SPOILERS Hard Mode Discussion

[looneymoon]

I'm 6 chapters in and...

I dont want to come across as hardcore gamer, but hard mode has been a bit too easy for me so far

I dunno if this is testament to how bad I am at other games, because I don't think I'm particularly good at this game. For reference, I beat Resident Evil 3make on normal with roughly 30 deaths - I think 13 of those deaths were final form nemesis.

This game's hard isn't terribly different from normal. With normal, if I fuck up the 1st time, I got it the 2nd time. With hard, if I fuck up the 2nd time, I get it the 3rd time.

That's.... kinda lame! Maybe I'm just used to being really bad at video games?

Keep in mind I gave up Dark Souls after beating the first boss (a lot of that also had to do with playing it with my ex... but I digress) so I'm not like, HARDCORE OR BUST, but this is kind of snooze.

Please tell me the bosses amp up soon because these dungeons aren't fun on their own. I just want to platinum this game.

 

[Odysseus]

I'm 6 chapters in and...

I dont want to come across as hardcore gamer, but hard mode has been a bit too easy for me so far

I dunno if this is testament to how bad I am at other games, because I don't think I'm particularly good at this game. For reference, I beat Resident Evil 3make on normal with roughly 30 deaths - I think 13 of those deaths were final form nemesis.

This game's hard isn't terrible different from normal. With normal, if I fuck up the 1st time, I got it the 3rd time. With hard, if I fuck up the 2nd time, I get it the 3rd time.

That's.... kinda lame! Maybe I'm just used to being really bad at video games?

Keep in mind I gave up Dark Souls after beating the first boss (a lot of that also had to do with playing it with my ex... but I digress) so I'm not like, HARDCORE OR BUST, but this is kind of snooze.

Please tell me the bosses amp up soon because these dungeons aren't fun on their own. I just want to platinum this game.

It gets harder as it goes, first few chapters are fairly standard. Hell House is the first stand out difficult moment for me.

 

[Theozilla]

I'm 6 chapters in and...

I dont want to come across as hardcore gamer, but hard mode has been a bit too easy for me so far

I dunno if this is testament to how bad I am at other games, because I don't think I'm particularly good at this game. For reference, I beat Resident Evil 3make on normal with roughly 30 deaths - I think 13 of those deaths were final form nemesis.

This game's hard isn't terribly different from normal. With normal, if I fuck up the 1st time, I got it the 2nd time. With hard, if I fuck up the 2nd time, I get it the 3rd time.

That's.... kinda lame! Maybe I'm just used to being really bad at video games?

Keep in mind I gave up Dark Souls after beating the first boss (a lot of that also had to do with playing it with my ex... but I digress) so I'm not like, HARDCORE OR BUST, but this is kind of snooze.

Please tell me the bosses amp up soon because these dungeons aren't fun on their own. I just want to platinum this game.

It also depends on how maxed out your character level, weapon level, and Materia levels are (in addition to individual skill level).

 

[Strangelove]

rishi are you flexing on me

 

[ForceStealer]

Rishi did you max out your levels and stuff before proceeding onto Hard mode? (I haven't tried hard mode yet, I'm curious)

 

[looneymoon]

Steadfast block was maxed, which has probably been the most helpful so far. I also have Lightning maxed + elemental (not maxed, but maybe level 2 or 3) permanently on Cloud so far. I find the majority of enemies to be lightning weak, so it was a pretty safe set up. I change it up based on assessments, of course. Prayer was also at level 2 or 3, which is an easy work around the MP depletion + no items.

Character levels were in the 30s for chapter 1. I think I'm around or in the 40s where I'm at now. Weapon upgrades I just auto set to "attack" so I haven't paid any attention to that really.

I don't beat bosses / enemies particularly fast though. Also with hard, if I assess and see that my set up is ineffective, I reset from before the battle rather than waste my time. If I'm in trouble I usually just walk out of attack range until my ATB fills and re-engage when I'm good.

It seems like Hell House and the Shinra VR missions are the true fury moments, so I'll see if I'm still talking shit then.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Steadfast block was maxed, which has probably been the most helpful so far. I also have Lightning maxed + elemental (not maxed, but maybe level 2 or 3) permanently on Cloud so far. I find the majority of enemies to be lightning weak, so it was a pretty safe set up. I change it up based on assessments, of course. Prayer was also at level 2 or 3, which is an easy work around the MP depletion + no items.

Character levels were in the 30s for chapter 1. I think I'm around or in the 40s where I'm at now. Weapon upgrades I just auto set to "attack" so I haven't paid any attention to that really.

I don't beat bosses / enemies particularly fast though. Also with hard, if I assess and see that my set up is ineffective, I reset from before the battle rather than waste my time. If I'm in trouble I usually just walk out of attack range until my ATB fills and re-engage when I'm good.

It seems like Hell House and the Shinra VR missions are the true fury moments, so I'll see if I'm still talking shit then.

You're learning fast

Steadfast Block is one of the best and most important materia for Hard Mode. This also includes Chakra and Pray.

Apparently FFVII-R is your jam.

 

[Lulcielid]

Re: Jessie trophy

Do the mini-game on easy mode, this should ease the fight. A small warning, the Roche bike fight has to be done in one-shot (i.e: no restart), I used to "restart from last battle" to beging the Roche fight at 100% HP, If you restart it you dont get the trophy, even if your HP is at 100% when winning.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Re: Jessie trophy

Do the mini-game on easy mode, this should ease the fight.

I'll go ahead and take my own opportunity to flex.

Honestly, I still could have done a little better, though. That one lightning hit Roche got in will particularly annoy me forever.

 

[KetaKitty]

Steadfast Block is one of the best and most important materia for Hard Mode. This also includes Chakra and Pray.

I can't really explain why, but I did not use any of these three materia during my hard mode run. I kept my MP usage down by using the weapons with 20% healing reduction cost and heal-all with someone with magic up or two. Aerith would heal for 9,000 HP on everyone for 9mp and then I'd spam her soul drain.

Spoiler: I added a video to substantiate my hard mode playthrough

I'm not good it's only proof, I'm a tiny bit slow at first because Bahamut had my heart racing!! lolol

 

[Mayo Master]

Re: bike minigames - one thing that worked for me and I'm not sure if it's obvious or not to the people who are struggling with this: accelerating to catch up with your enemies isn't necessarily the way to go. Knowing when to brake and be slow is a good part of avoiding damage. Case in point: when Roche throws all these lightnings at you, just go slow, zigzag and you should be fine. Same thing applies to the Slug-Rays when they target you.

 

[looneymoon]

I'll go ahead and take my own opportunity to flex.

Honestly, I still could have done a little better, though. That one lightning hit Roche got in will particularly annoy me forever.

Is that on hard? O_O

I did this trophy on easy, because even on normal I was like fuuuuuuuck this

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Nah, I did that on Normal, but apparently the damage Cloud receives and Roche's starting HP are the same on Hard.

 

[Theozilla]

All right I didn’t focus on accelerating so much and didn’t worry about Wedge and Biggs health bar and I was able to get the trophy on East!
And I also achieved the Platinum Trophy and completed/crowned the Play Log today! This is one of the few games I actually 100% completed and not just near completed! I surprised myself!
Also I was able to beat the Summon boss run without a single restart (same with the Monsters of Legend last night), Bahamut+Ifrit was definitely more challenging than the Pride & Joy Prototype.
But I have to say both The Arsenal and the Chapter 11 bosses were still more challenging for me in Hard Mode.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Since MP management seems to be THE key point for a successful Hard Mode run, what is everyone's advice for how to tackle that? I'm guessing there's a little more to it than just equipping two mastered MP Up materia?

 

[looneymoon]

Prayer/Chakra!!! Max them if you can!

Make good use of guard with steadfast block. Also Cloud's parry. The dodge isn't the most effective, it's better to guard or walk away for the most part.

Time Tifa + unbridled strength to max so that you can Omnistrike when the boss hits stagger.

There's also an MP Absorb materia, but I haven't fiddled with it too much.

 

[Theozilla]

Since MP management seems to be THE key point for a successful Hard Mode run, what is everyone's advice for how to tackle that? I'm guessing there's a little more to it than just equipping two mastered MP Up materia?

Smashing boxes is extremely essential since Mako Shards can restore a good amount of MP.
Chakra and Pray Materia are also useful.
And unlocking skills for weapons that regenerate MP during battle and reduce spell cost are also important.
The MP absorb Materia is also useful plus Aerith’s Soul Drain attack.

 

[Cannon_Fodder]

I think the key to MP management unfortunately exposes one of the annoying menu aspects of Remake: unique weapon passives. Some of those passives completely trivialize MP management (at least in my experience). Aerith's silver staff is ridiculous for this: it reduces the MP cost of offensive and healing spells by 20%, increases in-battle MP regeneration by 50%, and increases the damage of all elemental magic. I never had MP issues with Aerith, though to be fair I didn't use magic too often (mostly just to open up enemies). The only problem is that unless you write them down yourself, the only way to check weapon passives is to check the upgrade screen (which is slow and inconvenient for equipping).

In addition, you can use materia combinations to blast through areas with magical abandon. When I went through the sewers, I equipped Aerith with Fire-Magnify, Fire-MP Absorb, and Fire-HP Absorb. Then I gave her a maxed First Strike materia and a Whistlewind Scarf. So I started every fight with 2 ATB, cast Arcane Ward and then group Fire (at reduced cost with bonus damage due to silver staff), which then healed my HP, MP, and blew up every enemy. I only had to change my strategy for sahagins, which just meant casting Fira instead of Fire.

 

[looneymoon]

I didnt come across magnify materia on my first play through. where do I find it?

 

[Cannon_Fodder]

Chapter 9, during the third arm puzzle. It's off on the right.

 

[Theozilla]

I didnt come across magnify materia on my first play through. where do I find it?

During the final Arm operation mini game in Chapter 9.

 

[looneymoon]

Oh fuck no wonder (I thought I got it but I guess not)

 

[ForceStealer]

Oh damn I can't imagine not having had All materia

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Prayer/Chakra!!! Max them if you can!

Is one better than the other?

In addition, you can use materia combinations to blast through areas with magical abandon.

Making that name work for you.

When I went through the sewers, I equipped Aerith with Fire-Magnify, Fire-MP Absorb, and Fire-HP Absorb. Then I gave her a maxed First Strike materia and a Whistlewind Scarf. So I started every fight with 2 ATB, cast Arcane Ward and then group Fire (at reduced cost with bonus damage due to silver staff), which then healed my HP, MP, and blew up every enemy.

Casting an offensive spell on enemies can heal you/restore your MP??

 

[Theozilla]

Is one better than the other?

Maxed out Pray restores more HP than Chakra but costs two ATB bars. Chakra only restores up to 40% of damage taken but also heals poison and only costs one ATB bar. So each has advantages and disadvantages.

Casting an offensive spell on enemies can heal you/restore your MP??

Only if the offensive spell is linked to a HP and MP Absorb Materia. And if you want it to do both you’d need two copies of the same offensive spell for the two different Support Materia (since you can only link one Materia with one at a time). Three copies if you want to add Magnify to the same spell.