FINAL FANTASY VII: LOW LEVEL/NO ITEMS/INITIAL EQUIPMENT/
NO ACCESSORIES/COMMAND MATERIA ONLY CHALLENGE
By Thundaka ([email protected])
Copyright 2005 Thundaka.
This guide is solely for private use. If you wish to host this guide on your
website, contact me for permission before doing so. Any profitable use is
strictly prohibited.
VERSION HISTORY
v1.00: First version of this FAQ posted on GameFAQs. Any suggestions or
corrections which could improve this FAQ are encouraged.
v1.10: Made numerous corrections and additions, most significantly the
presence of a bed in Corel Prison.
v1.20: Made a few minor alterations, mostly involving the use of Cross Slash
and Meteorain.
v1.30: Added a few improvements to the existing strategies, and corrected a
few more typos. Barring flagrant errors, this will be the final version.
v1.40: Fixed a few flagrant errors. Also added two VERY important strategy
changes to the Motor Ball and Hojo battles (thanks Garland), making two of the
hardest battles in the challenge into two of the easier ones and making the
challenge as a whole significantly less frustrating.
INTRODUCTION
In December 2004, soon after GarlandG had completed the formidable Low
Level/No Items/Initial Equipment/No Accessories challenge, Necrosis posted
this on the GameFAQs message boards: "I've been thinking lately, and I
believe that this challenge could be possible using command materia only."
After much thought and planning, it was agreed that it could be possible to
beat the game with those restrictions. Five months later, in May of 2005,
GarlandG finally completed this behemoth of a challenge.
The rules of the LLNIIENACMO challenge are as follows:
1. No character can exceed Level 29 at any point in the game.
2. You may never use the Item command in battle.
3. With the exception of the Save Crystal in the Northern Crater, you may
never use the Item submenu under the field menu.
4. You may never use the Equip command under the field menu.
5. Only command materia, and more specifically only the Sense, Enemy Skill,
Manipulate, Deathblow, and Double Cut materia, may ever be used. (Steal,
Throw, Morph, and W-Item violate the No Item restriction, while Mime and
Slash-All are impossible to reach.)
6. When the game forces you to equip materia other than those listed
above--Lightning and Ice on Cloud in the Sector 1 reactor, Fire and All on Red
in the Sample:HO512 battle--you must not use the abilities these materia
provide. Remove all banned materia at the first opportunity.
7. Cait Sith's Slots limit may only be used once, in the Hojo battle. When it
is employed, you must not use the instant victory combo (three Cait Siths).
All other combos are fair game, though for practical reasons you must avoid
the Cait Sith/Cait Sith/BAR and three Moogle combos.
Though superficially this challenge seems similar to LLNIIENA, in fact it is
an entirely different beast. Prior to getting the buggy in Corel, you do not
have access to Potions, Cure, or any healing enemy skills; Aeris' and Yuffie's
limit breaks are the only sources of healing. Since Aeris will lose more HP
than she can gain from Healing Wind (without Fury, anyway), many Midgar
battles can turn deadly if they drag out too long. And when neither healer is
present--most notably against Sample:HO512, Rufus, and Dyne--you cannot heal
at all; you must end the battle before the designated survivor is killed,
using inns to heal between battles.
Also note that there are only three ways to revive fallen characters: inns,
Aeris' Pulse of Life limit break, and the Angel Whisper enemy skill. Pulse of
Life takes too long to charge for use in the earliest battles, and since Angel
Whisper is learned in the Northern Crater it can only be used in a few random
encounters and against the final bosses. This means that there is simply no
way to revive fallen characters in most battles, including all battles on
Disc 2.
Besides removing the ability to heal and revive, the CMO restriction takes
away a number of other useful functions of your materia. Stat boosters like
HP Plus and Magic Plus go out the window. In addition to being available
earlier, basic magic materia like Restore, Heal, and Barrier cost much less
MP; since you are forced to use the more expensive White Wind and Big Guard,
MP is usually more of an issue than in LLNIIENA. You cannot poison your
enemies, so the Materia Keeper battle (and to a lesser extent Bottomswell and
Red Dragon) is completely different. No elemental or status protection is
possible, making Big Guard and White Wind even more crucial.
On the other hand, your characters do have some advantages in this challenge.
In order to defeat certain bosses, your characters will learn some higher-
level limit breaks: Meteorain for Cloud, Planet Protector and Pulse of Life
for Aeris, and Slots for Cait Sith. In addition to possessing more powerful
limit breaks, the extra EXP from killing enemies to learn these limit breaks
will boost your characters' stats. It is because of this extra EXP that the
maximum level for this challenge is Level 29, rather than Level 28 as in most
LL challenges. You also get Yuffie earlier, granting your party a second
healer and long-range character not long after leaving Midgar. And because
there is no need to buy items or materia, you will never have to fuss over
conserving gil or picking up items and equipment to sell.
As with LLNIIENA, you will frequently need a calculator in this challenge.
Five bosses must be defeated without access to Sense--the first four Midgar
bosses plus Rapps--and most of the last few bosses are immune to Sense. To
assist you with this, HP values are provided below each enemy's name. Where
it is relevant, I will list MP values as well. This will tell you how much MP
you can gain from them with Magic Hammer, and in some cases how much you must
take away to disable their attacks.
I think it is no exaggeration to say that LLNIIENACMO is THE elite challenge
for the FFVII gamer.
BATTLE PLAN
In order to complete any Low Level challenge, you need a battle plan. The
battle plan lists all forced encounters and boss battles in the game, as well
as any other EXP-earning battles you must win in order to defeat all the
bosses. Examples of the latter include battles in which you learn a new enemy
skill, or low-EXP enemies you defeat to learn a new limit break.
With the exception of the Icicle battles on Gaea's Cliff, only one character
can be alive at the end of any battle. This will ensure that only one
character gets active party EXP, allowing everyone to stay below Level 30.
Survivors in the active party get full EXP, characters not in battle get half
EXP, and active party members dead at the end of battle receive nothing.
(Characters are considered to be in the party if you can access their materia
via the Exchange command. Cid is not in the party when you fight Palmer, and
Yuffie is not in the party during the Wutai sidequest; hence, they do not
receive any EXP during those times.) Since she will not be around to receive
the EXP from the enemies on Discs 2 and 3, Aeris will be the designated
survivor in most Disc 1 battles.
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| Enemy | EXP | Survivor | KO |
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| MP x2 | 32 | Cloud | |
| Guard Scorpion | 100 | Cloud | Barret |
| 106 x (Mono Drive x3) | 5724 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| Air Buster | 180 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| 54 x (Whole Eater + | 3456 | Aeris | Cloud |
| Hedgehog Pie x2) | | | |
| Aps | 240 | Aeris | Cloud, Tifa |
| Reno | 290 | Barret | Cloud, Tifa |
| Mighty Grunt x3 | 150 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| Sample:HO512 | 300 | Barret | Cloud, Red |
| Heli Gunner | 250 | Barret | Aeris, Red |
| Rufus + Dark Nation | 310 | Cloud | |
| Motor Ball | 440 | Barret | Cloud, Aeris |
| Ark Dragon + Crawler x3 | 252 | Cloud | Tifa, Red |
| Mystery Ninja | 160 | Cloud | Red, Aeris |
| Bottomswell | 550 | Yuffie | Cloud, Aeris |
| Midgar Zolom | 250 | Aeris | * |
| Jenova-BIRTH | 680 | Aeris | Cloud, Yuffie |
| Death Claw x2 | 192 | Barret | Cloud, Red |
| Dyne | 600 | Barret | |
| Zemzelett | 70 | Aeris | Cloud, Yuffie |
| Beachplug x3 | 285 | Cloud | Barret, Yuffie |
| Harpy | 148 | Aeris | Cloud, Yuffie |
| Stinger | 290 | Aeris | Cloud, Red |
| Stinger | 290 | Aeris | Cloud, Red |
| Gi Nattak | 1400 | Aeris | Cloud, Red |
| Materia Keeper | 3000 | Aeris | Cloud, Yuffie |
| Palmer | 1800 | Aeris | Cloud, Yuffie |
| Attack Squad x2 | 600 | Aeris | Cloud, Barret |
| Attack Squad x3 | 900 | Aeris | Cloud, Barret |
| Rapps | 3200 | Aeris | Cloud, Barret |
| Red Dragon | 3500 | Aeris | Cloud, Cid |
| Demons Gate | 3800 | Aeris | Cloud, Cid |
| Razor Weed x2 + Tail Vault | 1190 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| Touch Me | 170 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| Harpy | 148 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| Jenova-LIFE | 4000 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
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| END OF DISC 1 |
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| Icicle | 500 | Cloud, Yuffie | Red |
| Icicle | 500 | Cloud, Yuffie | Red |
| Icicle | 500 | Cloud, Yuffie | Red |
| Schizo | 4400 | Cid | Cloud, Yuffie |
| Jenova-DEATH | 6000 | Cloud | Tifa, Cait Sith |
| Stilva | 1000 | Cid | Cloud, Tifa |
| Beachplug x3 | 285 | Cid | Barret, Red |
| Zemzelett | 70 | Cid | Barret, Yuffie |
| Attack Squad x2 | 600 | Cid | Barret, Yuffie |
| Submarine Crew x2 | 1700 | Cid | Cloud, Red |
| Submarine Crew x2 | 1700 | Cid | Cloud, Red |
| Submarine Crew | 850 | Cid | Cloud, Cait Sith |
| Submarine Crew x2 | 1700 | Cid | Cloud, Barret |
| Underwater MP x2 | 1640 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| Carry Armor | 5700 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Red |
| Submarine Crew x2 | 1700 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Red |
| Submarine Crew x2 | 1700 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Red |
| Submarine Crew x3 | 2550 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Red |
| Attack Squad x2 | 600 | Cloud | Barret, Red |
| Attack Squad x2 | 600 | Cloud | Barret, Red |
| Attack Squad x2 + | 1530 | Cloud | Barret, Red |
| Senior Grunt | | | |
| Rude + Attack Squad x2 | 4000 | Cid | Cloud, Cait Sith |
| Senior Grunt | 930 | Cid | Cloud, Cait Sith |
| Diamond Weapon | 35000 | Cloud | Cait Sith, Cid |
| 11 x (Whole Eater + | 704 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Tifa |
| Hedgehog Pie x2) | | | |
| Proud Clod | 7000 | Yuffie | Cloud, Cait Sith |
| Hojo | 25000 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Yuffie |
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| END OF DISC 2 |
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| Pollensalta | 1000 | Cloud | ** |
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EXP Remaining Before Level 30
-----------------------------
Cloud: 706
Barret: 872
Tifa: 20
Red: 1905
Yuffie: 620
Cait Sith: 658
Cid: 840
*If Cloud or Yuffie is thrown out of the battle, they receive inactive party
EXP. Whether they are thrown out or are dead when the battle ends, you will
be able to adhere to the battle plan so long as Aeris is the only character
standing.
**The rest of the party receives no EXP if this battle is fought before the
party members are collected at the bottom of the Crater. Hence it does not
matter which party you use, so long as only Cloud is alive at the end of the
battle.
=============================================================================
LLNIIENACMO STRATEGY GUIDE
=============================================================================
*****DISC ONE*****
This sordid story begins in the city of Midgar, as a train rolls up to the
Sector 1 Mako reactor.
I. Midgar - Sector 1
Head off the train, and go forward to engage in your first battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MP x2
30 HP
Two physical attacks will take care of them. Not too tough... yet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head on to the next screen to talk with the AVALANCHE members, then name Cloud
and Barret. (I will be using default names for all characters except Red
XIII.) Place Cloud in the back row. It is time to start practicing the fine
art of running away. Have Cloud defend on his first turn, then do nothing
until he successfully exits the battle. Don't bother moving Barret back; you
will have to kill him in the first boss battle, so the more damage he takes
the better.
Take the elevator down to the reactor, and take advantage of the first save
point. As you may have noticed, there's no way for you to heal right now.
For the moment you need to just concentrate on minimizing the damage Cloud
receives. Keep Cloud in the back row, and walk up to the reactor to trigger
the first boss fight.
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Guard Scorpion
800 HP
Before attacking, Guard Scorpion will use Search Scope on his intended target.
This will give you plenty of opportunity to defend or change rows if you deem
it necessary. It's best to enter your commands during Guard Scorpion's attack
animation, so you don't accidentally trigger Tail Laser. Despite his reduced
attack power, the lower damage from Guard Scorpion's attacks makes moving
Cloud to the back row well worth it. Cloud still does a respectable 20
damage, while Barret does 35 damage. Both limit breaks do around 120 damage.
The first time he raises his tail, simply wait until he lowers it again. The
second time have Cloud defend, and Barret attack several times. Guard
Scorpion will counterattack with Tail Laser, doing 70 damage to Barret and
just under 20 damage to Cloud. He also gains a big Defense bonus in this
stage, so your attacks will only do half their normal damage. Be aware that
Barret will gain limit breaks twice before he dies; you need to make sure
Guard Scorpion has enough HP left to survive a second Big Shot plus a few
physical attacks.
Have Cloud do nothing except defend after he gains his limit break. Depending
on how many times Barret has been targeted, it may take two or three Tail
Lasers to put him at low enough HP. Kill him off with physical attacks, then
have Cloud finish Guard Scorpion with Braver. Be careful not to trigger Tail
Laser after Barret has died; it will do 50% more damage then, and Guard
Scorpion will still only take half damage.
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Once Cloud has won the battle, save immediately. If he stays in the back row
and defends, Cloud should have no trouble surviving the random encounters. I
managed to make it out with 100 HP and a little over seven minutes to spare.
Time to head back to the hideout. (Note that Cloud's HP is automatically
restored after you escape the reactor.) Buy a flower if you wish, then head
south. When you meet the three groups of soldiers, choose "Later!" each time.
After a number of cutscenes, you'll be back in Sector 7. Home sweet home.
II. Midgar - Sector 7
Head straight for Tifa's bar, in the southwest corner of town. Do not be
tempted to start the Mono Drive battles just yet; besides giving Barret extra
EXP, this will cause Tifa to join at a higher level. Go through the cutscenes
at the bar, and the party will get to rest up. Go upstairs, skip the materia
tutorial, and Tifa will enter the party. Now that you have access to the
Materia menu, unequip Cloud's Lightning and Ice right away.
Before boarding the train, Cloud has to learn Meteorain by defeating 320
enemies. You will be killing Mono Drives, since they give the least EXP of
any enemy outside the Number 1 reactor. To fight them, head right past the
train platform to enter the train graveyard. They appear three at a time;
together with the two MPs from the beginning, it will take 106 battles to
learn Meteorain. Move Cloud to the front row before entering the train
graveyard.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mono Drive x3
28 HP
Have Cloud attack each of them once. If Barret and Tifa are still alive,
finish them with physical attacks before killing the final Mono Drive.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apply the above strategy 106 times, resting at the inn above the weapon shop
when your HP falls below a certain amount. (50 HP would be a safe minimum.)
Though no enemy here is unusually powerful--the most damaging attacks are
Sweeper's Smoke Shot and W Machine Gun, each of which does about 25
damage--with no healer it doesn't take long for the Sweepers and Guard Hounds
to wear down your HP. When Cloud reaches 29 Strength, most likely at Level 12
or Level 13, he will be able to consistently kill them in one hit from the
back row; placing him there will allow you to last twice as long between stays
at the inn. Don't bother switching Cloud's limits any time soon; Blade Beam
and Meteorain charge extremely slowly, and you want to learn Cross Slash soon
anyway.
You can expect the whole process to take three to four hours. If you have
trouble finding the patience to learn Meteorain here, it would be wise to quit
the challenge now. You'll have to do the same thing when you get Aeris in
Sector 5, and several boss battles require similar amounts of patience; this
is no speed run. But if you do have the patience for it, this is one of the
most exciting challenges available.
There is no need to count the battles one by one, as after battle 106 the
words "Meteorain gained" will appear on the EXP screen. Rest at the inn one
last time, move everyone to the back row, save your game, and then board the
train.
III. Midgar - Sector 5
When you approach Tifa in the railroad car, the alarm will go off. Just head
straight out of each car, ignoring the people with items and the guy who
steals your money. If you reach the last car, you will only have to cross one
screen to reach the security sensors. Go down the hole, take the ladder up to
where Jessie is, and then go left to reach the save point. From now on, make
it a policy to be in the back row and defending unless otherwise noted. Save
your game, and slide down to the Number 5 Reactor.
Don't wander around down here for too long. Not only do the enemies deal more
damage, but Smogger's Poison can be painful at the highest battle speed.
Descend into the reactor, taking advantage of the save point down there, set
the bomb, and go back up to the stairs leading to the elevator. You will have
to push the button at the same time as Barret and Tifa. Hopefully this won't
take more than a few attempts. Finally, run to the save point. If Cloud has
much less than 300 HP, you may want to consider reloading from a previous
save.
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BOSS: Air Buster
1200 HP
This battle is an automatic side attack, meaning everyone will get a turn
before Air Buster. It is not a normal side attack, however. Air Buster takes
five times normal damage from attacks to his weak side, rather than the
standard double damage; but his weak side is not always his back. His weak
side is whichever side he did not attack from last. If his last move was Big
Bomber, Energy Ball, or his bodyblow counterattack, Air Buster's weak side
will be the back; but if his last attack was Rear Gunner, he will take extra
damage from the front.
Have Barret and Tifa attack continuously while Cloud defends. Air Buster's
counterattacks should finish them off quickly, but you should still be careful
that you don't kill him too quickly by attacking his weak side. (If Big Shot
hits his weak side it will do 500 damage, and more than likely will end the
battle prematurely.) The instant both Barret and Tifa have been killed by Air
Buster, activate Cross Slash. This does 900 damage to his weak side, and
should guarantee the win.
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Air Buster explodes, you land in a bed of flowers, and Cloud's HP is restored.
Go figure. Say hello to Aeris. This lovely lady is our salvation for Disc 1,
so be nice to her. Before you can save, you'll have to take care of some
Shinra troops. To avoid the forced battles, have Aeris run from the first
soldier, "Hold on!" for the second, and run from the third. To take care of
the second soldier, push the top barrel. Your HP will be restored when you
exit the church. Save right away.
You can start the Planet Protector battles either before or after going to
Aeris' house. Either way, you won't be able to rest until you go through the
events there. As always, walk past Aeris' room rather than running. Head
toward the Sector 6 exit to get her back in your party, then save your
progress.
You need to win 54 Whole Eater + Hedgehog Pie x2 battles for Aeris to learn
Planet Protector. This enemy formation is found in front of the church, on
the screen with the save point, and immediately in front of the Sector 5
village. Despite the smaller number of battles and Aeris' ability to heal,
this is much harder than the Mono Drive battles. The Hedgehog Pies attack for
10 damage, and their Fire does 25 damage. The Whole Eater is even worse; its
physical attack does 30 damage, and he is able to attack twice on the same
turn. You also will frequently encounter two Whole Eaters together in this
area, though you can defend and run away from that battle. Move Cloud to the
front row, but keep Aeris in back.
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Whole Eater, Hedgehog Pie x2
72 HP, 40 HP
Focus on killing the Whole Eater first, then the Hedgehog Pies. Be certain
you've killed Cloud before you finish the last Hedgehog Pie. Your exact
strategy depends on how strong Aeris is; see below.
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At first, you will have no choice but to rest after each battle. Aeris will
start with less than 250 HP, dealing a little over 20 damage per hit in the
front row. If Cloud attacks the Whole Eater first, Aeris will be able to take
it out with one physical attack; she can then move to the front and kill each
Hedgehog Pie in two hits. However, after Cloud has died she has little hope
of killing the Whole Eater quickly enough. Even with Healing Wind, she most
likely won't live long enough to survive his double slashes plus the Hedgehog
Pies' attacks.
Things become much easier after Aeris has used Healing Wind seven times
against the Hedgehog Pies, earning her Seal Evil. (If you escape from a
battle in which Healing Wind is used, that use does not count toward Seal
Evil.) This stops all enemies for a minimum of three rounds, more than enough
time to kill the Whole Eater, and also silences the Hedgehog Pies. Even at
relatively low HP, Aeris should have no trouble winning the battle if she's
able to get out Seal Evil. Still, even using Seal Evil she can usually only
survive two battles before resting. Don't try entering the battle without at
least 150 HP and a halfway full limit gauge.
Critical hits can easily screw up your strategy. If Cloud's attack goes
critical and accidentally kills the Whole Eater in two battles, you can no
longer risk his help; should he kill another Whole Eater, Aeris will be one
battle short of Planet Protector. Likewise, you don't want Aeris accidentally
killing the last Hedgehog Pie before Cloud is dead. After she reaches
Strength 17 (at Level 6 or 7), you can do this: return to the back row once
only one Hedgehog Pie is left, and have Aeris attack it. This won't kill it
even if Aeris gets a critical hit, but will still allow her to finish it in
one hit after Cloud kills himself.
Expect this to take as long as learning Meteorain, if not longer. After the
54th battle, you will be notified that Aeris has learned Planet Protector. It
would be wise to keep a save here for the duration of the challenge, in case
you badly screw up the battle plan and have to start from the beginning. This
way, you won't have to learn your level 3 limit breaks all over again.
There's one more task to take care of before you can move on to Wall Market:
learning Pulse of Life. Fortunately the process is quite easy, and doesn't
give you any EXP. Set Aeris' limit to level 3, then allow her to be attacked
until she has Planet Protector ready. (You will have to rest at least once
for this to happen.) Get into a battle with Vice. Use Planet Protector, then
wait for the Vice to steal an item and leave. Even though he escapes, the use
of Planet Protector still counts because the EXP screen is shown. After you
do this five times, Pulse of Life will be yours. You lose the items the Vice
steals, but you would have no use for them anyway.
IV. Midgar - Sectors 6 and 7
Set Aeris' limit breaks back to level 1, and move both Aeris and Cloud to the
back row. Rest and save one last time, then head north to Wall Market. There
is a small chance you will be attacked from both sides by a group of Whole
Eaters along the way, rendering you unable to escape. If so, focus your
attacks on the single Whole Eater; eliminating the enemies on one side will
allow you to escape. Make sure that Cloud and Aeris both have limit breaks
before you start the Wall Market mission.
To avoid fighting Don Corneo's lackeys, Cloud is going to be his date. Here's
how to get him picked:
Ask the man at the Honeybee Inn about Tifa. Go all the way north, and talk to
the guard at Don Corneo's mansion. After talking to the girl in the clothes
shop, go to the bar on the second screen and talk to her father. Tell him you
want a dress that "feels soft" and "shimmers." Upon returning to the clothes
shop, you will receive the Silk Dress. Now go to the gym, and hit Square-X-
Circle over and over to beat Big Bro. This will earn you the Blonde Wig.
Don't visit the clothes shop yet. Instead, enter the restaurant just north of
the item shop. Sit down and order anything on the menu; when prompted say,
"It was alright." Take the Pharmacy Coupon you're given to the item shop, and
exchange it for a Digestive. Now go all the way north to the bar, and talk to
the woman in the bathroom. Offer her the Digestive; in relief and gratitude,
she will give you the Sexy Cologne. Finally, talk to the man in the shop on
the northeast corner of the first screen. Accept his offer, stay at the inn,
and buy the 200 gil item from the vending machine. He will give you the
Diamond Tiara.
So to recap, you need four items: Silk Dress, Blonde Wig, Sexy Cologne, and
Diamond Tiara. With these, Cloud is guaranteed to be chosen. Be aware that
after you put on the dress, it is no longer possible to leave Wall Market to
charge your limits. Save one last time, and enter Corneo's lair.
This place gives me the creeps. Head into the basement to find Tifa, then
back upstairs to be picked by the Don. After some further unpleasantness,
you'll be thrown into the sewers.
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BOSS: Aps
1800 HP
The key to this battle is being able to manipulate Sewer Tsunami. In addition
to damaging the whole party, it also hurts Aps. If used under the right
circumstances, Sewer Tsunami can help Aeris finish Aps while ensuring that she
is the only one left alive. There are two versions of this move: a forward
version that does 180 damage to Aps and 50 damage to the party (assuming they
are in the front row), and a backward version that does 45 damage to Aps and
100 damage to the party.
Aps will open the battle with the forward version of Sewer Tsunami. Use both
Cross Slash and Seal Evil immediately after he does, immobilizing him for a
long while. Continue attacking Aps until one more hit will put him below 600
HP. At the lowest battle speed, you can easily do this before Aps starts
moving. Then attack Cloud and Tifa until they have less than 140 HP
remaining. While you are doing this, Aps will only use Lick on Tifa or his
tail attack. If he uses Lick, make sure Tifa has less than 80 HP remaining.
(Sadness will reduce the damage she receives by one third.) Have Aeris defend
rather than move to the back row; moving her back causes her to be the target
of all his tail attacks.
When the above conditions have been met, start attacking again. Once he falls
below 600 HP, Aps will enter "Tsunami mode." He will skip his first turn, use
the forward Sewer Tsunami, skip his third turn, and finally use the backward
version of Sewer Tsunami. Have Aeris defend after the first Sewer Tsunami,
and otherwise just keep attacking until he has no more than 60 HP remaining.
The backward Sewer Tsunami should kill Cloud and Tifa, and either kill Aps
outright or weaken him enough that Aeris can kill him in one hit.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After battle, move Aeris to the back row and raise the battle speed to help
you escape from random encounters. Ignore the Steal materia, and take the
ladder into the train graveyard. It is perfectly possible for Aeris to make
it through the train graveyard by herself if you take the most direct route.
When you reach Sector 7, Cloud and Tifa are revived. Save your game, and run
to the top of the pillar. Talk to Barret, and proceed directly to the battle.
No need to open the menu.
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BOSS: Reno
1000 HP
Damage is not a problem here; both Reno's staff strike and Electro-mag Rod do
about 60 damage, and Barret will only take half that. The problem is
finishing the battle with only Barret alive, since Pyramid on your only
surviving character is a Game Over. Attack Reno until Barret is able to kill
him in one hit. Then kill Tifa, and lower Cloud to critical HP. (I recommend
keeping Cloud alive because he can target the Pyramid with his limit break.
Tifa's limit break hits a random target, and has a very good chance of
accidentally killing Reno instead.) Whenever he uses Pyramid, break it
immediately; characters alive inside a Pyramid at the end of battle will
receive EXP.
It is critical that Reno deal the killing blow to Cloud. This ensures that he
cannot use Pyramid immediately after Cloud dies, and will give Barret time to
deal the killing blow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swing on the rope to escape the collapsing pillar. When the cutscenes are
over, Cloud will be revived with full HP. Move him to the back row, and run
south to make Barret and Tifa join you. Now head back to Sector 5 to witness
the cutscenes at Aeris' house. When all is said and done, take advantage of
the bed and use the save point.
V. Rescuing Aeris
Time to return to Wall Market. On the way there, be sure to pick up the Sense
materia. This is the first materia you are allowed to equip, and the only one
that will be of any use prior to the world map. I recommend putting it on
Tifa. Rest at the Wall Market inn if you've lost too much HP, buy the
batteries from the weapon shop, and climb up the maze of pipes and wires to
reach Shinra Headquarters.
Move everyone to the front row. Save your game, then soft-reset and reload.
Prior to guessing Mayor Domino's password, it is impossible to escape from
random encounters; if you get one while crossing floor 59, you will have to
reset and climb all 59 flights of stairs again. Resetting your game should
prevent you from getting a random encounter. Head left from the save point,
and start climbing. The stairs occupy nine screens; the party will stop for a
cutscene on the sixth. When you reach Floor 59, you will be forced to fight
one battle.
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Mighty Grunt x3
230 HP
Eliminate two of them, then Sense the third. Reduce his HP to the point where
Cloud can kill him in one hit, then have Cloud move to the back row and
defend. Meanwhile, Barret and Tifa should work on killing each other off.
Finish him once they are both dead. (After sensing him, you can keep track of
his current HP by pressing Select to open the help window.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take the elevator to Floor 60. The next part is one of the most annoying
portions of any Low Level challenge. Cloud, Barret, and Tifa must run past
both pairs of guards without being noticed, or you will get a forced encounter
and have to climb the stairs and defeat the Mighty Grunts again. The middle
gaps are the most dangerous part, since there is always a guard looking
through them; you need to cross as soon as you see them moving to make it.
The guards on the right are much faster, so be extra careful when passing
them. Once Tifa has made it past the second set, you can breathe easy for a
bit.
(It is possible to take the elevator down to the first floor and save before
doing this part, but I really don't recommend it. Even one random encounter
at this point will screw up the battle plan, and you have to worry about
encounters both on the way to the save point and on the way to the floor 1
elevator. Consider yourself warned.)
Walk up the stairs to floor 61, and talk to the man walking along the bottom
of the screen to receive Keycard 62. Then go up, and get Keycards 63-65 from
Mayor Domino. Simply guess every option until you get the password. Ignore
floor 63, and head straight up to floor 64. Finally, a save point and some
beds. Rest to revive Barret and Tifa, move them all to the back row, and save
your game.
Open all the suitcases on floor 65 to receive Keycard 66, then eavesdrop on
the meeting. If Cloud or Barret has lost a substantial amount of HP, it would
be a very good idea to rest again on Floor 64. Follow Hojo up. When you
reach the save point, put the battle speed at the slowest setting; this will
help to minimize poison damage. When your old friend Nanaki joins the party,
do him a favor by giving him a better name than Red XIII. (I will simply call
him Red.) Tell Tifa to leave with Aeris.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Sample:HO512
1000 HP
Depending on your luck, the Sample can be the first really nasty boss of the
challenge. He will always be in the back row, so Cloud's and Red's physical
attacks only do half damage. His Shady Breath will usually poison the whole
party, a definite problem in a battle where you can't heal. And his little
helpers can be pretty nasty as well: Rolling Attack does 30 damage in the back
row (Sample:HO512's attack does about the same damage), and their Fire and Ice
do more than 70 damage.
If the initial Shady Breath misses Barret, consider yourself lucky; it should
make his survival much easier. Paralyzing the boss with Cross Slash can
prevent him from poisoning you for several turns. Use Red's first two turns
to move him to the back row, then Sense the Sample. After that, there's
really only one thing you can do: physically attack the Sample. You may
attack the little guys to get rid of your limit breaks at the end, but you
must not kill them; the EXP from one of these guys is enough to push you to
Level 30. Reduce the Sample to the point where one more attack from Barret
will kill him, then move Cloud and Red to the front row. In addition to
taking more damage from the little guys' attacks, this will increase your
characters' damage so they can kill themselves more quickly. Have Barret
defend during this time. (See note below about defending while poisoned.)
Unfortunately, if the Sample and his buddies start a Barret killing spree you
can't win. You just have to hope that doesn't happen.
IMPORTANT NOTE ON POISON: You should be aware that being poisoned interferes
with Defend. Normally, after a character chooses to Defend they will take
half damage from physical attacks until they enter a different command. But
after the numbers indicating poison damage appear above a character's head,
the defensive stance is broken and the character takes full damage again. To
return to the defensive stance, you must select Defend again soon after the
damage has appeared. This fact is of moderate importance in this battle and
the Hundred Gunner+Heli Gunner battle, since it is possible to survive even
if you never defend. However, it is the difference between life and death
when fighting Rapps.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
VI. Escape from Shinra HQ
After the battle, you will have to form a party. Pick Cloud, Aeris, and Red.
Remove Red's Fire and All materia, move him to the back row, and raise the
battle speed once again. I shouldn't have to remind you, but pick up the
first Enemy Skill materia; you can't complete the challenge without it.
Return to floor 67 and save.
Take the stairs back down to floor 64, and rest to revive the party. Do not
enter the elevators yet. Set Cloud's limit breaks to level 3, and get into a
random encounter on floor 65 to fill his limit gauge. If Sword Dance's Slap
puts Aeris into Fury, you can do this without resting; otherwise, you'll have
to use the beds on floor 64 at least once. While you're at it, let them
charge Red's and Aeris' limits. When both guys have a ready limit break, save
one last time. It would be wise to make a permanent save here as well, at
least until you finally get to the world map; if you screw up after being
captured, it will be very difficult to charge your limit breaks again. Once
you are ready, enter the elevator.
After you are captured, the party's HP will be restored. Escape the cells,
then follow the trail of blood to floor 69. Save your game. If Aeris still
doesn't have a limit break, get one now. When you discover President Shinra's
body, your HP will be restored again; but you now only control Cloud.
(Unfortunately, whenever your HP/MP is restored Fury and Sadness will be
automatically removed as well. Hence, putting Aeris in Fury to increase your
healing will do no good at all.) Unless you want to watch that cutscene again
every time you die to Heli Gunner, you'll want to take Cloud back down and
save again. Walk outside to talk with Rufus. Take Aeris to the elevator, and
hope you don't get any random encounters along the way. Before taking the
elevator, make sure that everyone is in the back row and the battle speed is
at the slowest setting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Hundred Gunner
1600 HP
Aeris' and Red's physical attacks cannot reach him. Because of this, it is
doubly important that Barret attack him every turn he gets. Have Red open
with Sled Fang while Aeris defends. Follow up by having Red Sense him, then
do nothing; he can only damage Hundred Gunner with Sled Fang, and defending
slows your limit breaks down. The more often he attacks Aeris in the
beginning, the better off you are. Once either Barret or Aeris is just above
half HP, restore them both to full health with Healing Wind. Like Red, she
cannot afford to defend most of the time; Healing Wind is vital for keeping
Barret alive to the end of the battle. The only exception is if her limit
gauge is just barely short of filling, and you are sure she will get Healing
Wind even if she defends. This will save her some precious HP, allowing her
to survive a little bit longer against the pernicious Heli Gunner.
Once he falls below 1066 HP, he will stop using single-target attacks and
start using Main Artillery on the party every turn. This can be quite
painful, and you will probably need the first Healing Wind early in this
phase. Keep attacking, and hopefully you'll be able to reduce him below 533
HP. He now uses the more powerful Wave Artillery. While this is more
damaging--it hits the whole party for about 50 damage--this phase is easier
because he needs two turns to charge every time he uses it. Keep attacking
with Barret and Sled Fang, and soon enough Hundred Gunner will be toast. When
Aeris gains her second Healing Wind, use it immediately.
Heli Gunner
1000 HP
Before you win this battle, you are going to have a burning hatred for this
tin can. Like Hundred Gunner, Heli Gunner can only be reached by Sled Fang
and Barret's attacks. He also has good evasion, so Barret will miss him about
20% of the time. But the thing that makes him evil is his status effects. He
can inflict Sleep with AB Cannon (used at the beginning of battle), Poison
with C Cannon, and both Poison and Sleep on the whole party with Firing Line;
these do about the same damage as Hundred Gunner's attacks. If Barret is put
to sleep, you won't be able to hurt Heli Gunner until he wakes up; use a
physical attack from Aeris or Red to do this. (Heli Gunner's physical attacks
will also wake him up, but he will lose time and suffer more damage as a
result.) Aeris or Red falling asleep isn't as big a problem, except if Aeris
is put to sleep just as she gains Healing Wind. You really do need three
Healing Winds for Barret to survive this battle, and especially if Aeris is
poisoned it's quite possible for an extra physical attack to kill her before
she can use the third.
Poison is almost as bad. Unlike Sleep it can't be removed, and the longer the
battle drags on the more it will hurt you. If Barret is poisoned early, his
prospects of living to deal the killing blow aren't good. Similarly, if he
poisons Aeris early and doesn't attack her very often after that, she most
likely won't live to use the final Healing Wind. And of course, it screws up
Defend as mentioned in the Sample:HO512 strategy.
Barret still must attack Heli Gunner all the time, and Red and Aeris still
must not defend unless only a miniscule amount of damage is required for a new
limit. Have Red use Sense at the beginning of this battle. Once Aeris uses
the third Healing Wind, have her do nothing but defend; she won't get another
one, so she should stay alive to serve as an alternate target for as long as
possible. If you somehow manage to get him below 250 HP with Barret at high
HP and Poison-free, you are one lucky dude. Instead of status effects, he
starts attacking single targets with the powerful Spinning Bodyblow and Flying
Drill; the last does almost 100 damage even in the back row. Be aware that he
receives a big Defense bonus in this form, so you need to get his HP even
lower than previous bosses. Red will most likely get a Sled Fang just before
he dies, so make sure Heli Gunner has at least 160 HP remaining before he uses
it. Have Barret defend--be sure to reenter the command when needed if he is
poisoned--and move Red to the front row. Hopefully he won't target Barret too
often before the others die, and Barret will be able to deal the finishing
blow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations; you've just beaten perhaps the toughest (and certainly the
most luck-reliant) battle in the challenge. Just two more battles, and the
freedom of the world map is yours.
After the battle is over you will be in control of Cloud on the rooftop. Open
the menu, move Cloud to the front row, and raise the battle speed all the way
to the maximum. You need quick fingers here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Rufus, Dark Nation
500 HP, 140 HP
As soon as you are able, activate Meteorain. If you manage to use it before
the Dark Nation casts Barrier, you can take out most of Rufus' HP in the first
round; but that won't usually happen. Two hits of Meteorain, or one hit of
Meteorain followed by one physical attack, will be enough to kill the Dark
Nation. Once it is gone, attack Rufus nonstop. The Barrier will wear off
pretty quickly, and without Dark Nation to recast it Rufus should die soon
enough. Rufus will often waste a turn laughing, giving you additional time.
Cloud will probably be at low HP when the battle is over, but you should win.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make a beeline for the floor 69 save point. If Cloud gets killed in a random
encounter before reaching it--well, if that happens you have some unbelievably
bad luck. Just hope that it doesn't happen. After saving, talk to Tifa.
Move Aeris towards the entrance, and after a cutscene it will be motorcycle
time. Fortunately, your characters are revived after this. Form a party of
Cloud, Barret, and Aeris. Move them all to the front row, and lower the
battle speed. Equip Sense on Barret. Then initiate the motorcycle minigame.
To survive Motor Ball's assault, you must prevent the Shinra assault troops
from dealing too much damage to either Barret or Aeris. Simply killing them
before they reach the truck is a frustratingly unreliable approach. The
minigame controls make it very difficult to hit a target that's even a little
behind or in front of Cloud, and the enemies are very good at ducking out of
the way. Fortunately, there's a much safer way to protect your party (thanks
go to BrutalAl for this strategy):
First, you need to make sure that three red assault troops are present. The
assault troops come in two varieties: the weak red motorcycles and the
tougher, more aggressive orange motorcycles. The red ones are easily
intimidated, and can be forced back by Cloud waving his sword around, while
the orange ones will charge forward regardless. Attack any orange bikes that
come your way, killing them as quickly as possible, but do not touch the red
bikes. (You can keep the red ones out of your hair by randomly swinging the
sword while you wait for the orange ones to approach.) Once only the red
assault troops remain, position yourself so you are directly behind the
truck--and just keep swinging that sword until the minigame ends. So long as
you keep "attacking," the troops will stay behind you and never get a chance
to damage your party members.
Be aware that this strategy is not QUITE as easy as it sounds. The truck will
drift from side to side quite a bit. Let it move too far away from you, and
the troops may be able to approach the truck. (This is especially a problem
near the end, when the camera angle changes for a few seconds. Wait until the
camera angle returns to normal before adjusting your position, since you're
just as likely to swerve in the wrong direction.) Also, you really do need to
wave the sword nonstop; even a second of relaxation is enough for the troops
to mob the vehicle. But if you follow these directions, you should reach
Motor Ball with plenty of health to spare.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Motor Ball
2600 HP
If either Aeris or Barret has less than 320 HP remaining, give up now. Unless
you get very lucky with the wheel attacks missing, Rolling Fire will wipe them
out. This is a Back Attack battle, so the rows are reversed: since everyone
was in the front row, they now are in back and receive half damage from Motor
Ball's physical attacks. Also, Motor Ball will use Arm Attack before anyone
gets a chance to move; half the time he will use it twice in the same turn.
It will always target the character with the highest HP, usually Cloud.
Move Aeris forward on her first turn, and have Cloud and Barret attack. He
will use Arm Attack again. Move Cloud to the front row, and pound away with
physical attacks. Unfortunately, Motor Ball's evasion is almost as good as
Heli Gunner's; you have to hope that he doesn't make too many of your attacks
miss, because he will wipe the floor with you if he lives long enough to use a
second Rolling Fire.
Motor Ball will then change into his compact form and use Twin Burner. This
does 80 damage to everyone, but unfortunately probably won't give anyone a
limit break. Unless Aeris started the battle at full HP, you need to move her
back now. If she has between 210 and 230 HP remaining, her next turn should
be to defend; this will allow her to save 10 HP from the coming wheel attack,
possibly saving her life. The same goes for Cloud and Barret, though their HP
is generally higher than hers. Once the wheel attack has been used, it is
safe to move Aeris to the front row for a while. He will skip the first turn
after Twin Burner, use the wheel attack (40 damage to all, 20 if in the back
row), and return to his upright form. Then comes Rolling Fire, for a
devastating 200 damage to the party. Cloud must be in the back row before
Rolling Fire is used. If everyone survives, they will all get limit breaks.
Activate Healing Wind, Big Shot, and Meteorain in that order; if you're quick
and wait until the last moment to activate your limit breaks, you may be able
to get two or three physical attacks on the same turn. Meteorain does 600-800
damage, depending on how many critical hits you get, and is quite vital for
shortening the battle.
After you've used all your limits following Rolling Fire, Motor Ball should
have around 1000 HP remaining. Have Barret Sense him, while Cloud and Aeris
continue attacking; once the second Arm Attack has been used, move Cloud to
the front. Once he falls below 375 HP, Motor Ball skips whatever his next
move was going to be and instead transforms into his compact form to use Twin
Burner. (If he is already in the compact form, he will waste another turn
changing to the upright form.) Have Cloud and Aeris attack themselves, but
make sure at least one is still alive when he uses the second Twin Burner; it
will do 120 damage if Barret is the only one alive. Except for his wheel
attack, which does 30 damage if Barret is the only target, Motor Ball will do
nothing for the three turns following Twin Burner--plenty of time for Barret
to finish him off.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goodbye and good riddance, Midgar. Never before had I spent so many hours and
gotten so many Game Overs just trying to get out of the place. It will no
doubt be a pleasant change to hear the world map music again, and to have more
at your disposal than just your physical attacks and limit breaks.
VII. Midgar Area, Mythril Mines, and Junon Area
Once you decide to leave Midgar, you will have to form a new party. So long
as Aeris is in it, you are fine. Set Cloud's limit breaks back to level 1,
move everyone to the back row, and raise the battle speed again. Obviously,
you should save. Head northeast to Kalm, and enter the inn to begin the
flashback of Cloud's past. Just do it like you normally do; there's nothing
you can change here. The party will automatically be rested, and when you
leave you receive the PHS. You can now change party members at will. Yay!
Go to the world map, and form a party of Cloud, Aeris, and Red. I recommend
making your final permanent save here. Should you screw up later on, this
save will allow you to fix things up without having to face Motor Ball or
watch the Kalm flashback again.
Make your way to the chocobo farm. If Levrikon's Flaming Peck puts Aeris
under Fury, save immediately. You can now switch her limit breaks to level 3,
allowing her to fully restore your HP and MP and revive dead characters with
Pulse of Life. On the other hand, if Elfadunk inflicts Sadness either reset
or rest at the chocobo farm immediately. Limit breaks are still the key to
your survival, though they will no longer be your sole offense. Stick around
the chocobo farm for a little bit to build Cloud's and Red's limit breaks.
Time to cross the Midgar Zolom's swamp. You'll be kicking his butt soon, but
only after getting Yuffie. For the moment, do this: Walk across the swamp
until you see the Zolom appear at the edge of the screen. Immediately open
the menu (you must be quick, as he can force you into the battle even after
the menu button has been pressed), and save your game. Soft-reset quickly
after closing the menu to avoid the battle. You will be at the same place you
stopped, but the Zolom will be far away. Using this trick, you should be able
to make it across the swamp in two or three legs.
Once you see the cutscene with the impaled Zolom, switch Aeris for Tifa.
Give Enemy Skill to Cloud, and save your game. Go right once you enter the
Mythril Mines, then run around inside the room with the Long Range materia
until you run into an Ark Dragon accompanied by three Crawlers. If you get
attacked from both sides by two Ark Dragons, kill one of them with limit
breaks and reset once you've escaped.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ark Dragon, Crawler x3
280 HP, 140 HP
Wait for the Ark Dragon to use Flame Thrower on Cloud. When he does,
immediately activate both Cross Slash and Sled Fang to kill him. (Flame
Thrower heals him, so don't use it.) Once he's gone, it should be quite
simple to kill Red and Tifa and finish off the three Crawlers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go back outside, save, and make your party Cloud, Aeris, and Barret. Go
through the Mythril Mines, and once back on the world map head southwest to
Fort Condor. Climb the ladder, talk to the man at the table, and accept his
offer to gain access to their beds. Even if you don't need to rest now, you
will before fighting the Zolom. Replace Barret with Red once you leave.
Now head west to the forest near the beach. Put Aeris and Red in front and
Cloud in back, then save your game. 1 of every 8 encounters in the Junon
forest will be with the Mystery Ninja; run around inside there until you find
her. The enemies here can do some pretty vicious damage--Capparwires come in
groups of five and use the powerful Grand Spark, Formula's attacks do about
100 damage, and neither can be reduced by defending or changing rows--so be
ready to reset if it looks like Cloud won't survive the Mystery Ninja.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mystery Ninja
600 HP
You must kill her within 10 rounds, or she will automatically flee. Cross
Slash is helpful, as it paralyzes her for a few rounds and does over 200
damage. Sense her, and beat her down with Flame Thrower and your physical
attacks. Using Flame Thrower on your allies makes it much easier to kill them
quickly; the Mystery Ninja's attacks will help as well. Beware if she turns
Cloud into a frog, as he will no longer be able to use Flame Thrower and his
physical attack will only do 20 damage. If that doesn't happen, it should be
easy enough to finish her with Flame Thrower. You shouldn't need to heal, so
take care not to use Healing Wind or Pulse of Life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can now get Yuffie. You MUST NOT open the menu at any time, or she will
escape and you will have to reset. Pick the following responses:
"Not interested."
"...petrified."
"Wait a second!"
"...That's right."
"...Let's hurry on."
Yuffie has joined the party. Remove her Throw materia immediately, then
return to Fort Condor and rest. Make your party Cloud, Aeris, and Yuffie,
moving everyone to the back, then pass through the Mythril Mines again to
reach the edge of the Zolom's swamp. Do not cross it; just run around here
until you encounter a group of Levrikons. Defend, and wait for them to
inflict Fury on both Aeris and Yuffie. When this happens, head back to the
Junon area.
Walk all the way west to Junon itself. Give Sense to Aeris, and make sure she
is using her level 3 limits. Save, and enter the village. (From now on, it
is safe to assume unless otherwise noted that all characters should remain in
the back row.) Walk down to the shore to trigger the next boss battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Bottomswell
2500 HP
Yuffie is going to learn Clear Tranquil in this battle. While the prospect of
waiting for Bottomswell to charge her limit gauge while he's using Waterpolos
may not seem appealing, I can assure you that the other method for learning
Clear Tranquil before fighting the Zolom is no better. It requires that
Yuffie join the party with the minimum Strength possible (27), and gives your
characters 378 EXP from killing Custom Sweepers. Believe me, this way is
preferable.
It takes 8 Greased Lightnings to learn Clear Tranquil. If none of them go
critical, Yuffie will need between one and three physical attacks to finish
him. If one goes critical, the final Greased Lightning will kill him. If two
go critical, reset. Cloud and Aeris will never attack him, acting in a purely
defensive role. While he is in his initial stage, Aeris should use Pulse of
Life whenever one of your characters is at low HP. She needs to be in the
front row at all times. (Pulse of Life also restores Cloud's MP, ensuring he
can cast Flame Thrower whenever it's needed.) Cloud should defend constantly,
as should Aeris once her limit gauge fills. You can move Yuffie to the front
to fill her limit gauge faster, so long as you are careful that Aeris is able
to heal the damage fast enough.
After the third Greased Lightning, Bottomswell will begin convulsing up and
down. Though he becomes able to hit the entire party with Moonstrike, this
phase doesn't really become dangerous until the next Greased Lightning. At
that point he will trap a character in a Waterpolo, immobilizing them and
quickly reducing their HP to zero. The Waterpolos are immune to physical
damage, so you can't just hit them the way you killed Reno's Pyramids. If
Aeris or Yuffie is targetted, you can simply have Cloud break it with
Flamethrower. (Wait mode is helpful, as it can allow you to avoid taking any
damage during Flame Thrower's spell animation. Note that you can't just
target the afflicted character, but must press up above their head to target
the Waterpolo.) If Cloud is trapped, however, you'll need to kill him before
you resume attacking. Have Aeris and Yuffie attack him until his HP falls to
zero, then revive him with Pulse of Life. Fortunately, Bottomswell returns to
his initial attack pattern after Waterpolo, so you have all the time you need
to kill Cloud--a luxury you will not have in the next phase.
After the fifth Greased Lightning, move everyone to the front row; you need
limit breaks more than ever, and the faster you can kill Cloud the better.
Bottomswell convulses even higher, and alternates between hitting the whole
party with Big Wave and trapping a character in a Waterpolo. Since the
Waterpolo puts Bottomswell in the back row, cutting Aeris' and Yuffie's limit
gains in half, it's even more important that you kill Cloud quickly. If both
Cloud and Yuffie are trapped in Waterpolos, have Yuffie defend until Aeris can
use Pulse of Life to revive Cloud; getting all the Greased Lightnings out
becomes much more difficult if she loses Fury. It's a small mercy that he
can't use Waterpolo on your only free character, though if both Cloud and
Aeris are trapped too soon you will still lose.
After the Pulse of Life following the sixth Greased Lightning, you can wrap up
the battle. (If Yuffie has lost Fury, you will need to wait until after the
seventh Greased Lightning.) Move Yuffie to the back row, and kill off Aeris
and Cloud as quickly as you can. Flamethrower works wonderfully for this. If
he imprisons one of them, concentrate on killing the other. Under Fury and in
the back row, Yuffie will have enough HP to use the final two Greased
Lightnings and still survive the final Big Wave. If none of the limits have
gone critical, one to three additional attacks will be needed prior to the
final limit.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revive Priscilla with five full lungfuls of air, then exit Junon. DO NOT
sleep in the old lady's house yet, or you will not be able to learn Beta until
it is too late. Instead, save your game on the world map now. Switch out
Aeris and Yuffie, then walk to Fort Condor. Rest there, put Aeris and Yuffie
back into the party, and cross through the Mythril Mines. Equip Enemy Skill
on Aeris and Sense on Cloud. Set Cloud's limit to level 3. Once again, allow
Levrikon to put Aeris and Yuffie under Fury; also allow them to charge
Meteorain. Put the battle speed at the slowest setting, and save your game
one more time. Now stand in the swamp, and simply wait for the Midgar Zolom
to approach you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Midgar Zolom
4000 HP
While this is not exactly a hard battle, it depends heavily on luck. The
Zolom is able to kick a character out of battle twice. Since Aeris is the
designated survivor, and the one with Enemy Skill, she must be the character
who remains. Though in principle you could allow Yuffie to be killed and then
let Aeris deal the finishing blow, I have never beaten him without having two
of my characters kicked out.
For the most part, your pattern of attack is pretty simple. Cloud senses the
Zolom at the beginning of battle, then defends until it's time to use
Meteorain. Aeris and Yuffie attack with Flame Thrower and physical attacks
respectively. In Fury, one attack from the Zolom will be enough to trigger
Clear Tranquil or Pulse of Life. Be sure to take advantage of the limit break
system, and attack before using the limit breaks to take advantage of the fast
recharge times. Unfortunately, Aeris cannot survive a critical hit; just hope
he doesn't hit her with one.
When you reduce the Zolom below 3000 HP, he will rise into an upright
position. Though he will only occasionally do so at this point, it is now
possible for him to kick out a character on his turn. Hopefully he won't do
so, but as long as Aeris isn't the target it is winnable at least in
principle. If he hasn't removed a character yet, he counterattacks by doing
so when he falls below 2000 HP. Get him as close to 2000 as possible--
Flamethrower is good for this, since it cannot go critical--and activate
Meteorain. This will reduce the Zolom to around 1200-1300 HP, and remove
Cloud in the process.
This part is extremely important. If you attack the Zolom in your current
state, Beta will wipe you out and you will earn no credit for having learned
the skill. Instead, wait for him to charge both Aeris' and Yuffie's limit
breaks. Don't use Aeris' limit for the moment; instead, defend and wait until
Yuffie has her limit ready. Then restore Aeris to full HP, and put up Planet
Protector. You are completely immune to all damage for the next half dozen or
so turns. Attack once to trigger Beta. (If he kicked Cloud out before the
counterattack could be triggered, Beta will be cast the instant his HP falls
below 1500.) Once Aeris learns it, she can cast Beta twice against the Zolom
for close to 700 damage each time. Unfortunately, because of Fury one or both
castings will likely miss, and she will only have enough MP for at most two
castings of Flame Thrower. If she had full HP before she used Planet
Protector, you can work around this. Simply attack normally until Planet
Protector wears off, then allow the Zolom to attack her. She can now restore
her MP with Pulse of Life, giving her as much time to cast Beta as she needs.
(Be sure to enter her commands during the Zolom's attack animation; otherwise
she will not get her next turn until after her limit gauge has filled, losing
the fast-recharge effect and leaving her no time to do anything other than
heal.) If Yuffie is kicked out before Planet Protector, both Betas must
connect; Aeris cannot survive once Planet Protector wears off, and without two
successful Betas there is no way she will kill the Zolom before that happens.
Since the Zolom can still kick Aeris out and Pulse of Life will revive Yuffie,
it is safer to wait for Yuffie to be kicked out rather than killing her. (If
you do want to kill her, make sure that Aeris has a chance to kill the Zolom
before his next turn.) Aeris can keep casting Beta and restoring her MP until
it finally connects and kills the Zolom.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that you have Beta, you can leave the continent. Set Cloud's limits to
level 1; you no longer need worry about dealing massive amounts of damage in
one turn, and because it recharges quickly Cross Slash is more effective for
long-lasting boss battles. Return to Junon, and sleep in the old lady's
house. Cloud will be by himself when he wakes up, and until the party
regroups on the cargo ship it will stay that way. Approach Priscilla's house
to initiate the next cutscene, then head to the beach and get into the water
with Mr. Dolphin. Press Square twice without moving, and you will reach the
platform and be on your way to upper Junon.
Up on top, go through the routine with the parade. Like most of the
minigames, it is quite irrelevant to the challenge; the only useful thing you
can gain from it is gil, and you should never be short on that. However, once
Cloud is dismissed there is one very important task to complete. Enter the
last doorway on the first screen of Junon proper (the one you see Rude cross),
and talk to the soldier on the first floor. He will move out of the way, and
Cloud can jump into the room below. Down here is the second Enemy Skill
materia. Pick it up. From now on, I will refer to the Enemy Skill materia in
the order you get them--the new one is Enemy Skill #2.
Continue on to the dock, and send off Rufus. It doesn't matter how well you
do, though I always aim for the Force Stealer regardless. Once it's over,
board the cargo ship.
VIII. Cargo Ship, Costa del Sol, and Corel Area
Talk to Tifa and Red, then talk to Aeris. Head to the left side of the ship
and talk to Barret twice to continue the plot. When everyone regroups, form
a party of Cloud, Aeris, and Yuffie. Give Sense to Cloud and Enemy Skill #1
to Aeris, then save. (Don't bother setting Cloud's limit to 3; the battle
won't last long enough to use Meteorain.) The faster the battle speed is, the
better. Descend into the ship to meet Sephiroth for the first time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Jenova-BIRTH
4000 HP
With both Aeris and Yuffie able to heal the party, this is a pretty easy
battle. Have Cloud sense Jenova at the beginning of battle. Aeris should
attack with Beta and Flame Thrower until she runs out of MP, then join the
others in meleeing him. Once Pulse of Life charges, she can restore her MP
and resume casting spells. Before she can use it, Yuffie must use Clear
Tranquil to heal her once.
The only real danger is from Stop. It won't last very long at the highest
battle speed, but if it's used at the wrong moment--if Yuffie's limit gauge is
about to fill, and he starts attacking her nonstop--you could be in trouble.
Jenova can only cast it three times per battle, fortunately, and if Aeris puts
herself under Planet Protector she will be immune. Since all of Jenova's
attacks are physical, you can ensure that only Aeris is left standing by
having her defend while Cloud and Yuffie move forward. Once they are both
dead, finish Jenova with a final Beta.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exit this room to disembark from the cargo ship. After two short cutscenes,
you will be in the Costa del Sol. In case you were wondering, the cargo ship
is temporarily out of service under Heidegger's orders. You won't be able to
board it again until you are freed from Corel Prison and get the buggy. Rest
at the inn, then head west toward Mt. Corel. Keep both Aeris and Yuffie in
the party, and healing should not be an issue.
From the Mako reactor, head south to reach North Corel. Mash Circle to jump
over the collapsing tracks; falling down for the items is a waste of time.
The bridge just before reaching the town is potentially dangerous: you will
sometimes be attacked from both sides by three Cockatolises, all of whom can
inflict Slow-Numb. Kill the group of two with Beta, then escape as quickly as
possible. The next time you risk an ambush from both sides is in the Gongaga
area, and by then you'll be able to cure status effects with White Wind.
Save on the world map just outside North Corel. Fill Barret's limit gauge
now. Stay at the inn, then enter the Gold Saucer. You will definitely have
enough gil for the 3000 gil ticket, perhaps even enough for the lifetime pass.
Enter the main station area to trigger a cutscene. Once Barret runs off to
Wonder Square, choose to go with Yuffie. In Wonder Square you will meet Cait
Sith. Contrary to what some may say, Cait Sith is an excellent character; he
will become very important on Disc 2. Remove Transform and Manipulate from
him, then head over to the Battle Arena. Cloud will automatically run in, and
as a result get the whole party thrown into Corel Prison.
If you are attacked from both sides by a pair of Bandits, I would advise you
to just defend and allow them both to escape. One of them will most likely
steal an item and escape before you're able to flee, and if that happens the
EXP from killing the first Bandit will ruin the battle plan. Run to the save
point, then run to the cabin. (Note that you can rest in the front seat of
the Shinra truck, southwest of the cabin.) After Barret gives his long speech
about Dyne, form a party of Cloud, Red, and Barret. Give the Enemy Skill
materia to Cloud and Red, and Manipulate to Barret. Use the save point again,
move Cloud and Red to the front row, and head to the first "desert" screen
past where you entered. Take care not to wander into the desert proper. It
is easy to get lost out there, and chances are good you will get a Game Over
before you make it back to the prison. Run around here until you encounter
two Death Claws by themselves. Beware of the Bullmotors, whose Matra Magic
can inflict deadly damage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Death Claw x2
400 HP
Have Barret manipulate one of the Death Claws as soon as possible. If Cloud
has Cross Slash ready, use it on the other one; this will keep it immobilized
long enough for him and Red to finish it with Flamethrower and physicals.
Once the first Death Claw is under Barret's control, you can get to work.
Cast Laser on both Cloud and Red, then kill them off with Flame Thrower. The
Death Claw should use all its remaining MP reducing itself to low HP with
Laser. Have it use a physical attack on itself to end the battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now save, go back to the cabin, and replace Red with Aeris. Give Enemy Skill
#1 with Beta to Barret. Save one last time, and go through the junkyard. If
Barret gets killed along the way, run back to the Shinra truck so he can rest
and recharge his limit gauge. He must enter the boss battle with Big Shot.
It might be wise to reduce the battle speed to at least the default level
before you initiate the cutscene with Dyne.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Dyne
1200 HP
Barret will be fighting alone, so he has no way to heal. Though his 550-600
HP is a lot for a Low Level game, he still won't last for a long time: Dyne's
attacks do 70-80 damage each, and he's able to attack twice on the same turn.
That is why you learned Beta. Despite Dyne's very high Magic Defense, Beta
will still do over 350 damage to him. Since Dyne is only able to use his
double attacks when he has less than 600 HP, two Betas will ensure that he
only uses his double attacks once. If Dyne ever gets a critical hit, or
Barret's attacks ever miss, consider it a Game Over.
Open the battle with Big Shot. Do your best to get the first attack in, or
Barret's survival becomes difficult. Use Flame Thrower, then two physical
attacks. Barret should gain a second Big Shot now; use it. (If any of Dyne's
attacks prior to this point miss, you can have Barret defend after his second
physical attack. This will allow Barret to survive one more attack, which
could very well make the difference between living and dying.) At this point
Dyne should have just over 600 HP remaining, just short of triggering the
double attack phase. Cast the first Beta, and Dyne will use a double attack.
Unleash the second Beta, and Dyne should be dead. There's a 50% chance he
will use Molotov Cocktail as his final attack. Depending on Barret's HP, the
final attack may or may not kill you; it definitely will if Dyne also attacked
first. If it doesn't, breathe a sigh of relief. Never again will you have to
fight a battle without the ability to heal.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time to go chocobo racing. To win the race easily, switch to Manual mode and
hold down R1+R2. This will reduce stamina consumption to nothing while riding
normally, and greatly reduce it when dashing. Tap Square repeatedly to make
your chocobo speed up, dashing if necessary to build up a lead. Once you're
on the finishing stretch, do an all-out sprint. You're home free, and the
buggy is yours.
IX. Corel Area, Gongaga Area, and Cosmo Canyon
Once back on the world map, save immediately. Harpy lurks in the Gold Saucer
desert, and if you're unprepared its Aqualung will kill you. The grass in the
Gold Saucer area isn't much safer, since Joker can inflict Death. Replace
Barret with Yuffie, then head northeast to Costa del Sol.
When you enter the Costa del Sol, cross the bridge back to the harbor. Talk
to the sailor in front of the ship, and pay him to be a stowaway. Once in
Junon, talk to the sailor to catch a helicopter flight out to the world map.
Equip Enemy Skill #1 on Aeris, Enemy Skill #2 on Cloud, and Manipulate on
Yuffie. Reenter the town to sleep at the old lady's house, then run around
the grassy areas until you encounter a lone Zemzelett.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zemzelett
285 HP
If the Zemzelett casts Thunderbolt before you are able to manipulate him, run
away. After Thunderbolt he will no longer have the MP to cast White Wind.
Otherwise it's straightforward enough. When White Wind has been learned,
kill Cloud and then Yuffie. Aeris can finish him with Beta. (Be aware that
Zemzelett is immune to both gravity and water.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now any of your characters can restore the party's HP and remove status
effects at will. Be aware that White Wind has a pretty high MP cost, and that
its healing is weak when the caster's HP is low. Replace Aeris with Barret.
Now give Enemy Skill #1 to Cloud and Enemy Skill #2 to Barret. Make sure
Yuffie is in the middle position. Sleep at the house in Junon, then go down
to the seashore. Press Square a few times at the water's edge, and eventually
Mr. Dolphin will give you a ride on the ship back to Costa del Sol. Save when
you get back to the world map. Now run up and down the Costa del Sol beach
until you encounter a group of three Beachplugs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beachplug x3
200 HP
Manipulate one of the Beachplugs, and have it cast Big Guard on Cloud and
Barret. Then kill Barret and Yuffie, and finish the Beachplugs with Beta.
Easy enough.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put Aeris back in the party, and rest again at the Costa del Sol. Give Enemy
Skill to Cloud and Yuffie and Manipulate to Aeris. Get back into the buggy,
then take it into the Gold Saucer desert. You should reduce the battle speed
to at least the default level.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harpy
800 HP
Put up Big Guard as soon as possible, then manipulate the Harpy. Cast White
Wind if the Harpy reduces any character's HP below 300, or if it poisons
Aeris. Once the Harpy is manipulated and Aqualung is learned, have it kill
Cloud and Yuffie with Poison Storm and physical attacks. Then have it kill
itself with two Aqualungs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save your game, then rest in the Costa del Sol one last time. (If Aeris has a
limit break ready, you can use Pulse of Life instead.) Head southwest past
Gongaga, taking care to avoid the forests. Now head up into the Cosmo area.
This place is awesome, simply because it's so easy to get your characters
under Fury here. Encounter a Skeeskee and have Aeris cast Laser on it; it
will automatically counter with Rage Bomber, putting Aeris under Fury. On the
other hand, Griffin can wipe out your MP in one shot with Peacock. Pulse of
Life is quite important here.
Enter Cosmo Canyon, and go through the opening cutscenes with Red. Make your
way to the observatory at the top to meet Bugenhagen. Climb down the ladder,
then enter the door on the bottom right to find Cait Sith. Talk to him, and
form a party of whoever you wish. Return to the observatory for a rather
lengthy cutscene. Then go back down, and meet with the party at Cosmo Candle.
Talk to Tifa, Barret, Aeris, and finally Red. When you are prompted to form a
party, make Aeris your third character. (Did you even need to ask?) Give
Enemy Skill #1 to Cloud, Enemy Skill #2 to Aeris, and Sense to Red. Save your
game, follow Bugenhagen up to the third story, and enter the Cave of the Gi.
On the first screen, enter the third cave from the left and break the rock
open to continue on to the second screen. Simply head up to reach the third
screen. Try to rely on White Wind for healing in the random encounters. This
spell is especially nice here, since it removes Heg's Poison and Paralysis.
Pulse of Life should be reserved for restoring MP and reviving fallen party
members. Go through the second tunnel from the left, and walk through the
spider web to trigger a forced encounter with a Stinger.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stinger
2200 HP
Have Aeris cast Laser, Cloud cast Beta, and Red use a physical attack in that
order. The Stinger will counterattack with Sting Bomb against Cloud and Red,
taking off 75% of their HP. Move them both to the front row while Aeris
defends; Stinger's physical attacks will make short work of them. If he uses
his third and final Sting Bomb on Aeris, have her use Pulse of Life to heal.
(You will have to kill Cloud and Red again if this happens.) Otherwise,
finish him with Aqualung.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If Aeris gets into a random encounter, wait until she gains Pulse of Life.
Use it to revive her allies, then run away. Move up to the next Stinger.
Note that you will sometimes be attacked from both sides by two Gi Spectors on
this screen. Kill one with Aqualung, then escape from the other.
Unfortunately, if you get this encounter before your allies are revived a Game
Over is all but guaranteed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stinger
2200 HP
The strategy is exactly the same as last time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head up a bit to watch the cutscene just before you engage the boss, then
immediately backtrack to exit the cave. Save. Reenter the cave, and walk to
the screen with the boss. Put the battle speed on the slowest setting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Gi Nattak
5500 HP
Unlike virtually every other challenge out there, you will not get to
insta-kill him with an Elixir or a Life spell. This will be an honest, mano a
mano match. It's still not that hard, though due to his tendency to steal HP
and MP it would be quite impossible without Pulse of Life.
The real danger is Fire2 from the Soul Fires that accompany Gi Nattak.
This does over 250 damage, enough to kill Aeris in two hits but not quite
enough to charge Pulse of Life. After Gi Nattak uses Take Over the Soul Fire
will focus all its spells on the selected character, meaning you will need to
heal that character every turn. Expect to be casting White Wind more than you
attack during this phase, particularly if Cloud is the target of Take Over and
Aeris is not. (Don't bother healing Red, since he has fairly little to
contribute offensively or defensively.) Fortunately, the Soul Fires can only
cast it 10 times before they run out of MP, and they will waste much of their
MP casting it on themselves. After that, it's a pretty easy battle.
Besides Take Over, Gi Nattak will damage one of your characters and heal
himself for just over 100 HP with Drain, and occasionally spear one of your
characters for about 300 damage. He will also very rarely steal your MP with
Aspil. Since these are all single-target attacks, it could be difficult at
times to get Pulse of Life so you can restore your MP.
Have Red use Sense at the beginning of battle, then use physical attacks.
Cloud and Aeris will attack with Beta and White Wind, respectively. Both hurt
Gi Nattak and heal the Soul Fires, ensuring you don't gain unnecessary EXP
from killing them, and White Wind's accuracy is unaffected by Fury. (Gi
Nattak and the Soul Fires are both immune to Aqualung, so don't bother.)
Since you often won't have enough MP to cast the desired spell, physical
attacks and limit breaks are going to form a major part of your offense. Both
Cloud and Aeris should set aside 34 MP for White Wind on the party, just in
case an emergency arises.
Since Gi Nattak can heal himself with Drain, and since your only sources of
healing affect the whole party, it may be difficult to end the battle with
just Aeris alive. Flame Thrower and Laser help a lot, as they allow you to
quickly kill one character without affecting the others. Don't attempt this
before the Soul Fires have run out of MP, as Fire2 will complicate things too
much. As soon as Cloud and Red are dead, activate Planet Protector; in
addition to keeping Aeris from dying, it also stops the healing from Drain.
Finish him off with one or two White Winds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Red gets some father-son bonding time, it's time to leave. Form a party
of Cloud, Aeris, and Yuffie once again. Remove Red's Sense, and give it to
Yuffie. When you return to the world map and Red rejoins you, the party's HP
and MP will be restored and Fury will be removed.
X. Nibel Area and Rocket Town
Raise the battle speed back to normal and save your game. Wander around the
dirt area until you encounter a Skeeskee. Have Aeris use Laser on it, Yuffie
use a physical attack, and Cloud defend. If the party has been hit by
Peacock, be sure to use Pulse of Life before exiting the battle. Save again,
and head north in the buggy toward Nibelheim.
There's nothing for you to do in Nibelheim. Simply walk north, saving just
outside the Nibel Mountains. The enemies on the way up Mt. Nibel do a lot of
damage, and often come in large groups. Expect to use White Wind a lot, as
well as your healing limit breaks. While crossing the bridge, there is a
chance you will be attacked from both sides by a pair of Sonic Speeds. Cast
Aqualung to kill one, then have everyone defend while you escape from the
other.
Inside the mountain, things aren't much better. In addition to the nasty Lay
Flat bugs, you've also got Dragon. Both Flame Thrower and his physical attack
do 500 damage; White Wind will be vital here, as you need to make sure
everyone is at full HP in case you run into one. (It also ensures you're
prepared for fighting Materia Keeper. He is similar to Dragon in a lot of
ways: he's immune to gravity and most disabling status effects, absorbs Fire,
has very high HP and Magic Defense, and his Hell Combo does about the same
damage as Dragon's physical attack.) Slide down the number 1 pipe to land
right next to the save point. Set the battle speed to the slowest setting,
save your game, and approach Materia Keeper. Press X to initiate the battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Materia Keeper
8400 HP
At the beginning of the battle, the key thing is to keep everyone's HP above
400. That's the damage Hell Combo, or any other attack gone critical, does in
the back row; stay above that, and you will probably be fine. Pulse of Life
and Clear Tranquil should take care of most of your healing, though you will
occasionally need to use White Wind. If Hell Combo goes critical, it will
almost certainly kill the target. If Cloud or Yuffie is killed, it will be
inconvenient but probably not debilitating. If Aeris is killed, you obviously
must start over. Yuffie uses Sense at the beginning, then uses physical
attacks. Cloud and Aeris should cast Aqualung until they have just over 34 MP
remaining for White Wind, then join Yuffie in meleeing him. Aqualung does
about 400 damage, way better than physical attacks despite MK's high Magic
Defense. (Because Beta is fire-based, it will heal Materia Keeper. Never use
it.) A Big Guard early in the battle could be useful as well, since Haste
will allow you many more attacks during the slow first half of the battle.
Once Pulse of Life is used, your MP will be restored and you can continue
casting Aqualung.
After he's been reduced below 4200 HP, make sure one of your characters has at
least 56 MP set aside for Big Guard. When Materia Keeper casts Cure2 on
himself, put up the Big Guard immediately; he will follow up with Trine, which
deals close to 600 damage to the party if you're not under MBarrier. Despite
the heavy damage, there are some definite advantages to his Cure2+Trine
combos. First, you now have the Trine enemy skill. Trine is much more
damaging for each MP spent, dealing about 275 damage for a mere 20 MP; you
should never have to resort to physical attacks if you start casting Trine
instead of Aqualung. You can still use Aqualung just before your MP is
restored by Pulse of Life, provided it won't prematurely kill Materia Keeper.
Second, Cure2 makes it harder to accidentally kill him too fast. (See the
paragraph below.) Third, at the lowest battle speed your barriers will last
for a long time. They will easily last to the second Trine if you're using
Wait mode, saving you 56 MP, and Barrier greatly reduces the healing load from
his physical attacks. And finally, Trine charges your limit gauges very fast.
One Trine will instantly recharge Cloud's and Aeris' limit breaks, as well as
Yuffie's if she is still under Fury.
Materia Keeper will use the Cure2+Trine combo six times, and will cast Cure2
by itself an additional time. After that he will have 16 MP remaining, and
will not be able to cast any more spells. I advise you to wait until he has
cast the seventh Cure2, then sense his MP to be sure he can no longer cast any
spells, before attempting to end the battle. Cure2 will complicate things too
much otherwise. Reduce him below 250 HP, so one Trine will finish him. When
you're ready, move Cloud and Yuffie to the front while Aeris defends. His
normal attacks now do 400 damage, while Hell Combo will kill its target at
full HP. Once they are dead, use Planet Protector to make Aeris invulnerable.
Cast Trine until it connects and Materia Keeper dies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raise the battle speed back to normal. It's quite possible for Aeris to make
it to Rocket Town on her own. Still, use the save point just to be safe. Go
out the right end of this screen and take the path to the world map, then walk
all the way north to Rocket Town. Fully restore Aeris' HP with White Wind in
a battle on the world map.
Go through the back of Cid's house to look at the Tiny Bronco. Then climb the
rocket to speak to the Captain. One guess what I'm naming him. Go back to
the world map, and save your game. Enter Cid's house, and go through the
cutscenes there. Finally, go back to the Tiny Bronco once more. No need to
lower the battle speed for this battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Palmer
6000 HP
Palmer is more of a practical joke on the player than a real boss. While his
Mako Gun does 450 damage--pretty good damage for this point in the game--it is
very easy to survive. And he can only cast it 10 times before his MP runs
out, rendering him helpless. The first Mako Gun will instantly charge Pulse
of Life, allowing Aeris to fully heal herself and revive the others as well.
Have Yuffie sense him and then attack, while Cloud and Aeris cast spells at
him. Aqualung does 600 damage, while Trine does 400. If either Cloud or
Yuffie falls below 450, heal them with White Wind immediately. If Aeris is
targeted with Mako Gun again, your MP will be restored and you can continue
attacking as before.
After he has used the tenth Mako Gun Palmer will have 20 MP remaining, just
short of one more Mako Gun. Reduce Palmer to a few hundred HP, kill Cloud and
Yuffie, and have Aeris cast Trine until it ends the battle. The ending is
just as bizarre as the battle itself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
XI. Wutai, Gold Saucer Area
After the battle Cid joins the party, and you get the Tiny Bronco. World
mobility is yours. Follow Yuffie's advice, and go west to the Wutai beach.
Switch Yuffie for Barret, and save your game. If you know what's coming up,
you probably know how much it's going to suck with a low level party and no
use of items or accessories. But you have to do it to avoid the Turks in
Midgar, who really are impossible, and because Aeris and Yuffie are your only
healers (and Yuffie is unavailable during the sidequest) it has to be done
before the Temple of the Ancients.
Head north, and Yuffie will stop the party. Some Shinra troops will ambush
you, and in the confusion Yuffie will get away with all your materia.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attack Squad x2
1300 HP
This battle sucks, no doubt about it. Because you have no materia, you have
to use physical attacks. But the Attack Squads love inflicting Sleep and
Darkness with Smoke Bullet, and use it as an automatic counterattack when
reduced below 833 HP. While Sleep may slow you down, it is temporary and
easily removed. Darkness is the real pain; it lasts for the entire battle
(unless Cloud or Barret is killed and revived by Pulse of Life), and makes the
battle nearly twice as long. It's a real shame you don't have access to White
Wind. This is a long battle, and you will be heavily dependent on Big Shot
and Cross Slash for your damage.
Because Sense is stolen as well, you must keep track of the exact damage you
do to the second Attack Squad. If possible reduce him to less than 50 HP, so
Aeris can kill him with one or two physical attacks once Cloud and Barret are
dead. The procedure is the same as usual: Cloud and Barret move forward, and
assist the Attack Squads in killing themselves while Aeris defends. If Aeris'
limit gauge fills before she can kill the Attack Squad, she has no choice but
to revive her allies. (If she uses Planet Protector, you will never make it
to the village alive.) Between Sleep, Darkness, Fury, and the Attack Squad's
fairly high damage, it could take a very long time to deal the killing blow
with just Aeris alive.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save again, and run as fast as you can to the north end of the Wutai
continent. While your materia is gone the encounters in the dirt areas of
Wutai are the most dangerous in the game, even more so than the Stilvas,
Evilheads, and Malboros that reside on Gaea's Cliff. The nicest enemy you
will encounter here is Tail Vault, who does 200 damage in the front row; he's
the one you'll want to use to recharge Pulse of Life. Bizarre Bug does the
same damage with his normal attacks, and his Toxic Powder inflicts Poison and
300 damage to the whole party (400 if Aeris is the only one alive).
Thunderbird's Lightning is virtually guaranteed to wipe out the party--it does
over 400 damage to everyone--and his physical attack does as much damage as
Tail Vault's. And naturally, all of these enemies come in large groups, and
will attack you from behind or ambush you in a full quarter of the battles.
Very rarely, you will be attacked from both sides by a Thunderbird, a Tail
Vault, and two Bizarre Bugs; unless you have some truly miraculous luck, you
will die.
Since the dirt area covers so much ground, I would recommend saving at least
twice: after crossing the first pair of bridges, and after crossing the final
bridge. The enemies on the grass are far less dangerous; the most powerful
attack is Edgehead's Electric Burst for 350 damage, and Edgehead is a pretty
rare enemy. Enter Wutai, saving on the world map one last time.
From the entrance, enter the Turtle's Paradise on the left edge of the screen.
Talk to Elena to initiate a short cutscene with the Turks, then exit the bar.
Go due north to the item shop. Pick up the MP Absorb materia in the chest,
and Yuffie will automatically steal it from you. Exit the shop, and enter the
house on the right side of the screen near the entrance. Fold back the screen
to find Yuffie and make her scurry out of the house. Finally, examine the
pot outside the Turtle's Paradise and punch it three times. Yuffie will give
up (or so she says) and several cutscenes will take place.
When Yuffie has escaped again, exit the house and use the save point. Go
northwest to the screen with the pagoda. Examine the bell to your left to
open a secret door. Go down through the door to meet Don Corneo. Of all the
rotten luck. Follow Corneo up the stairs, and then you'll have to eliminate
some incompetent Shinra grunts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attack Squad x3
1300 HP
Just like the last battle, except that there is one more enemy. The strategy
is exactly the same, and Aeris once again is the sole survivor.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exit this building, then talk to Reno to continue the sidequest. Before you
can face the boss, you need to recharge Barret's limit gauge. Revive him with
Pulse of Life, and get into a battle with Razor Weed at the base of Da-Chao
Statue. (Razor Weed is ideal for building limit breaks. He does good damage,
but not so much that Pulse of Life can't keep up with him, and the only status
effect he inflicts is Fury.) When Barret has a full limit gauge, go back and
save. Now run up the statue, going right, then left, and finally down. Set
the battle speed to the slowest setting before triggering the boss fight.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Rapps
6000 HP
While Rapps' first move is the most dangerous part of the battle, it doesn't
get much better. Before you eliminate his MP Rapps is able to cast Aero3, a
powerful magic attack that is guaranteed to kill its target. Have Barret use
Mind Blow immediately to eliminate Aero3. Don't rush; if you select the limit
break too quickly, you may accidentally use Big Shot and screw yourself as a
result. As many as half my attempts ended on the first turn, when he
immediately killed Aeris with Aero3.
Once his MP is gone, the real chore begins. You have to remove all of his
6000 HP using nothing but physical attacks and limit breaks. Dealing the
damage isn't a problem, though it is certainly a long battle; Barret and Cloud
both do over 40 damage from the back row, and you will get plenty of use out
of Big Shot and Cross Slash. Unlike the Attack Squads, actually dealing the
damage is easy.
The real problem is keeping Aeris alive to the end of the battle. It takes
one and a half attacks from Rapps--one taking normal damage plus one
defending--to charge Pulse of Life, while Aeris can survive two and a half.
Rapps can use both his wing attack and Scorpion's Tail twice in the same turn,
which he does much more often near the end of the battle. You can be assured
that Aeris will be the target of both hits several times during the course of
the battle. He also gets critical hits quite often. While a double attack or
critical hit will instantly charge Pulse of Life, it creates a severe problem:
if Aeris has already taken normal damage from one wing attack or Scorpion's
Tail, and Rapps then uses a double attack or a critical hit on her, she will
be killed before she can use her new limit break. Far from being a freak case
of bad luck, this will be your inevitable death if you don't pay attention to
the damage she's receiving. And obviously, once Aeris dies all hope is lost.
At first, the problem is easy enough to solve. If Aeris joins the men in
attacking while at full HP, then defends or uses Pulse of Life immediately
after she is hit, she'll be safe enough. But Scorpion's Tail inflicts Poison,
and poison damage breaks the defensive stance. (See the note under the
Sample:HO512 strategy.) The lower battle speed saves your life here. Besides
reducing the rate at which you lose health to poison, it also makes the
numbers appear less often. What Aeris needs to do is this: except for the
end, she should never attack once she is poisoned. Have her do nothing until
Rapps attacks her, then select Defend immediately after the poison damage
appears above her head. Have her stand by a bit longer. If the poison damage
appears before Rapps attacks, immediately select Defend again. While this
will usually prevent Rapps from attacking just after the defensive stance has
been broken, it can be treacherous: it's quite possible there will be times
when the poison damage appears, and half a second later Rapps kills Aeris with
a double attack. Wait mode can be a lifesaver here, as it allows you to avoid
spending extra time and suffering unnecessary poison damage during your own
attack animations. If you manage to employ this tactic successfully, the only
way Aeris will die is if she is attacked twice and one of the attacks goes
critical. This is unlikely, but possible; one of my attempts ended this way
just as I was about to end the battle.
Do not defend before Aeris has been attacked. If Rapps uses a double attack
or critical hit on Aeris while she is at full HP, and she takes full damage
from it, Pulse of Life will be instantly charged; this will often allow the
men to survive longer and get extra limit breaks. If Aeris is defending, the
opportunity is wasted; it will take longer to heal Cloud and Barret, and since
they are more likely to die the chances of Aeris ending up alone--a situation
that greatly increases the danger of untimely double attacks or critical
hits--become much higher.
Even when you've whittled Rapps to less than 50 HP and you're ready to end the
battle, you're not out of the woods yet. You will move Cloud and Barret
forward at this point, and once they are both dead Aeris can cast Planet
Protector. But it takes some luck for this to happen. If Aeris gets a limit
break while Cloud or Barret is still alive, she must use Pulse of Life to
avoid getting killed herself. But in the process, Pulse of Life also revives
and fully heals her allies. You will have to wait until Rapps uses a lucky
combination of moves that ends with only Aeris alive; it may take a long time,
but if you're patient it will happen. Once it does, if she lives to get her
next limit break you can cast Planet Protector. (As you may have noticed, the
poison does 0 damage now. God, I love Peerless.) Move Aeris to the front
row, and swing at Rapps until she connects. If Rapps had less than 50 HP
remaining, one hit should be enough.
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If there was ever any doubt of Aeris' awesomeness, it's gone now. With
nothing but physical attacks and limit breaks, your Low Level party just
smited one of the cheapest bosses in the game--and with Aeris surviving by
herself, no less.
Once you return to the world map, raise the battle speed back to normal and
save. Also, set Cloud's limits to level 3. Go back into the town, return to
the screen with the pagoda, and this time enter the house on your right.
Enter the room to your left, and rest. Return to the world map, give Enemy
Skill to Cloud and Aeris again, and run around the grassy area until you
encounter a Razor Weed. Use Spaz Voice to put Aeris under Fury once more.
It's tempting, but you are not getting Magic Hammer just yet. You won't need
it until you get the third Enemy Skill materia, so there's no sense in wasting
1190 EXP on an extra battle.
Save your game, and walk south to the buggy. Things aren't quite as bad on
the return trip, though the Thunderbirds can still easily wipe you out. It's
a real shame you can't just smite them with Aqualung. Once back in the Tiny
Bronco, go east through the river crossing the continent and get off in the
Gold Saucer area. Head north into Corel, switching characters if one is
killed by Joker. Go to the Gold Saucer, buy another ticket, and visit the
Battle Arena. Look at the Keystone, and Dio will challenge you to a match in
the Arena. Though you won't get very far with no status protection and no
Magic Hammer, he gives you the Keystone anyway.
Attempt to leave, and you will find that you are stranded for the night. You
go through some dialogue in the Ghost Hotel, Cloud dates one of the party
members (most likely Aeris), a certain mischievous toy steals the Keystone,
and you have to form a party with Aeris. As if you weren't going to anyway.
Make Cid your third character, and give him Sense. Then leave the Gold
Saucer, save, and return to the Tiny Bronco.
XII. The Temple of the Ancients
Before entering the Temple of the Ancients, head west to make a quick stop at
Wutai. Go to the grassy area east of the beach, and run around here until you
encounter a Razor Weed. As before, have Aeris attack it until Fury sticks.
Get back into the Tiny Bronco, take the river to the other side of the
continent, and get off on the island with the Temple. Save at the beach, as
there's a chance you will get attacked by Slaps. These guys are able to
inflict Sadness with Bug Needle, as well as disable your characters with
Berserk Needle, and can ambush you from both sides. If you manage to pass
through unscathed, climb the temple stairs and get the Keystone from Tseng.
It would be wise to go outside and make a backup save before using the
Keystone, just in case you screw up inside and need to backtrack to the world
map.
The random encounters inside the Temple aren't too bad, though Toxic Frog's
Frog Song can be annoying. Make your way past the cylindrical boulders, then
watch the cutscene. There is a command materia here, but it's the item-
producing Morph. You need it not. Talk to the Ancient to save your game.
Never choose to rest while inside the Temple; Pulse of Life is very important,
and to ensure it's used often enough Aeris needs to be under Fury.
In the clock room, head straight for the six o'clock door. Make sure to avoid
the second hand, as you will fight a forced battle if you are knocked into the
room below. Once the Ancient gets away, jump down to the second level and
enter the second door from the right. Jump down to the bottom edge and enter
the rightmost door. Then exit this area via the clock room, and immediately
reenter. This moves the Ancient to the top level, so you don't have to make
the trip to the top again if you have to reload your game. Put the battle
speed at the slowest setting, save your game, then enter the mural room. A
long cutscene commences (way too long, if you ask me), and then...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Red Dragon
6800 HP
Don't be fooled by the fact that he only uses single-target attacks. If
you're careless about your MP, Red Dragon can easily kill you. Cast Big Guard
as soon as possible, and hope he doesn't use Red Dragon Breath before Big
Guard is up. Red Dragon Breath is a guaranteed kill without Big Guard, and
even with Big Guard it does more damage than anything save a critical bite
attack. Because of this, you need to keep Cloud and Aeris above 450 HP at all
times. Cid has little importance, beyond Sense and the occasional Boost Jump,
so don't worry about healing him. He'll probably be taken care of when you
use White Wind to heal Cloud or Aeris.
Though you can cast Trine while your MP is high, I don't recommend doing so
when you have less than 100 MP remaining. If he doesn't target Aeris very
often, MP will quickly become a serious issue. Be especially careful when a
character's barriers are running out, as you'll need 56 MP for Big Guard in
addition to any MP needed for White Wind. When Pulse of Life is charged, and
Red Dragon has well over 1000 HP remaining, have Aeris and Cloud cast Aqualung.
Cloud's Aqualung does around 400, about the same as against Materia Keeper,
while Aeris' Aqualung does almost 600. (It should go without saying, but Red
Dragon absorbs Beta.) Your limit breaks will compose a big part of your
damage as well. Boost Jump does a good 450 damage, while Meteorain does over
700 damage. With luck, and a few uses of Pulse of Life, it shouldn't take
long to reach the end of the battle.
When his HP is below 200 or so, move Cloud and Cid to the front row. This can
get difficult if he targets Aeris too often, as you will have to either use
Pulse of Life or waste MP casting White Wind repeatedly to keep Aeris alive.
When both Cloud and Cid are dead, use Planet Protector and proceed to cast
Trine until he is killed.
NOTE ON BARRIERS: Contrary to appearances, Barrier and MBarrier status does
not disappear as soon as the Barrier gauges to the right of your characters'
names empty out. Instead, your characters will remain under Barrier and
MBarrier for a full "tick" after the gauge has completely emptied. (A "tick"
is a discrete unit of time, as indicated by the movement of the color in the
Barrier gauge.) Hence, if you recast Big Guard as soon as the gauge appears
empty the spell will miss, and you will remain vulnerable for the next turn.
The best solution to this is to enter Big Guard as the last of your three
commands, and allow your current barriers to expire during the attack
animations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head right and examine the model to advance the plot. When the cutscene is
over, exit the room and save your game. Return the battle speed to its normal
level if you wish, and return to the mural room. Run around here until you
get a random encounter, and wait for Aeris' limit gauge to charge while she
heals with White Wind. If you run into a group of Ancient Dragons, you can
cast Laser to kill one or two of them and reduce the damage to a more
manageable level. Once Aeris has gained Pulse of Life and revived the others,
escape from battle. Try to make sure everyone is at full health, or at least
above 400 HP.
Put the battle speed at the slowest setting, and save your game. Head through
the clock room to the 12 o'clock door, and attempt to leave.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Demons Gate
10,000 HP
While this guy is the bane of most Low Level challenges, in this one he's
quite easy. He must not kill Aeris, but otherwise there are relatively few
ways he can screw up the battle. Pulse of Life will revive anyone Demons Gate
has killed and fully restore everyone's MP, so you can fight him for as long
as you want. In fact, because he will quickly refill Aeris' limit gauge with
Cave-In he is substantially easier than Red Dragon.
The first move is the most dangerous. Cid can survive an unprotected rock
drop without Barrier (or equivalently, a critical hit/double rock drop under
Barrier) at full HP, but Cloud and Aeris cannot. Note that a critical rock
drop or double rock drop on Aeris will kill her, no matter what, so you do
need a little luck with Demons Gate's attacks. Everyone should survive if he
opens with Cave-In or the charge turn for Demon Rush. Assuming that Aeris
wasn't killed, cast Big Guard at your first opportunity. Cid uses Sense, then
always uses either a physical attack or a limit break. When Cloud or Cid is
killed and revived by Pulse of Life, cast Big Guard as soon as they are
revived to make sure they remain protected as well. 400 HP is enough to
ensure that everyone will survive a rock drop; cast White Wind to make sure
everyone has enough health. If he uses Petrif-Eye you will need to cure it;
but wait until he attacks again before doing so, so White Wind will recover
some HP as well as curing the status effect.
Due to Demons Gate's infamously high Magic Defense, physical attacks and limit
breaks are the most effective way of damaging him. Even so, I recommend
having Aeris and Cloud cast Aqualung just before you activate Pulse of Life.
You don't lose any MP, and it still does over 100 damage to him. Meteorain
and Boost Jump are as effective here as they were against Red Dragon, and even
from the back row Cloud and Cid can hit for decent damage. Obviously you need
to watch your Barrier gauge carefully, so you can ensure Big Guard is recast
just after Barrier has worn off.
Whittle him down to less than 100 HP, taking care not to use limit breaks when
his HP falls too low. Now move Cloud and Cid to the front row while Aeris
defends. (It might be wise to fill Aeris' limit gauge before you do this, and
heal her with White Wind.) The men should die pretty quickly, though if
Aeris' HP falls too low before they do you will need to use Pulse of Life.
Once they are gone, put up Planet Protector to guard Aeris. Finish him with
Trine or Aqualung.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
XIII. Searching for Aeris
Some cutscenes commence, Cloud goes berserk, and... Aeris is gone? What?!
Sadly, she's never coming back. Never again will you be able to see her
lovely face, or take advantage of the powerful Planet Protector or Pulse of
Life. Since your characters will now have to take care of protecting
themselves and restoring their MP the hard way, you have some work to do.
First, though, you must get the third and final Enemy Skill materia.
Restore the battle speed to normal, set Cloud's limit breaks to level 1, and
save. Go south to get into the Tiny Bronco, head all the way north to the
Icicle area, and enter Bone Village. Talk to the guy in front of the shack,
and tell him you want to dig up the Lunar Harp. Climb the ladder to the top
level, then move Cloud so he is obscured behind the plume of white smoke
rising from the shack below. From the south edge of this level take a few
paces north, so he is still obscured by the smoke. There's no need to order a
search; simply select "Done" immediately, set off the bomb, and press Square
to designate the dig spot at your current location. You should get the Lunar
Harp within a few attempts this way. Head through the forest, then through
the trail beyond it, and on to the City of the Ancients. Take the right fork
as you enter, and choose to rest in the second building. When the party
wakes, walk behind the beds. You will find the third Enemy Skill materia
lying on the floor.
Now leave the City of the Ancients and return to the Tiny Bronco. Give Enemy
Skill #1 and Manipulate to Cloud, Enemy Skill #2 to Barret, and Enemy Skill #3
to Tifa. Get off at the Wutai beach, and run around in the grassy area east
of the beach until you meet a Tail Vault and some Razor Weeds in battle. This
way, you can avoid the dangerous trek to Wutai proper.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Razor Weed x2, Tail Vault
1000 HP (145 MP), 960 HP
Have Cloud attempt to manipulate one of the Razor Weeds. When he succeeds,
cast Magic Hammer on all three characters. Once everyone has learned the
spell, have the Razor Weed attack itself to break Manipulate. (Unfortunately,
casting White Wind prior to learning the spell will leave the relevant
character with 0 MP, completely destroying their spell-casting ability.) Kill
Barret and Tifa, use Magic Hammer to restore Cloud's MP, and allow him to end
the battle with one Trine and one Aqualung. Fortunately for him, the Razor
Weeds cannot counter multi-target attacks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save your game, and get back into the Tiny Bronco. Rest at an inn--I would
suggest Nibelheim--to revive Barret and Tifa. Get off just south of the Gold
Saucer desert, save on the world map, and enter the Gongaga Forest. Run
around the first screen until you meet a solitary Touch Me.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Touch Me
300 HP (74 MP)
Manipulate it, then cast Frog Song on Cloud, Tifa, and Barret in that order.
When Cloud is put to sleep, wake him with a physical attack and use Frog Jab
to remove Toad. Let Barret and Tifa kill themselves, have it use Frog Jab on
itself to remove Manipulate, and let Cloud finish it with Trine.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return to the world map, save, and get back in the Tiny Bronco. Get off near
Nibelheim, and go into town to use the inn. The buggy should be nearby. Get
into it, and take it through the Cosmo and Gongaga areas to reach the Gold
Saucer desert. (Magic Hammer will prevent Griffin's MP-destroying Peacock,
while Frog Song will stop most other enemies.) It would be wise to lower the
battle speed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harpy
800 HP (200 MP)
Have Barret or Tifa cast Big Guard while Cloud attempts to manipulate it. If
he succeeds, cast Aqualung on the party and end it the same way you did the
first time. If the Harpy casts Aqualung on its own, you could employ an
alternate strategy. Frog Song will immobilize the Harpy, and two Magic
Hammers will prevent it from casting Aqualung or Poison Storm when it wakes
up. Just make sure that both Barret and Tifa are dead before the battle is
over.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save the game, and go back the way you came to reach the Tiny Bronco. Make a
brief stop at Bone Village, and revive your party members by ordering a quick
search. (To do this, call for a dig and immediately end it by selecting your
current location as the dig site. The party will get to rest for free.)
If Cloud doesn't already have Cross Slash charged, build his limit gauge in a
random battle until he does. Head to the extreme east of the world map, so
you are on the beach near the chocobo farm. Run up and down the beach until
you encounter an Elfadunk. Manipulate it, and use its Shower to put Cloud,
Barret, and Tifa under Sadness. Change your party to Cloud, Yuffie, and Cid,
and put them under Sadness as well. (Whenever I tell you to meet an Elfadunk
in the future, just follow the same procedure.) You can also put Red and Cait
Sith under Sadness for good measure, but you don't have to. Put Barret and
Tifa in your party again, return to the Icicle area, and save.
The following is important, so read it carefully. To make the upcoming bosses
as easy as possible, you need to make your way through the Great Glacier and
Gaea's Cliff without resting. This means that none of your characters are
allowed to die, at least not until the battle plan says they are supposed to,
and hence all healing and MP restoration must be taken care of with White Wind
and Magic Hammer. It's really not as bad as it sounds; Frog Song will
immobilize every enemy on Gaea's Cliff, and with Sadness everyone except Tifa
(who will be dead and out of the party anyway) can survive the most powerful
single-target attack, Malboro's Frozen Beam.
Be sure to put Hungry to sleep with Frog Song if you run into him. When he
casts Mini on a character and then removes them with Eat, that character will
lose Sadness. You cannot afford for that to happen. Take the middle way now,
following the shining path to the water altar. Replace Cloud's Manipulate
with Sense, save your game, and approach Aeris.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Jenova-LIFE
10,000 HP (300 MP)
The only potential danger lies in the first move, if Jenova casts Aqualung
before Cloud can move. It is far too powerful for the party to survive.
Otherwise, use Cross Slash to paralyze Jenova. You will easily be able to
cast three Magic Hammers before she moves again, eliminating her MP. (Cross
Slash is necessary because Jenova counters all magic attacks with Reflect.)
With no MP, Jenova cannot attack at all. Sense her HP, move everyone to the
front row, and start attacking her. You can spend your MP attacking with
Trine if you wish, but mostly you will have to rely on physical attacks. (In
any event Cloud must have at least 3 MP after the battle, so he can restore
his MP with Magic Hammer.) At least you can stay in the front row this time.
Kill Barret and Tifa once she has a few hundred HP or less, and let Cloud end
the battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
More than ever, Aeris' death leaves a sting this time. That's why we're
going after Sephiroth, so we can stick it right back to him.
*****DISC TWO*****
XIV. Corel Valley, Icicle Area, and Great Glacier
Don't rest. Instead, go south to return to the world map. Change your party
to Cloud, Yuffie, and Cid, transferring Enemy Skill #2 to Yuffie and Enemy
Skill #3 to Cid, then save. There will be no need for Cloud to use his
higher-level limit breaks for a long time, so leave him at level 1. From now
on, you will follow the same basic procedure in most random encounters: Hold
L1+R1 for a while, on the off chance that you're able to escape immediately.
If you don't, cast Frog Song to put your enemies to sleep. Heal with White
Wind if necessary, steal some MP with Magic Hammer, and then proceed to flee.
Since you can't heal out of battle, the time spent restoring your HP and MP
while the enemies are asleep is vital for your survival. (You should save
Clear Tranquil for the Icicle or Schizo battles, since it takes so long to
charge under Sadness.) No matter what, be absolutely certain that your
characters have 3 MP or more at all times. If not they won't be able to
restore their MP, and hence will be rendered virtually useless.
Follow the path Sephiroth took into Corel Valley, then hop up the spiral path
to reach the cave. To get through the cave, follow these directions: climb up
the crack at the bottom, go left, climb up the next crack, go right, climb up
the next crack, go left, climb up the final crack, then take the ladder up to
the top. Exit onto the world map. Walk west until you are past the
mountains, then head north to reach Icicle Village. Save here. Enjoy the
pleasant world map music, because this is the last time you're going to hear
it.
As you enter the town, enter the building on the right side. Grab the map off
the wall inside. Attempt to exit the back of the town, and Elena will arrive
with some Shinra goons. To dodge her punch and save a little time, press the
Cancel and left directional buttons. Now go into the middle house, talk to
the boy, and take his snowboard. Finally, go out the back of town to start
the snowboard minigame. Don't these people have anything better to do than
set balloons and igloos in the middle of an enormous snowboard slope?
Do not spend too much time wandering in the Great Glacier, or Cloud will
collapse and you will have no choice but to rest at Holzhoff's cabin. My
directions will assume that you turned right at both intersections on the
snowboard course. Head north until you encounter a frozen lake, and continue
to the northeast. Head right on the screen with the lone tree, and from there
just keep going north.
When you reach the snow field, take note of the horizontal and vertical lines
in the snow. Simply walk along one of the vertical lines, tapping X
frequently to set markers behind you. When the screen starts to turn, stop
moving; the markers will help to point you in the right direction. You will
walk past an igloo in the middle of the snow field; if you enter and exit the
igloo, the screen will be oriented with north on top again. You can and
should use the save point inside Holzhoff's cabin, but do not talk to Holzhoff
himself.
XV. Gaea's Cliff and Whirlwind Maze
This is a pretty fearsome place in LLNIIENACMO, though not necessarily because
of your inability to revive your characters. The most powerful single-target
attack is Malboro's Frozen Beam, which does about 675 damage with Sadness.
Everyone will survive it if they are at full HP, though to ensure this you
need to cast Frog Song, White Wind, and Magic Hammer in essentially every
random encounter. (Without exception, every enemy on Gaea's Cliff and in the
Whirlwind Maze will be put to sleep by Frog Song. It is enormously valuable
for neutralizing Malboro, Stilva, and their irritating smaller brethren.) The
true dangers are two full-party attacks: Stilva's Magic Breath, which does
2400 damage to all characters (1600 with Sadness), and Malboro's Bad Breath,
which poisons and immobilizes the party while he cuts them down one by one
with Frozen Beam. If either is ever cast--before you're prepared for it,
anyway--consider it a guaranteed Game Over.
While in the outside areas, you must always keep your body temperature above
26 degrees. Otherwise you will return to Holzhoff's cabin and have to make
the ascent all over again, though you are no longer required to rest there.
The faster you get out of there the better, to avoid the Malboros as well as
the button-mashing to stay warm. Inside isn't quite as bad, though you still
need to put Stilva to sleep to prevent him from casting Magic Breath.
Evilhead's Ultrasound is also pretty bad; use Frog Song to immediately put
them down (Aqualung if they attack from both sides), and cast White Wind if
anyone is silenced. Push down the rock in the first cave area to clear the
path, make it through another chilly outside area, and use the save point.
Replace Cid with Red, transferring Enemy Skill #3 to him. Go out the door to
the right, curving around the outside to reach the top of the cavern. If Red
is hit by Frozen Beam, he will die. But that's alright, since you can win all
three Icicle battles without him. I strongly recommend putting the battle
speed on the slowest setting and using Wait mode.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Icicle, Evilhead x4
3000 HP (300 MP), 740 HP (45 MP)
The Icicle itself cannot attack; it is the four Evilheads and their Ultrasound
that will cause all the trouble. If Red is still alive, cast Frog Song on the
Evilheads one by one. If one of your characters is hit with Ultrasound, have
Cloud or Yuffie cast White Wind immediately; Silence is very bad in these
battles. Once they are all asleep, kill Red. Restore your HP with White Wind
if you haven't already, drain the MP from the Evilheads (the Icicle counters
Magic Hammer), and cast Laser on the Icicle. Since Icicle is weak against
gravity, Laser will automatically kill it.
If Red is dead when you enter the battle, use the strategy listed below.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the battle, you will be given the option to jump down into the cavern.
If you're feeling uneasy about these battles, you can use the save point and
fight them one at a time. For the moment, I would recommend trying to fight
all three battles in a row. If worse comes to worse, you can always escape.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Icicle, Evilhead x4
3000 HP, 740 HP
If all four Evilheads get to act before your turn, there is a 42% chance that
both Cloud and Yuffie will be silenced by Ultrasound, rendering them
defenseless. If that happens, activate Clear Tranquil immediately and escape.
Otherwise, enter into a menu and wait for the Evilheads to finish their attack
animations. Have the one not hit by Ultrasound heal with White Wind, removing
Silence in the process, and the other end the battle with Laser.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continue to the left.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Icicle, Evilhead x4
3000 HP, 740 HP
Same strategy as above.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jump down now. No need to fight the fourth Icicle.
Run to the save point and switch Cid back in. Swap your materia around,
giving Enemy Skill #2 to Cid and Enemy Skill #3 to Yuffie. Return the battle
to normal speed and save your game. Hop over the newly created stepping
stones to reach the other outside area, then curve around left to reach the
final chilly set of ledges. Once again, don't allow your body temperature to
fall below 26 degrees; it's a long walk to get back.
When you reach the next cavern area, lower the battle speed and save
immediately. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT use the healing spring; without Sadness
it's quite difficult to beat Schizo. If you run into a Blue Dragon along the
way, Big Guard is an absolute must; he is immune to sleep and paralysis, and
his attacks can easily kill you even with Sadness. Be absolutely sure that
everyone is at full HP before entering the battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Schizo (Right), Schizo (Left)
18,000 HP (350 MP), 18,000 HP (350 MP)
With no protection at all, Schizo's breath attacks do about 1000 damage. This
is about the same damage as Malboro's Frozen Beam, so with Sadness everyone
can survive one attack before Big Guard is up; after that, everyone can
survive a double attack. Hopefully they won't both attack the same character,
or both Cloud and Cid, before you can cast Big Guard. Yuffie casts Magic
Hammer on one of the heads, Cloud or Cid (whoever has lower current HP) casts
Big Guard, and the remaining character casts White Wind after the breath
attacks. Then have everyone cast Magic Hammer, using White Wind only if
someone is left with less than 400 HP. Your first and foremost priority is to
eliminate one head's MP by casting Magic Hammer on it four times. Removing
its MP will disable that head, and you will be down to one attack per round.
After it uses three breath attacks, the other head will do nothing for two
rounds--plenty of time to stop the painful double breath attack.
With no MP, Schizo can no longer use its breath attacks or earth-based
counterattack. Even so, you are not out of the woods yet. Its final attack
does not require MP, and since each head uses the final attack seperately you
have to be very careful when you kill them. Sense both heads, move everyone
forward, and use your limit breaks. Since Yuffie has nothing better to do
with her MP, have her cast Aqualung until she runs out. Cloud can cast Trine
a few times, but make sure he has at least 90 MP remaining. Cid should save
all of his MP, in case he needs to use White Wind a few times after battle.
Once everyone has cast their respective spells, start meleeing one of the
heads; I usually target the left one first. Once it has less than 400 HP
remaining, stop attacking. Now target the other head, reducing it to just
under 400 HP.
This phase is crucial. The final attack does 1300 damage to all targets,
which is reduced by Sadness and MBarrier to around 450 damage. To ensure that
Cloud and Yuffie die, it is enough to put their HP below 400. Laser is ideal
for this, as it ignores MBarrier and automatically rips off half your HP.
(Cid would need to cast it; Cloud still needs to save his MP.) Kill off
Yuffie before killing the heads, but keep Cloud and Cid at full health. When
you are ready, have Cloud cast Big Guard. Attack the first head for a few
turns, and it should quickly die; the final attack will leave the party
wounded, but still alive. Fully heal with two White Winds, then attack Cloud
until you're sure he will die. Spend whatever remaining MP Cloud has on
Trine, and if necessary use physical attacks to finish Schizo. The other
final attack should kill Cloud and leave Cid with 300-400 HP.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DO NOT return to the spring now. Due to a glitch, if you get a random
encounter before leaving this screen you will be unable to escape; that cannot
be allowed. Instead, exit to the bottom of the screen. You can immediately
head back if you want to, but I wouldn't advise it; Cid has next to no chance
of surviving Blue Dragon in his current state, and the Evilheads can also
annihilate him easily. Instead, continue on into the Whirlwind Maze. The
only way you're likely to get a Game Over is if Gigas casts Quake3 before you
can put him to sleep, and there's only a miniscule chance of that happening.
Don't bother using Magic Hammer on Grenade, since he has no MP.
When you get to the second screen of the Whirlwind Maze, Tifa will force
herself into the active party. In the process, Cloud and Yuffie will be
revived and everyone will be healed. Form a party of Cloud, Tifa, and Cait
Sith. Transfer Enemy Skill #2 to Cait Sith and Enemy Skill #3 to Tifa. Run
to the left edge of the next screen to witness the cutscene with the Highwind,
then use the save point.
The windy passes in the Whirlwind Maze are one of the most irritating parts of
a Low Level challenge. If you are knocked down you will get into a forced
encounter with Wind Wing, Rapps' nasty younger brother. Since you will have
to cross these passes close to a dozen times before you end this section of
the game, the whole process can get quite irritating.
Though it is possible to beat Jenova-DEATH in your current state, it is very
risky. Jenova can easily kill Cloud and Tifa before your first turn, ending
the battle before it starts. It would be much wiser to put everyone under
Sadness and charge Cross Slash. To do this, get into an encounter with a
Gremlin on the screen just past the first whirlwind. Cast Frog Song on all
your enemies as usual, then cast Laser twice on one of the Gremlins; being at
low HP makes it use the Sadness-inflicting Bad Mouth much more often. Cast
Frog Song on it again, then wait for it to use Bad Mouth on all three
characters. Bad Mouth does 1000 physical damage, making Defend quite
important. Once you're ready, continue on.
In addition to the wind, you must also avoid the cyclones in the second windy
pass. Once you reach the second screen, immediately lower the battle speed
all the way.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Jenova-DEATH
25,000 HP (800 MP)
Sadness gives you a huge survival advantage, reducing her Red Lights from
around 800 damage to just over 500 and allowing everyone to survive them.
Cast Big Guard as soon as possible, use Cross Slash to paralyze Jenova for a
few rounds, and heal with White Wind if she got the first attack in. Unless
someone's HP falls too low or Jenova silences you, in which case you heal with
White Wind, use Magic Hammer every chance you get. Like the previous Jenova,
she is absolutely powerless when her MP is gone. Restore Cloud to full
health, sense her, and move forward. Tifa and Cait Sith are free to use up
all their MP casting Trine and Aqualung; after that, start meleeing her to
death. When she gets down to a few hundred HP kill Tifa and Cait Sith, then
finish Jenova.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once you have given the Black Materia to a party member, return the battle
speed to normal and head north to the save point. A little luck is required,
as Wind Wing's Aero3 is certain death if Cloud isn't able to escape or cast
Frog Song in time. Assuming you do live to use the save point, replace Cait
Sith with Cid and transfer Enemy Skill. Head south, past both windy passes,
to exit the Whirlwind Maze. Backtrack all the way to Schizo's lair, then use
the healing spring. Return to the Whirlwind Maze area, taking care that no
one dies.
Before leaving this place, all three Enemy Skill materia are going to learn
Trine and Magic Breath. Trine is a superb, cheap Enemy Skill, one that
everyone should have access to, and Magic Breath is more powerful than
Meteorain even to single-target enemies; the latter spell is vital in the
Junon battles. The problem is that Stilva's Magic Breath does well over 2500
damage, very severe for a party whose strongest character barely has 900 HP.
To learn it, Cid must be under Sadness. Once again, you will be using the
Gremlins; enter the Whirlwind Maze again, and get them to use Bad Mouth on all
your characters using the strategy listed prior to Jenova-DEATH.
(If you have the patience for yet another trip into the Maze, you might want
to replace Cid with Cait Sith and having the Gremlins put him under Sadness as
well. This will allow him to survive Malboro's Frozen Beam, making him vastly
safer and possibly saving you much aggravation on the return trip.)
Backtrack again, this time all the way to the cavern where you fought the
Icicles. Lower the battle speed to at least the default level, and change
your materia configuration: give Enemy Skill #1 and Sense to Cloud, Enemy
Skill #2 to Tifa, and Enemy Skill #3 and Manipulate to Cid. Run around near
the save point until you encounter Stilva.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stilva
2000 HP (300 MP)
Begin by casting Big Guard while Cid attempts to manipulate Stilva. If he
casts Magic Breath before you're able to manipulate him, reset and fight him
again. Otherwise heal everyone to full HP, sense Stilva, and have Stilva cast
Trine on the party. You may cast Magic Hammer ONCE if the need arises; do not
use it any more than that, or Stilva will not have enough MP to make this
strategy work. (It is imperative that everyone be alive after Trine, or not
all of the materia will learn Magic Breath.)
Heal Cid to full HP, and then use Magic Breath on the party. Cloud and Tifa
will be killed, while Cid will survive with less than 100 HP. Now that both
skills are learned, have Stilva cast Magic Breath on himself. If that doesn't
kill him, and it usually will, an additional Trine will finish the job.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go back to the save point and switch Cid for Cait Sith. Give Cait Sith
Enemy Skill #1 or Enemy Skill #2. Unfortunately, neither Cloud nor Tifa can
be removed from the party right now. Cait Sith will have to make it past the
Malboros on his own, without Sadness. Keep the battle speed where it is; this
makes Frog Song's Sleep last longer, and improves the chances of putting
Malboro to sleep before he can act. This will probably take a few attempts.
Once Cait Sith makes it back to Schizo's lair, use the healing spring to
revive Cloud and Tifa. Save, and head to the end of the Whirlwind Maze.
The third and final pass requires you to avoid the wind, cyclones, and
periodic lightning strikes. If you cross after the third cyclone goes by, you
should be safe. Head forward for a long progression of cutscenes, and say
goodbye to vicious Gaea's Cliff.
XVI. Escaping from Junon
No sooner do you control Tifa again than the Shinra barge in and march you off
to your execution. Simply have Barret follow Tifa and the guards down to the
execution chamber. Make sure to give him Enemy Skill #1 or Enemy Skill #2.
There is a save point along the way, though you don't really need to use it.
When Sapphire Weapon attacks, Cait Sith will join you and you will enter
battle with some Attack Squads. Contrary to appearances, you can escape from
this battle. (Which begs the question: where do the Attack Squads go?) After
attempting to open the door to the execution chamber, exit the room and head
for the airport. Frog Song is quite effective against Soldier:2nd, who can
deal some pretty severe damage with Sword of Doom. Yuffie will join you along
the way. Once you make it to the parked airship, the scene will shift to
Tifa.
Press X, X, Triangle, Triangle+X, Circle+Triangle, Circle to free Tifa from
the chair. Then push the left button to stop the gas, and attempt to open the
door. With some help from Weapon, Tifa is able to escape the execution
chamber and climb/fall down to the Sister Ray. Give Scarlet a few slaps for
payback, then leave Junon on your brand new airship.
XVII. Mideel, Fort Condor, and Corel
Once on the Highwind, you will have to form a party with Tifa as the leader.
It doesn't really matter who you choose, since this party isn't going to fight
any battles. Head to Mideel Village, on the southeast corner of the map.
Once the cutscene initiates, Tifa will leave the party for a while. The party
now takes on a new mission: protecting the Huge Materia.
Form a party of Cid, Barret, and Red. Give them all Enemy Skill, granting
Enemy Skill #3 to Red, and head over to Fort Condor. Before you start the
mission, climb up to the materia shop and buy two Manipulate materia. You
have nothing else to do with your gil, so you might as well give all your
characters the ability to manipulate. Start the mission, turn up the battle
speed all the way, and allow the enemy units to reach the shack. You will
enter a forced battle with Commander Grand Horn. No need for a separate boss
strategy; just suicide with Aqualung. Your entire party is left with 1 HP,
and Fort Condor is lost for good, but you are still alive.
Save your game, get back into the Highwind, and rest at an inn. I usually use
the house in Junon, though you can also rest in the airship operation room.
Set down in the Costa del Sol area, give Manipulate to Cid and Red, and run up
and down the beach until you encounter a group of three Beachplugs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beachplug x3
200 HP (100 MP)
Manipulate one of the Beachplugs, and have it cast Big Guard on Red. Kill
Barret and Red--Laser and Flamethrower are the most effective tools for this,
as usual--and have Cid finish them with Trine. Very easy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Replace Red with Yuffie, transferring the appropriate materia to Yuffie. Set
down anywhere in the Junon area, and get into battle with a solitary
Zemzelett.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zemzelett
285 HP (36 MP)
As before, if he casts Thunderbolt you cannot learn White Wind. Manipulate
him, teach White Wind to Yuffie, then kill her off. Casting White Wind on him
is a good way to remove Manipulate, by the way, particularly since Zemzelett
cannot break the manipulation on his own. At this point one Flamethrower will
be sufficient to kill him.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
With the exception of Laser, all the important enemy skills can now be cast by
all three characters. With that done, you can move on to the Corel mission.
No need to rest or change your configuration; this is the party you'll be
using for the upcoming battle, which is quite easy to win with just one
character alive, and the worst attack Cid will suffer on Mt. Corel is the
easily cured Petrify Smog. Set down outside North Corel and make your way
north to the reactor. You will be forced to fight one battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attack Squad x2
1300 HP (100 MP)
Two Trines will win the battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After that, the Huge Materia will be hauled out on a train and the party will
follow them. Since you cannot afford the EXP from any of the train battles,
simply allow the ten minute timer to expire. Once it does, you'll need to
rest at the inn.
Replace Yuffie with Cait Sith, then rest if you haven't done so already. Take
the airship to the beaches by the chocobo farm and manipulate Elfadunk to put
the party under Sadness. Return to Mideel, lower the battle speed all the
way, and save on the world map. After talking to Tifa, the party will be
forced to fight Ultimate Weapon.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Ultimate Weapon
100,000 HP (400 MP)
If he casts Quake2 before you are able to put up a Big Guard, your chances
aren't good; it will reduce Cid and Cait Sith to very low HP, making healing
with White Wind difficult, and will usually kill Red. Otherwise, one or two
White Winds will be enough to fully heal you. Ultima Beam is the real killer,
as it does 650 damage even with MBarrier and Sadness. Make sure at least once
character has that much HP before the Weapon's third turn (and that you've
cast Big Guard, of course), and you will live to see the battle end on its
fourth turn.
Though it is possible to prevent Ultima Beam by casting Magic Hammer four
times, you will not have time to do so with only two survivors. Only use this
approach if Weapon opened with Quake2 but Red still survived, since the Big
Guard strategy is much more reliable.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shortly thereafter, the Lifestream sequence initiates. So much time, so
little to do. Once you've had your fill of Cloud's past, you will be back on
the Highwind. When you control Cloud and try to exit the operation room, it
will be time to form a new party. Make it Cloud, Cid, and Red. If Cid
survived Ultima Beam, head straight for Junon; otherwise, rest at an inn and
put Cid under Sadness first. Obviously, everyone needs Enemy Skill.
XVIII. Junon
Bribe the guard to get into upper Junon. Don't forget to use the save point.
Head for the tunnel with the soldiers (well trained, they are), then enter the
elevator.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine Crew x2
1500 HP (85 MP)
Cast Frog Song on both Submarine Crews, then kill Cloud and Red. One Aqualung
plus one Trine will kill them; draw MP from them as needed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once you leave the elevator, you will be forced to fight another battle
without saving.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine Crew x2
1500 HP (85 MP)
Exactly the same as the last battle, except this time only Cid can fight.
Kill them once more with Aqualung+Trine, healing with White Wind if necessary.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head down to the elevator now. Swap Red for Cait Sith, save your game, and
continue on to the Underwater Reactor save point. Once you get there, save
again. When you head forward, be sure to talk to the single soldier first;
otherwise you will be forced into an attack from both sides, screwing up the
battle plan.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine Crew
1500 HP (85 MP)
Cast Frog Song, kill Cait Sith, then kill the Submarine Crew as usual.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return to the save point, replacing Cait Sith with Barret. Now go forward to
face the group of two.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine Crew x2
1500 HP (85 MP)
Exactly the same as the other battles. Remember to kill Barret.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before you can fight the final pair of guards and continue on, you have to
make a long detour. Save your game, then head back to the surface. Leave
Junon, rest at an inn, and form a party of Cloud, Red, and Cait Sith. Have
Elfadunk put them under Sadness, and return to Junon. Form a party of Cloud,
Barret, and Tifa, and return to the Underwater Reactor. If Cloud is hit by
Goannai or killed along the way, reset and load the game from your last save.
Back in the Underwater Reactor, approach the final group of guards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Underwater MP x2
1000 MP (100 MP)
Despite their low HP, these guys are decidely more trouble than the Submarine
Crews. Each Underwater MP will attack your characters three times in a row,
and can also use Hand Grenade for some pretty severe damage. Cast Frog Song
on them, kill Barret and Tifa, and finish them with two Trines.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head onto the next screen to watch the Huge Materia be taken out of the
reactor. Then head to the dock to see it put into the submarine. DO NOT
approach Reno just yet, or you will prematurely trigger the boss fight.
Instead, backtrack to the save point and make your party Cloud, Red, and Cait
Sith. Give them Enemy Skill and your two Sense materia, and fully restore
your HP and MP in a random encounter. (The Hard Attacker+Senior Grunt
formations are best; both enemies are susceptible to Frog Song and carry
plenty of MP.) Save your game, then return to the dock. It is crucial that
you put the battle speed at the slowest setting before approaching Reno.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Carry Armor, Left Arm, Right Arm
24,000 HP (200 MP), 10,000 HP (100 MP), 10,000 HP (100 MP)
The thing that makes this battle deadly is Lapis Laser. Even with Sadness, it
does close to 1200 damage to the whole party. Carry Armor can use it as a
sneak attack at the beginning of battle, and he also may get to use it before
the party's first turn; if either happens, you will have a Game Over. Cast
Big Guard as soon as a character gets a turn. Once you're under Big Guard,
two White Winds will fully heal you from Lapis Laser; make sure Cait Sith
casts the first one, as he will nearly always have the highest HP. At the
earliest opportunity, have each of your characters cast Magic Breath once.
Once you have drained all the MP from the body, Lapis Laser can no longer be
used. However, you cannot afford to just use Magic Hammer twice at the
beginning of battle, because then you will not have enough MP to eliminate the
arms. Instead, cast it once your characters have less than 50 MP remaining.
If your characters have only a little more than that, cast Trine to do a bit
of additional damage. You should really only need three Magic Hammers, two on
the body and one on an arm; the 100 MP from the other arm can be used in an
emergency, such as if he uses two or three Lapis Lasers or too many of your
spells miss. Trine will do 600-700 damage, while Magic Breath does 1500
damage. Once Magic Hammer has been used twice on the body, sense both arms.
Even when Lapis Laser is disabled, Arm Grab is still an enormous threat. He
uses it much more often when at low HP, so that below 2500 HP each arm has a
50% chance of Arm Grabbing a character. Needless to say, this is bad; you
will lose the victim's spell-casting ability, since there is no way to revive
them, and if Cait Sith is Arm Grabbed you have no choice but to give up. To
avoid Arm Grab, cast three Magic Breaths in quick succession once both arms
have less than 4000 HP remaining (probably after the fourth Magic Breath).
Assuming none of them miss, the most dangerous phase of the battle will be
bypassed entirely. If Cloud or Red is Arm Grabbed at this point, cast Magic
Breath anyway; you will have to finish them off with Trine, but the battle
should still be possible.
With his arms gone and his MP eliminated, Carry Armor is helpless. Sense him,
heal Cait Sith with White Wind if necessary, and move forward to start
meleeing him. Cloud and Red can use up all their MP casting Trine, but Cait
Sith needs to save a minimum of 13 MP for the next battle. Once Carry Armor
has only a few hundred HP remaining, kill Cait Sith's allies and end the
battle with a few physical attacks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since you cannot leave the area before starting the next three battles, Cait
Sith will have to fight solo. Though you don't need to fight at the slowest
speed any longer, keep the battle speed fairly low; this will ensure that the
enemies don't wake up before Cait Sith has cast all the necessary spells.
Approach the guards, and the battles will be triggered automatically.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine Crew x2
1500 HP (85 MP)
Cast Frog Song on both guards. Use Magic Hammer on the first Submarine Crew,
then White Wind and Aqualung. Drain the other Submarine Crew's MP, and end
the battle with Trine.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine Crew x2
1500 HP (85 MP)
Exactly the same as above. Cait Sith must end the battle with full HP and at
least 83 MP.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine Crew x3
1500 HP (85 MP)
This is where your inability to revive really comes back to bite you. This is
an attack from both sides, so all three Submarine Crews will get to move
before you do. As usual, an attack from behind will do double damage--though
strangely enough, the first attack will only do double damage if it comes from
the direction Cait Sith is facing. To survive, Cait Sith must eliminate the
group of two with Magic Breath and then put the surviving enemy to sleep.
Unfortunately, the single Submarine Crew will get another attack from behind
before you're able to do so. Unless one of their attacks misses, the
Submarine Crews must attack in a certain order: the single Submarine Crew must
attack first if Cait Sith is in the middle position, or last if he is on the
left or right. If they don't, and Cait Sith dies as a result, you will have
to fight Carry Armor all over again.
Once you've successfully put the Submarine Crew to sleep, drain his MP with
Magic Hammer and finish him off with Magic Breath. Fortunately, there's no
need to heal.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use the save point on the sub and enter the control room. Choose to take the
troops hostage. You must win the minigame with the sub, or it will be
impossible to get the Key to the Ancients later on. Fortunately it's quite
easy: just stay a little bit behind the leader sub, mash Square, and you will
win in a matter of seconds.
XIX. Rocket Town and the Ocean Floor
When you return to the surface, immediately get back into the sub. If you
want it, the sub with the Huge Materia is in the southwest corner of the
ocean. The Sunken Gelnika is also down there, though I recommend leaving it
alone for the moment. At the north end of the ocean is a trench. Head west
in the trench as far as you can, and then head north through the hidden
tunnel. Pick up the Key to the Ancients, then return to Junon and rest. Get
back in the airship.
Form a party of Cloud, Cid, and either Tifa or Yuffie. Now set down by the
beaches in the chocobo farm area, and save your game. You want Elfadunk to
put Cid under Sadness, but not Cloud. If Shower lands on Cloud, either rest
or reload your game. Trust me, this makes a big difference in the Rocket Town
battles.
Set down outside of Rocket Town and form a party of Cloud, Barret, and Red.
Make sure Cloud has either Enemy Skill #1 or Enemy Skill #2, so he can cast
Laser. Set the battle speed to whatever you used for the submarine battles,
save your game, and approach the rocket. You will have to fight three battles
in quick succession.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attack Squad x2
1300 HP (100 MP)
Cast Frog Song on both Attack Squads, then kill Barret and Red. One Aqualung
and one Trine will kill them. There should be no need to heal in this battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attack Squad x2
1300 HP (100 MP)
The procedure is the same, but because Cloud is fighting alone their Sleep-
inducing spray can really slow you down. Be sure to heal Cloud and restore
his MP before ending the battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senior Grunt, Attack Squad x2
2600 HP (245 MP), 1300 HP (100 MP)
Cast Frog Song on the Senior Grunt first, since he will be doing the most
damage. Eliminate the Attack Squads with Magic Breath, cast Laser on the
Senior Grunt, heal with White Wind, top off your MP, and finally end the
battle with Trine. If Cloud doesn't already have a limit break, he should be
close; wake up the Senior Grunt and let him build Cloud's limit break until it
is ready. Aqualung is of little use, since the Senior Grunt takes half damage
from water.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
At this point Cid will demand to be on the front lines, and you will get to
change parties. Make your new party Cloud, Cid, and Cait Sith. Equip Enemy
Skill on all of them--make sure Cid has Enemy Skill #1 or Enemy Skill #2
now--and lower the battle speed to the slowest setting. Climb up the ladder
to square off with Rude.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Rude, Attack Squad x2
9000 HP (240 MP), 1300 HP (100 MP)
As soon as possible, use Cross Slash on Rude. The limit break will paralyze
Rude immediately after the current attack, and could well prevent him from
dragging the battle out by casting MBarrier. Have Cait Sith cast Big Guard
while Cid eliminates the Attack Squads with Magic Breath. Cait Sith follows
up with a Magic Breath of his own, Cloud casts Aqualung, and then everyone
casts Magic Hammer to eliminate Rude's spell-casting abilities. For the rest
of the battle, use nothing but Aqualung (and possibly Trine at the very end).
The big danger here is Grand Spark. Even with MBarrier it does almost 300
damage (200 to Cid), and Rude will use it three times in a single combo
against random characters; since White Wind heals the whole party, it can be
difficult ending the battle with just Cid alive. Laser and Flamethrower are a
godsend here, since they make it much easier for Cloud and Cait Sith to die
quickly. Cid's Sadness is also very helpful, since you don't have to heal
nearly as often to keep him alive. (As long as he has more than 600 HP and is
under MBarrier, Cid will survive no matter what Rude does.) The instant only
Cid is alive, have him end the battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head into the rocket for the fifth and final battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senior Grunt
2600 HP (245 MP)
Easy, easy, easy. Frog Song, Laser, Magic Breath, and if necessary one or two
Magic Hammers will be enough to end the battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Head through the door, and after a few cutscenes you will be launched into
space. If you want the Huge Materia, enter the following passcode: Circle,
Square, X, X. Otherwise, just head down the ladder. Follow Shera to the
escape pod, and watch some more cutscenes.
XX. Cosmo Area, Icicle Area, Midgar Area, and the Sunken Gelnika
Take the airship due south and set down in the grassy area to the west of
Cosmo Canyon. Enter Cosmo Canyon, go up to Bugenhagen's observatory, and talk
to him in order to continue the plot. Now fly north to the Icicle area,
setting down on the grassy area immediately south of the City of the Ancients.
Enter the city, take the left path, and head for the center platform in the
room with the Aurora Armlet.
Once the cutscenes here are done, return to the world map and board the
airship. Weapon is on the rampage... again. Rest at an inn, then form a new
party. It doesn't matter who you choose, except that Cid and Cait Sith can't
be in it. Have Elfadunk put Cloud under Sadness. Then form a party of Cloud,
Cid, and Cait Sith, giving them Enemy Skill as usual, and set down in the
Midgar area. When Diamond Weapon stops moving, save and walk toward him.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Diamond Weapon
30,000 HP (30,000 MP)
Diamond Weapon is immune to Sense, so you have to use a calculator. Cast Big
Guard at the beginning of battle, then whittle down his HP with Trine. You
may use ONE limit break, preferably Dice, but no more. If you use a second
limit break he will start the countdown to Diamond Flash, which silences the
party and hence dooms them to extermination. Instead, rely on Trine for your
damage, healing with White Wind and recasting Big Guard as needed. His spit
attack does 800 damage unprotected (550 to Cloud), while the foot stamp does
over 1000 damage (750 to Cloud). Note Diamond Weapon's virtually unlimited MP
stock; having enough MP should never be a problem.
Most of the battle is extremely easy. The only really difficult part comes at
the end, when you have to kill Cid and Cait Sith. Like Rude, Diamond Weapon
has an infuriating tendency to attack the characters you don't want to be hit.
Laser won't help nearly as much, since the foot stamp always targets whichever
character has the highest HP. Hopefully you see why Cloud needs to be the
only one with Sadness; by reducing Cloud's healing load, it becomes much
easier for Diamond Weapon to kill your other characters before healing Cloud
becomes an issue. When Cloud is the only one still standing, end the battle
with Trine or Magic Breath.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before you head for the North Crater, there are two things that need to be
taken care of. First, head over to Junon. Rest at the house, save your game,
and get into the sub. Enter the Sunken Gelnika, in the trench near the Gold
Saucer area. Once inside, go through the door just right of the save point.
In the northeast corner of the room is the Double Cut materia, partially
obscured by the chest on the walkway above. (Even though the materia appears
purple on the map, it is still a command materia.) The enemies here--Unknown
3 especially--can inflict deadly damage on your party members, so be sure to
put them to sleep with Frog Song immediately. Expect at least one party
member to die in this room. When you've collected the materia, exit the
Gelnika and return to the airship.
Second, Cait Sith needs to learn Slots. Make a quick trip to Bone Village to
dig up the Key to Sector 5. Tell the staff to dig next to the cockpit of the
crashed airplane by the entrance. After a few attempts, the key will be
yours. Return to the Midgar area, and form a party of Cloud, Tifa, and Cait
Sith. Save on the world map, then enter the city through the Sector 5 gate.
Cait Sith will learn Slots by killing Hedgehog Pies, in the same formation
Aeris used to learn Planet Protector.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whole Eater, Hedgehog Pie x2
72 HP, 40 HP (52 MP)
In the first battle, kill Cloud and Tifa with Laser and Flamethrower. Draw MP
from the Hedgehog Pies when needed, and win the battle with Trine. Cait Sith
can heal himself with White Wind, but since the enemies here do so little
damage that probably won't be necessary.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After winning 11 of these battles, "Slots gained" will appear in the EXP
gained screen. Don't switch limit breaks yet, though; Cait Sith needs to use
Dice for a while. Leave Midgar and return to the airship.
If you don't have a lot of practice with Slots, I advise saving now and
practicing on a separate file. The ideal place for building limit breaks is
on the world map just outside of Nibelheim. Manipulate Valron, and have him
use Dive Kick on Cait Sith. Dive Kick takes off 25% of Cait Sith's maximum
HP; with Fury, two uses are sufficient for Cait Sith to gain a limit break.
To avoid accidentally killing the Valron with Toy Box or Toy Soldier, use a
Shrivel to put him under Mini status.
The reason you need Slots is for the Mog Dance combo, obtained by lining up
three star symbols. Mog Dance acts like a Megalixir, fully restoring the
party's HP and MP. Most of the difficulty in getting this combo comes from
lining up the first slot, since the reels spin too fast for very precise
targetting. The easiest way to do this involves pausing the reels with the
Square button. Press and hold Square repeatedly, glimpsing the symbol on the
first reel as best you can, until you land on the Cait Sith symbol. (It will
appear as a dark blur on the screen.) If you press the Confirm button
immediately after releasing Square, you should land on the star. You can do
this for all three slots, though if you simply stop the other two reels
randomly there is better than an 80% chance that they will line up on their
own. (Thanks to GarlandG for this tip.)
When you feel ready, fly to the Northern Crater to initiate the next major
mission of the game. Time for your final trip to Midgar.
XXI. Midgar, Sector 8
Fly into the airspace over Midgar to parachute into the city. Make your party
Cloud, Cait Sith, and Yuffie. Use the save point once on the ground, then
descend into the Sector 8 underground. The random enemies are pretty nasty
here, and only Behemoth among them is susceptible to Frog Song. (Manipulate
will work on the robots, though it misses too often for my liking.) Crazy Saw
is especially bad, as his physical attack inflicts Confusion in addition to
pretty high damage; have another character heal with White Wind if possible,
and otherwise defend while you are escaping.
As soon as you've entered the railroad track area, you'll be confronted by the
Turks. They would be quite impossible in LLNIIENACMO, even if you didn't have
to worry about your severely limited MP supply. Fortunately, because of the
Wutai sidequest you don't have to fight them. Go your separate ways, heading
north for Shinra Headquarters. At the first fork in the road go right. Then
go left at the next fork, and climb the ladder to reach Shinra Headquarters.
This place brings back memories, doesn't it?
Get into the elevator near the front desk, and take it up to floor 64. Use
the beds here, give everyone Manipulate, and walk around for a bit on floor
65. Encounter some Sword Dances here and have them inflict Fury on everyone
with Slap. Once this is done, take the elevator back to the bottom. Give
Double Cut to Yuffie, then save your game. Head back into the tunnels and
backtrack to the first of the two forks, this time taking the left path. Head
up toward the Sister Ray, then prepare for the least exciting battle in the
game.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Proud Clod, Jamar Armor
60,000 HP (320 MP), 20,000 HP (300 MP)
Like Rapps earlier, you must rely on physical attacks and limit breaks for
your damage. Proud Clod's high Magic Defense makes magical attacks a waste of
MP; and even if that weren't a factor, all your really powerful magical attacks
would damage Jamar Armor as well. Jamar Armor gives more EXP than Proud Clod,
so under no circumstances can you kill it. Since Proud Clod is immune to
Sense, you must manually subtract the damage done by each hit.
The battle itself is simple enough, though you do need a bit of luck. Yuffie
attacks with Double Cut every turn, except when she uses Clear Tranquil to
heal the party. With Fury, Clear Tranquil will hopefully take care of nearly
all your healing needs. Cloud and Cait Sith will use Cross Slash and Dice,
respectively, when they gain limit breaks, but otherwise need to defend.
While this will slow down your damage, it is necessary in case Proud Clod
avoids Yuffie for a long time and forces you to do without Clear Tranquil.
White Wind should be reserved for emergency situations, such as if Yuffie
suffers a particularly nasty critical hit and has very little HP remaining
before Clear Tranquil, or if Cloud or Cait Sith has less than 500 HP remaining
and no Clear Tranquil is ready; you simply don't have the MP to use it all the
time. Cast Magic Hammer on Proud Clod first, then on Jamar Armor once Proud
Clod's MP is gone.
The only really dangerous attack is Proud Clod's machine gun. This does 550
damage to a character, and like all his physical attacks it can be used twice
in the same turn. If it goes critical on Yuffie, or she is targeted by both
attacks, there's a strong chance she will die and you will have to fight Proud
Clod again. While the possibility is remote enough that you can probably
ignore it, don't be surprised if one of your attempts fails due to a cheap
critical hit. Such is the way of this battle.
When Proud Clod kneels down and brings out the cannon, cast Magic Hammer on
him nonstop. He will spend an additional charge turn on the ground, then
unleash Beam Cannon for 1200 damage on the party. To prevent that, you must
cast your third Magic Hammer on the body before his two charge turns are up.
Fury will cause Magic Hammer to miss fairly often, so this may take a few
tries. Once his MP is gone, have everyone melee him until the message "Proud
Clod's skill power is used up" appears. After that, Cloud and Cait Sith go
back to defending while Yuffie continues to attack.
Stop using Dice when Proud Clod has less than 2400 HP, and stop attacking
altogether when he has less than 300 HP. Allow Proud Clod to build Yuffie's
limit break one more time, and have her defend while an ally casts White
Wind. (If you followed my advice and relied on Clear Tranquil for your
healing, Jamar Armor should still have at least 100 MP remaining.) Then move
Cloud and Cait Sith forward, and let Proud Clod kill them. Reflect from Proud
Clod's Materia Jammer can cause some problems here, as it prevents Cloud and
Cait Sith from killing themselves with Flamethrower and Laser. Fortunately,
Reflect will wear off after your characters have bounced Laser off themselves
four times. Do not use Flamethrower, since unlike Laser it is able to kill
Proud Clod. Once both guys are dead, have Yuffie finish the battle with
Greased Lightning.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The instant Proud Clod falls, run back to Shinra HQ. Though the Sister Ray
save point is closer, Grosspanzer appears in every random encounter there.
This guy does 1300 damage even in the back row; if you encounter one before
reaching the save point, Yuffie will die and all the effort you just spent
killing Proud Clod will be wasted. Heal with White Wind in a Shadow Maker
battle, if possible, and otherwise do your best to avoid getting killed by
Crazy Saw before you reach the save point. Take the elevator up to floor 64,
then rest for the final time. Switch Cait Sith's limit to Slots at this point.
Save outside the building, then go to the save point at the base of the Sister
Ray. Equip Sense on Cloud and Cait Sith, transferring Enemy Skill #3 to Cait
Sith. Save your game and ascend the stairs. If anyone dies along the way,
simply reset and make the trip again. (Big Guard is an absolute necessity for
surviving the Grosspanzers.) When you get to the screen with Hojo, put the
battle speed at the slowest setting and put the ATB mode on Wait. You can't
afford for Hojo to be using Combo while you try to line up the reels.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Hojo, Bad Rap Sample, Poodler Sample
13,000 HP (250 MP), 11,000 HP (120 MP), 10,000 HP (200 MP)
This is the easy part of the battle; enjoy it while you can. Cloud and Yuffie
put the samples to sleep with Frog Song, while Cait Sith Hastes the party with
Big Guard. Sense Hojo, then start meleeing him to death. The samples should
wake up twice, once at 7000 HP and again shortly before finishing this part of
the battle. Recover your MP with Magic Hammer on Hojo and the Samples, have
Cait Sith cast Big Guard, and finish him with Double Cut from Yuffie. Cloud
should stand by for the moment.
BOSS: Helletic Hojo, Left Arm, Right Arm
26,000 HP (200 MP), 24,000 HP (400 MP), 5000 HP (300 MP)
Killing the Right Arm is your priority; while it is dead, no attack except
Sleepel can be used. To kill it quickly, cast Laser, two Aqualungs, and Trine
in that order. Don't enter your commands too quickly, however; he is able to
cast Confu in this form, which may cause Aqualung or Trine to land on your own
party. Once the Right Arm is dead, start using physical attacks and limit
breaks on the Left Arm. (The battle will end once both arms are dead, so
attacking the body is unnecessary.) Draw your MP from the Left Arm first; the
longer the body can cast Sleepel, the less MP you'll have to spend killing the
Right Arm.
Be very careful about how you finish this form. Cait Sith's and Yuffie's MP
need to be as high as possible going into the next form. Cloud must be ready
to act immediately after the battle ends. Finish him with Trine.
BOSS: Lifeform-Hojo N
30,000 HP (100 MP)
As soon as the final form appears, have Cloud cast Magic Hammer. This will
steal all his MP in one shot, eliminating the deadly full-party Slow. While
this is necessary, it prevents you from taking any more MP for the rest of the
battle. This is no small matter. His Combo inflicts Poison, Darkness, Sleep,
and around 800 damage; you will be completely dependent on White Wind to heal
the target. But because White Wind costs a hefty 34 MP, before long you will
run out of MP. Add that you have to rely on physical attacks and limit breaks
for your damage, because Trine/Aqualung/Magic Breath would waste even more MP,
and you have a serious MP crisis. Clear Tranquil would be useless here, so
have Yuffie use Greased Lightning instead. Predictably, Hojo is immune to
Sense; you will need a calculator one last time.
Obviously, you cannot survive this battle without Mog Dance. If you've
mastered the trick described earlier, getting the combo should be a piece of
cake. Of course, you cannot use Mog Dance if Hojo decides to ignore Cait
Sith. To ensure that he gets as many limit breaks as possible, never have
Cloud or Yuffie attack unless Cait Sith is able to attack immediately after
them. Due to a quirk in Hojo's AI, he has a strong tendency to attack the
character that attacked him last; hence, if Cait Sith is always the last
attacker he will be the target of most Combos, guaranteeing him plenty of
chances to use Mog Dance. Combined, these two strategies will recover far
more MP than you need. You can scythe through his HP with Aqualung if you're
good enough, though you should be careful not to use up all your MP in case he
decides to target someone else for a while or you screw up the reels a few
times. (In the latter case, physical attacks and Cloud's and Yuffie's limits
will be your primary form of damage.)
As mentioned in the rules, you must stay away from the Cait Sith symbols. The
instant-win combo (three Cait Siths) is explicitly forbidden, while the
automatic Game Over (two Cait Siths plus a Moogle) is detrimental for obvious
reasons. However, both effects are so rare that this will probably never be
an issue. The real danger comes from the Transform combo (three Moogles).
It renders the battle unwinnable, since Combo's Sleep+Poison will quickly
destroy you and the transformed Cait Sith can no longer use Slots, and even if
you did win Cloud and Yuffie would get half EXP from the battle, pushing them
up to Level 31. If the first reel lands on either symbol, stop both reels
immediately to abort to the Toy Box combo.
Assuming you are able to employ the Slots well, Hojo's critical hits are the
big danger in this battle. Combo's hits are not of equal strength; the first
three hits do 100, 250, and 150 damage respectively, while the final Sleep-
inflicting hit does a whopping 350 damage. Have Combo's target defend the
instant one of the first three hits goes critical; this will cut the damage
from the remaining hits in half, and could very well save your life.
Once Hojo has 2000-3000 HP remaining, you can safely lower his HP with Trine.
When you're sure Cait Sith will be able to kill him with one more spell, it's
time to wrap up the battle. Let Yuffie die first. Then move Cloud forward,
and have him attack once. (Be sure Hojo has more than 200 HP.) If he targets
Cait Sith, cast White Wind and wait a little longer. When he targets Cloud,
pay close attention. In order for Cait Sith to win the battle alone, Cloud
must die on the fourth hit of Combo. Otherwise the remaining hits will land
on Cait Sith, and if he is put to sleep he will most likely get damaged and
put back to sleep by Hojo's Combos until he finally dies. If either of the
first two hits goes critical, have Cloud defend immediately; the powerful
final hit will definitely kill him, but he should have just enough HP left to
survive the third. Once Cloud is dead, immediately unleash the most powerful
spell available to kill Hojo.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's done. Hojo has been defeated, and a disc without the ability to revive
has drawn to a close. Watch the cutscenes on the Highwind, and revel in the
fact that the challenge is all but completed.
*****DISC THREE*****
XXIII. Northern Crater
Before you go down, change Cait Sith's limit back to level 1 and return the
battle speed to normal. Climb down the ladder, then slide into the Northern
Crater. The first chest contains the Save Crystal, the one item you are
allowed to use in this challenge. Pick it up. If you encounter a Dark Dragon
on the way down, make absolutely certain to put him to sleep before casting
Magic Hammer; otherwise he will counter with Ultima, wiping out the party.
Continue down four screens. At this point you must select the party you will
be using to learn Angel Whisper. You can use any party you like, as only
Cloud will gain any experience; I suggest leaving Barret and Tifa out, since
the second materia slot will be very important. When the party splits, send
Cloud and his two teammates to the left, while everyone else goes right. Send
them all down at the second split point.
Go all the way to the bottom of the Crater, plant the Save Crystal in the
final room, and save your game. DO NOT COLLECT YOUR PARTY MEMBERS; doing so
will put everyone back in the party, pushing Tifa to Level 30. Walk back up
all the way to the first split point, and this time go right.
You should now be on a spiral pillar. Give Enemy Skill and Manipulate to all
three characters, and Sense to at least one of them. Walk up and down this
pillar, taking care not to go too far down. The random encounters here are
quite nasty. There's Dragon Zombie, whose Poison Fang will easily kill its
target even with Sadness and in the back row; Death Dealer, who will
occasionally attack the party from both sides and inflicts pretty devastating
damage with his physical attacks; and Malboro, who still is able to devastate
the party with Bad Breath and Frozen Beam. The enemy you are looking for is a
lone Pollensalta.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pollensalta
4000 HP (220 MP)
Use Manipulate on Pollensalta until it succeeds. Have her cast Angel Whisper
on all three characters, then eliminate her MP with one Magic Hammer. Use
your limit breaks, then lower her HP with Laser. (She absorbs Fire, so don't
cast Flamethrower, Beta, or Magic Breath.) Once she has only a few hundred HP
remaining, move the party forward and kill everyone except Cloud. It will
only take a few hits for him to end the battle.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now run up the pillar and get out of here, hopefully without another random
encounter. In the next random encounter, use Angel Whisper to revive Barret
and Red. Finally, you can revive fallen characters at will. Return to the
bottom of the cave and make your final save, using the same route as before.
XXIV. The Final Battles
It's time to end it once and for all. When you're ready, head down the
stepping stones of doom. Make your party Cloud, Barret, and Yuffie; give
everyone Enemy Skill as usual, and give Double Cut to Yuffie. Frog Song works
against every enemy here; use it immediately, as Iron Man and Dragon Zombie
are more than capable of cutting down one of your characters in a single turn.
You will need to cast White Wind and Angel Whisper a lot to keep your
characters alive. Once at the bottom, just before you face Jenova, turn the
battle speed down to the slowest setting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Jenova-SYNTHESIS A, B, C
60,000 HP (600 MP), 10,000 HP (600 MP), 8000 HP (600 MP)
Put up a Big Guard on your first opportunity, then have everyone cast
Aqualung. If you don't need to heal, it will take four rounds to kill the
arms. Jenova's tentacle slap can be a serious problem, as it can inflict Fury
and cause your attacks to miss quite often. You can partially protect
yourself by putting everyone in Sadness beforehand, but there's a chance he
may hit the same character twice and inflict Fury regardless. (Also, anyone
killed on the way down will lose Sadness.)
Assuming no one is under Fury, the rest of the battle is a piece of cake. (If
someone is under Fury, have them renew Big Guard protection right after the
arms are revived; you'll have to count on Jenova getting at least one attack
in before she dies.) When revived, the arms will have 25% of their maximum
HP; three Aqualungs are sufficient to kill them again, keeping Jenova
permanently immobilized the same way you immobilized Helletic Hojo. While the
arms are dead, rely on physical attacks and limit breaks. When a character
falls below 100 MP, use Magic Hammer on the body.
When Jenova has less than 15,000 HP remaining, she will begin the countdown to
Ultima. Fully heal Cloud, and use Magic Hammer on the body until its MP is
fully depleted. If Cloud doesn't have full MP, have him use Magic Hammer on
an ally. When the count reaches zero, Jenova will fail to cast Ultima and the
battle will end automatically.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
When the cutscenes following Jenova's defeat end, form a party of Cloud and
two new characters. Cait Sith and Cid are the obvious choices because of
their limit breaks. Enemy Skill is the only materia you need; obviously, make
sure everyone has one. Raise the battle speed to the highest setting, and
show Sephiroth what you're made of.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Bizarro Sephiroth, Head, Left Magic, Right Magic, Core
40,000 HP, 2000 HP, 4000 HP, 4000 HP, 10,000 HP
Both Bizarro and Safer Sephiroth have "infinite" MP: each turn, the MP for all
of Sephiroth's parts is fully restored. This is quite fortunate, since
otherwise these battles would be completely impossible.
Before you can have any hope of killing the body, you must first destroy the
Core to stop Bizarro Enegy. You can't just start attacking it, though, as
initially it cannot be damaged. To make the Core vulnerable, you must kill
Left Magic and Right Magic. These guys absorb Fire and Lightning,
respectively, so you will be attacking them with Aqualung. However, you still
can't just kill them right away, because you would also kill the Head. If
both the Head and the Core are alive on the fourth turn of Bizarro's eight-
turn attack cycle, Bizarro will use Stigma. Stigma is a full-party attack
that does 2000 damage and also inflicts Poison and Slow. You cannot survive
it without Big Guard, and even with Big Guard the status effects make Stigma
dangerous. By killing the Head immediately, it is all but impossible to avoid
this move.
Cast Aqualung twice at the beginning of battle, then stand by for a while.
You have to wait for Bizarro to kill two of your characters with Bolt3 and
Quake3; revive them with Angel Whisper. After Quake3, immediately follow the
Angel Whisper with a third Aqualung. This will ensure that the Head dies just
in time to prevent Stigma. Bizarro will use a physical attack instead, and
you will have plenty of time to kill Left Magic and Right Magic with two more
Aqualungs. The Core can now be killed. To kill it, you must cast Aqualung 11
times within the next eight rounds. Don't bother healing; reviving with Angel
Whisper is faster, and in any case he usually won't kill anyone before the
Core dies. So long as you cast Aqualung more often than Magic Hammer or Angel
Whisper, you will kill him in time.
Once the Core is dead, the battle is very easy. Restore your MP when needed,
cast Trine or Aqualung to damage the body, and cast Angel Whisper whenever a
character dies. Healing is pretty much a waste of time, since he reduces
everyone to 1 HP with Heartless Angel. When you hear a rumbling sound, it's
time to end these games and face the big boss himself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS: Safer Sephiroth
80,000 HP
Safer will cast Wall on his first turn. This is nothing to worry about right
away, as you probably need to restore your MP right now, but Wall needs to
wear off before you can do any serious damage. Safer attacks in a fixed
sixteen-move pattern, listed below:
1. Wall
2. Shadow Flare
3. Wing attack
4. <Rises into the air>
5. Pale Horse
6. Super Nova
7. Break OR Heartless Angel
8. <Comes down>
9. DeSpell
10. Deen
11. Wing attack
12. <Rises into the air>
13. Pale Horse
14. Super Nova
15. Break OR Heartless Angel
16. <Comes down>
Break is used initially, to be replaced by Heartless Angel when Safer has less
than 20,000 HP remaining. Shadow Flare, the wing attack, Pale Horse, and
Break all kill one character, requiring one of the others to revive them with
Angel Whisper. The character hit by Shadow Flare will quickly become your
most important character, as they possess the most powerful enemy skill in the
game. The only attack which can kill everyone at once is Deen, which requires
its own strategy.
After Pale Horse, have one of your characters stand by while the other casts
Angel Whisper. If you are using Wait mode, staying in the menu during the
attack animation will prevent the passage of time, and ensure that everyone is
able to move immediately after Super Nova. As long as the animation is, you
cannot just sit back while it is going on. Super Nova has a 30% chance of
inflicting Confusion, Silence, and Slow on each character. Confusion and
Silence are two of the deadliest status effects in this battle; your
characters' low HP after Super Nova ensures that an attack from a Confused
ally will kill them, and Silence renders them almost defenseless. If you
notice a character's Enemy Skill command is blacked out, have them defend
immediately. That character will be afflicted with Confusion, and therefore
must skip his turn so he can't act until after Confusion is cured.
(Confusion, Silence, and Slow are always inflicted together.)
Even if Enemy Skill is not blacked out, a character may still be afflicted by
status effects. To know for certain, watch carefully when the animation ends.
As soon as the damage appears, the white bubble symbolizing Silence will
appear over all afflicted characters. You have three to four seconds to make
all afflicted characters defend, before the battle resumes and Confusion can
destroy your party. Have whoever is unaffected cast White Wind to heal the
rest of the party of their status effects. If everyone is affected, you have
just lost the battle. There's a chance of this happening, though in the
dozens of times I've endured Super Nova it only happened twice. So be it; by
now you should be used to that sort of necessary luck.
Safer will follow Super Nova with either Break or Heartless Angel, depending
on his HP. Either way, you must cast Angel Whisper on someone. His Wall will
be gone now if you're using Active mode, meaning Shadow Flare can do its full
damage. It may take a bit longer with Wait mode, depending on how much time
you spend in the menus, but in any case it will last no longer than Deen.
Make sure you have at least 160 MP before casting Shadow Flare, in case an
emergency arises. Everyone who does not have Shadow Flare should cast
Aqualung instead. As always, Cloud's and Cait Sith's limit breaks don't cost
MP and do a whole lot of damage; Cait's Dice are the only thing you have that
isn't reduced by Wall. Just make sure you don't forget about your defense, as
you are entering the most critical part of the battle.
When Safer descends, have the target of Angel Whisper cast White Wind to fully
heal the party. Next comes DeSpell, and then Deen for 1600 damage to all. To
live through Deen, you must cast Big Guard immediately after DeSpell. After
everyone survives, you can go back to the normal pattern of reviving your
allies and casting Shadow Flare. Once again, try to ensure everyone gets a
turn right before Super Nova. When he descends again, get in your last
barrage of Shadow Flares and Aqualungs; he is about to recast Wall, which
means you have to go back on the defensive.
That's the battle in a nutshell. Chances are good that everyone will know
Shadow Flare before the battle ends, greatly speeding up the killing process.
Excluding the remote chance of Super Nova silencing the whole party, there's
really nothing that can screw you up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sephiroth
1 HP
The simplicity of a hands-free counterattack, or the marvel that is Omnislash?
Your choice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The LLNIIENACMO challenge is now complete. If you managed to complete it, you
rank as one of the best FFVII players out there.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
GarlandG: It was his completion of the LLNIIENACMO challenge that helped bring
me into the FFVII challenge community. Since then, he's provided an enormous
amount of support, helpful advice, and general assistance in my LLNIIENACMO
run as well as numerous other challenges. This FAQ is dedicated to him.
Necrosis, lolo26, TsukiNoNeko, essentialism, and the rest of the FFVII
challenge community: For providing me with endless helpful tips,
encouragement, and general good times on the GameFAQs message boards.
Terence: Most of my strategies are heavily dependant on the AI data Terence
presents in his comprehensive Enemy Mechanics FAQ. This is an invaluable
compendium of monster stats, attack patterns, EXP values, and so on. His
Party Mechanics FAQ also proved important for understanding the Slots limit
break.
Piotr Deren: For pointing out that you can rest in the truck in Corel Prison.
BrutalAl: For his inspired solution to the motorcycle minigame.
Apathetic Aardvark: His walkthrough was my main resource for information
related to general gameplay issues.
Squaresoft: For creating the Final Fantasy series.
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