There are also numerous Cactuar statues lying about the area, some of which you should have activated on your previous visit to the area. The large green statues that summon the Gigantuar monsters have thus far been left untouched, however, so now is as good a time as any to hunt the three statues down. Upon activating a statue, one of the creatures will spawn onto the field. At this point, be sure to get a Preemptive Strike for even more damage. There is one Gigantuar statue smack in the middle of the Stonestump Wastelands area, and the others lie in the Clearwater Marshes area. The first sits right on the border of the Stomestump Wastelands and the Clearwater Marshes, behind a ridge to the north of the area. The second is by a hill on the far southern entrance to the Clearwater Marshes area. The catch is that the first of these can only be found while it is sunny, while the second can only be found when it is raining. You’ll have to use Moogle Hunt to reveal both of them.
Defeating the three Gigantuars will open up the Gate located in the Grave Ridge area, which will spirit you away to Vile Peaks 200AF. This is another really cool area to explore for those who have already exhausted most of the game’s content. You will also receive the Gigantuar’s Monster Crystal, giving you command over one of the creatures, and 1,200 experience points for every one of the giants you kill.
Monster hunters will also want to be on the lookout for the Metal Gigantuar, a much rarer version of the monster you just battled. In any weather except for stormy, go to the Clearwater Marshes area and search for a Spacetime Distortion. You should be able to find it in the trench that divides the Clearwater Marshes area from the Stonestump Wastelands area. The Metal Gigantuar like to use the 10,000 Needles attack, which is basically a death sentence for your party. It won’t use it at first, though, so you will have a little bit of time to defeat it before the attack is unleashed. By this point you should be strong enough for your attacks to basically negate the metal armor, so just focus on using an offensive Paradigm to bring the Metal Gigantuar down before it can use 10,000 Needles. You will receive 4,000 experience points and you may even receive some powerful items to upgrade your monsters in the Crystarium.
