General challenge discussion (formerly NCU United 1-6)

Use this forum to discuss / ask questions / chronicle progress in any type of challenge run for FF13. While this used to be primarily no crystarium use, there are several active challenges now including speed run / mandatory fights only and secondary roles challenges. Links to previous threads to follow.

Thanks Sonic for the archived NCU topics -- you da man on posting those : )


MFO (mandatory fights only):

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/928790-final-fantasy-xiii/55238908 (first attempt)
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/928790-final-fantasy-xiii/58968418 (challenge completed)

SCC (single character crystarium):

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/928790-final-fantasy-xiii/55202004

SRC (secondary roles challenge):

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/928790-final-fantasy-xiii/55075222
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/928790-final-fantasy-xiii/55327168

@Addict -- not to make fun of your pain, since Ch 1 is such a PITA, but I'm glad you didn't finish in like 13min -- that just means that ~16 is pretty close to the practical minimum. If you are sweating less than a min, just move on man. There's plenty more in this challenge to irritate (like resetting a million times for a shroud drop) so don't waste your patience capital on Ch 1.

@Tori -- If you aren't doing anything, the more the merrier I say on the speed run. I've made progress with each run, but the overall process will go faster if we have more people playing to uncover other ways to save time. I think 7:21 is within reach this time around, but I don't really want to have a FOURTH go just to record an even faster time.

My plans for shroud collecting if I get around to this next run:

5 Fortisols (8 total including 3 from treasures):

Ch 2 - 2x pantheron (mandatory fight as snow)
Ch 2 - 3x ghoul (mandatory fight as snow/vanille/hope)
Ch 2 - ghoul (non-mandatory fight after +20 str)
Ch 2 - ghoul (non-mandatory fight after +20 str, a 2nd one)
Ch 3 - garuda interceptor (boss)

4 Deceptisols:

Ch 2 - 3x zwerg scandroid (guarding iron bangle)
Ch 2 - pantheron + 2x zwerg scandroid (mandatory fight as snow)
Ch 2 - ghoul (non-mandatory fight after +20 str)
Ch 2 - ghoul (non-mandatory fight after +20 str, a 2nd one)

4 Aegisols:

Ch 4 - thexteron (normal farming spot)
Ch 4 - 2x incubus + succubus (mandatory fight just before dreadnought)
Ch 4 - 2x corps regular (guarding 3x fiber optic cable treasure)
Ch 4 - 2x bomb (mandatory fight in "raise the roof" scenario)


For the most part, I tried to use mandatory fights but didn't want to introduce too many extra saves and also didn't want to have to reset twenty billion times to get all these shrouds, hence the ghoul fights. For the ghoul fights, give light the gladius and +20 str and have Sazh attack 5 times. When he's about to attack the 6th time, attack as light to win the fight. 33sec is the target time for 0 stars. There's 10 single ghoul fights total available, so make sure you know which one drops what shroud (they're different!).

Obviously if I get shrouds from other mandatory fights I'll skip some ghouls. Interested to see what folks think -- check split's guide for which fights drop what and lets see if we can improve.

@eph -- check back in the ncu/neu thread. Sonic finished all the missions and I finished and 5-starred all of them. Strats should be posted for fights that are non-obvious. Let me know if you have specific questions. I have all of my src saves still.

If you are fighting the battles in that first area and then saving to respawn you are taking too long (or getting lucky if you always get a shroud). I did the same thing last time and the ghouls are faster (@ 0 stars) by 2 mins to get 6 forts and 4 decepts. using the mandatory fights is even faster still but the catch is you have to reset a bunch to get multiple drops without saving in between.

I hear ya addict. I was lookin at probability. There are 4 fights. If the drop rate is 50-60% for all of them (and I don't think it is for all 4 fights) the chances of getting all 4 shrouds is ~9%. That's pretty low IMO, which is why I was advocating the "sure thing approach". I say go for it and see if you get lucky.

What was your time at the start of ch 2? Assuming you saved right after the single pantheon event battle that starts the ch.

@foo - those who are late do not get fruit cup (or the capstone 500 post).