(Potential spoilers) How would you rate the difficulty of this plat?

[OTPYG]

Just got the Plat then. I think a 5/10 is where I’d rate it. Challenging in parts, but with correct preparation nothing is on the level of ‘controller-breaking frustrating’. I only died max 3-4 times on any given boss. I didn’t have any issue with the squats/pull ups, which seems to be a sticking point for many, but rhythm games are my bread and butter so that helped here. 
 

A thoroughly enjoyable Plat, bring on the next instalment. 

[breakXedge]

I'd rate it between 3 and 4. It's not hard, but we are used to have it the easy way. Hard mode is not that hard if you just stop and think and equip the correct materias. Plus the accessory from Pride & Joy makes the game super easy. Got this accessory on the 9th episode during my hard playthrough and the only really challenging boss was The Arsenal. 

[AndresLionheart]

Like I mention in my thread where I talk about games I complete, I rate it a 4/10 until you beat the Pride & Joy mission. After that playing on Hard is like a 3/10. I actually had an easier time through Hard than I did on my first time on Normal, because of that accessory, the wide variety of materias at my disposal for exploiting bosses and due to player experience, of course. I also never got a game over.

 

You can get the accessory right after beating the game by going straight into Chapter 17 (although you should probably first grind to level 50 while maxing some materia. It only takes like 30 minutes of grinding). You don't even have to start the chapter on hard (not like it matters that much since there is only a single fight before the VR station).

[Lance_87]

5/10... the only thing that truly gave me headaches was the infamous pullups and the first fight in the Top Secrets VRchallenge. I beat most bosses on Hard mode on the first try.

[Valkirye22]

One off-topic comment less to do with FFVII diff and more regarding the grading system 1-10, similar to movies or aggregate critic sites that go to 10 - consider it this way:

 

If it were an academic assignment - you'd need 5/10 at least or 50% to pass. Which is also why games that touch 60/100 scores on metacritic or opencritic or whatever tend to go into 'bad' category.

 

These things considered an easy game with some challenge that a large percentile of players could platinum would be a 5.

In those terms various pay-for-platinum games would fall around 1-2, some smaller easier (casual) PSN titles would go around 3-4 with your average easy games such as Spyro or Ratchet and Clank would hit 5.

 

If you take genuinely hard titles such as Dark Souls, Supermeatboy, some bullet-hell games or hack and slash titles (I assume here - not a fan) such as DMC or MGS:R if they have S-rank related trophies and put them as a 10/10 that would leave you with a nice spectrum of 5-10 where you can place your typical AAA titles.

 

i.e. (based on my experience) : HZD (6/10), Sniper Elite (7/10), Steep (8/10) etc. with 9-10 being reserved for most demanding titles in terms of pure trophy difficulty and skill required - not duration or trophy rarity which makes no sense as if I don't platinum TLOU it is not 10/10 I just dislike the MP aspect or being skewed by game popularity (COD or R* titles)

 

From reading your comments I'd wager for the larger gaming community out there this game would around 7/10. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by Valkirye22

[Alayaes]

Don't ever ask anyone on the internet to rate anything using a numerical system, ever! You'll either get 10/10 hard or 1/10 easy. The majority of people do not understand how a 10-point scale works.

 

Just look at Metacritic. If they don't like it it's 1/10. If they like it it's 10/10.

[AndresLionheart]

22 minutes ago, Alayaes said:

Don't ever ask anyone on the internet to rate anything using a numerical system, ever! You'll either get 10/10 hard or 1/10 easy. The majority of people do not understand how a 10-point scale works.

 

Just look at Metacritic. If they don't like it it's 1/10. If they like it it's 10/10.

That's why there isn't a single 1/10 or 10/10 here, huh?

I agree that on Metacritic people do not get how it works and give 10s just to offset 1s, but over here I have never seen binary ratings.

[Snake2410]

Unless Ch 17 or 18 really gives me issues on hard then it'll probably be no more than a 5 for me.  Nothing in the game was overly difficult so far.  Only wiped twice on hard so far, and both were solo battles that I got careless on. Sims weren't too bad, but the pull ups sucked.

[Lovenewton]

15 hours ago, AndresLionheart said:

That's why there isn't a single 1/10 or 10/10 here, huh?

I agree that on Metacritic people do not get how it works and give 10s just to offset 1s, but over here I have never seen binary ratings.

He was exaggerating obviously but I agree with his sentiment that people here mostly don’t use scales that actually make sense. They just think « It wasn’t that bad so I’ll give it a 3 » and don’t realise how that would make 0 sense on an actual thought-out scale. They just give arbitrary grades that don’t account for all the existing different levels of difficulty in games.

 

For me the first 3 points on a difficulty scale have to at least be :

 

1. A game that doesn’t have any gameplay and still rewards trophies : Any TellTale game

2. A game that actually needs to be played but that poses no challenge whatsoever : Journey

3. A game that has the tiniest ammount of skill based challenge on the trophy list : HZD, Spider-man, Borderlands 3 etc

 

Those games all have a different enough level of difficulty to be on different levels of a scale (I can’t say objectively but pretty much objectively). And yet you have person after person that comes here and says the game is a 3/10. 

 

FFVII is much more demanding skill wise than any of the games listed above because there’s a significant ammount of skill based challenge and a few difficulty-locked trophies so in my mind on that kind of scale the game would be 5 at least and more like 6.

 

For context (out of the games I’ve platinumed) on this scale a game like GTA V would be 4, RDR2 would be 5, Bloodborne would be 7 at least if not 8 and Crash Team Racing would be 8.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Lovenewton

[You]

I'd give the game between 5-7. I am not exactly bad at games but I find quite a few things about it hard and that was with using a guide. I did the sit up and squats both really easily but that's just I guess because I am good at music/timing type games. I hear a lot of people struggled with that.

 

Saying this game is a 3/10, that's way too low. You need to good at, at least two game genre styles. And a fair few opportunities to be hit killed in 1 or 2 hits if you're not careful.

 

Perhaps if you're a god at Guitar Hero and Dark Souls, this game will be easy for you. You certainly did not need dexterity in the first final Fantasy 7, this remake is way harder.

[Cherrywood]

If you have 5 as an average difficulty level for platinums, I can see it being a little harder than that so 6 or 7.  The only things that were substantially difficult for me were some of the boss fights on hard (Hell house, Bahamut in the Shinra gauntlet, and Sephiroth), but they were all doable.

[Alayaes]

20 hours ago, AndresLionheart said:

That's why there isn't a single 1/10 or 10/10 here, huh?

I agree that on Metacritic people do not get how it works and give 10s just to offset 1s, but over here I have never seen binary ratings.

It's called hyperbole to signify a point. The numbers are irrelevant to the underlying sentiment.

[Whirled03]

@Lovenewton

That's how I look at difficulty ratings too. The issue with a lot of ratings that I see people post, whether it's a rating about difficulty or a review, I would argue is the lack of understanding of any kind of breadth and depth of what the industry has to offer. What I mean is, the rating is generated subjectively rather than making an attempt to be objective; a person who plays a significant amount of the Souls games, but doesn't really play anything else, will probably find FF7R to be easier. "Average", to that individual, is a Souls game difficulty, so any Souls clone will likely hover within the 5-7 range, everything else will fall below that, simply because it's what the player is accustomed to.

 

I think FF7R is either a 6 or a 7. Hard Mode is easily the biggest factor, but the mini-games certainly are rage inducing for some (like myself...). I think it's also important to factor in some of the grindy elements of it, the length of the plat, and how much repetition in chapters is expected; that level of tediousness can weigh down some people.

 

For some fights in Hard Mode, I actually found a few fights to be more difficult (or at the very least, equivalent) to Souls boss fights, but this was largely because I went into Hard Mode blind. Some posters here state something along the lines of "it's easy if you have the proper set up", which skews the data; not everyone knows the proper set up.

 

I probably would have been stuck on the final Combat Simulation for hours if it wasn't for people posting on Youtube. 

[breakXedge]

7 hours ago, Whirled03 said:

@Lovenewton

That's how I look at difficulty ratings too. The issue with a lot of ratings that I see people post, whether it's a rating about difficulty or a review, I would argue is the lack of understanding of any kind of breadth and depth of what the industry has to offer. What I mean is, the rating is generated subjectively rather than making an attempt to be objective; a person who plays a significant amount of the Souls games, but doesn't really play anything else, will probably find FF7R to be easier. "Average", to that individual, is a Souls game difficulty, so any Souls clone will likely hover within the 5-7 range, everything else will fall below that, simply because it's what the player is accustomed to.

 

I think FF7R is either a 6 or a 7. Hard Mode is easily the biggest factor, but the mini-games certainly are rage inducing for some (like myself...). I think it's also important to factor in some of the grindy elements of it, the length of the plat, and how much repetition in chapters is expected; that level of tediousness can weigh down some people.

 

For some fights in Hard Mode, I actually found a few fights to be more difficult (or at the very least, equivalent) to Souls boss fights, but this was largely because I went into Hard Mode blind. Some posters here state something along the lines of "it's easy if you have the proper set up", which skews the data; not everyone knows the proper set up.

 

I probably would have been stuck on the final Combat Simulation for hours if it wasn't for people posting on Youtube. 

 

Well, you know the proper setup if you just stop and think. Start the battle, analize enemy or check if he's vulnerable to any status or magic. Restart before the boss fight, equip your materias and try. And always read what materias do and if the're going to be useful. I didn't use Guard on Cloud because most of the time I wasn't blocking attacks, but having it on the AI really helps.

 

[tpepper1985]

I struggled with the Pull Ups Mini Game for about 45 minutes, and died to a few bosses here and there. I think I actually died more to normal enemies than bosses in Hard Mode, several times I would get "Stun Locked" by enemies, especially in the sections where you only had control of a single character. I did the final VR mission on my second attempt, and wiped once at Hell House on Hard Mode but apart from that it was not that bad, I never used MP for anything but healing and buffs. The boss battles were by no means easy, you can't just spam your way to victory and you do need to think about what you are doing and react to what is going on during the fight or you will struggle for sure.

 

I'd 5/10 is accurate, I'm pretty good at this type of game and had a good grasp of the mechanics early on which made things easier for me, but this will not be the same for everyone! 

Edited May 20, 2020 by tpepper1985

[Incandenza1]

I'd say 5 sounds about right. There were definitely moments on hard mode and the combat simulator that were frustrating, but it never feels insurmountable. Playing souls-like games there are times where I'm playing the same boss a dozen times and wondering if I'm ever going to be able to do it, this is not one of those games. I got the limit break accesory at about chapter 11 (or whichever is the one with the ghost and eligor as bosses) because those two bosses are annoying as shit on hard and there was a definite spike in difficulty from Hell House onwards. It was pretty plain sailing once I had it though. Those final whispers in the last chapter were annoying cus it makes it feel impossible to get into the final boss with a lot of mp but still only took a couple of goes to get right.

I didn't find any of mini games tough, got the squats and whack-a-boxes first time and darts and pull ups after two or three tries. With pull ups i found it best to quickly memorise the route of the arrow on screen and then focus on your input before the pattern faded, then it's about getting a sense of 'flow' and keeping half an eye on the screen to watch out for the button mashing prompts.

 

All said, if you're going in blind there's a few things that can stump you in hard mode, but if you're using guides or looking up boss tutorials on youtube I can't imagine this will be a difficult platinum for most. 

[nudoetcrudo]

I'd rate it a 4.
Did pull-ups and 7-star simulator both on my second attempt.

In hard mode, most of bosses required 1-2 attempts.

Got the limit special accessory only in chapter 17.

Hardest thing was staying motivated. Damn, this was a very boring plat.

[Snake2410]

Definitely a 5.  Platinumed this morning and beat every boss on hard first try, but only because I prepped a ton before even starting hard.  Mostly went into those fights with my own setups too.  Hell House was the only one I actually watched a video on, but that was well before I even started hard mode. 

 

Maxed all materia and then beat all the coliseum and sim challenges for gotterdamrung before doing them. 

 

I think the pull ups trophy was the worst part, but only because it was so annoying.  Everything else I had a lot of fun with, even though I did the 7* challenge the more difficult way.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Snake2410

[Jake-TheGreat97]

I would say that it is around a 4 or a 5. The only trophy that gave me any real trouble, aside for the pull ups one, was defeating Pride and Joy. I would always seem to die during the 4th round with Bahamut. However, the item that you get for beating Pride and Joy made beating the game on hard so much easier for me. The only other annoying thing about this platinum is that you have to replay certain chapters multiple times.

[topgamer6]

I'd say 4 honestly. 

[Whirled03]

On 5/20/2020 at 1:01 AM, breakXedge said:

 

Well, you know the proper setup if you just stop and think. Start the battle, analize enemy or check if he's vulnerable to any status or magic. Restart before the boss fight, equip your materias and try. And always read what materias do and if the're going to be useful. I didn't use Guard on Cloud because most of the time I wasn't blocking attacks, but having it on the AI really helps.

 

 

Stopping and thinking isn't always viable (imo). Specifically, for the final Combat Simulator fight, since it is a potentially very different story if a player goes into it blind. Although the summon fights shouldn't be anything new, due to facing them from Chadley, there's nothing that's restricting the player from beating the individual summon on Easy, which means that the player may not have learned anything from each fight (I'm not sure if the VR summons and the Combat Simulator summons are exactly the same though).

 

The player could practice the VR fights on Hard, but that's still extra work, and that's the not even considering the extra stipulation that you have to fight the summons back to back in the Combat Simulator. The player might feel comfortable fighting the summons individually, but facing them in sequence may make things more difficult.

 

So even though it's possible to make things easier that way (if you're not consulting a guide), it's still extra work, which should still be taken into account for the difficulty.

 

You are right for just about all the fights going through the Story though. I feel that at least you get a little more breathing room for most of the Story fights; it still forces you to think about your setup, but at the same time, there's a little more flexibility in what you can be successful with.

[sephiroth4424]

I'd give it a 3 because of the pull-ups (mainly because they had 2 different stages with different sequences)

Hard mode was way easier than Normal mode (first playthrough).You knew what to expect and had the tools to counter it.

The only thing that went wrong was the final boss. On my normal run i had Tifa and Aerith join. So i thought that was fixed. 

But on Hard mode,Tifa and Barret joined and my calculations went so wrong that at the end both of them had 1 HP and 2-3 MP,  while Cloud was trying to attack,heal and avoid Sephiroth's onslaught.

While Aerith was chilling in the back with 200 MP, magnify, barrier, time, two level 5 Magic Up

Edited May 30, 2020 by sephiroth4424

[AiManiaTrophyhuntres]

ah, the occasional bragging thread again?

Whenever I read 3/10 I expect a Lego game or something like that. how hard must a game be to be a 4 or 5, a 10 for you? This whole thing is just off. 

giving a 7 or 8 does not mean that you are not skilled, instead you should be proud making it through the game, it's a good thing to rate high, not a bad thing.

 

I have some harder plats on my profile, maybe not a meatboy but there are other fun games in that rank and I also loved FF7R so hard that I can say I got pretty good at it.

Yes, the hard mode was way easier than normal, bc I had level 50, all materia on max level, all weapons and oc my skill went up when I had to play it right for the first time and go more strategically.

But that doesn't mean the game got easier at all in general. I know some ppl struggeling with it and they are not unskilled players in general. The pull-up game is nor for everyone and pretty fast, the secret bosses can be a pain if you struggle to understand the pacing or strategy you need, a little bit of luck that bahamut is in a good mood and very good timing is also a factor.

This game is far from easy, and a 3/10 ist just that. EASY.

If darksouls and meatboy are 9 or 10, and my name is mayo, tell tale are 1, then FF7R must be somewhere along 6 or 7 for secret bosses, hard mode and pull-ups, considering that not everybody will be able to get all of that done without help and patience and thinking about strategies. Maybe not even then.

 

For me personally it was a bit easyier, but It would be unfair to say 4 or less only bc I am skilled when others will struggle way more. So in a poll I would rate 7.

 

I just hate this bragging like "oh that game was a 1/10 bc look at me, I'm perfect..." yeah it's not about being the best at everything, it's about giving a fair rating for ppl who decides to buy or not to buy a game.

[Sword]

For someone experienced with RPG's, I'd rate it a 3 for most of the early game chapters, spiking to about a 5 for the Chapter 9 boss/Superboss type stuff, then back down to a 3-4 for the rest of the playthough/Hard Mode playthrough. I think it takes till Chapter 9 for most people to feel any sort of difficulty spike because before then you can almost just haphazardly use your abilities without knowing what you're doin at all (cause that's what I did xD). But after you manage to actually beat those challenges, the game kinda forces you to actually learn and care about what you're doing. Which makes it SO much easier.

 

Honestly, aside from the Pull Up mini game, Hell House, Malboro, Pride and Joy challenge, and maybe some areas on Hard Mode, the game is honestly not that difficult trophy wise or progression wise at all. Especially because you can play the entire thing on easy and only ramp it up when absolutely necessary, like for your Hard Mode playthrough and the few VR challenges that force you on a higher difficulty. Having that easy mode option available significantly reduces the actual difficulty rating for me because I rate stuff on the lowest common denominator that it takes to earn the trophies and easy mode is dirt easy. 

 

I think the game can be a 6-7 if you have absolutely no experience with any JRPG ever and put absolutely no thought into your Materia, upgrade paths and put absolutely no effort toward learning the combat system at all AND play on Normal for the entire time. Then I could very well see how it's difficult. But if you put some thought into it, it requires far far less actual skill than something like Bloodborne or Dark Souls does, which are games I'd compare on the 6-7 difficulty level because even with a modest amount of skill those games can still wreck your face off. Not so with FF7R. 

 

All subjective opinion of course. I'm extremely used to Final Fantasy 13 and Final Fantasy 15's combat systems before I started the game.

 

My final score would be 5/10. Mainly because that Pull Up challenge alone is so incredibly frustrating to pull off and was easily the hardest thing in the entire game for me to do and is NOT something you can turn the difficulty down to "easy mode" for to push through it.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Sword

[Benfoxy83]

How the he'll do u fight the whispers on hard mode on chapter 18? I've died probably 15 times so far. I get ready to attack and they do like 5 moves on me and kill me. Doesn't matter if I switch because I'm always low on health while trying to heal or raise some one else. I've been on this part for about four hours now haven't even gotten to whisper Bahamut yet. I have over 100 hours and still playing but I'm kinda stuck on this part.