Carbon Ocelot's Final Fantasy VII Walkthrough

Disc 1

Intro - Reactor
We'll start at the very beginning (a very good... yeah, you know...). Create a new game and watch the intro. See the girl with brown hair? You'll want to remember her. When you see the train stop (pretty quickly), you'll be the guy with blonde hair. For all battle scenes here, just use the default attack and don't bother healing up. I'll let you know when to change this strategy. Follow the big black guy and fight the soldiers (hold down the cancel button (X on the PS2 controller) to run). The two red guys that have been knocked down have a Potion . If you use the select button on them (the circle button) you can get them.

When you change screens, talk to the guy on the far left to name your character. I'm going to use all the defaults to make it easier to follow along. When Barret (the big black guy) comes and asks what you are doing, you'll name him and continue through the now open doorway. Head around to the right (you can't go left) and go under the warning sign. There is a door to go through on the far left. You emerge onto a catwalk that divides into a fork going straight and one that heads to the top of the screen.

Head to the top of the screen and then go forward to talk to Barret. Talk to Jessie (red head) to unlock the First two doors, then head right (from the second room) to find a room with a Phoenix Down in it (in a chest). Talk to Jessie again to open the third door and head through. Push the pink triangle at the top of he screen (you're in an elevator). Listen to the lecture and head left when the elevator stops.

Follow the stair case down to the bottom of the tower, and go through the door at the bottom (I didn't see any chests in this room). Talk to Jessie in the next room and hop onto the ladder. Press down and head to the beam at the bottom. A little along the beam is a blue bottle; get it. "Received " Potion "!" Don't bother talking to Jessie any more. She is just FASCINATED with ladders. ;) At the bottom of the stairs head down to the next screen. Head down again and follow the big pipes down.

At the end of the pipes is a ladder, at the bottom of which is a save point. I recommend using it. (You should not have needed to use a Potion by this time, just fyi, but I tend to heal up before using save points. Just a force of habit, I think. Anyway, it looks like there is a doorway here, but there isn't. Just head down and follow the path. A little further on, you'll receive some restore materia. Pick it up, but you can mostly ignore it for now; you'll not be able to use it until later. After Cloud sets the bomb ("Someone set up us the bomb!"), you'll go into boss fight.

Boss Battle: Guard Scorpion.     Hopefully you have been saving your magic until this battle. His turns go:

• Lock on to a character
• Attack that character
• Lock on to a character
• Attack that character
• Put his tail up
• Repeat

Sector 7 Slums
When Barret finishes his speech, you can talk to the people around there if you want. If you'd like to solo level up Cloud, you can head right toward the train grave yard, but... If you wait just a bit, you can level up materia, so it's not really the best time to grind. But if you really want to, it's reasonbly easy to earn two new limit breaks at this time, but note that the path to the cool items in the train grave yard is blocked. If you don't want to fight (or when you're bored of fighting), go left from the train station, following the path the rest of the team took. The screen to the left of the train station has a save point at the top. Talk to the guy there to see a preview of the route you'll have to run later. Head left one more screen to the slums town. Talk to the various people around here for an update on what the heck is really going on. There is a guy in the three-level store (level two) who can help you understand VERY thoroughly. The top floor of that building is functionally a hotel. Essentially, though, everyone is going to tell you to wait until tomorrow. Go talk to Barret then head into the store he's guarding. Talk to Tifa.

Note: Date Choice options ahead. If you bought a flower from Aeris earlier on, you can choose to give it either to Tifa or to the little girl Marelene. Giving it to Tifa makes it more likely you'll go on the date with her, and giving it to Marlene makes it more likely you go on the date with Barret. When you've talked to everyone, try to leave the store to force the next scene. When Barret leaves, talk to Tifa. If you answer "Give me something hard", you'll be more likely to go on the date with Tifa. When you're ready to move on, head down the elevator. Talk to everyone then head back up the elevator. Try to leave when she asks if you're ignoring your childhood friend, answer "How can you say that" if you want to increase the odds of the date with Tifa. After some dialogue, you'll get a flashback.

Notice the stars? Put two and two together. They aren't in the slums right now, are they? AH! A shooting star! It must come true, right? heh heh. Anyway, you'll get the "sleep track" and it'll be the next day. Head up the elevator and talk to Tifa. When she asks how you slept, choose the "next to you" option to increase your chances of going on the date with her, or "Barret's snoring" to increase the chances of ending up on a date with Barret. Now then, talk to Barret to get the materia menu option opened up to you. Go to the weapons guy (the guy who said he had something juicy to tell you) then talk to the guy right below him (on the other side of the doorway) for an all materia. Get the " Ether " out of the chest, too. Head downstairs and buy 3 iron bangles. Now head across the way to the materia shop and buy a fire materia and another restore materia (if you can afford it, you want to fill everyone's materia slots - heal is cool!).

If you need more money to buy stuff (or if you just want to earn lots of Potion and Ether items, you can go to the train graveyard and kill stuff off to get more money. You can sell the potions and ethers for lots of Gil at this point in the game. If you do want to grind a bit, the sweeper will give you 27 XP each and 30 gill. 20 fights against one of those will give you a fire materia, ice materia or lightning materia (600 gil). For 750 gil you can get a restore materia. The Mono Drive A will give you 18 XP each and 8 gil each. Guard Hound A will give you 20 XP each and 12 gil each. You also get a bunch of potions and ethers out of this, so it's totally worth it.

When you are ready to leave, get on the train. Talk to Tifa and run from car to car. Keep running until you hear Barret talk about jumping out of the train, then talk to Tifa... twice...

Reactor re-visted
There are two options here:

If you want to fight a lot of battles, go down 6 screens and you'll be able to get into a basically never ending set of battles. You'll have to use cure or potions to heal; you'll probably only get an Antidote from these enemies. Frankly, there is a better place to level up in just a bit.

If you don't want to fight (or if you've finished the fights down from here), go up until you see the lasers blocking the path (1-2 screens up). You can look inside, then "go down" the hole. Pick up the green bottle ( Ether ) and go right to the ladder, and go down.

On the next screen, descend the ladder to a platform, and go down the next ladder until you get to the next screen. Left of where you enter this screen you'll see a ladder leading up. Go up that ladder and follow the duct until you get to a room with Jessie. Talk to Jessie and grab the Potion in this room. Head left and go down the ladder. There is a Tent and a save point there (conveniently enough), but this is not the time for using the Tent (save, though). The previous scren with Jesse and the Potion is a great place to level up. (Side note: When you want to level grind, it's usually best to turn up the battle speed to fast and and set ATB to Active. Also, be sure to use your limit breaks when you get them. The second level one limit breaks require you to use the first limit break 8 times in battle. When that's learned, switch to Level 2.) Since Barret and Cloud have weapons that allow materia to be junctioned together, junction bolt-all on one of them, then run around in the room and use it on the enemies you encounter. When that character's MP are all used up, switch bolt-all to the other character and use up all their magic. Use Tifa's magic to heal during this time. NOW you can Tent /save on the prior screen. I usually make sure that Barret has the bolt-all before moving on, and I use it on any large group of enemies I run across in the next section.

From there, go up the ladder and through the door, then slide down the tube on the next screen. (Note: If you head up all the stairs to get to an elevator that'll take you to a free Ether , but you'll be coming back through here later on anyway, so you don't really need to do it now unless you *really* need that Ether .) Head to the door at the bottom of the stairs. On the next screen, jump right across the gap, then climb down the ladder and head across the beam. This should all be familiar, but if not... Walk down the ladder just before the path is blocked, go around the bend and down another ladder, then go toward the red triangle denoting the screen change. On the next screen, lead left and go down the ladder. Save if you need, then head down and right toward the reactor.

Watch a cut scene, then go forward to plant the bomb. Next head back out. It's probably a good idea to save on the way. Go up all the stairs and through the elevator. Grab the Ether here, then head up and left. You need to all hit the button at the same time. Basically, you need to hit the X (or whatever the normal 'accept' is for you) at the same time Tifa and Barret start to raise their hands. Just practice a few times and you should be able to do it. This will open the locked gate and allow you to go to the next area (heal up, then save at the save point). Boss battle coming up, so let's do some prep work...

Follow the glowing floor left and up to the next screen. Make sure you're healed up. Cloud should have cure-all and lightning, Tifa should have Cure and Lightning, and Barret shouldn't have any materia at all. Both Barret and Cloud have limit breaks that will work well here, so if you want you can walk up and down the lower 2/3 of the catwalk and have your folks get hit in order to drive up their limit breaks. Just make sure you heal again as needed. I like to junction all materia and lighting materia to Cloud. If you have multiple lightning materia, give one to Tifa. Watch the cut scene, then fight a boss, and eventually you'll have control again.

Meet Aeris
Remember this girl? Equip the titan bangle you just got and any another materia you want. You'll have to talk to her, then talk to her again and find out her name and talk to her a bunch more. Whew! Eventually you'll have to run to the back exit. When you get to the next screen, the first thing you should do is open the menu and junction to Aeris. I've found having Cloud use Ice-All on the hedgehog pie enemies in this area is a quick way to kill them all off. When you're ready, run to the right and cloud will jump to the stairs there. Continue up and around. When Aeris falls down, tell her to hold on a minute, then run up the little stairway to your left. You'll have to push some barrels down to help her evade the enemies.

Depending on where she is, you'll push different barrels. The barrels are on two beams, one toward the bottom of the screen, and one toward the top.

• Aeris will start out down at the bottom of the stairs. Push the Left Barrel on the Upper Beam.
• When she then ends up on a stairway to the right, push over the Right Barrel on the Upper Beam.
• She'll then go up to the next set of stairs. Push over the Right Barrel on the Lower Beam.

You should regain control on the next screen. Head forward and left across the beam. Head left until Aeris asks you to wait. After a bit of dialogue, keep heading left. When she points out where her house is you can actually head right and into the church to let the kids know it's OK to tend her flowers. Then you can go back left to where the save point is and save, then head left. On the next screen, you can't go left, so head up. There are several houses you can go in here.

• You can see some bad translation in the tube to the left. "This guy are sick."
• The next house to the right is a materia shop. If you are missing one of these materia, feel free to pick some up. I usually make sure I have at least two of each kind.
• The next house over sells a few items. I bought a few tents.
• In the house on the far right of the area, you can head upstairs to see TURTLES'S PARADISE NEWS NUMBER ONE. For delicious wine with a nice ring to it... Stop on by the Turtle's Paradise" !! The kid sleeping here says "now... no one... will find it... num... the top one... and the bottom one.... This is about searching the dresser near the stairs. There are 5 Gil in there, but if you don't take the 5 Gil you can get something better later on.
• North from there is a weapon/armor shop, but buying another Titan Bangle here is kind of a waist of money. You can get a Mythril Bangle (Possibly called a Mythril Armlet in some games/towns) for them in the next town up.

Technically you can level up here if you want. But I would recommend waiting just a few minuntes until you can buy better weapons and armor, then come back here and level up more materia at once. The enemies here are a little tougher than ones you've fought before. I like to give an ice materia and an all materia to Cloud, and a fire materia to both characters, you can do a lot of damage pretty quickly. For Hell House enemies, I have Cloud cast fire first, then Aeris. Repeat that one more time and Aeris should provide the killing blow to the enemy. Remember, deliverying the killing blow to an enemy is how you advance to the next level for limit breaks. When I'm actually leveling up here, I like to give a cover materia to Aeris. That drives her limit break up quicker, so you're more likely to cast it frequently enough to get the 2nd limit for level 1 (Seal Evil). When I run across a group of Whole Eater enemies, I like to just let them attack and drive up the limit levels, then have Cloud use ice-all to finish them all off at once. If you do opt to level up like this, be sure to heal up after each battle. Once Aeris learns Seal Evil, I switch to having her to ice-all on the Whole Eaters to quickly learn the first Level 2 limit break.

Anyway, once you enter the slums, head up the ramp, across the bridge, down the ramp and through the tunnel. Walk up the wooden plank, then down the ramp to get to the top of the screen. Suggest you'll take her to sector 7, then take a break (talk to her). Follow the cart when you have control again, and head to the top right of the screen. And the top of the next, too.

Slum Town 'Girl'
Talk to everyone in the town to get more info on what's going on, then buy a Mythril Bangle for everyone, and upgrade everyone's weapons (the weapons shop is up one screen, in the upper right of the area). There's a shop here labeled "item" that just shoots at you; you can ignore it for now. If you need money, or if you want to level grind a bit, head back towards Aeris's house, and kill things along the way. Sleep at her house or the inn (only 10 gil) to heal up. When you're ready to advance the plot, sleep at the inn, save your game, and then go to the screen at the bottom right of this town, and talk to everyone.

You'll eventually ask someone about Tifa. He'll tell you Tifa is at Don Corneo's mansion. Head up one screen and up and left to the top of the town, then talk to the guard at Don Corneo's mansion. When Aeris talks about dressing Cloud up like a girl, head to the dress shop (down two screens). They'll tell you to head to the bar (up one screen) and talk to one of the guys all by himself. You want something that's " Soft " and something "that shimmers." Then head back to the dress shop. Talk to the cashier again and then head up a screen to the gym (for those of you who know kanji, it's the one with three "otoko" kanji on it (he he he). You'll get a Wig whether you win or not. If you are going to try for all the optional items, too, be sure to save first.

The guy in the middle of the gym is the one you want to talk to. Press square, x, o over and over (you have to pause the right amount in between pressing them) and you'll get the Wig . If you complete MORE squats than the other guy, you'l get the Blonde Wig . Other wise, you'll get the standard Wig . Go back down one screen, save the game and head into the dress shop again, if you're ready to head out. You can get other stuff around here to make Cloud more feminine, but all that happens is that Corneo chooses you. If you want, you can probably just skip past the "optional" sections below.

Optional: Diamond Tiara
Otherwise, across from the dress shop is a guy laying on a divan in a shop near a stew pot who wants to know what's for sale in the vending machine in the inn. Go sleep at the inn and buy the "one for 200 gil." This will get you a protein drink set that you can trade to the curious guy for the Diamond Tiara .

Optional: Sexy Cologne. Head to the Diner and order Today's Special. If you tell the shop keep "it was all right", you should get a Coupon. (Random side note, folks 'all right' is not the same as 'alright.' Please don't use them interchangably.) Take that to the Item Store / Pharmacy (oddly, the one next to the large cat statue, and not the one with the large "Item" sign) and trade it for a Digestive . Take THAT to the bar, and give it to the person who's been in the bathroom this whole time. You'll be rewarded with the Sexy Cologne.

Optional: Make up and Lingerie. This part is both optional and PG-13. Talk to the guy just to the right of the sign "south" for the membership card. After you have the card, talk to the guy in the black suit blocking the entrance to the Honey Bee. Head to the upper left room. "Don't make me repeat myself." Talk to the outline of Cloud. When you wake up, answer "Huh?" and then talk to the girl in the bee suit a few times to get the Lingerie. After everyone has left, leave the room and go into the room at the top of the screen. You can talk to the lady on the far left and request make up. When you leave that room, you can peek into the rooms on the right. It's a little creepy.

When you are ready to continue, save your game then go back to the dress shop changing room to change. Technically you can *try* to leave the town now, but Aeris doesn't seem to want to fight in heels. Anyway, head up to Don Corneo's place and go up the stairs and to the room on the far left (If you can read hiragana, it's labeled 'oshioki', which translates to something like 'punishment' or 'spanking' or, well, you get the idea... >.> ) ANYWAY, grab the Ether here. When the talking is done and the guy comes to get you. Try to go up the stairs to start a quick conversation, and after that equip/junction, and then head up the stairs. Enter Don's room at the top of the screen. If Cloud wasn't picked, you'll be escorted to the next room, you'll do some butt kicking, and then you'll leave the room. (there's a Phoenix Down here) and go down.

Go into Don Corneo's room (if Cloud was picked, you'll start here and not in the room above) and head toward the back. Walk behind his bed and search for a " Hyper ." During the next few dialogs, it doesn't really matter what you say, but I like defying the Don, personally. Anyway, lots of conversations, you'll watch a breif cut scene, then you'll head in to the sewers.

If you didn't already, equip your group's weapons / armor / materia first, then talk to the other two characters to start a battle with Aps. Fire works well against this enemy, with Bolt being a good second choice. When he's dead (I didn't even bother healing), Go up the stairs on your left (well, bottom, sort of) and get the Potion , then head up the ladder, around the corner, down the other ladder and up the stairs on the other side of the fence. There is a steal materia here which you *really* want! As soon as you get it, junction it to Aeris. At the top of the screen, "jump down" to the next level. If you don't have any Hyper items to clear sadness (which Aps can add to your group), you can steal some here. When you're ready to go on, go to the right of the screen and down the stairs. Go left and up the stairs, the head right and go up the ladder. Now you're in the train graveyard.

Train Graveyard
Save your game, and if you haven't already done so, equip steal to Aeris (she's a wimp in physical battles, plus the Deenglow enemies have an Ether you can steal, the ghosts have a Ghost Hand , and the Eligore have Striking Staff weapons!). This is an OK place to level up, if you don't go past the last point on screen two. Just go through each of the points below, then return to the save point at the start. The price you can sell the ethers for may make that worth it in and of itself.

Screen One:

1. Go through the nearest train opening and grab the Hi-Potion in the trashcan on the other side of the rubble pile. Return to the save point.
2. Go up the closest ladder to get a Hi-Potion .
3. Continue a little further then jump on the crossbeam; head left down the beam.
4. Grab the Echo Screen from trash can at the top of the screen, then head down and right around the train, passing under the beam you came down.
5. Get the Potion out of the next car over.
6. Head down and exit that car on the right and go up the ladder nearest you.
7. Go slightly up and then head down the ladder just past the rubble.
8. Go up and into the car on the right to pass around another pile of rubble.
9. Farther up you'll be able to exit that car on the left, and get a Potion at the top of the screen.
10. Go up to the next screen.

1. Go up and left around the car to your left and get the Potion over there.
2. Around the train to your left is a trash can you can get an Ether out of.
3. Straight ahead from where you came onto this screen, head around the train engine and up the ladder to the right for a Hi-Potion on top of the engine there.
4. Go back down the ladder and into the engine on the tracks below you; you'll automagically move the engine forward a little.
5. When you hop out, hop back in to back it up for easier access, then head into the engine on the tracks above you (it's past the ladder and may be hard to see); it should also move.
6. You'll move it over to be close enough to jump to the next car.
7. You can now climb the ladder to get on the engine, and jump across to the train you just backed up.
8. Go down that train via the ladder on the left.
9. You can level up for a while yet, or exit the graveyard to the left when you are positive you want to move on. I recommend going for the Striking Staff , at least.

Fight at the pillar
After leaving the Train Graveyard you should be on the screen where you boarded the train earlier. First things first - unequip all of your materia and any good armor from Aeris (give her a Bronze Bangle ), then head left for one more screen. When you have control again, go and save your game just past the fence. Rearrainge your materia and make sure someon has steal - I like to use Tifa (even if you don't actually steal things, you're leveling that materia up). One of the guys here is a store; you can buy stuff if you need - and if you stole more than one Striking Staff , you can sell them here for 650 Gil each (ethers go for 750, but I like to hold on to 10 or so just in case). Head up the stairs and continue all the way up to the top (talking to people along the way). If you like, you can have Tifa steal potions from people; it's not really worth it in my opinion, though. Bolt-all is your friend. As you get closer to the top, something to keep in mind. If Cloud has the Blade Beam Limit Break, then it can be helpful to have that saved up going into the next battle.

Fight, and then talk to Barret (you probably need to equip him; be sure to press triangle while that message box is up!) Fight Reno. He has nothing to steal. If he uses the "pyramid" attack on your guys, be sure to have one of your other guys attack the character who is trapped (this is how you break the pyramid). Don't forget: Cloud's Blade Beam attack can hit Reno, then diffuse out and break the Pyramid off your other guys. I've found that Ice works pretty good against Reno.

When Reno says, "It's time," the battle will end. Talk to Tifa, then go "talk" to Barret to jump across the wire. During the cut scene when you see them in the playground, look for something interesting on the ground (Also, nothing says Barret cares about collateral damage like watching him fire a machine gun into the air so that random bullets will fall down on folks all throughout the city. Aheam.) ANYWAY... When you have control again head down toward Aeris' house - until your party members show up. When you have control again, go BACK toward the playground and get the sense materia on the ground there. Once you have that, head to Aeris' house:

Head down from the playground and through the slums the way you went before. You can steal a Potion from the Whole Eater enemies, Hedgehog Pie enemies have an Ether to steal, but Hell House enemies have nothing. At the end, head right, then up to get to the Sector 5 Slum "Town". If you go into the house on the right where there was an opportunity to steal 5 gil earlier, you can talk to the kid there and get a Turbo Ether now (if you didn't steal the gil.) You can also read Turtle's Paradise 1 here, if you didn't before. After that, head right to Aeris' house; talk to her mother for a bit. When you can move, you have the option (if you didn't get them earlier) to head upstairs and get a Potion and a Phoenix Down out of the room Cloud stayed in earlier. Try to leave the house to regroup, then make your way toward wall market.

Invading Shinra HQ - Prep
If Don Corneo seleted Cloud, you can get the Phoenix Down from the 2nd floor room now. Random tip: There's a Mahjong set on the table there. Wouldn't it be funny if you could play? If you want, head down the stairs and let Kotch out of the weird rack table. Buy materia (the guy who wanted the item from the vending machine in the inn will sell you fire materia, ice materia, lightning materia, and cover materia) and/or weapons/armor from the shop near Don's mansion.

When you're ready to move on, talk to the guy in the back of the weapons shop. He'll sell you some batteries. Head around the weapons shop toward the entrance to Don's place. Just before you get there head one screen to the right. Talk to the kid at the bottom of the wire, then examine it to jump on. Follow the instructions below to get to the top and get all the items along the way...

1. Climb up until you jump off to the left.
2. Go down and curve around under the path you were walking on.
3. Place a battery in the yellow box on the lower right of the screen.
4. Go straight up and hop onto the propeller (don't jump back over and go up the left path).
5. Continue up and right, then walk down the train tracks to the yellow box on your left.
6. Put in a battery and climb up the gate, then up the pipe there.
7. When the game tells you to jump by pressing OK, continue up to the next screen
8. Put a battery in the yellow box here to get an Ether .
9. Return back down the path you came up and return to the place where the game tells you to jump.
10. Time your jump to occure just as soon as the bar gets closest to you. Cloud will tell you if you are too late or too early.
11. Jump off the other side and continue up the pipes. On the next screen up, you'll want to climb the smaller pipe heading off to the left. Follow that pipe up and left, then continue to follow it back down and right until you can get on the large pipe again. Keep climbing and walking until you get the cut scene with the Shinra HQ building.

If you go through the front door, you can see the Turtle's Paradise No 2 on the board at the back right of the ground floor, though you'll have the opportunity to see it later, should you choose the other path. Save. If you want to go through the side door, head around to the left and sneak in. There's nothing to prevent you from going in on the ground floor, then heading back out and going up the stairs.

If you sneak, you're going to have to run up a BUNCH of stairs. The first 4 sets of screens have no items, but the 5th has an Elixir at the top. You'll go up another 7 or so until you hit the top. Just for fun, try to beat them both to the top. (Think of it as an unofficial mini-game. You have to try and beat them to the top on every floor! That makes the time go a little bit faster.)

In either case, you shoulde either emerge from the stairwell on the left side of the screen or elevator at the top of the screen. You'll be on the 59th floor. There will be some guards on the far right of the screen. They were Mighty Grunt enemies for me (so I assume they will be for you). They have 230 HP and you can steal a tranquilizer from them. When you've killed them off, you should get Keycard 60 . There's nothing stopping you from hopping on the elevator at the top of the screen and going back down, should you need to buy stuff in the Shinra gift shop or just want to read Turtle's Paradise #2. When you're ready to continue, hop into the elevator on the far right and go to floor 60. Talk to your guys in order to start the next cut scene, then you should emerge at...

Invading Shinra HQ - Floor 60 & 61
You'll need to head right after leaving the elevator to get to the next screen. Next, Head left into the room on the far left. You're supposed to be able to walk across the floor to the right without getting seen, but it's hard to time your run just right so that you don't go PAST the pillar you're supposed to stop at. If you are seen 4 times you'll just get into battles. Go up the stairs on the right and leave the room. You can't do anything at any other level, so you might as well exit here (Level 61). Talk to everyone and when you are offered the choices of "where's Aeris" and "......," chose "....." That'll get you the keycard to level 62 (the next level up).

Invading Shinra HQ - Floor 62
Talk to the mayor and guess his password for a cool item. To guess it, buy the clues from the guy outside his door. Essentially, though, you just try and figure out which file in each of the four rooms doesn't fit. You can see what SHOULD be in there by reading the plates just outside the door. The number at the beginning of the file is the number of letters to count in from the beginning to figure out what the right letter for this file is. If the last number winds up on a space, ignore all spaces for that entry. For example, "5: The sky is blue" would mean "s" is the right letter. When you know the four appropriate letters, you can probably guess the password. Here's another example. For my most recent game, the out of place books were:

2 Mako energy and the rise in life forms
10 New plans for urban planing
16 Modern history of Midgar space program vol. 1
4 Ranks and extended use of Make weaponry

The letters, therefore, are: a, o, m, k. Changing the order here gives me MAKO. At other times, the password has been KING, MAKO, etc. I got an elemental materia out of the deal, too, for getting it right on the first try! (Of course, if you're on an emulator you can just quicksave/reload until you guess right.) You'll get the level 65 key card which lets you access levels 63 an 64 also (hmm).

The room at upper left is the Peace Preservation / Weapon Dev. Research Library. The books inside should be:

• 2: Plan for new land weapons
• 10: Materia production and its military uses
• 1: Breakdown of soldier members by class
• 14: Heidegger's Shinra peace keeping law
• 7: Economic report: anti-Shinra activities
• 4: Ranks and extended use of Make weaponry

• 15: Diminishing Make energy and Planet movements
• 17: Modern history of Midgar space program vol. 2
• 1: Result of failed space mission "YA-79"
• 6: Shinra rocket space travel
• 2: economic report: Space Dev Program
• 16: Modern history of Midgar space program vol. 1

• 2: Problems with Plate constrution in Midgar
• 9: Midgar City map: Sectors 5-8
• 5: Reactor Construction Chart
• 4: Midgar City map: Sectors 0-4
• 10: New plans for urban planing
• 3: An illustrated guide to city planning

• 2: Mako energy and the rise in life forms
• 6: Data on experimental animals living near Midgar
• 14: The Ancients in History
• 3: File on Dr. Gast, Biologist
• 8: Final evolutionary stages in land dwelling life
• 4: Report on high Mako levels in living beings

Invading Shinra HQ - Floor 64
64 is where the save point is, so I HIGHLY recommend making a beeline for it. I also stole an Ether and a Phoenix Down out of the lockers. ;) I also ran across a megaphone, but Cloud wouldn't take it. This is supposed to be a very subtle hint of something to come, so file it away in the back of your head, for now. Now head back down to room 63.

Invading Shinra HQ - Floor 63
You'll want to get three cool things here. Start out by examining the computer in the room on the lower-right. Watch the video file for the whole story. You'll have to open only three doors to do this, and you want to get all the coupons. I recommend right clicking on that file and downloading to it your desktop, then double click it to run Quicktime. Use the "Double Size" or "Full Screen" option to zoom in. the file is of decent quality that you should be able to see it. You'll watch cloud go through all the doors and get all the stuff. It's easier than me trying to explain it with text here. Hopefully you grabbed all the coupons, so be sure to equip all the cool stuff you got. Go back up to level 64 and save, then head on to level 65.

Invading Shinra HQ - Floor 65
You can't open the chest yet, so head out of the room and look around. As you are running around here, you'll probably end up in some random battles. The Hammer Blaster has an Echo Screen , Sword Dance enemies have a Hyper . Open the bottom chest in the top room on the left, and you'll get the " Midgar Parts ." Notice how the thing in the middle looks like a map of Midgar? It is. When you go in there, examine the map near where the cracks is on the upper-left area. A window will pop-up saying "Place the Midgar Parts ?" You'll go clock-wise around the model placing parts from now on. Each time you place the parts one of the other chests will be unlocked. Repeat process. The locations of the pieces are listed below. Note that the first is always the same, but the subsequent ones may start at a different location, depending on your region.

• Piece 1: Top room on left, bottom chest.
• Piece 2: Upper room on right. Only chest.
• Piece 3: Upper left room, upper chest.
• Piece 4: Lower left room, upper chest.
• Piece 5: Bottom room on left, bottom chest.

Invading Shinra HQ - Floor 66
Talk to everyone on this level for more information, head into the restroom at the top left and climb onto the toilet. Move from one grate to the next, then you'll be able to watch parts of the meeting, Return to the restroom and head toward the stairs. You'll follow Hojo up the stairs and talk about him. You may run across a Moth Slasher in this next area - you can steal a Carbon Bangle from him. If you find a SOLDIER: 3rd enemy, steal a Hardedge from them (this enemy has 250 HP and 40 MP). That gives Cloud two more materia slots and almost double damage (compared to Buster Sword ). I like to acquire a few carbon bangles here, and make sure I've got the extra attack from the Hardege before continuing on.

Invading Shinra HQ - Floor 67
On Floor 67 you can head left and watch a bit of a cut scene regarding the creature in the glass tube. When that's over, head to the top of the screen, open the chest here for a poison materia, reallocate materia as needed, then save at the save point here. I like to equip a Carbon Bangle to Cloud and link Elemental and Poison. As these level up, it will grant poison immunity. Then the other characters can have accessories that prevent poison, which will be helpful in an upcoming battle. You've very quickly going to be in a decently difficult boss battle. Make sure all your characters can cast magic, but don't worry about stealing because this boss has nothing. Take the exit at the top of the screen here (the elevator). As you exit the elevator you'll be asked to have someone escort Aeris. I like to have Tifa do that, since Barret can attack the back row in the upcoming battle. Make sure to equip the Star Pendant to someone, or else they'll get poisoned in this battle.

Invading Shinra HQ - Meet Red XIII
When you start the next battle, you'll be fighting against three Sample: H0512-opt and one Sample: H0512. None of these enemies have anything to steal, so just go after them. Do not use Poison on these enemies, as it heals them up. Attack the guy in the back (Sample: H0512) - he'll reanimate the other guys, and when he's dead they all disappear. He has 1000 HP and 120 MP, and it takes a lot of MP to bring the H0512-opt enemies back. If you can kill off all four enemies, you'll get more gil/xp. I really didn't find much use for anti-poison items; I kept getting poisoned again quickly and my guys had enough hit points to spare. So I just concentrated on defeating him as quickly as possible.

When you choose your party, be sure to use the opportunity to remove all junctioned materia, along with any good armor and accessories from Red XIII and Tifa, then swap them out. Your party should be Cloud, Barret, and Aeris. Equip armor, accessories, and junction materia as appropriate. When you have control, be sure to go in to the experiment chamber and get the enemy skill materia (these are incredibly powerful and you WANT them!) Next, head back down the elevator and save your game, then go back up the elevator and head to the lower right of the room. There are two potions on the catwalk. Talk to the guy just along the catwalk to get the 68th floor key card. When he flees, follow him. Pick up two more potions on the way out. Head downstairs to the 66th floor and get in the elevator.

Invading Shinra HQ - Battles
When you end up in jail, talk to Tifa. If you want to go on a date with her, say, "Leave it to me." Next try to leave by going toward the door. If you want to go on a date with Aeris or Barret, think about them first. Otherwise, think about Red first so you don't increase your affection for either of them. The person you think about second will have a slight change in affection, and the third person none at all. Eventually you'll get sleepy-time music and then you'll be back on. Go outside and look at the guard, then go get Tifa. OK. How come they put some of your guys together, even though they had 3 extra empty cells? Oh yeah, I forgot: stupid suspension of disbelief. Anyway, go back to the guard and get the key. Now go talk to Barret by the guard, and then you can materia up Aeris (who should be in your party now).

Go talk to Red XIII by the Jenova area, then head up and save your game, then go up the specimen elevator right next to it. Follow the blood trail. You can fight enemies around here. You can steal a Tranquilizer from a Vargid Police, a Deadly Waste from a Zenene, and an Antidate from a Brain Pod. The blood trail will go up the stairs and into the lobby where you should be able to find a save point. You can level up a bit here if you want, just wander around. When you're ready to move on, save, then head up the stairs but wait before going to the next floor. The next time you are fighting it will be as Aeris, Barret, and Red XIII. Remove any Materia, Armor, and Accessories from other characters, then head up to the president's offce. When you get there, you'll see some cut scenes, then you'll again have control.

Talk to everyone, then head out the door at the top of the screen. When you get the opportunity to un-junction Cloud and Tifa's materia, do it. Make sure to junction the bolt magic (lightning materia) to Red XIII and Aeris (Barret has ranged atack, but do NOT junction poison and elemental damage for him). If you have more than one lightning materia, you might want to use a connected slot on barret's weapon and junction that with the elemental materia to maximize his damage. Don't worry about Steal or enemy skill materia for now. When you're ready, head to the elevator at the bottom of the screen.

You have two back-to-back battles here, and a little bit of prep work will make this a lot easier. For the first one (Hundred Gunner), you cannot use physical attacks (or steal), so use magic and/or ranged attacks (Barret's gun, for example). This enemy has has 1600 HP and is weak against lightning.

The 2nd battle is against an enemy with 1000 HP and the same lightning weakness (plus wind, but you probably cannot do wind damage at this time). He can put your guys to sleep, though. If it's not Aeris that gets put to sleep, I recommend having her attack the sleeping character. It's not like she does real damage. ;) Again, this is a long-range battle, so have Barret attack and the other characters use Bolt. And again, you can't steal because you can't reach. When you beat both enemies, you'll be back in control of Cloud.

Use the square button to take the materia from everyone else and then use the triangle button to enter the menu. Be sure to use the Star Pendant to keep the poison off of him, then junction the restore materia to him (and all the other cool stuff you might want). Don't bother with steal materia or enemy skill materia (he has nothing and uses nothing). You also don't need to bother with sense (I'll tell you HP) or Cover (Duh?). On the other hand, the steal materia allows you to get Dex +2, so that could be useful. In any event, you'll want to use this opportunity to use potions and ethers if you need so that you're ready to go.

Dark Nation has 140 HP, 80 MP, and no elemental weakness. Rufus has 500 HP, unlimited MP, and no obvious elemental weakness. Maintain your health with cure, but take out Dark Nation before healing. Kill off the beast first (Dark Nation), then cure, and then Cast bio on Rufus (many times). You'll get a Guard Source from defeating the beast which you'll miss out on if you kill Rufus first (they'll both run away.) Once you beat him, head right to get back into the building and then go back down to the lobby.

Save, and then meet up with Tifa. When you have control again, you'll be Aeris. You might want to junction here, but I didn't get attacked, so I don't know that you absolutely need to. If you've already seen the Turtle's Paradise poster here, just leave the building. Otherwise, go up the stairs until you get to the floor with a green door at the top right of the screen. Go in and talk to the people by the car, as well as the lady at the desk. You can buy stuff here; lord only knows why.

Head back down, and this time look at the wall on that floor at the top right; there are two posters, one is a Shinra plug, the other is Turtle's Paradise Newsletter No 2. Now you can leave. Watch the cool cut scene, and see Tifa steal a truck with the Harley Davidson logo on it. heh heh heh. Now you have a mini game to play. You just have to kill people that are trying to kill you.

Biking out of Town
Prep: You MUST take the opporunity to Junction here. Form your party using the 'x' button (I used Cloud, Tifa, and Red XIII). You'll be back attacked in a few minues, so form your party accordingly (read: backwards; Cloud in the back row). Don't bother stealing; he has nothing. Don't junction Poison elemental to your attack - he's immune. He has 2600 HP and 120 MP. Like all machines, he's weak against Lightning. Use bolt magic (lightning materia) and either junction elemental materia with fire materia to your defense or junction it to lightning materia on a weapon.

Strategy on the bike ride: Read the directions. Yeah. It's that simple. This is totally not hard, but you'll be fighting a nasty boss at the end, so make sure you are ready for a battle. You should get another Star Pendant (anti-poison) when that battle is finished. When you again have control, you'll be outside the city. Talk to everyone, then try to leave. Rearraing your party, make sure you're no longer setup for "back attack" fights, junction up, and then head to the bottom of the screen to leave.

Outside Midgar
If you have the enemy skill materia, you can learn Mantra Magic from the Custom Sweeper enemies you can find in the brown/grey area around Midgar. You can also steal an Atomic Scissors from them. That's a powerful mele weapon for Barret - especially this early on in the game. Be sure to look for various enemies in this area to steal from. You can steal an Ether from a Kalm Fang or a Levrikon. You can (if you are very patient) steal a Hi-Potion from a Devil Ride or an Elfedunk (along the coast). If you want to do any level grinding, having a collection of ethers is great. Also, they're pretty high ticket items when it comes time to sell stuff off if you are short on Gil when you want to buy something.

Kalm
Technically the thing you need to do at this point is head north east to the town of Kalm. However...

Optional: Level up and great materia. You can level up a little bit here, and get some great materia to boot. First off, visit Chocobo Farm to the east and say "Wark" to the chobobo there. After an interperative dance, you'll end up with your first summon materia (Choco-Mog materia). You can also get it later, but I like to get it now and level it up while I'm grinding. South of that you can find the Mythril mines. You can buy a chocobo lure materia from the farm for 2000 Gil, which will let you easily dash over the marsh and avoid the Golem. Or you can - if you are REALLY good go after the Midgar Golem. This level 26 enemy has 4000 HP, 348 HP, and a nasty disposition. If you can learn Beta from it, though, it's unbelievably powerful - especially this early in the game. Don't bother trying to steal from it, though. Bio to poison him, then joint junction fire and elemental type materia to the defense of whoever has the enemy skill materia. Half way through the battle, he'll stand up. He'll counter by knocking someone out of the battle. The next time he counter-attacks with beta and you'll learn it; let bio kill him off and just concentrate on curing to stay alive. If you're not powerful enough to earn this skill, head into the caves there and level up a bit. With patience, skill and a little luck, you should be able to earn this by level 20 (I did it with Cloud at Lvl 20). You'll get 250 XP and 25 AP.

Kalm is North and slightly East from Midgar. When you get to the town, look around and talk to everyone. (Don't go to the inn immediately.) The first house has a hidden Ether under the stairs. There's also a chest upstairs you can't get into. The next one has a dog hidden under the stairs and a chest upstairs you can't get into. There's an Ether in the upstairs wardrobe (closet), though.

In the next house, there's someone whining about a guy in a dark cloak with a sword. Sound familiar? Anyway, there's a spiral staircase to the left of him. Go up it and get the " Peacemaker " out of the chest. Head back down the spiral staircase, and then up the regular staircase. There's a Guard Source here in one of the cabinets. After raiding the houses, you can go shopping. There are a couple new materia here (earth materia and heal materia, I think), so be sure to check them out.

The weapon store also has some upgraded weapons, though you may want to check if they give you more slots than what you currently have. You can see how many slots are available on your character's current weapons (even if they're not in your current party) by going to the materia menu, and then clicking on the Arrange option, then Exchange. The house on the far right of town has an Ether hidden under the stairs. Now head to the inn and go up the stairs to talk to your friends.

Flashback!
You'll next have control as Cloud in the town he grew up in. His memories are a bit spotty, though. For fun, head over to Tifa's house (almost the farthest right) and head upstairs. You can find some, eh, interesting items there. Play the piano "Just a little" for a clue you'll need to remember for later. Here are the notes: DO RE MI TI LA DO RE MI SO FA DO RE DO. Now say "Yeah, I jammed," followed by "I forgot" to see the instructions. Play: x, Square, Tri, R1+Tri, R1+Square, X, Square, Tri, R1+x, O, x, Square, x. If you do it right, he should say you, "Managed to play well." Read the letter on the desk, if you want, but don't search her dresser. Head to the inn.

As far as I know, you can't get any items or anything else here. Let me know if you know of anything else. Feel free to go around and talk to everyone. Go to the inn and talk to "Zangan" by the door. He's Tifa's teacher. Go upstairs and talk to Sephiroth twice and then say you should sleep. When you wake up, head to the top of the screen and talk to Sephiroth. You'll have a picture taken then you'll head toward the reactor.

When you have control again, talk to Tifa and follow her. When the bridge gives out, you'll have an opportunity to take Sephiroth's materia using the standard materia menu. He doesn't let you, but it's fun to try. ;) Check out the accessory he's got equiped; I *want* a Touph Ring ! Don't worry - you can steal one from someone at the Gelnika crash site later. Anyway, head up to the caves. Head up using either of the paths. When you have control again, go up the stairway into the reactor. Walk along the pipes to a plank, and jump to the chain. Go down the chain, along the pipe and into the doorway. Go up the stairs and talk to Sephiroth. Examine the thing Sephiroth was looking at to close the valve.

Go talk to him again. And again. When you have a chance, ask Cloud to finish the story, and you'll head to the Shinra mansion. Once inside, you'll see lots of exits. Go up the stairs and head right. Go down toward the guard and go into the room past him. Examine the big column at the far right back of the room. Go down the stairs and continue all the way down the hall. When he finishes talking, exit the room to see the next scene. After you wake up, go back down stairs (head right across the hallway) and go to the room where you saw Sephiroth. Head to the top of the screen and go down the hallway.

When he finishes talking, head out of the mansion and look around. You'll help out by running from house to house. Go look at your house, then you'll end up at the reactor. Do the same thing, head to the core. Go talk to Tifa (on the stairs) then head up to where Sephiroth went. Hey... Who repaired the reactor already? Where's the weird mako-people-creep that broke out last time, too? Odd. Anyway, go upstairs and have a seizure, then you're back in Kalm.

My First Chocobo
When you get back control, head back upstairs and open the cabinet on the far left of the screen. Open it, like, five times. You'll end up with a Megalixir for your troubles. When you leave, you'll get the PHS thing. Now you can swap party members at save points and on the world map. Talk to everyone for lots of help. Buy the Cannon Ball, but don't worry about the Mythril Claw . If you haven't already, you'll steal a Grand Glove in the Mythril mines in a few moments. Your clues have told you to head east. You're actually going to the Mythril mine down south east, but you need a chocobo to get there.

If you didn't already do it before.. Follow the river/mountains/ocean above you and head east until you see a bright green patch. Go to the southern end of the patch to the chocobo farm. Talk to the one closest to the fence. It will say "Wark." Repeat "Wark" to it. You'll be treated to a dance! Oh yeah. And you get the Choco-Mog materia - it's pretty useful in the mines. Talk to the old guy in the left building, then head to the right building to talk to "Choco Billy." He'll tell you that they're out of chocobos but you can buy a chocobo lure for 2000 gil, and get some greens to feed it (to keep it from running away at first glance).

I recommend having 2500 to spend when you come here, otherwise you can't buy what you need. Get at least 5 Gyshal greens and a lure. You'll likely use them. Set your battle speed to slow and your ATB to wait. Walk around where there are chocobo tracks and you'll eventually get a chocobo that shows up. Throw him a green right away, then kill the monsters with him. If he finishes the greens before you finish the monsters, throw him another. Be careful beating up the monsters. If you set two characters to attack, and the first one kills the target, the 2nd will randomly chose a new target - sometimes the chocobo! Once you catch one, head to the mine at the south end of the area, and cross the sand. When you see a cut scene, head to the top of the screen.

The Mythril Caves
Set your battle speeds back to something you can live with. Junction at least one fire materia with all materia as well as the Choco-Mog materia; you can un-junction the chocobo lure materia. Use Choco/Mog and fire-all when you have to fight lots of enemies. If you picked up the enemy skill Mantra Magic, you'll love how it helps you at this stage. Don't bother trying to steal from the Castanets or Crawlers; they have nothing. On the other hand, you can steal a Grand Glove from a Madouge and an Ether from an Ark Dragon. You can also learn the enemy skill "Flame thrower" from the Ark Dragon.

When you enter the cave, head right. Go up the path and grab the Ether on your way up. The chest at the top contains a Tent . On your way back down, climb the vines on the left side of the screen. Walk a little way and pick up the long range materia. One strategy is to junction this to whoever you have as a healer in the back row of the party. I like to junction both cover materia and long range materia to Cloud, and then put him in the back row. He'll still jump in front of others to take damage for them, but because he's in the back row, he takes less damage than normal. Go back the way you came, and this time head left and down from the entrance to the caves.

When the path splits, take the lower right path for a few feet. Open the chest for a Mind Source . Remember to always use the sources on Cloud as soon as you get them. This keeps his attributes high. Go back to the cross roads, and to the left of the entrance. You'll meet a very Rude (heh heh) person. Listen to the Turks for a while. When they're done talking you'll notice there are three exits: up left and right. Go up and through the doorway. (Don't climb the vines just yet). When you get through the door open the chest for an Elixir , and go to the end of the path for a Hi-Potion (it's at the top right of the screen). Leave that room and go climb the vines on the left and leave the caves. Read both the next two sections...

Fort Condor
Just south of the exit from the caves is the "Fort Condor" level. Talk to the guy and volunteer to help, then head inside and up the rope; you must have at least 5000 gil to help; if you need money, go get Yuffie (see below). There is an item shop and a materia (fire, ice, lightning, restore) shop here. Stock up, talk to everyone on this screen and rest/save. Go to the very top and talk to the man looking out the large window. Sometimes the game didn't let me begin any battles yet and I'm STILL not sure why. Anyway, you can check out the Fort Condor section (I got a Magic Comb after this battle, which nets Red XIII 3 (count 'em, 3) DOUBLE slots. When you're ready, head to Junon (North and west). Pick up Yuffie (below) if you haven't already.

Yuffie:
READ THIS WHOLE THING FIRST!!! Wander around in the forests. If you run across the Capparwire enemies, use the mantra magic enemy skill to take them all out. If you run across a group of Formula enemies, be sure to steal a Boomerang for Yuffie. Look for an enemy called "Mystery Ninja" and beat her. When you beat her, be careful; don't go to the save point or leave the screen. To get her to join, talk to her and say all the right things. Her statements will be in red, the correct responses in blue:
"... One more time, let's go one more time!"
Not interested

Talk to her again.
"You're pretty scared of me, huh!?"
......petrified

Talk to her again.
"I'm really gonna leave! REALLY!"
Wait a second!

"You want me to go with you?"
......That's right

"All right! I'll go with you!"
......Let's hurry on
Note that she "planned" the whole thing. Yuffie joins the group with a throw materia. For fun, I used Beta on her one time and beat her in one shot. ;) You should get 240 XP and 40 AP for this battle.

Lower Junon:

When you first get to Junon, head around the first house and down the steps behind it. Watch for a second, then you'll get sucked into a battle with Bottomswell - on the back row, of course. It has 2500 HP and 100 MP. It's weak against wind (choco-mog battle, anyone?) If you hit him with Bio, you can poison him. It's good for fun and profit. ;) Fire and bolt are also useful against him. You can't reach unless you have the long-range materia junctioned, but he has nothing to steal. If you have Cloud's Climhazzard be sure to use it. Same with enemy skills like Beta and Mantra Magic. Just use magic, summons and limit breaks.

You'll get a Power Wrist for this battle. You'll do CPR on the girl. Press square and watch the bar go up. It'll go up 9 "breaths" to get to the top. Do this 5 or so times. When it gets close to the top, press square again to exhale. After a few times she'll breath on her own. It took 5 for me. When the scene is over, head to the center of town, and go up the double staircase of the middle house in town. Talk to the guy at the top of the stairs. This is where Priscilla is; you'll come back here soon.

Fort Condor Note: In some versions of the game, you can participate in Battle 02 at Fort Condor now. See the Fort Condor section of this walkthrough for more information. For the version I was most recently playing, I had to rest in the house as per the next paragraph before I was able to fight the battle. That meant I had to get all the way to Fort Condor as JUST Cloud, which was intersting.

There's a weapon/item shop here, but it's probably not that interesting to you at this point in the game. Go to the house near the entrance to town and talk to the person at the door, then rest for a while. Turn down the volume because this music is going to get real old, real quick. Head outside and talk to everyone. (This is where I had to fight Fort Condor Battle #2 in my version of the game). Then go upstairs and talk to Priscilla. When she runs off (after giving you Shiva materia), follow her down the stairs to the beach. You'll see how to play with the dolphin, and then you'll be asked if you want to jump in the water. After jumping in, you can swim back to the shore and jump out, if you'd like to go fight battle number 3 at Fort Condor (see below). When you're ready to move on, come back here and hop in the water.

Fort Condor Note: You can participate in Battle 03 at Fort Condor now. That's right - if you leave the water and go back, there's another battle ready for you. When I did this one, I had to leave as just Cloud, so there were no other characters to help out. See the Fort Condor section of this walkthrough for more information.

Watch the video to see where to jump from (where to blow the whistle). I recommend right clicking on that file and downloading to it your desktop, then double click it to run Quicktime. Use the "Double Size" or "Full Screen" option to zoom in. The file is of decent enough quality that you should be able to see it. You'll see a "miss" jump first, then you'll see where you are to jump from to get up to the beam. When you get to the top of the ladder, go toward the bottom of the screen, and head left and down on the next screen.

Upper Junon:
There is a huge section of the floor that is an elevator. Press the yellow boxy thing to make it go down. Head to the bottom of the screen. Talk to the guy in the red uniform when you enter the building. You'll enter the room at the top of the screen. Go to the open locker and change into the Shinra uniform. Watch what's going on, and then try to figure it out.

Save your game before following them (just outside the locker room is a save point). Follow them and then, watch a cut scene and then follow them again. You'll head outside. Try to be as good as possible in the next few areas, as you'll get extra cool stuff. Just to the right and down of the save point is an elevator. You can't go down it yet (well, you can but you can't get off, so what's the point?) but you should know where it is.

When you first step outside, you'll get to see a cool cut scene. When he says, "Get over here" you'd better go over where he is. Follow the other guys through the "short cut" and follow his instructions. Walk to the back of the pack, then run up to the line and press circle when he counts. Try not to let much time pass when it happens. If you can time it right you can get good gifts. I got a Grenade , 6x Potion , 6x Ether , and once when I scored 56% ratings, I got 5000 Gil.

Once you finish that, watch a cut scene. You'll be drilled, but you can pretty easily master this. Trust me, it's worth it to master it. It's relatively easy and you get cool stuff out of it. Save if you liked the results, and head out the same door they did. Again. This time, though, feel free to stop into all the shops and talk to everyone. Shop one is materia, where you can get both the revive materia and the seal materia. By this time I had 27 ethers, so I sold 17 to get enough money to also buy the best weapons for all my guys (at the weapon shop in the alley where you took a short cut earlier).

On the ground in the third shop (in the bottom floor) is an enemy skill materia. The second floor has a Mind Source on the floor and a 1/35th Soldier . There is a Luck Source just through the door. The next floor up has a Guard Source (You are using these, right?) and a Power Source . Head toward the other end of the street to do some more shopping.

Above the Inn, there's a materia shop selling fire materia, ice materia, lightning materia, earth materia and poison materia. You can get Silver Glasses (darkness protection) and a Headband (sleep protection) from the shop above that one. The second to last shop has a Speed Source , and upstairs there is another 1/35th Soldier . Our final shop has cheap weapons. now go back and save (the nearest save point is at the junon inn, a few doors down), then go all the way back to the end of the walkway.

When you get there, you'll have to do the drill stuff like you practiced. It's NOT the same one you rehearsed, so just follow along and try not to screw up too bad. Don't forget, use X at the end for the special ending. When the president's mood is 80ish, you'll get an HP plus materia. If the president's mood is 100+ you can get a cool weapon for Cloud out of this. He was at 210 for mine, so I got a Force stealer ! It's only got three slots, but they grow at DOUBLE normal rate. Of course, you'll be able to buy one in the town of North Corel in the not to distant future. Anyway, put any three materia you really wanna level up in here. If you didn't get it, and you want it, you can always go back to that save from 30 seconds ago, right? Anywho, let's board the ship when the president is done yakking. Don't worry about your friends; they made it aboard.

The Ship:

Arrrgh matey! Time to pillage the ship. When you get control back, open the chest on the lower left corner of the screen for an Ether . Just up a little ways is Yuffie getting seasick. If you want to go on the date with her, give her a Tranquilizer. There's an all materia behind her that you CANNOT get to yet. Just be patient. While talking with Aeris down here, tell her you'll take her on an airship ride if you want to date her, or say dunno if you want to date someone else. When talking with Tifa, agree with her if you want to go on a date with her, or say you don't know if you want to go with someone else. When you've talked to folks around here, head up the stairs.

If you tell the guy at the top right that "somethings missing," you can get access to a store; it's just potions and phoenix downs, though. Question everyone above deck too. There's a guy blocking the way forward saying, "Oh man, we're almost to Costa del Sol." After talking to him, head downstairs and then talk to Aeris (on your left). Now you can go back upstairs and the guy who was blocking your path should be gone now.

Go talk to Barret (the weird guy looking in the windows) and after a while you'll have control again. When you do, run to the center of the ship and meet up with your friends. Chose a group (I picked Cloud, Red XIII, and Yuffie; in a few minutes, Yuffie will get a double weapon - so that gives me THREE double weapons for these battles), equip your new weapons and materia, then go save. As far as materia goes on these levels, I give steal materia to Red XIII and Yuffie, and junction seal materia with all materia so I can put entire groups of enemies to sleep. That's super helpful when trying to steal things.

If you run into a Marine, you can steal a Shinra Beta . You really do want a whole set. :) The floating enemies have relatively easily stealable Ethers. Head downstairs and pick up the all materia that Yuffie was blocking before. Now go through the doorway and up the ladder to your immediate left. Go all the way around the catwalk and get a " Wind Slash " from the box; junction to Yuffie for double growth. Before moving on, heal/ Ether up, if you need. Feel free to un-junction your seal and steal materia before talking to the guy toward the front of the boat. You'll probably want to cure-all, though. The enemy you'll be fighting won't have anything to steal and is immune to sleep. You can talk to people if you want, but they don't say a lot; just go to the guy at the front of the ship. When Jenova-BIRTH shows up, start getting ready to do some whomping.

Don't bother trying to steal (has nothing), sleep (immune) or whatever. Just maximize smackage. Jenova Birth is level 25 and has 4000 HP and 110 MP, and no weaknesses I could see. I used Shiva, Choco-Mog, and a lot of smacking. Oh, and a few cure-alls. Again, if you can land a climhazzard at this time, you'll be loving life! Also, if you managed to get the enemy skill Beta earlier, you can do some serious damage with that - especially if that character uses the Talisman to get Spirit +10. You'll get a White Cape for this battle. Just behind Cloud is the Ifrit materia when you are done with the major fight. Don't forget to get it. (I'm using the double setting on Cloud's weapon to earn double AP on all three of my summons from here on).

Costa Del Sol:
Talk to the Dock workers and then head to the lower right of the screen. Go up the stairs. Watch the cut scenes then you'll get control back. Go through the doorway right across from where you enter town. In the basement is a Power Source , Motor Drive and Fire Ring . Head down to the beach and talk to hojo, but stop by the materia shop in the center of town and buy a revive materia from Yuffie, if a) you don't already have several, and b) she isn't in your party. You can also buy a Soft or 20 here (for the first time in the game).

Path to North Corel :
Leave Costa Del Sol, and head south, then east, then north (along the path through the mountains.) At the end of the path is a cave; rest and/or save, then go into the cave. You'll appear on a mountain path; head straight ahead. Talk to the guy lying on the ground then head further on down the road. I don't think there is anything to get here, except that you can steal one or more Diamond Pin from a bagnadrana (I didn't equip it; my Magic Comb was gaining double AP), and a Turbo Ether from the Search Crowns. Heck, if you want to farm a Turbo Ether or fifty, this is probably the best place to do it early on. They have a powerful 4-laser attack, but they can only cast it once or twice before their skill power is all used up. After that, you'll end up only getting hit with their seed shot attack, which does very little damage.

Just keep following the obvious path and eventually you'll get to a big reactor thing. Head to the bottom of the screen. On the next screen you'll follow the tracks to the bottom right, and you can save at the following screen. SAVE! You'll have to do some weird mini-game stuff here, and you'll want to be prepared to come back to this point.

1. When you leave the save point, head right; Cloud will jump the first break in the tracks.
2. Take the high road to your right, and when you see the "press o to jump" menu option, don't. Hold the left arrow down, and press circle a bunch (If you have a turbo button on your controller, you're loving life!).
3. You get the Wizard Staff this way. Press circle when Cloud is just dangling there, and then climb up the pole to get the staff.
4. Climb all the way back up, and head right to get the treasure box ( W Machine Gun ).
5. Go back left, and this time take the low road to the right. When you begin falling, press RIGHT and hold down the circle. (You may want to save in between falling-jumping.)
6. You'll get your third Star Pendant .
7. Continue right, and cut back left when you can take the upper road.
8. You'll get a Turbo Ether and then you'll start to fall. Press the circle to not fall (There's nothing down here) or just climb back up when you've fallen.
9. You can get a transform materia a bit farther on to the left (gives you "mini" magic).
10. Head back right, and take the low road heading right.
11. Talk to your friends, then make sure Tifa is in your party (if you want to date her later on) then head back left
12. On the next screen take the upper right road. Go across the bridge, and follow the path around until you can enter the shack and "do it" there. That will let you lower the bridge.
13. Follow the road down to the bottom of the screen, and try to climb the ledge on the right when you hear the birds chirping. Tifa sees the birds and thinks they are cute. Leave them alone - that makes Tifa's like Cloud attribute go up, I guess. If you don't wanna date her, I guess you can just take the treasure and fight a battle to get a bunch of phoenix downs.
14. Go back to where you met your friends and you can now cross the bridge.

North Corel:
Talk to everyone, and then see if there's anything you want to buy. Be sure to leave at LEAST 3,000 gil so you can get into the Gold Saucer. If you want to buy a lifetime pass there (and level up a bit down here) you'll need 30,000 gil if you're not playing on an emulator. If you ARE playing on an emulator, you need around 10,000. I think it's worth it to level up as I will be doing LOTS of chocobo racing the future; YMMV. Head out using the right-most exit of the town. Use Ifrit on the enemies there for quick kill and lots of AP/gil.

If you can, junction All-Fire2 and use that on these enemies. Otherwise, swap the Ifrit materia between people, use PHS to swap everyone in, and, when you are totally out of magic, return to the inn in this town to heal up. Swap in your other characters using the PCS, or you'll end up with some characters 5 levels higher than others, if you aren't careful. When you have enough money (or have just had enough of the fighting) head back into town and go out the exit to the lower left. Go and talk to Barrett and listen to him whine about the sob story with his town. When he's finished, get on the tram.

Gold Saucer:

Watch the cool cut scene (unless your playstation cannot handle it, in which case you really need to borrow a PS portable from a friend (thanks Sharon!!!). OK. When you have control again talk to the guy at the front entrance (below the welcome sign). I buy the life time pass if I'm playing on a console, or a regular pass if I'm playing on an emulator that I can explot. Why life time pass? Mainly because I'm planning on doing a LOT of racing, etc later on. This way, I can come and go as I please. If Barret is in your party, unjunction all his materia, equipment, and accessories remove them before talking to the attendant at the entrace.

Anyway, listen to his lecture, then head inside. Barret goes to the Wonder Squares, you can go where ever you want. I picked up Tifa (you can talk to everyone to decide to take them with you). Be sure to only take one person with you; that way you can get Cait Sith later on. I left Aeris and Red XIII with Yuffie, then went to the different places. I headed to Chocobo Squares, and saw the Shinra soldiers. Talk to everyone to learn more about chocobo racing.

There are 6 chocobos in each race and you can pick up to three chocobos to win. Pick three you think likely to win, but you have to guess who will come in first AND second. It's hard to figure out which ones will win - unless you've got an emulator [Emulator side note: each time you tell the receptionist which class you want to bet on, the system will randomly roll up a race. Make a quick-save on that screen, then choose to bet 200 Gil on Class B. When you see the list of Chocobos and Prizes on the next screen, look for an Elixir or a Turbo Ether . If neither are one of the prizes, restore your quick-save and choose the same Bet of 200 Gil. If on the other hand you see an Elixir or Turbo Ether , create a second emulator save, pick a random ticket, and start. At the end of the race, you'll see who the winner was and you can revert to the emulator save on the chocobos/prizes screen and select the correct ticket, then watch the race again. The outcome should be same, including prize allocation. You can choose to get GP instead of the item, if you want. A Turbo Ether is worth 150 GP and the Elixir is worth 200. You can exchange these for prizes at the Wonder Square arcade later. If you get 500 GP, you can buy a Carob Nut by selecting a bunch of question marks (??????????) at the bottom of the list. Alternatively, you can think of this as a way to buy a Turbo Ether or an Elixir for 400 Gil.]

When you're finished raching, head to Wonder Square and pick up Cait Sith (He comes with manipulate materia and transform materia), then talk to people and head into the arcade. Play if you want. If you are playing on an emulator, you can get an advantage in various games. Here are some things to try:

On the second room of games there is a game at the far right where you have to encourage Mog to fly. Press circle to feed him 5 nuts, then wait a bit. Eventually Mog will go to rest up and another Mog will show up. Follow the prompts and this time feed him three nuts, then stop. After a few seconds, the game should just show some cut scenes for you. Can you imagine trying to raise twelve children...? Dang. Anyway, when you're done with the game, talk to the guy right behind you for 30 GP. You can play this again if you want, but you won't get anything out of it.

At the bottom of the screen above is the 3D battler game. This costs 200 Gil. If you're not on an emulator, just ignore this one. If you are, use the quicksave before each action, and then just press triangle. If you get it, reload and try again. Do this for three three challangers, then let the forth one beat you by just pressing X over and over. Because the game is buggy as hell in this mini game, and there's no forth opponent, so you'll end up stuck and you can't exit. In this way you'll end up with 30 GP for every 200 Gil you spend. So beat the guy with the afro, but lose to the power ranger with the spikey shoulder pads on purpose!

But if you're looking to earn GP quickly and you're playing on an emulator, play the basketball game on the bottom left of the first screen of games. Basically you just hold the 'O' button for a four syllable word (I use mississippi because I have played a lot of football) and you can turn 200 Gil into 300 GP. Now to be clear, this is WAY easier to do on an emulator, because you can quick-save after each successful throw and reload to that state if you fail. In this way, you can get MASSIVE GP in a very short period of time. Heck, you can get 300 GP for 200 Gil in a short period of time, which you can trade for several Ether by talking to the lady there, and you can sell all your ethers to end up buying trubo ethers. Which is kind of OP at this point in the game.

When you are finishedhead to the Round Square and talk to the poor people who wanna be left alone. Heh heh. Anyway, leave the Round and head to the Ghost Square.

Head into the hotel there and be sure to read the poster on the wall on your left. It's Turtle's Paradise Number THREE!!! Go through the doorway and "examine" the counter; you'll be greeted by Mister Hangman. You can buy a bunch of things here, including ethers, if you need them. If you've managed to score 5 gp, you can save at the save point out front, but there really isn't any reason to waste your GP at this point.

Head to the "Speed Square" and talk to everyone. Dio will tell you about Sephiroth, then ask you to come by "Battle Arena" later. I recommend you finish doing everything else you want first; you'll be stuck once you go there. :)

After a few scenes you'll have control again. Be sure to junction Cait Sith before any battles. Just up and to the right is a ladder leading down to an empty chest. You can safely avoid it for now. Head down one screen by going through the gate. Talk to everyone and then head to the shack at the right of the screen. This will trigger some cut scenes to give you a bit more info about what's going on with Barret.

After some cut scenes you'll be able to leave. The cab of the truck down there is a place where you can sleep, if you've used all of the magic, or whatever. I recommend Ifrit for these battles, too. Quick and painless. You'll probably want to not use Barret for these battles - save his magic/etc for later. Head into the trailer of the truck and talk to Mr. Coats, then leave and go around the pipes to the other building on the right (if you need a Potion , Phoenix Down or Tent - that's all they have for sale.)

Just above that (to the right of the billboard) is another empty chest. Save your game and head up one screen (you may need to go up and to the right a lot). Talk to the guy who first welcomed you to the town (he may not talk much), then head up and right. (There are two exits to this screen, don't go through the gate!) At the top screen, head right a bunch of screens until you arrive at a place that looks kind of like a dump.

A little advice about the enemies here: You can steal a Phoenix Down from the 2-Faced (spinning enemies), and you can steal an X-Potion from the Bandit enemies (be careful, though - they'll mug you and both do damage AND steal something - you'll have to kill them before they run away to recover your stuff). Use ice attack or summon Shiva if you are accosted by a land worm (you can steal a Turbo Ether from him, though).

You can steal a Platinum Bangle from a death claw. The Bullmotor enemies use "mantra magic," so your other enemy skill materia can learn that; you can also steal an X-Potion from them. Don't forget that you can manipulate an enemy to force them to use a particular skill against a particular character. At the "dump" screen, junction Ifrit to Barret along with stuff for a solo battle (e.g., be sure you don't have things like "cover" equiped) but don't bother with Steal. Head to the upper right of the screen. You'll talk to Dyne and eventually get into a fight.

If you happened to pick up Beta earlier, then you'll find this to be a rather simple battle. If not, it's still not too terribly tough. Just shoot him, unless you have a summon, then use that. I found Ifrit plus a few limit breaks worked well. ;) Don't bother stealing, he hasn't got anything; you can't manipulate either. Oh, and don't forget that Barret uses ranged weapons, so he should always be in the back row to reduce the damage done to him. After the battle is over you should get a Silver Armlet . You'll get control at the top of the Gold Saucer, and you'll have to win a Chocobo race to get your team out. When Ester leaves you alone, pick up the red colored Ramuh materia in the far right stall.

Head toward the bottom right after the announcement, and Ester will show up with everything set. The important things to remember here are:

1. At the start of the race, press select to switch from Auto to Manual.
2. Use L1+2 and R1+2 the whole time.
3. About half the time press and hold circle; this will drain stamina, but make you go faster.

The chocobo will follow the course by itself - even in manual mode. Holding circle will let you run like heck, and holding L1+R1+L2+R2 will make your stamina go up (Yeah, it's an undocumented "feature" for ya). Use about half your stamina at the beginning of the race, then use circle again when you get to the place where the logs surroud the track. Remember, always hold down L1+R1+L2+R2 - you're only pressing and releasing the Circle button.

Buggy, Mythril , Gold Saucer:
As soon as you choose three people, you'll be in the buggy. I like to drive around in the sand area until I encounter a Harpy. You can learn the enemy skill Aqua-Lung from him. You can also steal a Striking Staff . If you go south across the water and look along the beach, you can manipulate a Beach Plug and have it cast Big Guard on your team, so you can learn it. Next, pilot that buggy north to Costa Del Sol across the river and up the right side of the coast. Don't get out before entering the town.

When you get in, go up the stairs to your immediate right and across the entrance, back toward the cargo ship. Talk to the guy at the pier, pay 100 gil and hop on by heading left. The ship will carry you and the buggy back to Junon. Just leave the ship boarding screen and talk to the guy in the white sailor uniform who will hook you up with a free "to outside the city" air taxi.

Fort Condor Note: You can participate in Battle 04 at Fort Condor now. See the Fort Condor section of this walkthrough for more information.

Now you are back in the buggy. There are a couple or three things you may want to do. Feel free to hit up fort condor for a free inn; don't forget to participate in a battle, if you are so inclined; I got a Peace Ring for my trouble. Also, I think this is a good time to get a couple of enemy skills: White Wind (really powerful) and Beta (if your guys are powerful enough.) Manipulate a Zemzelett in the grassy area around Junon and have it cast White Wind on your team. Beta is a little more challenging. I already had this enemy skill for one character, but I was able to get it for the other one, too. Just head through the Mythril Mine toward the chocobo farm and fight the Midgar Zolom in the sandy area (while you have your enemy skill materia equiped, of course :D ).

Don't bother trying to steal from the Zolom. Bio(2) works wonders, as does ice(2), bolt(3) and sleepel. Use cure(2) to keep your guys alive until he uses Beta, then kill him off quickly. He has 4000 HP and 348 MP. Use sense to see exactly how many HP he has at any given time. I've always been able to get both my Enemy Skills Materia stocked with Beta at this time. It makes some of the upcoming battles pitifuly easy. For example, I was doing 3000+ damage to all the enemies in the Mythril Mines here. FYI: You cannot start any chocobo-related quests at this time.

For the cave, head south from the town toward Fort Condor, but turn east and north to cross the river. Follow the river east and a little north to get to the cave where an old guy is sleeping. Exit your vehicle and go inside to hear him sleeping. Talk to him and he'll mumble something in his sleep. Either something about the number of battles you've fought, the number of times you've escaped from battles or something about materia. You want him to talk about battles. If the last two digits are even and match, he'll give you a Bolt Ring . If they are odd and match, you'll get a Mythril . You'll have to leave and come back to get him to say something different.

When you've got them both, head back into the buggy and drive it into Junon. You can bribe the guard at the elevator by talking to him. Head back the way you came. You can stop and poke around some of the places you couldn't get to before - but I couldn't find any cool item, or anything. Just climb back into the transport and you'll automatically head out. (Alternatively, you can simply use the square button to summon the dolphin down by the water; he can take you to the ship).

You may also hit up the Gold Saucer at this time, but be sure to read the caveat at the end of this paragraph. By now, you've probably got at least a shot of winning 8 battles in the battle arena. The main problem is getting enough GP to succeed. You have to either bet on Chocobos or play games in the Wonder Land Arcade. Check out the Gold Saucer section for more information on this. I'm usually able to earn the Championship Belt , pre-emptive materia, and several speed plus materia by this point. Caveat: If you wait to do all of this until after you get the Tiny Bronco, you can get all of he above for few BP, AND you can also win Omnislash (Cloud's ultimate level-4 limit break - trust me: you WANT this one.)

Gonga Reactor/Village:
Head back to the desert where you first got the buggy. Right as you go over the river to the south you'll see a destroyed reactor in front of you. (You may also see a small hut to the east, but since you can't trade out your Mythril just yet, let's skip the hut.) Go to the forest next to the reactor and exit the buggy. Save your game, then head through the forest on foot.

When you get there, you'll watch some more cut scenes and then fight the turks. Don't bother trying to steal; they don't have anything. Sleep, on the other hand, works surprisingly well. :) Put them both to sleep, then attack Reno until he flees, then go after Rude. I was lucky enough to have my pre-emptive materia kick in, and I got two betas and an ifrit summon in before they could lift a finger.

I got a Fairy Tale and an X-Potion for this battle. After the battle, head up the right most screen, then forward one screen. After the cut scene, walk up to the pile of rubble where Scarlet was looking and "Reach for it" to get the Titan materia. Head down two screens and take the left fork this time. At the fork a little way up, go left along the path far enough to pick up the death blow materia on the ground, then take the right path into town.

Talk to the people in the graveyard, then head to the house on the bottom right of the clearing. When Tifa splits, head out after her. Go into the next house up if you want to buy items. The next one up has materia/accessories (first time to buy mystify materia and time materia) on the bottom floor, and - if you climb the pole - a weapons shop; you'll probably want to skip these weapons and save your gill for the NEXT town - much bettter weapons.

You can also listen to everyone's stories along the way to find out what happened here. The leftmost of the two houses at the top of the clearing functions as a hotel and has an X-Potion in it. The rightmost upper house has a White M-Phone in it. Head toward Tifa to learn more about stuff. Stay at the inn if you need to, leave the town by heading down and taking the left fork this time.

Save your game. You can head back into the reactor if you need to level up / get more money, but I recommend waiting until you have the morph materia. If you haven't done so already, once you leave town, use your manipulate materia on a Beach Plug and have it cast "Big Guard" on your guys so you can learn this very cool enemy skill!

Cosmo Canyon:
When you leave, go west and follow the southern coast until you come to a river you can cross. Go across and head north into the mountains. Wind up around the mountains until you come to a village.

Hop out of the buggy and enter the village. After Red XIII splits, head up and talk to the guy under the sign. Make sure to say you aren't familiar with the place so you can watch Barett go "woooooo." Anyway, there are two ladders and a set of stairs here. Go up the rightmost ladder. See the rope across the entry? You can't go through that area, but you can buy general items here.

Leave that store, head down the ladder and enter the shop at the bottom of the ladder to your left. The door at the far end of this room leads you to Nanaki's room. You can't do anything there just yet. Upstairs from the bar is the inn. You probably don't need to stay there just now, but off to the right of the door leading into the rooms is a Turtle's Paradise No. 5 sign. Be sure to read it. Go in the door to the left of the sign, and talk up to the 'fridge looking thing at the far left. You can get an Elixir if you examine it. Head back outside.

You can't do anything at the top of the ladder on your left, so go up the stairs to your far left. At the top of the first flight of stairs, Red XIII (Nanaki) is waiting on the landing. Talk for a moment, then follow your group into the cave. Save your game, then read Turtle Paradise Newsletter Number 4 just to the left of the weapons shop (where you can buy more of those Silver Armlets).

The weapons here are all two connected pairs. Since I use the "double" weapons, I'm skipping these for now. At the top of the stairs just beside that, you can go up or right. Go up and talk to barret. Leave and head left. Go up two flights of stairs and into the cave. The shop on the lower left has materia (HP plus materia and MP plus materia for 8000 gil, mystify materia for 6000 gil, and transform materia for 5000 gil.)

The shop on the lower right doesn't appear to have anything, though if you come here with Cait Sith in your party you can watch him ask about dinner. XD. Head up the ladder and through the door. Talk to Red XIII then talk to the old man. You can run and get your friends by heading all the way down to the bar at the very bottom of the village (or stop off in the room where Barrett is). I picked up Tifa and Barret, rested at the inn to restore HP/MP, and headed back up to the top of the mountain.

Head through the door on the right, and talk to Bugenhagen. Talk to him again about Nanaki thinking his father is a coward, then leave the room and head out to the bottom of the mountain. On the way down talk to all the elders you can find. I found the one that is talking to Barret and the one in the bar.

After that, head to the candle (the big bon fire). Talk to everyone: Yuffie, Cait Sith, Barret, Tifa, Aeris and Red XIII. Choose a party (I prefer to use Aeris / Cait Sith, as they'll get 4x Double-slot weapons in this section), equip any new weapons and armor, and of course your materia, then head back up the stairs at the far left (the path is still blocked in the room at the top of the ladder to the far right). Make sure to save in the first cave, and then head up the mountain. Talk to Bugenhagen, then head through the door on your right when you are ready.

Fort Condor Note: You can now head back to Fort Condor for Battle #5.

You'll be wandering around the caves down here. A few things to note: There are lots of crevices in here you can walk into. Go inside them and break open the rocks to fight monsters. Ramuh works REALLY well against these enemies. Use Shiva on the snake monsters here. If you run across a Sneaky Step, you can learn the enemy skill Death Sentence from them. Be sure both your enemy skill materia are equiped - at least until you learn the skill.

1. Head down the ladders and ropes, then go through the doorway on the right.
2. One of these small-cave-looking doorways (pass the first, head up and open the north-most one) hides a rock that opens the path north; go through it.
3. Head up and WALK left (you'll hit some spikes and lose a bunch of HP if you run through the slick spot).
4. Go down and get the added effect materia at the end of the trail, then come back up to the slick spot and WALK around to the right.
5. Go up and around to get to the box at the bottom of the screen ( Black M-Phone ) and then back up and right to get to the box in the center of the screen for an Ether . (I used a lot of these here!)
6. Go back down under the trail, and up the stairs on your left.
7. Now go up to the left.
8. Notice how the caves at the top of this form a footprint? The far left and right toes are connected (useless). The center is a dead end (also useless). The 2nd from the left goes to to the web on the left, and the 2nd to right one to the right web.
9. Head through the 2nd from the right, then through the siderweb at the top. If you can steal, go for it - these spider enemies have ethers (if you don't have a Turbo Ether , use these ethers). Otherwise, Ice and Bio attacks work great against this guy. Be careful of the Sing Bomb attack - it looks like it drains half your HP.
10. When you've finished him off, the box north of there contains an X-Potion (Don't use it!!! Save it; trust me!!!). When you've got it, back-track through to the area south of the caves.
11. Now go through the 2nd from left cave. After beating the spider at the web, head left and curve down and right to get the Fairy Ring out of the box on this screen (if you get to a dead-end, you went to far down and not enough right). This will protect against both posion AND darkness.
12. Head back up, and this time go to the third spiderweb (you don't have to go to where the "toes" are this time). Again, steal if you can, then ice/bio, etc.
13. When the battle is over, head up, then left and down to get to the final box for a Turbo Ether .
14. Go straight to the top of the screen and get ready for a semi-nasty battle.

>When you are ready, head forward to the wicked looking face. Gi Nattak is pretty easy to defeat. If you can cast "life," then just cast it at him and BOOM. He's dead. If you can't cast Life, well, remember that X-Potion you just got? Throw it at him (make sure not to hit the soul fire things in front of him, though) You should get a Wizer Staff for your trouble. Pick up the green gravity materia on your way, and follow them all out the back door. After a cut scene, you'll have control again. Pick a party and try to leave. When Red XIII joins your party again, you can actually leave.

Fort Condor Note: You can participate in Battle 06 at Fort Condor now. See the Fort Condor section of this walkthrough for more information.

Nibelheim:
Head north and slightly east to get to the river, cross over and head to the town a little farther north. Save before you go in, and enter Nibelheim. Head to the house on the far right. Go upstairs and talk to the black-cape thing for a Luck Source . Go to the next house up and talk to the black things for a Turbo Ether , then head up the stairs.

Talk to the guys up here for a Platinum Fist , but don't play the piano here. If you do, you'll get 1 Gil. If you wait until Tifa is your party leader (quite a bit later), you'll be able to get an elemental materia out of this. Leave this building and talk to the dark robed guy in the general store for an Elixir . Exit that store and talk to the guys outside the mansion for a Mind Source .

Head into the mansion. A note on some of the enemies you'll find here. It's best to rest at the Inn before starting this section, and during it if you drop below 1/2 your total MP and don't have sufficient Ether or Turbo Ether items available. For the enemies here, you'll want to use summons on groups, and standard attacks if you see some weird thing swinging on a rope (Ghirofelgo). DON'T use beta on the pumpkins (DorkyFace). If they make your guy confused, s/he will cast it on the party and you'll be totally dead. (This happend to me on the way OUT of this area, after having not saved for a few hours; talk about annoying.) If you run across the Jersey enemies, they're EITHER immune to magic OR physical damage, depending on the direction the balance is tilting. You can learn the enemy skill ???? from them, but only if you HAVE NOT attacked them. This skill is interesting because it does MaxHP-CurrentHP damage, so if you've got an enemy to less than 50% HP, you can kill it with a single shot.

Anyway, Go left into the small room on the lower left corner of the foyer. You'll see a small yellow square. You'll get some hints for acquiring Vincent here. Read the other letters. Move the dial on the safe carefully, but quickly. You have 20 seconds. You can not go past the numbers while turning. The 4 hints for the numbers are..."

Dial 1: The lid of the box with the most oxygen.
Dial 2: Behind the Ivory's short of tea and ray.
Dial 3: The creek in the floor near the chair on the second floor... then to the left five steps, up nine steps, left two steps and up six steps.
Dial 4: Right 97 (This option is hidden.)
(If at any point in this process you are just getting worked, feel free to go and stay at the inn for a little while to heal up.)

Leave the little room there, and go immediately left toward the room with the piano. Head above and to the right of it and examine. "Something is written on the floor." (2) Left 10.

Now out the top right door. Go across the hall to the two rooms on the other side. Open the box in the upper room for a Twin Viper . To get to the lower room, head back out to the foyer, and through the doorway into the room on the right (not the one on the same screen as the foyer). Go around to the far right and head into the room to get the Silver M-Phone . Now go back out and up the stairs, then go left. You'll come to a room with a box containing an Enemy Launcher .

Examine it again. "Something is written on the back of the lid." (1) Right 36. Go across the hallway and slightly down the top hall. Keep pressing the examine button as you walk down the hall. "Something is written on the floor" (3) Right 59. Now go to the end of the hallway and open the box in the next room over for a " Magic Source ." Go back across the way and this time enter the small room at the top of the screen where the safe is.

Cloud will tell you he has a bad feeling about this, but you can open the safe anyway if you are prepared. Make sure you have restore materia - all materia junctioned to a few people, and also time materia - all materia. So you should "open the safe" and you have to go in the order below. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR ANY KIND OF ERROR! You'll need to press the right arrow until you get to 36, then press select to set it. If you go past the number, you'll have to try again. After that, hold left until you get to to (it's OK if you hold until you're close, then tap a few times to get to the actual number.) Press select on 10, then hold right until you get to 59, press select, and then hold RIGHT (yes, again), until you get to 97. Got it? Here's an easier layout of the numbers, since you don't really have time to read a paragraph like this while the timer is running. :)

1. Right 36.
2. Left 10.
3. Right 59.
4. Right 97.

Lost Number:

You are now going to battle "Lost Number." This guy is kinda tough. Don't bother stealing. This enemy is level 35. He starts the battle with 7000 HP and 300 MP. According to "sense," he does not show any known weakness. Haste all, enemy skill big guard your party and lay down some serious smack. At some point in the battle, he'll glow red, which means he's no longer massively vulnerable. Restore-all when you need to, but it's best to time either that or white wind to happen between when big guard wears off and when you set it again, as the magic barrier will limit the effectiveness of your healing magic. Don't bother using gravity. If you call choco mog, this a possibility this enemy will get hit with stop and become unable to attack you for a time. Which is nice. :) Anyway, wail on him with physical attacks. Enemy Skill Beta can do over 800 points of damage, too (well, until he turns red. After that it's probably only going to do 250 or so).

I you've got a leveled up choco mog, repeated use of it to cause stop can be an effective way to defeat him. He was pretty easy to beat when I fought him this way. You'll get a " Cosmo Memory " when you beat him, and there's an Odin materia on the ground by the safe (you are putting these summon materia in your double slots, right?). Look in the safe after all this, and you'll get "Key to the Basement."

Head right to the room with the entrance down to the basement. Go around the winding staircase to the bottom, and go toward the bottom of the screen. Go down the hallway toward the bottom of the screen. The very top left corner of the next screen has a door in it leading to Vincent's chamber. Go in and examine the bottom edge of the coffin in the middle of the room.

When you have the opportunity, "Talk about Sephiroth." When he tells you to leave, talk to him again (examine the coffin again). Ask him "Who are you?" and name him. After a little more talk, leave and head into the room on the right. Walk to the right and examine stuff here. Something about a fingernail scratch and getting out. Whatever. Head down the hallway at the top of the screen.

Sephiroth will throw something at you, then leave. Pick it up (destruct materia). Continue down the hall and read some more. You may learn something. ;) Go ahead and leave the mansion now. You should get a surprise as you leave; Vincent will join your party. Stay at the inn, then head out the back end of town.

Mount Nibel:
When you go out the back end of town, you'll be able to save on the world map. I suggest you do it. Head north to the cave at the end of the path. Wind around this path; if you've got an ice materia that can cast ice 3, be sure to junction that to an all materia on your fastest character. You'll wind along the path to the right, and it will end up toward the top right of the screen.

At the first turn off (heading farther up) you can send Cloud off to go around the bend toward the chest at the top of that ledge. You'll go up, all the way around behind the spine-covered mountain, and up to the ledge for the " Rune Blade ." (Cloud finally gets 4x Double slots.) Head back down and continue left. You'll jump down then go up a little ledge. A little after that is a path to let you head back behind the next spine covered mountain. There are two branches a bit further along - the top one goes nowhere, so take the lower one.

You will then switch back and forth up to the top to get the Plus Barrette (4x Double for Nanaki). Head back down to the trail and cross the bridge to the left. At the end of the bridge is a cave. Inside this (at the top level) are 5 chutes, a few ladders, and some stairs. I feel like a kid again. :) You can steal a Gold Armlet from an aptly named Dragon enemies, but don't use fire magic on those guys. I like collecting a full set of Gold Armlets here, but if you don't need the connected slots, you may want to skip that. Note that they provide almost 30% more armor, though, so it might be worth it anyway. You can learn the enemy skill flame thrower from them, fwiw. If you run across a twin brain enemy you'll be able to steal an Ether , but they can also hit your guys with a status ailment that effectively stops them for one round.

1. Before going into the chutes, you may want to go down the stairs, then left, then down the ladder, and examine the ladder at the bottom of the lower platform. This will kick down the ladder.
   
2. Head to the very bottom and save - you can use a Tent here if you need too.
3. Retrace your steps to the top of the pipes area. The chutes are numbered 1 - 5 from right to left. 1, 3, and 5 are useless.
4. Go down chute 2 and you'll be on a little ledge with a Powersoul on it. Get the Powersoul and jump off (you'll jump just to the left of the nasty beast).
5. Head back up to the top ledge and go down 4 this time. Open the box for another all materia.
6. Jump off that ledge to the right, save, then go after the Materia Keeper - that nasty looking beast in the lower right of the screen.

Rocket Town:
When you leave the caves, you will encounter some new enemies. Steal Remedies from the Velcher Task (mini-dragon looking guys) in the plains ares and use trine on the battery cap enemies (steal Dazers from these guys) in the forests (for serious XP/AP - if you run across 6 of them, you'll get 192 AP which doubles to nearly 400 in your doubled weapon slots!) Do that 25 times and you'll have 10,000 AP - enough to make all your 10% HP deals become 20%!!! Of course, you're probably at least 50% of the way there by now, since you had to buy them in Cosmo Canyon.

In fact, if you bought them before you even got to Neibelheim, you've probably leveled them by now. When you get to rocket town, go straight ahead and talk to the guy in front of one of the stores. Talk a few times until he looks at the rocket with you. He'll give you the Yoshiyuki .

You can buy a Gold Armlet or two from the shop (if you didn't steal enough of them from the Dragons on Mount Nibel; I stole five while wondering around the area). Talk to the people around here, and you find out really quickly that you need to be talking to the captain, but make sure you talk to Shera first, then read a little ahead if you're doing the Fort Condor side quests. Stop by the item shop to get more time materia as well as exit materia and barrier materia.

There's a Power Source in the house on the far right of town. Once you've been to most of the town, head to the building at the far end of town (before you get to the rocket, though). There's a Drill Arm here. Once you get it, head out the back door to watch Cloud appear to be impressed by something "This is cool." heh heh. At this point you will meet Shera.

When Shera asked if she could help me, Red XIII (Who I originally named "Nanaki" introducted himself thusly: "Nanaki: 'Nanaki, otherwise known as Nanaki.'" I found it funny. Anyway, after she tells you to talk to the captain. However, if you're doing the Fort Condor side quests...

Fort Condor Note: You can now particiate in Round 7. You'll have to backtrack all the way back to the other continent if you wish to do so. When you are actually ready to move on...

Head to the rocket area at the top of the screen and climb the ramp to get over the wires, then climb the ladder and scale the ladder. Once inside, talk to (and name) Cid. Ask about the rocket, then Rufus then the Tiny Bronco. You'll have to leave and come back in after talking about the outer space program, though.

Once you've finished talking to Cid in the Rocket, and have taken care of all the loose ends you want to for a while, head to Cid's house (the one with the tiny bronco). When the cut scenes are finished, head out front. Eventually, Shera will call you back in and tell you to head out back. Go out and talk to Palmer. He has nothing to steal.

He doesn't take much to kill off; trine works REALLY well - 800-900 a pop. Beta, on the other hand, does 1200+, so I like that even more. I think he's easier than any of the other main characters to kill off. 4-5x Beta and the battle's over. ^.^ You'll get an Edincoat when the battle is over. And yeah, you gotta love that exit scene. :D

Wutai Quests:
You'll end up in control of the Tiny Bronco afterwords. You'll end up on water near a spot where you can land. Go ahead and do so, if you just want to advance the plot. Other wise...

Optional: Some stuff you can do. If you really want to go back and get anything you've missed, this is a good time to do it. If you didn't do it before you can use this oppotunity to go and get all the Enemy Skills for both my enemy skills materia, as well as get another speed plus materia or anything else you want to win from the battle arena at the golden saucer - but be aware that you might end being unable to do a few of the following quests if you've visited the Mithral guy and checked out the Keystone . Also, you can actually get to Bone Village from here and pick up the Kjata materia and a Rune Armlet (4x Doubles), Diamond Bangle or 9. FWIW, the Edincoat makes the Gold Saucer side quest, as well as various other quests a bit easier. Speaking of the Gold Saucer, now that you have the Tiny Bronco, participating in the Battle Arena will allow you to win Cloud's level-4 limit break Omnislash . If you have the patience to get this one, it's totally worth it!

Fort Condor Note: You can participate in Battle 08 at Fort Condor now. See the Fort Condor section of this walkthrough for more information, but be aware that you have to do this quest before you get they Keystone .

Anyway... In the beach area just west of where you first got control of the tiny bronco, you can wander around and fight various enemies. If you're on the beach, you can fight an Adamantaimai here and manipulate it to learn Death Force (makes you immune to death!). You can also steal an Adaman Bangle . There are other enemies here which you can defeat to find X- Potion and Phoenix Down items. Save your game befor continuing, because you might need to come earn some of these if the next area is too difficult without magic, etc.

When you are sure you are ready to continue, head north along the mountain path from the place just west of where you first got control of the tiny bronco. In the course of time, some or all of your materia gets stolen; you'll get pulled into a fight with Shinra (you can steal an 8" cannon from these Attack Squad troops). Beat them up as best as you can without magic or anything. You should still be able to defeat them pretty easily. Junction up whatever materia you've got left (be sure to arrange to see what's available.

Head north across two bridges, and turn south, wrapping around to the east and then north again later on. Farther north, you'll come to and cross another bridge, then follow the land north a bit longer. Eventually you'll come to the town of Wutai. When you first come in, you'll see Yuffiie get excited and run away. Follow her.

Go across the bridges and follow the river to the left. When you get to a big pagoda, head into the house on the right, first. Go into the room to the left and examine the leftmost wall. You'll open a secret passage you can go down to find a Magic Shuriken . Exit the room and go right. Enter the room on the right side.

There's another hidden door at the bottom of the screen. Go all the way right for a " Hairpin ." The next room up has Godo. You can talk to him, but he doesn't say much. Keep talking. And talking. Etc. Eventually Yuffie will show up and then run away. Go out and head back into town.

Enter the first building you come to (by the save point) and talk to the lady by the box. Next, head across one bridge and enter the Turtle's Paradise. Talk to the Turks here. Go back across the same bridge and open the box in the next house over. When Yuffie steals it, run back down over the bridge and the next two as well.

Enter the house by the entrance to the city. Look at the silk screen in the left corner of the house. Talk to the guy there (heh heh) and leave. Head back toward the Turtle's Paradise (now you know where it is!) and examine the big shaky pot out front. Your team will split up and you'll be at the pot.

Press circle a lot to punch it, and you'll catch it. Watch the Shinra folks come barging into town. When you get control again, follow Yuffie downstairs. Go PAST the doorway she goes into and read the Turtle's Paradise notice on the wall past it. Unfortunately, you can't do anything with this just yet, but you can go talk to her. Press the switch on the wall twice. (Once to trap them, once to set them free).

Now leave her house and go to the Turtle's Paradise. You've seen all the posters now, so talk to the bar keep (you read the sign out front, right?). (Get Power Source , Guard Source , Magic Source , Mind Source , Speed Source , Luck Source and Megalixir ).

Head across the bridge to the save point and save, then go left along the river path. When you get to the pagoda area, you can go through the blocking gate on your left. Head up the stairs and ring the gong to reveal the hidden door. Go through it. When Corneo bolts out of the room, open the right chest for a Swift Bolt (how appropriate) and the left one for an Elixir .

Head up the stairs and you'll have to fight some Shinra Soldiers. NOTE: You can use this opportunity to max out your characters' limit gauges. If anyone gets a limit break, don't let them do anything else. Make them defend. I know it sounds weird, but you want to save them for the NEXT battle. ON the other hand, you will be fighting some random encounter battles in the next few minutes, so you can wait and charge your limit breaks then. If you opt to do THAT be sure you buy some Fire Veils on your way to the mountain - these cast Fire 3 on all opponants. Quick tip, though, don't use them on the Foulander enemies (they absorb fire damage).

On your way out of this house, get some rest. Outside, you'll alk to the turks, then follow them to the next screen. Go into the first store you come aross and buy 10 Fire Veils and Swift Bolts, if you can afford them - that will make this next area a lot less annoying. Save at the save point here, then head across the bridge just north of there. Head along the mountain path for a while; go up and take the left path. Talk to Rude, then head back to take the right path. That path will split right and straight. Follow the right one first, talk to Reno, then go back and take the straight one. It will wrap around. You'll come to an up/down T formation. Go up and talk to Rude (you can follow him into the cave for a Dragoon Lance ), then leave the cave.

A little prep at this point goes a long way. The enemy you're going to be fighting doesn't give many AP, so don't worry about using your weapons and armor with high-growth. Instead, concentrate on getting powerful attacks. I give cloud the Yoshiyuki and an Adaman Bangle , plus something to prevent poison. I use Red XIII with a Hairpin and an Adaman Bangle with Restore and Revive magic. For Tifa, I use the power soul and a Diamond Bangle . Even though there's nothing to steal from this upcoming fight, I like to equip my steal materia because it provides a +2 boost to dex. I also like to run around this area just outside the cave for a little bit in order to get a character or two a limit break. This last time through it was Tifa and Cloud, which killed him off in a single round.

When you are ready to jump into the big fight, head south (down) from the cave; the fight will trigger automatically after a brief series of cut scenes. Since you probably don't have any all materia left, I hope you have lots of X-Potions stocked from prior battles (unless you equiped for offensive strength like I suggested above). Don't bother trying to steal from Rapps. He has nothing to steal (but 6000 HP and 300 MP). Use the X-Potions to heal and hope you have limit breaks show up. Have Vincent go beast and have Cloud throw swift bolts and attack. A good Tifa Limit Break is priceless here, too.

Eventually you'll end up outside of Wutai with all your materia intact - but totally in the wrong places. Re-equip everything, then take care of a few enemy skill learning items. In the green area just north of Wutai, you should be able to run across a Razor Weed enemy. Manipulate it, and have it cast Magic Hammer on each of your characters that are wearing an enemy skill materia. This skill lets you steal 100 MP from your enemies! You can also get adamantain bangles and the death source enemy skill if you didn't learn it earlier (by manipulating/stealing from an Adamantaimai near the water.

Go back into town, and head straight (almost) ahead to the furthest house you can get to without crossing a bridge. There'll be lots of cats inside. Go up the stairs at the back (you may have to examine the stairs; you couldn't go up these stairs before) and get the HP absorb materia. Go across the first bridge and you can now buy weapons here. Leave the city and head back to the Tiny Bronco, unless you want to try the side quest below. If you do, and you don't have enough money and/or levels, you can always level up south of the village along the brown areas.

OPTIONAL: Wutai 5-Level Pagoda Side Quest:
You can now start the 5 level pagoda side quest, but first two quick notes of caution. First, these can be difficult battles at this point in the game. Second, these battles provide the last chance you'll have to learn the Enemy Skill Trine - and you don't have all the enemy skill materia at this point in the game! If you wait to do this optional side quest later, you'll be able to teach future enemy skill materia that skill.

When you're ready to tackle this side quest, go to the save point and swap in Yuffie. For battle number 5, be sure to have x-potions, elixirs, swift bolts, and Dazers (for the last battle, you'll want to be sure to have 12x swift bolt.) Materia her up as powerful as you can (see below) then save the game and head to the 5 level pagoda. You'll have to fight a lot of people. The trick is knowing how to do this right. If you don't have Enemy Skill Magic Hammer, consider going back a few paragraphs and trying to obtain it before starting these fights.

Equip and Junction. I equiped the Razor Ring (which you can buy here in Wutai) and the Edincoat . In the Razor Ring , I used the following materia: Connected Junction of time materia and added effect materia. restore materia, counter attack materia, long range materia. In the Edincoat , I equiped enemy skill materia, death blow materia, sense materia, MP plus materia, and 3x HP plus materia. Place Yuffie in the back row (because of the long range materia). Set your battle speed to slowest. If you've used the materia I suggested above, and if you have the enemy skills I've recommended getting already, the first 3 or 4 battles shouldn't be too tough.

General advice: Rest and Save between each battle. When each battle starts, use the enemy skill big guard on Yuffie, then cast sense if you want/need it, and then follow the pattern listed below. Given that you're countering, eventually you'll slow or stop your enemy. If that happens, use death blow - it will always connect if they are stunned! You can exit the building to rest and save between these as well. I equipped the Peace Ring accessory to ensure I wouldn't be Saddnessed, Fury'd or Berserked.

Gorkii (Gorky): Level 30 / HP: 3000 / MP: 150 / Weak against Wind / Nothing to Steal. Big Guard, (Sense if you want/need it) then go after him with Magic Hammer to clear out his MP. If he casts reflect, Just be sure not to cast any magic at him. Alternate Beta and Cure 2.

Shake: Level 32 / HP: 4000 / MP: 180 / Nothing to steal. Big Guard, (Sense if you want/need it) then alternate Beta, Cure 2, Magic Hammer. He can still use Rage bomber even if his MP is all used up.

Chekhov: Level 34 / HP: 5000 / MP: 210 / Nothing to steal. Big Guard, (Sense if you want/need it) then alternate Beta, Cure 2 (if you need it), Big Guard (if you need it) Magic Hammer. Chekhov counters using the skill Stare Down. You might get stopped for a little while - don't worry; it wears off. When Chekhov's skill power is used up, you need no longer fear the crippling Stare Down counter.

Staniv: Level 36 / HP: 6000 / MP: 240 / Nothing to steal. Again, Big Guard, (Sense if you want/need it). Alternate Beta, Cure 2 (if you need it), Big Guard (if you need it), Magic Hammer (if you need it).

Godo: Level 41 / HP: 10,000 / MP: 1,000 / Nothing to steal. He starts off the battle with a Demi 3, so quickly cast haste and then Cure 2 in rapid succession. Now go for Big Guard. Now alternate Swift Bolt , Magic Hammer (wether you need it or not!), Big Guard (if you need it), Cure 2 (if you need it). When you have no more Swift Bolt to throw at him, use Beta. When you've drained all his MP, he won't use Demi 3 or Trine or Cure 3 any more. I beat him with Yuffie on level 31, but only by the skin of my teeth and the two megalixirs I blew. The next time I came here she was at level 33, and this was MUCH easier. YMMV. You'll earn All Creation from this battle.

When the battle is over you'll also receive the Leviathan materia. When you have control again, rearainge the materia the way you want it, increase your battle speed back to a more reasonable level, then head back the Tiny Bronco when finished.

The Keystone :
OK. We're going after the Keystone now, but there are other things you can do here. I mean, we don't even know what a Keystone is at this point, or why we're going after it. I'll get to that in a minute. Now that you can pilot the Tiny Bronco anywhere you want, let's get started.

When you're back on the Tiny Bronco, head straight through the heart of the continent that Rocket Town is on. There's a river that runs through the whole place, and you can float the Tiny Bronco straight through it. You have your Mithril, right? Let's beach the Tiny Bronco right outside the little house all by itself at the end of the river and go inside.

You'll talk to the guy about the Keystone , and he'll tell you it's how you get into the Temple of the Ancients. Go back and talk to him again. Ask him where the Keystone is. (His answer is a bit vague, but Dio bought it and placed it in his collection at the Gold Saucer.)

Talk to him again and again until you've learned about the Keystone , Temple of the Ancients and Ultimate Destruction Materia (absolute destiny apocolypse materia is harder to find, though. ;) ) Talk again and change the subject. He'll ask about Mythril , and he'll let you have what's in the big box, OR what's in the little box. Go to the big box at the bottom right for a Gold Armlet , or to the small box (up the stairs, around the corner, on the wall) to get Great Gospel . Since you already have the Gold Armlets, go for the Great Gospel . Hint, hint. (And if you realy want both items, technically you can go back to the Sleeping guy in cave to get another Mythril , but stealing a Gold Armlet from a dragon near the Nibelheim reactor is easier.)

Head back to the Tiny Bronco. If you didn't do the Fort Condor battle earlier, you can head South and then East to get to the Fort Condor area. You can also head more east and north to get to the chocobo farm and fight the midgar golem if you didn't learn enemy skill beta earlier. You can't stable a chocobo, evidently, but you can buy greens (since you can afford them now).

If you didn't pick up Rune Armlets and the Kjata materia, continue on up the coast and follow the beach north and back west. You'll come to an upper continent where you'll find a bone village. Buy a couple of Rune Armlets before you start leveling up below. They consist of four unconnected double slots. These guys ALSO have some information for you about keystones. For the Kjata materia, head up and into the Sleeping forest.

You'll start out on a "Front View" screen. Go forward and you'll end up on a "Top View" screen. Floating around here is the Kjata materia. If you can catch it, you can have it! I recommend geting it now, not further down the walkthrough. You can put it on those rune armlets you bought while you wander around the Temple of the Ancients (below) so that it levels up quickly.

Head back straight down and you'll get out of the forest. On the shore of this are you can find a Tornadu (1600 HP) from which you can steal a Bird Wing . You COULD manipulate him, but you can't learn any of his stuff, so there's no real purpose there. You can also run across the Vlakorados, if you are lucky.

Stealing nets you a Carob Nut (if you don't already have three from Gold Saucer), something you'll want later in the game, magic hammer nets you a LOT of MP, and Demi will do massive amounts of damage! You can also head to the contenent South of Fort Condor and steal a Dragon Scales from the Sea Worm (9000 HP / 200 MP) along the shore. Eventually, you'll want to make your way back to the Gold Saucer.

Head to the town of North Corel, and get Cloud ready for battle, then hop back on the tramway. I recommend the following: Equip Murasame , Edincoat , Jem Ring with the following Materia: Time-Added Effect, Restore, Counter Attack, Long Range, Enemy Skill, Kjata, 2x MP Plus and 3x HP Plus. Buy a ticket (if you haven't already bought the 30K one, you might want to make the investment now). Head to the Battle arena and talk to the lady at the bottom of the stairs there. Go up the stairs, and head to the right to Dio's Show Room.

Look at the thing on the pillar, but only if you've already made Cloud ready for a battle. Fight as long as you want, then leave. If you can manage to beat all the enemies, you'll walk away with the Keystone , plus a Protect Vest and a Choco Feather (both accessories). Here's a round-by-round of my fights. Cloud started with 3234 HP and 450 MP.
Round 1: 2x Spencer. Used Enemy Skill Big Guard, then Enemy Skill Trine.
- Handicap (using special square button technique): Lv Down: 5.
Round 2: 2x Gagighandi. Used Enemy Skill Trine.
- Handicap (using special square button technique): Accessory is broken.
Round 3: 1x Flower Prong. He stared off with Bio, so I used an Antidote . Used Enemy Skill Trine. He grew and attacked by missed. Used Trine. He grew again and used pollen; Cloud falls asleep. He uses W Laser three times and Cloud is reduced to 1 HP. Cloud wakes up and I have him cast Cure 2, then use enemy skill trine twice to finish him off.
- Handicap (using special square button technique): Weapon is broken.
Round 4: 2x Desert Shagin. Used cure 2 to regain lost HP, then used trine, then 2x beta. They caused Darkness on Cloud. Cloud got a limit, which I saved for the next battle.
- Handicap (using special square button technique): Weapon is broken. (That's basicaly a "by" for this round).
Round 5: 3x Skeeskee. Used a Turbo Ether to get my MP back up, then cast cure 2, then hit them with Beta and wiped them out.
- Handicap (using special square button technique): support materia is broken. (not really using any anyway).
Round 6: 3x Battery Cap. Used 2x Trine.
- Handicap (using special square button technique): Weapon is broken. (That's basicaly a "by" for this round).
Round 7: 3x Twin Brain. Their 3x Stare Down all missed. Used Beta and killed them in one shot.
- Handicap (using special square button technique): Weapon is broken. (That's basicaly a "by" for this round).
Round 8: Dragon. Used my saved-up limit (Meteorain) on him. Did no damage since my weapon was broken. :( Cure 2, Big Guard, 3xMagic Hammer (now any term he tries to cast Flame Thrower is basically a skipped turn). 8x Aqualung.
Win! Too bad I can't keep these battle points. Bummer.

Head back to the station, then try to exit via the tram, and you'll be told the tram is out of order. You'll end up in the Hotel. After some fight scenes, you'll get a visitor. I've managed to get most of the girls to come visit, but this time it's Tifa. You're told that everything is free, but you're not allowed to go play the good stuff. GRRRRR.

Anyway, it's time to head to the event, and you'll be chosen to be in the show. Now you'll head up on the gondola. Eventually, nothing will happen (of significance anyway, if you know what I mean) and you'll regain control with Cait Sith running away from you - carrying the Keystone . Follow and eventually you'll watch him thow the Keystone away... to the enemy.

When you are back in your room, open the cabinet at the end of the room for an Elixir . Walk out the room to talk to everyone else. Leave the area and head to the entrance. Get on the tram and head down.

When I started this section, I had the three key enemy skills that make the game easier: Magic Hammer, Trine, and Beta (Midgar Golem). That made this next section pretty easy. If you want to go that route, I strongly recommend it. Leave town and head to the Tiny Bronco; take it south and slightly east. You should be able to see a pyramid off on the land pretty close.

Fort Condor Note: You can participate in Battle 09 at Fort Condor now (and you'll miss it if you head to the temple first). Just follow the shallow water north from here and you should be able to jump off on a beach between Junon and Fort Condor. It's actually one of the more convenient times to do so. See the Fort Condor section of this walkthrough for more information.

1. Follow the path forward, then curve left and go up a short flight of stairs, pass another set of stairs going up, turn right, and go down the stairs there
2. Go through an arch then down a short vine
3. Go under the long stairway and open the chest for a Trident .
4. The stairs just past the chest lead to a dead-end, so go down the stairs to your right and up the vine.
5. The cave here is sealed, so continue past it, around the corner, and up the stairs to your left.
6. A the top of the stairs, detour up the vine and grab the Mind Source ; use it.
7. Now head down the staris and into the cave.
8. You can open the chest here for a Silver Rifle .
9. Talk to him (Nyum, nyum...) twice and you'll be able to buy items, rest and save.
10. Leave the cave and backtrack down the vine and under the arch for a Turbo Ether .
11. Head down the long staircase, through an arch, and down a smaller set of stairs.
12. Go through another archway, and down the tiny vine at the lower left of this landing.
13. Open the chest here for a Rocket Punch .
14. Head down more stairs, then take a left and go up the vine.
15. There's a cave-looking arch here.
16. Go through that, down one set of stairs and up a long vine.
17. Grab the "Lucky Plus" at the far left; just go under the stair case (it's actually a luck plus materia).
18. Backtrack down the vine, up the little staircase, through the cave-arch, and down the next set of stairs.
19. This time, take the hard-to-see arch to your left and go into the caves at the end of this path.

Fort Condor Note: You can participate in Battle 10 at Fort Condor now (and you'll miss it forever once you use the Lunar Harp). Like Battle 09 above, it's a convenient quick ride on the Tiny Bronco north until you get to a beach. See the Fort Condor section of this walkthrough for more information.

Bone Village and the Sleeping Forest:
Pilot the Tiny Bronco south and east around the tip of the eastern continent, and head up to the northern continent. You can play with Chocobos along the way, but there isn't much point just yet; you can't stable them. Stop off at the first (only) beach you can find on the northern continent, and head toward the big skeleton a little way off-shore.

Talk to everyone here to get some idea what's going on. After you've talked to everyone, go back to the guy in the cave (bone Tent thing) near the entrance and tell him to "Start diggin'." Tell him you're also looking for good treasure, and then set people around the area. Don't forget to put people up on the ledge above, too.

You can only place 5 guys, so be careful where you put them. I try to distribute them fairly evenly. Don't put people at the edges, try to place them in the middle area. I usually put three on the lower level, and two above. That's 500 gil per search, but you can get some pretty good stuff out of it. I got a Mop and a Megalixir before I got bored (I'm ADD; I get bored easily).

Tell him you just want them to look for the harp, and do the same thing. OK. Now I'm curious, so I'm going back for more "Good Treasure." I got a Buntline , then nothing, then bored. Exit town and save, then go back into town and head for the Sleeping Forest. It's the black tunnel at the top of the screen.

On the second screen of the forest (the top view, not the bottom view; the one where "the Sleeping Forest wakes up"), you may notice something floating around. It's a summon materia. When you catch it (it teleports around, but it's not tough to catch), you'll get the Kjata materia (if you didn't get it earlier on). Go straight through the forest, and stop when you get to the screen with the huge log bridge.

Fort Condor Note: You can now participate in battle 11. Backtrack to the Tiny Bronco and follow the coast south and east around the lower continent. When finished, return here by heading back through the sleeping forest (it should be awake pretty much all the time now.)

It *really* looks like you should be able to go up a vine on your right and into a cave there, but I can't figure out how to get on that vine. You can go to the right of the spiny red-coral colored plant and under the bridge to get a Water Ring . The spiny floating sea horse things can be morphed into X-Potions.

The boundfats can be changed into Dazers . Ifrit works well on both. If you run across a "hungry" you'll want to kill it fast before it ejects all your guys from the battle. Go back around the red-coral plant and through the log. When you get across the log, ignore the left path; it doesn't lead anywhere. Go straight. Head down the long ramp, and you'll appear on the overhead map in a trench.

Go straght forward (north) to the large rock looking thing that's blocking the path, but save your game if you want. When you get to the next screen, you'll go forward a little way, then you'll have 3 path choices: left, straight and right. Go right first. The first branch of that path will take you to a spiral-shaped building with a Guard Source at the top. Exit that building and continue down the right path. The next building has an Elixir in a box, and a place where you can sleep BUT DON'T SLEEP YET!

It's hard to see, but behind the main column at the top (just left of the last bed) is the third extreamly useful enemy skill materia. Again, don't sleep yet. Go all the way back to the beginning and take the left path. There's a little building there you can save in. There's also a box with a Magic Source in it.

After leaving that building, go further down the path. Take the stairs leading down when you first enter the cave. There's an Aurora Armlet in the chest on the lower level, all the way to the right. Head toward the entrance to the city, then take the center path.

Go down the long pathway, into the building at the end of the line and up to the top of the ramp. There's a commet materia up here. Go partway back down the ramp. If you have your "show exits" deal on, you'll be able to see that there's an entry to the area below hidden at the closest (to the viewer) point on the ramp by the floating fish. You can't go down there yet. Go back to the city entrance, then head to the room along the right path with the beds and sleep now. You'll wake up in the middle of the night. After some dialogue, you have a choice to make.

Fort Condor Note: You can participate in Battle 12 now. Yup - in the middle of the night. Just go back to the city entrance, then leave the way you came. Also, this is your last chance to tie up any loose ends on Disc 1. I guess now that you have THREE enemy skil materia, you might want to grab a few interesting skills while you're near fort condor. Maybe White Wind and Beta?

Anyway, when you are ready to move on, return to the Forgotton City and head to the place where the floating fish was. See the moonlight streaming in? That's what opens up the stairway you couldn't see before. Go down the long windy stair case and save at the point near the bottom. As far as I know, you can't do anything here, but make sure to equip any enemy skill materia which does not have Aqualung, and have Yuffie in your party to see something funny later on.

When Cloud sees Aeris from the bottom of the stairs, press left and up to jump across the pylons to where she is. You'll have to walk over where she is and press circle. Watch the cut scene to learn why I don't recommend keeping Aeris in your party more than you have to. You'll be thrust into battle with COMPLETELY inappropriate music. Wait until your party has all learned Aqualung, then take him out.

This was his first attack against my party, and Cloud got his Meteorrain Limit Break, which finished off Jenova-LIFE (Level 50, HP: 10,000 / MP: 300) in one shot. It's OK: you cannot steal, and there's no real point in prolonging this battle. In another pass at the game, cloud got his level 4 limit break ( Omnislash ). If you don't have lots of High-power attacks, use the magic hammer attack 3 times to eliminate his energy. But be careful - he can use reflect which will also reflect the magic hammer and other enemy skill attacks. You should get your first wizard bracelet from this.

Wail on him. I tried to morph him, but my "counter" kept me from doing it. Anyone have success? Listen to Cloud for a minute (I'm not a puppet! I'm a real boy! heh heh - Cloud has a Pinocchio complex) and then watch the "baptism" cut scene. How is Cloud standing shoulder-deep in water that she can just sink all the way down in... Oh yeah, sorry. Suspension of Disbelief. I forgot about that. Save your game BEFORE opening the console ( trust me >.< - it didn't work on a ps1. I don't have the courage to try on my PS3) then you'll be told when to swap the disc out. When you have control again you'll be shown where you need to go.