=============================================================================== GarlandG's "LLNMIENA" FAQ/Walkthrough for =============================================================================== [][][][] [][][][] [] [] [][][][] [][][][] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [][][] [][][] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [][][][] [][][][] =============================================================================== Version 1.5 =============================================================================== Table of Contents ################### Use quick find (Crtl+F) to easily find what you want. To easily find a boss or a battle, just look at the Boss & Battle list and type in the code in front when searching. For example B38 for Demon's Gate. 1 - Important Stuff Boss & Battle List ------------------- ------------------ * 1.1 <> Copyright B02: Guard Scorpion B03: Smogger x2 * 1.2 <> Intro B06: Air Buster B07: Aps * 1.3 <> Gaming Info B08: Reno B09: Mighty Grunt x3 * 1.4 <> Battle Plan & EXP Guide B10: Sample:HO512 B11: Hundred Gunner B12: Heli Gunner 2 - Walkthrough: Midgar B13: Rufus ----------------------- B14: Motor Ball * 2.1 <> The First Mission B15: Bottomswell B16: Jenova-BIRTH * 2.2 <> The Second Mission B17: Dyne B18: Stinger * 2.3 <> Back In The Slums B20: Gi Nattak B21: Materia Keeper * 2.4 <> Shinra HQ B22: Palmer B23: Foulander x2 B32: Garuda x2 3 - Walkthrough: The Rest Of Disc One B34: Flapbeat x3 ------------------------------------- B37: Red Dragon * 3.1 <> The First Continent B38: Demon's Gate B39: Jenova-LIFE * 3.2 <> The Second Continent B40: Icicle B43: Schizo * 3.3 <> Cosmo Canyon B44: Jenova-DEATH B45: Attack Squad x2 * 3.4 <> Nibelheim & Rocket Town B46: Ultimate Weapon B47: Submarine Crew x2 * 3.5 <> Wutai & Gold Saucer Area B49: Submarine Crew B51: Underwater MP x2 * 3.6 <> The Temple Of Ancients B52: Carry Armor B55: Submarine Crew x3 * 3.7 <> Searching For Aerith B58: Senior Grunt & Attack S. B59: Rude & Attack Squads B60: Senior Grunt 4 - Walkthrough: Disc Two & Three B61: Yuffie aka Mystery Ninja --------------------------------- B62: Diamond Weapon * 4.1 <> Adventures In The Snow B64: Attack Squad x3 B65: Rapps * 4.2 <> The Time Without Cloud B66: Proud Clod B67: Hojo * 4.3 <> Junon Underwater Reactor B68: Hellectic Hojo B69: Lifeform Hojo NA * 4.4 <> Rocket Town & More B70: Mover x3 B73: Jenova-SYNTHESIS * 4.5 <> Yuffie, Diamond Weapon & Wutai B74: Bizarro Sephiroth B75: Safer-Sephiroth * 4.6 <> Return To Midgar * 4.7 <> The Northern Crater * 4.8 <> The Final Battles 5 - Additional Info ------------------- * 5.1 <> Challenge Suggestions * 5.2 <> Contacting Me * 5.3 <> Version History * 5.4 <> Credits * 5.5 <> Final Words =============================================================================== 1 - Important Stuff =============================================================================== I know that a lot of people skip this part, but do yourself a favour and read it. I strongly encourage you to do so, because you will find tons of very important info here and questions you might have will most likely be answered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 <> Copyright ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This guide is Copyrighted © to Audun Arnseth, 2004 - 2006, and is for private use only. You may download it and print it out, but you are not allowed to reproduce it, sell it or use it for any kind of profit. You may host it on your website if you get my approval, but the contents may not be changed, and I must be given credit. If this is desired, you can send me an email and ask for my permission. However, should I find it necessary, you will have to remove it at my request. Violation of my copyright will be taken very strictly, and I will consider it an ethic violation and breaking of moral. It also shows lack of respect for other people's work. And most importantly, don't forget that copyright violations are illegal and you might come in conflict with the law. All of this guide is my work and all the strategies have been made up by me, based on my own experiences when playing the game. The only other source of information I have used in the process of making this guide is Terence's Enemy Mechanics FAQ, something he is given credit for in the credits section. I have also received helpful tips from other people that made some strategies easier, but credit has, of course, been given. Final Fantasy VII and everything that has to do with this game is copyrighted (C) to Squaresoft, 1997 & 1998. Squaresoft and Final Fantasy are registered trademarks (R) to Square Co. Ltd. If you break my copyright, I will hunt you down and kick your ass and it will hurt. In other words, don't do it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2 <> Intro ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The summer of 2004 was spent playing Speed Runs, and after successfully setting a nice record and writing a guide for the challenge, I decided to do something different in autumn. I had already done the Low Level No Materia Challenge, but I accidentally screwed up and had some characters reach level 29, so I wanted to start over and beat the challenge legitimately. But then, at work one day, I came to think of something. What if I did the challenge with initial equipment and no accessories? Could that possibly be accomplished? For the next few days I couldn't think about anything else, and I came to the conclusion that the challenge was possible. I thought through every boss battle that could be an obstacle, but I came up with strategies that I knew would work, so I decided to go for it instead of doing another LLNM. I wasn't "giving it a try", as I knew I would complete it, and after a few weeks, Sephiroth had fallen to my Level 28 No Materia Initial Equipment No Accessories party. LLNMIENA is one of the toughest challenges for FFVII and it is recommended for experts only. Before you take on this challenge, you should AT LEAST have done a regular Low Level Game, but I recommend you to do the Low Level No Materia Challenge first as well. LLNM is the perfect warm up for this challenge, as you will learn how to survive on low levels without materia, and that's something you must be comfortable with before you take on this challenge. In other words, you must learn to know the items and their incredible usefulness. After all, it's all thanks to the items that this challenge is possible, so you won't get far if you don't know how to use them. Of course, it doesn't take a scientist's brain to figure out how to throw a couple of Grenades, but certain items have to be treated carefully if you want to live through the battle. Complete LLNM, and you'll know what I mean. But now, let's take a look at the rules. LLNMIENA - Low Level, No Materia, Initial Equipment, No Accessories ##################################################################### LL - You may never exceed level 28 at any point during the game. If a character should reach level 29, you have failed at maintaining the lowest level. NM - Any use of Materia is strictly prohibited, and you may never have Materia equipped in battle unless the game forces you to. IE - The characters must always be equipped with the weapon and armor they were equipped with when they joined the party. Example: Cloud must always be equipped with the Buster Sword and a Bronze Bangle. Just stay away from the "Equip" menu and you won't break this rule. NA - You may never equip an accessory. Period. Once again, stay away from the "Equip" menu, and you'll never break this rule. It's the "Initial Equipment" and "No Accessories" restrictions that make this challenge a lot more challenging than LLNM. In LLNM, you relied on elemental armor and accessories against magic using bosses to make them completely harmless, but such luxury doesn't exist in LLNMIENA. Now, you must find a way to survive all their attacks until the run out of MP. This mostly applies to Jenova-LIFE, Schizo and Jenova-DEATH and the latter is definitely the toughest boss in this challenge. That's not all, though. I haven't even mentioned statuses yet. Some of the bosses really enjoy drowning your enemies in an abyss of nasty statuses, but you can no longer equip Ribbons to protect against them. Now, you have no choice but to deal with these statuses and use items to recover from them. Hojo causes no major threat in LLNM, but in this challenge, you will REALLY miss the Ribbons. Mark my words. And then we have Sephiroth and his infamous Super Nova. Confuse to all, anyone? Lovely. But thankfully, there are other ways to protect against the statuses. Can you take a guess? You should know the game pretty well if you want to take on this challenge; you should know where to go and what to do in order to proceed with the story, so you won't find a detailed walkthrough in this guide. That's what the regular walkthroughs are for. What you will find is the necessary info you will need in order to complete this challenge, like boss strategies, lists over items to pick up, buy and sell and other important things. The walkthrough part is divided into areas and for each new area you will find a complete list of items you must pick up here. Most of them are easy to find and you should know where they are, but I will give you a clue in cases where they are hidden or difficult to find, so don't worry about that. Some times you may wonder why we're using a certain party for a certain fight. I'm fully aware that we're not using the optimal party in some cases, but in a lowest level game, we can't just use the characters we want to all the time. To make sure no one exceeds level 28, we have to swap back and forth between the characters and make sure they all receive less EXP than what's required for level 29. Simply put: You need a battle plan. The battle plan lists all the boss battles, forced battles and other battles you have to fight and win throughout the challenge, like battles to obtain crucial items. It's not an easy task to create a battle plan, but you don't have to worry about that, as I have already made one for you. Jump down to section 1.4 and you'll find it. This challenge doesn't require too much patience, but there is a tedious part about halfway through the challenge. Eventually, you will run out of money and the best way to raise your funds is to fight Cactuars in the desert outside Corel Prison. The Cactuars grant you a total of 10.000 Gil each and they only give away one single EXP. That's not a very high price to pay for that much money. However, the Cactuar is a very rare encounter. The encounter rate is only 1/16, so don't expect to run into them very often. How much time you must spend in the desert depends, but it takes at least an hour. It's not that bad if you put on some music, though. In case you don't want to hunt for Cactuars, there are other ways to get money, but I'll get back to that later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3 <> Gaming Info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS SECTION IS VERY IMPORTANT, AND I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO READ AND UNDERSTAND IT BEFORE YOU START PLAYING. YOU WILL FIND THE MOST IMPORTANT INFO YOU NEED IN ORDER TO SAVE TIME HERE, SO YOU HAVE to READ IT, NO MATTER WHAT. Rules ####### * LLNMIENA is the golden rule for this challenge, and the four parts of it are explained above. Break any of the rules and you have failed the challenge. * No Materia means No Materia. As I said above, you may not equip materia at any point in the game. You may not equip materia to boost stats and you may not have materia equipped in battle to gain AP and then sell them for a higher profit. There are only two exceptions where you are forced to have materia equipped in battle, and these will be explained below. * You're allowed to sell materia and equipment and this will be your main source of income in this challenge. Some people say you shouldn't be allowed to sell materia because it's a No Materia Challenge, but I disagree. I get the point though, but I'll stick to my opinion and allow it. And besides, if you didn't allow selling materia and equipment, you'd get serious financial problems after a while. Exceptions ############ * When you start the game, Cloud is equipped with a Lightning and Ice Materia, and there's nothing you can do with it as you don't have the "Materia" menu yet. Therefore, you're forced to have materia equipped in the first two battles. Don't use the spells. Period. Remove the materia as soon as you get access to the "Materia" menu in Sector 7. * Red XIII joins the party for the first time in the battle with Sample:HO512, and he's equipped with a Sense Materia and an All-Fire combination. Don't use any of them. Period. Remove the materia as soon as the battle is over. * No other exceptions. Cheaters are losers. Gameshark is a banned word. Receiving EXP ############### * To receive as little EXP as possible, we can only have one character survive battles. The other two must be taken out an be KO'd before you can have the survivor finish off the enemy. * And to further reduce the amount of EXP, we will have Aerith survive all the battles during disc one. Yes, we can take advantage of her death in low level challenges, as her EXP will die with her. Level 28 is still the limit though, but don't worry, she will only reach level 22. * The survivor of a battle receives the amount given. * Characters KO'd at the end of a battle will not receive any EXP. * Characters that don't participate in a battle will receive half of the amount given, even if they are KO'd. * Cloud and Tifa will not receive any EXP while they are in Mideel. * Yuffie will not receive any EXP during the Wutai quest. The use of Limit Breaks ######################### This is something most people find out the first time they play the game, that limit breaks have priority before anything else. When you have a character use a limit break, it will always be used right away, no matter whose turn it is. Usually, when fighting a single opponent, your characters get one turn each before it's the opponent's turn again, but by taking advantage of the limit break system, you can have a character act twice before the opponent's turn. If all three characters have limit breaks, you can get a total of six turns between the opponent's turn and thus save time. Let me explain how to do this. Let's say your party is Cloud, Barret and Cid and you're fighting Proud Clod, using S-mines to deal damage. Proud Clod attacks Cloud and he gets a limit break. You now have an opportunity to get four turns before it's Proud Clod's turn again and to make this work, you must have Cloud act first. Then have the others act. Let's say you have Barret act second and then Cid. Cloud will throw an S-mine first and his ATB bar will start filling up again when it's Barret's turn. Then Barret throws an S-mine, and by the time he's done, Cloud's ATB bar should be full. Then it's Cid's turn, and now it's time to activate Cloud's limit break. Just make sure you don't activate it too early, or he will use it before Cid's turn. Do it when Cid starts moving and you see the text "S-mine" at the top of the screen. After Cid is done throwing the S-mine, Cloud will use his limit break and you successfully got four turns in a row. That's how it works. Test it out in a regular battle and you'll easily learn how to handle it. It's not very complicated after all. When you're fighting at the highest battle speed, you don't necessarily have to let the character who got a limit break act first. Since the ATB gauge fills pretty fast, you can let this character act second and still be able to use the limit break before it's the enemy's turn again. On the lowest battle speed, however, you must have the character who the limit break act first. ATB and Battle Speed ###################### The difficulty of battles can be adjusted with the ATB and Battle Speed setups. * If you set ATB to "Wait", time will stop as soon as you enter the item menu, meaning that you can take all the time in the world to select an item and use it. Unless the emeny already started attacking when you entered the item menu, nothing will happen until you leave the menu or use an item. * If you set ATB to "Active", time will run all the time and the enemy will act as soon as it's his turn, no matter what you're doing. If you spend too much time looking for an item, the enemy might even attack again. But of course, you can always pause the game if you need some time to think. * If you set ATB to "Recommended", time will stop during attacks, but not when you're selecting items. The ATB gauge will also stop during attacks and that's really annoying, so I recommend NOT using this setup at all. Why the hell did they call it "Recommended" anyway? In most cases, it doesn't make any huge difference what setup you use, unless you're really slow when selecting items. In the toughest battles, however, it will make a difference. If you're having trouble with a boss and you're using "Active", switching back to "Wait" may do the trick. Well, you're free to use whatever setup you like, but in the battle with Schizo, you're forced to use "Wait". Of course, using "Active" all the time serves more bragging rights. Battle Speed will in most cases not make any huge difference, unless you're really slow again, something you really shouldn't be if you want to take on this challenge. As opposed to ATB, there are many battles where you're forced to use a certain Battle Speed. In some battles, you have to put up a Barrier or MBarrier and to make sure these last as long as possible, you have to fight on the lowest battle speed. In other battles, you have to poison the enemy and to make sure the enemy takes damage from the poison status as often as possible, you have to fight on the highest battle speed. As with ATB, battle speed will make the hugest difference in the toughest battles and especially if you're using "Active", as you will get more time to select items. Again, do whatever you like, but fighting on the highest speed serves more bragging rights. Other Important Info and Tips ############################### * All random battles must be escaped. * Save as often as possible. * Make backup saves in case you screw up. * Pick up all the items I tell you to. * Give all Sources to Cloud as you find them. * Don't use any items unless I say so. * Don't buy or sell anything unless I tell you to. * Don't heal characters in the fields, unless it's absolutely necessary. * Phoenix Downs and Hi-Potions are not to be bought before Nibelheim, but don't worry, you're more than fine with the ones you find/win before that. * Find a calculator. You have no access to Sense in this challenge, and you must keep track of many bosses HP. * Be patient and never give up. This challenge may be tough, but it has been beaten by several people, so it's not impossible. * SAVE OFTEN. It can't be stressed enough. I've heard many stories about people who "forgot to save" and had to play huge parts of the game over again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4 <> Battle Plan and EXP Guide ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's the battle plan, and I believe it doesn't need any further explanation. As you can see, I have divided it into three parts: Midgar, disc one and disc two. Hojo is the last battle you receive EXP from. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | EXP | Enemies | Survivor | KO | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 32 | MP x2 | Cloud | | | 100 | Guard Scorpion | Cloud | Barret | | 64 | Smogger x2 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa | | 64 | Smogger x2 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa | | 64 | Smogger x2 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa | | 180 | Air Buster | Barret | Cloud, Tifa | | 240 | Aps | Aerith | Cloud, Tifa | | 290 | Turks:Reno | Cloud | Barret, Tifa | | 150 | Mighty Grunt x3 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa | | 300 | Sample:HO512 | Nanaki | Cloud, Tifa | | 250 | Hundred Gunner + Heli Gunner | Aerith | Barret, Nanaki | | 240 | Rufus | Cloud | | | 440 | Motor Ball | Aerith | Cloud, Tifa | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 550 | Bottomswell | Aerith | Cloud, Tifa | | 680 | Jenova-BIRTH | Aerith | Cloud, Tifa | | 600 | Dyne | Barret | | | 290 | Stinger | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki | | 290 | Stinger | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki | | 1400 | Gi Nattak | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki | | 3000 | Materia Keeper | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki | | 1800 | Palmer | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 1040 | Garuda x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 1040 | Garuda x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret | | 420 | Flapbeat x3 | Aerith | Cloud, Cait Sith | | 420 | Flapbeat x3 | Aerith | Cloud, Cait Sith | | 420 | Flapbeat x3 | Aerith | Cloud, Cait Sith | | 3500 | Red Dragon | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki | | 3800 | Demon's Gate | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki | | 4000 | Jenova-LIFE | Cloud | Barret, Cid | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 500 | Icicle | Cloud | Barret, Cait Sith | | 500 | Icicle | Cloud | Barret, Cait Sith | | 500 | Icicle | Cloud | Barret, Cait Sith | | 4400 | Schizo | Cloud | Cait Sith, Cid | | 6000 | Jenova-DEATH | Cloud | Tifa, Nanaki | | 600 | Attack Squad x2 | Cid | Barret, Cait Sith | | 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret | | 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret | | 850 | Submarine Crew | Cait Sith | Cloud, Barret | | 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Barret | | 1640 | Underwater MP x2 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Barret | | 2800 | Carry Armor | Cid | Cloud, Nanaki | | 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | Cid | Cloud, Nanaki | | 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | All | | | 2550 | Submarine Crew x3 | Cid | Cloud, Nanaki | | 600 | Attack Squad x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret | | 600 | Attack Squad x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret | | 1530 | Senior Grunt & Attack Squad x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret | | 4000 | Turks:Rude & Attack Squad x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Cid | | 930 | Senior Grunt | Tifa | Cloud, Cid | | 160 | Yuffie (aka Mystery Ninja) | Nanaki | Cloud, Barret | | 35000 | Diamond Weapon | Cloud | Tifa, Cid | | 600 | Attack Squad x2 | Cloud | Nanaki, Cait Sith | | 900 | Attack Squad x3 | Cloud | Nanaki, Tifa | | 3200 | Rapps | Tifa | Cloud, Barret | | 7000 | Proud Clod | Cid | Cloud, Nanaki | | 25000 | Hojo | Yuffie | Cloud, Cait Sith | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Then we have the EXP guide. Here you can see exactly how much EXP each of the characters have at any point in the game. Some of the numbers have marks behind them, and here's what they mean: * Survivor of battle - KO'd at the end of battle s Starting value x doesn't receive any EXP from this battle doesn't participate (no mark) The limit you can see at the bottom is the highest amount of EXP a character can have before leveling up to 29. You should check the table regularly after each battle to make sure that you have the correct amounts, but as long as you escape from all random encounters and you make sure to follow the battle plan, you should have nothing to worry about. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc One Battles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cloud Barret Tifa Aerith Nanaki Cait Cid Start 610s MP x2 642* 395s Guard Scorpion 742* 395- 102s Smogger x2 806* 395- 102- Smogger x2 870* 395- 102- Smogger x2 934* 395- 102- Air Buster 934- 575* 102- 6s Aps 934- 695 102- 246* Reno 1224* 695- 102- 391 Mighty Grunts 1374* 695- 102- 466 961s Sample:HO512 1374- 845 102- 616 1261* Hundred + Heli Gunner 1499 845- 227 866* 1261- Rufus 1739* 965 347 986 1381 Motor Ball 1739- 1185 347- 1426* 1601 Bottomswell 1739- 1460 347- 1976* 1876 Jenova-BIRTH 1739- 1800 347- 2656* 2216 977s Dyne 2039 2400* 647 2956* 2516 1277 Stinger 2039- 2545 792 3246* 2516- 1422 Stinger 2039- 2690 937 3536* 2516- 1567 Gi Nattak 2039- 3390 1637 4936* 2516- 2267 Materia Keeper 2039- 4890 3137 7936* 2516- 3767 Palmer 2039- 4890- 4037 9736* 3416 4667 5909s Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 4477 10616* 3856 5107 6349 Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 4917 11496* 4296 5547 6789 Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 5357 12376* 4736 5987 7229 Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 5797 13256* 5176 6427 7669 Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 6237 14136* 5616 6867 8109 Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 6677 15016* 6056 7307 8549 Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 7117 15896* 6496 7747 8989 Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 7557 16776* 6936 8187 9429 Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 7997 17656* 7376 8627 9869 Garuda x2 2039- 4890- 8517 18696* 7896 9147 10389 Garuda x2 2039- 4890- 9037 19736* 8416 9667 10909 Flapbeat x3 2039- 5100 9247 20156* 8626 9667- 11119 Flapbeat x3 2039- 5310 9457 20576* 8836 9667- 11329 Flapbeat x3 2039- 5520 9667 20996* 9046 9667- 11539 Red Dragon 2039- 7270 11417 24496* 9046- 11417 13289 Demon's Gate 2039- 9170 13317 28296* 9046- 13317 15189 Jenova-LIFE 6039* 9170- 15317 R.I.P. 11046 15317 15189- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc Two Battles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cloud Barret Tifa Yuffie Nanaki Cait Cid Icicle 6539* 9170- 15567 11296 15317- 15439 Icicle 7039* 9170- 15817 11546 15317- 15689 Icicle 7539* 9170- 16067 11796 15317- 15939 Schizo 11939* 11370 18267 13996 15317- 15939- Jenova-DEATH 17939* 14370 18267- 13996- 18317 18939 Attack Squad x2 17939x 14370- 18267x 14296 18317- 19539* Submarine Crew x2 17939- 14370- 19967* 15146 19167 20389 Submarine Crew x2 17939- 14370- 21667* 15996 20017 21239 Submarine Crew 17939- 14370- 22092 16421 20867* 21664 Submarine Crew x2 17939- 14370- 22942 17271 22567* 22514 Underwater MP x2 17939- 14370- 23762 18091 24207* 23334 Carry Armor 17939- 15770 25162 18091- 25607 26134* Submarine Crew x2 17939- 16620 26012 18091- 26457 27834* Submarine Crew x2 19639* 17470 26862 19791* 27307 29534* Submarine Crew x3 19639- 18745 28137 19791- 28582 32084* Attack Squad x2 19639- 18745- 28737* 20091 28882 32384 Attack Squad x2 19639- 18745- 29337* 20391 29182 32684 Senior Grunt & AS x2 19639- 18745- 30867* 21156 29947 33449 Rude & Attack Squad x2 19639- 20745 34867* 23156 31947 33449- Senior Grunt 19639- 21210 35797* 23621 32412 33449- Yuffie 19639- 21210- 35877 10765s 23781 32492 33529 Diamond Weapon 54639* 38710 35877 28265 41281 49992 33529- Attack Squad x2 55239* 39010 36177 28265x 41281- 49992- 33829 Attack Squad x3 56139* 39460 36177- 28265x 41281- 50442 34279 Rapps 56139- 39460- 39377* 28265x 42881 52042 35879 Proud Clod 56139- 42960 42877 31765 42881- 55542 42879* Hojo 56139- 55460 55377 56765* 55381 55542- 55379 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final 56139 55460 55377 56765 55381 55542 55379 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Limit 56298 57847 56298 57071 57071 57847 57847 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And once again I have managed to get the final numbers very even. Well, except Cloud and Yuffie, but they don't count. There's nothing you can do to change Yuffie's battle plan and when it comes to Cloud, I always try to get his final amount as close to the limit as possible. Of course, it doesn't really matter how much EXP a character has as long as he/she doesn't reach level 29, but to me, it's important that their EXP-amounts are as even as possible. I don't know why it's like that, but I just can't help it. I get a much better feeling of satisfaction the more even the EXP-amounts are. However, that's not the only reason why I'm so proud of this battle plan. In some battles, the characters have just enough EXP to be on a certain level, thus making the battle easier. One example would be Red in the temple. He needed 8797 EXP to reach level 16 and he's got 9046. Barret in the Jenova-LIFE battle is an even better example. He needed 9045 EXP to reach level 16 and he's got 9170. Well, enough about that. Let's get on with the challenge now. =============================================================================== 2 - Walkthrough: Midgar =============================================================================== You ready? Well, then my only suggestion for you is to fire up the game and select "new game". Sit back and watch the intro while thinking about all the fun that's waiting for you in this challenge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 <> The First Mission ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Potion x3 (Reactor) Phoenix Down (Reactor) Assault Gun (Guard Scorpion) Potion (Sector 8) Ether (Sector 7 Slums) LLNM EXCEPTION 1: Cloud starts with an Ice and a Lightning Materia equipped, and you can't do anything about it until you reach Sector 7 and get access to the Materia system. What can I say? Don't use the spells. As simple as that. Before moving on, you might want to do some configurations in the menu. Do what you want with the ATB setup, but I strongly recommend you to set all the speed gauges to the fastest. That'll make it much easier to escape battles and it'll take shorter time to skip all the dialogues, unless you want to pay attention to the story. Search the fallen guard for two Potions and then make your way to the bottom of the reactor while picking up the items on your way. Yes, you have to fight two MPs on the platform, but I'll let you handle this battle on your own. If you have any trouble with this battle, you should take a hint and never touch the game again. Ah well, after placing the bomb, you know who's waiting for you... ############################################################################### B02: Guard Scorpion HP: 800 Dif: 2/10 Note: You need a calculator for this battle. Attack with physical attacks and limit breaks until he's down to 100 HP or less and make sure not to attack when the tail is raised. Heal Cloud if his HP should fall below 100, but don't bother healing Barret, as he's to die anyway. Well, after taking out Barret, you can let Cloud end Guard Scorpion's pitiful life with a limit break. Tip: You can take advantage of the Tail Laser to kill Barret. Have Cloud defend and let Barret attack while the tail is up. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dD4x1Bsq4Y ############################################################################### Now save your game and leave the reactor. Cloud will easily be able to survive the random battles on the way up, unless his HP is very close to zero. Give him a Potion if that's the case. There's not much to do in Sector 8. One Gil won't make any huge difference, so buy a flower from Aerith if you want to. Just make sure to choose "later" when you run into the Shinra guards. If you don't, you'll have to fight them and you can't escape the battles. You have to do this three times before Cloud jumps on the train that will take you to Sector 7. Not much to do here either. Just enter the bar and proceed with the story until it's time to leave for another mission. That's when you get access to the "Materia" menu, so REMOVE THE ICE AND LIGHTNING MATERIA from Cloud before you do anything else. When it's done, you can stop by at the Weapon shop and buy 6 Grenades. There's no need to sell anything yet. Just make sure to pick up the Ether on the second floor. Yes, you have to pick up the All Materia first, but don't worry, just picking up materia ain't illegal. Stop by at the Item Shop and buy 8 Potions as well. That's all there is to do here. Save your game and enter the train when you're ready to move on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 <> The Second Mission ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Phoenix Down (Train) Hi-Potion (Train) Ether (Plate area) Potion (Plate area) Tent (Plate area) Ether (Reactor) Titan Bangle (Air Buster) There are a couple of things to do on the train. First, when the alarm goes off in the first car, run over to the other side of the car (where you came in) and talk to the man lying on the right side. He'll give you a Phoneix Down. Now hurry over to the next car and talk to the man standing at the left side by the entrance to the third car. Tell him you want the item, and he'll give you a Hi-Potion. Then, in the third car, a man will steal money from you if you run through the car. Instead of running, just stop and stand still when the man passes you. I don't remember how he looks, but you will know him as he is the only person who walks slowly in the opposite direction. After getting out of the train, you can just continue on until you've placed the bomb in the reactor. Then save your game, because now it's time to get some Deadly Wastes. Some bosses are vulnerable to Poison and poisoning them will make the battles much easier. We need three, for Bottomswell, Materia Keeper and Red Dragon, but the only battle where we really need one is against Materia Keeper, so you can get only one if you want the battles with Bottomswell and Red Dragon to be tougher. The Deadly Wastes are won from Smoggers and to make sure we get as little EXP as possible, you can only fight a group of two Smoggers. There can be no other enemies in the battle. Just two Smoggers. It's possible to win two Deadly Wastes in one battle, but since the chances for that are very low, I decided to allow a total of three battles. That way, you can get one in each battle. And besides, you only get 64 EXP per battle and that's something we can easily afford. If you should get two in one battle, or if you decided only to get one, I still suggest that you fight three battles, so that your EXP values will correspond with the EXP table. To find the Smoggers, you have to climb up to the next screen. You know, the one similar to where Jessie stuck her leg in the first reactor. The Smoggers can appear with different enemies, but as I said, only fight the battle if there are two Smoggers only. Before climbing up, you should get into a battle and kill off Barret and Tifa. By doing that, you won't have to kill them off in the first Smogger battle over and over again if you should fail to receive a Deadly Waste. ############################################################################### B03: Smogger x2 HP: 90 Dif: 1/10 Just throw two Grenades and the battle will be over. If Cloud should get a limit break in one of the battles; don't use it. You have to save it for Air Buster. Don't bother healing him either. ############################################################################### If you receive a Deadly Waste, you can climb back down and save. If not, then hit the reset button on the console. If you do that, you'll most likely get one the next time. If you just soft-reset, you most likely won't. Trust me, I've done this so many times and it hardly ever fails. Anyway, when you receive the third one, you can just proceed to the top and save your game when you reach the save point. Another boss battle lies ahead and this one can be very simple if we do the right preparations. First, revive Barret and give him a couple of Potions. Then enter a battle and make sure both Cloud and Barret get limit breaks. Keep Cloud in front row all the time, but move Barret to back row when his limit bar is full. Have him defend as well. Now, wait until Cloud's HP falls below 35 and then escape. All you have to do now is to heal Barret back to full HP. When that's done, you can go and fight... ############################################################################### B06: Air Buster HP: 1200 Dif: 1/10 To win this battle, you can simply just hold down the action button. This is what will happen: First, Barret and Cloud's limit breaks will be activated in that order. Air Buster counters both of them and his Rear Gun will kill Cloud. Then Barret will attack regularly. This attack might kill Air Buster, but if it doesn't, his next limit break will. This strategy cannot fail, unless some of Air Buster's attacks go critical. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxuOWQEsWlM ############################################################################### That's it for the reactors. We're going back to the slums again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 <> Back In The Slums ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: 5 Gil (Sector 5, steal from the kid) Ether (Sector 5) Potion (Sector 5) Phoenix Down (Sector 5) Ether (Wall Market) Hyper (Wall Market, behind Corneo's bed) Phoenix Down (Aps) Potion (Sewers) Hi-Potion x3 (Train Graveyard) Potion x 3 (Train Graveyard) Echo Screen (Train Graveyard) Ether (Train Graveyard) Ether (Reno) Phoenix Down (Coreno's Mansion) Ether (Use the Battery) Alright, the first thing to do is to escape the church. When Reno and his men attack, have Aerith "RUN" the first time. Now head up to the uppermost barrel and wait there until the second soldier blocks Aerith's path. Tell her to "Hold on" and then push the barrel to take him out. Then have her "RUN" again the last time. As simple as that. When you reach town, enter the house to the far right and check out the Turtle's Paradise flyer. You should also steal the little boy's 5 Gil. If you don't, he'll give you a Turbo Ether later and they sell for only 1 Gil. Hurray, 4 Gil earned! In case you don't know, you have to talk to him first and then open the hidden drawer between the drawer on the dresser by the stairs. Leave the house when you're done and go pick up the Ether in Aerith's garden, but don't enter the house just yet. It's time to do some shopping! Enter the weapon shop and sell off all of your Materia, all the Ethers, the Assault Gun and the Titan Bangle. Then buy 66 Grenades. Now, you should have just above 300 Gil left (can't remember the exact number), which is more than enough for the Wall Market. You need exactly 280 Gil for some various stuff you have to buy there. If you for some reason should have less than that, you have only yourself to blame and you'll have to sell off some of the Grenades you just bought. Anyway, just head for the Wall Market when you're done. Alright, we're gonna have Corneo choose Cloud as his date for tonight. To make that happen, we have to get a few more items than usual and many things have to be done in order to get them. To make this easier, I'll make a list with all the things to do, point for point with numbers. Don't screw this up now. 1. Go ask the man in front of the Honeybee Inn about Tifa. 2. Head over to Corneo's mansion and talk to the man by the front door. 3. Enter the Botique (clothing store) and talk to the girl behind the desk. 4. Enter the Bar and talk to her father. Make sure to select a dress that feels soft and shimmers. 5. Head back to the Botique and talk to the owner. You receive the Silk Dress. 6. Enter the Materia Shop, talk to the man and agree to do the favor. 7. Go eat at the Restaurant and tell them the food was all right. You'll be given a Pharmacy Coupon. 8. Enter the Pharmacy and exchange the coupon for the Digestive. 9. Go sleep at the Inn and buy the drink for 200 Gil. 10. Head back to the Materia Shop and give him the drink. He'll grant you the Diamond Tiara. 11. Save if you're not sure you'll win the squat contest. 12. Enter the Gym and win the squat contest. Your prize is the Blonde Wig. 13. Enter the Bar and give the Digestive to the woman at the toilet. You'll get the Sexy Cologne as a sign of her appreciation. 14. Head back to the Botique and enter the dressing room. Cloud will now change into miss Cloud and it's time to pay a visit to Don Corneo. 15. Save your game. Period. Now head over to Corneo's and proceed with the story until you get to control Cloud in the sewers. Another boss battle awaits, but don't talk to the girls just yet. First enter the menu and place Cloud and Tifa in front row. They're too die in the battle anyway, so we want them to take as much damage as possible. Aerith must be in back row, of course, something she already is, unless you moved her. And most importantly, place the Grenades at the top of your item list. That'll make them as accessable as possible. ############################################################################### B07: Aps HP: 1800 Dif: 2/10 Have everyone throw Grenades on their first three turns. Aps will open the battle with a Sewer Tsunami that hits him from behind and then he'll either use Lick or his tail attack on his next two turns. The tail attack is only used on Aerith, but she's got more than enough HP to survive two of them, so keep your fingers away from the Potions. After all the nine Grenades are thrown, have Aerith defend while you let Cloud and Tifa throw Grenades at themselves. Aps will now use a Tsunami that hits him from behind and Cloud and Tifa's HPs will be further reduced. Cloud still has a lot more HP than Tifa though, so have both Cloud and Tifa attack Cloud regularly now. This will even out their HPs. Now, Aps will use the Tsunami that hits the party from behind and there's no chance Cloud and Tifa will survive this one, unless it misses one of them. After this Tsunami, Aps will have less HP than the minimum damage of a Grenade, so if both Cloud and Tifa are dead, you can now have Aerith throw the last Grenade to finish him off. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiIJOuJYBvo ############################################################################### Give Aerith a couple of Potions if she's badly hurt, but don't bother reviving the others. She can easily make it back to Sector 7 on her own, and once you get there, the party will be fully restored anyway, so that would be a complete waste of two precious Phoenix Downs. You can also use Healing Wind in battle. Anyway, just get back to Sector 7 and make sure to save once you reach the Train Graveyard, in case something should happen. Also, make sure to place Cloud in back row and the others in front row before the battle with... ############################################################################### B08: Reno HP: 1000 Dif: 2/10 Reno has 1000 HP and that means you have to throw 8 Grenades at him to take him out. Reno will open the battle with trapping one of the characters inside a Pyramid, but you know how to take them out. After throwing 7 Grenades, you can have Tifa and Barret throw Grenades at themselves while Cloud defends. Now, they shouldn't have much HP left, so just let them attack themselves regularly until they die. Just make sure Cloud isn't trapped inside a Pyramid when that happens. Also, take note that characters trapped inside a Pyramid at the end of the battle will receive EXP, so don't let that happen to Barret or Tifa. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dP4Y_Of49I ############################################################################### Again, don't bother reviving the others and don't sleep at any Inns before the Shinra HQ. Cloud is more than fine on his own and by letting Barret and Tifa stay dead, you won't have to kill them off in the next battle. When you reach Sector 5, you have to do some shopping again. Sell your Ethers and buy 29 Grenades. That should leave you with about 1000 Gil, which is more than enough to buy the Batteries you need to climb up to the Shinra HQ, but that doesn't mean you're free to spend the rest of the money. When you're done shopping, you can just proceed with the story until you reach the Shinra HQ. Make sure to stop by at Corneo's mansion to pick up the Phoenix Down (and the Hyper if you didn't take it the last time) and don't forget to use the last Battery to get the Ether when you climb up. An Ether is worth 750 Gil and you need all the money you can get. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.4 <> Shinra HQ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Elixir (Stairs, fifth area) Elixir (62nd floor, guess Domino's password on second try) Star Pendant (63rd floor, exchange all coupons) Four Slots (63rd floor, exchange all coupons) Phoenix Down (64th floor) Ether (64th floor) Talisman (Sample:HO512) Potion x 4 (68th floor) Mythril Armlet (Heli Gunner) Protect Vest (Rufus) Star Pendant (Motor Ball) We're taking the stairs, as you'll be forced to fight a group of Grenade Combatants if you enter through the front door. Also, you'll get your first Elixir if you climb the stairs. There's a battle with three Mighty Grunts waiting on the 59th floor, but as I said, don't revive Barret and Tifa. Just make sure Cloud has more than 200 HP and you'll be more than fine. ############################################################################### B09: Mighty Grunt x3 HP: 230 Dif: 1/10 Throw six Grenades and the battle will be over. Make sure to take them out one by one and they'll be totally harmless. Cloud only lost about 100 HP the last time I fought this battle. ############################################################################### If you're not sure you can sneak past the guards on the 60th floor, you should take the elevator back down and save first. In case you don't know, you have to fight a group of two Mighty Grunts, attacking from both sides if you get caught and there's no escaping those battles. If you know you can handle it, then just proceed until you reach the 62nd floor. Also, don't bother healing Cloud, as there won't be any random battles until you get to sleep on the 64th floor. Mayor Domino will give you an Elixir if you guess the right password on the second attempt, so you have to find out what the password is. Use the libraries if you know how, but in case you don't know or you don't want to, you can use the save trick explained in the paragraph below. First go talk to him, but don't talk to him again after he stops talking the first time. Instead take the elevator back down to the first floor and save. Then head back up and guess the password-alternatives until you find out what the right one is. Now, SOFT-RESET and load the file. Don't reset the console, or the password will change. Then head back up again and tell him the right password on the SECOND attempt. Oh, and don't forget to check out the second Turtle's Paradise flyer while you're on the first floor. It's in the back of the hall, on a wall to the right of the elevator. Next we have the 63rd floor and you want to get the items here so that you can sell them later. If you don't know how to get all the Coupons, you can use the explanation I borrowed from Apathetic Aardvark's FAQ: ******************************************************************************* Run to the room with the computer terminal [one room south of the stairs]. You will be allowed to open three doors to get all the prizes which you want. Head to the back right corner of this floor. Run left and open the first door that you come to. Head left again until you come to another door. Do NOT unlock this one, instead, open the other door at this intersection [it is below you]. You will now be able to run into a normal room and grab the prize [coupon A]. In this small room, head into the ventilation shaft. Inside of the shaft, head down, right and then up at the first chance you get. When you get out of the shaft, grab the prize [coupon B]. Exit this room by heading down and make a left. Use your final door key to unlock the door in front of the very middle room. Grab the prize in there [coupon C] and head back the way you came to the computer terminal. Exchange your coupons for an: All Materia, Star Pendant, and Four Slots. ******************************************************************************* There are some items on the 64th floor too, but the most important thing to do here is to get some sleep. After sleeping, just proceed until you reach the save point on the 67th floor. Placing Cloud and Tifa in front row is all you have to do before the upcoming battle, but if you want an easier battle, you can turn down the battle speed as well. Sample:HO512 will poison your party and by turning down the battle speed, you will take damage from the poison status less often and thus live longer. Of course, it's all up to you. LLNMIENA EXCEPTION 2: Red XIII will join your party in this battle and he is equipped with an All-Fire combination and a Sense Materia. Simply put, don't use the Materia. That's the second and last exception. Note: For the rest of the guide, I will only call him "Red". I hate to type in that ugly XIII. I always call him Nanaki in the game anyway. ############################################################################### B10: Sample:HO512 HP: 1000 Dif: 3/10 Note: Don't attack the Sample:HO512-opts (the small guys). 1000 HP = 8 Grenades. First have Red move to back row and let the others start throwing Grenades. HO512 will open the battle with Shady Breath and poison your entire party, unless it misses someone. If it misses Red, you'll get an easier battle, but you'll get a tougher battle if it misses one of the others. Then you'll have to spend more time killing them later. Anyway, just keep throwing Grenades until you've thrown 7 and make sure to heal Red if his HP should fall below 150. If Cloud and Tifa got poisoned, they will most likely soon be dead by now, but otherwise you can take them out with Grenades. That always works. When Red is alone, you can let him throw the last Grenade or use his limit break. It should deal enough damage. At least it did here. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd4TXYpYZRA ############################################################################### Form a party of Cloud, Aerith and Barret after the battle and don't bother reviving/healing as your party will be fully restored after sleeping in the cell. Just proceed with the story until you get to control Aerith after talking to Rufus. Now place Aerith in back row and the others in front row before you enter the elevator for the battle with... ############################################################################### B11: Hundred Gunner HP: 1600 Dif: 1/10 This battle is a joke. Just throw Grenades and use limit breaks until you've taken him out. Healing shouldn't be necessary at all. ############################################################################### B12: Heli Gunner HP: 1000 Dif: 3/10 Note: You need a calculator for this battle. Less HP, but more powerful attacks and he can inflict both poison and sleep to your party members. That doesn't happen too often, though. Anyway, have Aerith defend as soon as the battle begins and let the others throw Grenades. You will get limit breaks in this battle and you can use them as long as you take advantage of the limit break system, as explained in the intro. You will most likely have to heal in this battle, but don't use any Potions. One Healing Wind should be enough. If you're lucky with Hundred and Heli's attacks, you won't have to heal at all. When you reduce Heli's HP to below 250, his defense will increase and Grenades won't deal more than ~125 damage, so make sure he's got less than 120 HP when you have Aerith throw the last one. Of course, Barret and Red must be dead first. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBbOSEd05lU ############################################################################### Then it's Cloud's turn. ############################################################################### B13: Rufus HP: 500 Dif: 1/10 Note: Don't attack Dark Nation. Another joke of a battle. Throw four Grenades at Rufus and the battle will be over. Dork Nation might cast some Bolt-spells on you, but there's no need to heal whatsoever. You simply can't lose this battle. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQnGkpl2llU ############################################################################### Heal Cloud if he's badly hurt, in case you should run into a battle on your way down to the save point. Next up is the motorcycle minigame, but you get the chance to form a party and open the menu before it starts. We'll use Cloud and the girls this time and make sure to place them all in FRONT row. Then do your best to protect the girls during the game. I'm no expert at this myself and you might do a lot better than me. ############################################################################### B14: Motor Ball HP: 2600 Dif: 3/10 Note: You need a calculator for this battle. This battle is really easy when you know how Motor Ball fights. Just start throwing Grenades and use Cloud and Tifa's limit breaks when you get them, as long as you take advantage of the limit break system. There's no need to heal yet. After two turns where he uses Arm Attacks, Motor Ball will pack himself together and use Twin Burner, a fire-elemental attack that deals around 80 damage to your party. If Aerith didn't already have a limit break, she will get one now and now is also the time to use it. Then just continue throwing Grenades. After three more turns, Motor Ball will pack himself out again and prepare for his most deadly attack, Rolling Fire, which deals around 200 damage to your party. However, if you manage to reduce his HP to below 325 before the point where he uses the attack, he'll use Twin Burner instead. By throwing Grenades at every opportunity and using Cloud's limit break at least once, you will easily be able to do this and prevent the use of Rolling Fire. You might even have to stop throwing Grenades, or else you'll kill him too early. After Twin Burner again, he will follow the same pattern of attacks as he did after the last Twin Burner. In other words, he'll use Rolling Fire again after three more turns and this time there's no preventing it. However, you can take advantage of this Rolling Fire to get rid of Cloud and Tifa. First reduce Motor Ball's HP to below 140, if you haven't already done it. Then make sure Aerith has more than 210 HP after Deadly Wheel. Tifa's HP will be more than low enough by now, but if Cloud has more than 190, you know what you can do. Then just wait for Motor Ball to do his work and have Aerith throw the last Grenade. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdatf3Tb-Qw ############################################################################### And that concludes your first visit to Midgar. It's been pretty easy so far, but Midgar is almost always easy in these challenges, so that doesn't mean anything. An entire world is waiting for you out there and after a while it'll get really, really tough. Hell yeah! =============================================================================== 3 - Walkthrough: The Rest Of Disc One =============================================================================== Okay, we're out of Midgar, but we can't start having fun yet. First we have to stop by at Kalm and do the lovely flashback, or Boredom World 1 as we like to call it in the challenge community. If you do as me and put on some music while playing, it's really not bad at all. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 <> The First Continent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Ether x3 (Kalm) Guard Source (Kalm) Megalixir (Kalm) Peacemaker (Kalm) Ether (Mythril Mine) Tent (Mythril Mine) Mind Source (Mythril Mine) Elixir (Mythril Mine) Hi-Potion (Mythril Mine) Power Wrist (Bottomswell) 5000 Gil (Junon, get more than 50% on marching) Mind Source (Junon) Luck Source (Junon) Guard Source (Junon) Power Source (Junon) Speed Source (Junon) 1/35 solider x2 (Junon) Force Stealer (Junon, get 100 points or more when posing for Rufus) Ether (Shinra Boat) Wind Slash (Shinra Boat) White Cape (Jenova-BIRTH) There's nothing to do in Kalm except for the flashback and picking up all the items. Check the locker on the second floor of the Inn five times to get the Megalixir. Form a party of Cloud, Barret and Red before heading for Junon and place Cloud in back row. How to catch a chocobo without materia? That's impossible, but who needs a chocobo when you can simply use the save trick? Start running into the marches and make sure to pay attention. You have to push the menu button as soon as the Midgar Zolom appears on the screen. If he gets too close, he will get you, even if you already pused the button. Save your game when you successfully manage to open the menu and then exit the menu again. The battle will start immediately now, but you can just escape and then soft-reset. When you load the file now, the Midgar Zolom will be on a different location and you can safely continue over to the other side. Just be aware that you may have to save twice, as he can still be pretty close. You can also be lucky and reach the other side without having to save at all, but that doesn't happen too often. When you eventually reach the other side, you can just proceed until you reach Junon. When you get there, form a party of Cloud and the girls and place Cloud and Tifa in front row. Your next opponent is... ############################################################################### B15: Bottomswell HP: 2500 Dif: 2/10 It's time to use the first Deadly Waste. Yes, you must restart if it doesn't inflict Poison to the enemy. Guess you understood that. When you successfully Poison him, have Aerith defend and then just stand there. Never attack him again and you will never have to deal with Moonstrike and the infamous bubbles. Cloud and Tifa will die after a while, so there's no need to worry about them, but you have to make sure Aerith's HP never falls below 60. Healing Wind heals around 150 HP, but she needs to take around 225 HP to get a limit break again, so you have to use a Potion now and then. Just make sure to defend again after each time you heal. If you want a tougher battle, you can try beating him without poisoning him. It's not that much tougher, but you need some luck with the Waterpolos. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec7TLqanBOA ############################################################################### Enter the shop and make sure you have 30 Grenades. You should have more than enough money to afford that, so there's no need to sell anything, and if you poisoned Bottomswell, you only need to buy a few anyway. I had to buy five. After shopping, you can just proceed until Cloud is wearing a Shinra uniform. It's time to do some marching and this time you have to get a higher score than 50%. Your reward for that will be 5000 Gil and since money is important in this challenge, you really want those 5000. I know there are many people out there who can't handle the marching, but I have come up with a strategy that can't fail, unless you screw up somehow. Note: If you have changed the controls, so that X isn't cancel and O isn't confirm, you should change them back to default before the marching. Thundaka normally uses X for the confirm button and O for the cancel button and he said that when the controls are inverted like this, Cloud won't raise his weapon in time to the others. Many people screw this up because they do like the other soldiers and run to the back to reach the open spot. Well, you can't do that. Instead you must run straight ahead, "through" the other soldiers. Simply put, just hold X and the direction down button when you get to control Cloud and he will run straight into the open spot. Now let go of the X button and hold the direction left button and Cloud will start marching in the same tempo as the others. Now, the number "1" will pop up on the screen and you can start tapping the action button to increase the percentage. If you do this right, you should have no trouble getting 50% or more. My personal record is 65%! Do some practice and you will find out that it's easier than you ever imagined. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hlxc2lwWoc When you eventually get 50% or more, you can keep playing. To find all the items in Junon, you only have to enter door 4 and 7 on your way to the docks. Knowing that will save you some time. You should also stop by at the Item Shop behind door 3 and buy some Echo Screens. They will make the Jenova-DEATH battle a bit easier. 15 is enough. When you reach the docks, you have to do some posing for Rufus, but this is piece of cake compared to the marching. All you have to do is to push the right button. You suck if you can't get more than 100 points here. No offense. Enter the boat after receiving the Force Stealer. There's nothing to do on the boat before the battle with Jenova, so just talk to Tifa, Red, Aerith (twice) and then Barret and things will start happening. Then form a party of Cloud and the girls, place everyone in back row and give the Hyper you found behind Don Corneo's bed to Aerith. There is a treasure box in the room where you fight Jenova, but wait until after the battle, as there are enemies here now. ############################################################################### B16: Jenova-BIRTH HP: 4000 Dif: 3/10 Throw Grenades and use limit breaks to deal damage and have Aerith heal as soon as her limit bar fills up. With Fury, she only needs to take around 125 damage to get a limit break, so there's no need to use any Potions unless Jenova hits the same character twice in a row with W-Laser. Thankfully, that doesn't happen too often. She'll most likely open the battle with Stop and after Stop, she always takes a break for two or three turns, so that you get to deal a decent amount of damage before she starts hurting you. Also, Stop only lasts for about three turns on the highest battle speed, so you will have a fully functionable party again by the time she starts attacking. Stop seems to miss quite often, though, so you might not have to deal with stopped characters at all. Move Cloud and Tifa to front row when Jenova has less than 130 HP left. She will be more than happy to take them out, so there's no need for you to do anything. Things can still go wrong, though. Jenova might use W-Laser twice on Aerith and the chance for that increases after one character is dead. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CJ9eQTwzH8 ############################################################################### Now you can climb up the ladder and pick up Yuffie's Wind Slash. Then leave the boat. A new continent awaits outside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2 <> The Second Continent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Power Source (Costa del Sol) Motor Drive (Costa del Sol) Fire Ring (Costa del Sol) Wizard Staff (Mt. Corel, fall and go left) W Machine Gun (Mt. Corel) Star Pendant (Mt. Corel, fall and go right) Turbo Ether (Mt. Corel) Tent (Mt. Corel) Mind Source (Mt. Corel) Power Source (Mt. Corel) Note: Don't sleep at an Inn or remove Fury from Aerith before Cosmo Canyon. All the items in Costa del Sol are located in the basement of the first house. There's nothing else to do here, but you should stop by at the item shop and buy a couple of Softs for Demon's Gate. Leave for Mt. Corel when that's done. You should replace Tifa with someone alive first, though. Two party members is better than one. Reviving Cloud isn't necessary and since Aerith still has Fury, she can easily maintain the party's HP. Then get through Mt. Corel and make sure you go both left and right when you fall through the railroad tracks. When you finally reach North Corel, it's time to do some shopping again. Sell off all the Ethers and everything that can be called equipment. Now, you should have more than 40000 Gil and you can spend 20000 of them on Molotovs. That's 50, in case you don't know your maths. Buy 99 Tranquilizers as well. That should be enough for the rest of the game. Since Molotovs is the main item for dealing damage now, you can place them at the top of your item list and move the Grenades further down. Next up is the Gold Saucer, but you should leave town and save on the world map before you move on. As you may have guessed, there's nothing to do here either, so just follow Barret to Wonder Square, welcome Cait Sith to your party and then enter Battle Square to trigger the sequence that will lead you down to Corel Prison. When you get there, head for the save point as quickly as possible. You don't want to run into the Bandits and get something important stolen from you. Should it still happen, you have no choice but to load up and start playing from North Corel again. A good way to prevent getting a battle before the save point is making sure you get a battle just before you enter North Corel, so do that if you have to load up. When you successfully reach the save point, you can remove the Transform Materia from Cait Sith. Then enter the house, save again and go beat Dyne. There's no need to spend more time than necessary here. ############################################################################### B17: Dyne HP: 1200 Dif: 1/10 1. Molotov 2. Molotov 3. Hi-Potion 4. Molotov 5. Hi-Potion 6. Molotov That's your strategy. If one of his attacks misses, you only have to use one Hi-Potion and there is a small chance you won't have to heal at all. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaiwYcg1akY ############################################################################### Now just proceed with the story until you're back on the world map. Next up is Cosmo Canyon and you know how to get there. Just stay away from Gongaga, as you don't want to fight the Turks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.3 <> Cosmo Canyon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Elixir (Inn) Ether (Cave of Gi) Black M-phone (Cave of Gi) Fairy Ring (Cave of Gi) Wizer Staff (Gi Nattak) This is such a lovely place. First go pick up the Elixir at the Inn. It's on the left side of the screen, between the bed and a table or something. You'll find it. Make sure to check out the Turtle's Paradise flyer while you're there as well. Just don't sleep there. Then you can just proceed with the story until it's time to enter the cave. Form a party of Cloud, Aerith and Red and place the boys in back row. Oh, and don't forget to check out the Turtle's Paradise flyer by the Weapon Shop! Inside the cave, don't enter any of the small caves in the first area except for the one you have to enter to open the entrance to the next area. You know, it's to the left of where the opening is. There are no items in the first area, so just move on. When you reach the third area, you have to take out a couple of spiders that are in the way... ############################################################################### B18: Stinger HP: 2200 Dif: 2/10 First have everyone throw Molotovs. Then have Cloud and Red throw Molotovs in that order and have Aerith defend. The Stinger will now counter both of them and they will get limit breaks. Now have Cloud activate his limit break before Red finishes throwing his Molotov, to make sure he gets to use it before the Stinger attacks again. Cloud and Red won't have much HP left by now and since the Stinger likes to attack often, they will soon be dead. Have Aerith throw the final Molotov when she's alone. You most likely won't have to heal in this battle, unless Aerith gets attacked a lot. Use Healing Wind after Cloud and Red are dead if possible, but if not, you can give her a Hi-Potion. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGA4YUo8O2w ############################################################################### Revive Cloud and Red before the next battle and heal them back to full health. You may use Hi-Potions if you don't have enough Potions. If you don't want to use items, you can enter a battle and use Healing Wind. Aerith should still have Fury after all. Before Gi Nattak, you only have to heal Aerith. Reviving the others is completely pointless. ############################################################################### B20: Gi Nattak HP: 5500 Dif: Elixir/10 Just throw an Elixir at him and the battle will be over. If you want to, you can try beating him without using an Elixir, but then you have to load up and beat him with an Elixir afterwards, in order to save items. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhfQpCIY9bU ############################################################################### Form a party of Cloud, Tifa and Cait Sith and give Tranquilizers to all of them before you set your course for Nibelheim. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.4 <> Nibelheim & Rocket Town ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Luck Source x2 (Nibelheim) Elixir (Nibelheim) Turbo Ether (Nibelheim) Platinum Fist (Nibelheim) Magic Source (Shinra Mansion) Silver M-phone (Shinra Mansion) Twin Viper (Shinra Mansion) Enemy Launcher (Shinra Mansion) Rune Blade (Mt. Nibel) Plus Barrette (Mt. Nibel) Powersoul (Mt. Nibel) Elixir (Mt. Nibel) Sniper CR (Mt. Nibel) Power Source (Rocket Town) Drill Arm (Rocket Town) Yoshiyuki (Rocket Town, talk to man in front of item shop twice) Edincoat (Palmer) Nibelheim. That means it's finally time to buy some Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs, but go pick up all the items in town first. All the items inside the mansion are found on the first and second floor, so you don't have to enter the basement. Then enter the shop and sell of all the equipment, all the materia and the Ether you found in Cosmo Canyon and buy so that you have 99 Hi-Potions. What you've got left after that, you can spend on Phoenix Downs. Head for the mountains when you're done shopping, but make sure to save first. You might get an attack from both sides on the bridge and there's not much to do but hitting the restart button if that should happen. Find your way to the cave and enter pipe number two when you get there. Then save. Heal Cloud if he gets hurt during random battles, but don't bother healing Tifa and Cait, as you're not going to use them against Materia Keeper. Since there's an Elixir and a weapon in the caves below here, you have to take the exit next to Materia Keeper and then follow the path Cloud & Co took to the reactor five years ago. You know. Then it's time to kick some Materia Keeper ass. Form a party of Cloud, Aerith and Red, give Tranquilizers to them and place them all in back row. Make sure to heal Cloud back to full health as well. ############################################################################### B21: Materia Keeper HP: 8400 Dif: 4/10 Note: You need a calculator for this battle. This is the toughest battle so far, but he's not as tough as you might have thought he'd be. If he opens the battle with Trine, you can just forget about it. If he doesn't, you can have Aerith throw a Deadly Waste on him and hope he gets poisoned. It doesn't seem to work very often, so unless you're lucky, you will have to restart a lot of times. I needed five restarts this time. When you eventually manage to poison him, you just have to wait until his HP reaches zero while making sure the party stays alive. But wait a minute. Won't he start casting Trine again after a while? How the hell are we supposed to survive that? Well, you can't, but fortunately there's a way to avoid the use of both Trine and Cure2. Remember Bottomswell and how you avoided Waterpolo by not attacking him? Well, it's the same deal here. NEVER EVER ATTACK HIM and he will never use Trine and Cure2. As easy as that. With Trine and Cure2 out of the picture, you only have to deal with Big Horn and an occasional Hell Combo now and then. Have Cloud and Aerith defend all the time and let Red take care of healing. Red must heal himself every time he gets attacked, but you can safely let Cloud and Aerith's HPs fall as low as 160. If Cloud or Red should get criticaled and die early, you can just keep playing, as you're more than fine with only two characters. Let Cloud take care of healing if Red should die. Your most important objective is to protect Aerith, so she must defend all the time. If she should get killed, though, you must have the others revive her and give her a Hi-Potion ASAP. Then have her defend when she gets her turn and have one of the guys give her a Tranquilizer. If you keep her HP above 200 HP all the time, only a critical Hell Combo kan kill her. Stop healing Cloud and Red when Materia Keeper's HP goes under 4000. Hopefully, they'll both die in time, but if one of them is still alive when it goes under 1000, you can use a Molotov. As long as Aerith's HP is full, only a critical Hell Combo can kill her. Also make sure to use Healing Wind, to save at least one Hi-Potion, but only when he uses Big Horn. Eventually, Materia Keeper will die and the battle will be over. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz6in7lMRkE ############################################################################### Quickly head back to the save point and save. Then leave the cave and head for Rocket Town. As usual, there's no need to revive the others. Aerith is more than fine on her own, and it doesn't matter if she actually should die on the way to Rocket Town, as you just saved anyway. Enter town when you get there and pick up all the items. They're both in houses on the right side of town, so there's no need to check the ones on the left side. Talk to the man outside the Item Shop to get the Yoshiyuki. Go find the Tiny Bronco in Cid's backyard after picking up the items and then go talk to Cid inside the rocket. Then leave town, switch Red for Barret and save. Your next opponent is Palmer, the tougest boss in the history of Final Fantasy. ############################################################################### B22: Palmer HP: 6000 Dif: 1/10 Many people make fun of Guard Scorpion for being such an easy boss, but if anyone should be made fun of, it's Palmer. I have yet to play a challenge where he deserves anything more than 1 out of 10 on the difficulty scale. Palmer's only attack is Mako Gun and he can only use it ten times before he runs out of MP. With Sadness, it deals just above 300 damage each time, so just use a Hi-Potion every time Aerith gets hit. You can also use Healing Wind every third time. Needless to say, there's no point in healing Barret. You have two choices when he runs out of MP: Attack or throw Molotovs. Just attacking takes a very long time, though. Palmer has very high evasion, so you can expect Aerith to miss at least half the time. Throwing Molotovs takes less time, but you have to spend more time getting money later. I'm not sure what's faster, but by attacking, you can just hold the button and watch some TV in the meantime. You can also put some weight on the button and do something else. It's all up to you. Just make sure to move Aerith to front row before you start attacking, or else it'll take twice as long. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmaxHIwd4Is ############################################################################### Next, we're going to take a break from the main story to acquire some important items and money. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.5 <> Wutai & Gold Saucer Area ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Magic Shuriken (Wutai) Hairpin (Wutai) Dragoon Lance (Wutai) Elixir (Gold Saucer) Okay, it's time to take a trip to Wutai. We have to go there to get some Light- and Lunar Curtains. Certain bosses are impossible without these items, so you kinda have no choice. It's a long way there, but Aerith is fine on her own as long as you keep her HP above 300 all the time. We're going to use Barret in all the "Curtain battles", so just keep him in the party as long as we're here. The first thing you can do when you reach town is to pick up the items. Two of them are located in hidden rooms inside Godo's house. Yes, you can sleep for free here, but why would you sleep? Aerith has Sadness status and she's the only one alive and that's exactly what you want. The Dragoon Lance is located in the "fire cave" at Da-Chao. Head back to the Item Shop after picking it up. Sell off all the equipment and buy 9 Swift Bolts. That's all for now. After shopping, it's time to go hunt for some Foulanders, the enemies you win Lunar Curtains from. Head for Da-Chao and take the first right. Now run back and forth here until you encounter a group of TWO Foulanders. Escape anything else. Also, make sure Aerith's got more than 350 HP at any time. The other enemies here most likely won't hurt you, so only healing at the save point after each battle should be more than enough. ############################################################################### B23: Foulander x2 HP: 800 Dif: 1/10 Throw a Swift Bolt and the battle will be over. They have an attack called Flame Dance that deals 240 damage, but there's a very small chance that both of them will use it. It has only happened once to me. ############################################################################### Head back to the save point, heal and save if you receive a Lunar Curtain. If you don't get one, you can try soft-reseting first, but if that doesn't help, reseting the console most likely does. After reseting the console, I almost always get two in a row before I have to reset again, but that might be just me. Anyway, repeat this process until you have 9 Lunar Curtains, but if you should be lucky and get two in one battle, I still suggest fighting 9 battles to keep up with the battle plan. Take note that you might also win Fire Veils from these guys and that's a good thing, as we're going to use them in the Garuda battles. As long as you also get a Lunar Curtain, of course. Next we have the Garudas. They are more dangerous than the Foulanders, but Aerith is used to danger, so she can handle them on her own. Make sure you have four Fire Veils before you head back to Da-Chao again and don't forget to save first. To find the Garudas, you have to go right twice, to a hand that points to the right of the screen. The battle we want is a group of two Garudas, so escape everything else. Just be aware that they can also attack from both sides, but you can just let them kill you if that happens. Aerith must have 660 HP or more when you enter the battle. ############################################################################### B32: Garuda x2 HP: 1400 Dif: 1/10 This battle isn't difficult at all; you only have to throw two Fire Veils, but there is a chance you might get killed. Ice2 and Bolt2 both deal just above 300 damage, so you will lose if they use these attacks more than twice. Thankfully, that doesn't happen too often. This time, it only happened two out of 7 or 8 times here. Their regular physical attack deals just above 40 damage and their last attack, Dance, only drains MP, so that one is completely harmless. With 700 or more HP, you can survive two level 2 magic spells and two regular physical attacks at the most, but that never happened to me. They always used Dance once, except for when they used three level 2 magic spells and killed me. If you get to throw the first Fire Veil before the Garudas start attacking, you will, of course, survive either way. You can turn the battle speed all the way down to increase the chance for that to happen. ############################################################################### Garuda is a unique enemy. They can drop four different items: Light Curtain, Mute Mask, Ice Crystal and Bolt Plume. The chance of getting a Light Curtain is the third highest, but it's lower than the chance of getting a Lunar Curtain from a Foulander, but thankfully, we only need two of them. You need three Swift Bolts or Fire Veils for the upcoming Flapbeat battles, but you can also use Ice Crystals, in case you should get one in addition to the Light Curtains. After getting 9 Lunar Curtains, 2 Light Curtains and enough items for the Flapbeat battles, you can set your course back to the Tiny Bronco. You can also switch Barret for Cait Sith now, as you're going to use him in the Flapbeat battles. Park the Tiny Bronco outside Nibelheim and take the buggy back to the Gold Saucer area and make sure to kill Cait Sith in a battle on your way there. When you get there, you can look for a battle with three Flapbeats. Aerith's HP should be above 450 before the battle, in case they all use Flying Sickle. ############################################################################### B34: Flapbeat x3 HP: 330 Dif: 1/10 Throw a Swift Bolt/Fire Veil/Ice Crystal and the battle will be over. ############################################################################### You know how this works now. Restart if you don't get anything, keep fighting if you do and fight three battles even if you should get two in one battle. When you have three T/S Bombs, it's time to make some money. That's the reason why we brought the buggy here. Cactuars live in the desert outside Corel Prison and they give you a stunning 10000 Gil when you defeat them. But before you can start hunting for Cactuars, you have to take a trip back to Junon and buy some Grenades. Drive the buggy "into" Costa del Sol and talk to the man by the ferry to "buy your ticket". When you reach Junon, you can use the air taxi to quickly get outside. The buggy will now be outside Junon. Then drive "into" town again. The time has now come to make a choice. How do you want to deal damage to Jenova-LIFE, Schizo and Jenova-DEATH? They become totally harmless after they run out of MP and you can just pummel them to death with your weapon, but that takes a while. We're talking more than 30 minutes against Jenova-DEATH. You can choose to use items like Fire Veils and Swift Bolts instead if you don't want to spend that much time attacking, but these items cost money and you're gonna need a lot of them. In other words, if you choose to use items in all the battles, you will probably end up spending as much time hunting for Cactuars than you save by using the items. My suggestion is that you buy items for Schizo and just use your weapon in the Jenova battles. The reason why you should use items against Schizo is because of his final attack. You have to prepare for this attack by putting up a Lunar Curtain at the right time, so you can't juse hold the action button until you kill him. You have to keep track of his HP and that's not very fun when you deal like 100 damage at the time. If you don't want to hunt for Cactuars, you can use the Mythril trick instead. However, you can't do this until you have the Highwind. You have more than enough money to afford all the Hi-Potions you need before you get the Highwind, even if you used Molotovs against Palmer, but you can't buy any Swift Bolts and Fire Veils for the battles I mentioned above. Cactuar hunting is definitely faster than the Mythril trick if you get the pattern of Cactuars I always get, (explained below) but otherwise I'm not sure. It's your choice. If you decide to use the Mythril trick, you can just make sure you have 99 Potions and then head back to the Gold Saucer. The Mythril trick is explained in section 4.2. If you want to hunt for Cactuars, you need to buy some Grenades, but how many? It takes two Grenades to defeat a Cactuar and you have to have to fight at least 12 of them, so you can make sure you have 24 Grenades first. Then... * Add 2 if you used Molotovs against Palmer. * Add 2 if you want to try defeating Red Dragon without poisoning him. * Add 4 if you want to use items against Schizo. * Add 4 if you want to use items against Jenova-LIFE. * Add 10 if you want to use items against Jenova-DEATH. Buy so that you have 99 Potions as well. When you're done shopping, you can head down to the beach and let Mr. Dolphin escort you back to the cargo ship. Use the [] button to blow the whistle down by the water and he'll show up. Back in Costa del Sol, you have to do some more shopping. Buy two Hypers and two Softs. That's all. Give the Hypers to Aerith, so that she gets Fury status. Then head for the desert, save your game and drive the buggy "into" the houses below the Gold Saucer to enter. Also, make sure to place Grenades at the top of your item list before you start hunting. The Cactuars have an encounter rate of 1/16, meaning they should only appear once every 16th battle, but there seems to be a system for when they appear. They always appear after a certain number of Land Worm battles and it never fails. The first Cactuar shows up after 10-15 Land Worms and the same goes for the second, but then you only have to fight one Land Worm between the next two Cactuars. I could hardly believe it the first time this happened. I mean, the encounter rate is 1/16 after all. I kept playing until I had fought one more Cactuar battle before I quit playing that day, but when the same thing happened again the next day, I knew it couldn't be a coincidence. The 5th and 6th Cactuars show up after about 7 battles, but then it takes forever before the seventh shows up, so I suggest going back to the world map to save after six battles. You have to restart the console to restart the Cactuar pattern. But for all I know, you may not get this pattern at all. I have no idea. The Land Worms will always cast Earthquake, unless you manage to escape the battle first. This attack deals around 125 damage and with Fury, it only takes two attacks before Aerith's limit bar is full. That's about 1/6 of her HP, so you can use Healing Wind in every third battle. You will gradually lose HP, but just heal before you escape the second battle to get back to full HP again. Also, make sure to stay in one area all the time. If you enter a new screen too many times (I think it's 10), the chocobo cart will appear. ############################################################################### BXX: Cactuar HP: 200 Dif: 1/10 Throw two Grenades and the battle will be over. ############################################################################### Yup, as easy as that. When you finally run out of Grenades, you can leave the desert for good. Then head for the Gold Saucer and get things done there. Make sure to pick the Elixir in the closet after the date and check the Turtle's Paradise flyer at the hotel. Form a party of Cloud, Aerith and Red before you leave and give Tranquilizers to everyone. Also, make sure to buy 19 more Molotovs in North Corel if you used Molotovs against Palmer. You have to take a trip back to Wutai now if you decided to use items in any of the upcoming battles. Here's how many items you need for the following battles: * 13 Swift Bolts if you want to try defeating Red Dragon without poisoning him. * 21 Fire Veils for Jenova-LIFE. * 22 Swift Bolts and 2 Fire Veils for Schizo. * 58 Swift Bolts for Jenova-DEATH. Head for the temple when you're done shopping. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.6 <> The Temple of Ancients ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Trident Mind Source Silver Rifle Rocket Punch Princess Guard (Clock, door IIII) Trumpet Shell (Clock, door VII) Megalixir (Clock, door VIII) Work Glove Dragon Armlet (Red Dragon) Gigas Armlet (Demon's gate) We're here. The Temple of Ancients. An infamous battles takes place here, but first you have to pick up all the items. They should be easy to find. Make sure not to fall down in the clock room, as the Ancient Dragons on the bottom will slay you. Also, there's no need to enter any other rooms than the ones listed above. Rest before you enter the room with the murals and give tranquilizers to everyone. Red Dragon awaits inside. ############################################################################### B37: Red Dragon HP: 6800 Dif: 5/10 Note: You need a calculator for the next two battles. It's time to use the last Deadly Waste. Have Aerith throw it and pray he gets poisoned. Red Dragon seems to be the toughest boss to poison, so don't be surprised if you have to restart many times. I poisoned him on my 4th attempt this time. And yeah, I know, it sucks to go through all that talking before the battle over and over again, but it really helps to put on some music. When you eventually manage to poison him, you can have Aerith defend and use Red as a healer. Red has enough HP to survive anything except a critical bite, but Aerith can survive anything as long as she's defending. If Cloud doesn't get killed by the first attack, you can have him defend as well, but there's no point in reviving him at any point in the battle. You're more than fine without him, but if he should survive long enough to get a limit break, you can use Cross-Slash to paralyze Red Dragon. Cloud and Aerith will only lose about 100 HP if they get hit by the tail when defending, so just use a Potion if that happens. Use Hi-Potions in any other case where the bite and tail attacks are used, even if the character only loses 200 HP. A critical bite will kill Cloud either way. Red Dragon Breath deals almost 600 damage and is the most dangerous attack he uses, since it cannot be reduced. If he uses it on Aerith, you can simply have Red give her a Hi-Potion, as she can easily survive the attack again. If he uses bite or the tail attack now, she will be back to full health again after Red gives her a Hi-Potion again. If he uses Red Dragon Breath on Red or twice in a row on Aerith, you must have Red use a Hi-Potion and then let one of the others use a Potion on the target. Have Cloud do it if he's still alive. If Red gets killed by a critical bite and Cloud is still alive, you can have Aerith revive him and Cloud give him a Hi-Potion. Repeat the process if he gets killed again, but have Aerith give him a Tranquilizer if he doesn't. If he gets killed and Cloud is already dead, you need a lot more luck to get him back in business again. After being revived, he must then give himself a Hi-Potion and a Tranquilizer in that order without getting killed again. In other words, Aerith must get attacked the next two times. Aerith can only get killed if she takes a critical bite when she's not defending. The chance for that to happen is very low, but use the same procedures to revive her if it should happen. If Cloud is still alive when Red Dragon's HP falls below 2000, you can move him to front row and stop healing him. Do the same with Red after it falls below 1000 and let him throw a Molotov on himself if his HP is full. Have Cloud do the same if he's still alive. If Red doesn't get killed by the next two attacks now, he must take himself out with another Molotov. When Aerith is left alone, she must heal herself until the battle is over while praying she doesn't get hit by a critical bite. You can use Healing Wind if her HP is higher than 300. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nssTND0qSkw Note: This video doesn't really represent the strategy described above, as my levels are lower than they are supposed to be. ############################################################################### Next up is Demon's Gate. Rest, give Tranquilizers to everyone and turn the battle speed all the way down. Also make sure to place Molotovs at the top of you item list, followed by Hi-Potions, Potions, Light Curtains, Phoenix Downs, Softs and Tranquilizers in that order. ############################################################################### B38: Demon's Gate HP: 10000 Dif: 7/10 Demon's Gate isn't as tough as you might have expected. Fighting him is actually very easy when you have full control over the battle, but things can easily go wrong if you don't pay attention. One small mistake can end the battle way too early. Another thing that makes the battle tougher is luck. Demon's Gate gets more criticals than any other boss and these criticals are the reason for at least 1 out of 2 game overs. Also, you really can't waste your time in this battle. I really suggest that you read and understand the strategy before you take him on, as you can't just enter the battle and look in the guide for what to do next. First of all, you should know how he fights. From my experience, I have learned that his main attack, Rock Drop, is used in series between Cave-Ins. These series usually consist of two Rock Drops, but he might drop only one or as many as three as well. He also has the ability to drop two rocks in one attack, meaning that you can't do anything but to sit down and watch the characters being tormented. His third attack, Demon Rush, will be used when you get his HP below 7500, 5000 and 2500, so you will see this attack at least three times. Before Demon Rush, he always starts waving his arms and then he waits for at least one turn before he uses the attack. Your characters will get three to five turns before the attack is used. His last attack, Petrif-Eye, isn't used very often, but if he uses it, it most likely happens in the beginning or after a Cave-In. He can also open the battle with any attack. Just wait and see what happens when you enter the battle. Hit the reset button if someone gets killed. Of course, it's not impossible to revive a character, but why waste time and items when the battle had just started anyway? If he uses Rock Drop on Aerith or Red, you can have one character heal, another throw a Molotov and the last one use the first Light Curtain. If he opens the battle with Cave-In, you can just heal Cloud and then follow up with a Molotov and a Light Curtain. If he opens the battle with Petrif-Eye or he starts waving the arms, you can throw two Molotovs and then use the Light Curtain. The strategy itself is pretty simple. Have one character heal and the other two throw Molotovs when he uses Rock Drop. After Cave-In, if the party had full HP, you only have to give a Potion to Cloud, but use Healing Wind if possible. A critical Rock Drop will deal close to 600 damage to Aerith and Red, but there's no need to give them anything more than a Hi-Potion, as they have more than enough HP to survive another attack. When he starts waving his arms before Demon Rush, you can just throw Molotovs until he uses the attack and then heal afterwards. Always heal Cloud first, as you might not be able to heal everyone before he starts attacking again. Aerith and Red should have more than enough HP to survive a rock if they had full HP before Demon Rush. When Petrif-Eye is used, you can just give the target a Soft and the counter will go away. If it's used on Cloud or Red near the end, you can just let them get petrified. That's actually a good thing, as he can still attack petrified characters with Rock Drop. Oh, and don't worry, characters who are petrified at the end of the battle will not receive EXP. You can take advantage of the fact that Demon Rush is used after his HP drops below 7500, 5000 and 2500 HP. If he drops a rock and he's got less than 900 HP above one of these numbers, you can have everyone throw Molotovs to trigger Demon Rush. If Aerith or Red was hit by the rock before Demon Rush and they had full health before that, you don't have to heal them until after Demon Rush. Doing this will save you some time and time is important in this battle, as the Light Curtains don't last forever. The time will come when you have to use the second Light Curtain, but that's easier said than done. First of all, you must wait until the Barrier is gone before you can use the other Light Curtain, but you can't just use it as soon as the Barrier guage goes empty. The Barrier doesn't wear off at the exact moment when the gauge reaches zero, but it lasts for one more unit, if you know what I mean. As you know, the gauge is built up by units, starting at full. After a certain amount of time, it goes down by one. Let's say that certain amount of time is 5 seconds. If so, then the Barrier will still last for 5 more seconds after the gauge goes empty. Understand? Good. If he attacks when you have one or zero units again, you can heal, throw a Molotov and use the Light Curtain in that order. If he attacks when you have two units left, you should just heal and wait until he attacks again. The best situation would be if he started waving his arms for the 5000 HP Demon Rush when you have one or zero units left. If the Barrier is about to run out and he's got less than 5900 HP, you can have everyone throw Molotovs to trigger Demon Rush. The battle is likely to fail here, but if you successfully put up another Barrier on the party, you can just keep fighting until you get his HP below 300. The killing process is probably the most fatal part of the battle. Many things can go wrong here and you must hope for some luck. The worst thing that can happen is that he starts an Aerith killing spree. Anyway, move Cloud and Red to front row and have Aerith defend. If he drops a rock on Cloud, he will die, but Red will survive if his HP is high enough. If he drops a rock on Aerith, you can have Cloud give her a Hi-Potion and Red throw a Molotov on himself. Aerith must defend and have her turn ready, so don't ever let her do anything. When defending, she can survive anything, but a critical or a double Rock Drop will kill her if the Barrier should wear off, something that will happen if the killing process takes too long. If she should get killed when one of the boys is still alive, you can just revive her and hope she doesn't get attacked again the next time. Revive her again if that happens, but if Cave-In is used and the other guy is low on HP, the battle will be over. If both of the guys should get killed, you know what to do. Have Aerith throw the last Molotov ASAP when she's left alone. That's it. You might find the battle very difficult at first, but when you get control over it and you learn how to handle the different situation, you will find out that it's not that tough after all. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgRQHIgOTc8 Still lower levels, but this time there's no big difference, other than that Red too can survive two rocks. ############################################################################### With Demon's Gate out of the way, you'll have some cut-scenes to watch before you wake up in Gongaga. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.7 <> Searching For Aerith ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: X-Potion (Gongaga) White M-Phone (Gongaga) Water Ring (Sleeping Forest) Guard Source (Forgotten Capital) Aurora Armlet (Forgotten Capital) Magic Source (Forgotten Captial) Elixir (Forgotten Capital) Wizard Bracelet (Jenova-LIFE) Form a party of Cloud, Barret and Cid when you get out on the world map. Then enter the Tiny Bronco and set your course for Bone Village. The Lunar Harp is located on the upper level, on the left side of the tent. Place three searchers and you should find it. After finding it, you can just proceed with the story until you reach the place where a certain character's life ends, but don't forget to turn the battle speed back up first. Escaping random battles on the lowest battle speed can be really painful. Give Tranquilizers to everyone when you get there and then save. Disc one will soon be over. Also, make sure to find out if Barret has learned Mindblow yet. If not, he's gonna learn it in this battle. ############################################################################### B39: Jenova-LIFE HP: 10000 Dif: 4/10 How to survive Aqualung without the Water Ring? You can't. Then how the hell are we supposed to get past this battle? Simple. Just make sure she doesn't use Aqualung. That's right. It's possible for Jenova not to use Aqualung at all before she runs out of MP, but it's all based on luck, so there's nothing you can do about it. If you used Lunar Curtains, Cid and Barret would have been able to survive Aqualung, but that would actually have made the battle tougher. The strategy is very simple. Use a Hi-Potion whenever someone gets hit, but you have to be quick. Enter the item menu as soon as you can, select Hi-Potions and use it as soon as you see who she attacks. It's easy with Blue Flame, as you have three seconds from when you first see who she attacks, but you have less than a second when she uses Blue Light. Well, you'll be fine as long as you use the Hi-Potion within a couple of seconds after the attack. Some times, she also uses two attacks in a row before you get to heal, but both Barret and Cid can easily survive two attacks. Cloud, however, can barely survive one. If he should get killed, don't bother reviving him until she runs out of MP. Don't bother attacking her until she runs out of MP. Just focus on staying alive. Of course, Barret must use his limit break if he hadn't learned Mindblow yet, but don't attack any more than that. Item users must absolutely not throw any Fire Veils before she runs out of MP, as she'll counter with Reflect. When she finally runs out, you can move Cloud to front row, kill the others and then just hold the action button until she dies. Even item users can do that if you set the cursor to "Memory". Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djsrZCfE00Q I use Red instead of Cid in this battle, but there's no significant difference. ############################################################################### This Jenova was pretty simple, but the next one will show no mercy. Disc one is now over and it hasn't been too difficult yet, but you can look forward to some really nasty battles during disc 2. Schizo and Jenova-DEATH will do their best to make you want to pull your hair out. Just for comparsion: I beat the first disc in 9:45. =============================================================================== 4 - Walkthrough: Disc Two & Three =============================================================================== Are you ready to move on? Well, I ain't gonna stop you. You start disc two in the Forgotten Capital, and it's time to head further north, but take your time to recover the party before you move on. Just sleep in the little house you slept in before the infamous event. It's free after all... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 <> Adventures in the Snow ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Viper Halbred (Corral Valley Cave) Bolt Armlet (Corral Valley Cave) Megalixir (Corral Valley Cave) Power Source (Corral Valley Cave) Vaccine (Icicle Inn) Hero Drink (Icicle Inn) X-Potion (Icicle Inn) Javelin (Gaea's Cliff) Elixir (Gaea's Cliff) Fire Armlet (Gaea's Cliff) Megalixir (Gaea's Cliff) Enhance Sword (Gaea's Cliff) Dragon Fang (Schizo) Hi-Potion (Whirlwind Maze) Kaiser Knuckle (Whirlwind Maze) Ether (Whirlwind Maze) Reflect Ring (Jenova-DEATH) Poison Ring (Whirlwind Maze) Alright, you know where to go. When you reach Icicle Inn, you must fill up your stock with Hi-Potions. Make sure you have 99 of them before you move on. There are some items you can find at the Great Glacier as well, but they are far from important, so don't waste your time looking for them unless you know where they are. Consider them as bonuses if you find them. You can sleep for free at Mr. Holzoff's, so make sure to do that when you get there. Then form a party of Cloud, Barret and Cait Sith and give Cloud a Tranquilizer before you start ascending the cliff. Try not to use too many Hi-Potions on your way up, as you need about 75 for Schizo. First find your way to the area with the save point. It's after the second climbing session. Don't bother healing Barret and Cait Sith if they get hurt in the random battles. It's just fine if they die. Just be aware that Stilva might slaughter your party with Magic Breath if you should run into one of them. She can open the battle with Magic Breath, so there's really nothing you can do to prevent that. Place T/S Bombs at the top of your item list when you reach the save point and then save. Next up is the Icicle battles. If Barret or Cait Sith are still alive, you must kill them in a battle on your way up. Heal Cloud back to full health when you get there and turn the battle speed all the way down before you enter the first battle. ############################################################################### B40: Icicle HP: 3000 Dif: 1/10 Note: Don't attack the Evilheads. This battle is very similar to the Garuda battles. You only have to throw a T/S Bomb at the Icicle, but there is a chance you might die. The chance is very small, though. For that to happen, three of the Evilheads must attack before you and all of them must use Ultrasonic. It has only happened to me one out of ten times. Just make sure to be quick and you'll most likely survive. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nzmCSrrFok ############################################################################### Jump down and save if you want to, but I suggest that you just heal Cloud back to full health and move straight on to the next Icicle. You only have to defeat three of them, but you have to engage in a battle with the last one and then escape if you want the "Last Elixir" on the other side. Heal Cloud back to full health and turn the battle speed back up before you do that. You have to enter the battle and escape it again to get back and after that you will be given the option to jump down. The chance of being killed in these battles is close to zero. Switch Barret and Cait Sith for someone alive before you move on. Next up is Schizo. Hurray! Form a party of Cloud, Cait Sith and Cid when you reach the next save point and use the healing spring to recover. Then give Tranquilizers to everyone and turn the battle speed all the way down again, as well as setting ATB to Wait. Yes, you have no choise this time. Also place Hi-Potions at the top of your item list, followed by Lunar Curtains. You can put Swift Bolts and Fire Veils after that if you're going to use these to deal damage to him. ############################################################################### B43: Schizo HP: 18000 each. Dif: 8/10 Note: You need a calculator for this battle. This battle isn't very complicated; you only have to use a Hi-Potion whenever someone gets hit, but the battle is very long and many things can go wrong. First of all, you have to be able to use the first Lunar Curtain before Schizo starts attacking. If not, you're most likely screwed. Cait Sith and Cid can both survive an unprotected breath, so you can keep fighting if both of them get attacked, but you have to heal them quickly. Schizo has a pattern of attacks. First, both heads will use their regular breaths three times each. Then they take a break for one turn before they use double breath twice. This pattern is repeated until they run out of MP, which happens after the 9th series of regular breaths. In other words, you have to survive 70 attacks before you can celebrate your victory. As I said, this battle is not very complicated. Once your the MBarrier is up, you can just heal each time Schizo attacks. You have to quick, though. You must enter the item menu as soon as they start attacking and you have to give the target a Hi-Potion before he takes damage. By doing that, you will be able to heal between every attack. Don't ever wait until after the target has taken damage, or else they will attack twice before the Hi-Potion is used. I know, the only way you can lose is if Cloud gets attacked twice, but this is a long battle and you can't take any risks. The double breaths are dangerous. You really have to pay attention when they use these attacks, as it can be difficult to see who they attack some times. And of course, if you don't give the target a Hi-Potion before he takes damage, they will use the second double breath before you get to heal. That's something you really don't want to happen, as no one can survive two double breaths. A double breath deals more than 500 damage, but a Hi-Potion is more than enough, as you will get back to full health again after a single breath. The most fatal points in this battle is when you have to use another Lunar Curtain, something you must do no less than three times. You learned how this works in the battle with Demon's Gate, so it shouldn't be a problem. when the Barrier gauge reaches zero, you must first wait until Schizo attacks and then heal the target. After that, you can use the Lunar Curtain and this is where it turns fatal. Two things can go wrong now: The Lunar Curtain might not be used until after the next attack and he might use the next two breaths before you can do anything. Take note that this can also happen when you use the first Lunar Curtain in the beginning of the battle. As you know, both Cait Sith and Cid can survive an unprotected breath or two protected breahts, but not Cloud. If Cloud dies, you can just hit the reset button. This is the main reason why this battle is such a pain in the ass. Four Lunar Curtains will last almost exactly until Schizo runs out of MP, so it's important that you don't do anything else than healing when you get attacked and using Lunar Curtains when necessary. If you waste time doing anything else, the last MBarrier will run out too early and you might die. He can't kill you as long as he can't attack more than four times when it runs out, but it'll last longer than that if you do as I said and don't waste your time. My last MBarrier ran out when he had two attacks left. If it should run out earlier, you can use X-Potions on Cait Sith and Cid when they get attacked. When he finally runs out of MP, you can start depleting his HP. Revive any dead characters and move everyone to front row first. If you decided to use your weapon, you can simply attack both heads until they have less than 80 HP left. DO NOT KILL THEM before that, or you're in serious trouble. If you decided to use items, you can start by throwing two Fire Veils. This will heal the right head, but that's exactly what we want. Cloud can't survive two final attacks, so we don't want to take out both of them at the same time. Since the damage from the items vary, you must keep track of the left head's HP. After throwing the two Fire Veils, you can throw Swift Bolts until you reduce the left head's HP to below 900. Then heal Cloud back to full health and use a Lunar Curtain. Now, item users can have Cait Sith or Cid throw another Swift Bolt. The left head will die and use the final attack. Cid will die either way, but Cait Sith might survive if his HP was full. It doesn't matter, as he will get killed by the next attack either way. Have Cloud heal himself back to full health and continue throwing Swift Bolts until the right head dies. People who don't use items can have Cait Sith or Cid attack one of the heads when the MBarrier is up. Then heal Cloud back to full health and attack the other head. Very simple. As I said, the battle isn't very complicated, but it gets the highest rating so far because of all the things that can go wrong. If it hadn't been for these things, the battle would have been as easy as Jenova-LIFE. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-_m0VSn2ac http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miFh0KpUi7Y ############################################################################### Don't head back to the save point after the battle. If you get into a random battle before you leave this screen, you will, due to a glitch, not be able to run away. The game apparantly thinks that you're still in the boss battle, so logially enough, it won't let you escape. Instead, leave the cave through the closest exit, but don't head back yet. You might run into a Blue Dragon before you reach the save point and they can easily slaughter your party with Great Gale. Instead, just proceed to the next save point, but don't forget to heal Cloud back to full health and turn the battle speed back up first. After two screens, Tifa will come running and force herself into the party. Form a party of Cloud, Tifa and Red and give Tranquilizers to everyone and then proceed to the next screen, where the save point is. After saving, you have to go all the way back to Icicle Inn and buy more Hi-Potions. Let Cloud's temperature fall down to 26 to quickly get down to Mr. Holzoff's shack. Then find your way out of the Great Glacier. Use the map if you don't know where to go. Make sure you have 99 Hi-Potions again before you start your journey back. When you finally get back, you can proceed a little bit after the save point and watch the scene with the Highwind. Then move on to the next area and pick up the items from the black caped guys before you go back to the save point. Hi-Potions are still at the top of the items list, and make sure they are followed by Phoenix Downs, Tranquilizers, Potions and Echo Screens this time. Save after doing that. Then move on until you reach the area where the battle with Jenova-DEATH takes place. It's after the screen where you have to dodge green whirlwinds. Don't go any further when you get here. You don't want to enter the battle and not be prepared. Stop and turn the battle speed all the way down first and heal everyone back to full health if they were attacked on the way. Then you can move on and let the battle begin. ############################################################################### B44: Jenova-DEATH HP: 25000 Dif: 9/10 Yes, another "toughest battle so far". Jenova is the most unpredictable boss in this challenge and that's the main reason why this battle is so frustrating. Her main attack is Red Light, but you will never know how many times she's going to use it and who she's going to use it on. Sometimes she uses it once, other times twice, but most of the time she'll use it three times. When she uses it twice or three times, you won't be able to do anything before she's done. When she uses it three times, she will most likely attack everyone, but once in a while she attacks the same character twice and you can guess what happens to that character. When someone is attacked, you must always have that character heal himself. That's very important. As long as everyone is alive, you must never have a character heal anyone else than himself. Let's say Tifa gets attacked first and you have Cloud heal her right away. If Jenova uses Red Light three times in a row now, you can be in serious trouble. Tifa could get attacked again and get killed and Cloud might use the Hi-Potion on the character that didn't get hit, thus wasting a turn. You must never waste a turn during this battle; one small mistake will lead your party to death faster than you can imagine. Red Light deals between 520 and 560 HP, so the characters will gradually lose HP. Logically enough, you must never allow anyone's HP to fall below 560 during the battle. This problem can be fixed with Potions, but you can't just wait until someone's HP reaches 560 and then use one. If someone should fall below 560 before two series of three Red Lights, you're in big trouble. Of course, you can be lucky with the damage, but you can't gamble like that in this battle. Whenever you have a turn or two to spend, like when she uses Tropic Wind, Silence or when she only uses Red Light once, you must use these turns to give Potions to the characters with the lowest HP. As I said, never waste a turn during this battle. When she uses Silence, you should make sure to give the target an Echo Screen if he gets silenced. If no one is silenced, she will give up a round of Red Lights to cast Silence and that's a good thing for two reasons. First of all because you don't have to heal anyone, but it also makes the battle last shorter. Silence costs 24 MP, so the more times she uses it, the less times you have to heal. Cloud's Cross-Slash can be used to "buy time". It will put Jenova out of function for at least one turn. Of course, you can't juse use Cross-Slash as soon as Cloud's limit bar is full. You must save it until it's absolutely necessary, like when someone gets killed or if someone's HP should get really close to 560. If Tifa or Red should get killed, you must first heal the other character who got attacked and then have Cloud use Cross-Slash. Then you should have more than enough time to revive, heal and give the fallen a Tranquilizer. If Cloud should get killed, you must hope for some luck. First heal the other character who got hit and then revive Cloud. Now, hope she doesn't use three Red Lights again. If she uses Silence, Tropic Wind or Red Light only once and he doesn't get killed again, you can heal the one who got attacked and then heal Cloud and give him a Tranquilizer. If only one attack is used and he gets killed again, you can revive him and give him a Hi-Potion. Any attack will kill him when he doesn't have Sadness, but as I said, you can't waste a single turn in this battle. By giving him a Hi-Potion now, you won't have to do it later if he shouldn't get killed again. If she uses two Red Lights and Cloud is killed again, you can heal the other character who got hit and then revive Cloud. If she uses three Red Lights and Cloud is killed again, you must focus on healing the other two characters and then hope she only attacks once the next time, so that you can revive Cloud then. The worst thing that can happen is that she uses three Red Lights and kills another character. The battle will most likely be over if that happens, unless you're very lucky with the next attacks. You will have to use a maximum of 75 Hi-Potions before she runs out of MP, depending on how many times she used Silence. When she finally runs out, you can kill Red and Tifa, move Cloud to front row and hold the action button until she dies. Since Cloud only deals like 100 damage at the time and you're fighting on the lowest battle speed, it will take a while. We're talking more than 30 minutes, so put some weight on the button and take a shower, make some food or whatever you'd like to do. Item users must throw 58 or less Swift Bolts, depending on how many times you used Cross-Slash. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRmH_IJma30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Lo3zwtpHQ ############################################################################### Revive Tifa and Red, heal everyone back to full health and turn the battle speed back up before you move on. You don't want to get killed in a randbom battle now. After saving, you can just proceed and get through Boredom World 2 without dying of boredom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2 <> The Time Without Cloud ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Elixir (Mideel) We're back in Junon, to the most boring part of the game in my opinion. There's only one thing to mention here and that's the battle with two Attack Squads that Barret and Cait Sith will be forced into, but unlike all the other Attack Squad battles, this one can be escaped. Other than that, you can just proceed with the story until the Highwind is yours. Note: If you should run out of money before the second visit to Midgar, something you will if you didn't fight Cactuars, you must use the Mythril trick to get more money. As you most likely know, the sleeping man in the cave near Junon will give you a Mythril if the number of battles you have engaged in ends with either 11, 33, 55, 77 or 99. If it ends with 22, 44, 66 or 88, he'll give you a Bolt Ring, which can be sold for 4000 Gil. Well, first find out how many battles you've fought. If he doesn't tell you how many battles you've fought, you can just go outside and fight another battle before you go back in. When you eventually find out, you can go outside and fight until the number of battles you've fought ends with 11, 33, 55, 77 or 99. Then go talk to the man and he will give you a Mythril. Now, fly over to the house near Gongaga, give the Mythril to the weapon smith and he'll let you open one of the boxes. Open the huge box on the first floor to receive a Gold Armlet. These can be sold for 1000 Gil. Then fly back to the sleeping man and talk to him again and he will give you another Mythril. I guess you can figure out how this works now. Repeat this process until you have so much money you need. Just make sure to park the Highwind as close to the cave and the house as possible, as you don't want to get into a random battle. First we have to take a trip to Wutai for some more shopping. Sell off all the equipment and other useless items and make sure you have 99 Swift Bolts and 99 Hi-Potions. Place Swift Bolts at the top of your item list, followed by Hi-Potions and Potions. Fly over to Mideel and find Cloud when you're done shopping. Just let Tifa find the dog and things will happen automatically. After ten more tons of blablabla, Cid will be crowned as the leader of your party and you will have to form a new party. Make your party Cid, Barret and Cait Sith and then head for Fort Condor. Here, just climb up and get the minigame started. You have to talk to the man by the table first. Turn the speed all the way up when the minigame starts and just let the enemies reach the shack. Don't place any soldiers. When the enemy reaches the shack, you will be forced to fight CMD. Grand Horn, but you can just let him destroy your party. Yes, you will see the words "Game Over" on the screen, but after the screen goes black, your party will wake up on the bottom with 1 HP. Heal Cid back to full health, give him a Tranquilizer and head over to North Corel. Find your way to the reactor and make sure Barret and Cait Sith die on the way. Well, the only have 1 HP each, so that shouldn't be a problem. Save when you reach the save point and heal Cid back to full health. A battle with two Attack Squads awaits in front of the reactor. ############################################################################### B45: Attack Squad x2 HP: 1300 Dif: 1/10 Two Swift Bolts will take care of them. No need to heal during the battle. ############################################################################### Now, Cid will hijack a locomotive and go after the train with the Huge Materia. Five battles take place on this train, but these can easily be avoided by letting the timer run out. As soon as the timer appears on the screen, you can just put the controller away and wait until the timer hits zero. Soon after, you will be back in North Corel. Okay, it's time to go back to Mideel and get Cloud back, but first we have to prepare for the battle with Ultimate Weapon. Form a party of whoever you want, give Tranquilizers to everyone, turn the battle speed all the way down and set ATB to Wait. Then enter Mideed and pick up the Elixir in the house on the left side before you go back outside and save. ############################################################################### B46: Ultimate Weapon HP: Doesn't matter Dif: 2/10 Ultimate Weapon will attach three times and then chicken out. His attacks are Quake2, physical attack and Ultima Beam and they are used in that order with no exceptions. All you have to do is to survive these attacks. You need MBarrier to survive Quake2, so you have to be able to use a Lunar Curtain before this spell is cast. You need some luck to be able to do that, though. One character's ATB gauge must be alomst full and you have to open the item menu ASAP when this character gets his turn. If you manage to open the menu before the spell is cast, you can take all the time you need to find the Lunar Curtain in the item list and then use it. Now, the party will easily survive Quake2 and you cannot lose unless you screw up yourself. After Quake2, you can just wait until the physical attack is used. This attack will kill one of the characters, but that doesn't matter. Now, only Ultima Beam is left and to survive that, you simply have to heal one of the remaining characters with a Hi-Potion. You don't get any EXP from this battle, so it does't matter if more than one character survives. Pretty simple battle, but you will most likely have to restart a lot of times before you manage to use the Lunar Curtain before Quake2. I had to restart almost 10 times. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IQhaasPhBo ############################################################################### And then it's time for Boredom World 3. Form a party of Cloud, Barret and Tifa afterwards, place Tifa in back row and the boys in front row. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3 <> Junon Underwater Reactor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: None of interest. First take a trip to Costa del Sol and buy 40 S-mines. The man who is selling them is standing in the left corner inside the bar. Place S-mines at the top of your item list, followed by Swift Bolts, Hi-Potion, Lunar Curtains and the Dragon Fang. Then head back to Junon, sleep in the hourse where you slept after the battle with Bottomswell and then find your way to the elevator where the first out of many small battles take place. Make sure to give a Tranquilizer to Tifa before you enter the elevator. ############################################################################### B47: Submarine Crew x2 HP: 1500 Dif: 1/10 You need two Swift Bolts to take out two Submarine Crews. You'll have a total of five battles with two Submarine Crews here, so I'll only say this once. Of course, Cloud and Barret must be dead before you throw the second one. ############################################################################### Make sure to heal Tifa after the first battle. Switch Tifa for Cait Sith and give him a Tranquilizer when you reach the first save point. Then continue on until you reach the bottom. More small battles await here. Make sure not to run past the first soldier, or else the three Submarine Crews in this room will attack you from both sides. Just talk to the first soldier and you'll get to fight him alone. ############################################################################### B49: Submarine Crew HP: 1500 Dif: 1/10 Take him out with an S-mine and a couple of physical attacks or a limit break. ############################################################################### The next battle is with two Submarine Crews and you already know how to handle that. Revive Cloud and Barret after this battle, but don't bother healing them. ############################################################################### B51: Underwater MP x2 HP: 1000 Dif: 2/10 They have less HP, but higher Magic Defense, so you have to throw two Swift Bolts to take them out. Have Cait Sith throw the first one and then wait until Cloud and Barret get killed. The reason why you had to revive them is because these guys like to attack three times in a row and Cait Sith might not be able to survive all the attacks. Especially not if one of them should go critical. ############################################################################### Don't go back and save just yet. Instead, move on to the next area and watch the Huge Materia being taken out of the reactor. Then proceed to the docks and watch it being placed in the submarine, but make sure not to approach Reno yet. If you move just an inch forward, you will trigger the battle with Carry Armor and you don't want to get screwed by him now and fight the last three battles over again. First head back to the save point and form a party of Cloud, Red and Cid. Revive Cloud, heal him back to full health, give Tranquilizers to everyone and turn the battle speed all the way down before you save. Then you can head back to the docks and kick Carry Armor's shiny metal ass. ############################################################################### B52: Carry Armor HP: 24000 Dif: 6/10 Lapis Laser. The most powerful attack in the entire challenge. This attack deals 600 damage through Sadness and MBarrier and you don't have a lot more HP than that. His other infamous attack, Arm Grab is an instant game over, but thankfully, there's a way to avoid this attack. I'll get back to that later. Other than that, he will only use his weak arm attack for about 180 damage once or twice per turn. Carry Armor has the ability to use Lapis Laser as a Sneak Attack and you know what the result of that is. There's only a 1/3 chance that'll happen, but there's also a 1/4 chance he'll use it on his first turn, before you get to do anything, so he will open the battle with this attack at least half the time. My record is five times in a row and lolo's is 11! Curse him. When he's got more than 18000 HP, there's a 1/4 chance he'll use Lapis Laser each turn. Then it increases to 1/3 and then 1/2 below 12000 HP. Below 6000 HP, he uses it on every turn. In the beginning of the battle, there's a 1/16 chance he'll use Arm Grab, but if you attack the arms once, this chance will be reduced to 1/128. Therefore, you must open the battle with a Swift Bolt. Don't ever attack the arms again after that. Follow up by throwing an S-mine and using the first Lunar Curtain. The strategy itself is pretty simple. Throw S-mines at every opportunity and never allow anyone's HP to fall below 610. Cid has more than enough HP to survive Lapis Laser and an arm attack, so you don't have to heal him until he's been attacked twice. When Cloud and Red get attacked on full HP, you can just give them a Potion, but then you have to have to use a Hi-Potion the next time either way. When Lapis Laser is used, you must use a Megalixir ASAP. There is a chance he might attack with his arms before the Megalixir is used and that's obviously not a good thing. Cid will survive if he had full HP before Lapis Laser, but Cloud and Red will most likely get killed. They might survive if they had full HP and Lapis Laser dealt minimum damage, but the chances for that are low. Thankfully, this doesn't happen very often. If someone should die during the battle, there's a very small chance you'll survive. Using the second Lunar Curtain is not very tough in this battle, unless Lapis Laser is used after you selected the item, but before this character gets to use it. This actually happened to me twice in a row once. Now that's bad luck. The first MBarrier will probably run out when he's got about 10000-1200 HP left. Don't use any limit breaks in the battle, as they deal crap damage and will only make the MBarrier run out faster. After the Swift Bolt, you must throw 25 S-mines to take him out. Make sure you memorize your amount before the battle. The killing process in this battle is very simple. If he uses Lapis Laser when you've got less than 3 S-mines left to throw, you can just give an X-Potion to Cid and throw two more. Now, wait until Lapis Laser is used again and you can have Cid throw the final S-mine to end Carry Armor's miserable life. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5rFgKPOIT4 ############################################################################### Unfortunately, you can't go back and save after this battle, so you have to move on and fight three more battles before you get access to the save point inside the submarine. The first two battles are with two Submarine Crews and you know how to handle them. Just make sure to heal Cid back to full health before the first battle. The third battle, however, is with three Submarine Crews that attack from both sides and Cid has no chance to survive this battle on his own. On top of that, you don't get to open the menu between the second and third battle, so you have to let Cloud and Red survive the second battle too. Revive them before the second battle, give Tranquilizers to them and heal everyone to full health. There's no need to heal in the second battle. You can keep the battle speed at the lowest for these battles. ############################################################################### B55: Submarine Crew x3, attack from both sides. HP: 1500 Dif: 2/10 The Submarine Crews will start attacking as soon as the battle begins. Someone might get killed, but that doesn't really matter. Just make sure to throw the Dragon Fang on the group of two Submarine Crews as soon as possible and you'll be more than fine. With those two out of the picture, there's nothing more to worry about. Now, attack the last Submarine Crew physically a couple of times and have Cid throw an S-mine to take him out as soon as both Cloud and Red are dead again. ############################################################################### And then you can finally save. Make sure to take the guys inside the control room prisoner before the minigame and make sure to win the minigame. When you return to the surface, you should get back into the sub and go pick up the Key to the Ancients. Just take the sub as far to the north as you can get and then enter the underwater cave here to find it. We'll save the Gelnika for later, so just head back to Junon afterwards. Next up now is Rocket Town. Make sure to turn the battle speed back up before you enter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4 <> Rocket Town & More ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Guard Source Form a party of Cloud, Barret and Tifa. The boys should still be dead after the battles in Junon and Tifa should still have Sadness, so just heal her back to full health before you enter town. Enter the shop behind the man who gave you the Yoshiyuki and pick up the Guard Source before you go back outside and save. Then enter town again and head over to the rocket for some more small battles. Take note that you cannot do anything between the first three battles. ############################################################################### B56: Attack Squad x2 HP: 1300 Dif: 1/10 Just throw two Swift Bolts to take them out. ############################################################################### B57: Attack Squad x2 HP: 1300 Dif: 1/10 Throw a Swift Bolt, use a Hi-Potion and then throw another Swift Bolt. ############################################################################### B58: Senior Grunt & Attack Squad x2 HP: 2600, 1300 Dif: 2/10 First throw a Swift Bolt. Then use a Hi-Potion or an X-Potion if Tifa's HP is running low. Two more Swift Bolts will be needed to take out the Senior Grunt. ############################################################################### Now, Cid will come and force himself into the party. Make sure he replaces Barret. Then revive Cloud, give Tranquilizers to the boys and heal everyone back to full health. You can't go back to the world map and save, so you have to fight these battles over again if you should lose against Rude. ############################################################################### B59: Rude & Attack Squad x2 HP: 9000, 1300 Dif: 4/10 Note: You need the calculator again in this battle. Since he's able to heal himself with Cure2, you can't just throw an exact number of S-mines. First have everyone throw Swift Bolts, in case someone should be put to sleep by the Attack Squads. If somebody should be put to sleep, you can wake them up with a physical attack. You can easily afford to lose some HP. Start throwing S-mines after that. They deal almost 1400 HP, so you will quickly reduce his HP to 0. That is, unless he starts using Cure2 like a maniac. Rude's Grand Spark attack is nasty. It deals almost 400 damage and he can use it three times in a row like Jenova's Red Light. Someone could get killed, but you can just revive and heal the fallen if that should happen. Near the end, he might start using Bolt2 and Cure2. If he does that, he will always use Bolt2 and Cure2 without letting you do anything in the meantime. He can use MBarrier as well, but if he doesn't, Cure2 will heal him around 1200, which is almost the damage an S-mine deals. In that case, you must throw an extra S-mine every time he heals himself, but he will gradually lose HP, so make sure not to kill him too early. Rude is in love with Tifa (you can't blame him), and will therefore do his best to avoid attacking her. As long as the other characters are alive, he won't attack her at all and he will never use Grand Spark on her, so there's no need to fear this attack once the others are dead. Because of this, the killing process is very easy in this battle. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXENY9TCHy0 ############################################################################### Just heal Tifa back to full health before the next battle. ############################################################################### B60: Senior Grunt HP: 2600 Dif: 1/10 Two S-mines should take care of him, but if not, you can just attack regularly until he dies. There's no need to heal in this battle. ############################################################################### And then it's time for another Boredom World. This one consists of a trip to Outer Space and a second visit to Cosmo Canyon and the Forgotten Capital. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5 <> Yuffie, Diamond Weapon & Wutai ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Elixir Swift Bolt Peace Ring (Rapps) Power Source Mind Source Speed Source Magic Source Guard Source Luck Source Megalixir When you try to enter the Highwind after the visit to the Forgotten Capital, Diamond Weapon will show up and march straight towards Midgar. We can't fight him just yet, though. First we have to recruit a new member to the party. Form a party of Cloud, Barret and Red and head over to Mideel. Red should still be dead after the battles in Junon, so you have to revive him first, but there's no need to give him anything more than a Hi-Potion. As you most likely know, Yuffie will only show up in forests. ############################################################################### B61: Yuffie (aka Mystery Ninja) HP: 600 Dif: 1/10 Throw a Swift Bolt and the battle will be over. ############################################################################### Don't use the save point and don't open the menu. Just give her these replies and she will join the party: "Not interested" "petrified" "Wait a second!" "That is right." "Let us hurry on." That's it. Yuffie is now an official member of your almighty party. Now let's go kick some Diamond Weapon ass. Well, some preparations are needed first. Enter the Highwind, form a party of Cloud, Tifa and Cid and then restore your HP and MP. And as always, give Tranquilizers to everyone. Then just fly around until Diamond Weapon reaches land and then save just next to him. Just make sure you don't go too close. You don't want to enter the battle too early. ############################################################################### B62: Diamond Weapon HP: 30000 Dif: 4/10 This is too easy. The only thing you have to do here is throwing 26 Swift Bolts and heal each time someone is attacked. Never use limit breaks, as you don't want to trigger the Countdown to Diamond Flash. Sounds simple? Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. Diamond Weapon has two attacks: Fire Ball and Foot Stamp. They don't have names, but that's what they are, so let's call them that. Fire Ball deals up to 600 damage and Foot Stamp up to 800. Cloud doesn't have that much HP, but Foot Stamp is always used on the character with the highest current HP, so he's fine as long as you make sure Cid or Tifa always have more HP than him. And of course, more than 800 HP. As for Cloud, you just have to make sure his HP never falls below 600. Most of the time, you only have to heal once, but you have to heal twice when Cloud's HP falls below 100 and the others below 300. Heal Tifa and Cid back to full health and move them to front row when you only have one Swift Bolt left to throw. They can't survive Foot Stamp now. Just make sure they always have more HP than Cloud and nothing can go wrong. Have Cloud throw the last Swift Bolt as soon as both Tifa and Cid are dead. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRo3nMtAiM8 ############################################################################### That was way too easy. How come all the mandatory Weapon battles are so easy? Ultimate runs off after three attacks and Diamond certainly doesn't live up to his Weapon-name. Anyway, go check out the crater after all the cut-scenes, but don't head back to Midgar yet. First, we have to take a trip to Wutai and do the infamous Wutai Quest. The main reason is to make the Turks battle in Midgar optional, but we also have to do the quest to be able to buy more Swift Bolts and Fire Veils later. Form a party of Cloud, Red and Cait Sith, place Red and Cait Sith in front row, heal Cloud and save before you enter town. When you first enter Wutai, you will not enter town, but Yuffie will come and steal our materia. OH NOES! She stole our materia! What the hell are we gonna do without our materia? We're doomed for sure. You will also be forced to fight a couple of scary Attacks Squads. I'll let you handle this battle on your own. Heal Cloud again after the battle, but don't revive the others. Then you can enter town and let the sidequest begin. In case you don't know what to do, I'll guide you through the quest like I did at the Wall Market. 1. Go talk to Godo at his house. Yuffie will appear and run off. DON'T sleep in the beds here. 2. Go talk to the Turks at the Turtle's Paradise. 3. Enter the weapon shop and open the box with the MP Absorb Materia. Yuffie will appear and run off with it. 4. Enter the house right next to the entrance. You will find Yuffie, and she will run off again. 5. She's now hiding hiding inside a big pot outside of the Turtle's Paradise. The others will block the paths for her and you will catch her. She'll then take you to her house. 6. Pull the lever when Yuffie tells you to and Red and Cait Sith will be trapped inside a cage. You guessed it. She runs off again. Pull the lever once more to free the characters. Make sure to check out the last Turtle's Paradise flyer here before you go after her. 7. Switch Cait Sith for Tifa and head back to the upper area of town. Now enter the small house thing to the left and use the bell to open a secret door. Enter the door and say hello to our good friend Don Corneo. 8. Pick up the items from the boxes and follow him. You will end up in Godo's house and you'll be forced to fight three Attach Squads. Yikes! ############################################################################### B64: Attack Squad x3 HP: 1300 Dif: 1/10 Why did I bother creating a box for this one? Ah well, just throw a couple of Swift Bolts and the battle will be over. Tifa should still be dead after the battle with Diamond Weapon, so you don't have to worry about killing her. ############################################################################### Now you can go sleep in the beds. Head back to the save point after talking to the Turks and form a party of Cloud, Barret and Tifa and save. Don't go find Corneo and the girls just yet. Instead, get into a battle and build up Barret's limit break. Then head back to the save point again. Place the boys in front row, heal everyone back to full health, but only give Tifa a Tranquilizers. Then save and go find Corneo and the girls. Take the first right, follow this path to next area and then run to the bottom of the screen to find them. ############################################################################### B65: Rapps HP: 6000 Dif: 2/10 Open the battle by having Barret use Mindblow to reduce his MP to zero. Without MP to use Aero3, he's pretty much harmless. He will inflict poison to you with Scorpion's Tail, but that's not to worry about. Anyway, throw four S-mines at him before you let Cloud and Barret die and then have Tifa throw the fifth and last one to take him out. Healing Cloud and Barret shouldn't be necessary. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc8VSL0HQAk I didn't have Mindblow, so I had to deal with Aero3, but that didn't make it very much harder. ############################################################################### After the battle, we finally get the materia back. Yay! Stop by at the Item Shop and buy so that you have 99 Hi-Potions before you leave town. Buy some Phoenix Downs as well, if you're running short on them. 20 should be enough for now. You can also sell the Peace Ring you just won from Rapps. And before you leave, don't forget to stop by at the Turtle's Paradise and claim your prize for finding all the flyers. Before you can enter Midgar, you have to stop by at Costa del Sol and make sure you have 99 S-mines. Stop by at the Item Shop and buy 10 Antidotes as well. Then form a party of Cloud, Red and Cid and fly over Midgar. Your party will be healed before you jump, so don't use any Tranquilizers before you land. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.6 <> Return To Midgar ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Elixir x3 Megalixir Glow Lance Power Source (Hojo) Go right after climbing down the ladder to fing the Megalixir and the first Elixir. There are two boxes here that you have to climb up ladders to reach, but you don't have to worry about these, as they both contain equipment you only get one Gil for. When you reach the plate with two boxes, you only have to open the one to the left. Also, make sure to heal after every single random battle, as some of the enemies here are very dangerous. The Turks will show up in the tunnel as usual, but since you did the Wutai quest, you will be given a choice if you want to fight them or not. If you really want to test your skills, you can try to defeat them. It's possible, but you will need a lot of luck. Especially if you don't have a Deadly Waste. Anyway, before going after Proud Clod, we're gonna take a short trip back to the Shinra HQ. There's a weapon for Cid here that can be sold for 8000 Gil. Go right in the first intersection and then left to get there. Take the elevator up to the 63rd floor and you'll find it. After picking it up, you can head back down and save at the save point by the entrance. Don't bother healing your party until you reach Sector 8, where the battle with Proud Clod takes place. Go left in the first intersection to get there. ############################################################################### B66: Proud Clod HP: 60000 Dif: 3/10 Note: Don't attack Jamar Armor. Proud Clod? More like Pity Cloud. This huge guy here is even more harmless than Diamond Weapon, so he doesn't have anything to be proud of. Just start throwing S-mines and heal whenever someone loses more than 500 HP and you'll be fine. As long as you keep everyone's HP above 800, you can only be killed by a double machine gun attack where one of the attacks goes critical. Because the damage of the S-mines vary, it's kinda dangerous to just throw an exact number, so use the calculator to keep track of his HP. About halfway through the battle, he'll start using Beam Cannon. That's a good thing, as he wastes two turns sitting down on his knees before the attack and then one turn standing up again afterwards. Beam Cannon deals 800 to 850 damage, so make sure the party has more HP than that before the attack. When the attack is used, you can spend two turns using Hi-Potions to recover. This is such an easy battle anyway, so there's no need to waste Elixirs. Cid is supposed to survive this battle and you can use Beam Cannon to kill off Cloud and Red. If Beam Cannon is used when he's got less than 15000 HP left, you can just heal Cloud and Red with one Hi-Potion each after the attack. No No problem at all. Make sure Proud Clod has less than 900 HP left before the next Beam Cannon and you can have Barret throw the last S-mine when Beam Cannon kills Cloud and Cid. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqAu1qUyVqw ############################################################################### That was too easy, but thankfully, it's about to get much, much better. Hojo is next and he can be really nasty. Revive Cloud and Red before you move on, as you might run into a Grosspanzer on your way to the save point. These enemies would have slayed Cid if you had sent him into a battle on his own. Form a party of Cloud, Yuffie and Cait Sith when you reach the save point. Your party must of course be fully restored and have Sadness before you take on Hojo, but in addition to that, you have to do some arrangements in the item list. Place S-mines at the top, followed by Swift Bolts, Hi-Potions, Phoenix Downs, Antidotes, Tranquilizers, Elixirs, X-Potions and then Vaccines. Well, Vaccine, since you only have one of them. Then save your game and make sure to heal again if you should lose HP in a random battle on your way up. ############################################################################### B67: Hojo HP: 13000 Dif: 1/10 Note: Don't attack Poodler Sample and Bad Rap Sample. This is just a warm up battle. First give the Vaccine to Cait Sith and then start throwing S-mines. 12 is needed to take him out and healing shouldn't be necessary until you've thrown 11. Heal Yuffie if her HP should fall below 400 before that and make sure the party has as much HP as possible when you throw the 12th one. Then let's see how the mako juice is reacting... ############################################################################### B68: Hellectic Hojo, Left Arm, Right Arm HP: 26000, 24000, 5000 Dif: 5/10 Note: Don't attack the head with limit breaks. The major threat in this battle is the Right Arm. Its attack deals 600 damage through Sadness and he's capable of using it twice in one attack. Not good for Yuffie with her 900 HP. We'll use Swift Bolts in this battle and you only need six of them to kill the Right Arm. When the Right Arm is still alive, you can heal with a Hi-Potion whenever someone gets attacked, but don't bother reviving Yuffie if she gets killed. Instead, focus on killing the arm and then hope he doesn't revive it right away. As soon as you kill it, you should make sure to heal your party back to full health again. Also, you can never allow Cait Sith to die during the battle, as that will remove his invulnerability to negative statuses, something you really need in the last battle. Hellectic Hojo himself is able to cast some negative status spells. The worst one is Confu. If he uses this on a character you already set to throw a Swift Bolt, the battle will most likely be over. This character will now use the Swift Bolt on the party for more than 1000 damage. Not good. There's really nothing you can do about that, so that's just a risk you're going to have to take. Confu might still miss though and Cait Sith is invulnerable to statuses, since you gave him the Vaccine in the first battle. And thankfully, Confu is only used when the Right Arm is alive. When the Right Arm is dead, he uses Sleepel instead, but that's really nothing to worry about, as the victim will wake up after two turns when you're fighting on the highest battle speed. Hellectic Hojo will kill himself when both arms are dead, so use any limit breaks on the Left Arm. Since the Swift Bolts deal arond 800 damage, you need about 30 of them to take him out, but take note that he might revive the Right Arm when the Left Arm only has a little HP left. That way, the battle will last a little longer, but that's really not a big deal. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTiLUwZFE ############################################################################### B69: Lifeform Hojo NA HP: 30000 Dif: 8/10 Note: You need the calculator again in this battle. This is a very tough battle. Schizo was also an 8/10, but this battle is completely different. You have to stay focused and never make a single mistake, or else you will most likely be looking at the game over screen within the next couple of turns. Combo is the big one here. It consists of four consecutive attacks and deals over 600 damage unless some of the attacks should miss. Also, the second attack inflicts poison and the fourth puts the target to sleep. Sounds like a winning combo, eh? After fighting this battle many times in various challenges, I have found out that this attack isn't used on a random target. It's always used on the last character who attacked Hojo, but I'm not sure how it works when nobody attacks. As long as he's got MP left, he can also use an attack called Absorb, which deals about 350 damage. He can also use Slow, and that's one of the reasons why we have to fight this battle on the higest battle speed. Slow doesn't affect you at all on the highest battle speed, but it's very dangerous on the lowest. We'll use S-mines again in this battle, but open the battle by throwing four Swift Bolts. As long as he's got MP left, he will always counter any magical attacks with Silence and since Silence costs 24 MP, we can take advantage of that to get rid of his 100 MP. Well, at least 96. He won't use Silence on a character that already has been silenced, so make sure Cait Sith throws two Swift Bolts. If he uses Slow, there's no need to throw a fourth Swift Bolt. Your main priority in this battle is to make sure your characters stay alive. Of course, your Hi-Potions won't last forever, so you also have to throw S-mines on every opportunity. Since Cait Sith is invulnerable to statuses, you really want him to get attacked by Combo, so do your best to make sure he is the last character who attacks. When Cait Sith is attacked by Combo, you can in most cases just give him a Hi-Potion, but give him an Elixir if his HP should fall below 550. With more than 1100 HP, he can survive a Combo even if the two most powerful attacks should go critical. That's not very likely to happen, though, but you can't take any risks. I have seen three attacks go critical once, but then the last attack missed. The same goes for Cloud. Keep his HP above 1100 at any time and there's a very small chance he'll die. When Cloud gets attacked and his HP is full, you can first let him use a Hi-Potion on himself during the attack. Then have the others give him a Hi-Potion and an Antidote in that order. Then, when he wakes up, he will use the Hi-Potion and get back to full health. That is, if he doesn't get attacked again before he wakes up. If that happens, you just give him a Hi-Potion and an Antidote again, but if it happens again after that, you're gonna have to give him an Elixir. Yes, you're free to use all your Elixirs and X-Potions in this battle, but make sure not to waste them. You can also use Megalixirs if your entire party should run low on HP, but again, make sure not to waste them. Yuffie is a completely different story, though. She's got only 900 HP, so you have to make sure her HP is full all the time. If she loses 650 or less HP when she gets attacked, you can do the same thing as you do with Cloud, but you have to use an Elixir if she loses any more HP than that. If Yuffie should get killed, you must have Cloud revive her and then let Cait Sith throw an S-mine. Now, Hojo will attack him with Combo and you can have Yuffie heal herself, let Cloud give her a Tranquilizer and finally, have Cait Sith heal himself. Hojo will most likely attack him again now. Do the same thing if Cloud should get killed, but as long as you keep his HP above 1100, that's not very likely to happen, unless you have very bad luck. Cait Sith getting killed = Game Over. Even after he runs out of MP, Hojo will try to use Absorb every third turn. Use this turn to heal anyone back to full HP unless they need less than 100 HP to reach their max HP. Just remember to have Cait Sith throw an S-mine as the last move. Also, don't forget that you can use Cait Sith's limit break. He can deal up to 2400 damage with his Dice. I would avoid using Cloud and Yuffie's limit breaks, as they deal crap damage. It's just not worth it. Just make sure not to use Dice when Hojo's got less than 2400 HP left or you might end up killing him too early. Even though Yuffie only has about 900 HP, the killing process really isn't too complicated. When Hojo has less than 2300 HP left, you can have Yuffie throw an S-mine at Cloud and Cait Sith throw one at Hojo, in that order. Cloud will die and Hojo will now attack Cait Sith. Then have Cait Sith throw an S-mine at himself and Yuffie throw one at Hojo and he will die. Pretty simple, eh? Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTiLUwZFE ############################################################################### And that concludes disc two. The end is near. This was also the last time you received EXP in this challenge, so that's one less thing to worry about. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.7 <> The Northern Crater ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Items: Megalixir x2 (Crashed Gelnika) Save Crystal (first path) Guard Source x3 (first path) Power Source x2 (first path) Elixir (first path) Mind Source x2 (first path) Magic Source (first path) Megalixir x2 (first path) Hero Drink (first path) Magic Source (left-up path) Remedy (left-up path) Hero Drink (left-up path) Vaccine (left-up path) Turbo Ether x2 (left-down path) Speed Source (left-down path) X-Potion x2 (left-down path) Vaccine (left-down path) Remedy (left-down path) Elixir (left-down path) Elixir (right path) Speed Source (right path) Megalixir x2 (right path) Luck Source (bottom) Megalixir (Yuffie) Elixir (Cait Sith) Mind Source (Red XIII) You have to do some more shopping before you can descend into the crater. Fly back to Costa del Sol and make sure you have 27 S-mines. If you have more than 10 Phoenix Downs, you can spend the rest of your money on Hi-Potions. Also, make sure to sell the Glow Lance and any other useless items. Then get into the submarine and find the Crashed Gelnika. It's near the Gold Saucer. There are a lot of items in here, but the only thing we want is two Megalixirs. After climbing down the ladder, enter the first room to the right (for Cloud) to find the first one. It's on the upper level, so there's no need to go down the stairs. Take note that the enemies here deal som serious damage, so make sure to heal between all random battles. Well, then enter the cargo room and open the first chest here. That's all. Then return to the surface and form a party of Cloud, Tifa and Cid. Tranquilizers is a must as usual. Save your game before you go back to the crater. Find your way down to the area where you meet up with the others. You don't have to pick up all the items on the second and third screen now, as you can do that on your way back up. Yes, we have to leave the crater again to do some more shopping, but before we can do that, we have to get some more money. When you get there, send everybody but Cloud, Tifa and Cid to the right. Then make sure to send Cloud, Tifa and Cid to the left-up path. The left-up path is the swamp area and this is where we're gonna get more money. Place the Save Crystal by the box with the Hero Drink on the second screen and start looking for the group of three Movers. This battle is worth a total of 90.003 Gil and we're gonna fight three of them. The chance for this battle to appear is only 1/8, but you will run into it sooner or later. ############################################################################### B70: Mover x3 HP: 3000 Dif: 2/10 Note: These enemies give away 0 EXP! Three S-mines are needed to take out on Mover and make sure to take out one at the time. Healing shouldn't be necessary if you enter the battle with close to full HP, but as any other enemies, these are also able to get critical hits. ############################################################################### Make sure to save after each battle, as you might get attacked from both sides by two Allemagnes. That's an instant Game Over. Thankfully, the chance for that battle to appear is only 1/16. After three battles, you can proceed to the bottom. Then take the only path you can take back up and continue all the way up to the surface. It's shopping time again and I'll simply make a list over all the items you need. You should know where to find these items by now. 99 S-mines 99 Swift Bolts 25 Fire Veils 99 Hi-Potions 99 Potions 50 Phoenix Downs 25 Tranquilizers (you most likely have that many left) 3 Shrivels (bought in Gongaga) Form a party of Cloud, Barret and Cid when you're done shopping and head back down. Make sure to take the right path this time, to get the rest of the items. Then head back to the save point. It's time to prepare for the final battles. First use a Tent to recover your HP and make sure everyone has Sadness. Then place Swift Bolts at the top of your items list, followed by Hi-Potions, S-mines, Phoenix Downs, Tranquilizers and Vaccines. Then save your game. Next up is... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.8 <> The Final Battles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, it's time to end this. Find your way down to the very bottom, where the showdown takes place and use Potions to heal back to full health after every random battle. Make sure to talk to the other characters to receive the items they picked up. You can use Hi-Potions if you should run out of Potions, but that never happened to me. Turn the battle speed all the way down before you enter the last area where the battle with Jenova-SYNTHESIS takes place. ############################################################################### B73: Jenova-SYNTHESIS, Left Arm, Right Arm HP: 60000, 10000, 8000 Dif: 4/10 in the beginning, 2/10 after you take out the left arm. When Jenova's HP falls below 15000, she will start her infamous countdown and I'm pretty sure you know what happens when the counter reaches zero. Yes, she casts Ultima on the party. Since there's no way to survive this spell, we have to make sure she doesn't have enough MP to cast it when the time comes. When the left arm (aka Jenova-SYNTHESISC) is dead, she will use Cure3 every 5th turn and that's what we're gonna make her do to spend all her MP. This battle is only tough in the beginning, before you take out the left arm. Her slap attack deals 600 damage through Sadness, but it also has the ability to inflict Fury. Absorb deals 900 damage through Sadness and this attack has the ability to inflict Sadness. And best of all, she will cast Bio2 on the party after five turns. 550 damage through Sadness and poison status. Hurray! Thankfully, we have two Vaccines and these will make Bio2 deal zero damage and she won't be able to remove your Sadness status with her slap attack. Open the battle by giving Vaccines to Cloud and Barret and heal the character who gets attacked. Then start throwing S-mines at the left arm. When Cloud and Barret get slapped, you can just give them a Hi-Potion, but you have to use two Hi-Potions if they get attacked by Absorb. The same goes for Cait Sith if he's got Sadness. If he gets slapped and loses Sadness, you can give him a Hi-Potion and see what happens next. If Jenova uses Absorb on him and he gets Sadness again now, you can give him an X-Potion and just keep fighting. Otherwise, just give him a Tranquilizer. Cloud and Barret will take 0 damage from Bio2, but Cait Sith will lose 550 HP and he might get poisoned. It doesn't matter if he should get poisoned, as the left arm soon will be dead anyway. You need eight S-mines to take it out, but you can use limit breaks as well. When the left arm dies, you can just wait until Cure3 has been used 7 times. Logically enough, there's no point in attacking her. She will attack twice between each Cure3, but don't bother healing. Instead, just let her kill the characters and then revive them. When she casts Cure3 for the 7th time, you can start throwing Swift Bolts until you kill the right arm. She will use Cure3 one more time, but don't worry, that's part of the plan. She must use it 8 times before she no longer has enough MP to cast Ultima. Still just revive when somebody gets killed. You have to save the Hi-Potions for Bizarro Sephiroth. After the right arm is dead, the battle gets very easy. She will revive both arms now and then, but if you just keep throwing Swift Bolts, you will always kill the right arm before it gets to attack. That means you only have to deal with a Slap attack every now and then. Very simple. Stop throwing Swift Bolts when the countdown starts, something that should happen after about 60 Swift Bolts. Now you can just watch the counter count down and laugh at Jenova when she fails to cast Ultima. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zbN8BM2Gks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8GvvKtfk4E ############################################################################### We'll use the same party for the next battles. Make sure to heal everybody back to full health, but Sadness isn't necessary and we'll keep the battle speed at the lowest. Also, place S-mines at the top of your item list, followed by Swift Bolts, Hi-Potions, Phoenix Downs, Tranquilizers, X-Potions, Elixirs, Fire Veils, Megalixirs and Shrivels. ############################################################################### B74: Bizarro Sephiroth, Core, Right Arm, Left Arm, Head HP: 40000, 10000, 4000, 4000, 2000 Dif: 6/10 On the first turn, throw the Dragon Fang and then throw two S-mines at the left arm (aka Bizarro Sephiroth E). Sephiroth will attack with his arm, but there's no need to heal. Next, he kills one of the characters with Bolt3. Revive the fallen and throw another S-mine at the left arm. This will kill the left arm. Sephiroth will now attack with his arm again. If he attacks the character you just revived, this character will die. Revive the fallen and throw a Fire Veil if that happens. If no one dies, throw two Fire Veils and use an Elixir on the character who got killed by Bolt3. If this character got killed again on the next turn, give him an Elixir as soon as possible. No matter what happened, just keep throwing Fire Veils until you kill the right arm. When it's dead, you can give a Tranquilizer to the character who got killed. If this character gets attacked before you can give him a Tranquilizer, just heal him with an Elixir or an X-Potion. Heal the others with Hi-Potions when they get attacked. Once the right arm is dead, you can start throwing S-mines at the Core. If you have any limit breaks now, you can use them on the Core as long as you take advantage of the limit break system. If someone should eat a critical hit and get killed when the Core is still alive, you can revive this character and have him use an Elixir on himself. Repeat the process if it should happen again. Just be aware that if you spend too much time killing the Core, he might revive the arms again or use Stigma, an attack that will destroy your party. It's not very likely to happen, though. If he should revive the arms, you can try killing them again, but he will use level 3 magic every turn as long as they are alive. If he uses Bolt3, he will then use Quake3 on the next turn and then Stigma if the head is alive. Make sure to kill the head in time to prevent that from happening. When the Core is dead, the rest of the battle is easy. Sephiroth can no longer use Stigma or any level 3 magic spells. If anyone doesn't have Sadness now, you can start by giving Tranquilizers to these characters. Then start throwing Swift Bolts. You may throw S-mines as well, as long as you make sure to save 65 for the last battle. Now, you can just use a Hi-Potion whenever someone is attacked, unless they should lose more than 1000 HP. Then use two Hi-Potions. Use Elixirs if someone should eat a critical. Aurora Fence will remove Sadness, so you have to spend the next turn giving Tranquilizers to the party when (or if) this attack is used. It's only used every 8th turn if the head is dead. His last attack, Heartless Angel, reduces the party's HP to 1 and this attack is also used every 8th turn (three turns after Aurora Fence), but the head must be alive. As long as you throw Swift Bolts all the time, you probably won't see this attack, but use a Megalixir to recover from it if he should use it. Start throwing Fire Veils when you run out of Swift Bolts. You will most likely kill him after throwing about 10 Fire Veils. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpogD8dWWxs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQd4k9mnoR8 ############################################################################### B75: Safer-Sephiroth HP: 80000 Dif: 5/10 (but only because the battle is so long) What makes Safer-Sephiroth so easy is his pattern of attacks. You will always know what's next, so there's no need to live in fear for a certain attack. When you learn this pattern by heart and get full control over the battle, it gets really, really easy. This is his pattern: 1. Wall 2. Shadow Flare 3. Wing (regular physical attack) 4. Ascend to back row 5. Pale Horse 6. Super Nova 7. Break (Heartless Angel when his HP is below 20.000) 8. Decend to front row 9. DeSpell 10. Deen 11. Wing 12. Ascend to back row 13. Pale Horse 14. Super Nova 15. Break 16. Decend to front row 17. Back to start Shadow Flare, Wing, Pale Horse and Break are all single target attacks that will kill the target. In other words, nothing to worry about. Wing is always used on the character with the highest current HP. Super Nova deals 93,75% of a character's current HP, which means it's completely harmless. Well, except for the statuses, but we'll get back to that later. Heartless Angel still reduces the party's HP to 1, so this attack is also completely harmless. The only attack to worry about here is Deen, which deals up to 1100 damage to the party through Sadness. The only time you have to heal in the battle is before this attack. That's all you need to know about the attacks. Sephiroth starts the battle by casting Wall on himself, but you must spend this turn using Shrivels on the characters, to turn them into midgets. That's right, we're gonna fight this battle as midgets. I'll tell you why later. Sephiroth will then use Shadow Flare and Wing, but these attacks are easy to handle. Just revive the fallen and have the other character throw an S-mine. After Wing, he spends the next turn ascending to back row, so just have everyone throw S-mines now, but make sure the characters are ready to act when Pale Horse is used. Then revive the fallen and have the other character throw an S-mine, but don't do anything more before Super Nova. Just make sure one of the characters opens the item menu before the attack. That's right. I'll tell you why soon. Super Nova is the reason why we're fighting this battle as midgets. This attack can inflict Confusion to one or more character and you know what a confused character is capable of doing. You learned that against Hellectic Hojo. Watching the characters destroy eachothers with S-mines is not very fun. The good thing about midgets is that they only deal 1 damage with their attacks, so if a character should get confused and start attacking other characters, they will only lose 1 HP. That's why we're fighting this battle as midgets. There's a very small chance all the characters will get confused, though. I have never seen it happen. The reason why I told you to open the item menu before the attacks is because you can find out what statuses the characters will get before the attack is over. Select a Remedy and the name of the statuses will show up. You won't know until the attack is almost over though, but that's more than good enough. If nobody gets confused, you can just keep fighting. Have everyone throw S-mines as soon as they get their turns and these will be thrown before Break. If one character gets confused, there's really nothing to worry about. Even if a character who didn't get confused should get killed by Break, you still have another character who isn't confused to revive him. If the confused character doesn't attack himself now, you can have the first character to get his turn again do it. You can do the same thing if two characters get confused and one of the confused characters gets killed. If everybody get confused or if two characters get confused and the only one who didn't get confused gets killed by Break, there's nothing you can do but to wait until one of the remaining characters attacks a party memeber. When that happens, you must revive the fallen immediately and then let the first character who gets his turn again attack the last character if he's still confused. No matter what happens, you must always make sure to use a Megalixir BEFORE Sephiroth uses De-Spell. Use the Megalixir as soon as possible and spend the rest of the turns you get before DeSpell throwing S-mines. After every second Super Nova, when Wall and Shadow flare is coming up, you can just throw S-mines on every opportunity. When you see the name "DeSpell" appear on the screen, you must have all the characters give Tranquilizers to themselves. Without Sadness, they can't survive Deen, so that's kinda very important. It's no big deal if you only manage to give Tranquilizers to two characters, as you simply have to revive the fallen after Denn, but the battle will last a little longer. When Sephiroth's HP falls below 20000 and he starts using Heartless Angel instead of Break, it just gets easier, as you won't have to deal with Break ever again. Well, that's it. Now you know how to handle all the different situations in this battle, so now you can just keep fighting until you finally beat him. Depending on the damage, you need 64 or 65 S-mines to kill him and you will most likely kill him before the 8th Super Nova. I managed to beat him before the 5th Super Nova this time, but I was very lucky with Confusion, as only two characters got confused in total. That's two out of 12. Not bad. It's a very long battle, but it's also very easy. Way too easy for a final boss. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7A0BfFmXgE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDUfDE9xZM0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH-sQhcxm4A ############################################################################### That's it. If you managed to complete the challenge, I can only say congrats on your accomplishment. Since LLNMIENA is one of the toughest challenges, you can really call yourself a pro now. However, if you think this was too easy, you can try completing the LLNIIENACMO Challenge without using the FAQ. That's probably the toughest challenge out there... Anyway, the challenge is over, so let's go home proud. =============================================================================== 5 - Additional Info =============================================================================== The final chapter of this guide, with challenge suggestions, info on how to contact me, version history, credits and some final words. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1 <> Challenge Suggestions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is an idea I got from KADFC. He's got a list with all the challenges he's beaten in his FAQs, but I thought I'd do something more out of it and add some info about the challenges. In other words, turn it into a challenge suggestions section. If you want to do a challenge, you can read through all the challenge descriptions and fine the challenge that suits you the best. When a challenge has LL in its title, as most of the ones below have, it means that the level limit is 28. This rule is explained in the intro, but simply put it means that you cannot exceed level 28 at any point in the game. Also, all the LL challenges have the unwritten "Level 1 Limit Breaks Only" rule. It's not a part of the title, but you're not allowed to learn any other limit breaks than the level 1 ones. And finally, don't forget that all the LL challenges require a battle plan. I explained this in the intro as well. LL - Low Level ################ This is the first challenge I did and it was more than challenging enough back then. There's no level limit in this challenge; the only rule is that you must escape all the random battles you get into. You can use whatever party you want and you don't have to kill off any charaters before the end of the battle. By using the same party all the time, you will end up with a level 39 party before the last boss. My highest level when I first did this challenge was 36, but I didn't use any characters with a higher level than 34. I defeated Sephiroth with a level 34-33-33 party of Cloud, Barret and Cid, if I remember correctly. Difficulty: 1/10 Toughest bosses: Demon's Gate, Carry Armor, Turks in Midgar (optional) NM - No Materia ################# The only rule in this challenge is that you cannot use Materia. You may level up as much as you want and use anything else the game has to offer. Of course, the difficulty depends on how much you level up. This was the second challenge I did, after two Low Level Games and my highest level was 50. Still, it was pretty easy and I didn't have any serious trouble with any bosses. I wouldn't really call this a challenge if you don't keep your levels as low as possible. Difficulty: Depends on your level, but 1/10 above level 40. Toughest bosses: Carry Armor, Turks in Midgar LL - Lowest Level ################### Same rules as above, except for the level limit. You're not allowed to have anyone exceed level 28 at any point in the game. Because of that, you must always kill off two character before the end of battles and that means you need a battle plan. You may use whatever the game has to offer in this challenge, but getting KotR is too cheap. Since you have more than enough EXP to "spend" before the characters reach level 29, you can learn several Enemy Skills, like Magic Hammer, Big Guard and White Wind to make it easier. Difficulty: 2/10 Toughest bosses: Demon's Gate, Turks in Midgar LE - Lowest EXP ################# Pretty much the same challenge as Lowest Level, but as the title says, you must reach the end of the game with the lowest amount of EXP possible. Because of that, you can no longer learn Enemy Skills and that will make some battles A LOT tougher. Carry Armor is the best example, as you can't drain his MP to prevent Lapis Laser and you can't use Big Guard to take less damage. Other than that, the challenge isn't very much different from a regular Lowest Level Game. By the time I did this challenge, I had already done some of the toughest ones and several Speed Runs, so I managed to reach the bottom of the crater in less than 12 hours. 11:59, to be exact. Difficulty: 3/10 Toughest bosses: Carry Armor LLNM - Low Level No Materia ############################# So, after completing the too easy No Materia challenge, I decided to combine it with LL to at least make it challenging. You can no longer use Materia, but that doesn't mean it gets very much tougher. You simply have to make up for the lack of Materia by using items and items can be very powerful when you know how to use them. Also, you can still equip new weapons, armor and accessories to make the magic using bosses harmless. This is a very good challenge for the more advanced player. If you think the regular LL or NM were too easy, you should try this one. I have also written a FAQ about this challenge. Difficulty: 4/10 Toughest bosses: Carry Armor LLNMIENA - Low Level No Materia Initial Equipment No Accessories ################################################################## Oh yeah. Now we're talking. You can no longer equip armor and accessories to make the magic using bosses harmless and that's the major difference between LLNM and this one. The magic using bosses are namley the toughest bosses in this challenge and they will make you want to pull your hair out. You will also notice the lack of Ribbons in battles with enemies who uses statuses. Hojo is the best example of this and his final form, Lifeform Hojo NA is also one of the toughest bosses in this challenge. This is, in my opinion, the best FFVII challenge there is, as it depends mostly on skills, knowledge and strategy and not luck. Many challenges require a lot of luck and that takes away much of the fun. This is one of the toughest challenges out there, so it's recommended for experts only. I also wrote a FAQ about this challenge once. Check it out! :p Toughest bosses: Schizo, Jenova-DEATH, Lifeform Hojo NA, Bizarro Sephiroth Difficulty: 8/10 LLNIIENA - Low Level No Items Initial Equipment No Accessories ################################################################ The same rules as LLNMIENA, except that No Materia has been replaced with No Items. Using Materia instead of items makes the magic using bosses much easier than in LLNMIENA, as you can both use Magic Hammer to reduce their MP and you can use Elemental Materia to reduce the damage from their attacks. The same goes for the status using enemies, as you can use Added Effect to protect against statuses. However, you no longer have access to powerful items, so you must depend on materia and limit breaks to deal good damage. Magic Hammer will help maintaining your MP in many battles, but you will really notice the lack of items against bosses with low MP. Demon's Gate and Hojo are the best examples of this. Compared to LLNMIENA, this challenges is tougher in the beginning, but it gets too easy after a while. Also, some of the battles require a lot of luck (like Lifeform Hojo NA) and that ruins some of the fun. It's still a good challenge though, with some very tough battles, but it's too easy if you have already done LLNMIENA, like I had. Thundaka has written a great FAQ about this challenge. Check it out! Toughest bosses: Demon's Gate, Lifeform Hojo NA Difficulty: 6/10 (but 10/10 for Lifeform Hojo NA) LLNIIENACMO - LLNIIENA + Command Materia Only ############################################### Same rules as LLNIIENA, but now you can only use Command Materia. Should make the challenge tougher, right? Oh yes. This isn't a challenge you can just take on and then see what happens when you reach a certain points. This challenge requires careful planning from beginning to end and you can easily get stuck if you do one single mistake. This challenge doesn't have the most difficult boss battles, but because of all the preparations you have to do, it rank as one of the toughest challenges out there. This is also a unique challenge, as the level limit is 29 and not 28 and you're allowed to learn more limit breaks than the level 1 ones. The reason why the level limit is 29 is simply because it's impossible to beat this challenge on level 28. In order to beat certain bosses, you must learn Cloud and Aerith's level 3 limit breaks and there's no way you can do that without leveling up to 29. This challenge is really for experts only and especially if you aren't going to follow Thundaka's FAQ. Yes, he wrote a great FAQ about this challenge too. Check it out! Toughest bosses: Motor Ball, Rapps, Hojo, Safer-Sephiroth Difficulty: 9/10 LLNMNI - Low Level No Materia No Items ######################################## This is the most recent challenge I did and most likely also the last FFVII challenge I'll ever do. Just like LLNIIENACMO, this challenge requires careful planning from the very beginning, or you might get stuck on a boss. As in LLNIIENACMO, that careful planning includes learning Meteorain, Aerith's level 3 limits, but this time you also have to learn Ungarmax in order to destroy Dyne. Other than that, this challenge is pretty similar to LLNIIENACMO, but some battles are easier because you can use equipment and some battles are harder because you don't have the Enemy Skills you relied on in LLNIIENACMO. As you proceed, you get more and more powerful weapons (and even ultimate weapons) and that makes a huge difference in battles that were very tough in LLNIIENACMO. Espcially versus Proud Clod and Lifeform Hojo, where you could only deal a few hundred damage at the time. However, there is one HUGE obstacle in this battle: Carry Armor. At first, he was thought to be easy, but then I learned that Blood Fand and Dragon couldn't drain his MP. With no way to survive Lapis Laser and no way to drain his MP, he was labelled impossible and I put the challenge on hold. Then, five months later, I came up with a genius strategy. It required many hours of preparations and a lot of luck, but I managed to defeat him eventually and I could proceed with the challenge. However, there is another however. Safer-Sephiroth is most liekly impossible in this challenge. The main reason is that you cannot change equipment between Bizarro and Safer. Even getting to Bizarro is a feat. I managed to defeat Jenova once, but then I lost to Bizarro and I haven't touched the challenge since then. lolo26 has an idea that might work, but I'm not testing it until I have an emulator, so that I can use save-states. Needless to say, this one is for experts only. Toughest bosses: Carry Armor, Hellectic Hojo, Jenova-SYNTHESIS Difficulty: 8/10 (but 15/10 for Carry Armor) Speed Run ########### A Speed Run is very different from all other challenges, as it doesn't really have any rules. You can do whatever you want in order to beat the game as fast as possible. You should beat it in less than 12 hours for it to be considered a Speed Run, though, but it doesn't really matter. It's up to you to decide how fast you want to beat the game and the challenge is only as difficult as you want it to be. This is, in my and lolo26's opinions, the best challenge ever, as everyone can do it, no matter how good you are. You're allowed to save in a regular Speed Run and play parts of the game over and over again until you're satisfied with the result. It is recommended to have done a regular Low Level Game before you start a Speed Run, though, as you have to escape all random encounters in order to save time. My current record is 8:57:59 after beating the final Sephiroth, but that record was set during a test run. I have written a Speed Run FAQ. Check it out if you want to do a Speed Run. Toughest bosses: Depends. Difficulty: Depends. HDINS - Half Day In No Saves ############################## This is not just a Speed Run. You have to beat the game in less than 12 hours, but you're not allowed to save, and you can't take breaks. From the moment you start a new game, you have exactly 12 hours to beat Safer-Sephiroth. And that's in real time and not on the game clock. You must start a stopwatch the exact moment you select "new game" and you're not allowed to stop it whatsoever. Anything you do in the meantime, like eating and bathroom visits will be included in the final time. It's a very good challenge, but you should at least have beaten the game regularly in less than 10 hours before you take it on. You need some luck though, as some bosses can destroy you, no matter what your leveles are. An attack from both sides can also be very fatal. In other words, it's a bit risky, and you might end up wasting 10-11 hours. Toughest bosses: Carry Armor can be a threat with Lapis Laser and Arm Grab. Difficulty: Let's just say it's a very tough challenge. These are the challenges I have beaten, but there are many more challenges out there. In addition to LL challenges, there are many different Single Character challenges, but I'm not a huge fan of these. I like to use the entire party in my challenges, so that's why most of the challenges I've done are LL ones. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2 <> Contacting Me ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you need to contact me, you can send an email to garlandg@online.no. You can ask me anything regarding challenges or FFVII in general, but don't bother asking me simple questions that can easily be found in the FAQs. Also let me know if you find typos, grammar errors or bad language that must be corrected. English is still my second language after all. Just be aware that I'm a busy (read: lazy) man and it might take a while before I reply. Any tips or suggestions for the guide is appreciated, but please, professionals only. Don't send me a mail unless you know what you're talking about. And don't bother asking me how the hell it's possible to beat the game under these restrictions. It's possible and several people have done it. Do you honestly think I've spent hundrets of hours writing a joke FAQ? If you can't understand how it's possible, I suggest that you start a new game, follow the FAQ and beat the challenge yourself. You might end up having fun. I highly recommend it if you think FFVII is too easy. You can find me on the FFVII message board as well. I'm not very active, but as long as I'm doing the perfect speed run, you can find me in the Speed Run Discussions Topic. Due to lack in activity, I decided to stop making the General Challenge Discussions Topics. If you want to do this challenge, you can post a topic about it and I'll most likely drop by. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.3 <> Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Simply a list over current and earlier versions of the guide. The current version is always on top. Version 1.5 -> June 21st, 2007 (205 kB) --------------------------------------- Added links to videos of all the battles and wrote an easier strategy for Bizarro Sephiroth. If you have any questions about the videos, you can either send me an email or ask on Youtube. Version 1.4 -> April 12th, 2007 (204kB) --------------------------------------- Did some small changes and fixed a few typos again. Version 1.3 -> November 27th, 2006 (203 kB) ------------------------------------------- Fixed a few minor mistakes and added LLNMNI to Challenge Suggestions. Version 1.2 -> May 18th, 2006 (201 kB) -------------------------------------- I did some small changes and fixed some minor mistakes and typos again. The most important change this time is Thundaka's suggestion to use Echo Screens in the Jenova-DEATH battle. Version 1.1 -> March 10th, 2006 (200 kB) ---------------------------------------- I did some small changes and fixed some typos. The most important change is the new Jenova-SYNTHESIS strategy. Thundaka suggested that you should use the last Vaccines in this battle and that made it much easier. I also added the option to use the Mythril trick instead of Cactuar hunting, something I completely forgot about the last time. Version 1.0 -> February 28th, 2006 (190 kB) ------------------------------------------- I finally completed the FAQ on the day after my 22nd birthday. I hoped I could complete it on my birthday, but there wasn't enough time. Ah well, at least I kept my promise, that I would complete it within the end of February. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.4 <> Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Giving credits to whoever helped out is a golden rule here on GameFAQs and this is the section where that will be done. I would like to thank the following: Terence: When I first did this challenge back in August 2004, he gave me some info about Materia Keeper and Jenova-SYNTHESIS that allowed me to make A LOT easier strategies than the ones I had in mind. Later, I have used the info in his Enemy Mechanics FAQ to create easier strategies for several other bosses. Thundaka: For suggestng that you should use the last Vaccines in the battle with Jenova-SYNTHESIS; for pointing out that Small, not Frog, makes the characters deal one damage; for suggesting to use Echo Screens in the battle with Jenova-DEATH; and a few minor suggestions. He was also the guy who discovered the Mythril trick. Apathetic Aardvark: Once again, I borrowed the explanation on how to get all the items on floor 63 from his FAQ/Walkthrough. As I've said before, I hate explaning that part. lolo26, Anima Zero, Necrosis, essentialism, TsukiNoNeko and the rest of the challenge community: For support, fun and good times on the message board. Especially during challenges. Reading challenge updates is always fun. Too bad my days of playing FFVII challenges soon will be over. FeuFeu: For making the Battle Plan Maker. Yes, this guy actually made a program with Java that you can use to create battle plans. Too bad he didn't make it earlier, as I won't be making many more battles plans :p akimoto_naoki: For telling me how the "Recommended" ATB setup works. Blitz_Ace470: For pointing out a few mistakes and typos. CJayC and GameFAQs: CJayC created GameFAQs, the best place to go when you're stuck in a game, needs tips or strategies or just want to discuss a game with people from all around the world. This FAQ would most likely not exist if CjayC hadn't created GameFAQs. Of course, GameFAQs wouldn't exist without the FAQ contributors either, so thanks to everybody who put their time and effort into making all the FAQs. Squaresoft: For creating many of my favorite games. Keep up the good work! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.5 <> Final Words ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, that's it. The FAQ is finally completed. It certainly took a while to complete this FAQ. I actually started working on it after I first completed the challenge back in August 2004, but then I just forgot about it until I resumed working on it more than a year later. I was originally planning to complete it within the end of 2005, but other things got in the way again and I had to postpone the "release". Then, in the beginning of February, I made a promise that I would complete it within the end of the month and here we are today. I don't know how many FAQs I've written now, but I think I'm getting close to 10. At least if I count all the times I've rewritten my older FAQs. All I know for sure is that this is the third one here on GameFAQs. Anyway, I hope this FAQ will motivate more people to play this great challenge and I hope you will find it helpful if you do . Of course, the best thing is to play independent from guides and figure out the strategies for yourself, but I did write this FAQ after all, so don't hesitate using it. And that, as they say, is that! Cheers...! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (c) Audun Arnseth (GarlandG), 2004 - 2007 ===============================================================================