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101

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-21 15:30:09 »

A couple questions:

1. What is the point of Mime? The fight for it was fairly easy but it doesn't do anything...

2. Is Shield still supposed to nullify physical damage? It made the Zack fight a breeze.

By far the hardest optional boss fight so far for me was the one guarding the Quadra Magic. I died so many tims to that thing... It took  a lot of AP grinding with Shield and Revive and Contain for me to stand a chance. That and all the Turbo Ethers I've accumulated thanks to the Magic Pots.

EDIT:

Is Mega Flare bugged? Whenever Zack used it on Cloud, it always missed. Maybe I'm just over-leveled, if that has anything to do with it? Cloud is Level 71.

102

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-20 19:28:15 »

Well thanks for putting in the effort to help me out.  I never thought anything like this would happen. Here's hoping that the patch will fix whatever it is I fucked up.

103

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-20 18:36:26 »

I got a few more ES bosses down after managing to find out where I could get Dragon Scales and Right arms. Also, in regards to the Bomb King fight, was Odin the only way to deal with the Grenades? or Bomb Vassals or whatever they were called? Because I tried everything else but they ALWAYS self-destructed when they died, even if they were asleep or whatever else.

Also, since Aerith's sidequest didn't trigger because of some bug or glitch or whatever, does that mean some of the others won't happen either? Because I'm trying to find Barret's and Yuffie's and nothing is happening. I looked online at a video and I think Barret's is supposed to be on the ruined Corel Reactor screen? The lower part? But nothing. And I went to Yuffie's dad's house (the place right before the Pagoda, right?) and I didn't see anything there either....

104

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-20 13:38:22 »

So things are coming along well in terms of the Extra Bosses. I found several of the items I needed to make them when I explored the other areas of the Northern Crater. I also got Beta and Bad Breath so that worked out real well. I now have Shield, Ultima, W-Summon and Contain.

Question though, is the White Materia part of Aerith's sidequest? I figured it would be. I have all the othr items I need for that boss except the WM.

But now I have these awesome new Materias I think I need to head back into the NC to AP grind some more. I have tons of Mastered Restores now for everyone in my party plus a few Mastered Revives because Phoenix Downs just don't cut it in boss fights anymore.

In terms of items, I got a few extras of Cloud's and Tifa's weapons from Morphing. I had the Ragnarok and God's Hand already from re-figthing Asimov but I got a few extra from...Uh, I think a Mover and something else. In terms of new weapons, I got one for Red, Cait, Cid and Yuffie. So that was nice, especially for Yuffie.

What weapons aren't actually in the game yet?

105

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-19 09:40:15 »

Well if I can make it to that Special Battle I promise to fight it. I want to try and beat everything in this game.

And thank you for offering up that fix for Aerith's sidequest. There's no rush or anything either - as I said before, I got lots to do still.

EDIT:

Do the Training Bosses stop granting EXP after a while? I saw Hojo gave like 30,000 each fight so I wanted to grind with him but I just beat him and got nothing.

Also, your mod doesn't have Break 9999? I figured it did so I didn't select Break 9999 Limit in Bootleg. Only now my best attacks on Hojo only did 9999 instead of like, 13,000.  I mean if you would prefer me to keep the damage cap set, I can.

106

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-19 01:25:31 »

Hm... Well I dunno, I'll keep checking and maybe they'll turn up. Don't really know what else to do for that.

And anyway you look at it, I'm gonna need some days of grinding ahead of me. Gotta get these items for the EBs, probably should get at least two of every Element Materia to Level 3 for my main party, probably have everyone with Cure3 too, gotta level up Limits, and finally collect good equipment. For my main group I have Apocalypse on Cloud, Rising Sun on Yuffie and Guard Stick on Aerith. (Heh, I liked the "And nothing attacked you!" after I got Apocalypse. I totally was thinking there would be a boss fight there.)

The Northern Crater seems like a great place to gain mad AP very quickly though. I chose the...Left Up Path or whatever and ran into these three things that gave like 12,000 or 15.000 AP. Then when you add to the fact I had Triple AP weapons on...that was amazing. 

Wait, one more question though. Did you remove the Heaven's Cloud from the Gelnika? I didn't see it. I always liked giving that sword to Cloud because...well, I found it fitting. Plus, while Triple AP is amazing for grinding, I am sure there are better, stronger weapons around for everyone and I gotta find those as well.

107

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-19 00:42:09 »

Alright, thanks a lot for everything man. It must have been hell to make this thing and then offering up support all the time as well... Your dedication is truly remarkable and I'm really glad I found this.

Out of curiosity though, I was looking at the list of NT Videos on YouTube (only the names, don't want to have any spoilers) and saw one mention of a Secret Boss and Ending. Do you get that by beating the Extra Bosses or all the sidequests or whatever?

And speaking of final bosses, what level would you recommend for actually trying to beat the game? I'm only at Level 60 right now so I don't intend to try it yet but I'm just curious if the final boss is actually super-powerful now or if he continues the tradition of being weaker than the superbosses.

108

Bootleg Questions / Re: [FF7] Tutorial for Bootleg - Tifa's Bootleg

« on: 2014-10-19 00:17:51 »

Are some of the soundtrack options broken or is that just me? I tried to use FFTim's OGG for example and got nothing. I also don't know what "The Remix" and "Bootleg" are. I'm trying to remember what  OST options I used last time.... It sounded like FFTim's stuff but maybe not. Was that incorporated into "Remix" or "Bootleg"?

109

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-19 00:03:30 »

Oh, I totally missed the second NPC in the Operations Room! I'm a dumbass. I can switch party leaders just fine now.

And the nibelheim sidequest triggered fine. I'm not doing it right now because I need to reinstall everything again (Bootleg's OST didn't install right) but I assume being teleported or whatever and running up to Zack is new. I certainly don't remember that in the original.

Still no luck with the NPC at the Walter Altar though. When I start up the game again later, I'll talk to the new NPCs in the GS and the Highwind. Do you think that might help?

110

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-18 13:22:43 »

Is the NPC actually supposed to be on the "Walter Altar" screen? Where you jump to? Because there's no one there for me...

Aerith has never left my party. I actually took her out and put her back in with PHS. ADoes she have to be able to use Great Gospel right now? I kinda doubt it but I'm at a loss for what could be the issue.

And yeah, first thing GT did was use KOTR on my party. I was sizing it up, preparing to use Sense, and then he kills me.

I'm gonna try uninstalling Bootleg and running just the NT Installer. I don't know why it would be Bootleg causing this but I can't switch out Cloud witH Tifa or Cid at the Operations Room either. I'll report back when all is done.

EDIT:

Nope, even with just the original + NT it won't let me switch out Cloud and the NPC doesn't show up at the Altar.

Thank you for the spreadsheet.

111

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-18 12:46:51 »

Thanks for fixing that so quickly. The fight itself was short and sweet.

So I made it to the bottom of Northern Crater and got the phone call you mentioned. But while I'm content to wait to unlock all the Extra Bosses, since it appears it will take a LOT of Item farming and probably level grinding too so I can beat them, I wanted to try out the little sidquests. But how do you trigger them? I went to the Forgotten City as the dude on the Highwind bridge said and nothing happened. I explore every inch of it I'm pretty sure. I figured whatever it was would be happening would be in the area where Aeris "died" but no luck.

In any event, when that's all done, I suspect it will be a few days for me to find all these items and stuff. I'm sure they can be Morphed or Stolen but still... THREE HypnoCrowns? I have 1. And some of the other things sound pretty tricky as well.

The two I was able to unlock right now are the Gil Turtle and...uh, the one after it. I forget its name. had 41,000 HP. Aerith killed it with 4 rounds of Comet2. I was feeling so big and strong. TheN Gil Turtle unleashed KOTR on me. THE fern. Can Max HP exceed 9999 for the party? I doubt it. I guess you'd need to start the fight with something to make you invincible?

112

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-17 23:12:52 »

Okay man I'd like to report my first real problem with the game. It's not a game breaker since it only happens during the optional Ultra Weapon fight but it is the only consistent "error" I've had. I've had several in field glitches and maybe two battle freezes but this is something new and has happened to me about ten times.

I was hoping it was NT conflicting with my Bootleg so I completely uninstalled FFVII and deleted the Registry Keys. Did a fresh install of FF7PC98 with the October 15 patch.  Still got the freeze. I figured it had to be somethign to do with the mod or my computer and not Bootleg because I've had weird "camera freakouts" in battles before but this is something new.

What happens is, in the final fight with Ultra Weapon at Cosmo Canyon on Disk 3, nothing happens. It doesn't freeze, it just....I'm not sure how to describe it. It's like the game is trying to load a move of his and cannot. On occasion the camera zoomed in on him like he was trying to do a move but more often than not he's just hanging there and nothing is happening. I can still input commands if my turn is up but othrwise, as soon as I put in said command, nothing more happens. Music plays, everyone stands around or floats around in UW's case, and that's it.

I'm not sure if this is something completely unique to my comp. I just know I've been playing the game 60 hours and in spite of various odd difficulties, nothing like this has happened. I don't know if you or someone else can test itout or give me advice on what might be wrong with my computer that is causing this.

I might just forgo the fight entirely.  I'll certainly go on and do other things in the meantime.

113

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-16 15:07:57 »

So wait, is Steal Rate determined by Character Level vs. Enemy Level? Reno for example was Level 50 I think while Yuffie might have only been Level 40 at the time. But if it is just determined by the boss' level and nothing else, then a Level 99 Boss would be nigh-impossible to steal from wouldn't it?

How do I unlock the sidequests/Extra Bosses? Does it just happen once you get to a certain point?

And "Purple Materia cave"?

I honestly haven't done extra stuff in FFVII for....shit, almost a decade. Even the I never did everything. Plus I wasn't that good at the time to be honest. So there's a lot of "original game" content stuff I'm clueless about in addition to all the stuff you've added. Also I'll be sure to download that patch right now.

Thanks for your reply.

114

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-16 14:35:40 »

On Disk 2 with Highwind and Cloud back, before Diamond Weapon and all that. Thinking about doing some Chocobo Breeding. You know, everyone's favorite tedious BS. Anyway, are the rewards still the same? Is KOTR still in that one cave only accessible by Gold Chocobo? I seem to recall thee was another one too....

Also for the life of me I cannot defeat that Cactuar in the Highwind. First time I got the highwind, I went into that other room and just tried to talk to the one guy and now I was in a fight and got horrifically stomped. Now I'm a little over Level 41 but I still can't beat it. it Ejects me from battle wheN i get it to what I assume is the final form. Am I just not ready to beat it yet?

Speaking of irritations, I visited the sunken Shinra ship and the Turks there were annoying. Died so many times. Why? Not because they were hard but because I wanted to Steal from them and it just wasn't happening. I could have killed them ten times over but I died ten times over because I wasted so much time trying to Steal. Still, in the end, I won and got both the Tough Ring and Champion Belt. Worth it.

So what Ultimate Weapons and Level 4 Limit Breaks are still in the game? I mean, I found that Great Gospel was no longer with the Mythril guy. Does "Ultra Weapon" still have ultima Weapon?

Oh and that reminds me! What was up with the super-easy Tseng fight? That was kind of random. I mean it wasn't at all what I expected, I was dreading the Rude fight there because another mod I played of FFVII made that boss fight a nightmare. But instead Tseng is there and then he's not since I one shotted him.

Other than the Turks though, this night was fairly uneventful in terms of bosses. I failed the Train time limit once but I'm used to failing once in every challenge or boss by now. First attempts are to look for weaknesses and second attempts are the actual real runs for success.

no wait, I'm forgetting something! That boss down before the submarine, the weird mech that Reno sicks on you, that fight was BS. Did you make the Arms invincible? Because I'll tell you what, that fight is entirely random and luck-based. I died so many times because sometimes it would open the fight with grabbing one or two characters almost immediately. Then on my successful run it didn't grab anyone until it was almost dead. I realize a lot of fights in games are based on luck since enemy AI may make them spam one move or never do that move at all but this was really frustrating. It was just several hours ago so I kinda forgot about how annoyed I was back then.

115

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-15 15:16:10 »

Yeah I got the Fairy Tale. Was the Princess Guard still in the Temple of the Ancients? If so, I missed it.  I couldn't remember what rooms in the clock i had checked or not and eventually I just said screw it and moved on.

And that's pretty awesome you put that much thought into the new Aeris dialogue.  The gameplay is already providing a pretty different experience for me and any story modifications are welcome as well. I like FFVII's plot quite a bit but I just appreciate little surprises here and there when something isn't quite how I thought it would be. Like fighting "Sephiroth" for example.

116

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-15 14:02:12 »

Oh man...this has been the night (and morning) of grueling repeating boss fights.

Dual Devils Gates? You monster! I was kinda confused at first since when i killed one the other started wrecking me. i thought "maybe I need to kill them both around the same time?" Then I got a brain and realized I just had to do away with the second DG's buffs.

And then Jenova WAR... It was insultingly easy the final time I beat her considering how many failures I had going into it. The trick was:
1. Actually read her Sense data and see she's weak to Earth.
2. NEVER LET BARRIER FADE.

As long as Barrier is up her attack spam does nothing. Let it down though and there's no hope of recovery.

That was pretty awesome though with the two guys from back outside Shinra Manor showing up. Will I be seeing them again? Although I must confess, as cool as it was at first, it got annoying when I couldn't use Tirfa's or Yuffie's Limits because it registered my friends as opponents and attacked them as well....

But that was a nice sort of story change with fighting Sephiroth first and then those guys showing up against Jenova. Will there be more things like that?

Also does Aerith being alive have any story repercussions or sidequests or anything? And how about weapons for her? The Icicle Shop didn't sell any obviously.

Finally, I have to say this - YOU ARE THE BEST. Gil Plus? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! I was just thinking earlier that "with the mod making money so hard to come by, I really wish FFVII had something like FFX's Gillionaire." And then i find Gil Plus in the Temple of the Ancients. So awesome.

Anyway, it's been an eventful night. I blame Tifa for why Jenova WAR took me so long. I anted my preferred party of Cloud/Aerith/Yuffie and then Tifa had to boob in. Ah well... Everyone is about Level 39, Yuffie just got Doom of the Living thanks to the Jenova WAR boss fight and I have tons and tons of money and I can easily make more. Thinks are looking good.

117

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-14 16:22:26 »

Yep, I have plenty of Protect Vests already. The monster in the Nibelheim Mansion on the pendulum dropped them as well as Talismans. Also I stole one off of this big robot looking thing I found near Cosmo Canyon.

And Boxer wasn't too much trouble. One time it did Eject Cloud but I've beaten it several times with 3 Bio2's. Still, simply having an Eject move in a place like Battle Square is pretty cheap.

Well if that's all there is, I am glad i went ahead and decided to save my Hi Potions and Ethers. What about for later though? Are the rewards in the Battle Square still the same? This is far, far off in the future of course but just wondering should I ever make it to the end of the game if I'll want to return to Gold Saucer and start trying to get said rewards.

If all goes well though I hope to be at the end of Disk 1 by the next time I post. Now it's time for sleep though. Everyone is at Level 31, I have the best equipment and Materia i can find or buy and I finally am not stressing about running out of Gil.

118

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-14 15:02:32 »

I have a few other mods installed.  I mentioned before trying to add Graphical Mods with Bootleg? Well the battle menu/interface being different seems like it might be the most pertinent difference.  Otherwise I have FF7Music and some stuff to make the Fields look nicer. Essentially, everything that wasn't overwirten by the NT Installer.

Yeah, the Battle Square is a nightmare of randomness. For example, it seems like every 2 fights of groups you get one solo monster. I had about six solid attempts where the first solo monster I fought was this plant thing that I think is a new monster of yours? I ran into it at Gungaga the other day. Well Demi 2 takes care of its first couple forms easily enough but the last part is a bitch and kept killing poor Cloud.

On other runs with a better lineup of monsters, such as Boxer, I've come close to winning the Square. I've made it to the second-to-last fight a couple times now I gave up on physical offense and keep Cloud in the back row. I just have him spam Enemy Skills and that does the trick most of the time. I also have Odin there to give me a little respite in the later group fights should I make it there. He helped clear the path in the third-to-last fight in my last attempt. I regret wasting him though because the next round I fought these snake things which must use Stop or something when they attack because Cloud got swarmed by them and couldn't use the damned Hi Potion i had ready for him.

My pigheadedness and stubbornness made me continue to try and win when I knew I should have given up. I was just so close those few times ya know so I figured I had a chance at winning. Do you get a prize for completing Dio's Battle Square?

119

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-14 12:29:48 »

Well I am right before the Temple of the Ancients. Calling it a night now.

I spent most of this night Gil grinding. I was doing as suggested and getting White Wind and I stumbled upon this area in Mythril Mine where there's like steps or something leading up to a chest with a Tent. It's the area right off the Marsh entrance. Anyway, in there, you only get groups of enemies that give you about 700-900 Gil per battle. These are also weaksauce enemies which meant I could slaughter them en masse with just physical attacks and never worry about dying. I grinded up to 60,000 Gil and right now I foresee no money woes in the nearby future.

For optional things, I beat the Powersoul Keeper and the Wutai sidequest. Neither were too hard once i was properly prepared, got Vincent casting Quake2 and had Earth-Elemental on Cloud's weapon and together they destroyed Mr. Spider. (although the first fight my game froze when it trid to do the last Charge, the one that gives it Berserk) Same for the Pagoda bosses, once I had Yuffie immune to Frog and Silence it was a cakewalk. Is she only supposed to get Bloodfest then or was that just a happy coincidence? Because Bloodfest was how I kicked the Pagoda's ass in another mod.

Speaking of Limits though, is it unique to this mod or does Cloud always have such ridiculously slow Limit Learn Rate or whatever you want to call it? He was obviously in my party long before Yuffie and got off several LBs before her yet she still got to Level 2 before him.

Is it possible to beat the Battle Square when Dio has you try it? Because I tried, I really did! But I can only get up to Battle #5 and then the mass of enemies just swarm me. Even with Barrier and MBarrier on the cumulative damage of 200 from one and 200 from another and another and another is too much. I tried some crowd control with Trine but I am so busy just trying to live that I can't focus on offense. I just gave up after losing abut ten times in a row since I was sinking Ethers and Hi Potions into it when I didn't need to.

Also did anyone complete the Battle Square when Dio makes you do it? Because I've spent over an hour at it and no luck. I've come close several times but it's not all about skill and preparation, it's the luck of the damn roulette thing. For example, I just lost on Round 2 because I got Damage X30. What the hell. Overall it was a vanity project of mine, to prove how strong I am and make it to the end. But it's a stupid, pointless waste of items and time and I should have given up a long time ago.

120

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-13 14:17:28 »

I guess I'm just a creature of habit. I never use my entire party in any RPG I've ever played. I concentrate on my main three/four and that's it. Equipping an entire party is way too expensive in a normal game, let alone a mod like this where I'm barely scraping by in terms of Gil.  Plus I'd have to keep swapping my Materia  around and I don't want to do that. I'm just lazy like that I guess.

I really don't need Ethers as much as I used to anyway. As you said, Tents/Inns work just fine  when grinding out in the field or during a dungeon and I save my Ethers for boss fights. I haven't even needed them for that the last couple of boss fights. Plus it does seem like MP has really become more abundant with  the past few levels so I haven't been running out of it nearly as fast as I was earlier.

Anyway, I think I'll stop for tonight for real now. At Mt. Nibel, with Vincent replacing Aerith in my main party. Died to that big dragon. It totally dominated me. I suspect if I had been at full health I might have fared better but we wee a couple hundred HP down from the last fight and it opened up with a couple flame breath things and wiped out my party. Well, I managed to come back from that but I was just delaying the inevitable. It used some other move and killed all three of my characters at once. I didn't ant to beat it, just Steal whatever it had. Sadly Steal is not that reliable and I noitce that my hardest random encounters are those I waste time trying to Steal.  i have the MP for it now so perhaps it's time I just start opening every fight, Random Encounter or no, with Barrier/MBarrier.

121

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-13 05:26:44 »

Do you mean where the optional miniboss is right before the screen with Dyne?  Yeah there was a Save point there.

I think i just missed Morph because I'm a dumbass. I remember searching the garden but I didn't notice it. Well then I am probably screwed.  The earliest you can get back into Midgar is middle of Disc 2.  I just hope the game isn't impossible without it....

I will miss all those Ethers...

EDIT:

Holy...! There' sa shop in Cosmo Canyon that sells Ethers! And not a bad price at only 1500 I think. I'm not going Nanaki's subplot/Cage of the Gi tonight but this is so good to know. Once that's all done with I can get some moneys and stock up on Ethers. Probably at least 10-15 of them. I have 3 right now. Luckily I have had so much MP of late I haven't needed Ethers nearly as much.

EDIT 2:

Okay, I lied, I went and did most of the GI Cave but now I'm stuck on Gi Nattak. I cannot for the life of me figure out the solution to this puzzle since it has to be a puzzle boss, right? The little things heal him for about 5K with their Demi3 and obviously there is no way I can deal with that kind of recovery.  So there has to be a trick to beating him that I'm just not seeing.

EDIT 3:

So was the answer "just outlast them"? Because that's what I ended up doing. Once they expended all their MP they couldn't do crap anymore and then it was a relatively simple matter of killing the main boss with plain old physical attacks.

122

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-13 03:53:09 »

I'm in Corel Prison right now. Where do I get the Morph materia in this?

But even without it, Corel was a huge help. I spent a lot of time grinding for Gil there and got a nice new supply of Potions and Phoenix Downs Also got everyone decked out with Carbon Bangles too.

I also caught Aerith up on levels. She died in both the Motorball and Bottomswell boss fights but now she's Level 21 just like everyone else. I finally feel like I have things under control again.

Thank you for your prompt replies and advice. I think I will do asyou suggest and mainly just buy Items and Equipment unless a Materia looks really handy.

123

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-13 00:27:58 »

You're not alone with the Motorball thing; I have this curse where any boss that appears at the end of a lengthy segment (Jenova LIFE being the other one) hits a difficulty spike that I didn't want. What I should do is review how that segment works, but I'm not sure what would be an appropriate replacement. Motorball has to be fought at the end of the motorbike game and it's kind of the climax to the Midgar Escape, so...

There is a shop available when Aeris reaches the first floor, up the staircase on the second floor (as well as the new shop on the floor where the Gunners are fought) but as random encounters are disabled at that point the player might not be able to stock up on Potions/Phens if they have no money left (seems the Poverty Mod is living up to it's unofficial nickname :l). I'm wondering what I can do about the Ether thing though; I need to get players to make use of physical hits a little more to ease the strain on MP, probably.

A good alternative to magic is [Element]+Elemental materia in the weapon and a stack of cheap Grenades; both together can hit for a nice bit of damage when Limits pile onto it. Yuffie is joining soon with the Time Materia and a Slow-Haste advantage over a boss can greatly boost your damage output, especially if you grab some Carbon Bangles/Shinra Betas to up your Dex stat. That can be good for phys-set-ups in the early game. In Junon, I'd recommend checking out the shop there; he sells Echo Drops now that'll be useful for the boss (otherwise, Capparwires in the nearby forests/beaches carry them).

Don't worry about fighting a lot; there's 'hard caps' in the levels that are difficult to get through on random encounters alone. Bosses cut into these caps quite well and so far it seems to have performed the miracle of making grindy and not-so-grindy players stick to a similar level. It should hopefully not be necessary to grind at all until you reach the Crater but try not to rush either.

Thank you for your advice. I just got done defeating Jenova-VECTOR after losing an ungodly number of times.  I ended up using all 30 of my Potions and even then it was a really close thing. With her down to less than 1K HP she used this move called...Electrosurge maybe? Whatever it is, she ALWAYS used it twice in a row. Cloud dead, Yuffie dead, Aerith barely alive, I somehow managed to revive Cloud and Yuffie and scrape out a win.  I have no Ethers, I used up this Ghost Hand I stole earlier as well as a Turbo Ether I stole from..Rude I think. Or Elena. One of them.

In short, I'm right screwed at the moment in terms of MP restoring items.  I also broke myself restocking on Potions and Phoenix Downs so I'm in a bad way. I suppose I'll need to start buying Hi potions soon but right now 300 HP is definitely enough to keep us alive.

I did take your advice though. Once i realized she was weak to Earth, I had Cloud as my main damage dealer with Earth-Elemental doing 200 damage a swing.

Also question - does every boss have a couple items to steal? I notice this when I die several times and repeat the boss. Like, Motorball had a Platinum Bangle and some other stuff. Jenova VECTOR I think had a Fire Ring but my successful attempt ended up with a Safety Bit.

One more question - would you recommend Sadness as a way to deal with damage? Or if I'm depending too much on that it means I'm doing something wrong? I've been avoiding using it for precisely that reason.

EDIT:

Looking at a video of another person fighting Jenova VECTOR, although they had a completely different party than I did (Tifa and Barret vs. my Yuffie and Aerith) they also seemed to get more hits in, even without Haste. Perhaps I need to prioritize Dex? I figured Defense was the most important thing so I didn't bother with getting any Shinra Betas... I'm dumb. I still have the thing Yuffie joined up with though but she's only 1/3. The other two will still be too slow it seems.

I also bought another Restore Materia but maybe I should have used my money on some nw attack materia, like another Ice or Fire or whatever. I'm just a very defensive, cautious player and I should be more offensive.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-12 13:43:00 »

I'm not exactly looking for help but just figured I'd post my progress and maybe at the end see if you or anyone else have any pointers. If that's okay?

I realize this is largely my own fault but that boss that you fight at the end of the Motorcycle game and before you leave Midgar was a nightmare. I had used up all my Potions in the Shinra building on various dumb things so Aerith with my single Restore was my only source of Healing. I knew i should have bought another Restore while in the Slums but...I'm dumb. Anyway, that boss fight had me praising the Save Anywhere function because otherwise I'd be screwed. I died at least three or four times to it the first round and then I beat him. Only then the game froze when I tried to enter the World Map. So guess who had to do the fight all over again. I died another three or four times before winning again. This time the World Map loaded and I'm at Kalm but I'm too tired to bother with Cloud's Flashback right now.

That boss fight has me expend my precious Hi Potions though, I'm down to 2 or 3. And I'm completely out of Ethers since Magic seems to be the only way to do good damage.

I restocked on Potions in Kalm and got Sense and a ton more Dirty Bombs. I love those things. I'm not sure if they do a whole lot but it's free damage against some bosses so far. I'm not complaining.  Don't think I need a Poison or Steal Materia though because Yuffie will still be joining my party soon, correct? So I'll have 2 Steals then and that's more than enough.

Gil is a precious, precious commodity in this game. I am a natural hoarder and always make sure I have a nice chunk of Gil left over. I never break myself when shopping in JRPGs. This is true for normal games let alone difficulty mods. I only dared to buy a couple more Phoenix Downs, 1 more Tent and a new weapon for Aerith. I have about 4,000 Gil left but I don't feel it's wise to let it go any lower given the scarcity of Gil so far and the fact I'll want to buy more stuff once I reach Junon.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying myself. I know it's probably foolish of me to think so but I feel, now I'm "free" things might become a bit more....straightforward? I dunno. Like I can start to grind. Not Level grinding or anything (unless that's necessary?) but just grinding for Gil and Items.

125

Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)

« on: 2014-10-12 01:20:04 »

Yeah I started a New Game. Air Buster was A LOT harder this time around and kicked my ass several times. Fortunately, Cloud saved me the fourth attempt because his Braver did some ridiculous amounts of damage. Like 500 i think it was.
I am glad I started it over though. It's not only harder and thus more interesting, it has all the new Materia you mentioned. I like that.

I'm not too fussed about the Bootleg Field Models and stuff though. NT has new gameplay and stuff so that's enough "newness" for me. I'll mess about with making everything prettier in my next playthrough after I hopefully beat NT. God knows if I'll be able to but I'll try. I'm hardly an expert at FFVII - I just find the plain old game boring and wanted unique tweaks to it to make playing it over again a fresh experience. NT offers that freshness and seems like a lot of fun. I just hope I'm up to the challenge.