Chapter 14 of Final Fantasy 7 Remake has an abundance of optional quests, giving you a chance to snag some useful materia and equipment before tackling the climb to the Shinra Building. Amongst these is the Wavering Heart quest, which requires Tifa to beat Andrea at pull ups. This is relatively easy, and earns the Way of the Fist Vol. III manuscript for Tifa.
The problem arises when you find out there are further difficulties to complete, each with some decent rewards. Beating Amateur difficulty wins a Magic Up materia and conquering Pro difficulty yields a Champion Belt, along with the Peeress of Pull-Ups trophy. If you are intending to get the platinum trophy, there’s no way around it – you have to beat Jules at pull ups.
I’ll be honest – I beat Jules at my second attempt with a score of 45-44. It was only later that I realised this particular task is the source of mass frustration and despair among FF7R players. Apparently people are losing hours of their lives to this mini-game, and countless controllers have been launched at walls. Some have even compared Jules to Sephiroth himself.
But I promise you it’s not impossible. Here are my top tips for beating the Final Fantasy 7 Remake pull ups on Pro difficulty:
Completely ignore Jules
Do not even look at him. He will fall off a couple of times – once in round one, and once towards the end of round two – and will usually end up with a score in the region of 42 to 44 pull ups. Obviously, his score will affect your chances of winning, but there is nothing you can do to control it. The only thing you can do is make sure you hit 45 or more to give yourself the best chance to win. I’ve seen people online insist Jules can actually do more than this, but I’ve never seen him get more than 44 myself and cannot find any pictorial evidence either.
It’s also almost certain no matter how well you’re doing he will surpass you at some point during the middle to end of round 2, before he falls off and gives you the chance to overtake him. So don’t even give him the chance to put you off and focus completely on Tifa.
The mechanic is actually a bit stupid as I’ve never seen anyone suddenly fall off a pull-up bar, but that’s what gives us the opportunity to win so we’ll take it.
Think about the pattern differently
This is probably the most important tip in my experience. The required order of the buttons changes and you may find some patterns a bit easier than others, but my winning one was:
Triangle – Cross – Square – Circle
My winning technique was to completely ignore the symbols and purely think of it instead as:
Up – Down – Left – Right
I would just quietly repeat this latter pattern out loud at the appropriate speed as I pressed the buttons, which allowed me to easily keep on track without wavering. After a short while, you don’t even need to think about the buttons anymore as the order comes naturally, making it easier.
Aim for over 20 in the first round
Again, the overall score you’ll probably need to hit is 45. It’s possible to win with as low as 41 or 42, but this won’t do the business very often.
If you score in the region of 18 to 19, then it’s still worth continuing on the off-chance Jules has a bad second round, but your chances are far better by surpassing the 20 mark.
Adjust your speed at the right time
Things start off slow, and it’s simple enough to time your movements with the button prompts on the screen telling you when Tifa is ready for the next stage. Then they disappear, and this gets harder – but not for long.
Keep it steady until the first point you have to button mash. When this occurs, slam down the relevant button (it will take about 5 to 6 quick presses to move past it) and carry on quite a bit faster. After the first button-mash occasion, Tifa’s speed will have considerably increased. By my reckoning you’re still not quite at top speed and will have to hold back slightly to avoid falling off, but by the second button mash Tifa is going so fast you don’t even need to consider the possibility of pressing too soon anymore – she will be moving as fast as you can press the buttons – so just hit them as quickly as you can and the only thing you need to worry about is the order.
Turn off the music (carefully)
The gym is pretty loud, and turning the music down might free you of distractions, helping your concentration. You can do this in the settings menu. I personally find that it’s better not to mute the TV altogether as the rhythm of the sound effects when you hit the buttons can help with keeping your flow.
WARNING: Without music, the noises made by the competitors, especially Tifa, sound a bit…. pornographic. If anyone, particularly your partner, is within earshot it will be worth explaining the situation in advance.
If you fall, just give up
The only time you can afford to fall is right at the end of either round. If you fall off anywhere in the middle of a round, you will lose so much precious time it will be impossible to win. You can continue for practice if you want, but you might be better served saving those fingers from fatigue. The annoying thing is the loading screen upon giving up is agonisingly slow, so if you fall in round 2 it’s sometimes worth just waiting it out and enduring Jules’ victory.
With these tips, you should finally be able to tick off another trophy and equip the Champion Belt. It’s not actually the greatest prize considering how difficult people are finding the challenge, but being a completionist has always been inconvenient. At least you didn’t have to dodge 200 lightning bolts.
Did these tips help you beat the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Pull Ups?
Read my review of Final Fantasy 7 Remake here and my tips for hard mode here.
