the way to the end to find our good pal Eden. Before talking to her you may as well develope you character and save, because the first of many bosses is comming to pay us a visit. Also at this point all your characters sitting on the sidlines will have 999,999 CP and they can't get anymore so spend it all on their main roles so that they can get more so you can get that one trophy thing for maxing out every character. (You know they probably reached that ammount a while ago, but I just noticed it now.) Now talk to Eden to be whisked away to an unknown area.
| Boss Fight: Jabberwocky & Bandersnatch |
 
These guys are rip-offs of the Chapter 6 bosses. Even though their HP is low, they have a catch: Jabba is immune to Magic (yet is weak to every element) and Bander is immune to physical attacks. Start off in Espionage and hit Bander with Deshell, Imperal, Poison, and Slow. You can also get him with Curse and Fog if it really matters to you. Then just blast him with your magic, but don't thing that Jabba is going to sit there and let you beat up his good friend. He will be attacking you, so be sure to keep your HP up. Once Bander is down, we can go back to Espionage and hit Jabba with Deprotect, Poison, Slow and Curse. He can also be hit by Imperal but when your immune to magic its pretty pointless. Hope will probably get up Haste, Protect, Shell, Bravery and Faith during these time making the battle much eaisier. This fight would be harder, but their pityful HP makes them hardly a threat. |
After the battle we are taken to another area in the Tesseracts. Save up, then head forward. You will get a scene where our team chats with each other and Vanille and Fang make Cocoon their home. Run forward and head down the ramp. When you get to the end the area reconfigures itself yet again. When your back in control head forward and fight the Immortal guarding the gate that we want to go through. Unlike his brothers before him, however the Immortal has no weakness.(Poison is your friend, in fact Espionage is a great friend to have.) When he's gone head throught the portal he was guarding.
Now you are on the "Upper Level". A quick look to your left and your right will reviel two treasure spheres one with a Weirding Glyph (Give it to Hope) and the other with the Adamant Bangle. Now warp to another area. Here there are another two treasure spheres. One with some Scarletite and the other with the only Elixir in the entire game. You want to save this exclusive item due to the fact that if fully heals your entire party and gives you all your TP back. Now warp back to your origional location. You now need to get around all the way to the other end to find Eden. Take the right path if your left handed and the left path if your right handed. I'm taking the left. When you reach the end, take the ramp up and develope you characters and save. Then talk to Eden to be taken away to an area with another boss who wants a crack at us. Oh, but before doing that set Hero's Charge as your active Paradigm.
| Boss Fight: Wladislaus |
If you had any plans of Staggering Wally, guess again. He is one of the two enemies in the game who cannot be staggered under any circumstances. It blows, but at least we can still buff up to make this eaisier. Using Hero's Charge Hope can get out Protect, Shell, Haste, Bravery, and Faith, while Vanille keeps the team going. Wally can hit hard but thats about all he has. If he uses "Mounting Contempt" he will hit you hard and with the bonus of Deprotect/Deshell, but if you have Protect and Shell up, all it will do is Dispel those status enhancements. The problem with Wally is that his HP is too low to make for a challenge at this stage in the game. Truly a pity. |
When he dies we get sent off to a new area. This area is the best level grinding area in the entire game. Almost every encounter gives away 32,000 CP. Awesome. Run forward and save, then continue onward to Eden. Eden will then morph this area like usual. When your back in control head to your right and up the ramp. On your way up you'll reacfh a treasure sphere with 3,000 Gil. BTW make Espionage your starting Paradigm. The first battle in this area is the hardest yet, so take out the Sanctum guy before Wally. Be careful though because they can both really, really hurt you. This should be the only time you fight this battle.
As you continue up you will reacch another treasure sphere, this one with 5,000 Gil. The next battle on your way up is against Jabba and his friend. Not too hard. As you move up the final battle is against three Sacntum guys. again not all that hard. Thus for an effective CP farming route (We'll be doing this until our three main party members max out their 3 major roles) with be Jabba, these three guys and the Wally down the dead end will net you about 70,000 CP a run. To get back down and go up without fighting the first battle take the lift that is on the ground floor up to the top floor (Its to one with the sparkles).
When you have finished your run through this area and maxed out all three of your major roles for your main team of 3 head onward by talking to Eden. But before doing so, set your active Paradigm to Hero's Charge.
| Boss Fight: Tiamat Eliminator |
The Tiamat Eliminator is the child of the Proudclad and the Ushumgal Subjugator machine enemies. He has the walking and flying modes of the Proudclad and the Tail Hammer of the Subjugator. He also has Overdrive like the Subjugator that gives him buffs at the cost of Deshell and Deprotect. Awesome! Starting off in Hero's Charge will allow you to buff up while healing your team. Normally debuffing isn't a bad idea but seeing as he's going to do it to himself (and you can use Espionage to get rid of the buffs via Dispel) its not all to important. One attack to watch out for is "Ice Gernades" but you don't have to worry much about that. (NOTE: I lied, Overdrive only gives him buffs this time :(). Oh yeah and his walking form has the ability to remove all your buffs so just dont buff up when he's walking. When you've dismantled the machine you will recieve an Imperial Armlet. |
After that Orphan's last line of defense has fallen. Sad to know that was the best he could do. You'll be returned to the grinding area, so if you still need to grind for CP do it now. This is your LAST chance to visit this area so grind for CP now! When you're truely ready head through the portal and to the final area in the game.
Hmm well this is new, I guess this is Orphan's waiting room. Its very blue, but I guess that must be to contrast the red themed walk here. Go up to the save point and save. This is the final save station in the game. Also buy two Cherub's Crowns and give all three that you have to Vanille. This is very important as the 66% resistance to Death will help out more than it seems. (In fact if you make them Lv* and upgrade them to Seraph's Crown's then make those Lv* you'll have about 96%ish resistance to Death.) When you ready make your way to the end of the area and open the treasure sphere before leaving the room for an Ethersol.
As theses as the final scenes you should watch them yourself. Thus you should watch them yourself so when your ready get set for the final three battles in the game.
| Boss Fight: Barthandelus |
This is the begining of the end. The first of three battles that will determine the fate of Cocoon. Yet this is the eaisiest fight against Barthy ever. He can use his laser attack, "Ultima", and his worst "Thanatosian Laughter". Start off in Espionage and hit Barthy with Deprotect, Deshell, Imperil, and Slow. During this time Hope can hopefully get out Haste, Protect, Shell, Bravery and Faith. If he can't use Hero's Charge. Whenever he uses Ultima you should only need one Medic, but when he laughs your going to want to use Combat Clinic if you even want to pray for survival. Really though thats all you have to worry about, its sad that Barthy has fallen so low on his "Big Bad Viallan" scale. |
| Boss Fight: Orphan |
Switch to Combat Clinic at the start of this battle. They start with their "Merciless Judgement" attack that will kill you if you don't. Orphan has two modes: "Consummate Darkness" and "Consummate Light" and every time they change they use "Merciless Judgement". Its becomes a real big pain real quickly. In their Dark form Orphan uses strong attacks and can inflict Status ailments, however when they are staggered in this form they will not attack, which makes this an excelent time to use Espionage to get out at least Poison. You will want to hit Orphan with Poison as its damage is based on how much Total HP you have. Don't worry if it takes all Stagger, at least Orphan will slowly die due to Poison. In their Light stage, Orphan will still be able to attack during a Stagger, but thats about it. So basically your going to want to focus on Staggering Orphan first, then start buffing and debuffing especially if you Staggered them in their Dark mode. However, this will not always be the case, as when Oprhan's HP begins to fall they will start to use "Merciless Judgement" at any time, and they will also pull out an attack call "Progenitorial Wrath" that can instantly kill any Party Member. This isn't so bad if its Fang of Hope, a single Phoenix Down will bring them right back, but if it happens to Vanille, you are in big trouble. (I'm not even going to tell you why, but I'm sure you already know.) The less, and less HP Orphan has, the harder and harder this fight becomes. All I can say is that if you keep up Poison, it will definatly make up for the damage you may have missed out during the stagger you tried to get it up in. Fun Fact: Orphan had less than 1/10 of their HP remaining when their instant Death attack hit Vanille. I was beyond average gamer rage. |
| Final Boss Fight: Orphan |
Orphan Dooms you at the start of the battle. That means you have a set time limit to get rid of all that HP. However when its staggered Fang can tear through it. So focus on the Stagger the use Hero's Charge to at least get up Haste, Bravery and Faith and tear through its HP. This won't last long at all. And although Orphan can hit with some nasty attacks its HP falls really really fast when Staggered. |
After felling Orphan, you get to watch the game's ending scenes which are well, watch them yourself! When your done save then get ready for some side quests, or rather Mark Mission's, plus we have a whole new Crystarium level to go through. I'll see you all on the next page!