Support NeoGAF

[RCU005]

I am currently playing FF7R and I find it odd that I am in chapter 8 (which I think is half of the game) and I still feel like I have nothing regarding equipment and materia. I am currently Level 19 and party members 18. However, I only have 2 weapons and very few materia slots. I can't do almost nothing in battle for the same reason. Most of the magic is only in the first level.

There haven't been enough battles to even grind. The game has been pretty linear, so I don't have chance to get better. There's some monster I can fight over and over again, but are low level monsters.

While I am loving the game and the story in general, it feels very unsatisfying, because it feels that they make you wait until the very end to get things going, but then what's the point? I truly hate games that do that. Like they give you the most powerful weapon, but at the last chapter, or even after beating the final boss. For me, it's useless!

I don't know if my complaints are based on something wrong I am doing, or because I am terrible at the game?

In comparison, I feel like when playing Kingdom Hearts 3, and be stuck with the starting abilities for most of the game. FF7R doesn't feel like it has a natural progression in regards of abilities, weapons and materia.

Another comparison is Dragon Quest XI. The game gives you more abilities late in the game, and party members join late, but the game gives you plenty of time to get used to the mechanics, and abilities that each one has (mainly due to the game being so long).

How can I be so low in weapons, materia, abilities, armor and accessories at half point in the game?

Could someone please tell me what I am doing wrong?

 

[Nankatsu]

You have materia related to side quests. Also to Intel reports from Chadley.

You can even buy materia in specific shops.

The summon materia is also obtainable via Chadley.

The game gives you plenty materia to test the best built for your character. I'm on my second run, and hell there are so many combinations that I haven't tried yet.

As far as for grinding, wait until you reach Wall Market at least.

Even if you finish the game without hitting level 50 the game will have things to help you with that, if you plan a second run.

 

[Nymphae]

I felt the same way for most of the game honestly, there aren't very many opportunities to grind anywhere and they limit your materia slots until later in the game, I felt like I was always waiting for them to finally open the game up a bit.

It gets better toward the end, and it feels a little better on the Hard playthrough because you start with all your equipment and materia and such, and are then able to fully upgrade your weapons.

I also found the summons rather underwhelming and almost never used them. I haven't gotten the last one yet but I didn't really care to, they're all an AP sink and I barely even get to see what they are doing on the battlefield.

 

[RCU005]

The game gives you plenty materia to test the best built for your character. I'm on my second run, and hell there are so many combinations that I haven't tried yet.

I know you have plenty of materia, however, you don't get any chance to level them up because there very few battles. Like normally in an RPG, you would roam the world and fight enemies and level up, but here, since the game is VERY linear, you don't get chance to level up anything! like anything! It's very hard to get 100% proficiency on weapons and level up materia! Also, I am in Chapter 8 and still don't have many slots for materia. I can only put 5 at most! So the game doesn't give you the chance to develop anything!

On question though? Are blue materia the only ones that can be linked? How do you know if a materia can be linked? Is there a way to tell without having to actually try every one out?

 

[Red Rackham's Revenge]

I know you have plenty of materia, however, you don't get any chance to level them up because there very few battles. Like normally in an RPG, you would roam the world and fight enemies and level up, but here, since the game is VERY linear, you don't get chance to level up anything! like anything! It's very hard to get 100% proficiency on weapons and level up materia! Also, I am in Chapter 8 and still don't have many slots for materia. I can only put 5 at most! So the game doesn't give you the chance to develop anything!

On question though? Are blue materia the only ones that can be linked? How do you know if a materia can be linked? Is there a way to tell without having to actually try every one out?

You can get 100% proficiency in just a few fights. Just spam the ability and it won't take long.

 

[sublimit]

This game is very specific on how it wants you to experience both its story as well as its gameplay. You don't have any real freedom as a player until much later in the game when it finally gives you the tools to experiment.Even then you'll often have to restart many battles because you're not equipped in "the right way" the game wants you to be equipped. As soon as you realize that you don't get to choose how you play the game (be it going to a direction that the game doesn't want you to go, grinding enemies only where the game gives you "permission" to grind, allowing you to win battles only if you use the exact strategy the game wants you to use or limiting your weapon materia slots) the more you'll start to enjoy it as if you are in an interactive movie.

I think the developers wanted the first playthrough to be experienced as a movie where telling their story the "right way" was much more important than anything else and the 2nd playthrough to be the one where the player would finally have the freedom to experiment more at least in terms of combat due to both having the knowledge (enemy weaknesses etc) as well as the tools (a big variety of interesting materia skills as well as weapons with enough slots to equip them).

 

[Nymphae]

Are blue materia the only ones that can be linked? How do you know if a materia can be linked? Is there a way to tell without having to actually try every one out?

It should say right in the description....Like elemental materia description tells you what pairings will work with it, so does the warding materia, etc.

 

[LordKasual]

I know you have plenty of materia, however, you don't get any chance to level them up because there very few battles. Like normally in an RPG, you would roam the world and fight enemies and level up, but here, since the game is VERY linear, you don't get chance to level up anything! like anything! It's very hard to get 100% proficiency on weapons and level up materia! Also, I am in Chapter 8 and still don't have many slots for materia. I can only put 5 at most! So the game doesn't give you the chance to develop anything!

On question though? Are blue materia the only ones that can be linked? How do you know if a materia can be linked? Is there a way to tell without having to actually try every one out?

1) Upgrade your weapons, they gain extra materia slots and passives. By the time you get to mid/endgame, you'll have plenty of weapons/strategies/builds to choose from for each character.

2) Materia takes a while to upgrade, which makes sense as the upgraded spells are QUITE powerful in this game

3) 100% proficiency on weapons isn't something that will happen anytime soon. I only recently unlocked all abilities on weapons and i'm in the middle of a second Hard Mode playthrough.

4) You're going to have to pick and choose which materia to wear and level.....and constant use of the same materia makes them stronger......that's like the whole point of the Materia system. Your builds/strategies are fully customizable.

On question though? Are blue materia the only ones that can be linked? How do you know if a materia can be linked? Is there a way to tell without having to actually try every one out?

They all tell you exactly what they do and which materia they work for.

Linked slots are only useful when combined with Synergy (blue) materia.

Keep this in mind when upgrading your weapons, as some upgrades provide slots and others provide links.

 

[Kev Kev]

without spoiling anything, the game helps you out with the grinding issue after you beat the main campaign one time on any difficulty level. dont worry about grinding too much on your first play through

 

[Neff]

They held back on the Materia and strategy, either so as not to overwhelm newcomers, or to honour the original game's timeline. The problem with that is that it's not 5 hours of play, it's 30. As much as I love FFVIIR, and as extremely well as Materia is implemented in the game, it never lets you get too crazy with setups. Even if you beat all of Chadley's missions and get additional Materia on replays, you're going to have pretty much the same optimal setup as the next player. There really isn't a lot of variety for pairs and combos, although there are some good ones. It's absolutely nothing compared to the kind of setups possible in the original.

It makes me think that part 2 will use saves from part 1 in some capacity, if not directly importing your entire save, levels, inventory and all.

How do you know if a materia can be linked?

It will usually say in the item description. You'll also notice the glowing highlight around Materia pairs if they're successfully linked.

 

[Moogle11]

I actually liked that it's a pretty simplistic system and not all that hard on normal personally. My eyes glaze over with RPGs that have too many systems, too much build optimization etc. though, and tend to skip or end up not finishing those kind of games. There's nothing wrong with that, and not every game has to be for me of course. I'm fine skipping the overly complex ones. I just like to mostly veg out and enjoy a story and characters when playing RPGs, not spend a bunch of time in menus optimizing builds, figuing out complex systems, having to be very strategic in battle and try fights over a bunch of times to win and so on.

 

[Red Rackham's Revenge]

3) 100% proficiency on weapons isn't something that will happen anytime soon. I only recently unlocked all abilities on weapons and i'm in the middle of a second Hard Mode playthrough.

By proficiency do you mean the weapon's ability or do you mean upgrading the weapon? Because the ability can be learned almost immediately.

 

[Eevee86]

Pretty much. You're going to be the level they want you to be and have what spells they prefer you to have throughout the entire the story. They'll still be giving you materia near the end of the game that you have no way of upgrading because they expect you to play through Hard mode, which just sounds terrible to me.