The Reactor #1 raid

Final Fantasy VII Guide - Walkthrough

The Reactor #1 raid

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|| Treasure:| Potion(x2), Phoenix Down, Potion, Restore Materia,              ||
||          | Assault Gun(Boss Reward), Potion.                               ||
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This video shows you around the first Reactor, including the first few battles and the Guard Schorpion, the very first boss

After the intro movie, you can control our spikey main character. Search the body of the first guard twice to find two Potions. I assume you know the controls, which can also be found in the booklet. First-timers would do well to press the select button, which will place cursors all over the screen. It will tell you which way to go, and where you are. Exits are marked with red triangles. If you are a first-timer, I suggest you read section {0} that covers the controls and some basic hints.

Run forward and you'll come across two guards that you'll have to fight. Using your regular attack will easily do them in. Head to the next screen, and talk to your teammates to the north. You'll get to rename Cloud, the main character (if you want to). You can never undo this, so choose wisely or stick with his default name. You'll also get to name Barret.

After the dialog, head north to follow your team members. From this moment onward you can get into random encounters. Head into the reactor and talk to Barret, who will become a party member.

Head into the Menu and select 'Order'. You'll want to select Barret twice, which will put him in the back row. Since Barret has a gun-arm, he'll be able to hit for the same damage, but only receive half the damage from physical attacks.

Talk to Biggs and Jessie, who'll eagerly open the doors for you. Head to the southern room to find a Phoenix Down. Talk to Jessie once more, go inside the elevator and press the button. After some dialog, exit the elevator, follow Jessie downstairs and go through the door. Walk to Jessie for a tutorial on how to climb ladders (which are marked with green triangles, if you used the SELECT button before). The blue potion lying around is.. well, a Potion. Climb down the second ladder, walk over some pipes, and find your way to the final ladder.

I suggest saving your game at the Save Point, which looks like a rotating quotation mark. Generally, Save Points appear before bosses or other moments when 'something' is going to happen. Head down to the next screen, grab the green marble now formally known as Restore Materia, and fiddle with the valve.  It's time for your first boss fight.

.------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|Name: Guard Scorpion (Level: 12)          |Weakness: Lightning                |
|HP: 800                                   |Nullifies: Poison, Gravity         |
|Exp: 100                                  |-----------------------------------|
|AP: 10                                    |Status Effects Weaknesses:         |
|Gil: 100                                  |Slow, Stop                         |
|Drops: Assault Gun(100%)                  '-----------------------------------|
|Attacks: Search Scope    [1 Enemy, Selects target for next attack]            |
|         Rifle           [1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 41 Base Damage]                  |
|         Scorpion's Tail [1 Enemy, Phys Atk, 71.75 Base Damage]               |
|         Tail Laser      [All Enemies, Phys Atk, 123 Base Damage]             |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Strategy: Have Cloud use Bolt all the time, while Barret keeps on using       |
|regular physical attacks and healing Potions whenever their HP drops below    |
|100. Use your Limit Breaks when you get them. When Guard Scorpion puts his    |
|tail up, don't attack him. Instead wait until he drops his tail again, and    |
|continue the fight. If you do attack him, his counter attack Tail Laser will  |
|inflict around 75 damage normally. If Barret's in the back, it will be half   |
|damage for him. This being the first boss, you shouldn't have any problems    |
|beating it at all.                                                            |
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------'

After the battle, you'll have 10 minutes to escape from the Reactor, cause it's going to blow! Go into the menu and equip Barret with the Assault Gun, which is better than his initial Gatling Gun. On a side note, the timer does NOT stop while in the menu. The only moment it'll stop is when you pause the game during a battle. Backtrack your way to the screen where you left Jessie.

You'll notice Jessie fooling around at the lower part of the screen. Walk over and help with her stuck foot. Simply return to the elevator after this, ride it up, talk to Jessie and Biggs to open the doors and make your way out of the Reactor #01!

Make your way up the stairs after the scenes. You'll come across the flower girl that we saw in the intro. You can give different responses, and they will affect a certain scene later in the game.

Don't let the electricity freak you out in the next screen. Do something more productive instead by picking up the Potion near the exit below, then leave.

Shinra Guards will attack you, but you'll be given a choice: Fight or Run.  Be quick with deciding however, or the game will pick the option that you left the cursor on when the guards reach you.

After the dialog, follow Jessie and jump over the crates. In the next screen, talk to Jessie again and she'll show you some things on the monitor. Walk to Barret after this, and more dialog and a cutscene will follow. After exiting the train, walk to Barret again for more dialog. After that, you're finally given the first bit of freedom in the game. You can talk to the Train Man, or even more interesting, head to the right to fight monsters in the train graveyard.  That's not necessary at all though, so head to the left like the rest did.

(Perfect Game Note 1:)
NOTE: Again I feel I must mention - for those who skip all introductory paragraphs - that these Perfect Game Notes do NOT have to be done in order to complete the game.  This Guide can be followed perfectly to ensure that you don't miss anything, without having to do the instructions in these perfect game notes.  They are only for perfectionists, and they are implemented in the walkthrough to ease them in this touph(hehe) challenge.

Please don't feel distracted by these if you're not interested in, and simply use the Guide regularly.  [Yeah. Boring talk ends now.]

If you're doing a so-called “Perfect Game”, then you'll want to max out everything possible. That includes rare items and/or items that cannot be obtained after certain events. Iron Bangles are one of these items, and you'll need to save up on money to buy 99 of these if you're planning on doing this challenge. It'll definitely take you some time, so good luck! If you get into battle with three Mono Drives, pray that they drop an Ether – you can sell these for 750 gil, which is a LOT at this point.

Head to the train graveyard to the right so you can save up money to buy 99 Iron Bangles. This can take a very long time, however there is a way to slightly speed it up. Mono Drives (the small floating robots) sometimes drop an Ether.  You can sell this for a whopping of 750 gil! Just pray they drop it, because it's a rather rare drop. I wouldn't sell any other items. You must get 15840 gil to buy 99 Iron Bangles..however you'll get 1500 gil from Barret, and you can also find an Ether. You may also want to set the Battle Speed to the maximum in the menu. This will cut off a few more minutes per hour. Still, expect it to take a while.