The original Final Fantasy 7 was a turn-based RPG with random encounters. The twist was the materia system. Materia are orbs of condensed mako juice, they each have properties that change stats and bestow magic and abilities to your characters. The challenge arose by predicting what was coming next, knowing ahead of time, or creating a party equally good at all things as you could. Winning that challenge really only amounted to you not dying, or the boss dying faster. This is a problem that many old RPGs struggled with, and Final Fantasy didn’t really “solve” it until 10 where you could swap characters.
Then they started experimenting with other mechanics instead of having the right gear or leveling the right spell. The sphere grid, for example, gives you the freedom in how your characters level, but in general it keeps you moving in a direction the developers can predict more easily. This same tactic was used for the License Board in FF12, until it was significantly changed in Age of The Zodiac. Each system allows you to choose how you level up, but outside of min/maxing or saving points for a specific ability, power is kept in check by point costs or the like. In FF7, they could only know which materia you owned, but if you forgot to, or did not think to, equip it you would generally be at a huge disadvantage.
In FF7R, that is still the case. However, they have revamped materia and other systems to better accommodate this. In FF7R materia no longer affects stats except for summoning materia. It grants special abilities, spells, new commands, or bonus effects to them. To complement this, they have given each weapon for a character its own level up system, and each has a specific role it is trying to cater to. Some weapons favor magic, these have more materia slots, add MP or magic damage. Some favor critical hits and low health. Lastly each character has a list of special abilities they learn from each weapon, these enhance damage, do special effects, or add large amounts to an enemy’s stagger meter.
The stagger meter is, to my mind, the key to FF7R’s combat and why it is so satisfying. Originally in FF13 where it was nothing more than a damage increase and filled up just by attacking which served as more pressure on the player to press the attack. In FF7R it fills when you attack, when you use an ability that increases stagger, or, most importantly, when you exploit the enemy’s weakness.
This serves three purposes: If you did not bring the right materia you can still brute force stagger. This allows a larger margin for error and gives you the freedom to build characters how you want, like a constantly exploding Barret.
Secondly it rewards you FOR bringing the right materia. If you were lucky/savvy enough to bring the right spells to a fight you get to do increased damage and win. It’s very satisfying.
And last, it makes fights more interesting. Figuring out a weakness is all well and good, but it goes beyond “this enemy is weak to lightning.” Some enemies can only be staggered at certain times, so you have to wait for the time to strike. Some can only be staggered after you hit them with something else. It makes each encounter a puzzle, and once you figure out the puzzle you are rewarded with absolutely destroying them.
Stagger also has another interesting part to it, as when an enemy is staggered, they take a percentage increase in damage. Some abilities for characters will raise this percentage! So not only can you solve the puzzle for massive damage, but you can multiply that damage for an even bigger chain of attacks.
This is my favorite part of combat in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, it is so satisfying to stagger an enemy, crank the percentage up to 300+ and watch the health bar melt away. Especially when you layer on a summon’s ultimate attack, or a limit break. The stagger mechanic is brilliant, ties combat together very neatly, and gives you a quick and easy goal in combat letting you know you are doing the right thing. I hope that as the Remake series progresses, it only gets better.
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