___ _ _ _____ ___ ___ ___ _

_ ___ _____ ___ ___ _ _

|_ _| \| |_
_| _ \/ _ \|
\| | | |/ __|_
_|_ _/ _ \| \|
|
|

| || .` | | | |

/ (_) | |) | |_| | (__

| |

| | (_) | .`

|___|_|\_| |_| |_|_\\___/|___/ \___/ \___| |_| |___\___/|

_|\_|
______________________________________________________________
For over a decade, Final Fantasy VII has been a
_____________________
highly appreciated game, and it has been nominee for
oO
Steve
Oo
"best game ever" countless times. This strategy guide ||
Ultimate ||
allows you to relive this classic in its full glory,
Oo
faq@shillatime.org oO
or, to put it in different words: "You've played FF VII

before, but you've never BEATEN it ... yet!"

Absolute
Version:

Final Fantasy VII has always been one of my favorite games ever, and
this guide
remains a pet project. It's amazing how many deep themes the story
explores and
how many subtle references are hidden away in the game. One can also
point to
the many 'beauty' imperfections the game has, which have led to an
unprecedented
amount of research on the game by fans all over the world. These
imperfections
have - paradoxically - made the game more interesting for many of us.
The fact
that official guides and sources lacked enormous amounts of
information allowed
a large pile of secrets to stack up, which of course has been
harvested over the
years and is now presented to you in this guide. It furthermore
appears to be
the case that the older one grows, the more one is able to appreciate
the game's
unparalleled humor, incredible soundtrack, numerous secrets, and the
melancholic
nostalgia of the days when games were primarily about gameplay,
radical jokes
and philosophical or literary narrative.
This guide is a recollection of a vast amount of information that has
been
unearthed from Final Fantasy VII over the years, and as of yet, the
source
seemingly hasn't dried up. It also contains unique, self-researched
information
and a walkthrough with notes on when (un)official sidequests become
available,
along with notes on how to boost your party to perfection in an
optional
'Perfect Game' challenge.

There are still moments when I wish to make a beautiful printed guide
(or at the
very least, a definite guide in PDF format) out of this document, but
it would
require a team of people, or at the very least a very skilled
designer willing
to take on this task pro deo. Do let yourself be heard if you're out
there.
So far, interestingly enough, several people have sent me an email
over the
years, showing initial interest. But apparently such interest is but
a temporary
spark, as they're never again heard from after follow-up email
correspondence.
Rests me to wish you a lot of pleasure with Final Fantasy VII. I can
only hope
that this guide does justice to the depth of the game.
Steve
___
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_ _____ ___ ___ _ _ ___
|
\ / _ \| \| | /_\_
_|_ _/ _ \| \| / __|
| |) | (_) | .` |/ _ \| | | | (_) | .` \__ \
|___/ \___/|_|\_/_/ \_\_| |___\___/|_|\_|___/
______________________________________________
[AND TERMS OF USE IN A SENSE]
If you found this guide helpful, feel free
to consider one of these options to donate:
1. Paypal donation at: faq@shillatime.org

2. Make a purchase at Amazon.com by searching

for your item through my referral search
box (this grants me 4% profit with no
additional costs for you), found at:
http://www.shillatime.org/amazon.html

Thank you very much for your consideration!

_____ _
___ _
___
___ ___
___ ___ _ _ _____ ___ _ _
_____ ___
|_
_/_\ | _ ) | | __| / _ \| __| / __/ _ \| \| |_
_| __| \| |_
_/ __|
| |/ _ \| _ \ |__| _| | (_) | _| | (_| (_) | .` | | | | _|| .` |
| | \__ \
|_/_/ \_\___/____|___| \___/|_|
\___\___/|_|\_| |_| |___|_|\_|
|_| |___/
_____________________________________________________________________
____[TOC]
Use Ctrl+F to find what you're looking for, and copy/paste the
brackets {}.
I) Walkthrough: {WAL}
=====================
{0} Default Controls and general tips

{1} The Reactor #1 raid

{2} Sector 7: At the hideout
{3} The second raid: Reactor #5
{4} Aeris the flower girl
{5} Cross dressing at Wall Market
{6} Sewers, Train Graveyard, and Pillar Assault
{7} Back in the slums
{8} Raiding Shinra HQ!
{9} Flashback at Kalm Town
{10} Chocobo Ranch, the Marshes, and the Mythril Mines
{11} Junon
{12} To sunny places!
{13} Mount Corel
{14} The Gold Saucer and Corel Prison
{15} Optional: Fun with the Buggy
{16} Gongaga Village
{17} Cosmo Canyon & Cave of the Gi
{18} Nibelheim & Shinra Mansion
{19} Mount Nibel
{20} Rocket Town
{21} Optional things with the Tiny Bronco
{OPT-2} Wutai
{OPT-3} The Wutai Pagoda
{22} The Keystone and the Date
{23} The Temple of the Ancients
{24} Bone Village, The Sleeping Forest & City of the Ancients
{25} Coral Valley Cave & Icicle Inn
{26} The Great Glacier
{27} Gaea's Cliffs
{28} Whirlwind Maze
{29} Escape from Junon
{30} Flying High: Optional things with the Highwind
{31} Mideel
{32} The Huge Materia: Corel and Fort Condor
{33} Cloud at Mideel + More optional things
{34} The Underwater Reactor
{35} The Gelnika and other optional things
{36} A Space Odyssey 1997
{37} The Key to the Ancients + Diamond Weapon
{38} Stopping Midgar's Cannon!
{39} The Northern Crater
{40} Doing the last optional things
{41} The Final Fights of this Fantasy
II) Characters and Storyline [Contains SPOILERS!] {C}
=====================================================
{C1} Playable Characters
{C1.1} Cloud Strife
{C1.2} Barret Wallace
{C1.3} Tifa Lockheart
{C1.4} Aeris Gainsborough
{C1.5} RedXIII (Nanaki)
{C1.6} Cait Sith
{C1.7} Cid Highwind
{C1.8} Yuffie Kisaragi
{C1.9} Vincent Valentine
III) Minigames: {M}
===================
{M1} Gold Saucer
{M1.1} Wonder Square

{M1.2} Speed Square

{M1.3} Battle Square
{M1.4} Chocobo Square
{M1.5} Round, Event, Ghost, Station Square, & GP Dude
{M1.6} The Gold Saucer Date Scene & Date Mechanics
{M2} Chocobo Breeding
{M2.1} Quick Guide to breed a Gold Chocobo
{M2.2} Chocobo Breeding Mechanics
{M3} Fort Condor
{M4} Bone Village
{M5} Storyline Minigames
{M5.1} Gym Squats in Wall Market
{M5.2} Mayor Domino's Password
{M5.3} G-Bike
{M5.4} Tifa's Piano
{M5.5} CPR on Priscilla
{M5.6} Jumping with Mr. Dolphin
{M5.7} Parading
{M5.8} The Send-off for Rufus
{M5.9} Snowboarding at Icicle Valley
{M5.10} Submarine battle
IV) Optional Quests & Areas: {OPT}
===================================
{OPT-1} Getting Yuffie
{OPT-2} Wutai (see Walkthrough)
{OPT-3} The Wutai Pagoda (see Walkthrough)
{OPT-4} Wutai Da-chao Fire Cave
{OPT-5} Getting Vincent/Shinra Mansion
{OPT-6} Ancient Forest
{OPT-7} Minor optional quests
{OPT-7.1} Lucrecia's Cave
{OPT-7.2} The backroom
{OPT-7.3} Treasure at Rocket Town
{OPT-7.4} Chocobo Sage
{OPT-7.5} Cactus Island
{OPT-7.6} Villa Costa Del Sol
{OPT-7.7} The Sunken Gelnika (see Walkthrough)
{OPT-7.8} Revisiting Midgar Slums
{OPT-7.9} Cave with Sleeping Man
{OPT-7.10} The Weapon Seller
{OPT-7.11} The Turtle's Paradise Flyers
{OPT-7.12} Hidden Scene in Shinra Mansion
{OPT-7.13} Creating Master Materia from Huge Materia
{OPT-7.14} The Old beat-up key in Mideel
{OPT-7.15} The Kalm Traveller
{OPT-7.16} The 4 Secret Materia Caves
V)
The optional WEAPONs: {WEA}
=================================
{WEA-1} Ultimate Weapon
{WEA-2} Emerald Weapon
{WEA-3} Ruby Weapon
VI)
Ultimate Weapons & (Ultimate) L4 Limit Break Manuals: {ULT}
=================================================================
{ULT-1} Ultimate Weapon & L4 Limit Break List
{ULT-2} Ultimate Weapons at Max Power
VII) General Useful Information: {INF}
=======================================

{INF-1.1} Character Stats Information

{INF-1.2} Character's Min/Max Natural Stats
{INF-2} Battle Types & Front/Backrow
{INF-3} Gaining Experience
{INF-4} Elemental Information
{INF-5} Status Effects
{INF-6} Limit Breaks
{INF-7} Useful Wins, Steals & Morphs
{INF-8} Shopping List
{INF-9} Overflow
VIII) Lists: Equipment, Materia & Spells: {LIS}
================================================
{LIS-1} Items
{LIS-2} Key Items
{LIS-3} Weapons
{LIS-4} Armor
{LIS-5} Accessories
{LIS-6} Materia & Spells/Commands
{LIS-6.1} Magic Green Materia & Magic Spells
{LIS-6.2} Summon Red Materia & Summon Spells
{LIS-6.3} Support Blue Materia
{LIS-6.4} Independent Purple Materia
{LIS-6.5} Command Yellow Materia
{LIS-6.6} Enemy Skills
{LIS-7} Materia Combinations
{LIS-8} Reflection
IX) The Perfection Challenge {PER}
==================================
{PER-1} Introduction
{PER-2} Stat Maxing
{PER-3} Item Maxing
{PER-4} Un-mastered Materia Maxing
{PER-5} 100% Treasure
{PER-6} Lost Forever Items and things to watch
{PER-7} Max Natural HP/MP
X)
Enemy Encyclopedia {ENC}
==============================
{ENC-1} Explanations
{ENC-2} Enemy Encyclopedia
{ENC-3} World Map Encounters
{ENC-4} Chocobo Encounters
{ENC-5} Field Map Encounters
XI)
Appendix:
================
{AP-1} Music Guide: FFVII's Official Soundtrack
{AP-2} One-Winged Angel Lyrics & Translation
{AP-3} Memory Card Slot Pictures
{AP-4} Tricks
{AP-5} 'Best of'
{AP-5.1} The Best Team
{AP-5.2} The Best Armor and Accessory
{AP-6} Interesting facts: Did you know that..?
{AP-7} PC Re-release (2012)
XII)
Wanted List
===================

XIII)
Version History
=======================
XIV)
Credits
===============
XV)
Copyright
=================
__
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_
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_ ___ _ _
| |/ /_
_| || | _ \/ _ \| | | |/ __| ||

\ \/\/ / _ \| |__| ' <

| | | __ |

/ (_) | |_| | (_ | __

\_/\_/_/ \_\____|_|\_\ |_| |_||_|_|_\\___/ \___/ \___|_||

_|
________________________________________________________{WAL}
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
||
{0} Default Controls and general tips
||
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
This section contains the controls of the game, including some menu
controls
that are much less widely known but rather useful. It also contains
useful tips
which could save you a lot of time. Keep in mind that you can always
go to the
Beginners Hall in the game (located in the Sector 7 Slums and upper
Junon) for
more basic and in-depth information regarding the game.
Field Controls (In towns, etc):
------------------------------D-pad
= Moving around
X
= (Hold + D-pad) to run
Square
= Nothing
O
= 'Ok button', talking, grabbing treasure
Triangle = Open menu
L1
= (Hold + D-pad) to move diagonally
R1
= (Hold + D-pad) to move diagonally
L2/R2
= Nothing
Start
= Nothing
Select
= Displays exits (red), ladders (green) and a cursor above
Cloud
L1+R1+L2+R2+Start+Select = Soft Reset
Battle Controls:
---------------D-pad
= Moving in the menu
X
= Cancel button
Square
= (Hold to) hide menu (to see HP/MP stats)
O
= Select command
Triangle = Switch to other available character (no turn loss)
L1+R1
= (Hold to) escape from battle

L1
= Scroll through menu quickly
R1
= Scroll through menu quickly
L2
= Toggles display of available 'Targets'
R2
= Nothing
Start
= Pause
Select
= Displays extra bar with additional help info (including
enemy names)
Useful Menu Controls:
--------------------Triangle = Unequip Materia/Accessory
L1/R1
= Swap between characters in submenu's
o In Materia Menu: Move cursor to Arrange and select Arrange for
arranging
Materia by sort/color, Exchange allows moving materia from/to any
character
o You can select weapon or armor to swap all the materia in that
piece of
equipment to another character's weapon or armor.
o In Status Menu: Press O multiple times for Elemental/Status
Ailments info
o In PHS Menu: Press O on character twice to view additional info
o In Config Menu: Many options available, ATB at Wait is useful for
starters,
that will allow you to scroll through menus without being attacked.
Memory
will put the cursor where you left it the previous time in battle.
WARNING: CHANGING THE CONTROLS FROM THE DEFAULT IN CUSTOM CONTROLS
WILL CAUSE
PROBLEMS WITH FOR EXAMPLE: CHOCOBO BREEDING, CLIMBING SOME
LADDERS
(MOST NOTABLY THE ONE IN BONE VILLAGE), AND SEVERAL
MINIGAMES, SUCH AS
THE PARADING MINIGAME!
General Tips:
------------o Save often and keep multiple files. You can never have enough save
files.
o Keep a stock of Potions, Hi-Potions, X-Potions and Phoenix Downs.
o Organize your inventory. Organizing by 'Type' will group all
similar items
together, allowing for faster and effective usage during battle.
o Explore and talk to everyone multiple times; You'll often get a
piece of
interesting information out of them, or better yet, a great item.
o Double growth equipment can be a better choice than a stronger
piece of
equipment, as your Materia will gain better magic at a much faster
rate.
o Long range characters (Barret, Yuffie and Vincent) should be placed
in the
back row with the 'Order' option in your menu, as they'll take less
damage
this way. There are only a few weapons for long range characters
that are not
long ranged.
o Many enemies have their own unique weakness. Humans can often be
poisoned and

mechanical enemies are weak against lightning. Airborne creatures

are almost
always weak against wind, but avoid any earth-based attacks.
o Focus on a single enemy until it dies. This is a better method than
to damage
all enemies just a little. Remember they'll all attack back at some
point.
o Once you can get Hypers, it may be useful to give them to your
characters
which gives them the status 'Fury'. Under this status, your Limit
Break will
fill up TWICE as fast (the limit bar will be red). The only
downside is that
your characters will miss more often, but this is still a great way
to learn
new limit breaks!
o Alternatively, you can put your characters in Sadness by giving
them
Tranquilizers. This will halve the speed of the limit bar (colors
it blue),
but the plus side is that your characters take ~30% less damage!
Take note of:
------------o Equipment will more than often increase stats without giving the
player any
indications that it does so. Many weapons don't just increase
Strength but
greatly boost your Magic as well. Some armor also boosts stats.
o Equipment comes with Single and Linked slots. Linked slots are only
useful if
you pair one Support Materia with another Materia, such as
Elemental - Fire,
or Ice - All.
o Weapons and armor can have different growth rates. If a piece of
equipment has
a Normal Growth rate, the Materia attached will gain AP at a
regular rate. If
the piece of equipment has Double or even Triple Growth, then the
Materia in
that weapon grow two to three times as fast.
o On the flipside, some weapons or armor have no Growth at all. This
is obvious
when the piece of equipment has no slots, but it is more difficult
to notice
if it *does* have slots. The game still notes No Growth by
'NOTHING', but you
can also take a close look at the equipment's slots. If it has a
darker hole
in the middle then the equipment has no Growth. If it has a lighter
hole in
the center then it'll have Normal, Double or Triple growth.
<Perfect Game Notes: Highly Optional>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
You will occasionally see these notes sprinkled through the
walkthrough, and
you'll no doubt will wonder why someone would go through all that
trouble for
little to no reward at all.

These notes are intended for those who are attempting to maximize
their save
game by getting the maximum amount of every item, the best possible
stats for
every character, getting all treasure - in other words, they
completely tear the
game apart during their playthrough. It's a tough challenge and only
recommended
if you've played through the game several times already.
Obviously these notes are highly optional and not required during a
regular
playthrough. You'll find that the walkthrough is perfectly crafted to
find
everything else without needing the information in these Perfect Game
Notes.
Please decide beforehand if you want to do your perfect game *with*
or *without*
using tricks such as the W-Item trick, the Extended W-Item trick, or
the
repeating boss trick. You can find more information about these
tricks in
section {AP-4}.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO
||
{1} The Reactor #1 raid
||
CHECKLIST
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=oO=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
|| Treasure:| Potion (x2), Phoenix Down, Potion, Restore Materia,
||
||
| Assault Gun (Boss Reward), Potion.
||
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
After the epic introduction you can control our spikey-haired main
character.
Before anything, search the body of the first knocked-down guard
twice to find
two Potions.
Note: You can actually grab these two Potions from either guard, or
two from one
of the guards. It doesn't matter, since two is all you'll get.
We're assuming you know the controls, which can also be found in the
instruction
manual. First-timers would do well to press the select button, which
places
cursors all over the screen. These tell you which way to go, and
where you are.
Cloud, our main character, gets a big scary finger hanging over his
spikey hair
and exits are marked with red triangles. Climbable objects such as
ladders are

indicated by green arrows. If you are a first-timer, I suggest you

read section
{0} that covers the controls and some basic hints.
Run down the station tracks and two guards initiate a fight. Your
regular
attack will easily do them in, so don't waste your MP on these ..
MP's. Talk to
your teammates in the next screen and you'll get to rename Cloud (if
you feel
like it) and Barret. Keep in mind that you'll never be able to change
a
character's name after selecting it, so choose wisely or simply stick
with the
default names.
After the dialog, head north to follow your team members. You'll
likely run into
random encounters at this point, so swipe them off your back as you
head into
the reactor. Once inside the reactor, talk to Barret who joins your
ranks.
Tip: Head into the Menu and select 'Order'. You'll want to select
Barret twice,
which will put him in the back row. Since Barret has a gun-arm,
he'll be
to hit enemies for the same damage, while only receiving half
the damage
from physical attacks.
Speak with Biggs and Jessie, who'll gladly open the doors for you. A
Phoenix
Down can be looted from a box in the southern room, after which
you'll have to
talk to Jessie once more to open the elevator doors.
Press the button and exit the elevator again after the dialog between
Barret and
Cloud. Follow Jessie downstairs and go through the door. Walk to
Jessie for a
quick tutorial on how to climb ladders (which are marked with green
triangles,
if you used the SELECT button before). The blue potion lying around
is.. well,
it's a Potion. Climb down the second ladder, walk over some pipes,
and make your
way to a final ladder.
It is recommended to save your game at the Save Point, which looks
like a
rotating quotation mark. Generally, Save Points appear before bosses
or other
moments when 'something' is going to happen. Head down to the next
screen, grab
the green marble (now formally known as a Restore Materia) and fiddle
with the
valve. Looks like it's time for your first boss fight.
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------.

|Name: Guard Scorpion (Level: 12)

|Weakness: Lightning
|
|HP: 800
|Nullifies: Poison,
Gravity
|
|Exp: 100
|-----------------------------------|
|AP: 10
|Status Effects
Weaknesses:
|
|Gil: 100
|Slow, Stop
|
|Drops: Assault Gun(100%)
'-----------------------------------|
|Attacks: Search Scope
[1 Enemy, Selects target for next attack]
|
|
Rifle
[1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 41 Base Damage]
|
|
Scorpion's Tail [1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 71.75 Base Damage]
|
|
Tail Laser
[All Enemies, Phys Atk, 123 Base Damage]
|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Strategy: Guard Scorpion is a mechanical enemy, making it very
vulnerable
|
|--------- against lightning-based attacked. Therefore, have Cloud
use Bolt
|
|continuously throughout the battle, while Barret keeps firing
regularly by
|
|using physical attacks.
|
|
|
|The Guard Scorpion follows a set pattern. It will first use its
Search Scope |
|'attack', which is nothing more than a scan for its next target.
After this it|
|will attack regularly, perform another Search Scope, attack
regularly again, |
|and then raise its tail. It will wait two turns (during which it
will counter |
|with a powerful Tail Laser attack if attacked), after which it
lowers its tail|
|again. The pattern now repeats. Don't attack the boss when it has
its tail
|
|raised; simply wait for the boss to lower it.
|
|
|
|Unleash your Limit Breaks when they come up and keep pounding the
boss with
|
|Bolt and physical attacks until it breaks down.
|
|
|
|Trivia: Depending on who's alive when Guard Scorpion raises its
tail, the
|
|
in-battle dialogue changes. It remains unclear to the player
how to
|
|
adequately respond in each scenario.
|

'-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
After the battle you'll have 10 minutes to escape from the Reactor
'cause it's
going to blow! Go into the menu and equip Barret with the Assault
Gun, which is
better than his initial Gatling Gun.
Note: The timer does NOT stop when the menu is brought up. The only
time it'll
stop is when you pause the game during a battle.
Backtrack your way to the screen where you left Jessie. She's sitting
in a
crouched position on the lower part of the screen. Walk over and free
her foot
that got stuck between the metal bars. Simply return to the elevator
after this,
ride it up, talk to Jessie and Biggs to open the doors and get the
hell out of
the Reactor #01!
Midgar Sector 1:
---------------Make your way up the stairs after the scenes. You'll come across the
flower girl
that we saw in the intro. You can give different responses, and they
will affect
a certain scene later in the game. If you wish to follow a guide that
deals with
the different outcomes, check out section {M1.6}.
Don't let the electricity freak you out in the next screen. Do
something more
productive instead by picking up the Potion near the exit below, then
continue
down south.
Shinra Guards will attack you, but you're given a choice: Fight or
Run. Be quick
with deciding, or the game will pick the option that you left the
cursor on when
the guards reach you.
After the dialog, follow Jessie and jump over the crates. In the
train cabin,
talk to Jessie once again and she'll show you how the trains operate
in Midgar.
Have a chat with Barret afterwards.
When you depart, walk up to Barret for a rather quick debriefing.
After this,
you're finally given a first bit-sized snack of freedom in the game.
You can
talk to the train man and you can - which is even more interesting exit the
screen on the right to fight monsters in the train graveyard.
<Perfect Game Note 1:>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: Again I feel I must mention - for those who skip all
introductory
paragraphs - that these Perfect Game Notes do NOT have to be
done in order
to complete the game. This guide can be followed perfectly to
ensure that
you don't miss anything, without having to do the instructions
in these
perfect game notes. They are only for perfectionists, and they
are
implemented in the walkthrough to ease them in this tough
challenge.
Please don't feel distracted by these notes if you're not
interested in
this challenge and simply use the guide regularly. As for the
actual note:
Head to the train graveyard to the right so you can save up money to
buy 99 Iron
Bangles. This can take a very long time, however there *is* a way to
slightly
speed it up. Mono Drives (the small floating robots) sometimes drop
an Ether.
You can sell this for a whopping of 750 gil! Just pray they drop it,
because
it's a rather rare drop. It's not recommended to sell any other items
you own
because they aren't as profitable. You need to save 15840 gil to buy
99 Iron
Bangles.. but you'll also get 1500 gil from Barret, and you can also
find an
Ether as a treasure. You may also want to set the Battle Speed to the
maximum in
the menu. This will cut off a few more minutes per hour. Still,
expect this to
take a while.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
When you feel like you've had enough fun in the Train Graveyard,
follow the rest
of your team to the hideout.
Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO
||
{2} Sector 7: At the hideout
||

CHECKLIST
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=oO=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
|| Treasure:| 1500 Gil, All Materia, Ether.
||
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
In the next screen, head left like everyone else to proceed with the
story.
Otherwise, take a moment and talk to the guy in the upper left corner
of the

area to take a look at The Pillar, a large structure that keeps the
plate safely
above the slums. Sure is a good thing it's such a solid structure,
right?
The hideout is located in a bar called Seventh Heaven. Even through
there are
several houses it should be pretty clear which one the hideout is.
Talk to
Barret and head inside - we'll go over the other houses later.
Inside the hideout you get to meet (and name) your childhood friend
Tifa.
Attempt to go outside after having a little chat with her and Marlene
(Barret's
adopted daughter), and Barret will storm inside. Talk to Tifa, then
head down.
After a series of scenes you'll receive your salary from Barret: 1500
Gil!
Cloud gets a good night of rest, waking up fresh to depart on a new
mission. Go
up and talk to Tifa and Barret. You can choose to take a Materia
Tutorial (by
having Cloud explain this to Barret). If you're not familiar with the
Materia
system we suggest you follow this tutorial.
Exit the Seventh Heaven and go inside the building on the lower
right. There's a
weapon shop here that sells Iron Bangles - a better piece of
equipment than the
Bronze Bangle. Buy 3 of them and equip them on all your party
members. The shop
doesn't offer much of interest other than the Iron Bangles; You
already have an
Assault Gun for Barret and the Grenade is a fairly weak battle item
that causes
mild damage.
Should you need an Inn (if you've been training at the train
graveyard), talk to
the kid and offer him the minimum of 10 Gil. He'll then allow you to
use his
room all the way upstairs for power-naps.
When you head up to the second floor, enter a room known as 'The
Beginner's
Hall'. This place can teach you a lot of basic information on the
game, and if
you aren't familiar with the subjects it might do you good to glance
over them.
Talk to the dog for general information and to the man to get a list
of things
you can choose from. Pick up the blue All Materia on the right, as
well as the
Ether in the chest that drops down. You can also talk to the guys on
the crates
to learn everything related to battles.

The third floor only houses the boy's room (Inn), so pay a visit to
the building
on the lower left instead, which is the local Item/Materia store. You
don't have
the Fire Materia yet, so it would make an excellent addition to your
arsenal.
The other Materia are copies of those you already own, so it's best
not to spend
any gil on them right now. As for items, an extra Phoenix Down never
killed
anyone and it doesn't hurt to buy two Antidotes either. If you're got
any Ethers
left we suggest you sell the majority of your stock as they sell for
a whopping
of 750 Gil. Needless to say, this is a lot of money at this stage of
the game.
We suggest you pair the Lightning Materia with newly acquired All
Materia in
Cloud's equipment, and give Tifa and Barret your remaining Materia.
You've now
explored all places of interest except the house to the north. This
is the home
of a fellow named Johnny, who used to be a childhood friend of Tifa
and Cloud.
When you're ready, hop on the train to initiate the next bombing
mission!
Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO
|| {3} The second raid: Reactor #5 ||
CHECKLIST
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=oO=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
|| Treasure:| Phoenix Down, Hi-Potion, Ether, Potion, Tent, Ether,
||
||
| Titan Bangle (Boss Reward).
||
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
Once inside the train, talk to Tifa. What the...! The alarm goes off!
You're
only given 15 seconds to rush to the next cabin, but you still might
want to
talk to the guy sitting on the right in the back during the alarm.
He'll give
you a Phoenix Down out of appreciation. When you make it to the
second cabin,
another timer starts counting down. If you manage to speak with the
man on the
lower left you'll be rewarded with a Hi-potion if you tell him
'Yeah'. The third
cabin has a nasty surprise for you: As you rush through it, a
pickpocket will
steal an item from you (usually a Potion or Phoenix Down). Quickly
run back and
speak with him, telling him 'That's Right' - the bottom option - to
get the
stolen item back. Head for the exit and leave the train in the last
cabin.

Note: If the team gets caught by failing to make it to the next cabin
within the
time limit, nothing serious happens. You'll find that it's a
much longer
walk through the winding tunnels until you reach the reactor.
You are now in a winding tunnel. The reactor is located to the north,
but it's
possible to go down five screens (when you didn't get caught) to find
a guarded
door where you can battle Special Combatants that endlessly spawn.
It's not an
excellent training spot, and if you feel the need, training is best
done through
random encounters in the winding tunnel.
'Hey you! Slow Down!': The Grashstrike enemy (The green bug-like
creatures that
often use an attack called Silk - which slows the affected character)
will
sometimes drop an interesting item called Spider Web. This item casts
Slow on
all enemies, which is interesting to know because Slow works on many
bosses. If
you feel like it, try and get a few of these as you won't be able to
cast Slow
for a really long time. The chance this item is dropped is about 4.7%
per
Grashstrike. Since they tend to come in large groups, the chance per
battle is
higher.
When you reach the green laser beams, crawl through the ventilation
shaft on the
left side of the tunnel. Barret is kind of big, so the shaft freaks
him out.
Keep in mind that it's not possible to ever head back to the tunnels
once you
crawl down the shaft.
Grab the Ether and climb down two ladders. In this enormous looking
area,
simply climb the long ladder nearby your left. Note that Wedge is on
the lookout
in this area as well - say 'hi' if you like - he's located on the
left of the
long ladder.
Crawl through another shaft to get to an area with Jessie. Have a
quick chat and
grab the slightly concealed Potion on the left. You can ignore the
ladder to the
right, which only leads back to the large area. The one on the left
brings you
to a catwalk with Biggs, a Tent and a Save Point. As you climb
through the hole
you're finally inside Reactor #05.
Things should look awfully familiar from this point onward. Head to
the core of

the reactor just like you did in the previous one, and plant the
bomb. Backtrack
to the elevator and ride it up. The chest in the next area holds an
Ether (or in
other words, 750 Gil). The device on the upper left opens the door,
but all
three buttons must be pressed at the same time. Barret and Tifa will
always push
the buttons simultaneously, and you need to do the same. Timing is
everything!
It might be a good idea to make use of the Save Point after opening
the door,
because it's about time for another boss battle - this time with Boss
Music!
Guitars!
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|Name: Air Buster (Level: 15)
|Weakness: Lightning
|
|HP: 1200
|Halves: Fire
|
|Exp: 180
|Nullifies: Earth, Gravity
|
|AP: 16
|-----------------------------------|
|Gil: 150
|Status Effect Weaknesses:
|
|Drops: Titan Bangle(100%)
|Slow, Stop
|
|
'-----------------------------------|
|Attacks: Big Bomber [1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 109.375 Base Damage]
|
|
Energy Ball [1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 65.625 Base Damage]
|
|
Rear Gun
[1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 43.75 Base Damage]
|
|
Bodyblow
[1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 87.5 Base Damage]
|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Strategy: This is the only boss battle with a side attack formation.
Cloud is |
|on one side of Air Buster while Barret and Tifa are on the opposite
side. This|
|formation gives you a big advantage over Air Buster, who takes 5x
the regular |
|damage when attacked in the back. Time your Limit Breaks well and
they can do |
|enormous amounts of damage.
|
|
|
|Air Buster knows two executive programs, Program 1 & 2 Operation. In
P1 it
|
|will have access to its Big Bomber attack, although it can only use
this
|
|attack 4 times. In P2 it will switch to its less fearsome Energy
Ball attack. |

|
|
|As you might be aware of, you can skip a character's turn with the
Triangle
|
|button. Since Air Buster is a mechanical enemy, Bolt deals solid
damage. Try |
|to keep everyone's HP above 150 just in case the Big Bomber attack
is used,
|
|which can easily deal over 100 damage.
|
'-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
It looks like the team is in trouble! We'd best hope Cloud gets a
soft landing..
Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO
||
{4} Aeris the flower girl
||
CHECKLIST
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=oO=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
|| Treasure:| (5 gil - Don't pick it up!), Ether, Cover Materia,
Potion,
||
||----------| Phoenix Down.
||
|| Other:
| Turtles Paradise Flyer No. 1.
||
Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=*=-*=-*=-*oO
Talk to the flower girl and input her name - Aeris. Looks like Cloud
fell right
through the church roof! The couple chats for a bit and Cloud agrees
to be
Aeris' bodyguard in return for a date. At the same time, Reno from
the Turks
steps inside the church with the intention to kidnap Aeris. Make a
run for it!
Note: Aeris is placed in the back row by default, which effectively
halves all
her physical attacks. You can place her in the front row and
give her the
newly acquired Titan Bangle you received from Air Buster's
battle spoils
to compensate the loss of defense slightly. You might also want
to slap
the Restore Materia in one of her slots, if you know what I
mean.
As you make your way upstairs, Aeris falls down and is chased by the
Shinra
Soldiers. Cloud can tell her to fight, run, or to hold on. This last
option
allows you push one of the barrels upstairs to dispose of the Shinra
soldiers.
All you need to do is push the barrels in the right order: The
leftmost first,
the upper barrel second, and the rightmost barrel last. Don't wait
too long with

pushing a barrel or Aeris is forced into battle. With her and Cloud
rejoined,
exit the church by the hole through the roof.
You'll find yourself in the Sector 5 Slums with a Save Point nearby.
Be aware
of the random encounters in this area, as there are enemies here
called Vice
which can steal your equipment. Make sure you kill these thugs as
quickly as
possible. The road to Sector 6 (accessed through a hole in the wall
on the very
left) is blocked for now, so head up to visit the shopping center of
the Sector
5 Slums.
The nearby tube contains a sick guy that really 'are sick fo sho',
and he's got
the number #2 tattooed on his arm. It's almost as if someone has been
using this
guy to experiment on, wouldn't you think?
The big house in the middle houses two shops: The Materia shop is
located on the
left, but it doesn't sell anything new. The Item shop is on the
right, which
doesn't sell much worthwhile either. Should you need any Potions,
Phoenix
Downs, Antidotes or Tents, this is your haven.
Then there's the door on the far right. Enter and head upstairs. Read
the flyer
on the wall, which is the 'Turtles Paradise Flyer No. 1'. These
flyers are part
of a sidequest that you can activate much later on in the game. Talk
to the
snoring kid and check the locker. Open the hidden drawer, but do NOT
take the 5
Gil. If you don't take this now, you'll get a much better reward
later.
Lastly, the bus on the upper right part of the screen represents the
local
weapon store. If you can afford it, buy 3 Titan Bangles and exit the
area on the
right.
Check the beautiful garden before entering Aeris' house in order to
collect an
Ether and the Cover Materia. Feel free to make use of the Save Point
as well.
Tip: The Cover Materia will have the equipped character protect other
members
from physical attacks. It works best to equip the Cover Materia
on someone
placed in the back row (who takes half the damage of physical
attacks).
Therefore, long range characters such as Barret are ideally
given the Cover
Materia since they're usually in the back row.

After meeting Elmyra, head upstairs to rest. Since Sector 6 is such a

dangerous
area it is probably better to leave Aeris out of your problems and go
by
yourself, right? When Cloud wakes up, grab the Potion and Phoenix
down near the
bed and WALK near the ledge of the stairs to go down. If you only run
for an
instant, Aeris will discover that you're awake and she won't let you
leave. Once
downstairs, exit the area and backtrack to the hole in the wall that
used to be
blocked....only to meet up with Aeris anyhow.
Make your way through Sector 6 until you reach a playground. Cloud
and Aeris
spot Tifa on the back of a Chocobo cart and set out to search for
her. The cart
was headed for Wall Market, so Tifa is likely to be around there ..
somewhere.