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FF13 Strategy Tips, Hints, and Tricks; Yes, I know this is the FF8 Strat board, shut up =P
Topic Started: Mar 17 2010, 04:59 AM (10,696 Views)
The Frostbound Prince
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If you can read this, you are not illiterate. Congratulations! Have a cookie.
Since I think we need a thread specifically for Final Fantasy XIII tips, tricks, hints, strategies, and walkthroughs. Even if besides me and Sophie, probably no one else is playing it. Well too bad, I've made a thread anyway, and in the event anyone else ever buys and/or plays the game, you'll have some tricks to hopefully make your play time more enjoyable (and/or less "OMBob please kill me now!!!!one!!!1")


I will probably copy over some of the random strategy suggestions I've posted in my Facebook statuses when I stop being bored and go look for them, but otherwise, here's a massive-a$s strategy for smackin' down Barthandelus, the last boss in Chapter 9, who is a royal pain in the a$s without the proper set up (the strategy guide lies! Like Ondore! Don't believe Ondore's lies! *FF12 ref ftw!* :D )

Anyway, you shall find it below. Please feel free to provide your own strategies or what have you for the game here if you like, or pose questions. If I can answer them, I will, or I'll point you in the direction of someone/thing who can.

Thank you, and please enjoy the massive-a$s Barthandelus strategy so the four hours I wasted on it aren't, well, a waste. :P

ENJOY! :D
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The Frostbound Prince
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If you can read this, you are not illiterate. Congratulations! Have a cookie.
CHAPTER NINE - FINAL BOSS - BARTHANDELUS


---JUST WANT THE QUICK OVERVIEW OF WHAT'S NEEDED? Pop down to "Quick And To-The-Point Overview" below, then backtrack if something doesn't make sense or you need more clarification. I understand that I write a lot, so if you just want a quick "what basic set-up I need", that should provide you with most of what you need to do, with the bulk of the earlier portion going into specifics and offering alternatives, where possible. Enjoy----



BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING, PLEASE BE SURE YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF YOU DON'T, THIS STRATEGY MIGHT NOT WORK AS SIMPLY OR EASILY AS STATED HERE, SO YOU ARE FOREWARNED IF THIS IS THE CASE.

These items aren't hard to find if you are getting every available treasure and not wasting your shrouds, but just in case, it's expected you have:

-1x Librascope (there is one in the area just before this boss battle, so if you didn't inadvertantly use it already, you should be fine on this front)

-1x Fortisol and 1x Aegisol (I had about 7-8 of each by this point in the game, so as long as you aren't wasting them on lesser encounters, or on some of the scary enemies in these last few areas, you should be good to go)

-1x Gold Bangle and preferably 2x Titanium Bangle, plus 1x Brawler's Wrist and 2x Shaman's Mark (see "Step Four" for more on this)

IF YOU DON'T HAVE THESE ITEMS, YOU MIGHT HAVE TO SHIFT YOUR STRATEGY ACCORDINGLY. PLEASE SEE THE RESPECTIVE STEPS FOR MORE ON EACH ITEM AND POTENTIAL REPLACEMENTS, WHERE POSSIBLE. Thank you, and enjoy this helpful strategy to defeating Chapter 9's closing boss, Barthandelus.



The final boss of Chapter 9, Barthandelus, can be a real pain if you don't have a good set-up coming into the battle. He gets especially tricky after staggering him the first time, and defensive play-styles, especially if you constantly stop attacking him to heal after his powerful Destrudo move, can lead to death when he Dooms your party leader and you don't manage to deplete his massive HP before that counter hits zero.

So, you have to be relentless, fast, and most of all, offensive, switching to defense only when necessary to heal, before quickly switching back and obliterating his HP. As such, you need to plan ahead, and get a few necessary things set up, and this battle can go from being a 15 minute pain ending in frustration and agony when he's still got half his HP left and the doom counter hits zero, to being a quick, six minute-ish affair that minimalizes badness and possibly even that dreaded doom counter. Now, let's get to it, shall we?


Please note: The following are merely suggestions to help ease as much pain caused by this encounter as possible. If you like a certain party better, or have better or different items, or want to do things differently, that's entirely your perogative. I am merely telling you one potential way of relatively quickly defeating this boss, and I'm sure there are others. Feel free to make substitutions where desired, but I can't take the blame if those substitutions keep you from victory. You have been warned.

Also, I expect that most of you will be finished, or practically finished, the current Crystarium roles for your party members. If not, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but the more you have done, the easier this battle should be. You are forewarned.



THE SET-UP (PRE-BATTLE TIPS)

Now, suggestions for a quick, relatively painless boss battle against Barthandelus:


Step One: Party consisting of Lightning, Hope, and Fang

If you didn't alter your party from it's initial set up, you should be fine, but if you did, go and change it back. These three offer the best possible party at this point, and are well-balanced enough to handle pretty much anything that comes your way. You can substitute where desired, but try to keep the party well-balanced: you want at least two Medics, and a party that contains at least one Ravager and one Commando, to maximize chain bonuses, as well as elemental damage to the boss's cohorts. Most parties are fine, but Lightning, Hope and Fang are well-balanced, and you should have some experience with this trio should you have been using them all along during this chapter.



Step Two: Change your Battle speed to Normal


If you, like me, usually have the Battle Speed on Slow, you might be better off changing it, at least for this fight, to Normal. To do this, go to Settings->Battle Speed->Normal. This supposedly helps speed things along. It is not entirely necessary, but may effect the Doom counter, and/or the length of time Haste and the other Shroud statuses stay in effect, which is helpful.



Step Three: Set Up the Following Paradigms:


1-Relentless Assault (RAV/RAV/COM)
2-Combat Clinic (MED/MED/SEN)
3-Evened Odds (MED/SYN/SAB)

...and then three others of your liking.

You'll mostly only be using Relentless Assault and Combat Clinic anyway, but it helps to have one or two others that offer some variance to your liking. One with Fang as a Saboteur is helpful, but not necessary perse, ditto one with Hope as a Synergist, but again, with the set-up I'm providing, probably not necessary. I have provided Evened Odds to deal with this issue if you want to either buff or debuff, but besides maybe sticking Slow or something on to the enemy, you don't need it, and it'll just waste precious time. Alternately, if you'd rather have Lightning as a Commando for this battle, whether it be cuz you like it better or whatever, include "Aggression" (COM/RAV/COM), but make sure you use an accessory to boost her Strength, rather than Magick (see Step Four).

NOTE: Relentless Assault is as close as this trio can get to massively increasing the chain gauge (since as yet, Fang can't be a Ravager), with little depletion thanks to the commando present, so unless you REALLY like Lightning as a Commando, I will have to strongly suggest using her as a Ravager for most of this battle, and setting her up accordingly. The one time you can safely alter this is when you stagger the big boss, since if you can do more damage as a Commando, that extra little bit is always helpful in a boss battle like this.

For reference, this was my set-up for going into the battle (again, I only really used the first two)

1-Relentless Assault (RAV/RAV/COM)
2-Combat Clinic (MED/MED/SEN)
3-Aggression (COM/RAV/COM)
4-Smart Bomb (RAV/RAV/SAB)
5-Evened Odds (MED/SYB/SAB)
6-Diversity (RAV/MED/COM)

This set-up allows massive damage-dealing, especially to the four sub-bosses, with Relentless Assault, quick, massive healing with Combat Clinic, Aggression if you want to use Lightning as a Commando, say, for Staggered Barthandelus, Smart Bomb once you've killed the four sub-bosses if you wanna stick him with Slow or what have you while still wracking up the chain bonuses, Evened Odds in case things go bad after 5 minutes and you want those buffs back on, and Diversity, in case you just need a little healing but still want to deal lots of damage (like if he's staggered but you need some quick healing but wanna make the most of his lowered defenses).

Again, the only two you REALLY need are Relentless Assault and Combat Clinic, so tailor the remaining spaces to your needs and whims.

If you go with a different party, try to get similar set ups: you want at least one with two Medics (either Lightning and Hope or Lightning and Vanille), and one where all three roles are offensive, particularly Relentless Assault (two Ravagers and a Commando to keep the chains high), although substitute where necessary. I'm assuming, however, you're using Lightning, Hope and Fang, so be advised.



Step Four: Equipment

If possible, you want the following equipment set up, unless it is out of your price range. If you have been properly battling through these past few areas, you should have enough Incentive Chips and Credit Chips to sell (at 2500 gil a pop, if you have three Incentive Chips, you can buy most of the items you need below just off those, and I had at least 12 or more by this point) and buy the suggested items from the store, but if not, your choice.

Specifically, this is the type of set-up you're aiming for. If you go with different characters, modify accordingly, but otherwise, try to have them with the following equipped:


LIGHTNING: Gladius (weapon), plus Gold Bangle (HP+250) and Shaman's Mark (Mag+50).

Random info: The Gold Bangle is in a chest in the area you should currently be in, if you don't have it, go grab it. It's at the very end of the map, on the same side as the save point, and you might be able to actually /see/ it from the save point. You should also grab any chests you might have missed (there are 8 on this map, including a Librascope you'll need for my strategy, and a rare Ethersol, as well as a new weapon for Snow, three accessories, some gil, and some components. If you don't have your Crystarium full for everyone, this will be good experience. Some battles might be tough, but play defensively, and try to sneak up on enemies where possible, and you should be ok). The Shaman's Mark can be bought at one of the shops (B&W Outfitters) for 3000 gil. You get one in the course of the game, but for my set up, you'll need a second, for Hope. Alternately, if you want Lightning to be a Commando, give her the Brawler's Wristband like Fang instead.

This set up gives Lightning lots of Magick power, which works well both with her Ravager role in Relentless Assault, or her Medic role in either Combat Clinic or Evened Odds. Again, if you plan on using the Aggression Paradigm instead of Relentless Assault, modify her equipment accordingly. Likewise, if you've been enhancing your weaponry or accessories using the Upgrade skill (which I, so far, haven't), and you have a better set up for anyone, please feel free to use that. Likewise, if there's a weapon with inherent abilities you like more than the Gladius, use it instead. I prefer stat boosts to latent abilities, but that's just me. Moving on to...


HOPE: Hawkeye (weapon), plus Titanium Bangle (HP+200) and Shaman's Mark (Mag+50)

Like with Lightning, this is a good set up for his dual roles as Medic and Ravager, although the Titanium Bangle might cost you 3600 gil at B&W Outfitters, since you need one for him and for Fang, preferably, as it increases their HP as much as possible at this point in the game. Again, if you have a better set up, or upgraded weapons or accessories, feel free to use them, but this is a safe set-up for Hope, who sadly lacks HP, while still giving him a massive Magick stat boost, which is always helpful.


FANG: Bladed Lance (weapon), plus Titanium Bangle (HP+200) and Brawler's Wristband (Str+50)

Since Fang will mostly be playing the role of Commano and Sentinel, it's helpful if she has decent HP and strong physical strength, and this set up gives it to her. You should already have one Brawler's Wristband from gameplay, but if you're setting up Lightning as a Commando too, or missed it, or have it equipped on someone else and are too lazy to unequip it, you can buy it from B&W Outfitters for 3000 gil, and, again, if you don't have two Titanium Bangles (one for Hope and one for Fang), 3600 gil will buy you one there too. Again, if you have a better set up, use it, but if not, this is a safe, helpful set up for Fang as well.


Now, before I continue, you can modify these weapons or accessories to your liking (for example, if you'd rather they only have two items that boost their Mag/Str, or only boost HP, or whatever, feel free, if you can afford it and want to), or substitute lesser items if you either can't afford or don't want to waste gil on more accessories. For a moderate reduction in HP, any of the Bangles are a fine substitute for the Gold or Titanium ones, and you should have a couple from earlier gameplay, so no need to waste any gil if you don't want to. Just realize that occassionally, that little bit of extra HP is helpful, especially if you haven't maxed out their respective Crystariums to get all the available stat boosts. That, and the more HP they have, the more time you can spend dealing damage to the boss, rather than healing. A quicker and simpler battle might be worth the gil, even in a game that makes it nigh-impossible to get a lot of it.

Likewise, if you don't wanna cough up 3000 gil for a Shaman's Mark or Brawler's Wristband for Lightning, the lesser versions (Magician's Mark or Power Wristband) will suffice, although the difference of 30 might make the battles a bit longer. Again, these are especially useful if you haven't filled out your stats in the Crystarium, but are still helpful regardless. Also, if you plan on using someone other than Lightning, Hope and/or Fang, set them up similarly, taking into account the role they will typically be playing and bonuses to HP, where possible.

If you don't have two accessory slots opened to all three characters, my suggestion primarily is to grind for a bit to gain the CP to buy the Accessory crystals, since you are probably a bit on the weak side if you haven't made it there by now, but if you don't want to, your best bet is amplifying your HP over Magick or Strength, since if your Crystarium is nowhere near complete, you probably need that extra boost of HP more than a bit more attack power. Moving on to...



Step Five: The Crystarium

If at all possible, you should have every stat bonus and ability currently available already learned before proceeding. While this might be aggravating, especially since some of the enemies here are quite powerful, especially in groups, the added power of the highest available tiers in your character's Crystariums help boost stats, and that added HP, at the very least, is always a boon.

An awesome place to quickly gain CP was back in the second area aboard the Palamecia, the outside deck with the Dragoons and Deck Drones. But since that's very far away and inaccessible now, you can at least gain a bit of necessary CP by killing everything in your current location if you haven't. Set up defensive Paradigms to start and make use of the COM/MED/SEN paradigm at the start of tougher battles to keep yourself alive. I am not sure off-hand if enemies in this area can/do respawn, but if you've killed them all and still are missing massive chunks of your Crystarium, try moving as close to the end of each area, and seeing if any baddies come back. If not, what you have'll have to do.

NOTE: You can always respawn enemies, usually, by saving, quitting to the main menu (using start->select->yes, then loading the saved game again), and reloading the game. In areas where no respawning happens normally, this is an excellent way to "beat the game", allowing you to farm enemies for CP and items. While the enemies in this area are pretty tough, as long as you use defensive Paradigms for groups with lots of enemies and damage potential then switch to offensive ones once the worst is taken care of, or simply stay away from the really scary groups, you should be fine. While getting a 5-star rating is nice, it isn't always necessary, or safe, to manage, especially here, and you might even win some Shrouds from getting 0, 1, or 2 star ratings. Obviously don't take more time then necessary to beat an enemy, but don't be afraid to stick with COM/MED/SEN-style Paradigms until the threat is over, then switch to Relentless Assault or something similar to wipe the rest of them away.

Prioritize gaining the level crystals, rather than the outlying arms of the later levels, if you're low on CP. These can boost your character in semi-significant ways when using that role in battle, so make sure, if possible, that Lightning nabs the Ravager (or Commando) Role Level crystals, as well as Medic, that Hope grabs the Medic and Ravager ones, and that Fang grabs the Commando and Sentinel ones, where possible. You also want to get as much HP as possible, since the upcoming boss has attacks that can ravage your HP quickly if you don't keep up with healing.

Obviously, I expect you to also have gained at least the one available Accessory slot crystal as well, so each character can wear two accessories at once. None of these are all too hard to obtain by this point in the game (Lightning had hers before fighting Odin in my playthrough), and really are fairly essential to this set up, although if you only have the one, prioritize HP over other stat boosts. Anyway, moving back to...

At the very least, try to be as powerful as possible. It's not hard to max out and even carry over significant portions of CP into the next Crystarium Expansion if you try to revisit areas with decent CP-for-enemy-difficulty ratios that are usually available in the early portions of each map in most chapters. While the abilities get more and more expensive, at least earlier on, it wasn't that hard to have all the abilities on your Crystarium learned before moving on to the next Chapter, so try to make a conscious effort to do so when possible, especially since now, the battles get significantly harder, and the CP spoils are generally pitiful compared to the cost of each new stat or ability.

Fang especially will probably be the one lacking in Crystarium-fullness, since she started with the least amount of CP, at least in my experience, so if she's way behind, it may be in your better tastes to replace her with Snow, who should hopefully have a bit more of it completed as well as a bit more HP. However, I assume you'll be using Fang, and unless she's severly underlevelled, it's in your better interests to try to bring her along, since the use of her Saboteur skills, especially for a party without max-current-stats, would probably help.

At the very least, Hope and Lightning should know Cure, Hope should know Cura, Lightning should have at least each of the early level elemental spells (ie: up to Blizzard), plus as much HP stat boosts as possible, Hope should likewise know the -ara spells, if possible (Blizzara being the last), and Protect and Shell, should you need to use him as a Synergist, and, again, as many HP stat boosts as possible. Fang should have lots of HP, and Mediguard, Evade, and preferably Steelguard. She should also know Slow if used as a Saboteur. All of this is quite easy to get, so long as you haven't avoided half the battles or more in the game, so yes. Prep accordingly otherwise, and level up a bit more if your Crystarium seems to be sadly lacking.



Step Six: SAVE YOUR GAME

At this point, the only thing worse than a game over is to have to re-prep for the battle, so once you're done, save and be safe.



Step Seven: Double Check Your Set Up

Be sure you've raised the battle speed, that you have at least one purely offensive (either Relentless Assault or Aggressive, or both, to suit your needs) Paradigm as well as Combat Clinic, that you've got the proper accessories equipped, that you've used up all available CP to max out the Crystarium as much as possible, if not already complete, and that you're using a well-balanced party.

You can modify certain elements to your taste, but you want a party that contains two medics and who, combined, can do lots of damage as either ravagers or commandos, while, if things go bad, someone has the HP to survive and act as damage sponge. While I strongly suggest Lightning, Hope and Fang, you can probably get by with Lightning, Vanille and Snow, or Lightning, Vanille and Sazh, or a combination thereof. Just make sure it's balanced and that you have two people to heal when things get bad, elsewise, you're looking at a game over, and for a battle that takes at least 5 minutes in a game where most battles don't last 15 seconds, that's a lot of wasted effort. Just keep a balanced party, and you should be fine. SHOULD.

If you caught anything you missed and fixed it, save again. Also, be sure that "Relentless Assault" (or "Aggressive") is your opening Paradigm. If you don't know how to do this, open the Paradigm submenu, select Customize, scroll down to Relentless Assault, then hit Square (or similar button on X-Box). Now you will be in those roles when the battle starts, so you can quickly do some damage.

Also, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AT LEAST ONE LIBRASCOPE AVAILABLE. You should have opened a treasure sphere in this area with one in it, so as long as you didn't accidentally use it on one of the enemy groups while exploring, you'll need it now. If you don't, you'll probably be making good use of the Libra technique, so make sure you have the TP necessary to cast it on at least four different enemies. If you're going for fully Libra'd enemies in your Enemy Log, you really need that Librascope now, as it makes quickly filling in all the info quite quick and painless, and lets you quickly target and destroy the sub-bosses with relative ease. But anyway. On to....



Step Eight: Use Some Protection, Just In Case

After saving, and once standing just a few steps from the zone-out area that will throw you into battle against Barthandelus, click L1, then use a Fortisol (Bravery + Faith + Haste) and an Aegisol (Shell + Protect + Veil + Vigilance).

These shrouds will give you a five minute grace period at the start of the battle, and with haste and quick battle speed, you should be finished the battle just a little over a minute after they wear off. If you don't have one or both of these items, you can probably still be fine, so long as you get Hope or some other Synergist to protect and shell your party, and in that case, having Sazh in the group to cast Haste might be effective as well, although not necessary. If you only have one shroud or the other, you should be fine, although the battle might take a little longer. If you don't have an Aegisol to use, please be sure to add "use Protect and Shell on entire party" to the list of things to do at the start of the battle, so here's a point where that Evened Odds Paradigm might be a good thing to start out with.

If you have both, just use them now, disregard what I said, and run through the doorway and into the cutscene that follows before the effects wear off.



THE BATTLE ITSELF


As soon as the battle begins, use your Librascope, then press R1 and cycle through the enemies to make sure that all 5 enemies have been "scanned". If for some reason they aren't all de-???-ified, use Libra manually on those ones. If, for some reason, you don't have a Librascope, manually apply Libra to each enemy, either all at once, or as you begin attacking them. If you don't have the TP to do so, just completely disregard this, but realize that it'll be a bit longer of a battle as your characters attempt to work out elemental weaknesses themselves, and that your Enemy Log might be incomplete.

---If you haven't been following my suggestions to the letter, skip down to the !!! section below. However, you may want to read the following anyway just to get a decent understanding of how this battle in particular works.---

Now, if you've set yourself up like I've suggested, this battle should be fairly simple. In Relentless Assault mode, hammer the first of the four sub-bosses (ie: the faces) one-by-one. You should be able to take them out rather quickly, only needing to switch to Combat Clinic after the second or third falls to heal. Until you completely kill the four sub-bosses and stagger Barthandelus the first time, it's usually better to wait until Lightning's HP gets down about to a third of her remaining HP (roughly 500 if you set her up exactly as suggested), or if one of your allies is about to die.

A quick casting of Cure in Combat Clinic should alleviate any damage in only one or two turns, then swap back to Relentless Assault to get rid of the remaining sub-bosses. In total, removing the four sub-bosses should take no more than maybe two minutes, and is usually quite quick, especially with Haste, Bravery and Faith, to do, as typically they stagger within the first two or three rounds, and die in the fourth. All in all, you'll be surprised how quickly they drop if you've tried this before without the Aegisol and Fortisol.

Once all the added faces blow up, the boss changes, and adds some new moves. The most annoying of them is "Thanatosian Laughter", in which his face opens up into a machine gun and hammers everyone in line-of-sight with multiple projectile bursts, usually doing 300-400 damage to any characters caught in the blast. You might want to swap to Combat Clinic if you've sustained about half your HP-bar worth of damage, but if not, continue pounding on him until he staggers.

Once he staggers, pound into his quick and fast. The only reason you should swap out of Relentless Assault or Aggression is if your characters are near death, and then just heal them enough to survive until Stagger wears off, so you can maximize your HP damage against him.

With Haste, Bravery and Faith in effect, you should have decimated his HP, getting him down to almost half-HP in the one stagger. If not, that's ok, you've still got plenty of time, but things start changing now, and the boss gets quite a bit harder, if you don't know what to do.

At this point, he introduces a new move, Destrudo, which rains missiles down on you, doing roughly 1000 damage to each character. There is, however, a trick: if you attack him enough while he's charging the attack (he announces it first, gives you about 30 seconds, then fires, then repeats the whole thing again about 45 seconds later), you can force him to launch less projectiles---he'll audibly groan, like he was punched, if you succeed.

So, how to survive Destrudo and still deal damage? As soon as you hear him say Destrudo, swich to Combat Clinic and quickly heal---full HP isn't necessary, just make sure you have about 800 HP or so. Then, quickly switch back to Relentless Assault and pound on him, and listen for him to groan---this cues that he'll only send a fraction of the attack your way, reducing the damage from 1000+ to roughly 300-400. Since he follows this up, though, with Ruinga or his other attacks fairly often, however, you still need to be mostly-fully-healed.

As soon as the attack hits, swap back to Combat Clinic, get healed, then pound on him some more. He'll use Destrudo rather often, which can make playing a defensive game almost impossible, since you'll never finish recovering HP in a MED/SYN/SAB or MED/SYN/SEN set-up to ever do any more damage to him. The trick is to have your two Medics heal quickly, then get right back to hitting him.

As long as you don't stay in Combat Clinic mode too long, your chain should still hold up, so keep pounding on him and try to Stagger him again, if possible. When he's down to about a sixth to an eighth of his HP, your buffs should wear off (signalling the battle's lasted 5 minutes), and depending on how much of his HP is left, you can choose to either weather the attacks and just try to kill him, or switch to Evened Odds to reapply your buffs. However, if you're keeping Destrudo from doing full damage, there shouldn't be too much need to reapply buffs, so continuing to kill him is probably a good choice.

Keep this up, attacking him with Relentless Assault and keeping the pain on, while switching to Combat Clinic only when your HP drops to below half, and then quickly switch back, and you should kill him before he even has a chance to cast Doom on you. If you're not so lucky and he does cast Doom on you, at least in this case, if you've been following along so far, you should still kill him far earlier than the doom kills you. My battle with him lasted just over six minutes, and won me a five-star rating. Congrats on defeating this wicked b!tch of a boss. :P


!!!

If you didn't follow the set-up instructions, things might be a bit harder. If you didn't have Fortisols and/or Aegisols, you'll want to start the battle by casting Shell, then Protect, on your party, as well as Haste, if Sazh is in your party and knows it.

If you still had significant portions of the Crystarium not filled in, this battle might be a bit tough, especially if you didn't equip the HP-boosting accessories suggested above. It should still be manageable, but it might take longer.

Once you are suitably protected, either with the shrouds or with the Synergist's buffs, use your Librascope or Libra if you haven't yet to work out the enemies' weaknesses. If you don't have one, or don't have the TP to use the technique, whatever, it'll just be more time spent killing the faces.

Target each of the sub-bosses in turn, killing them. If you have the shrouds in effect, this should be easy, in either Relentless Assault or Aggression mode, but if you have different characters, or lack those helpful pre-battle buffs, they might take a bit longer to fell. Keep at it, and switch to Combat Clinic (or whatever other Medic-heavy Paradigm you set up) when necessary to heal---but don't stay in Combat Clinic too long, or else you'll lose out by playing this battle too defensively.

Once the side-bosses die, the battle really begins. The boss gains some new moves that can do between 150-500 damage to each character, so those with low HP, make sure to swap to Combat Clinic when HP drops to around or at these levels. Again, don't stay in Combat Clinic too long, as your goal here is to stagger him and do as much damage while his defenses drop as possible.

Keep your chains up while in Relentless Assault mode, and aim to break him. If your party is on the weaker side, swapping to a Paradigm that features a Saboteur that can inflict Slow (or other debuffs, this is where the Smart Bomb or Evened Odds Paradigm might be helpful) will balance things out a bit, especially if you aren't Hasted thanks to the Fortisol, although if you're not using Smart Bomb, which at least keeps the pain coming through the pair of Ravagers, don't stay too long if the debuffs don't stick in the first couple shots.

Once you stagger him, do as much damage as possible while he's weakened, switching only to Combat Clinic (or possibly just Diversity) to heal enough HP to survive through the end of the stagger mode before switching back to Relentless Assault. The goal is to try to get him down to roughly half his HP before Stagger ends, which is more difficult without Haste, but not impossible to pull off. As long as you take out a quarter of his HP, you should still be pretty safe.

Now things get tough---he gets a new move, Destrudo, that can annihilate you if your HP isn't mostly-full. This is a charged attack, meaning he'll "call it out", so to speak, charge up for about 25-30 seconds, then let loose a barrage of missiles. Heal quickly using Combat Clinic (safely, try to have about 1000 HP, although 800-ish should suffice), then switch back to Relentless Assault. Your goal is to manage to "interrupt" him, so to speak, but doing damage enough to hear him audibly "groan", like someone punched him. If you can pull this off (about two turns worth of concentrated attacks should be enough), the damage drops from 1000+, to about 300-500, perhaps a bit more if you're not under Protect/Shell.

Once the attack lands, switch to Combat Clinic, heal, then return to pounding on him. He uses Destrudo often, so if you play defensively, you'll never land enough damage on him before the eventual doom status he inflicts on you kills you. So you want to primarily stay in Relentless Assault mode, swapping only to Combat Clinic when your HP drops below half, or under 500. Technically, if it's not Lightning who's got low HP, you can always just wait until she falls into critical mode to swap to Combat Clinic, or just let the character in question die, then revive them using a Phoenix Down to continue until the urgent need to heal arises.

As always, though, try to be fully healed before Destrudo takes effect, in case you don't interrupt the attack and it hits with full-force.

If you used the Fortisol and/or Aegisol, they should disappear around the time you lower the boss's HP to between a quarter and an eighth, depending on how strong and relentless you were in attacking him. If necessary, you can reapply these buffs (ditto, if you applied them manually as a Synergist and they went away), but mostly it's just better to weather the beatings, heal when necessary, and keep pounding him.

If you're unlucky, he'll Doom you, giving you only about 3000 ticks on the timer before the battle ends with your loss. If you've been pounding on him, rather than letting him pound on you, this timeline should be do-able. So long as he's at under a third of his HP, and you keep a steady attack on him, pausing only to heal, you should kill him before the doom counter hits zero---probably LONG before it does. As long as you've set yourself up even remotely similar to the suggested set-up, the battle should actually end before you even see the timer, although don't take the fact that you have been doomed as proof you tackled the battle wrong: I might just have been lucky and been beating him too hard for him to use it, and/or I might have just barely beaten the timer. In any case, so long as you've been following the listed strategy at least somewhat, you should kill him before the counter reaches zero.

Just keep using Relentless Assault, swap to Combat Clinic when necessary, remember to pound on him while he charges Destrudo, and you should be fine. If not, you can always retry, and if worse comes to worst, you can always fight some more random battles and gain some CP and possibly Shrouds before trying again.

Congratulations and I hope this was helpful. Enjoy your game, and good luck. :)



QUICK AND TO-THE-POINT OVERVIEW

-Set up a party of Lightning, Hope, and Fang.

-Set up the following two Paradigms: Relentless Assault (RAV/RAV/COM) and Combat Clinic (MED/MED/SEN). Set the first as your default Paradigm.

-Switch Battle Speed to Normal in the Settings menu

-Equip accessories and weapons to increase stats. Lightning should have a Gold Bangle and Shaman's Mark, Hope a Titanium Bangle and Shaman's Mark, and Fang a Titanium Bangle and Brawler's Wristband. Substitute weaker versions if necessary

-all characters in the party should have completed their entire available Crystarium, where possible, although if not, so long as they have decent HP stats (above 1000, if possible) and the most basic abilities, they should be fine

-save

-use a Fortisol AND an Aegisol before walking into the room beyond

-use a Librascope at the start of battle, or Libra on each face, if not

-kill the side-bosses first using Relentless Assault Paradigm

-switch to Combat Clinic only when you need healing (under half HP and/or HP at or below 500ish); usually you can kill two or even three of the side-bosses before requiring healing, if you're lucky

-swap back to Relentless Assault to keep the pain coming

-once all side bosses are defeated, look out for the boss's new attacks, especially Thanatosian Laughter---keep HP above 500, switch to Combat Clinic if/when it dips below this point

-stagger it, and try to damage it as much as possible while it is staggered. If you need healing, either wait until his defenses return, or swap quickly to Combat Clinic, and/or use a Potion, and/or use Diversity (RAV/MED/COM) to keep pounding on him

-after staggered, introduces a new attack, Destrudo, that announces ahead of time a powerful attack is coming, charges, and then attacks. Heal quickly using Combat Clinic (get around 1000 HP), then swap back to Relentless Assault immediately to pound on it. If you manage to do enough damage before the attack happens, you can "interrupt" him (he audibly groans like he was punched to prove you've succeeded), you will sustain only about 300-500 damage, rather than upwards of 1000 HP in damage

-swap to Combat Clinic after attack ends, heal, then immediately go back to Relentless Assault

-repeat this each time the enemy charges Destrudo to minimize damage

-once your buffs end (at the five minute mark), choose whether to reapply them with a Synergist, or just go all out. At this point, you should have the enemy down to between one quarter and one eighth of his HP---if it's still high, you might want to spend the time rebuffing, if not, just remember to heal when necessary

-continue to pound into him using Relentless Assault, switching only to Combat Clinic when HP drops to dangerous levels, and you should be fine

-if doomed, just continue to fight---if you've been following along, you should kill him long before the counter hits zero

-do NOT, under any circumstances, play this battle defensively. Sitting too long in any healing, defensive, or non-offensive Paradigm will make winning this battle infinitely harder, particularly if one doesn't know the "trick" to limiting the damage Destrudo does, and tries to fully heal after each assault. You will almost never leave a healing/defensive Paradigm before the next bout of Destrudo, and thus, when the boss hits you with Doom, you won't have enough time to win the battle

-play offensively, stay healed and out of danger, and make good use of Paradigm Shifts and the two medics in the Combat Clinic Paradigm, and this battle should take you only about 6 minutes, win you a 5 star battle (and an Entite Ring), and cost you only a Fortisol, an Aegisol, a Librascope, and maybe some time and money. But it will win you the battle, so rejoice.



END OF STRATEGY o____O
Edited by The Frostbound Prince, Mar 17 2010, 05:06 AM.
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selphielovesirvine
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still waiting for my prince charming...
this took you a million hours, didnt it! not long til im in my new flat and can playyyyy
please sign up so i can win prizes!!!
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The Frostbound Prince
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selphielovesirvine
Mar 24 2010, 04:13 AM
this took you a million hours, didnt it! not long til im in my new flat and can playyyyy
Yes, that Barthandelus strategy took me about two hours of online researching for tips to fight him to get worked out, then about an hour of prep to make sure I could beat him when I tried again, then about 4-5 hours to successfully type it all out with enough depth (and then a quick-and-to-the-point version thereof) so that no matter who read, they'd find what they wanted.

And yeah, it looks like you might be the only one using it. Blah. I need to stop writing up random strategies, it mostly ends up being a waste of time and energy. x___X

Anyway, good luck getting your new place set up and lemme know when you're back online! I have essays to do for the next three weeks, but I should still be able to find the time to help if you need it. So :D
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Hello all. I come bearing two separate lil updates. One is a random selection of tips, tricks, hints and the like I posted over the last month regarding the game somewhere or other, and the second is a series of more specific tricks for maximizing game play and making the most of things. Yes, it's very, very long, but if you're looking for help and want a quick bit of help, please do give this a quick skim and see if I perhaps answered your question beforehand. That way, if you need more help, I can provide it if you ask, otherwise, you won't have to bother. :) Anyway, without further adieu, I give you a whole whack of random FF13 related crap. Yay and poop. x___X Someone better make use of this, or I'll cry :(



(Random tips and tricks from various Facebook updates and such :P)

So I take it you worked out how to do the Eidolon battles, then? Odin's a bit tougher, but you have Hope backing Lightning up, at least. As a head's up, you need to heal each other AND get chains against Odin to raise his Gestahl Gauge, so you'll want to have Double Dose set up to heal when things get dire, plus one that has Lightning as a Ravager or Commando, and Hope as Medic, and then another with both of them as Ravagers (Dualcasting?). Plus using a Fortisol and a Aegisol just before hopping down the cliff after the last save point really helps to like, not die a horrible death. If you can stay healed up and keep the pain on Odin, you can manage it quite quickly. I think I was still above 2000 on the counter when I was able to press square and nab him =)

You can usually run back to the start of each location (ie, Lake Breska, the Sunleth Waterscape, etc.) to re-encounter enemies to "grind" as much as you want (which is typically pointless, but meh), so long as nothing has happened to "block" your path (which happens a lot in the Vile Peaks, but not as much elsewhere).

But I have a feeling you meant "can you return to the Vile Peaks from Sunleth Waterscape/Gapra Whitewood", or "can I ever actually return to these places once I leave them", in which case, the answer is no. Usually, as you move forward, you're unable to return, and each place in the early game, up to the point where you get to Gran Pulse, I believe, is only a "one-shot" deal. So in other words, try to make the most of each place while you're there.

In particular, I've been making sure I use Libra to fully "read" their info. Right now I think I have something like 55-60 enemies fully Libra'd, so that as soon as I encounter 100 different types of enemies, I'll automatically get a trophy, and the Sazh theme for my PS3. Although head's up, when you do start winning themes, if you choose to use one, ALWAYS SAVE YOUR GAME AND TURN IT OFF, THEN RESET YOUR PS3 AND RELOAD THE GAME. If not, you can set up a glitch where you no longer get trophies for your accomplishments, which can suck pretty badly, since there's no way to undo it except reload from before you had the issue =P.

Shiva encounter in Chapter 3. One sister hits him, the other heals him, and you're supposed to turn him into a sentinel, use Auto-Cover, and then continuously use "Steelguard", hoping that you manage to do so just before the offensive sister hits you so you can increase the Gestahl Gauge.

It's not soooo hard, but you have to time it right. You want to be pressing triangle to quick-use Steelguard if you won't completely fill your ATB before she attacks, particularly if you see her moving towards you, tap triangle immediately, and he should just protect himself.

Do that until the bar above the offensive sister fills red up to the pink end section of the bar, and then hit square and you'll get it.

Don't forget to use Libra once or twice, to fill in all the info about them. Librascopes are actually best for this situation. =)


Yeah, the HP gauge is annoying, and the Breshan Bass (those frogs) marked the first time I died, cuz Lightning's HP got obliterated before I even realized she was close to death.

Your best bet for those b!tches is to either use a Decepticol right before you run up to them (press L1 in the map, then choose Decepticol, after which you have a few seconds to run up and encounter them before the effects fade), which gives you an auto-preemptive strike, which at least helps you to kill them a bit faster. This isn't necessary, but it helps.

You wanna have two Paradigms set up before you encounter the frogs: Relentless Assault (Commando/Ravager/Ravager) and Diversity (Commando/Medic/Ravager). Tri-Disaster might actually be a good thing against these enemies (Lightning should have Thunder spells, which should be better against the enemies than her attacks might be, but I didn't use Tri-Disaster, so *shrug*), but your chains will probably fall more quickly, which isn't very helpful, so yeah, I'd say main with Relentless Assault, and have Diversity as a back up.

Try to preemptive attack them, but if not, it's ok. Start in Relentless Attack mode, but as soon as you lose about half-HP as Lightning, swap immediately to Diversity (using L1), let Vanille heal the party, then swap back to RA. Keep this up, and you should make decent work of them, although without the preemptive attack, you'll likely only manage 2-3 stars at battle's end. These two battles (the one on the main path, and the second set guarding a chest just beyond on a dead-end section) are probably the hardest ones until you get to the scorpion-y machine near the end of Lake Bresha. Just stay strong, keep Diversity running, and you should be good. Rememeber to save at each save station, and you should be good. =)

As for switching members, you can't yet.That opens up later, specifically near the end of Chapter 9 when your characters finally get reunited, although you'll be able to do it through the Paradigm submenu's "Battle Team" when it does unlock. Likewise, you can't change the leader yet, but once they stop forcing you to deal with specific parties, you'll have a bit more choice. I know I for one wish they would let me play as/with Hope more often, he's gotta be the game's most underused character thus far. As soon as you have other options, he gets relegated back out of your party. =(

Usually it's just a matter of switching Paradigms to heal then get back to damage dealing, so as long as you're cool with not always getting five-star wins (the trade-off being, oh, winning the battles =P), that usually works.

Worse comes to worse, save at the save point right after fighting the three PSICOM soldiers off to the side of the trail, then backtrack right back to the start, then make your way back. This should gain you lots of CP for the Crystarium (although you'll have to fight those Breshan Bass at least twice [four times if you nab the ones down the dead end on the way up and back] to manage it), and use it to increase Lightning's HP where you can.

The downside is that once you complete their Crystarium levels available, new ones don't unlock until Chapter 4, and you'll still have a bit of Chapter 3 to go, so you'll be building up CP with nothing to spend it on until the next chapter wins you some new levels and "jobs". But it's an ample trade-off, and an hour of running back and forth two or three times should give you about the CP you need to max out each of their Crystariums for now, and make decently quick work of everything else in the chapter, plus be able to use your saved-up CP once the Crystarium unlocks in the next chapter to automatically learn a bunch of new stuff right off the bat.

If you take the time every time a new level of the Crystarium unlocks to spend maybe an extra hour per chapter grinding some of the easier monsters in the area for CP, you should usually be pretty well off and walk into each new chapter with some left-over CP to get yourself off to a good start. It might be a bit painfully annoying, but if you get bored, you can always keep advancing forward, and as long as nothing's not giving you too hard a time, you can always build up your extra CP when you are getting your a$s handed to you...








Frost's basic and quick overview for making the most of the game

SAVE OFTEN! There's usually a save point every ten minutes or less, and at least for the PS3 version of it, you can have up to 99 saved games for it at a time (more if you copy them onto a flashdrive when you don't need them right there, then delete them to save room for new saved files), so USE THEM. Especially early in the game, when you can literally miss some awesome items or chances to do things forever (plus rewatching some awesome cutscenes or exploring the unreturnable locales again), it's good gaming to at least save on a new file at the end of each chapter, and often best to do so after every major cutscene, where possible. That way, if you do royally eff something up, you have options to go back and fix it, if need be. MAKE USE OF YOUR SAVED GAMES AND PLAY SMART!

If you unlock a new PS3 theme, install it, but don't quit the game, power down your PS3, and turn it back on to play again, you can encounter a nasty glitch where you'll no longer gain trophies of any kind, which means missing out on getting other new themes, in particular Serah's theme, which requires you obtain all the other trophies first. So, if you do get a theme (Sazh's is the first available should you meet the requirements, although Vanille and Hope's are the only ones you get through straight gameplay alone), and plan on using it on your PS3, always be safe---save, quit to the PS3 menu, SHUT THE PS3 DOWN, then boot it back up, select FF13 from the game listing, and go back to playing. If you think you should have gotten a trophy and have installed a previous theme prior to it, you might be suffering from the glitch, so double-check and if in doubt, load a game prior to getting the theme and try again. =(

LIBRA IS YOUR FRIEND! While most monsters will surrender their information without using the Libra technique and wasting valuable TP, for most of the early chapters, since you can't return to any location once you leave, and since Sazh's theme requires you fully discern the info for 100+ enemies (earliest available: Chapter 10 if you Libra everything), and you'll be missing info in your Enemy Logs if you don't make sure everything's worked out, it's in your best interest to make sure to use Libra on anything new you meet, ESPECIALLY bosses and rare-looking monsters. While this involves wasting a lot of time regaining TP, if you wanna make the most out of it, do try to use it on everyone. While you can learn everything "for free" if you fight them enough, there are some rare enemies that don't respawn, or that you might not fight enough to learn everything, bosses included. Libra's your friend, and really, besides Summon, which you shouldn't be using too often anyway early in the game, not much else of purpose really requires TP, so Libra away, my friends!
One note on this: Librascopes might seem like a quick-and-easy solution to wasting 2-3 TP per enemy fully Libra'ing them, but these things are rare and can't be bought until Chapter 13, so use them sparingly, particularly on bosses or large groups of enemies you'd need to otherwise Libra separately. Also, be aware that there are some enemies that spawn new, rare enemies that you otherwise could miss. Targetting Beacons (from those tank-like machines, first in the Vile Peaks, then again in Eden), a certain species of Imp (from another of its kind in the Fifth Ark), and Centaurion Blades (from the giant centaur-type monsters in three different locations throughout the game) can all be permanently missed if you don't let them manifest (and then Libra them) before you kill their summoners. So do try to do that if you're aiming for 100% completion.

Paradigm set-ups are key to surviving most battles. A simple change of tactics, even just a shift of one role at a specific point in the battle, can be the difference between failure and defeat. A balanced party is key (I like Lightning-as-leader, with Hope and Fang backing her up myself, but as long as you work out a party that covers all necessary roles and doesn't lack anywhere needed to survive the enemies at hand, you should be fine), and picking a group of six Paradigms to set up for each situation can see you changing them multiple times a chapter. In general, though, if you go with the default party from the end of Chapter 9 (Lightning, Hope, Fang) for the remainder of the game, there are a few good Paradigms to keep, replacing them where necessary with new ones if they just don't cut it. They are:
Relentless Assault (RAV/RAV/COM) (with roles being assigned as Lightning/Hope/Fang)
Combat Clinic (MED/MED/SEN)
Evened Odds (MED/SYN/SAB)
Aggression (COM/RAV/COM)
Mystic Tower (RAV/RAV/SEN)
Diversity (RAV/MED/COM)
et cetera.
This set up is rather balanced between offence and defence, although lacks more than one Paradigm where Hope makes use of his Synergist skills or Fang her Saboteur ones, and the one available is very non-offensive. To remedy this, if you want to replace another Paradigm (Diversity or Mystic Tower, for example) with one that has Lightning in an offensive, rather than defensive, role (either Commando or Ravager), you can set up either COM/SYN/SAB or RAV/SYN/SAB as your default Paradigm (by pressing square when customizing them) to start off the battle by buffing your party, debuffing the enemy/ies, and starting some chains going.

Keep in mind that you want these battles over as quick as possible to maximize your star level. So, if you can defeat enemies rather simply without resorting to buffs and debuffs, your best bet is keeping Relentless Assault as your Default Paradigm. This balanced Paradigm allows you to quickly ramp up chain bonuses while inflicting max damage. It does require, of course, that your party is strong enough to deal with the onslaught of badness. If not, you can always set up Mystic Tower or a similar one to have Fang act as a damage sponge until most of the enemies are taken care of, and then you can switch to Relentless Assault, OR, if you just wanna end the battle quickly, you can just make regular switches between Relentless Assault and Combat Clinic, bouncing back and forth as needed. Those two Paradigms combined can usually get you through most encounters, and as such should almost ALWAYS be part of your Paradigm deck. Likewise, unless you decide to turn Lightning into a Commando or Ravager in place of a Medic, Evened Odds or something similar should likewise always be there, in case you need to buff or debuff to survive a particular battle.

In general, your set-up should be tailor-made to your own play-style. If you don't wanna waste time on Sentinels or Synergists or Saboteurs, in general you can make it without them, although each Paradigm Deck (ie: 6 Paradigms you can swap into during battle) should have at least one Paradigm that includes each role SOMEWHERE, even if you don't usually use it. I myself usually don't see the need for Sentinels or buffing or debuffing, but every so often you do find the rare enemy who more-or-less requires the use of one of those roles, so don't shoot yourself in the foot by not having the role involved at all.

Likewise, you should have at least two roles where there are Medics involved. Combat Clinic, with two Medics, is a quick way to maximize healing before jumping back into the fray before the chain gauge empties, and a more balanced one, like Evened Odds or Diversity helps if you don't really need lots of healing, and wanna either keep doing damage or get some debuffs or buffs out there. Similarly, you should have at least one entirely offensive Paradigm, like Relentless Assault or Aggression, and make good use of Ravagers and Commandos in your Paradigms where possible. Also, keep in mind the enemies you'll be encountering in each area---how you set up your Paradigms and which you use as your default mainly hinges on just how hardcore the bad guys are where you're at, and whether or not you're strong enough to beat them with little effort or an arduous slog of much pain and frustration. If things are easy, Relentless Assault and the rare Combat Clinic'll do the trick. If things aren't so much, try adding a Sentinel to take some of the pain off, or start off with Evened Odds or a [COM-or-RAV]/SYN/SAB-type Paradigm to get yourself off on the right foot. Remember: it's better to guarantee a win, even if you don't get a five star rating, than to die or win or lose based on sheer luck. You should have Synergists, Saboteurs and Sentinels in your party line-up somewhere for a reason---use em if you need em!


NEVER SELL ACCESSORIES OR WEAPONS UNLESS YOU /REALLY/ NEED THE MONEY! In particular, there are a handful of accessories, namely the elemental ring-types, that you can only find during gameplay and that you only have a fixed amount of. In order to have obtained/carried one of each item at some point to win yourself the Treasure Hunter trophy and unlock a new theme, you need to upgrade these rare-ish accessories into their higher tiers, which is impossible to do if you've sold or dismantled them all, since they are among the few that can't be bought. Ditto, each weapon has a secondary form and then a more universal-ish ultimate form, and most other accessories level up to new levels too. Since you'll just need to waste money buying these items back later on to upgrade them, unless you're strapped for cash and need the gil to buy something incredibly important, avoid selling or dismantling anything. In particular, you shouldn't dismantle ANYTHING until you've maxed it out, cuz elsewise you're just getting a mediocre return.

There are also a few items you should never level up into new accessories if you want to continue to have one of each item on you (note: you don't NEED to have each item on you to get the trophy in question, you just need to have had it at one point, so, yeah, sure, if you had it and don't want it anymore, or you've transformed it to the next level, that's generally fine too, I guess). Items you should NEVER transform into their higher levels include the Catalogs, the Gold Watch, the Hunter's Friend, and the Elemental Charms. I will list all items that shouldn't be upgraded later, if anyone's worried, but if it does something special (ie: increase drop rates), and you can't buy it in a store, as a general rule of thumb, DON'T upgrade it unless you check GameFaqs or something and double-check that it can be turned into something worthwhile.

In general, it's best to wait until around Chapter 11 to start upgrading weapons and accessories, and even then, it requires some skill, lots of gil, and frequent saving, so if you don't have a gil surplus, and are doing fine without upgraded items, you might just as well wait until as late as possible to try--- as a general rule of thumb, buy 99 Sturdy Bones (there are 5 other items that can be used as well, but if you don't plan on upgrading multiple things at once, 99 of these suckers should be fine for now), use 36 of them on the item in choice to increase the multiplier to 3x, then use as many technical components (ie: Bomb Shells, Particle Accelerators, etc..) as you have and can, although avoid going over the limit for experience needed to "star" the weapon's level---this is where trial and error comes in, and you might need to restart often to avoid wasting precious tech components. Once you're happy, save. Remember, always use tech components in huge chunks (ie: 45 at once) to avoid killing your bonus, and after you use the tech components once and if it didn't max it out and you don't wanna restart and try again, use 36ish more Sturdy Bones or the like to recover your 3x bonus and add some more.

What weapons and accessories you level up and so forth depends on who you plan on using, how you plan on using them, and how many of those components you're willing to use to level things up, and how much gil you have to do so. I personally use Lightning and Hope more magick-based, and Fang more strength-based, and prefer stat boosts to the semi-decent innate abilities some weapons have, but to each their own. Likewise, if you have limited resources, don't waste them on levelling up stat-boosting accessories like the Titanium Bangle or so forth, since there's a minimal boost per level, and you'd be much better off using those resources levelling up weapons (or other accessories where possible) to better your characters that way. I have personally yet to master the Upgrade system, but if anyone needs help, ask.

A note about dismantling: I said it before, I'll say it again--- unless you've *'d (starred) an item, DON'T dismantle it! You get the best rewards if the item was maxed out when you dismantle, so unless you really wanna get rid of an item or can't afford the components to level it up to max, you're best off keeping it until you can upgrade it, then dismantle it then.

Likewise, there are a few items that are awesome for dismantling. Max out a Tetradic Crown or Tetradic Tiara and dismantle it and you'll get yourself four accessories (including rare Sprint Shoes or Hermes Sandals, depending on which item) for your trouble, and only 1000 or so experience needed to manage it (each accessory only has two levels---the one it starts out in, and the starred level, so whatever it says it needs to level up is ALL the experience you need). Similarly, if you keep all those Doctor's Codes (which you SHOULD!), max em out, and dismantle them (keep one, of course, if possible), you get yourself one of each shroud (minus Ethersol) and an Elixir! Maxing out a Goddess`s Favour and dismantling it wins you a Ribbon, and there`s a couple of Fang and I believe Vanille`s weapons that, once brought to ultimate level, maxed out, then dismantled, yield THREE Trapehedrons (a rare catalyst needed to make ultimate weapons to begin with, which are super-expensive to buy elsewise) a pop. Doing this with Fang`s Taming Pole is supposedly the cheapest and quickest way to accomplish this, although you still need the money to buy a Trapehedron to begin with, so...good luck with that.

If a boss battle is ever too much for you, realize that you can usually use shrouds just before the cutscenes that begin the battles, then once the battle starts, you`ll be buffed automatically with whatever you used. I suggested it earlier for the battle in Chapter 9 against Barthandelus, but often if you can, and you find a particular boss fight difficult, a quick use of Fortisol and/or Aegisol before the fight can mean the difference between a fraught, scary fight where you die repeatedly, or a quick, relatively painless one. Just remember, you'll need to be able to open up the L1 menu to access the shrouds, so just hitting "Retry" when you die likely won't work....you might need to reload your saved game prior to the battle/cutscene if you wanna make use of this trick. Other particular points where this trick is useful are the fights with Barthandelus in Chapters 11 and 13, the fight with Cid in Chapter 10, and pretty much any other boss fight where time is of the essence and you can't afford to waste the time to buff up but could really benefit from their particular boons. Likewise, I haven't tried it myself, but the Odin, Alexander and Hecatoncheir battles could probably be made a whole lot easier if you use shrouds just before the cutscenes that spawn them, so if you keep getting your arse handed to you, try using a Fortisol and Aegisol if you have em?

There are certain accessories that are awesome, and should be worn where possible. If you're looking for items and shrouds, the Conniseur Catalog, Survivalist Catalog, and Collector Catalog are excellent for that purpose---the first, which drops rare items, can be made by upgrading the last of the three, and while equipping multiple copies of the same accessories won't stack (ie: if you have 4 Collector's Catalogs on Lightning, it won't increase the drop rate any more than just having one), having one of each increases rare drops, shroud drops, and normal drops, respectively, so it's worth equipping them if you can to maximize returns for each battle---the added Fortisols, Aegisols, and Deceptisols are quite helpful too.

The Growth Egg, gained from Mission 55, should also be at the top of your to-do list following a post-game (ie: beating the game, waiting till the credits roll, saving, and reloading that saved file to continue playing, with the 10th and final level of the Crystarium unlocked) return to Gran Pulse. The battle pits you against a Neochu, in perhaps one of the most hardcore battles ever, but with a little luck, and with Vanille acting as party leader with her Belladonna/Malboro Rod, a Tetradic Crown, some Hermes Sandals if possible, the Auto-Faith accessory, and lots of HP-boosting items, along with the Death spell known and Fang and Snow backing her up as Sentinels, you can beat the Neochu (and then kill his spawn once he dies) if you do a trick.

First off, you want a party with Vanille as leader, with Fang and Snow backing her up. Set up SAB/SEN/SEN as your default paradigm, and include MED/SEN/SEN, MED/COM/SEN, and SAB/SAB/SEN as options. Throw in MED/COM/COM or similar things too if you want, but just be sure to have the initial one, and at least the MED/SEN/SEN and MED/COM/SEN options.
Turn the Auto-Battle function to "Abilities" for now in the Settings menu. This will be annoying once you successfully "Death" the Neochu, but is better than trying to scroll down constantly when you are trying to make Death stick
Set up Vanille with the Belladonna Rod, or, better yet, the Malboro Rod if you can upgrade it that far, for improved debuffing, which increases the chance the "death" chance will hit. Likewise, you want her with the Tetradic Tiara, which'll keep her alive a bit longer, and preferably the Hermes Sandals, if you have em, to give her Auto-Haste, as well as perhaps the accessory granting her Auto-Faith. HP-increasing accessories are good too. Fang and Snow should have accessories to boost their HP, reduce damage, or limit Earth damage, and Fang should have items to increase her strength and preferably the Auto-Brave accessory, if possible. Snow should just bulk up on HP-boosting accessories, if possible. Each character should also have at least 10000 HP before you attempt this, and Vanille should at least try to get her fifth role crystal in her Saboteur role, to increase the chances of Death working. ALSO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THREE TP IF POSSIBLE!
Start the mission, and find the mark. Before the battle, use a Fortisol and Aegisol if you want, it's up to you. You'll likely be "retrying" this mission over and over again, so yeah. Start the battle.
Use a Librascope quickly if you can, then start spamming Death. MAKE SURE TO TARGET THE NEOCHU and not his Picochu spawn. Use Death repeatedly, as fast as possible, until either he dies or Vanille does. If she dies, retry and start again. You'll likely end up giving up Librascope'ing him quite quickly, no matter, you can reencounter him later when your Crystariums are more complete and Libra him then.
When you finally get lucky and Death sticks, you'll be left with 5 Picochus that can hit hard and fast, keeping you from doing any real damage to them if you want to survive. The best trick is to summon Hecatoncheir, heal Vanille as a Medic while he's there, if you need to, or swap to Saboteur or Ravager if available to debuff/death some of the baddies or deal some damage. If Vanille's about to die or you've maxed out Hec's Gestahl gauge, enter it and spam Auto-Gestahl mode until you're down to 1, then use his super move. This should HOPEFULLY kill at least once or two enemies.
With only 2-3 Picochus left, hopefully, you should be able to survive turning to the MED/COM/SEN paradigm and getting Fang to pound on the baddies, while Snow soaks up the damage and Vanille keeps him (and herself and Fang) alive. With any luck, the battle should be over in about two minutes, and you'll get the Growth Egg, which doubles CP if equipped. Hereafter, until you max out everyone's Crystariums in all their roles, this accessory should ALWAYS be on one of your active party if humanly possible.

Keep in mind the strategy to get it early enough to make a significant difference relies a lot on luck, but if all goes well, you'll only need your characters maxed out in one of their three primary roles to work it, and can quickly finish off their other two roles in minimal quick-levelling areas, turning enemy encounters than usually offer 6600 CP, like the great and easyish three-way battle with the Megatherion and Behemoth King duking it out before the entrance to the Mah'Habara Subterra in Archylte Steppe into a whopping return of 13300 for a 14ish second battle. Take on the Cactuar which can be found a few steps away from the save point above them (being you encountered the original Cactuar with your Chocobo elsewhere in the Steppe to "unlock" them), which gets 10000 CP with the Growth Egg for a relatively easy 40 second battle, and you can loop between the two of them and earn entire 60000 CP stat boosts in just a little over four battles, constituting maybe five minutes tops. If you wanted, you could spend an hour or two looping these two encounters, and max out your characters' primary roles easily. This strategy doesn't work well for gaining Gil or components for upgrading weapons and accessories, however, and as such, there are better locations, like in Eden or Orphan's Cradle, where you'd be better off fighting. Likewise, once you can safely take on Adamantoises and their ilk (ie: those huge elephant-y things wandering the Steppe and sections of Eden), they quite decently allow you to make money and gain components. So yeah.

A great place to farm money is in Chapter 9, in the second map, where you are outside the Palamecia encountering only Deck Drones and Dragoons. While the enemies can be difficult in large groups, they have a nice tendancy to drop Incentive or Credit Chips, which can be sold for decent gil at that stage in the game, and if you spend an hour or so walking back and forth (they respawn once you enter the next area), you can get quite a few Incentive/Credit Chips, as well as some decent CP.
Perhaps a better place for gil is in Eden and/or Orphan's Cradle, where in the one hand, you can fight against the soldier type enemies who yet again drop Incentive/Credit Chips (or the females that drop Perfume, which sells for quite an awesome sum of Gil), OR the Sacrifice type enemies who drop Perfume or Scarletite, which is a decently useful catalyst and can be sold for a lot too, if you choose to do that. The Sacrifices can cast Death which could potentially kill your party leader and lead to a game over, but usually you can get rid of them quickly enough that it doesn't become a problem---equipping a Cherub's Crown or three can always help remedy that if necessary.

If you have yet to beat the game, the second-to-last section of the Orphan's Cradle map has an excellent spot to farm CP if you don't mind refighting some of the bosses from earlier in the chapter. At 32000 a pop, in battles that usually don't take too much more than 2-5 minutes, you can whip up quite a lot of CP---which is good to get saved up, since the final bosses leave no CP, and with no enemies after this point, you can safely max out your accumulated CP to 999,999 if you've already maxed out their pre-end-game Crystariums in their primary roles so that they bring over the saved up CP and can automatically master a role as soon as you beat the game, save, and load the game to unlock the new level of the Crystarium. An hour is more than enough time to get yourself on a decent path to success, so make the most of it while you can---once you beat the game, you can never return to this location unless you start a totally new game from the beginning, so this is your only chance to farm CP. As well, make sure you Libra everything in here, since once you beat the game, at least that section in general can't be gotten back to, so you don't wanna miss anything.

And if you haven't been following along, THE GAME CONTINUES EVEN AFTER YOU BEAT IT. Wait until the credits roll, and "The end" pops up. Click X, and it should prompt you with a "Do you want to save your game?" message. Select "Yes", then save on a new file (just in case you ever do wanna go back or whatever). After saving, you'll be returned to the main menu, where you can load the saved game and will then unlock the last level of the Crystarium, and should now be powerful enough, at least once all those new stat boosts are unlocked, to take on some of the scarier enemies from Chapters 11 and 12. In the post-game playthrough, you can finish off the remaining missions, max out your Crystariums, get all the weapons and accessories and items, obtain any missing trophies, and pretty much finish things up.

If you have any further questions, please ask. I will hopefully be getting up some quick tips on fighting eidolons (particularly Alexander and Hecatoncheir), as well as maybe some other bosses, plus hopefully some more tips for good set-ups and party basics, as well as information on "power-levelling" when and where possible, and similar hints. But yeah, if anyone wants to know more on something, ask. I shall provide. =P
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