Lowest Level Possible Challenge FAQ/Walkthrough & EXP REQUIREMENTS/MECHANICS This challenge shall be known as LLP (Lowest Level Possible) Game Added Later: Divided into 2 different challenges - Lowest Average Level (LAL) and Lowest Level Party (LLP) Created By: KADFC First Started Writing This On: Monday, April 26 2004 at 9:31PM Pacific Time Finished and Submited First Time To Gamefaqs.com on May 26 2004 at 12:15PM Pacific Time Current Version Submitted on July 13 2004 at 8:45PM Pacific Time Version 1.6 Best View in: Courier New, Size 10, Regular in Text Doucment format ** LLP = Level 8 Cloud = Level 7 Tifa = Level 17 Yuffie ** LAL = Level 26 Cloud Level 28 for Everyone Else, not including Vincient This can be used with Quick Find. Just copy and paste the Name of the section ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ TABLE OF CONTENT ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I. Version Changes A. Personal Intro B. Introduction C. True Understanding of What I'll Be Going Through D. Understanding My Goals (FACTS) E. General Tips F. Experience Points Requirements for Levels G. Experience Points from Battles H. Author's Battle Plan I. GarlandG's Battle Plan J. Walkthrough/FAQ at the same time DISC 1 DISC 2 DISC 3 JA. Lowest Level Party Game (LLP) - Mini-Walkthrough Level 8 Cloud V.S. Special Battle Preparations for WEAPONS, Ruby and Emerald The Real Challenge: Level 7 Tifa V.S. Ruby Weapon The Final Challenge: LLP V.S. Emerald K. INDEPTH FAQ KA. Game Challenges Done by Author L. Other FAQs Used M. Credits ############################################ Version Changes ############################################ This section was added after I have already finished the 1.0 version of this FAQ. I decided to add more due to the fact that there were some extra stuff that I wanted to cover in advance in the amazing capablity that one, like myself, can do. Like my Level One Game in FFIX. Which everyone didn't believe in. I will try to do more of that. I like the feel to show someone the impossible, that they'll even think that you've used a Gameshark, or something of that nature. Version 1. This is the first and orginal version. The first disc is detailed on who gets what EXP and what level they will be. This goes from the beginning to the end of the disc. Version 1.2 This version, Version Changes, has been added, with the Lowest Level Party Game Mini Section. I will include the rest of the bosses HP. Fixed some typos, I don't want any improper english in my FAQs. And I fixed a little her and added a little there. Version 1.4 Added more FAQ, more into Mini LLP section, added Terence's quotes. Corrected more typos on the way. The things included in the LLP section are as follows: boss strats due to lower level than LAL, Level 8 Cloud V.S Special Battle. More will come, I promise. Version 1.6 My goal for now is that for Version 2.0 I'll have most of everyone I want to credit for be credited. I keep on adding to this FAQ and leaving them out. By 2.0, I'll add a lot to the credit section. For this version I'll include how to beat Emerald and Ruby with a LLP Game. Note to self: Make Battle Plan to obtain the lowest level for all characters when they join. ############################################ Personal Intro ############################################ The author, me, KADFC, is writing this guide. In my earlier work, I haven't much to say about my FAQ. But now I've aimmed a higher goal. To give my every insight. That the reader, you, can inform me on the message boards or by e-mail and give the parts that I fail in, so that you can correct my work. I will talk a lot in this FAQ, and I mean A LOT. Just by reading this FAQ, it can make you go to sleep and keep reading this the next morning. That is the pleasantness thing any writer wants from their readers. I will do a lot things in math. So you should be at least good with basic math. I will do my best to complete this FAQ in less than 6 months or so. This will be my fifth FAQ and I hope I've done well to present my knowledge in this one. Also, most of my writing will be typed in paragraph form due to me explaining certain stuff. I'll do something else, if I feel needed to. Added later, trying not to overdue this FAQ, after Disc 1, I lower my standard. If I made this too large of a file, Gamefaqs might not post this one up. After Disc 1, only strategy will be said and not the exact numbers. ############################################# INTRODUCTION ############################################# I am well aware that there is already a low level faq out there. But the author of that guide, EDMAN, seems to leave out a few things that doesn't makes it a True Low Level game. He was the one that inspired me to write this FAQ/Walkthrough. I'm not saying this guide is better than his guide or anything to insult him and his work. The guide that I'm trying to make, doesn't fit all his descriptions. His low leveled can be used to: (I just copied and paste it from his guide) --> Speed game (finish the game as quickly as possible. You will probably be at a very low level, so this is useful) --> No Save Game (very useful strategies for beating the bosses even if you are in a need of sleep) --> If you simply want to have fun with this game, and not make it too easy and beat it as quickly as possible. This is what I really achieved, as I beat my game at LV30 (for Cloud) and in 16 hours. But for this FAQ, this doesn't apply to any of those. I don't care if the challenger wants to beat the game as fast as possilbe. I don't care if the player is aimming for a No Save Game, I love these by the way. I've completed one for Final Fantasy FVIII. This guide is defintly not to make to game fun. That means to get the lowest level possible, you have to stick with everything I say. If you decide to go off somewhere and do something in the game that requires you getting EXP, that's your fault, not mine. Even though Edman's FAQ inspired me to write this guie, his guide is also the reason that I've got me so mad. His guide has too many flaws. He writes if everything is optional and makes the game fun for the player, I don't intend to do any of that. Seriously, you have to limit EXP. The whole purpose of this guide is to find every way possilbe to get the lowest level possible for every character. When I was doing my research on this, I found out a lot different obstacles that I didn't quite understand. But thanx to few experts on the boards, I was able to accomplish and aim for my true goal. The people that helped me do this was: Terence Defcon999 Shadow666 GarlandG ################################################## True Understanding of What I'll Be Going Through ################################################## I'm gonna type a lot right now and I hope you can understand of what I'm thinking about when I'm writing this. First off. I like to say that people entering in the party, doesn't always get the average level of who ever is in the party already. You might disagree and I got the proof to show for it. Cloud was at level 7 after the first battle against 2 MPs. After that there was the Scorpion Guard. I let Cloud died and let Barret get all the full 100 exp. Barret has stayed at level 6 before and after the fight. Here is my main point. The next person joining is Tifa. When I got her, from my calcuation she should be at level 6 or 7. Because 6 plus 7 is 13, then divide 13 by 2 is 6.5. But when I got Tifa though, guess what level she was at? Four. I couldn't believe it. Before I keep on doing more research and start diving the exp up, I first must best solve what level they would join in if I keep this up. Instead, each character joining has an average level, plus or minus a certain mod number, determine by who the character is when he/she joins. Experience Points (EXP) are the enemy of this challenge. Getting too much of it, isn't the way of this game. I will try to limit it as much as possible for the challengers. Active Party are the ones that you use to fight the boss. In every case They'll get 100% of the exp listed Inactive Party are the ones that you don't use to battle with. As long as they have joined Cloud's party once, they'll become this party, even if they are no longer selectable anymore. This party will get 50% of what the Active Party would get. You must remember this because this applies to some really good places, it makes you wonder why you weren't writing this FAQ instead of little ol me. The only battles that you have to worry about is the Boss Battles and the forced battles. There are a certain number of forced battles thay you must do. If I didn't say it was avaliable or if it isn't listed here, you probably messed up and got into a force battle by accident. These do appear if you aren't too careful. About the E-Skill. I'll tell you when the appropriate times are for you to get them and I'll follow by an explanation of why. During force battles and Boss battles, there is only one way for a character to not get any EXP at all. They must be in the active party and they must be KOed. Besides this way, there isn't anymore. So I'll use this strategy to my manipulation. In the EDMAN FAQ, it said to use E-Skill. I'll use it too, but you will be amazed on how much I limit this stuff. Why I limit this thing is because getting E-Skills requires you to win the battle, meaning getting EXP. I only want one move out of all of them and that is Chocobuncle. Even more skillful, I want to require that move without ever getting Lvl 4 Suicide. I haven't done it yet, but hopefully I got a way. Added Later: I did not get the Chocobuncle at all, rather, some other useful ones instead. EDMAN mentions the Aeris Exploit. I won't ever use that. You know why? I found a flaw in it. When you are trying to level up materia, the inactive party will get 50% of it as well, making them level up. EDMAN said that you'll need a lot of gils to buy HP Plus's and that if you did have that much money you would need to require to fight battles. I, on the other hand, have found a way to get pass this. It will be long and boring, but since the main purpose of this game is to require the lowest possible level. Nothing can stand in my way of obtaining the lowest, no matter how long it takes me. This idea comes from using the Steal materia. In my first two games I've discovered this trick to get more money than the battles offer. Basically you steal Ethers, my first place to steal this was at the Train Graveyard, one it the first places after you have got the Steal materia in the sewers. Each Ether can be sold to give you a profit of 750. The HP Plus materia cost 8000 each, just think of how many Ethers you would need to steal to get all the materias that you wanted. This will also be used for getting more equipment. By getting the new equipment, you will need to steal even more Ethers. I hope you feel it's worth it like I do. In EDMAN FAQ it said not to buy certain stuff, well, not anymore. EDMAN said that it was a good idea to get Yuffie because it will benefit you for a low level game. I find that be rather false. Let me explain. He said that getting Yuffie and doing her sidequest is getting less EXP than fighting Rude, Reno, and Elena at the end of Disc 3, when they raid in midgar. Yuffie's sidequest alone, not including Yuffie's EXP, gets you this much EXP: Battle #1 Attack Squad A and B = 600 Battle #2 Attack Squad A, B, and C = 900 Battle #3 Rapps (BOSS) = 3200 Total for Yuffie's Sidequest: 4700 And this isn't counting in gettin Yuffie in the first place. Kicking Reno, Rude, and Elena's Ass = 4500 Surely you can tell which one gives you more EXP. Plus the fact that this I haven't a the EXP required to get Yuffie. Yuffie, aka Mystery Ninja, can give you different EXP based on the many versions that you can get. This is based on what Cloud's level is. Yuffie's Level EXP from fighting her 17 160 22 240 27 320 32 480 37 640 42 720 The max, you can't get a higher level. Yuffie's level is based on Cloud's Level alone. From what the experts say, the best time to get Yuffie is when Cloud is at level 20 or less. When you get Yuffie by staying at this limit, her level will be 16. They also claim that you can't get a lower level than 17 for Yuffie. The only beneficial part that I find Yuffie is useful is that she comes with the Throw materia. I know how powerful this materia can be because I used it on one of my other challenges. This is one the materias that I would never give up on, even if I limited myself to holding 8 Materia in my inventory. So I would find a way to beat bosses without Throw or E-Skill. I have to figure out how would this be possible, while at a low level. I have to figure out how to distribue the EXP into everyone as well. At first I thought I can give all the EXP to Aeris and have everyone else KOed and all the inactive party get 50%. Then I would exchange the KOed party into the active party, so that they wouldn't get any EXP for certain battles. I found a major flaw. Giving Aeris all the EXP wasn't the way to go because she was the one that leveled up the fastest. Getting her at a such a high level is bad for other characters joining in, such as Cait, Vincient, and Cid. Instead from by calculation and Terence's knowledge Barret was the one that leveled up the slowest due to his need for EXP to level up. There is one thing I need to test out. It it possible to skip the battle with Reno and Rude in Gongaga. Nevermind, I read Edman explain that part, he said to skip it, I agree. I have to do some testing of who to get first into my party, Vincient first or Cid first. I ask this question because the requirement to get Vincient is to Missing Number and then Materia Keeper. That would bring the party level's kinda high. And when I got Vincient, he would probably absorb some of the EXP from Materia Keeper. That could boost the group average level. If I got Cid first and then come back to get Vincient, using Aeris to get the full EXP for Missing Number, would that make a difference? Is it best not to get Vincient at all because of Missing Number's EXP? OR by that time, from my calculation, it wouldn't matter to get those EXP? There are a few tests that I would need to do to determine how much limit break moves I can get, without having to fight Movers constantly. One of which is a random battle against cactuers at Corel Prison. Yet there are 3 other Boss battles that I need to test out personally. 1. H0512 and his yellow friends 2. Gi Nattak and his fire friends 3. Hojo at the end of disc 3 From what I got from Terence, the first two can't be used because by killing each of those guys, the exp will stack up. If that was the case, I could've use those in my regular game to power my people up, why didn't anyone tell me before. Yet, he said I could possibly use #3 because the only EXP that I would get was from Hojo's final form, the others wouldn't add up. From what he said I'm trying to get 2-1 and 3-1 for the active party that I pick. I heard that you can get limit break moves in a battle, even if the active party member is dead. Good to know, isn't it? Terence gave me MOD numbers so that I could find out how much EXP is required for certain character to level up a ceratin level. So far I believe these calcuation work and hopefully I can figure out how I would distribute the EXP as well. When you are willing to get E-Skills, it's best to have Aeris be the only one alive, at the end of the fight, so that this will limit the ammount of EXP gotten. Know this, you have to win the battle for E-Skills to be learned. Killing and fleeing from battle doesn't count towards getting a new Limit Break Move, you have to win the battle for it to count, at all. A thing that I'm thinking about is trying to Morph sources at the Battle Arena, since doing so won't give you EXP. Morph Materis is located in the Temple of the Ancients, so by then you won't have Aeris anymore There are 6 Forced Battles that I can name in the game: 1. Cave of Gi, the Two Spiders that you must break the web in 2. First Battles with Cloud against 2 MPs 3. The Five Battles at the Corel Train Mission, led by Cid. There is one more battle before this one as well. (There is away to avoid this, read on to find out how) 4. The 4 Icicles at Gaea's Cliff 5. The couple patches of Shinra Soldier in the Underwater Reactor 6. The couple patches of Shirna Soldier in the Rocket City/Huge Materia launch 7. The three Shinra Soldier you have to defeat in order to get Key 60 in the Shinra Building The Low Level FAQ said that you only need to do 3 Icicles and that if you only hit the Icicile and not the bats, you won't get any EXP. I need to test this out again, even though I'm quite sure you would get 500 Exp per icicle. I have tested out it out. Edman FAQ is wrong, he said you won't get any EXP, BS, you get 500 per icicle. I'm not too sure about Chocobo raising. Catching Chocobos require getting EXP from random battles, but since it's that far in the game. I wouldn't probably even give you enough EXP level up anyways. I think that was how EDMAN thought. I would agree to his idea, if I actually started this challenge already. Added Later: I did get Chocobos at the end. By doing so, I only got around 1200 EXP, which I can manage without raising anyone's level by the end of the game. Number 7 was added when I was doing the challenge. I didn't know you couldn't escape that faith. Besides the low level FAQ never mentioned that this existed at all. ########################################################### Understanding My Goals (FACTS) ########################################################### From all the force and boss battles that you have to face, before getting Cid, you must keep the levels as low as possible. I will clarify how and when you actually read the walkthrough/faq combo. Getting 1 level up in a battle is way better then getting 3 level ups in the same battle Cloud and Barret are the starters Tifa = Before getting her, fighting against Scorpion Guard determines her level. Aeris = Before getting her, fighting against Air Buster determines her level. Nanaki = Before getting him, fighting against Apps and Reno determines his level. H0512 might also affect his level as well Cait Sith = Before getting him, fighting (A large list) against Heli Gunner, Rufus, Motorball, Bottomswell, and Jenova's Life determines his level. Yuffie = Her level is determined soley by Cloud's level. It's best to get her when Cloud's level is equal to or lower than 20. For some reason, I'm having doubt if I should get her or not. Cid = Before getting him, fighting against Dyne, Gi Nattak, Materia Keeper, and Palmer determines his level. He is the last guy left to join the party, so his level range can be very high or medium. It depends on if I my average level is low enough. Vincient = Out of everyone that can join the party, I find him to be the hardest to get because of Missing Number. Should I let him join before getting Cid or after getting Cid, I must do two tests to determine his faith. Yuffie and Vincient are the only ones that I think, just think, that I won't get for this game. If I got Yuffie, I won't be able to buy stuff from Wutai without doing her sidequest. Yet if I got her later in the game, Rapps and the Turks won't be there, meaning I won't get unnecessary EXP. I'll try to Vincient some time in the game, but I haven't made up my mind yet. Should I get one, but not the other, or should I not get them at all? Both? Added Later: I got Yuffie, but not Vincient. When I first thought about this challenge, I have deveopled three different plans in approaching this challenge. All three can be combined, but it will make it now good for the other characters joining in later on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Plan #1 Cloud get all the exp fully. While the other two party member are dead. One of them being Aeris because she has the lowest level and rather keep it that way. While the third party member can be swapped with the inactive members. Pros/Reasons: Cloud will take all the EXP making him hard to level up. While everyone gets half or none. Having Aeris dead means that she will not get a lot of level ups. She does level up the fastest, in which case can increase the average level, which isn't good at all. Cloud does starts out of the highest EXP and Aeris has the lowest EXP. Cons/Dispute: Making Cloud take this much EXP isn't really good. I know that Cloud can take a lot of EXP before reaching over level 20, the number to get Yuffie, but most people can have a second opinion about things. When people say they have done a low level game, they always follow it up by saying what level their Cloud was at when they beated Safer Sephiroth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Plan #2 Since Aeris is leaving the party by the end of disc 1. It would be best to let her take the rest of the full gained EXP with her. While having Cloud dead, she can take all the full EXPs, making Cloud have a lower EXP ammount. The third party member can be switched for the inactive team, as well. Pros/Reasons: While Aeris takes all the EXP, the inactive party will only gain half the EXP, until they're switch to fill in the spot of KOed Active party member. When Cloud is back in action after Aeris leaves, he can take the rest of the EXP, he might even take on Diamond Weapon's EXP and still be at a rather low level. Cons/Disputes: Even if Cloud does stay at his own level, his own level will increase the average level of the party. Even worse, having Aeris right there means she will level up the fastest out of all of them, you know why? She starts out a level 2 and can easily jump to level 5 in a single battle. With both their levels combined, the average level will be higher than Plan #1, IMOA. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Plan #3 This plan was made up easily. Since Barret takes a lot of EXP to level up. Shouldn't he take the Full EXP, so that the other, Tifa and Aeris stay at their current level. Aeris and Cloud will always be KOed and in the active party. The inactive party will always get the 50% EXP. Pros/Reasons: I stated already. Barret takes a longer time to level up. Cons/Disputes: In the beggining battles, Barret doesn't have a higher level than Cloud, why should you switch now to a lower leveled character? In the begging battles Barret isn't always in most of the battles, so he won't be able to take the Full EXP everytime. When he doesn't do that, Cloud will level up for that battle alone. Increasing the average level. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From these plans, I will pick Plan #1 to test out first because I do want lower levls for the characters that are joining in. The question is now, does it matter if I have them at a lower level. Sooner or later, if they are part of the inactive party, they'll get the EXP require them to level up to a certain level. I, will try my best to limit this EXP explosion, by switching them with the KOed active party members. Added later: I found what my mission is before getting Cid. That is to keep the two lowest character from getting any more level ups. You must do this by keeping them in the active party while remaining KOed after any battle. Added second later: I found out a whole new goal. Plan #1 was the way to get the lowest average level for everyone that joined in. Its purpose was not to get the loweset level by the end of the game. Having Aeris there alive and active, could've taken away 15660 EXP that was Cloud's during Plan #1. The average level doesn't matter, only the EXP matters. It's no good to keep them such a low level in the beginning of then have them gain 20 levels by the end, so why not just throw away that 15660 EXP in the beginning to begin with. I've decided to use Plan #2 now. The current Walkthrough that I wrote will still be apart of this guide, except that it will be named how to get the lowest level for each character instead. *****Main Objective and Rules***** 1. Beat the game with the lowest level possible, 26, 28, 28. 2. Use all means possible, use what the game offers the player. 3. Don't use Gameshark or any other cheating devices. Side: Do the LLP Game. This is concept was based off of my Level One FFIX game. I beated the game with a party 1s and 3 out of the 4 characters in my party could deal 9999. This means that I put a lot effort and time to do this challenge. Which I did. The idea is to stun the audience seeing you battle. "How the hell is that possible," they would say. Explanation wouldn't convince them and they'll probably said you cheated. Let them think whatever. ########################## General Tips ########################## 1. Escape from all Random Battles by holding L1 and R1 or by using the Exit materia's Escape move. Don't use Remove from Exit materia. 2. While escaping Random Battles, if it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere. Have anyone of those active party members use Defend or even better Steal or manipulate. Just don't run like a sitting duck. What a great analogy isn't it? 3. If you know there isn't a boss coming up, it's best to have everyone in the back row. If one is coming up, prepare yourself by having it in the front row. Or unless I tell you wise, meaning that you know that a character has a long range weapon or if you plan to use magic to attack the enemy. 4. Since one person will end the battle, meaning one person will be alive at the end. That also means only that person's materia will get any AP. Make sure the materia, not that it should matter too much unless it's a E-Skill, is the ones that you want to put AP on. 5. While using the Cover materia, it's best to put on someone that you want to be dead at the end of the battle. Putting this on Cloud should not be done because you'll need to waste more MP for cure, you need him alive after all. 6. When stealing from a certain enemy, put everyone in the back row and the people that aren't stealing should use defend during there turn, for at least once per battle. They people that aren't steal should also put on the Cover materia to protect the stealer from taking any damage, besides they are on the defend mode, which is an extra plus. 7. When you using Aeris to take the EXP for the beginning fights, most of disc 1, one of the best items to buy are grenades. These babies are like Cloud attacking himself, to some level. Buy these items to kill the boss with. Other explosives are fine as well, only knowing that it won't inflict half or let the boss absorb the attack. 8. Get everything that get you into a random battles. Tressure chest or just laying there on the ground just get it. Getting into random battles and then running away from it is a good thing, it can power up Chocobuncle. Don't be afraid. Added Later: This part shouldn't matter anymore, I didn't use or even get Chocobuncle. 9. If you think your materia setup and item list setup is good to go for one battle, save before entering the battle so that you can resume it if you get game over. Resave if you can think up a better combination, like what I did while writing this FAQ. Using Tents and Items should be done after the save, since changing materia can lower your HP and MP. 10.Added Later: Getting AP doesn't really matter to me anymore, almost none of materia that you're trying to upgrade will level up, except do try to level up those HP Pluss. 11.Added Later: When using Wait mode, take the extra advantage with strategy of course. When your characters, any of them get a turn and you don't know what moves to select, well don't just passive, do something. Instead you should go select any of the commands at least once. By doing so, you have freezed the time of anyone else's turn, enemies and allies as well. Don't be too hasty after you have selected. In boss battles, or any other battles, you can just let it play out, meaning you can see all the moves selected before you froze time. Then the next move that you make will be activated instantly, unless the other guy was about to make a move before you froze time. Press Cancel to start back the time up and select something else if you want, and be quick about it, every move matters. ############################################# Experience Points Requirements for Levels ############################################# For this section, I'll start listing the Experience Points requirements for each level. Since each person has a different way of gaining certain levels. I'll try to do all them indivisually. Be a sured that these numbers are required for one to level up to another level. These are not the EXP needed for one to gain to go to the next level. There are the sum of all the EXP gotten since the beginning of the game. Also note this, Cloud doesn't and can't start at level 0 or 1 or 2 etc..., but due to his Mod numbers, his faith is revealed. This table only goes to level 30 because this is a low level game. I'll try to get the rest of the levels if someone, particullary Terence, gives my the mod number or if I found the EXP requirements by myself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terence quoted: "XP requirements are a lot more complicated than can be swiftly explained. In general, the XP required to get from Lvl to Lvl+1 is equal to [Mod * (Lvl ^ 2) / 10], where Mod is a value unique to that character for that level. However, it doesn't always work that way, because this value is recalculated from L1 every time you go up a level, and at certain levels, the Mod value can change. A few examples: the XP req for L2 is equal to [(Mod for L2) * 1^2 / 10] = [Mod / 10]. But the XP req (total) for L3 is equal to [(Mod for L3) * 1^2 / 10] + [(Mod for L3) * 2^2 / 10]. Also note that anything within [] brackets must be rounded down. Because of all this, it's difficult to give an 'average' value, and the Mod values over levels are definitely unique for each character. As for other questions about XP, Aeris only finally overtakes Barret for the L82-99 range. Far beyond the scope of a Low Level game. Really, though, the range of variance isn't very big between the characters' XP reqs. Barret is usually only 3-4% ahead of Cloud's XP reqs. I'll give you some low level Mod values so you know what to expect and who'll increase in levels fastest: L2-11: Aeris has 67, Cloud/Tifa/Red have 68, Cid/Cait/Yuffie have 69, Barret/Vincent have 70. L12-21: Aeris has 70, Cloud/Tifa/Red have 71, Cid/Cait/Yuffie/Vincent have 72, Barret has 73. L22-31: Aeris has 72, Cloud/Tifa have 73, Red/Yuffie has 74, Barret/Cid/Cait/Vincent have 75. L32-41: Cloud/Tifa/Aeris have 74, Red/Cid/Cait/Yuffie have 75, Barret/Vincent have 76. Characters with the same Mod value within a range will have the same XPReq values within that range. Also useful are some actual values for key levels to go with those Mod values: L12: 70 Mod = 3542 XP, 71 Mod = 3588 XP, 72 Mod = 3639 XP, 73 Mod = 3689 XP L22: 72 Mod = 23831 XP, 73 Mod = 24161 XP, 74 Mod = 24493 XP, 75 Mod =24827 XP L32: 74 Mod = 77066 XP, 75 Mod = 78112 XP, 76 Mod = 79149 XP L42: 74 Mod =176259XP, 75 Mod = 178647XP, 76 Mod = 181023XP, 77 Mod = 183403XP Note: Those are total XP Req values, not the XP to get from the last level to the next." "And KADFC, I told you: the Mod *changes* at certain levels. L12 is the first time it can change. And your value for 1 there ([68x(1^2)]/10 = 6) is the requirement to get from L1 *to* L2. So what you have there is: XP Req for L2 = [68*(1^2)/10] = 6 XP Req for L3 = [68*(1^2)/10] + [68*(2^2)/10] = 6 + 27 ... XP Req for L11 = 6 + 27 + 61 + 108 + 170 + 244 + 333 + 435 + 550 + 680 Your value for 11 (which you have as 822), however, is wrong, because the Mod changes at this point. And when it changes, you have to start recalculating the next level from L*1*. Since Cloud's new Mod for getting to L12 is 71, you have to work it out again: XP Req for L12 = [71*(1^2)/10] + [71*(2^2)/10] + [71*(3^2)/10] + ... + [71*(11^2)/10] Do you understand now? This is why the levels I gave you the XP Reqs for are important; they're the first levels when the Mod changes for each range. And no, this is not me 'predicting'. I *know* how it works. This is how it works in the game." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cloud's and Tifa's Experience Requirements needed to reach level: Like to Give Full Credit to MetalGearSolidBoy for Level 31 to Level 99. He was the one that recorded these numbers and emailed the new info to me. I am deeply grateful and will add it to this guide as well. I've also added some of his comments as well. Thank You. (PS. His EXP Requirement added list only applies to Cloud ONLY) Mail Sent From MetalGearSolid: "From : <[email protected]> Sent : Thursday, July 8, 2004 7:51 AM To : [email protected] Subject : Returning the Favor...in a weird sort of way, KADFC. My mother has always taught me to try and find good ways to show your appreciation to them. So, taking what you said in your reply to me....I wanted to go all the way to 99...I'm pleased to give you the rest of Cloud and Tifa's EXP Requirements, all the way to level 99. I did it the long way on my GH version, in case EXP stuff is different depending on the version. I hope this helps you in some way, shape, or form. Enjoy, but there's no need to salivate. Heheheh, that's it. I'm going to be using this on my own guide, so if you ever want to put that info on your FAQ at all, I hope it won't look like I stole the info from you. Again, thanks. See ya later. Peace out. Hug a rainbow. Burn down the barber shops....uh, never mind. Bye. Original Message: (For levels 1 through 4, I used your info because Tifa doesn't start out at exactly level 4, so I couldn't find out that one myself)." LEVEL 1: 0 LEVEL 2: 6 LEVEL 3: 33 LEVEL 4: 94 LEVEL 5: 202 LEVEL 6: 372 LEVEL 7: 616 LEVEL 8: 949 LEVEL 9: 1384 LEVEL 10: 1934 LEVEL 11: 2614 LEVEL 12: 3588 LEVEL 13: 4610 LEVEL 14: 5809 LEVEL 15: 7200 LEVEL 16: 8797 LEVEL 17: 10614 LEVEL 18: 12665 LEVEL 19: 14965 LEVEL 20: 17528 LEVEL 21: 20368 LEVEL 22: 24161 LEVEL 23: 27694 LEVEL 24: 31555 LEVEL 25: 35759 LEVEL 26: 40321 LEVEL 27: 45255 LEVEL 28: 50576 LEVEL 29: 56299 LEVEL 30: 62438 LEVEL 31: 69008 LEVEL 32: 77066 LEVEL 33: 84643 LEVEL 34: 92701 LEVEL 35: 101255 LEVEL 36: 110320 LEVEL 37: 119910 LEVEL 38: 130040 LEVEL 39: 140725 LEVEL 40: 151980 LEVEL 41: 163820 LEVEL 42: 176259 LEVEL 43: 189312 LEVEL 44: 202994 LEVEL 45: 217320 LEVEL 46: 232305 LEVEL 47: 247963 LEVEL 48: 264309 LEVEL 49: 281358 LEVEL 50: 299125 LEVEL 51: 317625 LEVEL 52: 336872 LEVEL 53: 356881 LEVEL 54: 377667 LEVEL 55: 399245 LEVEL 56: 421630 LEVEL 57: 444836 LEVEL 58: 468878 LEVEL 59: 493771 LEVEL 60: 519530 LEVEL 61: 546170 LEVEL 62: 581467 LEVEL 63: 610297 LEVEL 64: 640064 (weird, huh? Level 64, 640064....) LEVEL 65: 670784 LEVEL 66: 702471(I was expecting some evil number for 66,lol) LEVEL 67: 735141 LEVEL 68: 768808 LEVEL 69: 803488 LEVEL 70: 839195 LEVEL 71: 875945 LEVEL 72: 913752 LEVEL 73: 952632 LEVEL 74: 992599 LEVEL 75: 1033669 LEVEL 76: 1075856 LEVEL 77: 1119176 LEVEL 78: 1163643 LEVEL 79: 1209273 LEVEL 80: 1256080 LEVEL 81: 1304080 LEVEL 82: 1389359 LEVEL 83: 1441133 LEVEL 84: 1494178 LEVEL 85: 1548509 LEVEL 86: 1604141 LEVEL 87: 1661090 LEVEL 88: 1719371 LEVEL 89: 1778999 LEVEL 90: 1839990 LEVEL 91: 1902360 LEVEL 92: 1966123 LEVEL 93: 2031295 LEVEL 94: 2097892 LEVEL 95: 2165929 LEVEL 96: 2235421 LEVEL 97: 2306384 LEVEL 98: 2378833 (One more...phew!) LEVEL 99: 2452783 Barret's Experience Requirements needed to reach level: LEVEL 1: 0 LEVEL 2: 7 LEVEL 3: 35 LEVEL 4: 98 LEVEL 5: 210 LEVEL 6: 385 LEVEL 7: 637 LEVEL 8: 980 LEVEL 9: 1428 LEVEL 10: 1995 LEVEL 11: 2695 LEVEL 12: 3698 LEVEL 13: 4740 LEVEL 14: 5973 LEVEL 15: 7403 LEVEL 16: 9045 LEVEL 17: 10913 LEVEL 18: 13022 LEVEL 19: 15307 LEVEL 20: 18022 LEVEL 21: 20942 LEVEL 22: 24827 LEVEL 23: 28457 LEVEL 24: 32424 LEVEL 25: 36744 LEVEL 26: 41431 LEVEL 27: 46501 LEVEL 28: 51968 LEVEL 29: 57848 LEVEL 30: 64155 Aeris' Experience Requirements needed to reach level: *NOTE*: For levels I'm just gonna go to level 20 because..., you know. LEVEL 1: 0 LEVEL 2: 6 LEVEL 3: 32 LEVEL 4: 92 LEVEL 5: 199 LEVEL 6: 366 LEVEL 7: 607 LEVEL 8: 935 LEVEL 9: 1363 LEVEL 10: 1905 LEVEL 11: 2575 LEVEL 12: 3542 LEVEL 13: 4550 LEVEL 14: 5733 LEVEL 15: 7105 LEVEL 16: 8680 LEVEL 17: 10472 LEVEL 18: 12495 LEVEL 19: 14763 LEVEL 20: 17290 Nanaki's (Red XIII) Experience Requirements needed to reach level: LEVEL 1: 0 LEVEL 2: 6 LEVEL 3: 33 LEVEL 4: 94 LEVEL 5: 202 LEVEL 6: 372 LEVEL 7: 616 LEVEL 8: 949 LEVEL 9: 1384 LEVEL 10: 1934 LEVEL 11: 2614 LEVEL 12: 3588 LEVEL 13: 4610 LEVEL 14: 5809 LEVEL 15: 7200 LEVEL 16: 8797 LEVEL 17: 10614 LEVEL 18: 12665 LEVEL 19: 14965 LEVEL 20: 17528 LEVEL 21: 20368 LEVEL 22: 24493 LEVEL 23: 28074 LEVEL 24: 31988 LEVEL 25: 36250 LEVEL 26: 40875 LEVEL 27: 45877 LEVEL 28: 51271 LEVEL 29: 57072 LEVEL 30: 63295 Cait Sith's Experience Requirements needed to reach level: LEVEL 1: 0 LEVEL 2: 6 LEVEL 3: 33 LEVEL 4: 95 LEVEL 5: 205 LEVEL 6: 377 LEVEL 7: 625 LEVEL 8: 963 LEVEL 9: 1404 LEVEL 10: 1962 LEVEL 11: 2652 LEVEL 12: 3639 LEVEL 13: 4675 LEVEL 14: 5891 LEVEL 15: 7302 LEVEL 16: 8922 LEVEL 17: 10765 LEVEL 18: 12845 LEVEL 19: 15177 LEVEL 20: 17776 LEVEL 21: 20656 LEVEL 22: 24827 LEVEL 23: 28457 LEVEL 24: 32424 LEVEL 25: 36744 LEVEL 26: 41431 LEVEL 27: 46501 LEVEL 28: 51968 LEVEL 29: 57848 LEVEL 30: 64155 Cid's Experience Requirements needed to reach level: LEVEL 1: 0 LEVEL 2: 6 LEVEL 3: 33 LEVEL 4: 95 LEVEL 5: 205 LEVEL 6: 377 LEVEL 7: 625 LEVEL 8: 963 LEVEL 9: 1404 LEVEL 10: 1962 LEVEL 11: 2652 LEVEL 12: 3639 LEVEL 13: 4675 LEVEL 14: 5891 LEVEL 15: 7302 LEVEL 16: 8922 LEVEL 17: 10765 LEVEL 18: 12845 LEVEL 19: 15177 LEVEL 20: 17776 LEVEL 21: 20656 LEVEL 22: 24827 LEVEL 23: 28457 LEVEL 24: 32424 LEVEL 25: 36744 LEVEL 26: 41431 LEVEL 27: 46501 LEVEL 28: 51968 LEVEL 29: 57848 LEVEL 30: 64155 Vincient's Experience Requirements needed to reach level: LEVEL 1: 0 LEVEL 2: 7 LEVEL 3: 35 LEVEL 4: 98 LEVEL 5: 210 LEVEL 6: 385 LEVEL 7: 637 LEVEL 8: 980 LEVEL 9: 1428 LEVEL 10: 1995 LEVEL 11: 2695 LEVEL 12: 3639 LEVEL 13: 4675 LEVEL 14: 5891 LEVEL 15: 7302 LEVEL 16: 8922 LEVEL 17: 10765 LEVEL 18: 12845 LEVEL 19: 15177 LEVEL 20: 17776 LEVEL 21: 20656 LEVEL 22: 24827 LEVEL 23: 28457 LEVEL 24: 32424 LEVEL 25: 36744 LEVEL 26: 41431 LEVEL 27: 46501 LEVEL 28: 51968 LEVEL 29: 57848 LEVEL 30: 64155 Yuffie's Experience Requirements needed to reach level: LEVEL 1: 0 LEVEL 2: 6 LEVEL 3: 33 LEVEL 4: 95 LEVEL 5: 205 LEVEL 6: 377 LEVEL 7: 625 LEVEL 8: 963 LEVEL 9: 1404 LEVEL 10: 1962 LEVEL 11: 2652 LEVEL 12: 3639 LEVEL 13: 4675 LEVEL 14: 5891 LEVEL 15: 7302 LEVEL 16: 8922 LEVEL 17: 10765 LEVEL 18: 12845 LEVEL 19: 15177 LEVEL 20: 17776 LEVEL 21: 20656 LEVEL 22: 24827 LEVEL 23: 28457 LEVEL 24: 32424 LEVEL 25: 36744 LEVEL 26: 41431 LEVEL 27: 46501 LEVEL 28: 51968 LEVEL 29: 57848 LEVEL 30: 64155 ################################## Experience Points from Battles ################################## In this section, I will list all the possible unavoiable battles and how much EXP it gives out. This be listed as column A and column B. A will be the inactive party's EXP gain. B will be the inactive party's EXP gain, which is half of A's. A B 0. First Battle 32 16 A. Scorpion Guard 100 50 B. Air Buster 180 90 C. Aps 240 120 Ca.Reno D. (3) Almighty Grunt 290 145 E. H0512 300 150 F. Heli Gunner 250 125 G. Rufus 310 155 H. Motorball 440 220 Ha.Bottomwell I. Jenova's Birth 550 275 J. Dyne 680 340 K. (2) Stingers 580 290 L. Nattak Gi 1400 700 M. Materia Keeper 3000 1500 N. Palmer 1800 900 O. Red Dragon 3500 1750 P. Demon's Gate 3800 1900 Q. Jenova's Life 4000 2000 R. (3) Icicles 1500 750 S. Schizo 4400 2200 T. Jenova's Death 6000 3000 U. Carry Armor (not in order) 5700(Lowers if arms2850aren't killed) 4250 One arm left 2800 Both arms left V. Underwater Army 13540 6770 a.(1700) 850 b.(1700) 850 c.(2550)1275 d.(1640) 820 (Carry Armor's Slot) e.(1700) 850 f.(1700) 850 g.(2550)1275 W. Corel Shinra Guards 600 300 X. Rocket Shinra Army 3660 1830 a.( 600) 300 b.( 600) 300 c.(1530) 765 (Rude's Slot) d.( 930) 465 Y. Rude (not in order) 3600 1800 Z. Diamond Weapon 35000 17500 ZA.Turks in Shinra 4500 2250 ZB.Proud Clod 7000 3500 ZB.Hojo 25000 12500 ########################################## Author's Battle Plans (for the LAL Game) ########################################## This is the battle plan that I will use for this game. This section is written I have finished all the strategical part of this guide. I will have the same format as was what Garland had in his Battle Plan except that his Survivor and KOed won't be the same as mine. Basically, if you want, you can just print this section out and follow this plan without using this guide. Surely it will make it a better challenge for you. When you get stuck you always come back to this walkthrough and use it. Survivor KOed Scorpion Guard Barret Cloud Air Buster Cloud Tifa, Barret Aps Aeris Cloud, Tifa Reno Cloud Barret, Tifa (3) Almighty Grunt Cloud Barret, Tifa H0512 Cloud Tifa, Nanaki Heli Gunner Aeris Barret, Nanaki Rufus Cloud Motorball Aeris Cloud, Tifa Bottomswell Aeris Cloud, Tifa Jenova's Birth Aeris Cloud, Tifa Dyne Barret (2) Stingers Cloud Tifa, Nanaki Nattak Gi Cloud Tifa, Nanaki Materia Keeper Aeris Cloud, Tifa Palmer Aeris Cloud, Tifa Red Dragon Aeris Cloud, Tifa Demon's Gate Aeris Cloud, Tifa Jenova's Life Cloud Cait and Cid 3 Icicles (A) Cloud Cait and Cid (B) Cloud Cait and Cid (C) Cloud Cait and Tifa Schizo Cloud Cait and Cid Jenova's Death Cloud Cait and Tifa Corel Guards Nanaki Cait and Cid Big Guard Nanaki Cait and Cid Magic Hammer Nanaki Cait and Cid White Wind Nanaki Cait and Cid Underwater Army a.(1700) Cloud Cait and Cid b.(1700) Cloud Cait and Cid c.(2550) Cloud Cait and Barret d.(1640) Cloud Cid and Barret Carry Armor Nanaki Cloud and Barret e.(1700) Nanaki Cloud and Barret f.(1700) Nanaki Cloud and Barret g.(2550) Nanaki Cloud and Barret Rocket Shinra Army a.( 600) Cloud Cid and Barret b.( 600) Cloud Cid and Barret c.(1530) Cloud Cid and Barret Rude (lowerable) Cloud Cid and Barret d.( 930) Cloud Cid and Barret Diamond Weapon Tifa Cloud and Nanaki Yuffie Cloud Barret and Cid Turks in Shinra Yuffie Cloud and Tifa Proud Clod Cloud Yuffie and Tifa Hojo Yuffie Cloud and Tifa ########################################## Author's Battle Plans (for the LLP GAME) ########################################## ############################ GarlandG's Battle Plan ############################ This battle plan was created and designed by GarlandG to make everyone's EXP as relativly as close as possible. This takes time to create, seeing as how perfect he wants everyone to be for this low level. Even though I argued to the point that this whole challenge was to make everyone stay at level 28 and gain any more levels, he agreed later on to this fact that we shouldn't waste any EXP we have left before 29. Yet I still honor his work. So this is how it is. Yuffie was not gotten in hiw orginal work. I tried to do as much as the table that he showed me. Survivor KOed Scorpion Guard Barret Cloud Air Buster Tifa Cloud, Barret Aps Aeris Cloud, Tifa Reno Tifa Cloud, Barret (3) Almighty Grunt Tifa Cloud, Barret H0512 Barret Cloud, Nanaki Heli Gunner Aeris Barret, Nanaki Rufus Cloud Motorball Aeris Cloud, Tifa Bottomswell Aeris Cloud, Nanaki Jenova's Birth Aeris Cloud, Barret Dyne Barret Big Guard (Enemy Skill) Aeris Cloud, Barret White Wind (Enemy Skill) Aeris Cloud, Barret (2) Stingers Aeris Cloud, Barret Nattak Gi Aeris Cloud, Nanaki Materia Keeper Aeris Cloud, Tifa Palmer Aeris Cloud, Barret Magic Hammer (Enemy Skill) Aeris Cloud, Cid Red Dragon Aeris Cloud, Cid Demon's Gate Aeris Cloud, Cid Jenova's Life Cloud Tifa, Nanaki 3 Icicles (A) Cloud Cid, Barret (B) Nanaki Cloud, Barret (C) Tifa Cloud, Cid Schizo Cid Jenova's Death Cloud Tifa, Nanaki Underwater Army a.(1700) 850 Cid Cloud, Tifa b.(1700) 850 Cid Cloud, Tifa c.(2550)1275 Cait Cloud, Cid ca.other two Cait Cloud, Barret d.(1640) 820 Cloud Barret, Nanaki (Carry Armor's Slot) Cid Cloud, Barret e.(1700) 850 Cid Cloud, Barret f.(1700) 850 Barret, Cid Cloud g.(2550)1275 Cloud Barret, Cid Corel Shinra Guards Cid Cait, Nanaki Rocket Shinra Army a.( 600) 300 Cloud Tifa, Nanaki b.( 600) 300 Cloud Tifa, Nanaki c.(1530) 765 Cloud Tifa, Nanaki (Rude's Slot) Barret Cloud, Cid d.( 930) 465 Cid Cloud, Barret Diamond Weapon Cloud Barret, Cid Turks in Shinra Cid Cloud, Barret Proud Clad Cid Cloud, Nanaki Hojo Barret Cloud, Cait Ending Stats: ---------------------------------- |Character | Level | EXP | |------------------------------ | |Cloud | 28 | 53727 | |Barret | 28 | 53705 | |Tifa | 28 | 53729 | |Aeris | 20 | 18607 | |Nanaki | 28 | 53728 | |Cait | 28 | 53705 | |Cid | 28 | 53724 | ---------------------------------- ########################################################## Walkthrough/FAQ at the same time ########################################################## The main point of this walkthrough is to give all the EXP to Aeris when given the chance to. If she isn't available, then Cloud will have to take all the EXP. By doing so, Aeris will take most of all the boss's EXP when she leaves, while Cloud some and other member not get any of it. Added Later: This is the Lowest Average Level Game, aka LAL ################# DISC 1 ################# ######################## First Reactor ######################## When I say do a stats check. It means going into the menu screen and looking at the Stats of certain characters. It's important only the look at the EXP recieved so far for this guy and how much EXP it's needed for him or her to level up. When you begin the game, you see the train going and then Cloud jumping out. Barret tells him to follow him and there are two Shinra Guards coming at you. You'll get into a fight with two MP. MP A and MP B. This battle, proven by me and many others out there, are unescapable and unvoiable. Before fighting them though, search the Guard that's already down for a Potion. But before you kill them, let me explain something rather odd. If you checked Cloud's Stats before entering the battle, meaning the first chance you got to go into the menu screen and checekd Cloud's stats. It should say Cloud has currently 610 EXP and needs 35 EXP to level up to the next level. But from my calculations he only needs 6 EXP to go to the next level. At first I was wrong, but at the last minute the game decided to correct itself. Isn't that weird. The time part that it decides to correct itself happens after the battle against the two MP soldiers. There is no strategy for killing these two MPs, just keep on attacking. One slash from Cloud should kill each one of them by ease. And after the battle you should get 32 EXP. If you look closely like I said before, from the previous stats check. This battle shouldn't have made Cloud gain a level, but it did. So the previous stats check was fake, a spoof. The real one comes after the first battle. Stats Check Before Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 610 35 6 The Two MPs give 32 EXP total, I said he only needed 6 EXP to level up. Stats Check After Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 642 307 7 After the battle, check any soldier to get two potions. Then go to the main of the hall and turn to left. Approach the other members of AVALACHE and give them your name. I decided to stick with Cloud though. Barret comes along, and he will have to name him as well. Keep going and follow the rest of the party. Later on Barret will become a part of your party. Grab the phoenix down after the doors are opended. Go to elevator. Stats Check on Barret once you have gotten him: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Barret 395 242 6 After that, run toward the reactor. If you see a Save point and there and use it. Keep on going and you'll see a Restore materia on the ground, you have to grab it, you can't run/walk by it, it block your way. Go to the reactor and Barret will start talking. The Boss comes: ****************************** BOSS BATTLE: Scorpion Guard HP: 800 EXP: 100 ****************************** This boss isn't hard at all. Note that he has about 800 HP. Use Cloud's Lightning magic to deal 90 and Barret should attack. Be on alert for his tail. If you attack it while it is still up, he will slaughter everyone. So while his tail is up, don't attack him anymore. Instead you should be thinking how to kill Cloud before this boss dies. Barret is doing around 30s and 40s with his normal attack, so it would be best to knock Scorpion down to 100 HP before killing Cloud off. I like to Note, Cyrus Virus from the boards. He said that it was possilbe to get Cross Slash from this battle alone, if I'm not mistake. You can try this out if you want, just make sure Cloud is dead at the end of the battle. And he should learn Cross Slash, if you've used Braver 8 times in that battle, make sure you don't kill the boss before you've done the 8 times part. I, on the hand, won't use this until the third boss. I don't want to risk it this early in the game. I rather do it when I have the Steal materia. That way, I can have as many potions as I want without risking anything at all. Besides I don't have to do it, I can wait for any futher bosses to try it on, it's not like the 2-1 Limit Break requires me to use Cross Slash or Braver 8 times anyways, it can wait. Stats Check After Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 642 307 7 Scorpion Guard gave 100 EXP only to Barret, Cloud didn't get any because he was KOed. Barret 495 142 6 After that, the 10 minute timer should be set and you're ready to leave this place anyways. You probably want to save before exiting, but that is up to you. Remember to grab/talk to Jessie before leaving. Without her, you won't escape this place a live. Head out of here and the Reactor explodes. When you get a chance to talk to Aeris, select what you want. I decided to to reject the flower and move on. On the next screen, make sure to pick up the potion. With the low gil supply you have right now, any item is good. For the fights against the three groups of Shinra Soldiers, skip all three of them by selecting the lower option. You don't need extra EXP. After that you should jump on the train. Later you'll get on the train. Talk to Jessie to have her inform you about the sectors, then move close Barret and there will be more talking. After that the train stops and your off. #################################### Sector 7- Seventh Heaven #################################### Head down, head back to sector 7 and the 7th Heaven. Talk to Barret and then enter this place. Talk to Tifa and then try to leave this place. Follow Barret down to the basement. Tifa will come down later, go back up to the top floor. Tifa approaches and they talk. Later Barret comes and give you money. Later you'll find yourself in the basement sleeping. Go to up and Barret wants you to teach him how to use materia, reject the offer is my choice, it's a waste of time anyways. Stats Check on everyone Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 642 307 7 Barret 495 142 6 Tifa 102 100 4 I told you she was on level 4, didn't I. After that, head for the weapon shop. Get the All materia with the Ether that inside the box. Then go back down to the first floor and buy Iron Bangles, at least three of them. Don't buy the one for Aeris later in the game, she can have Cloud's, because the Air Buster will drop a Titan Bangle. By then give Cloud the Titan and Aeris the Iron Bangle. Sell all the the Ethers that you have, you don't need them, but they do sell for 750 a piece. You can sell the Bronze Bangles if you want, I did. You should only buy two more Restore Materia. These materia will get all three of your chacacters the 1-2 limit against the next boss. Since the potions are 50 a piece, you should probably get some till you have 20 of them. Don't worry you still have a lot of money. And that will be all the things you should buy for right now. ################################# Second Reactor ################################# Head back to train station, save or don't save, you have to be sure if you want to keep the things that you bought. OR even better yet, make a second save on a different file. As you are on the train, there isn't very much you can do here. You can get the phoenix down, hi-potion, and get back the things the guy stole from you. When you are in the reactor pick up the Ether, Potion, and Tent. This reactor is the same as the last one and you must go to the same place as the last reactor. When you have Cloud has touch the controls, then you should really save. Remember the first reactor, use that same route to escape this place. You'll run into a chess which contains a Ether and you'll have to do the three men push button thing, after the door is opened save again. Up ahead is the 2nd boss fight. Before going there, make sure you have divided the materia to your liking. The Ice and Lighting materia should not be used for this battle, but the All and Restore materias are welcome. ************************** BOSS BATTLE: Air Buster HP: 1200 EXP: 180 ************************** In this battle, this is very tricky. I have a plan that I hope you can follow with me. I'm gonna to try get get everyone's 1-2 Limit Break in this battle. The whole process goes as follows. You have two ways of healing yourself and Air Buster, by potion and by Restore magic. This guy only attacks one of your men at a time, so this will work out fine. Just remember that Barret needs to do his Big Blow at least 9 times, Cloud's Braver 8 times, and Tifa's Beat Rush 9 times. Just to let you know, Cloud's the only one left to survive this battle. Also note that you should not let anyone die unless they have used their limit break at least that many times or if they still have MP to spare. If they don't have neither of these obligations and that person isn't Cloud, then just let them be KOed. The best way to do this, is set the ATB at Recommended and Battle Speed to 75% to fastest side. When doing this, either have a paper and pencil or a calculator so that you'll know when to heal Airbuster, so that you can keep on using your limit breaks. If someone has done all their limit breaks yet still has MP or is close to getting a limit break, have them use defend. By using Defend, it can cut the damage done by Airbuster by half making the limit bar take less power. Filling the bar when the person doesn't need that much or not at all is better for choosing who to heal when its time to do it. Doing a backattack will double the damage on Air Buster, so you should be careful. Just by having Barret using Big Shot twice while doing a backattack, it can just kill Air Buster, or close to it. When everyone has done doing their limit breaks, let Tifa and Barret be KOed, and make Air Buster's HP 100 or less, so that Cloud can kill it with ease. That shall now end the fight. Stats Check after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 822 127 7 Barret 495 142 6 Tifa 102 100 4 If you let Cloud survive this battle alone, no one will level up. Keeping the average level to a minimum. Also note that you don't have to get everyone's 1-2 limit in this battle. You can decide when you want to get your's, but still get them in boss battles you think you can manage to stay alive and still can beat the boss. It really determines if you even need the 1-2 Limit Break. I far one, don't plan to really get it, until after Midgar. I fooled you didn't I? After the battle, the Air Buster will explode the Bridge the fight was was being held at. Cloud will now fall into Aeris' Bed. I mean flower bed. There, Cloud would awaken infront of Aeris. Give her a name and say there is nothing to talk about. Talk to her again and Reno comes in. When you can move Cloud, get close to Reno and Aeris will talk. Keep pressing X. Aeris and Cloud decided to leave the scence and walk up to the top and try to escape from Reno and Shinra. Before going any further, how about we check Aeris Stats Stats Check for Aeris Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Aeris 6 26 2 Extremly low, wouldn't you say? Keep walking up the stairs, and then you'll need to push barrels to protect Aeris from getting attacked, even more importantly, getting any EXP. Push the Barrels in this order (o'clock): 9, 12, 3 After that wait for Aeris to come up, and then go up the log to the upper left side. They'll chat for a while and then you'll be heading to Aeris' House. Before going in, get the Cover materia with the Ether that's in Aeris' garden. Also in Sector 5, you should probably want to get some Titan Bangle but that is optional since their are better equipments in the next Sector visit. I personlly bought 2 extra Titan Bangles, thats all. Later on when your inside, you'll have to walk away from the bedroom. Walk and don't stand any where close to the center of the room. Once you got the house, I advise that you save. Get out of this screen and go left. Aeris will not join back into your party. Head left and then up to the top of the screen. Now it's time to rescue Tifa. ########################### Sector 6 ########################### Go into Sector 6 slums. Even though it may not matter much to you, I still have to limit every single EXP gotten. So you'll have to make Don pick you no matter what. If you don't, you don't Cloud will have to face Don's Cronies. Each crony will give out 6 EXP. Not much, but it still counts When you first enter this place, go to the left and to the Honey Bee. Talk to one of the man standing outside and ask for Tifa. Then go all the way to Don's Mansion. Talk to the guy standing outside. Next head back to the first screen and go the upper left store. Talk to the guy. Next go to the screen north of this one and enter the bar. Talk to the man drinking on the right hand side. Tell him that you want something "Soft" and something that "Shimmers." Go back to the cloth store and talk to the Clerk. Next get the wig from the wrestling place by doing Squats. You should probably save if you plan to lose or if you're aren't too confident in your skills. My record so far has been 20 Squats to his 15. Go back to the first screen and enter the place that you can eat a meal in. I ordered my self "Today's Special." We you are about to leave answer with "It was ok." You'll then recieve a Coupon. Go to the store close the one that saids ITEM. Talk to the man and get the "Digestive." Go to the bar and give it to the person inside the Bathroom. Go back to the first screen now and go to the store in the upper right side. Tell him that you'll do it. Now go to the Inn and buy the 200 gil drink. Go back to the store and give the man the drink. Summarization: Soft and Shimmers = Silk Dress Winner of Squats = Blonde Wig "It's was ok" and Digestive = Sexy Cologne 200 gil Drink = Diamond Tiara Other words summarization: Always pick the second option and get the most most expensive stuff. You can do the honey bee thing though, but it's not needed so I'll just leave it at that. You should probably save now, I don't think you want to do that thing all over again. Now go to the weapon show and buy yourself some nice weapons. I forgot this was avaliable at the time, so I didn't bothered to get any. It's not needed to survive other fights, but I think should come in handy. You should buy the Mythril Armlet, at least 3 of them for your active party. The weapons are ok, but I rather use limit breaks and they work pretty fine later in the game. It's ok if you don't want to buy any of it. If you do, I recommend just selling any ethers you currently have. I always sell my ethers because I know it wasn't worth it. I had too low of MP to use my ethers. Next, go to Don's Mansion and talk to the guy standing there. Once you get in, find Tifa. Before talking the Tifa mandatoryly, get the Ether. Go talk to Tifa now and next go to Don's Room. Don will pick Cloud. During the alone time, pick the one that you think will end the conversation the quickest. Don't forget to get the Hyper behind Don's bed. Tifa and Aeris will now come in. At the end they will go down to the Sewer. Before talking to both Aeris and Tifa grab the potion, not sure if it'll be any help. Then you should prepare yourself. Put Restore materia on everyone and equip them properly, do equip any new bangle or armlets you bought recently. ******************* BOSS BATTLE: APS HP: 1800 EXP: 240 ******************* This battle should be very easy. If you are trying to get their 2-1 Limit Breaks, this seems a fairly good battle to use it on. Use Cure when you think you can't take a hit anymore. When I'd played him, he hardly use the his big waves at me, until both Aeris and Tifa are dead. Oh, yeah I almost forgot. For this battle, only Aeris gets the full EXP. The others won't get any. You can get more 5 limit breaks and deal it on to this guy and he still won't be dead. You should also try to estimate how much HP he has left before he dies, that way you can make sure Tifa and Cloud doesn't get any of it. This is the first battle that you'll get Aeris. The next one will be far away. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 822 127 7 Barret 615 22 6 Tifa 102 100 4 Aeris 246 120 5 I just added Barret 120 EXP from this battle. Like I said before, even though he isn't part of the battle or with the party at that time, he will still get the inactive part of the EXP. If you don't believe me, check for yourself when you get Barret back. After this battle, go to the right side and YOU MUST GRAB THE STEAL MATERIA. This is by far the most helpful materia in the whole game. Without this, you won't know how to get more gils to buy the stuff that you need to beat this challenge. You must get this. Don't use the rest of this FAQ/Walkthrough if you don't plan to get this or you don't plan to get it. I'm SERIOUS. Make it all the way out of the sewers. There is a save point, use it. I, for some reason didn't use it, yet. I plan to get some money making investments. This idea came from me the first time I played this game and I've always used it whenever possible. In this place there are these enemies called Deenglows. If you equip your Steal onto one of your party memeber and steal from them you'll get an Ether. Remember how Ethers sell for, let me remind you, 750 gils. In 4 steal you can rack up 3000 gils, but only when you sell them though. I, myself, sent a hour in here try to steal these Ether from these guys. At the end I fulfilled my goal of getting 33 ethers, instead I got 34. Meaning in that hour, I got myself 25500 gils. *Added Later* Get 5+ Ghost Hands from the Ghosts, if you plan to beat this challenge without using nor getting any Enemy Skills. Here are some pointers when trying to steal from them while in the train graveyard. Be cautious when they come in threes. They can be very deadly. Twos are nice and healthy, you won't die to often from them. Deenglows do use Ice which deals 80 or so damage. You can equip Aeris with the Cover materia so that her limit bar may fill up faster, so that she can cast Healing Wind. If there are 2 or 3 of them, try to kill until one remains, so that you can esacpe and not get any EXP. If for all three of them, you stole every single ether out of all three of them, but you haven't been able to skill them yet, escape now. Don't bother killing them. Your whole goal is to steal ether only. Nothing else matter for this point. You can try to beat my goal of 34 ethers, but I must remind you. With Aeris' HP being this low, she might get killed by one of the Deenglow's Ice attacks. Try to keep her HP as high as possible for her to use Healing Winds. When I was done with this place, I din't use the train graveyard's save spot, instead I used the one in the up coming screen. I could've still went on getting more ethers, but my Aeris was KOed. Remembered the Ice attack that I was talking about. I wasn't too careful and well, she died. Twice. I had only one Phoenix down left and I didn't want to use it. So I decided to quit. Before going to the next screen though, make sure to take off Aeris' equipment (armor) and any materia equipped to her. Barrets needs these stuff for the Reno battle. ############################### Attack on Sector 7 ############################### When you finally got to Sector 7, Tifa and Cloud will head up to the tower. Aeris will leave the party and deal with other matters at hand. During that time, check your current party and see that they're restored in health. That is when you should save. Before heading up, talk to one of the men standing around, if you notice him, he is a store clerk and he is willing to sell you some items. From what I see fit, this is the best time to sell your first small patch of Ethers, if you did what I asked and stole them. I got about 20k worth of gils from that. Now, buy at least three Hypers. Those are needed for the up coming battle. Save again or not. Added Later, from the same guy standing there, this is the only time in which you can buy Grenades. Since you are trying to let Aeris start winning the fights later on, you should buy at least 20 Grenades. You could also buy some extra phoenix downs, and hyper, wouldn't hurt at all, you never might know when you need them. Rememeber this is the last time to buy Grenades Now go to the top of the tower, you don't need to talk to any of them, just go straight up. I'll admit it, I did lose to this boss 2 times and I won on my third attempt. The first and third attempt, I got into 2 random battles and my second attempt I just got one. Once you talk to Barret, it's time to get the party ready for the battle against Reno. Let me say first, this battle got me the Cross Slash limit break for Cloud. Give Barret the armor that was on Aeris. Barret should have the All linked with Restore and then the lighting/ice materia as well. Cloud should get a Restore with the Cover materia, so that he has a greater chance of using limit break. Aeris should get a Restore with the left over magic materia. After that make sure they have the best armor avaiable and then give everyone a Hyper, so that fury can make this battle go a little bit faster. This idea of Cover with Hyper was a superb idea and I found that out myself. This should be the technique of getting any part B limit levels. I will use that for the future and I hope you'll to, for this challenge though and for boss/force battles. **************************** BOSS BATTLE: Reno (#1) HP: 1000 EXP: 290 **************************** Like I said before, Cloud is suppose to be the only one left standing after this battle, alone. This is one of the hardest battles I've had because I have to kill the other two. That's is why I personally don't like SCC, ever. But I must do what I must do. It will be great to use a calculator again. This battle can go very fast, but I perfer to go slow to add them to my calculator. On my second try, I beated him, but I forgot to kill Aeris and Barret though. So I had to start over again. There is two attacks that he uses that I really hate, the slap is ok. Pyramind being one of them. From what I recall this was a real killer for a SCC as well, since it will give you a game over if your other party members are KOed. The other one, being a less threat is his electro rod, which just paralysis. First try to get his HP lower than 110, 100 is fine as well. One of Cloud's Braver can kill him if he has that much life left. When and if anyone has their limit bar at full power, and you know that Reno's life is depleted if you send in one more attack and he is still using Pyramind on your men, now is the best time to use magic (ice/thunder). Use these things to kill pyramids and even your own ally, as long as it isn't Cloud. When Cloud has a full limit bar and Reno's life is low, start attempting to kill Barret and Tifa. Use them to heal Cloud if needed. If so happen, Barret kills Tifa and then Reno kills Barret, and you have Cloud's limit ready, this is the perfect plan to winning this batle. This is what happen in my battle. Good Luck. Another way to do this, is have Cloud ready for limit break, Tifa or Barret either one still alive. Have Reno kill one of them off, when he does use Cloud's limit. The reason to keep one other ally alive is if he uses pyramid on you. Good reason enough. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 1112 272 8 Barret 615 22 6 Tifa 102 100 4 Aeris 391 216 6 You are probably asking how I found Aeris's Total EXP and level. Well, I'm using the calculation from the Mod numbers, which I got from Terence. When I was testing this on my game, it has never failed me before and I don't it will ever fail on me ever. If you don't trust me, let me say it again. Check it when she returns. After the battle, Barret will start grieving for his friends, keep pressing confirm and skip this part. It's boring and long, I know. After that when you get Cloud, attempt to leave the others and continue on. After Barret and Tifa is in your party. Head back and get the Sense materia. With this, I could've beat Reno easily, too late now. Now rush back to Sector 5. You must flee fast from every battle, Tifa and Barret are KOed and Cloud is the only left standing. If you are getting low of HP, cure yourself with Restore. No need to waste a phoenix down on those that are going to be fully healed anways, right? When you arrive, you could save on the save point, but you would need to do it again after Aeris' mother talks about Aeris' early days. After you have talked with Aeris's mom, Elymra, is that how you spell her name? It doesn't matter anyways. After that, you'll be out of the house. Don't save yet. You aren't healed at all. Instead go back up to Aeris' Room, the one that you were in and enter it. You'll be asked if you watn to take a nap or not. Say yes to the nap and then you'll be all charged up and ready to go. Now you may Save Go to Sector 5. This time remember to buy the Mythril Armlet, if you haven't done so. Make sure that you save at least 200 gils for the Battery. It could 100 though, keep 200 just in case. Besides after sellig that many ethers, you should have more than enough gills to buy those 3 Armlets anyways. Just don't spend them all. You need them for other important stuff later in the game. Also, it would be great if you bought yourself 6-10 Hypers, they are optional, but they do make the upcoming fights go a little bit faster as well. Buy the batteries too. Next go to the wall and climb it to the top. Grab the ether by putting a battery in. Make yourself to the top. A little fact about the Shinra Building before you keep going. It's good to know. The first two floors, floor 1 and floor 59 are the ones that you should really hate. When you first get there and you go into a random battle, you can't escape any of it. If you do happen to stubble on one, then it would be best to quickly restart. Yet after you start collecting the key cards, these random battles will be escapable, I wonder why. Do they think you work there or something? It's better to take the Stairs than to rush in and attack whatever is in your way. Taking the stairs will only force you into one force battle. While taking running and attacking, will get you in many battles that you can't away from. By doing that you'll get yourself 374 EXP plus the one that the stair group had to face as well. Save when you get there. This might be tough. I did this thing 4 times, due to my curosity and being stupid. Take the stairs. I know I took the stairs 4 times. I think there is about 6 differnt scence of stairs, and each stairs has 13-14 platforms to change from. 14 if you count the one that you are currently on. Grab the elixir and this other stuff on the way up. When you get up, you'll have to face to face 3 Mighty Grunts, labled A, B, and C. Honestly, I thought I could run away from this battle. But instead I can't and I had to make this thing into a force battle. You can't go on without the Floor 60 Key. *********************************** FORCED BATTLE: Three Mighty Grunts HP: 230 (Each) EXP: 150 (Together) *********************************** 75 (for inactive) This battle is quite simple. Before the battle have Tifa and Barret equip on some magic materia like ice and lightning. There should be no Restore linked with All, that would cure everyone and well, we need Tifa and Barret to be dead by the ending. You sense when you have one mighty grunt left on the field. During that time prepare to KO Tifa and Barret. Before you get to the last grunt left part, you should use every limit break that you get and sometimes you can even use the magic to deal damage to them. The magic is also used to kill your own party members when there limit breaks are full, them using magic on themselves I mean. You can even equip the Cover materia on either Tifa or Barret, since you probably want to get there 1-2 Limits sooner or later. That's all the helpful tip that I can get, good luck. Stats after the Forced Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 1262 122 8 Barret 615 22 6 Tifa 102 100 4 Aeris 466 141 6 After the battle, quickly run for the elevator, don't waste your time. If you get into a random battle right now, before getting into the elevator, then you're screwed. Like I said before, the random battles in this floor is not escaplable. On the next floor, this is the one that made me have to run the stairs 3 times, the first time was apart of my new discovery, which I wasn't prepared for. Anyways, back to the subject. This part. You have to get pass the guards. If they catch you even once, you'll have to start the whole stairs walking apart, just like me. So try not screw up. The first two is quite easy. The last two is the part that got me, maybe because I was too impatient or something. On the next floor, 61, find and talk to a man that lets you respond with '.......' Then he will give you the Floor 63 Key. Next floor up, 62. On this floor, it should matter, but I'm not gonna care. I don't want that stupid 'Elemental' materia. Just go talk to he major and start from the very first option and move all the way down. If you really want it that badly, you can always try the library guess thingy or you could go all the way back to level 1 and save before doing this part. After that he'll give you the Level 64 Key Moving along. For the next floor, 63. I'm just going to copy and paste this from AA's Guide. I'll credit him for this part though: 'Run to the room with the computer terminal [one room under the stairs]. You will be allowed to open three doors to get all the prizes which you want. Head to the back right corner of this floor. Run left and open the first door that you come too. Head left again until you come to another door. Do NOT unlock this one, instead, open the other door at this intersection [it is below you]. You'll now be able to run into a normal room and grab the prize [coupon A]. In this small room, head into the ventilation shaft. Inside of the shaft, head down, right and then up at the first chance you get. When you get out of the shaft, grab the prize [coupon B]. Exit this room by heading down and make a left. Use your final door key too unlock the door in front of the very middle room. Grab the prize in there [coupon C] and head back the way you came to the computer terminal. Exchange your coupons for an: all materia, star pendant, and four slots.' *NOTE* You must get the Star Pendant, no matter what Now go to level 64. This is the best floor out of all them because you can heal yourself and save at the same time. While at it go the lockers and grab whatever is available, I remember an ether being in there as well. Remember to save In level 65, you'll have to play this treassure hunting quest. I can't give you any pointers, just don't ever go into the same room twice in a row. If you run into a battle, even though the chances are slim, just run away. When are the pieces are done there will still be the unopended one by the stairs you just came in from. Open that treassure chest to get Level 66 Key. In the 66th floor, follow Hojo and then into the bathroom. Then reach up and go inside and listen to the meeting. Next exit out and follow Hojo up the stairs. 67 floor, follow Hojo and you'll see a small scence with Jenova's head. Keep going forward and you'll get a Poison materia that's in the treassure chest. Save here. Now I strongly advise you to steal 6 items, 5 Carbon Bangles and a Hardedge. Carbon Bangle can be stolen from Moth Slashers. They are tough, so heal whenenever they are past the mid life. Hardedge is real pain in the neck to get. Hardedge can be stolen from Soldiers 3rd, these guys are deadly. The way that I got them was get into a battle with two. Kill one of them and steal from the other one. In the process, I made that Soldier use up all his skill moves that he couldn't do anything to be. Remember to use Defend, it will be of great help and Cover too. Another thing I like to remind you, after you have seen the scence in which Hojo talks to Nanaki, for some odd reason, you won't be able to go any other floors. After that save and let's face the experiment, H0512 ********************************** BOSS BATTLE: H0512 and his opt.s HP: 1000 EXP: 300 ********************************** For this battle, Cloud should take all the EXPs. So put the Star Pendant on Cloud. For this battle, you'll use Cloud, Nanaki, and Tifa. Place at least a Restore materia on Cloud, you'll need this because when Nanaki and Tifa are dead, this will make him stay alive. Speaking of which, you really don't need to attack Nanaki nor Tifa in this battle, the poison that they'll recieve from H0512 is more than to kill by the time you're trying to kill it. Don't worry about the opts, I know they can be a real pest at times, but make sure to bring H0512 before the backup twos are dead, at least till his life is at 100 or so. That way Cloud can use one Cross Slash to finish him off. Putting a Cure linked with All materia on Tifa will come in handy, since 1000 is a large ammount of HP to deplete. Don't worry about Sense, Nanaki already has it with him during the battle. During the battle, be sure to waste all of Nanaki's MP on fire on H0512, you probably can't even use all of them by the time Nanaki is dead. Tifa should try to do most of the healing, so that Cloud will have enough HP to stay alive. This battle can be long as hell, but try to maintain your balance. Added later: Elemental linked with Poison for the armor doesn't really work very well. Sometimes the poison still connects. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 1562 372 9 Barret 765 215 7 Tifa 102 100 4 Aeris 616 319 7 Nanaki 961 423 8 After this battle, remember to grab the E-Skill before leaving this place. It doesn't matter who you pick for the next party, you'll go to jail anyways. After picking the party, go talk to the lady that is nearby, that is seeing all the action. After talking to her, you should get level key. Now go to the floor that has the save point and the healing beds. Heal yourself, after that save, and then continue with going to the elevator and getting caught. A long conversation will progress and you'll end up in jail. More talking and selecting. Jail Door is open, talk to the downed guard and then to Tifa. Then to *NOTE*: I'm not sure about this or not, but it would be best to take the Star Pendant off of Cloud. I'm not sure if you can take it off later on. Tifa again, talk to Barret and then talk to Tifa again. Make your way back to the President's floor, Save. Go outside to Rufus. Talk with Rufus and Cloud is only one that stays, other leave. Your party now is only with Aeris, Barret, and Nanaki. Too bad you couldn't save again, that would've been great. You'll also be asked if you want Tifa and Cloud's materia removed, hell yes you do. Go to the stairs and it's time to face the Heli Gunner. *************************** BOSS BATTLE: Heli Gunner HP: 1600 and 1000 EXP: 250 *************************** Before going into this battle, let's make a lot of preparations. First off, you must know that Aeris is the only one left standing in this battle, that is why you should give the Star Pendant to him. Give Nanaki or Barret the Talisman that you got from H0512. Give sense to someone. Use Aeris' Healing Wind with great timing. Put Cure linked with All on Barret. Aeris should have a lightning materia on her. Only have Barret attack and Aeris heal everyone. When you get either limit breaks for Barret or Nanaki, use it, unless it can kill him. In that case, make sure Nanaki and Barret are KOed. During times when neither Nanaki or Aeris is doing any action, have them use defend. Another thing, for this battle, have every in the back row. On the second guy, you don't need to start killing any of your allies, this guy can inflict poison. The bad part is that he can inflict sleep as well. Use Aeris to wake them if you need to, but be careful. When the Heli Gunner has less than 70 HP, kill Barret and Nanaki, then have Aeris cast Lightning for the final touch. You can use up to 20 Grenades if so happen Nanaki and Barret dies before the damage is done to lower the boss'HP. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 1687 247 9 Barret 765 215 7 Tifa 227 145 5 Aeris 866 69 7 Nanaki 961 423 8 After that battle, Cloud will face off with Rufus and Dark Nation. Make sure to take off the stuff from the rest of the members. Give Cloud a Restore for the armor materia, Bio linked with Elemental on the weapon. This will give you the upper advantage of giving Rufus poison ************************************ BOSS BATTLE: Rufus and Dark Nation HP: 500/140 EXP: 310 ************************************ This battle is one of the easiest I faced. In the beginning, use Bio All. Hopefully it inflicts Bio on Rufus. If it doesn't, o well. Next your limit bar should be really high right now, due to Dark Nation's attacks. Use Cross Slash on Dark Nation when you get the chance. That will kill it. Next, make sure your HP is high, so use cure on Cloud. While waiting for your limit bar to fill up, keep on casting Bio onto Rufus or attacking with your weapon, until poison is inflicted. Then use lightning or regular attacks, while waiting for your limit bar to fill up all the way. Cast cure when needed and use Cross Slash when you get the chance. The battle will then end. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 1997 617 10 Barret 920 60 7 Tifa 382 234 6 Aeris 1021 342 8 Nanaki 1116 268 8 After the battle, Rufus will say time it up and leave. Then you'll control Cloud. Now you should to the next floor down and save before talking to Tifa. After talking to Tifa. A long scence will take place and follow by a mini-game. During the beginning of the mini-game, lets prepare for Motorball, the next boss. ************************ BOSS BATTLE: Motorball HP: 2600 EXP: 440 ************************ Your party should consist of Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris. Having Aeris taking all the EXP for this battle. Have everyone in the front row, it'll transverse when the battle begins, and put everyone in the back row instead. Cloud and Aeris should have Cure linked with All. Aeris should also have the Lightning materia on her. Cloud should have Cover, making his Limit bar fill up faster. I can't say anything for Tifa, she can be KOed for the whole battle for all I care. You can use her to attack and unleash or limit breaks, even though they're pretty weak, but still it might get her the 1-2 that you haven't gotten yet. It's possible to have Cloud and Tifa KOed by the Motorball's second attack and still have Aeris win the battle. You know why? Because I was that lucky survior in that battle. Have her cast lightning or even start using up the rest of your Grenades to attack him. Be alert if Aeris' MP goes down though, that's a sign to stop using your lightning and cure whenever possible. Throw the rest of your Grenades, at least tell me you have at least 10 left to begin with, and you should be able to beat this guy. Another way you can look at this, is by having Cloud put this combination into his weapon, Elemental linked with Lightning. It should cause more damage than before, but I haven't done this yet. You can try it out though. Stats after Boss Battle Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 1997 617 10 Barret 1140 288 8 Tifa 382 234 6 Aeris 1461 444 9 Nanaki 1336 48 8 When this battle ends, everyone will start talking. They'll plan to head to Kalm. Pick Aeris, Cloud, and Tifa for the party. You'll be using them until Aeris departs. So it'll be wise to start getting use to this now. Once you arrive at Kalm, you can go into every store, except for the inn and try to get some of the ethers that you have gotten before in your previouse games, if you still remember them. Otherwise, it's time to see Cloud's past. Oh, joy! I personally hate this part, I've seen it too many times, and it goes forever. So I decided to get past this thing the easy way. I use my turbo fire controller and set it on repeated confirm. Sometimes I'll need to walk a certain way with Cloud, but it's still good. In the meantime I can use the bathroom or make a meal or something. After seeing all of that. It's time to do some shopping. Go to the materia store and buy 2 Steal materias. They are needed very much. These investments will get you the moolah that makes this game a lot easier. If you want spend some more, a few phoenix downs would be good enough, followed by some new equipment would also be nice. You can sell some of your old armor is you want, I just keep them because I know that I'll have all the money I want sooner or later. When buying equipment, make sure to see which ones are stronger, the one that you currently have or the buy thats for sale. Don't buy the Mythril Armlets if you already have the Carbon Bangles. Don't buy the Cannon Ball. Get in the world map and save. Give everyone Steal materia, and have two your people have Restore linked with All. Turn your speed down to 75% of maximum and set it on for active. This is what you do. You are suppose to steal from 2 types of enemies, Kalm Fangs and the Custom Sweepers. Kalm Fangs hold Ethers, which makes your wallet full. Custom Sweepers are the ones that you must steal to get Barret's weapon, Atomic Scissors. This might be needed for the fight against Dyne, but there could be something better than this along the way. I'll try to keep stealing till I get 50,000 or more. You could do this later if you want. Getting HP Pluss and then doing this later is fine as well. I just want to get a heard start, that's all. Proceeding now. Head for the Chocobo Ranch and enter. Talk to the Chocobo and say 'Wark' to them to get the Choco/Mog materia, this is free and nice, treasure it well. Go talk to the Chocobo boy and buy a Chocobo Lure materia. You won't catch Chocobos for right now. *IMPORTANT NOTE*: The ultimate attack for this game is Chocobuncle. You might laugh for right now, but sooner or later this will be the best dam attack ever. You just need to flee like hell, thats all. Before you even start thinking about getting this attack, we must account for the EXP that we'll get from the battle. When I figure out how to get I'll tell you. The old fashion way is to use Lvl 4 Suicide on a level 4 Chocobo, I'll have to do something else. ################################### Mythril Mine and Junon ################################### Use the Save trick to walk across the the swamp and avoiding the Zolom. We don't need to fight him for right now, or any part of the game as a matter of fact. Watch a Zolom being killed by Sephiroth and enter the Mythril Mines. Be sure to get the Long Range, you need this for. *NOTE*: While in the Mythril Mines, try to steal a Grand Glove from Madagoue. the next boss battle. This is only materia worth taking from this place. Meet the Turks and now head for the Fort Condor to heal yourself up. Don't buy anything from there, resting is just fine. Now you reach Junon. First thing you should buy, at least 20-30 grenades for the next two boss fights. Those should do nicely. Go to the dam and let's face Bottomswell. *************************** BOSS BATTLE: Bottomswell HP: 2500 EXP: 550 *************************** For this battle, it will be a long task. Give Cloud the Long Range materia. Everyone have at least one damage inflicting magic materia on them, use the ones you have. Someone with Sense on. All linked with Restore. Limit yourself to using only 10-15 grenades for this battle. When Bottomswell life is down to 100 or less, let Cloud and Tifa be KOed and let Aeris take all the EXP. For the Bubble that this guy makes, use the magic inflicter to destroy it, espically when it's on Aeris. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 1997 617 10 Barret 1415 13 8 Tifa 382 234 6 Aeris 2011 564 10 Nanaki 1611 323 9 After the battle, give Priscila CPR. Next go to the Inn and talk to women standing there. Choose to rest. Wake the next morning and head for Priscila's House. Buy more Grenades *Note*:I forgot to add one thing, she give you Shiva materia, no use though. or phoenix downs if you want. Then move on and do the Dolphin mini-game. Climb to the top, talk with the Leader and Save afterwards. Do the march, I really don't care what kind of rating you get, it doesn't matter to me. Go back to the locker room and say all clear. Save again if you wish. Now lets do some shopping. On the first screen, there are only two things out those shops that I actually bought, the Striking Stick for Aeris and a Revive materia just in case I run out of phoenix downs. On the second screen, grab the E-Skill materia and don't buy anything. Headband would be nice and all, but no. During the pose for the President, try to get from 60 to 90 points. There are two good reasons to get HP PLus. Force Stealer only costs 2200 and it can be bought in Corel, while HP Plus cost 8000 and can be bought in Cosmo Canyon. The price and the location is good proof enough. Silver Glasses is a weak item, prevent blind, you don't need that right now. Go on board the ship. On the ship, pick up the All materia. Go talk to Aeris twice and then go to the top floor and talk to every single one there. Go back and talk to Aeris. Go find Barret and talk to him twice. Leave and go save, proceed forward. Once again pick Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris. Maker sure that Aeris has the HP Plus on her, we need to start adding AP on to it. Everyone should have a magic inflicing materia. All linked with Restore for everyone. Head to where Sephiroth is. Before fighing him, you should consider stealing Shinra something, it's a armor, from the Shinra troops. I can't really say they are strong in battle, buy at least they have a higher defense than your current armor. That sideback is that it doesn't have any Magic Defense in them. Put the Power Wrist on Cloud. ****************** Jenova's Birth HP: 4000 EXP: 680 ****************** Judging from the HP number, you know this will be a very long fight. This battle is simple, just heal when neccessary. Try to use up most of your grenades if you want or you can save them for later. Restore linked with All is a must. Sense is also needed. The same preparation like the last battle, except this time you have a few better equipment and the HP Plus. Don't use poison on him. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 1997 617 10 Barret 1755 240 9 Tifa 382 234 6 Aeris 2691 851 11 Nanaki 1951 663 10 After this battle, pick up the Ifrit materia off the ground. Talk some more and the boat begins to dock. Buy what you want. I personally didn't buy anything because I felt it was worthless. But do pick up the Fire Ring though from the Suite, it is needed very much for a boss battle, do get it. Leave for the Corel Train tracks now. ################################ Corel and Gold Saucer ################################ In the Corel Train tracks, pick up every thing. The Transform materia might come in handy later on, I think. Grab the two weapons and thats about it. Also while walking on the wooden bridge, you'll only encounter Bombs in this area. Remember to steal from them Right Arms, they are better than Grenades, but only when attacking a group of enemies. In Corel, you can buy the Force Stealer if you want, I did. Molotov is optional. After that proceed to Gold Saucer. Make sure you have 3000 gils to spare, if you don't start selling your inventory till you do. Then buy the ticket, for 3000 for the ticket. After the conversations, head to Wonder Square to get Cait Sith, which I refer to him as just Cait. Here is his stats: Stats Check for Cait Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cait 1418 544 9 For me, I had plenty of gil to spare so I decided to buy the 30000 instead, which in someways, I did regret later on. Then go to the Battle Square and have you'll be sent to the Desert Prison. While down there, find and talk to Barret. Then go find Dyne. Don't, I repeat, don't get the E-Skill's Matra Magic and Laser from the enemies here, that will only rack up even more EXP. We can live without them. Dyne.. ******************** BOSS BATTLE: Dyne HP: 1200 EXP: 600 ******************** Just to let you know, only Barret will take him on, one on one. That means everyone else will get inactive party EXP, half of 600. The weapon doesn't matter too much, it's the armor, try to give him your best at this time. Make sure he has the materia that you want APs on and also include the Restore materia. In the battle, keep on attacking until your limit bar is filled up. Use defend when Barret's limit bar is almost filled up, that way he can take in less damage and still get a limit break. Use your limit breaks every chance you get them, but make sure you won't die on the next 2 hits. He can attack two times, sometimes, before you can even make a move on him. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 2297 317 10 Barret 2355 340 10 Tifa 682 267 7 Aeris 2991 551 11 Nanaki 2251 363 10 Cait 1718 244 9 After the battle more talking. Then you'll be playing the Chocobo race. When in the room with Joe, grab the Ramuh materia, it's needed. During the race, remember to hold all the Ls or all the Rs, sorry I forgot which ones, to raise your stamina. During the whole process hold those buttons with the Square. Use the sprint when needed. After winning the race you'll be given your freedom and the Buggy. With the Buggy, head to Cosmo Canyon. ################################ Cosmo Canyon ################################ At Cosmo Canyon, buy only armor and HP Plus'. I can manage to get 3 HP Plus, with that you can get through the next couple bosses, at least that is what I did. You can buy more if you want. Talk to Nanaki's grandpa and be ready to head into the Gi Cave's. Your party should be Cloud, Tifa, and Nanaki. I choose Tifa because she won't get any EXP in the battles, only Cloud will take the full EXP for these 3 battles. Aeris will get the inactive party EXP. Also buy plenty of phoenix downs, like 10 is good enough. For me, I also bought Butterfly Edge and the Tiger Fang, for Cloud and Tifa. Enter the Gi Cave, you probably should've saved before so. Make sure you have Restore linked with All for everyone. Run from all battles and please pick up the Added Effect materia, this is also needed for later strategies. There will be two forced battles up ahead, two Stingers. Take the second hole from the left. ***************************** FORCED BATTLE: (2) Stingers HP: 2200 (4400 together) EXP: 290 ***************************** (580 together) The battle with the stinger is some what tough. I'm not saying that they are hard, it's that you have to kill Nanaki and Tifa in both battles. Then you have to revive them for the next one. That is where the phoenix downs comes in. Use every limit break you get. Also equip yourself with Sense. Try to use everything that I told you before. I can't say too much about this battle. After the 2nd Stinger, keep Nanaki and Tifa dead for the battle against Gi Nattak. Stats the Two Force Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 2877 711 11 Barret 2645 50 10 Tifa 682 267 7 Aeris 3571 261 12 Nanaki 2251 363 10 Cait 2008 644 10 ************************ BOSS BATTLE: Gi Nattak HP: Doesn't matter EXP: 1400 ************************ If you did like I asked then this will be a simple battle. Have Cloud have in his armor Elemental linked with Fire. In the beginning of the battle, throw an elixir at Gi Nattak. Since I didn't kill the other Stinger, this is what you must use. Death will be cast on him and the battle is over. Fire Ring is used, when you have enough of these games. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 4277 333 12 Barret 3345 344 11 Tifa 682 267 7 Aeris 4271 279 12 Nanaki 2251 363 10 Cait 2708 931 11 After the battle, get the Gravity materia, just for collection. I haven't figured out a good use for it yet. Nanaki will daydream now. Moving on. Exit Cosmo Canyon. For the next 3 and a half hours, I will be wasting my time trying to power up Chocobuncle, which I still haven't gotten yet. But at the same time I'll be getting stuff to prepare myself for Materia Keeper. As for my advice, read on and don't do what I did. I won't tell you what I did, 3 hours of BS can sum it up. Take the buggy and go to Costa del Sol. Aboard the ship back to Junon. Once out of Junon, you should take your buggy and go to the sleeping man's cave, you'll need the buggy to do so. Go talk to the Sleeping man. He'll tell you 3 different things, one is about the huge materia, one is about how many times you've escaped (a good way to know about Chocobuncle), the last thing he will tell you how many battles you've been in. How many battles you've been is what you need to see. Try to get the last 2 digits being odd, like: 111, 244, 477 etc... Do this and you'll get a Bolt Ring. If you get evens instead, you'll get mythril, which in this challenge is rather pointless. I will now tell you what I did for the next 3 hours, I will go into many battles and try to get a second bolt ring and at the same time be traveling from this cave and Kalm by collecting Ethers and Boomerangs. Happy now. When I stopped doing that, I had 270 escapes. Get that one Bolt Ring and thats good enough. Now go to Kalm or near the Chocobo Farm and start stealing Ethers until you get at least 30 or 40. In my case, I stole 70 or so. From that 70, I sold 50 of them and kept the other 20. You'll need the Ethers for the battle against Materia Keeper. Now go buy yourself at least 20 Grenades, 10 Tents, and 20 Phoenix Downs, remember to keep the 20 Ethers. #################################### Nibelheim and Mt. Nibel #################################### Now head to Nibelheim. Get Tifa's Platinum Fist from her house. Don't open the safe and fight Missing Number. Just collect all the weapons from this place and then go to the bottom basement where the library is. After talking the Sephiroth, he'll throw the Destruct materia at you. Go to Mt. Nibel. You can pick up the weapons along the way. Lower the ladder before jumping into one of those pipes. They thing you should be interested in is the All materia that's there. After that save. Before fighting Materia Keeper, go to the lower center of this screen. You should be a ledge and further more as you travel you can get a Elemental materia, take this. It will become part of a strategy. Go back into the room with Materia Keeper. Just to let you know, you have to talk to it before you can battle it. Anyhow, save again. Now you must steal 3 Gold Armlets, or 5, for your active party. And then try to use this set up, this is mine when I beated him. It was easy to some level. Cloud Butterfly Edge Added Effect=Choco/Mog Restore=All Gold Armlet Elemental=Ramuh Sense=Revive Power Wrist Tifa Tiger Fang All=Poison All=Restore Gold Armlet Elemental=Lightning Chocobo Lure=Cover Protect Vest Aeris Wizer Staff Three (3) HP Plus' and Long Range Gold Armlet All=Restore Two (2) Enemy Skill Bolt Ring ***************************** BOSS BATTLE: Materia Keeper HP: 8400 EXP: 3000 ***************************** Since you have plenty of Ether, don't mind using all the MPs you want. Elemental=Lighting isn't needed since Tifa does die after every Trine. Long Range and All=Poison are also not needed, but Poison is needed. Before goint into battle, best to have Cloud and Aeris' limit bar at full. At the start of the battle, have either one use Cross Slash or Seal Evil, don't use both of them. Use it when needed, like when he is still moving. After that have Tifa cast Bio on him, keep casting until he is poisoned. When it does, he will now lose roughly 200 each time. Don't let your guard down yet. Cast Sense to see how much he have left. Remember to kill off Tifa an Cloud before he dies. You can even use Grenades to have them KOed. Tifa will die most often due to her low HP. You can revive if you want, but it's a waste of MP, instead just keep healing and attacking. You can even just kill off Tifa and Cloud and keep casting Seal Evil on Materia until he has no more life. Oh, one more thing, hope you get Trine. If you do, cast away, this will speed up the process. Heal when needed, only use All when everyone is needed, otherwise just cast it on the person that was hurt. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 4277 333 12 Barret 4845 1046 13 Tifa 682 267 7 Aeris 7271 1409 15 Nanaki 3751 859 12 Cait 4208 467 12 ########################### Rocket Town ########################### After the battle, get the Counterattack Materia and exit Mt. Nibel. Save on the world screen. Continue to Rocket Town. Find the Little Bronco and then go talk to Cid. Come back and yadayada. I don't want to explain too much. You can buy weapons and materia here, but I would advise not to, Palmer isn't tough and you don't need to waste your money here. Go talk to the man standing and staring at the Rocket to get Cloud's weapon and open the chests in this town to get Barret's other weapon, which isn't needed at this time. Before going back to Cid's House though, Save on the world map. Once you enter Cid's House, Cid should come and it's time to face Palmer. ********************* BOSS BATTLE: Palmer HP: 6000 EXP: 1800 ********************* You can basically keep the same equipment and the same materia placement as last time. Choco/Mog, Cross Slash, Seal Evil to stun Palmer. Cast Bio on him until it sticks and see his HP wittle away. Cast Trine and attack until his HP is lower than 1000. Kill off Cloud and Tifa, and cast Trine a couple more times and he is finished. Heal when needed. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 4277 333 12 Barret 5745 228 13 Tifa 682 267 7 Aeris 9071 1401 16 Nanaki 4651 1158 13 Cait 5108 783 13 After this battle, a scence will occur. Later, get Cid. Here's his stats. Cid's Stats Check: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cid 5909 1393 14 Now that you have the Little Bronco, we can do many things. Going to Wutai is optional, but very helpful. In Wutai you can buy some Swift Bolts and Fire Veils. Besides that, there isn't anything very useful. Now here is a list that you must get. # 3 Spider Webs from Kimara Bugs. There are located where you were suppose to meet Reno and Rude in Gongaga, but I skipped that part in this challenge. Steal it from them.(optional) While there, get the Deathblow materia as well # 15-25 Right Arms from Bombs. They are located on the wooden bridge that you past by while you were trying to go Corel. They're there frequently. Steal it from them. (I got 33 just in case some missed, which they don't, LOL) # Buy 3 Diamond Bangles from the Digging Place in the north continent. # Buy a Time materia either in Rocket Town or Gongaga. While in Rocket Town, you could also buy Barrier, but I don't know if it's much help or not. # Buy at least 15 Phoenix Downs and 15 Hi-Potions. # Buy at least 6 Tranquilzers Since getting E-Skill is getting EXP as well. I will not get either Beta, Big Guard, nor Aqualung. I do have Trine right now, but I will not use it against the next two bosses. Now you are thing, is this possilbe. I can tell you, it is possible. ############################################### Return to Gold Saucer and Temple of Ancients ############################################### Go to Gold Saucer and go on the date. Then head to the Ancient Temple. Have a save before entering, just so that you can back track if you needed to. Pick up all the treasure along the way. Make sure you get the Morph materia, I have a big future with that. Don't forget to get the Luck Plus materia as well, it's a lost item and it proves to be useful in boss battles as well. Don't use up any Limit Break on Cloud and Aeris, they're needed. In the Clock room, head into 4, 5, and 7. They contain very good equipments, along with the almighty Ribbon. After that head to 6. This is what you should do to speed this process. Jump into these holes, not including the one you just came out of, 4 to get the wizard. Then go to the lowest floor and get the treasure chest and then 9. Exit out of this screen. Go back in and the wizard will be on the first floor. Check your materia and save. This is the materia combo I had when facing the Red Dragon. Also move Right Arms, Phoenix Downs, and Spider Webs to the top of the item list. Set Battle Speed on 50% or lower. Cloud Butterfly and Diamond Bangle Steal, Sense, Restore=All, anything else Aeris Princess Guard 3 HP Plus, Counterattack, All=Restore, Luck Plus Diamond Bangle Elemental=Ice, Elemental=Fire Tifa Tiger Fang and Diamond Bangle Restore=All, Chocobo Lure, Steal & Sense, anything else ****************************** MINI-BOSS BATTLE: Red Dragon HP: 6800 EXP: 3500 ****************************** Enter this battle with Cloud's Limit Bar being all the way full and quickly use Cross Slash, this will stop him in his tracks. If anyone dies, besides Aeris, don't revive them. Use Sense and Right Arms by the turn. Since Right Arms does about 1200-1300 damage, 5 or 6 of them should be enough to kill him. Before you kill him though, make sure Cloud and Tifa is KOed. This battle should be easy enough. Stats after Mini Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 4277 333 12 Barret 7495 1427 15 Tifa 682 267 7 Aeris 9071 1401 16 Nanaki 6401 799 14 Cait 6858 444 14 Cid 7659 1263 15 After battle, pick the Bahamut materia up. A lot of other FAQ said to use this guy, but the things is, it's that you have low MP and using Ethers wastes turns. Instead Right Arms are way better. Cait calls and then your out of this room. Heal everyone with the wizard. DON'T PUT THE DRAGON ARMLET ON AERIS because if you do, after the next battle against Demon's Gate, you won't get it back. Try to make a materia setup similiar to this: Cloud Butterfly and Dragon Armlet Restore=All, All=Time, All=Revive Aeris Princess Guard 3 HP Plus, Counterattack, Steal, Deathblow , Luck Plus Diamond Bangle Steal, Steal, All=Restore, Chocobo Lure Tifa's doesn't matter much, just keep the same equipment, All=Materia, Sense. Set Battle Speed at lowest. Heal yourself. Save. Then give everyone tranquilzers so that everyone is on sadness. Then head for... *************************** BOSS BATTLE: Demon's Gate HP: 10000 EXP: 3800 *************************** His life is what you must be very concerned with. At the beginning of the battle, best to pray Aeris gets attacked but not be KOed by it. If this happens, have the other party members use Spider Web followed by a Phoenix Down. If that doesn't occur, at the beginning of the battle have Cloud cast Haste on everyone or Aeris throw a Spider Web at Gate, which ever comes first. Tifa's first turn should be to heal all, heal one, use phoenix down, or use Right Arms. If she dies, no biggie, I don't see any reason to bring her up though. Aeris' limit break Healing Wind is crucial in this battle. If Cloud is KOed, have Tifa use a phoenix down on him and quickly use Healing Wind, then a Heal all. That all I can say about beginning tactics. Added Later: use Hi-Potion before the bar fills up all the way, then quickly use Healing Wind to bring Aeris' Hp to full. After you've thrown your 4th or 5th Right Arm, he should be a phase which he is slower than normal. Heal everyone up to full life, he's about to use Demon's Rush. At the same time throw Right Arms until you've reaced your 8th one. The 9th and 10th one are the ones that can kill him. Use sense to see how much he has left. After you've thrown your 8th one, make sure Aeris' life is fully healed and put her in defend mode. Better yet,you can use a calculator since using Sense wastes a turn. Make sure Cloud and Tifa are KOed before you kill him though. Stats after Boss Battle: Total EXP EXP Needed to Level UP Level On Cloud 4277 333 12 Barret 9395 1518 16 Tifa 682 267 7 Aeris 12871 Doesn't matter anymore 18 Nanaki 8301 496 15 Cait 8758 164 14 Cid 9559 1206 16 I have played this guy over 15 times. I have beaten him 3 times and almost once. In those 3 times I have managed to kill him, but Cloud and Tifa wasn't KOed, so I had to start all over again. That almost once was just bad luck. Besides that, he is very powerful. I think this should be one of the hardest battle in this whole challenge. It's not being able to beat him that I'm worried about, it's how to survive with Aeris only at the end. Sometimes your bad luck will start at the his second turn, in which case he rams everyone and they're all dead. He is beatable though, be patient. Later Added: This battle will only be hard if you don't have Big Guard with you, like what I did for my battle. **********************Ending results, EXP WISE****************************** With this plan I got most of everyone to level 28 or under by the end of disc 2. I don't know about my Cloud and Vincient. Cloud could be at level 27 or 28 and Vincient can be from level 27-29. When I'm typing this out, I haven't done the Raid in Midgar part yet. Here it is: BOSS NAME Survivor KOed Jenova's Life Cloud Cait and Cid 3 Icicles (A) Cloud Cait and Cid (B) Cloud Cait and Cid (C) Cloud Cait and Tifa Schizo Cloud Cait and Cid Jenova's Death Cloud Cait and Tifa Corel Guards Nanaki Cait and Cid Big Guard Nanaki Cait and Cid Magic Hammer Nanaki Cait and Cid White Wind Nanaki Cait and Cid Underwater Army a.(1700) Cloud Cait and Cid b.(1700) Cloud Cait and Cid c.(2550) Cloud Cait and Barret d.(1640) Cloud Cid and Barret Carry Armor Nanaki Cloud and Barret (Carry Armor's is lowerable) e.(1700) Nanaki Cloud and Barret f.(1700) Nanaki Cloud and Barret g.(2550) Nanaki Cloud and Barret Rocket Shinra Army a.( 600) Cloud Cid and Barret b.( 600) Cloud Cid and Barret c.(1530) Cloud Cid and Barret Rude (lowerable) Cloud Cid and Barret d.( 930) Cloud Cid and Barret Diamond Weapon Tifa Cloud and Nanaki Yuffie Cloud Barret and Cid Turks in Shinra Yuffie Cloud and Tifa Iron Clad Cloud Yuffie and Tifa Hojo Yuffie Cloud and Tifa I know this isn't the lowest EXP possilbe, I'm not an EXP expert ok, unlike someone else I know. (Namely: GarlandG) Even though I made a few errors, at the end I still could get everyone to level 28, maybe Cloud will be lucky and stay at 27, until Vincient's Missing Number. No matter what anyone saids, these are the lowest average level for everyone. Couple key points you must remember though. 1. Carry Armor's EXP can be lowered due to how many arms you take off. The best way to get the lowest EXP is beat him leaving both arms alive at the end. 2. Rude in Rocket Town can be lowered if you don't kill the two cronies that is with him. Even though though you get less EXP, I'm not too sure if you can steal the Ziedrich if did so. Added Later, if you stick with this concept, no, you won't be able to steal the Ziedrich 3. About the Enemy Skills that I got later on after the North Craters. I believe those could be gotten before you enter the north crater for the first time, with no penalties to get any higher levels. Yet, if you them during while Cloud and Tifa are at Mideel, then those two wont any EXP whatsoever. If you do want to get them, have Cloud as survior and Barret and Cid as KOed when getting them, assuming that you are using the table above. Also it's better because the 4th E-Skill can also get 3 of the 5 skills that the others have, even though you won't need the 4th one anyways. 4. Get Yuffie only after beating Diamond Weapon. We don't need Diamond's EXP to over kill Yuffie's level, now do we. ################################ North Continent ################################ After this battle, more storyline goes on. Then you are at Gongaga. Grab Titan from the Reactor. Now head for the North Continent and dig that Lunar Harp. Then go get the Kjata materia, even though you won't be able to use it. Keep going, grab the Water Ring, it's needed very much. Once you reach the Forgotten Capitol, take the left route and get the Aurora Armlet, this is needed as well. Go to the right route and go to sleep. Once everyone joins you at night, pick up the Enemy Skill materia behind the bed. Go search of Aeris now, pick up the Comet materia along the way. Save at the save point. Go see Aeris for the final time. **************************** BOSS BATTLE: Jenova's Life HP: 10000 EXP: 4000 **************************** Put the Water Ring on Cloud and the battle will be very easy. Because this is an easy battle, why not use it for its worth. Have Cloud equip the Rune Sword, gotten from Mt. Nibel, it has double AP. You can put either the Rune Armlet or Edincoat on. Try to put every high experienced materia on Cloud, especially the HP Plus'. Put all Enemy Skill materia on Barret and hope that Jenova uses Aqualung before Barret dies, use high potions when Barret take damage. Water Ring will absorb every attack Jenova has to offer. To kill Jenova, use Right Arms or use regular attack. If you decide to use regular attack, cast haste on Cloud. After she is defeated, more storyline will take place. Then save your game and lets move on to disc 2. #################### DISC 2 #################### Before you go any further in game. I want you to know that I'll do some powering up. Your probably asking what I mean. You aren't suppose to level up in this challenge. I plan to get Power Sources. There is only one way from my research that I found it possible to get these Sources without getting any EXP. I will take a long time to do, but I think it's worth it. You probably might not think so. Take your highest HP people. I pick Cloud, Barret, and Cait. One with the Steal materia and Morph materia, I pick Cloud. One with the Manipulate, I pick Barret. One with Steal and Deathblow. And everyone put on All=Restore to heal yourself. Now head to Corel Mountain. Walk around the front of the reactor. You'll encounter this guy called a Screamer, he holds a ball and swings it. He has 800 HP and can be morphed into power sources. You'll encounter 2 of these or 2 of these and a twin brain in a single battles. Now you have to morph the Screamers, but make sure at least one enemy is alive so that you can run away. That is why I like the Twin Brain with 2 Screamer battle. In that battle, manipulate Twin Brain so that he doesn't cast stop on you. Instead, cast it on the screamers. You can also manipulate the Screamer as well. Becareful on using your limit breaks, these Screamers aren't really common you know. At the same time, you can steal an ether from the Twin Brain to heal yourself up. I got my Cloud to 50 Strength before leaving this place. I don't know if it helps or not, but it's worth a shot. A even more better way to use the manipulate materia is to get the Hypno Crown from cracks in the wall when you were climbing near to Icicle Town. Next, go steal Right Arms from Bombs until you get 33, just in case. After that may you keep playing. Get more money if you want. I don't think it's needed though. I just want the next two battles a little bit faster, as stated before, this is not needed at all. You could always attack 50-200 or deal 1000+ per turn, depending on your style. Buy about 30 phoenix downs and hi-potions, if I didn't already say so Go back to the Forgotten Capitol and head to the Icicle Town. Near the cracks in the wall, grab the Hypno Crown, Bolt Armelt, and Magic Plus materia. The others are not special enough for me to say. Head to Icicle Village now, all the way. ############################### Icicle Village ############################### The only thing I bought are Cloud's Weapon 'Organics' do to its slot, in hopes of getting more AP for my materia. Later I learned, AP doesn't matter too much in this game anymore. It's too low to level them up anyways. So my advice is that you don't buy anything whatsoever. Go to the top of the screen and attmept to leave. Elena will come, grab the skateboard, and the map and then leave this place. Don't pick the Hero Drink up. What would you do when someone stole it. Just leave it be. Get pass the Great Glaciers. I didn't get anything from this place and I did fine. Get the northmost place. Enter the Inn with the old man and rest. Get a party of anyone you like, you can change them later on. Pick up the Ribbon on your way up to fighting the (3) Icicles. Grab the Fire Armlet nearby and Last Elixir if you want. ***************************** Forced Battles: (3) Icicles HP: 3000 Each ***************************** These are in fact some of the hardest battles I've ever faced in my life. Due to not getting Fire Ring and other stuff, I had to do these battles over 20 times and having three rounds of full clearance and then ruined by Stilva. Anyways this what you do. Don't kill any of the bats, don't remember the name. Definetly use Sense on the Icicle. Demi to lower it's HP by half, it can miss though, but not too often. Be prepared to use Ethers if you are low on HP. You can manipulate the bats and attack the Icicle if you want, note that it deals 200+. The bats can be slowed down so use a Spider Web and cast Haste/Big Guard afterwards. These battles are beatable without Big Guard or any other E-Skills. Use only Hi-Potions to heal. Transform=All does work, but its random, mini on all the bats. Use Cait's Limit with caution, it can even deal 1100. Cloud's Cross Slash can deal anywhere from 600-700s. Best to use 2 Demis. Using the bat's silience attack on one of their own doesn't work, they'll still use that 200-300 dealer no matter what. In mini mode, the bat's drain attack does very little damage, in the teens. After two battles with Cloud, Cait, and Cid, switch Cid with Tifa for the last battle. After battle, cautiously heal yourself and save. Try not to die from Stilva or any Malboros. Use tent if you feel it's neccesary. Grab the Enhance Sword and climb some more. On the next save point that you come across please do save. The Blue Dragons here can be very deadly but do try to run the hell away from them. ********************** BOSS BATTLE: Schizo HP: 18000 each ********************** Be prepared before going into this battle. I can make this seem to easy for anyone, but it will take a long time. Cloud, Cait, Cid. Cloud is survior so give him the Aurora Armlet and Fire Ring and back him up with as many materia as you want, try to limit on the greens and reds. Now in this battle, Cloud has only 33%, if not lower, of actually getting killed. Meanwhile, you can use your Right Arms or you can attack away. Cast Haste with Time, Sense to check both of their lives, don't kill both heads on the same turn. It's even possible to wear him down by letting him use up all his MPs. The only two attacks that can kill you is if he hits you with two Quakes, which is rare. O, speaking of which, I forgot to add something. In Cloud's Aurora Armlet add this combination (Elemental=Titan) and (Elemental=Ramuh)Make sure the other two memeber have Steal to steal the Schizo's Right's Protect Ring. Do get it. Climb to the top of the Crater and then go down. Don't mess any of the battles, even with Gigas, he can kill you in a heart beat with one attack alone. Cloud, Tifa, and Cait. Before so, make sure to remove the others armor. Save again after Rufus talks to his people, just incase you screw up the Whirlwind Maze constantly. Pick up the Neo Bahamut materia. Avoid all random encounters, even Whirlwind Maze's. Get Tifa's weapon, Kaiser Knuckles. Keep going and it's time to face the next boss. ****************************** BOSS BATTLE: Jenova's Death HP: 25000 ****************************** Cloud, Tifa, Cait. This battle can go on forever without the aid of Right Arms. You can always use Magic Hammer to kill her 800 MP away and then attack constantly. Make sure you put Fire Armlet on Cloud and Fire Ring on someone else. This will secure your victory. Haste=All is also nice if you plan to use full phyical attacks alone. This boss is beatable without any E-Skill because I just did that. I didn't do that only once, I did it 4 times due to experimental and testing. You can use Cross Slash to paralyze her, but those will be one per battle or none. After battle, quickly revive anyone and give everyone their full HP no matter what. I've been killed twice due to those seahorse looking things by their two attacks and I couldn't run away and plus the fact that only Cloud was alive at that time. Don't try to get yourself screwed over like I did. Grab the Turbo MP materia and followed by the Poison Ring. Save during any during those times to be safe. One more whirlwind to pass and the rest of is just storyline. Give Cloud the weakest armor that you got and take his accesory off. He won't need it. ##################################### Prisoned in Junon and Huge Materia ##################################### Control of Barret, do the routine. When you get Cait and Barret under control, give them your best and highest defense armors, mine was Adaman Bangles. The randon battle that you fight are phyical anyways. By the way, all battles are escapable even the first one with guards rushing at you. Get Tifa out the gas chamber. Get into the Highwind. Give Tifa the weakest armor you got and take her accesory off and any other materia on her. Places to pickup certain stuff with Highwind: Full Cure = Cosmo Canyon Fourth Bracelet = Rocket Town 4th Enemy Skill = Chocobo Sage Curse Ring = Mideel Contain = Mideel *Optional* On a sidenote, you can get Tifa's Premium Heart and her Level 4 Limit 'Final Heaven' Later on, of course Added Later: I don't know if I have mentioned this or not, but this the time that I gotted my 3 Enemy Skills, and if haven't yet, you should to unless you want to beat it without any Enemy Skills. Go to Mideel now and Tifa will stay with Cloud. Party of Cid, Cait, Nanaki. Go to Corel now and take the opposite path of which you took from Costa Del Sol to Corel. Cid should have a Ribbon on him with Fourth Bracelet. Kill off Cait and Nanaki before using Aqualung with Cid to finish them off. This battle is too small for me to make a huge section about. For the other 5 force battles, you can just skip them and not take any EXP from them. You won't get the Ultima materia, but who needs it anways. All you need to do is get on the train with Cid in control. You see that 20 minute timer, well all you have to do now is wait until that reaches zero. Make sure you don't do anything before than. Getting too close and making Cid jump on the other train will force you start over again from 20. Added Later: Actually you can get the Ultima Materia. The the earliest time you can get it is before the Diamond Weapon fight, but I think you can get earlier than that though. Try and find out yourself. Next Huge Materia: Fort Condor. Well you need some basic tactical skills. Make sure you have at least 20,000 gils and the more the better. You need to win this battle, you ain't getting no EXP from that optional boss no matter what. I'm not gonna too indepth about this. This is what I do. Divide the whole field into 3 chokeholes. For each chockehole have one defender, one triple-rockroller, one healer/repairer, and two archers/shooters. Reposition the rockroller according to your tactics. With this, add no more army, you can beat this minigame. ########################################## Attack on Mideel and Final Huge Materia ########################################## Just to let you know, this is the final chance you take on getting the three enemy skills. After that, your in danager of over leveling your people up. After that head to Mideel. ****************************** Quick Boss: Ultimate Weapon ****************************** The reason why I call this a quick boss is because battling wise he is very fast and because this battle end after he has releashed his third attack. From my research/tests he only uses three moves in this order: Quake3-Attack-UltimaBeam. Once Ultima is done and you are still alive the battle will end. Before the battle though. Give one person this combo: Wizard Bracelet and Protect Ring. In the Bracelet put Elemental=Comet and Elemental=Titan. Now for during each turn, after recieving damage, have that person use a hi-potions on himself. You only need 2 and that you should be it. You could steal Curse Ring, but that is just a hassle to do. You now will go through Cloud's memory phase. After that you will get control of Cloud again. *Optional* On a sidenote, you can get Tifa's Premium Heart and her Level 4 Limit 'Final Heaven' This the time to get it, once again Head for the Junon Underwater Reactor. For the first two battles use Cloud, Cait, and Cid. These should be easy battles. Kill off Cait and Cid, and then have Cloud use Aqualung to quickly finish these two battles. This takes care of Underwater Army A and B. Cloud having the Protect Ring on him is vital key for protection, espically in these quicky battles. The Counterattack materia on him will also be an extra plus as well, followed with Enemy Skill and those 5 skills. *Note*One of theese battles is escapable, from what I heard. I don't know which one it is, I can't test it because I don't have a save from back then. Save before fighting the next group. A word of advice, it's better to encounter group, C, separetly. So that you can avoid the backattack, which deals more damage than ususal. To do this, talk to the soldier that is the closes and fight him first and then approach the other two to fight then as well, see no back attack. Should I remind you, this battle, Cs, is done with Cloud, Cait, and Barret. Now go back to the save point and switch Cait for Cid. Head back in and face the MP Soldiers. Kill off Cid and have Cloud use an Aqualung, use it again. This should eliminate then. Instead of going back and change the party again, go to the next screen and see Cloud talk. Enter the next screen after this one to see the Huge Materia being taken away and Reno close by. Don't approach him yet, now should be the right time to go back/heal/swith members and save while your at it. The next battle is by far one of the toughest and hardest battles you'll have to face. Your party will now be Cloud, Nanaki, and Barret. Make sure one has Sense materia and everyone has a Enemy Skill materia on them. Nanaki should have the Protect Ring. Tranquilze Nanaki first and anyone else if you have those to spare. Elemental=Comet should be helpful on the armors, at least that is what I've heard, to protect against Lapis Laser, since it's nonelemental. ***************************** BOSS BATTLE: Carry Armor HP: 24000 (Arms: 10,000 Each) ***************************** For the main purpose of this battle, you are suppose to beat this guy without destroying neither arms by the end of the battle. I played this guy over 30 times, seriously, and I've only done so twice. It's hard, I know. But twice I lost to the final battle with the Underwater Army, so I can't help what I did. I just decided to give up that phase and just went with killing one arm and then finishing him off. In this battle, get Big Guard up and then use Magic Hammer on him twice, so that he can't use Lapis Laser no more. Then use Trine and Right Arms to knock his arms to critical. At this point, you have to decide to stick with one arm gone or have both of them stay. Heal the arms that you want to stay. I used Elixirs to do so, X-Potions also works as well. Meaning I used 3 Elixirs to beat this guy. You could always use S-Mines, that cost 1000 gils each and attack one target, if you're planning to take out no arms at all. Use White Winds when one is close to KO. When he Arm Grabs one character, quickly attack him to have that character back on the floor so that you can revive him. Best to have the game speed set to Wait and 30% Game Speed or even lowest if wanted. HP Plus is a must. S-Mines were mentioned by GarlandG. Luck Plus, Magic Plus, and MP Turbo are the other materias that I used as well. Followed by Life=All, Cure=All, and Phoenix. I use a Wizard Bracelet for Nanaki because of the AP given from this battle. Easier version of this that I have thought of are: 1. Get Throw materia and powerup Cloud's Stength and buy Nail Bats and thrown them directly at Carry Armor. 2. Get the three Enemy Skill to beat him, which is mentioned above. 3. Chocobuncle attacks 9999. Deadliest events I've seen is him using Lapis Laser as his first move and then Arm Grab on Nanaki as the next move, gameover. Next one, he grabs two of my characters and then when I do enough damage to have either one or both on the ground for revival, he quickly grabs my last guy standing, gaveover. Next one, he uses Lapis Lazer twice, gameover. Next one, Grabs two of my people, after my first Magic Hammer, he uses Lapis Lazer and then he uses it again. The whole point of this battle is to see how much arms you want to keep, keep at least one, and how fast you can eliminate his MP so that he won't use Lapis Laser on you. Even with Protect Ring on one person, this guy can still wipe you out fast. That's the reason why I sticked with one arm. Challenge this guy with your own risk. If I'm not mistaken, this was also a reason it gave other challenges their hard points. The last thing you should be worried up and the most crucial of them all is the arms of death, what I call them. GOOD LUCK! YOU'LL NEED IT! Added Later, just for the record, when he has no MP to use and he picks up 2 of your characters, the only thing you can do is attack. By using any attacks, your characters hold by Arm Grab will suffer damage. By using Magic Hammer or just healing the arms can damage your characters as well. The computer just takes any numbers and deal them to your hanging characters. Pick up the tressure chest near by after the fight, all three of them. Scimatar looks nice. Proceed. ******************************************* DEADLY FORCE BATTLES: Underwater Army EFG ******************************************* These are the battles that can easily screw you up. If you lose anyone of these battles you'll have to face Carry Armor all over again, did you think it was fun? For the first battle, it's fairly easy just use Aqualung. Now, make sure you hear this straight. Take the Wizard Bracelet off of Nanaki and give him that has a high defense power. I know I should be using Adaman Bangle, but instead I choose a Crystal Bangle instead and I was close to death. Do this before starting the second battle, F, because you won't get a chance after that battle. For some reason, Cloud would get over himself and disobey your command and jump on down and face the next battle, which by the way is a backattack battle. For this battle, White Wind and Aqualung should be your main attacks. White Wind to heal you up. If you are lucky, you can aim and kill two Soldiers with one Aqualung, that is only if you have a lot of luck. If you don't hope that your counterattack materia will act out and kill those guys for you. Also use White Wind you mind approtiate, I really don't know when I used it, I did use it once though. Your limit bar can help you speed up your next attack after using Aqualung once. If you find that White Wind won't heal that much, it heals what the caster's HP is a the moment, consider using Hi-Potion instead. If you're really desperate, go ahead and use an elixir if you want. Or even start reviving other characters as well, but I don't know what good that will do. After these battles, save. Go ahead and say to take take them as prisoner/hostages. Go back and save again if you don't trust your skills with the submarine mini-game. I would assume that this should be a easy battle, for me at least. Beat it and end it. Your at Junon now, hop on back onto the Highwind and head for Rocket Town. Before that though, Head for the Submarine and take back that lost Huge Materia in the sub. Go the Gelikna and get Conformer, Heaven's Cloud, Double Cut Materia, and a Escort Guard. While down there you probably want to get Ancient's Key as well. Don't touch Emmy though. ##################################### Rocket Town Huge Materia Scenrio ##################################### At Rocket Town, be ready with the three battles followed by a pause. *NOTE*Having Cid in the party in the first place will not allow you do switch party members for the fight against Rude and so forth. ************************* Rocket Shinra Army ABC ************************* Party consist of Cloud, Barret, Cid and you won't be given the option to change party members after this battle. Just kill off Barret and Cid and then have Cloud use Aqualung and use Magic Hammer if Cloud's MP gets too low. Cloud should have on either a Protect Ring or a Ribbon. After battle, revive Barret and Cid and get their HP to maximum and give them a proper materia and weapon setup. Steal shouldn't be needed since you can't steal Rude's Ziedrich. Read further on per possilble materia selections and etc... ********************* Rude and 2 Soldiers ********************* This can turn out to be a hard battle. Yet I've found some easy cheap ways to get by this. For this battle, you have to beat Rude without killing the 2 Soldiers. These Soldiers be turned into toads, but they still can keep some of their basic attacks though, even they basic phyical attack does more than just one. Rude on the other hand can be poisoned and Cross Slash can paralyze him for a couple turns. Slow works as well, meaning you should throw a Spider Web, which you should still have since I didn't tell you to use them for any other battles. Cast Big Guard to speed up your chance to hit Rude. A great materia to use is Comet, but due to it's high MP cost, you'll need to use Magic Hammers a lot of times, it still does great damage though. Use Big Guard and/or Protect Ring. Turn the speed to slow and wait so that you won't lose the effect and this battle too quickly. Don't bother trying to equip steal and trying to steal the Ziedrich from Rude, for you to be able to do that you have to kill the two guys in front of him, which you can't do, unless you want to gain 600 EXP and besides it's not needed anyways. I manage to do so. Make sure Cloud is the sole survior. Best way to do this is after poison, kill the two other off. Use Cross Slash on Rude and let the poison finish him. There should be one more person after Rude. Don't worry he is by himself. You should give Cloud full HP and use Comet twice to finish him off. Aqualung works as well. Kill him and be done with it. After that you'll be sent into space. O,Square,X,X, if you want to Huge Materia. Go to Cosmo Canyon and talk to Nanaki's Grandfather. Get the Ancients key, should have done so, and head for the Forgotten Capitol. Place Key in. Cait calls. And you'll see Diamond coming up. ****************************** BOSS BATTLE: Diamond Weapon HP: 30000 ****************************** Can not Sense HP This guy can't be sent, so no need to equip anyone with Sense materia. To prepare for this battle you should have everyone equip Fire Armlets. Fire Ring are for losers. Not meaning that you're a loser of course To get the other two Fire Armlets, you need to steal them from Unknowns in the Gelnika. I know I should have told you to so during the first trip, but you didn't need it back them. When you still from Unknowns, the one that has a big head on and no spikes pink haired, you should try to equip on some high Defense armor like Adaman Bangle or something else in that sort of nature. A good idea is to use Big Guard at the beginning of the battle. And if you have extra money buy a Exit materia before coming here so that you may use it to escape from these battles. These guys do are pretty hard compared to everyone else in this game. Make sure everyone has Steal equipped as well. The other guy in that room has Aurora Armlets up for steal, but those aren't needed, but they do make a good profit when sold. When you fight him, make sure the Fire Armlets are equipped. For my battle, Tifa will take all the EXP in this battle. Make sure you a calculator or pencil and paper to meassure his life. I had to battle him 4 times because I got clumsy and screw up on how much life he really has. Two Ribbons and one Protect Ring should be used in this battle. The materia doesn't matter except for Tifa, the one that will actually get some AP from this battle, 2500 to be exact. Don't bother wasting your Ethers, just use Magic Hammer whenever you feel like it on Diamond, his MP source is unlimited. Use Aqualung, Trine, Right Arms, or Swift Bolts to attack. If using magic equip the MP turbo for extra boost, not much though. Diamond Flash can lower everyone's HP, not that you should be concerned or anything, but there is a way to overcome this low HP. After the flash, have someone throw a hi-potions on someone else. Then that someone else equickly use White Wind, and there you go, full HP once again. Buy at least 15+ phoenix downs, those are needed. Big Guard should only be used once to get the Haste on everyone. Contain's Freeze also backs a punch, so do the Bahamut Brothers. The Fire Armlets will absorb every single attack except his Stomp attack. GarlandG's strategy: I know quite to sure if I'm working it right or not. He said that if you use limit breaks on him, I think it was 5 times, that you will force Diamond Weapon to use his Diamond Flash attack, which is a countdown. During that time you can attack him all you want and normal attacks works as well. Swift Bolts were the ones he recommended to use. Keep forcing him into Diamond Flash countdowns so that he won't use Stomp, which is the only attack that can harm you. After this battle, more storyline. Approach the North Crater and more storyline. Now it's time to get Yuffie. Have Cloud, Cid, and Barret in the party, Cloud being the sole survior in this battle, being as though it is still at low EXP. For some reason, you finding her this into the game is quite common sight. Don't equip counterattack materia on Cloud or anyone else, it can kill her. I know, she is that dam weak at the moment. Once you get her use this, or similar to this: Not interested .....petrified No, wait! That's right. Lets hurry on. Before going any further let make sure you have some of these stuffs. For the W-Item Duplication Trick. At least one of: Megalixir Tranquilzer Hero Drink Vaccine (optional) Remedy (optional) Phoenix Down Elixir/X-Potion Exit materia (useful) Conformer (Yuffie) Right Arms Swift Bolt Spider Web ###################### Raid into Shinra ###################### Now it's time to revisit Shinra. I'm not saying to get get all the Tressures in this place. I'm just saying to get at least the Aegis Armlet. For one thing, there is only one in a game and two is that it's quite useful for the next battle. Save at the save point and after that go get the W-Item and don't fight the Turks yet. After getting W-Item if you plan to do the trick immeatidly, save first, I don't want you walk that long distance again and waste your time. Try to duplicate most of the things I have listed above. Wait and Slow if you have the Exit materia for the fastest combo out of battles. When your back to the ladder screen, go back and save. After that, lets face the Turks one final time. ************************************************ BOSS BATTLE: The Turks (Rude, Reno, and Elena HP: 25000 (Reno) ************************************************ Since Reno has the lowest HP, my target will be him and not Elena, which so happens so many Walkthroughs has addressed. Killing Reno will also end the battle as well. Unlike Elena, Reno can have his life sensed for your convience. Fourth Bracelet, Aegis Armlet, and Aurora Armlet should be the ones you would be using, you might not agree. At the beginning of the battle use both Spider Web and Big Guard. Contain and Comet does wonders, but W-Item with Right Arms could be more effective. To get a bigger boost, use W-Item twice for Hero Drinks and put them on the characters. The only attack that could kill someone even under Hero Drinks and Barrier is Rude's fist. If you really want, Fire Armlet is yet another second choice for armor since it will absorb most of the attacks used by the Turks. I know that Poison=All works, but I'm having a hard time to get it to stick, so I would like you to know not to get your hopes up. Cross Slash won't paralyze anyone. Bahamut Brothers can do 3-4ks worth of damage, you can only use them once though. Use Megalixirs as your only healing source since you have unlimited of them in your pocession. One more thing I forgot to add, STEAL EVERYTHING OFF OF THEM. All three of them. Mainly the Ziedrich which is the only one that you'll get in this game and the Touph Ring can be very handy for the last battles. When Rude's life is very low,