Originally posted by Numisma
i believe this was already mentioned but, um... .by the time Aeris would GET that particular limit break, the party would be strong enough to whoop the Zolom's arse fairly quickly anyway, so there's a chance the Zolom wouldn't be able to cast Beta in time. in addition, there are some bosses that would not be wiped out so quickly by Beta. for example, the Materia Keeper. ever had Vincent in your party and on limit level 1 wwhen going against this boss? i have, and it was devestating because Vinnie's attacks kept HEALING the Materia Keeper since they're elementally aligned with fire, AS IS BETA. in addition, any other fire-strong or fire-healing enemy (or, perhaps, even the Gi Nattak, another fire-strong boss, whose only weakness is Holy power and you don't have anything holy that early in the game!) would also be healed/not wounded much by Beta.
The Beta Strategy is not meant to be done the first time you play through the game. Yes it takes a bit of work, but by the end of the shinra building Cloud should already have blade beam. Aeris won't be at level 3 like Cloud, but if you have her defeat all the enemies you should get there fairly quickly. Then at the ranch just keep fighting those grass folk and having Aeris deliver the finishing blow. It shouldn't take more than a day to get planet protector. Again, this isnt something someone who's going through the game for the first time should attempt, this is something for someone who is playing through the game again because it will take a bit of time. And yes, you probably can kill anything with ease when you get planet protector, but you got to admit its just so cool and simply DEVASTATING. Kind of like getting the Lionheart on disc 1 in FF8. Necessary? No. Devastating? Yes.

And I completely overlooked the materia keeper and the other handful of fire resistant enemies in the game. At the time I did this Beta thing, I didn't know that Beta was fire elemental. Then again you can always get trine for the times when you're fighting a fire resistant foe. I prefer Beta of course, because it still wipes out all random battles for less MP.



Originally posted by TheAbominatrix
And to be honest, it seems like the main reason people argue over whether she's useless or not is just some loyalty towards her... whatever, doesnt matter much to me.
Yeah that pretty much sums it up. I personally don't care what character gets bashed (hell, I even like to bash characters I hate in particular such as Tifa and Yuna), but I will however, stick up for Aeris because I have a very unhealthy obsession with her and will stop at absolutely nothing to defend her. I will, if necessary, take this to page 8 or page 88.

I should really go see a doctor.