The Lazy Man's Guide to 5 starring the harder Missions with tier 2 equipment Ver. 1.04 Table of Contents ----------------- -Version History -Introduction -General things about 5 starring -Some tips for easier missions in general -Requirements and Party setup.... {RQRM} -Explanation on the Mission Tables.... {XPLN} -The actual missions and strategies Mission Nr. 41 - Gaian Grudge Mission Nr. 51 - Attacus, the Soulless Mission Nr. 44 - The Old Ones Go To Rust Mission Nr. 46 - On Silent Wings Mission Nr. 52 - Head In The Cloud Mission Nr. 53 - Freedom From Fear Mission Nr. 59 - Two-Faced Fiend Mission Nr. 54 - The Bigger They Are... Mission Nr. 62 - Indomitable Will Mission Nr. 61 - I, Juggernaut Mission Nr. 64 - The Doomherald Mission Nr. 60 - Degela Vu Mission Nr. 63 - Crushed By Doubt Mission Nr. 55 - Can't We All Just Get Along? Mission Nr. 45 - Emergent Evolution -Copyright and Contact information If you want to find a certain Mission quickly just CTRL+F for the search menu and type the respective number (like "32" for expample if you want to find mission 32) and you should be taken there immediately or at most after 2 clicks. Or if you want to skip to a certain part, use the markers that I put in the "{}" brackets at the beginning of the guide. Also don't be confused by the order of Missions. I didn't put them in numerical order, cause as you all know, it doesn't make any sense anyway for the most part. --------------- Version History --------------- V 1.0: Wrote Guide V 1.01: Corrected typos V 1.02: Corrected my email adress V 1.03: Added a strategy for Mission 63 and a videolink for the Gigantuar Mission V 1.04: added some new sent in strats and made an index for the missions ------------ Introduction ------------ This guide should help people getting 5 stars on the harder missions. It's called the lazy man's guide, because no Tier 3 (Ultima) Weapons are required thus safing you a lot of time farming for Trapezohedrons. Also I won't describe any technique that requires luck (e.g. Random Instant Chain or Death spamming), since there are enough of them to find on youtube or basically any forum where people ask for help on certain missions. Besides: this is a GUIDE, so it should use strategies that work every time when executed properly. --------------------------------------- General Things to know about 5 Starring --------------------------------------- You get 5 Stars, when your score is above 13000. The score is calculated with a formula, that's using Target Time and Battle Time as parameters, meaning. They're the only 2 things that matter when it comes to ranking. The Target time is influenced by how many ATB Bars your active characters have and by the highest value of they're Strength/Magic attributes. So if you have trouble because the Target Time is too low, then equipping low level weapons is usually the solution. Often you don't need 3 hitters, thus giving you the oportunity to give support characters weaker weapons. Another way is to use equipment, which Auto-Buffs at the beginning (if the Battle doesn't take that long), making you stronger without adding to the Target Time. If you sneak up on an enemy the Score will be multiplied by 1.2, making it even easier to get 5 Stars. ---------------------------------------------- Tips on easier Missions which I didn't list up ---------------------------------------------- Generally, if you have finished the game your Party is more than strong enough for all the D,C Class Missions. Mostly the Problem is getting them in Time, since the Target Time is very low. To counteract this, you can equip Aurora Scarfs, Sprint Shoes, Morale/Blessed Talismans and equip Lvl.1 Weapons. Also I haven't listet some A Class Missions, which I think to be very easy (like Verdelet/Tyrant). These can also be done by following said strategy of being ultra aggresive and going into battle with Auto-Buffs. In case of groups who summon other creatures, just spam Ruinga over and over and have 3 Commandos, so that they get interrupt before being able to finish a summon. Hope that helps. ---------{RQRM}--------- Requirements/Party Setup ------------------------ Since this guide concentrates on the hardest enemies in the game, a party which is almost fully maxxed is quite a must. So depending on the mission expect to need at least 5 out of 6 jobs mastered or at least halfway developed so you have access to the abilities. (The stat points arent as relevant since there's not really a lot more to be gained from the last 1 Million CP you spend on each secondary job. (Close to) Maximum Job ranks on your Commandos and Ravagers are a must though) Okay, Kaiser-san has informed me, that it's possible to get 5 stars on almost every mission (so far he excluded only the last one) without even having to max the primary jobs. SO, even though I use mostly strategies that require some secondary jobs, feel free to ignore my advice and try it with your current setup, since it might still work fine. (I can't say though since I didn't test it that way, just putting it there, so you don't feel you absolutely HAVE to CPgrind first or so..) --------------------- Accesory/Weapon Setup --------------------- Well, Accesories are another thing, you absolutely need to have them in order to survive certain battles. Also whenever I mention a certain item it's always on max level. Following Accesories are the ones I used and a quick overview where to get them. If you don't have some of them or not the exact amount, don't panic. Some of them you only use once or twice and may be replacable by others, easier to get Accesories. Though I try to not use the hard to get Accesories as much as possible. Note that this is just an overview of locations, usage of the Accs is described in the actualy startegy where I use them. -Aurora Scarf (upgrade from Whistlewind Scarf, Moogleworks) -Morale Talisman (upgrade from Heroes Amulet, Magical Moments) -Sprint Shoes (upgrade Tetradic Crowns/Tiaras (drop from Mission 7) and then dismantle them for Sprint Shoes and Hermes Sandales. Upgrade Hermes Sandals to get Sprint Shoes) -Blessed Talisman (upgrade Saint's Amulet, Magical Moments) -Soulfront Talisman (upgraded from Auric Amulet, Magical Moments) -Battle Talisman (upgraded from Zealot's Amulet) -Pain Dampener/Deflector (bought at B&W Outfitters) -Iron/Mythril Bangles (B&W Outfitters) -White/Effulgent Cape (B&W Outfitters) -Generals Belt/Witch's Bracelet(B&W Outfitters) -Royal Armlet (Sanctum Labs) -Power Glove (made from Warrior's Wristband, B&W Outfitters) -Rainbow/Moonbow Anklet (B&W Outfitters) -Genji Glove (Reward from Missions 51, 62 and 63) -Gold Watch (Reward from Mission 64) As I used Sazh/Fang/Hope for the most time all the Strategies are based on that specific party. Even though most of the time, it probably wouldn't have mattered as long as you play with members which have the abilites needed for the battles and about the same Strength/Magic Stats. The Tier 2 Weapons I used are the following. All the other weapons were still on Tier 1 and Lvl. 1. The general idea was, having weapons with high damage output, that neglect one attribute completely in order to max the other as much as possible. So I used more or less those Tier 2 Weapons that add the most to either Strength or Magic. ---- Sazh ---- -Hyades Magnums (max) (upgraded from Pleiades Hi-Power, Gilgamesh Inc.) ---- Fang ---- -Venus Gospel (max) (made from Teming Pole, Gilgamesh Inc.) ---- Hope ---- -Eagleton (max) (made from Hawkeye, Up in Arms) -------------{XPLN}-------------- Explanation on the Mission Tables --------------------------------- I will list all the Paradigms I used plus all the Accesories. Sometimes there may be empty slots, which basically means you can add any Items that tickle your fancy (like Growth Egg, Catalogues, more defense). I don't claim this to be the optimal setup, just one that worked for me getting the 5 Stars, that's all. Same with Paradigms/Party Member Constelations, since I only had 3 Tier 2 Weapons fully maxxed I generally used those Members who had them, thus probably missing out on better constelations in certain battles. If you want to find a certain Mission quickly just CTRL+F for the search menu and type the respective number (like "32" for expample if you want to find mission 32) and you should be taken there immediately or at most after 2 clicks. ------------------------------- Mission Nr. 41 - Gaian Grudge ------------------------------- Enemy: Tonberry Party/Paradigm Setup Sazh/Fang/Hope 1.Rav/Com/Rav 2.Rav/Rav/Rav 3.Sab/Sab/Sab 4.Com/Com/Com 5.Med/Med/Med 6. Equipment Sazh Wpn. Hyades Magnums Acc. Aurora Scarf Acc. Morale Talisman Acc. Sprint Shoes Acc. Equipment Member 2 Wpn. Venus Gospel Acc. Aurora Scarf Acc. Morale Talisman Acc. Sprint Shoes Acc. Equipment Member 2 Wpn. Eagletalon Acc. Aurora Scarf Acc. Blessed Talisman Acc. Sprint Shoes Acc. Strategy: Well, since you have more than enough time for these, the real trick is probably just killing them. Get a Preemptive Strike by walking up on them and then retreating, so they follow you a bit, wait just out of reach for them to turn around and walk back to their spot, so you can run up to the closest one and get a PS. Start with Paradigm 1. (Relentless Assault) and manually cast Firaga/Fira with Sazh on Tonberry A, so that you Stagger 2 Tonberrys in one hit. After that, just Firestrike/Sparkstrike until the first and second one go down. Don't Worry about your Buffs dissapearing after a short while, since the Knife attacks dispels one Buff per hit, so don't even bother recasting them again. After the first two Tonberrys go down, switch to Sab/Sab/Sab and debuff him with Imperil/Deprotect/Deshell, then switch to Rav/Rav/Rav to Chain it a bit and about when his health is halfway down you can switch to Com/Com/Com for the killing blows. Alternative Strategy submitted by anon Seems you can just Preemptive strike them, then use Quake for all of them to stagger and then the Eidolon finisher to kill them instantly. So here you have it, an even more easy way to kill those little buggers. ---------------------------------------- Mission Nr. 51 - Attacus, the Soulless ---------------------------------------- Enemy: Attacus Party/Paradigm Setup Sazh/Snow/Fang 1.Rav/Sen/Rav 2.Com/Sen/Com 3.Sab/Sen/Sab 4.Med/Sen/Med 5.Syn/Sen/Sab 6.xxx/xxx/xxx Equipment Sazh Wpn. Hyades Magnums Acc. Iron Bangle Acc. Iron Bangle Acc. Acc. Equipment Snow Wpn. any Lvl.1 Weapon Acc. General's Belt Acc. General's Belt Acc. Royal Armlet Acc. Royal Armlet Equipment Fang Wpn. Venus Gospel Acc. Iron Bangle Acc. Iron Bangle Acc. Power Glove Acc. Power Glove Strategy: Basically have a Sentinel active at all times. With all the Phys Defense Acc. you have. This way you should never need to heal your sentinel, thanks to the Mediguard Ability. Start by Buffing yourself and Fang with Haste/Brave (you can also go for Fang's Bravega, if you don't mind recasting it more often. If you do so, I suggest exchanging the Syn/Sen/Sab with Syn/Sen/Syn Paradigm) and then Deprotect Attacus (if Fang hasn't done that by then). After that Check whether Sazh and Fang are above the 90% HP Threshhold for the "High HP: Power Surge"-Ability from your 2 bangles to kick in (also the Commando Skill Adrenaline starts working if HP is above 90%). Stick with Ravagers until he is around 350% and has around 6 Million HP left, then switch to Com/Sen/Com and stick with that until he's dead. Keep the Buffs/Debuffs active and it shouldn't take any longer than 8:30 Minutes. ------------------------------------------ Mission Nr. 44 - The Old Ones Go To Rust ------------------------------------------ Enemy: Corrosive Custard, Monstrous Flan, Hybrid Flora Party/Paradigm Setup Sazh/Fang/Hope 1.Sab/Sab/Sab 2.Rav/Rav/Rav 3.Com/Com/Com 4.Syn/Syn/Syn 5.Med/Med/Med 6.xxx/xxx/xxx Equipment Sazh Wpn. Antares Deluxes Acc. Aurora Scarf Acc. Morale Talisman Acc. Spring Shoes Acc. Equipment Fang Wpn. Gae Bolg Acc. Aurora Scarf Acc. Morale Talisman Acc. Spring Shoes Acc. Equipment Hope Wpn. Eagletalon Acc. Aurora Scarf Acc. Blessed Talisman Acc. Sprint Shoes Acc. Strategy: I gave Sazh a weaker weapon for a higher Target Time (same with Fang, as I just realized after the battle...^^) and since it's more a question of staggering the Corrosive Custart quickly, so that you can start dealing a reasonable amount of damage to it than having 3 high-damage- dealers at all times, that seems to work just fine. K, now to the actual Battle. Start with three Saboteurs and autocast on the Hybrid Flora (Sazh should autocast Deshell), after Deshell sticks, switch to Rav/Rav/Rav and kill it with that paradigm. Then Debuff the Monstrous Flan with Deshell/Imperil (Your party members will first cast Slow, but don't let that irritate you) and then attack again with three Ravs. Same with the Corrosive Custart, except you probably have to rebuff your party. So quickly cast Haste/Brave on Sazh and Fang (Hope will at least get a Haste in that time as well) before attacking further with three Ravagers, after he's staggered switch to three Commandos and that should kill it right in time. ---------------------------------- Mission Nr. 46 - On Silent Wings ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------- Mission Nr. 52 - Head In The Clouds ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ Mission Nr. 53 - Freedom From Fear ------------------------------------ ---------------------------------- Mission Nr. 59 - Two-Faced Fiend ---------------------------------- Enemy: Zirnitra Party/Paradigm Setup Sazh/Fang/Hope 1.Rav/Sen/Rav 2.Com/Com/Com 3.Sab/Sen/Sab 4.Syn/Sen/Sen 5.Med/Sen/Med 6.Com/Sen/Rav Equipment Sazh Wpn. Hyades Magnums Acc. Sprint Shoes Acc. Morale Talisman Acc. Acc. Equipment Fang Wpn. Gae Bolg Acc. General's Belt Acc. General's Belt Acc. Sprint Shoes Acc. Morale Talisman Equipment Hope Wpn. Eagletalon Acc. Sprint Shoes Acc. Blessed Talisman Acc. Acc. (Mission 46 and 52 feature the exact same Enemy, that's why I paired them together) (Missions 53 and 59 feature also a Zirnitra, but also some small guys. Still it's more or less the same) Strategy Mission 53, 59: Ok, these are a bit more annoying, in the one where there are Rafflesias, Start with Com/Sen/Com or Com/Sen/Rav to dispatch them as quickly as possible then proceed with the usualy strategy (listed below). In Mission 59 it's another thing, there I used Sazhs Eidolon und its Finisher. So when the Battle starts, summon then switch to gestalt and use the Finishing move (or weaken them up first, if you're stats are still too low). This should dispatch of the annoying spammers quickly. Note: That Sazh is imperative here, since his Eidolon is the only one with a fire-based finisher. Strategy Mission 46,52: Start with Sab/Sen/Sab and debuff Zirnitra with Deshell/Deprotect/Imperil. By the time you're done with that your Sentinel should have the attention of the flying pest and leave the rest alone. You may have to rebuff Haste/Brave/Faith for your non-Sentinel Characters. After that it's Ravagertime (Rav/Sen/Rav), stick with those until it staggers. Keep an eye on your Sentinels health though and quickly switch to Med/Sen/Med for healing (though don't waste too much time with that, 2-3 ATB Parts of healing spells will suffice). After Zirnitra Staggers have Sazh use his Cold Blood Ability for quickly chaining the thing. As soon as the Animation starts you can switch the Paradigm to Cerberus, thus allowing the other two chars to attack for some nice damage, while you chain it. While firing the last two shots switch back to Rav/Sen/Rav and use Cold Blood again and switch again to Cerberus Paradigm. After that Zirnitra should be on 999.9% and you can stick with Cerberus until it's done. ----------------------------------------- Mission Nr. 54 - The Bigger They Are... ----------------------------------------- Enemy: Gigantuar Party/Paradigm Setup Sazh/Fang/Hope 1.Sab/Sab/Sab 2.Syn/Syn/Syn 3.Med/Med/Med 4.Com/Com/Com 5.xxx/xxx/xxx 6.xxx/xxx/xxx Equipment Sazh Wpn. Any Lvl.1 Weapon without drawback Acc. White Cape Acc. White Cape Acc. Iron Bangle Acc. Iron Bangle Equipment Fang Wpn. Venus Gospel Acc. Pain Dampener Acc. Pain Dampener Acc. Iron Bangle Acc. Iron Bangle Equipment Hope Wpn. Any Lvl.1 weapon without drawback Acc. White Cape Acc. White Cape Acc. Iron Bangle Acc. Iron Bangle Strategy: K, this fight can be a pain in the ass, but it's actually very easy whith the right method (Who could've thought..^^) The trick is knowing how Daze actually works. It's like Sleep from the old games, so as long as you don't attack a dazed enemy, it won't do anything. So you want to start having 3 Saboteurs. Now, if you don't have the info about Gigantuar yet, so that your members autocast Daze from the start, use Libra to get the info immediately. Also it helps A LOT to start with the Buff Shrouds, especially when you have to Libra first. Honestly, I wouldn't want to try it with no Shards AND no Info on Gigantuar. So anyway, once you have dazed it, switch to Syn/Syn/Syn and buff your party. Wait until Fang has Bravega/Faithga on everyone and cast Enfire on all party members while she does so. Also have Veil on everyone, thus further decreasing the Gigantuar's chances of inflicting Fog/Pain on your chars once you attack him.(AND Of cource as usual, haste is a must). Then switch to three Medics to fully heal yourself for the High HP abilities to start working. Then Cerbereus (Com/Com/Com) for ONE full out attack which uses all bars on the ATB. Switch to Sab/Sab/Sab again and repeat, except this time stay on Cerberus untul he's done. Shouldn't take more than 1:30 approximately, when you go in pre-buffed. Also sometimes you may get real unlucky when after a full salve of dazes it still doesn't stick and one (or two) of your chars are fogged. I'd suggest you restart the battle then. This happened to me once, when I didn't use shards, so maybe they're a must use here. But I dunno. Maybe I just got extremely unlucky... Note: I made a short 5 minute video demonstrating this method in case you wanna watch here's the link www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_N5jSK_vKY ----------------------------------- Mission Nr. 62 - Indomitable Will ----------------------------------- Enemy: Raktavija Party/Paradigm Setup Sazh/Fang/Hope 1.Sab/Sab/Syn 2.Rav/Rav/Med 3.Rav/Com/Rav 4.Med/Med/Med 5.Rav/Rav/Rav 6.Com/Com/Com Equipment Sazh Wpn. Hyades Magnums Acc. Power Glove Acc. Imperial Armlet Acc. Rune Bracelet Acc. Witch's Bracelet Equipment Fang Wpn. Venus Gospel Acc. Power Glove Acc. Royal Armlet Acc. Rune Bracelet Acc. Rune Bracelet Equipment Hope Wpn. Vidofnir (though any Lvl. 1 weapon is fine, I think) Acc. Witch's Bracelet Acc. Witch's Bracelet Acc. Royal Armelt Acc. (Sprint Shoes) Strategy: Importantly you need about 50% Magic resistance for each character. I had 52%,46% and 53% for Sazh, Fang and Hope. Also DON'T USE any shards to start the battle with, because it will most likely only mess up the timing. Meaning the Buffs will dissappear right about that time, when you stagger the first Raktavija. If you let Hope cast the buffs though they will dissappear after or at the end of the Stagger Period, ensuring you to have a full partyboost while Attacking. Having Hope start with haste can be of advantage though, since it ensures that you have the offensive buffs after you're done debuffing the enemy and since Hope is not your major damage dealer here, it doesn't matter that much if his Haste runs out during the Stagger period. Start with Sab/Sab/Syn, manually cast Slow on both, while Fang will automatically cast Imperil and Hope will Haste/Shell and, if there's time, Brave/Faith the party. After that you already may be deep in the red with your HP and need to switch to Med/Med/Med for a quick heal. After that use Rav/Rav/Med as your Paradigm until you stagger one of the Raktavija You may be able to switch to Rav/Rav/Rav for a short while, but it's not worth it, if you have to go back to Med/Med/Med after that. So only do it when your HP is beyond 80% each and one of the Raktavija has just attacked you (so you know, they're not going for a sudden double-attack which brings you back to very low HP). Keep a look out for the Stagger bar. The time it becomes Staggered immediately switch to Rav/Com/Rav (unless you're low on life) and have Sazh cast Cold Blood immediately. You may have to switch to Rav/Rav/Med (or even Med/Med/Med) while he's in the process of casting it for a quick lifeburst. But for the most part, just try to keep Relentless Assoult active for Fang to dish out damage. Have Sazh use the Flame-/Spark-Strikes to ensure maximum damage after he is done casting Cold Blood. You should be able to drain more than half his life during that time. Well, back to square one with Sab/Sab/Syn and repeat. Once there's only one left, you can go all out on him with Rav/Rav/Rav and (once he staggers) Com/Com/Com to finish him in one staggerperiod. Alternatively, you can try the Rav/Com/Med paradigm instead of Com/Com/Com or Rav/Rav/Rav, so that when you're low on life while the first Raktavija is staggered you can still attack him for a lot of damage while healing yourself when necessary. -------------------------------- Mission Nr. 61 - I, Juggernaut -------------------------------- Enemy: Juggernaut Strategy: I'm just gonna omit the exact details. Since you can kill it with really ANY equipment, and you need a Preemptive Strike for five stars anyway. Sneak up on him, which can be done when you're EXACTLY behind him, to get a Preemptive Strike. Have your party use the strongest weapons, prebuffs (haste and brave) and two Iron Bangles each for the High HP: Power Surge (even though he attacks once you should still be above the 90% threshhold if not, forget about the bangles or replace them with Power Gloves). Start with three Saboteurs for debuffing, and then Relentless Assault him for Sazh to use Cold Blood, then switch to Cerberus to finish him. Nothing more to it. --------------------------------- Mission Nr. 64 - The Doomherald --------------------------------- Enemy: Vercingetorix Party/Paradigm Setup Sazh/Fang/Hope 1.Rav/Rav/Rav 2.Com/Com/Com 3.Sab/Sab/Sab 4.Syn/Med/Syn 5.Med/Med/Med 6.Sen/Sen/Sen Equipment Sazh Wpn. Antares Deluxes Acc. General's Belt Acc. Witch's Bracelet Acc. Royal Armlet Acc. Equipment Fang Wpn. Venus Gospel Acc. General's Belt Acc. Witch's Bracelet Acc. Royal Armlet Acc. Equipment Hope Wpn. Eagletalon Acc. General's Belt Acc. Witch's Bracelet Acc. Royal Armlet Acc. Strategy: Since Verci has the annoying habit of regularly hiding, healing, dispelling and later buffing in his invincible cocoon, you really need to adapt to that pattern. Once you're used to it, it gets very simple though. And don't be discouraged from the first 1 or 2 Minutes. He hides himself far less, the longer the battle takes (or the less HP he has, I honestly don't know). Anyway, start with Syn/Med/Syn to haste your party, then switch to the Saboteurs to inflict Poison (which drains about 50k HP per second). After that go back to buffing your party. After he goes invincible, heal your group and buff some more (if you have time). Switch to Infiltration and have a full ATB Chain of Poison ready for when he gets out of his cocoon. Once Poison is inflicted, cast Imperil. Once that is done too, switch to Tri-Disaster until he staggers, then to Cerberus for damage. Heal when necessary of course. Don't get too frustrated when this doesn't work the first 3-5 times, since at the beginning he really hides himself a lot faster than later in the battle. After he goes below a certain amount of HP he grows antother pair of wings and starts buffing himself while in his cocoon. He will also start using an attack which dispels the two latest buffs of the hit partymember. The good news is, he'll stay out attacking longer so you get more time hitting HIM as well. From the time he starts using the Debuff move it's not worth buffing more than Haste imo, since it gets dispelled anyway and you usually don't have the time. And since most of the Damage will come from Poison, the most important part is being ready with your Saboteurs once he comes out of his invincible state. After he grows a third pair of wings, he becomes even more aggresive and starts using his ubermove (the giant yellow Whirlwind-thingy called Wicked Whirl), once you see that coming, switch immediately to 3 Sentinels in order to survive it without being in the red. Heal immediately afterwards of course. That's really all there is to that one. Strategy 2: If the above doesn't work for you, or if you're looking for something with a little less effort try following: Equip only the lowest of weapons and the same accesories. Then instead of really fighting him just cast Poison and switch to the Tortoise Paradigm. Heal when necessary, but don't attack him. If he goes invincible, of course proceed as usual: buff, heal, get ready with Saboteurs, but the only thing necessary to get the 5 Stars is Poison (if you have low level Weapons equipped), so you can always be on the defense, letting Poison do its job. This will take about 12 Minutes (Out of approximately 20-22), so you should still get the 5 Stars easily. Will be a much more boring fight though. ---------------------------- Mission Nr. 60 - Degela Vu ---------------------------- Enemy: Gelatitan Party/Paradigm Setup Sazh/Fang/Hope 1.Rav/Rav/Rav 2.Rav/Com/Rav 3.Sab/Syn/Syn 4.xxx/xxx/xxx 5.xxx/xxx/xxx 6.xxx/xxx/xxx Equipment Sazh Wpn. Antares Deluxes Acc. Aurora Scarf Acc. Blessed Talisman Acc. Battle Talisman Acc. Gold Watch Equipment Fang Wpn. Any Lvl.1 Weapon Acc. Aurora Scarf Acc. Blessed Talisman Acc. Battle Talisman Acc. Equipment Hope Wpn. Otshirvani (though any lvl.1 Weapon will probably work) Acc. Aurora Scarf Acc. Blessed Talisman Acc. Battle Talisman Acc. Strategy: In terms of finishing this mission with 5 stars, this is one of the more difficult ones, since the target time is very low. To help against that, equip your lowest weapons and the Gold Watch. (If you know how Paradigm shifting into full ATB Bar works, you probably can do without the Gold Watch, though it's still gonna be veeeery close.) Anyway, start with Sab/Syn/Syn and cast imperil on one Titan, switch to Rav/Rav/Rav until it staggers then immediately to Rav/Com/Rav until it's dead. That's all, repeat that three times, for a Battle Time of about 2:05. With the Goldwatch that should be enough for 5 Stars. In case one of your members gets slowed by a titan, immediately switch to Sab/Syn/Syn to have your members cast Haste again, then proceed where you left. I apologize for not having found a method that works without Gold Watch so far. ----------------------------------- Mission Nr. 63 - Crushed By Doubt ----------------------------------- Enemy: Ademantoise Party/Paradigm Setup Fang/Sazh/Hope 1.Rav/Rav/Rav 2.Com/Com/Com 3.Sab/Sab/Sab 4.Sab/Syn/Syn 5.Med/Med/Med 6.Sen/Sen/Sen Equipment Fang Wpn. Venus Gospel Acc. General's Belt Acc. Genji Glove Acc. Power Glove Acc. Power Glove Equipment Sazh Wpn. Antares Deluxes Acc. Witch's Bracelet Acc. General's Belt Acc. Royal Armelt Acc. Rainbow Anklet Equipment Hope Wpn. Eagletalon Acc. General's Belt Acc. Witch's Bracelet Acc. Imperial Armlet Acc. Rainbow Anklet Strategy: The defensive Equipment is nice to have but not that much needed, since you can (and should try to) tank every attack of the Ademantoise, meaning, switch to Sen/Sen/Sen as soon as you see his leg lifting and this alone will reduce the damage more than enough. Same with its Quake spell. Anyway, you should start the battle without Shrouds, since it may mess up the timing by the buffs dissappearing earlier than when you have Sazh and Hope buff your party. Start the Battle with Sab/Syn/Syn and start debuffing one of his legs (or both if you have still time until the Buffs are active), while your party members will start buffing. After all defensive and offensive buffs are active, the leg should have Deprotect/Deshell/Imperil on it already, if not quickly switch to Sab/Sab/Sab to make that happen faster. Then switch to Rav/Rav/Rav for staggering it quickly. When the leg is staggered switch to Cerberus and use Fangs Highwind on it, which should kill it immediately thanks to uncapped damage from the Genji Glove. Note that if you don't tank the hits, you will probably have to heal yourself while in Tri-Disaster Paradigm. Never let your health stay at 50% or lower, since that might be already too low sometimes. So better safe than sorry. Plus the legs will go down in one attempt anyway, even if you use short bursts of Salvation while Chaining. Go Sab/Sab/Sab on the other leg and repeat. After Highwinding the second leg switch to Sab/Sab/Sab and start casting Imperil, since it is the last Debuff your party Members will cast, thus reducing time to debuff the Ademantoise. Once Slow/Course/Deprotect/Imperil/Deshell are active, switch to Tri-Disaster until it's at 999.9% then go Cerberus on it. You should be able to kill it though it's probably close. Once the Beast is around 1 Mio HP use Highwind for the finishing blow bevor it gets back up. Note, that if it DOES get back up it will start using Bay(Or Roar, can't remember, but essentially the same thing), which has a high chance of dazing your party. That's why I gave out Rainbow Anklets to some members in case you wonder. After the Roar/Bay it will then use Quake or Stomp, so don't let that catch you by surprise, cause it might kill you, since (if all your members are dazed) you can't heal in between. Switch to Tortoise to reduce the damage for a better chance of surviving, should that happen. This Should take about 2:40. Alternative strategy: This one was sent to me by Brian and Rade. Thanks for that, guys. It seems to work fine even with lower level parties and without Genji Gloves. You might want to use the 2 Buffshrouds for this one. Use Fang as leader and your two strongest Ravs/Coms as additional party members. Start the battle with summoning an Eidolon. While the Eidolon hits the 'Toise cast the Deprotect/Deshell/Imperil. After those are up quickly switch to Gestalt and use the Finisher, after which the Toise should have lost between 350k-450k damage in total. After that use three Ravs to quickly stagger it and then 3 Coms (or 2 Coms and one Rav if you don't have three Coms yet) to finish it off. Which seems to be close but should still work. Use Highwind if the stagger bar seems close to its end. Since I haven't tested this myself I can't really say how good this works but since I got the same strategy sent to me by two different people I thought it's probably a good one. On a personal sidenote: If this doens't work you might wanna try the same strategy with Sazh instead of Fang and then use his Blitz-Attack once the Toise is down (since it will hit about 10 times and will deal high amounts of damage). ----------------------------------------------- Mission Nr. 55 - Can't We All Just Get Along? ----------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- Mission Nr. 45 - Emergent Evolution ----------------------------------- Enemy: Neochu Party/Paradigm Setup Fang/Snow/Hope 1.Com/Rav/Rav 2.Syn/Sen/Syn 3.Sab/Sen/Med 4.Com/Sen/Rav 5.Med/Syn/Med 6.Sen/Sen/Sen Equipment Fang Wpn. Venus Gospel Acc. Power Glove Acc. Power Glove Acc. Royal Armlet Acc. General's Belt Equipment Snow Wpn. Paladin Acc. General's Belt Acc. Witch's Bracelet Acc. Royal Armlet Acc. Imperial Armlet Equipment Hope Wpn. Any Lvl. 1 weapon Acc. General's Belt Acc. Royal Armlet Acc. Witch's Bracelet Acc. Strategy: This is surely one of the toughest enemies in the game and probably the most annoying one too. His Screech attack will deal some good damage to you plus dispel 4 Buffs each. On top of that, after he Screeches, the next Attack will be Pollen, which will inflict about 6-7 Debuffs on your enitre Party AND heal all his Minions. AND on top of THAT, his Minions are also easily cabable of killing your whole Party in less than a Minute, if you don't have a Sentinel who takes the hits all the time. Start the Battle with Syn/Sen/Syn to cast Haste and Bravega on Fang, after that switch to Delta Attack (Com/Sen/Rav) You should be able to dispatch of the Picochus quickly and effeciently. To achieve this use Fang with Power Gloves. See to it, that she's alaways having Haste and Bravega while fighting. Use the Delta Attack Paradigm and an Attack-Chain with Blitz/Attack/Attack/Attack, so that the Ravage ability is used for the Blitz. This will kill the Picochus very quickly. Also keep an eye out for when they start using Plead. If you see one pleading attack it with your next attack, so that it doesn't get healed by Neochu. When you see Neochu using Screech, switch to Tortoise (Sen/Sen/Sen) to absorb over half the damage, after that switch to Syn/Sen/Syn to recast Haste/Bravega on fang and immediately switch back to Delta Attack and try to get all the already damaged Picochus before Neochu uses Pollen and heals them completely. Though that only works if you're not on critical health already, if that's the case heal first, and buff afterwards, before trying to take out the next minion. Get ready for Pollen as well. Have the Syn/Sen/Syn paradigm active as soon as he starts pollen, to immediately cast haste/protectra on your party members after pollen debuffs you. You only need to really take care of Deprotect and Slow (by casting Protectra and Haste), the rest of the debuffs isn't as important to your survival. After you did that, you probably want to use a quick Combat Clinic (Med/Sen/Med) to restore some HP, then use Syn/Sen/Syn to rebuff Bravega for Fang before you go back on attacking the Picochus (or skip the Combat Clinic, if your life total allows it). From that point on you will always have about 4-5 Debuffs on all of your party, including Poison. Just try to ignore them, and rather heal yourself occasionaly (i.e. when your life total is below 40-45%). The most important ones to dispel are Slow and Deprotect, as you'll always have a Sentinel to take the hits from the minions, the Deshell/Imperil don't really affect you much, since Neochu's Root attack is the only one with an Element, and I don't think he uses ANY Attacks, that are considered magic. After you killed all the Picochus, switch to Sab/Sen/Med, and cast Imperil on Neochu. If not all of your party is Hasted and Faithgaed/Bravegaed quickkly do that, then use Relentless Assault and attack him hard. What you're trying to do now is simply have your party in good health and raise Neochu's Chain as much as possible, before he dispatches the next wave of minions. When he does that, it gets critical. You don't want to lose the already built up chain (which should be around 200%, a bit less probably). But obviosly you don't wanna have your party die either. So every time healing or rebuffing/dispelling is needed do that as quickly as possible. The rest of the time should be spent using Com/Sen/Rav to attack Neochu until he's dead. Alternatively if the its Chain does empty, dispatch of the Picochus first and then start again with Relentless Assault and continue from there with the procedure. He will dispatch one more wave of minions though, so keep an eye out for Snows health and really see to it, that he's not Deprotected. Protectra really helps a lot as well if you have the time. After Neochu falls, kill the remaining Picochus with Delta attack and don't die cause of recklessness. It should take you about 8 Minutes to kill it with that strategy (about 10 if you the Chain empties when it summons the second wave), though you'll probably need some practice, to get the hang of switching, buffing, dispelling debuffs with your buffs, etc. Good Luck. Mission 45 works the same, except you don't have to kill the Picochus first, so start with buffing, debuffung and then go directly to Relentless Assault. ------------ Congratulations, you should now have completed all the Missions with 5 Stars, gotten a Gold Trophy and a Theme for your PS3 (dunno about Xbox, sorry) --------------------------------- Copyright and Contact information --------------------------------- okay, so after giving my email adress in this guide I just received that much more spam (basically, I never had ANY spam before and now..) so I decided to delete that in the hopes, that maybe the spam stops. Unfortunately, noone will be able to contact me about the guide anymore. So, sorry for that, but I think I didn't get much emails in the last month anyway, so I guess, most of the guide works fine. And there's of course still youtube with some useful tutorials etc. In case, that now someone wants to ask permission for the guide: just use it however you like (being credited would still be nice of course), as I wrote this guide to help people with some missions and if that piece of text does the job, then all is fine :)