BTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB T / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / T B / \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \ B T \ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* \ T B /\ | | \/ B T \ * ~~BTB's Final Fantasy VII FAQ~~ * \ T B /\ | | \/ B T \ * ~Version 1.0~ * \ T B /\ | | \/ B T \ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* \ T B \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ / B T / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / T BTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB !#$%^&*!@#$%^&*!@#$*$% * @ % CENSORED VERSION & $ # #!*&^%$#@!*&^%$#@!*$!@ wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ _\ /_ | | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / | | / /\ \ _\ /_ | ~Quick-Naviagate~ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / | | / /\ \ _\ /_ | | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm To get where you're going in a hurry, try Quick-Navigate! Just follow these five easy steps: 1. Highlight the name of the section or subsection that you want to go to in the table of contents (listed below). 2. Press ctrl + C. 3. Press ctrl + F. 4. Press ctrl + V. 5. Press Enter. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ _\ /_ | | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / | | / /\ \ _\ /_ | ~Table of Contents~ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / | | / /\ \ _\ /_ | | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm -------------------- I. Basic Information -------------------- A. Author's Note (Read This!) B. Quick Info C. Statistics & Probabilities D. About Limit Breaks E. The Materia System F. "Lost-Forevers" (Definitely Read This!) -------------- II. Characters -------------- A. Cloud Strife B. Barret Wallace C. Tifa Lockhart D. Aeris Gainsborough E. Red XIII F. Cait Sith G. Cid Highwind H. Yuffie Kisaragi I. Vincent Valentine ---------------- III. Walkthrough ---------------- A. The Rebels of Midgar B. Shinra Co. C. The Eastern Continent D. The Western Continent E. Call of the Ancients F. Adventures in the Frozen North G. A World in Despair H. Reunion & The Final Battles --------------- IV. Side Quests --------------- A. Shinra Mansion's Safe B. Wutai C. The Ancient Forest D. The Gelnika E. WEAPON Battles ----------------- V. Little Secrets ----------------- A. Turtle's Paradise Challenge B. Shinra H.Q., Floor 63 C. The Sleeping Man D. Enlisting Yuffie E. Enlisting Vincent F. Tifa's Piano G. The Back Room H. The Costa Del Sol Weapons Dealer I. Mideel's White Chocobo J. The Key to Sector Five K. Lucrecia's Cave L. Da-Chao Fire Cave M. Benefits of the Huge Materia N. Return to Shinra H.Q. O. Cosmo Canyon Revisited (Again) ------------------ VI. Level-Up Spots ------------------ A. Mideel B. The Final Cave (Marshy Section) C. The Gelnika --------------- VII. Date Night --------------- A. The Factors B. The Dates --------------------- VIII. The Gold Saucer --------------------- A. Cheap Arcade Games (in the Wonder Square) B. Motorcycle Chase (in the Wonder Square) C. Snowboard Game (in the Wonder Square) D. Torpedo Attack (in the Wonder Square) E. The Speed Square F. The Chocobo Square G. The Battle Square H. Odds & Ends of the Gold Saucer ------------------- IX. Chocobo Farmin' ------------------- A. Catchin' 'Em B. Feedin' 'Em C. Trainin' 'Em D. Breedin' 'Em -------------------------- X. The Fort Condor Battles -------------------------- A. The Basics B. Your Troops C. Strategy Session D. The Battles of Fort Condor -------------------- XI. Limit Break List -------------------- ------------------ XII. Materia Lists ------------------ A. Magic (Green) Materia B. Support (Blue) Materia C. Command (Yellow) Materia D. Independent (Purple) Materia E. Summon (Red) Materia --------------------- XIII. Equipment Lists --------------------- A. Weapons B. Armor C. Accessories -------------- XIV. Item List -------------- -------------- XV. Spell List -------------- ----------------- XVI. Summons List ----------------- ---------------------- XVII. Enemy Skill List ---------------------- ------------------ XVIII. Other Stuff ------------------ A. Bonus Cinema B. Tropical Getaway ------------------- XIX. Hints & Tricks ------------------- A. All Lucky Sevens B. Unlimited Rare Items C. Multiple Support Materia Trick D. Item Duplication E. The 3rd Mystile --------------------------- XX. Unconfirmed Info/Rumors --------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Version Info, Credits, & Contact Information -------------------------------------------- BTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB T / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / T B / \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \ B T \ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* \ T B /\ | ~I~ ~I~ | \/ B T \ * * \ T B /\ | I. Basic Information | \/ B T \ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * \ T B /\ | ~I~ ~I~ | \/ B T \ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* \ T B \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ / B T / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / T BTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | A. Author's Note (Read This!) | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Thank you for choosing a BTB FAQ. From the name of the section, "Stuff You Definitely Should Know Before Playing", a few things should be apparent. Here, I shall convey useful information about the game itself which is not readily apparent to the player. This is information that would greatly behoove the player to know and does not reveal anything, either story-wise or anything that may give you an unfair advantage while playing (for those of you who hate that sort of thing). In short, it is highly recommended that you look this section over before you begin playing. The walkthrough is the "meat" of the guide, containing in-depth strategies, directions, and so on. The appendices, or in other words all the parts of the walkthrough that are not the walkthrough, contain supplemental information that may be often referenced in the walkthrough. However, take note that during the walkthrough, I generally assume that my reader possesses a basic knowledge of the information found within the appendices, so please keep that in mind when using the walkthrough. Lastly, I must stress that in addition to providing help and information with the game itself in the walkthrough, I also keep a very good running tab on whatever plot may exist, often adding insight and commentary. This is meant to assist you, the reader's understanding of not only the technical aspects of the game, but also the finer details (namely the plot). Many people often say that my various commentary makes the game more enjoyable for them, which is indeed my intent. If you do not wish to partake of my commentary, I most certainly understand, and hope you at least find the answers to your question in the various non-plot-related parts of my FAQ. If, however, your distaste for my writing style leads you to bitch about my "filler-laden" FAQ, then my advice to you is quite simply to go fuck yourself and find something better to do with your time. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | B. Quick Info | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm The following list is a quick run-off of general things to bear in mind about this game: --- Final Fantasy VII takes place in a 3D world. Sometimes, especially on the more cluttered screens, it may be difficult to see where everything is. If you press the select button, a few things will pop up to aid you, however. A finger will hover above your head to show where you are (useful for keeping track of yourself when your sight is obstructed by something). Green arrows will indicate things that can take you across the screen you are on. For instance, they may point to a vine that you can grab hold of, or a ladder. Red arrows indicate passageways that will take you to another screen. --- While the All materia grants benefits in battle (see section I.E. for more on materia), there may be times when you wish to forgo them. The R or L buttons will toggle your "All" spells between affecting one or all allies/enemies. Also note that All's benefits can also be applied outside of battle, as well. For instance, with a Restore materia linked to an All materia, access the Cure spell from the menu screen. As in battle, L or R will toggle between the spell targeting one or all of your party. --- As far as managing your materia is concerned, equipping and unequipping them via the menu screen is usually adequate. However, there are easier ways to manage large quantities of materia, which is via the "exchange" option (visible on the materia screens). Here, you can exchange materia via any character considered to be a part of your party at the time (note that any character that has been removed from the group will have left his/her materia behind in your inventory). You can exchange materia one-by-one, or you may exchange the entire weapon's/armor's materia from one to another, by clicking on the name of said weapons/armors (the source and destination). They will be placed in exactly the order they came, with any overrun staying with the original character. Finally, an entire character's materia collection may be transferred from one to another, by clicking on the character's names (again, any overrun will stay with the original wearer). --- On the battlefield, your characters may battle from either the front or back row. Characters in the back row do less damage with their physical attacks, but take less damage from physical attacks in return. Note that enemies also have a back row, but it may sometimes be difficult to tell. If you are unsure, press select when over an enemy, and if said enemy is in the back row, it will be noted next to the enemy's name on your information bar. When no more enemies in the "front row" are left standing, the enemies in the back row are moved up to the front (note that this rule does not apply to your party). There is no additional penalty for when a back-row fighter attacks another back-row fighter, and long-range weapons and attacks will do equal damage from any distance. --- All status enhancements and status ailments except for death (and two others mentioned below) shall only last for the duration of the battle (though some status enhancements will wear off during the course of longer battles). These effects will also wear off if a character dies. Also note that any row changes made in battle will also revert at the end of the battle. Lastly, in addition to the "universally recognized" status afflictions (poison, paralyzed, sleep, confusion, berserk, darkness, toad, mini, stop, slow, haste, petrified, and death sentence), are two new status ailments, both of which are exceptions to this rule and shall last until whenever you happen to dispel them, or if the character afflicted with them dies. Sadness is a condition that halves the progress of a character's limit bar (see section I.D. for more on limit bars). Fury, conversely, doubles the progress of the limit bar, but also handicaps one's Attack Percentage. Still fury can be a beneficial condition if you're more concerned with building up your limit bar than in connecting with physical attacks. Aeris, for example can benefit greatly from becoming enraged, especially at limit level four. --- Getting hit in the back really hurts. Whenever the enemy gets the drop on you and attacks from behind or catches you in a deadly pincer attack, watch out, as their attacks are going to be more powerful. On the other hand, this can also work to your advantage when you surround an enemy or happen to catch them from behind. Note that when you are caught from behind, your characters will not turn around until their either attack, or you tap the R & L (run buttons) to turn them around to face their enemies. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | C. Statistics & Probabilities | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm This is a subject that is mostly limited to RPG's, and deals with the random probabilities of things happening in the game and the statistics that they are based upon. Statistics are important in every RPG, and some other games as well. Unfortunately for us, statistics are a far different thing in every game we have ever played, and they can often be confusing. Below is listed every statistic in the game, how we get it (and/or make it bigger), and what it does (simple enough for ya?): --- HP & MP are self-explanatory stats. They increase at each level up, and are among the two most common stats that are affected by materia (mentioned later in section I.E. of the FAQ). For this reason, even a character with a low MP total can be brought up significantly (albeit usually at the expense of stats like Strength and HP). HP, on the other hand, is one of the stats that usually gets shafted through heavy materia usage, though the prevalence of the HP Plus materia goes far in helping you to alleviate this problem, and will later on help you to give serious HP boosts to your characters. --- Strength refers to a character's natural strength, and is a factor in a character's Attack, which in turn affects damage done by physical attacks. Strength goes up with each level up, and may also be raised via the Power Source item. Strength is one of those stats that is more written in stone than the others are because there is not much you can do to raise it (though a few scattered accessories will raise it a bit). Furthermore, materia will do nothing for this stat except lower it. --- Vitality is a character's natural resilience to physical attack, and is a factor in his or her Defense rating. It goes up as a character levels up, and can also be raised with the Guard Source item. Like Strength, there is not much you can do to raise this stat (except locate an accessory or two, one of which will actually pose a significant boost, but is regrettably rare and will not surface until late in the game). Also like Strength, you'll find that materia generally has a negative effect on your Vitality. Luckily, the effects aren't nearly as bad as they are with Strength, and are only present in the more potent magic materia. --- Dexterity is a character's speed or agility. Faster characters attack first in combat, and can get more attacks in over time. Dexterity goes up with each level up, and it may also be raised with the Speed Source item. Other than that, however, not much can be done to alter this stat, in one direction or another. One accessory out there can give you a boost to your Dexterity, and the Speed Plus materia and grant you large bonuses later on, but that's about it. --- Magic refers to a character's ability with magic, and has a direct affect on a character's Magic Attack. Magic goes up with each level up, and it may also be raised with the Magic Source item. Magic is like MP: there are a gazillion ways you can go about jacking this stat up to ungodly high levels. While there is an accessory that will give you a boost in this department, the usual method for raising one's Magic stat is just to put on some materia, almost all of which you'll find will raise this stat (usually at the expense of HP and Strength, mind you). However, even though you have the capability to take your worst magician and go far in increasing their magical prowess... why would you want to? --- Spirit means a character's resistance to magical attacks, and thus has an impact on Magic Defense. This goes up at level-ups, and can be permanently raised with the Mind Source item. Spirit, unlike Vitality, is a stat which is damn near impossible to alter. There is one accessory which will give you a boost in the Spirit department, and another which will grant you a heavy bonus on it, though the latter is very rare and does not surface until late in the game. --- Luck is a quite common stat in RPG's. It goes up occasionally at level- up, and can also be raised with the Luck Source item. For starters, you should notice that the Luck stat should be pretty even straight across the board with all of your characters. Secondly, it's pretty much going to stay that way. Aside from one accessory which will give you a bonus to your Luck, the only other way to alter it is with the Luck Plus materia, though the Luck Plus materia can eventually be refined to offer a rather big bonus to one's Luck. The exact role of the Luck stat is an enigma, but it is known to have an effect on the frequency of critical attacks. Physical attacks which strike critically do twice the normal amount of damage. --- Attack plays a direct role in how much damage your character deals with a physical attack. The factors that make up a character's Attack stat are their Strength stat and also the equipped weapon. --- Attack Percentage (also known as Hit Rate) is an indicator of how often you can expect a character's physical attacks to hit their intended targets. Usually, this statistic is very close to and often above 100% (to help compensate for the target's Defense Percentage, mentioned below). Unlike Attack, Attack Percentage is a direct result of your equipped weapon --- Defense indicates how much damage one can expect a character to receive from incoming physical attacks. Defense is a result of a character's Vitality and equipped armor. --- Defense Percentage (or Evade, as it is more commonly known) measures how often a character is able to dodge incoming physical attack completely. This is usually quite low, and is a result of whatever armor said character has equipped. --- Magic Attack indicates the level of potency a character will use magic, either direct attack magic or curative magic, so the name is a bit misleading. This statistic is derived from a character's Magic stat. --- Magic Defense is a measure of how much damage taken from magical attacks will be reduced by. This is a result of your Spirit stat and your equipped armor, and can also further benefit from some of the game's more potent materia. --- Magic Defense Percentage (or Magic Evade) indicates how often your character will be able to completely avoid a magical attack altogether. This stat is usually extremely low, and is a result of the armor your character is wearing. --- Each character, as well as a breakdown of their particular statistics are listed in section II. Of the FAQ. Each statistic will be listed as: Very High/Good, High/Good, Average, Low/Poor, or Very Low/Very Poor. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | D. About Limit Breaks | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Limit breaks are a new feature incorporated in Final Fantasy VII (one that actually was introduced somewhat in Final Fantasy VI). Basically, each character in the game has their own unique, powerful "limit breaks", which may (nay, must) be used in lieu of a normal attack when their "limit bar" fills up. Every time your character takes damage from an enemy, the limit bar goes up a little bit (meaning you can't kick your own ass and expect the bar to go up). The more damage taken, the more the limit bar will fill up. The bar fills rather slowly, but it carries over from battle to battle, meaning you can save that kick-ass limit break for the next battle when you'll really need it. Do watch your characters' damage intake, however, as when they die, their limit bars will be depleted. On a separate note, when a character's limit bar fills up, their "time bar" (which determines when their turn will take place) will fill up immediately. However, you only get this effect once, meaning that you can't use their turn to do something else and expect the time bar to shoot right back up. Each character, excepting Cait Sith and Vincent (and I'll mention them a bit later) has four limit break "levels", with each "level" having two different limit breaks, excepting the fourth and final level which will contain only that character's ultimate level break. Each consecutive level has more powerful limit breaks, but each level also will result in a vast increase in the amount of damage that must be taken to bring the limit bar up. For instance, a character set at limit level one will see their limit bar fill up much more quickly than a character whose limit level is set at two. You can set your character's limit level on the menu screen to whichever level you desire, assuming you know at least one limit break in that level. When your character's limit bar fills up, and your character happens to know both limit breaks for the level he or she is on, you may choose between them The exception to this rule is Tifa, another special case I'll mention later on. Characters start the game with only one limit break to their name (the first limit break on the first level, obviously). The rest must be somehow earned throughout the game. The system is a fairly simple one, however. First of all, to earn the second limit break on each level, you must use the first limit break on that level approximately 8 times. After earning your second limit break for each level, you may learn the first limit break for the next level up when the character in question deals the killing blow to approximately 80 enemies. Lastly, the fourth level limit breaks, or the "ultimate" limit breaks for each character may not be learned through conventional means. You must hunt down the item of the same name as their ultimate limit break, and then use it on them (and this may only be done when the character in question has already learned all of his or her other limit breaks). For more information on limit breaks in general, each character's ultimate limit breaks, and references to other points in the FAQ as to the locations of the ultimate limit breaks, refer to section XI. of the FAQ. Limit breaks have a lot going for them. They are generally some of the most powerful attacks in the game, and this effect is magnified by the fact that they generally have a very high critical hit rate (the excepting the special cases Tifa, Vincent, and Cait Sith, for various reasons). Critical hits, as you should know, do twice the normal amount of damage, and when you double an already greatly magnified attack, expect to see some results. Unless otherwise noted, all limit breaks deal physical damage rather than magical. Limit breaks also all have the advantage of being long-range attacks. Lastly, I must mention the special cases. Vincent, to begin with, has only one limit break for each level. In his case, the requirement to use each limit break 8 times to earn the next limit break is dropped, and his requirements are solely to kill 80 enemies to attain the next level's limit break. The way his limit breaks work are also a lot different. Rather than presenting themselves as a single attack, Vincent's limit breaks instead transform him into a powerful, uncontrollable creature, who will attack the opposition with a specific set of given attacks. As an added bonus, when and if he is defeated in these forms, he will simply revert back to normal rather than dying outright. Refer to section XI. of the FAQ for more information on Vincent's individual limit breaks. Next, Cait Sith. Cait Sith, like Vincent, has only one limit break per level, but unlike the other characters, Cait Sith only has two limit break levels. What this means is that all Cait Sith must do to attain his second and final limit break is kill 80 enemies. Cait Sith is also the only character that has no ultimate limit break. Lastly, Tifa has all of the normal levels and amounts of limit breaks, but she does not use them separately. Rather, she uses them all together as one big attack that gets bigger and bigger with each consecutive limit break learned (though the number of attacks she will utilize are still limited to the current limit break level she is set to). The disadvantage to Tifa's attacks are that when you go to use them, the slots will start spinning. There will be one slot for each limit break she has, and you can stop each slot on either "hit", "miss", or "yeah". Yeah attacks do about twice the damage of a hit, while missed attacks will not connect at all. For more information on Tifa's individual limit breaks, refer to section XI. of the FAQ. I must mention, however, that even though she uses all of the attacks at once, she must still be set to the proper level to earn credit towards her second limit break for that level (for instance, she must use her level two limit break 8 times to earn the second limit break for that level as opposed to using the level three limit break 8 times, even though the level two limit break would be used in conjunction with it). wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | E. The Materia System | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Materia is another system new to Final Fantasy VII. Materia, for all practical purposes, is the heart of the game's battle system. Without materia, your battle commands are pretty much limited to fight, item, and limit breaks. Materia is equipped, just as weapons and armor are. However, materia is "equipped" to "slots" in your characters' weapons and armor. Each weapon and piece of armor in the game has a certain number of slots that materia may be equipped to. In addition to this, the slots may either be "linked" or "unlinked", and each weapon and piece of armor also has a different "growth rate" for materia. These will both be explained momentarily, but first, on to the basics of materia. You see, materia, much like your characters, gain a type of experience, called "ability points". Each materia retains its own ability points, regardless of which character earns them, and may be transferred freely. Ability points are never lost, but remain only with that materia, just as with experience for your character. The character equipped with the materia must also survive the battle for the ability points to be earned. In addition, the piece of weaponry or armor also has an effect on ability points that are applied to the materia in question. Specifically, this refers to the equipment's "growth rate", as mentioned above. Some weapons and armor, for instance, have a growth rate of two, meaning that the materia equipped to it will receive twice the amount of ability points as you earn in battle. Some extremely rare pieces even have a growth rate of three, which triples the ability points for equipped materia. Conversely, some equipment has a growth rate of zero, meaning that equipped materia will receive no ability points. However, the majority of the game's equipment has a growth rate of one. Anyways, when certain levels of mastery (in the form of ability points) are earned, the materia "gains a level". These levels are represented by stars on the materia's information screen. Each materia has a certain number of "levels" that is can reach, and has a star for each level. As materia levels up, it will generally convey greater benefits to the user. Furthermore, when a materia reaches its final level and is considered "mastered", and a brand new materia of the same type is "born" and placed in your inventory. "Born" materia are brand new and have no ability points; mastered materia, having reached their ultimate level of achievement, no longer gain ability points. As for the advantages conveyed by the materia at higher levels, as well as the potential number of levels for said materia, both are generally dependent on the type of materia you are using. And keep an eye out for them as you travel! The better half of your magic materia and a few of your independent materia are purchased in shops (some command materia is sold, as well, but if you play your cards right, you should never have to buy any). Other than that, however, all of the game's materia are found just lying around, and the vast majority are not in chests (they just lie around in the open). As the game further progresses, they are hidden in less and less conspicuous spots, so keep your eyes peeled. It is especially important that you keep a vigilant watch out for materia because, as discussed in section I.F. of the FAQ, a number of rare materia are also lost-forevers. There are five types of materia, and each has different uses and applications: --- Magic materia is the first and generally most prevalent form of materia. Magic materia is green, and will grant magic spells to the character who equips it. At higher levels of mastery, more potent spells may be unlocked from the materia. For instance, the Ice materia will grant the Ice spell to the user at it's initial first level. When the materia levels up, however, it will also grant the Ice 2 spell to that character (in addition to the Ice spell). Magic materia will lower a character's Strength and HP when equipped while it raises their MP and Magic stats. More potent magic materia will also raise a character's Magic Defense stat at the expense of Vitality. Magic materia will generally have three or four levels of mastery, though some have five. Note that among those magic materia with only three levels of mastery are single-spell materia that will not yield their lone spell to the user until the second level of mastery has been reached. Another note is that mastered magic materia will never convey any further benefits than an identical magic materia that has reached the next highest level before mastery. Magic materia are discussed in further detail in section XII.A. of the FAQ. The spells they grant you, however, are discussed in section XV. of the FAQ. Note that all magic materia, unless otherwise noted, is compatible with the support materia, All. --- Support materia is also a common form of materia, mainly because a certain materia in the group (called All) is pretty much the single most prevalent materia in the entire game. Support materia is blue in color, and does not function on its own. Rather, it conveys its benefits to other materia via "linked" slots in your weapons or armor. "Linked" slots are two materia slots that are joined together, and are present in most weapons and armor. "Unlinked" slots have nothing joining them together. For a support materia to function, it must be placed in one of the linked slots next to another materia. Linked slots have no effect on two joined materia if neither is a support materia. Also, for obvious reasons, two support materia linked together or support materia placed in unlinked materia slots will prove quite worthless in battle. In addition, support materia has no effect on independent materia (mentioned later). Anyways, using support materia is a rather simple process. Simply "link" it to whichever materia you desire. For instance, the All materia allows the spells of the magic materia it is linked to to affect all enemies or all allies on screen rather than a lone target. When you link an All materia to an Ice materia (which grants you the Ice spell), for instance, you will now have the ability to cast Ice on all of your enemies. Conversely, the Restore materia grants you the Cure spell, and linking it to an All materia will give you a Cure spell that affects all of your allies. On the negative side of things, support materia is usually severely restricted in its uses. And oftentimes, when you find yourself thinking "hey, that would kick so much ass if I linked this to this!", it usually won't work. For more information on the limitations of specific support materia, refer to section XII.B. of the FAQ. Anyhoo, support materia will either have two or five levels of mastery. The lone exception to this rule (isn't there always an exception?) is the Elemental materia, which has four levels of mastery. For more information as to the bonuses granted by specific support materia, refer to section XII.B. of the FAQ. On a final note, support materia has no effect on a character's statistics. --- Command materia isn't as common as magic or support materia, but there are still a number of them to be obtained. Command materia is yellow, and each will grant a different command to your character in battle, such as "Steal" or "Manipulate". At higher levels of mastery, the command will sometimes "evolve" into a better command (command materia will only have two or three levels, and only those with three levels will "evolve"). Steal, for instance, will become Mug at level two. So, in the end, each command materia will grant you only one command (the lone exception to this rule is the Throw materia). Then there's the E. Skill materia, which is a very special case in many ways. Anyways, command materia shares a characteristic with magic materia in that mastered command materia will never convey any further benefits than an identical command materia that has reached the next highest level before mastery, so command materia that do not "evolve" into a better attack, such as Manipulate or Sense, will garner no benefits from advancing in level (likewise, "evolved" attacks will never get any better than they already are). Command materia oftentimes will give a small boost to a certain stat, but the gains are extremely minimal and are more of a nice little bonus than anything. Specific command materia are covered in detail in section XII.C. of the FAQ. --- Independent materia are more common later in the game than in the earlier parts. Independent materia are purple, and function a bit differently than other materia. They will not give you attacks, commands, spells, et cetera. Rather, independent materia will offer large statistical boosts or other useful abilities to the user. For instance, the Long Range materia allows a character wielding a short-range weapon to attack as if it were a long-range one. Another example, the HP Plus materia offers an HP boost to the user. Independent materia varies widely in the levels of mastery available, ranging from two to five (though one special materia has only one). Any independent materia with only two levels of mastery will see no benefits gained at level-up, but all others will convey increased bonuses clear up until mastery. For more information concerning the benefits conveyed by specific independent materia, refer to section XII.D. of the FAQ. Lastly, as mentioned above, independent materia is for obvious reasons non- compatible with support materia. --- Summon materia, like independent materia, is hard to come by earlier in the game, and is generally much more prevalent later on. Summon materia is like magic materia in a way, except that it offers your character a "summon" attack that will call the materia's namesake to battle. The Shiva materia, for instance, allows you to summon Shiva. Summons are generally extremely powerful attacks that target all enemies, but take their tolls in high MP costs, for the most part. They are ideal attack to use against large groups of enemies, because they are not only powerful, but also will not lose any damage to an All materia, as would be the case with most magical attacks. But whipping out a summon on just one or two enemies is usually more or less a flagrant waste of your MP. Also, all summon materia have five levels of mastery. And, for each level, you can use said summon command an additional time in a given battle (though you should find it quite rare that a single summon attack will not quickly bring most normal battles to an end). Summon materia also shares the statistical applications of magic materia (that is, it will raise MP, Magic, and possibly Magic Defense at the expense of HP), with the exception that they will not affect your Strength or Vitality stats, thank God. Summon materia themselves are discussed in section XII.E. of the FAQ, while the summon attacks are detailed in section XVI. of the FAQ. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | F. "Lost-Forevers" (Definitely Read This!) | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm In most games, normally RPG's, there are an abundance of things to collect, acquire, do, find, and see. While most of these can usually be done at your leisure, this section is dedicated to helping you find certain things that can no longer be done after a certain point within a game: * The entirety of the events described in section VII. of the FAQ fall into the category of lost-forevers. While not being actual tangible objects that you can acquire, you still only get one shot at one of four possible outcomes. This is determined through a series of events scattered throughout the early game that are mostly one-shot deals in themselves. * The Iron Bangles sold at various shops in Midgar are lost-forevers in a sense, as after reaching section III.C. of the walkthrough, you will no longer be able to purchase them. * The All materia in the Sector Seven Slums is a lost-forever. You must collect it before leaving the Sector Seven Slums. * One of the flyers you need to find to win the Turtle's Paradise contest (refer to section V.A. of the FAQ for more details) is a lost-forever. You must find flyer #2 while at Shinra H.Q. If you miss it the first time around, you've got one more chance to find it. Refer to section V.N. of the FAQ for more on that. * The Elemental materia that you receive from Mayor Domino (on the 62nd floor of Shinra H.Q.) is a lost-forever. Basically, you have one chance to get it, as mentioned in the walkthrough. Failing that, you will not receive the materia. * The All materia on the 63rd floor Shinra H.Q. is a lost-forever. The Star Pendant and Four Slots armor found here are also lost-forevers, but may be found elsewhere. At any rate, not only must you collect these during your first trip to Shinra H.Q., you're also barred from making further attempts to go for other items once you've collected, so you must grab the coupons for the items you want on one trip. For more information, refer to section V.B. of the FAQ. * The E. Skill materia located on the 68th floor of Shinra H.Q. is another lost-forever. You've gotta grab it before leaving. * Though not neccissarily a lost-forever, there are only two Chocobo Lure materia, and they do, in fact, come in handy later in the game. So, for the love of God, don't sell the Goddamn thing. And if for some reason you sell the first, don't sell the second one. Or ingore my advice, I don't care. * The battles at Fort Condor are laden with lost-forevers. For more information, refer to section X. of the FAQ, but of worthy mention are the items of note that may be lost forever at Fort Condor: the Magic Comb, Peace Ring, Megalixir, Vagyrisk Claw, Imperial Guard, Phoenix materia, and finally one of the four Huge Materia. Some of these, namely the Magic Comb and Super Ball, actually may be purchased later on, but so late that it's almost pointless to buy them. * The Shinra Beta armor is a lost-forever. You can steal as many as you want from the Marines on the Shinra Boat, but only while you're still aboard. * The All materia and Wind Slash, both found on the Shinra Boat, are lost- forevers. Note that if Yuffie has joined you, you will be unable to collect the All materia until the party regroups. Also note that the Wind Slash cannot be found until the party regroups, so don't go nuts looking for it before then. Note that you may buy the Wind Slash later on in the game, but far too late to be useful to you at that point. Anyways, you must collect both before leaving the boat. * The Ifrit materia is a lost-forever. You must collect it before leaving the room where you battled Jenova-BIRTH. * The Four Slots sold at Costa Del Sol are lost-forevers, as they will cease being sold later in the game. * The Wizard Staff at Mt. Corel is a lost-forever. You must get it during one of your three possible falls off of the tracks. Note that the Star Pendant, also found down here, is also a lost-forever, but can be located elsewhere. * The Parasol is a lost-forever that must be won from the Speed Square at the Gold Saucer before going to the Temple of the Ancients (later in the game). * The Ramuh materia is a lost-forever. You must collect it before leaving the jockey's lounge at the Gold Saucer. * The Aqualung enemy skill is a lost-forever, as you may only collect it during the first disc when you have access to the enemy who teaches it to you. Also, it may be learned from a boss battle with Jenova LIFE, but that too, is a one-time-only shot. * Everything at the Gi Cave is a lost-forever. This includes the Added Effect materia and the Black M-Phone. Get them before you leave. Although the Black M-Phone may be purchased later on, it will be far too late for it to be of any use. * Tifa's Platinum Fist weapon is not a lost-forever, but will surface again far too late in the game to be of any use. Get it from one of the creepazoids at Nibelheim before leaving. * The enemy skill Trine is a lost-forever which your have three chances to learn. First, from the Materia Keeper at Mt. Nibel, secondly, from the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods at Wutai, and lastly, from the Stilve at Gaea's Cliff. * The Yoshiyuki is a lost-forever. You must collect it from Rocket Town before a certain trigger point in the game far later on (during Disc 2). * The Shotguns sold at rocket Town are lost-forvers, as they will stop being sold later in the game. * The Wutai side quest is a lost-forever in itself. It is impossible to complete past a certain point in the game, however, after examining masses of reader feedback, it is my conclusion that this point is different in different versions of the game. So, to be safe, I'd advise you to complete the side quest as soon as it becomes available (this is when the game programmers intended for you to do it, anyways, so it all should work out). Granted, you may still travel to Wutai, three items received as a result of it (the HP Absorb, MP absorb, and Leviathan materia) remain lost-forever. * Everything at the Temple of the Ancients is a lost-forever. This list includes: the Luck Plus materia, the Morph materia, the Bahamut materia, the Princess Guard, Trident, and the Ribbon. Grab it all before you leave or you can never get it! Also note that certain unique equipment that is equipped can also be lost forever at the Temple of the Ancients. Refer to section III.E. of the walkthrough for more specific information. On a final note, though some of the things mentioned above can be bought later, again, the opportunity will arise far too late to be worth your time. * The Gigas Armlet, in a way, is a lost-forever. The game automatically grants you one copy, but further copies may be stolen from the Gigas creature at the Crater. However, you must steal all you want before you leave. * Everything at Gaea's Cliff is a lost-forever, including the Megalixir, Fire Armlet, and the Javelin. The Enahance Sword is here, too, but you can buy more later. * The MP Turbo and Neo-Bahamut materia are both lost-forevers that you must collect before leaving the Crater, as are the Kaiser Knuckle and the Poison Ring. * The Elemental materia at Nibelheim is a lost-forever. You must collect it during section III.G. of the walkthrough before traveling to Mideel. For more on this, refer to section V.F. of the FAQ. * All four Huge Materia you will encounter during your main-line quest are lost-forevers. Basically, for each Huge Materia, you'll get a chance to save it. Failing your mission, you lose the Huge Materia. An interesting collilquary to this rule is that you will always receive the Huge Materia in the same order, regardless of which missions (if any) you fail to save a particular huge materia. That order is: green, yellow, red, blue. In short, if you miss one huge materia, you miss out on the blue one. If you miss two, it's blue and red, etc. For more on the benefits conveyed by the Huge Materia, refer to section V.M. of the FAQ. * The Warrior Bangle is a lost-forever that must be stolen from the Eagle Gun during your fight with it. * The Shinra Alpha, Battle Trumpet, Scimitar, and Leviathan Scales are all lost-forevers that must be collected before leaving the Underwater Reactor at Junon. Furthermore, the Leviathan Scales must be collected in order to obtain two other items, both of which are lost-forevers in this respect. Also note that the Shinra Alpha is not actually found, but rather stolen from the Underwater MP enemy hanging around the Underwater Reactor. * Both of the items inside Da-Chao Fire Cave, the Steal as Well materia and the Oritsuru, are both lost-forevers that can only be reached if you managed to collect the previously-mentioned Leviathan Scales. * The Zeidrich is a lost-forever that can be stolen from Rude during your battle with him at Rocket Town. * The Zeidrich and the Touph Ring are both lost-forevers that can be stolen from Rude and Reno during an optional battle at the Gelnika (the side quest detailed in section IV.C. of the FAQ). While the side quest itself is not a lost-forever, the battle with the Turks there is. Reno and Rude will not appear here if you challenged them and Elena to another optional battle (at Midgar). Seeing as that optional battle is a lost-forever of and within itself, and also contains stealable lost-forevers, it is probably in your best interests to complete the Gelnika side quest as soon as it becomes available to you. * The Zeidrich, Minerva Band, and Touph Ring are all lost-forevers that can only be stolen from Rude, Elena, and Reno (respectively) during an optional battle in Midgar (later in the game). See also the optional fight with the Turks (above), in which the Minerva Band, Zeidrich, and Touph Ring may be stolen. * The Bahamut ZERO materia is a lost-forever that hinges on your ability to collect the three prerequisite items to obtain it (all three of which are lost-forevers in their own respect). Those three items are the Bahamut materia, the Neo Bahamut materia, and one of the four Huge Materia. * The Aegis Bracelet, Mystile, Starlight Phone, and Max Ray are all lost- forevers that you must grab while in Midgar later on in the game. You must grab them all before leaving. * The Pile Banger, Master Fist, Glow Lance, and HP Shout are all lost- forevers that you can only grab during your optional return trip to Shinra H.Q. For more on this, refer to section V.N. of the FAQ. * The Missing Score, Barret's ultimate weapon, is a lost-forever you'll find while climbing a tower at Midgar (later in the game). You must collect it before leaving Midgar, and while it is easy to notice, it won't appear unless Barret is with you. * While the game grants you one copy of the Reflect Ring, future copies may be stolen from Ultimate WEAPON for as long as it is alive. Once it dies, you lose that chance. * The legendary 3rd Mystile is a lost-forever which can be obtained only by exploiting a glitch in the game detailed in section XIX.E. of the FAQ. But, you only have one shot at it, and you must take that shot when the party splits up at the Final Cave. * Depending on your outlook, the Master Magic, Master Command, and Master Summon materia are all lost-forevers. While the game can almost assure you one copy of each, subsequent copies are completely reliant on the fact that you have managed to not only hunt down copies of all of the other materia corresponding to their color (many of which are lost-forevers in their own respect), but also have retained the huge materia in question, to boot (also lost-forevers). BTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB T / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / T B / \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \ B T \ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* \ T B /\ | ~II~ ~II~ | \/ B T \ * * \ T B /\ | II. Characters | \/ B T \ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * \ T B /\ | ~II~ ~II~ | \/ B T \ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* \ T B \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ / B T / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / T BTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section II: Characters|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | A. Cloud Strife | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section II: Characters|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm * HP----------Average * Strength----Very High * Vitality----High * Dexterity---Average * MP----------High * Magic-------High * Spirit------Average * Luck--------Average Our spikey-headed hero is looked upon by the others as the unofficial team captain for a reason. And it sure as hell isn't for his leadership skills, charming personality, or sanity (all of which he completely lacks). It's because he kicks ass. And that's a good thing, given that you are never allowed to get him out of the traveling party. For starters, Cloud is the strongest member of the group, and his magical skills are second only to those of Aeris and Cait Sith, which is a winning combination already. Add to that the HP and Vitality to hold his own in a battle, and top it off with some of the game's most damaging limit breaks (including, of course, the infamous Omnislash), and you have pretty much the best character in the game on your hands. As an added bonus, realize that all of these statistics are going to be amplified by the fact that since Cloud is never allowed to leave the group, he is usually going to be a few levels ahead of everybody else. And for God's sakes, look at the size of that Goddamn sword! You think he's compensating for something? wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section II: Characters|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | B. Barret Wallace | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section II: Characters|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm * HP----------Very High * Strength----High * Vitality----Very High * Dexterity---Very Low * MP----------Very Low * Magic-------Very Low * Spirit------Low * Luck--------Average Barret is the founder of the rebel group known as AVALANCHE, which opposes the Shinra Corporation at all costs. He is a big, angry black man with an arm that has been surgically replaced with a gun and a personality that is conducive to him often firing that gun at things, usually at whatever makes the mistake of being anywhere near him when he feels like killing something. His stats tend to skew in a very extreme direction, making him an ideal fighter, but not so much of a non-fighter. His Strength is solid, and his extremely high HP and Vitality ratings make him a walking tank, a fact which is amplified by the wide selection of long-range weapons for him, meaning you can significantly increase his durability by sticking him in the back row. On the negative side of things, Barret isn't too fond of things that don't involve shooting someone, and this is reflected by his Magic and MP ratings, both of which are notably the lowest in the game. You also can't expect too much maneuverability from a guy whose limbs are bigger than most other people's bodies, so don't be surprised at the rock- bottom Dexterity score, either. And lastly, his limit breaks in the early game are passable, but are trumped by those of the other characters. They do get better later in the game, however, with limits like Satellite Beam, Anger Max, and the doomsday blast known as Catastrophe. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section II: Characters|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | C. Tifa Lockhart | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section II: Characters|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm * HP----------Low * Strength----High * Vitality----Low * Dexterity---High * MP----------Average * Magic-------Low * Spirit------Average * Luck--------Average Cloud's childhood friend and every teenage boy's wet dream, Tifa is just the hottest thing on two very long, voluptuous legs. She's a sweet person, but the makers of the game spent far more time making her breasts big than they did in trying to create a personality for her. She kicks a lot more ass than you'd expect from a girl in a skirt shorter than a quick sneeze, and after maybe half an hour or so of staring at her, you will eventually find that she does, in fact, have fists, and is rather fond of hitting things with them. She's got the Strength to match Barret's, and is one of the game's speedier characters to boot (insert your own dirty joke here). However, unlike Barret, she suffers in the HP and Vitality departments, and things are just made worse by the fact that Tifa is ideally a fighter and therefore should be placed on the front lines. Her limit breaks are a bit of a wildcard, as well (see section I.D. for more information on Tifa's limit breaks). But bearing in mind that the full damage potential for Tifa's ultimate combo at any given point in the game is as high if not higher than the other limit breaks of the day, a skilled player should be able to utilize Tifa's ultimate combo with excellent results. The only downside is that each successive limit break becomes increasingly difficult to use to its fullest extent. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section II: Characters|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | D. Aeris Gainsborough | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section II: Characters|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm * HP----------Very Low * Strength----Very Low * Vitality----Low * Dexterity---Low * MP----------Very High * Magic-------Very High * Spirit------High * Luck--------Average The sweet, innocent, helpless flower girl from the slums with a very special characteristic, which you will discover not too long after meeting her. She's just the sweetest, nicest, cutest thing you'll ever meet, which naturally means that bad guys and villains really hate her. Her stats, like Barret's, tend to fall into an extreme category. She is probably the best character you can hand your materia to and see amazing results, as she boasts the highest MP and Magic stats around. On that same token, don't be expecting her to do much damage with that bonk branch of hers, and you'll find that it's also not too difficult for her to get her frail little ass beaten in battle, especially given that you've likely gone and piled her up with materia, effectively worsening these stats. At the very least you can stick her in the back row and hope she doesn't get wailed on too badly. Another good point is her strong Spirit, notably the best in the game, which at least cuts down damage intake in the magical department. Plus, there's also Aeris's limit breaks... They all are defensive-type limit breaks, which can be very beneficial to the party but are desperately lacking in the field of direct damage. Her more advanced limit breaks kick an ungodly amount of ass, but on that same note are severely constrained by Aeris's single most detrimental attribute, which will rear its ugly head about halfway through the game. Read all about it in section III.E. of the FAQ, and don't say you weren't warned. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section II: Characters|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | E. Red XIII | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section II: Characters|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm * HP----------High * Strength----High * Vitality----Average * Dexterity---Very High * MP----------Average * Magic-------High * Spirit------Low * Luck--------Average It walks, it talks, it makes various wise and scholarly comments. Calm, quiet, peaceful, and reserved, and is also what appears to be some kind of a dog, which makes the previous statements stand out a bit more, I suppose. Granted, you eventually discover Red XIII's real name, but you prefer to instead still call him by the repulsive name granted to him by the asswipe that kidnapped him and performed various scientific experiments on him. Statistically speaking, Red XIII has a lot going for him. He's a solid fighter with notably good magical abilities, to boot. In addition to that, he's got a good HP base, giving him the resources to function effectively as either a fighter or a magician, though preferably some sort of happy medium between them. And as a final bonus, Red XIII is the speediest bastard in the whole game. The only possible flaw Red XIII possesses is his limit breaks. Early in the game, Red XIII's limit breaks are about as good as those of the other characters. However, later in the game, they really begin to lose something to the more powerful limit breaks that begin to surface around him, culminating with his lackluster ultimate limit break, Cosmo Memory. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section II: Characters|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | F. Cait Sith | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section II: Characters|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm * HP----------Very High * Strength----Low * Vitality----Very Low * Dexterity---Low * MP----------Average * Magic-------Very High * Spirit------Average * Luck--------Average No, you're not hallucinating. It's a cat riding a giant stuffed animal. And nobody else on the team apparently sees anything even remotely strange or unusual about this. Cait Sith claims to be a fortune-telling device, but you can only expect so much psychic ability from someone that's 90% stuffing. And he doesn't make up for it with a good personality, either. Even for a house pet, Cait Sith is Goddamn stupid. He is, however, the best magic user you've got besides Aeris, clocking in with an extremely high Magic rating. To make things interesting, he also has a lot of HP to back that magic prowess up with. Granted on the negative side of things, he doesn't have very much Vitality to go will all that HP. He's not much of a fighter, but that shouldn't really matter, as you'll probably want to put him in the back and load him up with materia, anyways. But then, there's Cait Sith's limit breaks. He's only got two of them, and both are very high-risk attacks. If you know what you're doing, they can prove useful even late into the game, and then even have the advantage of being low-level limit breaks (thus they become available for use far more often than the higher-level limit breaks). But damage-wise, Cait Sith's limit breaks really can't hold a candle to any of the more powerful level three or four limit breaks, let alone doomsday attacks like Omnislash, Catastrophe, and Highwind. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section II: Characters|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | G. Cid Highwind | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section II: Characters|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm * HP----------High * Strength----Average * Vitality----High * Dexterity---Very Low * MP----------Low * Magic-------Average * Spirit------Average * Luck--------Average A grizzled, hardened pilot with a bad attitude and a mouth that makes even Barret blush, Cid (referred to by everyone else as "Captain") was slated to be the first man in space, but an accident prevented his dream from coming true, and the Shinra has been denying him the chance ever since. And he's pissed, Goddammit. He's a decent fighter and has some magical skills, making him an effective character in either role. He's also got a healthy supply of HP and Vitality to see him through the trials ahead. Aside from that, Cid's more or less a pretty average character, with no real weaknesses except that he has grown very slow with age (and I guess the 100+ cigarettes he consumes on average every day aren't helping too much, either). His limit breaks also stand out as some of the most damaging ones available throughout the entire game, clear until the end when he picks up the Armageddon blast called Highwind. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section II: Characters|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | H. Yuffie Kisaragi | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section II: Characters|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm * HP----------Low * Strength----Average * Vitality----Low * Dexterity---High * MP----------Low * Magic-------Average * Spirit------Low * Luck--------Average A perky, though somewhat brash teenage girl, Yuffie also happens to be a member of a distant clan of ninja. Of course, the only ninja-related skill she appears to have really mastered is the art of theft. Silent and shadowy she ain't, instead preferring to shoot off her mouth at any given opportunity. Like Cid, she has decent skills in both the fields of Strength and Magic, making her generally effective as both a warrior and a magician. She's also really fast, which fits well with the fact that she is a ninja. On the downside of things, she is one of the more fragile members of the party, with low HP and Vitality ratings, but this problem can be somewhat lessened by the fact that you can keep her in the back row (all of Yuffie's weapons are long-range). She's got solid limit breaks throughout the early and late game, but it sort of saddens me to see it all fall apart with her ultimate limit break, All Creation, which proves to be one of the weakest ultimate limit breaks in the game (right up there with Red XIII's Cosmo Memory). By the way, Yuffie is one of the game's hidden characters, and will not join up with you one her own. For more information on how to get Yuffie to join you, refer to section V.D. of the FAQ. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section II: Characters|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | I. Vincent Valentine | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /_________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section II: Characters|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm * HP----------Low * Strength----Low * Vitality----Low * Dexterity---Low * MP----------High * Magic-------Average * Spirit------Average * Luck--------Average A mysterious man with an even more mysterious past, the only apparent thing about Vincent is that he is one of the creepiest people you've ever met. Despite his looks, he is actually rather intelligent, and has learned and experienced much through his past. At times, it seems that he and Red XIII are the only two on the team with any common sense at all, which is rather sad given that both of them are biological test subjects. Vincent's stats are actually rather unimpressive. He is a poor fighter with low HP and Vitality ratings and really nothing to redeem himself except for a mediocre Magic rating and a vast array of surprisingly accurate long-range weapons (which, used in conjunction with the Deathblow materia can make up for his poor fighting ability). Given his poor fighting ability and long-range weapons, Vincent is first and foremost a prime candidate for the back row. Secondly, his true strength lies in his limit breaks. Granted, Vincent's limit breaks are a bit unpredictable (as are just about any transformation brought about as a result of scientific experimentation), but they generally result in a massive increase to Vincent's overall offensive and defensive capabilities. The downside is that you lose control over him when he transforms. For more information on Vincent's limit breaks, refer to section I.D. of the FAQ, and to learn how to make Vincent a part of your team, check out section V.E. of the FAQ. BTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB T / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / T B / \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \ B T \ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* \ T B /\ | ~III~ ~III~ | \/ B T \ * * \ T B /\ | III. Walkthrough | \/ B T \ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * \ T B /\ | ~III~ ~III~ | \/ B T \ *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* \ T B \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ / B T / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / T BTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section III: Walkthrough|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | A. The Rebels of Midgar | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /___________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section III: Walkthrough|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Mako Reactor #1 The game begins with a lovely CG movie sequence. A flower girl walks out of a dark alley into a busy street. The camera zooms out, further and further, to reveal the large megalopolis surrounding her. This is the city of Midgar. "Final Fantasy VII" flashes on the screen, and then the camera begins to zoom in again, this time on a rapidly approaching train. It reaches its destination and slows to a stop. Several people jump off the train and disable the guards standing around. One of the people, a big black man with a gun for an arm, motions for the spikey-haired fellow in the back to follow him. Then, the rest of the group takes off into the distance while you take control of the spikey- haired one. You don't get a name for now; he is described simply as Ex-SOLDIER. When you try to move, a fight will begin with two of the guards there. This fight is ridiculously easy, and serves mainly to get you acclimated to the game's battle system. Expect all fights on this mission to reflect the ease of this fight. Your character has the Bolt and Ice spells, but for the moment they serve as little more than more spectacular ways to kill your enemies in a single hit. Actually, I take that back. One enemy here that you can't kill in a single hit is the Sweeper, which you'll meet a little later. Of course, your magic will make short work of them. After the fight, you might want to examine all three of the fallen soldiers (the ones that your comrades knocked out earlier). Each is carrying a Potion and, from the looks of things, they won't be needing them. Head around the bend ahead of you and meet up with the rest of the group. The group is a small bunch of rebels calling themselves AVALANCHE. You are ex-member of an elite group known as SOLDIER. You introduce yourself as Cloud. When everyone else beings to introduce themselves, you coldly stop them, saying that you don't care. You're here for the mission and then you're gone. So you're a mercenary now. Then, the big black guy shows back up (he's their leader). He voices his distrust in Cloud (the ex-SOLDIER), and then takes off into the building. Follow the group into the building (heading right at the fork, then going up and finally heading left to the exit). You enter a catwalk suspended high above a deep abyss below. Head out onto the catwalk until it forks. Ahead of you, you'll see the fat guy in the group (named Wedge) standing guard at the exit. He would continue on with the rest of you guys, but he has a stick of butter that he needs to eat, so the rest of the group heads up along the catwalk and into what appears to be a gigantic reactor of sorts. Head on inside and talk with the rest of the group. The big black man begins his tantrum. He whines about how the evil Shinra corporation is sucking the life out of the Earth (called "mako") with these reactors. Your emotionally detached response displeases him for some reason, and he joins you. Meet Barret. When he joins you, by the way, you would be advised to enter the menu screen and move Barret to the back row to take advantage of his long-range weapon. Barret is almost as strong as Cloud, but not quite. In addition to the Sweepers, it will also take Barret more than one hit to dispatch the enemy known as Grunts. On the positive side of things, he can hit all the stuff in the back row for maximum damage, so use this knowledge to your benefit. Anyways, talk to the other two members, Biggs and Jesse. They'll open up the doors ahead of you and lead you to a large room. If you head all the way to the bottom-right corner, you'll discover a chest with some Phoenix Down in it. The door to the elevator is just ahead of you. You'll step inside the elevator and descend into the reactor, Barret whining at you non-stop the whole way down (this guy really needs to learn how to shut up once in a while, don't you think?) You exit in this gigantic room atop a huge structure. A set of stairs spirals around the structure, and will take you to the bottom. The door to the next room is directly in front of those stairs. You'll continue along a very straightforward path from there until you reach a save point. If you've ever played a Final Fantasy game before, you should be familiar with these things. You shouldn't have to rest up, but you may want to go ahead and save. That being done, continue along the path towards the reactor's core. As you step along, you should notice a Restore materia along the path. It's big, shiny, and obvious, but you'll still have to stop and pick it up or else pass it by. Nab it, but realize that all of the other materia in this game isn't quite this obvious. Then again, this couldn't be more obvious if it had a giant flashing neon sign that said "free materia" pointed at it. Anyways, step up to the core and Barret will ask you to plant the bomb. Cloud has some sort of weird memory lapse, but then continues to set the bomb as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. Then the timer starts. But, don't worry- you get more than enough time. But, it does count down during battles, so don't dawdle. The Guard Scorpion arrives. If you've ever battled Mist (Final Fantasy II/IV) or Whelk (Final Fantasy III/VI), you should know exactly what you're up against. Basically, it's a stronger enemy that you are free to battle for awhile. However, at certain times during the fight, the Guard Scorpion will raise its tail into the air. Do not attack it at this time unless you would like to receive a big can of Whup-Ass. Other than it's retaliation in that mode, Tail Laser, which'll do big damage to both of your characters, the Guard Scorpion basically just has a couple of moderately powerful single-person attacks. Just keep your HP up (with all those Potions in your inventory) and you'll be fine. And since you have nothing better to do but wait when it's tail is up, that makes an excellent time to use your Potions. Anyways, Barret can't do much else besides attack, but Cloud's Bolt spell will take a nice chunk out of the Guard Scorpion. Your limit breaks also make excellent attacks when applicable. Win the fight, and you get the Assault Gun for Barret, which should be immediately equipped. Now get the hell out of here. As you crawl back up the stairs, stop to help Jesse, who's foot has been caught in the grating. Whether or not you want to help her is moot, because she's the only person that can get you past the security doors on the level above. Continue out of the reactor the same way you came back to where Wedge was standing (you know, the fatass?) Then exit through that door. Outside the reactor, Barret commands the team to split up, and that you'll all meet at the train station. You should exit the screen via the only exit (press Select if you can't see it). You emerge on the city streets. The flower girl (you know, the one you saw in the opening sequence), approaches you and asks you what's going on. This seemingly meaningless conversation actually will have some degree of effect on the game later, however (refer to section VII.A. of the FAQ for more information.) You've been warned. Following that conversation, head south through the city streets. If you've got good eyes, you'll spot a Potion lying on the ground on the screen below this one. Yup. As advanced as the Final Fantasy series is, your characters have still yet to adapt the "Don't Drink Things you Find Lying in the Middle of the Street" trait yet. For God's sakes, I know hobos with more common sense than that. On the next screen down, you're approached by a couple of soldiers. You can either fight or run, it doesn't matter really, because more lemmings, I mean, soldiers will just come in to replace the ones you kill. You eventually find yourself surrounded by things you could easily kill with one swipe of your huge-ass blade. Nope. You opt for the daring escape, instead. In another dramatic movie sequence (not a full CG movie sequence this time, but one of those cutscenes where your characters still look like claymation action figures), Cloud hops off of the bridge onto the moving train below, and the disappears with it into the tunnel. The scene cuts to the inside of the train, where Barret and the rest of the team wonder what could have happened to you. That's when Cloud busts in through the door from atop the train. Barret gets pissed off at you (you'll soon learn that it doesn't take too much to piss Barret off). And then the team heads towards the front of the train (with Jesse stopping to wipe your face clean before she leaves). In the front of the train, Barret talks to you some more. This time, they discuss Midgar. Midgar is a gigantic, round city that is divided into eight sectors that closely resemble slices of a pizza (the word "pizza" is actually used in reference to Midgar several times throughout the game. Mmm... pizza...). Furthermore, the majority of the city is built on a humongous plate that sits high above the ground (this would be the "pizza" the game references). The plate, like the city, is divided into eight sections. I know the idea of a floating city sounds really cool (actually, it doesn't necessarily "float", as you'll find out here in a minute), but you really never get to visit it. Nope. Because you spend all your time at Midgar underneath the plate, where there's somewhat of a separate, scummier city that makes Harlem seem like Beverly Hills. I mean, really. What can you expect the land value to be for a polluted hellhole built underneath a Goddamn floating city? This is one of the things Barret takes offense to, actually. For once, you can kind of understand why he's angry. Because he has to live in said hellhole. Cloud asks why everyone doesn't move onto the plate, but that's sorta like saying "why doesn't everyone have a million dollars?", no matter what kind of misguided response Barret gives you. Anyways, you can talk to the rest of the team now (and the greasy hobo who lives in the back of the car), but the person you have to talk to to advance in the game is Jesse, who's standing at the front of the car. As you might have guessed, until you talk to her, this train is never going to get to where it's going for some odd reason. Anyways, Jesse shows you the computer screen that she's looking at, which shows you a cool little diagram of Midgar. It then shows you the course that the train is on. You were on the plate a minute ago, and now the train is taking you down below to the slums. The track spirals around a gigantic pillar, one of the eight total pillars that hold the plate up in the air (I told you it didn't float). And when I say gigantic, I mean it. The pillar is a tower unto itself. Anyways, at about this point in the conversation, you pass through a security checkpoint. Since this is the future, the lights just flash red for a few seconds, some mysterious force scans the ID's of everyone in the train, and then everything goes back to normal. Jesse tells you that you guys are all, obviously, using fake ID's. She then asks you a question, and your response is another seemingly harmless one that will have some sort of impact on the game later (again, see section VII.A. of the FAQ for more details). Anyways, the train comes to a stop at a train station in Sector Seven. Welcome to the Sector Seven Slums. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Sector Seven Slums The team departs the train and everyone heads off to the left (towards the slums). You'll want to follow them. On the next screen to the left, there is a save point at the top of the screen that you may wish to use. There's also a guy standing next to it, and if you talk to him, he'll point at the gigantically obvious structure in front of you. The camera will zoom out, and give you a pretty good idea of just how big the pillar is (that is, the pillar that holds the plate up). At the bottom of the screen is the path to Sector Six, but it's blocked by a couple of soldiers. You know, the ones you can kill really easily if they try and attack you? Well, these ones just prefer making snide remarks, so there's really not much you can do with them at the moment. Exit the screen to the left and enter the slums. Now, when I say slums, I mean it. Look at this place. It's horrible. I know hobos with a higher standard of living than this. Houses are constructed out of spare machinery parts and topped with sheet metal, for God's sakes (OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it gets worse later on). And as if that wasn't scummy enough, there's a bar you'll be wanting to go to. It's at the bottom of the screen and shouldn't be too hard to spot, because you'll see Barret running inside and throwing everybody out (I guess nobody's going to argue with a man who's hand is a gigantic gun). Barret then calmly waits outside for you to show up. The bar is called "Tifa's Seventh Heaven", and is about as run-down as everything else around here. Take note of the sign in the corner that says "Texas", a state which obviously does not exist in this game (something I've always found amusing, anyways). At any rate, walk inside the bar, and you are greeted by the bar's owner, Tifa, who congratulates you on a job well-done. If you bought a flower from the flower girl earlier, you've now got the option to give it away. This is another of those decisions that has an effect on the game later, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ. After a brief chitchat, Cloud says that he just wants to get his money so that he can leave. Try to exit the bar, and Barret comes barging in. He yells that the "meeting" is about to start, and then walks over to the pinball machine. The pinball machine is actually an elevator which descends into the basement, which is kinda neat. The rest of the team hops into the hole after him, leaving you and Tifa alone. Once again, what you do now will have some sort of impact on the game later as referenced in section VII.A. of the FAQ. When you're done, hop down into the basement and chat with Barret and the gang. Barret asks Cloud if anyone from SOLDIER was there during the mission. Cloud replies that if anyone from SOLDIER was there, Barret wouldn't be standing here right now. Barret gets pissed off. But as I've said before: walls, table lamps, and cereal bowls piss Barret off. Anyhoo, instead of taking out his aggression on Cloud, Barret kicks Biggs's ass for no good reason (well, he shouldn't have been standing there!) Tifa comes down and calms Barret down before he destroys the whole damn place, however. Then you go back upstairs to discuss your money. As you head for the door, Tifa comes back upstairs and asks you to please join AVALANCHE. When you refuse, Tifa yells at you and accuses you of walking out on your childhood friend. This is another response that affects the game later (see section VII.A. of the FAQ). Either way, the scene flashes back to the promise Cloud made to Tifa as a child. Cloud and Tifa were sitting atop the village well when Cloud said that he was leaving for Midgar to join SOLDIER. Tifa had asked him that if Cloud joined SOLDIER and became famous and if she was ever in a bind, that Cloud would come to rescue her. Of course, Cloud is currently neither famous nor in SOLDIER, but when Barret comes to pay him, Cloud has an apparent change of heart and offers to go along for the next mission. You wake up the next morning in the basement. Head back upstairs to the bar and Tifa asks you how you slept. Again, your response affects the game later (again, see section VII.A. of the FAQ for more info). You also discover that Tifa is coming with your group for the next mission. Barret comes on inside and asks you about the materia you found the other day. Accept his tutorial if you need to know more (your decision here, despite what you might think, has no effect on the game later on, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ), but what this really means is that you can now manage your materia through the menu. You also gain control of the party, and Tifa mentions to you that the owner of the weapon shop wanted to talk to you before you leave. Anyways, before you leave there are a few things you can/should do. A little shopping never hurt anyone, but remember that you only have so much money right now. Still, some new armor might be in order, and the item shop also sells (besides items, which you may buy a few of) materia. Buy whatever you want, but you probably won't have enough money for more than two pieces of materia, so choose wisely. Also, above the weapon shop (take the stairs inside), there's another room. This is a "training room", meant to get you acclimated to the various aspects of the game. It's worth visiting no matter how well you know the game, however, because there's an All materia and an Ether to be found here. Both, namely the All materia, are lost-forevers, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. As for the All materia, you've got two options here. You can link it to a Restore materia for a Cure-all spell, or link it to one of the other materia for an attack-all spell. If you do this, you should probably know that many of the enemies that you are about to face are weak against lightning magic, so the Lightning materia is a good candidate for this. And even though Barret has the linked slots in his weapon, Cloud is far better with magic than Barret is, and would wield an attack spell with far better results. Anyways, one you've got your gear in order and your head on straight, head for the train station (and you might want to save your game at the save point before leaving, as well). Hop on the train, and Barret will make yet another show of just how much of A jerk he can be. He harasses the hapless employee for no apparent reason. The employee cowers, saying that he's scared enough because AVALANCHE had proclaimed that there will be more bombings and that only the most dedicated employees would go to work today. This pisses Barret off. Go figure. Anyhoo, the train ride begins, and Tifa heads to go look at the computer screen (the one Jesse showed you the other day). Well, just as she begins to say something that sounds somewhat sexually suggestive, you pass through the security checkpoint. Oh, and guess what? You're fake ID's don't work this time around. The train enters security lockdown mode. Well, the security check starts with the back car and moves forward, so you've just got to run to the front car. But it isn't as easy as you think, however. You see, the timer is running, and you've only got so long to get to the next car. If you don't make it, then that's where you get off, my friend. And the further you make it, the less you have to walk. Also, how far you make it in the car has an affect on the game later on, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ. Along the way, a few things can happen, by the way. On the first car (the one you start on), if you speak with the bum in the back, he hands you a Phoenix Down. In the second car, if you speak with guy near the front of the car, he gives you a Hi-Potion. In the third car, a guy may run by and steal something from you. If you want the item back, you have to go after him and threaten him, but it may take too much time to be worth doing. Anyways, when and if you make it to the front car, that's where you hop off the train in daring fashion and land in a tunnel below. From here on out, you're on foot, my friend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Mako Reactor #5 Well, technically, you're still in the connecting tunnels adjacent to the reactor, but close enough, eh'? Here're the enemies you can expect to battle down here... First, there's the Blugu. It's a little pain-in-the-ass creature that can put your characters to sleep with it's Hell Bubbles attack. They fall prey to lightning magic very easily, however. Then there's a creature called the Rocket Launcher, which, as you might expect, has some pretty powerful physical attacks. Again, lightning magic makes very short work of them. Once you reach the reactor, you'll meet a few more generic enemies (SP. Combatant, Blood Taste), who are quite weak and can be taken care of extremely easily. Be warned that the Smogger, another more or less generic enemy, can poison your characters, however. The Smogger may also occasionally drop the Deadly Waste item after battle, which produces an attack far stronger than anything you can get at this point in the game, so you may want to fight around a bit and collect a few of those. Lastly, there's the Proto Machinegun. Their attacks aren't that strong, but they can take a bit of punishment. Still, lightning magic will shut them down very quickly. Anyways, you're in the tunnel now. The direction you're headed is up, and the earlier you got tossed off the train, the further you have to walk. On the tunnel's southern end (this is where you'll land if you got thrown off in the first car), there's a station with an infinite supply of Sp. Combatants. Of course, they are extremely nice and won't attack you unless you attack them first. You can kill as many of them as you'd like without causing a panic, interestingly enough. It's just that for every one you kill, another will be sent to take their place. It seems like you could decimate the entire Shinra army base through this manner, but the steady stream of replacements is seemingly endless. It's like the Shinra has more people than the Chinese do... Oh, and don't worry: the soldiers will not do anything smart like alert the army to your presence, or even try to attack you unless you talk to them first. Anyways, once you've had your fun, head to the tunnel's north end. Well, it seems that the tunnel is blocked off by giant, painfully obvious, flashing, neon security beams, so you've got to crawl through that clearly- marked "intruder's entrance" hatch to your left. It's a tight fit, but I wouldn't expect the Shinra to be too accommodating to people trying to break into their reactors. Just be glad that it's big enough for Barret to fit into. Follow the path (and be sure to grab the Ether lying on the ground along the way) to a ledge above the rest of the reactor (there's a ladder leading down here, but it's kind of hard to see without pressing Select). Climbing down that ladder, you'll end up downstairs on a sprawling catwalk. There are two ladders down here, but both will take you to the same room leading to the reactor. You'll also meet up with Biggs and Wedge down here. In the next room, you'll meet up with Jesse, who whines about her fake ID's botching the whole mission up. Ignore her whining, grab the Potion lying on the ground, and crawl down the ladder in the lower-left corner of the room. This takes you to another catwalk, where you'll find an Ether and a save point, as well as a ladder leading into the reactor itself. You emerge in a very large room that should look extremely familiar. The only difference is that you took a different way in. Head to the door at the foot of the stairs and descend into the reactor. You'll end up at the reactor's core, and Cloud will be asked to set up the bomb. But first, however, you are treated to another of Cloud's memory spasms. This time, Cloud flashes back to a scene in another mako reactor. You see a younger version of Tifa kneeling next to her injured father, swearing vengeance on the Shinra. I guess this would explain why Tifa supports Barret's cause, though exactly what happened remains a mystery... Anyways, Cloud snaps out of it, again seeing nothing unusual about what just happened, and nonchalantly sets up the bomb. Now, it's time to get the hell out of here. Head back upstairs to the giant room. You can't go out the way you came, you're going to have to leave the reactor as you did the first one you were in. Head up the stairs and you'll eventually end up in a room similar to the one where Biggs and Jesse had to open the doors for you. Well, this time you get to do it yourself. Cloud, Barret, and Tifa must all hit their respective buttons simultaneously to open the door. The computer takes control of Barret and Tifa, and you've got to hit the button when they do. No matter how many times you screw up, though, you can still do it. It's actually relatively easy if you just count to three or something, but I think it's kinda neat how Tifa and Barret move at the same consistent pace. After watching them for a few minutes, you'll start to think that they missed their calling as synchronized swimmers. By the way, you're almost at a boss fight, so a little preparation is in order. You'll have no need for an attack-all spell, but a Cure-all spell might come in sort of handy during the upcoming battle. Also, Cloud's attacks will do a nice amount of damage, but the same cannot be said for Barret or Tifa, for some strange reason. Both of them will do more damage with magic (and the boss in question is especially weak against Bolt). For this reason, you may also want to move Tifa to the back row for the upcoming fight. Oh, and you might want to heal yourself up, if at all possible. You'll want to enter this fight with the fullest possible advantage. Once you're happy with the way you have the team set up, head on out. Make your way towards the exit, where you'll be greeted by an entrouge of Shinra soldiers. Then, a helicopter approaches... It's none other than President Shinra. Cloud seems surprisingly nonchalant about it, but something tells me that the world coming to an end wouldn't startle him too much. President Shinra recognizes Cloud as an ex-SOLDIER because of the result that mako exposure had had on his eyes. He doesn't recognize Cloud, though, saying that he'd have to have been another Sephiroth to earn his recognition. Sephiroth, of course, being the greatest SOLDIER to have ever existed. Anyways, Barret gets a little pissed watching Cloud and President Shinra chit-chat, and angrily yells at the President. In his evil manner, President Shinra just shrugs Barret off and hops back onto his helicopter. Instead of ordering his endless legions of troops down your throat, however, he just leaves you with a little "playmate" and just assumes that it will take care of the job for him. To quote Dr. Evil, "I'll just place them in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death." And there's little else more elaborate and exotic than getting you ass kicked by a gigantic robot, no? It's time to fight Air Buster. First of all, you have Air Buster surrounded. This is actually more of a blessing than a curse (though it does prevent you from using a Cure-all spell too effectively). As you should probably know, it will really hurt this thing when you hit it in the back. Even though Tifa and Barret will still do more damage to the Air Buster with magic (see above), Cloud can really damage this thing if he slices it from behind. Also, you may want to save your characters' limit breaks until you have the opportunity to hit Air Buster in the back with them, as any limit break striking Air Buster in the back (especially Braver) is going to kick its ass very badly. However, you've still got to watch yourself. Air Buster has a couple of powerful attacks. One will do a considerable amount of damage to everyone he's facing (so he'll only nail Tifa and Barret with it on occasion). It's also got an attack that does big damage to a lone target, so he will be able to wipe out one of your characters if you don't keep a vigilant watch over your HP. Anyways, when you kick Air Buster's ass, you win a Titan Bangle. Air Buster, well, explodes. And it takes a good chunk of the catwalk with it. This wouldn't be so bad except that it damages the part of the catwalk that Cloud was standing on, leaving him dangling from the edge of the destroyed catwalk. Barret calls out to you, and you can respond any way you'd like (another response that affects the game later as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ), but your only real option is to dangle helplessly. I suppose Barret and Tifa would do something to help you out, but if you'll recall, you did plant a bomb in the reactor several minutes ago. And it goes off right about... now. Tifa reaches out for Cloud, but Barret grabs her and flees. Cloud, meanwhile, plummets. Gee, wasn't that fun? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Sector Five When we last left our hapless hero, he had plummeted several stories into God-knows-what below. We now join him as he is having a vague and, to be perfectly honest, rather disturbing conversation with the voices in his head. And yes, this weird behavior continues throughout the majority of the game. The voices tell him that he used to be able to get by with scraped knees. It makes really no sense, but when you plunge a gazillion stories into nothingness, I guess I wouldn't be that coherent, either. However, a third voice begins to break into the conversation. Cloud's eyes slowly open and he finds himself in a church. Standing next to him, trying to wake him up is the flower girl that you met earlier. She says that she was just standing there when you came crashing through the roof. Furthermore, you appear to have landed on a bed of flowers that she was growing in here. A giant bed of flowers... in the middle of the church? Okay... Anyways, Cloud is still kind of groggy, what with the plummeting hundreds of stories and all, but hops back to his feet and brushes himself off as if he had just bumped his knee on a table or something. You talk for a bit with the flower girl. Have fun with the conversation- nothing you say has any impact on the game later on. Anyways, she introduces herself as Aeris. You banter about materia for a minute. She claims to have a materia that doesn't do anything. Her mother gave it to her, she says, and she keeps it with her wherever she goes. Keep talking to her, and as you do, a very creepy man will walk into the church and just stand there. You can attempt to talk to him, but he just says not to mind him. Rather, if you talk to Aeris again, she asks you if you'd be interested in being her bodyguard. I know a lot of people would reply with some snide remark like "I'd guard her body...", but if you haven't figured it out by this point, Cloud has the emotional responses of a brick. He agrees to do it, and Aeris offers to pay him with a date. Again, Cloud does not react to this in any way. However, it becomes quickly apparent that the creepy guy in the church has something to do with this when Aeris quickly whisks you away and asks you to get her home safely. You'll see the creepy man walk towards the back of the church, accompanied by several Shinra soldiers. The creepy man is Reno. He's an asshole, but we really don't know much more than that about him this point. The soldiers are expendable and meaningless. Anyways, the scene shifts back to Cloud and Aeris as they make their way through the back of the church. You might as well go ahead and take time to equip Aeris right now. Especially considering that unless you know what you're doing, Aeris is going to be doing some fighting in a minute. Hand her some materia (Barret and Tifa apparently gave their materia to Cloud before he fell), and you may also choose to give her the Titan Bangle you won from Air Buster, given both her horrible survivalability and her proficiency with magic. It doesn't really matter what you give her, so long as you hand her something that she can do some damage with (in case you haven't noticed, that stick she's carrying isn't the most effective weapon in the world). Head along upstairs until you reach a gap in the floor. Cloud jumps it with no problem, but as Aeris is jumping, the Shinra soldiers arrive and, with a hearty cry of, "stop the Ancient!" shoot at her... She misses the jump and falls to the floor below. I'm sorry, but when your job involves you shooting flower girls in churches, you might as well slaughter a bunch of nuns and kittens while you're at it, because your job as inhumanly evil as possible. You've now got an interesting notion, here. Instead of going downstairs and slaughtering the soldiers below, Cloud decides that he's going to have a little fun with them by dropping things from the rafters on them. A few things to keep in mind: first and foremost, your performance here does have an affect on the game later, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ. Secondly, if you want to do it right, you're going to have to work fast. Not only do you have a limited amount of time to make it to the appropriate barrel and push (I'm not even mentioning how long it takes to think about which barrel is the right one to push), but you also get into battles up here, as well. You'll fight things that are laughably easy to kill, but they still slow you down. The easy way out is just to keep telling Aeris to run. She'll only have to fight one soldier, and will be able to easily blow him away with any form of attack magic materia that you've handed her. But still, there's something to be said for doing things right. Here's what you've got to do: first, tell Aeris to "wait". Then, run upstairs and push the barrel on the left. Next, push the one in the far back. Finally, push the one on the right. This will see you both through the threat. Anyways, Cloud and Aeris end up atop the church, and you traverse the city by jumping between huge piles of junk. Honestly, you're running along gigantic piles of spare machinery and garbage. And who says that this isn't the slums? Anyways, Cloud hops along the piles with ease, leaving Aeris in the dust. He then teases her as she tries to catch back up. Take note of this- it's the first sign Cloud has shown this far of any spark of humanity. He mentions that the guy (Reno) who was after Aeris was a member of the Turks. They work for the Shinra, but aren't necessarily a military unit. They're more of a slimeball unit. No task too sleazy for them, according to Cloud. For a real-life comparison, think of the Turks as an evil (well, eviler) version of the CIA. Anyways, it seems that the Turks have been after her for quite some time, for some-odd reason. What business they have with her, I can't say. Maybe it's just part of their "evil" quota, I don't know. But, anyways, you end up outside the church along the path to Sector Five. If you head south from here, you'll end up back at the church (and further south, actually, to get a lovely outside view of Midgar). However, the direction you're headed in is up. There's enemies along the road, by the way. First, there's the Hedgehog Pie. This is the thing that you met back at the church. They're easy to kill, but are capable of casting the Fire spell (thankfully not with very good results). The Whole Eater is harder to kill than the Hedgehog Pie, but is mentionless otherwise. Watch out for the guy called Vice, however. These guys are exactly what they look like- thieves, and they can make off with one of your items if you let them (note that if you kill them shortly after they've stolen from you, you'll still get the item back). Anyways, it's a relatively short walk to civilization. Head north along the road, and make a right (going left leads to the road to Sector Six). You'll enter the slums of Sector Five. And, as you can clearly see, the standard of living here isn't much better than it was back in Sector Seven. As a matter of fact, there's one guy here living in a pipe. Yes, he's living in a Goddamn pipe! Go visit him, actually, and Aeris will blurt out one of the game's most hilarious typos: "this guy are sick!" Anyways, the guy are a real head case, who just sits there and spews out gibberish and nonsense. You do notice that he has the number two tattooed on his hand, which is not at all interesting, to say the least. Anyways, feel free to look around the slums. You may choose to do a bit of shopping here, you may not. It's up to you. Also, one of the flyers mentioned in section V.A. of the FAQ is here in Sector Five, so you may want to check that out, as well. Also, if you decide to further explore people's houses, you may talk to a kid in his sleep and hear him mutter abut his hidden drawer. In it, you'll find 5 gil. You can either rob him now, or come back later in the game and he'll give you a Turbo Either that he bought with the money. Of course, if you rob him, he won't buy the Turbo Ether. Anyways, when you're done looking around, head to the northeastern corner of town to Aeris's house. Now, let me take a minute to explain something here. One of the things that flowers generally require to grow is light. Another would be a relatively pollution-free environment, but we'll let that one slide for a minute. I can understand how the flowers might grow inside the church, what with the light shining in from outside Midgar and all, but Aeris's home garden is a different story altogether. She has somehow managed to grow a thriving garden in this God-forsaken barren wasteland. It's as if she missed her calling as a horticulturist. Wait a minute, no she didn't... Anyways, scope out the garden- there's an Ether here, as well as the Cover materia. Then go inside her house. Aeris's mother, Elmyra, greets you. The disturbing thing is that she doesn't seem to be in the least bit surprised that the Shinra is hunting her daughter down. She thanks you properly, and you mention that you'd like to head back to Sector Seven to see Tifa. Aeris asks you who Tifa is, and your response will obviously have a bit of an impact on the game later on (see section VII.A. of the FAQ). Anyways, Aeris offers to take you to Sector Seven (via Sector Six), and really doesn't seem to want to take "no" for an answer. Cloud seems awfully chauvinistic about it, but somehow I'd imagine that he'd react pretty much in the same way if it was Barret offering to take him back. Anyways, Elmyra asks you to stay the night and leave in the morning. Not approving of her daughter running off, she discreetly asks you to leave without Aeris. Cloud is only too happy to oblige (but don't worry, he doesn't succeed). Cloud drifts off to sleep and has another lovely conversation with the voices in his head. If by this point in the game you haven't started to think that Cloud is a complete nut job, I can't even begin to understand why. This time, Cloud flashes back to the last time he slept in a bed. It was when he was visiting his home in Nibelheim. In his flashback, he lays on the bed while his mother yells at him about not having a girlfriend. Sad. You'll wake up in a room next to Aeris's. First, grab the care package on the floor (it's got a few curative items inside), and then exit the room. Now, you need to get out of here without alerting Aeris, so walk, don't run, to the stairs. Go downstairs, exit, and head to the outskirts of town. Remember where you turned right to enter the Sector Five Slums? The left path was the road to Sector Seven (that goes through Sector Six). Interestingly enough, however, Aeris seems to have magically teleported out here (don't ask me how). Again, she ain't taking "no" for an answer. Head to Sector Six. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Sector Six You'll make it to a road leading through Sector Six. And I use the term "road" very loosely, because it's not so much a road as it is a huge pile of crap that used to be a road that you need to crawl past to make it to Sector Seven. And expect your journey to be monster-packed. You'll see the same enemies from Sector Five, plus a new creature called the Hell House. It's... um... a house... that attacks you... um... yeah... And we all thought that Earthbound was strange. Anyways, the Hell House has a strong physical attack, and also has an attack called Hell Bomber that nails your entire party at once. In addition, the Hell House takes a lot of punishment (heavy doses of any kind of magic is recommended). The Hell House is easily the most dangerous opponent in Sector Six, but all in all isn't too much of a threat. Just watch your HP, and you'll live. Making it through the pile of junk is a different story, however. It can be awfully difficult to tell what you can and can't crawl on without the aid of select. Here's the path you need to take: crawl up the remains of a wooden bridge to a high section of the road, then, to your right, walk along the long, thin sheet of metal something or rather (that has a lot of holes in it) to another high section of road, go up and around to the right a bit and crawl down what looks like it was once a tower or something to a lower section of road, then go up and around to the left and crawl up a long... log, it looks like, to a higher section of road, and finally, head up and crawl down another wooden bridge to your right, landing you at the other side of the road. Head up to the next screen and you find... a playground? You've now got the option of continuing to Sector Seven, or taking Aeris home. Your decision does affect the game later on, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ, but neither response will result in you actually having to take Aeris anywhere. Anyways, Aeris rushes up to the playground, saying that she can't believe that this place is still standing. She hops atop the slide and asks Cloud to join her. Cloud and Aeris start to chat for a bit again. She asks Cloud what rank he was in SOLDIER. Cloud has one of his memory lapses, and then responds. Apparently, Cloud held the same rank as Aeris's first boyfriend... how nice. At about this time, you see the gates to Sector Seven open, and a chocobo- driven cart passes through it headed towards the Sector Six Slums, otherwise known as Wall Market. Cloud leaps up and notices one of the passengers on the cart... it's Tifa! Aeris runs after the cart, and Cloud runs after her. A few feet away (was the cart really necessary to make it all the way here?), you'll find yourself in Wall Market... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Wall Market (Sector Six Slums) Let me begin by saying that you are about to enter one of the most disturbing points in the entire game. Believe me when I say that you will question your own sanity at least once before this whole ordeal is over. This place is loaded with strange sexual references and things that will scar you for many years to come, so you have been duly warned. Anyways, first things first. You might want to do a bit of shopping here at the local weapon shop. Remember that Tifa will be joining you shortly, so take her into consideration when you shop. Then, it's off to find out what happened to Tifa. Well, ask around town and see what's going on. There's a place called the Honey Bee Inn in the southeastern section of town. A guy hanging around just outside says that Tifa is one of the "new girls". And, as per custom around here, she was taken to see "The Don". "The Don" would be Don Corneo, a guy who makes President Shinra seem straight. He lives in that big-ass house on the northern end of town, so why not pay it a visit? By the way, you must talk to the guy at the Honey Bee Inn first to trigger the appropriate response at the Don's place. The guy at the Don's is, well, not very receptive to Cloud, Cloud being a guy and all. Aeris has a little better luck. But, Cloud's not about to let her go in by herself. That's when the plan is hatched... Why not dress Cloud up like a woman? Yes, you heard me right. Cloud gets to have a little adventure in cross-dressing! Aeris tells the guy that she'll be right back with a cute friend of hers. Now, you're off to dress pretty. Let me begin by saying that the eventual outcome of all of this will have some sort of impact later in the game, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ. That being said, you now get to go dress yourself up to the best of your ability. Basically, there's three types of each item you can get. Also, you've only got one shot at getting each item, so might I recommended saving your game beforehand in case you screw it up? Anyways, depending on how lady-like Cloud looks when he shows up, one of three different things can happen. Of course, likely the most amusing outcome is when Cloud is fully dressed up. But, hey, that's just my opinion, and I have been known to occasionally confuse "amusing" with "oh my God, somebody stab my eyes out, this is horrible". Let's get started. Your first stop should be the local dress shop. It's at the top part of the lower section of town. Well, the girl there says that her father stopped making dresses and is currently getting plastered at the bar. Aeris and Cloud agree to help out, mainly because they need a dress. Head to the bar (it's on the left side of the upper portion of town), but again, you're not going to get the response you need until you've talked to the girl at the dress shop first. Cloud will approach the guy at the bar rather bluntly, and again isn't going to get very far with him. Cloud doesn't necessarily have the best people skills, y'know. I've seen rocks more personable than he is. But again, Aeris takes the guy aside and wins him over, talking about how Cloud wants to dress up all pretty and whatnot. She hits some sort of weird/perverted note in the guy's mind, and he agrees to make the dress. He asks you what kind of dress you want him to make. This is the first step in determining how well you've done. Get the best dress (the Satin Dress) by saying that you want something "soft" that "shimmers". The next-best dress (Silk Dress) is "soft" and "is shiny". The worst dress (Cotton Dress) is what you get when you ask for something that feels "clean". Anyways, the guy sits back and starts to think for a bit. Hey, you want to see something amazing? Head back to the dress shop. He's already done with the dress! Holy crap, that was fast! But, you're still not done. Cloud's spiky hair is still a bit of an issue, seeing as the 80's is long since passed. You'll be needing a wig. Well, your dress-maker friend is there to help. He says that in addition to making the dress in the three seconds it took you to walk down here, he also spoke with a cross-dressing friend of his down at the gym. At about this point, Cloud begins to feel really insulted and asks Aeris just what exactly she had said to the dress-maker. It's off to the gym with ya! It's the first building you see when you enter the upper section of town. A guy there looks at you and asks if you're the guy that wants to look pretty. Sure. It's not like you've got any self-esteem left in you at this point, so now you've got to challenge Big Bro for a wig. In yet another sexually-slanted joke, you challenge Big Bro to a squatting contest to win a wig from him. Luckily for you, the game lets you practice a bit beforehand. It's quite easy, and if you've got the rhythm, you should have no problem beating him. Anyways, if you win the contest, you get the Blonde Wig (the best). Tie him and you get a Wig. Lose... Lose, and you get the Dyed Wig. And let's not even discuss where he's been keeping it. Awright, now you've got the dress and the wig. These are the only two items that you really need to head to the Don's. And if you're really not trying to dress Cloud all the way up, I suggest that you quit now and head to the Don's with what you've got now (remember that first you need to head to the dress shop and get dressed). On the other hand, if you're up to it, there are a few other items that you may be wanting. Let's start with some cologne. It's kind of a roundabout way to going to get it, and you have to start at the local eatery (not the bar). It's located in the lower section of town. Head there and order something to eat. After eating it, say something complimentary (note that "I've had better dog food," is generally not accepted as a compliment), and you win free Pharmacy Coupons, which really makes you question the food you just ate. Head south a bit to the pharmacy. The pharmacy and the local item shop, actually, are one and the same, and it is just south a little bit from the eatery. Go there and exchange your coupons for one of three items. The Digestive ultimately gets you the best cologne, the Deodorant gets you the second-best cologne, and the Disinfectant gets you the worst. Take your item and head to the bar this time, and head towards the bathroom, where there's someone that's been in there for quite some time. Give him whatever item you got from the pharmacy, and you get the cologne in return (from best to worst, the: Sexy Cologne, Flower Cologne, or Cologne). Strange, I know, but at least you got what you wanted. Next, the tiara. There's a shop around here (in the eastern part of the lower section of town) that really doesn't sell anything. That's because the owner is casually lounging on the counter, not really trying to do anything like run a business or any other thing else of the bothersome sort. He asks Cloud to do him a favor. Apparently, the guy at the inn has a vending machine, and he wants to know what's in it. He can't go back to the inn because there was some... unpleasantness. Anyways, before you head to the inn, make sure that you've got some money. The best item (that gets you the best tiara) is 200 gil, plus you'll also need 10 gil to stay the night at the inn (because you apparently can't use the machine unless you spend the night). The inn's really easy to spot- it's the first place you see when you enter town. Then, return to the guy with the item. The 200 gil item gets you the Diamond Tiara (the best), the 100 gil item gets you the Ruby Tiara (the second best), and the 50 gil item gets you the Glass Tiara (the worst). Ok... Now for the creepy part. You'll also be wanting some... um... underwear. There's a guy walking around the southeastern section of town (not by the Honey Bee Inn, but close to the path to it). If you talked to him earlier, you'd have discovered that he was in a frenzy of indecisiveness. Well, talk to him now and he just gives you his Membership Card to the Honey Bee Inn because he can't make up his mind. Now, head to the Honey Bee Inn. Cloud will step inside, while Aeris waits for him outside. First off, what you're probably expect to happen here, won't. In fact, it'll be much, much worse. A girl in a bee suit greets you and asks you to pick a room. There are five rooms. The two on the right are both occupied, but you can spy on the occupants through the oversized novelty keyhole. Your reactions to the goings on in these rooms should range from slightly amused to downright disturbed. The room on the top is the dressing room, and therefore isn't available. This narrows down your choice to two different rooms. The Group Room and the @#$! room. Choose your poison. Both are horribly painful experiences, but the Group Room does leave you with the better set of undergarments (the Bikini Briefs). The @#$! room, on the other hand, leaves you with the Lingerie. Um... I really can't even describe what goes on in the @#$! room, but you do wake up with a man in a speedo sitting on top of you and slapping you in the face. And if you thought that that was bad, try the Group Room. It's exactly what it sounds like. You get to take a bath with about eight or nine other oily, muscle-bound men, and their leader, Mukki (this is actually the guy that will slap you in the face if you go to the @#$! room, so Mukki is sadly unavoidable). The game programmers went out of their way to make this scene as disturbing as humanly possible, and Cloud really doesn't sound like he's having a good time, either. You do walk away from the whole experience with the Bikini Briefs and scarred for life, however. God, somebody help me! Mukki is after me! I don't want to become Mukki's girlfriend! Anyways, before you leave the Honey Bee Inn (if you haven't already run screaming from the place, that is), stop by the dressing room and ask one of the girls to apply some Make-up to you. This helps Cloud look as pretty as he can. Now that you've got all the times that you'll be needing, head back to the dress shop. Cloud will gussie himself up the best he can, and he emerges... as... um, Cloudette? I dunno. Aeris grabs herself a dress, and the two of you head for Corneo's. At Corneo's, there's a guy who tells you to stay where you are and wait for him in the lobby. Blatantly disregarding him, head upstairs and go all the way to the left to a door leading down to the basement. Down in the basement, you'll meet up with Tifa. What follows is a rather amusing scene... Cloud doesn't talk to Tifa, but rather Aeris does. Only after a minute or so does Tifa realize that the other "girl" is Cloud. Anyways, it's time for the question of the hour: why is Tifa here? Well, when she and Barret returned from the reactor, Barret decided that he'd beat the crap out of somebody to see if he could find any information. The guy in question fingered the Don as somebody who might know somebody. And, against Barret's advice, Tifa decided that she'd come and hear the story straight from Don Corneo himself. At about this time, a guy walks into the basement and yells at you to get your asses to the Don. "Women..." he mutters to himself as he walks away. Resist the burning desire to bury your sword in his back- it just wouldn't be ladylike. Now, the three of you head to see the Don. The Don picks his date for the night and throws the other two to the wolves (his henchmen, that is). Whom he picks is based on how well you've dressed Cloud up. He must be delusioned, because I wouldn't pick Cloud over Tifa or Aeris no matter how cute he looked as a lady (then again, maybe he knows that Cloud isn't really a lady...) If Tifa or Aeris is picked, you've first got to kill, spindle, and mutilate the henchmen that are trying to have sex with you, go rescue the other one that didn't get chosen, and the head to see the Don. If Cloud gets picked, then it's going to be Don Corneo who's going to be trying to have his way with your ass. No matter who gets picked, however, you'll be facing a choice that affects the game later on, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ. Ok, ready, and... Go! The scene ultimately ends up with Aeris, Tifa, and Cloud all standing over a half-naked Don Corneo threatening his life and his genitals. It's as if they missed their calling as torture experts... Anyways, Corneo divulges that someone to find "the man with the gun-arm". After some more... threatening, he says that that someone was Heidegger. Besides being an asshole, Heidegger is also the head of the Public Safety Department of Shinra. And, in case you haven't figured it out, "head of public safety" is just a nice way of saying "war minister". Anyways, after Tifa threatens to smash (!!!!) Corneo's little guys, he reveals the rest of the plot. Apparently, Shinra is going to destroy the pillar at Sector Seven. Now, for those of you that know you're physics, what happens when the only thing that is holding something up is destroyed? Yup. Shinra wants to crush Sector Seven... What's the matter, did they run out of orphanages to bomb? Anyways, you've got to act fast, seeing as Shinra is already on the move (oh, and before you leave, you might want to check behind Corneo's bed where you'll find a Hyper, which goes pretty far in explaining why he's acting like this). But, Corneo isn't done with you yet... As you're leaving, he asks you a seemingly harmless riddle. Regardless of your response, he springs a trap door underneath you and you plummet to the sewers below. A trap door, for God's sakes... Could he be any more generic? The scene shifts to Shinra Co. President Shinra is in a meeting with Heidegger and Reeve. Reeve, the head of the Urban Development Department, is the one here who has at least a shred of decency in him, and as such is regarded by the rest of the Shinra as a pussy. Anyways, Heidegger laughs and says that he's assigned the Turks to deal with Sector Seven. Reeve steps in and voices his opposal to the idea, and also that of the mayor. Of course, much like the real world, the mayor (Domino is his name) is a figurehead with no real power to speak of. Heidegger and President Shinra cackle and laugh over their evil plans. President Shinra plans to blame the whole incident on AVALANCHE, and then save the day by sending federal aid to the survivors. That evil... And it's up to you to stop him! (Dramatic music as scene fades out)... wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section III: Walkthrough|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | B. Shinra Co. | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /___________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section III: Walkthrough|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Sector Six Sewers The party comes to in the sewers below Sector Six. Well, Cloud comes to, at any rate. Tifa and Aeris are still lying around here somewhere. A few things to keep in mind before you do anything: first, whomever you help first does have a slight effect on the game at a later point (refer to section VII.A. of the FAQ for more details). Secondly, you're not going to enter any battles until you help both of them up, so go ahead and take this time to hop onto that ledge to your left and grab the Potion sitting up there. Three, once you get Aeris and Tifa up, you're going to go straight to a boss fight, so also take this time to equip your characters. The boss in question is weak versus fire, so keep that in mind. Also note that attacking with magic is going to be generally more effective than any physical attack against it. Lastly, you may want to set up a Cure-all spell, because said boss had a pretty powerful attack that nails your whole party at once. When everything's all a go, wake up Aeris and Tifa, and the fight begins. APS is the unfortunate result of water pollution here at Midgar. I'm not quite sure what it is, but whatever the hell it is, it's going to kick your ass if you don't watch yourself. It's normal attacks are nothing special, but it's Tidal Wave hurts like a motha. The good news is that it'll hurt APS, too. Note that the direction of the wave plays a big role in how much damage it will do. When it hits him in the back it's going to really mess him up. Likewise, when it hits you in the back, you'd better be prepared to heal up. The wave will alternate in its direction, so you will always know what to expect. As for attacking? As I've already mentioned, any sort of magic is going to do more damage than a physical attack, and APS has a weakness to fire. Oh, and expect the Tidal Wave to push you to a couple of limit breaks, while you're at it. The fight won, you've now got to hurry up and make it back to Sector Seven before squishy time. You may want to stop and heal up/rearrange your materia before moving on out, however. You'll run into two different enemies down here. The Sahagin is moderately powerful and is the more durable of the two, but not by much. However, it will probably be the one that takes longer to kill, as not only does it have no weaknesses, but they also have a very annoying tendency to use their shells to prevent any and all damage done by physical attacks. Granted, they won't think to do this until after you've popped them in the ass a few times, but you're still probably going to have to resort to magical means to finish them off. The other enemy is called Caesar, and ice magic will rip it up in no time. Anyways, you should see a ladder that will led you hop up onto the ledge on your right. Follow the ledge around to the other end and crawl down the ladder there back into the sewage. Head towards the bottom of the screen and crawl up the ladder you find there to get onto the opposite ledge, and then head back towards the right. Oh, and you should pick up the Steal materia along the way for many reasons. First, it'll let you nab some kick-ass equipment from certain enemies that you cannot come back to steal from, so you'd behoove to have the Steal materia handy now. Secondly, I really don't think you feel like shelling out 1,000 gil for one later on. Head on downstairs. Down below, it's a very straightforward path to a set of steps leading back to the surface. Hurry along, now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Train Graveyard You'll emerge in a Train Graveyard adjacent to Sector Seven. You're almost there but you need to get past all this wreckage, which has been inconveniently placed in your way first. Again, you might want to rearrange your materia before moving out, because there're new enemies out here. The Ghost is a little pain in the ass that can drain large amounts of HP from you with its Drain attack. Furthermore, it disappears whenever you hit it, meaning that your next attack will miss (and then it will re-appear). The good news is that fire magic will toast them with little trouble. And not only that, but the Ghost is also weak versus holy-based attacks, meaning that the curative magic may also be used as an offensive attack against them if need be. The Cripshay is of little mention, and is probably the easiest thing here to kill. Its attacks are still fairly powerful, though, and it can cast Fire. Also, there's the Deenglow. It has a high resilience to magic, and absorbs ice magic, but is a pushover with physical attacks. Still, if you're up against several, a Fire-all or Bolt-all spell is still the most efficient attack (especially if you're Aeris). In addition, it knows the Ice and Demi spells. Lastly, there's Eligor (a creature you'll probably only meet in the second portion of the Train Graveyard). Eligor is a rare creature with moderately powerful attacks and can also put you to sleep. In addition, he can take an awful lot of punishment. Luckily, Eligor has no weaknesses, so blast away with everything that you've got. Also, feel free to utilize your Steal materia versus Eligor, and snatch the Striking Staff, an excellent weapon for Aeris. Anyways, from where you begin, you'll see a car in front of you that you can hop on. Do so, and make your way along it, picking up a Hi-Potion along the way. At the end of this car, you can jump off to the left real quick to nab another Hi-Potion, or continue along until you reach a big-ass steel girder (which you can hop on). If you go left, it'll take you to a small corner where you can grab an Echo Screen. Furthermore, from there, you'll be able to go back down a bit, make a right, and head down until you see a part of the car that you can enter to grab a Potion. Go right on the girder, on the other hand, and it takes you to an adjacent car. Head south on this one until you reach a point where you can jump off to the right. Use a nearby ladder to crawl onto the car to your right, run up to the next ladder, and then crawl back down. Head up some more until you see a section where you can enter the car to your right. Enter it, go up to the top of the screen, and then exit. From here, you can head up to the next screen. On the next screen, hurry up to the rest of the wreckage. From here, you can head to the left parts of the screen for a Potion and an Ether if you'd like, but you've still got to get past these train cars. Hop in the car blocking your way to move it forward a bit (it will ram another car out of its way). Then, hop back in to move it back. This creates a path for you to make your way towards a second car (oh, and there's also a Hi-Potion sitting atop of another car to the right). Hop in the second car to move it forward a bit. This creates a bridge, of sorts. Hop on top of the second car and run across it. When you get off, keep heading towards the left. You'll end up back at the train station at Sector Seven. You made it! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Pillar Waste little time in getting to the pillar, where you'll discover a battle going on. Just what the hell is happening here? The sounds of gunfire are coming from the pillar, and before you can react, a body flies off the top and lands on the ground in front of you. It's Wedge... I would make fun of him, but... I feel sorry for the poor guy. Basically, what's going on is that AVALANCHE is duking it out against the Shinra, who've come to bomb the pillar. Wedge tells you that Barret is at the top, and to go after him. Before you take off, Tifa remembers that Marlene is still at the bar. She asks Aeris to go get her and take her someplace safe. Tifa and Cloud continue along to the top of the pillar. First of all, you may wish to save. Don't worry about your health- you just got a free HP/MP refill. Organize your materia and get moving. The one and only enemy you'll meet on the pillar is called Propeller. It's not a very strong creature, but they can take quite a bit of damage. The good news is that once you do a sufficient amount of damage to them, their propeller is destroyed and they become grounded. This decimates their defenses and makes them extremely easy to kill following that. Anyways, hurry along. Near the base of the tower, you'll meet up with Biggs, who is severely wounded. About halfway up, you'll see Jesse, who isn't in that great a shape herself. Hurry along to the top, where you'll see Barret valiantly staving off the Shinra encroachment. Actually, he's just shooting at anything that gets near him. He is pretty happy to see you, however. Take a minute to equip Barret, because you've got a boss battle coming up. Anyways, the helicopter approaches the pillar and Reno steps off of it. You remember Reno, right? The asshole? Anyways, Reno walks right onto the pillar. Barret, for some reason, doesn't shoot him, instead letting him walk up to the pillar's main support structure and set a bomb. Well, that was just lovely. Furthermore, Reno deems your party a threat to his evilness, so he decides he's just going to have to kill you, as well. The Reno fight isn't too difficult if you know what you're doing. Fire and Ice both work quite well, but you'll find that a physical attack will deal about as much damage as Bolt will, so it's really not worth it. Reno attacks you with what appears to be a huge tazer, but it isn't horribly powerful. His really annoying attack is the Pyramid, which traps the affected character inside a giant pyramid. That character can't move until the pyramid is destroyed. To destroy the pyramid, just attack the afflicted character (don't worry, it wont hurt them). And then, continue to wail on Reno's ass. Keep fighting and the fight should be over before you know it. Instead of doing the noble thing and fighting you to the death, Reno instead does the sleazy, degenerate thing (to fit in with his lifestyle), and flees when he's about dead. With Reno gone, your team attempts to disarm the bomb. Of course, you can't. As is that weren't bad enough, a helicopter approaches. Inside is Tseng, another member of the Turks. Barret sees nothing wrong with firing at him, but he stops when Tseng starts using Aeris as a human shield. Yes, Tseng has gone and captured Aeris. The most amusing thing is that she avoided the Turks for all these years on her own with nothing more than a twig to defend herself with, but once she finally gets an ass-kicking bodyguard, she's captured within a day. How sad is that? Anyways, Tseng reveals that the Shinra wants Aeris because she is the last surviving person of her race, the "Ancients". Aeris calls out to Tifa, "don't worry, she's all right!" Tseng then slaps her. I'm sorry, but if anything should piss Barret off enough to make him start blindly firing, it should be that. It doesn't, though, and the helicopter vanishes into the air. By the way, did you realize that you're standing atop a huge tower that's about to blow up? Might I suggest you leave? The team frantically looks around for a way to escape. Barret finds a gigantic wire conveniently hanging near the edge of the tower. It's long enough that it should be able to swing you guys to safety. The entire team grabs a hold of the wire, and makes a daring escape, complete with a lovely rendered movie sequence. Enjoy. Actually, seeing as Sector Seven is being completely destroyed and crushed before your eyes, maybe "enjoy" isn't exactly the word I should be using.... You'll land back at the playground at Sector Six. Behind you, Sector Seven lies in ruin. Barret... Well, to say the least, he's quite pissed. He runs up to the wreckage and starts yelling for the rest of his team. He then starts angrily firing off his gun, and finally just breaks down in a mess of rage and despair. Tifa cheers him up a bit by mentioning that Aeris probably got Marlene to safety. Barret, obviously, wants to go see her. Cloud, on the other hand, is increasingly curious about the Ancients. By the way, the voices in his head start talking to him again. It mentions weird things, like about how it is an Ancient and is the rightful heir to this planet. Cloud's response to this is, "Sephiroth?" Cloud ain't the sharpest pencil in the box, as you can see. Anyways, Cloud takes off for Sector Five, Tifa and Barret behind him. First things first, you probably saw the materia lying around back at the playground. You can't go back for it just yet. Start to walk towards Sector Five until Tifa and Barret come running up behind you. Now you may return to the playground and nab the Sense materia. That done, you should head back towards Aeris's house at Sector Five. See ya there! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Sector Five (Again) Back at Aeris's place, speak with Elmyra. She gets right to the point. Basically, Aeris is the last surviving Ancient. And, obviously, Elmyra isn't Aeris's real mother. Then, she begins to tell you much more of the story than you'd care to know. You see, back in the day, Elmyra's husband went off to war. She got a notice one day saying that he was going to be returning home on leave. She went to the train station every day, but he never showed. But one day, she happened upon a dying woman and her child. The woman's last words were to Elmyra, asking her to take care of Aeris. In Elmyra's own words, "I was probably lonely, so I decided to take her home with me." I can only pray that this was a mistake in the translation processes, because just the idea of someone imagining that they were "probably lonely" at one point is enough to make my head explode. I also find it amusing that her motives for doing this were purely because she had no one to keep her company. Moving on, Elmyra details Aeris's childhood. She was a weird kid, to say the least. Not like that kid in class that eats paste, but still weird. She told Elmyra that she and her mother had escaped from a lab somewhere and that her mother had "returned to the planet". Of course, the clincher was when Aeris one day went up to Elmyra and told her that someone she knew had just died. Sure enough, Elmyra got word a few days later that her husband had, in fact, died. I tell ya, if my kid ever did something like that, I'd be freaked. I mean, "call the priest and get some holy water" freaked. Either that, or I'd think that we had another messiah on our hands, at least. Elmyra took it all in stride, however. Apparently, when you live in a city powered by crap you're sucking out of the planet with giant reactors in a floating city above you, you become somewhat desensitized to things out of the ordinary. Of course, it wasn't long before the Turks became interested. You see Tseng talking to Elmyra about Aeris. He says things like "the Ancients will lead us to a land of happiness", and blah, blah, blah... Like we really believe him. Aeris stoutly denied being special in any way, and Elmyra just pretended not to notice anything unusual. And I'm sorry, when you've got a kid that talks to the planet, you're going to have to try awful hard to act like you don't notice. Anyways, here's what went down: Tseng caught Aeris on her way back here. She agreed to go along with him in exchange for Marlene's safety. So Marlene is here and safe. Barret thanks Elmyra profusely, and Elmyra conversely yells at Barret about leaving the girl alone. This... doesn't piss Barret off. Barret, you'll realize, has a soft side (which, as you should know by now, is tied entirely to Marlene). Anyways, he rushes upstairs to see Marlene. Follow him. Head into the room and talk to Barret, and then try to leave. Marlene asks you a question now that has an impact on the game later on (see section VII.A. of the FAQ). Barret, on the other hand, is really mad that Aeris got captured because of Marlene. He offers to come along and help you. Go downstairs. Downstairs, the plan is discussed. Cloud, wanting to know more about what is going on, really sees no other option than to head to Shinra H.Q. and free Aeris himself (or maybe it's just because he feels like the world's worst bodyguard right about now). As I've already mentioned, Barret is coming along because he feels guilty that Aeris got caught because of Marlene. Tifa comes along, as well, saying that she has to "push herself to the limit" right now and that she's going to go crazy if she just sits around and does nothing. Well, that and her bar got crushed and she really has nowhere left to go. Barret asks Elmyra to take care or Marlene for awhile, and also advises her to get out of the city. Elmyra agrees, but makes Barret promise that he'll come back alive. Anyways, leave Aeris's house. You're now about to storm Shinra H.Q., to which I say "it's about Goddamn time!" Believe me when I say that this will be no easy task, and you should be duly prepared beforehand. The question also still remains, "how are you going to get there?" Ain't no train running there anymore. Tifa suggests that the team head for Wall Market, and maybe you can find something out there. In video game terms, this means that you will find something out there. See ya at Wall Market! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Wall Market (Again) & The Road of Junk Well, first things first, then. You may wish to avoid doing any last-minute shopping, because as we've already discussed, you're going to have the opportunity to steal infinite amounts of the powerful Carbon Bangle when you arrive at Shinra H.Q.. That being said, buy what you need. Also, talk with the man at the weapon shop. He scavenged the wreckage of Sector Seven, found a few old Batteries, and fixed them up. He seems to sense through some unknown means that you're headed for Shinra H.Q., and implies that you'll be needing the Batteries. Cloud is a bit wary of buying garbage that some guy found and fixed up, but I for one would not argue with someone whose psychic abilities far outweigh my own. And indeed, you will be needing the Batteries, so purchase them and move on out. Head up to the north end of town, and you'll see a bunch of kids running towards the northeast section. Follow them. You'll end up next to the gigantic wall that used to separate Sector Six from Sector Seven. It now separates Sector Six from a garbage heap. Anyways, amongst the wreckage that came crashing down is a long wire that drapes over the wall, conveniently allowing someone to climb up it. Barret is more than ecstatic, and proclaims it to be a "golden, shiny wire of hope". Climb up the golden, shiny wire of hope to the top of the wall. Also note the graffiti on the wall, and how disturbingly high in the air some of it is. Apparently, Wall Market's scumbags and hoodlums either have jetpacks or can fly. You reach the top, where you'll see a couple of kids sitting on the wall and surveying the wreckage in the distance. Pretty heavy stuff, man... However, there's a great deal of wreckage hanging above you, and what you need to do now is crawl along said pile of rubbish to the top of the city. Or, as I like to call it, "The Road of Junk". Hurry along, then. The Road of Junk is fairly straightforward and enemy-free. Early on , you'll have to place one of the Batteries to make a propeller move. The Battery dies very quickly, but the propeller will stop in such a position that you can crawl on it to the next pile of junk. That is one magic battery! The next Battery you must place moves an "arm" into a position that you can crawl along. You'll end up at a swinging bar that you've got to jump onto to make it to the next screen. All in all, it's fairly easy to do, but it does require good timing. Miss, and you've got to crawl back up and try again. Make it, and you can make your way to the next screen. On the next screen, you'll have the option of hopping down to the pile of junk below. Your reward is a chest containing an Ether (you'll need to use your third and final Battery to open the chest). The downside is that you've got to crawl down to the screen below and make the "bar jump" again. Anyways, from this screen, it's a fairly short trek to the top... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Shinra H.Q. (Part One) You emerge at the foot of the hugest building you've ever seen... This is Shinra H.Q., the heart of the beast. It's 70 stories tall, but every floor over the 60th is special and difficult to get to, even for employees. Oh, guess where you get to go? You've got two options, now. One is to bust in with guns blazing. The other is to sneak in quietly. This decision actually won't have as big an impact on your mission as you might believe. You are asked to make a decision now, but you won't be forced to stick with it. Rather, say what you'd like, and then take advantage of that save point over there. Your game saved and your head clear, decide what you'd like to do. Busting in (just walk in through the front door) obviously treats you to a nice wave of battles. Sneaking in (go around the building to a loooooong set of stairs), conversely, results in no battles. Note, however, that if you decide to bust in, you still may want to save first and try sneaking in, if not just to hear the amusing comments your team makes on the way up. Anyways, there're a lot of new enemies here for you to play with. Enemies that you become very quickly acquainted with if you decide to break in. The Grenade Combatant, just like the SP Combatant, is really nothing to speak of. They lob grenades at you, which really don't hurt as badly as you'd think, and that's about it. The Mighty Grunt is a very durable enemy, and kind of like the Propellers, will have their armor destroyed once you do enough damage to them. From there, it's easy pickin's. And all in all, all this really means is that you'll spend twice as long trying to kill them. The Hammer Blaster is another durable creature. In addition to that, it can burrow underground for a short while (meaning that your attacks cannot hit it), and it also has attacks that can confuse your party members. The good news is that lightning magic rips it up in no time. Also note that battles with the Hammer Blaster will sometimes reap the Loco Weed, which is a joke opportunity even I'm not going to touch. It's a useful item, though, especially since you don't have the Mystify materia yet. Also, there's the Sword Dance. It's another generic enemy and an easy kill, but watch out for an attack which can infuriate (e.g., inflict fury upon) your characters. Later on at Shinra H.Q., you'll meet three more enemies. The Warning Board... um... I dunno. It really doesn't do anything except sit there and let you kick its ass, which kind of worries me, but at least it's a free kill. The Moth Slasher is something you'll want to watch out for, as you can steal the very kick-ass Carbon Bangle from them. In addition, they're pretty tough to kill, but lightning rips them up very quickly. The SOLDIER 3rd, conversely, carries the Hardedge, a kickass weapon that you can steal and give to Cloud. Like the Moth Slasher, they can be difficult to kill, but do possess a weakness to fire. Now, for a couple of things to watch out for. If you're busting in, take a minute to look around the first floor for a minute. Behind the stairs on the 1st floor, posted on one of the bulletin boards, is one of the flyers mentioned in section V.A. of the FAQ. In addition, this flyer is one of the lost-forevers mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. In addition, on the 2nd floor (just take the stairs in the lobby), there is an item shop. Seeing as you've just busted in and shot everybody, the shopkeeper is understandably scared of you. Barret calms the guy down, and he agrees to sell you items (that you may or may not want/need). There are two treasure boxes here, as well. If you try to open them, however, the shopkeeper's spine grows three sizes and he tells you that you can't open them. And, I'm sorry, but you can't have what's in them right now. Refer to section V.N. of the FAQ for more on these treasure chests, and also note that they, too, are lost-forevers, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. Oh, and if you're so inclined, check out the monitor to see a small FMV sequence that has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to the plot. On the other hand, the only thing you should watch out for while sneaking in is an Elixir about halfway up the stairs. At the 59th floor, you'll battle a group of guards and steal the Keycard 60 from them, a key item that will grant you access to any floor up to and including the 60th. Now, you can use the elevator to return to any floor you'd wish, including the 1st. If you sneaked in via the stairs, you may wish to head down there now for all the reasons previously mentioned. However, if you chose to bust in, you may probably deem it "not worth it" to down all those stairs (located at the top of the 60th floor) just to find the Ether there. When you're ready and set, take the elevator up to the 60th floor. Now, here's the cool thing: no matter how big of a stir you created on the bottom 59 floors (remember, even if you sneaked in, you still ended up kicking a couple of guards' asses and stealing their Keycard), no one up here really realizes that Shinra H.Q. has been infiltrated. Really. The communications around here are that horrible. Even more hilarious is the fact that no one (well, almost no one) will seem to catch on to the fact that you are the people who broke into the building. Think about it for a minute. Your team consists of a huge man with a gun for an arm and a guy holding a sword that's bigger than he is (which is likely drenched in blood from mercilessly stabbing someone to death), and it doesn't dawn on anybody here that maybe you're up to something. Christ, how low is the bar when you're trying to get a job here? And these are the higher-ups of Shinra, no less! Good lord... Anyways, on the 60th floor, watch as your team sneaks past the "security guard" and into the sixtieth floor. Ahead of you and to the left is a small room. There is a path leading from this room to a room on the right side of the screen, which is where you need to go. But, there are guards patrolling outside. Now, I did mention before the people up here generally will not realize that you are trying to break in, but that notion excludes monsters and guards (yes, there's monsters roaming around on some of these floors for some unknown reason). As for the set of guards that currently hinder your progress (you'll see them patrolling along the top of the screen)? You must make Cloud move along the screen when they're not looking, (he can hide behind the posts). Every time you press the confirmation button, whatever it may be, he will move to the next post. When he gets halfway through, he will stop to motion when it's safe for Barret, and then Tifa to cross. And then you repeat this for the second half of the room. First let me say that I feel awful sorry for those guards. Their seemingly eternal patrol routine must really suck. Secondly, if you screw up and are seen, the guards will attack, and then politely let you try again. However, you can only screw up so many times, before the game just hands it to you and you get to continue nonetheless. In the small room on the other side of the screen is a set of stairs to the next floor. You emerge on the 61st floor. You may continue up the stairs, but will be unable to exit the stairwell unless you have the necessary card. Luckily for you, the door to the 61st floor is standing wide open, so waltz on inside. Basically, the 61st floor is just a big lobby for important bigwigs. Walk around and talk to a few folks (again, it's not like anyone is going to catch on that you broke in here). One guy actually gives you the Keycard 62, thinking that you're the repair men. Yeah, moron, that's what we do with these deadly weapons: fix things. Friggin' moron... Anyways, head on up to the 62nd floor (you can use the stairs or the elevator). This is actually where Mayor Domino resides (look in the room on the left side of the screen). Don't worry, though. He's about as fond of the Shinra as you are. He'll help you, but not without a catch. You've got to guess his password, first. He even says that if you guess it right the first time, you'll get a bonus prize. This "bonus" is the Elemental materia, and is one of the game's lost-forevers, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. This generally means that you'll probably want to try your best to get it right the first time. But, you see, the password is different every time, so I can't give you a straight answer. The guard outside the mayor's office offers to help you... for a price. But, since I'm helping you for free, punch him in the stomach and head to the library. Here's how it works... You've probably noticed that there are four very large libraries on this floor. The four libraries correspond to the four divisions of the Shinra: Space, Science, Urban Development, and Public Safety (War). In each library, you will find books relating to their branches But, each library has one misplaced book. That is, one book has been placed in there that doesn't belong. You need to find all four of those books. Then, take note of the numbers at the beginning of each book. They tell you which letter to look at. That is, if the number was 9, then you would look at the 9th letter in the title of the book. From this research, you should gleam four letters. From there, it's a simple unscrambling process to find out the password. Return to Mayor Domino with the password to get your Elemental materia and his Keycard 65. Yup, you can go to the 65th floor now! Let's get moving, now shall we? The 63rd floor is optional, but you can get some kick-ass stuff for your trouble. Check out section V.B. of the FAQ for more information. The 64th floor is again optional. But it's a bit different than the 63rd floor. The 64th floor is a lounge for the Shinra employees. There's a sauna here, a gym, and a rest area (and such nice accommodations the Shinra provides for its employees, no?). So, let's forget for a second that you're stopping in the middle of breaking into a building to take a nap, because that's just not ridiculous-sounding enough... No, what's really incredulous is that you can approach the building's head of security as he jogs away on a treadmill and have a nice chat with him about how well he's protecting the building. And what really disturbs me is that by this point, the Shinra obviously has to know that you're in the building somewhere; they just apparently don't seem to care. Ugh... Anyways, after your refreshing nap and a save, head on up to the next floor. Enemies patrol the 65th floor, so be warned. That said, the 65th floor had a gigantic room in the center with a big model of Midgar sitting inside it. However, several parts of the model are missing. What you need to do is retrieve the model parts (called Midgar Parts) from a nearby chest, and place them here where they belong. This will unlock another chest with more Midgar Parts in it that you can place here to unlock another chest and... you get the idea. The last chest will have the Keycard 66 in it. Got it? Good. Now, there are two small rooms to the left with a total of four chests in them. Initially, the only one that will be unlocked is the one on the left side of the top room. Take the Midgar Parts and place them in the empty spot of the model closest to the door. This unlocks the chest on the left side of the bottom room. Take the Midgar parts there and place them one spot counter-clockwise from the last spot you placed them. This unlocks the chest on the right side of the top room, which again contain Midgar Parts. Place those parts another spot counter-clockwise. The next chest opened is on the right side of the bottom room. You guessed it, there are some Midgar Parts inside. Placing them yet another spot counter-clockwise opens up a chest in a room in the top-right corner of this floor. In there, you will find the last set of Midgar Parts. Placing them in their proper place opens up the chest in the stairwell, which contains the Keycard 66. Moving right along, then... There's no enemies on the 66th floor, and you're going to be in for a little recon work when you get here. Because, you see, the 66th floor is where the Shinra's big, evil meeting room is. And guess what? A big, evil meeting is about to start. If you talk around a bit, you'll hear two pieces of information that you should immediately tie together. First, it smells really bad in the meeting room. Secondly, you can hear distant voices in the bathroom. In case you haven't figured it out, the air ducts connect to both the bathroom and to the meeting room. And, like in the movies, the air ducts were specifically built to be large enough for a human being to crawl through with little difficulty. Head to the bathroom and crawl into the duct. Head on over to the hole that will let you spy on the meeting, which you will conveniently arrive just in time for. That is, whenever you decide to show up. The Shinra may be evil bastards, but at least they're polite enough to delay the start of a meeting until you can make it there to spy on them. How nice! So here's what's going down. Present at the meeting, we have President Shinra, Heidegger, and Reeve. Also present is a woman named Scarlet, who has no real apparent job here at Shinra besides "evil bitch". Also, you're introduced to a tub of butter called Palmer, the head of Shinra's Space program. Sheesh, another fatso. Hell, even the game stoops to making fun of him, later on. Anyways, Reeve begins the meeting by whining to President Shinra about the damages in Sector Seven, and repots an astronomically high amount of gil to repair it. President Shinra just laughs and says that they are not going to be doing any rebuilding. Rather, they are going with the Neo-Midgar plan. Apparently, Aeris is supposed to lead them to the "Promised Land" or something- rather... Until then, so sayeth President Shinra, they will just increase mako production in the seven other reactors. Following this is some very typical evil villain pratter. President Shinra gloats about being the man who saved Midgar from AVALANCHE... Barret gets pissed (understandably). However, that's when Dr. Hojo arrives. Hojo is the head of the fourth and final branch of Shinra: Science. The first thing you'll notice about Hojo is that the guy is obviously off his rocker. He shakes uncontrollably whenever he moves or speaks, and that's not even taking into account half the fucked up things he says. Hojo reports that he is still is comparing Aeris to her mother, Ifalma (to whom Aeris is inferior, he claims). He also reports that his research will be nearly impossible to complete in his own lifespan, or Aeris's, for that matter, so he is considering breeding her... And as if that whole speech wasn't creepy enough, he goes into another one of his uncontrollably shaking spasms. The meeting ends shortly thereafter. Hurry along out of the bathroom and head back to the lobby. You'll see Dr. Hojo walking upstairs. Follow him. Up on the 67th floor, Barret stops to ask Cloud about Dr. Hojo. Despite having been in SOLDIER, Cloud never met Hojo, however. Walk along the screen, headed towards the left side of the 67th floor. There, you'll watch as Hojo examines some kind of dog in a giant glass container. He sits there and cackles over his "specimen", and asks it to be sent upstairs. The platform that the... thing is on rises up to the next floor, and Hojo heads up the stairs in the back of the room. When he leaves, the party emerges from their hiding place and thinks aloud. What is Hojo up to? However, while Tifa and Barret are thinking, Cloud has found his way over to another container. As he spots what is inside, he freaks. I mean, he just freakin' flips out. Apparently, Jenova is being kept in that container. While you're not quite sure who or what Jenova is or why Cloud is so freaked out by it, Barret glances at it in disgust, saying something to the effect of "where's its Goddamn head!?" Leave the headless marvel behind for the moment and head towards the stairs. Be sure to nab the Poison materia out of the chest before you go, however (it's one of the only times you'll ever find materia in a chest, by the way). You also might want to save your progress, as you have a boss battle coming up. Speaking of the boss battle... First of all, the boss in question absorbs poison magic, but all else will affect it. Your Poison materia will still do you a world of good, however, in conjunction with the Elemental materia and placed in somebody's armor (as the boss in question has poison-based attacks). The Star Pendant you may have picked up on the 63rd floor is also a good idea (but is redundant if the wearer already has the Poison/Elemental combo in their armor). Aside from the boss possessing poison-based attacks and the fact that he also has three henchmen, their attacks are of little mention (but you do have four things attacking you, on the other hand). The worst part about the lackeys is that he will continually respawn them, so killing them is worthless. First of all, this means that attack-all spells really serve no purpose, but a couple of Cure-all spells will definitely help out. This also means that he will be in the back row for most of the fight, so single target magic attacks are really the way to go (kill the boss, and the lackeys go with it). Lastly, of Tifa and Barret, only one of them will be going into the fight with you while the other sits out. You can choose which one you want to take, however. Keep this in mind when equipping your materia, but also realize that who you decide to take with you does have an impact on the game later on, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ. Up on the 68th floor, things go down. You'll see Hojo up here with his glass tube. Inside the tube you'll see Aeris and that dog thing. The party approaches Hojo and he explains that inside the tube are two species on the verge of extinction (I didn't know that dogs were going extinct). He had mentioned breeding Aeris, but...? No... That's just nasty... Your party seems to agree with you, and Barret puts his gun-arm to good use by blasting open the tube. The dog leaps from the machine and begins to rip Hojo's throat out (or something else horribly violent). Then, the dog stops to... talk to you? Um... It talks? "Lady, I'll talk all you want later," it responds. He tells you that they called him Red XIII here at the lab, and that you can call him anything you want. In order to continue the insult, you all just call him Red XIII. And, judging from the way he talks, Red XIII is what Yoda would be if he were a talking dog instead of a little green puppet. Hojo, understandably angry from having been brutally attacked, transmogrifies into some horrible, disgusting creature (though not as horrible and disgusting as Pauly Shore). Before fighting him, however, you've got to choose someone, either Tifa or Barret, to get Aeris out of here (remember, this decision affects the game later, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ). That done, the fight with HO512 begins, and goes down pretty much as explained in the above paragraph. When you win the fight, you'll get a Talisman. The fight over, you'll find that Aeris and whomever you told to get her out of here made it a good three or four feet while you were fighting. Anyways, since you've accomplished pretty much what you came here for, the party now agrees to get the hell out of here. You should know that RPG's ban characters from traveling in large groups, so you decide to split up into two groups and head downstairs. Keep in mind that the group you choose affects the game later on (see section VII.A. of the FAQ). Once you've got your group chosen, move along now. First, you might wanna grab the E. Skill materia inside the glass tube, and then harass Hojo's lab assistant for his Keycard 68. That done, leave quickly. Be warned, however, that on your trip downstairs, you will be attacked by Warning Boards, Moth Slashers and SOLDIER 3rd's, as described earlier in this section. You may very well wish to take the time right now to steal some Carbon Bangles from the Moth Slashers, as well as a Hardedge from a SOLDIER 3rd, because not only are they both very kick-ass pieces of equipment, this is the only chance you will have to steal them (in short, once you make it back to the elevator, you will lose this wonderful opportunity). And remember, you're headed for the elevator on the 66th floor, because the elevator does not go to the 67th or 68th floors. Your party steps into the big, glass elevator with a sense of pride and accomplishment. You just took on the Shinra- and won! Nothing, I repeat, nothing can go wrong now! Well, except for maybe the Turks capturing your party as soon as you enter the elevator. Damn. The entire party, save Aeris, is taken to President Shinra's office on the 70th floor. President Shinra explains that Aeris as an Ancient, or, as they called themselves, the Cetra. Aeris, he says, will show him the way to the promised land. Red XIII says that the Promised Land was only a legend. Legend or no, says President Shinra, the Promised Land is too valuable to pass up. You see, the Promised Land is supposedly very fertile. Fertile land has lots of... mako! Mako, my friend! That would be the answer! And the Neo-Midgar plan would be the one that involves sucking all of that precious mako out of the Promised Land. Why, that evil... He follows this with a hard-hitting quote: "these days, all it takes for your dreams to come true is money and power". Then, he has the Turks haul your party off to jail. So much for challenging the Shinra and winning... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Shinra H.Q. (Part Two) You'll wake up a bit later in one of the Shinra's detainment cells. You may or may not have seen these on the 67th floor as you passed by. Cloud and Tifa occupy the cell in the middle, and are flanked by cells containing Aeris (on the left), Barret and Red XIII (both on the right). First off, your following actions will have a significant impact on the game later on. See section VII.A. of the FAQ for more details. That being said, I know it is standard for all heroes who are captured by villains and thrown in jail to make a daring escape, especially considering that the Shinra left you with your weapons and materia... However, despite what you may think, your only real option is to sit here and stew for a bit. You can talk to Tifa, and also see what's happening with Aeris, Barret, and Red XIII (by the way, these would be the decisions mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ that have an impact on the game later on). Aeris and Cloud begin to talk through the wall. Aeris mentions the date that they had agreed to, which noticeably pisses Tifa off. Tifa asks Aeris about the Promised Land, but there's truly little that Aeris really knows. People go to the planet when they die, she says, and she does "talk" to the planet in a way, but she really can't understand what it's saying. It's kind of like when someone comes up to talk to you, but doesn't speak any English. Despite all the stuff they prattle off that you can't understand, you can still make some form of communication through exaggerated gestures, facial expressions, and lots of pointing. Aeris's conversations with the planet are kind of like that, only completely different. I dunno, I can't explain it very well because I'm not a Cetra and I've never spoken with the planet before. Well, unless you count the time I asked a tree stump for directions. It didn't respond, but at least it was more helpful than some of the locals. But, I digress... Despite the Promised Land being a legend, Aeris's mother promised her that one day she would find it, so we're going to have to be content with that for now. After a bit of conversation, you fall asleep. That when the creepy crap happens. You wake up to chilling music, which should be more than enough to alert you that something is wrong. Also note that the door of your cell is wide open and the guard is lying on the ground having been brutally murdered a few feet away. Hurry back to your cell, get Tifa, and let out the rest of the team... Red XIII goes on ahead to see what's wrong. Not necessarily the smartest thing to do, considering that whatever did this was obviously superhuman, but, whatever. Barret, on the other hand, says that he's going to stay back here and clean up. Again, not necessarily the smartest thing to do, given the large-scale spook factor of the current situation, but let him do what he wants. I learned a long time ago not to argue with people who's arms have been surgically replaced with guns. This leaves Aeris and Tifa to accompany Cloud. Equip them properly, based on the new wave of creature features that you'll find roaming around the place (as mentioned below). First off, the Elemental/Poison combo in someone's armor is still helpful, as two of the three new enemies you'll meet are level-three bio-hazards. The Brain Pod is an enemy that has a strong attack that will poison your character (hence my suggestion of the Elemental/Poison combo). In addition, it can also put your characters to sleep. It absorbs poison magic, obviously, but all other magic works quite well against it. For the Zenene, take everything I said about the Brain Pod and stick it here, with a few differences. One, it cannot put your characters to sleep. Two, it's physical attacks are considerably more powerful. Three, they are weak to the effects of holy magic, meaning that the Cure spell can be used in a pinch as a decent offensive attack. Lastly, we have the Vagrid Police. You'll probably do more laughing than fighting when you battle them, seeing as their attacks almost never hit you. And when they do, they'll take out all of one damage point. There's a catch, though. They turn somewhat suicidal when their HP is low, and explode themselves in your face for a considerable amount of damage. Of course, if you kill them quickly, you need not worry about that. Physical attacks and magic do good damage, but the best way to rid yourself of these things is with the Bio spell, which should do considerably more damage than anything else that you can scrounge up at the time. Anyways, with your party outfitted, move along. There will be a trail of blood on the floor which you should follow, because your party obviously has a death-wish to meet up with whatever evil incarnation mercilessly slaughtered everyone in the damn building. The trail will lead to the left side of the 67th floor (where you saw Hojo earlier). Take note that the machine that had Jenova in it has been destroyed and Jenova is now missing. Hmm... Interesting. Anyways, follow the trail back up to the 68th floor, though you may wish to stop and save first. Anyways, head on up to the 68th floor and keep following the ominous trail of fresh blood. You'll head up past the uneventful 69th floor to the 70th floor of Shinra H.Q., where you discover President Shinra... dead. Stabbed in the back and slumped over his desk, the evil President Shinra is no more. Barret and Red XIII both arrive, and Barret, for one, couldn't be happier. As the party speculates, Cloud spots something out of the corner of his eye. It's fat man Palmer! Still alive, at that! Palmer rushes from his hiding spot at a speedy quarter of a mile an hour, and Cloud, easily enough, apprehends him. The team grills him for answers. Palmer frightenedly replies that the massacre was at the hands of Sephiroth. He claims that Sephiroth arrived and said that he wasn't about to let the Shinra have the Promised Land, so he slaughtered the whole lot of 'em. Again, Barret is quite pleased, but Cloud stops him. Sephiroth may have wasted the Shinra, but he isn't necessarily a good guy because of it, Cloud says. Having pumped him for all the information he knows, Palmer wrestles away from you and hurriedly leaves in search of butter. Anyways, just as Barret is about to pour some champagne and have a party, the team hears the sound of a helicopter outside. It's Rufus, the son of President Shinra! The party rushes outside to deal with him. On the rooftop, Rufus turns around to see the party headed towards him, and greets you in his villainous manner. Your characters introduce yourselves to them, attempting to sound cool, but that trails off by about the time it reaches Aeris. The interesting note here is that it is at about this time that your characters really begin to view themselves as a "team". Pretty neat, huh? At any rate, Rufus begins making a long-winded and evil speech about how he aspires to be even eviler than his father was... It's kind of like an Austin Powers sketch gone horribly wrong. Cloud puts an end to the bullcrap for the moment and commands the rest of the team to get the hell out of here. Barret being to stop him, but Cloud again commands him to go, amending this with, "this is the real crisis for the planet!" That's all it takes for Barret to herd the rest of the group back downstairs. They make it to the 69th floor when they begin to worry about Cloud. Tifa stays behind to wait, and you are left with a team of Aeris, Barret, and Red XIII. Equip them properly for the upcoming boss fight. As soon as your party steps into the main elevator (it didn't go to the 67th or 68th floor, but it does reach up here to the 69th floor, so it's a very short walk), a battle will ensue with the Hundred Gunner, which attacks you from the elevator opposite you as you ride down. This will be a long-range fight, so take heed. Barret is the only character who will be able to attack physically (though he will still be able to do more damage with magic, if he has any). Red XIII and Aeris will be able to attack only with magic, limit breaks, or items. Hundred Gunner is especially weak against lightning, and the Bolt spell with do lovely damage to it. Conversely, poison magic has no effect on it (but, as always, the Poison/Elemental combo in someone's armor couldn't hurt, as mentioned below). Lastly, the Hundred Gunner, despite the "Hundred" part of its name, is a lone attacker. Point in case, All paired with attack magic is worthless. On the other hand, Cure-all spells should be a great asset to you during this fight, because you can't rely entirely on Healing Wind. Keep all this in mind when outfitting your party. Now, the Hundred Gunner's attacks are weak and of very little mention, but when you kick it's ass, the real enemy arrives. The Heli Gunner's attacks are considerably stronger than those of the Hundred Gunner. It has an attack that does big damage to a single target, and it can poison your teammates with wanton disregard. This is the reason I suggested the Poison/Elemental combo in your armor earlier. Lastly, the Heli Gunner had a powerful attack that will do big damage to your team, but it takes a turn to charge its gun up, thus giving you ample opportunity to heal yourself prior to taking the blow. Anyways, when you win the fight, you'll win an antiquated Mythril Armlet, and the scene will switch back to Cloud. Calling upon all of his abilities to manipulate this continuum that we call time and space, Cloud can mysteriously take any of the materia that you've given to Barret, Aeris, and/or Red XIII, so go nuts. He'll be preparing himself for a quick fight with Rufus and his hound, Dark Nation. This will follow a brief speech by Rufus, in which he informs you that Sephiroth is also an Ancient, so he obviously is laying claim to the Promised Land. But for now, let's prepare for the fight. Obviously, a Restore materia would be a pretty good thing to have handy. Secondly, Dark Nation, despite being a canine, has a powerful Bolt spell that may make you consider putting the Lightning/Elemental combo in Cloud's armor. However, Dark Nation is probably going to be the first of the two that you'll want to take out for two reasons. One, Dark Nation can cast Barrier, seriously hampering your progress. Two, if you give Cloud the Poison materia, Bio will take him out in one fell swoop (at higher levels, other magic materia or even a physical attack may produce the same effect, but I mention Bio simply because it is the strongest attack of the lot). So, in this respect, you may not necessarily need the Elemental/Lightning combo in his armor. But, if you've got the space, you might as well put something there to take advantage of the AP you'll earn from this fight. As for Rufus, once you take care of Dark Nation, the fight will degenerate pretty much into Cloud and Rufus trading blows. His pathetic little shotgun does far less damage than you'd expect a shotgun to do at point-blank range. On the other hand, the Bio spell that you used to kick Dark Nation's ass in one hit will also do a very nice job on Rufus himself. Failing that, other attack magic or even just wildly slashing at him will get the job done fairly quickly. When Rufus is damaged enough, he escapes on his helicopter. Cloud for some reason refrains from frying him with a Bolt spell or something like that and hurries off, taking with him the spoils of the battle (a Protect Vest and a Guard Source). Cloud heads down to the 69th floor and meets up with Tifa, and the scene switches back to the others. Barret, Aeris, and Red XIII head for the front door. Now, seeing as a massive slaughter has taken place here at Shinra H.Q., you are correct in assuming that a swarm of Shinra soldiers have arrived and await outside. Barret rushes to the door and tries to clear them out, but it's really no use. If he were alone it wouldn't be a big deal, he says, but he has to keep Aeris safe, as well. Tifa arrives downstairs without Cloud, which obviously confuses the rest of the team. She says not to worry and herds the team outside. You are treated to a very lovely CG movie sequence, where you'll see Tifa and the others headed towards a truck and hopping on. Meanwhile, Cloud comes roaring downstairs on a bitchin' hog. He then speeds out of Shinra H.Q., flies into the air, and lands on the highway just behind the truck. I'm sorry, but Cloud does not at any point in the game kick more ass than he does in this scene. By the way, you're not out of the woods yet. It's time for the chase scene... First and foremost, you'll need to form a party. Do so, and realize that you've got yet another boss fight, so prepare yourselves adequately. The boss in question is weak against lightning, unaffected by poison, and resistant to fire. It also attack with powerful fire-based attacks, so the Elemental/Fire combo in someone's armor is recommended. Lastly, it is a lone attacker, so your All materia will be best used to create a couple of Cure-all spells. When you have your party created, take a moment to learn exactly what you will be doing. Basically, you will ride down the highway along side the truck and fend off the attacking Shinra troops with your big-ass sword. The motorcycle troops will attempt to ram the truck, which causes damage to your teammates. And since it is in your best interests to keep them healthy for the upcoming boss fight, you'll want to vigilantly defend them. This game is identical to a game you'll play later at the Gold Saucer, so for more in-depth strategy on this game, refer to section VIII.B. of the FAQ. And then, the chase will begin... The mini game will end when the highway abruptly ends. You are then approached by a bad-ass boss called Motor Ball, and the team that you selected will fight it, whilst the remaining two sit on the sidelines and talk quietly amongst themselves (hey, get off your sorry asses and help us!) Motor Ball has a fairly decent physical attack, but the two attacks that you really need to watch out for are Rolling Fire and Twin Burner. First off, both are fire-based, so the Elemental/Fire combo in your armor really helps in this respect. Rolling Fire is a common attack that does a considerable amount of damage to the entire party. Twin Burner does huge damage to the entire party, so you really need to keep yourself healed. Luckily, Motor Ball doesn't use Twin Burner that often, and will do so only when in an upright position. The only magic that proves useful is ice and lightning magic (as always, lightning magic will rip up on our metallic friend, here). Failing that, physical attacks also work quite well. Anyways, win the fight, and you'll earn a Star Pendant. Your team stands on the edge of the highway victorious. Cloud boldly proclaims that he is going after Sephiroth. He has to settle the score, he says... Since he had also mentioned that this was the real crisis for the planet, Barret decides to come along with him. The team makes their way to the outskirts of Midgar (which you should recognize if you came this way during your stay in Sector Five). You can now walk around and talk to the party as you wish. Barret will obviously be coming along to help save the planet. Tifa, as you should realize, really has nowhere left to go and will be accompanying you, as well. Aeris wants to learn more about the Ancients, so she comes along, as well. Red XIII, lastly, says that he will go with you as far as home (the location of which, by the way, he never really reveals). Well, this is it. You're leaving Midgar, and you can't return until much, much later in the game. Say your goodbyes and shed a tear to the heartfelt music score. Also, you need to form a team before leaving. This is another seemingly minor detail that will have a big impact on the game later, as detailed in section VII.A. of the FAQ. Once you've got your team assembled and your wits about you, move on out into the huge world that awaits you... wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section III: Walkthrough|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | C. The Eastern Continent | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /___________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section III: Walkthrough|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The World Map & Kalm You emerge for the first time into the game's overworld map. It's a beautiful place with awesome theme music, so walk around a bit and get the feel of the land. You can also laugh at how Godzilla-like you look standing next to the highly disproportionate Midgar. Also watch out for a brand-new set of creature features. First, there's the Custom Sweeper. The Custom Sweeper is probably the toughest creature around here to kill, but at least its weakness to lightning will prevent the battles from dragging on for too long (and in addition, it being a machine and all, poison attacks will have no effect on it). Two things about the Custom Sweeper are of mention, however. The first is that you can steal from them a pair of Atomic Scissors, a kick-ass weapon for Barret. The second is that they possess an attack called Matra Magic, which you can learn with your E. Skill materia. It's a powerful attack, especially this early in the game, that can be a big asset if you pick it up now. However, as powerful of an attack as Matra Magic is when you use it, it's just as powerful when it's being used against you, so watch yourself. Next up on our monster list is the Prowler. In addition to being a very kick-ass Iron Maiden song, the Prowler is also a guy who hangs around Midgar and steals things from people who enter into battles with it. Luckily, they are very easy to kill, and killing them should generally be a priority if you don't want them to make off with all of your stuff (note that if they steal stuff, you can still get it back if you quickly kill them). Also, we have the Devil Ride, a very weird creature riding a very kick-ass hog. They're moderately difficult to kill, though not so much as the Custom Sweeper. On the other hand, however, they have no weaknesses, so expect longer fights. Lastly, there's the Kalm Fang, an enemy which, as you might expect, generally won't appear until you begin to near Kalm. They're among the easy-to-kill breed of monster, luckily enough. They possess no weaknesses, but Bio, Quake, or Matra Magic will pretty much off them in a single hit. Anyways, I spoke earlier of a town called Kalm. It's a small village to the east of Midgar, and it's where you should be headed to sooner or later. First off, you'll probably want to save before entering town, because once you enter, there's going to be a long sequence that will not let you save for quite some time. Anyways, when you arrive in town, your party heads straight to the inn only to discover that the other two team members have beaten you here. You teammates both head to the inn, and you are free to wander about the town if you so please. You may wish to head to the northern part of town and do a bit of shopping (the Heal and Earth materia may both be of interest to you). You may also choose to raid a local home and steal the gun out of their treasure chest (the Peacemaker). You cannot use this now, but do hold onto it, as you may find a use for it later. By the way, you may opt not to speak to a few of the townspeople not just yet, and instead wait until your party is back with you (for reasons why, refer to section VII.A. of the FAQ). However, all the information you can gleam from this town will be listed at the end of the next subsection of the walkthrough (--- Welcome to: The Flashback). Anyways, on that note, why not head to the inn and get things started? You'll find the party waiting for you at the only room at the inn (gee, I hope that nobody else wanted to stay here tonight). There, the questions begin to arise... Thus begins the flashback. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Flashback Cloud explains his relationship with Sephiroth in a rather long flashback sequence that begins now. He explains that after Cloud joined SOLDIER and worked a few missions with Sephiroth, they became friends. And then, one day, they went off on another mission... The scene switches to a couple of soldiers sitting in the back of a van. One of them is Sephiroth, who sits calmly on a box. Another is a very young Cloud, who excitedly runs around the van talking to all of the soldiers. Sephiroth finally breaks in and tells Cloud to calm down and shut up. Cloud goes on about how he joined SOLDIER so that he could be just like Sephiroth, but that the war was over by the time he made first class. Anyways, Sephiroth lays the mission down to Cloud. There is a mako reactor that has been spitting out monsters as of late. Their first mission is to find these... monsters... and kill them. Next, they have to find the source of these monsters and neutralize it. The reactor in question, in case you were curious, is located in Nibelheim: Cloud and Tifa's hometown. At about this time, the monster in question arrives and attacks the truck. Cloud and Sephiroth leap out to fight it. Now... This fight... Let us first point and laugh at how absolutely pathetic, weak, and infantile Cloud is in this fight. Suffice it to say that he's come a long way in the five years since all this happened. If it was only Cloud in this fight, you might as well go ahead and throw out the controller now, but there's also Sephiroth. He's controlled by the computer, so you really have no say in what he does. However, he does end the fight fairly quickly by expeditiously kicking the monster's ass into last year. Even Cloud comments on how insanely strong Sephiroth is. Anyways, the team arrives at Nibelheim. Sephiroth asks Cloud what it's like to be home. He wouldn't know, he says, because he has no parents or hometown. His mother was Jenova, and died in childbirth, and his father... He explains everything with a stern look on that one, pretty much. After this, the game relinquishes control of Cloud to you. As you head on into town, Barret astutely points out that Jenova was that "damn headless spook" living in the Shinra building. That is, it was before it mysteriously disappeared. Cloud says that the town was quiet. Everyone was inside their homes, possibly scared of the monsters. "Or maybe they were just scared of us..." Cloud surmises. No, Cloud, they're scared of Sephiroth. You have the intimidation powers of a stapler, and nobody is scared of your weak, pathetic, little pansy ass except possibly other staplers. Anyways, Sephiroth heads towards the inn, leaving Cloud free to wander about the town. There are two places to head. They are clearly obvious, because they are the only other two houses in town, just about. The first house would be Cloud's (it's the one on the right). When you enter, you have the option of telling the story to the team, or quickly exiting without a word. If you are displeased with the text-heavy, non-smashie-smashie flashback and wish for it to quickly end, choose the latter and move on to the next paragraph. However, if you decide to delve into the story, Cloud begins by talking about his mother. She lived alone for most of her life, and inexplicably died a few days after Cloud visited. But, when Cloud saw her that day, she looked fine... You'll then see the scene where Cloud returns home and talks to his mother. Of course, the entire memory is completely glitched, and Cloud doesn't really appear to remember a damn thing. The scene does segue into the scene you saw earlier, though, where he's lying in bed and his mother yells at him about not having a girlfriend. Maybe, Cloud, just maybe, your dear, sweet mother died of... a broken heart? Meh. The scene ends, and Cloud exits again to the streets of Nibelheim. Head along now to the house next door (to the left), which happens to be Tifa's house. Like Cloud's house, you've got the option of just not telling the story and leaving, or continuing inside. The difference is that inside, nothing really happens. You can continue upstairs and into Tifa's room. In her room, there's lots of fun things that you can do. You can play her piano, steal her underwear, and read a letter on her desk (and despite what you may think, none of your responses will affect the way Tifa feels about you). The letter is from the son of the clerk at the item shop, and it details his trip to Midgar and other uninteresting details. Apparently, everyone from Nibelheim (except Cloud) was there to meet him. He goes on to comment about how Cloud wasn't close to them, anyways, and probably wouldn't have come even if they found him. It's kind of sad, really, and gives you kind of a bit of insight into Cloud's past. You can stop or continue reading the letter, but the rest is mostly boring drivel. By the way, none of your actions here really effect the game later on (as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ), so go nuts. Anyways, head back to the inn. There's a guy there looking for Sephiroth so he can take a picture of him. Cloud offers to let the guy take a picture of him, instead. The guy replies that he doesn't want a picture of a nobody. Comments like that I suppose would explain Cloud's self-esteem problem, at any rate. You'll also meet Tifa's martial arts teacher, named Zangan. Anyways, upstairs, you'll discover that the bedroom is one bed short for your team. Go talk to Sephiroth (he's standing by the window). He'll first comment on the scenery, but when you talk to him again, you're given the option to go to sleep for the night. And you do, though you never do find out how the bed situation worked out. Then again, if they fought for the beds, something tells me that it was Cloud who slept on the floor that night... The next morning, your team stands ready on the north side of Nibelheim. Talk to Sephiroth, who says that you're leaving as soon as your guide gets here. The guide, by the way, is Tifa. Cloud is a bit shocked, not wanting to drag her into this. Sephiroth just tells Cloud to protect her, and she'll be fine. Though, given about how powerful Cloud was at the time, I'd say that Tifa would have been better off if he had just handed her a butter knife for protection. Before you leave, Tifa's father gets a snapshot of Tifa, Cloud, and Sephiroth. There's a memento for the ages, if I do say so myself. Anyways, the team heads towards Mt. Nibel, which would be the gigantic mountain resting behind Nibelheim where the reactor is located. Well, upon entering Mt. Nibel, the team heads directly onto the rickety rope bridge of death. How cliché... After the inevitable and predictable breaking of said bridge, the party wakes up on a ledge below, sans one expendable soldier. Since he really wasn't that important to the plot, and nobody had even bothered to ask the guy's name anyways, the team continues along nonchalantly. As you walk along the very linear path, you may enter into a battle or two. However, while Cloud may get in a pathetic slash at anything that happens by (doing little to no damage to it in the process), Sephiroth will effortlessly toast anything that dares cross his path. At the end of the path, you'll enter a cave. Inside the cave, stick to the right and walk along that path until you reach the very back of it. There, you'll discover a mako fountain, spewing out pure, unspoiled mako. In the middle of it, you'll find a chunk of materia in it's raw form. Materia, you see, is little more than condensed mako. See, you learn something new every day! Sephiroth goes on to explain how materia contains the knowledge of the ancients and with it you are able to use the powers of the land with it. Or, in other words, magic. Cloud mentions the phrase "mysterious power", which makes Sephiroth laugh. He says that a man once told him never to use such an unscientific term, and that that man was Dr. Hojo. You see, five years ago, Dr. Hojo wasn't the respected lunatic that he is today. He was just an inexperienced young lunatic assigned to take over the work of another scientist, Dr. Gast (who's file you may have seen back at Shinra H.Q.). The party continues on after this. You arrive at the reactor with little trouble. Cloud and Sephiroth continue inside, leaving Private What's-his-Name to stay outside and make sure Tifa doesn't run off. Follow Sephiroth into the back of the reactor where Sephiroth will quickly and effortlessly fix the problem, but that's not all of it. Sephiroth looks around and explains to you just why all the monsters were appearing. You may notice that the room you're standing in is full of very odd- looking pods. Well, have you ever seen a pod be used for anything besides creating monsters? Sephiroth explains that "normal members of SOLIDER" are exposed to mako to enhance their strength, kind of like steroids. But that they remain human. The things thrown into these pods are being exposed to uber-high amounts of mako, so much to the point that they are literally becoming monsters. And, of course, wouldn't you guess that Dr. Hojo was behind it all? Hojo's insanities are actually the least of your worries right now. You see, Sephiroth had used the term, "normal members of SOLDIER" to refer to everyone except himself whom, as we've already established, kicks very much more ass than they do. Then again, brains must not have been his strong point, because this is the kind of thing it takes for it to finally dawn on Sephiroth that just maybe... this is how he came to be? He was... created? Of course not, Sephiroth, you were just naturally born like that. And if that's what you've believed for all these years, I've got a bridge to sell you while I'm at it. Needless to say, Sephiroth flips out, while Cloud leaves him to his insanity. You are given the option to save your game at this point, which you may or may not take Cloud up on. More insanity to come! Following this little incident, Sephiroth returned to Nibelheim and confined himself inside the friendly neighborhood haunted house, dubbed the "Shinra Mansion" by the villagers because people who worked for Shinra used to live there. Rather than populating it or at least tearing the Goddamn thing down and/or looting the place, they just left it as it was. Anyways, Cloud decides to go after Sephiroth. Head up to the second floor and to the right. There's a soldier standing outside a room that Sephiroth entered but never left. Inside this room, you'll find a door to a giant spiraling staircase that in turn will take you to the basement. Here in the basement, there's a gigantic library where you'll find Sephiroth doing his research. And in the world of Final Fantasy VII, a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing. Sephiroth reads that Professor Gast, a long time ago, discovered an apparently dead organism in an ancient geological stratum. He named the organism Jenova, and soon discovered that Jenova was an ancient. Following that began the "Jenova Project"... Amazingly enough, it is at about this moment that Sephiroth begins to grasp the concept that his mother, Jenova, and Dr. Gast's pet project may possibly be related. Again, brains were quite obviously not one of Sephiroth's strong points. Attempt to converse with him to no avail, and then leave him to his madness. Sephiroth continues to stew in the basement for quite some time... And then, one day, Cloud wakes up in the Shinra Mansion to some very ominous music, which alone should tip you off to something. Head back down into the basement to find Sephiroth, quite obviously gone mad. He calls you a traitor, and then explains why. The Cetra, or the Ancients, were a nomadic race (and in case you haven't gotten it through your skull by now, Sephiroth is a member of said race). They would travel from planet to planet, populate it, and move on. At the end of their long journey, they were to discover the Promised Land. However, a faction disliked the nomadic life and instead opted to settle down and live the easy life. They took and took from the Cetra without giving a damn thing back. They would be the ancestors of the norms. Long ago, a great cataclysm rocked the planet. The norms survived by hiding out. The Cetra sacrificed themselves to save the planet, after which the norms flourished. So, apparently, their only real crime was surviving (and I guess being a bunch of deadbeats). This is apparently enough to send Sephiroth off the edge, though. Well, he also finally appears to have come to the realization that he is the result of the Jenova Project... On that note, he strides towards Mt. Nibel to find Jenova. Follow him. As Cloud exits the mansion, he finds that in the couple of moments that Sephiroth was outside, he has managed to set the entire village on fire, which, I have to admit, is quite a feat. Zangan sees you coming out of the mansion and calls to you, "hey, you're still sane, aren't you?" Well, "sane" isn't usually a word I would use to describe Cloud, but, for the moment and relatively speaking, he is. He leaps over the flames and assists Zangan in scavenging the village for survivors. Actually, come to think of it... this may be how Cloud's mother died... Anyways, Cloud looks over to the north and spots Sephiroth walking away from the village in a very kick-ass CG movie sequence. Cloud chases Sephiroth to the reactor at Mt. Nibel. Heading into the reactor, you'll see Tifa and her father... You should actually recognize this sequence from earlier in the game. Tifa is kneeling beside her wounded father swearing vengeance on the Shinra and Sephiroth... sound familiar? Well, now for the part that you didn't see. Tifa, in an understandable rage, grabs Sephiroth's long-ass sword which he for some reason left lying next to the guy he mercilessly stabbed to death and runs into the back room. Tifa then charges Sephiroth at full speed wildly brandishing said long-ass sword. In retrospect, that was probably about the dumbest idea since the First Annual Broken Glass- Eating Contest, but you can sort of understand why she might not be thinking clearly at the moment. You can sort of imagine what happens next: Sephiroth effortlessly snatches the sword away from the enraged girl and slashes the hell out of her with it. She flies backwards through the air, sickeningly bouncing on the steps on her way down, finally coming to rest at the bottom. Ouch. Cloud enters the back room in shock. Your first job should be to help Tifa out. For the moment, Cloud will carry Tifa out of harm's way. He's really too much of a dumbass to do anything helpful like or stop the bleeding or dress up her wound, so for the moment she's just going to have to lie there quietly and try not to stain the floor. It's actually a very sad and touching scene. Really. Cloud should then confront Sephiroth. You'll find Sephiroth in the back room talking to Jenova. This is kind of odd, because Jenova has actually been dead for quite some time now. Anyways, this doesn't stop Sephiroth from happily elaborating how he and her are going to take the planet back form themselves. He then grabs the oddly-shaped life form and begins to make off with it. Cloud, as you might imagine, is rather indignant with the senseless destruction of his hometown and angrily chides Sephiroth as he tries to leave. The intensity rises... Sephiroth on a binge of destruction... Only Cloud remains to stand against him... Too bad that at this moment, Cloud's brain performs an illegal operation and must be shut down. Seriously, of all the parts of the story that he could have forgotten, this would be the one part that I kind of assumed that he'd remember. Then again, maybe Sephiroth kicked his ass to the point of brain damage, which would go far in explaining Cloud's personality today. Anyways, there're several holes in Cloud's story that for the lack of a better source of information you're going to have to let slide for the moment. The greatest of these, obviously, is the fact that Cloud challenged Sephiroth and lived to tell the tale. I guess a close second would be how Tifa managed to survive without so much as a scar. Also, there's Sephiroth. Y'see, official records state that Sephiroth is dead. But then again, Shinra Inc. has a bit of a monopoly on things of the official sort, so it's not like you could trust the information, anyways. But on the other hand, if Sephiroth truly is alive, and had Jenova with him when he left Mt. Nibel, how did Jenova end up at Shinra H.Q.? Cloud says that it was transported there following the whole incident, but if you'll recall, Jenova was missing from the Shinra building after the massacre... there's obviously something missing from the puzzle here. And at about this time, it all becomes too much for Barret, who's brain goes into complete overload. Please note that other things that cause Barret to become completely and totally confused include: thinking, conversation, opening doors, and other non-killing-related activities. The whole scene ends on a touching note, when Tifa asks Cloud how badly she was cut up back at the reactor. Cloud replies that she was pretty bad, and that he didn't think that she was going to make it. And I've got to hand it to Tifa, surviving an attack like that took something that I don't even think Bruce Willis could muster. Then again, Cloud challenged Sephiroth and he still seems to be fine. "Fine" is determined quite loosely here, though, seeing as this is the same guy who has more people in his head to talk to than in real life and who's memory has more holes in it than my underwear, so I'll let you come to your own conclusions on that one. The next morning, head on downstairs. Barret hands you the PHS, which is basically what you will be using to switch out your party members. You'll recall the ban on traveling in groups greater than three, so this glorified cell phone actually comes in quite handy despite its inability to be used indoors or within a fifty-foot radius of civilization of any sort. I mean, without it, you wouldn't see half of your team ever again. You are now left with the party that you had originally created back at Midgar. You are free to leave town, though first you may stop to converse with a few of the citizens (for an effect on the game later on, no less, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ) You don't find much else out here, though. The main news here seems to be that everyone is happy because the nearby city of Midgar has introduced to them a novelty known as mako power. Also, you'll find a lot of unemployed miners at the bar. They used to work in the Mythril Mines to the east, but have been out of work ever since hideous monsters started patrolling the area. Monsters! Heh! When I was a kid, I walked to school everyday barefoot in the snow fighting off hordes of the bastards and it didn't bother me one bit! In fact, I rather liked it! What else? Oh, yes. According to Shinra, AVALANCHE has disappeared... Which is interesting, really, because considering that their headquarters was recently massacred by a homicidal madman, PR really shouldn't be on their list of top concerns for the moment. Lastly, there's a guy here who saw Sephiroth heading east. Anyways, take care of any other business that you may have around Kalm and then continue east. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Chocobo Ranch Continue east along the continent into the deep boonies. You'll know you're headed in the right direction when all of a sudden you have a burning desire to wear overalls and watch Hee-Haw. There're also lots of farm-themed animals out here that, despite what you may think, want to kill you. The Levikron is an ostrich-like creature that is fairly easy to kill, but has a nasty tendency to enrage you with its attacks. The Elfadunk is an elephant, if that helps. It also has an attack which can make your characters sad, so be wary of that, as well. The Mandragona has very high magic defense, and it takes quite a bit of magical effort to put them down. As you might imagine, physical attacks are generally a better route to go. It will not attack you unless you attack it. It is also a weed. A weed which has somehow sprung to life to attack random passersby. Pollution-much? Lastly, let's look at the Mu. It's one of those rare occurrences around here, but it's an enemy that you should seek out, if nothing more for the fact that it uses the Lv. 4 Suicide attack, which you can learn with your E. Skill materia. Needless to say, it's also a rather powerful attack when used against you, so be careful. Aside from the Lv. 4 Suicide attack, they also have another powerful attack called Sewer, which will do a very large amount of damage to one of your characters, so you'd be wise not to let these little bastards live for too long, no matter how ridiculously cute they may look. Anyways, grab yer wife an' kids, hop in da pickup, and head on down to dat dere dun Chocobo Ranch. Ya can't miss it- it's a giant farm in the middle of nowhere. And I'm talking "kid with no teeth sitting on the front porch playing a banjo" backwoods middle-of-nowhere, here. You'll arrive at a very pleasant- looking ranch. The Chocobo Ranch: home of inbreeding and 75% of the world's illiterate. You'll see a bunch of chocobos hanging around out front, whom you can talk to. If you say, "wark", they get really happy and do a little dance and reward you with the Choco/Mog materia, so it's at the very least worth your time. Now, head to the house and speak with the head farmer here, Chocobo Bill. He tells you that the Midgar Zolom patrols the swamp to the south. This is important because you must cross said swamp to reach the Mythril Mines and therefore continue on your journey. He suggests that you acquire a chocobo to safely cross the swamp and refers you to his son in the stables for more information on that matter. Now, get out of here before he begins to talk about the UFO ride he took last week. Head to the stables and talk to Chocobo Bill's son, Billy. I think his full name is Billy Bubba Bo Bob Brain, but I really don't think that that would fit in the text box, so Billy it is. He informs you that there are no chocobos available for rent, so you're gonna have to go rustle up your own. Of course, you're going to need some Chocobo Lure first, which interestingly comes in materia form. Materia is like Lunchables, I suppose, in that just about anything can be made into it. He does gouge you quite a bit for it, however. Now it is possible to cross the marsh without a chocobo (see below), but if you've got the gil, I would still recommend you pick it up while you're here. But, it's your call. Secondly, if you're going to have any chances of catching one, you may need a green. Pay no heed to Billy's relentless price gouging and just grab the cheapest crap he has- it's likely all you'll need, and this way you save more of your gil. And, though not neccissarily a lost-forever, the Chocobo Lure is mentionied in section I.F. of the FAQ. There's only one of them, or at least until one of my rumors at the end of the FAQ is confirmed, anyways. Don't sell this thing, lest you make Baby Jesus cry. Or at least don't whine about it after you do. Now, it's time for the Chocobo catchin'. Even if you don't want to use one to cross the marsh (see below), you still may want to enter into a battle with one for two reasons. One, when you enter a battle with them, the battle music changes into an odd rendition of "Wipeout", which I find very odd given the Hicksville, USA motif of the area. Secondly, they use an attack called Chocobuckle, which you can learn with the E. Skill materia. However, they only use this attack when you use the Lv. 4 Suicide attack (learned from the Mu) on them. Anyways, now for the catchin'. You've got to defeat all of the enemies in the battle without harming the Chocobo (lest it freak out and run away). It actually has a tendency to freak out and run away without you ever actually touching it, hence the reason you bought the greens. You see, if you toss it the green during battle, it will just much away, completely unaware of its surroundings. Kind of like Palmer, y'know. That fatass wouldn't notice if he was on fire so long as you stuck something delicious in his mouth. The more expensive green you feed it, the longer it will take it to finish it, and the more time it will buy you. Of course, if you are at any kind of a decent level of experience and skill, these battles should progress fairly easily, and as I mentioned before, the cheapest crap that Chocobo Billy had should be more than sufficient in this respect. Anyways, as I have made it a point to mention before, it is more than possible to cross the swamp without using a chocobo. It's just sort of hard to do without becoming a Midgar Zolom's bitch. Basically, once you set foot in the swamp, that thing will start coming for you. It is virtually impossible to make it across without it hitting you, though it can be done. When it catches you (if you're on foot, that is), you'll enter a battle with it. If you win the battle, you may continue as you were (though a new Zolom will appear, so you must hurry on). Lose the battle (quite likely), and you are ejected from the swamp. For those interested in doing battle with the Midgar Zolom, details are listed below. The rest of you, just skip to the next paragraph. Wanna tangle with a Midgar Zolom, do you? First off, you're going to need Barret with you. Without Mind blow, you might as well just bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. You may also want to stick most if not all of your characters in the back row, as the Midgar Zolom has an uber-powerful attack. On a positive note, this does mean that you'll get lots of limit break opportunities. Again, use Mindblow early in the fight (you'll find out why later). Keep pounding away at it with all you've got. Magic attacks are the most effective (Bio really helps, as it may poison the Zolom), as are your frequent limit breaks. You'll want to vigilantly watch over your HP, however. Aeris can be an asset here with her Healing Wind, but you'll still need the aid of one or two good Restore materia-bearing characters. Hi-Potions and Phoenix Down in your inventory is also good to have. Anyways, after you do enough damage to it, it will "stand up", sort of. Its attacks don't change much, but it is a sign that if you haven't used Mindblow/Seal Evil yet, do so expeditiously. After more of an ass- whipping, the Zolom quite literally knocks one of your characters through the air, removing it from the battle (this will be the character that last attacked him). It's comical in a way, but it does serve a purpose. You see, at this point, the Zolom will begin using an attack called Beta, which will completely waste your characters. With one of them removed from the battle, you still lose, but at least it's not game over. But here's the catch: Beta is a magic attack. Mindblow will prevent it from using Beta, therefore allowing you to win the battle if you keep your wits about you. You really don't get much experience or AP for the effort, but you do get a nice feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Anyways, I need to stress a point about Beta, the attack used by the Midgar Zolom. Wasn't Beta such a kick-ass attack? You bet your ass, it was! There's some good news and bad news here. The good news is that you can, in fact, learn Beta with your E, Skill materia. The bad news, however, is that surviving the attack is sadly a prerequisite for learning attack. And, as you may or may not have discovered if Beta has had its way with your ass, there is no way in hell you're going to survive it at the moment. Do make it a point, however, to come back here as soon as you can to learn this most kick-ass attack. This may not be much longer into the game (you'll discover a Fire Ring before too long), but there is one final tip I will hand out to players making a return trip: there is an enemy skill called Laser which will easily be the most effective attack versus the Zolom in the early game. Its HP is at 4,000, and Laser will chop it in half. Use Laser again for 1,000 points of damage. Past this, however, you may wish to switch to other attacks, as once the Zolom gets to 500 HP, it will knock the person that last attacked it out of battle, and you don't want him ejecting the person carrying the E. Skill materia from the fight, now do you? Of course, Demi 2 may also be used in place of Laser, but this note is meant more for people coming back way too late in the game to have many attacks that won't kill the Zolom outright. As you near the Mythril Mines, you are treated to a rather morbid scene. You'll find a Midgar Zolom impaled on the remains of what looks like it was once a tree. Lightning flashes in the shrouded sky in the background, making for a quite awesome scene. However, you might sit back and think for a moment that this was the work of Sephiroth. The person you are chasing... You're after a man that is capable of this, and you think for some reason that you're going to be able to stop him. Forget what I said earlier about Sephiroth's lack of brains, because it appears that your team is no smarter than he is. Either that, or they've got the courage of Bruce Willis. Proceed into the Mythril Mines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Mythril Mines The Mythril Mine is actually rather small, and your trip to the other side should be relatively short. However, there are several enemies in here that you would be wise to be aware of. The first would be a creature called Castanets. They are weak, pathetic fighters with a weakness against fire. So jes torch their highly-flammable asses to get rid of them quickly. Next, we have the Crawler. The Crawler is a small snake-like creature that has a tendency to attack in very large numbers. Then again, they are even weaker fighters than the castanets. To get rid of them uber-quickly, prey on their weakness to earth magic. We also have the Madouge, a ball and chain wielding maniac. I know it seems like a metaphor for being married, but again, don't expect them to put up much of a fight. You should make it a point to steal a Grand Glove from one of them, however. Lastly, we have the Ark Dragon, which would be another on of those rarer occurrences. The Ark Dragon looks something like a dragonfly on growth hormones, and is probably the most dangerous creature here. You're advised to track one of these things down, because they use the Flame Thrower attack, which you can learn with the E. Skill materia. However, be careful, as the Flame Thrower attack is somewhat of a striking contrast to the weak, pathetic attacks used by all of the other enemies. In addition to this, the Ark Dragon has considerably more HP than any of the other enemies here. The bad news is that since they are flying creatures, earth magic obviously will have no effect on them. In addition, they also absorb fire-based attacks. However, they do fall prey to wind-based attacks, so you may want to stick the Choco/Mog materia with the Elemental materia into the weapon of one of your characters and use that character to inflict massive damage to any Ark Dragon that dares defy you. Anyways, as you step into the Mythril Mines, you can either head right or left. If you head right, you'll head to a room in the northeastern corner of the Mythril Mine, where you'll find several treasures for the taking. First and foremost, there is a vine growing on a ledge near the room's entrance. Climb up this vine to the top of the ledge and take the Long Range materia you'll find atop it. Also in this room (up and to the right of the entrance) is a Tent and an Ether free for the taking. Anyways, back at the entrance to the mine, the left path will take you to another fork in the road. There, going right will take you to a chest containing a Mind Source, whilst going left takes you to another fork in the road. From there, going up is only a dead end, and going left continues to the next room. In the next room, you'll meet up with none other than Rude of the Turks. You may remember him as the guy who threw your ass in jail back at Shinra H.Q.. Well, for the moment old Rude really doesn't seem to be that interested in you. He tries to be cool about things, but that's when Elena shows up. You see, after you kicked Reno's ass hardcore, the Turks sorta needed to hire a replacement for him. And judging by who they hired to fill his spot, it seems that the only other applicants for the job were a little girl with heavy brain damage that speaks no English or any other coherent language, and a slightly below-average mango. Elena is the most pathetic attempt at a professional badass I've ever seen. She goes on and on (making very little sense in the process) about how they're after Sephiroth and how they've got to stop you along the way, or maybe that it's you who's stopping them. We'll never know the truth, really, because Elena has been taking all of her orders from a Magic 8- Ball for the past three weeks. Anyways, before Elena has a chance to make an even bigger ass of herself, Tseng arrives and makes her shut up. However, even he can't stop her from arbitrarily blurting out, "Rude and I will go after Sephiroth, who is headed for Junon Harbor!" Christ, Elena! Why don't you just get a giant flashing neon sign and broadcast your orders to the rest of the world? It's like Pinky and the Brain meets the morals of a Latin-American dictatorship. Anyways, Tseng has a few final words with you, which will be different depending on whether or not Aeris is with you, and then leaves with baldy and the dumbass. Oh, well. At least the Turks really don't seem to care much about you, anymore. Near the back of the room you are standing in, you'll find another path, which will lead to a another room, where you will find a Hi-Potion and an Elixir. When you're ready, exit the Mythril Mine through the exit Rude and Tseng took (you'll have to crawl onto the ledge via a vine that grows alongside it). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Fort Condor Area You'll emerge in a beautiful countryside upon exiting the Mythril Mines. This area is rather large, and is filled with forests, sprawling plains, and rivers. You may want to use the map to ensure that you don't get lost. Anyways, standing not too far from the exit to the Mythril Mines is a large hill, atop of which sits the infamous Fort Condor. Going there is completely optional at this point, but recommended. At the very least, I suggest that you at least go there once and fight the first battle, if nothing more than to get a feel for how the place works (as you are forced to do battle here later on). Another worthy note that the Battles of Fort Condor and their respective prizes are all lost-forevers, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. For more information on Fort Condor, refer to section X of the FAQ, and also take note that your actions taken during your first trip there will have some degree of effect on your game later, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ. Also, one thing you may want to do right now is recruit one of the game's hidden characters. Instructions for this are detailed in section V.D. of the FAQ. Anyways, let's also take a moment to examine the local monster activity. The Zemelett is a... very odd creature, to say the least. It's normal attacks aren't that bad, but it does have a very powerful Thunderbolt attack, which can rip up one of your characters pretty good. But, it really doesn't use Thunderbolt that often, and likely only will if you take too long to kill it. It also has an attack called White Wind, which you may learn with the E. Skill materia, but it will never use it. You must return to this area later on when you obtain the Manipulate materia. Lastly, the Zemelett is weak versus wind- based attacks, so the Choco/Mog and Elemental combo in someone's weapon will help you make quick work of it. Next on our list of monsters is the Neurosufferoth. It has a rather powerful fire-based attack called Heatwing which does good damage to one target, but thankfully the attack is used sparingly. There's also the Formula, which is a bird-like creature and likely the toughest creatures in the area. But they appear mostly in the forests, so you can go far in avoiding them by simply not venturing through any. Their main attack is called Blue Impulse, which is a powerful attack against the whole party. In addition to this, their normal attacks are powerful, as well. Both attacks are also long-range, putting your back-row members at risk. They are invulnerable to earth-based attacks and weak versus wind. However, since the Formula is by far the most dangerous creature you'll meet out here, you'll probably be more interested in attacks that will rid you of them quickly, such as Matra Magic, Fire/Ice/Lit/Bio-All spells, and the admittedly non-wind-based Choco/Mog summon. Lastly, there is a very good weapon they carry called the Boomerang which you might want to steal (if you've recruited Yuffie, that is). Truth be told, you might actually want to swipe multiple copies, as they make excellent projectiles for the Throw materia (which Yuffie brings into the party), as well. Next, there's the Capparwire. This is the one enemy that appears only in forests, and is probably the next strongest thing you'll face besides the Formula. Their main advantage is their ability to attack in very large numbers. Aside from that, they also have powerful regular attacks, and an attack called Grand Spark, which is like a regular attack, only a bit stronger. They have no weaknesses, but conversely, no strengths. Again, attacks that target all enemies are the way to go, especially considering that since they attack in groups, they inevitably have low HP (but probably not as low as you'd expect). Lastly, galloping across the plains, you may encounter the Hell Rider VR2. It has a mean normal attack and in addition, is rather durable and difficult to finish off, especially given that it has no weaknesses. It always travels alone, though, and just about everything will do good damage to it. Anyways, you'll eventually want to head north to the port town of Junon. It can be difficult to spot, as it is built into the side of a cliff which faces away from you. It is at the northern edge of the mountain range, however, and is located near a very small, oblong bay. As you travel, you may wish to stick to the plains whilst avoiding the forests. As we've already established, the forests are populated entirely by the two most powerful creatures around here, while on the plains it's easy pickin's for the most part, though you may happen across a couple of Formulas. Anyways, see you at Junon! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Junon You'll ultimately arrive at a festering crap-hole called Junon. The place used to be a cozy little fishing town, y'see, but that was before the Shinra moved in and built a division of their company down here. Keeping in with their "screw the lower class" motif, they built a city on top of the town you see now, and the result is pollution and a general hatred of the Shinra abound. An old lady through some mystical force realizes that you're headed west (we are?), but says that the only way to do so is via a Shinra Boat. Look around town, but refrain from heading to the coast (in the lower-left section of town) before your party is prepared for the upcoming boss battle. Anyways, the shops here are crappy, and sell mostly bottom-rung garbage. There's no inn at which to rest, meaning that you'll have to step outside town and use a Tent instead. Which sucks. Go ahead and arrange your materia for the upcoming battle. While magic, as always, is the best attack you can use, in this case it may prove to be the only attack you can use, as the boss battle in question is a long-range fight. So, unless your characters are packing long-range heat, the best way to go is with magic. Lighting magic will be especially useful in the upcoming battle, while earth magic will prove ineffective. Also, for reasons mentioned later, you may also wish to attach an attack materia to an All materia. Restore, needless to say, will be helpful. Anyways, get your team revved up, and then head for the coast (again, located in the southwestern corner of town). You'll see a little girl named Priscilla playing with a dolphin by the beach. You approach her, but she seems to believe that you're working for the Shinra. Why, I have no idea. You sure as hell don't look it, that's for damn sure. But, maybe it's just something she's saying to try and piss you off, like calling you a booger head, or saying that your mother wears army boots. Anyways, the argument doesn't last very long until an unfortunate side effect of the water pollution comes flying towards you at a high velocity. Priscilla stupidly runs toward it. Your team, always ready and willing to save the stupid, runs after her and engages in combat with Bottomswell. Bottomswell's main attack is called Big Wave, which will do a good amount of damage to the entire team. It uses this attack often, but no so often as to pose too much of a threat with it (though be warned it does use Big Wave as its dying attack, which if it catches you off-guard can wipe you out). Just keep your HP up and there shouldn't be much of a problem. The other attack you need to watch out for is its Bubble attack, which functions exactly like Reno's Pyramid attack did with two notable differences. One, the Bubble can only be broken with magic (hence my suggestion of an attack materia paired with All). Two, the Bubble, aside from completely preventing whomever is inside from moving, will also drain that character's HP. Meaning, you'll probably want to hurry up and get rid of it. As we've already established, lightning magic is going to be your best bet here, while earth magic is going to have no effect whatsoever. Also remember that this is a long-range battle, so you're probably going to have to stick with magical attacks for the most part. Anyways, just keep your HP up, and the fight will be over in no time. You'll receive a Power Wrist for winning this battle. After the battle, you'll find Priscilla lying on the beach, unconscious. Before you can react, a man runs up from the village and demands that you perform CPR on her. Why you? Because you're the one holding the controller, silly. This little task can be a big pain in the ass if you're not quite sure what you're doing. Press the button to make him start breathing in, and press the same button to make him breathe into her. You'll have to hit it at just the right moment, though. The precise moment you need to hit the button is a split second after the bar reaches maximum height. You may want to let the bar run all the way up first without pressing the button to see exactly what level maximum height is (it's kinda tricky). And don't worry, she isn't going to die, no matter how badly you screw it up. Hell, it took me the better part of an hour my first time, so take it easy. Anyways, once you've brought her back, the old man carries her off, and you're left alone on the beach. Return to town and talk to an old lady hanging around the village's entrance. She congratulates you on protecting Priscilla, and offers to let you sleep in her home. Go ahead and take her up on her offer. Never mind that the whole place is made out of gingerbread... Anyways, at your command, the team will camp out for the night, and you all go to sleep. And now, yet another interlude from the creepy voices in Cloud's head. Today's topic, like everything else that is ever discussed in the nether-regions of Cloud's mind, is complete insanity. This time, the voice makes references to that day five years ago and to Tifa. The voice gets very prodding, with questions like, "where was Tifa other than that?" and "why couldn't you see Tifa alone?" Cloud, being the dumbass he is, cannot provide an acceptable response to these questions (which may be mainly because the questions don't make any sense to begin with...) In response to this, the voice suggests that you ask Tifa if she remembers anything. While I'd be a bit reluctant to bring up a discussion I had with the voices in my head to anybody other than a licensed therapist, it does have kind of a point. Maybe Tifa can remember something that your hopelessly damaged brain can't? The voice then commands you to wake up, which you do. Tifa is standing over you, and there appears to be loud parade music playing in the background. On an unfortunate note, Tifa's memory appears to be just as bad as Cloud's is, so that's one more question unanswered for the moment. For now, lets go outside and figure out just what the hell is going on? The entire team is gathered outside Priscilla's house. Try to enter Priscilla's house, and she will come out. In thank you for helping her, she hands you the Shiva materia. And I tell you, that's a hell of a lot more useful that a drawing of you that looks more like a misshapen green dog turd with three eyes. Anyways, Priscilla explains to you that the whole parade music is to welcome the new president of Shinra. That would be Rufus, by the way. Priscilla tells you how much she hates the Shinra, and how they moved in and polluted her city. Anyways, the team comes to the presumptuous conclusion that Sephiroth has already crossed the ocean and that Rufus is here to give chase. Well, the only way you're going to get to Upper Junon is by climbing a dangerous and deadly high-voltage tower. Guess who among you gets volunteered to do that? Follow Priscilla down to the beach now. Arriving at the beach, Priscilla explains that maybe Mr. Dolphin will be able to help you climb the tower. She hands you a whistle that will make Mr. Dolphin come to you whenever you blow it. Barret shows up right about now to take the PHS away from you, saying that it'll break if it gets wet. He apparently doesn't seem to notice or care that Cloud will break if he comes into contact with that high-voltage tower, but... Anyways, there's a spot on the tower that you can safely walk across. The idea is to position yourself I such a way that when Mr. Dolphin launches you into the air, you'll land right on it. This isn't very hard at all: from the spot where you begin, blow the whistle and let Mr. Dolphin launch you into the air. From where you land, blow the whistle again, and you'll land right on top. Easy, wasn't it? You're now well on your way to Upper Junon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Upper Junon As you climb up to the top, you'll get a spectacular view of the Highwind, the world's premiere airship. Of course, it belongs to the Shinra, and is currently undergoing repairs, so it's off limits to you now. From where you are, head south to a giant platform. Press a button on that platform to lower it, and enter the building near the bottom of the screen. As you step inside, you will be immediately mistaken for a Shinra soldier, and this is where the fun begins. Your drill sergeant corrals you into a back room and makes you get dressed. He then calls upon two of his lackeys to show you what you'll be doing. You, my friend, are going to be marching in Rufus's welcoming parade. Take heed of the controls and commands you learn here, and then follow them out of the building when you are finished. Well... you'll exit the building somewhat late for the parade. It seems that while you were being an idiot and being mistaken for a soldier and all, they decided to start the parade without you. Following yet another berating from your drill sergeant, one of the soldiers with you gets the bright idea to sneak through the alleyways and inconspicuously join the parade. This is what you'll be doing. Watch as the soldiers in front of you sneak in and keep in step with the soldiers around them, and do exactly as they do. You can tell when it gets to Cloud, because he is the one who shrugs at the drill sergeant. Now, I know it all seems asinine, but the live TV ratings will be tied directly to your performance here. And the people out there aren't the kind who enjoy tuning in to see soldiers screw up. Nosiree... The slightest misstep has absolutely horrible effects on the ratings. It's like ratings system is run by Hitler, for God's sakes. Anyways, the TV producer is pretty much ignoring everyone else and keeping an eye squarely on you, as well. If you perform well (ratings at 50% or higher), the station thoughtfully sends you 5,000 gil as a reward (whilst ignoring the other thousand soldiers who also marched flawlessly). The next step down (40-49%) would be six Ethers, and below that (30-39%) six Potions. However, if you, like me, perform exceptionally horribly at this (29% or lower), not only have you disgraced the Shinra army, but you've also gotten some poor TV producer fired. His boss angrily demands that he send you a bomb for this insult, and you will receive instead a Grenade. It's a nice thought, though I seriously doubt that that's what his boss had in mind. Anyways, following that little incident, you'll see Heidegger and Rufus in another section of Junon. They discuss issues of transportation. Apparently the Highwind (that giant airship you saw on the way here) is not ready for flight at the moment, nor is the Shinra Gelnika. So, it appears that they will be crossing the ocean via boat, instead. That's right, Shinra Boat. Anyways, Rufus takes some time to make it clear that he thinks Heidegger is obnoxious before he leaves (an insult which Heidegger will rather violently take out on you once Rufus leaves). When both Heidegger and Rufus leave, the soldiers mention that Sephiroth was supposedly seen roaming the city. Apparently, he showed up, killed a few soldiers, and then vanished. Following that, your drill sergeant dismisses the entire group of soldiers. Before you have a chance to move, however, he comes up to you and begins berating you. No matter how you respond, he's going to drag you back to the torture room for more "training". Apparently, your next mission is to perform the send-off ceremony for Heidegger and Rufus. And to assist you in this mission are the same two miserable jackasses from before. Then, the drill sergeant proceeds to show you all of the basic moves of the send-off ceremony (though at the ceremony he will be delivering commands entirely at random). You can screw up all you'd like now, and can even do the same at the ceremony, if you'd like (though you may think twice about doing it). Anyways, following this horrid little training session, your drill sergeant will set you loose in the streets. First and foremost, you may wish to save at that save point which has materialized out of nowhere right over there. Secondly, there are to exits to the building that you are in. One is the one that you already know will take you to the streets. The other is in the lower right corner of the room and is an elevator which will take you back down to lower Junon. Though you cannot use it now, it would behoove you to remember that it is there. Anyways, head on out to the streets and see what you can accomplish. Notice that all of the buildings are lined up on one side of the street for easy access. Also note that what you see now is just half of the city- the other half can be found by continuing south along the street, past the hallway that leads to the Underwater Reactor (to which you cannot go at this time), and finally to the other side of Junon. Junon can be sort of difficult to navigate because the damn camera angle keeps changing, but once you realize that it's all just one straight path, you'll be fine. Well, for starters, as you emerge on the street, you may happen to catch a glance of Rude of the Turks heading into one of his favorite bars. You can follow him and even converse with him once you get there, if you'd like, but it really doesn't do much. Above the bar, however, is an excellent weapon shop (though you may already posses the entire inventory through freelance theft). You'll actually find the rest of the Turks in another bar on the other side of town (interesting how Rude doesn't like to hang out with them). Anyways, take some time to do any shopping you need to get done (the Seal and Revive materia are both available in one of the better shops here). The guy who runs the crappier materia shop has hired some nice girls to invite people into his store, however, so it's worth a look if not just for that. Also note that your supplies going into the next part of the game may have an effect on the game later on, as detailed in section VII.A. of the FAQ). There's also a "training room" hidden here in Junon if you know where to look for it (in the basement of someone's house). It's an advanced version of the one you saw back at the now- decimated Sector Seven. Again, you probably already know what these ass-rammers have to say, but stop in anyways to pick up the E. Skill materia. Also, don't place yourself above theft. A lot can be gained from walking into people's houses here at Junon and just blatantly taking things. Among the items you can acquire here are: a Power Source, Mind Source, Speed Source, Guard Source, Luck Source, and two 1/35 Soldiers. Once you're through raping and pillaging the town, continue to the other end of Junon (just keep following the path you're on until you reach the docks). Here, you'll meet up with Rufus and Heidegger again. Of course, they're too busy squabbling pettily to notice their arch-nemesis standing right next to them. The send-off ceremony is about to begin, but keep something in mind before you begin. How you perform during the send-off will affect the reward you'll receive upon completion (and again, you, for some reason are the only one who seems to be getting any kind of a reward). The president has a "mood" rating, which will go up by 10 points every time you do something right, and will not be affected at all if you screw up. However, at the end of the send off, it will inevitably go up ten points because Cloud will automatically do that part right (again, Rufus doesn't even appear to catch on to his rival's trademark stance). Anyways, the rewards for the ceremony are as follows: a Force Stealer for a mood of 100 or higher, an HP Plus materia for a mood of 60-90, and Silver Sunglasses for anything below that. You would be wise to know that the HP Plus has higher monetary value than the Force Stealer, and also is not available for purchase until later in the game than the Force Stealer is. You may also notice during the send-off, something red and furry poking up from behind a crate in the boat... Hmm... Anyways, after the send-off ceremony, Heidegger presents you with your reward. Rufus mentions that he expects AVALANCHE to show up... Hmm... they might even be... right... here... Anyways Rufus and Heidegger leave (not without yet another violent outburst from the latter), and the soldiers sit down to discuss what an asshole Heidegger has been lately (as if he normally wasn't one). Apparently, he's been on edge ever since Dr. Hojo vanished, leaving a letter of resignation. Apparently having his throat ripped open by Red XIII really didn't leave him in much of a condition to be working. Anyways, it appears now that the whole Sephiroth investigation has been placed squarely in the hands of Heidegger. Sephiroth, in case you haven't been paying attention, was the one who mercilessly slaughtered the majority of the population at the Shinra building, so you'd kind of understand why Heidegger is a little edgy... After this whole discussion, the troops take off towards the barracks, leaving you alone at the ship. Again, you may have noticed earlier that Red XIII had managed to make it on board... You can either follow suit and get on the boat, or try to leave. If you try to leave, Red XIII will yell at you from the ship and make you get on, anyways. Either way, it's bon voyage for AVALANCHE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Shinra Boat About halfway across the sea, Cloud decides that just standing in the cargo hold like a putz isn't such a bright idea, and he begins to move around. Walk around the ship and talk to everybody. Roughly 50% of the crew are AVALANCHE members in disguise, however. Do be warned that several of your responses aboard the Shinra Boat will have an effect on the game later on, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ. There's an Ether in a chest in the cargo hold, as well as an All materia. However, if Yuffie is amongst your numbers, she will be standing in the way, so you're just going to have to make it a point to come back for it after the team regroups. Also note that on the deck there's a sailor who's running a small business, though it's not apparent at first. If you tell him you're tired, he sells you a ludicrously overpriced energy drink that functions as an inn, and he also has some meager supplies to sell if you tell him that "something's missing". Anyways, you'll meet up with Tifa and Red XIII (who is disguised, apparently, as a complete jackass) here on the deck. You saw Aeris and Yuffie back in the cargo hold... So where's Barret? If you haven't already, go talk to Aeris twice. The second time you talk to her, she asks you where Barret is and says that she hopes he's not doing anything stupid. Well, of course he's off doing something stupid. It's Barret, for God's sakes. You also must talk to Tifa, Yuffie (if she's with you), and Red XIII to trigger the next event. What happens, is that there is path on the deck that leads to the bow, or the front of the ship. And once you've talked to everybody, the idiot sailor who was standing in your way decides to move so you can get past. At the front of the ship, you'll see Barret spying on Rufus and Heidegger. Barret is, as you can probably imagine, very pissed. He's about to just give in and go kick their asses, when all of a sudden the klaxons begin to blare. Apparently, a suspicious person has been spotted on the ship... Have you been found out? Barret and Cloud run back to the stern, where the rest of the team regroups. Everyone's here, meaning that the suspicious person must be... Sephiroth! Select a team to go investigate the matter further, but realize that you've got a huge boss battle on the way, so choose wisely. If Red XIII knows Lunatic High, you may choose to bring him along for this fight due to that alone, but all in all, it's really a matter of personal preference. With your team selected, you can wisely choose to save your game at a nearby save point (God, those things are everywhere!), and you may also talk to the sailor-turned- salesman who still has no qualms about selling you things or in any other way aiding you. As for your materia set-up? The only ineffective magic in the next battle will be poison magic. Quake and Flame Thrower are both good attacks to use, but are trumped by Ice 2, Fire 2, and/or Bolt 2, if they are available to you. Shiva and Choco/Mog will both help out in a pinch, but only as single attacks. Throw, by the way, is the most powerful materia available to you at the time, but only if you have projectiles on hand (and are willing to use them). Truthfully, it would be a better idea to just have the Throw materia handy and resort to using it only if you have to. And I probably shouldn't have to tell you this, but you're going to need some serious healage on hand. The Restore/All combo is by all means recommended for this fight, and you may even consider taking Aeris along for her Healing Wind (or Yuffie, if she already knows Clear Tranquil). Anyways, proceed down into the cargo area, where you'll notice that there are now monsters on board the ship. First and foremost is the Marine. And the main thing concerning them that you should be aware of is that you can steal the most excellent Shinra Beta from them. In addition to being kick-ass armor, it's also one of the game's lost-forevers, mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. Take your time and steal as many as you like from them, because these guys are seemingly endless. In combat, they are really nothing to speak of. They have an annoying tendency to put your characters to sleep, but that's about it. Also on the ship is an enemy called Scruitin Eye, which is a lot more dangerous than the Marine. They can cast both Fire 2 and Ice 2, so you've got to stay on guard around them. They have no weaknesses, and they are invulnerable to earth magic. Anyways, you may want to fight around in the Cargo Bay for a minute or so whilst you collect some Shinra Beta. If you haven't already collected the All materia down here, you may also be wanting to do that right about now (the All materia here being one of the lost-forevers mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ). You might also want to build up your limit meters in preparation for the upcoming boss battle (especially Red XIII's, if he's with you and knows Lunatic High, that is). When you're ready, proceed through the door in the cargo bay into the next room. Just inside the next room, you'll see a ladder to your left. You can crawl atop it to the catwalk above and follow it to a chest containing the Wind Slash, a weapon for Yuffie and yet another of the game's lost-forevers (mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ) At the from end of this room, you'll see a sailor standing quietly against the wall. When you try to talk to him, he collapses at your feet... dead. That's when Sephiroth appears. And by "appears", I really mean "rises up creepily from the floor beneath you". I'm sorry, but this is just getting just a tad bit creepy. Cloud tries to yell at Sephiroth, but he doesn't even give Cloud so much as the time of day. Instead, he just floats into the air, and then... launches himself into the air at an incredibly high velocity. You're left with no time at all to ponder exactly how weird, strange, unsettling, unusual, creepy, or disturbing that may have been, because a fight will immediately begin with a little playmate that Sephiroth has left behind for you. Say hello to Jenova-BIRTH. Jenova-BIRTH's attacks aren't horribly powerful, but you'll find that it is atrociously fast, and that it's attacks often occur in tandem, thus giving you reason enough to worry. It's regular attack does a considerable amount of damage, and it also has its Tail Laser, which is a fairly powerful attack against the entire team. To make things worse, Jenova-BIRTH can make use of the Stop spell. And, unfortunately, neither Mindblow nor Seal Evil can prevent this attack. So, really, you've got no defense against it. The best thing you can do for yourself (besides quickly using Lunatic High, if applicable), if to just wail on its ass with all of the attacks that you've prepared yourself with (see four paragraphs above this one). And, perhaps most importantly, keep an eye on your HP during this battle. After you've killed it, it's arm sits there on the floor and continues to creepily flop about as though still alive and completely independent from the rest of its body... God, it's creepy. Cloud at this point has the option of giving a brief synopsis of the story. And by brief, I do mean very brief. His story pretty much begins and ends with: "Sephiroth killed a bunch of people and now we're after him". Thanks, Cloud, because I'm a complete retard and was unable to figure that out for myself. Why don't you go have another conversation with those voices in your head and leave the thinking to us, all right? Shortly afterwards, the ship docks, and the party arrives in Costa Del Sol... wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section III: Walkthrough|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | D. The Western Continent | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /___________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section III: Walkthrough|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Costa Del Sol Let me begin by saying that absolutely no decision you make here will have any impact on the game later, as discussed in section VII.A. of the FAQ, so have fun. The team disembarks the ship as it docks and talk quietly amongst themselves. Comments are made about Barret's cute sailor outfit. And I'm sorry, but no amount of Staypuff Marshmallow Man jokes are going to do that suit justice. After some meaningless banter, the team splits up (with whomever is in your group staying with you). You can leave the screen via the stairs up to the rest of town on your bottom right. As you leave the screen, you'll see Rufus and Heidegger stepping off of the ship. Rufus gets very angry at Heidegger after he learns that not only was Sephiroth on board the ship, but you were, as well. Gee, imagine how mad Rufus is going to be when he finds out that Sephiroth annihilated 90% of the crew... Anyways, Rufus leaves in his chopper, and Heidegger takes out his frustrations by running up to a couple of locals and kicking their asses. Good lord, Heidegger! It looks like someone could use a little anger-management therapy. I'm not even saying he's got to calm down, but just refrain from randomly injuring innocent bystanders whenever his boss yells at him. The scene switches back to you, standing near the entrance to Costa Del Sol. You see that giant archway you're standing on top of? If you head left, it'll take you back to the docks. Beyond the archway and into the distance is the town's exit... you don't want to go there, yet. Do yourself a favor and hang around town. The materia shopping here is the same as it was back in upper Junon, but you may find yourself wanting to do some armor shopping (there's a guy at the bar selling it). The Four Slots sold here is a lost-forever, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ, but odds are you could care less. Far more importantly, be warned that hanging around inside the bar is Mukki and his entourage of creepy, muscle-bound, oily speedo men. Running as far away from Mukki and his creepy, muscle-bound, oily speedo men as possible, also make it a point to visit the "tropical getaway" mentioned in section XVIII.B. of the FAQ. While you'd have to be some kind of an idiot to buy the place (a rich one, at that), you'd be wise to loot the basement of its valuable contents, which include the Motor Drive, a Fire Ring, and a Power Source. Lastly, the item shop is of worthy mention in this town. The owner recommends that you buy a Soft as a memento of your stay. As idiotic as the idea of selling tenderizer to tourists is, there is a reason that it has become their number one commercial item. However, before you buy, realize one thing: there is only one enemy up ahead than can stone your characters. Furthermore, it is a slow stone (it takes 30 seconds to take effect), and even if you haven't managed to end the battle by that point, the condition will not last past the end of the battle. You'll also find your team hanging around town in various places (excluding the ones who are with you, of course). Barret has commandeered the bathroom at the local inn and appears to be having some difficulty getting out of his sailor outfit. Tifa has located an old childhood friend and is chatting with him (a fact which would make Cloud jealous if he were capable of human emotion). Yuffie has found a part-time job at the local materia shop from a man whom she later intends to rob blind (Yuffie's not a very considerate person, you'll soon learn). Red XIII is napping on the sidewalk near several children playing soccer. More than likely, you'll find yourself giving in to the urge to run up to the ball and kick it at Red XIII, possibly repeatedly. Lastly, Aeris is at the beach (accessible from the lower right corner of town). As you enter the beach area, Aeris will spot Dr. Hojo lying on the beach, surrounded by beautiful women. Never have I wanted more to be a flaky psychopath than I do now. The team approaches Dr. Hojo with an inquisitive mind. Of course, there's only so much information you can hope to glean from someone who speaks mostly to himself and entirely in indecipherable gibberish. He begins another one of his orgasmic seizures and pratters on about something calling you or that there's some place you feel like you have to visit. You know, sane things. Even Cloud, who has frequent discussions with voices in his head can't relate to this level of insanity, and replies that the team is after Sephiroth. After a little more questioning from the team, Hojo begins mumbling more nonsense, but thankfully manages to splice "head west" somewhere into it. Following this, you cease wasting your time with the lunatic and head back into town. You'll probably want to take a nap at the inn (where your dreams will be accompanied by the soothing sound of the ocean waves), after which your team will "regroup". By regroup, I mean that the ones that were hanging around town have since left. Take the time to point and laugh at the materia shop owner who was grifted by Yuffie (interestingly enough, he still has the same selection of wares as he did before). And to answer a question that I myself had at one point: your team never sees a dime from Yuffie's thieving escapades. Even more weirdly, you can bring Yuffie back to the shop owner and neither of them will say a word to each other. Anyways, having accomplished all that need be done in town, say goodbye to the tropical paradise of Costa Del Sol and head westward. In the fields, you will run into only one enemy in the local area. This enemy is known as the Garagalan, and is what appears to be a gigantic floating barrel. If that wasn't ridiculous enough, once you damage it enough, it can generate a smaller version of itself called the Garangalan Jr. The Garangalan Jr., in turn, having reached sufficient levels of damage, can spit out three very tiny, very cute Garangalan Jr. Jr's. Essentially, this is the kind of enemy that one would think up after about nine or ten hits off the crack pipe. To further substantiate my theory that the Costa Del Sol area monster activity was developed by a bunch of programmers in the span of about five minutes after two months of heavy narcotics use is the fact that the Garangalan and its spawn have only one attack. It's called Silver Wheel, launches a shiny metal sprocket directly towards your face, and despite how painful it looks is a relatively harmless physical attack towards one of your characters. As far as fighting them goes, they have no strengths or weaknesses to speak of. The Garangalan can take a lot of damage, however, but thankfully will only spawn a Garangalan Jr. when it is near death. The Garangalan Jr. can take a lot of damage, but not nearly as much as the Garangalan. It, too, when near death will respawn. The miniature Garangalan Jr. Jr.'s are very easy to kill and will likely fall in a single hit. When you kill a Garangalan creature, everything that it spawned will die with it, meaning that battles can easily be brought to an end by just wiping the floor with the original Garangalan. However, you will only get AP and experience for the creatures that you killed directly. So, if you're not in any kind of a hurry, you might want to stop and pick up a little experience by killing them all. Oh, and did I mention that the Garangalan(s) are immune to earth magic? By the way, there actually is one other creature around here, but you will not encounter it unless you go down to the beach. And the term "ridiculously easy to kill" does not do the Beachplug justice. It is a weak, pathetic creature in every way. However, they do have an attack called Big Guard which you may learn with the E. Skill materia. They will never use it, however, so you're just going to have to remember to collect it once you pick up the Manipulate materia. Anyways, head westward and follow the path through the mountains to the base of Mt. Corel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Mt. Corel It's kind of misleading at first, because the base of Mt. Corel is a cave for some unknown reason. It's one of those flukes in video game physics. So just don't be surprised that after stepping into the cave you find yourself at the bottom of a rocky mountain path. A guy conveniently loitering around here will mention having recently seen Sephiroth pass by here. And Sephiroth must've been in a good mood, because this man is noticeably not hacked up into tiny little pieces. Hot on Sephy's trail, head on down the mountain path. Before we go over the local monster activity, let's go over one detail right quick. Now, I know you're just dying to use your Shiva and Ifrit materia to nail and lay waste to all who dare oppose you... But, realize that by overusing those two materia, your MP will nosedive. However, realize that the Choco/Mog materia at this point is equally effective in annihilating all of your enemies, and at a much cheaper MP cost. That being said, wouldn't you know that there's monsters here? Let's go over them now. The Bagnarada, first and foremost, is mentioned in section XIX.B. of the FAQ. They are large creatures with an immunity to fire magic and a weakness to ice magic. Their attacks are weak, but they will occasionally use a powerful Poison Breath magical attack which will do quite bit of damage to one of your characters in addition to poisoning them. They are quite durable in comparison to the rest of the creatures around here, as well. Lastly, if you are so inclined, you may wish to steal a Diamond Pin from one. Next, we have the Boatfloat. The Boatloat is a little flying creature that is both very weak and easy to kill. They have a powerful attack called Spiky Hell, but it is used only as a clutch attack. Being an airborne creature, they have a natural resistance to earth magic. They fall prey to wind-based attacks, but unless you've got the Elemental/Choco/Mog combo in someone's weapon, this isn't going to be a fact you can exploit. Either way, they're still easy to kill. Next up, we have the Cockatolis. The Cockatolis is a giant bird that you will meet upon emerging on the old railroad tracks. They are weak creatures, and their only point worthy of mention is their Petrify Smog attack which, you should be aware of, is the reason that guy back in Costa Del Sol was trying to pawn off a bunch of Softs on you. However, it takes 30 seconds for the petrification to set in, and if the battle isn't already over at that point, the effects won't even carry over to the next battle, so there's really little point in being worried. At the main section of the railroad tracks, you'll meet the Needle Kiss, an evil little bastard. It's a bird with a powerful lightning-based magical attack called Thunder Kiss. Lucky for you, they're at least easy to kill, but they are immune to both lightning and earth magic. The Search Crown (also mentioned in section XIX.B. of the FAQ) is an enemy you will be introduced to on the other side of the tracks. They are small and very easy to kill. However, they have a tendency to show up in numbers, and can show up in very large numbers at times. Their attacks are of moderate strength, but they also have a more powerful attack called Four Lasers. But again, what makes them most dangerous is their numbers. They are at least easy to kill, as I have already mentioned, but avoid using fire magic, as they will absorb the damage rather than take it. The last enemy you meet at Mt. Corel arrives at the bridge, and is a giant, floating Bomb. Against better instincts, you are to attack the volatile floating Bomb, which will, as you might imagine, anger it. It has 600 HP in all. One you deal past 450 damage to it, it blows up in your stupid-ass face. As you can imagine, this hurts quite a bit. The idea is to avoid bringing its HP down to 150, and then dealing 150+ damage to destroy it before it has a chance to blow up. It's normal attack is not horribly bad, but it does have a powerful fire-based attack called, get this, Fireball. It also gets stronger and stronger as it takes damage and grows in size like an evil blowfish. Hehe... blowfish... Anyways, as you head up the path, you'll soon find yourself on a long bridge leading towards a mako reactor built into the mountain. Head towards the reactor, and from there, head south to the next screen. There, you'll emerge on an old set of railroad tracks. You'll see a set of stairs to your left which you can use to disembark the tracks, but they really won't take you anywhere (you can go underneath the tracks and up the stairs near the top of the screen, but the only thing you'll get from it is a nice view of the reactor). Staying on the tracks, head to the bottom right corner of the screen to advance to the next screen. You find yourself atop the sprawling railroad tracks leading through the mountains. Before you advance any further, there is something that you should be aware of. In three spots on these tracks, the tracks are rotted. And when you step onto them, they will give way. You can press a button to avoid this, but keep in mind that you will only have three chances to fall off the side of the tracks, and there are two items that you can find down there that are for this reason considered to be lost forevers. That is, once you've stepped on all three sections of track, there's no way for you to get back down there. The two items are the Wizard Staff (on the left) and the Star Pendant (on the right). You can only collect one item at a time, as you can only climb vertically on the tracks. Thus, you must make at least two trips down here to collect both items. To collect them, wait until the track gives way when Cloud steps on it and you fall. Hold left or right as you repeatedly mash the appropriate button (the game will tell you which button to mash). If you did it right, you'll grab a hold of the tracks near the bottom on either the left or right side. If you did it wrong, then you will grab on in the middle of the tracks and will thus be able to collect neither item on this trip down. Lastly, keep in mind that when the tracks give way, they will create obvious holes in your path, but you can just hop over them. As for the tracks themselves, continue on until the track splits into upper and lower sections. For starters, not matter which path you take, there's going to be a rotted section of track just past the fork (you can tell which parts are rotted by the way they look). Anyways, going up takes you to a treasure chest that is for some reason lying on the railroad tracks. Inside is the W Machine Gun. The tracks also end with the W Machine Gun, as the gap is too large to jump. Back at the fork, the bottom set of tracks will take you to the section of track where the upper and lower paths meet. If you go backwards along the upper path, you'll find a Turbo Ether, followed by the third rotted section, followed by a Transform materia. People leave such useful things lying on railroad tracks, don't they? Anyways, where the upper and lower tracks meet, the tracks again split into upper and lower paths. The lower path will lead to an area where the remainder or your team has converged. Their progress is currently stymied by a raised drawbridge. Rather than lowering it themselves, they thought they'd wait for you to show up and do it for them. If you'd like to change the members in your party, do so by taking the lower path and speaking with the team. If not, then take the high road. As you continue along the high road, you'll spot the rest of your team on the tracks below as you hurry across the bridge. At the other end of the bridge, you'll see a small shack. Enter the shack and pull the lever. This lowers the bridge, thus allowing your teammates to cross it. You may also return to that spot and cross it. But first you may wish to follow the track that you are currently on as it twists around the corner. From there, you can scale the cliff to a small bird's nest. If you'd like, you can pilfer 10 Phoenix Down from said nest (at somewhat of an expense to the baby birds, mind you). In choosing this, you'll also have to fight the mother (a Cockatolis). By the way, your decision here has no effect on your teammates' feelings towards you (as discussed in section VII.A. of the FAQ), so go ahead and pilfer away if you so choose, you evil, heartless bastard. So, return to the bottom and cross the bridge. Continue along the tracks until they fork. One path goes left to a seeming dead-end. However, if you walk across the path of junk and turn right underneath the tracks, you'll enter a small alcove where you can find a Tent, a Mind Source, a Power Source, and a lazy worker. Keep in mind that an arrow to the entrance will not appear even if you use the select button, so you'll have to find it on your own. Anyways, back at the fork, the right path takes you to the next screen. The next screen is the longest rope bridge you've ever seen in your life. Now, I know your party has had negative experiences with rickety rope bridges in the past, but you really have no choice but to cross it. Miraculously, the bridge does not collapse into nothingness as you cross it. Someone must be watching over you... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: North Corel Anyways, just at the other end of the bridge, you'll emerge in a quaint little town called North Corel. And by quaint, I mean "barren, deserted trash heap". A couple of scruffy-looking guys approach Barret and begin to relentlessly trash-talk him. Before you duck and cover to prepare for the expected bloodbath, realize that Barret is... taking it? The guys prod and antagonize him feverishly, calling him a traitor and blaming the current condition of their trash pile, I mean, town on him. Barret's only response is "I'm sorry..." before the guys just give up and walk away. Approach Barret and talk to him, but he just runs off, presumably to shoot something. Take a look around through the filth and talk with the local residents. Like every other normal citizen of the world, they despise the Shinra. Of course, for some unknown reason, they despise Barret equally. There's a guy here who's considering getting a tattoo and asks your advice. If you reply that you haven't a clue what he's talking about, he responds that he saw someone matching Sephiroth's description passing through here, and also that he had a "1" tattooed on his hand. Hmm... Anyways, seeing as the town is little more than "Jonestown: the Morning After", the shopping, as you might expect, isn't horribly great. Of course, there are a few decent buys at the weapon shop if you're at all interested and/or haven't already picked these items up yet. The item shop also sells meager supplies. When you're done scrounging through this hell hole, head to the trolley station in the far west area of town (and you might also want to get a tetanus shot...) You'll find Barret at the trolley station, and at this point the team questions him. Barret explains that his hometown used to be around here. By "used to be around here", he means that the place wasn't always a landfill. It was once a cozy little mining town that, for some reason, nobody has bothered to begin rebuilding over all these years. One day, the Shinra came to said cozy mining town and asked them permission to build a mako reactor. At a village meeting, everyone in the town, even Barret, supports the idea, except for a man named Dyne. Dyne is the one that isn't about to throw away his ancestor's coal mines for the technology of the future. Also present at this meeting are a few Shinra troops led by evil bitch, Scarlet. Scarlet makes a few empty promises, and ultimately, Dyne is overridden and the reactor is built. Barret and Dyne were good friends, you see. And one day, while they were off visiting the reactor, something happened. Barret and Dyne returned to North Corel only to discover that the Shinra had firebombed the place. Apparently, there was an explosion at the reactor which Shinra blamed on a rebel faction. I have to admit, in a way, Shinra's method for dealing with crime is very harsh to say the least. They decimate an entire city because someone in it pissed them off. Sure, it's effective, but it's just that if they keep it up, they're not going to have any cities left. Anyways, Barret blames himself for the whole incident, even though his only real crime was trusting the Shinra. He feels even worse because the fire killed his wife, Myrna. This, by the way, is why he feels so attached to Marlene: she's all he's got left. The trolley is about to leave, and you should go ahead and get on. Barret steps onto the trolley, dejected. Your team follows him on, making all sorts of comments on the way. The only one who does not sympathize with him is Yuffie, who really isn't capable of such a non-evil emotion, anyways. The trolley takes off, and your team heads for the Gold Saucer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Gold Saucer The first time you go to the Gold Saucer, you are treated to a lovely, kick- ass CG movie sequence. The Gold Saucer is the coolest thing that ever was and the most kick-ass place in the entire game. You arrive just outside the Gold Saucer and a guy standing up front will charge you for a ticket. The price of a one day ticket is 3,000 gil, and a lifetime ticket is 30,000 gil. Keep in mind that you will want a lifetime ticket as soon as you can afford one, but you probably won't be able to afford one now. If you can, then by all means go for it. If not, just be sure to have all of your fun before you leave. The team steps inside the Gold Saucer and splits up. Barret, obviously, is still pissed. And no amount of cheering up from Aeris will work. He eventually breaks off and heads off on his own. You at this point can choose one of your teammates to accompany you through the Gold Saucer. This decision will have an effect on the game later, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ. Note that if you try to leave without taking anyone, you'll receive a random teammate by default. Truth be told, I believe that this "random" teammate may be decided by which character is the most fond of you at the time, but I really have no way of proving it. Have some fun at the Gold Saucer, now. Most attractions here cost gil, but some will cost you GP (which can be acquired through various means). You may also want to stop by the Ghost Square to check out one of the flyers mentioned in section V.A. of the FAQ. For more information on the fun and attractions here at the Gold Saucer, refer to section VIII. of the FAQ. However, do not head to the Battle Square, as it will trigger an event which will end your stay at the Gold Saucer (though the event will not be triggered until you have triggered a previous event at the Wonder Square, meaning that if you'd like to visit the Battle Square, do so before going to the Wonder Square). You'll see some Shinra soldiers at the Chocobo Square, and at the Speed Square, you'll meet Dio, the owner and proprietor of said kick-ass place. Dio, if you didn't know any better, looks like one of Mukki's followers. He's a creepy, oily muscle-man in a speedo that keeps calling you "boy". He asks you if you've ever seen a "black materia", saying that Sephiroth came by looking for it, and reaffirms what the idiot back at North Corel said by stating that Sephiroth had a "1" tattooed on his hand. Dio then leaves you to your devices and heads off to the Battle Square, presumably to participate in some speedo-related activity. I also mentioned a triggered event at the Wonder Square. As you arrive, you are approached by a gigantic stuffed animal. Its name is Cait Sith, and it is the worst fortune-telling machine the world has ever known. Cloud takes the bait and asks it where he can find Sephiroth. The response you get from it is both non-sequitor and blatantly wrong. Miss Cleo could give better advice by reading fortune cookies than this thing could. But he tries, dammit. He really tries. And at the end, he seems so pathetic as to need a hug just for trying. The last fortune he spits out is rather ominous, however: "what you seek will be yours, but you will lose something dear". Of course, he wants to know what the hell it means, so he decides to come with you. And he isn't taking no for an answer. Welcome Cait Sith to the party. He comes with a Transform materia (with 7,000 AP already on it, to boot) and the Manipulate materia. Joy. With Cait Sith in your party, head on over to the Battle Square. You should be quite familiar with the sight of bloody massacres by this point, and that's exactly what you see here. There's a twist to this one, however. The people here were all shot. Sephiroth would never use a gun... One of the dying people fingers "a man with a gun on his arm" as the cause of all the slayings. Dammit, Barret! What have we told you about killing people!? Bad, bad Barret! No cookies for you! Dio arrives at about this time, and you party does the absolute stupidest thing imaginable: they run. Of course, they are easily caught. Your punishment? You will pay for your crimes "down below"... Before you can derive anything sexual from that remark, a couple of gigantic machines grab your characters and skydive out of the Gold Saucer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Corel Desert Prison You find yourself in a ratty hellhole that almost makes North Corel look livable. Cait Sith mentions that this is a desert prison, where people are sent to rot, pretty much. In one special case, a man was set free, but since it would fall into the category of actual helpful advice, Cait Sith can't tell you much more about it. At the bottom of the screen, your party sees Barret. Approach him and speak with him, but don't expect to get much out of him. He pretty much just tells you to leave him alone and runs off again. Barret doesn't like to be bothered after his killin', you see. However, your party, not being ones to follow common sense, unwisely should continue after the enraged man with a gun grafted into his arm. Before you go any further, you should probably note that enemies wander the streets, and you're more than likely to get into a fight before going too far. You'll meet a lot of scum out here, beginning with the Bandit. If there's any place you can expect to do battle with things that will steal from you, it's here. As always, be wary of them and dispense with them quickly to avoid theft. They possess no weaknesses, but thankfully no strengths, either, and are relatively easy to kill. In addition, the Bandit is also mentioned in section XIX.B. of the FAQ. In addition to also being mentioned in section XIX.B. of the FAQ, the Bull Motor is a more viable opponent than the Bandit. While it cannot steal from you, does have the powerful Matra Magic attack (which you can take the time to learn with the E. Skill materia if you haven't already). Next on the list is the Death Claw. Again, there's not much to talk about here. It's a fairly tough opponent with no strengths or weaknesses to speak of. It does, however, use the fairly detrimental Laser attack, which is yet another worthy addition to your E. Skill materia, so you might want to take the time to learn it (you may also choose to utilize the Manipulate materia to speed the process up some). The 2-Faced is another... strange thing. It's a bouncing, spinning... thing. There's really not much to talk about with these things, but don't be surprised if you find them doing strange things like healing you or committing hara-kiri halfway through the fight. Lastly, we have an enemy that you will not encounter until your dumb ass wanders out into the desert (which, sadly, you'll have to do). The Land Worm has an insanely high amount of HP (making Laser a very good attack to use against it). Fire magic will only do half damage, so isn't really a good idea. In addition, the Land Worm is immune to earth magic, but is weak versus ice magic. More good news is that the Land Worm always travels alone. Do watch out for its attacks, however, as they are fairly powerful and do target the whole party. Anyways, with that out of the way, follow Barret to the southern end of "town". You'll find him in a small, nondescript house somewhere on the right. You'll enter and attempt to talk to him. He turns around and... shoots at you. Seriously. Actually, when the dust clears, a man who was hiding behind the couch appears and collapses to the ground. I'm not quite sure why Barret shot him, but I'm fairly certain that his reasons were something along the lines of "he needed killin'." Barret just turns around and says that he doesn't want any of you to get involved. Well, dumbass, you went around and shot everybody and got us sent to prison, I'd call that pretty involved. The rest of the team arrives and it is Red XIII who finally brings up the massive slaughter to Barret. Barret denies having anything to do with it, saying that there is another man with a gun-arm... It seems just a little too far-fetched to swallow, but Barret provides proof in the form of a flashback sequence. The scene begins right where the last one left off: with Barret and Dyne rushing through the mountains to help North Corel which, as you will recall, was being attacked by the Shinra. And when I say "attacked", I mean it. This wasn't just a routine city-bombing. An elderly old man comes hobbling the mountain path to warn Barret and Dyne of the disaster in the village and is shot in the back by a Shinra soldier. Christ, Shinra! When you are shooting elderly men in the back as they are slowly but surely fleeing your evil ass, you can no longer use "trying to crush a rebel faction" as an excuse for your actions, because at this point you are just blatantly committing genocide. Barret and Dyne now run for their lives from the firing Shinra soldiers. They probably would have gotten away, too, except that Scarlet, everyone's favorite evil bitch, shows up at this point and begins yelling at the soldiers for their horrible aim. She kicks one of the soldier's asses, takes his gun, and begins firing. And I've got to hand it to Scarlet: that woman is the best shot I've ever seen in my life. Dyne trips over the edge of the cliff and Barret grabs his arm. As Dyne dangles over the edge, a bullet (presumably fired by Scarlet) hits them directly where their hands met, thus severely damaging both mens' hands, and causing Dyne to plummet into the abyss below. Barret never does explain how he managed to escape the situation with his life, though at this point I would not rule out divine intervention. Anyways, Barret was an angry amputee for quite some time following. He finally decided to have a gun grafted into his arm, thus becoming an angry amputee with a gun. That's when he set out to mess the Shinra's world up. He mentions that the doctor who performed the operation on him (yes, Barret was through some strange means able to find a doctor willing to do this) said that another man had had the same operation, except that the other man had damaged the other arm. Barret can only assume that this man was Dyne. Again, we really don't get any explanation as to how Dyne could have survived that huge drop, but thus is the mysteries of life. Cloud and the teammate of your choice will now accompany Barret to locate Dyne (because stupid things like "trying to get out of this hellhole" can wait). Again, whomever you choose will affect the game later on, as discussed in section VII.A. of the FAQ. The rest of your team will hole up in this God-awful shack, and you can return to switch out your teammate whenever you wish. The rest of the houses around here aren't much help, either, and are populated entirely by scumbags and sleazebuckets. There is a meager item shop in the far southeast corner of town, but that's about it. Do take note, however, of a cargo truck almost directly west of the building where your team is. Mr. Coates, the owner and proprietor of said hellhole is hanging around inside in his green leisure suit and has for some strange reason yet to be shot to death by a local ruffian. It may have something to do with the fact that he alone is in charge of the elevator that leads back up to the Gold Saucer. Nobody goes back up to earn a chance at their freedom without his go-ahead. And he, of course, says that you ain't going nowhere until you speak with "the boss". And for those of you who have never taken remedial plot-mongering 101, "the boss" is none other than Dyne. To hunt down Dyne, head back up to the northern section of town from whence you originally came. Head north through the town and exit this screen on the right side of the fence you see. You should emerge on the right side of a fence in the middle of the desert (and your progress north should be halted by a gigantic chasm ahead of you). From here, just keep heading east through the desert. If you for some reason manage to mess up and get lost in the middle of the desert, a passing chocobo cart will pick you up and dump you back off at the beginning. But, it shouldn't be very hard to follow the directions "go east", should it? You'll find yourself at yet another scrapheap. Before you advance much further, do take note that Barret is about to fight a boss battle alone, so you might want to go ahead and outfit him with the appropriate materia. Restore helps immensely. Poison might also be an asset, as the poison will help you out some. Then again, it's just going to come down to a shooting match, anyways, so your selection of offense is of very little concern. Anyways, continue north to the end of the scrapheap to meet up with Dyne. Dyne... Well, he isn't the nice guy he used to be. He's actually sort of lost his mind and wants to kill everybody and everything. This becomes readily apparent when he fires a few bullets into Barret. They really don't hurt him as much as you'd expect them to. Your party tries to intervene at this point, but Barret insists that this is a fight that he must fight alone. Actually, no Barret, we just wanted to get our materia back before you dumb ass dies of multiple gunshot wounds. And the fight with Dyne begins... As I said above, it'll really just come down a to a firing match, but do have Barret cure himself if his HP gets low. Dyne has an attack called S-Mine which is deadly in the sense that it can be used in tandem with a normal attack, thus doing twice the damage. At the very least, Barret'll get a few good limit breaks off. All in all, the fight should be over fairly soon. Anyways, Dyne at this point decides to end his life by jumping off the edge of the cliff, which really isn't too bright of an idea when you consider that the last time this happened, he sustained no notable injuries of any sort. At the very least, before he goes, he tosses a pendant to Barret, telling him to give it to Marlene. It ends as yet another one of those touching scenes that shows that Barret has a heart after all. Of course, Barret makes up for his rare show of emotion in the next scene. The party approaches Mr. Coates and demands to be sent back above. Mr. Coates sees the pendant that Barret is carrying and immediately understands the whole story. He explains that one person at a time can be sent above for a chance to set the party free. And then, just for good measure, Barret roughs Mr. Coates up a little, because he ain't no pussy! Now, I know you're probably expecting to have to fight for your freedom by explaining to some form of judicial body what really happened. No. That is antiquated bullcrap. Here, you fight for your freedom by winning a chocobo race. Maybe this is just my opinion, but racing is generally a very poor measure of a person's innocence. If anything, winning the race is an indicator that said person will have a higher than average chance to outrun the authorities after committing their next heinous crime. But, at least it's an easy way out for you guys, at any rate. Naturally, Cloud is the one person selected to go up above and fight for the team's freedom. You are accompanied by Esther, a chocobo manager who heard of your plight and wishes to help you out. She'll explain to you on the way up how to properly ride a chocobo and all that, and then you arrive in the Jockey's Lounge. There, you'll meet Joe, one of the top riders. He says that he looks forward to seeing you again, though past this moment, you never will see him again. Esther hurries off to prepare a chocobo for you, leaving you in the lounge with all of the scary jockeys. The bell rings for the race to begin, and the jockeys, like zombies almost, hop up and file out of the room. After they have all left, Esther shows back up at the door. You can talk to her to begin the race, though before you do, I strongly urge you to grab that Ramuh materia someone left lying in the corner. The Ramuh materia is, as we all know, a lost-forever, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ, so you'd be very wise to nab it while you can. As for the chocobo race itself, this is something you'll probably become far more familiar with later in the game, but I'll go over the quick basics you'll need to win right now. From the outset of the race, just take off. Dash as far as you can until just before your chocobo's stamina runs out (if it runs out, your pace will slow to a crawl), and then let up on the acceleration. At this point in the race, you should be so far away from the rest of the pack that your win is in the bag. If you fail to win the race, you are sent back into the Jockey Lounge to relive the past five minutes of your life all over again until the end of eternity or until you finally win. The above information should really be all you need to win, but if you still find yourself having difficulties, do yourself a favor and hold down the R1 and R2 buttons throughout the entire race. This will slowly refill your chocobo's stamina bar as you race, meaning that near the end of the track, you'll have enough stamina for a second wind. Anyways, when the race is over, Esther hands you a letter from Dio. In it, Dio goes on and on with a lengthy apology, stating that how sorry he is and that you are obviously not guilty if you possessed the skill to ride a Goddamned chocobo (which makes as much sense as assuming that one is a good chef because he or she wears puffy pants). And yes, he calls you "boy" throughout the whole letter. Goddammit, Dio... Anyways, as a further sign of his apology, he mentions that he has delivered a "gift" to you. Before your dirty mind can become frightened at that last remark, you get a call from Aeris on the PHS saying that Dio has given your party a buggy. A special buggy that can cross rivers and deserts, at that. Esther bids you farewell, saying that if you ever get a chocobo of your own to come back and she'll be your manager. And yes, you should be seeing more of Esther later on. See you later, Esther... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: North Corel Area The game will tell you at this point how to operate the buggy you are currently driving. It's exactly like walking, except that you can now cross rivers and deserts. Also note that if you drive into Costa Del Sol with it, you can stow away on one of the boats at the dock to head back to Junon. There are several good reasons to do this. For starters, with that Fire Ring you found in Costa Del Sol, you can now return for a final showdown with the Midgar Zolom and learn the most kick-ass Beta attack. In addition, with the Manipulate materia on hand, you can also learn White Wind from the Zemzelett. You can also keep up-to-date with the Battles of Fort Condor, which are detailed in section X. of the FAQ. You can also visit the Sleeping Man, who is described in detail in section V.C. of the FAQ. You'll probably wish to return to the Costa Del Sol area and learn the Big Guard skill from the Beachplugs, now that you have the Manipulate materia, as well. You can also learn the Aqualung attack from the Chimeras around the desert (I talk more about them below), which you are now free to drive about in. This is a good idea, namely because the Aqualung enemy skill is a lost-forever, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. Oh, and by the way, back at Junon, feel absolutely free to head to the hallway leading to the underwater reactor (located at Upper Junon, between the two streets) and set off the alarm there. The only response the alarm will yield will be tough enemies appearing there in random encounters, making it a relatively good place to level up at this point in the game if you feel you need it. Hmm... did the words lost-forever stand out enough in the above paragraph? Oh, well, I bet they do now. I also should mention that this is the first time you will be exposed to the area surrounding North Corel. Let's examine the local monster activity, shall we? The first enemy is a badass called the Joker, who attacks you with surprisingly painful playing cards. The Spade is a physical attack, and the Diamond is a much weaker physical attack. The Heart, as a matter of fact, actually heals your character, which is pretty sweet. Club is more detrimental, as it casts Quake on a character. The worst card, however, is the Joker. The Joker is, as you may have guessed, instant death. Ouch. Thankfully, it's rather rare. The Jokers, lastly, are immune to earth magic, but weak versus wind-based attacks. Moving along, then, to the Flapbeat. The Flapbeat is a bird with a quite powerful long-range attack called Flying Sickle that it uses quite often. Lucky for you, they are easy to kill. Again, they are immune to earth magic, but fall prey to wind-based attacks. The Spencer is a completely generic enemy in every way, and had no attacks, strengths, or weaknesses to mention. They are also very easy to kill. Lastly, we move on to an enemy that you will only meet while driving in the desert: the Chimera. It has an attack which can poison you (it does no damage, thankfully), but that's not what you should watch out for. It also uses an attack called Aqualung which, you may know, is equal in power to Beta. I also mentioned in the paragraph above how it is a lost-forever, so take note, young one. Now the good news is that the Chimera's magical capabilities aren't quite that of the Midgar Zolom, so it is possible to survive a shot of Aqualung (and also to learn it with E. Skill). Still, expect this attack to do several hundred HP of damage to each character, and be thoroughly prepared to kick its ass following your recovery from said attack. In the field of HP, the Chimera also possesses a lot of resilience, which is accented by its lack of a weak point. If you know Laser, it makes a good opening attack, by the way. The good news? Well, the Chimera always travels alone, so at least you'll only have to put up with one at a time. Anyways, you may wish to spend some time cruising around, fighting and earning money (because you've probably gone and developed some sort of addiction to one of the games at the Gold Saucer by now). If not, then proceed west across the river into the Gongaga area. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Gongaga As you head west across the river, you'll enter some very thickly-wooded terrain. Welcome to the Jungle, baby! And now for a quick overview of the monster activity this side of the Mississippi. First, we have the Gagighandi, a creature who is of very little mention. They have a Stone Stare attack, but that just means you have half of eternity to end the battle lest you be turned to stone. There's also something called Grand Horn, which again merits very little mention. They have an attack called Grand Punch, which casts Quake on one of your characters, but that's about it. And lastly, I've seen some very poorly named enemies in the history of video games, but nothing could prepare me for the Touch Me. That's right: Touch Me. Finally, an enemy that sounds more like a bad 80's song than a bad guy. They are tiny little frogs with two very annoying attacks. One, called Frog Jab, will transform whatever it hits into a frog (or, if the target is already frogged, back to normal). You'll probably want to kill them before they have a chance to piss you off with it too much. However, their other attack is called Frog Song. Despite the fact that Frog Song is far more annoying and debilitating than Frog Jab, do be aware that this is something you can pick up with the E. Skill materia. To make things easier on yourself, you might want to utilize the Manipulate materia to achieve the desired end in this respect. Anyways, you may spot a giant piece of junk nestled in the middle of one of the smaller forests in the area. Naturally, you must investigate. Hop out of your buggy and have a look-see, but first stop and make sure that your party is prepared for an upcoming boss fight. There are no real red flags you should be aware of, but keep in mind that powerful attacks like Beta, Ramuh, Bio 2, et cetera, will help end said boss fight very quickly. Also, the boss fight in question will feature two targets, so any attack magic materia you plan on using should be attached to an All materia where applicable. Throw is also a powerful attack, but with so many other powerful attacks (and the fact that Throw cannot be made to target all), there's really little point in wasting your hard-earned projectiles. On a final note, the characters you choose to bring with you may or may not have an effect on the game later on, as described in section VII.A. of the FAQ. Entering the area, you'll emerge on a quiet forest path... well, quiet except for the two people you spy on the path ahead of you. It's Reno and Rude of the Turks! And the two of them are, of all things, gossiping. Apparently Rude has a thing for Tifa, Elena likes shiny things and also Tseng, but Tseng likes Aeris. Before they begin to discuss Tifa's cup size, however, Elena comes walking along the path behind you and begins to talk to you about how stupid Reno and Rude are being. "It's so stupid!" Elena whinees. Yes, Elena, but apparently not as stupid as talking to people for twenty seconds before you realize who you're talking to. Indeed, after a few moments, she shuts up and stares blankly at you. She then runs screaming towards Reno and Rude, yelling, "they're here, they're really here!" Good work, Elena. Listen, we're going to be reassigning you to our "retard" division, ok? Anyways, after some meaningless banter, Elena splits and Reno and Rude decide to throw down with you. But, as we've already established, a few castings of your ultra-powerful magics will introduce them to painful new ways to die. Laser, by the way, being a gravity-based attack, will not work. Neither of them have attacks that are too horribly powerful, but for what it's worth, Rude is the one with the Cure spell, so his ass needs to be the one to go first. But, most of your good attacks should be targeting both Rude and Reno, anyways, so this should not even be an issue. Once you've sufficiently dominated the two, they will turn tail and run. Actually, Reno is the one who runs. Rude just looks at his watch and casually meanders off... he's so cool. Anyways, your reward for kicking their asses is an X-Potion and the Fairy Tale. Following the battle, Cloud voices his suspicion of the Turks. How did they know that you were coming this way? Was it a spy? Granted, it was just a matter of simple deduction, but when a group's main source of intelligence is someone like Elena, you become suspicious if they're so much as able to distinguish you from the buggy you rode in on. However, Cloud steadfastly expresses his trust in everyone in the group and pretty much drops the subject. Before you go much further, might I remind you that you are currently in an enemy-infested jungle. While some of the creatures here are recycled garbage from the outside, expect to see a few new faces here. For starters, we have the Flower Prong. Its attacks aren't horribly powerful, but it does cast Bio 2, which you should probably be very familiar with. As you might expect, they absorb poison-based attacks, so they are not a very good idea. On the other hand, fire and earth-based attacks will mess them up pretty badly. There's also the Kimarma Bug, who has a most annoying tendency to hit you with its Stop Web. As you might expect, this will, well, stop you. Since they travel alone, it won't be too bad unless it has the time to afflict your entire party, but even then, you'll survive. However, it has a bit more HP than most of the other enemies around, so it can take a bit more time to get rid of. The last enemy is one you will not see until a tad bit later, and is called the Heavy Tank. The Heavy Tank has an extremely high amount of HP and takes a bit of time to kill, especially given their resilience to gravity based attacks. It's attacks are powerful, and it also has an attack called Big Spiral that will target your entire party for a decent amount of damage. The good news is that the Heavy Tank always travels alone, and is generally a greater test of your patience than your strategical skills. By the by, you are currently standing at a fork in the road. It doesn't really matter, but we're going to be heading left first. Go left to a new screen and another fork in the road. First things first, grab that Deathblow materia you see lying on the ground. Secondly, the left path here will take you back to the world map, so go right. You'll emerge in a quiet little forest town. The first thing Cloud notices is that exploded reactor in the distance. Seeing that, guess what just about every Goddamned person in this town is going to talk to you about? Here's a hint: it has something to do with that exploded reactor back there. The huts in this village are set up in an unusual fashion, as you can only access the second floor of each via strangely out-of-place fireman's poles built into each one. Scope out the town and the shops here, as well. Interestingly enough, from every shopkeeper in town, you have the option of buying from them, or asking to hear a story. This really would have been a fun and interesting feature if not for one fatal flaw: everyone tells the same Goddamned story. And the story goes pretty much like this: "The Shinra built a reactor here. It blew up. The end." Thanks, shopkeeper. Because I couldn't derive that myself from taking a look at that gigantic blown-up Shinra reactor back there. Y'know, the Shinra just might have work for all of you in their special "retard" division. And say "hi" to Elena for us while you're down there. As for the actual shopping, at any rate, the weapon selection is the equivalent to the stuff back at Junon. Even if you might be interested in making a purchase, for one reason or another, do realize that another equipment upgrade is just around the corner, so you're advised to save your money at this point. However, you should definitely make it a point to raid a man's hut and steal his White M-Phone, because it is a good weapon for Cait Sith, but more importantly, it is also free. Lastly, you might also want to stop by the accessory shop and look around. The accessory shop is also the town's materia shop, by the way. Among the materia available here are the Time and Mystify, both of which you may choose to get while you're here (because in passing on either, you're going to have to wait awhile for the next opportunity). Lastly, there's also Zach's house. Zach was a guy from this village (who, as we'll later discover, looked startlingly like Cloud) who left to join SOLDIER. Zach's parents quickly peg Cloud as an ex-soldier and begin barraging him with questions about Zach. Apparently, they haven't heard from Zach in 10 or so years, so you can kind of understand their excitement. But, lo and behold, Cloud knows nothing. If Aeris is with you, they mention that Zach had mentioned getting a girlfriend, and if Aeris happened to be it. Granted, the only thing they have to go on is the fact that Aeris is a girl, but it's worth a shot. Aeris and/or Tifa (whomever is with you) will leave in a huff. Your actions following this will have an effect on the game later, as mentioned in section VII.A. of the FAQ, but here's the basic gist of things. First of all, Zach was indeed Aeris's first boyfriend. He was also a SOLDIER 1st class, which makes things even weirder. Since 1st class is a fairly elite ranking, it seems very odd that Cloud and Zach had never heard of each other, not to mention the other creepy similarities between the two. Anyways, Aeris had heard that Zach had gone missing after leaving on a mission some five years ago and never returning. Aeris thinks that Zach, being a real ladies' man, had found someone else. Psychologically, this might explain her attraction to Cloud (who is obviously not a ladies' man). Anyways, as for Tifa, she was just pissed at the whole idea. She, like most other sane people, saw too many startling similarities between Zach's story and Cloud, which brought up the memory of Cloud ditching Nibelheim. Accomplish what you want to accomplish here, and then return to the original fork in the road (back where you entered from the world map). Taking a right at the original fork in the road, you'll head towards that busted-up reactor. As you enter the shell of the reactor, a helicopter approaches in the distance, and the party runs to hide. Off the helicopter steps Tseng and the evil bitch. Cloud finally reveals that Scarlet is the head of Weapons Development at Shinra, but "evil bitch" still seems to be a far more appropriate title. She comes to inspect the reactor for materia, it seems, and comments disdainfully on the poor selection here. She says that she's looking for "huge" materia to make "the most powerful weapon ever". Which, when you think about it, doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense, seeing as the Shinra technically owns 90% of the world, anyways, and wins the rest by sphere of influence. The only remaining nation for the Shinra to attack is itself (though, as we have clearly seen in the past, the Shinra apparently has no problem with laying waste to its own cities...) It kind of reminds me of a kid who builds a sand castle just so he can knock it down... Anyways, following this, Scarlet zings Tseng a good one about his boss being Heidegger. And that hurts. Because it's Heidegger, for God's sakes. Heidegger. Sure, Scarlet may be an evil bitch, but at least she doesn't have to answer to someone who gets angry and begins randomly assaulting people every time his boss hurts his feelings. Anyways, after the two leave, examine the reactor for the Titan materia, and then blow this popsicle stand. In case you've forgotten, you're still after Sephiroth. And he's not here. Hop in your buggy and continue east across the river and through the mountains... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Cosmo Canyon First of all, with the new land, comes a new set of enemies. First, we have the Desert Sahagin. If you'll remember the original Sahagin from Sector Five, you'll recall their annoying tendency to severely reduce damage dealt by incoming physical attacks (but again will only think to do so after you've hit them a couple of times with physical attacks). But, unlike their brethren, ice magic will ruin their day in no time. Just refrain from using fire magic, which has only half effect, and water magic, which it will absorb. Next, we have the Griffin. They are among the more difficult-to-kill monsters in the area, and can be very annoying when they utilize an attack called Peacock, which will drain lots of MP from each character on the team. There's also the Skeeskee. Besides having a name that's really fun to say, they are surprisingly strong, having more powerful attacks than the other enemies in the area. They also have a very powerful attack called Rage Bomber, which can cause rage upon your characters. Lastly, we have the Golem. The Golem, for starters, boasts more HP than any of the enemies in the area, and is by far the most durable. It's attacks, while slightly more powerful than those of some of the other creatures, are thankfully not horribly powerful, a fact which will be amplified by the tendency of the Golem to travel alone. The Golem is also mentioned in section XIX.B. of the FAQ. Anyways, as you drive through the mountain trail, the sun begins to set in the distance. It's supposed to look cool and go with the flow, but if you keep driving back and forth along the foot of the mountain, you can recreate an old Simpsons gag by making the sun go quickly down then back up again and back down and up until you get very bored from doing so or too tired to stay awake any longer. Sun goes up, sun goes down, sun goes up, sun goes down, up, down, up down, up, down... With this out of your system, keep driving until you begin to experience what we in the biz like to call a "mechanical breakdown". Goddammit, Cloud, I told you to put gas in this thing! Now Barret's going to get mad and start shooting people again! And, for future reference, when you start to hear your vehicle make a funny noise, turning up the radio to drown the funny noise out is generally not the best solution to the problem. At any rate, just be thankful that you conveniently broke down three feet away from a town. Let's head on inside, shall we? Welcome to Cosmo Canyon, a tribal village built into the side of a cliff. Now, in the world of Final Fantasy VII, even a tribal village such as Cosmo Canyon is technologically advanced, but they are more or less the only village on the planet that is not affiliated with Shinra, Inc. You see, Cosmo Canyon, as the guy at the gate will proudly hail, is the home of the study of the life of the planet, so you can sort of imagine why nobody here wants the Shinra involved in their business. Before you even get to the gate, however, Red XIII bolts ahead of you and is promptly welcomed home by Gate Guy, who refers to him as "Nanaki". Nanaki, of course, being Red XIII's real name. A bit of confusion follows, and as you might expect, you can see a pretty hilarious conversation occur here if you had the foresight to name Red XIII Nanaki when you first met him. Gate Guy is about to toss your ass back out onto the streets (I'd be wary of letting someone with a sword that big into my town, too), but Red XIII has a few words with Gate Guy, who'll then happily let you in, because helping Red XII was apparently a "horse of a different color" or something-rather. Speak with the people around town, and you'll basically hear that you are in Cosmo Canyon, home to the study of the planet. Well, I already told you that, didn't I? You do meet a really nice guy who offers to fix your car, but talking to him isn't required for the car to get fixed. Interestingly enough, however, you can try to talk to him a bit later on (after he has already fixed the car), and even offer to pay him. You'll practically have to cram the 1,000 gil down his throat, and all you really get in return is him telling you that there is an Elixir underneath the couch upstairs at the inn. Anyways, you'll see Red XIII hanging around the stairs on the west edge of town. He tells you that this place is the home of him and his tribe, but that he is the last of his kind (just in case you were getting your hopes up of seeing more talking dogs). His mother was a brave warrior and died fighting here, whilst his father, the coward, fled. He also says that his mission is now to protect the village, and that his journey will end here. Following this, he turns and heads upstairs. Follow him. You'll make your way through a couple of shops (I'll go over the shopping detail in just a few, so for now head to the top of Cosmo Canyon). On your way up, take note of the giant sealed door you'll see... it's important. At the top of Cosmo Canyon, you may already have noticed, is a gigantic observatory. Inside said gigantic observatory, you'll meet Red XIII, and his grandfather, Bugenhagen. You should probably realize that grandpa is an honorary and not hereditary title from the fact that he is noticeably not a talking dog, but rather he looks like one of the guys from ZZ Top. He thanks you properly from bringing Red XIII back home, and then proceeds to reveal that Red XIII is really only a child, relatively speaking. Because of his tribe's incredible longevity, his 48 years of age are something more like a human that is only 15 or 16. Bugenhagen finds it amusing that you thought Red XIII was an adult, but the truth of the matter is that when you meet a talking dog, its age is going to be pretty far down on the list of things you're curious about. But, seeing as Red XIII is both the oldest and youngest character in your party, you can really perceive him as either/or. Following this begins Bugenhagen's speech on when the planet will die. It could be tomorrow, or a hundred years away... More or less, take the prophecy of Armageddon and remove any trace of organized religion from it, and that's what he's talking about. He says that he can hear the cries of the planet, you see. He's not an Ancient or anything, he's just got some kick-ass equipment that can hear it for him. Planets are born and planets die, he'll say, but you'll get a more thorough lesson shortly. Red XIII mentions the fact that you are on a quest to save the planet. We are? Damn, I thought we were after Sephiroth to stop him from killing people (a mission we also seem to be failing quite miserably at). Well, I suppose we also hate the Shinra, too, but who doesn't? Either way, Bugenhagen finds it amusing that you're trying to save the planet, but he agrees to show you his observatory, anyways. A man walks in, saying that several odd-looking people have arrived in the village. And when your team consists of a man with a gun grafted into his arm and a cat riding a giant stuffed animal, it really doesn't take much more than common sense to figure out that he's talking about your team. Red XIII tells you that only three people can fit inside the machine at once, and then leaves. Now, what you must do, obviously, is go back to the base of Cosmo Canyon and assemble a party to go inside the observatory. And no, Bugenhagen isn't nice enough to show it to the entire team- only three of you get to see it. And, despite what you may think, your choices will not affect the game later on, as detailed in section VII.A. of the FAQ, so just go back to the foot of Cosmo Canyon, scrounge around until you find one of your teammates (excepting Red XIII, who has seen the machine more times than he cares to deliberate), and speak with him/her to bring up the PHS screen. The head back to Bugenhagen's Observatory for one of the most kick-ass movie sequences in the game. Granted, your characters will still look the same, the observatory itself is still a sight to behold. First, your party will take in the beauty of their surroundings, and then Bugenhagen will get down to business and explain the Gaia theory to you. Except for in this game, it's not a theory, it's a fact written in stone. Basically, the spirits and souls of every living thing are all part of one collective force known as the Lifestream. When something is born, it takes "spirit energy" from the Lifestream, and when they die, it goes back into it. He then gives you a really neat visual. Bugenhagen further deliberates that it is spirit energy that makes it possible for planets to be planets. Without spirit energy (and you'll get a visual on this one, too), the planet will crumble and die. This, by the way, would explain just how badly the Shinra is messing the planet up with their mako reactors. So, basically, unless you stop the Shinra, the world is screwed. But, for some reason, Sephiroth remains to be Cloud's top priority (which really makes one wish that Sephiroth and the Shinra would have just taken care of each other back at Shinra H.Q.) Following your little lesson, head back down through Cosmo Canyon. For further instruction, you can speak with the two elders hanging around town. One of them will talk about the Promised Land. More or less, the Promised Land was something that existed only for the nomadic Cetra, and it was basically the eternal happiness that they achieved when they died and returned to the Lifestream. So the Promised Land, essentially, is that which is all around us. This also means that the people at the Shinra are a bunch of friggin' idiots who are wasting their time looking for something that they already have. You'll find the other elder getting plastered at the bar. He's got a far more intriguing tale to tell. He talks about Dr. Gast, who, as we all know, was a well-respected biologist. He used to come to Cosmo Canyon back in the day, and the people here would never have believed that his ass had anything to do with the Shinra. The elder recalls the day he heard that Dr. Gast had discovered the body of an Ancient, subsequently naming it Jenova. But then, one day, Dr. Gast showed back up at Cosmo Canyon, mumbling some nonsense about Jenova not being an Ancient. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Gast disappeared, never to be seen again. Take this story any way you'd like, but either way, it does raise a few questions. Oh, yeah, there's also shopping to be done here. The Tiger Lily Arms shop, first off, contains one of the flyers mentioned in V.A. of the FAQ. Secondly, you can buy some better equipment here than has been available elsewhere. You might want to save some gil for the materia shop (located further towards the top of Cosmo Canyon), because there are a few materia available there that you might be interested in purchasing. Of note are the now-available HP Plus and MP Plus materia. The item shop (located on the east edge of town), lastly, will have anything you need to further round out your inventory. When you've had your fill of shopping and talking to creepy old men, you'll find the rest of your team sitting around that eternal bonfire they've got going at the base of the village (something that either or both of the elders would have made a point of telling you if you spoke with them). Walk around the campfire and speak with your teammates, listening to the interesting things they have to say. Barret gives an inspired speech about how this was the place that AVALANCHE was born (which explains the name AVALANCHE, at any rate). But, sadly, Biggs, Wedge, and Jesse are all dead, having given their lives to their cause. But that don't matter to him, because he's gonna keep fighting! Fighting until he's gone and saved the planet! And, even though he doesn't really say it, he has an epiphany at this point. Granted, the original AVALANCHE is no more, but take a good look around you, Barret. What do you see? A guy with a huge-ass sword, a big-breasted hottie who kicks more ass than Jean- Claude Van Damme, a girl who has an intimate connection with the planet, an incredibly wise talking dog, a thieving little whore (if you got Yuffie, that is), and... er, a cat riding a giant stuffed animal. Don't you see, Barret? That's right, AVALANCHE is reborn! Tifa just stares thoughtfully into the bonfire and begins to bring up that day five years ago to you, but then stops herself. She says that she feels like Cloud is going really far away, and then asks if Cloud is really himself. Granted, this is a very weird question that would not merit a response from anybody, but Cloud more than likely doesn't answer on the grounds that all of the voices in his head are giving conflicting responses. Aeris, on the other hand, is feeling very sad. She spend a lot of time talking to the elders and learning of the Ancients. And it's just started to hit her hard that she's the last of her race alive, making her feel like she's alone in the world. Cloud tries to cheer her up, saying that he and the rest of the team are there for her. But, it's really no use. Though, I have to give Cloud credit for the unexpected and uncharacteristic show of affection. As for the rest of the team? Since you can't really expect much from a cat on a giant stuffed animal I guess you can't really blame Cait Sith for not having much to say. In a nutshell, he sucks at fortune-telling, and he sucks at conversation, too. And Yuffie, if she's with you, is far more concerned with future stealing opportunities than she is with whatever the hell it is that your party is up to (you said you were trying to save a plant or something, right?) Talk to Red XIII last. He'll begin to talk about his father and how much of a coward he was, but that's when Bugenhagen shows up and asks why Red XIII can't forgive his father. Red XIII stalwartly proclaims that while his mother fought bravely to defend Cosmo Canyon, his father turned tail and fled like a coward, leaving Cosmo Canyon and its people for dead. Bugenhagen, in lieu of a response, just asks Red XIII to come with him. Saying that the trip will be dangerous, he requests that Cloud also come along with the teammate of his choice. Sure, Bugenhagen, we have time to take a break from saving the world from Sephiroth and the Shinra to deal with your crap. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Gi Cave Before we move on, let me take a minute to state that everything found inside the Gi Cave is a lost-forever, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. That being said, let's go. You may recall seeing the giant sealed door of doom. Well, Bugenhagen has decided to crack it open and show everybody what's inside. Bugenhagen will join your group before you venture inside the Gi Cave, but don't be expecting any help from him. No, no, he prefers to sit quietly on the sidelines and watch. Though, I suppose there's not much you can expect from a man whom you'll later discover is 129 years old. You do get some rather interesting commentary from him at rather inappropriate intervals, however. By the way, he was right when he said the place was loaded with baddies, so do yourself a favor and set up your equipment and materia properly before venturing inside. The monsters here all carry a fun undead theme with them, though only a few carry the trait of the undead (a weakness to holy-based attacks). First, there's the Gi Spector, which looks suspiciously like Slash from Guns N' Roses. Their attacks are of little mention except that they can cast Death Sentence, and the only reason I mention that attack is because you can pick it up with the E. Skill materia. You need not worry about Death Sentence unless it takes you more than 60 seconds to end a battle, in which case I pity you and your lack of mental competence. The Gi Specter isn't horribly difficult to kill, but fire magic makes your job much easier, as does their susceptibility to holy magic (meaning that curative magic is also an effective attack against them). The Sneaky Step is another enemy that has no real attacks of note, except for again Death Sentence. They are a bit more difficult to kill, however, and have no weaknesses as do the Gi Specters. Next on the list is the Heg, a snake creature that has the capability to show up in large groups. Their vice is the ability to normally poison you with their attacks, which can be annoying. Take advantage of their weakness to ice-based attacks to rid yourself of them in a hurry, but avoid using poison magic, which they absorb. Finally, we have an enemy called the Stinger. You will not encounter them randomly, but there are a few places where you will fight them in the third room. Expect a tough fight, as they have more powerful regular attacks than the other creatures here and are much, much harder to kill, as well. In addition to powerful regular attacks, they also boast the Rabbit Food attack, which is twice as powerful, as well as the Sting Bomber, which is a maliciously powerful attack which can very well kill a weakened character, so keeps your HP up. Just behind the door, there's a long path leading to the cave below. Make your way down via the ropes as you hear the sounds of Cosmo Canyon fading further and further into the background, until you at last reach the entrance to the Gi Cave. In the first room, you'll see a little path, and a total of four small alcoves scattered throughout the room. Kudos to you if you also see the very large, obvious materia lying near the top of the room, but you cannot yet reach it, so be patient. Anyways, of the four alcoves, each has a rock inside. Each rock is described with a different non-sequitor adjective. The one you're looking for is the rock inside the alcove on the upper-left. Break that rock open, and the door to the next room opens. Break any of the others open, and you are instead treated to no progress of any sort, and also a random battle. As you exit the room, Bugenhagen will stop to talk a bit about the cave, saying that all of the monsters here are the fallen spirits of the Gi tribe, who all perished in a certain battle. That must have been a big Goddamn battle, given that there are an infinite amount of spirits abound. Moving along to the next room, you'll quickly hit a fork in the road. The left path will take you to that materia you saw earlier (which, by the way, is the Added Effect materia). On the way, however, beware that strange liquid on the floor that you really don't want to touch but have to because it's right in your way and your characters never learned how to jump. Walk slowly across it, because if you run, you'll slip and the walls will react somehow by skewering your ass with a bunch of pointy spikes. From the strange goo, you can go down to the materia, but the path leading up is a dead-end. Back at the original fork, continue up to another fork in the road. And since going up is a dead- end, go left until you reach some stairs and a path leading up. While the path leading up will take you to the next room, the stairs ultimately will take you to two treasure chests. If you go down the stairs and continue down, you'll reach a chest containing the Black M-Phone. However, if you go down the stairs and go right, you come to another fork in the road. Going down, as you might have seen already, is an ultimate dead-end, but you can go up to a chest containing an Ether. Hurry on to the next room now, stopping to listen to Bugenhagen pratter on a bit more about how lucky Cosmo Canyon was to have not had the Gi attack right through this cave. In the next room, you'll see five separate passageways standing before you. To make things easier the only two worthy of mention are the second and fourth from the left. Both paths, for starters, are obstructed by gigantic webs. When you touch these webs, you will battle the aforementioned Stingers, so be prepared for that. Moving on, the fourth passageway from the left will take you to two treasure chests. One, in the upper-right corner of the room, contains an X-Potion. The other is accessible by going left when the path forks and underneath the intersecting walkway to it, which contains a Turbo Ether. The second path from the left will take you to the next room, but you might make it a point to deviate from the path, heading left and then down towards the bottom of the screen. If you emerge from a small cave (shaped like one of the original five passageways), you went too far down. Rather, go up a bit from there, and take a turn right, going behind a giant boulder to a treasure chest containing a Fairy Ring. Before advancing to the next room, prepare yourself for an upcoming boss battle. The boss in question has no weaknesses except for holy-based attacks, and is unaffected by earth and, quite obviously, gravity-based attacks. Prepare your most powerful attacks (which at the time should be probably contained within the Throw and E. Skill materia). Also note that you'll be taking quite a bit of fire-based damage in this fight, so your Elemental materia paired with Fire in someone's armor, as well as the Fire Ring, which you might still have, can help in this respect. If you know the Big Guard attack, you may or may not want to bust it out during the next fight, as it will be a prolonged one against powerful opponents. In opting not to, you might at least want to take along a Haste-all spell to help you out. As you head towards the last room, Bugenhagen mentions that the Gi tribe was defeated here, but before Red XIII can get any ideas, you continue to the next room. Meet the Gi Nattack and his two pet Soul Fires. Those of you who have ever battled Wrexsoul from Final Fantasy III/VI may know what to expect, but this fight plays just a bit differently than it. The Soul Fires will periodically "possess" a member of your party, but the only real detrimental effect this will have is that they will occasionally cause fire damage to that character. On the field, they are a nuisance, mainly because of their many resistances. They are immune to earth, poison, water, and gravity damage and in addition, they absorb fire damage (which is why they will constantly cast fire on themselves to heal up). They fall weak against wind and holy damage, meaning that if you really want to take them out, you might as well just Cure the whole lot of them. If not, then just concentrate your efforts on the Gi Nattack. Gi Nattack has quite a bit of HP, and has a nasty tendency to steal your HP and MP, so be prepared to bust out a couple of Ethers and Turbo Ethers in this fight. Physical attacks are decent, but any applicable magic attack is preferable in this fight, especially given the high HP of Gi Nattack. Throw, if you have any projectiles on hand, is a powerful attack to consider unleashing on the Gi Nattack. Also, if you're not really concerned about the Soul Fires, a good move you can bust out on Gi Nattack is Beta, which, combined with other good attacks, can have him dead in a few turns or even less. Of course, if you wanna be a pansy and end the fight immediately by using an X-Potion or Phoenix Down on Gi Nattack, go right ahead. I, however, do not condone or endorse this behavior in the least. Following the battle, Bugenhagen explains that this is why the cave was sealed. You continue to the back of the canyon, where the party is shown an imposing figure in the distance... It is Seto, Red XIII's father. His stoned body stands atop the canyon, long defeated from his battle with the Gi tribe. Bugenhagen, after getting rid of the rest of the team, explains that Seto left the village to fight off the invading Gi tribe, and succeeded. Because of Seto's brave actions, the invasion was fought off, and Seto did not stop fighting even when the poisoned arrows turned him to stone (yeah, notice the fifty gazillion or so arrows sticking out of the stone statue... creepy). Before Seto left, he and Red XIII's mother made Bugenhagen seal the cave forever and promise never to tell anyone about it. And it's nice to see how well he's upheld that promise, isn't it? I guess the important thing is that Red XIII no longer thinks poorly of his father, and the asses of the dangerous things roaming the cave have now become thoroughly acquainted with your foot. As a final bonus, the statue begins to cry, and the teardrops form a most kick-ass weapon for Red XIII (the Seraph Comb). Red XIII hops atop the rock and howls at the moon, now proud of his father. Bugenhagen tells Red XIII to continue on his quest with the group. He says, in so many words, that your cause is hopeless and that you are fighting a losing battle against the inevitable, but you've got to try, anyways. Thanks for the encouragement, old man. Your party, back at Cosmo Canyon, is informed that the buggy is fixed and you're ready to go. Red XIII isn't around, and the team expresses their feelings before packing up to leave. You'll make it to the entrance of Cosmo Canyon when Red XIII comes bolting down the stairs towards your group saying that he's coming too. "I think I grew up a little!" he excitedly shouts. Goddammit, Red XIII, just because Bugenhagen called you a kid doesn't mean you have to act like one. He's 130 years old for God's sakes! Dick Clark is a kid to this guy... With Yoda having rejoined the group, pack into your buggy and move out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Nibelheim/The Shinra Mansion It's a short drive to where the canyon ends, and you'll cross another river at this point. And a new area means new enemies abound. The Nibel Wolf and the Volron are both very simple, generic, run-of-the-mill monsters, and are very easy to deal with. The Nibel Wolf is considerably easier to kill than the Volron, and the Volron may put up the occasional M-Barrier, but that's about it. If you happen to meander down to the beaches, however, you will meet a third enemy, the Crown Lance. They aren't too hard too kill, especially given their weakness to fire-based attacks. Just refrain from using earth magic, which they are immune to, and lightning magic, which they will absorb. Their attacks are nothing to worry about, but as a general rule, you are going to want to kill them outright in a single blow. This is mainly because they will retaliate to any form of attack by instantly stoning the caster. Anyways, not too far into the distance, you'll spot a small town nestled into the mountains. It's Nibelheim, Cloud and Tifa's hometown. However, when you enter Nibelheim, Cloud stops to note how the village is noticeably not incinerated to a crisp as he remembers seeing it last. Well, Cloud, even though those bastards over at North Corel don't believe in it, it's a little something called rebuilding... But, alas, Cloud may have a point after all, as the village is completely identical to the condition it was in before Sephiroth's inferno. And as if that weren't eerie enough, start talking to the people around town. The normal citizens all seem to have collective amnesia, and no one seems to remember that little incident that happened five years ago. For that matter, nobody seems to know who the hell Cloud and Tifa are, and react rather violently when you try to talk sense into them. Their credibility is pretty much destroyed, however, by the fact that they are coexisting with about a dozen or so creepy midgets in black cloaks who wander aimlessly about town chanting "Se...phi...roth..." and "Re...un...ion..." And that's creepy on a scale I can't even begin to fathom. Cloud will notice, upon speaking with them, that each one has a number tattooed on them. Even though the spikey-headed idiot boy doesn't quite grasp the concept at the time, you might already be drawing a few parallels between Sephiroth's "number one" tattoo, the retarded dumbass living in the pipe back at Sector Five, and these creepazoids. Despite the overwhelming unsettling feeling it may give you, it's still a good idea to talk to the Sand People, because they are so completely out of it that Cloud can steal their personal effects from them while they go on about their Goddamned reunion. Among the loot you can get by speaking with the local cultists are: 2 Luck Sources, an Elixir, Turbo Ether, and the Platinum Fist. Take heed that all of these items, namely the Platinum Fist, are lost- forevers, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ, by the way. The psychopaths hanging around the Shinra Mansion actually have the most useful information of the bunch. They utter that "Sephiroth... is near..." He's inside the Shinra Mansion! We all know what that means. It's time to go stupidly face off with him. The Shinra Mansion is kind of a pain to get through, but only if you've decided to take up the optional side quest of cracking open the safe here (highly recommended). In that case, you've got a big boss fight ahead of you and you'd best be prepared (refer to section IV.A. for more details). Regardless of your decision, you still get to put up with the obnoxious enemies hanging around the Shinra Mansion, however. Keeping in step with the extremely eerie and creepy theme of the entire town, the monsters here achieve a 9.8 on the creepazoid scale. The Ghiorofelgo, for starters, is a man swinging on a giant anchor that is the most disturbing thing you've ever fought. He's not horribly powerful, but he's a pain to kill (lots of HP there). In addition, he's got a pretty high resistance to magic, and is completely immune to earth magic. Physical attacks work so-so, but he has an Achille's Heel that makes him the easiest creature here to deal with, especially given that he always travels alone. Gravity magic is twice as effective against him, meaning that Demi will slice his HP in half, and Laser or Demi 2 will kill him outright. Moving right along, we also have the Judge. The Judge is holding a scale, which will periodically tip. On one side of the scale, they are affected only by magical attacks, whereas on the other only physical attacks. They begin the fight with it on the physical side, later switching to the magical side. You can tell which side they are currently on by their attacks. Physical attacks on the physical side, and they switch to using powerful magic attacks on the magical side. This means that you'll probably want to off them before they have a chance to tip the scales. Their HP thankfully isn't as high as that of the creepy anchor man. Two things are of special note about the Judge, however. The first is that they use an attack called ????, which you may learn with the E. Skill materia. Don't worry: this attack is usually completely ineffective against you, but you can use it with better results. Secondly, the Judge is mentioned in section XIX.A. of the FAQ. Next on the list is the Dorky Face, probably the most common enemy you'll meet here. The Dorky face is a huge pain in the ass and has two attacks that you should be aware of. One will confuse the entire party, while the other will silence one member of the party. Both are very annoying, but at least the silence helps to lessen the severity of the confusion. In preparation, you might want to put the Added Effect/Mystify combo in the armor of your strongest character, as you'll find that attacks from some of them can really hurt. Secondly, even though these are battles you'll want to end quickly, refrain from using doomsday attacks like Beta. Cause guess what happens if you get confused before you can use it? That's right. However, summons make excellent attacks, because even if your character gets confused, the summon still affects the right party. Just set up your fastest character with a summon like Shiva or Ifrit (due to their thankfully low HP, anything higher than Choco/Mog should be enough to kill them in one fell swoop), and end these battles before they even begin. If you don't feel like wasting the MP on a summon, however, you might try setting up your fastest character with a good Sleep-all spell, or something like it. Since every status ailment will affect the Dorky Face, just pick your favorite thing to shut them up long enough for you to kill them without worry. As you move into the Shinra Mansion's basement, you'll meet an even creepier creature known as Ying Yang. Ying Yang is a single enemy that exists as two, but always travels alone. Ying has a very high resistance to physical attack, whilst Yang is difficult to hit with magical damage. You've got to kill them both to get rid of it for good, so both physical and magical attacks are needed. They have a mean physical attack, and some pretty nasty spells (Bolt 2 and Ice 2), but that isn't what is going to really piss you off about them. It's that every five seconds, the battle pauses so that you can watch them eerily writhe. It's enough to make you want to stick something sharp and pointy through your TV, and if there was some kind of "delay of game" penalty you could lay down on this asswipe, you would in spades. To make things even more annoying, they have quite a bit of HP each, and are unaffected by gravity magic. And sadly, you can't even put them or sleep or stop them, or anything else like that... you just get to watch them writhe... and then show them the true meaning of pain. The last enemy is really more of a nuisance than anything. It's the Giant Bat that also hangs around in the basement. Their attacks are laughably weak and do nothing but steal a little HP from your characters. They are more resilient than you'd expect from a bat, and are naturally immune to the effects of earth magic, but it shouldn't take much effort to shut these flying little bastards out. Well, as I've already mentioned, the meat of the Shinra Mansion is the fun little sidequest detailed in section IV.A. of the FAQ. Even if you don't decide to go through with it right now, realize that there are a host of other items to be found scattered throughout the mansion- items that won't be horribly useful if you come back too much later to pick them up. Since collecting most of these items involve traveling all around the mansion, the very least you could do for yourself at the moment is figure out the combination to the safe (details in section IV.A. of the FAQ), which also involves quite a bit of running around and to pretty much the same places. Without further ado, the following items can be found lying around the Shinra Mansion: the Silver M-Phone in the room just right of the entrance, the Twin Viper found by going into the back hall from the entrance, hanging a right, and going into the back room, the Enemy Launcher in the chest in the room with all of the plants in it (found in the left wing upstairs), and lastly a Magic Source found in the back room in the right wing upstairs (the room just behind the stairs leading down to the basement). With that out of your way, the path to Sephiroth is very short and straightforward. In case your stupid ass forgot where the stairs to the basement were located, just go upstairs and head to the right wing. Head down the stairs, into the basement, and towards the library. Guess who's been sitting here waiting for someone to come and yell at him for killing people? Sephiroth gets right to the point, asking Cloud if he is going to be at the "Reunion". Cloud, in an attempt to sound badass, angrily replies, "I don't even know what a reunion is!" Nice one, Cloud. But I suppose I should just be happy that Cloud knows enough to discern what is and isn't ok to stab to death. In a possible attempt to make Cloud jealous, Sephiroth deliberates how Jenova will be at the Reunion, and refers to her as a "calamity from the skies", a fact which intrigues Cloud. Sephiroth proclaims that he is heading north, past Mt. Nibel, and that if you wish to learn more, you should follow him. Sephiroth then hurls a materia at you, and then does that creepy crap where he flies away like Superman. And you decide to follow him. Why, I do not know, because as Cloud has again proven, confronting Sephiroth is doing you absolutely no good. You just bullcrap with him for a few minutes before he flies away. At this rate, the planet is going to be pretty screwed in a hurry. But, well, you've got to try, I suppose. Pick up the Destruct materia, which is oddly enough undamaged from being used as a projectile, and get the hell out of here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Mt. Nibel Parts of this place may seem very familiar if you were lucky enough to maintain consciousness through the flashback at Kalm. You'll find yourself at the base of daunting Mt. Nibel. It's not much bigger than some of the other places you've been to, but there's an assload of baddies to worry about here. We first have the Zuu, a giant flying bird with a mean long-range physical attack. It may also use the Great Gale, which damages the entire team, but thankfully not for too much damage. It is also one of the rare enemies that is a long-range venture to you, meaning only characters with long-range capabilities may damage it physically. The Zuu is immune to the effects of gravity and earth, and has quite a bit of HP to sustain itself. The only weakness to speak of is wind, but at the very least the Zuu always travels alone. Next up, we have the Sonic Speed, a birdie that seems strangely reminiscent of the Formula from Junon. However, they are nowhere near as obnoxious. They just have a regular physical attack, and the ability to somehow fire a Harrier cannon at you, which will do twice the damage of a normal attack. Both attacks are long-range. The Sonic Speed is immune to earth magic and weak to nothing, as well. Next up, the return of the ball and chain man, the Screamer. Nothing to speak of here except an immunity to gravity magic. Then there's the Kyuvildens, an enemy supposedly named by mashing random letters on a keyboard. They are tiny insect creatures with a mean attack called Lay Flat, in which they more or less physically assault you with the entirety of their tiny, insect-like bodies. Fire magic should toast their ass in a hurry, though. The Twin Brain is a very obnoxious creature with an attack called Stare Down, which paralyzes your characters. They always begin the fight with this attack, and then resort to their Absorb attack, which isn't so much powerful as it is annoying, because you're likely to paralyzed to retaliate. Thankfully, they have no resistances and are very easy to kill. Lastly, there's the Dragon. The Dragon is an enemy not to be taken lightly, and is easily the strongest creature at Mt. Nibel. They have an insanely high amount of HP, almost as much as some bosses. They attack you constantly with Flame Thrower (an attack which you likely know with E. Skill), and their physical attacks are just nasty (much more powerful than Flame Thrower). To make things worse, they absorb fire-based attacks and are immune to gravity magic. Not much else I can say except go kick some ass here, but if you have the patience, you can steal the Gold Armlet from them- the best armor available at this point in the game (and free of cost, too). Moving right along, then. The path up the mountain as you see it is more or less straightforward. There are two deviations in the path, however. The first is a fork in the road that splits left and right. The right path spirals up a path leading to the Rune Blade, whilst the left path continues on. The second deviation in the path is very hard to spot, and is a path leading up shortly after the area where you jump down a ledge in the path (just before you continue left off of the screen). This is a very long path, which takes you back to the right a bit and finally spirals up to a chest containing the Plus Barrette. Continue left to an area where you'll see five numbered chutes. Before going down any of them, however, you might want to go down those stairs in front of you and lower the ladder on the left side of the screen. This ensures that you'll be able to get back up here without going all the way around (I'll go into that shortly). Back to the chutes, however. Chute 2 will take you to a chest containing the Powersoul, whilst Chute 4 will take you to a chest containing the All materia. From either landing space, you can hop down to the bottom of the room. Chutes 1, 3, and 5 all take you to various spots in the room unworthy of mention that will also see you to the bottom of the room. From the bottom of the room, you have several options. One is to go back up to the ladder which you may or may not have let down so you can go down another chute to collect more treasure. There's also a save point down here which you may wish to utilize. Oh, and you see that giant fire-breathing dragon standing over there? Don't touch it, or it'll attack. As long as you don't touch it, however, you can maneuver all around it. Since it's guarding the exit, you're going to have to fight it, however, so be prepared when you do. However, you might first want to take the long path around Mt. Nibel, as there is lots of treasure to be found here. Those impatient bastards who wish to skip this part and go straight to the boss fight should skip the next few paragraphs and also know that they are impatient bastards. The rest of Mt. Nibel is one long, circular path, which can be accessed from two locations in this room. The first is right near where you let the ladder down at the top of the screen, and the second is on the bottom of the screen near the dragon. And since the second you step foot outside the bottom path, you hop down a ledge which you can get back up, you are advised to go this route rather than starting up at the top. And since we're going to assume that you were a dummy and forgot to lower the ladder before taking a chute ride, I guess you really don't have much of a choice (seeing as this is the only way for you to get back up there without the ladder). The exit at the bottom of this room takes you back outside to the mountain. Remember, once you hop onto the ledge below, there's no turning back. You'll land in front of a cave, and also see a path leading down. The path leads nowhere, so enter the cave instead. This cave should look very familiar, as it is the same one you went inside so many years ago. As you take the path towards the back, however, there is a treasure chest to be found along the way. You just can't reach it. Beyond the chest, however, you will see a small tunnel which you can access. Enter that tunnel and go left, then down, then right to the treasure chest, which contains an Elixir. Then continue to the back of this cave to the old mako fountain. Your reward for searching the mako fountain is an Elemental materia which has appeared there over the years, so be sure to grab it before continuing on. In the back of the room with the mako fountain is a path leading to another room. There are a lot of stalactites blocking your way around this room, but it isn't too hard to get around. There is a Sniper CR located in a chest near the top of the room, which you can access by going left from the start, or by going right and taking the first left you see. To reach the exit, go all the way right for the start, and then head towards the lower right corner of the room. Exiting this room, you find yourself again outside Mt. Nibel. You'll see two paths, leading left and right. Since the right one is a dead-end, go left and up the long and winding road that takes you to the top of the mountain itself. At the top, you'll find the old mako reactor sitting there, being a mako reactor and not much else. You can go inside the reactor, if you'd like, but only if you want to stare at the pretty machinery and generally waste your time. Once you've had your fill, run beyond the mako reactor to that door on the right side of the screen. On the other side of that door is the room with all the chutes in it. You made it! Though I start to talk about preparing for the boss battle in the paragraph below, I'd just like yo stop and take this time to make extra certain to point out that you may learn the enemy skill Trine from it, which is a lost-forever, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. Before attempting to provoke the dragon (named Materia Keeper) that wants to kill you, you'd be wise to prepare for the battle. For starters, there's the save point you would be wise to utilize. Secondly, equip materia appropriate for the battle. Gravity magic, as always, has no effect, and fire magic also will prove inefficient, as it heals this boss. Anything and everything else works, though (including poison, which, as always, helps to take a good chunk out of said boss when cast early in the battle). Throw, as always, is your most powerful attack, but only if you possess and are willing to use the needed projectiles. Big Guard, again, is an attack which you might want to utilize in this fight, but you should at least carry along a Haste-all spell failing that. It (the boss) has some pretty mean physical attacks, but are overall not much to worry about so long as you take the proper measures to protect yourself. What you really need to watch out for is Trine, an attack strangely reminiscent of Beta that this boss will occasionally bust out with. That's the bad news. The good news, and there always is some, is that Trine isn't as bad as Beta was. Secondly, you can further protect yourself with the Elemental/Lightning and Elemental/Ramuh combos in your armor. Lastly, you'll definitely be wanting to take your E. Skill materia along, not only for the powerful Aqualung attack (probably the strongest attack you can use against this boss), but also to learn Trine (I mentioned this in the paragraph above, if you'll remember correctly). Anyways, with all the preparation complete, approach and do battle with the Materia Keeper. So long as you're properly prepared for the battle, you shouldn't have too much difficulty. Proceed to kick its ass; you'll know when its nearing death because it starts to cast Cure 2 on itself. But so long as you're piling on the big damage, it will be too little too late for the Materia Keeper. You'll win a Jem Ring when the fight is over, and also be sure to snatch up the Counter Attack materia it drops. With the Materia Keeper gone, the back exit to Mt. Nibel stands ahead of you... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Rocket Town Exiting Mt. Nibel, you find yourself in a big field. And wouldn't you know it, but there's a lot of new enemies for you to face around here! For starters, the Nibel Wolf from Nibelheim is back. There's also a creature called the Velcher Task, a big ugly thing, but thankfully not overly powerful. It's attacks are moderate in strength, and it occasionally blows out poison clouds onto the party, but that's about it. Avoid using poison-based attacks, which it absorbs, but anything else goes. And if you so desire, you may also want to take the time to steal from them a Remedy, an item which you will not have the opportunity to buy until later in the game (and it's expensive, too). The other two enemies around here can be found only in forested areas. The first is the Bahba Velamyu. And is it me, or were the game's creators really running out of enemy names at this point? Anyways, it's really hard to describe this small little piece of crap, but its attacks thankfully are not horribly powerful. Other than that, they are nothing to speak of. Lastly, there is the Battery Cap, another enemy which may seem familiar to you. Their favorite attack, Seed Shot, does no damage at all, but their other attack, Four Lasers, is rather powerful and strangely familiar. And when you consider that they travel in very large numbers, expect to have it used against you once or twice in any given battle. Anyways, no weaknesses or strengths to speak of here, so have fun. Anyways, you should see a small town in the distance, which you should at some point mosey on over towards. Why? Because it's there. As you enter town, Cloud looks up and sees a giant, rusted out rocket in the distance and comments, "I wonder what they'd make something that huge for." To go into space, dumbass. And someone who carries around a sword as big as Cloud's has no room to make comments like that in the first place. Anyways, first things first. Let's go shopping! The item shop here has all of your item needs covered, and also offers for the first time available the Barrier and Exit materia. The local weapon store has a few good buys, which you should at least peruse (one of which, the Shotgun, is a lost-forever, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ). If you look at the completely loaded gun rack at the weapon shop, Cloud comments that the owner of this store must be a real gun fanatic. Notice how he makes this comment under his breath, likely because the owner of this store (the aforementioned gun fanatic) is sitting right there behind the counter, discussing with every customer how much he loves his guns and how he uses them to blow the heads off of non-gun-lovers. It seems to me that Barret has a new friend. Also remember that you are not too good to walk into people's homes and steal from them, and that you may obtain a Power Source and a Drill Arm from doing so. Lastly, there is an old man in town that asks you to look at the rocket with him, and will give you the Yoshiyuki out of gratitude. The Yoshiyuki is notable as it is also one of the game's lost- forevers mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. Everyone around town keeps talking about a guy named Captain. You find a few things out, like this place was the original site of a rocket that was to be launched into outer space (oh, that's what that thing is for... I thought it was a decorative piece), but that the plan was scrapped and the Captain just spends his days working on the rocket. How fun. But, you'll find the most out in one of the houses on the right side of town. Go out into the backyard, where you'll see an aircraft known as the Tiny Bronco. It's a small plane bearing the Shinra logo, and, as Cloud so succinctly puts it, "is cool". Seeing as it has Shinra written all over it, your party's first thought it to steal the damn thing, but just as you're getting warmed up, a woman walks out into the backyard and asks you just what you're thinking of doing. Um... we were... uh, looking at it. Yeah, that's it. She directs you to go speak with the Captain if you want permission to borrow the Tiny Bronco, and indicates that he is more than likely inside the rocket. Slither over to the launch pad and head into the rocket. Sure enough, you'll find a man inside, and are given the option of asking him several questions. First off, his response to your request to borrow his airplane is, surprisingly enough, a resounding "hell no". Secondly, he assures you that Rufus is indeed on his way here. But you'll find out the most information by asking him to just tell you about the rocket. The Captain laughs and begins his long-winded speech, first introducing himself as Cid. He then explains that this rocket was originally to be sent into outer space, and he was slated as the man to do the job. But because of a mistake made by Shera (the girl you met back at Cid's house), the whole project went to hell. Furthermore, the Shinra soon discovered that they could make a profit from mako power, and gave their space department the financial shaft following that. And since Palmer, the head of the space division of the Shinra, is far more interested in Twinkies and the possibility of more Twinkies than he is in asking for more funding to his department, you can sort of understand Cid's despair. This rocket has been sitting here ever since that day, and Cid has been wasting his life away. In a way, he just wants to leave this God-forsaken place behind him, but he has a new hope that the space plan will be renewed when Rufus comes to visit a little later on. He then hangs his head and you won't be able to get much more out of him. If you want to ask him any more questions past this point, you'll have to exit the rocket and come back. But, I'm assuming you've already found out all you need to know, so head back to Cid's house. Speak with Shera again, who admits that it was her fault that Cid's dream never came true. Cid then returns home and gets hella pissed. Apparently, it's some sort of blasphemous and heinous crime that Shera has guests and has yet to serve them tea. And before your party can voice any objection to this, Cid replies with one of the coolest lines ever in a video game: "Shut up! Sit your ass down in that chair, and drink your Goddamn tea!" Such hospitality there, Cid. I'd hate to see how you'd treat us if you didn't like us. Cid then meanders into the backyard to tinker on the Tiny Bronco and wait for Rufus to show up. Your party, understandably, is just a little curious as to why Cid has this immense hatred for Shera and the entire world around him. Shera sighs and tells the story of that one day many years ago. Cid stands in the bowels of the rocket awaiting the launch. Shera, being the meticulous type, is doing some final checks on the oxygen tanks. Cid yells at her, saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. Then, we switch to the scene where Cid triumphantly steps aboard the ship and takes to the controls. The door locks behind him and the countdown begins. However, it seems that his negligent crew has forgotten that Shera was still in the bowels of the ship, doing some final checks. Cid brings her up on the radio and yells at her to get the hell out of there, lest she be incinerated to a fine crisp. She replies that the results of the previous tests were not satisfactory, and that she is checking the tanks one last time for Cid's safety. Apparently, she doesn't realize that when the rocket takes off, there won't be enough of her left to scrape off the launch pad, but I guess that's besides the point. As the countdown reaches closer and closer to zero, and Cid becomes increasingly and increasingly worried he finally aborts the launch to save Shera's life. The rocket sputters and rises a bit, and then lands back on the pad with a crash, slowly tilting to the position it rests in now. So this, Shera says, is why she doesn't mind how poorly Cid treats her. He saved her life, so she will live her life for him. Cid comes back inside at this point, infuriated that you have yet to be served your tea, and proceeds to bitch Shera out yet again. Then, just for good measure, he yells at you, too. He sits down and impatiently awaits the arrival of Rufus. Instead, however, who should come walking through the door than fat pile of goo, Palmer, whom Cid has a few choice words for. Palmer informs Cid that Rufus is outside, and Cid leaves, making sure to berate Palmer on his way out. Palmer goes up to Shera and requests a pile of lard, quite possibly with some tea floating around it. Sure, Palmer. We wouldn't want you to, you know, lose some weight or anything. He's actually so infatuated with the promise of food that he doesn't even seem to recognize you as the same group of people who marched into his office and started killing people a short while back. Back outside, an interesting conversation takes place between Cid and Rufus. Rufus has no intentions of restarting the space program, but rather wants to borrow the Tiny Bronco so that he may give chase to Sephiroth. Cid, as you might expect, isn't too happy with this request. Rather, he is blinded with rage. And I'm sure he would proceed to introduce Rufus to the stabbidy death if he just had something sharp and pointy on hand, but something else appears to be going on right now. Shera approaches you and mentions that she believes that Palmer is out back attempting to steal the Tiny Bronco. This is a good thing, I suppose, because your party can really only take so much of dealing with the Shinra before they get so frustrated that they have to kill something. Now, let's go kill Palmer. This isn't what you would consider to be a hard battle or anything. Not like the Materia Keeper or Gi Nattack, where you actually had to, you know, try. Fighting with Palmer is more like a personal challenge to see how long it takes to make the battlefield explode into a mess of butter and shrapnel. Palmer stands on one side of the screen, wiggling his fat body about in a presumed attempt to move, or perhaps communicate. Occasionally, he pulls out a gun and fires it at you. But since he went and ate all the bullets, thinking them to be Pez, the thing is running on a combination of materia and AAA batteries, and instead mimics the effects of Bolt 2, Fire 2 and Ice 2. But, he is susceptible to the effects of Stop, meaning that if you've got Seal Evil or some other equivalent on hand, he won't even be able to get an attack off. If you don't paralyze him, it's no big deal, but be warned that Palmer will periodically lean over and slap his ass in an attempt to be provocative, but ends up disgusting you more than anything. Kick his ass to high hell, unloading everything you've got onto the chubby guy. The only thing that will not affect him is gravity- based attacks, quite possibly because a body as large as his tends to produce a gravitational force far stronger than anything you could ever conjure up. Anyways, once you've hurt Palmer badly enough, the Tiny Bronco begins to move. Palmer will turn tail and hobble his fat ass along, trying to catch the vehicle that he is attempting to steal. At this point, the game rewards your patience by hitting Palmer with a truck. To add insult to said injury, your team steals his armor (the Edincoat) before leaving him to bleed rich and creamily. Well, the Tiny Bronco is starting to move, and there's not much your team can do to stop it, so everybody hops on board. Despite the fact that the only aeronautical training Cloud has ever had was that paper airplane he made back in the third grade, he takes the controls to the Tiny Bronco and expertly navigates it across the skies. In a moment of thought, he swings back down in front of Cid's house to get him before he makes a mess of Rufus's innards all over his front lawn. Cid hops onto the Tiny Bronco as you pass by, but you should realize the tendency of the Shinra by now to destroy anything that displeases them. Indeed, the troops accompanying Rufus begin to fire at your ass and the Tiny Bronco takes a hit to the tail before it gets very far away from town. The good news is that you escape Rocket Town relatively unharmed, and also since the Tiny Bronco has been destroyed, Rufus no longer has any interest in dealing with you and leaves without any further incident (of course, this may also possibly be due to the fact that your team now consists of seven to nine people who want to make him intimately familiar with what his insides look like). The bad news is that the Tiny Bronco crash-lands in the water and, according to Cid, is not going to be able to fly anymore. Cloud, rather that expressing sympathy for Cid's loss, asks him if the Tiny Bronco could be used as a boat. Cid just tells you to do whatever the hell you want. His plane is wrecked and his life is pretty much a ruin, but at the very least he left that town and is never going back. Rather, Cid decides to go with you so he can slit a few Shinra throats. You see, like Barret, Cid is fighting a hopeless battle he almost knows he can't win, but at the very least he'll feel better so long as he gets to kill something. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section III: Walkthrough|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | E. Call of the Ancients | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /___________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section III: Walkthrough|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Coast of the Western Continent Cid had mentioned that Rufus was headed towards the Temple of the Ancients to chase after Sephiroth, but hold your horses for a second there, Sparky. You've reached a bit of a turning point in the game, and you might want to slow down and take care of some business first off. For starters, the game teaches you how to use the Tiny Bronco, but it's of worthy mention that the Tiny Bronco can sail across the rivers just as it can the shallows, meaning that you can cut across the large western continent via the river that divides it in half. Also, the next leg of your quest is going to force you to use Aeris, so if you've been neglecting to use her up to this point, you might want to level her up a bit and/or acquire some of her higher-level limit breaks. Next up, leveling-up and/or gaining a few more limit breaks might not be such a bad idea if you've been neglecting it for awhile, especially given that you now have the entire team on your hands. This should hold especially true if you have meandered over to the large island off the west coast, because it is there that you may participate in the game's major sidequest, which is detailed in section V.B. of the FAQ. Bear in mind that not only will you benefit greatly from getting it done, but also that it will have an effect on the game later on as detailed in section VII.A. of the FAQ. In addition to that, the side quest and its subsequent rewards are lost-forevers, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. That being said, you might finally also want to traverse the known world and get any shopping done you've been neglecting to do or any missed E. Skills, items, etc. Anyways, you at this point are more or less meant to wander the coast aimlessly. As you come up along the coast of Gongaga, you may notice a small house (which you might have even visited before, as it is mentioned in section V.C. of the FAQ). Since you really have nothing better to do, dock at the conveniently-placed beach and meander inside the guy's home. Talk to him, and he gets right to the point, telling you that the Keystone is no longer available. Before you can ask him what the hell he's talking about (look, asshole, we just wanted directions), he says that the Keystone is the supposed "key" to the Temple of the Ancients, which can be found to the east of here. However, as he already mentioned, the Keystone has sort of already been purchased by Dio, the owner of the Gold Saucer. Well, mayhaps you can go reason with him? I mean, all you really have to do is explain to him that the Keystone is in no way related to speedos, and methinks he'll just fork it right over. Let's go see what we can do. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Gold Saucer (Again) You should be familiar with this place by now. Skeddadle over to the Battle Square and head to see Dio's trophy room, which you might have remembered from his shameless plug about it earlier on had you not been too busy at the time expressing your disgust with his speedo. Just inside the battle arena, take a right and head on over to Dio's trophy room. Now, I know that you're probably expecting to see, well, trophies here. But that's not quite it. Dio's trophy room is not so much a trophy room, you see, as it is a bunch of cheap crap. And prominently on display in this collection of cheap crap is the Keystone. As you are examining it, and more than likely contemplating stealing it (where's Yuffie when you need her?), world-renowned speedo man, Dio, approaches Cloud and strikes up a conversation. And I swear to God, if he calls me "boy" one more time, I'm going to knock his damn block off. Also note that the entire conversation has a "look at my speedo" subtext. Anyways, Cloud asks Dio for permission to have the Keystone, and Dio agrees, but on one condition: you must "entertain" him. Oh, my God, not that! Keep it in your Speedo, Dio! Oh, no... that doesn't fit in there! Arrrgh! Actually, all he wants you to do is fight in his battle arena for a few rounds. You may wish to deny his request at first so you can enter the menu and properly equip Cloud (the person who must fight alone in the arena) with some good materia. He'll be fighting alone, but the battles are all very easy, as all eight battles shall be against normal, everyday enemies. Which enemies, I cannot say, as they are presented at random, so prepare yourself with a variety of different attacks. Bear in mind that you can get your ass beaten and still earn the Keystone, but if you choose to and succeed in winning all eight fights, you'll also pick up a Protect Vest and a Choco Feather, which is a nifty bonus, to say the least. Anyways, with this short and speedo-filled chore out of your way, you are free to leave and head on over to the Temple of the Ancients... or are you? Apparently for some plot-related purpose, the tram leading back to North Corel is out of service, trapping you inside paradise for the moment. Cait Sith hops his stuffed ass over to where you are about to kick the repair man's ass and mentions to you that he knows most of the crew here at the Gold Saucer and can get you guys a free night at the inn. Wow, Cait Sith, you saved us a whopping 100 gil. Oh, well, at least we can still use him for a pillow. Over at the Ghost Square, the entire party meets in the hotel lobby and begins to talk amongst themselves. Cait Sith comments that the group never really gets a chance to sit down and hang around like this. Unless you count the fact that you have all been journeying together for quite some time now (it's just that nobody ever feels like hanging out with Cait Sith's stuffed ass). The group newbies, Cait Sith, Cid, and possibly Vincent, lobby for an explanation of just what the hell is going on. Barret dismissively comments that he's been around since the beginning and he still has no clue as to the current situation. Well, Barret, maybe if you'd take a break from killing things once and a while to stop and pay attention, maybe you'd know. Despite what option you choose, Cloud attempts (poorly) to retell the story. Aeris, sensing Cloud's complete lack of storytelling skills, breaks in and starts talking about the Cetra and the Ancients. Barret replies with a classic Barret line: "Cetra? Ain't that some kind of disease?" And you have to know that Barret has heard the word "Cetra" clearly defined at least ten or twenty times by now, which makes that line even more hilarious. Let's just hope that being a frighteningly dumb ass isn't contagious, Barret. The group also notes that in addition to searching for the Promised Land, Sephiroth also appears to be searching for the "Black Materia", which is something that no one in your group has apparently ever heard of. The discussion then turns to those numbered freaks back at Nibelheim. Red XIII looks down at the tattoo Hojo branded on him (the tattoo being, not surprisingly, the number XIII), noting that there must be at least twelve others. Aeris ponders the possibility of some involvement of Hojo in the predicament of the twelve caped freaks of nature, and then runs off to bed, followed by Yuffie and Barret. Red XIII asks Cloud if he's going to be the next one to lose it, given his number. Tifa walks over to Red XIII and tells him to be strong in an interestingly touching dialogue between the two. Shortly thereafter, the group adjourns to their respective rooms. That night... Cloud stews in his room, perhaps ready to have another discussion with the voices in his head. But he is interrupted by someone barging into his room. That someone will be entirely dependent on your actions during the game thus far, as described in section VII.A. of the FAQ. But whomever that someone is, they ask Cloud to come on out into the Gold Saucer with them and hang out for awhile, and have a little bit of fun. So take a break, relax, and enjoy whatever scene you've earned. Though the scenes are described in detail in section VII.B. of the FAQ, there's nothing there you really need to know. Your date is brought to an end, however, when you spot Cait Sith hopping his miserable ass through the Gold Saucer carrying the Keystone. When he sees you, he hops away. You are to give chase, but you will suffer more or less the same problems you have with chasing Sephiroth in that even when you catch up with him, there's not much you can actually do to him except politely wait for him to get away again. You'll end up outside the arena at the Chocobo Square, and a helicopter approaches in the distance, piloted by none other than Tseng of the Turks. Cait Sith tosses the Keystone to Tseng, and Tseng flies evilly away in his helicopter of evil. Time for the ass-kicking now. Cloud and his date approach Cait Sith fully intent to spread his insides around the Chocobo Square, but Cait Sith starts to weasel out of it. He says that he was simply doing what he was ordered to do by the Shinra, and that he really has been thinking about things since he has joined your group. Apparently, you have given him a new outlook on things, though not convincing enough to make him shun his evil duty. But perhaps his most compelling argument is that the cat and the giant stuffed animal are both inanimate and replaceable, and are being controlled by someone back at the Shinra building. He pleads with you to just let him travel with you so that he may learn more of your ways and also continue to spy on you, even though you appear to be getting ready to thoroughly introduce his stuffed ass to your foot. That's when he pulls out his trump card: he relays a message to you form Marlene, who has been captured by the Shinra and is being held at the Shinra building. And admit it, you saw this coming ever since you left her in the hands of Elmyra. Cait Sith gets to come along with your team once more, but this little stunt more or less cements his role as the team's bitch. Before leaving Cloud's room the next morning, search the dresser in his room for an Elixir, and then head out to the lobby to form your team. Aeris is coming with you no matter what, so it's all a matter of choosing a third companion before heading on out. With your team revved up and ready to go, leave the Gold Saucer and head eastward. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Temple of the Ancients Before we get into things, I'd just like to note is that all of the items from this point forward (until the end of the Temple of the Ancients sub- section) are lost-forevers, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ, so be sure to grab what you want. Between the eastern and western landmasses, there is a small island to the south where the Temple of the Ancients lies. If you happen to get into a battle during your short trip from the beach to the Temple nestled within the forest, be aware that the area is populated almost entirely by flying little bastards called Slaps. They are tiny clouds of wasps whose main attack does almost no damage, but will berserk your characters. In retrospect, this is probably the least wisest attack in their arsenal to be using as a main attack. They also have stings which can paralyze or poison you, but they rarely use them (though if they show up in large numbers, don't be surprised to see them bust out with them on occasion). But, again, the damage done is minimal, and your berserked characters will more than likely make short work of the Slaps, and that their resistance to earth magic and weakness to wind-based attacks should mean very little to you. There's also a creature wandering around called the Kelzmelzer, which is really not worthy of mention at all. It can poison you, but that's about it. Anyways, as you approach the temple, Aeris runs off ahead of you and begins talking to the planet in nonsensical sentence fragments. As she is doing this, you've got a good eye if you happen to spot one of the creepy cloaked men at the top of the stairs leading inside the temple. Aeris says that she wants to go inside, and rejoins the group. Head to the top of the stairs and, after watching creepy insane tattooed guy number nine die a mysterious and meaningless death, head inside. Tseng of the Turks lies just inside, and he looks as if he's had a recent and intimate encounter with Sephiroth's blade. He's still alive, but barely. He says that it's not the promised land that Sephiroth was searching for. He might have been more informative in this respect, but he instead gets into an argument with Aeris. Finally, he hands you the Keystone, telling you to place it on the altar to enter the temple. Do just that, but be aware that once you advance past this point, it's a long road ahead with no turning back. When you feel ready, place the Keystone on the altar and watch the altar react. You then sink into the floor. Before you can say, "Holy crap, I've died and gone to an Escher painting!", you emerge in the middle of a gigantic maze of stairs and dead-ends. Before we advance any further, let's delve into the local monster activity. The Doorbull, for starters, has a lot of HP and can take quite a bit of punishment. Add to this its immunity to gravity magic and the ability to absorb fire magic. The good news is that amongst its repertoire of attacks, none of them are very powerful. And also, the Doorbull always travels alone, so don't expect too much difficulty here. The Toxic Frog is a different story, however. It may be weak and easy to kill, but those little bastards, like the infamous Touch Me, utilize two very annoying attacks: Frog Jab and Frog Song. Both, needless to say, result in you becoming frogged. With these bastards, it's a "kill them before they have a chance to piss you off" deal. They are weak to ice magic, and given their low HP, can likely be taken out with a well-placed Ice-all spell. I'd advise you to set up whomever performs this action with some sort of protection against transformation, however (Added Effect/Transform in the armor works well enough). The Under Lizard is the considerably more powerful friend of the Toxic Frog, but their only real power is the ability to petrify you. This may prove to be your downfall only if you've let the transformation inflicted by the Toxic Frog's debilitate your offense (especially given that the Under Lizard has around three times as much HP as the Toxic Frog does...) But, again, it's attacks beyond that aren't too much to worry about. There are three more enemies at the Temple of the Ancients, but all three are enemies are completely avoidable. The only one you may end up fighting is the Ancient Dragon, as two of them will be guarding the Nail Bat (an item you'll find later). They are immune to earth and water magic, but weak versus wind and gravity. Pay special attention to that gravity part, as you can have them down in no time flat with two Laser or Demi 2 spells (they surround you, sadly, preventing you from nailing both at once). Failing gravity magic, they have quite the supply of HP, so expect a bit of a fight, at least. In addition to having a strong physical attack, they also have an uber-powerful ice spell called Southern Cross, so watch out for that. Moving right along to the Jemnezmy. The Jemnezmy's greatest asset is the fact that you will likely spend more time staring at her than you will fighting her. They've got an ice spell called Cold Breath which does a considerable amount of ice damage to one of your characters, and also possess the ability to confuse one of your party members. Luckily, their HP is somewhat low, and they are easy to kill. They are immune to ice magic, but poison magic is their kryptonite. Lastly, we have the 8- Eye... which is a creepy blob-like creature that just must die. Though it's Absorb attack will siphon an ungodly amount of HP from its target, don't be fooled, the HP max of the 8-Eye is actually quite low. It is immune to gravity magic, but poison magic again is the key here. Their HP is low enough that a simple Bio spell would kill it instantly, but please note that poison magic of any sort is an automatic deathblow to the 8-Eye. From your starting point, head right to the first fork in the road. There are some stairs to your right, and path to the left. The stairs lead to a dead- end, so go left. The left path circles you around and takes you down a level, where you will see a small archway to your right, and a path leading down. The path is a dead-end, so head through the archway and crawl down the vines on the other side. Below, it may not be apparent which way to head, but do you see that treasure chest on the other side of the overhanging stairway? Go towards it (and also collect the Trident inside of it). From here, the path forks. The path leading up will take you to some stairs, and subsequently, a dead-end. The path leading right takes you to a huge wall, which you can scale via the overhanging vine. The doorway at the top of it is sealed for some reason, but you can continue up the stairs to your left. From here, there is an archway to your to your lower left, and some overhanging vines on the wall next to you. First, you'll likely want to scale the wall. At the top, you can take some stairs down to a doorway to your left (making sure to nab the Mind Source along the way). Just inside the doorway is the hideout of that adorably cute bearded midget you might have seen running around the maze. According to Aeris, they are the embodied spirits of Ancients who have protected the Temple of the Ancients for years, but in that time appear to have lost the ability to talk. Aeris attempts to and fails to engage in basic communication with him, but Cloud can make various transactions with the guy, such as purchasing various items, asking to rest in his home, and saving the game. Admit it, at least one time during your stay here, you started thinking about taxi drivers. Oh, and be sure to steal the Silver Rifle from his treasure chest before leaving. Going back to the archway, head through it, picking up the Turbo Ether on the other side. From here, take a long stairway leading towards the lower left corner of the maze. At the bottom, there is an archway to your left leading to another set of stairs heading in the same direction. From there, head down and left a bit further until you get to the chest containing the Rocket Punch. Follow the path to a set of vines, which you can scale to the top of a short wall. You see that little guy who just took off into that doorway to the left? That will take you to the next room. However, you may wish to first head up the stairs above you, go through the doorway, go down the stairs to the right, climb up the vines on the side of the wall at the foot of those stairs, and walk along the top of the wall to grab the Luck Plus materia. Anyways, in the next room, you'll see a hallway leading to the right. The problem is that giant U-shaped rocks are constantly rolling down it. And guess what happens when you get hit by one? Actually, it doesn't hurt, but it does squish Cloud in a cartoonish manner and sends him back to the beginning. It's as if the rocks should have ACME stamped on the side of them. Anyways, head down the hallway, making sure to stand where the U-cut will not make squishies out of your team. Halfway down the hallway, you may notice how the path deviates to a small pool of eerily-glowing liquid. There is a Morph materia lying in front of it, which you should grab. Heeding the general law of common sense that you should avoid any an all things that glow eerily, your team does not mess with the pool and continues down the path. Once you reach the end, the boulders stop, but Aeris decides she's going to go screw with that pool in the middle of the room. The pool, as all mystical pools tend to, shows you an image. You'll see Elena and Tseng walking through a room with a lot of writing on the walls (a fact which Cloud will later note). Tseng asks Elena out on a date, and then shoos her away. That's when Sephiroth appears. Never mind the fact that Sephiroth splits into two images during the conversation, or that the second image does nothing but stand off to the side and glow eerily... It serves no purpose except to make you think that your Playstation just broke. Sephiroth describes how he plans to become one with the planet, blah, blah, blah. He's not really making since at this point, because in a roundabout way all he's trying to tell us is that he'd really like to die. The then does something to Tseng that you've likely been wanting to do for the majority of the game: he stabs him. Cloud at this point rallies the team to find that room, and that he is through dealing with Sephiroth. He decides that it's going to end here, and that he's going to take Sephiroth out. Sure, Cloud, we believe you... Anyways, talk to the little guy at the end of the hallway, if you'd like, to restore your HP/MP and/or save the game, and then continue to the next room. The next room is a gigantic clock, with the hands forming walkways and doors at the end of each one. The game describes how to rotate the hands, but you can only rotate them once per visit to the room (meaning you have to leave and then come back if you screw up. Also beware the second hand, as it will knock your ass off if it hits you. You might want to let this happen at least once, as you do get the Nail Bat for your trouble. You'll have to make your way back here from the sealed door back at the maze, however. Anyways, without further ado, happy door hunting! The door at one o' clock is a dead-end which also leads to an enemy encounter. You are advised to avoid it. The door at two o' clock is also a dead-end, but with no enemy encounter. The door at three o' clock, like the door at one o' clock, leads to a dead- end and an enemy encounter. The door at four o' clock leads to the Princess Guard, an excellent weapon for Aeris. The door at five o' clock leads back out to the maze, and onto a ledge where you can collect the Ribbon. The door at six o' clock takes you to the "door maze", which in turn will take you to the room with the mural on the walls. Don't come here until you have collected everything you want from all of the other rooms first. For details on the door maze, see below. The door at seven o' clock leads to the Trumpet Shell. The door at eight o' clock leads to a Megalixir. The door at nine o' clock leads to a dead-end. The door at ten o' clock should be an easy one. It's the door you came in from. The door at eleven o' clock is also a dead-end. The door at twelve o' clock is the exit to the Temple of the Ancients. Come here after visiting the door at six o' clock. Once you've collected the desired treasure, it's time to visit the door at six o' clock. This takes you to a maze of doors, and you'll also see another one of those cute midget guys hopping around. What he does now is move in a predictable pattern through all of these doors. The game explains to you that you can hop down to the ledge below if need be, but so long as you know the mechanics of the doors, it shouldn't take more than one try to capture this guy. You see, he will go into one door, and emerge out of another. You need to go into the door that he would have emerged from. Which door that would be is dependent on which door he went into. There are 11 doors in all, but only 9 are part of the maze. The one on the right on the top floor leads back to the clock room, and the one in the middle (that looks different from all of the others) leads to the room with the murals. Thus, the door on the left side of the top floor shall be door number 1. The doors on the second floor, from left to right, shall be numbered 2-5. The doors on the bottom floor, from left to right, shall be numbers 6-9. If he enters door 1, he will emerge from door 9. If he enters door 2, he will emerge from door 4. If he enters door 3, he will emerge from door 6. If he enters door 4, he will emerge from door 1. If he enters door 5, he will emerge from door 8. If he enters door 6, he will emerge from door 5. If he enters door 7, he will emerge from door 2. If he enters door 8, he will emerge from door 7. If he enters door 9, he will emerge from door 3. Oh, and you might want to get the Work Glove out of that chest on the bottom floor. Anyways, when you catch him, the door to the mural room opens, and you may enter. But you might first want to prepare for the upcoming boss battle. This won't be a very difficult boss battle, as the boss in question doesn't have too much HP to back itself up. It has a pretty nasty physical attack which it uses quite often, and also a fairly powerful fire breath attack that will nail the whole party, but that's really all you need to worry about. The boss is immune to gravity magic, and will absorb fire magic. Everything else is game, however. Inside the mural room, you will come face to face with Sephiroth. Sephiroth starts flashing eerily and self-replicating like nobody's business, all the while jabbering on about becoming one with the planet. When he finally stops with all of the flashy flying crap, he stops to explain his sinister plan to you, as do all evil villains with a sinister plan. It's as if the first lesson at evil villain college is "how to never keep your mouth shut". Anyways, Sephiroth explains that when the planet is damaged, spirit energy is gathered to heal that wound. But what if there were a gigantic wound that threatened the very life of the planet? Lots of spirit energy would be gathered, and Sephiroth plans to merge with that spirit energy and become God. And to inflict that wound, he plans to utilize the ultimate destructive magic, Meteor. Otherwise known as the black materia. What he fails to mention is that the power of Meteor will be enough to knock the Earth out of orbit and annihilate it completely, but meh. Petty details. Sephiroth leaves you, and Cloud begins to freak out. And this isn't one of his normal freak-outs, either. This time, it looks like one of his personalities is trying to break free from the rest of his body. He completely loses it, spouting off random gibberish, until he pulls himself together. And then he goes on as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, as does the rest of the team. Ok, then... As the team discusses amongst themselves, the Red Dragon appears to do battle with the team. The Red Dragon, as I've already mentioned, isn't much of a difficult fight due to the comparably low HP it possesses. Spells like Big Guard, Slow, and Regen can all help, but given the possible short length of the fight, may not be entirely necessary. Poison helps to do some good damage to him if cast early enough in the battle, as well. On a final note, go nuts with your MP, because you get a free refill after the fight. With those facts in mind, this fight should be over pretty quick. You'll earn a Dragon Armlet for your victory. Following your squeaky-clean battle, the first thing you'll probably notice is the Bahamut materia left behind by the Red Dragon. After collecting it, head on over to the right side of the room and take a look at the little scale model of the temple itself. You are given several options of things to do with it, but any attempt you make to mess with it results in failure. Aeris gets the idea to ask the planet how to operate the damn thing. Interestingly enough, the planet responds to her. It seems that the Temple of the Ancients itself is the black materia. The little model of the temple contains several puzzles, and with each puzzle you solve, the Temple of the Ancients gets smaller and smaller, until it is big enough to fit into the palm of your hand. The catch? The puzzles can only be done from inside the temple itself, meaning that whoever goes about solving said puzzles will find himself unable to use the black materia due to the fact that he will be made to be somewhat squished by it. So the black materia is safe here, right? Not according to Cloud. Cloud's idea involves releasing the black materia from the deadly trap so that you guys can hang onto it and keep it away from Sephiroth. This is probably the dumbest idea any human being in the history of mankind has ever had. Cloud does mention that Sephiroth has a gazillion flunkies which he would not think twice about sacrificing to obtain the black materia. This is true, indeed. But, what he neglects to mention is that most of Sephiroth's lackeys also lack the intelligence to chew without outside assistance, let alone solve ancient riddles, so I stand by my earlier comment that this is the stupidest idea ever. Anyways, that's when the solution to your problem will present itself. Cait Sith will speak up (or call you on the PHS if he is not with you), saying that he does not mind in the least sacrificing his inanimate body for the good of mankind. And to make a long story short, you really have no option but to let him get himself killed, though I cannot see why you'd have any objection to this. I mean, sure, you're unleashing hell on Earth as we know it, but you're getting rid of that little bastard, Cait Sith, in the process. I think the latter outweighs the former, personally. Now, you've got to get the hell out of here. Heading back to the door maze room, take the time to stop and chat with the little midget guy, because he will offer you rest and the chance to save up. Back in the clock room, the hands stand ready to allow you access to the exit, but you might first want to stop and prepare for a difficult boss battle. The boss in question has a couple of very nasty physical attacks, one which will do big damage to the whole party, and the other doing huge damage to a single character. Big Guard (or Barrier, at the very least), will prove to be a very big asset in this battle. Also expect the occasionally petrification attack, which under most circumstances wouldn't be so bad, except that the prolonged length of this battle will necessitate you have some way to counter it. Is you do not know the Esuna spell, I hope you've got a few Softs or Remedies handy. Now, in utilizing Big Guard, a Haste-all spell is not needed, but the Time materia can still shine in the upcoming fight. If you have unlocked Slow, you would be wise to use it, as this will be a surprisingly speedy boss (which is a bad thing to be combined with powerful attacks). Finally, this boss will be immune to the effects of poison and gravity magic, and will be resistant to earth magic. On a side note, there are potential lost-forevers here to be aware of (you know, what I talk about in section I.F. of the FAQ?) That would be Aeris's equipment. Make sure she's not wearing anything you really like. Once equipped, step into the door at twelve o' clock and prepare to do battle with Demon's Gate. Demon's Gate, as we've established already, is a powerful boss to take on. Unload the most powerful attacks you have into it (expect to see a bit o' limit break action in this fight), while keeping your HP up. Other than that, I think I covered everything you need to know in the above paragraph. After your battle, Cait Sith announces just a little too cheerfully that he's here and ready to help. Aeris tries to comfort him and make him feel better by asking Cait Sith to read y'all's fortunes one last time. This is a surprisingly emotional scene, given that Cait Sith is an inanimate object which is not particularly governed by the laws of life and death. Also, you hate Cait Sith. Aeris asks Cait Sith to predict the compatibility of herself and Cloud. He does so, and notes that the two are a perfect match. Of course, as has been proven several times in the past, Cait Sith isn't necessarily the most reliable source of psychic information. With this out of the way, the party leaves and Cait Sith heads towards the mural room for his last hurrah. Despite the fact that he is not alive, the game does it's absolute best to make you feel sorry for the poor kitty. You'll see the stuffed animal trip, and then the kitty landing on his poor little kitty head, finally hopping back onto the stuffed animal and continuing towards the puzzle. And as if that weren't sappy enough, Cait Sith then starts talking like a bad episode of Sesame Street (who he's talking to, I don't know, as the rest of the team obviously cannot hear him), stating that, "There may be lots of stuffed bodies like mine, but there's only one me!" Good. That means we'll be rid of your backstabbing ass when you get crushed to death. Now get to work! The Temple of the Ancients vanishes after Cait Sith reduces it to the black materia. You'll see a giant crater where the temple used to be, and the black materia lying in the middle of it. Cloud walks over to it and picks it up, proudly proclaiming that as long as you are in possession of it, then Sephiroth cannot have it. And anyone who has ever watched a movie before can tell you that you should never say things like that, because they will inevitably be followed by something very bad. Cloud then hopefully asks if anyone on the team can use it, somehow not realizing that it might not be a good idea to trigger Armageddon. Aeris mentions that the user of Meteor must have a lot of spirit energy, and the spirit energy of one person is not sufficient to use it. You'd need a lot of spirit energy... Like, the amount you might find at the Promised Land, which, as we've already discovered, does not exist. Well, at least not to non-ancients like Sephiroth (huh? Since when was Sephiroth not an ancient? Did I miss something here?) Anyways, Sephiroth shows up at this point and boldly proclaims that he is better than the ancients, as he is now a "traveler of the Lifestream itself", which at the very least explains that freaky flying-flashy- self-replication crap he's been doing lately. Just how he accomplished this, however, remains a mystery. He warps over to Cloud, supposedly to stab him. But he doesn't even have to do that. He just politely asks Cloud, and Cloud walks over to Sephiroth and forks over the black materia (and while he does this, you control Cloud's subconscious, but all you can really do is run around frantically while Cloud's body is busy sentencing the world to utter destruction). Nice going, Cloud, you just doomed the entire planet. Sephiroth, pleased with himself, flashes off into the sky, leaving Cloud to his insanity. Aeris tries to comfort Cloud, telling him that it wasn't his fault. Really? Cloud walked over to Sephiroth and handed Sephiroth the key to destroying the world; now please tell me how this wasn't his fault. At this highly inappropriate time, Cait Sith's unrequested and unwanted replacement shows up. And seeing as he looks and acts just like the original, the only thing that has really changed in your life is that everybody is about to die because Cloud had to be an idiot and get us all killed. Following some uber-insanity from Cloud, the screen goes white. You wake up in the middle of some forest (later identified as the Sleeping Forest), where you see Aeris running around calling out to you (Cloud). She tells Cloud that she's going to take care of Sephiroth herself, and that Cloud should take it easy so that he doesn't have a breakdown. Of course, if this is the sort of crap Cloud is seeing, I'd say he's way past the point of a mental breakdown. She says that she, being an Ancient, is the only person that can protect the planet from Cloud's stupidity, I mean, Sephiroth. Aeris then leaves to go to the City of the Ancients, where she claims she will be able to stop Sephiroth. Cloud tries to stop her, but obviously cannot, given that this is just a psychopathic dream and all. Sephiroth arrives and does his creepy Sephiroth crap. He seems angry at the possible interference of Aeris and appears to want to stop her by any means possible. About this time, Cloud wakes up with Tifa and Barret standing around him. They mention that Aeris appears to have vanished, and that the rest of the team has left to look for her. Cloud details that Aeris is headed to the City of the Ancients to stop Sephiroth, and that Sephiroth is after her. Even though he may be right, I find it somewhat sad that we have resorted to taking advice from Cloud's random fits of insanity. Tifa and Barret get a little scared, and say that you've got to go help Aeris... and fast. Cloud, coming to the slow realization that he is a psychopath, begins to doubt that he should, saying that if he gets near Sephiroth again he may lose it. Well, Cloud, look at it this way: you already doomed the entire planet; what more harm could you possibly do? Barret at this time has a few choice words for the dumbass that condemned the Earth (spouting off his soon-to-be-famous quote: "there ain't no gettin' offa this train we're on"), but at least Tifa seems to support you. Follow them outside the building you were in to find yourself back at Gongaga village. Barret and Tifa encourage Cloud to come along (though Barret's promise comes in the form of the assurance that he's going to kick Cloud's ass if he goes crazy on them again), and Cloud reluctantly agrees. Get your crap together and move out. You'll find the Tiny Bronco parked just off the coast of Gongaga. Under most circumstances, you'd be forced to guess where to head next. But seeing as only one unexplored landmass remains in this world, it should be rather obvious that the Sleeping Forest, and subsequently the City of the Ancients can be found on the northern continent. Getting there can be a pain, as you can't reach it from the middle sea. Try approaching it from the west. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Bone Village Disembarking on the only non-frozen edge of the northern continent, you find yourself in a peaceful valley. And when I say "peaceful", I do mean it. The forests around here contain no enemies, and only rarely on the plains will you get into a fight. In that case, expect to do battle with a Trickplay, which is more or less a revamped version of the Mu. Sewer, as always, is kind of a nasty attack, but not too horrible. Lv. 4 Suicide, if it catches you off-guard, will waste you, however (and, of course, can be learned with the E. Skill materia). Sinking appears to now mimic the effects of Quake 3, but still does about as much damage as a Quake spell would. But, to even things out, they also have an attack that heals you. Anyways, that little village nestled in the forest is called Bone Village, and is where you should head if you are interested in advancing in the game. Bone Village claims itself to be a village "for nature lovers". You can tell this, because the entire village is built into the fossilized skeleton of a dinosaur. Damn yuppies. Anyways, first things first, you'll probably want to be getting you some shopping done here. The item shop offers a fine selection of armors from which you can choose, though I do find it extremely odd that these backwoods yuppie bastards have somehow acquired better military defense technology than the Shinra has. The people in the village mention having seen a girl running into the Sleeping Forest, followed by a man in a black cape. The other thing they talk about is the Lunar Harp, a treasure around here that they are trying to excavate. The usefulness of said treasure will become readily apparent if you try to enter the Sleeping Forest (accessible from the back of the town). You see, if you don't have the Lunar Harp to "wake the forest up", you get to run in aimless circles around the forest for all of eternity. It doesn't make much sense, but you'll be needing the Lunar Harp. It shouldn't be too hard to acquire the Lunar Harp, however. Talk to the foreman of the excavation site (he's the guy at the front of the village) and he asks you if you'll be wanting to dig. You are given the option to search for "normal treasure", "good treasure", or the "Lunar Harp". Normal treasure will yield garbage, mostly. Good Treasure, if you have your wits about you, will give you the most excellent Buntline, so you might want to take a break from saving the world and such and devote some time to finding that. And, naturally, opting to search for the Lunar Harp just might leave you with the Lunar Harp. Do be aware that this'll be costin' ya money, because apparently these jackasses were just here screwing off waiting for some random passerby to come pay them to do their jobs. Walk around and dictate where you would like workers to be. Each worker you place will set a bomb, follow the tremors, and then face in the exact direction of the selected treasure. Though you can place five, common sense would dictate that you'd only need two. But given their extremely cheap cost (hmm... must be illegal immigrants), you'll probably want to hire all five since you don't know where the damn thing is, and there are two levels to Bone Village, anyways. By the way, the Lunar Harp is the one treasure here whose location is set. It is on the top level of the village to the left of the tent. Just put two guys up there, pinpoint the location, and order the dig. I should note that unfortunately, this fact only holds true for the PSX version of the game, so you're pretty much on your own if you're playing the PC version. The next morning, the results of the dig are placed in a treasure chest next to the foreman's hut. Assuming you've gone and obtained the Lunar Harp (and perhaps also the Buntline), there is nothing more for you here. Now make haste to the Sleeping Forest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Sleeping Forest/Corral Valley This place oughta look familiar. It's also a very short area. Despite the peacefulness, of the place, there are a few enemies running around. The odds of you running into them are virtually nil, however. But for what it's worth, the Boundfat is a little creature that is not worthy of much mention. It occasionally casts Ice 2, and absorbs ice attacks in return. But it's pretty easy to kill, anyways. The most important thing about the Malldancer is its mention in section XIX.B. of the FAQ. It is also immune to poison and water magic, but that is pretty much all that can be said about this relatively easy to kill monster. Lastly, the Hungry is a funny little guy that likes to cast Mini, but can't really fight worth a damn besides that. He does have assloads of HP, but that's about it. As you trot up the forest path, the Lunar Harp reacts and "wakes" the forest up. It really doesn't change things much, but it does look all green and glowy for a second, there. Those of you with good eyes will spot the Kjata materia to the left of the path. As you go to pick it up, however, you'll notice that it is moving. Chase that damn thing down! Or, if it gets away from you, just walk away and then come back to try again. The next portion of the Sleeping Forest is a bit rockier. It's also where the enemies start to appear. From where you start, you might first want to take the right fork to a treasure chest containing a Water Ring. The Water Ring is important mainly because it will render you invincible during the next boos fight. Anyways, there's small ledge to the left of where you started that you can climb. From there, cross the fallen log across the chasm and out the other side of the Sleeping Forest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Forgotten City (City of the Ancients) You find yourself in the middle of a great valley. And experts agree that there's something very... unusual about this valley. The ground is oddly colored and everything around you has a strange glow to it. Not to far in the distance appears the Forgotten City, or the City of the Ancients. Go there now. The game strikes an ominous chord as you step into the city, with an unsettling and foreboding score and a barren, desolate ruin of what was once a great city lying ahead of you. There are no enemies here, so take your time as you explore. As you advance towards the city, you'll see path's branch out to the left and to the right, and the final path will lead directly towards the center of the city. You're probably going to want to check out the side paths first. Down the left path, you'll eventually come to the ruins of an old home, inside of which you will find a Magic Source. There is also a save point in this house for your saving pleasure, If you continue along the path as it circles around behind the city, you'll find an eerie machine set in the middle of a large chasm. Though you cannot use or even understand the machine, you can very well liberate an Aurora Armlet from a nearby chest. Going down the right path, you'll come across two more ruined homes (there are two path's beyond them, but you cannot traverse wither at this point in time). Inside one home, you'll find a chest containing a Guard Source. Inside the other, you'll discover an Elixir and an E. Skill materia. There are also some beds here, and you are presented with the option to rest. And if there was ever a place or time where taking a nap probably wouldn't be the smartest idea in the world, this is it. Still, you'll probably want to rest up, if not for the upcoming boss fight, then to simply add to the mood. Cloud will wake up later that night, telling the team that he can sense something... Aeris and Sephiroth are both here somewhere. The group moves out, and you'll notice that a gloomy night has fallen over the Forgotten City. Before advancing any further, you might want to pause and prepare yourself for the upcoming boss battle. The boss in question is a water-based enemy, and has attacks that are all water-based. Thus, anyone wearing the Water Ring will be invincible during this fight. As further insurance, you might put the Leviathan/Elemental combo in someone's armor. Gravity magic, as always, will prove ineffective, and water magic will be absorbed. Earth magic, on the other hand, will work quite well. However, as this boss also likes to cast Reflect, making Destruct a good materia to take with you into this battle. Also note that one of the three attacks used by this boss is the deadly Aqualung, and you're probably going to want to be prepared for that. If you haven't already learned Aqualung with your E. Skill materia, shame on you. Aqualung is used rarely, but the other two attacks are still quite powerful, as well. But, with ample protection from water magic, you really have nothing to worry about. Head straight towards the center of the city, where you'll find yourself inside yet another ruined home. There is a large spiral staircase, at the top of which you'll discover the Comet materia. About halfway up the staircase, however, you'll notice a stairway deviating from the original staircase, leading down. As you walk down that stairway, you'll find yourself approaching a beautiful crystalline city below. In all honesty, words cannot convey the raw beauty and celestial purity of what you behold. At the bottom of the crystalline stairway (admit it, you started humming Stairway to Heaven when you were going down them), you'll find yourself in the heart of the City of the Ancients. And kneeling at the altar at the center of the city is Aeris, silently locked in prayer. You'll probably want to make use of that save point over there before heading down the stairs below you, which will in turn take you to a series of raised steps resting in the pool beneath you. These steps lead to the altar at the center of the city. The team begins to walk towards the pylons, but Cloud stops them, insisting he go it alone from here. Make your way over to where Aeris is. When you reach Aeris, Cloud has another one of his freak-outs. Who woulda thunk it? You can walk around and everything, but talking accomplishes nothing, and every time you attempt to make Cloud take some sort of action, he just ends up doing something stupid. For instance, first he draws his sword, then he stands behind Aeris, and then begins to draw his sword back. Mysteriously, Aeris does not even flinch. Luckily for her, the rest of the team starts yelling at the Goddamned psychopath to put his sword away. And that's when it happens. Out of nowhere, Sephiroth drops from the sky with his sword drawn, impaling Aeris as he lands. Her eyes thrust open as she goes sickeningly limp on Sephiroth's sword, and the force of the blow jostles her ribbon loose. Her cherished "useless" materia falls from her hair and gently bounces over the ledge and into the pool below, sinking into eternal nothingness. For Christs's sakes, this is a girl that could withstand a nuclear blast in the midst of a heated battle, and Sephiroth here takes her out with one sword thrust to the abdomen. Video game logic... Sephiroth seems just a little too pleased with himself, as if he is awaiting for the judges to award him a perfect "10" in the "spilling the blood of the innocent" category. Cloud pretty much loses it at this point, rushing over to Aeris's body and holding her, frantically crying out in anguish. It's actually a very startling contrast to his usual indifferent attitude, and it just goes to show that when you show no emotion of any sort at any time, it's all going to come out at some time. Sephiroth spouts off some more garbage about becoming one with the planet, but Cloud tells his ass to shut up and starts yelling at him for killing Aeris. As mad as Cloud is, he still for some reason does not see it fit to attack Sephiorth in any way, instead allowing Sephiroth to calmly explain that he is heading "north past the snowy fields" to become one with the planet. Sephiroth then flies off as he always does, leaving you to do battle with Jenova LIFE. The battle with Jenova LIFE has a very solemn note to it, as Aeris's sad theme continues playing as you fight. You can almost feel Cloud's anguish with every slash of his sword. As for the battle strategy itself, it was more or less covered a few paragraphs ago when I was detailing the preparations for the battle. But to recap: water and gravity attacks are bad, earth attacks rock, and if you're wearing the Water Ring, don't even bother with strategy because you're not going to die, anyways. When the fight is over, a solemn Cloud takes Aeris out to the middle of the pool and says his final goodbyes. He then lets go, and watches as Aeris's body descends into the water, never to be seen again... wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section III: Walkthrough|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | F. Adventures in the Frozen North | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /___________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section III: Walkthrough|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Corral Valley Cave Well, the good news is that the game is going to stop trying to make you cry for now. The bad news is that Sephiroth is still out there and still needs his ass kicked. Though Cloud has repeatedly proven in the past that he is in no way up to this task, he decides to set off, anyways, but not without giving an uninspiring pep talk to his teammates. This is mainly because his pep talk consists mainly of "please come with me and make sure I don't do anything stupid", as if chasing Sephiroth wasn't something innately stupid to begin with. The good news is that Cloud appears to be tapping into his psychic powers, and is able to determine which direction Sephiroth headed (which would be down the path leading east from here). I'd insert a bad joke about Cait Sith right here, but I'm too lazy, so make up your own. Head down the path until you see a gigantic conch shell. For starters, you may encounter an enemy here, in which case it's going to be something from the Sleeping Forest. Secondly, before you climb up the conch shell, you might want to first go around it (on the left side), and circle around to the treasure chest over there, as it does contain the Viper Halberd. With that done, crawl up the conch shell and circle around to the top. At the top, begin to circle back down in the opposite direction, only to be dumped off at the entrance to the Corral Valley Cave (note: completely different than Corel Valley). Inside the Corral Valley Cave, expect to see a bit o' monster activity. The place is populated mostly by little midget soldiers called Grimguards, who carry around shields that are bigger than they are. Their main attack consists of futilely spinning the shield around, accomplishing absolutely nothing in the process. They may occasionally bust out with a Bolt 2 or Ice 2 spell, or that's it. They are immune to the effects of ice and lightning magic, as well, but aren't horribly difficult to deal with. The Acrophies is a different story altogether. It is a large dragon-like creature that has a healthy supply of HP behind it. It's attacks are not that bad, but it does have a particularly nasty Tidal Wave attack. Since it always travels alone, it's usually possible to rip it to shreds before it has much of a chance to attack, though. Expect water magic to be ineffective, and it also absorbs wind-based attacks for some reason. Anyways, the Corral Valley Cave is more or less one giant wall you need to scale. You accomplish this by shimmying up the cracks in the wall there they are narrow enough to do so. The first one you see upon entering the cave is too wide, so you'll have to go up that one on the left, instead. Climb up, and then hop off to the left. Head left to another gap you can shimmy up. At the top, you can either go left or right. If you co left, you can pilfer the chest on the ledge above you for the Bolt Armlet inside (the same can be accomplished by crawling up to the ledge where the chest is, but it is not necessary). Head over towards the right side of the screen now to another gap. First, you might want to head down to the treasure chest below and nab the Hypnocrown. From there, head back up to the top of this gab and hop off to the left. Continue left to another gap, and crawl to the top of it. Again disembarking on the left, head in that direction until you reach a vertical railing that spans the height of the entire cave. At the bottom of it, you will find the Magic Plus materia. At the top, you will find a ledge which leads right and to the exit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Icicle Inn You'll emerge from the Corral Valley Cave in a snowy field. And with a new area comes a new set of enemies. But, like most enemies as of late, they ain't much to worry about. The Bandersnatch sounds more like a bad porn title than an enemy, but what are ya gonna do? There's not much to mention here except a weakness to fire magic. The Hopping, is a cute little snowshoe bunny that hops up and down on the battlefield, If you can take it upon yourself to harm these adorably cute and relatively harmless creatures, note that physical attacks tend to miss more often than they should, but the problem isn't too detrimental. Still, magic is the easier way to get rid of them, even though they have no weaknesses. The final enemy is one that can only be encountered on the few small, unfrozen tips of the land. Still, you'll likely want to go out of your way to face the Vlakrodos, for several reasons. For starters, they are mentioned in section XIX.B. of the FAQ. They can also be very important to chocobo breeding (for more on that whole mess, check out section X. of the FAQ). But the fight itself isn't quite so easy. Consider yourself lucky that the Vlakrodos has very weak attacks, because it's a pain to kill. It's HP is astronomical, and despite only being half-effective, gravity attacks are still the way to go in this fight (you'll probably want to start off with a shot of Demi 2 or Laser, and then go with Demi 3 for the rest of the fight). The Sense materia, sadly, does not work on them, but I'll give you a little heads-up and inform you that their HP max is 33,333. That's more HP than most bosses. Anyways, from the exit to the Corral Valley Cave, just keep heading straight until you see the mountains jutting further out towards the left. Go around them, and then start wrapping around to the right (you should spot one of those unfrozen tips of the land in the distance). As you keep wrapping around to the right, you'll eventually make it to a small village called Icicle Inn. I'll go over shopping detail and other things shortly, but for now, we're going straight to the meaty part of things. Probably the most interesting aspect of this peaceful little retreat, is that it happens to be the area that Professor Gast retired to after his little breakdown with the folks over at Shinra. It was here (well, we assume, at any rate) that he met a woman named Ifalna. This name should sound really familiar, because Ifalna was Aeris's mother, if you'll recall. A lot transpired here, and lucky for us, the professor was smart enough to capture most of it on videotape. You can view these tapes at Professor Gast's home (you can't miss it- it's the one with all of the computer equipment in it). Scroll through his personal video collection (which sadly does not contain any porn), and scope out the rare footage. In the first tape, Ifalna talks about the original disaster (the disaster that Sephiroth spoke of earlier in the game). A great calamity fell from the sky and injured the planet. The site of the injury came to be known as Knowlespole, was located in this general area. The Cetra gathered at Knowlespole and began to read the planet. They did their best to cultivate the land and summon spirit energy to heal the wound, but due to the massiveness of the wound, it could only be healed over the span of several thousand years. But that's when "it" appeared. "It" being the calamity that fell from the skies. It appeared to the Cetra as a friend at first, but oh, how they were deceived. It spread a virus to the Cetra gathered at Knowlespole, killing them off like flies. It then traveled the world, wiping out the other Cetra clans with wanton disregard. At this point in her descriptions, Ifalna begins to get sad, and Professor Gast cuts off the taping. The second tape picks up where the first one left off, beginning with Ifalna confirming what you have probably already guessed. That calamity which fell form the skies, that "it" that killed off her people was indeed Jenova, the organism that had once been mistaken for an Ancient. Professor Gast, judging by those comments he made to the elders at Cosmo Canyon, knew this already. This also, by the way, finally explains to us how Sephiroth is not a member of the Cetra race. Anyways, Ifalna goes on to talk about Weapon. Weapon was created by the planet when it realized that as long as Jenova existed, then it could never heal. Jenova was ultimately defeated and contained by a small group of surviving Cetra, but Weapon did not cease to exist. Rather, Weapon lay dormant somewhere on the planet, watching over Jenova and awaiting further instruction. You see, Jenova had been contained, but was by no means dead. The planet seemed to know this, and kept Weapon around, awaiting the day that Jenova would rise again. This does raise the question: why has Weapon not yet gone after Sephiroth? But, alas, your question goes unanswered, and the tape cuts off. The final two tapes are the ones labeled "private". They were taken after the marriage of Professor Gast and Ifalna, and concern their baby: Aeris. That's right, Aeris is (was) Professor Gast's daughter. But all was not happiness and sunshine, as only 20 days following the birth of Aeris, Professor Gast received a surprise visit... from Hojo! A surprisingly young-looking Hojo bursts into Professor Gast's home, accompanied by Shinra soldiers. A very touching, though horribly cliché, scene follows, in which Professor Gast attempts (and fails) to defend Ifalna and Aeris. Ifalna offers herself in exchange for Aeris's safety. Hojo, however, is fully intent on using both Ifalna and Aeris for his twisted experiments. Before anything else happens, one of the soldiers turns to shoot out the camera, so all that is left for the ensuing struggle is audio. Professor Gast, sadly, died in the struggle. Ifalna and Aeris, as you should know, were taken back to Shinra H.Q., but were ultimately able to escape the clutches of the evil Shinra, and, well, you know the rest of the story. With that revelation out of the way, you're free to explore the rest of Icicle Inn (except the back, which is currently off-limits to you). For starters, you can take the Turbo Ether that Professor Gast was keeping in his basement. Other items that can be stolen from people's houses around here involve a Hero Drink, Vaccine, and an X-Potion. The weapon and item shop here are one and the same, and is run by a geezerly old man who needs to be woken up by his daughter when customers arrive. It seems like such a rustic, backwoods operation, but the weapons offered here are anything but. Go nuts, and buy what you need, but don't blow a hole in your wallet, either. One thing you need to do is stop by the old house of a man who left to climb the Great Glacier. His wife tells you that he is there somewhere, and that if you are going that way, to seek his aid. You'll also hear that there is no chance in hell you cannot make the trip without a map. While you probably can, the Glacier Map is a key item that the game requires you to get. Just tear it down from the wall and move along. As you try to exit through the back of Icicle Inn, the guy back there stops you and tells you that the slope takes a steep drop from there, and that to advance any further is dangerous. As you are busy ignoring his advice, a familiar figure enters Icicle Inn: Elena, of the Turks! And furthermore, she appears to be here without any supervision. This may explain why she's still wearing her bib. Anyways, she and a couple of troops charge up towards you, and Cloud demands to know what she is doing here. Elena replies by saying it's a "Se-cr-et". Honestly, she spells it out for you. And she seems so damn proud of herself that you almost want to give her a gold star sticker (though I suppose someone should have told her that "se" isn't a letter). But then she begins to wildly accuse you of killing Tseng. Cloud explains to her that Sephiroth was the one who killed Tseng, but Elena does not listen and goes right on with her obviously rehearsed speech. Never ceasing to amaze me with her idiocy, Elena spends the next three sentences or so telegraphing the punch she is about to throw at Cloud. This is a bad idea, because I've found that physical assault is often much more ineffective when the target has been warned minutes in advance of the incoming attack. You can press the directional buttons to step off to the side if you'd like, but the only real consequence you suffer for getting hit is the embarrassment of being knocked out cold in one punch from someone who still needs training wheels. Assuming she misses, the weight of her enormous, retarded head sends her off-balance, and Elena more or less rolls right out of Icicle Inn. And who said this girl wasn't a complete dumbass? Anyways, there is one final task you must accomplish before heading down to the Great Glacier. You're not allowed to just walk down the hill: you've got to shred down it. So, instead of making it to the bottom with a few cuts and scrapes, you'll now be making that trip in several pieces, and quite possibly wrapped around a tree. There's a house here with a kid who got injured from snowboarding a while back. You can't miss it: he's the only kid in two with a Snowboard. Anyways, go talk to him and he starts to tell you how he got injured on his Snowboard. Then he just looks at you and says you can have it. He gives you no indication as to why he's doing this, and you had made no mention of even wanting it. It's as if he was just sitting here waiting to hand his Snowboard to any random stranger that wandered into his room and began talking to him. Meh. Grab his Snowboard (after politely asking first, at least) and head off to the exit at the back of the town. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Great Glacier The Great Glacier begins with a most excellent mini-game that entails snowboarding and not getting your ass beaten by it. This mini-game will be mimicked by the snowboarding game at the Gold Saucer, so you might refer to section VIII.C. of the FAQ for more information. However, there are not time or technique penalties for screwing up, and the balloons that appear throughout the course here are entirely meaningless except for possibly a cheap thrill. This is good, because it is impossible to collect every balloon on this course, anyways. Also note that the Great Glacier course is different and much longer than the three located at the Gold Saucer (as opposed to the G-Bike, which was identical to the Shinra chase). The one point that needs to be stressed, however, is that the path will fork twice near the end of the course, and which direction you go at those forks will affect your starting point at the Great Glacier. Going left at both forks lands you in Area 3 to begin with. Going left then right takes you to Area 1 to begin with. Going right and then left will start you off in Area 9. Going right at both forks will place you in Area 5 to start off. Anyways, a conventional walkthrough for the Great Glacier just isn't going to cut it. There are various paths you can take, in addition to different starting points. But, to make a long story short, the Great Glacier is broken up into thirteen different "areas", as labeled on the map. These thirteen areas are the main sections of the Great Glacier, but they are separated by numerous side paths that run between them all. Your ultimate destination is the base of Gaea's Cliff, located just north of Area 12, but there are several items to be found at the Great Glacier, as well. Do be aware that you are racing against the clock, however, and that spending too much time out here will result in your party succumbing to the sub-zero temperatures, Granted, all that will happen is that you will be rescued and taken to the base of Gaea's Cliff, it can still be a pain in the ass if you happened to be far away from Area 12. It is virtually impossible to collect all of the items at the Great Glacier on one trip through, though, so you can more or less expect collapse sooner or later. The good news is that if you're too lazy to navigate the Great Glacier, all you need to do is wander around until you pass out. Before we get started, let's kick off with the local monster activity. The Bandersnatch, which you may or may not remember from just outside Icicle Inn, is back with a vengeance. There's the Frozen Nail, which is an enemy that can't have a whole lot said about it. Accompanying it is usually the Shred, which has a few noteworthy attacks. The Crazy Claw has been known to berserk its target, and the Shred also knows the Cure 3 spell (which it rarely casts, thankfully). Fire and wind are the Shred's weak points, but it is immune to the effects of ice, earth, and water magic. Next up is the Ice Golem. It is an adorably cute enemy, because it is about 1/8 your size. It's main attack is called Cold Snap, and is a magical attack of the icy property. Thankfully, its no more powerful than its normal attack (which again isn't too powerful). It can take a lot of punishment, and also absorbs ice-based attacks. Everything else works, though. Finally, we have the Magnade. The Magnade is extremely evasive of physical attacks, so magical means are suggested to kill them off. All magic attacks work, but fire and gravity magic are its weak points and work especially well. But, like everything else around here, the Magnade really doesn't have any horribly powerful attacks to watch out for. The final enemy is the Snow, which is a lot like the Jemnezmy from the Temple of the Ancients. Snow is an extremely rare encounter, but odds are you'll meet her at least one. This is because you will meet one at Area 13, if you venture out there. She can confuse you, and also has a Cold Breath attack which does a moderate amount of magical damage to one of your characters. She can take quite a bit of punishment, but given the "boss battle" motif, is horribly easy to kill. Prey on her weakness to fire, and she's out for the count in no time. Just avoid ice magic, which she absorbs. Oh, and one last thing, you can steal the Circlet, a kickass accessory from her, so don't forget to bring the Steal materia along. Area 1 would be the entrance to the Great Glacier. If you head south from here, you can go back to Icicle Inn. You can also make this your starting point by going left then right at the snowboard course. This is the best starting point to choose if you'd like to back off, save, and take your time going through the Great Glacier. There are no items or other things of interest to be found here, but from here, you may head west to Area 2, north to Area 3, or east to Area 5. Area 2 is located quite some distance northwest of Area 1. Like Area 1, there is nothing to do or see here at Area 2 except advance to other areas. The path leading south from here will take you to Area 1, the east path goes to Area 3, and the path leading north heads to Area 6. Area 3 is a maze of trees directly north of Area 1. It's where you'll land if you chose to go left twice back at the snowboarding course, and there's also a Mind Source lying around here somewhere. From here, you can travel south to Area 1, west to Area 2, or east to Area 4. Area 4 is nestled in between Area 3 and Area 5, and is more or less northeast from the entrance to the Great Glacier. Area 4 rather large, as well. The lake at the Great Glacier borders Area 4 on its northwestern side, but a large slab of ice grows on it, allowing you to cross. For starters, you can pick up the Potion located on the slab. Secondly, if you exit the screen on the northwestern side (where the slab is), you are taken to an ice cube maze. You have probably seen these kinds of puzzles before, where you can only jump on the overturned cubes, but when you jump onto one, the status of all cubes adjacent is reversed? Your reward for making it to the other side is the Safety Bit. Anyways, back at the main section of Area 4, you can exit the screen on the left side (heading west or south) to go to Area 3, on the right side (going east or south) to go to Area 5, or head north (along that thing ridge) to Area 9. Area 5 is located east of the entrance to the Great Glacier, and rests at the base of the large mountain on the eastern side of the area. There is a cave here at Area 5, but there is nothing in it. Rather, it is a very long ice slide that will eject you from the Great Glacier if needed (though, personally, I think that the escape route would have been a lot more effective had it been located further from the entrance). You might also have landed here if you chose to go right at both forks back at the snowboard course. Other than that, the paths on the northern edge of Area 5 fork. The left path goes to Area 4, and the right to Area 10. You can also head south from here to go to Area 1. Area 6 is located on the western edge of the Great Glacier, and lies some distance northwest of Area 2. There is a small cave here (which has two entrances, as you might see), that contains an Elixir. You can also travel south to Area 2, east to Area 7, and both paths leading north will take you to Area 11. Area 7 is probably as close to the center of the Great Glacier as you are going to get. It lies just north of where the lake spawns a river, and consists mainly of a log bridge crossing that river. Other than that, there are really only two places you can head from here. Exiting Area 7 on the left side of the chasm takes you to Area 6, while exiting on the right goes to Area 9. Area 8 lies almost directly north of Area 9, but the only path that runs through it connects to Areas 10 and 12. Area 8 is an important stop on the map if you're headed towards Area 13. Since you'll probably end up coming this way, anyways (unless you're approaching from the west), you'll likely want to stop and touch the Hot Springs here. Touching the Hot Springs has no visible effect on your character, but is helpful in acquiring something from the crazy lady at Area 13. From here, head northwest to Area 12, or southeast to Area 10. Area 9 is more or less a featureless terrain that borders the eastern edge of the lake at the Great Glacier. There is a lone tree here (which also appears on the map, mind you), but that's about it. This is also the furthest into the Great Glacier as can be chosen as a starting point , and can be reached by taking a right and then a left back at the snowboarding course. From here, you can head south along the edge of the lake to Area 4, east and up the mountain to Area 10, or west to Area 7. Note that going north, rather than taking you to Area 8, will also take you to Area 7. Area 10 is located in the heart of the large mountain on the eastern edge of the Great Glacier. Several paths converge here, as well. The southern path leads to Area 5. The lower left path heads to Area 9, and the higher left path takes you to Area 8. The northern path should take you to Area 13, but does not (even though you can take a path from Area 13 to area 10, it's more or less a one-way trip). This path will instead take you to Area 8, but it is important to note that when traversing this path (from Area 10 to Area 8 rather than Area 13), that you can find the Added Cut materia lying along the northern edge of the path (on the second screen of the two-screen path). It blends in very well with its surroundings and can be very hard to spot, so keep your eyes peeled. Area 11 is a quiet, lonely place that rests along the northwestern mountain. It is located near where the river flowing north form the lake turns right. From here, you may head west to Area 6, south to Area 7, or east to Area 12 (these routes may look a tad different if you happen to be looking at them on the map you blatantly stole from Icicle Inn, though). Area 12 is a God-forsaken blizzard-ridden snowfield located on the northern edge of the Great Glacier. Take special note as to which direction you are facing when you enter Area 12, because the game does its absolute best to disorient you. You are allowed to place markers as you move, and do so with wanton disregard (you have an infinite amount). You're best advised to move slowly, placing markers as you move. When the camera begins to spin, wait for it to stop before moving on. Also, there is a small cave located in the direct center of area 12, which helps to serve as a mark, as well as containing an All materia. Remember that the entrance to the cave faces south. The western exit of Area 12 leads to Area 11, the southern exit leads to Area 8, and the eastern exit is the only way to access Area 13. The northern exit, lastly, takes you to the base of Gaea's Cliff. Go there last. Area 13 is the far northeastern corner of the map, deep within the mountains. The creepy snow lady lives here, and if you speak to her after touching the Hot Springs at Area 8, she freaks out and goes psycho on your ass. The snow lady would be the one and only occurrence of the Snow creature mentioned in the enemy activity paragraph, and will indeed reap the Alexander materia when killed. Back outside her cave, you can head north back to Area 12, or south to Area 10 (though be aware that the path to Area 10 is a one-way trip, because for some reason you will not be allowed to take the same path back to Area 13). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Gaea's Cliff Before we set off, I'd just like to make note that everything at Gaea's Cliff is indeed a lost-forever, as discussed in section I.F. of the FAQ. This includes not only the items, bit several enemy skills, as well. Not all of the enemy skills here are lost-forevers, mind you (only Trine is), but this is still the last chance until the end of the game you'll have to pick up Magic Breath and Bad Breath. Take heed, and then let's get moving. One of two possible events will land you at the base of Gaea's Cliff. The first would be actually traveling here from Area 12 of the Great Glacier. The second, and most likely method is having passed out back at the Great Glacier, and through some miracle were discovered by this guy who just happened to be passing by (which is even more amazing when you consider that this is a guy who never leaves his cabin). Anyways, he introduces himself as Holzoff, a fellow rock climber who has been living here at the base of Gaea's Cliff for the last 20 years. Hey, asshole, maybe you should go back and visit your wife back at Icicle Inn every once in a while 'eh? Anyways, despite any effort you make to not hear his boring old man story, he is going to force you to sit down and listen to it, anyways (honestly, I clearly and specifically told him "no", and he still went on with the story. Unreal.) Anyways, him and his climbing buddy (someone named "Yakuza", or some other unpronounceable name), were scaling the cliff. Needless to say, it was colder than Hillary Clinton on a bad day. And, well, the other guy couldn't handle it anymore, so he cut his rope and plummeted to his death. Holzoff didn't notice until it was too late, sadly. He now resides at the foot of the cliff giving unsolicited advice and stories to passing climbers. He does give you two seemingly vital pieces of information, however. The first is to always "check your route" as you climb. Don't try to make any sense of it, because I was thinking on that one for the better half of an hour. That isn't a tactic which is limited to rock climbing, dumbass. Anyways, the second, and more useful piece of information is that you must periodically stop and "warm yourself up". What you do is rapidly press the appropriate button to rub your body against itself to generate heat. This idea really makes you want to take Tifa along, doesn't it? Before leaving Holzoff's cabin, finally, you can and should both rest and save. Outside the cabin, the rest of the team has gathered. Barret starts to get really philosophical at this point, because at this point he is literally struggling against the planet he is trying to save. If you talk to Cait Sith, he also lets you in on the fact that Rufus is headed out this way, as well. On a final interesting note, nobody on the team really seems to appear to be that cold, except for Yuffie. Tifa, especially, worries me. Given what she's wearing, she should be freezing her pretty little ass off. Either that, or she's a robot. Anyways, from here, you can either form your party and move out to Gaea's Cliff, or head back into the Great Glacier for missed items. Amazingly, no matter how many times you go back to the Great Glacier and pass your stupid frozen ass out, Holzoff will rescue you. It's like he's stalking you or something. So get what you need done, and then let's advance You'll find yourself at the base of Gaea's Cliff. Climbing it isn't horribly difficult, as Cloud ascends without the assistance of tools of any sort. He just grabs ahold of the ledge and up he goes. Note the red flags along the way that mark the ledges, but they are really of little importance. Just keep climbing, and Cloud more or less goes in the direction he needs to go. Be wary, however, of your temperature. If it drops below 26, you pass out and Holzoff has to come rescue your frozen ass. As a general rule of thumb, you'll probably want to stop and warm yourself up if your temperature hits or drops below 30 degrees or so. But what's really amazing is the extremely low temperature your bodies can survive being at for some odd reason. The average human can't drop far below the average body temperature of 98.6 degrees, while Cloud and company have no problem with their body temperature at 30 degrees (which, by the way, is enough for their blood to have frozen over) and lower, even. Abolutely amazing. Anyways, at the top of the edge is the entrance to the caverns of Gaea's Cliff. By the by, I've probably received more e-mail concerning the above paragraph than the rest of the contents of this FAQ combined. Many people felt the need to let me know that in the parts of the world that aren't America, there's this strange method of gauging temperatue known as Celcius, and in Celcius, the numbers listed above actually make sense and wouldn't result in your blood becoming a non-tasty popsicle treat. But this is Texas. And down here in the state where we're lucky to have electricity and running water, we still found it biblically screwed up to see Cloud prancing about in temperatures lower than Hilary Clinton. Frankly, I blame the translators. Lazy bastards. Anyways, on with the dungeon. You need not worry about the temperature in here, but there are some enemies you should be aware of. The Evilhead is more of a pain in the ass than anything. It's attacks are not that powerful, but Ultrasound also silences you and Blood Suck heals them in the process (but is thankfully so weak that it really wouldn't matter one way or another). They have no weaknesses, but are really easy to kill regardless. The Zolkalter is also of little mention. It can poison you with its Toxic Barf, but is overall a very weak and easy to kill monster. Simply avoid poison magic, which it absorbs. The Head Bomber is a bit tougher than the first two enemies, but is still not of too much concern. It can enrage your characters with its Extreme Bomber, possess semi-powerful physical attacks, and can take a moderate amount of punishment, to boot. Moving on, then, to the Stilva. The Stilva is a badass that will more than likely introduce you to its Magic Breath attack. And if you're not keeping that HP up, Magic Breath is enough to wipe out your entire team in one blast alone. However, you can use its own attack against it by learning Magic Breath with your E. Skill materia. It is also capable of casting Trine (another attack you can learn with E. Skill), but rarely does. In addition, its physical attacks are just nasty. Thankfully, its HP isn't too high (2,000 HP, to be exact), meaning that it won't have the chance to damage you too badly if you lay on the big damage right from the outset of the battle (though you should still be warned that Magic Breath is usually the Stilva's opening attack). If not, then by all means beware the Magic Breath. The Malboro is another odd enemy. You'll only meet it at some of the "outdoor" areas of Gaea's Cliff, and it always travels alone. Nine times out of ten, it attacks with its Frozen Beam, a powerful ice magic against any one character on your team. Its other attack, it uses rarely, but it can completely ruin your day if you're not prepared for it. Still, you might want to whip out the Ribbon to prepare yourself for the effects of Bad Breath, because you can indeed utilize the attack for yourself with the E. Skill materia. The final enemy here is not a random encounter, but an enemy you'll have to fight a few times to advance at a certain point. I don't suppose you could call the Icicle an enemy, as it is an inanimate object, but you are required to fight them, and they do retaliate with a slightly damaging physical attack every time you hit them. They always appear in the company of Evilheads, but here's a hint: kill the Icicle, and the battle is over. The Icicle absorbs ice, but has several weaknesses, including fire, earth, and gravity magic. Failing all else, Demi 2 or Laser is an instant deathblow to the Icicle, and ends the battle immediately. Anyways, you'll find yourself inside an ice-filled cavern. Begin by heading into the back of the first room, and you will emerge on a small ledge. You can't advance very far into this room, as the pathway is blocked with stalagmites. And as we all know, your team is completely incapable of melting them, or just kicking them or something... Noooooo, we have to go it the hard way. To the left of the way you came in, you'll notice a second path leading back to the room you came from. Take that pathway, and follow it (it is linear, but be sure to nab the Javelin from a chest along the way). It wraps around and leads back to the top of the room with the stalagmites. You'll see a boulder at the top of the path which you can push. It moves excruciatingly slow, given the supposed amount of inertia is should possess. It does do a good job of taking out the stalagmites, though. Return to that room and cross the newfound path. From there, the exit is close by. You'll emerge on the cliffside once more. It really doesn't matter which path you take at the forks, because all of the routes merge eventually, so go nuts. Just keep moving up (movin' on up... to the east side). Again, stop to warm up if your temperature drops, cause you really don't need to be going back to the start. Inside the next cavern, you'll find yourself unable to reach the exit because a small puddle of water is resting between the exit and the rest of the room. You're not allowed to jump it or wade through it or anything... nooooo... because again, we have to do things the hard way. Also note that treasure chest in the corner that you can't get to right now because video games just suck like that. What you're going to have to do is exit through that door to the right. You'll find yourself in the middle of a narrow valley, on the right one of two paths wrapping around their respective mountains, separated by a very narrow chasm. And no, you aren't allowed to jump the damn thing... gotta do things the hard way... Follow the path until it wraps around the ledge and up to a new room. In this room, there will be four Icicle battles. After each battle, you are given to option to jump down to the room below, but you're going to want to fight all four battles before doing that. Also, before jumping down, you might also want to empty the two treasure chests in this room. They contain a Fire Armlet and a Last Elixir. Why it is called "Last Elixir" is beyond me, but it is in reality a Megalixir. Anyways, if you have already chopped down all four icicles, just exit the room, come back in, and walk over to the ledge. The game should ask you if you want to jump down or not. Unless you want to stick around up here and look at the pretty colors, hop on down. Back on the bottom floor, you'll find that the Icicles whose asses you kicked dropped down to form a convenient bridge to the exit. Before leaving, you might also want to nab that Speed Source before moving on to the next room. The icicle bridge leads you, of course, to the other side of the great chasm. And by "great chasm", I mean that three inch gap that you were too much of a pussy to jump over. First, grab the Enhance Sword from the chest to your left, and then follow this path to the third cliffside area. If you managed to scale the first two cliffsides, then the third should be no problem to you. Again pay no mind to which way you are going, so long as you travel upwards, you'll make it. And do mind to keep yourself warm, cause it's a long way back from here, and you really don't want to make Holzoff come all of the way out here to rescue your frozen ass. Just inside the next cave, there's a save point and a pool which will restore your HP/MP. Methinks there's a boss fight pending? Indeedy-do. Let's prepare. The next boss is actually two targets in one, making things doubly dangerous. You also need to kill both of them for the thing to finally die. The left target is ice-based, and thus absorbs ice magic. The right side is fire-based and thus absorbs fire magic. Both are immune to gravity magic, and neither possesses any weaknesses. Depending on the side attacking, they will attack with either a powerful Ice Breath or Fire Breath attack, which does some pretty nasty elemental damage to each opponent. But be the most wary of the capacity of both sides to cast Quake 3 on the entire party. Also note that both sides get Quake 3 as a dying attack, meaning that if you don't keep your HP up, it's going to take you down with it. First and foremost, you may wish to equip weapons, accessories, and/or materia that will protect you from the affortmentioned attacks. That being said, you probably should still take other measures to defend yourself. Big Guard will be a major asset in this fight, obviously. If you find yourself having to recast your barriers (possibly using a Barrier materia attached to an All materia), M-Barrier tops Barrier in this fight, for obvious reasons. You should hopefully have Regen by this point, and it should also help to keep your ass alive more so in this fight than many others. Other than what I've already mentioned, bring along anything you feel comfortable using (except for sex toys- they never help in a battle). Heading down the hallway on the next screen, you won't get very far until you are attacked by Schizo. Schizo is a gigantic, two-headed dragon, and each head is a target. The battle itself is more or less covered in the previous paragraph, so check back there for more details. With Schizo defeated, step out onto the ledge of Gaea's cliff and scale the peak. Just over the horizon, you'll see it in all it's glory... It's Knowlespole, otherwise known as the Crater. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: The Crater (AKA "The Whirlwind Maze") The team emerges on the edge of a gigantic Crater, glowing with an enormous amount of spirit energy from within. This truly is a special place... Well, it's also home to a host of new baddies, so let's go over them now. The Gigas, for starters, is about ten trillion times the size of everyone else in your group. But don't be fooled into thinking that that fact alone makes him any stronger than you or harder to kill. In fact, he's actually a huge pussy. He's got quite a bit of life, but other than that, don't expect this lone attacker to put up much of a fight. If it catches your fancy, you might could steal you a Gigas Armlet or two, but this opportunity is a lost-forever, as detailed in section I.F. of the FAQ. Moving along, then, there's not much I can say about the Gremlin, except that he looks like he wants some freakin' Honeycomb. Seriously, he looks like that little freakazoid from the commercials. But, he has no real powers to speak of. The Sculpture is an odd enemy... because it is what appears to be a walking bed. That attacks you. And your team sees nothing strange about this. Its physical attacks are not bad, but is does have a more powerful attack called Fire Shell. Next is the Killbin, another very odd creature. It's a box, which attacks you with either a physical attack, Fire 2, Ice 2, or Bolt 2. Granted, it almost always goes with the physical attack, which is considerably weaker than the magic. No weakness or strengths to speak of, sadly. Lastly, there's the Wind Wing. You are only made to fight them as punishment for being knocked on your ass by one of the windy sections of the Crater. Its attacks are not that bad, though it may choose to bust out on your ass with a devastating Aero 3 attack. Thankfully, this is rare. It also knows White Wind, but never uses it. You may choose to manipulate it to learn White Wind with your E. Skill materia, if you don't know it already. But, again, no strengths or weaknesses at all. Another point that needs to be made is that all of the items to be found at the Crater are lost-forevers, as mentioned in section I.F. of the FAQ. That being said, the Crater's path is very linear. Just mosey on inside, picking up the Neo Bahamut materia along the path. You don't get very far inside, however, before Cloud spots something approaching in the distance... it's the Highwind! Cut to the bridge of the Highwind. Rufus stands at the front, accompanied by Heidegger and Scarlet, the evil bitch. Rufus gloats that he has finally found the Promised Land. In the back of the cockpit, you see Rude chilling with Hojo, who states that this is indeed not the Promised Land, but where the "Reunion" will take place... Back to Cloud. Continue down the path until you reach an area where the wind blows. You need to cross when the wind is calm, lest you be knocked on your ass and be forced to battle a Wind Wing. Oh, and you might want to pick up the Hi- Potion and Ether over there, too. Anyways, past that is a long and winding road, where you'll also find a chest containing the Kaiser Knuckle. You'll then come to another windy area, but with a twist. In addition to just being windy, green energy waves move through at predictable intervals. Avoid being hit by those, as well. Before advancing any further, you may wish to stop to prepare for the upcoming boss battle. Not much can be said in the way of preparation, except that this boss likes to use a lot of fire magic, so choose your materia and accessories appropriately. This boss can also cast Silence, so prepare for that, as well. Obviously gravity magic will have no effect, but everything else works. Just ahead, you'll see Sephiroth using a couple of his flunkies for target practice, slashing them up and sending them into the abyss below. Jesus, Sephiroth, lay off! Good flunkies are hard to come by nowadays... And then he does his little vanishing act. Your team, for once, is surprised. Some weirdness ensues, going on about the black materia and the cells of Jenova and such. Don't try to make any sense of it. What eventually happens is that Sephiroth flies through the air and knocks out your entire team. When they wake up, they get to face Jenova DEATH. Jenova DEATH has a few powerful fire attacks, but nothing too damaging. If you prepared yourself, you'll be fine, as it attacks almost exclusively with fire magic (as Jenova LIFE did with water magic). Jenova DEATH occasionally casts Silence, which is something that can be a pain in the ass if you're not prepared for it. Other than that, just wail away on its ass to get this fight the hell over with. After the fight, the entire team converges where the fight took place (there's also a save point here for your saving needs). You now have the black materia in your possession, but it's probably not the wisest idea in the world to hold onto it. Hand it to one of the characters not in your group (it really doesn't matter who, because the eventual outcome here is inevitable), and then move on down the path (Tifa, by the way, comes with you at this point if she isn't already with you, so be sure to equip her properly). From here, note the save point just a little further down the path for all of your saving needs. Do so with wanton disregard, and also be sure to nab the MP Turbo materia and the Poison Ring lying around here. Other than that, it's a relatively short journey from here. You will encounter yet another windy path, and this time you not only have wind and green energy waves to deal with, but lightening strikes the path at regular intervals, as well. Jesus! Just wait for an opening, and then take it. As you near Sephiroth, the scenery begins to change... to Nibelheim? Yes, friends, it's Nibelheim. And according to Cloud, Sephiroth is trying to psyche them out by showing them false images. No, Cloud, if Sephiroth wanted to psyche you out, he'd show you a picture of your ass just before he kicked it to high hell. What you first see is Sephiroth entering Nibelheim that day five years ago... and behind him is not Cloud, but a soldier who will later be identified as Zach. Cloud laughs at the stupidity of all of this, and if you talk to Tifa, she just tells you it's an illusion and not to worry about it. Despite her own words, Tifa seems pretty freaked out, if you ask me. Also note how Cloud becomes increasingly defensive. The next scene plays, again switching out Cloud for Zach. This time it's the day where Sephiroth barbecued the whole village. Cloud and Tifa talk to each other right now literally like a couple of kids who are being picked on and are trying (poorly) to act like it doesn't bother them. Cloud calls out to Sephiroth, saying that he knows that Sephiroth is trying to make it look like Cloud was not at Nibelheim five years ago. That's when the real Sephiroth appears, glad that Cloud has finally realized this. Cloud replies with a, "what you are trying to say is that you want to confuse me, right?" Sephiroth replies with a few words of his own, but this whole discussion can more or less be translated into: "you're a poop-head," and "I know you are, but what am I?" Sephiroth does have a point though, as he more or less elaborates on. Plus, he delivers one of the coolest lines in the game: "what I have shown you is reality. What you remember, that is the illusion." Walk up to Sephiroth and talk to him, and Cloud will ask him why he is doing this. Sephiroth explains that this is Cloud's true self, and that he never imagined that a "failed experiment" would turn out so useful. He stops beating around the bush at this point, and openly tells Cloud that he is nothing more than a clone of Sephiroth himself, constructed by Hojo after the incident at Nibelheim. Furthermore, he was the "failed" clone, that wasn't even given a number. And when you take a look at the freaks walking around that actually got numbers, that's probably the biggest insult thrown Cloud's way thus far. Sure, Cloud may be a mental case, but at least he can still kick your ass once he's done freaking out. These Goddamned caped freaks don't even have the capacity to wipe themselves after going to the bathroom. The scene gets more pathetic when Cloud talks to Tifa. She tells him not to listen, and Cloud assures her that he's not. This could not get any more childish if Cloud were to suddenly burst out with, "I am rubber, you are glue!" But the interesting thing is that the both of them really are bothered here. Tifa claims that she has known Cloud since childhood, and that they have many memories together. Thus, there is no way Cloud could have been created after the fact. Sephiroth then threatens to make an image out of what if currently on Tifa's mind, and that shuts her up pretty quick, though. Hmm... interesting... Talk to Tifa again. Cloud goes about ten minutes too far in trying to defend the fact that he is actually who he claims to be. Why he is explaining this to the one person that actually believes him, I do not know, but then again, Tifa seems to be a little confused herself. It almost seems like she's starting to believe what Sephiroth is saying, given her withdrawn reply. Sephiroth comes to explain that the cells of Jenova inside of Cloud have merged with Tifa's memories to create the memories they have together, which may have included a childhood friend named Cloud. This is probably one of the most screwed up explanations for anything I have ever heard, but sadly, it's the least screwed up explanation we have so far. Tifa at this point just tells Cloud to stop thinking, as if that was going to help at all. Some more banter between Sephiroth and Cloud ensues. Sephiroth, tiring of this, decides to pull out his trump card, which would be the photo that was taken of the team before they ascended Mt. Nibel. Indeed, Cloud is absent from the photo, having been again replaced with Zach. Cloud gets a little more defensive at this point, spouting off every single action he took from the moment he set foot in Nibelheim that day five years ago. "Well first, I put my finger in my nose, like this, and then I dug around a little, like this, and then..." That is, until he gets to the part about him being in SOLDIER. Suddenly, his memory gets hazy. This is not an unusual occurrence for Cloud, by any means, but this time, it really seems to bother him. He cannot recall when or how he ever joined SOLDIER, freaks out a little bit, and then goes completely and eerily silent. The screen goes dark, and you hear Tifa call out to Cloud. Cloud announces that they should be moving out, and that he is all right. And of all the adjectives I would choose to describe Cloud right now, "all right" is definitely not one of them. And where are you going? You saw Sephiroth; you had your damn chance. Might I suggest that when you encounter Sephiroth next time that you kick his ass rather than argue with him? The scene switches to the friendly Shinra folk. Rufus, Scarlet, and Hojo make their way deep into the Crater, discovering a beautiful, untouched geological stratum that is not only a sight to behold, but also laden with raw materia. Rich, flavorful mako on the outside, and abundant, crispy materia on the inside? No, it's not Rufus's favorite breakfast cereal, but he does claim that this place is the Promised Land. Hojo, as always, is around to tell Rufus that he is a Goddamned moron who has no clue what he's talking about. True, but at least Rufus can go five minutes without spasming violently, you creepy little man. Rufus doesn't particularly enjoy having his parade rained on, and falls back to more or less calling Hojo an idiot in response (for lack of anything intelligent to say). The cavern begins to shake, and Scarlet sees something inside the wall moving. A gigantic eyeball flashes open, and Hojo immediately recognizes this thing as Weapon. Hojo calmly explains that Weapon was created by the planet to destroy everything in sight whenever the planet was in danger, or so it was stated in Professor Gast's report. I would expect Scarlet and Rufus to at least be a little freaked out at the threat of certain doom. They don't even have to scream and panic, just a startled gasp would be good enough. Rufus's response? "You sure keep a lot of things to yourself." You seriously have to admire that level of blatant stoicism. Cut back to the rest of your team, who is waiting somewhere else in the crater. It probably would have been a good idea for them to, you know, get the black materia the hell out of there, but alas, they did not. The person holding the black materia talks to the rest of the team, before the rest of the team vanishes before their very eyes. As that character runs about aimlessly and confusedly, Tifa appears to them. Tifa says that the rest of the team is waiting just up ahead, and to hurry along that way. As that teammate heads off, Tifa takes off her disguise, revealing the face of Sephiroth, who then chuckles and says in an evil voice: "and don't forget the black materia!". And I suppose this should probably go without saying, but I just know that if I don't say it then some idiot is going to be really confused: that was not Tifa; it was Sephiroth disguised as Tifa. Tifa is not a traitor. Tifa also has large breasts. I like Tifa's large breasts very much. Back with the Shinra folk, Scarlet is the first to express some, if any concern with the fact that they are all about to be eaten alive, saying that she has a bad feeling about this place. Well, I would have a bad feeling too, if something five hundred times bigger than me was slowly waking up next to me and was intent on killing me. Rufus calmly explains that they should be getting back to their ship (you know, before they were all brutally dismembered or something), but that's when Cloud and the team are magically transported into the room. Scarlet angrily asks where you guys came from. Though I'd be tempted to respond with a smart-assed response involving the stork, given the situation on hand, I suppose a more appropriate answer would be "Hojo made me." Cloud says to the Shinra folk that they'd better clear out, because things are going to get rough. This place is where the Reunion is going to happen, and that is going to be a supposedly bloody event for all involved. Rufus responds with a dismissive laugh, as if to say, "oh goody, we're all going to die. Who wants pie, then?" Whichever teammate was holding the black materia arrives at this point. Cloud walks over to that character, stopping every few seconds to spasm. Finally reaching that character, Cloud asks for the black materia, saying that he's going to take things from here. You've gotta be joking. The last time Cloud had the black materia, it took all of thirty seconds for it to become the property of Sephiroth. And that was back when he was still semi-sane. You'd have to be some kind of a dumbass to hand him the key to destroying the world now that Cloud has completely lost his mind. And then your teammate does the stupidest thing imaginable: they hand it over. They give Cloud the Goddamn black materia! Arrrgh! Does not anybody on this team have an inkling of common sense!? Cloud, standing in the middle of the room, tells everybody that he's sorry. He says it four times. Seriously, he's really sorry that he has to bring death and destruction to us all. As a final benediction, he tells Tifa that he hopes that she one day meets the "real" Cloud, which I imagine would be kinda hard to do once the planet has been reduced assorted wreckage and debris drifting aimlessly through outer space. But, some of them aren't necessarily unhappy what with the impending doom. Hojo, actually, is thrilled that something he built actually works. He eagerly asks Cloud what number he is. Cloud sadly replies that he was never given a number, and asks Hojo to please give him one. Hojo, upset at this turn of events, calls Cloud a miserable failure. Meanwhile, that tiny voice of reason inside your head is probably saying something to the effect of, "hello? You're all about to friggin' die! Get the hell out of there!" Cloud, downtrodden and depressed, floats up into the air with the black materia in hand as the screen goes white. Hojo begins with his long-winded explanation (as an alternative to escaping this place before he is burned alive, I suppose). Cloud is a clone created after the real Sephiroth died five years ago. Using a combination of Jenova's cells, mako, and spare parts dug up by his assistant, Igor, he created Cloud (it's just too bad that his budget ran out and he wasn't able to provide Cloud with a brain). In practice, Hojo completely failed to clone Sephiroth, as Cloud noticeably looks and acts nothing like the original. However, this did help to prove Hojo's Jenova Reunion theory. This theory stated that even if Jenova's body was dismembered, it would become one again. And seeing as Hojo had to be an idiot and distribute Jenova's cells all over the place, that is why we are seeing this mass convergence of failed Sephiroth clones meeting here at the Crater. He had originally thought that they would all converge at Midgar, where Jenova's body was stored, but he was wrong. Jenova literally began to move (with the help of Sephiroth, of course). I suppose that the Sephiroth thing merits an explanation, as well, given that he is supposedly dead. In case you haven't figured it out, what you've been dealing with thus far is not the original Sephiroth. It's the only Sephiroth clone that ended up looking like him (hence the number one tattooed on his hand). According to Hojo, Sephiroth himself is manipulating the clones from beyond the grave. How exactly he is doing this, I am not sure, but the best explanation I can come up with is this: Jenova is an abomination that is not of this planet. Sephiroth was made from Jenova, thus when he was not entirely able (or willing) to merge with the planet's lifestream. This at least explains how he was able to become a "traveler" of the lifestream, at any rate. From there, I suppose he would somehow be able to control clones of himself, at least. This is all purely speculation, but I defy anyone to come up with a better explanation. Hojo and Rufus continue to banter. Hojo explains that he had been wondering where all of the clones were heading, but that he was never able to figure it out. All that he knew was that they were ultimately going to end up back where the original Sephiroth was. Meanwhile, Cloud is somewhere up near the ceiling summoning Armageddon. Cloud, taking note of the Jenova inside him, notes that he was not pursuing Sephiroth. Rather, he was being summoned by him. This is when Cloud realizes his duty, which is to deliver the black materia to Sephiroth. And as Cloud walks along the... stuff growing on the ceiling, Sephiroth's body, preserved entirely in mako, drops into plain view. And Hojo couldn't be more ecstatic. "Did you see it!? It's Sephiroth! So he IS here! This is perfect! Both Jenova's Reunion and Sephiroth's Will!" He might also want to throw "Destruction of the Planet" in there somewhere, too. I suppose this is another thing that merits some explanation. The Jenova theory indeed stated that Jenova would become one again if dismembered. Hojo just thought that everything would converge at Jenova's body, which it didn't. Rather, they all went for Sephiroth, instead, for it was his will commanding them. The only way I can begin to explain this is that Sephiroth's will is simply Jenova's will that lives on through him, so in essence, the clones are returning to Jenova, and they are taking Jenova's body with them. Hojo pratters on about how cool it's going to be that instead of diffusing into the lifestream, all of the spirit energy will instead be gathered here. Tifa is the first one to point out to Hojo and the rest of the idiots around here that certain doom is not something that Hojo or anyone else should be getting happy about. Rufus, also, at this point gets it through his thick skull that you should probably be getting the hell out of here, and nonchalantly invites the team back to the Highwind, saying that he'd like to hear the full story about what's going on. Sure, it seems like we can trust you, you evil prick. Well, Cloud is too busy floating around to listen to the rest of the team, so everybody leaves without him, as disaster is closely imminent. In a kick-ass CG movie sequence, you'll see Cloud placing the black materia inside Sephiroth's encasing of mako or spirit energy, or whatever the hell it is. Meanwhile, everybody else is busy fleeing in the Highwind. But because it took you dumb asses so long to get out of there, guess who is close behind on your tail? A gigantic hellbeast comes crawling out of the Crater right behind you... it's Weapon! It begins to start charging up or doing something... and then it blasts off into space, nearly missing the Highwind. The force of the sonic boom in its wake is enough to knock Tifa, who is standing on the deck of the Highwind, onto her pretty little ass. A reader of mine pointed out the extreme jiggliness of her boobies at this precise moment, which is something I most certainly would not know anything about, as I am not the kind of pervert who would sit there and ogle a video game character. But I did go back and watch the CGI movie a few hundred times, you know, just to make sure I was reporting accurate information. Anyways, with all hell unleashed upon Earth, and certain doom impending, your job here is complete, and the Highwind flies off into the distance. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww \ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section III: Walkthrough|/ /\ \ _\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż \ \/ / | O / /\ \ _\ /_ | G. A World in Despair | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \ _\ /___________________________ | Ż/ \Ż \ \/ /|Section III: Walkthrough|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: Shinra Building (at Junon) Following the disastrous events of the Jenova Reunion, you are thrust into a mysterious intermission. You should be used to seeing Cloud argue with himself, but this time it's Tifa's mind that we have delved into. The scene flashes back to one day, where Tifa happens upon Cloud lying on the ground at the train station at Sector Seven. He seems really out of it, more so than usual. A nearby bystander sees Cloud lying on the ground moaning, and then leaves indifferently. Tifa rushes up to him and helps him to his feet. Discussion as to exactly how he ended up there is nonexistent, but rather, they almost immediately recognize each other. Tifa asks him a few questions, but each one is met with one of Cloud's classic memory spasms. Cloud mentions that it had been five years since he saw Tifa... referring to the incident at Nibelheim. But he was wrong. According to Tifa, it had actually been seven years. Tifa does not come out and say it, but what she is hinting at is that Cloud really wasn't at Nibelheim five years ago. From what she could tell, Cloud had got his wish, joined SOLDIER, and quit after the incident at Nibelheim. For those five years, he had become a mercenary. But something seemed odd to Tifa then. Cloud did not remember things that he should have remembered, and knew things that he shouldn't have. And that's when Tifa heard of Cloud's plan to leave... to go somewhere far away. Tifa didn't want that. She wanted to keep an eye on him, to learn more about him. So she told him about the AVALANCHE job so he would stick around. And so the truth comes out. Could this all mean, then... that Sephiroth was right all along? That this was not Cloud, but the workings of the cells of Jenova, which somehow merged with Tifa's own childhood memory and transformed the image of this... experiment to that of the boy named Cloud? Alas, you really have bigger problems than that to worry about right now. Tifa wakes up on a table in some strange room. Barret is standing in the corner, and seems kidna happy to see her wake up. The first part of their conversation makes literally no sense, but they end up on the subject of Cloud somehow. Barret explains that nobody has any clue what happened to him or if me made it out of the Crater alive. Tifa asks how long she's been asleep, and Barret mentions that she's been out for an entire week. He neglects to mention the important details, such as where in the hell you are right now, or what happened to the rest of the team. But that's when Barret begins with the bad news. For starters, Sephiroth remains at the Crater, which is now protected by a completely impenetrable barrier of light. There's really nothing that anyone can do, except wait for old Sephiroth to wake up. On top of that, Weapon has been going around destroying things left and right. Weapon's motives are unclear at this point, but I think that "death and destruction" is pretty high on its "to do" list. Currently, Rufus is trying to battle Weapon, which makes even Barret admit that the man has balls. But when you think about it another way, Barret, it's not really like Rufus has any alternative to fighting Weapon, seeing as his is the only nation on Earth, so he really doesn't deserve any credit for not just bending over and kissing his own ass goodbye. Barret mentions that AVALANCHE should have been the ones to take out Weapon, because everyone knows that a small, ragtag team of vigilantes can accomplish what endless legions of soldiers cannot (this is true for any video game, actually). But, again, that's when he points out that you've seriously got bigger things to worry about. Barret walks over to the window and opens the blinds. There, looming in the sky, is Meteor. Well, that just sucks. Kinda puts a damper on your day, doesn't it? Rufus enters the room (heralded for some reason by the Turk's theme song), wondering aloud why Cloud has yet to show up and "rescue" you. I guess this sort of means that Tifa and Barret are being held captive by the Shinra somehow. After a brief discussion about Cloud, Rufus more or less openly admits that the world is screwed. What he has decided to do now is to publicly execute Tifa and Barret and blame the whole mess on them. "People are ignorant," he says. "They'll feel better as long as someone is punished." The hell!? A maliciously evil hellbeast is rampaging the Earth, destroying everything in its path, Sephiroth sleeps in the Crater, awaiting the day of mass destruction, and a giant Goddamned Meteor is going to reduce our entire planet to rubble, and your biggest concern is PR!? Isn't there some way we can impeach your stupid ass? You gain control of Barret after Heidegger ties his arms up. A soldier personally escorts Tifa down to the execution chamber, but Barret is more or less left alone. I guess they just sort of assumed that the gigantic, angry man with a gun for an arm would politely follow to his certain and untimely demise without being instructed to do so. Alas, there is really not much Barret can do but follow, and also make use of that save point you see on your way down. You might want to stop right now and give Barret some materia (yes, despite being tied up and away from the rest of the team, he still mysteriously can access their materia). It really doesn't matter what the hell you give him, just so much as your battle options aren't limited to "fight" and "item", you should be all right. Down in the press room, Scarlet, the evil bitch, does her absolute best to demonize your team to the media. Granted, she has absolutely no proof or even evidence that your team has done anything wrong, but don't think that that's going to stop her. Scarlet explains that with all of the chaos abound, that Shinra desperately needs to rally public support (an area in which, I admit, they are currently desperately lacking). So, someone, anyone, needs to be punished severely. I can think of far better candidates than the ones who are taking the fall, it's just that I doubt that Rufus would want to execute his own employees. Evil Bitch makes a pretty good point when she notes that even though no one will admit it, people love this kinda stuff. And when Tifa is taken to the gas chamber and Barret angrily yells that if anybody is going to be executed first, it might as well be him, Scarlet reaches a new low in demanding that the camera's get a good close-up shot of Barret's "tearful goodbye". Good lord, Scarlet... that's evil even for your evil bitch ass. Scarlet leads Tifa into her "special gas chamber", accompanied by a generous amount of shoving. As Tifa is thrown into the chair and strapped in, Scarlet looks at Tifa disdainfully, calls her a "stuck-up bitch", and slaps her. I don't even know where to begin picking this one apart, but I think what it comes down to is that while Tifa's personality was sacrificed in order to make her extremely attractive, Scarlet's was instead sacrificed to make her unfathomably evil. And I honestly think that Scarlet is jealous because Tifa is so damn hot (plus, well, her being unfathomably evil and all). Eat that, Scarlet. Scarlet and the soldier walk out of the gas chamber, making extra sure to drop the key to Tifa's shackles as they leave. Klaxons blare as Scarlet exits the gas chamber, announcing that Weapon is rapidly approaching Junon. And in case you haven't figured it out by now, you're at the Junon branch of Shinra H.Q.. Everyone files out of the room except for that ugly Cait Sith-shaped reporter, who walks up to Scarlet and says, "How does it feel now, Scarlet?" Before she can respond, he knocks her out with sleeping gas and takes off his disguise, revealing Cait Sith underneath. The soldiers that were accompanying Barret attack you, but battling them will probably be the hardest thing you've had to do since tying your shoes this morning. After the battle, Barret rushes up to the door and tries to open it, but to no avail. This is bad... Cut to Heidegger, who rushes into Rufus's office. Rufus, of course, is not in the least bit concerned that Weapon is approaching the city at a high velocity intent on destroying it. He calmly tells Heidegger that he knows his orders, and Heidegger orders his troops to give Weapon a blast from the giant canon. For once, I guess we should be happy for the Shirna's technological advancement. I don't know if you ever noticed the giant cannon before, but it's that huge thing built into Junon that's about as big as the city itself. Jesus! And the cannon fires. Unfortunately, whoever fired the damn thing forgot to aim it at something, and the blast flies a gazillion feet through the air and finally just crashes into the water, damaging nothing but the reputation of the Shinra. Rufus, having seen this, in a presumed attempt to be funny, goes, "did we get 'em?" Well, Rufus, unless we were looking to blast a hole in the water, no, we didn't get him. You bastard. A few minutes following the dead silence, the klaxons roar back to life, and Weapon rushes towards the city. Heidegger seems shocked at this, because he for some reason thought that you had hit Weapon dead-on. If by "dead-on", you mean "missed completely", yeah, I suppose you're right. Also, you are a jackass. As for the current situation, Weapon is barreling towards the city, and the cannon will take some time to reload. In the meantime, it appears that the Shinra will be resorting to conventional firepower. They might as well be using rocks and pointy sticks, because the one or two percent of the ensuing shots that actually come into contact with Weapon don't appear to be slowing it down in the least. Weapon rams the city head-on, not doing much initial damage, but jostling it about quite a bit. The scene cuts to Tifa, who feels the chamber shake from the impact of Weapon. And that's when the gas starts pouring out. Barret yells through the door for Tifa to hold her breath and that he'll find some way to get her out of there. Sure, Barret. There's nothing that you can do here, because it seems that the door to the gas chamber is kept locked from a different room. Barret and Cait Sith rush out into the hallway, only to have the door to the previous room lock behind them. Inside, they can hear Scarlet cackling that they'll never save Tifa now. Barret is a bit pissed, but Cait Sith says that he may have an idea, and that the team needs to head to the airport. Barret is a bit untrusting, but there's not much else you can do at this point except go along with it. The path is fairly linear, and Cait Sith will direct you in the proper direction you need to go. Any fight you get into will be ridiculously easy, and over with in a hurry, though I do find it amusing that there are soldiers who care enough about the escaping prisoners that recapturing them will take priority over doing battle with the thing that is about to eat their city. You'll see a TV reporter on your way to the airport that turns out to be Yuffie, who will also accompany you to the airport. Just over the horizon, you will see Weapon slowly rising, seemingly intent on doing something very painful in a minute. You should waste little time in hurrying to the Airport at this time. As the team reaches the airport, a brief dialog ensues between Barret and Cait Sith. It ends with Barret grabbing his gun/arm and saying to Cait Sith, "Yo, you better watch my back till the end... partner." It's kind of touching how even Barret knows the power of forgiveness... even if it is a slimy, backstabbing traitor like Cait Sith. Cut back to Tifa. Despite all of the commotion outside, it is deathly silent on her gas chamber. She at this point gets it through her head that there isn't anything Barret can do to help, so she needs to get that key for herself. It's really easy to do (and I'm really curious as to why she didn't think of this sooner): just grab the key with her legs, transfer the key to her mouth by pressing both buttons at the same time, and then transfer the key to one of her hands. In freeing that hand, transfer the key to the other hand. And take your time: that poisonous gas has no visible effect on Tifa whatsoever. You're still going to want to shut off the switch when Tifa finally frees herself, though. But, as you try to open the door, it's really no use, as you are sealed in. Help is on the way, though. Outside, Weapon is preparing an extensively painful blast for the city of Junon. He charges it up, and then lets it rip. Now, I know you were expecting some nuclear-concussive blast or something, but such is really not the case. Rather, is just makes a small incision in the wall of one of the buildings, conveniently enough located right next to the gas chamber. And maybe its me, but that's just a little too ridiculous to swallow. At about this time, the giant cannon (located a good two or so meters away from Weapon's face), fires again, resulting in an almost cartoonish explosion. Weapon looks at the giant cannon strangely, and then slowly leaves for the time being. Lovely. The strongest weapon in the world was enough to confusedly stun Weapon. We're doomed. And, well, according to a couple thousand e-mails I've received, it turns out that what I said in the above paragraph was false. Apparently, I just wasn't watching close enough and didn't see that the shot did indeed blow Weapon's head right open, killing it in a quite gruesome fashion. Of course, if you were paying good enough attention during the CGI sequence back at the Crater, you'll know that there's still more Weapons (or WEAPONS) left to deal with, so there's really no cause to celebrate quite yet. On another note, of all the WEAPONS, this poor bastard is the only one who was not given a name by the game programmers, quite possibly due to the fact that the programmers were lazy pricks. Final Fantasy VII fanatics jumped at this opportunity, and seem to have unanimously bestowed upon him/her/it the name Sapphire WEAPON. I have decided to break with tradition, however, and shall call him Gus. Anyways, Tifa at this point takes full advantage of her new escape route and crawls out of the hole blasted into the wall, then begins to scale down the building, pursued by Scarlet and a few expendable troops who were never taught how to climb, and thus plunge immediately to their deaths upon attempting to give chase. Tifa scales the building and runs along the top of the giant cannon (note the name "Sister Ray" is etched onto the side of the giant cannon, as this is its proper name). But, alas, she reaches the end of the line when she runs out onto the barrel of the cannon, which rests hundreds of feet above the ocean. Scarlet approaches Tifa and a cold standoff ensues. Scarlet, still on her "stuck-up" kick, slaps Tifa again. And here's where things get fun. You get to slap back. So have some fun, slap that bitch, and enjoy watching the catfight of the century. Meee-ow! Needless to say, Scarlet will probably lose. Being the sore loser she is (no pun intended), she calls in her troops to finish Tifa off. That's when you hear a voice calling out for Tifa to run to the end of the cannon. Don't think, just run. And as you near the end of the cannon, something begins to rise in the distance... it's the Highwind! Barret throws a rope over the edge for Tifa to grab onto, and she leaps towards it. A suspenseful note is hit when the rope sways away from her and she falls, only to barely grab onto the rope at the bottom as it snaps back towards her. Following this, the Highwind turns and flies off into the sunset, leaving Junon behind them and making for a fitting end to this daring escape. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Welcome to: the Highwind Before I go any further, I'd just like to say that I hope there was some brilliant part of Cait Sith's plan that he neglected to mention. Tifa escaped mainly as a result of her own skill and luck, and as far as I can tell, Cait Sith's plan more or less consisted of escaping in the Highwind and leaving Tifa to die. Maybe he planned to do more or less the same thing that Weapon accomplished with one anti-climatic blast, it's just that this part seriously bugs me, is all. Anyways, Barret appears glad enough to see Tifa. Cait Sith is here, as well. He says he'll fill you in on all of the details later, but to make a long story short, the Highwind now belongs to you. Sweet! He hops off into the cabin, followed by Barret, leaving you to explore and snoop around for yourself. Do so, because the Highwind will be from here on out your base of operations, so it would behoove you to become familiar with it. There's an operations room just inside (there'll be more you can do in there later), and also even a room to store a chocobo (which, again, becomes more useful once you have a chocobo to fill that room with). Down in the main hallway (just inside the cabin), you can speak with the lone crewman that is trying to look like he's working. He'll give you instructions on how to fly the airship if you ask, but if you choose the "chew the fat" option, he will kindly explain to you exactly how you came into the ownership of the Highwind. You must first understand that the crew of this ship was already disgruntled, given that they worked under Heidegger. Heidegger, if you'll recall, has a little anger management problem. Rufus periodically makes fun of Heidegger, who then takes out his anger on the first living thing he sees. The crew of the Highwind got it pretty bad, and most (if not all) were literally beaten by Heidegger on a routine basis. The crew put up with it, but only because their only alternative was to quit their job. But then came their chance for mutiny, which is a chance they took. It all started a week ago, back at the Crater. It was during their escape that everyone came rushing back onto the Highwind. That is when, the crewman notes, that he met Cid, the legendary pilot. If you'll recall, Cid was the original pilot for the Highwind, so he began looking around the Highwind all nostalgic-like. The crewman says that Cid even talked to him, and was "every bit as warmhearted as (he'd) ever heard." Cid? Warmhearted? Those are two words that just don't seem like they belong together, if you ask me. Like "Oprah" and "tolerable". Anyways, Cid noted the horrible conditions that the crew had to work under, and commented that things would be different if it were him running things again. And, well, that was all it took. Once the ship returned to Junon, the crew rebelled and the ship was placed in the hands of your team. Unfortunately, Tifa and Barret were captured during the process (exactly what happened, I'm not sure). So, the rest of the team waited and plotted, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. And strike they did. Anyways, on the bridge leading to the cockpit, you'll see Barret talking to Cait Sith. Barret is still kind of a bit overwhelmed, an emotion which he obviously will express with anger. "Dammit! Why didn't you tell me you could fly an airship!? I thought Tifa was gone for good..." Aww... how poignant. Cait Sith apologizes for the confusion and hops off to the cockpit, followed by Barret Tifa happily exclaims "Everyone? Everyone's here!?", and hurries into the cockpit