Expectations were high for theFinal Fantasy 7 Remakebefore its release. The idea ofthe entire game set solely in Midgarfelt like a bold move by many fans, but Square Enix definitely made up for this decision by fleshing out this legendary city and justifying the extra time spent in the game… for the most part. The inclusion of new characters and engaging side activities definitely added more game time to a fun and engaging experience.
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Somewhat early inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, players will encounter a Shinra employee namedChadleywho has a number of battle intel reports for Cloud to complete. One of these battle intel reports isFinal Fantasy 7 Remake’sThe Stagger Effect Pt. 1, and indeed some players may find it quite a challenge. However, with a bit of instruction, it should become relatively easy to finish The Stagger Effect Part 1.
Updated on August 08, 2025, by Ritwik Mitra:With the announcement of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, fans can’t wait to see which unique direction this franchise heads toward in this entry. Final Fantasy 7 Remake already had its fair share of changes that made for a familiar yet unique experience, and Rebirth seems to continue this trend by promising several major changes in the Final Fantasy 7 canon that is going to be a blast to uncover.
The sequel is bound to have several side activities as well, similar to The Stagger Effect Pt. 1 in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. While this challenge can be accomplished over the course of regularly playing the game, players who want to unlock the benefits of completing this side activity as soon as possible should use the Fat Chocobo trick to accomplish the same as soon as possible. This unique method of completing the challenge is described in more detail below.
The Stagger Effect Part 1 in FF7 Remake
The first step to completing The Stagger Effect Pt. 1 inFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeis simply to stagger an enemy, and while this can be done on many foes, the Fat Chocobo is the ideal target for finishing the challenge. This is due to the fact that the Fat Chocobo’s stagger gauge depletes slowly, which allows Cloud’s ATB gauge to refill many times during a single stagger.
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How to Fight Fat Chocobo in FF7 Remake
Players will need to speak with Chadley to take part in his VR Missions. For the mission to be unlocked, players will need to have made it to Wall Market in the main story. One of the combat simulations will be a fight against Fat Chocobo. This is a pretty fun battle in its own right that unlocks one of the more iconic summons in the originalFinal Fantasy 7. Given the caveats of this relatively easy battle, it’s also a great way to spam attacks on this staggered enemy to charge up the ATB gauge ten times without too many issues.
Once the enemy is staggered, players should activateCloud’s Punisher Mode unique ability, which is done by pressing Triangle, and they should then continue using standard attacks to refill their ATB gauge. When that gauge is fully refilled, players will advanceFinal Fantasy 7 Remake’sThe Stagger Effect Part 1 by one, and they can then use an ability, item, or spell to deplete the full ATB gauge. Doing this will then allow the player to refill the ATB gauge again, and they can repeat this loop to continually advance this challenge.
To put this another way, so long as Cloud’s opponent is staggered and he is in Punisher Mode, which again is activated with triangle, The Stagger Effect Part 1 inFF7 Remakewill progress by one every time hisATB gaugehits maximum. Of course, players can use the other party members to accomplish this task as well, but using Cloud in Punisher Mode and charging up the ATB gauge is easily the most efficient way to complete this task without taking too much time in the process.
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To emphasize a point made earlier, it is not necessary to use the Fat Chocobo to complete this challenge – it is just a good target because players can advanceFF7 Remake’sThe Stagger Effect Part 1multiple times within a single stagger. With that said, players that are using other enemies to progress the challenge should just take extra care to make sure they remain staggered throughout the fight. Fans that do this will complete The Stagger Effect Pt. 1 quite quickly, and there is aFinal Fantasy 7 RemakeFirst Strike Materiawaiting for them as a reward.
The Reward
TheFirst Strike Materia is similar to the Pre-Emptive Materiathat players can get in the original game, where it increased the chance of a random encounter starting off as a pre-emptive strike with the ATB bars of all characters being full from the get-go. Of course, in a real-time battle system likeFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, giving players a full ATB bar from the get-go would completely break the combat system and turn random encounters into nothing more than a distraction for most players.
So, to achieve a balance while also making this Materia viable in combat, First Strike only fills up a slight portion of the ATB bar from the get-go. Players need to level up this Materia for the initial boost to be more substantial, meaning that players need to invest in this Materia quite a bit for it to really show its true potential further down the line. Starting out a fight with a powerful combat move is pretty satisfying and makes the First Strike Materia well worth the effort of grinding out the Fat Chocobo fight to get.
Final Fantasy 7 Remakeis out now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
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