Final Fantasy 13 Guides - Transformation Catalysts for Accessories

The why

Yeah this took me a ridamndiculous amount of time to post up. Sorry about that. For the basics of transformation catalysts see here.

The How

Compiled this list of which accessories are transformed by which catalysts. Also added some basic stats info to help you decide what to upgrade or not. I've posted the list twice. Once sorted by Accessory type (did you know you can safely sell all those damn millirites you have been getting?) and once sorted by Catalyst type. Enjoy ^^

Final Fantasy XIII Guides - Transformation Catalyst Info

Update: 3/22/10
Added Fangs Weapons.

Update: 3/23/10
Added Sazhs and Vanilles weapons.

Update: 3/24/10
Added Snows and Hopes Weapons.

The Why

Every Weapon and accessory in FFXIII can be upgraded through components. (See here for some info) and when you max out their levels, you can upgrade that weapon | accessory into a better form using transformation Catalysts.

But the prices on those Catalysts are obnoxious in FFXIII. So you really can't experiment by buying up weapons and catalysts and seeing what goes where with which.....

The How

So with that in mind, here is a list of weapons and Accessories (not yet ^^) and which Catalyst Items are used to upgrade them.

Weapons

All Weapons Come in a 3 part series. 1 weapon You can buy. A unique version of that weapon it upgrades too. And an ultimate version of that characters weapon type. The Ultimate weapon is always the same, but it's stats are based on the 2 weapons previous in the series the Ultimate came from.

All weapons have max levels. These go 21/41/100 or 26/61/100 in the series. With all Ultimate weapons being capped at 100. You need to get the weapon to this level before you can upgrade. (with the exception of the Ultimates of course.)

For ease of reference. And a handy way of telling if you are pumping tons of Gil into trash, I posted the weapons Max Stats and any special auto abilities the weapon may have. The stats are ordered by Strength then Magic in all cases.

And Finally, I added what Transformation Catalyst (T-C) the item needs to be upgraded to the next highest form.

Final Fantasy XIII Guides - Leonara's Garage and cost effective weapon upgrading.

The Why

If you played FFXIII, and you tried your hand at upgrading weapons and accessories, you know how goddamn unintuitive the whole experience is. Trying to figure out which part gives what XP isn't that much of a problem if you are getting the components as drops from mobs. But once you start shopping for components, your (Ridiculously) hard earned gil starts coming into play. And buying up tons of the wrong part can definitely drain what little money you already have.

The How

With that in mind here are some tips for Minimizing amount of gil spent and maximizing XP. The key thing here is knowing what component does what in general. There are 4 main types of components.

1. Organic: Low xp, Gives XP multipliers.



2. Synthetic: High XP, Removes XP multipliers.



3. Transformation Catalyst: Changes Weapon, accessory to next strongest type when level is maxed (Star where level should be.) Need specific TA to upgrade. (Currently working on a list) Have the list started Here



4. Sale items: Includes Credit Chips and Dolls. Sell them because they give 1-3 xp a pop.

Ok now with the basics down lets get to upgrading. First things first, get that 3x multiplier on your weapon or accessory. You do this by adding organic components to them. Cheapest way to do this, is to go to Creature Comforts and buy 36 sturdy bones. Slap them on your weapon or accessory and you have your multiplier.

Note: you can Get the multiplier as far up as 5x but that requires a ridiculous amount of components. 3x is plenty.

Next comes leveling the weapon. Here is a list of the items sold in Leonara's Garage. (May not be complete, still dicking around in Gran Pulse.)

Lenora's Garage Gil to XP Ratio (Helter-skelter Baseline)
Name	Bought	Sold	XP	X Gil for 1 xp
Amplifier	520	260	108	4.81
Bomb Fragment	430	215	82	5.24
Bomb Core	1200	600	551	2.18
Ceramic Armor	660	330	147	4.49
Crankshaft	840	420	215	3.91
Epicyclic Gear	320	160	66	4.85
Ferroelectric Film	460	230	102	4.51
Fiber-optic Cable	840	420	216	3.89
Insulated Cabling	280	140	65	4.31
Liquid Crystal Lens	320	160	70	4.57
Parafin Oil	320	160	67	4.78
Passive Detector	840	420	188	4.47
Perfect Conductor	1600	800	751	2.13
Piezoelectric Element	840	420	310	2.71
Polymer Emulsion	200	100	48	4.17
Radial Bearing	320	160	64	5.00
Ring Joint	840	420	208	4.04
Silicone Oil	660	330	162	4.07
Superconductor	840	420	400	2.10
Turbojet	840	420	212	3.96

These XP totals where gotten from the Helter-skelter weapon with no Multiplier. The X gil for 1 xp column shows how much gil you spend for 1 point of xp. This will scale with other equipment you upgrade other than the HS. So don't worry if your XP totals are different. Superconductor's are still the best bang for your gil buck on this list. But you may not have access to those right away. (Chapter 10 or 11 I think.) Just pick the lowest Value component in the X gil for xp column you currently have access to. Buy it up, and pop it onto your item.

note: synthetic parts will clobber your XP multipliers so use them in bulk, or you are gonna have to keep using organic items to get back multipliers. Also note That I added bomb cores to the list since I farmed the hell out of those repeating Cie'th stone mission 7. It's a short walk and you get 5 Bomb cores guaranteed. I was using bomb cores as a baseline for my spreadsheet because I had a ton of them.

I'll be updating this list when I unlock more (probably still more) items from Leonara's Garage. Also here is a list of what Transformation Catalysts are used for weapons and accessories.

Topic Shenanigans

Every so often, I like to vent stupid on Gamefaqs.com. It starts off innocently enough. I go there to try and help people out with some of my favorite games. My "good deed of the day" if video game advice counted for that....

But the longer I stay, the more stupid I end up reading. And by virtue of what I am reading, I become stupid myself. (Hell if they aren't gonna take this seriously why should I?)

example:

I'm on the dragon age board and a TC (Topic creator) states. "That dragon looks like a wyvern to me." Now it takes a special type of nerd to enjoy dragon age. A type I am proud to be. The type that can name all the different dragon types from memory. (Oh like there is any difference memorizing dragon families and memorizing baseball stats :/) we are the Tolkien Nerd. Those guys that could recite The Fellowship of the Ring (Book or movie) or recite the Canticle of the Lance. We go nuts for things like Dragon age and spit fiery venom at things like Eragon. So you would think someone who was a fan of DA:O would Know what the hell they where talking about when it comes to dragons.

So, with that, I assumed the TC was just making a joke and decided to go along for the ride. And this list of dragon types popped out of my brain.

• Dragon: 4 legs, set of wings



• Drake: 4 legs, no wings




• Wyvern: 2 legs, set of wings, no arms




• Wyrm: no legs, no wings




• JRPG: 4 legs, set of wings, plasma cannon, may or may not have eyes, gigantic floating symbol on back, feathers (wtf?), may or may not have a young girl in a mini skirt on back or in arms.




• Western Developers: 3 legs 1 is way bigger than the rest, 1 wing, 4 eyes, mask of another dragons face on shoulder, chains(srsly wtf?), maybe a motorcycle built into it's body depending on how high artist was at the time, tail with a mouth on it.

Now I'm currently playing FFXIII And seriously can't wait to see what Bahamut looks like. It's a long standing, spoiler free tradition of mine that harkens back to FFVI. Sometimes I'm disappointed (ff10, where I got most of my JRPG jab from) sometimes I think he bleeds awesome (ff8,9 and 11) sometimes I think he is over doing it (ff7, Orbital beam much?) and sometimes I worry about Square-enix in general. (ff12)

I hope to hell he doesn't look like (or turn into) a train or some nonsense.

Also, in case you thought I pulled the JRPG description out of my ass. (Wouldn't blame you since JRPG's get a lot of needless Flak these days.)
I'm at least fare in my assessments.

Resident Evil 5: Desperate Escape DLC - First 60 Minutes

Random Thoughts

I hope the hell this isn't like last time......

Having to skip the cutscene I saw way back in RE5 means now I don't know why Josh and Jill are together.... Oh like it really matters. Josh: "Hey it's Jill. Lets get the @#$% out of here!" Jill: "OK." If I didn't hit it exactly I came damn close.

Oh good I get to actually fight something this time. And their good old-fashioned Majini.

Lots of Majini.....

Holy crap that's a lot of Majini....

Ok that was a lot of Majini 15 minutes ago, this is Mercenaries on Super Modified Crack Cocai... Oh you have got to be kidding! {My reaction to four, yes four, Chainsaw Majini}

Executor Majini? O.o

Yes Josh, I want you to use the grenade Launcher. No Josh I don't want you to shoot the guys behind you, I'll handle that. Josh.... Josh! Don't make me shoot you Josh! {They really should have just labeled the context B option "Have partner touch grenade launcher for one second."}

Oh good, more executor Majini.

Holy crap it's quiet.... Ok soon as I blast that door open... yep here they come >.<

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
{My reaction to dying for the 5th time running around an area with what seems like infinite spawn Majini, 1 Executor Majini and 3-4 Big Man Majini. Also 2 Grenade Launcher placements right in front of me. Finally figured out to play "run around the storage crate" with the executor till the G launchers take him out. Hurray for Friendly Fire.}

Nice going Capcom, I felt like I was playing "Lets play relaxing RE5 Mercenaries" for the past 50 minutes and now you put the timer up. {Note: "Lets play relaxing" is a series of ROM hacks of old NES games. They're usually of the "Die in first 5 seconds if you don't push something" Variety.}

Gatling Gun Majini? T.T

{Vroom Vroom Vrooooooom}..... more chainsaw Majini..... yaaaay...

Oh screw this, I'm just running around in a corner for 5 minutes. Not Like I'm getting score for extending my time.

Or have the ability to extend..... my...... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
{My reaction to Doug saying he has to find an alternate route, thus adding 2 minutes to the timer.}

{Cue last Gatling Gun Majini} I don't even care anymore. T.T

{Cue final Cutscene. Note spoilers I guess} Ah Doug, you are probably the Only none dead RE series Helicopter pilo{kaboom}.... Apparently, rockets in the RE Universe are helicopter pilot seeking. {Seriously Figured he'd live since he's your pilot for Mercenaries. Oh well, he knew the risks, and the body count, of being a helicopter pilot in RE5. Seriously think they kill one every 1 and 1/2 games on average.}

Retrospect

I actually enjoyed this more than Lost In Nightmares. If for no other reason than you actually fight. Ok you fight a lot. And goddamn do I mean a lot. If you never played the mercenaries portion of RE5 you are gonna be in for a shock. It's insanity from the getgo and just gets increasingly worse. It's basically a bastard child OF RE5 and Mercenaries. It requires exploration, but there are a ton of Majini on your ass. You need to kill a ton of Majini, but need to do exploration to get to new areas.

Thankfully there are plenty of ammo pickups, but health is a bit on the "oh come on already" side. And the bosses... 8 Chainsaw Majini, 4 Executor Majini, and 2 Gatling Gun Majini. (There might even be more if you kill too many Majini in an area. That was a device of Mercenaries.) Surprisingly though, the Game was chalenging but never aggravating. (Yeah I curse a lot while dying.... and seeing what Capcom was throwing at me next. But I did enjoy myself.)

Which is another big difference between this and LiN. Those Lamprey monsters where just made of pure cheese. And taking your weapons from you was a bullcrap move to end all bullcrap moves. Thankfully, nothing like that happens this time around.

So all and all another worthwhile DLC from Capcom. If you have to choose one, definitely go Desperate Escape. For where as LiN Was more a nostalgic experience, DE Actually feels like a game. And one thats gonna Kick your ass if you haven't played Mercenaries in a year.

Deadly Premonition - Full Review - 6.0/10

Summary

Survival Horror murder mystery set in a small town. Kinda like Shenmue meets Resident Evil 4 meets Silent Hill. Could have done much better Just sticking with the Sandbox aspects.

Synopsis

This game seems to be very polarizing at the moment. You either love it or hate it and neither opinion makes much sense.

On the one hand, we have those who hate it. Who look at a 20 dollar title and say "THIS MUST BE GREATEST GFX EVER OR TIS TEH SUX!!!!". These are mostly graphicwhore gamers who are probably better off with a blue ray player and a CG movie with a very well thought out interactive menu. Whether or not they hit pause is the most complex decision they feel safe making.

On the other hand, we have gamers who love things that are not mainstream, just because they are not mainstream. Forgiving whatever flaws this game has based solely on the fact that it didn't come from a big company. This is a form of unqualified elitism that can be best surmised as "Everyone but me is dumb. So if everyone likes it, it must be crap. I like things nobody else likes to be Awesome."

Of course, applying either of these All or Nothing Philosophies to Deadly Premonition is a great way to make yourself look the fool. You either seem like an easily distracted 12 year old with unlimited access to mommy and daddies Credit card. Or you seem like you're freakin crazy when you get caught saying things like "this games gameplay is better then RE5's." or "The combat isn't that bad." So taking a valid, Middle road (ie realistic) approach to this game is really the way to go.

To start us off, lets talk about the worst part. The combat sequences. Their just a heaping helping of horrible suck that all begins with your camera. The game pretends that the rightstick is a camera control right up until it snaps back to the default position upon letting go of the stick. Like some messed up practical joke. Jesus, that is freakin disorienting. And why do this? Leftstick move, rightstick look... why is this so goddamn hard for developers to not play around with. Did they really have to make their over the shoulder gameplay that different from RE5? Did they honestly fool anyone? We all still know where you got the gameplay from so don't make it almost unplayable. And it's a minor gripe, but breaking up the exploration and combat camera's in the options menu meant moving the camera up instead of down my first battle.... (thanks Swery :/)

Speaking of which, the cameras movement itself is finicky as all hell. I ended up aiming at the ceiling half the time. Then the damn floor the other half. Until, of course, I started using auto target. But because of the shittacular camera, going for headshots is pretty much tapping the leftstick in the general direction you want to shoot bullets at. Hoping what you aimed at didn't move too much. (Sometimes they randomly stand there.....) Then tapping back into the correct position. Then hoping to hell the camera decides to cooperate through the whole ordeal. An exercise in tap and pray gameplay. If you are praying to the trickster god Loki of course.

Once you have mastered the intricacies of tap and pray, you realize that the combat mechanics themselves suck ass. Most of the time it feels like you are hitting air. There is very little feedback to let you know you are actually causing damage. Sure, headshots feel like you actually did something, but body shots, for the most part, splatter purple paint all over till something drops.

And what the hell is with all the QTE going on here. There are entire sequences of nothing but QTE. Like the game decided I can't figure out how to runaway on my own. I crap you not, there is a 5 minute long Quick time event where you have to run from the "Raincoat Killer" (tm?) that requires you to waggle the leftstick the whole damn time. Broken up occasionally by some of the most unhurried animations possible for opening doors or climbing obstacles. Picture it, Desperately running away. Followed by opening a door, looking left, looking right, walking past door and waiting for it to close behind you. Then, DESPERATELY RUNNING AWAY AGAIN! I can't tell if the Gameplay needs consistency or York needs bipolar Meds.

And finally.... and this is the last bad I have to say about the game, the shadows.... for something I was so damn impressed by at first (See here) These came across sorely disappointing. They sound horrid, they move horrid and they just come across as utterly thrown together. Like something that needed to be shoehorned into the game at the last second.

And that pretty much sums up the combat experience, shoehorned in to appease somebody. It's almost as if the developers just weren't confident in there oddball detective game and decided they needed to add survival horror elements in there to make it into a game. And there is very little survival (Infinite ammo weapons to start?) nor Horror (are you older than 5? than you can't be afraid of the shadows.) But, as I will get into in the second section, there is a perfectly fine oddball detective game in DP. No Silent-evil-tower (Resident-clock-hill?) needed.

Deadly Premonition - First 60 Minutes

Random Thoughts

Very long but surprisingly cool opening CS. (Should I count it for the F60M?)

Tom and Jerry in an Sado-Masochism relationship? Ok I love the writing to this game so far. XD

.....did those.... did those chipmunks|squirrels|whatevers just screech like monkeys?

.... is he swallowing smoke!?

Where the hell is the light coming from... it says flash light.... looks like he is holding it in his mouth.... or has he magic glowing nipples?

The hell is wrong with this camera?

Oh look it's the creepy woman from the screen shot.... the exact same screen shot. Is she trying to rip out my tongue?

.... seriously, the camera controls suck.

why is their blood purple.... wait a minute {Goes into options screen to check blood option} yep ok.... lets turn it OFF I guess and.... Green? ok back to purple.....

"Don't Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiil MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Amazing."

".... Don't want to diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!"

"Don't Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiil MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Amazing."

".... Don't want to diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!"

"Don't Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiil MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Amazing."

".... Don't want to diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!"

Yeah combat isn't getting old...... :/

Most horrifying thing about this game so far is the camera controls....

Oh good! Quick time events with catastrophic failure. ^^ My favorite.......

{runs through area again}

Oh good! Quick time events with changing button layout and catastrophic failure. ^^ My favorite.......

{runs through area AGAIN}

Is that a cookie or a muffin I just got for my first achievement?

Retrospect

Well, I said back in my looking forward that this game had to prove otherwise on my Survival Horror Sandbox theory.... It did. There is neither survival (Infinite Handgun ammo? Lulz) nor horror in this game. Unless you count constant, repetitive, badly dubbed, low tempo moaning as frighting. The camera controls are terrifyingly bad though.

However, right after the combat, I got right into the sandbox portion. And after playing the game proper for a little bit the investigation part seems rather interesting. I'll get back with a full review in a few days.