Weapons/items - buying/finding/upgrading.... best?

[†[BeaN]†]

So is there a best way to go about this? Is buying them a waste? Better to sell or scrap old weapons? I'm not against the combat, but I definitely want the battles to go as fast as possible - there seem to be quite a lot of them. However my main motivation is that I would hate to go down one path only to find it led me into a hole where every combat is long and tedious and boss fights nigh impossible ya know? If all methods basically have me keep up with the difficulty curve it doesn't really matter.

Thanks!

[tiornys]

What chapter are you in? The best ways to go about upgrading depend on where you are and what your long term goals are.

The best way to have quick combats is to combine smart upgrades with excellent strategies. The next best way is to have excellent strategies even without upgrades. Upgrading on its own won't guarantee fast battles, and if you lean on them too much you can easily fall behind the learning curve.

[†[BeaN]†]

I'm only on chapter 5 - buying upgrades seems really expensive, as does upgrading so it's hard for me to imagine going for upgrades based on where I am. Tthat sounds like doing a lot of grinding or something which I have no interest in doing for this game. Thanks!

[tiornys]

In chapter 5, I'd recommend maxing your Black Belt (if you picked it up in chapter 4) with some of the components you have on hand. It's pretty cheap and very effective throughout the game. Power Wristband and Magician's Mark are also fairly cheap to upgrade and you can probably manage at least one of them (in addition to the Black Belt) with components on hand.

It's probably best to hold on to your weapons and accessories for now. This site has the eventual best ways to upgrade everything once you have access to all the stuff from the shops: http://etrosgate.com/xiii/inventory/upgrading

edit: that site also talks about the mechanics of using components effectively, so if you want that, you can read up on it there. The basic idea is: use organic components to build up a high multiplier (x3 is highest), then use a stack of inorganics all at once to take advantage of the multiplier. It helps to know how much total XP you need.

[†[BeaN]†]

i did not find a black belt in ch4 =( I think I made it to all the floaty bubbly item dispenser's too. Ah well. Thanks for the link and suggestions. I had noticed the multiplier happened on certain items so it's good to have that explained. I feel I've wasted quite a bit of components but, such is life. Thanks again.

[tiornys]

Don't worry about what you've wasted so far. The components you have at this point in the game are chump change to what you'll get going forward.

[TheLastLine]

Im on Chap 11 and still haven't upgraded a single weapon. Sure, there may have been a few fights that could have went a lot easier if I did, but nothing that a bit of grinding can't do the same trick for. Unlike most RPG games, every weapon has its uses, so I don't recommend selling any, since they can be upgraded to improve thier rolse and in some cases even be upgraded to new weapons when you max their tier. You'll get plenty of upgrade materials as you play that you can sell for Gil if you need it for buying items, etc. but otherwise I wouldn't even bother. After all, if you sell something that you end up regretting selling and have to grind to get that item back, that may lead to even more grinding that you would have done to just slightly beef yourself up to pass that part you're at.

[talgaby]

In chapter 11 it's usually recommended to have at least the Belladonna Wand upgraded, possibly to Tier 2. It's the earliest "best" weapon that is usually agreed upon of being the best weapon for a character. But as tiornys said, you can play around with your accessories too. There are quite a number of good ones by chapter 11.

[†[BeaN]†]

Wow this is a long game, eh? Chapter 11 is the "earliest" best weapon? Wow. How many chapters are there total? 20+?

[joxertm22]

It's not the earliest best weapon generally, it's possibly Vanille's earliest best weapon. You'll find Belladona Wand earlier than chapter 13 (don't skip looting balls!).

However the game will eventually allow you to combine a party of three from all 6 possible characters. It's logical not to upgrade weapons for everyone then, right? If you generally won't use Vanille, why should you upgrade Belladona Wand at all? ;)

But what tiornys said, some accessories are well worth upgrading early, they'll be useful on any character later. Eventally you'll unlock another accessory slot so don't sweat much if you should go HP boost or damage or something as you'll add later what you can't have early.
Black Belt if not in ch. 5 you'll find it in ch. 6. Just keep an eye on those bumping containers, sometimes those are well hidden, sometimes you need to return back to find them.

I'm on ch. 9 and dunno how many chapters are there.

[talgaby]

Eh, chapter 11 opens at least two good money farming spots, so after that it's up to you who do you sink money into – although the "ideal" party composition changes from chapter 11 to post game quite substantially. (For example up to chapter 12 you can annihilate anything with a Fang/Vanille/Sazh party, whereas post-game is quite easy with Fang/Snow/Lightning.) In my experience if you decide to farm synthetic components in chapter 4, money in chapter 5, then you can upgrade Belladonna near max level in chapter 6 and into a mid/high level Malboro in 10. Which means you pretty much destroy all enemies in chapters 6, 8, and 10, including the supposedly "impossible" enemy types in 6. The downside of course is that chapter 9 will be a colossal pain in the buttocks since it needs you to focus on a number of accessories to make it easier.

[Sir Cookiemon]

Originally posted by talgaby:

Eh, chapter 11 opens at least two good money farming spots, so after that it's up to you who do you sink money into – although the "ideal" party composition changes from chapter 11 to post game quite substantially. (For example up to chapter 12 you can annihilate anything with a Fang/Vanille/Sazh party, whereas post-game is quite easy with Fang/Snow/Lightning.) In my experience if you decide to farm synthetic components in chapter 4, money in chapter 5, then you can upgrade Belladonna near max level in chapter 6 and into a mid/high level Malboro in 10. Which means you pretty much destroy all enemies in chapters 6, 8, and 10, including the supposedly "impossible" enemy types in 6. The downside of course is that chapter 9 will be a colossal pain in the buttocks since it needs you to focus on a number of accessories to make it easier.

If you farm that much money - likelyhood is you have the Crystarium maxed in ch9 (which isn't really hard at all, Relentless Assault tears most things into ribbons before having to heal). I'm ch11 and haven't upgraded a single piece of equipment or had the Crystarium maxed in most chapters up to ch11 and I still managed 5* on most battles. Dunno what all the rage about being hard is about.

Granted the Wyvern in ch6 is a bit of a pain (more so than the final battle of said chapter), so is the Falco Motorcycles - but nothing that can't be managed.

My favourite combo since ch10 is Fang/Light/Vanille ... I kinda don't like the attribute distribution of either Snow or Hope. Sazh is OK but Haste/Protect isn't needed for trashfights allthough it IS massively useful for bosses (Fang/Light/Sazh).

[talgaby]

Sazh is for En- spells and other offensive buffs, I purposefully left Protect/Shell out of his progression. Faith/Bravery + En- spells with Vanille spreading love and deshell/deprotect means half the combat time on most mobs. It's a time management thing too.

[Sir Cookiemon]

Originally posted by talgaby:

Sazh is for En- spells and other offensive buffs, I purposefully left Protect/Shell out of his progression. Faith/Bravery + En- spells with Vanille spreading love and deshell/deprotect means half the combat time on most mobs. It's a time management thing too.

Protect is a VERY offensive buff. Time I don't spent healing I can use to turn my enemies into fertilizer, twice that with Haste.

[talgaby]

If you want protection try the Fang+ Curse/Fog/Pain route instead. It's easier to protect yourself by making sure the enemy cannot attack you rather than decrease damage taken.

[†[BeaN]†]

I am just going to assume I haven't run into this Fang character yet, yea? Do you guys not upgrade everything on their crystal disc upgrade things?