Final Fantasy XIII

[David Hingtgen]

Hmmn. Ch 11. I think I'm going to need to grind for like, ever. I can take on the flans at least...

[wolfx]

Hmmn. Ch 11. I think I'm going to need to grind for like, ever. I can take on the flans at least...

Welcome to pulse. You're not gonna like it.

I didn't grind and regretting it atm.

And i need gil. No sources of gil yet.

[David Hingtgen]

I'm in the annoying position of being able to upgrade Blaze Fire to the point of transforming it---yet lacking the mineral to actually do so. I could buy it, but it'd cost 50% of the money I have. I think I'll wait until I just find one.

PS---you'd never guess, but Hope has the best "summoning yell".

[dreamweaver13]

Welcome to pulse. You're not gonna like it.

I didn't grind and regretting it atm.

And i need gil. No sources of gil yet.

So it's still that tough to get gil even that far into the game? wow. that'll get a lot of getting used to.

Damn, I can't wait for the weekend to come, so i can catch up with the game. been stuck at Ch4 for a while now.

[David Hingtgen]

At the moment, I'd suggest that if you want gil (or good components)--grind in ch 9. Grinding in ch 11 will get you lots of CP, but not much else.

[wolfx]

So it's still that tough to get gil even that far into the game? wow. that'll get a lot of getting used to.

Damn, I can't wait for the weekend to come, so i can catch up with the game. been stuck at Ch4 for a while now.

So far i'm fighting wildbeasts and C'ith so yeah no gil. Which is pretty silly considering the shops have been updating themselves with better weapons and accesories and i can't buy them unless i decide to sell weapons....which i'm collecting.

As for weapons upgrading, my biggest EXP component is a particle accelerator that gives 7000 base EXP. I had to be careful using it because if an item was close to getting * level, the leftover EXP points won't be carried over, which is kind of annoying and making me crack my brain with maths. i.e.: how many particle accelerators do i use when my gladius is level 19, with 3x bonus?

All my character's weapons are now at level * until I can find more high EXP items to upgrade them cause after the upgrade into the new item, their stats drop down very considerably. And so far I haven't bothered to upgrade my accesories because the cost of upgrading a silver bangle into a tungsten bangle costs more than buying the damned tungsten bangle itself. So i rather wait for a better version of an accesory to become available rather than upgrade them.

[Ghost Train]

I got to the point where I could use Fang. Thinking she was some sort of black mage and that pole was a staff, I was quite surprised she turned out to be a Dragoon class fighter (sans the pet wyvern though ). Despite the generally poor reputation of this archetype, she is turning out to be one of my favorite characters.

[Wanzerfan]

I got to the point where I could use Fang. Thinking she was some sort of black mage and that pole was a staff, I was quite surprised she turned out to be a Dragoon class fighter (sans the pet wyvern though ). Despite the generally poor reputation of this archetype, she is turning out to be one of my favorite characters.

Kain in Final Fantasy IV also didn't have a pet draco.

[wolfx]

There's something strangely wrong with this game in terms of balancing or whatever. I could kill monsters comfortably easily now with a 5 star rating but damn the bosses can be tough as nuts and i always end up getting 0 star rating. I mean this is ridiculous, i was supposed to beat one boss in 50 seconds (target time) but i took 10 minutes to slay it. Am i doing something wrong here?

Spoilers TIPS for the end of chapter 11 :

After getting on the airship after fighting whatshisname, you can still fly back to pulse later on to grind or whatever in chapter 13, and after you beat the game. So fret not if u think u can't get to return. Though i advise you might want to grind more on pulse because i was getting my ass handed by boss fights up in Cocoon. The creeps are no problem though.

Disappointment with chapter 11:

I was abit disappointed that gran pulse itself was a desolate world with nothing much to explore. I was hoping to explore towns, cities and stuff but it was just pure wilderness and more linear paths to walk apart from the plains.

[David Hingtgen]

wolfx----exp carries over. I mean, I've taken a lvl 1 weapon, tossed a 5,000 EXP component at it, and gotten it to go straight to lvl 6. You don't get lvl 2 with 4,400 "missing" exp points. You don't have to worry about "wasting" experience. The only exception is when you're close to a "*".

Also---some enemies are hyper-vulnerable to being lucky/having just the right attack. I took out a group on the plains in just about 50 secs. The target time was 12 mins. I was kind of annoyed there was no "amazingly good battle" bonus. Behemoths are a good example of this---if you take them down quickly, they have no chance to do their "near-death buffs"---if they do, it'll take 3-5x longer to kill them.

Ghost Train--I never played FFO, but Dragoons in every other FF game have rocked IMHO. And Fang is very good, but I keep being annoyed by the fact that her mere presence pretty much forces Lightning to be a ravager much of the time, which is a waste of Light's skills. Only when you're down to one enemy can you switch to com/com. Com/sab is only useful for short periods of time, same for com/sen. Fang/Hope/Van or Fang/Sazh/Van would probably be an awesome party, but I'm never kicking Light out of the party. Still, I do often have Fang in the party as her innately high damage makes up for the periods when Light's a ravager. (and is part of the reason I'm going for a more balanced Light).

I keep trying to find reasons to put Snow in the party--but I can't. He pretty much sucks as a Ravager, Light is a superior Commando, Fang is just as good a Commando if not better and can be a saboteur and can almost match his sent abilities. Same for Sazh---Sazh is just not a good enough commando. Sazh was an awesome match for Van when it was just the 2 of them, but when I have free reign for a 3-person party---nothing of his stands out. I'm thinking Snow is going to end up being a mark-hunting-only specialist, when I need uber-Sent and uber-HP to survive million-HP monsters.

[wolfx]

wolfx----exp carries over. I mean, I've taken a lvl 1 weapon, tossed a 5,000 EXP component at it, and gotten it to go straight to lvl 6. You don't get lvl 2 with 4,400 "missing" exp points. You don't have to worry about "wasting" experience. The only exception is when you're close to a "*".

Yeah i meant when you get to the *, the EXP won't carry over to the new transformed weapon because * is as high as it goes. So you have to be careful on your weapons hitting the * level. Most weapons hit * at 25 but I think my Umbra was level 20 last I experimented.

Also---some enemies are hyper-vulnerable to being lucky/having just the right attack. I took out a group on the plains in just about 50 secs. The target time was 12 mins. I was kind of annoyed there was no "amazingly good battle" bonus. Behemoths are a good example of this---if you take them down quickly, they have no chance to do their "near-death buffs"---if they do, it'll take 3-5x longer to kill them.

Ghost Train--I never played FFO, but Dragoons in every other FF game have rocked IMHO. And Fang is very good, but I keep being annoyed by the fact that her mere presence pretty much forces Lightning to be a ravager much of the time, which is a waste of Light's skills. Only when you're down to one enemy can you switch to com/com. Com/sab is only useful for short periods of time, same for com/sen. Fang/Hope/Van or Fang/Sazh/Van would probably be an awesome party, but I'm never kicking Light out of the party. Still, I do often have Fang in the party as her innately high damage makes up for the periods when Light's a ravager. (and is part of the reason I'm going for a more balanced Light).

I keep trying to find reasons to put Snow in the party--but I can't. He pretty much sucks as a Ravager, Light is a superior Commando, Fang is just as good a Commando if not better and can be a saboteur and can almost match his sent abilities. Same for Sazh---Sazh is just not a good enough commando. Sazh was an awesome match for Van when it was just the 2 of them, but when I have free reign for a 3-person party---nothing of his stands out. I'm thinking Snow is going to end up being a mark-hunting-only specialist, when I need uber-Sent and uber-HP to survive million-HP monsters.

You're right about the luck. If things went right for me, the 1st boss of chapter 12 should be dead in less than a minute. Otherwise i'll be having a long tough battle just cause I didn't hit the stagger bar.

As for Snow, he's a better sentinel than Fang is. He has more HP. But Fang is a favorite for ppl on forums due to her later abilities. My least used character is Sazh which should not be the case but I find him hard to fit in especially when I need a sentinel and a saboteur in my party.

[David Hingtgen]

Lately I've been going Light/Van/Fang, so I can double-sabotuer enemies. Sab is inherently better than syn IMHO, as say you're up against a single tough enemy (which is often)----casting deshell once on the enemy is basically the same as casting faith three times on your party members. Casting slow is as good as 3 hastes. Debrave is worth 3 protects. It's simply faster, and thus you have a bit more time for healing etc. After the opening round 2 sabotuers could have accomplished what would take a synergist like a dozen spells to achieve.

If hastega/braveryga/faithga exist, they're a long ways away.

Hope is very close to having EVERY syn spell though, might bring him back in when that happens.

[Ghost Train]

Dear Lawd..... chocobo song has lyrics now.

[David Hingtgen]

Ah yes. Freaked me out the first time too---but you gotta admit it works and they're kinda catchy. (really, half the songs in the game have lyrics, but they're usually ethereal/background)

[chen]

I just started Chapter 9 and I must say I love this game, so far it's not as expansive as Star Ocean 3 but IMHO is way better looking.

I have a question though, I read that no matter what weapon you choose for a certain character they all transform into the same ultimate weapon? Also how many levels are there to upgrade your weapons? I'm at level 16 for Lightnings Gladius, 12 for Fang and so on and trying to upgrade 6 weapons is starting to get tough.

[David Hingtgen]

All weapons end up at the same ultimate weapon---however, the ultimate weapon's stats ARE heavily influenced by what weapon was evolved into the ultimate weapon. In short---the final weapon for a given character always looks the same with the same name, but it will "act like" what it came from.

First tier weapons go to 25, THEN to star, then can be evolved.

An evolved weapon starts at lvl 10 or so, then goes to 60 I think, then star, then is the "ultimate weapon".

chen---don't waste stuff at this point upgrading all 6 weapons. You can't afford to, and probably won't be able to until end-game. Pick your faves. I'll tell you now that Sazh is rapidly decreasing in usefullness, and Snow's not much better. My final party (barring any weird quirks of the final boss) will be either Light/Hope/Fang or Light/Van/Fang. And Belladonna is pretty much universally considered Van's best weapon, so go ahead and upgrade the heck out of it--nothing better will come along.

Also----grind in ch 9! You want to snag as many credit/incentive chips from the soldiers as possible. MONEY is hard to find in this game.

To everyone, for ch 11: I'd personally suggest doing only small amounts of grinding in the first main area---head right, find the flans in the fog, get some CP. Scout around the area just to fill out the map, and do a few easy hunts/missions. BE CERTAIN TO COMPLETE AT LEAST ONE HUNT. Then go and further the story. Keep going. Pick up an eidolon, etc. After a while, you will be at a tower. You'll definitely know which one I mean when you get there. The jouney itself will give you just as much CP and items as grinding would, only it's a lot less boring. Just before the tower, there's a cie'th stone that'll activate. Do its mission immediately---it shouldn't be hard. Now, you should be able to teleport between there, and the beginning part of ch 11, so you can alternate between grinding and the tower to your heart's content, and you'll have acquired some nifty things (like summons and weapons) on the journey. (many people try to WALK back to the beginning of 11 once they get a ways in and are finding 11 hard---that takes forever and then you'll have to walk all the way forward again to where you were---it's much better to just keep pressing forward until you can start teleporting between the beginning and the tower)

[chen]

Thanks a lot it seems that it really opens up in Chapter 11. I'm also trying to fight every thing I can find and did find a nice design quark in Hopes house where foes keep regenerating but that's the thing with these type of games I don't like. I miss the old days where you would just head out run back and forth or even circles lol till a battle would start and you would get experience AND money for winning the battle.

[David Hingtgen]

Ack, that won't work for ch 11----that waystone's not one of the *teleporting* ones. Ah well, the area around the tower is still good for CP farming.

[Oihan]

I'm at chapter 9, busy grinding; made about 150k gil. Any idea about just how much I should be aiming for? I only ask cause I'm not too sure how expensive it will be to upgrade the main weapons for all of my characters. Still loving this game! Thanks!

[David Hingtgen]

150K is more than I ever had. I honestly don't know how much you need---really, the main need for money at the moment is:

1. Rare minerals for transforming weapons.

2. Accessories.

3. Phoenix downs.

You can buy components, but generally find enough good ones for free that it's not worth it, except for some cheap organic ones to help ensure you've got 3x bonuses all the time.

PS---upgrading accessories is fairly pointless. They cost much more than weapon upgrades and have smaller benefits. They should be near the bottom of your priority list.

[Shadow]

I've been playing this game at a casual pace. Currently up to Ch. 5 and have been rather overwhelmed by certain aspects of the ATB system and upgrading weapons. The game has been interesting so far but I'm admittedly disappointed at some of the changes made from previous FFs. I'm surprised to hear the ability to gain gil doesn't improve much in the game atleast til Ch. 9.

[Chowser]

My final party (barring any weird quirks of the final boss) will be either Light/Hope/Fang or Light/Van/Fang.

My final party was Fang/Light/Hope.

if i have time, i will try it again with van instead of hope.

[David Hingtgen]

This may help people who want some battle system stuff. Having gone through most of the game and tried just about everything, I almost always have the following paradigms now, in this order, assuming Light/HopeOrVan/Fang:

rav/rav/com

com/med/sen

com/rav/com

com/rav/sen

com/rav/sab

com/***/sab

*** will depend on if it's Hope or Van. Syn or Sab goes there.

General plan of attack: My default paradigm that I start battles with will be one of the two bottom ones. If it's an obvious "tough" enemy I'll go with max debuff/buff, otherwise I'll just have one sabotuer with everyone else attacking. After the first round, switch to relentless assault (rav/rav/com). When down to just one enemy, switch to agression (com/rav/com).

Van and Fang do pair fairly well as dual sabotuers, as they tend to cast different spells. While now both of them can cast most of the spells, AI Fang always prefers to do slow/curse/imperil etc, while AI Van does deprotect/deshell/poison. If they're both lucky, you'll find enemies have a half-dozen debuffs by the time Lightning's ending her first round of attacks.

[wolfx]

I'm at chapter 13 and you're allowed to go back to pulse to continue your grindings. Take note i did not grind and just played the story all the way to chapter 13. When I returned to pulse, the missions were relatively easy for Ranks B,C,D. So for now i'm completing the missions. Getting gil , CP and high EXP components fairly easily to comfortably upgrade multiple weapons.

Some creatures drop items that cost alot of money and you ocassionaly find a gold nugget using your chocobo, so that's where you get your 50,000 gil. You will use your money to buy high EXP components like particle accelrators and rare transformation minerals that will give you your ultimate weapon. They cost like 250,000 gil for the most expensive mineral so good luck with your grinding. I think you get to kill giant oretoises to get the rare minerals too but those things are huge and tough. I can't beat one yet.

Abit saddened that i'm close to the end of the game now. Its a relatively short FF game which i think i'll finish (+ grinding) with a total of 50 hours game time tops.

[Ghost Train]

Sazh's 4th attack is awesome. Like wolfx said, very much like Gundam Cherudim indeed.... he even wears a green coat to match.

[David Hingtgen]

I don't think I've used him since I got a 4th segment for him. Will have to see. Fang's 4th was most unexpected though. (or maybe it's her 5th?)

PS--I really hate how the game won't remember paradigms for your party. Surely it couldn't take up that much space in the save file to remember your combinations. Even if it wouldn't allow every combination to be saved, it should allow 2 or 3 "favorite parties and their paradigms". It'd save a lot of time re-assigning things.

[one_klump]

In chapter 9 right now, spent a bit of time zoning back and forth grinding enemies. Incentive chips galore. Just beat the fal'Cie there, I love the battle system. Less time micro-managing the fight and you just kinda direct the flow of it.

I use Sazh for Haste and Van for her huge debuff (forgot the name, but it is a super mega debuff), with Light in the commando role. I like Fang, but she is no replacement for Light imo.

As soon as I get some time to grind missions on Pulse I think that I'll be able to upgrade a few weapons to stage 2. I haven't bothered upgrading accessories yet, they take way too much exp. I also noticed that weapons with bonuses other than just stats are exp point eaters, and their base stats kinda suck.

[David Hingtgen]

Ooooh, I just read something interesting that may affect people's "starting" paradigms:

A successful debuff apparently counts the same as a commando hit, with regards to preventing the stagger bar from draining. Hmmmn. Gotta try it out.

[wolfx]

Ooooh, I just read something interesting that may affect people's "starting" paradigms:

A successful debuff apparently counts the same as a commando hit, with regards to preventing the stagger bar from draining. Hmmmn. Gotta try it out.

That is why I happily use 2x saboteur and 1 medic paradigm for those tough bosses. But it doesn't have to be successful. Successful or not, it will deal some pittance amount of damage as well as maintain the stagger bar. Very useful paradigm.

[one_klump]

very interesting, I've actually been avoiding reading stuff about the game to try things out for myself, but that is a great tip, especially since some characters have different spells than others. Although Imperil has been my do-all debuff for quite a while.

[wolfx]

Finished the game. I have to say the story doesn't feel as epic as the previous FF games and....overall quite disappointing. Also paradigms are only fully unlocked after you finished the game so there's no way for you to farm and get your characters with the ultimate weapons and stats before you fight the final boss.

Oh final boss fight was pretty laughable as well. The final form of the boss was actually the weakest.

I forgot to check my time but i believe it was around 40 hours. I think i'll spend another 10 or so hours to grind for the ultimate weapons and put this game to rest.

[David Hingtgen]

IMHO it was clear early on that it wasn't going to be as "epic" of a story.

[wolfx]

yeah...Snow's optimism rubbed off on me. >.<

(no spoiler beyond chapter 11)

I was thinking

that Pulse was going to be inhabited by another civilisation and we'll see a great war between pulse and cocoon in the final moments. But wtf, no. Instead its....

(chapter 12 spoiler)

wildlife let loose around Cocoon and staged by the Fal'Cie. Pfft.

[David Hingtgen]

Huh. I just completed a "side" quest in ch 11 (hard to miss, only takes a few mins) and it got me over 500,000 gil. And I got a perovskite just before. Though actually now I may wait for Lionheart and just upgrade that.

[one_klump]

I was looking forward to an "epic" story, but honestly, the only difference is that there is no single antagonist. All the other games had someone who you knew you had to defeat, or else the world would be destroyed. 13 is more of these few people fighting against their destiny, instead of a bad guy.