Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunionis a faithful remaster that brings the PSP classic to a new audience. While the visuals are vastly improved, the combat and the materia system received minor changes from the original, mostly involving bug fixing. That was for the best, as the materia and equipment system are what really make the game shine.
There’s plenty ofpowerful materia and equipment combinationsto be had, many of which can be obtained early in a playthrough. Endgame opens up these possibilities even more, leading to a number of overpowered builds.
This one isn’t so much a build as a collection ofthings players can obtain early on to make easier progress. Most of the items and materia above can be obtained as early as chapter 2, and all of them can be won, bought, or fused before the end of chapter 3. Focus on side missions (essential missions listed above) and mastering an HP Up and elemental materia or two early on.
Make use of the materia fusion system to create higher tiers of mastered materia. Use this to fuse firaga, thundaga, or blizzaga early. Use poison or silence to fuse the dark versions, and inflict these status effects on enemies. Use physical materia to make the “Blade” versions so you can choose to spend AP instead of MP.
With these, HP Up, and Barrier, players should be able to push the harder 5-6 star side missions to get Mog’s Amulet, Wizard Bracelet and Quake early. With all of these in hand before the end of chapter 3, players can be highly overpowered until mid-game.
To get overpowered in the mid-game, the most essential item is the “Brutal” accessory, as it lets you deal up to 99,999 damage. To get it, you need to clear all the “Seeking Precious Items” side missions up to M7-4-6. This can be done as early as chapter 4 and will help withclearing all the missable missionsbefore the chapter 7 point of no return.
Pairing Brutal with Graviga, which deals 50% of the opponent’s HP as damage, is the earliest way to do enormous damage to bosses without stat boosting.Darkness will also let players break the damage cap, at the cost of HP. Pairing it with HP Up++ and Smart Consumer for boosted healing can help make this a non-issue.
This build also gives significant damage negation. Status Ward and a hell elemental spell give immunity to poison, silence, stop, and death. The Wizard Bracelet nullifies elemental damage and heals the player instead. Players might still want Barrier for extra physical damage reduction — and dispel to negate boss buffs.
Players can acquire this build between chapters 7 and 10 and use it as a basis to acquire powerful endgame items like the Genji Set. With the Soul of Thamasa, Dualcast can be used without restraint. This means that high damage black magic spells like Electrocute and Tri-fire become viable without a huge MP pool. It also makes Curaga plus Dualcast a viable healing method.
Costly Punch ignores enemy defense stats and barrier buffs, and it doesn’t rely on the attack stat for damage. It costs HP instead of AP, but with max HP at 99,999 (thanks to the Adamant Bangle), that can be mitigated with healing without leaving players open to 1-shot deaths.
To use this build to effectively clear late game content, players will also need to make extensive use ofthe materia fusion systemto increase the stat bonuses granted by their materia, as well as the Ziedrich Accessory, focusing on MAG, VIT, SPR and HP.
Minerva is one of the toughest optional boss fights in the game. This build makes the fight a little smoother. Costly Punch can be swapped for any move that can deal 99,999 damage, but it’s the easiest option, as other moves introduce AP or MP management to the fight.
Mug can be used once, at the start of the fight, to get a full stack of Phoenix Downs, which will be useful for restoring the auto-life status when Minerva’s special, Judgement Arrow, removes it. Aerial Drain gives the player the option to keep up damage while healing, and SP master will boost the damage.
The most difficult part of the build is obtaining the Genji set items, then grinding materia fusion for maxed out stats. It’s worth the effort, though; once Minerva is dead, nothing else in the first game cycle can offer a challenge.
This build offers several key advantages that let players breeze through New Game+. It can hit for max damage against any enemy type (multiple times), it offers immunity from most damage types and significant reduction of any damage that does get through, and it negates or manages most resource costs.
Heike Soul does a lot of the heavy lifting for the build, especially the Dualcast effect, and is well worth the cost of permanent curse status. Players will also need to max their stats via materia fusion, but that isn’t much of an issue at this stage in the game.
