1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789 ------------------------------------------ ---Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII--- ------------------------------------------ Weapon and Part Comparisons and Recommendations -OR- What is the best way to upgrade my guns as I progress through Normal mode to Ex Hard mode? by The_Key_of_E 8/8/2012 ----------------------- ---TABLE OF CONTENTS--- ----------------------- 1. Introduction 00INTR 2. Comparison of Weapon Types 00COMP 3. Choose Your Upgrade Branch 00UPGR A. Handgun B. Machinegun C. Rifle 4. Other Parts 00OTHR A. Barrels B. Scopes and Optional Parts C. Accessories 5. Summary of What to Upgrade 00SUMM 6. Weapon Setups 00SETP A. Typical Setup B. Ex Hard Mode Setup C. Variations 7. Acknowledgements and Copyright 00ACKN ------------------ ---INTRODUCTION--- 00INTR ------------------ This game is now almost exactly six years old (North American release 8/15/ 2006). Despite that, I'm replaying it for the third time. I've gone through Normal mode and Ex Hard mode all three times. Overall it's not a great game, but it is pretty good. Those who aren't already Final Fantasy fans may find less to like here, but I personally rate it as one of my favorite games of all time. This guide is mostly just my opinions on what gun parts to use and when/how to upgrade them. This is mostly from personal experience, though I have drawn some from other FAQs (noted in the Acknowledgements). I do not list stats or any other specifics because there are already other FAQs with this info. Instead, this is just a general overview of parts and upgrades. At the end of each level, you get a choice of leveling up or trading your experience points for gil. On Normal mode, I like to alternate each level bet- ween spending the EXP or trading it for gil. For the last few levels (Chap- ters 11 and 12) where you don’t really need the experience points, you should trade for gil to give you a monetary head start if you decide to play on Ex Hard mode (New Game Plus). When playing on Ex Hard mode, you will need the extra HP and Defense from leveling up, so don’t trade experience points for gil on Ex Hard. I don’t have a lot of experience playing on Hard mode, but it seems it may actually be comparatively more difficult than Ex Hard mode. This is because Ex Hard mode is only slightly more difficult that Hard mode, but in Hard mode you don't get to keep your upgraded weapons from your previous play-through. -------------------------------- ---COMPARISON OF WEAPON TYPES--- 00COMP -------------------------------- Overall, handguns are the best weapons and machineguns are the worst, with rifles somewhere in between. Handguns tend to have better stats all around, plus they have the bonus of shooting three bullets at once so you can do damage more quickly. The downside of this is you burn through ammo quicker and can run out if you’re not careful. The balancing factor is handgun ammo is the cheapest to buy if you do run low. Machineguns on the other hand, have the worst stats all around. No matter which upgrade branch you choose, they tend to be heavy, inaccurate, and weak. Their higher rate of fire is NOT enough to make up for these drawbacks. How- ever, they are not without use as they are can be useful in boss battles to conserve your handgun ammo (see below). Rifles are definitely better than machineguns, but not as good as handguns. They tend to be powerful and accurate, but heavy and slow. The main advantage of rifle over handgun is rifles are more conservative with ammo. -------------------------------- ---CHOOSE YOUR UPGRADE BRANCH--- 00UPGR -------------------------------- This is just my perception, but it always seemed to me like the game wants you to choose upgrade branches as follows, building on the inherent strengths of the three types of frames. Cerberus – M (magazine) branch Griffon – S (speed) branch Hydra – P (power) branch This is not the most optimal. While the S branch is the best for the Griffon, the Cerberus is best in the P branch, and the Hydra does better in the M or S branches. ---HANDGUN--- As stated above, handguns are the best weapons overall. The Ultima Weapon is obviously the best weapon in the game, and the Cerberus is the best of the “normal” weapons. For most of the game upgrading your Cerberus should probably be your first priority. Once you can choose an upgrade branch, go for the P Cerberus and when you have the cash available upgrade it all the way to the Powered Cer- berus. The reason the P branch is best is because the extra power combined with the Cerberus’ ability to shoot three bullets at once lets you one-shot most normal enemies. With the Power Booster accessory, you can still one-shot enemies even on Ex-Hard mode. The Ultima Weapon is an interesting case. To get it, you have to upgrade the Model Gun you find early in the game, but it costs 250,000 gil to upgrade fully. The best way to do this is to complete the repeatable mission near the end of Chapter 10 (Deepground) where you have to kill 100 enemies that come at you in waves. It can be challenging but is not overly difficult and will earn you about 80,000 gil per run. However, if you do decide to get the Ultima Wea- pon this way, I wouldn’t use it during Normal mode; it’s so powerful that it seems like cheating. Wait until Ex Hard mode and then use it to your heart’s content. Some on the message boards recommend replaying the last level of Chapter 12 and repeatedly dying. Each time you die, convert EXP to Gil and retry, gaining cash pretty quickly to afford the Ultima Weapon. I've never tried this, but it seems it would be faster but more boring than the repeatable mission in Chap- ter 10. If you decide not to spend the time and money required for the Ultima Weapon, your Powered Cerberus will still serve you well in Ex Hard mode. ---MACHINEGUN--- The Griffon is the worst of the “normal” weapons. It is weak, inaccurate, and has a woefully short range, and its high speed does not make up for these drawbacks. None of upgrade branches really help, either. Against normal enem- ies, it’s not worth using because it takes so many bullets to kill them that you will probably take a lot of damage in return. However, as stated above the Griffon is not completely useless. It can be very useful in certain boss battles. If you put the Power Booster and your best barrel on it (the Faerie L Barrel works well), you can run circles around slower bosses while keeping up a continuous barrage of damage. This works well against Azul, any of the Black Widow mini-bosses, or even Nero. (Note: you will want to turn on Semi-Auto Aim when doing this, even if you normally use Manual Aim, because the recoil makes it hard to keep your machinegun on target without Auto Aim.) I find the S branch upgrades to be the best for this purpose. The P branch upgrades are far too heavy and the extra power doesn’t make up for their other drawbacks, while the M branch doesn’t add anything over the S branch. The higher rate of fire of the S branch makes up for the lower power, and it has longer range. Plus if you upgrade it all the way to the Sonic Griffon it has 99 bullets just like the Starry Griffon. This is how it usually works for me: I use handguns and rifles for most lev- els, collecting machinegun ammo as I go. Then when I get to the boss I use up most or all of my machinegun ammo on it and switch back to handguns and rifles to complete the next level. By the time I get to the next boss, I’m usually full on machinegun bullets again and can use them on the boss. I find I con- serve my handgun ammo much better this way. You don’t want to make upgrading the Griffon your top priority, but don’t neglect it either because it does have its uses. The Blast Machinegun you can get halfway through chapter 10 is nearly useless, though. It’s undeniably the weakest weapon in the game, and its knockdown ability is not nearly enough to make up for its low stats. Sure, you can knock an enemy down and then switch to another weapon to kill them before they get up, but it’s simply easier to just kill them with another weapon to begin with. ---RIFLE--- The Hydra is a good all-around weapon. It’s heavy but powerful, slow but accu- rate, and has the best range. When comparing the Hydra and the Cerberus, what really makes the difference is that the Cerberus can put out more damage be- cause it fires 3 bullets. The Hydra is still useful, especially when trying to conserve ammo. Because of the long range and good accuracy, any of the Hydra variants are good for sniping. If you put a Normal barrel on it instead of a Long barrel, it instead becomes a strong medium range weapon that makes a good stand-in for your handgun. Of the 3 upgrade branches, I would say avoid the P branch. The P Hydra starts out pretty good, especially if you’re big into sniping, but the later P vari- ants are too heavy and have low ammo. The P Hydra Gamma has only 3 bullets and the Gigant Hydra has only 1 bullet, which makes even sniping difficult. You can equip the Auto-Reloader to help with this, but that takes the same slot as the Power Booster. I would rather use one of the other Hydra variants with a Power Booster than use the Gigant Hydra with an Auto-Reloader. I find the M and S branches to be better choices. The M branch ends in the Velvet Hydra and the S branch ends in the Feather Hydra. Of the two, I think that the Feather Hydra might be slightly better. It’s lightweight but still with enough accuracy and power to be effective. Its biggest problem is its magazine is too small to really take advantage of its higher rate of fire. The Velvet Hydra is a good all-around weapon, with the same accuracy as the Fea- ther Hydra but higher damage and lower speed. It is also heavier and has more ammo capacity than you will ever need. Both are still great for sniping and don’t suffer from having lower power than the Gigant Hydra. Near the end of Chapter 10 (Deepground), right after the repeatable mission, you can get the Bayonet Rifle. It is VERY similar to the Velvet Hydra, being just slightly worse in all stats except for a slightly higher speed and a smaller magazine. It also has the added bonus of improving your melee damage. This is a minor benefit since melee is not very effective, but combined with the Power Cross you can do good damage. If you want to conserve cash, you can actually avoid upgrading your Hydra all the way and just start using the Bayo- net Rifle as soon as you get it. ----------------- ---OTHER PARTS--- 00OTHR ----------------- ---BARRELS--- Short Barrels are crap. Don’t use them. They are lightweight and increase speed, but they have horribly low power and accuracy. Even short range accu- racy is bad, and the advantages do NOT make up for the drawbacks. Don’t waste money upgrading the Short Barrel unless you’re a completionist (like me) who wants to upgrade everything. The Lucky S Barrel you can get in Chapter 10 is flat out the worst in the game. Even though it doubles EXP earned, because it’s so bad I haven’t found a way to take advantage of it. Some others have suggested using it on your magic-focused weapon, to get the double EXP from enemies you kill with magic. Normal Barrels are good all around. In my opinion you should use Normal Bar- rels on your main weapon, though some players prefer to use a Long Barrel. As you upgrade the Normal Barrel, it stays pretty average in all stats until the final upgrade which increases accuracy by A LOT. The Master N Barrel is argu- ably the best barrel in the game. There is also the Guard N Barrel, which increases your defense. Stat wise it is very similar to the Normal Barrel Gamma (the second to last upgrade). When combined with the Cerberus Relief, the Guard N Barrel can be a huge benefit in Ex Hard mode where the enemies do more damage. The biggest problem with the Guard N Barrel is that it’s so hard to get--you have to save all the WRO mem- bers in chapter 6 which can be very difficult to do. Long Barrels are also very good. They have great accuracy at Long range and even their Short range accuracy is decent enough that you can use a Long Bar- rel on your main weapon instead of a Normal Barrel. Naturally they are perfect for sniping when combined with the scope. Even without the scope, you can still shoot enemies from further away, often before they can see/shoot you (Semi-Auto Aim helps with this). In addition to long range and accuracy, the Long Barrel also has high power but its biggest drawback is its very high weight even when upgraded. About halfway through Chapter 10 you can get the Faerie L Barrel. Compared to the fully upgraded Nova L Barrel, it has less power, range, and accuracy, but weighs almost nothing while the Nova L Barrel is quite heavy. I personally think the Faerie L Barrel ties the Master N Barrel for best in the game. It has similar power and speed to the Master N Barrel, but with more range, less weight, and less accuracy. It is great for sniping at long range, while still performing well at medium and short ranges. If you want to conserve cash, you could avoid upgrading the Long and Normal Barrels all the way and instead switch to the Faerie L Barrel as soon as you get it. ---SCOPES AND OPTIONAL PARTS--- There are only two scope slot accessories, the Sniper Scope and the Materia Floater. The former is almost required equipment, but luckily you get it in the first chapter. The Materia Floater is also important, and you will prob- ably want to use it in preference to the Materia Booster because it opens up the option slot for other accessories. Upgrading the Materia Floater is expen- sive, but definitely worth it. The Power Booster is the best optional part. Being able to kill enemies more quickly with fewer bullets is always preferable. The first upgrade isn’t too expensive, and you can probably wait until later for the second upgrade. Some other guides state that the Beta and Gamma upgrades both give the same bonus of +60% damage. I’ve tested this and found it to be wrong. The Beta upgrade gives about +45% and the Gamma gives the full +60%. I can only assume it was a typo in the Official Guide that propagated this error. The other optional parts are of dubious usefulness. I used the Gravity Float- er my first play-through, mostly to counteract the high weight of the Long Barrel, but no longer find it of use. The Auto-Reloader doesn’t provide enough benefit; reloading in combat really should not be a problem. It could be use- ful on a Gigant Hydra to get around the 1 bullet magazine, but I wouldn't want to use the Gigant Hydra anyway. Lastly, the Materia Booster is useful early on, especially when combined with the Materia Floater, but once your Materia Floater is upgraded you won’t use the Booster anymore. There is also the Manaheart. You can only get it on Ex Hard mode by killing the Dual Horn in Chapter 6 (which is not as easy as it sounds). It lets your magic slowly recharge. This is not a great benefit in the normal game, but is a HUGE benefit in the Bonus Missions if you have it in mind to complete them all. The upgrades are very expensive but increase the recharge rate. Some guides state it also upgrades your magic but this is not true; you still need a Materia Floater to increase your magic damage. ---ACCESSORIES--- These are the little charms that hang from the chain on Vincent’s guns. They include the three types of Materia and the three accuracy adjusters, plus the Cerberus Relief, Power Cross, and Recoil Limiter. You WILL need to use magic at some point, and it can be a great help in cer- tain situations. Of the three types, Fire and Thunder are better. Fire is great for taking out groups at long range and Thunder is great for taking out groups at short range. Blizzard homes in on the enemies, but doesn’t do as much damage and I’ve never found a good use for it. Always use at least Level 2 magic, preferably Level 3. Don’t waste your time with the basic Level 1 spells. The S/M/L Adjusters improve your accuracy at that specific range. They seem like a nice idea, but the boost they give is small and I’ve never had enough problems with accuracy to need them. Maybe if you were using the Griffon a lot or liked Short Barrels you might need the accuracy boost, but I don’t recom- mend using either of those. The Recoil Limiter is the same way; I’ve just never had enough trouble with recoil to need it. Maybe if you were using the Gigant Hydra or Dueling Griffon then recoil could be a problem, but again I don’t recommend using either. Lastly we have the Power Cross and the Cerberus Relief. The former isn’t very good by itself, but when combined with the Bayonet Rifle can make your melee attacks quite powerful. It is fun to play around with but overall isn’t of great use. The Cerberus Relief doesn’t increase your defense a lot, but it is enough to make a difference, especially when upgraded. On Normal mode you don’t really need the defense boost, but on Hard and Ex Hard modes the extra defense will make a significant difference. -------------------------------- ---SUMMARY OF WHAT TO UPGRADE--- 00SUMM -------------------------------- This is a quick recap of my opinions on what to upgrade first, what to upgrade later, and what to skip. Ignore this if you are the kind of person (like me) who spends the time to upgrade everything, regardless of its usefulness. ---HIGH UPGRADE PRIORITY--- Cerberus (P branch) Normal Barrel Power Booster These three will serve you best throughout both Normal mode and Ex Hard mode. ---MEDIUM UPGRADE PRIORITY--- Hydra (M or S branch) Long Barrel Materia Floater Cerberus Relief These will be very useful to you but should not be your first priority ---LOW UPGRADE PRIORITY--- Griffon (S branch) Materia Booster Situationally useful, so don’t worry about upgrading them as much. ---EX HARD MODE UPGRADES--- Ultima Weapon Manaheart The Ultima Weapon can be obtained at the very end of Normal Mode and the Mana- heart about one-third through Ex Hard Mode. They’re both very useful in Ex Hard mode and the Bonus Missions. ---NON-UPGRADABLE PARTS TO ACQUIRE--- Bayonet Rifle Faerie L Barrel Guard N Barrel (skip it if it proves too frustrating to get) The first two are very useful and easy to get, but come late in the game. The third comes earlier in the game but is harder to get. ---NON-UPGRADABLE PARTS TO SKIP--- Blast Machinegun Lucky S Barrel Easy to acquire late in the game, but not very useful. ---DON'T NEED TO UPGRADE--- Short Barrel Gravity Floater Auto Reloader Power Cross Recoil Limiter S/M/L Adjusters These parts are not very useful, so don’t purchase or upgrade them unless you have a lot of extra cash. ------------------- ---WEAPON SETUPS--- 00SETP ------------------- My normal setup is to have one weapon for normal fights at medium to short range (usually handgun), one weapon for long range (usually rifle, sometimes handgun), and one for magic (usually handgun, sometimes rifle). ---TYPICAL SETUP--- This is what I would be aiming for by about the middle of a play-through on Normal Mode. Normal Fights: P Cerberus with Normal Barrel Beta, Power Booster Beta, and Cerberus Relief Long Range: S Hydra with Long Barrel Beta, Sniper Scope, Power Booster Beta, and Cerberus Relief Magic: P Cerberus with Guard N Barrel, Materia Floater, Materia Booster, and Thunder or Fire Materia Playing through the game, I would generally like to have stuff fully or almost fully upgraded by the start of Chapter 11. Normal Fights: Powered Cerberus with Master N Barrel, Power Booster Gamma, and Cerberus Relief Beta or Gamma Long Range: Feather Hydra or Bayonet Rifle with Faerie L Barrel, Sniper Scope, Power Booster Gamma, and Cerberus Relief Beta or Gamma Magic: Powered Cerberus with Guard N Barrel, Materia Floater Gamma, Power Booster Gamma, and Thunder or Fire Materia ---VARIATIONS--- (These examples assume you’re using the best upgrade version available for that part, rather than referencing the specific upgraded parts.) I mentioned above that I sometimes switch things up, using a handgun for long range and a rifle for magic instead of the other way around. Long Range: P Cerberus with Long Barrel (or Faerie L Barrel), Sniper Scope, Power Booster, and Cerberus Relief Magic: S Hydra (or Bayonet Rifle) with Normal Barrel, Materia Floater, Power Booster, and Thunder or Fire Materia I will also sometimes use a handgun or rifle for both long range AND magic. This is super useful in at least a few spots in Chapter 8 where you can snipe some gattling gunners with a well-placed Lvl 3 Fire spell, but overall it's pretty niche. Long Range/Magic: S Hydra with Long Barrel (or Faerie L Barrel), Sniper Scope, Materia Booster, and Fire Materia Long Range/Magic: P Cerberus with Long Barrel (or Faerie L Barrel), Sniper Scope, Materia Booster, and Fire Materia A rifle can even be used for normal fights, though I only do this when out of handgun ammo. This makes a very good medium range weapon that still does well at long and short ranges. Normal Fights: S Hydra or Bayonet Rifle with Normal Barrel, Power Booster, and Cerberus Relief or Power Cross. I’ve also talked about using the Griffon for boss fights. With the right barrel and accessories you’ll have decent power, decent accuracy, and a high rate of fire. You don’t have to worry about wasting handgun ammo as you run around the boss laying down a constant stream of lead. Boss Fights: S Griffon with Faerie L Barrel (or Normal Barrel), Power Booster, and Cerberus Relief. ---EX HARD MODE SETUP--- This is similar to the Typical Setup above, but with the addition of the Ultima Weapon and the Manaheart (often upgraded to Manamind or Manasoul). Normal Fights: Ultima Weapon with Master N Barrel or Guard N Barrel, Power Booster Gamma, and Cerberus Relief Gamma Long Range: Feather Hydra or Bayonet Rifle with Faerie L Barrel, Sniper Scope, Power Booster Gamma, and Cerberus Relief Gamma Magic: Ultima Weapon with Guard N Barrel, Materia Floater Gamma, Manaheart/mind/soul, and Thunder or Fire Materia Sometimes what I will do is put the Manaheart on the Long Range or Normal Fights weapon instead of the Magic weapon. This sacrifices some attack power but lets me recharge mana even when using another weapon. Long Range: Ultima Weapon with Faerie L Barrel (or Nova L Barrel), Sniper Scope, Manaheart/mind/soul, and Cerberus Relief Gamma Magic: Feather Hydra or Bayonet Rifle with Guard N Barrel, Materia Floater Gamma, Power Booster Gamma, and Thunder or Fire Materia ------------------------------------ ---ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND COPYRIGHT--- 00ACKN ------------------------------------ Even though I have drawn inspiration from other guides on GameFAQs, this guide is all my own work. You can use it for your own benefit, but don't try to claim it as your own or make money off it. That would be lame. Some of the FAQs I've used myself and would recommend to you are: Angelo Heartilly's Gun Customization FAQ http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/924449-dirge-of-cerberus-final-fantasy-vii/faqs/ 44992 kigo3000's similar but less detailed Gun Part Data FAQ http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/924449-dirge-of-cerberus-final-fantasy-vii/faqs/ 45660 and GoeTeeks' Ex Hard mode guide http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/924449-dirge-of-cerberus-final-fantasy-vii/faqs/ 44992 I haven't completed all the Bonus Missions yet, but I've still found Monastic_Turtle's guide to be helpful http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/924449-dirge-of-cerberus-final-fantasy-vii/faqs/ 44698 That's it! Have fun out there shooting stuff with everyone's favorite red- cloaked anti-hero. ...Wait, that describes a lot of characters besides just Vincent.