I’m replaying the Final Fantasy series from VII to XII and want to try something new with limit breaks, overdrives, and trances. In my past runs, I usually got limit breaks early on but they quickly became hard to trigger or upgrade, like Squall’s in FF8 or the dog launcher in FF7. The games already feel easy when you master magic junctions or abilities, but I’d like to focus on leveling up and using these special states more often. For example, I’d love to see all characters go into trance at least once, and fully explore the limit break moves instead of just the basic ones. Is there a straightforward method or trick — like getting hit a lot, or exploiting some mechanic — that helps “cheese” or speed up acquiring and using limits, trances, or quickenings across these games? Any tips or setups that worked well?
5 Answers
For FF7, your limit breaks upgrade differently depending on the level. The first level unlocks by just using the limit break a number of times. The second level requires the character to finish off a certain amount of enemies. If you want to level up your limits fast, grind in places with lots of enemies like the forest near Junon or Rocket Town. Using items like Fury can speed up the process since taking damage charges the limit gauge too. Just keep using limit breaks and finishing fights quickly!
In FF10, your overdrive bar fills depending on your chosen overdrive mode (like “on hit”, “when taking damage”, etc.) so pick the style that fits your playstyle to build them quickly. Also, using items like Hyper to build limit break gauges faster in FF7 can really speed up leveling them. For FF12, the new Zodiac Age has a Mist gauge separate from MP that powers Quickenings and summons. You want to try to chain quickenings for maximum damage, which you can set up by having combo-focused classes with buffs like Berserk, Haste, and Bleed applied. Basically, stack buffs and keep your damage dealer alive at low HP, then watch the combos clear everything fast.
In FF8, the key is keeping your characters at low health — when their HP bar is yellow (below 25%), their chance to trigger limit breaks is way higher. You can also cast the Aura spell, which increases your chances further. A fun cheese is to teach Quistis the blue magic spell Degenerator and have her stay at low HP while casting it constantly — she’ll wipe out most enemies in one go. Just be careful because characters at low HP are fragile and can die easily if targeted.
Ah, that makes sense! So managing HP and buffs like Aura basically control the crisis level and influence limits appearing. That helps a lot!
For FF9, trances trigger automatically, so there’s no way to cheese them per se. You just take advantage of the special abilities when the trance occurs. For XII, the system is based on chaining Quickenings. It helps to start with a single charge ability and try to build up combos before unleashing more moves. And in the Zodiac Age version of XII, there’s a separate Mist gauge that recharges over time and powers quickenings and summons without eating into your MP. You can use powerful summons like Exodus, Zeromus, or Shemhazi with buffs to deal crazy damage if you bubble them (cast the Bubble spell to boost HP). It’s less about grinding limits and more about strategy with your setup and timing.
If you’re looking for a simple, effective way to cheese limits across these games, here’s the gist: In FF7, use the Fury item on your party to build limits way faster since taking damage charges limits. In FF8, keep characters below 25% HP or cast Aura and skip turns until the limit breaks appear—you can even hit your own party for this. In FF10, change overdrive modes so you build them faster or in a way that suits your playstyle. For FF12, spam quickenings using the Mist gauge in the Zodiac Age or the MP bar in the original. Just keep brewing combos and refresh quickenings often. And for FF9, trances are automatic so just make the most of them when triggered.
Thanks! I play on Zodiac Age so the Mist gauge tips and combining buffs/combos sound really powerful. I’ll definitely try that combo blender trick.