Help FFXIII: New to Final Fantasy XIII

Farron

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I'm new to the world of Final Fantasy XIII. I have been playing roughly 34 hours total and am on Chapter 11 in a place called the Archelyte Steppe. I've been farming CP points and was questioning what gear would be best to use on each character. My team consists of Lightning, Snow and Hope. Also can someone please explain this Upgrade system? I'm not sure if I have collected every treasure box in the game I've been following the guide on IGN for chest locations but am afraid I might have missed some and would like to get the Treasure Hunter achievement. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
The "best" gear to use depends partly on your approach, and partly on whether you want to shore up the weaknesses in your strategy or enhance the strengths. Assuming you're mostly using primary roles, Lightning/Snow/Hope gives you the best SEN, access to all of the defensive SYN spells, and strong healing capabilities. Offensively, you have a good mix of COM and RAV, the ability to take advantage of elemental weaknesses with En-spells (Enfire/Enfrost etc.), and you might have access to Bravery and Faith depending on Hope's SYN development. You are missing Haste and all SAB abilities (both offensive and defensive), and two of your three characters are relatively fragile.

If you intend to stick with this team, you should consider making Sprint Shoes (see below) for them. When I run Hope, I almost always shore up his HP with my best +HP bangle. I also like to give an Aurora Scarf to my SYN so they can begin casting buffs immediately. If you are primarily running Snow as a Sentinel, give him damage reduction accessories like Black Belts and Rune Bracelets, and give +Strength/+Magic accessories to Lightning and Hope. If you prefer to use Snow offensively as much as possible, I suggest giving Black Belts to Lightning and Hope, and filling in the rest of your accessories on Lightning and Snow with +Strength/+Magic (Hope would have +HP, an Aurora Scarf, and a Black Belt).

It might also be worth using your Blessed Talisman and/or a Morale Talisman in place of the direct +Stat accessories. These are typically better in shorter fights--the 40% boost from Bravery or Faith is probably better than +100--but worse in longer fights, since they wear off after 1 minute.

You may also want to consider changing up your party. I have difficulty running a general party in chapter 11 that does not include Sazh and Vanille. Sazh is an excellent offensive SYN and the only character with Haste at this point. Vanille is an excellent offensive SAB and is currently the best Medic.

You upgrade accessories and weapons by using components on them to build their XP. Organic components tend to have low XP values but raise the XP multiplier. Inorganic components have high XP values but lower the XP multiplier. Excepting the cheapest items, it's usually best to use Organic components until the multiplier maxes at x3, and then capitalizing on that multiplier with a large stack of Inorganic components that grants enough XP to max the item. Items that have been maxed (raised to "*" level) can usually be transformed using a catalyst item. Each accessory and weapon that can be transformed has a unique catalyst for the transformation.

For example, to make an Aurora Scarf, you need to give 350 XP to a Whistlewind Scarf to max it. Then, use a Rhodochrosite to transform it into an Aurora Scarf. If you are using Black Belts and/or Rune Bracelets as recommended above, you should max them by using organic components to reach a x3 multiplier (36 Sturdy Bones will do this), and then adding inorganic components worth about 3500 XP (the exact amount depends on how much you get from the organic components used; it takes 4380 XP to max a Black Belt).

The main thing to know about Treasure Hunter is this: don't sell any rings that resist a single element (Spark Rings, Ember Rings, etc.). As long as you hold onto those, everything else you need can be obtained later even if you miss some of the spheres (either there's another way to get the item, or you can still get the sphere later). I emphasize "single" element because Entite Rings can be safely sold, and considering their high sale value of 60,000 gil, selling them is often a good idea.

To get Sprint Shoes, you can either max and dismantle a Tetradic Tiara, or max and dismantle a Tetradic Crown for Hermes Sandals, max the Hermes Sandals, and transform them with Perovskite to create Sprint Shoes.

I hope that helps, and wasn't too much info!
 
My thoughts, being a novice myself, first there's no ideal team for all situations. Research and experiment with what each character brings to the equation and build up a team with that, then structure your paradigms to utilize each attribute best. Research on your opponents is also crucial to know what works best. For a small group of easy targets you can go all out with Coms or Ravs. With tough targets use Sab and Syn to even the field. And for targets that deal damage faster than you can heal it use Sen. You probably knew that though.

As for equipment personally I think the General's Belt and Witch's Bracelet both maxed out are invaluable, especially if you use multiple ones together.

To upgrade your weapons and equipment use organic components to build up a 3x bonus, then use a large number of mechanical components or whatever the other kind are to get the best result. Research helps with the fine tuning. I found Sturdy Bone best for experience booster.

That's my thoughts. I'm new to the forum so I just wanted to help out where I could. Hope it works out for you.
 
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