Chapter 11 Help (Should I upgrade or sell my weapons/armour?)

[X]

Hi,

I'm sorry for posting here I realize the game is quite old but I'm new to Final Fantasy and have just started playing XIII. I've reached the second fight with Barthandelus and I'm having some trouble.

I've yet to sell or buy anything thus far I was wondering if upgrading weapons would help me beat Barthandelus? I've read several guides on upgrading weapons and I'm still a bit confused. I have a rough idea what components are best for upgrading "bang" for your gil wise but what should I do with the lesser "junk"? Is it best to sell them or use them for upgrading?

Thank you,

X

[Hayabusa]

You're best off, NOT selling anything. And I mean anything.

Only exceptions are the items that can be sold for premiums.

• Credit Chips
• Perfume
• Gold & Platinum Ingots.
• Chocobo Plushies
And probably others I forgotten.

It's possible to beat the game w/o upgrading your equipment, just takes a while though.

Also, if you're having trouble beating Barthandelus,

Try this party setup,

Lightning - Vanille - Hope

Try to have your party have at least around 1500 HP. And to make this fight A LOT easier for you, have Doctor's Code equipped. (This doubles the effects of potions. 300 HP per potion) This immensely helps out, since it saves you time from switching to a recovery Paradigm.

Paradigms Deck:

COM / RAV / RAV
RAV / RAV / RAV (Tri-Disaster)
RAV / SAB / SYN (Set to Default)
MED / MED / MED (Salvation)
MED / SAB / RAV

Now what you wanna do first is use some Aegisols and Fortisols, if you have any.

Make sure you have COM / SAB / RAV paradigms to default.

--- Once the fight starts, immediately start dealing a little bit of damage with Lightning to get the stagger bar to slow down. Keep doing this until Vanille has inflicted Deprotect, Deshell, and/or Poison on him. (Or you can control Vanille yourself)

Then, switch to Tri-Disaster and get the stagger bar as high as you can. Make sure to regularly heal as you go. Switch to MED/SAB/RAV when necessary, and keep Barthandelus' stagger bar up at the same time.

Watch out for Destrudo, as it deals a lot of damage, you might want to switch to Salvation before he does this.

Once he is staggered, switch to COM/RAV/RAV and dish out as much damage as you can, while keeping your HP up with potions (remember, Doctor's Code is equipped).

If your buffs disappear, and Barthandelus' debuffs disappear, switch to MED/SAB/SYN to do it all over again.

Repeat.

[X]

Thanks ever so much Hayabusa​ I appreciate the time you took to go into such detail. I got close but it took a lot longer than most people's battles from what I've seen on YouTube. I had not considered Light/Vanille/Hope I had tried Light/Fang/Vanille (Hope) so I will try your suggestion.

X

[X]

I thought I would update and "close" this thread. In the end I didn't have a problem with the second encounter after I changed my tactics I manged to beat him in under 3 minutes with Fang/Vanille/Sazh. I've also gotten the hang of upgrading weapons and items although I'm still unforgettable doing it. The Treasure Hunter trophy is going to take a while...

[Lirael]

I shall leave this open in case anyone has a similar problem in the future! =) I shall also change the title so it's a little easier for members who want to ask the same question to locate it. =)