SCNIIENANE Challenge FAQ .-----------------------------. | Copyright 2006 Steven Marr | | By Steven Marr (aka Xenomic)| | [email protected] | | [email protected] | | [email protected] | | AIM: Xenomic, AnkokuRyu | | | '-----------------------------' --------------------------------------------------------- Legal Script --------------------------------------------------------- Final Fantasy 7 Copyright 1997, 1998 Square Co., Ltd. Final Fantasy and Squaresoft are registered trademarks of Square Co., Ltd. All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged where are not specifically mentioned. If you wish to reproduce this document AS IS, you may do so after asking my permission, and not for profit. If I see fit, I, however, will revoke permission and ask for it to be taken down if necessary. -------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents -------------------------------------------------- To navigate to a separte section, use Cntrl + F and type in the bracket and the corresponding letter at the end of each section. 1. Welcome! [001] 2. The Basis of this Guide [002] 3. The Rules [003] 4. Tips & Tricks [004] 5. The Guide [005] -Disc 1- A. Midgar [006] B. On the Way to Kalm [007] C. On the Way to Junon [008] D. Junon to North Corel [009] E. Corel Prison [010] F. The Buggy [011] G. On the Way to Nibeheim [012] H. On the Way to Rocket Town [013] I. On the Way to the Temple of Ancients [014] J. The City of the Ancients [015] -Disc 2- A. On the Way To Icicle Inn [016] B. On the Way to the Gaia's Cliff [017] C. Whirlwind Maze [018] D. In Search of Cloud [019] E. Huge Materia Quest [020] F. Underwater Reactor [021] G. Diamond Weapon's Attack [022] H. Raid On Midgar [023] -Disc 3- A. Northern Crater [024] B. The Final Battles [025] 6. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questons) [026] 7. Credits [027] ------------------------------------------------------ 1. Welcome! [001] ------------------------------------------------------ Hello to all of you, and welcome to my second challenge faq! If you're reading this, then I'm assumming that you're looking for a tough challenge. Well, you've come to the right place for it! This challenge is by far one of the most difficult challenges you can do for Final Fantasy VII, and there are still yet those that are downright impossible to beat. However, I myself can guarantee that this challenge is in fact possible to do. So, without any further adieu, let us begin this challenge! ------------------------------------------------------ 2. The Basis of this Guide [002] ------------------------------------------------------ This faq is specifically dedicated to those who want a challenge that is extremely tough to beat, but not downright impossible. It is also dedicated to helping those who are doing this challenge to avoid problem areas and to overcome the various obstacles that they will face along the way to Sephiroth. I'm also assuming that you've played this game at least 4 times and have familiarized yourself with the game and what to do. If not, then I would suggest you do so. This is not a challenge that you want to start out with. ------------------------------------------------------ 3. The Rules [003] ------------------------------------------------------ This challenge is composed of many, smaller challenges to make this whopping behemoth. Each part of the SCNIIENANE name is divided into 5 parts. Here are the different parts and the rules of each part: -Solo Character (SC)- You may only use one character throughout the entire challenge. You must kill off any other party member, and leave them dead. You are prohibited from using PHS. You can only use the following characters at the designated part of the game: Barret: Duel vs. Dyne, Duel vs. Hundred/Heli Gunner Yuffie: Wutai Pagoda sidequest Tifa: Search for Cloud Cid: Huge Materia sidequest -No Items (NI)- By far the hardest part of this challenge lies in this rule. You may never use an Item. Ever. The only exceptions are the Batteries that you get from Wall Market and the Save Crystal at the Northern Crater. -Initial Equipment (IE)- You can never equip anything other than what the character comes equipped with. For example, Cloud can only use the Buster Sword and Bronze Bangle throughout the challenge. -No Accessories (NA)- You can never equip any accessories. Ever. This part also makes the challenge tough. -No Escape (NE)- You cannot escape any battles. All random encounters must be fought and won. Extremely tough early on in the game. Here are the Materia that are banned in this challenge: Throw Steal Morph W-Item HP Absorb* MP Absorb* MP Turbo* *The last three are banned just to spice things up a bit. If you don't want to ban them, then don't. ------------------------------------------------------ 4. Tips & Tricks [004] ------------------------------------------------------ 1) In the beginning, make sure to get the first All materia and pair it with Lightning. This will help save MP and kill enemies pretty quickly throughout Midgar. 2) Try and get Meteorain in the Sector 7 Train Graveyard BEFORE going to fight Air Buster. This will help you later on in the challenge. 3) Use Inns wisely here. You don't want to walk a long ways and run out of MP to heal with. If you have to, level up a little before moving on to the next part of the game. 4) Sell everything that you get, even if it sells for 1 Gil. This will help with your funding for Materia (if you need them) and for Inns. 5) Make sure to get as many Enemy Skills as you can early on! These will help you tremendously throughout this challenge! You will definently want to get the following Enemy Skills: Matra Magic L4 Suicide Magic Hammer ???? Big Guard White Wind Angel Whisper Death Force 6) Patience is a virtue, especially against the most problematic bosses in this challenge. Also, it will take a while to level up a certain materia (around 5-7 hours max), so stay calm.... 7) It helps to know where everything is and what enemies you will be facing against. If you don't, then familiarize yourself with your opponents before venturing too far into the area. ------------------------------------------------------ 5. The Guide [005] ------------------------------------------------------ And now, we come to the biggest part of this faq: The actual walkthrough! If you are trying this challenge and want to do it on your own, then use this faq as more of a guide that you can look at for certain sections, rather than reading through it the whole way. -Disc 1- A. Midgar [006] As soon as the game begins, set your ATB to Active (you can set it to Wait, but it makes the game a lot longer) and the Game Speed to Max. Now, pick up the 2 Potions from the guard and head on to fight the first enemies of the game. Now note for this part, the game is currently a SCIENE challenge-type, so keep that in mind. Defeat the MPs, then move on to the Reactor. For all random encounters, just stick to attack. Only use Bolt when you fight the Sweeper enemy. This will kill it in one hit, and save you valuable HP that you'll need when fighting the boss. Don't worry about the items here, as you won't need them. Instead, head straight to the first save point of the game and save. Continue onwards and go fight the first boss. Boss Battle: Guard Scorpion Lv: 12 HP: 800 MP: 0 Items (Win): Assault Gun Weakness: Lightning This fight can get rough if you were hurt too much in the previous battles before this fight. However, as long as you don't attack while its tail is up, and as long as you have Cloud use Bolt and Barret attack, you'll be fine. After the battle, just head on out of the reactor, fighting and winning all of the battles along the way. Once you escape the reactor (you better know how to do this....), then head to the train station, picking up the Potion on the way. When you are given the choice to fight the Shinra guards or flee, fight them. You'll want the EXP and Gil early on for this challenge. After you get to the train, continue on with the storyline until you get to Sector 7. Here, immediately go to the right and fight some battles here in the Train Graveyard. When your HP drops to about 40, head back and continue the storyline. When you get control of Cloud again, go to the Training Area and pick up the All materia and Ether. You'll want to immediately equip the All materia on Cloud with Bolt. This will help save a lot of time and frustration, and some MP, though you won't have anyway to heal. If you want to make sure that you stay alive, then don't equip the All materia, and instead equip the Restore materia. Pick up an Ice and Fire materia, just in case you want to switch Lightning out for Ice or Fire. Afterwards, head back to the Train Graveyard. When you get into a fight, kill off Tifa and Barret, and continue to kill enemies until you learn Meteorain. It's best to get this Limit Break here now than wait for later. If you run low on HP or MP, go back and use the inn, then continue to fight. Make sure to kill off your other two party members before attacking or killing enemies! Once you're done, head on with the storyline. --Sector 5 Reactor-- Bolt-All is your best bet to surviving this segment until the boss. You can jump off the train at any point, but your best bet is to jump off at the very end, thus saving you time and precious HP/MP. Continue on through the area until you get to the reactor itself. The battles here can be quite gruesome due to Poison, but not too much to the extent that you should die. Here's where you should put away All and put on Restore, just to be safe. Continue down to plant the bomb, then go back to the top and go through the elevator. Head up and open the next door by using the 3 buttons in the upper left room. Save, then prepare for your next boss. Hopefully you have Cure here? You won't need Bolt for this fight, so don't waste MP for it. Boss Battle: Air Buster Lv: 15 HP: 1200 MP: 0 Items (Win): Titan Bangle Weakness: Bolt Halves: Fire Not a tough fight by any means. As long as you keep Cloud's HP above 100, you'll be fine. Once Air Buster runs out of Big Bombers, you can really focus on hitting him with physical attacks. Use your Limit Break at the first chance you get when it gets filled up, and use Cure whenever you need it. Don't bother with any other spell. If you come into this fight with a full Limit guage and Meteorain, you can pretty much end this fight in one shot. After the battle, continue on with the storyline. --Sector 5 Church/Wall Market-- **MAKE SURE TO GET METEORAIN NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO! THIS IS YOUR LAST OPPORTUNITY TO GET IT WITHOUT HAVING TO START A NEW GAME!!** Once you get Aeris, switch her to the front row and give her any materia (preferably not Restore, as Cloud is gong to use it). Whenever you get the option to use a barrel or have Aeris fight, make her fight. You'll want the AP and Gil for later anyways. For Cloud, if you run around a little, you can encounter Hedgehog Pies, which can be dispatched off pretty easily with a physical attack or two. This is a good opportunity to level up a little, if you feel the need to, but don't fight too many battles here. Once you leave the church, head straight for Aeris' house and continue on with the storyline. Once you wake up and leave Aeris' house, pick up the Cover materia in the garden to the right and go to any shop and sell all items/equipment that you may have. Now, head towards the Sector 5 Pathway and prepare to go to Wall Market. When you get into a random encounter, make sure to kill Aeris off. You can easily deal with most enemies here with a Bolt-All, but Hell House will take a bit more to kill off. Just put Cloud in the back row and spam Bolt until you kill it, and don't waste your Limit Break unless you absolutely have to. At Wall Market, do whatever you want, as it really doesn't matter too much in the end. If you end up with Cloud not being picked, then you can dispatch of the enemies with Bolt-All. Scotch can also be taken care of with a single physical attack after a Bolt-All, so there's nothing to worry about here. When you head to the Don's room, go through the storyline, then talk to both Tifa and Aeris to start the next boss battle. Boss Battle: Aps Lv: 18 HP: 1800 MP: 0 Items (Win): Phoenix Down (worthless...) Weakness: Fire This fight is pretty simplistic. Save your MP for Cure, and just keep attacking Aps. Make sure that Cloud is in the front row at all times. If Aps uses Lick and you end up with Sadness, don't worry! It's a good thing, as Sadness will reduce all damage taken by 30%. This will help when it comes to using Cure later on in the battle. Sewer Tsunami will be the biggest threat here, as it can do up to 100 HP to Cloud if it hits from the back. Still, nothing to worry about. If you manage to come into this fight with Meteorain, let Aps have it, then simply finish him off with physical attacks. After the battle, continue on through the sewers and pick up the Steal materia if you want, although it's banned in this challenge. Head up through the sewers until you reach the Save Point, and save. Hopefully, you didn't use TOO much MP in that last fight, because you might want it for the trip through the Train Graveyard. --Train Graveyard/Sector 7 Plate-- Here are the random encounters for this area: -Train Graveyard- Cripshay x2: Not that difficult to win. Simple attacks is all that's needed. Deenglow x2: This can be rough, especially if you get hit by Demi. You might end up using a Cure or two here. Simple attacks should be enough. If your Limit Breaks full, and you don't want to use it, then use Bolt instead. Ghost x3: This can be a pain, especially since Ghosts have Drain and Fire, which both do up to 90 HP. When one Ghost vanishes after an attack, target another Ghost immediately. Once you kill two Ghosts and start targeting the last, you won't have to worry about getting attacked again. Deenglow x3: Pretty similar to the Deenglow x2, except there's one more Demi that you may have to worry about. Same tactics as before. Deenglow x1, Ghost x2: This can be pretty nasty if you don't have enough MP or HP, or both. Get rid of the first Ghost quickly, then take out the Deenglow. The last Ghost won't be a problem after that. Save your MP for Cure in this fight! Eligor x1: This is nasty, simply because Eligor casts Silence on you, which means you'll have to finish the battle pretty quickly. This is where you want to make sure that Cloud is fully healed outside of battle! You'll be limited to just physical attacks, but if you have Sadness on, then you won't take nearly as much as you would. If you're feeling desparate, use Meteorain. -Sector 7 Plate- Aero Combatant x1: This isn't hard. A couple Bolts will easily kill this enemy off. Aero Combatant x2: This isn't any different from the previous battle. Same tactics. Aero Combatant x3: Same as before. Bolt-All helps to deal damage here, but dont' bother with the All materia at this point of the game. **THIS IS THE LAST TIME I WILL MENTION THIS! MAKE SURE TO KILL OFF ALL OTHER PARTY MEMBERS BEFORE BATTLE!** Here, work your way through the Train Graveyard (I assume that you know your way?). Ignore all of the items, as they won't be of any use to you in this challenge now. The battles here can be a bit rough, especially the Ghost x3 line-up. Drain and Fire are powerful spells, and more than likely, you'll be forced to use Cure a few times for those fight, not to mention a Limit Break. Try to save your Limit Break, as you'll want it for the upcoming boss. Once you get through the Train Graveyard and get to the Plate, sell off any items and equipment that you may have, then head on up. You'll be fully healed now, but if you don't have Meteorain, then you might as well start over...as there is no way to recover HP or MP at this time. The last opportunity for that would be at Wall Market. If you don't have a full Limit Break, then get it before heading up to the top. Don't worry about the menu, and just head into battle. Boss Battle: Reno Lv: 17 HP: 1000 MP: 0 Items (Win): Ether Halves: Lightning You HAVE to get Meteorain off BEFORE Reno's first turn. Otherwise, you might as well reload. Once you do this, hit him with Fire to end the fight. If he hits Cloud with Pyramid, reload now, even if Barret's alive. This is a requirement that you'll have to do for this challenge. If the Pyramid hits Barret, ignore him and focus on using Fire on Reno. This fight shouldn't be too tough. [Skip storyline] Head back to Aeris' house. [Skip storyline] Now, head back to Wall Market, and if you want, pick up the Sense materia in the playground (not that you're ever going to use it...). Buy 3 Batteries, then head up the wire and continue on with the storyline. --Shinra HQ-- Here are the random encounters for this area: Grenade Combatant x2: Just attack them and get it over with. If you want to, you can even use Bolt on them. Just don't waste too much MP on them. Grenade Combatant x3: Same tactics as before. Mighty Grunt x1: Use Bolt when he's not in his armor to kill him easier. When he's armor-cladded, just attack him until the armor shatters. Mighty Grunt x2: Same tactics as before. Mighty Grunt x3: Same tactics as before. Sword Dance x1: You can use Bolt on it if you want, but if you want to conserve MP, then go with attack all the way, though using Bolt will be more cost-efficient. Sword Dance x2: Same as before. Sword Dance x3: Same as before Hammer Blaster x1: A simple Bolt will take care of this foe. Watch out for Confusion though, as it can really put the pain on Cloud. When he vanishes for a while, use Defend until he reappears. Hammer Blaster x2: Same as before. Warning Board x1: A Bolt will take care of this enemy. It's not that hard to kill with physical attacks either. Warning Board x2: Same as before. Moth Slasher x1: You can easily use Bolt to kill it. Moth Slasher x2: Bolt-All will save some MP here. If they live through it, then just use physical attacks. Moth Slasher x3: Same as before. SOLDIER: 3rd x2: This is a tough one. Sleepel is bad enough, but Fire2, Ice2, and Bolt2 in succession can be enough to kill Cloud. You'll want to save Finishing Touch for this fight, just in case. SOLDIER: 3rd x3: This is even more ridiculous than the previous encounter. Your best bet is to save Finishing Touch and pray that none of the SOLDIERs use Sleepel for their first move. Moth Slasher x1, SOLDIER: 3rd x2: This is bad, but not too bad. Use Bolt to kill the Moth Slasher, then focus on using physical attacks on the SOLDIERs. Use Finishing Touch if you have to. Zenene x1: Not that hard to kill off. Neither Genghana nor Piazzo Shower should present a threat here to you. Just attack and if your Limit Break fills up, just use Bolt to finish the job. Zenene x2: Genghana is hazardous here. 100 HP is just too much for Cloud to take. Your best bet is to use Bolts to kill them off quickly, or resort to a Limit Break. Regular attacks are good, but may not help too much, especially against Piazzo Shower. Still, it'll save you MP for Cure. Brain Pod x1: An easy battle. Simply hack it to death, and don't worry about Resist unless your HP gets too low. Brain Pod x2: This isn't that hard, though Resist will be a pain. Poison + Sleep is a bad thing, but luckily the turn you get put to sleep, an enemy will wake you up. You may resort to using Cure a bit in this fight. Use Finishing Touch if things get too rough; otherwise, stick to Bolt. Vargid Police x2: Simple battle. Physical attacks is all you need to survive this fight. Vargid Police x3: A very simple battle. Just focus on physical attacks, and don't worry about Suicide. Vargid Police x1, Zenene x1: This can be a very simple battle. Focus on eliminating the Zenene first, as he's the most dangerous enemy on the field. After that, it's a walk in the park. Keep Cloud's HP up though, just in case Suicide does do a lot of damage. Zenene x1, Brain Pod x2: A very deadly combination. You'll want to have Cloud kill off the Zenene right away, then focus on one Brain Pod at a time. Or, take the alternative and use Finishing Touch to kill them! Your best option is to just sneak in. You want to conserve your MP for every fight here until you get to Floor 62. Once you hit Floor 59, you'll have to fight three Mighty Grunts. Don't use Bolt until AFTER you've destroyed the armor on one of the Mighty Grunts! This way, you can conserve MP for Cures instead! After the battle, proceed on with the storyline. It's best that you sneak by the guards on Floor 60 and NOT fight any of the Mighty Grunts here, so that you can conserve HP and MP for upcoming battles. Continue on up, and don't worry about any items or the Elemental materia, as you won't be needing them anyways. Once you get to the floor that Red XIII is on, make sure that your HP and MP are at a good enough level for the upcoming boss. If not, then save and go back to the inn back down on Floor 62. You'll want to have as much HP and MP for this fight as possible. Once you're prepared, head on up and commence with the battle! It doesn't matter who you send with Aeris. Boss Battle: Sample: HO152, Sample: HO152-opt x3 Lv: 19; 7 HP: 1000; 300 MP: 120; 48 Items (Win): Talisman; Tranquilizer x3 Halves: Lightning Absorbs: Poison Hopefully, you have Cloud with just Restore, right? You won't be needing that nifty Poison materia that you picked up earlier. The boss will start out with Shady Breath more than likely, which will poison your entire party. This will help make Red XIII die faster ( and anyone else who isn't dead aside from Cloud). In the meantime, start killing off the Opts by either Meteorain or regular attacks, and make sure to keep you HP up above 300 at all times! The Opts spells pack quite a punch! Once you kill one of the Opts, the main boss will use Animagic to revive what was killed, but note that he can only do this up to 3 times. After that, he runs out of MP. This will help tone down the damage that you would otherwise be taken after you kill all 3 Opts. After killing all 3 of them, focus on the main boss with just physical attacks. If you want an alternative, just use Fire or Ice on the main boss, while keeping an eye on your HP. Just make sure that Cloud is in the back row if you decide to do this method, as to cut down the damage from the Opts Rolling Attack. After the battle, GRAB THE ENEMY SKILL MATERIA!! You don't want to miss this, as it's one of the key materia in beating this challenge! [Skip storyline] Once you gain control of Cloud again, head on up to the top floor, while following the trail of blood. The enemies will be different than from what you were fighting previously, and they're stronger too, so take note of that. Make sure to use the save point when you get to it, and continue on to meet Rufus. Once you gain control of Aeris, equip Barret with the Lightning and Restore materia, and head on to the elevator for your double boss fight! Boss Battle: Hundred Gunner; Heli Gunner Lv: 18; 19 HP: 1600; 1000 MP: 0; 0 Items (Win): None; Mythril Armlet Weakness: Lightning; Lightning, Wind You'll need to kill off Red XIII and Aeris before you can even begin to attack Hundred Gunner. You can use Bolt if you'd like, but I'd stick to just using regular attacks and Big Shot throughout the entire fight, so that you have MP for Cure. After you kill Hundred Gunner, you'll have to fight Heli Gunner, who can inflict Poison + Sleep on Barret with AB Cannon, C Cannon, or Firing Line. This is where you have to time your attacks and Cure; otherwise, you'll end up wasting a turn and possibly ending up dying. After the battle, MAKE SURE THAT CLOUD GETS RESTORE! If not, then you probably will end up dying in this fight, unless you have Meteorain to start with. Boss Battle: Rufus; Dark Nation Lv: 21; 15 HP: 500; 140 MP: 0; 80 Items (Win): Protect Vest; Power Source Kill off Dark Nation immediately, as it can cast Barrier and MBarrier. After that, it's a matter of physical attacks and Meteorain to finish off Rufus. Nothing too hard here at all, especially if Cloud's in the back row. After the fight, save and continue on to the oh-so-fun minigame. Now, you'll want to have Bolt on here, just in case, and put Cloud in the front row! Boss Battle: Motor Ball Lv: 16 HP: 2600 MP: 120 Items (Win): Star Pendant Weakness: Lightning Halves: Fire This isn't too tough of a fight really. The only thing to worry about is Rolling Fire and Twin Burner, and you can counter that with a simple Cure spell. If you want to get your Limit Break up, jump to the front row for a turn, then jump back and use Cure. In the meanwhile, you can pound constant Bolts on Motor Ball. It'll fall in no time flat. [Skip storyline] B. On the Way to Kalm [007] Now, you'll want to replace Lightning with Enemy Skill as soon as you get a chance, and make a party of Red XIII and Aeris. You'll want Barret and Tifa to gain levels for later on in the game (especially Barret, for obvious reasons). Now, before you head to Kalm, you'll want to fight the Custom Sweepers around the Midgar area. This will get you the Matra Magic spell, which is CRUCIAL to killing off a lot of enemies in one shot, and will help up to around Corel Prison! Once you get this spell, you can head to Kalm and go through Cloud's flashback. After that, buy the Heal materia, as that's also a mandatory materia that you'll need for the final battles of the game. Don't bother equipping it right now, as it would hurt you more than help. After you've done all of this, head on down to the Chocobo Ranch. C. On the Way to Junon [008] You'll definently want to pick up L4 Suicide now if you can. Before you try to get it, make sure that your level is not on a multiple of 4, as this can really screw you over. Once you acquire this spell, you can take one of two routes to the Mythril Mines: A) Buy the Chocobo Lure materia and attempt to get a chocobo.... the HARD way, or: B) Switch the map so that the world map is on ground level, then run to the easternmost part of the mountains. Now, wait until you see the Zolom head to the far west, and begin to run across the marsh. Save quickly, then reload and keep running. This may take up to 3 times, but it's a lot faster than waiting to catch a chocobo. --Mythril Mines-- Here, head to the room immediately to the right and, if you want, pick up the Long Range materia. However, your main objective in this area is to fight an enemy called Ark Dragon, which has the Flame-Thrower spell. Even though it costs 2 more MP than Matra Magic and hits only one enemy, it might prove useful a bit later in the game. After you obtain this spell, head on through the mines and ignore the items. Skip the text with the Turks, and head to Fort Condor. Use the inn there and save, then if you want, try and get Yuffie (not required, but I always like getting her in my games). If you don't want her, then just head straight for Junon. Avoid the forests, as Cappairwires are your worst nightmare here. Formulas aren't too bad if Cloud's in the back row, but can still dish out a lot of damage, while Neurosufferoth's Heatwing deals up to 100 HP. Zemzeleet's Thunderbolt is also a very powerful attack, but nothing else should bother you here as long as you have Matra Magic. --Junon-- Make sure to build up Cloud's Limit Break beforehand and save. Head straight to the beach to fight your next boss. Boss Battle: Bottomswell Lv: 23 HP: 2500 MP: 100 Items (Win): Power Wrist Weakness: Wind Halves: Gravity This fight is simple, as you don't have to worry about Waterpolos. Start off with Meteorain, then just use Matra Magic or Flame-Thrower to damage the boss. Make sure to keep your HP higher than 200 at all times, in case you run into Huge Tidal Wave or Moonstrike. A pretty simple battle. After the battle, it's up to you whether or not to save Priscilla. [Skip storyline] Once you have to jump up to the electrical tower, just press X twice and climb up. [Skip storyline. It doesn't matter what you do here...] You can pick up the Heal materia here if you didn't get it earlier at Kalm. Don't bother with anything else. D. Junon to North Corel [009] --Junon Boat-- [Skip storyline] Once the alarm rings, take a party of either Aeris, Red XIII, or Yuffie with you and head below. This is where L4 Suicide will come in use, for the times that you fight the Marine enemies. If you need to heal for some reason, just talk to the sailor. You don't need the Wind Slash or All materia here, so just proceed straight to the boss. Boss Battle: Jenova-BIRTH Lv: 25 HP: 4000 MP: 110 Items (Win): White Cape This fight can actually get rough. You need to hope that Stop misses; otherwise, you'll need to use Cure right after you get un-Stopped, or else Jenova can easily kill you with W-Laser or Tail Laser. Meteorain helps a lot in this battle, and you might even need to use 2-3 of them to kill Jenova-BIRTH off. Save MP for Cure and Matra Magic, but mostly for Cure. After the battle, you can pick up the Ifrit materia if you want, but don't bother using it in this challenge. --Costa Del Sol-- [Skip storyline] Head out immediately to Mt. Corel. If you need to, fight a few battles around here first before heading off to increase your Level, so that you have more HP and MP for the tougher fights ahead. Level 20 is the lowest you'll want, while Level 25 is the highest you'll want. --Mt. Corel-- You can pretty must dispatch all of the enemies here with Matra Magic, and for those who survive it, you can simply attack them and kill them. The Needle Kiss and Search Crown enemies can be rough, especially when Needle Kiss uses Lightning and Search Crown uses Four Lasers. Bagnadrana's Vitality and HP are also going to pester you, as Finishing Touch won't kill them. Later on, Bombs can be bad if you can't kill them fast enough, but 2 Matra Magics should suffice. Proceed through the area as usual, and watch for Cokatolis, as their Petrify Smog can end your game quickly if you don't kill them in 30 seconds. All of the other enemies can be dealt with as described above. Ignore everything here, as they don't matter much (even the Transform materia). Continue on to North Corel and head straight for the Gold Saucer. [Skip storyline] E. Corel Prison [010] You don't need to worry about anything getting stolen, as you don't really need anything. The 2-Faced enemies can be hazardous due to Suicide, but hope that they don't use it. Any other enemy is easy to deal with by Matra Magic, but you'll want to try and learn Laser from Death Claw if possible. You'll want to have Barret as your Solo Character for this section, so if you get into a fight with Barret in your party, you'll need to kill Cloud off. Equip Barret with the Restore materia and put him in the back row, and head on to fight your next boss. Boss Battle: Dyne Lv: 23 HP: 1200 MP: 20 Items (Win): Silver Armlet If you have had Barret in your party up to this point, then this fight can be tough due to Barret's low HP and MP. You need to keep your HP above 200 at all times to survive this fight. Focus on using Cure and attack until Dyne starts to use S-Mine, then just use Cure and Bigshot to beat through Dyne the rest of the battle. You should be fine as long as you keep your HP up. [Skip storyline] F. The Buggy [011] This is the fun part. You'll want Cloud back alive and at full health, then give him Manipulate and Enemy Skill first. Head into the desert and SAVE! Now, fight here until you encounter a Harpy, then Manipulate it. If it doesn't use Aqualung before the Manipulate, then make it use it on Cloud and kill it off with either Poison Storm or Aqualung. Now, head back to Costa Del Sol and fight on the beaches to encounter Beachplugs. Manipulate one of them and have it cast Big Guard on Cloud, then kill off all of the Beachplugs. Now, if you haven't done so yet, go and get L4 Suicide way back at the Chocobo Ranch! You'll want this here later on. If you want, you can even fight in Junon (by pulling the alarm in the tunnel with the soldiers). These fights are pretty rough, but winning them nets you a lot of EXP, AP, and Gil that you can use later. This is a decent place to start leveling up your Heal materia too. Once you have accomplished all of this, head towards Gongaga and equip Cloud with Enemy Skill and Restore. Here, you'll want to fight Reno and Rude for EXP ONLY. You don't have to do this if you don't want to. You can simply beat them by spamming Meteorain and/or Aqualung/Matra Magic. Nothing too hard there. Ignore the materia here, but go for the Enemy Skill "Frog Song", as that can come in use at certain points in the game. After you're done with everything, head straight for Cosmo Canyon, but avoid fighting any Gagighandis, as they can turn Cloud to stone. Also, don't go near the beaches if you can help it. You can also get Petrifired easily there. 0nce you arrive at Cosmo Canyon, go through the storyline and head straight to the Gi Cave. Proceed through the cave, ignoring everything. Once you reach the area with the Stingers, use Frog Song to reduce the damage that they can do and just attack them normally. If you have Laser, use it once, but no more than that. You should spend about 43 MP altogether within the 3 Stinger battles. While you're here, try and learn Death Sentence. This spell will prove invaluable to you throughout this challenge, as it'll help save you MP for more valuable spells. Once you reach Gi Nattak, prepare for you first tough battle! Boss Battle: Gi Nattak, Soul Fire x2 Lv: 29: ???? HP: 5500: ???? MP: 200: ???? Items (Win): Wizer Staff: ???? Weakness: Holy: Ice If you really want to take a big gamble, you can try to use Life on Gi Nattak to end this battle, but that's very risky, as Life can miss easily. If you want to duke it out, make sure to have Restore on, and have Enemy Skill on as well. Try going into this fight with Meteorain, so that you can hurt Gi Nattak without targeting both Soul Fires at once. You might want to use some Cures on Gi Nattak, as that'll do more damage than attacking him. Have Cloud in the back row, and Cure if his HP drops to about 500 (700 if Possessed). This'll keep him from getting wiped out from a normal attack. Watch for Aspil! This spell is the most dangerous thing you can encounter, as it can take a lot of your MP and give it back to Gi Nattak! If you have to, use a calculator to keep track of Gi Nattak's life, so that you can determine when to use Cure on him or when to attack him. This fight will be tough nonetheless. I'd recommend being Level 25 at the very least. [Skip storyline] G. On the Way to Nibelheim [012] There's not much to do on the way to Nibelheim. Simply cross the river and go to Nibelheim. It's a good idea to just pass through this town, as you don't want to fight anyone here, as they aren't really worth it. But, if you insist, try your luck. You'll want to get Meteorain first before heading in of course, but you may end up having to use it in a random encounter on your way to the safe. However, you'll want to try and learn ???? from the Jersey enemy here on your first visit, as this will cut down the time in battle and increase your power significally! Boss Battle: Lost Number Lv: 35 HP: 7000 MP: 300 Items (Win): Cosmo Memory This is extremely tough at this point in the game, but if you come back near the end, you can easily win this fight. If you attempt this now, you'll find that you'll lose everytime, so don't bother with this fight. His regular attacks can deal up to 500 damage (if he attacks twice in a row, then yeah....), and his Bolt2 does an easy 450-600 HP, which is probably about half of what you have to begin with. Later on, you'll be able to beat him by utilizing ???? and spells, but by that time, he's not worth fighting. If you're not doing the Shinra Mansion part, then skip on through to Mt. Nibel H. On the Way to Rocket Town [013] Mt. Nibel will be your biggest trial as of right now. Why? Simply put, it's long, and you don't have much MP to work with. Add to the fact that the battles here can be a bit tedious, and you have no place to restore MP, and you'll see just how tough this area is. Level 30 is recommended for this trial. Skip on through the area and ignore EVERYTHING! This can't be stressed enough, as you want to conserve MP here. For times that you fight Kyuvilduns, use L4 Suicide to cripple them, and finish them with physical attacks. Any other fight should be dealt with by using Death Sentence. Once you reach the area with the slides, watch out for Dragons! These enemies are extremely hard to kill off in this challenge, and do a ton of damage with Flame-Thrower and their regular attacks. If you run into one of these, immediately use Meteorain to kill it off. If you're running low on MP, get out of Mt. Nibel and rest, then level up a little somewhere to get more MP. You'll need every bit of MP you have for this next battle! Boss Battle: Materia Keeper Lv: 38 HP: 8400 MP: 300 Items (Won): Jem Ring Absorbs: Fire You'll want Cloud in the back row for this fight, and hopefully you have Cure2 by now? Sadness wouldn't hurt either, so if you have too, go find an enemy who inflicts this status and let them use the corresponding attack on you to get it. Materia Keeper's attacks are very powerful, and if he scores a critical on you at any given time, you may end up dying the next turn. Watch his moves, then correspond with a counterattack. If your HP is at least 900 or higher, attack the boss with Meteorain or ????. If your HP is less than 900, use Cure to counter. More often than not, your HP WILL be less than 900. However, if you get a chance in, use Meteorain, TEHN use Cure2 to get your HP back up to snuff. When you see Materia Keeper start using Cure2, you know that he's about to die. However, don't kill him just yet, as you want to learn Trine from him. This spell is crucial to finishing off enemies faster, and it costs 14 MP less than Aqualung. A little less damage, but the MP saving will be worth it. Once you get this spell, finish the boss off with a Meteorain if you have. Now SAVE! You don't want to run into another random encounter again here after the boss battle, as you'll most likely be drained of MP. Once you leave Mt. Nibel, you'll have a decent way to go to get to Rocket Town, and this can lead to many problems, as your MP level will most likely be very low (I had about 25 MP left to use for the trip..) You don't want to waste your MP on anything other than Cure during this time, and if you have to, save and reload about every few steps until you get to Rocket Town. It'll be tedious, but it'll save you the trouble of dying too. --Rocket Town-- Head straight to Cid's house, then to the rocket to talk to the Captain. Return back to Cid's house and go through the storyline. Once you get control of Cloud again, put him in the front row and prepare to fight your next boss! Hopefully you rested up before going into this fight? Boss Battle: Palmer Lv: 38 HP: 6000 MP: 240 Items (Win): Edincoat This is an easy fight. Counter with Cure if your HP drops below 800, and use Meteorain to put Palmer out of his misery. If Palmer runs out of MP, just attack him or use the ???? trick to kill him. Nothing hard here. [Skip storyline] After you get the Tiny Bronco, head to Wutai, but DON'T go up the hill! Instead, put on Manipulate on Cloud and run along the beach until you fight an Adamantaimai. Manipulate it to learn Death Force, then head to the grasslands area to the east and fight Razor Weeds. Use Manipulate on them to learn Magic Hammer, your most crucial spell in the game. After this, head to the Gold Saucer and proceed with the storyline. It's not important to win the battles in the Battle Square. After the storyline, it's time for one of the toughest parts of the game. I. On the Way to the Temple of the Ancients [014] After the Gold Saucer, if you have not done so yet, go back and grab the following Enemy Skills now! You'll want them for the big trial ahead: Frog Song (Forest around Gongaga) L4 Suicide (Chocobo Ranch area) Aqualung (Gold Saucer desert area) Magic Hammer (MUST HAVE!) (Wutai grasslands area) Big Guard (MUST HAVE) (Costa Del Sol beach area) Death Force (Wutai beach area) ???? (Shinra Mansion) If you didn't get Trine, then you're out of luck until you get to Gaia's Cliff. If you don't have Frog Song, you can get that in the Temple of the Ancients easily. Death Sentence is later afterwards, so if you don't have it now, then you just made the Temple much harder than it needs to be. Now, after you get these spells, head straight for the ToA. You may want to make another save file, just in case you want to go back and level up outside of the Temple, or you want to get something that you forgot. After that, enter the temple and proceed through the maze. Don't bother following the purple guy the first time, but head straight to the area with the rolling boulders. Ignore all treasures along the way (including the Luck Plus matera). Once you reach the area with the boulders, save and ignore the Morph materia, as it's banned anyways and not that useful. Continue on to the clock room and head straight to the room marked 'VI'. If you want to catch the purple guy quickly here, jump down once and go to the second door. Then, when you exit out of the door, go back in the door you came out of and you should catch him. Save and rest up, then go through the storyline. Hopefully you put Cloud in the back row? Boss Battle: Red Dragon Lv: 39 HP: 6800 MP: 300 Items (Win): Dragon Armlet Absorbs: Fire This can be tough, but with Cure and Meteorain, it's a breeze. Plus, if your MP drops too low, you can always Magic Hammer the boss to get 100 back. Piece of cake, but make sure that your HP is higher than 1500 at all times! After the fight, go through the storyline, then save and rest up. You're going to need all the MP you can muster up for one of the toughest battles in the challenge. If you need to train now, go back to the room with the murals and fight the Ancient Dragons. Not easy, but they do reward nice EXP. Boss Battle: Demon's Gate Lv: 45 HP: 10000 MP: 400 Items (Win): Gigas Armlet Halves: Earth This is a pain in the ass fight. You HAVE to have over 2000 HP to survive this battle. You also have to hope that he doesn't use Petrif-Eye or double attack with his rock attack, and NOT get a single Critical hit. You'll want to enter this fight with Meteorain and use it at the first moment, and use Cure/Cure2 for the rest of the battle until Demon Gate uses Cave-In. When he uses this, and your HP is at full before the attack, use Meteorain if you have it, or just simply use ???? to damage him. Big Guard helps a little, but not by much. Just keep your HP up, and make sure that you always have plenty of MP to use Cure with. Don't use Cure2 unless you really need it. Avoid any other spells, so that you can always use Cure when you need it. Once you get through this horrendous battle, proceed on with the storyline, then head straight to Bone Village. J. The City of the Ancients [015] Get the Lunar Harp by simply diggin on the X spot on the upper level. After that, head straight towards the City of the Ancients. If you haven't gotten it before, you can learn Death Sentence here. Most enemies can be dealt with Trine. For Hungry, kill them off quickly, as you don't want to get Eaten. In the City of the Ancients, just head to the right and rest in the top-right building. Skip the storyline and head back towards the center of the city, then proceed straight to your next destination. Make sure to save before going into your next fight, as this one can be a little tough if not properly prepared. Boss Battle: Jenova-LIFE Lv: 50 HP: 10000 MP: 300 Items (Win): Wizard Bracelet Weakness: Earth Absorbs: Water This fight's not hard at all! Simply use Magic Hammer to force Jenova to use Reflect, then bounce back Cure spells 4 times off of the Reflect. Then, continue the process until Jenova runs out of MP. You can then either opt to attack her to death or to use the ???? trick. Either way, it's an easy fight. Aqualung is the only real threat here. [Skip storyline] --Disc Two-- A. On the Way to Icicile Inn [016] After the storyline, proceed up to the next area (the area with the bones), and hop your way up. The encounters here are no different than in the Corral Valley. Once you reach the Corral Cave, you shouldn't run into but a few encounters (5 at max), so you should be able to breeze through this area quickly. After you leave the cave (don't bother picking up anything there), make your way up to the Icicile Inn. The encounters here are pathetically easy, as you can simply L4 Suicide the Jumpings and Trine the Wolves easily. Nothing too hard....yet.....you might even be opted to level up a little here, or take the alternative route and head to Mideel via Tiny Bronco. B. On the Way to Gaia's Cliff [017] This is where things heat up......err....freeze up a bit. Once you get the snowboard and Glacier Map, head straight to Great Glacier, and, depending on where you landed, you may or may not be able to get to Gaia's Cliff that easily. The battles here aren't tough by any means, as Trine can easily defeat most of the enemies here in 1 or 2 castings. Ignore the Alexander and Added Cut materia, as they aren't needed. If you pass out, that'll be a good thing, as you'll be fully restored. This would be the best way to resolve this issue, as you can simply fight to level up in the Great Glacier, and still not worry about dying too easily. Once you get fully restored, by either passing out or visiting Holzoff, save and proceed up Gaia's Cliff for one of the most tedious part of the challenge. --Gaia's Cliff-- Remember to keep an eye on your temperature throughout this entire area, as you don't want to climb up a second time unless you absolutely have to. Outside, Malboros are your biggest threat. Bad Breath spells Game Over for you, while Frozen Beam deals up to 900 HP easily. Frog Song + L4 Suicide is your best bet to winning here. Inside, watch for Stilva! Magic Breath can easily kill you off if you're not prepared, but it's an essential spell for later on in the game. Any other enemy can be dealt with by Trine. Don't forget to use Magic Hammer for when your MP gets too low. Once you reach the area where there's a Save Point and a lake, save and proceed up to the area with the Icicles. This is one of the hardest parts of the area, simply because of the Evilheads here that can Silence you. If you end up getting Silenced, then you might as well restart, as you'll most likely die. You'll need to get Finishing Touch before the battle and hope that you get a turn in before the enemy acts, then hope that all of the Evilheads die. If you do manage to get that to work, the Icicle is a piece of cake. Otherwise, you may end up having a tough time winning. Regardless, you need to kill 3 of the 4 Icicles to proceed. After you kill them, save, then head up to the hot springs and heal up, then save again. You may need to be Level 40 or higher to survive this next fight.... Boss Battle: Schizo Lv: 43 HP: 18000 MP: 350 Items (Win): None (Left): Dragon Fang (Right) Absorbs: Fire (Left): Ice (Right) Weakness: Ice (Left): Fire (Right) Simply put......extremely tough! You're gonna need Regen for this fight, so make sure that you go and learn it, if you haven't already. 3000 HP is also a good idea, as well as Big Guard, Cure2, and Magic Hammer. Start the battle off by using Regen, then follow up with Big Guard and Magic Hammer, recasting Regen and Big Guard whenever possible. Use Cure2 a lot as well, and once you finally drain both heads of all MP, you can simply attack them to death, but make sure that their final attack don't kill you! Other than that, it's a piece of cake after the fact, as every attack deals up to 800-900 damage, and they attack twice in a row. After the battle, you may want to go back and heal and save. If you run into a Blue Dragon, you may be in trouble, as they are very tough to beat. Unless you have Regen, you won't win. They don't reward you much of anything, so don't overdo it in any of those battles. Make sure to save and heal if you need it, and head for your next destination. C. Whirlwind Maze [018] This is going to be tough. Not so much the battles here, but the boss that you'll have to face. You'll have to either level up to around Level 50-60, or get extremely lucky. Your choice here. About all enemies here can be dealt with by a simple L4 Suicide, but your main concern here is to not get inflicted with Sadness, as you WANT to take damage and get your Limit Break. If you do get Sadness, then go back to the springs in the Gaia's Cliff and heal. If you want to try, equip the Mystify materia and try to learn White Wind from a Wind Wing. It may or may not work for you, as it didn't for me. The Ironites and Dragon Riders are easily beaten by Death Sentence and Frog Song, so don't worry about them too much. Leveling up here isn't that bad, but don't forget to get rid of Sadness before confronting the boss. Boss Battle: Jenova-DEATH Lv: 55 HP: 25000 MP: 800 Items (Win): Reflect Ring This is possibly the toughest fight in the whole game, aside from Hojo. Why? Because Jenova can inflict Silence at any given time in the fight, which is your downfall in this fight. You need to try and cast Big Guard and Regen BEFORE Jenova uses Silence to help you win better. Use Meteorain at the first chance you get, then hope that Silence never connects. Otherwise, you may have to resort to attacking and using Limit Breaks for the remainder of the battle, which isn't the easiest to do here. 3000-5000 HP is what you need to survive this nightmare, and a lot of luck as well. If you manage to win this fight, the rest of the challenge should be a breeze up to Hojo. [Skip storyline] D. In Search of Cloud [019] [Skip storyline] Now, before you save your game, make sure that Barret has Enemy Skill equipped. This will help in the few battles that you'll be forced to fight with him. After battles, make sure to use Restore and Cure to heal up. Junon isn't that hard to get through, so proceed through the story as normal. After you get the Highwind, head northeast until you reach Goblin Island. Here, go into the forest and fight Goblins to learn Goblin Punch. This is a good way to deal damage without spending any MP, if you so choose to use it. After you get this spell, head straight to Mideel. [Skip storyline] After you get control of Cid, it's time to go Huge Materia hunting! E. Huge Materia Quest [020] Your first goal is to head to Fort Condor. You can easily win this simply by playing through, as you should have more than enough money to win. After you are done here, don't bother with the Phoenix materia and instead head straight towards North Corel. Park the Highwind outside of North Corel and head straight to the Reactor. Don't worry about any of the enemies here, as they aren't any threat now. Once you reach the Reactor, give Cid the Enemy Skill and Restore materia and take care of the Attack Squad. Once you get ahold of a train, here's what you do: Do something else. You should just let the timer run out, as to save you the agony of dying for something that you can't use anyways. After the train crashes, head back to Mideel and prepare to live through an onslaught. Boss Battle: Ultimate Weapon Lv: 61 HP: 100,0000 MP: 400 Items (Win): Nothing All you simply need to do is use Cure2 to survive this battle. Don't bother with using anything else, since it won't matter. You won't be fighting him later on anyways. [Skip storyline] F. Underwater Reactor [021] This part can be tough. Make sure that you re-equip Cloud with Restore and Enemy Skill, and head for Junon. The monsters here won't be a problem for you, so don't worry bout them. Those actually new here aren't that tough either. L4 Suicide can take care of the more nastier ones, while Frog Song nullifies the dangers of the others immune to L4 Suicide. Continue through the area until you reach the save point. Now, kill off all of the Shinra Soldiers here, then build up your Limit Break and put Cloud in the back row. Save again, then proceed on to your next boss. Boss Battle: Carry Armor Lv: 45 HP: 24000 MP: 200 Items (Win): Godhand Weakness: Lightning This battle isn't that tough at all compared to any other time. As long as you use Meteorain first and hit all 3 targets, then you shouldn't really have to worry about Arm Grab. Use Magic Hammer twice on the main body to get rid of Lapis Laser. From there, just use the ???? trick to finish him off. If your HP drops to 800, use Cure to bring it back up and continue the onslaught. After the battle, heal Cloud to max, then take care of the Sub Crew with Trine. Nothing too hard here. For the Submarine minigame, you can either choose to win it or lose it. Either way, it doesn't really matter. Once you get the sub, head back to the Highwind and go to Rocket Town. --Rocket Town-- Head to the rocket (heal first, if needed) and kill off the Attack Squads. You'll be forced to take Cid with you, but he'll be dead in the next fight anyways. Head up to confront Rude. Boss Battle: Rude, Attack Squad x3 Lv: 42 HP: 9000 MP: 240 Items (Win): Hi-Potion (wow....) Finishing Touch will take care of the Attack Squad. Meanwhile, focus on using Big Guard and Regen to reduce the damage from Rude's Grand Spark. You can wait until you get Meteorain while using Magic Hammer, or you can use Regen and strike him with ????. Either way, this fight's not that tough. [Skip storyline] G. Diamond Weapon's Attack [022] After the story, head back underwater and go north until you reach a cave that has the Ancient Key. Now, head to the City of the Ancients and proceed with the storyline. After that, head back to the Highwind and Diamond Weapon should appear. You can fight him now if you want, but I'd suggest getting to Level 60 at the very least. Diamond Flash is extremely painful, and you'll need to get as much Strength as you can get. Not to mention now is the best time to get Resist on your Heal materia. Don't do what I did and wait until Midgar....it takes forever to get Resist then. Now, once you level up to around Level 60 (with hopefully 5000+ HP). Save, and prepare for a horrendous battle. Boss Battle: Diamond Weapon Lv: 49 HP: 30000 MP: 30000 Items (Win): None Weakness: Lightning Halves: Fire This is a very tough battle. You have to get very lucky with Meteorain getting critical hits. Three to four Meteorains will kill him, but you have to deal over 1500 HP with EACH hit. Otherwise, he may live to use Diamond Flash on you. If you see the Countdown, set up Big Guard and Regen immediately, starting at 2. Diamond Flash will definently deal around 4000 HP to you (or around there), so make sure that your HP is higher than that before the Countdown ends. You just have to get very lucky in order to win this fight. Hopefully, you have Regen and Big Guard for a little while after Diamond Flash is over. Don't bother trying to Guard against any of his attacks, as they are all Magic based. After the battle, if you haven't done so already, go get Resist now by training in the forests around Mideel. You may also want to Level up to around 60-65, just for Hojo. About 550-700 MP is what you need to survive this fight. [Skip storyline] Now comes one of the toughest boss battles. Prepare for your finest assault! H. Raid on Midgar [023] You'll probably want two save files for this part. Save, then enter Midgar. Head down to the underground passage and proceed as normal. The worst enemies to encounter here are the Behemoths, as Flare will kill you most likely, not to mention their ???? spell later on in the battle. The Crazy Saw enemies will confuse you from time to time, so watch when you use spells and the like. When you reach the underground railway, head up and ignore fighting the Turks, as they aren't worth it. The Shadow Maker enemies are easy to kill off, but them paired with Crazy Saws can be bad. Magic Breath when you aren't Confused. Proceed up to Sector 8 and get ready for the first boss battle! Boss Battle: Proud Clod Lv: 53 HP: 60000 MP: 320 Items (Win): Ragnarok You can leave your HP around 1500, but no less. That way, you can abuse ???? and not worry about having to deal too much damage. If Proud Clod uses Materia Jammer, use Cure on yourself until Reflect disappears, then kill off the Jamar Armor to avoid it. You can neutralize the Beam Cannon simply by draining all of Proud Clod's MP, so that's easily taken care of. The rest of the attacks are easy to reduce, simply by going into the back row. After the battle, heal up and save. Now, head up the stairs and try to get into a SOLDIER: 1st if possible, so that you can use Frog Song, L4 Suicide, and Magic Hammer to get your MP back up to max. Make sure that you're fully healed before fighting Hojo. Equip Restore and Heal (with Cure2 and Resist) before entering the fight. Boss Battle: Hojo Lv: 50 HP: 13000 MP: 250 Items (Win): None This fight is very straightforward. You should immediately use Meteorain to inflict damage to just Hojo if possible at the start of the battle. You'll want to use Resist before you kill Hojo, and avoid using Cure2, as you want to save MP for later on. If your HP drops too low, then use Cure2; otherwise, don't use it. Don't bother with Regen at all, since Resist prevents it anyways. Ignore the Samples and focus on attacking Hojo. You can even put Cloud in the front row at the start of the battle if you want, but you'll want to put him in the back before you kill Hojo. Boss Battle: Helletic-Hojo Lv: 55 HP: 26000 MP: 200 This fight's rough, but with Resist, most of the attacks that Hellectic-Hojo does won't matter. The only one to watch for is his normal attack, which does 750 damage while in the back row, and he can sometimes attack twice in a row. You should constantly cast Cure on yourself, and use Meteorain at your first shot. If your HP drops below 1500, use Cure2 to bring it back up. Basically, keep using Meteorain and Cure2, and attack if you see an opening, and you should be fine. Boss Battle: Lifeform Hojo Lv: 58 HP: 30000 MP: 100 Items (Win): Power Source This fight is pretty much straightforward. Cure everyturn, and counter Silence with a Meteorain or physical attack, and don't worry about this fight. It's not that hard, until you run out of MP. You'll want Meteorain to do criticals too, but if not, then the battle will only take a little longer. [Skip storyline] --Disc Three-- A. Northern Crater [024] This is going to be a long haul, so prepare yourself for a challenging trial. First off, before entering the crater, go build up Enemy Skills, if you don't have them. Next, if you want to level up outside of the cave, go to Mideel and fight around there. You don't want to try and level up here, as you'll end up frustrated over it. Also, you'll want to have Death Force so you can survive any L4 and L5 Deaths, if you encounter them. Now, pick up the Save Crystal and head on down. You'll be using Death Force a bit here, as you'll face Instant Death attacks quite often in this area. Once you reach the area where your team first splits up, send everyone except Cloud and one other person to the left, and have Cloud go down the other path (the right one). Here, you'll have a bit of trouble living. Death Dealers love to use Roulette here, and that can kill you off if you can't get Death Force beforehand. Dragon Zombies are also nasty due to their high attack and Poison attacks, not to mention that their Pandora's Box can probably, if not, kill you. And Malboros are back again, but remain unchanged. Your target here is to use Manipulate and Enemy Skill to try and learn Angel Whisper from an enemy called Pollensalta. To get it, you'll have to first use it on Cloud, then on a dead ally, then have that ally attack and then have him die. If you want to risk it, later on, you can try and learn Shadow Flare from Dragon Zombies, but it's not needed really. Once you reach the third screen (the one with the bones), you might end up fighting a Master Tonberry. Don't fret! You can survive if you use Death Force before it gets too close to you! This fight will just take a while to finish. Once you reach the bottom, use the Save Crystal before the area where your party members are and save. If you need to go back up now, then you might have a bit of problem, since King Behemoths, Allegmagnes, and Master Tonberries are on the way back up. Now, take the time to re-equip Cloud with Enemy Skill and Heal, and prepare for you final battles! On the way down, the toughest opponent you'll fight is Iron Man, as his attacks are pretty powerful. You can deal with him by the ???? trick if you want, but remember to use Angel Whisper if your HP drops below 2000! Dragon Zombies can be dealt with by Angel Whisper. B. The Final Battles [025] Boss Battle: Jenova-SYNTHESIS Lv:61 HP: 65535; 8000 (Left Tentacle); 10000 (Right Tentacle) MP: 3000; 600 (Left Tentacle); 600 (Right Tentacle) For this fight, you'll want to use Resist at the start of the battle. Kill of the Left Tentacle first, and leave the right one alone, as it'll cast Stop every 3 turns, and with Resist on, it'll be negated. Add to that Bio2 will never hit, and you can pretty much win this fight easily. Drain MP with Magic Hammer if you need it, as Jenova has plenty to share. The only thing to watch for is Ultima, and you can easily reduce the damage of that with a simple Big Guard. After the battle, fully heal Cloud with Cure2 or Cure, and then use Heal and Enemy Skill for the final battles! Make sure that Cloud is in the back row before the fight as well. Boss Battle: Bizarro-Sephiroth Lv: 61 HP: 82500; 6000 (Left Arm); 4000 (Right Arm); 2000 (Head); 10000 (Core) MP: 3000; 600 (Left Arm); 400 (Right Arm); 400 (Head); 400 (Core) This is a very tough fight. You'll want to use Big Guard on your first turn, then probably have to use Angel Whisper after that. Then, set up Resist, and use Meteorain and Aqualung, or Pandora's Box, if you have it. Once you kill both arms, start attacking the Core non-stop, except for when your HP falls below 1500. Once the Core is dead, Bizarro will start with this pattern: Heartless Angel Skip a turn Physical attack x3 or x4 Repeat If you use ???? right after Heartless Angel, you can maximize the amount of damage you do to Bizarro, BUT if you kill him with it, then you'll be in trouble in the next fight. So, your best bet is to use Angel Whisper when he uses Heartless Angel, THEN use Meteorain if you have it or use something like Shadow Flare or Goblin Punch (which is more ideal) to try and finish him off. You might want to save Meteorain for after this fight. Boss Battle: Safer Sephiroth Lv: 87 HP: 150,0000 (+40000 if Cloud is Lv99) MP: 8500 (but recovers every turn....) This fight is pretty straightforward actually. Safer will alternate between two patterns throughout most of the fight, until his HP drops below 20,000: Wall (Switches with DeSpell for 2nd pattern) Shadow Flare (Switches with Deen for 2nd pattern) Havoc Wing [Flies up] Pale Horse Super Nova Break (Switches with Heartless Angel after HP is under 20,000) [Flies down] Start of 2nd pattern Repeat First off, use Big Guard, so that you can survive Shadow Flare. Now, use Angel Whisper after that, then Resist immediately afterwards. If you don't get Resist out before Pale Horse, you're done. After that, always use Angel Whisper after Super Nova, unless Safer starts using Heartless Angel, in which case you punish him with ???? (this is also nice to do after a Break, when your HP is full). You might want to have more than 6000 HP for this fight, just to survive Break too. For DeSpell, just recast Resist, then use Big Guard again and use ???? to punish Safter. Make sure to use Magic Hammer if you run low, and don't worry about not having any MP, as Safer has an infinite amount to share. Keep up the strategy, and he'll go down in no time! After you've beaten him, feel free to Omnislash him in the final battle, and enjoy the credits! You've certainly deserve them this time around! ------------------------------------------------------ 6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) [026] ------------------------------------------------------ Q: Is this challenge really possible? A: Very much so! You just need a ton of patience and know what you are doing to do this challenge. As stated at the start of this faq, you'll also need to know how to use what at the right moment. Q: Should I start with this challenge as my first? A: Unless you think you're very godly, then be my guest. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it for a first challenge. A regular Solo Character game is the best way to start, then work up to SCIENM, and then this challenge. Q: Are you sure you've done this challenge? A: I wouldn't have made a faq if I haven't done it, now would I? It'd be pointless for me to do that, and I don't like to mislead anyone. Q: What if there is something wrong in your faq? You'd be misleading people then. A: Well, if that's the case, then please notify me on either Gamefaqs, email, or AIM, which is at the top of the faq. Q: Why have you played this game so many times, just to do these challenges? A: I hear this a lot, and I probably do play this too many times, as of right now, this makes my 75th playthrough (no joke there either). Well, I guess my answer is that I do what I'm best at, and this game is probably what I'm best at out of all of the games that I play. And I like to help people, so why not use what I know and put that into something that'll help many people? Q: Why do this faq at all? A: The answer is the same as in the previous question. And yes, I've gotten comments about how challenge faqs are useless, but to me, it's worth helping those who actually attempt them. And once again, I feel the need to help. ------------------------------------------------------ 7. Credits [027] ------------------------------------------------------ Thanks to GarlandG and lolo26, for having the General Challenge Discussion Topic, which got me back into the world of FFVII. Thanks to Thundaka, for helping me with certain strategies for bosses, especially Hojo and Sephiroth. Thanks to anyone else that I've missed. Thanks to Gamefaqs, for hosting this faq.