The original Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation has one of the most iconic styles of gameplay in the RPG genre, so changing nearly everything was a tall task for Square Enix. They managed to do so by mixing the action oriented gameplay more like Final Fantasy XV and mixing it with the classic style. One of the classic aspects of the RPG genre as a whole is the scanning of enemies to learn more about them and Final Fantasy VII Remake allows you to do this as well with what is known as the Assess ability.
How To Use Assess
Final Fantasy VII Remake does not give you immediate access to the Assess ability, so you will have to make your way through the first two chapters in the game without any extra help on how to take out enemies. While it could have been useful against the first boss in the Mako Reactor during Chapter 1, Assess doesn’t come about until Chapter 3.
Once you go around and start doing sidequests in Chapter 3, Cloud will eventually speak with a new character in the remake known as Chadley. Chadley is a researcher who tasks you with completing Battle Intel for him and he will give you the opportunity to purchase new exclusive Materia.
When you first meet Chadley, he will give you a new type of Materia known as Assess Materia and ask you to go out and use Assess on two enemies. This may be a little confusing at first on how to use it, but it’s not very difficult at all.
Start off by going to your Materia menu and equip the Assess Materia on Cloud or Tifa’s weapon or armor they have currently. It doesn’t matter which one, but I recommend putting it on the character you plan on using in the upcoming battles. Now head to find some battles against some enemies in the nearby area you should have gone for a prior mission and raise your ATB gauge to at least half full.
Once the ATB gauge is half full, press X to bring up the Commands Menu and select Abilities. Now scroll down to Assess and select it to bring up a screen that gives you lots of information about the creature you are facing. This includes their HP down to the number, both current and total, hints on how to stagger them, as well as weaknesses, immunities, and more.
If you level up the Assess Materia to level two, you can even use it to scan all enemies on the battlefield at once and move back and forth between them in battle. After using Assess on an enemy, you can also press the touchpad in battle anytime in the future to see those same details again without having to use it again.
