f i n a l f a n t a s y v i i

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C O N T E N T S

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1. R E V I S I O N H I S T O R Y

2. I N T R O D U C T I O N

3. D I S C 1 W A L K T H R O U G H

4. D I S C 2 W A L K T H R O U G H

5. D I S C 3 W A L K T H R O U G H

5.1 Makou Pit

6. B O N U S A R E A S A N D S U B - Q U E S T S

7. P L A Y I N G T H E G A M E

8. S E C R E T S A N D C O D E S

9. A P P E N D I X

10. S P E C I A L T H A N K S

11. A U T H O R ‘ S N O T E

1 . R E V I S I O N H I S T O R Y

of Experience Points’, ‘Super Select’, and ‘No Time Limit - Any Character GameShark codes.

right now, well, it is based on the Japanese FAQ so it’ll take a revision

or two to get everything into shape, as this is a big file :)

Also, my spell-checker and ‘find/replace’ options went a little crazy, so if you spot any strange mistakes, please let me know! ^_^;

2 . I N T R O D U C T I O N

If this is your first time playing FF7, then trust me, you’ll enjoy it.

If you were around back when I was working on the Japanese FF7 FAQ, then

I’d like to say, "Welcome back!" Square has a lot in store for us gamers

and this version of FF7 is by far the best, in my opinion.

For those of you who don’t know, there are three versions of FF7. The

first one is the original Japanese game. The second is the English-text

release you’ve probably popped into your PlayStation just now. The third

version is the pending Japanese re-release, which is just like the one you’re playing, but with Japanese text :) If you’re looking for a FAQ for the original Japanese version, then please download my Japanese FF7 FAQ from:

It’s divided into two parts, "The Complete Walkthrough", and "Extra Stuff

You Should Know". Since the combined size of both documents stands at

993,670 bytes, I think you’ll be able to find just about whatever you’re

looking for in one part or another.

If you want a FAQ for the Japanese re-release, then I suggest you check

out that FAQ, too, but refer to this one if you want information on new

things added to the game, like the Weapon monster scenarios. And if you

want a FAQ for the English-text version of FF7, then you’re at the right

place, keep reading.

Please don’t ask me to send you a copy of either FAQ because I don’t have

the time to send them out to everyone who asks, and secondly, this isn’t

Comments are always welcome and I’ll be happy to answer any questions I

receive either via e-mail or I’ll include an answer in the upcoming

revision of the FAQ. I won’t answer questions if they are already

answered in either of the FAQs, so please read whichever document you are

using carefully before e-mailing me.

Okay, finally, a notice to my would-be editors; those of you who are planning on reformatting the FAQ for Windows WordPad or ClarisWorks or whatever shouldn’t bother. I’ve had four people approach me with rewritten versions of my FAQ, and they all told me how long they spent fixing it, which only made me feel more guilty when I said ‘no’! This FAQ is designed to be viewed with a DOS word processor and the like, and furthermore, I don’t even have WordPad and all those other applications. I’m glad to see that people are taking the time to edit my FAQ, but it’s not something that I am very interested in.

3 . D I S C O N E W A L K T H R O U G H

(Note that the beginning of this game has been altered somewhat from the

FF7 demo disc packaged with Tobal No. 1 and other FF7 demos.)

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Potion x3, Phoenix Down, Restore materia,

At the start of the game, you’ll have 3 Potions, a Phoenix Down, and an

Ether. You can’t equip Materia until you reach Section 3.3, by the way.

Once you leave the train, check the body of the closest guard twice to get two Potions. Then head north. You’ll be attacked by some guards. Take them out with your sword (you may win a Potion for killing them)

and then move left to go outside. Now, talk to your teammates (Biggs,

Wedge, and Jessie), then name yourself and Barret. Make your way to the

northwestern door, and head up in the next room to enter the heart of the power plant.

Talk to Barret, (who joins you) and then talk to each Avalanche member

to open the doors. After opening the second door, head right to enter

another chamber with a treasure chest (Phoenix Down). Then, go back

and enter the elevator (you’ll have to talk to Jessie first). Press the

arrow switch to activate it.

Work your way down the stairs and go through the door to the left. Then

follow Jessie down the ladder. When he stops, search the area in front of him for a Potion (it’s hard to see because of the steam). Climb down, cross the pipes, descend the nearby ladder, and take note of the Save Point before heading down the walkway.

Pick up the Restore materia on the ground in the next area and set the bomb. An alarm will sound and you’ll have to fight the boss, a huge scorpion-like machine.

BOSS TIPS: GUARD SCORPION LV: ?? HP: 800 MP: 0

Cloud’s Bolt magic works well, while Barret should be attacking. The Search Scope won’t damage you, it just warns as to who the boss will attack next. When you’ve done enough damage, the boss will start to shake and Barret will warn Cloud. From this point onward, don’t attack the boss and heal yourself or simply guard until the boss attacks you.

If you try to hurt it during this time, the boss responds with a damaging

laser ray shot from his tail. A few more hits after it stops shaking and

the boss dies. You’ll get an Assault Gun when you kill it.

You now have ten minutes to escape from the power plant. You’ll need to make your way back to the upside-down T-shaped entrance hall where one of the Avalanche members is waiting. (If you’ve played the demo disc, know that you don’t need to ‘search’ for the other members; just talk to Jessie to free him and then get out. Since Barret gets a new gun after the battle, be sure to equip it. Also, talk to the other members to open the two doors on your way back.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Potion.

After the Avalanche members blow up the passage, head up the stairs. You’ll meet Aeris here, but she won’t join you yet. In the next screen, there’s a Potion to the southwest of the circular structure (near the lampposts). Walk south when you’re done. In this next area, you’ll meet up with guards and have the choice of running (bottom choice) or fighting (top choice). After a few more encounters with the Shinra guards, Cloud’ll jump onto the passing train and run into the Avalanche gang. After talking to them, walk to the ‘front’ of the screen and you’ll jump off into another area. Talk to the people here and one of the members (Jessie) will show you a picture of the Makoro plant on the train’s screen. Approach Barret and you’ll end up going to the group’s base.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: 1500 gil, All materia, Ether.

Head west and go upwards. Talk to the kid by the fence, then head west

again (there’s a Save Point nearby, too). Talk to the people here,

then check out the bar. At the top of the tallest building in the south-

east is a bedroom. The kid here will let you spend the night for 10 gil.

In the bar, you’ll meet Tifa, who is also a member of Avalanche, as well

as Marlene, who is supposedly Barret’s daughter. After naming Tifa,

Barret shows up when you try to leave and reveals the hidden base

underneath the bar. After talking to Barret, Tifa shows up. Leave the

base and you’ll have a short intermission with Tifa. When you meet

Barret afterwards, he’ll give you 1500 gil. If you go to the Beginner’s

Hall above the Weapon Shop outside, you can learn more about playing the

game. You’ll also find that there inside the huge cage. The man in the right corner of this room has a Materia by his feet (All). Take it and a chest will drop down that has an Ether inside of it. If you haven’t already noticed, the two buildings that were locked the other day are now open.

When you’re ready, go back to the train station to prepare for Avalanche’s next mission. If you like, you can go to the far right to enter a train yard, but there’s not much of interest there.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether x2, Potion, Tent, Titan Bangle.

Board the train. When the timer appears after you talk to Tifa, go

through each train car until Tifa jumps off one of the cars and you and

Barret follow her. You’ll end up in an underground railroad passageway.

If you go south (towards the ‘front’ of the screen), you’ll go through the same screen 5 times before coming to two guards who you can fight.

When the battle’s over, choose the bottom option to keep fighting or the

top option to run away. You can fight the same battle over and over,

so when you get tired of fighting, just pick the top option. An OK place

to gain some experience, gil, and AP, if you think you’ll need it.

Anyway, it’s a lot faster to just head north to where the green barrier

is and go down the hatch to the west (examine it and choose the top

choice twice or the middle option once). Pick up the Ether in the

adjoining passage, climb down the two ladders, and talk to Wedge. Then

go up the ladder near him to reach a room where Jessie is waiting for

you. Take the Potion that’s next to him and climb down the ladder on the

far left end of the room to reach a chamber where you can find a Tent, a

Save Point, and Biggs.

Go up the ladder here to reach the No. 5 Reactor. The room you’re in

should be familiar. Slide down the pipe and then work your way back to

the heart of the plant. After Cloud fiddles with the machinery, go back

to the large room and climb up the stairs and into the elevator. It’ll

take you to a new floor. Grab the contents of the treasure chest outside

(Ether) and then head to the left where there are three control panels. You’ll need to hit your panel as the same time Barret and Tifa hit theirs (using the O button), so give it a shot. Instead of waiting for them to raise their arms, you’ll have an easier time if you time it so that you hit your panel just before they do. You can’t use the panel if you didn’t go back to the heart of the power plant. Afterwards, go through the opened gate (there’s a Save Point here), and head north.

In the T-shaped room, you’ll be stopped by a group of guards, and then meet President Shinra. After that, a helicopter and a hydrofoil-like machine show up. The Shinra president leaves in the helicopter, but the huge machine attacks you and your friends.

BOSS TIPS: AIR BUSTER LV: 15 HP: 1200 MP: 0

Weak against Lightning

This machine turns to face (and attack) whomever hits it. So, if one of

your characters is low on life, have the person on the opposite side

attack to draw the boss’ attention away. Be especially careful of it’s

Big Bomber—it causes tons of damage (but also increases your Limit

meter quickly). Remember that even if it’s back is turned, it can use a

weak machine gun attack on you. Use potions and the Restore Materia to

keep up your HPs and use Bolt as well as your Limit Break attacks to take

this machine out. You’ll receive a Titan Bangle if you win the battle.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: 5 gil, Potion, Phoenix Down, Cover materia, Ether.

After the battle, the boss will explode, sending Cloud off the walkway

in the ensuing blast. When you awake, you’ll find yourself in a church.

Aeris is here, and you can name her after talking to her several times. Reno shows up afterwards with some guards. In the next room, Aeris falls down while trying to escape with Cloud. Tell her to hold on.

You now have the option of fighting the guards using Aeris or trying to

bean the guards on the head with barrels on the upper floor (if you

miss, you’ll have to fight using Aeris anyway). Remember, she starts off

in the back row, so to increase damage, make her move up by choosing

‘Change’ at the start of each battle (do this by pressing left, then the

O button).

The correct order of barrels to drop is: the leftmost barrel (in the back), the far right barrel (in the back), and the far right barrel (in the front). Simply tell Aeris to hold on each time, examine each barrel, and choose the top option to drop it. This way, Aeris won’t have to fight anybody. When Aeris meets you at the top of the chapel, she’ll hook up with Cloud.

In the upper area, climb up the second beam on the left and jump out of

the hole in the roof. After you and Aeris make it back to ground level,

head left to find a Save Point. To the northwest is a town. Be sure to

meet the man in the pipe near the entrance. In one of the houses, you

can also find 5 gil if you talk to the drunk man in bed, then examine

the drawers nearby. There are several stores here in the slums,

including one that sells Materia. To the far, far right is a path that

leads to Aeris’s house and a garden. You can spend the night here once

you’ve met Elmyra, Aeris’ mother. When you wake up, look between the

desk and the bed for a Potion and a Phoenix Down. Then, sneak downstairs

(or Aeris will make you go back to bed) and leave the house (you can do this by not touching the walls and not running, either). In the lower flower bed to the right, you can get a Protect materia and an Ether. There’s another Save Point near Aeris’ house if you need to use it.

Leave the town and go left to the hole in the wall. Aeris will be here

waiting for you and will rejoin you. In the next location, work your

way upward (by going across the hole-filled metal length, then down the

iron beams and through the passage, then up the brown pipe and finally

down the stairs and heading to the left). After Aeris leaves you at the

playground, head east, then go north to arrive at the Wall Market.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether, Phoenix Down, Hyper.

Aeris rejoins you (again) here. There’s a Save Point in the upper-right

part of the village. The building in the lower left is an inn, where you

can spend the night for 10 gil. To the right of it is the entrance to a

brothel. The building in the middle has nothing in it but a computer.

(If you touch it, a machine gun will fire at you and Cloud jumps away.

You can’t do anything here until later). Just above that building is an

item shop. North of the shop is a sushi bar. Finally, there is a

clothing store to the upper left and some sort of pottery store to the

upper right. A path by the clothing store leads to another part of town.

Here, there is a gym, a restaurant, and a weapon shop. In the northern area lies a large building. If you go east from here, you’ll reach a dead-end area.

Your objective in this part of the game is to sneak into the large building where Tifa is being kept. To do this, Cloud will have to dress up as a woman in order to get inside since men aren’t allowed into the building. So, follow these steps to get the items you need to ‘alter’ Cloud’s appearance. You may want to read this entire section before starting so that you’ll know how your choices will affect the game.

• If you answered: first choice, first or second choice, you’ll get the Cotton Dress.
• If you answered: second choice, first choice, you’ll be given the Satin Dress.
• If you answered: second choice, second choice again, he’ll give you the Silk Dress.

• If you are able to do more squats than the gymnast, you’ll be given the Blonde Wig.
• If you and the gymnast have the same score, the lady will give you the Dyed Wig.
• If the gymnast does better than you, then the lady will give you the Wig.

At this point, you can just return to the clothing shop and enter the stall; Cloud will dress up as a woman and you can return to Corneo’s mansion to get inside. You can also choose to not change yet and explore more of the Wall Market, picking up items that you can use to make Cloud more ‘feminine’. If you’re finished, then skip down a ways to find out what to do next. Otherwise, keep reading (these events can be done in any order):

the guard at the north building). Then go to the inn and pay 10 gil

yourself in front of the vending machine in the outer hallway. Pick

• If you bought the first item (200 gil), he’ll give you the Diamond Tiara.
• If you bought the second item (100 gil), he’ll give you the Ruby Tiara.
• If you bought the third item (50 gil), he’ll give you the Glass Tiara.

• You’ll get the Cologne if you traded the Coupon for the Disinfectant.
• You’ll get the Flower Cologne if you traded the Coupon for the Deodorant.
• You’ll get the Sexy Cologne if you traded the Coupon for the Digestive (medicine).

Inside the Honeybee Inn, you’ll find that the doors on the right side

them and peer around using the control pad and the O button. If you

look in the upper-right keyhole, you’ll see a familiar face...a small

All done? There’s nothing left to do now but return to the clothing

store and dress up as a woman. When you finish, go to the large building

in the north and talk to the man by the food carts again. He’ll let you

into a posh-looking parlor. Now, go up the stairs and into the door on

the far left after talking to the receptionist. Then, go down the

staircase to the torture room (!) where you’ll find Tifa and an Ether by

the smoldering coals. Once she’s joined you, head back up the stairs and go into the middle door. Inside is Tifa’s kidnapper, the nefarious Don Corneo. He will examine each of you when you try to approach him. Who he picks for his ‘friend’ is determined by what items you collected in the Wall Market:

• He’ll pick Cloud if you’re wearing the Silk Dress, Blonde Wig, and have the ‘best’ extra items (the Diamond Tiara, Sexy Cologne, and Lingerie or Bikini briefs.
• He’ll pick Aeris if you’re wearing the Silk Dress, the Blonde Wig, the Lingerie and the Sexy Cologne (in addition to anything else you may have).
• He’ll pick Tifa if you’re wearing the Silk Dress, Blonde Wig, and one

or two of the extra items not mentioned above (or anything worse than

If Corneo picked Tifa or Aeris, then read below:

In the next room, examine the item bag by the bed to get a Phoenix Down,

and talk to the man by the television set after talking to the other henchmen. After revealing your true nature to the love-struck goons, they’ll fight you. This is followed by another fight with the other three punks. Afterward, get Aeris from the torture chamber and then go into the middle door again (if Aeris was picked, then you’ll meet Tifa when you go outside). When you’re through intimidating Corneo, look behind his bead for a Hyper, then stand by your allies. He’ll make you choose one of three options. No matter which one you choose, you’ll fall through a trapdoor.

If Corneo picked Cloud, then you’ll end up in his room. Search behind his bed for a Hyper, then talk to him and answer anyway you like (if you try to make Cloud kiss Corneo, then maybe you need to get out of the house more....^_^;) Your friends will burst in and threaten him (yeowch!) and Corneo will ask you a question; pick any answer you like and you’ll still plummet to the sewers below.

3 . 7 t h e s e w e r s / t r a i n y a r d

r e v i s i t e d

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Potion x4, Phoenix Down, Steal materia,

Once the cut scene with the Shinra flunkies ends, you’ll find yourself in a sewer. Before talking to Tifa or Aeris, climb up the stairs to the south and go along the walkway to nab a Potion. When you try to escape, a blue monster appears attacks your party.

BOSS TIPS: APS LV: 18 HP: 1800 MP: 0

weak against Fire

His Sewer Tsunami attack hurts all members, so use Potions and the Restore Materia to heal your wounds. Luckily, the Tsunami will damage him, too (he uses this attack as a counterattack before dying if he can manage it). When he does the reverse Sewer Tsunami, it causes less damage to him. Fire spells work the best on him. Use Cloud’s Limit Break to harm the boss and use Aeris’ Limit Break to heal yourselves. You’ll receive a Phoenix Down for winning the battle.

Climb up the ladder and head right. Go down into the sewage, then up the

stairs. Grab the Yellow Materia (Steal) and go down the hatch. In the next room, go down the stairs, then climb up the side of the curved structure. Climb up the ladder and you’ll go outside. There’s a Save Point here. Check out the oil drum nearby by entering the train car (near the Save Point) to get a Hi-Potion. Get another Hi-Potion on the roof of adjacent car, then hop off onto the iron beam and check the oil drum to the north for an Echo Screen. Walk east, then south and enter the nearby train car to get a Potion. Climb up the ladder, head north, and climb down again. Go north once more through the train car, then exit to your left to find a second Potion. Then, go north to arrive at the next screen.

Here, circle left around the car to get a Potion. Circle left again to find an oil can with an Ether inside of it. Go north and enter the train to the right to move the other train car out of the way. Climb atop the formerly blocked car to net a Hi-Potion. Now, ride the other train back backwards, climb onto the eastern train car, jump onto the train you just moved, and climb across it and the last car before going down the ladder to get back to the front part of the Train Graveyard.

Head left. The Avalanche members will be fighting atop the support

pillar you first saw when you arrived at the base. After Wedge plummets

to the ground, save your game at the Save Point and talk to the man on the left if you need to buy items. Climb up the stairs and you’ll meet Barret, who is firing at the Shinra helicopter you saw back at the plant. Reno will jump out, and you’ll have to fight him. Good thing Barret joins you. When you inflict enough damage, the boss runs away!

BOSS TIPS: RENO LV: 17 HP: 1000 MP: 0

This guy packs a wallop. He can imprison your friends using his golden

Pyramid attack, and if he does this to all your members, you lose. To

break the pyramids, attack your allies (they won’t be damaged). Watch

for his spark bolt attack (which can paralyze you) and use your Limit

Breaks whenever possible. Ice works well on him. For some players,

this may be the first battle they lose! You’ll get an Ether for scaring

him off should you win.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Sense materia, Battery x3, Ether.

After fending off the boss, Tseng will kidnap Aeris (and p**p slap her)!

As he escapes, the entire city explodes and falls down a level,

destroying it. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret all come to in the playground at

the Sector 6 Slums. After Barret yells for Marlene, Wedge, and his other

friends, he and Tifa join you in the next area when you try to leave. Go

back to get a sparkling yellow Materia (Sense), before returning to Wall

Market. The man in the pottery store will now sell you Materia, and if

you go back to the parlor, you have the option of freeing one of Don

Corneo’s men from the torture chamber. Even if you got the Member’s Card

the first time around, you can no longer enter the brothel, by the way.

When you’re done, leave and go south from the playground. Return to the

Sector 5 Slum and go to Aeris’s house. Talk to Elmyra, her mother. You

can spend the night in the upstairs bedroom once the intermission ends.

Return to the Wall Market and go to the dead-end area near the parlor.

(you’ll see a bunch of kids run in there). Climb up the pipe, and you’ll

find yourself high above the town. If you haven’t gotten them already, go to the ‘Machine & Gun’ store and talk to the man at the left end of the store; he’ll sell you 3 Battery for 300 gil. You’ll need them to activate the boxes in this part of the game. With that in mind, examine the box-shaped object in the lower right to try and start a nearby propeller. Head up, and you’ll jump onto the propeller. From there, make your way to the other box and activate the painted barrier. Climb up it, and use the O button to jump onto the swinging metal pipe. Despite what Cloud says, jump when it is close to you (just as it stops squeaking). After that, climb up to the next screen.

Here, climb up, then drop down to activate the next box and you’ll find

an Ether. Climb down the lefthand pipe and make your way back up again.

Instead of dropping down, continue up, and you’ll find yourself at Shinra’s headquarters.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Elixir, Elemental materia, Star Pendant, Four Slots,

There’s a Save Point here. You have the option of either heading to the

left and climbing up a stairwell (sneaking in) or barging in through the

front door (‘kick some Shinra butt!’, as Barret would say).

Going up the stairs takes forever, but it’s free of enemies and you can

get an Elixir that’s lying on one of the landings. On the other hand,

going through the front door and taking the elevators in the back is

faster, but you have to fight several battles along the way. Not only

that, but you can chase around the Shinra staff before taking the

elevator :) (or at least, you could in the Japanese version. They

all ran away....) You can’t use the circular lifts by the doors yet, but

you can use them once you reach the 60^th floor. If you go up the stairs,

you’ll see a door marked ‘Accessories’. Inside the room, you can look

at a monitor to see a short FMV sequence about Shinra’s products (this

is the 2^nd most overlooked FMV in the game). There are two chests here,

but the lady won’t let you open them. She will sell you items, though.

Remember, if you go through the front, check the control panel in the

elevator (the one that goes haywire) after each enemy encounter in order

to continue upwards. If you go up the stairs then change your mind and go back down, you won’t have to fight anybody on the elevators, and the main area of the ground floor will be empty (an easy trick for not having to fight anyone :)).

No matter what method you use, you’ll eventually reach the 59^th floor. Head southeast and kill the armored guards to get the Keycard 60, then take the lift to the 60^th floor. Here, you’ll have to head to the room in the upper-left and make it to the other side without being seen by the patrolling guards. In order to stay hidden from them, pause behind the gold statues, then lead Tifa and Barret across using the O button. If you mess up, not only to you get attacked (ambush-style combat), but you’ll have to start all over again. Keep in mind that the set of guards on the right half of the screen move faster than the ones on the left.

Take the stairway up to the 61^st floor. Talk to everyone here. A man

who asks you about Aeris will give you the Keycard 62 if you answer

"......". On floor 62, talk to the man in the room, Domino, and the man

in white, (Hart) then check out the two library rooms. Answer Domino’s

question and he’ll give you the Keycard 65. The problem with this is

that the answer changes with each game you play. It seems like it would

be easy enough to simply try each answer until you get it right, but you

get an Elemental Materia for free if you answer correctly the first time.

So, it’s in your best interest to just reset and keep trying in order to

get the materia. Hart will help you out if you need it, but he’ll want you to pay him first. To get the answer, simply look for the misplaced files, write down the first letter of the file name, and when you get all four, try to organize them into a word. Then talk to Domino, and find which word matches the one you came up with (or at least has the letters you found). He gives you varying items depending on how many tries it takes you (you’ll get lesser items if you mess up each time).

The 63^rd floor is tricky. You have to collect 3 Coupons from all three

rooms, but you’re only able to open 3 doors at a time. You can reset

the doors by investigating the computer in the right-hand room, but that

also resets the location of the Coupons. You can move around using walkways in the ducts; to enter them you have to climb into the black, box-shaped structures (there’s one in the computer room). You can’t do that unless you have at least one of the three items.

To get the items, follow this procedure: activate the computer, then head to the top of the screen and open the gate farthest to the right.

Head right and open the left-hand gate, then walk right and go south

to enter the room where A Coupon is. Choose the top option to climb

into the black box and use the walkway to get to the room where B Coupon

is. Finally, go through the door in this room and open the door to the

left, then go north to enter the room containing C Coupon. Then use the

walkway to return to the computer room.

Now if you want, you can just trade one of the Coupons for an item, but if you have all three then you’ll get all three items. The trade setup works like this (choose ‘Coupon Change’):

• Trade Coupon A for the Star Pendant accessory
• Trade Coupon B for the Four Slots bracelet
• Trade Coupon C for the All materia

To get your items (depending on how many coupons you have) go to the computer and choose the bottom option, then the top. Keep in mind that you can only do this once.

On the 64^th floor, you’ll find a Save Point and bedroom to your left. You can use the machines in the exercise room, or waste 250 gil trying to get a health drink (which you can’t actually get, BTW.) If you examine the lockers in the back room, you can find a Phoenix Down, an Ether, and a M-phone (HP Shout), but you can only take the first two items for now. Head to the 65^th floor.

Here, you have to open a treasure chest, then examine a broken section of the model in the circular room and choose the top option to repair it. This unlocks one of the other chests, allowing you to open it and use the part inside to repair another section of the model. When you have finished, you’ll get the Keycard 66 from the final chest. You must fix the model in a counter-clockwise fashion starting from the bottom. The order of the chests you open goes like this:

• Upper-left room: bottom chest
• Upper-left room: top chest
• Lower-left room: left chest
• Lower-left room: top chest
• Upper-right room: chest
• Middle-right room: get the Keycard 66 from here when you’re done.

On the 66^th floor, you can either run into the meeting hall as quickly

as you can (if you took the elevator...it’s a glitch, and was possible

in the Japanese version, at least :)), or you can enter the stall in the

bathroom located in the northwest corner of the floor. Choose the middle option, and you’ll climb on top of the toilet and enter an air duct. Move forward to see what the Shinra members (Reeve, Palmer, President Shinra, Heidegger, Hojo, and Scarlet) are discussing.

Climb back out, then climb up the stairwell after Hojo (the pony-tailed scientist) in the room to the right of the meeting hall. Note that you’ll end up in the air duct even if you ran into the hall...heh, heh. On the next floor (67), talk to the people and keep following the scientist. After looking in the purple chamber (and after Cloud gets another headache), move beyond the crates and to the right to find a Save Point and a treasure chest with a Poison Materia inside.

Enter the elevator to the north, and then watch as the scientist toys with Aeris. Now, choose who you want to protect Aeris, (either Barret or Tifa), and then you can name the lion-like creature (Red 13) that was attacking Hojo. He’ll fight alongside you when the mutant boss shows up. Don’t forget that Red 13 comes equipped with his own Materia!

BOSS TIPS: Sample:HO512 LV: 19 HP: 1000 MP: 120

Sample:HO512-OPT LV: 7 HP: 300 MP: 48

Don’t try to kill this guy’s little guardians; he’ll only create more. Instead, use Bolt or Fire on him and try Restore to keep up your own life power. Avoid using physical attacks, Ice, or Poison. This means that Red 13 is better off using Fire against the boss than attacking. This battle is easier if you have Barret, who can inflict more damage.

Don’t worry about getting poisoned since you can get infected again when

the boss uses the pink gas attack on your characters (there’s no point in

trying to de-poison yourselves). You’ll get a Talisman should you kill the boss, and Grenades depending on the OPTs that you killed.

Tifa or Barret return after the battle (depending on who you chose).

You’ll be asked to make a new party (but you can keep the old one you had

before, if you wish). When you’re in control of Cloud again, be sure to

grab the yellow materia (Enemy Skill) that’s left behind in the sample

chamber. Then go up the ladder and head south. Talk to the man in the

gray coat to get the Keycard 68. Go back down to floor 66 and try

entering one of the lifts; you’ll get caught by Rude (he’s a Turk who

you’ll be running into constantly throughout the game). He and Tseng

will ‘escort’ you to a meeting with the president of Shinra. Afterwards,

you’ll end up in the jail cells on floor 67. Here, listen to everyone, then go to sleep.

The next morning, you’ll find that your door is unlocked. Investigate

the guard, then talk to Tifa. Check the guard again to unlock the doors,

then look in on Barret and Red 13. After freeing your companions, return

to the lab and talk to Red 13. Talk to him again after taking the

elevator up to the 68^th floor, then use the incline to reach the walkway

again. Go all the way along it until you find two purple Potions, then

climb back down and enter the door from the ground floor. The green bars

of light won’t hurt you; run through them and pick up two more Potions before climbing up the stairs to the 69^th floor.

Go out the center door to reach a Save Point. Then, run up either of

the purple stairs. Check out the dead Shinra president, capture Palmer,

then go through the door to the north to exit the room. Outside, talk to the man in white. He’s Rufus, son of the Shinra president.

The other characters will return to the floor below, and you must lead

them outside (you can also choose to unequip Aeris’ and Cloud’s materia

in case you want to juggle them around for the upcoming battles). Your

team now consists of Red 13, Barret, and Aeris; don’t forget to reequip

your Materia (it seems as if the top option removes it....) Head to the

lift (by taking the lower door). When you activate it, you are attacked

by a huge gun-wielding machine while going down the side of the Shinra building.

BOSS TIPS: HUNDRED GUNNER LV: 18 HP: 1600 MP:0

weak against Lightning

You can only use long-range attacks, so use Barret’s attacks and his Limit Break as well as magic to harm this foe. Poison-based magic inflicts no damage, while Bolt does the most damage. Red 13 is a sitting duck if he doesn’t have any spell Materia equipped, so be sure to deck him out with some magic spells (he can still use his Limit Break). When you inflict enough damage, the boss starts to break down. After the second collapse, he starts firing heat blasts that damage all members, so be careful.

After killing the boss, you must fight a flying machine.

BOSS TIPS: HELI GUNNER LV: 19 HP: 1000 MP: 0

weak against Lightning

As with the other boss, don’t use Bio but do use Bolt. You may be weak after the last battle, so make use of Potions, the Restore Materia, and Aeris’ B1/1 Break (Healing Wind) to restore lost life. You’ll win a Mythril Armlet when the boss dies.

The scene switches back to Cloud. Heal yourself if necessary, equip Materia, then press Start. Rufus will then attack you. Feel free to adjust his equipment/Materia if need be before the battle.

BOSS TIPS: RUFUS LV: 21 HP: 500 MP: 0

DARK NATION LV: 18 HP: 140 MP: 80

Kill the panther guardian first, then go after the boss. Although you can’t do anything about the panther casting Barrier on Rufus, you can use magic instead to inflict damage. He can only hurt you with his shotgun, so don’t worry about healing yourself after each round (just heal yourself when your life gets lower). Sock him with your Limit Breaks and he’ll escape onto the circling helicopter after you’ve damaged him enough. Cloud will get a Protect Vest and a Guard Source when the battle ends.

Leave the rooftop and head back to where Tifa is waiting for you. As Aeris, try to approach the front doors. After a short conversation, you and the gang will escape by motorcycle (and truck). Your team is now made up of Cloud, Tifa, and Barret.

An option screen appears where you have the following options:

S Left Attack

X Switch members

T Main Menu

Start Return to game

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Star Pendant.

Use the controller to move any any direction. Pressing S makes you slash

to the left, and pressing O makes you slash to the right. The object here is to protect your friends in the truck from enemy cyclists.

Eventually, you’ll reach a dead end and fight the boss. The amount of

life you start off with during the battle depends on how much life you

and your friends lost during the high-speed escape. If a character lost

all his life, he begins with only 1 point when the battle starts, but

since the boss gets to make the first attack, they’ll have to be revived

using Phoenix Downs if there are any party members who survived. The boss is a spiked, armored robot with six wheels.

BOSS TIPS: MOTOR BALL LV: 19 2600 MP: 120

weak against Lightning

This boss gets a free attack from behind...sheesh. Most of his attacks

do little damage, but his Firethrower and flying fire sweep attacks

can kill your party in a single blast (the fire sweep does around 220

damage)! The best way to beat this group is have your party consist of

Aeris and Barret. Give the All and Restore materia to either Cloud or

Barret, and give the other character Lightning. This way, you can heal

with one character, attack with another, and then use Aeris’ Limit Break

to keep your life up at all times. Ice works better than Fire against the boss (for those characters that don’t have Lightning equipped).

Remember, your rows are reversed when attacked from behind, so put Cloud

and Barret in the back and Aeris in the front if you want them to line

up properly when the boss shows up (assuming that’s who you use...I found

that they worked the best). If you beat the boss, you’ll get a Star Pendant.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether x3, Peacemaker, Guard Source, Choco/Mog

You’ll find yourselves outside of the gate after beating the boss (you could also see this scene by going south from the church where you met Aeris the first time). Decide who will be in your group, then head towards the screen to exit and arrive at the World Map (the outside world).

T Menu Screen

L2/R2 Change from overhead/side view

L1/R2 Same effect as L2/R2

Turn left/right (during side view)

Start shows World Map

Start x2 Shows Large World Map

Start x3 No map is shown

Select Same as Start

Kalm Town isn’t far from Midgar; you should be able to see it if you walk north a ways. Go into the inn to see the rest of the gang waiting for you. Cloud will talk to the others about Sephiroth via a series of semi-interactive flashbacks:

• You’ll start off in a truck being driven by Shinra soldiers. After talking to the soldiers and Sephiroth (Cloud’s former ally in the Shinra army and now a wanted criminal), the truck will be stopped by a dragon. You’ll have to fight it, but Sephiroth (who is super-powerful) can kill it in two hits. In the flashback, Cloud’s portrait is different; this ‘Young Cloud’ is of a low level, but Sephiroth is so strong that you need not worry about losing battles. However, you can’t control Sephiroth’s actions and you can’t hurt him (because of your low level), either. Although Young Cloud comes equipped with an Pre-emptive materia and Sephiroth has several mastered materia equipped, you can’t take them for your own (although you can if you use a Game Shark code...see section 14). Also, Young Cloud and Sephiroth can’t use Limit Breaks (because they don’t have any).
• After the battle, you’ll end up in Nivelheim, Cloud’s hometown.

• When you’re done looking around town, go to the inn and head upstairs. Talk to Sephiroth and choose to get some sleep. The next day, talk to Sephiroth and get your picture taken, then sit back and watch the FMV. When you’re in control of Cloud, head along the bridge and talk to Tifa, then talk to her again further along the bridge and it will break. After you’ve recovered, head northeast into the cave, then keep heading north. Eventually, you’ll arrive at the Jenova plant. Enter it, head along the beams, then walk onto the wood platform and climb down the chains and go after Sephiroth. Talk to him in the next area, examine the chamber to the left of Sephiroth, then talk to him twice, once to make him move out of the way and once to make Cloud look inside the chamber. After Sephiroth goes ballistic, you’ll return to Kalm Town. Pick the top option to save your game, or the bottom option to continue. Cloud’s narrative starts off back at Nivelheim, where he enters the large mansion at the edge of town.
• Inside, climb the two staircases and head to the right. Enter the lower door and make your way into the next room; if you examine the circular part of the stone wall, a passage appears. Enter it and climb down the spiraling walkway until you reach the bottom; keep walking from here to find a library. Leave after Sephiroth finishes talking. After Cloud wakes up, return to the library. Sephiroth gives a little speech then he exits the mansion; return to the town square. Try entering the house to your right.
• Back at the Jenova plant, return to the area with the chambers after witnessing the struggle between Tifa and Sephiroth. Examine Tifa to carry her out of harm’s way, then run up the stairs and enter the door that Sephiroth opened. After the FMV sequence, Cloud’s flashback ends and you are returned to Kalm Town.

Note that you have to go to Kalm Town to proceed with the game; you

can’t make your way through the Mythril Mines beforehand, although you

can visit the Chocobo Farm if you want to. As for treasure, there’s an

Ether in the door beneath the stairs in the house near the inn, another

Ether in the cabinet on the second floor of the house to the right of

that house, and a Peacemaker in the chest on the second floor of the

third house (take the curving stairs). If you take the normal stairs in

the same house, you can get a Guard Source in the cabinet by the little girl. Finally, in the house on the other side of the town, there is an Ether in the door beneath the stairs on the north wall of the first floor. Oh, you’ll be given the PHS (Party Hensei System) when you talk to your allies on the first floor of the inn; it allows you to switch group members whenever you want, providing that you’re in the World Map or standing on a Save Point (there are a few exceptions to this rule).

Leave the town and head east to reach the Chocobo Farm. Talk to the

Chocobo at the front end of the pen and choose the top option to see

the big yellow birds dance; you’ll get the Choco/Mog materia afterwards.

Then, talk to Choco Billy (the man with the hat) in the stables behind the pen. Choose the first option, then the 4^th option, then the top option again. Providing you have 2000 gil to spare, he’ll sell you a Chocobo Lure materia, which lets you attract chocobos to ride.

To catch a chocobo, wander around outside on the chocobo tracks (in this area of the game, you can meet them on the light patches of grass, too), until you are attacked. If a chocobo is one of your opponents, then kill off the other enemies and when the battle ends, you’ll be riding the chocobo. If you attack the chocobo, it will hurt you and the other enemies, then escape, so you’ll have to try again. Don’t forget, you can only fight chocobos if you have the Chocobo Lure materia equipped. When riding a chocobo, your can move around normally, and you won’t get attacked by enemies. You can press X to dismount, but if you do this, the Chocobo will run away and you’ll have to catch another one.

A little to the south and directly west of the Chocobo farm is a cave, but a creeping snake in the marsh before the cave entrance will rise up to attack you. Instead of trying to kill it now, go get a Chocobo instead, who can outrun the snake and enter the cave. Yes, you will still get attacked if the snake touches your chocobo.

Note that you can run across the marsh on foot, but nothing special happens if you do so (and it’s nigh-impossible to pull off without running into Midgar Zolom).

BOSS TIPS: MIDGAR ZOLOM LV: 26 HP: 4000 MP: 348

This boss has two deadly attacks: one is a tail swipe that knocks a team

member off-screen and puts them out of commission for the rest of the

battle. The other one is the Beta enemy skill, which inflicts around

1000-1200 points of damage (which spells instant defeat if your allies

are weak, although you should try to pick up this skill if you have a

Enemy Skill materia equipped). Along with his bite attack, this serpent

can be a tough enemy if you try to fight him earlier in the game. It’s

easier if you try to defeat him after you have Cid’s airplane, since you

can use Limit Breaks and powerful summon and magic spells to kill it. Unfortunately, you get a measly amount of EXP, AP, and gil for beating the boss and what’s worse, he reappears when you return to the World Map, so you’re right back where you started.

Note that if Midgar Zolom knocks one of your allies off-screen, the game won’t end should the other members be killed; instead, you’ll find yourself standing at the edge of the marsh.

The first time you get across the marsh, you’ll see a large snake impaled on a tree. Just exit the screen to continue playing. Also, if you get off your chocobo while on the patch of grass before the mine entrance, he’ll stay there in case you need to return to the farm (this doesn’t seem to happen all the time—I don’t know why). If you’re strong enough, you can get to the Mythril Mines without ever having to go to the Chocobo Farm.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether, Tent, Long Range materia, Mind Source x2,

Shinra x2, Luck Source, Power Source, Guard Source,

Speed Plus Source, Silver Glasses or HP Plus or Force

Inside the Mythril Mine, head northeast to find a green Ether on the

stone steps. In the chest is a Tent, so be sure to grab it. If you try

climbing up the brown vine on the western rock face, you’ll find a purple

materia (Long Range). Climb back down, return to the first area, then head left. Make your way southeast to find a chest with a Mind Source inside, then head west to reach the next area.

Here, you’ll run into some of the Turks again: Rude, Elena, and Tseng. Once they leave, walk north. There’s a chest with a Elixir inside it and a Hi-Potion just to the north of the chest. Return to the area where you met the Turks, climb up the vine, and go through the door to exit the mine and return to the World Map. From now on, you can meet Yuffie in the forests and have her join you (refer to section 8.1 for details).

Nearby is a rocky outcropping with a huge bird statue atop it, the Condor

Fort. Enter it and choose the second option when talking to the man out

front. After climbing up the rope, you’ll find yourself in a town built

into the rock itself. There is a Save Point, item shop, bedroom (you can

sleep for free), and Materia shop here. Talk to everyone. If you have

enough Gil, you can hang around and fight the ‘mini-battle’ as many

times as you want (it’s fun!). Otherwise, leave and go northwest through

the forest to Junon Town by the shore. For information on fighting the battles, refer to section 7.8 (Having Fun).

<KM’s note - Okay, folks, from here on out, it’s all based on the

Japanese version of my FAQ (mostly). So enjoy, and I’ll be back with

more info and additions next time!>

Once you arrive at Junon, talk to the villagers, then go down the stairs

to the shore. Here, a young girl named Purishira is playing with a dolphin. Out of nowhere, a big flying boss shows up and attacks her, then your party.

BOSS TIPS: BOTOMUSUWARU (Bottom Swayer) LV: 23 HP: 2500 MP: 100

There’s not much to worry about; just attack with Lightning or Poison-based

spells and keep your life up. Since this guy’s flying, some characters

can’t attack him (like Tifa), while some can (like Cloud). Find out

which guys should be casting magic and which should be attacking early on

in the battle. Sometimes, the boss puts an HP-reducing bubble around a

character. It only disappears if you cast a magic spell upon it (this

won’t hurt the ‘bubbled’ person). If you have the Affect All materia,

you can use this to cast a spell on the bubbled person and the boss at

the same time. Before dying, the boss will attack with a wave, (he

can do this normally, but always does one before he disappears) so watch

out and make sure your hp is high enough to withstand an attack. If you

want, you can equip characters (like Barret) with weaker, long-ranged weapons so that they can attack the boss, but it may not be worth it. You’ll receive a Power Wrist when the battle is over.

After killing the boss, you’ll have to revive Purishira. To do this, watch the lung-shaped meter that appears in the upper right. Press the S button once to make the meter start to raise. Just as it reaches the top, press S again to make Cloud breathe into the girl’s mouth.

It will take a couple of tries. Afterwards, go to the house near the

entrance to town and talk to the person there (for some reason, choosing

the top option won’t make Cloud go to bed, but if you go back in the house and try again, he will go to sleep).

During the night, Cloud will have another bad dream. In the morning, leave and go to the house above the stairs (your friends will be gathered near it). Purishira will give you the ‘Summon Shiva’ materia, a gift for saving her life. Follow her to the shore, then talk to her a second time. Barret will show up and the girl will keep talking; when you have the chance, choose the middle option. Your goal in this part of the game is to leap atop the iron beam above the electrical tower so that you can sneak into the heart of Junon Town. Your controls are:

X Swim faster

S Makes the dolphin flip you into the air

If you get to close to the electric blasts traveling along the tower, you’ll get shocked and will have to try again (just pick the second option). The easiest way to get up there is to simply not move and press S. The dolphin will miss and deposit you near the bottom of the screen. However, you’ll be perfectly positioned, so if you press X again, Cloud will land on the beam. Once you’re on it, head to the left to get a good view of the flying airship ‘Highwind’. Make your way south (towards the ‘front’ of the screen) to continue.

The next area has a higher and lower level. If you investigate the box-

like switch, you’ll be taken to the lower level. From there, head south

to find a building. There is a projecting roof nearby which has a door

underneath it; just press against the edge and you’ll enter a hallway

filled with soldiers. In the halls, go up to find a locker room. Check

out the half-open locker and choose the second option to dress up as a guard. When the captain of the guards asks you another question, pick the bottom answer.

Then, leave the locker and take note of the Save Point before heading through the door (follow the other soldiers). Now that you’re outside, go into the first alleyway. You’ll come across a group of marching soldiers. The head guard will want you to join in and march with them perfectly, so it may take a couple of attempts before this event will end. You also have to move your gun in time with the soldiers by pressing and releasing the O button. Depending on how high or low the counter was during this scene (the one in the lower right-hand corner), you will get the following:

PERCENT NAME TYPE

21% = Grenade Item

37% - 39% = Potion x6 Item

45% (?) = Ether x6 Item

Afterwards, you’ll have to stand at attention while Rufus and Heidegger

talk to each other...press in any direction and the captain of the guard

will tell you to get back in line. After the rest of the soldiers leave,

the captain will give you an option; choose either option and you’ll return to the locker room for some training on the next event. There, you can try to follow the captain’s orders, if you wish. When he asks you a question, choose the top choice to try training again, or the bottom option to finish the training. Once the soldiers leave, follow them outside.

Now’s your chance to do a little shopping and treasure hunting. You’ll

run into Rude in the basement of the first weapon shop, but he won’t

recognize you in your Shinra guard uniform. Go through the third door

and talk to the guard near the back of the room, then jump down to an

area with several Shinra guards and some holograms. In the far corner

of the room is a yellow materia (Enemy Skill). This place (I believe) is

similar to the ‘House of Learning’ back in Area 7 Town where you could

learn about the game’s mechanics. On the second floor of the same

building, you can get a 1/35 soldier and a Mind Source. In the room

with the cats nearby is a Luck Source. On the third floor is a red Power

Source and a green Guard Source.

If you enter the fourth door on the other side of town, you’ll find that

that Elena, Rudo, and Tseng of the Turks are here. It’s a good thing

that you’re in that uniform :) Go through the sixth door to find a room

with a soldier; you can check the silver trash can for a message and pick

up a yellow Speed Source in the side room. On the floor above, you can pick up another 1/35 soldier.

In the next area, Heidegger and Rufus show up again. You have to do your salute according to what the captain of the guard tells you to do (remember your training)! At the very end, all you have to do is be facing forward: pressing any button will make you do the ‘spinning gun’ salute. Unfortunately, the order of commands is random each time you play, so just do your best. Afterwards, you can press the following buttons to make Cloud do funny things:

S Scratch back with gun

X Put one leg forward

T Shrug

Pad Stand at attention

Depending on how well you did during the salute, Heidegger will give you

an item. Each ‘button press’ action was worth 10 points, and the final

salute was worth 30 points. Changing direction was worth 0 points, but

unless you were facing in the correct direction, any action you performed

was worth 0 points. Also, performing an action was worth 0 points if you

did it too late (although you’ll get full points if you do the action early). Your total score determines what you will receive (notice that Rufus’ reactions change depending on what item you will be given):

SCORE NAME TYPE

000 - 050 = Silver Glasses Accessory

060 - 090 = HP Plus Independent Materia

100 - 190 = Force Stealer Weapon (for Cloud)

200 = (I’ll figure out this one later....)

After everyone else leaves, Red 13 (who was watching from just inside the

boat) will talk to you if you try to leave instead of boarding the boat.

Either way, you’ll end up joining your friends in the boat’s hull.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether, Affect All materia, Wind Slash, White Cape.

Open the treasure chest to get an Ether, and be sure to pick up the blue

materia (All). Talk to the people here, then go up on the deck and

talk to everyone else; you’ll notice that they are your companions

(don’t miss Red 13 :)). The man in white will sell you items if you talk

to him. Once you’re done, go back down and talk to Aeris, then return to the deck and go all the way to the left; one of the guards has left, allowing you to sneak to the front of the ship.

Here, talk to Barret, who is spying on the Shinra members. After talking

to him a couple of times, an alarm will sound. Go back to the center of

the boat to find your friends. Then, assemble your party. If you want to change the setup, talk to your friends again. When you’re ready, go downstairs and head through the door that the one guard was standing in front of. In the next room, watch out for enemies and climb up the ladder, the walkway leads to a chest with a Wind Slash inside. Did you get all the items on the boat? When you’re ready, go and talk to the captain of the guards. It turns out that he’s dead. Then, Sephiroth shows up, and summons a huge monster for you to fight before he flies away.

BOSS TIPS: JENOBA*BIRTH (Jenova*Birth) LV: 25 HP: 4000 MP: 110

Earth, Fire, and Cold magic work well against it, but don’t use Poison.

Attack with your Summon Materia and hit it with everything you’ve got.

Keeping your HP Plus is a priority, since it can use lasers to attack one

or all members. Only use physical attacks if you are running low on MP.

The boss can cast ‘Stop’ on a single ally so make sure that you’re not too dependent on any one character during the battle. Some Phoenix Tails will also come in handy, since the boss sometimes uses a laser that hits all allies (Terror Laser) twice in a row (which can inflict loads of damage). You’ll get a White Cape when the battle is over.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: ‘Summon Ifrit’ materia, Power Source x2, Motor Drive,

Grab the red Materia (Summon Ifrit) after the battle and wait for the boat to dock. Talk to the people here and then go up the stairs. A short automatic sequence follows. In the next area, go into the door to meet a shady guy who will sell you this room for 30,000 gil; you can sleep here for free anytime you want afterwards. Climb down the stairs in the bottom part of the room to reach a basement with a sleeping man.

You can get a Power Source and a Motor Drive here, as well as a Fire Ring

from the treasure chest. You’ll meet Mukki (from the cabaret in the

Wall Market) in the bar, as well as some of his friends. If you go down

to the beach, you’ll run into Hojo (the scientist you met in the

Shinra HQ). You can talk to him if you want, but you won’t get anything

out of it.

Outside of the town, head through the mountains and across the bridge.

You’ll find a cave-like entrance. Talk to the man on the hill, then

keep heading north. Eventually, you’ll reach a walkway that leads to

a large Makoro furnace. Head south and follow the train tracks; there’s

no point in looking around here. Keep going, and you’ll come across

some curving tracks and a Save Point. As you walk along the tracks, you

can get the following items: Double Machinegun, Turbo Ether, and a Transform materia.

These tracks are rickety, and when you walk across them in certain areas

a message will appear telling you to press O so that you don’t fall

through them. It’s better to let yourself fall, because you can then

hold left or right and rapidly press O to land beneath the tracks. Then,

press Up to climb back up. If you landed on the left side of the tracks,

you can pick up a Wizard Staff. If you landed in the middle, you can’t get anything, but if you landed on the right side, you’ll find a Star Pendant. There are three places where you can fall through the tracks, so be sure to get these items.

Take the upper rail path to the next area. Are your friends waiting for

you on the lower track? If they’re not, then go back and take the lower

path. You’ll get an option to summon them using the PHS system (NSS).

Assuming they’re there, take the upper path and keep walking until you

find a wooden shed. Enter it and pick the top choice when you’re

prompted to make a decision. This will lower the tracks on the bottom

path. Before returning to the lower rail path and following after your

allies, you can walk to the end of the path you’re on and climb the wall;

you’ll hear birds chirping if you’re in the right place.

After finding the nest, you can choose to take the treasure in the nest (the top option), or leave the birds alone (the bottom option). If you choose the top option, you’re attacked.

TIPS: KOKATORISU (Cocatrice) LV: 17 HP: 420 MP: 0

This guy’s easy; just attack until it dies. You’ll get 10 Phoenix Downs

should you kill it. You can get two Softs from it; one by stealing, the other by killing it with Morph.

You’ll get 10 Phoenix Downs after the battle is over. Cloud will then return to the train tracks. Keep in mind that this is a one-shot deal;

whether you decide to take the treasure or not, you can only make a choice

one time. As you’re traveling along the lower rail path, you’ll see a

part where the track splits in two directions. Take the left path (the

one that turns back). Walk north (towards the bridge), then right (under

the first bridge). It may sound confusing, but you’ll end up in a little

shack where there’s a bunch of items and a man resting on a bulldozer. There’s a Mind Source and a Power Source here, and the chest has a Tent inside of it. Leave and follow the other path across the bridge in the next area to reach the town of North Corel.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Silver Armlet, ‘Summon Ramuh’ materia.

There’s some merchants here at North Corel and an inn. You can also

learn more about Barret here, whether he’s in your party or not. When

you’re done shopping and chatting, go to the sky lift. After Barret has

a flashback about his friend Dain, take the lift up to the Gold Saucer.

You can return to the World Map by heading right from the bottom area of

the town, but there’s nothing to do out there (aside from saving your game or riding around on a Chocobo).

You’ll see a Save Point in the background of the first area of the Gold Saucer, but you’ll need GP (not gil, like what you’ve been using) to activate it. Pay the man to get in (the first choice is for a one-time entrance, the second choice will let you enter as often as you’d like), and then choose the path of your choice after your companions separate.

If you try to leave the Station Square (the area where you’re at; all

the areas in the Saucer are divided into ‘squares’), Aeris will join

you. As you explore the rest of the Gold Saucer, you’ll discover that

Shinra soldiers are snooping around, looking for Sephiroth. When

you’re ready to move on, go to the Wonder Square. Here, you’ll meet

Cait Sith, a would-be fortuneteller. He’ll automatically join you since

you only have two members (you and your friend) at this point.

Go to the Battle Square and you’ll find a bunch of dead bodies; the handiwork of Sephiroth. As you’re talking to the few who are still alive, Dio, the proprietor of the Gold Saucer shows up and promptly blames you for the carnage. Cait Sith makes a dash for freedom, but after following him, the party is trapped. Dio and his henchmen then summon three large robots that throw you and your allies through the ‘Gateway to Heaven’ to a desolate area, the Corel Prison, which lies at the base of the Gold Saucer.

Here, you’ll find Barret. After he runs away, examine the dead body

and talk to the other guy before going though the southern gate. There

is a treasure chest here (in the chamber at the base of the ladder), but

it’s already opened (anyone know if there’s supposed to be something in it that you could have gotten earlier?)

In the second area, talk to everyone here. The building to the far

southeast is a bar, and a man inside will sell you items. After looking

around here, enter the building to the east (it doesn’t matter which

entrance you take). Barret will show up once you’re inside, as will

Tifa and Aeris. After Barret’s flashback (in which his best friend

falls down a gorge and North Corel is razed to the ground), reassemble

your team and go back to the first area. Examine the guard (who is

dead), then either leave through the gate. If you exit by going through

the area between the gate and the building to the right, you’ll end up wandering around in a wasteland until a caravan (the same one that Tifa was captured in) shows up. When it does, pick the top option to get a ride back to the area beyond the gate or choose the bottom option to stay where you are (in the middle of nowhere...you’ll have to keep wandering around until the caravan shows up again).

Anyway, once you’ve gone past the gate, talk to the man out here and go

to the right. Any other direction leaves you stranded in the desert

(read the above paragraph again if you want to get back on track). This

takes you to the caryard. Go up from here and you’ll run into none other than Dain (the guy from Barret’s flashback). He tells Barret about Erenoa and Marlene (who is actually his daughter), then (for what reason, I have no idea), decides to attack Barret. In the battle, you’re forced to fight using just Barret.

BOSS TIPS: DAIN LV: 23 HP: 1200 MP: 20

The easiest way to kill this boss is simply let him hit you; his attacks

increase your Limit meter quickly. Use the Kaifuku Materia to restore lost life, then hit him with the Heavy Shot when your meter maxes out.

A summoning Materia (like Shiva or Ifrit) is also a good way to inflict

added damage. Just make sure you have all the MPs you need, and you can

win in no time. The boss can pull off a final attack before dying, so

keep your life up (but he can’t do it if you kill him fast enough). You

get a Silver Armlet for beating him.

After Barret’s friend dies, you’ll find yourself back in the trailer.

After talking to Kooshi (Coach?), you’ll be invited to become a Chocobo

racer. In the elevator shaft, choose the top option to have the racing

process explained to you (NSS), or pick the bottom one to skip it. In

the room with the other men, check the alcove by the Chocobo poster for

a red Summon Materia (Ramuh). Then, talk to the girl in pink (Esuto) to

start racing.

Your controls as a Chocobo racer are:

S Speed Plus Source

X Speed Plus Down

Select Switch between Automatic and Manual control

R1+R2 Hold these buttons to refill your Dash Meter.

The more you Dash, the slower your walking Speed Plus is, so conserve your

Dash Meter for when you really need it. You have to keep racing until

you win, so get good fast! Esuto will explain the controls to you again

prior to the race if you choose the top option, or you can conclude your

conversation with her and start racing by choosing the bottom option. If you can’t get the hang of it, then just keep racing using the Automatic Sequence mode until you get first place.

After winning, you’ll receive the Bagii (Buggy) as first prize, and can

now roam freely about the overworld and even pass through shallow rivers!

(Look for lighter-shaded fords along the rivers.) Your controls are set

up in the following manner:

X Exit buggy

• Enter buggy

T Main Menu

Select/Start World Map (press repeatedly to enlarge/hide map)

L1/R1 Rotate view (or return to side view if in overhead view)

L2/R2 Change view

You can run into enemies in the buggy, so be careful. Also, you can

only return to the Golden Saucer if you take the sky lift from North

Corel Town; you can’t get there using the buggy. If you go across the

river south from the Golden Saucer and look around, you’ll find a house

on a peninsula; you can’t explore it yet, so ignore it for now. BTW,

you can return to the desert if you get in the buggy, enter the dirt pit

surrounding the Saucer, and touch the houses at the base of the Saucer. However, you’ll find that there’s nothing to do here but wander through the desert—do so long enough and the same cart that Tifa was abducted in will pull up and offer you a ride back to your vehicle. Choose the top option to accept and the bottom option to stay where you are. And as the help menu indicates, it’s possible to return to Junon Town and take the Buggy with you. After you’ve completed the scenario with Cid, you can explore the house on the peninsula; you can also get Aeris’ Level 4 Limit Break manual at that point in the game (see section 14 for details).

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Fairy Tale, X Potion x2, ‘Summon Titan’ materia,

Turbo, Wizer Staff, Demi materia (and you can get an

Elixir, Magic Source, and the Full Cure materia here

Your next goal should be to head south from the Golden Saucer across the

river to a forested area. Go into the black structure (it’s called Jungle, for some reason). Reno and Rude are here. After Elena shows up and alerts the other Turks to your presence, you’ll be asked a question. No matter what your answer is, you’ll have to fight Reno and Rude at the same time.

BOSS TIPS: RENO LV: 22 HP: 2000 MP: 80

Rude LV: 23 HP: 2000 MP: 135

Use Summoning spells to even the odds at the start of the round, then go

after either one. Once you injure one enough times, he’ll leave, then

the other one will. It may be better to attack Rude, since he can heal

himself and Reno, but then again, Reno can inflict more damage. In any

case, this fight isn’t too hard either way. You’ll get a Fairy Tale and

a X Potion should you win the battle.

After the Turks leave, head northeast, then go north to reach a pile of scrapped machinery. As you’re looking around, Scarlet and Tseng show up in the Shinra helicopter and talk about ‘Huge Materia’ (which you’ll learn more about in Disc 2). After they leave, examine the area where Sukaretto was standing and choose the bottom option to get the ‘Summon Titan’ materia. Then go back to the first area and head left. In the second area, there is a Deathblow materia near the left path (which returns you to the World Map). If you take the north path, you’ll arrive at Gongaga Town.

Be sure to visit the stores (don’t forget that you can climb up the pole

in the Accessory Shop to reach a room where you can buy weapons) and

get the treasure chests from the inn (X Potion) and the old man’s

house (White M-phone). If you go into the far right house, you’ll meet

an old couple who apparently know Cloud (or someone just like him), and

someone else named Zekkusu. When you’re done here, return to the World

Map. Head southwest, then turn toward the river and go over the

shallows, and then make your way up through the mountains to reach Cosmo

Canyon. If you try to drive past the town, the buggy will short out,

so you don’t really have any choice but to enter the town (and you can’t

get anywhere else without the buggy, so even if you didn’t drive it past

Cosmo Canyon and entered on foot, it wouldn’t matter....)

When you approach the man at the gate, Red 13 will talk to him (he’ll

either bound up the steps past your party if he’s not with you, or he’ll

just leave your party and start talking if he was with you previously).

Everyone here knows Red 13 by the name ‘Nanaki’. After Red heads up the

stairs, talk to the guard and choose the bottom option to be let into the

town (Red 13 will reappear to make sure you guys get in). If he was in

your party, you’ll have the option to make a new team; otherwise, you can

look around town freely. Don’t miss the Save Point located in the

Tigerlily Arms Shop. In the Item Shop, there is a passage with a red

rope across it that prevents you from checking out the room in the back.

Keep this place in mind because if you return to Cosmo Canyon in Disc 2

or 3, the rope will have been removed and you can get an Elixir, a Magic

Up, and the Full Cure materia orb from the back room.

Eventually head up to the observatory, where you’ll run into Red 13 and Buugen Haagen, an old geezer who knows all kinds of things. After Red 13 leaves, go back down and talk to your friends in order to make a new party. Then talk to Red 13 in the room connected to the inn before returning to the observatory. Enter the side door, chat with Buugen Haagen, and you’ll see a short FMV sequence.

When it’s over, return to the large bonfire to the right of the entrance. Your friends are here. Talk to everyone here, then chat with Red 13 a second time. Buugen Haagen will show up, and you’ll make a new group (with Red 13 as a permanent member). If you want someone else, just talk to another ally (it doesn’t matter which one). Follow Buugen Haagen back to the sealed door above the weapons shop and talk to him, then choose the top option. He’ll open the door for you. Enter and climb down to the very bottom of the shaft, then head left.

In the next area, head right and up until you see a hole facing left*. Enter it and you’ll be given an option. Pick the top one to make an opening appear nearby. Go through it, then head up and left. You’ll slide on the oil and hit a spiked wall, reducing every member’s HP by 500 points. Then go south, through the hole, and head right to reach the Combination materia you couldn’t get in the first area (Additional Effect). Go back and carefully walk along the edge of the path to avoid slipping across the oil. Then go right, up, left, down the stairs, and through the underpassage to reach a chest with an Ether inside of it. Then return to the stairs and go left, then down to find a second chest containing a Black M-phone. Then climb back up the stairs and head to the upper-left to leave this area.

• If you enter any of the other three holes, you’ll be given the same option, but if you choose the top choice, you’ll be attacked. Doing this doesn’t seem to alter the level in any way, but you’re better off doing this after you’ve cleared the whole area out instead of doing it right now; I’d rather be safe than sorry, in my opinion.

There are five passages in this area; you only want to take the 2^nd and 4^th passages from the left. First, take the 4^th passage. When you touch the web beyond it, you’ll have to fight a giant spider (Stinger). When you’ve killed it, follow the path north to find a chest with an X Potion inside. Then go back and take the 2^nd passage from the left. Kill the Stinger that attacks you when you touch the web and then head left and down. As you’re going through the tunnel, hold right and you’ll find an alternate path that leads to yet another treasure chest. You’ll find a Fairy Ring in it. Go back up to where the web was and walk north to find another web. Past it is the exit, but try holding left and Cloud will go along a passage hidden by the rock that leads to a chest. There’s an Turbo Ether inside.

When you approach the giant face in the next cavern, it begins to move and you are attacked.

BOSS TIPS: GI*NATATAKU LV: 29 HP: 5500 MP: 200

Don’t worry about the Soul Fires this boss has with him; just use your Summon Materia, then concentrate on attacking and using Limit Breaks on the big guy himself. If your spell Materia has hit second level, then Cold and Lightning work nicely on him. You don’t even need to worry about your life much; the boss can be taken down before any serious damage is done to your party. You’ll get a Wizer Staff should you be successful in battle.

Grab the spell Materia (Demi) that’s left behind and follow Buugen Haagen up the steps. After the sequence with Red 13 and the other creature (his father, who was transformed into metal or something?), make a new party and leave the town. Don’t worry, Red 13 will rejoin you when you try to leave. Oh yes, the Buggy will be working again when you leave Cosmo Canyon.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Luck Source x2, Elixir x2, Platinum Fist, Turbo Ether

Barrette, Powersoul, All Materia, Elemental Materia,

Sniper CR, Jem Ring, Counter materia (if you open up

the safe in the mansion, you can get the Cosmo Memory

manual and the ‘Summon Odin’ materia, not to mention

Get in the buggy and continue past Cosmo Canyon. Head north to find a river with a shallow ford you can cross. Past it, the mountains are of a different type than what you usually see. Near them is a small town, Nivelheim. Look familiar? It’s the same one Sephiroth and Cloud went to in Cloud’s flashback.

First, go into the inn. Talk to the black creature in the back to get

a Luck Source. You can get an Elixir from another one of the creatures

in the Item Shop, and a second Luck Source if you talk to the small

creatures in the upper floor of the southeastern house. The large house

to the east is Tifa’s home, and you’ll be given a Platinum Fist and an Turbo Ether if you talk to the creatures here. There’s a piano in Tifa’s room that you can fool around with (see section 14 for details).

This next section is optional—you can just continue on through the mountains if you want. However, Sephiroth won’t show up in the mansion after you reach Disc 2, meaning you can’t nab the Destruct materia unless you get it from him during the first disc (read below for details).

Now, go into the large mansion at the edge of town. Left of the entrance is a piece of paper written by the Turks (?). It has several hints on it that clue you in to the combination of the safe on the upper floor (but it’s useless if you don’t know Japanese :)). You can get the 4^th number by choosing the blank space beneath the first three tips (look at the paper, choose the top option, then move the cursor down to the blank space and press O).

Head right and look for the sliver of light near the stairway, it’s very hard to see. It’s an opening that leads to the lower section of another room. There’s a chest here, with a Silver M-phone inside. Go back out and go into the northern door beneath the staircase. In the adjoining hall, head right and and up to find a chest with a Twin Viper in it. To the left is a room with a broken piano (which you could have also reached by looking for the opening near the left staircase in the main room).

Go up the stairs and head left. In the circular room is a chest that has an Enemy Launcher inside. There’s nothing in the northern room except for a locked safe—you’ll need the right combination in order to open it (see section 14 if you don’t know how). If you want to try your luck, examine it with the O button and choose the top option to enter the combination or the bottom option to quit.

Open the safe (or not), then go right and into the right wing of the manor house. If you go up, you’ll find a chest with a Magic Source inside. Then go into the lower room and examine the curved wall to open a secret passage. Go down the spiraling walkway, and then head right. If you got the gold key from the safe, you can open the northern door (refer to section 14 for details). Continue to the right to find a library. Then go north and you’ll run into none other than Sephiroth, who will pelt you with a green materia before flying away. Be sure to get the materia (Destruct) before leaving the mansion.

Once you’re back outside, leave Nivelheim from the northern entrance and continue along until you see a passage leading into the mountains. In the next area, follow the path until it splits, and take the north path, which wraps around the back of a spire and leads to a chest with a Rune Blade inside of it. Now go back and follow the original path. You’ll notice that just before the bridge, there’s a path that curves away to the north. Follow it up into the mountains and when it curves south, take that path instead of continuing in the same direction. The path curves several times, but eventually you’ll make it to the top of the mountain, where you can find a chest with a Plus Barrette. It may help if you press SELECT so that you can see yourself when a mountain is blocking your view, and if you can’t seem to get any further, press in other directions (like down) to scale the back of the mountain.

Go back down to the main path and head up the bridge. Inside the cavern, take the ladder down instead of the tubes, or you won’t be able to get all the treasure in this area. You don’t have to worry about the large boss near the door just yet. Feel free to make use of the Save Point, then climb back to the top of the area. Enter the pipe labeled ‘2’ to end up on a rocky ledge. There’s an item bag here with an Powersoul inside; get it and then press down to jump down to a lower ledge, then press down again to reach the floor. Climb back up one last time and go into the pipe labled ‘4’ in order to reach the treasure chest on the bottom ledge below; there’s an All materia lying within. Walk against the right edge of the ledge to drop down to the floor.

See the path heading south, just below the path that the boss is

blocking? Follow it to go outside, then try to keep walking and you’ll

drop down to the lower ledge. Following the path here leads to a dead

end, so enter the cave instead and take the righthand path once you’re

inside. Ignore the exit at the other end of the cave and work your way

southwest, then go through the small hole. Walk up, then left, then

down in order to reach the treasure chest you could see when you first

came in here. Inside it is an Elixir. Now go through the exit to

arrive at a wooded area. On the ground, to the left of the mass of

crystallized Materia is an Elemental materia. Take it and proceed north,

going through the opening to go back into the caves.

Inside, head to the right, then go up as far as you can and walk left past the stone walls to reach a chest containing a Sniper CR. Then go back and take the rightmost passage. It goes south and leads you back to the outside. From here, head left (going right leads you to a dead end). You’ll eventually end up at the Jenova Plant you visited in Cloud’s flashback. There’s nothing to do inside the plant, so continue beyond it to the door set in the rock wall. Enter it and you’ll end up back in the chamber with the pipes again.

It’s true that you could have taken the door and done this entire sequence in reverse, but then you couldn’t have scaled the ledge and you would have to go all the way back, instead of taking the express route like you just did :) Now climb down and examine the boss, and it will attack you.

BOSS TIPS: MATERIAKIIPAA <Materia Keeper> LV: 38 HP: 8400 MP: 300

Don’t use Honou-related attacks; it’ll only heal him. Red 13’s Limit

Break B1/1 works well, as does Cloud’s B2/1 Limit Break. I’d also

suggest using the ‘Choco/Mog’ materia as much as you can—it’s

ability to stun this boss is very useful. Physical attacks should do the

trick if you have good weapons; save your MPs for healing yourselves. Kealra and All Materia are a good combination (remember to link them when selecting holders) if you want to stay alive, since the boss can inflict 300-800 points of damage with its stabbing/mauling attacks.

Also, he can heal himself (around 1000 hp’s worth), and use the damaging

Tryne skill, which causes about 500 points of damage to all those still

alive. If Red’s learned his B1/2 break or someone knows Haste, it would

be a wise idea to use it at the start of the round. Since the Materia Keeper is one of the few enemies that can use Tryne, it comes highly recommended that you have a Enemy Skill materia equipped so that you can learn this enemy technique. You’ll get a Jem Ring should you be victorious.

After the battle is over, examine the purple materia that is left behind

in order to take it (Counter Attack). Then follow the path outside—it leads back to the World Map.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Power Source, Yoshiyuki, Drill Arm, Edincoat.

Head southwest, then turn north (you’re making a big C around the

mountains). Keep walking and you’ll see Rocket Town up ahead. In

the Accessory Shop, you’ll recieve a message if you go to the left end

of the counter and examine it (anyone know what it means?) If you go

into the house farthest to the right, you can find a chest with a

Power Source inside of it in next to the stove. Then talk to the old man

standing near the house that’s just left of the rocket’s launch pad. Talk to him again, and he’ll ask you a question. Pick the top answer and the view will pan up to show the rocket. Then the old geezer will give you the Yoshiyuki; it’s a weapon for Cloud.

Go into the house to the right of the old man. This is the home of Shiera and Cid, although neither of them are around at the moment. There’s a chest here with a Drill Arm inside it. If you go out the back entrance, you’ll find a light airplane in the backyard—it’s one of Cid’s inventions, the ‘Tiny Bronco’. After looking at the airplane, Shiera will show up. When she leaves, go outside and head north to arrive at the rocket—climb inside it to find Cid. After chatting with him, name him. You can then ask him several questions; you have to at least ask the first one (top choice) in order to proceed with the game.

Then leave the rocket and return to Cid’s house. Shiera will show up,

then Cid, too. After Cid goes out back, Shiera will explain how Cid

was going to pilot his rocket into outer space some time ago, but

aborted the launch when he discovered that Shiera was still making last-

minute checks and hadn’t left the launch pad yet; she would be burned

to ashes since the launch could only be aborted, not delayed. By saving

her life, Cid’s dreams were shattered, since he did not have the resources to repair the rocket, which tipped over after falling back onto the launch pad.

Cid comes back into the house, then Palmer shows up—an employee of Shinra. Go outside and you’ll run into Rufus and a Shinra guard, who have come to ‘borrow’ the Tiny Bronco. After Shiera brings you back inside the house, go out the back entrance to find Palmer standing atop the Tiny Bronco. Talk to him and he’ll attack you.

BOSS TIPS: Palmer <Palmer> LV: 38 HP: 6000 MP: 240

His gun causes a fair amount of damage since it has the effects of Fire 2,

Ice 2, and Bolt 2, so make sure Aeris is in your party or that you have some Restore Materia. Use Haste and All on your party as well as Slow magic and/or Summon Chocobo on him to even the odds a bit. You’ll want to have Cloud’s B2/2 by now—it comes in handy. Your prize for beating Palmer is an Edincoat.

After the boss gets wasted (heh, heh), your party and Cid will escape on the Tiny Bronco. Although it gets damaged during your escape it can still be used to skim across shallow water and traverse rivers (although you can’t go up or down waterfalls). Here are the airplane controls:

X Exit airplane

• Enter airplane

Select/Start World Map (press repeatedly to enlarge/hide map)

L1/R1 Rotate view (or return to side view if in overhead view)

L2/R2 Change view

You now have several options that are available to you: you can get Aeris’s Level 4 Limit Break manual (see section 14 for details) or go on Yuffie’s sub-quest (if you have her in your party, see section 6 for further information). Even if you don’t have Yuffie, you can purchase some pretty good weapons and find some treasure chests lying around in Wutai, so you may want to stop there anyways. You can even go back and kill the big snake you had to flee from in section 3k, if you’ve been itching to do so (you’ll now have enough HPs to learn the enemy skill ‘Beta’ from it without dying). In any case, it would be a good idea to explore other areas and pick up items you missed/buy stuff you couldn’t afford before instead of continuing on your quest just yet. I would suggest checking out the excavators’ site to the north, since you can pick up the powerful ‘Summon Kjata’ materia there as well as buy some useful bracelets and items (see section 3u for details).

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Protect Vest, Choco Feather, Elixir.

Pilot the Tiny Bronco back to the Gold Saucer area. Go to the weapon

smith’s house on the penninsula near the dirt pit and talk to him—he’ll

explain that you need the Keystone, which he no longer has. Get back in

Cid’s airplane, and leave it on the shore by the dirt pit. You need to

get to the Golden Saucer, so either walk or find a wild Chocobo and ride

it back to North Corel. Then take the sky lift up to the Gold Saucer.

Go to the Battle Square and look for an opening on the right side of the

room labled ‘Dio’s Show Room’. Inside, examine the glittering object on

top of the large stand; it’s the Keystone. Dio, the big lug who threw you out of the Gold Saucer before, will show up and offer you a challenge: fight in the Battle Square and he’ll give you the Keystone. When you have a choice, pick the top option to accept or the bottom option to temporarily decline. You’ll now have to fight in the Battle Square using only Cloud. Keep in mind that even if you lose the very first battle, Dio will still give you the Keystone.

If you want to try and see if you can win all the battles, then keep fighting. After each battle, the message ‘GREAT!’ will appear, followed by two options. Choose the right option to stop fighting, or the left option to continue fighting. If you choose to continue, a jackpot-like device will appear. You can stop it from spinning by pressing the O button, and whatever comes up when you press O will take affect prior to the start of the next battle. Depending on what you get, different things will happen to you, although certain accessories can render you immune to some of the more debilitating effects.

Furthermore, the status ailments that you are afflicted with as a result of the jackpot stay with you from battle to battle, and you’re forced to stop the jackpot after each battle, so you could end up being a poisoned, petrified frog in a few rounds, if you’re not careful. If you last through seven battles, then the fighting ends.

Refer to the ‘Having Fun’ section for a complete explanation of how the

Battle Square works, but keep in mind that although you will earn

Battle Points during the battle, they are reset to zero when the battle

ends since you end up in the Show Room (and the way things work you lose

all the Battle Points you earn if you leave the main room at any time). Should you make it through all the battles, Dio will give you a Protect Vest and a Choco Feather, in addition to the Keystone.

There’s nothing else you need to do at the Gold Saucer now, but when you try to leave, you’ll discover that the ropeway that the sky lift travels up and down is broken, leaving you stranded in the Saucer. Cait Sith will either show up (or leave your party, if he’s already with you guys) and suggest that you all meet him at the Ghost Hotel. At the Hotel, you and your allies will chat for awhile. In the next scene, you’ll find yourself in your room.

At this point in the game, a character will come into your room and ask

to go on a date with you. While it’s usually Aeris, it’s been confirmed

that you can go on a date with Tifa instead, if you were nice to her and

mean to Aeris throughout the course of the game. It’s much harder to do,

but if you have had Yuffie in your party for a while, she may wish to

date Cloud as well. If you’re really mean to all the women in your

party, Barret will date you (so be nice!) It’s not what you think—just

a friendly outing (he had a wife, so what are you thinking ^_^;) I’ll write down the exact method to date each character when I learn what they are.

Both times that I’ve played through this part, it’s always been Aeris who comes to ask Cloud to go on a date, so I’ll write the next section with her in mind, although you may end up with someone else.

First, you’ll go to the Event Square. Since you’re the 100^th person to come here that day, you and Aeris will be offered a role in the upcoming play. What you do here doesn’t affect the game in any way, so just pick whatever options you’d like and watch one of the many humorous endings. If I wrote it out, it would ruin the fun, so.... Next, you’ll ride the gondola in the Round Square. When Aeris looks out the window, you can press left to look out, too, and see various FMV sequences showcasing the events at the Gold Saucer.

After the date is over, Cloud and Aeris will return to the Station

Square only to find Cait Sith sneaking around with the Keystone. He’ll

run away when Cloud yells at him, and you have to chase him around

various sections of the Gold Saucer. (If you don’t want to waste time

doing that, then go to the Chocobo Square, enter it, and chase Cait

Sith back outside). Eventually, Cait will stop at the steps outside

of the Chocobo Square. The Shinra helicopter shows up, and Cait will

toss the Keystone up to Tseng. When confronted by Cloud and Aeris, Cait

reveals that he is in fact a spy for the Shinra. He insists that he

continues to travel with Cloud and his friends because he has taken

Marlene as a hostage back in Midgar (Right? That’s what he seems to say).

Once Cait Sith leaves, you’ll find yourself back in the Ghost Hotel. Check the iron maiden for an Elixir (notice the sound it makes; it sounds just like Norstein Bekkler’s laugh [the guy from Chrono Trigger!]). Leave the room to meet up with your allies again. After a brief talk, Aeris will join your party, becoming a permanent member. Pick another ally and then leave the Saucer, since the ropeway is now repaired.

Now that you’re back at North Corel, leave and return where you parked

the Tiny Bronco. Look at the World Map. See the tiny chain of islands

near the bottom of the map? Just to the right of them and to the left

of Mideel and the Fort Condor is a large island. If you go there, you’ll

see a large temple surrounded by a forest. This is your next

destination, so land the Tiny Bronco at the shore and head to the temple.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Trident, Mind Source, Silver Rifle, Turbo Ether x2,

At the top of the temple is a black creature, similar to the ones you

met in Nivelheim. If you talk to it, it floats into the air in a flash

of light. Inside the temple, you’ll find the Turk, Tseng. He was badly

wounded by Sephiroth. He gives you the Keystone so that you can go after

his attacker; examine the dais in the center of the room and you’ll be transported into the depths of the temple.

This area has a very confusing layout; it’s a mass of stairs, walkways

and passages. There are chests everywhere, and a kooky old man in a

blue robe is also running around down here. From where you arrived,

head up, then left, then up again and go down the stairs to the ground

level. There’s an opening just above you; go in it, turn to the right,

then climb down the vines clinging to the wall beneath you. If you

run underneath the long staircase nearby, you can reach a treasure chest

that has a Trident inside of it. From there, head right, go down the

stairs, then turn and climb up the wall using the vines. Head past the

opening (which you can’t enter at this point, anyway) and go up the

stairs. The old man will dash away; ignore him for now and climb up the

vines to reach a platform. There’s a shiny pink item here (Mind Source).

Take it and go down the stairs, then enter the door to your left to find

a room with a treasure chest and the old man. Inside the chest is the Silver Rifle. Talk to the geezer twice and he’ll offer his services to you:

• Purchase Items
• Restore HP and MP to maximum
• Save your game*
• Nothing
• Choose the top option to decline or the bottom option to accept and save your game.

Outside, go back up the stairs and down the vines, but this time, head down and to the left. You can pick up a green item here (Turbo Ether). Then go down the long stairway. At the bottom, climb down the smaller set of steps to your left, then work your way towards the southwest corner of the screen. There’s a small patch of vines here that you can climb down. Be sure to open the nearby chest; there’s a Rocket Punch inside of it. Now, go down the stairs and walk northeast along the path to find some more vines and the old man, who scampers away when you get too close. Climb up the vines, then go up the stairs next to you, go through the archway, turn east and go down the stairs, and climb up the long stretch of vines on the nearby wall. Head left, underneath the staircase, and you can nab a purple materia (Luck Plus).

Now, go back the way you came (go right, down the vines, up the stairs

and down and out through the archway so that you’re back on the path

that the old man was standing on, just above the vines). Walk to the

east until the path stops, then head south and turn east again to enter

the nearby door. As you enter, the old man will dash away. There are

huge hollow boulders that are rolling down this walkway. To get past

them, time your dashes so that the hollow part will be directly over

you, causing Cloud to kneel as the boulder rolls over you. Then keep

going until you reach a side path that leads to a pool of water. Grab

the Morph materia near the pool, then continue along the

walkway, avoiding the boulders. Once you reach the end of the path,

they’ll disappear for good, but remember that if you get hit by a

boulder, you’ll be dragged all the way back to the beginning of the

path (ouch!) Alternately, you can wait until the boulders disappear and

then go back and pick up the materia after the sequence with Sephiroth.

Once the boulders are gone, Aeris will sense a powerful prescence in the chamber and return to the pool. Light will erupt from the surface of the pool, and you’ll be able to see what I presume is a flashback of Tseng and Elena (both Turks) running around in the shrine. After Elena leaves, Sephiroth shows up and creates a double of himself. While he busies himself with attacking Tseng, the laughing double flies up into the air. After this sequence is over, Sephiroth’s double will descend into the pool and then fly away (is this supposed to mean anything?) When you return to the end of the passage, the old geezer will be waiting for you, and will once again offer his help:

• Restore HP and MP to maximum
• Save your game
• Nothing

When you’re ready, go down the stairs. There’s a huge room here with twelve doors labeled I to XII. In the center of the room is the ever-annoying talking clock. I was ready to use my FF7 discs as frisbees by the time I figured out how to solve this little ‘mini-game’. Here’s how it works:

If you press O (Roulette), the hour and minute hands move around very quickly. Even when you press O again to stop the hands, they’ll both move three more spaces in the direction they were traveling.

If you press T, you’re given two options: one in blue, one in green:

• BLUE The hour hand moves ahead by one space.
• GREEN The hour hand moves ahead seven spaces.
• RED The hour hand moves ahead by 17 spaces.

• WHITE This does nothing.

GREEN: This gives you another four options, in blue,

green, red, and white, respectively.

• WHITE This does nothing.

If you press X, the damn clock shuts up and you’re free to move onto the hands of the clock (providing you’ve aligned them properly). You can only walk on the hour and minute hands of the clock.

Isn’t this fun? Well, there are twelve passages (labeled I to XII), and you get to explore them by setting the clock to various positions.

Here’s a list of what’s in each passage:

I - When you open up the chest, you’ll be attacked by

monsters. You won’t get anything for beating them,

either.

TIPS: JEMINISUMII LV: 24 HP: 800 MP: 80

POIZUNFUROGGU <Poison Frog> LV: 26 HP: 500 MP: 100

POIZUNFUROGGU <Poison Frog> LV: 26 HP: 500 MP: 100

The Poison Frogs are weak against Reiki, so use cold-based attacks/spells

on them. Their attacks will turn you into a frog, but they attack so

often that it’s better for you to wait until they hit you again (turning

you back into a human) instead of wasting a Maiden’s Kiss or other restorative item. The woman (Jeminisumii) is weak against Poison, so use one of the Bio spells on her for good results. The only point in fighting this battle is if you want to learn Song of the Frog from the frogs (providing you have a Enemy Skill materia equipped).

II - This passage is blocked off by rocks. You can’t

do anything here, so return and pick another path.

III - A treasure chest. It contains monsters, too.

You won’t get anything for defeating them.

TIPS: HEKUTOAIZU <Hecto-Eyes> LV: 30 HP: 500 MP: 220

HEKUTOAIZU <Hecto-Eyes> LV: 30 HP: 500 MP: 220

Both of these red, multi-eyed monsters are weak against Poison, so use

the best Bio spell you’ve got, or simply attack to dispatch them. If

you’ve got Morph equipped, you can morph both of them into

Magic Source items, which is really the only point in fighting this battle.

Although weak, either enemy can drain lots of HP from you (around 1200-

1400 points!)

IIII - Shouldn’t this be IV? Anyway, there’s a chest

here, and Aeris’s Ultimate Weapon, the

Princess Guard is inside.

V - This passage leads outside to the gold chest you

could see but not normally reach. Inside it is

a Ribbon.

VI - Read below to find out what to do here.

VII - There’s a chest here. A weapon for Cait Sith,

the Hou xx, is inside it.

VIII - You can get a Megalixir from the chest in

this room.

IX - A passage blocked by fallen rock.

X - This is where you came in, bud!

XI - Yet another blocked passage.

XII - What a creepy room! You’ll be seeing more of

it soon enough.

At some point, you should stand on the hour or minute hand and let the second hand approach. When it passes over you, it will knock you down into the pit below. When you land, you’ll find yourself in a room with a treasure chest. Before you can open it, you’ll be ambushed by two monsters.

BOSS TIPS: ENSHYANTODORAGON <Ancient Dragon> LV: 34 HP: 2400 MP: 450

ENSHYANTODORGAON <Ancient Dragon> LV: 34 HP: 2400 MP: 450

(weak against Demi)

Using Demi or some Summon Materia will kill these dragons quickly.

Even physical attacks work well. Either enemy can only attack for about

500 points of damage, or use a Sazankurosu (Southern Cross) attack that

hit’s one enemy for the same amount of damage, so they don’t pose too

serious a threat. You can also control them, even though they’re bosses.

You’ll win an Turbo Ether for defeating both of them.

In the chest is the Nail Bat, the strongest weapon Cloud can get during Disc 1. Take it and leave the room. You’ll find yourself back at the door you couldn’t enter earlier (in the area with the vines and staircases. Simply work your way back to the talking clock, and pick up any items you might have missed the first time around.

PASSAGE VI

Before going down this passage, make sure you’ve cleared out the other rooms since you won’t be able to go back to them after the next event.

When you step out into the open, the bouncing old man will see you and

run away. When Aeris asks you a question, pick the bottom answer if

you want to return and explore more of the clock puzzle room (NSS), or

choose the top answer if you want to hunt down the old man. To find

him, simply go through the passages; you want to end up going into a

passage that he plans to come out of. You can go down to another set

of passages by going to the left end of each ledge and pressing the O

button to jump down a level. The passage entrances and exits are

random, but you can catch him without too much difficulty. Don’t forget

to take the chest lying on the lowest level; there’s a pair of Army Cotton Gloves inside. As usual, beat the old man at his own game and he’ll help you in return:

• Restore HP and MP to maximum
• Save your game
• Nothing

Now that you’ve caught the old man, the large door on the top level will

open. Go inside and head to the right. You’ll encounter Sephiroth four

times. Up to his usual evil, Sephiroth talks about the energy within

the temple as he as swings his sword around, his every motion trailed by

the double that he made earlier. After disappearing, Cloud will suffer

from some sort of fit (something about the Materia taking over his body?)

After coming to his senses, the party examines a mural on the wall which

shows a meteorite speeding towards the people of the earth. Aeris talks

about the spell ‘Meteo’ which Sephiroth is planning to cast, when the party hears Sephiroth’s voice. The temple starts to shake, and a large red dragon appears and attacks the allies.

BOSS TIPS: REDDODORAGON <Red Dragon> LV: 39 HP: 6800 MP: 300

Slow the dragon and Haste yourself to gain the upper hand. Some Summon Materia will also even the odds, but don’t use Kjata since it will heal the boss by about 2100 points. Also, Demi won’t work against it. Limit Breaks and physical attacks should do the trick. You’ll win a Dragon Armlet should you win the battle.

Pick up the summon materia that’s left behind (Bahamut). Then go back and examine the floating gold object on the dais. Aeris refers to it as the ‘Kuro Materia’ (Black Materia) but it’s gold...in any case, Aeris will then ask you a question. It doesn’t matter which answer you choose. At this point, if Cait Sith isn’t in your party, you’ll here a ringing sound and Cloud will answer the PHS phone. Cait will talk to him through the phone. If he is in you party, then he starts hopping around and talking to you. When he finishes, leave this chamber, let the old man heal you if you need it, then go back to the clock room. The only direction you can go in is straight up through passage XII. When you examine the door in the room beyond, yet another boss appears to finish you off.

BOSS TIPS: DEMONZUGEITO <Demon’s Gate> LV: 45 HP: 10000 MP: 400

The bad news is that the boss can hit for lots of damage. The good news

is that most of his attacks (especially the earthquake and body slam

attack) quickly max out your Limit bars. Now’s a good time to try out

the Bahamut materia, but most other Summon materia don’t do much damage.

Make good use of Aeris’s B1/1 and Cloud’s B2/2, and you’ll want to Barrier and Haste yourselves. Luckily, this boss can’t instantly kill you as a similar boss in FF2 could. You’ll win a Gigas Armlet from this boss if you’re victorious.

Once the boss is defeated, Cait Sith will have an animated conversation with your party. If he’s not in your group, then he bursts out of the door and starts talking. He’ll then return to the chamber where the Black Materia was and take it. Afterwards, the entire temple vanishes!

In the following scene, Cloud and Aeris go down into the foundation

of the temple and retrieve the Black Materia, but Sephiroth shows up

and forces Cloud to give the Materia to him. During this time, you

control a ghostly image of Cloud as a child. If you stand in Cloud’s

path and keep talking to him, you’ll prevent him from approaching

Sephiroth, but there’s no point in doing this since Cloud will continue

to advance until you give up. After Cloud gives Sephiroth the Black

Materia, he will attack Aeris (and you can’t do anything about that,

either). Cait Sith will show up (actually Cait Sith 2--the same person,

but with a new robot body since the first one got trashed when the temple was destroyed. He sure got there fast, huh?) Then your other party member will leap down and prevent Cloud from killing Aeris.

After what I take to be a dream sequence, you’ll awake in, of all places, the inn at Gongaga Town, with Barret and Tifa by your side. Answer Barret’s question any way you like, then go outside. Tifa and Barret will join your party, but you don’t have to keep them as permanent members. Look for the Tiny Bronco on the southern shore near Gongaga Town.

Also, Aeris has left your party for good. However, you’ll have all of

her weapons, equipment, accessories and materia in your item menu. Now,

you need to go to the forest that you saw in Cloud’s dream. First, get in the Tiny Bronco.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: ‘Summon Kjata’ materia, Water Ring.

Make your way up to the Northern Continent by going around the left side

of the Western Continent after going along the river by the Gold Saucer.

Head to the right edge of the continent, where you’ll find a forest

surrounded by mountains. In the middle of the forest is a big rib cage

and a large skull. Approach it, and you’ll find yourself in a excavation

site where a bunch of archaeologists spend their time digging. Before

doing anything else, you might want to head up the ladder and go through

the hole in the back to reach a forest, the same one from Cloud’s dream.

Keep walking until you reach the second forest screen. If you stand here

for a moment, you’ll see a red Materia floating on the left side of the screen. It will switch to the right side and back again every few seconds. Try to predict where it will show up and use the O button to grab it. Your reward is the Summon Kjata materia. If you try to continue through the forest, you’ll find that this screen repeats endlessly. So, go back outside. Before going on to the next part of the game, you may want to buy some bracelets and items; talk to the man sitting near the rib cage and pick the second option in order to buy things from him.

What you need to do at this point in the game is commission one of the men to dig up the Runahaapu (Luna Harp) for you. As long as you have it in your possession, you’re able to pass through the ‘endless’ forest.

• First, talk to the man sitting just outside of the rib-cage room.

• When the screen fades back in, all the men will be gone. What you do is choose a place where you want a digger to stand and press the S button. It costs 100 gil to place a digger. Use the top option to place a digger, or the bottom option to quit. You can place up to five diggers.
• You’ll quit once you choose the bottom option or after you’ve placed five diggers. Now, press the S button to set off an explosion. You’ll hear a music cue, and the diggers will turn in different directions.
• Stand where you want one of the diggers to search through the night and press S again after clearing the dialogue box. You’ll find yourself back at the bottom of the screen the next morning. The treasure chest nearby will be closed, and it may or may not hold an item, depending on where you chose to dig.
• The key to getting the right item is to watch the diggers after the explosion occurs. They’ll all look toward the location of the item you need, so try placing them in compass-point style layout so that you can follow their vision to the place where the item lies. If you’re really stuck, the Runahaapo lies just a little ways to the west and ever so slightly south of the tent on the upper ledge.
• Normally, the first option is used to dig for the Runahaapu (all the diggers will look in the direction of the harp). The other two options are used to dig up other items (the diggers will look in the direction of the closest item/next item to be found). But not only do you not have to place diggers in order to find an item, but you can use any of the three choice to dig up the Runahaapu or any other item—it’s just that the diggers won’t look in the correct direction if you don’t use the first option, and you can’t use the first option after obtaining the Runahaapu.

How do you know if you got the right item? Well, it will show up on the

Key Item menu (where the important stuff like the PHS is kept). Also, if

you talk to the digger sitting by the room, and choose the first option twice, he won’t let you select and place diggers. Finally, try going into the forest. If the screen turns green, then you’ve got the right item.

When you’ve got Runahaapu, go into the forest. When you reach the second

area, the screen changes to a green color, and the forest will no longer

repeat. Beyond the forest is a rocky area. First, go under the tree

trunk to reach the treasure chest with a Water Ring inside. Climb up the

rocks near the pink mass of coral, then go through the fallen trunk and head north to reach the next area (you can’t climb up the vine in the first area, so ignore it). Walk along the curving path and you’ll find yourself back in the World Map, in the canyon near the forest. Head straight forward to the top-like object to continue your quest.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Magic Source, Aurora Armlet, Comet materia, Guard

This area looks a lot like the floor of the sea; there’s shells and coral

everywhere. At the crossroads, take the left path. It leads to a stone

building—inside of the building is a Save Point, and there’s a chest on

the upper ledge with a Magic Source inside it. Leave the building and

continue past it, following the path east into the rock face. Inside,

go down the stairs and head all the way right to find a chest with an

Aurora Armlet in it. You can check out the blue crystal if you want,

but there’s nothing you can do with it at this point in the game. Return

to the crossroads and take the middle path. Enter the shell building and

climb the spiraling walkway to the very to to find a green materia lying

on the ground (Comet). Go back to the crossroads yet again and take

the right road. It leads to an area with several shell buildings. Go

all the way to the right, then go north to enter the building before you.

Climb all the way to the top level. There’s a chest here containing a Guard Source.

There’s nothing else to do in this area but enter the last shell house;

your friends won’t let you take the path leading out of the city, and

the main path leads to another part of the chamber with the blue crystal,

but there’s nothing you can do there. So, if you’re ready to proceed, enter the shell house to the right of the main path. On the ground floor is a chest holding an Elixir. Take it and climb up the ladder.

When you approach the beds, you’ll be given an option. You can choose

the bottom option, grab the yellow materia behind the headboard of the

third bed (Enemy Skill), exit the house, then enter it again,

approach the beds, and choose the top option to go to sleep. Or, you can

just pick the top option the first time around, go to sleep, and when you

wake up in the night, grab the materia (it’s easier to see at night, too).

Originally, I though this was a ‘bug’ materia (don’t I feel silly now), but it’s not.

No matter what you decide to do, go to sleep when you’re ready to.

You’ll wake up in the middle of the night. After Cloud’s companions join

him, return to the crossroads a final time and take the middle path again.

When you enter the shell building, the fish floating in the middle of the

spiraling passageway will have disappeared; there are blue steps in it’s

place. Go down them and you’ll find yourself in an underwater palace.

At the bottom of the stairs, leave the building and take note of the Save

Point before going down both sets of stairs below.

Aeris’s here, and you have to get to her by jumping across several pillars. Press in the direction of the next pillar to get proceed, but you’ll have to use just Cloud; your allies will wait for you back on the ground. Once you get close to Aeris, Cloud has another spastic fit and will draw his sword. You can press the controller and the buttons to make Cloud do different things, but pressing O three times will make him try to strike Aeris. Luckily, he’ll come to his senses beforehand with some help from his friends, but Sephiroth makes an appearance and attacks Aeris. After her death, Sephiroth escapes, leaving behind another monster in his wake.

BOSS TIPS: JENOBA*LIFE <Jenova*Life> LV: 50 HP: 10000 MP: 300

This boss is weak against earth attacks, so use Earth and Titan. Also,

Comet, Bahamut, and Kjata all work very well. Physical attacks do a

surprising amount of damage. The boss will cast Reflect on itself the

first time you cast a spell on it, so be wary about using spells too

often. Jenova*Life’s attacks are not that strong (about 400-700 points),

but it has an ultra-deadly blue bubble attack (Aqua Breath) that inflicts

+1500 damage to each character. Be sure to have some Restore Materia handy. Considering it’s the last boss on this disc, this is not a very hard battle. You’ll get a Wizard Bracelet when you win the battle.

After beating the boss, there’s another FMV sequence, then you’re given the option to save your game. Guess what? You just finished Disc One! My times (if you’re interested, and even if you’re not :)) were 29:04 initially, and 25:20 for the rewrite.

4 . D I S C T W O W A L K T H R O U G H

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Viper Halberd, Bolt Armlet, HypnoCrown,

You’ll start off outside of one of the shell-shaped buildings on the east

side of the Ancient City. If you walk to the left, Cloud will have

another attack and you’ll see the ghostly form of Sephiroth leaving the

Ancient City. Once Cloud has recovered, follow Sephiroth by heading

north, then east along the path you couldn’t take before. Note that

you’re free to go back through the Forest and return to the World Map,

but there’s no point in doing so unless you wanted to buy some items or

find Vincent or Yuffie (unless you already have them). Although you’re

now on Disc 2, none of the other events that occur in this disc will

actually happen until you get the Highwind in section 4e (meaning that if

you were to return to the World Map, you couldn’t go on the Huge materia

quests yet, dig up the Gate 5 Key, or bring Buugen Haagen back to the Ancient City).

In the next area, ignore the white, spiked object for a moment. Instead,

walk behind it (look for a path to your left). This will allow you to reach a chest containing a Viper Halberd (a weapon for Cid). Once you’ve gotten it, climb up the spiky object. It’s a little tricky to navigate due to it’s spiraling shape, but you’ll eventually reach a cave entrace after making your way to the top.

Inside, walk to the left and press against the second cleft in the wall.

You’ll climb to the top and be given two options (Right or Left). Pick

the bottom option (Left). Walk over to the next cleft and climb up it,

then choose the bottom option when you reach the top to land on a little

ledge with a chest above it. You can open the chest from where you are;

there’s a Bolt Armlet inside. Face the cleft and choose the bottom

choice, then the top one to jump to the other side. Now, go to the right

and when two options appear, pick the bottom one. This lets you climb down to where the first chest is; there’s a HypnoCrown inside of it.

Climb back up to the top of the cleft, pick the bottom option, then press

against it to try and get back on. When two options appear, choose the top one. Then, make your way up to the ledge with the chest, and pick the top option. You can now take the Megalixir from inside the chest.

Get back into the cleft and choose the bottom option to jump to the west

side of the path. Work your way to the left, climb up the cleft, and head left a second time to reach a long ladder. Selecting the bottom option will left you climb down to the bottom of the ladder.

If you search using the O button, you’ll find a purple materia (Magic

Plus) near the lower-left corner of the screen. When you approach the

ladder, you’ll automatically climb up to the ledge you were at. Now

pick the top option after nearing the ladder and climb all the way to

the top. Once you’re off the ladder, run to the right and go through

the opening on the north wall. In the next room, take the contents of

the treasure chest (Power Source) before exiting through the far opening

to the northwest.

Once outside, keep to the east. After heading along the coastline for a while, you’ll come across a sharp curve that turns to the west. Just beyond it is a village and a deep valley, which you can’t enter without exploring the village (Icicle Lodge) first.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: X Potion, Hero Drink, Vaccine, Turbo Ether.

Go to the far end of town and talk to the man in purple standing near

the trees. Pick the top option. Two Shinra members will show up, along

with Elena (a Turk). After confronting Cloud, she will try to knock him

out. To avoid her strike, press left just after you see the transparent

message box. If she does hit you, you’ll wake up in one of the houses, but if she doesn’t, then she’ll roll right out of the town. It doesn’t make a difference whether you get hit or not.

After that’s done with, go to town entrance and check out the house that’s just to your right. In the back room, there’s a boy, a cat, and a snowboard. Talk to the boy and the cat will leave the room, enabling you to take the snowboard by examining it. You’ll need it for the upcoming event. Now, go to the inn, head to the upper floor, and examine the window in the lower left-hand corner to get an X Potion. Leave and enter the house on the far right (near the snowman). Take the items in the back room (an Hero Drink and a Vaccine), then examine the map on the wall in the main room. You can examine it by choosing the top option, but before you leave, you’ll want to choose the bottom option to take it.

Finally, go into the house on the left side of town, just to the right of the weapons shop. If Elena KO’d you, this is where you’ll wake up :) If you go down the stairs and look by the windowsill, you can get another item (Turbo Ether). You can also take a look at the machinery on the ground floor to see a series of prerecorded videos dating back many years ago; they show Aeris’ mother (Ifaruna, a Setora just like Aeris) and her father, a ‘renegade’ Shinra scientist named Gasuto (Gast). There are several videos, but watching them has no effect on the game itself, aside from cluing you in to Aeris’s past (providing you can read it :)) There’s a device to the left that will allow more light into the room, but it doesn’t seem to have any purpose (NSS).

Before you leave the town, you may want to buy weapons, Hi-Potions and Tents at the shop. When you’re ready to go, simply walk past the man in the back of town (the one near the trees), and the snowboard sequence will start up:

Your controls while using the snowboard are:

S Brake

X Jump

Pad Move left or right, down to brake

Start Pause/unpause

L1/R1 Quick turn to the left or right when used

with control pad

Basically, you want to make your way through the mountains. You can collect balloons along the way, but I don’t know what they do for you. There are also obstacles to crash into, like dead wood, pine trees, igloos, moogles, snowmen, rocks, ice boulders, and chocobos. I believe there are four different ‘exit’ paths; I’ll take the left path twice and go from there in this FAQ.

My characters came to in a white forest. Did yours? From this point

onward, you can press S to look at the map you took (but not in some

screens), which shows where you need to go but not where you are. I

spent hours trying to map this place out, only to discover that there’s

almost nothing of interest in this area. So, I’ve simply described each

location and where it is on the map; getting there isn’t much of a problem. Your ultimate goal, BTW, is to make it to the red check mark shown on the map.

The locations are:

ENTRANCE (looks like a square at the bottom-center of the screen) Heading south from this area takes you back out to the World Map. If you return to Icicle Lodge to heal yourself, you’ll have to snowboard in here again.

MOUNTAIN CAVE (small opening just to the right of the ENTRANCE) You can hop across the ledges to the top of the screen, but in the next room, there’s nothing to do but choose to fall/not fall down an icy chute that has no effect aside from ejecting you back into the world map. The entrance to this cave is hard to see; it’s in the lower-right area of the T-junction screen. You can also get here by going right from the LAKE CAVE area.

tree near the upper left part of the screen. If this is where you landed after the snowboarding event, then it’s just up and to the right of where you crashed.

BURIED AIRPLANE (tail of plane sticking out to left of forest)

Nothing here.

LAKE CAVE (cave in the middle of the central lake) On the surface of the frozen lake, near the shore, there is a green item (a Potion). Be sure to get it. Then head to the left to reach a screen full of ice floes. Here, you’ll have to jump on the floating ice chunks to get across, but the chunks surrounding the one you’re currently standing on will submerge or raise depending on how they looked when you arrived there. If you mess up and they are all submerged, you’ll have to start all over. The key is to make sure that you’re not jumping onto a floe when the ones surrounding it are all raised, or else they’ll all submerge and you’ll fall into the water. To get on the ice floats, choose the top option, then use the O button and the controller to jump around. Enter the cave in the next area, grab the item bag (it contains a Safety Bit accessory), and leave.

LONE TREE (pine tree up and right from the LAKE CAVE)

Nothing here, either.

ICE BOULDERS (northwest corner, left and below the STONE FACE) Go into the small cave entrance and grab the item in the northwest corner of the cavern (an Elixir), then go out the other entrance.

RIVER LOG (above central lake, at mouth of river)

There’s nothing here.

STONE FACE (left of the red check mark)

Nothing here. Seem familiar? The stone face has also appeared in Secret of Mana and FF5j.

STEAMING LAKES (south and east of the check mark) You can touch the water on the lefthand bank if you want. In fact, you should, since you can’t get the Alexander Materia any other way. (Keep reading for details.) Just maneuver yourself as close to the shore of the left lake as you can, and when an option appears, pick the top one.

MOUNTAIN CROSSROADS (top of mountain east of the STEAMING LAKES) Once you reach the crossroads (da dum da da :)) head to the upper right corner of the screen to go off the map. In the next area, work your way up and to the left. When this screen repeats a second time, look for a Blue Materia (Added Cut) near the beginning of the screen, in the upper-right part of the path. This road takes you to the Steaming Lakes area, but if you try to back the way you came, you’ll see that the screen has changed. Put another way, you couldn’t have gotten the Materia unless you took this path since the ‘switching’ road isn’t marked on the map.

If you’re fast, you can reach the ‘lost in the snowfield’ section (the

red checkmark) before anything bad happens. But if you waste your time

in this area, you’ll pass out. (This will still happen to you even if

you reached the snowfield, but then returned to any part of the ‘first

area’. If that happens, go to the next section. If you made it to the

snowfield area, then skip the first paragraph to find out where you are.

Personally, my suggestion is that you follow the example in the FAQ and take the left path twice so that you land in the Forest. From there, you can go right to the Lake Cave area, then continue right past the Mountain Cave area (the T-junction), and up into the Mountain Crossroads, where you can take the switching path to the Steaming Lakes, and then head left into the snowfield. Not only is this a fast way to get through this area, but it also lets you pick up all the items along the way and get the Alexander Materia later on (since you touched the lake on your way out).

Also, you’ll start off at the bottom end of the snowfield when you first

get there, so you can just head up to the cave to get the Blue Materia,

then keep heading north to reach the old man’s shack (if you’re in need

of healing and a Save Point). After talking with him, you can go to the

Stone Face Area, head south to the Ice Boulders area where an Elixir is,

then backtrack to the snowfield and go to the right in order to get the Alexander Materia before returning to the shack. Voila! You’ve just cleared out this entire area in only a few minutes!

Remember, you will pass out eventually if you return to the first area—there’s nothing you can do about it, even if you’ve already gone to Horuzofu’s shack. If you don’t want to waste too much time backtracking just run around in the same few areas until it happens, then leave the old man’s shack and continue exploring. Why this still happens to you after clearing out this area doesn’t seem to make much sense, as it’s more of a nuisance than anything else, but there’s not much you can do about it. If you return to the first area after falling unconscious and wait around there again, you’ll pass out a second time. In fact, this will always happen to you, so get moving!

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: All Materia, Circlet, Alexander Materia.

You’ll awake in the house of an old man (Horuzofu). Go up the stairs and let the old man talk to you; choose the bottom option twice when he asks you two questions. When you wake up the next morning, check out the Save Point (since you probably haven’t saved prior to entering the Icicle Lodge). If you want to spend the night again, talk to the old man in the first room and choose the top choice. When you leave the shack, your friends will be waiting outside. Make a new party if you wish, (see below for directions) then head south. You may have noticed that you can talk to the man from the ground floor even though he is above you :)

If you didn’t pass out, then go directly to the shack so that you won’t pass out. There, you’ll meet an old hermit named Horuzofu. Talk to him, and when he asks you a question, answer any way you like.

The second time he asks you a question, choose the bottom reply. You’ll spend the night at his shack, and when you leave the next morning, your allies will be standing around outside. Choose either choice when an option appears. Then talk to any member and pick the top option to accept a party change or the bottom option to decline, if you want to change your members.

If you don’t want to explore the snowfield any more, skip to section d. After all, you can return here at any future point in the game, providing you have the Highwind.

Outside, you’ll be in a large snowfield. Use the O button to set down

spikes that you can use to track your location (since your direction

changes when the wind picks up). If you want to explore the rest of

that first area that you left/passed out in, head south. When you leave

the first area from the Steaming Lakes exit, you’ll see a rock formation

with a cave entrance if you keep walking north. Inside, a Blue Materia (All) is lying near the tent. What’s odd is that you seem to always run into this on your way back from the first area instead of on the way to it (i.e. from the old man’s shack).

If you head east, you’ll go through some snowy areas, then arrive at a cave entrance. Talk to the purple fellow inside to enter a battle, but only if you touched the water back at the Steaming Lakes.

BOSS TIPS: SUNOU <Snow> LV: 32 HP: 4000 MP: 160

(weak against Fire)

You can’t Control or Morph her, but you can steal a Saakuretto (Circlet) during the battle. Her cold-based attacks (Cold Breath and Blizzard 2) are nothing to worry about, but be careful if she Amulets one of your own members.

If you are victorious, she’ll disappear and a Summon Materia (Alexander)

will drop to the floor, so don’t miss it. While you can use the map here,

you can’t reach this place normally from the first area. If you go right,

then down the snowy path, you’ll end up at the ‘switching’ crossroads in

the first area, though (sort of like a one-way path).

Going west from the snowfield takes you to an alternate entrance to the first area. There’s not that much to do there, anyway, unless you want a shortcut to the ICE BOULDERS area where an item is lying in a cave (refer to the previous section for more information).

If you’re really having trouble navigating around, think of the snowfield like this:

+-----------------------------+

S | | A

1 t | | l M

s o | | e a N

t n | | x t |

e | | a e W-- + --E

A | | n r |

r F | Cave | d i S

e a | | e a

a c | | r

e | |

+-----------------------------+

So no matter how far you are along a boundary, you’ll still enter that area when you hit it. The same applies to the corners—you’ll hit one boundary or the other, so going in a diagonal direction won’t get you to a new place. Don’t worry about finding an ‘exact’ spot to enter an area, just head in that direction. The only real landmark is the cave with the All materia, but if you head north from the Steaming Lakes exit, you’re bound to spot it.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ribbon, Javelin, Elixir, Fire Armlet,

Once you’ve had your fun in the snowfield, return to the old man’s house and heal up or save your game if you need to. Then, go north from the shack to arrive at the slopes of a icy mountain. Keep in mind that you can’t explore this area at any time other than right now in Disc 2, so make sure to get all the items and other stuff.

Now, get ready for some finger-smashing fun! the meter that appears on screen when you’re outside is your body temperature (the kanji you see by the numbers, ‘do’ actually means ‘degrees’): it goes down because of the cold climate. To keep your temperature up, you need to rapidly hit the S button. The highest temperature you can get to is 38, while the lowest is 27. Any less than that (26), and you pass out and find yourself back in the old man’s house. It sounds like keeping your heat up is easy, but you can only increase it when you’re on one of the ledges, not while you’re climbing up the rock face. So for those long climbs, you have to max out your heat and climb as quickly as you can.

Luckily, your heat doesn’t go down during a battle. Remember, it’s not

how hard you press the S button, but how fast you press it, so try to

get in as many presses as you can to max out your temperature. If you’d

rather cheat, refer to the Game Shark code section in the second part of this FAQ—one of my ‘fix-all’ codes is in there that will give you a high body heat no matter how long you stand around.

In this area, there’s nowhere else to go but up, so climb along the rock face until you arrive at the cave entrance, pausing at each ledge to restore your body heat. Always keep an eye out for the red flags; they indicate which part of the wall you can climb. Inside, go through the two archways into the next cavern. Here, climb up the stairs and go through the south exit. In the adjoining area, walk all the way to the right to find a hidden chamber with a chest; inside it is a Ribbon. Then return to the main path and head north, then west, through the entrance. Cross the icy bridge in the third cavern and press the SELECT button to bring up the cursor; it’ll help you navigate through the twisting passage before you. Once you reach the top, examine the boulder and choose the top option when it presents itself. This will make you push the boulder and free up the blocked passage beneath you. You can still move while the boulder is rolling—notice that you can stand right where it falls and you will recieve no damage (then again, Cloud is the same guy who can run around in the cold wearing a sleeveless shirt and not die of hypothermia...must be those corn flakes).

Go back to the other room (where you got the Ribbon), and open the purple chest to the northeast; there’s a Javelin lying inside it. Now, return to the room that you exited from the south (the one with the formerly blocked passage), and go north along the passage until you reach another exit. This leads to the upper path above the chest with the Javelin—keep following it and you’ll find yourself outside.

Build up your temperature, then climb up the wall. After going a short

distance, you’re given a choice (up, down, or right). Pick the top

option (up), and head up until you reach a ledge. Keep climbing upward,

and you’ll be prompted with another choice (right or down). Pick the top option and head right to arrive at another ledge. Then climb up until you reach the next ledge; it has a path going left and an unmarked path that goes to the right (i.e. there’s no flag by it). The right path is a dead end, so take the left path and keep climbing up along the wall (you’ll find another ledge on the way) until you reach a second cave entrace.

This large cavern is pocked with holes. There’s an exit and a treasure

chest, but they are too high to reach, at the moment. Don’t miss the

Save Point between the chest and the exit. Nab the other chest in the

lower right corner of the room (there’s an Elixir inside of it), then go

north from the chest to find a passage that leads outside. Once you’re

out in the open again, head north, then go around the bend and head south and east.

In the next room, examine the area immediately to the right to find a

chest with an Fire Armlet inside. There are four huge icicles

here that you need to knock into the holes in the lower cavern. This is

done by ‘fighting’ them. Each icicle is guarded by several yellow bats.

TIPS: TSURARA <Icicle> LEVEL: 30 HP: 3000 MP: 300

(weak against Fire, Earth, and Demi)

IBIRUHEDDO <Ibil Head?> LEVEL: 28 HP: 740 MP: 45

The icicle (Tsurara) can counter with ‘Tsurara Otoshi’ (Icicle Drop).

It will do this to any person who attacks it, tries to steal from it, or

the like. You don’t have to kill the bats in order to win the battle

(all you have to do is ‘kill’ the icicle), but since they can Silence

your characters and recover HP when they attack you, you may want to get

them out of the way before attacking the icicle. Killing the icicle is worth 500 exp, 0 AP, and 0 gil, so if you want some AP and gil, you may want to kill the Ibiruheddos (which, incidentally, you can Morph into Holy Torches.

Each time you win a battle, you’ll be given an option. If you pick the

bottom choice, you’ll drop down to the room below, while picking the top

choice lets you stay where you are (so you can continue to ‘fight’ the other icicles. After knocking down the last icicle, choose to stay where you are so that you can get the chest on the far left (it has a Megalixir inside). Then, go back along the path. Just before you reach the door, an option appears; pick the bottom choice to jump down to the room below.

When the icicles drop down here, the floor of the cavern is ‘raised’.

After knocking down 3 of them, you can reach the exit, knock down all

4 and you can get the chest on the ledge in the upper left corner of

the room (which contains a Speed Source). When you’re ready, go through

the now-avalible exit by hopping across the stones. This leads to the left side of the outer path. Be sure to examine the chest that’s here to get an Enhance Sword, then follow the path as it curves back on itself and leads to the lower passage in the icicle room.

Keep following the path, and you’ll find yourself on the side of the mountain yet again. Grab the rock face and climb to the right. After a while, three options will appear (up, left, or right). Pick the bottom choice and keep holding right to make Cloud ascend the side of the mountain. When you reach the next ledge, raise your temperature and take the path that leads to the left. As you’re climbing, another set of options will appear (up, down, or right). Choose the top option and keep climbing up. Once you’ve made it beyond the second ledge, you’ll find a final cave entrance.

This area has a hard-to-miss Save Point in it, and if you examine the nearby pool of light, your HP and MP will be completely restored, and all dead characters will be revived. Now is a perfect time to stock up on goodies—you can use the pool to stay healthy while fighting the enemies for exp, AP, and gil, and you can learn Smelly Breath from the Molbols just outside (be sure to wear a Ribbon!) Plus, you can win Dragon Armlets from the Blue Dragons in this cave, which will halve damage taken from Fire, Cold, or Lightning attacks, and win Molbol Tentacles from defeated Molbols. There’s a boss encounter coming your way, so make sure you’re ready to do battle, then exit the chamber by going to the far right.

In the adjoining hallway, you’ll see one of those shrouded creatures (similar to the ones in Nivelheim be thrown to the floor. Before you have a chance to examine it, you’ll be attacked by a two-headed boss.

BOSS TIPS: TSUINHEDDO <TwinHead: Right Neck> LV: 43 HP: 18000 MP: 350

TSUINHEDDO <TwinHead: Left Neck> LV: 43 HP: 18000 MP: 350

In case you’re confused, the ‘right head’ is the scaly one, and the ‘left

head’ is the one with horns. Anyway, you should have the Aurora, Dragon,

and Fire Armlets equipped on your members to reduce damage from

the scaly head’s Fire breath and the horned head’s ice breath. Use

Mabarrier to up your defense, then Haste yourselves. Try using Earth and

Comet spells, as well and summonings, like Alexander, Leviathan, and

Bahamut to soften the boss up. However, don’t use Poison (which does no

damage) or the Kjata summon spell (which will heal both heads). Ice

works well on the scaly head, and Fire works well on the horned head,

but don’t confuse the two since you will heal a head instead of hurt it.

You may also want to use Tsuika Kouka and attack a Fire or Cold materia in order to attack with that sort of element (but don’t attack the other head, for the same reason). In addition to breath attacks, the boss can also use a dual cold/Fire breath attack, it can cast Quega, and has an explosion type attack that will inflict around 1400 damage to all members. It will use this attack when each head is killed (so you will have to deal with it twice during the battle, once when you kill one head, and then again when you kill the other). I highly advise that you concentrate on one head at first instead of trying to kill them both at the same time because this attack will kill your pary if it happens in succession (which means you lose). When it’s defeated, you’ll get a Dragon Fang from the boss.

If you were badly beaten during the fight, you can always return to the room with the pool to heal yourselves. Otherwise, continue down the passage; it leads outside (Cloud sure moves slow out here, doesn’t he?) Then climb the icy wall up to the top, where an automatic sequence will play. After it finishes, head along the side of the inner crater. In the next area, Tifa will talk with you if she’s in your party; if she isn’t, she’ll promptly appear and insist on coming with you, which means you’ll have to kick a member out of your current group. Head to the left.

In the next area, climb down to the lower path and look for a red materia

(Neo Bahamut) near the bottom edge of the screen. You can’t do

anything about the shrouded guy leaping off-screen, so ignore him. After

getting the materia, you can hop up to a small island of rock where there

is a Save Point. When you’re done there, jump again to return to the top path, and walk to the left. You’ll see a short intermission with the three heads of Shinra and several scientists heading towards the Crater in the Highwind, the airship you saw back in Junon Town.

Once the intermission is over, walk left and you’ll reach the first of three ‘shield’ screens. Talk to the two shrouded men, and they’ll each leave behind an item when they die (an Ether and a Hi-Potion).

To get past the flickering shield that’s in front of you, stand as close

to it as you can, then wait until the green aura is almost gone. Now, quickly run through it or you’ll be knocked back when the shield’s aura grows stronger. If you mess up, you’ll be repelled by the shield and will be attacked by a monster:

TIPS: UINDOUINGU <Wind Wing> LV: 36 HP: 1900 MP: 350

For starters, you can steal a Hi-Potion from the Wind Wing, and you can

transform it into a Phoenix Down. Even better, you can control it using

a Manipulate materia and make it attack itself! In other words, this is

an easy battle.

If you happen to touch the shield from the other side, you’ll get knocked back to the beginning, so be careful.

In the next screen, more of those shrouded creatures are running around and dying. Ignore them, but don’t miss the chest near the first left turn of the path; there’s a Kaiser Knuckle inside it. Follow the path until you reach the next screen. The second shield is here, but unlike the first one, there’s a surge of energy traveling along the shield that will knock you back even if the shield’s aura is almost gone. So, wait until the energy surge has passed and the aura is nearly invisible, then dash across. If either defense knocks you back, you’ll have to fight a second Wind Wing (see the above strategy).

Beyond the shield, Sephiroth awaits. He’ll cut down two more of those black creatures before turning invisible and toying around with Cloud. After he attacks the party, he’ll summon a second version of Jenova to kill Cloud and his friends.

BOSS TIPS: JENOBA*DEATH <Jenova*Death> LV: 55 HP: 25000 MP:800

Jenova will try to Silence your members from time to time, and uses a Red Light attack often (usually after being attacked with magic). It causes little damage, but too many of these will really mess up your party. Jenova’s last form of attack is a spurt of fire bubbles (even weaker than the Red Light attack). As you can see, this battle is not hard at all; just hack away with physical attacks, or if you think you have enough HPs, use Comet and cast Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, and Alexander. It’s advisable that you wear the Fire Armlet or Dragon Armlet, since Jenova’s attacks all cause Fire-based damage. Give the Fire Armlet to your best spell caster, and you can knock out Jenova and gain life back at the same time :) You’ll win a Reflect Ring when the battle’s over.

After the boss is killed, you’ll get the Black Materia back (and it’s

actually black this time :)) Once you’re back in control of Cloud,

he confesses that since Sephiroth was able to manipulate him last time,

he might try it again. Therefore, someone else should hold the Black

Materia and stay here while Cloud and the others follow after Sephiroth.

The first time I got here, only Red 13 would take the Black Materia. This time, only Barret would. No matter what character you get, simply choose the top option when it is available (you won’t get an option if that character refuses to take it). Finally, talk to Tifa.

When you’re in control of Cloud again, head north. There’s a materia here (MP Turbo, but notice that it’s yellow when you pick it up!), as well as a Save Point and a chest containing a Poison Ring. If you go north from here, you’ll run into the third and final shield. In addition to having all the defenses of the previous shield (the glowing aura and the moving energy surge), bolts of lightning will strike the ground repeatedly. Since the lightning strikes in short bursts with long pauses in between, wait for the shield’s aura to fade, the energy surge to pass, and wait for a pause in the lightning strikes before attempting to pass through the shield. If you’re hit by any one of those defenses, you’ll have to fight a Wind Wing again (refer to the strategy section above). Once you’re past the shield, head along the path. It leads to an exact replicate of Nivelheim.

This next scene is sorta like a ‘semi-interactive’ flashback. You get

to see Sephiroth run around in Nivelheim, but this time, there’s another

guy following him (Zekkusu, the guy you heard about in Gongaga Village).

Talk to your other party member, then to Tifa. In the next scene,

Zekkusu will look around Nivelheim (which has been reduced to smoldering

rubble), and chat with Zangan (sp?), who I think was Tifa’s mentor.

(BTW, you can go to the Main Menu while Zekkusu is running around. It’s

pointless, but I thought it was sort of amusing :)) Then, your party

appears in a flaming building, and Sephiroth appears. Instead of

attacking, he talks to the party. When you can move, talk to Sephiroth

and he’ll teleport around the room. When you’re in control of Cloud once

more, talk to Tifa twice. Sephiroth warps around some more, then shows

Cloud a picture of him, Tifa, and Zekkusu. After that, Cloud has another

fit, and the screen fades out.

In the next scene, Rufus, Scarlet, and Hojo (the scientist)

arrive at the crater. Before them is a monster encased in ice. It’s

one of the three ‘Weapons’, which awakens and watches them, then starts

moving. Following that, Sephiroth appears in the guise of Tifa and

knocks out the other characters, then tricks whoever is guarding the

Black Materia to go to the center of the crater. Your party will

appear in the area where the Shinra members are at, and the person with

the Black Materia gives it to Cloud, who then flies to the structure

where Sephiroth is at (while you can move around up here, the game takes

over your controls in a few seconds anyway). Once Cloud’s given the Black Materia to Sephiroth, the whole crater starts to break apart and your party (sans Cloud) escape on the Highwind along with the rest of the Shinra crew.

When you come to, you’ll find yourself incarcerated back in Junon Town.

Without Cloud, you’ll be taking control of Barret and Tifa for most of

this section. As Tifa, talk to Barret. Rufus and Heidegger will show

up. Now that you’re in control of Barret, follow Tifa as the guards take

her away (don’t miss the Save Point), and prepare to execute her. Once Junon Town is attacked by the freed Weapon, one of the Shinra officials knocks out Scarlet. It’s turns out to be none other than Cait Sith, who helps Barret fight the two soldiers who are guarding him.

TIPS: xxxx LV: 34 HP: 1300 MP: 100

xxxx LV: 34 HP: 1300 MP: 100

Physical attacks will do the trick here, although you can control them if you want. If this battle gives you trouble, you need to gain some levels at some point in the game.

Notice how the guard will run away and disappear after the battle? I

guess that glitch went unnoticed...anyway, examine the door in the lower

right corner of the screen and use the controller or the O button to make

Barret try to pull it open. An FMV sequence follows in which the Sister

Ray is readied and Junon Town prepares to engage the approaching Weapon.

When it collides with the city, gas starts pumping into the chamber Tifa

is trapped in. When you’re in control of Barret, go and talk to Cait

Sith. Then go out the door and when it closes, head right, then out the

door. Outside, head down the road. If you got Yuffie, she’ll be here masquerading as a newscaster; talk to her and continue to your left.

Once the Weapon has rose out of the water, continue to the left until

you arrive at the Airport. Then, run to the center platform and examine

the yellow box to be lifted to the upper level. From there, continue towards the airship by heading right.

When you’re in control of Tifa again, you have to pick up the key on the ground so you can free yourself from the gas chamber. Your controls are:

S Move right arm

X Move feet

T Move Tifa’s head

You’ll need to press the buttons in this order: X, X, T, X+T, T+O, O. (Or, press X, X, T, X+T, T+S, S if you want to free her other hand instead...it makes no difference).

Pressing them has the following effect:

When you press X, Tifa will stretch out her legs. Pressing X a second time makes her drag the key towards her. Then press T to sit back in the chair. Then press T and X at the same time (you don’t need to hold them, just press them), and she’ll lift the key up with her feet and take hold of it with her teeth at the same time. After that, T+O together will make her free her arm using the key. Finally, press O so that she can grab the key and use it to release her other arm.

Feel free to take your time doing this since waiting around won’t do anything to you (Tifa’s invincible! Mwa, ha ha!!)

Examine the back of the room by the left side of the chair to shut off the gas, then examine the door. After the monster provides you with an exit, climb outside and work your way down the front of the tower (don’t worry about the guards). When you reach the bottom, head toward the upper left corner of the screen (the cursor will appear to help you keep track of your location, but you can disable it if you want). In the next screen, make your way down to the frontmost cylinder of the cannon, then press up to go along the front of it and end up on the cannon barrel itself (this can be a little tricky). Just as you reach the edge of the cannon, Scarlet. She’ll start slapping you, so press the O button to slap back (go Tifa, go)! If you’re fast enough, you’ll slap her to the floor after 5-6 good hits. If she gets in more slaps, you get knocked over. Despite the outcome of the ‘fight’, Tifa will still be rescued by Barret in the Highwind.

Once in the airship, head to the cockpit where you’ll talk with Cid.

When he finishes, talk to Red 13 and Cid again, then chat with the man

piloting the airship. After that, go to the room marked ‘Operations’

and talk to the man there. He will let you assemble a new group with

Tifa as the leader. From this point onward, you can return to this room

and talk with the man to activate PHS, restore your HP and MP, or save

your game. Now that you have a party, return to the cockpit and talk to

the man again. Choose the top option, and you can control the Highwind!

To pilot it, use these controls:

S When held, you can use the Pad to fly without changing the

direction you’re facing

X Press to land

T Takes you inside the Highwind

Pad Press left/right to turn, up/down to rise or descend

Start Reveals/enlarges/hides the map

Select Same as Start

Notice that your other vehicles (the Gold Saucer vehicle and Cid’s airplane) are gone for good. BTW, you enter the Highwind by pressing O when you’re close to it (like other vehicles). To gain control of it again, just talk to the man at the wheel and pick the top option. At this point, you’ll probably want to look around and go to various places. However, you can only land on green, grassy ground, and nowhere else, which limits the areas you can explore (this doesn’t include the canyon floor on the Northern Continent). There are two areas you can now reach with the Highwind. The first one is a cave with a sleeping man that’s just beyond the mountain range near Midgar City (you can go here with the Buggy, but since you no longer have it, you’ll have to use the Highwind). Also, there’s a house to the right of Icicle Lodge, you can talk to the green Chocobo inside to get a free Enemy Skill Materia, and the purple geezer who lives here will sell you various chocobo foods. Finally, if you return to the Chocobo Farm, you’ll find a purple materia (Chocobo Attract) near the edge of the now-empty Chocobo pen. From now on, you can breed Chocobos here (refer to the ‘Secrets and Strategies’ section for details.

If you look, there’s a lake near Junon now (I thought this didn’t appear until Disc 3 sheepish grin) There’s also a barrier surrounding the Crater, and of course, a huge meteor is hanging in the sky (the result of Sephiroth casting Meteo via the Black Materia). A lot of places now sell different items, among them Junon Town*, Fort Condor, Costa Del Sol, and Rocket Town, for example. There’s also some new treasure to be found in Rocket Town: there’s a chest with a Fourth Bracelet in the store that sells accessories, in the back of the adjoining room. And if you didn’t get the Yoshiyuki from the old man in Disc 1, you can get it now.

• In very last area of Junon, there’s a man standing out in the middle of the road. If you talk to him and choose the bottom option, nothing happens. But if you choose the top option, the Shinra

helicopter lands and you’re given another choice. Pick the top option

Finally, keep in mind that there are some things that Tifa can’t do, like enter the Gold Saucer or play the piano in her house in Nivelheim. Ditto with Cid, who becomes the leader during the next section (keep reading).

4 . 6 w h e r e ‘ s c l o u d ? / n o r t h c o r e l

e x p r e s s

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Curse Ring, Elixir.

Get in the Highwind and fly to the Southern Continent. Look around until

you spot a forest with a small village nearby. Land in the grass, and

enter the village, Mideel. Look around, and be sure to do some shopping;

the items here are expensive, but well worth your money. When you’re

done, go to the weapon shop and examine the door in the back of the room.

You will try to knock on it. Go outside and climb up the stairs, then walk along the floorboards behind the house where you can buy accessories. You should hear a sound. If you press O to examine the floor, you’ll receive a message. Return to the weapon shop and examine the door in the back again. When an option appears, select the top choice. You’ll mess around with the door. When the shopkeeper asks what’s going on, pick the bottom option, and he’ll give you the Cursed Ring accessory. (If you want to see your character act funny, pick the top option instead—works better with Tifa than with anyone else, IMO. Of course, you’ll have to reset and try again if you want the Cursed Ring.)

When you try to explore the north end of the town, Tifa automatically

goes over to the cat in the middle of the screen. While playing with

it she hears that a strange man has been brought to the hospital—inside

is none other than Cloud, who survived the blast of energy back at the Crater. However, he’s nothing more than a vegetable now. Tifa insists on staying by his side. Back at the Highwind, Cait Sith reveals that the Shinra are hunting for the four Huge Materia, which they plan to use in order to destroy the Meteo before it crashes into the Earth. Barret gets distressed when he learns that the Shinra plan to destroy North Corel in order to get the Huge Materia, then Cid declares himself the new party leader! Despite his dorky running style, Cid makes a good front man. Once you’re able to control him, go to the Operations room and make a new team.

Before you go anywhere else, land and return to Mideel. You can now check out the house in the middle of the town, where an old man sits betting his cat. There’s a large green item on the man’s bed (an Elixir). If you try to leave, the cat turns out to be a ferocious dog! When an option appears, pick the top one to admit that you took the Elixir. However, the man will let you keep it. On the other hand, if you pick the bottom option, Cid will feign innocence, until the old man tells him that he took his Elixir. Either way, you still get the item. There’s nothing else to do here (at least for now, anyways), so leave the town behind and board the Highwind (notice how Cid mentions the Fort Condor).

At this point in the game, two of the four Huge Materia sub-quests are available to you: you can either get the Huge Materia in North Corel, or get the one at Fort Condor. The choice is yours. If you want the one in North Corel first, keep reading. If you’d rather pick up the one at Fort Condor first, skip to section 4g below. Remember, you DON’T have to succeed at Huge Materia Quests; in fact, you can lose all four and still proceed with the game (if you decide to do this, just ignore any mention of Huge Materia for the remainder of the FAQ).

Ready to go? The next thing you have to do is stop a train from smashing

into the town of North Corel. You can pilot the Highwind to two places;

North Corel, and then work your way back through the old train tracks to

the Makoro furnace, or you can land at the nearby cave-like entrance that

leads to the furnace and take the train from there. Either way, you’ll

still have to do a bit of walking, so it’s up to you (check out sections

3n and 3o if you don’t remember what I’m talking about). Anyway, once

you reach the furnace, head to the center and you’ll be attacked by some

Shinra guards (easy to defeat). After you do them in, a train will leave the furnace. What you have to do is catch up with it before it rams into North Corel. The next scene finds you and your companions on a train trying to catch up to the Shinra train.

Remember the digit-damaging fun you had back at the Frozen Mountain? Well, this time, it’s worse. You have to press Up and the T button in a steady, yet extremely fast motion to make Cid pull the levers of the train so that you can catch up to the Shinra train. Even worse, there’s a time limit—you have to reach the train, board it, kill the enemies on board, and stop it all within 10 minutes. If you practice, you should be able to catch up to the train in about 23-30 seconds, but remember that you’ll need about 4 minutes, at best, to beat the enemies on board, so work quickly. You fight monsters each time you leap to a new train car, (five battles in all) and while they’re relatively easy to win, they do take up your time. If you have learned it by now, Degeon can be used in the first two battles for a quick win. If you’re low on time, don’t use Summon Materia because the counter still decreases during the casting (which usually takes some time).

Assuming you get to the locomotive with time remaining, wait for the conversation between Cid and your other characters to stop. You can now do the following; press up + T to slow the train, or down + X to Speed Plus it up. Once Cid grabs the controls, press:

You can’t enter either command while your buddies are talking to you, so skip through the conversations when they occur. The train will speed up, but will slow just as it reaches the town, if you’ve done it correctly.

If you stop the train in time, you get a Key Item (the Huge Materia),

and a little boy gives you a green materia (Ultima). The next morning,

go to the house below the inn and a lady in a hat will give you Barret’s

Level 4 Limit Break Manual. If you messed up, then the train runs

straight through North Corel. You don’t get the Huge Materia, and if you

want the Ultima materia, you’ll have to buy it from the same kid for 50,000 gil. However, you can still get the manual from the lady in the hat and spend some free time at the inn ;P. So, it’s really in your best interest to save the town. If you really want to keep playing after losing the Huge Materia, then continue on to section 3g, or if this is your second attempted quest, go to section 3h.

(Remember, you can do this before or after the North Corel Huge Materia quest; it’s your choice).

Pop into the Highwind and fly back to the blue tower with the big gold

bird on it (read section 3l if you don’t remember where it was). Enter

it, and climb to the top of the tower. Talk to the man in the room with

the locked door. Choose the middle option, and you’ll get to play a

mini-game. For instructions/strategies, please refer to the ‘Having Fun’

bit in section 7.

When you win, you can open the sealed door. On the rooftop is a red

materia (Summon Phoenix), and if you talk to the man in white wearing

the large hat in the lower room, you get a Huge Materia. For a condor’s

baby, that bird sure looks like a Chocobo if you ask me....

Head back to the village on the Southern Continent where you left Tifa and Cloud behind. When you talk to Tifa, the screen will start to shake. Go outside, and you’ll be attacked by a huge black dragon.

BOSS TIPS: ARUTEMAUEPON <Ultima Weapon> (you can’t see his stats.)

This boss has only two attacks, Quega, and the Ultima Beam. He’s pretty

easy to beat, so just keep summoning your best monsters and use physical

attacks to deal out damage. After you’ve injured it enough, it will fly

away.

The next scene with Tifa and Cloud is so funny! They’re puffy and superdeformed, and well let’s just say any sense of danger or surprise at this sudden attack is forgotten once you see their wide-eyed faces as they escape the crumbling village.

After Tifa and Cloud take a dive, you’ll find yourself playing with Tifa, who’s in a strange world filled with Cloud’s memories. First, talk to the northmost Cloud. You’ll head into his memories of the trip he took to that one town near the Jenova plant with Sephiroth. When Cloud shows up, speak to him again. When you reach the ‘center’ of Cloud’s mind again, speak to the Cloud on the left. Once you’re in control of Tifa, converse with the Cloud sitting on the steps to the right (near the ‘kid’ Cloud).

Then talk to the ‘kid’ Cloud and look in the window. When you can move Tifa, talk to the ‘shadow’ Cloud. Once you’re back in Cloud’s mind talk to the ‘real’ Cloud and go back to the town area again. Everything else unfolds by itself (you can go to the Main Menu during the burning of Nivelheim—again!) At the end, speak with Cloud one last time, and you’ll return to the ‘real’ world.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Contain materia (if you didn’t get it already),

Back at the airship, prepare a new team and take control of the Highwind.

You can buy goods that weren’t available before back in Mideel, and

you’ll want to get the Contain materia orb at some point. To get it,

climb up the slope on the west side of town to where the hyperactive kid

is running around. If you didn’t get the Contain materia in Mideel the

first time, then, talk to his White Chocobo and pick the first option

(make sure you have at least one Mimett Green on you). When a list of

six options appear, pick the fifth one from the top ("scratch behind it’s

ears"). The chocobo will then reveal the Contain materia, which you can

take.

Furthermore, if you went into each store in Mideel and talked to the hyperactive kid in each one, he will now be selling all the items that you could normally buy there! However, if you didn’t go into any of the shops, or only talked to him in one shop or two shops, then he will only be selling items from those stores or will be selling nothing at all.

Also, at this point in the game, the man who lost his keys will appear

outside Midgar City, enabling you to get the Sector 5 Key, among other

things. You might want to take some time now to breed Chocobos, do some

shopping, or maybe have some fun at the Gold Saucer (since you can now get in with Cloud in your party).

Also, there is an extra scene new to the US release—return to Niblehiem and go down into the library in the Shinra Mansion. Examine the tanks in the back of the room for a flashback.

Whenever you’re ready to proceed with the game, head to Junon Town for the third Huge Materia quest (you can’t do the fourth one until later). Head into the center of Junon, and go down the main road (you’ll see a scene with Cloud inspecting the damage that the Weapon inflicted on the town earlier). Keep walking until you arrive at the gray underpassage where a commander is drilling his men. He will order his men to run away when he sees you. Continue down the passage until you see a door labeled ‘1’ against the left wall. Enter it, and you’ll find yourself in an elevator. Two guards in here will attack you; dispatch them and let the lady take you down to the bottom of the elevator shaft.

When you step out, you’ll be attacked by more Shinra soldiers. Ignore

the dog and go down the slope, then through the door. In the next room,

head down the set of stairs until you reach another door. Past it is

yet another set of stairs, and at the bottom is a Save Point. Go through

the door here to reach a second lift which takes you to the bottom of

the sea floor. The area is shaped like a huge glass tube. If you go

north to the second screen (in front of the Mako reactor), and fight

enemies, you’ll eventually meet up with the Ghost Ship. ‘Morph’ it into

the Guide Book; you’ll need that item later.

Head north until you reach the underwater tunnel, and follow it until you

arrive at the Mako plant. Inside, examine the red light on the far wall

to pump water out of the chamber. Step outside and you’ll find yourself

in a huge undersea dock where several submarines are sitting. Go along

the walkway—it leads to a hall with a Save Point. Walk north from here

to arrive at a room filled with guards.

If you talk to the guard who’s walking around, he’ll attack you. You’ll

then fight the two other guards by the opening in a second battle. If you don’t talk to the walking guard, then all three will ambush you.

However, if you let yourself get ambushed, you won’t have to fight the

second set of soldiers by the other opening. Decide what you want to do

(fun, isn’t it?) and fight the guards accordingly. Then go through the opening to your right to find a chamber full of machinery. Cloud will automatically stop in front of one of the machines as you walk past it.

When you can control him again, head to the right to see the Red Huge

Materia being loaded onto a Shinra submarine. Reno of the Turks is

here, and he’ll summon a mechanical freak to take you out while he makes

a hasty retreat.

BOSS TIPS: CARRY ARMOR LV: 45 HP: 24000 MP: 200

LEFT ARM LV: 45 HP: 10000 MP: 100

RIGHT ARM LV: 45 HP: 10000 MP: 200

(all weak vs. lightning)

This boss is composed of three parts. It can imprison two of your

characters in his arms, and they recieve 1/3 the amount of damage that

it receives from your attacks. However, since it has three parts, if

you’re making an attack that hits more than once, your ally gets struck

twice or even three times! Furthermore, if the third character is

killed while the other two are imprisoned, the battle is instantly lost.

Destroying it’s arms should be your top priority, but the arms rotate and switch sides when they are hit, so adjust your attacks accordingly.

Summoning spells and enemy skills work well here. The boss’ attacks are

not so strong, but they come quickly. The worst one is the Lapis Laser that strikes all members for +1600 damage. BTW, the only way to free a character is to destroy the arm that’s holding them, or have him or her die. This makes the Phoenix summon very useful if you just freed a friend and want to revive and attack at the same time. You’ll get the God’s Hand weapon when you kill it and both arms.

With the Carry Armor out of the way, head to the left to find a chest

with the Battle Trumpet inside it. Then go back to the right and run

along the pier until you reach the gray submarine. Open the chest by the

stairs to get the Scimitar. To the left of that chest is a chest

holding a Key Item: the Leviathan Scales. You’ll need it later so be

sure to pick it up. Go up the stairs to find a bunch of soldiers

running around in place (ha!) who will fight you. Cloud will then enter

the submarine and be ambushed by three soldiers. You may win a set of ‘Shinra Beta’ armor from the guards, but it’s not that great. Anyway, there’s a Save Point here, and when you’re done using it, head through the northern door to reach the bridge of the submarine.

Here, you’ll meet two guards and their scared-as-hell commander. You

can either choose the bottom option and let them live, or you can pick

the top option and kill them. You can steal the ‘Shinra Alpha’ (_very_

strong armor) from the captain if you choose to fight. Whatever your

choice is, examine the captain’s seat when you’re able to and you’ll be

given three options. Pick the second one to climb into the chair. From

there, pick the top option to see a description of the sub controls, or the bottom option to start up the sub and enter the submarine mini-game (explained below).

Your controls on the submarine are:

S Shoot torpedoes (only when you’re near an enemy craft)

X Backward thrust

T Forward thrust

Pad Move left/right or descend/raise

R1 Switch between close-up or bird’s eye view

R2 Switch between near, overhead, or cockpit view

Start Pause; show control screen

The walls of the ocean floor are shown in blue, and there are diamond-shaped mines that are invisible until you get close. You can tell how far they are from the floor by the red columns beneath them. The purpose of this ‘mini-game’ is to destroy the the main Shinra sub (red) in the time allotted, although you can kill some of the ten yellow submarines if you want to. During the mission, the following warnings will appear:

WARNING When an enemy sub is approaching

ALERT When an enemy sub is firing

MINE You are about to run into a mine

CONFLICT The sub cannot move because you are

steering it against/along a rock face

The sub game plays much faster than it did in the Japanese version, and the control isn’t as sloppy as before (it still takes getting used to).

You lose the game if one of two things happen; time runs out (you have

10 minutes to destroy the submarine), or if your life bar (which is

represented by the red/green bar at the bottom of the screen) is

depleted as a result of being hit by missiles, crashing into the walls

or floor once too often, or ramming another sub. If you win, then the

submarine you’re in is automatically piloted to shore. If you mess up,

your characters will jettison themselves from the sub. Either way,

you’ll learn that a Huge Materia is being transported from the Junon

Airport. You can go there (it’s the same place where the Highwind was

docked) to see some FMV of the plane taking off, or not (it’s optional).

At this point in the game, you have two options available to you. You

can either sneak back into Junon and get yourself another submarine,

or you can go to Rocket Town and do the fourth and final Huge Materia

quest. If you already have a submarine, then you can do some underwater

exploring or do the last Huge Materia quest (refer to section 4.10 for the former and section 4.11 for the latter). If you need to get a second submarine, then keep reading.

Go back into the main part of Junon Town and work your way back to the

gray hallway, down the elevator with the woman, and to the room with the

guards, a dog, and the sloping floor. Beat the guards and examine the

dog. When he moves aside, follow him and examine him again. Choose the

top option, and you’ll enter the red Shinra submarine. When the guards show up, choose the top option to let them go, or the bottom option to fight them. In the cockpit room, choose the top option to save the commander, or the bottom option to fight him and his men. Either way, you still get to pilot the sub. Note that if you got the gray sub, you can’t go through here and get the red sub.

New to the US version is the ‘Weapon’ scenario—you can now fight the

Emerald Weapon underwater, and meet and trade with the man in the upper-

right house in Kalm Town. Refer to section 6.5 for details.

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Huge Materia (listed here because you don’t have to

Lance, Outsider, Highwind Manual, Hades materia, Key

This section outlines a series of side-quests and optional events. While

some have to be done at a certain point, the others are listed here only

because you now have a submarine and can explore the ocean. You can skip

this section and go on to 4.11 for the final Huge Materia Quest if you’d

rather do the things in here at a later point.

The controls for either submarine (gray or red) are as follows:

X Submerge/Ascend

• Propel forward

Pad Move in any direction

- (raise or lower while underwater)

L1/R1 Turn to the left or right

L2/R2 Switch from side/overhead view

- (doesn’t work while underwater)

Start Show/enlarge/hide map

- (cannot enlarge map while underwater)

Select Same as Start

The submarine can cross deep water, but not shallows. If you can’t get by an area while skimming the sea, try submerging and looking for a passage. If you can’t get over a rock wall while submerged, try ascending and looking for another way around. Also, the sub can only land at docks such as the one near Junon Town. BTW, the mini-game at the Gold Saucer also becomes available once you have a submarine.

If you sunk the red submarine, then get in your submarine and look at

the map. Head to the chain of small islands southeast from the

weaponsmith’s house (the guy who lived near the Gold Saucer). Submerge

and you’ll find the red submarine. Should you touch it, Cloud will

retrieve the Huge Materia from the wrecked submarine. If you failed to

sink it earlier, then it won’t be here. Note that you can wait and pick

up the Huge Materia in Disc 3 if you’d rather not get it right now.

Next, return to the Junon Town dock and go west until you reach a jutting peninsula (or go north from where the red submarine was, assuming you sunk it). Go around the penninsula and head south until you reach land (you’ll be in a little bay, near a dock, and you should be able to see the Golden Saucer from where you are). Descend and you’ll find a wrecked plane lying on the sea floor. It’s the prototype Shinra air carrier ‘Gelinka’. Touch it to board the sunken plane.

Inside the plane, go down the ladder. Run to the left to find a Save Point and a treasure chest (inside is the Heaven’s Cloud sword).

Enter the northern door (the one with the Shinra emblem on it) and

head east along the walkway. There’s a green chest here with an

Escort Guard in it. Go down the incline to the lowest level of this

room and head to the upper-left corner. Hidden by a pipe is another

green chest; inside it is Yuffie’s Ultimate Weapon, the Conformer. Now

to all the way to the upper-right corner and search the wall for a hard

to see yellow materia (Double Cut). Finally, return to the entrance and

go north and then east across the beams. This leads to the final chest which has a Megalixir inside of it.

Return to the main room and go through the door on the left wall. In the adjoining chamber are Reno and Rude of the Turks, who will talk to you briefly before attacking your party.

BOSS TIPS: RENO LV: 42 HP: 15000 MP: 230

RUDE LV: 49 HP: 20000 MP: 280

Rude (the bald guy) can cast Ice 2 and Fire 2, while Reno will attack

you with his Neo Turks’ Light Ray attack. They also have the nasty

ability to confuse you, which can be a serious problem if the confused

member has a Double Cut or Slash All materia equipped. Once you inflict

enough damage on one of them, that person will leave. If you kill Reno,

then Rude will simply stand around until you lower his HP to zero. Since

this battle is tougher than it might seem, Haste your characters and use

your best attacking and summon spells. If he’s learned it, Cloud’s B3/1

should be used whenever possible. You’ll get an Elixir when the battle is concluded.

With the Turks out of the way, go through the northern door. A chest

sitting near the entrance contains a Megalixir, and if you continue

along the walkway and go all the way to the right, you’ll find another

chest with a Spirit Lance inside. Go down the stairs to the lower area;

near the bottom of the screen are two chests; one to the left and one to the right. The left one has an Outsider gun in it, and the right one contains Cid’s Level 4 Limit Break Manual (Highwind). Before leaving, look by the wrecked helicopter for a shimmering red sphere (it’s lying between the body of the helicopter and one of the broken, detached parts next to it). It’s the Hades materia, so pick it up and then head back to your submarine. You don’t need to return to the wrecked plane again, although you can fight the monsters here and transform them into various ‘-Source’ items (you can also do this to several of the monsters in the Mideel Area). Considering this game’s difficulty (the lack of, that is), you shouldn’t have to do this, though.

Once you’re in the submarine, look at your map. Just south and east of the southeastern tip of the Northern Continent are three islands in a sort of a curving pattern. If you can’t quite tell where you are, just go along the coast of the Northern Continent until you reach an area surrounded by shallows where there are three islands (you should be near snowy ground with patches of grass, in addition to a large mountain). Submerge the submarine and look for an underwater tunnel around here (guide the submarine into the dead-end and turn around; you should see it as you’re moving). The short tunnel leads to a twisted, spiky object which you will take (it’s called the Key to Ancients;

Bugenhagen asks you to find it later on when you return to the Ancient City in section 4.12).

Finally, get back in your airship and fly to Wutai on the Westernmost Continent. Go up into the Dachao Statue area, and head along the path until you reach the path that heads north. Follow it past the statue’s head until you reach another crossroads with a cave entrance nearby.

Enter the cave. Try to walk into the first fire-pit twice and Cloud

will use the Leviathan Scales (a double-mistranslation; the game calls

it ‘Water God Scales’ in this part which is correct) on the fires each

time, exposing a green chest which contains a Oritsuru (a shuriken for

Yuffie). Explore the rest of the cave until you find a second fire-pit.

Press against it to douse it with the Leviathan Scales. This allows you

to take the blue materia lying on the floor (Steal as well).

Return to Rocket Town (it’s beyond the mountains near the Gold Saucer). Go to the launch pad. It’s swarming with Shinra soldiers! Make your way to the stairs leading up to the rocket and you’ll be attacked by two soldiers. Deal with them and you’ll be attacked by another pair of soldiers. At the top of the stairs, you’ll fight two more soldiers and their captain. After killing them, Cid will show up and insist on joining if he’s not already with you. After you’ve made a party, press X to continue playing, T to go to the Main Menu, or O to change your party’s configuration (but Cloud and Cid cannot be removed from the current party). After you choose to continue playing, climb up the ladder and you’ll face off with two Shinra soldiers and Rude of the Turks.

BOSS TIPS: RUDE LV: 42 HP: 9000 MP: 240

ATTACK SQUAD LV: 34 HP: 1300 MP: 100

ATTACK SQUAD LV: 34 HP: 1300 MP: 100

Use physical attacks to kill the soldiers and injure Rude, especially

if you’ve got the Double Cut and Slash-All materia equipped. Rude can

use a jumping wave attack, but it only causes about 500 points of damage.

He can also create a MBarrier which he usually casts when one or both of

the soldiers are killed, and he can cast Bolt 2 and heal himself for

about 1100 hit points. Despite all his powers, he’s still easily beaten.

If you kill Rude before finishing off the guards, you’ll automatically win the battle. You may win an S-mine once you win the battle.

Go inside the rocket ship—you’ll have to fight another battle, but it’s

easily won. Press O to open the northern door, then go into the main

room, where Cid will talk to the workers. After the rocket lifts off,

go to the right into the next room and climb up the ladder. Examine the

Huge Materia in the next room and choose the top option. Cid will chat with Cloud and several numbered boxes will appear. When they do, punch in the following code, one press per message box:

First Message (1): O

Second Message (2): S

Third Message (3): X

Fourth Message (4): X

If you did it correctly, the glass tube will open and you can take the Huge Materia. If you mess up, you’ll have 3 minutes to get the code right, and Cid will try to clue you in to the correct code. Should the timer reach zero, the Huge Materia is lowered into the ground.

Whether you got the Huge Materia or not, return to the entry room and climb down the ladder; when you get near the sparking tanks, they will explode. With a little help from Shera, you’ll free Cid from under a piece of metal. Follow Shera into the next room (which turns out to be an escape capsule). After a lengthy FMV sequence, you’ll find yourself back in Highwind, and the Meteor hanging in the sky will now be much closer than it was before. Alternately, you can do this part (see the tanks explode) and then go back and get/not get the Huge Materia, or you can even do this part and then take the escape pod without even attempting to free the Huge Materia (which means you obviously won’t get it).

4 . 1 2 f o r g o t t e n c a p i t a l r e v i s i t e d /

m i d g a r c i t y u n d e r s i e g e

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Rising Sun, Ultima Weapon, Elixir x3, Megalixir,

x2, Speed Source, W-Item materia, Master Fist, Pile

Get in the Highwind and return to Cosmo Canyon. Make your way up to the

observatory and talk to Bugenhagen. Cloud will use the PHS system to call the rest of his friends up to Bugenhagen’s home. They’ll all talk about Sephiroth and Aeris, and then leave Cloud alone with Bugenhagen, who offers to keep the Huge Materia at his observatory for safekeeping. Touch any of the Huge Materia you have and pick the bottom option to return to the Highwind. Bugenhagen will accompany you. Pilot the Highwind back to the Northern Continent and land in the canyon where the Forgotten Capital is located. At the crossroads, take the left path and follow it into the chamber with the blue crystal that you couldn’t do anything to earlier. Head right along the upper path and take the stairs up to the crystal. Bugenhagen will talk to Cloud and his friends. If you already got the Key to Ancients, Bugenhagen uses it to create a waterfall. If you didn’t get it yet, he’ll remain here in the Forgotten Capital until you find it and return to him with it.

Once the waterfall has been activated, walk towards the crystal a second

time. Pictures of Aeris will be shown in the falling water while Bugen

talks to your party. Now, leave the Forgotten Capital. As you do, Cait

Sith calls on Cloud’s phone and tells him that the Sister Ray in Junon

Town has been reinstalled in Midgar City, and that it’s going to be used

to destroy the barrier around the crater (where Sephiroth’s at). After

seeing some more FMV, return to the Highwind. Just as you’re about to

board it, another Weapon monster shows up and starts advancing towards

Midgar City. Since you can’t attack it while in the Highwind, and you

can’t reach it using the submarine, wait until it reaches dry land, then

try and touch it.

BOSS TIPS: DIAMOND WEAPON LV: ?? HP: 50000 MP: 3000

(weak against Lightning)

First, cast Barrier on yourselves to reduce physical damage. Then cast

Slow on the Diamond Weapon. The Diamond Weapon is normally immune to

any physical attack, so use magic: Bolt 3, Tornado, Break, and Ultima

all work very well. Enemy Skills and Summons are okay to use, but you’re

better off with magic. The Diamond Weapon may become susceptible to

physical attacks (it won’t happen every time you fight it), use Limit

Breaks, 4x-Cut, and other strong attacks. The Diamond Weapon’s attacks

are weak; it has a laser ray (700+ damage) and a foot stomp attack (1000+

damage). When the Diamond Weapon’s HP are getting low, it will open it’s

chest cavity and prepare for the ‘Countdown’ attack. Unless you kill it

in three rounds, it will perform a ‘Diamond Flash’ that does around 1500

to 3500 damage to all members, in addition to ‘Silencing’ them. It will

keep doing the ‘Countdown’ and then ‘Diamond Flash’ until it dies. It seems as if it will automatically become vulnerable to physical attacks (items, thrown items, coins, attacking) once it’s used the Diamond Flash at least once. You can steal a Rising Sun from it during the battle.

Afterwards, you’ll see the Sister Ray destroy the Diamond Weapon and the

shield surrounding the crater, while the Weapon makes a last ditch attack

against Midgar.

At this point in the game, if you return to the lake near Junon Town,

the Ultimate Weapon will be hovering over the lake. You can battle the

Ultimate Weapon by ramming into it while aboard the Highwind. However,

it will fly away after fighting with you for awhile. From this point

on, it will fly around the sky and make it’s way to various random

locations. It might seem as if you could just wait around for the

Ultimate Weapon to show up here and there, but the beast will fly in

circles unless you find it and ram into it repeatedly. After 4 or 5

tries, it will then head towards a new location and sit there until you

attack again. After escaping a few more times, it will make a final

stop at Cosmo Canyon (it does this after losing a certain amount of HP,

so you may fight it several times or only twice, depending on how much

damage you can inflict per battle. You can fight it to the death here

(it’s a pushover, so don’t expect too much of a challenge), and when it

dies, you get Cloud’s Ultimate Weapon (the Ultima Weapon). Furthermore,

it will create a crater when it crashes into the ground, wiping out

several of the rock formations around Cosmo Canyon. However, you can

now walk across the crater and go into the Ancient Forest! Normally, you

can’t reach this place unless you’re using a colored Chocobo. If you don’t want to fight the Ultimate Weapon now, you still fight it during Disc 3.

Anyway, pilot the Highwind back to the crater when you’re ready. Before

you can explore it further, Reeve (y’know, the guy who controls Cait Sith) reveals that Hojo (one of the members of the Jenova Project) is planning to use the Sister Ray again, even though the results could be catastrophic considering how much energy it used up last time. So you have to get back into Midgar City and stop Hojo beforehand.

When you’re ready to raid Midgar City, fly the Highwind straight towards

it, as if you were going to ram into it. Cloud and his allies will gather together on the airship’s deck. You can now choose the top option to assemble a new party, or the bottom option to leap off the ship and parachute into the city. When you can move, follow your friend to an alleyway where your pals are waiting. There’s also a Save Point here. Talk to whoever is by the wooden panel and they’ll open it to reveal a ladder leading down into the depths of Midgar City. At the bottom of the ladder, go along the metal passage and down the slope. Go up the the next slope and when you reach the wall, head right to find a chest containing an Elixir, and then run to the left to find a chest with a Megalixir inside of it.

Make your way back to the area with the ladder and take the stairs down to an area with a ladder. If you climb down the ladder, you’ll reach a long walkway; head east and then go north to arrive at another ladder. Climb up it and you’ll have access to the green chest you saw earlier; it contains an Aegis Bracelet. Climb back down to the long walkway and run to the right. The floor will give way and you’ll be deposited on a lower walkway. Head left, jump on top of the pipe, and then ascend the ladder. When you arrive at another ladder, climb up it, too.

Eventually you’ll arrive at a path just below the one you were walking

around on earlier. Walk along it until you reach a chute; walk into it

and you’ll be deposited in a new area. Check out the green chest to the

left (there’s a Starlight Horn inside it). Then go to the right and open

the chest that’s near the ladder (it contains an Elixir). Climb down the

ladder and press against the right lip of the platform in order to jump down to the chute labled ‘42’. Enter the chute, and when you arrive at the other end, head left and then go up the ladder. At the top, you’ll find a chest to the left; there’s a Max Ray inside it. Retrace your steps until you’re back at the other area, press left to jump off the chute and back onto the platform, and then climb up the ladder and go up the stairs to your left (it’s right next to the chute labled ‘12’).

At the top of the stairs is a Save Point. To the right of it is a

crawlway. Make you way along it and you’ll arrive in an underground

tunnel system. Climb down to the floor and head south. While many of

the passages here split off in two directions, one direction will always

end in a blocked door, so keep going south. As you keep going, you’ll

run into your friends (remember, who you meet up with depends on who is

and isn’t in your group). After heading south for a couple of screens,

you’ll find a treasure chest lying against the left wall of one of those

‘split-passage’ areas I mentioned earlier. Inside it is a Power Source.

At the next split-passage area that you come across, there is a treasure

chest in the area between the doorways. There’s a Guard Source inside it.

Keep going south, and when you reach the next split-passage area, there

will be two chests lying in the area between the doorways. The one to

the left has a Magic Source inside it, and the one to the right contains

a Mind Source. If you go south from here, you’ll arrive at a dead end.

In the left corner of this area is a Save Point, and in the right corner

there is a yellow materia (W-Item). If you press against the wall, you’ll discover that you can’t go any further.

So, go all the way back to the first area (where the ladder was). Try to head to the north and guess who shows up! It’s the remaining Turks, and they’re here for a final showdown with Cloud and his friends. If you completed Yuffie’s sub-quest (saved Elena from Corneo in Wutai), then the Turks will make an offer: fight them or part and go your seperate ways. If you haven’t done this optional quest, then you have no choice but to fight them.

BOSS TIPS: ELENA LV: ?? HP: 30000 MP: ???

RENO LV: 50 HP: 25000 MP: 200

RUDE LV: 51 HP: 28000 MP: 250

Elena is healed by lightning attacks, Reno by ice attacks, and Rude

by fire attacks. Rude has a punch attack that hits one character for

2000 points of damage, Elena can throw a firebomb that inflicts 500 to

600 points of damage (in addition to a Amulet attack), and Reno uses a

spark attack which will cause 800 HPs worth of damage. They all have

more attacks than these; but I’m listing the ones the seem to use most

often. Alone, they aren’t much, but with all three of them fighting

together, this becomes one of the toughest battles in game. Barrier

and Haste your allies, then use spells like Ultima and Tornado to soften

the Turks up in addition to Limit Breaks. Try to save Phoenix until you

really need it, since it will revive your members but heal Rude. All

three Turks will escape once you’ve defeated them in battle. You’ll get

an Elixir when the battle is over.

After the battle, go north. When you reach the split passage area, go north again. If Cid isn’t in your party, he’ll show up here. Take the right path and at the next split passage, take the left path. You’ll arrive at a blocked passage, but there’s a ladder against the left wall that leads to the Shinra Headquarters. If Cait Sith is in your party, he’ll talk to you. Otherwise, you’ll see him hop out of the building.

If you didn’t read Turtle’s Paradise Flyer No. 2 the first time around,

you can check out the billboard at the back end of the first floor to

read it now. Go up the stairs near the front and look for a door marked

‘Accessories’ near the other end of this floor. In the adjoining room, you can open two chests that a Shinra employee wouldn’t let you examine earlier. The one to the right contains a Master Fist and the left one has a Pile Banger inside of it. Before leaving, go up to the 64^th floor and look for the lockers (go north from the elevators). If you examine the left end of the row of lockers against the wall, you’ll find the HP Shout (Cait Sith’s Ultimate Weapon that you couldn’t take earlier).

Other treasure in the Shinra Headquarters includes: if you put money into the health drink machines on floor 64, you can get a Speed Source and a Mind Source from them now, if you choose to hit them. On the floor with the ‘three coupons’ puzzle, you’ll find a bag containing the Grow Lance in the room to the left of the entry hall. And a bag containing the ‘Behimoth Horn’ can be found on the stairwell you may have used when raiding the Shinra HQ (Tifa’s method)--it’s one screen above the level where you found an Elixir last time (the Elixir will still be their if you didn’t get it then, BTW).

Return to the underground passages again. Go south past one split-passage room, and when you reach the second room, take the left path.

You’ll go outside. Walk towards the lefthand red beam to climb up it

and jump onto the main street. Head north and a huge mechanical monster

will appear from behind you; it’s being controlled by Heidegger and Scarlet. After laughing in your face, they’ll attack you.

BOSS TIPS: PROUD CLOD (can’t see it’s stats.)

JAMAR ARMOR LV: 62 HP: 20000 MP: 300

This mechanical monstrosity has two parts; a head and a chest area that

you can aim your attacks at. The boss can only cause around 500-800

points of damage, but it can kneel and fire a ray from it’s back (the

Beam Cannon attack) that causes 1100 damage to all members. Even after

disabling the Jamar Armor (it can use it’s Materia Jammer attack to

disable your Materia), you’ll still have to keep attacking the main part

if you want to kill it. Spells and summonings work nicely, and you shouldn’t worry about your HP until the boss kneels and readies it’s laser attack. You’ll get the Ragnarok sword once the fight is over.

Once the machine explodes, it starts to rain. Head north. There are two chests near the entrance. The one closest to you has an Elixir in it, while the one that’s further away contains a Mystile. Use the Save Point that’s nearby if you want to, then climb up the ladders.

If he’s not in your party, Vincent will be on the lower landing. The

second landing is normally empty, but if Barret is in your party, you

will see a green chest there. Open it to get Barret’s Ultimate Weapon,

the Missing Score. If Barret’s not in you party, you won’t find anything

on the landing, even if you search it thoroughly. Once you’ve climbed all the way to the top, run to the right. Sitting at the Mako Cannon’s (Sister Ray’s) controls is Hojo, who will attack your party when you talk to him.

BOSS TIPS: HOJO LV: 50 HP: 13000 MP: 250

POODLER SAMPLE LV: 42 HP: 10000 MP: 200

BAD RAP SAMPLE LV: 34 HP: 11000 MP: 120

HELLETIC HOJO LV: 55 HP: 26000 MP: 200

RIGHT ARM LV: 55 HP: 5000 MP: 300

LEFT ARM LV: 55 HP: 24000 MP: 400

LIFEFORM HOJO-NA (can’t see his stats.)

Hojo can use his ‘Capsule’ power to summon the two ‘Sample’ monsters every time you kill them. So, concentrate on defeating Hojo instead of the lesser monsters. He’ll then reappear as a huge monster with two independent arms (Helletic Hojo). Since Hojo can bring the arms back to life, aim your attacks at the main body of the boss. He may cast Confuse or Silence on you, so I hope you have some Ribbons equipped. The right arm will also inflict a lot of damage, so cast Barrier beforehand. In his final form, Hojo can cast Slow and employ a multiple-hit attack (Combo), which will poison whoever is hit by it.

As long as you keep your HPs up, this battle is a cinch. You’ll receive

a Power Source once you’ve killed Hojo.

You’ll return to the Highwind after killing the boss. There’s a short sequence with Tifa and Cloud afterward, then the Highwind blasts off into the sky. Well, that’s the end of this disc!

5 . D I S C T H R E E W A L K T H R O U G H

5 . 1 n o r t h e r n c r a t e r

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Limited Moon, Save Crystal, Guard Source x3, Mind

Drink x3, Mystile, Speed Source x2, Tetra Elemental,

X-Potion x2, Turbo Ether x2, Everything All materia,

You’ll start off on the deck of the Highwind. If you’d rather explore

the World Map instead, just go back to the cockpit, talk to the engineer

next to Cid, and choose the top option. If you haven’t noticed it yet, the Highwind is now rocket-powered.

Before descending into the crater and exploring the Northern Crater, you

may want to pick up Red 13’s Ultimate Weapon. Return to Cosmo Canyon and

climb up to the second floor of the observatory, making sure that Red 13

is in your group beforehand (you can switch characters at the Save Point

near the Tiger Lily Arms Shop if you need to). Bugenhagen is lying

on his couch. He chats with Red 13 for a while, then leaves (I thought

he died! Yeesh!) Back at the bonfire, Red 13 rejoins his companions,

and now has the Limited Moon in his inventory. Also, if you haven’t

gotten either of the ‘optional’ characters yet (Yuffie or Vincent), then

now would be a good time to add them to your party.

When you’re ready to explore the Northern Crater, land the Highwind and

go out to the deck. You can talk to the man out here to change party

members (he’ll automatically ask you every time you return to the

Highwind). Climb down the rope ladder to reach a new area, then head

southwest. In the next screen you’ll be given an option: pick the

bottom one to turn back or the top one to descend into the pit. After

hopping down the steps, you’ll see a cavern entrance. If you go inside

it, it merely returns you to the last area, in which you can climb up

the stone column and make your way back to the Highwind. Otherwise,

simply follow the path as it winds it’s way down into the ground. Don’t

worry should the ground crumble away since you can jump over the gaps. The first chest you find contains a Save Crystal. It can be used once while in the Northern Crater to create a Save Point. Considering that there are no Save Points at all in this level, the Save Crystal is a handy item to have. The next chest you find has a Guard Source in it.

In the next area, you can climb the silver parts of the ledges by

pressing O when you are standing near them (a message appears prompting

you to do this). Go to the right and hop down the ‘steps’. The first

chest you find has a Guard Source inside of it. Be sure to make your way

to the next chest and not explore the edge of the ledge below the chest

you just opened or you’ll jump down to the bottom and will have to

climb all the way back up again (although you’ll be doing that at some

point anyway, so it’s no big deal). In the second chest is a Mind

Source. You can now either climb back up and get the rest of the chests,

or continue searching the Northern Crater and get the chests when you are

coming back out (assuming you want to make more than one journey into the

Pit). To get the chests, climb up the ledge to your left (you’re at the

bottom of the screen, remember?) Go all the way to the left and climb

up two ledges, then walk to the right to find another chest containing

a Magic Source. Go left again, go up to the next ledge, then go to the

right and climb up again. Walk all the way to the right, climb up the

tall ledge, then head left to find a chest holding an Elixir. From

there, walk up to the next ledge, go to the left, and climb up the

silver part to arrive at a chest that has a Power Source in it. If you

go to the right, you’ll find an HP Absorb materia just past a large rock.

Finally, jump back down, go to the right, and climb up the ledge to reach the top again (you can jump to the top ledge from here and exit the Pit by going back up the spiraling passage).

If you head south from the bottom of the screen, you’ll arrive at a large

chamber pocked with holes. Walk to the right until you fall down a

level, then go left to uncover a chest (inside is a Mind Source). Go to

the edge of this ledge, turn around, and press O to juMP Plus to the

upper ledge (just like in the last area, you’ll be prompted to jump

whenever you are near a ledge ending). Head left until you fall down,

then go to the right and step into the hole by pressing up. Beyond the

opening is a treasure chest containing a Megalixir. Go back out again

and walk all the way to the left and you will fall down to a new level

(since you can’t see Cloud, move left or right until he falls). Run to

the right in order to find a chest, which has a Hero Drink inside of it.

Walk to the left and enter the hole. As you walk along the adjoining

path, stop to open a treasure chest to your left which holds a Guard

Source, and go through the hole that’s a little farther up to reach a

chest with a Power Source inside it. Go back out the hole and keep

climbing to reach an opening that deposits you back at the top of the

screen. To get back down to the bottom, run to the right until you drop

down, press right again to fall a second time, and enter the hole. The

passage beyond it leads to another hole; press left to fall down it (if

you want to get back up, just climb the ledges to your left). Then walk

to the left until you fall, and walk right to fall again.

Here, climb down the two stalactites in order to reach the ground where

your friends are waiting. Each one asks you which path they should take,

the left one (top option), or the right one (bottom option). Furthermore, you may have certain characters join you (depending on which path you took), or you may be asked to make a new group (if you asked characters in your group to go in another direction).

Take whatever path is available to you (you’ll get a message if you can’t

go in that direction). Refer to the LEFT PATH or RIGHT PATH sections

depending on which one is available to you. Note that once you reach the

PLACE OF GATHERING, you can go back and explore all the areas freely

(remember that because you may be approaching an area from a different

location, you may have to do it in a different order. For instance, you

can tackle the LEFT PATH: LOWER ROUTE area from either the top or bottom,

so take note while playing (and no, I’m not going to write out the

section backwards and forwards, just figure it out yourself depending on

where you’re going!)

RIGHT PATH

You’ll find yourself on a column of stone. Follow the winding path that

leads along the column. Eventually, you’ll reach a gap in the path.

Pick the top option to jump down to the area below, or the bottom option

to turn back. When you land on the ground, look to your right for a

chest containing a Mystile. To your left is a green Elixir. Take it

and continue along the path until you reach a broad, gray area. Here,

there is a treasure chest to the north containing a Speed Source. If you

look to the south, wedged between several broken structures is another chest that has a Tetra Elemental inside it. Go back to the main path and head east, then north. Here, the path splits to the north or the west.

Take the west branch and it’ll lead to a dead-end where there is a chest.

Inside it is a Megalixir. Retrace your steps and keep going north;

just to your right will be a chest that also has a Megalixir inside of

it. If you keep going north, you’ll arrive at a bridge made of curving

bones. Work your way down it and you’ll arrive at the PLACE OF GATHERING

(see below).

LEFT PATH

In this room, your teammates will each ask if you should take the upper

(top option) or lower (bottom option) route. Pick accordingly, and refer

to the UPPER ROUTE and LOWER ROUTE sub-sections depending on what you

chose. You may be prompted to make a new party yet again after you have

decided on the route you will take.

LEFT PATH: UPPER ROUTE

Hop down onto the branch-like structure, run to the right, and when you

can’t go any further, press Up to jump to another branch. From here, go

right to reach a chest containing a Magic Source. Now, hop back to the

first branch and go left, then north. When you reach the edge, Cloud

will jump onto the nearby rocks. Walk north along the path and Cloud

will dive in the water and jump out on the other side of the screen. If

you walk to the left, then go north, you’ll arrive at a chest which has an Remedy within it. Head right, but take the upper branch (go east, then north) in order to arrive at a new area.

Here, head to the far right to find a chest which contains an Hero Drink.

Then take the upper path and run all he way to the left. If you go a little ways to the north, you’ll see a chest; it has a Vaccine in it.

To the right of the chest is a large rock; walk in front of it and you’ll

see a path that leads up to the top of the rock, where a green materia is

lying on the ground (Shield). Take it and walk to the left, then press Down to descend the rock face. Cloud will jump into the water and pop out again near a treasure chest (Imperial Guard). After opening the chest, keep pressing Down and Cloud will dive into the water again and end up on the other side of the screen. From here, run south and then east to reach yet another unexplored area.

This area is full of green shrubbery and stone tiers. Walk to the left in order to work your way down the tiers, but then go to the center of the screen and walk north until you’re right beneath the shrubbery. There is a small dot here; press O to examine it and you’ll find that it’s the W-Magic materia. From here, work your way down to the shining light (go south, then east). There is a patch of darkness in the light—examine it and you’ll get the Counter materia. Now, walk west and then north to find a cave entrance. It leads to the PLACE OF GATHERING (see below).

LEFT PATH: LOWER ROUTE

Hop down the stone columns and investigate the chest to your left to

find a Remedy. Head to the right and hop up the stone columns to arrive

at a chest that has an Elixir inside of it. Then go back to the first treasure chest and press against the bottom of the ledge. You’ll hop down to a column where there is a chest containing an X-Potion. Make your way to the southeast. In the next screen, hop down the stone columns and then go to the left to find a chest with an Turbo Ether in it. Then follow the path east and north. There’s another chest here and a Vaccine is inside it. Walk to the west, then follow the path south and hop across the columns. When you reach the bottom of the screen, run to the south.

In this area, go to the right and press down to hop down to a small ledge. Below is a larger ledge and a green chest (X-Potion). Walk to the left across the thin stone bridge, drop down a level, then keep going right until you see some stone ‘steps’. Go down them; to the left is a green chest containing a Turbo Ether. If you walk to the left, you’ll jump down to a low ledge. Nearby, there is a ball floating in the air. Hold Up in order to jump from a small ledge to a larger ledge, and when you get near the ball, tap O repeatedly. If you timed it right, you’ll be able to take the ball, which is actually the Mega All materia. If you missed it, just press left to jump back down to the lower ledge and then try again. You can only get the materia while jumping to the small ledge, not while jumping from the large western ledge.

Once you’ve gotten the materia and are on the large ledge, walk to the

other end of it. There’s a chest here (Speed Plus Source). Now walk to

the south and press against the edge to jump down to a lower area. Keep

walking south and you’ll reach the PLACE OF GATHERING.

PLACE OF GATHERING (my name for it, okay?)

On the right side of this chamber is a chest containing a Luck Source. Follow the path as it curves around until you reach a set of stone steps. Your friends will show up here. Depending on where you told them to go earlier, they may or may not have items to give you. Talk to each one of them to get an item (or not), then approach the stone steps. Pick the top option to go down them or the bottom option to stay where you are. Once you pick the top option, you can’t go back, so feel free to choose the bottom option and then leave this area from the upper ledge (walk to the left) if you have more exploring to do.

Once you’ve chosen the top option, assemble a new group. You’ll leap down the steps and arrive at the lowest levels of the Northern Crater (home not only to Jenova and Sephiroth but also to massive slowdown). Simply jump from floating ledge to floating ledge, working your way towards the bottom of the screen. In the second screen, make your way to the central island of rock, where the final form of Jenova will appear and attack you.

BOSS TIPS: JENOVA*SYNTHESIS LV: ?? HP: 60000 MP: ???

JENOVA*SYNTHESIS B LV: 61 HP: 10000 MP: 600

JENOVA*SYNTHESIS C LV: 61 HP: 8000 MP: 600

Start the round by using Haste and Barrier on yourselves, then use Enemy

Skills and Summon Materia to dish out damage. The tentacle-like arms

will droop and become useless after you’ve attacked them long enough,

but they regenerate with some HP if you don’t kill the boss quickly, so

use high-level spells (Ultima or Inseki) to take them out and injure

Jenova at the same time. When she is about to die, a message appears

and starts counting down the rounds from 5; if you don’t kill her by the

time it reaches zero, Jenova Synthesis will cast Ultima. For the second-

to-last boss, this is an easy battle. She has very weak physical attacks

(500-800 damage), and not much else. If you want to conserve MP, you can

take out the boss using physical attacks with little injury to yourself.

If she does cast Ultima, the battle ends, but you get no EXP, GP, or AP,

so try to kill her as quickly as possible.

After the death of Jenova Synthesis, the ground will break up and Cloud and his friends will awaken to find themselves floating in space. Sephiroth makes his final appearance here, floating next to the core of the Northern Crater. You’ll get to make a new party*, then the battle with Sephiroth will commence.

• Apparently (_apparentlly_!) the number of parties you can make depends on how quickly you arrived at, and killed, Jenova Synthesis.

BOSS TIPS: BIZZARO SEPHIROTH A LV: 61 HP: 40000 MP: ???

BIZZARO SEPHIROTH B LV: 61 HP: 2000 MP: 400

BIZZARO SEPHIROTH C LV: 61 HP: 10000 MP: 400

BIZZARO SEPHIROTH D LV: 61 HP: 4000 MP: 400

BIZZARO SEPHIROTH E LV: 61 HP: 4000 MP: 400

Use Wall and Haste on yourselves (maybe even Regen), then use your best attacks against Sephiroth, like Coin Toss, Ultima, and summon spells.

Every time you kill a few of of it’s body parts, you’ll be asked if you

want to switch to another team (left option to switch, right option to

keep using the current party). In this case (if you have more than one

team), you’ll find that only one team can damage the yellow orb (part C)

of Sephiroth’s body. Once part C is sufficiently damaged, you’ll get a

message stating that Cloud can now attack part C as well, so switch back

to him and attack Sephiroth. Once part C is destroyed, kill off the

rest of the body parts. If you only have one team, all you can do is

attack. The number of teams you have will affect the strategy used

against this boss, so keep that in mind when attacking*. I’m not exactly

sure about this, but: Sephiroth will gain more HP and MP in proportion

to Cloud’s experience level, and using the Knights of Round materia

will usually kill Sephiroth. If you more than one team, keep in mind

that the battle will end if even one team is killed. And interestingly

enough, the number of times you’ve used a summon materia resets when you

switch to a team and back.

Sephiroth can heal himself using a technique called Bizzaro Enegy, and

he can use it to bring defeat body parts back to life. Among his attacks

are Demi 3, an explosion attack that causes 1500+ points of damage, a

fire ray emitted from his chest that inflicts 1700+ damage, and a ‘Fallen

Angel’-type attack that reduces all party members’ HP to one point.

• I’m saying this because one time I was able to kill Bizzaro Sephiroth before receiving the message to attack part C.

Once Bizzaro Sephiroth has been defeated, Sephiroth shows up in a new form. You always fight him using the team that Cloud is a part of.

BOSS TIPS: SAFER SEPHIROTH LV: ?? HP: 72359 MP: ???

Safer Sephiroth can cast Slow, Flare, Wall, Break, Doom, and Dispel

(Dispel will affect all members). Other attacks include Supernova (a

‘summon’ style spell that inflicts 1100-2200 damage to all allies; it

causes confusion and silence), Pale Horse (a laser attack causing 3700-

3800 damage), and Dein (ring-shaped flares break apart the ground and

cause 1200-1300 damage to all members. His sole physical attack is a

wing slash that causes upwards of 5000 damage points. Sephiroth can fly

around, too, preventing some characters from using certain skills or attacks against him.

Use Wall on yourself, and then heal, revive, and fix status ailments

with the Angel’s Whisper Enemy Skill. Haste yourselves and use physical

attacks, your best summon materia, and Ultima. You can even use Coin Toss or Throw if you want. Safer Sephiroth isn’t easy to kill, but he’s certainly no challenge, even if you have low levels.

Just remember that Safer Sephiroth’s stats. and attack patterns change, depending on what Cloud’s level is. Safer Sephiroth will have far more HP and be very vicious if Cloud is Level 99, as compared to Cloud being at Level 50.

After a brief automated sequence, Cloud fights Sephiroth one last time.

I’ll leave this up to you...I doubt you’ll lose!

6 . B O N U S A R E A S

You can only go to these areas in Disc 2 or 3. There’s some information

on these bonus areas in the ‘Secrets and Strategies’ section, too.

Location: On a cliff near Cosmo Canyon on the Western Continent.

How to get there: Use a Green, Black, or Gold Chocobo. Or, climb past

Items to get: Supershot ST, Spring Gun Clip, Slash-All materia,

Typoon materia, Apocalypse, Elixir.

You can grab items (frogs, big frogs, wasp nests, etc.) by pressing the

O button. When you grab a frog for the first time, you get a message

informing you that if you press the S button, the entire area will

reset, returning all the items to their proper place. However, it also

returns you to the very start of the area, no matter how many screens

you’ve worked your way through. If you mess up on an area (you run

out of frogs to use for transportation), you can cheat by leaving the

area and returning (if it’s possible to leave given your current

location). But if you’re really stuck, you have no choice but to reset

the whole level by pressing S. You will keep all items and materia orbs

you’ve collected so far, though. Also, when you hear a frog croaking, look for a place where you can let go of a small frog you might be carrying as it’ll be replaced with a big frog.

In the first area, pick up three frogs and go beneath the earth bridge.

Put them near the three bags hanging from the trees. Now, quickly take

the frogs and press the O button to make them hop into the bags; repeat

this until all three bags are full by standing on a bag and pressing O

to put a frog into the next bag. When they’re all full, hop to the

other side of the gap. Once on the other side, go down the slope and

carefully inch towards the center of the large snapping plant. Press

O to grab the bag (which contains the Supershot ST gun). If you get too

close, the plant will close and you’ll lose almost all your HP. You can

make as many attempts as you want, but it’s best to try and not touch

the center of the plant in the first place. Continue to the right when

you’re finished here and Cloud will automatically use the pink vine to

reach the other side. Go past the tree and nab the item bag on the hill

(there’s a Spring Gun Clip inside), and head right to reach the next part

of the forest.

In the second area, pick up one frog and approach the pink vine. Choose

the top option to leap to the ledge. If you leave the frog on the ledge,

it’ll be switched with a big frog (or you can just use your small frog).

From here, you can put the frog in the bag and leap across to the second

(already-full) bag. You’ll automatically use the pink vine to jump to

the ground. Now, pick up a frog and climb on top of the green ledge to

your right; let it go and it will leap into the left bag. If you wait

long enough, you’ll be sent flying to the ledge above when the frog

escapes (you have to use a big one). Once on the ledge, take the wasp

nest. Jump back down. Stand near the small snapping plant and press O

to release the nest; if you’re at the right distance, the nest will fly

backward and land in the plant, which will snap it up. Take the yellow

materia (Slash-All). Pick up the big frog again. Climb to the green

ledge one more time and let the frog jump into the right bag. Jump atop

it and wait until you are thrust onto the opposite side of the huge snapping plant. Run to the right to reach the next zone.

In the third area, pick up two frogs, toss them into the bags, and leap

across to the pink vine. You’ll be lifted into the treetops. Go left,

then down the trunk to reach the big bag you saw back in the second area.

A Minerva Band is inside. If you go too far down the trunk, you’ll jump

down to the ground, so return to the treetops after grabbing the bag. If

for some reason you can’t, just hop back down repeat the last few steps to get across the plant, get into the next screen, and return to the treetops.

Once you’re back in the trees, climb to the upmost branch and head right,

then make your way towards the broken branch; Cloud will vault across

three of the pink vines and land on another branch. Go south to get yet

another item bag holding a red materia (Typoon). Now, go back across the

vines, and take the lower branch that leads behind the leaves to the

ground level (look for a path leading right). Once on the ground, grab

a frog. There are two bags to your right; look for a high ledge beneath

them, stand on it, and toss the frog into the bag. Then, hop onto it and

make your way over to the second bag, then to the ledge with the wasp’s

nest. Take it and drop to the ground, then approach the snapping plant

and press O to release the nest. If you are positioned correctly, you’ll

toss the nest into the plant, which will close up.

Pick up a small frog and move past the plant. Stand on the left ledge, and let go of the frog; it will jump into the nearby bag. Hop across the bag and onto the ground. Run to the left and grab a frog. Put it in the hollow in the tree next to you and a big frog will jump out. Take it and go back the way you came (put the big frog in the bag, jump to the other side, and wait for it to land by your feet). Grab it again, go to the far right ledge, and release it into the bag. Now, stand on the bag and wait for the frog to escape. Doing this sends you flying across the gap to a cave entrance.

In the cave, walk to the right to find a chest with the Apocalypse sword

lying within. Head to the north, then go east to find another chest

(there’s an Elixir in it). Finally, exit through the opening to your

left. You’re back outside! Yup, there are no bosses to fight in this

area (which is a good thing in case you had a hard time dealing with the

snapping plants).

Location: Waterfall in the center of the Western Continent.

How to get there: Use a Green, Black, or Gold Chocobo to go to the

Items to get: Death Penalty, Chaos Manual (second visit)

Beyond the waterfall is a room made of white stone. If Vincent isn’t

in your party, then you’ll get a message stating his name when you

step past the threshold of the room. So, return with Vincent. This

time, there’s a woman there, Lucresia, and you’ll get to see a flashback

of Vincent’s past. While you don’t get anything out of this if you

visit only once, you can get Vincent’s best weapon and his Level 4 Limit

Break Manual if you come here with him in your party again in the second

or third disc. Refer to the ‘Ultimate Weapons’ section for more information on this area.

WESTERNMOST CAVE (Wutai Area)

Location: Cave lying to the east of a mountain in the bridge-

covered region of the Westernmost Continent.

How to get there: Use a Green, Black, or Gold Chocobo to climb over

Items to get: Mime materia.

There’s nothing in here but a glowing yellow light. Try to touch it, and you’ll get a yellow materia (Mime). Notice how there’s still a glow after you’ve taken the Materia? :)

WESTERN CAVE (North Corel Area)

Location: Cave next to a mountain lying on a square of brown

land. There’s a river running nearby. It’s

beyond the mountain footpath by the shallow part

of the river near the Gold Saucer, on the Western

Continent—there’s another cave entrance by the

river you need to cross.

How to get there: Use a Blue, Black, or Gold Chocobo to cross the

Items to get: HP<->MP materia.

Inside this icy blue cave is a twinkling purple materia (HP<->MP).

SOUTHERNMOST CAVE (Mideel Area)

Location: Cave lying at the end of a penninsula on the north

stretch of land on the Southernmost Continent.

How to get there: If you have a Blue Chocobo, land the Highwind on the

Gold Chocobo, simply land on the grassy area near the

cave and keep walking down the cliff and out to where

across the water to the penninsula where the cave is.

Items to get: Quadra Magic materia.

This sandy cave is empty, save for a blue pyramid-shaped object. If you

examine it, you’ll get a blue materia (Quadra Magic).

NORTHWEST ISLAND (Round Island)

Location: Oval-shaped island surrounded by mountains and trees

that is in the northwestern part of the world. It

is one of the Uncharted Isles (it doesn’t show up on

the map).

How to get there: Use a Gold Chocobo to fly to the island and climb

Items to get: Summon Knights of Round materia.

This may be another empty area, but the red pyramid lying by the tree trunks is none other than the Knights of Round summon materia—the most damaging summon spell in the entire game. Simply examine it to pick it up.

Location: Town of Wutai. You can go here in Disc 1 after

you get the Tiny Bronco, or you can do this in Disc 2,

once you have the Highwind or a colored Chocobo. You

CANNOT do this in Disc 3, however.

How to get there: Go to the southern end of the Westernmost Continent

Items to get: Hairpin, Magic Shuriken, MP Absorb materia, Swift

Bolt, Elixir x2, Dragoon Lance, Peace Ring, HP Absorb

materia, X-Potion, Turbo Ether, Ice Ring, All

Creation Manual, Leviathan materia.

After arriving at the southern tip of the Westernmost Continent, head north. There is a curving path that leads up to a high plateau. As you go along the curve (even if you are riding a Chocobo) you will be interrupted by Yuffie. The screen switches to that of a plain, and Yuffie runs up, steals your Materia*, and escapes, but not before leaving you with two Shinra guards to contend with! The guards are easily beaten, though. If Yuffie was in your party when she tricked you, you’ll have to fight the guards only using two people (in which case Barret will join the party afterwards, and if he’s already in your party, then whoever isn’t being used will join. Keep in mind that you can rearrange the party in whatever way you’d like afterwards).

Note that if you have the Highwind, you’re better off landing near Wutai,

then trying to enter the town (you’ll still end up in the wilderness area with Yuffie). This is because you won’t have to walk as far when the quest is over).

• She can take 48-50 Materia (the number varies), and will steal them in this order of preference: Master Materia, Summon Materia, Independent Materia, Command Materia, Combination Materia and then Magic Materia. This means that it is possible to be left with a few materia after she has escaped. Note that if you’re using the Materia Select Game Shark code and you have disabled Materia equipped/in your inventory, she’ll steal them and you won’t get them back.

At this point, your characters will refuse to board the vehicle you

used to get here (Highwind, Tiny Bronco, or Chocobo), insisting that

they find Yuffie instead. If you were on a Chocobo when Yuffie stole

your Materia, then you’ll still be on it when the sequence ends, but

you won’t be able to board the Highwind, and if you get off the Chocobo,

you can’t get back on. If you use the ‘Start with Gold Chocobo’ code, then you can leave the island, but I don’t know what happens if you do this sub-quest while riding a real Gold Chocobo. In any case, you can use the Chocobo to cheat and simply ride all the way to Wutai, Yuffie’s hometown. If you’re not on a Chocobo, you’ll have to walk.

From the curving path, head north until you cross a bridge, then go west

across a second bridge. Head southeast once you reach the other side;

this leads to a north-bound path that runs under the bridge. Follow it

and it will lead up to another bridge. Past the bridge, the land

becomes flat and grassy. Keep heading north and you’ll arrive at Wutai.

When you enter the town, Yuffie will see you and run away. Head to the

upper-left corner of town. There’s a path here that leads to a large

courtyard and a pagoda. Enter the building to your right and walk along

the hall until you arrive at a room with a man sleeping inside. Enter it and talk to the man. He is Godo, Yuffie’s father. Keep talking to him until he stands up, at which point Yuffie will appear and then be chased away by her father. If you follow Yuffie, you’ll find that she has disappeared. Before leaving this area, enter the room next to Godo’s and examine the right wall. There is a hidden panel here that will open, revealing a passage. At the end of the passage is a chest containing the Hairpin (a weapon for Red 13). On your way out, go into the room to the left of the entrance. You can come here and spend the night for free, but if you examine the scroll on the left wall, it will lift up, revealing another passage. The chest at the end of this passage has a Magic Shuriken inside it.

Return to town and go into the eatery in the southwest corner of town. The Turks are her! Talk to them all (Elena, Rude, and Reno). When you are finished, go to the Item Shop. Normally, there is a woman standing in front of a treasure chest (preventing you from getting at it) but now she will have moved away. Open the chest and you’ll get a MP Absorb materia, but Yuffie will drop down from the ceiling and swipe it from your hands! Leave the shop and go to the southeast edge of town. There’s a building here near the entrace. Go inside and examine the folding panel to the left. Hiding behind it is Yuffie, who dashes away as soon as she is discovered. Chase her outside and go to the eatery. If you look at the jar standing outside the eatery, you’ll see that it is moving. Approach it and press O to make your friends block all the exits. Then press O three times to make your main character hit the jar until Yuffie jumps out. Seeing that she can’t escape, she’ll lead your characters to her house.

Meanwhile, two Shinra soldiers run into the eatery to meet with the Turks. After Elena leaves, you’ll find your characters in Yuffie’s house. When she goes downstairs, follow her. I was sure that I found an item in this room once, but I guess I was mistaken...anyway, don’t miss the Turtle’s Paradise Flyer that’s on the far wall when you go downstairs. Talk to Yuffie. When you can move again, examine the levers in the back room; you can pull the right lever or the left one. It doesn’t matter which one you choose, since either one will make a cage drop on top of your allies! Yes, Yuffie has tricked you again. Examine either lever a second time to free your friends, then leave the house.

Return to the courtyard area where the pagoda is and you’ll see that you can now enter the building to your left. Climb up the steps and examine the bell to ring it; this will reveal a hidden door. Beyond the door, you’ll find Yuffie, who has been taken hostage by none other than Don Corneo, the mohawked pervert that tricked you back in the Wall Market. He has captured Elena as well. Before chasing after him, open the chest to your right to find a Swift Bolt, and open the chest to your left to get an Elixir. Go up the stairs and you’ll find yourselves in the altar room back in Godo’s house. Three Shinra soldiers appear and attack you, allowing Corneo to escape. Kill the guards (they’re the same as the ones that attacked you back on the curving path), then go outside.

Here, you’ll run into Rude and Reno. Talk to them, then return to town

and head to the northeastern corner of Wutai. There’s a path here that

leads up into the mountains, where huge Dachao statues have been carved

into the rock. Talk to the Turks again as you follow the path, and keep

going along the path until it splits. Take the path that goes north. It leads past a huge head to a crossroads. Rude is standing here, blocking the entrace to a cave. If you talk to him, he’ll enter the cave. You can’t get across the fire-pits yet unless you’ve gotten the Leviathan Scales from the Junon Underwater Mako Reactor. There’s a chest here that has a weapon for Cid in it, too (Dragoon Lance). Talk to Rude again and then exit the cave and head south to find Corneo, who’s tied Elena and Yuffie to the face of a Da-chao statue. When you confront him, he summons a boss to attack you.

BOSS TIPS: RAPPS LV: 39 HP: 6000 MP: 300

This winged beast isn’t that tough, but unless you were able to hold onto

some Materia, all you can do is attack. Use Phoenix Downs and Hi-Potions

or other restorative items to heal your party, and you may want to use

‘attack’ items like the Deadly Waste or Swift Bolt in order to inflict

damage along with your normal attacks. Because of their high attack

power, Red 13 and Vincent make the best allies to have in this fight. If

you think you can make it without Vincent assisting you, then use his breaks to inflict lots of damage on the boss. You’ll recieve a Peace Ring when the battle is finished.

After the battle, Don Corneo will ask you a question and you have three answers to choose from. Pick any one you like. Corneo threatens to kill Yuffie and Elena, but then Reno and Rude show up and send Corneo to his well-deserved demise. Back at her house, Yuffie will give all the materia she stole back to your characters (including the MP Absorb materia).

You’ll find yourself back in the World Map again, but I wouldn’t leave just yet if I were you. Return to Wutai and enter the building near Yuffie’s house. It’s full of cats. Normally, there’s nothing you can do here, but now you can climb up the steps in the back to find a secret passage. Walk north (towards the screen), to find a cat and a chest. Inside the chest is a HP Absorb materia. Take it and go back outside.

Now, head back to the courtyard. Enter the pagoda and talk to the man

there, Goorikii. He’ll inform you that if she wishes, Yuffie can

fight by herself against the five guardians of the Pagoda of Five Strong.

Choose the top option to accept and the bottom option to decline. After

each battle, go up the stairs and talk to the person there, picking the top option to fight them and the bottom option to not fight them. You don’t have to kill all the guardians in one go, and if Yuffie is killed in battle, the game won’t end, although she’ll have zero HP and will need to be revived before she can fight again. Your enemies are:

First Floor: Gorky, a winged creature.

BOSS TIPS: GORKY LV: 30 HP: 3000 MP: 150

(weak vs. Wind)

Use Haste on yourself, then use the Deathblow materia repeatedly in order to inflict lots of damage. Don’t forget to heal yourself when your life gets low. The boss can use Barrier, but he’s still easy to defeat. Yuffie gets an X-Potion once she’s won the battle.

Second Floor: Shake, a penguin-like monster.

BOSS TIPS: SHAKE LV: 32 HP: 4000 MP: 180

Use the same strategy that you used against Gorky. You might try the Barrier spell to reduce physical damage. His ‘Furious Bomber’ attack causes a lot of damage, but it will fill up your Limit Break bar very quickly. Yuffie will recieve an Turbo Ether when the fight ends.

Third Floor: Chekhov, a four-armed foe.

BOSS TIPS: CHEKHOV LV: 34 HP: 5000 MP: 210

Keep your HPs up in case you get paralyzed. Once again, using Haste, Barrier, and then attacking with the Deathblow materia should do the trick if your attack power is low. Yuffie’s prize for winning this battle is an Ice Ring.

Fourth Floor: Staniv, a creature swinging and iron ball.

BOSS TIPS: STANIV LV: 36 HP: 6000 MP: 240

Fight him the same way you fought Shake. Without a doubt, the easiest boss of the Pagoda. If you win, Yuffie will get an Elixir from him.

Fifth Floor: Godo, a three-headed monster. Note that he will

BOSS TIPS: GODO LV: 41 HP: 10000 MP: 1000

Godo’s attack style changes depending on which head is facing you. He

has many attacks, including the Trine Enemy Skill and the ability to

drain your HP. He will also use his supply of MP to heal himself for

around 1200+ points per use. To beat him, deplete him MP supply by using

the Ghost Hand item or Magic Hammer Enemy Skill (you can learn it from

the Razor Weeds that live north of Wutai; they look like bunches of

grass). The other way to beat him is simply Berserk yourself, assuming

you have enough HP and your attacks do over 1200 points of damage. Your

only other tactic is to stay alive until he runs out of HP and then

attack him. You’ll get Yuffie’s Level 4 Limit Break Manual (All Creation

once Godo is defeated.

After Yuffie defeats Godo, he’ll give you the Leviathan materia.

DEFEATING THE EMERALD WEAPON ___________________________________________

LOCATION:

The Emerald Weapon roams the ocean floor. It appears once you’ve gotten

a Gray or Red Shinra Submarine in Disc 2, after completing the Junon Huge

Materia Quest.

WHO TO USE:

Cloud, Barret and Yuffie. Cloud is the weakest member of the trio, as the damage he does depends on the amount of current HP he has for his Ultima Weapon. However, since that weapon can do very high damage and does have a lot of slots, it’s suggested that you use it. If you think he’d be better off without it, then the Ragnarok is your second-best choice (get it from Proud Clod during the Raid on Midgar City section of the walkthrough <end of disc 2>).

Barret and Yuffie on the other hand, are very strong. Yuffie can do

the most damage (9999) consistently with the Conformer, because it

bases damage on whether an enemy is stronger than her, and the Emerald

Weapon is certainly much more powerful than she is. Since you’re

equipping Barett with many mastered materia, he’s good to have in your

party since his Missing Score does damage based on the amount of AP

an equipped materia has. He can do 9999 damage with a full set of eight

mastered Counter Attack materia attached to the Missing Score.

RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT:

Ultima Weapon - Get from the Ultimate Weapon.

Missing Score - Get from Midgar City at the end of Disc 2.

Conformer - Get from a chest in the sunken ‘Gelnika’

Wizard Brace x3 - Purchase in Mideel.

or

Escort Guard - Steal from Reno during the final two

<any accessory> - <varies>

RECOMMENDED MATERIA:

Revive - Purchase in Upper Junon.

(mastered, x3)

HP Plus - Purchase in Cosmo Canyon or Mideel.

(mastered x?)

Counter Attack - Win from the Materia Keeper in Mt. Nibel,

(mastered, x?) receive as a prize if you become a Chocobo

jockey and do well in the races.

Underwater - (optional; see below)

In order to master these materia quickly, give Cloud the Apocalypse

Sword, Yuffie the Magic Shuriken, Wind Slash, Rising Sun, or Twin Viper,

and give Cid the Scimitar (Cid and Cloud are the only characters with

triple-growth Materia weapons). Equip the materia you have to them, then

go fight Magic Pots (feed them Elixirs before attacking them), or Movers,

both of which can be found in the ‘lake’ area of the Northern Crater.

Optionally, go to the glass passage leading to the Undersea Mako Reactor

in Junon and fight a Ghost Ship there. ‘Morph’ it into a Guide Book, then go to Kalm, talk to the man who is going on a journey, and trade the Guide Book for the Underwater Materia. This item will nullify the 20 minute time limit you must endure when normally fighting the Weapon.

RECOMMENDED ITEMS:

Megalixirs - Win: Master Tonberry (Northern Crater)

Elixirs - Morph: Vrakoradus (Icicle Area)

Harpy (Corel Desert)

Steal: Ghigee (Northern Crater)

X-Potions - Steal: Gargoyle (Northern Crater)

Morph: Custom Sweeper (Midgar Area)

Turbo Ethers - Steal: Golem (Cosmo Area)

Armored Golem (Northern Crater)

Death Dealer (Northern Crater)

Jersey (Shinra Mansion)

Morph: Beach Plug (Gongaga; shore)

RECOMMENDED LEVEL:

Level 30 or higher. Make sure you have enough MP for at least one casting of Life or Life 2.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS:

Unless one character has the Underwater materia equipped, you have a 20-minute time limit in which to kill the Emerald Weapon. If it is still alive when twenty minutes have passed, all your characters die instantly and stay dead.

STRATEGY ONE:

Equip each character with the recommended equipment. If you don’t have the equipment listed above, then try to buy gear with lots of materia holders.

Equip each character with one Revive Materia and enough HP Plus materia so that they have at least 8800 HP. Try to waste only 2 or 3 holders on HP Plus materia. The rest of the holders should all be filled with Counter Attack materia.

When you fight the Emerald Weapon, don’t do anything. Wait until it attacks a character. The person it attacked will then counterattack with their weapon once for each Counter Attack materia you have equipped.

So, for example, if every character has 16 slots, and you wasted 6 of them on other materia and whatnot, your characters would still attack ten times in a row and still have their Time Bar use! And when the Emerald Weapon does an attack that hits everyone, like the Revenge Stamp or Emerald Beam, you’d attack 30 times in retribution (using the given example). Remember, your character will counterattack even if the enemy misses, or if they use an attack that doesn’t do physical damage (the MP-draining attack of the Eyes, for example).

This eliminates the need for using Haste or other such spells—you’ll be inflicting damage continuously but be left with a ‘free’ attack period with your Time Bar. Don’t waste this on attacking; use Limit Breaks, or if your characters are low on HP or MP, use a restorative item.

Optionally, you may want to equip a Throw materia with ‘Coin’ enabled;

then use this ability to inflict 9999 damage against all the Eyes and

the body at once. It’s a waste to use this when the Eyes aren’t around,

though.

Personally, I don’t suggest using Final Attack or the Phoenix Materia; just use Life 2 manually as (let’s face it), Final Attack won’t always kick in. However, if you’re worried about the Aire Tam attack (which the Emerald Weapon has never used on me, at eight battles running), you may consider linking everyone’s Revive materia to a Final Attack materia; just remember that you may end up getting creamed anyway.

Finally, you can run away from the Emerald Weapon! However, it’s HP and stats. will be restored next time you fight.

STRATEGY TWO:

As above, but instead of Counter Attack Materia, use the ‘Knights of Round’ strategy described in the ‘Defeating Ruby Weapon’ section below.

STATISTICS OF EMERALD WEAPON:

LV: ?? EXP: 50000 Steal: n/a

HP: 1000000 AP: 50000 Win: Earth Harp

MP: 100 Gil: 50000 Morph: n/a

Emerald Beam (around 6000 damage to all targets + DeSpell)

Revenge Stamp (around 3000 damage to all targets)

Aire Tam Storm (inflicts 9999 damage to all targets)

Notes: - Has four body parts, called ‘Eyes’. It can rejuvanate them

once they are all destroyed, but it takes a few rounds.

STATISTICS OF EYE:

LV: ?? EXP: (shared) Steal: n/a

HP: ~25000 AP: (shared) Win: (shared)

MP: 0 Gil: (shared) Morph: n/a

<no name B> (drains 550+ MP from one opponent)

Notes: - There are four of these. They fight independently of the

Emerald Weapon.

Note that you can take the ‘Earth Harp’ to a man in Kalm Town on the second floor of the northeastern house to get a free Master Summon, Master Magic, and Master Command set of materia.

DEFEATING THE RUBY WEAPON ______________________________________________

LOCATION:

The Ruby Weapon can be found in the Corel Desert (where the Gold Saucer is), after you destroy the Diamond Weapon in Disc 2. It normally appears as a small decoy, but if you encounter it and run away, it will stay on the desert’s surface and stand around, growling.

WHO TO USE:

Anybody. Since the Ruby Weapon can be beaten so easily, you might want to use characters with double and triple AP growth weapons (Cloud, Cid, Red 13, Yuffie, etc.) so that you can make the most of the AP you’ll earn.

RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT:

Apocalypse - Cavern in the Old Forest.

Scimitar - Undersea submarine dock in Junon.

<any double-AP weapon) - <varies>

Rune Armlet - Purchase in Bone Village.

or

Platinum Bangle - Purchase in Junon Town (Disc 2/3)

or

Mystile - Midgar City Raid (Disc 2)

Northern Crater (Disc 3)

(optionally, fire-protective equipment is also useful)

Ribbon - Temple of Anicents (Disc 1)

Gaea’s Cliff (Disc 2)

Win: Master Tonberry (Northern Crater)

RECOMMENDED MATERIA:

Master Command - Cosmo Canyon (see the ‘Master Materia’ section

(x3) for details). It’d be better if you got it

by trading the Earth Harp to the man in Kalm,

though.

or Mimic - Cave near Wutai; requires a Green Chocobo.

Master Summon - Cosmo Canyon (see the ‘Master Materia’ section

(x1) for details)l. It’d be better if you got it

by trading the Earth Harp to the man in Kalm,

though.

or Hades and - Hades is lying near the helicopter in the

Knights of Round undersea plane ‘Gelnika’. KoR can be found

(x1 each) in Round Island; requires a Gold Chocobo.

W-Summon - Purchase at the Battle Square in the Gold

(x1) Saucer.

HP Absorb - Found above the ‘cat room’ in Wutai village.

(x1)

Revive - Purchase in Upper Junon.

(mastered, x3)

HP Plus - Purchase in Cosmo Canyon or Mideel.

(mastered x?)

(optionally, some mastered ‘Magic Plus’ materia can be given to the person with W-Summon in case their magic powers are low).

In order to master these materia quickly, give Cloud the Apocalypse

Sword, Yuffie the Magic Shuriken, Wind Slash, Rising Sun, or Twin Viper,

and give Cid the Scimitar (Cid and Cloud are the only characters with

triple-growth Materia weapons). Equip the materia you have to them, then

go fight Magic Pots (feed them Elixirs before attacking them), or Movers,

both of which can be found in the ‘lake’ area of the Northern Crater.

RECOMMENDED ITEMS:

Megalixirs - Win: Master Tonberry (Northern Crater)

Elixirs - Morph: Vrakoradus (Icicle Area)

Harpy (Corel Desert)

Steal: Ghigee (Northern Crater)

X-Potions - Steal: Gargoyle (Northern Crater)

Morph: Custom Sweeper (Midgar Area)

Turbo Ethers - Steal: Golem (Cosmo Area)

Armored Golem (Northern Crater)

Death Dealer (Northern Crater)

Jersey (Shinra Mansion)

Morph: Beach Plug (Gongaga; shore)

RECOMMENDED LEVEL:

Any! However, one character should have enough MP to cast Knights of Round and Hades in a single casting (you may want to pick up some MP Plus materia from Cosmo Canyon if no one meets this requirement).

SPECIAL CONDITIONS:

Within the first few rounds of combat, the Ruby Weapon will use the Whirlsand attack to remove two characters from the battle. This can be avoided by:

Then, simply revive them when the Ruby Weapon sticks it’s hands into the ground and you can fight with them. Remember that if it removes the ‘Ruby’s Tentacles’ from the ground, it can use the Whirlsand attack again, so stay on your toes.

The other condition is that the Ruby Weapon will absorb damage from elemental spells and be completely immune to all attacks (even the Magic Hammer enemy skill) while standing around. Only when it’s tentacles are waving around (it’s hands are in the ground), can it be damaged.

STRATEGY ONE:

You can run away from the Ruby Weapon! However, it’s HP and stats. will be restored next time you fight.

First of all, to get all three characters into the battle with you, just have Ruby kill two of them off before it does the Whirlsand attack, or kill them off prior to the battle so that you start the battle with only one person.

This strategy comes courtesy of JOHN HENRY, so thank him when you manage to kill the Ruby Weapon! It’s been tested and modified a bit by myself as well.

First, equip your characters with enough HP Plus materia so that they have at least 8000 HP. Then, give one character the following materia:

Master Summon + HP Absorb or Knights of Round + HP Absorb

W-Summon Hades

W-Summon

You need to give at least one character Master Command (for the Mime ability), or simply give them the Mimic materia, but it’s best if all characters have a the ‘Mime’ ability.

Now, go into battle. Once only one character is left, the Ruby Weapon will stick it’s tentacles into the ground. At this point, revive your friends (you did remember to keep them alive, right?). Now, have one character perform a W-Summon, and cast Knights of Round, and Hades (or Hades then Knights of Round, the order doesn’t matter). All your characters should mimic that and keep doing it until the Ruby Weapon dies.

Yes, that’s right, it’s that easy! Since Hades has a chance of paralyzing the Ruby Weapon, it rarely gets a chance to counterattack against you. And since you’re casting KoR three times a round, the damage really adds up! Most likely, the Ruby’s Tentacles won’t have a chance to hit you, either. However, even if they did, you can earn anywhere from 6000 to 8000 HP back from casting KoR, thanks to the attached HP Absorb materia. This works even when mimicked! However, there are some things you need to be careful of—see the ‘Attacks’ section for details.

Finally, in the event that you do need to revive a character, it’s also advisable that you use an Elixir or other MP-restoring item on the character with W-Summon so that they can re-cast KoR and Hades so as to restart the mimicking process.

STRATEGY TWO:

Instead of casting Knights of Round and Hades, cast Knights of Round twice and have everyone Mime it. This is a little risky because the Ruby Weapon has more chances to attack you, but you sap it’s life very quickly and can kill it in a short amount of time. This strategy also works well for the Emerald Weapon (see above).

STATISTICS OF RUBY WEAPON:

LV: ?? EXP: 50000 Steal: n/a

HP: 1000000 AP: 50000 Win: Desert Rose

MP: ??? Gil: 50000 Morph: n/a

for the duration of the battle)

• Grand Sweep (damages all allies for 5000+ damage)
• <no name> (a claw attack that hits one ally for 3500+ damage)

Ruby Ray (causes around 3000 damage to one ally, plus

Confusion)

Ruby Fire (causes Fire-based damage to one ally)

Ultima (used as a counterattack, as per the spell)

• Can’t be used when the ‘Ruby’s Tentacles’ are present.

Notes: - Can dig it’s hand into the ground, turning them into

additions called ‘Ruby’s Tentacles’.

STATISTICS OF RUBY’S TENTACLES

LV: ?? EXP: (shared) Steal: n/a

HP: ~25000 AP: (shared) Win: (shared)

MP: 0 Gil: (shared) Morph: n/a

<no name B> (drains variable MP from one opponent)

Notes: - There are two of these. They fight independently of

the Ruby Weapon.

Note that you can take the ‘Desert Rose’ to a man in Kalm Town on the second floor of the northeastern house to get a free Gold Chocobo.

7 . P L A Y I N G T H E G A M E

Certain notations and abbreviations are used in this FAQ. This is what they mean:

S Square Button L1 Front Left Shift

X X Button L2 Back Left Shift

T Triangle button R2 Back Right Shift

START Start Button SELECT Select Button

B#/# - Indicates the Break Level and which one to use (i.e. Red 13’s B2/2 would be the Stardust Ray, while Barret’s 3/1 would be his Satellite Beam).

Field - Any area aside from the World Map. Towns, caves, dungeons, power

plants, and so on are all considered ‘field’ areas.

World Map - The 3-d overhead world in which you can travel to towns and

other locations, and activate the map. When first starting the game, you

will not reach the ‘World Map’ area until a good part of the first disc has been completed. This is also referred to as the ‘outer world’ or ‘overworld’ throughout this FAQ.

After inserting the disc you’re currently on, watch the intro or bypass

it by pressing START. Then, choose NEW GAME to start from the beginning

(you’ll need to have Disc One entered), or choose the bottom option to continue a saved game. If you choose to continue, select SLOT 1 or SLOT 2 (depending on which slot your memory card is in). Then, select the saved file you wish to continue.

To save your game, you must be in the World Map or standing on a Save Point while in an Area Map (these are glowing blue circles with a rotating ‘C’ shape above them). Go to the main menu and choose SAVE, (the last option), then specify which memory card and which save slot you wish to use. If all the slots are full, you will get a message telling you that you cannot save. A note on Save Points; you can also (in most cases), use the PHS system to change members while standing on a Save Point.

The default settings of the PSX controller are:

CONTROL PAD - Moves your character in eight directions. Also

used to move the cursor during menu screens and

to highlight enemies/allies and options during

battle.

SELECT - Shows location of character on-screen using a

cursor. In battle, this turns on/off the

HELP window. In the World Map, it has the

same effect as the START button.

START - In the World Map, it displays/removes the map.

During battles, it pauses the action.

SQUARE (pink) - During battle, holding this button removes the

Command window, making the Barrier gauges more

visible. It also switches between the Materia

window and Equip window on the Menu Screen

(providing you are in either of those windows).

X (blue) - Cancels selections in the Shop screen. During

battle, it cancels choices and during the Menu

screen, it cancels choices and closes the screen

if no choices have been made. If not assigned

an ability, this button cancels choices and

returns you to the previous option during any

other screen. When used in conjunction with the

control pad, your character dashes while on the

field. Dashing can be combined with L1 and R1

to run at an angle.

TRIANGLE (green) - In the field, it opens the Menu screen. In the

Menu Screen, it de-equips whatever Materia is

selected if you are in the Materia window. In

battle, it highlights whoever you want to fight

next (assuming they have a full Time bar).

CIRCLE (red) - In the field, press it when near something to

examine it or to talk to a person. This button

is also used to pick up items, open treasure

chests, and latch onto ladders and objects.

It will select the items you wish to buy or sell

at shops, and can be used to verify commands or

perform an action (like opening a gate, running

an elevator, etc.)

LEFT ONE (L/1) - When held and used in conjunction with the

control pad, your character walks at a 45-degree

angle to his left. When selecting items or magic

in the Menu Screen, it moves the view up a screen

with each press. When selecting a character to

check that person’s Materia, magic, equipment,

status, or Limit Break, pressing this button

scrolls backwards through the characters according

to their lineup.

In the World Map, this button makes your character

turn left while it is held down. If you are in

overhead view, pressing this button returns you

to ground-level view.

LEFT TWO (L/2) - While in the World Map, switches the viewpoint

from ground-level to overhead.

RIGHT ONE (R/1) - When held and used in conjunction with the

control pad, your character walks at a 45-degree

angle to his right. When selecting items or

magic in the Menu Screen, it moves the view down

a screen with each press. When selecting a

character to check that person’s Materia, magic

equipment, status, or Limit Break, pressing this

button scrolls forward through the characters

according to their lineup.

In the World Map, this button makes your character

turn right while it is held down. If you are in

overhead view, pressing this button returns you

to ground-level view.

RIGHT TWO (L/2) - While in the World Map, switches the viewpoint

from ground-level to overhead. During a battle,

it shows the ‘target’ of each enemy.

Other Commands:

L1 + R1 - During battle, makes you run away if held down

for a while. Doesn’t always work, and is

ineffective in certain fights.

L1 or R1 - Selects between a single target or all targets

during battle when using magic/commands

(assuming you have an All or Everything

All materia working in conjunction with

whatever materia are equipped). You can also

do this by press Left or Right on the controller.

L1 + L2 + R1 + R2 - Resets the game. Doesn’t work during battles or

Note that these are the default settings: they can be changed in the Menu

Screen. Additional button commands (for vehicles, games, etc.) are listed throughout the FAQ’s walkthrough section.

There are two ways to enter a battle. The most common way is to be randomly attacked while exploring the World/Area map screen. You will also fight boss battles, which aren’t random and occur only after a certain event/arriving at a certain location.

When the battle starts, the camera will move inwards for a better view (it switches constantly during battles, but you can set it to remain stationary in the Configuration screen located in the Main Menu).

The enemies will be on the left, and your characters appear on the right

(usually). Depending on a person’s Speed Plus, either you or the enemy will attack first (not the whole party, just a single character). The object of battle is to kill all your enemies without getting killed yourself. A battle ends when either side has died, or if the enemy or your party runs away.

To the left on the Battle Menu window is the word NAME. Underneath this

appears the names of the three characters currently in your party. Next

to that is the word BARRIER. Beneath that is a double-gauge that informs

you how long your Barrier (vs. physical attacks), or MBarrier (vs. magic

attacks) will last. Note that they are only full if you have a (ma)barrier spell in use, have an equipped accessory (Reflect Ring) or are using some other form of physical/Magic Plus defense.

To the right of that is the word HP. This shows the current/total amount

of HP each character possesses using both numbers and a bar. If you have

few HPs left, the numbers turn yellow. And if your status has been

changed (i. e. you are poisoned), the total amount of HPs is replaced by

the name of your status condition. Depending on the amount of HPs

remaining and the type of status you have, your character may fall to

one knee or crouch on the ground to show that he is weakened. Farther to

the right is the word MP. Below that is the current amount of MPs each

character has, represented in both number and bar format. If you are low

on MPs, the numbers turn yellow. If you die, your HP and MP numbers are

shown in red. Finally, on the far right are two bars.

The first bar is the Limit bar. As you are attacked, this bar increases

in proportion to the damage received. When it is full, it will flash

rapidly. During this time, you can use your Limit Break attacks instead

of fighting (described later on), and your agility is increased. If you

don’t use your Limit Break when a battle ends, it is carried into the

next battle. If you don’t use your Limit Break for several rounds during

a battle, it empties slightly (but can be refilled). Choosing to be attacked by yourself or your friends, or being attacked by a confused friend will not increase your Limit bar.

The last bar is the Time bar. It increases in proportion to a person’s

Speed Plus rating. When it is full, it flashes orange, and you are now

able to choose a command (this is also signified by the yellow, pyramid-

shaped icon that appears over the person’s head and by their name, which

flashes between white and gray). When it is not full, you cannot control

that character.

When a person’s Time bar maxes out, the Command Window appears, covering

the Barrier gauges (they can be uncovered by holding the S button). The

first option is Attack (one enemy or one friend). If your Limit Bar is

full, then it is replaced with a rainbow-colored font and you cannot

Attack but can use Limit Breaks. The next option is Magic (assuming your

character knows magic/has a Magic Materia equipped). This allows you to

select a magic spell to use, providing you have the proper number of MPs

left. The third option is usually blank, unless you have a Command

Materia equipped. When such Materia are in use, this option can be many

things: Steal, Throw, etc. The fourth option is Item, and it allows you

to use your inventory of unequipped items on yourself or against an enemy.

Note that you cannot equip or de-equip items or Materia during battle.

Depending on the number of Materia equipped, you may have more than four

options available, in which case the Command Window will expand to show them all. Other commands are listed in the order that your materia are equipped.

At any time while the Command Window is showing and you haven’t yet made

a selection, you can press right (then the O button) to guard. You

can’t attack while guarding (which lasts the whole round), but any

damage inflicted on you is halved. Likewise, pressing left (then the

O button) makes you change rows. This takes a whole round and you can

do no other action while changing. Characters in the front row inflict

and recieve more damage, while characters in the back inflict and

receive less damage (you can also change row position in the Menu Screen;

changing position during battle isn’t permanent).

There are several ways to attack or get attacked. The situation chosen when entering a battle is somewhat random, but your abilities and statistics can change the outcome:

(Attack) The standard you-versus-them setup. Priority

is determined by Speed Plus.

(Chance) The enemies will have their backs turned and

you can all attack, run, or perform any other

command without being attacked for the first

round only.

(Back Attack) You have your backs turned to the enemy, who

appears on the right. Not only are your rows

reversed (front to back/back to front), but

the enemy gets to attack first without you

being able to do anything about it for the

first round only. Note that Materia that

work automatically (like Guard and Counter

Attack), will still function normally.

(Side Attack) You appear on either side of your enemy.

Although you can’t use the CHANGE command,

this method prevents the enemy from turning

his full attention to all characters and lets

you attack from the front and behind.

(Ambush) The enemy appears on either side. You cannot

use the CHANGE command, and it is impossible

to direct an attack or spell towards all

enemies. Your foes can make both front and

back attacks. Keep in mind that it is very

important whether or not you are facing your

opponent—your attacks/limit breaks/magic

won’t hit enemies who are behind you.

RUNNING

Normally, you can run away from an enemy party, but not always. If you

can’t run away, a message will tell you so and holding L1 and R1 will

have no further effect. Unless fighting a boss (who you can never

run away from), you can almost always run from an Initial Attack (first

round only) or Side Attack formation. You cannot run from a back attack

for the first round, and you must be facing toward your enemy in order to run away (since you run in the opposite direction). If ambushed, you cannot run unless you kill all the enemies on one side of you and are facing toward your foes (for the same reason listed above).

When you run away, the battle ends, but you gain no money, AP, or EXP. Also, you can be attacked while running and it may take anywhere from a second to several minutes to escape a battle, (if it is possible to do so). You can select and confirm commands while trying to escape (in which case you will stop running to attack, use an item, etc.), but you won’t run away while doing such things.

OTHER SITUATIONS

While the game is paused during battle, you can do nothing but remove the Command Window (if it is showing) by holding the S button. While a character is summoning a monster, you can build up your Time bar and select commands, but not confirm them (this includes running). During enemy actions and some of your own actions, the ‘Time’ message changes to ‘Wait’ and your bars won’t fill until either you or the enemy finish doing whatever caused the ‘Wait’ status in the first place.

END OF THE BATTLE

If you lose a battle (the enemy is able to reduce your party’s HP to zero

via attacking, magic, etc.), the game ends. You must start over from

your previously saved game. If you win the battle (by reducing all

enemies’ HP to zero via attacking, magic, etc.), then a screen appears

showing you how many EXP and AP points you’ve gained*. Pressing O calls

up another screen where the amount of Gil (currency) you’ve won is shown,

and you have the option of taking items from your fallen foes (if they

had any items). Once the battle is over, you are returned to the field/

area you were at prior to the battle.

• If a character is dead when the battle ends, he or she will gain no EXP or AP. The same applies to fully petrified characters.

It’s possible to have your status changed outside of battles, but most status changes occur during combat. Enemies can also suffer from status ailments, which include:

MANIPULATED

Appearance Character flashes blue and faces in opposite direction

Effect Character is controlled by the enemy

Duration Until controlled character is damaged, killed, or put

to sleep

Remedy Successful physical attack from friend or foe

BERSERK

Appearance Character’s skin is red

Effect Character automatically fights using physical attacks,

however, Attack Power is raised

Duration Battle

Remedy Remedy or Esuna magic

BARRIER

Appearance Shield appears when physically attacked; Barrier gauge

is filled (to a degree)

Effect Physical damage from enemies is reduced

Duration Until gauge runs out

Remedy Debarrier or Dispel magic

SILENCE

Appearance "......" word bubble appears over head

Effect Cannot cast magic or summon monsters

Duration Battle

Remedy Echo Smoke*, Remedy, Esuna magic

CONFUSION

Appearance Character spins around and around

Effect Character is uncontrollable and will attack or cast

magic on both friends and foes

Duration Battle; or until physically attacked

Remedy Remedy, Esuna magic

CONDEMNED

Appearance A counter appears over person’s head

Effect Character dies when the counter hits zero

Duration Battle; or until counter reaches zero

Remedy Finish/escape from battle before your time is up

(ha ha ha). If you revive a Condemned character, the

counter will not reappear.

CRITICAL

Appearance Character is kneeling, HPs are shown in yellow

Effect None

Duration Until character dies or is healed

Remedy Cure, Full Cure, or Regen spells, or Potion, Hi

Potion, X-Potion, Elixir, or Megalixir.

DEATH

Appearance Character is lying face down

Effect Character does nothing (he/she’s dead)

Duration Forever*

Remedy Phoenix Down, Raise/Life 2 magic, Phoenix summon

spell, or you can spend the night at an inn.

POISON

Appearance Character kneels and flashes green

Effect Lowers HP each turn

Duration Battle

Remedy Poison Neutralize, Remedy, or

Poisona magic.

HASTE

Appearance Character moves faster

Effect Time bar increases twice as fast

Duration Battle

Remedy Slow, Stop, or Dispel magic

FURY

Appearance Limit gauge is colored red

Effect Amount of damage received doubles, Hit Rate decreases,

and Limit gauge fills faster

Duration Battle

Remedy Tranquilizer

SADNESS

Appearance Limit gauge is colored blue

Effect Character’s physical attacks do less damage; Limit

gauge fills slower

Duration Until healed

Remedy Hyper

DARK

Appearance Character flashes black

Effect Hit Rate is dramatically reduced

Duration Battle

Remedy Eye drop, Remedy, Esuna magic

Appearance Magic shield appears when magic is cast on that

character; MBarrier gauge is filled (to a degree)

Effect Reduces the effects of magic cast on that character

from friends or foes

Duration Until gauge runs out

Remedy Debarrier or Dispel magic

MEGABARRIER

Appearance Mega shield appears when a character is hit by

physical attacks or has magic cast upon him; both

gauges are filled

Effect Reduces effectiveness of physical attacks and magic

spells directed towards the shielded person

Duration Until gauges run out

Remedy Debarrier or Dispel magic

MINIMUM

Appearance Character shrinks, becoming very small

Effect Attack/Defense Power is lowered greatly; almost all

attacks cause only 1 point of damage (even magic

spells or attacks that can be affected by Materia)

Duration Battle

Remedy Minimum magic, Magic Hammer Enemy Skill

INVINCIBLE

Appearance Characters flash yellow*

Effect Character cannot lose HP or be killed

Duration Only a few rounds

Remedy None

PARALYSIS

Appearance Character doesn’t move

Effect Character does nothing

Duration Variable

Remedy Remedy, Esuna magic

REGENERATION

Appearance None

Effect Character gains back lost HP each turn

Duration Variable

Remedy None

REFLECT

Effect Reflects all magic cast upon character by friend

or enemy

Duration Variable

Remedy Dispel magic

PETRIFY

Appearance Character has gray skin and doesn’t move

Effect Character does nothing

Duration Battle

Remedy Golden Needle, Remedy, Esuna magic

SLOW PETRIFYING

Appearance Character flashes white while a counter appears over

head.

Effect Causes Petrification (see above)

Duration Battle; or until petrification occurs

Remedy Golden Needle, Remedy, or Esuna magic

SLEEP

Appearance Character kneels and ‘ZZZs’ rise from body

Effect Character does nothing

Duration Battle; or until physically attacked

Remedy Remedy, successful physical attack from

friend or foe

SLOW

Appearance Character moves slower

Effect Time gauge fills slower

Duration Variable

Remedy Haste or Dispel magic

STOP

Appearance Character doesn’t move

Effect Character does nothing; Time gauge doesn’t fill

Duration Variable

Remedy Dispel magic

TOAD

Appearance Character looks like a toad

Effect Attack/Defense Power is lowered, cannot use

any magic other than ‘Toad’ magic*

Duration Battle

Remedy Toad or Dispel magic, Maiden’s Kiss

a frog, no MP is lost (and you can still summon the following round).

Your status condition is usually always shown at the bottom of the

screen, over the ‘MAX HP’ section in red letters. If you have more than

one change (i.e. you are poisoned and slowed), then the condition message will constantly change back and forth.

While in the World Map, you can show, enlarge, or hide the Map by

pressing Start or Select repeatedly. When you get them, the river-

crossing Buggy and Cid’s Airplane are represented as green and blue dots,

while the submarine is shown as a red dot and the airship ‘Highwind’ is a

white dot. Here in the 3-d ‘overworld’, you can travel through forests,

plains, and fields in search of towns, caves, and other places. As in

previous Final Fantasy games, mountains, rivers, and oceans are

impassable while walking, but may be traversed using other means, such

as vehicles or special breeds of Chocobos. When you enter a ‘location’

(i.e. a town or dungeon), you enter the area map and leave behind the

World Map. No matter where you are on the World Map, you always run the

risk of fighting monsters.

Area maps are a series of rendered backgrounds linked together to make up

a location. Your freedom of movement is somewhat limited in these areas.

Most FMV sequences take place while in an area map. Aside from talking

to people and fighting battles (depending on where you are), you can also

find treasure chests, navigate through hidden passages, climb up ropes,

activate switches and levers, or save your game at Save Points. With few

exceptions, area maps are the only place where you’ll find bosses.

GOLD SAUCER’S BATTLE SQUARE

To play this game, go to the Battle Square and enter the main building.

Talk to the lady by the righthand booth and she’ll give you an option. Choose the top one to enter the Battle Arena, or the bottom one to decline. It costs 10 GP to enter the Battle Arena each time. Should you accept, you have to choose which character will fight by himself in the Arena.

Once inside the Arena, you have to fight 8 consecutive battles against

randomly-picked sets of monsters. Fighting is done normally, and you

can use anything you have equipped (weapons, spell materia, command

materia, items, etc.) to attack your enemies with. Each time you finish

a battle, you get the message ‘GREAT!’ and you’re then told how many BP (Battle Points) you’ve won in that particular battle (it’s on the right side of the window). You have two options; pick the left one to keep fighting or the right one to give up and leave the Arena.

If you choose to keep fighting, a slot machine appears prior to your next

bout and you have to press O to stop the wheel. Whatever you land on

will have a significant effect upon you as soon as the next battle

starts. However, most of these conditions can be remedied by using

items, and some (such as Minimum) won’t even affect you if you’re wearing

an accessory that protects you from that type of status ailment. Below is a list of many of the various results you may land on*:

Poison - ‘Poisoned’ status.

Frog - ‘Toad’ status.

Mini-Cloud - ‘Minimum’ status.

Red Orb - Disables Red (Summon) Materia.

Yellow Orb - Disables Yellow (Command) Materia.

Green Orb - Disables Green (Magic) Materia.

Purple Orb - Disables Purple (Independent) Materia.

Blue Orb - Disables Blue (Support) Materia.

Five Orbs - Disables all Materia.

Ring - Disables accessories.

Bag - Disables items.

Luck Plus 7 - No ailment for that round.

Boots - Time Bar is cut in half.

HP & MP - Max HP and MP is halved.

MP Sign - Max MP is halved.

MP Zero - Max MP is reduced to 0.

Sword - Attack power is lowered.

Bracelet - Your defense is lowered.

Stopwatch - Time spent in the Battle Arena times

30 is given to you in damage.

Lv. Down - This lowers your level by 5, 10, 15....

Cure - Gain back 9999 HP.

Each time you choose to keep fighting, yet another bar appears on the

slot machine. And because the eight battles are continuous, you’ll keep

whatever ailment you landed on in the last battle (unless you cured it),

and get another ailment as well, making the battles progressively harder

as you suffer from more and more handicaps.

You do not gain AP, EXP, or gil for fighting in the Battle Arena. You can’t learn enemy skills, either, even if you proceed to win all eight battles. You can Steal or Morph enemies to get items, but that’s it. Using Limit Breaks in the Arena won’t deplete your Limit bar when the battles are over, though. Your fighting spree ends if:

• You win all 8 battles.
• You choose to give up after completing a battle.
• You cast Escape on yourself or use an item that has a similar effect.
• You run away :)
• You are killed during the course of the battles :(

Unless you’re killed or run away, you will keep all the Battle Points that you’ve earned from each fight. What’s more, you can continuously enter the Battle Arena (providing that you have enough GP) and fight over and over to pick up even more Battle Points. However, you lose all your BP if you leave the Battle Square, so you have to get the number of points you want in one trip. You can trade in the Points you’ve earned for prizes by going to the machines on the left or right side of the entrance and examining them. The following chart appears if you have enough BP to purchase something:

BATTLE SQUARE PRIZES - DISC ONE

NAME COST

Potion 80 BP

Phoenix Down 160

Shrapnel 320

Ether 640

Mimett Greens 1280

Fury Ring 2560

Enemy Lure 5120

Pre-emptive 10240

Speed Plus 20480

Champion Belt 41960

LATER ON....

Phoenix Down 100 BP

Remedy 200

Mimett Greens 400

Enemy Lure 800

Choco Feather 1600

S-mine 3200

Pre-emptive 6400

Speed Plus 12800

Champion Belt 25600

OmniSlash 51200

BATTLE SQUARE PRIZES - DISC TWO AND DISC THREE

Remedy 100 BP

Enemy Lure 250

Right arm 500

Pre-emptive 1000

Reagan Greens 2000

Speed Plus 4000

Stardust 8000

Champion Belt 16000

OmniSlash 32000

W-Summon 64000

You can buy as many of each item as you like if you have enough BP.

Note that the first time you win 8 battles in a row, you can get a free pair of Sprint Shoes from the person standing at the foot of the flight of stairs outside (the one that says that she doesn’t like fighters who are ‘all talk’).

BATTLE SQUARE: THE SPECIAL BATTLE

In order to gain access to the Special Battle, you have to be in Disc 2

or 3. Cloud must be in your party, and you have to have the Ultima

Weapon as well. Go to the Battle Square and keep fighting until you

have enough BP to buy Cloud’s Limit Break Manual or the W-Summon materia

(you don’t have to use Cloud to earn the Battle Points). Purchase one of

them, then fight some more until you can afford the other item. Make

sure that Cloud has learned all his limit breaks except for his Level 4

Limit Break, then use his Manual on him and equip him with the Ultima

Weapon and the W-Summon materia (you don’t need to attach a Summon

Materia to it). Talk to the lady at the desk and she’ll invite you to

participate in the Special Battle. You’ll have to win eight consecutive

fights against 8 boss monsters, even ones that you may not have met yet,

like Proud Clod and Jamar Armor. If you’re able to defeat all the bosses, then Dio will reward Cloud with the Final Attack materia.

SPEED SQUARE PRIZES

They are:

Over 3000 points - Masamune, Custom Sweeper, 1/35^th soldier Over 5000 points - Umbrella (Disc 1), Flayer (Disc 2-3)

ALL THE GOLD YOU’D EVER WANT...SORT OF

A man will show up outside of the Gold Saucer from time to time. He’ll be standing near the back of the screen in the outer entrace area (left of the three lights, behind the Save Point). If you talk to him, he will trade you 1 GP for 100 gil. You can purchase up to 100 GP off him every time he appears, but can’t carry more than 9999 GP.

WONDER SQUARE STUFF

Need to earn some GP? Keep reading:

• You can win 1 GP for 100 gil by fighting the Sumo wrestler, or 2 GP for 100 gil by fighting the ‘normal’ wrestler.
• The first time you win at ‘Mog House’ the person standing behind you will give you 30 GP.
• For the basketball game: the first 10 dunks in a row are worth 1 GP, the 11^th will double that amount to 20 GP. The next ten dunks are worth 1 GP, and the 22^nd dunk doubles that to 60 GP. This continues at every next dunk, presumably (33, 44, etc.)
• For the bike racing game: You can earn 10 GP instead of 2 GP if you score over 10,000 points. In addition, you’ll get a Speed Plus materia the first time you do this.

OTHER INFORMATION

(All of this is from David McGrath—I hate the Gold Saucer games with a passion and since he contributed all this, I’m putting it to good use!)

CHOCOBO RACING / SNOWBOARD RACING

In both the Chocobo races and the snowboard game, if Tifa or Cid is in your party, they’ll randomly ask to play in your place.

SPEED SQUARE

The red things coming out of the lava are 70 points; the riverboat is a variable number depending on how long you shoot it—keep the ‘gun’ in the lower left corner after it passes to get a few more points; and at least one of the lights near the end can be broken for 200 points.

CHOCOBO SQUARE

There are four ranks in the Chocobo Races. In increasing order, they

are: C, B, A, and S. Placing first moves you up in rank. Place first in

S a few times, and you’ll win a prize pack of sorts for bein’ so good:

Sprint Shoes, Precious Watch, Cat’s Bell, Chocobracelet, and a "Counter

Attack" Materia. (This only happens once.) Beware that sometimes you’ll

race against Teioh, whose Chocobo’s stats are always higher than your own

(+15 km, +250 stamina). You can beat him, but it gets progressively more difficult as you advance in rank. Incidentally, once you race a Chocobo to S rank, you can bet at that rank.

BATTLE SQUARE

Once you’re able to access the Special Battle, talk to the woman outside

by the stairs. She’ll give you Sprint Shoes. Incidentally, you’ll get

more points during the battle depending on how ‘hurt’ you are. If your

Item option is sealed, your Materia have been made inaccessible, and you

have ½ HP / MP, and you still manage to win 8 battles, you’re in for a

pile of BP! If, however, you get Cure 7 times you get a measly 17 BP—

10 for the first battle, plus 1 for every battle thereafter. For the

Special Battle, take along Mime and KoR linked to HP Absorb. During the

battle, summon KoR, and Mime it thereafter. You might also want to take

along a Ribbon, and a Time Materia for Haste, but they’re optional. (The

best thing about the above is that you can lose almost all your materia

to the reels, or even all your MP, and still be able to Mime both the

attack and the healing. Just avoid the yellow orb and the 5 orb cluster!)

WONDER CATCHER

Possible prizes: Nothing, 1 GP, 3 GP, Potion, 80 GP.

SNOWBOARDING

Blue and Green balloons are worth 3 and 5 points, respectively. Blue

are semi-hard, while Green take a bit of skill to collect. Don’t forget

to edge (R1)! It’ll help you take corners a lot easier. If you’re going

fast enough when you reach the goal, jump right before you pass the sign.

You’ll fly through, hit the retaining barrier at the end, and fly right back out again!)

The ranks in the normal courses are BAD (0-49), AWFUL (50-69), and GOOD (70-100?).

Speed up before coming to the course, then jump at the first cliff so you

can nab the Blue balloon. If you miss it, press Start and choose RETRY—

it won’t cost you any more Gil. (With free continues, one wonders how

ShinRa makes any money on this game!) Keep collecting balloons and

avoiding obstacles until you see the Moogle holding the arrow. Ether slow

down or take the curve creatively; I recommend the former, since a Blue

balloon is soon after, surrounded by snow chocobos. A while later is the

downhill portion—don’t miss the Blue balloon on your way in—and

this is your place to gain some speed. Just avoid the obstacles! Near the

end you’ll have to swerve around some igloos; make sure you do it at a

high enough speed to clear the arch up ahead so you can collect the Green

balloon. The first time you score at least 90 points, you’ll get 20 GP and a Safety Bit.

Don’t miss the Blue balloon, but try to miss the rock under it. A couple

of sharp turns soon after requires skillful turning. Too little, and

you’ll hit the walls. Too much, and you’ll spin out. After a few more

curves, you’ll come to a metal-lined area with a Blue balloon near the

beginning. Following that is a sharp curve, then a forest with another

Blue balloon between two trees. Right at the end is an arch, beyond which

is a Green balloon over a snowchocobo. Time the jump right to clear the chocobo. Several sharp turns challenge you soon after—be careful not to hit the warning signs! -- and then you’re given a breather with a slow curve to the left. There’s one more short curve, then the goal.

Soon after you enter the course is a line of 8 red balloons followed by a cliff and a blue balloon. Collect ‘em (and RETRY if you don’t.)

Beware the unmarked sharp turns that follow, and watch out for the

snowman—that blue thing is his hat, not a balloon... Next are the ice

caves. Dodge falling icicles, and don’t go straight through in the cavern

areas, as chunks of ice will fall from the ceiling. Dodge around the

chunks, and collect the balloons. Soon after the second cavern area is

the exit; be sure to collect the Blue balloon as you jump out. The rocky

area after the caves shouldn’t present too much of a challenge, but the

curves soon after may. Near the bottom, you’ll come across Blue and Green

balloons, each well protected; don’t hit the obstacles in front, or the balloons will fly away. Two balloons after is the exit.

TIME ATTACK

Score at least a Good -- 70 points—on each of the three tracks, and

a yellow balloon will appear at the beginning of the track. Collect it

and all the obstacles’ll disappear from the courses. The objective now

is to race your way through the courses. Your best race time since the

PSX was turned on will be represented by a ghost moogle. Press START

during the game and you’ll be able to select between a snowboarding or

a sledding moogle. (You’ll also be able to change the ground texture

from snow to checkered.) Stay ahead of the moogle, and you’ll have beaten

your old time. (On the straightaway at the end of Course A, either make sure Cloud is centered, or that he has a good lawyer...) The ranks in Time Attack are Fail, Poor, and Average. There are surely more.

3D BATTLER

There may be a strategy to this game; I don’t know it, though. Just keep

playing the 3D equivalent of paper-rock-scissors and hope you do well enough. Being beaten by the first two opponents nets you nothing, the third 2 GP, and the fourth 20 GP.

(And here’s some info. about snowboarding from KFattyPro2):

W/ Ballons get

• Good (beginner) 30 GP + Safety Bit
• Good (advanced) nothing
• Good (crazy) nothing

I finally broke sec. on the beginner course (53.824) which gave me a "super" (the best) which meant that I had achieved a super on every course. Now there is a new "ghost" I can race against!!! It is a little cactrot (cactus type enemy from FFIII) I forget what they are called on this game however, it races me down the hill running.

If you get 97/100 on advanced couse you will get 100 GP and "All" Materia

(>95 ?? may work too)

If you get 96/100 on the crazy course you will get 300GP and a Crystal Bangle (>90 ?? may work too)

(okay, back to the FAQ)

FORT CONDOR: THE MINI-BATTLE GAME

You can fight at the Fort Condor during any disc, although if you want

the Huge Materia, you’ll have to play and win at least once in Disc Two.

What’s written here are brief instructions and simple strategies to win.

The object of the game is to prevent the enemy from taking your land

(this is indicated by a pink bar to the left of the screen), and to wipe

your foes out before they finish you off. Your guys are blue; the enemy’s force is red.

In the beginning, you’ll be in control of a cursor and there are no enemies on the screen. You can use this time to place your allies before the battle begins (while you can place icons during the battle, it’s easier to start off right now). You can only set people as far as the red line; if you can’t place a person, a red X appears over the hand cursor. Placing icons costs money (gil). Remember, you can’t place bad guys! The types and statistics of each icon (good and bad) are as follows:

Note that not all of these will be available initially (like the Fire Catapult and Tristoner).

STATS. OF THE GOOD GUYS ________________________________________________

NAME HP ATTACK RANGE COST STRONG/WEAK VS

Stoner 100 20 1~4 480 n/a

Tristoner 150 30 1~5 1000 n/a

Catapult 100 18 1~5 480 n/a

Fire Catapult 120 25 1~6 600 n/a

Fighter 200 30 1 400 n/a

Attacker 180 25 1 420 Beast / Barbarian

Defender 220 35 1 440 Barbarian / Wyvern

Shooter 160 20 1~3 520 Wyvern / Beast

Repairer 160 10 1 480 n/a

Worker 160 15 1 400 n/a

STATS. OF THE BAD GUYS _________________________________________________

NAME HP STRONG AND WEAK AGAINST

Beast 230 Shooters / Attackers

Wyvern* 190 Defenders / Shooters

Barbarian 100 Attackers / Defenders

Commander 250 ???

The bad part about all this is that it cost real money (your money!) to play this game. So it’s best that you stock up on gil before playing.

However, you’ll be paid gil for every ally left standing when the battle

ends. To buy an icon, use the controller to select them and press O. Then choose where you want to place one and press O again. If you’re placing a (Fire) Catapult or (Tri)stoner, then you’ll see a red circle or wedge-shape when you place them; this indicates their line of fire. Use the Control Pad to choose how you want them to aim their attack.

When you’re ready, press X and choose the top option. The battle begins! Your controls work like this:

• Accept a command. Place the cursor over a character and place this button and you’ll be given an option;

see the list of icons to see what options are available.

X Decline a command

L1 / L2 Decrease the Speed Plus of the battle

R1 / R2 Increase the Speed Plus of the battle

Start Pause/unpause the game

Select Show/hide instruction screen

Pad Moves cursor/put over ally or foe to see their

statistics and the direction they’re heading in.

Every time one of your icons finishes walking, enters battle, or is killed, you will be asked if you want to go to their location/give them a new command (if they died, it asks if you want to place a new one). Press O to accept, or X to decline.

ICON OPTIONS ___________________________________________________________

Stoner TOP OPTION - DIRECTION. You can redirect

TriStoner either type of droppers’ line of fire.

BOTTOM OPTION - REMOVE. The dropper is

destroyed.

Catapult TOP OPTION - DIRECTION You can redirect

Fire Catapult either type of catapult’s line of fire.

BOTTOM OPTION - REMOVE. The catapult is

destroyed.

Fighter OPTION - ACTION. Pick where you want any of the

Defender three icons to move to and press O. If they

Shooter can’t walk to a certain location, an X appears

over the cursor.

Repairer OPTION - ACTION. Works just like the ACTION

command explained above.

If you make a Repairer walk near a damaged

Catapult, Fire Catapult, Boulder, or Triple

Boulder, he can repair them (give them back

HPs). These guys can automatically fight, too.

Worker TOP OPTION - ACTION. Works just like the WALK

command explained above.

BOTTOM OPTION - BOMB. Creates a bomb that

explodes when enemies approach.

The ‘Dismantle’ command for the catapults and droppers may seem useless,

but once an enemy force has passed beyond the range of one of these

icons, they are useless. To free up space for more icons, (you can only

have 20 at a time, remember?) you’ll want to use this ability.

Basically, the battle is fairly automatic. People attack when close, the catapults and droppers fire continuously. All you have to do is move, replenish, and place new members. The battle ends when the ‘land taken’ meter maxes out (i.e. they reach the little brown hut) or you win the battle by destroying all the enemies. Including the boss who shows up when most of the enemy force is defeated, there are about 40 enemies in total, who climb up the screen in a more or less steady, continuous wave. If you’ve played FF3, this feels a little like those ‘mass-crazy-fight-till-you drop battles’, but without the rush of adrenaline that usually accompanies such a fight.

BATTLES

(Note that you’ll have to wait a while before another fight is available. Also, as far as I can tell, there’s no point in donating money since you’ll have to spend Gil to hire troops, anyway.) The prizes you win from each battle changes with each new battle.

STRATEGY FOR THE HUGE MATERIA BATTLE

Hope you have some money. Start by placing Tristoner at the top of each

path and angle their line of fire to follow the path (that’s 4). Then,

buy another one and place it at the main junction and make it fire

straight forward. Now, purchase four Fire Catapults and place them at

the bottom of the paths, as close to the red line as you can. Angle

their line of fire to hit where the Tristoners can’t. If you can spare

the gil, place two more just a little ways south and to either side from

the main Tristoners for added protection. Still with me? Place some

Defenders and Attackers down at the bottom, then place a whole bunch of

Fighters, Attackers, and Defenders at the top of the screen. Last, stick

in some Shooters in hard-to-reach areas where they can pelt the enemy. As your installments are destroyed/killed, all you have to do is place new ones.

EXPENSIVE STRATEGY

If you have a lot of cash, then just go crazy with the Tristoners and keep placing new ones (since they’ll instantly fire). If the enemy gains too much ground, start amassing forces of Defenders and Attackers to take your opponents out and defend your installations. The boss is easy to kill since he’s slow and shows up when there’s not a lot of people left (leaving him all buy himself). Just gang up on him with Defenders and Fighters, and if you’ve placed them earlier, try to steer him towards the Bombs that the Workers can lay.

R . A U T H O R ‘ S N O T E

Whew! Here you are at the end of yet another FAQ. I must say, FF7 is

getting a little boring at this point :) In all seriousness, I hope you

enjoyed the FAQ and found it useful.

You can also see this FAQ and other good stuff at:

Assuming it was an isolated incident, I didn’t bother writing about it,

but now it’s serious and I can’t ignore it. This FAQ has been reprinted

in three magazines the UK so far. To Sean Atkins and the FutureNet staff: giving me credit is one thing, but your use of my FAQ is still a profitable purpose. I hope you’ll keep this disclaimer in mind and treat me with a little more courtesy next time instead of letting me discover that FutureNet’s published my FAQ twice in two different magazines. If you didn’t have the time to e-mail about the first printing, you could have at least told me about the FAQ appearing in the newest publication by FutureNet.

To the third magazine, again, please take note of the new disclaimer. Furthermore, this FAQ is copyrighted so I hope you’ll also keep that in mind before printing it. I cannot express my disgust towards these people for using my FAQ simply to increase their sales. I did this because I wanted to help others, and I didn’t plan this FAQ back in February just so it could be used shamelessly by people who should be responsible adults.

To everyone who has informed me of a site, magazine, etc. that has used my FAQ without my permission, I thank you, and I hope you’ll continue to keep me informed in the future.

Unpublished work Copyright 1997-1998 Kao Megura