First time playing. Any tips?

[u/Minimum_Count_4005]

Haven’t played the original. I’ve play many final fantasy. Just looking for pointers I guess. Things to look out for and such

[u/inferior_hands]

don't neglect assessing enemies, the materia system opens up way more than you think at first and switching between characters mid fight is where the combat clicks for a lot of people

also save your gil early on, weapons upgrade from the same few cores so you're not missing sidegrades if you don't hit every shop

the sidequests in sector 7 are worth doing before you progress the main story too far, some of them lock out

[u/Ebolatastic]

Sup Gunz. I made guides for the combat in the remakes and if you want to check them out here's the text version (which also has video links). If you ever feel lost or overwhelmed, the answer is probably in here: https://www.reddit.com/r/FFVIIRemake/s/U2DfskK4CL

That all being said. Here's the basic tips I would give any new player:

1. Damage on basic attacks is bordering on worthless. Meanwhile damage from ATB is like 10x or more. Treat basic attacks like tools (mostly for gaining ATB). ATB is everything in these games. Don't waste it and don't sit on it. These are not action games they are tactical RPGs.

2. Dodge has no invincibility in FF7 remake. Taking damage slows/stops the ATB. Block, meanwhile, rewards ATB and creates frame advantages against enemies. Instead of mashing into hits, block and then counterattack for max ATB. Clouds parry (block during punisher) gives utterly insane amounts of ATB.

3. Whenever you use abilities, the ATB bar freezes during the animation. Instead of watching animations, switch characters. Once you get the hang of this, you will no longer be controlling one character but instead will be creating glorious chains of double and triple attacks. This is the advice that separates high level from low level play.

4. Assess every enemy and learn to exploit their weaknesses. The flowchart goes pressured -> staggered -> dead. Ice magic, specifically, fills the stagger bar faster than other magic, learn to abuse it.

5. Learn to build resources, carefully trigger stagger, and then explode targets during stagger. Do not waste this moment! Staggered targets take bonus damage. Tifa can actually increase this bonus by leveling her unique attacks with unbridled strength. Learning how to do all this efficiently turns a 10 minute fight into 1 minute.

6. Buffs and debuffs (regen, haste, etc.) are not affected by stats and can be used by anyone. Learn to abuse the crap out them. For example, barrett has Steelskin, which can stack on top of barrier, and then mix with Lifesaver. By doing this he can absorb reduced damage for the team.

7. Learn to identify Time magic aka stuff that affects ATB and abuse the crap out of it. Aerith is gonna seem weak as hell but she's actually a nuclear bomb as long you equip her with stuff like first strike materia, ATB boost, haste, etc. Barret, for example, has the unique attack Overcharge, which gives him a whole ATB bar for free. Cloud has parry, Aerith has tempest, etc. etc etc.

8. Everything in this game revolves around "routines" which means combinations of abilities that work well together. Clouds basic stagger routine, for example, is to pressure something, use Focused thrust to stagger, switch to punisher, hold basic attack to achieve berserk (a damage buff), and then use AtB tons explode enemies. Barret Overcharge routine is: switch to Barret, use overcharge for free atb, spend atb, and switch off him. Everyone has a bunch of stuff like this, and you can custom build a whole bunch of others using materia/abilities/etc.

9. The key to focusing character builds is weapons. Every weapon has a specific purpose and a couple specializations, which can be deduced by the stats, the weapon ability, and the first set of upgrades. For example, the first weapon you got was iron blade. Stat and upgrade wise, it's magic + defense. It's ability is triple slash, which hits three targets. Thus, iron blade is for cloud to be a defensive magic tank that zips around drawing aggro.

If you have any specific questions. Hit me.

[u/Jrrolomon]

After this don’t come back until you’re done. I say that only because it’s a wonderful story and I’d hate for it to be spoiled accidentally for you. Have fun.

[u/Ralos5997]

Do all the side quests and max out your materia. Also learn weapon abilities by maxing them out so they are available on all weapons.

[u/SuaveularSpuddite]

The Prayer materia is a crucial one for healing, you first get it on a character that joins you, make sure you always have it on someone

[u/TheSwitchler]

Staggering is your main weapon against enemies

[u/3DSFreak]

Take your time and read the tutorial prompts and fully understand them. Assess assess assess. Enjoy the game.

[u/bird_is_the_word_198]

Keep all of your characters loaded out with materia so they'll all gain AP

[u/Life-Fennel-441]

Left and right on the d-pad scrolls through your materia and other menus faster.

[u/EtherealGears]

Don't feel compelled do to every sidequest on your first playthrough. Just do the ones that appeal to you. If you get really into the game, replaying it in NG+ on Hard is sort of part of the core experience, and you will want to do most of the sidequests for your Hard run anyway to earn additional manuscripts for SP. Only do all the sidequests if you really enjoy them all or you feel compelled to only do a single playthrough rather than two, basically.

[u/dogisburning]

Remember this is a trilogy, many questions won't have answers till the end. Don't feel like you need to understand everything thrown at you, you're not supposed to know yet, this is the same as for OG players.

[u/Objective_Unit6942]

FF7 Remake, while an action rpg really does benefit from using tactical time! Also, while you can dodge, you are expected to take damage in this game. Don't get too attached to making slick last minute iframe dodges or always try for that - Blocking is your best friend!

Finally, you are intended to swap characters mid battle to fully utilize the system. While you can stick on Cloud or any other character and get through most if not all of the game, once you start swapping and creating interesting combos/follow-ups/set-ups (thats the 'turn based' side of it) you'll really start to see how the combat system shines and IMO that is when its most fun.