Final Fantasy XIII Tips and Tricks

Here are some Final Fantasy XIII tips and hints, if you have any tips or hints to contribute, please add a comment below this post, thank you and we hope these tips and hints help you.

After each battle, your HP is restored completely.
Unlike in a lot of other previous Final Fantasies, all enemies in Final Fantasy XIII are visible on screen, so it is possible to avoid encounters, as long as you can get around the enemy. Though there will be situations where you won't be able to get around an enemy, and will have to fight them.
There are two types of equipment: weapons and accessories.
There are three character stats: HP (Health), STR, (Strength) and MAG (Magic).
Power and barrier smokes are very valuable in a few boss battles later in the game, they save you a lot of time so try to save them if you can.

Battle stars: After you complete a battle, your performance will be rated with a star ranking.

The ranking you get depends on several different different factors:

- Target Time (The time you have to complete the battle)
- Battle Duration (How quickly you completed the battle)
- Initiative Bonus (Point multiplier)
- Points Per Second

The points you get depend on how quickly you killed the enemies, damage you dish out and take, and a few other factors.

Battle Star Rankings have three benefits:
1. It influences the drops you get after a battle
2. Beating the last boss with five stars gives you a trophy
3. Beating all of the Missions with five stars nets you a trophy and a PS3 theme

(More tips after the page break)

More Final Fantasy XIII Tips & Hints:

You can restart any battle in the game by pressing start and choosing the option.
There is a maximum storage of 999999 CP, the rest is then wasted.
If your party leader is killed, it's game over. You can then either restart the battle or return to the title screen.
Try not to sell your accessories because several of them exist only in limited quantities in the game.

Weapon Upgrade Tips and Hints:

The first rule is that each component for upgrading has a hidden multiplier value.
Generally organic raise the multiplier but give a low EXP yield, and mechanical items have a large EXP boost and reduce the multiplier.

You can increase the multiplier easily with Sturdy Bone, Barbed Tail and Vibrant Ooze, all available to buy for 80 gil. With 36 of either of these items you will instantly increase the EXP multiplier to x3 on you item.

The next step is to use a large amount of a mechanical component in one go to maximize the effect of the x3 multiplier you have achieved.

As a general rule of thumb, each weapon has three stages and to increase an initial weapon from Lv. 1 to max costs 50,000EXP, intermediate from Lv.1 to max costs 450,000EXP, and finally ultimate weapons require approximately 1,500,000EXP.

The best EXP giving components are: (all EXP boosts are averages)
Ultracompact Reactor - EXP 40,000, Buy Price 50,000
Particle Accelerator - EXP 4,800, Buy Price 10,000
Tesla Turbine - EXP 823, Buy Price 1,800
Super Charger - EXP 774, Buy Price 1,600
Turboprop - EXP 768, Buy Price 1,600

So following these rules you can quickly, and using your gil most effectively, fully upgrade each weapon.

So as a summary:
1, Choose equipment to upgrade.
2, Use 36 Sturdy Bones, Barbed Tails or Vibrant ooze to get a x3 bonus.
3, Use correct amount of a single EXP boosting component to instantly bring it to its maximum level.
4, If possible use transformational catalyst required to transform item into its superior form.
5, Return to step 2 and repeat until your weapon is fully upgraded.