11A: A Fruitless Search
Final Fantasy XIII Walkthrough and Guide
by CMBF 
11A: A Fruitless Search
Hope's Eidolon Battle
Before you run forward to find Hope, backtrack to the save point behind you and use it so that you do not have to sit through that series of CS's again if something goes wrong. Now that you have saved, go ahead and follow the path ahead.
A little ways up you will see that the path splits - you can continue straight or turn to the right. The right-hand path leads to a dead end so don't bother with that, just keep going straight. As you pass through the narrowing canyon you run into a group of what looked like flowers but turn out to be Alraune! These are not especially dangerous from a damage point of view but they do have a paralyze ability so go ahead and take them out quickly.
You encounter a pair of Flan next, and then a group of Alraune and a Flan, and finally a Dire Flan by a Treasure Sphere. There is a Partisan in the Sphere (one of Fang's weapons), so you want to grab that now. Ahead is another pair of Flan, followed by a Dire Flan, and finally another mixed group. After this last group STOP!
Ahead of you on the map you will see a marker for a CS - if you move forward from here you will trigger that CS, and you do NOT want to do that if you plan to grind CP to prepare yourself for the next area - and considering that the next area is literally packed with mobs you will have to fight - some of which are pretty tough - this is the best place for you to stop and do that grinding!
So instead of following the path, turn around and head back towards the previous save point (yhe pone that is situated behind where we entered this zone) and you will see that the mobs in between here and the save point have re-spawned! Kill you way to the save point and save, then turn around and work your way to the last mobs before the CS point, remembering NOT to continue on and trigger the CS as that will pretty much end any more grinding here.
You could pick up CP by simply continuing on to the next area and fighting the mobs there, but a good reason not to do that is simple math and time. The mobs on the other side of that CS are stronger than the ones on this side, and will take more time to kill. They also collectively do not add up to as convenient a CP pool and the ones you have here. Let's do the math...
Starting at the save point where we entered the zone, you will pick up 960 CP from Fight 1, 880 CP from Fight 2, 1,160 CP from Fight 3, 960 CP from Fight 4 (This is the Dire Flan near the Treasure Sphere), 880 CP from Fight 5, 960 CP from Fight 6 (another Dire Flan), and 1,160 CP from the final 7th fight. This is where you should stop by the way, as if you continue beyond this point you will trigger the CS and end your grinding run.
So if you add it all up, the run through on the path direction will net you 6,960 CP, and the run back to the save point will net you an additional 4,340 CP for an average total of 11,300 CP per completed trip. A full trip only takes around 10 minutes in total, which is a good average time for grinding point-wise.
It is a good idea to save on every other cycle so that if you mess up and trigger the CS without meaning to, you only lose a small amount of CP having to reload the save point.
How much grinding that you do depends on how much patience you have - I suggest using an audio book to keep you entertained while you grind - that is what I do and it makes all the difference in the world. Ideally you are going to want to cap off all three of the jobs for each team member - their main offensive and defensive jobs and their utility job. If you have the patience - I did but mostly due to the audio books - you can get some leveling in on the alternate jobs as well. It is a good idea... Another good idea - if you decide to cap-off your main jobs - is to do some selective leveling of the secondary jobs to pick up some extra Strength, HP, and Magic points for Lightning, Van, and Hope.
Once you are done grinding, head along the path past the last fight to trigger the CS in which you find Hope, who is unconscious by the stream. Everyone looks worried, and Hope is still unconscious - Snow goes all pessimistic, and Sazh gets all cup-half-full. Van starts to talk - and Fang cautions her - which probably means that there is someplace or something coming up that they know about but have not told us about for whatever reason, and Hope finally wakes up.
Right, so Hope is acting all weird and out of character - and we all know what that means, right? Eidolon fight!
The battle order changes - Hope is now leader with Fang and Lightning backing him up. Remember, the object here is to fill the meter and then trigger the Eidolon, not kill it, so keep an eye on the meter and on your health, and trigger it when it is full! Using potions to keep from having to shift out of Relentless Assault.
Hope gains an ATB segment and you get a CS that is very encouraging - Van gives him a big sister-hug, and Fang gets defensive. Van gets all narrator again, and someone starts playing the piano, and we fade to black!
You can return to this place after the CS. And if you do, you'll be able to go through the entire map, pick up the item at the area the CS is located, and continue on, then when you get to the end of the map, and there will be a few more enemies to take out, more CP to gain. Then when you get to the end of the map head back and the enemies before you got to the waterfall area have already respawned, so it should save you some time. When the CS is over and you appear next to the statue look behind you and there's a save point, then a path nearby, head straight for the rocky area and continue along it, you'll enter the area you were at when you first arrived at Gran Pulse, it was the "dead end" he mentioned in the walkthrough.