I am still in chapter 6 with Snow and Hope taking advantage of the fact that my mob drops credit and incentive chips. In my very long time grinding in this game I noticed something though; and I need maybe some confirmation from those who are playing this as well.

See, the game says that getting 5 stars increases the chance of getting items, but in the end it seems that it does not increase the chance of any item dropping in the end.

But this is what I noticed:

Waiting for credit chips and incentive chips to drop is HARD. But I don't seem to have any problems with Phoenix Downs. And when I do get a credit chip early in my usual run, (before I sell them) I also get credit chips fairly fast. So one day, I decided to keep 1 credit chip in my inventory and for some reason, I get credit chips as regularly as the phoenix down do at that point. Same thing happened with the incentive chip when I decided to keep 1; but of course, it does not drop as much as the credit chip. Back then, this item called "R...whatchamacallit" (the one for fusing was it? dont have that feature yet.) drops more often than the incentive chip too; and if this theory is true, is because I never sold them even if it sells for a tasty 2000 gil.

But of course, I could be wrong. This could just be a product of delusions from staying in one area for too long. But if anyone grinding can try this out and confirm it, that would be great.

Also, if there IS a true tested way of getting item drops faster in FF13, share it here. It will greatly save some time for a lot of us. Damn you addictive upgrade system paired with scrooge-y drop rate. xp