Final Fantasy XIII

[Rasix]

The upgrade components are what I mean when I complain about the grind.  CP are easy to get, materials far less so.  I tried to grind for a bit but the effort required to PERHAPS get a component was a bit much.

You get stores with components.  Now, you just have to get money.    Selling weapons/fighting soldiers seems to be the only way to get any gil.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Pre chapter 10-11 items seem very precious, they aren't.  Feel free to sell half your accessories for cash to just buy components.

[Falconeer]

I never got the "FFXII feels like MMORPG" thing that I kept reading.  I don't know that it is worth a huge discussion at this point but I really don't see it.  I assume it was due to the lack of random encounters and separate battle screen.

If "feels like an MMO" means lack of random encounters and no separate battle screen, I want more MMO feeling in my RPGs!

Yes, combat with autoattack shit was very MMO-ish to me. Same for the first city, lots of running around for quests, and then first open area with respawning mobs with aggro range and shit, felt absolutely like FF11 with new graphics to me. It gets better later on, but I could never shake that feeling again.

[Xurtan]

Just got a weapon to star level. How do I go about transforming it to a new item? Is it just a case of getting lots of random ores until I find the right combination; or am I missing something terribly obvious?  (This is me assuming the ores that talk about being transformation catalysts are for weapon upgrading.)

[Lakov_Sanite]

This isnt really a spoiler per say as a good tip.

Any weapon you get can turn into your omega weapon for that char. Basically you evolve a weapon 3-4 times and it becomes an omega weapon but with the same stat allocation as whatever you evolved it from.  So pick the weapon style you want str/mag/debuff and just stick with it.

[stray]

Good to know, thanks. Anything similar for accessories?

BTw, I've upgraded Light's starter gunblade to lvl 10.... haven't seen anything about Omega yet.

[Lakov_Sanite]

You have to level up the weapons to around 25 and get star level then 'evolve' them by using rare ores. eventually after 3-4 evolutions they become the omega weapon.  Accessories im not too sure about though but be careful when you evolve them because at least a couple times itll turn into something completely different you may not have wanted.

[stray]

It appears that I have to grind.. you can't be that far ahead of me, and yet you're weapons are over lvl 25? Either I spread too thin on upgrades or you're catassing. Or both. 

[Lakov_Sanite]

I'm at chapter 11 now and really ive only evolved lightnings weapon once, I've slacked a bit on the rest and I dont give a damn about sazh/hope/snow since i never use them.

[Gunzwei]

Little help for those trying to figure out upgrading/dismantling.

Weapons can upgraded two times. The second upgrade turns the weapon into the "ultimate" form. Each upgrade requires the weapon to be * (star) level then upgraded with the appropriate catalyst item (these are ores/crystals).

Exp reqs to achieve a *  (star) level (generally not strictly) are - 50k exp for initial form, 450k exp for intermediate form, and 1.5 million exp for the ultimate form.

The best way to upgrade is to use organic components (claw icon) to achieve a x3 exp bonus, then use mechanical parts for exp in one go.

Detailed example of how to efficiently level an item -
Some accessories upgrade to better versions, and some change into an entirely different item when upgraded.

Dismantling
- The higher level the item is (lvl 1 - lvl star) the more materials/items you will get when dismantling it.
- The only reason to ever dismantle something is to get an extremely rare component, or items/accessories that can only be acquired through dismantling certain high level items.

Detailed example of using Upgrading/Dismantling to acquire the Sprint Shoes Accessory (auto haste) -

 

[Rasix]

Little help for those trying to figure out upgrading/dismantling.

Weapons can upgraded two times. The second upgrade turns the weapon into the "ultimate" form. Each upgrade requires the weapon to be * (star) level then upgraded with the appropriate catalyst item (these are ores/crystals).

Exp reqs to achieve a *  (star) level (generally not strictly) are - 50k exp for initial form, 450k exp for intermediate form, and 1.5 million exp for the ultimate form.

The best way to upgrade is to use organic components (claw icon) to achieve a x3 exp bonus, then use mechanical parts for exp in one go.

Detailed example of how to efficiently level an item -
Some accessories upgrade to better versions, and some change into an entirely different item when upgraded.

Dismantling
- The higher level the item is (lvl 1 - lvl star) the more materials/items you will get when dismantling it.
- The only reason to ever dismantle something is to get an extremely rare component, or items/accessories that can only be acquired through dismantling certain high level items.

Detailed example of using Upgrading/Dismantling to acquire the Sprint Shoes Accessory (auto haste) -

 

Eep, I didn't know it went higher than 2.     Ohh well, only at chapter 10.  Not a whole lot of waste in the grand scheme of things.

That stuff at the end.  Ugg, that's prime strategy guide fodder.  I've hated that every FF since 7 has some sort of incredibly hard to find or obscure way to obtain really powerful weapons/armor.  Makes you feel compelled to buy the strategy guide or wait until someone de-japs a Gamefaq guide (lot of textual changes to items which can make the current faqs somewhat hard to read).

Ohh well, at least it's not dependent on chocobo-breeding or blitzball.

edit:

Helpful weapon guide. http://ff-13.info/category/weapons/  Warning: don't go to the main page unless you want to see overal plot spoilers.  It is a walkthrough.

[stray]

Interesting how Gran Pulse opens up a few little additions this late in the game. The wild areas and Cieth side quests feels a little FF12 like at first glance.

Anyhow, seems like an longer RPG than usual when you think about it. Considering that when you subtract time sinks like towns and side games, and just have those playing hours devoted to the main story...

[Draegan]

Oh great, I didn't know about 3x bonus.  Booooooooooo.  Wasted a ton of stuff then.  Heh only in chapter 7 though no worries.  I have a ton of "organic" stuff to use for upgrades, but I'm very short on mechanical pieces.

[Bunk]

Being somewhat of a FF newb here, and only being in Chapter 3 so far, I am getting a little frightened by all of this.

Is it ok that I think the way Vanille runs with her arms outstretched is awesome?

[stray]

Pretty soon you'll be downloading magic girl anime. 


Seriously though, she's probably got the better animations of the bunch. Her weapon type is kind of different too.

[Rasix]

Is it ok that I think the way Vanille runs with her arms outstretched is awesome?

Vanille is pretty awesome throughout, although I'm finding debuffing to be less useful than I hoped.  It's great for difficult trash in parts (especially early on), just there's a lot of bosses where they're immune or nothing lands. I'm starting to feel like I need to work one of the buffers (Sazh or Hope) into my party, but that would mean benching Lightning or Vanille, which would make me sad.

There's an awesome scene in chapter 9 with Vanille's weapon.
 

[stray]

I started training her as a synergist, although I imagine it'll be awhile before I climb up the tree enough to be really useful. As it is, I tend to keep Hope in my teams. I don't dislike him, but Vanille would be cooler. Not sure what chapter I'm in, but Fang, Light, and Hope are a cool team imo. Getting Vanille trained though would pretty much cover anything.

[John Difool]

Vanille is pretty awesome throughout, although I'm finding debuffing to be less useful than I hoped.  It's great for difficult trash in parts (especially early on), just there's a lot of bosses where they're immune or nothing lands. I'm starting to feel like I need to work one of the buffers (Sazh or Hope) into my party, but that would mean benching Lightning or Vanille, which would make me sad.

There's an awesome scene in chapter 9 with Vanille's weapon.

Who do you have for your battle team? I beat the game using Lightning/Sazh/Vanille. I'm surprised you aren't using Sazh yet but maybe Haste isn't available yet on his Synergist Crystarium?

[Draegan]

Sazh sucks.  I'm not there yet, but you can get haste boots.

[John Difool]

Didn't know about the Haste boots. I'll agree that he isn't the strongest character, I'd dun him for lowish stats and that his Commando role I never used and would've preferred that he had Fang's Sab abilities. I just got used to him as "haste-bitch"/general buffs and his Ravager was more than competent with the benefit of the guns that gave Stagger bonus. Hope would've been a better choice but he didn't get Haste til much later and by then I was well into "not broken-don't fix" mode regarding combat.

[Rasix]

Sentinel not play a large role towards the end?  I admit I only use a Sent when I need to recover HP.

[John Difool]

Sentinel not play a large role towards the end?  I admit I only use a Sent when I need to recover HP.

I never used one unless forced to by the game for a special fight. It might have made some of the combat even smoother here and there but aside from an infrequent lapse in timing Paradigm shifts I only ever used "Retry" against insta-KO capable mobs and Sentinel really wouldn't change that effect anyways

Edit: I suppose on the Death fights Sentinel would've taken the fall on account of their aggro tools and I would've avoided game over but meh... If I ever do another playthrough my team would be Light/Sazh/Vanille until Hope gets Haste then Light/Fang/Hope for the rest

[luckton]

Apologies for the necro, but I'm playing through this for the first time and I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around this equipment upgrade system.  I've read through the early posts, and I still don't understand how to go about upgrading equipemnt, salvaging at the right times, while still finding the right stuff to sell to make some money to buy shit.  Or should I even bother with the whole thing?  Can someone just tl;dr this for me?

[Azuredream]

I don't remember entirely but I think you can completely ignore that system until you arrive at Gran Pulse, and then you can look up a guide for the most efficient means of upgrading your equipment. The process goes something like; use organic ingredients until the item has a times three multiplier, then use mechanical ingredients which will knock the multiplier down. Put more organic materials until it's back to times three, and so on. There are only a handful of items worth dismantling and it can only be done when it's fully upgraded. You shouldn't sell anything unless the description says it's only used for selling.

[Merusk]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/950899-final-fantasy-xiii/faqs

 

[Bzalthek]

My upgrade technique involved not playing anymore when You realized you realized rather than utilizing different tactics for certain fights, it simply revolved around slotting accessories to mitigate the chance of a game ender moves.

[01101010]

Holy fucking weirdness. I just got a 360 vga cable for my old 20" monitor (since I own no TVs) and have had this game for years and never finished it. Just so happen to pop it in Monday with the goal of playing through it at least to say I did. Odd coincidence, that.

[koro]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/950899-final-fantasy-xiii/faqs

 

Seeing a guide by Split Infinity reminded me that Gamefaqs letting people put whatever silly bullshit they like as a version number for their guides can get really fucking stupid.

[dalien]

Rise, from the dead!

Squeenix released a 16-bit retro SNES-type rendering of the FF13 and 13-2 stories if you're going to play 13-3 and want a refresher on the plot.  There be spoilers so don't watch if you're one of the 3 people currently playing through 13 and 13-2 and don't want anything spoiled (spoiler alert: it's a jumbled mess).  Otherwise, it's a good watch even if you have no interest in these games; it definitely hits the nostalgia bone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQrBSO74DzA

[Margalis]

I just started playing XIII-2. As far as I can tell this is the plot:

Lighting Lightning paradox Lightning Lightning Snow Lightning future Lightning Lightning.

[luckton]

Rise, from the dead!

Squeenix released a 16-bit retro SNES-type rendering of the FF13 and 13-2 stories if you're going to play 13-3 and want a refresher on the plot.  There be spoilers so don't watch if you're one of the 3 people currently playing through 13 and 13-2 and don't want anything spoiled (spoiler alert: it's a jumbled mess).  Otherwise, it's a good watch even if you have no interest in these games; it definitely hits the nostalgia bone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQrBSO74DzA

Holy shit, I'd give me left nut if they redid FFXIII like that.  Because it'd be 10x better than the  they put out.

[Nightblade]

Rise, from the dead!

Squeenix released a 16-bit retro SNES-type rendering of the FF13 and 13-2 stories if you're going to play 13-3 and want a refresher on the plot.  There be spoilers so don't watch if you're one of the 3 people currently playing through 13 and 13-2 and don't want anything spoiled (spoiler alert: it's a jumbled mess).  Otherwise, it's a good watch even if you have no interest in these games; it definitely hits the nostalgia bone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQrBSO74DzA

This pixel art looks like C-tier dog shit. Will Square-enix ever stop embarrassing themselves?

[Kail]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQrBSO74DzA

This pixel art looks like C-tier dog shit. Will Square-enix ever stop embarrassing themselves?

It's about ten million times better looking than FF6 by which I mean the mobile port they just released.

[Cyrrex]

There was a story in FF13 that needs catching up on?  Because all I remember is wandering through one endless tunnel and wondering when I was ever going to make it to the first town.

[Velorath]

Rise, from the dead!

Squeenix released a 16-bit retro SNES-type rendering of the FF13 and 13-2 stories if you're going to play 13-3 and want a refresher on the plot.  There be spoilers so don't watch if you're one of the 3 people currently playing through 13 and 13-2 and don't want anything spoiled (spoiler alert: it's a jumbled mess).  Otherwise, it's a good watch even if you have no interest in these games; it definitely hits the nostalgia bone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQrBSO74DzA

Holy shit, I'd give me left nut if they redid FFXIII like that.  Because it'd be 10x better than the  they put out.

Changing the graphics wouldn't fix the shit characters and story.