Final Fantasy VII

[radiofloyd]

I don’t think that’s quite what OCH was getting at...

[one-armed dwarf]

@bellow don't forget to get the vampire guy too.

[bellow]

To be honest I think I'm rather overpowered at the moment. I'm kicking massive quantities of ass all over this planet. Except for those singing frogs.

 

Melodious little blue bastards.

[OCH]

19 hours ago, bellow said:

To be honest I think I'm rather overpowered at the moment. I'm kicking massive quantities of ass all over this planet. Except for those singing frogs.

 

Melodious little blue bastards.

All frogs (I think?) have the Enemy Skill 'Frog Song' which does exactly what you think it would. Now you have White Wind, don't forget to nab Big Guard from the beaches near Gongaga before heading towards the Pyramid. Meanwhile Keep. Exploring. Those. Woods...

 

Out of curiosity,  What level Limit Breaks are you upto now?

[bellow]

I'm already at the wall with the fresco on it in the pyramid. That's where I left off last night and I haven't got big guard. I haven't had a chance to play today, though. 

 

No one in my team has more than 2 limit breaks. I'm not sure what u mean by level. I've had no indication that limit breaks have level independent of the characters general level. Having said that, Barret and cloud are knocking out a couple of thousand hp worth of damage with their initial specials.

[OCH]

There are four levels of Limit Break. 1-3 are determined by (A) number of enemy kills and (B) number of uses. Level Four is the ultimate ability you gain through individual side quests.

 

Aeris can be near Level 4 by the Pyramid, without undue Grinding.

 

Cait Sith is the only exception with a single level 1 and 2 Limit Break. But both are potentially the best in the game.

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah, so for instance to learn the 'Cross Slash' limit break you have to use 'Braver' x amount of times. Then to learn the one after that you have to kill y amount of enemies.

 

It alternates like that. The first limit in each 'level' needs to be used over and over, then you need to kill stuff.

[OCH]

Indeed. That is why if you are using the first Limit Break of level 1 and your next one comes up as Level 2, then you've reached that threshold but, you need to kill more enemies to unlock the second ability of the previous level.

 

Personally, I think not everyone has great ones. After getting the entire team to Level 4, that becomes glaringly apparent. Red XIII is one of the worst, as most of his are either personal buffs or multi-attack moves with low damage values. Cloud has the strongest offensive abilities by default. Tifa is better against bosses and solo enemies. Barret and Cid are powerhouses against groups. Cait Sith makes his own rules really, as his abilities don't follow the same rules as the others.

[bellow]

Only thing is, on a normal 'blind' playthru these things aren't really going to be readily apparent. It's all hidden in the guide I suppose. Personally I've only been using aeris' healing wind, as that's the one that's been useful in my playthru. I have cross slash, but because I don't really know these deeper constructs, I'm normally just using braver, which was grabbing nearly 2000 hp off this demon wall I just fought.

 

By the way, Aeris has gone AWOL, but I'm glad I did rotate her in the end, against the advice of @one-armed dwarf because she was a non optional party member in the last (and possibly toughest) section.

[OCH]

Like I said, I didn't have a guide through my first playthrough. But level grinding is my thing in RPG's, so most of these spells and Limit Breaks, I found by accident. The mechanics behind them I learned retroactively.

 

Yes, for the most part you are allowed some freedom of choice to your party members. BUT, there are several key points wherein you will be locked in. As you've discovered yourself, secondary party members do technically level up alongside your active party, but it is to a lesser degree and you really don't won't to be forced into a situation wherein you are stuck with Barret late game, with his default weapon and no Materia. Not saying that is the case, but that is the scenario the game can throw you into.

 

Still, while Aeris has gone AWOL, before searching for her... Be Sure to explore those woods near Fort Condor. Or pop back to the Shinra Mansion in Nibeleheim...

[bellow]

Are u talking about that warrior chick who keeps turning up for a fight. I'm going to have to Google her because I never get anything even though I've tried different combinations of responses. She just buggers off with Barrett's dough.

[OCH]

7 hours ago, bellow said:

Are u talking about that warrior chick who keeps turning up for a fight. I'm going to have to Google her because I never get anything even though I've tried different combinations of responses. She just buggers off with Barrett's dough.

The trick is to not give any answer that takes your eyes off her IE opens up the menus.

Plus, there is something in the basement of Shinra Mansion that you’ve missed 

[bellow]

You see, this is the type of nonsense that annoyed me when I got to the end of 10. You may remember a query I made on these very pages about where the hell all my missing content was - why we're players talking about 200 hours of gameplay when I'd reached the point of no return in 40!

 

Now, I'm no longer annoyed by these cash grabbing shenanigans from yesteryear, but u have to make a decision to either live in a vacuum or act upon the (almost unavoidable) hints and tips circulating for a game of this heritage.

 

My path to the gates of Wutai (where now I stand) has little to do with the processes of an unfolding adventure, but of gathering the culture that surrounds the game. Fair enough. I can live with it, but I'm not going to pretend that it doesn't ruin the immersion.

 

Didn't really get this from 12, although i probably missed out on loads of stuff. 

[one-armed dwarf]

The Yuffie stuff is stupid. You don't need her anyway. 

 

There's another character in Nibelheim who unlocks some interesting backstory. Look up how to unlock Vincent Valentine. There's no point in being all cryptic like Och and go 'oooh check out Nibelheim' cause you have to pixel hunt it. 

 

In fact I'll tell you. There's a thing you can read in the west most room on the first floor of Nibelheim mansion.

[OCH]

It isn't about being cryptic, the fun is discovering things for yourself and both additional characters can be found without a guide. If I chose to I could give Bellow a play by play of where to go and each secret he can uncover from one screen to the next. But then there is no point in him playing it, because I am. There isn't much worse than Backseat Gaming.

 

The area around Wutai gives you one of the more useful Enemy Skills - Magic Hammer. Look for the enemies that look like little stacks of grass:

 

[bellow]

Haha. Why is that guy even a monster? I wouldn't mind him in a vase in my bedroom?

[OCH]

The FF's in general tend to have a least one or two silly looking enemies like that, early game. That said, when you see the ones that look like that Late Game, tread lightly...

 

Spoiler

 

 

[bellow]

Used my Sunday to grab some decent hours on this. Got thru the Wutai sidequest, which was all a bit silly if the truth be told. Moved on to the forgotten city and witnessed the legendary death of Aeris, which was unexpectedly cold and undramatic, given the cultural status of the event. Not too much soul searching and reflection on the part of my squad either. Ho hum, I suppose. Best press on.

 

Then quickly moved northwards where, by 'eck, it's grim. A snowy landscape, some horrendous gameplay elements like snowboarding, jumping across disappearing ice rafts, rock climbing and then a stiff two headed boss that was probably the biggest challenge in the game so far, except for this disgusting malboro, who came right of the gates with a bad breath attack that transformed my entire crew into sleeping frogs. He then wailed ice attacks on me until 2 of my guys were dead, and I only survived because Cid had an ice absorbing accessory on by pure chance. 

 

Finished up walking into a big crater. Still chasing Sephiroth. 

 

 

 

 

 

[OCH]

Did you pick up the two Summons though? One in the woods before the forgotten city and one in the mountains??

[bellow]

You know, this might sound weird because u know the game so well, but the truth is, I wouldn't know.

 

I have quite a few summons in my materia collection but I have no recollection of getting them. They just turn up unannounced, obviously from some combat encounter I had. But there's no fanfare or big deal made of it, like in 10.

 

I have a chocobo summons who deals a big sixties batman kerpow! I have no idea where he came from.

 

I would say, though, they're not very effective in this game are they. I take it you can build up their power with use. At the moment they're like very dramatic cotton wool balls.