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Is the first playthrough supposed to be this hard?


UberniXi

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I'll admit, I'm having a hard time with this game. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. It doesn't help that I'm in the middle of moving and only pick up and play every month or two. I've just finished Chapter 8, but most of the major fights have been a struggle so far. I'm trying not to use a guide. This battle format seems really clunky to me and I'm finding it hard to master. I feel like I'm doomed for playing on Hard. Any pointers/tips/tricks?

 

I'm trying to go through and master different Materia as I go, but maybe there are certain ones to focus on? I've been trying to get max proficiency with weapons and such too, but is this worth doing? Any good suggestions from the community would be appreciated. 

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The best tips I can give for first play through are:

 

  • Prayer is a great materia to upgrade / duplicate, as it is a small, but essentially free heal
  • It's much more important/ useful to concentrate on elemental stuff than it was in the original - knowing enemies elemental weaknesses is key!
  • Don't control Cloud - he is a great all-rounder, and will fight well without you - you should be controlling Aireth / Barret / Tifa instead.
  • Tifa is a MONSTER! She is your MVP - and mastering her fighting style will DECIMATE most bosses once you figure out the rhythm

Good luck, and have fun - Love that game! ?

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It's totally ok to struggle. I suggest you go for the first playthrough on easy, no point in getting your life harder with normal difficult. On my first playthrough i never looked for elemental weakness or special strategies,just smashed trough. On hard you will need to figure out one for maybe 4-5 battles.

 

By the hard playthrough you will have your characters leveled up at 36-40 and all the materia you will need.

 

I personally never used prayer materia or chakra, but buy and start to level up 4 revive materia, 4 energy materia, at least 1 or 2 for every green offensive materia, 8 MP materia and 7/8 HP as soon as possible, this will save your life in the hard playthrough. Also, the two elemental materia(blue) will be the key for winning harder battles in the hard playthrough

 

 

P.s.

I totally agree, Tifa will be your MVP, especially with her second special attack! Good luck with this

 

Edited by ddrakner
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I'm on hard mode now and if I was to suggest anything to new players even playing on easy or medium, is to play it like hard mode and learn and utilize the abilities rather than magic attacks. The key to each fight is the right materia setup and unlike other games, you favourite weapons and setups could be a hindrance for the next fight. So take some time to watch guides on hard mode just to see materia setups and such. It will also prep you so much better when going into hardmode because playing on normal with magic and items pretty much feels like you can almost 1 hit kill everything and its no lessons learned for hardmode and its restrictions. 

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My first play through was on classic, which I found out later to be easy mode. I agree, it's probably best to play on the easiest setting first time around and enjoy the game.

By the time you play through on hard you will be quite levelled up and then hard won't be as hard.

 

Heal spam is the best tactic for most of the game, keep yourself on full health wherever possible, keep at least 2 ATB with most of your party and get yourself 3 or 4 pray materia, equip one for each character and use pray to heal all your party for free which uses no MP.

Edited by enaysoft
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I have just got the platinum. It took me 3 weeks and 3 play throughs: 1 normal and 2 hards for grinding stats. I agree with the clunkiness of the combat. I have criticized it several times and fanboys would jump to my throat. This is pretty obvious if you played many other games with far better combat.

 

While easy is too easy, you should start with it because two playthroughs are not enough for maxing out the materia. You could spend the whole easy playthrough using assess to learn enemies weaknesses. You should really get fully levelled HP, MP, magic, etc materia before the last and optional bosses. I did them now without maxed out materia but struggled.

 

For the easy play through I would not check guides or builds. For normal mid game, yes.

 

Edited by griedos
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The battle system is awesome, there is nothing clunky about it. Getting interrupted less is totally within the player's control on mastering the game's aggro lock on the controlled character.

 

it's not worth playing initially on hard, the game finally forces you to do things right in each big fight from Chapter 9 onwards, and have the appropriate materia equipped. Which of course makes it easier in NG+ aside from previous knowledge of every fight.

 

Fights like the Coliseum House, the first real challenge in hard, are best controlled by Aerith. Not to mention utilizing big cool downs when they are up, especially Tifa's.

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21 minutes ago, technole said:

The battle system is awesome, there is nothing clunky about it. Getting interrupted less is totally within the player's control on mastering the game's aggro lock on the controlled character.

 

it's not worth playing initially on hard, the game finally forces you to do things right in each big fight from Chapter 9 onwards, and have the appropriate materia equipped. Which of course makes it easier in NG+ aside from previous knowledge of every fight.

 

Fights like the Coliseum House, the first real challenge in hard, are best controlled by Aerith. Not to mention utilizing big cool downs when they are up, especially Tifa's.

1. Yes, it is pretty awesome to be automatically interrupted multiple times in boss fights at random HP percentages that you do not know unless you look it up, and the game never tells, while robbing you your MP, limit breaks or summons. Last two you rarely get back in a fight.

2. Don't confuse him. Hard mode is not available until NG+.

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6 hours ago, griedos said:

I have just got the platinum. It took me 3 weeks and 3 play throughs: 1 normal and 2 hards for grinding stats. I agree with the clunkiness of the combat. I have criticized it several times and fanboys would jump to my throat. This is pretty obvious if you played many other games with far better combat.

 

While easy is too easy, you should start with it because two playthroughs are not enough for maxing out the materia. You could spend the whole easy playthrough using assess to learn enemies weaknesses. You should really get fully levelled HP, MP, magic, etc materia before the last and optional bosses. I did them now without maxed out materia but struggled.

 

For the easy play through I would not check guides or builds. For normal mid game, yes.

 

 

Setting aside the opinions about 'clunkiness' in the combat  (I disagree, so I must be a 'fanboy' of course - it can't possibly just be that the poster is wrong or anything - that would be impossible! ?), but a lot of the rest of this post is just factually incorrect.

 

A single Normal play through and a Hard NG+ will result in more than ample maxed materials - and maxed out character stats by around Chapter 8-9 of the NG+ - to make it through the Hard Mode playthrough.

There is absolutely no requirement for 3 playthroughs, and no reason to start on easy mode, as doing so will not teach you anything about what you will be dealing with on Hard mode, and is likely to actually harm your chances, as you will get a rather false concept of how to fight.

 

The toughest optional bosses are hard fights, but not so hard as to require deferring to guides etc. It's just about learning their tells and weaknesses, and how to counter their attacks.

There is not just one strategy that will work - it is better to use whatever strategy you come up with that works best for you, than to try and copy someone else's - in these cases, multiple approaches are viable, and using your own materia set-up that is tailored to your own play-style will always be more successful than trying to use someone else's, as their play-style may be wildly different to your own.

Edited by DrBloodmoney
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1 hour ago, griedos said:

1. Yes, it is pretty awesome to be automatically interrupted multiple times in boss fights at random HP percentages that you do not know unless you look it up, and the game never tells, while robbing you your MP, limit breaks or summons. Last two you rarely get back in a fight.

2. Don't confuse him. Hard mode is not available until NG+.

 

I think they confused me saying they are initially playing the game in hard mode, and I didn't think you can. Only classic, easy, or normal until you unlock it. Although normal isn't a push over like easy is.

 

So maybe they actually meant that if they aren't using combat cooldowns and materias well. I didn't even max every materia in hard, but every battle certainly moves the needle and made you stronger, along with combining AP-ups on things like elemental materia asap so you have some bosses practically healing you.

 

I'd say the Whispers and phase pushing is the most annoying in the game, for a series of fights like that.

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On 4/27/2021 at 0:20 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

The best tips I can give for first play through are:

 

  • Prayer is a great materia to upgrade / duplicate, as it is a small, but essentially free heal
  • It's much more important/ useful to concentrate on elemental stuff than it was in the original - knowing enemies elemental weaknesses is key!
  • Don't control Cloud - he is a great all-rounder, and will fight well without you - you should be controlling Aireth / Barret / Tifa instead.
  • Tifa is a MONSTER! She is your MVP - and mastering her fighting style will DECIMATE most bosses once you figure out the rhythm

Good luck, and have fun - Love that game! 1f60a.png

I'm finding that Materia is the biggest key factor in whether or not the game is easier or not. It makes all the difference. I've also switched to secondary characters and I agree that it helps to have better control over healing/spells and to let computer Cloud do his own thing.

 

I only had to try Hell House three times (on Normal, I'm not sure if this is good or not) before I was able to beat it by learning from my mistakes and using some of your suggestions here. 

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2 minutes ago, UberniXi said:

I'm finding that Materia is the biggest key factor in whether or not the game is easier or not. It makes all the difference. I've also switched to secondary characters and I agree that it helps to have better control over healing/spells and to let computer Cloud do his own thing.

 

I only had to try Hell House three times (on Normal, I'm not sure if this is good or not) before I was able to beat it by learning from my mistakes and using some of your suggestions here. 

 

Glad to hear that mate!

 

Hell house is a tough one for sure - the randomness of those Tonberry's can be a difficulty - lose track of one for a moment, and it can cause a big swing from a seemingly good run to failure very quickly!

Edited by DrBloodmoney
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23 hours ago, ddrakner said:

It's totally ok to struggle. I suggest you go for the first playthrough on easy, no point in getting your life harder with normal difficult. On my first playthrough i never looked for elemental weakness or special strategies,just smashed trough. On hard you will need to figure out one for maybe 4-5 battles.

 

By the hard playthrough you will have your characters leveled up at 36-40 and all the materia you will need.

 

I personally never used prayer materia or chakra, but buy and start to level up 4 revive materia, 4 energy materia, at least 1 or 2 for every green offensive materia, 8 MP materia and 7/8 HP as soon as possible, this will save your life in the hard playthrough. Also, the two elemental materia(blue) will be the key for winning harder battles in the hard playthrough

 

 

P.s.

I totally agree, Tifa will be your MVP, especially with her second special attack! Good luck with this

 

Thanks! I was playing on 'Classic' (not realizing this was easy) up until about Chapter 7. Then I switched to Normal, hoping to learn the game a little bit better for when I attempt Hard. I'm trying not to just blindly button mash (as easy as that is) because I'll get destroyed when a strategy is needed and I'm over here scratching my head. It hasn't been so bad, but has had a few intense and frustrating moments. 

 

Good Materia suggestions. I've been working on the MP/HP Up since the game started since I did hear that those were very helpful. Elements and healing, of course, are a must. 

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20 hours ago, enaysoft said:

My first play through was on classic, which I found out later to be easy mode. I agree, it's probably best to play on the easiest setting first time around and enjoy the game.

By the time you play through on hard you will be quite levelled up and then hard won't be as hard.

 

Heal spam is the best tactic for most of the game, keep yourself on full health wherever possible, keep at least 2 ATB with most of your party and get yourself 3 or 4 pray materia, equip one for each character and use pray to heal all your party for free which uses no MP.

Awesome, thanks! I too started on Classic, realized it was easy and then later switched it to Normal. I thought it might benefit me going into Hard mode, but maybe that's not the case. Keeping yourself well healed is definitely a must. 

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15 minutes ago, UberniXi said:

Awesome, thanks! I too started on Classic, realized it was easy and then later switched it to Normal. I thought it might benefit me going into Hard mode, but maybe that's not the case. Keeping yourself well healed is definitely a must. 

 

Playing on normal didn't help me.

Infact, I even replayed a ton of chapters again on easy after completing the game. Only when I was lvl 50 and had lots of max materia, did I then go for hard. Remember to get 4 pray materia by repeatedly playing that chapter which gives you one pray materia (I forget off the top of my head which chapter that was)

Then load up on non MP usage materia like first attack, mp up, charge up when guarding attacks etc and you'll have a good time (the cpu blocks a lot so when they block enemy attacks their ATB goes up pretty quickly)

There are tons of tips for hard mode, have fun with the game and just leave clearing up for hard later when you're confident you are beefed up.

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On 4/27/2021 at 10:11 AM, technole said:

The battle system is awesome, there is nothing clunky about it. Getting interrupted less is totally within the player's control on mastering the game's aggro lock on the controlled character.

 

it's not worth playing initially on hard, the game finally forces you to do things right in each big fight from Chapter 9 onwards, and have the appropriate materia equipped. Which of course makes it easier in NG+ aside from previous knowledge of every fight.

 

Fights like the Coliseum House, the first real challenge in hard, are best controlled by Aerith. Not to mention utilizing big cool downs when they are up, especially Tifa's.

I think I'm getting better with the battle system now that I'm getting back in to the game. I have a bit of trouble multi tasking sometimes, but find the secondary characters that aren't Cloud a lot easier to control. Have definitely had some struggles, but getting through it. Most mistakes are just because of the wrong equipment and materia, which you find out the hard way. 

On 4/28/2021 at 2:16 AM, enaysoft said:

 

Playing on normal didn't help me.

Infact, I even replayed a ton of chapters again on easy after completing the game. Only when I was lvl 50 and had lots of max materia, did I then go for hard. Remember to get 4 pray materia by repeatedly playing that chapter which gives you one pray materia (I forget off the top of my head which chapter that was)

Then load up on non MP usage materia like first attack, mp up, charge up when guarding attacks etc and you'll have a good time (the cpu blocks a lot so when they block enemy attacks their ATB goes up pretty quickly)

There are tons of tips for hard mode, have fun with the game and just leave clearing up for hard later when you're confident you are beefed up.

Thanks. The problem is that you don't do enough fighting in this game to get your Materia leveled up quickly. Repeating chapters seems to be logical for that reason. Maybe I haven't found a good area for it yet. I think that the Pray Materia is a must have and it's certainly saved my bacon a few times, even on Normal. 

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1 hour ago, UberniXi said:

I think I'm getting better with the battle system now that I'm getting back in to the game. I have a bit of trouble multi tasking sometimes, but find the secondary characters that aren't Cloud a lot easier to control. Have definitely had some struggles, but getting through it. Most mistakes are just because of the wrong equipment and materia, which you find out the hard way. 

Thanks. The problem is that you don't do enough fighting in this game to get your Materia leveled up quickly. Repeating chapters seems to be logical for that reason. Maybe I haven't found a good area for it yet. I think that the Pray Materia is a must have and it's certainly saved my bacon a few times, even on Normal. 

I actually found myself preferring the ranged characters at times but you should get familiar with them all because of how aggro works in this game. 

 

Your first playthrough AP earned is pitiful but in your second playthrough the amount of AP earned is increased. Following Optinooby's leveling guide I maxed out all my materia and got to level 50 in a few hours. Is necessarily needed, no, but I am sure it somewhat ease my Hard run.

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18 minutes ago, da-Noob123 said:

I actually found myself preferring the ranged characters at times but you should get familiar with them all because of how aggro works in this game. 

 

Your first playthrough AP earned is pitiful but in your second playthrough the amount of AP earned is increased. Following Optinooby's leveling guide I maxed out all my materia and got to level 50 in a few hours. Is necessarily needed, no, but I am sure it somewhat ease my Hard run.

Its the materia you need to be grinding for hardmode. Levelling up takes care of its self. Make sure to have around 3 of each green materia levelled ideally. Have around 4-6 HP/MP ups maxed, have around 3 warding's maxed out, HP/MP absorbs maxed, Magic ups x2 maxed out and luck can't hurt either. Do all that, and then there will still be sections where all those levelled up materias are pointless lol. 

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there's a few sections that are difficult in the first play-through.

 

the sauhagins in the sewers, some of the rooms near the big heat lamps under the plate, hell house etc.

 

nearly all fights can be cheesed with good understanding of gameplay mechanics.

 

find some videos on youtube,

 

I finished normal, and instantly went to hard with every materia underlevelled, and still managed to do it all without much effort.

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On 27.4.2021 at 9:11 AM, UberniXi said:

I'll admit, I'm having a hard time with this game. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. It doesn't help that I'm in the middle of moving and only pick up and play every month or two. I've just finished Chapter 8, but most of the major fights have been a struggle so far. I'm trying not to use a guide. This battle format seems really clunky to me and I'm finding it hard to master. I feel like I'm doomed for playing on Hard. Any pointers/tips/tricks?

 

I'm trying to go through and master different Materia as I go, but maybe there are certain ones to focus on? I've been trying to get max proficiency with weapons and such too, but is this worth doing? Any good suggestions from the community would be appreciated. 

Get better or lower the difficulty 

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Type O Behemoth has been wrecking me all day today. Not making any progress with him at all due to his attacks wiping out too much damage on all three characters per attack. Even when using stop the ai controlled characters get in way too close when stop wears off. 

 

It would have been awesome if they did something like in Dragon Age where you can choose if you want ai party to fight close or from far back. 

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  • 1 month later...

Think i can use this topic for my question, i just completed the main story where my focus was story, so have alot of cleanup. my first thing i wanted to do is getting the Dart trophy but then i found i i have to complete most of chapter 3 inluding alot of side quest before i can play...... is is really working like that that you have to play it like this?

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On 6/20/2021 at 3:01 PM, Schalde-1982 said:

Think i can use this topic for my question, i just completed the main story where my focus was story, so have alot of cleanup. my first thing i wanted to do is getting the Dart trophy but then i found i i have to complete most of chapter 3 inluding alot of side quest before i can play...... is is really working like that that you have to play it like this?

 

My advice is that you do chapter 3, complete it until you get to chapter 4, then you go to chapter select and select chapter 8 and you do this one until chapter 9 AND choose the dresses you didn't get on your first playthrough, because those 3 chapters you'll have to play it 3 times at least (1st playthrough, hard playthrough and clean up to get the dresses). Also those 3 chapters are the ones that have all the minigames and sidequests so it's perfect for the clean up. And, if you want an "easier" hard playthrough, then left the easiest dresses (the ones you get for not doing any side quest) for that playthrough.

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