Part 18 of Paramina's Final Fantasy XIII Walkthrough. Let's dance.
I've been waiting all game to say this...[]
...Sidequest time! Okay, just as I said earlier, I'm not going to try and force your hand and make you do these sidies right now. I'm just letting you know when I did them during this playthrough. However, I cannot recommend doing them when I tell you to highly enough. It's like the only extra-curricular XIII offers, and the CP and items they give you are going to really help you out. Also, it doesn't matter if you're not getting 5 stars right now - we can come back and do that later - you still reap the benefits of the battle, no stars and all. But yeah, if you want to forgo these just now, go ahead and head to the Mah'habara in Part 19, and I'll meet you there. But you know my mantra: sidequest skippers never prosper.

There are literally no images to use in this section. None. Totally dry.
Like I said in the previous section, you should be fighting as much as you can in the Steppe, but be really careful as to how you pick your battles. General rule of thumb for this area: the bigger the enemy, the tougher the fight. Just be wary when you're near King Behemoths.
Head along the edge of the map to on your way to the star. You'll pass a bunch of threeway battles, but they'll soon forget their little spat as soon as they spot you, so keep that in mind before you go charging in there, gunblades ablaze.
The path to the Yaschas is the corridor we're used to by now. There aren't any monsters, but we do get a sweet soundtrack change. Remember this place? It's where our camp base was when we were looking for Hope. It has the same enemy formations we faced when we were first here. You'll pass where we found Hope face-down in the oasis, so keep following the path. When you reach the stream, make a quick detour by hopping over the rocks to your right nearer the waterfall, and you'll find a treasure chest with a Rune Bracelet inside. You'll pass yet another location-change..into the Yaschas Massif, which has the best casual spa-lift music ever. Leyaks are your new enemy, and Leyaks themselves aren't bad, but they can conjure Rangdas, which in turn can summon King Behemoths. Use Fog to silence any Rangdas should they decide to pitch up.
When you reach the clearing, you can't miss the Uguallu, it's huge. Alright, now before we go charge that thing down, let's hit up our Paradigm Deck:
We need a Saboteur here, and we need Imperil, or Deprotect and Deshell. Unless you've been grinding like crazy and you've reached the latter two abilities with Fang, then you're going to need to sub her out for Vanille. You'll also want a Synergist, but as always, it's up to you whether you prefer Offensive or Defensive Buffs at this point. |
Cie'th Stone Mission: Massif Contamination |
No. 3 - Ugallu |
Open with Bully and have your Saboteur cast Deprotect and Deshell whilst your Synergist buffs. If you can't get those to stick and you feel you've spent too long in the Paradigm, Imperil will do. Then switch to Relentless Assault. Simples. Ugallu can hit pretty hard, but with those debuffs, and you incapacitating him with Stagger, the fight should be over before you have to deal with cleaning up any damage on your end. |
Check it: we've earned the rank of Mercifex. Hit the Save Point, then approach the Cie'th Stone in the clearing to be given a Cie'th Waystone Tutorial. Completing certain Cie'th Stone missions will turn that Stone into a teleporter, which is pretty useful, because I get drowsy walking from one side of the Archylte to the other. Accept Mission 04.

I think we all knew I would end up here.
The map kinda goes a bit nuts here - when you approach the star it immediately disappears, but ne'er mind, perseverance. When you reach the bottom of the stone thing the map will reconfigure itself - take a sharp right and you'll face some Alraunes and some Triffids, but there's a chest at the end of this little area with Esoteric Oil x8 inside.
Now just follow the path around. The Svarog puts up a good fight like all the other lying enemies with mouths for asses that we've come across so far. Treat a fight with them like the Amphisbaena in the Steppe. Take the right out to the peak to grab another chest - with another Rune Bracelet - but you'll have to take on another Svarog to reach it.
You'll also come across some Hybrid Flora, which are... not particularly fun. Imperil is always good to weaken it, or use Barwater to strengthen up your team. Eventually you'll reach another... I'm reluctant to say clearing, but like, more 'round' space, with a Save Station in. There's also a treasure chest with 1,827 gil in it if you hop up and take the path above the Cie'th Stone. There's a new group of monsters here called Munchkins, and they're like little hipsters that just sit round in a circle and listen to Mumford and Sons on their Beats. In terms of damage, they're not nearly as horrible as Goblins, so you should make quick work of them.
The elusive star will finally reappear North of where you are. Swish.
I'm not going to give you specific Paradigms to set up or people to use, but you do need a Sentinel in there, and a Saboteur, so obviously Fang would be your best option. I recommend you use a vial of Deceptisol, because there are a lot of little things hopping around up there. |
Cie'th Stone Mission: Adroa |
No. 4 - A Hero's Charge |
With the pre-emptive, use Blitz to stabilise the Stagger whilst your two Ravagers cast some area-spell damage. The Adroas are easier to clear, the Verdelets (immune to all spell damage, so focus on those with your Commando) are a bit tougher, and one will probably summon another Ugallu to join the fiesta. It'll be you and the Ugallu standing last, so hit it with your Debuffs and then finish it as quickly as you can. |
Don't forget to grab the treasure chest at the cliff point: Millerite x2. Ooh baby. Double back to the Save Station and you'll find a Cie'th Stone with Mission No. 5, which is our last one for this section, I promise you. Edimmu is our first Cie'th to fight in a mission (I was going to write 'Cie'th Mission' but then that sounded like I was just amalgamating Cie'th Stone and Mission No. 5 and that's obv not what I was going for), and unfortch, is our Cie'th Stone's wife. Le sob.

...
We have to backtrack a long way in order to load the correct map to show us where Edimmu is (remember, as soon as your star seems to disappear, you need to hit and recheck your map), but on the way, you'll pass a Point of Interest (and a Treasure Chest nearby with Diabolic Tails x9).
Vanille and Hope take a little break, where Hope lays on the heavy moves... before quickly retracting them and making Vanille feel like an idiot. She apologises - she's been doing that a lot lately - for basically landing everyone in it royally, but Hope says it's fine, because you just have to work hard to make lies become the truth. As sweet as the sentiment is, uh, no, you can't just work hard to make lies come true. That is terrible advice to give anyone, let alone the ginger nutjob sitting to his right.
After that little scene, keep making your way to the Tsumitran Basin - Edimmu is flying around in a little alcove. It's impossible to pre-empt, so hit up some Deceptisol if you want to get a pre-emptive strike in. Now hit up your Paradigm Deck, please.
Like the Ugallu fight, we need a Saboteur with Imperil, so either use Vanille or your buffed-up Fang. Having one doesn't necessarily mean you can't have the other, though. Hope's Synergist skills aren't necessary here, so you can have both Fang in for her Sentinel/Commando abilities, and Vanille for Saboteur/Ravager/Medic. Set your default as Ruthless (RAV COM SAB), and make sure you have a Paradigm like Tireless Charge (COM COM MED) or Diversity (RAV COM MED) that has two offensive roles and a Medic. Other than that, consider the usuals like Combat Clinic, and maybe give Discretion (MED COM MED) a shot. |
Cie'th Stone Mission: Edimmu |
No. 5 - Joyless Reunion |
First off, quickly cast Libra to let the AI know not to bother with physical attacks; Edimmu has a crazy evasion rate, and it takes half-damage from the hits that you're lucky enough to land. Commandos should be using Ruin for their offence. Now, open with Ruthless and have your Commando and Ravager deal damage and build the chain gauge whilst your Saboteur works on sticking Imperil or Deprotect to break down Edimmu's resistances. Wind Slash is pretty harsh, and you should switch immediately to a healing paradigm to deal with that ASAP - Combat Clinic is always a safe option, but if you want to keep up offence, try Discretion. You'll also need to switch to a Paradigm like Tireless Charge or Diversity to deal with the status effects Miasma brings without letting it totally derail your attack. The key here is weaken Edimmu's defenses and then get this over as quickly as possible, because Edimmu actually has pretty paltry HP compared to some of the other things we've been hacking away at lately, but the fight just gets harder the longer you give it the time to obliterate you. |
There's a nugget of Millerite up for grabs in the chest just in front of you, but more importantly, we get given the Kelger's Cup Trophy for clearing all the D-rank missions. We are champions, can't hold us down, etc.
Okay, so let's steer ourselves back onto the storyline and get that thing chugging again. Make your way back to the Archylte Steppe for the correct Point of Interest to appear on your map, and, well, get there. There's nothing of particular note on the journey there, just be sure to take out the Behemoth first when you get thrown into the three-way with it and the Megistotherian. Oh, since this battle is always a pre-emptive and churns out 6,600 CP each time, it's a decent one to try and respawn so you can earn yourself a little extra CP, should you so wish.
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