So, I finally bought FF7 for the first time... sadly. I have no clue what to expect from this game, in terms of difficulty, and I'm just wondering if this game is difficult? I don't care about graphics like, at ALL. Just to note. Thanks!

It honestly has a pretty decent difficulty curve. The last third of content begins to get tough but with wise use of materia as well as a bit of classic grinding to level them up to take on foes effectively, you'll do really well. If you can and want to spend some time, definitely look around for secrets in the world. You shall be quite rewarded for it. Also as soon as you get the Enemy Skill yellow materia, use it as often as possible and learn how powerful it can really be for most of the game.

Just get...

3x Ribbons

Quadra Magic

W-Magic

W-Summon

Knights of the Round

Bahamut ZERO

Final Attack + Phoenix

...and you'll be fine.

Nah, it's a great game and it ain't tricky, barring a couple of spots that'll make you scratch your head once or twice. You'll miss out on some minor things on your first two or three playthroughs, but that's part of the fun and adds to the re-playability factor in the future.

The difficult parts arent even part of the main questline.

The hardest part is finding all the ultimates cause they are hidden in a way that forces you to run around in every room clicking the button for activating stuff...

It definitely has a difficulty curve near the end of the game, although if you grind and use material wisely it isn't too bad.

Easily the most difficult things are the two weapon bosses, Ruby & Underwater, and doing all the tasks associated for everyone's ultimate weapon/limit break.

It's the easiest Final Fantasy next to IX.

ive never really even thought about a ff game being difficult. Its not about quick reflexes or dexterity, its about grinding enough levels and right equipment and abilities

It was a cakewalk for me 10 years ago, but I was a pretty hardcore RPG nut then. I was also about 8 years old when I finished it for the first time, so it's probably pretty easy? I remember grinding a bit in the beginning but never later on.

It's a great game that gets hate for being overhyped I agree, and I thought it was easy back when I first played it. Never really got into any stretches of gameplay that put me off either. As long as you don't skip too many battles, search chests, shop and read into things, you should be fine. Figuring out materia is like the one necessary thing.
 
..and we all died at the scorpion, right?

Not really. But man you should definately look forward to the story. FF at its best.

for the love of god dont fight ruby....you will see what i mean

Either find Knights of the Round or grind out Materia. Don't do both as the game is a cakewalk then. I beat the last boss with two casts of KOTR (with crazy materia bouncing the summon off a character and casting it multiple times)

I never found much difficulty with it, just have to have a bit of patience when it gets to grinding time.

So long as you are even the smallest bit prepared, no.

In terms of the mandatory bosses: Carry Armor is annoying with his laser spamming and people-grabbing. Demon Wall is a demonic wall. Also it has cheap attacks.

I've never fought Jenova-LIFE without a Water Ring and/or, but maybe that might be a tiny bit difficult? (I doubt it)

The last time I finished it I thought the final boss was harder than I remembered it being in my first two completions. Now that I think about it I'm pretty sure that I heard that the final boss difficulty changes based on if you use Knights of the Round during a different fight. It was either Emerald Weapon or the second last boss.

And there was one enemy in the beginning of the game that really fucked me up. Other than that it was fairly easy.

How long does this game take to finish, I was on the first disk when I left it so I think I'll start again so that I don't get crushed.

@theodacourt:

Story-wise, disc 1 is most of the game. 2 and 3 combined are half as long (3 is literally the last dungeon), but they are where you really dig into the sidequest stuff. Specifically grinding out materias, catching/feeding/racing/breeding Chocobos, chasing around Ultimate Weapon, getting endgame weapons, etc. All optional, really though.

In terms of mainlining the story it's not that hard. Just don't run from random battles unless absolutely necessary. Although I can't say much for the end game though as I've only ever done the last boss after clearing all the optional harder bosses. So maybe it's hard then? Mime makes everything trivial.

@xaLieNxGrEyx: I'd say VII is easier than IX. IX can have its moments.

If you're willing to grind then no.

VII is probably harder than VIII and IX, but that's only because those two are incredibly easy.

It's not much harder though. You can generally futz your way through it except a few bosses might take you a couple tries. The one at the end of Cosmo Canyon gave me some trouble when I was a kid.

I'm talking as a first run perspective here though. If you know what you're doing any FF game is piss easy. Well, except maybe the DS remake of III.

The only difficult time I had was when you have to fight the Demon Wall and the Materia Keeper. I was under-leveled and had poor materia both times though. If you're sufficiently leveled, you should have no problem. Everyone seems to make Carry Armor a big deal but I didn't have any trouble. So... yeah. If you stay at a good level and have good materia you shouldn't have too much trouble.

@Canteu said:

It's not much harder though. You can generally futz your way through it except a few bosses might take you a couple tries. The one at the end of Cosmo Canyon gave me some trouble when I was a kid.

Damn I hated that boss. When I learnt at a later date you could just Phoenix down him I almost cried.

@Cyrus_Saren said:

The only difficult time I had was when you have to fight the Demon Wall and the Materia Keeper. I was under-leveled and had poor materia both times though. If you're sufficiently leveled, you should have no problem. Everyone seems to make Carry Armor a big deal but I didn't have any trouble. So... yeah. If you stay at a good level and have good materia you shouldn't have too much trouble.

Carry Armor also gave me a good run for my money first time round.

I also remember struggling against the first weapon you face (outside Midgar).

Subsequent play through I always made sure I was appropriately leveled and there was never once an issue,

I remember it being easy the first time, and it DEFINITELY is easy when you know some of the tricks. There are a myriad of ways to completely stomp the last boss even without the bullshit summon KotR.

I don't remember it being 'difficult'. Grindy, sure, but most JRPGs don't take 'skill' as much as they just take a player knowing what they need to do. It's not a test of reflexes, it's a test of planning I guess is what I mean.

I seem to remember not getting in to the "I told everyone to attack and then the enemy got in like 3 attacks and I really should have told someone to heal but now it's too late" situation, as much as would happen in older FF games.

that's not to say that some of the battles won't be stressful.

I would say VII is fairly easy if you don't run from random battles throughout the games. FFVIII is by far the easiest if you have a good grasp of the Junction system and how to exploit it.

@SamStrife said:

@Canteu said:

It's not much harder though. You can generally futz your way through it except a few bosses might take you a couple tries. The one at the end of Cosmo Canyon gave me some trouble when I was a kid.

Damn I hated that boss. When I learnt at a later date you could just Phoenix down him I almost cried.

@Cyrus_Saren said:

The only difficult time I had was when you have to fight the Demon Wall and the Materia Keeper. I was under-leveled and had poor materia both times though. If you're sufficiently leveled, you should have no problem. Everyone seems to make Carry Armor a big deal but I didn't have any trouble. So... yeah. If you stay at a good level and have good materia you shouldn't have too much trouble.

Carry Armor also gave me a good run for my money first time round.

I also remember struggling against the first weapon you face (outside Midgar).

Subsequent play through I always made sure I was appropriately leveled and there was never once an issue,

That actually reminded me that I also had trouble with Diamond weapon. It was the same as the others in that I was under-leveled though.

I don't remember it being especially difficult. Then again, I don't remember a lot about the game in the first place.

I'd say that it's one of the easiest Final Fantasys. You can probably get away with not grinding at all during the main quest as long as you don't run and use materia wisely. Unless you're a 100% kind of person in which case Ruby and Emerald Weapon are a total bitch.

There is a lot to it. Just make sure you use a FAQ and do all the ultimate weapon stuff. Cuz it feels good when you do it, and you will no there is no reason to play it again.

@RedCream said:

If you're willing to grind then no.

You don't even really have to grind if you use a bit of strategy, just fight whatever random encounters you get along the journey and that should be plenty.

I remember reading about a metagame that involved running from every random encounter so that the only leveling up that you get is from bosses, and it is apparently entirely possible to beat that way. (The metagame also had some other rules like no items during battles and probably some things that I am forgetting.)

@WiqidBritt said:

I don't remember it being 'difficult'. Grindy, sure, but most JRPGs don't take 'skill' as much as they just take a player knowing what they need to do.

Isn't that what skill is?

The most frustrating part of the game is actually navigating the static backgrounds.

@Video_Game_King said:

@WiqidBritt said:

I don't remember it being 'difficult'. Grindy, sure, but most JRPGs don't take 'skill' as much as they just take a player knowing what they need to do.

Isn't that what skill is?

I view "skill" as being more reflex/reaction oriented. Dexterity is important for skill, not something that's necessarily important for a JRPG such as this, hence the one handed 'RPG' controller someone made around the same time as FF7.

@WiqidBritt:

There are different types of skill; dexterity is just one of them. And what's this about a one-handed RPG controller....outside of Earthbound?

Breeding and racing those fucking chocobos...

I've recently replayed it, and maybe it's due to familiarity, but I thought it was really easy. Didn't even need to grind, just fought all the battles I got into and that got me through most of it. Course, that's the main plot we're talking about. The weapons are a different matter entirely.