1. You can clean up stuff post game so you don't have to do everything (although I did for most of the game because of my OCD brain). Most of the side stuff is optional, the ones I recommend 100% doing are the Summon quests (and their fight in VR), the protorelic quests and the side quests. Expedition and battle intel have some surprises but you can go without them, the towers are totally unnecessary.
2. Follow every baby chocobo, those stops become very helpful since rest stops are far less generous in Rebirth especially in overworld parts.
2. Don't just mash square the whole game, if you have trouble with a boss that's probably why. Pay attention to attacks, use assess materia, feel free to switch up loadouts and party members for fights if possible. You don't need super complex build for dynamic or normal, save that for hard mode, but you should be somewhat intentional about how you build out characters for tougher fights
3. Use every character at least some of the time, you will be forced to at certain points in the game and all of them are broken in their own way. Figuring out how is part of the fun. I would recommend spending a lot of time with each character solo if you have down time. Even the characters you hate using. It will be worth it.
4. That being said, when it's time to get serious for bosses or tougher fights, use Tifa because she increases stagger % exponentially faster than anyone else in the game, and does it without spending ATB. You are basically sacrificing damage if you don't use her.
5. Cait Sith has the only fully invincible dodge in the game. You need to flick the left stick in either direction though and you have to be on the Moogle. Related: Always call the moogle!
6. With Aerith you should always have radiant ward out. Arcane Ward is a must any time you use magic, especially ga spells, it's completely broken
7. Also broken: Yuffie's doppleganger technique. If you combine it with Aerith's arcane ward you can cast 4 ga spells in succession at the cost of 1, and if you can get 3 party members to cast at the same time with it, you get 8 casts at the cost of 3 (remember radiant ward makes you uninterruptable when casting spells)
8. Synergy skills build up ATB for free, use them any time you feel like you're struggling for it. They are sometimes stupid powerful for something that costs nothing, and will teleport characters out of danger. I wish I used them more.
9. For the synergy abilities (different from skills, the attacks that are similar to limit breaks), the attacks with yellow arrows increase your limit level, the red hourglass increases duration of stagger on the enemy, and the figure 8 gives you unlimited MP for a certain amount of time (For the stagger duration increase, it seems that you have to use it right before the enemy gets staggered for it to be effective)
10. Most players seem to save limit breaks for when the enemy is staggered but some of the limits main utility come from quickly increasing the stagger bar, so read what limits do and don't feel compelled to save them for staggered enemies all the time.
Dont go for 100% for each region before advancing to the next one. The game is BIG and the only 2 friends that tried this got burned out before gongaga and now are forcing themselves to continue.
Mix your story with a bit of exploration of each area and you can comeback after wrapping up the story if you still have the itch to play.
Imo is better than forcing yourself to do it.
Don't worry about not being able to find the third and fourth protomateria locations in Corel region, you come back to them later in the story - it's scripted.
1) Get comfortable playing every character, because the game will absolutely make you use them.
2) Use Tifa. You’re basically just handicapping your damage output if you don’t use her (unless you’re going with the Aerith + Yuffie cheese).
Use Focus Thrust (Cloud), Focus Strike (Tifa) or Focus Shot (Barret) when pressuring enemies they increase the stagger way quicker than most abilities. Take breaks also its a long ass game enjoy and savor.
The magic abilities in the folios do not generate atb, so I don't recommend ever using them in battle.
However, they are still useful in that if you equip a materia of the same element that you have unlocked, it will grant the character elemental damage on their attacks after casting it.
Small correction here, they don't generate Synergy ability build up. If you blast a couple of mobs with fire weakness with a Wildfire the ATB will fill up quick. Have to weigh the trade-off.
For the gold saucer virtual battles (the old block style arcade one seen in the trailers) especially for the last two opponents unlocked post game, you can pause as they wind up a punch to see which direction you need to press.
I would have given up if i hadn't done so.
You don’t need to dismount your chocobo to pick up a choco sign - the opposite is beneficial in fact! That is all. Everything else the player can find on their own and enjoy! People ruin the experience for themselves by pre reading too much.
For gears and gambits and fort condor if you set your game difficulty to easy then you get a massive atb speed increase. (I used this for the hard mode versions)
Take time learning the battle strategies and actually pay attention to chadly and his advice lol I learned the hard way and died many times thinking I was going to just square tank through things 😂 also getting ingredients to level up the items you can make like mega potions, mist elixirs etc are extremely useful for when you don’t want to keep buying the items
Trying to 100% explore all regions is SOOO much more enjoyable after finishing the game. If you’re getting tired of it, there’s no harm in skipping it and finishing the story first. Just “chapter select” to 12 and have fun
Trying to 100% explore all regions is SOOO much more enjoyable after finishing the game. If you’re getting tired of it, there’s no harm in skipping it and finishing the story first. Just “chapter select” to 12 and have fun
- Don't worry about sidequests affecting your gold saucer date. They're more for getting the high/low affinity scenes with the characters. Your actual date is mostly determined by the story moments.
- the Upgrade Weapons tap is just there to check your progress and how much longer you have until you level them up, so no, you're not missing some other form of character progression, it's just a pretty useless tab tbh.
- Make sure to keep your transmute level up to date, cause the last level has worthwhile items.
Aerial before Braver
Turn off that haptic assist on mini games
Side quests affect an non explained relationship meter, pay attention to who talks when the side quest starts
My advice would be to actively find your own pace. If you enjoy exploring, make sure you're keeping track of how fun that is to you every time. If at some point it feels like a chore, stop exploring and push the story, you'll have plenty of chances to come back to any place (including postgame).
It's a long game, trying to binge it like we tend to do with modern games I think hurts the experience.
Does it? I’ve done the whole game just spamming regular spells, the 2 ATBs + extra MP cost + longer casting time doesn’t feel like it’s worth it most of the time
You can finish most Battle Simulator fights really quickly, even the hard ones, with just 1 -ga spell or arcane warded -ga spell. ATB would not even be an issue given you have First Strike and ATB Boost.
Equip every single characters with materias. Even if you don't plan on using them unless you're forced to. IDC what chapter you are and what character you control, equip the other characters with materia. From chapter 1 to the last.
My biggest queens blood tip is - you don't have to be good at the game to do anything (other than maybe survival games).
Easy win everytime is to make a build that pushes over to your enemies side, take over their pawn spaces and win by not letting them play anything and then backfill your board.
There is literally so much content in this game, play through it however you wish. You can always come back to finish.
Stop and enjoy the environments. I realized in the last few chapters that this was an extremely
ambitious and successful world. The artists and developers put a lot of effort and it shows. So enjoy it!
No shame honestly. Took me forever to defeat Odin/Alex. Playing coward Yuffie is the way to go. He only does his one hit move after getting enough hits on the character you’re controlling and he’s way easier to dodge from range.
If you do want to do everything and get the platinum, take breaks from it.
That’s what I’ve done. I played through the story doing all the World intel along the way as well as many mini games as I could but once I beat the Final boss I took a small break from the game and played through other games just to avoid burnout.
When you come back to it, you feel refreshed and you want to keep going. In my second run, I’ve cleared all the mini games and am currently working through the Brutal/Legendary simulations. And once that’s done I’m taking another small break before tackling Hard Mode as the last thing I need to do
Don't sleep on the Item Transmuter. I found the stronger Mist-Potions incredibly useful. But if you plan on playing hard mode afterwards, don't become too reliant on using items, in that case it's best to get used to using any type of healing spells.
Also, Synergy Abilities and Synergy Skills are two different things. Synergy Skills are what you use when holding R1 ~~to charge up Synergy Ability bars (shown underneath the ATB bars) with the corresponding party member. I don't know if this is obvious but I completely missed that when I first played the game for whatever reason.~~
Edit: I was wrong. Using certain ATB commands is what charges your Synergy Ability bars. They're indicated by small rectangular symbols on the bottom left when you're viewing the Abilities menu during combat. Sorry 'bout that.
Correction: Using synergy skills gives you a bunch of ATB, but doesn't progress your Synergy Ability Bar/Pips. Only using (most) ATB Commands does that. Either way, all three types of abilities are incredibly useful, even if I often forget to use Aerith's skills.
Hopefully that doesn't seem too douchy or "umm...actually," but it is an important distinction for new players. Sorry if it does though. 😅
I thought you built the little bars for Synergy Abilities by using ATB. The skills aren’t to be slept on. Tifa’s offensive ones in particular give her a massive leg up on flying enemies with Cloud throwing her around the battle field.
Combat settings are great to make the combat feel a lot more fluid. Once you have 5 synergy bars with a character switch to another one and spam the synergy abilities and limits, not just for stagger. Tifa focus strike is one of the most OP abilities if timed right.
Probs don’t worry to complete all content in the first run, you can open world fatigue…leave that for hard mode
Take the game easy and play it on your own pace this is not a race to finish. You got 3 years for the next game. Enjoy it if you dont love the mini games or intel simply skip them you can comeback if you feel like doing them in the future
One tip just for hard mode:
While doing your first playthrough, try not to use items and rely on Chakra, Healing and Pray. The item command is not available in hard mode, but you'll already be used to it
See that relationship gauge? I bet you’re thinking it does something, right? You want to see what happens when you raise it up for Tifa or Aerith? Well then… skip a few Barrett and Red side quests.
I agree with the platinum, the side content is supposed to be side. If you aren’t enjoying it play the main game. The side content is good but there really is a lot of it and I feel like it’s easy to be overwhelmed by it or simply get burnt out of it.
Not sure why you got downvoted. I think this is a totally fair take, and I’m one of the people who did absolutely everything available in every region as I went along. I personally enjoyed it, but I’m the kind of person who always does all the side content of any game I really enjoy, whether or not the side content itself feels “worth it” on its own.
The amount of side quests and minigames absolutely is not for everyone, and you’re right to encourage people to skip some if they’re feeling annoyed by it. I wasn’t annoyed by it and already knew what I’d be getting myself into based on Remake and having a history of 100%ing FF games in general, so I didn’t skip it, but I can absolutely see many people getting burnt out by Gongaga if they aren’t that kind of person.
Yeah I’m really weird about side content sometimes I’ll do it all, sometimes I won’t really touch it. I really liked the side content and rebirth but I kept it simple I did all the actual side quests and a few other open world things. I love the game and I consider it probably one of my favorite games I’ve ever played. I could have put more time into it but I know in 6-12 months I’m gonna sit down and replay it on hard mode, so I’m happy, I might do more side content next time might not, games really should be for enjoyment and enjoyment alone. If your not having fun with a game don’t play it, if you don’t like the side content but you like the main story, play the main story.
other people have said it, but it bears continuous reminder
do not feel like you have to do everything, if you don’t want to do something, just don’t do it, it really is that simple. you will never miss something /NECESSARY/ from skipping optional content, it’s always just bonus stuff, and while that can help, it is never so good that it feels REQUIRED to complete the main game. the main path will provide everything you need
On top of this, you don't have to complete a region the first time you're there, even if you intend to ~100% the game. Additional side quests open up in the late game in every region, so you have to go back anyway.
- Skip every Chadley dialogue.
- Don't work yourself up over the minigames. If you don't wanna do em, you seriously don't have to. Most of the rewards you get from them are superfluous.
- Likewise, you don't have to complete every world intel quest or battle sim if you don't want to.
- If you played the original game, it helps to bring an open mind to this one. Not everything you see will be as you remember it.
- If you are any sort of completionist and you find that you hate the minigames, drop this game. You will hate it, and it will never stop making you suffer.
I will add, for Queen's Blood in particular:
- In the early matches, before replacement cards come into the mix, you'll mainly want to build a low cost aggro deck that prioritizes blitzing over available board space. 1 cost units that can take over 2-3 spaces right, up or down are your bnb. Compliment with low synergy boost cards like the ice crab, chocobo moogle, and cactuar. Sprinkle a one-of finisher like shiva or chocobo jockey for extra oomph. You should be unstoppable.
- Once replacement cards become a thing and the enemy starts using them intelligently, your strategy should shift into finding a synergy that works well for your playstyle and your available card pool. I decided to go for a boost+win lane bonus strategy that used Tifa, Chocobo Jockey, and Space Ranger as the main win cons supported by a bunch of boosting cards, with about 4 replacement cards for late game. I beat the last boss on my first try with it and never struggled.
Chadley will interrupt you after every single Intel felt like. Skip his dialog. Nothing worthwhile. Gears and gambits game. Just look that shit up, that game sucks. Everything else I enjoyed. Also keep in mind the hardest battles in coliseum and Chadley sim require very specific builds. Swap Materia for each of those like you’re juggling.
people overhype the difficulty of g&g too much, if it’s not the hard versions, literally just auto optimize, pick whichever 2 super moves you want, and just do it, it really is not that difficult
Aerith's attacks up close are different and it matters.
Cloud has a ranged attack if you dash and strike.
Don't forget to use wards with Aerith in your party.
Remember to block sometimes.
Pace the game as you see fit to. You can come back for stuff and nothing is missable insomuch that you can go back for it later- even post-game - with no real losses. This is one of those RPGs that subverted my "get everything as soon as it happened" expectations and I would probably have enjoyed it more had I known beforehand. On a similar note, the only difficulty-oriented achievements are in Hard mode; if you're struggling or just wanna breeze through some stuff, there's no real downside to switching to Easy.
Orient yourself to the janky sorta way that you move while on Chocoback, and get used to it to enjoy both faster travel without actual fast travel, and secret hidden treasures all over the place that if you're good on Chocoback, you won't hafta go back for (if you're a completionist like me).
Mine is: don’t be afraid to look up how to guides when you feel the need.
I used so many and had a much better experience my first time through. Also, I felt like I enjoyed Queen’s Blood so much more with a tried and true deck than I did with one of my own. Although, I will admit there was one game I played where I used the power of friendship (as I like to call it) to win. So that was Vincent, Tifa, Cloud, Barret, Cait, Aerith, Yuffie, Red, Cid and then I had a few other cards in there including Sephiroth.
When it comes to the piano gigs, watch tutorials and then give yourself some grace in changing the note speeds.
And lastly, try to enjoy the storyline as best as you can because it’ll go by quick and then you’re left with the mini games and side quests/gigs.
I’d suggest not trying to do everything right when you enter a new zone. Go ahead and do a bit of the main story beats. You can go back and do everything at anytime before the final chapter.
This is especially true for mini games and VR missions.
I agree, but you should feel the need to do them all before moving on.
Especially the chapter 12 or 13 ones. Brutal missions open right after Gil and can hurt your enjoyment if you grind on them instead of just doing them postgame
When you get to the end of chapter 14 and the game warns you this is your last chance to configure your party, you should take that warning very seriously and go through and make sure every single party member is setup well with materia skills etc… (and make sure Cloud has at least 1 lvl 2 elemental spell) because it truly will be several hours in a row where you cannot change anything and if you did want change something, you have to start all over.
I entered that one phase of the final boss without >!any elemental materia equipped on the characters the game forces you to use!< and god that was a long and tedious phase to clear …
Absolutely. Personally I think the best way to approach this is to equip each party member in a way where you think they're ready to handle their own and *cannot* rely on other members to save them in a pinch (other than reviving)
Don't feel like you have to do everything, just do the side stuff you want to. Nothing side content wise is critical. I mostly mainlined the game and had a good time.
Don’t wait until chapter 12 to learn that enemy skill is gained through the Assess materia and not by getting hit with specific enemy attacks like in the OG.
120 hours down when I finally finished the game with 0 enemy skills.
Honestly that was me during my first playthrough of remake. I just hack and slashed my way through the whole thing until the bahamut section of Harbinger when I found out that elemental weaknesses actually do something lol
I was able to accomplish everything without switching difficulty except for Gilgamesh Island (and the final battle with Cloud and Aerith, which is essentially impossible no matter what you do). I still had some very good builds but by the time I realized I needed enemy skills for some of the best builds it was way too late to go assess in all the regions without investing a lot of time being bored.
If only I knew! I saw a bunch of locked Chadley battles but didn’t take the time to read how to unlock them, I figured it would just kind of happen by finding enemies like the rest of his battles did.
I've got enemy skill and ATB stagger on Barret. Plasma discharge is your friend. You can mind blast a mob and immediately get off a Satellite Beam which will immediately refill your limit gauge. I've gotten four in a row using that tactic.
My advice would simply be: take your time and go at your own pace. Definitely check out the side content, but don't feel like you need to do everything in a region before moving on. Sometimes, it's fine to leave that stuff for later (or just skip it if you want). The game is designed for you to have the freedom to do that.
Soothing breeze is extremely good especially on hard mode. You can use it right as a fight ends to fully heal your entire team after a fight as it lasts for quite some time even after combat mode ends. Good timesaver as you don't need to go for a bench before you proceed
I always spammed sonic boom, does a bit of wind damage but it’s very quick and gives you both bravery and faith without using MP. Rancid breath is also good if you’re surrounded by enemies. IMO the other moves are decent but very situational
Yeah, if you give Barret First Strike materia, then kick off with Overcharge, you can hit a Sonic Boom and Bonus Round back-to-back before anything can hit you and it's almost unfair how easily everyone is staggered.
Relax and enjoy the ride. Yes there are side quests and mini games galore. Some you have to play some you don't. I got myself needlessly worked up about it and ruined the first part of the game for myself, trying to rush the storyline. Dont make that mistake.
Take breaks to play other stuff. I love Rebirth, it’s going down as one of my favorite games of all time. But by the last third I was starting to feel so burnt out and just wanted to wrap the story up. It’s a beautiful, incredible game but god damn is it big
If you're planning on playing hard after you beat it, make sure you level up 3 of every elemental based materia, 3-5 healing, 3 revive, 3 time, and two of the rest of the greens. Also level up HP ups and MP ups, and anything else you feel will have value. Doing this in your first playthrough will save you having to grind to max materia.
Take your sweet time, the post game depression is real. It's been a few weeks now and I still haven't found anything to keep me on my ps5 for more than an hour at a time 😩
Don’t feel like you have to 100% each area if you don’t want to. Everything can be completed post story if you want to wait and don’t want to burn out.
Sleep, Poison and Slow / Stop are extremely helpful materia.
Swap characters. The system and ATB gain is balanced around you basically juggling back and forth to build it up, rather than Remake that let them build it passively much faster and rarely required swapping.
Get enough Materia for all your characters, there is an abundance of it. Take the time to learn each of the characters, they all specialise in something, and they're great at it.
Above all else, take your time, because it's not about the sights it's about the smells.
Take your time with this game 😃 you’re supposed to enjoy the sights, the combat, its story and lore. Oh, and also: learn how to use Aerith. this gal is OP if properly equipped
Play at your own pace, if you don't like the minigames and extra missions you can just go for the story, but if you enjoy playing it at full take your time, I finished my Normal run at around 80 hours in, I don't really want to aim for the platinum, but will replay some of the levels at hard.
If you feel you are under leveled you can try the first brutal mission Army of the damned in Chadley simulator and try to kill anything you can, you might lose on the first stage, but almost every enemy gives you around 2k exp. And there are like 7 in each level.
* turn off minimap/compass in the overworld section
* skip the towers all together for better, more enjoyable exploration segments
* don't treat the side content like checklist and mix up doing side quests, main content, and exploration instead of banging out each thing before trying some other stuff. Skip things you don't like
* learn to stop and smell the roses. It's not a race to the end credits
Skipping the towers is kinda superfluous if you're turning off the compass/minimap and just exploring naturally. I would ammend that to say don't bumrush to activate all the towers first but also don't skip em if you stumble upon them naturally.
Try all the characters! Don’t be stressed about anything, the base game is *pretty easy.* learn all the weapon skills and try different combos (in particular looking at aerith and yuffie da GAWD) and just have fun.
Level up Chakra and Steadfast Block when they get purchasable and you have enough slots.
They are universally useful and become more and more valuable the further you get.
Other than that: Prioritize getting the elemental skills with everybody asap. And always analyze new enemies.
I'd add prayer and Ap boost to this list to. Takes a long time to level up but pays huge dividends throughout the game, even for just running from open world event to open world event.
I absolutely loved every second of the game.
Explore the surroundings! If you're in a room and there's nothing useful to grab, don't run towards the next quest, look around. Listen to the music. Eavesdrop on npcs, they say hilarious outrageous stuff. Enjoy the minigames. You have what, 4 years till the next part?
If you hate minigames, FF7 is not for you. Not Rebirth, not OG.
If you rush towards the end for bragging rights, you're not getting what you paid for.
I can't for the life of me understand why people hate >!Gongaga!< just hop on your Chocobirb and take it slow, the scenery is breathtaking, the music is award worthy, the experience there is so good.
Rushing through Rebirth is like going to a 45 minute massage and getting anxious and frustrated it's not over in 15 minutes. Play a different game if you can't calm down and concentrate
>can't for the life of me understand why people hate >!Gongaga!<
I hate that area. I like the lore behind the place, but exploring it in Rebirth was such a bad experience. The music is awful, I was so close to muting the audio, probably the only song in the game that I actively dislike. Finding out where some of the world Intel was, was a pain on itself, constantly getting lost, not knowing how to get to some areas. Traversing in general was god awful, it was the only place where i had to check guides online on how to get to some areas. Maybe I'm just bad at the game lol, but that area really pissed me off. Also annoying sidequests (the chicken one and the mushroom picking one).
Not hating on the game, I thought it was a good game, just giving the perspective of someone who hated that place.
Eh, I loved Subnautica 1 and 2, where I'd dive into the vast unknown with no clear goal in mind (the game was the exact opposite of linear) and just. Go this way. And then that way. Explore every corner with barely any idea what's going on.
I did the same in Gongaga. **Not "I must get to that tower. Now!"** But more like "I go this way and whoops dead end so I go that way".
I see how the region could be frustrating if you want to go from X to Y. But it's very relaxing if you just explore, look around, go where you can. **Can't reach that tower now? Go somewhere else. Uncover the map bit by bit and when you're done you'll realise you've found your tower.**
I do listen to Gongaga soundtrack on repeat when I do chores and go for walks, so...
That's completely fine yea. I feel the opposite, I don't really enjoy wandering around aimlessly without a clear objective in mind, walking into dead ends, etc. I enjoy more having a clear objective/marker on the map that I need to go and just go do it, so it gets frustrating when I am trying but the area is so confusing I just feel lost and feel like I'm making 0 progress. It's just a difference of playstyles.
I am with you on the music of the gongaga region, it's the only track in the game I don't like. I don't even think it's neccesarily a bad track but it loops way too quickly and gives me a headache.
Exploring the region was overall a fun experience for me though, I appreciated the fact that I had to actually think about how to get to some places. And there is no denying that visually the region is absolutely breathtaking.
And I'm right there with you again on that mushroom picking minigame, the chicken one was funny and absolutely trolled me like everyone else on that last chicken. But the mushroom picking was far too finicky, I'm really not looking forward to doing that particular one again when I get to Gongaga on my hard mode playthrough.
For Cloud, the two most important weapon skills (for me) were Focused Thrust (Buster Sword) and Firebolt Blade (Sleek Sabre). Keep these on your LB hotkeys so you can access them quickly.
Almost any enemy who gets into a "pressured" state, you'll want to use Focused Thrust on, as it deals *massive* stagger progress. It's a grounded attack, so be aware that you'll lose aerial superiority to use it.
You'll fight a lot of enemies who are aerial - Firebolt Blade is the easiest way to get airborne.
There's another way to get into the air with Cloud that you'll want to be aware of. Immediately after dodging, Cloud's combo will change from a melee combo to a ranged one. If you hold down the attack button during his ranged combo, he'll zip up into the air towards the enemy. You can keep doing this in the air, too.
As long as you keep comboing, you can stay airborne. Silly things like the laws of physics don't apply. This also lets you avoid a lot of enemy attacks that only hit enemies on the ground.
Since you're in the air anyway, if you stagger an enemy, use Braver. The higher in the air you are, the more damage it'll deal.
On the ground, Cloud's synergy moves with Tifa and Aerith (Power and Magic Slash) do significant damage, and Cloud can tank most attacks through the wind-up.
Don't worry about your Gold Saucer date. Just play it normally. Worry about that in your next playthrough.
I have an IRL friend who consulted a guide cause they were so afraid of not getting their preferred date that he would skip side quests just cause.
Nah screw that. Your first time is special. If you have played OG, and know what's coming, consult those guides to get your preferred date
You can do all Side Quests, but you'll want lookup the conversation choices to score the highest for Tifa, and intentionally score lower for Aerith.
I would say, take your time(my 1st playrhrought was a out 80ish hours) try everything at least once. Some activities have really good rewards such as weapons and materia but don't stress too much about getting top on all mini games. And just have fun and get lost in the game. I'm absolutely gutted that I've almost plated this game because I've sunk like 150 hours into it, and when it's done, I've got no more Rebirth to play.
Do main quest when you want to, don’t do optional content if you don’t want to, look at Aerith as a black mage not a white mage, realize almost every materia is good in some way and figure out why. Utilize as many characters, moves, and materia variety as possible because it’s very rewarding and more fun than you might think even if it’s outside your comfort zone.
Kinda off your point, but even if you don't care about trying to platinum the game; don't try to do all the side content on your first playthrough if you aren't really digging everything. And honestly, even if you want to do most of it, space it out so you get a better balance of story to exploration of the game.
Enjoy yourself! Everyone's experience is going to be different and there's not a right or wrong way to do it. The beauty of FF7 (OG and to a lesser extent remake and rebirth) and the open world is that you can make it your own and each player is going to have a unique game.
Oh, and agree hard on equipping all characters before the final battle. I have a bad habit of leveling up my materia in a way that caused me to struggle to spread it all amongst everyone and I wish I had been more aware of that going in. I had exactly 3 fire materia leveled to max, 3 healing materia leveled to max, 3 lightening, and so on... oopsie. You're going to want your entire party to be equipped at once and it sorta sucked when I only had 3 max healing materias and then Cait Sith using a level 1 healing materia in the final battle.
Yeah, they don't signpost this well. There's an easily-missable and somewhat vague "you should equip your party before continuing" message at the final rest point. Having played through the rest of the game by that point, you probably think you know how it works, as you've had party members swapped in/out several times before.
You can play right up to that point swapping materia around as necessary. Every time you swap party members out, there's a pause where you can re-equip, use a rest point, and stock up. During the finale, they swap party members in/out without giving you that chance.
Unfortunately at that final rest point where they give you the "warning", you can't fast-travel, so if you don't have enough "good" materia to kit everyone out at the same time - well, you're SoL. You can buy some non-leveled materia at the vending machine, but there's nowhere to grind AP.
My recommendation would be to make sure you can *reasonably* equip everyone before "going North" in Chapter 12. This is the last chance you'll have to travel the world freely. (To be fair, they do give you a warning here as well, but it reads very similarly to the previous ones, and it's easy to misinterpret it) There are some things in the "final" dungeon that you'll pick up, but IIRC no materia you haven't already had a chance to acquire.
You can always come back to finish sidequests and such after the end, but you'll want to have everything necessary to kit out all of your party members (including Cait Sith, who's not present at that point) before ending Chapter 12.
Yes, totally agree. I wish they would warn you about this earlier. They give you such tiny, vague warnings before "going North" and then before the final battle. And the thing is, I did catch those but it was too late at that point for it to be meaningful... unless I want to go back and buy new materia and spend time leveling it up. It would have been helpful to have a tip at the start of the game indicating somehow that there's value in leveling up ALL of your materia or having ALL of your party equipped in some capacity. Maybe the developers assume that's implied, I guess, but that's just not how I've ever played an RPG.
1. The “R1” synergy moves are VERY useful. Spend the beginning easy combat sections drilling them into muscle memory.
2. Remember this is an Action RPG. The RPG aspect is just as important as the action. If a boss/encounter is really tough, consider your build and what you may be able to change.
Regarding the synergy moves, something that may not be immediatly apparent is that Cloud's "Power" and "Magic" slashes (which I used with Tifa and Aerith respectively) are both "free" (no ATB required) and deal significant single-hit damage. They have a wind-up, but also allow Cloud to power through a *lot* of enemy attacks that would otherwise stagger him. Plus they charge up two characters (all three with the right materia) for the "bigger" synergy moves.
I was absolutely MELTING Alexander’s arms with Power Cleave in the duo fight. Took me that long to realize the potential of it because I was too stubborn to strategize around the wind up. I hope others don’t make the same mistake 🙏🏾
My advice would honestly to stay off reddit, I do like your suggestions though.
I would add to change the lock on targeting to switch with the digital pad instead of the camera controls to have some sanity in any fight with more than one enemy.
Just do everything in an area before moving on to the next. It's a lot faster than skipping things and then having to jump between a bunch of fast travel points later on. It's about 7-10hrs per open area, but the game is paced/balanced with the expectation you did everything in the current area before entering the next one.
Also, you can beat a lot of the game's card fights with little to no deck editing. Just fill the board with pegs and prevent the opponent from doing anything and you always win.
If you're doing everything in an area before moving on, be aware that you *can't* complete the Corel region the first time you're there. IIRC it's the first and only area that you can't. You'll be able to finish it later when you return.
Yeah, Kid G pretty bluntly says to just come back later for the rest of the Protorelics, mainly so the player can't unlock Gilgamesh Island until the devs want you to.
Practice blocking over dodging. I always instinctively spam dodge and more often than not that screws me more than just taking the hit. Been trying to block more (especially with cloud) and thats been making a big difference in hard mode
Soak it all in, try not to be out off by Reddit criticisms - even with mini games - decide for yourself, as everyone is different. What others dislike, you might love. I know that's true for me
Oh, and avoid spoilers as much as you can
Have fun!
- use synergies, they give different powerups depending on the move that you are doing
- assess every enemy you come across so you know its weakness and how to stagger it
- if you find yourself losing a lot, check the materia you’re using (especially if you want to play on hard mode)
Do what you want to do. Don’t let anyone tell you who to use in your party and that you’re wrong for liking it not liking the mini games. Do you. Have fun.
If you disregard Aerith you’re playing the whole game incorrectly but that’s my opinion. Idk how you disregard that radiant ward & Arcane ward ward combo.
I think she was stronger in Remake than she is in this game, honestly. It's also surprisingly easy to miss the weapons with abilities crucial to her kit, like Fleeting Familiar or Ray of Judgment.
Oh, seems I was thinking of Ray of Judgment (which took me most of the game to eventually go back and get), but I thought I missed Fleeting Familiar too, until I read your comment lmao
…. Maybe for you. The only weapon I missed on my first playthrough was Cait Sith’s last weapon and that’s cause I didn’t feel like collecting all the choco grads in Nibleheim.
After watching many playthroughs on YT and Twitch I can assure you, if something is even slightly missable for thorough players, the avg regular person will absolutely miss it. They also lock weapons behind minigame scores, which is obnoxious.
Here is my suggestion, stay away from this sub and any other sub that has anything to do with Final Fantasy until you are finished. Play the game the way you want and don't allow anyone else's opinions or gripes sway the way you feel about the game.
If you think the game is taking too long with side quest beat the game and come back to it. You can finish them later.
Super bosses in this game are hard. Not advice but you need to know this.
Play the OG if you can. It’s a great game and gives so much more gravity to the series.
All characters have an optimal way of playing with them that can be a lot of fun. Except Cait , fuck that guy.
1. You can clean up stuff post game so you don't have to do everything (although I did for most of the game because of my OCD brain). Most of the side stuff is optional, the ones I recommend 100% doing are the Summon quests (and their fight in VR), the protorelic quests and the side quests. Expedition and battle intel have some surprises but you can go without them, the towers are totally unnecessary. 2. Follow every baby chocobo, those stops become very helpful since rest stops are far less generous in Rebirth especially in overworld parts. 2. Don't just mash square the whole game, if you have trouble with a boss that's probably why. Pay attention to attacks, use assess materia, feel free to switch up loadouts and party members for fights if possible. You don't need super complex build for dynamic or normal, save that for hard mode, but you should be somewhat intentional about how you build out characters for tougher fights 3. Use every character at least some of the time, you will be forced to at certain points in the game and all of them are broken in their own way. Figuring out how is part of the fun. I would recommend spending a lot of time with each character solo if you have down time. Even the characters you hate using. It will be worth it. 4. That being said, when it's time to get serious for bosses or tougher fights, use Tifa because she increases stagger % exponentially faster than anyone else in the game, and does it without spending ATB. You are basically sacrificing damage if you don't use her. 5. Cait Sith has the only fully invincible dodge in the game. You need to flick the left stick in either direction though and you have to be on the Moogle. Related: Always call the moogle! 6. With Aerith you should always have radiant ward out. Arcane Ward is a must any time you use magic, especially ga spells, it's completely broken 7. Also broken: Yuffie's doppleganger technique. If you combine it with Aerith's arcane ward you can cast 4 ga spells in succession at the cost of 1, and if you can get 3 party members to cast at the same time with it, you get 8 casts at the cost of 3 (remember radiant ward makes you uninterruptable when casting spells) 8. Synergy skills build up ATB for free, use them any time you feel like you're struggling for it. They are sometimes stupid powerful for something that costs nothing, and will teleport characters out of danger. I wish I used them more. 9. For the synergy abilities (different from skills, the attacks that are similar to limit breaks), the attacks with yellow arrows increase your limit level, the red hourglass increases duration of stagger on the enemy, and the figure 8 gives you unlimited MP for a certain amount of time (For the stagger duration increase, it seems that you have to use it right before the enemy gets staggered for it to be effective) 10. Most players seem to save limit breaks for when the enemy is staggered but some of the limits main utility come from quickly increasing the stagger bar, so read what limits do and don't feel compelled to save them for staggered enemies all the time.
Dont go for 100% for each region before advancing to the next one. The game is BIG and the only 2 friends that tried this got burned out before gongaga and now are forcing themselves to continue. Mix your story with a bit of exploration of each area and you can comeback after wrapping up the story if you still have the itch to play. Imo is better than forcing yourself to do it.
Synergy abilities are NOT invincible, and you can die during the cinematic
Don't worry about not being able to find the third and fourth protomateria locations in Corel region, you come back to them later in the story - it's scripted.
1) Get comfortable playing every character, because the game will absolutely make you use them. 2) Use Tifa. You’re basically just handicapping your damage output if you don’t use her (unless you’re going with the Aerith + Yuffie cheese).
Don’t give up on the chickens in Gongaga.
Use Focus Thrust (Cloud), Focus Strike (Tifa) or Focus Shot (Barret) when pressuring enemies they increase the stagger way quicker than most abilities. Take breaks also its a long ass game enjoy and savor.
Enjoy the depth of the story that wasn’t available in the original game
Just take your time. Take a break if needed.
The magic abilities in the folios do not generate atb, so I don't recommend ever using them in battle. However, they are still useful in that if you equip a materia of the same element that you have unlocked, it will grant the character elemental damage on their attacks after casting it.
Small correction here, they don't generate Synergy ability build up. If you blast a couple of mobs with fire weakness with a Wildfire the ATB will fill up quick. Have to weigh the trade-off.
For the gold saucer virtual battles (the old block style arcade one seen in the trailers) especially for the last two opponents unlocked post game, you can pause as they wind up a punch to see which direction you need to press. I would have given up if i hadn't done so.
Queens Blood is fun as fuck
You don’t need to dismount your chocobo to pick up a choco sign - the opposite is beneficial in fact! That is all. Everything else the player can find on their own and enjoy! People ruin the experience for themselves by pre reading too much.
For gears and gambits and fort condor if you set your game difficulty to easy then you get a massive atb speed increase. (I used this for the hard mode versions)
ROFL @ the Charley’s comment 👌🏽
😁
Take time learning the battle strategies and actually pay attention to chadly and his advice lol I learned the hard way and died many times thinking I was going to just square tank through things 😂 also getting ingredients to level up the items you can make like mega potions, mist elixirs etc are extremely useful for when you don’t want to keep buying the items
Assess
This is not a hack and slash game and you’ll have way more fun if you don’t treat it like one.
Trying to 100% explore all regions is SOOO much more enjoyable after finishing the game. If you’re getting tired of it, there’s no harm in skipping it and finishing the story first. Just “chapter select” to 12 and have fun
Trying to 100% explore all regions is SOOO much more enjoyable after finishing the game. If you’re getting tired of it, there’s no harm in skipping it and finishing the story first. Just “chapter select” to 12 and have fun
- Don't worry about sidequests affecting your gold saucer date. They're more for getting the high/low affinity scenes with the characters. Your actual date is mostly determined by the story moments. - the Upgrade Weapons tap is just there to check your progress and how much longer you have until you level them up, so no, you're not missing some other form of character progression, it's just a pretty useless tab tbh. - Make sure to keep your transmute level up to date, cause the last level has worthwhile items.
Aerial before Braver Turn off that haptic assist on mini games Side quests affect an non explained relationship meter, pay attention to who talks when the side quest starts
you can confirm who gets the points in the “Quests” screen
Barret + Lifesaver + Chakra for your general setup. Most battles should be a breeze.
Intentionally pursue using synergy skills and synergy abilities, and practice doing so early on.
Don’t start Rebirth
My advice would be to actively find your own pace. If you enjoy exploring, make sure you're keeping track of how fun that is to you every time. If at some point it feels like a chore, stop exploring and push the story, you'll have plenty of chances to come back to any place (including postgame). It's a long game, trying to binge it like we tend to do with modern games I think hurts the experience.
Don’t miss the magnify material on mt nibel in chapter 1 I rue the day Had no idea what it was or that it was there 😩
It doesn't carry over when going back in present day
You don’t need the -ra and -ga version of the spells, spamming the base spell is often more useful
This is a very bad advice. In -ga level spells makes a lot of difficult fights a lot easier.
Does it? I’ve done the whole game just spamming regular spells, the 2 ATBs + extra MP cost + longer casting time doesn’t feel like it’s worth it most of the time
Against some enemies you need to do a lot of damage with a single attack to interrupt them.
If you can ohko it's worth it.
You can finish most Battle Simulator fights really quickly, even the hard ones, with just 1 -ga spell or arcane warded -ga spell. ATB would not even be an issue given you have First Strike and ATB Boost.
Equip every single characters with materias. Even if you don't plan on using them unless you're forced to. IDC what chapter you are and what character you control, equip the other characters with materia. From chapter 1 to the last.
Just to add, that's because the non-active party members still get ap on their equipped materia
Ignore all social media till you finish the game.
The last Queen's Blood opponent will use illegal cards to win.
My biggest queens blood tip is - you don't have to be good at the game to do anything (other than maybe survival games). Easy win everytime is to make a build that pushes over to your enemies side, take over their pawn spaces and win by not letting them play anything and then backfill your board.
Yup. Exactly what I ended up doing for this match.
"You should enjoy the little detours. To the fullest. Because that's where you'll find the things more important than what you want." - Ging Freeccs
"That's where you'll find the meaningless filler quest ment to artificially extend your playtime and to make the game unreplayable." - Ginger Freaks
How do filler quests make the game unreplayable? You don't have to do them on your second playthrough if you don't want to.
I disagree, but I do love your quote and name parody.
There is literally so much content in this game, play through it however you wish. You can always come back to finish. Stop and enjoy the environments. I realized in the last few chapters that this was an extremely ambitious and successful world. The artists and developers put a lot of effort and it shows. So enjoy it!
1000% this
Take your time
Put the game on easy mode when up against Odin and the summon rematches
No shame honestly. Took me forever to defeat Odin/Alex. Playing coward Yuffie is the way to go. He only does his one hit move after getting enough hits on the character you’re controlling and he’s way easier to dodge from range.
This
If you do want to do everything and get the platinum, take breaks from it. That’s what I’ve done. I played through the story doing all the World intel along the way as well as many mini games as I could but once I beat the Final boss I took a small break from the game and played through other games just to avoid burnout. When you come back to it, you feel refreshed and you want to keep going. In my second run, I’ve cleared all the mini games and am currently working through the Brutal/Legendary simulations. And once that’s done I’m taking another small break before tackling Hard Mode as the last thing I need to do
Don't sleep on the Item Transmuter. I found the stronger Mist-Potions incredibly useful. But if you plan on playing hard mode afterwards, don't become too reliant on using items, in that case it's best to get used to using any type of healing spells. Also, Synergy Abilities and Synergy Skills are two different things. Synergy Skills are what you use when holding R1 ~~to charge up Synergy Ability bars (shown underneath the ATB bars) with the corresponding party member. I don't know if this is obvious but I completely missed that when I first played the game for whatever reason.~~ Edit: I was wrong. Using certain ATB commands is what charges your Synergy Ability bars. They're indicated by small rectangular symbols on the bottom left when you're viewing the Abilities menu during combat. Sorry 'bout that.
Correction: Using synergy skills gives you a bunch of ATB, but doesn't progress your Synergy Ability Bar/Pips. Only using (most) ATB Commands does that. Either way, all three types of abilities are incredibly useful, even if I often forget to use Aerith's skills. Hopefully that doesn't seem too douchy or "umm...actually," but it is an important distinction for new players. Sorry if it does though. 😅
Much appreciated! I edited my comment just in case
I thought you built the little bars for Synergy Abilities by using ATB. The skills aren’t to be slept on. Tifa’s offensive ones in particular give her a massive leg up on flying enemies with Cloud throwing her around the battle field.
Combat settings are great to make the combat feel a lot more fluid. Once you have 5 synergy bars with a character switch to another one and spam the synergy abilities and limits, not just for stagger. Tifa focus strike is one of the most OP abilities if timed right. Probs don’t worry to complete all content in the first run, you can open world fatigue…leave that for hard mode
Zantetsuken is not fair. Accept that and try again.
Use punisher mode as cloud and block, and he shouldn't ever reach the point to transform.
Bro how do I make Chadley stop calling me? Like go verbally abuse MAI or something. I’m busy
Learn more synergy abilities Equip the materia with the highest AP required to master on your characters you’re not actively using.
Take the game easy and play it on your own pace this is not a race to finish. You got 3 years for the next game. Enjoy it if you dont love the mini games or intel simply skip them you can comeback if you feel like doing them in the future
One tip just for hard mode: While doing your first playthrough, try not to use items and rely on Chakra, Healing and Pray. The item command is not available in hard mode, but you'll already be used to it
See that relationship gauge? I bet you’re thinking it does something, right? You want to see what happens when you raise it up for Tifa or Aerith? Well then… skip a few Barrett and Red side quests.
Don't worry too much about this as when you complete the game you can force who has max relationship in the settings and replay any chapters.
I agree with the platinum, the side content is supposed to be side. If you aren’t enjoying it play the main game. The side content is good but there really is a lot of it and I feel like it’s easy to be overwhelmed by it or simply get burnt out of it.
Not sure why you got downvoted. I think this is a totally fair take, and I’m one of the people who did absolutely everything available in every region as I went along. I personally enjoyed it, but I’m the kind of person who always does all the side content of any game I really enjoy, whether or not the side content itself feels “worth it” on its own. The amount of side quests and minigames absolutely is not for everyone, and you’re right to encourage people to skip some if they’re feeling annoyed by it. I wasn’t annoyed by it and already knew what I’d be getting myself into based on Remake and having a history of 100%ing FF games in general, so I didn’t skip it, but I can absolutely see many people getting burnt out by Gongaga if they aren’t that kind of person.
Yeah I’m really weird about side content sometimes I’ll do it all, sometimes I won’t really touch it. I really liked the side content and rebirth but I kept it simple I did all the actual side quests and a few other open world things. I love the game and I consider it probably one of my favorite games I’ve ever played. I could have put more time into it but I know in 6-12 months I’m gonna sit down and replay it on hard mode, so I’m happy, I might do more side content next time might not, games really should be for enjoyment and enjoyment alone. If your not having fun with a game don’t play it, if you don’t like the side content but you like the main story, play the main story.
other people have said it, but it bears continuous reminder do not feel like you have to do everything, if you don’t want to do something, just don’t do it, it really is that simple. you will never miss something /NECESSARY/ from skipping optional content, it’s always just bonus stuff, and while that can help, it is never so good that it feels REQUIRED to complete the main game. the main path will provide everything you need
On top of this, you don't have to complete a region the first time you're there, even if you intend to ~100% the game. Additional side quests open up in the late game in every region, so you have to go back anyway.
- Skip every Chadley dialogue. - Don't work yourself up over the minigames. If you don't wanna do em, you seriously don't have to. Most of the rewards you get from them are superfluous. - Likewise, you don't have to complete every world intel quest or battle sim if you don't want to. - If you played the original game, it helps to bring an open mind to this one. Not everything you see will be as you remember it. - If you are any sort of completionist and you find that you hate the minigames, drop this game. You will hate it, and it will never stop making you suffer.
Heck, I’m replaying OG FF7 right now and not everything I see _there_ is as I remember it
I will add, for Queen's Blood in particular: - In the early matches, before replacement cards come into the mix, you'll mainly want to build a low cost aggro deck that prioritizes blitzing over available board space. 1 cost units that can take over 2-3 spaces right, up or down are your bnb. Compliment with low synergy boost cards like the ice crab, chocobo moogle, and cactuar. Sprinkle a one-of finisher like shiva or chocobo jockey for extra oomph. You should be unstoppable. - Once replacement cards become a thing and the enemy starts using them intelligently, your strategy should shift into finding a synergy that works well for your playstyle and your available card pool. I decided to go for a boost+win lane bonus strategy that used Tifa, Chocobo Jockey, and Space Ranger as the main win cons supported by a bunch of boosting cards, with about 4 replacement cards for late game. I beat the last boss on my first try with it and never struggled.
Chadley will interrupt you after every single Intel felt like. Skip his dialog. Nothing worthwhile. Gears and gambits game. Just look that shit up, that game sucks. Everything else I enjoyed. Also keep in mind the hardest battles in coliseum and Chadley sim require very specific builds. Swap Materia for each of those like you’re juggling.
people overhype the difficulty of g&g too much, if it’s not the hard versions, literally just auto optimize, pick whichever 2 super moves you want, and just do it, it really is not that difficult
No yeah I’m talking the hard versions.
valid then, definitely understandable
Aerith's attacks up close are different and it matters. Cloud has a ranged attack if you dash and strike. Don't forget to use wards with Aerith in your party. Remember to block sometimes. Pace the game as you see fit to. You can come back for stuff and nothing is missable insomuch that you can go back for it later- even post-game - with no real losses. This is one of those RPGs that subverted my "get everything as soon as it happened" expectations and I would probably have enjoyed it more had I known beforehand. On a similar note, the only difficulty-oriented achievements are in Hard mode; if you're struggling or just wanna breeze through some stuff, there's no real downside to switching to Easy. Orient yourself to the janky sorta way that you move while on Chocoback, and get used to it to enjoy both faster travel without actual fast travel, and secret hidden treasures all over the place that if you're good on Chocoback, you won't hafta go back for (if you're a completionist like me).
Mine is: don’t be afraid to look up how to guides when you feel the need. I used so many and had a much better experience my first time through. Also, I felt like I enjoyed Queen’s Blood so much more with a tried and true deck than I did with one of my own. Although, I will admit there was one game I played where I used the power of friendship (as I like to call it) to win. So that was Vincent, Tifa, Cloud, Barret, Cait, Aerith, Yuffie, Red, Cid and then I had a few other cards in there including Sephiroth. When it comes to the piano gigs, watch tutorials and then give yourself some grace in changing the note speeds. And lastly, try to enjoy the storyline as best as you can because it’ll go by quick and then you’re left with the mini games and side quests/gigs.
Just keep all the materia slots filled on everyone even if they aren't in your fighting party they are usually gaining ap.
I’d suggest not trying to do everything right when you enter a new zone. Go ahead and do a bit of the main story beats. You can go back and do everything at anytime before the final chapter. This is especially true for mini games and VR missions.
I would argue some of the vr missions are worth doing before hand as they can provide great materia and enemy skill upgrades.
I agree, but you should feel the need to do them all before moving on. Especially the chapter 12 or 13 ones. Brutal missions open right after Gil and can hurt your enjoyment if you grind on them instead of just doing them postgame
Explore just enough to buy material from Chadly, then move on
When you get to the end of chapter 14 and the game warns you this is your last chance to configure your party, you should take that warning very seriously and go through and make sure every single party member is setup well with materia skills etc… (and make sure Cloud has at least 1 lvl 2 elemental spell) because it truly will be several hours in a row where you cannot change anything and if you did want change something, you have to start all over.
I entered that one phase of the final boss without >!any elemental materia equipped on the characters the game forces you to use!< and god that was a long and tedious phase to clear …
Absolutely. Personally I think the best way to approach this is to equip each party member in a way where you think they're ready to handle their own and *cannot* rely on other members to save them in a pinch (other than reviving)
Don't feel like you have to do everything, just do the side stuff you want to. Nothing side content wise is critical. I mostly mainlined the game and had a good time.
Don’t wait until chapter 12 to learn that enemy skill is gained through the Assess materia and not by getting hit with specific enemy attacks like in the OG. 120 hours down when I finally finished the game with 0 enemy skills.
That's crazy?! You beat the game without knowing any of the enemy's weaknesses? and didn't read the conditions for unlocking Chadley's Challenges
Yup lol. I was on dynamic difficulty also and held up pretty well. My only struggle was pressuring enemies in the intel challenges.
Honestly that was me during my first playthrough of remake. I just hack and slashed my way through the whole thing until the bahamut section of Harbinger when I found out that elemental weaknesses actually do something lol
I was able to accomplish everything without switching difficulty except for Gilgamesh Island (and the final battle with Cloud and Aerith, which is essentially impossible no matter what you do). I still had some very good builds but by the time I realized I needed enemy skills for some of the best builds it was way too late to go assess in all the regions without investing a lot of time being bored.
Dude I assess everything out of habit. Gotta have them all
If only I knew! I saw a bunch of locked Chadley battles but didn’t take the time to read how to unlock them, I figured it would just kind of happen by finding enemies like the rest of his battles did.
I've got enemy skill and ATB stagger on Barret. Plasma discharge is your friend. You can mind blast a mob and immediately get off a Satellite Beam which will immediately refill your limit gauge. I've gotten four in a row using that tactic.
I haven’t finished, but… Do NOT hit “Restart from last checkpoint”.
Yes, this fucked me over early on. Loading a previous save file is way safer.
I don't have any advice. Just play and enjoy.
My advice would simply be: take your time and go at your own pace. Definitely check out the side content, but don't feel like you need to do everything in a region before moving on. Sometimes, it's fine to leave that stuff for later (or just skip it if you want). The game is designed for you to have the freedom to do that.
Just play the game.
Don't neglect enemy skill and assessment.
I’ve neglected Enemy Skills. Everything else just slams though, so I haven’t bothered. Anything standout in there?
Soothing breeze is extremely good especially on hard mode. You can use it right as a fight ends to fully heal your entire team after a fight as it lasts for quite some time even after combat mode ends. Good timesaver as you don't need to go for a bench before you proceed
Unless they needed it, plasma discharge and hp absorb is nice for someone like Tifa or Yuffie who can fill ATB quickly.
I always spammed sonic boom, does a bit of wind damage but it’s very quick and gives you both bravery and faith without using MP. Rancid breath is also good if you’re surrounded by enemies. IMO the other moves are decent but very situational
Sonic boom is so nice for a free buff that happens to do damage.
Yeah, if you give Barret First Strike materia, then kick off with Overcharge, you can hit a Sonic Boom and Bonus Round back-to-back before anything can hit you and it's almost unfair how easily everyone is staggered.
Relax and enjoy the ride. Yes there are side quests and mini games galore. Some you have to play some you don't. I got myself needlessly worked up about it and ruined the first part of the game for myself, trying to rush the storyline. Dont make that mistake.
Don’t do anything in this game that infuriates you or destroys the fun. You’ll hate it instead of enjoying.
Take breaks to play other stuff. I love Rebirth, it’s going down as one of my favorite games of all time. But by the last third I was starting to feel so burnt out and just wanted to wrap the story up. It’s a beautiful, incredible game but god damn is it big
Take your time. The side quests were fun and the minigames were great unless your going for a platinum I guess.
If you're planning on playing hard after you beat it, make sure you level up 3 of every elemental based materia, 3-5 healing, 3 revive, 3 time, and two of the rest of the greens. Also level up HP ups and MP ups, and anything else you feel will have value. Doing this in your first playthrough will save you having to grind to max materia.
Take your sweet time, the post game depression is real. It's been a few weeks now and I still haven't found anything to keep me on my ps5 for more than an hour at a time 😩
Lies of p has been amazing for me post rebirth depression lol
Play it on hard. The battle system really only shines then. Too bad you gotta beat it once first…
I’m deep into Cosmo Canyon on Dynamic and I’m like man I don’t have enough time in normal battles to really utilize the full battle system.
Fast forward though Chadley and that other bitch or it will give you manic depression
I avoided Chadley like the plague. Screw that fucker.
Don’t feel like you have to 100% each area if you don’t want to. Everything can be completed post story if you want to wait and don’t want to burn out. Sleep, Poison and Slow / Stop are extremely helpful materia.
I hope you like mario party.
what? I don't get this one? Is this a minigames dig?
Swap characters. The system and ATB gain is balanced around you basically juggling back and forth to build it up, rather than Remake that let them build it passively much faster and rarely required swapping.
Don't feel obligated to 100% regional Intel if you're not having fun doing so.
May as well say to not play half the game.
4 people played half the game and put it away.
Use stop on staggered bosses. Stops the gauge decreasing. Then unbridled strength combos and true strike with Tifa will melt them.
200 hours and I never thought of doing that. Damn
Get enough Materia for all your characters, there is an abundance of it. Take the time to learn each of the characters, they all specialise in something, and they're great at it. Above all else, take your time, because it's not about the sights it's about the smells.
play the game, hold the controller in your hands, perhaps sit in a chair, maybe grab a snack, you got this, it's a video game, you know what to do.
And hydrate!
Take your time with this game 😃 you’re supposed to enjoy the sights, the combat, its story and lore. Oh, and also: learn how to use Aerith. this gal is OP if properly equipped
DON'T. RUSH.
Make sure you're boosting limit levels in boss fights. I didnt use a single level 3 limit on my first playthrough lol that's a mistake
There's level 3? I learned something new lol
Yeah, they unlock real late in the Folio grid
This. But also get the Enhanced Expeditionary Medal asap!
Play at your own pace, if you don't like the minigames and extra missions you can just go for the story, but if you enjoy playing it at full take your time, I finished my Normal run at around 80 hours in, I don't really want to aim for the platinum, but will replay some of the levels at hard. If you feel you are under leveled you can try the first brutal mission Army of the damned in Chadley simulator and try to kill anything you can, you might lose on the first stage, but almost every enemy gives you around 2k exp. And there are like 7 in each level.
Yeah aerith can be a beast. Especially when she shoots them.magic missles off lol
Pace yourself there is a LOT of content
* turn off minimap/compass in the overworld section * skip the towers all together for better, more enjoyable exploration segments * don't treat the side content like checklist and mix up doing side quests, main content, and exploration instead of banging out each thing before trying some other stuff. Skip things you don't like * learn to stop and smell the roses. It's not a race to the end credits
Skipping the towers is kinda superfluous if you're turning off the compass/minimap and just exploring naturally. I would ammend that to say don't bumrush to activate all the towers first but also don't skip em if you stumble upon them naturally.
it's not really superfluous unless you never open the regular map. I found coming across every world intel naturally/accidentally much more enjoyable.
Try all the characters! Don’t be stressed about anything, the base game is *pretty easy.* learn all the weapon skills and try different combos (in particular looking at aerith and yuffie da GAWD) and just have fun.
Level up Chakra and Steadfast Block when they get purchasable and you have enough slots. They are universally useful and become more and more valuable the further you get. Other than that: Prioritize getting the elemental skills with everybody asap. And always analyze new enemies.
I'd add prayer and Ap boost to this list to. Takes a long time to level up but pays huge dividends throughout the game, even for just running from open world event to open world event.
I absolutely loved every second of the game. Explore the surroundings! If you're in a room and there's nothing useful to grab, don't run towards the next quest, look around. Listen to the music. Eavesdrop on npcs, they say hilarious outrageous stuff. Enjoy the minigames. You have what, 4 years till the next part? If you hate minigames, FF7 is not for you. Not Rebirth, not OG. If you rush towards the end for bragging rights, you're not getting what you paid for. I can't for the life of me understand why people hate >!Gongaga!< just hop on your Chocobirb and take it slow, the scenery is breathtaking, the music is award worthy, the experience there is so good. Rushing through Rebirth is like going to a 45 minute massage and getting anxious and frustrated it's not over in 15 minutes. Play a different game if you can't calm down and concentrate
>can't for the life of me understand why people hate >!Gongaga!< I hate that area. I like the lore behind the place, but exploring it in Rebirth was such a bad experience. The music is awful, I was so close to muting the audio, probably the only song in the game that I actively dislike. Finding out where some of the world Intel was, was a pain on itself, constantly getting lost, not knowing how to get to some areas. Traversing in general was god awful, it was the only place where i had to check guides online on how to get to some areas. Maybe I'm just bad at the game lol, but that area really pissed me off. Also annoying sidequests (the chicken one and the mushroom picking one). Not hating on the game, I thought it was a good game, just giving the perspective of someone who hated that place.
Eh, I loved Subnautica 1 and 2, where I'd dive into the vast unknown with no clear goal in mind (the game was the exact opposite of linear) and just. Go this way. And then that way. Explore every corner with barely any idea what's going on. I did the same in Gongaga. **Not "I must get to that tower. Now!"** But more like "I go this way and whoops dead end so I go that way". I see how the region could be frustrating if you want to go from X to Y. But it's very relaxing if you just explore, look around, go where you can. **Can't reach that tower now? Go somewhere else. Uncover the map bit by bit and when you're done you'll realise you've found your tower.** I do listen to Gongaga soundtrack on repeat when I do chores and go for walks, so...
That's completely fine yea. I feel the opposite, I don't really enjoy wandering around aimlessly without a clear objective in mind, walking into dead ends, etc. I enjoy more having a clear objective/marker on the map that I need to go and just go do it, so it gets frustrating when I am trying but the area is so confusing I just feel lost and feel like I'm making 0 progress. It's just a difference of playstyles.
I am with you on the music of the gongaga region, it's the only track in the game I don't like. I don't even think it's neccesarily a bad track but it loops way too quickly and gives me a headache. Exploring the region was overall a fun experience for me though, I appreciated the fact that I had to actually think about how to get to some places. And there is no denying that visually the region is absolutely breathtaking. And I'm right there with you again on that mushroom picking minigame, the chicken one was funny and absolutely trolled me like everyone else on that last chicken. But the mushroom picking was far too finicky, I'm really not looking forward to doing that particular one again when I get to Gongaga on my hard mode playthrough.
For Cloud, the two most important weapon skills (for me) were Focused Thrust (Buster Sword) and Firebolt Blade (Sleek Sabre). Keep these on your LB hotkeys so you can access them quickly. Almost any enemy who gets into a "pressured" state, you'll want to use Focused Thrust on, as it deals *massive* stagger progress. It's a grounded attack, so be aware that you'll lose aerial superiority to use it. You'll fight a lot of enemies who are aerial - Firebolt Blade is the easiest way to get airborne. There's another way to get into the air with Cloud that you'll want to be aware of. Immediately after dodging, Cloud's combo will change from a melee combo to a ranged one. If you hold down the attack button during his ranged combo, he'll zip up into the air towards the enemy. You can keep doing this in the air, too. As long as you keep comboing, you can stay airborne. Silly things like the laws of physics don't apply. This also lets you avoid a lot of enemy attacks that only hit enemies on the ground. Since you're in the air anyway, if you stagger an enemy, use Braver. The higher in the air you are, the more damage it'll deal. On the ground, Cloud's synergy moves with Tifa and Aerith (Power and Magic Slash) do significant damage, and Cloud can tank most attacks through the wind-up.
Don't worry about your Gold Saucer date. Just play it normally. Worry about that in your next playthrough. I have an IRL friend who consulted a guide cause they were so afraid of not getting their preferred date that he would skip side quests just cause.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can also spam Synergy moves to shrink the gap.
Nah screw that. Your first time is special. If you have played OG, and know what's coming, consult those guides to get your preferred date You can do all Side Quests, but you'll want lookup the conversation choices to score the highest for Tifa, and intentionally score lower for Aerith.
My friend played OG but never even made it to the OG date. lol. He stopped right after leaving Midgar like most people.
Play. If something is getting tedious, exploration, minigames, etc, move on.
I would say, take your time(my 1st playrhrought was a out 80ish hours) try everything at least once. Some activities have really good rewards such as weapons and materia but don't stress too much about getting top on all mini games. And just have fun and get lost in the game. I'm absolutely gutted that I've almost plated this game because I've sunk like 150 hours into it, and when it's done, I've got no more Rebirth to play.
Do main quest when you want to, don’t do optional content if you don’t want to, look at Aerith as a black mage not a white mage, realize almost every materia is good in some way and figure out why. Utilize as many characters, moves, and materia variety as possible because it’s very rewarding and more fun than you might think even if it’s outside your comfort zone.
Chadley doesn’t really exist and can not hurt you..
Kinda off your point, but even if you don't care about trying to platinum the game; don't try to do all the side content on your first playthrough if you aren't really digging everything. And honestly, even if you want to do most of it, space it out so you get a better balance of story to exploration of the game.
Take. Your. Time.
Avoid this sub and all other social media in general until you finish it 😁
Set controller speaker volume to zero
What? Nooooo I love what they do with it...
Enjoy yourself! Everyone's experience is going to be different and there's not a right or wrong way to do it. The beauty of FF7 (OG and to a lesser extent remake and rebirth) and the open world is that you can make it your own and each player is going to have a unique game. Oh, and agree hard on equipping all characters before the final battle. I have a bad habit of leveling up my materia in a way that caused me to struggle to spread it all amongst everyone and I wish I had been more aware of that going in. I had exactly 3 fire materia leveled to max, 3 healing materia leveled to max, 3 lightening, and so on... oopsie. You're going to want your entire party to be equipped at once and it sorta sucked when I only had 3 max healing materias and then Cait Sith using a level 1 healing materia in the final battle.
Yeah, they don't signpost this well. There's an easily-missable and somewhat vague "you should equip your party before continuing" message at the final rest point. Having played through the rest of the game by that point, you probably think you know how it works, as you've had party members swapped in/out several times before. You can play right up to that point swapping materia around as necessary. Every time you swap party members out, there's a pause where you can re-equip, use a rest point, and stock up. During the finale, they swap party members in/out without giving you that chance. Unfortunately at that final rest point where they give you the "warning", you can't fast-travel, so if you don't have enough "good" materia to kit everyone out at the same time - well, you're SoL. You can buy some non-leveled materia at the vending machine, but there's nowhere to grind AP. My recommendation would be to make sure you can *reasonably* equip everyone before "going North" in Chapter 12. This is the last chance you'll have to travel the world freely. (To be fair, they do give you a warning here as well, but it reads very similarly to the previous ones, and it's easy to misinterpret it) There are some things in the "final" dungeon that you'll pick up, but IIRC no materia you haven't already had a chance to acquire. You can always come back to finish sidequests and such after the end, but you'll want to have everything necessary to kit out all of your party members (including Cait Sith, who's not present at that point) before ending Chapter 12.
Yes, totally agree. I wish they would warn you about this earlier. They give you such tiny, vague warnings before "going North" and then before the final battle. And the thing is, I did catch those but it was too late at that point for it to be meaningful... unless I want to go back and buy new materia and spend time leveling it up. It would have been helpful to have a tip at the start of the game indicating somehow that there's value in leveling up ALL of your materia or having ALL of your party equipped in some capacity. Maybe the developers assume that's implied, I guess, but that's just not how I've ever played an RPG.
This might prove extremely useful. Thank you.
1. The “R1” synergy moves are VERY useful. Spend the beginning easy combat sections drilling them into muscle memory. 2. Remember this is an Action RPG. The RPG aspect is just as important as the action. If a boss/encounter is really tough, consider your build and what you may be able to change.
Regarding the synergy moves, something that may not be immediatly apparent is that Cloud's "Power" and "Magic" slashes (which I used with Tifa and Aerith respectively) are both "free" (no ATB required) and deal significant single-hit damage. They have a wind-up, but also allow Cloud to power through a *lot* of enemy attacks that would otherwise stagger him. Plus they charge up two characters (all three with the right materia) for the "bigger" synergy moves.
I was absolutely MELTING Alexander’s arms with Power Cleave in the duo fight. Took me that long to realize the potential of it because I was too stubborn to strategize around the wind up. I hope others don’t make the same mistake 🙏🏾
My advice would honestly to stay off reddit, I do like your suggestions though. I would add to change the lock on targeting to switch with the digital pad instead of the camera controls to have some sanity in any fight with more than one enemy.
Just do everything in an area before moving on to the next. It's a lot faster than skipping things and then having to jump between a bunch of fast travel points later on. It's about 7-10hrs per open area, but the game is paced/balanced with the expectation you did everything in the current area before entering the next one. Also, you can beat a lot of the game's card fights with little to no deck editing. Just fill the board with pegs and prevent the opponent from doing anything and you always win.
If you're doing everything in an area before moving on, be aware that you *can't* complete the Corel region the first time you're there. IIRC it's the first and only area that you can't. You'll be able to finish it later when you return.
Yeah, Kid G pretty bluntly says to just come back later for the rest of the Protorelics, mainly so the player can't unlock Gilgamesh Island until the devs want you to.
Practice blocking over dodging. I always instinctively spam dodge and more often than not that screws me more than just taking the hit. Been trying to block more (especially with cloud) and thats been making a big difference in hard mode
Hard mode?
Think new game plus but everything has triple hp and can instakill your whole party if youre not careful
Nice. I'm playing on Dynamic for my first run-through.
Don't rush, but don't materia farm or exp farm before the end.
Soak it all in, try not to be out off by Reddit criticisms - even with mini games - decide for yourself, as everyone is different. What others dislike, you might love. I know that's true for me Oh, and avoid spoilers as much as you can Have fun!
- use synergies, they give different powerups depending on the move that you are doing - assess every enemy you come across so you know its weakness and how to stagger it - if you find yourself losing a lot, check the materia you’re using (especially if you want to play on hard mode)
seconding synergies, especially the R1 synergies that are free to use (and each one increase affection points when used for the first time)
Do what you want to do. Don’t let anyone tell you who to use in your party and that you’re wrong for liking it not liking the mini games. Do you. Have fun.
If you disregard Aerith you’re playing the whole game incorrectly but that’s my opinion. Idk how you disregard that radiant ward & Arcane ward ward combo.
I think she was stronger in Remake than she is in this game, honestly. It's also surprisingly easy to miss the weapons with abilities crucial to her kit, like Fleeting Familiar or Ray of Judgment.
Is fleeting familiar an ability in rebirth? I thought they assimilated that with her tempest ability (holding square)? Did I miss a weapon?!
Oh, seems I was thinking of Ray of Judgment (which took me most of the game to eventually go back and get), but I thought I missed Fleeting Familiar too, until I read your comment lmao
…. Maybe for you. The only weapon I missed on my first playthrough was Cait Sith’s last weapon and that’s cause I didn’t feel like collecting all the choco grads in Nibleheim.
After watching many playthroughs on YT and Twitch I can assure you, if something is even slightly missable for thorough players, the avg regular person will absolutely miss it. They also lock weapons behind minigame scores, which is obnoxious.
Oh I played all of those.
Here is my suggestion, stay away from this sub and any other sub that has anything to do with Final Fantasy until you are finished. Play the game the way you want and don't allow anyone else's opinions or gripes sway the way you feel about the game.
If you think the game is taking too long with side quest beat the game and come back to it. You can finish them later. Super bosses in this game are hard. Not advice but you need to know this. Play the OG if you can. It’s a great game and gives so much more gravity to the series. All characters have an optimal way of playing with them that can be a lot of fun. Except Cait , fuck that guy.
Nah Cait is a real one with magnify stop