Nibelheim & Shinra Mansion

Final Fantasy VII Guide - Walkthrough

Nibelheim & Shinra Mansion

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|| Treasure: | Luck Source, Elixir, Turbo Ether, Platinum Fist, 1 Gil,        ||
||           | Luck Source, Silver M-phone, Twin Viper, Enemy Launcher,       ||
||           | Magic Source,  Destruct Materia, Odin Materia, Cosmo Memory    ||
||           | (Boss Reward).                                                 ||
||-----------|                                                                ||
|| Key Items:| Key to the Basement.                                           ||
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(Perfect Game Note 14:)
Now is the first (and probably best) time to steal Vagyrisk Claws from Bagrisks.  It's an elusive item, as is the creature sometimes. Let's start with the Bagrisks. They can be found on the DIRT area on the world map, in the Cosmo Area, BUT not anywhere in the canyon dirt (so anywhere with an amber/orange glow is excluded). Where can one find such a dirt area? From Cosmo Canyon, head west all the way until you find a small part that's far away enough to qualify. These little green-skinned, yellow eyed reptiles are the only creatures you can steal a Vagyrisk Claw from. Stealing it isn't easy though. As a matter of fact, your chances will never be any higher than 4.23% chance of stealing a Vagyrisk Claw, and this is at character level 11. You'll steal Softs most of the time. The mechanics behind all of this can be found in the Enemy Mechanics FAQ, written by Terence. Also note that L77 is the last level you can steal Vagyrisk Claws at.  L78 won't allow it, and for those planning the future ahead, the Steal Glove will also nullify your chances. Steal with your lowest leveled character, and hope for the best.

Your goal is to steal, well, 99 of them. Or just 1, depending on if you're going to clone the item later. Personally, I just go with a few. I know I've tried then, and it gives me a satisfied feeling. ;) For the freaks under us, I wish you luck!

Head north to the grassy areas, and cross the river until you reach Nibelheim..  Clouds hometown. And.. what the..? Something's wrong, but you're not about to find out yet. Let's go do some exploring.

Enter the first house on the left. This is the Inn (cost: 100 gil). A man in a black cape will give you a Luck Source. He can be found in the back..also the guy behind the counter tells a story inconsistent with Clouds.. what's going on?

Head into the second house, next to the Inn. The black caped figure near the fireplace will give you an Elixir. Go back outside. Going clockwise, head to Cloud's House for a little more story. In Tifa's House, the black caped figure in the back will give you a Turbo Ether. Upstairs is also one near the beds that has a Platinum Fist. You can play on the Piano, and if you remember the tune from the flashback correctly, try and play it.

Here's how it goes: X, Square, Triangle, R1 Triangle, R1 Square, X, Square, Triangle, R1 X, O, X, Square, X and press start to end.

If you do this 3 times you will find Tifa's secret savings.. 1 gil.. w00t! This can be important for later though. The last house has two black caped kids upstairs, and one of them gives you a Luck Source.

Optional {OPT-5}:
Now go inside the Shinra Mansion. Give someone a Peace Ring to protect from Confusion. It can really get you killed, and Dorky Faces use it often. You can learn the enemy skill ???? from Jersey's (the floating scales), but they only use it if you never attack them (due to a bug). This skill does damage according to how much HP you have left, and what your max HP is. The formula is simple:

Max HP - Current HP = Damage. If your max HP is 1000, and you've got 1 HP left, it does 999 damage. A useful skill if you use it well. The Jersey's are rather rare though, so good luck encountering them.

There's alot to do in the Shinra Mansion. A sub-quest for getting Vincent, an optional character, and a sub-quest for getting the Odin Summon and Red XIII's final limit break Cosmo Memory, and treasure. I'll start with regular treasure.  Inside, head in the room on the right, and in this next screen, grab the Silver M-phone. Go back, head through the door north, and grab the Twin Viper from a chest in the upper right part. Head back again, and go upstairs. To the left is a chest with an Enemy Launcher, and a Safe that you can't open just yet. To the right is a chest with a Magic Source, and you can go down through the secret entrance in the wall. Head down and walk up to the library. Ignore the door you can't open.. yet. Meet Sephiroth, and after the scene make sure to grab his fancy gift, the Destruct Materia.

Now it's time to do the optional things, that is, if you want to. I advise you to do so, since the rewards are pretty big. The small room near the entrance holds a notebook which describes hints for the numbers of the safe. If you want to figure this out on your own, don't look at the following section. Otherwise, try figuring it out on your own with these hints. If you're really lazy, you could also skip ahead to the combination...

Hint 1 leads to the back of the lid, of the chest where you found the Enemy Launcher in, nearby the safe. It says: (1) 'Right 36'.
Hint 2 leads to the floor near the Piano. The Piano can be found when you go through the door north from the entrance, and then it's in the room on the left.  It says: (2) 'Left 10'.
Hint 3 leads upstairs, to the right part. It tells you to take several steps but instead, just look around the entrance of the room with the chest that held the Magic Source, tapping the circle button. You should find the next clue. It reads: (3) 'Right 59'.
Hint 4 is actually not a visible option, but you can select it, and it just says the hint right away: (4) 'Right 97'.

Now you have the combination of the safe:
(1)Right 36, (2)Left 10, (3)Right 59, (4)Right 97.

Now is a good time to save your game, and heal up. When you're ready, go to the safe and unlock it. You only have 20 seconds to do this, so you've got to be fast. Also, you CANNOT go past ANY of these numbers at any time when you try, or your attempt will fail. It might take a few tries.. but when you get it right, the safe opens and it's time for ..a Boss Fight!

When opening the safe, make sure you don't go past any numbers or the combination won't work. As for Lost Number, the boss that pops out of the safe, he's a tough nut to crack. Use your most powerful enemy skills, take advantage of Big Guard immediately (try to keep it up during the fight), pummel it with Limit Breaks and keep your party healed (with White Wind or Cure 2).

.------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|Name: Lost Number (Level: 35)             |Nullifies: Gravity                 |
|HP: 7000                                  |-----------------------------------|
|MP: 300                                   |Status Effect Weaknesses:          |
|Exp: 2000                                 |Poison, Stop, Slow, Paralyzed,     |
|AP: 80                                    |Darkness                           |
|Gil: 2000                                 |                                   |
|Drops: Cosmo Memory(100%)                 |                                   |
|Steal: ---                                '-----------------------------------|
|Attacks: 1st Form: Punch [1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 341 Base Damage]; Bolt2 [1 Enemy,|
|Mag Atk, Cost=22MP, Lightning Element, 525 Base Damage];                      |
|                                                                              |
|2nd Form: Tentacle [1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 852.5 Base Damage]; Aspil [1 Enemy, Mag|
|Atk, Cost=1MP, 40.5 Base Damage/Healing]; Bolt [1 Enemy, Mag Atk, Lightning   |
|Element, 270 Base Damage]; Bolt2 [1 Enemy, Mag Atk, Cost=22MP, Lightning      |
|Element, 675 Base Damage]; Quake [1 Enemy, Mag Atk, Cost=6MP, Earth Element,  |
|371.25 Base Damage]; Quake2 [1 Enemy, Mag Atk, Cost=28MP, 810 Base Damage];   |
|Bio [1 Enemy, Mag Atk, 337.5 Base Damage, Can inflict Poison]; Bio2 [1 Enemy, |
|Mag Atk, 708.75 Base Damage, Can inflict Poison];                             |
|                                                                              |
|3rd Form: Punch [1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 905 Base Damage]; Lost Blow [1 Enemy, Phys|
|Atk, 2828.125 Base Damage]                                                    |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Strategy: This is by FAR the strongest boss you've encountered so far, so be  |
|warned. Lost Number will change after losing half (3500) of his HP, and he'll |
|either change in his Magical (red) form, or in his Physical (purple) form.    |
|This depends on what the last attack was that hit him, bringing him down past |
|half his HP. If this attack is magical, the Magical form will stay, and if    |
|it's a physical, the physical form will stay. I highly suggest you try to get |
|the Magical form, because the physical one REALLY packs a punch. His Lost Blow|
|can do as much as 2800 damage, and his Punch does roughly 900 damage, which is|
|used twice in a row on occasion. Start off with Big Guard right away, and     |
|poison Lost Number. If you have a Spider Web item, use it to slow him, it'll  |
|help. If you already have Slow on your Time Materia (L2), then that's even    |
|better. Now keep pounding away with enemy skills and summons, and if you can  |
|somehow paralyze him with Cloud's Limit Cross-slash, or Aeris' Seal Evil, or  |
|cause Stop with Choco-Mog, it'll help alot. He might not change when he's     |
|frozen during the damage. Beta and Aqualung do decent damage. When you get    |
|the red side, keep Big Guard up, and use any Limit Breaks or still strong     |
|enemy skills. Use White Wind for quick healing, and you should be able to pull|
|this off.                                                                     |
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------'

He drops Cosmo Memory, Red XIII's ultimate Level 4 Limit Break.. which you probably cannot learn yet since you need all his other limits first. Out of the Safe also pops the Odin Materia, and the Key Item 'Key to the Basement' is lying inside the safe.

If you go down to the basement you can unlock the door there. Talk to Vincent in the coffin and tell him about Sephiroth. Ask him who he is after that, and when you leave he'll be curious enough to join you.. for better.. or for worse.
Note: Vincent uses guns, so it's best to always have him in the back row, reducing the damage he takes from physical attacks.