If the party leader's death is going to net a game over, then it needs to be harder for the leader to die than for other party members.

Raistlin wrote:

I dont know if I would like the idea of macros. That would get closer to the FF XII setup. Don't get me wrong, FF XII was a decent FF title....just not as good as others I enjoyed in the series.

I definitely agree that the party leader dying = game over = horrible. That needs to be addressed.

When the current leader falls, shift to another. One thing FF12 had right.

That macro suggestion is one of the only ways I can think of if you want to try to keep your battle as real time as possible without taking most of the control away from the player, which I personally hate. If it's between a system like the classics' ATB and one of these newer ones, I'd pick the classic system every time.
However, if we don't change and try something new, then it will just get stale. Their willingness to attempt change in these later titles is worth some of my respect, even if I don't agree with the direction they've gone.
In 13 they took away too much control and gave us pointless limitations like the party leader thing. And while the Paradigm system worked, it could have been a lot better.
In 12 we had more constant control and could play it like a traditional RPG, but eventually you could set it up to practically play itself for the most part.
Now let's look at X-2. Set to Active it was much like 13, but you still had control of all people. Combat-wise, it was it was fun enough that I played through it a couple times just to get the 100% completion. X-2's biggest problem was it's presentation. The silly dress sphere mechanic, the fanservice, and all that was just yuk. What is the dress sphere mechanic, but an early, silly version of the paradigm system? A way to switch classes in battle. And for all the 'pretty princess dress me up' about it, it worked very well. Its one flaw that I can think of was that your characters did spend too much time standing around while you dug through menus sometimes which was a pain on Active.

Could fix that partly with the 'slowdown in menu' idea, but that's not quite enough, I think.

Bah. Now I'm beginning to ramble. Mass Effect 2 just finished installing behind me, so I'm going to go play that now. I'll come back when I'm not so distracted.

Double Post.

FF13=2 Trailer in English
See it while you can.
Warning: Contains end game spoilers from FFXIII

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7XB67f61W9k

Not allowing me to just post the video. You'll have to use the link.

Eh... 10-2

Yeah, we've been on about that on the last page. Do try and keep up, Liam.

Liam's a bit slow this AM, more coffee sir?
:Coffee1:

Haven't even had food yet let alone coffee.

Thats not a cool way to diet sir!!

Beer, nuff said.


FF13 will be fun! Im so excited, as long as that provide a more open world approach, Ill be fine!

Wish it was a diet, but actually Woke up late for work, ran in, and pretty much worked straight through.

C-c-c-combo Breaker!

Turtle wrote:

C-c-c-combo Breaker!

B-b-b-back to Topic!

Still need to beat this game. But there's no decent grind spots that are fairly quick battles with good XP All of them are longer battles. Annoyance....

Do you mean you haven't finished story mode, or post game?

Finally started FFXIII last night...a little behind the times. hahah

So many sweet games to play and so little time! Looks like I'm just gonna have to quit my job!

No time for new games, quit job, play games, no money for new games, get job, no time for new games, quit job, play games, no moeny for new games, get job

I seem to be perpetually stuck in the "no money" part of the cycle.

Liamcifer wrote:

No time for new games, quit job, play games, no money for new games, get job, no time for new games, quit job, play games, no moeny for new games, get job

Spot on!

The key is to get a job that makes you money while you sleep. Why can't I be good at the stock market dammit?

Eh that job has its ups and downs.

Alright you FF XIII pros. You have amassed hours upon hours of gameplay experience. So I need to pick your brains.

I'm on my second playthrough. My last save file was lost during my PS3 swap. I was at the last boss and could get through one of his forms, but after that got pwned.

Now that I'm starting again, I'm asking for help on the best way to upgrade weapons for my people. I have tried going through guides on gamefaqs and other sources but for the life of me, I just get confused as to where to start and what to go with. Obviously I would like to go the best way to get the ultimate weapons eventually. But the best path in doing that is confusing as all hell.

Now, I have just beaten the dreadnought with Lightning, Sazh, Hope and Vanille in my party and just unlocked the ability to upgrade my weapons/accessories and whatnot. Thankfully my previous knowledge of the best way to set up paradigms and use them in each situation has made the playthrough a breeze thus far. With your knowledge and experience, how should I go about upgrading my stuff as I play?

THanks in advance for the feedback

To be honest, I never bothered with it. I think I only upgraded Lightning's weapon to an Omega version.
The first time I can recall actually upgrading at all was before the fight with the Dahaka atop the tower, and even then it wasn't much. I can only recall two specific weapons I aimed to get. One was the Belladona/Malboro Wand for Vanille, which increased the chances of status effects working (purely for Death against the Neochu), and the Hyades Magnums for Sazh for effective Adamantoise hunting.

If you're asking about the actual ins and outs of upgrading, then my memory is a bit fuzzy. But my quote ability is not. From early in this thread:

CobaltMonkey wrote:

As to your question, the things you referred to are called "Components", and you're half right on both counts. Sorta.
I forget how far in you unlock level three, but if you've been through the Vile Peaks level then you can make use of them. A few of these are okay to sell off (Credit Chips, for example) there are several that you'll want to keep for later to use in weapon/accessory upgrading (which is selectable from the Save Point after Vile Peaks).
There are three types of components: Organic, Mechanical, and Catalyst
Catalyst components should never be sold. They're used to change your weapons' form, (you should have a mullerite(sp?) by now) and different weapons need different ones. They all have the word catalyst in their description.
Organic and Mechanical component are used to give a weapon or accessory EXP. You may have noticed that the items you have all have a level, and in the menu have a value of 0 out of so many EXP. Each component you use on an item gives it some EXP toward the goal, but they all have different values. Generally speaking, Organic components are worth less than Mechanical ones, but there's still good reason to use them.
There's a hidden number attached to each item aside from EXP. When this number passes certain points you'll get a multiplier to the number of EXP you get from all the components. It goes up to x3. Organic components increase the hidden number while providing less EXP, while Mechanical components decrease the hidden number (and your multiplier) but give much more EXP.
The short of it is that you should use cheap Organics components to raise a weapon's multiplier to x3 (Sturdy Bones are cheap and using 36 will give you an instant x3, purchasable), then use a bunch of Mechanical components to take advantage of it. Oh, and leftover EXP is carried into the next level.
Different items have different level caps. When the item you're upgrading's level is replaced by a star symbol, then it can't go any higher, BUT if you use a proper Catalyst on it it becomes another item (an improved version of itself). Initially it'll actually have lower stats than the one you changed it from, but it has a new level cap too so it can get much stronger.

So, yeah. You don't strictly need to do any upgrading until at least chapter 11. You'll find new weapons when you need them.
When you do get to leveling weapons, it's far more time saving to
1.) Kill Adamantoise (strat is also in this thread) to get Platinum Ingots to sell.
2.) Use the proceeds to buy 99 Sturdy Bones, Vibrant Oozes, and a third organic I can't remember but it costs the same as the other two.
3.) Buy Ultracompact Reactors (which are Mechanical Components) with the rest.
4.) Use 36 of those organic components on whatever you want to upgrade so that you get a x3 EXP multiplier .
5.) Use 1 or more Reactors to dump a ton of EXP into the item. If it doesn't max right away, use enough organics to get it back to a x3 before using another reactor.
6.) If your weapon's level maxes, use a Catalyst on it to upgrade it's form. All final forms of weapons require Trapazoidron. (Spelling? Bah. They're the other things that drop from Adamantoise.)

Really though, unless you're going for the Treasure Hunter trophy, there's not much point. Very few weapons make any actual difference that I've ever seen.

Hope that helps. If you need any clarification, I'll try my best.

Thats a start Thanks! If weapon upgrades aren't THAT important I guess its back to the same old grinding as I go then, ya?

*sigh*
Yeah.