Final Fantasy XIII is the first of the series to offer Trophies and Achievements, and they range from "Congrats on breathing: here, take this" all the way up to "Promise us your first born" in terms of ask and difficulty. But regardless, you want that hardware, right?
So I've split this into little sections for the sake of simplistic navigation. In each category you'll find details on how to acquire each of its trophies. Obviously some take a little more strategy than others - storyline trophies are basically handed to you for travelling in a straight line, whereas, say, Adamant Will requires much more of a guide. You'll see what I mean when you get to whatever it is you're looking for. Here's a little contents bit, so if you're looking for a specific trophy/achievement, you can find out what section it's under. The bolded titles are Gold Trophies.
- Storyline Trophies
- Instrument of Fate; Instrument of Dissent; Instrument of Tragedy; Instrument of Flight; Instrument of Vengeance; Instrument of Survival; Instrument of Rebellion; Instrument of Shame; Instrument of Wrath; Instrument of Truth; Instrument of Hope; Instrument of Faith; Instrument of Change
- Cie'th Stone Trophies
- Kelger's Cup; Xezat's Chalice; Exorcist; Floraphobe; Natural Selector; Dorgann's Trophy; Galuf's Grail; L'Cie Paragon
- Crystarium Trophies
- Commando's Seal; Ravager's Seal; Sentinel's Seal; Saboteur's Seal; Synergist's Seal; Medic's Seal, Master's Seal
- Battle Trophies
- Limit Breaker; Adamant Will; Superstar
- Misc. Trophies
- Pulsian Pioneer; Gyashl Wreath; Treasure Hunter; Loremaster; Ultimate Hero
If you just want a list of trophies, then go ahead and check out the Final Fantasy XIII achievements and trophies wiki page.
Storyline Trophies[]
These babies are automatically awarded to you simply for successfully progressing through the story. If you're playing on a PS3, then all of these trophies are Bronze trophies; if you're with Microsoft, then expect 15G for your troubles.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Instrument of Fate | 
|
Took the first steps toward challenging an unjust fate. | Defeat the Manasvin Warmech in the Hanging Edge. |
| Instrument of Dissent | 
|
Survived the Purge to confront a greater peril. | Begin Chapter 2. |
| Instrument of Tragedy | 
|
Strode into danger's den and paid the consequences. | Begin Chapter 3. |
| Instrument of Flight | 
|
Slipped through the net and lived to fight another day. | Begin Chapter 4. |
| Instrument of Vengeance | 
|
Resolved to be more than a victim of circumstance. | Begin Chapter 5. |
| Instrument of Survival | 
|
Evaded pursuers, though memories of the past still give chase. | Begin Chapter 6. |
| Instrument of Rebellion | 
|
Made plans to infiltrate enemy-occupied territory. | Begin Chapter 7. |
| Instrument of Shame | 
|
Carried the burden of built to the end of the line. | Begin Chapter 8. |
| Instrument of Wrath | 
|
Took the fight to the enemy's door. | Begin Chapter 9. |
| Instrument of Truth | 
|
Recognised the true threat to the world's future. | Begin Chapter 10. |
| Instrument of Hope | 
|
Travelled to the world below, seeking a way to alter fate. | Begin Chapter 11. |
Now things start getting a little jazzy in terms of rewards, so surely that calls for getting a little jazzy with table formatting? My favourite kind of getting jazzy.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Instrument of Faith | 
|
Took the first steps toward challenging an unjust fate. | Begin Chapter 12. |
| Points/Trophy Grade | 30G ∙ 
|
Bonus: Vanille's XMB Theme/GamerPic | |
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Instrument of Change | 
|
Witnessed the dawn of a new crystal legend. | Finish the game, watch the credits roll. |
| Points/Trophy Grade | 95G ∙ 
|
Bonus: Hope's XMB Theme/GamerPic | |
Cie'th Stone Mission Trophies[]
Check out this walkthrough's guide on Cie'th Stone missions, which is listed on the Homepage.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Kelger's Cup | 
|
Completed all low-level Cie'th Stone missions. | Complete all D-Rank missions, i.e. Mission 1-5. |
| Trophy Grade | 15G ∙ 
|
Difficulty: Easy | |
If you're following the walkthrough, you should already have acquired the Kelger's Cup, because I integrated those Cie'th Missions into the guide just before we hit Oerba. That's generally the best - and most profitable - time to achieve this one, just when you touch down to Pulse for the first time in Chapter 11.
- Missions 01-05 begin in the story walkthrough on this page.
- But they're also covered in the Cie'th Mission Guide on this page.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Xezat's Chalice | 
|
Completed all mid-level Cie'th Stone missions. | Complete all C-Rank missions, i.e. Mission 6-15, 18-22, 28, 35-37, 39, 56 and 57. |
| Points/Trophy Grade | 15G ∙
|
Difficulty: Easy | |
- Missions 6-8 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 9-15 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 18-22 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Mission 28 is on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 35-37 and 39 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 56 and 57 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Exorcist | 
|
Triumphed over undying lowerland souls in seven fierce battles. | Complete missions 7, 12, 27, 30, 34, 51, and 64. |
| Points/Trophy Grade | 30G ∙
|
Difficulty: Hard | |
- Mission 7 is on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Mission 12 is on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 27, 30 and 34 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Mission 51 is on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Mission 64 is on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Floraphobe | 
|
Toppled a green terror and cut an oversized succulent down to size. | Complete Mission 54. |
| Trophy Grade | 30G ∙
|
Difficulty: Medium | |
- Mission 54 is on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Natural Selector | 
|
Passed Titan's trials. | Complete the Titan's Trials missions, 35-51. |
| Trophy Grade | 30G ∙
|
Difficulty: Hard | |
- Missions 35-40 (A, B and C) are on this page of the Cie'th Mission Guide.
- Missions 41-44 (D) are on this page of the Cie'th Mission Guide.
- Missions 45-50 (E) and 51 are on this page of the Cie'th Mission Guide.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Dorgann's Trophy | 
|
Completed all high-level Cie'th Stone missions. | Complete all B-Rank missions, i.e. Mission 16-17, 23-27, 29-34, 40, 42-43, 47, 50, 54 and 58. |
| Trophy Grade | 30G ∙
|
Difficulty: Medium | |
- Missions 16-17 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 23-25 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 26-27 and 29-34 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Mission 40 is on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 42-43 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 47 and 50 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 54 and 58 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Galuf's Grail | 
|
Completed all Cie'th Stone missions. | Complete Missions 1-64. |
| Trophy Grade | 30G ∙
|
Difficulty: Hard | |
For this one, you have to complete all 64 Cie'th Stone Missions. You'll find that they all just accumulate as you're trying to collect the other trophies, and luckily this trophy does not have a star-ranking requisite: you can one-star them all if you really want. However, I would recommend you take the time to just try and five-star them, just so you don't have to do them all over again for...
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| L'Cie Paragon | 
|
Earned a 5-star ranking for all Cie'th Stone missions. | 5-Star them all, baby. |
| Trophy Grade | 80G ∙
|
Bonus: Snow's XMB Theme/GamerPic | Difficulty: Hard |
Did you just five-star all 64 Cie'th Stone missions? *CUE HARDCORE GUITAR THEME FOR THIS ENTIRE PAGE!* All of my Mission Guides aim to get you 5-stars, so you're in capable hands.
Crystarium Trophies[]
| Trophy | |||||||||||
| Commando's Seal | 
|
Ravager's Seal | 
|
Sentinel's Seal | 
|
Saboteur's Seal | 
|
Synergist's Seal | 
|
Medic's Seal | 
|
| Points/Trophy Grade | 15G ∙
|
Difficulty: Dull | |||||||||
| Awarded | Maxing out and mastering each Paradigm role. | ||||||||||
Before you freak out, you only have to master a role for one character in order to get the trophy. That means if you master Sentinel with Snow, you don't have to work tirelessly to max it out for Hope. Well, not yet, anyway, not until...
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Master's Seal | 
|
Fully developed all characters. | Max out every character's Crystariums. |
| Trophy Grade | 15G ∙
|
Difficulty: Ugh | |
...now. This is exactly as taxing as it sounds, considering the Crystarium is unabashedly expensive as, Luckily, you'll acquire a load of CP trying to grab the other trophies, particularly the Cie'th Stone Mission group.
To speed proceedings along, you're going to want a Growth Egg, which doubles CP gained. In order to grab one of those, you're going to need to take on the Neochu Cie'th Stone Mission, which isn't... isn't an easy feat. There's still a strategy for you though:
- Mission 55 is on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- You might also want to check out the Levelling Spots section.
Battle Trophies[]
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Limit Breaker | 
|
Dealt 100,000+ damage with a single attack. | Break the 99,999 damage limit in one hit. |
| Trophy Grade | 30G ∙
|
Difficulty: Medium | |
There are two ways of achieving this: with the Genji Gloves and with Eidolons. Yes, Eidolons, it looks like they may potentially serve a function after all. Genji Gloves are an Accessory that equips the Uncapped Damage ability, and you can acquire three in game, in Cie'th Stone Missions 51, 62 and 63.
- Mission 51 is on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
- Missions 62 and 63 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Mission Guide.
With Genji Gloves: You'll want to be using Fang for this, with a fully-upgraded Kain's Lance, Highwind at your disposal, and a fully Staggered/Deprotected enemy as your target.
With Eidolons: Well, one Eidolon in particular - you want to do a Level 3 finishing move with Bahamut. There's a good chance "Level 3 finishing move" is total Hebrew to you right now, because haha, let's be real, who uses Eidolons enough times to know the intricacies of those battle systems? Basically, an Eidolon's end move has varying degrees of power. A Level 3 - the most powerful - can only happen if you have a full Gestalt bar before you go into Gestalt mode.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Adamant Will | 
|
Felled a heavyweight of the lowerworld wilds. | Defeat a Long Gui. |
| Trophy Grade | 30G ∙
|
Difficulty: Hard | |
In order for Long Guis to appear on the Archylte Steppe, you need to clear Missions 56-62. Once you do this, all the Adamantortoises on the Steppe will be replaced by Guis.
- Missions 56-59 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Guide.
- Missions 60-62 are on this page of the Cie'th Stone Guide.
- You'll also probably want to look at the Fine Art of Farming for strategies on taking out turtles.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Superstar | 
|
Earned a 5-star ranking in the battle to determine the world's fate. | Defeat Orphan with five stars. |
| Trophy Grade | 30G ∙
|
Bonus: Unlocks Lightning's XMB Theme/GamerPic | Difficulty: Easy |
This is actually super easy - I ended up getting it accidentally. There's a five star strategy on the last page of the storyline walkthrough. Oh, also, you can redo this fight over and over, since you can return to the Narthex via the Warp Gates from Pulse whenever you want. Swish.
Misc. Trophies[]
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Pulsian Pioneer | 
|
Took over 10,000 steps on the lowerworld surface. | Take 10,000 steps on Gran Pulse. |
| Points/Trophy Grade | 15G ∙
|
Difficulty: Easy | |
This trophy is a cake walk (quite literally, if you have cake. If not, then just a walk), because all it requires you to do is log 10k footsteps down on Gran Pulse. There's a good chance you'll already qualify for the trophy when it first becomes available to acquire. If not, then you'll certainly meet the requirements whilst running about down there trying to get the rest of the trophies. Luckily, the game isn't expecting you to keep a counter - just speak to Bhakti, Vanille's robot pal, in Oerba, and it'll tell you whether you've done enough, before rewarding you with the trophy. You'll have to have Sazh repair Bhakti in order to reactivate him, and that little sidequest is detailed on this page of the walkthrough.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Gysahl Wreath | 
|
Discovered buried treasure with a little help from a chocobo. | Find the Ribbon in the Chocobo Treasure Hunt |
| Points/Trophy Grade | 15G ∙
|
Difficulty: Easy | |
I've marked this as Easy because the actual requirement is easy, you just need patience. Check out this page of the walkthrough for a full guide on the Chocobo Treausre Hunt.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Treasure Hunter | 
|
Held every weapon and accessory. | Acquire every accessory and weapon. |
| Points/Trophy Grade | 80G ∙
|
Bonus: Fang's XMB Theme/GamerPic | Difficulty: Hard |
Jesus Christ this is so laborious, excuse me whilst I weep a tear or two of blood. Basically, you have to acquire every single accessory and weapon that XIII has to offer, and if you've already delved into this installment's upgrading system, then you're beginning to realise that yeah, that's quite a lot.
Luckily, the game gives you a few passes: you only have to acquire one of each of the third-tier weapons, and you don't have to have everything in your inventory at once, it's enough that you've owned it at one point. This means you'll be spending a lot of time in the Upgrade menu evolving weapons and accessories. It's quite an expensive task, and one that requires a lot of check work on your part, so I've linked some useful pages below:
- This walkthrough's guide to The Fine Art of Farming
- This walkthrough's guide to Obtaining a Trapezohedron
- The wiki's Final Fantasy XIII weapons
- The wiki's Final Fantasy XIII accessories
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Loremaster | 
|
Discerned the full attributes of 100 enemies. | Filling out 100 enemies' data entries in your Datalog. |
| Points/Trophy Grade | 80G ∙
|
Bonus: Sazh's XMB Theme/GamerPic | Difficulty: Easy |
Despite sounding like a task, this one is delightfully easy. I said on, what, I think like, the first page of the story walkthrough that you should be using Libra (or a Librascope) each and every time you come across a new enemy. Not only does it elevate your AI from totally brain-dead to concerningly moronic, but it also makes this trophy a lot easier to acquire.
If you want to check how you're doing, then hit up the Enemy Intel section of your Datalog. Enemies with complete data entries will have a little tick next to them.
| Trophy | Description | Awarded | |
| Ultimate Hero | 
|
Acquired all trophies. | Just what it says on the tin: acquire all trophies. |
| Trophy Grade | 
|
Bonus: Serah's XMB Theme/GamerPic | Difficulty: Nails |
For a trophy that screams for some sort of Snow-related bonus (HERO!), unfortunately you only get a Serah XMB/GamerPic for the arduous task of unlocking every single trophy this game has to offer.
Even though the X Box 360 doesn't technically have an Ultimate Hero achievement, it will still award you Serah's GamerPic for meeting the requirements.