Midgar
When you out to the street, the flower girl from the FMV sequence will come up and talk to you. This (in case you didn't figure it out from the game manual) is Aeris Gainsborough. You'll be seeing a lot more of her later, but for now, tell her that nothing's wrong, and comment on the flowers. Buy one from her, and you'll have scored your first "Love Point." That's right, this game actually remembers and records your responses to various characters (namely Aeris and Tifa, but also some of the others). While this isn't incredibly important to the outcome of the game, there are several scenes that are dependent on the amount of Love Points you have with Aeris or Tifa, so if you want these girls to like you, you should be nice to them, and use them often in battle. Of course, if you don't want them to like you, then go right ahead and be a heartless bastard :-)
At any rate, take that flower and follow Aeris south, where you'll be waylaid by a bunch of Shinra troops. No matter, just fight them or run from them until Cloud gets sick of it and jumps onto a passing train heading down to the slums. Eventually, you'll find yourself in Tifa's 7th Heaven Bar, where you can then give the flower to Tifa. She'll love you for it. Follow the story for a while, and make sure to take note of the reminiscences Tifa and Cloud have together.
While In Sector 7, make sure to buy anything you might need, and grab the Enemy-All on the second floor of the Weapon Shop. Whether you hook it to Lightning or Restore, it's your call. Also, as with any RPG from the beginning of time, talk to everybody! They'll all have pretty interesting things to say, and that information will help you get a clearer view of what's going on. When you're done, hop on the train to the east.
Oh dear! This is bad. No problem, just get to the other side of the cars in time, and watch out for the man in the 3rd car who steals some of your money. I'm not sure if it's possible to avoid him or not, but he's always there. When you make it to the last car, talk to Tifa and Barret, then jump. When you land, run north to get to the Number 5 reactor, or if you've got time to kill, run all the way south to fight hordes of Special Combatants for fun and profit. (I recommend doing this, as it's an exellent way to earn those second Lvl.1 Limit Breaks.) However, you'll never get to the reactor this way, so when you're done, take it back north.
This reactor's identical to the last one, except you come in from a diffrent way. There's not much in the way or treasure, and the enemies aren't too tough (except for the sets of five Machine Guns--waste 'em with an Enemy-All'd Bolt spell). At the end of the line, though, a nasty surprise awaits, so make sure your health is up. The Air Buster boss is relatively tough, although all the damage he deals will cause your limit gauges to go up awfully fast, and you know what that means . . . clobber him! Eventually, with Limit Breaks and Bolt spells, you'll be able to take him out.
Uh-oh, more misfortune has befallen our heroes. Don't worry about Tifa and Barret for now--they can take care of themselves. Besides, you've got somebody else to worry about now. After talking to Aeris for a while (she'll like you more if you can remember her from before), some jerk named Reno (this won't be the last time you meet him, btw) will start harrassing you. Get Aeris out of trouble by going up the stairs and pushing the barrels in this order: leftmost, topmost, rightmost. She'll be impressed by how cool you are. Equip her with that Titan Bangle you won from Air Buster, and move on out.
As you explore the next slum, take note of the house in the lower right. Inside are two things of interest: first is the first of the six Turtle's Paradise Ads you'll find (more on that later); second is the hidden dresser drawer--you don't need 5 gil, so leave it, and when you come back later, the kid'll give you a Turbo Ether. In the next screen on the right is Aeris' house, where you can find an Ether and a Cover Materia in the garden. When you're getting ready to leave the hospitality of Aeris' mom, walk (don't run!) to the stairs and move on. Don't worry that you ditched Aeris--she won't let you stay away for long.
Make your way to the raunchier side of Midgar, Wall Market, where you'll discover that Tifa's been kidnapped! Better save her, huh? Right, but how? The bouncer at the mansion in the north side of town won't let anybody but women get through, and that's where Tifa is. What's a resourceful adventurer to do? Aeris knows. Well, get set for one of the most hilarious and unusual sequences FF7 has to offer, because Cloud is going to have to be a girl for a while. Well, getting the dress and the wig is the easy part, but there are actually more items you can get, and the better your outfit, the better you'll look to Don Corneo. (Why anyone would WANT to is beyond me:-) First of all, the guy relaxing in the northernmost store in the bottom half of the map will give you a diamond tiara if you stay at the inn and buy the most expensive thing in the vending machine. If you eat at the restaurant just below that store, and tell the cook that it was "all right," you'll get a coupon for the pharmacy just to the south. Get the Digestive medicine, then go up to the cafe in the top part of the map and give it to the lady in the bathroom. The Sexy Cologne is yours. Now, if you've got the stomach for it, talk to the guy in the lower left-hand corner in the bottom half of town. He'll give you a card for the Honey Bee Inn, which, as I'm sure you guessed, is a brothel. Well, Cloud's a man of the world, right? Go on in and explore a little, and try not to laugh too hard. For the lingerie, um, participate in the upper right-hand room. The lower right-hand room doesn't get you as good an item, but you can go in there just to see . . . if you dare! I'm warning you now, the lower room is far, far more disturbing.
At any rate, when you've got as many cross-dressing items as you can stand, change in the dressing room, stop laughing at how silly Cloud looks, and go back to Corneo's mansion. Tifa's in the basement, and the three of you will confer for a bit before you're called up to talk to Don Corneo. Depending on the quality of your outfit, he'll either pick you or someone else, and then it's just a matter of running away from the lecherous freak(s) until either you come to Tifa or Aeris' rescue, or they come to yours. When the conversation's over, you'll wind up in the sewers. Yuck! (I suppose it IS better than being back up there, but...)
First off, you'll have to fight a boss, but he's not that tough. Every once and a while, he'll cast a Tidal Wave spell that does high damage to him, but almost none to your people. Be careful though, because eventually he'll reverse the attack, and it can kill you if you're not ready for it. When the dust settles, grab the various free stuff here (including the Steal materia!), and make your way up to the Train Graveyard.
This place is big, but pretty easy to figure out. However, stick around long enough to find the rare enemy Eligor, who looks like a guy in a chariot of some kind. Try out your newly acquired Steal materia and get Aeris a Striking Staff, a weapon you won't be able to buy for another 5 or 10 hours of game time!
Eventually, you'll wind up back at Sector 7, or rather, the plate support just before you enter Sector 7. Things don't look too great, do they? Talk to the folks and save, then run up the stairs to find Barret, valiantly standing against the Shinra. Pretty soon, you'll meet up with Reno (remember him?), and you'll do battle. Reno's not as tough as he looks, but those pyramids he puts you in are bad news. Attack it as soon as he puts one on somebody (you won't hurt the person trapped within). When he's finished with, escape, and you'll wind up back at the old playground. There's a Sense materia waiting for you, and although you could go back to Wall Market, why not go back to Sector 6? You have to anyway, so do it. Talk to that kid in the house I mentioned earlier and get a nice juicy Turbo Ether (if you left the 5 gil alone), then revisit Aeris' house. Dontcha just love flashbacks? When all that's done with, head back to Wall Market. Not too much has changed, although the guy who gave you the tiara is actually selling something, namely materia. Don Corneo is nowhere to be seen, but one of his subordinates is trapped in the dungeon, and you can ransack the place for a Phoenix Down and/or a Hyper (if you didn't get them when you were here the first time). Talk to the garbage collectors across the street from the gym, who will direct you to the weapon shop. Buy the batteries and enter the alley. The route to the Shinra building is fairly straightforward, save for that damnable bar you have to jump on. You have to get it just before it swings all the way left. If you're like me, you're going to have to do it like fourteen times until you make it. Also, look for a place where you can climb down a pipe to use the third battery. You get an ether for your troubles.
Well, you've made it to Shinra Headquarters! Do we go up the stairs or through the lobby? If you want to get everything the game has to offer, the answer is both. In order to get a weapon for Red XIII 40 hours later, you'll need to make the trek all the way up the stairs. When you've reached the top, then go back down to F1 via the elevator to see the second Turtle's Paradise ad, which is on the message board in back. On F2, there's a little store with some people in it you can scare (you also won't be able to get in those chests until much later), and on the left is a TV screen that you can watch a hidden FMV on. When you're done with all that, go back up to F59 and get the Key Card 60 from the Mighty Grunts in front of the elevator on the right.
F60: Sneak by the guards by hiding behind the statues when they're looking, and moving when they're not. It's relatively easy to do, and once you're across, you'll have to signal Barret and Tifa, basically doing the whole thing all over again. Twice. Oh well. If it's too hard to not get caught, just fight the guards over and over again. eventually, they'll die, and you ccan cross unmolested. When you're across, go up to . . .
F61: Talk to everybody, and when the one guy give you the chance to ask about Aeris, don't. Let him think you're maintenance, and he'll give you Key Card 62.
F62: Ooh, a puzzle! At first, it seems pretty hard, but if you think about it, it's not all that bad. Don't even bother wasting money on the guy that offers to give you hints. Just go through each little library, taking note of what types of books are supposed to be in that library. There are also numbers before each book title . . . all right, do you want me to tell you? Don't read on if you don't want to know! What you do, is you take the number before the title of the book that doesn't belong. So, for example, if you had "3 The Love Life of Cloud Strife" (now that would be a scary book, huh?), you'd remember the letter E. Do this for every library and you should have a word. Tell it to the Mayor, and if you get it right on the first try, he'll give you an Elemental Materia and the Key Card 65.
F63: This is just a bonus floor. You have to figure out which doors to open in order to get all the Coupons. To get them all (here's another one that you shouldn't read on if you don't want the puzzle ruined), open the top right door, then the second door leading south from the upper hallway. From this point, enter the little room, get the Coupon, and go into the duct. Take the top right vent out, open the first door across the hall to the left (not the one right outside the door!), and get the third coupon. Now you can take the duct back to the computer room and cash in your prizes.
F64: Another bonus floor, where you can rest, save, and look through everybody's lockers. Oh yeah, and you make Cloud pass out on the treadmill for fun!
F65: This puzzle is so easy it's not really worth explaining. Just search the chests, get the model piece, put it in, and do it again until you've got the Key Card 66. Actually, what's of more interest here are the Moth Slasher enemies you meet. Why? Because you can steal Carbon Bangles from them, powerful armor that won't be available for a long while yet. Get at least 5 before you leave the Shinra building.
F66: There's a grate above the toilet in the bathroom that will let you peek into a secret meeting with all the Shinra bigwigs. When it's all done, follow Hojo and sneak upstairs after him.
F67: Hmmm, things are getting interesting, aren't they? Before you grab the Poison Materia and head up the elevator in the back, stick around until you meet a set of Soldier 3rd enemies. You can steal Cloud's Hard Edge weapon from them, yet another item that won't be available for a while! It's worth the hassle, too, since it's a very powerful sword this early in the game.
F68: Now that you're well equipped, meet up with Hojo and save Aeris and Red XIII. There's a boss here, too, and it's a doozy. Concentrate on the big guy instead of his little friends, and whatever you do, don't cast Bio on him. Fire, Ice, and Bolt will work fine. When he's dead, grab the Enemy Skill materia he leaves behind, and talk to the guy waiting for you before going back downstairs to meet your friends. He has the Key Card 68 for you. Unfortunately, the Turks, namely Rude, are waiting for you as well....
Talk to Aeris, then just go to sleep. You can talk to the others, if you want, but they won't really tell you anything useful. Don't worry about escaping, because somebody else already has it covered. When you wake up, you'll see why. Follow that trail of blood up to the top floor, where you'll find yet another surprise. Btw, save that game at the F69 save point! There's going to 4 boss battles in a row, and you'll want to be able to go back if you screw up. When the party splits up, be sure to split up your materia so that whoever you're using at the time has as much as they need. First, Barret, Aeris, and Red XIII will run into two big bad bosses in the elevator, which can't be reached with normal weapons (except Barret's gun). Cast Bolt often, and use Limit Breaks as much as you can. Once those are dispatched, you'll go back to Cloud. Give him some materia, then take on that little femme Rufus and his panther. This one is pretty easy. Just consenrate on Rufus and ignore his little feline friend. Rufus will bail out once you've done about 500 points of damage. Once that's over with, go back down, meet Tifa, and head out. Watch the FMV (This is one of my all-time favorite FMV's. Cloud is so cool.) and take the opportunity to rearrange your materia if you didn't already. The hardest boss is yet to come.
Now, the Motorcycle Event game can be really hard until you get the hang of it, so be sure to save on Floor 69! There's no real trick to winning easily, except practice.The only suggestion I have is: if you think you're really going to do bad, have Restore paired with Enemy-All, and cast Cure at the begining of the battle. Now, Motor Ball is the hardest boss you've seen yet, with 2600 HP and some pretty formidable attacks. Also, watch out for his special attack, "Rolling Fire", which brings almost every one's life down to critical. However, he's weak to lightning, so use Limit Breaks and Bolts until he bites the big one.
When Motor Ball is defeated, you at last get to escape the confines of Midgar. Make yourself a new party, (I suggest Cloud, Aeris, and Barret), and head out to Kalm.
Kalm and Beyond
Once you're ready to head out, go east and south until you enter the Grasslands Area. There's another Enemy Skill to be found around here, which can be gained from the ever-annoying Mus. It's called Level 4 Suicide, and it's probably one of the most useless spells in the game. (In fact, I think there's only one place where you'll ever use it.) You might have to wait for a while before they cast it on you, but when they do, I suggest yo make sure that no one's level is a multiple of 4. As the name suggests, Level 4 Suicide will instantly kill anything that's at a level divisible by 4 (8, 12, 16, etc.). Also in this area is the Chocobo Ranch and a fairly large swamp with a fairly large snake in it. Unless you have a serious death wish, you probably better stop at the Ranch first.
If you talk to the Chocobo that's standing by the fence and choose the second reply, they'll do a little dance for you, after which you'll get your first Summon Materia, Choco/Mog! Also make sure you talk to the Ranch's owners, Choco Bob and Choco Billy, who will give you some information about catching and riding chocobos. You can also buy a Chocobo Lure from Choco Billy for 2000 gil. Unfortunatly you need it, so you have no choice. Just cough up the cash and leave.
To catch a chocobo, have someone equip the chocobo lure, then run around on the grass over the chocobo tracks. You'll eventually fight a battle with some monsters who are with a chocobo. To catch the chocobo, you must kill these monsters without hurting the chocobo. Also, if you take too long, the chcobo will simply run away. A good strategy is to use greens to delay the chocobo. Use a greens item on the bird, which will stop and eat them. The more expensive the greens were, the longer the chocobo will take to eat them. Meanwhile, kill the monsters.
Ok, once you've got a Chocobo, you'll be able to cross the swamp before the Midgar Zolem (that big nasty snake that chases you) gets you. If you're curious and want to try fighting it, go ahead, but it won't do you much good this early in the game. He's got a spell called Beta (a learnable enemy skill, btw) that will roast you for 1000-2000 HP, which you really can't afford to lose right now. You will later, though, so leave the Midgar Zolem alone for now, but don't forget about him. Once you get across the swamp, ditch the chocobo and enter the Mythril Mine.
First, be sure to get all the treasures this place has to offer, especialy the Long Range Materia. But, most importantly, this place is the number one place in the game to learn Limit Breaks! Just Matra Magic everything to hell until everybody's got their first Level 2 break, and if you need to need to get your second Level 1, just use Hypers and take a few Flame Throwers from the Arch Dragons in the face. Flame Thrower is also an Enemy Skill, so you can get that while you're at it. Oh yeah, one more thing. This is the place where you can get a Grand Glove for Tifa, from the purple, mace-twirling Madouges in the first part of the cave. When you're finished exploring the Mythril Mine, go ahead and go out to the Junon Area.
Almost directly south of the exit to the mine is a place known as the Condor Fort. For now, it's an optional event, but later on, it will become more important. If you got all your Limit Breaks at the Mythril Mine, you'll probably have a good stockpile of cash, so you might want to try your hand at the little strategy game they're set up for you in here. It's really easy to win if you have the cash. Just set up a fighting perimiter, and keep bringing in reinforcments if you need to. Winning the first battle will earn you a Magic Comb, your first double-AP weapon for Red XIII, and one that can't be bought for quite a while yet. You might want to get it now if you're planning on growing your materia a lot later.
There is another optional event you can do in this area, and that is to get your first "hidden" character, Yuffie Kisaragi. This is something I really recomend you do now, and not later. It really helps to have her. She's a pretty good fighter and an excellent stealer, and even though there are times you'll regret it, in the long run, you'll probably want her in your party. Go to the big forest just east of Junon City, and wander around until you meet up with a young woman called "Mystery Ninja", who will attack you. She's not that hard to beat, and when you do, you'll have the opportunity to talk to her. DON'T do anything that will make a screen come up over the game screen. (Menu, Save Point, Name Screen, etc.) If you do, she'll steal some of your cash and bolt, forcing you to repeat the whole process over again. Just walk up to her, and when she asks for a rematch, tell her no. She'll then ask if you're scared of her, so humor her and say "...petrified." When she threatens to leave, tell her to wait, and then tell her you want her to join up. Finally, she'll ask if you want to know her name, but instead say "Let's hurry on." In other words, reply to in this order: bottom, then the top, then the bottom again, and then the top. Once you have her, you might want to stick around the forest until you can steal a Boomerang from the Formula enemies. Sure, you can buy one in Junon, but why spend 1400 gil when you can get it for free?
Okay, when you're finished with everything in the Junon Area, it's time to go to the city of Junon itself. There doesn't seem to be much happening down in the lower section, and nobody even wants to give you the time of day. Might as well go down to the beach and . . . wha!? Uh-oh! Hope you're ready for a nasty boss, because this one's really tough if your life is low! Bottom Swell is a flying boss that's just out of reach of normal weapons. Use that Long Range materia on Cloud and either have Barret and Yuffie with you. Also, have everybody equipped with some powerful magic. Bio, Ice, and Choco/Mog work well. Also have some magic on hand to burst the life-stealing bubbles Bottom Swell puts on your people. When you're finished, you'll have to revive young Priscilla in a pointless little mini-game that's impossible to lose, so don't bother trying to kill her. Sleep at the old lady's house by the entrance to town (what's up with Cloud anyway?), then visit Priscilla, who will give you the Shiva Summon materia and show you how to ride a dolphin. Did you ever wonder why Cloud always gets volunteered by everyone else for the really dangerous, life-threatening stuff? Anyhow, to get up to that beam, just hit Square twice. The first jump, you'll come up short, but you'll land in the perfect postion to jump up. Simple, huh?
First of all, after you get into your little soldier costume, make sure you save. You won't get a chance to again for a while yet. The first little mini-game puts you in a parade. Try your best, but you probably won't do too well. Just get into the back row as fast as you can, and try to march like everybody else. After 5 or 6 tries, I only managed to get the ratings up to 35% or so. It doesn't matter, because the prizes aren't all that good unless you get more than 50%, in which case you get 5000 gil. When the parade is over, you're free to explore the many shops and buildings of Junon. There's a bunch of stuff to buy, including the Revive materia, and whole lot to find laying around, too. Explore EVERYWHERE, because there is some pretty cool stuff lying around in some pretty odd places. For instance, in the little training hall (Respectable Inn), you can find a second Enemy Skills materia. Also, you can find the Turks relaxing in a coffee shop. They won't recognize you, though.
When you're finished exploring Junon, go on to the second mini-game, the military review. This one's quite a bit harder than the last one, but the rewards are much greater. If you know the placement of the buttons on your controller, than this'll be a breeze. You don't have to be exact, either. I was a a little behind the group all the time, and I got my aprroval rating all the way up to 170! You don't get anything better for doing so well, though. The best item you can possibly get is “Force Stealer”, a double-AP weapon for Cloud that'll be available fairly soon, but is also pretty expensive. To earn that, your final score must be above 100. However, don't fret if you don't do as well as that--you get an HP Plus materia if you get anywhere from 60-89. A good deal either way!
Once on the Cargo Ship, get all the treasure, find all your friends and chat with them. Barret doesn't seem to be around, but if you talk to Aeris again, then go back up on deck, you'll see that the guy at the far right has disappeared, clearing the way to our large sailor suited friend that we all know and love. I'm talking, of course, about Barret, who is busily spying on Rufus and Heideger. Talking to him sets the story back into motion. First you should save, then arrange the most powerful party you can make. Set up everone's materia, then go down below and through the door that was blocked by a Shinra soldier before. You'll eventually come across Sephiroth, who says some cryptic things that will make sense later, then throws you into the first of several fights with his decapitated mother, Jenova. She looks mean, but actually, the fights with Jenova are some of the easiest in the game. Her major shortcoming is that most of the time, her attacks are ALL of one element. (For this battle, I believe it's ice. Please excuse me if I'm wrong.) If you protect yourslelf from that element, you'll go through the entire battle without a scratch. Just make sure you have a Restore materia linked to an Enemy-All for easy healing, and use limit breaks and Summon spells to kill her quickly. You'll get Ifrit Summon for your trouble. Before you leave, climb the ladder (if you have trouble climbing it, just remember that the floor below it is very refective. Think of a mirror), and get a new weapon for Yuffie. Now it's off to the sunny beach town of Costa del Sol.
Ah, time for some R & R! Stroll around and take in the scene for a while if you like, and chat with all your friends, who are also taking some time off of saving the world. Red XIII sits in the shade and idly watches his tail play ball with some kids, Yuffie takes a job at the materia shop, and Barret sits and looks at himself in the mirror with his sailor suit on at the inn. After you chat with Hojo on the beach, Aeris can be found by herself in the inn, and Tifa meets up with that nasty-looking Johnny guy.
After a while, make your way west a bit and you'll find the Corel Mountains. The way here is pretty straightforward for most of the trek. When you fall through the railroad tracks, don't fret--just hold down left or right on the keypad and press O as much as you can to get the treasures, a Star Pendant and a double-AP staff for Aeris. Get all the other goodies, then head right, taking the bottom path first. You'll get a tip as to how to make the bridge go down. Go back a screen and take the upper path this time. Hit the switch in the shed, and . . . hey, what's that chirping noise? Climb up the wall and you'll find some cute little birdies. There's 10 Phoenix Downs to be had, but why hurt the poor little things? If you have Tifa and/or Aeris with you, you can score big love points by leaving the chickies be.
Anyways, go back and cross the bridge to move on, but just before you leave, check out the seemingly dead-end toward the bottom of the bridge screen. There's a secret cave here with a hermit and several source items. When you finally get to North Corel, Barret will get the crap pouned out of him by some of the townspeople. Hmmm, what's all this? To the west, in front of the Tram to the Golden Saucer, he'll explain what turned North Corel into a junkheap. Finally, after all that, you can now go to the Gold Saucer. Woo hoo! This is one of my favorite places in the game, because not only does it have some of the most powerful items, it's also a ton of fun to just blow money, play video games, and basiclly screw around! Btw, if you've got the money, I'd suggest buying the Gold Ticket for 30,000 gil now, because you'll probably want to come back here quite a bit later. It's also extremly irritating to have to pay 3,000 gil every time you want to come here.
Well, your actual quest here is to find Barret, but you can stall for a little while. First, notice that you're only allowed to take one person with you, because you'll soon discover a new team member standing in the Wonder Square: Cait Sith. Talk with him, then ask him to read your fortune. He'll join up with you after a brief chat. Equip him as best you can. (Don't forget about the manipulate materia he comes with.) You can play some games if you want to, and you can also go to the Ghost Hotel to find the third Turtle's Paradise poster on the wall in the lobby. After you get tired of playing games (or run out of money, which ever comes first), go to the Speed Square. In front of that tunnel, you should see a man walking around in a Speedo. That's Dio, the propetier of the Golden Saucer. Talk to him, and if you have Cait Sith in your party, he'll refer you to the Battle Arena. Go there. You should see a murdered guard in front of the stairs. Run into the registration room, and you'll find everyone has been killed. Cloud will examine a body, and see that they've all been shot. At this point, a clerk who isn't quite dead will speak up and tell you that it was a "man with a gun on his arm." But Barret wouldn't do anything like this! Or would he? No time to ponder it now, because the Robo-Guards are here! Get ready for a fight to the death! But, they're not here to fight. Since there's not a lot you can do about it, you get captured. :-(
Oh my! What to do now!? There's not a lot of exploration to do in Corel Prison, so just head south and find Barret to figure out what the heck's going on. He's holed up in the camper. He'll tell you the about what happened, and who he thinks shot all those people. First, go south to pay your respects to Mr. Coates. Then, the only thing you can do is go north to find Dyne. On the way there, watch out for the Thief enemies who mug you. If they steal something, you must kill them immediately, or they'll vanish, taking your item with them. Before you meet up with him, though, you might want to get the Enemy Skill Laser from the Death Claw enemies who hang around the little car graveyard (you can also steal Double AP Armor, Platinum Bangles, from them). The Bull Motors have Matra Magic, too, if you missed it before. When you're ready, head north from the car dump to meet Dyne.
Barret has to fight this dude alone, so load him up with all the good materia, and make sure he's healthy. Dyne's not that hard to beat, but watch out for his "Molotov Cocktail" attack. It can get you if your HP is low. Then, after he's dead, go back down to the trailer and have chat with Mr. Coates. He'll reluctantly allow Cloud to go up to compete in the Chocobo Races. This part is pretty easy, and also a lot of fun. The Ramuh materia is hanging around in the jockies' lounge, so make sure you grab it before the race begins. It doesn't matter how many tries to takes to win the race, as the result is the same. However, if you want to win on the first try, try holding down R1+R2 as you race. It'll slowly refill your stamina bar (this trick can also be used later if you breed and race your own chocobos). When you've finally won, you'll get the buggy, your first vehicle! Have fun! Btw, if you hang around in the desert for a bit, you'll eventually find the enemy called a "Harpy." It can teach you the Aqualung Enemy Skill, which is really powerful this early in the game.
Adventures in the Buggy
Finished here? Return to the Gold Saucer desert, and from there head south across the river and into the Gongaga Area. You could move right through this area if you like, but you do get some good treasures if you visit Gongaga Town, so go for it (Gongaga Town and its reactor actually look like a burned-out version of Midgar surrounded by forest). Be ready for a fight when you first enter though, because there's those silly Turks again! They're not all that tough, though. Just concentrate on one of them, and they should leave pretty quick. If you have Yuffie, you might try having her steal something, although I'm not sure if they're carrying anything this early in the game.
To the right and north of the entrance screen lies the old burnt out reactor, where you can find the Titan Summon Materia (just search in the spot where Scarlet says something about weak materia). To the left and north (grab that Deathblow materia on your way) of the entrance lies the town itself, a depressing little village full of sad, depressed people. However, there is one important thing that happens here. If you talk to the older couple in the lower right-hand house with Aeris and/or Tifa in your party, they will both get upset at the mention of the couples' son, Zack. You'll have to go out and have a heart to heart with each girl individually if you want to rack up some love points with them. Also in Gongaga, you may buy Mystify and Time materia. (Btw, northeast of Gongaga, on the little peninsula, is a small house where a blacksmith lives, and you can also eventually get Aeris' Level 4 Limit Break here. Unfortunately, the blacksmith probably won't be home for quite some time--I'll mention him now to remind you.)
When you're finished here, head west toward the Cosmo Area. On your way you might catch up with the intensely annoying little frog creatures called Touch Me's, from which you can learn the Enemy Skill "Frog Song". Eventually, you'll come across a little city in the mountains. If you try to go past it, your buggy will break down, so you really have no choice except to visit the town, which as you'll soon find out, is Cosmo Canyon, the hometown of Red XIII, or as he's known here, Nanaki. Follow Red up the stairs, and take some time out to check out the Weapons Shop. You may want to buy more powerful weapons here, but if you're trying to grow your materia, you'll probably want to keep using those double-AP weapons you've already obtained (you'll be getting a new set of them soon enough, btw). Don't spend all that money in one place, though. Upstairs at the Materia Shop, you can get the very handy HP and MP Plus Materias! Buy both in quantity. Talk to the locals, too. Finally, you'll have to go up to the top of the place and meet Red XIII's grandfather, Bugenhagen. Gather up your friends, go back and visit the planetarium, then go back downstairs. On the way, don't forget to seek out out the Fourth and Fifth Turtle's Paradise posters here, one in the Weapon Shop, and another on the second floor of the Inn/Tavern.
Talk to everyone around the Cosmo Candle, saving Red XIII for last. After a little bit of conversation, Bugenhagen will come down and take you to the Cave of the Gi, a rather unpleasant place full of nasty ghosts and several giant spiders. The ghosts, though, will teach you the Enemy Skill "Death Sentence", and aren't too hard to kill. The first part of the cave can be figured out by flipping the switches in the little caves. There is only one that opens the door to the north. It's the one that's one the other side of the first cave you see. The others all have monsters hidden inside them. After you find it, head north to a small maze. First of all, head north and go left at the first place possible. At the end of the line there is an oil slick. If you run on it it, you will slide into some spikes on the wall, hurting everyone. However, if you calmly walk along the bottom of the slick, you won't get hurt, and you'll gain access to the southern door. This leads to the rather cool Added Effect materia. If you want to use it now, link it with Choco/Mog or Mystify on your weapon.
Go back up, walk past the oil again, get the rest of the treasures, and continue north. This next maze is a little more confusing, with treasure chests that look impossible to get. The chest in the bottom center can be found by taking the cave leading to the lower left corner of the map, and then going right through the secret tunnel. The chest in the upper left is found by going through the hidden tunnel just behind the large rock to the right. To get to some of these, you'll have to fight a couple Spiders. These can be tough, but if you have Aqualung, it's really simple. Just cast Aqualung once. If that doesn't kill it, a few normal attacks will.
When you're ready, head north to face Gi Nanataku, a relatively tough boss. There's a trick you can use to kill him instantly, though--just throw an X-Potion at him. I'm not making this up! It kills him instantly (he is undead, after all). But if you'd rather go for the challenge, and it is quite a challange, don't use Fire magic. Cure magic also hurts him. When all is said and done, you'll finally find out the truth about what happened to Red's Father, who will give Red the Seraph Comb, a relativly powerful weapon. Now its back to Cosmo Canyon. Your buggy will be fixed, so whenever you feel ready, head north to Nibelheim.
Hmmm, Nibelheim . . . why does this place look so familiar? I know! This is the same town you visited in the flashback at Kalm. It's Cloud and Tifa's hometown, too, so why not let them explore for a while? Actually, most of your conversations with the local folks will bring up more questions than answers. Also, be sure to talk to all the little black-cloaked guys, as some will give you things. If you want, you can stop at Tifa's house, put her in the front of the party, and groove on the piano (remember the little tune Cloud played in the memory scene? In case you forgot, it's: X, square, triangle, R1+square, X, square, triangle, R1+X, O, X, square, X). If you play the song right, you get . . . wait for it . . . 1 gil! (Big stash.) That's just for now, though--when you come back here later in the game, your reward is much better. Trust me. If you're looking for some answers, have Cloud inspect Tifa's desk. He'll find a letter with some interesting information in it.
Well, all the evidence of Sephiroth's whereabouts points to the Shinra Mansion, so we best be moving quickly. This place is kinda spooky, and so are it's inhabitants. Make sure you're in shape, because you'll probably want to spend quite some time in here if you want to get everything, and the enemies are the toughest you've seen yet. Watch out especially for the packs of, um, Dorky Faces, which can give your people all sorts of bad conditions. Use Summon spells to take them out, since these can't be turned against the party by Confu. As you first enter, you'll also see a little note to the left of the entrance. Hmm, a puzzle. It's talking about the safe on the top floor. You can find the answers with a bit of detective work (there's one on top of the chest in the upper left room, there's one behind the piano, there's one by a chair, and the last one's right there on the note, in the fourth invisible slot), but if you're not interested in running around doing things the hard way, here's the solution: right 36, left 10, right 59, right 97. Remeber, this safe works like a real combination lock, so you can't overshoot any numbers, and you have to do it all in 20 seconds. You'll probably get it after a couple tries or so. But be ready to fight, though, because out of the safe pops a fairly tough boss, the Lost Number! Big Guard will help a lot here, so cast it right away. That should protect you from the monster hits Lost Number dishes out, letting you dish out some of your own. Summon spells, high level magic, and maybe a Deathblow or two will put him in his place. Just make sure you use Big Guard! When you're finished, you'll get Odin Summon, Red XIII's level 4 limit break, and the key to the basement.
Now, before you go down into the basement, stay in the safe room for a moment and walk in circles until you meet a pack of enemies called Jerseys. While moderatly annoying, try to stall until they cast a spell called "????" on your party. This Enemy Skill is kind of cool because it only costs 3MP to cast, and it can deal pretty heavy damage if your HP max is high. It's excellent as a last resort spell. When you finally get it, you can go down to the basement and try out that new key you got. Remember Cloud's memory sequence in Kalm? This is the same place. Do you remember that door you couldn't open, just before the entrance to the library? Well, now you can open it. Go up to the foot of the coffin and talk, and who will pop out but Vincent Valentine! Talk to him (don't keep any secrets from him, either) until he says "Let me sleep..." then go and do your business in the library. As you leave for the stairs again, Vincent will wake up and declare that he wants to join you. (Note that all the stuff with Vincent is optional, so if you really don't want to deal with the hassle of the safe and stuff, you don't have to . . . but come on, don't you want the challenge?)
Well, Nibelheim is pretty much done now, and you really have no choice but to go on to the Nibel Mountains. Although you really only need to get through to get to Rocket Town, I suggest that you take the time to explore this area. There's some good stuff to be had here, including three double-AP weapons (Rune Blade, Powersoul, and Plus Barrette), a couple Enemy Skills, and some materia. The Rune Blade and Plus Barrette are in the first screen, on the high outcroppings off the main path. When you get to the area with the pipes, first go down and push the ladder, then go back up and go into the second pipe from the right. That should lead to Tifa's Powersoul. The fourth pipe leads to an All materia. If you want, you can tackle the Materia Keeper who's waiting for you at the bottom now, but first save your game. He's not that tough, but you may choose to stall a little bit during battle and wait for him to cast Trine, yet another fairly powerful Enemy Skill that does lightning damage on all enemies. If you don't want to wait, the next enemy with Trine is about 3-5 hours away. Do whatever you feel like. Materia Keeper leaves behind a Counter Attack materia when you finally off him.
Well, now you can explore Nibel Mountain to your heart's content. There's a new weapon for Vincent in the network of caves, along with lots of Dragons. They're tough enemies (who have Flame Thrower if you didn't get it before), but they're worth fighting because you can steal Gold Armor from them, and their attacks cause your limit meter to fill quickly. By the time I left the Nibel Moutains, I already had all of Tifa's learnable limits, Meteorain for Cloud, and Fury Brand for Aeris. When you've done everything you want to here, move on to Rocket Town.
Well, now this is interesting. Is that a spaceship? And who's this Captain guy everyone's talking about? First things first, talk to the old man sitting in front of the central house. Talk to him, and look at the rocket with him a couple times, and he'll hand over Yoshiyuki, a very powerful sword for Cloud this early into the game (it only has two materia slots, though). The northern-most house seems empty, but if you go out to the backyard and check out the airplane there, a young woman will come out and speak with you and refer you to the Captain. Odds are, he's in the rocket. Go check it out. Everybody's favorite pilot, Cid, won't give you the Tiny Bronco, but if you go back to his house, he'll eventually come back home and fill you in on why he's so bitter towards the young woman, Shera. Talk to her for a while, and after Rufus and his buddies arrive, go out and see what's happening. Go back inside and Shera whisper to you that that the "fat man" is screwing around with the plane. Go out back, and you'll catch him in the act. Reluctantly, he'll fight you. This is probably on of the funniest battles in the whole game. (Just watch Palmer taunt you.) The only reason I took so long to finish the battle was because I couldn't stop laughing. After taking so much damage, Palmer will attempt to flee the battle, only to be hit by a semi on his way out.(hehe!) You'll jump into the Tiny Bronco just before it takes off. While you're wildly flying around Rocket Town, Cid will eventually jump on. In the ensuing escape, the plane will get hit by gunfire, and it will only useable as a boat. Oh well. It's better than nothing, I guess. At least Cid decides to stay with you.
The Forgotten City When you get the Tiny Bronco, there are many places that you can now explore. In fact, before going off to Wutai, you should find your way north to the Icicle Area and the Bone Village. Why? Because they sell Rune Armlets there, and if you're interested in growing lots of materia, it's always nice to have four double-AP slots around. They also provide decent armor, compared to the Platinum Bangles you've probably been using up till now. If you're planning to get any Master Materia later, you should come here and stock up on Rune Armlets now, instead of later. When you've gotten everything you want from here, go back down to the ocean to the west of Rocket Town with the Tiny Bronco. You should be within sight of a beach to the west. Go ahead and park it there. Although note that this next section is totally optional, I really think that it's worth the extra hassle. You will need to have Yuffie around to do it, though, so if she's not with you now, you can always get her later and come back. Just remember that this scenario does hold several valuable treasures, and you cannot do it in Disc 3, only 1 or 2.
Ok, after you land on the beach, you can go north right away, but wait a second. There are some enemy skills around here that you might want to grab now, and you won't be able to do it for a while if you head north (you'll see what I mean in just a second). Well, whether you decide to do it now or later, there are two Enemy Skills to be had in the Wutai Area. One is held by some strange little grass monsters called Rzor Weeds. it's called Magic Hammer, and it steals up to 100 MP from a single target. Not one of the best Enemy Skills ever, although if you don't like forking over 1,500 gil for an ether, you'll probably like this spell. These creatures are only found on the green grassy areas. You will have to use Manipulate on the weeds to get the spell, since they'll never cast it on you voluntarily. Same goes for the Adamantaimai, which look like Giant Turtles. They are found only on the sandy shoreline. You have to Manipulate them to get the spell they hold, but when you do, you'll be able to get Death Force, which protects you from instant death spells like Roulette and Death Sentence. Adamantaimai also have Adamant Armor, which can be stolen. It only has two materia slots, but had a very high defense rating.
Finished here? Now you can head north. You won't get far before Yuffie starts telling you about what lies ahead. (Well, something LIES all right...) Right about now, some Shinra soldiers will attack you. During the fight, Yuffie steals all of your materia (well, not all--if you have huge amounts of the stuff, she'll leave you with a couple of magic materias). In order to get it back, you're going to have to make the dangerous trek all the way north to Wutai Village. On the way there, though, you'll have to fight some pretty nasty enemies. However, some of these enemies give you some invaluable items that will help you on your quest. In particular, watch for the Bizzare Bugs, which, when killed, give you an X-Potion for each one you killed. But, any way you slice it, getting north to Wutai is tough. Use characters with relatively high vitalities, use Hypers, and fight conservatively. If You are ever horribly out matched, don't hesitate to run. Eventually, you should make it to Wutai.
Yuffie came here all right, but where is she now? She'll hide in several different places aroud the town before you can finally corner her. Also, the weapon shop won't sell anything to you until she rejoins you. You can also go visit the famed Turtle's Paradise, where you'll meet your old pals, the Turks. Fortunatly for you (or them...), they're on vacation, so they won't give you any trouble. Yet. Talk to them for a while, then leave and head for the building just northwest of the bar. The Materia Shop is notably absent of Materia, but you can buy some spell-casting items here, and opening the chest will bring out Yuffie, who'll run for a new hiding spot, taking with here the MP absorb materia that was in the chest! Head west to the other half of the city, and enter the set of apartments on the right. Search around here good, as there's a secret passage (look closely, you'll see it), which contains a Hairpin, a weapon for Red. There's also a guy named Godo who says some cryptic things. Keep hassling him until the secret comes out. The next place you'll find the little brat is in the very first house on the right, by the entrance to the town. She's crouching behind th little changing screen. Finally, when you walk by the Turtle's Paradise, you'll notice a pot outside shaking around. (Yuffie's really not that great at this hiding thing.) Your team will automatically move into position to cut off Yuffie's retreat, and she'll take you back to her house. Then she'll turn around and trap you! Some people just never learn...
Don't worry, just hit either of the 2 levers again and chase after the little brat. Btw, downstairs in Yuffie's house is the last Turtle's Paradise poster, so if you've seen the others (The first in Midgar sector 6, the second in Shinra HQ, the third in the Gold Saucer Ghost Hotel, the fourth and fifth in Cosmo Canyon) you will able to collect your reward. (In case you're wondering, the reward is a Magic, Speed, Power, etc. source, and a Megalixer. A pretty good haul, considering you barely had to do anything to get it!) If you missed any of them, though, don't worry. You can always go see them and come back later. Note that you have to have read the flyer about the prize outside of the Turtle's Paradise before you can collect it.
So where did Yuffie go? I don't know, but that little gazebo with the big gong across from Godo's house looks kind of interesting. Climb up the stairs and look at the little gong and lever. Cloud will bang the gong, and a secret passage will open up for you. Go in and watch how the events play out.. . . of all the people in the world, huh? Anyway, follow him, then negotiate with the Turks. Go up to the moutains (the path going northwest from the save point) and do a little exploring. You should discover a little cave with some fire and a Dragoon Lance for Cid here--remember this place, because you just might find a way someday to make the fire subside! You'll also eventually discover Yuffie, Elena, and their kidnapper. He'll sick a boss on you, who shouldn't be too hard to take out if you're in good shape. Rapus is immune to Fire, so don't bother with that. Just use limit breaks and regular attacks.
Well, you've got your materia back, plus a couple new ones, so take the time to rearrange it all again. The weapon shop is open to you now, and so is the little shed with the cats in it. You can now access the stairs to get another materia. Also open now is the big pagoda at the end of the street on the west side of town. You'll need to take Yuffie with you, though. You can do this part later when you're stronger, but why not take the challenge and do it now? Suit Yuffie up with all the good materia, like an Enemy Skills (for Big Guard, White Wind, etc.), Poison, Restore, HP Plus, and some powerful attack spells like Odin. Giving her a Hyper might be a good idea, especially if you have the Limit Break Bloodfest (lv. 2) or, even better, Doom of the Living (Lv. 3). Now you're ready to attack the pagoda. The first four enemies are not hard at all. Just use Big Guard on yourself, then unleash your most powerful attacks on them. After each fight, I'd recommend healing Yuffie up. Godo, though, is a whole other ball of wax. Big Guard yourself, then cast Bio2 or 3 on him right away, until he's poisoned. The problem with Godo is that eventually he will heal himself, which really gets on your nerves after a while. You're going to have to find a way to stop him from doing that. One way is to let the poison do its work, but that takes a while. A better way is to either use a mirror (gotten from the Mirage enemy in Nibelheim's Shinra Mansion) or cast Reflect on HIM to keep him from curing himself. When he's beaten, you'll get Yuffie's level 4 limit break and the Leviathan materia. (If you want to know the secret to winning this whole thing in about 2 minutes, wait until you get the sub. Go down to the Downed Shinra Plane, get the Conformer, then return to Wutai. Yuffi will kill almost everyone with one stroke, except for Godo. He takes two, I think.)
When you're finished in Wutai, go back to your plane and head for the Gongaga Area. Remember that little house where no one was home? Well, the owner's there now, so talk to him. When you get the chance to change the subject, give up that Mythril you got from the Sleeping Old Man, and the blacksmith will give you the choice of the big box or the little box. Go for the little one, and you'll have Aeris' Level 4 Limit Break!! All right!! The big one, btw, only has a Gold Armlet.
Well, the blacksmith told you the keystone is in the Gold Saucer, so that's where you'll have to go. The Keystone is in Dio's Showroom, which is on the right-hand side of the Battle Square. Look at the Keystone, and Dio will come in. Accept his challange (You don't really have a choice) and suit up Cloud in a similar manner as you did Yuffie back in the Pagoda. Then fight as hard as you can, but even if you wash out on the first round, you still get the Keystone. However, if you stick it out till the end, you'll get a Protect Vest and a Choco Feather. (Nothing to write home about, really.)
Well, now here's one of the big spots where all those Love Points you've been scoring with Aeris and Tifa will pay off. Whoever has the most love points will be Cloud's date for the evening in a nice little scene. By the way, in the little play you get to do, if you talk to the wizard, ask about the dragon's weak point, and then kiss the princess, you'll get a happy ending. As to who you date, I personally have never gotten anyone but Aeris, even if I treated both girls relatively equally, so I'm thinking that the odds might be weighted slightly in Aeris' favor. But did you know that Aeris and Tifa aren't the only ones you can date? Although I've never done it, evidently it IS possible to get tough ol' Barret to soften up and admit his homosexual tendancies to Cloud! Yikes! (Personally, this is a part of the game I'm glad I've never seen.)
Well, it seems that your next quest is obvious: go to the Temple of the Ancients and find Sephiroth. It's located on an island just east of the Blacksmith's House, in a spot called the Woodland Area. Enter the Temple and do some exploring in the huge maze you'll wind up in. Don't worry, it's not quite as awful as it looks. Just take it nice and slow, and get all the treasures. Also, pay attention to the guys who keep running away from you--follow them and they'll lead you to new areas. The first one will lead you to a shop, Vincent's Silver Rifle, and a spot where you can save and restore your HP/MP. The second will lead you to a new area, with a bunch of falling, rolling pin-like objects. Try to time it so that you will run and duck under the cut out part of the rock. Once you make it, make SURE to grab the Morph materia, save again, and go on to the Clock Puzzle. Actually, the Clock Puzzle isn't much of a puzzle at all, and I think you can figure this one out by yourself (hint: it's easiest to move the hands yourself). You start at X. At XI is nothing, and XII, we'll get to later. I holds a Monster-in-a-Box (remember those? :-), Jemnisimi, who can be instantly killed with Bio magic if you don't care to mess with her. II holds nothing, and III holds another Monster that is also very weak to poison be careful of this one, because its' Draining attack can kill you very quickly if you aren't careful. IV hold the Princess Guard, Aeris' ultimate weapon. Although it's hard to say, I believe this weapon powers up when Aeris' protects another party member using the Cover materia. Correct me if I'm wrong. V holds the Ribbon accessory, a very nice one that protects from all status ailments. VI will kick the storyline along, so don't go there yet if you want to get all the treasures (you won't be able to later, so do it now). VII holds a Trumpet Shell for Cait Sith, and VIII holds a Megalixer. IX holds nothing. Finally, if you let the second hand sweep you off, you'll wind up at the bottom, where a mini-boss awaits. The chest contains Cloud's "silly" weapon, the Nail Bat. When you're ready, head through door number VI.
You'll be faced with another puzzle and another blue guy. Hmm, this seems kinda tough. Actually, you can figure it out eventually, but here's the way it goes. The first number is the door he goes in, and the second one is the door he'll come out of.
Row 1: 1 (9) Row 2: 3 (2), 8 (7), 2 (1), 6 (5) Row 3: 7 (6), 4 (3), 5 (4), 9 (8)
So, if he goes into number 3, he'll come out of (3). Get it? Btw, the chest contains a Work Glove for Tifa, another one of those zero-materia slot, "silly" weapons.
When you can go on, do, and eventually you'll come across a Red Dragon boss. Protection from Fire would be handy right now, and I wouldn't advise using fire-based attacks. You'll get a Dragon Armlet and the Bahamut Summon materia for your troubles. (Nice prizes!) Now, go back to the clock and up to XII. There's another boss awaiting you, and this one's quite a bit tougher. Use Bahamut and whatever else you got, although Demon's Gate is pretty magic-resistant. If you have Aeris' Level 4 Limit Break, it would come in very handy right about now. When you've bested him, there'll be some more events. Poor Aeris, helping us all this time and then getting beat up by Cloud:-( Now you'll be referred north to Bone Village (the place where you got those Rune Armlets, remember?).
The excavators here in Bone Village are happy to look for stuff for you, so first have them get this Lunar Harp. You can find it around the upper, left-central area. Then you can also dig for good treasure to get Cid's Mop and Vincent's Buntline (double-AP! Woo-hoo!). When you have the Harp, go ahead and go through the Sleeping Forest. The Kjata Summon materia is around here, floating amongst the trees. Just wait at a spot and grab it when it shows up. It's really good at this point, because it does Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth Damage, all in one spell! Eventually, you'll wind up in a spot called the Corral Valley, where the enemies give off tons of AP. You might want to hang out for a bit and raise a few materia some levels while you're here.
Finally, the Forgotten City! Something feels wrong about this place.... Anyway, do some exploring, grab the treasures (including the Comet Materia!), and sleep in the upper right house (there's another E. Skill materia behind the bed). At night, the city below the ruins comes alive, and where that fish was in the building down the center path, there will be a stairway. Take it. I won't give away anything that happens after this, but I will note that Jenova-LIFE is very weak to Earth-based attacks, including an Elemental-Earth combo on your weapon. And that's the finale to Disc 1. Take a break, cry a little, then, when you've gotten yourself together, move on to Disc 2.
(DISK 2)
Gaea's Cliff Well, it's time to pull yourself together and move on, because there is much more of the adventure ahead. First of all, you'll need to pick up Sephiroth's trail and head northeast, beyond the Forgotten City. Pick up the Viper Halberd and jump up the spike stairway on the tall shell. You'll have to kind of wiggle around a little up on top to figure out how to get to the passage leading west. When you do get there, you'll be faced with a large cave with a whole bunch of vertical passages you can climb up and down. This little maze isn't too hard to figure out with a little doubling-back and so forth. When you get to the far left passage (it kind of looks like a big ladder or trench), go down first. Yes, it looks like there's nothing down there, but if you check it out, you'll find the Magic Plus materia hidden there! Now go up and right, then up, and you'll find yourself in an icy, frozen, wasteland. Make your way around the mountains and northeast to Icicle Village, a small town with some important clues about what has happened in the past. First, buy yourself some new weapons, since those weaker double-AP weapons you may have been using up until now won't really cut it anymore. Also stock up on any healing supplies you need, then explore. There's an X-Potion on the top floor of the inn, and the upper left house contains some interesting and tantalizing storyline information. Don't forget to watch ALL the videos!
When you're pretty much finished here, go talk to the guy wandering around in the back of the screen. You can chat with him and let him be nice to you, but in order to kick the story along, you'll have to try and ignore his warnings. At that point, Shinra troops will show up, led by none other than Elena. It's simple to dodge her wussy punch and watch her roll out of town (hee hee). However, Icicle Village is Shinra territory now, so you better find a way out of here soon. Remember the kid with the snowboard (in the right center house)? Maybe he'll let you "borrow" it, since he's not going to be using it for a while. You got that map out of the house just to the right of the kid's, right? Good. Then head for the hills, strap on your snowboard, and get set for my favorite mini-game! Don't worry about doing well--save that for the Gold Saucer. For now, just have fun.
Depending on which way you went when the course split on the Snowboarding Trails, you'll land in a particular spot in the Ice Fields. If you went left twice, you'll land in the forest; if you went left, then right, you'll land by the southern entrance to Ice Gate; right then left will get you by the tree in the middle of the map; and right both times will land you by the little eastern cave that has only an exit to the outside world in it. For the most convenience, I would suggest trying to end up by the tree.
Now, it's very easy to get confused here, although once you've explored for a while, you should be able to get the feel for the layout of the place. Nonetheless, it's still pretty tough to figure out where you're supposed to be going. In order to get all the important treasures, try this: From the tree, go right, then from there take the path leading up. On the second screen, look in an outcropping of rocks on the right side of the trail to find the "Added Cut" materia. It's easy to miss, but if you look at the rocks (press the O button) you should find it. Pick it up and continue northwest, and you'll find yourself at a Hot Spring. Go down to the water's edge and touch the spring. From there go straigh north, and you should eventually wind up on a big tundra. Go north until you find the cave with the "Enemy-All" in it (make sure you use your markers, and STOP when the wind starts blowing so that you don't lose your way), then go straight right, and you should evenually run into snowy path leading right. Follow until you reach a rocky spot with a cave. In the cave is a witch that won't like the fact that you touched the hot spring. Waste her, and get the Alexander Summon materia! You can then go back to the left to get to the ice fields again, where going a little left and then north will hopefully get you to the base of Gaea's Cliff. Or, if you'd rather, do a little exploring throughout the rest of the Ice Gate. On the fields is that cave with another All materia in it, and there are some other mildly exciting things hanging around back in the other areas of the map. Eventually, however, you will succumb to the cold, and fall over. Don't worry though, for help is on the way.
You'll wake up in a little house at the base of Gaea's Cliff. The man here will heal you and tell you how to climb the mountain. From there, you can save, make up a relatively strong party, and get set for one of the most agravating parts of the game. All the annoyance stems from the temperature guage. I can't stand the stupid thing. If it falls below 26 or so, you'll wind up back in the old man's cabin, and you'll have to start all over again at the bottom!
In the first cave, there is a secret path leading right on the elevated part of the first screen. It contains the only other Ribbon in the game that you can find (Morphing Master Tonberi in the Northern Craeter doesn't count.), so you might want to hunt around for it! The rest of this first cave isn't so hard, just push the boulder to remove the icicles, the go up and on. If you happen to run into the enemy Stilv here (and you will, eventually), try to manipulate him. He has two good Enemy Skills, Trine (which you might have gotten from the Materia Keeper in the Nibel Mountains, or from Godo in Yuffie's sub-quest) and Magic Breath, a real humdinger that can actually make a weaker party want to curl up and die. Make sure at least one person has over 2000 HP to take the hit.
A few cliffs later, you'll find yourself in a second cave, with a save point (yay!) and some good treasure. First you'll have to go right and around the bend (you can learn Bad Breath from the Molbors in the outside areas here, but be careful--have at least one person wearing a Ribbon to counteract all the bad stuff this spell gives you). You'll eventually wind up in a room with four huge icicles hanging from the ceiling. Approach one, and you'll have to fight it, along with some bats. Don't mess around with the bats, just go for the Icicle. When you win, the icicle will fall, and you'll be given the option to jump down. Don't! Wait until all the icicles are gone, then jump down. You'll see that the fallen icicles have opened up a new path for you, and given you access to that treasure chest on the left.
Outside, the cliffs are getting trickier to navigate, so make sure you keep your temp up! When you finally make it indoors again, hit the save point and use the little free healing spring they provided for you (it's that white stuff in back there). Now, before you go on, wait a second. Are you ready? Ready for a tough boss? I hope so, because the one in the next room is a real nasty bugger. Twinhead has two independant heads (One uses Fire, the other Cold, and they can both use a nasty Earth attack.) and when you finally do kill one of them, it hits all your people for 1500 damage on the way out! Ouch! Hit him once with your new friend Alexander, then go to town on one head (the one closer to the screen has a Protect Ring you might want to steal), then the other. Make sure to keep healing as much as possible, because if one of those heads dies and you're not ready for it, you might be in trouble. When you make it past Twinhead, go back and use the healing pool, then go on to the Crater and the Whirlwind Maze. Also, you can hang around here and fight some Blue Dragons for experiance and profit.
There seems to be something terribly wrong here, as is evident when you see all the little black-cloaked men throwing themselves off the cliffs. Save at the save point and head on through, as the Whirlwind Maze isn't much of a maze, really. The only truly puzzling parts of this are the chasms with the gusts of wind. The trick is to wait for it to calm down so that you can pass through. The green stuff and the lightning are just there to annoy you--it's the regular wind you're really worried about here. (Btw, if you do run into a gust of wind and get thrown back, you are forced to fight a relativly easy enemy, who has the "White Wind" Enemy Skill if you havn't learned it yet.)
When you come toward the end of the line, you'll face probably one of the easiest bosses in the game, Jenova-DEATH. (If you protect yourself from fire, you'll be completely untouched). Give the Black Materia to Red XIII or Barret (doesn't maany difference), then play out the lengthy scene that follows. (Cloud's really asking for it.)
You'll eventually find yourself in Junon. Make sure to arrange your materia and give all the good stuff to Barret, Cait Sith, and Yuffie, for there will be a few hard fights on your way to the landing pad. Meanwhile, Tifa's trapped in the gas chamber! Don't worry, she can hold her breath indefinitly, so don't worry about a time limit. Just do it in this order. First, hold down the button so that she can get the key with her foot, then move her head and feet at the same time. Now move her head and left arm at the same time, then both arms. You should be able to figure it out with only minor difficulty. Then use the button to the left of the chair to turn off the gas, then make your getaway! You'll run into a snag only when you reach the end of the line, when Scarlet will catch up with you. If you want to win the little slapfight (you don't get anything for it, but it does relieve a LOT of pent up stress and agression), hit 0 the button as soon as Scarlet raises her arm.
Exellent! It's airship time! I love the airships in all the Final Fantasy games. I don't know about anyone else, but I think they're one of the coolest parts of the games. Anyways, now that you have the airship, the rest of the world is pretty much open to you. (Except the underwater parts, but I'll get to that later.) If you play Tifa's piano again in Nibelheim, you'll get another Elemental materia. Also, by now you'll be strong enough to tackle the Midgar Zolem, you might want to get the Enemy Skill Beta from him, although be careful not to kill him before he casts it. I suggest using Bio 1 on him, then just wait. The shops in Costa del Sol and Junon are selling better stuff now, and so are the shops in Rocket Town. Rocket Town also now holds the Fourth (yes, this is supposed to say Force--the translators slipped up here) Bracelet and a Guard Source in chests scattered about. You can get the Full Cure materia in the item shop in Cosmo Canyon now, and you can also start raising Chocobos if you care to do so. The chocobo ranchers have lots of information on the subject, as does the rather forgetful Chocobo Sage in the Icicle Area. Fly around until you see a little secluded house. The green chocobo there will give you yet another Enemy Skills materia if you talk to him. If you constantly return to the Sage's house throughout your adventure, he will eventually give you instructions for raising a Gold Chocobo. It takes him literally FOREVER to remember though, so I finally just asked one of my friends. He explained the whole process in 5 minutes, so I would just ignore the Sage (Except for Sylkris Greens). Finally, you now have access to two uncharted isles, Cactus Island (in the lower left-hand corner of the map) and Goblin Island (east of Icicle Area). Cactus Island has some of those annoying little Cactrot enemies just like the ones from FF3. The only interesting thing about them is that you can morph these bastards into a Tetra Elemental, which absorbs damage from fire, lightning, ice, and earth magic. Catuers are very hard to hit, and have 6,000 HP, so I suggest following these steps: Manipulate one, then use it's attack (the one that has 1,000 in the name) 5 times. Then just morph it using one of those 255 accuracy weapons like Tifa's God's Hand. (Use this one instead of the Sniper C-R, becuase God's Hand has a higher damage total.)
Goblin Island is only slightly more interesting. In the forested areas, you will eventually meet up with Goblins, which are the only creatures in the game to posses Zeio Nuts, which are needed for getting a Gold chocobo, and the Enemy Skill "Goblin Punch", a basically worthless attack that will only hurt an enemy if thier levels are the same. Since this will almost never happen, Goblin Punch has no value. (Except if you're trying to collect all the Enemy Skills.)
When you're done screwing around in the Highwind, you'll have to eventually head south to Mideel, which is on an island just south of the Junon continent. You can buy some really cool stuff here, like Crystal Bangles and Crystal Weapons. If you have some Samolen Greens, you can talk to the little chocobo that follows the crazy woman around. If you pet him behind the ears, he'll give you the Contain materia, one of my favorite Magic materias, because it has four great elemental spells, the first three of which have added effects like Stop, Petrify, Confu, etc. Also in the Weapon Shop is a door that doesn't seem to open. Go out and up to the left-hand landing. Just behind the guy standing there, you'll hear a clink. Look, and find a Useless Old Key. Try and use it in the door, and tell the truth when the owner questions you. He'll give you a Cursed Ring for each member of your party. Unlike the cursed stuff in FF3, you can't get anything better from it--actually, it raises your stats an awful lot, and the only bad thing is that it gives you the Death Sentence condition, which can be avoided by using the "Death Force" Enemy Skill.
When you're done, head straight up the middle of town, where a scene will start. Cloud! The man has lost his marbles! Well, since there's nothing you can do, head back to the Highwind. There, you'll learn about what's going to be done with the Huge Materia. Cid will be appointed the new leader, and the Quest for the Huge Materia will begin!
The Quest For The Huge Materia Talking to your friends on the Highwind will reveal that the first of the Huge Materia lies in the North Corel Reactor. Go there and head back into the mountains and to the reactor. Uh-oh! We're too late! But wait! There's a second, smaller train. What luck! (wink, wink). When you get on the train, alternate those levers as fast as you can (put the controller down and use both hands--it helps). It should not take you any longer than a minute to catch up to the other train and hop across. Remember, you're battling the clock here, and some of the battles ahead can turn into long one's if you aren't careful. Lightning magic works the best against these mechanical enemies. You can (if you want to) steal the Warrior Bangle from Eagle Gun, the last enemy you'll face on the train. It's great armor, but it doesn't grow your materia--darn! Anyway, when you get to the front of the train, kill the engineer, then mess with the buttons all you want. It doesn't matter if you play with them or not, because if you kept within the time limit, the train will stop of it's own accord. If you didn't get to the controls in time, though, the train will crash into North Corel, you will lose the Huge Materia, plus all the stuff the townspeople give you later! Speaking of the townspeople, if you're successful, that kid will give you his glowing stone (Ultima! All RIGHT!), and the person in the house on the west plateau will give Barret his level 4 Limit Break, Catastrophe. Btw, if you do lose the event, you can still get Ultima--for 50,000 gil. Hope you didn't screw it up......
The next mission is at the Condor Fort, which, until now, has been just an optional Event Game. If you didn't play it before, you might be in trouble . . . unless you cheat. Cheating is actually the best way to do this (and the most profitable), because not only do get the Huge Materia without a lot of hassle, but you also get the Imperial Guard, some of the best armor in the game. All you have to do is not buy any troops, and let the enemy storm the fortress. This will begin a fight with an easy boss (he only has 8000 HP), and winning will defeat the enemy, (and give you the armor!), making you the big heroes! Nothing bad happens if you do it this way! Of course, if you really don't want to cheat, my suggestion is to buy all the troops you can, and during the battle, keep buying more when you run low. I wouldn't suggest doing it the hard way unless you're moderately good at strategy games (I'm not, so I cheat :-). Don't forget to grab Phoenix summon on your way out!
At this point, Cid will suggest you go back to Mideel, which you have to do, even if you don't want to check in on the Little Feller :-) Get your weapons and best Materia equiped before you enter Mideel, though, because a boss fight is coming up, and he can really beat the crap out of you if you're not prepared. That's right, as you talk with Tifa at the hospital, Ultimate Weapon drops by to say hello, and your job is to shoo him away. Hey, with Ultima, Comet, and Contain magic, he'll take off after a few rounds (sorry, you can't kill him now--don't worry, you'll meet again later). When Weapon's gone, get set for a really long sequence that should answer a lot of questions about the storyline (of course, it'll probably take another go through the whole game to really understand it all). When all is said and done, Mideel will be absolutly trashed when you return. If you want any weapons or anything, just head over to the upper west part of town and jump across the mossy rocks to reach the ledge where the crazy chocobo woman is. She's got everything you need!
Junon is next, so suit some people up and head out. It costs just 10 gil to hitch a ride on the elevator, so go for it, then when you're on the streets of Junon, follow the bottom of the screen to reach the path to the reactor. The rest of the way is easy to find, and the underwater part is really cool, visually. You'll probably meet an enemy called Ghost Ship in the Underwater Tunnel--take note of him, as he's key to one of the optional quests. Eventually, you will be forced to fight another boss, and this one's really nasty. He can grab your people and disable them! The best way to beat him is to use speed. Have everyone cast their most powerful summons as quick as possible. Lightning, Kjata, Neo Bahamut, and any other mass kill spells you have are very effective.
As you approach the submarine, definitely stop and grab all the treasure. If you immpediatly go left after the boss, you get a War Trumpet for Cait Sith. Right next to the silver submarine are the first first triple-AP weapon, Cid's Scimitar, and the Leviathan Scales, a Key Item that seems to have no use unless you think about it . . . where did you get the Leviathan materia? And wasn't there some areas blocked by fire near there that you couldn't reach? Hmmm . . At any rate, kill off the Shinras, then hop into the sub. When you reach the cockpit, choose to fight the crew, because they say some funny things during the battle, and you receive a Shinra Beta for your troubles. Not great armor, but it's something....
This submarine mini-game is very simple, but one little screw-up will render the mission a complete failure. Read the manual very carefully, and when the game starts, follow right behind the Red Sub and fire constantly. If you draw a good bead on him and keep firing at him, you should be able to win the game very quickly. Just ignore the other subs--just concentrate on the red one and never lose him on the screen! When you win, you'll receive the sub, and you can explore the underwater areas now! Don't forget to grab the Huge Materia, which is inside the crashed sub just south of Junon, underwater, and hidden a little around a corner. It's around the area where all the seaweed is on the sea floor. There are some other things of interest down here, which are explained in more detail in the next two sections. Also, you can head back to Wutai and use those Leviathan Scales in the firey cave up on those Dachao Statues. Remember that place? When you approach the fire, the scales will make it go away, allowing you to get Yuffie's Oritsuru and the Steal as Well materia. You can also, if you like, head back into Junon, but all you'll discover is that you missed Rufus and his goon patrol.
There's just one more Huge Materia event, and that's at Rocket Town. Cid will have to come along on this one. You can talk to the people in town (there's a very funny little event in the house southeast of Cid's house), and check things out if you haven't already. When you're ready, head over to the rocket. One of the Turks try want to stop your progress here, but Rude's pretty weak by himself. Just make sure someone has the Steal materia equiped from now on, because all the Turks will have the same cool stuff to get. Rude will have Ziedrich armor, Reno has Touph Rings, and Elena (you only fight her once) has a Minerva Band. Once you enter the rocket itself, you'll get to sit through some dialogue, and eventually you'll get the chance to get the last Huge Materia. It's in a safe, and the puzzle can be next to impossible with only three minutes to solve it. If you don't want to see the solution, don't read the rest of this sentence . . . here it goes: O, square, X, X. Even if you don't get the Materia, though, the rest of the event will play out the same, so you might as well grab it. When you're done with all the rocket stuff, go back and talk to the old man sitting outside a couple of times (the guy who gave you the Yoshiyuki), and he'll give you Venus Gospel, Cid's best weapon.
Cosmo Canyon should be your next stop to kick the storyline along, although I find this time to be excellent for seeking out the optional areas. Bugenhagen will talk to you for a bit, and you'll get the chance to check out these Huge Materia you've been holding onto. Touching the blue one will give you Bahamut ZERO, arguably the second most powerful summon in the game. The other ones will give you Master Materia if you have met all the requirements (that is, have a master-level materia of every Magic materia for green, every single Summon spell mastered for red, and Sense, Morph, Throw, Manipulate, Steal, Mime, and Deathblow mastered for yellow).
Now it's off to the Forgotten City. I've still got some bad memories about this place. Take the left-hand path and go into that big room with all the crystals. Bugenhagen will give you some clues and urge you to find a Key. The clue tells you to look "Where sunlight cannot reach". Underwater sounds like a good place to start. Cruise around with the sub and head north from Junon. It's easiest to stay below the surface, because you'll have to look for a very small opening that will lead you into another larger chamber. Continue straight and you should find a path that appears to be a dead end. Ah, but, lower the sub a little and try going right. Ta-da, a secret passage. The key is right there at the end. Cool, huh? When you've got the key, return to the Forgotten City and give it to Bugenhagen to figure out another of the game's great mysteries, and you'll be told to head immediatly to Midgar. Why? Because Diamond Weapon's on a warpath and heading straight towards the City of Endless Night!
Oh no, this could be bad. Park the Highwind on the north coast of Midgar and suit yourself up good. Have someone with the Steal materia, because Diamond has Rising Sun, a double-AP weapon for Yuffie. Diamond is pretty weak offensively, but he's got great defense. So, you have to hit him very hard, very fast.
Now, before you go flying over Midgar to put Hojo in his place, go back up to Bone Village. If you excavate for Normal Items, and look directly beneath the canopy of the crashed jet, you can turn up the Sector 5 Key, which will give you access to Midgar. You can actually go do this at any time during Disc 2. Ah, the staggering stench of the slums! It's been a while, and nothing's changed. But, visiting the church will present you with a brief glimpse of a lost loved one, and in the little shop that says Item over the door in Wall Market (the place with the machine gun on the ceiling) holds Tifa's Premium Heart, her best weapon. Just go up to the computer and it'll be there. One last thing. If you visit the man in the Gun Shop (the guy with the tank), he'll offer to sell you something else for 129,000 gil!!! Must be REALLY good, right?! Not hardly. If you accept, you'll get a Sneak Glove, an accessory that raises your stealing rate. Yay.
Ok, there's one last thing you can do before you fly over Midgar, and that is settle the score with Ultimate Weapon, who's sitting in the crater next to Junon. Protect yourself well, then go after him with everything you've got (you may have Knights of the Round by now--if so, use it). UW will eventually run away. If you didn't hit him hard enough, he'll start flying around, in which case you'll have to follow him around until he finds a place to stay. Watch out, though, because if he decides to sit over Midgar, you'll immediately be swept into the next sequence. Try to avoid letting him get near Midgar. When he's down to him last few HP, UW will go near Cosmo Canyon. Giving him a finishing shot will cause him to cast Shadow Flare, an enemy skill that targets one person (in this case, UW's killer) for enormous damage. If you want to learn the spell early, have that person equipped with an Enemy Skills materia. Btw, UW won't go anywhere even if you decide to do the Midgar sequence first, so if you don't think you're strong enough, wait until Disc 3.
Okay, playing over Midgar will send you there, so pick some team members and head out. The first maze is relatively easy to follow, and the chests will net you the following: Elixer x2, Megalixer, Aegis Armlet, Starlight Phone, and Max Ray. Get them all, save and heal up, and continue into the tunnels.
If you immediately start heading north in the tunnels, you'll meet up with the Turks one last time. You'll get the chance to avoid fighting them if you want, but they're here, and you're here . . . aw, what the heck! Besides, this is your only chance to see Elena in battle and steal some great items. Rude has another Ziedrich, Reno has a Touph Ring, and Elena has the second Minerva Band. The three of them together might be a little tough to beat, but with some summon spells, Ultima, and other heavy-duty stuff, you should prevail. (Btw, if you want to get 3 Ziedrichs and 2 Touph rings, here's how: Steal the first Ziedrich from Rude at Rocket Town. Then go to the Downed Shinra Plane and steal another Ziedrich from Rude and a Touph Ring from Reno. Then just steal form the three of them at Migar. It's as easy as that.)
Well, at this point, going north will get you where you have to go, but what if you go south instead. Well, you'll be travelling for a while. As you near the end, you'll start to get source items in treasure cheasts, and eventually you'll hit a dead-end. There'll be a save point and the W-Item materia there. You can also stay here a while and fight, becuase the enemies that frequent thi place all give off Turbo Ethers when killed. (I stayed for about an hour and arrived at the Sister Ray with 82 of them!) If you feel it's worth the trip, do it. If not, no sweat--you can always excavate W-Item, along with a host of other interesting things, in Disc 3 at the Bone Village. Now go all the way back the way you came, because it's pretty obvious that this isn't the way to Sister Ray.
Actually, you can stall some more and go back to Shinra HQ if you'd like. In the first screen after the place where you met the Turks, take the right-hand fork. Keep going, and at the next fork in the road, go left. Up the ladder lies old Shinra HQ, where you can get a few interesting things you couldn't before. Remember the Accessories Shop on the Second floor? Those two chests can be opened now, but the weapons you get for Tifa and Barret aren't real great. If you go up to Floor 59 and take the stairs down a ways, you should run across Red XIII's Behemoth Claw on a landing, but it only appears if you took the stairs up the first time you were here so long ago. Now, I noticed that if you take the stairs up instead of the elevator (now, not before in Disc 1), the Claw won't show up until you get to the top and go back down again. So, maybe if you go up via elevator first and then go down by the stairs, it will be there. If not, go back up the stairs until you see it (it's kinda hard to see--in one of those silver bags on the landing of floor thirty or so). Also in Shinra HQ is Cid's Glow Lance (F63), and Cait Sith's best weapon, the HP Shout (F64, in one of the lockers).
When you're finally ready to go to Sister Ray, go back to the first fork in the screen right after the place where you fought the Turks. This time go left, and you're on your way! Be prepared, though, for Scarlet and Heidegger are waiting, and they've brought a friend with them--Proud Clod. This one isn't hard in terms of fighting power (except when he falls down to his knees; watch out when he does this!), but this fight can be a very long one, as Proud Clod has 60,000 HP and his armor has 20,000. Concentrate on him, not his armor, unless you plan on using a lot of magic, as the armor protects him from magic. Knights of the Round can actually take him out in one casting if your magic power is high.
Go use the save point, grab the free Mystile and elixer, and put Barret in your party. Why? Because as you go up the stairs, you'll find a chest that won't appear unless he's in your party. It contains the Missing Score, his best weapon. Of course, if you don't want to fight the next boss with Barret around, just go back downstairs and change party members again.
Finally, it's time to deal with Hojo. This confrontation is fought in three consecutive battles, each with a different form of the crazy, mutated scientist. Make sure you have all the ribbons you have equipped, and anybody without ribbons at least has a Poison Ring or something.
First thing, cast Big Guard. The effect will last throughout all three battles. In the first battle, concentrate on Hojo instead of his buddies. Don't worry about his limbs in the next part, either. The final form is tough because of the fact that he can deal lots of damage, and his Combo will leave unprotected characters full of awful conditions. Resist and Esuna might be nice to have here. When it's all over with, you'll recieve only a Power Source for your troules. Sucks! Well, now you have to go through a few long scenes (got a lot of love points with Tifa? The amount you have will dictate how embarrassed she gets back on the Highwind . . you'll see what I'm talking about when you get there :-), and finally, you'll get to switch to Disc 3.
The Northern Crater
First,there are some new things in Disc 3. Hurry over to Cosmo Canyon with Red XIII in your party for the last big event with Bugenhagen and Red XIII's best weapon, the Limited Moon. In Bone Village, a lot of stuff that you might have not have gotten earlier and is now unattainable can be excavated, like the Huge Materias and W-Item. Neat-O!!
Next, let's consider the Downed Shinra Plane, which can be found as soon as you get the submarine (It's a good idea to come here as soon as you can). It's underwater, around a corner in the area before the area leading to the Key to the Ancients. On the map, its location is inside the little bay near Costa Del Sol. In your wanderings, you should find it eventually. (Btw, if you can't find it, just follow UW Weapon around for a while. He'll eventually lead you to it.) Ribbons are very, very nice to have as you enter this place, so be prepared. The enemies here are very dangerous, much more dangerous than the two Turks you come across in the next room. All the hassle, however, will pay off when you locate all the intensely cool stuff that's to be had here: Heaven's Cloud, one of Cloud's best weapons, Escort Guard, works like a Minerva Band, but for Man instead, 2 Megalixers, Spirit Lance, weapon for Cid, Hades Summon, Highwind (Cid's level 4 limit break), Outsider, new weapon for Vince, Conformer (Yuffie's best), and the oh-so-wonderful Double Cut materia, hidden in the upper righthand corner of the lab. (The room with the Mako reactor.)
The other place of interest underwater is near the tunnel leading to the Key to the Ancients, and is also reachable after you get the sub. Just go to that deadend where the Key was, then turn around and head out and right. You should find somewhere along the line a little opening, which leads to a tunnel, and eventually, a circular chamber. Surface and you'll be directly in front of a waterfall. You can get out of the sub by the little beach area there. Put Vincent in your party and head into the chamber behind the waterfall, where you'll find a mysterious woman from long ago. Finally, the mystery of Vincent's mysterious past is revealed! If you come back here a little later (say, after you do another scene or something), you will find his Level 4 limit break and his best weapon here.
There's only one last place of interest. You can get here as soon as you get a green chocobo, or after you've defeated Ultimate Weapon (and I wouldn't neglect to kill him, either, because he does have Cloud's ultimate weapon on him). Park the Highwind near Cosmo Canyon, and walk over to a little mountain that has a funny-looking house or something in a forest on top of it. Actually, this place is called the Ancient Forest. You can get here easily with the green chocobo, or you can wait until you've killed Ultimate Weapon, who will explode upon his death, blowing away the face of the mountain, and giving you access to the forest. The Ancient Forest is different from other places in FF7, because it actually requires some heavy-duty puzzle solving skills. Are you ready to be constantly annoyed? Then lets go!
Screen 1: Grab the frog and go over the little bridge to the east. Get as close as you can inside the snapping flower without letting it bite you, then drop the frog--when it drops, you'll pick up the Supershot ST in exchange. (That's one way. You can also just try to go in and grab it. This is risky, though, because the plant will probably bite down sooner.) Now go back and move all the little flies, leaving them under the land bridge and throwing them at the hanging flowers to make yourself a bridge to jump across. Grab the Spring Gun Clip (weapon for Red) and continue on to the next screen.
Screen 2: This one is harder. Marginally so, though, so don't get too worried. First, use the hanging flower (the one you can swing on) to jump up and over the snapping flower. Grab a frog go over to the place where there are two flowers on either side of a rock. Throw the frog to the flower on the left, then stand on it. It will boost you up to the top of the screen. Grab the honeycomb, then jump back down. Feed the honeycomb to the flower on the left side of the screen to get the "Slash-All Materia"! Now just use the frog on the flower on the right to get spat the opposite way (over the other flower) so you can go on to the last screen.
Screen 3: This one is the worst one yet. First, though, use some bugs to get up to the springy vine, taking you into the treetops. To get that inaccessible bag from the last screen, go down the tree to the left, and you'll jump down and arrive on the tree trunk to get a Minerva Band. All Right!! Jump off the tree, then go back to the third screen. Use the same process to get back into the treetops, but this time, go right. Jump across the series of swinging vines to get Typhoon Summon (does this guy look just a wee bit familiar, all you FF3 fans?), and back down the tree trunk puts you back on Screen 3. Head down the rope, and then go to the right. Use one bug to jump up the plants and get the hive, then throw that into the snapping flower. Use the other bug to cross the chasm and go left. Now use a third bug to drop outside the hole in the bottom of the tree, which brings out a frog. Then go back and get that last bug, put it in the hanging flower, grab the frog, and go back across. Now use the frog in the last hanging flower to the right, jump on it, and let the flower spit you over the chasm. The cave beyond contains Apocalypse, the only other triple-AP weapon in the game, and an Elixer. If you want the Master Materia, use this sword and Cid's Scimitar constantly! When you've gotten everything, go to the top of the last cave. Exit through the hole in the wall. (Or, you can just hit Square on the control pad and leave the way you came in.)
Well, do you have everything you want? Are you set to go? Then go back up to the crater and enter the Final Dungeon!
You can actually leave here once you've entered, so don't feel like you're stuck once you're down here. The route is fairly straightforward, so grab the Save Crystal (to be used later), and the various sources laying around. The Dark Dragons here know Dragon Force, an enemy skill you'll have to manipulate them for. I've also found that they are some of the best enemies to fight to get your second Limit Break in any level. First, equip who ever you want to learn the next Limit Break with a mastered "Cover" materia, then find a Dark Dragon. Have somone cast Regen, have another person constantly use Magic Hammer (so that the Dragon doesn't cast Ultima on you), and just let the person get their Limit. I used this to get all of Cid's second Limit Breaks. (Btw, if you use this trick, then head back to the Mythril Cave, you can have basically everyone learn all their Limits ultra-quick.) Also, the Parasites know both Magic Breath and Level 5 Death, both of which you'll also have to manipulate them for. Watch out when you're getting Level 5 Death--make sure you're not all levels that are multiples of 5, or you'll killing your whole party! Ouch!!
In the second screen, there is a hidden HP Absorb. Just head left from the starting point, and climb up to the top left ledge. From there, go right behind the rocks and grab the semi-hidden materia. If you look really carefully, you can see it. Now, to get to the next screen, stay right as you go down. The next screen seems a little complicated, but a little experimentation will get you where you need to go. Try going directly right of the first door, jump down, go in the door, go around, and jump down some more. The chests aren't really worth it--all they contain are sources, a megalixer, and some Hero Medecine. Boring!
Now, when you arrive at the bottom where your party is, you'll have the option of splitting them up to get them to find stuff. Unfortunately, they're not very good treasure hunters, and while you can send them to find stuff (it doesn't really matter who goes where, I don't think), you're better off taking both routes to make sure you got everything. Now, if you want to do some AP-raising so that you can go back and tackle the optional Weapon bosses, go left. Tell everybody to go left as well. Then, at the next fork, you and your two party members go up, while everyone else goes down. In the Left/Up area (it looks like the inside of somone's ear), you can find the following: Magic Source, Hero Medicine, Shield materia (offers great protection, but only to one person), Imperial Guard (can also be gotten in the Huge Materia Mission at Fort Condor), Vaccine, W-Magic, and Command Counter. As far as AP-raising, there are the Magic Pots, who will be invulnerable until you give them an Elixer, and who are worth 1000 AP each. Also, there's the Movers, who attack in packs of threes, giving you a grand total of 2400 AP when you win. With some double-AP weapons and armor on, you can get a ton of materia mastered in no time! You will also come across Master Tonberi in this section, a cloaked lizard with a star on his head that is much faster and stronger than his cousin in the Battle Square. There's a trick to killing him, though. When you first get the chance, have somone use Hades on him. Now, he's Stopped and Poisoned! Have Yuffie equiped with the Conformer and a Morph materia, and you can easily Morph him. You get a Ribbon for it!!! Finally, in the last section of the Left/Up route, the W-Magic materia is hidden in the trees, and the Command Counter is hidden in the white glowing thing at the bottom. Be sure to look carefully for them, becuase they are impossible to see.
Talk to your people and see what they've turned up. They should have gotten just about everything from the Left/Down route, but since you're going back that way anyways (to get back to the top to either leave the cave or use the right route), you should double check as you go up. If they missed the Mega-all materia, you'll need to get it yourself, which can be tough. In the first screen, directly up from the entrance, is a little pedestal where the Mega-all is bouncing. To get it, jump up onto the pedestal, and press O as quickly as you can so that Cloud'll pick it up during his split second on the pedestal. If you missed it, jump back and continue with the O button. A turbo controller helps. Now just follow the path up, checking to make sure there are no unopened treasure chests.
Well, whether you do it now or wait until later, you'll want to do the Right Path eventually, so here it is. First of all, the reason we're going down both paths is to first, get all the treasure, and second, get all the enemy skills. Why? Because there's some pretty good ones down here, that's why! The right route not only contains a second Mystile, a Tetra Elemental, and some other stuff, but it also contains Angel's Whisper (held by Polensalita, who must be manipulated to get it), Shadow Flare, and Pandora's Box (both of which are held by the Dragon Zombie), and Death Roulette (held by the Death Dealers). Do yourself a favor and be careful when trying to get Death Roulette. To be safe, cast Death Force on your people, to protect them from Roulette. Angel's Whisper is worth it's weight in gold, for it completely heals anyone, even dead characters! And it only costs 50 MP! Shadow Flare and Pandora's Box are very powerful attack spells.
Well, that pretty much does it. When you're done fooling around both down here and up above in the rest of the world, you have no choice but to find the old dirty bastard himself. Below the spot where your friends are waiting is the end, and, well, I don't want to give anything away. The only thing I'll tell you is that you'll be asked at some point to make up two or three parties. It's probably the most helpful to put your most powerful characters, equipment, and materia with Cloud, and not worry too much about the other parties. On your way down to the bottom, the Iron Giant can be morphed into an Escort Guard. One more little disclamer: by no means do you HAVE to have Knights of the Round to kill Sephiroth. An "Added Effect" and "Flare" combo with the Ultima Sword will work almost as well. Good luck and enjoy the spectacular end to Final Fantasy VII. You earned it!!
here comes the characters!
