Zodiac Challenge: Interlude - A Monkey and a Dog

Dan and Remy head off back to university for their final semester.  They're both taking 18 credits, which is a full course-load.

Remy and Dan were invited to a party their first evening back, but stayed home instead (in this cute-ass house I built!) because it was a full moon.  One of Dan's exes turned up in zombie form and stood outside growling all night.

Speaking of exes, Dan heads to the coffee shop after his first day of classes and runs into Veronica.

...she has not totally forgiven him.

He suggests that they try to be friends and form a study group instead.

After mixing drinks with study, they're back on again.

Both Remy and Dan have three exams on Friday, so Dan doesn't spend Thursday with Veronica.  Instead, he goes fishing.

Remy and Dan spend the last night before their exams playing music together and socialising.

It pays off!

After graduating, Dan wants to ask Veronica if she'll come move in with him, back home in his boat on his parent's estate.  She...doesn't seem to have fully forgiven him.

They row for hours.

...and then Dan has to watch her walk away, knowing they will probably never see each other again.  Veronica is not the One.

Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 5, The Dragon(s)

Almost immediately after Bunny and Sequoyah arrive home, the family dog dies.

This depresses everyone.

While her parents were away, Hialeah did some remodelling of the basement.  For example, by creating a basement.She presents it as a museum for the family trophies and their findings, but it has another purpose.

Yea, Hialeah has hidden a coffin-bed down there, for vampiric slumber.  She does also have a normal bed, but what's the point of being a vampire if you don't have a secret crypt?

A day or so after arriving home, Bunny sees a disturbance on a nearby lot and runs over to meet...a time traveler from the future!

She and Sequoyah head into the future to have a look around.  Weirdly, they have no future descendants.  It's especially weird and disturbing because three of their children (and Sequoyah himself) are immortal.

Bunny decides to forget all about the future, and we have some nice family moments, especially as Sequoyah masters the piano.  His - and Bunny's - favourite composition is "I'm in Love with a Ghost".

Speaking of ghosts, Dan wishes to be one.  Maybe it's because his best friend/brother is one, or maybe he thinks it would lessen his impact on the planet.

Bunny and Sequoyah decide to take their youngest children - Richard and Saoirse - out to the spring festival.

After hunting for easter eggs and having a family photo taken, Bunny and Richard practice skating together while Sequoyah and Saoirse play horseshoes!

NB.  I haven't been playing as much recently because I've been focusing on other games, because my final year project is almost due, and because I don't want Bunny to die, but I also don't want to make her immortal because we all need to move on.

1BitHeart

I bought 1BitHeart for 99p from HumbleBundle a week or so ago.  It's made by the same company who made Alicemare, which I enjoyed, and it was cheap, so I gave it a go.

Gameplay-wise it has a lot in common with the Phoenix Wright games - you can have conversations with people, and, in some of those conversations, you can ask for more information or present other topics to either get more out of them or point out a contradiction.  In some ways, it's a bit too much like Phoenix Wright - you can ask someone to revise their statement even though you're literally just a kid having a conversation with someone and not a lawyer in court.  My biggest issue with the game is that the mysteries and how they are solved are not logical and obvious.  They're nitpicky and require good guessing.  There's not even a logical way to just try all the options.  Quite early on, I just thought "fuck it" and followed a guide to get through because I entirely lost interest in trying to play the game properly.  To be fair, maybe that's on me, maybe my brain just doesn't work the way the designer's does.

There are also elements of Persona 5 (and possibly the others which I haven't played) in that you need to make friends with people.  How many friends you have define which of the three possible endings you see, and whether you unlock the bonus chapter (which contains a better mystery than the actual chapters).  This...is ridiculously overdone.  You can make 44 friends in the main game.  A game that took me about 9 hours to play.  I cannot care about 44 people in 9 hours, so the vast majority just became irritating background noise quite early on. To make friends, you need to make their "friendship points" - which the game doesn't tell you about and which are invisible - 100.  You do this by giving them gifts.  Each has 3 - out of, like, 40 or so (guesstimate) possible items that they like, and there are only vague hints as to which 3 they are.  Luckily, everyone likes chocolate so I just defaulted to handing that over.  When you get their points to 100 you receive an item from them and unlock an achievement, so at least there's some indication of how many total friends there are.  Really, they could have halved - or even quartered - this element of the game.  It's too many to actually be fun.

So, yeah.  The game was fine, I guess.  I'd have liked it better if it were more balanced, for example, better, more interesting mysteries for a longer game to balance the number of friends, or just less friends and a more logical progression through the game.  I got through it, which I guess is not the sentiment you want people to have towards your game.  At least it was only 99p, so about 10p per hour of gameplay.  Which, again, fine, I'd spend that much on a book that I'd read in a third of the time.

I've been wanting to play the .Hack series again.  I couldn't find a copy of the iso online so I just booted my old - as in, 2004 Christmas present - PS2.  Still works great!  The next steam game on my list is the Banner Saga, though I've still not finished FF8.

BAD END and Phoenix Wright

...I bought more games because Steam had a visual novel sale.  I quite liked BAD END.  It's a short horror visual novel, which took me about two hours to play through to get every achievement.  It only cost £1.04, so that seems about right.  Plotwise, it's like a B horror movie, with some translation issues.  It's not anywhere near the scariness level of something like Doki Doki Literature Club and it's not as atmospheric as something like Sunless Sea, Project Zero/Fatal Frame or Koudelka, but it's fun for what it is.

I'm still playing through Phoenix Wright.  It's a very satisfying trilogy.  Each one only has a few - I think 4-6 - mysteries, but they're kind of intense and you feel a real sense of accomplishment for solving the puzzle.

I'm still aiming to play through all the games on my Steam account this year.  The next one is The Banner Saga, but one of the games I've bought recently - 1bitHeart - is higher up in the list because it's earlier alphabetically.  My intention was to play through the list alphabetically, unless there was something else I felt like playing first.  The goal is to play through all of them and to enjoy the process, so as long as I keep moving down the list it's fine.  So, I think I'm going to keep going alphabetically - again, unless I really want to play something else first - and do a second pass through the list for any that have snuck in above the point of the alphabet I've reached.

Bad End - Spoiler-Free Guide

The endings marked in blue end the game (which autosaves before your last choice) and unlocks achievements.  The one ending which is not explicitly spelt-out is End#12.  You get that one by choosing any 'BAD END' choice twice in a row.  

You unlock endings #4, #6, #7, #9, #10, and #11 by choosing two different 'BAD END' choices, marked in orange.  This is easy to do in the earlier sections, where you have three choices, but when you only have two choices you will need to have made a wrong choice earlier.

Endings #13 and #14 depend on an earlier choice.  This is mentioned in one of the green commentary boxes.

Aveyond: Lord of Twilight, Final Fantasy VIII, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, .Hack//

I've finished Aveyond: Lord of Twilight.  It's the first 'chapter' in the third Aveyond game.  There are four 'chapters' each of which cost £6.99.  The first game in the series, Ahriman's Prophecy, is available for free, but the quality is terrible.  I downloaded it, but the font used is illegible, so I gave up on it fairly quickly.

According to Steam I spent around 20 hours playing this game, although my final save file was just under ten hours, so while some of those 20 hours were me dying and reloading the game, some of them were just me leaving it open while I did something else.  There were many elements of it that I liked.  I liked the characters and I like that the plot feels almost Shakespearean.  I also liked the 'realism' - the environments in the game felt realistically large, there were loads of cities, and, after killing something, you had to search its corpse for loot.  However, there was one big flaw and that's the fact that this isn't a complete game.  There are subquests you can start in this game but not finish until the sequels.  There are chests you can find which you can't open until the sequels.  Finally, the plot just doesn't advance well.  It doesn't feel like a satisfying character journey or ending.  Honestly, I resent the fact that I'll need to pay another £20.97 to finish the story.  I can't remember how much I paid for this first one, but since I probably got it off Humble Bundle it was probably between £1 to £3.  For 20 hours of gameplay, assuming I paid £1, that's 5p per hour, which is 10x as much as Final Fantasy X and X-2 (400 hours to finish the first, second, and third games, all of which cost me £19.99 on Steam).  This game is pretty good, but this first chapter wasn't worth 10x as much to me as Final Fantasy X, and then they want another £21 for the rest of the story?  Fuck right off.  If they pop up on Humble Bundle at a discount, I might spring for them, but I am not paying £6.99 for a 20-hour segment of a game that doesn't even feel like a full game in its own right, and I am definitely not doing that three times in a row.  Knowing that that was what I'd need to do to finish the story just made me resent playing this one.  Oh, also there's only one achievement.  Since there's no indication of which side quests you can finish in this game and which ones need to wait for the sequel, the achievements could have been a way of giving you a hint.  The game just does not reward exploring, because you don't know which blocks you can breach during this game - for example, you do gain a way of blowing through doors blocked with planks, but you don't learn how to pick locks - and which subquests you can finish in this game, or which need to wait.  After the first hour or so I just followed a guide.  Oh, that reminds me - I did like that the puzzles had an element of randomness, so even if you followed a guide there were still some things you had to work out yourself.  That was a nice touch.

The description of the game also claims that "laughing is not optional".  It absolutely is.  The dialogue is human and realistic, but it's not particularly funny.

I've played - and enjoyed - the .Hack// series, which had a similar set-up.  Four chapters, each sold separately, adding up to a complete story.  I enjoyed those games a lot more, and I think a big part of it is that they did feel like complete games, with satisfying story arcs.  I paid more - about £10 for each if I recall correctly - for each one, and I didn't resent that.  I've replayed the series multiple times, and each one came with an episode of an anime series, telling another story that happened alongside the events in the game.  I also enjoyed a sequel manga and the longer anime series, but the biggest difference between .hack// and Aveyond is that each of those things felt like seperate stories.  They were all sparked by the same event, but each had their own events and character arcs.  Plus, my ending save files generally had about 20 hours on them, so they offered approximately twice as much gameplay.

Anyway, in summary, Aveyond: Lord of Twilight is an enjoyable game, but it is not worth £27.96 - the price for all four games without any discounts - and while, theoretically, you could just pay the £6.99 - still way too much - to enjoy just one game, the game is not designed for you to do that.

The next game on my list is actually The Banner Saga, but I just bought several more games from Humble Bundle; 1bitHeart (99p), Désiré (£2.15), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (£14.99), PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness (£9.99), and The Sacred Tears TRUE. (£3.24).  I've noted down the prices because I quite like "cost per hours of enjoyment" as a way to compare games.  I'm going to play the Phoenix Wright games next, because I have been waiting for them to arrive on Steam for just the longest time.  The whole point of trying to play through all the games I own is to make sure I'm actually, you know, getting value out of the things I buy, so it would just be silly to avoid playing the game I just bought.  I've also been replaying Final Fantasy VIII (and reviewing my guide) and I'm in the end stages of that, so I'll probably finish that as well before starting on The Banner Saga.

I made a game! God Only Knows

I created a game using RPGMaker XV Ace.  I've been wanting to create a classic RPG-style game for a while, but what prompted me this time was proposing to my fiance.  The proposal happened today, February 9th, and was successful!

The game is a fantasy, and is designed to be an easy, beginner's RPG - I didn't want him to give up before the end.  It's about an hour long, and focuses more on story/events than on battles.  I also made it using only resources provided by the program, rather than creating my own, as that would require an entirely new skillset.  I didn't use any playtesters except myself, to preserve the element of surprise.

The title is God Only Knows, purely as an expression of surprise rather than any expression of religious belief.  You can download the game from the indie games site, itch.io.  Please comment if you find any errors or have any trouble downloading.

Anodyne, Artefact Adventure, and Aveyond

So, Anodyne is a weird little game.  It's Zelda-style (apparently, I never played the early Zeldas), with a very symbolic, eerie atmosphere, not I'm not really sure what it's symbolic of exactly.  I'm not really up on my Jungian psychology, which is apparently what it's inspired by.  Possibly, it's just that everyone is Jesus in purgatory.  A lot of it seemed to be about being a gamer - some of it referenced things people say to gamers when they want them to stop playing, other parts referenced how weird it would be for an npc to live in those worlds, and at one point someone starts talking about how repetitive the days are, which makes a lot of sense when you're trying for a speedrun.

My first playthrough took 7 hours, but a lot of that was exploring, getting lost, and forgetting which exit lead where.  I quit my second playthrough at just over 3 hours, since the speedrun goal is 3, but, again, a lot of that was getting lost and forgetting which exit went where.  You get exactly one save, and the game autosaves, so you can just reload and do it more quickly.  On my third go, I finished in around 2:40, and then I went and got all 48 cards - there are 37 to collect in the main game and another 11 post game - and all 13 ??? items, little easter eggs spread throughout the game.  One of them involves waiting nearly 2 hours for a bunny to move across a screen, which is very reminiscent of one of the seven stars in Braid.  I left the game running and went and sewed myself a shirt.

I don't like that the game played in full screen.  I did get an x-box controller just before my second playthrough, and that was definitely a lot easier than using the keyboard.  I got the controller to play FF-Type-0 because that game is absolutely impossible without it.  I had been using my old PS2 controller - and when I say old, I mean 16 years - but Anodyne didn't accept its input.

I didn't enjoy the game at first, though the difficulty in downloading it was probably a part of that.  I got into a little bit more once it started to make sense to me, and I enjoyed it enough to do the speedrun, which I don't normally do (see, for example, FF9 and Braid).  It helped that the speedrun time was quite generous.  You don't have to do everything perfectly, and you can get lost a little bit, just not quite as lost as I did the first time I attempted it.  Overall, I spent around 19 hours playing this game and, considering I bought it for 69p, that's a really good deal, that's less than 3p per hour of entertainment.

The next game on my list is Aveyond 3-1: Lord of Twilight.  I have no idea what this game is.  I didn't buy it on steam, so presumably I got it as part of a humble bundle, alongside a game I actually wanted.  Apparently it's the first chapter in a four part series, all of which are prized at £6.99 and which, together, contain 20 steam achievements.  Honestly, it seems like they've tried to milk as much money as they can from it.  I'll try playing the first one and see how it goes from there - either it's good enough to buy the rest or it's just...not.

The next game on my list would have been Artefact Adventure, which is another game I didn't actually buy on Steam.  I deleted that one because I played the first few minutes and there was a coding error.  If they can't be arsed to check their code, I can't be arsed to play their game.  Maybe it got better after that point, I don't know, but I'm currently making a similar type of game and you can be damn sure I'm checking it for bugs throughout.

ETA:  I had a quick read of the TV tropes page to see if they made any sense of the symbolism, and learned about a 49th card.  So I went and got that one and opened the damn gate.  I'm pretty sure there is nothing else in this game, since there's no way to open the 50th gate.

Alphadia Genesis, Amnesia: Memories, Analogue: A Hate Story, Anodyne

According to Steam, I have 69 hours of playtime in Alphadia Genesis.  According to the game itself, I finished the true ending at 46 hours.  I think the discrepancy is due, in part, to reloading after deaths, but mostly due to leaving the game on in the background while I did other things.  Since I bought the game for £6.99 in the first place, that's 10-15p per hour of entertainment, which is a pretty good deal considering I buy kindle books for 99p and up, and they generally only take 1-3 hours to read.

The game plays like a classic RPG.  I liked that nothing was truly missable (as far as I can tell), I liked the side quests, the dungeons were fun to explore, all that good stuff.  The biggest weakness was that the story appeared to be written both by and for twelve-year-olds, and the localisation was done by someone with absolutely terrible grammar.  It's really, really badly written, with ridiculous characters, but, while I do list it as a negative, it didn't really ruin the experience for me.  Sure, this isn't a game that really touched me, like Final Fantasies or Shadow Hearts (but, full disclosure, I was a teenager back then, and I might have reacted to this game differently if I'd been a teenager when I first played it), but it was still fun.  It felt really light and fluffy, which surprises me because the first Shadow Hearts game took about the same amount of time to play, and that felt incredibly intense and emotional.

I didn't like that the game window couldn't be resized.  You can play it on mobile, it really didn't need to be taking up 75% of my screen, and looked really weird at that size.  I liked that it had steam achievements, and that they were feasible - as opposed to say, killing 10,000 enemies in Final Fantasy Games, when you'd have to push to hit 2000 in a single play through - but I'd have liked it better if they'd linked more into the post-game content rather than just numerical values.  All of the achievements are based on chests opened, or enemies killed, or steps moved, or gold spent.  How about an achievement to reaching the normal ending and the true ending, or for defeating every battle at the arena, or finishing every quest, or collecting the Nall arena weapons?  You know, something to prompt you into exploring the world more and seeing everything in the game.  On that note, I don't like that there wasn't any kind of hint as to whether the four AGP giving battles actually existed in this edition, or where they could be found.  While I didn't actively search for them, I fought at least 100 battles on the island where the Arch Dragon was supposed to show up (I counted some and estimated) for levelling purposes and didn't see hide nor hair of them.  An achievement for, say, finding all the AGP, or defeating these enemies would have been really helpful there.  I did like that the screen could be zoomed out so you could get a better idea of where things were when exploring dungeons, though I didn't like having to zoom in to spot the AGP.

Now I've finished Alphadia Genesis - see my last few posts - I'm moving down my list of steam games alphabetically, as part of my new year's resolution to actually play the games I own.  The next on the list is Amnesia: Memories, which I played and finished last March.  I enjoyed it, but it was also very intense and emotional, and I'm not sure I'm ready to go through that again.  Since I have already played and completed it, I'm not obligated to do so again, so I'm going to skip it for now.  The same goes for the next game on the list, Analogue: A Hate Story.  I completed it with all achievements back in January 2017, it put me through the emotional wringer, and I'm not ready to have that experience again right now.  That brings us down to Anodyne, a game I bought in the last Steam winter sale.  I think I got it because it was cheap (69p) and on my wishlist, but I honestly can't remember when or why I put it on my wishlist in the first place.  The description on the Steam store page reads; in this unique Zelda-lite game, explore and fight your way through surreal and creepy, nature, urban and abstract themed areas in the human Young's subconscious, evoked by a 16-bit-era visual style and a moody, dream-like soundtrack.  I was never a fan of the Zelda games - nothing against them, it's just the first one I played was 3d and made me motion sick and I never felt like going back and playing the other ones since I'm not a fan of the battle style - but I do like abstract games about the subconscious, so that might be why.  I nearly returned this game because, when I downloaded it about a week ago - knowing it would be the next game to focus on - it got stuck.  It was at 100% and said "finishing download", but never did that.  Trying to delete the game just made steam crash, and it wouldn't let anything else download.  I asked Steam if I could just return it based on that, and they refused because I was a 2 weeks outside of the 2 week return window.  I think that was a bit rough - at the very least, having read about the problem, they could have sent instructions to fix it, even if they weren't willing to remove the game from my account and refund my 69p.  Luckily, in the gap between sending the email and getting the reply, it finished downloading properly.

Alphadia Genesis - Post-Game Spoiler Free Walkthrough

Continued from here.

Pandora Core

• Second option (first option just repeats the normal ending).

Side Quests

• Where to go for cut scenes is explained by the game, so I'm only going to list areas with unclaimed items or side quests.

Level-Grinding

• To boost your levels - which makes everything easy - it's best to fight metal slimes on the island just south of Grimm's Cave, west of Laveria tunnel.  
• Use an attract charm to make them appear faster.  If a blue dragon appears, it will probably outclass you at first.  Let it kill you and then continue from the title, or just run.  When you get better, you might want to kill them for the money.
• To actually hurt the slimes, you need either critical hits - from the critical band accessory - or Fray's new weapon from the Ghalzabine battle arena, which does extra damage against metal.  There are two critical band accessories you can find in the game (in Grimm's Cave and Yorlnil's Cave)
• To boost the EXP received, have Aurra and Grande as submembers, giving you 1.5x exp.  You can also use Corune's skill, experience gift, which doubles exp..  I sped up Corune by giving her the Conditional Earrings 3, which I normally keep on Fray.  This caused Corune to act first, then Enah used a Hearty Fruit (exp +50%) and Fray and Walter killed the enemies.  The slimes will try to run, but just taking out one or two gives you quite a lot of exp - I went from 69-99 in less than an hour, and that was interrupted by reading reddit and typing this.  Levelling your energi will take longer, but you can also boost the SP received by throwing a Hearty Peel.
• The battle arena in Ghalzabine has new weapons and armour.  Fray's new weapon will be useful for levelling against the metal slimes, and these weapons are more powerful than anything else available.  The final King level rewards you with a total of 1140 Battle Points.

Legendary Weapons

• After collecting the storyline macguffins and revisiting Ghalzabine, you'll be able to start the Quests (16-21) for the legendary weapons and armour.  The quest-giver is clearly visible on screen as you leave Ghalzabine castle, and each weapon will be added to your side quest log as a separate quest.

Achievement Unlocked - Lagoon Warrior God

Achievement Unlocked - King Midas

Village of Nall (Chests 197-202, AGP 660)

• The village is located on the north-easternmost island on the map and has new weapons and armour for your party.
• 20 AGP on the fountain to the north.
• Condition Earrings 1 in the house in the southeast corner of the village.  STR Seed x10 downstairs.  Gamble Coin on next floor.  Energic Scrunchie and Teleporter x10 downstairs again.  HP Seed x30 from the Licker.
• A woman in the house in the northeast will sell you battle coins.
• The eastern house contains a battle arena and a chest containing 10x Holy Water.  It has the same items available and shares a currency with the one in Ghalzabine.  Instead of speaking to the receptionist, you pick a route on the right to face specific battles, which have three different prizes each.  You win them in order and then, I presume, the third (or fourth, for the Flying Dance) prize is repeated ad infinitem.
• Energic Dolls - Spellbinder; Line Slaughter; HP Seed x2 and EP Seed x2.
• My Pet - Wonderful Wand; Halo; MD Seed x2 and Speed Seed x2.
• Arctic Cosplayer - Energic Rifle; Energi Bringer; STR Seed x2 and VIT Seed x2.
• Flying Dancer - Guardian's Vest; Hero's Plate; Heroine's Corset; EP Seed x6.
• The most difficult fight is the Arctic Cosplayer.  Using the armours from Flying Dancer can help.  They halve all damage while boosting your defence, but it does come with a doom countdown, so you'll probably need to combine that with Doom Pendulums from the arena store, which quintuple the count.  Fog Pumps, which are also available from the arena, can also help to reduce damage, will prevent a lot of the penguin's attacks from even touching you.  After using this, you'll need to use items or Aurra's Here Comes the Healing Beam! to heal.  This discussion has some useful tips, including that Reset Flash will remove its buffs after Unrewarded, and that Betadia does quite a lot of damage.  I used a team of Fray, Enah, Aurra, and Walter, and I did find that Fire Change increased the damage I was able to do, though I'm not sure why.  When the shield is up, try using a Super Rocket to cast Betadia, since that won't bounce back.
• Having won all 6 of the possible weapons you will be offered another subquest, to find all six signposts around the world and, if you have all six dark crystals, to get weapons from them.  The last three dark crystals are in Speranza's lab.  The signpost locations are below;

Speranza's Lab (Chests 203-220, AGP 680)

• There's a bit of back and forth before you actually enter the lab, as guided by the game.
• On the first floor, Hitman Ring to the east, Ether Matter x10 to the west, two chests containing Dark Crystals on either side of the stairs (approachable from either side).
• On the next floor, Follow Bracelet to the northwest, Giga Potion x10 to the northeast.  Fire Rocket x15 in the library.  The Card Key will open the western door back on the first floor.
• On the second floor down, STR Seed x4 in the southwest corner and a second card key in the nearby library (not a chest).  MND Seed x4 in the southeast corner.  Assistance Orb in the northeast corner.
• On the third floor down, Perfect Ring in the centre.  Dark Crystal to the north.  Now that you have three Dark Crystals, you can exit out of here and go after the legendary weapons.  At the very least, be sure to leave before facing the final boss.  EP Seed x4 in the southwest corner.  Dead End Cuffs are via a secret passage, the entrance to which is on the same wall as the EP Seed x4, just a little to the north.
• On the fourth floor down, another card key is hidden in a bookcase.
• On the fifth floor down, there is another card key hidden in a bookcase.
• You will need all three card keys to access the sixth floor.
• 20 AGP near the start of the 7th floor down.  Super Rocket to the northeast.  Holy Water x3 via secret passage.
• On the 8th floor, Energi Matter x 10 via secret passage.
• On the 9th floor, Heal Matter x10 via secret passage.  Now leave to finish off anything you have left before returning here to finish the game.

Achievement Unlocked - Treasure Hunter

Legendary Enemies

• According to various sources there are four enemies which give a one-time AGP reward, totalling 500 AGP.  I have yet to find anything that confirms whether or not they actually exist in the steam version of the game, and since they're very rare, it's quite tricky to prove or disprove.  What I'm tempted to do is go through 200 battles in each location and by then I'll either have found them or given up.  
• They are;
• Arch-Dragon, on the island south of Grimm's Cave.  Blue Dragons, Metal Gelatins and Full Metal Gelatins also appear on this island, and only on this island, so you'll know if you've got the right one.  I suggest going after this one first, because you'll gain loads of exp and SP while searching for it.
• King Penguin on the island east of the continent containing Micheli.
• Dark Wyvern on the island west of Dauhl Library.
• Cursed Behemot south of the village of Nall.

Alphadia Genesis - Main Game Spoiler-free Walkthrough

General

All the achievements are linked to the stats you can view by going to 'System' then 'Trophies' in the in-game menu.  I'm just noting down approximately when I achieved them, they're not linked to specific parts of the game.  There is an achievement for finding all 220 chests, so I've numbered them to make it easier to check if you've missed any.  As far as I can tell, nothing is permanently missable.  The 'use energi' achievements I initially assumed meant to use energi points, but it actually means to cast the skills listed under energi - basically, just use magic X amount of times.  I'm not sure if casting healing energi from the menu counts.

According to this resource - one of the only ones I found for the game - there are six items which can only be bought with AGP through the speciality shop;

• Mind Earrings - 80AGP
• Guilty Amulet - 110AGP
• Total Amulet - 130AGP
• Condition Earrings 3 - 150AGP
• Booster Bracelet - 70AGP
• Invalid Commune - 120AGP

Buying one copy of each of the above would cost 660AGP.  There are also three accessories of which only one copy is obtainable without buying more with AGP;

• Energi Scrunchie - 100AGP
• Assistance Orb - 80AGP
• Case x Charm - 100AGP

So far, I've found 680 AGP in game, and have heard rumours (but not verified) that there is 500 more.

Archleign (Chests 1-2, 40AGP)

• Automatic battle.
• 3x Poison Cure in chest in house to southwest.
• Hi-elixir in chest in the inn.
• Secret tunnel in the lab area of the castle, leading to chest 3 containing an emerald.
• 20 AGP in the Guild.
• After speaking to the King, Quest 1 available at the Guild.  The person you're looking for is in Archleign.  Indignator x3 given as a reward.
• 20 AGP received automatically on leaving the city.

Achievement Unlocked - Departure

Dauhl Laboratory (Chests 3-8, 60AGP)

• Elixir x2 in chest left of the entrance.
• Chest containing Energi Drop x20 down the secret passage Aurra shows you, right of the entrance.
• Exchange earrings in chest through the secret tunnel by the stairs after meeting Enah.  
• 20 AGP in room containing a single cryogenic chamber.
• Potion x2 in chest before boss.
• Status Care x2 in chest after boss.

Achievement Unlocked - Apprentice Warrior

Archleign

• Once the cut scenes are done, Heath in the Castle has Quest 2.  The instructions are straightforward and the reward is three Power Drinks.

Achievement Unlocked - Apprentice Wizard

Achievement Unlocked - Journeyman Wizard

Lakey Checkpoint (Chests 9-10, 80AGP)

• VIT Seed x2 in chest upstairs.
• 20 AGP on one of the barrels on the far side of the river.
• Energy Herb x5 right outside the North Gate, chest partially hidden by wall.

Katorah (100 AGP)

• 20AGP on a barrel in the inn.
• Quest 3 available after sleeping at the inn.  Rewarded with Hi-Elixir x2.

Hetrix Cave (Chests 11-16, 120AGP)

• Fire Grenade x3 and Guard Drink x4 in chests north of the entrance.
• Clear Ring x2 in chest.  There are no secret passages, all chests are clearly visible.
• Energetic Tempest in chest.
• HP Seed x2 in chest.
• 20 AGP in the room with hay on the floor.
• Speed Drink x4 in chest on ledge near entrance.

Luvira Tunnel (Chests 17-23, 140AGP)

• Idlator x6 in chest.
• Lunatic Wand in green chest, through short hidden tunnel.
• Indignator x5 in chest.
• Potion x3 in chest 20, south-east of last chest.  Secret tunnel near here leads to a green chest containing a Life Bangle.
• 20AGP on box.
• Status Care x 4 in chest south-west of AGP.  
• Water Grenade x 6 in chest after boss.

Ries (Chest 24, 160AGP)

• STR seed in inn via secret tunnel.
• 20AGP on box in the cafe.

Kotoch Ridge (Chests 25-39, 180AGP)

• Light Grenade x20 in a chest through the secret tunnel right of the entrance (not directly, but same screen).
• Energi Elixir x15 in a chest through the secret tunnel left of the entrance (not directly, but same screen).
• Mage Masher in green chest through secret tunnel near exit of second screen.
• Fine Earrings beta in green chest through another secret tunnel, right before outside area. 
• Dynamite Strip x2 in chest in outside area.
• Indiginator x4 in chest northeast in next indoor area.
• Guard Drink x15 in chest through secret tunnel.
• Energi Drink x16 through secret tunnel in next area, after cutscene.
• Energi Bangle in green chest.
• 20AGP in tree in second outside area.
• Luck Drink x15 in chest through secret tunnel left of entrance in next indoor area.
• HP Seed x2 through secret tunnel right of entrance.
• Meeting Grande means you can have two characters providing support, with boosts depending on the pairing as described in this post.
• Power Drink x6 in chest via secret tunnel in north-east of living area, after meeting Grande.
• Hearty Fruit x10 in chest via secret tunnel in north-east of living area.
• Hearty Seed x10 in secret tunnel in north-east of living area.
• MND Seed x2 in chest via secret tunnel in south-west of living area.

Achievement Unlocked - Drifter

• Quest 4 is now available in Ries.  The reward is an Emerald.  You can repeat the quest indefinitely, for the same reward each time.

Achievement Unlocked - Master Wizard

Erto Checkpoint (Chest 40, 200AGP)

• Light Grenade x8 in Chest
• 20AGP on the exit wall.

Miyva (220AGP)

• 20AGP on a wall in the mansion.
• Quest 5 available before leaving.  The reward is 3 Luck Drinks.

Ghalzabine (240AGP)

• 20 AGP in the weapon's shop.

Achievement Unlocked - Well Off

Cayani Laboratory (Chests 41-54, AGP 260)

• Fire Bomb x3 through secret tunnel right of entrance.
• Water Bomb x 4 in chest via northwest (compass directions refer to where they are on the map, not how you get there) secret passage.
• Corona in chest via northwest secret passage (right next to the first one).
• Guard Drink x5 via northern secret passage.
• Luck Drink x3 in chest via western secret passage.
• Energi Stone x2 at the bottom of the stairs.
• 20AGP, west of cutscene.
• Light Bomb x2 via southeast tunnel in second area.
• Emerald x2 in northeast room.
• Heal Materia x5 in chest to the north.
• Holy Water in northwest room.
• Energi Stone x2 in a green chest in the centre of the map.
• Exiter x2 near start of third area.
• Hearty Peel x3 in the northmost room (you need to return here after the game takes you out).
• Follow Bracelet via secret tunnel near northmost room.
• The arena in Ghalzabine is unlocked after completing the laboratory.  It's in the guild and it's quite straightforward.  Each level you complete unlocks the next level, and you also earn battle coins to buy things in the battle shop.  It's a good way to get good weapons and accessories, though you'll probably want to come back later when your characters are higher levels.

Achievement Unlocked - Archmage

Tranquil Lodge (Chest 55, AGP 280)

• 20AGP outside.
• Buffing Powder in the inn.
• Quest 7 available from the owner, rewarded with 3 STR Seeds.
• Quest 6 available from Cayani Laboratory, rewarded with a Mega Elixir and repeatable ad infinitem.  It didn't unlock for me until after visiting the lodge.  There's an accessory you can get from the arena which increases encounters, which will be useful for both of these.

Achievement Unlocked - Master Warrior


Nessi Trench (Chests 56-67, AGP 300)

• Megapotion x5 in chest via secret tunnel.
• Attract Charm via second secret tunnel, a little further on.
• Hi-Elixir x5 in northeast chest.
• Energi Materia x5 and Rusty Energi Ring in west via secret tunnel.
• Light Bomb via another secret tunnel.
• Energi Stone in green chest after group splits.
• Doom Pendulum in green chest via secret tunnel a little way after team regroups.
• 20 AGP on a wall in a dead-end.  The secret tunnel above loops around it.
• Clear Ring x2, go right instead of left to stairs up.
• Berserk Gem via secret tunnel near stairs up.
• Fog Drink x8 via secret tunnel.
• Light Circlet via secret tunnel to the right of the last one.

Achievement Unlocked - Explorer

Lokka (Chest 68, AGP 320)

• 20 AGP on a barrel in the Inn.
• MND Seed x2 in the Inn.
• Quest 8 available if you reenter the village.  The quest item is on the first floor of the Nessi Trench, when you enter from the south.  The reward is 2 MND seeds.

Achievement Unlocked - Rich


Mount Nordon (Chest 69-82, AGP 340)

Clear Ring x2 in dead-end.

Dawn Moon via secret tunnel.

Falcon Vest via secret tunnel.

Energi Stone in dead end.

Mega-Potion x5 in dead end.

20 AGP in dead end in 3rd area.

Fire Bomb x6 outside.

Quadrupler Pearls outside.

Indiginator x4 inside.

Energi Stone in dead end.

Status Care x10 in dead end near water.

Megalixir x15 before second outside area.

Fog Pump x5 outside.

Perfect Ring and Power Drink x8 on the shortcut ledge back to the beginning.

Mountain Cottage (AGP 360)

20 AGP on a box.

Quest 9 available from Saty.  The reward is Ether Matter x4 and the quest is repeatable.

Ghalzabine

At this point, I had a Rusty Energi Ring (Nessi Trench) and Buffing Powder (Tranquil Lodge) and delivered both to Mr Sparkle in Ghalzabine.  You'll eventually get a Prince Ring in exchange.  I don't know if the time it takes him is measured in literal time or fights or what.

Quest 10 available.  Speak to the quester again immediately to complete.  You're rewarded with 30 EP seeds.

Achievement Unlocked - Legendary Brave


Micheli (Chest 83, AGP 380)

Hearty Seed x3 at the inn.

20 AGP in the mayor's house.

Quest 11 available after sleeping at the inn.  The reward is 5 EP seeds.

Ohlu Tower (Chest 84-103, AGP 400)

Door key in chest in north east on ground floor.

Ignore the western stairs for now, because the two treasures are behind two locked doors.

Door key in chest on second floor.  Indiginator x5 and Fire Bomb x5 behind locked doors to the south.

On third floor, Door Key, and Rusty Energi Ring to the east of the stairs. 

Diamond x2 via secret passage.  

Anti Energi Plate, Door Key, and Fine Earrings alpha found on the eastern edge of the map, two via secret passages.  

Door Key and Hearty Peel x8 upstairs, the latter via multiple secret passages.

Back on the first floor, the western stairs lead to a Fallen Empire and 5 Mega Potions.

Next Earrings via a secret passage after going up the central stairs from the first floor and then another set.  Door Key to the northeast.

Mega Elixir x4 and 20 AGP via locked door on the next floor.  Also allows access to a chest containing 8 Energi Drinks via secret passage.

HP Seed x3 and EP Seed x3 in the south.  The secret passage isn't marked, just walk towards them from the right.

Achievement Unlocked - Apprentice Treasure Hunter

Ghalzabine (AGP 420)

After all the cutscenes/events, Quest 12 is available from a palace guard.  Take the central stairs.  The reward is 4 VIT Seeds.

20 AGP on a vase in the castle.

Quest 13 is available in the city.  The reward is 6 Dynamite Strips.

The weapon shop will now be updated with equipment that outranks what you could get for battle coins at the arena.

Grimms Cave (Chests 104-115, AGP 440)

Downstairs, Light Bomb x8 in southeast corner.

Ether Materia x4 in southwest corner.

Energi Stone in the northwest corner.

Holy Water x2 in the northeast corner.

20 AGP on a wall in a dead end, right as the path begins spiralling in to the centre.  If you hit the boulders, you've gone too far.

Gae Bulg via secret passage to the south.

Deviless Dress via a secret passage on an eastern edge as you being to spiral.

Assist Bracelet via secret passage near exit.

On the next floor, Critical Band via secret passage in the northwest corner.

Quadrupler Pearls in the centre.

SPD Seed x2, north after the cut scene.

Perfect Ring via a secret passage after the cut scene.  Follow a second secret passage to 4x Hearty Fruit.

Rest Stop (AGP 460)

20 AGP on a tree.

Guwaro Ruins (Chests 116-137, AGP 500)

Gilded Key x2 in southeast corner.

Wooden Key x2 in the east.

You might wish to backtrack to pick up the Energi Stone behind the gilded-key door and the Shadowline behind the wooden key door.

Gilded Key x2 in the northwest corner.

Plus Fire Rocket x via secret passage around the northwest corner.

Exiter x2 on second floor.

Wooden Key x2 to the east.

STR Seed x2 behind gilded key door.

Energi Stone in the centre.

Heal Materia x18 via wooden door in the southwest corner.

20 AGP just southeast of that wooden door.

Energi Materia x12 via a secret passage in the west.

Gilded Key x2 in the northwest corner on next floor.

VIT Seed x2 behind gilded key door.  Open the wooden-key door at the other end of the room to reach a chest containing another 2 Wooden Keys.

Ether Heal x3 via gilded key door.

EP Seed x2 via wooden key door.

20 AGP in top right corner.

SPD Seed x2 via wooden key door in the southeast.

Diamond x 2 in chest.

Mega-Potion x4 via two gilded key doors.

Hearty Fruit x10 via secret passage, past stairs.

Exiter x2 on next floor.

Achievement Unlocked - Legendary Traveller

Pamyuht (Chest 138, AGP 520)

20 AGP on a tree.

Buffing Powder in the house.

Quest 14 is available after the cut scene.  The reward is 6 HP Seeds.

At this point, you can head back to Myva and deliver the second Rusty Energi Ring and Buffing Powder to Shiny Joe.

Achievement Unlocked - Extremely Rich

Yorlnil Cave (Chests 139-150 , AGP 580)

Critical Band via secret passage to the west.

Dodge Belt and Dark Crystal via secret passage in the east.

20 AGP in a dead end towards the north of the map.

Drop Amulet in a chest to the north.

On the next floor, Rising Sun and Unlimited Bracelet via secret passages clearly visible off the main path.

Lead Breastplate (via secret passage) and Speed Drink x6 if you carry on past the switch.

Ether Materia x5 over the bridge.

In the area after the fight, Luck Drink x8, Exiter x3 and MND Seed x3.  

20 AGP in a dead end shortly before the statue.

If you go back to Shiny Joe, he'll give you a Princess Ring.

At this point, I followed this guide to gain 10 levels, just for fun.

Raness Cave (Chests 151-165, AGP 620)

Teleporter x2 near the stairs.  This whole place is pretty linear, nothing is really hidden.

On second floor, Sturdy Key in chest to the north.  20AGP in dead end opposite.

Water Bomb x6 to the east, Dark Crystal to the south.

On third floor, Sturdy Key to the northwest, Angel Earrings to the northeast, Exchange Earrings to the south.

On fourth floor, Desire Wand via secret passage, Hearty Fruit in centre of area.

On fifth floor, 20 AGP in northwest corner, Study Key in centre.

On sixth floor, Assist Bracelet and Fine Earrings alpha behind sturdy key door in southeast.  Guardian Orb behind study key door in west.

On seventh floor, Life Bangle and Exiter x3.  I refuse to tell you where.  Zoom out.

Energi Pandora and Pandora Core (Chests 166-196, AGP 640)

Water Rocket x3 to the southwest.  Assist Bracelet via secret passage to the east.  Dynamite Strip x2 to the southeast.

Holy Water x3 near the east switch, 20 AGP near west switch, Gamble Coin to the south.

In the second half of the first floor, Hitman Ring via secret passage.

After battle, Dark Crystal via secret passage to the west, Status Care x 12 in northwest.  Condition Earrings 2 via secret passage, Mega Elixir x3 to the northeast, Condition Earrings 1 via secret passage.

Mega Potion x6 on next floor.

In Pandora Core, Light Circlet to northwest, Hearty Fruit x5 to the northeast.

On the next floor, Energi Bangle to the east, Giga Potion x2 in the centre, 20AGP on a crystal to the north.

On the next floor, Hearty Fruit x3 in the southwest.  Heal Matter x8 and STR Seed x2 towards the centre.  Next Earrings to the northwest.

After battle, Hearty Peel x3.  In the newly opened area, Energi Matter x6, Hearty Seed x3, and Indignator x8.

After battle, Brave Armour x2, Silk Robe x3, and Force Vest.

Light Rocket x3 in newly opened area.  Ether Matter x4 and Case x Charm through door.

MND Seed x2 after next door.

Achievement Unlocked - Legendary Wizard

This is the normal end of the game.  The game will instruct you on how to continue.  I have written the rest of this guide in a seperate post. 

Zodiac Challenge: Interlude - Return of the Rabbit

Bunny is my favourite - closely followed by her great-grandfather, Jake - and I will be damned if I let her die without eking out every last bit of her lifespan.  This pack works like university, in that the characters on holiday won't age, and the world at home won't move on until they come back, so it's a good way to spend time with a few sims rather than the whole family.

I gave Bunny a bit of a makeover, to make her a more glamorous old lady, and whitened her hair slightly.  I've been lightening it bit by bit since she became an elder.  If we assume Hialeah was born when Bunny was around 37 and that Hialeah is now approaching her thirties (only not, because vampires don't age) then Bunny is approaching 70, which makes her older than both of my maternal grandparents were when they died.

Despite still looking 25, Sequoyah loves his wife.  I'd intended them to have a relaxed, romantic holiday, but I check the adventure board and they quickly get dragged into that.  It seems like the World Adventures pack is really intended as more of a puzzle-solving game than a holiday pack like the first game had.

Bunny's first adventure involves exploring an old tomb, while Sequoyah needs to persuade people to shop at a specific store.  He's still a celebrity here - as is Bunny - so he sometimes has to stop for people to take his photo.  Bunny did stop by here to use her incredible friend-making powers and learn some French songs and then headed to the tomb.  She and Sequoyah both brought their own vehicles (presumably in their inventories) so getting around is easy.

Sequoyah comes to join her when he's done, and help with the heavy lifting (even though Bunny is athletic, so she's managing fine).  It's a full moon, which I was a little concerned about, but if zombies did appear, they didn't follow us down to the tomb.

The paparazzi did follow us - and, creepily, due to the way the base camp works, she also took photos of Sequoyah and Bunny while they were sleeping and I couldn't lock the door to keep her out - but she got left behind quite early on.

Bunny and Sequoyah flirt and kiss between each obstacle, which is quite cute, even if it's me making them do it.

After finding the bones of an old explorer, Sequoyah vows to protect Bunny from harm, which is also very romantic.

After finishing the tomb, they take a selfie for posterity!  They complete a few other adventures - including breaking into the Landgraab's holiday home - and return with level 1 visas.  I'd like them to get to level 3 and buy a holiday home in France to pass on to future generations.  I'm not sure how that will work.