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[Magnus]

The second(?) boss in chapter 11 blows chunks, fucking stupid. Anyone have any suggestions? It's the

Spoiler

Vanille Eidolon boss

.

I literally had two paradigms, and won, on like the third try.

Spoiler

SAB/RAV (though I don't think Fang's RAV actually did much of anything -- she could probably just stand there, since it was Vanille's SAB debuffs that actually built up the gestalt gauge on their own)

and MED/SEN, which I flipped to every time Hecatoncheir started in for an attack. Once they were both over say, 80% health, I immediately switched back.

By the way there is one good thing about all of this the musical score.

Finally a piece of quality at least for me. Square Enix delivers on all emotional channels with this orchestral masterpiece. Such a great achievement, if they keep focusing on the gameplay and the story Final Fantasy may rise again.

Now here is what I am talkong about and I don't know if old plus I don't even care..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp4kLRcY7Q4&feature=related


First Square Enix live in Konzert in Cologne and skip the first part up till 2:00.
It is seperated in 15 parts.

ENJOY!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=373902



Full gaf commentary, screens, video/mp3 were made by a user for download, the works. Was quite an awesome concert.

 

[CruxisMana]

End of Chapter 11 stuff:

Spoiler

If I want to, how do I get back to main areas of Pulse now? (before I go back to Cocoon)

I'm hoping I don't want to trot all the way back there...

 

[Dedication Through Light]

End of Chapter 11 stuff:

Spoiler

If I want to, how do I get back to main areas of Pulse now? (before I go back to Cocoon)

I'm hoping I don't want to trot all the way back there...

I think you had to enable some of the cieth stones by doing their missions. Coming back in the later chapters would put you in a more ideal location (back at base camp vallis media)

 

[CruxisMana]

I think you had to enable some of the cieth stones by doing their missions. Coming back in the later chapters would put you in a more ideal location (back at base camp vallis media)

Ah. I might just skip the sidequests for now and go on with Chapter 12 then.

 

[BeeDog]

I beat it without any shrouds or grinding by the skin of my teeth after failing like 20 times last night, here was my strategy:

Spoiler

Here were the keys to my success

1-Both party members need to be productive at all times (Fang can't stand as a SEN any longer than you need her to be, as soon as the Eidolon stops attacking she needs to be back on the attack). Same for Vanille, she doesn't need to be healing when both party members have good health, have her as SAB whenever you get the chance

2-Fang wouldn't do any debuffs at all when I switched her to SAB so I had to use her as a COM instead which doesn't move the Gestalt bar as much. Maybe she will properly use SAB abilities for you which would make it a way easier fight

3-You need to switch Paradigms a lot, almost every turn focusing on a few things

-----You can get 2 attack turns in before the Eidoon attacks
-----Fang must be changed to a SEN before or right as the Eidolon attacks or he will kill Vanille
-----While you are healing Fang after the Eidolon stops attacking she needs to be doing something productive (either SAB or COM if she doesn't want to debuff)
-----As soon as Fang is healed into the green you need to switch to SAB and try to get 1 round of debuffs in, as it seems to move the Gestalt bar the most

I needed 5 paradigms

SAB/COM (started off with this for 2 rounds)
SAB/SEN (used this 3rd round while Eidolon attacks for 1st time, Fang won't be in dire need of medical attention after the first wave of attacks)
MED/COM (used this as soon as Eidolon started charging)
SAB/COM (if Fang can be healed quickly, use this once before it attacks again)
MED/SEN (use this pretty much for the rest of the fight while Eidolon attacks to keep Fang alive and keep you safe)

Many thanks for the thorough answer, but on my try after the rage post above, I slaughtered the boss using one easy strategy; Vanille SAB, Fang SEN. I noticed using debuffs on the boss increased the Target meter like crazy, and I occasionally switched to a MED/SEN combo to heal up. Finished the fight with extreme ease that way, had around 300 secs left on the Doom clock.

I just entered the

Spoiler

big-ass Tower

. In that Sulyaa Springs area, I raised those two hidden platforms with loot on, but I got slaughtered by the frog enemies on them, so I left. I assume I can return to this area whenever I want, right?

 

[CruxisMana]

I just entered the

Spoiler

big-ass Tower

. In that Sulyaa Springs area, I raised those two hidden platforms with loot on, but I got slaughtered by the frog enemies on them, so I left. I assume I can return to this area whenever I want, right?

Yes, you can.

 

[BeeDog]

Yes, you can.

Thanks!

 

[Brazil]

The credits are rolling as I type... Damn, what a ride it was. My personal favorite game this generation.

Now back to non-Final Fantasy regular gaming for a few years... Can't wait until Final Fantasy XV.

Edit: Wait, there's Versus XIII! Hell yes.

 

[Le-mo]

So...I saw a lot of complaints for the chapter 10 boss

Spoiler

Cid Raines

about how hard he was. Without knowing that he was the boss that most were complaining about here on Gaf I managed to kill him in around 3-5 minutes. When I reached Gran Pulse I thought I was still in Chapter 10 so I was waiting for the boss to appear without knowing that HE was the one most were complaining about. When I found out I laughed and was disappointed.

 

[Brazil]

So...I saw a lot of complaints for the chapter 10 boss

Spoiler

Cid Raines

about how hard he was. Without knowing that he was the boss that most were complaining about here on Gaf I managed to kill him in around 3-5 minutes. When I reached Gran Pulse I thought I was still in Chapter 10 so I was waiting for the boss to appear without knowing that HE was the one most were complaining about. When I found out I laughed and was disappointed.

All the bosses can be hard depending on your play style. I too didn't find

Spoiler

Cid Raines

hard, but the ones in Chapter 12 and some before that made me scratch my head for a while.

 

[CruxisMana]

So...I saw a lot of complaints for the chapter 10 boss

Spoiler

Cid Raines

about how hard he was. Without knowing that he was the boss that most were complaining about here on Gaf I managed to kill him in around 3-5 minutes. When I reached Gran Pulse I thought I was still in Chapter 10 so I was waiting for the boss to appear without knowing that HE was the one most were complaining about. When I found out I laughed and was disappointed.

I didn't find that battle hard either. I've had more trouble tackling the Chapter 9 and 11 bosses.

 

[RoodyPooUS]

Finally Platinumed this game, good thing I farmed another 5 mil, had to buy a ton of components for the weapon upgrades. I didn't have to sell anything to get my Treasure Hunter though.

Saved Long Gui for last, way too easy considering all I heard about it being so hard. Its so slow it barely attacks.

See you in the Resonance of Fate thread.

 

[kafka rock opera]

So...I saw a lot of complaints for the chapter 10 boss

Spoiler

Cid Raines

about how hard he was. Without knowing that he was the boss that most were complaining about here on Gaf I managed to kill him in around 3-5 minutes. When I reached Gran Pulse I thought I was still in Chapter 10 so I was waiting for the boss to appear without knowing that HE was the one most were complaining about. When I found out I laughed and was disappointed.

Ill take some pointers on the chapt 10 boss.

Spoiler

i do ok keeping myself defensively buffed and all that but some times after he does that big ass AOE damage spell after his metamorphosis my MC will be low and occasionally he will do his lame ass air juggle thing to 0 health then its back to square one for me . What character set ups are you guys using? im going with light/hope/fang.

 

[Cruceh]

I just refunded my game after playing 22 hours. Was way too fed up with it. I'll probably get it again if it's at $20 or on sale just to finish though. Not worth the $60 I payed at gamestop.

 

[CruxisMana]

Ill take some pointers on the chapt 10 boss.

Spoiler

i do ok keeping myself defensively buffed and all that but some times after he does that big ass AOE damage spell after his metamorphosis my MC will be low and occasionally he will do his lame ass air juggle thing to 0 health then its back to square one for me . What character set ups are you guys using? im going with light/hope/fang.

Spoiler

As soon as you see the animation starting for that move, immediately switch to Med/Sent/Med.

After his transformation, part of the battle is judging for yourself when he's in Att/Def/etc modes and to adjust your paradigms accordingly. You'll always need an active Sent when he's in attack mode.

 

[Cruceh]

Spoiler

You'll always need an active Sent when he's in attack mode.

This isn't really necessary. Diversity is just fine to keep you healed when he's attacking. Relentless Assault when he's defending/healing. I used Fang Vanille Lightning and started with SAB/SAB/MED to debuff him. Hope isn't very useful since his defensive buffs will get cancelled by Seraphic Ray or wtv that attack is.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Beat chapter 11.

What another mindless and yet tedious at the same time boss fight.

Yawn.

Thats my favorite boss in the game, second only to an upcoming boss fight

 

[BocoDragon]

Beat chapter 11.

What another mindless and yet tedious at the same time boss fight.

Yawn.

What the hell? Ive been on that boss fight for a week, Its always an epic struggle maxing out all my abilities, and it's a mad rush to try and defeat him before his doom inevitably beats me. I've been having a ball switching strategies and paradigm to figure out how to defeat him.

I must be underlevelled compared to you, or just not as good or something , but consequently I've had more fun on this boss than any RPG in years. It's the kind of strategy where I think "perhaps this game has issues, but this right here is an amazing justification for this game's battle system and I wouldn't trade it for the world". And then you ho hum through it :lol

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

So...I saw a lot of complaints for the chapter 10 boss

Spoiler

Cid Raines

about how hard he was. Without knowing that he was the boss that most were complaining about here on Gaf I managed to kill him in around 3-5 minutes. When I reached Gran Pulse I thought I was still in Chapter 10 so I was waiting for the boss to appear without knowing that HE was the one most were complaining about. When I found out I laughed and was disappointed.

That was my experience except with the Chapter 9 boss. I beat him in one try without much trouble, and all throughout the ensuing cutscene I kept thinking "I guess Chapter 9 is still going on since there's supposed to be a tough boss fight at the end of it". When I realized that was the boss fight that people had been talking about I was more confused than anything else.

 

[ULTROS!]

To be honest, I had an easy time with the story bosses (only died once in the final battle coz I didn't expect a certain attack to happen like that, Chapter 11 boss was pretty easy for me).

Mission Bosses like the

Spoiler

Big Cactuar

are killers. Any tips to beat

Spoiler

Big Cactuar

?

 

[CruxisMana]

btw what is that status effect that disables using any ability?

Daze?

 

[Crash Station]

"A wish isn't enough. A wish won't do a thing, praying won't either. So now, I promise I will save Cocoon!"

Sigh.

edit: :lol @ Final Fantasy: Power Rangers The Movie cutscene at chapter 12.

Oh man. :lol

Dude, chapter 12 intro is one of the best scenes in the game. Also, I'd say it's more Speed Racer than Power Rangers.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

"A wish isn't enough. A wish won't do a thing, praying won't either. So now, I promise I will save Cocoon!"

Promises: Better than wishes or praying.

Of course she still contradicts that doing the Pulsian(?) prayer right before the

Spoiler

final battle with Orphan.

Dude, chapter 12 intro is one of the best scenes in the game. Also, I'd say it's more Speed Racer than Power Rangers.

Fuck yeah Speed Racer(assuming you mean the old anime and not the live action movie)!

 

[ULTROS!]

Chapter 12's CG was pretty but I couldn't understand what was happening at all.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYogWOSgf0M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STsqfpLSLoc

Not enough random hand signs.

 

[ZephyrFate]

Chapter 12's intro, is, like I've said multiple times, the best FF movie ever.

 

[Crash Station]

Yeah I'm not really seeing it outside them riding creatures/mechs. There's more off the wall stuff going on in FFXIII.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

LIGHTNING AND ODINNNNNNNNNNNNNN

GO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSXE9ib0vL4

But Lightning's name is just as punny as Speed's.

 

[ZephyrFate]

:lol

I wish I was joking.

 

[Crash Station]

Watching the intro again, I never realized how much the track reminds me of blitzball. It's probably just the style or something.

 

[Lightning]

Chapter 11 boss = Easy.

Lightning/Vanille/Hope and this guy went down in no time at all. He never got the chance to cast doom on me.

I just COM/RAV/RAV and I switch to MED/MED/MED when I got dosed with negative status effects or hurt too much. I buffed myself up with Hope at the start and then just progressed on and the battle just went as a normal battle.

In fact, I had a harder time with the Taejin Tower boss and a much harder time with

Spoiler

Orphan's First form

<---- Beware, Final boss is what I marked, so if you down want to know who it is don't uncover it.

 

[ULTROS!]

Chapter 12's intro, is, like I've said multiple times, the best FF movie ever.

Personally, the best FF movie for me ever was the Versus XIII trailer (the 5 minute one). :lol

 

[Fimbulvetr]

But Speed doesn't have a mecha companion.

Speed = Sazh

Mach 5 = Ifrit wannabe

He has a race car with transforming parts. Close enough.

 

[BocoDragon]

Make your party Light/Fang/Hope.

Start off with rav/rav/com. It builds his meter. When his meter is staggered switch to com/com/rav as that does better damage (or appeared to anyways), than rav/rav/com. Heal when necessary.

Very simple, you just have to heal. Beat him my first try. Could be because my guy's main roles were all at level 4, but I don't think I was overleveled. I mean, how could you be when there's a cap?

That's my party and those paradigms are like.... "step one" for me. That kind of strategy will help me take down 50-80% of his health before doom nabs me. I've even tried other strategies altogether (choosing paradigms with well placed Sen or Med to trade enemy damage for the maintenance of high HP, which ensures attack consistency since you aren't healing all the time... or I even swapped out Fang for Vanille in order to sacrifice a Sen/Com for a third Med.. but I switched back) I definitely need something else to accelerate the damage process... I'm sure of that.. I doubt it's my playing ability because I'm on a mad, focused rush to defeat him quickly (I milk that stagger bar for all it's worth) and it just never gets there.

You know.. Doom seems random, and Doom is the only thing that ever kills me. Maybe you can get lucky and not have him cast it, or have him cast it late, or maybe there's some behavior that denies him casting it (like with Destudo have his one-hit-kill move was pre-empted by madly attacking). Maybe you are a small percentage more leveled than me, and that accelerates the battle in a way that snowballs into a defeat under the Doom lime limit.

Consequently the fact that I am having difficulty has made it one of the most fun RPG experiences in a long time... as opposed to "yawn". Sometimes I go back and play FFVI and it's not as fun as it used to be since I can take down the bosses without thinking. It's not nearly as fun as it was when I was struggling on every boss.

I'm actually NOT backing up and grinding after defeat... I WANT to defeat him under the same variables I am at. It's too fun.

 

[BocoDragon]

In fact, I had a harder time with the Taejin Tower boss and a much harder time with

Spoiler

Orphan's First form

<---- Beware, Final boss is what I marked, so if you down want to know who it is don't uncover it.

Taejin tower boss was easy for me :lol

Ok it's obvious.. when people are talking about the boss of Chap 11 being hard, they mean they got "doomed". If someone has the ability to defeat him before Doom is an issue, they have no idea how the boss could be hard.

 

[Abnormalia]

I never played JRPG-s before and was skeptical about this one. I've have few promotions on Amazon that I have to spend asap so I've ordered this for 24.99 or something like that.

It arrived with Heavy Rain and GOW III and few other games. I was just curious played all games a bit and hoped I'll get best game weekend.

Then I tried FF XIII just for curiosity. First I did not understand at all what was going on there, also lost in all this menus etc. But I keep playing 5 hours straight ! Then another day and I still keep playing. I learned how battle system works, how to upgrade, story and world...

I really liked it gameplay. Graphics is another topic. It was hard for me to tell, 1-2 min after CG finishes, was it realtime or not yet. Imho it is true next gen along with Uncharted 2, GOW III, GEOW II and Heavy Rain visually !

And after finding out that first 10-12 hours is just tutorial I was really impressed ! Most games (even some RPG-s) hardly have 10-12 hours of total gameplay.

I also find some battles challenging and it required for me to approach some of them experimenting.

Would you recommend me other part of this series? Which is best to start after finishing 13th ?

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Can Vanille and the L'Cie Rangers win the day and protect the world with love and friendship?

Wait, if Lightning has a rose motif, does that make her Tuxedo mask?

 

[mjemirzian]

What the hell? Ive been on that boss fight for a week, Its always an epic struggle maxing out all my abilities, and it's a mad rush to try and defeat him before his doom inevitably beats me. I've been having a ball switching strategies and paradigm to figure out how to defeat him.

You can find a spoiler free 5 star strat I wrote up a while ago here. Along with some other general advice..

 

[BocoDragon]

FF needs to revamp their doom spells. They should be instant knock out (not with a stupid timer) AND there should numerous ways to stop doom spells. How many ways are there to defend against doom in this game? Game seems to think it's an SMT game (bosses constantly use doom spells, game over when main character dies;etc).

Well, now that Player 1 death=Game Over, "Doom" is a time limit IMO. It's like the timer in a Mario game. It's a failsafe so that the player must have some competence to taking on the challenges quickly... he can't just plod through and still defeat it.

All you have to do is be "profitable" in your attacks when you are to defeat a boss. You have to take down more HP off him than he is going to take off you. What doom forces you to do is defeat a boss with a "large profit", where you take HP off him quickly. A "small profit" won't cut it, because he'll doom you before you defeat him.

There's some intelligence in an un-curable Doom.

 

[Magnus]

I see the validity of a non-curable Doom tier being an enforceable timer for a fight. Keeps the pressure up, makes sure you can just stay in Diversity all fight long and just casually whittle away at a boss for an hour without any fear of dying.

But then, I've played four years of WoW, and enrage timers are standard fare on bosses. Otherwise you'd bring a raid of only healers and tanks, and no high-damage attackers, and win every boss fight in one shot. :lol

But the Doom timers are only on Eidolon fights in this game, right?

 

[mjemirzian]

Having a doom spell that you CAN'T CURE and the only reasonable basis for it existing is "HURRY THE FUCK UP PLAYER" is not strategic and annoys more than anything else.

A hard time limit is strategic. It prevents long battles of attrition and forces the player to revise their strategy and play more efficiently.

 

[Magnus]

Chapter 12's intro, is, like I've said multiple times, the best FF movie ever.

Brutal Transformers syndrome. You can't tell what's physically happening in half the frames because the camera's out to lunch, either not framing action properly or being too zoomed in. All you see is coloured metal flashing across the screen for half the cutscene.

No explanation for what event you're interrupting is ace too.

Spoiler

Was this a commemorative grand prix to honor Cid's new appointment to Dysley's office?

Maybe the Datalog had some plot information. Should have checked I guess! :lol

Half of the cutscene is very pretty. Half of it is garbage.

 

[BocoDragon]

In SMT games you equip abilities that counter the death spell so that it doesn't kill you. Make doom an instant ko, give the player more access to customization so that if they want, they can craft accessories that have anti-doom.

Of course I don't think I have encountered an anti-doom accessory yet, so whatever.

That at least makes things strategic, because you're covering your ass. Having a doom spell that you CAN'T CURE and the only reasonable basis for it existing is "HURRY THE FUCK UP PLAYER" is not strategic and annoys more than anything else.

It's just another variable though. "You can't fight this boss forever, there's a time limit." I think it's an entirely fair possibility for an RPG....

Especially considering in this RPG that you can inefficiently attack during a stagger, or you can botch the attempt to fill up the stagger bar altogether... there are a lot of things that occur in battles in this game, and you could end up taking 5 minutes or 50 depending on how you play it. It's another motivation to kill efficiently, rather than just "oh no my star ranking!"

But the Doom timers are only on Eidolon fights in this game, right?

What sparked this discussion was a later boss that can cast Doom if you've taken too long. (oh I see you're past there? You must have defeated him quickly :lol )

 

[ZephyrFate]

Brutal Transformers syndrome. You can't tell what's physically happening in half the frames because the camera's out to lunch, either not framing action properly or being too zoomed in. All you see is coloured metal flashing across the screen for half the cutscene.

No explanation for what event you're interrupting is ace too.

Spoiler

Was this a commemorative grand prix to honor Cid's new appointment to Dysley's office?

Maybe the Datalog had some plot information. Should have checked I guess! :lol

Half of the cutscene is very pretty. Half of it is garbage.

I understood everything that happened. It happens quick but it's not impenetrable. It was also fucking completely awesome.

 

[BocoDragon]

Because outside of the Eidolon fights, the fights are rarely ever strategic and casting a doom spell in the middle of a fight, that was easy to begin with just feels cheap. I'm not changing my strategy, I'm just doing the same thing because that is the best way to damage and kill the baddie.

Well congratulations, then you already had the right strategy. What Doom does is take out players who have a different (worse) strategy, or have the leveling where your strategy isn't going to be as effective for them.

It's like in Mario... competent Mario players haven't had to think about the timer in years.

 

[mjemirzian]

Because outside of the Eidolon fights, the fights are rarely ever strategic and casting a doom spell in the middle of a fight, that was easy to begin with just feels cheap. I'm not changing my strategy, I'm just doing the same thing because that is the best way to damage and kill the baddie.

If you are seeing a non-Eidolon boss cast doom on you, you are not playing efficiently and not using a good strategy (or you're playing an NCU run or something). Thus there is room for more efficient and strategic play, up to and including finishing the boss with a 5 star rating. Long battles of attrition with lots of healing/defense are cheap with no risk - the game is encouraging you to take risks with your strategy. There is a fair amount of strategy involved in finishing off enemies quickly and optimizing your setup to do so, which the game encourages, recognizes, and rewards.

 

[Gattsu25]

In SMT games you equip abilities that counter the death spell so that it doesn't kill you. Make doom an instant ko, give the player more access to customization so that if they want, they can craft accessories that have anti-doom.

Of course I don't think I have encountered an anti-doom accessory yet, so whatever.

That at least makes things strategic, because you're covering your ass. Having a doom spell that you CAN'T CURE and the only reasonable basis for it existing is "HURRY THE FUCK UP PLAYER" is not strategic and annoys more than anything else.

I know you'll disagree* but I think they were going for more in-battle strategy instead of uber-equipment loadouts.

*You will

 

[Replicant]

I finally fought Adamantoise and managed to get a dropping.....Platinum Ingot. Two questions:

1. What can I do with Platinum Ingot?
2. I thought I'm supposed to get Trapezedron (sp) from this creature? No? Where can I get Traps from then?

 

[BocoDragon]

If you are seeing a non-Eidolon boss cast doom on you, you are not playing efficiently and not using a good strategy (or you're playing an NCU run or something). Thus there is room for more efficient and strategic play, up to and including finishing the boss with a 5 star rating. Long battles of attrition with lots of healing/defense are cheap with no risk - the game is encouraging you to take risks with your strategy.

Aye exactly.

This boss penalizes for choosing safe paradigms... too much healing, too much sentineling. I have to deliver the damage quickly!! But then again, if you're not playing defensively, you could die. There's a risk vs. reward thing going on there... but only if you're in the sweet spot of player/character ability to notice it.

 

[Gattsu25]

So the game's answer is to just cast doom? That's why I said that's not strategic. That just sounds cheap and idiotic.

If you've spent 10+ minutes on a boss fight and haven't had a trouble with the fight in the least, and the only reason the game casts doom is because you've spent too much time fighting it, that doesn't really sound like a good answer.

How about giving the bosses less hp and more hard hitting hits?

But that's just me.

Or beating the boss in a manner where the game doesn't have to put up a giant flag and say "Hurry the fuck up"