The wildly successful Final Fantasy 7 Remake that came out on the PlayStation 4 & 5 last year is now coming to the PC. It was announced at The Game Awards last week that the game will be out on the Epic Games Store on December 16th.
So before you get into the game it might be time for a good old beginner’s guide for some tips to get you in. For old fans of Final Fantasy 7, you’re going to be facing a lot of changes. Keep some of these tips in mind to make the most of your time in Midgar. From weapon builds, combat and earning that gil. Here is the Final Fantasy 7 Remake beginner’s guide.
Side quests are worth the effort but are also optional
As early as Chapter 3, you’ll come across side quests in which the residents of Midgar will enlist your help for various different reasons. It goes without saying that as with many an RPG, doing the side quests often rewards you and Final Fantasy 7 Remake is no exception.
The difference is that the side quests are quite limited in the chapters that have them, but if you do all of them, you can unlock a special scene or discovery, and even get your hands on some useful materia and weapons.
However, if you’re not feeling the side quest vibe at the moment or just want to see the main storyline then you can! The game won’t penalise you for that and you shouldn’t be too underleveled etc. if you don’t do them.
Quest Givers Will Give Hints
A lot of the side quests are quite self-explanatory and you can usually work out where to go by checking out your map. Every so often though, it’s not always immediately clear where you need to go. If you ever find yourself unsure, returning the quest giver is a sure-fire way of getting a hint on the location of your goal.
If there are multiple items or things to locate, for example, talking to them multiple times will provide clues for each location your goal can be found. More often than not you’re probably able to work out where to go from the questline in the side quest menu, but it’s a handy little trick to know if you really do get stuck.
Get used to switching characters quickly
Final Fantasy 7 Remake‘s battle system is a lot faster and more fluid than the previous turn-based style of play. Here there are several menus and switches that can be made. Make sure you’re familiar with all the movement before you head into any boss battle. Switch between characters and abilities early in the low-pressure battles. Fumbling between characters and menus will provide an early death once the difficulty starts to ramp up.
During the battle, your party members will often shout out tips on an enemy’s weakness. So make sure to pay attention to that as well. Usually, when this happens, it means more strategic play is required.
Keep Upgrading Your Weapons Frequently
There’s a new weapon upgrade progression system that lets you enhance skills and fine-tune the fighting style of each character. As you level up, your SP (Skill points) can be used to upgrade your weapons. Throughout the adventure, it’s worth frequently checking your character’s weapons to check your SP. As you can use a variety of weapons, each item will have its own upgrades that can enhance different strengths and fighting styles.
Each weapon will gain skill points, regardless of whether you’re using them. Always check in with them to make sure they’re properly upgraded. You can tweak weapons to basically create character builds from your party. For example you can make Tifa an incapacitator by focusing her gloves to be heavy on defense/
For all our weapon guides in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake check out the breakdown for each team member here – Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Barret Wallace and Aerith Gainsborough.
You Can Also Switch Up Your Weapons
In Final Fantasy 7 Remake, you’re given the ability to change up the weapons of each character. As iconic and as Cloud’s trusty Buster Sword is, it is definitely worth swapping out your weapons. Obtained from whenever you stumble upon a weapon shop or during your adventures.
You’ll notice when you equip a new weapon it will feature a unique ability for use in combat. The more you use the weapon’s ability, the higher your proficiency in the skill will become. Once you reach 100% proficiency in a new weapon ability, that ability can be then used on every weapon for that character.
So, for example, Cloud can equip a nail bat with the Disorder move. Once you gain 100% proficiency in that move, I could then use Disorder with any other weapon in Cloud’s arsenal. It’s definitely worth using as many different weapons as you can find to add to the move-set of every party member.
Rotate out and replace materia often
Materia works similarly as it did in the 1997 original. Use them more, and each orb will grant the character access to more powerful versions of its spell. Cure becomes Cura, and so forth.
But because this is a self-contained game, materia will level up pretty fast. So you’ll quickly have the strongest cure spells available. Rotate it out. If you can afford powering down a bit, replace the leveled up materia with a spare that isn’t.
This way, you can have leveled up materia for all your party. And since there’s only four controllable party members in this game (sorry Red XIII), you’ll likely end up with spare materia. You can then sell your fully leveled up materia for some cold hard gil. Which is surprisingly hard to come by in this game.
Use The Assess Materia As Much As Possible
In Chapter 3 you’ll meet a young researcher by the name of Chadley who asks you to gather battle intel. He’ll give you an Assess Materia, which is one of the most helpful Materia in the game. It’s important to use this Materia as soon as you get it, so be sure to equip it immediately. During each fight, make sure you try to use the Assess skill in the combat menu to assess different enemies. This will pull up information about the foe’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as their fighting habits and behaviour.
Not only does this help you from a tactical standpoint, but it also helps you unlock more Materia. The more you use it, the more battle intel you’ll gather, and Chadley will then be able to use that intel to develop new Materia for you to buy and use from his shop.
It’s a good idea to keep checking in with Chadley as you progress through the game and take a look at the battle intel requirements in your menu to see how you can continue to unlock more powerful Materia.
Smash every box you see
Some of these tips are going to be straight out of the RPG playbook. Explore the whole map, check for items in every corner and break everything that’s breakable. But it bears repeating anyway.
Right from the very beginning, after the first few fights, the game will give you a prompt telling you about Shinra boxes that you can smash. These boxes all throughout Midgar and if you ever spot any, be sure to smash them. Not only will they often have some MP you can recover, which enables you to perform moves and spells, but the boxes also contain Moogle Medals which will come into play later on. The more medals you can get a hold of, the better so make sure you leave no box unsmashed.
The Start Of Chapter 16 Is Ideal For Farming EXP And Gil
After clearing the game, you can use Chapter Select to go to Chapter 16, and repeatedly fight the enemies that appear in the first area to easily farm tons of Exp and Gil. By completing this first battle with all of the enemies, you will earn around 10,000 Exp. and 5,276 Gil. It should take you about 4-5 minutes. After beating them all, boot up the Chapter Select screen, select Chapter 16, then rinse and repeat.
This can only happen in your second playthrough but it’s a great way to get a jump start. Pro Tip: Be sure to go in with material like Gil Up, EXP Up or AP Up to max out the benefits of the grind.
In the end though unlike most games, Final Fantasy 7 Remake doesn’t really need you to grind. Unless it makes you feel more comfortable to do so. Being about level 30 to 40 at the end of the game should be enough. (Max level cap is 50).
Always check the vending machines
Throughout your journey in Midgar, you’ll often come across a bench and vending machine. These little break areas are incredibly useful for restoring your party’s MP and health, but it’s a way for you to unlock music and get some items for a markdown price.
At a lot of vending machines, you’ll notice a certain selection of items can be got for next to nothing, so even if you’re well supplied with healing potions, Ether, and curative potions, it’s always worth checking every vending machine you see to get some freebies and unlock new tracks.
That should be a good starting point for you to get the most of your Final Fantasy 7 Remake gameplay! For all our other game guides click on over here!