NO 1 REACTOR: When you get of the train, check the bodies of the guards- two potions! Not bad for just starting out.Be sure and use the bolt magic on the tricky enemies in the area- most are weak against it.If you start running out of magic power, save it for the trip out, when the timer's ticking. Make sure you save Jessie on the way out; her foot gets caught and you need her to open the doors so you can leave!
SECTOR SEVEN SLUMS AND SUBWAY: When you get out of the first reactor, you meet Aeris. Now, the game actually keeps track of how much people like you; this determines who you get in the date scene later on. If you buy a flower from Aeris, she likes you more. If you give it to Tifa, you can get on her good side too. Look around, get your money from Barret, rest up, and be sure and visit the Beginner's Hall. There are tutorials for first timers and your first Enemy-All Materia. Now, the subway. Something's gone wrong with the ID scan, and you have to get out of each train car in 15 secongd. If you want to talk to some locals on your way though, some give you some items. And in car three, pickpockets steal 100 gil from you. Follow them around to get your money back.
SECTOR 4 PLATE AND REACTOR #5: First, set the bomb. Then go up the elevator and find the room where Tifa and Barret come out and talk to you. All you have to do is press the button at the same time as them and the door will open. Try about two seconds after Tifa's conversation bubble clears. Before you go through the last door, make sure you're all ready for a fight. The boss coming up can do some pretty bad damage, so keep everyone healed.
CHURCH AND SECTOR 5 SLUMS: When you drop in on Aeris, she'll hire you as a bodyguard; the Turks have been following her around.
WALL MARKET: You have to abandon your plans of returning to Sector 7 after seeing Tifa heading into Wall Market. Go to the Honey Bee Inn (lower right corner) and talk to the bouncer. Then go to Don Corneo's Mansion and talk to his bouncer. Then talk to Aeris. She has a plan, and boy is it a doozy. Poor Cloud has to dress up as a girl to sneak into Don Corneo's mansion to get Tifa!! You only need the dress and the wig to get in, but why do it at all if you don't want to have fun with it. Here are all the costume items. 1. Dress- Talk to the girl at the dress shop, then go to the bar and get her father. When asked how you want the dress, 'soft' and 'shimmers' gets the silk dress (best), 'soft' and 'shiny' gets the satin dress, and 'clean' gets the cotton dress. 2. Wig- Go to the Gym and beat the guy at squats to get a wig. If you win, you get the blonde wig, if you tie, the dyed wig, and if you lose, the wig. Go slow and steady to win- the time penalty for screwing up is rather large. 3. Cologne- Eat at the dinner and tell the chef it was pretty good. You'll get a pharmacy coupon. Go to the pharmacy and get the digestive to help the poor girl in the bathroom at the bar. If you give it to her, she'll give you the sexy cologne. If you give her the deodorant, she'll give you the flower cologne. And if you give her the disinfectant, she'll give you the cologne. 4. Tiara- Talk to the guy in the north-east store on the lower half of the map. He'll ask you to get him something from the hotel vending machine. Spend the night there, and pick some thing up for him. For the most expensive item, you get a diamond tiara, for the middle-priced one a ruby tiara, and for the least expensive a glass tiara. 5. Talk to the guy standing just outside the Honeybee Inn spot, and he'll give you a membership card.
SEWERS AND TRAIN GRAVEYARD: The boss you have to fight when you fall into the sewers is a real weenie- even for this early in the game. I just played with him until I got everyone a few limit breaks and suggest you do the same. That way, everyone should have their second limit break by the time you get out of the train graveyard if you do it right. Just make sure everyone is healed. There is also an incredibly useful materia in the sewers- the steal materia. Take it, then find your way to the ladder. When you surface, you're in the train graveyard. Steal from every enemy you run into- the Ghosts give you ghost hands (a useful tool for stealing MP) and the Deenglows (the flying green things) give you ether, which is incredibly expensive once you're actually allowed to buy it. Most of all, steal from Eligor (the scary looking guy in the chariot-like thing. He gives you Aeris' striking staff. You can't buy it for five or ten more game hours. Go in all the trains, look in all the trash cans. This is a good place to get experience and practice the art of stealing. When you're done, head towards the train station.
SECTOR 6 PLATE SUPPORT: Before you run up all the stairs, make sure you give someone all the materia Aeris was using. Also, when you get to the top, be sure to equip Barret with anything you might have bought him.
UP TO THE SHINRA BUILDING: Go to the weapon shop in Wall Market and talk to the guy on the left. He'll sell you some batteries for 300 gil. Now you're all set. In the northeast corner of Wall Market is the pipe heading to the Shinra building. You need the batteries to power various broken contraptions. On the way up, check out the word graffitied in red. What word is it? I checked in the dictionary- there's nothing close... hmm... The only hard part about this is jumping on the swinging bar. It can be really easy or really hard. Just keep trying when the bar gets to different places and you're bound to get it eventually.
THE SHINRA BUILDING: Now, you have to ask yourself, 'Which way do I go in? The stairs or the lobby?' The answer is simple- both. If you don't go up the stairs and get the elixer, you'll be denied an un-buyable weapon for Red later on. And you can't browse in the gift shop if you don't look in the lobby. In the gift shop is an advertisement for Shinra vehicles. It's cool, so check it out. When you get to the 59th floor, you kill the guards and take the key card to floor 60. Go on up, and look around. A guy will ask who you are, and your options are 'Where is Aeris,' and '.....'. Say '.....'. He'll asume you're maintenance and give you the next key card you need. On floor 62, you must solve the puzzle. I'd tell you the answer, but there's one problem- it's completely random. So check out the topics of the book on the door of each room. Go on into the room and find the book that doesn't match. (ex.- Topic- Final Fantasy; Book- 3. Gardening) Look at the number and find the letter to match (ex.- 3. Gardening... The letter would be 'r'). Do this for all four rooms. You'll get a word. Now go talk to the mayor. When he asks for the password, tell him the word you found. He'll give you another keycard. Go on up to floor 63. Ah, a bonus floor. Open only three doors to get all three prizes... seems impossible. But it isn't. Go all the way up and to the left. Keep walking until you run into a door. Open it. Below you are now two doors. Open the second one you come to. Now go into the room and take the prize. Hop into the vent system and crawl to the other room. Take the prize there, open the door (that's three) and let yourself into the room with prize three. Now crawl back through the vents and go to floor 64. Look around, rest up, and pay for a beverage if you plan to come back later (about 40 game hours later). You also can't get the megaphone out of the locker until later, so don't try. It's Cait Sith's best, so you might want to remember where it is. On to floor 65. This is an easy puzzle. Look around until you find the box that opens. Then place the piece onto the Midgar model. The last box holds the next keycard. Next, floor 66 (sure is a big building...). Sneak into the grate in the bathroom to watch the secret meeting. But before you follow Hojo up the stairs, why don't you follow the secretary around for fun and see what she has to say about her fellow employees? Then go after Hojo (who forgot to lock the door) to floor 67. Grab the poison materia and take the service elevator up to save Aeris. Here you fight another boss. A few pointers: don't use poison on him, hit him basically with spells, and don't hit his little pals- they rejenerate. Afterwards, DON'T MISS THE ENEMY SKILL MATERIA IN THE SPECIMEN CHAMBER. It is one of the most useful things in the game. You can get some incredibly useful spells with this little piece of condensed Mako energy. Now head down the elevator and reunite with your party. Along the way, be sure to steal. The moth Slasher (robot on a big whirly spiked ball) gives you the carbon bangle; trust me, you want it. Also the Soldiers 3rd Class can get you Cloud's hard edge sword. Get the key card from the guy on the ledge. Well, looks like it's just about done; you can sit back, relax, have a nice cup of tea... Nope! Trouble of a different kind is afoot, and Cloud gets to figure it out. When you get to the save spot on floor 69, save, heal, and give Tifa's materia to someone who needs it. Cloud will be fighting a boss all by himself and Barret, Red, and Aeris will be doing two in a row. The fight is made particularly hard for the three of them because it's fought on the elevator- only Barret can reach with regular attacks. Make sure Aeris and Red have some materia that'll hurt it (lightning works best). Be careful and stay healed, but save something for Cloud. Cloud has to fight Rufus... all alone. Take out his little doggie first, otherwise you can't do crap. Then take him out with whatever you can. Now, you get to take a nice little motorcycle ride.
OUT OF MIDGAR: After you fight the boss, you decide to leave Midgar. Just outside of Midgar, pick your party carefully, because it will be a little while before you can change them. Don't panic though. The enemies are relatively easy, and the next town is pretty close. You're out of Midgar now, and into the wide, wide world!
