The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Well, I think I'm ready for Hard Mode -- but first I have to finish the game on Normal! 
SPOILERS Hard Mode Discussion
- Thread starter Lex
- Start date
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Isn't it tripled? Anywho, yeah, but as I head into the last leg of the game, I wanted to just get to where I can optimize my materia setups by what they do (rather than "What still needs AP?") and just focus on the immersion as much as possible.
I'll still have that broken a tad by the need to use Assess on upcoming new enemies, but that's not too problematic.
I'll still have that broken a tad by the need to use Assess on upcoming new enemies, but that's not too problematic.
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
Hell House is a legit pain in the ass
He isn't so bad until the final phase when a sweeper/cutter combo come at the end and create utter chaos.
It's at that sweet spot of difficulty where it sucks because victory is so attainable... but those fucking mechs man. I shouldn't haven chosen to try and tackle this while hungover.
He isn't so bad until the final phase when a sweeper/cutter combo come at the end and create utter chaos.
It's at that sweet spot of difficulty where it sucks because victory is so attainable... but those fucking mechs man. I shouldn't haven chosen to try and tackle this while hungover.
Ite
Save your valediction (she/her)
- AKA
- Ite
That fucking mech ambush. Amazing. I ended up having to do that fight again and got to use my strategy of “save Planet Protector for the mech ambush” and honestly don’t think I would have made it through otherwise.
Keveh Kins
Pun Enthusiast
I beat Top Secrets at long last. That fuckin' Bahamut fight. And Pride & Joy was such a walk to victory after it, which was a relief, yet also a slight disappointment.
I realised after much trial and error, my main mistake battling Bahamut was that I was rushing. I would beat the ever living shit out of him, get his HP to half, he'd summon Ifrit and I could never manage the two of them at once. So I played a long game with Bahamut, let him beat me around a bit to build up my limit breaks, then started chipping away at him. Let him hit a Megaflare on me, patched everyone up and then once Ifrit entered the fray just massacred him with limits. Had plenty of time afterwards to take down Bahamut before he got another Megaflare off. Then immediately paused the game and went on Discord to publicly declare Bahamut could suck it
For all my effin' and blindin' about it all though, I absolutely love how much strategic thinking this whole gauntlet requires to beat. I spent so much time planning my materia set up, picking my weapons and accessories. It was awesome. Even in combat it forces you to think about each move, do I use Pray and heal up now? If I go for a Ray of Judgement instead, will I survive if it counters with this ability or move? How much MP will I need to conserve for the next battle? Switch to Tifa, Stagger builders, switch back to Cloud - Punisher, slash slash slash slash, start Infinite End, switch to Aerith, bam bam bam bam, build the ATB. Dodge? No block! BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK! Gyaahhhhhh Pray!
It's a very well put together test of mastery for absolutely everything the combat system has to offer Super satisfying to beat.
Just have to finish the last chapter and then I've got me platinum.
I realised after much trial and error, my main mistake battling Bahamut was that I was rushing. I would beat the ever living shit out of him, get his HP to half, he'd summon Ifrit and I could never manage the two of them at once. So I played a long game with Bahamut, let him beat me around a bit to build up my limit breaks, then started chipping away at him. Let him hit a Megaflare on me, patched everyone up and then once Ifrit entered the fray just massacred him with limits. Had plenty of time afterwards to take down Bahamut before he got another Megaflare off. Then immediately paused the game and went on Discord to publicly declare Bahamut could suck it
For all my effin' and blindin' about it all though, I absolutely love how much strategic thinking this whole gauntlet requires to beat. I spent so much time planning my materia set up, picking my weapons and accessories. It was awesome. Even in combat it forces you to think about each move, do I use Pray and heal up now? If I go for a Ray of Judgement instead, will I survive if it counters with this ability or move? How much MP will I need to conserve for the next battle? Switch to Tifa, Stagger builders, switch back to Cloud - Punisher, slash slash slash slash, start Infinite End, switch to Aerith, bam bam bam bam, build the ATB. Dodge? No block! BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK! Gyaahhhhhh Pray!
It's a very well put together test of mastery for absolutely everything the combat system has to offer
Super satisfying to beat.Just have to finish the last chapter and then I've got me platinum.
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Here I'm just hoping I can beat the Top Secrets gauntlet when I get to that point, and we've got motherfuckers doing shit like this:
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
>>beats Hell House
>>accidentally gets 2/3 of the same dresses, and the same side quest line
Oh god I'm gonna need to beat this guy two more times aren't I D:
>>accidentally gets 2/3 of the same dresses, and the same side quest line
Oh god I'm gonna need to beat this guy two more times aren't I D:
ForceStealer
Double Growth
You could do the other dresses on Normal at least. Or even Easy
Lex
Administrator
I did chapter 9 twice on hard for the manuscripts but I really considered just getting one set because I was so sick of repeating that chapter already for the dresses. The whole segment with the crane arm thing annoyed me on my very first playthrough by the end of the section. In total I've done it 4 or 5 times now, so I really can't stand it at this point. Though I probably could have paced myself rather than doing it all the week after the game released.
I had this internal struggle with it because the manuscripts aren't needed for platinum, but I couldn't bear to finish the game with just one or two missing manuscripts!
I had this internal struggle with it because the manuscripts aren't needed for platinum, but I couldn't bear to finish the game with just one or two missing manuscripts!
Keveh Kins
Pun Enthusiast
^That. I never, ever want to hear the Wall Market soundtrack again. Or see a big hand crane.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
Ite
Save your valediction (she/her)
- AKA
- Ite
Arsenal killed me after 45-minutes of barely staying afloat. Cry havoc! (And let slip the dogs of war!) This was right after I’d staggered Rufus and finished him with Ascension, so it was a big balloon to deflate.
So I reloaded, and took Arsenal down in under 10 minutes. Didn’t change anything about my setup or tactics. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Except! Planet’s Protection doesn’t work against pretty much any of Arsenal’s attacks, and thinking I was immune to both homing laser and pulse cannon really fucked me. So I guess I did change my tactics, in that I didn’t even bother with the limit break.
One more Chapter, one more trophy.
So... the Gotterdamerung really makes me worry that our inventory is not going to cross over to the next game... you can’t really design a balanced game if some players are going to start with that item and some aren’t...
So I reloaded, and took Arsenal down in under 10 minutes. Didn’t change anything about my setup or tactics. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Except! Planet’s Protection doesn’t work against pretty much any of Arsenal’s attacks, and thinking I was immune to both homing laser and pulse cannon really fucked me. So I guess I did change my tactics, in that I didn’t even bother with the limit break.
One more Chapter, one more trophy.
So... the Gotterdamerung really makes me worry that our inventory is not going to cross over to the next game... you can’t really design a balanced game if some players are going to start with that item and some aren’t...
oty
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- ex-soldier boy
Yup. Honestly, I'm kinda glad, not gonna lie. Imagine not having these cool items because they had to balance a game for 10+years, with multiple entries. That would really decrease the specific quality of each entry, besides the last one.
I've tried mimicking various YouTube strats but I can never pull them off right. These folks are insanneee...
The first time through, I just stuck to a very defensive style and build. Took forever and had so many close moments. Felt great when it was finally done. And then I thought I was good enough to pull off what these people did... but I could barely get past Shiva that way. Don't think I'm going to try it again.
Keveh Kins
Pun Enthusiast
I think I used Lighting + Elemental on my weapons, chakras on both cloud and barret and a healing/revival each. Steadfast block on Cloud and I think I had the command materia that boosted ATB temporarily as well.
I had the same first experience of hard mode. Went in all guns blazing, thinking I'd walk it and got my ass handed to me I found lots of blocking was my friend in Hard Mode.
I just finished the final chapter and got my platinum. I feel emotional again. Something about the fact this Remake even exists just gets me welling up.
I had the same first experience of hard mode. Went in all guns blazing, thinking I'd walk it and got my ass handed to me
I found lots of blocking was my friend in Hard Mode.I just finished the final chapter and got my platinum. I feel emotional again. Something about the fact this Remake even exists just gets me welling up.
Ite
Save your valediction (she/her)
- AKA
- Ite
I honestly think Guard Scorpion is one of the hardest Hard Mode bosses. I couldn’t get through it with both characters alive. Lightning-Elemental will help pack that extra punch. I also gave Regen-Magnify to Barret, and didn’t use magic other than that and Revive. If Cloud goes down and Barret’s out of MP (what happened to me) I literally just Steelskin’d, Max Fury’d, and limit break’d when I could while it auto-repaired— that took me about two hours.
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
Hey Arianna! Don't be afraid to go into tactical mode if you're having trouble with reaction-time type stuff, or if you just need a moment to collect yourself. What phase was he in when you game over'ed?
I believe in you!
I believe in you!
Arianna
Holy, Personified
- AKA
- Katie; Seta.
Well, I beat Guard Scorpion!!!
Mainly, I stayed guarding and used my limit breaks.
@looneymoon , I was in the end stages of the fight, when he used his tail lasers...
Mainly, I stayed guarding and used my limit breaks.
@looneymoon , I was in the end stages of the fight, when he used his tail lasers...
cold_spirit
he/him
- AKA
- Alex T
I gotta say, you guys waaay overprepared me for Hell House. I was expecting a frustrating slog of retries, but it actually was a lot of fun and I got through it on my second attempt.
The real challenge was surviving the Whisper trio while conserving enough MP for Sephiroth. Thank god they give you access to the menu between the big fights. I used pretty much all of Cloud's MP casting Cure-All during the Whisper trio, so I swapped that combo to Aerith for Sephiroth's fight, who I knew would be in my party since she finished off Whisper Harbinger.
I found the Whisper trio to be the most frustrating fight in hard mode. Their attacks hit like a truck and they're quick to queue up another, so your ass is constantly getting knocked down. I guess the counter to this is to frequently switch party members as the AI is generally good at dodging or blocking, but since the Whisper trio are so relentless, you barely have the time to pull off a helpful ability.
Sephiroth's boss fight is fantastic. I hope Naoki Hamaguchi returns as game design director for future titles. I think he has a great gasp on action game philosophy.
The real challenge was surviving the Whisper trio while conserving enough MP for Sephiroth. Thank god they give you access to the menu between the big fights. I used pretty much all of Cloud's MP casting Cure-All during the Whisper trio, so I swapped that combo to Aerith for Sephiroth's fight, who I knew would be in my party since she finished off Whisper Harbinger.
I found the Whisper trio to be the most frustrating fight in hard mode. Their attacks hit like a truck and they're quick to queue up another, so your ass is constantly getting knocked down. I guess the counter to this is to frequently switch party members as the AI is generally good at dodging or blocking, but since the Whisper trio are so relentless, you barely have the time to pull off a helpful ability.
Sephiroth's boss fight is fantastic. I hope Naoki Hamaguchi returns as game design director for future titles. I think he has a great gasp on action game philosophy.
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
I attempted to start off my Hard Mode run on Chapter 18 last night, so what @cold_spirit says resonates like a motherfucker. I almost made it to the Whisper Bahamut fight, but after three failed attempts, it was clear that I should focus on collecting some more manuscripts.
So, I'm currently making my way through Chapter 8. That's going much better.
So, I'm currently making my way through Chapter 8. That's going much better.
Ite
Save your valediction (she/her)
- AKA
- Ite
Careful how you approach Ch. 8 — do all the sidequests on Hard, cause you’ll need to redo the chapter 1 or 2 more times to get the dress trophy (and if you want to see every Ch. 14 date) and you can do those on easy.
I got the platinum!! My first ever platinum
It’s a shame that I really don’t like the writing/aesthetics of this game, because the combat design is top notch, but combat design isn’t what I’m ever shopping for. Nostalgia and pride are to thank for the plat.