I got as far as beating Roche in chapter 3 in hard mode. Physical attacks really do nothing in the bigger fights and punisher mode with parry and the counterstance moves are so important.
I do occasionally have silly moments where I'm running around battlefields to get my ATB up to use chakra though as you don't want to get hit by even low level enemies.
By the way, I just did it first time anyway, but how are you meant to avoid Airbuster's big beam attack when he's flying around? Don't remember him going it on Normal so it seems like another change in Hard.
@Thrillho Yeah, well they don't really know about the connotations of non-Japanese names. It's why they called the main heroine of FFVI "Tina" which sounds so mundane, and kind of like a woman from Eastenders that works in a launderette, so elsewhere they called her Terra.
I’m flying through hard mode at the moment and am midway through chapter 8.
I’ve found the combat much more fun and have barely used magic at all so far. For the first seven chapters though it did feel a little repetitive as it seemed like I wasn’t using much beyond triple slash/focused thrust, maximum fury/focused shot, and prayer.
@Thrillho I appreciated the combat more in hard as well. I was using the parry a lot and a combo of Magnify and Mp absorption linked to the same kind of element materia
@Feena Yeah, I beat Hell House earlier and it was pretty tense.
It’s interesting hearing how people are using different techniques though. I never really got Parry but have heard some people have paired it with HP absorb.
@Thrillho Ah, I should try that! I also recommend Fire materia + magnify and mp absorption + Fire materia on the same character to blast very quickly through chapters with a lot of human enemies without really having to worry about MP as it mostly pays for itself, just need to smash some ShinRa crates
@icecube I find it funny that I didn’t have a problem with Hell House on normal or hard but Abzu is the first boss to give me problems both times.
I can’t say I had a particular strategy other than having plenty of high level HP/MP up materia, one character with prayer and one with cure/magnify. You need plenty of elemental materia seeing as his weakness changes. I also found using low level spells were more effective to get the stagger meter up as he’s normally moved before -aga spells hit. Cloud’s focused thrust also helps with stagger. Aerith’s arcane ward is also useful to get double spells in.
Also, I saved my summon until the two cutters appear in the final wave as that can get overwhelming.
Your tactic of magnify with elemental materia and then MP absorb with the same elemental on the same person works well; a sneaky little trick for clearing normal enemies.
I’m SOLDIERing through hard mode and just completed chapter 13 now. Got the trophies for completing all quests and all weapon skills as well.
Finished the game last week and loved it, but have to say I found the final chapter rather strange. Going full-on Kingdom Hearts/Advent Children mindf*** with the big fate monster thing feels tonally at odds with the rest of the game. Despite a few supernatural and sci-fi elements, the story up to that point is actually pretty grounded by its real-world themes.
Anyway, on the whole a wonderful game and a real treat for fans of the original. Especially liked the excellent battle system, characters and extremely well produced cutscenes. Odd NPC lip synching and animations aside it's gorgeously presented.
@Thrillho On paper hard mode sounds pretty hideous but your materia strategies make me feel a lot more positive about tackling it. Cheers.
@mookysam I was a bit worried about it but I've found it fine and really enjoyed the more difficult combat. As I've said above, only Abzu has caused me to restart a fight and I'm on chapter 14.
I did spend a while levelling up materia in the colosseum. It's really quick once you've completed the game as you get increased AP. I think it's the Shinra enemies one that is good for AP farming. Stick a full level fire materia with magnify and use that straight off with first strike and you'll whizz through most fights; just have ice for the final battle. Load up chapter 14 to get straight to the colosseum.
Everyone seems to have different tactics but I think you need two HP and MP up materia per character on at least level 4, some maxed out chakra, prayer, and revivals (no using phoenix downs anymore!) Fully levelled elemental is useful too. Use AP up for some rapid levelling!
@thrillho can you share your full character materia set up please? I'm on chapter 11 of Hard mode but I'm struggling. I've jumped to chapter 17 to try the simulator but I'm struggling on that as well.
I've got all characters on L50, 2x mastered elemental materia and 7x HP up and 7x MP up on total, all either mastered or at 40%.
@mookysam I can totally understand you! Similar thoughts about the ending.
@Thrillho oh wow triple slash paired with elemental+ fire is like a vacuum cleaner @icecube agreed on all tactics, and maybe just abuse punisher mode + guard on anything that can be blocked. I also keep the guard enhancing materia (can’t remember its name >_<) on all the party members as the AI spends a lot of time guarding.
(X)-Elemental, HPx2, Revival, (Y)
Steadfast Block, First Strike, Heal-Magnify
(X)-Elemental, HP x2, Steadfast Block
First Strike, Healing, Prayer
HPx2, MPx2, Prayer, Auto cure
Steadfast Block, (X), Revival
In that, (X) is elemental materia for whatever enemies are weak to in the area. (Y) is a spare slot for either a second elemental magic or purple materia.
I might swap First Strike out on boss fights as it’s not needed so much. Steadfast block is useful as the AI blocks so much when it controls characters so it helps build ATB up (like Feena says above). If it’s a section with a character by themselves, I’ll give them chakra for healing.
Cloud tends to be my healer a lot of the time as he has pretty high MP and his top weapon gives the ability to reduce MP cost for healing spells. Auto cure can be put on someone without any other healing materia and it can be useful as a quick heal but it doesn’t give much HP and I wonder whether it would be more useful to keep saving ATB to use prayer instead..
As I said above, I quite often only use the basic level elemental attack spells as it fills stagger and costs little MP. The -aga spells have a gap between hitting and giving out their big damage, and enemies have normally moved before then. This isn’t so much of a problem with firaga for some reason.
With fights, building stagger is all important so low level spells help there. The focused abilities also build it up well. Then unless your big attacks and -aga spells here. Limit breaks do huge damage but they also build up stagger quite a bit so it’s up to you when to use them. Cloud’s counterstance move is also amazingly helpful for many boss fights. Summons I find less useful in hard as they need so much ATB to use attacks and the time they’re around for is so much shorter. Their big finish does massive damage though.
For chapter 11 and the ghosts, you could always try what Feena said before of having a character with fire-magnify and fire-MP absorb so you regain MP using the attack (moreso as you’re hitting multiple enemies) and if you couple this with Aerith’s arcane ward, you can get loads of hits in almost for free. The boss fight is tough and requires lots of character changing as he becomes immune to physical attacks and magic.
Well, I got the FFXV VR fishing game on sale because it’s the only part of FFXV I didn’t own yet and it looks like good fun. I haven’t tried it yet though. Anyone else played it?
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