Grinding is one of the worst gaming "tenets" ever. Hearing that you didn't have to do it in this game is one of the biggest reasons I got it.

so i think i figured out when it goes off rails, so to speak.

I have the guide and once i finish the game, plan to return it to Best Buy and get my money back. Don't see myself needing the guide for a second playthrough.

Your Best Buy would allow that? Mine would never even consider it. I have the collector's guide and have only used it for a couple of the tougher boss battles.

I've never done it but the receipt doesn't say anything about strategy guides excluded from returns.

Just reached Disc 2 and enjoying the game quite a bit. I think reviews calling the first part of the game "tedious" or boring is a very poor choice of words. I haven't felt that way at all.

holy shit. the boss battle on the airship is fucking ridiculous.

Me either. They couldn't have been more wrong.

I'm on chapter 6 now.

I'm on Chapter 7 and am still enjoying it.

I'm just getting into chapter 6 and I'm still enjoying it too. I do miss the break-up that having towns or side missions offer but the fighting system is great so the constant grind doesn't bother me too much. And I think I'm starting to understand the story. It feels very much like playing X but with likable characters.

Just got to disc 2 and wondering wtf you need a guide for? Surprised at how linear this game has been so far.

I bought the guide as a collectors item but I'll be looking at it to see which weapons I'll want to spend the components to upgrade. And I'm guessing I'll probably have a use for it when I'm able to do the side missions.

I haven't played any FF games since VII way back on the Playstation. Can anyone point me to a decent battle tut?

Have you started the game yet? It has a pretty good tutorial built in. Each time a new aspect of the battles in introduced, it has a separate tutorial for it.

If you want to read up on it before starting, this guide seems to have some good info.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps3/file/928790/59246

yeah, I'm on chapter 4. It's sad that I am confused with all the paradigm shifts and crystarium upgrades etc.

I have yet to figure out how to use those items (forget what they are called offhand) before going into battle. I find myself just using auto select most of the time. Then end up with 0 *'s at the end of it.

Most normal battles end up being all auto select for me too, but that's strange that you're ending up with zero stars. To use the items before fights, press L1 before running into an enemy. They'll say what they do at the top of the screen. Some boost your stats during the fight and the most useful (for me anyway) will make you invisible to the enemy so you can get a preemptive strike.

I'd suggest looking at the abilities for each character and see what attacks they'll have while in the different roles. Then set up paradigms based on those roles. Definitely always have one set up where at least one person is a medic in case you need to heal. That way you can switch to it quickly in battle and then switch back to an all-attack paradigm once everyone is back at full life.

I didn't really have to pay attention to Paradigms other then Healing until fighting Odin. That was kind of a bitch.

They give you hints on what to do, so it's not that bad. The game makes you think, and I like that.

Fucking B/ just spoiled part of the ending

What's B/?

I saw something on there the other day that I'm not sure whether or not was a real spoiler or just someone being an asshole. I guess when I get to the end I'll either be surprised or it will happen and I'll be pissed.

Taught me though that if I see anything about the game there I'm not reading.

4chan random

Glad to know I have been doing the right thing. I have the same sticker on my controller