That hasn't happened in a while

[jdotmi]

I beat Final Fantasy XIII last night (read 2am). This is one of the few modern (post-Nintendo) FF games I've done in one continuous playthrough, actually. I sorta did it with VII (stopped playing for a few months, and then picked up my old save game), and I did it with X-2, but the rest took multiple times or I havent finished. FFIX is a bad game with a horrible guide, and I stopped 3/4 of the way through XII to go sidequesting and then never got back into the storyline, but my characters are uber in that one! X I finished a year after I bought it when I restarted the game.

So, in my list of FF rankings (only those I've completed), this falls somewhere between VIII and VII. If y'all care, my order (from favorite to least) is VI, X, X-2, VII, XIII, VIII, IV, and I. The ones I own but haven't completed are II, V, and IX, and of the three II and V are the only ones I like. I got nearly to the end of V, and I think I played about 30 minutes of II, but I was on game overload when I bought it. I got to the second disk of IX and went "screw that" and stopped. The only FF game I've played that was worse than that was XI, and that's an online game. And, yes, I'm counting Mystic Quest in that comparison.

Now I get to go do end-game stuff in XIII. And I might actually try to finish XII just to say that I did. :p

Comments

[tygerversionx.livejournal.com]

I haven't. I have a couple more things to get enough points for to be hitting the role levels in each thing.

But darn it! I used the strategy guide method and got him down to half health. And I survived his stupid Destrudo like three times due to the Hero's Charge/Solidarity last-second-switch maneuver. But it didn't help me one time and I died bad. After 5 tries just now, I'm done.

This is the sort of boss battle that turns me off games, dammit. And I don't want to be turned off this game.

[aardvarkfloss.livejournal.com]

omg your strategy talk is making me so anxious to play. gragh!

[tygerversionx.livejournal.com]

I swear to god, if I don't get beyond this boss on the airship, and you do, you will have to tell me how you did it.

[aardvarkfloss.livejournal.com]

chuh I'll have to get the game and a ps3 first. I think you'll win before any of that happens. haha

[jdotmi.livejournal.com]

Get your role level crystals. They are a huge help for this fight. Don't worry, you'll get a huge mess of CP for winning the fight, too.

There are parts of the strat in the guide I don't like. It recommends Bully, but I personally hate that Paradigm. I'd much rather use Evened Odds for debuffing, because then Hope can do some buffing and Light can keep people alive. I tossed a Librascope to start so that I wouldn't waste time "learning" each panels weakness. I don't think I summoned Odin during the battle, but it is definitely a possibility to survive it.

OH. Do you have Agisol and Fortisol available? You should be able to toss those before entering the room for free early buffage (that's actually a trick I use for most boss fights at this point). I don't think Hope has Haste yet, and that really really helps in boss fights.

EDIT TO ADD: I had upgraded Lightning's weapon to Star level and had partially upgraded Hope's and Fang's weapons as well.

[tygerversionx.livejournal.com]

I added Agisol and Fortisol before the start. That allowed me to take out the side panels superfast.

I must admit I thought about trading out Fang for Sahz, so I'd always have haste, but I believe I went into the first battle like that, and eventually I got knocked for not healing well enough. However ... that was also when I was on manual control. I've found Lightning's a much better healer when I go into the boss fight on auto-control. My own decision making for healing targets was too slow, which killed me.

Also ... I must admit that I've only dabbled once in weapon upgrades. I don't understand how to do them or what good it would do me, so I left it alone.

[jdotmi.livejournal.com]

Upgrades 101:

Use 36 Sturdy Bones to give an item a x3 multiplier. Then use a bunch of something with a high EXP value in a large quantity to insta-upgrade to star level. A basic weapon will take betwen 30k to 80k xp to star level it. It seriously upgrades the stats on the weapons.

Sell any component that says it sells for a premium. You should have a few of those items hanging out by this point.

[tygerversionx.livejournal.com]

I haven't gotten any weapons up to star level, but I got three weapons up to level 7 -10ish now. I have to start getting ready for work, but I sold off a lot of credit chips and now have about 30,000 to buy components.

I did get one of Lightning's accessories to star level.

I will have to see if any of this helps out tonight.

Thank you for 'splainin' to me.