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[careful]

I'm still tier 2, but I'll most probably take the Gladius all the way since I prefer to use my Lightning as a Commando (and I've already dumped so many god damn points into it).

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

Ultimania says

Spoiler

that at least the continent in which Oerba was located was deserted because Fang's destruction of Cocoon, even if incomplete, forced Cocoon's fal'Cie into looting huge amounts of materials from Pulse for the reconstruction. Pulse fal'Cie had to create loads and loads of l'Cie of its own while trying to fight Cocoon's attacks but they all failed and became Cie'th, or died battling Cocoon's own l'Cie, because Ragnarok was a "sleeping" and their efforts were futile.

Spoiler

I definitely took it as implied that the Cie'th you encounter at Oerba were the former residents of the town.

 

[Firestorm]

Lionheart for well roundedness and random instant stagger
or
Axis Blade for faster ATB regain

no consensus between the two really

i prefer lionheart

When will I find one? I'm using a non-upgraded Gladius and I'm in Chapter 10 =P

 

[jiggle]

you should have an axis blade already
and lionheart is found at the very beginning of ch

Spoiler

12

 

[Dragon]

Just started Chapter 2. Vanille isn't as annoying as I thought she'd be, at least not yet. It's kinda endearing really.

 

[Cmagus]

so maybe I am doing something wrong but I am at

Spoiler

Chapter 9 Barthandelus

and I keep getting destroyed.I checked out some videos and I see people doing like 2-3000 damage on this guy how are people getting such great damage?

My characters are maxed out my weapon for Lightning is like lvl 10 and maybe im not playing this right but how are people getting these huge numbers?

 

[Firestorm]

you should have an axis blade already
and lionheart is found at the very beginning of ch

Spoiler

12

Ah yeah I do have the Axis Blade. Hm... Maybe I should just upgrade my Gladius now? I'm assuming I'm quite a ways away from Chapter 12 if I just started Chapter 10. But I'm usually Ravager with Fang being the Commando (and me juggling classes during stagger) so I guess I might upgrade Axis Blade instead.

Damn. I need the Mass Effect 2 system of "this gun is better than the last gun so i will use this gun because why would i use a bad gun pew pew boom"!

I blame not wanting to use up upgrade materials. It's the hoarder in me

 

[crimzonflame]

Crappy ending.

 

[hateradio]

Crappy ending.

Thank you for sharing this insightful piece of knowledge, something the rest of us can ponder about for ages to come

jk, it was

Spoiler

IN MY HANDS, YOUR HANDS, OUR HANDS, NO HANDS

 

[yanhero]

FUCK, whoever designed the mission and teleport placements should be fired immediately and never be allowed to touch another game again. Don't make me walk 10 min between every mission...god.

 

[StarEye]

So, is it hard to get more shroud -sols? Are they limited to a certain amount in the whole game? I think I've been a little careless in the use early on.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I guess it really pays to grind, I rolled through both Chapter 11 bosses without even breaking a sweat.

Spoiler

Pope Fal'cie, Round 2

took me about 8 minutes flat and I 5-starred it on my first try using Light/Fang/AussieCute. The boss before

Spoiler

Pope Fal'cie

was actually harder for me, I took way longer than the allowed time but I ground him down in due time on my first try.

Onwards to ridiculous and awesome

Spoiler

Team Lightning fucks up the Eden F-Zero CGI

and the last 2 chapters! :lol

 

[firehawk12]

The Dragoon Lance from Gilgamesh? She is better off with the Taming Pole imo. You get a little more strength from the Dragoon Lance, but you miss out on a ton of magic from the Taming Pole IIRC.

Honestly I'm just not sure if having a Stagger Lock weapon is good or bad on Fang. I figure she's best as a Commando anyway, so might as well give her the high strength weapon.

All you need are Earth and Magic resist rings and you're good. Having a dual Sentinel team works well for those Ultima attacks.

Well, I've nailed down killing them with Fang's summon. Can you kill them without summons with just tier 2 weapons?

It's also too bad that I've only found 2 clay rings in the game... and for whatever reason, they made it so that they don't sell the rings in the shops. Go figure.

So, is it hard to get more shroud -sols? Are they limited to a certain amount in the whole game? I think I've been a little careless in the use early on.

You can buy them in the shops later in the game. The only ones that are "rare" are the ones that restore TP, since those cannot be purchased.
That said, you probably should avoid using them unless you really need to. Deceptisol costs 30k gil.

 

[grumble]

I want square you use this engine and art team ALL THE TIME. This game looks great. I do want better game design though, too linear and too much walking for missions.

Also, can I not kill any A level monsters until post-game?

 

[toastyToast]

Is there a quick way to get to the Faultwarrens?

 

[Animator]

Can someone please tell me how the fuck do I beat Zirnitra? Fucker is invincible. I tried every goddamn party combination.

I am in chap 13 now so my chrystalium is as high as it can possibly go and my main chars are all maxed out in their main roles. I am rolling with fang\hope\Lightning.

 

[burgerdog]

Well, I've nailed down killing them with Fang's summon. Can you kill them without summons with just tier 2 weapons?

It's also too bad that I've only found 2 clay rings in the game... and for whatever reason, they made it so that they don't sell the rings in the shops. Go figure.

You will get the upgraded version of clay ring from the Ochu mission in the faultwarrens.

Here is my adamantoise/adamantortoise strategy for those that have similar gear and all roles maxed out.

Fang/Light/Vannile
Syn/Syn/Med
Rav/Rav/Med
Com/Med/Med
Syn/Sab/Sab
Rav/Rav/Rav
Com/Com/Rav

Start the fight with Syn/Syn/Med and cast Bravera/Protectra on yourself(Fang) and then cast Faithra/Protectra on Light and Vanille, Light will cast Haste and be done before you are done with your buffs. That means you don't need haste shoes for this battle and you can equip an hp ring or whatever else you see fit.

-

Switch to Rav/Rav/Med focus on one of the legs, you should stagger it in a matter of seconds. Once you Stagger it switch to Com/Med/Med and Highwind the leg, you should take it out. Target the other leg and switch to Rav/Rav/Med again, the reason you want to target the other leg before you switch is because if you don't, Light will attack the turtle and waste an entire turn. Stagger the other leg, switch to Com/Med/Med and do Highwind.

-

Switch to Syn/Sab/Sab and cast Haste/Bravera on yourself and Light, Faithra/Haste for Vanille if you need to(if you're strong enough you don't need to buff her). By the time you are done buffing, they should have Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil up. The computer won't bother putting slow up because it's completely useless, it's not like the turtle can even attack while it's down and it won't make it stand up slower than normal.

-

Switch to Rav/Rav/Rav and stagger it, you can try getting the stagger bar up a bit more if you aren't strong enough to switch to Com/Com/Rav right away. That's pretty much it, I can kill it in 1minute 50 seconds most of the time using this method.

Can someone please tell me how the fuck do I beat Zirnitra? Fucker is invincible. I tried every goddamn party combination.

I am in chap 13 now so my chrystalium is as high as it can possibly go and my main chars are all maxed out in their main roles. I am rolling with fang\hope\Lightning.

If you want to do it the easy way, just have a sentinel/medic/sab(vanille) set up and cast death on it :lol Otherwise just set up a few paradigms all containing a sentinel with a mix of med/sab rav/rav com/rav etc, but a tank is a MUST for that mob.

 

[StarEye]

You can buy them in the shops later in the game. The only ones that are "rare" are the ones that restore TP, since those cannot be purchased.
That said, you probably should avoid using them unless you really need to. Deceptisol costs 30k gil.

Hmm, okay, that's good news I guess. Deceptisol isn't something I use very often... I usually don't avoid fights, and I find it's pretty easy to sneak up on the bigger ones.

 

[Giolon]

Is there a quick way to get to the Faultwarrens?

Besides the teleportation Cie'th stone right outside the entrance? Or

Spoiler

riding a Chocobo

directly there?

 

[firehawk12]

You will get the upgraded version of clay ring from the Ochu mission in the faultwarrens.

Here is my adamantoise/adamantortoise strategy for those that have similar gear and all roles maxed out.

Fang/Light/Vannile
Syn/Syn/Med
Rav/Rav/Med
Com/Med/Med
Syn/Sab/Sab
Rav/Rav/Rav
Com/Com/Rav

Start the fight with Syn/Syn/Med and cast Bravera/Protectra on yourself(Fang) and then cast Faithra/Protectra on Light and Vanille, Light will cast Haste and be done before you are done with your buffs. That means you don't need haste shoes for this battle and you can equip an hp ring or whatever else you see fit.

-

Switch to Rav/Rav/Med focus on one of the legs, you should stagger it in a matter of seconds. Once you Stagger it switch to Com/Med/Med and Highwind the leg, you should take it out. Target the other leg and switch to Rav/Rav/Med again, the reason you want to target the other leg before you switch is because if you don't, Light will attack the turtle and waste an entire turn. Stagger the other leg, switch to Com/Med/Med and do Highwind.

-

Switch to Syn/Sab/Sab and cast Haste/Bravera on yourself and Light, Faithra/Haste for Vanille if you need to(if you're strong enough you don't need to buff her). By the time you are done buffing, they should have Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil up. The computer won't bother putting slow up because it's completely useless, it's not like the turtle can even attack while it's down and it won't make it stand up slower than normal.

-

Switch to Rav/Rav/Rav and stagger it, you can try getting the stagger bar up a bit more if you aren't strong enough to switch to Com/Com/Rav right away. That's pretty much it, I can kill it in 1minute 50 seconds most of the time using this method.

That's wild - I just saw a youtube video with this strategy - is that yours?

I might give it a try. It seems to work well... I guess it just takes a little more patience with lower damage weapons.

Bigger picture though, I have no idea how I feel about this weird game design. They clearly made Gil a rare resource just to extend the post game play for trophy whores, but it almost feels completely broken since you're not even being challenged when you get to the point where you grind of traps.

I'd almost prefer 10 hours of the Mass Effect 2 mining game over turtle farming.

 

[burgerdog]

That's wild - I just saw a youtube video with this strategy - is that yours?

I might give it a try. It seems to work well... I guess it just takes a little more patience with lower damage weapons.

Bigger picture though, I have no idea how I feel about this weird game design. They clearly made Gil a rare resource just to extend the post game play for trophy whores, but it almost feels completely broken since you're not even being challenged when you get to the point where you grind of traps.

I'd almost prefer 10 hours of the Mass Effect 2 mining game over turtle farming.

Nah, I got this from a youtube video as well. It's just not possible to do if your characters are not strong enough. With this method you don't need any defense/magic+ rings because they never get a quake off. Once you get this method down it becomes so incredibly easy that what you said holds true, there is no challenge.

I even went back to get 5 stars on some of the hunts that I had a lower score on and it's insane, with my stats I can destroy most marks. Whoever said that having high level shit works against you is wrong. You simply obliterate almost every mark.

 

[_Xenon_]

Ultimania says

Spoiler

that at least the continent in which Oerba was located was deserted because Fang's destruction of Cocoon, even if incomplete, forced Cocoon's fal'Cie into looting huge amounts of materials from Pulse for the reconstruction. Pulse fal'Cie had to create loads and loads of l'Cie of its own while trying to fight Cocoon's attacks but they all failed and became Cie'th, or died battling Cocoon's own l'Cie, because Ragnarok was a "sleeping" and their efforts were futile.

Is there any difference between cocoon fal'cie and pulse fal'cie? I mean

Spoiler

both sides want to destory cocoon and bring back the maker but why bother fighting each other? Actually why even bother creating cocoon in the first place? If they just want to harvest human they could do it on pulse as well.

 

[Pop On Arrival]

Chapter 11:

Spoiler

Goodness, fighting Vanilles Eidolon must have been the most frustrating shit ever. Why the fuck doesn't the game ask you if you wanna fix your paradigms and Crystal points before the first battle anyway? Why does it only fucking ask if you wanna arrange shit after you fucking die? Why fucking waste my time like that? Stupid.

I spammed prebattle buffs and fucking demolished that shit. Fuck yeah.

 

[Styles]

Does the treasure hunter trophy you upgrading every weapon to their second form?

 

[darkwings]

How do I use the transformations items?

 

[firehawk12]

Does the treasure hunter trophy you upgrading every weapon to their second form?

And some of the accessories (that you can't buy).

How do I use the transformations items?

Do you mean upgrade items? From the upgrade menu when you have a starred item.

 

[Diablos54]

How do I use the transformations items?

You have to max out the weapon first, so there's a star next to it, then you can use the appropriate item to upgrade it to the next level.

 

[CryingWolf]

I bought the game because I'm a lifelong Final Fantasy fanboy, and I'm going to finish it. I'm in Chapter 5 right now. Don't get me wrong, there are things I like about it, and I'm not totally bored. But the design choices that they made with this game completely boggle my mind. I haven't played a game this linear.... since Final Fantasy 10, maybe, which I hated.

In this generation, what in the world made them think that anyone wants to play a game where you essentially run through a narrow hallway for hours on end, fighting enemies that are placed in your way, picking up treasure chests that are off to one side of the path, and watching cutscenes at regular intervals? I mean, that's your RPG of the future? It's claustrophobic and it doesn't allow the player to make any decisions. There's nothing to do, no one to talk to, nothing to interact with, no choices to make; all you can do is keep going. Its so on-rails that it makes Metal Gear Solid look like Grand Theft Auto by comparison.

I just don't understand what they were shooting for here. I understand wanting to tell a story, but I feel like a captive audience.

And while I do find the world interesting, some of the subplots feel so awkward and forced.

I'm going to finish it, but so far this game is almost the complete opposite of everything I love about RPGs.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The first DLC that should be released for this game is a Theater Plugin to view all cutscenes. :lol

 

[Styles]

And some of the accessories (that you can't buy).

Well fuck, I've spent 1 hour upgrading all of my accessories only to find out that I need to level all of the weapons to lvl 2. Best trophy ever.

 

[Toki767]

I bought the game because I'm a lifelong Final Fantasy fanboy, and I'm going to finish it. I'm in Chapter 5 right now. Don't get me wrong, there are things I like about it, and I'm not totally bored. But the design choices that they made with this game completely boggle my mind. I haven't played a game this linear.... since Final Fantasy 10, maybe, which I hated.

In this generation, what in the world made them think that anyone wants to play a game where you essentially run through a narrow hallway for hours on end, fighting enemies that are placed in your way, picking up treasure chests that are off to one side of the path, and watching cutscenes at regular intervals? I mean, that's your RPG of the future? It's claustrophobic and it doesn't allow the player to make any decisions. There's nothing to do, no one to talk to, nothing to interact with, no choices to make; all you can do is keep going. Its so on-rails that it makes Metal Gear Solid look like Grand Theft Auto by comparison.

I just don't understand what they were shooting for here. I understand wanting to tell a story, but I feel like a captive audience.

And while I do find the world interesting, some of the subplots feel so awkward and forced.

I'm going to finish it, but so far this game is almost the complete opposite of everything I love about RPGs.

You know I didn't really mind the linearity, but Chapter 5 was the chapter that made me really roll my eyes at what they were doing. The part where they say to follow the lit up path because the place was dangerous was fine and all except that there was only one path to go on. :lol

 

[firehawk12]

Well fuck, I've spent 1 hour upgrading all of my accessories only to find out that I need level all of the weapons to lvl 2. Best trophy ever.

It's the catass trophy for sure. :lol

 

[darkwings]

I bought the game because I'm a lifelong Final Fantasy fanboy, and I'm going to finish it. I'm in Chapter 5 right now. Don't get me wrong, there are things I like about it, and I'm not totally bored. But the design choices that they made with this game completely boggle my mind. I haven't played a game this linear.... since Final Fantasy 10, maybe, which I hated.

In this generation, what in the world made them think that anyone wants to play a game where you essentially run through a narrow hallway for hours on end, fighting enemies that are placed in your way, picking up treasure chests that are off to one side of the path, and watching cutscenes at regular intervals? I mean, that's your RPG of the future? It's claustrophobic and it doesn't allow the player to make any decisions. There's nothing to do, no one to talk to, nothing to interact with, no choices to make; all you can do is keep going. Its so on-rails that it makes Metal Gear Solid look like Grand Theft Auto by comparison.

I just don't understand what they were shooting for here. I understand wanting to tell a story, but I feel like a captive audience.

And while I do find the world interesting, some of the subplots feel so awkward and forced.

I'm going to finish it, but so far this game is almost the complete opposite of everything I love about RPGs.

Yeah everything is so static. The game design is still left in the 80s with graphics of 2010

And why cant you control your allies? It does not make any sense, especially how awesome the gambit system of FF12 was.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

it's funny how the game is all 'WHOA JAPANESE DEV TRYING TO DO COD SCRIPTED MOMENTS (EXCEPT THEY'RE COMING OFF AS KIND OF B-GRADE-ISH)' in the first hour, and then it's just back to standard PS2 era FF map design for the remaining 39 hours (well, I haven't played Chap 12/13 yet).

 

[firehawk12]

Nah, I got this from a youtube video as well. It's just not possible to do if your characters are not strong enough. With this method you don't need any defense/magic+ rings because they never get a quake off. Once you get this method down it becomes so incredibly easy that what you said holds true, there is no challenge.

I even went back to get 5 stars on some of the hunts that I had a lower score on and it's insane, with my stats I can destroy most marks. Whoever said that having high level shit works against you is wrong. You simply obliterate almost every mark.

Beautiful! Worked perfectly, even though it took me 3 minutes. At least I don't have to TP grind anymore... but yay, trap farming ahoy.

 

[CryingWolf]

You know I didn't really mind the linearity, but Chapter 5 was the chapter that made me really roll my eyes at what they were doing. The part where they say to follow the lit up path because the place was dangerous was fine and all except that there was only one path to go on. :lol

lol... seriously. The whole game is just "follow the yellow brick road!"

It just makes the game feel so small. It does, it feels tiny. Is that really the effect they were going for?

 

[Lady Bird]

FFXIII has some of the greatest art direction I've seen in a game (excellent art director, excellent monster designer, Nomura at his best), but FFXII also was at the very least as good in this department. FFXIII also has one of the greatest OSTs, IMO, and one of the greatest battle systems in the genre.

The game only needed two things fixed to be a near-perfect experience:
- A better writer.
- A better game designer.

Regarding the second, no, I do not mean a game designer that would make the game less linear. Just one that would have a better notion of pace, and would know how to recompensate the lost features with new stuff.

Regarding the first... WHY? I'll repeat: WHY? Why must such an excellent development team, full of so many genial artists, MUST HAVE WATANABE AS A WRITER? He is the definition of mediocrity, both in making a deep story, and making an interesting story. I'm even surprised he was able to make the first 2/3s of the story interesting.

Granted, I still haven't finished the game, but the plot is full of good ideas, meanwhile, the execution is mostly only good at keeping the player interested for the first 2/3, and not even at that after it (at least, for chapter 11, IMO).

What-a-wannabe (watanabe) writer.

 

[Toki767]

lol... seriously. The whole game is just "follow the yellow brick road!"

It just makes the game feel so small. It does, it feels tiny. Is that really the effect they were going for?

I don't know if that was what they were trying to go for, but I do think they wanted a fairly simple story that wouldn't become too overly convoluted. They just took a more aggressive attempt at directing you from one place to another to tell the story they want to tell.

 

[CryingWolf]

I don't know if that was what they were trying to go for, but I do think they wanted a fairly simple story that wouldn't become too overly convoluted. They just took a more aggressive attempt at directing you from one place to another to tell the story they want to tell.

I miss the old days when they at least gave you the illusion that you had some choices in the matter.

 

[Amir0x]

Spoiler

You get to go back post game =D

Then I have to trudge through linear hell to get back!

I'm never leaving. I'm making a little camp right in the center of the steppe's and I'm going to toil away and force my team to find a way to break through the Crystarium so I can progress to the highest level ever. Also I'll find a way to fly out to the distant yonder and experience more of Gran Pulse not even in the game!

Probably won't be able to do the later missions without getting more crystarium levels.

Anyway, I take it you're enjoying the game now?

I think the game is pretty bad but Gran Pulse itself is a bright spot. paradoxically, the bright spot also reveals some of the games more infuriating problems... the annoyingly bad A.I., for instance, and the fact that the game still puts a limit on your Crystarium until you beat the game. And the map system sucks ass in Gran Pulse.

But I do have some fun in Gran Pulse, I'm not going to lie. Gran Pulse is a really good taste of what a game like FFXIII could become, given more time.

 

[glaurung]

Finally received my LE copy from the post office...

Totally crushed. The only thing not broken is the BD case. Everything else is smashed.

*sigh*

Guess I'll drop by a local store and buy a new LE that is not broken.

 

[StealthGoblin]

I'm at the final boss now.

Are there any guides anywhere to tell me exactly what weapons/accessories and what components I need to get the trophy? I haven't sold any accessories or weapons all game, and I do search very thoroughly, so I'd imagine I should be able to hit the ground running.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Is there any difference between cocoon fal'cie and pulse fal'cie? I mean

Spoiler

both sides want to destory cocoon and bring back the maker but why bother fighting each other? Actually why even bother creating cocoon in the first place? If they just want to harvest human they could do it on pulse as well.

Spoiler

A Cocoon l'Cie can't have a focus to harm Cocoon.

 

[Choopy]

Are there any guides anywhere to tell me exactly what weapons/accessories and what components I need to get the trophy? I haven't sold any accessories or weapons all game, and I do search very thoroughly, so I'd imagine I should be able to hit the ground running.

I've been looking for a guide for this too, but more on how to use components to level weapons/accessories most effeciently. I don't suppose there's anything like that out there?


And holy cow. I just got

Spoiler

Army Of One

. That + Haste = Good times :lol

 

[Lince]

so I'm about to fight the final boss, my HP is around 5-6k (with fully upgraded level 4 characters), am I good to go or do I need some more grinding?

also, if I upgrade my Lionheart to max now it would be harder to achieve 5-stars when doing the missions right?

 

[bunbun777]

The first DLC that should be released for this game is a Theater Plugin to view all cutscenes. :lol

This. Personally for me lots of things to 'complain' about- and celebrate-- but no theater mode is the worst. Safe gripe for me and one I think can actually be remedied, yes?

 

[Diablos54]

so I'm about to fight the final boss, my HP is around 5-6k (with fully upgraded level 4 characters), am I good to go or do I need some more grinding?

also, if I upgrade my Lionheart to max now it would be harder to achieve 5-stars when doing the missions right?

If I was you, I'd go back to Pulse and do a few more missions and then come back if you don't want any trouble. I had about 7-8K and had no problems. I'm sure it's easily possible at your level though.

And I don't think maxing out Lionheart will make much of a significant difference when going for 5 stars, but I'm not too sure about that.

 

[lljride]

I'm at the final boss now.

Are there any guides anywhere to tell me exactly what weapons/accessories and what components I need to get the trophy? I haven't sold any accessories or weapons all game, and I do search very thoroughly, so I'd imagine I should be able to hit the ground running.

The guide below from Gamefaqs is what I've been using. It lays out the EXP needed for * level along with the material needed to change into the next level of item. For the most part the last acc. or two in each branch can't be bought and has to be upgraded from the lower tier acc.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps3/file/928790/59358

 

[StealthGoblin]

The guide below from Gamefaqs is what I've been using. It lays out the EXP needed for * level along with the material needed to change into the next level of item. For the most part the last acc. or two in each branch can't be bought and has to be upgraded from the lower tier acc.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps3/file/928790/59358

Cheers!

 

[leng jai]

This. Personally for me lots of things to 'complain' about- and celebrate-- but no theater mode is the worst. Safe gripe for me and one I think can actually be remedied, yes?

It seems cut scene viewers are pretty rare this gen. MGS4 didn't even have one, I mean, WTF? Lost Odyssey got one as DLC and I remberer it being pretty crap to use.