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Today, I want to cover a few short tips on crystarium so you don’t have the same dumb mistakes I did while experienced the game. I promise it’ll be story spoiler-free.

After four days of grinding through this game, I am finally done! No, I’m not some gaming maniac… I’m a full time grad student with good grades and work part-time. This game was smooth and easy to get through so the last 15 hours didn’t feel long at all…

This is not an in-depth guide. It will not tell you stat-by-stat. I am only giving simple guidelines.

Starting off, there really is no way to screw up completely in spending your CP (But there is no way to change or go back.). You can still make it through the game if you didn’t pick the “best path”. Also, I thought it was weird that I only have to press buttons to level up instead of pushing the analog towards the right “node” like in FFXIII but I got used to it and now I love this system so much more. However, I still miss trying to hit the high note sound  when I spend a lot of CP in FFXIII.

First things first, you’ve leveled a few times, getting used to the new Crystarium system… Hey, they’re telling you to pick a bonus! You can increase ATB Gauge, Accessory capacity, Bonus for role or Unlock role… How do you even know what to choose?! I’d say to hit all of your ATB gauges first as the roles can be replaced by monster for now. ATB gauges are your actions. More actions = you do more stuff to win.

Why become a medic?
In short, they both can be Medics but Noel has better skills.

We how that Serah should be a medic, by why Noel too? To be honest, you’re going to need heals eventually and your monster heals are just not enough. While Serah could be a better medic because of her magic potential, Noel got the better genes and got all the group heals. Therefore in emergency situations, I’d recommend having Noel switch to a medic. You should also focus on at least one medic before moving on to getting Synergist or Saboteur roles.

The next question is, Synergist or Saboteur?
In short. Serah should be SAB. Noel should be SYN.

Both characters are available for these roles. If you are like me, I always thought that Serah is the kind and innocent one so she should naturally be the Synergist and Noel should be the opposite. WRONG. Don’t be like me and notice this when you get your Synergist role to lvl 67 on Serah.

Turns out, Serah is the better Sabo and Noel is a better Syn because his Sabo skills are AoE and Serah… well, she wastes time. Always read your potential skills for each character at the lower right when you check their Crystarium to determine what roles they play better. Serah and Noel learns different skills. Lastly, you will never learn Haste. (I cried) The only way to get haste is with a preemptive attack. (Or maybe one of the many monster may have this but I haven’t approached one yet.)

Does role level matter?

Honestly? I don’t think so. All it does is tell you how far you’ve gone on that role and what type of development you focused on. You also achieve skills depending on your level in each role. Each node for each role gives you a certain stat buff. For instance, gaining a level in the Sentinel role would give you HP. I didn’t care for having a Sentinel in my party but I put a few points into Sentinel just to get more HP so the kids would stop being chewed up by the big bad monsters.

Usually, I focus on obtaining all the skills I want in a certain role then see what stats I want to increase per character. If I want more attack, I use Commando. If I want magic, I go Ravager. Serah is level 76 Rav and Noel is level 97 Com but they are in no way weaker than one another. They just have different stats. Currently, my Serah gets beat up a lot so I’m going to go Sen on the next few level ups so she can get more HP.