Final Fantasy XIII [PS3, X360]

[patsu]

Phew~ I finally made it to Gran Pulse. What a long journey. Towards the end it's trying my patience.

The starting is still pretty narrow. I haven't fought

Spoiler

Hope's Eidolon

yet. Does the world open up only after I won this fight ? The Gran Pulse cutscene was kinda interesting.

Spoiler

Do I get anywhere close to the giant ? He looks bigger than Gaia

 

[Shoujoboy]

I don't think you can fight the giant but the level certainly does open up !
It'll be at it's largest once you've returned for the second time.
Right now it's got areas that are blocked off and can't be gotten to until you beat high level monsters that are most likely impossible at the level they cap you on.

 

[nightshade]

I am having problem defeating

Spoiler

Lightning's Eidolon, I've heard that healing spells work well for filling up his meter but I always run out of time if I choose to play Medic & fill up the meter, & attacking doesn't seem to increase the meter all that much..so I don't shift Paradigms all that much. Does improving Healing abilities result in a faster filling rate of the gestalt meter ? If yes then I guess I'll do some grinding until I gather enough crystal points

 

[inefficient]

FFXIII Platinumed!

Only took me 147hours!

 

[Rolf N]

I am having problem defeating

Spoiler

Lightning's Eidolon, I've heard that healing spells work well for filling up his meter but I always run out of time if I choose to play Medic & fill up the meter, & attacking doesn't seem to increase the meter all that much..so I don't shift Paradigms all that much. Does improving Healing abilities result in a faster filling rate of the gestalt meter ? If yes then I guess I'll do some grinding until I gather enough crystal points

If you have the enemy intel, you'll see that there's a second thing for you to do, not just

Spoiler

healing. The best way to amass chain bonuses is to combine Commando and Ravager. Ravager fills the bar quickly, while Commando slows down its decay.
You can either keep your support char as a healer and switch Lightning back and forth between Ravager and Commando (try doing it every "turn"), or keep her Commando and switch your support between Medic and Ravager. The latter is more risky but should be faster.

If you use two healers, you will often see your support idling because there's nothing to do. Odin hits hard, but he makes long pauses between attacks. To submit him, you need to make use of that time as well.

Chapter 4 is my least favourite part of the game so far btw. So dark and long-winded and pointless
5,6,7 are all awesome though.

 

[patsu]

I also upgraded my weapons,

Spoiler

2 lightning resistance rings to 30%, and cast protect spell for the entire crew before the cutscene and encounter.

 

[nightshade]

Spoiler

I also have my things upgraded & have the lightning resistance.
The thing is I would've upgraded things a LOT more had I not been silly to sell most of my loots. {i thought they were pointless & their only purpose was to sell them for money . Little did I know that in the next few minutes the game would provide me with the upgrading system.

 

[Sigfried1977]

I finished it yesterday after aproximately 65 hours of playtime. Wow, what a ride. Hands down one of the best and most complete experiences I had with the PS3 so far. Now back to chapter 11.

 

[ShadowRunner]

Why back to chapter 11? You can teleport back to

Spoiler

pulse

from chapter 13.

 

[Arwin]

Spoiler

I also have my things upgraded & have the lightning resistance.
The thing is I would've upgraded things a LOT more had I not been silly to sell most of my loots. {i thought they were pointless & their only purpose was to sell them for money . Little did I know that in the next few minutes the game would provide me with the upgrading system.

Yeah, I was expecting I'd have use for that soon, fortunately, as I'm not a great FF player and need all the help I can get. Fight with Odin though I managed in my first or second go, for some reason I figured out that

Spoiler

Lighting is a spell that works particularly well. Just alternate healing with spell-casting, and if you've done libra then the party will know what spells are the best to use - but there's little doubt that Lightning is the best one . And using Odin is great fun, by the way, even more when you are sitting on him, it becomes almost like a regular fighting game, very quick and immediate, and yet still with the same strategic elements of certain attacks being better than the others

. Maybe I benefitted from having so much trouble with Hope's ...

 

[Sigfried1977]

Why back to chapter 11? You can teleport back to

Spoiler

pulse

from chapter 13.

That's what I meant.

 

[patsu]

Yeah, I was expecting I'd have use for that soon, fortunately, as I'm not a great FF player and need all the help I can get. Fight with Odin though I managed in my first or second go, for some reason I figured out that

Spoiler

Lighting is a spell that works particularly well. Just alternate healing with spell-casting, and if you've done libra then the party will know what spells are the best to use - but there's little doubt that Lightning is the best one . And using Odin is great fun, by the way, even more when you are sitting on him, it becomes almost like a regular fighting game, very quick and immediate, and yet still with the same strategic elements of certain attacks being better than the others

. Maybe I benefitted from having so much trouble with Hope's ...

Stop ! and rewind... ^_^

How do you use Odin effectively ? I don't understand how the round gauge work. What does the arrow and numbers mean ?

I can't depend on Odin's attack. It can deal out a fair bit of damage, but I can't guarantee any result because I don't know what to do with the Gestalt meter also. So I just do auto-gestalt all the way (Spam "X").

I used it to defeat a mini-boss later by pure luck. Whenever an Eidolon was summoned, it would interrupt the boss' ultimate spell and restore all health and status. That's the only trait I rely on right now.

 

[Arwin]

Stop ! and rewind... ^_^

How do you use Odin effectively ? I don't understand how the round gauge work. What does the arrow and numbers mean ?

I can't depend on Odin's attack. It can deal out a fair bit of damage, but I can't guarantee any result because I don't know what to do with the Gestalt meter also. So I just do auto-gestalt all the way (Spam "X").

I used it to defeat a mini-boss later by pure luck. Whenever an Eidolon was summoned, it would interrupt the boss' ultimate spell and restore all health and status. That's the only trait I rely on right now.

Good tip.

Well bear in mind that I've gotten a chance to use Odin exactly once now. I thought I was further, but it turns out that I only just entered chapter 5 today, and

Spoiler

as you know they manage to cheat you out of using him there by having orphan boy on point

.

But anyway, what I thought was an effective way to use Odin was to have him fight until he was almost gone, and then switch to the gestalt mode (press square I think). I then tried some of the different Tekken-style attacks you can do as Lighting - some of them are area attacks, some magic, some combined, etc. - and found one that was particularly devastating in the context of this battle, so I repeated that one a few times until the summon was completely done, and that saw the fight through really, really quickly.

It may be useful to look up a guide to what kind of attacks are behind the different button combos. The one I used was a combo with down or up (down-triangle? Can't remember)

 

[patsu]

Yeah, I'm going to bug my GameStop people for a peek at the official guide. They took a lot of my money already, time for some good ol' customer support/service.

 

[nightshade]

I played the game today & defeated Odin & finally finished Chapter 4.
Right now in Chapter 5 & Hooooolllyyy Shitte ! It looks amazing lol.

And patsu you gotta be crazy if you didn't notice God Rays while in the Beach.

 

[patsu]

And patsu you gotta be crazy if you didn't notice God Rays while in the Beach.

I gotta admit people think I'm crazy even without the God Rays on the beach.

 

[nightshade]

Damn I was so close to defeating Bulbasaur boss [Chapter 5] in first try, got killed right near the end of the tedious battle.

 

[Arwin]

I gotta admit people think I'm crazy even without the God Rays on the beach.

For the record, according to this criterium, I am not crazy. I did notice them, very nice effect, and other characters even block them so they appear to be dynamic.

On the other hand, that section

Spoiler

felt rather Archaic, due to me expecting she would be on the pier, and then she magically appears there after they force you to find the trigger for her appearance there probably by talking to your friends in the bar. Understandable of course, but still.

 

[nightshade]

On the other hand, that section

Spoiler

felt rather Archaic, due to me expecting she would be on the pier, and then she magically appears there after they force you to find the trigger for her appearance there probably by talking to your friends in the bar. Understandable of course, but still.

Yea I felt the same way, they should've had the pier on the other side of the bar or something like that.

 

[Phil]

Still jumping posts in here, because I don't want my story spoiled... but I do have a question for those who have already completed the game:

I hear there's a Lionheart for Lightning. Is there any spoiler-free description as to how to get it or is it rather difficult. The gameplay has been so linear so far, that I don't believe that I've missed it. On the other hand, using GIL is something that I haven't done so far, which I think is a bit strange for a Final Fantasy and considering I'm nearing the end (I'm at chapter 9 I think or maybe later). What's up with the shops? I've got the Gladius as my prime weapon which is at level 4. Not sure if I should upgrade that more or try to get an even better one to upgrade.. but which one? This game really makes it difficult to compare weapons as in the shop screen, I'm ultimately comparing a Lv 4 Gladius to Lv 1 weapons....... Any advice or suggestions?