Once you finish up with the events at the Northern Border Fort, you will meet up with your contact, a man named Grius. A return to the Royal Capital is needed, since you want to get back there for the King’s funeral. However, a direct approach is out of the cards, so your party will have to go through some nearby mines to get there.
Mountain Forest Camp¶
Before you leave for the mines, the party will rest at a nearby camp. When you have control, feel free to speak with the others, but there’s one thing you must do here before resting. If you look by a tree away from the others, you should see a gold-colored orb floating in the air. This is one of the collectibles in the game, a 
Gold Beetle. There are 50 in the game, but this one in particular is completely missable, as you won’t be able to return to this camp after leaving it. Thankfully, you are able to miss a few of these, so don’t worry if you forget to grab it here. That’s all that is here, so choose to rest to get on with the story.
(1 of 2) Gold Beetles are collectibles that come in handy later on in the game.
Gold Beetles are collectibles that come in handy later on in the game. (left), Establishing bonds with various characters will become very important. (right)
While sleeping, you will be transported to a mysterious room, with an unfamiliar man greeting you. He introduces himself as More, with the place being called Akademia. He mentions that the power you wielded prior to this is something called an Archetype, which is essentially a job class. You will also shake his hand, triggering something else to happen. More will become your first Follower, a concept that is similar to the Social Links from the Persona games. Basically, they are people who you develop a bond with and as you increase that bond, you will gain more Archetypes and other abilities.
The next day, after some conversation, you will view your map, so choose the Nord Mines and get ready for the next dungeon.
Nord Forest Trail¶
| Enemy | Level | Weak | Strong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feral Hundo | 1 | – | – |
| Wild Corvo | 9 | Pierce | – |
| Nocross | 3 | Wind | – |
Before you can reach the proper part of the mines, you’ll have to go through this small forest. When you reach the first split, take the lower path to find an item (
Gluemoss). On the other path, you will be stopped before you get close to the enemies ahead, which will trigger a short tutorial about sizing up enemies. Basically, you use your Fae Sight to determine how strong an enemy is on the field. Enemies weaker than you will glow blue, while enemies of the same level will glow yellow. If they are stronger than you, then they will glow red. Enemies you haven’t fought yet will appear white, so there’s still a bit of unknown there.
(1 of 4) Make sure you pay attention to the color of the enemies you encounter.
When you come across weaker enemies (you are three or more levels higher), then you easily defeat them on the field with your attacks. Also, if you happen to get hit while doing this, you won’t be forced into a Squad Battle, like you would with same level/stronger enemies. One very important tip here is that you can lock onto enemies with L1/LB, which will allow you to quickly close the gap between you upon attacking. Dispatch the enemies here, then loot the item nearby for a 
Sturdy Straw. Continuing on, another tutorial will pop up, this one about starting Squad Battles on your own.
Press the designed button when an enemy is in view to start a Squad Battle. If you deplete their break gauge prior to doing this, then you’ll start the battle with an advantage. Should you get hit before emptying their break gauge, then the enemy starts the battle with an advantage. A Wild Corvo will drop down on the path ahead, so use whatever means to defeat it, then carry onward to the pack of wild dogs you see ahead. On the north side of this little area, you’ll find another Wild Corvo that will appear in front of the item, so dispatch it and loot the item after the battle (
Bouncy Bark).
At the next split, south will have some moth-like creature (Nocross) guarding another item (Bouncy Bark). To the north, there will be a merchant, in case you need to buy anything, as well as another item in the corner (Sturdy Straw). Carry onward to the east, taking out more enemies and grabbing the item along the way (
Medicine). When you see the little area with an item to the south, go there first (watch for the Corvo) and get it for a Gluemoss, then continue north for an 
Old Coin.
(1 of 3) For other enemies, you will have to fight them in traditional Squad Battles.
Upon reaching the end of this area, a cutscene will ensue and you’re forced into a battle with some State Army Soldiers. At the start, your character will automatically use Cyc with his Archetype, so you have no control on the first turn. After that, you’ll be taught about guarding, so do that on your second turn. The reason you want to do this is because they will use Mage Fire, which your character is weak against, so they will gain extra Turn Icons. Guarding makes it so your characters won’t have their weakness exploited, as well as mitigating the damage taken, but it also means they won’t be able to dodge attacks.
Defeat the soldiers like any other enemy, healing when needed with items. You won’t be able to control either Grius or 
Strohl here, so keep tabs on everyone’s health. Once you defeat the soldiers, you’ll be able to move onto the actual Nord Mines themselves.
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