The Platinum Road #R1 - Midgar, running it Back
On my quest to get 100 Platinums, I ended up doing save transfers for 4 different games to boost my numbers in order to get it before the end of 2024. I now feel like that was a bit naff so on a new account, I'm going to get them again legitimately. These games are all the PS5 versions of: Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake, Resident Evil 7 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. First up is Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which is tying nicely to a catch-up leading to Final Fantasy 7 Revelations early next year.
Stage 1: “This is a one time deal”
I’m starting from scratch here so there’s a lot to think about for the playthrough. Each chapter has a trophy for completion and there are several chapter specific trophies which I’m going to try and get as I go. There is a chapter select that allows you to go back for all missables but I’d rather avoid that.
My first one I got semi accidentally. ‘Heavenly Dart Player’ requires you to beat a 301 point Dart game in 7 darts or less. I had forgotten it was a trophy, I just really enjoy the Dart Minigame. It took about 10 minutes. Something less enjoyable is ‘Biker Boy’ which has you having to survive the Motorbike section in Chapter 4 – vs Enemies and the Roche fight with like 80% health left. Failed that on the playthrough, had to go back for that later.
Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are fairly dull affairs save for the Airbuster fight at the end of Chapter 7 but there was two trophies to get - ‘Cleanup Crew’ in Chapter 6 and ‘In Lockstep’ in Chapter 7. Finding the Moogle/Chocobo summon materia gets you the first and retrieving your ill-gotten gains in the disposal room gets you the other. Both very simple.
Moving onto Chapter 8 is a very fun one, being the main introduction to Aerith and our next more open sections. I completed all of the side quests naturally, including one that had it’s own trophy associated with it - ‘Crate Annihilator’. There’s different crates of different sizes that each provide a different amount of points or extension to the timer. Minimum amount to beat the minigame and side quest is 10K but 30K nabs you top billing and the trophy. I don’t know if I’m confusing it with another minigame but this one is pretty easy, got it first try. Embarrassingly, I thought I could handle doing the Shiva summon boss solo with Cloud to which I failed and then failed again with Cloud and Aerith. I’ll have to come back for that and Fat Chocobo later when I have a fuller squad.
My favourite chapter in the game, Chapter 9, does start off incredibly dull with the crane puzzle section but once you reach Wall Market it’s all up from there – the Colosseum, the Honeybee Inn, all great. I made a couple of wrong choices which meant that the trophy for completing the Jonny content will have to wait but I did all the side quests available (which are mutually exclusive requiring another run through of the chapter anyways). The trophy for 3 dresses is unlocked by the story but there’s also a trophy ‘Returning Champion’ for returning to the arena to do a mission. Elsewhere is ‘Sultan of Squat’ for beating all three difficulties of the Squat challenge. I’ve never struggled with these like some people have, managing the first one first try and the second two second try (First try each really save for an initial blunder when I was still operating on the faster speed of the previous challenge). Finally getting a great score in the Honeybee’s dance challenge with Andrea earns you ‘Dancing Queen’. Less successful was the training for this – there’s no trophy explicitly linked to this but a perfect training score gives you a Musical Disc, of which you need all for the trophy. This took me like 20 attempts, and I’ve got no idea why, especially since I went on to do the main event first try.
We have a little bit of a dry spell trophy wise since Chapters 10-13 are a stretch of story chapters with little diversion. The duo fight with Reno and Rude was giving me the runaround a little but other than that things went well. Chapter 14 is the most open the game gets with you being allowed free travel between Sector 6 and 7. There’s also the most side quests here with a total of 9 available. First up was a return trip to Chadley to try the Summon bosses – Shiva, Fat Chocobo and now Leviathan. Shiva was thankfully first try (technically third) thanks to a full squad of Cloud, Tifa and Barret, earning me ‘Summon Slayer’. A dodgy start at Fat Chocobo caused a restart but I’ll still call that first try. Unfortuantely I didn’t manage to get the trophy for 300% stagger which is best done on Fat Chocobo, missing it by a couple of hits. Leviathan was a roughfight but I lost to his ultimate attack. Once again putting these off, probably until I have Aerith for her very strong magic damage.
There’s the hard mode version of both Box smashing and Squats (this time Pull Ups). Boxes once again is easy street while Pull ups I gave to Jade to do (I’ve done it before on PS4 I can do it, she just wanted a turn). They netted me ‘Whack-a-Box Wunderkind’ and ‘Peeress of Pull-Ups' respectively The Behemoth in the underground was easily the messiest fight so far. I managed on my second attempt but there was a lot of kiting, healing and reviving. Having the boss do contact damage when it’s moving just isn’t fun design in my opinion. Finally, Kyrie is really annoying and I hate that she’s in the sequel. Before wrapping up the chapter, I went back to the Coliseum to beat the 10 or so challenges there, nothing of note really. Having beaten all 24 available side quests, collecTing a note from the Angel of the Slums gives us ‘Divine Gratitude’
It’s a straight shot now for the last four chapters - Chapter 15 is nothing special but Chapter 16 does introduce a battle arena simulator for us. The main boss of this chapter is Speciment H0512, who I managed to beat first try despite pissing about with trying to sort unique weapon skills. Chapter 17 offers 3 bosses back to back - Jenova, Rufus and The Arsenal. Jenova is fun and I’ve never much cared for the Arsenal. Rufus can be challenging since it’s a solo fight but once you get the strategy down it can be really fun.
Chapter 18 of course is the final one of the game and has you fight Fate itself in the form of the whispers followed by Sephiroth himself. I remember struggling against the Whispers my first time around but maybe it was in hard mode? Sephiroth was a fun challenge, going down on the third try. I could have done it first try but made a couple of silly mistakes.
Beating the game unlocks Hard difficulty which we also need to get through. First, there’s a few other things.
Stage 1.5: Mercenary Work
This was a 66 hour playthrough, I’ll admit my note taking slacked a bit. Got the second round of dresses? If I mention finishing something in Stage 2 but didn’t start it in Stage 1, I probably did it here.
Stage 2: “Tell me you can’t hear the planet crying out in pain!?”
Image courtesy of IGN
There’s not much excitement at the start of the game so I’ll blast through the first few hours. The Scorpion Sentinel was 1st Try but harder than I thought it would be. I had a greedy death in Chapter 2 against some mobs but otherwise no issues. The Wrath Hound in Chapter 3 killed me like 7 times because contact damage is bullshit.
The Roche motorbike fight can be skipped with no consequences so naturally I did that but the universe came back to bite me in the backside by making Roche take 4 attempts since I just wasn’t paying attention to one his moves the first 3 times.
Crab Warden was an easy first try and while Airbuster was a bit messy at times, it was still a first try attempt. The first tries continued with Reno in Chapter 8 but the streak ended with a second attempt needed for Rude (If I put the correct element on my weapon – Wind instead of Ice, it might have been a first time).
Panic struck at the start of Chapter 9 when I realised Tifa wasn’t wearing the right dress – turns out I chose Sporty twice instead choosing Exotic but instead of goin back to Chapter 3 now, I instead just completed the chapter. Hell House was a boss I was fearing since I remembered it being difficult (As mentioned earlier). I didn’t expect the Tonberry spawns but they were manageable. The thing that really ruined the first attempt was the spawning of the two Shinra robots. Attempt 2 was marred by a Tonberry kill which led to a quick restart. The third attempt was long and messy but it ended in a victory. Choosing the correct dialogue choices got me the remaining two side quests in Chapter 9, meaning I had completed all 26 needed for ‘Best in the Business’.The side quest ‘The Party Never Stops’ was my last Jonny incident needed for ‘The Jonny Experience’ too. Going back to Chapter 3 on Easy, knocking out the quests and making sure I made the correct choice, I returned to Chapter 9 to finally earn ‘Dressed to the Nines’
Got a bit of a boss rush now. Abzu was a second attempt. thanks to some stupid positioning during his flooding move, Ghoul in Chapter 11 was also 2nd attempt according to my notes but I can’t remember what happened there.
Eligor is the only unique encounter that has a special stealable weapon and since it took me 3 attempts over the evening and following day to beat him, I had to waste time using Steal to make sure the weapon stayed. The Duo fight of Reno & Rude in Chapter 12 might have been a second attempt but they were still easier (less bullshit) than the Helitroopers on the climb up.
I’ll just come out and say I don’t like Chapter 13 nor do I like the boss fight against the Failed Experiment which took 4 tries thanks to it’s near instant kill jump attacks. It was this boss that made me take a proper look at my equipment and try and plan a little better and I hate that it was on such a mediocre boss.
Fetching the two remaining discs I needed (Having gotten the other two I needed in Chapters 3 and 5) in Chapter 14 gave us ‘Disc Jockey’ Beyond that I didn’t do much in the chapter, primarily heading for story and beating the Abzu rematch first try. I didn’t bother with the Type-0 Behemoth in the side quest but I’ve got a fight against them later.
I got to see more of the Valkyrie fight in Chapter 15 because I had two very close fights, the first one he must have had one hit left. The second went a wee bit worse with like 10% left. I did get to see more of the boss though and it’s gone up in my estimation. Still not a huge fan of the Chapter.
The last Tifa weapon I needed was the ‘Purple Pain’ and choosing the Elevator instead of the stairs helped get the weapon proficiency up. Barret also has a weapon in this chapter that you buy from the Mayors assistant (Only the first time you leave the office annoyingly as I discovered in my first playthrough). This chapter also saw my Warding materia reach level 3 after it being equipped with the AP up materia. I was doing this for Chadley’s Battle intel. Turns out I misread and this one wasn’t necessary. A colossal sized oof honestly. Specimen H0152 took 3 tries to wrap things up - can’t think of any reason why, just how it goes sometimes.
We interrupt here for a moment since we’ve reached Chapter 17 again and now that we’re in Hard difficulty, we have access to the remaining challenges. First up was the vs 3-C Soldier Candidates of which there’s one for each of the party members. Cloud took 2 attempts, Barret just 1, Tifa took 2 according to my notes (though I swear it was only once) and finally Aerith struggled a little but it got done in 4. Vs Dynamic Duos was a second try with Wall Market’s favourite couple Cloud and Aerith. If I remembered where I failed with any of these, I’m sure it’d make for a more interesting section to read but clearly my note taking isn’t that good.
The final challenge here (for now) is Vs Monsters of Legend, which I took on with Cloud, Tifa and Aerith. The Type-0 Behemoth that I skipped in Chapter 14 came back and kicked my ass but I got them on the second time around. The final boss of this challenge is a unique encounter against a Malboro, who also happens to be the easiest of the 5 encounters. Letting myself get hit by the ‘Bad Breath move with the Enemy skill materia (After obtaining the other 3 throughout my travels) gives us ‘Master of Mimcry’. Beating the boss also gives us ‘That’s the Smell’
I still had one or two more materia to level up before I could do the Bahamut fight and the final VR challenge so I grinded a little to get the skill on Aerith’s Bladed staff. When the trophy didn’t pop, I realised there was a second Barrett weapon I had forgotten (Different to the one from the Mayor’s assistant). A quick revisit of Chapter 14 to get the weapon and a return to Chapter 17 to grind it out in VR to earn ‘Weapons Expert’. It was finally time to beat the hell out of Fat Chocobo to earn ‘Staggering Feat’.
With little else to distract me, Chapter 17 started and honestly? Very surprised how it went. Would you believe the Swordipede was the hardest boss in the chapter with 2 attempts? Jenova was a first try, Rufus & Darkstar was a first try somehow?? Still not sure how I managed that. Rich boy wishes he was me. Finally was The Armoury which has a potential insta kill at the end. I think I beat it by seconds. At some point in the chapter, my final materia upgraded meaning I could go back to Chadley to fight Bahamut. It was a first try but that’s a normal mode boss with hard mode stats. Bahamut would get his revenge real soon. Finishing all of Chadley’s missions gets us ‘Intelligence Agent’
Before the last Chapter, there lies one more challenge: Three-Person Team vs. Top Secret. This is the big final challenge, locked behind completing all other challenges and being in hard mode. For this, you have to beat the Summons - Shiva, Fat Chocobo, Leviathan, Bahamut (and Ifrit because why not) and finally a new encounter. Shiva took a couple attempts before I settled for Elemental-Ice on Cloud’s armour (On my team of Cloud, Tifa and Aerith). Fat Chocobo and Leviathan didn’t prove a problem for the four or times I fought them. Four? Yes, because Bahamut and Ifrit absolutely battered me with my winning attempt seemingly a fluke. Much like how the Type-0 Behemoth is much more difficult than the Malboro, Bahamut was much more difficult than the Pride and Joy prototype. Besides from having a decent amount of health, nothing that P&J does is all that intimidating. Conquering this challenge grants you a well earned ‘Ultimate Weapon’
Back to Chapter 18, where we thankfully get to skip the motorbike section and the Wrecking Ball boss fight. The home stretch now with just the Whisper Harbinger and Sephiroth to go. It all came back to me, how much I absolutely despise the Whisper Harbinger fight on Hard. It’s overtuned difficulty wise, there’s a load of stun and it’s just not a very fun time. There’s also the case that there’s no checkpoint throughout this entire fight, nor pause in the action so the gear you take into the fight is what you’re stuck with and if you die it’s back from the start again.This took me 5 attempts and honestly I’m happy that I’ll never have to do it again. Sephiroth is the one who stands between us and the platinum and even though it took me four tries, he’s just a really fun encounter. It was interesting I had Aerith and Barrett this time rather than Tifa and Barret like my first playthrough. Completing the game on Hard gives us 'Hardened Veteran’ and of course the Platinum Trophy - ‘Master of Fate’ - done properly on PS5.
Bonus Stage: Gone Sonon Soon
While I had the game installed, I figured I should play the DLC for both story catch up and to practice playing with Yuffie. The story is just to introduce Yuffie to the remake timeline and that’s it. I don’t really like Yuffie, nor do I even remotely care about the Avalanch crew she interacts with (Who are complete nobodies and arguably go against the lore). Sonon is cool but he’s introduced to be killed off. Nero and Deepground are interesting but they aren’t mentioned in Rebirth (Maybe for Revelations?).
I didn’t do any side quests nor engage in side content (Which is Fort Condor and a summon fight against Ramuh) so my playthrough was just the story content. The four main boss fights - Gigantipede, Scarlet/The Crimson Mare, Diabolic Creation and Nero were all first try (Nero being a surprise). I do wonder how the DLC plays if you do the head start.
Yuffie is actually quite fun to play as and the renewed experience will help by going into Rebirth. The way Sunon is handled is quite odd. He can’t be controlled but he helps - ala Red XIII from the main game. However Sunon’s full kit can me be changed as if he was playable which he’s got every facet of being a playable character save for the fact he’s not playable? You can activate Synergy with Yuffie but I never really gave it any time in favour of just using Sonon as an extra body - his materia of auto-cure and aggro taking help not being able to swap characters.
With that, Final Fantasy 7 Intergrade is done and 1 of my 4 Platinum’s of shame have been redeemed (Technically my second after Resident Evil 2 but I’m condensing the article for RE2 and RE3 into one). Next up is those Resident Evil games, a double bill of 2 and 3. See you there!
