Hahahahaha, I am getting PTSD just thinking about this. I'll admit it felt mighty rewarding once I finally beat it.
I did the following on my Dynamic mode playthrough:
Enfeeblement ring on 1 character so that there is less chance of the enemies being killed off. When I tried it with 2 enfeebled, it was too difficult to get the guy staggered.
With Cloud and Yuffie, eventually I got it to work. The most important thing is to keep yourself aware of where the trash mobs are. Early on in the fight I made sure I swapped to Yuffie to throw the dagger at him, just to make sure she is focusing her damage on him and not the trash mobs. The majority of this fight is firing off long range attacks with cloud at mindflayer and using the synergy counter (R1+X) whenever he throws ranged abilities at you to help build stagger. You can inflict poison damage on the mindflayer two times. It helps! Don't use the strongest version as you might damage the trash mobs in the process. Also be careful when to decide to cast it as he might teleport and you will end up auto casting it on a trash mob and making things worse on yourself. I like to use it when he uses the ability that starts with 'Astral' in the name, (he stands still and casts lightning around him).
Personally, I like to use the enemy skill materia on cloud as a means to buff him with Sonic Boom. You get Bravery,Faith, and a long range blast towards the enemy
Constantly be careful not to get too close to the other enemies as it will trigger them to stun and suicide bomb you.
When he throws the giant rock towards you (which can also be synergy countered) , make sure to hide behind it when he uses that OP ability that wipes everyone. It works just like a DVA bomb, and that rock will shield you entirely. When I figured this out, I thought it was ingenious and just loved mindflayer all the more.
Im chapter 12, so im not keeping my hopes up...
If they give us a golden chocobo that can climb anything in the last region (which i guess is the ancient's temple) i'll be happy.
They did give us the flying convertible at the very end of XV so maybe im in for a treat.
I played Royal edition, it might be only in this version.
You needed to finish the enemy forts questline to have it.
It was very hard to land it safely so half the time you'll die on landing, but the idea was nice.
One thing I missed from the Remake was putting on certain Materia to your weapons would give your normal attacks that elemental damage, so for example Fira would give your weapon fire damage, it was so useful for certain bosses on Hard mode
Yea, try it on the Airbuster or Shinra robots with Lightning Materia on your sword, it melts them,
Also, its the same for Armor as well, for example if you have Lightning Materia on your Armor, you gain resistance to Lightning attacks, useful for the Turks fights as they tend to use Lightning attacks
For some reason they removed it in Rebirth for some reason
One thing I missed from the Remake was putting on certain Materia to your weapons would give your normal attacks that elemental damage, so for example Fira would give your weapon fire damage, it was so useful for certain bosses on Hard mode
I think that you also needed the blue linked materia in Remake but I might be wrong.
Personnaly I've been running with Cloud inflicting fire and ice damage with his sword since the middle of the game (that's the beauty of it, you can link dual magic materia and it automatically inflicts the right elemental damages based on ennemies weaknesses)
You need to link an blue elemental materia to a green elemental magic one.
On your weapon it gives it elemental properties on your armor it gives you elemental defence.
If i remember correctly it was that way in og FFVII
I think that you also needed the blue linked materia in Remake but I might be wrong.
Personnaly I've been running with Cloud inflicting fire and ice damage with his sword since the middle of the game (that's the beauty of it, you can link dual magic materia and it automatically inflicts the right elemental damages based on ennemies weaknesses)
Hmm I'll have to try it out, I'm at the endgame but theres a lot of side stuff I've not done yet so a perfect place for it, especially the Summon fights for Chadley
Yea, try it on the Airbuster or Shinra robots with Lightning Materia on your sword, it melts them,
Also, its the same for Armor as well, for example if you have Lightning Materia on your Armor, you gain resistance to Lightning attacks, useful for the Turks fights as they tend to use Lightning attacks
For some reason they removed it in Rebirth for some reason
Dude. That makes SO MUCH SENSE.
It's passive damage or defense from that element right?!
Does it extend to other materia or just fire/ice/lighting ?
It makes so much sense since you put materia of each type/color on items.
now that you say it, strange it's not in rebirth... but there are so many mechanics in rebirth, maybe it's ok they didnt add another one
Dude. That makes SO MUCH SENSE.
It's passive damage or defense from that element right?!
Does it extend to other materia or just fire/ice/lighting ?
It makes so much sense since you put materia of each type/color on items.
now that you say it, strange it's not in rebirth... but there are so many mechanics in rebirth, maybe it's ok they didnt add another one
It's definitely there. In a linked slot put an elemental green materia and in the second linked slot put blue "elemental" materia. It will apply to attacks if in weapon and half/nullify/absorb (depending on level of the blue materia) it in armor. I'd argue it's really important to use. Can also use fire+ice materia for resistance/nullification/absorption of two elements at once.
Dude. That makes SO MUCH SENSE.
It's passive damage or defense from that element right?!
Does it extend to other materia or just fire/ice/lighting ?
It makes so much sense since you put materia of each type/color on items.
now that you say it, strange it's not in rebirth... but there are so many mechanics in rebirth, maybe it's ok they didnt add another one
Yea my mistake, I never picked up the "Elemental" Materia in Rebirth (looking at it its from Chadley so I know why I missed it)
It does extend, I think you can do Poison and Slow as well, they're vital for the Hard mode playthrough as you cannot use items mid battle, so have something like:
Fire Elemental Sword + HP Absorb on Fire Elemental attacks - constant regain on health, more if you cast Regen on you first
Yeah, that works for Fire + Ice and Wind + Lightning materias, that's super powerful.
If you put it on Tifa while attaching the Ennemies Skill and Plasma Charge, she constantly inflicts Fire + Ice + Ligthning damage at a super fast pace, making her one of the strongest characters in the game. Even more so if you maxi boost her ATB charge rate through purple materias.
The builds can go pretty deep if you commit to it.
Almost platinum.. sooo close. Need final chapter on Hard, which I'm finishing right now and the final VR legendary bout. Sooo close I can taste it. Great game despite my complaints about certain aspects being done poorly.
Almost platinum.. sooo close. Need final chapter on Hard, which I'm finishing right now and the final VR legendary bout. Sooo close I can taste it. Great game despite my complaints about certain aspects being done poorly.
I don't blame you at all, for me it's the VR challenges that has had me wanting to drop it at various points.. but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Well then I finally got to THAT scene all those feelings I had the first time were still there, and it is a great ending tbh I get whats happening and I'm all for it, roll on part 3
I'm so replaying the OG after this, and yea I 100% called it from the Remakes announcement about something big
Nope you get it in the original too. I remember the car being a different model, but I could be wrong as I havent touched it since getting the plat at release.
FFVII (OG) is not ONLY one of my favorite games of all time, it's THE game that made me love this hobby.
I've played and watched all the compilation stuff too
I enjoyed REMAKE, loved REBIRTH as a whole
Still, the story doesn't make sense and is not done very well.
I saw the "bread crumbs" from a mile away in REMAKE, it doesn't mean it's good or coherent. I also completely disagree with you saying the following:
Rebirth is NOT coherent, it lacks a lot of the basic logic and consistency. Even the original did at times, but by 1997 standards, it was better than 99% of the game stories that came out during that period and is A LOT more coherent than Remake/Rebirth as a whole. Expectations have changed a lot since then and even though Rebirth does handle some of these new story moments pretty well, it also crashes the landing in other crucial moments.
And "more mature"... Really? I know this isn't what you meant 100%, but many of us view "maturity" quite differently. The original felt MUCH more mature, dark, grim and had more tragic moments. That alone makes the story more interesting and engaging.
-Zack's final scene where the world is ending and he goes through a portal and says "Seeeya!" is silly and childish, removes any maturity.
-They fumbled the ball with the ending / Aerith's fate. It had nowhere the same impact as the end of disc 1 of the original. Multiple reasons for that...but they turned her "death" from tragic to "make up your mind"....
-Yuffie being a prominent character in Rebirth makes it a lot more "childish" as well. Her dialogue alone makes her sound like a 12 year old when she should be 16.
-Don't even get me started with Red XIII after Chapter 10...yes I know, the Japanese translation explains his "transformation", but turning him from this amazing wise character with a great voice to a whiny Kingdom Hearts character with a squeaky voice was a bad decision...and I know I am not alone in saying that.
-There's also Cid...or the lack of Cid. He feels like a Disney version of his old self.
There is A LOT more and this is mostly subjective, but the game's overly lighthearted nature just didn't do it for me and many others. I really do wish they went for an M rating here, one of the VERY few things I preferred about XVI. The fact still remains, the story is all over the place and doesn't make any sense.
Lastly on this note, "why retell it, there is nothing to gain"... that's not true at all. Tell that to newcomers who never played the original and wanted to experience it in a modern way. The solution for those people isn't to "just play the original". The game is especially a confusing mess to people who've never experienced the OG.
For us veterans - The BEST moments in REMAKE and REBIRTH are the iconic moments that occur - seeing these moments, these characters, these boss encounters and these cities/towns is hands down the best parts of these 2 games. Square was given a golden opportunity here to retell one of the most iconic stories ever, but they decided to throw a twist in there with most godforsaken element - "the multi-verse". I am not even against some of the new stuff...I actually liked some of the new characters, small subtle changes, and Queen's Blood is one of the best mini games ever created...but they made an absolute mess of the FFVII narrative and executed so poorly by adding separate timelines, different universes and over the top nonsense (especially during the final battle).
Disagree again. More complex does not equal better story telling. I am guessing you also like the Kingdom Heart's stories as well? Not a dig, more power to you... I mean that, but please don't tell us we don't know what we are talking about because we don't want to "engage" or aren't putting enough effort or input into understanding the storyline. A lot of us get what Square has gone for here, but it just doesn't work and it's a convoluted and poorly written mess, especially the end.
But hey thanks for actually taking the time to answer! For real. It's ok that we disagree on this, but I really didn't like you drive by shit posting without giving any reason. If this was the only thing you had to say then dont say it, since it only raises the toxicity level and makes people less likely to post anything meaningful. But you took the time out of your busy life and contributed to the discussion and I respect that
I wont go over all your points because I said my peace on this topic the past 2 or 3 pages, so I would just repeat myself here. I do think the story makes sense, since many people who took the time to analyze it were proven correct with Rebirth, which shows that there is a logical through line in plot and character actions, even if its hidden in symbols and vagueries. And the rest basically comes down to taste. I am also a veteran (or a golden age cunt as someone put it) and I think they handled it very well, something I see a lot of other veterans echo as well. So there is no real right or wrong here. Which is another reason your shit post rubbed me the wrong way. An opinion is an opinion and not a singular truth. Its so fucking hard to have a normal discussion with anyone (irl or the internet) because everything has to be the most extreme side of the coin and there is no in between and everyone on the other extreme is just a worthless piece of shit. But now that you actually explained your opinion I get were you are coming from and we can at least respect each others opinion. Fun fact, FF7 OG is probably the game that had the most impact on my live and shaped my early way of thinking about environmentalism and death. I also watched/played the compilation (didnt like most of it, mainly because of the weaker character writing, so there is that haha) and I also enjoyed Remake a lot (less surprising). So turns out we actually have a lot in common and I no longer think of you as being a big fucking dick on the internet. I mean people who like OG FF7 can not possibly be bad people xD. I'm just saying this could have been much less toxic and antagonistic from the beginning and I hope you can see that too.
Sorry to be so pedantic about this, but I am honestly sick and tired of it.
I also just wanted to clarify that I never actually played Kingdom hearts . But I can not stress this enough, Nomura has absolutely no writing credit for this game. And I think he was only part of the scenario in the last game if I remember correctly? Just because so many people put the story close to kingdom hearts and Nomura.
That's pretty cool. Never purchased an ubisoft game is a legit brag honestly.
I have a friend who looks like the lead singer from coldplay, and when someone pointed that out to him, my friend didn't even know what coldplay was.
He never seemed cooler to me than in that moment, that was his "never played ubisoft lol" moment.
I thought about it for a while afterwards, and the only way he could possibly be cooler is if he actually was the lead singer of coldplay and yet somehow still didn't know what coldplay was
You know, as a fan of the first two albums of coldplay, I do think he kinda forgot what Coldplay is . Though to be fair I still liked some of the newer stuff after that but not enough to still follow what they are up to these days.
Well, that's the magic of video games, it's not about actually capturing the size of a thing, it's about creating that sense of scale with the technology you have. The OG FFVII had a grand sense of scale - far grander than the sum of its parts. Rebirth is 50 times the size, for only a portion of that original story, and somehow it manages to feel smaller. That's not a lack of technical capability - it's a lack of imagination and creative direction. Stamping identical assets all over the world (vending machines and Choco Stops, for instance) is one part of this issue. Bus stops, benches and vending machines look different from one town to the next in most places in the world; in Rebirth they're identical from continent to continent.
It all adds to this sense of something completely artificial, created not as a similacrum of a believable world (it doesn't even have dynamic weather or time-of-day), but more as an amusement arcade filled with vague abstractions of real world things. Take the vertical mountain chocobo walls outside Junon - they completely defy logic in the context of the world. I'd always assumed mountain chocobos could traverse steep, uneven terrain, like a mountain goat. Rebirth tells me that they're only able to climb perfectly vertical road surfaces, expressly created for that purpose. Who created them? We don't know. To access what? It's unclear. Why haven't they fallen into disrepair like all of the flat roads? A mystery. Why can't these birds climb other vertical concrete surfaces, like buildings or pillars? Reasons.
There are probably a dozen other questions you could ask and the only sensible answer is 'because it's a video game, duh' - and that's the problem, the game never transports you from your sofa into its world because it never aspires to be more than a mediocre video game attached to a very prestigious IP. It's lame.
Come on, this is the most Disney-ass shit going - grand plot twists and multiverse claptrap do not make a story 'mature'; adding in extra layers of noise does not make it deep or intelligent. If SE had wanted to elevate the story, they could developed the characters beyond angsty one-dimensional tropes or straight-up pantomime villains. They could have added some moral complexity to world that doesn't reduce everything to good and evil. The biggest problem for coherence is not the plot, but the individual characters and their motivations. There are no internal struggles to overcome, no conflicts of interest, in-fighting or power plays - they all just follow the objective set without question, good guys and bad alike.
All of the character writing is laughably over-the-top, reinforcing that sense of artificiality: people don't behave like this in real life. And that's by intention, because these aren't characters, they're theme-park mascots that will even hum the victory tune after a battle and remind you of all the fuzzy FFVII feels. Meanwhile, not a single character they've added is fleshed-out or likable, they're all complete one-note irritants like Kyrie, Chadley and Mai. Nothing about this is 'mature', it's dumber than a stack of bricks.
I agree with your first part about the environmental design. Good points. Some more naturalistic environments would have been nice. Then again they added a big fat chocobo on these slopes, because in testing people couldn't figure out that they were supposed to climb up with their chocobo. So there is that as well. And playability goes over world cohesion.
Though I disagree with there being no conflicts and no internal struggles (Tifa, Barret, Reeves, Aerith and Cloud, even though he doesnt know it quite yet). These are clearly shown in the game (Remake and Rebirth), just not in the same manner that a western author would do it. And yes you are right, these characters don't behave like actual humans. Because they are not supposed to. Thats very deeply ingrained into japanese and often chinese, korean, etc. character writing. You dont watch anime to watch a subdued exploration of the human condition. Thats just not how they do things. Everything is hyper realistic, meaning over the top and to the most extreme. Everyone is super hot and super good or super bad, etc. You dont have to like it, but its a valid style to write characters and explore them (mostly based on the psychology popularized by Carl Jung). Its different, not necessarily worse.
I'm seeing that Bonds of Friendship takes around an hour. Godspeed to anyone who actually wants to complete that, I noped the fuck outta Platinum once I saw this.
本日よりアップデートファイル（Version1.020）を配信いたします。 本アップデートには、いくつかの不具合の修正と機能向上が含まれております。可能な限り、最新のアップデートを適用いただき『FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH』をお楽しみください。 アップデートに含まれる内容は以…
www.jp.square-enix.com
Google translated patch notes:
Version1.020
- Corrected typos and omissions in some texts.
-Fixed an issue with the controlled character that would occur under certain conditions on the map.
・Fixed an issue where Red XIII's abilities "Lunatic High" and "Warrior's Inspiration" were easily canceled during battle.
-Fixed an issue where enemies would stop under certain conditions during battle.
-Fixed a progress issue that occurred under certain conditions in the quest.
- Improved frame rate and overall game stability.
- Added "Sharp" and "Soft" options to the performance mode screen output settings.
-Improved graphic quality.
・The camera's reverse setting is now reflected in the "gliding" mode when operating a sky chocobo.
・Reverse camera settings are reflected in the target mini-game camera.
- Enhanced guidance support while climbing the vines in the location "Mithril Mine".
- Added difficulty settings to the customization screen for mini-games "Condor Fort" and "Gambit Gears".
Dude. That makes SO MUCH SENSE.
It's passive damage or defense from that element right?!
Does it extend to other materia or just fire/ice/lighting ?
It makes so much sense since you put materia of each type/color on items.
now that you say it, strange it's not in rebirth... but there are so many mechanics in rebirth, maybe it's ok they didnt add another one
They fixed (or improved) the lightning with the patch, mostly on the character faces.
You can check by getting on an dark elevator (like Shinra Manor).
Before, the character's faces looked creepy with some lightning, not anymore.
Btw, people surprised about linking the elemental materia should know about synergy materia, link it to a materia like fire or ice and the character with it will cast the basic spell automatically at no mp cost when you use an ability on an enemy with a different character. Great for Aerith who does good damage even with low level spells.
The Sharp Performance mode definitely looks better than it did, but it's still a bit too soft for my liking. Just gonna stick to Graphics mode for the end of the game.
Btw, people surprised about linking the elemental materia should know about synergy materia, link it to a materia like fire or ice and the character with it will cast the basic spell automatically at no mp cost when you use an ability on an enemy with a different character. Great for Aerith who does good damage even with low level spells.
The Sharp Performance mode definitely looks better than it did, but it's still a bit too soft for my liking. Just gonna stick to Graphics mode for the end of the game.
Oh wow, I didn't even notice they changed it. In Remake, Synergy would use MP (and ATB I think) so I've been avoiding it lol
