Upgrade Weapons or not

[ecto69]

Hi I started playing XIII again from start (3rd time)

I've tried to find this answer on internet but not luck (or even here, unless I am using wrong key words)

Question 1. Can you get to the end of chapter 13 complete game with no upgrades to weapons and accessories.

I am at chapter 12 (start) and no upgrades at all on anything so far, Also I ran thru the green pasture did not do any CP farming or missions

[BreadSkin]

If I recall my own playthrough, I did fine throughout, most if not the whole game without upgrading a single thing. I did however, farm CP to level up.

That said, I don't see why not in upgrading your weapons. One for the cosmetic effect, and the other to make things easier.

[ecto69]

Thanks, I am just trying a different method this time, now that I am better overall at gaming (I have owned my PS3 less then 1 year, and XIII was my first game that I really got hooked on and played non-spot until I got to the end)

I do need to farm more CP as my 3 main roles are not fully upgraded yet mission a few abilities for each, last time I spent time to farm was in ch 5 (maxed out).
At least I am in a spot where I can grind if I can't get past the Behemoth+3 Orobons. I have the strategy to beat them just thinking the weapons are not strong enough.

[thabg23]

This is good to know. Is there a need to farm for gil, and what is the best way to do it?

[guillermo]

should upgrade makes it more fun, you don't look at the same weapon all the time and more powerful

[ecto69]

Originally Posted by guillermo

should upgrade makes it more fun, you don't look at the same weapon all the time and more powerful

Very true, but you can still switch weapons, as they still provide features in lvl 1. Also it is easier to five star battles with lower level weapons.

It is more difficult, and I do hit retry more. I was basically wondering if anyone has actually tried it.

I am at chapter 13 now so far going ok. Light is at 6440hp fang at 6180 hope at 4875 miss many hp/strength/magic crystals everyone at level 4 on all 3 roles.

Maybe should have done more grinding

FYI just doing this for fun and may even get a few more trophies.
--
Edit
Just made it the end, beat my time at least , no upgrades, just a lot of grinding at the last part of chapter 13, so I maxed out everyone. Both Sazh and Snow had 999,000 cp points.

So bottom line it is possible to do the whole game story without upgrades, not sure if anyone has ever tried it, have not been able to find answer , so I tried it.

[MMDE]

I'm very sure you can get to the last boss and beat it without upgrading a weapon, I personally pretty much did. I just see little point in it, even though there is one advantage about it, higher "expected" time to finish, which means you are more likely to get 5 stars.

I think there is only one monster in the entire game that really needs to be dealt with by upgraded weapons, and that is shalong gui, which is the only monster to drop Dark Matter. You can purchase Dark Matter in the stores though, for 800 000 gil! You are better off getting it from the monster.

The only thing you need to remember is that there is a trophy for having had all the weapons and armors. Which means you need to get EVERY single piece of equipment, in other words, you need to upgrade everything pretty much. Same goes for every weapon you have. All weapons can be upgraded twice, but you only need to do the second upgrade on one of the characters weapons.

I would recommend grinding in the end of chapter 12 I think it is. Where you can finally return to pulse. There is some sacrifices there. If you find some good way to kill 'em, then they take like 5-10 seconds to kill 3-5 of 'em.
They drop perfumes which sells for 13k or something and another item that sells for quite a lot too. That is by far the best place in the game to grind for gil. Don't pass it though, because it's not as easy to make them respawn later on, as it is the first time you are there. The first time you are there, you just need to go down one of the paths on the side, and they will respawn. I would recommend grinding about 10 million gils there! You will thank me later for it if you want the platinum trophy.

The best place to grind for CP in my opinion is a behemoth and some other quite strong enemy fighting on grand pulse. Near a save location and a chocobo. You can easily do them in 6-7 seconds, and with growth egg you get over 13k xp per match. Just run up to the savepoint and they respawn.

[ecto69]

Originally Posted by MMDE

I think there is only one monster in the entire game that really needs to be .... I would recommend grinding about 10 million gils there! You will thank me later for it if you want the platinum trophy.

The best place to grind for CP in my opinion is a behemoth and some other quite strong enemy fighting on grand pulse. Near a save location and a chocobo. You can easily do them in 6-7 seconds, and with growth egg you get over 13k xp per match. Just run up to the savepoint and they respawn.

WOW 10 million gil, I am only at 1.2m in my 1st game play thru.
This new one I have only 40,000 gil (mind you have not sold all the money items yet), Have to check if I have the growth egg installed.

Yah I love the Behemoth and Megistotherian , it does take me more the 5-10 secs, the Megistotherian has a chance to hit us a few times, but then I don't have ultima weapon yet. Need to try it with Light/Snow/Fang in COM/COM/COM mode

[MMDE]

Originally Posted by ecto69

WOW 10 million gil, I am only at 1.2m in my 1st game play thru.
This new one I have only 40,000 gil (mind you have not sold all the money items yet), Have to check if I have the growth egg installed.

Yah I love the Behemoth and Megistotherian , it does take me more the 5-10 secs, the Megistotherian has a chance to hit us a few times, but then I don't have ultima weapon yet. Need to try it with Light/Snow/Fang in COM/COM/COM mode

Yeah, or you can just try to get to 6-8 mill or something will do it too, but I think 6 mill is a bit too few. Nearer 8 mill would be far wiser. 10 mill and you have to do very little HARD and boring grinding later on.

If you got too little money you will have to beat more of those adamtoise's, long gui and shalong guis. Adamtoise is pretty easy to kill with the right tactics... somewhat! xD Long gui can be taken down almost as easily using the same cheap tactics. Which is good, since they drop an item like 5% of the time that you must else purchase for 2 million gils a piece. (you need 6). Some of the weapons in FULLY upgraded and leveled dismant into several of this item. But it will cost you a lot anyways. It is not obtained any other way. I know you are thinking if they cost 2 million, they must sell for a lot too. No they don't, but these opponents also drop platinum ingot, which is worth 180k. Which will else be your main source of more money if you don't have enough from that sarcrifice grinding. It does not drop very often, and these battles takes many minutes each. It's a worse gil per minute situation and it's way harder and more boring.

Shalong gui drops Dark Matter as I explained before, which I find to be the hardest opponents in the game, even though Long gui really is way stronger. But since you got no cheap tactics for this one it is far worse, and it has some nasty attack combos it will start to spam near it's death!

Lol, if you think the grinding for money early on is bad....

Also the actual upgrading is PAINFUL, I spent many many boring hours doing it.

I recommend using this site for upgrading:
http://guides.gamercorner.net/ffxiii/

[Kheapathic]

I managed to beat the game without upgrading any weapons or accessories. I managed to 5 star most bosses and cie'th stones as well. Only a handful of missions and the Superstar trophy required upgraded weapons.