The opponents you face in pop-up duels use their cards in a predictable order, as listed in this spreadsheet (also linked under Resources): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ckyx7AXv71UsID3xVYToT9WAFEclOjWCZ695leQuk-M

Name yourself w or W – this leads the book to read “W is the Herald of Woe!”, which is the sentence with the fewest characters.

Use the touch screen to move around and interact with things, and mash A to advance through text.

In minigames, tied wins still count as wins.

Chapter 1: Chocobo of Legend, Book of Doom!

Begin by playing the game as normal – do the introductory microgame to open the book, then save Chubby and head right, then interact with the first picture book.

The Adamantoise and the Cactuar vol. 1 – Race to the Top

Tap “Story Time” and swipe up the screen until the Back option appears in the bottom-left corner. Then, tap the Back option (use this option to go through the prologues of all the picture books, EXCEPT The Boy Who Cried Leviathan vol. 2 – Bubbling Barrage). Next, tap Trial Mode, tap the middle of the screen once, then Start! In the bottom-right corner.

You need to complete this minigame in under 25 seconds and not be hit by any of the boulders. If at any point this looks impossible, press Start and exit the minigame so you can try again.

At the start, stay on the bottom wall while moving right. When the track goes uphill, go up the inside and retreat into your shell for a bit until the boulder has passed you (or you can go up the outside and avoid the boulder entirely – whichever you prefer). Keep going left, then go up the inside uphill. Retreat into your shell near the apex of the corner until the boulder has passed you, then proceed to the goal.

Tap the arrow below the leaderboard, then tap through the victory screen’s text, since you’ll need to tap the middle of the screen for the epilogue. When going through the epilogue, you need to tap Skip in the bottom-right twice instead of Back like during Story Time.

Back in the overworld, tap the chocobo card to rescue Gazzy, then head back into the picture book. Tap “Battle Mode” then “Start!”. This time, you just need to beat the jailbird with no additional requirements. Because of how it pushes you at the start, go up the inside on the first uphill section and retreat into your shell, otherwise you’ll get hit by the boulder. You shouldn’t have to retreat into your shell at the apex of the final corner this time.

Leave the house immediately after Shirma does so, then move to the farm area on the left, then down into a new area. Enter the barn on the left before the bell arch and pick up the Bahamut – Air Strike card. Now leave the barn, go through the arch and follow the path right to a new area. Keep following the path right and pick up the Mist Dragon – Mist Breath card on the way. After reaching the town square, go up until you trigger the cutscene where the gate is closed, then go back to the town square. Don’t save when the prompt comes up.

Chapter 2: Mt. Magma and the Four Crystals

After Croma’s “Something’s bound to happen” text box, leave the house and re-enter the picture book. Tap “Battle Mode” then “Start!” to do Battle Mode Lv. 2. Again, just win with no additional requirements, using the same strategy as for Battle Mode Lv. 1.

Go back to the house, then follow Chubby to the gate at the base of Mt. Magma. Go up the stairs, then follow the path right. After the cutscene where Volg is introduced, go right and interact with the wall with the pointing hand. This is the Bomberwall microgame.

Get Gold on this microgame, i.e. clear three walls in 16 seconds or less. This is difficult to do when you’re unfamiliar with the game. There’s no trick to it – you just need practice. The walls do come in several set patterns (set in one of four orientations), but in my opinion there are too many possible patterns to commit to memory in advance. One thing worth mentioning is that you can’t just find the goal panel to clear the wall – you will need to uncover all of the arrow panels leading to the goal as well.

Titan and the Beanstalk vol. 1 – Leapin’ on Leaves

In Battle Mode Lv. 1, you just have to beat the jailbird to the top of the beanstalk. The bombs you need to avoid in order are as follows: left, right, left, right, left, roaming, and two on either side. Smaller leaves bounce you higher, but in this minigame it’s more important to draw the leaves close to horizontal to give yourself more upward momentum. Slightly bigger leaves won’t make that big a difference in the end.

After the epilogue, re-enter the book and clear Battle Mode Lv. 2 (almost identical to Battle Mode Lv. 1, the only practical difference being that since you start more to the left, you need to angle yourself a touch more to avoid the first bomb).

Go back the way you came until you reach a beanstalk, then climb it, bear left slightly and enter the cave. After the Behemoth cutscene, exit the cave, score your starter deck, then head back into the cave to duel Behemoth. Tap “Start!” on the bottom-right to start the duel.

Behemoth

Play (swipe up) Goblin – Shout six times to win. The duels get a lot more interesting than this, honest!

Go on past Behemoth and exit the cave on the other side. After the Dueler X cutscene, go up to the next area, then enter the picture book.

The Ugly Chocoling vol. 1 – Find That Fiery Chocobo

Get 8 points in Trial Mode. Move the magnifying glass around quickly, and when you see flames, hone in on the chocobo. Once you’ve got 8 points, hang out in the corner until time runs out.

After the rewards, tap Retry in the bottom-left, then Back, then Battle Mode, then change your Battle Mode Lv. to 3. This time you need to find the chocobo three times before your opponents. The game is functionally the same as Trial Mode, though.

Go across the bridge to the next area, then enter the picture book.

The Ugly Chocoling vol. 2 – Flaming Frenzy

Get 20 points or more in Battle Mode Lv. 1. You get points by collecting coins, and you get coins by extinguishing the flames while you have a water bubble (which you get from the puddle). You can also dislodge coins from opponents by tackling them (double-tapping the stylus). Spend your time extinguishing flames and picking up coins the jailbird misses.

Retry on Battle Mode Lv. 3. You just have to win here. Peekaboo and Greeble are much more aggressive than the jailbird – if you can stay out of their way and let them interfere with each other, that’s ideal. Go for a few tackles if they’re focusing you down. Technically, if you missed getting 20 points on Battle Mode Lv. 1 you can get them here instead, but getting 20 points on this level is extremely difficult.

Go into Cards in the menu to create your deck. Add these cards:

• Bomb – Self-Destruct
• Bomb – Self-Destruct+
• Phoenix – Fire Strike
• Phoenix – Undying Spirit
• Mist Dragon – Mist Breath
• Goblin – Slap
• Goblin – Rage
• Goblin – Shout

Bebuzzu 1

Most of the cards you put into the deck are space fillers, and are chosen because they’re the fastest to select. The important cards are the Bomb cards. You need to hold onto the Bomb cards until turn 5, then use them both to do 13 damage (or 12 if you draw Bomb – Self-Destruct on turn 6) and finish the duel on turn 6. Therefore, all you need to do is deal 2 damage (potentially 3 if you haven’t drawn Bomb – Self-Destruct by turn 3) on the first three turns, and the duel is won on turn 6. Note that on turn 3, Bebuzzu will play a card that restores 2 HP if the attack isn’t blocked, so you may want to save a red guard for that (you have three non-Bomb red guards in your deck).

Chapter 3: Call of the Wild

After Croma’s “Then it’s settled” text box, leave the house and go to the town square, then head to the area on the right. Interact with the chocobo card in the middle of the path to save Bluebay, then keep going right until the cutscene with Croma at the bridge. Enter the picture book.

Unicorn and the Town Musicians vol. 1 – Mimic That Melody

Get 5 points in Trial Mode (lose all your lives by being on the wrong panel after getting 5), then retry and clear Battle Mode Lv. 2. There’s no way to interact with your opponents, so you just have to hope to get lucky!

Go back to the area to the left, then go behind the plant and into the tree, then enter the picture book.

Titan and the Beanstalk vol. 2 – Scurry Down the Stalk

Get more coins than your opponent on Battle Mode Lv. 1. Try to get to the bottom before the jailbird, too – you can get ahead by aiming for the speed pads and drawing long leaves with a steep slope.

Go back to the area on the right and across the bridge. Then move up to the next area, talk to Golem, then go back to the town square and talk to Mog in the top right to receive the professional card case. Talk to Bluebay in the top left, select Minigame then select Unicorn and the Town Musicians vol. 1 – Mimic That Melody (left 1 from the start, top option).

Create your 15-card deck out of all the cards you have thus far, naming it any 1-character name:

• Bomb – Self-Destruct
• Bomb – Self-Destruct+
• Phoenix – Fire Strike
• Phoenix – Undying Spirit
• Phoenix – Flames of Rebirth
• Adamantoise – Miraculous Shell
• Adamantoise – Slowspell
• Cactuar – Spinning Needle
• Mist Dragon – Mist Breath
• Cait Sith – Megaphone
• Iron Giant – Fist
• Bahamut – Air Strike
• Goblin – Slap
• Goblin – Rage
• Goblin – Shout

Golem

Use a Bomb card if you can’t do any damage – they’re useless here. If you draw Phoenix – Fire Strike, try to save it for turn 7 where you can deal 6 damage with it. If Golem is able to hit you with Cait Sith – Megaphone on turn 4, he’ll get the Protect status, which means that he’ll take half the usual damage until the end of his next turn. However, the card he uses next (Unicorn – Healing Kick) will remove all status conditions currently on Golem, so you can wait for him to play his card first and get rid of his own Protect if necessary (don’t do this if you have the Haste status from Cactuar – Spinning Needle). The silence status means that you won’t be able to use crystal abilities until the following turn is over, so if you plan on using Adamantoise – Miraculous Shell or Iron Giant – Fist on turn 9, you need to guard red on turn 8. If you haven’t beaten Golem by turn 10, the card he plays (Odin – Zantetsuken) will deal 6 damage to himself, so DO NOT guard red on this turn unless you can win immediately with an attack.

Run past Golem, then enter the picture book.

Shiva and Ifrit vol. 1 – Lunging for Lasans

Win Battle Lv. 1. Stay near the top of the screen so that you can grab the lasans before your opponent. At the end, try not to get hit by a fireball or icicle, because the game will wait for you to recover after time has run out. You can recover faster by rapidly tapping yourself. After winning, retry, select Battle Lv. 4, and win again.

Cross the pond and enter the next picture book.

Unicorn and the Town Musicians vol. 2 – Symphonic Survivor

During either Battle Lv. 1, 2 or 3, try to get 15 points. In my experience, it’s best to aim for 15 points on Lv. 2. You earn one point every time you’re on a correct panel, and another point for every round you clear perfectly (so if one round has one panel you need to be on, you score 2 points, and if one round has two panels you need to be on, you score 3 points). Roll into your opponents with good timing to knock them off the correct panels just before the beat reaches the appropriate point. After Lv. 1, Retry and change the Lv. to 2. After Lv. 2, enter the book again and win Lv. 3.

• Remove Bomb – Self-Destruct
• Remove Bomb – Self-Destruct+
• Add Unicorn – Gale Strike
• Add Cait Sith – Cat Rain (or Unicorn - Healing Kick if you didn't score 15 points in Symphonic Survivor)

Bebuzzu 2

If you draw them, play Mist Dragon – Mist Breath or Goblin – Shout on the first two turns, because after that you won’t get a good opportunity to use them. Phoenix – Fire Strike is best used on turn 3 if you draw it early. It’s especially important to avoid attacking into the guards on turn 3 and turn 6, because on turn 3 Bebuzzu will get the Protect status from guarding, and on turn 6 he’ll recover 2 HP. Besides that, look ahead to see what he’ll play next and plan accordingly.

Chapter 4: Under the Sea

After the fade-out downstairs following the contraption exploding, go down from the town square. Once you’re down the stairs and on the beach, go right, then head onto the jetty and talk to Carbuncle on the music note island for a new card. Then, go back to the left and go down onto the stone part. Underwater, go down, passing the chocobo card on the right. Keep going down until you see stairs to your right, at which point climb them. Cross the bridge and enter the picture book.

Shiva and Ifrit vol. 2 – Leaping for Luchiles

Get 5 points in Trial Mode. Throw yourself up just after Shiva forms the icicles so you get hit – that way you can lose your other two lives after getting the five luchiles you need on this screen. Retry, go to Battle Mode and select Lv. 3. Throw yourself up before your opponents to hopefully grab the luchiles first. At the end, try not to be stunned from an icicle or a flame, otherwise the game will wait for you to recover before ending. Re-enter the book and win Battle Mode Lv. 4.

Cross the ice bridge and mash your way through the cutscene. After the fade-out in the field, go down to the town square and talk to Bluebay. Select Minigame then select Shiva and Ifrit vol. 2 – Leaping for Luchiles (left 1 from the start, bottom option). Cross the ice bridge (for real this time), then enter the picture book in the bottom-right of the new area.

The Boy Who Cried Leviathan vol. 1 – Underwater Escapades

In Trial Mode, travel 21m; aim for the top at 21m and crash out. Re-enter the book and win Battle Mode Lv. 3.

Go back up the stairs to the top-left of the area to grab the coreshell, then go left from the picture book to reach a new area. Warp as follows:

• Go left and warp
• Go left and warp
• Take the warp you just came out of
• Follow the path up and right, then warp

Then, go to a new area on the left.

• Remove Goblin – Slap
• Remove Goblin – Rage
• Remove Goblin – Shout
• Add Shiva – Chilling Whisper
• Add Carbuncle – Quickstomp
• Add Iron Giant – Tackle

Talk to Sahagin.

Sahagin

Unicorn – Gale Strike is most effective on turns 1 and 5, and Phoenix – Fire Strike on turns 3 and 6. If you haven’t won the duel by turn 7, be wary – if you don’t guard red on that turn, Sahagin will restore 4 HP unless silenced by Mist Dragon – Mist Breath (the red guards in your deck are Mist Dragon – Mist Breath, Iron Giant – Fist and Iron Giant – Tackle).

Follow Sahagin to a picture book.

The Three Little Piggies vol. 1 – Puzzled Little Piggies

Get 40-49 points in Trial Mode. You get 1 point per half square filled in. You’ll have to sit around for a while after getting 40-49 points, since getting more points wastes time with useless rewards. The only way to clear Trial Mode faster would be to complete all three houses, which is not feasible.

After clearing Trial Mode, re-enter the book and win Battle Mode Lv. 3. Quickly grab a couple of big pieces at the beginning and place them before your slower opponents, and hopefully you’ll have a points lead for the whole game. If you get behind, try to complete a house to get bonus points.

Go back to the warp panel area. Go up and warp, then follow the path down and right, then warp. Go up the stairs and enter the picture book.

The Boy Who Cried Leviathan vol. 2 – Bubbling Barrage

Use Skip instead of Back to go through the prologue this time. Win Battle Mode Lv. 1. When someone feeds Leviathan, the timer is paused, so try to win while feeding him as little as possible. Roll into your opponents to cause them to drop their fish, preventing more feeds. On Lv. 1, you may be able to trap the jailbird in a corner for a while and roll continuously into him.

After winning Lv. 1, Retry, change to Lv. 3 and win in a similar fashion. After that, re-enter the book and win Lv. 4. If you score 10 points or more on Lv. 4, you get a useless reward, so try to avoid that. However, if you don’t think you can win without going above 10 points, prioritise winning. Remember that tied wins count as wins, as in all minigames!

Go through the doors behind Bebuzzu, then go up to the underwater area with the chocobo card, then collect the coreshell to the left of the stairs. Go back and challenge Bebuzzu.

Bebuzzu 3

Unicorn – Gale Strike is most effective on turn 1, and Phoenix – Fire Strike on turn 5. If you’re planning on using one of your cards that require green CP (Adamantoise – Miraculous Shell or Iron Giant – Tackle), be advised that on turn 7, Bebuzzu will destroy 3 of your green CP unless you guard red.

Chapter 5: Apparatuses and Apparitions

Talk to Cid to give him the coreshells. Then head north of the town square and fly to the Technolith. Go inside the tower and enter the picture book.

The Adamantoise and the Cactuar vol. 2 – Rescue on the Rapids

This is a minigame that needs a bit of practice. Knowing the course is really important since you can’t see much of it ahead of you. In Trial Mode, you need to clear the course in under 3 minutes. Make sure you hit a wall at some point to prevent you from getting a useless reward – a good place to do this is on the u-bend where you swing around from left to right before the chicane. If It looks like you’re going to get over 43s, but under 50 (or over 53s, but under 1m), slow down at the end so that you finish just above 50s/1m, hitting yourself against the wall if necessary. This will be faster in the end since you won’t waste time getting useless rewards. Re-enter the book and win Battle Mode Lv. 3, then re-enter the book again and win Battle Mode Lv. 4.

Go up the stairs and enter the elevator in the top-left. Then, go right to the next elevator. After the cutscene, enter the elevator and go down the stairs towards the next picture book. After the cutscene, enter the picture book.

Mini Red Riding Hood vol. 1 – Lightning-Fast Labyrinth

This minigame works on cycles. Here’s a video illustrating the kind of speed you need to get a low-20-second cycle: Clear Trial Mode, then re-enter the book and win Battle Mode Lv. 3.

Take the elevator back downstairs and interact with the picture book. Then, duel Iron Giant.

Iron Giant

Guard yellow turn 1 if you can, otherwise you’ll only be dealing half damage on turn 2. Watch out for turn 6, too – Iron Giant will destroy two of your green CP unless you guard green, which could interfere with your future plans. Cait Sith – Cat Rain will only deal damage on turns 1 and 5 before turn 10, so use it there if you can. Unicorn – Gale Strike is best used on turn 4 or 5, but Phoenix – Fire Strike isn’t great this duel, able to deal 4 damage only on turns 7 and 9.

Now enter the picture book for real!

The Three Little Piggies vol. 2 – Hide and Shriek

Win Battle Lv. 1. Try to tackle your opponent towards the tonberries if you can, or lead a tonberry towards them if they’re far away. After winning, Retry, change Lv. to 3 and win. This time, if one of your opponents loses all their lives, they turn into a mini-tonberry, but you can still track them with the map. After winning, re-enter the book and win Battle Mode Lv. 4.

Go back up the elevator, then run left across the clock hands and go up another elevator. After the cutscene, go around anticlockwise to the door. The combination is 62-20-39. Enter the elevator. Enter the picture book.

Mini Red Riding Hood vol. 2 – Shocking Shuffle

Win Battle Mode Lv. 1. You can roll into both Ramuh’s cloud and your opponents to send them in the direction you want. Ramuh’s lightning slowly rotates anticlockwise – stay away from it, direct your opponent towards Ramuh (or vice versa!), or just wait for the jailbird to run into the lightning.

After winning, Retry and change the Lv. to 2. This time, try not to get hit, because you get a good card (Ramuh – Thundercloud) for doing so. Re-enter the book and win Battle Mode Lv. 3.

This time, when revising your deck, tap the icon with the arrow in the top-right to remove cards.

• Remove Phoenix – Fire Strike
• Remove Adamantoise – Miraculous Shell* (keep if you didn’t get Thundercloud)
• Remove Shiva – Chilling Whisper
• Remove Mist Dragon – Mist Breath
• Add Ramuh – Shock
• Add Ramuh – Thundercloud (if won)
• Add Ramuh – EM Field
• Add Iron Giant – Overhead Smash

*remove Unicorn - Healing Kick instead if you didn't score 15 points in Symphonic Survivor

Bebuzzu 4

Ramuh – EM Field will enable your yellow attack executed on the next turn to do double damage, but it doesn’t work with defensive cards, so it’s best used on turn 1, 2, 7 or 8. Use Iron Giant – Overhead Smash early if you get it, before your HP gets higher than Bebuzzu’s and you lose the double-damage effect. Unicorn – Gale Strike is best used on turn 2 or 3, but it still reasonably effective if you draw it later. Ramuh – Shock will do 6 damage, but only if used after Bebuzzu has used two of his blue cards, so it works best on turn 5, 8 or 9. You can use Phoenix – Flames of Rebirth to quickly charge yellow CP, but beware of Bebuzzu’s yellow attack on turn 6 – it can do as much as 16 damage if you’ve used Phoenix – Flames of Rebirth and only used red and yellow cards!

Chapter 6: The Fifth Crystal

After the fadeout, go to the town square. After the next fadeout, enter the portal, then go down and enter the picture book.

Legend of the Crystals (no-air hockey)

You can’t hit Back this time, so Skip to get through the story. Bebuzzu’s HP goes through certain thresholds before a cutscene happens. The first threshold is after one hit, which you can get right away if you position yourself directly behind the crystal and nudge it straight up. The second threshold is at about three-quarters of Bebuzzu’s HP, and the third is at just above one half. His HP is the thin red bar at the top of the top screen. The general strategy is to try to come in contact with Volg when you’re sure he’ll hit it so that you can send a powerful, unblockable strike Bebuzzu’s way. This strike deals more damage if your power bars are full, but just take whatever opportunities you have, and don’t hold onto max power for too long – take a chance even if you’re not sure Volg will cooperate, because your power bar fills pretty quickly.

After the cutscene, skip through the epilogue of the book, mash through some cutscenes, save at the end of the credits, and check your game time. Hopefully you got a nice PB!