Can you really guarantee an HQ synth using NQ materials

[Appleh4x]

See, therein lies the problem.

I have a hard time hq'ing the starred recipes.

You tell me I need HQ gear to HQ the starred recipes. >< Catch 22....

I am saving all my cash for housing and am not going to purchase my gear.

So, do I have to just keep trying to craft the starred gear until I luck out and get HQ?

I did it by spiritbonding until I had about 600k gil, bought all my i55 crafting HQ gear for like 80k of that, then bought the materia that I lowered the value of on the market during the whole previous week for next to nothing.