Once you are confident enough in your party, you may proceed to Academia 500AF. You will be fighting the final bosses of the game here, and naturally they are pretty tough. Before that, however, you must go through a long level that makes good use of the Anti-Grav jump.
You will be trekking through the Labyrinth of Chaos. This is a long dungeon, and the game will pop up with a tutorial explaining that you can activate a Cactuar statue in this area to create a checkpoint for yourself so that you do not have to run through the entire thing again if you get lost or die. Before heading forward, open the chest to your right to get the Determination Gate Seal. Run down the sloping area, jumping over the small gaps as you go. At the bottom of the slope you will find the first Cactuar statue, which you should activate by examining it. Chocolina will also be nearby. Head over to her and examine her inventory to find some new weapons, Izanami and Vajradanda. These represent sound investments for your party; Izanami has a potent 88 Strength and 110 Magic, while Vajradanda has the reverse of that at 110 Strength and 88 Magic, so purchase them and equip them. These are the most powerful weapons you will be able to acquire, other than some post-game weapons of great strength.
Moving north of Chocolina will begin a short cutscene outlining the functionality of the floating platforms that dot the landscape. Wait until the platforms rotate to your sides, then head to the left. You should be able to defeat the enemies in this area with Relentless Assault or Delta Attack. If you are struggling, you may still be under-leveled.
While you’re at it, you may want to rearrange some of the Paradigms in your Paradigm deck. You will end up having to go through around five boss battles, some of which pit you against multiple enemies, in just a few minutes, so having a really flexible Paradigm deck is key. Naturally you will want Relentless Assault to be a staple, as that is always helpful after staggering an enemy. Delta Attack, consisting of a Ravager, Commando, and Sentinel, is always helpful too. The Attrition Paradigm, consisting of Medic, Saboteur, and Sentinel roles can also be incredibly useful, as many battles here will require some quick buffing, debuffing, or healing. The Variety Paradigm may be the most valuable of all in these final battles, as it consists of a Medic, Saboteur, and Ravager, and it allows your party to heal while consistently driving the Chain Gauge up and bringing the opponent’s defenses down. Also useful in the final battle is the Tortoise Paradigm, which is made up of three Sentinels. This may seem counterproductive, but it will allow you to withstand attacks that would kill a normal party. Finally, the Cerberus Paradigm is made up of three Commandos, and can be useful when opponents are staggered.
After you are satisfied with your Paradigm deck, jump back into the gameplay and wait until the platform to the north is lined up so that you can cross it. Proceed across the platform to find another Cactuar statue, which you should activate. To the right, a little path heads off into the distance. Follow it to find a chest containing the Map of Academia 500AF, then return to the area you came from. Follow the northern path this time, which will lead you to some steps. Follow the steps then go to the right at the top to reach the waypoint. This will trigger a cutscene, following which you will face the first of many boss battles in this area.
Boss Battle: Pacos Luvulite and Pacos Amethyst
Pacos Luvulite and Pacos Amethyst are opposites, and their strengths and weaknesses complement each other. Luvulite is strong against Ice, but weak against Fire. Amethyst on the other hand is weak against Ice, but absorbs Fire. Lightning and Wind-based attacks are ineffective against them, as they possess immunities that cuts damage dealt by those attacks by 50%. For this reason, you will have to pick and choose which spells you cast against the bosses. You can use a Librascope early in the battle to get a detailed summary of the various strengths and weaknesses inherent to these bosses, as they have many and it can become easy to forget in the heat of battle.
Anyways, begin the battle with a Relentless Assault. There’s no harm in trying to deal as much damage as possible as soon as you can. Just be sure to steer clear of either bosses’ immunities and you should be fine. Once your party becomes injured, quickly switch to the Variety Paradigm to heal, debuff, and keep the Chain Gauge moving upwards, if slowly. Be sure that your Saboteur is casting Deshell and Deprotect, as these spells are invaluable during this battle.
Continue on like this, alternating between Relentless Assault and Variety to make quick work of one of the two Pacos creatures. Once you have killed the first, the battle will become significantly easier. The challenge in winning then lies in killing the second before it can use its Split ability, which will revive the second creature. In order to do this, keep up an uncompromising attack using the either the Relentless Assault or the Cerberus Paradigm. Stagger the enemy and kill him.
For defeating Pacos Luvulite and Pacos Amethyst, you will receive the Amethyst Fragment and the Luvulite Fragment, along with 8,000 experience points. Pause the game and jump into the Crystarium to spend those experience points right away. If any of your character’s roles are feeling a little underdeveloped, you may want to dump some experience into them to get them back up to par. As you may have noticed when changing around your Paradigm deck, the final battles require a diverse array of Paradigms, and having any of them under-leveled would be a disadvantage. Medics and Ravagers are especially important. Keeping this in mind, level up. You are now ready to continue forward to the second part of Academia 500AF.
