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Other Puzzles

The Church: Saving Aeris from the Turks

This is one of the early "puzzles" of the game -- it's not required that you do things this way, but it sure could make life easier on you. This is when you meet Aeris in the church after the second reactor raid, and the Turks come after her. You're up in the rafters and she's down there with the bad guys. You could either fight them, or knock down the barrels and stop them. But which barrels should you knock down? This is where that picture comes in. If you can't understand what that picture is trying to tell you, then you shouldn't even be playing this game.

Passcode for the Huge Materia on the Rocket

When you're up in Shinra's rocket trying to regain one of the four Huge Materia, you'd need to enter a passcode that will free the Materia for you to take, otherwise it'll be sent into space, never to be retrieved. I don't beleive there is anything in the game that will just tell you the passcode. It's all guesswork and fast thinking.

You get one chance to enter the passcode correctly, then after that you have 3 minutes in which to frantically punch in buttons while Cid tries to help. Let's see if you can figure it out for yourself, if you don't plan on doing this the hard and nerve-wracking way. If you can't, the answer is below. His hints are (abbreviated for easier reading):

• The first digit is not a Square.
• The second digit is not a Triangle.
• The third digit is an X.
• The last digit is either a Triangle or an X
• One of the buttons must be pressed twice.
• Another hint, "Did you use the Triangle? I'm pretty sure you didn't" is misleading, probably due to a translation error. It makes you think that you might need to use it. In fact, you don't. It's not in the code.

Still can't figure it out? The answer is below, but don't look unless you absolutely give up...

Ok, here it is. The code is Circle-Square-X-X. For PC gamers, it's the keys corresponding to OK-Switch-Cancel-Cancel.

The Shinra Building

How to Get the Keycards

Shinra has a good way of keeping nosy people out and security tight - using Keycards as a way of identification. It's the only way to go to certain levels beyond Floor 60. Unfortunately, you haven't got any. So what do you do?

Any good RPG player, and most not-so-good players as well, should be able to figure out where the Keycards are, because most of them are really quite easy to find and get, especially once you know where they are. If you need the extra help, here's a short guide.

Keycard 60 - You must fight the guards on Floor 59. They'll drop a Keycard, which you will pick up after the battle. This card will get you only to Floor 60, but don't worry because Floor 61 is open to everybody anyway.

Keycard 62 - On Floor 61, talk to one of the guys walking around. Select the second option, "....", and the guy will think you're a janitor or a repairman or something. After telling you to fix that broken door, he'll give you this Keycard. You might also want to ask about Aeris first to get some extra info; you won't be able to do it after you get the Keycard.

Keycard 65 - On Floor 62, talk to Mayor Domino. If you guess his password correctly, he'll award you with Keycard 65. This lets you go up quite a few floors, but you can skip all the ones in between if you like. (Don't forget the Save Point on Floor 64.)

Keycard 66 - You must complete the Midgar Model on Floor 65 to gain this keycard. Directions for doing this is below.

The Keycards I listed only take you to Floor 66. I don't remember if there are any others above that, but I don't believe you'd actually need them.

Floor 2: The Shop

The first time you entered the shop on this floor you might have noticed the two chests in the back of the room that the storekeeper won't let you open. Later, when you return to Midgar in Disc 2, you can enter the Shinra building again (before you fight Proud Clod!) and open the two chests. This time around, nobody's actually in the building, so they can't stop you. You get Tifa's Master Fist, and Barret's Pile Banger. Unfortunately, these weapons suck.

Floor 62: Mayor Domino's Password

Domino won't give you his access card for the next several floors unless you guess his password. Now how are you supposed to figure it out? One quick way is to keep guessing until you get it right, but then you won't be able to get his prize, which by the way is an Elemental materia orb. If you do take more than one guess to get it right, though, he will offer a consolation prize - a Potion.

If you want to figure things out yourself, you can talk to Hart, the guard at the door of Domino's office. It'll cost you a total of 3500 Gil, though, if you want to keep getting clues. (There are three of them).

For those of you who would rather get help somewhere else, here's how. The password is hidden in the four libraries to the right of Domino's office. In each, press the Circle button to look at the books. Try to find a book in each library that doesn't belong. To find out what the library topic is, you can read the sign by the door before you enter, or use the computer at the far end of the library.

When you find the book that doesn't belong, look at the number in front of it's title. That number tells you what letter in the title is part of the password. For instance, if it's "4 File on Dr. Gast, Biologist", and it's in the Urban and Weapons Development Library, then the letter is E.

There is one in each of the four libraries, forming a four-letter word. You may have to rearrange the letters a little bit. Once you've got it, talk to Mayor Domino. You'll have some choices of passwords, and the one on that has the same letters as the ones you've found is the correct password!

Unfortunately, I can't give the answer to this. The password always changes from game to game. (In fact, if you restore a game prior to this and do it again, the password will be different. It does not get "programmed" in advance.)

Floor 63: The Item Coupons

This is a completely optional portion of the Building that only allows you to pick up a few good items early in the game, provided you can do it correctly.. You gotta wonder what a room like this is doing in a major office building in the first place, but... Anyway, here's how to get all the items.

Go to the main computer room at the bottom right hand corner first so you can open doors. You only get three door opens, so use them carefully - but if you screw up you can reset it. The doors will close so you can start over, but the item coupons will also reset.

This is how to get all three Coupons. Go all the way to the top hallway, and there should be a doorway near the center. Open it. Continue down the hall. Just before you reach the door at the end of the hallway, there is another door to the side of it that goes downward. Open that. You should then be able to enter the far left room and get the Coupon there.

Now enter the duct. Climb through and go to the far right room, but not the main computer room. Pick up the Coupon there.

Now exit this room by going down. Go to the left, and open the door right before the entrance to the middle room. Enter and pick up the Coupon.

When you have all three coupons, return to the main computer room, and you can exchange them for items. You will get the Carbon Bangle, Four Slots, and an All Materia.

Also, when you return to Midgar in Disc 2, all the doors are open. While the original Item Coupons are gone, there is a new one that lets you get one of Cid's weapons, the Grow Lance.

Floor 64: Cait Sith's Ultimate Weapon

In the back of the Gym, in the back lockers, you'll be able to find Cait Sith's Ultimate Weapon, the HP Shout. You can't pick it up in the first CD, though. If you try, Cloud will simply say something along the lines of "Hmm, a megaphone" and then close the locker. You'll have to return during the second CD, enter the Shinra building and then pick it up.

Floor 65: The Midgar Model

This floor, in my opinion, is completely pointless. However, if you don't go through this, you can't get to Floor 66.

What happens is there is a model of the city of Midgar in the center of this floor. However, pieces of it are missing and are scattered throughout boxes on the floor. You can't just open every box and then put them all in, though. Only one is unlocked, and once you put the piece in, it will unlock another box. It repeats until finally you complete the model, and the box with Keycard 66 is unlocked.

Running around and trying every box each time is not only time consuming, but annnoying, since this is a floor where monsters are and you are bound to be interuppted by a fight each time. So in order to save you some time, here's where the boxes open, in order:

1. Bottom box in upper left room
2. Bottom box in lower left room
3. Top box in lower left room
4. Top box in upper left room
5. Top box in the room in the upper right corner
6. Box by the stairs, which contain Keycard 66

The last box by the stairs is opened only after the model is completed. Take Keycard 66 and proceed to the next floor...

Mt. Nibel Walkthrough

This part specifically deals with one really frustrating part of Mt. Nibel - where there is a selection of tubes, all one-way and leading to different parts of the mountain. This is a little "walkthrough" that will help out a bit.

First of all, remember that if you take the wrong tube, don't worry about it that much. You will eventually get to go down all the other ones, but it will take a while. If you have already gone down a tube but would like to go down the rest, you can climb back to the top by going down toward the bottom of the screen (avoiding the blue bug). Once outside, jump down, go into the nearest cave, and continue the right. You're on your own from here. Your goal is to be able to make your way back to the tube area via the closed door from the left. When you return, the first ladder will be put down for you so you climb back up.

The entire tube area is divided into four main parts:

1. The top - Where you enter the tubes.
2. Lower top - a little path right underneath the tube entrance.
3. Upper bottom - a ledge, containing a door to the left.
4. The bottom - the ground floor, with the save point and 2 passages to the lower right, one blocked by a large blue bug.

Each different part is connected by either a stairway or ladders. However, each of the ladders start out folded up, meaning if you take a tube leading to the bottom ground floor, you won't be able to up to the next ledge. To be safe, go down the stairs to the right of the tubes, and climb down each ladder to make them "unfolded." Then climb back up and you can enter any of the tubes safely.

You can see each tube is labled with a number. Actually, only the rightmost one or two are clearly labeled, but you can guess the number of the others. Each of them leads to a different place:

1. To the ground floor, near the Save Point.
2. To the small platform on the ground floor with the Powersoul weapon.
3. To the upper bottom ledge with the door.
4. To a small area in the lower left with an Item Box (contains All materia)
5. Also to the upper bottom ledge with the door.

If you have already put down all the ladders, you can go back and try again if you mess up a tube. If you don't, however, you'll need to take the long way around (see the second paragraph above) and try again.

Get the Powersoul and the All materia, then go to save the game. If you feel up to it, you can fight the Materia Keeper (the large blue bug guarding one of the passages) or you can go the other way to explore and pick up some items. The Great Glacier

The Beginning

After snowboarding from the village, you will end up in one of four spots on the map of the Great Glacier. Where you end up will depend on which direction you take in the two forks along the snowboard route. Based on the information of what objects are found where, you can devise your own optimal path to get as much as possible as quickly as possible.

When you land after the huge jump, Cloud will tell you that you will freeze to death if you stay here too long. That is both correct and incorrect. You will freeze after a while, but not to death. You will simply be rescued by Mr. Holzoff, who will let you rest, save and then run back out in the blizzard. It can be very frustrating to backtrack all the time because you fainted an inch from the object you wanted, though, so be quick.

The Map

The map (which you should have taken from the wall of the house in the village) will show a number of locations especially marked, although only some of them are really interesting. I will try to describe the spots so that you can find them on the map.

Gate

Found at the bottom of the map.

This is one of the existing exits to and from the Great Glacier. There is nothing in particular here.

Leaving west takes you to the Tail of Aircraft, east to the Cave at the bottom and north to the Forest.

Cave

Found at the bottom right of the map.

This is where you start if you took all right turns at the snowboard-race. The cave contains nothing except a quick (and rather amusing) way out of the Glacier.

Leaving west takes you to the Gate, north-east to the Mountains and north-west to the other Cave.

Forest

Found above the Gate.

This is where you start if you took all left turns at the snowboard-race. At the top of the screen with three exits, you can find a Mind Source behind some trees.

Leaving east takes you to the Cave in the middle of the map, north takes you to the Tail of Aircraft and south to the Gate.

Tail of Aircraft

Found above and to the left of the Forest.

There is nothing here.

Leaving north takes you to the Ice Boulders, south to the Gate and east to the Forest.

Ice Boulders

Found above the Tail of Aircraft.

The cave here contains an Elixir.

Leaving north by the left path takes you to the Stone Face, and the right path to the Bridge. South takes you to the Tail of Aircraft.

Stone Face

Found to the left of the red mark.

There is nothing here.

Leaving east takes you to the red mark, south-east to the Bridge and south to the Ice Boulders.

Bridge

Found below the red mark.

There is nothing here.

Leaving east takes you to the Tree, west to the Ice Boulders and north-west to the Stone Face.

Hot Springs

Found below and to the right of the red mark.

Dip your hands in the water here. Part of the Alexander puzzle.

Leaving west takes you to the red mark and east to the lower part of the Mountains.

Tree

Found to the left of the mountains at the right edge of the map.

There is nothing here.

Leaving south takes you to the Cave in the middle of the map, east to the lower part of the Mountains and west to the Bridge.

Cave

Found in the middle of the map.

The path to the Cave contains a Potion and inside the Cave is the accessory Safety Bit. You will need to solve a small puzzle to get into the Cave.

Leaving west takes you to the Forest, east to the Tree and south to the Cave at the bottom of the map.

Mountains

Found to the right of the map.

Contains the boss Snow. Part of the Alexander puzzle

The Mountains are more thoroughly explained here.

In short, the places you want to go to are the Cave in the middle, the Forest, the Ice Boulders and then the Hot Springs and the Mountains, before going to the red mark.

There is no need to worry about the red mark, as you will end up there as soon as you faint.

The Mountains

The Mountains are a bit special, in that the map is not entirely correct. If you enter the Mountains by either going east from the Hot Springs or the Tree, or south from the bottom Cave, you will eventually come to a four-way intersection. Here the top left one leads to the Hot Springs, the bottom left to the Tree and the south to the bottom Cave.

The north path is a bit strange, however. First of all, it contains an Added Cut materia, on the second repeating screen, about half-way into it at the top part of the path. Secondly, continuing north will eventually take you to the Hot Springs.

However, if you faint and end up with Mr. Holzoff, or go into the blizzard by going west from the Hot Springs, and then exiting the blizzard to the east, you will then, after continuing east for a while, enter a different Mountain room, this one with a cave.

Going south from this new Mountain will take you to the four-way intersection, coming in from the top of that screen, but if you return back up, you will end up by the Hot Springs again. Neither will you see the Added Cut materia when you go south from the Mountains with the cave.

The cave is the house of Snow, a monsters you surely have met out in the snow by now. If you have touched the Hot Springs, she is not happy about you touching her and will fly into a rage, attacking you. She is really easy to beat, and will leave an Alexander materia when she dies.

Jumping Puzzle

To get into the cave in the middle of the map, you need to cross open water by jumping on some blocks of ice that move around. The directions to jump here applies only when you enter the room from either site, it will not work if you, for example, jump across to the other side and then instantly want to jump back.

Into the cave:

From the first block, jump up, left, down, left, up two times and right two times. You should now be in the middle of the field. Now go right again, then up, left and down to return to the same spot. However, you have moved some blocks so that you now can go right, up, up, left and up to be on the other side.

Out from the cave:

Going back is even simpler, just go left from the starting block, then down, right two times, down again, then left, down, right, down and left to be on the last block.

Mr. Holzoff

You will meet Mr. Holzoff either when you faint from the cold, or when you go to him on your own. His little cabin is located at the base of Gaea's Cliff (how fortunate!), in the middle of a blizzard. To get in and out of the blizzard, you need to use markers to not lose your direction.

The basic strategy is to walk in a straight line, leaving markers in intervals to keep three of them on the screen all the time. As soon as the wind picks up and you start spinning, stop. When the wind dies, continue in whatever new direction the markers point you. Repeat until you are out of the blizzard.

Mr. Holzoff's cabin is in the middle of the blizzard, with the path to the upper part of the Mountains east through the blizzard, the Stone Face west and the Hot Springs south. Note that going east through the blizzard is the only way to enter the upper Mountains, and thus the only way to solve the Alexander Puzzle.

When you first meet Mr. Holzoff, he will tell you a little about the cliff, and also give you instructions on how to climb it. Basically, it goes like this "Warm yourself up to 38 degrees on each platform before you move on." At 34 degrees, you will start flashing, and at 27, you will faint and end up at Mr. Holzoff again.

When you leave his cabin the first time, the rest of the gang will be there. If you go north, you will start climbing up the cliff, and south brings you back into the blizzard.

Gaea's Cliff

Get some rest before starting the climb, there are few places to save and use tents coming up.

Go north from the cabin and start climbing up the cliff. Make sure to stop and warm up on each platform. Keep going up as much as possible, I will only tell you which way to go when you actually have a choice.

In this first stage, there are no branching paths, so you should quickly be up by a cave and enter it. Inside, run under the bridge and into the portal. Go up the stairs and then to the bottom of the screen. Follow the path and get the Javelin from the chest. Enter the cave and follow the path up towards the left. At the top, push over the boulder and return down, all the way to the stairs in the beginning.

Now, follow the path upwards, where the boulder rolled down, into the cave. Keep following the only path until you are outside again.

Start climbing upwards again, taking the same precautions as always. Take the 'up' path at the first intersection and 'right' at the next. Climb up one more platform and choose the left path when leaving the platform. (The right is a dead end.)

Now you are inside the cliff again, here take the right exit, ignoring the chest that you cannot reach yet. Follow the path outside until you get in again, and notice a number of huge icicles hanging from the ceiling. Get the Fire Armlet from the right chest and then run straight into the first icicle to initiate a battle. Keep running into all the iciles and killing them off, choosing not to jump down after each fight. Then get the Last Elixir (really a Megalixir) from the left chest and walk towards the edge of the platform where the icicles used to be. Jump down when you get asked to.

Now get the Speed Source that is in the chest which is now accessible, and jump across the fallen icicles towards the cave in the middle. Save before, if you feel like it.

Outside again, be sure to pick up the Enhance Sword for Cloud before you move on along the path. You'll end up climbing again, this time opt to go 'up' in both intersections.

Inside again, this is close to the end of Gaea's Cliff. Touch the white glowing spring to restore your HP and MP, and be sure to save. Prepare to fight a boss as well. When done, head to the right and then down towards the dead man in the black cape. You will run into a fight with Schizo, a rather nasty monster. Beat the tar out of him, and continue down.

Climb up this last part of the cliff and have a close look at the planet healing itself. Go right, and start down the crater. From now on, you are on your own... Good luck!

Temple of the Ancients

The Beginning

The Temple of the Ancients is located to the south of the world map, on a small island. You get there with the Tiny Bronco by travelling straight through the continent with Golden Saucer and Cosmo Canyon. This is accomplished by using the river that is located north of Cosmo Canyon and then going south-east until you find an island with a forest surrounding something that looks like a pyramid with the top chopped off.

As you enter the temple, you take the stairs to the top and talk to the man in black if you wish, before entering the temple. Inside, you will find Tseng, although he is not much of a threat now, as he is dying. He will give you the Keystone, which you use on the altar in the middle to gain access to the innards of the temple.

The Labyrinth

The first task of the temple is to find your way through an Escher-like labyrinth, while preferably finding as many of the goodies as possible.

In this section, directions will often be given as 'left' or 'right' and then means relative to Cloud, as he completes the previous task. If the instructions are to "Climb the stairs and go left." it means that Cloud should turn left after climbing the stairs, not that you should go left on the screen.

As you enter the labyrinth, take the first very small stair to the left, then ignore the stairs to your right leading up and instead turn right as the passage turns and take the stairs that lead down.

Enter the portal and exit it to the right and climb down the vines that grow on the wall. Ignore the purple materia, as you cannot reach it yet, we will get to it later. Instead run under the long stairs and get Cid's Trident from the chest. Climb down the following stairs and climb the vines to your left.

Ignore the portal, as you cannot enter it from this direction, and take the stairs up, then climb the vines straight ahead. Take the Mind Source that is lying around, and then go down the stairs into the portal to your right.

In this room, you will find the being you saw earlier who ran away from you. It is the spirit of one of the Ancients who is guarding the temple. Talk to it twice and you will be given the option to buy some items, rest (restore HP and MP) or save your game. Take heed of the warning, the only way out of the temple now is to complete the whole sub-quest, and there will be bosses later on. If you had trouble beating the monsters you met on the way through the labyrinth, do not save, instead reload your last save and get some more levels before you come back.

Strong enough to continue, eh? Off we go, then. Before you leave the same way you came, be sure to open the chest and get Vincent's Silver Rifle. Take the stairs back up and then the vines down the wall. Do not take the next set of stairs, instead go towards the back of the cube with two portals on it. There is a third portal in the back, which you will enter, being able to walk straight through the cube to the Turbo Ether waiting for you.

Go down the stairs here, enter the portal and then go down the next set of stairs. Run behind the pillar, towards the small patch of vines and climb down to the next platform. In the chest at the top of the stairs you will find Barret's Rocket Punch. Run down the stairs, turn left and climb up the vines on the wall.

Do not chase the spirit yet, instead go up the stairs straight ahead, into the portal and then turn right down another set of stairs. Climb the vines up the wall here, run under the stairs and get the purple materia you ignored earlier, Lucky Plus. Now run back to where we ignored the spirit and follow it into the portal, turning left inside it and then right to enter a new portal.

Rolling Stones

This section is simple in theory, but can be very frustrating for some. It requires quite good timing.

As you enter, big cylindrical rocks will start rolling from the other side of the room, towards you. If you get hit by one, Cloud will fall down and it will take some time to stand up again, getting you hit by another stone in the process. Getting hit will also send you in the direction the stones are rolling, eventually all the way back to where you entered this section.

What you need to do is notice that there is a hole in each stone, big enough to fit a ducking Cloud. The tricky part is to be able to get in sync with the holes of the stones. Try to predict where the hole of the stone will be at the ground and position Cloud there. If you do it correctly, he will automatically duck.

Once you have managed to duck into one of the gaps, the rest is usually rather easy. Most of the time, you can run as quickly as you can towards the right of the screen, and Cloud will automatically manage to stand in the right place for the next stone. However, some of the stones have irregular distances between them, forcing you to wait just a little bit or you will run too far and miss the gap.

It is really a matter of timing. There is no way to die in this little game, so keep trying until you manage.

After a short distance of dodging stones, you will see a passage to the left with some yellow materia in it. Ignore it for now and keep facing the stones. When you get to the end of the corridor with the stones they will disappear.

When the stones are gone, Aeris will run off on her own again, back to the room with the yellow materia. She will talk some to the spirits and show you what happened a while ago, when Sephiroth killed Tseng. You will notice that Elena finally got her date with Tseng. Poor her, it did not help much..

Do not forget the Morph materia before you leave this room, going back to the end of the corridor where the stones came from. Now there will be a spirit here, where you can once again rest and save.

The Clock Room

In the clock room you have twelve exits, one for each hour on the clock. Your goal is to position the hands of the clock so that you can run from where you are standing into another of the exits. The best way is to choose 'Move it myself' and then use the controls to move the time back and forward to create your path.

If you are standing on one hand as the hand that shows seconds passes by, it will push you off the hand and into the abyss. This will not kill you, instead you will fall into a room where you will be attacked by two Ancient Dragons. After you kill them, you can get Cloud's Nail Bat from the chest and leave the room. You will enter the labyrinth from the portal you could not enter earlier. Just use the same directions as earlier to once again get to the Clock Room via the rolling stones.

The various exits in the Clock Room can lead to both treasure and danger, and some are also dead ends. The most important exits are the bottom and top once, VI and XII, 6 and 12. Once you solve the puzzle inside exit VI (Dubbed Catch the Spirit by me.), you will only be able to go to exit XII and nowhere else, so clean out the other exits before VI.

The contents of the various exits are;

• I: A corridor, leading into a room with a chest. It contains two Toxic Frogs and a Jemnezmy.
• II: A dead end.
• III: A corridor, leading into a room with a chest. It contains two 8 eyes.
• IV: A corridor, leading into a room with a chest. It contains Aeris' Princess Guard.
• V: Back to the labyrinth with a chest containing a Ribbon!
• VI: Catch the Spirit, as below.
• VII: A Corridor, leading into a room with a chest. It contains Cait Sith's Trumpet Shell.
• VIII: A corridor, leading into a room with a chest. It contains a Megalixir.
• IX: A dead end.
• X: The room with the rolling stones.
• XI: A dead end.
• XII: Out of the temple.

Of these, you really want to get the Ribbon, and quite likely the Megalixir as well. The weapons may come in handy, but are certainly not essentials.

When you are ready, head into the VI exit and get ready to chase some serious spirits!

Catch That Spirit

This screen consists of 10 caves, nine of which are interconnected, a portal and a chest. If you want to, you can go down and get Tifa's Work Glove from the chest right away.

Note that you can jump down by going to the side of the screen, but you can only go up again by using one of the caves.

To do this the hard way, you need to memorize which caves the spirit enter, and know which one that will make him exit from. The aim is to enter the cave that the spirit will exit and thus catch it.

Numbered from 1 to 10, with 1 being the top left cave, 2 the top right, 3 the middle left and so on until 10 at the bottom right corner, the caves are connected as follows;

• 1 leads to 5
• 2 leads back to the Clock Room
• 3 leads to 8
• 4 leads to 10
• 5 leads to 3
• 6 leads to 7
• 7 leads to 4
• 8 leads to 9
• 9 leads to 6
• 10 leads to 1

The spirit will first enter cave 1, and thus exit from cave 5, which is the first spot to catch it in. If you miss that exit, it will go into cave 3, and thus exit from cave 8. If you miss that too, you are a lost case. :)

Once you have caught the spirit, the door at the top is unlocked and you can go into the room you saw Sephiroth and Tseng in during the flashback earlier. You can also ask the spirit, now standing still by cave 1, to rest or save.

As you enter the door, you will have to endure a few minutes of the story being told, during which all you can do is move a few steps to the right once in a while. Eventually, you will end up by and altar, with Sephiroth telling you how he is going to become a God.

Sephiroth will leave, and Cloud will have a short mental breakdown, after which a nasty Red Dragon will attack. It will leave Bahamut materia as you kill it, do not miss it. The room is now locked, so go back to the alter, and have a look at the Black Materia. Either 'Take it' or 'Shake it' to trigger a sequence which ends with Cait Sith promising to come down and help you.

Now the room is unlocked, so leave and go back to the Clock Room, which now only allows you to go straight through, to exit XII.

The End

The final showdown. As you approach the door, Cloud will try to open it, triggering the last guardian of the temple, Demons Gate. Give it a good beating, chat a little with Cait Sith and get out of there.

Cait Sith being the good little cat-puppet he is will sacrifice himself to turn the temple into Black Materia and Cloud and Aeris will jump down to it and retreive it. End of story.

Or so you thought, but you are only on disc one yet, are you not? Yeah, this is where Sephiroth makes yet another appearance. Again, Cloud breaks down, and due to sheer idiocy (and some other things later revealed by the storyline) gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth!

Bury your face in your hands and groan a little while you wait for the story to unfold and let you take control again. Off Sephy-hunting you go!!

The Monsters

There are a number of monsters scattered throughout the temple. In the labyrinth, you will mostly encounter Toxic Frogs, Under Lizards, Doorbulls and Kelzmelzer.

Then you have a few other monsters in the Clock Room, namely a few 8 eyes, some more Toxic Frogs along with a Jemnezmy and two Ancient Dragons.

On top of that, you will also face two bosses, a Red Dragon and a little later Demons Gate.

The Ancient Forest

Welcome to the Ancient Forest, where insects, frogs, treasures and carnivorous plants abound. Step in and be entranced, and while you're at it, allow me to show you around, please...

For the hardcore gamer who wants to figure out the puzzles by yourself, there is a 'How do they work?' glossary in Section B(c), providing details about how certain aspects of the Ancient Forest puzzle solver works (like insects, frogs, behives... the lot). Getting a clearer picture of this would enable you to solve the puzzles with more ease.

For everyone else, who have tried, want to try or simply wish to get through the forest as smoothly as possible (while grabbing all the great stuff, no doubt), the guide is here for you.

Section A: Getting Into the Ancient Forest

The Ancient Forest is a patch of weird greenery sticking out in the forests atop some canyons between Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon area.

You can access the Ancient Forest if you have already bred a Green, Black or Gold Chocobo. For more tips on how to breed the correct chocobo, please refer to the Chocobo section of the online strategy guide here.

Alternatively, if you've defeated the Ultimate WEAPON (the black goo hovering above the deep blue rounded crevass near Junon area), he will plummet into the ground and cause a huge dent in the canyons near Cosmo Canyon. From there, you may access the Ancient Forest.

Section B: Inside the Ancient Forest

Here is a treasure trove of valuables; where you'll trek branch by branch for them, fight snapping venus flytraps to grab them and solve intricate and confusing landscape puzzles to snag them all. If you wish to get all the treasures with the least hassle, then do pay attention to this walkthrough!

Treasures
Here's a list of the goodies you can find in the Ancient Forest:

- Supershot ST (weapon for Vincent)

Location: Area One

- Spring Gun Clip (weapon for Red XIII)

Location: Area One

- Slash-all materia (command materia)

Location: Area Two

- Minerva Band (woman's armlet)

Location: Area Two

- Typoon materia (summon materia)

Location: Area Four

- Apocalypse (weapon for Cloud)

Location: Area Five

- Elixir (recovery item)

Location: Area Five

Monsters
Typically, there are 3 types of monsters you can find inside the Ancient Forest. None of them are exactly life-threatening if you take the usual precautions, so watch out and have fun!

• Diablo
• Elpionis
• Rilfsak

How do they work?
The Ancient Forest may look like a myriad of mazes, but the key to getting past all the areas actually lie in mastering the key points (like insects, frogs and the like) so that you can figure which goes with what to produce what kind of results. Here are the descriptions of all the key points in the Forest...

1. +++ Insects +++
   • These are the green dots hopping up and down.
   • They can be used to shut a pitcher plant up so you can use the shut lid to jump over some areas. The pitcher plant will digest the insect, though, so haste would be needed. Once the plant opens its mouth, you won't be able to leap onto it.
   • Insects are also effective for luring frogs out of their hideout in hollow trees.
   • Once an insect is digested, it will not appear again until you re-enter the area.
2. +++ Frogs +++
   • Frogs are frogs. You should be able to recognize them.
   • When placed in a pitcher plant, the pitcher plant will shut it's lid. Thus, you may also use the frog to close the pitcher plant to hop on it to another area. The only difference is that pitcher plants cannot digest frogs and will spit them out after some time.
   • Because frogs are spat out instead of being digested, if you happen to be standing atop the plant at the moment, the resultant force would propel you into a new area.
   • Frogs can be lured out from hollow trees by placing an insect in front of the tree.
3. +++ Pitcher Plant +++
   • Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants shaped like pitchers. They have a lid which closes down (thereby forming a platform for you to hop on) once an insect or a frog is fed to it.
   • Make good use of the frog=pitcher plant combination to propel you to some out of reach areas.
4. +++ Venus Flytraps +++
   • A carnivorous, 'snap-jaw' type of plant. Once it senses something within it, it snaps its' jaws and attempts to digest it's victim.
   • Take advantage of the beehive=flytrap combination to help ease the route for safer passage.
5. +++ Elastic Stamens +++
   • A flower with something like a tongue hanging down from it's bud. These 'tongues' are like rubber bands and can be used like a spring to bounce you from one area to another.
   • They're a good way to get around. (amusing, too.)
6. +++ Beehives +++
   • Beehives are generally there for you to shut the venus flytrap up. Make the most of them! You'll have to go through some complications to actually get to one, though.

Section C: Walkthrough

Area One
This is the first area you are brought into when you enter the Ancient Forest. Notice that there are a few green things hopping around. If you interact with them, a dialog will pop up, providing some basic guidelines to navigating around the Ancient Forest. You don't need to remember anything right now, except on how to snap back to the entrance when need be. The rest would merely be trial-and-error experimentation.

All right, ready to grab your first treasure? Remember the 3 insects hopping up and down near the entrance of the Forest? Grab them, and put them all within reach of the pitcher plants.

Feed each pitcher plant with an insect and hop over to the other side of Area One. You'll find that you'll be able to grab the Supershot ST (marked ((B)) on map) from the Venus Flytrap now.

To get the Supershot ST safely, you'll have to walk slowly towards the treasure. Notice that the flytrap has 2 rings of teeth, external and internal. Stop just outside the internal one and press CIRCLE or OK. If it was unsuccessful, move a little closer. If the jaws snap and you hop out, go back and try again (remember to cure your people first!).

Now head over and collect the Spring Gun Clip (marked ((A)) on the map). Exit to the right of the scene to emerge into Area Two.

Area Two
So far, so good. Grab the insect and stand under the first elastic stamen. When prompted, jump onto the ledge and feed the insect to the pitcher plant. Beware that there is a hollow tree behind you and a frog may leap out to glomp the insect first, so if that happens, just grab the frog and stuff it into the pitcher plant. Now use the closed lid to hop over to the other part of Area Two.

Take the frog and climb onto the ledge here. Stuff the frog into the pitcher plant on the left and stand on the plant. Wait for the force to propel you onto a high ledge where the beehive is located.

Grab the beehive and jump down. Toss the hive into the Venus Flytrap and it will close up. Now that shiny little piece of Slash-all materia (marked ((C)) on the map) is yours for the keeping.

You'll notice that there's a baggage located on one of the branches that is out of reach from where you are. It's marked ((D)) on the map. Don't worry, it's the Minerva Band and you'll get it soon enough. For the moment, just ignore it.

Take the frog and go up the ledge again. This time, put the frog in the right pitcher plant and stand on it. The force will push you up and over the Venus Flytrap and en route as you exit right, to Area Three.

Area Three
Locate the two insects in this area and move them within reach of the pitcher plants. Now feed the plants with the insects and hop onto the closed lids to reach the elastic stamen here. You will be propelled into Area Four.

But that's not the end of Area Three! More of this later!

Area Four
When you emerge from the canopy, maneuver your way around the branches so that you can go all the way to the left main branch. Walk down and you'll find out you'll exit back into Area Two.

Remember that baggage you can't seem to get? Now grab it. You'll find that you won't be able to return to the canopy from here, so hop down and repeat the stuff you did previously to make your way back to Area Four.

Now you must maneuver your way around so that you'll pass 3 elastic stamens to the extreme right of the main branch. Here you will find your Typoon materia ((E)).

Make your way back and find this really large trunk somewhere in the middle that has a broken limb. Walk to it, but don't go up the broken limb! If you do, you'll be propelled to the 3 elastic stamens. Try to find a way AROUND the broken limb. After that, you'll find yourself back at a new part in Area Three.

Area Three: Revisited
Follow the little vine down to the broken tree trunk. Find an insect and feed it to the pitcher plant on the right (the one with it's mouth opened) so you can hop onto it, and onto the one above it to reach the bee hive.

Throw the hive to the flytrap to shut it's trap. Take the insect here and feed it to the pitcher plant so you can get to the area where there's this hollow tree. Once you're there, take another insect and place it in front of the hollow tree once you hear something that sounds like a frog.

Leave the frog alone for now and take the last insect in this area. Feed it to the pitcher plant to close it's lid. Now quickly grab the frog and hop to the right side (where the venus flytrap is).

Feed the frog to the pitcher plant to the right (there's only one with it's lid opened) and stand on top of it. Watch the force throw you over to the little outcrop before the cave entrance. Now enter the cave and you're at the final area, Area Five.

Area Five
Whey hey! You don't need a walkthrough for this area, so grab the Apocalypse ((F)) and the Elixir ((G)) and exit by the top screen.

Congratulations! You've finished the Ancient Forest part. Hope you'll make good use of the treasures you've found and have a good game.

Finding Vincent Valentine/Shinra Mansion

Getting Vincent is one of those things that will take forever, with a lot of practice and patience. (Actually, this is only true when you're trying to get him at the very first opportunity. Picking him up in the last disc will be considerably easier.) This page will help you through everything you need to do to get him.

To get him, you have to go to the Shinra Mansion in Nibel. You can do this on any Disc, except during the Flashback when Cloud returns there with Sephiroth.

Inside the Shinra Mansion, go to the room directly to the left of the entrance. There will be an object on the ground. Read it. After the short introduction, continue reading to receive clues. These clues will help you find the numbers of a combination hidden throughout the mansion. You will need these to open a safe later on.

Clue #1
The lid of the box with the most oxygen.

As you're running through the mansion you'll the notice yellow boxes that you've come to recognize as something that contains items. Well, one of the numbers is not inside the box, but rather written on it. You have to figure out which box it is. The easy way to do this, is once you've received something from a box, press O on it a second time to see if anything happens. If you need any other help, look at the clue. Notice the "most oxygen"? Plants give off oxygen, don't they? Look at the box in the arboretum on the second floor.

Clue #2
Behind the Ivory's short of tea and ray.

This clue will make no sense to most people at first glance. So, let's pick it apart!

Obviously, the Ivory refers to the piano found in the leftmost room of the first floor, because piano keys are made of ivory. (Hey! You learned something new today. Well, how about that.)

Now, what the hell does "tea and ray" mean?

Well, apparently, the piano lacks the keys that make the "ti" and "re" notes. In other words, it is "short of ti and re." However, the game used a spelling for these notes that translated into actual words, which is the source of confusion.

So, to receive the answer to this clue, you have to check behind the piano on the first floor.

Clue #3
The creek in the floor near the chair on the second floor...
Then to the left five steps, up nine steps, left two steps, up six steps.

The location of this chair takes a little searching, because you don't know which chair. It's the one on the second floor (just like the clue says) in the room to the very lower right, near where the entrance to the spiral staircase is. There's a dark red chair next to the bed in that room. If you stand in front of it (not to the side) and press O, Cloud will bend down and you'll hear a small creaking sound. Yes, the clue mispelled creak. It doesn't really mean there's a river up there somewhere. Now you'll have to count your steps. You won't be exact, but just use common sense - if nine steps takes you into a wall and you've only counted seven, try going through the door right next to you and keep going. The clue is hidden in the ground, so once you're in the place where you think it is, just keep walking around and hitting O.

Clue #4
The letter doesn't have a selection for this clue. It's actually hidden in invisible ink on the letter itself. What you do is on the menu that lets you select between Dials (or Clues, like I used here) 1 through 3, just move the cursor down and you'll be able to select an empty blank. Select it, and it will tell you the fourth number on the combination. This is the easiest to find and you should be able to find this without any help. In fact, this is the first number I found.

The Combination
The numbers you find should be:

Dial (1) : Right 36

Dial (2) : Left 10

Dial (3) : Right 59

Dial (4) : Right 97

Now, you can go to the safe on the upper left hand room of the second floor, and open it with these combinations. You only have twenty seconds, which is not a lot of time especially if you haven't memorized the combination first, and remember, you CANNOT go past the number and go back. You'll have to redo it if you do. When you do land on a number, press O to let it register, otherwise you risk messing it up.

Once you open the safe, you'll meet up with Lost Number. He can be pretty hard if you don't do it right. For more info on Lost Number, click here.

After you beat him, pick up the Basement Key left in the safe. (There is also an Odin materia nearby, so don't leave it!) This will open the door in the basement of the mansion that you might have seen, but couldn't open.

Now, go down the spiral staircase and into the basement. In the hallway just before you enter the Library, you'll see that door you couldn't open. Now you can just walk right in. Inside, you'll see coffins everywhere, but the purple one in the middle stands out. That's where Vincent is. Open it, and you get to talk to Vincent.

Unlike Yuffie, what you say will not affect whether or not you'll get Vincent. As long as you finish the conversation, he will join you, so don't worry about selecting the wrong reply or anything. After an interesting conversation involving Sephiroth, the Turks, and Sephiroth's mom, (and you'll also have to wake Vincent up a couple of times), he'll start telling you to let him sleep. Just because he doesn't join your party now, you may feel you've failed, but you haven't. Just leave the room, and go to the left. Keep going toward the staircase, and Vincent will fly back in and offer to join your party. You then get the Reform menu, so you can decide whether or not you want to put him in your party right away.

That's it to getting Vincent!

Finding Yuffie Kisaragi

Job: Materia hunter, Ninja Age: 16 Weapon: Knife, boomerang, origami (for throwing) Height: 5'2"

Birthdate: November 20 Birthplace: Wutai Blood Type: A

Finding Yuffie Kisaragi

Yuffie is one of the "secret" characters in Final Fantasy VII. In other words, she's an optional character; you don't need to beat the game with her. Of the two hidden characters in the game, Yuffie is the easiest to find. Here's how to do it.

Simply run around the forest areas of Junon or Gongaga until you meet the "Mystery Ninja" enemy (this is actually Yuffie). Upon beating her, you will be given the chance to talk to her. There is a Save Point in the back, but do not save. Talk to her, but don't say anything insulting or stupid that might risk hurting her feelings. The conversation goes basically like so.