Thread: Final Fantasy XIII & Final Fantasy XIII-2 Thread

Left out a few things I wanted to point out to those who are reading the topic and wondering how FFXIII-2 is different from FFXIII.

Linear issue - You can tell Square Enix worked on this because there are a lot of people to talk to now in the game, thus giving it a better RPG feel. As far as moving around the map goes, it's more or less the same. Except it's not just two paths, and you know one will always lead to an item. For XIII-2, you will still ultimately have to go to the destination on the map, but before you do that, you can go in 4-5 different directions to hunt for items. That part is pretty sweet.

And of course, I have my usual DLC gripe. Final Fantasy XIII-2 Coliseum DLC Coming Next Month - PlayStation 3 News at IGN

F-off DLC! No, I don't want to buy Serah's Azazel (or whatever it's called weapon) for 80 points ($1 dollar). No, I don't want to pay you EXTRA money for the DLC Coliseum where I can add Lightning and other previous FF character into my monster slot party. Nor do I care for paying extra to see Noel and Serah wear different costumes throughout the game.

Yes, I know these are optional but it just bugs the hell out of me. We paid $60 for this ($80 for the Collector's Edition). What ever happened to bonus items you can unlock for fun? Why do we have to pay you more money for it? Whoever invented the idea of DLC needs to die now. Yeah, I said it. /rant

Originally Posted by TooCool

Did you level your monsters? I was wondering if I should keep their level around the same as Serah and Noel. I had them all at level 1 (didn't want to use the items yet) and it was tougher than I thought.

Level the ones that peak at Lvl 20. They get very strong very fast, and the items they use are pretty common drops. I imagine these monsters will be useless later in the game, but they are awesome here in early play. I have a few lvl 20 robots that kick ass. I also leveled the first monster they give you (the medic) a bit so that I had a healer in the party.

That bar that has the five little monster faces is important. 1/5 faces use certain items to level, 2/5 faces use others, 3/5 others, etc. So basically, don't feel guilty about leveling 1/5 monsters with droplets you find; once you start catching 2/5 monsters they won't be able to use those items anyway. Pretty well-thought out system by the developers to put a cap on how much you can level your monsters.

I miss linearity! I'm lost! I legitimately have no clue what I'm supposed to do next... I took a wrong turn somewhere I suppose.

Looks like it's retracing steps time. At least I can level and treasure hunt while I'm at it. No strategy guides, like the good ol' days!

Got to play an hour last night after coming home from Staples. Loving the story progress so far!

Originally Posted by USCKingsFan31

Level the ones that peak at Lvl 20. They get very strong very fast, and the items they use are pretty common drops. I imagine these monsters will be useless later in the game, but they are awesome here in early play. I have a few lvl 20 robots that kick ass. I also leveled the first monster they give you (the medic) a bit so that I had a healer in the party.

That bar that has the five little monster faces is important. 1/5 faces use certain items to level, 2/5 faces use others, 3/5 others, etc. So basically, don't feel guilty about leveling 1/5 monsters with droplets you find; once you start catching 2/5 monsters they won't be able to use those items anyway. Pretty well-thought out system by the developers to put a cap on how much you can level your monsters.

Thanks! That helped a lot. I think my monsters are still extremely under-leveled right now. Without trying to spoil anything... I fought the first boss in 10 AF. Serah and Noel are around level 20 COM, level 15 RAV, (something like that), and I only got my monsters up to level 7..

The target time for this boss was 5 minutes. It took me 10 minutes to beat it. Finishing the battle with 0 stars is not really cool! That's still better than that first boss in 5 AF, where it said 3 minutes of target time and it took me 13 minutes.

Do you walk around and look for wild battles so you can farm the items that level up your monsters? Or do you buy them from Chocolina?

Originally Posted by USCKingsFan31

I miss linearity! I'm lost! I legitimately have no clue what I'm supposed to do next... I took a wrong turn somewhere I suppose.

Looks like it's retracing steps time. At least I can level and treasure hunt while I'm at it. No strategy guides, like the good ol' days!

Hahaha. I agree with you there. I actually liked the linearity (in a way) because I knew I would never ever get lost. I like knowing the objective that is right in front of you.

So far so good for me too. No strategy guides needed yet. I'm afraid I might have to use it if I get stumped with the puzzles. As embarrassing as it is for me to say, it took me 5 minutes to figure out the 1st set of puzzles. (Especially that 2nd one)

The key thing to keep in mind with monster leveling is that all monsters are not created equal when it comes to leveling. It isn't even close.

Feed one a "potent sliver", and it'll get a bonus of +11 HP, +1 Strength, +2 Magic. Feed another one a "potent sliver", and it'll get +238 HP, +8 Strength, +6 Magic.

Try it out... if you don't want to waste materials, save first, try one on each of your monsters and see which ones show the best growth potential. Stick to leveling those ones. It isn't advantageous to have tons of monsters leveled; you only get to bring three with you into battle anyway. One per class is enough. Find the ones in your party that are the best fit, and stick to leveling them. Focus less on "level" and more on their stats: HP, Str, Mag. I have some Lvl 29 monsters that can't hold a candle to my Lvl 18 one.

I'm sure in the post-game there will be plenty of time to perfect your party, so as you progress just roll with the hot hand! Seems to be working for me so far. Good luck!

Originally Posted by USCKingsFan31

The key thing to keep in mind with monster leveling is that all monsters are not created equal when it comes to leveling. It isn't even close.

Feed one a "potent sliver", and it'll get a bonus of +11 HP, +1 Strength, +2 Magic. Feed another one a "potent sliver", and it'll get +238 HP, +8 Strength, +6 Magic.

Try it out... if you don't want to waste materials, save first, try one on each of your monsters and see which ones show the best growth potential. Stick to leveling those ones. It isn't advantageous to have tons of monsters leveled; you only get to bring three with you into battle anyway. One per class is enough. Find the ones in your party that are the best fit, and stick to leveling them. Focus less on "level" and more on their stats: HP, Str, Mag. I have some Lvl 29 monsters that can't hold a candle to my Lvl 18 one.

I'm sure in the post-game there will be plenty of time to perfect your party, so as you progress just roll with the hot hand! Seems to be working for me so far. Good luck!

I messed around with this quite a bit and I'm a bit satisfied with the 3 monsters on my team currently.

How far are you into the game? I think I have about 9-10 hours played so far (maybe more). Amazing story so far. I love this game so much. Some of these side quests are currently un-doable huh? There's this Cieth side quest in Yaschas Massif 01X AF that tears me apart in about 2-3 turns.

I made it to part in the game where the Casino unlocked and unfortunately... I'm not impressed. Don't really care for the slots or chocobo racing. Although I do have to say that the Chocobo racing looks extremely deep.

Originally Posted by TooCool

I messed around with this quite a bit and I'm a bit satisfied with the 3 monsters on my team currently.

How far are you into the game? I think I have about 9-10 hours played so far (maybe more). Amazing story so far. I love this game so much. Some of these side quests are currently un-doable huh? There's this Cieth side quest in Yaschas Massif 01X AF that tears me apart in about 2-3 turns.

I made it to part in the game where the Casino unlocked and unfortunately... I'm not impressed. Don't really care for the slots or chocobo racing. Although I do have to say that the Chocobo racing looks extremely deep.

Actually, just beat the game Saturday! I know, I'm insane crazy... but my writing job lends me a lot of free time, and after going over half a year without playing a video game, I forgot how to pace myself (as if I ever did before, haha).

Look forward to you joining me in the post game, want to talk about it with someone! Off of this thread to save spoilers, of course.

On the topic of Serendipity, I agree. Slots are not fun at all. No card games because they want to add them later with DLCs? Yuck.

Chocobo racing is actually quite fun later in the game when you get stronger/different color chocobos. I actually had less fun winning races then I did betting against my chocobo when he was the heavy favorite and then throwing the race by not using my turbo and getting bad starts out of the gate, hahaha.

I was so impressed with the difficulty of the final battle. I honestly thought I was over-leveled... had a maxed out late-bloomer COM with great stats, had every single skill on my crystarium for both characters learned... and yet it was still an epic battle that took me a few retrys. Since I'm usually a grind-it-out power level overkill kind of guy, it was nice to have to earn it... brought me back to more innocent days, haha. Who knows, it may be much easier for you, or maybe you'll need to leave and level more... that's the beauty of games like this, the experience is different for everyone, especially with all the party and role possibilities!

Oh, as far as time goes, I think I unlocked final stage at around 26 hours, got my ass kicked by some random battles so leveled/monster-hunted until about 30-32 hours, and then returned to impose my will.

On to fragment hunting for me! Good times. Keep me updated on your progress!

Originally Posted by USCKingsFan31

Actually, just beat the game Saturday! I know, I'm insane crazy... but my writing job lends me a lot of free time, and after going over half a year without playing a video game, I forgot how to pace myself (as if I ever did before, haha).

Look forward to you joining me in the post game, want to talk about it with someone! Off of this thread to save spoilers, of course.

Wow! That's fast. I heard they had multiple endings. Did you see them all already?

Originally Posted by USCKingsFan31

On the topic of Serendipity, I agree. Slots are not fun at all. No card games because they want to add them later with DLCs? Yuck.

I saw that and I thought the same thing. Ridiculous how companies these days make a video game that's not complete and expect more than $60 from their customers.

Speaking of DLC... Lightning and Amodar are available today in the Battle Arena. 240 points ($3.00) each. Unbelievable... F*** you Square Enix. The game just barely came out last week and here you are, immediately releasing DLC. What makes me even more sick is that I'm certain more than half of the people who buy the game are eager enough to shell out extra cash for this, therefore making the greedy companies and their evil ploys successful.

Originally Posted by USCKingsFan31

I was so impressed with the difficulty of the final battle. I honestly thought I was over-leveled... had a maxed out late-bloomer COM with great stats, had every single skill on my crystarium for both characters learned... and yet it was still an epic battle that took me a few retrys. Since I'm usually a grind-it-out power level overkill kind of guy, it was nice to have to earn it... brought me back to more innocent days, haha. Who knows, it may be much easier for you, or maybe you'll need to leave and level more... that's the beauty of games like this, the experience is different for everyone, especially with all the party and role possibilities!

Oh, as far as time goes, I think I unlocked final stage at around 26 hours, got my ass kicked by some random battles so leveled/monster-hunted until about 30-32 hours, and then returned to impose my will.

On to fragment hunting for me! Good times. Keep me updated on your progress!

Glad to hear that the final battle was tough. I honestly miss that in RPGs where you kind of have to replay it a few times and rethink your strategies. It seems like a lot of the RPGs these days are kind of "dumbed down" for the players.

The hardest boss ever for me is still Luca Blight from Suikoden II (Playstation 1) and he wasn't even the final boss! That guy was extremely hardcore and insane because he got to hit your party 3 times per turn.

-----------------------------------------

As for an update for where I'm at... when I said I was at 9-10 hours, I was actually at 16 hours! =o I manged to play 2-3 more hours yesterday and I just finished exploring all of Academia 4XX AF. Man, is that the biggest town ever or something? Something is bugging me though... I spent about 30 minutes walking all over the town and I only have 99% map completion there. No idea what area I'm missing, I'm certain I checked every single corner.

Originally Posted by TooCool

Wow! That's fast. I heard they had multiple endings. Did you see them all already?

Nope, just the main one... paradox endings are one of the many things on my post-game to do list!

Originally Posted by TooCool

I saw that and I thought the same thing. Ridiculous how companies these days make a video game that's not complete and expect more than $60 from their customers.

Speaking of DLC... Lightning and Amodar are available today in the Battle Arena. 240 points ($3.00) each. Unbelievable... F*** you Square Enix. The game just barely came out last week and here you are, immediately releasing DLC. What makes me even more sick is that I'm certain more than half of the people who buy the game are eager enough to shell out extra cash for this, therefore making the greedy companies and their evil ploys successful.

I'm not so upset with companies for DLCs like those other ones... these are clearly extras. Lightning isn't meant to be a playable character in this game. Sure, it'd be nice if they were extras you could UNLOCK in gameplay, but not having these things won't take away from your enjoyment of the game in any way. I don't feel like the game is "less complete" for not giving me an extra like allowing me to have Lightning in my party. I DO feel it is "less complete" when a CASINO area has ONE slot machine and no card games. At that point, why bother including it in the adventure at all? Make the whole Serendipity stage a DLC.

Originally Posted by TooCool

Glad to hear that the final battle was tough. I honestly miss that in RPGs where you kind of have to replay it a few times and rethink your strategies. It seems like a lot of the RPGs these days are kind of "dumbed down" for the players.

The hardest boss ever for me is still Luca Blight from Suikoden II (Playstation 1) and he wasn't even the final boss! That guy was extremely hardcore and insane because he got to hit your party 3 times per turn.

Boss battles are usually only super easy for me because I'm so damn overleveled, haha. FF series has given me some good ones over the years, including FFX... that was a doozy the first time around. I later maxed out stats and weapons and knocked it out in about three hits.

Suikoden II was so amazing. I actually had the most trouble with Neclord. I remember fighting him when I first got that sword that could beat him, and he was destroying me so badly that I assumed it was one of those "you can't win" battles, so I let him wipe me out to save my items. Then it said GAME OVER, and I said what... the... hell...

When I actually tried, he eventually wiped out my entire party besides Viktor. All of my healing items were gone. I had enough HP to withstand about three more attacks. I attacked, he attacked. I attacked, he attacked. I attacked... he fell. Too epic. Funny how I remember these little 2D sprites going to war like it was yesterday.

Originally Posted by TooCool

As for an update for where I'm at... when I said I was at 9-10 hours, I was actually at 16 hours! =o I manged to play 2-3 more hours yesterday and I just finished exploring all of Academia 4XX AF. Man, is that the biggest town ever or something? Something is bugging me though... I spent about 30 minutes walking all over the town and I only have 99% map completion there. No idea what area I'm missing, I'm certain I checked every single corner.

Ah so you are quite close to the end too! How good is this soundtrack? You are about to get to a stage with my favorite song in the game, amazing stuff.

I had the same problem, stuck at 99%. For me, it was in the layers. Over on the southwest side, I hadn't gone down a level to get that 1%. Zoom in on the map and hone in on that shaded area!