Hard Mode Hell House is BS

I just got here. Cloud/Aerith level capped, best equip, HP Up, Raise, Bahamut.

None of that matters when Hell House starts spitting out Tonberrys who can off you with a shot and paralyze you as you try to cast spells like Cure, Raise, or Thundaga. Casting spells like Scourge and Doom back to back. There is no in-game preparation for this. There's no materia or equip to protect against this. Only Aerith's Planet Protection can make you immune to death and there's no way to build up her Limit faster as you can only take so much damage before dying and can only stagger the Hell House once. Not to mention these damned Tonberrys teleport just as you're about to land the killing blow and wind up stabbing you in the back.

I watched a video of someone beating Hell House and it's all luck. This fight is part of the story so it should be skill-based not luck-based. I don't care if Hard Mode is optional.

It is Saturday, April 25 at 4:36PM and after 4 attempts and 2 1/2 hours, I finally kicked this box's teeth in.

EDIT: I defintitely found Sweepy/Cutty to be much easier to handle than the Tonberries. I did figure out that a couple blasts from Aerith's Sorcerous could drop them in an instant but one time when I had waited for the House to spit all three out, I used Aerith's Sorcerous twice, and the Tonberries went completely unaffected. Then she got stabbed with Chef's Knife. I tried to Raise her and the Tonberries Doomed me. I hate those wannabe turtles so DAMNED much. I did eventually win against Hell House a second time (no choice to get both the Cutty and Bombs Special Battles... complete bs), the first time Bahamut wiped out the Sweepers. The second time, I burned out my summon window so I didn't even get any help, had to take out the Sweepers the old-fashioned way. I did find that the doors were open, so I hid inside when the House was doing it's rocket charge. But it didn't help against its other attacks.

By the way, The Valkyrie is a BS battle too. A huge field of knockout gas, Tifa constantly nagging me to lead the laser to it, then you have to hold still long enough for the blast to charge and most times you can't dodge away fast enough and die. Not only that but it is a bitch trying to get the Valkyrie in one place where it'll be affected by the laser. You're getting constantly hammered by machine gun fire and grenades pushing you back away from the Valk and toward the laser, then as you're stunned, you can't dodge the laser and instant death. Bear in mind, I had 8000 HP each. I finally took it down by mostly ignoring the laser and putting more effort into staggering it with basic attacks. Then I got Barret's and Cloud's Limits and just went to town. I've said before that battles (even on Hard mode) should not be a luck-based asspull battle.

A couple of MOOK battles that also kicked my ass: an Elite Shock Trooper and his 2 Helitrooper buddies up on the Pillar. Then in the Shinra Building, a group made up of Guard Dogs, Riot Troopers, and SOLDIER 3rds wiped the floor with me. For this one I had to go back in loaded down with Max Lightning materia. Back to back Thundaga spells made "short" work of these a-holes.

Just from my personal experience: The boss battle is definitely long - but wasn't too difficult. It was harder for me the first time, but after seeing him once and getting used to hitting him hard with the right element before his transitions or God House Mode, it was just a patient battle with a lot of keeping Aeris far when I need to, otherwise controlling Cloud and trying to avoid what I can. His elemental changes in the latter phase also affect his attack patterns, which I learned the hard way in the first fight.

The addition of the Tonberries and the Sweeper/Cutter duo definitely raised the sense of urgency in the fight.

I remember having Cloud's Twin Stinger and I believe Aeris's Silver Staff? I think because they have relatively decent passives for MP regen or spell cost, I don't remember the exact equipment right now, but fairly certain. Gave Aeris three elements and Cloud the fourth (in my case, Fire/Ice/Lightning and Wind).

Hell House is susceptible to Poison, so I most definitely abused that! Didn't even use Biora/ga because of the higher MP cost -- Bio did the job because you mainly want to land the status effect. Reuse it if you need to reapply. Poison on him and Regen on yourself. Assuming you have Healing+Magnify on Aeris, I gave Cloud Pray and Chakra as its important to be able to heal without MP.

Tonberries have relatively low HP.
Triple Slash with Cloud normally decimated the Tonberries for me, if they didn't though -- I immediately pulled him away and tried to kill them with Aeris's Storm. But 100% you need to murder the Tonberries as soon as they spawn, I even had Cloud die one time I think due to a Chef's Knife, but it was ultimately inconsequential because he had killed two of them and I could dust off the third with Aeris before re-raising Cloud.

Avoid Ifrit/Shiva because of Hell House's troubling mode changing. I didn't have Bahamut, so Fat Chocobo was my way to go. Just my personal experience, I don't really look at guides and stuff until I get stumped but I think I will have to - to get Bahamut.

And now yes, Ultimate BS Hard Mode battle: Arsenal...

I finally deal enough damage to (fake) take it down. But then it's got this bs Cry Havoc thing that wipes out everybody onscreen. Bull f-ing $h!1. There is no possible way to deal enough damage to wreck thing before it fires off this thing twice (if lucky, you survive the first behind a chunk of pillar). Well, shait, obviously, it's POSSIBLE. But what exactly do they expect me to be doing? Thundaga, Focused Shot, Maximum Fury, Point Blank, Smackdown, f-ing Catstrophe do not do enough damage to this thing.

EDIT: O-KAY. I guess Thundaga spells were enough in the end.

EDIT2: AH OH WHOOO-OOHO! I... was starting to think... I was wasn't going to make it. Getting my butt kicked by those colored whispers and that damned W-Bahamut. Then Sephiroth and his brand new Hell'sGate p1$$ing me off. You got to shimmy like crazy. Switch and hit. Switch and hit. Never use your current character for Spells or Abilities. Arise. Curaga. Triple Slash, Focused Thrust, Starshower, Soul Drain... then finally during his stupid countdown, bend over and tell him to use his tongue. Lol. $++!T...!

I've finally figured out what makes Hard Mode battles bulltrout.

It's the sudden and sharp decline in AI performance. In Normal Mode, your party is clever enough to block and dodge away from attacks and will straight run to the far corners of the arena when a big attack is called out. In Hard Mode, your fellow party members become f-ing retarded, rushing at the enemy during its deadliest attacks.

Hard Mode isn't hard because the bosses are badder. It's hard because your team is stupider.