No Magic-No Summons: Final Fantasy 7

[@leftventricle3]

Some notes for the next run you might do: -Grenades are amazing for a large part of the early game, up through Jenova BIRTH. -Elemental>Lightning in a weapon makes short work of Motor Ball. -Bottomswell can be poisoned. -Steal a Right Arm from a Bomb on the suspension bridge just before North Corel. It does ~1300 damage single target and one shots Dyne. -Materia Keeper can be poisoned. -Not only do you not have to win in the Battle Arena, you can run away immediately. Pro speed run strat. -You can stall Jenova LIFE out of MP with the Water Ring, revive the other characters, and get to work without expending any other resources. -Ditto for Jenova DEATH with the Fire Armlet. -Ultima Weapon in Mideel flees after taking three turns. You just need to tank its attacks. Ultima Beam is flagged as the hidden element, so if you put Elemental>Cure in your armor you can block it.

[@yaqbulyakkerbat4190]

These are cool facts. thank you!

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Taking notes. All great information to have on a future run.

[@D3sden0va]

​@@Xephrost_Gamingalso adding that a hyper on Aeris/Yuffie fills their healing limit breaks fast enough that they outheal the damage, which is huge for keeping the party alive in challenge runs

[@kylegremillion7581]

I have played through this game at least 15x and never knew half of these lmao! Good shit, bro.

[@D3sden0va]

@@kylegremillion7581 4-8 productions does some excellent challenge runs that will teach you all sorts of neat tricks. His stuff is all stream vods though, so if you want a tighter edited experience like this, you're out of luck sadly.

[@grimgrog]

Enemy Skill is basically Blue Magic. I think I would have left it out of a no magic challenge run

[@mooredmon7898]

I agree. I also think the Lore command in FFVI should've counted as Blue Magic, but it's not our challenge series, so what can ya do?

[@SimonRoberge]

I had to tell my "strong opinion" about it too. I deeply believe blue magic should be categorized as "magic". I actually don't care that much, but happy I'm not alone who had the thought. Fun video anyway.

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

I'm glad Final Fantasy V Blue Magic Only has a sequel honestly

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

That's fair. I waffled on whether to include Enemy Skills. I ultimately decided to include Lores in 6 so all the characters could have access to their unique abilities. So, I decided to include Enemy Skill for consistency. Besides, including it now, means I still have the option of excluding it in future challenge run series of more restrictive runs.

[@LS-mb4my]

I'd say it should be allowed since it's a yellow/command materia instead of a magic/summon materia.

[@johndafoe9276]

My favourite line in the video was when you were talking about snowboarding Remembering things as being better than they are is very relatable haha Thanks for another fun video!

[@fruitloops2058]

Calling the motorcyclist mini game the worst when snowboarding exists

[@noyoucantnoicantnowecantsostop]

Who says two can't coexist to be the worst ones?

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yeah, neither are good. I think I would call the motorcycle minigame the worse of the two, mostly because doing a bad job has the brief consequence of slightly hurting your characters before a boss fight. Whereas the only consequence of the snowboarding minigame is wasting time.

[@fruitloops2058]

​@@Xephrost_Gaming true but counterpoint: cool intro and music

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

I remember the submarine section to be truly awful, but it may just be me having no idea how this work...

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

If you can react fast enough the submarine section can be completed very quickly. But yeah, if you lose track of the submarine it is really rough to find it again.

[@PiePie453]

Carbon Bangles are a steal from Moth Slashers in Shinra HQ and Hard Edge from the Soldier Third Class but I get it, we're not memorising the steal tables

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

I did know about the hard edge, but completely forgot to steal it. Did not know about the carbon bangles though. Good to know.

[@PiePie453]

@Xephrost_Gaming you can actually quite reasonably stay ahead of the equipment curve with a bit of stealing in this game. Maybe for command only run next time, always love your droll manner over my favourite game of all time.

[@PiePie453]

​@@Xephrost_Gamingrewatching, you definitely have not read the steal tables, it's actually pretty fucking good. Steal only run?

[@CobaltContrast]

5:30 the best mini game in the whole ff series

[@uniquedisplayname6051]

Iirc, your stats are linked to your materia. So thats why your attacks become so OP by the end game, because of all your high level materia.

[@lonecanuck6714]

You can steal carbon bangles and hard edges in the shinra building

[@242sighting]

I actually loved the motorcycle game at the time, it was my favorite minigame. A few years later, in college, I even dug deep into the snowboarding and loved it. My 20-30-year-old memories are clearly more trustworthy than this weeks-old playthrough!

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yeah, if you have fond memories of the motorcycle game, I recommend you DON'T replay it. Cling to those positive memories. lol

[@thet2o]

Its truely incredible that you unlocked the secret boss j3nova by playing on switch, a spectacle for sure

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yeah, it's definitely a big secret. Who knew there were multiple jenovas hiding in this game. Lol

[@koseidubzgamez]

Great video! Was really fun to see enemy skill used as it was!

[@Wajulillo]

Enemy skills and limit breaks are absurdly broken in this game 😂 Anyway, nice run and very enjoyable to watch!

[@ju5tj0shiny1nz]

I was drawn in by the fact that the title said ‘No [More than one thing] ‘ and it was only 36 minutes long. 😂🤣👍🏽

[@Jaryth000]

Having just finished FF7 Rebirth, it was super interesting to see the OG 7 again and how things compare (because I haven't played 7 in over a decade, and nostalgia glasses do a hell of a lot of work, as mentioned when you talked about the mini games).

[@jaytaytay3205]

Protip/speed runner strat when it comes to the motorcycle mini game - kill the orange bikers until you get three red ones on screen. The reds will never try and pass you while you're swinging your weapon so if you spam the attack button after you've got three of them it's just an autoscroller until Motor Drive.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Ohhh. That's really good to know. That'll make that section way easier.

[@LavvyWuff]

Great video! :D I was curious, at first, with the use of the Enemy Skill materia (I always label it as blue magic in my mind,), but then realized it is called SKILL and not specifically called magic, so I get it ;D I enjoyed seeing what materia combinations you went for, with spell casting off the table :)

[@AdumbroDeus]

Reasons that the conference room might be so big: 1. Conspicuous consumption. 2. Meetings often have guests such as support staff and the sensative nature of the meeting is why this one was so small. 3. They're not the only group that uses this conference room. None of these are exclusive with the other but given the themes of FF7 I'd assume it was supposed to read as conspicuous consumption.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yeah, I think conspicuous consumption is a good call out. Every executive in that room wants to take up more room than they do.

[@AdumbroDeus]

@Xephrost_Gaming yep, it's a really cool subtle detail to reinforce the game's themes about capitalist excess and environmental destruction as s result. Even subtly they constantly reinforce Shinra's greed through the behavior of the executives as a group.

[@iamthehobo]

So many options in this game I can't see this being particularly challenging, but still fun to watch. I think there's a physical immune boss or two also? Let's see

[@leftventricle3]

The only "physical immune" boss I can think of is Diamond Weapon, and only for part of the fight. Ruby Weapon is optional, but has 510 defense. Not immune, but very tough.

[@TotallyCluelessGamer]

I thought about your question about the way physical attack damage takes off in the lategame at work after watching this video, I've come up with a practical and design sense explanation for why Magic Damage falls off while Physical Damage doesn't. To explain mechanics: In basically every Final Fantasy game, Physical Attack damage is determined primarily by your character's Attack and Level, this results in consistent growth as your level and gear quality increases. Magic Attack damage has to fluctuate between spells substantially, so in addition to your Level and Magic, Magical Spells have a Power rating that factors into the equation. To prevent spells hitting for the damage cap by level 20, they factor your stats and level less than physical attacks. This results in them seeing substantially higher damage than Attacks at low levels and with low stats, but they don't really scale up. Now to get onto the design sense of why, we need to delve into JRPG History... all the way back to the grandfather of the genre to demonstrate the trend that in some series continues to this day. Dragon Quest for the NES featured 2 primary means of damaging enemies. Physical Attacks, which scaled up in damage based on your Attack Stat, and spells, which deal damage within a set range. This was done to make each mode of attack have different purposes, normal attacks were good against enemies with lower defenses, but high defense enemies typically fell quickly to your most recent spells. This balance of Physical Attacks with higher potential damage against Magical Attacks with more consistent damage still lingers in Dragon Quest to this day, and popped up to some degree until FFXV fully transitioned the series into an ARPG if I recall.

[@flamerollerx01]

You may find a more fun challenge in command only materia - no enemy skills. You cannot equip any materia other than command, support and independent materia, but you can use any and all items. This is fun and tactical, with only a few boss fights that are a bit tricky and require you to get certain items/equipment. Using summon, magic and enemy skill materia seriously reduces the difficulty, because you can use added effect and elemental materia to set up overpowered strats that make you nearly unkillable and you know how OP enemy skills are already. My personal favorite "challenge run" is enemy skill ONLY challenge. It sucks until you get out of midgard though, because the challenge really doesn't even start until then. I just speed through midgard as fast as possible doing no grinding and no farming for items. Once you get matra magic you only need to use that from then on. Did I mention enemy skill only means you cannot use items to do damage, nor the attack command?

[@flameingdaethfearies]

Oh snap new Xephrost

[@onernoa]

Another fascinating challenge

[@PiePie453]

I like the enemy skill cause it makes for a better video for sure

[@bl9048]

I’m not reading all the comments, but IIRC the item “hyper” increased limit guage significantly faster! You take a bit more damage but it’s so worth. Great vid overall! (And yes grabby hands is the hardest boss! 🤣)

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yup, hyper increases the damage you take AND the limit break gain. I should have used them more in this run because limit breaks were absolutely the MVP.

[@davidklein8608]

It is funny just how much MP was consumed and how many ethers were used in a no magic run thanks to enemy skill. I find it strange how good the enemy skill materia is compared to regular magic. Just the sheer number of spells you can cast for just 1 materia slot is enough to choose enemy skill over regular magic, but they also made some enemy skills just better than magic.

[@noahhobson4521]

Not all of the PS1 era minigames were bad. Triple Triad is fun. And umm... Did I mention that Triple Triad is fun?

[@iantaakalla8180]

I think some people think fondly of Chocobo Hot and Cold.

[@noahhobson4521]

@@iantaakalla8180 And considering I am one of those people who do, I should have mentioned it. Except the joke works better if I didn't.

[@Rob_Thorsman]

IMO the Mystile is the best armor. It gives you godly evasion.

[@Jikkuryuu]

Do you have any particular feelings about the Sadness and Hyper statuses in FF7? When I was a dumb teenager I would keep my whole party Hyper for the limit gains, and didn't learn that Hyper and Sadness also affect the damage you receive until basically the end of the game. :D Hearing you talk about how strong and frequent limit breaks are just got me thinking of it. None of what you said about the balance of attacks and magic sounded foreign to me, but hearing it out loud it really is odd. I guess FF7 is what linear wizards quadratic fighters would look like? I don't actually disagree with using the Enemy Skill [command] materia, but it's funny that the first thing you used has "magic" in the name. XD

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Fury and sadness can be very useful. Outside of the magic only run I did (where sadness reducing damage was a straight upgrade), you do have to be mindful of the impact the statuses have on the damage you take. But hypers are very useful for building limit gauges and learning new levels. I actually meant to use the Fury status in this run and just kind of forgot to do so? Not really sure where my mind was at.

[@Objectorbit]

I'm surprised you didn't steal all the carbon bangles for your characters in the shinra tower, as well as the various weapons available early on. Coulda helped a lot. Steal is fairly mediocre yeah, but it shines very early in the game. Also, you should consider using the touph ring, as it boosts your magic defense, which no armor in the game can due to a bug.

[@murraylicious]

Love the way you say there was practically no worthwhile items to steal in the game then in the next area dont steal one of the few good early items. Shinra hq has some good steals too. After that, yeah its useless

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

I'd somehow completely forgotten about the hard edge in this playthrough. Not a huge loss, but it was unfortunate.

[@murraylicious]

@Xephrost_Gaming yeah theres also carbon bangles, guard stick and i think you can even get some deadly waste as well which is useful early

[@NoahHunterGamble]

@@murrayliciousno it’s not true, there’s quite a bit of good steals throughout the game. Especially those carbon bangles/hardedge steal and that’s early in the game. Mind you it’s nothing like ff9 of course but it’s absolutely not garbage like was said.

[@CobaltContrast]

Champions Belt and Magicians bracelet are some of the best stealable items. What are you on bro?

[@MrMovees87]

This got me curious… Will the FF8 run coming up follow the No Summons rule to go with No Magic as well?

[@ThatguycalledJoe]

I would like PSP FF1 challenges that stake Chronodia as the end goal instead of Chaos.

[@vsolyomi]

I'm really surprised you didn't use hypers

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yeah, I'm not really sure why I didn't. I know I thought about using them, but don't remember why I didn't. Early on, it may have been a money issue and then I just didn't think about it again.

[@SammyRondeauFails]

You could have made the early game a lot easier if you utilised steal haha, you can get weapons and armour you wouldn’t normally get until around Cosmo Canyon.

[@toblerone1729]

Ah yes, spamming attacks against the Scorpion Guard...all the way back then, even the game manual would tell us to attack while the tail was up, only for the players to get wiped right after that ...naaaah, that didn't happen to me, why do you ask? 🙂

[@SergeAznavour]

Commenting for the all-mighty al-gorithm Also, I need to replay FFVII. It’s been seventeen years or something 😮

[@primiera1484]

ff7's basic attack damage scales exponentially for whateverr reason, that's why the Hit Thing button goes from borderline worthless to op busted at the end of the game

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

That's very weird. It does explain why basic attacks are so inconsistent throughout the game though.

[@CobaltContrast]

Rename run to Enemy Skill only cuz like... what didnt you do here?

[@lordofhyphens]

No magic? No problem. FWIW FF7 balance is so cracked people have done Limits Only and Attack Only runs, so I with you on the ???

[@JacaTrn1782]

You are spoiling. So its a run with materias ^^ love ya

[@reubenmcmurray4377]

Do blue/red mage runs of FFTA and FFTA2

[@SirKaid1206]

I would have ruled that magic only means that you're not allowed to spend MP, but you do you.

[@FlanMesh]

Hey have you been to the hospital to get your head checked out? That must have been a really nasty blow you took to the head to say such stupid things about the motorcycle minigame. Maybe the blow to your head affected your fine motor skills?

[@Wing0fSilver]

Not that it matters because this game is easy and you had enemy skill anyway, which is actually better than 99% of magic not named Cure or Knights of Round anyway, but I really would have gotten the Chocobo summon to use with elemental. A lot of enemies are weak to it and almost nothing resists it making it free damage on a lot of enemies. Also elemental and thunder works really well since every other boss is a robot or just weak to thunder anyway. Would have helped after that motorcycle mini game

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yeah, good points. And I used elemental for defense against the motor boss, but I agree it likely would have been better for offense.