Since this game is such a meanie if you don't realize a few things I thought I'd try to compile the start of a tips thread
I'll try to keep it spoiler free.
- You may over-look the Synergist roll, but don't! Buffs make a HUGE difference in FFXIII. Maybe an even bigger difference than in any other FF.
- Ravagers get the stagger bar up fast, but the commando help it stay up!
- The de-buff (saboteur) role is also pretty handy for de-protect, make sure your saboteur has at least Deprotect.
- Chips are designed to be sold/ if a component can only be used to upgrade your weapon 1-2 Experience, sell it.
- Unless you're really having a struggle with the game then I reccomend not upgrading your gear until chapter 11 at the earliest. The best weapons plain stats wise seem to all come from early in the game, but wait to upgrade until you decide what character you want doing what role.
- You know that annoying animation of your characters role grids opening it that gets longer and longer later? You can skip that by pressing circle as its opening.
- Action chains can be canceled part way through by hitting circle.
- Make sure Hope is always pretty well equipped and up to date in general at the start of chapter 11.
- Press Square to pop the map up quickly.
- try not to take over 20 minuets on a boss as lots of them will cast doom on you, I'm not sure if this is the case at the start of the game, but it definatly is later on. The good news is though that every boss can be beaten in well under that.
- If your party leader dies then its game over so if you have the choice between HP+ and another stat at one junction you might want to go for the HP option first!
- Use all your CP on your characters three main roles before trying to teach them new ones becuase the roles other than your main three take twice as many points to fill.
- Try to get 5* whenever you can since it not only replenishes TP, but increases the drop chance of items by 5%.
- Easy/fast CP in Chapter 11 (Central Expanse); Follow the yellow destination arrow until you come close to the exit for the area. You will see a Behemoth and another large creature fighting it out. Its easy to get a pre-emptive here, go straight for the Behemoth with all set to dps and ignore the other creature. You should be able to juggle the Behemoth to death pretty easily so he doesn't have chance to stand up.
- Ever notice a ! mark appear above your Chocobo's head? That means treasure is near! I've noticed that every treasure I've found has been in one of the scorched/brown bits of grass.
- Another Chapter 11 tip; I'm sure you've noticed those rather large creatures that can stomp you to death in one move? Well those guys can be killed by Van's death/Odin. You need a little luck for it to work though. Vanille's Belladonna Wand helps a little and can be upgraded to Malbero Wand to help a little more.
- Using Vanille makes it easier to avoid encounters than using Light since she appears to move faster and is smaller.
- There is a cap on how much CP a character can have and once you go over that all CP will simply vanish so be sure to give your less used characters their points.
- Chocobo look in the direction of buried treasure.
I'll edit this as I think of more + please add your own
Hope this helps!