Materia in Final Fantasy 7 Remake
What is Materia?
In Final Fantasy 7, materia is a crystallized form of Mako, the liquid derived from the planet’s lifestream. They are the means of casting magic, invoking summons, using special commands, increasing a character’s stats, and gaining support abilities. To use materia, it must be equipped on weapons and armor.
How Does Materia Work in the Remake?
The method of using materia is largely unchanged in the remake, based on released gameplay footage. Materia is slotted into equipment, making it usable.
As with the original game, certain weapons and armor slots allow materia to be grouped together. Doing this allows for special effects based on the combinations used.
Elemental materia, for instance, can be linked with fire, thunder, ice, and other elemental magic materia. This adds elemental damage to a character’s weapon based on the materia it is paired with. Meanwhile, equipping the combination onto armor grants elemental resistance, immunity, or even absorption.
Materia can also level-up. As seen in the image above, the Elemental materia has three levels indicated by stars. The elemental affinity it bestows to characters’ weapons and armor becomes stronger the higher its level.
Magic Materia
Magic materia are those that allow characters to cast spells. These range from directly doing damage and healing allies to inflicting status conditions on enemies. The image above shows Tifa using thunder during the Tokyo Game Show 2019 demo’s Abzu boss battle.
With constant use, magic materia can be upgraded into stronger versions. Thunder, for instance, can be improved to thundara and thundaga over time.
Summon Materia
Summon materia grant characters the ability to call summons into battle. When invoked, summons behave like another party member. The player can issue commands or allow the summon to attack independently during its active period. The summon will use its signature attack before it departs from the battlefield.
As implied in the TGS 2019 demo, only one summon can be equipped by a character at a time. Since the party can consist of up to three characters, it is likely that three summons can be readied in battle.
With the remake’s new combat system, using magic and summon materia require characters to have charged ATB gauges. This is in addition to the MP cost of the spells or summons.
Support Materia
Support materia are those that bestow passive abilities onto characters. Included in this category are elemental materia, though they must be paired with other materia to activate their effects. The image above shows Cloud attacking a Sahagin with a weapon that inflicts ice elemental damage.
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