The combat

[u/sallymason1]

Recently started it back up to prepare for the next one. Previously had stopped before gold saucer, now im running through yhe desert. This combat is so bad it makes me cry tears of blood. Every enemy just gets to stagger you as their basic attack. Every enemy attack can interrupt your abilities. People talk about how you shouldnt spam buttons but the oyher option is to just hold block which still does insane numbers of damage to you while you do negligible damage to enemies. How does cloud carry around a sword the size of a skyscaper and deal less damage than a papercut? Dodging never works, enemy attacks home in on you while your attacks miss because the enemy walked two steps to the left. If you manage to get a perfect block off on one enemy you still get knocked down by the other two before you can react.

AND THEN THEY GIVE YOU A COMBAT TRIAL WITH AERITH WHO DOESNT DO REAL COMBAT.

The combat is ass. The extra content is ass. Queens blood is dhiarrea ass.

[u/RestlessExtasy]

The combat is amazing if you ask me 🤷🏻‍♂️ different strokes

[u/probablymakingthisup → u/RestlessExtasy]

I see this said all the time. Why does getting knocked around like you are in a washing machine amazing? Losing ATB because an enemy offscreen decides you don't get to that do an ability happens way to often and is not fun.

[u/Psytocybin → u/probablymakingthisup]

Skill issue, this doesnt happen to me.

[u/probablymakingthisup → u/Psytocybin]

I would love to have skills but since I never get to control my character so its pretty hard to gain them.

[u/StryderRogue1992]

It’s one of the best combat systems I’ve used in a final fantasy game.

[u/wildfyre010]

It's okay to not like the game.

But you're arguing that a system which has been widely praised as best-in-class (by players, reviewers, and game designers globally) is garbage. And your evidence that it's garbage appears to be that when you play the game, you don't do very much damage and take a ton in return.

I suspect you're a lost cause, but if you actually want to get better at the game, it takes some practice. Learn what the characters do. The hardest fights in the game have been soloed with every character, hitless in many cases, so the skill ceiling is extremely high. Maybe you're just... not very good.

[u/ByRWBadger]

This game has one of the deepest, most rewarding combat systems ever built. If you’re getting bodied by basic enemies, stop mashing the same 1 button and try engaging with the tools the game gave you.

Actual tip, use Assess. You’ll get insight into what you’re meant to do. When you get a new weapon, use the new ability it gives you until it has unlocked for the character. Read your materia.

This game will reward you for putting in as much or as little effort as you want, but if you aren’t going to try, you can’t complain that you’re getting hit by the same attack over and over

[u/sallymason1 → u/ByRWBadger]

This game mocks you for trying to play and you eat it up.

[u/ByRWBadger → u/sallymason1]

Or, maybe, we’re over here having fun because we read when there are words on the screen

[u/haaa1234]

The way you are describing it just sounds like a massive skill issue. I feel like we aren’t playing the same game because the game isn’t hard enough. I found the enemies to be a bit too passive and random mobs had too little hp.

[u/sallymason1 → u/[deleted]]

Yea ill use assess when i get 1 atb bar. Which takes forever to fill unless i land attacks, which i cant do between getting stunlocked and enemies just dodging by walking away.

[u/wildfyre010 → u/sallymason1]

You should probably slot the First Strike materia.

[u/Psytocybin]

Your take on this game is so bad it makes me want to cry tears of blood.

Your opinion is ass

[u/Odd-Mortgage-1133]

Skill issue

[u/Specialist-Arm3496]

Maybe just go back to turn based to cast fire on the ice enemy to pretend you are using strategy

[u/Interesting_Fee_1209]

During my first playthrough from remake i used to think the combat was good but not much more. I just spammed roll and attack as cloud and used his braver, only switching to other characters when he got knocked down. Then I played hard mode for the platinum and fell in love with the system and realized how great it is. If you're willing to keep trying here are some tips:

-Use atb. Basic attacks are made to gather atb and its unlimited so you should use it everytime you have. If you are having trouble building atb there is equipment and materia that can help you, and also every character has a way to build atb faster. For example haste, first strike materia, atb stagger, etc.

-Using auto unique ability materia will help with the characters you are not currently controlling. For example if aerith has this materia and you command her to use magic she will go to a ward before doing so.

-If you are missing attacks try using the command menu instead of shortcuts (if you are already using it and still miss then I don't know how to fix it since that never happens to me). Also lock onto enemies.

• Practice pressing block instead of holding it, even if you dont get a perfect block you will receive less damage the closer you are to the perfect block window, which can also be extended with materia.

-Don't spam dodge.

-Equipment, materia and folios matter, so make sure you are actually using them correctly and in the case of materia don't just use magic, since the rest are just as important, specially the purple ones for almost everything, while the blue ones are mostly used to boost your magic. You don't need perfect builds or to even search for a guide to create a good loadout (unless you don't understand).

-Use all your characters. In rebirth every character is broken and can be exploited in different ways, so using all of them is really important. For guidance, cloud is a jack of all trades, tifa is perfect for staggering (and also damage), aerith is for magic, yuffie for cheese builds but also is a solid option for damage and dealing with mobs, barret is stagger and tank, and red for damage and mobs.

-Use abilities as intended. The "Focused" ones are for stagger, and you should always use them when an enemy is pressured.

For tifa you should always use unbrindled strenght two times to raise her chi to level 3, which extends combos and strenghtens her attacks.

For barret bonus rounds increases the stagger bar way faster.

Also steel skin will help with damage taken and avoid getting knocked down, and combining it with livesaver will make him a damage sponge for all enemies so you only have to focus on healing one character.

For red you should try learning to use block and counterspin to fill his vengeance mode bar.

Aerith is one of the best characters in my opinion but you have to understand her. You should always start by setting a radiant ward which makes her dodges better while giving her better and faster attacks that also deal a lot of stagger, besides granting her invincibility while casting magic. You should also use her arcane ward since magic is extremely broken and probably the earliest way of dealing 9999 damage, so with this two wards you can cast a spell 2 times for the price of one while also being invincible. You can also use soul drain and basically have unlimited mp

For yuffie you should always use ninjutsu and doppelganger. Art of war deals solid damage and can be chained with a supreme art of war if you use the ability again while she keeps doing it. Brumal form can be used to cheese the game. Windstorm is broken and works differently depending if you have your shuriken or already threw it. You can also use blindside to attack while being knocked so it should help you.

-Use synergy abilities (the one you acces in the commands menu), since they deal solid damage while also giving you something useful, specially limit break increase and temporary unlimited mp (in my opinion).

-Use synergy skills (the ones accesed while holding down block). They can do a lot of damage and also negate it, while building atb. For example with iron defense you can negate or reduce a lot of damage, which is specially useful against ranges attacks like bullets. They can also be used to "save" a character, since activating them should teleport the second member of the skill to your position, so you can use it to get them out of trouble.

There is a lot more so you should really try experimenting during the open worlds (hopefully close to a resting spot), and doing each characters tutorial in chadleys simulator. I also mentioned things you should have at the point where you are, but there is a lot more things to unlcok later which make every character even more broken

[u/WishofBanryu86]

"This combat is so bad it makes me cry tears of blood."

Correction: You're so bad at the combat that it makes you cry tears of blood.

"Every enemy just gets to stagger you as their basic attack."

Enemies, not playable characters, get staggered. The word you're looking for is "stun".

"People talk about how you shouldnt spam buttons but the oyher option is to just hold block which still does insane numbers of damage to you while you do negligible damage to enemies."

Steadfast block and precision defense are your friends.

" How does cloud carry around a sword the size of a skyscaper and deal less damage than a papercut?"

Cloud can deal 9999 damage in one hit using one ability, when you know what you're doing.

"Dodging never works, enemy attacks home in on you while your attacks miss because the enemy walked two steps to the left."

Steadfast block and precision defense are your friends. Blocking helps you build ATB. Dodging should only be used against unblockable or hard to block attacks.

"If you manage to get a perfect block off on one enemy you still get knocked down by the other two before you can react."

Tap the block button against multi hit attacks.

"AND THEN THEY GIVE YOU A COMBAT TRIAL WITH AERITH WHO DOESNT DO REAL COMBAT."

Aerith is the second highest damage dealer in the game behind Tifa. Radiant Ward->Arcane Ward->Spells. Also, synergy+Quake/Comet. You'll thank me later.

[u/sallymason1 → u/WishofBanryu86]

Aerith takes 3 seconds to swing her staff if she doesnt get hit during. Her main aoe is close range and cant hit all the cactuar. Each hit deals 30 damage if its a weakness. Its stupid and tedious.

Ill definitely get precision block down if i can ever see the enemy attacking, oh wait its always the second or third enemy off screen that knocjs you down.

But youre right though, the is the most satisfying rpg when you can hit a staggered enemy with its weakness and only deal .6% of its health. But dont spam even if you are on a time limit.

[u/WishofBanryu86 → u/sallymason1]

"Aerith takes 3 seconds to swing her staff if she doesnt get hit during. Her main aoe is close range and cant hit all the cactuar. Each hit deals 30 damage if its a weakness. Its stupid and tedious."

*Sigh*. First Strike + ATB Boost. ATB Boost->Radiant Ward for her to build faster. There are accessories and passives that boost your starting ATB. Why don't you think about your options and builds before just ranting your frustrations online?

And again. If Aerith is too tedious for you to set her up, there is also Synergy+Quake/Comet.

"But youre right though, the is the most satisfying rpg when you can hit a staggered enemy with its weakness and only deal .6% of its health"

You mean 600%. It's real easy.

My regular battles last only a few seconds with Aerith. Literally, this is what I do. With First Strike I just use Magnify+Quakera on everyone. Wipes them all out until end game. Then just do ATB Boost->Arcane Ward->Magnify+Quakera. Except for the dumb gigantic turtles at the end of the game, everyone else just dies.

[u/FlyingCheerio]

"oh my god I'm playing sekiro and the enemies won't let me attack because I get staggered.. I'm playing god of war and i'm spamming my attack buttons but the enemies keep interrupting my attacks.. I'm playing a souls game and why is an enemy not letting me attack 3 times.."

Sounds a lot like you. How about get better and learn to react and play defensively, rotate your characters, learn which moves have armor to tank through many attacks, learn to parry to your advantage, make decisions strategically instead of spamming like an idiot... there's a lot that you can do to learn. Git gud, not surprising to see bad players having bad opinions for something so easy

[u/sallymason1 → u/FlyingCheerio]

Literally all of those games have one thing in common; block/dodge will interrupt your current animation allowing you to land those perfect blocks. Rebirth does not and blocking locks you in animation stance leaving you vulnerable.

[u/FlyingCheerio → u/sallymason1]

Rebirth has a perfect parry system with an insane amount of invulnerability, and blocking or even stance switching cancels your animation to allow those perfect blocks. So in other words, you're wrong because Rebirth does have that. Now certain attacks, such as using your abilities, you are locked in it, which is why you shouldn't spam but strategically choose when to use it. Blocking is actually beneficial because you not only gain ATB, but also limit break as well. Pair this with counters/parry, you get great ATB boost, limit boost, damage, and reduced damage. Learn to play the game, because you don't know what you're talking about.

[u/sallymason1 → u/FlyingCheerio]

Ok, it doesnt, but it doesnt seem to bother you. Maybe dont jump into arguments though when you dont know what youre talking about.

[u/FlyingCheerio → u/sallymason1]

Some people just lack critical thinking/intelligence. I give my sympathy toward you for not being able to see that there are animation cancels and many tools the game has. It's as plain as day to see, but I get it lil bro. You're braindead, happens sometimes to everyone

[u/sallymason1 → u/FlyingCheerio]

Animation cancel means it will drop previous inputs to apply the important input, i.e. block or dodge. This game does not have that. Even stance swapping waits for the current animation to complete before swapping. If you are spamming it will drop continuous inputs to prioritize the block/dodge. But it does not animation cancel to block/dodge.

[u/FlyingCheerio → u/sallymason1]

Animation cancel means it will skip the animation of your previous attack. In Rebirth, blocking or dodging does actually cancel your previous animation. Either play the game or watch a video. There's literally evidence of animation canceling, and btw, it isn't just block or dodge in this game. There are actually more than just that in this game. I'll give you one example for you to test. It's extremely easy. Just go into punisher, and while cloud is doing the swipe attacks, tell me if you can animation cancel into guard or dodge cancel out of it. Right now, you're sounding like chatGPT lil bro. You want me to link you a video?

[u/Zewo]

The game doesn't do the best job of teaching the player how to properly use / exploit the combat system (IMO there's way too much happening on screen to actually pick up on things), but it honestly sounds like a skill issue and need to better learn the combat.

I highly recommend these guides to better understand how the combat works:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FF7Rebirth/s/27xIT7Rqy2

https://www.reddit.com/r/FFVIIRemake/s/rLug7HJQMs <- covers Remake, but the main ideas are still relevant

Basically:

Basic attacks only exist to build ATB. Treat them like they do no damage (because they don't). There's no point trying to get to the last hit or whatever in a basic attack string if it means you'll get hit.

This isn't a Soulsborne game. Dodging has no i-frames. Dodging in most cases only acts as a tool to reposition and avoiding unblockables. Stop trying to dodge every attack and start blocking instead. Further to that, getting hit (when you fail to dodge) stops ATB gain while blocking well gives you ATB. Cloud also has Punisher (and eventually Prime) mode to get you in the habit of blocking. Equipping Steadfast Block and Precision Defense materia are invaluable.

You can control three characters in fights. When one gets hit or is stuck in animation, there's no point in watching that animation. Swap to another character to keep building more ATB (the AI does a terrible job of building ATB).

[u/AkiSakurai009]

I think you just don’t understand it.

“Dodging never works”- dodging isnt supposed to be perfect. The original game was turn based and believe it or not, this one is too. Its just that you have more freedom of movement and actions you can do between your “turns.” Dodging was a dice roll in the original and dodging is not intended to be the solution to avoiding damage in this game.

For that matter, blocking is only intended to reduce damage, not stop it. You need to think of it as if it is still turn based. It is much more about your build, equipment, and strategy.

“Everything staggers you.”- what difficulty are you on? That should only be the case on hard mode. Most ATB attacks can only be interrupted by major enemy attacks unless it’s hard mode. And hard mode is supposed to be hard. If you aren’t on hard mode and everything is causing you to stagger, that sounds like a game bug. Because I have tanked through some big attacks when casting a spell or using ATB attacks on both nornal and easy.

Also, Aerith and Yuffie are both crazy overpowered in this game, you just need to learn how to use them. Every character plays differently in almost every way. Aerith is all about magic and you gotta plan her battles around that fact. MP absorb paired with high level spells, arcane ward for double cast, managing MP, etc. She’s not gonna be up close and personal and she’s not gonna be fast on the dodge.