(Chapter 13 thread) Congratulations, you've graduated to the end!

[Dignified Pauper]

Welp, I'm here. Decided to make thread. I didn't even expect to be in chapter 13 yet. Chapter 12 was kind of short.

[Sephiroth]

I have finished Orphan's Cradle just a few minutes ago and the story of Final Fantasy XIII with it.

As awesome as ever.

[Dignified Pauper]

GROWTH EGG GET! That Neochu was ridiculous. And those little seed-pods... MY GOODNESS!

[Sephiroth]

So, how have you finished the Neochu?

[Dignified Pauper]

He wasn't too bad actually. I am surprised that enemies in chapter 13 are still difficult and require me to buff my party and debuff the enemy. I am really happy with this difficulty.

[Siegurd]

I'd have to say that after completion of the game, Final Fantasy XIII is far and away my favorite FF to play, and I've been a diehard FF6 fan since it was FF3. The ending was pretty epic, and the story was excellent (although, it could have been told better on keynote points, needing to read the datalog to get some key details was pretty lame, even though I never actually read it through, my roommate did).

Running FFXIII on 1080p/maximum settings for the ps3 was pretty amazing, it makes Star Ocean 4 look extremely dated. I feel the summon system could have been better (for instance, not limiting to just the team leader, with only one summon a choice would have been nice), but for the battle system it worked really well overall, just some minor tweaks that I would have done differently. Fortunately, Odin was pretty awesome anyway.

Ch. 13 difficulty stuff The difficulty was pretty cool, I think it was Ch. 12 that finally required me to use a sentinel to kill one boss for the first time though, but it was all a "maximum and quickest offense possible" game for me, I never used buffs until the last boss, since I kept Hope out of my party and opted for double debuffs (light/fang/vanille) to speed up the debuff phase and stack the meter quicker. The last boss finally forced my hand to need a buff stack/rebuffing to pummel him down though through the phase shifts.

I didn't even level alternate jobs outside my character's main ones until the end of chapter 11. Diversity, Relentless Assault were my staples.

[Loony BoB]

Just finished this chapter. Kind of gutting at how it ended for me, if only because one of my preferred three characters - Vanille - sacrificed themselves and it makes going back to Pulse with them in my group seem kind of, well, weird. Like they shouldn't be there or something.

Also, for me, it was a bit quick. But then FF's have never been known to have fantastic endings in my opinion (the only one I genuinely enjoyed and felt satisfied with was the FFVIII one), so it's still one of the better endings overall, I guess.

I always feel a bit gutted when I finish a game. I know there's more to do but I want more story, dammit. :(

[Psychotic]

I'm in the middle of this one right now. Jesus christ these random encounters are annoying. Deceptisol fgj.

[arcanedude34]

Orphan raped me. A lot. D:

[Loony BoB]

A massive tip for that: At the last save point, buy a couple of Cherub things from B&W Outfitters. Before starting against Orphan, pause and retry. Equip your lead with them. Set up your paradigms to MED/MED/SYN (my personal preference), MED/MED/MED or MED/MED/SEN or something to ensure your players are ready to heal up against his 'big attack'. Every time he is about to change (you should notice pretty quick that the Light/Dark switches cause the big massive attack), switch to the 2+ MED's - you should have enough time to heal up to close to maximum before he carries out the big attack and then heal up immediately afterwards, as well. Aside from that, you should be fine with staggering and then hard-hitting him as much as possible with a bit of healing inbetween.

[Elpizo]

Just finished this chapter. Kind of gutting at how it ended for me, if only because one of my preferred three characters - Vanille - sacrificed themselves and it makes going back to Pulse with them in my group seem kind of, well, weird. Like they shouldn't be there or something.

Also, for me, it was a bit quick. But then FF's have never been known to have fantastic endings in my opinion (the only one I genuinely enjoyed and felt satisfied with was the FFVIII one), so it's still one of the better endings overall, I guess.

I always feel a bit gutted when I finish a game. I know there's more to do but I want more story, dammit. :(
Then hope the game sells well in the west, so SE will make the XIII-2 they talked about. ;)

[Psychotic]

For Orphan, Poison the fuck out of him. Just spam Poison 50 times at him until one of them sticks. He simply cannot handle it.

[Jings]

For Orphan, Poison the smurf out of him. Just spam Poison 50 times at him until one of them sticks. He simply cannot handle it.

This. I almost crapped my pants when I saw how quickly his health bar was going down. Plus, deprotect + 999% stagger = 99,999 damage. Makes me wonder how you get the 100,000+ achievement? It seems to cap at that.

[Sephiroth]

This. I almost crapped my pants when I saw how quickly his health bar was going down. Plus, deprotect + 999% stagger = 99,999 damage. Makes me wonder how you get the 100,000+ achievement? It seems to cap at that.

You summons can break the damage limit. Plus there is a Genji Glove. You can easily deal 999999 damage points with one hit.

[Jings]

I guess I missed the Genji Glove. Where is it?

[Sephiroth]

I guess I missed the Genji Glove. Where is it?

You will get it later. Just continue your missions. You will not miss it and I doubt you will sell it because the amount of gil you get for it is riddiculus.

[Psychotic]

Makes me wonder how you get the 100,000+ achievement? It seems to cap at that.Find some weak opponent and stagger them to maybe 300%, then get Vanille's Eidolon to use its ultimate attack.

[arcanedude34]

So I poisoned him and sat there with my thumb up my arse 'til he died. Climactic. The ending was WAY too short for the amount of time it took me to get through the final dungeon. Gonna make a video review soon.

[Sephiroth]

It seems I am the only one who fights the final boss without using bio/poison.

[Jings]

To be honest I needed all the help I could get. When he started spamming status ailments things went belly up for me. Poison really did the trick. I didn't have any potions to cure fog either which was such a pain, and when all three party members are afflicted, it's just a case of waiting to die. :(

[Loony BoB]

I have an ally who is a SAB at the start of all my battles - so poison was done without me knowing it even could be done. :p Still, didn't have much trouble with any of the bosses, beat them all first time. Pretty sure I did most of the damage with attacks, though.

[Terror of Zanarkand]

It seems I am the only one who fights the final boss without using bio/poison.

I didn't use posion... I got killed so many times.. it was like sending a lamb to the slaughter-house. but i got there in the end.

Edit:

I just watched the ending again which made me wonder... does anyone know if Bartholomew is dead? It just seems everyone is reunited except for hope...

[Serapy]

Edit:

I just watched the ending again which made me wonder... does anyone know if Bartholomew is dead? It just seems everyone is reunited except for hope...

Yeah, at least Lightning stayed with Hope

[arcanedude34]

Was anyone else put off by the shortness and sheer amount of deus-ex machina of the ending? I mean, it basically was long enough for everything to work out happily ever after, the end.

Also what happened to Hope's dad? He was with the Cavalry, did they kill him when Cid turned traitor?

[Loony BoB]

Pretty sure Hope's dad would be safe. For all the 'traitor' Cid may have become, he had his good intentions behind it... something which he wouldn't have for killing Hope's dad.

[Ezme]

How I beat final boss: I didn't poison..... started in protection, hope cast haste on everyone, relentless assault, drive up the guage, brief combat clinic then com/com/rav. Dead within the stagger. I hadn't even leveled up particularly, probs spent an hour in all in that bit in orphans cradle where everything gives 32k cp. Ok so that method was from the strat guide but I usually suck at final bosses on first play through! :p

I liked the ending. I also much prefer it when you don't know what the hell the game logo is till near the end lol I will also admit I blubbed a little.... I was far more attached to the chars than I though I was! Oh and I thought the song was very well placed and I really really don't like leona!

[Chloe.]

So I finally finished it today and I loved the ending, was a little sad though. :(

I didn't actually find the final boss too bad and I got 5 stars which earned me a trophy. ;) I'm now gonna go back and do the rest of the missions and stuff.

[Rinoabella]

I finished it today! The end battles were kinda easy. I quite liked the ending, but was left with lots of questions that never got answered (I think about a lot of stuff going on). I have to admit though, I wasn't following the story really closely as I found it a little boring. Does anyone know how Fang and Vanille first met? I don't remember there being a flashback.

[NeoCracker]

You know, the battle at the end was a breeze after equiping the Cherub Bands.

And after all the countless hours of playing and battling, learning ever more about the characters, I feel horribly cheated by this games ending.

The shear amount of BS at the end Really? Fang and Vannilles eidolons fuse together and summon forth a mass of lava, causing a giant pillar to form and crystalize, effectively catching Cacoon? What the hell? and the shear level of dull that were the villains?

Mind you, the characters themselves and gameplay are awesome, though I feel horribly cheated by this ending.

[Loony BoB]

I finished it today! The end battles were kinda easy. I quite liked the ending, but was left with lots of questions that never got answered (I think about a lot of stuff going on). I have to admit though, I wasn't following the story really closely as I found it a little boring. Does anyone know how Fang and Vanille first met? I don't remember there being a flashback.
They're childhood friends.

[Rinoabella]

Yeah I agree, the ending was pretty bland. It would have been cool to see a 5 years later or something xD

I must have missed that Fang and Vanille were childhood friends! Seems like Fang is a lot older than Vanille? I wish they had given us more background on all the characters, where they lived, what they did etc. Then maybe I would have cared more about the story. One of my favourite moments in the game was being able to see inside Lightning's house :roll2!

Okay on to the sidequests :choc:

[Loony BoB]

It doesn't tell you specifically in the game that they were childhood friends, but they do discuss how they grew up in Oerba together (when you're in Oerba) and there is a photo of them together. Square Enix have released (in Japan) a few short stories regarding the characters about their life before the events, and in them Vanille & Fang are revealed to have been very close since they were children.

[Sephiroth]

I must have missed that Fang and Vanille were childhood friends! Seems like Fang is a lot older than Vanille?

Fang is 21 and Vanille is 19 like Square says in the Ultimania Omega of Final Fantasy XIII.

[Loony BoB]

Fang definitely is far more mature, though. xD

[Raistlin]

I just beat the game and was disappointed. The entire chapter 13 is random. Everything is rushed and forced, and the plot and side characters (including villain) remained horribly underdeveloped. I previously complained about how it seems like the entire world did not exist outside of the six characters, and that opinion has not changed in the slightest. Great job developing the main characters, but terrible job at developing absolutely everything else. The entire "plot" was told to you in a couple 5-minute conversations with the villain and that was it. Very bad, lazy story telling. It seems like the writers spent all of their production time working on the characters and backstories, then when they finished realized they didn't have an actual plot to put around it, so rushed something out in 5 minutes.

The ending wasn't too terrible, and did even provide an emotional twist. But overall was just another average, ill-developed plot point.

[VeloZer0]

I just beat the game and was disappointed. The entire chapter 13 is random. Everything is rushed and force, and the plot and side characters (including villain) remained horribly underdeveloped. I previously complained about how it seems like the entire world did not exist outside of the six characters, and that opinion has not changed in the slightest. Great job developing the main characters, but terrible job at developing absolutely everything else. The entire "plot" was told to you in a couple 5-minute conversations with the villain and that was it. Very bad, lazy story telling. It seems like the writers spent all of their production time working on the characters and backstories, then when they finished realized they didn't have an actual plot to put around it to rushed something out in 5 minutes.

The ending wasn't too terrible, and did even provide an emotional twist. But overall was just another average, ill-developed plot point.
Hm, I was just mulling about what to write in my rant, but this is about where I am it.

Did it annoy anyone how between Ch11,12&13 there were like a dozen cutsceens where the party resolved to save cocoon and stick together? This was essentially the entire sequence between the two Orphan fights. All I was thinking was "haven't I seen this exact same scene a few too many times already?"
And did we really need the Fal'Cie to taunt them so much? They sounded like Saturday morning cartoon villains going "BAHAHAHA! BAHAHA!". The whole ending sequence could have been easily edited down to a third of the time without losing anything.

The whole actual saving Cocoon part was pretty cool though.

In the end when they are sitting in the middle of nowhere with no way to get back up into Cocoon did anyone else think it was kind of stupid to throw in a stereotypical happily ever after? I mean, if I was the populace of Cocoon I would probably be just a little cheesed at them. All the hapily ever after fluff seemed completely out of place.

[Rinoabella]

Fang definitely is far more mature, though. xD

Fang sounds like a 38 year old smoker :greenie:

I took down my first Adamantoise today! Only had 2 roles per character maxed out and the rest pretty undeveloped. I just equipped lots of Strength and Magic accessories, used Bahamut to take out the legs and then take the rest of it down with Tri-Disaster/Aggression during the stagger :D

[No.78]

I really enjoyed the ending, although I was a tad confused...

Why exactly did their Focus change and why did they loose their brands? I know it has something to do with Fang and Vanille's surprise Ragnarok fusion but I'm still confused. Is it because destroying Orphan but not Cocoon was a loophole in the Focus?

I think this ending was sort of like FFIX, in the sense that the game was made with a direct sequel in mind. Sadly it never actually happened for 9, but maybe it will for 13. It's also possible that VS and Agito will elaborate on the Mythos, maybe giving hints and what could happen next in this one (even though they're set on different worlds).

No but just taking it for what it is, I did like the ending.

[eestlinc]

Isn't the reason they lose their brands is that they destroyed all fal'cies and created a world without them?

[VeloZer0]

There are still a ton of Fal'Cie on Pulse.

They did technically fulfill their focus, which was to kill Orphan. They just saved Coccon afterwards.

[No.78]

There are still a ton of Fal'Cie on Pulse.

They did technically fulfill their focus, which was to kill Orphan. They just saved Coccon afterwards.

Cool, I thought that was it. How come they turned back from Crystal, then?

[VeloZer0]

Because it made a happier ending than having to wait a few hundred years?

Then again there wasn't anything conclusive to indicate they weren't crystals for centuries before they woke up.

[Rinoabella]

Anyone having trouble with getting spoils from the Shaolong Gui? I have beaten about 4 - 5 and no spoils yet :( I really need Dark Matter to upgrade accessories! I have equipped: 2 x Collectors Catalogs , and one Connoisseurs Catalog .

[Loony BoB]

Kelly: Just equip one Collector's Catalog, they don't stack, sadly. :( I haven't faced the Gui yet - I'm saving them for after I've got pretty much all the trophies I can get without bringing them out into the world. If you're specifically after Dark Matter, it might (not sure) help to remove both Collector's Catalogs... I'm not sure if having the ColCat will take away a bit of the odds of getting a rare item by making it more likely to get a regular item. Someone else might be able to advise on that? Alternatively, if you keep getting Platinum Ingots, you can just buy your Dark Matter.

Dark Matter is a 5% drop, so it will probably take a little time. Platinum Ingots are a 25% drop so you should easily get a few of those... it's possible that you're just on a run of bad luck! :(


Then again there wasn't anything conclusive to indicate they weren't crystals for centuries before they woke up.
Actually, if you watch the video at the end of this chapter, you'll find that just after they "wake up" you see soldiers landing and organising themselves, suggesting that just moments have passed. It is possible that, given that Vanille (telephically, apparently!) tells the characters to "Wake up" (at which point they wake up) and then says "This is as much as we can do, the rest is up to you" could suggest that Fang/Vanille, using what they had left of the power of Ragnarok, were able to somehow free the characters from having to wake centuries before re-awakening.

I'll bother to quote the guide's extra bits, too, for what they're worth... they're not very specific as to how Light/Snow/Sazh/Hope get freed, although it suggests that it's because the focus was not achieved by themselves and because you can't be punished for no longer having a focus to achieve, that they were freed, although I don't know why they were crystalised in the first place if that's the case. :p


As prophesised, a sacrifice ahs been made: but not the one that the fal'Cie intended. Instead of recalling the Maker from his distant retreat, this sacrifice ushers in a new age of free will for humanity. The residents of Cocoon are seen evacuating to the surface of Gran Pulse, disembarking from their craft to find a world without fal'Cie to pamper them and tend to their every need. It may be a tougher life ahead for the survivos, but it will be their own. Neither gods nor fal'Cie will determine their fate from this point.

With their Focus completed by their friends, and a destiny willingly borne, the other heroes are released from their own crystal sleep to find their brands have disappeared.

The power of the fal'Cie has also faded with the destruction of Cocoon's energy source. Other humans can no longer be held in crystal stasis by conditions which have ceased to apply, and so they too lose their brands. Dajh and Serah are just two of the l'Cie freed by Fang and Vanille's sacrifice. The game ends with the worlds once again rejoined by a physical and emotional bond of friendship.

And, if you hadn't noticed, the final scenes reveal the true meaning of Yo:bou::bou::bou::bou:aka Amano's FINAL FANTASY XIII logo: an image that has been staring at you from the game's title screen in every playing session. It is the world of Cocoon, safely clasped in the coils of the crystal beast that sprung from the will of Fang and Vanille.
Hope that sheds a little light, at the least!

[Rinoabella]

I took out both Collectors Catalogs and left the Connoisseurs Catalog in. Then I got a... Gold Nugget :roll2 Unfortunately you can't get Platinum Ingots from this guy, it's normal drop is Gold Nuggets and its rare drop is Dark Matter. I have now beaten about 10 of these things and still no Dark Matter. In fact the only spoil I have received so far is the single Gold Nugget. I'll keep trying though! :redface:

Edit: I finally got Dark Matter!!! Although in retrospect it almost seems easier to farm the Adamantoise for Platinum Ingots and BUY Dark Matter than to farm the Shaolong Gui!

[Raistlin]

I'm not sure if having the ColCat will take away a bit of the odds of getting a rare item by making it more likely to get a regular item. Someone else might be able to advise on that?

The way I've heard it told, the odds for receiving a rare item are calculated first, and getting a rare drop excludes getting a normal item. So if you were farming Adamantoises for money (platinum ingots -- normal drop), you would not want to have a Connoisseur Catalog equipped (slightly increased chance at rare drop = slightly decreased chance at normal drop). However, having Collector's Catalog equipped should not have any impact on getting the rare drops, considering the normal drop odds are calculated last.

[Rinoabella]

I did what Daniel sand and had only the Connoisseur Catalog equipped. Since then I have received about 12 - 15 Dark Matters (almost one for every battle fought!)

[Raistlin]

Considering the 5% drop rate, that is a ridiculous turnaround. I think that's more of the game being fickle than a realistic result of the other Catalogs being unequipped.

[Rinoabella]

Chickencha who is also playing FFXIII said that when you 5 star a battle, the chances of getting a spoil is increased by 5. So 25% plus whatever the Catalog gives you, right? Those are good odds!

[Raistlin]

Were you not five-starring any before? That certainly makes way more difference than the Catalogs.

[Loony BoB]

Chickencha is absolutely correct. Say hi to him for me. :D

[Wolf Kanno]

Just finished the game tonight... I guess its good know that my track record with Motomu Toriyama is still going strong, which is basically the man has yet to make a game I like.

The ending is total BS and I despise games that go out of their way to make everything seem like its "A Ok" when you know damn well things never go that smoothly. I think the game would have been better off if they dropped the whole FalCie nonsense and ended the game at chapter 9. The sheer amount of "Let's do this together! Cause together, anything is possible!!! Go team retard" speeches that were going on in every chapter after Chapter 9 was just ridiculous and destroying the characters credibility with me. :mad:

Beyond that, I feel the battle system was great and the upgrade system is fun once you can actually start really using it(80% into the game). The cast ranges from excellent (Sahz) to good (Snow, Fang, and Bartholomew) to tolerable (Hope, Lightning, Cid) to "I wish you would die in a fire" (Vanille and everyone else in the game that hasn't been mentioned yet). I really feel the cast and plot peaked too early. The gameplay offers a great battle system but everything else in the title is marred with poor and just plain terrible decisions IMHO.

Definetly in my bottom of ranking of FF titles. I'm actually debating if the battle system saves it enough from being my least favorite title in the series right now. :eep:

[Rinoabella]

Were you not five-starring any before? That certainly makes way more difference than the Catalogs.

I was mostly 5-starring before, but had a few 3-stars. Maybe that was why I wasn't getting anything?

It's weird though, because out of the 10+ Dark Matters (rare drops) I got, I have only ever received 2 Gold Nuggets (normal drop)! Having just one Catalog has made a huge difference.

[Future Esthar]

How do you protect from fog on the battle with Orphan?

[Madame Adequate]

Chapter 12 felt mostly like an unpleasant grind through a bunch of stuff. The Proudclad fights were pretty interesting though!

Hating Chapter 13. It is annoying and I don't much appreciate fighting regular enemies who can do more damage than a boss can.

[VeloZer0]

How do you protect from fog on the battle with Orphan?

If you cast Veil on yourself it lowers the chance of being hit by any status effects. I had my party buffed with it the whole battle and I didn't know he even had status effects until I read it on this board.

[Future Esthar]

Reached the end.Am seeing the credits now.

[Loony BoB]

Chapter 12 felt mostly like an unpleasant grind through a bunch of stuff. The Proudclad fights were pretty interesting though!

Hating Chapter 13. It is annoying and I don't much appreciate fighting regular enemies who can do more damage than a boss can.
Chapter 13 is the best place to make money, and the easiest. You may have passed it, but basically there's an area where there are two groups of those white Cie'th (one group of four, one group of three). Kill them, go to the 'wings' of that little area, return, they should have respawned. You'll never get a chance to do that again in the game, so if you still can, do it. Otherwise, don't worry, it's certainly not the end of the world - I've managed to get almost every item already and just need a few Dark Matters to finish off the job, it just takes a lot of leveling up to kill the Adamantortoise fast enough.

[Shlup]

Hey I beat the game just now. *pats herself on the back*

[Madame Adequate]

Chapter 12 felt mostly like an unpleasant grind through a bunch of stuff. The Proudclad fights were pretty interesting though!

Hating Chapter 13. It is annoying and I don't much appreciate fighting regular enemies who can do more damage than a boss can.
Chapter 13 is the best place to make money, and the easiest. You may have passed it, but basically there's an area where there are two groups of those white Cie'th (one group of four, one group of three). Kill them, go to the 'wings' of that little area, return, they should have respawned. You'll never get a chance to do that again in the game, so if you still can, do it. Otherwise, don't worry, it's certainly not the end of the world - I've managed to get almost every item already and just need a few Dark Matters to finish off the job, it just takes a lot of leveling up to kill the Adamantortoise fast enough.

Oh I know where that is, I might head back and do that if I still can, they're not tough to fight. Thanks!

[Raistlin]

Just make sure to equip only Collector's Catalogs to get the Perfumes, since they're regular drops. The Sacrifices are probably the best ways to make gil until you can easily take down the Adamantoises without summons (which can take a while even postgame).

[Madame Adequate]

Wasn't able to go back to that point so I just pressed on ahead until the ending. Picked up a fair few perfumes along the way, though I either sold or never got any Collector's Catalogs :p

End sequence. "You can't just sit around waiting for miracles to happen!" *Massive and inexplicable deus ex machina saves the day* Wat.

[Raistlin]

Don't think too hard on it. It'll just make your head hurt.

[Shlup]

Yeah the end is all like
hey, kill Orphan and release Cocoon from suffering
no, save Cocoon!
oh hey we're killing Orphan
o wait let's not
look Orphan's melting randomly
save Cocoon! kill Orphan!
yay Orphan is dead and Cocoon is falling from the sky and therefore saved!
*Vanille and Fang actually save Cocoon but there's no way a ton of people didn't die*

Oh and BJ and a friend of ours was in the room so I had to work so hard not to cry when I saw Dajh.

[Del Murder]

Finally got to Chapter 13. I started grinding for gil on those Sacrifices and after about an hour of that I came to my senses. Why must they make you grind so much? :( Smurf that crap.

I think I'm going to skip all this and just beat the game. Will try to beat it today.

I'm not liking this game as much any more. I really don't like the last area. Oh well, let's see it through.

[ChickenHeart]

Yeah the end is all like
hey, kill Orphan and release Cocoon from suffering
no, save Cocoon!
oh hey we're killing Orphan
o wait let's not
look Orphan's melting randomly
save Cocoon! kill Orphan!
yay Orphan is dead and Cocoon is falling from the sky and therefore saved!
*Vanille and Fang actually save Cocoon but there's no way a ton of people didn't die*

Oh and BJ and a friend of ours was in the room so I had to work so hard not to cry when I saw Dajh.


You're telling me! I had no idea what was going on throughout the game, constantly thinking "so...are we saving or destroying cocoon"

[Del Murder]

Just beat it. The ending is pretty good though confusing as mentioned by Shlup. I didn't get most of what happened during the final battle but it was a pretty ending afterward.

[seiferalmasy2]

edit. Forget it :P I Don't wanna whinge too much.