How to get the true ending in The Adventures of Elliot

Reaching the true ending in The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales requires a complete understanding of the past to change the future. After traveling through four different ages, Elliot sees a solution to the problems that afflict the Kingdom of Huther. What he doesn’t know is that there’s a longer but better conclusion to his tale: the game’s true ending, which features additional hours of gameplay and more boss fights.

If you want to help Elliot find the path leading to a brighter future, you must learn how to unlock the true ending in The Adventures of Elliot.

[Ed. note: Spoilers for The Adventure of Elliot‘s story below. We try to keep it vague to avoid heavy spoilers, but if you haven’t gotten to this part of the game yet, you may want to bookmark this guide and come back later.]

How to unlock the true ending in The Adventures of Elliot

The process of unlocking the true ending in The Adventures of Elliot begins once you have reached the “Head to the sorcerer’s location” main quest and a purple icon appears on your map over the location of the Northern Tower. Do not go there yet! Before you commit to visiting the tower and facing the boss, there are several steps you must complete:

• Complete the quest lines in the Age of Budding, Age of Magic, and Age of Reconstruction.
• Search for the three sages.
• Find the Leytstaf sword.
• Gather information to save Māo.
• Go to the Northern Tower and face the Beast of Enmity.
• Collect cats.

Some of these steps can be completed out of order, but it’s important to start the Age of Budding quest line and progress to the point where Lyudmila asks to speak with you in private before searching for the three sages. Below, you find a rundown on each step. We will keep the descriptions brief to avoid spoiling the story.

Start the quest lines of each age

Your first goal is to visit the Age of Budding, Age of Magic, and Age of Reconstruction to start their respective quest lines. First, go to Hitoyori in the Age of Budding. Then, move to either Littlehope in the Age of Reconstruction and Weyzn in the Age of Magic.

For a large portion of these quest lines, you are guided by red flags on the map showing the next objective. However, there are two moments when the game doesn’t indicate what to do next. When this happens, you must, in the Age of Magic, visit Māo’s cabin, and in the Age of Budding, go to Lyudmila’s cabin to progress the quests.

You will know that all three quest lines have been completed after major events take place in each age. The final one that marks the end of this step is in the Age of Budding, when the hall is set on fire. Here’s a tip: when inside having to save a character from the fire, you need to push the vase and make your way through the flames.

Find the Leytstaf sword

The Leytstaf sword is the third-tier upgrade for Elliot’s sword and a key item in the game. You can find it on sublevel two of the Water Ruins, located north of the Western Fields of Flon, but only after having reached the moment where you can go to the Northern Tower. While you don’t need to have the sword with you to search for the sages, one of them will eventually ask you to find the sword, so you will save some time by acquiring it earlier.

Here’s where the Leytstaf sword is located:

Image: Square Enix, Claytechworks/Square Enix via Polygon

Meet all three sages

An important part of this quest involves finding the three Myū sages: Thiew, the white sage; Boyne, the ebony sage; and Wynat, the tawny sage. You can only begin searching for the Myū mages after completing the part of the Age of Budding quest line, where Lyudmila gives you the Lustrous Bell, and talking with the Ailurophilic Traveler in the Age of Budding, Age of Magic, and Age of Reconstruction.

If you try to head to the locations shown in the maps below before going through these two steps, you won’t find the sages. When you talk to the Ailurophilic Traveler, they will tell you about unique cats they heard about in each age and mark their locations on the map with a red flag. In the Age of Reconstruction and the Age of Magic, when you talk to them for the first time after visiting Lyudmila, they will guide you to the next step of that particular age’s quest line. Complete the quest to find the red flag over the Ailurophilic Traveler location again. Go talk to them so the other two sage locations are marked on the map.

Choose to start with either the Age of Reconstruction or the Age of Budding sage, since you can’t reach the sage in the Age of Magic before having met the other two.

Here’s where each one is located:

• Boyne, the ebony sage – Mount Phoenix (Age of Reconstruction)

Graphic: Paulo Kawanishi/Polygon | Source images: Square Enix and Claytechworks/Square Enix via Polygon

• Wynat, the tawny sage – Grandtree (Age of Budding)

Graphic: Paulo Kawanishi/Polygon | Source images: Square Enix and Claytechworks/Square Enix via Polygon

• Thiew, the white sage – Geared Ruins (Age of Magic)

Gather information

If you have completed all the three quest lines, a new quest asking you to gather information on how to save Māo will start. The idea is to revisit the ages and talk to some characters to find a way to defeat the Beast of Enmity without killing it.

The answer lies in Heuria’s room in the Age of Safekeeping. On the northern side of it, you will find her pendant. Interact with it, so a cutscene starts playing and you collect this new accessory.

Image: Square Enix, Claytechworks/Square Enix via Polygon

Go to the Northern Tower and face the Beast of Enmity

Facing the Beast of Enmity in the Northern Tower is a point of no return. Here are two things you must know before proceeding:

1. Ensure you have the Amber Pendant accessory equipped. If you enter the fight without it, you can’t complete this step.
2. You must not attack the boss.

As the fight begins, Elliot will realize that using his Moon Shield is key in this battle. Instead of attacking the boss, you want to focus on performing precision guards (block right after the boss glows red). You can’t repel every attack, so avoid being hit by the boss’ regular moves. After successfully repelling some attacks, the fight will end, and you will be ready for the next step.

Collect enough cats

After saving Māo, your next goal is to talk with the three sages again. They will ask you to find other Myū who are disguised as regular cats. This time, however, you don’t need to locate specific cats, you only need to collect at least 15 cats.

If you have been taking every cat you find back to the Kingdom of Huther, then there’s a good chance you already have enough, and the next part of the quest will unlock automatically. In case you need help finding them, here’s our guide with the location of every cat in the game.

Image: Square Enix, Claytechworks/Square Enix via Polygon

Once you complete this step, you will be set to get the true ending in The Adventures of Elliot. There are no more mandatory objectives beyond following the remaining quests.