------------------------------ Final Fantasy VII - Boss guide ------------------------------ -- By -- ----- Volke ----- ------------ Introduction ------------ The name is Volke. I am an expert at Final Fantasy VII, and I will provide you with flawless boss strategies in order to get you through your game. I have played through this game many times, so I know how to get through it like I know the back of my hand. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Characters ---------- Final Fantasy VII is not the sort of game where characters are either good or bad. In fact, all of the characters are good enough to use in your main party. Throughout most of the game, you will be forced to have Cloud in your party. There are times when this does not apply, usually when Cloud is absent for whatever reason. For quite a large portion of the game you will be forced to have Cid take up the leader position during Cloud's absence. and you will not be able to remove him from your party. At certain points in the game, Barret, Tifa and Aeris will become your temporary 'leaders' in Cloud's place. Anyway, here are my personal opinions on the characters: ----- Cloud ----- Cloud is probably the most powerful character in the game. His level 4 limit break, Omnislash, is the most powerful attack in the game (even dealing more damage than Knights of the Round). Both his physical attacks and his magic attacks are powerful, so it is best to take advantage of both. Give him materia, of course, but do not overload him with it so he can deal powerful physical and magical attacks. You have to have him in your party throughout most of the game, but that's definately a good thing. The downside is that with the Ultima Weapon, he deals less damage if he takes damage, so keep his HP high for maximum effect. ------ Barret ------ Barret is very powerful on the physical side. Whilst his magic attacks are nothing special, he can be a very effective character, Avoid giving him much materia, as it is better to take advantage of his physical strength. His level 4 limit break, Catastrophe, is one of the most powerful attacks in the game, dealing damage similar to, if not quite as much, as Cloud's Omnislash. Barret's Missing Score, however, deals more damage the more Magic materia is placed in it, so if you use him you'll have to run the risk of his HP and Defence being poorer than it should be. Still, one of the better characters. He also has the highest HP growth in the game. ---- Tifa ---- Tifa can give a poor first ipression early on, as her physical attacks cannot compare to Cloud's and Barret's, and her magic attacks are not that great either. Her true strength lies in her limit break chain. As she gains more limit breaks, she can use them all in a chain effect, instead of just selecting one like all the other characters. Once she obtains her Final Heaven limit break, you can use all seven of her limit breaks in one go, provided you do not land on a 'miss' in her roulette. I still do not think she is as good as Cloud or Barret, but she should not be overlooked for this reason and is still a good character. ----- Aeris ----- Aeris' magic power exceeds that of all other characters, and she has the highest MP growth in the game. She is the only character in the game whose limit breaks are purely defensive, and are very valuable for more strategic gameplay. Keep her in the back rank and have her cast magic attacks, as her physical strength is fairly weaker than that of most characters. Despite being a great, unique character, she departs after the first disk and does not return. She is worth using for the time you have her though, especially if you try to get her level 4 limit break, Great Gospel, which is brilliant. Just try not to get too comfortable. -------- Red XIII -------- Red XIII is a well balanced character who deals both good physical and magical attacks. Like Cloud, you should give him a balanced amount of materia tot ake advantage of both his physical and magical strengths. His level 4 limit break, Cosmo Memory, however, is pretty poor. It attacks all enemies, but only once so the most damage it can deal is 9999 per enemy. Good for groups of enemies, not so good for bosses. It is useful early on though, as you get it about two thirds of the way through the first disk. ------ Yuffie ------ Yuffie seems to edge more towards the physical side in terms of her strengths. Her physical power is great, and he magical power good. She is a good character, but her level 4 limit break is very similar to Redi XIII's, so she does not win in that field. Still a decent character, but not the best. --------- Cait Sith --------- Probably the worst character in the game due to his limit breaks. He only has two, and they will quickly become relatively useless as you get deeper into the game. His physical and magical attacks are good, and he can still be used effectively. However, he is probably the least most recommended character in the game. He can take a lot of damage, though. ------- Vincent ------- Vincent is the most overrated character in the game, with many people choosing him because he is 'cool'. He is not a bad character, but not the best. He deals great magical damage, in addition to good physical damage, His limit breaks are unique. When activated, he will transform into a monster and deal unique attacks. However, during these forms Vincent cannot be controlled, and it will remain this way until he is either killed or the battle ends. His limit breaks are very useful throughout the first and most of the second disks, but not so great as time wears on. A good character, more so if you are interested in his sort of thing. --- Cid --- Cid is well balanced, like Cloud and Red XIII, in both physical and magical terms. So, as with the other two, balance out his materia so that he deals both great physical and great magical damage. The difference between Cid and Red XIII is that Cid's level 4 limit break, Highwind, is far better. Highwind deals similar overall damage to Cloud's Omnislash and Barret's Catastrophe. So, overall, he is a damn good character, and one of my favourites. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you want to know what I think the best team is, I would say a team consisting of Cloud, Barret and Cid. At the very least, it is the most powerful team. My deduction is not based on favouritism of the characters as they are. It comes from my professional judgement after years of playing the game. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Guide ----- Okay, time to get into the real thing. I will divide this guide into two sections - Storyline Bosses and Optional Bosses. I will handle the storyline bosses first. ---------------- Storyline Bosses ---------------- No matter what you do or how you play, you will HAVE to battle and defeat these bosses in order to progress through the game. They will be listed in order of appearance, so that you do not get confused. I will also include the Reno and Rude battle in Gongaga, and the Lost Number battle in the Shinra Mansion as they are, although optional, part of the story. Note that all bosses are resistant to Gravity spells. Also note that I have guessed the HP of the bosses that appear before you obtain the Sense materia as accurately as I can. ------------------------------------------------- -------- Disk one -------- -------------- Guard Scorpion -------------- Characters - Cloud, Barret and Tifa Location - Mako Reactor No.1 HP - 800? MP - ??? Weak against - Lightning Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A Use Cloud's Bolt magic and have Barret use his regular attack. The boss' Search Scope attack does nothing as far as I can tell. The Scorpion Tail attack will knock about 60-70 HP off the character it hits. Use limit breaks when you can get them. Beware when the boss raises its tail. Cloud will issue a warning to Barret not to attack it. Make sure you heed it too, as attacking the boss while its tail is up will cause it to counter-attack with the Tail Laser attack. This attack deals about 100 HP damage to both Cloud and Barret, so it is quite deadly. Whilst the boss has its tail up, either heal your wounds with Potions or use the Defend option. When it lowers its tail, proceed as normal and finish it off. Item obtained - Assualt Gun ------------------------------------------------- --------- Airbuster --------- Characters - Cloud, Barret and Tifa Location - 'T' bridge outside of Mako Reactor No.5 HP - 1,200? MP - ??? Weak against - Lightning Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A Another mechanical boss, so Bolt magic obviously works well. Since Cloud is the most magically powerful out of the three, make sure he has it equipped. Try to use physical attacks (especially limit breaks) when the Airbuster has its back to the character attacking it. The Airbuster's attacks are all powerful, so use Cure when necessary. Keep attacking with Bolt, and regular asttacks while keeping your HPs up and you should be able to destroy it without too much trouble. Quick win strategy - In order to kill the Airbuster in two attacks, enter the battle with Cloud's and Barret's limit break gauges full. If you use the limit breaks on the Airbuster when he has his back turned to that character, Braver and Big Shot will cause over 600 HP damage to the Airbuster EACH, resulting in over 1200 HP damage to the Airbuster - enough to kill it. Item obtained - Titan Bangle ------------------------------------------------- --- Aps --- Characters - Cloud, Aeris and Tifa Location - Sewers HP - 1,800? MP - ??? Weak against - Fire Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A Equip Aeris with the Fire materia as she is the most magically powerful member of your party, and make sure Cloud and Tifa have at least one offensive magic materia each. Now, you will notice that the Aps' primary attack is the Sewer Tsunami. The attack can be either dangerous or beneficial to you. The attack will come from behind the Aps if the Aps throws his arms foreward to use the attack. As the attack causes damage to the Aps as well as you, it will damage him more than it will damage you if it comes from behind. If it comes from the behind you, however, then it will cause more damage to you than it does to the Aps. It usually comes from behind the Aps, so no worries. Overall, the Aps will take off about half its HP using this attack throughout the fight. So just use magic and limit breaks when you get them, keep your HP above 100 and you should be fine. If Cloud has obtained his Cross Slash limit break then you can paralyse the Aps for the majority of the fight. However, you have probably not obtained this yet. Item obtained - Hi-Potion? ------------------------------------------------- ---- Reno ---- Characters - Cloud, Barret and Tifa Location - Sector 7 Plate Support System HP - 1,600? MP - ??? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A Fire and Ice magic works well, although Lightning does not deal as much damage as the other two for reasons unknown, and does as much damage as a physical attack. Use limit breaks when you get them and keep everyone's HP above 110, as Reno's Electric Mag Rod attack and standard attack often perform critical hits. Reno's Pyramid attack encases a character inside a translucent pyramid. It can be broken if you use a physical attack on the pyramid itself. Beware though - the character trapped in a pyramid cannot participate in the fight until the pyramid is broken. Therefore, if all three characters get trapped in pyramids, it is game over, so break them as soon as possible. Additionally, anyone trapped in a pyramid when the fight ends will not gain experience from it. Just keep up the Fire and Ice attacks (and physical attacks for the character with the Lightning materia), use limit breaks when you get them (Cross Slash can paralyse Reno, if you have it) and break the pyramids whenever Reno casts one on one of your characters. After you inflict about 1600 HPs worth of damage, Reno will bail out. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- -------------- H0512 and pals -------------- Characters - Cloud, Red XIII and your choice between Barret and Tifa Location - Shinra Building Floor 67 HP - 1,300 MP - 50 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Poison Forget about using the Poison materia that you picked up just before this battle as it is pretty much useless here. Ignore the little guys and concentrate on killing the H0512, as he will just revive his buddies if you kill them. They all die when he does, so no experience is lost. Despite his rather low total HP, this boss can be a tremendous nuisance. His Shady Breath attack has a high chance of poisoning all of your characters, so take plenty of Antidotes. He will also use a slashing attack which cause about 70 HP damage to a character, which doe not sound like much but you will be surprised at how fast their HP will decline if they are poisoned, and you will be casting Cure an unprecedented number of times. As always, use limit breaks when you get them, and Fire and Ice materia deal some significant damage. As for his pals, they will use a rolling attack or cast ice on you, which makes things no fun, but there is not a great deal you can do about it. Eventually, the boss will kick the bucket. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Hundred Gunner and Heli Gunner ------------------------------ -------------- Hundred Gunner -------------- Characters - Aeris, Barret and Red XIII Location - Shinra Building Elevators HP - 1,600 MP - 0 Weak against - Lightning Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A Ligyhtning magic is very effective here. Give it to Aeris and it will be even nastier. Have Barret just use his standard attack - he is the only character who can. Make sure Red XIII has at least one spell materia, and that one of the three has Cure combined with All. The Hundred Gunner has three phases. The first one just uses an artillery attack which hits one character, and is not much of a threat. The second phase uses single-hit attacks in addition to another attack which hits all three of your characters at once. The third phase does nothing for two turns, and then on the third unleashes the Wave Artillery attack which deals heavy damage to all three of your characters, but you should be able to finish it off before it can use this attack. It moves on to each phase after it takes a certain amount of damage. Like I have already said, Bolt magic is very powerful. Fire and Ice deal decent damage. Since this boss deals quite big damage, your limit gauges should not take too long to fill up. Use Aeris' Healing Wind to heal the party when you can, and Barret's Big Shot and Red XIII's Sled Fang hit quite hard. On the third phase, hit it with everything you have to make sure you finish it off before it hits you with Wave Artillery, which will not put you in a good position for the upcoming Heli Gunner fight. ----------- Heli Gunner ----------- Characters - Aeris, Barret and Red XIII Location - Shinra Building Elevators HP - 1,000 MP - 0 Weak against - Lightning Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A This battle takes place in the same battle scene as the Hundred Gunner. The Heli Gunner flies in as soon as you destroy the Hundred Gunner. Despite having less HP, the Heli Gunner is more dangerous than the Hundred Gunner as its attacks are more powerful, and it is faster (usually attacks fast enough that it is basically counter-attacking each of your character's attacks). Bolt is even more powerful on the Heli Gunner, and everything else deals similar damage to what it did against the Hundred Gunner. You will need to heal more often, and one of the Heli Gunner's attacks can put one of your characters to sleep (they will wake up when attacked by another of your characters or the Heli Gunner). Firing Line attacks all three of your characters and will deal about 100 HPs worth of damage. Use the same attack procedure as you used against the Hundred Gunner. After taking about 500 HPs worth of damage, the Heli Gunner will start spinning. It will also produce more violent attacks. The Spinning Bodyblow can cause up to 200 HP damage, which is especially deadly to Aeris. However, Bolt seems to deal even more damage when the Heli Gunner is spinning. Hopefully you should be able to take it down without too much trouble. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Rufus and Dark Nation --------------------- Characters - Cloud Location - Shinra Building 70th Floor Balcony HP - 500 (Rufus), 190 (Dark Nation) MP - 0 (Rufus), 75? (Dark Nation) Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A (Rufus), Lightning? (Dark Nation) Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A Get rid of the Dark Nation as soon as possible as it can make this fight much more annoying than need be. I recommend equiping Cloud with the Restore and Poison materias. He does not really need anything else. Use Bio on the Dark Nation and then a normal attack and it should be taken care of. Although there is not really anything you can do about the Dark Nation immediately casting Barrier on Rufus, if it is killed off quickly it should not have the chance to cast MBarrier additionally. Cast Bio on Rufus until he becomes poisoned and it should be a quick fight. Just exchange blows afterwards. Limit breaks are reached quickly and Cross Slash can paralyse Rufus, making the fight even easier. This is an easy fight if you know what you are doing. Just make sure to heal Cloud every few turns as Rufus' Shotgun attack deals about 60 HP damage and he attacks quickly - sometimes even twice before you get a hit in. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- --------- Motorball --------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible four) Location - Midgar Highway HP - 2,600 MP - 260 Weak against - Lightning Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Poison? If a front range fighter is going to be dealing physical attacks, switch from the back position you are in at the start. Keep magic users in the back row. I recommend giving the Lightning materia to Aeris. If you are not using her, give it to Cloud. It knocks about 250 HP off the Motorball's HP (which is a good thing because, as you may have noticed, it has lots). Beware of the Motorball's Rolling Fire attack, which causes about 250 points of damage to each of your characters. It only uses this attack in upright position, but be sure to keep the HP of all your characters above 250 to be safe. Other than that, the only other threat is Twin Burner, which is used when it is in its crouching position. It knocks about 90 HP off each of your characters but should still be treated carefully. Just keep using Bolt, limit breaks and Fire and Ice spells whilst keeping your HP at a reasonable level and you should be fine. This is probably the toughest boss you have faced so far. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- ----------- Bottomswell ----------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible five) Location - Lower Junon Beach HP - 2,500 MP - 250 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Earth (always misses as it is an airbourne foe) The first thing you should know about this boss is that it uses an attack called Bubble. Bubble will imprison a character with similar effects to Reno's Pyramid attack. The only differences are that the Bubble can only be popped by magic and the character trapped within the Bubble will suffer a slow but steady decline in their health. Also note that the only character that can attack this boss without the Long Range materia equipped is Barret (and possibly Yuffie). Equip the materia on one of your short range characters if you want, but limit breaks still hit it and magical attacks are more effective so it is no big deal if you decide not to. The Bottomsell can be poisoned, so it is worth using Bio to do so. Fire magic is noteably effective, and Bolt and Ice hit it pretty well. When the Bottomswell loses all its HP, it will use the Big Wave attack which knocks about 150 HP off all of your characters as a last hope of eliminating you, so keep all of your character's HPs above 150 just to be safe. As with Reno's Pyramid attack, and character trapped in a Bubble when the battle ends will not receive any experience points or AP. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- ------------ Jenova BIRTH ------------ Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible five) Location - Cargo Ship HP - 4,000 MP - 400 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Poison Earth is the only magic that is really worth using here, so stick to physical attacks and limit breaks otherwise. You will have a slightly less difficult time if you have levelled up and All materia so you can use Cure on all characters twice. Jenova BIRTH has three attacks, two of which you should watch out for. W-Laser attacks once, but Jenova can use it up to three times. It deals about 200 HP damage. Whilst Jenova tends to hit a different character with each attack, it occasionally goes for the same character twice, so that character will lose about 400 HP. The Tail Laser attack hits all three of your characters in one go, dealing about 200 HP damage to each, and Jenova uses this twice in a row more often than not. It is vitally important you keep your HPs up. Keep in mind that Jenova will become dormant after a while to regain skill power. It also uses Stop, but rarely does and it has about a 50% chance of missing. Just try to stay alive. Limit breaks come in handy, and they build up very quickly in this battle, as logic would dictate. Item obtained - White Cape ------------------------------------------------- ---- Dyne ---- Characters - Barret Location - Corel Prison Outskirts HP - 1,200 MP - 120 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A Barret stands alone in this battle. This fight will be a lot easier if you have been using Barret in your main party as he will have more experience (and HP). Throughout this battle you will just continue to trade blows with Dyne, using your limit breaks when you can. Dyne's regular attack and the S-Mine attack each cause about 150 points of damage. When Dyne loses about half his HP, he will begin using two attacks at once - usually the S-Mine attack followed by the Molotov Cocktail attack (which also cause about 150 points of damage). This results in a heavy loss of HP per turn (about 300), and it means you will have to heal yourself regularly - usually every two or three turns. It is not a bad idea to give Barret the Restore materia. You could just use Hi-Potions, but there is a big chance that they will not be useful enough, especially if you have been using Barret in your main party, as they will not heal enough HP. Just try not to let Barret's HP drop below 300 at all and use your regular attacks and limit breaks as much as possible. Like I previously stated, this fight will probably be easier if you have been using Barret in your main party. Either way, just do what I have suggested and you should be victorious. I would not recommend giving Barret any other materia other than Restore. Item obtained - Silver Armlet ------------------------------------------------- ------------- Reno and Rude ------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible six) Location - Gongaga Jungle HP - 2,000 (each) MP 200 (each) Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A Keep in mind that each of the Turks have 2000 HP, and that the other will walk away shortly after one has been defeated, leaving you with only half the possible EXP and AP, and only one of the two prizes. To avoid this, I recommend attacking each of the Turks in equal vigour, so that you can defeat one and be left with enough time to finish off the other before he backs out. Rude is more of a problem than Reno, as he casts Cure. You can use Barret's Mindblow limit break to deplete his MP, which will dispose of the problem. He also use Fire and attacks with his fist. Reno uses his regular attack that we have seen before (but thankfully no Pyramid attacks this time) in addition to a new attack called Turk Light. Each of the Turks' attacks deal about 150-300 points of damage, and there are two of them. Magic attacks and limit breaks work very well. Be sure to keep your HP above 300 and you will be fine. If you have levelled up any of your spell materias (into Fire 2 etc), then this battle should be a breeze. Just be sure to knock off all of both Turks' HP so you can double your Exp. and AP, and get both the X-Potion and the Fairy Tale. Items obtained - X-Potion (Rude defeated), Fairy Tale (Reno defeated) ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- Gi-Nattack and Soul Fires ------------------------- Characters - Cloud, Red XIII and one of your choice (out of possible five) Location - Cave of the Gi HP - 5,500 MP - 550 Weak against - Holy (all foes) Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A (Gi Nattack), Fire (Soul Fires) Resistance - Earth (misses every time) First of all, you do not need to kill the Soul Fires. Just focus on the Gi Nattack. The Gi Nattack will command the two Soul Fires to Take Over a character each. Once inside your character/s, the Soul Fires will constantly damage them with Fire 2. You can make this less of a problem if you equip one of your characters with the Fire Ring (if you remembered to grab it in the Shinra Villa Basement at Costa Del Sol). The Holy weakness might sound odd, but Holy magic is Cure magic. So the Gi Nattack and his Soul Fire buddies take damage from Cure spells. However, the SOul Fires can cast Fire 2 on themselves to heal themselves, and the Gi Nattack will revive them if they are killed. The Gi Nattack can also steal your HP and MP, but in small doses - not enough to make healing himself worthwhile. Use any first and second level spells to hit him with. If you have Cure 2, you can expect this to be a short fight. However, it is quite unlikely that you have it at this point. Limit breaks, as with pretty much every boss, hit this guy hard. As long as you know what you are doing, you should be okay. When the Gi Nattack dies, the Soul Fires die. Quick win strategy - If you have an X-Potion, you can use it on the Gi Nattack to kill him in one hit, making it the easiest boss battle in the entire game. Although I think there is only one X-Potion you can find before this point and that is from your battle with the Turks in Gongaga. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- ----------- Lost Number ----------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (of possible six) Location - Shinra Mansion, Nibelheim HP - 7,000 MP - 700 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity The Lost Number is compased of two different sides. The right side (red) casts magical attacks and the left side (purple) will hit your party with powerful physical attacks. If you hit the boss with magical attacks, the physical side will eventually die (once the boss loses about half its HP) and you will be battling the red side in full force, in which case you should attack with with limit breaks, Deathblow and regular physical attacks. If you hit the boss with physical attacks, the red side will eventually die and you will have to fight the purple side in full force, in which case you should attack it with your most powerful magical attacks and summons (if you actually use them). I strongly recommend using magic attacks during the first half of the fight so that the purple side dies. The purple side standing alone deals atatcks that will hit you for 1200 to 2300 points of damage, whilst the red side standing alone uses spells that hit between 700 and 800 points of damage, and you also have a wider variety of physical attacks to use that can hit harder than msot spells. Additionally, you can paralyse the Lost Number for a few turns with Aeris' Seal Evil limit break if you are using her, making the fight easier. Limit breaks build up quickly anyway. You can also poison the boss with Bio/Bio2 which will help. Keep your HP above 500 to be safe. It is worth training outside of Nibelheim to boost your HP and MP in preparation, as this is probably the thoughest boss battle in the game so far. Item obtained - Cosmo Memory ------------------------------------------------- -------------- Materia Keeper -------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Mt. Nibel HP - 8,400 MP - 420 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - Fire Resistance - Gravity Another tough boss. Why it is called the Materia Keeper, I have never been able to guess. The Materia Keeper absorbs Fire spells, so avoid using anything of the sort. Its' regular slashing attack deals about 500 HP damage, and its' Big Horn attack deals about 750. So it is not a bad idea to train up a little first (the enemies in mt. Nibel offer the best Exp and AP gains in this game so far) before running into him. Additionally, it can cast Trine on your entire party (Trine can be learned if one of your characters is carrying the Enemy Skill materia) which causes about 500 points of damage to each of your characters. Start off by hitting the Materia Keeper with spells like Bolt 2 and Ice 2 as they hit it hard. If you have Quake 2, it should hit it even harder. Use Bio/Bio 2 on the Materia Keeper to try and poison it. Regardless of whether you had it previously, Cure 2 is a must in this battle as Cure heals too little to be effective at this stage. If you are using Vincent, make sure he has his Death Gigas limit break as Gallian Beast is useless due to the fact that the Materia Keeper is healed by Fire spells. Limit breaks such as Cloud's Climhazzard also hit this boss really hard. Once the Materia Keeper loses the majority of its HP, it will start using Cure 2 to heal istelf. It heals about 1000 HP each time. Regardless, you should be causing more damage to it than it can heal (especially if it is poisoned) and the fight should not last much longer at this stage. Deathblow works well. Item obtained - Jem Ring ------------------------------------------------- ------ Palmer ------ Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Cid's back yard, Rocket Town HP - 6,800 MP - 68 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity After the likes of the Materia Keeper and the Lost Number, along comes this guy. Seriously, he should be nothing to you. He attacks with his Mako Gun, imitating spells such as Bolt 2, Ice 2 and Fire 2, which will take about 450 HP of one character. Half of the time, he just dances around posturing anyway, and will not attack you. Use any of your spells, with Bio 2 to poison him (just to make things even easier). Trine also works well if you have learned it. A few level 2 limit breaks such as Cloud's Climhazzard will make this fight even shorter. After Palmer loses all of his HP, he will scarper.....only to be run over by a truck. Sadly, it does not kill the fat bastard, but he rarely appears in the game after this. Item obtained - Edincoat ------------------------------------------------- ----- Rapps ----- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven, due to Yuffie's temporary absence) Location - Da Chao HP - 6,000? MP - 600? Weak against - N/A (probably Wind, not that it matters) Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A I have estimated that Rapps has about 6000 HP, and probably about 600 MP. Since you have no materia during this battle, I cannot Sense it for exact HP and MP. Okay, remember you have no matreia, so you are out for one hell of a fight. Be sure to bring plenty of X-Potions (many enemies in the Wutai Area drop them once killed, and for good reason!), Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs as Rapps would be no pushover even if you did have materia. Rapps' regular attack and the Scorpion Tail attack will knock off about 700 HP off a character (each) and the Aero 3 attack causes over 1500 points of damage - enough to kill a character if they have low HP or were already wounded. As to who to take along to this fight, I would recommend you choose between Barret, Vincent and Aeris. Barret can use his Mindblow limit break to remove most of the Rapps' MP, to stop it using Aero 3. Vincent can transform into any of his beast forms for the HP boost AND the additional power. Aeris can heal the party with Healing Wind, or use Fury Brand to drive the other characters' limit breaks to breaking point. Seal Evil is, useless, however. Use regular attacks, healing with X-Potions or Hi-Potions, and reviving dead characters with Phoenix Downs. When limit breaks are ready, use them immediately as you need to kill this thing as quickly as possible. Climhazzard hits it hard. Cid's limit breaks hit it hard. Vincent's are extremely useful. Pretty much all characters work well. Just try to keep them alive, keep your health up (even if it means you have to heal nearly all the time) and keep hitting it with all the physical poewr you have. Pity Deathblow is unavailable, as it would have been extremely useful here. This fight is short and fast, but it is also very hard. ------------------------------------------------- ----------- Dark Dragon ----------- Characters - Cloud, Aeris and one of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Black Materia room, Temple of the Ancients HP - 6,800 MP - 400 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - Fire Resistance - N/A The Dark Dragon has two attacks - the Dragon's Bite, which causes about 1400 points of damage, and the Dark Dragon Breath, which causes about 700-800 points of damage. It also absorbs Fire spells. It is pretty much a more powerful cousin of the Red Dragons you fought in Mt. Nibel. As the fight begins, set up Barrier to reduce the Dragon's Bite attack to about 700 points of damage. Attack it with Bio 2 to poison it, followed by Quake 2, Ice 2, Bolt 2, Deathblow and limit breaks when they are ready. It is not a tough boss - definately not as hard as what is coming up after it, but it can catch unwary players off guard. You should be able to dispose of it quickly enough. Since its atatcks are powerful, be sure to keep your HPs up, with Regen if possible, but that is only if you have it. Keep this strategy up and this battle should not be much trouble. After you kill this boss, be sure to take the Bahamut summon materia before you leave the area - it will come in handy in the upcoming boss battle. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- ------------ Demon's Gate ------------ Characters - Cloud, Aeris and one of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Temple of the Ancients exit room HP - 1,0000 MP - 1,000 Weak against - N/A Strong against - Fire, Earth Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity, Poison The Demon's Gate can easily make short work of your party. The Demon's Rush attack causes about 800 damage to all three of your characters. Cave In will hit a single character knocking about 1400 HP off. It ca also slash a character, dealing about 500+ points of damage. It is also resistant to Gravity and Poison, and Fire and Earth are weak. Magic attacks at second level are relatively useless anyway and probably will not take off more than 250 HP, and he has 10,000 in total. You should not worry about magic atatcks being useless. Most of the time you will be healing yourself, and when it is safe to toss in an attack, your limit gauges will probably be full. The Bahamut summon that you should have picked up after the Dark Dragon battle five minutes ago is very useful, so use it when you get the opportunity. You can only use it once, mind you. Cloud's Climhazzard also works like a dream, and Deathblow is very effective too. Limit breaks should be used when the gauges are full and if it is safe to do so. If it is safe to attack with a character that does not have a limit break ready and does not have Deathblow, either use a regular attack or heal if need be. Keep bringing up Regen (if you have it) and Barrier as soon as they fade - you will need them. If Aeris has her Fury Brand limit break, use it to your advantage by using it once Cloud and your third character have just used their limit breaks - it pretty much repeats the process and the Demon's Gate will end up losing over 5,000 HP. Just try to stay alive and attack when you can and you should pull out of this battle without too many problems. Note - This is the last battle in the entire game that you will ever get to use Aeris. Item obtained - Gigas Armlet ------------------------------------------------- ----------- Jenova LIFE ----------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Cty of the Ancients HP - 10,000 MP - 1,000 Weak against - Earth Strong against - N/A Absorbs - Water Resistance - Poison, Gravity Hint - Have Cloud equip the Water Ring that you found on the way to the Forgetten Capital. Jenova LIFE's attacks are all Water-based, so Cloud will be invincible. This means that you simply cannot lose. Jenova LIFE uses Blue Light and Blue Flame, which cause about 500-800 points of damage to a single character, but imitating Jenova BIRTH's attacks, LIFE will probably use them on each character in a row anyway. It also casts the Enemy Skill Aqualung, which will take about 1300 HP off each character. Make sure Cloud has the Enemy Skill materia so he can learn it, but do not cast it on Jenova because it absorbs Water spells. Strategy #1 - Equip Cloud with the Water Ring and the Yoshiyuki sword. Let the other two characters do what they want until they are killed, then ignore them. Have Cloud attack normally with his Yoshiyuki sword. As his two comrades are dead, the power of the Yoshiyuki will triple, causing Cloud to take off about 1500 HP from Jenova per hit. This should kill Jenova in about seven attacks. The only problem is that Cloud or whoever was equipped with the Water Ring will be the only one who gains Exp. and AP from this battle. Make sure you learn Aqualung before you kill Jenova, too. Strategy #2 - Same as above, but wait until Jenova runs out of skill power. As it will not be able to attack, revive your fallen comrades and finish it off. This way, all three characters will gain Exp. and AP. I recommend this strategy unless you either forgot to grab the Water Ring or you want a challenge. Strategy #3 (for those who are not using the Water Ring for whatever reason) - Set up Regen and MBarrier. When Jenova casts Reflect on itself at the start of the battle, use DeBarrier to remove it and attack it with Quake 2. If it re-casts Reflect, destroy it again. Beware of Aqualung - it hits your entire team hard. Use limit breaks and Deathblow as they are very effective and cannot be repelled by Reflect. Keep healing and using Regen and MBarrier, and if anyone dies be sure to revive and heal them immediately. Without the Water Ring, this is a tough fight until Jenova LIFE runs out of skill power, in which case it will not be able to attack you and the rest of the fight will be a breeze. You could alternatively just concentrate on staying alive until it does run out of skill power, as it might be easier that way. As with before, make sure you learn Aqualung before you kill this thing. And now it is time to watch Aeris' corpse sink to the bottom of a lake. Item obtained - ? --------------- END OF DISK ONE --------------- ------------------------------------------------- -------- Disk two -------- ------ Schizo ------ Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Inside Gaea's Cliff HP - 18,000 (9,000 per head) MP - 1,800 (900 per head) Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - Fire (Fire head), Ice (Ice head) Resistance - Gravity In my opinion, if you do not know what you are doing, this boss is probably the toughest boss you are forced to fight in the entire game. Some might disagree, but that could be because they know what they are doing. The Schizo is some sort of giant lizard creature with two heads, and each head has 9,000 HP each, resulting in the boss having a grand total of 18,000 HP - at least 8,000 more HP than any other boss you have fought against before this, although your characters probably gained a few levels in the Gaea's Cliff area as the enemies here do give out a lot of Exp. The Schizo has a wide range of magical attacks. The Ice head casts an icy breath that deals Ice damage, and the Fire head casts a fiery breath that deals Fire damage. Both will cause about 900 HP damage. Additionally, the Schizo can cast both breath attacks on one character for the same ammount of damage. I have no idea why. The Schizo can also cast Quake 3 on your entire party, knocking over 1,000 HP off everyone. It also has a lightning attack that it will use on your party when you kill it to try and take you down with it. It occasionally uses this attack anyway, and it causes about 1400 HP damage to each character. I recommend equipping one character with the Aurora Armlet, another with the Fire Armlet and the third with the Bolt Armlet (you should have all three by now). This way, at least you will be able to absorb some of the Schizo's attacks should they use the correct attack on the character equipped with the correct Armlet. Nothing to be done about Quake 3, though, I am afraid. Set up the standard defenses here - Haste, Regen and MBarrier on the entire team. Keep setting up Regen and MBarrier when they run out, and if a character dies, he or she will need to have Haste re-cast on them once Revived as the effect is lost upon death. Start off with casting the summon Bahamut as a welcoming wagon for the Schizo. Then attack it with everything you have - third level magic spells, limit breaks, powerful Enemy SKills (such as Aqualung and Trine if you have them, although avoid Magic Breath) and Deathblow. You should probably have noted that the Fire head absorbs Fire spells and the Ice head absorbs Ice spells. Make note that the red head is (oddly) the Ice head and the pale head is (oddly) the Fire head, so cast Ice 3 on the Fire head and Fire 3 on the Ice head. Bolt 3, Quake 3 and Bio 3 are more useful as you can cast them on both heads without worry, as can you cast Aqualung and Trine on both heads at once without worry, although avoid decent Enemy Skills like Beta and Magic Breath as they can be absorbed. Limit breaks and Deathblow also work very well. I have found that the fight is easier if you eliminate one head first, before moving on to the other (with the exception of using multiple-target spells) as the Schizo will attack less often (you will know when the first head dies as you can hear the 'death' noise and the head will slump downwards). This will make the second half of the fight a bit easier, but you still have to watch out for Quake 3 and the Lightning attack, in addition to the regular breath attack. Be sure to use Cure 2/Cure 3 on the entire party once you think that you have almost killed the boss, so that the lightning attack does not kill the two members of your party that do not have the Bolt Armlet equipped. Making sure MBarrier is up before you finish it off will help wonders too. The character with the Bolt Armlet should survive anyway, but after all this truble it would be nice for all three to benefit from the nice Exp. and AP gained from this battle. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- ------------ Jenova DEATH ------------ Characters - Cloud, Tifa and one of your choice (out of possible six) Location - The Crater (Whirlwind Maze) HP - 25,000 MP - 2,500 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Poison, Gravity Just like Jenova LIFE only cast Water-based spells, Jenova DEATH only casts Fire-based spells (and it also casts Silence, but rarely does). Red Light is similar to Jenova BIRTH's W-Laser and Jenova LIFE's Blue Right - it is single character attack, but Jenova will cast it once on each character before you can do anything so it might as well not be. It takes about 800 HP off per hit. Tropic Wind hits a single character for about 1,000 points of damage, but is not used three times in a row. I will provide two seperate stategies. Strategy #1 - If you were using Tifa before she forced you to take her along, choose one of your three characters to equip the Fire Ring and another of the three to equip the Fire Armlet. If you were not using Tifa beforehand, then just give the Fire Ring and the Fire Armlet to Cloud and your third character respectively. Either way, two of your characters will not be harmed by any of Jenova DEATH's offensive attacks, and therefore losing is impossible, just like with Jenova LIFE. Cast Haste on the entire party, and MBarrier and Regen on the character without protection from Fire spells should you care to keep them alive. Hit Jenova DEATH with everything you have bar Bio 3 (and Gravity spells if you are actually using them). Deathblow, limit breaks, Bolt 3, Fire 3, Ice 3, Quake 3, Magic Breath, and other powerful Enemy Skills. Jenova DEATH strangely does not absorb Fire spells, so any Fire or Fire-based spells are fine. Neo Bahamut also hits it hard, so be sure to use it. Just keep this up and keep the third character without Fire protection alive (if you want to). If Jenova uses Silence, you should not worry about it. Just use regular attacks, limit breaks and Deathblow (if that character has it) it blows over, or use a Remedy or Esuna. Comet 2 hits hard. Strategy #2 (for those who like a challenge) - Immediately cast Regen, Haste and MBarrier on the entire party. Make sure to use Neo Bahamut, Magic Breath, Deathblow and limit breaks as often as possible as they are the most useful attacks in this battle (Jenova takes less damage from spells than bosses, so third level magic spells are not as useful as they should be). Silence is more of a pain in the ass here as it can prevent you from using defensive spells on your party, so be sure to use Esuna or have a few Remedies handy. Keep re-casting Regen and MBarrier when they fade. Just keep hitting it as hard as you can whilst keep your HPs up and you should pull out okay. If Cloud has his Meteorain limit break by now (not a high chance, but it can happen), then you can use it take take off several thousand HP off Jenova each time you use it, so it makes the fight much shorter. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- ----------- Wolfmeister ----------- Characters - Cid and two of your choice (out of possible five) Location - Mt. Corel train, third carriage HP - 10,000 MP - 100 Weak against - Water Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity? The Wolfmeister is only arguably a boss, but since you are pressed for time during this fight I will give you a few points on how to beat him. Set up Haste, Regen and Barrier. Barrier will cut the Big Sword attack down from 1500 to 750. Haste helps you kill it faster (as I said, you are pressed for time, and you only want to spend a couple of minutes maximum on this guy). Attack it with the Enemy Skill Aqualung and spells such as Quake 3 and Bio3. Limit breaks and Deathblow will help to end the fight quickly. The standard maneuvers should get you through this quickly enough. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- --------- Eagle Gun --------- Characters - Cid and two of your choice (out of possible five) Location - Mt. Corel train, fourth carriage (or second, if you want to be more literal) HP - 17,000 MP - 170 Weak against - Lightning Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity?, Earth (misses every time) Again, like the Wolfmeister, not an actual 'boss' as such, but can be considered one due to the intensity of the situation and its high HP. It appears just after you fight to Wolmeister and jump onto the next carriage. Hit it hard with Bolt 3 and the Enemy Skill Trine. As it levitates, Earth will always miss, so Quake 3 is pretty much useless here. Cast Regen, Haste and Barrier on the party as the Eagle Gun's Cross Fire attack would normally take over 1000 HP off everyone, and it also has an attack which will knock over 1500 HP off a single character, and can poison them at the same time. Limit breaks and Deathblow come in handy, as do other spells if the character cannot use Bolt 3 or Trine. Neo Bahamut helps. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- --------------- Enemy commander --------------- Characters - Cid and two of your choice (out of possible five) Location - Fort Condor HP - 5,000? MP - 500? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity? This guy is only encountered if you lose the battle at Fort Condor and the enemy reaches the hut at the top of the mountain where you are located. I have actually never fought this 'boss', as I have always won the battle. According to a friend of mine who has fought him, he apparently has no more than 5000 HP with no strengths or weaknesses (except probably Gravity, just like every other boss in the game) and the Grand Spark attack which knocks about 650 HP off a single character. My advice would be just to hit it hard with everything you have. If my information is correct then it should be easily killed. I really will have to check this out just to confirm. In the meantime, try not to get angry if my current information is incorrect - I did not even know this fight actually occurred if you lost the Fort Conder battle. I just assumed it would be game over. Again, my apologies if this is wrong. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- --------------- Ultimate WEAPON --------------- Characters - Cid and two of your choice (out of possible five) Location - Mideel HP - 20,000? MP - 2,000? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Poison, Gravity Okay, I am assuming that your characters have around 2500 HP by now. If not, boost your experience points a little before this fight. The jungle outside of Mideel is a great place to gain more experience. The Ultimate Weapon's attacks can deal up to 2000 points of damage, usually around 1500. Most are magic based attacks that hit your entire party (Quake 2-All etc), so setting up MBarrier, Regen and Haste on the party as soon as you can. Setting up Barrier, too, should be worth your while, as the Ultimate Weapon will occasionally slash a character with one of hits long-clawed mitts. Apparently, flying around destroying human settlements does not leave the Ultimate Weapon any time to cut his nails. There really is not much I can tell you here that will be new. Use your most powerful spells, Deathblow and limit breaks (which will be ready after about two or three of the Weapon's attacks) whilst healing when need be. After taking several thousand points of damage, the Ultimate Weapon will scarper. This battle will be much shorter than you would think. Comet 2, if you have it, will result in the battle being over even more quickly. Item obtained - N/A ------------------------------------------------- ------------ Carry Armour ------------ Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Underwater Reactor HP - 24,000 MP - 2,000 Weak against - Lightning Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity The Carry Armour is quite an unique boss. Has two long, spindly arms protruding from its' main body, and each of its arms are individual targets. Think of it like the Schizo's two heads, but the majority of the Carry Armour's HP is its main body. However, each arm should be destroyed as soon as possible. The reason for this is that each arm can pick up one of your characters. The character will then be unable to fight, and will also receive constant damaging blows. There are two ways to retrieve the character - the first is by destroying the arm holding the character, and the second is to let the character die and revive them when the arm drops the lifeless corpse on the ground. It is better to just kill both arms as soon as possible, whether or not they are holding a character (although I recommend you destroy an arm holding a character first). When both arms are intact, the Carry Armour can pick up two characters, one with each arm, making it much easier to kill the third. Additionally, the main body of the Carry Armour uses an attack called Lapis Laser. It causes about 1500 points of damage, and when both arms are destroyed it will use this attack more or less every turn, and sometimes twice in a row. Even though this sounds like it will make thing worse if you destroy the arms, it is still better to destroy the arms because of the inconveniences they place on you. The Carry Armour might be able to somehow grow back an arm once the arm in question is destroyed, but I am not too sure about this as I usually destroy this thing fairly quickly. Okay, back to business. When you enter this battle, immediately set up ,MBarrier, Haste and Regen, and Barrier on the next turn. MBarrier will cut down the Lapis Laser's damage from 1500 to about 750. Barrier will help reduce the damage of the physical attacks caused by the arms. After your defences are set, attack the arms in full force with Bolt 3, Deathblow, limit breaks and Lightning-based Enemy Skills such as Magic Breath and Trine. I recommend you give the Lightning materia to one character, Enemy Skill to another and Deathblow to the third. Neo Bahamut also works well. Focus your attacks on the arms until they are destroyed, and until then ignore the main body unless you are using multiple-target spells. Limit breaks work well, when you get them (which will be quite often if Lapis Laser attack is contantly used). Once the arms are destroyed, keep re-casting MBarrier and using your Lightning spells to get through this fight. Also re-cast Regen when it runs out, as the Carry Armour can deplete your HP quite quickly. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Rude and Attack Squad --------------------- Characters - Cloud, Cid and one of your choice (out of possible six) Location - Shinra No. 26 HP - 9000 (Rude), 1500 each (Attack Squad) MP - 450 (Rude, N/A (Atack Squad) Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity (Rude), N/A (Attack Squad) As soon as you enter this battle, make sure to take care of the two attack squad guys immediately, or they will start putting all of your characters to sleep and placing them in Darkness at the same time. Rude uses Grand Spark, Bolt 2 and his fist. He will also cast Reflect on himself, so stick to physical attacks unless one of your characters has the Destruct materia equipped. As usual, cast Haste, Regen and Barrier/MBarrier on the entire party, if you want to. This is quite an easy fight, and if you would rather simply get this over with as soon as you can, do not worry about defences. Deathblow, limit breaks and non-elemental Enemy Skills work well, as do standard physical attacks and Neo Bahamut. Casting Neo Bahamut before you do anything else should hopefully eliminate the attack squad guys before they can do anything. Rude's paltry 9000 HP will not keep him around for long, either. So just go for it, heal when necessary, and finish him off on your own time. After you steal the useful Ziedrich he's carrying, of course. Item obtained - ? ------------------------------------------------- -------------- Diamond Weapon -------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Midgar Area HP - ??? (cannot be sensed, but I have estimated around 20,000 to 30,000) MP - ??? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A (phsical attacks are not as powerful, though) Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity and possibly Poison (soon to be examined) To initiate combat, you have to wait around for this in the Midgar area. Ramming into it with the Highwind does nothing except stop it for a second (and cause a slightly humourous comment from Cid). Fly to the Midgar Area, land and exit the Highwind, walk to the beach and wait for it to come towards you. Sadly, it happily takes its time stolling towards Midgar and you will have to wait for a few minutes before it makes landfall. For starters, note that physical attacks do not work very well when used against the Diamond Weapon, so unless you are using limit breaks or using Mug to steal the Rising Sun wepaon for Yuffie, stick to magic attacks (bar Poison). As soon as it initiates combat with you, set up the usual MBarrier, Haste and Regen, and Barrier on the second turn. If you have Wall at this point, all the better. After your defences are set, welcome it with Bahamut ZERO, followed by the most powerful spells you have such as Ultima, Contain spells (Break, Freeze, Tornado and Flare), Magic Breath and Quake 3 (along with other third level magic spells, althoguh they begin to decline in usefullness at this point). Comet 2 works exceptionally well. The Diamond Weapon attacks with several physical and elemental based attacks, which is why it would be a great thing to have Wall handy. The Enemy Skill Big Guard also works well. The Diamond Weapon's attacks are hard hitting, so you will need to use Cure 3 from time to time throughout the battle. Once the Diamond Weapon begins its countdown, beware. Reinstate your defences if they have deteriorated and hit it with everything you have. Why? Because the countdown is the countdown to its ultimate attack, the Diamond Flash, which deals about 3,000 points of damage to each character and any survivors will suffer from the Silence effect unless they have an Accessory equipped that neutralises it. It is not too hard to defeat the Diamond Weapon before the countdown finishes (since it starts on 5, you have around five turns to do this), but you have to prepare for the worst incase you do not deliver the finishing touches in time. Comet 2 is exceptionally useful at this point. This is one of the tougher boss battles in the game, but provided you know what you are doing it should not be too hard to get through it. Just keep your HP up, and make sure it does not fall below 3,000 after the Diamond Weapon begins the countdown to Diamond Flash. Item obtained - N/A ------------------------------------------------- -------------------- Reno, Rude and Elena -------------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Winding Tunnel HP - 25,000 (Reno), 28,000 (Rude), 30,000 (Elena) MP - About 300+ each Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - Lightning (Reno only), Fire (Rude only), Ice (Elena only) Resistance - Gravity This time, you are up against all three of the Turks. This is a tough fight, and you should be prepared for the worst. You should specifically beware of Rude and Elena. Rude attacks using his fists, but his attacks are prone to landing critical hits, which can cause around 4,000 points of damage, which could very well be enough to one-shot one of your characters. Elena casts Confusion on a single unit (which is no fun) and a fire attack on your entire party. Reno does not seem to be of any significance for some reason, but is always a potential threat. He uses the same attacks as he did in your previous fight with him, but they are more powerful this time around. Immediately set up Wall (or Barrier and MBarrier if you do ot have Wall yet), Regen and Haste. Then start off by hitting the three Turks with Bahamut ZERO. I recommend you enter this battle with the Poison materia in a combined slot with an All materia, so you can use Bio 3 on all three Turks and hopefully poison the lot of them at once. After you have sorted out your initial welcome, hit the Turks with everything you have. Bio 3 and Quake 3 work very well, as do Comet 2 and Ultima. If you are going to use Fire 3, Bolt 3 and Ice 3, be sure not to use them on the Turk that absorbs the corresponding spell. Who absorbs what is listed above. Also, avoid using the Enemy Skill Magic Breath, as each Turk absorbs one of the spells contained within the attack, and will be cured by it, rather than harmed by it. To finish the fight quickly, just direct your attacks on one Turk (preferably Reno, as he has the least HP) until he/she cannot take it anymore and flees the battle (you cannot actually kill any of them - they just flee the battle, as is becoming Turk tradition). Shortly afterwards, the remaining Turks will flee the battle regardless of the damage they have received (as is also becoming Turk tradition). However, if you only deplete all the HPs of one Turk, you will only receive one third of the Exp. and AP. Depleting the HPs of two Turks will result in you receiving two thirds of the Exp. and AP. Deplete all three Turks HPs and you will receive all the Exp. and AP possible from the battle. Of course, managing to deplete each Turk's HP before they flee the battle is hard. The battle will be much longer, and harder as you have to keep all three Turks in the battle until they each of very little HP left. To do this, you have to constantly use Sense to keep check on their HP, and it is also a good idea not to poison any of them with Bio 3. Attack all three Turks and get each Turk's HP down to less than 1,000. Once you have done this, either attack them all at once with a multi-target attack that will deal over 1,000 points of damage to each (such as Ultima or Aqualung), have each of your characters attack one Turk each with an attack that will finish them off. I would recommend the multi-target attack. Even though it is unlikely that the remaining Turks will be quick enough to flee before they receive their single-target attack, it is always better to be safe than sorry. This method is difficult, but the result is worth it. As a final pointer, each Turk is carrying a great item, so be sure to steal them before the battle ends. Reno is carrying the Touph Ring, Elena is carrying the Minerva Band and Rude is carrying the Ziedrich. Item obtained - N/A ------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- Hojo and Capsule Samples (Part 1 of 3) -------------------------------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice out of possible seven) Location - Sister Ray Control Panel HP - 11,000 (Hojo), 9,000 each (Sample creatures) MP - ? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity This is a three part battle, and this part is very easy. Hojo feels that it is better to laugh maniacingly instead of attacking you. He will throw two capsules, each of which will turn into some sort of small monster. Ignore them as Hojo will throw in a replacement if you kill either of them. They will attack you, but they only cause miniscule damage. Before you end this part of the battle, set up Regen, Haste and Wall/Barrier and MBarrier on the party to save you doing it in the next part of the battle. Just attack Hojo with regular attacks, Deathblow and limit breaks. This is a really easy fight, and there is no reason why you should waste your MP at this point, until you have nearly finished this part of the fight, which is when it is a good idea to set up your defences ready for the next part of the battle. --------------------------- Helletic Hojo (Part 2 of 3) --------------------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Sister Ray Control Panel HP - 28,000? MP - 500 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity From what I remember, this form of Hojo has about 28,000 HP, distributed amongst three parts - the main body and two arms. Sounds like the Carry Armour, right? It is a similar sort of battle, and just like with the Carry Armour, you should eliminate the arms first. The arms are what are causing the most damage, so it is best to dispose of them as soon as possible, even if Hojo can regenerate them later. If you did what I told you to do and set up your defences just before you entered this part of the fight, you should be ready to head straight in with your offenses. Hit it with Bahamut ZERO, Ultima, Comet 2 and powerful Enemy Skills to damage the main body of Hojo whilst also taking care of the arms. If you use single-target attacks, go for the arms. Keep up your defences, attack Hojo's arms when they are there, and his main body when they are not. Multiple-target attacks make things quicker. Just keep this up, with your defences, and if someone is put to sleep, wake them up as soon as possible. This battle should not prove too difficult. --------------------------- Lifeform Hojo (Part 3 of 3) --------------------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Sister Ray Control Panel HP - 30,000 MP - 300 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity This is the toughest part of the battle. Lifeform Hojo only attacks with a Combo attack. The Combo attack will see Lifeorm Hojo attacking a single character with a series of five attacks, each stronger than the previous. Whilst Combo will overall only directly cause about 1,000 to 1,500 points of damage to one character, it is far more deadlier than it would appear as it hits the targetted character with several status effects, including Poison, Sleep, Silence and Slow. This can make it difficult to instantly heal the afflicted character as Hojo attacks very quickly - usually every other attack is dealt by Hojo, so you have to act fast. Haste is probably more useful than ever here. Be sure you have Esuna or an ample supply of Remedies ready to heal anyone who is suffering from numerous status effects. Regen is too slow to be of great use, so be sure to use Cure 3 additionally when necessary. Keep those defences up and keep re-casting them once they fade. Attack Hojo with limit breaks (never uncommon), Deathblow, Comet 2 and the rest of the most powerful spells you can conjure. I strongly recommend that you give the Ribbon accessory to one of your characters (if, for some reason, nobody had it equipped to begin with) as this will negate most of the status effects inflicted by Hojo (except Slow, which the Ribbon does not defend against, for some reason). Keep the defences and offenses going, and try not to let any characters die if you can help it. If someone dies, revive them imediately. There, still think this sounds like an easy battle? You should not worry too much. If you know what you are doing, you should not have too many problems. Best of luck. Item obtained - Power Source ------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Jenova SYNTHESIS ---------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Northern Cave/Lifestream border HP - 50,000? MP - ??? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity Coming soon! Item obtained - ------------------------------------------------- ----------------- Bizarro Sephiroth ----------------- Characters - Three, six or all eight. One has to be Cloud, but you can choose who goes in what group, if you have more than one group. I recommend that the two you were using alongside Cloud previously join his group, though. You will find out why. Location - Lifestream HP - 50,000 - 70,000 MP - ??? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity, all attacks (the Core section until the Magic sections are destroyed) Coming soon! Item obtained - N/A ------------------------------------------------- --------------- Safer Sephiroth --------------- Characters - Cloud and the two that joined him in the previous battle Location - Lifestream HP - 80,000+ (possibly 100,000) MP - ??? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity Coming soon! Item obtained - N/A ------------------------------------------------- --------- Sephiroth --------- Characters - Cloud Location - Lifestream HP - 0 MP - ??? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - N/A Nothing at all to say here. YOu have no options. Just wait for Cloud's increasing limit bar to fill (automatically) and use Omnislash (Cloud will have it at this point whether you gave it to him previously or not) when it does. Job well done. Apparently Sephiroth can attack Cloud during the short period it takes for Cloud's limit bar to fill, but this has never happened to me, and the reports I have heard about it have all said that one of Sephiroth's attacks does not deal enough damage to kill Cloud, so no worries. Item obtained - N/A ------------------------------------------------- --------------- Optional bosses --------------- The bosses in this section do not have to necessarily be defeated to complete the game, and do not exactly tie in with the direct storyline. Nevertheless, I will include them (full strategies available soon) in this walkthrough because they are technically bosses and they most certainly are there. ------------------------------------------------- ---- Godo ---- Characters - Yuffie Location - Wutai Pagoda: Fifth Floor HP - 6000 MP - 60 Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity Coming soon! Item obtained - All Creation (level 4 limit break) ------------------------------------------------- -------------- Emerald Weapon -------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Underwater (various: moves around. Initiate combat by ramming it with the submarine) HP - 500,000+ (probably more) MP - ??? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity Coming soon! Item obtained - Earth Harp ------------------------------------------------- --------------- Ultimate Weapon --------------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Various (moves around. Initiate combat by ramming it witht he Highwind after it stops flying around) HP - Unknown, but is unlikely to exceed 100,000, and this is over several battles MP - ??? Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity Coming soon! Item obtained - Ultima Weapon ------------------------------------------------- ----------- Ruby Weapon ----------- Characters - Cloud and two of your choice (out of possible seven) Location - Corel Desert (After you have destroyed the Ultimate Weapon. Initiate combat - ram it with the Highwind) HP - 500,000+ (probably more) MP - Around 2,000. Weak against - N/A Strong against - N/A Absorbs - N/A Resistance - Gravity Coming soon! Item obtained - Desert Rose ------------------------------------------------- --------- Questions --------- Q: How many times have you beaten the game? A: I've lost count. I've been playing this game for a very long time. Q: How long have you been playing this game? A: I received it as a Christmas present on Christmas Day, 1997. So I've been playing this game since then. Q: What made you decide to write a boss guide for this game? A: Felt like it. It's not as if anyone knows better than I, anyway. At my level, strategies are simply opinionated. Q: Do you intend to write a full guide for this game? A: It would be nice, but that's highly unlikely. Writing walkthroughs takes time, and whilst I have the spare time to write a few boss guides, I don't exactly have a great deal of time to write full walkthroughs and they take ages to complete, too. I would probably lose interest before completing a full walkthrough. If I do decide to write a full one, at least I have plenty of useful information in this guide to start me off. But Final Fantasy VII is a very long game. Q: Who's your favourite character in the game (including non-playable ones)? A: Reno Q: How do you power up Barret and Vincent's ultimate weapons? Or are they just rubbish? A: Barret's powers up depending on how much magic materia is equipped in it, Vincent's does damage equal to Vincent's amount of kills overall multiplied by five. I sumbitted a cheat or hint about this on this site, so look for it with the 'Search for Cheats/Hints by member....' Q: I think I'm better than you at this game! How do you think I can prove it? A: Write a better guide. Q: Who are the best and worst characters in the game? A: The best is Cloud because he has high stats in every area. The worst is Cait Sith because of his pathetic limit breaks. But like I said in the 'Characters' section above, all characters are good enough to use in your main party. Q: You said that it takes a long time to write a walkthrough. How long did it take you to write this guide and how long do you think it would take to write a full walkthrough on the game? A: It took me a few months to write this guide, but I have a tendancy to add a few boss strategies one day, and then not come back to it for weeks. As for writing a full walkthrough, well I would imagine it would take a very long time even if you are strongly committed to it. To write a proper, decent walkthrough on Final Fantasy VII you can't just explain where to go. You have to have a long introduction explaining about characters, limit breaks, the materia system, the controls and all sorts of things. When you actually get around to writing the walkthrough for the main game itself, you have to include item locations, what enemies appear in the location you are currently in, save point locations, boss strategies and all other sorts of little trinkets of information, not just stating where to go. Additionally, once you have finished this, you then have to move on to side quests and other optionable availabilities, as well as properly explaining how to get Yuffie and Vincent how to join your party, and the specifics of receiving every character's ultimate weapons and level 4 limit breaks. A bestiary wouldn't be a bad idea either. It's a very serious business, writing a walkthrough, if you want it to be any good. It's because Final Fantasy is such a long game (even without the side quests) that I probably won't ever get around to writing a full walkthrough for it. Not so many people play it these days, with it being twelve years old and all, and more or less everything is known to well over half the people that do play it. ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ Future additions to this walkthrough ------------------------------------ - Addition of any boss strategies I have not yet finished. - Possibly information about the materia system. - Possibly information on where to find each character's ultimate weapons and level 4 limit breaks. - Anything else I feel will be necessary to add. ------------------------------------------------- --------------- Copywright info --------------- This guide is owned by Volke Fredrik Lindstrom and cannot be used or published without the author's permission. Any violators can be reported to the law and immediate action will ensue. The only site that is currently permitted to host this walkthrough is www.supercheats.com. Hosting this walkthrough on any other than the above mentioned site is illegal. This walkthrough can be printed out for personal use, but selling it off as your own for profit is strictly prohibited. ------ Thanks ------ This will be short: Myself, for kindly writing this guide, just for you. Thank me in the forums if you see me, but I am not giving out my e-mail address as I do not like having any online contacts, only offline friends. Supercheats.com, for hosting this guide. Sweden, for being a damn awesome country. I am very proud of my homeland, and of my Finnish heritage also. (Want your name here? Then tell me something important that I have not included. If it is worthy, then I will add it to the guide and gladly add your name to the thanks list).
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