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The Ancient Sanctuary serves as the gateway to the Gestral Village. This area is filled with enemies, hidden collectibles, and a major boss fight against the Ultimate Sakapatate. This guide will walk you through every path, item, and enemy encounter to ensure you don't miss anything important.
How to Get to the Ancient Sanctuary
Right when you exit Flying Waters, head to the entrance of the Ancient Sanctuary in the large collection of red trees northwest of your starting position.
The entrance is pretty easy to find - just look for the portal between the red trees. Once you find it, just walk through to continue your adventure into the Ancient Sanctuary.
Walkthrough
Entrance
When the opening cutscene ends, you'll find an Expedition Flag directly in front of you. Rest here. Behind the flag lurks a Petank - a broken mechanical orb with blue light and two short legs that tries to flee when approached.
To battle the Petank, chase it onto a blue-illuminated tile on the ground. The fight itself isn't extremely difficult, but can be annoying since the Petank starts with 5 shields and regenerates some on its turn. If it escapes during battle, you'll need to return to an Expedition Flag to reset it. Once defeated, the Petank rewards you with a Polished Chroma Catalyst, a Recoat, and a Colour of Lumina.
After defeating the Petank, head left up the red wooden planks. Follow the bridge to find the Energizing Jump Pictos among the wreckage at the end. This Pictos grants passive Health and Speed bonuses, plus an additional AP on Jump Counterattacks.
After this, come back to the Expedition flag and move forward, and you will find two paths.
Left Path
Taking the left path first and look carefully along the right wall to find handholds that go down to another Pictos called Burning Mark.
Right Path - Young Boy Encounter
Taking the right path from the main fork leads you to an NPC called "Young Boy." Make sure to complete all dialogue with him before moving forward. After finishing your conversation, continue along the path, and you'll soon trigger a cutscene that ends with a battle against a Robust Sakapatate.
The Robust Sakapatate is an enemy covered in patchwork armor made from colorful materials. It's weak to Fire attacks but resistant to Lightning damage.
At the fight's end, the Sakapatate will lurch toward your party line and explode, so be ready for one final dodge. For defeating it, you'll receive the Sakaram weapon for Gustave and witness a cutscene.
Expedition Flag 63
After the cutscene with the new Karatom continue following the path until you reach Expedition Flag 63.
The Sanctuary Maze
This is where the maze-like structure of the Ancient Sanctuary begins, with multiple branching paths containing different enemies and treasures.
From Expedition Flag 63, follow the path. Taking a slight left path leads to a Ranged Sakapatate enemy. It's weak to Fire attacks and resistant to Lightning.
After defeating it, you can either continue forward to explore more of this area or go towards the two hidden areas. If you continue, you'll notice a huge bell in the background. Head in that direction to encounter a Catapult Sakapatate. It's weak to Fire attacks.
After defeating the Catapult Sakapatate, take a small right path and follow it to find some Chroma in crates. Make sure to collect these, then return to where you took the right from, and continue the main exploration.
As you progress along this path, you'll enter an area where Lune and Maelle have a brief conversation about the place. Keep following this path. After a while, you will notice the path diverges into two - take the first left there and then take a right. Keep walking, and on the left, you'll find a Healing Tint Shard beneath a statue.
Continue forward to an open area containing a Robust Sakapatate accompanied by a Catapult Sakapatate. After defeating them both, you'll see three paths: left, right, and center. Each path leads to different collectibles:
If you take the center path, you'll descend a rope to an area with platforms. Climb and jump across these platforms to reach higher ground, following the path to a Paint Cage. Shoot the locks to break open the cage and obtain a Chroma Elixir Shard.
Jump down from the ledge after collecting the Chroma Elixir Shard and search the area to find Journal Expedition 63. Note that this is the same area you would reach by choosing the left path instead of the center, so you don't need to backtrack to explore both.
Gestral Totem (After Act 2)
To get to Gestral Totem, you will need to get back to the same area as the first Ranged Sakapatate enemy you fought after the Expedition Flag 63. In this area, you will notice Blue Cracked rocks, you will need to "Paint Break" them by pressing R1. Once you do so, notice on the left side, you will get an interaction option (square).
Once you come to this area, you will see an Expedition Flag 52 right in front of you. If you go on the right side of this flag, you will notice various enemies such as Robust Sakapatate, Catapult Sakapatate, and more. You can fight them and keep moving in the same direction. You will notice a water body keep following its path, and you will find Piercing Shot pictos here.
Giant Bell Alley
Come back to the main path where you fought the Ranged Sakapatate accompanied by a Catapult Sakapatate, and take the right path from here. Following this path will lead you to Expedition Flag 70, also called the Giant Bell Alley checkpoint.
Follow this path to an area with a large bell where a small cutscene will play. During this cutscene, Tropa announces your arrival and calls forth the Ultimate Sakapatate, leading to the boss fight.
Ultimate Sakapatate Boss Fight
The Ultimate Sakapatate is not an optional boss. Like other Sakapatates, it's weak to the Fire Element and resistant to Lightning. Ultimate Sakapatate has a variety of attack patterns:
- Dead Partner Attack: The boss attacks with its dead partner three times. To avoid this, dodge right before Ultimate Sakapatate swings on the first two hits, then jump on the final swing
- Ground Slam: Ultimate Sakapatate raises its weapon and slams the ground after a brief pause. Dodge during or right after the pause, or parry right after the brief pause before it slams its weapon.
- Shield Slam: The boss slams with its shield after a twirl. Dodge shortly after it finishes its twirl, or parry immediately after the brief pause once it finishes twirling.
- Canon Fire: Ultimate Sakapatate raises its shield and fires three shots that inflict burn status. Dodge immediately after the three nozzles on its shield light up, or parry shortly after the nozzles light up (note the slight delay on the third shot).
Defeating the Ultimate Sakapatate rewards you with:
- The Breaker Pictos
- 3 Polished Chroma Catalysts
- A Recoat
- XP
Final Exploration and Exit
After defeating the Ultimate Sakapatate, don't rush to leave the area as there are still several valuable items to find. First, head to the right side of the boss arena where you'll discover an Energy Tint Shard tucked away. Continue along this path to find the powerful Stun Boost Pictos.
Once you've collected the Stun Boost Pictos, return to the main boss fight area and thoroughly check the left side. Here you'll find another Colour of Lumina.
After gathering all these, proceed through the portal directly ahead of you. This leads to a new transitional area that serves as the gateway to Gestral Village. Before rushing through to your destination, take a moment to search among the crates in this area to find one final Colour of Lumina. You can now take the portal to Gestral Village, having thoroughly explored and collected everything the Ancient Sanctuary has to offer.
Hidden Path 1 in The Sanctuary Maze
After you defeat the Sakapatate after the Expedition Flag 63, you will notice one more way. Follow this path and you'll notice a small crossing. Once there, you'll find two more paths.
If you take the left from here, you will find a wooden structure, and you will find a Revive Tint shard in there.
If you take the right one. As you move forward, you'll see a small right turn that leads to some Chroma. Back on the main path, you'll encounter a Ranged Sakapatate accompanied by a Catapult Sakapatate. Defeating them rewards you with the Trebuchim weapon for Lune.
Continue following the path to find another cave on the right. Inside the cave, you'll notice three paths. The right one is closed and inaccessible, but the far left one has a Catapult Sakapatate guarding the Attack Lifesteal Pictos. Defeat the enemy to access the reward.
With the Attack Lifesteal Pictos collected, take the path in front and follow it till you find a glowing golden rope. Climb up this rope in the dark cave to reach a Colour of Lumina at the top. If you jump off the ledge after collecting it, you'll return to the main area or the Entrance area.
Hidden Path 2 in The Sanctuary Maze
There is one more hidden path in The Sanctuary Maze. You will need to go to the Expedition Flag 63 and stay to the right. Keep following it and take the first right, here you will have to go through the crouch hole. In this area, you will find a Ranger Sakapatate defeat it and keep moving forward, and on the left side, climb the ledge and you will find the Energising Start II picto there.
Ancient Sanctuary Collectibles Table
| Item Type | Name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Expedition Flags | Expedition Flag 63 Sanctuary Maze | |
| Expedition Flag 63 Entrance | ||
| Expedition Flag 70 Giant Bell Alley | ||
| Expedition Flag 52 Gestral Totem | ||
| Pictos | Energizing Jump | Behind the flag, up red planks and across bridge |
| Piercing Shot | Under Construction | |
| Energising Start II | The right side path after defeating Expedition Flag 63 | |
| Burning Mark | Left path, down handholds on right wall overlooking waterfalls | |
| Stun Boost | Right side path after defeating Ultimate Sakapatate | |
| Breaker | Ultimate Sakapatate Boss Fight | |
| Attack Lifesteal | In optional cave, guarded by Catapult Sakapatate | |
| Tint Shards | Revive Tint Shard | Inside wooden structure in Sanctuary Maze |
| Healing Tint Shard | Left path after statue in Sanctuary Maze | |
| Chroma Elixir Shard | Inside Paint Cage in Sanctuary Maze | |
| Energy Tint Shard | Right side of area after defeating Ultimate Sakapatate | |
| Weapons | Sakaram (Gustave) | Reward for defeating Robust Sakapatate |
| Trebuchim (Lune) | Reward for defeating Ranged and Catapult Sakapatate pair | |
| Miscellaneous | Journal - Expedition 63 | Near Paint Cage in Sanctuary Maze |
| Mime | Behind destroyed wooden structure (drops Baguette Outfit and Haircut for Lune) |
The Ancient Sanctuary has multiple paths leading to various rewards. After clearing this area, you'll be ready to continue your journey to Gestral Village.
