The Game's difficulty is a joke

[Hollycat]

only chuck norris can beat chuck norris mode

[Sylvie]

Secret Character: Bruce Lee

How to unlock: Enter the dragon and enjoy yourself tonight.

[Rostum]

Yay Chuck Norris jokes, that isn't old.

[Sephiroth]

Fight 400000 Hit Points Sephiroth without Ribbons, White Capes, et cetera and you will see. And of course without Materia if you don't mind. You will need 45 minutes for the battle cause the heroes will fully heal Sephiroth all the time.

[Mirage]

But that's like saying "walking to the store is hard, if you just chop off your legs and arms, and don't use an electric wheelchair, and also do it in winter when the roads are full of ice".

[Sylvie]

Some humans aren't so thrilled with how easy life is to navigate. If I wanted a serious challenge, I'd run myself through the amputation and barrel roll to the store. And I'm sure that they'd be impressed once I arrived.

[Sephiroth]

But that's like saying "walking to the store is hard, if you just chop off your legs and arms, and don't use an electric wheelchair, and also do it in winter when the roads are full of ice".

No it is not because Ribbons make the last battles so easy. But the storyline does not expect you to visit all Temple rooms, the secret room in the Cliff and the pockets of Master Tonberrys. The Materia thing I said was just an extra advice to make things harder.

[Mirage]

You normally come across one ribbon without specifically looking for them, and a white cape or two isn't hard to find either (they can be bought in stores). If you missed the ribbons, there's still a chance you managed to pick up added effect and hades, which allows for another party member to be immune to lots of stuff. Even if you didn't go down to the downed gelnika, you can still get a party member relatively safe by giving them white cape and an added effect+mystify materia combo.

Sephiroth isn't hard even if you rush through the game, when you know what he's gonna throw at you. It's like they say, knowing is half the battle .

I still don't see anything wrong with my analogy. The game gives you tools to win battles, these tools are armor, weapons, materia and accessories. Modern technology gives paraplegic people tools to move around in the modern world. Not using the tools the game more or less throws at you is just like refusing to use a wheelchair when you can't walk.

[Sephiroth]

You normally come across one ribbon without specifically looking for them

No, you do not. I have posted the locations and possibilities here (except the Battle Square Special Round since the chance is not that high that people do that on their first try before finishing the story since story is more important and interesting when having your first experience). The Temple of the Ancients clock treasures are completely optional. There are three important ways and nine irrelevant ones. The irrelevant ones are to show you "Oh, dead end" and "Oh, cool, a reward". No one expects you to visit all twelve rooms (actually eleven since you have a start point, of course). You are rewarded for your curiosity/try to find the right way. It is not thought to seek for a special item you don't even know where to find (after 14 years people do know, of course).

And even one Ribbon is not helpful enough against Sephiroth. Neither the White Cape which is only useful against "Pale Horse". You can fight Sephiroth without Ribbons on an average end of story-level and you will see that he is way harder than what you expect.

You have got the point - he is not that hard once you know what his moves are. But on your first try you do not know. As well as the locations of the treasures. Of course you can use your "tools" like you call them but we are talking about a normal first try to end the story without any experience about where some things are and that Super Nova causes gravity-based damage 1/16 which can be reduces by "MBarrier", "Confu", "Slow" and "Silence", that his "Attack" causes "Sadness", "Dark" and "Paralyze", his "Pale Horse" "Frog" and "Mini", et cetera. And Sephiroth is fairly strong as long as you are not overpowered. His "Attack", his "Break" and his "Shadow Flare" are very strong, he casts "Wall" to protect himself, "De-Spells" you from time to time, et cetera. Kefka's last form is pretty easy - even though he is a bit harder without Offering and Gem Box without any doubt, the problem is he has less Hit Points - but Sephiroth is okay. Not really such a big problem as Final Ultimecia, Zeromus and Neo X-Death don't even need to be mentioned, but still okay.

[Mirage]

I know where the ribbons are, and I know they aren't directly in your path to sephiroth if you know exactly which path to take the first time you play the game. That's why I said you "normally come across one of them", as in, if you have no idea where the ribbons are, as well as no idea exactly which path to take to get out of a dungeon, *chances are high* that you will bump into one of the three ribbons and/or added effect materia, and chances are also high that you have bought at least one white cape thorough the game. Even if you didn't, you get one from a mandatory boss fight. Therefore, you are *likely* to have enough tools to efficiently take down sephiroth when you *know* what he's gonna throw at you.

Now, my point is that Akaneko found Sephiroth to be much easier this time than when he was 11 years old because he (or she) now is much smarter, and therefore able to analyze sephiroth's attack patterns much easier and faster, has a firmer understanding on how to use the tools he or she has found over the course of the game, and has more experience in fighting RPG bosses in general (RPG bosses aren't always 100% different). This is what made the sephiroth fight easier this time around, not his (or hers) equipment, materia, or levels. This is especially true because the statistics that were posted in the first post are actually very average and it is evident that the player didn't do a lot of exploring or minigames.

tl;dr: as i said earlier, games are easier these days because you're smarter. It was the same way when we were young. I often ran into instances where older people complained that the games I thought were hard (or fairly difficult) actually were too easy.

[comma]

Like most random-encounter RPGs, the game's difficulty depends solely on how much time you want to invest in leveling up. So really, you make the game as easy or hard as you want by how you play it.

[VeloZer0]

I think it is assumed that most people will fight just about all fights they encounter and add maybe a small modicum of leveling.

[Sephiroth]

Now, my point is that Akaneko found Sephiroth to be much easier this time than when he was 11 years old because he (or she) now is much smarter, and therefore able to analyze sephiroth's attack patterns much easier and faster, has a firmer understanding on how to use the tools he or she has found over the course of the game, and has more experience in fighting RPG bosses in general (RPG bosses aren't always 100% different). This is what made the sephiroth fight easier this time around, not his (or hers) equipment, materia, or levels. This is especially true because the statistics that were posted in the first post are actually very average and it is evident that the player didn't do a lot of exploring or minigames.

I know what he wrote but we have to think about it when we face him the first time and not when we have fought him 43 times and know all of his moves. That's not what makes a boss hard. You always need to take a look at him when you face him the first time. That is important. That he is easier like al bosses generally are with experience is something both of us agree since it is completely logical.

I guess we should stop here. We don't get anything from this since both of us know these things.

[Rostum]

Of course I found it difficult when I played it as an 11-year-old. I rushed through the game, not doing sidequests and trying to avoid as many random encounters as possible.

I played it again last year, and it was very easy because I had the patience to level grind at certain parts of the game, also managing to do all the sidequests.

I don't think this is the fault of the game, it should and did feel rewarding in both scenarios for me.

[Kenshin IV]

Yes, yes it is. It's by far the easiest game in the franchise and one of the easier RPG's ever made. That has always been Final Fantasy VII's biggest flaw. Thankfully, the superbly written narrative more than makes up for it. That game is played far more for its story than its gameplay (though, there are a lot of qualities in the game itself).