Quote Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9 View Post
So I'm finally actually getting into this game, and I was wondering to those that have played much more, how significant do you think stat maxing is?
I paid zero attention to the large nodes and seem to be having a pretty easy time compared to some others who have been posting in these forums, so I wouldn't sweat over it. I've only come across two enemies that I have yet to beat, and that's mostly down to not having many of my monsters highly leveled. I will say that monster stat maxing is significant, though. If you load a commando with Mana materials, you're going to end up with a terrible commando.

Conclusion: Don't worry too much about Noel & Serah. Worry more about the monsters and what you're giving them.

EDIT: Oh, and for those wondering, Proto Behemoth and Long Gui are the two enemies I've yet to beat, although I might be able to by now as I've leveld notably since I last went out to test my strength against them.