Tifa Lockhart/Gameplay

Tifa is a playable character in Final Fantasy VII. She fights with kicks and punches, and has a unique Limit Break input via slot reels. Her weaponry includes unique weapons whose power depends on how many status ailments she is afflicted with. She briefly acts as the party leader after the party leaves the North Crater the first time. A hidden affection mechanic with Cloud determines whether she can go on a date with him during a scene, and which version of a scene plays toward the end of the game. Two of the Gold Saucer minigames can be played by Tifa in Cloud's stead if she is in the party.

BattleEdit

Tifa relies on her martial arts techniques and her stats are designed around the Monk character class from previous Final Fantasy games; thus her physical stats are better than her magic stats, and she equips claw and glove type weapons. She has lower HP growth than other characters, but her Strength growth gives her the third highest potential Strength of any character (behind only Cloud and Barret). Her victory pose is to stretch her arms and back.

StatsEdit

When joining the party, Tifa's starting level is given by the following formula:

$ \frac{CloudLevel + BarretLevel}{2} - 2 $

EquipmentEdit

Only a handful of Tifa's knuckles have higher-than-average strength, but the two that do are exceptional. The God's Hand has 255% Accuracy, meaning Tifa will never miss. This is particularly useful when using the D.blow ability, as it largely negates the Accuracy penalty from D.blow*(the Accuracy becomes 85%). The other is her ultimate weapon, the Premium Heart, which grows stronger as Tifa's Limit Break gauge fills. Both weapons also boost her magic power.

Tifa has weapons which do not provide above average strength by default, but have the potential for it. The Master Fist's damage output doubles for each status ailment Tifa is under while it is equipped, and even outclasses several final weapons if Tifa has numerous ailments afflicting her.

The Powersoul doubles in power if Tifa is near death, and quadruples in power when she is under Death Sentence. The Powersoul is also one of her three weapons to provide double AP growth, along with the Motor Drive and Platinum Fist. The player can equip Tifa with Curse Ring to give her a Death Sentence at the start of battle to benefit from the attack boost. Regular battles can usually be easily won under the timer, but the player can also equip her with Odin+Added Effect in armor to immunize her against the instant death effect. Using the Cover Materia with another party member helps to protect her from being hit when in critical health.

Tifa can equip the female-only armor, Minerva Band. In addition to having many Materia slots and providing high-end stat boosts, Minerva Band nullifies damage from Fire, Ice, Holy and Gravity elements.

Limit BreaksEdit

Tifa's Limit Breaks are unlike most Final Fantasy VII characters': instead of selecting a move from a list, Tifa's Limit Breaks consist of consecutively hitting the opponent with each move adding on to the previous. The reels upgrade according to her Limit level. Each move deals physical damage to a random opponent. The Limits are selected through a slot process similar to the Slot skill from Final Fantasy VI. Each time the reel hits "Hit" the attack connects and does the normal damage of that attack. When the reels hit "Yeah!" damage is doubled, but each time it hits "Miss", the attack is not performed. The player stops the reel, and later skills have "Yeah!" harder to hit and surrounded by "Miss".

Her Limits are Beat Rush, Somersault, Waterkick, Meteodrive, Dolphin Blow, Meteor Strike and Final Heaven. Meteordrive and Meteor Strike are based on the Meteor Strike ability from Final Fantasy VI usable by Sabin (another Monk), while the rest of her moves were originally used by her. These abilities have made several appearances throughout the series beyond her appearance in Final Fantasy VII; for instance, she uses many of her Limits in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children in the battle against Loz. Several of her moves have been used for her other appearances throughout the Final Fantasy series, while others have been replicated by other characters; notably, Dolphin Blow is an ability usable by Zell from Final Fantasy VIII (also a Monk).

Date mechanicsEdit

The party member who takes Cloud on a date during the party's second plot-related visit to Gold Saucer is decided by a hidden value in the game determined by the player's dialogue and party member choices. Depending on the player's choices, Cloud may go on a date with Aeris, Tifa, Yuffie, or even Barret.

How each character is chosen is based upon a hidden value in the game's code, which cannot be viewed without hacking. Tifa starts with the second highest value, at 30, after Aeris, who starts with 50.

Near the end of the game, Tifa's affection value determines the scene under the Highwind; to get the more "romantic" scene, she requires a value of 50 or more.

As party leaderEdit

Tifa becomes the party leader after Cloud temporarily leaves the party after the events at the Northern Cave. Tifa can do anything Cloud could as a party leader, but there are some dialogue changes. For example, Yuffie's dialogue changes if either Tifa or Cid are the party leaders when recruiting her in Final Fantasy VII. She calls Tifa "Boobs". Tifa can recruit Vincent or Yuffie, and do the Wutai sidequest. There are some unique lines if the player retrieves the Megalixir from a cupboard in Kalm as Tifa, or inspects the lights in the houses in Forgotten City.

Tifa has two unique sidequests: playing the piano in her old room in Nibelheim during the time she is leader will get an Elemental Materia, and she has a Fort Condor battle available during her time as leader. Due to Tifa being the first leader with control of the Highwind, she is the first who can visit:

• The Cactus Island and morph the Cactuer for Tetra Elemental.
• The Goblin Islands and steal Zeio Nuts from the Goblin and receive their Goblin Punch enemy skill.
• Chocobo Sage's House for his shop and the final Enemy Skill Materia.
• Mideel which has shops and sidequests for the Contain Materia, the Curse Ring, and an Elixir.

Various locations change at this point. Aside from many dialogue and population change:

• The Great Glacier cannot be entered, and the player cannot snowboard at the Icicle Inn.
• The Gold Saucer cannot be entered, and the Ropeway Station's save point disappears.
• Most of the shops in Lower Junon, Upper Junon, Fort Condor, Costa del Sol, and Rocket Town get new wares.
• The back of the Cosmo Canyon Item Store opens up access to the Full Cure Materia and Magic Source.
• The Chocobo Farm Chocobo Lure Materia becomes available at the Chocobo Farm, and most significantly, the player gains the ability to buy stables at the Chocobo Farm. This allows the player to catch and breed Chocobos. Since the player cannot race Chocobos, breeding the better Chocobos requires luck with or manipulation of RNG.

With higher tier Chocobos, the player can also access the Materia Caves and the Ancient Forest. The player can access Lucrecia's Cave but the events there cannot trigger while Tifa (or Cid) is party leader.

Because the final Enemy Skill Materia can be first earned while Tifa is party leader, in an efficient playthrough this is also the earliest time to start collecting the skills to master all four Materia. If the player attempts this, they would have to have left the Wutai Pagoda sidequest incomplete to earn the missable Trine from Godo.

MinigamesEdit

Two of the Gold Saucer minigames can be played by Tifa in Cloud's stead if she is in the party: Snowboarding and Chocobo Racing. She will sometimes ask Cloud if she can have a go when the player chooses to play. If Tifa and Cid are both in the party, Tifa will take precedence. Tifa and Cid are the party leaders during the time Cloud is lost, but during this time Gold Saucer is closed and Tifa and Cid can only play the games by asking Cloud.