General challenge discussion (formerly NCU United 1-6)

Hey again. SRC run, etc etc.

What should I have for Fang's weapon? Currently I'm still in Palamecia, so there aren't many options, but since she's going to be my RAV, I'm wondering if I should go for a magic-bias weapon. Would that help my cause, or will her -strike abilities do the trick? I mean, obviously a RAV doesn't do nearly as much damage, but I like to see my damage output go up, even from RAVs.

I just picked up the Pandoran Spear (which will eventually be dismantled for Traps). Should I stick with that for fights, or should I stay with the Bladed Lance, or even go with Gae Bolg (even MAG, STR, Improved Counter - useless, Positive Effect). I know I won't want Taming Pole due to Stagger Lock, and I probably won't want Shamanic Spear due to Enfeeblement (or Dragoon due to Stifled Magic). That leaves Partisan and Punisher. Punisher has TP Charge, which could be useful, but its STR and MAG are lower than Pandoran Spear. Partisan has no special, is in Mag Defense Sythensis, MAG is close to Pandoran Spear, and it has paltry STR.

I'm leaning towards keeping Pandoran Spear (because I like to keep one weapon and level it up instead of having multiples, if I can get by).

My favorite gil leveling spot on Palamecia actually hasn't been mentioned in most places. I suppose it might not be as good as the area where you can choose your team, but I prefer this section and always maxed my Crystarium and weapons to lvl 2 in normal runs before moving on.

It's when you first get inside the ship (Crew Corridors) with Light, Fang, Hope. Run through all the soldiers, avoiding the Tilters until where you pick up the Pandoran Spear, then run all the way back, fighting whoever respawns. Head out on the deck with all the Aerial Recons and Deckdrones, then head back inside before you get into a fight. Everyone inside will respawn, meaning you won't have to reset. There are several Save Stations along the way, and everyone has a 25% Common Drop of a Credit Chip and a 5% Rare Drop of Incentive Chips. Huntresses are 192 CP and Raiders and Infiltrators are 128 CP. Not bad at that point, imo, and you don't have to deal with the Armadons.

So yeah, at this point I'm overleveling a lot (SRC), but I'm not the most talented guy out there and Barty scares me. This is what I'm running/planning to run for now.

Light: Razor Carbine (currently lvl 20). I'll try to get this as high as possible before Barty.
I'll probably stick with the Carbine since she has no attacking roles in SRC and I think MAG helps with SYN/SAB skills. Does she have Counter? Do I need STR for that?

Hope: Eagletalon (currently lvl 20ish). Like with Light's weapon, I'm going to try to boost this pretty high. fp has said to pick up the Simurgh, but that doesn't come in until Taejin's Tower. I have a feeling I'll be running with Vanille during most of Pulse. Question: will Stifled Magic hurt Hope's SAB skills any?

Fang: I think she still has a * Bladed Lance, but I'll probably waste some gil on upgrading the Pandoran Spear whenever I can find a Scarletite. I'm wary of using the Taming Pole with a RAV, but COMs can break Stagger too, I guess. Either way, that doesn't come around until just before Barty 2, so I can ignore it for now. Pandoran Spear at lvl 2 * has ~150 less MAG than Rhomphaia. Also, I've never used the Partisan/Rhomphaia, so I might as well show it off. The Magic Defense will be (slightly) useful when paired with a Diamond Bangle or the MAG+ items, whereas I'd need a Shrouding Talisman to get anything out of Positive Effect. So I agree that Partisan is the way to go, but I don't pick that up until Vallis Media, so I'll run with the Pandoran Spear in the 5th Ark, I think.

Vanille: As I said, I've got a Marlboro Wand (~lvl 17). I probably won't bother upgrading it too much until the 5th Ark unless I have issues in Palamecia. fp suggested Rod of Thorns, but that isn't available until the Archylte Steppe. I'm wondering if I should buy back the Binding Rod, but Vanille doesn't have Blitz and she'll likely get more mileage out of Ruin. So I'll just run the Marlboro for a while. How soon can I pick up Ruinga?

Snow: It's annoying that my favorite character is relatively useless in a normal playthrough, but I'd say his secondary roles are the strongest of the support characters. Since he's a support, I'll have to run the Feymark when I get it in the 5th Ark. Right now, I have a maxed Tier 1 Wild Bear. Why not the Power Circle? Snow won't be using his STR much for the rest of the game, unless I give him a bit of playtime before Bart 1. Either way, I didn't bother upgrading that to tier 2 as It'll be useless after Barty.

Sazh: Is he used much after 5th Ark? I saw a few videos with him in it. I'm thinking either stay with the Deneb Duellers (Tier 1 *), or pick up the Rigels in the 5th Ark. Do SAB abilities activate RIC? If so, I can equip a Speed Sash or something and spam abilities to try to pick up some RICs when he isn't being a SEN. I'm on the fence... someone convince me.

Ok, so what parts of my plan are good, and what parts are stupid, asides from the massive overleveling?

@fp

The Pandoran Spear and Belladonna Wand could be useful for Traps since both give you three back when you dismantle them at max Tier 3. Speaking of which, how many Traps should I need (i.e., how many weapons should be at Tier 3 at the end)? I see you suggest a Tier 3 weapon for Vanille, and that's it. So would I need Tier 3 on any other weapons at the higher challenges? Speaking of which... I'm not looking forward to the Ochu battles without having Death... I just thought of that >.<

I think Axis Blade is probably a bit better for Light if MAG really doesn't mean that much, then. I like its design more than the Carbines anyways. I know you said ignore synthesized abilities, but I wonder if she could survive later on with a Whistlewind. Sadly, she sorely lacks in the HP department.

Re: Hope's weapon, that's what I understood you to say. I ran out of characters, so I couldn't mention that in my post.

For Snow's weapon: That's counter-intuitive, but very interesting. I guess I'll stick with Wild Bear then. I guess he only gets more MAG with Feymark at Tier 3?

Ok, so I'm a little more focused with weapons... that's one area that I really had no idea what to do since almost all of the weapons are geared towards using the primary roles. Now I'll probably try to get my weapons to around lvl 25 or so before moving on. I'm hoping to kill off Barty before Doom sets in.

@fp: Do you have any notes or anything typed up for SRC? I'd certainly benefit a lot if I could have an updated version, since, as you said, the one on hand is really out of date. I can even see that even though I've not been very active here. I mean, there are parts that *I* could suggest better things for. Typed notes help me a lot more than YT vids because I record my attempts and post them myself on YT.

Just read through/copied all the stuff you and sonic said for the SRC run. 24 pages on a Word doc. Lotsa good info there. I'll certainly be using it along with the posted guide once I sort out the info.

Also, Sonic is Key313. Awesome. I'd been using his videos already, and they were what really got me interested in trying this.

I noticed you said the ATB-canceling only works every other Shift. That's likely correct for 99% of the shifts you make if you only let the bar fill once before shifting, but according to the game mechanics guide in the FAQ, it's reset every 12 seconds. I've had times where Lightning has been interrupted in an attack, only filled the gauge once, and had a full gauge after ATB-cancel. You probably knew this, but I thought it would be worth pointing out. I wonder how that changes things in Slow ATB?

I'm getting excited for 13-2. I'm wondering if NCU will be possible or not. It doesn't look as if SRC will be, but it might be, depending on the Role Upgrade conditions. The rules will probably have to be tweaked a little. Probably the Feral Links will help a ton too. But this is the FF13 thread, not the 13-2 thread.