Combat is slow and agonizing, am i doing something wrong?

[Deathjester]

I'm fairly in the beginning, and the combat seems super hard and tedious, i need to hit enemies sometimes hundreds of times to defeat them, and it takes ages to finish up a fight against a common enemy.

Am i doing something wrong? I've been trying to do the quests before time runs out, but i seem to be underleveled and undergeared, but i can't just grind more levels since there is always such a rush to do things?

Haven't played it in years due to this.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Kivvy]

The start has you super weak, it can take some time, but doing side quests will help your stats grow, I recommend going to the desert as soon as you can, as the fights are a little easier with the help you get. Just remember you don't level up, you need to finish quests to get stats. Getting new gear helps too. Things get easier once you get stats and learn how to manipulate the stagger bar.

[Deathjester]

I have done all of the quest i can, the mission i'm talking about is when you go to the payphone and give the correct answer to the phone, it gets super tedious and difficult after that. I'm tempted to buy the game on steam since i don't play much of 360 anymore, but the combat seems so slow compared to 13 and 13-2

[Gimp Batman]

The monsters in the graveyard were admittedly kinda hard on the first playthrough for me. Honestly, what I did was dodge them and follow through with the cut scene and then continue to progress with the story. You become stronger and stronger as you complete missions and there are only five different main missions, which you can complete in any order and on any day. If you think things are too difficult right now you might want to go out to the wildlands or yusnaan and try to complete some of the other missions and get new equipment. If you complete as many missions as you can you should have no problem with the combat for a majority of your first playthrough. Optional bosses like Aeronite and Ereshkigal will be another story, but new game plus on hard mode is super easy after your first playthrough. Combat in general is much less tedious the stronger you get, though bosses will still be a pain the first playthrough.

[glass]

There is no reason to fight any fight you don't want to and which isn't directly tied to the completion of a story/quest. Don't worry about it; just avoid them.

[Zaris]

The combat system is all about the enemies weaknesses. I've started a new playthrough yesterday and already finished all mainquests on day 5.

An easy setup for most situations is something like:
outfit 1:
- armor: the one with 15% magic&physic reduction and strong block
- weapon: high magic dmg
- shield: high block value
- accessory: 10%/20% magic/physic reduction
- skills: strong block, fira/blizzara/thundera/aerora

outfit 2:
- armor: something with +magic dmg / 30 more action pts
- weapon: high magic dmg
- shield: high regeneration rate
- accessory: 15% magic dmg
- skills: fira/blizzara/thundera/aerora

outfit 3:
- armor: something with +physical dmg / 30 more action pts
- weapon: high physical dmg
- shield: high regeneration rate
- accessory: 15% physical dmg
- skills: strong attack, deprotes / deshell / imperil

Start the battle against normal enemies in outfit 2 and use every element against them, check their information about special weaknesses like fire or ice and spam the correct element spell on them until they go in shock mode and use strong attack. Some enemies are already weak against physical attacks like these apes and die in 2 hits without shock mode.

Outfit 1 is for blocking enemy magic and physical attacks. For mainquest bosses you can change some items like 75% physic reduction amulett which you get after the battle with Snow.

The "ra" spells like fira, blizzara are the best to get single or groups of enemies in shock mode fast.

[tonyfinale]

you have to stagger enemies to deal actual damage to them. learning how to stagger effectively is like the point of the game

[Welt the Eminem]

You are noob

[NuhUh]

Just remember, the game is a series of Combat Puzzles. You'll need to assess the enemy's weakness and exploit that weakness.

In the beginning of battles, hit bosses with every skill you have equipped. Then press your Libra button and study their weakness. What ever they are weak to, just spam that skill. (i.e. weakness to ice, hit them with every ice ability you've equipped)

Exploiting weaknesses will usually end most battles in under a minute.

[Deathjester]

I mean, i guess all these answers would be good if i could grind exp etc, but when i've played the game i'm always in a hurry so i don't miss the main quests since they are timed. I don't think i've even been able to buy any new armor or leave the city before i've had to go to the telephone.

I've done some crappy quests for some people to "free their souls" or something, but other than that i've hadn't had any time to do anything else before the opportunity for the next main quest starts.

[Deathjester]

And yeah, i can stagger those enemies, but when i enter the combat with them the fight can take up to 2 minutes or so. And i'm just mashing buttons and trying to stagger them.

Am i supposed to just fail and "reset" the world and do quests later? Never actually been that far in the game since i always get frustrated.

[Gimp Batman]

What I did for the first main quest since that seems to be the one you are stuck on, is do all the first part of the quest on the first day (follow them to the telephone booth) all the mean while I used all the available points to freeze time and do side missions. While some are tedious, they are worth it, especially in the early stages of the game. After you do as many as possible and then go into the next day, I found all the signs possible and then did as many side missions as possible until the warrens was available for the last sign. You really don't need to worry about the time left for main missions, since the missions themselves are rather short. It is necessary to do side quests in order to unlock new days, which means you will have to do them no matter what, but it'll make you stronger too. Worst case scenario for what seems to be your problem is that you could just continue to do side quests and wait until like day 4 or 5 to do the first actual quest. If you are short on money you can always go to the dead dunes and farm cactuar, which are a super easy source of gil, but honestly you shouldn't need to. I was capable of completing the mission on the second day by just doing as many side missions as possible and then using the overclock ability when necessary.

[tonyfinale]

lmao are you even trying. mashing buttons to stagger jgfhgfhwhat actually. just play and learn the dang game. if you dont care to actually learn how anything works quit

[Astara]

Originally posted by Deathjester:

Never actually been that far in the game since i always get frustrated.

I made a mistake and sold off an item that I couldn't get back -- so restarted the game with a new character. *OUCH*.... starting out in this game is *rough*. I was so frustrated I wanted to just break down and cry and quit.

Once you get past the beginning -- don't start a new character -- keep building the one you have up. Only go back if you are a real masochist (or an idiot that sells off important equipment)...

Of importance -- learning all the monster's weaknesses and exploiting them to get 'staggers' -- as well as perfect-guards.

I can't imagine playing without a guidebook in this game. It would be like driving cross-country w/o a map or taking engineering and science college courses without textbooks. Very painful.

Hang in there -- it eventually gets easier!

[TeKett]

what i did was going one pure magic, one pure phys and one right in the middle, trying to have has manny different elements as i can. fights was going fast and easy

[Lars]

So far I'm struggling a bit to find the enjoyment in the XIII LR combat system.

The point that she always fights alone without anything resembling a party is especially dull to me, and I'm still on the fence about the actual combat stuff as well.

I get it, I'm just not having all that fun with it. Maybe it'll get better further into the game.