Overview:
+ Estimated achievement difficulty: 7/10
+ Offline: 35/35 (1,000/1,000)
+ Online: 0/35 (0/1,000)
+ Approximate time to 1000: 75 -100 hours
+ Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
+ Glitched achievements: 0
+ Missable achievements: 1 (Treasure Hunter)
+ Do cheats disable achievements: No
+ Does difficulty affect achievements: No
+ Extra equipment required: None

Introduction:
Welcome to Final Fantasy XIII, the game has 35 achievements with a total gamerscore of 1000. As with most RPGs the achievements are fairly straight forward however they are not easy to unlock and a lot of grinding is involved. The only missable achievement in the game is Treasure Hunter. Throughout the game you will acquire elemental rings and charms like the gale ring and fire charm. These are items that increase your elemental resistance, DO NOT sell any of these items EVER! None of them can be purchased from a shop. If you sell a ring without upgrading it you will not be able reach its tier 2 and 3 forms which are required for the achievement, keep every one you find to ensure you do not miss the achievement and need to do a 2nd playthorugh. However if you do make the mistake of selling one, a fully upgraded charm will dismantle into its relevant tier 1 form ring. For example an ice charm will dismantle into a frost ring.

I would strongly recommend you make a checklist for all items and accessories to tick them off as you go along to help you keep track, also try your hardest not to sell any items, as you can keep them all to make the achievement easier later on. If you need Gil try to grind enemies that drop high value items. Mission seven is a great money maker with a save point, mission mark next to the mission stone and the enemy drops items worth up to 45,000 Gil.

The rest of the achievements can be unlocked at any point after beating the final boss and saving your game (the save will take you back to your last save before the final boss.)

Playthrough Summary:
During your playthrough of the game you will automatically unlock 13 story related achievements.

Once you arrive in Gran Pulse in Chapter 11 you will be able to start working on the rest of the achievements, and have access to missions which unlock as you progress the story and complete other missions. Once you complete mission 14 you will be able to ride Chocobos, when on the Archylte Steppe you can treasure hunt with you Chocobo. After finding 20 treasures and receiving the ribbon you will unlock Gysahl Wreath. Try to complete mission 55 (neochu) as early as you can to get your hands on the growth egg, an item which when equipped earns you double CP. If you use Vanille's death spell to take down neochu in one hit you will unlock Limit Breaker, otherwise you can wait until you have a genji glove and deal over 100k damage in a single hit. Use your libra ability and librascope items on every enemy you encounter during the game, you will unlock Loremaster after 100 enemies have all stats revealed in the datalog. When you arrive at Oerba village search for a robot named Bhakti, complete his side quest of collecting items to unlock Pulsian Pioneer. When fighting the final boss, on the 3rd final (and easiest) form aim for a 5 star rating to unlock Superstar. If you missed the 5 stars don’t worry you can try again at any point later when you have a more advanced party.

Once you have cleared the game you will next want to start working your way through any remaining missions you have not yet done. While doing this you will at times need to grind your stats to level up your characters abilities in order to easily take down some of the more difficult mission marks (please refer to the achievement guide for a great grinding location.)

Once you have completed all missions you will have unlocked the relevant 7 achievements or 8 if you received a 5 star rating on them all. If not, you will have the gold watch item after beating the final mark. This item will extend the target time for each battle, so you can use this for getting 5 stars on your remaining missions to unlock L’Cie Paragon. By this point all your characters should be fully maxed out and you will have unlocked the 7 achievements for doing so. Now for your next achievement. You are going to kill a very strong enemy called a Long Gui. They replace the Adamantoise on the Archylte Steppe once you have completed all the missions that are located together in a shape of a ring. Once you have defeated one you will unlock Adamant Will, please see the achievement guide for a very effective method.

The final achievement you should need is Treasure Hunter, you should have pretty much every accessory by now so have a look at your checklist and collect or upgrade any remaining accessories you need. Now it’s on to weapons, the best thing to do is concentrate on one character at a time. Each character only needs one tier 3 Ultimate Weapon, so choose carefully which tier 2 weapon you want to upgrade for each character. A great help to this is the adamantoise at Leviathan Plaza in Eden. He drops platinum ingots which sell for 150,000 Gil each and trapezohedron which is the catalyst you need to upgrade weapons from tier 2 to ultimate status. He has a save point directly next to him, so just keep fighting him repeatedly, and if you don’t receive an item after the battle just reload the game and try again, equip a collectors catalog or connoisseur catalog to improve your chances of a drop. Now here’s a sweet little trick to the achievement, grind enough to get 3 characters weapons set complete and save your game. Now sell all your accessories and items, only keep you components and genji gloves. Doing this should get you almost 2 million Gil. Now sell all the weapons for the characters you have already upgraded just for some extra cash. You should have most the catalyst components anyway, so the only thing you should need to buy is some sturdy bones for a 3x exp (use 36) and the 50,000 Gil conductors. You can also dismantle a fully upgraded genji glove to get a free trapezohedron, Fang and Vanille's ultimate weapons also dismantle a trapezohedron as well. Now just complete another characters weapons, then sell those, and repeat the process until all your characters weapons are at max. Then go back to Oerba Village and visit Bhakti to unlock the achievement, then reload after to get your items back that you sold.

Conclusion:
It's a great game with a great story, and once you receive your 1000 after many hours of grinding, it's well worth the work. Now enjoy the gamer pictures you have unlocked.

[X360A would like to thank xentaria for the road map]

Final Fantasy XIII Achievement Guide

Printable Guide
Show completed achievements
Show secret achievements

There are 35 achievements with a total of 1000 points

  • Mastered the Commando role.

    See Master’s Seal for more info.

    Reach Role Lv. 5 in the Attacker Role.

    Note: that Role Lv. 5 is only accessible with the Lv. 10 Crystallium, which does not become available until after the final boss has been defeated.

  • Mastered the Ravager role.

    See Master’s Seal for more info.

    Reach Role Lv. 5 in the Blaster Role.

    Note: that Role Lv. 5 is only accessible with the Lv. 10 Crystallium, which does not become available until after the final boss has been defeated.

  • Mastered the Sentinel role.

    See Master’s Seal for more info.

    Reach Role Lv. 5 in the Defender Role.

    Note: that Role Lv. 5 is only accessible with the Lv. 10 Crystallium, which does not become available until after the final boss has been defeated.

  • Mastered the Saboteur role.

    See Master’s Seal for more info.

    Reach Role Lv. 5 in the Jammer Role.

    Note: that Role Lv. 5 is only accessible with the Lv. 10 Crystallium, which does not become available until after the final boss has been defeated.

  • Mastered the Synergist role.

    See Master’s Seal for more info.

    Reach Role Lv. 5 in the Enhancer Role.

    Note: that Role Lv. 5 is only accessible with the Lv. 10 Crystallium, which does not become available until after the final boss has been defeated.

  • Mastered the Medic role.

    See Master’s Seal for more info.

    Reach Role Lv. 5 in the Healer Role.

    Note: that Role Lv. 5 is only accessible with the Lv. 10 Crystallium, which does not become available until after the final boss has been defeated.

  • Dealt 100,000+damage with a single attack.

    There are two ways this can be done. One is using a Genji glove (obtained from missions 51, 62 and 63) with Fang. Stagger an enemy and drive it's stagger percentage up with two Ravagers. If her strength is high enough and her weapon strong enough, she will easily be able to hit over 100k.

    The second way is to use Bahamut, Fang's eidolon. While controling Fang, get an enemies stagger bar up to about halfway, then summon Bahamut. Fight alongside him for as long as possible, so you can get the enemy staggered and raise your Gestalt meter at the same time. Once the enemy is staggered, press to use Megaflare. This should deal over 100,000 damage. If the enemy doesn't die from the attack, just finish the battle as normal and the achievement should unlock at the end.

    A popular place to do this is the Archlyte Steppe - Northern Highplain, just before the entrance to Mah'habara. The two enemies fighting there will enable you to get an easy pre-emptive strike. The Behemoth has a stagger of 850% so should be easy to hit over 100k on when staggered.

  • Felled a heavyweight of the lowerworld wilds.

    This enemy can be found on the Archlyte Steppe after you have completedthe circle of Cie'th missions in the same area. It is extremely tough, so you will need a supremely advanced party. The following tips will enable you to triumph against this creature. Use Shrouds before the battle.

    • Use Infiltration (SAB + SAB + SAB) to weaken both legs.
    • Use Relentless Assault to disable the legs.
    • Use Infiltration to weaken the knocked down Long Gui. Ensure that Poison is active.
    • Use Relentless Assault to stagger and inflict maximum damage on your target.
    • Switch to Tortoise (SEN + SEN + SEN) as the creature climbs back to its feet to better resist the powerful attacks that follow.
    • Heal with Salvation (MED+MED+MED) and refresh your buffs with Rapid Growth (SYN+SYN+SNY).
    • In case of emergency, summon your Eidolon. This will not only instantly disable both legs, but also heal your party.
    • If you have Elixirs in your inventory, these can be used to turn the tide of the battle. As they both fully heal the party and restore your TP gauge, they will enable you to summon your Eidolon one more time. This will prvide you with another free knockdown and full healing for your party.
  • Fully developed all characters.

    For this, you must max out every role for every character. This will take millions of CP to achieve. While that sounds like a long, drawn out task, it's really not. If you complete mission 55 you'll be awarded with a Growth egg. This accessory gives you 2x CP for all your characters so long as it's equipped on an active party member.

    Mission 55 is quite hard and can be beaten with just patience. The following setup is advised for beating it.

    Party: Vanille (leader), Snow, Hope.
    Also make sure you have the following Paradigms

    1: Saboteur / Sentinel / Medic
    2: Ravager / Sentinel / Ravager
    3: Medic / Sentinel / Medic


    Neochu isn't immune to Vanille's Death spell, so start off the fight with paradigm #1. Having the Malboro Wand for Vanille during this fight is almost essential. Snow, having the highest HP, will be distracting all the little Ochu's with Hope healing him. This leaves you to keep spamming Death on Neochu. It has a low probablity, but just keep trying. If your health get's too low, switch to paradigm #3, heal up then go back to #1.

    Once Neochu is dead, switch between paradigms #2 and #3 as needed to finish off the small ones.

    Now that you have your Growth Egg, you'll need somewhere worthwhile to train. See this thread for tips on some of the best training areas.

     

  • Held every weapon and accessory.

    All weapons and accessories only have to have been in your inventory at some point during the game. You do not have to keep them unless they upgrade into something else you need for the achievement (Aqua Ring -> Riptide -> Nereid, for example). Once you think you have/had all the items, speak to Bahkti. (refer to Pulsian Pioneer for the Bahkti mini-quest)

    Also, you're not required to upgrade every weapon to it's tier 3 form. Instead, upgrade them all to tier 2 and pick just one for each character that you'd like to be tier 3 (eg: Lightning's Omega Weapon). This will save you a lot of time and money.

    The elemental rings can only be obtained two ways; one is from finding them in treasure spheres, the other is dismantling their respective charm. Be warned, if you sell your rings and charms, you have void yourself of this achievement.

    The following missions will award you with certain elemental rings.
    • Mission 06 - Fulmen ring (tier 2 Spark)
    • Mission 11 - Frost ring
    • Mission 27 - Blaze ring (tier 2 Ember)
    • Mission 39 - Siltstone ring (tier 2 Clay)
    • Mission 52 - Gale ring (tier 2 Zephyr)
    • Mission 53 - Blaze ring (tier 2 Ember)
    • Sulyya Springs [Treasure Sphere] - Riptide ring (tier 2 Aqua)

    All the charms are found in treasure spheres on the Archlyte Steppe.

    Accessories List
    Weapon List

  • Discerned the full attributes of 100 enemies.

    This will come naturally over time as you fight enemies. However you can speed up the process by using either Libra (targets single enemy, uses 1 TP) or Librascope (targets all enemies, is an item) to discern all the enemies stats, immunities and weaknesses. You can check your progress by pressing and going into the enemy intel section of the datalog. Completed enemies will have a check mark next to them.

    Using the TP ability Libra as well as Librascopes will hasten the scanning progress. You should expect this achievement to come through natural play.

 

Secret achievements

  • Took the first steps toward challenging an unjust fate.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 1.

  • Survived the Purge to confront a greater peril.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 2.

  • Strode into danger's den and paid the consequences.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 3.

  • Slipped through the net and lived to fight the day.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 4.

  • Resolved to be more than a victim of circumstance,

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 5.

  • Evaded pursuers, though memories of the past still gave chase.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 6.

  • Made plans to infiltrate enemy-occupied territory.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 7.

  • Carried the burden of guilt to the end of the line.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 8.

  • Took the fight to the enemy's door.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 9.

  • Recognized the true threat to the world's future.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 10.

  • Traveled to the world below, seeking a way to alternate fate.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 11.

  • Defied destiny's charge and embarked on a different path.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock towards the beginning of Chapter 12.

  • Witnessed the dawn of a new crystal legend.

    This is a story related achievement, which will unlock with natural progression through the game.

    It will unlock at the end of Chapter 13.

  • Took over 10,000 steps on the lowerworld surface

    In Chapter 11, you can do a side quest in Oerba Village to repair a robot named Pakuti. Go find the items needed to repair him from around the village (they will appear as a “?” when approached), and one piece will come from killing some creatures. Then return to him. If you have walked the necessary amount of steps, you will receive the achievement. If not, keep walking around and just talk to him later on in the game.

  • Discovered buried treasure with a little help from a chocobo.

    Before you can actually ride a Chocobo, you must do missions 01-14. Mission 14 itself unlocks the ability to ride them. As you're riding around the Archlyte Steppe on your feathered friend, you might notice an exclamation point pop up from his head - that indicates that there's treasure nearby. Follow the direction the Chocobo's head is facing and you'll be directed to the buried treasure.

    There are two types of treasure you might find while on your Chocobo. They are as follows:

    1: Infinite treasure (respawn each time you re-enter the area)
    12.84% – Millerite
    12.84% – Rhodochrosite
    12.65% – Cobaltite
    10.19% – Chocobo Plume
    9.94% – Chocobo Tail Feather
    9.52% – Gold Dust
    8.04% – Dawnlight Dew
    7.55% – Dusklight Dew
    6.32% – Gold Nugget
    5.00% – Moogle’s Doll
    4.75% – Plush Chocobo

    2: Milestone treasure (after digging a certain number of times)
    Gold Nugget (1x)
    Tetradic Crown (5x)
    Tetradic Tiara (10x)
    Entite Ring (15x)
    Ribbon (20x)

    For the achievement, you must find 20 peices of treasure. Once you find the Ribbon, the achievement will unlock. For possible treasure locations, use this map.

    Note: There will only be five active treasure spots each time you enter the Archlyte Steppe.

  • Completed all low-level Cie'th Stone missions.

    See L'Cie Paragon for more info.

    You will earn this achievement after completing all Rank D missions, which are: #1-5.

  • Completed all mid-level Cie'th Stone missions.

    See L'Cie Paragon for more info.

    You will earn this achievement after completing all Rank C missions, which are: #6-15, 18-22, 28, 35-37, 39, and 56-57.

  • Completed all high-level Cie'th Stone missions.

    See L'Cie Paragon for more info.

    You will earn this achievement after completing all Rank B missions, which are: #16, 17, 23-27, 29-34, 38, 40, 42, 43, 47, 50, 54, and 58.

  • Completed all Cie'th Stone missions.

    See L'Cie Paragon for more info.

    You will earn this achievement after completing all 64 of the Cie’th Stone missions. You will have to do all the Rank A missions for this achievement, which are: #51-53, 55, 59-64.

  • Earned a 5-star ranking for all Cie'th Stone missions.

    For this achievement, you will need to earn a 5-star ranking for all 64 of the Cie’th Stone Missions. Many of these missions will come quite easily, while some can be very challenging.

    For lower difficulty missions, you will want your characters to be Role Lv. 5 in their 3 main roles. For the higher difficulty missions, make sure you characters are at max role levels for all 6 roles and are equipped with tier 3 ultimate weapons.

    There are a few items that you will want to get before attempting: Fang’s “Lance of Kain” (Highwind), Vanille’s “Nirvana” & “Marlboro Wand” (magic accuracy for Death). “Dash Shoes” give auto-haste, which will give you an advantage.

    Make use of smoke abilities to try to sneak attack and get preemptive strikes. They will give you a significant advantage. Also make sure you make use of Vanille’s Death spell, which can insta-hit kill enemies (low accuracy), and Lucky Break, which will randomly inflict Break Status on your enemy, however it is unreliable.

    Lucky Break:

    • Equip character with a Tier 1 or Tier 2 weapon that is "Break Disabled."
    • Equip character with one of the following accessories: Accel Sash, Energy Sash, Easy Choice.
    • Lucky Break" will appear in the character's list of latent abilities.

    Mission 55:

     
    The Cheap Tactic -

    Neochu isn't immune to Vanille's Death, and can be used to kill him off quickly. To do this, it is imperative she has either Nirvana or Malboro Wand, and if at all possible, 2000+ Magic Stat. Using smoke to get a preemptive strike will also help. When the battle starts, spam Death until he dies, then switch to Optima #2 or Optima #3 and kill any enemies remaining. The video shows a successful execution of this tactic.

    Mission 64:
     
     
    Leader: Fang (Lance of Kain, Dash Shoes)
    Member #1: Vanille (Nirvana or Malboro Wand, Dash Shoes)
    Member #2: Hope (Nue, Dash Shoes)

    Paradigm #1: Saboteur/Saboteur/Sentinel(Default Paradigm)
    Paradigm #2: Commando/Medic/Sentinel
    Paradigm #3: Medic/Medic/Medic
    Paradigm #4: Synergist/Synergist/Synergist
    Paradigm #5: Sentinel/Sentinel/Sentinel

    Power Smoke, Barrier Smoke, and when the battle starts, make sure to stick Bio and De-Protect on him. Because of his high HP, Bio will do significant amounts of damage and should be kept on him at all times, especially since he'll heal himself in between rounds. Once those two debuffs are on, switch to Optima #2 and attack with Fang until he switches to his defensive mode. At this point, switch to Optima #3 to heal yourself and then Optima #4 to rebuff. Then the cycle starts over from the beginning: Stick Bio/De-Protect, then attack him with Fang while one member acts as Defender and the other is healing him/her at all times. Once the boss falls under ~9 Mil. HP, he'll throw a massive attack into the mix which will significantly damage all members; at this point, as you did in the Long Gui battle, switch everyone to Optima #5 (Defender/Defender/Defender), then switch back to wherever you were in the Optima #1-4 cycle previously.
  • Triumphed over undying lowerworld souls in seven fierce battles.

    See L'Cie Paragon for more info.

    For this achievement, you will have to complete Cie’th Stone Missions #7, 12, 27, 30, 34, 51, and 64.

  • Toppled a green terror and cut an oversized succulent down to size.

    See L'Cie Paragon for more info.

    For this achievement, you will have to complete Cie’th Stone Mission #54.

  • Passed Titan's trials.

    See L'Cie Paragon for more info.

    For this achievement, you will have to complete Cie’th Stone Missions #35-51.

  • Earned a 5-star ranking in the battle to determine the world's fate.

    The final boss of the game has three forms, the third strangely enough being the easiest. It is possible to achieve a 5 star rating your first try although it can be quite difficult if you're not sure what to do.

    This boss is immune to all damage until staggered and has an attack that will remove all buffs and debuffs. Lightning, Hope and Fang are a great team for this, with the following paradigms:

    1: Commando / Ravager / Commando
    2: Ravager / Ravager / Commando
    3: Commando / Synergist / Saboteur

    4: Medic / Medic / Sentinel - Optional Paradigm

    Start off the fight with paradigm #3. Hope should give you Haste and Protect, while Fang proceeds to cast Deprotect, Deshell and Imperil. These are all you should need. After that, switch to paradigm #2 and begin to drive up the stagger bar to near full, at which point you'll want to switch to #1. Although both Lightning and Fang can use Launch on Orphan, it will still attack regardless.

    Press on with your attacks and it should die with just over a minute on the clock. My target time was 01:58, but I believe it depends on how developed your characters are. If you think you're not killing it fast enough, don't be afraid to retry; you'll start at that fight instead of having to fight the previous two forms.

    You can come back and do these three fights again once you've completed the game.

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