| ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.7 the sewers / train yard revisited ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Potion x4, Phoenix Down, Steal materia, Hi-Potion x3, Echo Screen, Ether x2. 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. _________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.8 into the sky ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.9 shinra headquarters building ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Elixir, Elemental materia, Star Pendant, Four Slots, All materia, Phoenix Down, Ether, Poison materia, Grenade x1~3, Talisman, Enemy Skill materia, Potion x4, Mythril Armlet, Protect Vest, Guard Source. 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 60th 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 2nd 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 :)). I advise that no matter which method you use, be sure to get the Elixir on the staircase. No matter what method you use, you'll eventually reach the 59th floor. Head southeast and kill the armored guards to get the Keycard 60, then take the lift to the 60th 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. However, after a while (if you mess up enough times), the guards won't reappear and you can just run to the end of the hallway. 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 61st 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 file, and note the number of the file. Count forward that many letters, and write down that letter. After getting all four letters in this way, try to rearrange them into one of the words that Domino suggests is an answer. 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 63rd 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-right corner of the screen and open the gate farthest to the right. Head left and open the left-hand gate, then walk left 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 64th floor, you'll find a Save Point and bedroom to your left. You can use the machines in the exercise room, or spend 250 gil trying to get a health drink. Yeah, perhaps it seems stupid to waste your gil when you don't get anything now, but if you come back later.... 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 65th 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 66th 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 68th 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 69th 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 O Right Attack T Main Menu Start Return to game Be sure to re-equip Materia before returning to the game! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.10 escape! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. _________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.11 kalm town / chocobo farm ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether x3, Peacemaker, Guard Source, Choco/Mog materia, Megalixir 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). Outer World Controls 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 Nibelheim, Cloud's hometown. Talk to Sephiroth and the guards if you wish, then head north. If you want to look around the town, feel free to, but nothing you do during this part of the game has an affect on the rest of your quest (although is does affect the character's questions and reactions to Cloud's story). One thing you might want to do is go into Tifa's house (the large building on the 'southeastern' side of town). You can read her stuff, play the piano (if you play the 'Highwind' theme, Cloud will act like he remembers it from somewhere), or even search her closet (hey, they changed 'slightly-stretched underwear' to 'orthopedic underwear'. What's the big deal? :)) Also note that you can't get Vincent Valentine during Cloud's flashback because you can't examine the safe :( - 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 Nibelheim, 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. On the second floor of the inn is a cabinet with an item in it that you can't reach. However if you keep trying to get it, Cloud will eventually knock the item down, which turns out to be a Megalixir. That's right, you can get a Megalixir at this early point in the game, so don't miss it! :) 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). You can also look out of the window here (a neat little trick). 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). Note that in the house to the right of the inn, there's a chest you can't open on the upper floor. If anyone knows how to unlock it, I'd love to hear from you. 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 4th 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. |