so why does "retry from last battle" not really mean (warning potential spoilers)

[Tashnaladar]

restart from last battle? i am at a part where i fight whisper enemies, i finally finish off bahamut, but my hp is so low i get killed, and choose restart from last battle...........and have to reply the entire long drawn out sequence. what. the actual. F^#&!!!!!!! is there any way i can replay from just after whisper bahumat? i am getting really frustrated with this game, and thats sad, because the original ff7 NEVER ONCE frustrated me, except maybe the basketball game in golden saucer....

[Weltall8000]

Because that specific encounter is all one long battle. Notice that Cloud does not leave combat mode.

[Tashnaladar]

it sucks then, especially if you fail, cuz then you got a long unskippable cut scene, and after you've seen it twenty times in a row, you kinda wish it was skippable. and after that you have to fight thru the hordes of mobs. the upside to it is you build up actual skill, i am beginning to think i rushed things, because i feel as if i am unprepared for it

[Weltall8000]

It would be nice to be able to skip the cutscenes. If it is any help, I abused the ♥♥♥♥ out of Cloud's Counterstance (Twin Stinger weapon ability).

[Tashnaladar]

will give it a try

[Weltall8000]

Any luck?

[Tashnaladar]

i did manage, i am convinced by luck, to get to sephiroth, he got me tho, and it all started over again. one thing i learned tho, if there is a cut scene, press "M" and choose "skip" and it actually will skip the cut scene you may have watch 30 or 40 times will be skipped, so thats something for my pains

[Xengre]

that sucks o.o never had to redo that section from a fail so didn't realize but that sounds obnoxious considering how long it is.

Use counterstance/punisher like Weltall mentioned. This is even more important for the Sephiroth fight after.

Braver may be stronger than Infinity Edge at that point depending on how high your dmg is as it can hit near dmg cap but cast 2x per 1x infinity edge while also being faster to cast.

This battle strongly benefits from Haste + Magnify combo which massively boosts your AI's ability to act, and of course yourself. Chakra is great for your character (and always Barrett per usual) and if you have two decently leveled put Prayer on Cloud + Barrett and put a more magic oriented or hybrid gun on him.

You can cast wall or barrier/magic barrier as necessary on your preferred controlled character as AI primarily targets them almost always so this doesn't need Magnify.

[Tashnaladar]

damn, i never got punisher ;( is that a cloud ability?

[Tashnaladar]

i really am a noob when it comes to this game, got it for xmas and have been playing the hell out of it, but i still don't understand all of the nuances

[Xengre]

Originally posted by Tashnaladar:

damn, i never got punisher ;( is that a cloud ability?

Punisher is Cloud's alternate mode where he holds the sword differently. Its like Counterstance and auto counters melee hits.

Punisher is free but less flexible than Counterstance so if you get good with Counterstance it is better.

Counterstance can block ranged, melee and projectile attacks where Punisher mode only does melee. Unlike Punisher Mode you can cancel combos into Counterstance much faster/fluidly (there is a trick with Punisher but its slower and inferior but cheap). Punisher mode reduces melee dmg by 60% but Counterstance reduces all the mentioned by 80%. It gap closes, too, which can be useful in some cases. Does better dmg and is better range aoe, too.

[Weltall8000]

In case you are still having trouble, I would add to Xengre's advice, that you can add a shortcut to activate Cloud's Counterstance ability in the out of battle menu before you enter this battle. On XBox controller I bound it to Right Button + A. I actually never bound any abilities prior to that and just used the menu, but for this counter ability, quick activation was crucial. This makes it much more usable for me.

Also, For me, I did die a couple of times there, but I had my materia all set for maximizing growth, not actually set up for a tough fight. Maybe recheck you materia and make sure you have the best you can for a serious throw down.

If you really just need to, you can drop the difficulty down to Easy and/or Classic. You can replay it later on a harder difficulty if you like and you will have the opportunity to have leveled up or gone back to get more resources, levels, materia, weapons, etc.

Good luck, you got this!