Walkthrough

�� At the start of the game, you'll have 3 Potions, a Phoenix Down, and an Ether. You can'tequip materia until you reach Section 1.3, by the way. Once you leave the train, check the body of the closest guard twice to get two Potions. Then head north. You'll be attacked by some guards.� Take them out withyour sword (you may win a Potion for killing them) and then move left to go outside. Now, talk to your teammates (Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie), then name yourself and Barret. Make your way to the northwestern door, and head up in the next room to enter the heart of the power plant.� Talk to Barret, (who joins you) and then talk to each Avalanche member to open the doors. After opening the second door, head right to enter another chamber with a treasure chest (Phoenix Down). Then, go back and enter the elevator (you'll have to talk to Jessie first). Press the arrow switch to activate it Work your way down the stairs and go through the door to the left. Then follow Jessie down the ladder. When he stops, search the area in front of him for a Potion (it's hard to see because of the steam). Climb down, cross the pipes, descend the nearby ladder, and take note of the Save Point before heading down the walkway.� Pick up the Restore materia on the ground in the next area and set the bomb. An alarm will sound and you'll have to fight the boss, a huge scorpion-like machine.

BOSS TIPS: GUARD SCORPION LV: ??�� HP: 800 MP: 0
�� Cloud's Bolt magic works well, while Barret should be attacking. The Search Scope won't damage you, it just warns as to who the boss will attack next. When you've done enough damage,the boss will start to shake and� his tail will move into the air.Barret will warn Cloud not to attack it. From this point onward, don't attack the boss and heal yourself or simply guard until the boss attacks you.� If you try to hurt it during this time, the boss responds with a damaging laser ray shot from his tail. A few more hits after it stops shaking and the boss dies. You'll get an Assault Gun when you kill it.

�� You now have ten minutes to escape from the power plant. You'll need to make your way back to the upside-down T-shaped entrance hall where one of the Avalanche members is waiting. (If you've played the demo disc, know that you don't need to 'search' for the other members; just talk to Jessie to free him and then get out. Since Barret gets a new gun after the battle, be sure to equip it. Also, talk to the other members to open the two doors on your way back.

2.) Into the City

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Potion.

�� After the Avalanche members blow up the passage, head up the stairs.� You'll meet Aeris here, but she won't join you yet. In the next screen, there's a Potion to the southwest of the circular structure (near the lampposts). Walk south when you're done. In this next area, you'll meet up with guards and have the choice of running (bottom choice) or fighting (top choice). After a few more encounters with the Shin-Ra guards, Cloud will jump onto the passing train and run into the Avalanche gang. After talking to them, walk to the 'front' of the screen and you'll jump off into another area. Talk to the people here and one of the members (Jessie) will show you a picture of the Mako plant on the train's screen. Approach Barret and you'll end up going to the group's base.

3.) AVALANCHE

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: 1500 gil, All materia, Ether.

�� Head west and go upwards. Talk to the kid by the fence, then head west again (there's a Save Point nearby, too). Talk to the people here, then check out the bar. At the top of the tallest building in the south-east is a bedroom. The kid here will let you spend the night for 10 gil.� In the bar, you'll meet Tifa, who is also a member of Avalanche, as well as Marlene, who is supposedly Barret's daughter. After naming Tifa, Barret shows up when you try to leave and reveals the hidden base underneath the bar. After talking to Barret, Tifa shows up. Leave the base and you'll have a short intermission with Tifa. When you meet Barret afterwards, he'll give you 1500 gil. If you go to the Beginner's Hall above the Weapon Shop outside, you can learn more about playing the game. You'll also find that there inside the huge cage. The man in the right corner of this room has a materia by his feet (All). Take it and a chest will drop down that has an Ether inside of it. If you haven't already noticed, the two buildings that were locked the other day are now open.� When you're ready, go back to the train station to prepare for Avalanche's next mission. If you like, you can go to the far right to enter a train yard, but there's not much of interest there.

4.) Mission 2: Mako Reactor No. 5

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether x2, Potion, Tent, Titan Bangle.

�� Board the train. When the timer appears after you talk to Tifa, go through each train car until Tifa jumps off one of the cars and you and Barret follow her. You'll end up in an underground railroad passageway.� If you go south (towards the 'front' of the screen), you'll go through the same screen 5 times before coming to two guards who you can fight.� When the battle's over, choose the bottom option to keep fighting or the top option to run away. You can fight the same battle over and over, so when you get tired of fighting, just pick the top option. An OK place to gain some experience, gil, and AP, if you think you'll need it.� Anyway, it's a lot faster to just head north to where the green barrier is and go down the hatch to the west (examine it and choose the top choice twice or the middle option once). Pick up the Ether in the adjoining passage, climb down the two ladders, and talk to Wedge. Then go up the ladder near him to reach a room where Jessie is waiting for you. Take the Potion that's next to him and climb down the ladder on the far left end of the room to reach a chamber where you can find a Tent, a Save Point, and Biggs.� Go up the ladder here to reach the No. 5 Reactor. The room you're in should be familiar. Slide down the pipe and then work your way back to the heart of the plant. After Cloud fiddles with the machinery, go back to the large room and climb up the stairs and into the elevator. It'll take you to a new floor. Grab the contents of the treasure chest outside (Ether) and then head to the left where there are three control panels.� You'll need to hit your panel as the same time Barret and Tifa hit theirs (using the O button), so give it a shot. Instead of waiting for them to raise their arms, you'll have an easier time if you time it so that you hit your panel just before they do. You can't use the panel if you didn't go back to the heart of the power plant. Afterwards, go through the opened gate (there's a Save Point here), and head north. In the T-shaped room, you'll be stopped by a group of guards, and then meet President Shin-Ra. After that, a helicopter and a hydrofoil-like machine show up. The Shin-Ra president leaves in the helicopter, but the huge machine attacks you and your friends.

BOSS TIPS: AIR BUSTER�� LV: 15�� HP: 1200�� MP: 0
�� Weak against Lightning This machine turns to face (and attack) whomever hits it. So, if one of your characters is low on life, have the person on the opposite side attack to draw the boss' attention away. Be especially careful of it's Big Bomber.� It causes tons of damage (but also increases your Limit meter quickly). Remember that even if it's back is turned, it can use a weak machine gun attack on you. Use potions and the Restore materia to keep up your HPs and use Bolt as well as your Limit Break attacks to take this machine out. You'll receive a Titan Bangle if you win the battle.

5.) The Slums

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: 5 gil, Potion, Phoenix Down, Cover materia, Ether.

�� After the battle, the boss will explode, sending Cloud off the walkway in the ensuing blast. When you awake, you'll find yourself in a church.� Aeris is here, and you can name her after talking to her several times.� Reno shows up afterwards with some guards. In the next room, Aeris falls down while trying to escape with Cloud. Tell her to hold on.� You now have the option of fighting the guards using Aeris or trying to hit the guards on the head with barrels on the upper floor (if you miss, you'll have to fight using Aeris anyway). Remember, she starts off in the back row, so to increase damage, make her move up by choosing 'Change' at the start of each battle (do this by pressing left, then the O button).� The correct order of barrels to drop is: the leftmost barrel (in the back), the far right barrel (in the back), and the far right barrel (in the front). Simply tell Aeris to hold on each time, examine each barrel, and choose the top option to drop it. This way, Aeris won't have to fight anybody. When Aeris meets you at the top of the chapel, she'll hook up with Cloud.� In the upper area, climb up the second beam on the left and jump out of the hole in the roof. After you and Aeris make it back to ground level, head left to find a Save Point. To the northwest is a town. Be sure to meet the man in the pipe near the entrance. In one of the houses, you can also find 5 gil if you talk to the drunk man in bed, then examine the drawers nearby. There are several stores here in the slums, including one that sells materia. To the far, far right is a path that leads to Aeris's house and a garden. You can spend the night here once you've met Elmyra, Aeris' mother. When you wake up, look between the desk and the bed for a Potion and a Phoenix Down. Then, sneak downstairs (or Aeris will make you go back to bed) and leave the house (you can do this by not touching the walls and not running, either). In the lower flower bed to the right, you can get a Protect materia and an Ether.� There's another Save Point near Aeris' house if you need to use it.� Leave the town and go left to the hole in the wall. Aeris will be here waiting for you and will rejoin you. In the next location, work your way upward (by going across the hole-filled metal length, then down the iron beams and through the passage, then up the brown pipe and finally down the stairs and heading to the left). After Aeris leaves you at the playground, head east, then go north to arrive at the Wall Market.

6.) The Wall Market

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether, Phoenix Down, Hyper.

�� Aeris rejoins you (again) There's a Save Point in the upper-right part of the village. The building in the lower left is an inn, where you can spend the night for 10 gil. To the right of it is the entrance to a brothel. The building in the middle has nothing in it but a computer. (If you touch it, a machine gun will fire at you and Cloud jumps away.� You can't do anything here until later). Just above that building is an item shop. North of the shop is a sushi bar. Finally, there is a clothing store to the upper left and some sort of pottery store to the upper right. A path by the clothing store leads to another part of town.� Here, there is a gym, a restaurant, and a weapon shop. In the northern area lies a large building. If you go east from here, you'll reach a dead-end area.� Your objective in this part of the game is to sneak into the large building where Tifa is being kept. To do this, Cloud will have to dress up as a woman in order to get inside since men aren't allowed into the building. So, follow these steps to get the items you need to 'alter' Cloud's appearance. You may want to read this entire section before starting so that you'll know how your choices will affect the game.
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�� a.) Go to the brothel and talk to the big guy with silver hair who's chatting with the bouncer at the door. Talk to him and pick the first option to inquire about Tifa.
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�� b.) Go back to the building at the end of town (Corneo's mansion) and talk to the guy near the door. Aeris and Cloud will move away and have a short conversation. She tells Cloud that he'll have to dress up if he wants to find out if Tifa's okay.
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�� c) Return to the first screen, go to the clothing store, and talk to the store owner by standing near the bottom edge of the counter. She'll tell you that you can't get a dress unless you do something about her drunk father.
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�� d) Go to the bar in the second screen and talk to the lone man by the door. During the conversation, you'll have to make two decisions. So when you're asked a question, pick either the first or second choice. After you're done talking to the man, return to the clothing store.
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�� e) At the store, you'll see that the man from the inn is now behind the counter. Talk to him and you'll receive an item based upon your decisions: - If you answered: first choice, first or second choice, you'll get the Cotton Dress. - If you answered: second choice, first choice, you'll be given the Satin Dress. - If you answered: second choice, second choice again, he'll give you the Silk Dress.
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�� f) Cloud will try on the dress, but won't actually wear it. Leave the clothing store and go to the second screen. Enter the gym and converse with the woman (heh) by the fighting ring. When you have the chance, pick the bottom option twice to start fighting, although if you want to practice, you can choose the bottom option, then the top one. Anyway, as soon as the message box disappears, start pressing the S, X, and O buttons repeatedly in that order. The object of the game is to go fast enough to make Cloud do more squats than the African gymnast, but you don't want to press the buttons too fast or Cloud can't keep up. It's not too hard to win since the other guy will often stop to scratch his head, but you only have 30 seconds, so get in as many squats as you can. - If you are able to do more squats than the gymnast, you'll be given the Blonde Wig. - If you and the gymnast have the same score, the lady will give you the Dyed Wig. - If the gymnast does better than you, then the lady will give you the Wig.� At this point, you can just return to the clothing shop and enter the stall; Cloud will dress up as a woman and you can return to Corneo's mansion to get inside. You can also choose to not change yet and explore more of the Wall Market, picking up items that you can use to make Cloud more 'feminine'. If you're finished, then skip down a ways to find out what to do next. Otherwise, keep reading (these events can be done in any order):

�� g) Go to the pottery shop. When you have to choose an answer, pick the top one twice. (You can't talk to him unless you chatted with the guard at the north building). Then go to the inn and pay 10 gil to spend the night. In the middle of the night, you'll find yourself in front of the vending machine in the outer hallway. Pick any option (I hope you have enough gil). The next morning, return to the pottery shop and talk to the man to get an item: - If you bought the first item (200 gil), he'll give you the Diamond Tiara. - If you bought the second item (100 gil), he'll give you the Ruby Tiara. - If you bought the third item (50 gil), he'll give you the Glass Tiara. (Note that the dialogue here was changed from the Japanese version, in which you were buying a 'gift' for the shopkeeper's girlfriend that he was too embarrassed to buy can you guess? Why this was changed, I have no idea.)

�� h) Enter the sushi bar and walk past the empty seat. When a message appears, choose the top option. Then choose any option, (you'll need 70 gil), followed by the middle choice ("the food was all right") to get a Pharmacy Coupon. Now go to the item store and talk to the man behind the counter. Choose one of the three options to get an item, then head back to the restaurant. Go to the bathroom and talk to the woman inside. Accept the first choice and: - You'll get the Cologne if you traded the Coupon for the Disinfectant. - You'll get the Flower Cologne if you traded the Coupon for the Deodorant. - You'll get the Sexy Cologne if you traded the Coupon for the Digestive (medicine).

�� i) Talk to the large man in the white shirt who's standing near the edge of the screen in the first area to get the Member's Card. He won't give it to you unless you talked to the guard by the door of the Corneo's mansion. Head right to arrive at the brothel. If you talk to the bouncer, he'll let you in once he sees the Card, but Aeris won't come with you (yes, they messed up the dialogue here, too). Inside the Honeybee Inn, you'll find that the doors on the right side are locked, but if you chose the bottom option, you can look inside them and peer around using the control pad and the O button. If you look in the upper-right keyhole, you'll see a familiar face... a small version of Cait Sith! If you go to the north room and talk to the farthest girl on the right several times, you can choose the top option to make her dance faster and faster. When you're ready (you better brace yourself), you can do one or the other: Examine the lower-left door and pick the top option twice. In the room, talk to the girl and pick the top option three times to take a soak with Mukki and his friends. Answer however you like while in the tub and Cloud will be given the Bikini briefs. Or, examine the upper-left door and pick the top option twice. Inside, talk to the ghostly Cloud near the stone tub and Cloud will have a psychotic episode. When you come to, all your HP and MP is restored, thanks to... Mukki :( Talk to him and choose the bottom option. Then talk to the girl and you'll get the Lingerie.� All done? There's nothing left to do now but return to the clothing store and dress up as a woman. When you finish, go to the large building in the north and talk to the man by the food carts again. He'll let you into a posh-looking parlor. Now, go up the stairs and into the door on the far left after talking to the receptionist. Then, go down the staircase to the torture room (!) where you'll find Tifa and an Ether by the smoldering coals. Once she's joined you, head back up the stairs and go into the middle door. Inside is Tifa's kidnapper, the nefarious Don Corneo. He will examine each of you when you try to approach him.� Who he picks for his 'friend' is determined by what items you collected in the Wall Market: - He'll pick Cloud if you're wearing the Silk Dress, Blonde Wig, and have the 'best' extra items (the Diamond Tiara, Sexy Cologne, and Lingerie or Bikini briefs. - He'll pick Aeris if you're wearing the Silk Dress, the Blonde Wig, the Lingerie and the Sexy Cologne (in addition to anything else you may have). - He'll pick Tifa if you're wearing the Silk Dress, Blonde Wig, and one or two of the extra items not mentioned above (or anything worse than that).� If Corneo picked Tifa or Aeris, then read below:� In the next room, examine the item bag by the bed to get a Phoenix Down, and talk to the man by the television set after talking to the other henchmen. After revealing your true nature to the love-struck goons, they'll fight you. This is followed by another fight with the other three punks. Afterward, get Aeris from the torture chamber and then go into the middle door again (if Aeris was picked, then you'll meet Tifa when you go outside). When you're through intimidating Corneo, look behind his bead for a Hyper, then stand by your allies. He'll make you choose one of three options. No matter which one you choose, you'll fall through a trapdoor.� If Corneo picked Cloud, then you'll end up in his room. Search behind his bed for a Hyper, then talk to him and answer anyway you like (if you try to make Cloud kiss Corneo, then maybe you need to get out of the house more.... ^_^;) Your friends will burst in and threaten him (yeowch!) and Corneo will ask you a question; pick any answer you like and you'll still plummet to the sewers below.

7.) Inside the Sewers and the Train Graveyard

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Potion x4, Phoenix Down, Steal materia, Hi-Potion x3, Echo Screen, Ether x2.

�� Once the cut scene with the Shinra flunkies ends, you'll find yourself in a sewer. Before talking to Tifa or Aeris, climb up the stairs to the south and go along the walkway to nab a Potion. When you try to escape, a blue monster appears attacks your party.

BOSS TIPS: APS�� LV: 18�� HP: 1800�� MP: 0�� weak against Fire
�� His Sewer Tsunami attack hurts all members, so use Potions and the Restore Materia to heal your wounds. Luckily, the Tsunami will damage him, too (he uses this attack as a counterattack before dying if he can manage it). When he does the reverse Sewer Tsunami, it causes less damage to him. Fire spells work the best on him. Use Cloud's Limit Break to harm the boss and use Aeris' Limit Break to heal yourselves.� You'll receive a Phoenix Down for winning the battle.

�� Climb up the ladder and head right. Go down into the sewage, then up the stairs. Grab the Yellow Materia (Steal) and go down the hatch. In the next room, go down the stairs, then climb up the side of the curved structure. Climb up the ladder and you'll go outside. There's a Save Point here. Check out the oil drum nearby by entering the train car (near the Save Point) to get a Hi-Potion. Get another Hi-Potion on the roof of adjacent car, then hop off onto the iron beam and check the oil drum to the north for an Echo Screen. Walk east, then south and enter the nearby train car to get a Potion. Climb up the ladder, head north, and climb down again. Go north once more through the train car, then exit to your left to find a second Potion. Then, go north to arrive at the next screen.� Here, circle left around the car to get a Potion. Circle left again to find an oil can with an Ether inside of it. Go north and enter the train to the right to move the other train car out of the way. Climb atop the formerly blocked car to net a Hi-Potion. Now, ride the other train back backwards, climb onto the eastern train car, jump onto the train you just moved, and climb across it and the last car before going down the ladder to get back to the front part of the Train Graveyard.� Head left. The Avalanche members will be fighting atop the support pillar you first saw when you arrived at the base. After Wedge plummets to the ground, save your game at the Save Point and talk to the man on the left if you need to buy items. Climb up the stairs and you'll meet Barret, who is firing at the Shinra helicopter you saw back at the plant. Reno will jump out, and you'll have to fight him. Good thing Barret joins you. When you inflict enough damage, the boss runs away!

BOSS TIPS: RENO�� LV: 17�� HP: 1000�� MP: 0
�� This guy packs a wallop. He can imprison your friends using his golden Pyramid attack, and if he does this to all your members, you lose. To break the pyramids, attack your allies (they won't be damaged). Watch for his spark bolt attack (which can paralyze you) and use your Limit Breaks whenever possible. Ice works well on him. For some players, this may be the first battle they lose! You'll get an Ether for scaring him off should you win.

8.) Sector 7. Pillar

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Sense materia, Battery x3, Ether.

�� After fending off the boss, Tseng will kidnap Aeris (and p**p slap her)�� As he escapes, the entire city explodes and falls down a level, destroying it. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret all come to in the playground at the Sector 6 Slums. After Barret yells for Marlene, Wedge, and his other friends, he and Tifa join you in the next area when you try to leave. Go back to get a sparkling yellow Materia (Sense), before returning to Wall Market. The man in the pottery store will now sell you Materia, and if you go back to the parlor, you have the option of freeing one of Don Corneo's men from the torture chamber. Even if you got the Member's Card the first time around, you can no longer enter the brothel, by the way.� When you're done, leave and go south from the playground. Return to the Sector 5 Slum and go to Aeris's house. Talk to Elmyra, her mother. You can spend the night in the upstairs bedroom once the intermission ends.� Return to the Wall Market and go to the dead-end area near the parlor.� (you'll see a bunch of kids run in there). Climb up the pipe, and you'll find yourself high above the town. If you haven't gotten them already, go to the 'Machine & Gun' store and talk to the man at the left end of the store; he'll sell you 3 Battery for 300 gil. You'll need them to activate the boxes in this part of the game. With that in mind, examine the box-shaped object in the lower right to try and start a nearby propeller. Head up, and you'll jump onto the propeller. From there, make your way to the other box and activate the painted barrier.� Climb up it, and use the O button to jump onto the swinging metal pipe.� Despite what Cloud says, jump when it is close to you (just as it stops squeaking). After that, climb up to the next screen.� Here, climb up, then drop down to activate the next box and you'll find an Ether. Climb down the left-hand pipe and make your way back up again.� Instead of dropping down, continue up, and you'll find yourself at Shinra's headquarters.
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9.) Shin-Ra Headquarters

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Elixir, Elemental materia, Star Pendant, Four Slots, All materia, Phoenix Down, Ether, Poison materia, Grenade x1~3, Talisman, Enemy Skill materia, Potion x4, Mythril Armlet, Protect Vest, Guard Source.

�� There's a Save Point here. You have the option of either heading to the left and climbing up a stairwell (sneaking in) or barging in through the front door ('kick some Shinra butt!', as Barret would say).� Going up the stairs takes forever, but it's free of enemies and you can get an Elixir that's lying on one of the landings. On the other hand, going through the front door and taking the elevators in the back is faster, but you have to fight several battles along the way. Not only that, but you can chase around the Shinra staff before taking the elevator :) (or at least, you could in the Japanese version. They all ran away....) You can't use the circular lifts by the doors yet, but you can use them once you reach the 60th floor. If you go up the stairs, you'll see a door marked 'Accessories'. Inside the room, you can look at a monitor to see a short FMV sequence about Shinra's products (this is the 2nd most overlooked FMV in the game). There are two chests here, but the lady won't let you open them. She will sell you items, though.� Remember, if you go through the front, check the control panel in the elevator (the one that goes haywire) after each enemy encounter in order to continue upwards. If you go up the stairs then change your mind and go back down, you won't have to fight anybody on the elevators, and the main area of the ground floor will be empty (an easy trick for not having to fight anyone :)).No matter what method you use, you'll eventually reach the 59th floor.� Head southeast and kill the armored guards to get the Key card 60, then take the lift to the 60th floor. Here, you'll have to head to the room in the upper-left and make it to the other side without being seen by the patrolling guards. In order to stay hidden from them, pause behind the gold statues, then lead Tifa and Barret across using the O button.� If you mess up, not only to you get attacked (ambush-style combat), but you'll have to start all over again. Keep in mind that the set of guards on the right half of the screen move faster than the ones on the left.� Take the stairway up to the 61st floor. Talk to everyone here. A man who asks you about Aeris will give you the Key card 62 if you answer"......". On floor 62, talk to the man in the room, Domino, and the man in white, (Hart) then check out the two library rooms. Answer Domino's question and he'll give you the Key card 65. The problem with this is that the answer changes with each game you play. It seems like it would be easy enough to simply try each answer until you get it right, but you get an Elemental Materia for free if you answer correctly the first time.� So, it's in your best interest to just reset and keep trying in order to get the materia. Hart will help you out if you need it, but he'll want you to pay him first. To get the answer, simply look for the misplaced files, write down the first letter of the file name, and when you get all four, try to organize them into a word. Then talk to Domino, and find which word matches the one you came up with (or at least has the letters you found). He gives you varying items depending on how many tries it takes you (you'll get lesser items if you mess up each time).� The 63rd floor is tricky. You have to collect 3 Coupons from all three rooms, but you're only able to open 3 doors at a time. You can reset the doors by investigating the computer in the right-hand room, but that also resets the location of the Coupons. You can move around using walkways in the ducts; to enter them you have to climb into the black, box-shaped structures (there's one in the computer room). You can't do that unless you have at least one of the three items.� To get the items, follow this procedure: activate the computer, then head to the top of the screen and open the gate farthest to the right.� Head right and open the left-hand gate, then walk right and go south to enter the room where A Coupon is. Choose the top option to climb into the black box and use the walkway to get to the room where B Coupon is. Finally, go through the door in this room and open the door to the left, then go north to enter the room containing C Coupon. Then use the walkway to return to the computer room.� Now if you want, you can just trade one of the Coupons for an item, but if you have all three then you'll get all three items. The trade setup works like this (choose 'Coupon Change'): - Trade Coupon A for the Star Pendant accessory - Trade Coupon B for the Four Slots bracelet - Trade Coupon C for the All materia To get your items (depending on how many coupons you have) go to the computer and choose the bottom option, then the top. Keep in mind that you can only do this once.� On the 64th floor, you'll find a Save Point and bedroom to your left.� You can use the machines in the exercise room, or waste 250 gil trying to get a health drink (which you can't actually get, BTW.) If you examine the lockers in the back room, you can find a Phoenix Down, an Ether, and a M-phone (HP Shout), but you can only take the first two items for now. Head to the 65th floor.� Here, you have to open a treasure chest, then examine a broken section the model in the circular room and choose the top option to repair it. This unlocks one of the other chests, allowing you to open it and use the part inside to repair another section of the model. When you have finished, you'll get the Key card 66 from the final chest. You must fix the model in a counter-clockwise fashion starting from the bottom. The order of the chests you open goes like this: - Upper-left room: bottom chest - Upper-left room: top chest - Lower-left room: left chest - Lower-left room: top chest - Upper-right room: chest - Middle-right room: get the Key card 66 from here when you're done.� On the 66th floor, you can either run into the meeting hall as quickly as you can (if you took the elevator...� it's a glitch, and was possible in the Japanese version, at least :)), or you can enter the stall in the bathroom located in the northwest corner of the floor. Choose the middle option, and you'll climb on top of the toilet and enter an air duct. Move forward to see what the Shinra members (Reeve, Palmer, President Shinra, Heidegger, Hojo, and Scarlet) are discussing.� Climb back out, then climb up the stairwell after Hojo (the pony-tailed scientist) in the room to the right of the meeting hall. Note that you'll end up in the air duct even if you ran into the hall... heh, heh.� On the next floor (67), talk to the people and keep following the scientist. After looking in the purple chamber (and after Cloud gets another headache), move beyond the crates and to the right to find a Save Point and a treasure chest with a Poison Materia inside.� Enter the elevator to the north, and then watch as the scientist toys with Aeris. Now, choose who you want to protect Aeris, (either Barret or Tifa), and then you can name the lion-like creature (Red 13)� that was attacking Hojo. He'll fight alongside you when the mutant boss shows up. Don't forget that Red 13 comes equipped with his own Materia!

BOSS TIPS:� Sample: HO512�� LV: 19�� HP: 1000�� MP: 120
�� Sample: HO512-OPT�� LV: 7�� HP: 300�� MP: 48
�� Don't try to kill this guy's little guardians; he'll only create more.� Instead, use Bolt or Fire on him and try Restore to keep up your own life power. Avoid using physical attacks, Ice, or Poison. This means that Red 13 is better off using Fire against the boss than attacking.� This battle is easier if you have Barret, who can inflict more damage.� Don't worry about getting poisoned since you can get infected again when the boss uses the pink gas attack on your characters (there's no point in trying to de-poison yourselves). You'll get a Talisman should you kill the boss, and Grenades depending on the OPTs that you killed.

�� Tifa or Barret return after the battle (depending on who you chose).� You'll be asked to make a new party (but you can keep the old one you had before, if you wish). When you're in control of Cloud again, be sure to grab the yellow materia (Enemy Skill) that's left behind in the sample chamber. Then go up the ladder and head south. Talk to the man in the gray coat to get the Key card 68. Go back down to floor 66 and try entering one of the lifts; you'll get caught by Rude (he's a Turk who you'll be running into constantly throughout the game). He and Tseng will 'escort' you to a meeting with the president of Shinra. Afterwards, you'll end up in the jail cells on floor 67. Here, listen to everyone, then go to sleep.� The next morning, you'll find that your door is unlocked. Investigate the guard, then talk to Tifa. Check the guard again to unlock the doors, then look in on Barret and Red 13. After freeing your companions, return to the lab and talk to Red 13. Talk to him again after taking the elevator up to the 68th floor, then use the incline to reach the walkway again. Go all the way along it until you find two purple Potions, then climb back down and enter the door from the ground floor. The green bars of light won't hurt you; run through them and pick up two more Potions before climbing up the stairs to the 69th floor.� Go out the center door to reach a Save Point. Then, run up either of the purple stairs. Check out the dead Shinra president, capture Palmer, then go through the door to the north to exit the room. Outside, talk to the man in white. He's Rufus, son of the Shinra president.� The other characters will return to the floor below, and you must lead them outside (you can also choose to unequip Aeris' and Cloud's materia in case you want to juggle them around for the upcoming battles). Your team now consists of Red 13, Barret, and Aeris; don't forget to re-equip your Materia (it seems as if the top option removes it....) Head to the lift (by taking the lower door). When you activate it, you are attacked by a huge gun-wielding machine while going down the side of the Shinra building.

BOSS TIPS: HUNDRED GUNNER�� LV: 18�� HP: 1600�� MP: 0�� weak against Lightning
�� You can only use long-range attacks, so use Barret's attacks and his Limit Break as well as magic to harm this foe. Poison-based magic inflicts no damage, while Bolt does the most damage. Red 13 is a sitting duck if he doesn't have any spell Materia equipped, so be sure to deck him out with some magic spells (he can still use his Limit Break). When you inflict enough damage, the boss starts to break down.� After the second collapse, he starts firing heat blasts that damage all members, so be careful.� After killing the boss, you must fight a flying machine.

BOSS TIPS: HELI GUNNER�� LV: 19�� HP: 1000�� MP: 0�� weak against Lightning
�� As with the other boss, don't use Bio but do use Bolt. You may be weak after the last battle, so make use of Potions, the Restore Materia, and Aeris' B1/1 Break (Healing Wind) to restore lost life. You'll win a Mythril Armlet when the boss dies.

�� The scene switches back to Cloud. Heal yourself if necessary, equip Materia, then press Start. Rufus will then attack you. Feel free to add just his equipment/Materia if need be before the battle.

BOSS TIPS: RUFUS�� LV: 21�� HP: 500�� MP: 0
�� DARK NATION�� LV: 18�� HP: 140�� MP: 80
�� Kill the panther guardian first, then go after the boss. Although you can't do anything about the panther casting Barrier on Rufus, you can use magic instead to inflict damage. He can only hurt you with his shotgun, so don't worry about healing yourself after each round (just heal yourself when your life gets lower). Sock him with your Limit Breaks and he'll escape onto the circling helicopter after you've damaged him enough. Cloud will get a Protect Vest and a Guard Source when the battle ends.

�� Leave the rooftop and head back to where Tifa is waiting for you. As Aeris, try to approach the front doors. After a short conversation, you and the gang will escape by motorcycle (and truck). Your team is now made up of Cloud, Tifa, and Barret.� An option screen appears where you have the following options: S Left Attack X Switch members O Right Attack T Main Menu Start Return to game� Be sure to re-equip Materia before returning to the game!

10.) Escape from Midgar

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Star Pendant.

�� Use the controller to move any any direction. Pressing S makes you slash to the left, and pressing O makes you slash to the right. The object here is to protect your friends in the truck from enemy cyclists.� Eventually, you'll reach a dead end and fight the boss. The amount of life you start off with during the battle depends on how much life you and your friends lost during the high-speed escape. If a character lost all his life, he begins with only 1 point when the battle starts, but since the boss gets to make the first attack, they'll have to be revived using Phoenix Downs if there are any party members who survived. The boss is a spiked, armored robot with six wheels.

BOSS TIPS: MOTOR BALL�� LV: 19�� HP: 2600�� MP: 120�� weak against Lightning
�� This boss gets a free attack from behind... sheesh. Most of his attacks do little damage, but his Fire thrower and flying fire sweep attacks can kill your party in a single blast (the fire sweep does around 220 damage)! The best way to beat this group is have your party consist of Aeris and Barret. Give the All and Restore materia to either Cloud or Barret, and give the other character Lightning. This way, you can heal with one character, attack with another, and then use Aeris' Limit Break to keep your life up at all times. Ice works better than Fire against the boss (for those characters that don't have Lightning equipped).� Remember, your rows are reversed when attacked from behind, so put Cloud and Barret in the back and Nanaki in the front if you want them to lineup properly when the boss shows up (assuming that's who you use... I found that they worked the best). If you beat the boss, you'll get a Star Pendant.

11.) Kalm and the Chocobo Farm

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether x3, Peacemaker, Guard Source, Choco/Mog materia

�� You'll find yourselves outside of the gate after beating the boss (you could also see this scene by going south from the church where you met Aeris the first time). Decide who will be in your group, then head towards the screen to exit and arrive at the World Map (the outside world).� Outer World Controls T Menu Screen L2/R2 Change from overhead/side view L1/R2 Same effect as L2/R2 Turn left/right (during side view) Start shows World Map Start x2 Shows Large World Map Start x3 No map is shown Select Same as Start Kalm Town isn't far from Midgar; you should be able to see it if you walk north a ways. Go into the inn to see the rest of the gang waiting for you. Cloud will talk to the others about Sephiroth via a series of semi-interactive flashbacks:- You'll start off in a truck being driven by Shinra soldiers. After talking to the soldiers and Sephiroth (Cloud's former ally in the Shinra army and now a wanted criminal), the truck will be stopped by a dragon. You'll have to fight it, but Sephiroth (who is super- powerful) can kill it in two hits. In the flashback, Cloud's portrait is different; this 'Young Cloud' is of a low level, but Sephiroth is so strong that you need not worry about losing battles. However, you can't control Sephiroth's actions and you can't hurt him (because of your low level), either. Although Young Cloud comes equipped with an Pre-emptive materia and Sephiroth has several mastered materia equipped, you can't take them for your own (although you can if you use a Game Shark code...). Also, Young Cloud and Sephiroth can't use Limit Breaks (because they don't have any).- After the battle, you'll end up in Nibelheim, Cloud's hometown. Talk to Sephiroth and the guards if you wish, then head north. If you want to look around the town, feel free to, but nothing you do during this part of the game has an affect on the rest of your quest (although is does affect the character's questions and reactions to Cloud's story). One thing you might want to do is go into Tifa's house (the large building on the 'southeastern' side of town). You can read her stuff, play the piano (if you play the 'Highwind' theme, Cloud will act like he remembers it from somewhere), or even search her closet (hey, they changed 'slightly-stretched underwear' to 'orthopedic underwear'. What's the big deal? :)) Also note that you can't get Vincent Valentine during Cloud's flashback because you can't examine the safe :(- When you're done looking around town, go to the inn and head upstairs. Talk to Sephiroth and choose to get some sleep. The next day, talk to Sephiroth and get your picture taken, then sit back and watch the FMV. When you're in control of Cloud, head along the bridge and talk to Tifa, then talk to her again further along the bridge and it will break. After you've recovered, head northeast into the cave, then keep heading north. Eventually, you'll arrive at the Jenova plant. Enter it, head along the beams, then walk onto the wood platform and climb down the chains and go after Sephiroth. Talk to him in the next area, examine the chamber to the left of Sephiroth, then talk to him twice, once to make him move out of the way and once to make Cloud look inside the chamber. After Sephiroth goes ballistic, you'll return to Kalm Town. Pick the top option to save your game, or the bottom option to continue. Cloud's narrative starts off back at Nivelheim, where he enters the large mansion at the edge of town.- Inside, climb the two staircases and head to the right. Enter the lower door and make your way into the next room; if you examine the circular part of the stone wall, a passage appears. Enter it and climb down the spiraling walkway until you reach the bottom; keep walking from here to find a library. Leave after Sephiroth finishes talking. After Cloud wakes up, return to the library. Sephiroth gives a little speech then he exits the mansion; return to the town square. Try entering the house to your right.- Back at the Jenova plant, return to the area with the chambers after witnessing the struggle between Tifa and Sephiroth. Examine Tifa to carry her out of harm's way, then run up the stairs and enter the door that Sephiroth opened. After the FMV sequence, Cloud's flashback ends and you are returned to Kalm Town.Note that you have to go to Kalm Town to proceed with the game; youcan't make your way through the Mythril Mines beforehand, although youcan visit the Chocobo Farm if you want to. As for treasure, there's anEther in the door beneath the stairs in the house near the inn, anotherEther in the cabinet on the second floor of the house to the right ofthat house, and a Peacemaker in the chest on the second floor of thethird house (take the curving stairs). If you take the normal stairs inthe same house, you can get a Guard Source in the cabinet by the littlegirl. Finally, in the house on the other side of the town, there is anEther in the door beneath the stairs on the north wall of the firstfloor. Oh, you'll be given the PHS (Party Hensei System) when you talkto your allies on the first floor of the inn; it allows you to switchgroup members whenever you want, providing that you're in the World Mapor standing on a Save Point (there are a few exceptions to this rule).Leave the town and head east to reach the Chocobo Farm. Talk to theChocobo at the front end of the pen and choose the top option to seethe big yellow birds dance; you'll get the Choco/Mog materia afterwards.Then, talk to Choco Billy (the man with the hat) in the stables behindthe pen. Choose the first option, then the 4th option, then the topoption again. Providing you have 2000 gil to spare, he'll sell you aChocobo Lure materia, which lets you attract chocobos to ride.To catch a chocobo, wander around outside on the chocobo tracks (inthis area of the game, you can meet them on the light patches ofgrass, too), until you are attacked. If a chocobo is one of youropponents, then kill off the other enemies and when the battle ends,you'll be riding the chocobo. If you attack the chocobo, it willhurt you and the other enemies, then escape, so you'll have to tryagain. Don't forget, you can only fight chocobos if you have theChocobo Lure materia equipped. When riding a chocobo, your can movearound normally, and you won't get attacked by enemies. You can pressX to dismount, but if you do this, the Chocobo will run away and you'llhave to catch another one.A little to the south and directly west of the Chocobo farm is a cave,but a creeping snake in the marsh before the cave entrance will rise upto attack you. Instead of trying to kill it now, go get a Chocoboinstead, who can outrun the snake and enter the cave. Yes, you willstill get attacked if the snake touches your chocobo.Note that you can run across the marsh on foot, but nothing specialhappens if you do so (and it's nigh-impossible to pull off withoutrunning into Midgar Zolom).

BOSS TIPS: MIDGAR ZOLOM�� LV: 26�� HP: 4000�� MP: 348
�� This boss has two deadly attacks: one is a tail swipe that knocks a teammember off-screen and puts them out of commission for the rest of thebattle. The other one is the Beta enemy skill, which inflicts around1000-1200 points of damage (which spells instant defeat if your alliesare weak, although you should try to pick up this skill if you have a Enemy Skill materia equipped). Along with his bite attack, this serpentcan be a tough enemy if you try to fight him earlier in the game. It'seasier if you try to defeat him after you have Cid's airplane, since youcan use Limit Breaks and powerful summon and magic spells to kill it.Unfortunately, you get a measly amount of EXP, AP, and gil for beatingthe boss and what's worse, he reappears when you return to the WorldMap, so you're right back where you started.Note that if Midgar Zolom knocks one of your allies off-screen, thegame won't end should the other members be killed; instead, you'll findyourself standing at the edge of the marsh.

�� The first time you get across the marsh, you'll see a large snakeimpaled on a tree. Just exit the screen to continue playing. Also, ifyou get off your chocobo while on the patch of grass before the mineentrance, he'll stay there in case you need to return to the farm (thisdoesn't seem to happen all the time--I don't know why). If you'restrong enough, you can get to the Mythril Mines without ever having togo to the Chocobo Farm.

12.) Mythril Mine and Junon

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether, Tent, Long Range materia, Mind Source x2, Elixir, Power Wrist, Shiva materia, Grenade or Potion x6 or Ether x6, Enemy Skill materia, 1/35 Soldier x2, Luck Source, Power Source, Guard Source, Speed Plus Source, Silver Glasses or HP Plus or Force Stealer.

�� Inside the Mythril Mine, head northeast to find a green Ether on thestone steps. In the chest is a Tent, so be sure to grab it. If you tryclimbing up the brown vine on the western rock face, you'll find a purplemateria (Long Range). Climb back down, return to the first area, thenhead left. Make your way southeast to find a chest with a Mind Sourceinside, then head west to reach the next area.Here, you'll run into some of the Turks again: Rude, Elena, and Tseng.Once they leave, walk north. There's a chest with a Elixir inside itand a Hi-Potion just to the north of the chest. Return to the areawhere you met the Turks, climb up the vine, and go through the door toexit the mine and return to the World Map. From now on, you can meetYuffie in the forests and have her join you (refer to section 8.1 fordetails).Nearby is a rocky outcropping with a huge bird statue atop it, the CondorFort. Enter it and choose the second option when talking to the man outfront. After climbing up the rope, you'll find yourself in a town builtinto the rock itself. There is a Save Point, item shop, bedroom (you cansleep for free), and Materia shop here. Talk to everyone. If you haveenough Gil, you can hang around and fight the 'mini-battle' as manytimes as you want (it's fun!). Otherwise, leave and go northwest throughthe forest to Junon Town by the shore.� .Once you arrive at Junon, talk to the villagers, then go down the stairsto the shore. Here, a young girl named Purishira is playing with adolphin. Out of nowhere, a big flying boss shows up and attacks her,then your party.

BOSS TIPS: BOTTOM SWAYER�� LV: 23�� HP: 2500�� MP: 100
�� There's not much to worry about; just attack with Lightning or Poison-basedspells and keep your life up. Since this guy's flying, some characterscan't attack him (like Tifa), while some can (like Cloud). Find outwhich guys should be casting magic and which should be attacking early onin the battle. Sometimes, the boss puts an HP-reducing bubble around acharacter. It only disappears if you cast a magic spell upon it (thiswon't hurt the 'bubbled' person). If you have the Affect All materia,you can use this to cast a spell on the bubbled person and the boss atthe same time. Before dying, the boss will attack with a wave, (hecan do this normally, but always does one before he disappears) so watchout and make sure your hp is high enough to withstand an attack. If youwant, you can equip characters (like Barret) with weaker, long-rangedweapons so that they can attack the boss, but it may not be worth it.You'll receive a Power Wrist when the battle is over.After killing the boss, you'll have to revive Purishira. To do this,watch the lung-shaped meter that appears in the upper right. Pressthe S button once to make the meter start to raise. Just as it reachesthe top, press S again to make Cloud breathe into the girl's mouth.It will take a couple of tries. Afterwards, go to the house near theentrance to town and talk to the person there (for some reason, choosingthe top option won't make Cloud go to bed, but if you go back in thehouse and try again, he will go to sleep).During the night, Cloud will have another bad dream. In the morning,leave and go to the house above the stairs (your friends will begathered near it). Purishira will give you the 'Summon Shiva' materia,a gift for saving her life. Follow her to the shore, then talk to hera second time. Barret will show up and the girl will keep talking;when you have the chance, choose the middle option. Your goal in thispart of the game is to leap atop the iron beam above the electricaltower so that you can sneak into the heart of Junon Town. Yourcontrols are:X Swim fasterS Makes the dolphin flip you into the airIf you get to close to the electric blasts traveling along the tower,you'll get shocked and will have to try again (just pick the secondoption). The easiest way to get up there is to simply not move andpress S. The dolphin will miss and deposit you near the bottom ofthe screen. However, you'll be perfectly positioned, so if you pressX again, Cloud will land on the beam. Once you're on it, head to theleft to get a good view of the flying airship 'Highwind'. Make yourway south (towards the 'front' of the screen) to continue.The next area has a higher and lower level. If you investigate the box-like switch, you'll be taken to the lower level. From there, head southto find a building. There is a projecting roof nearby which has a doorunderneath it; just press against the edge and you'll enter a hallwayfilled with soldiers. In the halls, go up to find a locker room. Checkout the half-open locker and choose the second option to dress up as aguard. When the captain of the guards asks you another question, pickthe bottom answer.Then, leave the locker and take note of the Save Point before headingthrough the door (follow the other soldiers). Now that you're outside,go into the first alleyway. You'll come across a group of marchingsoldiers. The head guard will want you to join in and march with themperfectly, so it may take a couple of attempts before this event willend. You also have to move your gun in time with the soldiers bypressing and releasing the O button. Depending on how high or low thecounter was during this scene (the one in the lower right-hand corner),you will get the following: PERCENT NAME TYPE 21% = Grenade Item 37% - 39% = Potion x6 Item 45% (?) = Ether x6 Item (I'll figure out the rest later....)Afterwards, you'll have to stand at attention while Rufus and Heideggertalk to each other...press in any direction and the captain of the guardwill tell you to get back in line. After the rest of the soldiers leave,the captain will give you an option; choose either option and you'llreturn to the locker room for some training on the next event. There,you can try to follow the captain's orders, if you wish. When he asksyou a question, choose the top choice to try training again, or thebottom option to finish the training. Once the soldiers leave, followthem outside.Now's your chance to do a little shopping and treasure hunting. You'llrun into Rude in the basement of the first weapon shop, but he won'trecognize you in your Shinra guard uniform. Go through the third doorand talk to the guard near the back of the room, then jump down to anarea with several Shinra guards and some holograms. In the far cornerof the room is a yellow materia (Enemy Skill). This place (I believe) issimilar to the 'House of Learning' back in Area 7 Town where you couldlearn about the game's mechanics. On the second floor of the samebuilding, you can get a 1/35 soldier and a Mind Source. In the roomwith the cats nearby is a Luck Source. On the third floor is a red PowerSource and a green Guard Source.If you enter the fourth door on the other side of town, you'll find thatthat Elena, Rudo, and Tseng of the Turks are here. It's a good thingthat you're in that uniform :) Go through the sixth door to find a roomwith a soldier; you can check the silver trash can for a message and pickup a yellow Speed Source in the side room. On the floor above, you canpick up another 1/35 soldier.In the next area, Heidegger and Rufus show up again. You have to doyour salute according to what the captain of the guard tells you to do(remember your training)! At the very end, all you have to do is befacing forward: pressing any button will make you do the 'spinning gun'salute. Unfortunately, the order of commands is random each time youplay, so just do your best. Afterwards, you can press the followingbuttons to make Cloud do funny things:S Scratch back with gunX Put one leg forwardT ShrugPad Stand at attentionDepending on how well you did during the salute, Heidegger will give youan item. Each 'button press' action was worth 10 points, and the finalsalute was worth 30 points. Changing direction was worth 0 points, butunless you were facing in the correct direction, any action you performedwas worth 0 points. Also, performing an action was worth 0 points if youdid it too late (although you'll get full points if you do the actionearly). Your total score determines what you will receive (notice thatRufus' reactions change depending on what item you will be given): SCORE NAME TYPE 000 - 050 = Silver Glasses Accessory 060 - 090 = HP Plus Independent Materia 100 - 190 = Force Stealer Weapon (for Cloud) 200 = (I'll figure out this one later....)After everyone else leaves, Red 13 (who was watching from just inside theboat) will talk to you if you try to leave instead of boarding the boat.Either way, you'll end up joining your friends in the boat's hull.

13.) Stowaways to Costa Del Sol

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ether, Affect All materia, Wind Slash, White Cape.

�� Open the treasure chest to get an Ether, and be sure to pick up the bluemateria (All). Talk to the people here, then go up on the deck andtalk to everyone else; you'll notice that they are your companions(don't miss Red 13 :)). The man in white will sell you items if you talkto him. Once you're done, go back down and talk to Aeris, then returnto the deck and go all the way to the left; one of the guards has left,allowing you to sneak to the front of the ship.Here, talk to Barret, who is spying on the Shinra members. After talkingto him a couple of times, an alarm will sound. Go back to the center ofthe boat to find your friends. Then, assemble your party. If you wantto change the setup, talk to your friends again. When you're ready, godownstairs and head through the door that the one guard was standing infront of. In the next room, watch out for enemies and climb up theladder, the walkway leads to a chest with a Wind Slash inside. Did youget all the items on the boat? When you're ready, go and talk to thecaptain of the guards. It turns out that he's dead. Then, Sephirothshows up, and summons a huge monster for you to fight before he fliesaway.

BOSS TIPS: JENOVA BIRTH�� LV: 25�� HP: 4000�� MP: 110�� Earth, Fire, and Cold magic work well against it, but don't use Poison.
�� Attack with your Summon Materia and hit it with everything you've got.Keeping your HP Plus is a priority, since it can use lasers to attack oneor all members. Only use physical attacks if you are running low on MP.The boss can cast 'Stop' on a single ally so make sure that you're nottoo dependent on any one character during the battle. Some PhoenixTails will also come in handy, since the boss sometimes uses a laserthat hits all allies (Terror Laser) twice in a row (which can inflictloads of damage). You'll get a White Cape when the battle is over.

14.) Costa Del Sol and North Corel

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: 'Summon Ifrit' materia, Power Source x2, Motor Drive, Fire Ring, Double Machinegun, Turbo Ether, Transform materia, Wizard Staff, Star Pendant, Soft x2, Phoenix Down x10, Mind Source, Tent.

�� Grab the red Materia (Summon Ifrit) after the battle and wait for theboat to dock. Talk to the people here and then go up the stairs. Ashort automatic sequence follows. In the next area, go into the doorto meet a shady guy who will sell you this room for 30,000 gil; you cansleep here for free anytime you want afterwards. Climb down the stairsin the bottom part of the room to reach a basement with a sleeping man.You can get a Power Source and a Motor Drive here, as well as a Fire Ringfrom the treasure chest. You'll meet Mukki (from the cabaret in theWall Market) in the bar, as well as some of his friends. If you go downto the beach, you'll run into Hojo (the scientist you met in theShinra HQ). You can talk to him if you want, but you won't get anythingout of it.Outside of the town, head through the mountains and across the bridge.You'll find a cave-like entrance. Talk to the man on the hill, thenkeep heading north. Eventually, you'll reach a walkway that leads toa large Makoro furnace. Head south and follow the train tracks; there'sno point in looking around here. Keep going, and you'll come acrosssome curving tracks and a Save Point. As you walk along the tracks, youcan get the following items: Double Machinegun, Turbo Ether, and aTransform materia.These tracks are rickety, and when you walk across them in certain areasa message will appear telling you to press O so that you don't fallthrough them. It's better to let yourself fall, because you can thenhold left or right and rapidly press O to land beneath the tracks. Then,press Up to climb back up. If you landed on the left side of the tracks,you can pick up a Wizard Staff. If you landed in the middle, you can'tget anything, but if you landed on the right side, you'll find a StarPendant. There are three places where you can fall through the tracks,so be sure to get these items.Take the upper rail path to the next area. Are your friends waiting foryou on the lower track? If they're not, then go back and take the lowerpath. You'll get an option to summon them using the PHS system (NSS).Assuming they're there, take the upper path and keep walking until youfind a wooden shed. Enter it and pick the top choice when you'reprompted to make a decision. This will lower the tracks on the bottompath. Before returning to the lower rail path and following after yourallies, you can walk to the end of the path you're on and climb the wall;you'll hear birds chirping if you're in the right place.After finding the nest, you can choose to take the treasure in the nest(the top option), or leave the birds alone (the bottom option). If youchoose the top option, you're attacked.

TIPS: COCATRICE�� LV: 17�� HP: 420�� MP: 0
This guy's easy; just attack until it dies. You'll get 10 Phoenix Downsshould you kill it. You can get two Softs from it; one bystealing, the other by killing it with Morph.You'll get 10 Phoenix Downs after the battle is over.

�� Cloud will thenreturn to the train tracks. Keep in mind that this is a one-shot deal;whether you decide to take the treasure or not, you can only make a choiceone time. As you're traveling along the lower rail path, you'll see apart where the track splits in two directions. Take the left path (theone that turns back). Walk north (towards the bridge), then right (underthe first bridge). It may sound confusing, but you'll end up in a littleshack where there's a bunch of items and a man resting on a bulldozer.There's a Mind Source and a Power Source here, and the chest has a Ten tin side of it. Leave and follow the other path across the bridge in thenext area to reach the town of North Corel.

15.) Gold Saucer

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Silver Armlet, 'Summon Ramuh' materia.

�� There's some merchants here at North Corel and an inn. You can alsolearn more about Barret here, whether he's in your party or not. Whenyou're done shopping and chatting, go to the sky lift. After Barret hasa flashback about his friend Dain, take the lift up to the Gold Saucer.You can return to the World Map by heading right from the bottom area ofthe town, but there's nothing to do out there (aside from saving yourgame or riding around on a Chocobo).You'll see a Save Point in the background of the first area of the GoldSaucer, but you'll need GP (not gil, like what you've been using) toactivate it. Pay the man to get in (the first choice is for a one-timeentrance, the second choice will let you enter as often as you'd like),and then choose the path of your choice after your companions separate.If you try to leave the Station Square (the area where you're at; allthe areas in the Saucer are divided into 'squares'), Aeris will joinyou. As you explore the rest of the Gold Saucer, you'll discover thatShinra soldiers are snooping around, looking for Sephiroth. Whenyou're ready to move on, go to the Wonder Square. Here, you'll meetCait Sith, a would-be fortuneteller. He'll automatically join you sinceyou only have two members (you and your friend) at this point.Go to the Battle Square and you'll find a bunch of dead bodies; thehandiwork of Sephiroth. As you're talking to the few who are stillalive, Dio, the proprietor of the Gold Saucer shows up and promptlyblames you for the carnage. Cait Sith makes a dash for freedom, butafter following him, the party is trapped. Dio and his henchmen thensummon three large robots that throw you and your allies through the'Gateway to Heaven' to a desolate area, the Corel Prison, which liesat the base of the Gold Saucer.Here, you'll find Barret. After he runs away, examine the dead bodyand talk to the other guy before going though the southern gate. Thereis a treasure chest here (in the chamber at the base of the ladder), butit's already opened (anyone know if there's supposed to be something init that you could have gotten earlier?)In the second area, talk to everyone here. The building to the farsoutheast is a bar, and a man inside will sell you items. After lookingaround here, enter the building to the east (it doesn't matter whichentrance you take). Barret will show up once you're inside, as willTifa and Aeris. After Barret's flashback (in which his best friendfalls down a gorge and North Corel is razed to the ground), reassembleyour team and go back to the first area. Examine the guard (who isdead), then either leave through the gate. If you exit by going throughthe area between the gate and the building to the right, you'll end upwandering around in a wasteland until a caravan (the same one that Tifawas captured in) shows up. When it does, pick the top option to get aride back to the area beyond the gate or choose the bottom option tostay where you are (in the middle of nowhere...you'll have to keepwandering around until the caravan shows up again).Anyway, once you've gone past the gate, talk to the man out here and goto the _right_. Any other direction leaves you stranded in the desert(read the above paragraph again if you want to get back on track). Thistakes you to the caryard. Go up from here and you'll run into noneother than Dain (the guy from Barret's flashback). He tells Barretabout Erenoa and Marlene (who is actually his daughter), then (for whatreason, I have no idea), decides to attack Barret. In the battle,you're forced to fight using just Barret.

BOSS TIPS: DAIN�� LV: 23�� HP: 1200�� MP: 20
�� The easiest way to kill this boss is simply let him hit you; his attacksincrease your Limit meter quickly. Use the Kaifuku Materia to restorelost life, then hit him with the Heavy Shot when your meter maxes out.A summoning Materia (like Shiva or Ifrit) is also a good way to inflictadded damage. Just make sure you have all the MPs you need, and you canwin in no time. The boss can pull off a final attack before dying, sokeep your life up (but he can't do it if you kill him fast enough). Youget a Silver Armlet for beating him.

�� After Barret's friend dies, you'll find yourself back in the trailer.After talking to Kooshi (Coach?), you'll be invited to become a Chocoboracer. In the elevator shaft, choose the top option to have the racingprocess explained to you (NSS), or pick the bottom one to skip it. Inthe room with the other men, check the alcove by the Chocobo poster fora red Summon Materia (Ramuh). Then, talk to the girl in pink (Esuto) tostart racing.Your controls as a Chocobo racer are:S Speed Plus SourceX Speed Plus DownO Dash (uses up your Dash Meter)Select Switch between Automatic and Manual controlR1+R2 Hold these buttons to refill your Dash Meter.The more you Dash, the slower your walking Speed Plus is, so conserve yourDash Meter for when you really need it. You have to keep racing untilyou win, so get good fast! Esuto will explain the controls to you againprior to the race if you choose the top option, or you can conclude yourconversation with her and start racing by choosing the bottom option.If you can't get the hang of it, then just keep racing using theAutomatic Sequence mode until you get first place.After winning, you'll receive the Bagii (Buggy) as first prize, and cannow roam freely about the overworld and even pass through shallow rivers!(Look for lighter-shaded fords along the rivers.) Your controls are setup in the following manner:X Exit buggyO Enter buggyT Main MenuSelect/Start World Map (press repeatedly to enlarge/hide map)L1/R1 Rotate view (or return to side view if in overhead view)L2/R2 Change viewYou _can_ run into enemies in the buggy, so be careful. Also, you canonly return to the Golden Saucer if you take the sky lift from NorthCorel Town; you can't get there using the buggy. If you go across theriver south from the Golden Saucer and look around, you'll find a houseon a peninsula; you can't explore it yet, so ignore it for now. BTW,you can return to the desert if you get in the buggy, enter the dirt pitsurrounding the Saucer, and touch the houses at the base of the Saucer.However, you'll find that there's nothing to do here but wander throughthe desert--do so long enough and the same cart that Tifa was abductedin will pull up and offer you a ride back to your vehicle. Choose thetop option to accept and the bottom option to stay where you are. Andas the help menu indicates, it's possible to return to Junon Town andtake the Buggy with you. After you've completed the scenario with Cid,you can explore the house on the peninsula; you can also get Aeris'Level 4 Limit Break manual at that point in the game (see section 14for details).

16.) Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Fairy Tale, X Potion x2, 'Summon Titan' materia, Deathblow materia, Added Effect materia, Ether, Black M-phone, X Potion, Fairy Ring, Ether Turbo, Wizer Staff, Demi materia (and you can get an Elixir, Magic Source, and the Full Cure materia here from Disc 2 onwards).

�� Your next goal should be to head south from the Golden Saucer across theriver to a forested area. Go into the black structure (it's called Jungle, for some reason). Reno and Rude are here. After Elena showsup and alerts the other Turks to your presence, you'll be asked aquestion. No matter what your answer is, you'll have to fightReno and Rude at the same time.

BOSS TIPS: RENO�� LV: 22�� HP: 2000�� MP: 80
�� RUDE�� LV: 23�� HP: 2000�� MP: 135
�� Use Summoning spells to even the odds at the start of the round, then goafter either one. Once you injure one enough times, he'll leave, thenthe other one will. It may be better to attack Rude, since he can healhimself and Reno, but then again, Reno can inflict more damage. In anycase, this fight isn't too hard either way. You'll get a Fairy Tale anda X Potion should you win the battle.

�� After the Turks leave, head northeast, then go north to reach a pile ofscrapped machinery. As you're looking around, Scarlet and Tseng showup in the Shinra helicopter and talk about 'Huge Materia' (which you'lllearn more about in Disc 2). After they leave, examine the area whereSukaretto was standing and choose the bottom option to get the 'SummonTitan' materia. Then go back to the first area and head left. In thesecond area, there is a Deathblow materia near the left path (whichreturns you to the World Map). If you take the north path, you'llarrive at Gongaga Town.Be sure to visit the stores (don't forget that you can climb up the polein the Accessory Shop to reach a room where you can buy weapons) andget the treasure chests from the inn (X Potion) and the old man'shouse (White M-phone). If you go into the far right house, you'll meetan old couple who apparently know Cloud (or someone just like him), andsomeone else named Zekkusu. When you're done here, return to the WorldMap. Head southwest, then turn toward the river and go over theshallows, and then make your way up through the mountains to reach CosmoCanyon. If you try to drive past the town, the buggy will short out,so you don't really have any choice but to enter the town (and you can'tget anywhere else without the buggy, so even if you didn't drive it pastCosmo Canyon and entered on foot, it wouldn't matter....)When you approach the man at the gate, Red 13 will talk to him (he'lleither bound up the steps past your party if he's not with you, or he'lljust leave your party and start talking if he was with you previously).Everyone here knows Red 13 by the name 'Nanaki'. After Red heads up thestairs, talk to the guard and choose the bottom option to be let into thetown (Red 13 will reappear to make sure you guys get in). If he was inyour party, you'll have the option to make a new team; otherwise, you canlook around town freely. Don't miss the Save Point located in theTigerlily Arms Shop. In the Item Shop, there is a passage with a redrope across it that prevents you from checking out the room in the back.Keep this place in mind because if you return to Cosmo Canyon in Disc 2or 3, the rope will have been removed and you can get an Elixir, a MagicUp, and the Full Cure materia orb from the back room.Eventually head up to the observatory, where you'll run into Red 13and Buugen Haagen, an old geezer who knows all kinds of things. AfterRed 13 leaves, go back down and talk to your friends in order to makea new party. Then talk to Red 13 in the room connected to the innbefore returning to the observatory. Enter the side door, chat withBuugen Haagen, and you'll see a short FMV sequence.When it's over, return to the large bonfire to the right of theentrance. Your friends are here. Talk to everyone here, then chatwith Red 13 a second time. Buugen Haagen will show up, and you'llmake a new group (with Red 13 as a permanent member). If you wantsomeone else, just talk to another ally (it doesn't matter which one).Follow Buugen Haagen back to the sealed door above the weapons shopand talk to him, then choose the top option. He'll open the door foryou. Enter and climb down to the very bottom of the shaft, then headleft.In the next area, head right and up until you see a hole facing left*.Enter it and you'll be given an option. Pick the top one to make anopening appear nearby. Go through it, then head up and left. You'llslide on the oil and hit a spiked wall, reducing every member's HP by500 points. Then go south, through the hole, and head right to reachthe Combination materia you couldn't get in the first area (AdditionalEffect). Go back and carefully _walk_ along the edge of the path toavoid slipping across the oil. Then go right, up, left, down thestairs, and through the underpassage to reach a chest with an Etherinside of it. Then return to the stairs and go left, then down tofind a second chest containing a Black M-phone. Then climb back upthe stairs and head to the upper-left to leave this area.* If you enter any of the other three holes, you'll be given the same option, but if you choose the top choice, you'll be attacked. Doing this doesn't seem to alter the level in any way, but you're better off doing this after you've cleared the _whole_ area out instead of doing it right now; I'd rather be safe than sorry, in my opinion.There are five passages in this area; you only want to take the 2nd and4th passages from the left. First, take the 4th passage. When youtouch the web beyond it, you'll have to fight a giant spider (Stinger).When you've killed it, follow the path north to find a chest with anX Potion inside. Then go back and take the 2nd passage from the left.Kill the Stinger that attacks you when you touch the web and then headleft and down. As you're going through the tunnel, hold right andyou'll find an alternate path that leads to yet another treasure chest.You'll find a Fairy Ring in it. Go back up to where the web was andwalk north to find another web. Past it is the exit, but try holdingleft and Cloud will go along a passage hidden by the rock that leads toa chest. There's an Turbo Ether inside.When you approach the giant face in the next cavern, it begins to moveand you are attacked.

BOSS TIPS: GI NATATAKU�� LV: 29�� HP: 5500�� MP: 200
�� Don't worry about the Soul Fires this boss has with him; just use your Summon Materia, then concentrate on attacking and using Limit Breaks onthe big guy himself. If your spell Materia has hit second level, then Cold and Lightning work nicely on him. You don't even need to worryabout your life much; the boss can be taken down before any seriousdamage is done to your party.�� Or you can kill Gi instantly by giving HIM an X-Potion.�I never went back through the game to try it, though. You'll get a Wizer Staff should you be successful in battle.
�� Grab the spell Materia (Demi) that's left behind and follow BugenHagen up the steps. After the sequence with Red 13 and the othercreature (his father, who was turned to stone by the Gi�s parlyzing arrowsmake a new party and leave the town. Don't worry, Red 13 will rejoin you when you try to leave. Oh yes, the Buggy will be working againwhen you leave Cosmo Canyon.

17.) Nibel Mountains

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Luck Source x2, Elixir x2, Platinum Fist, Turbo Ether Silver M-phone, Twin Viper, Enemy Launcher, Magic Source, Destruct materia, Rune Blade, Platinum Barrette, Powersoul, All Materia, Elemental Materia, Sniper CR, Jem Ring, Counter materia (if you open up the safe in the mansion, you can get the Cosmo Memory manual and the 'Summon Odin' materia, not to mention a Key Item (the gold key).

�� Get in the buggy and continue past Cosmo Canyon. Head north to find a river with a shallow ford you can cross. Past it, the mountains areof a different type than what you usually see. Near them is a smalltown, Nivelheim. Look familiar? It's the same one Sephiroth and Cloudwent to in Cloud's flashback.First, go into the inn. Talk to the black creature in the back to geta Luck Source. You can get an Elixir from another one of the creaturesin the Item Shop, and a second Luck Source if you talk to the smallcreatures in the upper floor of the southeastern house. The large houseto the east is Tifa's home, and you'll be given a Platinum Fist and anTurbo Ether if you talk to the creatures here. There's a piano inTifa's room that you can fool around with (see section 14 for details).This next section is optional--you can just continue on through themountains if you want. However, Sephiroth won't show up in themansion after you reach Disc 2, meaning you can't nab the Destructmateria unless you get it from him during the first disc (read belowfor details).Now, go into the large mansion at the edge of town. Left of the entrance is a piece of paper written by the Turks (?). It has several hints on it that clue you in to the combination of the safe onthe upper floor (but it's useless if you don't know Japanese :)).You can get the 4th number by choosing the blank space beneath thefirst three tips (look at the paper, choose the top option, then move the cursor down to the blank space and press O).Head right and look for the sliver of light near the stairway, it's very hard to see. It's an opening that leads to the lower section ofanother room. There's a chest here, with a Silver M-phone inside.Go back out and go into the northern door beneath the staircase. Inthe adjoining hall, head right and and up to find a chest with a Twin Viper in it. To the left is a room with a broken piano (whichyou could have also reached by looking for the opening near the leftstaircase in the main room).Go up the stairs and head left. In the circular room is a chest thathas an Enemy Launcher inside. There's nothing in the northern roomexcept for a locked safe--you'll need the right combination in orderto open it (see section 14 if you don't know how). If you want totry your luck, examine it with the O button and choose the top optionto enter the combination or the bottom option to quit.Open the safe (or not), then go right and into the right wing of themanor house. If you go up, you'll find a chest with a Magic Sourceinside. Then go into the lower room and examine the curved wall toopen a secret passage. Go down the spiraling walkway, and then headright. If you got the gold key from the safe, you can open the northern door (refer to section 14 for details). Continue to theright to find a library. Then go north and you'll run into noneother than Sephiroth, who will pelt you with a green materia beforeflying away. Be sure to get the materia (Destruct) beforeleaving the mansion.Once you're back outside, leave Nivelheim from the northern entrance and continue along until you see a passage leading into the mountains.In the next area, follow the path until it splits, and take the northpath, which wraps around the back of a spire and leads to a chestwith a Rune Blade inside of it. Now go back and follow the original path. You'll notice that just before the bridge, there's a path that curves away to the north. Follow it up into the mountains and when it curves south, take that path instead of continuing in the same direction. The path curves several times, but eventually you'll make it to the top of the mountain, where you can find a chest with a Plus Barrette. It may help if you press SELECT so that you can seeyourself when a mountain is blocking your view, and if you can't seemto get any further, press in other directions (like down) to scale theback of the mountain.Go back down to the main path and head up the bridge. Inside thecavern, take the ladder down instead of the tubes, or you won't beable to get all the treasure in this area. You don't have to worryabout the large boss near the door just yet. Feel free to make useof the Save Point, then climb back to the top of the area. Enter the pipe labeled '2' to end up on a rocky ledge. There's an item bag here with an Powersoul inside; get it and then press down to jump downto a lower ledge, then press down again to reach the floor. Climb backup one last time and go into the pipe labled '4' in order to reach thetreasure chest on the bottom ledge below; there's an All materialying within. Walk against the right edge of the ledge to drop downto the floor.See the path heading south, just below the path that the boss is blocking? Follow it to go outside, then try to keep walking and you'lldrop down to the lower ledge. Following the path here leads to a deadend, so enter the cave instead and take the righthand path once you'reinside. Ignore the exit at the other end of the cave and work your waysouthwest, then go through the small hole. Walk up, then left, thendown in order to reach the treasure chest you could see when you firstcame in here. Inside it is an Elixir. Now go through the exit toarrive at a wooded area. On the ground, to the left of the mass ofcrystallized Materia is an Elemental materia. Take it and proceed north,going through the opening to go back into the caves.Inside, head to the right, then go up as far as you can and walk leftpast the stone walls to reach a chest containing a Sniper CR. Thengo back and take the rightmost passage. It goes south and leads youback to the outside. From here, head left (going right leads you toa dead end). You'll eventually end up at the Jenova Plant you visitedin Cloud's flashback. There's nothing to do inside the plant, socontinue beyond it to the door set in the rock wall. Enter it andyou'll end up back in the chamber with the pipes again.It's true that you could have taken the door and done this entiresequence in reverse, but then you couldn't have scaled the ledge andyou would have to go all the way back, instead of taking the expressroute like you just did :) Now climb down and examine the boss, andit will attack you.

BOSS TIPS: MATERIA KEEPER�� LV: 38�� HP: 8400�� MP: 300
Red 13's LimitBreak B1/1 works well, as does Cloud's B2/1 Limit Break. I'd also suggest using the 'Choco/Mog' materia as much as you can--it's ability to stun this boss is very useful. Physical attacks should do thetrick if you have good weapons; save your MPs for healing yourselves. Cure/all is good to heal yourself. Also, he can heal himself (around 1000 hp's worth), and use the damaging Tryne skill, which causes about 500 points of damage to all those still alive. If Red's learned his B1/2 break or someone knows Haste, it would be a wise idea to use it at the start of the round. Since the Materia Keeper is one of the few enemies that can use Tryne, it comes highly recommended that you have a Enemy Skill materia equipped sothat you can learn this enemy technique. You'll get a Jem Ring should you be victorious.

�� After the battle is over, examine the purple materia that is left behindin order to take it (Counter Attack). Then follow the path outside--itleads back to the World Map.

18.) Cid

�� `ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Power Source, Yushiyuki, Drill Arm, Edincoat.

�� Head southwest, then turn north (you're making a big C around the mountains). Keep walking and you'll see Rocket Town up ahead. Inthe Accessory Shop, you'll recieve a message if you go to the left endof the counter and examine it (anyone know what it means?) If you gointo the house farthest to the right, you can find a chest with aPower Source inside of it in next to the stove. Then talk to the old manstanding near the house that's just left of the rocket's launch pad.Talk to him again, and he'll ask you a question. Pick the top answerand the view will pan up to show the rocket. Then the old geezer willgive you the Yoshiyuki; it's a weapon for Cloud.Go into the house to the right of the old man. This is the home ofShiera and Cid, although neither of them are around at the moment.There's a chest here with a Drill Arm inside it. If you go out theback entrance, you'll find a light airplane in the backyard--it's oneof Cid's inventions, the 'Tiny Bronco'. After looking at the airplane,Shiera will show up. When she leaves, go outside and head north toarrive at the rocket--climb inside it to find Cid. After chatting withhim, name him. You can then ask him several questions; you have to atleast ask the first one (top choice) in order to proceed with the game.Then leave the rocket and return to Cid's house. Shiera will show up,then Cid, too. After Cid goes out back, Shiera will explain how Cidwas going to pilot his rocket into outer space some time ago, butaborted the launch when he discovered that Shiera was still making last-minute checks and hadn't left the launch pad yet; she would be burnedto ashes since the launch could only be aborted, not delayed. By savingher life, Cid's dreams were shattered, since he did not have theresources to repair the rocket, which tipped over after falling backonto the launch pad.Cid comes back into the house, then Palmer shows up--an employee ofShinra. Go outside and you'll run into Rufus and a Shinra guard, whohave come to 'borrow' the Tiny Bronco. After Shiera brings you backinside the house, go out the back entrance to find Palmer standingatop the Tiny Bronco. Talk to him and he'll attack you.

BOSS TIPS: PALMER�� LV: 38�� HP: 6000�� MP: 240
�� His gun causes a fair amount of damage since it has the effects of Fire 2,Ice 2, and Bolt 2, so make sure Aeris is in your party or that you have some Restore Materia. In the very beginning use Haste/All on your party as well as Slow on him to even the odds a bit. Next use Choco/Mog to paralize him. This should give you an easy victory. You'll want to have Cloud's B2/2 by now--it comes in handy. Your prize for beating Palmer is an Edincoat.

�� After the boss gets wasted (heh, heh), your party and Cid will escape on the Tiny Bronco. Although it gets damaged during your escape it can still be used to skim across shallow water and traverse rivers(although you can't go up or down waterfalls). Here are the airplanecontrols:X Exit airplaneO Enter airplaneSelect/Start World Map (press repeatedly to enlarge/hide map)L1/R1 Rotate view (or return to side view if in overhead view)L2/R2 Change viewYou now have several options that are available to you: you can getAeris's Level 4 Limit Break manual (see section 14 for details) orgo on Yuffie's sub-quest (if you have her in your party, see section6 for further information). Even if you don't have Yuffie, you can purchase some pretty good weapons and find some treasure chests lying around in Wutai, so you may want to stop there anyways. You can even go back and kill the big snake you had to flee from insection 3k, if you've been itching to do so (you'll now have enough HPs to learn the enemy skill 'Beta' from it without dying). In any case, it would be a good idea to explore other areas and pick up items you missed/buy stuff you couldn't afford before instead of continuing on your quest just yet. I would suggest checking out the excavators'site to the north, since you can pick up the powerful 'Summon Kjata' materia there as well as buy some useful bracelets and items.

19.) A Spy?!?!?!?

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Protect Vest, Choco Feather, Elixir.

�� Pilot the Tiny Bronco back to the Gold Saucer area. Go to the weaponsmith's house on the penninsula near the dirt pit and talk to him--he'llexplain that you need the Keystone, which he no longer has. Get back inCid's airplane, and leave it on the shore by the dirt pit. You need toget to the Golden Saucer, so either walk or find a wild Chocobo and rideit back to North Corel. Then take the sky lift up to the Gold Saucer.Go to the Battle Square and look for an opening on the right side of theroom labled 'Dio's Show Room'. Inside, examine the glittering object ontop of the large stand; it's the Keystone. Dio, the big lug who threwyou out of the Gold Saucer before, will show up and offer you achallenge: fight in the Battle Square and he'll give you the Keystone.When you have a choice, pick the top option to accept or the bottomoption to temporarily decline. You'll now have to fight in the BattleSquare using only Cloud. Keep in mind that even if you lose the veryfirst battle, Dio will still give you the Keystone.If you want to try and see if you can win all the battles, then keepfighting. After each battle, the message 'GREAT!' will appear,followed by two options. Choose the right option to stop fighting,or the left option to continue fighting. If you choose to continue,a jackpot-like device will appear. You can stop it from spinningby pressing the O button, and whatever comes up when you press O willtake affect prior to the start of the next battle. Depending on whatyou get, different things will happen to you, although certainaccessories can render you immune to some of the more debilitatingeffects.Furthermore, the status ailments that you are afflicted with as aresult of the jackpot stay with you from battle to battle, and you'reforced to stop the jackpot after each battle, so you could end upbeing a poisoned, petrified frog in a few rounds, if you're not careful. If you last through seven battles, then the fighting ends.Refer to the 'Having Fun' section for a complete explanation of how theBattle Square works, but keep in mind that although you will earnBattle Points during the battle, they are reset to zero when the battleends since you end up in the Show Room (and the way things work you loseall the Battle Points you earn if you leave the main room at any time).Should you make it through all the battles, Dio will give you a ProtectVest and a Choco Feather, in addition to the Keystone.There's nothing else you need to do at the Gold Saucer now, but whenyou try to leave, you'll discover that the ropeway that the sky lifttravels up and down is broken, leaving you stranded in the Saucer.Cait Sith will either show up (or leave your party, if he's alreadywith you guys) and suggest that you all meet him at the Ghost Hotel.At the Hotel, you and your allies will chat for awhile. In the nextscene, you'll find yourself in your room.At this point in the game, a character will come into your room and askto go on a date with you. While it's usually Aeris, it's been confirmedthat you can go on a date with Tifa instead, if you were nice to her andmean to Aeris throughout the course of the game. It's much harder to do,but if you have had Yuffie in your party for a while, she may wish todate Cloud as well. If you're really mean to all the women in yourparty, Barret will date you (so be nice!) It's not what you think--justa friendly outing (he had a wife, so what are you thinking ^_^;) I'llwrite down the exact method to date each character when I learn whatthey are.Both times that I've played through this part, it's always been Aeriswho comes to ask Cloud to go on a date, so I'll write the next sectionwith her in mind, although you may end up with someone else.First, you'll go to the Event Square. Since you're the 100th personto come here that day, you and Aeris will be offered a role in theupcoming play. What you do here doesn't affect the game in any way,so just pick whatever options you'd like and watch one of the manyhumorous endings. If I wrote it out, it would ruin the fun, so....Next, you'll ride the gondola in the Round Square. When Aeris looksout the window, you can press left to look out, too, and see variousFMV sequences showcasing the events at the Gold Saucer.After the date is over, Cloud and Aeris will return to the StationSquare only to find Cait Sith sneaking around with the Keystone. He'llrun away when Cloud yells at him, and you have to chase him aroundvarious sections of the Gold Saucer. (If you don't want to waste timedoing that, then go to the Chocobo Square, enter it, and chase CaitSith back outside). Eventually, Cait will stop at the steps outsideof the Chocobo Square. The Shinra helicopter shows up, and Cait willtoss the Keystone up to Tseng. When confronted by Cloud and Aeris, Caitreveals that he is in fact a spy for the Shinra. He insists that hecontinues to travel with Cloud and his friends because he has takenMarlene as a hostage back in Midgar (Right? That's what he seems to say).Once Cait Sith leaves, you'll find yourself back in the Ghost Hotel.Check the iron maiden for an Elixir (notice the sound it makes; itsounds just like Norstein Bekkler's laugh [the guy from ChronoTrigger!]). Leave the room to meet up with your allies again. Aftera brief talk, Aeris will join your party, becoming a permanent member.Pick another ally and then leave the Saucer, since the ropeway is nowrepaired.Now that you're back at North Corel, leave and return where you parkedthe Tiny Bronco. Look at the World Map. See the tiny chain of islandsnear the bottom of the map? Just to the right of them and to the leftof Mideel and the Fort Condor is a large island. If you go there, you'llsee a large temple surrounded by a forest. This is your nextdestination, so land the Tiny Bronco at the shore and head to the temple.

20.) Temple of The Ancients

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Trident, Mind Source, Silver Rifle, Turbo Ether x2, Rocket Punch, Luck Plus materia, Morph materia, Princess Guard, Ribbon, Hou xx, Megalixir, Nail Bat, Dragon Armlet, 'Summon Bahamut' materia, Gigas Armlet.

�� At the top of the temple is a black creature, similar to the ones youmet in Nivelheim. If you talk to it, it floats into the air in a flashof light. Inside the temple, you'll find the Turk, Tseng. He was badlywounded by Sephiroth. He gives you the Keystone so that you can go afterhis attacker; examine the dais in the center of the room and you'll betransported into the depths of the temple.This area has a very confusing layout; it's a mass of stairs, walkwaysand passages. There are chests everywhere, and a kooky old man in ablue robe is also running around down here. From where you arrived,head up, then left, then up again and go down the stairs to the groundlevel. There's an opening just above you; go in it, turn to the right,then climb down the vines clinging to the wall beneath you. If yourun underneath the long staircase nearby, you can reach a treasure chestthat has a Trident inside of it. From there, head right, go down thestairs, then turn and climb up the wall using the vines. Head past theopening (which you can't enter at this point, anyway) and go up thestairs. The old man will dash away; ignore him for now and climb up thevines to reach a platform. There's a shiny pink item here (Mind Source).Take it and go down the stairs, then enter the door to your left to finda room with a treasure chest and the old man. Inside the chest is theSilver Rifle. Talk to the geezer twice and he'll offer his services to you: - Purchase Items - Restore HP and MP to maximum - Save your game* - Nothing* Choose the top option to decline or the bottom option to accept and save your game.Outside, go back up the stairs and down the vines, but this time, headdown and to the left. You can pick up a green item here (Turbo Ether).Then go down the long stairway. At the bottom, climb down the smallerset of steps to your left, then work your way towards the southwestcorner of the screen. There's a small patch of vines here that you canclimb down. Be sure to open the nearby chest; there's a Rocket Punchinside of it. Now, go down the stairs and walk northeast along thepath to find some more vines and the old man, who scampers away whenyou get too close. Climb up the vines, then go up the stairs next toyou, go through the archway, turn east and go down the stairs, andclimb up the long stretch of vines on the nearby wall. Head left,underneath the staircase, and you can nab a purple materia (Luck Plus).Now, go back the way you came (go right, down the vines, up the stairsand down and out through the archway so that you're back on the paththat the old man was standing on, just above the vines). Walk to theeast until the path stops, then head south and turn east again to enterthe nearby door. As you enter, the old man will dash away. There arehuge hollow boulders that are rolling down this walkway. To get pastthem, time your dashes so that the hollow part will be directly overyou, causing Cloud to kneel as the boulder rolls over you. Then keepgoing until you reach a side path that leads to a pool of water. Grabthe Morph materia near the pool, then continue along thewalkway, avoiding the boulders. Once you reach the end of the path,they'll disappear for good, but remember that if you get hit by aboulder, you'll be dragged all the way back to the beginning of thepath (ouch!) Alternately, you can wait until the boulders disappear andthen go back and pick up the materia after the sequence with Sephiroth.Once the boulders are gone, Aeris will sense a powerful prescence inthe chamber and return to the pool. Light will erupt from the surfaceof the pool, and you'll be able to see what I presume is a flashback ofTseng and Elena (both Turks) running around in the shrine. After Elena leaves, Sephiroth shows up and creates a double of himself. While hebusies himself with attacking Tseng, the laughing double flies up intothe air. After this sequence is over, Sephiroth's double will descendinto the pool and then fly away (is this supposed to mean anything?)When you return to the end of the passage, the old geezer will bewaiting for you, and will once again offer his help: - Restore HP and MP to maximum - Save your game - NothingWhen you're ready, go down the stairs. There's a huge room here withtwelve doors labeled I to XII. In the center of the room is the ever-annoying talking clock. I was ready to use my FF7 discs as frisbeesby the time I figured out how to solve this little 'mini-game'. Here'show it works:If you press O (Roulette), the hour and minute hands move around veryquickly. Even when you press O again to stop the hands, they'll bothmove three more spaces in the direction they were traveling.If you press T, you're given two options: one in blue, one in green: BLUE: This gives you four _more_ options, one in blue, one in green, one in red, and one in white. - BLUE The hour hand moves ahead by one space. - GREEN The hour hand moves ahead seven spaces. - RED The hour hand moves ahead by 17 spaces. This invariably sets the minute hand ahead by at least one space. - WHITE This does nothing. GREEN: This gives you _another_ four options, in blue, green, red, and white, respectively. - BLUE The hour hand moves back by two spaces. - GREEN The hour hand moves back by ten spaces, setting the minute hand back by one. - RED The hour hand moves back by 20 spaces. This makes the minute hand decrease by at least one space, too. - WHITE This does nothing.If you press X, the damn clock shuts up and you're free to move ontothe hands of the clock (providing you've aligned them properly). Youcan only walk on the hour and minute hands of the clock.Isn't this fun? Well, there are twelve passages (labeled I to XII),and you get to explore them by setting the clock to various positions.Here's a list of what's in each passage:

I - When you open up the chest, you'll be attacked by monsters. You won't get anything for beating them, either.

TIPS: JEMINISUMII�� LV: 24�� HP: 800�� MP: 80
�� Poison Frog�� x 2�� LV: 26�� HP: 500�� MP: 100
�� The Poison Frogs are weak against Reiki, so use cold-based attacks/spellson them. Their attacks will turn you into a frog, but they attack sooften that it's better for you to wait until they hit you again (turningyou back into a human) instead of wasting a Maiden's Kiss or otherrestorative item. The woman (Jeminisumii) is weak against Poison, souse one of the Bio spells on her for good results. The only point infighting this battle is if you want to learn Song of the Frog from thefrogs (providing you have a Enemy Skill materia equipped).

II - This passage is blocked off by rocks. You can't do anything here, so return and pick another path.

III - A treasure chest. It contains monsters, too. You won't get anything for defeating them.

TIPS: Hecto-Eyes�� LV: 30�� HP: 500�� MP: 220
�� Both of these red, multi-eyed monsters are weak against Poison, so usethe best Bio spell you've got, or simply attack to dispatch them. Ifyou've got Morph equipped, you can morph both of them intoMagic Source items, which is really the only point in fighting this battle.Although weak, either enemy can drain _lots_ of HP from you (around 1200-1400 points!)

IIII - Shouldn't this be IV? Anyway, there's a chest here, and Aeris's Ultimate Weapon, the Princess Guard is inside.

V - This passage leads outside to the gold chest you could see but not normally reach. Inside it is a Ribbon.

VI - Read below to find out what to do here.

VII - There's a chest here. A weapon for Cait Sith, the Hou xx, is inside it.

VIII - You can get a Megalixir from the chest in this room.

IX - A passage blocked by fallen rock.

X - This is where you came in, bud!

XI - Yet another blocked passage.

XII - What a creepy room! You'll be seeing more of it soon enough.At some point, you should stand on the hour or minute hand and let thesecond hand approach. When it passes over you, it will knock you downinto the pit below. When you land, you'll find yourself in a room witha treasure chest. Before you can open it, you'll be ambushed by twomonsters.

BOSS TIPS: ANCIENT DRAGON:�� LV: 34�� HP: 2400�� MP: 450� (weak against Demi)
�� Using Demi or some Summon Materia will kill these dragons quickly.Even physical attacks work well. Either enemy can only attack for about500 points of damage, or use a Southern Cross attack that hit's one enemy for the same amount of damage, so they don't pose tooserious a threat. You can also control them, even though they're bosses.You'll win an Turbo Ether for defeating both of them.In the chest is the Nail Bat, the strongest weapon Cloud can get during Disc 1. Take it and leave the room. You'll find yourself back at thedoor you couldn't enter earlier (in the area with the vines andstaircases. Simply work your way back to the talking clock, and pickup any items you might have missed the first time around.PASSAGE VIBefore going down this passage, make sure you've cleared out the otherrooms since you won't be able to go back to them after the next event.When you step out into the open, the bouncing old man will see you andrun away. When Aeris asks you a question, pick the bottom answer ifyou want to return and explore more of the clock puzzle room (NSS), orchoose the top answer if you want to hunt down the old man. To findhim, simply go through the passages; you want to end up going into apassage that he plans to come out of. You can go down to another setof passages by going to the left end of each ledge and pressing the Obutton to jump down a level. The passage entrances and exits arerandom, but you can catch him without too much difficulty. Don't forgetto take the chest lying on the lowest level; there's a pair of ArmyCotton Gloves inside. As usual, beat the old man at his own game andhe'll help you in return: - Restore HP and MP to maximum - Save your game - NothingNow that you've caught the old man, the large door on the top level willopen. Go inside and head to the right. You'll encounter Sephiroth fourtimes. Up to his usual evil, Sephiroth talks about the energy withinthe temple as he as swings his sword around, his every motion trailed bythe double that he made earlier. After disappearing, Cloud will sufferfrom some sort of fit (something about the Materia taking over his body?)After coming to his senses, the party examines a mural on the wall whichshows a meteorite speeding towards the people of the earth. Aeris talksabout the spell 'Meteo' which Sephiroth is planning to cast, when theparty hears Sephiroth's voice. The temple starts to shake, and a largered dragon appears and attacks the allies.

BOSS TIPS: RED DRAGON:�� LV: 39�� HP: 6800�� MP: 300
�� Slow the dragon and Haste yourself to gain the upper hand. Some SummonMateria will also even the odds, but don't use Kjata since it will heal the boss by about 2100 points. Also, Demi won't work against it.Limit Breaks and physical attacks should do the trick. You'll win aDragon Armlet should you win the battle.

�� Pick up the summon materia that's left behind (Bahamut). Then go backand examine the floating gold object on the dais. Aeris refers to itas the 'Kuro Materia' (Black Materia) but it's _gold_...in any case,Aeris will then ask you a question. It doesn't matter which answeryou choose. At this point, if Cait Sith isn't in your party, you'llhere a ringing sound and Cloud will answer the PHS phone. Cait willtalk to him through the phone. If he is in you party, then he startshopping around and talking to you. When he finishes, leave thischamber, let the old man heal you if you need it, then go back to theclock room. The only direction you can go in is straight up throughpassage XII. When you examine the door in the room beyond, yet anotherboss appears to finish you off.

BOSS TIPS: DEMON'S GATE�� LV: 45�� HP: 10000�� MP: 400
The bad news is that the boss can hit for lots of damage. The good newsis that most of his attacks (especially the earthquake and body slamattack) quickly max out your Limit bars. Now's a good time to try outthe Bahamut materia, but most other Summon materia don't do much damage.Make good use of Aeris's B1/1 and Cloud's B2/2, and you'll want toBarrier and Haste yourselves. Luckily, this boss can't instantly killyou as a similar boss in FF2 could. You'll win a Gigas Armlet fromthis boss if you're victorious.

�� Once the boss is defeated, Cait Sith will have an animated conversationwith your party. If he's not in your group, then he bursts out of thedoor and starts talking. He'll then return to the chamber where theBlack Materia was and take it. Afterwards, the entire temple vanishes!In the following scene, Cloud and Aeris go down into the foundationof the temple and retrieve the Black Materia, but Sephiroth shows upand forces Cloud to give the Materia to him. During this time, youcontrol a ghostly image of Cloud as a child. If you stand in Cloud'spath and keep talking to him, you'll prevent him from approachingSephiroth, but there's no point in doing this since Cloud will continueto advance until you give up. After Cloud gives Sephiroth the BlackMateria, he will attack Aeris (and you can't do anything about that,either). Cait Sith will show up (actually Cait Sith 2--the same person,but with a new robot body since the first one got trashed when thetemple was destroyed. He sure got there fast, huh?) Then your otherparty member will leap down and prevent Cloud from killing Aeris.After what I take to be a dream sequence, you'll awake in, of allplaces, the inn at Gongaga Town, with Barret and Tifa by your side.Answer Barret's question any way you like, then go outside. Tifa andBarret will join your party, but you don't have to keep them aspermanent members. Look for the Tiny Bronco on the southern shore nearGongaga Town.Also, Aeris has left your party for good. However, you'll have all ofher weapons, equipment, accessories and materia in your item menu. Now,you need to go to the forest that you saw in Cloud's dream. First, getin the Tiny Bronco.

21.) Bone Village and The Secret Forest

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: 'Summon Kjata' materia, Water Ring.Make your way up to the Northern Continent by going around the left sideof the Western Continent after going along the river by the Gold Saucer.Head to the right edge of the continent, where you'll find a forestsurrounded by mountains. In the middle of the forest is a big rib cageand a large skull. Approach it, and you'll find yourself in a excavationsite where a bunch of archaeologists spend their time digging. Beforedoing anything else, you might want to head up the ladder and go throughthe hole in the back to reach a forest, the same one from Cloud's dream.Keep walking until you reach the second forest screen. If you stand herefor a moment, you'll see a red Materia floating on the left side of thescreen. It will switch to the right side and back again every fewseconds. Try to predict where it will show up and use the O button tograb it. Your reward is the Summon Kjata materia. If you try tocontinue through the forest, you'll find that this screen repeatsendlessly. So, go back outside. Before going on to the next part ofthe game, you may want to buy some bracelets and items; talk to theman sitting near the rib cage and pick the second option in order tobuy things from him.What you need to do at this point in the game is commission one of themen to dig up the Runahaapu (Luna Harp) for you. As long as you haveit in your possession, you're able to pass through the 'endless'forest. - First, talk to the man sitting just outside of the rib-cage room. Pick the first option twice*. The screen will fade out. - When the screen fades back in, all the men will be gone. What you do is choose a place where you want a digger to stand and press the S button. It costs 100 gil to place a digger. Use the top option to place a digger, or the bottom option to quit. You can place up to five diggers. - You'll quit once you choose the bottom option or after you've placed five diggers. Now, press the S button to set off an explosion. You'll hear a music cue, and the diggers will turn in different directions. - Stand where you want one of the diggers to search through the night and press S again after clearing the dialogue box. You'll find yourself back at the bottom of the screen the next morning. The treasure chest nearby will be closed, and it may or may not hold an item, depending on where you chose to dig. - The key to getting the right item is to watch the diggers after the explosion occurs. They'll all look toward the location of the item you need, so try placing them in compass-point style layout so that you can follow their vision to the place where the item lies. If you're really stuck, the Runahaapo lies just a little ways to the west and ever so slightly south of the tent on the upper ledge.* Normally, the first option is used to dig for the Runahaapu (all the diggers will look in the direction of the harp). The other two options are used to dig up other items (the diggers will look in the direction of the closest item/next item to be found). But not only do you not have to place diggers in order to find an item, but you can use any of the three choice to dig up the Runahaapu or any other item--it's just that the diggers won't look in the correct direction if you don't use the first option, and you can't use the first option after obtaining the Runahaapu.How do you know if you got the right item? Well, it will show up on theKey Item menu (where the important stuff like the PHS is kept). Also, ifyou talk to the digger sitting by the room, and choose the first optiontwice, he won't let you select and place diggers. Finally, try goinginto the forest. If the screen turns green, then you've got the rightitem.When you've got Runahaapu, go into the forest. When you reach the secondarea, the screen changes to a green color, and the forest will no longerrepeat. Beyond the forest is a rocky area. First, go under the treetrunk to reach the treasure chest with a Water Ring inside. Climb up therocks near the pink mass of coral, then go through the fallen trunk andhead north to reach the next area (you can't climb up the vine in thefirst area, so ignore it). Walk along the curving path and you'll findyourself back in the World Map, in the canyon near the forest. Headstraight forward to the top-like object to continue your quest.

18.) City of the Ancients, The Lost City, and a Tradgedy...

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Magic Source, Aurora Armlet, Comet materia, Guard Up, Elixir, Enemy Skill materia, Wizard Brace.
This area looks a lot like the floor of the sea; there's shells and coraleverywhere. At the crossroads, take the left path. It leads to a stonebuilding--inside of the building is a Save Point, and there's a chest onthe upper ledge with a Magic Source inside it. Leave the building andcontinue past it, following the path east into the rock face. Inside,go down the stairs and head all the way right to find a chest with anAurora Armlet in it. You can check out the blue crystal if you want,but there's nothing you can do with it at this point in the game. Returnto the crossroads and take the middle path. Enter the shell building andclimb the spiraling walkway to the very to to find a green materia lyingon the ground (Comet). Go back to the crossroads yet again and takethe right road. It leads to an area with several shell buildings. Goall the way to the right, then go north to enter the building before you.Climb all the way to the top level. There's a chest here containing aGuard Source.There's nothing else to do in this area but enter the last shell house;your friends won't let you take the path leading out of the city, andthe main path leads to another part of the chamber with the blue crystal,but there's nothing you can do there. So, if you're ready to proceed,enter the shell house to the right of the main path. On the groundfloor is a chest holding an Elixir. Take it and climb up the ladder.When you approach the beds, you'll be given an option. You can choosethe bottom option, grab the yellow materia behind the headboard of thethird bed (Enemy Skill), exit the house, then enter it again,approach the beds, and choose the top option to go to sleep. Or, you canjust pick the top option the first time around, go to sleep, and when youwake up in the night, grab the materia (it's easier to see at night, too).Originally, I though this was a 'bug' materia (don't I feel silly now),but it's not.No matter what you decide to do, go to sleep when you're ready to.You'll wake up in the middle of the night. After Cloud's companions joinhim, return to the crossroads a final time and take the middle path again.When you enter the shell building, the fish floating in the middle of thespiraling passageway will have disappeared; there are blue steps in it'splace. Go down them and you'll find yourself in an underwater palace.At the bottom of the stairs, leave the building and take note of the SavePoint before going down both sets of stairs below.Aeris's here, and you have to get to her by jumping across severalpillars. Press in the direction of the next pillar to get proceed,but you'll have to use just Cloud; your allies will wait for you backon the ground. Once you get close to Aeris, Cloud has another spasticfit and will draw his sword. You can press the controller and thebuttons to make Cloud do different things, but pressing O three timeswill make him try to strike Aeris. Luckily, he'll come to his sensesbeforehand with some help from his friends, but Sephiroth makes anappearance and kills Aeris L . After her death, Sephiroth escapes,leaving behind another monster in his wake.

BOSS TIPS: JENOVA LIFE�� LV: 50�� HP: 10000�� MP: 300
�� This boss is weak against earth attacks, so use Earth and Titan. Also,Comet, Bahamut, and Kjata all work very well. Physical attacks do asurprising amount of damage. The boss will cast Reflect on itself thefirst time you cast a spell on it, so be wary about using spells toooften. Jenova*Life's attacks are not that strong (about 400-700 points),but it has an ultra-deadly blue bubble attack (Aqua Breath) that inflicts+1500 damage to each character. Be sure to have some Restore Materiahandy. Considering it's the last boss on this disc, this is not a veryhard battle. You'll get a Wizard Bracelet when you win the battle.

�� After beating the boss, there's another CG sequence, then you're given the option to save your game. Guess what? You just finished Disc One!

******** 2^nd CD ********

1.) The Northern Continent

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Viper Halberd, Bolt Armlet, HypnoCrown, Megalixir, Magic Plus materia, Power Source.

�� You'll start off outside of one of the shell-shaped buildings on the eastside of the Ancient City. If you walk to the left, Cloud will haveanother attack and you'll see the ghostly form of Sephiroth leaving theAncient City. Once Cloud has recovered, follow Sephiroth by headingnorth, then east along the path you couldn't take before. Note thatyou're free to go back through the Forest and return to the World Map,but there's no point in doing so unless you wanted to buy some items orfind Vincent or Yuffie (unless you already have them). Although you'renow on Disc 2, none of the other events that occur in this disc willactually happen until you get the Highwind in section 4e (meaning that ifyou were to return to the World Map, you couldn't go on the Huge materiaquests yet, dig up the Gate 5 Key, or bring Buugen Haagen back to theAncient City).In the next area, ignore the white, spiked object for a moment. Instead,walk behind it (look for a path to your left). This will allow you toreach a chest containing a Viper Halberd (a weapon for Cid). Onceyou've gotten it, climb up the spiky object. It's a little tricky tonavigate due to it's spiraling shape, but you'll eventually reach acave entrace after making your way to the top.Inside, walk to the left and press against the second cleft in the wall.You'll climb to the top and be given two options (Right or Left). Pickthe bottom option (Left). Walk over to the next cleft and climb up it,then choose the bottom option when you reach the top to land on a littleledge with a chest above it. You can open the chest from where you are;there's a Bolt Armlet inside. Face the cleft and choose the bottomchoice, then the top one to jump to the other side. Now, go to the rightand when two options appear, pick the bottom one. This lets you climbdown to where the first chest is; there's a HypnoCrown inside of it.Climb back up to the top of the cleft, pick the bottom option, then pressagainst it to try and get back on. When two options appear, choose thetop one. Then, make your way up to the ledge with the chest, and pickthe top option. You can now take the Megalixir from inside the chest.Get back into the cleft and choose the bottom option to jump to the westside of the path. Work your way to the left, climb up the cleft, andhead left a second time to reach a long ladder. Selecting the bottomoption will left you climb down to the bottom of the ladder.If you search using the O button, you'll find a purple materia (MagicPlus) near the lower-left corner of the screen. When you approach theladder, you'll automatically climb up to the ledge you were at. Nowpick the top option after nearing the ladder and climb all the way tothe top. Once you're off the ladder, run to the right and go throughthe opening on the north wall. In the next room, take the contents ofthe treasure chest (Power Source) before exiting through the far openingto the northwest.Once outside, keep to the east. After heading along the coastlinefor a while, you'll come across a sharp curve that turns to the west.Just beyond it is a village and a deep valley, which you can't enterwithout exploring the village (Icicle Lodge) first.

2.) Icicle Town

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: X Potion, Hero Drink, Vaccine, Turbo Ether.

�� Go to the far end of town and talk to the man in purple standing nearthe trees. Pick the top option. Two Shinra members will show up, alongwith Elena (a Turk). After confronting Cloud, she will try to knock himout. To avoid her strike, press left just after you see the transparentmessage box. If she does hit you, you'll wake up in one of the houses,but if she doesn't, then she'll roll right out of the town. It doesn'tmake a difference whether you get hit or not.After that's done with, go to town entrance and check out the housethat's just to your right. In the back room, there's a boy, a cat,and a snowboard. Talk to the boy and the cat will leave the room,enabling you to take the snowboard by examining it. You'll need it forthe upcoming event. Now, go to the inn, head to the upper floor, andexamine the window in the lower left-hand corner to get an X Potion.Leave and enter the house on the far right (near the snowman). Takethe items in the back room (an Hero Drink and a Vaccine), thenexamine the map on the wall in the main room. You can examine it bychoosing the top option, but before you leave, you'll want to choosethe bottom option to take it.Finally, go into the house on the left side of town, just to the rightof the weapons shop. If Elena KO'd you, this is where you'll wakeup :) If you go down the stairs and look by the windowsill, you canget another item (Turbo Ether). You can also take a look at themachinery on the ground floor to see a series of prerecorded videosdating back many years ago; they show Aeris' mother (Ifaruna, a Setorajust like Aeris) and her father, a 'renegade' Shinra scientist namedGasuto (Gast). There are several videos, but watching them has noeffect on the game itself, aside from cluing you in to Aeris's past(providing you can read it :)) There's a device to the left that willallow more light into the room, but it doesn't seem to have any purpose(NSS).Before you leave the town, you may want to buy weapons, Hi-Potionsand Tents at the shop. When you're ready to go, simply walk past theman in the back of town (the one near the trees), and the snowboardsequence will start up:Your controls while using the snowboard are:S BrakeX JumpPad Move left or right, down to brakeStart Pause/unpauseL1/R1 Quick turn to the left or right when used with control padBasically, you want to make your way through the mountains. You cancollect balloons along the way, but I don't know what they do for you.There are also obstacles to crash into, like dead wood, pine trees,igloos, moogles, snowmen, rocks, ice boulders, and chocobos. I believethere are four different 'exit' paths; I'll take the left path twiceand go from there in this FAQ.My characters came to in a white forest. Did yours? From this pointonward, you can press S to look at the map you took (but not in somescreens), which shows where you need to go but not where you are. Ispent hours trying to map this place out, only to discover that there'salmost nothing of interest in this area. So, I've simply described eachlocation and where it is on the map; getting there isn't much of aproblem. Your ultimate goal, BTW, is to make it to the red check markshown on the map.The locations are:ENTRANCE (looks like a square at the bottom-center of the screen)Heading south from this area takes you back out to the World Map. Ifyou return to Icicle Lodge to heal yourself, you'll have to snowboardin here again.MOUNTAIN CAVE (small opening just to the right of the ENTRANCE)You can hop across the ledges to the top of the screen, but in the nextroom, there's nothing to do but choose to fall/not fall down an icychute that has no effect aside from ejecting you back into the worldmap. The entrance to this cave is hard to see; it's in the lower-rightarea of the T-junction screen. You can also get here by going rightfrom the LAKE CAVE area.FOREST (forest divided by Y-shaped paths)In the main forest screen, there's an item (Mind Source) at the foot of atree near the upper left part of the screen. If this is where youlanded after the snowboarding event, then it's just up and to the rightof where you crashed.BURIED AIRPLANE (tail of plane sticking out to left of forest)Nothing here.LAKE CAVE (cave in the middle of the central lake)On the surface of the frozen lake, near the shore, there is a greenitem (a Potion). Be sure to get it. Then head to the left to reacha screen full of ice floes. Here, you'll have to jump on the floatingice chunks to get across, but the chunks surrounding the one you'recurrently standing on will submerge or raise depending on how theylooked when you arrived there. If you mess up and they are allsubmerged, you'll have to start all over. The key is to make sure thatyou're not jumping onto a floe when the ones surrounding it are allraised, or else they'll all submerge and you'll fall into the water.To get on the ice floats, choose the top option, then use the O buttonand the controller to jump around. Enter the cave in the next area,grab the item bag (it contains a Safety Bit accessory), and leave.LONE TREE (pine tree up and right from the LAKE CAVE)Nothing here, either.ICE BOULDERS (northwest corner, left and below the STONE FACE)Go into the small cave entrance and grab the item in the northwestcorner of the cavern (an Elixir), then go out the other entrance.RIVER LOG (above central lake, at mouth of river)There's nothing here.STONE FACE (left of the red check mark)Nothing here. Seem familiar? The stone face has also appeared inSecret of Mana and FF5j.STEAMING LAKES (south and east of the check mark)You can touch the water on the lefthand bank if you want. In fact,you should, since you can't get the Alexander Materia any other way.(Keep reading for details.) Just maneuver yourself as close to theshore of the left lake as you can, and when an option appears, pickthe top one.MOUNTAIN CROSSROADS (top of mountain east of the STEAMING LAKES)Once you reach the crossroads (da dum da da :)) head to the upperright corner of the screen to go off the map. In the next area,work your way up and to the left. When this screen repeats a secondtime, look for a Blue Materia (Added Cut) near the beginningof the screen, in the upper-right part of the path. This road takesyou to the Steaming Lakes area, but if you try to back the way youcame, you'll see that the screen has changed. Put another way, youcouldn't have gotten the Materia unless you took this path since the'switching' road isn't marked on the map.If you're fast, you can reach the 'lost in the snowfield' section (thered checkmark) before anything bad happens. But if you waste your timein this area, you'll pass out. (This will still happen to you even ifyou reached the snowfield, but then returned to any part of the 'firstarea'. If that happens, go to the next section. If you made it to thesnowfield area, then skip the first paragraph to find out where you are.Personally, my suggestion is that you follow the example in the FAQand take the left path twice so that you land in the Forest. Fromthere, you can go right to the Lake Cave area, then continue rightpast the Mountain Cave area (the T-junction), and up into the MountainCrossroads, where you can take the switching path to the SteamingLakes, and then head left into the snowfield. Not only is this afast way to get through this area, but it also lets you pick up allthe items along the way and get the Alexander Materia later on (sinceyou touched the lake on your way out).Also, you'll start off at the bottom end of the snowfield when you firstget there, so you can just head up to the cave to get the Blue Materia,then keep heading north to reach the old man's shack (if you're in needof healing and a Save Point). After talking with him, you can go to theStone Face Area, head south to the Ice Boulders area where an Elixir is,then backtrack to the snowfield and go to the right in order to get theAlexander Materia before returning to the shack. Voila! You've justcleared out this _entire_ area in only a few minutes!Remember, you _will_ pass out eventually if you return to the firstarea--there's nothing you can do about it, even if you've alreadygone to Horuzofu's shack. If you don't want to waste too much timebacktracking just run around in the same few areas until it happens,then leave the old man's shack and continue exploring. Why this stillhappens to you after clearing out this area doesn't seem to make muchsense, as it's more of a nuisance than anything else, but there's notmuch you can do about it. If you return to the first area afterfalling unconscious and wait around there again, you'll pass out asecond time. In fact, this will always happen to you, so get moving!

3.) Lost!

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: All Materia, Circlet, Alexander Materia.

�� You'll awake in the house of an old man (Horuzofu). Go up the stairs and let the old man talk to you; choose the bottom option twice when he asks you two questions. When you wake up the next morning, check out the Save Point (since you probably haven't saved prior to entering the Icicle Lodge). If you want to spend the night again, talk to the oldman in the first room and choose the top choice. When you leave theshack, your friends will be waiting outside. Make a new party if youwish, (see below for directions) then head south. You may have noticedthat you can talk to the man from the ground floor even though he isabove you :)If you _didn't_ pass out, then go directly to the shack so that youwon't pass out. There, you'll meet an old hermit named Horuzofu.Talk to him, and when he asks you a question, answer any way you like.The second time he asks you a question, choose the bottom reply.You'll spend the night at his shack, and when you leave the nextmorning, your allies will be standing around outside. Choose eitherchoice when an option appears. Then talk to any member and pick thetop option to accept a party change or the bottom option to decline,if you want to change your members.If you don't want to explore the snowfield any more, skip to section d.After all, you can return here at any future point in the game,providing you have the Highwind.Outside, you'll be in a large snowfield. Use the O button to set downspikes that you can use to track your location (since your directionchanges when the wind picks up). If you want to explore the rest ofthat first area that you left/passed out in, head south. When you leavethe first area from the Steaming Lakes exit, you'll see a rock formationwith a cave entrance if you keep walking north. Inside, a Blue Materia(All) is lying near the tent. What's odd is that you seem toalways run into this on your way back from the first area instead of onthe way to it (i.e. from the old man's shack).If you head east, you'll go through some snowy areas, then arrive at acave entrance. Talk to the purple fellow inside to enter a battle, butonly if you touched the water back at the Steaming Lakes.

BOSS TIPS: SNOW�� LV: 32�� HP: 4000�� MP: 160 (weak against Fire)
�� You can't Control or Morph her, but you can steal a Saakuretto(Circlet) during the battle. Her cold-based attacks (Cold Breath andBlizzard 2) are nothing to worry about, but be careful if she Amuletsone of your own members.If you are victorious, she'll disappear and a Summon Materia (Alexander)will drop to the floor, so don't miss it.

�� While you can use the map here,you can't reach this place normally from the first area. If you go right,then down the snowy path, you'll end up at the 'switching' crossroads inthe first area, though (sort of like a one-way path).Going west from the snowfield takes you to an alternate entrance to thefirst area. There's not that much to do there, anyway, unless you wanta shortcut to the ICE BOULDERS area where an item is lying in a cave(refer to the previous section for more information).So no matter how far you are along a boundary, you'll still enter thatarea when you hit it. The same applies to the corners -- you'll hitone boundary or the other, so going in a diagonal direction won't getyou to a new place. Don't worry about finding an 'exact' spot to enteran area, just head in that direction. The only real landmark is thecave with the All materia, but if you head north from theSteaming Lakes exit, you're bound to spot it.

4.) The Northern Crater and the Reunion

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ribbon, Javelin, Elixir, Fire Armlet, Megalixir, Speed Source, Enhance Sword, Fang of Dragon Pair, Neo Bahamut, Ether, Hi-Potion, Kaiser Knuckle, Reflect Ring, MP Turbo materia, Poison Ring.

�� Once you've had your fun in the snowfield, return to the old man'shouse and heal up or save your game if you need to. Then, go northfrom the shack to arrive at the slopes of a icy mountain. Keep inmind that you can't explore this area at any time other than rightnow in Disc 2, so make sure to get all the items and other stuff.Now, get ready for some finger-smashing fun! the meter that appears onscreen when you're outside is your body temperature (the kanji you seeby the numbers, 'do' actually means 'degrees'): it goes down because ofthe cold climate. To keep your temperature up, you need to rapidly hitthe S button. The highest temperature you can get to is 38, while thelowest is 27. Any less than that (26), and you pass out and findyourself back in the old man's house. It sounds like keeping your heatup is easy, but you can only increase it when you're on one of theledges, not while you're climbing up the rock face. So for those longclimbs, you have to max out your heat and climb as quickly as you can.Luckily, your heat doesn't go down during a battle. Remember, it's nothow hard you press the S button, but how fast you press it, so try toget in as many presses as you can to max out your temperature. If you'drather cheat, refer to the Game Shark code section in the second partof this FAQ--one of my 'fix-all' codes is in there that will give you ahigh body heat no matter how long you stand around.In this area, there's nowhere else to go but up, so climb along therock face until you arrive at the cave entrance, pausing at each ledgeto restore your body heat. Always keep an eye out for the red flags;they indicate which part of the wall you can climb. Inside, go throughthe two archways into the next cavern. Here, climb up the stairs andgo through the south exit. In the adjoining area, walk all the way tothe right to find a hidden chamber with a chest; inside it is a Ribbon.Then return to the main path and head north, then west, through theentrance. Cross the icy bridge in the third cavern and press theSELECT button to bring up the cursor; it'll help you navigate throughthe twisting passage before you. Once you reach the top, examine theboulder and choose the top option when it presents itself. This willmake you push the boulder and free up the blocked passage beneath you.You can still move while the boulder is rolling--notice that you canstand right where it falls and you will recieve no damage (then again,Cloud is the same guy who can run around in the cold wearing asleeveless shirt and not die of hypothermia...must be those cornflakes).Go back to the other room (where you got the Ribbon), and open thepurple chest to the northeast; there's a Javelin lying inside it. Now,return to the room that you exited from the south (the one with theformerly blocked passage), and go north along the passage until youreach another exit. This leads to the upper path above the chest withthe Javelin--keep following it and you'll find yourself outside.Build up your temperature, then climb up the wall. After going a shortdistance, you're given a choice (up, down, or right). Pick the topoption (up), and head up until you reach a ledge. Keep climbing upward,and you'll be prompted with another choice (right or down). Pick thetop option and head right to arrive at another ledge. Then climb upuntil you reach the next ledge; it has a path going left and anunmarked path that goes to the right (i.e. there's no flag by it). Theright path is a dead end, so take the left path and keep climbing upalong the wall (you'll find another ledge on the way) until you reach asecond cave entrace.This large cavern is pocked with holes. There's an exit and a treasurechest, but they are too high to reach, at the moment. Don't miss theSave Point between the chest and the exit. Nab the other chest in thelower right corner of the room (there's an Elixir inside of it), then gonorth from the chest to find a passage that leads outside. Once you'reout in the open again, head north, then go around the bend and headsouth and east.In the next room, examine the area immediately to the right to find achest with an Fire Armlet inside. There are four huge icicleshere that you need to knock into the holes in the lower cavern. This isdone by 'fighting' them. Each icicle is guarded by several yellow bats.

TIPS: ICICLE�� LEVEL: 30�� HP: 3000�� MP: 300�� (weak against Fire, Earth, and Demi)
�� IBIL HEAD�� LEVEL: 28�� HP: 740�� MP: 45
�� The icicle (Tsurara) can counter with 'Tsurara Otoshi' (Icicle Drop).It will do this to any person who attacks it, tries to steal from it, orthe like. You don't have to kill the bats in order to win the battle(all you have to do is 'kill' the icicle), but since they can Silenceyour characters and recover HP when they attack you, you may want to getthem out of the way before attacking the icicle. Killing the icicle isworth 500 exp, 0 AP, and 0 gil, so if you want some AP and gil, you maywant to kill the Ibiruheddos (which, incidentally, you can Morphinto Holy Torches.)

�� Each time you win a battle, you'll be given an option. If you pick thebottom choice, you'll drop down to the room below, while picking the topchoice lets you stay where you are (so you can continue to 'fight' theother icicles. After knocking down the last icicle, choose to staywhere you are so that you can get the chest on the far left (it has aMegalixir inside). Then, go back along the path. Just before youreach the door, an option appears; pick the bottom choice to jump downto the room below.When the icicles drop down here, the floor of the cavern is 'raised'.After knocking down 3 of them, you can reach the exit, knock down all4 and you can get the chest on the ledge in the upper left corner ofthe room (which contains a Speed Source). When you're ready, go throughthe now-avalible exit by hopping across the stones. This leads to theleft side of the outer path. Be sure to examine the chest that's hereto get an Enhance Sword, then follow the path as it curves back onitself and leads to the lower passage in the icicle room.Keep following the path, and you'll find yourself on the side of themountain yet again. Grab the rock face and climb to the right.After a while, three options will appear (up, left, or right). Pickthe bottom choice and keep holding right to make Cloud ascend theside of the mountain. When you reach the next ledge, raise yourtemperature and take the path that leads to the left. As you'reclimbing, another set of options will appear (up, down, or right).Choose the top option and keep climbing up. Once you've made itbeyond the second ledge, you'll find a final cave entrance.This area has a hard-to-miss Save Point in it, and if you examine thenearby pool of light, your HP and MP will be completely restored, andall dead characters will be revived. Now is a perfect time to stockup on goodies--you can use the pool to stay healthy while fighting theenemies for exp, AP, and gil, and you can learn Smelly Breath from theMolbols just outside (be sure to wear a Ribbon!) Plus, you can winDragon Armlets from the Blue Dragons in this cave, which will halvedamage taken from Fire, Cold, or Lightning attacks, and win MolbolTentacles from defeated Molbols. There's a boss encounter coming yourway, so make sure you're ready to do battle, then exit the chamber bygoing to the far right.In the adjoining hallway, you'll see one of those shrouded creatures(similar to the ones in Nivelheim be thrown to the floor. Before youhave a chance to examine it, you'll be attacked by a two-headed boss.

BOSS TIPS: TWIN HEAD:� LEFT NECK�� LV: 43�� HP: 18000�� MP: 350
�� In case you're confused, the 'right head' is the scaly one, and the 'lefthead' is the one with horns. Anyway, you should have the Aurora, Dragon,and Fire Armlets equipped on your members to reduce damage fromthe scaly head's Fire breath and the horned head's ice breath. UseMabarrier to up your defense, then Haste yourselves. Try using Earth andComet spells, as well and summonings, like Alexander, Leviathan, andBahamut to soften the boss up. However, don't use Poison (which does nodamage) or the Kjata summon spell (which will heal both heads). Iceworks well on the scaly head, and Fire works well on the horned head,but don't confuse the two since you will heal a head instead of hurt it.You may also want to use Tsuika Kouka and attack a Fire or Cold materiain order to attack with that sort of element (but don't attack theother head, for the same reason). In addition to breath attacks, theboss can also use a dual cold/Fire breath attack, it can cast Quega,and has an explosion type attack that will inflict around 1400 damageto all members. It will use this attack when each head is killed (soyou will have to deal with it twice during the battle, once when youkill one head, and then again when you kill the other). I highlyadvise that you concentrate on one head at first instead of trying tokill them both at the same time because this attack _will_ kill yourpary if it happens in succession (which means you lose). When it'sdefeated, you'll get a Dragon Fang from the boss.

�� If you were badly beaten during the fight, you can always return to theroom with the pool to heal yourselves. Otherwise, continue down thepassage; it leads outside (Cloud sure moves slow out here, doesn't he?)Then climb the icy wall up to the top, where an automatic sequence willplay. After it finishes, head along the side of the inner crater. Inthe next area, Tifa will talk with you if she's in your party; if sheisn't, she'll promptly appear and insist on coming with you, whichmeans you'll have to kick a member out of your current group. Headto the left.In the next area, climb down to the lower path and look for a red materia(Neo Bahamut) near the bottom edge of the screen. You can't doanything about the shrouded guy leaping off-screen, so ignore him. Aftergetting the materia, you can hop up to a small island of rock where thereis a Save Point. When you're done there, jump again to return to thetop path, and walk to the left. You'll see a short intermission withthe three heads of Shinra and several scientists heading towards theCrater in the Highwind, the airship you saw back in Junon Town.Once the intermission is over, walk left and you'll reach the first ofthree 'shield' screens. Talk to the two shrouded men, and they'lleach leave behind an item when they die (an Ether and a Hi-Potion).To get past the flickering shield that's in front of you, stand as closeto it as you can, then wait until the green aura is almost gone. Now,quickly run through it or you'll be knocked back when the shield's auragrows stronger. If you mess up, you'll be repelled by the shield andwill be attacked by a monster:

TIPS: WIND WING�� LV: 36�� HP: 1900�� MP: 350
�� For starters, you can steal a Hi-Potion from the Wind Wing, and you cantransform it into a Phoenix Down. Even better, you can control it usinga Manipulate materia and make it attack itself! In other words, this isan easy battle.If you happen to touch the shield from the other side, you'll getknocked back to the beginning, so be careful.

�� In the next screen, more of those shrouded creatures are running aroundand dying. Ignore them, but don't miss the chest near the first leftturn of the path; there's a Kaiser Knuckle inside it. Follow the pathuntil you reach the next screen. The second shield is here, but unlikethe first one, there's a surge of energy traveling along the shieldthat will knock you back even if the shield's aura is almost gone. So,wait until the energy surge has passed _and_ the aura is nearlyinvisible, then dash across. If either defense knocks you back, you'llhave to fight a second Wind Wing (see the above strategy).Beyond the shield, Sephiroth awaits. He'll cut down two more of thoseblack creatures before turning invisible and toying around with Cloud.After he attacks the party, he'll summon a second version of Jenova to kill Cloud and his friends.

BOSS TIPS: JENOVA DEATH�� LV: 55�� HP: 25000�� MP:800
�� Jenova will try to Silence your members from time to time, and uses aRed Light attack often (usually after being attacked with magic). Itcauses little damage, but too many of these will really mess up yourparty. Jenova's last form of attack is a spurt of fire bubbles (evenweaker than the Red Light attack). As you can see, this battle is nothard at all; just hack away with physical attacks, or if you think youhave enough HPs, use Comet and cast Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, andAlexander. It's advisable that you wear the Fire Armlet orDragon Armlet, since Jenova's attacks all cause Fire-based damage.Give the Fire Armlet to your best spell caster, and you canknock out Jenova and gain life back at the same time :) You'll wina Reflect Ring when the battle's over.

�� After the boss is killed, you'll get the Black Materia back (and it'sactually black this time :)) Once you're back in control of Cloud,he confesses that since Sephiroth was able to manipulate him last time,he might try it again. Therefore, someone else should hold the BlackMateria and stay here while Cloud and the others follow after Sephiroth.The first time I got here, only Red 13 would take the Black Materia.This time, only Barret would. No matter what character you get, simplychoose the top option when it is available (you won't get an option ifthat character refuses to take it). Finally, talk to Tifa.When you're in control of Cloud again, head north. There's a materiahere (MP Turbo, but notice that it's yellow when you pick it up!), aswell as a Save Point and a chest containing a Poison Ring. If you gonorth from here, you'll run into the third and final shield. Inaddition to having all the defenses of the previous shield (the glowingaura and the moving energy surge), bolts of lightning will strike theground repeatedly. Since the lightning strikes in short bursts withlong pauses in between, wait for the shield's aura to fade, the energysurge to pass, _and_ wait for a pause in the lightning strikes beforeattempting to pass through the shield. If you're hit by any one ofthose defenses, you'll have to fight a Wind Wing again (refer to thestrategy section above). Once you're past the shield, head along thepath. It leads to an exact replicate of Nivelheim.This next scene is sorta like a 'semi-interactive' flashback. You getto see Sephiroth run around in Nivelheim, but this time, there's anotherguy following him (Zekkusu, the guy you heard about in Gongaga Village).Talk to your other party member, then to Tifa. In the next scene,Zekkusu will look around Nivelheim (which has been reduced to smolderingrubble), and chat with Zangan (sp?), who I think was Tifa's mentor.(BTW, you can go to the Main Menu while Zekkusu is running around. It'spointless, but I thought it was sort of amusing :)) Then, your partyappears in a flaming building, and Sephiroth appears. Instead ofattacking, he talks to the party. When you can move, talk to Sephirothand he'll teleport around the room. When you're in control of Cloud oncemore, talk to Tifa twice. Sephiroth warps around some more, then showsCloud a picture of him, Tifa, and Zekkusu. After that, Cloud has anotherfit, and the screen fades out.In the next scene, Rufus, Scarlet, and Hojo (the scientist)arrive at the crater. Before them is a monster encased in ice. It'sone of the three 'Weapons', which awakens and watches them, then startsmoving. Following that, Sephiroth appears in the guise of Tifa andknocks out the other characters, then tricks whoever is guarding theBlack Materia to go to the center of the crater. Your party willappear in the area where the Shinra members are at, and the person withthe Black Materia gives it to Cloud, who then flies to the structurewhere Sephiroth is at (while you can move around up here, the game takesover your controls in a few seconds anyway). Once Cloud's given theBlack Materia to Sephiroth, the whole crater starts to break apart andyour party (sans Cloud) escape on the Highwind along with the rest ofthe Shinra crew.

5.) Weapon's Attacking Junon!

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Enemy Skill materia, Chocobo Attract Materia, Fourth Bracelet, Yoshiyuki (if you didn't get it the first time). Note that none of these items are actually found in Junon Town, but since I talk about them in this section, they're listed here.

�� When you come to, you'll find yourself incarcerated back in Junon Town.Without Cloud, you'll be taking control of Barret and Tifa for most ofthis section. As Tifa, talk to Barret. Rufus and Heidegger will showup. Now that you're in control of Barret, follow Tifa as the guards takeher away (don't miss the Save Point), and prepare to execute her. OnceJunon Town is attacked by the freed Weapon, one of the Shinra officialsknocks out Scarlet. It's turns out to be none other than Cait Sith,who helps Barret fight the two soldiers who are guarding him.TIPS: xxxx LV: 34 HP: 1300 MP: 100 xxxx LV: 34 HP: 1300 MP: 100Physical attacks will do the trick here, although you can control themif you want. If this battle gives you trouble, you need to gain somelevels at some point in the game.Notice how the guard will run away and disappear after the battle? Iguess that glitch went unnoticed...anyway, examine the door in the lowerright corner of the screen and use the controller or the O button to makeBarret try to pull it open. An FMV sequence follows in which the SisterRay is readied and Junon Town prepares to engage the approaching Weapon.When it collides with the city, gas starts pumping into the chamber Tifais trapped in. When you're in control of Barret, go and talk to CaitSith. Then go out the door and when it closes, head right, then out thedoor. Outside, head down the road. If you got Yuffie, she'll be heremasquerading as a newscaster; talk to her and continue to your left.Once the Weapon has rose out of the water, continue to the left untilyou arrive at the Airport. Then, run to the center platform and examinethe yellow box to be lifted to the upper level. From there, continuetowards the airship by heading right.When you're in control of Tifa again, you have to pick up the key onthe ground so you can free yourself from the gas chamber. Yourcontrols are:S Move right armX Move feetO Move left armT Move Tifa's headYou'll need to press the buttons in this order: X, X, T, X+T, T+O, O.(Or, press X, X, T, X+T, T+S, S if you want to free her other handinstead...it makes no difference).Pressing them has the following effect:When you press X, Tifa will stretch out her legs. Pressing X a secondtime makes her drag the key towards her. Then press T to sit back inthe chair. Then press T and X at the same time (you don't need to holdthem, just press them), and she'll lift the key up with her feet andtake hold of it with her teeth at the same time. After that, T+Otogether will make her free her arm using the key. Finally, press Oso that she can grab the key and use it to release her other arm.Feel free to take your time doing this since waiting around won't doanything to you (Tifa's invincible! Mwa, ha ha!!)Examine the back of the room by the left side of the chair to shut offthe gas, then examine the door. After the monster provides you withan exit, climb outside and work your way down the front of the tower(don't worry about the guards). When you reach the bottom, head towardthe upper left corner of the screen (the cursor will appear to help youkeep track of your location, but you can disable it if you want). Inthe next screen, make your way down to the frontmost cylinder of thecannon, then press up to go along the front of it and end up on thecannon barrel itself (this can be a little tricky). Just as you reachthe edge of the cannon, Scarlet. She'll start slapping you, sopress the O button to slap back (go Tifa, go)! If you're fast enough,you'll slap her to the floor after 5-6 good hits. If she gets in moreslaps, you get knocked over. Despite the outcome of the 'fight', Tifawill still be rescued by Barret in the Highwind.Once in the airship, head to the cockpit where you'll talk with Cid.When he finishes, talk to Red 13 and Cid again, then chat with the manpiloting the airship. After that, go to the room marked 'Operations'and talk to the man there. He will let you assemble a new group withTifa as the leader. From this point onward, you can return to this roomand talk with the man to activate PHS, restore your HP and MP, or saveyour game. Now that you have a party, return to the cockpit and talk tothe man again. Choose the top option, and you can control the Highwind!To pilot it, use these controls:S When held, you can use the Pad to fly without changing the direction you're facingX Press to landO Move the Highwind in the direction you're facingT Takes you inside the HighwindPad Press left/right to turn, up/down to rise or descendStart Reveals/enlarges/hides the mapSelect Same as StartNotice that your other vehicles (the Gold Saucer vehicle and Cid'sairplane) are gone for good. BTW, you enter the Highwind by pressingO when you're close to it (like other vehicles). To gain control ofit again, just talk to the man at the wheel and pick the top option.At this point, you'll probably want to look around and go to variousplaces. However, you can only land on _green, grassy_ ground, andnowhere else, which limits the areas you can explore (this doesn'tinclude the canyon floor on the Northern Continent). There are twoareas you can now reach with the Highwind. The first one is a cavewith a sleeping man that's just beyond the mountain range near MidgarCity (you can go here with the Buggy, but since you no longer have it,you'll have to use the Highwind). Also, there's a house to the rightof Icicle Lodge, you can talk to the green Chocobo inside to get afree Enemy Skill Materia, and the purple geezer who liveshere will sell you various chocobo foods. Finally, if you return tothe Chocobo Farm, you'll find a purple materia (Chocobo Attract) nearthe edge of the now-empty Chocobo pen. From now on, you can breedChocobos here (refer to the 'Secrets and Strategies' section fordetails.If you look, there's a lake near Junon now (I thought this didn'tappear until Disc 3 *sheepish grin*) There's also a barriersurrounding the Crater, and of course, a huge meteor is hanging in thesky (the result of Sephiroth casting Meteo via the Black Materia). Alot of places now sell different items, among them Junon Town*,Fort Condor, Costa Del Sol, and Rocket Town, for example. There's alsosome new treasure to be found in Rocket Town: there's a chest with aFourth Bracelet in the store that sells accessories, in the back of theadjoining room. And if you didn't get the Yoshiyuki from theold man in Disc 1, you can get it now. * In very last area of Junon, there's a man standing out in the middle of the road. If you talk to him and choose the bottom option, nothing happens. But if you choose the top option, the Shinra helicopter lands and you're given another choice. Pick the top option and you can ride it back to the first area of Junon Town! If you choose the bottom option, you'll be flown back out to the World Map.Finally, keep in mind that there are some things that Tifa can't do,like enter the Gold Saucer or play the piano in her house in Nivelheim.Ditto with Cid, who becomes the leader during the next section (keepreading).

6.) Where is Cloud?

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Curse Ring, Elixir.

�� Get in the Highwind and fly to the Southern Continent. Look around untilyou spot a forest with a small village nearby. Land in the grass, andenter the village, Mideel. Look around, and be sure to do some shopping;the items here are expensive, but well worth your money. When you'redone, go to the weapon shop and examine the door in the back of the room.You will try to knock on it. Go outside and climb up the stairs, thenwalk along the floorboards behind the house where you can buyaccessories. You should hear a sound. If you press O to examine thefloor, you'll receive a message. Return to the weapon shop and examinethe door in the back again. When an option appears, select the topchoice. You'll mess around with the door. When the shopkeeper askswhat's going on, pick the bottom option, and he'll give you the CursedRing accessory. (If you want to see your character act funny, pick thetop option instead--works better with Tifa than with anyone else, IMO.Of course, you'll have to reset and try again if you want the CursedRing.)When you try to explore the north end of the town, Tifa automaticallygoes over to the cat in the middle of the screen. While playing withit she hears that a strange man has been brought to the hospital--insideis none other than Cloud, who survived the blast of energy back at theCrater. However, he's nothing more than a vegetable now. Tifa insistson staying by his side. Back at the Highwind, Cait Sith reveals thatthe Shinra are hunting for the four Huge Materia, which they plan touse in order to destroy the Meteo before it crashes into the Earth.Barret gets distressed when he learns that the Shinra plan to destroyNorth Corel in order to get the Huge Materia, then Cid declares himselfthe new party leader! Despite his dorky running style, Cid makes agood front man. Once you're able to control him, go to the Operationsroom and make a new team.Before you go anywhere else, land and return to Mideel. You can nowcheck out the house in the middle of the town, where an old man sitsbetting his cat. There's a large green item on the man's bed (anElixir). If you try to leave, the cat turns out to be a ferociousdog! When an option appears, pick the top one to admit that you tookthe Elixir. However, the man will let you keep it. On the other hand,if you pick the bottom option, Cid will feign innocence, until the oldman tells him that he took his Elixir. Either way, you still get theitem. There's nothing else to do here (at least for now, anyways), soleave the town behind and board the Highwind (notice how Cid mentionsthe Fort Condor).At this point in the game, two of the four Huge Materia sub-quests areavailable to you: you can either get the Huge Materia in North Corel,or get the one at Fort Condor. The choice is yours. If you want theone in North Corel first, keep reading. If you'd rather pick up theone at Fort Condor first, skip to section 4g below. Remember, youDON'T have to succeed at Huge Materia Quests; in fact, you can lose allfour and still proceed with the game (if you decide to do this, justignore any mention of Huge Materia for the remainder of the FAQ).Ready to go? The next thing you have to do is stop a train from smashinginto the town of North Corel. You can pilot the Highwind to two places;North Corel, and then work your way back through the old train tracks tothe Makoro furnace, or you can land at the nearby cave-like entrance thatleads to the furnace and take the train from there. Either way, you'llstill have to do a bit of walking, so it's up to you (check out sections3n and 3o if you don't remember what I'm talking about). Anyway, onceyou reach the furnace, head to the center and you'll be attacked by someShinra guards (easy to defeat). After you do them in, a train willleave the furnace. What you have to do is catch up with it before itrams into North Corel. The next scene finds you and your companions ona train trying to catch up to the Shinra train.Remember the digit-damaging fun you had back at the Frozen Mountain?Well, this time, it's worse. You have to press Up and the T buttonin a steady, yet _extremely_ fast motion to make Cid pull the leversof the train so that you can catch up to the Shinra train. Even worse,there's a time limit--you have to reach the train, board it, kill theenemies on board, and stop it all within 10 minutes. If you practice,you should be able to catch up to the train in about 23-30 seconds, butremember that you'll need about 4 minutes, at best, to beat the enemieson board, so work quickly. You fight monsters each time you leap toa new train car, (five battles in all) and while they're relativelyeasy to win, they do take up your time. If you have learned it by now,Degeon can be used in the first two battles for a quick win. If you'relow on time, don't use Summon Materia because the counter stilldecreases during the casting (which usually takes some time).Assuming you get to the locomotive with time remaining, wait for theconversation between Cid and your other characters to stop. You cannow do the following; press up + T to slow the train, or down + X toSpeed Plus it up. Once Cid grabs the controls, press: Up + Triangle, Down + X, Down + X or: Down + X, Down + X, Down + X (if there are more commands then these, let me know, pls)You can't enter either command while your buddies are talking to you,so skip through the conversations when they occur. The train willspeed up, but will slow just as it reaches the town, if you've done itcorrectly.If you stop the train in time, you get a Key Item (the Huge Materia),and a little boy gives you a green materia (Ultima). The next morning,go to the house below the inn and a lady in a hat will give you Barret'sLevel 4 Limit Break Manual. If you messed up, then the train runsstraight through North Corel. You don't get the Huge Materia, and if youwant the Ultima materia, you'll have to buy it from the same kid for50,000 gil. However, you can still get the manual from the lady in thehat and spend some free time at the inn ;P. So, it's really in yourbest interest to save the town. If you really want to keep playingafter losing the Huge Materia, then continue on to section 3g, or ifthis is your second attempted quest, go to section 3h.

8.) Fort Condor

�� (Remember, you can do this before or after the North Corel Huge Materiaquest; it's your choice)

�� Pop into the Highwind and fly back to the blue tower with the big goldbird on it. Enter it, and climb to the top of the tower. Talk to the man in the room withthe locked door. Choose the middle option, and you'll get to play amini-game.� When you win, you can open the sealed door. On the roof top is a red materia (Summon Phoenix), and if you talk to the man in white wearingthe large hat in the lower room, you get a Huge Materia. For a condor'sbaby, that bird sure looks like a Chocobo if you ask me....

9.) Cloud's Split Personality

�� Head back to the village on the Southern Continent where you left Tifaand Cloud behind. When you talk to Tifa, the screen will start toshake. Go outside, and you'll be attacked by a huge black dragon.

BOSS TIPS: ULTIMA WEAPON� (you can't see his stats.)
�� This boss has only two attacks, Quega, and the Ultima Beam. He's prettyeasy to beat, so just keep summoning your best monsters and use physicalattacks to deal out damage. After you've injured it enough, it will flyaway.

�� The next scene with Tifa and Cloud is so funny! They're puffy andsuperdeformed, and well let's just say any sense of danger orsurprise at this sudden attack is forgotten once you see their wide-eyed faces as they escape the crumbling village.After Tifa and Cloud take a dive, you'll find yourself playing withTifa, who's in a strange world filled with Cloud's memories. First,talk to the northmost Cloud. You'll head into his memories of thetrip he took to that one town near the Jenova plant with Sephiroth.When Cloud shows up, speak to him again. When you reach the 'center'of Cloud's mind again, speak to the Cloud on the left. Once you're incontrol of Tifa, converse with the Cloud sitting on the steps to theright (near the 'kid' Cloud).Then talk to the 'kid' Cloud and look in the window. When you canmove Tifa, talk to the 'shadow' Cloud. Once you're back in Cloud'smind talk to the 'real' Cloud and go back to the town area again.Everything else unfolds by itself (you can go to the Main Menuduring the burning of Nibelheim--again!) At the end, speak with Cloud one last time, and you'll return to the 'real' world.

10.) Under the Sea

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Contain materia, God's Hand, Battle Trumpet.

�� Back at the airship, prepare a new team and take control of the Highwind.You can buy goods that weren't available before back in Mideel, andyou'll want to get the Contain materia orb at some point. To get it,climb up the slope on the west side of town to where the hyperactive kidis running around (remember him?) Talk to his White Chocobo and pick thefirst option (make sure you have at least one Mimetto Greens on you).When a list of six options appear, pick the fifth one from the top. Thechocobo will then reveal the Contain materia, which you can take.Furthermore, if you went into each store in Mideel and talked to thehyperactive kid in each one, he will now be selling all the items thatyou could normally buy there! However, if you didn't go into any ofthe shops, or only talked to him in one shop or two shops, then he willonly be selling items from those stores or will be selling nothing atall.Also, at this point in the game, the man who lost his keys will appearoutside Midgar City, enabling you to get the Key to Midgar City, amongother things. You might want to take some time now to breed Chocobos,do some shopping, or maybe have some fun at the Gold Saucer (since youcan now get in with Cloud in your party).Whenever you're ready to proceed with the game, head to Junon Town forthe third Huge Materia quest (you can't do the fourth one until later).Head into the center of Junon, and go down the main road (you'll see ascene with Cloud inspecting the damage that the Weapon inflicted on thetown earlier). Keep walking until you arrive at the gray underpassagewhere a commander is drilling his men. He will order his men to runaway when he sees you. Continue down the passage until you see a doorlabeled '1' against the left wall. Enter it, and you'll find yourselfin an elevator. Two guards in here will attack you; dispatch them andlet the lady take you down to the bottom of the elevator shaft.When you step out, you'll be attacked by more Shinra soldiers. Ignorethe dog and go down the slope, then through the door. In the next room,head down the set of stairs until you reach another door. Past it isyet another set of stairs, and at the bottom is a Save Point. Go throughthe door here to reach a second lift which takes you to the bottom ofthe sea floor. Head north until you reach the underwater tunnel, andfollow it until you arrive at the Makoro plant. Inside, examine the redlight on the far wall to pump water out of the chamber. Step outsideand you'll find yourself in a huge undersea dock where several submarinesare sitting. Go along the walkway--it leads to a hall with a Save Point.Walk north from here to arrive at a room filled with guards.If you talk to the guard who's walking around, he'll attack you. You'llthen fight the two other guards by the opening in a second battle. Ifyou don't talk to the walking guard, then all three will ambush you.However, if you let yourself get ambushed, you won't have to fight thesecond set of soldiers by the other opening. Decide what you want to do(fun, isn't it?) and fight the guards accordingly. Then go through theopening to your right to find a chamber full of machinery. Cloud willautomatically stop in front of one of the machines as you walk past it.When you can control him again, head to the right to see the Red HugeMateria being loaded onto a Shinra submarine. Reno of the Turks ishere, and he'll summon a mechanical freak to take you out while he makesa hasty retreat.

BOSS TIPS: CARRY ARMOR�� LV: 45�� HP: 24000�� MP: 200
�� RIGHT ARM�� LV: 45�� HP: 10000�� MP: 100
�� LEFT ARM�� LV: 45�� HP: 10000�� MP: 200 (all� three are weak vs. lightning)
This boss is composed of three parts. It can imprison two of yourcharacters in his arms, and they recieve 1/3 the amount of damage thatit receives from your attacks. However, since it has three parts, ifyou're making an attack that hits more than once, your ally gets strucktwice or even three times! Furthermore, if the third character iskilled while the other two are imprisoned, the battle is instantly lost.Destroying it's arms should be your top priority, but the arms rotateand switch sides when they are hit, so adjust your attacks accordingly.Summoning spells and enemy skills work well here. The boss' attacks arenot so strong, but they come quickly. The worst one is the Lapis Laserthat strikes all members for +1600 damage. BTW, the only way to free acharacter is to destroy the arm that's holding them, or have him or herdie. This makes the Phoenix summon very useful if you just freed afriend and want to revive and attack at the same time. You'll get theGod's Hand weapon when you kill it and both arms.With the Carry Armor out of the way, head to the left to find a chestwith the Battle Trumpet inside it. Then go back to the right and runalong the pier until you reach gray submarine. Open the chest by thestairs to get the Scimitar. To the left of that chest is achest holding a Key Item: the Suishin x no Uroko (Fire Extinguisher).You'll need it later so be sure to pick it up. Go up the stairs tofind a bunch of soldiers running around in place (ha!) who will fightyou. Cloud will then enter the submarine and be ambushed by threesoldiers. You may win a set of 'Shinra Relaxed Form Defense Tool'armor from the guards, but it's not that great. Anyway, there's a SavePoint here, and when you're done using it, head through the northerndoor to reach the bridge of the submarine.Here, you'll meet two guards and their scared-as-hell commander. Youcan either choose the bottom option and let them live, or you can pickthe top option and kill them. You can steal the 'Shinra Armor TypeDefend Tool Reform' (_very_ strong armor) from the captain if youchoose to fight. Whatever your choice, examine the captain's seat whenyou're able to and you'll be given three options. Pick the second oneto climb into the chair. From there, pick the top option to see adescription of the sub controls, or the bottom option to start up thesub and enter the submarine mini-game (explained below).Your controls on the submarine are:S Shoot torpedoes (only when you're near an enemy craft)X Backward thrustT Forward thrustPad Move left/right or descend/raiseR1 Switch between close-up or bird's eye viewR2 Switch between near, overhead, or cockpit viewStart Pause; show control screenThe walls of the ocean floor are shown in blue, and there are diamond-shaped mines that are invisible until you get close. You can tell howfar they are from the floor by the red columns beneath them. Thepurpose of this 'mini-game' is to destroy the the main Shinra sub (red)in the time allotted, although you can kill some of the ten yellowsubmarines if you want to. During the mission, the following warningswill appear:WARNING When an enemy sub is approachingALERT When an enemy sub is firingMINE You are about to run into a mineCONFLICT The sub cannot move because you are steering it against/along a rock faceYou lose the game if one of two things happen; time runs out (you have10 minutes to destroy the submarine), or if your life bar (which isrepresented by the red/green bar at the bottom of the screen) isdepleted as a result of being hit by missiles, crashing into the wallsor floor once too often, or ramming another sub. If you win, then thesubmarine you're in is automatically piloted to shore. If you mess up,your characters will jettison themselves from the sub. Either way,you'll learn that a Huge Materia is being transported from the JunonAirport. You can go there (it's the same place where the Highwind wasdocked) to see some FMV of the plane taking off, or not (it's optional).At this point in the game, you have two options available to you. Youcan either sneak back into Junon and get yourself another submarine,or you can go to Rocket Town and do the fourth and final Huge Materiaquest. If you already have a submarine, then you can do some underwaterexploring or do the last Huge Materia quest (refer to section 3j forthe former and section 3k for the latter). If you need to get a secondsubmarine, then keep reading.Go back into the main part of Junon Town and work your way back to thegray hallway, down the elevator with the woman, and to the room with theguards, a dog, and the sloping floor. Beat the guards and examine thedog. When he moves aside, follow him and examine him again. Choose thetop option, and you'll enter the red Shinra submarine. When the guardsshow up, choose the top option to let them go, or the bottom option tofight them. In the cockpit room, choose the top option to save thecommander, or the bottom option to fight him and his men. Either way,you still get to pilot the sub. Note that if you got the gray sub, youcan't go through here and get the red sub.

11.) Submarine Chase

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Red Huge Materia (listed here because you don't have to get it), Heaven's Cloud, Escort Guard, Conformer, Continuous Slice, Megalixir x2, Elixir, Spirit Lance, Outsider, Highwind Manual, 'Summon Hades' materia, Oritsuru, Steal materia.

�� This section outlines a series of side-quests and optional events. Whilesome have to be done at a certain point, the others are listed here onlybecause you now have a submarine and can explore the ocean. You can skipthis section and go on to 3k for the final Huge Materia Quest if you'drather do the things in here at a later point.The controls for either submarine (gray or red) are as follows:X Submerge/AscendO Propel forward - (doesn't work in overhead view)Pad Move in any direction - (raise or lower while underwater)L1/R1 Turn to the left or rightL2/R2 Switch from side/overhead view - (doesn't work while underwater)Start Show/enlarge/hide map - (cannot enlarge map while underwater)Select Same as StartThe submarine can cross deep water, but not shallows. If you can'tget by an area while skimming the sea, try submerging and looking fora passage. If you can't get over a rock wall while submerged, tryascending and looking for another way around. Also, the sub can onlyland at docks such as the one near Junon Town. BTW, the mini-game atthe Gold Saucer also becomes available once you have a submarine.If you sunk the red submarine, then get in your submarine and look atthe map. Head to the chain of small islands southeast from theweaponsmith's house (the guy who lived near the Gold Saucer). Submergeand you'll find the red submarine. Should you touch it, Cloud willretrieve the Red Huge Materia from the wrecked submarine. If youfailed to sink it earlier, then it won't be here. Note that you canwait and pick up the Red Huge Materia in Disc 3 if you'd rather not getit right now.Next, return to the Junon Town dock and go west until you reach ajutting peninsula (or go north from where the red submarine was,assuming you sunk it). Go around the penninsula and head south untilyou reach land (you'll be in a little bay, near a dock, and you shouldbe able to see the Golden Saucer from where you are). Descend andyou'll find a wrecked plane lying on the sea floor. Touch it to boardthe sunken plane.Inside the plane, go down the ladder. Run to the left to find a SavePoint and a treasure chest (inside is the Heaven's Cloud sword).Enter the northern door (the one with the Shinra emblem on it) andhead east along the walkway. There's a green chest here with anEscort Guard in it. Go down the incline to the lowest level of thisroom and head to the upper-left corner. Hidden by a pipe is anothergreen chest; inside it is Yuffie's Ultimate Weapon, the Conformer(in English, it means 'Conformer'). Now to all the way to theupper-right corner and search the wall for a hard to see yellow materia(Continuous Slice). Finally, return to the entrance and go north andthen east across the beams. This leads to the final chest which has aMegalixir inside of it.Return to the main room and go through the door on the left wall. Inthe adjoining chamber are Reno and Rude of the Turks, who will talkto you briefly before attacking your party.

BOSS TIPS: RENO�� LV: 42�� HP: 15000�� MP: 230
�� RUDE�� LV: 49�� HP: 20000�� MP: 280
�� Rude (the bald guy) can cast Ice 2 and Fire 2, while Reno will attackyou with his Neo Turks' Light Ray attack. They also have the nastyability to confuse you, which can be a serious problem if the confusedmember has a Continuous Slice or Slice Everybody materia equipped. Onceyou inflict enough damage on one of them, that person will leave. Ifyou kill Reno, then Rude will simply stand around until you lower hisHP to zero. Since this battle is tougher than it might seem, Hasteyour characters and use your best attacking and summon spells. If he'slearned it, Cloud's B3/1 should be used whenever possible. You'll getan Elixir when the battle is concluded.With the Turks out of the way, go through the northern door. A chestsitting near the entrance contains a Megalixir, and if you continuealong the walkway and go all the way to the right, you'll find anotherchest with a Spirit Lance inside. Go down the stairs to the lower area;near the bottom of the screen are two chests; one to the left and oneto the right. The left one has an Outsider gun in it, and the rightone contains Cid's Level 4 Limit Break Manual (Highwind). Beforeleaving, look by the wrecked helicopter for a shimmering red sphere(it's lying between the body of the helicopter and one of the broken,detached parts next to it). It's the 'Summon Hades' materia, so pickit up and then head back to your submarine. You don't need to returnto the wrecked plane again, although you can fight the monsters hereand transform them into various '-Up' items (you can also do this toseveral of the monsters in the Mideel Area). Considering this game'sdifficulty (the lack of, that is), you shouldn't have to do this,though.Once you're in the submarine, look at your map. Just south and east ofthe southeastern tip of the Northern Continent are three islands in asort of a curving pattern. If you can't quite tell where you are, justgo along the coast of the Northern Continent until you reach an areasurrounded by shallows where there are three islands (you should benear snowy ground with patches of grass, in addition to a largemountain). Submerge the submarine and look for an underwater tunnelaround here (guide the submarine into the dead-end and turn around; youshould see it as you're moving). The short tunnel leads to a twisted,spiky object which you will take (it's called the Old x x no Key;Buugen Haagen asks you to find it later on when you return to theAncient City in section 3l).Finally, get back in your airship and fly to Uutai on the WesternmostContinent. Go up into the Dachao Statue area, and head along the pathuntil you reach the path that heads north. Follow it past the statue'shead until you reach another crossroads with a cave entrance nearby.Enter the cave. Try to walk into the first fire-pit twice and Cloudwill use the Suishin x no Uroko on the Fires each time, exposing agreen chest which contains a Oritsuru (a shuriken for Yuffie). Explorethe rest of the cave until you find a second fire-pit. Press againstit to douse it with the Suishin x no Uroko. This allows you to takethe blue materia lying on the floor (Steal as well).

18.) Cid's Dream Come True

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Nothing!

�� Return to Rocket Town (it's beyond the mountains near the Gold Saucer).Go to the launch pad. It's swarming with Shinra soldiers! Make yourway to the stairs leading up to the rocket and you'll be attacked bytwo soldiers. Deal with them and you'll be attacked by another pairof soldiers. At the top of the stairs, you'll fight two more soldiersand their captain. After killing them, Cid will show up and insist onjoining if he's not already with you. After you've made a party, pressX to continue playing, T to go to the Main Menu, or O to change yourparty's configuration (but Cloud and Cid cannot be removed from thecurrent party). After you choose to continue playing, climb up theladder and you'll face off with two Shinra soldiers and Rude of theTurks.

BOSS TIPS: RUDE�� LV: 42�� HP: 9000�� MP: 240
�� ???? x2�� LV: 34�� HP: 1300�� MP: 100
�� Use physical attacks to kill the soldiers and injure Rude, especiallyif you've got the Continuous Slice and Slice Everybody materia equipped.Rude can use a jumping wave attack, but it only causes about 500 pointsof damage. He can also create a Mabarrier which he usually casts whenone or both of the soldiers are killed, and he can cast Bolt 2 and healhimself for about 1100 hit points. Despite all his powers, he's stilleasily beaten. If you kill Rude before finishing off the guards, you'llautomatically win the battle. You may win an S-mine once you win thebattle.Go inside the rocket ship--you'll have to fight another battle, but it'seasily won. Press O to open the northern door, then go into the mainroom, where Cid will talk to the workers. After the rocket lifts off,go to the right into the next room and climb up the ladder. Examine theHuge Materia in the next room and choose the top option. Cid will chatwith Cloud and several numbered boxes will appear. When they do, punchin the following code, one press per message box:First Message (1): OSecond Message (2): SThird Message (3): XFourth Message (4): XIf you did it correctly, the glass tube will open and you can take theHuge Materia. If you mess up, you'll have 3 minutes to get the coderight, and Cid will try to clue you in to the correct code. Should thetimer reach zero, the Huge Materia is lowered into the ground.Whether you got the Huge Materia or not, return to the entry room andclimb down the ladder; when you get near the sparking tanks, they willexplode. With a little help from Shiera, you'll free Cid from under apiece of metal. Follow Shiera into the next room (which turns out tobe an escape capsule). After a lengthy FMV sequence, you'll findyourself back in Highwind, and the Meteor hanging in the sky will nowbe much closer than it was before. Alternately, you can do this part(see the tanks explode) and then go back and get/not get the HugeMateria, or you can even do this part and then take the escape podwithout even attempting to free the Huge Materia (which means youobviously won't get it).

13.) Ancient City 2:� The Sequel

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ultima Weapon, Elixir x3, Megalixir, Aegis Bracelet, Starlight Horn, Max Ray, Power Source x2, Guard Source, Magic Source, Mind Source, W-Item materia, Master Fist, Pile Banger, HP Shout, Ragnarok, Missing Score.

�� Get in the Highwind and return to Cosmo Canyon. Make your way up to theobservatory and talk to Buugen Haagen. Cloud will use the PHS system tocall the rest of his friends up to Buugen Haagen's home. They'll alltalk about Sephiroth and Aeris, and then leave Cloud alone with BuugenHaagen, who offers to keep the Huge Materia at his observatory forsafekeeping. Touch any of the Huge Materia you have and pick thebottom option to return to the Highwind. Buugen Haagen will accompanyyou. Pilot the Highwind back to the Northern Continent and land in thecanyon where the Ancient City is located. At the crossroads, take theleft path and follow it into the chamber with the blue crystal thatyou couldn't do anything to earlier. Head right along the upper pathand take the stairs up to the crystal. Buugen Haagen will talk toCloud and his friends. If you already got the Old x x no Key, BuugenHaagen uses it to create a waterfall. If you didn't get it yet, he'llremain here in the Ancient City until you find it and return to himwith it.Once the waterfall has been activated, walk towards the crystal asecond time. Pictures of Aeris will be shown in the falling waterwhile Buugen talks to your party. Now, leave the Ancient City. Asyou do, Cait Sith calls on Cloud's phone and tells him that the SisterRay in Junon Town has been reinstalled in Midgar City, and that it'sgoing to be used to destroy the barrier around the crater (whereSephiroth's at). After seeing some more FMV, return to the Highwind.Just as you're about to board it, another Weapon monster shows up andstarts advancing towards Midgar City. Since you can't attack it whilein the Highwind, and you can't reach it using the submarine, wait untilit reaches dry land, then try and touch it in order to see another FMVsequence in which the Sister Ray is used to kill the Weapon and breakthe shield at the same time.At this point in the game, if you return to the lake near Junon Town,the Ultima Weapon will be hovering over the lake. You can battle theUltima Weapon by ramming into it while aboard the Highwind. However,it will fly away after fighting with you for awhile. From this pointon, it will fly around the sky and make it's way to various randomlocations. It might seem as if you could just wait around for theUltima Weapon to show up here and there, but the beast will fly incircles unless you find it and ram into it repeatedly. After 4 or 5tries, it will then head towards a new location and sit there until youattack again. After escaping a few more times, it will make a finalstop at Cosmo Canyon. You can fight it to the death here (it's apushover, so don't expect too much of a challenge), and when it dies,you get Cloud's Ultimate Weapon (the Ultima Weapon). Furthermore,it will create a crater when it crashes into the ground, wiping outseveral of the rock formations around Cosmo Canyon. However, you cannow walk across the crater and go into the Old Forest! Normally, youcan't reach this place unless you're using a colored Chocobo. If youdon't want to fight the Ultima Weapon now, you still fight it duringDisc 3.Anyway, pilot the Highwind back to the crater when you're ready. Beforeyou can explore it further, Reeve (y'know, the guy who controls CaitSith) reveals that Hojo (one of the members of the Jenova Project) isplanning to use the Sister Ray again, even though the results could becatastrophic considering how much energy it used up last time. So youhave to get back into Midgar City and stop Hojo beforehand.When you're ready to raid Midgar City, fly the Highwind straight towardsit, as if you were going to ram into it. Cloud and his allies willgather together on the airship's deck. You can now choose the topoption to assemble a new party, or the bottom option to leap off theship and parachute into the city. When you can move, follow yourfriend to an alleyway where your pals are waiting. There's also a SavePoint here. Talk to whoever is by the wooden panel and they'll open itto reveal a ladder leading down into the depths of Midgar City. At thebottom of the ladder, go along the metal passage and down the slope.Go up the the next slope and when you reach the wall, head right tofind a chest containing an Elixir, and then run to the left to find achest with a Megalixir inside of it.Make your way back to the area with the ladder and take the stairs downto an area with a ladder. If you climb down the ladder, you'll reach along walkway; head east and then go north to arrive at another ladder.Climb up it and you'll have access to the green chest you saw earlier;it contains an Aegis Bracelet. Climb back down to the long walkway andrun to the right. The floor will give way and you'll be deposited on alower walkway. Head left, jump on top of the pipe, and then ascend theladder. When you arrive at another ladder, climb up it, too.Eventually you'll arrive at a path just below the one you were walkingaround on earlier. Walk along it until you reach a chute; walk into itand you'll be deposited in a new area. Check out the green chest to theleft (there's a Starlight Horn inside it). Then go to the right and openthe chest that's near the ladder (it contains an Elixir). Climb down theladder and press against the right lip of the platform in order to jumpdown to the chute labled '42'. Enter the chute, and when you arrive atthe other end, head left and then go up the ladder. At the top, you'llfind a chest to the left; there's a Max Ray inside it. Retrace yoursteps until you're back at the other area, press left to jump off thechute and back onto the platform, and then climb up the ladder and goup the stairs to your left (it's right next to the chute labled '12').At the top of the stairs is a Save Point. To the right of it is acrawlway. Make you way along it and you'll arrive in an undergroundtunnel system. Climb down to the floor and head south. While many ofthe passages here split off in two directions, one direction will alwaysend in a blocked door, so keep going south. As you keep going, you'llrun into your friends (remember, who you meet up with depends on who isand isn't in your group). After heading south for a couple of screens,you'll find a treasure chest lying against the left wall of one of those'split-passage' areas I mentioned earlier. Inside it is a Power Source.At the next split-passage area that you come across, there is a treasurechest in the area between the doorways. There's a Guard Source inside it.Keep going south, and when you reach the next split-passage area, therewill be two chests lying in the area between the doorways. The one tothe left has a Magic Source inside it, and the one to the right containsa Mind Source. If you go south from here, you'll arrive at a dead end.In the left corner of this area is a Save Point, and in the right cornerthere is a yellow materia (W-Item). If you press against the wall,you'll discover that you can't go any further.So, go all the way back to the first area (where the ladder was). Tryto head to the north and guess who shows up! It's the remaining Turks,and they're here for a final showdown with Cloud and his friends. Icould swear that the first time I came through here, they asked if Iwanted to fight or not...but I guess not, since nothing like thathappened this time around. Perhaps it has something to do withcompleting Yuffie's sub-quest before coming here?

BOSS TIPS: ELENA (can't see her stats.)
�� RENO�� LV: 50�� HP: 25000�� MP: 200
�� RUDE�� LV: 51�� HP: 28000�� MP: 250
�� Elena is healed by lightning attacks, Reno by ice attacks, and Rude by fire attacks. Rude has a punch attack that hits one character for2000 points of damage, Elena can throw a firebomb that inflicts 500 to600 points of damage (in addition to a Amulet attack), and Reno uses aspark attack which will cause 800 HPs worth of damage. They all havemore attacks than these; but I'm listing the ones the seem to use mostoften. Alone, they aren't much, but with all three of them fightingtogether, this becomes one of the toughest battles in game. Barrierand Haste your allies, then use spells like Ultima and Tornado to softenthe Turks up in addition to Limit Breaks. Try to save Phoenix until youreally need it, since it will revive your members but heal Rude. Allthree Turks will escape once you've defeated them in battle. You'll getan Elixir when the battle is over.

�� After the battle, go north. When you reach the split passage area, gonorth again. If Cid isn't in your party, he'll show up here. Take theright path and at the next split passage, take the left path. You'llarrive at a blocked passage, but there's a ladder against the left wallthat leads to the Shinra Building. If Cait Sith is in your party,he'll talk to you. Otherwise, you'll see him hop out of the building.If you didn't read Turtle's Paradise Flyer No. 2 the first time around,you can check out the billboard at the back end of the first floor toread it now. Go up the stairs near the front and look for a door marked'Accessories' near the other end of this floor. In the adjoining room,you can open two chests that a Shinra employee wouldn't let youexamine earlier. The one to the right contains a Master Fist and theleft one has a Pile Banger inside of it. Before leaving, go up to the64th floor and look for the lockers (go north from the elevators). Ifyou examine the left end of the row of lockers against the wall, you'llfind the HP Shout (Cait Sith's Ultimate Weapon that you couldn'ttake earlier).Return to the underground passages again. Go south past one split-passage room, and when you reach the second room, take the left path.You'll go outside. Walk towards the lefthand red beam to climb up itand jump onto the main street. Head north and a huge mechanical monsterwill appear from behind you; it's being controlled by Heidegger andScarlet. After laughing in your face, they'll attack you.

BOSS TIPS: PROUD CLOUD (can't see it's stats.)
�� JAMMER ARMOR�� LV: 62�� HP: 20000�� MP: 300
�� This mechanical monstrosity has two parts; a head and a chest area thatyou can aim your attacks at. The boss can only cause around 500-800points of damage, but it can kneel and fire a ray from it's back (theBeam Cannon attack) that causes 1100 damage to all members. Even afterdisabling the Jammer Armor (it can use it's Materia Jammer attack todisable your Materia), you'll still have to keep attacking the main partif you want to kill it. Spells and summonings work nicely, and youshouldn't worry about your HP until the boss kneels and readies it'slaser attack. You'll get the Ragnarok sword once the fight is over.

�� Once the machine explodes, it starts to rain. Head north. There aretwo chests near the entrance. The one closest to you has an Elixir init, while the one that's further away contains a Mystile. Use theSave Point that's nearby if you want to, then climb up the ladders.If he's not in your party, Vincent will be on the lower landing. Thesecond landing is normally empty, but if Barret is in your party, youwill see a green chest there. Open it to get Barret's Ultimate Weapon,the Missing Score. If Barret's not in you party, you won't find anythingon the landing, even if you search it thoroughly. Once you've climbedall the way to the top, run to the right. Sitting at the Mako Cannon's(Sister Ray's) controls is Hojo, who will attack your party when youtalk to him.

BOSS TIPS: HOJO�� LV: 50�� HP: 13000�� MP: 250
�� PUDUREA SAMPLE�� LV: 42�� HP: 10000�� MP: 200
�� IBIRURAPPA SAMPLE�� LV: 34�� HP: 11000�� MP: 120
�� HERETIC HOJO�� LV: 55�� HP: 26000�� MP: 200
�� RIGHT ARM�� LV: 55�� HP: 5000�� MP: 300
�� LEFT ARM�� LV: 55�� HP: 24000�� MP: 400
�� HOJO NA� (can't see his stats.)
Hojo can use his 'Capsule' power to summon the two 'Sample' monstersevery time you kill them. So, concentrate on defeating Hojo instead ofthe lesser monsters. He'll then reappear as a huge monster with twoindependent arms (Heretic Hojo). Since Hojo can bring the arms backto life, aim your attacks at the main body of the boss. He may castConfuse or Silence on you, so I hope you have some Ribbons equipped.The right arm will also inflict a lot of damage, so cast Barrierbeforehand. In his final form, Hojo can cast Slow and employ amultiple-hit attack (Combo), which will poison whoever is hit by it.As long as you keep your HPs up, this battle is a cinch. You'll receivea Power Source once you've killed Hojo

�� .You'll return to the Highwind after killing the boss. There's a shortsequence with Tifa and Cloud afterward, then the Highwind blasts offinto the sky. Well, that's the end of this disc!

******** 3^rd CD ********

1.) Return to the Northern Crater

�� ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Limited Moon, Save Crystal, Guard Source x3, Mind Source x2, Magic Source x2, Elixir x2, Power Source x2, HP Absorb materia, Megalixir x4, Hero Drink x3, Mystile, Speed Source x2, Tetra Elemental, Almighty Medicine x2, Vaccine x2, Shield materia, Imperial Guard, W-Magic materia, Counter Attack materia, X Potion x2, Turbo Ether x2, Everything All materia, Luck Source

�� You'll start off on the deck of the Highwind. If you'd rather explorethe World Map instead, just go back to the cockpit, talk to the engineernext to Cid, and choose the top option. If you haven't noticed it yet,the Highwind is now rocket-powered.Before descending into the crater and exploring the Makou Pit, you maywant to pick up Red 13's Ultimate Weapon. Return to Cosmo Canyon andclimb up to the second floor of the observatory, making sure that Red 13is in your group beforehand (you can switch characters at the Save Pointnear the Tiger Lily Arms Shop if you need to). Buugen Haagen is lyingon his couch, and he is about to pass away. He chats with Red 13 for awhile, then dies. Back at the bonfire, Red 13 rejoins his companions,and now has the Limited Moon in his inventory. Also, if you haven'tgotten either of the 'optional' characters yet (Yuffie or Vincent), thennow would be a good time to add them to your party.When you're ready to explore the Makou Pit, land the Highwind and goout to the deck. You can talk to the man out here to change partymembers (he'll automatically ask you every time you return to theHighwind). Climb down the rope ladder to reach a new area, then headsouthwest. In the next screen you'll be given an option: pick thebottom one to turn back or the top one to descend into the pit. Afterhopping down the steps, you'll see a cavern entrance. If you go insideit, it merely returns you to the last area, in which you can climb upthe stone column and make your way back to the Highwind. Otherwise,simply follow the path as it winds it's way down into the ground. Don'tworry should the ground crumble away since you can jump over the gaps.The first chest you find contains a Save Crystal. It can be used oncewhile in the Makou Pit to create a Save Point. Considering that thereare no Save Points at all in this level, the Save Crystal is a handyitem to have. The next chest you find has a Guard Source in it.In the next area, you can climb the silver parts of the ledges bypressing O when you are standing near them (a message appears promptingyou to do this). Go to the right and hop down the 'steps'. The firstchest you find has a Guard Source inside of it. Be sure to make your wayto the next chest and not explore the edge of the ledge below the chestyou just opened or you'll jump down to the bottom and will have toclimb all the way back up again (although you'll be doing that at somepoint anyway, so it's no big deal). In the second chest is a Mind Source.You can now either climb back up and get the rest of the chests, orcontinue searching the Makou Pit and get the chests when you are comingback out (assuming you want to make more than one journey into the Pit).To get the chests, climb up the ledge to your left (you're at thebottom of the screen, remember?) Go all the way to the left and climbup two ledges, then walk to the right to find another chest containinga Magic Source. Go left again, go up to the next ledge, then go to theright and climb up again. Walk all the way to the right, climb up thetall ledge, then head left to find a chest holding an Elixir. Fromthere, walk up to the next ledge, go to the left, and climb up thesilver part to arrive at a chest that has a Power Source in it. If you goto the right, you'll find an HP Absorb materia just past a large rock.Finally, jump back down, go to the right, and climb up the ledge toreach the top again (you can jump to the top ledge from here and exitthe Pit by going back up the spiraling passage).If you head south from the bottom of the screen, you'll arrive at a largechamber pocked with holes. Walk to the right until you fall down alevel, then go left to uncover a chest (inside is a Mind Source). Go tothe edge of this ledge, turn around, and press O to juMP Plus to the upperledge (just like in the last area, you'll be prompted to jump wheneveryou are near a ledge ending). Head left until you fall down, then go tothe right and step into the hole by pressing up. Beyond the opening is atreasure chest containing a Megalixir. Go back out again and walk allthe way to the left and you will fall down to a new level (since youcan't see Cloud, move left or right until he falls). Run to the right inorder to find a chest, which has an Hero Drink inside of it. Walkto the left and enter the hole. As you walk along the adjoining path,stop to open a treasure chest to your left which holds a Guard Source, andgo through the hole that's a little farther up to reach a chest with aPower Source inside it. Go back out the hole and keep climbing to reachan opening that deposits you back at the top of the screen. To get backdown to the bottom, run to the right until you drop down, press rightagain to fall a second time, and enter the hole. The passage beyond itleads to another hole; press left to fall down it (if you want to getback up, just climb the ledges to your left). Then walk to the leftuntil you fall, and walk right to fall again.Here, climb down the two stalactites in order to reach the ground whereyour friends are waiting. Each one asks you which path they should take,the left one (top option), or the right one (bottom option).Furthermore, you may have certain characters join you, or you may beasked to make a new group (and you may not have many characters to pickfrom). Unfortunately, I really have no clue as to how this part of thegame works even after playing through it numerous times. (Yes, thatmeans that you should still treat this whole paragraph as a NSS :))Take whatever path is available to you (you'll get a message if you can'tgo in that direction). Refer to the LEFT PATH or RIGHT PATH sectionsdepending on which one is available to you. Note that once you reach thePLACE OF GATHERING, you can go back and explore all the areas freely(remember that because you may be approaching an area from a differentlocation, you may have to do it in a different order. For instance, youcan tackle the LEFT PATH: LOWER ROUTE area from either the top or bottom,so take note while playing (and no, I'm not going to write out thesection backwards and forwards, just figure it out yourself depending onwhere you're going!)RIGHT PATHYou'll find yourself on a column of stone. Follow the winding path thatleads along the column. Eventually, you'll reach a gap in the path.Pick the top option to jump down to the area below, or the bottom optionto turn back. When you land on the ground, look to your right for achest containing a Mystile. To your left is a green Elixir. Take itand continue along the path until you reach a broad, gray area. Here,there is a treasure chest to the north containing a Speed Source. If youlook to the south, wedged between several broken structures is anotherchest that has a Tetra Elemental inside it. Go back to the main pathand head east, then north. Here, the path splits to the north or thewest.Take the west branch and it'll lead to a dead-end where there is a chest.Inside it is a Megalixir. Retrace your steps and keep going north;just to your right will be a chest that also has a Megalixir inside ofit. If you keep going north, you'll arrive at a bridge made of curvingbones. Work your way down it and you'll arrive at the PLACE OF GATHERING(see below).LEFT PATHIn this room, your teammates will each ask if you should take the upper(top option) or lower (bottom option) route. Pick accordingly, and referto the UPPER ROUTE and LOWER ROUTE sub-sections depending on what youchose. You may be prompted to make a new party yet again after you havedecided on the route you will take.LEFT PATH: UPPER ROUTEHop down onto the branch-like structure, run to the right, and when youcan't go any further, press Up to jump to another branch. From here, goright to reach a chest containing a Magic Source. Now, hop back to thefirst branch and go left, then north. When you reach the edge, Cloudwill jump onto the nearby rocks. Walk north along the path and Cloudwill dive in the water and jump out on the other side of the screen. Ifyou walk to the left, then go north, you'll arrive at a chest which hasan Remedy within it. Head right, but take the upper branch(go east, then north) in order to arrive at a new area.Here, head to the far right to find a chest which contains an Ei x noKusuri. Then take the upper path and run all he way to the left. Ifyou go a little ways to the north, you'll see a chest; it has a Vaccinein it. To the right of the chest is a large rock; walk in front of itand you'll see a path that leads up to the top of the rock, where agreen materia is lying on the ground (Shield). Take it and walk tothe left, then press Down to descend the rock face. Cloud will jumpinto the water and pop out again near a treasure chest (Imperial Guard).After opening the chest, keep pressing Down and Cloud will dive into thewater again and end up on the other side of the screen. From here, runsouth and then east to reach yet another unexplored area.This area is full of green shrubbery and stone tiers. Walk to the leftin order to work your way down the tiers, but then go to the center ofthe screen and walk north until you're right beneath the shrubbery.There is a small dot here; press O to examine it and you'll find thatit's the W-Magic materia. From here, work your way down to theshining light (go south, then east). There is a patch of darkness inthe light--examine it and you'll get the Counter Attack materia. Now,walk west and then north to find a cave entrance. It leads to thePLACE OF GATHERING (see below).LEFT PATH: LOWER ROUTEHop down the stone columns and investigate the chest to your left tofind an Remedy. Head to the right and hop up the stonecolumns to arrive at a chest that has an Elixir inside of it. Thengo back to the first treasure chest and press against the bottom ofthe ledge. You'll hop down to a column where there is a chestcontaining an X Potion. Make your way to the southeast. In the nextscreen, hop down the stone columns and then go to the left to find achest with an Turbo Ether in it. Then follow the path east and north.There's another chest here and a Vaccine is inside it. Walk to thewest, then follow the path south and hop across the columns. When youreach the bottom of the screen, run to the south.In this area, go to the right and press down to hop down to a smallledge. Below is a larger ledge and a green chest (X Potion). Walk tothe left across the thin stone bridge, drop down a level, then keepgoing right until you see some stone 'steps'. Go down them; to theleft is a green chest containing a Turbo Ether. If you walk to theleft, you'll jump down to a low ledge. Nearby, there is a ballfloating in the air. Hold Up in order to jump from a small ledge to alarger ledge, and when you get near the ball, tap O repeatedly. If youtimed it right, you'll be able to take the ball, which is actually theMega All materia. If you missed it, just press left tojump back down to the lower ledge and then try again. You can only getthe materia while jumping to the small ledge, not while jumping fromthe large western ledge.Once you've gotten the materia and are on the large ledge, walk to theother end of it. There's a chest here (Speed Plus Source). Now walk tothe south and press against the edge to jump down to a lower area. Keepwalking south and you'll reach the PLACE OF GATHERING.PLACE OF GATHERINGOn the right side of this chamber is a chest containing a Luck Source.Follow the path as it curves around until you reach a set of stonesteps. Your friends will show up here. Depending on where you toldthem to go earlier, they may or may not have items to give you. Talkto each one of them to get an item (or not), then approach the stonesteps. Pick the top option to go down them or the bottom option tostay where you are. Once you pick the top option, you can't go back,so feel free to choose the bottom option and then leave this area fromthe upper ledge (walk to the left) if you have more exploring to do.Once you've chosen the top option, assemble a new group. You'll leapdown the steps and arrive at the lowest levels of the Makou Pit (home not only to Jenova and Sephiroth but also to massive slowdown). Simplyjump from floating ledge to floating ledge, working your way towardsthe bottom of the screen. In the second screen, make your way to thecentral island of rock, where the final form of Jenova will appear andattack you
.BOSS TIPS: JENOVA SYNTHESIS� (can't see her stats.)
�� JENOVA SYNTHESIS B�� LV: 61�� HP: 10000�� MP: 600
�� JENOVA SYNTHESIS C�� LV: 61�� HP: 8000�� MP: 600
�� Start the round by using Haste and Barrier on yourselves, then use EnemySkills and Summon Materia to dish out damage. The tentacle-like armswill droop and become useless after you've attacked them long enough,but they regenerate with some HP if you don't kill the boss quickly, souse high-level spells (Ultima or Inseki) to take them out and injureJenova at the same time. When she is about to die, a message appearsand starts counting down the rounds from 5; if you don't kill her by thetime it reaches zero, Jenova Synthesis will cast Ultima. For the second-to-last boss, this is an easy battle. She has very weak physical attacks(500-800 damage), and not much else. If you want to conserve MP, you cantake out the boss using physical attacks with little injury to yourself.If she does cast Ultima, the battle ends, but you get no EXP, GP, or AP,so try to kill her as quickly as possible.

�� After the death of Jenova Synthesis, the ground will break up and Cloudand his friends will awaken to find themselves floating in space.Sephiroth makes his final appearance here, floating next to the core ofthe Makou Pit. You'll get to make a new party*, then the battle with Sephiroth will commence.* Apparently, the number of teams you can make is determined randomly. The first time I played this game, I was able to make two parties, but since then I've been able to make just one party or three parties (the third had only two members, since you only have 8 characters). For a time, I thought this was based on the paths you took when you talked to your friends at various locations in the Makou Pit, but I guess it is simply a random occurrence after all.

BOSS TIPS: REVERSE SEPHIROTH (can't see it's stats)
�� REVERSE SEPHIROTH B�� LV: 61�� HP: 2000�� MP: 400
�� REVERSE SEPHIROTH C�� LV: 61�� HP: 10000�� MP: 400
�� REVERSE SEPHIROTH D�� LV: 61�� HP: 4000�� MP: 400
�� REVERSE SEPHIROTH E�� LV: 61�� HP: 4000�� MP: 400
�� Use Wall and Haste on yourselves (maybe even Regen), then use your bestattacks against Sephiroth, like Coin Toss, Ultima, and summon spells.Every time you kill a few of of it's body parts, you'll be asked if youwant to switch to another team (left option to switch, right option tokeep using the current party). In this case (if you have more than oneteam), you'll find that only one team can damage the yellow orb (part C)of Sephiroth's body. Once part C is sufficiently damaged, you'll get amessage stating that Cloud can now attack part C as well, so switch backto him and attack Sephiroth. Once part C is destroyed, kill off therest of the body parts. If you only have one team, all you can do isattack. The number of teams you have will affect the strategy usedagainst this boss, so keep that in mind when attacking*. I'm not exactlysure about this, but: Sephiroth will gain more HP and MP in proportionto Cloud's experience level, and using the Knights of Round materiawill _usually_ kill Sephiroth. If you more than one team, keep in mindthat the battle will end if even one team is killed. And interestinglyenough, the number of times you've used a summon materia resets when youswitch to a team and back.Sephiroth can heal himself using a technique called Reverse Energy, andhe can use it to bring defeat body parts back to life. Among his attacksare Graviga, an explosion attack that causes 1500+ points of damage, afire ray emitted from his chest that inflicts 1700+ damage, and a 'FallenAngel'-type attack that reduces all party members' HP to one point.* I'm saying this because one time I was able to kill Reverse Sephiroth before receiving the message to attack part C.Once Reverse Sephiroth has been defeated, Sephiroth shows up in a newform. You always fight him using the team that Cloud is a part of.

BOSS TIPS: Safer Sephiroth (Safe for him...)(can't see his stats.)Looks like Square couldn't bother creating a new end boss, could they? Safer Sephiroth can cast Slow, Flare, Break, Doom, and Dispel (Dispel will affect all members). Other attacks include Supernova (a 'summon'style spell that inflicts 1100-2200 damage to all allies; it causesconfusion and silence), Pyro Holes (a laser attack causing 3700-3800damage), and Dein (ring-shaped flares break apart the ground and cause 1200-1300 damage to all members. His sole physical attack is a wingslash that causes upwards of 5000 damage points. Sephiroth can fly around, too, preventing some characters from using certain skills or attacks against him.Use Wall on yourself, and then heal, revive, and fix status ailments with the Angel's Whisper Enemy Skill. Haste yourselves and use physical attacks, your best summon materia, and Ultima. You can even use CoinToss or Throw if you want. Safer Sephiroth isn't easy to kill, but he's certainly no challenge, even if you have low levels. There's only one thing to watch out for: if Cloud's level is at 98-99, then Sephiroth becomes monstrously powerful and much harder to kill (This is bad seeing as all my guys are level 99...). After a brief automated sequence, Cloud fights Sephiroth one last time. If you lose this battle, you deserve to die. You should be drug out into the street and shot. After the battle, you will see a long CG movie and the end of the game. Congratulations! You have won the game!

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