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Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Final Fantasy VII: Remake - Tips and Tricks Guide

Be the best ex-Soldier thanks to these tips and tricks for the Remake.

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Did you just blow up your first Mako reactor? Congratulations, you've worked your way a bit deeper into Avalanche, but now it's your turn to push through the vibrant world of Midgar to get closer to that final climactic moment that everyone's talking about. And yes, you're definitely involved in Final Fantasy VII: Remake.

Cloud is really cool, but he's not the only character you'll play as during this adventure. In fact, you'll have to learn how to control your entire team and master all the mechanics that will surround you soon enough. Materia, equipment, proficiency, abilities, slots, commissions, reports... and on top of all that, we have to add monsters and battles that will get gradually more difficult, as we have already told you in our FFVII: Remake review.

But don't let that late-game stuff overwhelm you too soon. We're here to help, and to make your visits to the next reactor, the Wall Market or even the Shinra building a bit more entertaining. Here, we bring you the best Final Fantasy VII: Remake guide with tips and tricks. Herein is a collection of secrets and advice that will help you get out of this megalopolis and enter a future that may not be what you expected. Take note, rookie.

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Tips and secrets to master Remake

Let's start! We will 'off course' talk about side quests, Materia and combat strategies, so sit back and enjoy. This trip won't be quick.

Pay attention to the side quests

Final Fantasy VII: Remake

You may think that the commissions you receive from the people of Midgar are little more than filler that separates you from the main story, but that's not the case. They can be very useful in moving the story forward, too.

If you complete them as they appear, besides knowing a little more about the good people of the slums and finding a few annoying reporters, you'll also unlock certain rewards in the story (and pay attention to the outfits in the Wall Market), you'll discover things that help you to get to know your colleagues better and other objects and Materias that will be very useful to you. We won't force you to complete them but we totally think you should.

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Start with the Materia slots upgrades for your weapons

During the first few hours of game, you'll discover that your weapons have a dual progression system. One that relies on Skill Points (SP) to bring statistical improvements and another that challenges you to learn combat skills by gaining proficiency with the weapon.

Well, when you upgrade your weapon using the SPs, you should always start searching and activating the best Materia slots. If you do that, you can equip the character with more Materia and unlock the link so you can get combined effects by mixing, for example, Support Materia (blue) and Magic Materia (green).

Magic Materia is your priority at the beginning of the game

Final Fantasy VII: Remake

As soon as you start, you'll see that there are Materia of different colours and effects, and what's worse, there aren't enough slots in the equipment for that number. But don't be overwhelmed and act wisely. Actually, we're going to help you.

You should always start by using Magic Materia. Fit them into your team from the beginning of the game. If you do that, they'll be developed based on Ability Points (AP) you will earn with every fight. That will allow you to access the most powerful spells as soon as possible. Believe us, there's nothing like having Cure++, Fire++, Freeze++ and Thunder++ in the late game. And if you can already combine them with Magnify Materia so that they can affect several targets at the same time, even better.

Have at least two characters with Auto-Cure Materia

You may not feel it's necessary in the first half, but be careful, because it gets more complicated when you get through the first ten chapters of this Remake. You might think that a healer is enough, but you're wrong.

At least two of your characters must have Auto-Cure Materia in order to cast Cure spells when necessary. Keep in mind that, sometimes, the ATB bar may not fill up fast enough, or one of the two can fall in battle and not give you a chance to react.

Sales in the shop? Spend it all

You'll find a lot of shops and a lot of stands are usually accompanied by benches where you can rest, so we recommend that you use them whenever you can, for Gaia's sake, because they restore HP and MP for free. In either case, you will see that they have products marked in orange.

That means that there are lower prices. We know you like to save, but spend every Gil to buy all those discounted items. Phoenix Down and Ethers aren't usually cheap, so take the opportunity!

Chadley is your best friend

Final Fantasy VII: Remake

That child who works with Hojo and is a bit cheeky is the key to getting better Materia. Chadley will ask you to complete different combat quests, like weakening some different enemies, killing several subspecies, analysing a certain number of monsters, and so on and so forth.

You should complete those challenges because only then can you get special Command Materia (yellow) and Independent Materia (purple), which give you better stats. In addition, this is how you will able to obtain most of the Summon Materia. In fact, is you want to get the famous Bahamut, you'll have to complete every single one of his reports. And watch out, because one of them requires you to maximise all your Magic Materia.

Start the battle by analysing the enemy

At some point in the game, especially if you do Chadley's quests, you'll obtain Assess Materia. Equipped with it, you'll have the ability Asses, which is used to obtain data about health, items, and the strengths and weaknesses of each enemy.

Needless to say, you should use it whenever you can to know and control all the monsters and enemies that cross your path. Also, if you manage to make it grow quickly, when you level up it will be able to analyse all the enemies in a battle with only using it against one.

Once you've analysed your opponents, you'll be able to see all their information in future battles by pressing the touchpad of your controller. Use this a lot to refresh your memory and see how to focus your strategies to finish them off quickly. Plus, you can also see if you can learn skills from them with the Enemy Skill Materia, as well as which items you can steal from them with Steal Materia.

Equip every new weapon, even if it's worse

Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Ok, you have a cool bat witch Cloud and you love to shout "Home Run!" when you use it against your enemies, but you must equip every new weapon you get for the ex-Soldier and all the other characters. And yes, it doesn't matter if they have worse stats.

Every weapon brings with it a skill that you can learn by increasing your expertise. See what their requirements are and use them endlessly until you master them. That way, you can switch back to the weapon of your choice and keep the skill. This is essential, as you can count on skills as cool as Aerith's Ray Of Judgment or Cloud's Triple Slash.

Know and master every character

You may have already noticed that Cloud is like a fish out of water when he has an enemy in the air and that Barret comes in handy during situations such as this. Next you have to learn that Tifa is great for increasing the enemy's fatigue bar and that Aerith works perfectly as a healer and general support.

Each character has their advantages and disadvantages, and you must become familiar with all of them in order to know what Materia they should have and what role they should assume in the battles. Don't be too strict either, because they can be a bit flexible, for example, Aerith can be lethal by taking advantage of a tired enemy and Barret can also work as a mage.

Set a fixed pattern for Battle Setup

Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Shortcuts on the controller give you more speed when playing any character. It's true that you can give them commands and that bullet-time gives you plenty of room to think through what to do, but an even faster approach is to set something up in the Battle Settings via the menu.

Our advice is to set each button to a general action. That is, you can set Square for powerful offensive skills, the Cross button for healing magic, Triangle for specials that attack several enemies or cause other states, and the Circle for an item or something else. Find the pattern you're most comfortable with and set it up equally for all characters.

Never underestimate your enemy!

You might think that a bunch of thugs with ridiculous names aren't a danger, but be careful. Never underestimate your enemy and don't get too comfortable, because the situation can come back to haunt you in a matter of seconds.

Be always prepared for the worst, because you're going to get into scrapes that are going to be very tight if you're not careful. We've lost many times for thinking that a little enemy was no big deal... Oh! And if you meet someone called Tomberi, don't trust him.

Have you taken note of everything? Make sure to apply some of these tips the next time you play Final Fantasy VII: Remake. Trust us, you'll be able to enjoy even more of what's hidden in Midgar. Now all you need to do is defeat a giant megacorporation that's killing the planet!

Final Fantasy VII: Remake
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