Final Fantasy XIII Walkthrough: Chapters 1 through 3

Final Fantasy XIII is a pretty good game, but there are times where you may need a little help. This walk through is not a full walkthrough - I leave a lot of the exploration required to get most of the treasure chests out, but I do cover the main plot and boss battles.

Chapters 1 to 3 are really introductory chapters and guide you, with the use of tutorials, through the main game play elements - there are a couple of tough bosses, but overall there should be no difficult battles for most players.

I do warn you that this walkthrough will help you finish the game, but by using it you therefore may not enjoy the game as much. You have been warned!

• After watching the amazing opening movie you’ll be presented with an ATB tutorial – this is a good introduction for those who’ve never played a Final Fantasy game.
• Once you get to the end of this tutorial, use auto-battle to finish the fight – newcomers might want to check out some of the menus at this point, which will negate the need to thoroughly study some of the other tutorials later.
• Auto-battle the continuation of the battle and if needed use a potion to raise your health.
• Rush through the camera tutorial – I found that the cameras are really intuitive so I didn’t really need this tutorial – move forward to the next battle.
• This battle isn’t tough, so you should mess around and get used to the battle system – even hardened Final Fantasy gamers should take a little time to try out different things.
• Once the battle is over, open up the map – this shows the immediate area – mess around with the map controls to get used to them – note that there should be a yellow event marker on the map – this is generally the ‘direction’ you should be heading.
• Move towards the event marker – look out for circles – these allow you to jump to different sections, and while there’s not much variety initially there are a few ‘hidden’ paths that normally lead to a treasure chest.
• Move onwards and you’ll encounter two PSICOM Wardens – this is an easy battle and can be won using Auto-Battle.
• You’ll encounter another easy battle against a Warden followed by a little tougher battle against two enforcers – you can use Auto-Battle to defeat these, but it may be worth practicing with the Battle System during these easy battles.
• Look for a ‘round’ computer terminal type object – this is the Final Fantasy XIII treasure chest – get the potion from this chest. These chests are pretty important as they tend to give you potions or money – try and find all of them as you progress through the game.
• Look for a platform on the right and you’ll find another chest with two more potions.
• You’ll encounter several enemies along the way – continue to battle them but keep an eye on HP – this is probably the most important thing especially when you begin to meet bosses – some enemies can have strong attacks that could take a party member out in one shot if they do not have high HP.
• Look for a treasure chest on a platform on the left – this will contain an Iron Bangle – if you wish you can play with the ‘menus’ that allow you to change armor and weapons – one cool feature of Final Fantasy XIII is the ability to automatically pick the best armor and weapons depending on your strategy.
• Move down the stairs – search the crates on the right, you’ll find a hidden treasure chest with some Gil in it – treasure chests will become harder to find as the game goes on, so you should always keep your eyes open for hidden areas.
• You’ll have one more easy battle and then come across a group of enemies that leads into the item tutorial – you may already have learned about the item menus, but this tutorial gives you a good run through.
• You’ll go through another cut-scene – go up the stairs and you’ll find your first save point. Save points are pretty important in the game so it’s a good habit to get into to save every time you find one. The game does now do a quick save before each battle so you don’t have to go back to a save point if you lose a battle, but sometimes you may want to change choices you made.
• Move down and activate the switch below.
• Move towards the next group of enemies – you’ll be presented with the chain/stagger tutorial - this is one of the most important aspects of the game and becomes very important against large groups or against the bosses – you should therefore take note of this important tutorial.
• There’s a couple of strategies to consider when starting the battle – you can focus on the more dangerous enemies, but I generally find that you should focus on the less dangerous enemies first and then you can concentrate on getting the tougher enemy staggered – however, it’s really down to what method you prefer.
• You’ll see another cut-scene and then take over the character Snow – you’ll find that the first twenty hours or so of game play doesn’t give you any choice of characters and you’ll be switching back and forth – eventually you do get to select the party you want though, so don’t get too discouraged at this point.
• Behind you you’ll find a treasure chest with some Gil in it – use the map and head towards the event marker – generally at this point in the game you can’t really get lost, but getting used to the map controls early is useful.
• Use the save point and then begin to move through the debris.
• You’ll get another cut-scene – there are a lot of cut-scenes initially – these set up the story well and allow you to get to know the characters – they will diminish eventually but are an important part of the game.
• You’ll come across a few enemies along the way to the event marker – you can actually run passed them if you want (it’s often hard to do though!), but I’d use the opportunity to practice the battle, focusing on one enemy and staggering them – watch your HP doesn’t get too low.
• You’ll have another cut-scene where you come across some survivors.
• There’s a chest on the left with an Iron Bangle in it.
• Save the game and move along using the map to the next event marker. Snow has a handy Hand Grenade ability that allows you to break up groups - now would be a good time to use it!
• You’ll come across your first minor boss – the Beta Behemoth isn’t really that tough, but it’s worth keeping an eye on your HP – your party should auto-heal you (the AI in Final Fantasy XIII is much better than previous games and your party does fight together well – I was disappointed not to have the opportunity of controlling all characters, although you can essentially decide how they ‘react’ by the way you level them up and setup different paradigms) You should be able to beat this boss very quickly.
• Save the game – you’ll then take control of Lighting and Sazh and be thrown straight into a boss battle.
• Myrmidon isn’t a tough boss, but you’ll have to keep an eye on your health and use HP to heal – get the boss staggered and you should have no problems after that.
• You’ll have another cut-scene and then take control of Snow – the switching of characters is a little annoying at times, but you’ll get used to it.
• Move forward and open the treasure chest – get the power circle and equip it. Some suggest that you keep this weapon for the entire game as it is pretty powerful as it gets leveled up – however, it’s again down to personal preference.
• Save your game and move one. The Hand Grenade skill is important and should be used when facing large groups.
• Look out for a hidden chest between staircases – there’s some Gil in it. Take a looked at the vehicle at the end of the path.
• You’ll get another cut-scene and then take control of Hope and Vanille – save the game and continue on. Check out the vehicle you come across and save the game.

And there you are – chapter one is over. Chapter one of Final Fantasy XIII introduced you to all the basic commands of the game – as you progress you’ll learn more about the combat systems, leveling up etc.

• Yet again you’re thrown into the middle of a battle – taking control of Hope and Vanille – you should find that you’ll stagger the enemy quickly and be able to end this battle.
• You’ll find a treasure chest on the right with Gil inside.
• Go up and then down the stairs and read about the sneaking tutorial – sneaking is a pretty important aspect of the game – occasionally you’ll come across a battle that you simply can’t win, and by using the sneaking ability you can circumnavigate these battles – it doesn’t matter if you miss battles early on as you don’t start gaining experience until Chapter 3.
• There’s an Iron Bangle in the chest – you can attack the enemies, but also you can sneak up and try and get the treasure without having to battle the enemies.
• Go back up the stairs and fight the monsters ahead to get to the chest – it will have some potions in it.
• Start moving towards the event marker – these little battles can be missed, but you should try and grab as many potions and Gil as you can as you will need them later.
• Yet again you’ll switch characters – this time you take control of Snow. Save your game.
• There’s a treasure chest at the top of the stairs with some potions in.
• Move towards the event marker – don’t forget that Snow has the useful Hand Grenade ability – so don’t be scared to use this when there are a lot of enemies around – this becomes more and more useful as the game progresses.
• Look at the object once reaching the event marker.
• Here we go again – back in control of Lighting and Sazh – you’ll be presented with a Shroud tutorial – a Shroud is a useful tool that allows you to do different things (such as being able to ‘hide’ from enemies) depending on which shroud you have.
• At the top of the stairs is a treasure chest with a Phoenix Down – this is one of the most important potions out there as it allows you to ‘raise’ a character during battle.
• Up the next set of stairs you’ll find a chest with the Gladius in it.
• Move towards the event marker – guess what? After the cut scene you’ll take control of Snow.
• Move to the event marker and look at the structure – note always keep an eye open for treasure chests – there are many I may not have listed in the walkthrough.
• Go up the stairs and jump on to the platform – yawn – cut-scene again and you’re now controlling Hope and Vanille.
• Go up the stairs, go right and go up the next set of stairs.
• Enter the battle - once finished open the treasure chest and take the Forisol.
• Go towards the event marker.
• Save your game and continue along the path – keep on looking for those chests!
• Another cut-scene will set up a battle with three Ghouls – as you’ve no healing paradigms yet, you’ll want to watch your HP and use potions to heal – you can use the Hand Grenade to make short work of this battle.
• OK this is getting frustrating! – you’ll become Lightning and Sazh again.
• Look out for treasure chests as usual – there are lots of useful items and potions available.
• Go up the stairs.
• save your game and head towards the event marker.
• You’ll come across a lot of Ghouls here – you may be able to pass a few of them using sneak – but just concentrate on staggering them and you’ll be OK – keep the HP fairly high by using potions.
• Another cut-scene and woohoo – you take control of three characters – Lighting Snow and Sazh.
• Move towards the event marker – you’ll have quite a few battles along the way – you may be able to sneak past some of them – as you don’t gain experience yet, it doesn’t matter if you skip battles.
• Finally you come across a fairly decent Boss – Anima isn’t that difficult to take out, so this is a good introduction into strategies that you’ll want to consider for future bosses. The key to this boss is taking out the appendages – focus on them first, and then voila they’ll respawn – take them out again and you will then be able to take out the main body. As always keep an eye on HP – you really don’t want to lose any characters in this battle – so use potions where needed. You really shouldn’t have too much trouble with this battle.

This is really the start of the main game – you’ll be introduced to paradigms and begin earning experience. Paradigms really are the key to the game, and are the only way in which you have influence over your party members – it’s very important that you learn how to use paradigms well.

One thing to think about is that Experience is important, especially as you progress through the game – so the more battles you take on early on the better – one annoyance of Final Fantasy XIII (and Final Fantasy in general) is that at times you will have to run around getting random encounters so that you can gain enough experience to level up and become ‘tough’ enough for some of the more difficult boss battles – my daughter has a great strategy – she gets her boyfriend to run around gaining experience and then plays once her characters are tough enough!

• You start out in a battle tutorial – you’ll end up with a party including Lightning, Snow and Vanille.
• It’s important to try and find all treasures from now on – there are some pretty decent items available, and of course there are plenty of potions and Gils that should be collected – I won’t list all of these locations, but you should explore every avenue available before moving to the event markers.
• Once finished exploring move towards the marker
• After finding all treasures you’ll eventually meet a group of six PSICOM wardens – this will also open up the Command tutorial – continue to fight and keep an eye on HP- the battles are a little tougher but over all you should come through most battles with ease.
• One of the most important aspects of Final Fantasy XIII is the use of Libra in the command menu – when you use Libra you scan the enemies for weaknesses – your party will then automatically focus on these weaknesses – this is very important in some of the tougher battles and especially so in the boss battles.
• Head onwards and you’ll encounter three Ghasts and Whytes – you’ll notice that the battles are getting progressively harder and it is important to start using good strategies – conserving Potions is important, as is the use of Libra.
• Explore everywhere – I cannot state this enough – there are a lot of treasure chests available- wait to the last second before moving towards the event!
• Save the game
• You’ll come across a group of 4 Pantherons – one tactic you need to concentrate on is focusing on one enemy at a time – trying to switch between enemies is a poor strategy, and the sooner you reduce the number of enemies the better – it’s up to you which enemy to focus on – I tend to get the weaker enemies out of the way.
• You’ll find some ‘Strange Fluid’ after the fight with two Pantherons.
• Make sure you find the chest containing a Magician’s Mark
• Continue on until you find a save point.
• You’ll then come across your first tough boss fight – you already encountered the Masavin Warmech but this time use of paradigms is essential

• After the battle move towards the event marker and watch the cut-scene – you wil now have Lightning, Vanille and Sazh in your party (don’t worry only another 15 or so hours of game play and you’ll be able to select your party!).
• You’ll come across a branching path – go right and find the Strange Fluid from the treasure chest.
• You’ll encounter four Pantherons – after this battle use the blue circles to jump around – there are several chests in this area.
• Find a way across the chasms and then go right.
• You’ll find a bunch of enemies guarding a chest with some enigmatic fluid – after this battle move towards the event marker.
• You’ll find a dead-end at the event marker – watch the cut scene and go back over the bridge.
• Go up the ice ramp, look for a vehicle – this should open up a path.
• Continue towards the event marker and save – it should be noted that quite often a save point signifies a tough battle ahead!
• You come across another Boss Battle. The Behemoth isn’t that tough.
• Watch the cut-scene and go through the tutorial – use Libra straight away – then do your best to get the chain gauge up – switch to Medic when low on health, or use potions – I’d tend to use the Medic paradigm in this battle as those potions are essential in some of the later battles. This battle shouldn’t be too bad as long as you watch your HP – did I mention that you should always keep an eye on your HP?
• Move on – take the right path and get the Libra Scope – move on and you’ll find a treasure chest with two Digital Circuits in it.
• At the cliff start jumping up looking out for chests.
• Continue up the ice cliff and save.
• Move towards the event marker
• Save your game and enter the building.
• Try and sneak up on the Behemoth – sneaking is a very useful tactic! Some of the enemies on this level are tough – you can take them all on and you’ll benefit in the end, but they are tough – you have been warned.
• Go onto the broken bridge and head towards the event marker – don’t forget to keep an eye for chests and make sure you explore everywhere!
• Go down into the arena – you’ll need to use the blue circle on the top of the bridge.
• Move on towards the event marker – there will be a blue circle that leads to a save point.
• Again – explore everywhere – there are some decent items around!
• Head towards the marker – and save at the save point.
• Head again towards the marker – you’ll come across one of the more difficult bosses – the Garuda Interceptor is by far the toughest battle you’ve faced yet – so getting the right strategy is very important.
• As with many Boss battles in Final Fantasy XIII you get to fight the Garuda Interceptor twice. In the first battle you’ll find that you can easily fill the chain gauge and stagger the Garuda Interceptor pretty quickly. Use healing paradigms where necessary – but you should be OK. In the second battle it is a lot tougher to fill the chain gauge as he has put up some defensive barriers – continue with the same tactic, focusing on the chain gauge and getting him staggered, keep an eye on HP and switch to a healing paradigm as needed. You’ll soon win this battle – this is the toughest battle yet, but don’t get too overconfident – they get a lot harder!
• After this battle you become Snow – you’ll start by fighting some soldiers.
• You’ll come across the Shiva Sisters (Shiva and Nix) – this is a pretty easy battle if you know how to do it! This seems like a tough battle but there is a very simple technique to win this one. Change Snow to Sentinel and use Auto Guard – timing is important; you want to guard when Shiva attacks him. The ‘gauges’ should fill pretty quickly on this battle and allow you to win this one very simply.

And there you are…you’ve finished chapter 3 – you’ve now had experience with the Battle Systems and the paradigms – use of the paradigms becomes very important as you progress through the game. From now on the game becomes more difficult – so take your time, level up your characters and develop some solid strategies that you are comfortable with….