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[#Phonepunk#]

Thanks yeah not sure if I should push through with beating the game and do all the cleanup later or if I should take my time. Last night I was all about the side quests but I’m thinking I should power through to the end. This is my first time through

 

[Kev Kev]

Double post...

so lemme get one thing straight... spells like stop, slow and sleep are less effective the more you use them in battle? I’m using stop on a boss and it’s work great the first 2 or 3 times, then it becomes left effective (the effect doesn’t as long), and then it becomes completely useless (the enemy resists it completely.

has it always been like this is FF? I want to say yes I had but I can’t remember.

my point being though... isn’t that a bit bull shit on hard mode? Like, fuck you square, you already suffocate me of MP and call it a brand new difficulty setting, and then you only leave me mako shard once in every like 5 or 6 stacks of boxes (and they only give you 10 or so MP anyway), then you leave in all the chests with items I can’t use, instead of oh I don’t know a couple more fucking mako shards, then you make it so MP regenerates only in battle (I have literally resorted to just going into a battle and blocking the entire time just so I can refill my mp), you don’t give me any abilities that can inflict these status affects (like prayer and chakra are essentially healing spells disguised as abilities), and THEN you take away refilling MP on benches (because everything else just wasn’t punishing enough! Lol),

...and then you have the nuts to make the times I actually have enough mp? Less effective each time I use it?



ok sorry I’m done with my bitchin hour now

carry on

EDIT: also it doesn’t help that the AI is retarded and rolls right up into an enemies oncoming attack instead of just staying the fuck out of the way

ok I swear to god I’m done..... for now lol

 

[bargeparty]

Since this was built in unreal engine I'm hoping we'll get mods?

 

[bargeparty]

I always turn all subtitles off, even from the main characters. It’s always distracting and I find myself reading text more than watching the characters speaking and what ever else is going on in the scene. I always felt that should be default, and people who want them can turn them on in the...

Problem is the audio mixing is so bad you need subtitles to hear what the main characters are saying during gameplay.

 

[D.Final]

Since this was built in unreal engine I'm hoping we'll get mods?

Maybe

 

[#Phonepunk#]

the collapsed bride run (or is it a tunnel? Can’t remember, but it’s collapsed something) was a great place for quick and easy fights and gribding on chapter 14 for me. The music even changes once in that section, so you don’t have to listen to the same shit over and over again.

And of course there is the coliseum. Just run the three person party tournament. You keep all the exp and ap, even if you quit in the middle of it.

also it’s worth noting that the game awards you with more exp and ap on subsequent playthroughs, so don’t waste too much if you’re still on you’re first.

yeah i totally forgot about the Coliseum! just found it and yeah im probably gonna spend all day here lol. i did go through the ruined area earlier. there is actually a big chunk of semi Open World here that connects all these places together and you can just run around exploring and doing quests and there are a few enemy encounters throughout.

ran into Tonberry earlier and the dude straight up shanked me. just instantly killed me over and over lol. i read something that says i need all these material equipped that i just picked up, both Subversion and Warding materia, so i'll be doing some leveling for that at the Coliseum. i also saw a video showing a strat that looked like it worked really well. basically you just try and stay behind him, and use the three party members to keep him distracted. will be doing a rematch later...

 

[Kev Kev]

yeah i totally forgot about the Coliseum! just found it and yeah im probably gonna spend all day here lol. i did go through the ruined area earlier. there is actually a big chunk of semi Open World here that connects all these places together and you can just run around exploring and doing quests and there are a few enemy encounters throughout.

ran into Tonberry earlier and the dude straight up shanked me. just instantly killed me over and over lol. i read something that says i need all these material equipped that i just picked up, both Subversion and Warding materia, so i'll be doing some leveling for that at the Coliseum. i also saw a video showing a strat that looked like it worked really well. basically you just try and stay behind him, and use the three party members to keep him distracted. will be doing a rematch later...

yeah you’re better off with the coliseum. I actually got nerdy and wrote down some stats earlier

if I run the three person party battle (I think it’s second to last on the list) I get 4,665 xp and 165 ap. The whole process takes roughly 3 minutes. So in an hour I’d have about 90k xp and 3.3k ap

that’s after you get the multiplier from beating the game of course, and all my shit is nearly maxed out so that helps with time

EDIT: also, I clocked the collapsed expressway at about 70k xp and 3k ap, so that’s still a good option if the coliseum start to get boring. You just have to make sure to teleport back to the main entrance of the collapsed expressway entrance (for every run), to ensure all the monsters respawn.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

oh yeah there is tons of stuff to do in 14. gonna just take my time with this and do all these sidequests. there is a ton of equipment to find and master and battles to fight, i'll probably spend half a dozen hours just playing around. it's almost like FFXIII where you get to that giant open grass field with all the monsters towards the end. the game has really opened up at this point.

the sidequests are all worth doing. i really like all the characters and the new ones are very much classic FF style characters. Kyrie's sidequest is pretty cool she feels like a 16-bit character almost.

 

[mango drank]

Finished it today. Spoiler-free impressions:

The good:

• The music: most of the reinterpretations of the classic songs are great, and a lot of them put a big smile on my face when they first came on. I had something in my manly eyes at the start of the Aeris church / flower bed scene. Re-listening to the OST on YouTube now.
• The graphics / art direction / character designs: not much to say about this, just great all around.
• Red XIII: I loved his design, he's adorable, he has some great scenes, and the Japanese voice actor was weirdly perfect.
• Some of the new quests / areas are legitimately cool and add to the game, instead of feeling like artificial padding.

The bad:

• Very little sense of exploration / discovery / freedom. It took me a while to figure out what was bugging me about FF7R, but eventually it hit me, and this is probably the biggest point. You're on a very short leash. Or maybe there's no leash at all, and instead you're chained to the front of a train being driven down a set track at 5 mph, while a firehose sprays you with non-stop enemies. Ain't no gettin offa this train we're o--WHARRGARBL.
• It felt tedious overall, and the padding was excessive. Dungeons felt about 3x too long. The majority of the game felt like I was making my way through through waist-high molasses. The prioritization of long dungeons and lots of battles might be cool for the people who enjoy that stuff, but the draw of the classic FFs (7 through 10-ish) for me was exploration, discovery, and absorbing local flavor. They had what felt like a good balance between action vs down-time / exploration. FF7R, otoh, feels draining and exhausting.

I'm obviously in the minority here, since most of the people who've finished FF7R loved it. I think it's a fantastic technical and artistic achievement. But as a game, this isn't for me. I think I'm out. Y'all enjoy the rest of the games.

 

[Synless]

Finished it today. Spoiler-free impressions:

The good:

• The music: most of the reinterpretations of the classic songs are great, and a lot of them put a big smile on my face when they first came on. I had something in my manly eyes at the start of the Aeris church / flower bed scene. Re-listening to the OST on YouTube now.
• The graphics / art direction / character designs: not much to say about this, just great all around.
• Red XIII: I loved his design, he's adorable, he has some great scenes, and the Japanese voice actor was weirdly perfect.
• Some of the new quests / areas are legitimately cool and add to the game, instead of feeling like artificial padding.

The bad:

• Very little sense of exploration / discovery / freedom. It took me a while to figure out what was bugging me about FF7R, but eventually it hit me, and this is probably the biggest point. You're on a very short leash. Or maybe there's no leash at all, and instead you're chained to the front of a train being driven down a set track at 5 mph, while a firehose sprays you with non-stop enemies. Ain't no gettin offa this train we're o--WHARRGARBL.
• It felt tedious overall, and the padding was excessive. Dungeons felt about 3x too long. The majority of the game felt like I was making my way through through waist-high molasses. The prioritization of long dungeons and lots of battles might be cool for the people who enjoy that stuff, but the draw of the classic FFs (7 through 10-ish) for me was exploration, discovery, and absorbing local flavor. They had what felt like a good balance between action vs down-time / exploration. FF7R, otoh, feels draining and exhausting.

I'm obviously in the minority here, since most of the people who've finished FF7R loved it. I think it's a fantastic technical and artistic achievement. But as a game, this isn't for me. I think I'm out. Y'all enjoy the rest of the games.

Think? Oh no, we will see you at the next one and you will damn well like it.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

EDIT: also, I clocked the collapsed expressway at about 70k xp and 3k ap, so that’s still a good option if the coliseum start to get boring. You just have to make sure to teleport back to the main entrance of the collapsed expressway entrance (for every run), to ensure all the monsters respawn.

that long stretch of highway and ruins is filled with monsters and is a lot of fun to farm. especially since it has some of the best FFVII songs.

 

[Rentahamster]

Double post...

so lemme get one thing straight... spells like stop, slow and sleep are less effective the more you use them in battle? I’m using stop on a boss and it’s work great the first 2 or 3 times, then it becomes left effective (the effect doesn’t as long), and then it becomes completely useless (the enemy resists it completely.

has it always been like this is FF? I want to say yes I had but I can’t remember.

my point being though... isn’t that a bit bull shit on hard mode? Like, fuck you square, you already suffocate me of MP and call it a brand new difficulty setting, and then you only leave me mako shard once in every like 5 or 6 stacks of boxes (and they only give you 10 or so MP anyway), then you leave in all the chests with items I can’t use, instead of oh I don’t know a couple more fucking mako shards, then you make it so MP regenerates only in battle (I have literally resorted to just going into a battle and blocking the entire time just so I can refill my mp), you don’t give me any abilities that can inflict these status affects (like prayer and chakra are essentially healing spells disguised as abilities), and THEN you take away refilling MP on benches (because everything else just wasn’t punishing enough! Lol),

...and then you have the nuts to make the times I actually have enough mp? Less effective each time I use it?



ok sorry I’m done with my bitchin hour now

carry on

EDIT: also it doesn’t help that the AI is retarded and rolls right up into an enemies oncoming attack instead of just staying the fuck out of the way

ok I swear to god I’m done..... for now lol

Be grateful the debuffs even work. In most JRPGS, debuffs are useless on all bosses. You need to use debuffs on this game at the right times. For example, use STOP when the window for pressure is tight or after you stagger.

You have to think more creatively on hard mode. The secret to healing more damage is not taking it in the first pace. DPS is key to killing monsters before they kill you. Counter with Cloud as much as possible. Remember the enemy patterns.

If you need specific builds that will help :

Spoiler: Hard mode builds

Healer paladin Barret:
Weapon: Big Bertha gun with HP boosts, defense boosts, and healing effectiveness boosts.

Materia: HP up, Chakra, prayer, first attack, atb boost

Accessory : that +healing effectiveness one.

Barret will start with at least one bar ATB. Shoot for about 2 seconds or do one overcharge to fill it up, and then prayer.

Do his skill lifesaver. Some of the others damage will be transferred to Barret. He can tank this way. You can even use stoneskin and barrier to make it even more effective. Don't heal until you're in the red. When you are in the red do one Chakra to heal you almost back to full, because of healing boost on Big Bertha and your accessory.

HP absorb build :

Either Cloud, or Tifa, or Barret with melee weapon, with high magic stat.

Materia : First strike, blocking, magic up, HP absorb + enemy skill materia.


Use the ice aura + spirit siphon and stand in the middle of a bunch of enemies. With the blocking materia you can block all day long and take low damage and gain mad ATB.

Trash mob DPS:

Cloud with hardedge and all damage boosters

Materia: first strike, luck up.

Accessory : fury ring

Immediately spam triple slash at the start of every battle. You'll one shot most of em.

To enhance this, you can give cloud ATB stagger materia and put ice + magnify on another party member. Before you triple slash, use blizzard or blizzara because ice spells put enemies into pressure. If you're strong enough you'll stagger, gain more ATB, then slam whatever you want.


Also, put the bloodsucker skill on your weapons so you regain health every battle.

 

[bargeparty]

that long stretch of highway and ruins is filled with monsters and is a lot of fun to farm. especially since it has some of the best FFVII songs.

The second song there is the worst thing I've ever heard and I actually turned the music off for that entire section.

 

[Nankatsu]

Man the whole part at the Honeybee Inn at chapter 9, with that mini-game...it made me had a good laugh.

It reaches Yakuza cabaret levels of ridiculousness, in a good way.

Spoiler

As Aerith, when you try to talk to Cloud and he doesn't say a goddamn thing, ahahah, shit

 

[Valonquar]

People actually thought this game had too many battles at any point in the game? There's no random encounters, and the entire time from when you get Aerith to when she leaves your party there's like maybe 12 fights. Unless you spam the colloseum there's huge amounts of running down a long trashyard tunnel that you only get in 3 fights once, then just run back & forth for the MMO style fetch quests and the mobs don't even respawn every time.

 

[D.Final]

Man the whole part at the Honeybee Inn at chapter 9, with that mini-game...it made me had a good laugh.

It reaches Yakuza cabaret levels of ridiculousness, in a good way.

Spoiler

As Aerith, when you try to talk to Cloud and he doesn't say a goddamn thing, ahahah, shit

As nice as it is, it would have been epic if they had made the events of the original game for the Honeybee Inn.
Like that scene of the bed and the muscular men in the PS1 version, a scene that is absent here

 

[TTOOLL]

No MP recovery on the benches in hard mode is nonsense.

 

[Rentahamster]

No MP recovery on the benches in hard mode is nonsense.

It's hard mode.

It's... hard.

Final Fantasy VII Remake |OT| - The Reunion is coming

Just got to rude on hard mode lol why tf is he so powerful. He’s absolutely working cloud like it nothing. This game makes no fucking sense sometimes I mean, I guess that’s why it’s “hard” but still, he leveling me with hits that’s take like 1.5k hp, and I can’t even counter some of his...

www.neogaf.com

 

[Dacon]

It's hard mode.

It's... hard.

Final Fantasy VII Remake |OT| - The Reunion is coming

Just got to rude on hard mode lol why tf is he so powerful. He’s absolutely working cloud like it nothing. This game makes no fucking sense sometimes I mean, I guess that’s why it’s “hard” but still, he leveling me with hits that’s take like 1.5k hp, and I can’t even counter some of his...

www.neogaf.com

I don't think that necessarily has to go hand in hand, I think it is only an issue because of the lack of the ability to use items.

I feel like hard mode should focus more on making the enemies more difficulty instead of manufacturing difficulty by restricting your usage of your resources.

I still enjoy it though.

People actually thought this game had too many battles at any point in the game? There's no random encounters, and the entire time from when you get Aerith to when she leaves your party there's like maybe 12 fights. Unless you spam the colloseum there's huge amounts of running down a long trashyard tunnel that you only get in 3 fights once, then just run back & forth for the MMO style fetch quests and the mobs don't even respawn every time.

I agree, combat is the best part of the game and it needed more.

 

[TTOOLL]

It's hard mode.

It's... hard.

Final Fantasy VII Remake |OT| - The Reunion is coming

Just got to rude on hard mode lol why tf is he so powerful. He’s absolutely working cloud like it nothing. This game makes no fucking sense sometimes I mean, I guess that’s why it’s “hard” but still, he leveling me with hits that’s take like 1.5k hp, and I can’t even counter some of his...

www.neogaf.com

Thanks for the input, but it's still nonsense since you can't use itens.

 

[Rentahamster]

I don't think that necessarily has to go hand in hand, I think it is only an issue because of the lack of the ability to use items.

I feel like hard mode should focus more on making the enemies more difficulty instead of manufacturing difficulty by restricting your usage of your resources.

I still enjoy it though.

I agree, combat is the best part of the game and it needed more.

Well, the enemies are more difficult too. There's extra stuff going on in the set piece battles. Technically, it is a form of manufacturing difficulty, but we're stuck with two options here. If you allow all items to be used you essentially have unlimited MP, and with end game gear and skills that means you can nuke everything into oblivion and make most fights a cakewalk. If we're trying to choose either restricted MP or unlimited MP, I'd rather they err on the side of the harder one for hard mode - and that would be restricted MP.

Thanks for the input, but it's still nonsense since you can't use itens.

You're welcome. Try to adapt, it's actually not that bad once you get used to it. Make sure you stagger correctly and use Aerith's Soul Drain to steal MP. This is supposed to be hard.

 

[Dacon]

Well, the enemies are more difficult too. There's extra stuff going on in the set piece battles. Technically, it is a form of manufacturing difficulty, but we're stuck with two options here. If you allow all items to be used you essentially have unlimited MP, and with end game gear and skills that means you can nuke everything into oblivion and make most fights a cakewalk. If we're trying to choose either restricted MP or unlimited MP, I'd rather they err on the side of the harder one for hard mode - and that would be restricted MP.

Or just change enemy attack patterns, increase resistances and add new abilities and phases for bosses. You can easily make endgame content for higher end gear and skills, without restricting player choice.

 

[Rentahamster]

Or just change enemy attack patterns, increase resistances and add new abilities and phases for bosses.

They did that though.


edit: Do you mean ONLY do that?

Not hard enough!

 

[Dacon]

They did that though.


edit: Do you mean ONLY do that?

Not hard enough!

I'm just saying, if you're only means of balancing your difficulty is by taking away freedom from the player, you're not doing a good job of it.

 

[Lethal01]

Thanks for the input, but it's still nonsense since you can't use itens.

Not being able to use items is one of the best parts of the hard mode. They were clearly sucking the challenge away from the start and honestly just feel like they are there to let you play on "easy mode" without the shame of switching to easy.

Items are there to basically let you switch to easy mode right when you mid battle.

 

[Rentahamster]

I'm just saying, if you're only means of balancing your difficulty is by taking away freedom from the player, you're not doing a good job of it.

OK, but that wasn't the only way of balancing difficulty. They actually did do the things you suggested.

I also would contend that taking away the freedom for the player to make fights trivial is well within the spirit of "hard mode".

 

[TTOOLL]

Not being able to use items is one of the best parts of the hard mode. They were clearly sucking the challenge away from the start and honestly just feel like they are there to let you play on "easy mode" without the shame of switching to easy.

Items are there to basically let you switch to easy mode right when you mid battle.

That's what I'm saying. Not being able to use items is ok. Taking mp recovery from benches was unnecessary.

 

[Rentahamster]

That's what I'm saying. Not being able to use items is ok. Taking mp recovery from benches was unnecessary.

That still makes the game too easy, IMO. In my first playthrough I hardly ever used items because benches are so plentiful. I sold nearly all my items so that I could buy all the good equipment early.

 

[Nymphae]

Hard mode sounds really weird. Not sure I really want to play that. Half of the fun of FF games for me was being able to grind and find the ways to absolutely obliterate the CPU with hard won cheap skills and such.

 

[Lethal01]

Hard mode sounds really weird. Not sure I really want to play that. Half of the fun of FF games for me was being able to grind and find the ways to absolutely obliterate the CPU with hard won cheap skills and such.

For me grinding and one shotting things is what kills a lot of the fun of many rpgs.
I like being able to obliterate things by knowing how to beat them and executing it well. Not because I killed more slimes than I should have.

But hey that's what challenge options are for. Just wish they would have added a hard mode at the start.

 

[Nymphae]

How does Tifa's Overpower ability work? Every time I go to use it it's greyed out, I don't understand

 

[Nymphae]

For me grinding and one shotting things is what kills a lot of the fun of many rpgs.
I like being able to obliterate things by knowing how to beat them and executing it well. Not because I killed more slimes than I should have.

There's a balance for sure, of course it's fun to beat difficult challenges as well. The Weapon bosses in FF7 come to mind, a couple of those were ridiculously hard even if you had grinded like a motherfucker.

 

[mango drank]

People actually thought this game had too many battles at any point in the game?

Thinking about it more, it's not so much that there are too many battles, as it is that most of the dungeons (i.e., any area with enemies) are too long. As a result of that, it feels like there are too many battles overall, and after a while the enemies start feeling like roadblocks in the way of your getting to that distant goal. Basically the effort-to-reward ratio feels skewed. I actually like the new battle system. It's not perfect, but it's a lot more fun and interactive than the one in the original game.

Hell, even if there were no enemies in the dungeons, those areas would still feel too long. I think if SE wanted to stretch out the length of the game, they should've added more cool new quests, but kept them shorter, to end up with the same overall play time, instead of stretching everything out. A lot of the quests were too long and boring and felt like pointless filler (turning off the giant city lights and the rest of the whole leadup to Airbuster, the underground search for Wedge, Hojo's giant industrial lab area, etc). Either that, or cut those existing over-long dungeons down to half their length, and I wouldn't be complaining at all.

 

[Rentahamster]

How does Tifa's Overpower ability work? Every time I go to use it it's greyed out, I don't understand

Even if you have enough ATB? It should work. Unless you're trying to activate it in the air? Moves like divekick you can combo from uppercut, but not overpower, IIRC.

The best way to use overpower is to force an enemy into pressure state. Overpower > normal combo induces pressure in many enemies for a couple of seconds. Time it right with cloud's focus slash or Barret's focus shot.

 

[Nymphae]

Even if you have enough ATB? It should work. Unless you're trying to activate it in the air? Moves like divekick you can combo from uppercut, but not overpower, IIRC.

The best way to use overpower is to force an enemy into pressure state. Overpower > normal combo induces pressure in many enemies for a couple of seconds. Time it right with cloud's focus slash or Barret's focus shot.

I was just an idiot and was trying to use it from the shortcut L1 menu even though I hadn't earned the ability yet and was using a different weapon lol

 

[Rentahamster]

I was just an idiot and was trying to use it from the shortcut L1 menu even though I hadn't earned the ability yet and was using a different weapon lol

Don't worry that happens lol

 

[Dacon]

OK, but that wasn't the only way of balancing difficulty. They actually did do the things you suggested.

Yeah well, they didn't do it well enough then, if they felt they had to handicap the player.

I also would contend that taking away the freedom for the player to make fights trivial is well within the spirit of "hard mode".

By what standard?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Oh man... the dance scenes in Chapter 9... This game is incredible.

 

[Rentahamster]

Yeah well, they didn't do it well enough then, if they felt they had to handicap the player.




By what standard?

Items are a crutch, and I don't think taking them away is necessarily a handicap, aside from the technical interpretation.

The standard is this: Having an unlimited MP pool makes fights trivial. Easy fights are not in the spirit of a hard mode. Thus, take away the mechanic that allows for unlimited MP, and encourage the player to utilize the materia system better and get better at combat instead of mindlessly spamming attack and heal.

 

[Dacon]

Items are a crutch, and I don't think taking them away is necessarily a handicap, aside from the technical interpretation.

No they aren't, they're a basic mechanic of an FF game. It's a handicap.

The standard is this: Having an unlimited MP pool makes fights trivial. Easy fights are not in the spirit of a hard mode. Thus, take away the mechanic that allows for unlimited MP, and encourage the player to utilize the materia system better and get better at combat instead of mindlessly spamming attack and heal.

Except it doesn't. At all. I know because with the weapons that have MP regeneration, and the boxes that supply mp shards you basically do have unlimited MP, and there's still fights that are incredibly difficult anyway.

 

[TTOOLL]

Items are a crutch, and I don't think taking them away is necessarily a handicap, aside from the technical interpretation.

The standard is this: Having an unlimited MP pool makes fights trivial. Easy fights are not in the spirit of a hard mode. Thus, take away the mechanic that allows for unlimited MP, and encourage the player to utilize the materia system better and get better at combat instead of mindlessly spamming attack and heal.

MP isn't unlimited even with benches, as soon as you enter a fight that's it. You have a limited pool since you can't use items. It sure makes the thing harder the same way as if they had made every enemy one shot you. There are many ways you can make a game harder for sure...

 

[Rentahamster]

No they aren't, they're a basic mechanic of an FF game. It's a handicap.

They are a basic mechanic of an FF game, but that doesn't mean it's not a crutch. It makes the game easy because you can always heal back to 100% after every battle easy peasy. It completely negates the higher level gameplay concepts of damage avoidance and mitigation and replaces it with low level decision making (just spam potion after you win)

Everything that adds difficulty is a form of handicap.

Except it doesn't. At all. I know because with the weapons that have MP regeneration

That is a form of higher level decision making that gets to the heart of hard mode.

the boxes that supply mp shards you basically do have unlimited MP

They aren't so common that you can spam nukes every battle and still keep yourself topped off. Unless you do save/reload shenanigans at which point hard mode isn't for that type of player.

Even those two things can't keep you topped off at the start of every single battle like items can.

You should play hard mode a little more and give it room to grow on you. It's designed to be hard for a reason.

 

[Dacon]

They are a basic mechanic of an FF game, but that doesn't mean it's not a crutch. It makes the game easy because you can always heal back to 100% after every battle easy peasy. It completely negates the higher level gameplay concepts of damage avoidance and mitigation and replaces it with low level decision making (just spam potion after you win)

You are literally arguing that items destroy difficulty, which absolutely is not true because there's several bossfights throughout the series that are difficult DESPITE the use of items being available.

Everything that adds difficulty is a form of handicap.

What? No it isn't that makes no sense.

That is a form of higher level decision making that gets to the heart of hard mode.

Dude, choosing a weapon that gives you a beneficial stat is not rocket science, especially to an experienced RPG player. I didn't wait till hard mode to do this either.

They aren't so common that you can spam nukes every battle and still keep yourself topped off. Unless you do save/reload shenanigans at which point hard mode isn't for that type of player.

I literally blew through both the sewers and the graveyard casually using magic and still had more than enough for every bossfight.

Even those two things can't keep you topped off at the start of every single battle like items can.

That's kinda the point, you don't need to be. Which negates the entire argument that items make it a cakewalk, when their use doesn't make or break the system at all.

Would you make the same argument about the pray ability and chakra? You don't even NEED mp to keep your hp topped off. Give Aerith or Barret pray with the healing carcanet and you literally free up your use of mp for healing entirely, and can use your spells for whatever you want, hell you can just equip mp up materia and bring up a character's mp to 200 like I did with Aerith and have more than enough MP to cast magnify + 3rd tier magic and destroy pretty much every encounter that would have otherwise been difficult.

You don't even need magic for most mobs, which makes it easy to make it to boss encounters with full mp.

Materia and abilities break hard mode more than items ever could.

You should play hard mode a little more and give it room to grow on you. It's designed to be hard for a reason.

I've beaten hard mode twice.

 

[Rentahamster]

I've beaten hard mode twice.

Then how did you not know about the changes to the enemy mechanics?

 

[Dacon]

Then how did you not know about the changes to the enemy mechanics?

Because for the most part they're not really there? Like Hell house throws tonberries at you. I can't really think of any other real changes to enemy mechanics besides them being more aggressive maybe.

Also, there's a whole post there bruh.

 

[Rentahamster]

You are literally arguing that items destroy difficulty, which absolutely is not true because there's several bossfights throughout the series that are difficult DESPITE the use of items being available.

Is the game easier with items? Yes or no.

What? No it isn't that makes no sense.

Is a limited HP or MP pool a handicap? Why not just have unlimited of both? All the obstacles put in the path of the player are a means to an end. Call them roadblocks, handicaps, gatekeeping, limitations, whatever. When the path of least resistance is made more restive, then that breeds hard decision making.

Dude, choosing a weapon that gives you a beneficial stat is not rocket science, especially to an experienced RPG player.

Would you make the same argument about the pray ability and chakra? You don't even NEED mp to keep your hp topped off. Give Aerith or Barret pray with the healing carcanet and you literally free up your use of mp for healing entirely, and can use your spells for whatever you want, hell you can just equip mp up materia and bring up a character's mp to 200 like I did with Aerith and have more than enough MP to cast magnify + 3rd tier magic and destroy pretty much every encounter that would have otherwise been difficult.

You don't even need magic for most mobs, which makes it easy to make it to boss encounters with full mp.

Materia and abilities break hard mode more than items ever could.

All of these points - do they matter more or less due to restricted items? Do you have to think about these gameplay elements more or less because of restricted items? Do they have more relevance to your decision making process?

Because for the most part they're not really there? Like Hell house throws tonberries at you. I can't really think of any other real changes to enemy mechanics besides them being more aggressive maybe.

There's a lot more than that dude lol

Also, there's a whole post there bruh.

I know, have patience, friend, I can only type so fast

 

[Dacon]

Is the game easier with items? Yes or no.

Is the game easier with materia and abilities? The whole point is if you design your game's difficulty around their existence they aren't a handicap, just another game mechanic.

That was the entire point of my argument against locking out their use, instead of balancing the mode around all of the players capabilities. I don't think it's a good thing to lock out player choice.

Is a limited HP or MP pool a handicap? Why not just have unlimited of both? All the obstacles put in the path of the player are a means to an end. Call them roadblocks, handicaps, gatekeeping, limitations, whatever. When the path of least resistance is made more restive, then that breeds hard decision making.

Bruh, a handicap is an intentional impediment put into a game to make it harder, outside of the normal circumstance. I wouldn't compare a basic game mechanic to a handicap. Items do not keep a game from being difficult, and you can easily design a difficult game around them.

All of these points - do they matter more or less due to restricted items? Do you have to think about these gameplay elements more or less because of restricted items? Do they have more relevance to your decision making process?

??? You think about these choices in the base game, if you're actively engaging the game and not just blowing through it.

There's a lot more than that dude lol

Then they weren't apparent or relevant enough for me to remember them.

 

[Rentahamster]

Is the game easier with materia and abilities? The whole point is if you design your game's difficulty around their existence they aren't a handicap, just another game mechanic.

That was the entire point of my argument against locking out their use, instead of balancing the mode around all of the players capabilities. I don't think it's a good thing to lock out player choice.

Materia and abilities are on a different level than item use, in terms of gameplay and decision making processes.

Bruh, a handicap is an intentional impediment put into a game to make it harder, outside of the normal circumstance. I wouldn't compare a basic game mechanic to a handicap. Items do not keep a game from being difficult, and you can easily design a difficult game around them.

Unlike FF15, where you can spam items will nilly, is the decision to lock item usage in battle to ATB meter a good or bad decision? Why or why not?

??? You think about these choices in the base game, if you're actively engaging the game and not just blowing through it.

Can you answer the specific questions please?

 

[Lethal01]

Handicaps are a great way to add difficulty when they are done right, So is adjusting the stats of enemies.
Giving enemies new moves isn't the only way to increase difficulty nor is it the best. Restrictions could be a bad idea if they just added a bunch of random ones that you don't expect but just saying "no items" is a really good and simple move.

Yes, it's still easy to break this game system but it's nowhere near as easy as just buying some elixirs. For the least choosing materia that gives the same effect as using items makes it so that you now have to sacrifice a Materia slot to do it.

Personally I think even the base game should make it far harder to use items or make the items weaker.

Like I said in most Final Fantasies and RPGs in general, items just let players decide "this is too hard so I'll just buy stuff from the shop". When you have tons of money there is no reason not to just buy full heals from the shop. The game is better when they don't balance around things like items. They are not really a mechanic, really just a crutch.

Items are a nice choice to give the player for when they decide something is just to difficult but I can clearly see the logic in removing them when the player decides they want a challenge.

 

[Dacon]

Materia and abilities are on a different level than item use, in terms of gameplay and decision making processes

Yeah, theyre more important, and were even outside of hard mode. In fact in the base game you don't even rely on itens that heavily to begin with outside of the very early parts of the game, because you don't really need to because they make little difference in combat. Unless you have a bunch of turbo ethers(which you won't) most items are made totally redundant by abilities in combat, and only really serve to top off your characters when fights are over. Hi-potions and mega potions become pretty much useless about mid game, and it doesn't even become worth using an atb guage in combat to use them versus using an ability or spell. Ethers restore a laughbly small amount of mp as well.

The idea that using items would completely break a hard mode designed around their use is ridiculous imo. That's never been true for any of the difficult battles in the series before, or even in this game.

Can you answer the specific questions please?

I did, if the answer is unsatisfactory let me make it clear: You don't think any more or less because of it, because you're making the same decisions.

I didn't make any more use of materia or abilities in hard mode than I did outside of normal mode. In fact, hard mode only caused me to double down on the same stuff I was already doing.