SPOILERS Hard Mode Discussion

[looneymoon]

I am saving the summon gauntlet and chapter 18 as the last leg of my platinum journey! I took a bit of a break to play other stuff, but I'm very close to doing everything

 

[looneymoon]

Spoiler

tfw wow if the proud clod prototype switched places with sephiroth as the last boss on the highway, with sephiroth being a secret vr surprise, all the cringe I felt with the ending could have been spared :|

at every step, this game wants to burn me

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

at every step, this game wants to burn me

Link Elemental to Fire in your armor.

 

[looneymoon]

I did it!

I caved and looked up some necessary things for load outs needed for this fight. I got tied trying to figure it out myself after the nth time getting through Leviathan without any MP left. Some of this is my tinkering and the main of what the internet tells you.

Cloud
Weapon: Steadfast Block/ATB Assist - Lightning/Prayer - HP Up/HP Up
Armour: Fire/Elemental - First Strike/Assess

Aeris
Weapon: ATB Boost/Lightning - Fire/First Strike - MP Up/MP Up
Armour: Prayer/Revival - HP Up/HP Up

Barret
Weapon: Magnify/Barrier - ATB Stagger/Time - MP Up/Hp Up
Armour: Fire/Elemental - Healing/HP Up

Dunno if the weapons matter much but I was using Iron Blade, Reinforced Staff, and Big Bertha. Armour was whatever I had with 4 slots. Accessories idk

Time: 17 min and 12 sec.

I might try the strategy of the dude who got a 2minute time with Cloud/Tifa/Aerith. I need a break from the game first I think. Right now I'm just happy I was able to do it at all lol.

 

[KindOfBlue]

Just unlocked gotterdammerung! Would anyone happen to know if doing that fight unlocks another? Would love to know if I can have three gotterdammerungs equipped before I punish myself with that fight again

 

[Odysseus]

Just unlocked gotterdammerung! Would anyone happen to know if doing that fight unlocks another? Would love to know if I can have three gotterdammerungs equipped before I punish myself with that fight again

You only get one unfortunately. The prize is just replaced with a grab bag after the first time.

 

[Saven]

I've decided to tackle the Chapter 17 VR Hard-exclusive coliseum matches this morning. Only got the Top Secret left to go, but I gotta eat dinner with the family tonight, so I shall conquer this later on tonight. Feels like I've just come out of one hell of a battle with the Legendary Monsters and the Two-Party challenge lol.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Good luck. Top Secret is a beast of a challenge, but pick one of the strategies thst works best with your play style and go ham on it.

 

[kathy202]

Good luck. Top Secret is a beast of a challenge, but pick one of the strategies thst works best with your play style and go ham on it.

Yeah I can't agree with this any better. I tried following the most common strategies with Cloud Tifa Barret/Aerith on the internet, but I'm only able to reliably handle it with Cloud Barret Aerith...

 

[Odysseus]

I used Tifa over Aerith when I did it, but in retrospect Aerith's ranged attacks and buffs probably would have been more useful.

 

[kathy202]

Yeah it was mostly the ranged attack and arcane ward that I liked. Compared to Tifa though, her ATB builds like a snail. I suppose Barret balances that out a bit.

 

[Saven]

I ran with Cloud/Barret/Aerith like in the match before. I was able to get to Bahamut before I passed away (didn't see Ifrit yet though). I was thrown off guard by the army of Tonberries in the Fat Chocobo fight. That pretty much set the tone for a 25 minute grind all the way until I died at Bahamut (along with some poor materia setup like accidentally giving Cloud's healing materia to Barret). Going to try this again!

 

[Saven]

I did it! I switched to a more offensive team in Cloud/Tifa/Barret and beat the Top Secret this afternoon. That was an intense hour of fun. Now I got only one more trophy (along with the Platinum) to go - finish Hard Mode!

Spoiler: VR Coliseum Spoilers

LMFAO at Cloud's "Cool."

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Much congrats!

 

[Odysseus]

Good job!

 

[looneymoon]

I looked up that crazy speed strat on YouTube, and tried to give it a go myself.

Not too bad considering I didn't master every materia



edit: managed to get it to 3:35, dont think i can't get it lower unless I grind materia which... meh

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Damn! Well done there.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Goddamn. Queen of the Remake, right here.

 

[looneymoon]

Honestly, gotterdammerung makes the whole trial so much easier As long as you time it decently, getting Shiva/Fatty/Leviathan under 30 seconds isn't too difficult. Tactical mode makes everything pretty forgiving if you slightly mess up a step.

For anyone else who tries a speed run - the main time sink in my run is getting Bahamut down before he can summon Ifrit. There is either a timing to it I might not be getting, or Aerith's Magic-Ups are too under levelled to get enough damage out in time. I'm pretty sure I can get it under 3 minutes, if it wasn't for that :/

Also getting Aerith's AI to stay inside he Arcade Ward is annoying AF.

 

[ForceStealer]

I'm gonna be so out of practice when I get back to hard mode... haha

 

[Jimmy XH]

I’ve restarted my hard mode adventure as it’d been a while since I got distracted (other games, moving countries!) and failed to get anywhere far in my first attempt.

This might be a little bit of a schoolboy error but aside from one or two silly game overs, my real hardships came with the lack of options to restore MP. Chapter 8 has just handed my arse to me as I was wasteful in the first few side quests.

After several attempts at taking on Rude with single-digit MP, I finally twigged that Aerith has Soul Drain, but am I missing something glaringly obvious here? I don’t think I can afford to be in the same situation when Hell House pops in.

 

[cold_spirit]

I didn't know this until after three playthroughs, but Soul Drain is more effective on staggered enemies. Normally it restores 3% of her max MP, but staggered enemies give her back 15%.

As for MP conservation, Chakra and Prayer are essential. Try to farm ATB at the end of each battle and top off your health.

For Hell House, bring one of each elemental magic materia. You can pretty much continuously pressure it if you counter correctly. Just pay attention to it's color and use the opposite magic.

Good luck! Don't give up!

 

[Jimmy XH]

Yeah Hell House was a bit of a pushover in the end...after 90 minutes, seven attempts and once you remind yourself to concentrate on what on earth is going on. Basically, speed is key and so is Pray!

 

[Ite]

There's a weapon upgrade that grants a slow MP regen during combat. If you're running low, try giving some random encounters the run-around. I was able to cheese myself some MP this way on the Collapsed Expressway before Hell House.

 

[Jimmy XH]

There's a weapon upgrade that grants a slow MP regen during combat. If you're running low, try giving some random encounters the run-around. I was able to cheese myself some MP this way on the Collapsed Expressway before Hell House.

Tip: Don’t try that on Sweeper Prototype!

It felt a bit of a cop-out doing it that way, but if the game is going to limit your MP options and throw Tonberries out of a Hell House, then I’ll play dirty as well thank you very much.