What up in Wutai

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Clearly Wutai is meant to be undertaken later in the game (ie not when you get the Tiny Bronco). However, this NPC raises an interesting meta point: materia's usefulness diminishes rather rapidly. So if this NPC in Wutai recognises how little value materia has, why is Yuffie so intent on stealing smurfing every orb she can?

Because it's pretty.

Because I would also want to steal orbs that give you magical powers.

THEY ARE ORBS THAT GIVE YOU MAGICAL POWERS

And yes, pretty

Yuffie can't see the wood for the trees. Or she can't see the quest to save the entire planet for her quest to save Wutai.

Because girls are evil.

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Originally Posted by Jiro

Clearly Wutai is meant to be undertaken later in the game (ie not when you get the Tiny Bronco). However, this NPC raises an interesting meta point: materia's usefulness diminishes rather rapidly. So if this NPC in Wutai recognises how little value materia has, why is Yuffie so intent on stealing smurfing every orb she can?

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I dunno, I disagree with just about everything in your premise.
Wutai is designed to be difficult just after you get the Tiny Bronco, but even as my first RPG ever when I was 13 years old I managed to get it done. Also look at where Levaithan fits in in the list of summons, right below Odin with you got at Nibelheim and above Bahamut which you get in the Temple of the Ancients.

Also I disagree strongly that materia gets less useful. Magic materia certainly sees a big drop off in utility, but that is more than made up with all the cool other stuff you get access to.

Now for the sake of argument lets say I accept you axioms. I would say that if getting strong on your own negates the need for lots of materia to act as a crutch then the perfect way to increase the power of a relatively weak force (aka the Wutai army) is to prop them up with materia.

She wants some bling for the Wutai Clan.

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Originally Posted by VeloZer0

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Originally Posted by Jiro

Clearly Wutai is meant to be undertaken later in the game (ie not when you get the Tiny Bronco). However, this NPC raises an interesting meta point: materia's usefulness diminishes rather rapidly. So if this NPC in Wutai recognises how little value materia has, why is Yuffie so intent on stealing smurfing every orb she can?

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I dunno, I disagree with just about everything in your premise.
Wutai is designed to be difficult just after you get the Tiny Bronco, but even as my first RPG ever when I was 13 years old I managed to get it done. Also look at where Levaithan fits in in the list of summons, right below Odin with you got at Nibelheim and above Bahamut which you get in the Temple of the Ancients.

Also I disagree strongly that materia gets less useful. Magic materia certainly sees a big drop off in utility, but that is more than made up with all the cool other stuff you get access to.

Now for the sake of argument lets say I accept you axioms. I would say that if getting strong on your own negates the need for lots of materia to act as a crutch then the perfect way to increase the power of a relatively weak force (aka the Wutai army) is to prop them up with materia.

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Fair points, but there's no reason for the NPC to say "at this stage" if it's even half likely that people will get there that early on disc one.

He's not referring to Wutai as a stage of this game. He's not even referring to a point in the game as a stage. He's just talking about the world. With the increase in modern technology, materia seems to be more and more a relic of the past. "Stage of the game" is just a metaphor.

Fair point but the npc is inaccurate in that case; machines still can't stand up to a couple bolt 3 hits. Technology isn't supreme! But no your point is a good one, materia seems to be largely unused among Shinra and its troops in the contemporary period

Yuffie is a thief, thieves steal, then they admire what they steal and sell it for twice their value to idiots who would pay full price without asking questions.

Yuffie is an orphan whose parents were killed in the previous war ShinRa had with Wutai. She steals materia because she wants it to make herself powerful enough to get revenge. Even if gameplay-wise materia becomes less and less useful, in the game world it's always something that makes you stronger.

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Originally Posted by theundeadhero

Yuffie is an orphan whose parents were killed in the previous war ShinRa had with Wutai. She steals materia because she wants it to make herself powerful enough to get revenge. Even if gameplay-wise materia becomes less and less useful, in the game world it's always something that makes you stronger.

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her dad lives in a pagoda, though

You're right, I was going on old confused information from years ago :p

Apart from the fact that she's not an orphan, you're entirely correct. But it just seems odd because, yeah, gameplay wise materia just becomes pretty moot.