It’s nearly here
The Final Fantasy VII Remakedemo is out, and if you’re at all interested in the game, you might want to play it. In the demo, we got a clear breakdown of the dichotomy between the melee-based Cloud and the ranged expertBarret. But Square Enix also took to their official blog to give us a bit more info on the party members that populate the Final Fantasy VII Remake(Part One).
For starters, Red XIII is considered a “guest character” in part one (the thing launching in April), and will likely join the party full-time in the next chapter. We already know that Tifa and Aerith [Aeris] are joining Cloud and Barret, but thanks to the blog, we know a little more about them.
Tifa is described as a glass cannon of sorts, dishing out tons of damage while opening herself up for punishment. Aerith of course is still magic-based, but she’ll be donning an MP-leech ability or a multi-cast Holy Circle buff: which the blog describes as a good strategy to use against Abzu. You can find the full character breakdowns below.
The blog also does a good job explaining what we’ve gone over in our hands-on, detailing how the ATB gauge works with the real-time combat feel. Based on the first boss, it seems like knowing weaknesses and exploiting them is absolutely key, which should be easy to do with the Assess Materia that you’ll pick up before the Abzu sewers fight. Just a few more weeks and we can test it all out ourselves!
A closer look at combat [Square Enix]
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Cloud– an effective fighter in almost all combat scenarios. His abilities are wide-ranging, from stagger-filling assaults to flurries of attacks that increase in power with subsequent hits. His Punisher stance (activated by pressing triangle), lets him counter foes after a block – not only useful, but so,sosatisfying to pull off.
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Barret– his signature gun-arm makes him a logical choice to take out enemies that are high up or far away, but he has far more utility than that. For example, his Steelskin ability means that he can’t be interrupted by foes when using magic or abilities – that saved my life more than once!
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Tifa– capable of delivering astonishing amounts of damage and doing so very quickly – though she’s in serious trouble if she gets overwhelmed. Her speed and ability to pressure enemies means that I found her to be something of a wrecking ball against Shinra’s various minions.
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Aerith– when it comes to magic there is no equal. She casts noticeably more potent spells than her allies, and many of her abilities play into that strength. For example, she can steal MP from opponents or drop a Holy Circle that allows the party to multi-cast (amazingly useful in the battle against Abzu). You’ll want to keep her far away from the center of the action though.