I was talking to my boyfriend, and he asked me to write up a guide on how to do the clock puzzles in FF13-2. I thought it could probably be a nice idea. I know that he does not understand at all how they work, and I'm sure he's not the only one. I, on the other hand, understood it almost immediately.
This is a poorly drawn example of a clock puzzle that came up in my game a few days ago. I also added in letters, to make it easier for when I'm referring to each numbers (you know, because there's four 5s...).
The goal of a clock puzzle is to eliminate all the numbers on the clock.
To figure these out in the easiest way I can think of, you're going to need a lot of paper, and a pencil.
Write out the numbers on your clock. If you have a timed puzzle, pause the game first, and if you can't figure out what a number is through the pause screen, unpause, check
quickly, and then pause again.
Make sure they're written out rather well, because you'll probably have to rewrite it quite a few times.
Pick a random number to start with. I usually like to start with a high number first. For this particular puzzle, I chose to start with 6J.
On your paper, circle the number you started with.
Now, from your starting number, count six from either side. For example, because I started with 6J, so I would move 6 spots away. This would get me to 5D in either direction.
Obviously, in this case, I will choose 5D. Whenever you choose a number, cross it out on your paper. Be sure that the number is still visible though, so you can rewrite it later if needed.
5 spaces away on either side will get me to 6K and 4I.
Now I have to choose which one I would like to try next. This is why we have paper. There are many, many options for what the answer could be.
For this clock, through trial and error, I chose 4I.
4 spaces away gets me to 1A and 5E.
And so on.
Ultimately, my answer came out to be:
6J, 5D, 4I, 1A, 1B, 5C, 3H, 5E, 5L, 4G, 6K.
The thing that my boyfriend was stuck on was what direction the clock's hands went in. I would like to stress, for him, that the hands go in
both directions. At once. There will never be a time during a clock puzzle when the hands will go just clockwise or just counterclockwise. It goes both every time.
I hope you find this guide useful :)
Edit: I can't count and wrote that there were only three 5s up there instead of four...
