Help Some tips plz: The no materia run-through

Blockinlick said:
You know, it's battles like these that makes me appreciate the strategic aspect of this game. There are so many angles and tactics that you can resourcefully use to enhance your parties overall effectiveness. People say the No Materia game is just boring "Attack attack attack" spam, but really, it actually forces you to be more resourceful and tactical because you can't use powerful magic as crutch in every hard battle. When I used materia, it was ironically boring because all I needed to spam Lightning on him, heal, and nothing else.
Click to expand...

I'll go out on a limb to be a dick to say that loads of people like to put down things they haven't tried. We gamers like to complain more than we like to enjoy. Life. :neomon:

Anyhow, I'm glad to see that worked. Do other limits not also hit flying enemies? I could have sworn they did.

Though, I was unaware that having the party surprised reversed their row placement, but that makes perfect sense if I'm to sit and think on it. I will try to remember flipping placement before this boss, then.
 
Pockets said:
I'll go out on a limb to be a dick to say that loads of people like to put down things they haven't tried. We gamers like to complain more than we like to enjoy. Life. :neomon:

Anyhow, I'm glad to see that worked. Do other limits not also hit flying enemies? I could have sworn they did.

Though, I was unaware that having the party surprised reversed their row placement, but that makes perfect sense if I'm to sit and think on it. I will try to remember flipping placement before this boss, then.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, all limits hit flying enemies... but you can't rely on limits alone vs bosses like that.
 
You're right, but in having two dedicated healers you're sure to never lose your entire team. To that effect, are there not also magic-type items to attack allies with which would break the bubble?
 
Pockets said:
You're right, but in having two dedicated healers you're sure to never lose your entire team. To that effect, are there not also magic-type items to attack allies with which would break the bubble?
Click to expand...

There are, but I never like spending all my gil on them. I'm also lazy lol.

The only time I've made good use of them is when I get the M-Tentacles in the Cave of the Gi [Because they 1 hit the spiders].

Update on my progress,

I just beat my way through the Temple of the Ancients. I was preparing for one hell of a fight, as I've always remembered the Wall Monster boss to be a challenge. I went in with Clouds limit and Aeris & Red both with limits 1 hit away. I ofc. over-leveled to lvl 39 in the room where you can kill the dragons for 1600-2400 XP a pop. I would have went to 40, but I figured I better take advantage of the limit breaks all being timed just right.

Anyways... I used Climhazzard and it did over 5k dmg [Nail Bat is badass for no materia run through, make sure you get it before you enter the room with Sephiroth], then I used Aeris to heal, then to my sudden surprise, Stardust Ray appeared to have done over 7k dmg [It's almost impossible to count though... but it hit about 12 times for 400-800 dmg] and the monster was already dead.

I am constantly surprised at how easy the bosses have been. I've actually been very lazy with my over-leveling. Usually I train outside Corel until 25, inside Cave of the Gi until 35, and at Temple of the Ancients to 50. This time it has been more like 20-30-40.

So far, the last challenging boss fight I've had was the Junon Sea monster... which was a long ass time ago lol. Even Dyne was easier than I anticipated.
 
Hmmm... it seems the robot boss at the Underwater Reactor is giving me a hard time. [Not Proud Claud, the one that Reno sends after you]. It's Lapis Laser does over 1,200 dmg to everyone... and with each of my characters only having 3100/2800/2400 life... it hurts like hell. Spamming Hi-Potions for 500 HP a piece just seems futile at this point. I've died twice trying to kill it, but this next time I'm going to try killing off it's arms first and see what happens.
 
If you kill off both arms it'll just spam Lapis Laser... A lot. Personally i'd say to have everyone in the back row and in Sadness, that should reduce some of the damage and then throw S Mines or whatever it is that the enemies drop in that area. Also try to kill one arm, it'll help you out as the battle continues and it starts picking up characters. Personally i'd say it's the hardest boss on a NM Run outside of optional Weapons.
 
Rorolina Frixell said:
If you kill off both arms it'll just spam Lapis Laser... A lot. Personally i'd say to have everyone in the back row and in Sadness, that should reduce some of the damage and then throw S Mines or whatever it is that the enemies drop in that area. Also try to kill one arm, it'll help you out as the battle continues and it starts picking up characters. Personally i'd say it's the hardest boss on a NM Run outside of optional Weapons.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right. I killed it's arms and it started using Lapis Laser twice as much. I defeated it, but at the cost of 2 Elixers and Megalixers... so I'm just going to reset and try again, because I know I'll need those Megalixers for Seraf Sephiroth.

I'm not sure how I can get them into Sadness, but I'll try backrowing everyone and see if that helps. There really isn't much strategy I can use it seems... but just keep attacking the middle and try to recover from it's Lapis Laser fast enough to deal more damage before it does it again :/

Edit... 4th try failed. Standing in the Back Row only reduced it's arm attacks in half... but didn't affect it's laser damage at all. Since it also halved our damage, it's not really the best idea.
 
Last edited:
After the 4th try failing, I decided that I needed to go train a bit. I went all the way back to Mideel Forest and went from 39/44/45 to 50/52/53. I also gained Meteorain and Hyper Jump. So I used Fury Rings [<3 those things] to max all of our limits out at once and headed back to Junon for a rematch.

I still lost, but I feel like I did a lot more damage this time around. I suspect I was only just a few hits away, actually. This 5th time, it seemed to spam Lapis Laser more often because all three limits targeted multiple enemies and killed an arm. I'm just going to keep trying until I get a lucky break.

If I get desperate, I will try putting everyone in Fury. I noticed that before I died, all of my limits were damn near full again... so I figure if I try everyone in Fury, I will destroy him simply through Limit Breaks.

EDIT,

WOW... the Hyper-Fury idea was the way to go. I put everyone in Fury and I beat this boss in a matter of less than 45 seconds. Just one Lapis Laser was enough to fill our limits up to almost full again.

So after that is said and done, the obvious easiest way to beat this boss is to hit lvl 50, get Meteorain, Hyper Jump, and Stardust Ray, and put everyone in Fury using Hyper items before the battle begins. Do not use any potions or anything, just straight up all out glass cannon the bastard.

My characters ended with 850/650/200 life though, so it may take a few tries depending on luck.

________________________________________

UPDATE

I just beat the Turks in Midgar. They proved just as hard as the robot, but I tried the same exact strategy and it worked. This strategy [Detailed below] will probably prove to be the most useful and powerful strategy I've found in the No Materia game. There is nothing more badass than spamming your limit breaks to wrathfully pound a boss into oblivion. :D

Hyper-Fury all 3 characters, go in with all Limit Breaks full [Easily done using Fury Rings to attack enemies while your limit is full]. Vs the Turks, do not go offensive until you have limit breaks full. Just keep using Hi-Potions until a limit is ready and blast them. If you try to use regular attacks, your characters will simply get pummeled too fast... you need constant healing.
-Gear-
Accessories: Wear Ribbon on two of your characters [Elenas confusion attack] and anything else on the other [I used Power Wrist on Cid]. If you have a Fire ring, it would be most useful, as Elenas attacks are mostly fire. Alternatively, a Lightning Ring would work too.
Armor: I used a Fire Armlet on Cloud [Drains Fire Vs Elena], Escort Guard on Cid [Nullifies Fire/Lightning Vs Elena and Reno], and Aegis Armlet on Red XIII for the 86 Magic Defense and 50% Magic Defense [Since most of the Turks attacks are Magic]. You might try the Dragon Armlet on Red instead though, as it halves Fire and Lightning Damage. However, the 50% Magic Defense on Aegis Armlet is essentially the same thing, but with a little more.
 
Last edited:
Update on my progress.

I'm at the third CD now.

I have-
-Red's Limited Moon [Ult. Wep]
-Cid's Venus Gospel [Ult. Wep]
-Clouds Ultima Weapon.
Also have- [For the other character I kind of neglect]
-Yuffie's Conformer [Ult. Wep]
-Cait Siths HP Shout [Ult. Wep]
I skipped Barrets Missing Score because it relies almost entirely on materia for damage and I missed out on Tifas Premium Heart in Midgar [Although I suspect I might be able to get it with the Key to Midgar you can dig up in the Bone Village]. As for Vincent, I haven't even bothered to get him yet... lol. [I really don't like his useless Berserk-Limits].

I have-
-Clouds limits at Meteorain and Finishing Touch... so at any time I can go to the Battle Square and grind points for Omnislash and use it right away.
-Cid's limit at Dragon Dive... this is what I am working on right now, as I have the Highwind item, so as soon I unlock and use Big Brawl I'll get it.
-Red's limit eternally at Stardust Ray. Stardust ray hit's ten times, so it's better than Cosmo Memory so long as each hit does over 1k. [Red is at level 62 atm and his Stardust Ray already does 1100-2200 a hit].

That being said, I really only have 3 objectives left to finish.
#1: Get Cid to learn Highwind
#2: Get Cloud's Omnislash and get him to learn it.
#3: Reach an optimal level good enough to defeat Sephiroth.

#3 will be done easily if I can just find a way to farm Elixers without materia. I remember something about monsters that drop Elixers [I think in the Sunken Gelnika?], but I'm not 100% sure what or where they are. Anyways... if I can find a way to farm at least 30 elixers in a reasonable amount of time, I can kill some Magic Pots in "The Pool" for a quick 8-12 levels.

EDIT,

I think I'm going to give up on Omnislash. I went to the battle square at level 66 with Cloud. He's using Mystile [Easily the best armor to use], Ragnarok [Ultima Weapon would be weak because of the HP handicaps in the Arena], and Ribbon [Easily the best Acc. to use] and I could barely scrape together less than 300 BP a run... and that's if I didn't die unexpectedly, which happened about 1/3rd of the time. So averaging about 150-200 BP a run just isn't enough... that would mean I would be pulling 150-200 runs out of my ass just to make the 32,000 I need for Omnislash, it's just not worth it. I'll come back when I'm level 80+, but for now, it's just a no go.
 
Last edited:
Wow... I went to level in the pools for a little bit and once I hit level 68 on cloud I dropped the Save Point at the bottom and figured what the hell, I'll try Sephiroth just to get a feel for what I'll be up against when I hit level 80. I go in and rip up Jenova without even getting hit, beat Bizarro Sephiroth in a matter of a few minutes [Would have been faster, but his healing for 6500 a round was only delaying the inevitable] while only using up two X-Potions, then to my great surprise, trampled Seraf Sephiroth after only using an X-Potion and a Megalixer, which the latter was ofc only needed because of Super Nova.

I never had to switch parties [In fact, I've never in my 10 years of playing ff7 ever had to] and actually forgot to switch Cid over from his level 3 limit to level 4 Highwind. Sephiroth would have been beaten probably 20 seconds sooner had I used Highwind instead of Big Brawl.

I also must note that after my battle with Motor Ball, I decided to not use any type of materia whatsoever. [And at that point I hadn't used anything either].. I actually played the entire run through without ever using any materia of any kind in any way.

I've got to say, the No Materia run really does put in perspective just how easy this game really is. Here is a recap of the only bosses that killed me at least once.

-The Shinra Tank [Named Motor Ball apparently]: Was easily dispatched when I rearranged my parties front/back-row positions to do maximum damage.
-The Junon Sea Monster: Was difficult because it was flying and it's Orb Prison thing was immune to physical attacks... but it only took 3 total tries to pull it off.
-The Junon Robot: The most difficult boss in the game since it spams an attack that deals over 1500 damage to every character. I beat it by getting all 3 characters limits full before the battle, Fury'ed them with Hyper items, and simply spammed Limit Breaks while using my spare turns to primarily heal.
-The Turks in CD 2 Midgar: Same as the Junon Robot... was really tough to beat and died several times until I tried the same exact strategy I used on the robot and it prevailed the first try.

Other than that... I had no challenge whatsoever. I killed Sephiroth first try going in at lvl 68, Ultimate Weapon was a joke, Diamond Weapon only dished out one painful attack before I smacked it around, and to my surprise Hojo was almost a pushover. He gave me a hard time, but in the end I still defeated him first try and it wasn't really as much of a nail biter as I expected.

I ended with the following setup.

Cloud
Weapon: Ultima Weapon
Armor: Mystile
Accessory: Ribbon

Limit: Meteorain

Red XIII
Weapon: Limited Moon
Armor: Mystile
Accessory: Ribbon

Limit: Stardust Ray

Cid
Weapon: Venus Gospel
Armor: Aegis Armlet
Accessory: Reflect Ring

Limit: Highwind

Inventory [Before Sephiroth]: 4x Megalixer, 14x Elixer, 3x X-Potion, 56x Hi-Potion

Hopefully this thread not only encourages others to try this "challenge" but that it also helps them with it. I can honestly say that if I had previous knowledge of the Fury/Limit-Spam strategy, I probably would have beaten even the most difficult bosses in one try. So if you're looking to try this run, be sure to keep plenty of Hypers and Tranquilizers stocked... and you'll also need at least one Fury [Berserk] ring in order to build all three limit breaks to max at the same time. [This is because a character in berserk will use regular attack while their limit break gauge is full]. It's really a full-proof plan to trample every boss in the game.

...well, the run was fun, even though it was easy. GL on your run.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top