[Lixe]

(Original post by Aust1n)
So these three monsters allow you to have different paradigms and they can change the way the battle is shaped? I really should play the demo but I just think it'll ruin it for me.

It won't, The demo just gives a good idea of all the features.

[AugustWestie]

(Original post by Aust1n)
So these three monsters allow you to have different paradigms and they can change the way the battle is shaped? I really should play the demo but I just think it'll ruin it for me.

As you play the game you collect as many monsters as you can. At any one time, you can choose three of these monsters to be part of your active paradigm pack. Each monster has a role like Commando or Ravager and they make up the third member of your party. So for example, Red Chocobos are Commandos, Blue Chocobos are Ravagers. Say your starting paradigm is is COM/RAV/RAV, the third RAV would be the Blue Chocobo.

It's pretty similar to XIII in how the paradigms work, apart from you're limited to the three roles of the monsters that you've selected as part of your paradigm pack. There's a bit more to it but that's the basics of it.

[NathanW18]

(Original post by Lixe)
55 Hours playtime and 146/160 fragments done. I am NOT looking forward to the fragment where I have to complete the in-game bestiary. I knew there was going to be one difficult step blocking my way to the platinum trophy.

The bestiary isn't that bad at all. If you haven't run from many fights, you should have filled most of it already. You can find a list of all the enemies online.

The worst fragment was the lucky 7 one. You need to win 7777 coins on the slot machines in Serendipity.

[Psyk]

(Original post by NathanW18)
The bestiary isn't that bad at all. If you haven't run from many fights, you should have filled most of it already. You can find a list of all the enemies online.

The worst fragment was the lucky 7 one. You need to win 7777 coins on the slot machines in Serendipity.

I'm not looking forward to that one. There is a way you can leave it to play itself, but overall you will lose money if you do that.

[Bhumbauze]

See.. the multitude of Wild Artefacts and the part of the main storyline where you have to collect 5... thingies... that are scattered around time, really bug me about this game. Is it just me, or is there absolutely no feasible way (other than searching for... err... years, probably) to get these without help? It's basically like "Oh and now you need these... so either go out and buy the official guide, or get your arse on Google, because otherwise you're not finding them. kthnx!".

I mean yes, other games have had things where guides would help a lot to figure out; beating Ruby and Emerald in VII, "Invisible Draw Points" (Island Closest to Heaven [and Hell]) in VIII, even techniques for fighting Adamantoiseses in XIII... but they're all things you COULD work out for yourself... and nothing so ridiculously tedious as scouring every inch of every map for a 99%-transparent item . Using a guide is the only realistic way to do it at all. That can't be a good thing.

[AugustWestie]

(Original post by Bhumbauze)
See.. the multitude of Wild Artefacts and the part of the main storyline where you have to collect 5... thingies... that are scattered around time, really bug me about this game. Is it just me, or is there absolutely no feasible way (other than searching for... err... years, probably) to get these without help? It's basically like "Oh and now you need these... so either go out and buy the official guide, or get your arse on Google, because otherwise you're not finding them. kthnx!".

I mean yes, other games have had things where guides would help a lot to figure out; beating Ruby and Emerald in VII, "Invisible Draw Points" (Island Closest to Heaven [and Hell]) in VIII, even techniques for fighting Adamantoiseses in XIII... but they're all things you COULD work out for yourself... and nothing so ridiculously tedious as scouring every inch of every map for a 99%-transparent item . Using a guide is the only realistic way to do it at all. That can't be a good thing.

It's no worse than mashing X on every wall in VII/VIII and walking into walls on IV hoping to find hidden passages. All FF games have stuff that would be impossible to find without help.

[Bhumbauze]

(Original post by AugustWestie)
It's no worse than mashing X on every wall in VII/VIII and walking into walls on IV hoping to find hidden passages. All FF games have stuff that would be impossible to find without help.

True... although, very rarely "game stopping" during the main storyline. So it's not so much the wild artefacts that are the problem - but the 5 items that stop you dead in your tracks half way through the storyline. Suddenly, Hope is like "Oh now you have to go find these things in various places. Here are some vague clues."

You blatantly can't find them without looking it up . I can only assume it's a ploy to get a few more people to buy the official guide.

[AugustWestie]

(Original post by Bhumbauze)
True... although, very rarely "game stopping" during the main storyline. So it's not so much the wild artefacts that are the problem - but the 5 items that stop you dead in your tracks half way through the storyline. Suddenly, Hope is like "Oh now you have to go find these things in various places. Here are some vague clues."

You blatantly can't find them without looking it up . I can only assume it's a ploy to get a few more people to buy the official guide.

Oh, you mean the Graviton Cores? I think if you go to the fragments menu it shows you an image of where it is located in that area. Same as the ones that it shows when you talk to the woman at the desk in Academia 4XX AF.

Regarding the Wild Artefacts, I think (I could be wrong) there's only one that's actually required throughout the whole story. The rest lead to side quests and optional areas. Knowing that they're consumable it only makes sense to be careful about when you use them.

I do admit though that I had to look up the locations of two of the Wild Artefacts that I was missing.

[NathanW18]

(Original post by Psyk)
I'm not looking forward to that one. There is a way you can leave it to play itself, but overall you will lose money if you do that.

Yeah, I had to leave it on autoplay to win it. I bought 15,000 coins from Serendipity and hoped for the best. It took 4 tries of leaving the game to run on its own, before I won the fragment and didn't make a loss of coins while doing so.

[Psyk]

(Original post by NathanW18)
Yeah, I had to leave it on autoplay to win it. I bought 15,000 coins from Serendipity and hoped for the best. It took 4 tries of leaving the game to run on its own, before I won the fragment and didn't make a loss of coins while doing so.

Really? The guide book says that if you put it on auto play, the odds are always against you. The max payout is something like 97% where as when doing it manually it's 103%.

[NathanW18]

(Original post by Psyk)
Really? The guide book says that if you put it on auto play, the odds are always against you. The max payout is something like 97% where as when doing it manually it's 103%.

I did read that on another forum, but it's still possible to win on auto play.

The first three times, I left the game on for around 4 hours. I won the fragment twice, but I lost too many coins. The forth time, I had only left it on for about an hour. I checked to see how I was getting on and I was in super victory mode. I prayed for the jackpot and it finally came.

There's another trophy/achievement in the game for winning 10,000 coins, but you can use chocobo racing for that. I recommend chocobo racing, instead of trying to get lucky on the machines. It doesn't take too long.

[AugustWestie]

Has anyone bothered with the Sazh DLC? I think it just gives a couple of mini-games in Serendipity and at the end of it you get Sazh as a monster crystal. Doesn't sound worth it to me.

It also explains where Chocolina came from. And the explanation is pretty dumb, in my opinion...

Chocolina

She's Sazh's Chocobo chick, apparently.

[Psyk]

(Original post by AugustWestie)
Has anyone bothered with the Sazh DLC? I think it just gives a couple of mini-games in Serendipity and at the end of it you get Sazh as a monster crystal. Doesn't sound worth it to me.

It also explains where Chocolina came from. And the explanation is pretty dumb, in my opinion...

Chocolina

She's Sazh's Chocobo chick, apparently.

Sounds crap. Won't buy. I was hoping it would have some story to it, but it sounds like it doesn't.

[Emerald Lies]

(Original post by Lixe)
Ahh, It took me a while to realize how to do that.

Don't use ravagers or commandos.

Sab-Sab-Sab (Use librascope at beginning of fight)
Sen-Med-Med (For near death situations or special moves)
Syn-Med-Med (Noel Preferably as he can group buff)
Sen-Sen-Med (For when he uses his special moves)
Med-Med-Med (For tight situations)
Sab-Sab-Med (For when hes beating you badly)

Took me so long to work that out Then it should give you less trouble if you haven't already tried this.

Thank-you! I'll try this soon, will let you know how it goes x

[Emerald Lies]

(Original post by AugustWestie)
That's the slow and easy way of doing it.

Start off with SAB/SAB/SEN and get Deshell, Deprotect and Poison if possible. When the chain gauge is at around 180% (if my memory serves me correctly) switch out to COM/COM/SEN. Your Commandos should preferably be magic users since Yomi moves fast and physical attackers will be slower and may miss.

When he uses Impenetrable Aura switch to MED/MED/SYN and then when you're close to fully healed switch out to SYN/SYN/SYN. Try to get at least Protect and Faith on everyone (with triple SYN that shouldn't be a problem). When he comes out of his aura switch back to your starting paradigm and do the same again. Switch to SEN/SEN/SEN for Wicked Whirl and have MED/MED/MED on standby just in case.

Will also try this! lol

[hogso]

(Original post by AugustWestie)
Has anyone bothered with the Sazh DLC? I think it just gives a couple of mini-games in Serendipity and at the end of it you get Sazh as a monster crystal. Doesn't sound worth it to me.

It also explains where Chocolina came from. And the explanation is pretty dumb, in my opinion...

Chocolina

She's Sazh's Chocobo chick, apparently.

you don't need the DLC to find that out - it's explained via one of the fragments

[Emerald Lies]

(Original post by AugustWestie)
That's the slow and easy way of doing it.

Start off with SAB/SAB/SEN and get Deshell, Deprotect and Poison if possible. When the chain gauge is at around 180% (if my memory serves me correctly) switch out to COM/COM/SEN. Your Commandos should preferably be magic users since Yomi moves fast and physical attackers will be slower and may miss.

When he uses Impenetrable Aura switch to MED/MED/SYN and then when you're close to fully healed switch out to SYN/SYN/SYN. Try to get at least Protect and Faith on everyone (with triple SYN that shouldn't be a problem). When he comes out of his aura switch back to your starting paradigm and do the same again. Switch to SEN/SEN/SEN for Wicked Whirl and have MED/MED/MED on standby just in case.

Done it! You way was quite effective, all though when he upped the game I honestly didn't think I could do it, I spent more time trying to heal then anything but I managed to find time to batter him back! Whoop whoop!

[AugustWestie]

(Original post by Emerald Lies)
Done it! You way was quite effective, all though when he upped the game I honestly didn't think I could do it, I spent more time trying to heal then anything but I managed to find time to batter him back! Whoop whoop!

Glad I could help. It's a lot easier when you have a maxed Crystarium since having plenty of HP means being able to go longer between healing. He is pretty brutal towards the end.

[Emerald Lies]

(Original post by AugustWestie)
Glad I could help. It's a lot easier when you have a maxed Crystarium since having plenty of HP means being able to go longer between healing. He is pretty brutal towards the end.

Yeah I maxed it out in the end but having the 40000 CP or however much it was would have been nice. I'm surprised at how quickly and easily you can max out everything. He really was brutal towards the end, I was getting really frustrated. 148/160 fragments so far, but now dreading the 7777 one after finding out about it =[

[hogso]

I did the Yomi fight just yesterday, found it rather easy - although yeh I am maxed out. Went in with SAB/SAB/SEN - my SEN being a one of the big goblin things, whose Feral Link gives everyone Protect, Shell, Faith, Bravery, and Veil. On top of that I had Feral Link II so once I used it, it would generate another one quicker. Once my SABs have him deprotected I switched to RAV/COM/COM - Serah being my RAV, with a Chain Level 5 weapon, so the chain gauge shoots up in no time. MED/MED/MED when he did his SEN thing...SEN/SEN/SEN when he started Wicked Whirl. I was kind of disappointed, actually.

I found the battle with Caius when you're just Serah, to get the paradox ending, an awful lot harder.

I have 2 fragments to go, I'm sure you can guess which they are.