Combat Enhanced: Breaking FF7Remake’s Limit

Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Mod

I don’t enjoy mods. For a feature of the gaming landscape that has had countless impacts on gaming as a whole (from mods that have spun off into massive franchises, to developers openly embracing fan mods in official re-releases and console viability), I’ve rarely had positive experiences. “Mods make the game better” was often a comment I got in reference to certain massively popular games, yet never made sense to me in the context it was stated. If I already liked the game, why would I need a mod to make it “better” when I already just like the game? Mods run the risk of causing potential unintended errors, disturbing game balance, or functionally removing/altering mechanics that were intentionally put into the game.

My rationale had typically always been “If I need a mod to turn the game into something I like, then why would I be playing a game I just don’t like” and a very similar mentality carried whenever I heard “It’s fun when you play with friends” since that puts the responsibly on an external factor to make the game enjoyable. When I buy a game, I’m buying it because the game itself interests me. I’m not envisioning what someone might hopefully eventually make to turn the game into an experience I’ll like. To me, it felt like going to a restaurant and being upset your meal wasn’t cooked homestyle. The first mod that feels like a genuine enhancement to a core experience I already deeply enjoyed is the “Gameplay Enhancement” mod by Arthas1986 on Nexusmods.

The mod provides several various gameplay changes to FF7R that are very clearly driven by a desire to push the combat system a bit further than the offerings in the base game. The most general rundown of the mod is that it triples enemy HP, increases enemy attack stats by 40%, defense stats by 30%, and makes staggering enemies take 50% longer. As a result, the enemies are not only more hearty, but far more deadly and resilient as well. On paper, the mod sounds like an absurd idea of increasing difficulty by very arbitrary means. However, in execution, these changes (along with a few on the equipment side) has turned FF7R’s combat into a satisfying yet deadly blitz that has me on the edge of my seat even for normal battles.

As an example, a result from the increase in enemy defense means that staggers become much more vital for dealing damage. The system already encouraged the player to stagger enemies, but their defenses and health were so low that you often were just better off overpowering the enemy and wiping them off the map before even considering staggering them first. What results now is a need to pay attention to the enemies, their unique quirks, and how to effectively both pressure and stagger them while being able to capitalize off of it. The vastly increased health means that enemies won’t just implode after being staggered once and capitalizing off of your opportunity becomes more vital. The increased health also means you get more opportunities to stagger enemies and interact with the stagger system as a core feature of combat instead of as a win condition.

The mod does feature some additions to aid the player while not directly increasing their strength. You have 10 potions and 5 eithers in your inventory at the start, mako shards regains double the MP, enemy exp gain is increased by 25%, the value for potions, mega potions, and ethers has been adjusted, and some equipment had values tweaked and additional Materia slots added. These changes feel purposefully added to give more chance for build variety and player expression while reducing the number of “direct upgrades” that some of these items were in the base game. Instead of making the decision of being stuck at two to three less Materia slots for bigger numbers, the numbers themselves matter. If you wanted to use a more magic centric build for Cloud, that’s not longer going to come at the cost of your stats or force you to equip certain items just to even attempt the style.

The result of all these changes has been dramatic to say the least. I feel more driven to come up with game plans and various build ideas given the materia I have access to, the slots to use them, and the challenge both immediately in my way and down the road. Builds I would have access to near the end of a normal playthrough became concepts I could realize before the halfway point, which has further pushed me to come up with even more expressive ideas and plans. Currently, I have a build focused around Barret hovering around 8k health, nearly 100 mp, and provoke materia while being the main magic damage output for the party. Given his large health and want to stay far from the fight, Cloud and Tifa are more of the vanguard with a few thousand less health than him. Cloud specializing in being a strong frontline with some magic capabilities with Tifa acting more as a support/thief until the enemy becomes staggered. Once staggered, Tifa turns into an ATB devouring damage machine. Stringing multiple attacks and ATB abilities together to melt the enemy health bar, boost the stagger threshold damage, and cash out by seeing her nearly hit 9999 off of a well coordinated limit break.

That’s not to say there aren’t some downsides and potential oversights. The game’s lack of means to save preset materia comps means that changing builds often requires a lot of menuing and party management. Certain enemies are also far more annoying due to grab attacks locking a party member down and the increased damage output can result in them dying exceptionally fast. The increased health also means fights took very notably longer in certain fights or ones I was less than ideally prepared for. On average, some bosses could hover between 20 minutes to an hour. Fights/Segments that involve timers counting down are also notably more tense. Some were adjusted and mentioned in the section labeled “Timer” to better scale for the tougher enemies, but Sephiroth’s meteor and The Arsenal’s Cry Havoc seem unaffected. I was able to clear these fights once I got to these points on my first attempts but both felt extremely close to the limit.

FF7R already had a combat system I was deeply interested in and loved to experiment in. This mod has only further solidified those thoughts and beliefs. From seeing moves from enemies that I never had the chance to, and having to pay attention to how certain actions can be used (I never realized Barret’s arm could be quickly loaded after a full burst from his normal fire prior to this playthrough), to feeling the impact of buffs and de-buffs to keep pace with certain enemies, this mod has shown me just how remarkable certain mods can be even when they are mostly impacting stats.

I don’t anticipate browsing Nexusmods for more “life altering experiences” with mods, but I do feel I’ve come to better understand some who do. I don’t expect mods to fix every game I play or to make them better than the core experience. A good foundation (the base game) is necessary for mods to even exist, but if you are looking for new ways to experience something you are intimately familiar with, then I can see the appeal of loading up dozens of mods and turning your favorite game into a newly tailored experience. I don’t think mods should be mandatory for one’s enjoyment, but I do see the strong case for them making certain games “even better”. I’ll likely stick to never using mods or guides for a first playthrough, but I do have a newfound interest in seeing if other experiences I’ve deeply loved can be turned into something even greater by someone just as passionate about the core game as I.