Ruby or Emerald

[Pumpkin]

Based off of a discussion in this great top superbosses thread, who did you find more difficult, Emerald or Ruby WEAPON?

I didn't fight either, so I don't know

[Sephiroth]

It depends on what your limits look like. Generally Ruby but there are methods to just paralyze it. Ruby is invincible in the pre-tentacle phase. Emerald gets damage very easy. Their damage can be reduced. Emerald has a time limit but it can be skipped. Ruby has Whirlsand but it can be skipped and when the tentacles are gone it uses it again but is vulnerable. Overall its Ruby.

[Ayen]

I remember Emerald killing me a lot faster than Ruby, so I'm going with Emerald.

[Shauna]

I don't care about any self imposed challenges - I only had to enter battle with and beat Ruby once, while Emerald I did have to redo a number of times.

[Karifean]

I'd say they're about equal, and neither are particularly difficult once you know what you're up against. Even going in with just a base (above average) setup you can defeat them before they give you too much trouble.

I do like the thought put into them, however. Quite intricate setups these two have.

[Pumpkin]

What if you went in with only attack and items for healing? Would they still be about equal or would that make one more difficult than the other?

[Sephiroth]

What if you went in with only attack and items for healing? Would they still be about equal or would that make one more difficult than the other?

Ruby gets like 1/10 of the damage Emerald gets.

Shauna, that has nothing to to with self-imposed. It is factual that Ruby is harder with techniques, defense, et cetera.

Well, in the last thread when it was said that someone found Emerald harder, your response was to mention solo character materia only no scope 360 runs in which Ruby is definitely harder. I don't care about that, which is what I was meaning.

And regardless of stats and crap, in my recent playthrough of the game, I found Emerald harder. You can throw numbers and facts at me but it won't change that fact. I personally had more trouble with Emerald, and I'm apparently not the only one, despite what may be 'factually correct'.

It is not "factually correct" but factually correct, no matter how much sarcasm you want to put it in or call it "crap" or whatever (no matter for which reason you do this, the only thing I do here is differentiating between what actually exists and what people think). When Ruby gets less damage then Ruby gets less damage just like 4 being higher than 3 is a fact. That has nothing to do with "what I want to say" it is just something that was made this way and using a challenge for that example does not change what it is made of even without the challenge. It is a fact that you find Emerald harder, so subjectively, but that has nothing to do with the existing and comparable, so the objectively existing things. You confuse what you think with what actually is and that 9/10 people think something does not change what was actually made. It is just like this. Just like the world was thought to be flat "by more than just one". It won't take away your personal thinking but no one, also not me probably thinking Emerald WEAPON being harder, would change those comparable facts about Ruby, the programs they are made of and everything. Do I find certain moments in a Final Fantasy hard? Yes/No. Nevertheless there are facts given by the game that would make it hard/easy in comparison to others. Now erase your memories about the WEAPONs and fight them both. You will lose against them, I will lose against them, we will all. But let us see how long it takes for us to overcome their strengths and weaknesses because technically Emerald, despite it being very strong - and having the time limit - can still be beaten easily. Ruby has tricks, resistance and everything that need to be found out first. And surely the first thing to be tried out is not paralyzing it. So you see, I am not saying:

Shauna: I think Emerald is harder.
Me: No.

but
Shauna: Emerald is harder.
Me: No, technically spoken not because of the things both are made of.

And that is a difference. I am, not matter how often I say something against a comment of someone, never saying the opinion itself has no right to exist.

[Psychotic]

I don't care about any self imposed challenges - I only had to enter battle with and beat Ruby once, while Emerald I did have to redo a number of times.

Yeah, this. KoToR + HP Absorb being Mimed is enough to take out Ruby. Can't guarantee you victory against Emerald. People recommend using Bahamut Zero or something else against Ruby because of the Ultima counter to KoToR, but HP Absorb easily negates that.

[Crop]

I found Emerald far harder.

A mix of KotR and Hades made Ruby pretty easy for me.

[Shauna]

Shauna, that has nothing to to with self-imposed. It is factual that Ruby is harder with techniques, defense, et cetera.

Well, in the last thread when it was said that someone found Emerald harder, your response was to mention solo character materia only no scope 360 runs in which Ruby is definitely harder. I don't care about that, which is what I was meaning.

And regardless of stats and crap, in my recent playthrough of the game, I found Emerald harder. You can throw numbers and facts at me but it won't change that fact. I personally had more trouble with Emerald, and I'm apparently not the only one, despite what may be 'factually correct'.

[Dat Matt]

Ruby-kun attacks Yuffie-chan with tenticles. Hentai! Baka!

I personally think that the Hard Edge weapon is the hardest weapon in the game. It even says it in the weapons title? Ruby and Emerald weapon, you put that nonsense on jewellery.

But seriously, We had more trouble with emerald. Seems a lot of people have.

[Karifean]

If I honestly had to say which I had more trouble with, it would be Ruby. With Emerald, if you know when his eyes appear and that they only have 25'000 HP, the fight is already over. Stack up a W-Ultima and a Slash-All when they do appear and you're back to square one immediatly. You never even see any Aire Tam Storms. Regen does all the healing you'll ever need and then just cut him to death. 4x Cut speeds things up tremendously though it's not really necessary.

With Ruby I simply didn't know what character would be left standing two rounds into the fight so I had to equip everyone properly for the chance that they be the one. This was also the fight where I realized how great Hero Drinks are in this game. Since the character left standing had Enemy Skill and 4x Cut, it was only a matter of time until I won.

The reason I put Emerald instead of Ruby into my Top 5 was because I think Emerald Weapon is just a more well-designed boss. Ruby is a bit like Major Numerus in that it feels not that much thought went into him. He has a bunch of attacks that deal a bunch of damage, he has a ton of evasion, defense and HP. And well, of course he ejects two party members, but that's basically it. You don't really have to go far out of your way to defend against any of it. Emerald can trip you up quite a bit.

[Wolf Kanno]

Neither of them is all that difficult once you understand their gimmick. I agree with Karifean that Emerald certainly hits harder but as he points out, it is not very difficult to cripple him considering how abusive the Materia system is.

[VeloZer0]

Personally I found Ruby to always be considerably more difficult. They can both be easily overcome by canned cheap solutions, but if you are prepared for Aire Tam Storm Emerald is more or less strait forward. Ruby with tentacles and status ailments Ruby is a little more technical to figure out.

That an I usualy just own Emerald with Lucky 7s as soon as I hit the start of disk 3.

[Skyblade]

My personal play style (in which I never let anyone die) makes Ruby kind of a pain, since he immediately cuts me down to one party member. But, on the other hand, he can be constantly frozen by Hades, so he isn't really that hard, just tedious. Emerald at least gets some decent hits in.

Really, I wouldn't call either of them really "hard". They seemed hard once, long ago (and I think Emerald won out as "hardest" back then). But now, I've faced too many difficult bosses to actually really call them "hard". Even if they are some of the hardest that Final Fantasy has ever made.