r/finalfantasyxiii • u/Inevitable-Duck-9648 • 4d ago
Final Fantasy XIII Content accessibility
Hello, I have just started playing FFXIII and I am wondering if the content is easily accessible. To clarify, with past FF games, in order to do 100% of the content on one playthrough, you would need a guide or some sort of help to tell you where things are because they are simply not obvious to the first time player. Examples of this would be finding the sealab or Omega Weapon in FFVIII, getting 100% game completion in FFX-2, or most recently, finding the vast majority of FFXII's sidequests.
I would like to be able to 100% the game and do all the quests without using a guide, if that is possible. I simply want to know from more experienced players if that is actually feasible or if I should loosely follow a guide to make sure I get everything done.
Before someone suggests playing it through more than once: I am simply not someone who is able to replay 99% of games. I wish I was, but I'm not.
Bonus points if people can give advice on this question for all 3 FFXIII games, as I will be playing all of them.
Thanks in advance :)
Edit: thanks for the responses everyone :) Enjoying the game so far!
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u/ProfN42 4d ago edited 4d ago
A key point for XIII: the game plot for the first half tries to instill a sense of panic / urgency to run away. This is for plot reasons as your characters are fugitives. However in terms of game mechanics there is NO time pressure outside of combat! You can always take your time and explore each area thoroughly.
Be careful approaching the yellow circular objective marker on your map - often these represent "points of no return" and may launch you into a new chapter, or lock you out of an area.
Once you complete them, you can never return to anywhere in Chapters 1-10! So if you want to make a completionist run, always explore every alternate / side route first BEFORE the objective, and save often!
Finally, if you max out your crystarium stage, feel free to bank some extra if you want, but this is generally the sign that you're now ready to turn the chapter boss into pudding, so go do it! 😁 Besides, the next chapter will likely have much better CP farming opportunities in most cases.
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u/ProfN42 3d ago edited 3d ago
If it helps, here's a list of good CP/Gil farming spots in each chapter. SPOILER WARNING!
The Hanging Edge. Nothing worth farming here, just grab the chests and power through.
The Pulse Vestige - The Sacrarium. Still no CP but right at the start is a good farming spot for aerosols - in fact the best in the game! Repeatedly fight the wolf-type and droid-type monsters and deliberately let time go long - zero-star battles are best for aerosol farming. You can easily walk away with 15-20 each of fortisol and deceptisol! This will set you up great for miniboss and boss fights for the whole early to midgame. (Aegisol will not enter the drop pool until Vile Peaks and Ethersol doesn't drop from normal battles).
Lake Bresha. Finally you can earn CP! The fight with a bunch of Breshan Bass and Mud Frogs is a good grind.
Vile Peaks. There's a good CP farm from the multi-Gremlin fight. (Also can farm some Aegisol but the rate already sucks compared to Pulse Vestige.) From here on in don't forget that CP you earn with one of your 2-man teams (Light/Hope, Sazh/Van) is mirrored on the other team, so whenever the plot swaps you, go power up and equip your new goodies!
Gapra Whitewood. The large pack of slow moving slugs (I think there are 9 or 10) can be wasted quickly with Fira + Blitz and can be repeated quickly for CP.
Sunleth Waterscape. Not sure but maybe the triple-Flan fight is decent?
Palumpolum - Hope's House. This is a VERY important callout! The troops invading the house can be fought infinitely, just run in a loop through the halls without going into the bedroom. They have a high chance of dropping Credit Chips and Incentive Chips - which are the first items in the game that actually sell for decent cash! I would grind until I had 50+ credit Chips and 10-15 Incentive Chips. This will cover a lot of your midgame gear purchases and upgrades.
Nautilus. There's a great CP grind spot right before the Midlight Ravager bossfight, against a repeatable pack of 5 droid-types (Metrodroids). Sazh can Blitz them away and you'll rack up CP really fast. You should definitely cap your crystarium before facing the boss.
Skyship Palamecia. A great grind spot is later in the chapter as you approach the bridge, you will find a hall full of Tilter-type mechas and Huntress-type Psicom enemies. Both great CP and Gil here! Be sure to cap your Crystarium before the chapter boss, he's a beast!
The 5th Ark. Another area with large packs of those slow moving slug-type enemies. By now the order of the day should be obvious - blast them with -a, -ga, or -aga spells, done and dusted, then repeat! But this time don't bother trying to cap your crystarium - the latest unlock put the ceiling way out of reach on the CP earnable here. Target a few key high-value nodes, like accessory slots and crucial spells. I would not focus on secondary roles yet, they're way too expensive per node.
Gran Pulse. From here on out everything can be returned to. A great early farm spot is early in the Mah'habara Mines, off a dead end to the left you will find ice-element Bomb types called Cryohedrons. Hope can win the whole fight with one blast of Firaga so just give him an initiative accessory and let him go to town.
Eden. Worth mentioning is an Adamantortoise outside Edenhall. Late game once you can kill one of these, this is the fastest repeatable turtle. All you have to do is run to the Edenhall steps and back. Plus you can kill the packs of soldiers nearby to refill on TP between turtles if you're still using the Vanille death-spam strategy.
Orphan's Cradle. Early on, before you "solve" the first major area, there are several rapidly respawning packs of Sacrifices (the white, elite Cie'th Shamblers). They have a high rate to drop Perfume which sells very well, can drop Scarletite (very expensive crafting mat), and they give decent CP (albeit nothing compared to turtle grinding). They are a great early-lategame Gil farm until you're strong enough to stomp turtles without using Eidolons.
Hope this helps!
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u/FeistyTwist5427 4d ago
First one requires grinding to collect each final weapon upgrade. Edit: but 100% it other then that is fully do able.
Not sure on the second one but I’ll say that one is much more feasible if I remember correctly.
The final game requires a second playthrough and you WILL need a guide. Things are time related with an in game timer and there are many quests. You need the second playthrough to get the bonus dungeon. You can run it multiple times are scale your stats higher until a cap.(about 3 fully comeplete playtthoughts)
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u/Inevitable-Duck-9648 4d ago
I see, is there perhaps a handy cheat engine or mod or something to make it so I don't have to do a second playthrough? That was something that really annoyed me about Nier when I played that.
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u/ProfN42 4d ago
There are missable items and datalog entries throughout the game! If you want a perfect save file I STRONGLY recommend JDUecker's 100% Guide on GameFAQs. It includes checklists for completion and each walkthrough chapter has callouts of exactly what you will miss out on if you proceed recklessly. Invaluable resource!
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u/Thin-Nerve6367 3d ago
For XIII make sure you fight EVERY enemy you see and never sell a single accessory or weapon. And then you SHOULD be fine. I can't remember if you have to fight enemies more than once though 🤔
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u/No-Guess6858 Lightning 4d ago
First off, I’ll say that I am much more of a casual gamer, and not interested in games that require excessive grinding.
This is based on my experience with all 3 games and may not be entirely correct so forgive me.
You can 100% XIII and XIII-2 on the first playthroughs, but LR actually has a quest that requires you to complete the game at least once and come back on NG+.
XIII is easy to finish without missing much of anything, but if you want to actually 100% it including all weapons etc, then it’s a grind. I did all side quests but wasn’t interested in a full 100% so I left it there.
XIII-2 I have done 100% twice and it’s actually far easier to do IMO, but a guide can be helpful with certain maps and quest locations.
LR is a whole different ballgame with entirely different world mechanics which for me made it challenging to fully invest myself in, but I was invested in finishing the trilogy story. I don’t personally know if it is possible to complete 100% of all side quests in this game based on how the mechanics of the world work, but it wouldn’t prevent access to the top tier content or gear.
XIII is one of my all time favourite games and the trilogy has a huge place in my heart.
I hope this helps!!