FFXIII-2 NEW INFO From Previews! (multiple story arcs, hidden side quests, larger dungeons...)

[Jdevil3]

Dodece said:
@Radha

My thoughts on the game were about the same as yours. Unfortunately I have a tendency to actually grind. When I say grind what I am talking about is camping a area, and killing the enemy over and over again. For dozens of hours. The fact that there were achievements to be had by doing this didn't help either. Call it a legacy of playing massive titles online. I have real stamina. By the time I fought that third battle I had over thirty hours of grinding under my belt. This on top of the fact that I didn't skirt enemies. The only place I didn't actually clean out in the game was open field on pulse.

I have to explain something to you about these bosses leveling. They level exactly like the players do. It isn't just a question of them adding health, or having attacks that do some more damage. No if that were the case I wouldn't be so upset. They unlock new moves, but a lot of new moves. They unlock new features. Their gauges also shoot through the roof. Look there probably isn't any way your going to understand how insane my later boss battles were once I had maxed my party out.

You know your probably not going to believe me unless you do it yourself. I would spend hours on some of these guys, and no I am not a unskilled player. Go ahead try to just relentless assault your way through some of these guys. When they pop off Devastator attacks, configuration change to clear status bars, and stagger meters. I must not forget my favorite death attacks, Yeah those are pretty sweet especially when that is their first attack, and you haven't laid a hand on them yet.

Anyway I have two theories. That was how combat was supposed to be in the game before the play testers began to lose their minds. Maybe it was their idea of a Jack in the Box. Maybe they thought if the player is this high they want an insane challenge. Well yeah it was ridiculously challenging. I had to come up with some strange concepts to overcome some of these guys. Ever use the paradigms Tortoise, Rapid Growth, or Infiltration. How often did you use your Eidolon to clear a death status ailment.

Anyway if you want a real challenge. Just do what I did. I guarantee you will find something shocking.

That's really strange, it took me a long time to beat the final bosses when my characters weren't max Crystarium level... even some of the fights with random monsters took a long time. Probably because I didn't really grind anything and just fought whatever enemies I ran into during the game.

However, the more I "leveled up" (unlocked stuff in the crystarium) the easier the game became... almost all of those long fights only took me seconds to complete after I had unlocked everything in the crystarium with all my characters. The game becomes easier and easier the more you level up.

I played most of the fights selecting a paradigm with 2 Synergists and 1 Saboteur at the beginning of the battle to buff my charactes while debuffing the enemies (slow, deprotect, etc).

After being buffed with all statuses and debuffing the enemies with every status that can be inflicted to them, I switched to something with 2 ravagers and 1 commando or 3 ravagers to stagger the enemy real fast.

After the enemy is staggered, I switched to 3 commandos or 2 commandos and 1 ravager to inflict some real damage on the enemy.

When the stagger bar is about to drain, I used Fang's highwind for one last hit that inflicts lots of damage (almost always 999.999)

If I started losing buffs and the enemy losing debuffs, I started the process again.

I switched to paradigms with medics or sentinels when necessary.

 

That was pretty much the winning formula for me. Shaolong Guis take me less than a minute to beat and Long Guis less than 2 minutes. Everything's extremelly easy like that, and even easier if you're max level.

 

It was a pretty easy game for me.