Final Fantasy 7 Remake is finally out in the wild, and takes players back to the futuristic city of Midgar. While most of the gameplay systems from the original title are still intact here, Square Enix has made a few tweaks and additions. Here’s how the weapon upgrade system works in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Weapon Upgrade System in Final Fantasy 7 Remake
In the original game, your weapons only got stronger as you bought new and better ones, or made use of the Materia slots to use more powerful Materia orbs. However, Square Enix has built upon the weapons system in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, allowing players to improve existing weapons even further.
Here’s everything you need to know about how it works.
Mods and Weapon Upgrades
When you first reach the Sector 7 slums in Midgar, Tifa will suggest that you go around the area, doing optional quests for people. She’ll lead you to Biggs, who offers to mod Cloud’s Buster Sword. When this happens, you’ll then unlock the ability to start upgrading your weapons.
Press Options to access the menu, then choose the Upgrade Weapons option. From here, choose your character, then choose the weapon you want to upgrade, and you’ll be taken to a separate screen where you get to see all of the nodes you can unlock.
These nodes are usually stat buffs, increasing your attack or defense rating, critical rate, as well as other things like max HP, MP, buff and debuff duration, and elemental resistance. While the Buster Sword’s base rating aren’t that high, you can upgrade it to increase its stats and make it viable even as you progress further into the game. Some nodes can even unlock Materia slots, so you’ll want to check this menu often.
The number of nodes available for unlocking is dependent on your weapon level, which increases slowly as you spend more time in combat with it. Each time your weapon gains a level, you unlock a whole new set of nodes that you can spend your SP on.
Speaking of SP…
How to Get SP
SP are the points required to unlock nodes for your weapon upgrades. SP is rewarded to each character after a certain number of battles, so once you accumulate a good chunk of them, it’s time to upgrade your weapons.
You can also gain SP in Final Fantasy 7 Remake by spending Moogle Medals. In the Sector 5 slums, once you unlock the kids’ hideout, you can talk to the kid dressed up as a Moogle to spend your Moogle Medals there. You can purchase key items for each character, which will give them 10 extra SP. These cost 5 Medals each, so prioritize your favorite characters.
SP gained is shared among all your characters, and all your weapons, so you don’t need to worry about picking and choosing which ones you want to upgrade.
Mastering Weapon Abilities
Every weapon in Final Fantasy 7 Remake comes with a unique ability. For instance, Cloud’s Iron Sword comes with the Triple Slash ability, while the Buster Sword comes with the Focused Thrust ability. At first, you’ll need to have the specific weapon equipped in order to use the unique ability. However, the more you use that ability in combat, the more proficiency you’ll gain with it.
Once you proficiency with that ability is maxed out, you’ll master that ability, which means you no longer need to have that weapon equipped in order to use it. The best way to gain proficiency is to just spam that ability in combat whenever you get a chance, and you’ll master it in no time at all.
Getting New Weapons
Finally, weapons are a bit of a rarity in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. For the most part, you can pick up some new ones at each weapon shop you come across in Midgar. However, most of them can be found in purple chests in the world.
The key here is to just explore as thoroughly as you can to find them all. However, remember that it’s more important to focus on the weapons that you do have, and upgrading them to their full potential, as most of them will be viable for the entire playthrough.
That’s all you need to know about how weapon upgrades work in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Be sure to search for Twinfinite or check our guide wiki for more tips and information on the game.
