Understanding the DMW in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)

Fans of Final Fantasy VII would immediately noticed the striking resemblance between the Limit Breaks of these two games and the Digital Mind Waves of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core for the PSP. If Limit Break enables your characters to unleash powerful and destructive attacks coupled by cool animations, DMW offers the same with an even more colorful and great looking video sequence. DMW's are special characters that are added to your lineup which is automatically and randomly triggered during a battle sequence. The only times you can control the DMW is by equipping your main character Zack with specific Materia's that enhances the chances of triggering that DMW attack more often. The other time wherein you can control the DMW is when you want to cut short the video sequence, and that is triggered by hitting the circle button on your PSP. Another basic thing to remember is that DMW costs SP points on your character, so make sure to replenish your SP points by potions that would increase them. If your character got hit by a curse attack which puts him into unusual conditions (cursed, poison etc.) the DMW will stop from working unless you cure your character.

The DMW characters in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core include regular characters you encounter during the game, such as Angeal, Cissnei, Sephiroth, Cloud, Aerith, Genesis and Tseng. Aside from these regular characters, you'll also get additional DMW characters, some of which you can obtain by getting their respective Materias. These include; Ifrit, Bahamut, Bahamut Fury, Odin, Phoenix, Chocobo, Cactuar, Tonberry, Cait Sith, Moogle and Magic Pot. All the rest of these characters can be obtained by getting their specific materia except for the Magic Pot which requires special tasks to complete. The regular characters' DMW's command Zack to unleash their special moves. For instance when Sephiroth is triggered, Zack will execute his Omnislash move. As for the other DMW's, once they are triggered, Zack will do nothing, but you can enjoy as they unleashed their moves with corresponding cool animation sequence. (My favorite is Bahamut's Fury).

Now, for some nitty gritty on these DMW's. The DMW's icons will appear on three slots at the upper left hand corner of your screen. These is similar to slot machines where you should pray and hope that once it gets into modulation phase, all three slots would stop spinning on one character's face. Once it stops on three identical character's faces, you'll surely hit a 777 combination. That's the time when the particular DMW would be triggered and execute a particular DMW attack. These special attacks inflict massive damage to your opponents and are very valuable during boss fights. In addition, if the 777 combination is hit by the slot machine, your character would also level up. If the DMW "slot machine" did not stop on three similar faces, but stops on two similar numbers, it will give a one level up for a particular materia which your character is currently equipped with. If it hit three similar numbers aside from 777, it will give your materia two levels up. During the battle sequence, the DMW slots will keep on spinning and from time to time will indicate some non-modulation phase for your character which would render him into some unusual state for a specific time period. For example, when it hits a combination of 777 during non-modulation phase, your character would attain invincibility status for 15 seconds. Hence no attacks can damage him for that period.

There are certainly a lot more things to know about DMW. It is definitely a game-changing system which Square Enix has introduced into the Final Fantasy franchise and more specifically to FFVII Crisis Core for the PSP. Some of these important things to remember include; DMW attacks are carried out randomly to any enemies which you are currently fighting in battle sequences. Pray that it hits the enemy which is the toughest to beat. These and other good stuff about DMW's await you as you take into the challenge posed by such a great game as the Final Fantasy: Crisis Core for the PSP.