Final Fantasy XIII

This is strictly about mission 64. I breezed through every mission except this one. I probably spent 3 hours JUST to get 4 stars. I went back got the Master's Seal achievement. Once that was complete, I read a guide on each character and their abilities.

This fight boils down to two things. 1.Characters 2.Equipment.

1.Characters: This is really important. The whole game I played with Fang (L), Lightning and Hope. After reading math and abilities, etc, i decided that Lightning (L), Fang, Vanille was the best setup for this fight. Why?

You want to buff FAST when he [Impenetrable Aura]
*It is rather odd that only Vanille and Fang get the -ra variants of the buffs, despite neither of them having Synergist as a primary role. Vanille would actually make for a very good Synergist if only she had Haste, but seeing as how everyone else does, she makes for an excellent choice as a secondary Synergist. If you want to use a Paradigm with at least two of these, you'll be able to buff your party very rapidly.

*Obviously, Vanille and Fang are better because they have Dispel, while Lightning and Snow don't. Vanille also has poison. If you look at my Paradigm setup, you'll see that I have Vanille primarly as a debuffer. Right when he comes out of [Impenetrable Aura] switch to #2. Stay on #2 until Poison is cast then switch right to #3.

*You want Light as a healer during [Impenetrable Aura] so you can use Cura, Cura, Cura to TOP OFF YOUR HP. The AI is stupid and will not do this. Use this down time to be in a good position to burn him down.

There is a lot more detailed information about each character in the link below. Go to 3c Party Setup.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/950899-final-fantasy-xiii/fa...

Setup:
Light/Fang/Vanille
1. Med/Syn/Syn
2. Rav/Sab/Sab <- Start
3. Rav/Rav/Sab
4. Rav/Rav/Med
5. Com/Com/Med
6. Sen/Sen/Sen

Fight:

Start in 2. Once poison is up, switch to 5... he'll go to [Impenetrable Aura] soon.

Once in [Impenetrable Aura], go to 1. Use Cura, Cura, Cura to TOP OFF YOU HP. Stay in this shift until he comes out of [Impenetrable Aura] and go right into 2. Once poison is on, go to 3. If you need to heal, go to 4. Once he is staggered, go to 5. Pretty easy!

It becomes tricky when he uses [Wicked Whirl]. As soon as you see it, go to 6. Once that is over, go to either 4 or 5 and repeat!

2.Equipment is VERY important. The less time you're healing means you can be debuffing/attacking.
Lightning
Omega Weapon (Lionheart)
Champion's Belt*
Magus's Brace*
Imperial Armlet*
Gold Watch

Fang
Kain's Lance (Taming Pole)
Royal Armlet*
Royal Armlet*
Witch's Brace*
General's Belt*

Vanille
Nirvana (Belladonna Wand)
Royal Armlet*
Royal Armlet*
Witch's Brace*
General's Belt*

A guide that lists the locations of all the missions and their marks:
http://www.gamesradar.com/f/final-fantasy-xiii-cieth-stone-m...

Here is a link to a guide that details all 64 missions and suggestions on how to 5-star each mission:
http://www.ps3trophies.org/forum/final-fantasy-xiii/43019-5-...

Good luck on 5-starring the hell out of those missions!

An easy way to do this one, while not the most legit is to Death spam on the Neochu, (mission 55 I think) and on the Adamantoise (mission 63). Those two were the hardest I think. For the multiple Zirtirnia (sp?) you have to fight, use Snow as a sentinel and keep him that way for the majority of the fight. Have your other two characters (I used Lightning and Fang) fight as Ravagers until his chain gauge is up to 400% or so, then have either Lightning or Fang use Army of One or Highwind, respectfully. For the multiple Tonberry fight (don't know mission #) use a Deceptisol before the fight with a Cerberus setup (3x Commando) and spam Ruinga it took me like 17 seconds to finish the fight.

For Vercingetorix, (mission 64) I had each of my characters equipped with at least 1 kaiser knuckle (strength boosting accessory), While my main had 4 equipped (Lightning for the record). Use Commandos in the beginning, because he is going to go into his barrier too fast to build any chain gauge. When he starts using Wicked Whirl, use the Tortoise paradigm (3x sentinel), then heal quickly. at that point he should stay out of his barrier long enough to build a chain gauge. Once you get it up to 250 - 300% go back to your Cerberus paradigm (3x Commando) and beat the tar out of him. It took me a little over a minute and a half this way.

Some people will try to use the genji glove, or build the chain gauge higher during the fight. I have found that this takes longer in the end. Just my advice on a few of the harder fights in the game.

"L'Cie Paragon"
"Earned a 5-star rating for all Cie'th stone missions."

If you have already completed all 64 missions and are just going back to 5-star them, the easiest way would be to completely level up your characters crystariums and weapons so they can inflict the most damage and make sure you have the Gold Watch equipped to get the time extension. For the missions that still give you trouble, a Fortisol/Aegisol/Deceptisol start should make any mission easy to 5-star.

5-staring every mission can be quite a daunting task, given that a lot of the mission starts are very far from the mark. There a few weapons and accessories you'll want to get before attempting this, especially the higher ranked ones.

Malboro Wand (weapon - Vanille) - This wand is upgraded from the Belladona Wand (bought from Plautus' Workshop). It gives Improved Debuffing II which really helps against tougher enemies that are susceptible to Death.

Aurora Scarf (accessory) - This starts you off with a full ATB gauge at the start of a battle, giving you the jump on your enemy. It is the upgraded version of the Whistlewind Scarf (The Moogleworks).

Sprint Shoes (accessory) - Having these gives you auto-haste at the beginning of a battle. To get them, upgrade a Tetradic Crown until it has a star by it's name. Dismantle the crown and you'll get Hermes Sandles. Upgrade them to tier 2 and you'll get your Sprint Shoes.

(Another way to get the Sprint Shoes is to fully upgrade the Tetradic Tiara, then dismantle it.)

Gold Watch (accessory) - This is probably the most valuable accessory when it comes to getting 5 stars. It will increase the target time of your fights, making it easier to get the 5. To obtain it, you must complete mission 64. Here's a video, if you're having trouble.

Mission 64 Strategy~

Despite numerous guides that say it is a must to have capped weapons and accessories for 5 stars, that is not the case.

The fight is very straight up. Here's my strategy that beat it in less time than the ps3trophies guide with capped gear (which is an extremely helpful guide, I'm not knocking it. I just didn't think I would need to spend countless hours farming Gil to cap gear in order to 5 star this fight) with no capped gear, 2 third tier weapons (uncapped), 1 second tier weapon (uncapped) and average accessories (uncapped). However, Lightning did have Sprint Shoes/Aurora Scarf which is very helpful in the opening of the fight.

This fight pretty much boils down to what you do with the down time when the boss is immune (Impenetrable Aura).

My set up:
Lightning/Fang/Hope

Paradigms in my order configuration:
Countermeasure (SAB/SEN/SAB) *Default Paradigm
Tireless Charge (COM/COM/MED)
Tortoise (SEN/SEN/SEN)
Rapid Growth (SYN/SYN/SYN)
Salvation (MED/MED/MED) Didn't use it but good in case of emergency
Combat Clinic (MED/SEN/MED) *Main healing Paradigm

***Special note: When you are in Tireless Charge, click Abilities > Attack and spam it. If you auto attack, Lightning will spam Ruin which will do less overall damage than physical attack.

Go into the fight with at least 4TP, it doesn't hurt to Renew if needs be to conserve time.

Open the fight in Countermeasure, stay in this Paradigm until Poison lands which Lightning (you) will be spamming. Once it lands switch to Tireless Charge, do not switch to anything else (Hope can heal through Wind Shear and Putrescence) until the boss is in Impenetrable Aura (immune and self healing) > switch to Rapid Growth to keep buffs freshed > back to Countermeasure and start spamming Poison again. While you are doing that, Hope automatically erases all the buffs the boss cast on himself once he is out of Impenetrable Aura.

Just repeat this strategy until he starts casting Wicked Whirl. At this point, keep doing what you have been and just add in Tortoise before he casts Wicked Whirl and immediately switch to Combat Combat Clinic for health and switch back to Tireless Charge until he goes into Impenetrable Aura and just repeat the cycle from there on by buffing yourself, debuffing the boss and so on...

The boss is very predictable, just absolutely make certain that Poison is active at all times. Target time was just over 17 mins, my battle duration was 9 mins 23 secs.

Once you get the hang of it, it's fairly simple. I will also add that all my roles are capped. I think that capped roles and timing (how you react/switch Paradigms) are more of an importance in this fight than capped gear, as the weaker your gear is, the more time you are allotted to 5 star the mission. And yes...Make sure one of your chars has the Gold Watch equipped.

Good luck.

I do not take credit for the videos.

Mission 64 - 5 STARS EASY! - Please rate my first solution and give feedback if you have time.

I am sharing this as I had not seen a technique like this before. It involves only 3 Paradigm sets and very little strategy. I found this to be the easiest way.

Use Fortisol and Aegisol before battle.

Set up:
Vanille/Lightning/Fang

Equipment:
You should only really need the Malboro Wand or Nivara Wand for the buffing bonus. Seeing as poison does all the work you shouldn't need many powerful weapons either. Just equip as many defensive accessories as possible. Don't use the Growth egg, you get no CP for this battle.

Paradigms set up:
1) SAB/COM/COM
2) MED/SYN/SYN
3) SEN/SEN/SEN

Use Vanille's Poison ability on Vercingetorix as soon as the fight starts. When it sticks, switch to Paradigm class 2 (above) just spam the Curaja spell now. Only use these two abilities. The only reason Lightnigh and Fang are COM classes in setup 1 is so they have somthing to do, they are not meant to do any real damage during this class (though any damage done is a bonus obviously).

Simply wait while the boss is poisoned, attacking him further will make him switch to his defence state faster and removes the poison status. Allow poison to do it's job, it'll work faster than you think! Just focus on recasting it when he comes out of defence mode, and then spam Curja again while he attacks. He won't be able to kill your party and Fang and Lightning will be constantly adding buffs while you heal, making it harder for him to hurt you. You should have maxed out character classes for this so Fang and Lightning have all the available spells to help keep you alive.

Switch to Paradigm 3 when he uses his whirlwind attack. Be quick about it! Then heal and recast poison etc. Keep doing this over and over until he dies; OR until he has about a 1/3 of his health left - then do the following;

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Optional Part 2:
You can use your Summon to great effect if you need to. Summon when Vercingetorix is NOT in his defensive state, cast poison and a few other random debuffs on him. Casting the addition debuffs will help build Vanille's gestalt meter so you can fight longer. When the Eidolon's meter is almost empty jump on it's back. Attack as slow as you can. Use only "Forwards + A" and only when it is just about the run down on the timer. The purpose is to delay as long as possible and allow the poison ability to do the work. During a Summon you can expect poison to remove as much as 4 million HP (maybe even 5, I didn't measure it). If you have an *Elixir you can use your Summon twice, making this battle even easier.

*
To get an Elixir, upgrade a Doctors Code accessory with one Superconductor and then dismantle it - be warned there are only 3 or 4 doctors codes in the game so do not dismantle them all unless you are sure you have what you need towards the Treasure Hunter achievement.

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There are two videos below. One shows just the poisoning routine detailed above. The other shows how to do it just using Summon + poison (Part 2 above). I suggest a combo of the two. I used poison and the set up described above until he used his first whilwind, then summoned twice to kill him. First attempt was just over 10 minutes and 4 stars. 2nd attempt (without Gold watch) was a bit quicker and 5 stars.

If you fail at 5 stars either try again with the watch equiped or reload your save so you don't loose the Elixir!

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Again, I just wanted to share the video below as it doesn't have many hits on youtube, yet is VERY USEFUL!

Video 1)
Video 2)

This is a tip for all missions,, not just mission 64 as I see most people focus on. also as just my opinion.. mission 64 isnt even that hard, beating it will almost garentee you 5 stars.

anyways, as for what I had to do with some missions being really hard to 5 star due to low target time is simple, kill adamantoise / Long gui for platnium ingots if you need the gil for Deciptol, which sell for 30,000.

Use that and the other shrouds for buff before any mission you struggle with and you should be able to 5star them all no problem.

If you do finish Mission 64 you will get Gold Watch which extends battle target time, this will be of great help aswell.

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Well all these guides are fairly helpful, yet I managed to find a cool web page to help find all the missions (locations of stones and objective points)

http://wikicheats.gametrailers.com/Final_Fantasy_XIII_-_PS3_...

Not only do they have that but it tells you the best order to accomplish the missions in for success. As for other stuff they cover everything through a "Walkthrough" to "Side Quests" to "Battle Tips".

I hope this helps you out. I know it has been helping me.
Best of luck,
~~~WOLF~~~

I would just like to mention that it is possible to 5-star all the missions with basic, non-upgraded Tier 1 equipment without using the Gold Watch, if you don't mind using Shrouds, Death or Random Instant Chain for a few of them. It's hard for the later ones, but I actually managed to 5-star half of them before I left Chapter 11.