Final Fantasy XIII

[Kuya]

I still don't understand how "wait till chapter 10, the game gets good then" is a legitimate defense of the game.

[Nevex]

Yeah I don't understant it either simply because it's not true. The game gets good once the paradigm system kicks in (chapter 3). If you don't like it it's just not the game for you.

[Kuya]

I started enjoying the game around chapter 11. Before then, it was mindnumbingly dull.

[Eticket]

Also, haven't we grown out of these "1-button mashing" complaints since it's pretty obvious that the battle system's strategy is based around constructing appropriate paradigms and knowing exactly when and how to switch between them? I suppose this doesn't register for people until they've reached certain boss battles and/or the later chapters/hunts.

Yeah, while you can brute force your way through some early game encounters the "button mashing" argument is more and more ridiculous the farther you go.

[Scythiroth]

Yeah I don't understant it either simply because it's not true. The game gets good once the paradigm system kicks in (chapter 3). If you don't like it it's just not the game for you.

This is pretty much what I meant. I know the game gets better after chapter 10 or 11, but if you haven't really been enjoying it up until that point, the game opening up isn't going to really make you like it much more.

[Olo401]

Yeah I don't understand it either simply because it's not true. The game gets good once the paradigm system kicks in (chapter 3). If you don't like it it's just not the game for you.

^ Truth. Also, IMO the story is only hard to follow if you can't get the terms straight. I played up to Chapter 11 just for the sake of playing, then I went back and actually paid extra attention to the story and it made a lot more sense and fit better with how the game actually plays.

On another note, I was thinking about this linear thing last night while heading up Taejin's Tower (Ch. 11). If this game didn't include an on-screen map that showed you where to go, would people really be complaining about the game being so linear? There are previous FF games that have equally linear parts, in particular FF7 & FF9, but they don't feel that way because you're not shown where to go.

[Folant]

On another note, I was thinking about this linear thing last night while heading up Taejin's Tower (Ch. 11). If this game didn't include an on-screen map that showed you where to go, would people really be complaining about the game being so linear? There are previous FF games that have equally linear parts, in particular FF7 & FF9, but they don't feel that way because you're not shown where to go.

FFX.

On-screen map, game still awesome.

FF is a linear experience, pretty much always has been. I prefer the tight, no deviation to dead-ends maps, let's me play the game instead of wasting time going to have a look at the brick that looks funny on the wall over there.

[Kaslo]

FFX.

On-screen map, game still awesome.

Yet there is still a large group of people who hate it. It's the same with every FF, "shit is situational" in people's love/hate of any installment.

[Acturus]

^ Truth. Also, IMO the story is only hard to follow if you can't get the terms straight. I played up to Chapter 11 just for the sake of playing, then I went back and actually paid extra attention to the story and it made a lot more sense and fit better with how the game actually plays.

I found the story incredibly hard to follow (I'm currently on CH 11) because of the terminology. At the same time, however, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Part of what I enjoy about good FF titles is the immersion, and I think FF13 allows itself to present such a high learning curve because of the datalog entries that accumulate along the way.

But yeah, my wife doesn't care for the games, but likes the stories and cinema a lot. I had a lot of "wait, let me back up" moments as I explained stuff to her at different points in my progression.

Still hoping to get back and log some more hours, but my school work has ramped up again, and I won't get a big break for a couple months. =/

[Spira]

urgh.. i took the time to come back to this so I could platinum it.. didn't have time to finish like 4-5 trophies...

I HATE FARMING.
trapezohedrons are so easy to come by.. especially when long guis are so easy to kill (i kill them faster than shaolongs >_>)

but gil is annoying
and platinum ingots are so unreliable.. by my estimate, i still need to farm off like 3million gil if i want to get my Treasure Hunter trophy (might consider farming the dark matters i need for upgrading).. im thinking of maybe spamming Mushussu for moonblossom seeds or Bituitus for the tetra shit that sell pretty well. its damn well a lot faster than Oretoises...

[Alarial]

Ok so I did all the Titan trials and all the turtles didn't upgrade.. What am I missing?

Also, do I have to keep using the death trick on turtles till I'm pretty much capped out on all role jobs and have max weapons (meaning I can only really farm turtles the "real way" when there isn't a reason to farm them anymore..)? Killing one turtle with death, then spending 10 min refarming TP is annoying as hell .

[Spira]

to upgrade the turtles you need to complete the missions in the cie'th ring over at Archylte near Eastern Tors. personally I don't ever kill the turtles the easy way because its so much faster to do it with the death trick.

Its not so bad to farm TP if you upgrade a whole bunch of Speed Sashes into Energy Sashes for the Kill: TP charge thing. I have like 7 on me lol.. and they're also useful for synthesizing Random: Instant Chain..

With it, I can get Lv3 TP in like 2-3 battles.

As for the long guis, I 'cheated' on Long Gui because I couldn't be bothered to take the time to fight him.. Poison is uberhax, and then using that in conjunction with the summon trick and the poison gestalt trick kills the mob halfway. I just finish off the rest of the mob using Death + stagger. Its funny when you can kill long gui with more surety than adamantoise.. and it takes you less time to kill a long gui than a shaolong gui >_>

btw, capped Crystarium and 999999 in excess, and I can tell you that the 'real way' whatever it is will never be easy. I suppose its possible if you synth the physical/magic immune ability out, but that isn't cheap (and isn't gonna be worth the time/money just for these stupid turtles.
Its ironic, and sad, how nothing in the game is actually hard enough to even warrant upgrading to your ultimate weapons, let alone maxing its level.

[Alarial]

Thanx Spira! A few more questions, sorry if their dumb:

Do I need energy sashes on all my characters (and just one on each)?

I haven't used poison much.. What do you mean by the poison trick? I know summoning will trip the larger turtles, and I've heard that using death while something is staggered (and swapping back to commando before it lands) can lead to a lot of damage, is that what you mean?

And yes, I'm wrestling with even doing a lot of this work. I wanted to finish a few weapons before I laid the game down, but am starting to wonder why I should even try..

[Spira]

just one will do. but im pretty sure the effect stacks so you can add more. putting 2 on 1 character synthesizes the random: chain ability.

as for poison, in FF13 poison does damage based on a % of the enemies life. its ~1% every 3 seconds, so this works crazily well for bosses with very long HP. It so happens that Vercingetorix and Long Gui are both susceptible to poison (not shaolong gui or adamantoise tho), so you can use that as your main form of damage.

In fact, for Vercingetorix, you can win him easily without every going on the offensive. Just keep poisoning him after he lowers his impenetrable aura and then keep your HP safe using something like Salvation, switching to Tortoise during Wicked Whirl. He'll die from just poison damage within 10 minutes.

Long Gui is harder since he hits a lot harder. I wasn't expecting to kill him so many times, but if you want a quick way to kill him, use Vanille (with genji gloves) as leader, start in Tortoise to block Ultima, then summon Heca to trip him. From there, switch to saboteur and poison Long Gui. Once your gestalt is maxed, switch to Gestalt mode and use only Chain Cannons, inputting the command only when its near the end of the turn. This is the gestalt poison trick. Gestalt stretches out the tripped turtle time and also the amount of time Poison can take its effect. By the time you run out of the gestalt meter, he should only have 50% hp left.

what I did from there was SAB SAB SYN for full debuff and buff, spamming Death a bit, then switching to SAB RAV RAV and COM COM COM to bring it to stagger whilst keeping the chain slow. from there just do Death -> COM COM COM and you'll easily be doing 999999 especially when its at 999%. Gotta make sure to reapply Poison if it falls tho. Poison is really important. For me Long Gui only gets up when he's at like <5% HP, but still staggered, so my Death spell will finish him off. -all in 1 stagger... probably the fastest way to kill it.

[Alarial]

Great I'll try it out!

[Raen Ryong]

For gil, I liked the Edenhall area, just before you enter Orphan's Cradle. Slaughter the soldiers/sacrifices there and they drop Incentive Chips/Perfume/Scarletites extremely frequently. I couldn't give you an estimate of gil/hr, but it was better than turtles. There's also a turtle there if you wanna do a big loop!

[Spira]

lol, in the end that was what I did...
I wanted to get the Treasure Hunter trophy but didn't see value in getting every upgraded accessory and weapon, so I farmed all the important stuff (like 4-5 dark matters) and then a bunch of scarletite, and upgraded -> sold everything on a different save game. Farming Edenhall is the best way to get scarletite and some money cos of the perfumes.

If its gil you need, I really recommend just doing the Adamantoise. All or nothing, but its a lot faster imo. Also I saved before each fight - if it didn't drop anything, I'd reset.

[Celeste]

Hey folks, sorry to ask such a question, but I've recently been loosed upon Gran Pulse! I'm wondering what I should exactly be doing! I need to level my characters up, but Gran Pulse is awfully large and I'm not sure what I should be doing to level my characters up beyond taking those missions from the stones. I'm also looking into getting a weapon along the lines of Apocalypse for Lightning. Any suggestions? :<

[Eticket]

Hey folks, sorry to ask such a question, but I've recently been loosed upon Gran Pulse! I'm wondering what I should exactly be doing! I need to level my characters up, but Gran Pulse is awfully large and I'm not sure what I should be doing to level my characters up beyond taking those missions from the stones. I'm also looking into getting a weapon along the lines of Apocalypse for Lightning. Any suggestions? :<

Don't get too crazy in Gran Pulse to start with (assuming you're still in Chapter 11).

Work your way through the early missions until you get access to chocobos for one thing. I think it's 14 or so. There's several stones that will open up teleport points once cleared which will save a ton of time in the long run as well.

There should be a list of weapons in this thread somewhere that will let you know what the upgrade paths are.

Sorry, I'd be more specific, but I haven't played it since January.

[Celeste]

Don't get too crazy in Gran Pulse to start with (assuming you're still in Chapter 11).

Work your way through the early missions until you get access to chocobos for one thing. I think it's 14 or so. There's several stones that will open up teleport points once cleared which will save a ton of time in the long run as well.

There should be a list of weapons in this thread somewhere that will let you know what the upgrade paths are.

Sorry, I'd be more specific, but I haven't played it since January.

Yeah! I know what yoou mean about getting too crazy in Gran Pulse. Maybe you meant it in different way, but it's massive and burnt me out. I'm planning to start playing it again after I burn the fuck out of Portal 2. :3