Materia not interacting properly

[Shas'O O'Kais]

So I bought this game the other day wanting to relive some of the fun I used to have with it, I used to make brutal materia combos just for the sake of kind of designing a custom, unstoppable team.

Anyway, the materia doesn't seem to work properly... I link HP Absorb to Fire, then MP Absorb to Fire, then say 3 counter magic-fire pairs. When I get hit, my character does cast fire 3 times as it should, however it only seems to absorb HP once or sometimes not at all instead of 3 times and it doesn't absorb the MP at all. It's supposed to give you back MP equal to 1% of the damage dealt, but i'm getting nothing back. I decided to break out one of the older versions of this game and try it with the same combos, and they work perfectly 100% as they should in the older versions but in this new one, the HP and MP absorb materias are flat out busted.

Another thing I noticed is if you have multiple Counter-Mimes, it will correctly not cost you any MP on your first miming of a magic ability, but all subsequent mimes DO take your MP and that shouldn't happen because mime isn't supposed to use MP.

What is going on here?

[mikeydsc]

From what I have read. this is the same game with anew wrapper to make it usable with the newer OS's. Shouldn't be any difference afaik.

[Xuhybrid]

You can only HP/MP Absorb as many times as the Materia is leveled up. Best example of this mechanic would be All materia. Not sure if thats the issue or not. As for the port, its the same port from '98 with a new launcher/wrapper so all the same bugs exist from the original port.

[lordlucless]

Sorry, that's wrong - HP and MP Absorb don't even have that many levels, just the starting level, and Mastered. Some Materia work the way you describe (All, Summons, etc) but others give you different things for gaining levels - Magic materia give you access to new spells, and stuff like Cover and the various Counter materia increase the chances of triggering.

I've been experimenting too, and I can't get HP/MP absorb to work off any form of counter (Counter, Counter Attack or Magic Counter).

[lordlucless]

After further experimentation, it's not just HP/MP absorb - no support materia appear to trigger off counter - I tested added cut and steal-as-well also.

[Zork Nemesis]

My guess would be that when you use the Countered Materia, it's specifically using the materia paired with counter, and not the materia you have paired with HP/MP absorb. I never went that in-depth with materia combos but I figured that would be the case.

As for Mime consuming MP, never seen that either. Then again, I was always just Counter-Miming 4x Cut or limit breaks.

[Littlepip™]

FYI, the way the Materia links are processed by the game is left to right, checking the weapon's slots first, then the armor's. So when creating combos, if you're having issues, be sure to keep this in mind. Maybe put them on the same piece of equipment, and/or swap their positions around in linked slots? Some Materia simply do not like working with others, and in other cases, you need to do what I just said to get 'em to work in large chains of effects.

Oh yeah, and be careful with how you apply the Absorb effects in general. If you do certain combinations, like with a Restore spell, you might wind up hurting instead of healing. ;)

[lordlucless]

Yeah, I fiddled around with materia ordering - doesn't affect stacking support materia on counter effects. Also, multiple Added Cut support materia added to multiple copies of the same spell do nothing.

Really, offensive magic (except Knights of the Round) is just about useless in the end-game; nothing beats 4x-Cut for single-target damage.