"We live to make the impossible possible. That is our Focus."

Welcome to Paramina's Final Fantasy XIII walkthrough! The main walkthrough contains spoilers, but if you're after a no-spoiler playthrough, then I've got you covered - check out the Spoiler Free walkthrough supplement, if you're into that sort of thing.

Introduction[]

Ciao, and welcome to my FFXIII Walkthrough. I'm not intending to write this in some mad rush to be the first XIII walkthrough on the wiki (seriously, I'm not, I've already played that game), but I'll try and get this motoring along as quickly as possible. Since I love my 100%-complete feeling of accomplishment/smugness, this will eventually cover the main gameplay, all Cie'th Stone Missions, all optional areas and a Trophy/Achievement Guide. Oh, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter whether you're on PS3 or X Box 360.

Unlike other walkthroughs I've done, this will also cover a lot of analysis chat; simply because the scope for this game is so wide. We'll be looking at battle proficiency, weapons and upgrade guides etc. Well, with that expository banter out of the way...

"The bird says no."[]

Final Fantasy XIII has an awesome gameplay system - I'd maybe even say my second favourite out of the entire series (very very close to the CTB, so so close). After leaving the character scope so open in FFXII, we're kind of back to the sort of "job classes" of FFX and character utility.
This is the first time I've played a FF title without a relegated bench warmer team and a main three. Literally everyone gets a turn. Everyone has their uses. No joke. Is your mind sufficiently blown? You don't get to really choose your party until like, Chapter 9, but then, it's best to wander around with a Lightning, Fang and Hope combo to cover all six Paradigms, though Sazh is invaluable in earlier fights and has the most interesting battle combos ever, and Vanille and Snow are a more than respectable Hope and Fang subs, respectively.
Post-story, you're looking at a Fang, Sazh and Vanille team to wipe the floor with everything. Alternatively, you could sub Snow in for Fang, but the Sazh and Vanille are imperative. You'll soon learn that Sazh is the FFXIII game-breaker. You also shouldn't be hanging onto Lightning post-story, she deteriorates in usefulness pretty swiftly.
Please only edit grammatical issues or similar, if you have a strategy I haven't used or I've apparently missed something out you think will be useful, then please put it in the Discussion relating to that page. Feel free to leave any comment there, really.
Oh, and as always, expect bashing. I love FFXIII, I really do, but I can't not bash - 'tis my style.

"Let's get this show on the road..."[]

The Crystarium[]

Have you played FFX? Remember the Sphere Grid? If yeah, then good: this is going to be pretty simple. If not, don't worry, the Crystarium really isn't that tough of a concept to grasp. Its only downfall is its lack of customization options and rather tedious "hold--until-you-lose-feeling-in-your-thumb" (though it does have a sweet sound effect - right, SN?) point expenditure system. Let's cover the basics:

Lightning's grid — The Crystarium System

There are six "classes" ("Paradigm Roles") our characters can develop in: Ravager, Commando, Medic, Synergist, Saboteur and Sentinel. For now, each character only has access to three Paradigm Roles, but eventually you can develop their skills in all six. Each character also specializes in a role, which is pretty obvious when you look at their stats and battle performance etc.
In order to advance Crystogenesis, you need to spend Crystarium Points; essentially XIII's answer to EXP. Everyone gains CP after (almost) every battle, regardless of whether they fought or not. This means no imbalance in your team towards the later stages of the game when you decide on your main three.
Each character has their own expendable CP bank, which can be spent in any of the Paradigm Roles you so wish. Whilst "buying" stat-augment abilities like HP +100 or Strength +20 will apply across all Paradigm Roles, Abilities are restricted to whatever Paradigm they were "bought" in (for example, whilst in the Commando Role, buying a Strength +10 will increase Lightning's stats in whatever role she's in, but she can only use Blitz when she's a Commando in battle).
Unlike previous FF-games, the stat-growth system caps at certain levels corresponding to the story. That means it is virtually impossible to be overpowered at any point in the story outside of the final chapter, thus making the whole game a bit harder. Whoop whoop.

Granted, the game pretty much holds your hand for the first twenty or so hours, so if you didn't understand whatever I just wrote (I know I didn't), you'll be okay. If you want to double check something and I didn't clear it up or whatever, check out the Crystarium wiki page, which has links to each Paradigm Role's individual pages, along with character analysis and other "useful" (...) information like that.