Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Pt. 2 Rebirth

[Kanon]

Although I prefer MGS3, FFX makes sense to me. It redefined JRPGs just as much as FFVII did. The leap in graphics and the additions of cut-scenes and voice acting was huge. I pretty much learned English thanks to it.

[Kafriel]

FF joined the voice acting scene later than others - we've had VAs on PS1's Lunar 1&2, or the legendary Legacy of Kain games (which, funnily enough, were my own reason for learning english). The graphical leap was indeed huge though, and the game incorporated many elements to its gameplay (blitzball, monster captures, fighting as summons, new limit break rules and QTEs, massive turn-based skips with time magic and of course, the sphere grid).

RE4 introduced its third person shooter angle and it's been used everywhere ever since (and IMO the original holds up incredibly well even to this day), while Shadow Hearts: Covenant is - again, in my opinion - the ultimate JRPG experience. Turn based battle with a twist, using directional attacks and combos, with unique development for every character, an excellent puzzle in Solomon's Key, a great story, amazing music and a party of 8 playable characters, as well as lots of obscure side quests around the world with a lot more in them than "go to a place, bring thing back". It also struck a great balance between humour and seriousness, even within its main story line.

[Mad Pierrot]

I guess Resident Evil didn't count since it was first released for the GameCube and the PS2 version was a downgrade.

[Kafriel]

I always forget about that, good call.

[JagdPanther]

Finished my materia grinding and dove into post-game fights. Got through the first Brutal challenge with some difficulty. Got through the second Brutal challenge after wiping on the 6th round with the damn jellyfish (wrecked them on the second run through).

I read that doing the first couple chapters on Hard isn't bad and gets a couple scripts, so I did Chapter 1 tonight and will go to Chapter 2 tomorrow. After that I'm going to see what I need to do to get more Dark Matter. I'm not sure if I screwed myself by blowing Dark Matter on making a second accessory of the same type. I have to check. Want to get the next level of transmutation out of the way before I proceed with anything after Chapter 2 on Hard.

[Mad Pierrot]

So, seems the Steam version is kinda better looking than the PS5

[Kafriel]

Originally Posted by JagdPanther

Finished my materia grinding and dove into post-game fights. Got through the first Brutal challenge with some difficulty. Got through the second Brutal challenge after wiping on the 6th round with the damn jellyfish (wrecked them on the second run through).

I read that doing the first couple chapters on Hard isn't bad and gets a couple scripts, so I did Chapter 1 tonight and will go to Chapter 2 tomorrow. After that I'm going to see what I need to do to get more Dark Matter. I'm not sure if I screwed myself by blowing Dark Matter on making a second accessory of the same type. I have to check. Want to get the next level of transmutation out of the way before I proceed with anything after Chapter 2 on Hard.

You miiiiight have messed up with the dark matter, can't say if you can get it again on hard mode. You'll have to check the rewards when you get there.

Originally Posted by Mad Pierrot

So, seems the Steam version is kinda better looking than the PS5

It looks better, I'll judge it on two things though: performance during Midgardsormr and running around Junon on chocoback. Then there's the matter of initial release and early patches, which seems unavoidable these days, but generally speaking, I expect it to be slightly better than the PS5 pro.

[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

You miiiiight have messed up with the dark matter, can't say if you can get it again on hard mode. You'll have to check the rewards when you get there.

Fortunately, I didn't F up. lol I just didn't realize all the things you get it for and hadn't made anything else. I ground through those yesterday and made the last 3 Enhanced items requiring Dark Matter.

Now I gotta figure out how you get the other materials for the Genji gear after going around finding all of the Pirate Jetsam.

4 Brutal Challenges and all of the Legendary Challenges remaining. Might have to bite the bullet and fly through some more chapters on Hard Mode to try to get a couple weapons on Level 9 for key party members... particularly Yuffie, who is becoming my go-to with Doppelganger to quickly max ATB and use Prayer twice-ish to heal my party easily.

[JagdPanther]

So... you know that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where Robin watches Lancelot easily cross the Bridge of Death, yells "That's easy!," and proceeds to get killed right away?

Yeah, that was me with trying out Tifa vs. The Marshalists tonight.

Yikes.

I watched a video that made it seem pretty easy to win that even without Gotterdamerung. I got RAILED by the Type-G Slug Rays right off the bat. I figured out how to beat them. Took a bit with the Death Claw. And now I cannot for the life of me get past Kid G. I know I struggled with Kid G in the Protorelic 4 battle, but once I saw a video of how to deal with him, I managed to deal with him with mild difficultly. Not now. Jeeeeezzz... I am awful at Perfect Parrying, which I gather is critical here. I tried one round just dodging the heck out of what he was doing, but I couldn't get him staggered before I F'd up and got killed.

I got pissed and decided to fly through Chapter 3 on Hard Mode. I may do Chapter 4, as well, before I give Tifa vs. the Marshalists another shot. If I even make it past Kid G who knows if I can take the last 2 fights considering how I struggled with the first 2.

[Kafriel]

Unfortunately for you, Kid G is pretty much a precision defense skill check. Obviously, use the materia to get a larger window for it, but more than that, just learn his pattern; one-two, step, punch. You parry the first and/or second hit, you dodge his punch and he goes into pressure state, at which point focus strike or unfettered fury skills ramp up the stagger. The second part of the fight is a staggered damage test, because if you don't outright kill him, he might heal. To the best of my recollection, Tifa's strongest combo against staggered enemies is double true strike, rise and fall, omnistrike, double true strike. It also means you prep for it with Lv3 martial arts and both ATB bars available. It's not an easy fight, by any means.

In case you do win, Elder Golem dies very fast to reverse gale (like, 6k damage each, raw) but you should have petrify protection (I'd done it with resist from the healing materia) for both him and the Jabberwock. Fire materia is also necessary for the latter's gorgon shield to break open.

Main story chapters only make you stronger...and remember, combat sims are by far the hardest part of the game!

[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

Unfortunately for you, Kid G is pretty much a precision defense skill check. Obviously, use the materia to get a larger window for it, but more than that, just learn his pattern; one-two, step, punch. You parry the first and/or second hit, you dodge his punch and he goes into pressure state, at which point focus strike or unfettered fury skills ramp up the stagger. The second part of the fight is a staggered damage test, because if you don't outright kill him, he might heal. To the best of my recollection, Tifa's strongest combo against staggered enemies is double true strike, rise and fall, omnistrike, double true strike. It also means you prep for it with Lv3 martial arts and both ATB bars available. It's not an easy fight, by any means.

In case you do win, Elder Golem dies very fast to reverse gale (like, 6k damage each, raw) but you should have petrify protection (I'd done it with resist from the healing materia) for both him and the Jabberwock. Fire materia is also necessary for the latter's gorgon shield to break open.

Main story chapters only make you stronger...and remember, combat sims are by far the hardest part of the game!

Soooooo...... my problem with Kid G was that I straight-up forgot how to pressure him. After I wrote that post I realized, "Oh, you idiot, you have to hit Kid G after you dodge his move to pressure him." I kept dodging thinking THAT pressured him, which it never did, so he just eventually wrecked me.

I watched a few more videos on The Mashalists the next day and cobbled together a strategy that worked in 1 try. The key for me was the last video that I watched (guy that goes by Naz Talgic on YouTube) doing a "No no-damage" run where he actually took a fair amount of hits through it all. That made me confident that I could get by since I suck at perfect parrying.

Another video I saw made me realize there actually is a use for Chi Trap. Some dude melted the most of the enemies in The Marshalists by casting multiple Chi Traps on them at once. It was nuts. I incorporated that into my strategy.

Kid G went down on the first stagger bar with just a little bit left. Elder Golem did get Petrify on me, but I managed to win before I actually got turned to stone. And then the Jabberwock also got Petrify on me, but the Chi Trap strategy worked fairly well.

What nearly screwed me over for my overall run was, right off the bat, ATB Boost never worked. I definitely had it on it, but for some reason I couldn't get it to trigger. No idea what the heck happened. But, I managed to Chi Trap the Type-G Slug Rays and roll from there.

Now I am slogging my way through the chapters on Hard Mode as well as hoovering up the unending amount of manuscripts. It's insane how many there are. And some of these Hard Mode mob battles for the manuscripts in side quests are downright ridiculous. That Mandragora battle in Chapter 2... Good Lord. The strategy I used that I saw online was just load up Aerith with First Strike and Chocoking Cape, cast Lustrous Shield, and then just spam Magnify-Fira as fast as possible before you get overwhelmed.

[Kafriel]

What nearly screwed me over for my overall run was, right off the bat, ATB Boost never worked. I definitely had it on it, but for some reason I couldn't get it to trigger. No idea what the heck happened. But, I managed to Chi Trap the Type-G Slug Rays and roll from there.

Now I am slogging my way through the chapters on Hard Mode as well as hoovering up the unending amount of manuscripts. It's insane how many there are. And some of these Hard Mode mob battles for the manuscripts in side quests are downright ridiculous. That Mandragora battle in Chapter 2... Good Lord. The strategy I used that I saw online was just load up Aerith with First Strike and Chocoking Cape, cast Lustrous Shield, and then just spam Magnify-Fira as fast as possible before you get overwhelmed.

That Mandragora fight was insane! I did pretty much the same, radiant ward on Aerith to avoid damage while casting and just spam magnified fira.

Just in case you haven't figured it out, ATB boost doubles your current ATB; it is best used on exactly one bar (or half your meter during united focus) and it's got a pretty long cooldown. It doesn't work if you're empty, because it doubles nothing.

[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

Just in case you haven't figured it out, ATB boost doubles your current ATB; it is best used on exactly one bar (or half your meter during united focus) and it's got a pretty long cooldown. It doesn't work if you're empty, because it doubles nothing.

Hmm... I had First Strike on her, as well, so it should've been available immediately.

Also, doesn't ATB Boost give you a little prompt in the action menu letting you know it's available (or, after its used, what the current cool down remaining is)? I didn't see any of that.

Anyway, haven't needed it since. Just powered through Chapter 7 on Hard Mode tonight. I dread the Dyne fight on Hard mode considering how awful it was on Normal...

[Kafriel]

I dread the Dyne fight on Hard mode considering how awful it was on Normal...

I died once, but Barret solo is pretty easy to gear up: Barrage Blaster for what is pretty much auto-protect as your weapon, steadfast block, precision defense focus (you can spam it on Dyne's gatling and it procs like 11 times; full ATB refill + stagger buildup on Dyne), HP up, First strike, Fire, Poison, Time, Chakra, Speed up, VIT up x2 and fill the rest as you like. Lifesaver still boosts your max HP if it's not already maxed out, steelskin reduces dmg taken and turbulent spirit gives you a LOT of ATB. Once you learn his moveset, you'll know when to hide and when to dodge in order to avoid his command grabs. Once he brings out his extra arms, Maximum Fury takes them out pretty handily; point blank and lifeblood cannon are reserved to take huge chunks out of Dyne. You can also use auto-weapon ability + HP absorb if you don't want to waste resources on healing during the battle.

Good luck!

[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

I died once, but Barret solo is pretty easy to gear up: Barrage Blaster for what is pretty much auto-protect as your weapon, steadfast block, precision defense focus (you can spam it on Dyne's gatling and it procs like 11 times; full ATB refill + stagger buildup on Dyne), HP up, First strike, Fire, Poison, Time, Chakra, Speed up, VIT up x2 and fill the rest as you like. Lifesaver still boosts your max HP if it's not already maxed out, steelskin reduces dmg taken and turbulent spirit gives you a LOT of ATB. Once you learn his moveset, you'll know when to hide and when to dodge in order to avoid his command grabs. Once he brings out his extra arms, Maximum Fury takes them out pretty handily; point blank and lifeblood cannon are reserved to take huge chunks out of Dyne. You can also use auto-weapon ability + HP absorb if you don't want to waste resources on healing during the battle.

Good luck!

I died a few times, but it was MUCH easier than Normal Mode. I saw online that you basically can Firaga him to death fairly quickly. Didn't really even use Steelskin or anything else. Had to come into Phase 3 with at least 1 ATB so I could cast Fira quickly on an arm, then rebuild ATB quickly, Firaga, stagger, and hit him hard again and he was done.

Just took a few tries to get to that final stage.

The subsequent fight with Palmer's mech was also easier than Normal Mode, as were the fights with Hojo's Specimen and Scarlett's mech in Chapter 9. Used Elemental materia for protection or extra damage in all those fights. Worked great.

[JagdPanther]

Well, Gi Nattak on Hard Mode was... awful.

I rage quit earlier today, but then came across a tip online that I hadn't really considered even though I had seen it used in a video. Gi Nattak is susceptible to Stop, so cast that immediately upon him entering stagger and wail on him. Tried again this evening. Got to Phase 3 once, but forgot another tip that you shouldn't blow your Limit Break until that phase; I wasted mine getting damage gated during Phase 2.

Looking up stuff on Gi Nattak, I see that Rufus is apparently awful in Chapter 12. Yaaay...

At least that won't be with Nanaki or Barrett, who are two of my least favorite characters to fight with.

[Kafriel]

Heads up, Rufus in chapter 12 is HARD. Like, seriously, one badass mofo that will push you against the wall, so keep in mind that you'll have to save Cloud's MP for it in the battles that lead up to this.

For Gi Nattak's battle, a few tips:

- Nanaki's reaper touch is shit. It's basically a minus strike, except it's in real time, so you'll die easily if you keep him on low HP, plus its range is meh. Supernal Fervor works as a "free" haste, best used when your gauge is almost empty though. Retaliation is an extremely powerful move, but you only get one chance to use it, so make it count.

- Bravery/Faith are strong buffs, definitely worth a materia slot in hard mode. Doubly so if you've got Doom counting down on you.

- Barret's lifesaver can literally save your life in this battle. As long as Nanaki lives, you can use Overfang to unlock better limits for the end of the battle. Iron defense can help you negate projectile damage, or get Nanaki out of harm's way, since he instantly teleports to Barret.

- Don't sleep on Bonus Round. A full magazine deals a considerable amount of stagger, you shouldn't have to recast it more than once.

- Healing magic works on Gi Nattak, since he's undead (he obviously takes damage instead of healing). I don't remember if you can regen him, but Cure spells work 100%, bonus points if you got altruistic healer stuff.

- You can still perfect parry a lot of stuff, even grabs if you've got a precision defense focus materia maxed out. Helps a lot, but if you're not confident, play mainly with Nanaki, since he benefits from attacks to build towards his vengeance mode. Make sure you use his counterattacks whenever it's safe.

[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

Heads up, Rufus in chapter 12 is HARD. Like, seriously, one badass mofo that will push you against the wall, so keep in mind that you'll have to save Cloud's MP for it in the battles that lead up to this.

For Gi Nattak's battle, a few tips:

- Nanaki's reaper touch is shit. It's basically a minus strike, except it's in real time, so you'll die easily if you keep him on low HP, plus its range is meh. Supernal Fervor works as a "free" haste, best used when your gauge is almost empty though. Retaliation is an extremely powerful move, but you only get one chance to use it, so make it count.

- Bravery/Faith are strong buffs, definitely worth a materia slot in hard mode. Doubly so if you've got Doom counting down on you.

- Barret's lifesaver can literally save your life in this battle. As long as Nanaki lives, you can use Overfang to unlock better limits for the end of the battle. Iron defense can help you negate projectile damage, or get Nanaki out of harm's way, since he instantly teleports to Barret.

- Don't sleep on Bonus Round. A full magazine deals a considerable amount of stagger, you shouldn't have to recast it more than once.

- Healing magic works on Gi Nattak, since he's undead (he obviously takes damage instead of healing). I don't remember if you can regen him, but Cure spells work 100%, bonus points if you got altruistic healer stuff.

- You can still perfect parry a lot of stuff, even grabs if you've got a precision defense focus materia maxed out. Helps a lot, but if you're not confident, play mainly with Nanaki, since he benefits from attacks to build towards his vengeance mode. Make sure you use his counterattacks whenever it's safe.

Even with Precision Defense I am bad at parrying. lol

I did get past Gi Nattak last night before I wrote that post. I managed to nip him right at the end with Nanaki unconscious and Barrett very low on HP. I think Barrett's last Limit staggered Gi Nattak but didn't kill him, so I had to quickly build up at ATB bar and throw Maximum Fury into him. JUST got him down.

Chapter 11 on Hard is soooo dumb with how you have to conserve MP through such a long chapter. I am just about to face Gallian Beast on Hard, and I know that fight is awful even on Normal. I have 90+ MP with Yuffie and Tifa, so that's helpful. I'm going to roll without Cloud so I can conserve his 80+ MP for Roche.

I *tried* to recover MP with Cait Sith vs. Yin-Yang, but I got off only one Firaga in the fight so I added only like 8 MP to my starting amount. Might have to keep that in place for Galian Beast so I can try to get *something* back.

[Kafriel]

That's the spirit! Without exaggerating, Gallian Beast and Rufus were the hardest story fights in hard mode for me, both due to my negligence when it came to MP expenditure before the fights. Get ready to dodge a lot in phase 2 for Vincent's fight...

[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

That's the spirit! Without exaggerating, Gallian Beast and Rufus were the hardest story fights in hard mode for me, both due to my negligence when it came to MP expenditure before the fights. Get ready to dodge a lot in phase 2 for Vincent's fight...

Both fights were super annoying earlier today. Gallian Beast just wrecks you... The strategy I saw that I tried to replicate to the best of my ability is to have Aerith cast Planetary Protection ASAP. Since I don't have Gotterdammerung, I had to survive long enough to build up the second half of a limit bar on someone equipped with Limit Booster. That was of course super annoyingly hard for me since I suck at parrying. I couldn't even keep all 3 characters alive for that in pretty much every run until my last one. I think I knocked Gallian Beast out with only 1 character still alive and not with Planetary Protection still active. lol

Roche was also awful, again because I cannot parry to save my life (literally and figuratively). But, for all my frustration and failed attempts, my last one was nearly routine. I stumbled across a guide video that showed something interesting. There was no commentary, but it was the only one I saw with Elemental-Fire on the armor, and I *think* that was the key. I *think* some of Roche's attacks are Fire-based, so having a maxed-out Elemental-Fire combo on the armor not only heals you but more importantly prevents you from being interrupted. With that on me, I actually got by him with some ease. I could be hallucinating that, but I am pretty sure I saw HP being absorbed when Roche attacked some times.

Onto Chapter 12. Did Abzu a bit a go. Now gearing up for Elena/Rude and then Rufus. I watched a video earlier that made Rufus seem shockingly easy to beat. I guarantee I won't be able to do it, but it involved virtually zero blocking/parrying. Just took some time.

But, first, gotta get through Elena and Rude. I've got my equipment and materia setup, but I won't try until tomorrow.