Final Fantasy XIII/Missions

Missions all involve finding a certain enemy, known as a mark, and defeating it in a normal battle. The enemies can be anything and some enemies will only ever be found by taking on a mission. In addition to the mark, some battles may involve other enemies as well that happen to be around the mark. Most missions are activated by touching Cie'th Stones, but some are also given by statues in Taejin's Tower and are mostly mandatory. Except for special ones, Cie'th Stones are different colors depending on their ranks, going from D (the weakest) to A (the strongest). Special stones are red, meaning they remove the red wall next to them blocking you from an area, or gray, meaning they turn into a waypoint, from which you can warp to other waypoints.


 * Green: Rank D and C missions
 * Yellow: Rank B missions
 * Purple: Rank A missions

Missions are available from Chapter 11 onward, and in fact, you should do as many as you can while you're in Gran Pulse the first time to get some good items and level up a bit without having to grind. For the most part, you'll want to do the missions as you come to them once you leave Archylte Steppe, as they often involve killing something where you were headed anyway, and you'll want to unlock the waystone missions as soon as possible to expand your warp network.

Each mission will reward you with main prize for beating the mark the first time. Missions can be redone as many times as you want, but on subsequent completions you will get a lesser prize. Not all missions are available right from the get go. As you complete missions, more and more of them will be unlocked. On your map, dormant Cie'th Stones will appear grayed out, stones with incomplete missions will be blinking blue and completed stones will be an unblinking blue. Waystones are marked in solid orange so you can easily identify them.

Your battle ranking (one to five stars) is recorded for each mission and you unlock an achievement or trophy if you five-star all missions. You also unlock achievements or trophies for completing all missions of a certain rank. In the map, press to bring up your mission list, and use  to switch between a detailed view or simple view. Missions you've looked at (by touching the Cie'th Stone or talking to the statue) will be on the list. If you've completed the mission, there will be a checkmark by it, and a special icon is next to the mission you're currently on. In the detailed view you will be able to see your ranking for each mission and its location so you can easily find the ones you still need to five-star. Because your battle ranking is based on time to completion compared to the target time, starting missions with a pre-emptive attack or equipping the Gold Watch will help improve your score. In some rare cases you may need to equip worse items and weapons on your character to raise the target time. Speed and damage boosting equipment (Aurora Scarf, Sprint Shoes, Moral Talisman) can also help for easier missions you come back to at a high level.