Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

Whats your favorite pt setup and what is the paradigm setup you use?
I do:

Light, Fang, Hope

the paradigms are:

rav, com, rav
rav, com, med
med, sent, med
com, sab, syn
med, sab, syn

I find this the best setup I've come across. Currently in Chapter 11 following a Fal'Cie and I have the 3 main jobs for everyone maxed out. I was debtaing whether or not to start on other jobs for these guys, but decided to just wait on the level cap to raise from 4 to 5. How many level caps are there? I mean, what's the top tier for the jobs?

Top tier is 5, but to get there from level 4 it takes hundreds of thousands of cp on your main roles. I wouldn't suggest investing any CP in secondary roles until after you master the main roles, or at least one main role for each character.

As for paradigms, eh, it really changes depending on the enemies. But I like to keep it simple. For a while my setup has been:

Light / Hope / Fang

1. Rav / Syn / Sab <Balanced way to start any battle, usually switch after haste is cast on everyone
2. Rav / Rav / Sab <For staggering
3. Com / Rav / Com <For massive damage
4. Rav / Rav / Sen <For protective staggering
5. Med / Syn / Com <For some healing without losing stagger %, GREAT for re-buffing
6. Med / Med / Sen <For ultimate healing

As you can see, my 'focus' (lol) is on staggering the enemy. Sometimes it doesn't help to stagger, but most of the time it does. I usually start with 1 and then switch to 2 after everyone has haste. Then after staggering go to 3. I don't use 4-6 unless it's a longer battle. I use 4 when an enemy is charging an attack that could really hurt me. I use 5 when I'm inflicted with a lot of status effects or need light healing. I use 6 obviously when I'm close to death... everyone is healed almost immediately but I risk losing stagger %.

[Mezlo]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

You don't find you can stagger better and rav, rav, com? Rav makes the stagger gauge climb faster, com makes the gauge go down slower.

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

You don't find you can stagger better and rav, rav, com? Rav makes the stagger gauge climb faster, com makes the gauge go down slower.

I used Rav/Rav/Com for a greater part of the game and it was fine, but I found that when I have 5-6 ATB sectors it's faster for me to use Rav/Rav/Sab because there's almost constant attacking going on and you don't have to worry about the gauge decreasing. While you're spamming magic the Sab is weakening the enemy so that when you eventually stagger them, they die within a few hits (after I switch to Com/Rav/Com). Now, some enemies do have a really fast chain gauge that decreases faster than you can attack, but when a Sab is there they can actually somewhat de-buff that ability and so there's really no disadvantage to using Rav/Rav/Sab.

[Mezlo]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

I'll have to give rav, rav, sab a try. I think it would be better though for when you are only attacking 1 or 2 mobs. When you have a bunch, a com's blitz and ravage own.

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

When you have a bunch, a com's blitz and ravage own.

Yeah when there are mobs of 5+ enemies I switch to Com/Rav/Com (after buffing my weapons with their elemental weakness) and blitz away.

[Caspian]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

Found it can be helpful to have two paradigms of the same setup. Every other time you fill your ATB gauge you can change your paradigm and everyone gets an immediately full ATB gauge. Makes fights go faster. Depending on the boss I usually stay Rav/Rav/Com. Will use Bully and Diversity, though when necessary, like harder bosses or adamantoises right now.

One other thing that irks me is the importance of positioning with no real way to control it. Lots of mobs have aoe abilities and broad melee swings, so if you're next to someone when they get hit, you get hit as well. For instance the Behemoth Kings, and the subsequent feral Behemoths from there on can use Sunder 3 times in a row once they've stood up. If your characters are spread out then its not really a problem, but if they're bunched up then everyone is getting nailed with 3x sunder in a very short amount of time.

Overall, I really am enjoying the game a lot more now. The story got a lot more interesting after Ch. 9 and I really am curious how they resolve it, especially since you can apparently continue to play after you've beaten the game.
Q: Does the crystarium not expand again b/w ch.s 12 and 13? I have the 9th level done, but everything I've read says you can't do the 10th until you've beaten the game which would mean you go a chapter without it expanding. Asking, partially, because I have the main jobs for everyone done on their 9th level and was gonna wait until the 10th is open before spending anymore CP. Seeing how you have to sink a huge amount into the off-jobs to notice any improvement.

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

Does the crystarium not expand again b/w ch.s 12 and 13? I have the 9th level done, but everything I've read says you can't do the 10th until you've beaten the game which would mean you go a chapter without it expanding.

It doesn't really matter when it expands, I would just keep waiting to spend that CP until you unlock the next level of the crystarium. You'll be fine, trust me. Unless you approach 999,999 cp, in which case you should definitely use some of it on secondary roles.

The reason for this is that it's important to have maxed out roles in your party for post-story stuff, and most of the secondary stages of the crystarium are INSANELY expensive (eventually at 60-80k cp per node or even more iirc), and you most likely will be able to max out your main roles if you hoard for a while. The level 5 party bonuses are so worth it.

One other thing that irks me is the importance of positioning with no real way to control it.

Very true and annoying. I wish they had made it a bit more of a XII hybrid by allowing you to switch character control mid-battle and re-position the character, as well as select specific attacks for that character if need be. The way the system is currently set up, this addition would not have been difficult. This would also probably negate the 'auto-death if main party member is killed' factor, which also irks me because phoenix downs and life spells aren't quite as important. They're still used quite a bit but they're not as important.

[Emmanuell]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

I used Rav/Rav/Com for a greater part of the game and it was fine, but I found that when I have 5-6 ATB sectors it's faster for me to use Rav/Rav/Sab because there's almost constant attacking going on and you don't have to worry about the gauge decreasing. While you're spamming magic the Sab is weakening the enemy so that when you eventually stagger them, they die within a few hits (after I switch to Com/Rav/Com). Now, some enemies do have a really fast chain gauge that decreases faster than you can attack, but when a Sab is there they can actually somewhat de-buff that ability and so there's really no disadvantage to using Rav/Rav/Sab.

The sooner you stagger the enemy it is pretty much a done deal unless they are a boss or something like that!

[Mezlo]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

I've looked through this thread and can't find it though I thought it was addressed. My characters are maxed out at crystarium level 4 and i've accrued around 300k points. What's the maximum level of the crystarium?

[Eauijhkuu]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

Finished the game on yesterday. I really enjoyed it a great deal, especially the incredible ATB system that they pumped w/ steroids. The only flaw I could say about the entirety of the new battle system was perhaps the lacking factors of the paradigm shifts. I guess it would of overcomplicated things if you could change your paradigm and give your party particular formation commands simultaneously (Breath of Fire II style or Star Ocean, or what have you). Other than that, The game was awesome. One of the most visually appealing games I've played yet. Storyline for me was definitely above par, although there were some flaws to it (Much better than FF8's storyline on my scale).

...Forget 'towns' and looking for stupid tricky hidden npcs which you need to talk to more than once to get any useful information.

And linearity? Wth. You don't come to a square-enix "Final Fantasy" title expecting bioware's "Baldur's Gate" multiplicity. And after FFVI, you don't come to the table expecting Final Fantasy congruity either (Even if your first title to the series was the 7th installment on the playstation).

Hopefully the fanbase won't be so 'disappointed' when the next few titles come out or something.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

I don't have a system to play FFXIII on so I've been following it here the last couple of days: Final Fantasy 13 Story Video Walkthrough (English Version) | Final Fantasy XIII Ultima

There is one thing that really stands out.

This game has more heavy breathing in it than a porno.

[Mezlo]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

Is the max rank for the crystarium 5?

[Malacite]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

Yes. Well, max Job Role is. Crystarium goes to Stage 10.

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

This game has more heavy breathing in it than a porno.

True. Speaking of porn, if you summon with Vanille, anyone who isn't watching will think you're playing a porno. Especially when she uses Heca's final attack which nearly brings her to orgasm.

[Mezlo]

Re: Have you got FFXIII yet? Whatcha think?

Especially when she uses Heca's final attack which nearly brings her to orgasm.

Oh shoot. I thought she just did that for me.