Navigating the Early Stages of FF7EC: A Beginner's Guide

Hey there, rookie players of Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis!

Feeling overwhelmed by the game's complexity? Did you just joined after the Steam release on Dec 7th? Don't worry, we've got you covered.

Our step-by-step guide will help you make the most out of your early game experience.

So, let's jump right in!

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Efficiently Navigating the Early Stages of FF7 Ever Crisis: A Beginner's Guide

How to Quickly Progress

Step 1: The Art of Rerolling for a 5-Star Weapon

Why Reroll?

Starting your game journey with a 5-star weapon can give you a leg up.

The game features 5-star weapons with unique abilities, and if you get your hands on one early on, your gameplay will be much smoother.

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What to Aim For?

Prioritize weapons with 'Heal All' abilities.

These kinds of weapons turn your equipped character into an effective healer.

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Main Weapons with Heal All

• Crystal Sword (Cloud)
• Fairy Tale (Aerith)
• Prime Number (Matt)
• Lifeguard Wraps (Tifa)

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Rerolling 101

Not sure how to reroll?

Check out our reroll guide to see which weapons are worth rerolling for.

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Step 2: Progress Through the Story to Unlock Content

As you advance in the game's narrative, you'll unlock features like enhancement quests and co-op battles.

These will help you gather the materials you need to strengthen your weapons efficiently.

Prioritize story progression to unlock more features.

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Step 3: Follow the Guided Mission for Rewards and Upgrades

Why Guided Missions?

Guided missions provide clear goals for newcomers and offer rewards for completion.

If you're confused about what to do next, these missions are your roadmap.

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Extra Perks

As you complete these missions, you can upgrade Cloud's initial weapon, the Buster Sword, to 5 stars.

This is a must-do if you're using Cloud as your main DPS.

Even if you don't plan on maining Cloud, you should still enhance and overboost the Buster Sword with the parts you get from these missions.

The reason? Sub weapons still let your character benefit from a chunk of their stats and effects. So your main DPS can still get a sweet boost from the Buster Sword's power by equipping it as a sub weapon.

This tip applies to any F2P weapons like Zack's Parasol too. Even if Zack won't be your main, the freebie weapon can still improve your other characters.

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Step 4: Complete Jumpstart Missions for Extra Rewards

While going through guided missions, also focus on beginner missions (called Jumpstart).

Completing these missions will earn you a 5-star weapon gacha ticket.

However, be prepared to invest some time, as some missions require actions like materia synthesis.

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Step 5: Level Up Your Player Profile

Why Level Up?

Increasing your player level unlocks extra slots for sub-weapons, giving you more power and flexibility.

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How to Level Up Efficiently?

Earn account experience by completing battles that consume stamina.

In the early game, you'll get many stamina recovery items. You can recover stamina through these tonics and blue crystals, helping you level up faster.

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Step 6: Weapon Management and Upgrades

Why Strengthen Weapons?

The stronger your weapon, the better your stats and abilities.

With 5-star or higher weapons in this game, you've got the potential to break through their rarity and reach higher potency and stats.

To overboost a weapon, you'll need to get your hands on some rare weapon-specific parts - either by lucking out in the gacha or trading for exclusive character weapon parts in the exchange shop.

Aim for a weapon level cap of 40 for maximum benefits in the game's early stages.

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Upgrade Priorities

• Weapon Enhancement Quests: High priority for leveling up your weapons.
• Character Growth Quests: Focus on these for increasing survivability with bonus HP.
• Materia Reinforcement Quests: Can be postponed to later stages.

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Step 7: Co-op Battles

Why Co-op content?

Once you've completed one of the first missions in the FF7 story, you'll unlock co-op gameplay.

Here's the kicker: although only one character can participate, the rewards in terms of character experience are massive.

Taking on co-op battles also nets you a solid stash of upgrade materials and a bit of gil that can really stack up.

There's also bonus rewards for playing with new teammates you haven't teamed up with before. You can receive extra Blue Crystals this way - one of the most wanted resources in the game!

If you play co-op with in-game friends, your medal rewards will double, so keep than in mind after getting all co-op Blue Crystals.

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Stamina Boost: Your Best Friend

For an even more efficient experience, make sure to use the stamina boost while doing co-op.

Your stamina consumption will triple, but so will your rewards. Trust us; it's worth it!

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Step 8: The Sealed Tower of the Cetra

Why Take on the Tower?

After making some progress in the story, challenge the Sealed Tower of the Cetra.

Clearing the 10th floor (B10) unlocks the Crisis Dungeon.

Plus, you get pieces for each floor you clear, helping in your character growth.

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What to Do if You Get Stuck in Early Stages

Troubleshooting Your Strategy

Identify the Root Cause

Failed a quest?

Don't just slam the retry button. Take a moment to figure out what went wrong.

Were you unable to interrupt a boss's limit break in time? Did you lack the healing power to recover from enemy attacks?

Identifying the issue helps you find a fix.

Once you hit around 50k party power, stop using the recommended teams for content.

Start linking Materia properly to match your characters' damage type, like blow materia for physical attackers.

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Free Party: A Second Chance

If you're struggling with the story quests, consider trying them with a free party.

This allows you to use any characters you've leveled up.

However, keep in mind that you won't get bonus rewards in this mode.

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Strengthening Your Arsenal and Team

Weapon Upgrades: A Must

A common roadblock in the early stages is inadequate weapon strength.

If you find yourself unable to clear stages, go back and upgrade your weapons.

Make sure you've got 15 of your highest rarity weapons leveled up to 50 (that's when upgrade materials get super rare).

You'll want 3 sub weapons and 2 main weapons for your every party member - sub weapon stats make a difference!

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Enhance Survivability: Don't Ignore Defense

Getting stuck often happens when your team can't withstand enemy attacks.

If you find yourself struggling, look at enhancing your characters' defensive stats.

You can get huge stat bumps every 5 levels. Grind the tower and character leveling quests to get more shards.

Be strategic about using shards for limit breaks until you understand your team comp.

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Weaknesses and Sigils: Your Hidden Advantage

Prepare for Boss Moves

Don't let a boss's big move catch you off guard.

Be ready with recommended sigils and elemental coverage to counter their most devastating attacks.

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Participate in Events: The Extra Mile

Events offer a wealth of resources and rewards.

If you find yourself stuck, take a break from the main story and dive into ongoing events to gather materials that can power up your team, like Beach Festival Fun!

These provide an opportunity to get Blue Crystals and 5-star weapon gacha tickets. Check the event tab regularly so you don't miss out on these valuable rewards.

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What To Do on a Daily Basis in FF7 Ever Crisis

Get Your Daily Freebies

Every day, make sure to hop into the shop and claim your daily free packs.

They're a source of valuable in-game currency like gil and training stones. Trust me, you don't want to miss these!

You can also buy all items that can be bought with gil, refresh the store (by spending gil) and buy them all again until you can't do it anymore.

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Tackle Those Daily Quests

Daily quests are a goldmine for weapon parts.

These parts are essential for upgrading your weapon's rarity, so never miss out on this quest when you have the chance.

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Complete Daily Missions for Sweet Rewards

Aim to complete daily missions to accumulate daily points.

Once you've gathered 70 points, you'll get some Blue Crystals and other valuable items.

Daily missions offer timed rewards too.

Specifically, you can get stamina tonics at four different times: after daily reset, after 4 AM PST, after 12 AM PST and after 7 PM PST. Be sure to log in around these times to claim them!

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Chocobo Expeditions: Your Daily Treasure Hunt

Chocobo expeditions are a slow grind, taking time to yield rewards. Make sure to unlock all expedition slots with Blue Crystals as soon as possible.

Make it a daily habit to claim these rewards. Don't forget the chest that appears each day at the chocobo farm.

The time ticks away even if you're not in the game, so don't let it go to waste!

When you reach 75% completion in a certain area, start exploring the next one to maximize chocobo rewards.

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Take On High-Level Enhancement Quests

Premium enhancement quests offer incredible rewards like level cap weapon materials and character memories.

However, you can only clear these quests three times a day, so clear the ones that suit your needs best!

Remember that to power up, Weapon Enhancement > Character Growth.

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Use All Your Stamina

If you've got some free time, keep questing until your stamina runs dry.

Stamina regenerates every 6 minutes, but only up to a point, so make sure to use it all.

You can also use the stamina boost function to speed things up.

You should try out stages with recommended power higher than your current one, as you'll lose just 1 stamina point and not the full amount.

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Conclusion

And that wraps up our beginner’s guide and our roadmap for daily activities to start smoothly through the early stages of FF7EC.

If you found this guide helpful, don’t forget to share it with your Final Fantasy friends!