Achievement Breakdown: (47)
Story Related: (16)
Missable: (12)
Secondary Objectives: (4)
Collectibles: (10)
Slay: (3)
Miscellaneous: (2)

There is a minimum of 2 full playthroughs (Routes) we will have to complete of this game to unlock all Achievements; on top of these full run throughs, there is an extra 3 half playthroughs we will have to complete for various game Endings. Each Ending will showcase different aspects of the story as we know it, & they will not be your typical “NG+” that’s a carbon copy of the last playthrough. The first playthrough contains Endings A-D. Ending A is a complete full playthrough, with Endings B-D only taking place during the second half of the game without us having to repeat the first half. Ending E only requires us to play through the first half of the game before we get to complete a brand new section of story. The final playthrough is our 15 hour speedrun of the full game for the Lightspeed Fighter Achievement.

In the second half of our playthroughs (Route A2, B2, C2, etc.) the Bosses we fight have associated Achievements for killing them in under a certain time limit. In theory this is technically Missable, however we have to replay the part two sections four separate times, each time being stronger than the last. If you know ahead of time, which I let you know every playthrough, you can plan ahead & get these Achievements without much trouble. Cutscenes played during the Boss fights do in fact contribute to the time, so it is unlikely (& unrecommended) to unluck these during our first playthrough. Instead, wait till later ones when you can skip these cutscenes without fear of missing vital story lore.

There are no Difficulty related Achievements so feel free to play on whichever ever you prefer. In the original version of the game, playing on Hard Difficulty did increase the Drop Rate for Rare Materials; there is no evidence to suggest that it does for this version of the game. If playing on Easy Difficulty, you are able to use an Auto-Battle feature that literally fights all combat encounters for you. I definitely do not suggest using this while you play through the game… because why even play the game at that point, however I do suggest using this when we begin our very long Materials grind at the end of the game. If nothing else, having Auto Evade/Block & Auto Magic are very handy & helps speeds some of the tedium involved. But I will get more into that when it becomes relevant later… Difficulty can be changed at any time with no benefit or loss.

Speaking of the Materials grind, the reason why we need to do this is for the Forging Master Achievement where we need to fully Upgrade 33 Weapons to Level 4. This used to be ALL Weapons in the game, but thanks to the free YoRHa DLC, as well as a special Weapon we get from Ending E, this bumps up our potential Weapons to 33/38 total Weapons. So, depending on the Materials you end the game with & the ones you are alright/not alright with farming, it gives you some options.

Loot everything you come across obsessively. The bulk of the Items, Materials, & even Fish we collect throughout the game are not safe to sell. We need a massive amount of these for Upgrading all our Weapons or just for completing Side Quests. Most Materials we will need under 50 of, though there are a few that will require more than 100 of for Weapon Upgrades. Do not farm any Materials that can be purchased from Shops. Money will not be an issue in late game due to how much Materials & extras of common ones we will be obtaining. On that note, for Man of Means Achievement we will need to have 1,000,000 Gold in our possession at one time; it is not cumulative. Through Side Quests & natural completion, you should obtain around 400K-500K; the last bit will come through our grind.

For those interested, here is an organized list of all the Achievements/Secret Achievements. This is how I derive my Achievement Breakdowns & the first reference I create before I begin my 100% journeys. This Checklist also includes a list of all Side Quests & where to find them, in depth breakdowns of the necessary Materials needed for each Weapon, & where to find/farm all Materials. I even breakdown all the Items that are perfectly safe to sell.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3039640209
*Guide contains major spoilers.

1. Route A1: Prologue, The Village, Northern Plain
2. Weapons: 1/33
3. Achievements: 3/47
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There are no Achievements associated with Difficulty so choose whichever you prefer; I recommend just playing on Normal. When you enter your Character name, be sure it is something simple & easy to remember. This oddly becomes relevant later on during our Endings & you will need to input your Character name letter for letter.

Also, if you have not already done so, go to the Steam Store Page for Nier – Replicant & download the free YoRHa DLC. We get four brand new Weapons (only two being available during Route A1 with the other two appearing in Route A2).

When the game begins, we will be immediately thrust into combat with some Shades.


Achievement #1 – Combo Fanatic: You pulled off a 50-hit Combo.
Right off the bat, we will need to grind out two Achievements. Though not mandatory to do here, it is definitely the easiest. Leap into combat with the Shades & begin racking up as high of a Combo as you can.

We get some lee-way in our Combo timing & can take some hits as well as miss the odd attack. Our Combo will disappear after around 3-4 seconds having not hit an enemy. After we build a Combo up of 50, we will unlock this Achievement.


Achievement #2 – Combo Master: You pulled off a 100-hit Combo.
This is the Achievement we will really want to unlock during the Prologue as it is much harder to obtain organically later on. Keep our Combo going & waves upon waves of Shades will keep arriving. Stay on the ball, & we will hit a Combo well beyond 100. The delay between waves is what will most likely kill your Combo if you are not quick enough to attack new enemies when they appear.

For the easiest time, we can unlock this Achievement when the Giant Shade appears. Defeat all the smaller/medium Shades & deplete the Giants health to see the timer. Ignore the timer (witnessing this for the first time will deplete our Combo unfortunately) & keep striking the Boss. The Boss will regain a sliver of its health, & we can keep beating it back up & down so long as we do not finish it off by striking its head. Keep striking the Giant Shade, dodging its attacks & quickly get back to it if you are pushed away, & build up your Combo to 100 to unlock the Achievement. If you do not strike its head, this boss is invincible which is why this is so ideal.

If you cannot manage it, & do not unlock this during the rest of the game, you can always start a New Game when you are more skilled to quickly bang this Achievement off…



Weapon #1 – Nameless Blade: This is our default starting Weapon.
For the Weapons Collector Achievement, we need to find all 33 Weapons in the Base Game; this does not include the YoRHa DLC or the special Weapon we obtain from Ending E.

Mailboxes: Exit your home, & we can find our first Mailbox just down the hill from our yard. Be sure to Save here as one has not been made since we began the game…

Main Quest #1 – Helping Popola: Go to the Library & see Popola; it will be marked as a red X on our mini-map & World Map. Speak with her, & we will be tasked with collecting 10 Mutton from the Northern Plains.


Main Quest #1 – Helping Popola: Go to the Northern Plains & we will only have a limited area we can explore currently. For the Main Quest, we need to kill Sheep to acquire 10 Mutton.


Achievement #3 – The Sheep Whisperer: You killed 100 Sheep.
For this Achievement, we need to kill 100 Sheep. Sheep only spawn here during Route A1 of the game; progress to Route A2 & their numbers will severely dimmish. Around 20 Sheep spawn here at the Northern Plains at a time. Farm the Sheep out, being sure to loot their corpses, & reload the area by travelling back to the Village. Repeat this farming session five times to kill 100 Sheep & unlock this Achievement.

You technically have all of Route A1 to chip away at the Achievement.


Main Quest #1 – Helping Popola: Bring the 10 Mutton to an Item Shopkeeper in the village. With that task complete, return to Popola in the Library & bring her 3 Medicinal Herbs.

Return back to Yonah & we will progress to the next morning.

Main Quest #2 – Shades By the Bridge: In the morning, return to the Library to speak with Popola to receive our next task. Exiting the Library will reveal overcast skies obscuring the sun…


Main Quest #2 – Shades By the Bridge: Make your way West through the plains towards the bridge in repair by the townsfolk. When we arrive, Shades will appear that we will need to defeat.


Main Quest #2 – Shades By the Bridge: Return to Popola to turn in the Quest.

Maps: With all the Gold we have made doing our tasks for Popola, it isn’t a bad idea to purchase the Eastern Road Map, The Aerie Map, & the Forest Myth Map for 500 Gold each. These are all later game Maps however & not totally necessary to purchase this early if you do not want to. These can be purchased from the Item Shopkeeper we delivered the Mutton to earlier…

There are two Weapons for sale here in The Village from the Blacksmith we will eventually need to buy as well. They are expensive however, so we need to save up some more Gold first.

Remember to hoard Items, & only sell things if you really have to. For the Man of Means Achievement, we need to have 1,000,000 Gold in our Inventory at one time. The best way to do that is by hoarding Materials & Items until the end of the game, making a Save, then selling them all to reach a million.

The only thing to note however is that we can only carry 10 or 99 of certain Items/Materials. If you get close to over burdening a certain Material, then definitely sell off your extras to maximize profits…

Main Quest #3 – Missing Sister: Return back home again to Yonah for another day completed only she will not be there. She will not be at the Library either. Speak with Popola for a potential lead on her whereabouts…

We can find Yonah’s Ribbon near the gates to the Eastern Road.

1. Route A1: Lost Shrine, The Village, Northern Plains
2. Side Quests: 6/30
3. Weapons: 3/33
4. Achievements: 4/47
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Main Quest #3 – Missing Sister: Ideally you purchased the Eastern Road Map so you are able to navigate around. Head North through the Eastern Road to reach the Lost Shrine – Exterior.
Lost Shrine Map: We will have no Map when we enter the interior of the Lost Shrine. To find it, head up to the first landing on the central stairwell where we enter & destroy a Crate.

Weapon #2 – Nirvana Dagger: Make your way up to Floor 2 of the Lost Shrine & we will have to navigate through some halls to reach a wooden ladder that will take us to Floor 3. Climb up the first ladder & we will walk across a wooden walkway to a second one; we can find this Weapon inside a Crate in the middle of this walkway.


Achievement #4 – The Book of Legend: Grimoire Weiss joined your party.
Story Related. Navigate to the Lost Shrine Roof & enter into the Altar. Break the ancient book out of its imprisonment & ask it for assistance to rescue Yonah; the Achievement will unlock when Grimoire Weiss joins us.

Unlocking Grimoire Weiss expands our Menu system giving us much more visual options. We can now see all our collected Materials, Items, Weapons, Quests, Notes, & Words.

Boss – Hansel & Gretel: Defeat Hansel & Gretel with the help of Grimoire Weiss to save Yonah.


Main Quest #4 – The Aerie: Speak with Devola by the village fountain, then go to speak with Popola at the Library about the Song of the Ancients. We will then be tasked with fighting some Shades around The Aerie.

Side Quest #1 – Book Smarts: As of now, we can begin collecting/completing Side Quests. We can find our first Side Quest on the upper floor of the Library from a Villager sorting books. Speak with her & lend her a hand.

Place the Red Book & Blue Book back on their respective shelves to complete the Quest.

We need to complete 10, 20, & 30 Side Quests to unlock three different Achievements… there are 68 Side Quests in total in the game.

Side Quest #2 – Herbal Remedies: Return inside the Library & speak with Popola again to receive this Side Quest. All she needs is two Medicinal Herbs; you probably already have enough to turn the Quest in…

Side Quest #3 – The Gatekeeper’s Errand: Go to the gate leading to the Northern & we can find that the two Guardsman each have a Side Quest to give us. Speak with the one off our right to receive the Quest. Speak with the Blacksmith’s Wife to remind her of the shipment to complete the Quest.

Side Quest #4 – Fragile Delivery 1: While we can accept Side Quest – Fragile Delivery from the other Guard, it is a sensitive Side Quest & if we take any damage or Evade, we will break the Package. Fortunately, we have unlimited tries.

Accept the Side Quest so we have it recorded, but do not bother collecting a replacement Package until we are committed to following the Side Quest through.

Side Quest #5 – Boar Hunt: As soon as we enter the main Village square, we will see an old man off our left who has a Side Quest. Speak with him to accept a Quest to slay a Boar in the Northern Plains.

Side Quest #6 – The Lost Eggs: Right beside the old man, speak with the Item Shopkeeper to receive a Quest for finding some lost Chicken Eggs around the Village.

We only need to find 1, & it can be found at the fountain where Devola is usually playing the Song of the Ancients. At the fountain, head in behind the brick archways & look against them in the shadows to find a Chicken Egg hidden beneath one.

Side Quest #7 – Old Fashioned Home Cooking: Across from the Item Shopkeeper, we can spot a woman who has a Side Quest for us sitting on a bench near a fountain. She wants us to collect 10 Mutton for her; ideally, you still have some leftovers from slaughtering our 100 Sheep, otherwise you will need to kill more in the Northern Plains.

This is a Repeatable Quest & we can continue to bring her 10 Mutton for 1500 Gold; this is a steal as selling 10 Mutton at a Shop will only net us 600 Gold!

Side Quest #8 – Shopping List: Near that fountain across from the Item Shopkeeper, we can also find the Florist who has a Side Quest for us. We will be tasked with purchasing 3 Tulip Bulbs for her from Seafront; we will be travelling there later…

Side Quest #9 – The Tavern Keeper’s Grandmother: We can now enter into the Tavern. Speak with the Tavern Keeper & we will be tasked with collecting 3 Medicinal Herbs, 3 Berries, & 3 Royal Ferns. The first two Items are easy enough to find around The Village or Northern Plains. Royal Ferns however are easiest purchased at Seafront; they can be found as Rare Loot in the Northern Plains or Southern Plains, but it would be tedious scavenging them this early on.

Weapon #3 – Lily-Leaf Sword: After completing all these Side Quest, we should have more than enough Gold to purchase this Weapon. We can buy it for 2400 Gold at the Blacksmith.


Side Quest #5 – Boar Hunt: Go to the Northern Plains & cross over the newly repaired bridge to the West. We can find the Boar roaming around near the entrance to the Forest of Myth. Boars are well beyond us & have massive health pools. They only have one attack though that is very telegraphed, it does enough damage to reduce us to 2/10 health however so be careful. The moment the Boar stops to lift its tail, it is going to charge & you need to get behind it.

Slay the Boar to receive a Boar Tusk.


Side Quest #5 – Boar Hunt: Return to the old man with the Boar Tusk to complete the Quest.

Completing this Side Quest will allow us to Mount & ride Boars where we find them!

1. Route A1: The Aerie, The Village, Southern Plains, Seafront
2. Side Quests: 9/30
3. Fish Caught: 3/15
4. Weapons: 4/33
5. Achievements: 5/47
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Main Quest #4 – The Aerie: It is now time to carry on with the Main Questline. Head through the Northern Plains & enter into the Aerie. When we enter & see the introductory cut scene, it will end at a golden house before panning back to us; that is the gold house we need to take the Parcel to on our next visit here for Side Quest #4 – Fragile Delivery 1.

Starting now, we will begin earning Words by killing Shades. We need to collect 60/120 Words to unlock the Wordsmith Achievement. This will come through natural progression & Words do not need to be hunted down. Just pay attention to which ones you collect & do not forget to equip new ones!

Get to the village chief’s home & we will be told to go away…

Boss – Kainé: When we go to leave the Aerie, we will encounter Kainé & must defeat her.

Boss – Hook: Knock Kainé down to 1/4 health & we will be interrupted by the massive Shade, Hook. Drive the beast away with Kainé’s help.


Main Quest #5 – The Black Scrawl: Return to the Village & either check in to see Yonah first or Popola; Popola drives the Main Quest, seeing Yonah first is optional.

Speak with Popola to get a lead on how to obtain pain relieving medicine for Yonah. We can get some by catching a Shaman Fish found at Seafront…


Side Quest #4 – Fragile Delivery 1: With the Aerie discovered, pick up a replacement Package from the Guard at the gate & return to it making sure not to break it along the way.

On our return, there will be Bats in the tunnel leading to the Mailbox. Take them out from a far using our Magic. There are no other enemies here & we can safely take the Package to the Chief’s house.

Report back to the Guard at the gates in The Village to complete the Quest.

Head through the Southern exit of The Village to enter the Southern Plains. We will not have a Map for the Area yet though…


Achievement #5 – All Aboared!: You rode a Boar for at least 5:00 minutes in one sitting.
With our Boar Tusk, we can spot a sleeping Boar. Approach it & Mount it. Ride around on the Boar or just idle on its back for 5 minutes to unlock this Achievement; we can also ride Boars found in the Northern Plains as well.

Regardless, this must be done in a straight shot & is not cumulative; it is easiest just to idle. Just be careful as if anything knocks you off the Boar, you need to restart.

Weapon #4 – Moonrise: Shortly upon entering the Southern Plains, we will encounter a Guard being attacked by Shades on the road down to Seafront. Help him fight the Shades off & speak with him afterwards to receive this Weapon.


Side Quest #8 – Shopping List: Before we start blindly running around the town, head down the market strip & stop in at the Grocer & purchase 3 Tulips Bulbs for 50 Gold each.

Side Quest #9 – The Tavern Keeper’s Grandmother: We can also purchase 3 Royal Ferns from the Grocer for 150 Gold each.

Maps: The next merchant down the market strip will be the Item Shopkeeper. Here we can purchase the Seafront Map & the Southern Plains Map for 500 Gold each.

The Blacksmith here will also sell the Beastbain for 16,800 Gold like the one in The Village does; this is still too expensive for us to justify buying at the moment. Just keep saving your Gold.

Main Quest #5 – The Black Scrawl: Head to the beach directly South of the market strip & we can speak with an old man with a cane standing on a pier overlooking the ocean. He will give us a Fishing Rod so we can catch Shaman Fish. We can now purchase Baits from the Tackle Shop here in Seafront…

With our Fishing Rod, go to the western beach marked on our Map & get ready to start fishing. We will automatically catch a Shaman Fish if you win the fishing mini-game.

Fish #1 – Shaman Fish: While the first Fish we catch will always be a Shaman Fish, it will not actually count towards our Achievement meaning we have to catch a second one for real. Stay at the western beach in Seafront & use a Lure to catch another Shaman Fish.

Hold off on catching other Fish for now as we will receive Side Quests for catching new ones from that old man we got the Fishing Rod from!

Main Quest #5.5 – A Woman In Need: As we go to leave the beach, an old woman will call out to us for help. Accept her little errand & head to the Post Office to visit the Postman. Collect the Love Letter for the Lighthouse Lady as well as a Letter to Popola.

Deliver the Love Letter to the old woman… all the way up the lighthouse.

Side Quest #10 – Fisherman’s Gambit Part 1: Return to the old man on the pier & we will receive this Side Quest to catch 10 Sardines.

Fish #2 – Sardine: To catch Sardines, we need to use Lugworms as Bait. We can catch them on the western beach. Even if you catch a Sardine, it will consume the Lugworm; Sardines are important to catch as they to become Bait for even larger Fish…

Completing this Side Quest, & all the other ones from the old man, will increase our Fishing Skill.

Side Quest #11 – Fisherman’s Gambit Part 2: Speak with the old man again to receive our next Fishing Quest where we will need to catch 7 Blowfish.

Fish #3 – Blowfish: To catch Blowfish, we will need to use Lugworms as Bait. They can by caught at the southern beach right beside the old man.

We will catch a lot of Sardines in the process; do not sell them. We need a good supply of these for later Fish to save us having to buy them as Bait…

Side Quest #12 – Fisherman’s Gambit Part 3: Our next Fishing Quest we will have to catch 7 Rainbow Trout which are not found at Seafront. For Rainbow Trout, we will need to go to the lake in the Northern Plains to find them; trout just take standard Lures.

1. Route A1: Seafront, The Village
2. Side Quests: 11/30
3. Words: ~4%/50%
4. Fish Caught: 3/15
5. Weapons: 4/33
6. Achievements: 6/47
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Side Quest #13 – A Signature Dish: Now that we are wrapping up at Seafront, we can find a new Side Quest in the local Tavern. We can find the Tavern across from the Material Shopkeeper & the Fish Shop. Speak with the Tavern Keeper to be tasked with finding 10 Medicinal Herbs, 10 Wheat, & 10 Sardines.

All these Items & Foods can be purchased here at Seafront but ideally you have a good supply of each already. The only Ingredient you will definitely not have is the Wheat. Wheat will cost us 500 Gold a piece or 5000 Gold total. This is a lot of money. Alternatively, we can grow Wheat in the Garden we unlock later, but this can be time consuming.

Side Quest #14 – The New Merchant In Town: Head over to the West side of Seafront & we can find a man sitting on a docked ship with a Side Quest. Speak with him, & we will be tasked with bringing him 10 Wool, 5 Natural Rubber, & 10 Goat Hides. We should have more than enough Wool already & maybe some Goat Hides; we will need to farm the rest in the Northern Plains.

As for the Natural Rubber, we are once again stumped; the only places we can find it “naturally” is at Harvest Points found around the Northern & Southern Plains. The odds are very low however, but while you farm Goat Hides definitely be sure to run around to all the Harvest Points you see to check. The only other way will, of course, be to buy them from the Materials Shop for 700 Gold each, or 3500 Gold in total…

If you plan on going the money route, do not waste any of your collected Items to sell; we do have a few plan Bs.

Gold Farming: In our early game, there are a few methods we can use to farm Gold right now. The quickest method I found was farming Giant Spiders. We can find Giant Spiders in the Southern Plains down a small side passage close to Seafront that leads to The Manor. Enter in through the Manor gates & we can more inside. There are four Giant Spiders total to farm & their Giant Spider Silk is free to sell netting us 400 Gold a piece. If you are lucky, you can get Rainbow Spider Silk as a rare drop which gives us 1960 Gold a piece! Simply farm the Spiders, run back to Seafront, & repeat.

You just need to be careful as they can Poison us! We can buy Antidotal Weed at the Item Shop in Seafront for 600 Gold. Not ideal, but it is better than death.

To buy our 10 Wheat & 5 Natural Rubber, we will need to farm a minimum of 21 Giant Spiders; getting Rainbow Spider Silk will expedite this by 4 Spiders a piece.


Side Quest #15 – A Dog Astray: When we enter The Village, we can see an old man just inside the town gates with a Quest for us. Speak with him, & he will ask us to find his dog, Max, somewhere out in the Northern Plains.

Side Quest #9 – The Tavern Keeper’s Grandmother: Return to the Tavern Keeper & bring her the 3 Medicinal Herbs, 3 Berries, & 3 Royal Ferns we collected from Seafront. She will hand us the Old Lady’s Elixir & ask us to bring it to the grandmother by the fountain above town.

Side Quest #16 – The Ballad of the Twins: Sitting beside us in the Tavern, we can speak with a man to obtain this Quest to get the two twins, Devola & Popola, to sing together again.

Side Quest #17 – The Postman’s Request: Speak with Devola in the Tavern, & we can obtain any uncollected Side Quests. Right now, there should be two available from her, one being back in Seafront, The Postman’s Request. While other Side Quests can be found in the world, this specific one needs to be collected from Devola first to initiate.

Do not worry about accepting other Quests from her until after we hit our 30 Side Quests mark. I will flag everyone of them to us until we reach our 30 for the Achievements; if you want to carry on & complete more of them, then she can make sure you do not miss anything…

Side Quest #8 – Shopping List: Turn in the 3 Tulips Bulbs to the Florist & we will complete this Quest. We will also unlock our Garden which is essential for the Legendary Gardener Achievement. If you want to read more on cultivating plants, skip down to Sequence #14; I do not recommend just planting… plants, then walking away & forgetting about them. Chances are, when you eventually return they will most likely be dead & your seeds will have been wasted.


Achievement #6 – Village Handyman: You completed 10 Side Quests.
As of now, we should have completed at least 10 Side Quests; note that aside from the first completion of it, replaying Repeatable Quests do not contribute to the Achievement.

Side Quest #18 – A Return to Shopping: Speak with the Florist & she will have a second Side Quest for us to complete. She needs us to collect 3 Bounty Fertilizer from Seafront; you may already have enough just from looting Harvest Points or Crates.

Side Quest #19 – On the Wings of Eagles: Return back to the Tavern after completing the previous Side Quest for her, & the Tavern Keeper will have a second Quest for us. This time, we will be tasked with going to the Aerie to collect on Eagle Egg for her…

Main Quest #5 – The Black Scrawl: Return to Yonah & give her the pain medicine we made from the Shaman Fish.

Side Quest #20 – Yonah's Cooking: After we gave Yonah the medicine, we can speak with her now that she is feeling better & receive a little Side Quest from her. She requires 1 Venison & 1 Wheat.

Venison you most likely already have as it is collected from Deer found in the Southern Plains. As for Wheat, unless you grow some, we will need to purchase from the Grocery Store for 500 Gold.

Bring Yonah the ingredients & eat a less than optimal meal…

Main Quest #6 – Reinforcement: Bring Popola the letter we collected at the Seafront Post Office & we will hear of the Aerie being under siege by Shades.

Before we can be of any assistance to them, we will need to Upgrade a Weapon of ours at the Blacksmith at the Junk Heap. Hold off on going there for now & let’s quickly clean up these last remaining Side Quests first. We will get some more Gold out of it…

Side Quest #17 – The Ballad of the Twins: Before we leave the Library, speak with Popola again & ask her if she can sing with Devola at the Tavern. We need to get her some “special” booze from the Seafront Tavern before she will agree to…

1. Route A1: Northern Plains, The Aerie, The Village, Seafront
2. Side Quests: 20/30
3. Words: ~7%/50%
4. Fish Caught: 7/15
5. Weapons: 4/33
6. Achievements: 7/47
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Side Quest #14 – The New Merchant In Town: While we are completing the other tasks around the Northern Plains, be sure to loot all Harvest Points you come across for the rare chance of finding Natural Rubber. Kill all Sheep & Goats you find as well to collect Wool & Goat Hide.

There are six Goats that spawn in the Northern Plains; two in the far corner of the Eastern plateau & four that spawn near the cliff overlooking the river on the Western plateau. It is easiest doing runs between The Village & the Forest of Myth to reset the area.

While we farm, be sure to kill all Small Shades we come across as well for the chance of collecting sell-able Books or finding new Words.

Side Quest #15 – A Dog Astray: To locate Max, head towards our Quest Marker near the broken bridge that leads to the Junk Heap. Drop down into the lower bench-land & we can, unfortunately, find Max’s body near the water beside the bridge here.

Be careful as we will be attacked by three Shield Shades.

Side Quest #12 – The Fisherman’s Gambit Part 3: Now that we are in the Northern Plains, we can begin catching Rainbow Trout. We can fish in two locations along the lake here. To catch a Rainbow Trout, we only need to use a standard Lure; catch seven for the Quest.

Fish #4 – Rainbow Trout: Rainbow Trout are caught in the Northern Plains lake & only require a standard Lure.


Side Quest #19 – On the Wings of Eagles: Make a pit stop in to the Aerie while we are out here & we can find our Eagle Egg close to the chief’s house. At the end of the bridge to his house, take a left & climb down a Ladder to a lower walkway where we can collect the Eagle Egg at a Harvest Point.


Side Quest #21 – Fragile Delivery 2: Sitting near the fountain in town, we can spot an old man sitting on a bench. Speak with him, & he will give us a Fragile Serving Tray to be taken to Seafront; you may have already collected this Quest.

Since we are going to Seafront next, accept, & do not Evade or take any damage as we go.

Side Quest #19 – On the Wings of Eagles: Take the Eagle Egg to the Tavern Keeper & we will be asked to bring the Old Lady’s Elixir+ to the grandmother sitting by the fountain above town.

Do not worry about the Eagle Egg. Though an Ultra Rare Material, we can farm a whole bunch of them with ease during the World of Recycled Vessel DLC; only opt to not complete this Quest if you plan on using the Phoenix Spear (best Weapon in the game in my opinion) during Route A2.

Side Quest #15 – A Dog Astray: Now it is time for us to return to the old man near the South gate of the Village & tell him the bad news about Max… except he won’t be there. Instead, we will find his grandson.

Be sure to purchase 10 Wheat for Side Quest – A Signature Dish before we leave the Village; those last two Side Quests will have helped eased the cost…


Side Quest #21 – Fragile Delivery 2: Take the fragile package to the Tavern Keeper in Seafront; if the Parcel breaks, you will need to return to the old man in the Village to get a replacement.

Once it is delivered, we will still need to return to the old man to complete the Quest…

Side Quest #16 – The Ballad of the Twins: While we are here, speak with the Tavern Keeper about Popola’s special drink. Of course, he won’t have the ingredients & we will need to fetch them for him. It requires 5 Lizard Tails & 5 Mouse Tails… oof.

We can find Lizards on the Eastern Road & Mice at the Junk Heap.

Side Quest #13 – A Signature Dish: Speak with the Tavern Keeper again & deliver the required ingredients to him.

Side Quest #22 – Bon Appetit: After completing the last Side Quest, speak with the Tavern Keeper yet again to receive a new Side Quest. We will need to find a good Cookbook for him at the Village Library…

Side Quest #18 – A Return to Shopping: If you do not have enough Bounty Fertilizer, we can purchase some from the Item Shop for 300 Gold a piece.

Side Quest #14 – The New Merchant In Town: Take the farmed/purchased Materials to the man on the docked ship to progress the Quest.

Unfortunately, especially if you bought the Natural Rubber, we will not get paid yet for completing the Quest. We will need to return here later to complete it fully.

Side Quest #17 – The Postman’s Request: If you spoke with Devola in the Village Tavern, we can now collect this Quest at the Post Office, officially receiving this Side Quest. Speak with the Postman & we will receive a letter to give to the Lighthouse Lady at the top of the lighthouse to complete the Quest.

Side Quest #23 – Fisherman’s Gambit Part 4: Turn in our 7 Rainbow Trout to our Fishing Sensei, & we will receive our next challenge. We will need to catch 5 Bream; Bream can be found here in Seafront.

Fish #5 – Bream: Bream can be caught from the beach close by our Fishing Sensei, they only require a standard Lure to catch.

Side Quest #24 – Fisherman’s Gambit Part 5: Turn in 5 Bream to our Sensei, & we will be tasked next with catching 5 Black Bass; these can be caught back at the Village.

Before we leave Seafront, be sure to stock up on some Earthworms from the Tackle Shop…


Side Quest #18 – A Return to Shopping: Bring the Florist the 3 Bounty Fertilizers to complete the Quest. We will unlock the rest of our Garden to use as well.

Side Quest #21 – Fragile Delivery 2: Report back to the old man at the town fountain to tell him his Parcel has been delivered to complete the Quest.


Achievement #7 – Jack of All Trades: You completed 20 Side Quests.
As of this point, this will be the earliest we can have 20 Side Quests completed.

Side Quest #25 – The Lighthouse Lady’s Wrath: Stop into the Tavern to collect the next Quest in the Lighthouse Lady saga having completed Side Quest – The Postman’s Request. Once again, we will not officially receive the Side Quest until we speak the Postman back in Seafront…

Side Quest #22 – Bon Appetit: Stop in to the Library & look on the shelf immediately left of where we enter it to find our Cookbook for the Seafront Tavern Keeper.

Fish #6 – Black Bass: Go to the reservoir in the Village & we can set up to fish the waters here. To catch a Black Bass, we only need a Lure.

Black Bass fishing is a potential new method for Gold Farming; they sell for 1500 Gold a piece!

Fish #7 – Carp: Remember the Earthworms I told you to buy? After farming our needed Black Bass for our Sensei, fish in the reservoir using an Earthworm as bait to easily catch a Carp.

1. Route A1: Seafront, The Village, Eastern Road, The Aerie, Junk Heap
2. Side Quests: 24/30
3. Words: ~7%/50%
4. Fish Caught: 8/15
5. Weapons: 5/33
6. Achievements: 8/47
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Side Quest #22 – Bon Appetit: Report back to the Tavern Keeper & give him the Cookbook to… obtain a shopping list; 5 Sharks, 5 Rice, & 5 Mushrooms. Cooking harder than last time…

Rice & Mushrooms can be bought at the Seafront Grocery Store for 600 & 800 Gold. This is a total of 7000 Gold! Rice can be grown in our Garden for half the cost using Bounty Fertilizer. Mushrooms unfortunately cannot be grown & must be purchased. Use our Side Quest Gold or the aforementioned Gold Farming methods for spare cash.

We will receive 5000 Gold as a reward for the Quest, so there is that to consider…

Side Quest #24 – Fisherman’s Gambit Part 5: Turn in our five Black Bass to our Sensei to complete the Quest. We are now strong enough to begin fishing for Sharks.

This is our final Fishing Quest from our Sensei for Route A1.

Fish #8 – Shark: Sharks can be caught on the Southern beach in Seafront using Sardines as bait; you will need to buy some or catch them yourself on the Western beach.

There are two other Fish that may go for our bait & are way beyond our level; you will know it’s a Shark on your line because you will actually have a shot of catching it fairly easily…

Side Quest #22 – Bon Appetit: Turn in the ingredients for shark fin soup to the Tavern Keeper to complete the Quest.

Side Quest #25 – The Lighthouse Lady's Wrath: If you got the Side Quest notification from Devola back in the Village, return to the Post Office to speak with the Postman to receive this Quest in full.

Go to the lighthouse to speak with the Lighthouse Lady… even her parents knew she would tend a lighthouse when they named her… & we will find her unwell. She has the Black Scrawl. Return back to the Postman & we will be told to (Censored by Steam) off. Leave then return back to the Postman to uncover a secret in the backroom of the Post Office.

Collect the Postman’s Parcel in the backroom & return back to him at the front desk; we can also find a Black Pearl which is a very Rare Material we need. Deliver the final letter to the Mrs. Lighthouse Lady, or tell her the truth; it is up to you to decide how to complete this Quest…

Side Quest #14 – The New Merchant In Town: Pop back over to the docked trading ship to see how the merchant’s sales have been. We will receive 10,000 Gold for completing the Quest!

Weapon #5 – Beastbain: With our new found riches, we should be able to safely purchase Beastbain now from the Blacksmith at either Seafront or the Village for 16,800 Gold.

It may not look proportionally right… but it is miles better than anything we currently have to use.


Side Quest #26 – Closure: Return back to see Devola in the Village’s Tavern to collect the final Side Quest from the Lighthouse Lady series.


Side Quest #14 – The Ballad of the Twins: Go to the Eastern Road now to hunt for Lizards. Remarkably, Lizards have a very high chance of spawning almost as soon as we head up the stairs into the first canyon; it will spawn behind the second tree we come across & run down the canyon. Collect our Lizard Tail, then re-enter the Village/Eastern Road to respawn the Lizard.


Side Quest #14 – The Ballad of the Twins: It is now time to enter the Junk Heap. Climb up the broken bridge in the Northern Plains to enter the area; we will not have a Map as of yet.

From where we enter a Mouse will spawn in front of the Mailbox & a second one a little ways down the path before the “turn back point”. Save at the Mailbox, farm the two Mice, return to Save… rinse & repeat to collect our 5 Mouse Tails.

Main Quest #6 – Reinforcement: When you are done chasing Mice, enter in through the nearby doorway to meet our unlikely Blacksmith, Jakob. We will receive a Map for the Junk Heap & be tasked with collecting 3 Titanium Alloys.


Achievement #8 – Material Hunter: You collected 50 types of raw Materials.
This will come naturally as we play through the game. By the Junk Heap, we should have earned all of the Raw Materials available to us up to this point; there are still much more to collect!

Main Quest #6 – Reinforcement: Return to Jakob after collecting our 3 Titanium Alloys & we will Upgrade the Nameless Blade as a part of the story bringing it to Level 2… it still won’t be as good as Beastbain or even the Lily-Leaf Sword…

Boss – Defence System Gepetto: We will now be tasked with finding the two brothers’ mother further into the Junk Heap & take the first Elevator we find down to floor B1. Navigate down to the Depths & we will have to fight a boss that… looks like it is from Wind Waker.

Defeat the boss & return to the two brothers to tell them the news of their mother.

1. Route A1: Seafront, The Village, The Aerie, Eastern Road, Façade, Barren Temple, Desert
2. Side Quests: 26/30
3. Words: ~10%/50%
4. Fish Caught: 10/15
5. Weapons: 7/33
6. Achievements: 9/47
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Side Quest #14 – The Ballad of the Twins: Before we continue to aid the Aerie, quickly return to Seafront & bring the strange ingredients to the Tavern Keeper to make Popola’s special drink; it will be sent to the Village.

Side Quest #26 – Closure: Report back to the Postman if you collected this Quest from Devola in the Village. Speak to him about the Lighthouse Lady, & what you said to her in the last Side Quest… to complete this Quest chain once & for all…


Side Quest #14 – The Ballad of the Twins: Return to Popola in the Library & tell her that the Seafront Tavern is sending her special booze over; we can then hear a cute duet of the Song of Ancients in the Tavern… where is that piano coming from though?

We can collect another Side Quest from Yonah back home as well; due to its length, & how close we are to completing the Go to Guy Achievement, I will not include its description in the guide.


Main Quest #7 – Defending the Aerie: When your other business has been finished, it is time for us to return to the Aerie.

When arrive, we will be joined by Kainé & have to fight off some Shades. Continue onwards with her & we will have to face Hook once again.


Achievement #9 – The Wild Companion: Kainé joined your party.
Story Related. Defeat Hook & save the Aerie from the Shades with Kainé’s help; she will join up with us afterwards.


Side Quest #27 – Letter to A Lover: Before we go to Façade, make your way back down to Seafront to access a new Side Quest. We can find a man wandering around near the fountain at the Western end of town. Speak with him & he will task us with delivering a Freesia flower to his girlfriend… all the way back in the Aerie.

Easily enough to complete though, quickly go back to the Aerie, & return back across the bridge to where the chief’s house is. Across the bridge, take a left along the upper tier across from the chief’s place & we can find the girlfriend’s home at the far end… & she won’t be there. When we go to leave, we will be attacked by a Giant Shade that we will need to defeat.

Go all the way back to Seafront to tell the man the news to complete this Quest.


Fish #9 – Giant Catfish: If you have some Carp in your Inventory, either caught or purchased at Seafront, then approach the small overlook above the pool in the Eastern Road. Use a Carp as bait, & as soon as you receive a single nibble (not waiting for the typical three) pull back on the rod to hook a Giant Catfish; they are no more difficult than trying to catch a Shark.

If you have Earthworms you can try catching a Royal Fish here as well, but it is definitely above our current Fishing Level…


Main Quest #8 – Façade: Since we have no Map for the Desert, just head towards the Quest Marker on our Mini-Map to reach the city of Façade. Façade is pretty disorienting at first, especially since we do not have a Map. Since we cannot understand anyone either, we can do nothing else but make our way to the King’s Palace.

We will reach the palace, but to no avail & must return back to the city entrance where we will meet Fyra. Follow her around Façade to learn the tenets of her people; we can later skip the tour or continue along it.

After seeing the tour (or skipping it for no loss), we will end up back at the King’s Palace. We will be turned away yet again, but now we can at least have Weiss translate the Residents language & can now go shopping.

Maps: First & foremost, go to the Item Shop close to the entrance of Façade & purchase the Façade & Desert Maps for 500 Gold each.

Weapon #6 – Earth Wyrm’s Claw: Close by the Item Shop, we can find the Blacksmith who will sell us the Earth Wyrm’s Claw for 8400 Gold.


Main Quest #9 – Find the Prince: To progress the Main Quest, we will be tasked with trying to locate the lost Prince of Façade in the Barren Temple. Follow Fyra through the sandstorm to reach it; our walk is too slow but our run is too fast… this is a tedious part.

Once inside the temple, we will need to complete a series of simple challenge rooms; whenever there is no rule saying you cannot jump, abuse that & leap over the Turrets when you can easily to complete a few challenges.

Boss – Shahriyar: When we reach the Hall, we will need to defeat the massive puzzle cube boss. We need to heavily rely on Magic to defeat it, most likely Dark Lance…


Weapon #7 – Rebirth: We will receive Rebirth as a reward for saving the Prince… erm, the King, & bringing him back to Façade.


Fish #10 – Sandfish: There are actually Fish present in the Desert surprisingly enough & there is one that we are able to catch at our current Fishing Level needing only a Lure. In the Desert, go to the far Southwestern corner of the area, past the strange graves to where there is a large quicksand lake. Here near a boat, we can Fish.

Like the Catfish, we need to pull back on our Rod as soon as we feel the first nibble.

We technically need 3 Sandfish for one of our Fishing Quests if you feel inclined to collect them early…

1. Route A1: The Village, Façade, Desert, Forest of Myth, Emil’s Mansion
2. Side Quests: 30/30
3. Words: ~17%/50%
4. Fish Caught: 10/15
5. Weapons: 9/33
6. Achievements: 11/47
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Hold off on returning to Yonah for now & let’s do a few more newly unlocked errands after completing our business in Façade.

Side Quest #28 – Fragile Delivery 3: When we return from Façade, we can find a Guard at the Eastern gate who now has a Quest for us; it is another Fragile Delivery that will need to be taken back to the Blacksmith in Façade…

There is another Side Quest we can obtain here, The Runaway Son, that is very time consuming to complete, has a bad reward, & will not be used for the Go to Guy Achievement.

Quickly run back to Façade, deliver the Parcel to the Blacksmith, & return to the Guard to complete the Quest. Go slow through the Desert; there are a lot of Wolves, try luring them away one by one & taking them out with Magic.


Side Quest #29 – The Littlest Hero: While in Façade after we deliver the Parcel, speak with the Blacksmith again to receive a Quest for locating his son somewhere in the Desert.

Side Quest #30 – The Tangled Message: There are many other Side Quests to complete in Façade, but for our last one to obtain for the Achievement, go to the center of the city & we can find a Masked Soldier standing on a broken… tower thing, in the middle.

Speak with him & we will need to relay messages amongst the Residents here. For message 1, we need to go to the exit of Façade & tell the Masked Soldier there “The Masked People respect the rules”.

For the message 2, go to the King’s Palace & tell one of the Masked Soldiers standing guard there that “The Men of the Mask work for the King”.

Royal Compass: Speak with one of the Masked Soldier across from the one we just spoke to outside the King’s Palace to receive the Royal Compass for free; this will allow us to traverse the sandstorm in the Desert should we need to…

Side Quest #30 – The Tangled Message: For message 3 we need to go to upper Northeastern end of the city to find the woman who is looking after three children & tell them “Childcare can be difficult”.

Message 4 can be delivered to the Masked Soldier found at the lower Southeastern end of the city just below where the King’s Palace is & tell him “Only nobility may enter the treasury”.

For the final message, we need to locate the Masked Person at the upper Northwestern corner of the city & tell them “Quicksand” to complete the Quest & earn a hefty reward.


Side Quest #29 – The Littlest Hero: Head out into the Desert & we can locate a Masked Person with a spear wandering around. He will run off, & we will need our Royal Compass to be able to track him down in the sandstorm; the Wolf Den can be found down some stairs in the Western corner of the sandstorm.

Enter inside & defeat the Wolves; we will be teleported back to Façade afterwards.



Achievement #10 – Go to Guy: You completed 30 Side Quests.
Return back to the Village to turn in Side Quest – Fragile Delivery 3 & we will have completed this Achievement.

There are over 60 Side Quests in the game giving you many different opportunities to work towards this Achievement. With the Achievement unlocked, I will no longer cover Side Quests in the guide. I do still recommend you try to complete what you can for rewards, but if they are too pricey in what they require or time consuming, then I would not worry about them.

Check out my Achievement Checklist for the locations of all Side Quests in the game or see Devola in the Village Tavern to find what is currently available…

There is a new Side Quest down in Seafront we can complete as well for a massive payout of Gold...

Main Quest #10 – Forest of Myth: When you are ready, return to Yonah back home & tell her that you will hang out with her for the day. In the morning, we will have a new lead on a Sealed Verse found in the Forest of Myth…

Speak with Popola in the Library for further reason to go to the Forest.


Main Quest #10 – Forest of Myth: Head through the Northern Plains to the North, to find the Forest of Myth. We will need to escape the text sequence Deathdream.

Weapon #8 – Faith: To collect Faith, we need to rescue the other two Villagers from the Deathdream. The Villager in the Northeast corner is the easiest; the answer to the text sequence is “Beta is the real one”.

For the Villager in the Northwest corner, it is a bit longer form. The directional answers to the text sequence is: North, East, North, East, North.

Rescue both Villagers & return back to the Mayor to receive this Weapon.

New Shades will be present in the Northern Plains now that we can collect new Words off of…


Main Quest #11 – Repairing the Canal: Return to Popola at the Library & we will be tasked with locating the foreman for fixing the Village canal in Seafront. In Seafront, find Red Bag Man & search around for… Red Bag Woman for him.

When prompted to, leave to the Southern Plains to look for her & defeat the Shade that is carrying her Red Bag. Return back to Red Bag Man to tell him the bag news. Bad news, sorry.

Report back to Popola after a little surprise & a lot of arguing to tell her work will commence on the canal.


Main Quest #12 – Outsider: Go to see Yonah back home now in the Village & we will be tasked with checking in on her pen pal who has fallen ill. To locate them, travel to the Southern Plains & enter into the mansion grounds where you may have potentially farmed Giant Spiders; we can now enter into the mansion. Note that this is the point of no return for Route A1! Do not enter the mansion unless you have nothing left you want to do…

Navigate the almost Resident Evil style sequence through the mansion locating the different Keys to progress.

Weapon #9 – Blade of Treachery: After we collect the final Darkness Key, use it to enter into the Shade’s lair of the mansion. As we head down the first hall after using the Key, fight through some Shades, & we can loot this Weapon from a Crate at the end of the hall before a door.


Achievement #11 – The Magic Man: You learned every type of Magic.
Story Related. We will unlock this Achievement after completing Emil’s Mansion. We collect all Magic Spells as part of the Story & this Achievement is unmissable.

1. Route A1: The Village
2. Route A2: The Village, Seafront, Emil’s Mansion, Underground Facility
3. Words: ~30%/50%
4. Fish Caught: 10/15
5. Weapons: 17/33
6. Achievements: 13/47
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Mission #13 – Unraveling: When you are ready, return to Yonah back home & she will seem to be getting weaker. Check in with Popola at the Library to see if she has more medicine ready. Unfortunately, she will be out.

To help restock her supplies, we need to collect some Vapor Moss for her at the South Gate where all the chickens would typically be. Collect some… & Emil will arrive with a terrible warning. But it is too late.

Boss – Jack of Hearts: A hoard of Shades will arrive to assault the Village & at its helm will be the massive Shade, Jack of Hearts.

When Jack of Hearts is defeated, rush to the Library & defeat the Shades who have gotten inside.

The Boss will return however & we will have to defeat its second form.

Mission #13 – Unraveling: After defeating Jack of Hearts… things get very complicated.

After a second Boss arrives & we defeat it, we will have to make a decision about Kainé that is not much of a decision; choosing the second option is a Game Over.

After the decision, we will have completed Route A1 & we will go through a time jump… a pretty big one that might be shocking.



Weapon #10 – Kusanagi: We will begin with this Weapon starting in Route A2.

Weapon #11 – Transience: We will begin with this Weapon starting in Route A2.

Main Quest #14 – A Brother’s Rage: When we return to our protagonist, we will need to defeat some pretty tanky Armored Shades who are attacking the Village.

Afterwards, speak with Popola at the Library to receive a letter from Emil asking you to come see him at the mansion.

Side Quests: There is a brand new suite of Side Quests we can begin completing in Route A2 in all the areas we explore; check out the Achievement Checklist in the Introduction if you are worried about missing any/want to be a completionist.

There are some Quests that are worth completing & some… that are definitely not.

Weapon #12 – Axe of Beheading: Ideally you still have some Gold, or things to sell to obtain some as there are going to be quite a few Weapons we will need to purchase in Route A2 that cost a fair bit of Gold.

For the Axe of Beheading, speak with the local Blacksmith & purchase it for 19,200 Gold.

Weapon #13 – Sunrise: Purchased from the Blacksmith at the Village or at the new Blacksmith in the Aerie for 21,600 Gold.


Fishing Quest #6 – The Fisherman's Gambit Part 6: If completed the first five parts to this questline, we can once again begin a new set of Fishing Quests from our sensei. Speak with him where he always is on the pier to be tasked with catching 3 Sandfish; you may already have one caught from our time in the Desert.

Weapon #14 – Spear of the Usurper: Can be purchased from the Blacksmith in Seafront for 19,200 Gold.

Weapon #15 – Vile Axe: Sold by the Blacksmith in Seafront for 21,600 Gold.

Weapon #16 – Phoenix Dagger: Sold by the Blacksmith in Seafront for 31,200 Gold.

If you haven’t already, you might be strapped for Gold at this point. Do not worry. Buy what you can & then move on; complete manageable Side Quests & sell "junk" loot as we progress through Route A2 until you have enough money for the rest.


Main Quest #15 – An Old Friend: When you are finishing your errands at the Village & Seafront, it is time to go & visit our old friend. Speak with the Butler outside, & we can go & visit Emil. Though we are now 5 years older… Emil does not to seem phased by time at all.


Achievement #12 – The Mellow Companion: Emil joined your party.
Story Related. Reuniting with Emil at his mansion will let him join our party as a permanent Companion for Route A2.


Map: Enter into the Mansion basement using the secret switch on the fountain in the courtyard & begin searching for the Planning Room. We will not have a Map when we enter.

Collect the AA Keycard & enter into the next room where there is a long hall with many patient beds & rooms. At the end of the hall we can find a door that we need the KA Keycard to open; the Map will be in a Crate to the left of the door.

Weapon #17 – Fang of the Twins: Through the KA door, we will enter into a warehouse area. Make your way to the end of it to find a door that we need the SA Keycard to open; destroy a stack of Crates across from the door to find this Weapon.

Boss – Number 6: Reach the Depths of the Underground Facility & we will encounter the terrifying Number 6.


Boss – Jack of Hearts: After Emil has gained immense magical power, it is time to return to the Library & free Kainé. After she is unpetrified, we will also release Jack of Hearts from its imprisonment in the Library basement.


Achievement #13 – Release: You freed Kainé from her petrification.
Story Related. After we defeat Jack of Hearts, speak with Devola & Popola, & wake up back home… we will unlock the Achievement for releasing Kainé.

1. Route A2: The Village, Desert, Façade, Seafront, Eastern Road
2. Words: ~31%/50%
3. Fish Caught: 15/15
4. Weapons: 19/33
5. Achievements: 15/47
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Main Quest #16 – Chasing Shadows: Clear your head & speak with Devola & Popola. Popola will tell us of a back entrance to the Lost Shrine we can use that will potentially take us to a new lead on finding the Shadowlord.

Since we helped fix the canal, it is operational, & we can start using boats to travel around.

Side Quest – The Damaged Map: There is an important Side Quest we can collect now that the Fast Travel system has been unlocked; completing this Quest rewards us with a Weapon we need!

Go to the Blacksmith & we will be tasked with finding him a Treasure Map. To find one, we can go to the second floor of the Library & search the shelves along the Southern side to collect the Dirty Treasure Map. But it is damaged, & we need to go to Façade to fix it…

Fast Travel: As of now, we can use Boats to Fast Travel to anywhere that has water with the help of good ol Red Bag Man. We can Fast Travel to the Village, Seafront, Northern Plains, the Desert, & the Lost Shrine.


Fishing Quest #6 – The Fisherman’s Gambit Part 6: On the way to Façade, we can stop in at the quicksand lake & fish for our needed 3 Sandfish; Sandfish can be caught with plain Lures & you must pull it up after the first bob. Using the Boat will take us here immediately.


Side Quest – The Damaged Map: At Façade, go to the Strange-Things Shop & ask the Shopkeeper if he can fix the Map. To restore it, he will need 3 Machine Oil, 3 Goat Hides, &… 3 Eggplants?

The Eggplants can be purchased from the Village, Machine Oil however can only be farmed from Aerial Drones found at the Junk Heap. For now, we will put a pin in this Quest until later.

Weapon #18 – Captain’s Holy Spear: Before we leave, pop in to see the Blacksmith here in Façade to purchase two more Weapons if you have the Gold to spare. This one will cost us 30,000 Gold.

Weapon #19 – Phoenix Spear: Purchased from the Façade Blacksmith for 37,400 Gold. For the purposes of what we hope to accomplish… this is essentially the best Weapon in the game. We want to Upgrade this one to max Level as soon as possible (if possible) to completely dominate this game…

As of now, we no longer need to purchase any more Weapons & can finally start making a dent in saving for our 1,000,000 Gold.


Fishing Quest #6 – The Fisherman’s Gambit Part 6: Once you have collected your 3 Sandfish, return to our Fishing Sensei & turn in the Quest.

Fishing Quest #7 – The Fisherman’s Gambit Part 7: Our next Fishing Quest we will need to obtain 3 Royal Fish.


Fish #11 – Royal Fish: Royal Fish can be caught in the river found at the Eastern Road. To catch them, we will need Earthworms; catch three for our Fishing Quest #7. Even though they are our current Fishing Level, Royal Fish are pretty difficult to catch & will require literal finagling.


Fishing Quest #8 – The Fisherman’s Gambit Part 8: Turn in the 3 Royal Fish to obtain our next Fishing Quest. For this one, we need to catch 2 Blue Marlin.

Fish #12 – Blue Marlin: We can catch Blue Marlin right here in Seafront on the Southern beach near Sensei. We will need to use a Lure (or Sardines but why waste them) as bait to catch them, & like bottom feeder types, we need to pull back of our Rod immediately after the first bob of the lure.

It may take a few false catches before a Blue Marlin actually snags our lines.

Fishing Quest #9 – The Fisherman’s Final Gambit: For our final Fishing Quest to obtain maximum level, we will need to catch the legendary Hyernia (a hernia is exactly what you get when catching it, hence the name…).


Fish #13 – Hyneria: Our Hyneria can be found in the quicksand lake in the Desert & will require the sacrifice of Sardines to be caught. Pay attention to your bobber as we will most likely snag a lot of Junk while we do this; ideally a few Rusty Buckets as we need at least 10 of them…

The Hyernia is definitely within our Level & can be caught in under 30 seconds. If the Fish you have snagged seems ferocious… you most likely snagged the Rhizodont which also eats Sardines but is definitely in the final tier of Fish. Try to catch one if you can… but don’t be upset if you don’t.


Fishing Quest #9 – The Fisherman’s Final Gambit: Return the caught Hyernia to our Sensei to fully complete the final Fishing Quest. Now we are the master… Requiescat in Pace, Sensei.

Fish #14 – Dunkleosteus: With our final Fishing Level achieved, we can now catch the final two Fish bosses in the game. We can catch the Dunkleosteus on the Southern beach using Sardines as bait here in Seafront.


Fish #15 – Rhizodont: Return to the quicksand lake for the final time & get ready to catch the Rhizodont the final Fish boss; we will once again need a good supply of Sardines.

This is definitely a boss tier Fish.


Achievement #14 – Fish of Legend: You caught a Rhizodont.
We will unlock this Achievement upon catching the infamous Rhizodont.


Achievement #15 – A Round By the Pond: You caught one of every type of Fish.
If you followed the Fisherman’s Gambit Questline all the way through, then we will be able to comfortably catch all 15 Fish in the game; technically if you are a masochist, if you have the right bait, you can catch all the Fish through shear determination…

As of now, we no longer need any Fish apart from Sardines & Carp as bait & can now sell all other Fish we catch for Gold; those last two catches will be good Gold restocks or used to purchase some of the aforementioned Weapons…

1. Route A2: Lost Shrine, The Village, Northern Plains, Junk Heap
2. Words: ~44%/50%
3. Weapons: 23/33
4. Achievements: 17/47
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Main Quest #16 – Chasing Shadows: When you are ready to continue onwards, speak with Red Bag Man & get him to ferry you to the rear entrance of the Lost Shrine.

Weapon #20 – The Devil Queen: When we take the Fast Travel boat to the Lost Shrine, head across the wooden bridge & up the first Ladder. At the base of the second Ladder, we can find this Weapon inside a Crate to the Ladder’s left.

… the Lost Shrine OST is my favourite song in the game & it is literally no where on the Internet. No where!

Weapon #21 – Beastlord: Fight your way through the hordes of Armored Shades to reach the Roof. Navigate up here to reach the Mailbox & boss room doors to where Hansel & Gretel used to be; we can destroy a Crate near the doors to find this Weapon.

Timed Boss Fights: Before we enter through the doors, make sure you make a Save at the Mailbox; there are two Missable Achievements associated with a double feature Boss fight.

Fight through the Bosses as normal, try to do it fast, but the cinematics add time onto the fight & I highly recommend you do not skip them. If you do not unlock either Achievement during the fights, reload your Save & try again this time skipping the cinematics to give you more time.

Note that for any Timed Boss fight, pausing the game does not stop the clock & the time will begin as soon as the Boss’s health bar appears & the fight commences.

It should also be noted, we will be refighting all Timed Bosses when we go through Route B & Route C/D, so you will have tow more attempts to unlock this Achievement & get stronger.


Achievement #16 – King of the Lost Shrine: You defeated Gretel within 3:20 minutes.
Missable. For the Gretel fight, try using Strength Drops or Capsules to boost your Physical Damage. Hammer on Gretel until they deploy their immunity shield, when this happens, run back towards the beam of sunlight in the center of the room & they will stand back up to allow us to attack them. Rinse & repeat until Gretel is destroyed; skip all cinematics if this is your second attempt at the Achievement.

The Achievement will unlock after the final cinematic with Gretel & we regain control of our Character in the second boss fight.


Achievement #17 – A True Friend: You stopped the berserk Kainé within 1:00 minute.
Missable. Berserk Kainé is much easier to defeat than Gretel, but we only have a minute to defeat her. Anytime she clings to the walls, blast her down with Dark Lance & hammer her while she is on the ground.

The Achievement will unlock after the final cinematic with Kainé & we are able to scroll through dialogue.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.

Fragment – The Stone Guardian: After the Boss fights we will collect our first Mysterious Stone Fragment. It is the first of five Fragments we need to obtain to gain access to the Shadowlord’s Castle.


Where To Next?: After speaking with Popola on our return & exiting the Library, we will need to make a decision on where we go to first: The Forest of Myth or the Junk Heap. To re-unlock the Two Brother’s Weaponry Shop, I suggest going to the Junk Heap first.

Side Quest – A Bridge In Peril: After we return from the Lost Shrine, new Side Quests will be available to us. One of these can be collected from a Guard wandering around near the North gate; the reward for this Side Quest is a Weapon, so we need to complete it.


Side Quest – A Bridge In Peril: The Shade we need to defeat will only spawn under the cover of clouds. If it is sunny out or it is sunset & there are Armored Small Shades around, go to the Forest of Myth & come back to change the time of day; re-entering the Village & coming back does not seem to alter the day.

When it is overcast out, we can see Shades attacking a Boar close to the entrance of the Forest of Myth; they will not have Armor which is how you’ll know the sun is not out. When it is cloudy out, you now need to go return to the Village & re-enter the Northern Plains again.

If it is cloudy, & you are entering the Northern Plains from the Village, go to the bridge that divides the two areas of the plains & a massive Armored Giant Shade will spawn. This is a perfect enemy to attempt a 100 hit Combo if you still need that Achievement.

Weapon #22 – Labyrinth’s Whisper: We can obtain this Weapon after defeating the Armored Giant Shade in this Side Quest.


Main Quest #17 – Just Two Brothers: When ready, & you chose this lead first, go to the Junk Heap to meet up with the two brothers again… or at least Gideon.

Weapon #23 – Iron Will: Speak with Gideon again after our initial conversation & he will gift us this Weapon for free.

Main Quest #17 – Just Two Brothers: After receiving our… big broken blade, Gideon will task us with collecting a Memory Alloy from a giant P-33 mech further into the Junk Heap.

Enter into the Junk Heap & take the first elevator we come across down to floor B2. Take your time & really explore this area as there are TONS of Robots to destroy which will give us so many Materials we need for Upgrades or Side Quests.

Now that we have re-unlocked the Two Brother’s Weaponry & can Upgrade our Weapons again, do not get carried away with it. I would recommend only Upgrading your favourite or main few Weapons that you like using. Even if you have the needed Materials for the Level 2 of most Weapons, that does not mean you will have the Materials in Post Game to Upgrade them to Level 4. It is best to conserve all your accumulated Materials until Post Game so you can be the most effective & strategic about which of the 33/38 Weapons you will Upgrade for the Forging Master Achievement to avoid as much farming as possible…

1. Route A2: The Village, Seafront, Wrecked Ship, Façade
2. Words: ~50%/50%
3. Weapons: 25/33
4. Achievements: 20/47
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Main Quest #18 – Siren Charms: When we leave Gideon’s place in the Junk Heap, go & return to Popola before heading to the Forest of Myth to check in.

Speak with Popola at the Library, & she will ask us to track down Red Bag Man… he has not been showing up to work the ferry lately…


Main Quest #18 – Siren Charms: In Seafront, find Red Bag Woman, & ask her where Red Bag Man is? Go to the local Tavern to ask of his whereabouts & we will be sent all the way back to the Village.


Main Quest #18 – Siren Charms: Return to the Village & speak with Red Bag Man’s brother at the Southern gates. He will go on to say we can ask the Postman back in Seafront where he is as he was delivering mail as his previous job…


Main Quest #18 – Siren Charms: BACK in Seafront again, go to the Postman at the Post Office… but he won’t be there. Instead, speak to the random guy sifting around in the office & he will mention we should check out the ruined ship that washed up on the Western beach of Seafront.


Main Quest #18 – Siren Charms: Approach the wrecked ship & enter inside it. Navigate through the passageways until you eventually end up in the ships hold. Scramble around for the Lantern… & we will find Red Bag Man.

Reunite with our friends on the upper floors & make sure you Save at the Mailbox nearby before climbing up the final Ladder to the uppermost deck of the ship; there is a timed Boss fight up ahead…


Achievement #18 – The Little Mermaid: You defeated Louise within 5:00 minutes.
Missable. Like the previous Bosses, play out this fight normally to view all the cinematics & reload the Save you made earlier to retry the Boss for this Achievement.

Escape the ship as it is being torn apart by Louise & meet up with the others on the top deck where we will fight Louise. Use Strength Drops or Capsules to deal as much damage as you can to her to floating heads. After knocking her to around half health, we will leap off the ship to the beach where we will engage in phase 2.

Once again, use Strength Drops or Magic Drops, & hammer her health down until we are knocked out by her siren call (you can avoid this technically, but it is unlikely unless you are very Magic heavy). At this point, the Postman will attempt to defeat Lousie… when we will fire a final Dark Lance through her head.

If the Achievement does not unlock, try again, skipping all cutscenes during the fight. The time frame is pretty tight, with a lot of time taken up when we are stunned by her siren call… We will unlock the Achievement if we were successful immediately after the final cinematic of destroying Louise.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.


Main Quest #19 – Loyal Cerberus: Return to Popola after defeating Louise & she will mention that we have mail back home. Check the mail, & it will be an official invitation from the King of Façade to attend his royal wedding!


Main Quest #19 – Loyal Cerberus: Go to Façade & enter the King’s Mansion to be reunited with the King & enjoy the wedding festivities.

After the wedding, we will have more decisions on what to do next: carry on with our impending duty to the King & help him defeat the Wolves of the Desert.

Be sure to Save at the Mailbox then get ready for battle; enter the King’s Mansion & exit out onto the upper balcony to begin the war.

Weapon #24 – Ancient Overlord: We will receive this Weapon as a part of the Story from the King of Façade before we go to war with the Wolves.


Achievement #19 – Protector of Façade: You defeated Roc within 3:30 minutes.
Missable. When we arrive at the Wolves lair in the Desert, we will need to defeat waves of Wolves before Roc will appear. Kill the Wolves as fast as you can, & eventually Roc will drop in. They are not too difficult & can be defeated relatively quickly.

The Achievement will unlock after the King delivers the final blow to Roc in the cinematic; if the Achievement does not unlock, reload your Save & try again skipping all cinematics this time.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.

Fragment – Loyal Cerberus: We will collect our next Fragment from defeating Roc.
As we walk away from the King in the Desert, we will once again have a choice on where the Story goes; let us check to see if the letter has arrived from Gideon in the Junk Heap…

Side Quest – A Shade Entombed: Outside the King’s Mansion, we can find a Masked Soldier who will give us this Quest; Bandits have entered the Barren Temple & released a Giant Shade.

Go to the Barren Temple, & we can locate this Giant Shade in the room furthest down to the right at the far end of the temple; defeat it. This Side Quest is a precursor to the next, which will reward us with a new Weapon.

Side Quest – Disturbing the Sleep of Kings: After completing the previous Side Quest, go to see the King on the outer balcony of his Mansion & we can receive this second Quest. We need to return to the Barren Temple now & eliminate all Shades that were released by the Bandits.

Re-enter the Barren Temple & we can find the last Shades along the main bridgeway leading to the former Boss room; you may need to go room by room clearing out the Shades before the door to the bridge opens.

Enter into the Barren Temple Hall & we will have one final battle with the Shades before they are all defeated.


Achievement #20 – Wordsmith: You collected 60/120 Words.
This will most likely come naturally as you playthrough the game defeating Shades. All Shades have a chance of dropping Words; kill different kinds of Shades for different Words. Due to the shear amount of Shades we will be defeating normally & through farming, getting only half of the Words in the game is guaranteed over the course of all our playthroughs…

Weapon #25 – Labyrinth’s Song: We will receive this Weapon as a reward for completing Side Quest – Disturbing the Sleep of Kings.

1. Route A2: The Village, Junk Heap, Forest of Myth, The Aerie, Northern Plains
2. Weapons: 26/33
3. Achievements: 23/47
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Main Quest #20 – The Law of Robotics: It is now time for us to return home & check our mail to see if we received a letter from Gideon. If you selected this Main Quest after defeating Roc in Façade, we will have word.


Main Quest #20 – The Law of Robotics: Return to Two Brother’s Weaponry & speak with Gideon. We will receive our Upgraded Weapon from him, but also be tasked with avenging his brother. In usually fashion, we will of course accept.

Head down to floor B2, & fight your way through the Robots taking the tram way down past the gauntlet of Turrets & Aerial Drones; using the Whirlwind Spell is insanely useful for keeping you safe here.

Take your time & explore in the Junk Heap as always; there are many Rare Materials that can only be farmed here, including Machine Oil, that are essential to us… Remember to sell any Materials we receive here (Dented Metal Boards, Broken Antenna, etc.) that we collect over 60-80 of so we can earn Gold & not waste any Drops.

Weapon #26 – Beastcurse: Pass through the Depths & take the Elevator back up to 1F where we can find a Mailbox. In the same room, we can find a Crate that contains this Weapon.


Achievement #21 – Boss of the Junk Heap: You defeated P-33 within 4:30 minutes.
Missable. Like always, be sure to Save at the Mailbox so we can reload after this Boss battle. Use this first attempt to witness all cinematics & get a feel for the Boss.

For the first phase, we need to hammer the mech & back off when it electrifies the ground below it. When it does this, switch to Magic attacks to whittle it down before being able to return to physical attacks.

After knocking P-33 down to around half health, it will enter its second phase & gain wings. This form is much weaker & can be annihilated with Magic. Dodge the rubble it sends down at us, then attack it with Magic again to eject the Small Shade controlling it. Pummel this Shade & finish it to defeat this Boss.

If done in under 4:30 minutes, we will unlock this Achievement.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.

Fragment – Law of Robotics: We will obtain our next Fragment after defeating P-33.


Main Quest #21 – The Memory Tree: It is now time for us to venture to the Forest of Myth to seek out our next Fragment. Speak with the Mayor, & we will need to investigate the Great Deku Tree… err, the Divine Tree.

Speaking with the tree, we will enter another text puzzle with the answers will be randomized so you need to pay a bit of attention.

The first answer will be the colour of the tan skinned girl’s eyes who visits the dying boy.

The second answer will be the number of companions the female warrior had.

The last answer will be Yo Nah.

Fragment – Memory Tree: We will obtain this Fragment after completing the Memory Tree text puzzle.


Main Quest #22 – Sacrifice: Return to Popola after obtaining the first four Fragments & we will learn that the Aerie has now opened itself up to the world… & will reveal the secret behind our final Fragment…

When we enter the Aerie, be sure to make a Save! There is a Timed Boss fight approaching that we are almost guaranteed to fail by watching the cinematics involved…

Moonflower Seeds: Go to the Aerie & we can find a new mercantile pavilion set up on the Northern center platform. While most Items are negligible, the Florist here will sell us Moonflower Seeds. We need an ample supply of Gold, Red, & Blue Moonflower Seeds to work towards the Legendary Gardener Achievement.

I recommend buying at least 15-20 Gold, Red, & Blue Moonflower Seeds each. It is very important you have a good stockpile of Seeds as we will be unable to return here after completing Main Quest #22…

Main Quest #22 – Sacrifice: With our Seeds purchased, go now to the chief. The chief will have no idea what we are talking about… speak with other Residents of the Aerie to find who sent us the letter; it will be a Guard back over at the mercantile platform.

Speak with them… & we will be ambushed by Shades!

Word – Mahzarr: There is a good chance we can collect the Word – Mahzarr here in the Aerie, it will grant us 25% Item Discovery; definitely equip it to all your Weapons…


Achievement #22 – Scourge of the Aerie: You defeated Wendy within 8:30 minutes.
Missable. It is highly unlikely that we will be able to beat Wendy in under the 8:30 minute mark simply due to cinematic time. Play it out, & when you reach the end, make a second Save at the Mailbox, leaving your first upon entering the Aerie intact. Do not Save over your first Save file!

Reload your first Save now, & quickly get to the Wendy Boss fight, skipping all cinematics involved. Use lots of Magic Capsules to increase your Magic damage to speed things along! Break Wendy down to 1/3 of her health & defeat all the Shades she summons to perform the first critical attack on her. After it is complete & Emil begins deflecting her, sprint as fast as you can to the upper level platform to strike her with Magic from behind. For the final 1/3 of her health, you need to leap off the platform down to the very first large one near the Mailbox & blast her with Magic to defeat her.

If successful, we will unlock the Achievement after all cinematics when we regain control of our Character at the Mailbox.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.

Fragment – Sacrifice: We now have the last Fragment… but the Aerie is destroyed.



Achievement #23 – Key Collector: You completed the key to the Shadowlord's castle.
Story Related. After collecting all five Fragments, which can be done in a different order, we will unlock this Achievement upon entering the Northern Plains warranting a unique conversation with Weiss…

1. Route A2: Forest of Myth, The Village, Junk Heap, Façade
2. Weapons: 26/33
3. Achievements: 24/47
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Side Quest – The Magical Stone: With all five Fragments collected, stop in at the Forest of Myth where we can speak with a Fortune Teller who will ask us to speak with Popola about a magical stone…


Main Quest #23 – Anticipation: Return to the Village & speak with Popola in the Library after collecting all five Fragments as a final farewell…

Side Quest – The Magic Stone: Speak with Popola once more before we leave about the magic stone & she will say that they are called Eyes of Power; they can be conveniently found on the roof of the Lost Shrine…


Side Quest – The Damaged Map: Now, we need to do a little bit of grinding so we can complete this Quest. Chances are, you need Machine Oil to finish it; I only ended up collecting one Machine Oil naturally this entire time. With our new Mahzarr Word, we will hopefully have a good chance of collecting Machine Oil from Aerial Drones now.

Go down to floor B2 in the Junk Heap & clear out all Aerial Drones you come across. We can find them in the Northwestern most room past the “Crate Room”, in the Southern most room of the second area after the tram ride, & the final room before entering the Depths.

The best repetitive strategy is to make it the Mailbox above where the Boss typically is in the Junk Heap on 1F, then back track through the Depths to floor B2 where we find the hall full of Aerial Drones. When the Aerial Drones are destroyed, run back to take the Elevator back to 1F & then take it back down to B2. Rinse & repeat. Tedious but effective…


Side Quest – The Damaged Map: Bring the required Items to the Strange Thing Shopkeeper to fix the book & obtain the Restored Treasure Map.


Side Quest – The Damaged Map: Return to the Blacksmith in the Village… & he will not be there. We will then have to bring our finished Map to Popola back at the Library. Popola will tell us that what we seek is also found at the Lost Shrine…


Achievement #24 – Legendary Gardener: You successfully cultivated the Legendary Flower.
If you purchased Gold, Red, & Blue Moonflower Seeds from the Aerie before it was destroyed, now is as good a time as any to work towards this Achievement; we can also buy Seeds from Seafront as well. Before we begin, make sure you Save your game & do not Save over it in case we mess up; make our next Saves over a different Save slot.

To obtain this Achievement, we need to successfully grow a White Moonflower. We have three Garden Rows each with five plots we can plant Seeds into. Gardening requires the passage of real world time to complete… or time manipulation on our PC or Consoles. On your PC home screen, selecting your current Time in the bottom right corner of the screen we will be able to look at the Date & Time Options. Here, uncheck the option that says Set Time Automatically & we will then be able to Set the Date & Time Manually to whatever we want; on Consoles, I believe you need to first remove your Internet connection & go Offline for you to manually manipulate the time.

All Flowers look the same when planted, so do not forget which pattern you decided to plant them in! As well, you can use Bounty Fertilizer on them to increase Seed yield, but this is not mandatory; I found it more time consuming Fertilizing them than useful since you do not actually know which Flower will end up hybridizing.

All the different Moonflower combinations are as follows if planted beside one another:
Gold + Red = Peach Moonflower
Gold + Blue = Indigo Moonflower
Indigo + Red = Pink Moonflower
Pink + Peach = White Moonflower

To start, you need to plant Gold & Red Moonflowers in an alternating pattern so no same Flower is planted beside one another like this:
Red, Gold, Red, Gold, Red
Gold, Red, Gold, Red, Gold
Red, Gold, Red, Gold, Red

Once they are planted, Save your game in a different slot, & exit the game. Now fast forward your PC/Console clock by two full days & return to the game. When we go back to our Garden, we will find all our grown Moonflowers wilted & dead, with all their petals on the ground. Approach all the Moonflowers & harvest them to see what Seeds you have collected. If you collect Peach Moonflower Seeds, then the flowers successfully hybridized; you want to collect a minimum of 10 Peach Moonflower Seeds, the more you get the less likely you will need to repeat this step. If you need more Peach Moonflower Seeds, do not waste time replanting the pattern, & instead place some Bounty Fertilizer down & plant your Peach Moonflower Seeds to propagate them this way to remove the random chance of hybridization.

The next hybrid we need to obtain is the Indigo Moonflower, this flower takes Gold & Blue Moonflowers. The pattern will look something like this:
Blue, Gold, Blue, Gold, Blue
Gold, Blue, Gold, Blue, Gold
Blue, Gold, Blue, Gold, Blue

Save, exit the game, & speed up time by two days to collect your Seeds; we need at least 10 Indigo Moonflower Seeds but more is always welcome.

The next hybrid we need to obtain is the Pink Moonflower Seeds (also required for Side Quest – Life In the Sands in Façade if you are feeling ambitious). To obtain Pink Moonflowers the pattern is now:
Indigo, Red, Indigo, Red, Indigo
Red, Indigo, Red, Indigo, Red
Indigo, Red, Indigo, Red, Indigo

Save, time travel by two days, harvest your Seeds, place down Bounty Fertilizer & plant your Pink Moonflower Seeds to propagate even more.

Now it is the final step & planting pattern:
Pink, Peach, Pink, Peach, Pink
Peach, Pink, Peach, Pink, Peach
Pink, Peach, Pink, Peach, Pink

We will unlock the Achievement as soon as we collect the White Moonflower Seeds; there is only a 1% chance of hybridization so be patient. Now as a little bonus project, I highly recommend propagating a good crop of White Moonflower Seeds. While the Seeds themselves don’t sell for much, fresh Moonflowers (grown after one day, not two) sell for 5000 Gold each & can be a lucrative source of money if you have the patience. Never sell all of your White, Pink, or Peach Moonflower Seeds… just in case.

1. Route A2: Lost Shrine, The Village, Northern Plains, Forest of Myth, Shadowlord’s Castle
2. Weapons: 30/33
3. Achievements: 26/47
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Side Quest – The Damaged Map: It is now time for us to venture to the Lost Shrine. Navigate up to floor 2F & get out to the main atrium again where we will need to fight off a Giant Shade on the balcony. Close to the Shade, there will be a set of doors leading left & right; left leading to a Ladder to take us to floor 3F. Instead, take the doors to the right & we will be led to a dead end on 2F where we can find a Pile of Junk.

Side Quest – The Magical Stone: Carry on up to the Lost Shrine Roof now & navigate over to the upper Northeastern corner of the area. Up here, just before we can drop down to where the Mailbox is, look around to find a lone Moveable Box in the Eastern corner of the second floor. Use the Box to leap up even higher to a third floor where a Giant Shade will attack us & drop the Eye of Power when slain.

Point of No Return!: Entering the Lost Shrine Altar where we always fight Gretel is a Point of No Return! Do not enter there yet until you are ready to end Route A!


Side Quest – The Damaged Map: Return to the Blacksmith’s wife in the Village & tell her the bad news. Regardless of whether you decide to sell her Jade Hair Ornament or tell her to keep it, we will be given the Marked Map that the Blacksmith had been trying to use.

Take it to Popola & she will tell us that it leads somewhere in the Northern Plains where the “the start of a steel bridge” is.


Weapon #27 – Labyrinth’s Shout: Go to the Northern Plains, & with the help of the Marked Map, go to the Western plateau of the plains over to where the railroad begins. Go underneath the railroad bridge, & we can now loot this Weapon; this also completes Side Quest – The Damaged Map.


Side Quest – The Magical Stone: With the Eye of Power, go back to the Fortune Teller in the Forest of Myth. When she offers, agree to hear a free reading from her & listen to your fortune. This will send us into the dream of the past…

This dream is actually a Repeatable Quest & is something we are going to use for farming Giant Shade Materials at the end of the game…

Weapon #28 – Iron Pipe: While we are in the dream realm, quickly enter into the wrecked shopping center & run behind the shelves where Yonah once hid to find a Crate. Destroy it, & we can loot the Weapon we wielded in the Prologue.


Main Quest #24 – Revelation: When all your Side Quests, previous Achievements, & Weapon collecting/Upgrading have been done to your desire, it is time for us to start the beginning of the end for Route A.

Return to the Lost Shrine, Save, & enter into the Altar. Use the Fragments to break the seal & we can finally enter the Shadowlord’s Castle…

Note that there is a rush of five Timed Boss fights we will partake in the Shadowlords’s Castle. There is also no Saving either which means should you fail, this is the soonest back you can reload to attempt the fights over for the Achievements. If you plan to go for them this Route, I recommend waiting until we beat the Route watching all cinematics, then reload afterwards to attempt the Boss Achievements…


Weapon #29 – Phoenix Sword: When we enter the Shadowlord’s Castle, approach the upper end of the courtyard where the two Birds are, & we can loot this Weapon from a Crate next to the doors leading onwards.

Main Quest #24 – Revelation: We now need to solve the riddle to enter into the Castle proper. The answers are: Because of a black disease, by separating the body from soul, they are placed in their corresponding shells.


Achievement #25 – Permission Granted: You drove off Devola & Popola within 3:00 minutes.
Missable. This is a bit of a shock & spoiler, but after gaining entrance to the Castle proper, we will encounter Devola & Popola. Like most Timed Bosses, do not skip any cinematics we see during your first attempt; these next few Bosses have some major lore to show us.

Use Strength Drops or Capsules to boost your Physical Damage for this fight. They are not too difficult, but they do have quite a bit of health. They also will disappear & reappear often so be prepared to chase them around the Boss room. Knock the twins down to 6/10 their health bar to see the first cinematic. Then, you must knock them down to 1/10 of their health bar for the final cinematic & them to retreat. We will unlock the Achievement after the last cinematic.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.

Map: Driving off the twins will also reward us with a Map to the Shadowlord’s Castle.


Achievement #26 – A Dirge For the Hero: You defeated Goose within 2:00 minutes.
Missable. Enter into the grand ballroom of the Castle, & we will need to defeat waves & waves of Shades. Eventually, Kainé will get pissed off, & kick open the door to carry on releasing even more Shades. These will soon conglomerate into a massive Boar Shade Boss during a cinematic; it is a very simple Boss compared to the twins & you should have no trouble defeating it.

Defeat the first form of Goose, not the proceeding Armored Goose that comes after, in under 2:00 minutes to unlock the Achievement.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.

Weapon #30 – Dragoon Lance: After defeating Goose, we will run down a hall that leads to a spiral staircase. At the end of this hall before the stairs, break a Crate off your right to collect the final Weapon of Route A.

1. Route A2: Shadowlord’s Castle
2. Weapons: 30/33
3. Achievements: 31/47
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Achievement #27 – Soul Crusher: You defeated Devola & Popola within 3:30 minutes.
Missable. Enter into the Shadowlord’s Castle Part 3, & we will link up with the twins once again. This time, we play for keeps.

After we defeat Devola, Popola will go berserk; we have to wait out the initial dialogue & her blasting us with Magic before we can actually start to hurt her again.

They are not too difficult, however the three cinematics involved with them are very long, & it is highly unlikely you will earn the Achievement on your first run. The Achievement will unlock after we regain control of our Character in the Shadowlord’s Castle Part 4.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.


Achievement #28 – Book Burner: You defeated Grimoire Noir within 1:30 minutes.
Missable. When we enter Shadowlord’s Castle Part 4, we will be in the last area & fight the final two Bosses of the game. When Grimoire Noir appears, he will be very simple to defeat especially if using Strength Capsules.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.


Achievement #29 – The Once & Final King: You defeated the Shadowlord within 4:20 minutes.
Missable. The Shadowlord will engage us immediately after defeating Grimoire Weiss. Like Devola & Popola, the cinematics involved in this fight are very long & will ruin your first run of this Achievement.

There are three parts to this fight that occur at half his health, 4/10s his health, & then the final 1/10 his health. After the initial fight, we will lose Kainé as she protects Yonah; there is a moment where we need to finish the dialogue before we can harm the Shadowlord. After doing more damage to the Shadowlord, Weiss will begin speaking & we will have to wait until he stops before we are able to harm the Shadowlord again.

For the last phase, we have to Sprint/Evade to the Shadowlord as fast as possible & strike him three times to finish the fight. We will unlock this Achievement at the end of the cinematic when we regain control of our Character.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route B & Route C/D.


Achievement #30 – A World In Flux: You defeated the Shadowlord.
Story Related. Regardless of whether or not you defeated the Shadowlord under 4:20 seconds, we will unlock this Achievement after we perform the killing blow to him.


Achievement #31 – Call Her Back: You viewed the first Ending (Ending A).
Story Related. It is over. To call Yonah back to us, we need to letter for letter, type our exact Character name when she asks us who her favourite person is.

What an emotional conflict in the Shadowlord’s Castle… many good friends lost along the way…
Roll Credits; we will unlock the Achievement after we leave the Endgame Save Screen.

Route B: After the Credits roll, we will be asked to Save our game earning us a sticky note with Route A on it… We can now continue on into Route B.

66% Complete

1. Route B: The Village, World of Recycled Vessel, Lost Shrine, Junk Heap, Forest of Myth
2. Weapons: 33/33
3. Novel Segment: 1/3
4. Achievements: 33/47
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To begin Route B, load the Endgame Save you made that has a Lunar Tear with an A posted beside it; do not start a New Game. We will have all our Weapons, Gold, Xp, Items, & Materials. All Side Quests we completed in Route A will stay completed as well, though those we did not complete will become available to us once again.

The major difference between Route B to Route A, is we will get new context cinematics for the Bosses in Act 2 as well as being able to understand more of the Shades & see dialogue text for them. We will also get a massive amount of backstory for Kainé with a little bit more for Emil.

The game picks up in the second half of the game right as soon as we are unpetrifying Kainé with Emil in the Library.

Novel Segment #1 – Kainé’s Dreams: As our first new part of Route B, we will get a text story of Kainé’s life in the Aerie when she was just a child.

We will also see a cute scene of her & Emil camping outside the Village in the Northern Plains.


The World of Recycled Vessel: When we wake up back home, search around downstairs & we can find our Mother’s Diary now. This will enter us into the DLC, where we will actually get to play as the main Character from Nier – Gestalt, Yonah’s father.

The First Door: Enter through the first door & we will need to defeat waves of enemies as we progress through alternate versions of locations we know. These levels are: the Shadowlord’s Castle, Emil’s Mansion, & the Library.

Weapon #31 – Fool’s Embrace: Complete the three levels behind the First Door to obtain this Weapon.
There are two more levels we need to complete after collecting the Weapon in the Lost Shrine & a unique area of the Barren Temple we have never been to before.

The Second Door: When we return to the limbo room, a new door will have appeared before us; we can also exit out of the World of Recycled Vessel. To continue onwards, enter the door furthest to the right (or dead center from us).

These next levels we need to complete will be more difficult & take place in: the Barren Temple (with the no using Weapons rule active), the Junk Heap floor B2 (destroy Crates here to obtain Rare Materials!), & the Junk Heap floor 1F.

Weapon #32 – Fool’s Lament: Complete the first three levels of the Second Door & we will be awarded this Weapon.

There are two more levels we need to complete after collecting the Weapon in a brand new area from the Prologue & Façade where we need to use Magic to defeat enemies as we ride around on the Quicksand Ferry.

The Third Door: The last door we can enter will be on the far right; this door comes with a disclaimer, & it is ideal that you are at least Level 30 or have a maxed out Weapon before taking this challenge on.

The levels we need to complete take place in a unique area of Seafront we have never been before, Emil’s Mansion, & the Underground Laboratory (break all Crates you find on this level for Rare Materials!); the level on the Underground Laboratory is dubbed the “Crate Room” for this DLC & is very important for Rare Materials farming later on…

Weapon #33 – Fool’s Accord: Complete the first three levels of the Third Door to collect this Weapon.


Achievement #32 – Weapons Collector: You found all 33 Weapons in the Base Game.
This is the soonest we can unlock this Achievement if collected all of the other 30 Weapons during Route A. Note that no Weapon is Missable, & if you are in fact missing some, they can all be collected during Route B.

The YoRHa DLC Weapons do not contribute to this Achievement.


Achievement #33 – Dear Diary: You completed the Recycled World Quest.
Complete the final two levels of the Third Door in the Barren Temple & a unique are along the Barren Temple bridgeway to fully complete the World of Recycled Vessel DLC.

Changing Outfits: After beating Route A & the World of Recycled Vessel DLC, we will have obtained a number of different Outfits. To change them, it must be done from the Title Screen. Go to Options, & we will now have a new Wardrobe tab to select where we can alter the Outfits for ourselves & our Companions.

Upon entering the Lost Shrine, we will now see memories from Gretel’s point of view & how they befriended the Small Shades in the area as we progress through the Lost Shrine.

Boss – Gretel: Go back to the Lost Shrine Altar & fight Gretel; defeat it in under 3:20 minutes for the King of the Lost Shrine Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

Boss – Berserk Kainé: Immediately after fighting Gretel, we need to fight Berserk Kainé; defeat her in under 1:00 minute for the True Friend Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

Fragment – Stone Guardian: We will obtain our first of five Fragments after defeating the two Bosses.

Go to see Gideon at Two Brother’s Weaponry to progress obtaining the Laws of Robotics Fragment; before leaving, be sure to sell a bunch of your Robot Materials so that you don’t overfill & waste Drops in the Junk Heap…

The Young Shade: When we go to the Junk Heap to pursue the lead on the Fragment there, we will now get backstory on the Young Shade & the P-33 Robot that decides to befriend it…

Do not pass up opportunities for killing P-33 Robots, Aerial Drones, or looting the “Crate Room” while in B2. We will be doing many runs of this at the end of the game for Materials, so the more you can collect when making mandatory visits anyways, the better.


Fragment – Memory Tree: Since there is no Boss to defeat here, go to the Forest of Myth next after completing the first part of the Junk Heap.

The text story with the Divine Tree is the same.


Boss – P-33: Go to your Mailbox in the Village to see if the Letter has arrived from Gideon, it can. At the end of the Junk Heap back in floor 1F, we can defeat P-33 in under 4:30 minutes to unlock the Boss of the Junk Heap Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

Fragment – Law of Robotics: Obtained after defeating P-33 & the Young Shade.

1. Route B: The Aerie, Seafront, Façade, Lost Shrine, Shadowlord’s Castle
2. Novel Segment: 23
3. Achievements: 34/47
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Boss – Wendy: Go to the Aerie now to pursue the next Fragment & we will encounter Wendy; defeat her in 8:30 minutes to unlock the Scourge of the Aerie Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

Novel Segment #2 – Emil’s Memory: After defeating Wendy, we will see a new text sequence of Emil’s Memory with his sister back at the Underground Laboratory.

Fragment – Sacrifice: Obtained after defeating Wendy.


Louise & The Postman: Speak with Popola in the Library & we will need to track down Red Bag Man in Seafront. As we progress this new Main Quest, we will see visions of the Postman as he tries to befriend Louise.

Do our rounds between Seafront & the Village until the Quest progresses to the ship… When we enter the Post Office, be sure to enter the backroom to collect our free guaranteed Black Pearl for Route B!

Boss – Louise: At the end of our wandering through the hull, we will have to battle Louise; if we defeat her in under 5:00 minutes we can unlock The Little Mermaid Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

Louise’s Letter: When we leave Seafront after defeating Louise, we will see a cutscene of Kainé holding a letter she found from the Shade girl to the Postman; Kainé will tear the letter up…

Speak with Popola again at the Library & check your mail back home to start down the Questline to obtain the Façade Fragment.

Pack Leader: While pursuing the Façade Fragment, we will now start seeing flashbacks of Roc & its pack of Wolves as they struggle to survive.

Boss – Roc: Assist the King in avenging his bride & if we defeat Roc in under 3:30 minutes we can unlock the Protector of Façade Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

Fragment – Loyal Cerberus: Obtained after defeating Roc.

If you have no other pressing business to complete, now that we have all five Fragments, press on to the Lost Shrine & use the completed key to enter the Shadowlord’s Castle.


Boss – Devola & Popola: For our first encounter with the twins, drive them away in under 3:00 minutes to unlock the Permission Granted Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

Boss – Goose: When we find the massive Shade Boar Goose, defeat it in under 2:00 minutes to unlock the Dirge For the Hero Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

Boss – Devola & Popola: For our final encounter with the twins, defeat them in under 3:30 minutes to unlock the Soul Crusher Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

After defeating them, we will be able to see what became of the Façade King in his fight against Goose…

Boss – Grimoire Noir: In the final conflict, defeat Grimoire Noir in under 1:30 minutes to unlock the Book Burner Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.

Boss – Shadowlord: For the final battle, defeat the Shadowlord in under 4:00 to unlock The Once & Final King Achievement if you have not already done so.

We can attempt this Achievement again during Route C/D.


Achievement #34 – Lingering Memories: You viewed the second Ending (Ending B).
Story Related. After defeating the Shadowlord for the second time, the Ending will be very different from Route A. If Route A’s Ending belonged to our Character & Yonah, then Route B’s Ending belongs to the Shadowlord & his sister. The Prologue we played was never our own story…

We also get to see what became of Emil as well, & how he directly translates to Nier – Automata.
The Achievement will unlock after we make our new Route C Save & exit the clear data Save screen. We will now have a B attached to our Route sticky note beside our main Save file.

1. Route C/D: The Village, Lost Shrine, Junk Heap, Forest of Myth, The Aerie, Seafront, Façade
2. Novel Segment: 2/3
3. Achievements: 35/47
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With Route B complete, we now once again have to complete Part 2 of the game over again from where we had to restart in Route B. Fortunately this is our last run of it & we will earn both Ending C & D using this “playthrough”. The kicker to earning Ending C is that you need to have unlocked the Weapons Collector Achievement by finding all 33 Weapons in the game; you should have already done that in Route B.

All Side Quests, Weapons, Items, & Materials will carry over from Route B into Route C. Aside from the Endings, there are no new cinematics or text during Part 2 that we didn’t already see in Route B.


Kainé’s Dreams: We have the option after unpetrifying Kainé to rewatch her backstory text dream sequence we saw in Route B; it is safe to skip if you do not want to re-read it.

Upon entering the Lost Shrine, we will now see memories from Gretel’s point of view & how they befriended the Small Shades in the area as we progress through the Lost Shrine.

Boss – Gretel: Go back to the Lost Shrine Altar & fight Gretel; defeat it in under 3:20 minutes for the King of the Lost Shrine Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Boss – Berserk Kainé: Immediately after fighting Gretel, we need to fight Berserk Kainé; defeat her in under 1:00 minute for the True Friend Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Fragment – Stone Guardian: We will obtain our first of five Fragments after defeating the two Bosses.


Devola & Popola: We will see new dialogue between Devola & Popola discussing our progress towards obtaining the Fragments when we leave to the Northern Plains.

Go to see Gideon at Two Brother’s Weaponry to progress obtaining the Laws of Robotics Fragment; before leaving, be sure to sell a bunch of your Robot Materials so that you don’t overfill & waste Drops in the Junk Heap…

Do not pass up opportunities for killing P-33 Robots, Aerial Drones, or looting the “Crate Room” while in B2. We will be doing many runs of this at the end of the game for Materials, so the more you can collect when making mandatory visits anyways, the better.


Fragment – Memory Tree: Since there is no Boss to defeat here, go to the Forest of Myth next after completing the first part of the Junk Heap.

The text story with the Divine Tree is the same.


Devola & Popola: As we return to the Village to check our mailbox to see if Gideon sent us a letter, we will see a new development with Devola & Popola talking about Louise in Seafront.


Boss – P-33: Report back to Gideon in the Junk Heap to progress obtaining the next Fragment. At the end of the Junk Heap back in floor 1F, we can defeat P-33 in under 4:30 minutes to unlock the Boss of the Junk Heap Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Fragment – Law of Robotics: Obtained after defeating P-33 & the Young Shade.


Boss – Wendy: Go to the Aerie now to pursue the next Fragment & we will encounter Wendy; defeat her in 8:30 minutes to unlock the Scourge of the Aerie Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Emil’s Memory: This is a repeat of the text sequence we already read in Route B, it is safe to skip.

Fragment – Sacrifice: Obtained after defeating Wendy.

Speak with Popola in the Library & we will need to track down Red Bag Man in Seafront. Do our rounds between Seafront & the Village until the Quest progresses to the ship… When we enter the Post Office, be sure to enter the backroom to collect our free guaranteed Black Pearl for Route C!

Boss – Louise: At the end of our wandering through the hull, we will have to battle Louise; if we defeat her in under 5:00 minutes we can unlock The Little Mermaid Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!


Achievement #35 – Gratitude: You gave Louise's letter to the Postman.
Story Related. After we defeat Louise & leave Seafront, we will witness a new part of the story with the Postman getting some closure. Instead of tearing up the letter, Kainé will keep it & meet the Postman on the beach & give it to him. The Achievement will unlock after the moment passes.

Speak with Popola again at the Library & check your mail back home to start down the Questline to obtain the Façade Fragment.

Boss – Roc: Assist the King in avenging his bride & if we defeat Roc in under 3:30 minutes we can unlock the Protector of Façade Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Fragment – Loyal Cerberus: Obtained after defeating Roc.

1. Route C/D: Lost Shrine, Shadowlord’s Castle
2. Novel Segment: 3/3
3. Achievements: 39/47
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of the Line: Progress your way to the Mailbox on the Lost Shrine Roof & make two separate Saves. We are going to unlock two Endings back to back & will need to return back to this point to unlock the second Ending!


Boss – Devola & Popola: For our first encounter with the twins, drive them away in under 3:00 minutes to unlock the Permission Granted Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Boss – Goose: When we find the massive Shade Boar Goose, defeat it in under 2:00 minutes to unlock the Dirge For the Hero Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Boss – Devola & Popola: For our final encounter with the twins, defeat them in under 3:30 minutes to unlock the Soul Crusher Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Novel Segment #3 – Emil’s Memories: After defeating Devola & Popola, we will witness a new memory from Emil.


Achievement #36 – Educated Warrior: You read all Novel Segments about your friends' pasts.
Story Related. After witnessing the two Novel Segments in Route B, we will unlock this Achievement after viewing the final one here in Route C.

Boss – Grimoire Noir: In the final conflict, defeat Grimoire Noir in under 1:30 minutes to unlock the Book Burner Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Boss – Shadowlord: For the final battle, defeat the Shadowlord in under 4:00 to unlock The Once & Final King Achievement if you have not already done so.

This is our final chance to attempt this Achievement before it is lost forever!

Boss – Berserk Kainé: After we defeat the Shadowlord, things will start to be different & we will have more to do with Kainé & Tyrann. Speak with Kainé, & it will all go to (Censored by Steam).

For The Strongest Bond Achievement, we need to defeat Kainé in under 3:30 minutes, which is highly unlikely if you watch the cinematics. Do not fret, we will unlock the actual Achievement when we go for Ending D in a few moments. Enjoy the show…


Achievement #37 – Thank You: You viewed the third Ending (Ending C).
Story Related. When Tyrann gives us the ultimatum of what to do with Kainé, be sure to choose the option to “End Kainé’s life & free her from her burden” first to witness Ending C.

At the Save Screen, be sure to Save over only one of our two Route C Saves or just Save in an empty slot. We will need to reload back to the Lost Shrine in Route C to earn Ending D…
The Achievement will unlock after we exit the Save Screen.


Achievement #38 – The Strongest Bond: You defeated the berserk Kainé within 3:30 minutes.
Missable. Reload back to our Save in the Lost Shrine, blast through all the Bosses again, & when we fight Berserk Kainé, skip all the cinematics involved & quickly dispatch her to unlock the Achievement.

This is the only time we can unlock this Achievement & it must be earned now as we will not be returning back to this point ever again…

The Achievement will unlock after the last cutscene when we need to approach Kainé to decide her fate.


Achievement #39 – Something Very Special: You viewed the fourth Ending (Ending D).
Story Related. When Tyrann gives us the ultimatum about how to save Kainé, this time we must “Sacrifice your own existence to make Kainé human again”.

When we choose this option, the game will ask us again to confirm our decision; say yes. It will ask us another four times if we want this; say yes. We will need to enter our Character’s name letter for letter into the prompt to follow through.

When this happens, we will witness an utterly devastating sequence of all our Items, Weapons, Words, Documents, Quests, etc. literally being deleted before our eyes & our Save file will be deleted… temporarily.

When we complete Ending E, it will all be returned to us safe & sound so do not fret.

82% Complete

1. Route E: The Aerie, The Copied City
2. Achievements: 39/47
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With our old Save File temporarily deleted, we must now make a completely New Save; we will be unable to give our Character the same name as before so you will need to choose something else. Feel free to set the Difficulty to Easy to blast through this first chunk of the game too.

The game will play out identically as it did before in Route A1; all cinematics & cut scenes can be skipped as well. You will understand now though playing through the Prologue again… that this is the Shadowlord & his Yonah with Grimoire Noir…

Skip all Side Quests & progress through the Main Questline as fast as you desire. You need to complete the Lost Shrine to get Weiss, visit the Aerie to fight Kainé & Hook, the Junk Heap, get the Shaman Fish from Seafront (be sure to help the Lighthouse Lady or we will be sent back to see her), & then help Kainé defeat Hook.

We can use this Save File to get a head start on the Lightspeed Fighter Achievement for beating the game in under 15 hours. Really try to blast through the first portion of the game as fast as possible to get to the Aerie to defeat Hook. Try to do this in under 2-3 hours if you can.


Nightmares: After we defeat Hook in Route E1, the story will finally diverge, & Kainé will awaken from a nightmare three years after the events of Ending D.

We will now get to play as Kainé. This is a very linear playthrough to get Ending E & is 100% story oriented with no Side Quests or collectibles to locate… there is but one other Achievement we can get during this playthrough…


Achievement #40 – Daredevil: You risked life & limb 10 times to discover someone's secret.
Yes… this Achievement, if you have played Nier – Automata you will know what I mean. To “risk our life” 10 times, we need to manipulate the camera angle down… underneath Kainé’s nighty skirt towards her crotch to get view of her white undergarments. No, I am not making this up.

When the angle is right, Kainé will understandably get mad, & actually kick the camera out of focus. Wait until she re-sheath’s her Weapon, then move back in to creep her out. Repeat 10 times to unlock the Achievement; the things we do for a little Achievement am I right? At least we get what is coming to us afterwards…


Restoring Our Save File: Route E is very linear & will take us inside the Tree of Memory in the Forest of Myth. Fight through some Bosses & enemies into the Copied City where we will fight more Bosses.

After a replicant of Hook is defeated, we will finally locate what become of our original Character. Approach his body, & “recover the person you cherish.” By choosing this, we will be able to restore our old Save File with all our Weapons, Items, Materials, etc. Choosing this will delete our Route E file, which is just part of the Route’s story.

You will need to input the name of your very first Character, not the name we chose for our second one at the start of Route E.

The Second Save: We will also see after choosing a location for our Save File, that the second Save/Character we made for Route E is also still there as well. Do not Save over this one as, if your current game time is under 2-3 hours, it is a perfect applicant for when we complete our 15 hour speedrun for the Lightspeed Fighter Achievement.


Achievement #41 – e8a898e686b6e382b5e383bce38390e383bc: You viewed the final Ending (Ending E).
Story Related. After the final cinematic plays & the Credits finish rolling, we will unlock our final Ending Achievement.

87% Complete

1. Area: Everywhere…
2. Achievements: 45/47
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Now it is time for the final mop up; use our returned Save File for Route D.

If you have not already done so, be sure to download & install the Free YoRHa DLC to receive 4 Weapons from Nier – Automata. These are also fairly straightforward to Upgrade as well & will give us lee-way in the Forging Master Achievement meaning that we can skip 5/38 Weapons to Upgrade.

If you want to see a better breakdown of Material requirements & farming locations, go check out my Achievement Checklist for Nier - Replicant linked in the Introduction of the guide.


Weapon #34 – Kainé’s Sword: With Ending E completed, go to Kainé’s home outside of the Aerie & we can collect her Weapon. This is one of the easier Weapons to Upgrade.



Achievement #42 – Upgrade Apprentice: You upgraded 5/38 Weapons to their maximum level.
See below Achievement.


Achievement #43 – Reform Specialist: You upgraded 15/38 Weapons to their maximum level.
See below Achievement.


Achievement #44 – Forging Master: You upgraded 33/38 Weapons to their maximum level.
The grindiest & longest Achievement we need to unlock in the game; we only need to Upgrade 33/38 of our Weapons. Setting the Difficulty to Easy & using Auto-Battle can take out some of the mind numbing tedium of farming, however the AI is not the fastest & it is much quicker killing enemies yourself… If nothing else, turning on Auto-Evade/Defend & Auto Magic DOES make things go faster.

Personally, I would not recommend Upgrading Iron Will, the Phoenix Dagger, Phoenix Sword, & Phoenix Spear (if you have not already done so) due to Black Pearl farming; Memory Alloy heavy Weapons are also a pain to Upgrade. The other Weapons to skip all depend on what Materials you were able to obtain “naturally” over the course of all the Routes, & what you still need to collect/are willing to farm.

Other potential Weapons that are difficult to Upgrade are the: Kusanagi, Captain’s Holy Spear, Spear of the Usurper, & Sunrise.

When farming, always go for the rarest of Materials first as you will most likely collect the more common ones along the way.

To start, I would recommend farming the “Crate room” on the third room of the Third Door of the World of Recycled Vessel DLC to collect your Fluorite & Damascus Steel; in the process of doing this you will also collect Rusted Clumps, Iron Ore, Gold Ore, Meteorite, Pyrite, Eagle Eggs if you are super lucky, & other common Materials. Farming these from the “Crate room” in the Junk Heap is much faster, but we miss out on the chance for collecting Eagle Eggs or the other misc Materials; natural Pyrite & Gold Ore Harvest Point farming is horrific! Unless you want the Gold, you do not actually have to finish all of the Third Door room. After breaking the final Crates along the bridge in the third room, just keep jumping off the bridge to kill yourself & you will be booted from the Third Door but our progress will be Saved!

Next, I would begin farming the Side Quest – The Magic Stone in the Forest of Myth to begin collecting Complex, Elaborate, & Simple Machines while also obtaining a host of other Shade Materials like Rusty Kitchen Knives, Broken Wristwatches, Broken Saws, etc. We will also get a surplus of Shade Book that will give us lots to sell when we are finished.

The next grind will be for Forlorn Necklaces & or Broken Earrings. Depending on your preferred Weapons, you may only need a single Forlorn Necklace with no Broken Earrings or you will need four Forlorn Necklaces & two Broken Earrings. Regardless, this is a horrid grind. The best method in my opinion is to farm the Caster Shades in the Northern Shades; if you speak with the Guard here to begin the Repeatable Quest – Sheep Bowling, climbing off the Boar will end the Quest but respawn all Shades so you do not have to play day time roulette. Near this Guard, a Caster Shade will spawn close by with a second down below near the Ladders leading to the Junk Heap. While there are six Caster Shades total in the Northern Plains, they are all over the map, so it is much faster farming the closer Shades & resetting using the Repeatable Quest than running all around the map for the full six.

The final major grind you will have to do (barring any miscellaneous Materials you still might need) will be farming for Memory Alloys. Save this for the very end after you have exhausted all other options as Memory Alloy farming is not good. To farm Memory Alloys, we need to kill P-32 Giants on Floor B2 of the Junk Heap but the catch is that they will only respawn if we leave the Junk Heap to the surface; reloading a past Save or changing rooms will not work. For the best strategy, we need to play on Hard Difficulty so that we die fast. Once on Hard, quickly get down to Floor B2 & get across the cart ride section as safely as you can to enter the second half of B2; spamming Evade while constantly casting Dark Whirlwind can keep you intact. Once we are here, we will face our first P-32. If you do not receive a Memory Alloy, then you must let the mobs that spawn after the P-32 kill you. Dying will reset you back to before you entered the room with the P-32 still alive. Once you receive a Memory Alloy, go down to the far Southern most room where we can find two more P-32’s. Once again, kill them, & if you do not receive at least one Memory Alloy, then quickly get yourself killed so we spawn back outside the room (note that you MUST die before the doors open to the room you are locked in or else the P-32’s will not respawn!). After obtaining at least two Memory Alloys, we must leave the Junk Heap to the surface to respawn the Giants… rinse & repeat as desired.

When you become overburdened by certain robot Materials, be sure to sell the extras whenever you return to the surface.


Achievement #45 – Man of Means: You accumulated 1,000,000 pieces of Gold at one time.
As of this point in the game, if you did not already unlock this Achievement after farming in the Junk Heap… well, there is nothing else left to do with all Materials if you Upgraded all your Weapons. Sell literally every Material you have, & you are guaranteed to unlock this Achievement.

If somehow you don’t, then just do full runs of every Floor of the Junk Heap & sell what you get until you do…

1. Area: Everywhere
2. Achievements: 47/47
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Achievement #46 – Lightspeed Fighter: You completed the game within 15 hours.
If you sped through Route E1 during our short playthrough as the Child before we began playing as Kainé, & your time was under 3 hours, I recommend continuing from where we left off for our Speedrun playthrough. If your time is beyond 3 hours, then start a brand New Game for the run.

Set the Difficulty to Easy, & blast through Routes A1 & A2 as fast as you possibly can. Skip all cutscenes & Side Quests. When we reach Route A2, be sure to sell all your Materials to purchase the Phoenix Spear; even at Level 1, the Phoenix Spear will comfortably carry us through the Shadowlord’s Castle without too much effort.

Pay attention to what the Main Quest asks & do not go above & beyond like on our first visit to the Forest of Myth. We only need to save the Mayor from the Deathdream & no one else; the answers to his riddles are Secret, Sunlight, & Man.

15 hours is a very padded time & you will most likely complete it in under 10.

Remember, time does not stop when the game is paused or in a menu. If you want to take a break our walk away to do something, always Save at a Mailbox & quit to the Main Menu first to not waste your time.

Completing Route A1 will take around 3-4 hours, & completing Route A2 will take another 3-4 hours. At most, without completing any Side Quests, you can complete the whole game in 8/15 hours. This does make you very under leveled however, & seeing as though you have a 7 hour padding to your time, definitely do some farming or Side Quests if you are struggling.

If you are playing your Route E1 game, be sure to remember the correct Character name you chose when we are telling Yonah who she loves more than anyone…


Achievement #47 – The Final Verse: Congratulations! Thank you for playing!
Story Related. When all other Achievements have been unlocked, we will earn this final Achievement after exiting the clear data screen of our sub 15 hour playthrough.

Nier Replicant is an absolutely incredible game; a perfect hero’s journey story. If I am completely honest, I actually prefer this over Automata, but they are two completely different games when you get right down to it with different tones & stories… not really comparable, but both amazing! The soundtrack for Replicant was especially good as well, nothing beats the Devola’s Song of the Ancients! 100% took me 78 hours to complete, with a good chunk of that time spent going above & beyond completing all the Side Quests in the game just because.

If this guide helped you achieve 100%, rate the guide or let me know in the comments. Helps me know if I am doing things right!



100% Complete
Thank you for choosing Cynic, & I will see you in the next guide!

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