Final Fantasy XIII [PS3, X360]

[Sigfried1977]

The Lionheart is located in the first treasure orb in chapter 12. Nothing else to it.

As for weapon choices: stats-wise there is very little difference between the Lv.1 weapons. The added effects are far more important than the gains in strength and magic however (once you unlock the full Crystarium, another 300 points in strength isn't that big of a deal when a character like Fang already has 2000 of it) The only character who gets his base stats significantly boosted by weapons is Sazh.
The Lionheart for example has a chance of instant stagger while the Axis Blade charges your ATB bar with every hit.

I think upgrading weapons isn't really all that important until you are very far in the game (chapter 11 onwards). I recommend you switch your focus to upgrading accessories instead. That's a lot cheaper and can make quite the difference.

 

[Rolf N]

Has there been a discussion about Nom-chan's walking and running animations yet? That seems a topic worth exploring!

 

[Sigfried1977]

Nom-Chan?

 

[PARANOiA]

Just got up to chapter 10 tonight. I was a bit disappointed by the ch9 boss battle.

Spoiler

I was expecting to need to use a lot of healthy buffing and defense. After about four or five tries of nearly getting killed by the one-shot destructo spell while double-healing and having sentinal, the boss cast Doom and I died. Sentinel was actually useless since the boss ignored all provoking and pretty much killed me (leaving double-digit health on all characters) while my I had a sentinel out and while I had both magic and physical shields cast.

Turns out... if I ignored defense and just kept attacking I'd win! Eventually beat it using a very simple setup of COM/RAV/RAV and COM/RAV/MED, healing when necessary. Surely the big boss battles are when I'm supposed to be using the otherwise pointless classes in the game, right? Ugh, why did they make so many stupid decisions with this game

What chapter do the side-missions start?

 

[jlippo]

Just got up to chapter 10 tonight. I was a bit disappointed by the ch9 boss battle.

Spoiler

I was expecting to need to use a lot of healthy buffing and defense. After about four or five tries of nearly getting killed by the one-shot destructo spell while double-healing and having sentinal, the boss cast Doom and I died. Sentinel was actually useless since the boss ignored all provoking and pretty much killed me (leaving double-digit health on all characters) while my I had a sentinel out and while I had both magic and physical shields cast.

Turns out... if I ignored defense and just kept attacking I'd win! Eventually beat it using a very simple setup of COM/RAV/RAV and COM/RAV/MED, healing when necessary. Surely the big boss battles are when I'm supposed to be using the otherwise pointless classes in the game, right? Ugh, why did they make so many stupid decisions with this game

What chapter do the side-missions start?

Spoiler

Chapter 11

 

[Ons::lob::]

Just got up to chapter 10 tonight. I was a bit disappointed by the ch9 boss battle.

Spoiler

I was expecting to need to use a lot of healthy buffing and defense. After about four or five tries of nearly getting killed by the one-shot destructo spell while double-healing and having sentinal, the boss cast Doom and I died. Sentinel was actually useless since the boss ignored all provoking and pretty much killed me (leaving double-digit health on all characters) while my I had a sentinel out and while I had both magic and physical shields cast.

Turns out... if I ignored defense and just kept attacking I'd win! Eventually beat it using a very simple setup of COM/RAV/RAV and COM/RAV/MED, healing when necessary. Surely the big boss battles are when I'm supposed to be using the otherwise pointless classes in the game, right? Ugh, why did they make so many stupid decisions with this game

What chapter do the side-missions start?

Spoiler

If I remember correctly the provoking is for the adds in the beginning to reduce party damage. Also, the other classes are really helpful when the game opens up (chapter 11) and can make the difference between a 5 star rating and a 3 star rating. There are enemies that will pretty much destroy you if you don't kill them in one stagger. The game becomes really fun when you get to that point....well for me anyway.

 

[ShadowRunner]

Provoking gets enemies to target the sentinel, its not that important later on with enemies and bosses constantly use area attacks. The big advantage of sentinel is that it gives the whole party a big boost to defense just by having them there. If you are finding a fight difficult keep a sentinel in the active paradigm and you will find it much easier.

try switching between:
COM/SEN/RAV
MED/SEN/MED
COM/SEN/SYN

Keeping a SEN in ur active paradigm by switching between sets like above is how you should use them. Only switching to SEN for healing when critical isnt going to help much but if you keep SEN active while attacking and buffing your party will need healing much less frequently and will make bosses super attacks much less of a problem. Using a SYN to buff aswell as a SEN will make your team tough as nails.

Switching between SEN paradigm sets maintains provoke also, if you move to a paradigm set that is other than SEN provoke will be lost and need to be done again once you switch back.

Again, SEN protects the whole party regardless of whether they are the one getting attacked or not. IMO they are the best class in the game when used properly, they will make enemies with powerful attacks much less of a threat instantly.

 

[Rolf N]

Nom-Chan?

Sorry, Vanille. Nom-chan is what we used to call her when she first showed up in screenshots, but before her name was revealed.

 

[patsu]

Has there been a discussion about Nom-chan's walking and running animations yet? That seems a topic worth exploring!

Nom-Chan?

Vanielle ?

Only a brief mention from me regarding her legs. -_-

She looks good, but personality-wise I can't stand her.

For combat, I seldom use Sentinel because he/she always die soon after.
I use Saboteur a lot.

 

[nightshade]

Well I don't know...but is it a serious issue or is there something wrong with me, if I mention that I don't find Vanille annoying at all ?

Sure some of her lines are cringe worthy but for the most part she seems to be a pretty likeable character to me. *Runs away & hides*

 

[patsu]

She gets better towards the end. At the beginning, I was wondering who her parents were, and how did she end up this way.

But yeah... sometimes, I forgive her -- especially when she doesn't talk. ;-)

I think she's a great saboteur and healer.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Well I don't know...but is it a serious issue or is there something wrong with me, if I mention that I don't find Vanille annoying at all ?

Sure some of her lines are cringe worthy but for the most part she seems to be a pretty likeable character to me. *Runs away & hides*

I like her as well. Probably because I can't stand the brooding and insecure loner characters like Cloud or Squall. I very much like cheery and bubbly, though.

 

[nightshade]

Yea its not like having one bubbly character is a bad thing, cause you know its not always the case that they are annoying. [I'm looking at you SO4] Sometimes you just need a cheerful character & if it demands to be cheesy/stereotypical...then let it be.

Cause if we stop having those kind of characters then in the end we will always end up with serious no nonsense type of characters everywhere.

 

[patsu]

Alright alright, I'll give her a break. v_v

It's not that I hate her. Like I said, she has great legs and look, fan service costume, makes a superb saboteur and healer.

She reminds me of a gal I met in real life (*shudder*). That is all.

 

[Xalion]

I actually have a fairly serious problem with Vanille. Her casting animation is a cute little bunny hop - that hops her right up next to your sentinel every battle you are in. I often start out using a Com/Rav/Rav setup. As soon as the Com charges in, I switch to a Sen/Rav/Rav or similar setup. That works great because the Com will stand way away from the party and AoE attacks don't seem to matter.

Except for Vanille. While Sahz backs up when he attacks getting further from danger, and the others stand still, she hops her little self right up next to the big hard hitting monster. I find that extremely annoying .

 

[patsu]

Ah, I don't use sentinel. Does she still hop around if I don't have a sentinel in the party ?

I like synergist and saboteur better.

 

[Xalion]

She still hops around, but it doesn't matter as much. Sentinels stand still, where all the others run up and attack then run back to the party. So if you use a Sentinel frequently, you will find that under certain conditions you can split the party. For example, if you get knocked back while your sentinel is guarding, the party will "run back" to you - except for the sentinel who stays put. That effectively seperates your party into 2 groups, and since the sentinel will take all the AE damage your other group doesn't need to worry about it.

Actually, the more I think about it you are probably not supposed to be able to seperate your party like I do . Especially as you are given no control over party positioning and under every other circumstance your party tries to stay in the same place.

I will often also use a Sen/Syn/Sab combo. I've just found that when you are dealing with things that can hit really hard Sentinel's make things much easier.

 

[patsu]

I tried sentinel earlier on, but Fang always died on me first. This happened most often when I switched paradigm. She got hit hard in the round right after the switch.

 

[ShadowRunner]

I tried sentinel earlier on, but Fang always died on me first. This happened most often when I switched paradigm. She got hit hard in the round right after the switch.

How far are you? Have you had to grind in order to progress at all? I cant imagine getting where i am now without a SEN in my group. Early on they are pretty useless but dont let that put you off. Also as your role level increases the passive ability for party, in SEN case defence, increases aswel so while at a low role level there is little protection for the group at higher role levels it increases significantly. Try out a Light/fang/hope group, most balance group i have found when sticking to each characters main roles and gives you a lot of strategic options.

Light/fang/hope
RAV/COM/RAV
COM/COM/RAV
COM/SAB/SYN
MED/SEN/MED
COM/SEN/RAV
COM/SEN/SYN

Light and fang pure physical attack stat bias, hope pure magic attack stat bias.

Anyone else wish to share thier group and paradigm setup?

 

[patsu]

I have just reached Gran Pulse.

Spoiler

Right before fighting Hope's Eidolon.

Yeah, my early Sentinels still take damage when they try to defend themselves. I didn't have time to look after them separately. So I used a Med-Sab, Med-Syn and Syn-Sab set up more