Hoo boy, this was a journey.
I beat Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020) on normal back in January and have since played the original Final Fantasy VII (1997) to fill the void as I lamented having to wait for whenever the next part is announced. I’m not a “completionist” by any means when it comes to games but I kept feeling a pull to go back to Remake. Eventually, my party reached the level cap at 50 and I decided it was time to attempt hard mode.
Some disclaimers before I regale you with my tale, cautionary and otherwise:
1. I’m neither great nor terrible at games; I’m the epitome of an average player and it’s unlikely that any of my strategies, or lack thereof, were optimal
2. Boss fight spoilers ahead – the story points are kept vague for the majority of this post apart from the endgame bosses, so proceed with caution
NB: All screenshots are taken on a PS4 Pro because I have yet to get my hands on a PS5. One day I’ll get to play INTERmission and spend all my time in photo mode!
Firstly, what does hard mode entail? Players cannot use items, MP doesn’t replenish at rest spots and the enemies are, of course, much more difficult.
My greatest strength throughout the playthrough was my MP conservation because I was being very stingy with it, and even after using a low level spell I would go hunting for Shinra box refills. Given past experience with the earlier fights I had some idea of where I would struggle, only I underestimated enemies like the Huntsman mini boss. I had a similar problem with the fights leading up to Roche, specifically the two Sweepers, as I was focusing more on the end of chapter bosses rather than the regular enemies who weren’t small fry anymore.
This is around when I started paying more attention to the enemy intel list and used it to adapt my play style and finally decided to make use of all the HP Up and MP Up materia that I was hoarding. Max level Prayer materia on each party member and a Magnify + Heal on either Cloud or Aerith became crucial to keeping my party alive, and it remained that way right up until the end.
Things were going smoothly; the Airbuster, Reno, Rude and the mini bosses thus far had gone surprisingly well. But then, a Chocobo cart leaving the Sector 7 slums heralded an ill omen as it shuffled along towards Wall Market, home of the boss that I was dreading.
As if Hell House wasn’t obnoxious enough, I had fought this thing multiple times on normal to get the Dressed to the Nines trophy. On top of that, I needed to do it twice again on hard to access all of the available weapon upgrade manuscripts for that chapter. I don’t know if it’s poorly written tactical data or if I was simply misunderstanding the mechanics of that fight, but Hell House is awful. God Mode, spawning Tonberries and then the Cutter and Sweeper combo at the end made this one of the most frustrating fights of the entire game. It took me a few attempts, I did get all of the manuscripts, and I don’t want to see that house again for a long time.
Moving forward a little to chapter 11, which is a section that I think does a great job with character development but unfortunately interrupts the pacing and sense of urgency. That being said, the battle music for Ghoul is my favourite theme of the entire soundtrack but I wasn’t given the opportunity to listen this time around because I limped through this fight. This is undoubtedly where I experienced the sudden difficulty spike and it made me nervous for the later chapters because I knew it was only going to get harder.
Throughout my playthrough, I had been talking to my friend who had finished his own slog through hard mode and it’s interesting to see how opposite our journeys were. He had warned me that the Eligor fight and the second Reno and Rude encounter were tough, whereas I had a relatively painless experience with them. The reverse was true with the Failed Experiment, who my friend described as “not even a fight”, but the absolute battering that I took said otherwise. This was a trend that would continue right to the end and my rage was palpable at one point, but we’ll get there.
What I’d noticed from chapter 14 was that while the difficulty had ramped up, I was reacting to fights more efficiently than I had been in the past. This was confirmation that I was actively getting better at the game and that’s always reassuring. The second Abzu encounter and Specimen H0512 served as good barriers to keep me humble, but overall it wasn’t too unreasonable.
On the other hand, chapter 17 was make or break. As I was going for all the manuscripts it meant that I had to complete the relevant battle simulations before proceeding. The manuscript process itself was thankfully straight forward and I could have continued with the story, only some kind of madness overcame me and I said to myself “But what about the trophies?”
Essentially, this is when my playthrough turned into a quest for the platinum trophy. I did only have one enemy skill left to learn and thankfully the Malboro had plenty of Bad Breath to spare, but the real hurdle was getting to the Pride and Joy Prototype.
This gauntlet, known as ‘Top Secrets’ in the combat sim, pits you against the hard mode versions of each summon fight and I was overwhelmed in every round. Shiva seemed untouchable, Fat Chocobo spawned lethal allies and Leviathan decided that its second attack would be Tidal Wave. So, you can see that there’s a lot to deal with here, but the real challenge was Bahamut. Despite having fought and won against Bahamut in normal, it still ripped me to shreds. To top it off, it also summons Ifrit around halfway into the battle to spice things up a bit.
The huge obstacle that Bahamut presented actually made the Pride and Joy Prototype seem much easier in comparison. The most devastating attack (Catch) involves grabbing one of your party members and slamming them into another dimension, likely taking them out, or dropping them if it sustains enough damage. Otherwise, I either kept my disance or launched attacks from behind to keep clear of it. Yes, I did indeed feel godlike once I completed this absurd challenge.
This is when my friend started telling me how much of a rough time he had with the Rufus and Darkstar fight while I was worrying about Jenova Dreamweaver. The latter wasn’t too bad, she just hits very hard, and then what can only be described as a miracle happened. I cannot explain how astonishingly lucky I was during my second round with Rufus and Darkstar as I beat them in under 4 minutes, and I just know that I will absolutely not be able to replicate that again.
What I should’ve been uneasy about was The Arsenal. Much like with Hell House, I didn’t understand this boss and getting hit by its horrific Pulse Cannon meant spending MP to repeatedly revive Barret and Aerith. This drawn out fight of attrition was draining, but I couldn’t save and pick it up again the following day because it immediately followed the Rufus and Darkstar fight with no break in between. That, combined with being TPK’d by its Cry Havoc blast right at the end on some attempts, made this fight unbearably demoralising. It was 1:30AM by the time I killed this thing, and the only silver lining that saved me from this entirely unenjoyable experience was the ability to skip the motorbike section.
And thus we arrive at the final stretch. The end of the Midgar Expressway…
I was terrified of this chapter, mainly because I’d only done it once before on normal. My memory of the fights themself were a blur because I was focused on the wild story implications that will unfold in the future. It was daunting to think of having to do yet another series of fights where I would be unable to save in between, especially after my rage inducing experience, and the fact that everyone hits hard in these battles.
I skimmed through a couple guides before resigning myself to being killed and, for some reason, all I focused on was the tip about taking out Whisper Croceo first. I didn’t know why this tactic was important (turns out it’s because Croceo has long ranged attacks) but I stuck to it and I honestly can’t say if it made a difference. Whisper Bahamut was tough but not in the same way as the regular Bahamut summon; I put this down to the Whisper variant not having as many attacks but its frequent use of Megaflare was still stressful. By the time I felled the Whisper Harbinger, I still wasn’t met with a game over screen but I was waiting for my luck to run out.
In the most Advent Children (2005) spectacle, the greatest SOLDIER to have ever lived arrives.
Now I can’t lie, a lot of this fight involved me desperately trying to create some distance but Sephiroth is relentless and getting caught in his torrent of attacks is devastating. I was accompanied by Tifa and Aerith this time around (Barret and Aerith in my normal playthrough) and I think this combination was key. By this point of the game, I had never used Aerith in an exclusively support role as I enjoy utilising her semi-offensively, but her back must’ve been hurting because she was carrying this team.
There were a number of moments where things could’ve gone south very quickly, in particular I struggled a lot with Sephiroth’s ice Elemental Infusion because I could never seem to time my dodges when he hurled Blizzaga at me. Given that I was on the defensive for the majority of the fight, frantically evading and healing, I was aiming to make useful decisions with my ATB charges and Limit Breaks. So when that countdown to Divine Proclamation started, I was in full tilt hysteria. I absolutely refused to do this fight again and the end was so close that I could practically taste it. I threw everything I had at him and somehow, amongst the chaos and tension, I beat him.
I’ll be the first to admit that I had tears burning in my eyes when it ended because I was in awe. I beat Sephiroth, I fully upgraded every weapon and I actually finished hard mode. As I said at the beginning, I don’t consider myself skilled at video games but this felt special because I’m starting to believe that maybe I’m not quite as terrible as I think I am. I earned that platinum trophy and I love this game so wholeheartedly. Hard mode may not be for everyone, and the game itself is fantastic just for its story and combat, but I can’t deny this sense of gratification and achievement.
This definitely won’t be my last post about FF7, but for now I await with bated breath to find out what’s in store for us next out there in the boundless, terrifying freedom.
Reviews, Rants & Revelry 