Tips for new players!

[Jessweeee♪]

Mogi and I just bought FFXIII and we're just a little ways in. We absolutely love it so far. Any helpful tips? (And no, "don't play this game because I think it sucks" is not a helpful tip. gtfo my thread.)



IF YOU POST SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND SKIN YOU ALIVE

EDIT:

What's the use of Components? Can these just be sold like FFXII's loot or will we use them for some sort of synthesis thing?

[Madonna]

You will need your components for upgrading weapons and accessories; do not sell them! Well, any credit/money chips can be sold, but saving up the rest until you are ready to synthesize is a great idea!

[Mo-Nercy]

I love that the first thing you do after moving in together is "LET'S GET FFXIII!" xDD

- Experiment with different role set-ups. It's easy enough to get through the majority of a game with a COM/RAV/RAV but you'll have a tonne of fun experimenting with SYNs and SABs too. It'll also be handy to have those set-ups up your sleeve for certain boss and Eidolon fights.

[VeloZer0]

Chain Gauge:
We all know that RAV attacks cause the chain gauge to decrease more rapidly than COM attacks, but the actual attacks you use make a difference too. If you use 4 different attacks (Fire/Thunder/Aero/Blizzard) the chain gauge will decrease much slower than if you did (Fire/Flamestrike/Fire/Flamestrike). And if you do (Fire/Fire/Fire/Fire) it will speed down to 0 almost instantaniously.
The computer takes care of this 90% of the time, it was just frustrating for me seeing it constantly using sub optimal attacks.

Upgrading Items:
Always get items up to a 3x EXP multiplier before you add components to them. It takes ~32 of the exp multiplier raising items to get to 3x. At that point do a big dump of your highest exp items.

Do all item leveling in one go! If you have an item and you use 20 100exp items it will gain 2000 exp and go up a bunch of levels. If you use 10 items one time it will go up a few levels, and items won't give as much exp per item so the last 10 you add will only give you something like 80exp per. Like most customization systems it kind of screws you over unless you know it inside out and have a plan from the moment you pick up the game.

Power Shifting
If you recover two full ATB bars since the last time you have shifted paradigms the next shift will cause you and your party to have a full ATB bar after the shift. In other words, if you time your shifts properly you get 3 actions for every 2 charges of the ATB bar.

Illustrated:
Recover Full ATB -> Use Full ATB -> Recover Full ATB ->Use Full ATB -> Paridigm Shift -> Use Full ATB -> Recover Full ATB -> Use Full ATB -> Recover Full ATB ->Use Full ATB -> Paridigm Shift -> Use Full ATB

IMO this is the only character interaction part of the game, timing my shifts so it benefited my party the most while trying to keep on top of the power shifting to get free turns was the interesting part of the combat system. It isn't even explained in game, so if you never found out about it I could understand how people would find the combat completely uninvolved and boring.

Enjoy.

[Jiro]

The upgrading system has and is screwing me big time.

My only tip is don't run past any enemies, not for a long while yet. You'll need the CP so you can get stronger

Also, Eidolons will make you cry. Look for non-standard paradigms to get you through. Defensive and (de)buffing roles are sometimes necessary, rather than straight out attacks.

Whenever possible, have the Tri-Disaster paradigm (Ravager, Ravager, Ravager) as an option. Do one round of attacks with a Commando in play, then switch to Tri-Disaster and watch your chain go up! Same thing goes for when you have only two characters, except I forget the paradigm's name then

[Slothy]

Paradigm setups you will need:
COM/RAV/RAV - should be the default
COM/SEN/MED
COM/MED/MED
COM/SYN/SAB

You'll use the first two in 95% of battles. The third if you really need to heal fast, and the fourth if you feel like using buffs and debuffs but they aren't even necessary in the vast majority of battles. Those four are literally all you need to get through and you'll spend most of the game just alternating between two or three.

[Future Esthar]

In the last case I use a MED/SYN/SAB instead.

Using a commando would only be good if the enemy is staggered and you have the launch ability to prevent him to keep attacking you.

I don´t remember but I think I used a ravager instead of a sentinel on the second case.
This works for the easy enemies and helps finish the battle faster.A sentinel is only need in those cases were major attacks are unleashed like Cid Raines and that ninja Cieth in Orphan´s Craddle.

[Jessweeee♪]

I love launch <3

Thanks for the tips everyone! We love the game so far. I hyped myself up for it like crazy and it did not disappoint! I heard the story was crap from a lot of people so I thought "hmmm...I wonder if it's kinda like X-2. Lots of fun and pretty too, but not much substance." but the writing is just fantastic! Made it to disc two yesterday and we're still totally blown away.

[Future Esthar]

Where do disc 2 start?
I also love launch.
The storyline is funny until the end of Chapter 9.
From there it has funny things but are very cliché and not original.
The storyline becomes too predictable and with unecessary twists(like on the end of Chapter 11).

[Brennan]

1. Sell any components that can be sold for a premium.

2. When it comes to upgrading, use natural items to get the multiplier up, then use all of the synthetic components you got.

[Mo-Nercy]

Made it to disc two yesterday and we're still totally blown away.

*must find secret hidden disc*

[Wolf Kanno]

In Chapter 9, you will be fighting a bunch of enemies that drop Credit Chips and its more expensive incarnations. FARM THESE PEOPLE.

Money is a bitch in a half to gain in this game cause the only things that give good money are the super rare metal items that give massive weapon XP or the even rarer item evolution items. Never sell either of them.

In terms of how weapon leveling works, there is an easy trick to it. Organic items, like claws, eyes, horns, and scales give little XP but raise the chances of getting an XP boost for other items. Inorganic items: Circuits, electrodes, power generators, and metal items, give significantly higher XP than inorganic items but they also lower the XP boost affect. So basically the strategy is to fill an item with organic components to raise the XP Bonus to 3x and then unload a ton of one of the inorganic items to get a huge XP boost from the initial 3x boost. Depending on the item you use, it can be knocked down to 2x to 1.5 boost after the initial experience.

Now here is the obnoxious thing, this can be done fairly easy thanks to the shops since one shop sells a few organic items that quickly raise the XP Boost and another shop actually sells most of the best XP giving inorganic items in the game. The catch? The inorganic items are horribly expensive and buying up 99 of the organic items it tough on a wallet in a game where gil is very hard to come by. Even worse is the fact that with the exception of the type of items I listed in my second paragraph, most of the other items in the game sell for crap so trying to sell off all the unneeded items is not going to net you enough gil to keep this operation going.

This is why, if you ever find enemies that drop Credit chips, Bomb Cores, or variations of either, you need to farm the hell out of them cause raising weapons levels and getting the second and final tier forms is an act of tediousness. Let alone even thinking about raising accessory items...

And no, it does not get easier as the game goes along, very few of the common enemies in the last chapters drop anything of value until you get to one farming spot in Chapter 12.

Another thing to point out is that raising weapon and accessory levels actually factors into the times needed to get 5 star ratings in battles. Basically it works like VIII where leveling your equipment and characters makes getting 5 star ratings harder.

[Future Esthar]

weapon upgrading system=unecessary addition that make headaches.

[Dreddz]

There is a group of tiny owl like enemies (forget the name) that you find in Chapter 11. They are a little north from where you start at the big field like area. They are easy to kill and offer decent CP. Best place to gather CP by a landslide. By that point in the game you are gonna need the CP and other enemies are either too longwinded to kill or don't offer enough CP. Remember this advice unless you want to spend a large amount of time grinding.

Oh and don't bother leveling your weapons. Its pointless.

[Future Esthar]

Oh and don't bother leveling your weapons. Its pointless.

You will only need it when you reach the boss battle of chapter 9.This of course if you grind every monster without repeating battles.

Don´t forget to look for Vanille´s robot in Oerba to enter a sidequest.This will give you valuable pieces which sell for much money(I don´t think this is much of a spoiler).