Summary
Materia are a huge part of combat inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but not every option is equally useful. While the average party is likely to rely heavily on essentials like Healing, it’s easy to make it through the game without touching a number of the available Materia. That imbalance isn’t new toFF7 Rebirth, as mostFinal Fantasygames tend to throw a lot of choices at the wall and see what sticks, but there’s one Materia in particular that’s just hard to justify using inFF7 Rebirth.
As a directfollow-up toFF7 Remake,Rebirthtakes the former’s list of Materia options and significantly expands it. Although every category gets fleshed out, Command Materia receives a particular boost, more than doubling in size from a roster of six options inFF7 Remaketo 13 inFF7 Rebirth. The new Command options can be some of the easiest to ignore in the average campaign, and although it’s still possible for a tactical player to make good use of most of them,Jump ends up feeling like the odd one out.
FF7 Rebirth: Best Materia For Each Character
With so many materia to choose from, building your party can be tricky! Here are some of the best materia for each character
FF7 Rebirth Doesn’t Do The Jump Materia Justice
Jump Is Never As Useful As It Should Be
Although Jump wasn’t present inFF7 Remake, it’s far from a new addition to theFinal Fantasyseries. First appearing as a command ability for Dragoons inFinal Fantasy 3, Jump typically offers a period of midair invulnerability before the user descends for a powerful strike. Although this can take the user out of combat efficacy for a few moments or turns, in an extended fight, the payoff can often be worth the time invested.
InFF7 Rebirth, however, Jump just isn’t all that practical. At a cost of 2 ATB,the move isn’t fast or effective enough to justify its usage. Some powerful boss attacks are still capable of hitting a character mid-Jump, effectively removing the biggest incentive to deploy it. Although making Jump work in action-based combat might be tricky,Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7already showed off a more reliable useful version of the technique, andFF7 Rebirth’s feels like a downgrade.
10 Best Magic Materia To Get First In FF7 Rebirth
Green magic Materia can cast a variety of spells in FF7 Rebirth, with the best ones buffing allies, debuffing enemies, or dealing elemental damage.
It’s not impossible to get some mileage out of Jump, but the best use case isn’t even its primarily intended one. Linking Jump to MP Absorb Materia can be a useful way to recharge MP, a technique worth exploring for anyone struggling to maintain consistent MP resources inFF7 Rebirth’s Hard Mode, which disallows items. In a standard playthrough, it’s generally simpler to solve this sort of problem with ethers, which are easy enough to stockpile despite vendors carrying them in limited supply.
Another good use for MP Absorb lies in attaching it to Auto Weapon Ability, which ties it to physical weapon attacks.
FF7 Remake Part 3 Could Make Jump Exciting Again
Cid Highwind Is The Key
Unlike someFF7 Rebirthproblems, however, the lack of utility for Jump is both a minor issue and one that’s easy enough for the next game in the series to fix. A general buff to the Materia could go a long way, but the more exciting possibility lies in incorporating Jump into Cid’s moveset and synergizing it with other abilities. Although the originalFF7didn’t useFinal Fantasy’s traditional job system, Cid was effectively a Dragoon, and his limit break Hyper Jump built on the concept of Jump for a blow that could be particularly devastating against groups of enemies.
Two FF7 Rebirth Characters Deserve Their Own INTERmission DLC
FF7 Rebirth doesn’t manage to give every character what they deserve, but another side chapter or two could be the best way to fix things.
FF7 Remake Part 3has a lot on its plate, so making Jump better might not be the game’s highest priority. Making Cid interesting to play definitely should be, however, and the new party additions of Red XIII and Cait Sith inFF7 Rebirthshow how creative the new trilogy can get in finding a unique playstyle for every character. It’s possible that Hyper Jump will just return as a separate mechanic from Jump, but it would be nice to see him take advantage of both in the appropriate situations.
At any rate, finding Jump a bit lackluster isn’t going to kill anyFF7 Rebirthplaythrough, and there are plenty of more memorable Materia to rely on for now. As such a time-honored staple of theFinal Fantasyseries, however, it would be nice to see an improved implementation of Jump, andFF7 Remake Part 3has the perfect opportunity to fixFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s mistake.
