Jump to content

How long it takes - or am I that bad?


Recommended Posts

I am at 57 hours and only chapters 15 and 18 left + 3 more dresses to get. I think I will finish at ~60. First playthrough on Normal, all cinematics, I died quite some times but I had no idea how materia work. On Hard so far I died once with a Rabid Dog in Ch3, thrice with Hell House, twice with Bahamut in Pride and Joy and once with Arsenal. Once you learn how things work the game itself is not very difficult. Preparation is a key. And you got to be patient. No rushing in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to let you know, what is currently happening while I try to do the Pride and Joy fight before my hard playthrough...

 

I practiced killing the summons in VR sim one by one after studying different approaches for the Pride and Joy fight. I maxed out the proposed materia for the setups and I tried to do the fight a couple of times.

 

While at first it looked like the one of the offensive speedrun stategies seemed to work, I cannot motivate the game to act as it does in the video. Things alway turn out extremely different and thus I turned down this approach. It is made to look easy - but it is not easy at all.

 

Then I tried to do one of the long run approaches. Result: I do not even get past Shiva.

 

What shall I think of my skill when the results are that bad?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, In4m471k3r said:

Just to let you know, what is currently happening while I try to do the Pride and Joy fight before my hard playthrough...

 

I practiced killing the summons in VR sim one by one after studying different approaches for the Pride and Joy fight. I maxed out the proposed materia for the setups and I tried to do the fight a couple of times.

 

While at first it looked like the one of the offensive speedrun stategies seemed to work, I cannot motivate the game to act as it does in the video. Things alway turn out extremely different and thus I turned down this approach. It is made to look easy - but it is not easy at all.

 

Then I tried to do one of the long run approaches. Result: I do not even get past Shiva.

 

What shall I think of my skill when the results are that bad?

 

I don't know which setup you are trying to replicate, but don't. Going for a quick strategy that will have you win the fight in a couple of minutes might sound tempting, but those strategies are very, VERY hard to replicate. 

 

I tried to follow a speedrun strat for like 2 hours and couldn't beat Bahamuth. I said screw it, equiped the party as I was used to playing and beat the challenge on my next try. 

 

Just play the challenge in a way that you are comfortable with it, not following the perfect strategy by some randoms that you don't know how long they spent trying to perfect their runs :) As you say, they make it look easy when it actually isn't. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used a glass cannon build that's used in the Pride and Joy speedruns and did it on like a ~6th try (restarted a bunch on Leviathan and once on Bahamuth) without practicing the solo fights. I had to improvise during the Bahamuth fight, because I overshot the damage and he summoned Ifrit, and during the Pride and Joy fight, but it was manageable. Once you understand your build's strengths and weaknesses you can do it without much problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/20/2021 at 1:27 PM, amex_svk said:

I used a glass cannon build that's used in the Pride and Joy speedruns and did it on like a ~6th try (restarted a bunch on Leviathan and once on Bahamuth) without practicing the solo fights. I had to improvise during the Bahamuth fight, because I overshot the damage and he summoned Ifrit, and during the Pride and Joy fight, but it was manageable. Once you understand your build's strengths and weaknesses you can do it without much problem.

I'm dreading the top secret fight, but it never even dawned on me to practice on them as individuals. Cheers man, when I reach chapter 17 I may very well invest in some individual battles against the aeons. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it depends on the play style. For me, I always double these platinum estimates to get more accurate result. 

I haven't done platinum yet, but first playthrough took me 60 hours (game timer doesn't stop on pause, so excluding all spliff, toilet, distracted browse of internet, actual playtime is probably 50-55 hours. And I don't feel like I was stuck anywhere much.

When I play games I like to fully explore everything, then end up backtracking a lot, or playing around with different inventory setups, different tactics, etc. In general I'm not a fan of platinums that make me replay game multiple times, because in most games I see everything there is to find in my first playthrough.

That being said, I enjoy hard mode playthrough of this game. I feel like I didn't use a lot of fight mechanics on normal mode because it was easy to just hack and slash all the way through the story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/1/2021 at 7:13 AM, DaveMcDamage said:

I'm dreading the top secret fight, but it never even dawned on me to practice on them as individuals. Cheers man, when I reach chapter 17 I may very well invest in some individual battles against the aeons. 

It is honestly not that bad. I just hacked and slashed my way in with elemental armour on tifa and cloud.

 

I kept aerith in the background to heal and they all fall very quickly

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I have finally platinumed the game (and not just completed the first couple of chapters when I first replied) and it took me 72 hours.

 

Apart from the TopSecret challenge I dont see how I could have gotten the time any lower, with enjoying the story, completing all quests and then grinding materia and levels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently at 90 hours, I have completed everything except chapters 17 and 18 on Hard. Will probably end with 93-95 hours once I end Sephiroth but first I have to finish being Hojo's lab rat dog. My time could be trimmed down- I maxed 3-4 of almost every materia while leveling HP and MP Ups. I also left it idling for several cumulative hours as well so maybe I could have done it in 85. Maybe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I figured I'd offer my play-time notes to contribute to the pool of general estimates out there.

 

End of 1st playthrough (extremely thorough, all side quests in every level, blind playthru (not skipping cutscenes), Normal Difficulty) - 39 hours, 31 minutes, 57 seconds

Went back and die bike mini-game+2nd set of dresses

End of 2nd playthrogh (some side quests to get remaining dresses, 0 side quests in Chapter 14, skip most cutscenes, Hard Difficulty) - 67 hours, 34 minutes, 35 seconds

 

A couple of notes on where you could likely save a lot of time if you were tryna speed-run.

 

* Skip all the cutscenes on the 1st playthrough (YOU MONSTER)

* Play on Easy the 1st time? I didn't cuz I wanted to enjoy the game but I imagine with OP stuff like triple slash, hard will have SOME spikes but not many

* Don't let Jules kick your ass like he did on mine taking me 40 minutes to conquer him with Tifa

* Look up the fastest guides for the Shinra VR simulator fights as opposed to experimenting yourself

 

and yea... you prolly could get it as low as the acclaimed 60-hour estimate. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm now at 84 hours on hard mode chapter 17. Beat the legend of monsters yesterday, but after checking out some guides for the P&J event, there is no way I can do it with such low health. I'm actually dreading switching the PS4 again to do this, so I may leave it for when I next have a day off or something. Been a long time in gaming since a situation on a game got me nervous. Got pissed off loads of times, but I think because this battle is such a slow process and having to start from the beginning each time, its put me right off wanting to have a go of the game lol. 

 

Edit

 

I was right to be worried lol. 

 

First attempt I used Shin's guide but I knew due to the lack of health upgrades I would not last. Never made it past Shiva, or rather quit out when she started wrecking me. 

 

Second attempt I used tactics from Shin's guide but made sure to have HP ups. Got to Leviathan and when casting at the start with Aerith and Cloud, I got wiped out by Levi's first move which was some laser beam thing that ran across the screen in an arc. 

 

Don't know how much longer I can continue with the game until I have to admit that the whole hard experience has been really difficult for me and not enjoyed it at all. 

Edited by DaveMcDamage
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished the Plat today, i'm probably one of the few people who took their sweet time. 154 Hours, 4 Minutes and 17 seconds to be precise.

 

Hellhouse on Hard took me a day.

I was also too stubborn to look for a guide until i eventually did... ?

 

Then i realized my Materia were trash so i let the AI farm in the Chapter 14 Colosseum with the 3 Team Challenge: 

Lowest assisted Difficulty, Cloud with first strike Materia, 2x Magic Ups & Magnify + fire. The rest you can equip whatever you want to level. 

You'll wreck them all in a few seconds. Best AP Method and you can instantly do it again after Round 5.

I managed to MAX out all of my 119 Materias (yes i actually counted) that were in my Inventory in a few hours. 

I advice you to do the same @DaveMcDamage it'll be helpful especially those HP ups??

 

Anyway, i was also afk often and fell asleep sometimes because of the beautiful Music. I rewatched all Cutscenes again in my Hard run because i choose Japanese Voices instead of English, they're really good.

 

Now i need a big break from FF7 haha. 

I hope I'll get those Trophy Avatars for my Account. I'll re-visit Intergrade on PS5 next Year to do it all over again✌?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...