Archylte... DIFFICULT!

*BAM* Out of the shades of lurkage, I strike when you least expect it! :smash:

Anyway, since the last time, I've got myself a PS3 and FF13 (and some other things and bits and doo-dads, like DQ8 and Persona 3 :spin: ), aaaand... now at Archylte Steppe, it seems to me the difficulty just ramped up severely, and I'm having real difficulties fighting even the easier battles (those 4x frightful doggies with the long names, and the 3x Goblins). Behemoth Kings? Dead inside 20 seconds, guaranteed.

Well, what I want is some suggestion on how to proceed:
- Grind; gain CP=levels=might
- Carry on with the story, return at a later stage with stronger crew (I tried this, but... limited success, let's leave it at that. Hope is, well, hopeless at the moment.)
- Upgrade equipment
- Combination of 1 & 3
- 2 & 3

If #3 (or anything involving that option), any particularly helpful piece of equipment I should upgrade? (Something that helps just a little might not count, but I suppose every little bit helps.) I have... I think 40000 gil, several accessories to dismantle/sell, a number of weapons I'm not using...

Yeah, you're not really meant to be able to slay those Behemoths the first time you go through, and you can forget about the Adamantoise. I recommend just fighting what you think you can take until you can proceed into the next area (there will be a Behemoth fighting some other thing blocking the way, but you can sidestep them easily). If you want to grind, definitely do it at Taejin's Tower.

As for upgrading equipment, only upgrade weapons that have an ability that you find useful. Like a weapon that improves Fringeward, or Cure! Base stat differences don't mean much in the long run. Accessories just depend on the situation you're preparing for. If you see something that seems like it could be useful, or would be useful if it were more potent, upgrade it!

I take it that's approach #2, then? I actually stumbled onto that path - I, uh, got lost, and my TV is so funny the explanations for the map indicators appears off screen to the left. The encounter with two Hoplites and one boss-around-er thingy eviscerate me up one side and down the other, though...

Yeah, when I bought FFXIII we had the worst TV ever. The screen was totally warped. It was a standard 4:3 television, but the sides of the actual display was rounded stretched out to widescreen length so it made some weird sideways 0 shape. And it was blurry and often changed colors. So I couldn't see most of my character's health or the map legends or anything xD

The hopelite/box thing combo is tricky. Just beat up the box thing as quickly as you can, before it makes the other dudes too tough. A Sentinel doesn't hurt either.

You should be able to take on the lion-like things pretty soon, if not already. Try leveling by fighting them, and obviously aim for lower numbers of enemies where possible. Beyond that, continue with the story but I imagine things will remain around the same difficulty as they are. I would strongly suggest doing a few of those Cie'th Stone missions, the earlier ones - look for anything that has a low difficulty.

As you improve your stats from fighting these missions (and a few enemies here or there inbetween) then you should get to the point that you improve to the level you need to be to comfortably beat the enemies.

I remember when I first got there I went straight to a adamantoise and tried to take it on and died in one stomp and just laughed. :)