Crystal Sword (Final Fantasy VII)

The Crystal Sword is a weapon for Cloud in Final Fantasy VII. It is acquired midway through the game. It well-rounded stats on-par with other weapons available at Mideel, has six linked Materia slots, and outclasses Cloud's previous weapons. However, it does not provide unique effects. It can be equipped to Cloud or thrown.
==Obtained==
The Crystal Sword can be purchased at Mideel for 18,000 gil.
==Mechanics==
As the Crystal Sword has a base Attack stat bonus of 76, the base damage for physical attacks when the Crystal Sword is equipped is the following formula:
:\text{Base Damage} = \text{(76 + Strength)} + \frac{\text{(76 + Strength)} + \text{Level}}{32} \times \frac{\text{(76 + Strength)} \times \text{Level}}{32}
where "Level" is Cloud's current level and "Strength" is his Strength stat. The Crystal Sword also has an Attack% (Accuracy) of 107%, and grants a +16 bonus to Cloud's Magic stat when casting spells.
==Use==
The Crystal Sword is a powerful weapon all-around, providing a stronger bonus to all stats (particularly Attack) than all weapons around the time it is acquired, and a good number of Materia slots, all linked. It outclasses the Organics, as well as most weapons in terms of damage all-around. However, it does not provide any unique effects, and compared to the Enhance Sword provides fewer Materia slots, making it less useful if Cloud is primarily used for spellcasting.
As all of Crystal Sword's Materia slots are linked, they can benefit from Support Materia. This makes Cloud a good candidate to equip many Summon Materia or Magic Materia, benefiting from his Magic stat, and allowing linked Support Materia to provide many effects when casting spells. Though they will not benefit from linked Support Materia (aside from a few cases), Cloud can also equip Command Materia and Independent Materia on the Crystal Sword if the player is using him more for physical damage.
Crystal Sword remains useful as a well-rounded weapon for Cloud throughout the game, until outclassed much later on by Heaven's Cloud and Ragnarok. Its drawback is not providing any unique effects. Compared to Enhance Sword, it is less useful for pure spellcasting due to having fewer Materia slots, and compared to Nail Bat, it provides less pure physical damage as it does not include any bonus to Cloud's critical hit rate. Crystal Sword is best used if the player does not wish to hard lock Cloud into a specific role and prefers to use him for both magical and physical damage, or if there is no desire to benefit from unique effects, such as Yoshiyuki's double damage when an ally is dead.
Category:Weapons in Final Fantasy VII