Well finally got my paycheck and bought ff13.

Up to chapter 5 atm.

Anyone got any tips?

Just keep going and enjoy the ride till chapter 11. The game starts to open up then.

no upgrade of weapons needed, just keep going on till chap 11

while its not needed, makes the game a whole lot easier. If you find yourself wanting to do this just spread out upgrades though, having one character with a * tier 2 weapon isnt as efficient as a entire team with * tier 1 weapons. Dont sell doctor codes, as they are the only way to get elixirs, and if you are going for treasure hunter keep a list of items you've upgraded up to save future headaches. all i can think of atm without giving spoilers (unless i have already ) cheers!

this chapter 11 and beyond is when it opens up, otherwise 1-10 is pretty linear

naa man just started

so i shouldnt level any weapons till like chap 11?

At least. You won't even have enough gil to do any upgrades until then. I should point out, though, that you don't even need to upgrade much to beat the game. I believe I upgraded Lightning's weapon to second tier * just to mess around with the system, but then I had to beat the game and return it. I got 5 stars on the last boss pretty easily without upgrading more than that, so it's not that tough. Upgrading is more for beating all of the missions in Chapter 11, which end up being the toughest part of the game.

/e You can wait until after you beat the game to do upgrades if you want to hurry and beat it. You can keep doing missions after the game's over.

This post was edited by LoadstoneKnight on Apr 20 2010 01:18pm

Alrite cool thanks dude

dont sell any accessories you don't see in the shops... i.e. ele charms/rings/catalogs...

pretty much don't sell anything that doesn't say at the top of the screen, "...this will sell at a premium!"

things to sell, credit chips, incentive chips, moogle puppet, cactuar doll, plush chocobo, perfume, gold dust, gold nugget & platinum ingot, all of which say at the top of the screen, "...this will sell at a premium!"

as for upgrading, its a good idea not to upgrade anything when you first unlock the upgrading option.... weapons that you can upgrade (because they are the best weapons) Taming pole for fang/rigels for sazh/lionheart for light/umbra for snow/belladonna for vanille/hawkeye for hope.
accessories that you will eventually need to upgrade anyways would be warriors fist/sorcerer's seal/diamond bangle, all of these require expensive components to upgrade to final tier... might as well start on them early...

when upgrading, (always save before upgrading/buying stuff.) use 36x Barbed tails to get to x3 multiplier... then use superconductors to level it up (use as many of these as needed to reach max level, if you use too many, reload from last save)
once you become rich, to level weapons you want to use Ultra Compact reactors instead of superconductors...

here are some good links to guides.

ff-13.info/accessory/

gamefaqs.com/console/ps3/file/928790/59358

gamesradar.com/f/final-fantasy-xiii-cieth-stone-missions-guide/a-2010031011391394090

and here are some images of weapons..







This post was edited by MrSleepin on Apr 27 2010 10:55am