Before we begin this FFXV Walk-through / Guide, I just want to point out what we’re trying to achieve with this walk-through. I’ll try to make is as short and simple as I can, only tackling the important decisions or value moves you can do per area…
Still a work in progress!!!
So you’re pushing your car, I’m sure you’ve seen this scene before.
Hammerhead
HOLD ON! Don’t go crazy exploring yet! Follow these steps for some maximum value. WAIT UNTIL YOU UNLOCK YOUR CAR BEFORE YOU GO EXPLORING! It won’t take long.
THE FIRST STEP: Upgrading your weapons right now is your best bet. Simply take the L2 Hunt from the chef, complete it, and you’ll have enough money to buy the weapons for your entire party (bought from the weapon vendor in Hammerhead). Don’t worry, the next tier of upgrades isn’t available for a LONG TIME.
Whoa! Many unlocks! I’m sure you have a ton of questions right now…
Go on and quest until you unlock your car.
The Regalia!
Okay! So now you have your ride. The regalia is obviously a great replacement for walking! Here are some key facts you need to know about the Regalia –
- You can return to it, like a checkpoint! From the menu you can teleport to your car. Abuse the bejeesus out of this while questing. Between being able to return to your previous resting place, and car hunting and side-questing can be easy.
- You can fast travel to Parking Spots you’ve been to! As beautiful as the landscape is, sometimes you just wanna cram as much action as you can.
- Auto or Manual – You can tell Ignis to drive for you (while you make coffee…) to ANYWHERE in the map you’re able to go. You can also drive yourself.
Longwythe Rest Area
There wasn’t much to do here, IIRC. Just do some quick hunts while you’re here – the story quest points you away from here rather quickly.
Galdin Quay
Don’t forget “Return to Car”
to negate that damn walk back from the docks.
After meeting and getting some gems for Dino, don’t listen to the warning that when you talk to Dino, “you won’t be back for a while”. It’s a fakey. You’ll be back at Leide in no time.
You should be Hunter Rank 2 by now. Since you’re at your third town, I would like to remind you that YOU CAN TURN IN COMPLETED HUNTS AT ANY RESTAURANT! I hate myself for not having tried that sooner….
The next quests are a bit time consuming, but ultimately, they aren’t dangerous. You’ll know you’re in for a long quest once you’re asked to go to the blockade in Ostrium Gorge.
If you haven’t explored here before there is a fishing spot you can unlock here. Once you get a good view from the mountain you’re done with the quest, and can look around in this area.
Meeting Cor
Just keep doing quests until the Royal Armaments are unlocked. You’ll know.
Armigers and YOU – the Royal Armaments (Armigers) are strong, but come with a huge drawback – you lose life when you use them. However, try to equip as many as you can as they provide powerful passive stat bonuses! So even if you never ACTUALLY use them in combat, they can help out in a big way.
Talking to the girl to disrupt the blockade is a long quest, feel free to tie up any loose ends before you do. But don’t worry too much, you’ll be free roaming soon.
Stock up on potions, and some Phoenix Downs just in case. It’s wise to do this for every “long quest”. Potions are cheap, and prevent a lot of BS.
Onwards to Duscae – but backtrack first!
After unlocking Duscae, backtrack to Hammerhead (and Leide in general). You can snoop around here and take the side-quests, of which there are many
Back in Hammerhead…
Cid & Weapon Upgrades: This is arguably the highest impact side-quest from Leide… Weapons with yellow exclamation points can be improved. At this point you just have the Engine Blade and Drain Lance, and some of Prompto’s Machinery. I was lucky enough to get the first upgrade items without having to do anything.
Other side-quests chains start from Leide, and eventually require you go to Duscae.
- Chef in Hammerhead – Unlocks food and recipes.
- Cindy in Hammerhead – Car designs and upgrades (mostly visual)
- Dino in Galdin Quay – gives free Accessories!
- Cid in Hammerhead – Weapon upgrades.
Other Leide side-quests don’t seem to give anything (Dave), it’s up to you how often and how far you wanna follow them.
(((Super Optional: Belouve Mines: I’ll add more to this later… but the best you can get here is an accessory… ultimately, you won’t miss much.)))
Back in Coernix Station
Ahh, Duscae! A seemingly overwhelming new land mass to explore… I highly recommend you read a bit first, don’t go crazy exploring yet!
Unlock Chocobo’s via the quest Prompto gave you, “Friends of a Feather”. Luckily there’s a parking spot nearby the quest area revealed by the chef here.
In Wiz Chocobo Stop you’ll get the next tier of weapons. Value. Notably, you can buy your first shield here for Gladiolus, and some new accessories. (Don’t mind handkerchief and towel, lol). Take the hunt for Deadeye before you proceed with the quest. This side-quest is lengthy but worth it. I suggest buying the weapons here since they’re cheap, and get the Chocobo quest over with ASAP. Read more on weapon upgrades below.
Chocobo’s and you: Basically they provide faster travel and exploration wherever cars can’t go. You rent them for 50 gil a DAY, so this is value. You can use your Chocobo Whistle (R2, next page) to call your chocobo wherever you are! “Always keep it at 7 days!”
Head on over to Lestallum first, before going crazy exploring!
Also, a last reminder that you can turn in hunts at ANY RESTAURANT.
Lestallum
In Lestallum, keep in mind there are 3(?) restaurants… TWO of which give hunts, but all 3 give map markers. Check ‘em all out! From this point on, try to align your current quest (main or side) with any nearby hunts for value.
There’s quite a huge jump in the recommended level of this story quest from the previous one. So catch up on your hunts, until you’re reasonably near 19.
There’s a TON of side-quests here. Get them all, but only 2 have notable value –
- Kid in the Market
- Weapons Guy
Feel free to explore, catch up on hunts and I highly advise driving around and talking to every chef in Duscae! You should be on your way to hunter Rank 3 here.
The next main quest is notably harder than the rest, so far.
The Sword in the Waterfall – Preparation
This is gonna be a bit hard compared to most quests you’ve done so far. The main problem with these lengthy quests is that DYING MEANS STARTING OVER, which is painful. Here’s some basic preparations you should be doing for dungeons, from here on out.
- Potions (Elixirs heal up even MAX HP!)
- Phoenix Downs (Restore you to full MAX HP, too!)
- Food Buff as near the objective as you can.
Megalixir and Mega Phoenix are incredibly overpowered, make sure to have at least 1 in your stock at all times, to prevent catastrophe!
The Sword in the Waterfall – Greyshire Glacial Grotto
How do I get in the cave!? How do I get down from the road!? There’s a downward stairs just south of Burbost Souvenir Emporium – thank me later.
This dungeon layout kinda pissed me off. Worst is, I didn’t really find any truly useful items. Tell me if I missed something, though. The dungeon layout is a bit confusing but nothing to write home about.
The difficulty in this dungeon is the POOR LINE OF SIGHT.
and falling down ridges.
The Samurai slash is DEADLY, too.
The final battle here isn’t a boss, thankfully, but a long fight against waves of demons. Again, having “Phoenix” items will help greatly to restore your max HP.
Back in Lestallum – Driving and the Archaean
Follow his car once, it’s fine. Talking to him again after you sleep in the caravan is a LONG QUEST yet again. So take your time to do whatever in the meantime.
If you need to do quests that require long drives, DO IT NOW
The following quest isn’t dangerous, but to be safe, Just restock on hi-potions and a couple Phoenix downs for insurance. I don’t think you can really fail this one…
Temporarily Carless!
Okay that was pretty epic, right? Now I sure hope to hell you unlocked Chocobo’s like I told you back there… If there’s a time to get the Ascension – Exploration “Chocobump” (Gain AP for long trips by chocobo), it’s NOW.
Deez Runestones
- Runestone 1 – a little South-west from the quest marker
- Runestone 2 – South and slightly east from way-mark.
- Runestone 3 – Obvious location, but be a little prepared first…
Runestone 3 – Fociaugh Hollow: Preparation
“Jetty’s”, a food buff from diners around here prevent both poison and toad – which the upcoming dungeon is rife with. Bring Antidotes and Maiden’s Kiss otherwise. Star Pendant also helps (put one on Noctis, at least). “Skewered Wild Trout” (Trout Fillet + Leiden Pepper) also prevents toad, which is the only risk here.
In the worst case, just go to Wiz Chocobo Post, drink Jetty’s and get it on with
Fociaugh Hollow
The dungeon layout isn’t confusing at all, which is a welcome respite from that damn icy waterfall dungeon.
Notable Items here
- Thieves Way – Noct only accessory. Fall down on the right, in the first intersection.
- Magic Flask – left on the third fork, with the ice deposit.
- Tirtanium Bangle, can’t really miss it, its on the path before the triple fork.
3 WAY FORK?
- Right – Blue Choker
- Up – Unremarkable treasure
- Left – Proceeds to the end.
Boss – Naga: Does frog – it’s really annoying. You can’t seem to use items while frogged, and it persists in the downed state. I knew there was an anti-frog food somewhere, but I can’t recall where I saw it. Remember that Mega Phoenix? Don’t be shy.
- Nagas Room. North EXIT: A secret door that you can’t open right now!
- Nagas Room, West EXIT: Proceeds to the last runestone.
Gettin’ Yer Ride back
Don’t bother camping nearby the fort – it’s gonna be part of your quest. This kinda pissed me off when it happened to me (bye bye food buff).
Base
Head to the right, and open the 2nd laser gate. Don’t worry about the light there, it isn’t a spotlight. The rest of the dungeon is pretty straight forward.
No relevant items surprisingly. There are random pickups here but the best one is a Bulletproof Vest (crap), and I thought Laser Sensors would be a special item, but the encounter at the end gives it, too.
Boss – Magitek Armor: Kill the generator and check the little “L2” button right there…
Lestallum
Getting to Rank 4 Hunter sometime around here would be great.
Talking to Iris when she’s beside your car prompts the good ‘ol “Won’t be back a while!”. It’s not really true, this time.
I suggest doing a bit of side-quests here or hunts, since the next quest is ANOTHER IMPERIAL BASE, which I dislike doing… so get that base “base taste” out of your mouth before proceeding.
Imperial Base – Fort Vaullerey
Go ahead and get a food buff before you “survey” they area, since you’ll be asked if you want to infiltrate once the survey is complete.
1st area: you only really need to warp kill
Magitek Boss: Unlike most walkers, this guys feet aren’t his weakpoint… yet.
- Kill the generator
- Break the arm via warp strike
- Break the foot via warp strike
- Go to town!
But it ain’t over yet, boys!
Aranea: Hi-potions are all I needed. She’s thick as hell (her HP is, if you were wondering what I meant) but not threatening. Very reminiscent of the FF Dragoons, ain’t she?
After this quest, you can infiltrate random Imperial Bases you see on the map.
Driving to Caem – Pit stop at Malmalam!
(Go ahead and pick up the hunt here in Old Lestallum: Blobs Ashore, for value). Upon continuing your quest you’ll be prompted to let Ignis drive – agree. Sometime after you’ll be asked to make a stop at Malmalam – better say yes to this one!
CAMPING IS OPTIONAL here, since there’s a camp WITHIN the dungeon. Make sure you do the good ‘ol dungeon prep. A little southwest from the camp is the footbridge across.
The path leading up to the dungeon has a treasure (seen in map), it’s a Mega Phoenix.
Malmalam Thicket
A pretty straightforward dungeon…
Notable Items
- Thunderbolt: along the main path early in. EXTREMELY POWERFUL upgrade for Gladio.
- Malmashroom: in the small niche within the first clearing. Found a new recipe for me.
- Pendulum Spirit: (MRES) increasing accessory. Path after first clearing.
- Delta Daggers: Watery clearing north of camp on a ridge (walk backwards from clearing, sticking to your right).
Make sure you don’t exit this place without THUNDERBOLT and DELTA DAGGERS.
Camping here respawns the enemies in the next room. I learned the hard way.
Boss – Bandersnatch: Hitting the legs knocks it down, otherwise, it’s not a very threatening fight. Go and get your prize right after, and thankfully there’s a “Return to Entrance” button available in the menu!
Let Ignis take the wheel!
On to Caem… Finally…
Just kidding! Short pit stop at a random parking spot to change drivers. Luckily, you get a Silver Bangle for your troubles. You can listen in on the NPC’s too.
Now onto Caem…
NOPE! Another parking spot. Just go ahead and camp since it’s gonna be night soon.There’s some food gathering to be had here, as well as a fishing spot if you’re into that. There are 2 beastly fish here that I couldn’t quite reel in… yet.
Don’t forget “return to car”! Finally… FINALLY you get to go to Caem. There’s a Choco rental and item shop as you get down, restock!
Once you talk to Iris, the good ‘ol “Won’t be back” warning happens. It’s true this time. Gladiolus leaves the party temporarily! So if you’re itching to do some hunts, nows the time.
Rush this part while not getting sidetracked – a party of 3 is quite worse than 4… Also, fast travelling to parking spots seems “locked” at some points so yeah, best be quick with this chunk of the story.
To the Vesperpools!
I DONT KNOW HOW, but the Regalia has a shop now (did it come out sooner!?) There’s some very important things you can do with this shop…
- Buy Ingredients (ehem, Stockpile on any “Noctis Dish”)
- Potions and Restoratives!
- Portable MP3 Player! Using the discs you found for your car.
- Beast Whistle – spawns area appropriate enemies at any time!
Okay, moving on…
Follow the dirt road, drive through its length until you find a parking spot to reveal it for future use. There’s also a campsite here. I got here at night time, so, might as well!
The next quest is LONG, you’ll be happy you took Ascension – Survival “Aftertaste” (Extend status boost time from meals eaten at camp). You have, haven’t you?
Vesperpools
The guards at the gate? They’re shops. They have some special weapons, so pick ‘em up.
Ms. Dragoon McTitties joins you, and shows you how to open the door. Simply wait till nightfall! Luckily talking to one of the NPC’s back there gives an option to do so.
Steyliff Grove (Vesperpools Dungeon)
Before you break out into cold sweat thinking of a labyrinth type dungeon, don’t. The layout is rather straightforward for the most part, it’s just long.
Notable Items
- Magic flask – (B2) the lighted platform in the submerged room. Hard to miss.
Aside from that magic flask, you won’t miss anything important here IN THE ENTIRE DUNGEON.
B3 and B4 looks pretty confusing, and you can (and will) fall to the second floor quite often. Just look around and try all the ways until you trigger the Iron Giant event. Don’t worry about breaking bridges that lead to the exit – the room repairs itself after that event.
You’ll know you’re about to fight the boss when you see a large lighted hallway (roughly B6?) If Noctis has low maximum HP, use an Elixir pre-fight… YOU’RE GONNA REGRET IT IF YOU DIE ALL THE WAY DOWN HERE!
Boss – Quetzalcoatl: Lots of heavy hits here, and can turn sour real fast. HE HAS A LONG KNOCKDOWN, which can cause a game over (I imagine) if your max HP is low enough. Just be wary, it’s a long way back from the beginning, friend.
DO NOT RETURN TO ENTRANCE. There’s an Allural Shallot food gathering node here. There’s more to this dungeon, but not at this time…
Once you get out you can freely explore the Vesperpools. There are more than 1 fishing spots here if that’s your thing. Talk to Ariane to fast travel to Lestallum.
In the Powerplant
After meeting the “Hunter”, go right into the hallway, look behind right before you go up the stairs – there’s a Silver bangle. Kill demons in the forgiving time limit and get on with it.
There’s no other relevant items here, and nothing you can miss.
Onwards to Caem! Again…
From here you can roam around freely as a full party again. It’s a good time to catch up on some hunts and rank up to 4 if you haven’t already. Do any of the sidequest chains you’re interested in, and turn in any weapon upgrades you found.
Iris is on the deck with a side-quest here. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything. She gives you a Moogle Decoy that you can use from the tactical item menu. I wonder how good it is…
Caem Outpost
There’s a Magic Flask inside behind the counter, within the base.
There are some easy sidequests here before you proceed. Get them all, anyway. The cat, and Iris’ sidequests were freebies. Caem Carrots for items, I haven’t had the time to check what prizes you can get here…
While the good ‘ol warning shows up again – don’t listen. You can come back. If you haven’t watched Kingsglaive and/or Brotherhood, just do so now before going further THIS IS MY LAST REMINDER OF THIS!
Altissia at last
Whoa… overwhelming map isn’t it? Before you ask…
“How do I get to Maagho!” USE BOAT TO GET TO THE RESTAURANT! You CANNOT walk to it, unless I’m mistaken!
Once you’re at the Maahgo, talk to the guy a few times, it takes a few tries before the usual restaurant menu pops up. The hunts here are quite easy to complete given easy travelling around the city. They’re all night time hunts, though, so at least you have something to do. Easy stars!
Get the Mindflayer hunt, and take a boat to Leville. Time to upgrade some weapons! They cost a painful 5000 each, but if you followed this guide you already have two of them (Thunderbolt and Delta Daggers). Your main quest is here, too.
Again… Before you ask…
“How do I get to ‘The Summit’ to meet Camelia!?” Take a boat to Palsino Street Station, and then go upstairs on the left. It should be self explanatory from there.
“You cannot return to the City once you enter”…
It’s somewhat true…
Negotiations & The Hydraean
I tried to be nice during this whole negotiation scene. I wonder what happens if you’re a prick? I’ll find out in the next playthrough, I guess!
Hydrean trouble? Do a bunch of Warp Strikes to trigger a cutscene. If you’re wondering how to win, “Whoa this will take ages!”. Well… you’re in for a treat.
Cartanica
If you failed to get the weapons from Altissia, the weapon vendor here sells the same ones. There’s a couple unremarkable items up and down the railway. I tried going out into the desert, lol – but you can’t (thankfully). The stairs down by the elevator don’t lead to the mines, annoyingly, but have more unremarkable items.
There’s a chef here (no hunts, but get the local info) and a resting area. Off to the mines!
Fodina Caestino Mines
You’re gonna be asked if you want Ignis to come. If you refuse, you’re a bad person and you should feel bad. If you do take him, Gladio will give ya a mouthful for walkin’ too fast. Can’t win ‘em all!
I backtracked to the exit as I spawned, and got a Titanium Bangle for my trouble (meh).
At the first pool with the gators, the path splits into 3…
TLDR; Rush the main quest, once you need to find the generator key – make camp, you can’t miss it (optional cutscene), then complete the rest of the main quest. There’s absolutely no notable item in this area unless I missed it. Exploring this place sucked.
TRUST ME ON THIS. Click on the bottom if you wanna see the longer version.
Post-machine blockage, there’s another gator lake. No good items here either.
Boss – Marlboro: Ah, a classic. Not too hard. Just burn the boss, ignore the little guys.
Okay – pretty soon you’re gonna be on the train and rid of this place. I seriously hope you took the advice I had above, it’ll save you a good hour or two.
Train of Pain
You’ll be in a rather long and non-threatening “quest” that’s more like a cutscene. Pretty cool. Get this over with and proceed!
Tenebrae
Again, if you need to buy that same tier of weapons, there’s a weapon shop INSIDE one of the Magitek ships here. Nothing much here except story. Go forth!
Train to Brosan
Head NORTH on your map in the train. Pick up items along the way. Once you hit Regalia, you’ll know you’re at the last car. Backtrack from there.
Head south and get stuff – I tried rotating my camera in each room to look for sneaky items – there aren’t any.
There’s gonna be a lot going on. So I won’t interrupt you until…
A King’s Struggle: Zegnautus Keep
Yeahp… Where’s Cindy when you need ‘er! Backtrack to find an Oracle Ascension Coin.
“Where’s Power Grid B!?” On the power supply, then backtrack to the place you spawned in. You’ll find Power Grid B somewhere there.
Auto Sprint is your friend – Press the L analog stick.
There are beds (dormitories) spread around here, these are savepoints too. Follow the quest marker on this one. I made the mistake of “exploring” and had to basically walk the entire length of this place like thrice. To clarify, you can (and should) MANUALLY SAVE in each bed.
In case you need reminding of the abilities…
- O : Death / Suction
- L1 + Triangle : AoE (uses up all MP)
- Square : Dodge + damage
”How to beat Rogue Axeman!?” If you’re in the “Stealth along the hallways” zone. Lol, These guys are pretty strong, but I didn’t bother stealthing. You can cheese these guys by holding square while on STEALTH MODE (find those boxes or corners). They end up killing themselves.
“Spider (Uttu) !?How!” You guessed it. L1 + Triangle ices this fool. Messed up and don’t wanna wait for MP? Elixir and get it over with.
One of the level 3 rooms (upper left) contains a Magnetron. I don’t know if this is relevant but it’s the first time I’ve seen this item. There’s also a Magitek Core in the very end of this floor
Keep following the quest tracker…
Once you get a new sword, “backtrack” to read some of the notes on the floor.
Eventually you’ll reach a vending machine. Stock up! The Rank 4 keycard is right next to it.
There’s a”notable” drop here… Chobham Armor. After that vending machine, go North then West. This is an optional area, and the final savepoint.
Elevator Demon? Just defend… hold square if you have to until the elevator arrives. Can you kill it? Probably not (I’ll try on my next playthrough). You’ll see him again as you go, just run.
Follow the quest marker and on the lights. Feel free to go to the rooms after.
Floor with Many Rooms
Go right ahead to the quest marker and touch the control panel (west of the room). Try to read the various reports around to rooms to gain more understanding of what’s going on. When I talk of room orientation here, use the menu map, not the room diagram.
- Don’t do anything, and continue to the N then NW room, there’s a Panel B keycard here.
- Insert the key then head to the S room, then SW. Now head to the quest marker in the NW room for the next keycard, Panel C.
- Now on A+C, and check out the W room. Go around. It’s the only new room.
- Now on B+C, and head to the SE room, the exit. This makes all the rooms!
It’s a LOOOOOOOOONG process till you get anywhere near the next “problem”.
When you finally unlock the elevator, and you’re coming up on a large hangar. You know shit is about to get really real. Hopefully you stocked up in the vending machines….
Boss – Ravus: This guy is chunky, and has some pretty deadly attacks. Don’t get lazy to parry. He doesn’t seem to have a “weakness” but try to save your Armiger each time he’s in the vulnerable state.
World of Ruin
Whoa, pretty cool, huh? Well, let’s see.. First order of business is – weapons!
There’s a weapon shop here, but thankfully these guys already have some of them bought and equipped. Whew! At 10k a pop, this ain’t cheap!
- Durandal (Sword)
- Radiant Lance (Spear)
- Black Prince (Shield)
DO NOT BACKTRACK TO DO OLD QUESTS YET!
Finishing the game and going unlocks many of the endgame sidequests and secrets as well as…. Vastly improved mobility options….
So yeah just get it over with before you think of going back and wrapping things up!
A Cure for Insomia
“How do I beat the demons here!?” You don’t. If you’ve forgotten, just press triangle to blink forward. I guess you can try killin’ em, but it’s not woth the effort.
Lost? Cant find the way? Just go to the southwest end and find stairs leading down.
There’s one notable item in this segment of the city! Nearby those stairs, just go south to the very edge of the map, that little box. There’s a Dynamo in there, which is an upgrade material for Bioblaster
The subway area is pretty straightforward.
How do I get past the second city area!? See that King Behemoth? Yep. You can try to see if the rings “black hole” works, but I was itching for a fight haha. Don’t worry about healing up your max HP after, the next cutscene automatically restores you.
Boss – Inferian: More of a storyline boss than a challenge. Same old same old.
Within the Citadel lobby there’s 2 notable items
- Rune Earring on the south side.
- Tempered Shield in the north desk – This accessory is GODLIKE.
From here, it’s the last stretch. Good luck and have fun!
WORK IN PROGRESS!!! MANY REFINEMENTS TO BE MADE STILL!
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