Final Fantasy VII Remake (NO ROCHE SLANDER)

[one-armed dwarf]

The most powerful materias i thought were the ATB generating ones

 

Especially ATB assist, which is so good that they only put one of them in the game

[Maf]

Yeah, they’re all super strong and always have them equipped for bosses. But just elemental magic is much stronger than I realised as well. Paired with the Magnify Material for 5mp I can basically beat a whole squad of guards or turrets in one go 

 

I mean I knew this and was using it already. But on hard when damage racks up fast, low mp cost to defeat a bunch of enemies at once. Nice 

[Maf]

The Airbuster fight sucks so much. The camera actually breaks in this fight as well when locking on to the hands and switching camera. The camera breaks from the target and starts pointing to the back corner of the room. Which is perfect for the enemy when they’re doing the the stun finger lasers 

 

I could win this fight on any attempt but this fight is a clusterfuck and so annoying and I refuse to let the game have it all it’s own way 

[one-armed dwarf]

Coolest fight in the game, it's all downhill from there but that fight rocks especially on hard 🤘🎸🤖

[Maf]

It is cool. But there’s more bullshit in this fight than any other so far. Camera breaking. Being stunned from off screen which leads to huge Big Bomber punish. At the beginning where it drops mines every 9th attempt it will also fire little guns that push Cloud in to them even when guarding. The fact it can use Tank Buster at 3 different phases and strong Thunder spells only reliably knock it out of it in 1 of them

 

I just beat it with no knock outs but god damn that’s fucking irritating 

 

EDIT: Is it worth beating the game on hard first and then using chapter select for the special arena fights and such?

[one-armed dwarf]

I will grant that the undodgeable unblockable tracking yet interruptible but only with high thunder magic tankbuster is a bit bullshit but I'll let it pass from the rockemsockem robot with the blistering guitar and orchestral chants

 

The way I handled the hands stuff was to slow everything down, with Cloud tanking the stun lasers

 

 

The special arena fights give you higher level limit breaks, I dunno if you got those yet. There's other ones in shinra tower, I think they scale up to hard mode automatically but can't recall

[Maf]

I’ve got the level 2 limit breaks, not sure if there’s more to unlock on hard mode

 

Tbh, summons and limit breaks have been meaningless so far. I’ve not used a summon yet that ended in success and had about 4 limit breaks pop in about 50 hours of play 

 

Damn. Reno went from the easiest boss in the game to the hardest. I ended up using Counter Stance against him. I dunno if that’s the right tactic. But it’s making me dread the Reno + Sunglasses fight later in the game 

[one-armed dwarf]

Summons don't really work in this game at all, they feel a bit random. Not improved in Rebirth either.

 

I mean they're probably worth having out but utterly unsatisfying, I like them better as just big magic attacks in the original. That way also you could link them with elemental materia, which you can't do in this.

 

Limits are great tho, especially the really long ones cause they stunlock bosses so you can swap character and press square A LOT.

[Maf]

I just can not believe when you knock the chariot down and it’s staggered, if you’re standing on the side and attack you can still hit the wheel and bounce off. I just can’t believe these are the choices they make

[mfnick]

Why are you putting yourself through this when you’re not bothered about the game? I don’t get it.

 

I’ve played through games I’ve not liked to completion before but to then go onto the harder difficulty is insane to me. 

[one-armed dwarf]

It's a very minor gameplay obstacle as well, just a gimmick that boss has that you file away as a 'dont do that next time'.

 

I remember that boss being very difficult on hard mode tho for some reason, I think we were giving out about it on here at the time. Tho it wasn't cause we kept jumping on the spikey wheel I want to say, I hope not that would be embarassing. A scientia exitus as the ancient Romans would have called it if they saw that type of shite in the coliseum

[Nag]

9 minutes ago, mfnick said:

Why are you putting yourself through this when you’re not bothered about the game? I don’t get it.

 

Must be a trophy thing... there's literally no other reason.

[Maf]

I’m playing for the Platinum and also because I find it kind of enjoyable. But I just think their decisions in this game are so bad. Every fight in this game has a spiky wheel or 3 and it’s like. 
 

I remember listening to a podcast where a game designer talked about creating problems for the player because games are about problem solving. A designer could make a game that was completely smooth from start to finish where everything was easy, enemies were dumb and easy to beat, all the moves were overpowered and everything falls in the player’s favour. And it would be a bad game because that’s not what games are about or what makes them fun

 

But some of the problems they’ve created for the player are so small, specific and bewildering to me I just don’t understand the intention of it. I get, despite this being a superhero game, they still want to make a real game where you have to learn and master the mechanics. Fine. Think it fucks up flow and momentum for the game overall, but fine

 

But when you finally stagger a boss and it’s the player’s turn to unleash they go, oh, sorry, spiky wheel. It’s like what the fuck. There’s so much stuff in this game where I just don’t think they let the player have enough.
 

I was fighting the Ghoul fight yesterday and the amount of times magic attacks would hit the geometry because the boss keeps lifting things in the room and putting them down. It’s like come on, man, it’s an action RPG. I’m inputting the commands, in between dodging 2 types of AoE’s, 2 types of projectiles while looking out for the boss’s attack names, thinking about what’s off screen and managing resources and positioning. Just let my fucking attack go through when I press it

There’s this second layer of decisions they made and problems they’ve created for the player that pretty much always leaves me thinking did they not play test this enough or did they just think that’s good? Because I just can’t imagine coming across it and going ah, perfect

 

I just think with FF7R, despite genuine issues with camera, lock-on, being hit off screen, enemy attacks coming out too fast, ally AI, UI not being clear enough* etc  - and this is just fights, I think this game’s biggest crime is how it enforces walking speed and takes camera control away. No game does walking and talking as bad as this. 
 

Despite all that, I still kinda like it. When the fighting works it’s good. But again, the word I keep coming back to is unreliable. This game is about understanding the plan and then executing it flawlessly. Great. Love it. Let’s do that. But they create so many spiky wheels that get in the way of this it’s just so frustrating. I genuinely can’t understand their decisions

 

*I noticed why after 50+ hours I still sometimes get confused with Cloud’s Operator/Punisher stance because the word at the bottom tells you the one you’re not currently using. It’s saying “press triangle to select this option” Which I guess makes sense. But in the heat of fights and I look at what mode I’m currently using I see the word and think oh, I’m in that one. When it’s actually saying the opposite. I obviously understand, but sometimes it still trips me up and I switch back’n’forth 3 times which is still time wasting and getting in the way of the plan I’m trying to execute

 

EDIT: One last thing for now - R2 speeds up cutscenes (which is nice) but a lot of the big boss fights have cutscenes in them but if press R2 too fast because though the video has started, the game hasn’t properly switched from battle to video yet, instead of speeding up the cutscene the game just opens the tactics menu and slows everything to a crawl. GENIUS 

[one-armed dwarf]

On the second last point, I will admit that I don't know which one is Punisher and which one is Operator stance. But it's enough for me to know the one where he's pointing his sword like Sephiroth is the more aggressive, single target one and classic Cloud stance is Vanilla with better movement and crowd control. A weird way of making the differentiation perhaps but it works.

 

I don't really agree that it's unreliable tho, it's just deceptively complicated. It feels like fights are designed to be learned through trial and error, which is strange and momentum disrupting to a story-driven JRPG and I understand why that element doesn't feel good.

 

I know I repeated this before but it's not really an action game in the sense of reacting to everything that's happening all at once. You're right that the gameplay is too hectic and complicated to see it all coming out, but you're supposed to use the command menu to look at a lot of that stuff anyway. It's not just for inputing the next ability, it's also for taking a step back and thinking about stuff, and what that next ability might actually be even if you can't use it yet. Wait mode is a gameplay mechanic

 

The way it synthesises these two modes is, IMO, genius.

[Maf]

But I don’t need the fights to be slower I just need my team to not be hamstrung by a bunch of unexpected obstacles that ‘sometimes’ get in the way. I’m not fighting against nuance or it being more complicated than expected. That’s part of what I like and respect about the game that each boss fights isn’t exactly the same they all have these specifics and strategies which make it interesting

 

But I don’t know how to describe it other than incidental problems or mechanic collisions like a spiky wheel still being invul when the boss is staggered or Reno being susceptible to counter stance and 1 press of the square button - but 2 press of the square button and it activates he’s counter attack special in a game where the buttons have animation priority it’s like c’mon, man. I’m all for strategy and nuance and figuring things out but some of the stuff I have to figure out or learn shouldn’t be a factor, as it’s not a problem to solve it’s just an extra tiny trip up getting in the way

 

EDIT: Anyway, got to chapter 14 on hard mode yesterday

[one-armed dwarf]

I don't know what that Reno example is, I think the fights with the Turks on the tower is a bit shit but in the church at least counterstance should allow a full basic combo

 

edit I think I'm getting mixed up by counterstance, the ATB move, and the 'other' one.

 

edit2, no, I'm super wrong on this looking at clips online, he gets pressured on normal and not on hard it looks like

 

The fight on the tower is too dark tho and has too many particle effects, maybe the worst fight in the game tbh

[Maf]

On hard Counter Stance doesn't put him in pressure at all. If you open tactics to slow down you can see when he's hit 'pressure' might appear under the health bar but it immediately disappears before can even do anything. 

 

The rooftop fight was a cluster fuck but actually got a not bad strategy of having Tifa do Haste-All straight away, and Barrett having Wind-Synergy. So Cloud ATB going through the roof and anytime do Braver or Counter Stance Barrett follows up with a Wind attack which combo in to Focus Thrust and keep Reno kind of stun locked. The pacing on ATB fill doesn't quite keep up but it ends phases of that fight relatively quick

 

Then when the other guy shows up take him down first by having Barrett use Wind magic on him and Cloud slice him up. After go back to the first tactic to beat Reno again, done.

 

Separately to everything else my whole playthrough I've had Cloud use Elemental Materia but I'm wondering if it would be better on Tifa as she punches faster

[one-armed dwarf]

Cloud would get higher damage with it but Tifa higher pressure, and tbh the latter is far more impactful especially in a game which triggers breakaway cutscenes at certain thresholds (this is handled a bit better in Rebirth).

 

On wind magic and combos, I just learned recently in Rebirth that wind magic snatches enemies towards you. I can't remember if it works like that in Remake but I thought it was really cool to use to combo with AOE attacks, like Barret's smackdown and Red's Stardust ray

[Maf]

On the final 7 star fight against all the summons. Currently watching YT videos for the strategy. Glad I have because the way people are doing it is nothing like I play at all so I would never have got there.

[one-armed dwarf]

You should do the Yuffie DLC and fight the motherfucker that that unlocks in the Shinra VR in the main game, Weiss the Immaculate. I tried it but it was right before Rebirth's release and I didn't have the appetite for the combat puzzle.

 

Not a platinum requirement tho