[Feeling bored? Warp straight to the Secrets section!]
Here is a collection of observations I have made during the course of gameplay. Note that these are written to benefit the novice player, so don't be offended if you feel I am stating the obvious...
Some more Materia notes: Independent Materia enhances character status (HP, strength, etc.). Examples: HP Plus, MP Plus Support Materia must be used with other Materia in linked slots. Examples: All, Elemental Command Materia increases the options available to a character during battle. Examples: Steal, Deathblow Magic Materia enables the character to cast magic. Examples: Fire, Ice Summon Materia is used to summon a monster in battle. Examples: Odin, Shiva
Don't listen to people who say you need to have a strategy guide to find these secrets! These so called "secrets" I found on my own (they're really not all that hard to find)...
You'll find Yuffie in the forests of the Gongaga Area (across the stream from the Gold Saucer). You'll have to fight her and defeat her in battle. Once you have done so, you will see her laying in the grass. Don't go to the Save Point. It's a fake. Instead, talk to Yuffie. Don't agree to fight with her again. You'll have to bolster her ego a bit, so kiss up. Don't ask for her name; hurry on. She'll then follow and join your party.
You'll find Vincent in the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim. He's in the locked room in the basement of the mansion. You'll have to get the key from the safe on the second floor (to the left) by solving the safe combination riddle. The combination is: right 36, left 10, right 59, right 97. Kill the monster inside and pick up the key in the safe. Go down to the basement and click on the center coffin in the locked room (it's purple). Talk to Vincent, and he will join your party as you leave the basement.
More Secrets! Ok...here's the real McCoy! These were the toughies...
This trick is really cool when you get it to work (it's kinda hard to set up). All you have to do is get one of your characters (any character!) to have 7777 hitpoints exactly, no less, no more. The character with 7777 hitpoints will then become berserk, which means you can't control what he/she does during battle. Each time, he/she will take off 7777 HP from your enemy! This can be very useful for fighting against tough enemies. However, after the battle, the character will only have 1 HP, so you'll have to heal up. (Remember: Equipping/unequipping Materia, fighting smaller enemies, using healing spells/potions, etc. can help you get to the right HP number!)
In case you don't know, this is the coolest Summoning Materia ever! To get it though, you have to have a Gold Chocobo. This Chocobo can go over any terrain! All you have to do is take this Chocobo to the northeast corner of the world map. There should be a secret island there that's not on the map. You'll find the Knights of Round Materia inside the cave there. It takes off over 100,000 HP, so have fun! However, the hard part is getting the Gold Chocobo. (Please visit the Chocobo Ranch)
My search goes on...
Strange that no one else ever mentioned this orb before...I think I may be one of the first to find it. The MP<-->HP Materia can be found in a cave in the northeast region of the middle continent (the one on which the Gold Saucer is located). Again, you need the Gold Chocobo to reach this cave. (Please see the Chocobo Ranch.) It has a very strange, but interesting, effect. When you equip it, your MP and HP get reversed! (But who would want to trade their some thousand HP for a few hundred just to have thousands of MP?)
I never heard anyone talk about this one either! I must be one of the first to discover it. After the first time you catch Chocobos and send them to the Farm, return to the Farm. You will see one Chocobo standing near the fence on the western side. Talk to it. It will make some Chocobo sounds, to which you must reply "Wark!" (Not "Warrrrk!" or you'll make it mad. However, if you choose this answer by mistake, all you have to do is talk to it again.) The Chocobos in the meadow will dance the Waltz de Chocobo for you, after which the Chocobo will give you a Choco/Mog Summon Materia! It isn't super powerful like Knights of Round, but it is very cute. (^_^)
If you go to Mideel, you will see a small white Chocobo. It will be in the shops if you have not gotten Cloud back in your party yet. If you do have Cloud back, it will be on the hill to the west in the town. Feed it some Mimet Greens (1500 gil at the Chocobo Farm), and you will be able to pet the creature. Choose "Tickle his ears" (not "Tickle his bellybutton" or anything else!), and the Chocobo will give you the Contain Materia. This is a very useful orb, so it's worth getting.
You will find the Quadra Magic Materia on the north tip of the island with Mideel on it in a cave. It is a Support Materia which allows you to cast a magic spell twice at once.
This Summoning Materia can be found running around the second section of the Sleeping Forest on your way to the Forgotten Capital (City of the Ancients).
This Materia removes the 20 minute time limit you have to fight Emerald WEAPON. It can be obtained by Morphing a Ghost Ship (a monster in the Junon Sub base) into a Guidebook, which must then be given to a man called the Kalm Traveler, located on the second floor of the rightmost building in Kalm. Contributed by Madam Hydra.
Located in the Northern Crater, this Materia allows you to cast two magic spells in one battle turn. Contributed by Madam Hydra.
This is a Summon Materia that can be obtained from the Snow woman on the Great Glacier. Contributed by Madam Hydra.
Each character (except Aeris) has a powerful weapon which has eight linked Materia slots and Nothing for Materia growth. Aeris' best weapon, the Princess Rod, has only 7 slots for Materia in which the Materia can gain AP. Here is where and how you can find each of these items, roughly in the order of character appearance: Cloud. You'll have to defeat a dragonish version of Weapon in order to get Cloud's best weapon, Ultima Weapon. You'll find this beast in discs 2 and 3. Keep following it if it escapes. (Similar concept to getting the ultimate weapons in Soul Blade, ne? ^_^) Oh, yeah. Plus, you can learn a powerful Enemy Skill from this monster called Shadow Flare. Your character will probably die in the process though, as it takes 8000+ HP off. Tifa. Tifa's best weapon is in Wallmarket in Midgar. You must have Cid in your party to retrieve it. Remember that building labled "ITEM" with the broken machine gun? Go there with Cid, and he'll fix the machine temporarily. You'll then get Tifa's best weapon, Premium Heart. Barret. Barret's best weapon is also located in Midgar. Thanks to Bill Gans, I can provide you with the exact location! It is on the way to the Sister Ray (the Shinra Mako cannon). You must have Barret in your party. It will be easiest to find if Vincent is not in your party. Vincent will be standing on a large platform. On the next platform (the one right after you climb the first set of stairs), you'll see a green treasure chest. Open it to receive Barret's ultimate weapon! Aeris. As stated above, Aeris' ultimate weapon is somewhat different from the others'. You'll find it in the Temple of the Ancients. Red XIII. Red's best weapon is located in Cosmo Canyon. Yuffie. Yuffie's ultimate weapon is hidden underwater near the Gold Saucer. Cait Sith. Cait's ultimate weapon, HP Shout, can be found during the second raid of Shinra Tower, on the 64th floor (the gym floor). It's in the locker where during the first raid, Cloud said, "A mega phone...no reason to hold on to this." Big thanks to plateau13@aol.com for contributing this information! ^_^ Cid. Go to Rocket Town and talk to the old man who gave you Yoshiyuki three or four times. He'll then give you Cid's best weapon, Venus Gospel. Vincent. Vincent's ultimate weapon is located in the waterfall on the Middle Continent. To get here, you'll need a black or gold Chocobo or the submarine. You'll have to visit this cave two times with Vincent in your party to get it. The first visit will be a flashback when he sees Lucretia. The second time, you may see an item on the far end of the cavern. This will be Vincent's best weapon, Death Penalty, and his Level 4 Limit.
As you know, Cloud and his friends can't gain their Level 4 Limits on their own. (By the way...did you know that to gain Limits, you have to deal the death blow with your limit for a certain number of times?) Also, to use the Limit 4 item, that character will have to know his/her Limit Level 3. The Limit 4 item will only work a certain character. Anyway, here are the locations and procedures for obtaining the ultimate Limit Breaks: Cloud. This one's hard. You'll have to earn 32,000 points in Battle Square at the Gold Saucer to trade in for this limit. Tifa. You can get her Limit 4 for playing the piano! Go to her house in Nibelheim and go upstairs to the piano. Use these keys: X, [ ], /\, LI + /\, LI + [ ], X, [ ], /\, LI + X, O, X, [ ], X. If you can't tell, it's the melody of "Highwind Takes to the Skies!" Cute, huh? Play it again, and you'll even get a whopping 1 gil extra bonus! Barret. Barret's Level 4 Limit is easy to get. Just go to Corel Village after the train incident, then go up the ladder to the left and visit the tent to the left. Talk to the woman with the hat, whose husband has died. She will give you the Limit Break. Aeris. Aeris' Level 4 Limit can be obtained from the Blacksmith on the Middle Continent. However, you'll have to visit the cave to the northeast of that continent where you'll find a sleeping old man. If you talk to him enough times, he'll tell you how many battles you have fought. If the last two digits are equal, he will give you a Mythril orb. (If Aeris is dead, he'll give you a Bolt Ring instead.) Give this to the Blacksmith, and he will allow you to open either the chest or the metal safe upstairs. Aeris' Limit 4, Great Gospel, is in the metal safe. A gold armlet is in the chest. Take your pick! Red XIII. Red's Limit 4, Cosmo Memory, is located in the safe in the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim. The combination is Right 36, Left 10, Right 59, Right 97. You'll have to fight a boss once you've opened the safe. You'll also get the key to get Vincent in the basement. (See the Walkthrough for more details.) Cait Sith. As far as I know, Cait Sith only has two Limit Breaks. (No Limit 4.) Yuffie. Yuffie's Level 4 Limit is located in the pagoda in Utai. Beat all the monsters inside, and you'll get her best Limit Break. Cid. Cid's Limit 4 can be found underwater in the Shinra plane near the Middle Continent. You'll have to fight the Turks before you can reach the cargo area where it is hidden. It's downstairs. Vincent. Vincent's Level 4 Limit is also in the waterfall (see the Best Weapons section above). He will receive this as a last gift from Lucrecia along with his best weapon.
I'm surprised that no one has ever mentioned this! The Ancient Forest is a treasure trove of goodies located near Cosmo Canyon (east of it, I believe), in the forested area. It is located at the top of a forested mesa (it's that bright green, red, and white thing that looks kind of like molded jello), so you'll need a Green, Black, or Gold Chocobo to reach it. (See the Chocobo Ranch for more information on how to acquire these Chocobos.) Once inside, you'll see lots of insects and frogs. The way to play this little "game" is to pick up insects and frogs and put them in various plants to allow access to treasure. However, the Ancient Forest has its share of dangers as well. Do not step in the pink trapjaw plants! That means, don't try to pick up the item sitting inside it. I've tried to get it, but it doesn't work. I'm assuming that it's just a lure, so that players will learn not to step into those. If anyone manages to get the item sitting in there, please e-mail me! Also, there are some medium difficulty monsters lurking in the forest. Some quick tips: The Diablo (big, winged purple thing) is immune to Fire, use magic to attack the plant monsters (since they're hard to hit otherwise), and you can steal Wizard Bracelets from the bird monsters. Anyway, explore thoroughly if you want to find all the items! Feeding insects to the jar plants will close them temporarily so that you can step on them. That means, bring three bugs with you to those plants before you try to cross them. Do it fast, since the bugs do get digested after a period of time. Feeding frogs to this plant produces a different effect. If you stand on the plant long enough after feeding it a frog, it will eventually regurgitate the frog and send both you and the frog flying. This can send you over obstacles or even allow you to reach higher platforms. Lastly, you can close the trapdoor plants with the huge blue-purple beetles that are found on the red blossom-like plants. This will allow you to pass them. From the Ancient Forest, I came away with a Minerva Band (an armlet which can only be worn by female characters), Apocalypse (a sword for Cloud with three Triple growth Materia slots), Slash-All Materia (which enables you to attack all enemies at once), Typoon Summon Materia, and more. See if you can find all the items!
Big thanks go to Bill Gans for sending this strategy to me! This is for the last dungeon of the game, the North Cave.
"Here's a little tactic I like to use at the Final Dungeon: When you get to the point at which you can split up your party, send everyone, except you and the characters your using, to the left, while you and your two characters go right. Fight your way down and pick up the items(DO NOT forget the Angel's Whisper enemy skill from the Pollensalita[you have to manipulate it out of her. No problem.].) When you exit the cave, use the save crystal and save, but do not go down to where you meet your allies. Instead, go through the door. It's the bottom of the lower left passage! Fight your way to the top, picking up items as you go. When you exit, go through the upper left passage. Fight your way through here, picking up the items, especially the Imperial Guard armor. When you exit, go down and talk to your allies. Guess what, they found the items you just picked up! So if Cid chose the upper left path, then you'll get two Imperial Guards! Also, this is a great way to get XP & AP. If you talk to your party before you go back through, then you won't find the items on the other two paths."
Bad news....Unfortunately, there is no way to resurrect Aeris. I have tested the method e-mailed to Kame-chan from Daniel Short, but it doesn't work. The only way you can get Aeris back in your party is to use a Game Shark and use a code (I don't know this code, since I don't own a Game Shark), but this will not change the progress of FFVII in any way, nor will it affect the ending of the game.
Here is the method, which takes several steps to complete:
Entrance - Return to the main hall.
BGM: "Those Who Fight" from FFVII(music title translated directly from Japanese--what's the name in English?? ^_^;;)
This page hosted by Geocities. Get your own Free Homepage!