Final Fantasy VII Materia

Magic   Command   Summon   Support   Independent  

There are five different types of Materia found in Final Fantasy VII. They are: Green/Magic, Red/Summon, Yellow/Command, Independent/Purple, and Support/Blue. (Click on the Materia above to see the different types of Materia's in each category.)
Making sense of some of these Materia's might be a bit difficult. But once you get the gist of it, it is a breeze. The biggest confusion with Materia is making them work together. It is a bit daunting to get it right. It seems to be where every new-comer falls flat on there face.
Before you can combine the Materia, you will need to know about each of them, and how they are used. So let us begin there.

Command Materia
Command Materia is perhaps the most important ones to have. Before you get any of the Materia, you will only have the Attack and Item commands. When you get Command Materia, you will get more options in fighting. Things such as steal, Manipulate, and Mime Materia are almost must haves in the game. With these, you can get items for free, repeat the last attack your party made, or make your enemy give up that pesky Enemy Skill you want so badly.
Speaking of, the Command Materia is where you will find your Enemy Skill Materia. This is the only way you can get Enemy Skills (Blue Magic) in the game. And you will want to find all four of them in the game. These type of spells are almost, if not better than standard magic. Try to find them all, and get every Skill you can.

Magic Materia
Magic Materia is what allows you to use spells in the game. In Final fantasy VII, there are basically two types of Magic: Offensive, and Defensive.
Attack spells are any type of magic that inflicts damage to your enemy. Most of these spells are elemental in nature. So, for instance, if you have an enemy that is weak to the fire element, you can hit them with fire, for double damage. There are also spells which may petrify the target, and or cause a status ailment. Gravity magic is also good, if the enemy is weak to it.
Defensive, or support Magic is spells that improve your stats in one way or the other. Your two biggest Magic Materia will most likely be Restore, and Revive Materia. These two are vital to making a party survive the battles of the game. Though it is not necessary with the other Magic Materia, you might want a set of these for each party member. Things such as the Barrier and Shield Materia will assist in cutting damage down, while haste is important to keeping you ahead of the fight.

Summon Materia
Summon Materia allows you to call upon powerful ally's to assist you in battle. These are in fact the rarest Materia in the game, and hold the most powerful attacks. You will not be able to buy any of these Materia. You will have to find them of your own accord.
As with Magic Materia, Summon Materia is also mostly elemental in nature. Make sure to make note of what your enemy is weak to, before using an elemental summon in battle.
By far, the strongest magical attack in the game is the now famous Knights of the Round. This summon calls the fabled thirteen Knights of Aurthur, doing between 6-8000 Pt's of damage each. Add that up, and you get 78-104,000 Pt's damage per casting. As far as I know there are only 7 bosses in the game that can handle one attack, and only two can handle more than one. You will be a god among men with this Materia.

Support Materia
Unlike the other Materia, Support only works with Command, Summon, or Magic Materia...you know thus the name. It will gain Ap on its own, but you will not be able to use it.
Without any doubt, All Materia is the most important Materia there is. Combine this with any Materia, and Suddenly you will be hitting every character/enemy with whatever it is linked to. For instance, if you have the Steal Materia, you can steal an item from one enemy right? Well, place the All Materia in a joined link and wham! Now you are stealing from everyone.
This Materia set is the building blocks of major combinations with Materia. Without them, you have no combo to work with. Other Massive Support Materia are Final Attack, Quadra-Magic, Elemental Materia.

Independent Materia
The final type of Materia is simply to enhance your characters current stats. Most of these cannot be used in conjunction with other Materia.
The stat Materia is the most common in this category. You will want a few of the HP, MP, and Magic Plus Materia. These will give you the needed boosts to get through tougher battles. There is also game stat enhancing Materia, that will either increase or decrease enemy encounters.
The remaining Materia are even more useful than those. These are Materia such as the Chocobo Lure, Counter Attack, and Long Range Materia. These will allow you to utilize the fighting rows, strike more often in battle, or help find those little yellow birds.
There is one other Independent Materia that is only found in the American, and International version of Final Fantasy VII. The Underwater Materia is used to eliminate the 20 minute timer on the Emerald WEAPON fight. Otherwise it is useless to have.

Materia Growth

In order to get Materia to grow and level up, you will need the AP that is won after battles. This is what allows you to learn more spells, or use a Materia more. The weapon and armor you are wearing determines how much AP is going to the Materia. This is known as Materia Growth. If your weapon has a M.G. of x1 (This is the most common), then it will grow normally. So if you get 15 AP after a battle, each Materia in that weapon or armor will get 15 AP. If it is M.G. x2, you will get 30 AP. There are some weapon and armor that will give no AP. All the ultimate weapons do not allow Materia growth. Sorry on that one.
There are actually two weapons in the game that allow x3 growth. They are: Cloud's Apocalypse Sword, and Cid's Scimitar. With these weapons, you can master Materia a whole lot faster than normal. This is good for ones like Knights of the Round, that require 500,000 AP to master.
Speaking of Master Materia, in Disk 2, once you have taken the Huge Materia to Cosmo Canyon, you can try to get Mater Materia. Every time you master one of each Materia from the Command, Summon, and Magic Materia, you take it to the Huge Materia. When you approach the Materia of the same color, it will ask if you want to combine them. Say yes, and there you are.

With this bit of knowledge, you are ready for the game. Combining Materia will be a little bit easier. All you need to know is the basics of the Materia types, and you are set. Here is a few examples of combining the Materia: Elemental + any elemental Materia- Equip them to your weapon, and you will attack with that element. Add it to your armor, and you can cut damage, take no damage, or absorb the element. (the damage you take or don't take depends on the level of the elemental Materia with the Elemental Plus Materia.)
Sneak Attack, Steal+All/Mega All- Allows you first strike, and you can steal from everyone.
Sneak attack, Quadra-Magic+ Bahamut Zero, W-Summon- Allows you to begin the fight casting Bahamut 8 times! If you change the Quadra Magic for Knights of the Round, (they do not work together) you can summon Knights of the Round 2 times right off the bat.
Pre-Emptive, Sneak Attack+Knights of the Round, W-Summon, Mime- You can begin the battle casting Knights of the Round two times, and then Mime it right after. If everyone has a Mime equiped, they can make a endless chain of KOTR, until your enemy falls.

Hopefully this is helpful in getting you aquainted with Materia. As said before, once you get the hang of it, it is easy as pie. Be creative, and try out different Combo's. Who knows what you might come up with.