Board 8 > Final Fantasy VII Remake Spoiler Topic 2 (spoilers in this topic too)

(+) Yeah! (+)

skullbone posted...

I let my friend borrow this after I was done and he got to Chapter 4 after a few days. He said he was enjoying it but he hasn't touched it in over a month now.

How do people like this exist

to be fair, that is a bit before the game really "picks up"

Bump because why not. I haven't completed hard mode yet

Hard mode is a bit weird. It's difficult to not be extremely overleveled for everything but the bosses.

The bosses are mostly fun. They vary a lot in difficulty, but that's fine.

The rest of it is basically just rushing through things if you know what you're doing just a little bit. Having accessed stuff helps, but it's usually only with bosses it makes a big difference knowing what's effective.

So mostly a lot more time consuming than difficult.

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I think I'm on chapter 12 at the moment. And, yeah it's been relatively easy. I think I only died once, against Hell House, but that wasn't even a matter of difficulty. I didn't know it spit out tonberries as a move (I guess it just never did that in my first playthrough?), so I didn't have warding materia on for death, and on top of that, when it did the move for summoning the tonberries, it was facing away from me and I had a weird camera angle and didn't even realize they had spawned in the first place. Then I just died suddenly. Once I adjusted and retried, it went down with zero struggle.

I don't think it spits out Tonberries on the other difficulties. It certainly doesn't spit out Cutter and Sweeper, although they're not a huge problem because Hell House might kill them itself.

I didn't die to Hell House, though I was also fortunate enough to spot the Tonberries right away each time and if you instantly begin attacking them, they're gone in seconds.

Also, Poison materia is very useful against the few bosses not immune and Hell House is one of those.

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ctesjbuvf posted...

Also, Poison materia is very useful against the few bosses not immune and Hell House is one of those.

Oh man, yeah HH seems like a good one for poison. It's always doing stuff you can't attack during

Yeah, it deals a lot of damage while you're just running around trying to dodge things and heal up.

I barely ever used Poison material on my initial playthrough but it's a blessing to have a fully powered up one on hard mode. Most are immune, but it's really good against a few of them.

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Obviously a house is weak to poison

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You know I never actually considered using poison against Hell House, probably would've made the fight a lot easier.

I was also mildly surprised when it started to spawn new enemies on Hard. Didn't think this one one of those games that actually had the enemies change up their movesets/behaviours on different difficulty levels, despite it being pretty minor.

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Poison is so great because you get to avoid playing its elemental weakness game

Didn't think to use it until the 2nd time

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Poison is great against only Hell House and the second train graveyard boss IIRC, but it's very nice when it can be used.

I think Bahamut ends up being the hardest one, though if you just prepare for only him, you'll do alright, the rest of that gauntlet isn't as bad.

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Oddly enough I thought Shiva was the hardest one in the battle simulator. Had to equip some elemental ice resistance materia just to deal with her. Ended up one shotting the rest of the gauntlet after she went down.

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I didn't have much of a problem with her. Ifrit wrecks her if you summon him.

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I'm really taking my time on the hard mode replay and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I just beat Hell House which I was dreading but it actually didn't take me too long now that I have a good understanding of the battle system. I lost twice but the first time was because I was caught totally off guard by the Tonberries and the second time was because I wasn't playing attention and got Chef Knive'D in the back and then got stunned a couple of times while I was trying to use Arise. Really fun fight though. I think it is probably my second favorite in the entire game behind Rufus.

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Not reading this topic just yet but I wanna bump in it so it doesn't purge. At the end of Chapter 17 now and wanna make sure I can read this topic when I finish the game in the hopefully not too distant future.

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I just beat the game. So, questions...

1. Is a lot of the VR hard mode stuff gimmicks? Like, Cloud 3C was impossible til I realized to elemental lightning on my armor.

Aerith literally cannot beat the phantom without a specific setup.

Etc.

2. Why does everyone think the game is time traveling? Isn't the Zakk Fine stuff just a flashback? The only part that seems to time travel possibly to me is possibly the sephiroth fight.

3. I hated the shinra levels, 16 and 17. The jenova fight and whispers fight and sephiroth fight were all great.

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Having to strategize for certain fights isn't a gimmick.

And Zack dies there in Crisis Core while he survives here. Plus the glimpse of Stamp the dog you see in the flashback is a completely different breed and design than the one throughout the game.

There's totally time shenanigans surrounding that, the Whispers, and Sephiroth.

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Murphiroth posted...

Having to strategize for certain fights isn't a gimmick.

And Zack dies there in Crisis Core while he survives here. Plus the glimpse of Stamp the dog you see in the flashback is a completely different breed and design than the one throughout the game.

There's totally time shenanigans surrounding that, the Whispers, and Sephiroth.

I never seen crisis core.

Literally being unable to win unless using an exact strategy makes it a gimmick, especially when in some cases you have to literally lose to know what the gimmick is for the next time.

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I beat phantom as Aerith without using any elemental materia, just took a while.

Shiva was really the only one I had to make a specific setup for but that was the first fight in the event.

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Not just that, there have to be time shenanigans at play as Cloud is having completely unprompted visions of the future throughout the game - clones in the crater, Aerith praying, metal girders falling in Sector 7 etc.

The operating theory that Sephiroth was still never absorbed into the Lifestream even post-Advent Children and, at some point in the future, determined the means to make his consciousness travel back in time (whether to any clone, anyone who had Jenova cells or just Cloud, that's tbd) and his attempts to interfere with the timeline - namely the Chapter 2 Nibelheim hallucination and trying to force Cloud off the path of meeting Aerith - is when the whispers first intervene and thereafter, they're forcing events of the original game.

I guess you could say, maybe Sephiroth disrupted the "foretold events" in some non-time-travel way and the whispers are still trying to force the "foretold events" to happen, but I don't know about that... after the final Sephiroth/Cloud faceoff in the edge of creation, I still feel like that's future Seph.

I can't think of any fight that absolutely requires a specific setup to win and puts you in an unwinnable scenario. The game is easy enough where you could probably beat it without using materia. Some fights like Hellhouse would be miserable but it's probably doable and has likely already been done.

BlackDra90n posted...

I beat phantom as Aerith without using any elemental materia, just took a while.

If you don't have breach or whatever it's called, doesn't it just keep Reflect on itself indefinitely after a certain point? It would be immune to even her basic attacks. Does reflect expire after a really long time or something?

Yes, if Phantom puts up Reflect and Aerith doesn't have Breach, you're screwed. But that's not a gimmick fight. It's just bad enemy design. The reflect should wear off with time instead, like almost every other wall spell in the game.

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ShatteredElysium posted...

I can't think of any fight that absolutely requires a specific setup to win and puts you in an unwinnable scenario. The game is easy enough where you could probably beat it without using materia. Some fights like Hellhouse would be miserable but it's probably doable and has likely already been done.

The moth at the end of 3c. Without elemental + lightning on your armor, it one shots you. I guess unless you have like mass magic defense maybe...

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Given that I didn't once use elemental in my armor outside the hard mode summon rush, I can tell you for sure that's not necessary.I actually had elemental-lightning on a weapon for basically the entire game which was an active hindrance at some points.

I played through blind and so didn't advance prepare for any bosses. Every boss is easier if you have prior knowledge and prepare for them but nothing in the game requires prior planning as it just isn't very difficult. There was actually comments in the original thread about how crazy it was seeing how vastly different every player played the game.

The only bosses I ever lost to weren't actually true bosses as both were optional. I lost to Shiva a few times which was entirely due to me being shit at blocking and dodging at that point. I also lost to the hedgehog king thing first try which due to me charging in and ignoring the adds. They were the only bosses I ever lost to.

I'd say the game becomes a lot easier once you realize the AI heavily prioritizes targeting the actively controlled player. So a lot of the time deaths can be avoided simply by switching characters to recover.

Magnify with Haste or Manawall depending on your playstyle is also stupid OP.

ShatteredElysium posted...

I'd say the game becomes a lot easier once you realize the AI heavily prioritizes targeting the actively controlled player. So a lot of the time deaths can be avoided simply by switching characters to recover.

Magnify with Haste or Manawall depending on your playstyle is also stupid OP.

I noticed that lol

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Yeah you can manipulate the AI but the one-shot from the moth is very real.

I feel like it's getting needlessly semantic to say it's not a gimmick that if you don't equip a certain thing you will almost certainly lose.

Like I get that it's avoidable if you know the trick...but, that's like, the definition a gimmick? Lol. My 2 cents anyway.

That attack can be dodged/blocked and even if it hits, it's single target and the ability to revive exists. I know that I never came close to losing that fight and at best my mitigation would have been blocking and probably having barrier up (which I am assuming as I did that for most fights).

It's not like if you go in blind to that fight you are going to lose and have to retry. The fight is very winnable without any prior knowledge of what it does and even going in blind probably isn't in the Top 5 hardest fights in the game. I would think that blocking and using barrier materia should be common sense for most fights but even without it, just revive up after the attack.

Like if you wanted to talk one shot mechanics, then the tonberry is far worse for that.

ShatteredElysium posted...

That attack can be dodged/blocked and even if it hits, it's single target and the ability to revive exists. I know that I never came close to losing that fight and at best my mitigation would have been blocking and probably having barrier up (which I am assuming as I did that for most fights).

It's not like if you go in blind to that fight you are going to lose and have to retry. The fight is very winnable without any prior knowledge of what it does and even going in blind probably isn't in the Top 5 hardest fights in the game. I would think that blocking and using barrier materia should be common sense for most fights but even without it, just revive up after the attack.

Like if you wanted to talk one shot mechanics, then the tonberry is far worse for that.

How do you cast revive on yourself when it's a 1v1?

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For the record, high voltage hit me for 3500 blocked I think. Ultra high voltage hit me for like 9000 or something silly.

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The Moth fight isn't 1 on 1. It's Cloud and Barret?

ShatteredElysium posted...

The Moth fight isn't 1 on 1. It's Cloud and Barret?

It's (person) versus 3c soldiers. Fight 5 of 5.

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Ok so you mean the combat simulator version of the fight, my bad. You did specify that originally.

The answer is simply to block. Ultra High Voltage does 3k when blocked. If you got hit for 9k, you didn't block.

https://i.imgur.com/rqg8l32.jpg

Corrik7 posted...

How do you cast revive on yourself when it's a 1v1?

The revival earrings, whatever they're called.

Point being that there's more than one solution to like 99% of the fights in the game.

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What if I'm really bad at the game and can only think of 1 way to beat a fight, does that make it a gimmick?

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I think you're being unreasonably defensive against the word "gimmick" for inexplicable reasons but maybe it's just me.

Not directed at foolmo

turbopuns3 posted...

I think you're being unreasonably defensive against the word "gimmick" for inexplicable reasons but maybe it's just me.

If this is directed at me I guess you can consider two harmless posts as unreasonably defensive if you want!

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Probably directed at me.

I mean sure some fights have gimmicks but I don't think any are overwhelming to the point where you have to use a specific set-up otherwise you're screwed. Nothing in normal mode requires a specific set-up and the entire game can be beaten blind without much challenge. Hellhouse is gimmicky but can be beaten even with a bad set-up (I personally entered Hellhouse with a terrible set-up).

Having to block an enemies most powerful attack in order to not die is not a gimmick imo, that's just utilizing core gameplay mechanics.

When you get to hard mode then yes you have less leeway with what will work but by hard mode you should be a lot more knowledgeable and it's hard mode so having to be more wary on what you take into a fight should be expected. For the most part you should also know the fights by then too.

EDIT: I guess the Phantom fight that was mentioned is the main culprit of shitty design but that seems more likely to be oversight for that 1 particular fight where they didn't realize a player may enter without any way of Aerith dealing damage. You would have also known the fight was coming given it's an Aerith combat sim too.

I haven't done all the combat sims. That's why I asked if a lot have gimmicks or not. Instead of answering that, it seems people just got up in arms about my word gimmick.

High voltage does 3k+ when blocked so if ultra high is doing you only 3k, I guess you have more magic defense than me or something.

Idk.

I'm still getting people up to 50 and their spells leveled up at this point. So I'm not maxed on stuff. Cloud seems to kill relatively everything quickly. Triple slash is the tits. So is starshower with tifa.

Been mostly ATM been having problems with phantom for aerith and the tonberry fight right now. I know I just need to move some stuff around materia wise for the fights tho. Haven't gotten time to get back in it yet tho.

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Sorry for being a turd. A month ago my uncle passed away so yesterday I was going through my contacts calling friends I hadn't talked to in a while, and in doing so I learned that someone else has passed away. I was a little edgy.

Beat the first 2 hard chapters, all the 3c battles, Leviathan battle.

Still can't beat the team of 3 versus legendary monsters. I think I need more revive materia. I only have 1 ATM.

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Yeah, I had revive on everyone at all times. It's fine to use without leveling up too. Arise is nice enough, but not that much of a must.

Though perhaps that was because magnify-healing is the best pair of material in the game.

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ctesjbuvf posted...

Yeah, I had revive on everyone at all times. It's fine to use without leveling up too. Arise is nice enough, but not that much of a must.

Though perhaps that was because magnify-healing is the best pair of material in the game.

Yeah, idk why but behemoth is literally going ape shit killing my ai partners. It will be fine then at like 50% they just die constantly.

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I began playing through hard mode not leveled up fully at all. I had completed the game and replayed the three chapters that gives you dresses so that hard mode would give me the final three dresses.

Occasionally I tried out different things for boss fights but for by far most of the game I had healing and revive on everyone with magnify-healing on Aerith if she was there otherwise Cloud. Elemental - fire/ice/lightning/wind on Cloud and Tifa/Barret, steadfast block and first strike, magic up on Aerith, and hp up and mp up on everyone. Ocassionally I used Barrier and time. Then in a few circumstantial boss fights I put the elemental on armor and for like two or three boss fights poison and/or prayer was really good.

I only died once to Bahamut and Ifrit. When I then put elemental/fire on armor and ignored Ifrit, it wasn't bad either.

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Need to do a couple more things to platinum. Need to do the pride and joy simulator. Get the Jessie praise. 2 more wedding dresses. And the last music disc.

Felt like an idiot not realizing I could buy revive from the vendor.

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Pride and Joy in itself was pretty underwhelming imo, it's the summon gauntlet leading up to it that can be rough.

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The one line that seems so out of place in this game is when Aerith says "Since I am so generous" when talking about giving herbs to the orphanage.

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Okay I platinumed. You were right that pride and joy was pretty weak. The hardest fight was somehow Leviathan.

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