The Last of Us may be the best video game series to date. 10/10. Here are some insights into the game. If you’re looking for tips on getting all the collectibles and other stuff, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Note: The title of TLoU on the PS3 and PS4 does not contain “Part I”, it was added for the PS5 and PC versions and the PS4 version contains “Remastered”. For simplicity, I will just call it “The Last of Us”.

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

The Last of Us

• When acquiring trophies for collectibles (artifacts, training manuals, shiv doors, comics, crafted items, Firefly pendants, jokes, and conversations), you don’t need to get them all in one run. I would recommend it, though, if you don’t know which ones you’re missing. The Chapters menu on the main menu does, however, show how many you have collected per chapter, so you can easily tell if you need to repeat a chapter.
• If you’re hunting for collectibles by going through the Chapters menu, I would recommend doing them in reverse order because if you go back to a previous chapter, you can no longer access the subsequent ones.
• When you’re hanging upside down in the warehouse in Bill’s town, you have unlimited ammo, but you can’t change weapons.
• In Bill’s Town when you’re push-starting the truck after you push it out of the garage, if you’re low on ammo, you can basically summon infected to loot. Don’t push the truck. Instead walk away until Bill leaves the truck. An infected will come out and attack Ellie. Then just run back and melee fight it. Then repeat if needed. And there are bricks that re-spawn to assist you if you want.
• Unlike some other weapons, there is only one opportunity to pick up the bow — in Bill’s Town.
• In the spores clouded area in East Colorado University it is possible to stealth your way to the exit without killing anything, but once you start opening the door, you better start mashing the melee button because the bloater is going to take interest.
• If you equip a brick or bottle, it becomes your melee weapon. Unfortunately, it’s a one-hit wonder, but it does do significant damage.

Left Behind

• Like Part I, you don’t need to get all the conversations on one play through.
• There’s no trophy for picking up all the artifacts.
• Takes place in Winter in Boulder, CO, right after Joel gets impaled by rebar and right before you chase down the deer and meet David for the first time (as Ellie) and the flashbacks are three weeks prior to Summer in Boston, MA, when Ellie and Rylie get bitten.
• The gas for the empty generator in the loading dock is always in the same truck, the one on the other side of the first truck you see when you are by the generator looking toward the vehicles. It has an external tank.
• You don’t have to win either the window breaking game or the water-gun fight (except to get the trophies), but you do have to do them both.
• You don’t have to go to Winston’s tent nor the photo booth (except to get the conversion trophies and insight into Winston’s, Rylie’s, Ellie’s characters).
• You can’t lose the imaginary fight in the “The Turning” arcade game. The worst that’ll happen is you mess to the final move.

The Last of Us: Part II

• General    
  • There’s no trophy for conversations, so you don’t really need to talk to anybody (pressing Triangle when prompted) save for the ones that are forced (Maria before the snowball fight, the person waiting in line in the mess hall, Nora at the FOB, the guy standing guard at the apartments in the FOB, the guy sitting by the elevator in the FOB apartments, to get Yara to throw the dog toy after her amputation, Dina at the sink in the farmhouse).
  • The “Skip Puzzle” option allows you to skip guitar playing, dumpster pushing, and rope swinging. Thank God for that (I hate rope swinging).
  • As with Part I and LB, you don’t need to get all the collectibles (safes, artifacts, journal entries, work benches, trading cards, and coins) in one run for the corresponding trophies.
  • You can’t manually save with Permadeath active, but if you have a PD auto-save and you want to play a regular game, don’t worry, your auto-save will be backed up first, so you won’t lose it when your regular game auto-saves.
  • In fact, anytime you start a new game or even start a game using the Chapters menu, your auto-save gets backed up to the next available slot.
  • The Encounters menu only has the encounters you’ve seen in your current auto-save.
  • Same with the Chapters menu.
  • There’s nothing to gain from doing encounters from the Encounters menu. Except practice, I guess.
  • The places where you are riding in a vehicle, you have unlimited ammo, but you can’t change weapons.
  • If you have the option to shoot or melee, you can break almost any glass.
  • Pressing L3 shows you where to go (if the option is enabled), but it sometimes leads you to places that aren’t required to go (mostly in downtown Seattle with Ellie and Dina) and if you press it quickly enough, it’ll just lead you in circles.
  • There are only a few places you are required to kill all the enemies (other than forced). Everywhere else, you can grab-crawl your way through (with unlimited “invisible while prone” and “reduced enemy perception” active) or run if you have “reduced enemy accuracy” enabled or kill just enough and be out of range/eyesight of the rest or get to the next checkpoint.
    • In the area right after your first encounter with an infected (the one you have to throw a bottle at) with Ellie and Dina.
    • In the area right after Dina gives you the molotov (where you have to toss a cable over the ductwork) with Ellie and Dina.
    • The bloater in the arcade with Ellie.
    • The parking garage of the courthouse with Ellie and Dina.
    • Sniping infected with Ellie and Tommy.
    • The bloater in the hotel with Ellie and Joel.
    • In the lobby of the same hotel with Ellie and Joel.
    • In the warehouse with Abby, Manny, Mel, and Alice.
    • During your first encounter with Lev and Yara after the Saraphites ambush you. Right after Lev cuts down Abby. I guess technically you aren’t killing them all, but you do kill all the ones you see before someone says “that’s all of them”, then run away while your UI lights up with warnings from all directions. With Abby, Lev, and Yara.
    • In the area where Lev gets ambushed, shot, and outed (Abby is so clueless). Despite “allies don’t get grabbed” being enabled, Lev still gets grabbed when you try to go up the ladder on the other end. With Abby and Lev.
    • The rat king in the hospital with Abby.
  • Places where you might think you have to kill everything, but you don’t:
    • The loading dock with Abby, Joel, and Tommy. Technically, you can just run around until Tommy gets the gondola over to the window, but only if “allies don’t get grabbed” is enabled. Though, you may have to kill a few.
    • The shootout at the gas station. Technically, you can just run around dodging bullets until backup arrives. You do have to kill a few. As Abby, Manny, Mel, and Alice.
    • The area where Lev and Yara help Abby escape after going through the auto shop garage. Technically, you can just run around until Lev and Yara bust through the ambulance that crashed through the wall. You do have to kill a few of them, though. With Abby, Lev, and Yara.
    • The shop where you have no choice but to break the glass and alert all the infected inside to get through. It’s your first encounter after leaving Yara at the aquarium to go get supplies from the hospital. You can just break the glass and haul ass to the other end and climb through the wall. With Abby and Lev.
    • The parking garage with Tommy shooting at you. You can get to the other end, without killing them all, but you’ll have to kill some, though. With Abby and Manny.
• Jackson
  • Prologue
    • You don’t need to win the snowball fight.
• Seattle Day 1 (Ellie)
  • The Gate
    • If you don’t pick up the Map of Seattle artifact from the trailer, it’ll be a forced pick up when you try to pick up the Checkpoint Gate Codes artifact (don’t worry, it’s in the other drawer) and if you don’t pick that one up, you can’t enter the code on the Main console even if you know it (it’ll just fail after the third digit).
  • Downtown
    • You are only required to go to two places: the dome and the courthouse, but you have to do them both because the first one, regardless of which you do first, will have no gas.
    • As soon as you enter the dome, “Skip Puzzle” becomes available and allows you to skip the entire area right up to the exit including getting (or not getting) the gas. You do, however, miss some chatter about the Torah Scroll, insight into Dina’s Jewish heritage, and Ellie’s confusion about the year on the calendar.
• Seattle Day 2 (Ellie)
  • Finding Strings
    • The bloater in the hotel will grab Ellie after you’ve shot him enough times. There’s no avoiding it.
  • Flooded City
    • It’s easier to swim underwater when going to the aquarium after your boat sinks, that way you won’t get hammered by waves.
• Seattle Day 1 (Abby)
  • The Stadium
    • In the mess hall, you only need to talk to the guy waiting in the food line.
    • You don’t need to compete with Manny in the shooting range.
  • The Aquarium
    • You have to go into the cabin of the boat and pick up the kid’s clothes on the bed, but that’s all you have to do.
    • Once you get into the big room with the whale hanging from the ceiling, you can just head right up the stairs.
  • Hostile Territory
    • After parting ways with Manny and after getting ambushed by an infected, you come to an area with stores on either side. You don’t have to go into any of them unless you need artifacts.
  • Winter Visit
    • There’s no way to avoid the shooting gallery, but you don’t have to get the high score or even shoot anything. If you don’t shoot anything, Owen gets cheeky and Abby says she “didn’t have anything to prove”.
• Seattle Day 2 (Abby)
  • The Shortcut
    • There’s no way to avoid falling off the sky bridge, but if you fall too soon, you’ll die.
  • Return to the Aquarium
    • You have to throw the dog toy…twice and you can’t leave the room until you talk to Yara.
• Permadeath/Grounded and Cheats
  • The game doesn’t allow you to activate cheats with Permadeath active or with the Grounded difficulty; however, there is a workaround.
    • Step 1: Load any save that allows for cheats.
    • Step 2: Activate the cheats you want.
    • Step 3: Without exiting to the title screen, load up your Permadeath save.
    • Step 4: Enjoy your cheats.
    • Caveat: You can’t change them without repeating all of the above steps and it doesn’t work if the difficulty is set to Grounded and Permadeath is active at the same time.

Every guide I’ve found which tells one how to access the Ruin Depths in the Calm Lands is wrong! They all show some elaborate method for unlocking it which includes sending L5 birds 1, 2, and 3, then 2, 3, and 4, then 1, 3, and 4, then 1, 2, and 4, after sending 4 of each previous level out. And they always insist that you must send them ALL to the Calm Lands.

Here’s why it’s bullshit:

1. You can send them anywhere you’d like.
2. You need only send four of each level (maybe fewer, I haven’t tried fewer) – once the four L5s return, exit and reenter the ranch. Boom – the Depths are now open.
3. Only Chocobos with max potential will work, so if your Chocobo can’t get to L5, it’s pointless to dispatch it, but don’t release it because it still helps to keep the runners from running away.
4. You also only need to fight 7 battles between batches.

Notes about acquiring access to the ranch:

1. If you don’t help Cassie catch a Chocobo and subsequently fight the Chocobo Eater in Mi’ihen Highroad in chapter 1 and talk to Clasko in Mushroom Rock Road in chapters 1 and 2, you won’t be able to access the Chocobo Ranch because he won’t be in Mi’ihen Highroad in chapter 3, so you can’t pick him up to take him to the Calm Lands.
2. If you don’t pick him up from Mi’hen Highroad in chapter 3, you won’t be able to access the Chocobo Ranch.
3. If you don’t take him to the Calm Lands in chapter 3, he’ll jump ship in chapter 5 and head for the Calm Lands himself, so as long as you get him on board, your set.

World of Final Fantasy is an installment in the long running cash cow that is Final Fantasy. From Square|Enix. In this post I will share some insights. PS4 version.

• It’s basically a rip-off of Pokémon.
• Easy EXP
  • The Undead Princess — 45,194 EXP
    • Find Undead Princess in Ice Region and talk to her. She’s right outside the inn. You may need to unlock her by fighting her in The Girl’s Tea Room first. Throw curatives on her. An X-Potion is an instant kill. A Hi-Potion is 1,000 HP. Cure and Cura scale with your Magic stat. Sadly, you cannot throw a Phoenix Down, Phoenix Pinion, or Mega-Phoenix on an enemy. You can also Imprism her with Light Magic.
      • Note: if you fight her in The Girl’s Tea Room, you will get very little EXP.
      • Note: you have to switch to the Classic menu so you can target her.
      • Note: Regen does not hurt her.
  • Cold, Hard Justice — 152,000 EXP
    • Later on toward the end The Girl Who Forgot Her Name has this Intervention quest in which you fight Shivalry and Golden Flan aka the Big Jiggle. Both are worth 75,600 EXP. Plus, you also get an Ice Spellstone, a Mega-Phoenix, and a Solid Frigicite.
      • Note: there is no break between fights.
  • Postscript dungeons in The Girl’s Tea Room — >100,000 EXP
    • These dungeons contain powerful teams of Mirages worth a lot of EXP. High-level Bahamut should have no problem in them.
      • Tip: stay near the Save Crystal (or under it) at the end to keep your HP/AP full.
  • Postscript Dungeon 1 — Boss Shivver Stack — 210,480 EXP
    • She drops 2x Mega-Phoenix and 1x Arma Gem.
  • Postscript Dungeon 2 — Boss Rairamuh Stack — 213,000 EXP
    • He drops 2x Mega-Phoenix and 1x Arma Gem
  • Postscript Dungeon 3 — Boss Gleefrit Stack — 207,120 EXP
    • He drops 2x Mega-Phoenix and 1x Arma Gem.
  • Postscript Dungeon 4 — Boss XG — 200,000 EXP
    • He drops 1x Megalixer and 2x Arma Gem.
    • Note: there are no random encounters in XG’s chamber and no Joyriding allowed.
  • Strategy is the same for all:
    1. Approach the boss.
    2. Use high-level Bahamut. Hit with Flare twice, Attack twice, then Defend until your XP goes warning or critical, then hit with Megaflare.
    3. Save.
    4. Return to title.
    5. Continue to game.
    6. Repeat from step 1.
  • Note: whether or not you survive the battle, you should Return to title and Continue; otherwise, you’ll be hoofing it all the way through the dungeon to get back to where you were.
  • Note: Mega Mirages need only be summoned in order to maximize their EXP gain. Just release them without taking any actions, then you can immediately summon a new one since you will still have full AP–assuming they don’t get one-shot right after being summoned, in that case, you lose all your AP and that Mirage gets nothing from battle, so it’s a bit of a gamble at first. Good for power-leveling Mega Mirages.
• Any fight in The Girl’s Tea Room can be fought repeatedly for free after the first paid fight. Though, the loot isn’t as good as the first time, but you get EXP, loot, and money.
• You need to talk to The Girl Who Forgot Her Name again after Intervening in order to collect your reward for said Intervention (select “Intervene”, then the quest) or you can collect it from Miniventures on the Adventure Log.
• Characters from all over the franchise can be found somewhere in Grymoire and are usually Champions which utilize one of their special moves from their respective game.
• You can skip scenes by pressing Options then Triangle.
• You can’t remove Reynn or Lann from her or his stack until after you finish the Postscript (true ending) a second time. You get a new Intervention quest after beating Brandelis the first time. Once you do that quest and fight him again, Enna Kros, the Human Keeper, will Imprism Reynn and Lann–since they’ve both taken a permanent vacation to B’s world–allowing you to now remove them from their stacks and even your lineup.
  • There are caveats:
    1. If either are out, you cannot summon any Mega Mirages.
    2. Only they can summon Champions.
    3. Only they can Imprism Mirages.
    4. Their respective Mirajewels will not be active.
• Your HP increases as you level up, but your AP does not.
• You cannot summon a Mega Mirage when you’re Unstacked.
• You can stack the same S Mirage on both Lilikin and Jiant form which means you only need six to fully stack your team. Two of each size.
• Mirages with SUPPORT abilities, such as Flutter, Chill, and Joyride, need only be in your lineup to use their ability in the field. They do not need to be stacked.
• If you’re having trouble in the Colosseum, you can’t escape; however, you can attack yourself to hasten the suffering. When you lose, you lose nothing but the time you spent in battle and any Mirages you Imprismed, but you do get to keep any Prisms you were given and Libra is permanent.
• You don’t need to return to a Miniventure quest giver after completing his or her quest (excluding the kid who wants to see your Mirages), you need only collect your reward from the Adventure Log.
• Travel Gates (Examine them) and Save Crystals (just walk through them) will automatically heal you.
• Transfigurations can only be done from the Prism Case or while using the Seraphone.
• If your lineup is full, any newly Imprismed Mirages will go straight to the Prism Case.
• Inactive Mega Mirages in your lineup get the standard 8% of the EXP haul unless you use them, then they get about 14%+… so… use… them.
• Fast Forward mutes all dialog and any battle vocalizations.
• You break HP and damage limit right out of the box.
• Mirages continue to accumulate SP even if they are not in that form. For example: Searcher will continue to gain SP even if mastered Death Searcher is its current form.
• You can fast-travel almost anywhere from the World Map–anywhere but Nine Wood Hills.
  • Note: if you use the map to fast-travel, you may be put in a location other than near the gate. For example: Cornelia will put you at the bottom of the stairs close to the exit to Cornelia Region.
• PASSIVE stats on the same Mirage from the same group also affect the active form of said Mirage. For example, stats from Mishiva also affect Bablizz and vice versa.
• No matter how much AP Bahamut has (at least 1), you can always cast Megaflare, but regular Flare is more powerful in that it doesn’t require resorting to depleting your HP to ‘supe it up, plus you can do it twice…then hit Megaflare at low HP (red is best) for max damage.
• Enemies don’t expend AP.
• Max level is 99.
• Damage limit is 99,999.
• Bahamut is objectively the most powerful Mirage in the game.
• It takes 10 battles to gain 1 Champion Star.

Final Fantasy VI is the sixth in the long running Final Fantasy series. In this post I will share some insights.

Zozo:

• When you are about to leave Zozo you are asked to make a party of four. Celes and Locke are preselected. Don’t remove either of them. If you do, you can’t re-add them and you definitely can’t compete the Opera House scene without one of them. If you did, fear not, you can get them back without redoing the whole Zozo scene. You just have to trudge your way back to Narshe and speak to any of your cohorts in the building on the east side of town.
• To unequip an esper, you need to select an empty slot under the espers list on the esper selection screen.
• If you want to see what an item in a shop does, you have to have enough GP to buy it so you can select it to pull up the details.
• You only need one each of Edgar’s “Tools” items.
• Cmd.Set Short allows you to rearrange your battle command menus and changes the orientation of the items therein (they’re fanned out). If you change it back to “Window,” your custom arrangement will be saved, but you will revert to the default stacked list. Each character has his/her own list. Edit: The order reverts after reloading the save file.
• Memo is a temporary save slot that gets deleted when you power off your PlayStation or quit the game.
• Soft reset: hold down L1, L2, R1, R2, Start, and Select. You will lose all unsaved progress.

* Notice: The above apples to the PlayStation “Anthology” version (digital and disk).