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[Carbonox]

Started over because I was getting frustrated with how I was playing initially and how I was underestimating the game's mechanics.

4 hours in and I've done the following:

* First two missions of Luxerion
* First two missions of the Wildlands with a whole bunch of side quests done too
* Acquired a fuck ton of awesome spells and gear
* Passion Rouge/Electronica/Nocturne schemata is all sorts of OP

I'm STILL in Day 2 as well! Dat Chronostasis.

And I'm absolutely loving the game even more now. Wildlands is so much fun to play in and it's pretty hilarious as well. Lightning's a riot. In the first few missions I've seen a legitimate emotional side to Lightning that you very rarely see in the other games - if you've played through the first two chapters of the Wildlands, you will know why.

Thoroughly enjoying this game. Once you understand all the mechanics and learn Chronostasis, the world is your oyster.

 

[eliza0224]

I just ended Day 3, and I've done the Luxerion storyline and most of the sidequests (the only ones I haven't completed are the ones where you have to go to other cities).

I got 5 more days until the end, but I don't feel like I've progressed enough. What do you guys think?

 

[haikira]

Long story short. I played 13 when it came out, liked it, but then never played the sequel. Then I tried the demo for Lightning Returns when it came out, really liked, then started on XIII-2, so I could get caught up. I've been staying in the dark with Lightning Returns since, but obviously some XIII-2 stuff was already spoilt, just by playing the demo. I've nearly finished XIII-2 and I'm moving on this very soon.

I was just wondering though. I know there's a countdown in the game, but could someone give me a vague idea of how it works? Just mechanically anyway. I'm guessing the save file isn't screwed if you max out the limit, so I'm thinking it's maybe something to do with earning the proper ending or something?

 

[Zafir]

I just ended Day 3, and I've done the Luxerion storyline and most of the sidequests (the only ones I haven't completed are the ones where you have to go to other cities).

I got 5 more days until the end, but I don't feel like I've progressed enough. What do you guys think?

I've just started day 3 and I've already done Luxerions Main Story, and 3-1/3-2 in Wildlands. That said, I've been abusing the hell out of chronostasis.

Long story short. I played 13 when it came out, liked it, but then never played the sequel. Then I tried the demo for Lightning Returns when it came out, really liked, then went back to XIII-2. I've been staying in the dark with Lightning Returns since, but obviously some XIII-2 stuff was already spoilt, just by playing the demo.

I was just wondering though. I know there's a countdown in the game, but could someone give me a vague idea of how it works, just mechanically. I'm guessing the save file isn't screwed if you max out the limit, so I'm thinking it's maybe something to do with earning the proper ending or something?

Well, you need to do all the main story quests before the time limit is up to complete the game. However if you do run out of time, you can do new game+ so all your stats and items(outside of key items I think?) get carried over and you start from the beginning again.

 

[Shinta]

I was just wondering though. I know there's a countdown in the game, but could someone give me a vague idea of how it works? Just mechanically anyway. I'm guessing the save file isn't screwed if you max out the limit, so I'm thinking it's maybe something to do with earning the proper ending or something?

It's definitely a unique setup. Time advances except in cutscenes, menus and battles. You can spend EP to freeze the clock 75 seconds. You can continually farm EP from battles if you're good and in a good location for it and prolong the clock indefinitely, but this really can't be done everywhere. Quests extend the time as well. There are 5 main quest lines, and once completed they each extend the game by one day.

In addition, the world operates on a schedule, with quests and NPCs being influenced by what time of day it is.

If you fail to extend the time limit out to the final days you lose and game over. You start on new game + with all equipment, items and abilities, but all quests reset and you start on day 1. If you don't manage your time well, restarting at least once is likely, and it was designed that way.

It's very different from the past 2 games. And if you have a guide or map to help you while playing, it helps quite a bit. There are a lot of secrets. And looking for side quests with little guidance with a clock ticking can really rattle some people if they're not prepared for the style of game this is.

The battle system is extremely good, and its challenging too.

 

[haikira]

Well, you need to do all the main story quests before the time limit is up to complete the game. However if you do run out of time, you can do new game+ so all your stats and items(outside of key items I think?) get carried over and you start from the beginning again.

Cheers. That sounds quite interesting.

Do you have to complete the main missions within certain times too, or is just a case of getting everything done before the end, no matter how you do it?

 

[brandonh83]

My god, I'm in Yusnaan and have no idea what to do lol

They give you pretty vague directives, set you loose in pretty big locations, and set a time limit.

 

[Shinta]

Cheers. That sounds quite interesting.

Do you have to complete the main missions within certain times too, or is just a case of getting everything done before the end, no matter how you do it?

Some quest elements happen at certain times, yes.

 

[Yoshichan]

THIS GAME

I need a food break but I can't stop

 

[haikira]

Cheers Zafir and Shinta for the responses.

Really looking forward to trying this. I'm actually playing through and have nearly finished XIII-2 with a friend, who I work together with on single player games quite often. But he's been busy for a few days and now that Lightning Returns is out here in the UK, I'm getting restless =O

 

[Atlas157]

I'm picking up my game later today. I really want that Cloud outfit but I had to cancel my pre-order.

 

[Shinta]

My god, I'm in Yusnaan and have no idea what to do lol

They give you pretty vague directives, set you loose in pretty big locations, and set a time limit.

0600 - 0700

Spoiler

Complete the first steps of chapter 2-1 by heading to the gate leading to the Augur's Quarter then purchase the sneaking-in special ticket from the nearby tour guide. At this point the quest cannot be advanced until 1800.

0700-1700

Spoiler

Accept the "Free Will" side quest from the Diviners. Speak to Velno at the Slaughterhouse and begin the "A Testing Proposition" side quest.

Spoiler

You can now complete four side quests: "Family Food," "Songless Diva," "Stolen Things," and "Play it for Me."

Spoiler

Purchase the Velvet Bouncer garb from the Outfitters Marionette in the Glutton's Quarter, close to Central Avenue.

Spoiler

Consider hunting three enemy types if you have the time: Anubys (heavy slash dropped), Desdemona (beat down ability dropped), and the flanitor (34 clear ooze dropped).

1700 - 0600

Spoiler

Complete 2-1, 2-2, 2-3.

That's just one possible approach. It doesn't include the individual quest walkthroughs, as that would take forever to type up.

 

[Zafir]

So I take it if you get the Last One, that means they're extinct?

Edit: Killing it said as much, so yeah. Bah, was using those Dryads for EP.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

I feel like I should be using my guide, but it's been such a long time since a game has compelled me to go in as blind as I can.

 

[JerkShep]

So I guess my question could sound sort of silly but...what I'm supposed to do with the 5 days I've left (plus the 14th day)? I'm at the beginning of Day 9 and I'm seriously considering sleeping for the remaining days to see the ending.

What I've done:
Compelted all the main quests
Completed all the subquests except for the Aeronite one and Omega one ( but I've read it can't be completed in the first playthrough)
Completed more or less 90% of the Canvas of Prayers (not sure if I want to do them all)
Obtained every garb currently available

What I've to do:
Exterminate every type of monster...I guess. I've already beaten a lot of Omega versions, is there a list to see how many I've left? And above all: is it worthy?
Buy every wepon available...I'm not missing many, is there some fast way to farm gil?

Is there something else I could do? I guess when people said time wasn't an issue they were not kidding..so many days left and so little content remaining...

 

[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

Good thing I'm keeping multiple save files in case I want to start over a miss a mission.

 

[Zafir]

So I guess my question could sound sort of silly but...what I'm supposed to do with the 5 days I've left (plus the 14th day)? I'm at the beginning of Day 9 and I'm seriously considering sleeping for the remaining days to see the ending.

What I've done:
Compelted all the main quests
Completed all the subquests except for the Aeronite one and Omega one ( but I've read it can't be completed in the first playthrough)
Completed more or less 90% of the Canvas of Prayers (not sure if I want to do them all)
Obtained every garb currently available

What I've to do:
Exterminate every type of monster...I guess. I've already beaten a lot of Omega versions, is there a list to see how many I've left? And above all: is it worthy?
Buy every wepon available...I'm not missing many, is there some fast way to farm gil?

Is there something else I could do? I guess when people said time wasn't an issue they were not kidding..so many days left and so little content remaining...

If you're going for the platinum, go and grab as many head accessory's as you can. You need at least 30, and then you need to get the same ones again in your second play through to upgrade.

 

[SoraanTribal]

So I guess my question could sound sort of silly but...what I'm supposed to do with the 5 days I've left (plus the 14th day)? I'm at the beginning of Day 9 and I'm seriously considering sleeping for the remaining days to see the ending.

What I've done:
Compelted all the main quests
Completed all the subquests except for the Aeronite one and Omega one ( but I've read it can't be completed in the first playthrough)
Completed more or less 90% of the Canvas of Prayers (not sure if I want to do them all)
Obtained every garb currently available

What I've to do:
Exterminate every type of monster...I guess. I've already beaten a lot of Omega versions, is there a list to see how many I've left? And above all: is it worthy?
Buy every wepon available...I'm not missing many, is there some fast way to farm gil?

Is there something else I could do? I guess when people said time wasn't an issue they were not kidding..so many days left and so little content remaining...

Just curious, what difficulty setting are you on?

 

[Shinta]

So I guess my question could sound sort of silly but...what I'm supposed to do with the 5 days I've left (plus the 14th day)? I'm at the beginning of Day 9 and I'm seriously considering sleeping for the remaining days to see the ending.

What I've done:
Compelted all the main quests
Completed all the subquests except for the Aeronite one and Omega one ( but I've read it can't be completed in the first playthrough)
Completed more or less 90% of the Canvas of Prayers (not sure if I want to do them all)
Obtained every garb currently available

What I've to do:
Exterminate every type of monster...I guess. I've already beaten a lot of Omega versions, is there a list to see how many I've left? And above all: is it worthy?
Buy every wepon available...I'm not missing many, is there some fast way to farm gil?

Is there something else I could do? I guess when people said time wasn't an issue they were not kidding..so many days left and so little content remaining...

Spoiler

I'd finish up what you have left then, farm abilities and headpieces from the last ones, and finish your quests. If you do them all I believe you unlock the 14th day, and the final dungeon, which is pretty huge supposedly.

 

[Robin64]

If I do the first playthrough on Easy, I can then do NG+ on Normal, right? I'm not terribly good at this so far on Normal so thinking of restarting for my own sanity/enjoyment.

 

[eliza0224]

I've just started day 3 and I've already done Luxerions Main Story, and 3-1/3-2 in Wildlands. That said, I've been abusing the hell out of chronostasis.

Fuck. Gotta use dat chronostasis then! I've never tried it.

 

[Giolon]

I have a question for people who are further along than Day 3 in the game about Extinction:

If I Extinct something on Day 3, am I screwing myself over later? Am I just killing my ability to EP farm later? I also read somewhere that enemies start getting better drops in later Days. Am I screwing myself out of those drops?

Fuck. Gotta use dat chronostasis then! I've never tried it.

It doesn't help that Hope/the game basically tells you "ONLY USE IT FOR EMERGENCIES!" They are liars.

 

[jschreier]

Is this game janky as heck on PS3 or is it just me? Slowdown all over the place.

 

[Yoshichan]

Day 4!

 

[Peff]

Is this game janky as heck on PS3 or is it just me? Slowdown all over the place.

I haven't been able to play much, but yes, the framerate is generally not good at all. That stealth mission early on is also hilarious with all the NPCs ramming into each other all the time. Fortunately it seems to be more stable in battle.

 

[jersoc]

If I do the first playthrough on Easy, I can then do NG+ on Normal, right? I'm not terribly good at this so far on Normal so thinking of restarting for my own sanity/enjoyment.

according to that guide posted above, this is the case.

I'm thinking of doing the same mostly because I don't want to worry about the clock on my first playthrough. I'm one of the people that has to explore everywhere in rpgs.

 

[JerkShep]

Just curious, what difficulty setting are you on?

Normal. Chronostasis can be a blessing and the time costraints that the game imposes are not really steep. Quest givers are available for many hours, they don't move around and most of the locations are available all day long (Luxerion is kinda the exception in this). I did not rush it either, I've spent a couple of days just doing subquests. If you want a rough and mostly spoiler free outline of my run I'll write it down (I'm going to tag it but there are no spoiler in there).

Spoiler

Day 1 - Beginning of Luxerion main quest
Day 2 - Finished Luxerion main quest and some subquests
Day 3 - Finished most of Luxerion sidequests, beginning of Yusnaan main quest
Day 4 - Finished Yusnaan main quest and some subquests
Day 5 - Finished most of Yusnaan's sidequests, beginning of the first Wild Lands main quest
Day 6 - Finished the first Wild Lands main quest and some subquests
Day 7 - Finished the second Wild Lands main quest, remaining subquests and did a preliminary exploration of Dead Dunes (warp points, treasures)
Day 8 - Finished Dead Dunes mainquest

When I say "beginning of X main quest" it means just a first exploration of the area really: learning the layout of the map, buying some new stuff, visiting the outifitters. Just doing so is usually enough to progress a bit in the main quest without even noticing.
Of course there are many other ways to proceed, but I liked going "all in" on one of the locations instead of moving around between them.

To optimize time in Luxerion, I have one tip:

Spoiler

When the day ends, try to be in the Warrens, so you can return there immediatly even during the day and do some stuff instead of waiting until 00 AM. It can be especially useful to obtain the fourth number early during the main quest.

 

[Nohar]

The game can be enjoyable, but in some places the framerate is just intolerable... I'll probably finish it, but because of the framerate I probably won't do a New Game +.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

How do I get the

Spoiler

Moogles

to appear?
Or is it quest related?

 

[brandonh83]

0600 - 0700

Managed to do some of this already; should I be visiting Wildlands or Dead Dunes yet? I'm just not sure about the enemy types and whatnot. Normally I wouldn't mind just going to find out but I feel heavily constrained about the time limit.

 

[ironcreed]

Fuck. Gotta use dat chronostasis then! I've never tried it.

Same here.

 

[Yoshichan]

Mother of God, Gilgamesh song in Yusnaan !! Goosebumps!!!

 

[Freezasaurus]

How do I get the

Spoiler

Moogles

to appear?
Or is it quest related?

There's a related quest on the Canvas of Prayers. That might be a trigger, but I don't know for sure, as I started the quest before going to the Moogle village.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Gotta say that hearing the crowd singing the FF fanfare after fighting at the Slaughterhouse was simply incredible. This game does fanservice so well.

 

[Reveirg]

I'm done with most of the main quests now, and I must say I love this game even more than I expected to.

With all the negativity surrounding the story I expected much much worse than this. It makes perfect sense so far.

 

[MCD]

Only one place left now: The Wild Lands. Still have 5 days too.

I always panic and rush through the main quests and yet I have plenty of time.

Question: After doing the 4 main quests, is it just side quests till the final day? I will be bored to death lol.

I really hope the final boss isn't hard. I don't wanna replay it again because I have no time.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Crap, I killed the last thing of an enemy and didn't pick up the red thing. Must have been too tired to see it.

 

[K.Sabot]

Friend linked me this and I thought it was hilarious (somewhat nsfw) http://i.imgur.com/BOq2ID6.png

beat with plank if old

 

[jorgeton]

This game is so hard to put down. The timer really creates a forward momentum that makes it hard to stop playing. Still on day 1 and have accomplished so much.

I think they should have mapped chronostasis to L2. Would've def changed the flow of the game a bit having it so easily accessible. But I'm having a great time so far.

Also the fashion rpg aspects are addictive. So much time spent on styling lighting -_-

 

[Kagari]

Only one place left now: The Wild Lands. Still have 5 days too.

I always panic and rush through the main quests and yet I have plenty of time.

Question: After doing the 4 main quests, is it just side quests till the final day? I will be bored to death lol.

I really hope the final boss isn't hard. I don't wanna replay it again because I have no time.

Yeah, same thing happened to me. I ran out of things to do...

 

[MCD]

Yeah, same thing happened to me. I ran out of things to do...

Well...fuck.

Just when I was enjoying the game.

 

[Kagari]

Well...fuck.

Just when I was enjoying the game.

Wouldn't have been so bad if doing battles had more meaning, aka leveling through them... but no.

 

[birthbysleep]

I've come to the conclusion that this game is mostly tedious side quests because their really isn't that much to do in the main story. It's a shame because it really seems to give the open world/HD town feeling that so many wanted in XIII.

This game is what happens when SE puts out a game from announcement to release in a years time, so I'm really expecting XV to be massive.

 

[MCD]

Wouldn't have been so bad if doing battles had more meaning, aka leveling through them... but no.

I'm fighting mostly to increase EP and stop time but yeah, lousy design.

 

[Kagari]

I'm fighting mostly to increase EP and stop time but yeah, lousy design.

I completed the main story and most of the sidequests around day 9 and I felt that sleeping through the remaining days was kind of a waste.

 

[Peff]

Yeah, the game has some awkward design decisions from what I'm seeing. If FFXIII-2 felt like a team trying to take on an Internet wishlist without much thought or a solid direction, LR feels like they were completely dead-set on making an open-world FF and ended up having to put a lot of band-aids when it turned out it wasn't so easy. Still, gotta give them credit for going with some player-unfriendly choices, like non-regenerating health or sidequests you can actively fail. That was probably the Tri-Ace influence

 

[stargateheaven]

Was hating this at the beginning looking for passcodes.. but im.enjoying it more now.
But i feel im.doing something wrong. Some enemies are taking forever! Any tips?

 

[Kagari]

Yeah, the game has some awkward design decisions from what I'm seeing. If FFXIII-2 felt like a team trying to take on an Internet wishlist without much thought or a solid direction, LR feels like they were completely dead-set on making an open-world FF and ended up having to put a lot of band-aids when it turned out it wasn't so easy. Still, gotta give them credit for going with some player-unfriendly choices, like non-regenerating health or sidequests you can actively fail. That was probably the Tri-Ace influence

Tri-ace had no involvement this time.

 

[PshycoNinja]

Tri-ace had no involvement this time.

And yet oddly enough it feels like a Tri-Ace Prototype that was taken and painted over with Lightning and pals with a time limit thrown in for the heck of it.

 

[MCD]

Was hating this at the beginning looking for passcodes.. but im.enjoying it more now.
But i feel im.doing something wrong. Some enemies are taking forever! Any tips?

Same issue I was facing till I beat Luxerion main quest and got myself better gear at the Ark.

It was tough but I managed, barely. Alternatively, you could do more sidequests or better yet buy yourself better weapons at the Forge shop (note: the free weapons I got were the same as the ones being sold here) and buying new dress from outfitters from the 4 main places.

tl;dr once you manage to beat Luxerion's boss, things get much easier.