| ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.20 the temple of the ancients ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Trident, Mind Source, Silver Rifle, Turbo Ether x2, Rocket Punch, Luck Plus materia, Morph materia, Princess Guard, Ribbon, Trumpet Shell, Megalixir, Nail Bat, Work Gloves, Dragon Armlet, Bahamut materia, Gigas Armlet. At the top of the temple is a black creature, similar to the ones you met in Nibelheim. 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. 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. In the Japanese version of FF7, this puzzle was very tricky and I had a whole section written on it. But in the US version, it's a simple matter of moving the clock hands around; so I won't bother with it. 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: JAMNESMY LV: 24 HP: 800 MP: 80 TOXIC FROG LV: 26 HP: 500 MP: 100 TOXIC FROG LV: 26 HP: 500 MP: 100 The Poison Frogs are weak against Ice, 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 (Gemini Sumi) 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 Frog Song 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: 8 EYES LV: 30 HP: 500 MP: 220 8 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 Trumpet Shell, 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: ANCIENT DRAGON LV: 34 HP: 2400 MP: 450 ANCIENT DRAGON LV: 34 HP: 2400 MP: 450 (weak against Gravity) 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 Southern Cross attack that hits 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, 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. 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 Work 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. Once he comes 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: 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. It's actually the Black Materia. You have the option of touching the Black Materia, 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 your 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 to passage XII. When you examine the door in the room beyond, yet another boss appears to finish you off. _________________________________________________________________________ BOSS TIPS: DEMONS 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 Cave-in and Demon Rush attacks) 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. It's been said that you can kill him using Life or a Phoenix Down...is this true? _________________________________________________________________________ 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 is destroyed. 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. You'll also lose any equipment or materia she had equipped, apparently. Now, you need to go to the forest that you saw in Cloud's dream. First, get in the Tiny Bronco. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.21 bone village / sleeping forest ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Buntline, 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 the Sleeping 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 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 Lunar Harp for you. As long as you have it in your possession, you're able to pass through the Sleeping Forest. - First, talk to the man sitting just outside of the rib-cage room. Pick the first option twice*. The screen will fade out. - 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 Lunar Harp 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 Lunar Harp (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 Lunar Harp. 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 Lunar Harp, 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. If you have Vincent in your party, you can also get a weapon for him here, the 'Buntline'. Search for 'good treasure' and dig a few steps above the tallest latter, a bit to the right. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.22 forgotten capital / forgotten city ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Magic Source, Aurora Armlet, Comet materia, Guard Source, Elixir, Enemy Skill materia, Wizard Brace. 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. There is a patch of glowing green light here that conveys the 'message of the Ancients', but I've never been able to do anything with 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 is 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: 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 (Aqualung) 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. Be sure to have a Enemy Skill materia equipped if you haven't gotten Aqualung already. _________________________________________________________________________ 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! Now before you go any farther, please realize something. Aeris is dead, and she stays that way for the rest of the game. You cannot revive her, restore her, or ever see her again (in the flesh, that is--you'll see her again when Bugenhagen and you return to the Forgotten Capital in Disc 2). So...wipe your eyes, keep an old save file if you want to play with her from time to time, or use a GameShark code (see section 8) to put her back in your party in a later disc. Ready to go? Pop in Disc 2 and keep playing! |