The original Final Fantasy VII was never a particularly difficult game. Every member of the party could carry themselves well, and Materia led to a depth of customization which ensured players could prepare for any scenario so long as they had the right items. At the same time, this wasn’t exactly a flaw, and side content helped up the ante as far as difficulty went.
In a rare twist of fate, Final Fantasy VII Remake does not take after the original’s difficulty curve, instead offering a fairly challenging experience from start to finish. Enemies and boss fights can be particularly demanding, and treating the remake as some button masher will surely lead to players having a bad time. Final Fantasy VII Remake is harder than anyone was anticipating, but these pro tips will help Cloud cut his way through Midgar with ease.
10 Different Enemies Call For Different Characters
As Cloud is the main character, it’s safe to assume a good chunk of players will try to get through the whole game exclusively playing as Cloud. Don’t. This is a terrible idea. Not only do enemies exclusively agro the player character if they’re in range, Cloud isn’t a good fit for every enemy type.
All four party members play differently and are good at different things. Barret is a tank who can take out aerial enemies easily, Aerith can exploit magical vulnerabilities with ease, and Tifa’s quick fighting style makes it easy for her to fight safely at close range. Cloud in particular is best suited for humanoid enemies.
9 Use The Command Menu
By pressing the X button in battle, players can access the command menu. Similar to the menu found in most turn based Final Fantasy games, players can cycle through each party member’s set of spells, abilities, and items (so long as they have the required ATB.) Thankfully, the command menu even slows down time to allow players to pick commands at their leisure.
While the command menu can be used to access the player character’s kit at any time, R2 and L2 actually allow you to access both party member’s command menus without needing to switch control. Frequent use of the command menu will make bosses far more manageable.
8 Use Shortcuts
While the command menu is an incredibly valuable tool, especially for directing party members, it is still something of a crutch. Not only does it not stop the flow of combat– allowing enemies to make contact with the player– it breaks the flow of battle. Shortcuts are a clean way of getting around the command menu.
By setting commands to L1, shortcuts allow players to use each character to their fullest without needing to stop in their tracks. Cloud in particular can pull off a lot of crazy maneuvers with the right abilities set to his shortcuts. They’re basically mandatory for hard mode.
7 Swap Often In-Battle
More important than using the command menu and shortcuts is consistently switching between party members. The fact enemies agro the player character will become a huge problem in later chapters. Bosses get downright vicious, locking the player in combos to punish their lack of character switching.
Swapping not only keeps bosses more passive and manageable, the combat is just more fun when juggling three different party members. Everyone plays so uniquely that cycling through the party keeps battles perpetually fresh and exciting. On Hard Mode and some of the later VR Battles, staying as one character exclusively is borderline suicide.
6 Do Every Side Quest
Final Fantasy VII Remake’s sidequest design is aggressively mediocre. A few are decent– such as a key few in Wall Market– but most are bland, uninspired, and end up being little more than throwaway MMO-esque quests. That said, not only to side quests consistently offer great rewards, the actual character writing around them is solid.
Whoever Cloud is with ends up getting some decent development whenever he does a side quest. Even when he’s alone, side quests are an insight into Cloud’s character. Better yet, completing every side quest in a chapter unlocks an optional scene, making them narratively worthwhile.
5 Don’t Leave Chadley Hanging
As Cloud and company make their way through Midgar, a Shinra intern by the name of Chadley will periodically appear offering Could the opportunity to clear some Battle Intel for the lad. By completing in-combat challenges, Battle Intel can unlock new Materia along with VR Battles where players can earn Summon Materia.
The Materia that Chadley develops from Battle Intel is frankly too good to ignore. He offers some of the absolute best Materia in the game, and Chadley’s endgame summons are second to none. Better yet, Chadley’s Battle Intel makes good use of the combat, giving players plenty to do even after credits roll.
4 Focus On Leveling Magic Materia
On that same token, one piece of Battle Intel requires that players level each piece of Magic Materia (green Materia) to its maximum level. There are 12 pieces of Magic Materia in the game, but it’s unlikely players will want to run pure magic builds for all their characters. All the same, anyone who wants to complete every piece of Battle Intel in one playthrough will need to prioritize Magic Materia.
It’s also worth noting that max level Materia makes for some decent cash for anyone who desperately needs it. Final Fantasy VII Remake more or less floods the party with cash by the last set of chapters, but hawking Materia still has its place.
3 Prioritize SP For Unlocking Materia Slots
Weapon leveling and weapon abilities aren’t exactly new territory for the Final Fantasy franchise, but Final Fantasy VII Remake does make very good use out of the concept. Each weapon has its own skill tree of sorts with sub-cores that have nodes which can be unlocked with SP– points earned whenever a character levels up.
While there are some truly great bonuses to unlock for every weapon, it’s worth pointing out that multiple weapons have sub-cores which unlock new Materia slots. As Materia is the lifeblood that drives Final Fantasy VII’s combat, it’s advised to save enough SP to consistently keep buying new Materia slots as they pop up.
2 Level Up Weapon Proficiency ASAP
On the subject of weapon leveling and weapon abilities, it’s worth pointing out how the latte specifically works. Each weapon has a unique weapon ability that can only be triggered whenever that weapon is equipped. Should a character use said unique ability enough times in battle, however, they’ll increase their weapon proficiency.
Once weapon proficiency is 100%, characters will permanently unlock the weapon ability, now usable regardless if the weapon is equipped. This makes every single weapon in the game worth using, and the abilities all four characters can get genuinely do make a big difference. Leveling weapon proficiency should always be prioritized.
1 Use Items
When it comes down to it, Final Fantasy VII Remake has a high enough difficulty curve where even Normal mode is going to make most players sweat. Battles can be quite daunting, draining players’ resources in the process. While benches do restore HP and Mako Shards can be found littered in most places, players might find themselves lacking in HP & MP.
It’s a bit of a no-brainer, but use items outside of battle. You will get more than enough potions and ethers to be able to constantly keep the party in tip-top shape. Don’t get too attached, though. Hard mode notably removes the use of items altogether. Here’s hoping you didn’t take them for granted.