Gestral Village comes right after clearing the Ancient Sanctuary. This chapter is a full tonal shift, the Gestrals are ridiculous, and the writing leans into it hard. Take your time talking to everyone here, it’s worth it.
Just outside the village portal, there’s a small camp with a Colour of Lumina. Grab it, then rest at the camp to heal, level up, and upgrade your gear if needed.
Enter the village and immediately activate the Expedition Flag: Entrance for a fast travel point. Follow the path uphill through the gate. You’ll see Noco on your left, but your first stop is the large building straight ahead, that’s where the village “chef” is.
Inside the Chief’s house, talk to Golgra. The “chef” is actually the chief. He tells you that you’ll need to compete in the local tournament to continue your journey. Before heading to the arena though, explore the village first, it’s laid out in a circle around the Chief’s house.
The Gestral Bazaar
Head right from the Chief’s house to reach the bazaar.
Find the first vendor on the left, Jujubree. He sells Pictos – Critical Moment and other common items. Defeat him in battle, and he’ll also stock Gustave Weapon – Demonam.
If you bought the Weird Pictos from the Gommage Festival during the Prologue in Lumière, show it to Jujubree for Pictos – Augmented Aim (Lv5). If he doesn’t ask for it right away, come back later.
Right beside Jujubree is Berrami. He rewards you for showing him Expedition Journals you’ve found throughout the game, Colour of Lumina x20 per journal. Check in with him whenever you have new ones.
Past Berrami, take the left turn into the alley. Talk to the Gestral on the way in. Entering the alley triggers an ambush by Eesda. Beat him, and he becomes a vendor, selling Pictos – Healing Mark and Maelle Weapon – Sekarum.
Back out of the alley, look for a wooden path heading upward, right behind Berrami. Follow it to the end, break any boxes blocking the way with free aim shots, and collect Chroma x610.
Back at the bazaar, speak with the large Gestral standing in front of the alley. He offers to sell you “Excalibur” for 1,000 Chroma. Buy it. You get a Wooden Sword quest item that’s useful later.
Village Outskirts and Jousting Area
Out of the bazaar, find Karatom on the left, a small Gestral standing in front of a huge Sakapatate. He’ll ask you for a Blue Mushroom, which you’ll find in the next chapter. Just note it for now.
Past Karatom is another Gestral Merchant selling cosmetic items: Sakapatate Outfit and Gestral Haircut for Gustave. He also has a mystery item that unlocks once you get a new Expeditioner later.
Behind this merchant is a jousting area. Follow the queue trail to the far end near a fallen pot, there’s a Colour of Lumina there.
In front of the jousting area, talk to Alexsoundro, a tall yellow Gestral whose child is stuck on a ledge. To help, find the gate with a bridge and get past it. Turn right, you’ll see a magic rope in the distance.
Climb it, navigate the grapple point and climbing holds to reach a wooden bridge, then jump to the pillar at the end of the walkway and talk to the child. Return safely, and you’ll receive Lune’s Sakapatate Outfit.
Head toward the small gate near the infirmary. There’s a white, sickly Gestral on the left. Look for a small path to the left of the Arena sign and follow it to find Journal – Expedition 52. Then go to the Arena and activate Expedition Flag: Gestral Arena.
The Casino and Stage
The Arena is where the tournament happens, but there’s still more to explore first. Exit through the path on the right, then turn left to see two Gestrals brawling. Keep going until you spot a fancy Casino on the left. On the way there, look for a Recoat on the right side of the path.
At the Casino, interact with the door. The Gestral inside asks you a question, answer with “I don’t care” and he gives you Pictos – Roulette. If you like RNG-based gameplay, this is actually a strong Pictos for Maelle.
Take the other path from the Casino to reach the stage area. Behind the stage: Chroma x1,220. To the left of the stage, there’s a magic rope, climb it for another Chroma x1,220.
Talk to the Gestrals around the stage for some genuinely funny conversations. You’ll also find Alexcyclo, a Gestral Merchant here who sells exclusive items that unlock once you get another Expeditioner later in the game.
Near the trader, there’s a “Turn Back” sign. Ignore it and go through, this path leads to the Manor door.
The Manor
Going through the “Turn Back” path takes you into the Manor’s kitchen, not the lobby.
Find and activate three hidden objects in this order: the Roman statue on the right side of the door, the middle pan of the three pans hanging on the wall, and a spinning candelabra on the left table. Once all three are activated, a grate in the floor near some crates by the entrance opens up.
Drop through the opening. You’ll find a dead Gestral with a piece of cake on its belly. Go through the hole in the wall ahead to find a staircase. Behind and to the left of those stairs, grab the Shape of Energy.
At the base of the stairs, look for a crawl hole hidden behind crates on the opposite side. Break the crates and crawl through to find another staircase. Beside it is the Rebellious haircut for Maelle.
Head up those stairs to a locked room. There’s a picture on the floor showing a group of people, likely an Easter egg featuring the game’s developers. Nothing else to do here, so head back through the crawlspace, up the stairs, through the kitchen, and out the main door.
Before the tournament, start from the Chief’s house and take the path to the right. Search the shrubs behind the really tall Gestral for a Colour of Lumina.
Keep going along the path until you spot a sleeping Gestral. Use free aim to shoot the mirror inside his house, it wakes him up and starts a quick fight. Win it and collect the Chroma x1,200 he was blocking.
The Arena Tournament
Head to the Arena and talk to Limonsol, the pineapple-looking Gestral at the desk. The tournament is four rounds. You pick one character per fight for the first three.
Round 1 – Bertrand Big Hands: Repeating punch attacks. Easy to parry once you see the pattern.
Round 2 – Dominique Giant Feet: Overhead slam. The timing is tricky at first — dodge a few times to learn it, then start parrying.
Round 3 – Matthieu the Colossus: Repeating sword arm attack. Easy to counter.
Final Round – The Stranger: The character you choose here earns a new weapon. Maelle gets Weapon – Medaulm, Lune gets Weapon – Trebuchim, Gustave gets Weapon – Sakaram.
Maelle’s weapon is the hardest to get elsewhere, so she’s the recommended pick.
The mystery champion turns out to be Sciel, a member of Expedition 33 who got separated at the beach. She hits harder and uses more moves than the previous fighters, but the fight is manageable. After winning, Sciel joins your party.
Sciel’s Combat Mechanics
You get a tutorial battle to learn how Sciel plays. Her system is built around her Scythe and the Foretell ability.
- She places Foretell stacks on enemies and then consumes them.
- Placing stacks gives her Sun Charges, consuming stacks gives her Moon Charges.
- With a Sun Charge active, each Foretell consumed generates 1 AP. With a Moon Charge, she gets 1 AP per Foretell stacked.
When she has both Sun and Moon charges at the same time, she enters Twilight Mode for 2 turns. In Twilight Mode, all Foretell stacks are doubled, she can apply up to 20 stacks per enemy instead of 10, and her damage increases.
The best way to play her is to get into Twilight Mode first, then go all in on stacking Foretells for massive damage.
After the tutorial, Golgra gives you the password needed to meet Esquie.
Onwards!
Go back to the stage area and talk to the Gestral Merchant again. With Sciel in the party, you can now buy the Sciel Outfit – Sakapatate.
Once that’s done, head back to the village entrance and use the portal to return to the world map. The area is now marked as complete, and you’ll earn an Achievement. Your next destination is Esquie’s Nest.