SPOILERS Hard Mode Discussion

[cold_spirit]

I posted this over in the Weiss VR battle strategies thread, but I figured it'd be helpful here as well. I've... grinded a lot of AP in Remake. I have a complete list of materia, which I define as being able to equip every possible materia combination. Will make a thread on this someday.

For anyone looking to level up their materia, I've deduced that the best way to grind AP is to repeat the Bugaboo x 16 fight in the VR room. It's the fist battle in the "Two-Person Team vs. High Flyers" challenge. Cloud with Triple Slash on a shortcut makes quick work of them. As soon as the next battle loads, pause the game, give up, then rechallenge.

Each battle gives you 48 AP and takes just over 30 seconds. Previously I was replaying the beginning of Chapter 16 to grind AP, but the Bugaboo method is a lot faster. I presume this is the best method in the Yuffie DLC as well.

One thing to note, AP is tripled on all difficulties as soon as you beat the game, so go ahead and select Easy.