Main Quest - Luxerion

This chapter starts in The Ark where you can pick up an assortment of gear and abilities from the four treasure cubes in the area. They contain the following: Devil's Daughter (weapon), Prytwen (shield), Blizzard and Light Guard Lv.1 (abilities), and the Mist Wizard (garb). At this point, take the time to equip all of the new stuff to create a new schema, and unlock the Novice Stylist trophy.

The EP Abilities tab will then be added to the main menu, and you will be given several Otherworld Rewards which include weapons, shields, and garbs, all for free! So go claim them as well. Another object of interest is the Book of Conquest which can be found by checking the nearby bookshelf.

This item allows you to challenge the boss monsters that you've defeated previously, to earn a better rating and add missing info to the enemy's beastiary. Speak to Hope afterward to proceed. Once all the cut-scenes are over, you can talk to Hope again to replenish your items and gather more info on a variety of topics. Use the warp point to beam down to the capital when you're ready.

Watch the cut-scenes when you arrive at Luxerion and face your very first side quest in the game.

Use the ladder next to the Canvas of Prayers message board to reach the top of the building and claim the Fighter's Embem accessory, before moving on to another side quest. You might also want to check up on Chocolina (the cheery oddball woman clad in a bright, red and yellow chocobo suit from Final Fantasy XIII-2), and complete whatever Canvas of Prayers side quest that you can.

With all that done, kill time until midnight and start trailing the Children of Etro. The best way to do this is to stay at a distance and just watch where they go until they're out of sight, then follow. Keep this up until you reach the destination. It is however recommended that you fight some of them so that you get your hands on some pretty neat battle spoils, including Deprotect and Deshell Lv.1 as well as the Sickle of the Faithful, which is a fine weapon. At this point, go kill time again until 6 AM.

You'll have quite a bit of time left before having to report back so try taking the monorails to other areas and explore if you like, as doing so will contribute towards the Perfect Passenger trophy. If don't fancy traveling far however, the Marketplace in Old Town is a good place to visit. There's a Runic Ring in the treasure sphere at the Rusted Gate as soon as you exit the Temporary Route.

While there, make sure to peek behind the empty stalls as one of them has Sparkstrike kept in a treasure sphere. This ability will prove invaluable in the early goings of this game, so don't miss it. Also speak to Seger and buy the Shaolong Gui Shell for 600 gil. You'll need it for a side quest later. Finally, pay a visit to the Sorcery Shop and go through the tutorial for the Novice Synthesist trophy.

By Day 2, you'll be transported back to The Ark at 6 AM sharp. Replenish your supplies; the treasure cube there contains the Liberator (weapon), Juno Sospita (shield), and Red Mage (garb). Be sure to speak to Hope again and discuss the remaining topics he has before warping to the surface.

Once all the cut-scenes are over, you should be back to the exact location you were taken from before, and you will finally be able to start looking for the four-digit code that will lead you into the heretics' hideout. Now, I'm not really sure if the locations of the codes (purple numbers written on walls throughout the city) are random, but I found them in the following locations. Now if you've accepted Baird's quest (Soul Seeds) while still looking for the codes, you can speak to Kiona (a fellow seed hunter) near the Clock Tower and she will share one of the four numbers with you.

- Mangled Hill, Wall of Wealth. This is past the north gate from Old Town.

- Commercial District, Wharf of the Faithful. Just around the corner from Twins Gate.

- On the wall near the South Station Canvas of Prayers message board.

- On a wall at the Warehouse District Back Alleys.

Don't forget to smash the pile of destructible red crates at the Marketplace to pick up some medals as well as a Quill Pen. You will find a Magician's Token near where Blythe was sitting by the way.

There is also a tall building in the Commercial District with a Twist Headband accessory on top.

There is a treasure sphere containing Guard Lv.2 in the alley behind the South Station restaurant.

At the Clock Tower after you've met Kiona. look for a treasure sphere containing a Violet Amulet.

There's only a few more side missions before we can get right back to tackling the main quest.

Back to the main quest now. Head to the marked phone booth at midnight, pick up the receiver and key in the numbers exactly as shown. The gate leading to the graveyard opens so push on toward the next marked spot, and don't forget to nab two freebies -- Stormbane Choker and Zirconia Brooch -- along the way. Some key events will transpire at the center of the graveyard, after which you'll have to follow Noel deep into the Warren, only to find the door at the end blocked by a guard.

He's asking for the Crest of Etro which is dropped by Fanatics. You won't have to go far to find them. Just head a little ways back where you came and they'll show. Keep killing them until somebody drops the crest for you to take and show it to the guy at the door. In the next room, follow Noel via the rooftops (making sure to collect the Battleaxe of the Believer from the northmost corner of the room, and also the Thorn of Protection from mid-west corner) until you reach the end of the line, where you must participate in a long, tough drawn-out boss battle against Noel.

Your opponent has 320,000 HP which may be a bit much, this early in the game. And while he can offer respectable challenge, Noel should not be too much trouble, unless you somehow ignored every side quest and ended up severely underleveled, Anyway, modify all your schema to include some sort of lightning-type ability as Kreiss is weak to Thunder. Sparkstrike in particular is especially effective against him. Always keep an eye on your ATB gauge and make sure you leave enough juice to guard with after a combo. Spam him with Thunder/Thundara until he staggers then pour on attacks with Sparkstrike as much as you can, until he recovers then repeat the process.

You can also stick Deprotect and Deshell on him to inflict more damage. Trigger Overclocks while Noel is staggered. Use Potions (or better yet X-Potions) to heal. In all this battle can take a while so keep at it until he falls. Lightning will receive some major power ups at the end of the fight. Don't forget to grab the Shadow Hunter (weapon) off the floor. The Hope of a Promise trophy unlocked.