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Instrument of Truth achievement in FFXIII

Instrument of Truth

Recognized the true threat to the world's future.

Instrument of Truth0
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How to unlock the Instrument of Truth achievement

  • Tremelopick90Tremelopick90
    15 Mar 2010 16 Mar 2010 16 Mar 2010
    Complete chapter 09 and reach Chapter 10

    To do this you must work your way to the checkpoint at the end of the bridge access. Once you reach the bridge you face a Fal'Cie by the name of Barthandelus.

    Preparation
    Items: Librascope x1

    Party: From left to right on menu screen, Lightning, Hope, Fang.

    Paradigms: Relentless Assault (RAV-RAV-COM)
    Solidarity (COM-MED-SEN)
    Diversity (RAV-MED-COM)
    Bully (COM-SYN-SAB)
    Hero's Charge (MED-SYN-COM)

    Accessories: If you have not been collecting treasure spheres on your travels you might need to buy from the shop some of these accessories.
    Lightning - Tungsten Bangles x2
    Hope - Shaman's Mark, Gold Bangle (the Gold bangle can be found in a treasure sphere in the bridge access area on a platform to right of the platform the save checkpoint is just before you fight the boss at the end of this chapter)
    Fang - Brawlers Wristband

    Crystarium: It would be wise to make sure you have reached the 3rd level role level crystals for Lightning, Hope, and Fang. If you have not done so it would probably be best to Grind for CP in the Bridge Access area.

    The Fight:
    You will Be facing a Fal'Cie named Barthandelus who has an insane amount of HP for this point of the game and has the capabilities to wipe out your entire team with one attack if your not careful.
    as soon as the battle starts you will notice that besides the main head there are also 4 additional upside down heads. each one of these heads must be destroyed to reduce overall strength and frequency of attacks also destroying the 4 pieces of armor causes lose of damage resistance and blanket immunity to status ailments. Start by switching to Bully paradigm to bestow protective buffs. While Hope is buffing up your party use librascope to discern the elemental weaknesses of each upside head. Once hope is finished quickly switch to Diversity to both Heal and attack each of the heads. Whenever you feel safe enough, switch to Relentless Assault to speed things along. Once you have defeated the outer armor or shell you can start attacking the main target. Switch between Relentless Assault and Diversity as needed until you are able to stagger. Once staggered the you have 2 choices, you summon Odin and knock out a chunk of health now using auto Gestalt or save him for a latter time and continue to use Relentless Assault. After the first Stagger Barthandelus will use an attack called Destrudo. This attack has the capabilities to wipe out your entire party if your not paying attention and will reset the stagger bar even if already staggered. When you see the prompt on the screen that says Destrudo quickly switch to the Hero's Charge paradigm. With the Hero's Charge paradigm you have 25 seconds to manually heal every one's HP so that every one is in the green (preferably full health) once every one is of good health immediately switch to Solidarity to reduce the amount of damage you take from this attack also you should see Hope heal Lightning during her greatest need after the attack. Once Lightning is healed to at least the yellow switch to diversity to further heal and do damage to the boss switching to Relentless Assault to speed things along when felling safe enough.
    Towards the end Barthandelus may or may not cast the incurable Doom status on the party leader but don't freak out, the doom status actually allows you time to finish the fight.

    Rinse and repeat the process until the boss is defeated.

    GOOD LUCK!

    NOTE: Depending on how quick you are with paradigm shifts and how aggressive you are with your attacks, the Doom status will ultimately decide your fate the second it is cast.
    I myself had to fight Barthandelus a second time because of the Doom status that killed me. The second time around however Barthandelus did not cast doom.

    Watch a couple cutscenes then the cheivo should pop.

    Guide not helping? View 2 more guides for this achievement.

    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    RianFLI had problems beating Barthandelus, failing due to either his super-attack that crippled my party, or the Doom spell. My biggest error was healing everyone up as soon as Destrudo was cast by using a MED/SYN/SEN and wait for impending doom. After the attack, I had to start filling up the stagger bar from scratch, which didn't give me enough time to fill it up completely before the next attack. After half an hour or so of trial and error, he cast the Doom spell which was about 2-3 minutes too soon.

    My advise now is to keep using a COM/RAV/MED for 2 strikes - which should fill up the bar to around 30%, then switch to MED/SYN/SEN. The Synergyst should have enough time to fill up remaining shield statuses on characters if any. As soon as the attack hits, heal yourself and switch to COM/RAV/MED again. When all members are in the green again, switch to COM/RAV/RAV or even RAV/RAV/RAV.

    The point here is that by postponing the Sentinel, you get to keep the 30% on the stagger bar and manage to get the enemy staggered much faster -- before his next attack. Probably, what DownfallEclipse mentioned helped too, but I wasn't aware of this.
    Posted by RianFL on 23 Mar 10 at 00:32
    deutschZuidI give you thumbs up just for the length of the solution and the amount of effort you put in!
    Posted by deutschZuid on 14 Jul 11 at 02:03
    Solario32I agree with deutsch.
    Posted by Solario32 on 19 Sep 11 at 14:41
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  • Removed Gamer
    Gamer has been removed
    above is a perfect strategy but when he is using destrudo if you keep attacking him you will see a flash of ligt causing the attck to lose half its power and barely hurting you.
  • DL CyberSkullDL CyberSkull
    15 Mar 2010 15 Mar 2010
    Complete chapter 9 and start chapter 10.

    Make your way through the Palamecia to the bridge. In addition to many strong enemies on the way, there is a miniboss fight near the end.

    The lightning-based Kalavinka Striker should not present any problem. At 108K HP it is fairly easy to stagger. Be sure to use what buffs and status ailments you can in the battle and it should go smoothly.

    The real fight is a bit later in the bridge. There you will face the fal'Cie Barthandelus. Bart has 4 pieces of armor you must destroy to reduce his defense. Each piece of armor has a different elemental vulnerability and defense. If you are using any enelement spells be sure to switch to your synergist to have them update your commando between armors.

    Once all 4 armors are taken care of you can move onto Bart himself. He has a few attacks that do moderate damage to the party and one devastating attack. His face will open revealing many guns. This attack will do around 60-75% damage to the party. Try to keep your HP topped. You should be able to stagger him once, maybe twice in the battle. Keep attacking, buffing and healing and he will fall.

    Watch a few cut scenes and then bloop!
    Showing only comment.
    Tandar1Don't know why someone gave a negative vote, as this is exactly what happens.
    Posted by Tandar1 on 15 Mar 10 at 19:13
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