5 tips to platinum Final Fantasy XIII-2
Although obtaining Final Fantasy XIII-2’s platinum trophy is considerably less time-consuming than it was in Final Fantasy XIII, you’re still looking at the best part of 80 hours or so to acquire it.
Well, we’ve been playing the game relentlessly since its release a few weeks ago, so we thought we’d share some useful tips and strategies that should help newcomers along their journey.
Warning: This article contains minor spoilers.
Getting off to a good start
Most of Final Fantasy XIII-2’s trophies will be earned towards the end of the game, but you can gain a fair amount of them in the very first episode. Once you’ve found the artefact to open the time gate in New Bodhum 003AF, simply travel to the Tidal Shallows area and battle any monster you see.
After just an hour, you should have unlocked the following trophies without even trying: Budding Hunter (defeat 100 enemies), Quick Draw (50 pre-emptive strikes), Staggering (stagger 50 enemies), No Retreat (50 consecutive battles without using Retry), and maybe even Clock Stopper (100 consecutive pre-emptive strikes).
This grinding also has the effect of granting you with upwards of 5000 Crystogen Points, which is a huge amount at this early stage of the game, and will put you in a very strong position before Episode 2.
Levelling, levelling, levelling!
Speaking of Crystogen Points, we simply cannot emphasise how important levelling Serah and Noel is in FFXIII-2. The Crystarium and levelling system is much more open than it was in FFXIII, so you can start developing the party you want from the beginning.
Therefore, if you ever come up against an enemy that is too tough for you, the chances are you are under-levelled. Simply try again after you’ve levelled up a bit, and you may be surprised by how much easier the battle is. This is particularly true of the main story’s final bosses, which can be an uphill struggle for even a mid-level party, but defeated with ease when you’re maxed out.
Finding the right monster for the job
Careful selection of your monster allies can also go a long way towards defeating particularly troublesome foes (many of which are tied to trophies). The problem is, with over 150 monsters to capture, how do you know which are the best long-term party members?
Unfortunately we can’t run through all 150 here, so instead we’re just going to recommend one; the Cloudburst. It may take a while to track one down, but if you’re lucky this Ravager can be found on the Archylte Steppe in cloudy weather, and is quite frankly an essential capture.
Fully-levelled, Cloudbursts can reach the lofty heights of over 7000HP and 1000 Magic (that’s a lot!), and has an insanely useful Feral Link ability, which makes defeating many enemies, and even certain bosses, a mere triviality.
Chocobo racing over slot machines
The Serendipity casino offers some unique prizes for dedicated players with a lot of casino coins. Three of these prizes are important fragments, and therefore must be purchased (at a total of 22350 coins, with the Bargain Hunter fragment skill) if you want to platinum the game.
The slot machines offer gigantic jackpots so may seem like the way to go, but it’s very slow work unless you’re extremely lucky. Therefore, a much safer bet is chocobo racing. A max-level Silver Chocobo (earned by throwing Mog at the projection of Cocoon in the Academy headquarters in Academia 4XXAF, with Mog’s Manifestation fragment skill) can outstrip any other bird on the track.
Some of the later races award 480 coins for a win, and you can even bet on your own Chocobo, giving you a total of 600 coins per race if you win. With that kind of prize money, you can earn somewhere in the region of 6000 casino coins in around half an hour, if you pick the right races.
Defeating the fearsome Cie’th, Raspatil
Once Serah and Noel have reached a high level in all roles, it’s time to take on Raspatil, arguably the toughest monster in the entire game, which can be found in the Ashensand area of Oerba 400AF, after you have completed the main story and activate the Battlemania fragment skill.
We won’t lie; we seriously struggled to defeat Raspatil, until we unleashed our secret weapon – the Cloudburst! Raspatil has over 3,000,000HP, so it’s important to stagger him with Ravagers as soon as possible so you can then hack into his health with Commandos. It’s also a great idea to inflict Imperil, Deprotect and Deshell with a Saboteur, to maximise damage caused.
At certain points in the fight, Raspatil will call reinforcements in the form of Varcolaci, Vampires and Wladislauses, so it’s essential to take them out as soon as they appear, in order to continue your offence on your main target. If everything goes to plan, you should be able to defeat Raspatil within two or three staggers, and the battle should take no longer than ten minutes.
Not only do you get a gold trophy for defeating this formidable foe (in Normal mode), but if you have the Rolling in CP fragment skill you’ll be granted with 50,000CP (a truly massive amount, even late in the game) and 50,000 gil!
Have any of your own tips on how to platinum Final Fantasy XIII-2? If we see anything good enough, we’ll add it to our list and credit you in the article!
![[UPDATE] Pure Chess calls](http://www.ps3attitude.com/wp-content/themes/arthemia-premium/scripts/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/pure-chess1.jpg&w=80&h=80&zc=1&q=100)
One of the saddest developments in the FF series over time has been the emphasis on 'grinding' - it was possible to play and beat the PSOne FF's with almost none of it (and I was nowhere near as good a gamer back then). On FFXIII, though, I did a bit of grinding for safety's sake, and many of the boss fights were painfully hard (FFXIII doesn't have a difficulty curve, it has a difficulty sawtooth!) It is a little sad to hear that they've taken a similar approach in FFXIII-2.
Thanks for the tips :). Only just finished FFXIII, and while it did turn me off the series, I'm sure I'll come back to it in a few years time, will try and remember this article then :).
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeAxe99 Grinding played a fairly big part in VII, VIII and IX. I've dedicated well over hundred hours on each - and that's being modest. I think the majority of that time I've spent grinding. It never bothered me. I loved reaching 99.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeIt won't let me reply to you directly, so here's a not-quite-reply (but definitely not an argument :))
Grinding was definitely an option, but it never felt as necessary as FFXIII - I played through all of VII, VIII and XI (and X) without much in the way of grinding at all - no more than 50 hours on any of them, and only 44 on FFVII. I don't mind it being there as a side feature (and I was a far bigger fan of the battle systems in the earlier FFs, and in particular the PSOne games), but in FFXIII I did a good 5 or so hours of grinding as I'd been forewarned (about 10% of my time on the game), and the boss battles were still as hard as nails. It just feels like Square have turned a side feature of the games into a central feature.
Speaking of FF games - have just started FF Tactics: War of the Lions on my Vita (I know, playing a PSP re-release of a PSOne game isn't likely to really show it off, but I'm crook and can only do Wipeout in short bursts ;)), and it's awesome :).
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeTo be fair, in XIII-2 you only really have to grind if you focus solely on the main story, because some of the bosses may be too tough for under-developed parties. However, if you venture off the beaten path and complete some side quests then you should level up naturally, and not really have to grind. :)
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeStefhutch20 Glad to hear :). I still think it's poor design to enforce grinding, but I likes me some sidequests, so no biggy for me - thanks for the tip Stefhutch :).
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeAxe99 I do love Tactics. The story is a little plodding, but it still stands up really well.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Likesean_o_c It's funny - I don't mind the story at all, but some of the game design choices are atrocious. It's got the 'boss that is immensely powerful with one arbitrary attack' thing that means you have to have whatever negates it for the battle - which means that for most boss fights you have to die (at least) once before you can re-fit your characters appropriately. I don't mind this, as much - but I do mind not being able to skip cut-scenes given the game was designed for boss fight repetition! It's far from the only game that does this, of course, but I expected something a little better designed given how much hype it's got. It also (only a little later in the game) hits you with these kind of fights after two fights on the trot, so if you saved after one of those fights, and don't have an earlier 'anchor' save, and don't have the arbitrary kit in your inventory, you literally have to start the game again, from 20 hours earlier. And I just can't forgive that - even for a PSOne game, that's atrocious design.
And then there's the need to grind easy, dull battles to make the story fights challenging but enjoyable. That's FF, to a degree, but at least in the RPGs you could seek out tough opponents. In FF:Tactics, you are lumped fighting underpowered enemies again and again to get your job points up so you have the skills you need to survive the story. Nothing tactical about that at all, and very little that's strategic. If anything, it's another puzzle game designed as tactics/strategy. Which isn't bad, but it should be called "Final Fantasy Puzzle" :P.
/rage ;) And off topic!
Don't get me wrong, I know grinding is part of JRPGs, for better or for worse - and the battle system in FFT is tops - it's just wasted on poor pacing and a schizophrenic difficulty curve.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like