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Along with the reveal of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s story content and PS5 upgrade, Tetsuya Nomura gave some updates to the development process of FF7 Remake’s future. In a translated interview by Famitsu (provided to us by Square Enix), Nomura explained that he’s transitioning away from being the co-director of the project, and that Naoki Hamaguchi will now be the sole director moving forward. However, Nomura mentioned that not much will change for him.

When asked about his role as a director and concept designer for the multiple projects in the works, Nomura prefaced, “There have been three Final Fantasy 7-related games announced, but as I mentioned before, I have more projects on my plate at the moment than ever before.” He then explained that the foundation has already been established and that he can pass on the role, saying, “For Remake, the core gameplay direction has now been worked out and we can see the points that need improving, so I will hand over directorship to Mr. Hamaguchi (co-director on FF7 Remake) for the next game and continue to be involved in all FF7-related projects, such as the remakes and mobile games, as overall creative director.”

If you’re wondering how this might affect future entries of FF7 Remake, this move may not make that much of an impact; Nomura stated, “The way I am involved in the development work will basically not change, though.”

Although we don’t have any indication of when FF7 Remake’s second part may come, Nomura said, “The next game is being worked on at that same kind of pace,” and stressed that Intergrade’s story content will be an important piece to the broader Remake saga.

For more on what’s going on with the Final Fantasy 7 universe, check out everything we know about Intergrade, which includes details on how Yuffie is getting involved in the story and how the free PS5 upgrade works. Two new mobile games were announced as well, The First Soldier and Ever Crisis–the former being a multiplayer battle royale and the latter being a revamp of the original FF7 and its various spinoff stories.

Playing Valheim with friends is the premier way to enjoy the viking survival game. To do that, you’ll need to either create servers in the game so other players can join you, or join them in their servers. Valheim’s menus can be a bit confusing to navigate, though, especially if you don’t really know much about local hosting or dedicated servers. And even joining games can be a little wonky, requiring you to use Steam’s menus to find servers using IP addresses.

Check out the guide below for everything you need to know to set up your own servers or join someone else’s in Valheim. It’s also worth noting that if you’re looking for new co-op viking friends, you can check the Community server list and join in with other people you don’t know–although you should do so at your own risk, since you never know if your new friends might turn out to be griefers. It’s also good practice to check for Discord servers to go with your Valheim servers so you can talk to other players.

We’ve got even more Valheim coverage so be sure to check out our guides for upgrading your Workbench, crafting armor, hunting down Iron, and beating The Elder.

Joining A Server

The Join feature for Valheim can be a bit janky. We had trouble finding the servers created by our friends by going through the game client. You should be able to join a friend’s Valheim server from the main menu by using either the server name or the IP address. If the server is set up correctly, it should appear on the Community Server list by name; use the “Filter” text box to search for it. You’ll need the password to gain entry. If that doesn’t work, use the “IP” button to search for the server by its IP number and enter the password.

If neither of those options work, however, there is another way around using Steam. Quit Valheim and go to the Steam window you use to launch the game. Look up the menu at the top of the window and select “View.” Go down the list to “Servers” and click it to pull open a new window.

On the servers window, go to the “Favorites” tab and click the button to “Add a Server” in the bottom-right corner. That’ll bring up another menu window where you can enter the IP address of the server you want to join. Do that and enter the password when prompted. Steam will automatically launch Valheim and allow you to choose your character; you’ll have to enter the password again to get into the server, but you should load in no problem from there.

That should add the server to your “Favorites” list, so it’ll appear in the Servers window from now on. You can enter it again the same way, from the View menu. Just double-click on the server you want and enter the password to jump into the game.

Creating A Local Game

This is a relatively simple option for players who want to hang out in small groups and don’t intend to play alone. Creating

Start the game and choose a character. When you hit Start, you’ll have the option to create a random world, to make a custom one based on a specific seed, or to join a game created by someone else. If you create your own world, you can start a server that other players can join by clicking the “Start Server” radial button. That’ll allow other players to log in with you–just set a password and a name for your server and you’re all set. Other people you provide with that information should be able to find your server and join you while you’re playing.

Making a local server uses the computer you’re playing Valheim on to host everyone else who’s playing with you, which comes with some drawbacks. First, you’re limited somewhat in the number of people you can host. Valheim game worlds can support up to 10 players at a time, but it’s likely your computer will struggle the more players you get in, so try to keep your groups closer to four or five.

Also note that since a local server uses your computer to host the game, it’s unavailable when you’re not playing. If you log out of Valheim while others are playing on your local server, they’ll also be logged out of the game, and they’ll have to wait for you to log back in to play on your server again. With that in mind, it’s best to use a local server when you’re going to play reliably with the same small group at predictable times.

Creating A Dedicated Server

You can also create a dedicated Valheim server that won’t require you to be logged into the game in order to play. You’ll either need a computer that can stay online to allow your group to log into it, or consider paying a service to rent a server that you can use for the game.

Before you do anything else, you’ll need to set up Port Forwarding on your internet router to make sure that other players can access the server from the internet. Check the website for your internet service provider and router for more information on how to do that. Make a note of which port number you use for this step, because you’ll need that info later. By default, Valheim’s servers use ports 2456-2458.

To start a dedicated Valheim server, you’ll need to download a tool from Steam that came with the game when you bought it. Find it by clicking the drop-down menu on the left side of your Steam interface, labeled “Games,” and select “Tools.” Searching “Valheim” will bring up the Valheim Dedicated Server tool, which you’ll need to download.

From there, the steps for setting up a server are pretty straightforward, although you’ll need to do some quick text editing to get up and running.

1. On the Valheim Dedicated Server page on Steam, click the gear icon for Settings in the top-right corner. Go to “Manage,” then “Browse Local Files.” You can also get this same menu by right-clicking Valheim Dedicated Server under Tools.

2. In the local files window, look for “start_headless_server.bat”. You’ll need to edit that file using a text editor like Notepad, but first, make a copy of the file to serve as a backup should anything go wrong.

3. Right-click start_headless_server.bat and choose “Edit” to open it in Notepad. Go down to the last line of the file, which starts with “valheim_server”. You’ll need to make a few changes to this line to set up the parameters for your server

4. Find ‘-name “My server”‘ in the line and change “My server” to the name you want to give the server. It can be anything, but it’s good to choose something your friends will recognize. Your name should stay inside the quotation marks–so if you were to name your server GameSpot, the entry would look like this: -name “GameSpot”

5. Find ‘-port 2456’ in the line and change the number to the number of the port you used for port forwarding on your router.

6. Find ‘world “Dedicated”‘ in the line and give your game world a name in the place of “Dedicated”. If you’ve already created a Valheim world (which you can do from the start menu when you launch the game), you can use that world–just put its name inside the quotation marks. Otherwise, a new game world with the name you use here will be created instead.

7. Find ‘-password “Secret”‘ in the line and set your server’s password. Whatever you put in the quotation marks will be the server’s password, and it’ll be case-sensitive. You’ll need to give this password to anybody else you want to be able to access the server, so it’s a good idea to write it down for quick reference.

8. Find ‘savedir [PATH]’ in the line. By default, Valheim saves your game Worlds and various permissions files in a specific folder in the AppData folder inside your Windows username folder. If you want to make the game save those files somewhere else, you can specify the file path.

9. Save “start_headless_server.bat” and run the file to launch your dedicated server. You’ll know it’s ready to go for other players to connect to it when you see the message “Game server connected” in the server program window. If the server program triggers a pop-up from Windows Firewall, make sure to allow it full permissions by checking all the boxes so that other players can connect to your server.

10. Allow other players to join your server by adding it to the Community server list from the Valheim menu when you launch the game–players should be able to find your server by the name you gave it. You can also grab the server’s IP address once it’s up and running and give that to friends so they can search for the server that way. As mentioned in the Join section above, if Valheim’s server list and IP address search function are acting up, use the Steam “Server” page (under the View menu in Steam) to search for the server that way. Make sure to give friends the password to the server or they won’t be able to join.

That’s it! If you need more information, you can find the “Valheim Dedicated Server Manual” PDF in the Valheim Dedicated Server local files, where you found start_headless_server.bat.

The Workbench in Valheim is more like your crafting workhorse. It’s the first crafting table you’ll build when you start to establish your viking base, and it remains essential all the way through the game, allowing you to craft key items like arrows and to construct buildings even after you’ve moved on to higher-level materials. The Workbench is one of the first things you’ll craft, but upgrading it will take some work–and unlock some key items you’ll need along the way.

Here’s everything you need to know to get your Workbench going, including some requirements that might not be obvious right away, what it’ll cost to make, and what benefits it’ll give you as you explore Valheim.

We’ve got even more Valheim coverage so be sure to check out our guides for crafting armor, hunting down Iron, and beating The Elder.

Workbench Level 1

• Cost: 10 Wood
• Requirements: Needs a roof
• Unlocks: Buildings, bonfire, bed, crafting stations, rag armor, wood weapons, wood shields, Antler Pickaxe, hoe, tankard

You can craft a couple of tools out of sticks and rocks when you first start Valheim, but in order to make just about anything else, you’ll need to build a Workbench. There are a few things you should keep in mind before you grab 10 pieces of wood and throw down your bench in any old spot, however.

First, having a Workbench automatically augments your hammer, allowing you to build new stuff–so just having a Workbench is an improvement you need to make. But you can’t actually craft anything at the Workbench right away, which means you can’t use it to make new weapons or armor right after you make it. In order to make anything at the bench, you need to build a roof over it, which can be an annoying extra step.

With the Workbench built, however, your Hammer will gain the ability to construct building pieces from wood. It’s pretty easy to throw up three walls and a thatch roof to create a quick tool shed around a Workbench, and in a pinch this will do. If you’re planning to build a bigger base, you might want to think a little more critically about where you want your Workbench, and the building that will surround it, to be. Then again, you can always bust everything up and move it around with your Hammer, since Valheim refunds all construction materials when you disassemble something from the Build menu.

Once you’ve crafted a Workbench, you can make all sorts of critical things, including a bed that will allow you to set a new respawn point, a bonfire that will allow you to get the critical Rested bonus, and a cooking station to make food.

You can also use any Workbench to repair anything can you craft from it, free of charge–so don’t go building a bunch of extra axes or bows once the durability of one runs out. It’s good practice to just stop by your Workbench periodically and nail that Repair button a bunch of times to make sure your gear is in tip-top shape.

To further upgrade your Workbench, you’ll need to create other key buildings within the bench’s radius.

Workbench Level 2 – Chopping Block

• Cost: 10 Wood, 10 Flint
• Unlocks: Deer Hide armor, Abyssal Razor, Stagbreaker, Flinthead arrows, Fire arrows, Poison arrows, Wolf Fur cape, Lox cape, Linen cape

The ability to create a Chopping Block unlocks once you find Flint, which you can snag near water. You’ll need this upgrade to get better armor and a few key weapons–including new arrow types. A Level 2 bench gets you a lot of items and while you’ll need to upgrade to reach higher-tier gear, a lot of the stuff you’ll use for most of the game requires a Chopping Block. That’s something you should keep in mind if you make multiple benches–it’s usually good to bring them up to Level 2 so you have more convenient locations for making arrows.

Workbench Level 3 – Tanning Rack

• Cost: 10 Wood, 15 Flint, 5 Deer Hide, 20 Leather Scraps
• Unlocks: Troll Hide armor, Obsidian arrows

The Tanning Rack is the last major upgrade to your Workbench for making armor. After this upgrade, you’ll move on to making metal armor at a Forge, but don’t sleep on Troll Hide, which can be very helpful in dealing with the Black Forest and starting to venture into Swamps.

Workbench Level 4 – Adze

• Cost: 10 Fine Wood, 3 Bronze
• Requirements: Forge (within radius)
• Unlocks: Frost arrow, Needle arrow

You won’t be able to make an Adze until you defeat Eikthyr, craft the Antler Pickaxe, and start mining Tin and Copper. You’ll also need a Forge, so make sure to build it within the radius of your Workbench, so that you can also build your Adze. There aren’t too many things you need the Level 4 Workbench to build, but it will allow you to continue to upgrade your items.

Workbench Level 5 – Tool Shelf

• Cost: 1 Fine Wood, 4 Iron, 4 Obsidian
• Requirements: Wall space near Workbench
• Unlocks: Equipment upgrades

The final upgrade for the Workbench doesn’t unlock much in the way of new items, but it is essential to keep upgrading your various other items and tools. To unlock it, you’ll need to build a Tool Shelf, which goes on the wall near the Workbench, so make sure you’ve left enough space in your building to place one. This last upgrade also requires gathering Obsidian, which is only found in the Mountain biome. The cold Mountain weather will kill you if you don’t make Frost Resist potions, so keep that in mind. You’ll also need an Iron Pickaxe to mine Obsidian, but it’s relatively easy to find once you start climbing into Mountains.

Other Workbench Tips

Not Every Workbench Needs A Roof

Especially as you advance into the game, you’ll start to expand your base and venture out into the world to make additional outposts, especially as you start to find Iron in distant Swamp biomes. Workbenches are essential to expanding bases and outposts, but if a Workbench isn’t your main one where you’ll be doing most of your crafting work, don’t bother upgrading it. You can get most things done with a base-level Workbench when it comes to building. If you’re not intending to craft at a particular Workbench, you don’t need to bother throwing a roof over it, so save yourself the hassle.

Put Workbenches Near The Edges Of Your Base

Enemies won’t spawn within the radius of a Workbench, so you can use benches near the edges of your base as extra defense. You’ll want to be sure to put the Workbenches away from where big enemies like trolls might smash them, but coupled with a moat and other defenses, a Workbench near the border of your territory can help to keep it a little more clear.

You Don’t Have To Build Inside The Workbench Radius

Yes, Workbenches create a radius around themselves that allows for building, but that doesn’t mean your buildings must be inside that radius. You can actually add stuff outside of the ring, provided you’re standing inside it. That’s useful to know when you’re trying to make repairs on certain structures or vehicles–namely boats.

Don’t Sleep On Upgrading Your Gear

Unlocking new recipes and climbing the tech tree is nice, but note that your Workbench will allow you to upgrade things you already own, often pretty significantly and at a lower cost than building all new things. You can get far in the world by continually upgrading your lower-level weapons and armor, and if you’ve got the resources from fighting early-game enemies especially, it’s worth it to do so. Even upgrading tools can be useful over the long term since it’ll increase their durability, meaning you’ll be able to do more out in the world before returning to your Workbench to repair them. It can be easy to ignore the Upgrade tab on your Workbench, but amping up your gear can help you stay alive longer and brave tougher biomes even before you get higher-tier armor and weapons.

Use Workbenches To Quickly Dismantle Ruined Buildings

A useful early tip is to build your base on a ruined village or town you might come across, since it’ll give you a cheaper, quicker way to get some structures created while you’re advancing up the Valheim tech trees and getting acquainted with the game. These villages are also great quick sources for resources, since you can repurpose the wood in a building you don’t want to build one you do. Don’t bother chopping away at a building you’re trying to level for wood, though–instead, whip up a quick Workbench next to the building and use your hammer to dismantle it nearly instantly. It’ll save your axe and get the job done much more quickly.

Make Boat Repair Stations For Your Adventures

Before long, you’ll probably want to start exploring your Valheim world to go in search of new biomes and new materials to advance your viking. To do that, you’re going to need to build a boat. The good news is that you can cobble together a raft with low-level resources, but you’ll still need a Workbench near water to build it. Making a small boathouse near where you intend to land your craft is actually a good idea, however, since boats can be destroyed by aquatic creatures or smashing them into underwater rocks too often, and the only way to repair them is with a nearby Workbench. As you explore, it’s a good idea to create small Workbench stations in likely spots where you intend to land your boat. That’ll allow you to repair or construct new craft if you need to, while also giving you semi-permanent waypoints where you can build bonfires and other useful items to help make exploring easier.

Bravely Default 2 may look like your standard turn-based RPG, but there is a lot more going on under the hood. If you’ve never played a Bravely Default game, then this new game can actually be kind of tough. So, we’ve compiled eight tips to help you navigate the world and give you the edge in combat.

If you’re more curious about how the game stacks up, be sure to read our Bravely Default 2 review. Otherwise, read on for some essential tips!

Bravely Defaulting: Finding A Balance

Bravely Default’s core combat mechanics are braving and defaulting, as the title of the game implies. “Braving” allows a character to attack multiple times in a row, while “defaulting” is a defensive maneuver that stores an action point. The catch is that your characters can only attack if they have 0 or at least one free “brave point” or BP. So, if you go “full brave” at the beginning of a battle, they will go into turn-debt, meaning they can’t perform any actions for the next few turns.

You could play conservatively, taking only one action per turn, but battles will drag on, and you’ll give your opponents more opportunities to chip away at your party’s health. On the other hand, you could go “full brave” with all your party members, but if you don’t clean up your opposition in that opening phase, you’ll be leaving your entire party open for the next few turns. Success is about finding a balance between braving and defaulting.

Defaultly Braving: Knowing When To Brave Or Default

So, let’s dig into the numbers a bit more. As I mentioned before, combat actions are tracked with BP points. If a character’s BP points are 0 or positive, then they have an action. If they are negative, then that character has to sit out a turn. As long as you have 0 or +1 brave point, you can go “full brave”–this lets you attack four times in a row.

However, if you go “full brave” with only +1 BP, that will set your party member back to -2 BP. If you go full brave with 0 BP, that will set them back to -3. That means you won’t be able to do anything until you are back at 0 BP.

This situation is where defaulting comes in handy. By defaulting, a party member is giving up his or her action to defend and, more importantly, bank a Brave Point. Once you hit +3 BP, you can go “full brave” without going into turn debt. For weaker foes, you can go “full brave” at the beginning of a turn to knock them out quickly. For more formidable enemies, it’s best to play a little more defensively. The last thing you want is to be in turn debt during an enemy onslaught.

Bravely Seconding: Other Factors To Consider

You probably thought we were done talking about this, but there’s a lot to cover. There are some crucial quirks to consider when it comes to this system. For example, if you knock out an enemy while “braving,” your next attack will automatically hit the enemy directly to the right of it. If the enemy you just knocked out is on the far right, you’ll automatically target the enemy on the left.

We try only to use enough BP to finish off an enemy. It’s not terrible if your attacks spill over to another enemy, but it makes it harder to aim for weaknesses. If you run out of MP while braving, your attack will fail, and you’ll waste a turn. If an attack’s text turns red, that means you won’t have enough MP to perform that move when it comes up.

Finally, enemies can also brave and default, making specific encounters particularly deadly. To check their BP, press X. Certain abilities cost BP to use, which means that if a move costs 1 BP, it will actually take up 2 BP–one to use the move and one to carry out the action.

Preemptive Strike Tips

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about general combat tips. First off, the Y button lets you swing your sword outside of battle. This can be used to cut grass or to smack an enemy before entering battle. A general rule of thumb is that if an enemy runs away from you, it’s weak. If it charges you, they are strong. If you successfully hit an enemy with your sword before a battle, then your party will “feel brave,” meaning they kick off the fight with +1 BP. Otherwise, they’ll start at 0.

If you’re up against a foe you’ve never seen before, use the magnifying glass item or the “examine” skill in order to see the enemy’s weaknesses and HP. The freelance job automatically starts with “examine,” so you probably won’t need magnifying glasses early on.

Preparing For A Fight

Although magnifying glasses aren’t super useful early on, HP and MP restoration items are. The most efficient way to heal while exploring the world is by using a tent. If you’re exploring the world map, a tent will fully replenish your party’s HP and MP. Unfortunately, tents don’t work in a dungeon, which means you’ll want to bring plenty of restoration items with you before setting out. If you aren’t careful, one group of enemies can wreak havoc on your party, so make sure to stock up on both items and equipment whenever you’re in town. It’s also worth picking up a few Teleport Stones and Ward Light. Teleport Stones let you warp out of the dungeon, and a Ward Light makes it tougher for enemies to spot you.

Jobs and Sub-jobs

Another key feature of Bravely Default 2 is its in-depth job system. As you progress through the game, you will unlock new jobs which you can freely assign to party members as main or sub-jobs.

Jobs range from Black Mage to Monk and determine a character’s look, moveset, and progression. Jobs each have their own, separate leveling track that max out at level 12 early on. As you level it up, you’ll unlock more abilities, both active and passive. Keep in mind that only main jobs level up. Sub-jobs allow a character to utilize abilities and perks from another job, but they can’t level up.

When deciding which characters should have which jobs, it’s important to find a main job and sub-job that complement each other and the party member. If you press Y on the Job screen in the menu, you can also see the job’s recommended equipment, which you can consider to refine your proposed job setup.

Don’t Forget To Equip Passive Abilities

As you level up jobs, you’ll unlock passive abilities. However, if you want to reap the benefits of those passive abilities, you need to equip them. To do that, go to the main menu and click on the abilities page. Here you can equip passive abilities that correspond to your equipped job and sub-job. You can only activate five passive abilities at a time, and the game will not assign these abilities automatically, so it’s worth checking this menu often throughout your travels.

Miscellaneous Tips

Honestly, there’s a lot to cover with this game, so we’re just going to rattle off some tips that didn’t fit in the previous tips:

• Use the exploration feature: You will passively collect useful items when your console is in rest mode. Make sure to check back at the explorations HQs in various cities to collect your rewards. The game will explain this feature early on, but don’t forget about it!
• Most spells have two targeting options: Before you cast a certain spell, you can press Y to target all enemies instead of one.
• Telltale signs of a nearby boss: If enemies in a dungeon are running away from you, it’s a good sign you’re ready to take on the boss.
• Every quest is valuable: Take on every side quest. Most require little effort and offer decent rewards, so don’t ignore these side-activities.
• Speed up the grinding process (literally): The + button lets you speed up a battle. This feature is handy when you have to grind.
• Checking the equip load: Each character can only carry so much. Always be aware of how much stuff you are equipping. Any weight increases also show up blue when you’re equipment shopping, so keep that in mind. Blue isn’t always good.
• Counters interrupt can Brave combos: Some characters have counter moves that trigger after receiving damage. Sometimes they will dish out some damage, and other times they could put your character to sleep, canceling out your Brave combo.