OFFICAL FF13-2 THREAD (Use spoilertags plz)

[Rave Robber]

It's not the huge ghast-like guy in Academia is it? I remember trying to fight him multiple times, but I kept getting destroyed. He was hitting my party for around 2.5k, and there was no way I could have beat him at current level.

Maybe this game employs certain features as FF13, where there are just some encounters you come across that you simply cannot defeat at the time?

no it is not i think it is the first time u fight caius (i think thats how it is spelled) with sarah and nole. i get him to a point, but then he heals and im just doomed

[Rave Robber]

hahahha explody face XD

[cetra_aeris]

Don't feel bad Rave, I got stuck in the same spot. What I did was go to Sunleath to detour and then to Steppe. That's where I got Bucaboo Ace, which helped tremindously. Plus, leveling there was alot easier too. Try just heading there and hunting around. The chocobo's can be great monsters too, but I really think Ace is what got me through with Caius. He staggered him so fast!~

Just stick with it, and if you have any problems I'm sure there are plenty of people willing to help. =D

[Rave Robber]

awesome thanks, finally got past the part, seems i just needed to get a few things up before i had to defeat him

[Gummy]

All right! Final Fantasy 13-2 thread. B)

Kinda late to this party, but better late than never.

Think I'm near the end now since...I dunno. I just do. Went for a few days without playing it, else I would have finished it. Overall enjoying it. :>

Got nothing constructive to add, really. Just...

Everybuddy wanna ride your Chocobo!

Oh, and the official guide is better than it was for XIII at a glance (not used it properly yet). It has artwork in this time, and everything.

[Andromeda]

I completed the Platinum for the game as well now. I ended up having Clock Stopper as the last one and just did Bresha Ruins 300 AF, because I was there for the Don Tonberry trophy, which I'm thankful I got on my second attempt, first for the trophy, but I had to get him once before for the bestiary. I messed up somewhere on the Clock Stopper, but haven't a clue where and then I just started counting.

I finished at 63:43 with 335812 gil. I was using Golden Chocobo 45, Fanitor 40 and Flandit 36, even though I probably should have switched over to my Silver Chocobo, a more durable Sentinel.

The spending up time thing was pretty convenient for things.

I also have Lightning, I still have to capture Amodar sometime, but I wanted to have Lightning, though I don't use Ravagers anymore so it is a little sad not to have her for use.

[Rowan]

Andromeda, you would have benefit more to use an all chocobo party with the 'pack mentality' ability. It makes monsters of all the same type in the pack have significantly increased strength and magic. Probably the most powerful pack possible. I was going to do this, but I want to use Omega and Lightning from the DLC.

[Andromeda]

Yeah I had wanted to switch to a Medic Chocobo and Sentinel Chocobo for a while, but never really got around to doing it. I have the necessary chocobos and I even have my Silver at 45 too, but I still needed to level up my Medic. I don't know what the Feral Link for it is, but I did really enjoy having the quick heal from the Flanitor.

When the next round of DLC comes out or I feel the urge. I'll probably work on maxing my party's potential out. Especially, since I still don't have the best weapons in the game. Noel and Serah are still pretty rough around the edges. I started using Noel's Odin weapon since I needed the 99,999 damage trophy and I've forgotten to take it off of him for the ATB bonus. Serah I still control and she has the ATB speed bonus weapon. So combat flow revolves around her.

Can't believe I forgot about the Limit Break cancel or whatever they are calling it. I used it quite a bit when I learned about it in XIII against the Long Guis and Adamantiose, but I ended up forgetting about it until I was watching a video on finding the Metal Gigantuar. It was at the end up the game though, so I only ended up using it on the last "tough" monster I needed to fight for a trophy. Considering, Serah is the only one with a non-commando Limit Break, it is probably one of the reasons I didn't really think about it. Noel's already a Commando, so he's going to maximize damage anyway.

[Rowan]

On a side note, Im still only upto academia 4XX in chapter 4 and I've already earned the

Spoiler: big game hunter trophy

. Are there any more worthy foes? Ive almost maxed out the crystarium for my characters... should I continue with the story now? Or should I keep hunting available fragments. I have 86/160.

[Andromeda]

If you've already maxed out your character roles almost then there is not going to be a lot things that will challenge you in the main story. And if you've already taken out the guys in the Steppe, there isn't a lot left that will really be hard for you. The only other fight that I can think of that is not a short fight, is the only in Oerba 200 AF, which is also attached to a trophy for beating it on normal difficulty.

I found one of the paradox ending bosses bothersome, but I changed my tactics and he got a lot easier after that. But you can't do those paradox endings until you've beaten the game since you don't get the Paradox Scope until then.

There are a bunch of mini-bosses in the final dungeon that if you aren't smart can destroy you very easily, but if you're smart are not too hard. So they should be a good challenge, I guess. Plus if you don't defeat them and are forced to retry they spawn immediately again. So you can't get through it quickly and not have them spawn. You can get around them, though very hard, and not fight them. But they'll literally respawn immediately. When you hit those you'll know when you found the mini-bosses. Always the same and always a two step respawn, very annoying.

There is even a monster in there that will probably completely destroy you in like a couple of hits, non-Sentinel, if you don't fight him smartly. And then it is accompanied by two super highly resistance to everything, Cait Sith types. Probably the most annoying monsters in the game next to Yomi. And they don't even have the 4 million, he does.

If you've min-maxed your characters out, then it probably won't be so hard. But it's very easy to get yourself killed there if you go in with the expectation that it'll be another simple fight.

[Rave Robber]

noooooo im almost done witht he game -cry-

[Zargabaath]

A bit of an update on my file:


Serah/Noel
Com: 65/99
Rav: 88/70
Sen: 63/83
Sab: 74/01
Syn: 39/77
Med: 66/65

Game clock: 34:59
Fragments: 70/160

I was able to get the Indrajit and Romulus & Remus relatively easy. First battle going into trying to farm them I got the Indrajit and it took 3 battles after that for R&R. I'm some way into Episode 4, don't know how much more I got left. Took a break though by farming, hunting and getting fragments. So while I was trying to get a Blue Chocobo I aimed to get the Clock Stopper trophy. Well I got the Blue Chocobo without much trouble. After some time had passed and still no trophy. I checked my trophy list to find out I had unlocked Clock Stopper February 8th. So that ended up being about 2 hours spent getting gil and crystogen points. Somewhat of a waste of time.


Currently my paradigm pack consists of:

Flanitor: 20
Flanbanero: 24
Tonberry: 24

and I use Pulse Gladiator (21) as my Sentinel when needed. Took 4 fights against the Tonberry to finally get its monster crystal.

[Ryu-Kentoshii Hirokima]

I'm Currently At Episode 5, Got Serah's Odinbolt Weapon, Saving Gil For Noel's Odinblade Weapon. Serah & Noel Both Have 99 Commando & Ravager, Have All Abilities For Each Role They Have Now(5/6) Missing One Role For Both Characters, But No Worries, I'll Be Farming And Grinding Like There Is No Tomorrow In The Next Few Hours Of Gameplay. Current Party Paradigm Pack: lvl 37 Behemoth(COM), lvl 40 Zerg Scandroid(RAV), & lvl 12 Pulse Gladiator(SEN) (I Know He Is At A Low lvl, But I Will Be Farming His Materials Needed To lvl Up Soon).

Currently Working On Farming Gil And Potent Essences For My lvl 37 Behemoth As He Is Now A Grade 4 Monster. Will Be Also Working On Getting Materials For Maxing Out My Blue Chocobo To Replace My Zerg Scandroid Who Is Maxed Out At lvl 40(lvl Cap For It).

I Have A Huge List Of Monsters Already, But I Wont Go Into It Right Now.

Current Gameplay Time: Approximately 31-32 Hours Of Gameplay.

I Will Edit This Further As I Play Through More, And Will Make A Video Showing Everything I Have So Far For Proof Of My Actual Gameplay And That I'm Not BSing All Of You.

*Note: This Is My 3rd-4th Official Day Of Owning The Game And I Have Been Playing Only That Game Ever Since.

**2nd Note: My Favorite And Possibly The Best Paradigm To Use Is The Relentless Assault Paradigm(Serah: RAV, Noel: COM, Monster Pet Of Choice: RAV)

***Key Note: Serah Is The Best RAV, While Noel Is The Best COM, As In Those Are Their Best Role To Play, And Is Also Their Main/Signature Roles Period. Serah Has More Base Magic Then Noel, While Noel Has More Base Strength Then Serah. This Is Common Logic To My Key Note.

Click This To See My Current Stats For This Date:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=979OEGfPfDU

[Rowan]

Okay. So I defeated DLC omega and also Lightning and Amodar and I did not receive anything after the battle other than some cp and gil. Where are the rewards for winning such difficult battles? Dont tell me I have to be lucky to earn their crystal, because they arnt exactly easy-to-farm bosses...

[Rave Robber]

i cant find lightning!!!!!!!!!!!! noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ill find u lightning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tezcat]

Okay. So I defeated DLC omega and also Lightning and Amodar and I did not receive anything after the battle other than some cp and gil. Where are the rewards for winning such difficult battles? Dont tell me I have to be lucky to earn their crystal, because they arnt exactly easy-to-farm bosses...

They have low drop rates on their crystals which sucks.
I took on Lightning and Amodar with a really underlevelled team - I've not even gone to Acadmemia 4XX yet. I took Lightning down first time easily then concentrated on getting her gone again in the second stage but the only way I could beat Amodar was to have Serah as a SAB using wound every turn to bring his max HP down to about 200k before staggering him and beating him. Bloody mediguard. I beat them but didn't get the crystals either. Think I'm going to wait until I'm stronger to try again so it doesn't take 45 minutes to do.

[Unknown Entity]

I just started mine today... and I'm disappointed as I predicted that I'd be. Me, and my boyfriend who was with me at the time, weren't as blown away by the cut-scenes and action sequences as we thought we'd be. Might be some spoilers ahead, but you wouldn't be missing much in less than an hours worth of game play.

I also felt very disoriented by the way it just sort of puts you straight into the action, in what feels like a dozen chapters through a story. I know I'll probably come to learn who and where everything is if I keep playing, but I felt it was too much too soon. I'm sitting here wondering what Nahalla is, and some kid starts falling from the sky. Then I'm on Odin, fighting something chasing Lightening and the kid. Then Lightening is apparently dead, Serah knows "the truth", and Snow isn't with his fiance (or wife?) to protect her during an attack on the village they live on. And I wasn't once blown away by it.

In fact, I was frustrated and bored with it before I'd even switched to Serah. Someone, please tell me it's worth continuing? Without spoilers, just in case.

[Alpha]

Yeah, the beginning totally blows.

Between working full time and moving into a flat, I've squeezed like 3 or 4 hours into this since getting it in release day (**** you to everyone who's finished).

I have a question. Is there any point to 'catching em all'? I spent like 40 minutes getting a rare monster crystal, and the thing isn't even as good as what I already had in that role. Do I bother catching everything? Is there a trophy/rare infuse-able abilities?

[Rowan]

I just started mine today... and I'm disappointed as I predicted that I'd be. Me, and my boyfriend who was with me at the time, weren't as blown away by the cut-scenes and action sequences as we thought we'd be. Might be some spoilers ahead, but you wouldn't be missing much in less than an hours worth of game play.

I also felt very disoriented by the way it just sort of puts you straight into the action, in what feels like a dozen chapters through a story. I know I'll probably come to learn who and where everything is if I keep playing, but I felt it was too much too soon. I'm sitting here wondering what Nahalla is, and some kid starts falling from the sky. Then I'm on Odin, fighting something chasing Lightening and the kid. Then Lightening is apparently dead, Serah knows "the truth", and Snow isn't with his fiance (or wife?) to protect her during an attack on the village they live on. And I wasn't once blown away by it.

In fact, I was frustrated and bored with it before I'd even switched to Serah. Someone, please tell me it's worth continuing? Without spoilers, just in case.

I felt very similar. Keep playing, its worth it. The gameplay plays the biggest role in keeping people entertained. There are plenty of rewards for sidequests. The story will become less confusing as will the historia crux, you just need to invest more 'time' (lol) into the game for it to make more sense. its very unconventional in aspects that play to its advantage. As I said before, like you, at first I was confused and not impressed nor did I feel a connection to the characters, but the game became more enjoyable the more I played. If you dont like it after reaching chapter 3, then I think its safe to say you dont like it.

[Zargabaath]

I just started mine today... and I'm disappointed as I predicted that I'd be. Me, and my boyfriend who was with me at the time, weren't as blown away by the cut-scenes and action sequences as we thought we'd be. Might be some spoilers ahead, but you wouldn't be missing much in less than an hours worth of game play.

I also felt very disoriented by the way it just sort of puts you straight into the action, in what feels like a dozen chapters through a story. I know I'll probably come to learn who and where everything is if I keep playing, but I felt it was too much too soon. I'm sitting here wondering what Nahalla is, and some kid starts falling from the sky. Then I'm on Odin, fighting something chasing Lightening and the kid. Then Lightening is apparently dead, Serah knows "the truth", and Snow isn't with his fiance (or wife?) to protect her during an attack on the village they live on. And I wasn't once blown away by it.

In fact, I was frustrated and bored with it before I'd even switched to Serah. Someone, please tell me it's worth continuing? Without spoilers, just in case.

I share some sentiments with Rowan. I'm currently in the middle of Episode 4. The game does start off with everybody seeming to know everything there is about paradoxes which I felt should have taken some time to learn. There tends to be a lack of build-up in this game with some plot points. I differ from Rown because I feel that story gets sillier as it goes on and that Toriyama is working his "magic" the more the story is revealed. Not on the level that I found in FFXIII. This game's story seems to be slightly better, even though things started off well, it has deteriorated.

To me the gameplay is much better than the first. The inclusion of monsters is a great feature. If anything that should keep you hooked.

[Rowan]

I have begin to understand the story, but I also agree that its silly. For example.

Major spoilers. dont read unless you have played upto chapter 5 or something.

Spoiler: Caius motivation for antagonism is the fact that the timeline had been changed when lightning and crew defeated orphan all those years ago, to have the goddess grant mercy and free them from their L'cie fate and in doing so created a paradox in which Yeul was killed over and over in every different possible timeline which makes Caius want to destory time all together. That in itself is very farfetched. There are far too many hypocrisies in the game according the time travel guide as well. I really dont have the energy to explain this because its so incredbily complex, that might head just might implode. its to do along the lines of people cant die in the future if they are saved in the past, meaning that they never died in the first place (paradox, right?) but paradoxes cannot exist theoretically speaking. If you can see into the future and see someone die, then you cant save them in the past because what you saw then would not have been the future because you saved them so they didnt die etcetc these things are not possible in the world of time travel.

EDIT:

I want this. badly. FF13-2 DLC swimsuit. Gimme. Gimme now.

[Andromeda]

Yeah, the beginning totally blows.

Between working full time and moving into a flat, I've squeezed like 3 or 4 hours into this since getting it in release day (**** you to everyone who's finished).

I have a question. Is there any point to 'catching em all'? I spent like 40 minutes getting a rare monster crystal, and the thing isn't even as good as what I already had in that role. Do I bother catching everything? Is there a trophy/rare infuse-able abilities?

To answer your question, no there is no trophy for collecting all of the monsters or infusing. There is one trophy for capturing a specific monster, but that is the only. If you're only a few hours in it is not like you're going to find amazing monsters yet. But also keep in mind that most monsters won't start out looking great. Like your characters, they have to built up to actually be good. In addition, combining and mixing and matching monsters with infusion will help you get the type of monster you want. Anything you capture during battle can be re-captured. So the only thing you'll be out is the materials and if the monster you infused helped make another one even better, you're not really out anything.

I'm a bad judge on being confused by the story, since I've followed the game since it was announced and read all of the supplementary material about FFXIII before going into the game. So I already knew what Valhalla was and everything that was going on. The only thing that was still a mystery at the start was why Caius was going around doing stuff.

But everything does get explained in the course of the game. The game's a lot of fun and the story and characters are interesting to follow.

[Zargabaath]

I'm a bad judge on being confused by the story, since I've followed the game since it was announced and read all of the supplementary material about FFXIII before going into the game. So I already knew what Valhalla was and everything that was going on. The only thing that was still a mystery at the start was why Caius was going around doing stuff.

I don't think it is confusion as much as even in the first episode NORA was talking like they had a fundamental understanding of time paradoxes. Time Travel is hard to understand because of its complexity. They and everyone talked about it as if it were kindergarten knowledge. If anything it is confusing because they don't explain how everyone got so smart. Having mysteries in the beginning of the game is nothing new or inherently bad for RPGs (Ex: FFX or Xenogears). But making something trivial when it shouldn't be is poor. That's how I feel at least.

[Andromeda]

It is certainly true that I felt the characters spoke with too much certainty. I think it is probably a case of poor direction. My guess is that the characters are just making guesses, but the voice actors come off sounding way too confident in what they are talking about. The only one that should really be able speak with confidence is the kid labeled a "genius".

The matter you've brought up can be simplified a bit, Rowan. You might not have reached the point where they explain, but I'll put it in spoilers and leave it up to you decide.

Spoiler: The short of it is that when history changes Yuel is forced to see the future. Etro's intervention and Serah and Noel's journey are indirectly killing Yuel. Caius is trying to prevent this, but additionally he's also wanting a world where time doesn't exist so Yuel can't die. The long of it. Etro's actions are not causing Yuel to die in the method you're explaining. The way it works is that seeing the future eats away your life, see it too many times you die. Yuel being who she is, is destined to die early because of this. When Etro interfered, it sent changes and ripples through all of the timeline, which meant Yuel had to see those changes. Shortening her life. Though additionally, because Serah and Noel are changing things, Yuel is forced to see those changes as well. So Serah and Noel are killing Yuel indirectly by their actions, which Etro began. Caius knows all of this and wants them to stop because they are killing her. Though that is just a part of it. He is also wanting to create a world where Yuel is able to live with no fear of death. That is his primary goal, the problems Noel and Serah are causing are complicating what he's doing and killing Yuel. Valhalla is such a place that he wants, it is the Unseen Realm. He wants to create a place like the Unseen Realm for Yuel.

Additionally, your bikini DLC you want is coming either the end of the month with the Sazh story DLC or in early March. I forget which, but they announced that Serah and Noel's next outfits would be coming soon.

[Alpha]

Alright then, is there something for completing the bestiary? I'm just wondering why they bothered including several rare enemies per location.

[Andromeda]

The variety is likely because of the fact that monsters have different stats, abilities and passives from each other. Two ravagers won't build the same way even if you use the same items on them. Because of that you will want to capture more than you would actually plan to ever field. The extras would be used in your infusions.

If you look at infusion suggestions for creating the "ultimate" commando it is a combination of like 7 or 8 monsters just to create the one that you would actually use in fighting. So it may seem like excess, but they are there for a reason.

Completing the bestiary is a quest, but you don't have to capture monsters to complete the bestiary quest. You just have to defeat one of every single monster in the entire game, which is a very long list of monsters.

[Tezcat]

I took on Lightning and Amodar with a really underlevelled team - I've not even gone to Acadmemia 4XX yet. I took Lightning down first time easily then concentrated on getting her gone again in the second stage but the only way I could beat Amodar was to have Serah as a SAB using wound every turn to bring his max HP down to about 200k before staggering him and beating him. Bloody mediguard. I beat them but didn't get the crystals either. Think I'm going to wait until I'm stronger to try again so it doesn't take 45 minutes to do.

One quick trip to Academia -> One silver chocobo.
Archylte Steppe -> lots of Ganacaghs and Mirochus -> level 70 Cichu and level 45 Silver Chocobo
I can now beat Amodar and Lightning in 7 minutes which is quick enough to 5 star it. Still yet to get the crystals though.

[Gummy]

Alright then, is there something for completing the bestiary? I'm just wondering why they bothered including several rare enemies per location.

Yer, there's a side-quest where some old fella challenges you to get a more complete bestiary than him. They all rewards fragments and CP.


Oh yeah, finished the game now. :>

[Lockduck]

Just finished the game last night. The final boss fight was incredible. I loved everything about it. I am still on the fence with the ending though. Overall, I loved this game and want to thank SE for a great game. I think this game was a step in the right direction.

[Tezcat]

Got two new recruits tonight from the DLC, got them quite quickly too.
Following that I tried a couple of the fights from earlier - Atlas and Royal Ripeness and beat them both. Then I took out Long Gui. Think my team is strong enough to end the game now.

my team is now:

Lightning as a RAV, Cichu as a COM and Silver Chocobo as a SEN

after the fights:

I enjoyed the two paradox endings. The flan one was definitely my favourite of the two, although what was with Noel's weird voice!?