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GarlandG's "LLNMIENA" FAQ/Walkthrough for
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Version 1.5
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Table of Contents
###################
Use quick find (Crtl+F) to easily find what you want. To easily find a boss or
a battle, just look at the Boss & Battle list and type in the code in front
when searching. For example B38 for Demon's Gate.
1 - Important Stuff Boss & Battle List
------------------- ------------------
* 1.1 <> Copyright B02: Guard Scorpion
B03: Smogger x2
* 1.2 <> Intro B06: Air Buster
B07: Aps
* 1.3 <> Gaming Info B08: Reno
B09: Mighty Grunt x3
* 1.4 <> Battle Plan & EXP Guide B10: Sample:HO512
B11: Hundred Gunner
B12: Heli Gunner
2 - Walkthrough: Midgar B13: Rufus
----------------------- B14: Motor Ball
* 2.1 <> The First Mission B15: Bottomswell
B16: Jenova-BIRTH
* 2.2 <> The Second Mission B17: Dyne
B18: Stinger
* 2.3 <> Back In The Slums B20: Gi Nattak
B21: Materia Keeper
* 2.4 <> Shinra HQ B22: Palmer
B23: Foulander x2
B32: Garuda x2
3 - Walkthrough: The Rest Of Disc One B34: Flapbeat x3
------------------------------------- B37: Red Dragon
* 3.1 <> The First Continent B38: Demon's Gate
B39: Jenova-LIFE
* 3.2 <> The Second Continent B40: Icicle
B43: Schizo
* 3.3 <> Cosmo Canyon B44: Jenova-DEATH
B45: Attack Squad x2
* 3.4 <> Nibelheim & Rocket Town B46: Ultimate Weapon
B47: Submarine Crew x2
* 3.5 <> Wutai & Gold Saucer Area B49: Submarine Crew
B51: Underwater MP x2
* 3.6 <> The Temple Of Ancients B52: Carry Armor
B55: Submarine Crew x3
* 3.7 <> Searching For Aerith B58: Senior Grunt & Attack S.
B59: Rude & Attack Squads
B60: Senior Grunt
4 - Walkthrough: Disc Two & Three B61: Yuffie aka Mystery Ninja
--------------------------------- B62: Diamond Weapon
* 4.1 <> Adventures In The Snow B64: Attack Squad x3
B65: Rapps
* 4.2 <> The Time Without Cloud B66: Proud Clod
B67: Hojo
* 4.3 <> Junon Underwater Reactor B68: Hellectic Hojo
B69: Lifeform Hojo NA
* 4.4 <> Rocket Town & More B70: Mover x3
B73: Jenova-SYNTHESIS
* 4.5 <> Yuffie, Diamond Weapon & Wutai B74: Bizarro Sephiroth
B75: Safer-Sephiroth
* 4.6 <> Return To Midgar
* 4.7 <> The Northern Crater
* 4.8 <> The Final Battles
5 - Additional Info
-------------------
* 5.1 <> Challenge Suggestions
* 5.2 <> Contacting Me
* 5.3 <> Version History
* 5.4 <> Credits
* 5.5 <> Final Words
===============================================================================
1 - Important Stuff
===============================================================================
I know that a lot of people skip this part, but do yourself a favour and read
it. I strongly encourage you to do so, because you will find tons of very
important info here and questions you might have will most likely be answered.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1 <> Copyright
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This guide is Copyrighted © to Audun Arnseth, 2004 - 2006, and is for private
use only. You may download it and print it out, but you are not allowed to
reproduce it, sell it or use it for any kind of profit. You may host it on your
website if you get my approval, but the contents may not be changed, and I must
be given credit. If this is desired, you can send me an email and ask for my
permission. However, should I find it necessary, you will have to remove it at
my request. Violation of my copyright will be taken very strictly, and I will
consider it an ethic violation and breaking of moral. It also shows lack of
respect for other people's work. And most importantly, don't forget that
copyright violations are illegal and you might come in conflict with the law.
All of this guide is my work and all the strategies have been made up by me,
based on my own experiences when playing the game. The only other source of
information I have used in the process of making this guide is Terence's Enemy
Mechanics FAQ, something he is given credit for in the credits section. I have
also received helpful tips from other people that made some strategies easier,
but credit has, of course, been given.
Final Fantasy VII and everything that has to do with this game is copyrighted
(C) to Squaresoft, 1997 & 1998. Squaresoft and Final Fantasy are registered
trademarks (R) to Square Co. Ltd.
If you break my copyright, I will hunt you down and kick your ass and it will
hurt. In other words, don't do it.
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1.2 <> Intro
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The summer of 2004 was spent playing Speed Runs, and after successfully setting
a nice record and writing a guide for the challenge, I decided to do something
different in autumn. I had already done the Low Level No Materia Challenge, but
I accidentally screwed up and had some characters reach level 29, so I wanted
to start over and beat the challenge legitimately. But then, at work one day, I
came to think of something. What if I did the challenge with initial equipment
and no accessories? Could that possibly be accomplished? For the next few days
I couldn't think about anything else, and I came to the conclusion that the
challenge was possible. I thought through every boss battle that could be an
obstacle, but I came up with strategies that I knew would work, so I decided to
go for it instead of doing another LLNM. I wasn't "giving it a try", as I knew
I would complete it, and after a few weeks, Sephiroth had fallen to my Level 28
No Materia Initial Equipment No Accessories party.
LLNMIENA is one of the toughest challenges for FFVII and it is recommended for
experts only. Before you take on this challenge, you should AT LEAST have done
a regular Low Level Game, but I recommend you to do the Low Level No Materia
Challenge first as well. LLNM is the perfect warm up for this challenge, as you
will learn how to survive on low levels without materia, and that's something
you must be comfortable with before you take on this challenge. In other words,
you must learn to know the items and their incredible usefulness. After all,
it's all thanks to the items that this challenge is possible, so you won't get
far if you don't know how to use them. Of course, it doesn't take a scientist's
brain to figure out how to throw a couple of Grenades, but certain items have
to be treated carefully if you want to live through the battle. Complete LLNM,
and you'll know what I mean. But now, let's take a look at the rules.
LLNMIENA - Low Level, No Materia, Initial Equipment, No Accessories
#####################################################################
LL - You may never exceed level 28 at any point during the game. If a character
should reach level 29, you have failed at maintaining the lowest level.
NM - Any use of Materia is strictly prohibited, and you may never have Materia
equipped in battle unless the game forces you to.
IE - The characters must always be equipped with the weapon and armor they were
equipped with when they joined the party. Example: Cloud must always be
equipped with the Buster Sword and a Bronze Bangle. Just stay away from
the "Equip" menu and you won't break this rule.
NA - You may never equip an accessory. Period. Once again, stay away from the
"Equip" menu, and you'll never break this rule.
It's the "Initial Equipment" and "No Accessories" restrictions that make this
challenge a lot more challenging than LLNM. In LLNM, you relied on elemental
armor and accessories against magic using bosses to make them completely
harmless, but such luxury doesn't exist in LLNMIENA. Now, you must find a way
to survive all their attacks until the run out of MP. This mostly applies to
Jenova-LIFE, Schizo and Jenova-DEATH and the latter is definitely the toughest
boss in this challenge. That's not all, though. I haven't even mentioned
statuses yet. Some of the bosses really enjoy drowning your enemies in an abyss
of nasty statuses, but you can no longer equip Ribbons to protect against them.
Now, you have no choice but to deal with these statuses and use items to
recover from them. Hojo causes no major threat in LLNM, but in this challenge,
you will REALLY miss the Ribbons. Mark my words. And then we have Sephiroth and
his infamous Super Nova. Confuse to all, anyone? Lovely. But thankfully, there
are other ways to protect against the statuses. Can you take a guess?
You should know the game pretty well if you want to take on this challenge; you
should know where to go and what to do in order to proceed with the story, so
you won't find a detailed walkthrough in this guide. That's what the regular
walkthroughs are for. What you will find is the necessary info you will need in
order to complete this challenge, like boss strategies, lists over items to
pick up, buy and sell and other important things. The walkthrough part is
divided into areas and for each new area you will find a complete list of items
you must pick up here. Most of them are easy to find and you should know where
they are, but I will give you a clue in cases where they are hidden or
difficult to find, so don't worry about that.
Some times you may wonder why we're using a certain party for a certain fight.
I'm fully aware that we're not using the optimal party in some cases, but in a
lowest level game, we can't just use the characters we want to all the time. To
make sure no one exceeds level 28, we have to swap back and forth between the
characters and make sure they all receive less EXP than what's required for
level 29. Simply put: You need a battle plan. The battle plan lists all the
boss battles, forced battles and other battles you have to fight and win
throughout the challenge, like battles to obtain crucial items. It's not an
easy task to create a battle plan, but you don't have to worry about that, as I
have already made one for you. Jump down to section 1.4 and you'll find it.
This challenge doesn't require too much patience, but there is a tedious part
about halfway through the challenge. Eventually, you will run out of money and
the best way to raise your funds is to fight Cactuars in the desert outside
Corel Prison. The Cactuars grant you a total of 10.000 Gil each and they only
give away one single EXP. That's not a very high price to pay for that much
money. However, the Cactuar is a very rare encounter. The encounter rate is
only 1/16, so don't expect to run into them very often. How much time you must
spend in the desert depends, but it takes at least an hour. It's not that bad
if you put on some music, though. In case you don't want to hunt for Cactuars,
there are other ways to get money, but I'll get back to that later.
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1.3 <> Gaming Info
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS SECTION IS VERY IMPORTANT, AND I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO READ AND
UNDERSTAND IT BEFORE YOU START PLAYING. YOU WILL FIND THE MOST IMPORTANT INFO
YOU NEED IN ORDER TO SAVE TIME HERE, SO YOU HAVE to READ IT, NO MATTER WHAT.
Rules
#######
* LLNMIENA is the golden rule for this challenge, and the four parts of it are
explained above. Break any of the rules and you have failed the challenge.
* No Materia means No Materia. As I said above, you may not equip materia at
any point in the game. You may not equip materia to boost stats and you may
not have materia equipped in battle to gain AP and then sell them for a
higher profit. There are only two exceptions where you are forced to have
materia equipped in battle, and these will be explained below.
* You're allowed to sell materia and equipment and this will be your main
source of income in this challenge. Some people say you shouldn't be allowed
to sell materia because it's a No Materia Challenge, but I disagree. I get
the point though, but I'll stick to my opinion and allow it. And besides, if
you didn't allow selling materia and equipment, you'd get serious financial
problems after a while.
Exceptions
############
* When you start the game, Cloud is equipped with a Lightning and Ice Materia,
and there's nothing you can do with it as you don't have the "Materia" menu
yet. Therefore, you're forced to have materia equipped in the first two
battles. Don't use the spells. Period. Remove the materia as soon as you get
access to the "Materia" menu in Sector 7.
* Red XIII joins the party for the first time in the battle with Sample:HO512,
and he's equipped with a Sense Materia and an All-Fire combination. Don't use
any of them. Period. Remove the materia as soon as the battle is over.
* No other exceptions. Cheaters are losers. Gameshark is a banned word.
Receiving EXP
###############
* To receive as little EXP as possible, we can only have one character survive
battles. The other two must be taken out an be KO'd before you can have the
survivor finish off the enemy.
* And to further reduce the amount of EXP, we will have Aerith survive all the
battles during disc one. Yes, we can take advantage of her death in low level
challenges, as her EXP will die with her. Level 28 is still the limit though,
but don't worry, she will only reach level 22.
* The survivor of a battle receives the amount given.
* Characters KO'd at the end of a battle will not receive any EXP.
* Characters that don't participate in a battle will receive half of the amount
given, even if they are KO'd.
* Cloud and Tifa will not receive any EXP while they are in Mideel.
* Yuffie will not receive any EXP during the Wutai quest.
The use of Limit Breaks
#########################
This is something most people find out the first time they play the game, that
limit breaks have priority before anything else. When you have a character use
a limit break, it will always be used right away, no matter whose turn it is.
Usually, when fighting a single opponent, your characters get one turn each
before it's the opponent's turn again, but by taking advantage of the limit
break system, you can have a character act twice before the opponent's turn.
If all three characters have limit breaks, you can get a total of six turns
between the opponent's turn and thus save time. Let me explain how to do this.
Let's say your party is Cloud, Barret and Cid and you're fighting Proud Clod,
using S-mines to deal damage. Proud Clod attacks Cloud and he gets a limit
break. You now have an opportunity to get four turns before it's Proud Clod's
turn again and to make this work, you must have Cloud act first. Then have the
others act. Let's say you have Barret act second and then Cid. Cloud will throw
an S-mine first and his ATB bar will start filling up again when it's Barret's
turn. Then Barret throws an S-mine, and by the time he's done, Cloud's ATB bar
should be full. Then it's Cid's turn, and now it's time to activate Cloud's
limit break. Just make sure you don't activate it too early, or he will use it
before Cid's turn. Do it when Cid starts moving and you see the text "S-mine"
at the top of the screen. After Cid is done throwing the S-mine, Cloud will use
his limit break and you successfully got four turns in a row.
That's how it works. Test it out in a regular battle and you'll easily learn
how to handle it. It's not very complicated after all. When you're fighting at
the highest battle speed, you don't necessarily have to let the character who
got a limit break act first. Since the ATB gauge fills pretty fast, you can let
this character act second and still be able to use the limit break before it's
the enemy's turn again. On the lowest battle speed, however, you must have the
character who the limit break act first.
ATB and Battle Speed
######################
The difficulty of battles can be adjusted with the ATB and Battle Speed setups.
* If you set ATB to "Wait", time will stop as soon as you enter the item menu,
meaning that you can take all the time in the world to select an item and use
it. Unless the emeny already started attacking when you entered the item
menu, nothing will happen until you leave the menu or use an item.
* If you set ATB to "Active", time will run all the time and the enemy will act
as soon as it's his turn, no matter what you're doing. If you spend too much
time looking for an item, the enemy might even attack again. But of course,
you can always pause the game if you need some time to think.
* If you set ATB to "Recommended", time will stop during attacks, but not when
you're selecting items. The ATB gauge will also stop during attacks and
that's really annoying, so I recommend NOT using this setup at all. Why the
hell did they call it "Recommended" anyway?
In most cases, it doesn't make any huge difference what setup you use, unless
you're really slow when selecting items. In the toughest battles, however, it
will make a difference. If you're having trouble with a boss and you're using
"Active", switching back to "Wait" may do the trick. Well, you're free to use
whatever setup you like, but in the battle with Schizo, you're forced to use
"Wait". Of course, using "Active" all the time serves more bragging rights.
Battle Speed will in most cases not make any huge difference, unless you're
really slow again, something you really shouldn't be if you want to take on
this challenge. As opposed to ATB, there are many battles where you're forced
to use a certain Battle Speed. In some battles, you have to put up a Barrier or
MBarrier and to make sure these last as long as possible, you have to fight on
the lowest battle speed. In other battles, you have to poison the enemy and to
make sure the enemy takes damage from the poison status as often as possible,
you have to fight on the highest battle speed. As with ATB, battle speed will
make the hugest difference in the toughest battles and especially if you're
using "Active", as you will get more time to select items. Again, do whatever
you like, but fighting on the highest speed serves more bragging rights.
Other Important Info and Tips
###############################
* All random battles must be escaped.
* Save as often as possible.
* Make backup saves in case you screw up.
* Pick up all the items I tell you to.
* Give all Sources to Cloud as you find them.
* Don't use any items unless I say so.
* Don't buy or sell anything unless I tell you to.
* Don't heal characters in the fields, unless it's absolutely necessary.
* Phoenix Downs and Hi-Potions are not to be bought before Nibelheim, but don't
worry, you're more than fine with the ones you find/win before that.
* Find a calculator. You have no access to Sense in this challenge, and you
must keep track of many bosses HP.
* Be patient and never give up. This challenge may be tough, but it has been
beaten by several people, so it's not impossible.
* SAVE OFTEN. It can't be stressed enough. I've heard many stories about people
who "forgot to save" and had to play huge parts of the game over again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4 <> Battle Plan and EXP Guide
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the battle plan, and I believe it doesn't need any further explanation.
As you can see, I have divided it into three parts: Midgar, disc one and disc
two. Hojo is the last battle you receive EXP from.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| EXP | Enemies | Survivor | KO |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 32 | MP x2 | Cloud | |
| 100 | Guard Scorpion | Cloud | Barret |
| 64 | Smogger x2 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| 64 | Smogger x2 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| 64 | Smogger x2 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| 180 | Air Buster | Barret | Cloud, Tifa |
| 240 | Aps | Aerith | Cloud, Tifa |
| 290 | Turks:Reno | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| 150 | Mighty Grunt x3 | Cloud | Barret, Tifa |
| 300 | Sample:HO512 | Nanaki | Cloud, Tifa |
| 250 | Hundred Gunner + Heli Gunner | Aerith | Barret, Nanaki |
| 240 | Rufus | Cloud | |
| 440 | Motor Ball | Aerith | Cloud, Tifa |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 550 | Bottomswell | Aerith | Cloud, Tifa |
| 680 | Jenova-BIRTH | Aerith | Cloud, Tifa |
| 600 | Dyne | Barret | |
| 290 | Stinger | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 290 | Stinger | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 1400 | Gi Nattak | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 3000 | Materia Keeper | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 1800 | Palmer | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 880 | Foulander x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 1040 | Garuda x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 1040 | Garuda x2 | Aerith | Cloud, Barret |
| 420 | Flapbeat x3 | Aerith | Cloud, Cait Sith |
| 420 | Flapbeat x3 | Aerith | Cloud, Cait Sith |
| 420 | Flapbeat x3 | Aerith | Cloud, Cait Sith |
| 3500 | Red Dragon | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 3800 | Demon's Gate | Aerith | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 4000 | Jenova-LIFE | Cloud | Barret, Cid |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 500 | Icicle | Cloud | Barret, Cait Sith |
| 500 | Icicle | Cloud | Barret, Cait Sith |
| 500 | Icicle | Cloud | Barret, Cait Sith |
| 4400 | Schizo | Cloud | Cait Sith, Cid |
| 6000 | Jenova-DEATH | Cloud | Tifa, Nanaki |
| 600 | Attack Squad x2 | Cid | Barret, Cait Sith |
| 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret |
| 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret |
| 850 | Submarine Crew | Cait Sith | Cloud, Barret |
| 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Barret |
| 1640 | Underwater MP x2 | Cait Sith | Cloud, Barret |
| 2800 | Carry Armor | Cid | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | Cid | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 1700 | Submarine Crew x2 | All | |
| 2550 | Submarine Crew x3 | Cid | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 600 | Attack Squad x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret |
| 600 | Attack Squad x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret |
| 1530 | Senior Grunt & Attack Squad x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Barret |
| 4000 | Turks:Rude & Attack Squad x2 | Tifa | Cloud, Cid |
| 930 | Senior Grunt | Tifa | Cloud, Cid |
| 160 | Yuffie (aka Mystery Ninja) | Nanaki | Cloud, Barret |
| 35000 | Diamond Weapon | Cloud | Tifa, Cid |
| 600 | Attack Squad x2 | Cloud | Nanaki, Cait Sith |
| 900 | Attack Squad x3 | Cloud | Nanaki, Tifa |
| 3200 | Rapps | Tifa | Cloud, Barret |
| 7000 | Proud Clod | Cid | Cloud, Nanaki |
| 25000 | Hojo | Yuffie | Cloud, Cait Sith |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then we have the EXP guide. Here you can see exactly how much EXP each of the
characters have at any point in the game. Some of the numbers have marks behind
them, and here's what they mean:
* Survivor of battle
- KO'd at the end of battle
s Starting value
x doesn't receive any EXP from this battle
doesn't participate (no mark)
The limit you can see at the bottom is the highest amount of EXP a character
can have before leveling up to 29. You should check the table regularly after
each battle to make sure that you have the correct amounts, but as long as you
escape from all random encounters and you make sure to follow the battle plan,
you should have nothing to worry about.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc One Battles
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cloud Barret Tifa Aerith Nanaki Cait Cid
Start 610s
MP x2 642* 395s
Guard Scorpion 742* 395- 102s
Smogger x2 806* 395- 102-
Smogger x2 870* 395- 102-
Smogger x2 934* 395- 102-
Air Buster 934- 575* 102- 6s
Aps 934- 695 102- 246*
Reno 1224* 695- 102- 391
Mighty Grunts 1374* 695- 102- 466 961s
Sample:HO512 1374- 845 102- 616 1261*
Hundred + Heli Gunner 1499 845- 227 866* 1261-
Rufus 1739* 965 347 986 1381
Motor Ball 1739- 1185 347- 1426* 1601
Bottomswell 1739- 1460 347- 1976* 1876
Jenova-BIRTH 1739- 1800 347- 2656* 2216 977s
Dyne 2039 2400* 647 2956* 2516 1277
Stinger 2039- 2545 792 3246* 2516- 1422
Stinger 2039- 2690 937 3536* 2516- 1567
Gi Nattak 2039- 3390 1637 4936* 2516- 2267
Materia Keeper 2039- 4890 3137 7936* 2516- 3767
Palmer 2039- 4890- 4037 9736* 3416 4667 5909s
Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 4477 10616* 3856 5107 6349
Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 4917 11496* 4296 5547 6789
Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 5357 12376* 4736 5987 7229
Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 5797 13256* 5176 6427 7669
Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 6237 14136* 5616 6867 8109
Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 6677 15016* 6056 7307 8549
Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 7117 15896* 6496 7747 8989
Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 7557 16776* 6936 8187 9429
Foulander x2 2039- 4890- 7997 17656* 7376 8627 9869
Garuda x2 2039- 4890- 8517 18696* 7896 9147 10389
Garuda x2 2039- 4890- 9037 19736* 8416 9667 10909
Flapbeat x3 2039- 5100 9247 20156* 8626 9667- 11119
Flapbeat x3 2039- 5310 9457 20576* 8836 9667- 11329
Flapbeat x3 2039- 5520 9667 20996* 9046 9667- 11539
Red Dragon 2039- 7270 11417 24496* 9046- 11417 13289
Demon's Gate 2039- 9170 13317 28296* 9046- 13317 15189
Jenova-LIFE 6039* 9170- 15317 R.I.P. 11046 15317 15189-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc Two Battles
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cloud Barret Tifa Yuffie Nanaki Cait Cid
Icicle 6539* 9170- 15567 11296 15317- 15439
Icicle 7039* 9170- 15817 11546 15317- 15689
Icicle 7539* 9170- 16067 11796 15317- 15939
Schizo 11939* 11370 18267 13996 15317- 15939-
Jenova-DEATH 17939* 14370 18267- 13996- 18317 18939
Attack Squad x2 17939x 14370- 18267x 14296 18317- 19539*
Submarine Crew x2 17939- 14370- 19967* 15146 19167 20389
Submarine Crew x2 17939- 14370- 21667* 15996 20017 21239
Submarine Crew 17939- 14370- 22092 16421 20867* 21664
Submarine Crew x2 17939- 14370- 22942 17271 22567* 22514
Underwater MP x2 17939- 14370- 23762 18091 24207* 23334
Carry Armor 17939- 15770 25162 18091- 25607 26134*
Submarine Crew x2 17939- 16620 26012 18091- 26457 27834*
Submarine Crew x2 19639* 17470 26862 19791* 27307 29534*
Submarine Crew x3 19639- 18745 28137 19791- 28582 32084*
Attack Squad x2 19639- 18745- 28737* 20091 28882 32384
Attack Squad x2 19639- 18745- 29337* 20391 29182 32684
Senior Grunt & AS x2 19639- 18745- 30867* 21156 29947 33449
Rude & Attack Squad x2 19639- 20745 34867* 23156 31947 33449-
Senior Grunt 19639- 21210 35797* 23621 32412 33449-
Yuffie 19639- 21210- 35877 10765s 23781 32492 33529
Diamond Weapon 54639* 38710 35877 28265 41281 49992 33529-
Attack Squad x2 55239* 39010 36177 28265x 41281- 49992- 33829
Attack Squad x3 56139* 39460 36177- 28265x 41281- 50442 34279
Rapps 56139- 39460- 39377* 28265x 42881 52042 35879
Proud Clod 56139- 42960 42877 31765 42881- 55542 42879*
Hojo 56139- 55460 55377 56765* 55381 55542- 55379
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Final 56139 55460 55377 56765 55381 55542 55379
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Limit 56298 57847 56298 57071 57071 57847 57847
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And once again I have managed to get the final numbers very even. Well, except
Cloud and Yuffie, but they don't count. There's nothing you can do to change
Yuffie's battle plan and when it comes to Cloud, I always try to get his final
amount as close to the limit as possible. Of course, it doesn't really matter
how much EXP a character has as long as he/she doesn't reach level 29, but to
me, it's important that their EXP-amounts are as even as possible. I don't know
why it's like that, but I just can't help it. I get a much better feeling of
satisfaction the more even the EXP-amounts are. However, that's not the only
reason why I'm so proud of this battle plan. In some battles, the characters
have just enough EXP to be on a certain level, thus making the battle easier.
One example would be Red in the temple. He needed 8797 EXP to reach level 16
and he's got 9046. Barret in the Jenova-LIFE battle is an even better example.
He needed 9045 EXP to reach level 16 and he's got 9170. Well, enough about
that. Let's get on with the challenge now.
===============================================================================
2 - Walkthrough: Midgar
===============================================================================
You ready? Well, then my only suggestion for you is to fire up the game and
select "new game". Sit back and watch the intro while thinking about all the
fun that's waiting for you in this challenge.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1 <> The First Mission
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Potion x3 (Reactor)
Phoenix Down (Reactor)
Assault Gun (Guard Scorpion)
Potion (Sector 8)
Ether (Sector 7 Slums)
LLNM EXCEPTION 1: Cloud starts with an Ice and a Lightning Materia equipped,
and you can't do anything about it until you reach Sector 7 and get access to
the Materia system. What can I say? Don't use the spells. As simple as that.
Before moving on, you might want to do some configurations in the menu. Do what
you want with the ATB setup, but I strongly recommend you to set all the speed
gauges to the fastest. That'll make it much easier to escape battles and it'll
take shorter time to skip all the dialogues, unless you want to pay attention
to the story.
Search the fallen guard for two Potions and then make your way to the bottom of
the reactor while picking up the items on your way. Yes, you have to fight two
MPs on the platform, but I'll let you handle this battle on your own. If you
have any trouble with this battle, you should take a hint and never touch the
game again. Ah well, after placing the bomb, you know who's waiting for you...
###############################################################################
B02: Guard Scorpion
HP: 800
Dif: 2/10
Note: You need a calculator for this battle.
Attack with physical attacks and limit breaks until he's down to 100 HP or less
and make sure not to attack when the tail is raised. Heal Cloud if his HP
should fall below 100, but don't bother healing Barret, as he's to die anyway.
Well, after taking out Barret, you can let Cloud end Guard Scorpion's pitiful
life with a limit break.
Tip: You can take advantage of the Tail Laser to kill Barret. Have Cloud defend
and let Barret attack while the tail is up.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dD4x1Bsq4Y
###############################################################################
Now save your game and leave the reactor. Cloud will easily be able to survive
the random battles on the way up, unless his HP is very close to zero. Give him
a Potion if that's the case.
There's not much to do in Sector 8. One Gil won't make any huge difference, so
buy a flower from Aerith if you want to. Just make sure to choose "later" when
you run into the Shinra guards. If you don't, you'll have to fight them and you
can't escape the battles. You have to do this three times before Cloud jumps on
the train that will take you to Sector 7.
Not much to do here either. Just enter the bar and proceed with the story until
it's time to leave for another mission. That's when you get access to the
"Materia" menu, so REMOVE THE ICE AND LIGHTNING MATERIA from Cloud before you
do anything else. When it's done, you can stop by at the Weapon shop and buy 6
Grenades. There's no need to sell anything yet. Just make sure to pick up the
Ether on the second floor. Yes, you have to pick up the All Materia first, but
don't worry, just picking up materia ain't illegal. Stop by at the Item Shop
and buy 8 Potions as well. That's all there is to do here. Save your game and
enter the train when you're ready to move on.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2 <> The Second Mission
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Phoenix Down (Train)
Hi-Potion (Train)
Ether (Plate area)
Potion (Plate area)
Tent (Plate area)
Ether (Reactor)
Titan Bangle (Air Buster)
There are a couple of things to do on the train. First, when the alarm goes off
in the first car, run over to the other side of the car (where you came in) and
talk to the man lying on the right side. He'll give you a Phoneix Down. Now
hurry over to the next car and talk to the man standing at the left side by the
entrance to the third car. Tell him you want the item, and he'll give you a
Hi-Potion. Then, in the third car, a man will steal money from you if you run
through the car. Instead of running, just stop and stand still when the man
passes you. I don't remember how he looks, but you will know him as he is the
only person who walks slowly in the opposite direction.
After getting out of the train, you can just continue on until you've placed
the bomb in the reactor. Then save your game, because now it's time to get some
Deadly Wastes. Some bosses are vulnerable to Poison and poisoning them will
make the battles much easier. We need three, for Bottomswell, Materia Keeper
and Red Dragon, but the only battle where we really need one is against Materia
Keeper, so you can get only one if you want the battles with Bottomswell and
Red Dragon to be tougher.
The Deadly Wastes are won from Smoggers and to make sure we get as little EXP
as possible, you can only fight a group of two Smoggers. There can be no other
enemies in the battle. Just two Smoggers. It's possible to win two Deadly
Wastes in one battle, but since the chances for that are very low, I decided to
allow a total of three battles. That way, you can get one in each battle. And
besides, you only get 64 EXP per battle and that's something we can easily
afford. If you should get two in one battle, or if you decided only to get one,
I still suggest that you fight three battles, so that your EXP values will
correspond with the EXP table.
To find the Smoggers, you have to climb up to the next screen. You know, the
one similar to where Jessie stuck her leg in the first reactor. The Smoggers
can appear with different enemies, but as I said, only fight the battle if
there are two Smoggers only. Before climbing up, you should get into a battle
and kill off Barret and Tifa. By doing that, you won't have to kill them off
in the first Smogger battle over and over again if you should fail to receive a
Deadly Waste.
###############################################################################
B03: Smogger x2
HP: 90
Dif: 1/10
Just throw two Grenades and the battle will be over. If Cloud should get a
limit break in one of the battles; don't use it. You have to save it for Air
Buster. Don't bother healing him either.
###############################################################################
If you receive a Deadly Waste, you can climb back down and save. If not, then
hit the reset button on the console. If you do that, you'll most likely get one
the next time. If you just soft-reset, you most likely won't. Trust me, I've
done this so many times and it hardly ever fails. Anyway, when you receive the
third one, you can just proceed to the top and save your game when you reach
the save point.
Another boss battle lies ahead and this one can be very simple if we do the
right preparations. First, revive Barret and give him a couple of Potions. Then
enter a battle and make sure both Cloud and Barret get limit breaks. Keep Cloud
in front row all the time, but move Barret to back row when his limit bar is
full. Have him defend as well. Now, wait until Cloud's HP falls below 35 and
then escape. All you have to do now is to heal Barret back to full HP. When
that's done, you can go and fight...
###############################################################################
B06: Air Buster
HP: 1200
Dif: 1/10
To win this battle, you can simply just hold down the action button. This is
what will happen: First, Barret and Cloud's limit breaks will be activated in
that order. Air Buster counters both of them and his Rear Gun will kill Cloud.
Then Barret will attack regularly. This attack might kill Air Buster, but if it
doesn't, his next limit break will. This strategy cannot fail, unless some of
Air Buster's attacks go critical.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxuOWQEsWlM
###############################################################################
That's it for the reactors. We're going back to the slums again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.3 <> Back In The Slums
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: 5 Gil (Sector 5, steal from the kid)
Ether (Sector 5)
Potion (Sector 5)
Phoenix Down (Sector 5)
Ether (Wall Market)
Hyper (Wall Market, behind Corneo's bed)
Phoenix Down (Aps)
Potion (Sewers)
Hi-Potion x3 (Train Graveyard)
Potion x 3 (Train Graveyard)
Echo Screen (Train Graveyard)
Ether (Train Graveyard)
Ether (Reno)
Phoenix Down (Coreno's Mansion)
Ether (Use the Battery)
Alright, the first thing to do is to escape the church. When Reno and his men
attack, have Aerith "RUN" the first time. Now head up to the uppermost barrel
and wait there until the second soldier blocks Aerith's path. Tell her to "Hold
on" and then push the barrel to take him out. Then have her "RUN" again the
last time. As simple as that.
When you reach town, enter the house to the far right and check out the
Turtle's Paradise flyer. You should also steal the little boy's 5 Gil. If you
don't, he'll give you a Turbo Ether later and they sell for only 1 Gil. Hurray,
4 Gil earned! In case you don't know, you have to talk to him first and then
open the hidden drawer between the drawer on the dresser by the stairs. Leave
the house when you're done and go pick up the Ether in Aerith's garden, but
don't enter the house just yet. It's time to do some shopping!
Enter the weapon shop and sell off all of your Materia, all the Ethers, the
Assault Gun and the Titan Bangle. Then buy 66 Grenades. Now, you should have
just above 300 Gil left (can't remember the exact number), which is more than
enough for the Wall Market. You need exactly 280 Gil for some various stuff you
have to buy there. If you for some reason should have less than that, you have
only yourself to blame and you'll have to sell off some of the Grenades you
just bought. Anyway, just head for the Wall Market when you're done.
Alright, we're gonna have Corneo choose Cloud as his date for tonight. To make
that happen, we have to get a few more items than usual and many things have to
be done in order to get them. To make this easier, I'll make a list with all
the things to do, point for point with numbers. Don't screw this up now.
1. Go ask the man in front of the Honeybee Inn about Tifa.
2. Head over to Corneo's mansion and talk to the man by the front door.
3. Enter the Botique (clothing store) and talk to the girl behind the desk.
4. Enter the Bar and talk to her father. Make sure to select a dress that feels
soft and shimmers.
5. Head back to the Botique and talk to the owner. You receive the Silk Dress.
6. Enter the Materia Shop, talk to the man and agree to do the favor.
7. Go eat at the Restaurant and tell them the food was all right. You'll be
given a Pharmacy Coupon.
8. Enter the Pharmacy and exchange the coupon for the Digestive.
9. Go sleep at the Inn and buy the drink for 200 Gil.
10. Head back to the Materia Shop and give him the drink. He'll grant you the
Diamond Tiara.
11. Save if you're not sure you'll win the squat contest.
12. Enter the Gym and win the squat contest. Your prize is the Blonde Wig.
13. Enter the Bar and give the Digestive to the woman at the toilet. You'll get
the Sexy Cologne as a sign of her appreciation.
14. Head back to the Botique and enter the dressing room. Cloud will now change
into miss Cloud and it's time to pay a visit to Don Corneo.
15. Save your game. Period.
Now head over to Corneo's and proceed with the story until you get to control
Cloud in the sewers. Another boss battle awaits, but don't talk to the girls
just yet. First enter the menu and place Cloud and Tifa in front row. They're
too die in the battle anyway, so we want them to take as much damage as
possible. Aerith must be in back row, of course, something she already is,
unless you moved her. And most importantly, place the Grenades at the top of
your item list. That'll make them as accessable as possible.
###############################################################################
B07: Aps
HP: 1800
Dif: 2/10
Have everyone throw Grenades on their first three turns. Aps will open the
battle with a Sewer Tsunami that hits him from behind and then he'll either use
Lick or his tail attack on his next two turns. The tail attack is only used on
Aerith, but she's got more than enough HP to survive two of them, so keep your
fingers away from the Potions. After all the nine Grenades are thrown, have
Aerith defend while you let Cloud and Tifa throw Grenades at themselves. Aps
will now use a Tsunami that hits him from behind and Cloud and Tifa's HPs will
be further reduced. Cloud still has a lot more HP than Tifa though, so have
both Cloud and Tifa attack Cloud regularly now. This will even out their HPs.
Now, Aps will use the Tsunami that hits the party from behind and there's no
chance Cloud and Tifa will survive this one, unless it misses one of them.
After this Tsunami, Aps will have less HP than the minimum damage of a Grenade,
so if both Cloud and Tifa are dead, you can now have Aerith throw the last
Grenade to finish him off.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiIJOuJYBvo
###############################################################################
Give Aerith a couple of Potions if she's badly hurt, but don't bother reviving
the others. She can easily make it back to Sector 7 on her own, and once you
get there, the party will be fully restored anyway, so that would be a complete
waste of two precious Phoenix Downs. You can also use Healing Wind in battle.
Anyway, just get back to Sector 7 and make sure to save once you reach the
Train Graveyard, in case something should happen. Also, make sure to place
Cloud in back row and the others in front row before the battle with...
###############################################################################
B08: Reno
HP: 1000
Dif: 2/10
Reno has 1000 HP and that means you have to throw 8 Grenades at him to take him
out. Reno will open the battle with trapping one of the characters inside a
Pyramid, but you know how to take them out. After throwing 7 Grenades, you can
have Tifa and Barret throw Grenades at themselves while Cloud defends. Now,
they shouldn't have much HP left, so just let them attack themselves regularly
until they die. Just make sure Cloud isn't trapped inside a Pyramid when that
happens. Also, take note that characters trapped inside a Pyramid at the end of
the battle will receive EXP, so don't let that happen to Barret or Tifa.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dP4Y_Of49I
###############################################################################
Again, don't bother reviving the others and don't sleep at any Inns before the
Shinra HQ. Cloud is more than fine on his own and by letting Barret and Tifa
stay dead, you won't have to kill them off in the next battle.
When you reach Sector 5, you have to do some shopping again. Sell your Ethers
and buy 29 Grenades. That should leave you with about 1000 Gil, which is more
than enough to buy the Batteries you need to climb up to the Shinra HQ, but
that doesn't mean you're free to spend the rest of the money.
When you're done shopping, you can just proceed with the story until you reach
the Shinra HQ. Make sure to stop by at Corneo's mansion to pick up the Phoenix
Down (and the Hyper if you didn't take it the last time) and don't forget to
use the last Battery to get the Ether when you climb up. An Ether is worth 750
Gil and you need all the money you can get.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.4 <> Shinra HQ
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Elixir (Stairs, fifth area)
Elixir (62nd floor, guess Domino's password on second try)
Star Pendant (63rd floor, exchange all coupons)
Four Slots (63rd floor, exchange all coupons)
Phoenix Down (64th floor)
Ether (64th floor)
Talisman (Sample:HO512)
Potion x 4 (68th floor)
Mythril Armlet (Heli Gunner)
Protect Vest (Rufus)
Star Pendant (Motor Ball)
We're taking the stairs, as you'll be forced to fight a group of Grenade
Combatants if you enter through the front door. Also, you'll get your first
Elixir if you climb the stairs. There's a battle with three Mighty Grunts
waiting on the 59th floor, but as I said, don't revive Barret and Tifa. Just
make sure Cloud has more than 200 HP and you'll be more than fine.
###############################################################################
B09: Mighty Grunt x3
HP: 230
Dif: 1/10
Throw six Grenades and the battle will be over. Make sure to take them out one
by one and they'll be totally harmless. Cloud only lost about 100 HP the last
time I fought this battle.
###############################################################################
If you're not sure you can sneak past the guards on the 60th floor, you should
take the elevator back down and save first. In case you don't know, you have to
fight a group of two Mighty Grunts, attacking from both sides if you get caught
and there's no escaping those battles. If you know you can handle it, then just
proceed until you reach the 62nd floor. Also, don't bother healing Cloud, as
there won't be any random battles until you get to sleep on the 64th floor.
Mayor Domino will give you an Elixir if you guess the right password on the
second attempt, so you have to find out what the password is. Use the libraries
if you know how, but in case you don't know or you don't want to, you can use
the save trick explained in the paragraph below.
First go talk to him, but don't talk to him again after he stops talking the
first time. Instead take the elevator back down to the first floor and save.
Then head back up and guess the password-alternatives until you find out what
the right one is. Now, SOFT-RESET and load the file. Don't reset the console,
or the password will change. Then head back up again and tell him the right
password on the SECOND attempt. Oh, and don't forget to check out the second
Turtle's Paradise flyer while you're on the first floor. It's in the back of
the hall, on a wall to the right of the elevator.
Next we have the 63rd floor and you want to get the items here so that you can
sell them later. If you don't know how to get all the Coupons, you can use the
explanation I borrowed from Apathetic Aardvark's FAQ:
*******************************************************************************
Run to the room with the computer terminal [one room south of the stairs]. You
will be allowed to open three doors to get all the prizes which you want.
Head to the back right corner of this floor. Run left and open the first door
that you come to. Head left again until you come to another door. Do NOT
unlock this one, instead, open the other door at this intersection [it is
below you]. You will now be able to run into a normal room and grab the prize
[coupon A]. In this small room, head into the ventilation shaft. Inside of
the shaft, head down, right and then up at the first chance you get. When you
get out of the shaft, grab the prize [coupon B]. Exit this room by heading
down and make a left. Use your final door key to unlock the door in front of
the very middle room. Grab the prize in there [coupon C] and head back the way
you came to the computer terminal. Exchange your coupons for an: All Materia,
Star Pendant, and Four Slots.
*******************************************************************************
There are some items on the 64th floor too, but the most important thing to do
here is to get some sleep. After sleeping, just proceed until you reach the
save point on the 67th floor. Placing Cloud and Tifa in front row is all you
have to do before the upcoming battle, but if you want an easier battle, you
can turn down the battle speed as well. Sample:HO512 will poison your party and
by turning down the battle speed, you will take damage from the poison status
less often and thus live longer. Of course, it's all up to you.
LLNMIENA EXCEPTION 2: Red XIII will join your party in this battle and he is
equipped with an All-Fire combination and a Sense Materia. Simply put, don't
use the Materia. That's the second and last exception.
Note: For the rest of the guide, I will only call him "Red". I hate to type in
that ugly XIII. I always call him Nanaki in the game anyway.
###############################################################################
B10: Sample:HO512
HP: 1000
Dif: 3/10
Note: Don't attack the Sample:HO512-opts (the small guys).
1000 HP = 8 Grenades. First have Red move to back row and let the others start
throwing Grenades. HO512 will open the battle with Shady Breath and poison your
entire party, unless it misses someone. If it misses Red, you'll get an easier
battle, but you'll get a tougher battle if it misses one of the others. Then
you'll have to spend more time killing them later. Anyway, just keep throwing
Grenades until you've thrown 7 and make sure to heal Red if his HP should fall
below 150. If Cloud and Tifa got poisoned, they will most likely soon be dead
by now, but otherwise you can take them out with Grenades. That always works.
When Red is alone, you can let him throw the last Grenade or use his limit
break. It should deal enough damage. At least it did here.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd4TXYpYZRA
###############################################################################
Form a party of Cloud, Aerith and Barret after the battle and don't bother
reviving/healing as your party will be fully restored after sleeping in the
cell. Just proceed with the story until you get to control Aerith after talking
to Rufus. Now place Aerith in back row and the others in front row before you
enter the elevator for the battle with...
###############################################################################
B11: Hundred Gunner
HP: 1600
Dif: 1/10
This battle is a joke. Just throw Grenades and use limit breaks until you've
taken him out. Healing shouldn't be necessary at all.
###############################################################################
B12: Heli Gunner
HP: 1000
Dif: 3/10
Note: You need a calculator for this battle.
Less HP, but more powerful attacks and he can inflict both poison and sleep to
your party members. That doesn't happen too often, though. Anyway, have Aerith
defend as soon as the battle begins and let the others throw Grenades. You will
get limit breaks in this battle and you can use them as long as you take
advantage of the limit break system, as explained in the intro.
You will most likely have to heal in this battle, but don't use any Potions.
One Healing Wind should be enough. If you're lucky with Hundred and Heli's
attacks, you won't have to heal at all. When you reduce Heli's HP to below 250,
his defense will increase and Grenades won't deal more than ~125 damage, so
make sure he's got less than 120 HP when you have Aerith throw the last one. Of
course, Barret and Red must be dead first.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBbOSEd05lU
###############################################################################
Then it's Cloud's turn.
###############################################################################
B13: Rufus
HP: 500
Dif: 1/10
Note: Don't attack Dark Nation.
Another joke of a battle. Throw four Grenades at Rufus and the battle will be
over. Dork Nation might cast some Bolt-spells on you, but there's no need to
heal whatsoever. You simply can't lose this battle.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQnGkpl2llU
###############################################################################
Heal Cloud if he's badly hurt, in case you should run into a battle on your way
down to the save point. Next up is the motorcycle minigame, but you get the
chance to form a party and open the menu before it starts. We'll use Cloud and
the girls this time and make sure to place them all in FRONT row. Then do your
best to protect the girls during the game. I'm no expert at this myself and you
might do a lot better than me.
###############################################################################
B14: Motor Ball
HP: 2600
Dif: 3/10
Note: You need a calculator for this battle.
This battle is really easy when you know how Motor Ball fights. Just start
throwing Grenades and use Cloud and Tifa's limit breaks when you get them, as
long as you take advantage of the limit break system. There's no need to heal
yet. After two turns where he uses Arm Attacks, Motor Ball will pack himself
together and use Twin Burner, a fire-elemental attack that deals around 80
damage to your party. If Aerith didn't already have a limit break, she will get
one now and now is also the time to use it.
Then just continue throwing Grenades. After three more turns, Motor Ball will
pack himself out again and prepare for his most deadly attack, Rolling Fire,
which deals around 200 damage to your party. However, if you manage to reduce
his HP to below 325 before the point where he uses the attack, he'll use Twin
Burner instead. By throwing Grenades at every opportunity and using Cloud's
limit break at least once, you will easily be able to do this and prevent the
use of Rolling Fire. You might even have to stop throwing Grenades, or else
you'll kill him too early.
After Twin Burner again, he will follow the same pattern of attacks as he did
after the last Twin Burner. In other words, he'll use Rolling Fire again after
three more turns and this time there's no preventing it. However, you can take
advantage of this Rolling Fire to get rid of Cloud and Tifa. First reduce
Motor Ball's HP to below 140, if you haven't already done it. Then make sure
Aerith has more than 210 HP after Deadly Wheel. Tifa's HP will be more than low
enough by now, but if Cloud has more than 190, you know what you can do. Then
just wait for Motor Ball to do his work and have Aerith throw the last Grenade.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdatf3Tb-Qw
###############################################################################
And that concludes your first visit to Midgar. It's been pretty easy so far,
but Midgar is almost always easy in these challenges, so that doesn't mean
anything. An entire world is waiting for you out there and after a while it'll
get really, really tough. Hell yeah!
===============================================================================
3 - Walkthrough: The Rest Of Disc One
===============================================================================
Okay, we're out of Midgar, but we can't start having fun yet. First we have to
stop by at Kalm and do the lovely flashback, or Boredom World 1 as we like to
call it in the challenge community. If you do as me and put on some music while
playing, it's really not bad at all.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.1 <> The First Continent
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Ether x3 (Kalm)
Guard Source (Kalm)
Megalixir (Kalm)
Peacemaker (Kalm)
Ether (Mythril Mine)
Tent (Mythril Mine)
Mind Source (Mythril Mine)
Elixir (Mythril Mine)
Hi-Potion (Mythril Mine)
Power Wrist (Bottomswell)
5000 Gil (Junon, get more than 50% on marching)
Mind Source (Junon)
Luck Source (Junon)
Guard Source (Junon)
Power Source (Junon)
Speed Source (Junon)
1/35 solider x2 (Junon)
Force Stealer (Junon, get 100 points or more when posing for Rufus)
Ether (Shinra Boat)
Wind Slash (Shinra Boat)
White Cape (Jenova-BIRTH)
There's nothing to do in Kalm except for the flashback and picking up all the
items. Check the locker on the second floor of the Inn five times to get the
Megalixir. Form a party of Cloud, Barret and Red before heading for Junon and
place Cloud in back row.
How to catch a chocobo without materia? That's impossible, but who needs a
chocobo when you can simply use the save trick? Start running into the marches
and make sure to pay attention. You have to push the menu button as soon as the
Midgar Zolom appears on the screen. If he gets too close, he will get you, even
if you already pused the button. Save your game when you successfully manage to
open the menu and then exit the menu again. The battle will start immediately
now, but you can just escape and then soft-reset. When you load the file now,
the Midgar Zolom will be on a different location and you can safely continue
over to the other side. Just be aware that you may have to save twice, as he
can still be pretty close. You can also be lucky and reach the other side
without having to save at all, but that doesn't happen too often.
When you eventually reach the other side, you can just proceed until you reach
Junon. When you get there, form a party of Cloud and the girls and place Cloud
and Tifa in front row. Your next opponent is...
###############################################################################
B15: Bottomswell
HP: 2500
Dif: 2/10
It's time to use the first Deadly Waste. Yes, you must restart if it doesn't
inflict Poison to the enemy. Guess you understood that. When you successfully
Poison him, have Aerith defend and then just stand there. Never attack him
again and you will never have to deal with Moonstrike and the infamous bubbles.
Cloud and Tifa will die after a while, so there's no need to worry about them,
but you have to make sure Aerith's HP never falls below 60. Healing Wind heals
around 150 HP, but she needs to take around 225 HP to get a limit break again,
so you have to use a Potion now and then. Just make sure to defend again after
each time you heal.
If you want a tougher battle, you can try beating him without poisoning him.
It's not that much tougher, but you need some luck with the Waterpolos.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec7TLqanBOA
###############################################################################
Enter the shop and make sure you have 30 Grenades. You should have more than
enough money to afford that, so there's no need to sell anything, and if you
poisoned Bottomswell, you only need to buy a few anyway. I had to buy five.
After shopping, you can just proceed until Cloud is wearing a Shinra uniform.
It's time to do some marching and this time you have to get a higher score than
50%. Your reward for that will be 5000 Gil and since money is important in this
challenge, you really want those 5000. I know there are many people out there
who can't handle the marching, but I have come up with a strategy that can't
fail, unless you screw up somehow.
Note: If you have changed the controls, so that X isn't cancel and O isn't
confirm, you should change them back to default before the marching. Thundaka
normally uses X for the confirm button and O for the cancel button and he said
that when the controls are inverted like this, Cloud won't raise his weapon in
time to the others.
Many people screw this up because they do like the other soldiers and run to
the back to reach the open spot. Well, you can't do that. Instead you must run
straight ahead, "through" the other soldiers. Simply put, just hold X and the
direction down button when you get to control Cloud and he will run straight
into the open spot. Now let go of the X button and hold the direction left
button and Cloud will start marching in the same tempo as the others. Now, the
number "1" will pop up on the screen and you can start tapping the action
button to increase the percentage. If you do this right, you should have no
trouble getting 50% or more. My personal record is 65%! Do some practice and
you will find out that it's easier than you ever imagined.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hlxc2lwWoc
When you eventually get 50% or more, you can keep playing. To find all the
items in Junon, you only have to enter door 4 and 7 on your way to the docks.
Knowing that will save you some time. You should also stop by at the Item Shop
behind door 3 and buy some Echo Screens. They will make the Jenova-DEATH battle
a bit easier. 15 is enough. When you reach the docks, you have to do some
posing for Rufus, but this is piece of cake compared to the marching. All you
have to do is to push the right button. You suck if you can't get more than 100
points here. No offense. Enter the boat after receiving the Force Stealer.
There's nothing to do on the boat before the battle with Jenova, so just talk
to Tifa, Red, Aerith (twice) and then Barret and things will start happening.
Then form a party of Cloud and the girls, place everyone in back row and give
the Hyper you found behind Don Corneo's bed to Aerith. There is a treasure box
in the room where you fight Jenova, but wait until after the battle, as there
are enemies here now.
###############################################################################
B16: Jenova-BIRTH
HP: 4000
Dif: 3/10
Throw Grenades and use limit breaks to deal damage and have Aerith heal as soon
as her limit bar fills up. With Fury, she only needs to take around 125 damage
to get a limit break, so there's no need to use any Potions unless Jenova hits
the same character twice in a row with W-Laser. Thankfully, that doesn't happen
too often. She'll most likely open the battle with Stop and after Stop, she
always takes a break for two or three turns, so that you get to deal a decent
amount of damage before she starts hurting you. Also, Stop only lasts for about
three turns on the highest battle speed, so you will have a fully functionable
party again by the time she starts attacking. Stop seems to miss quite often,
though, so you might not have to deal with stopped characters at all.
Move Cloud and Tifa to front row when Jenova has less than 130 HP left. She
will be more than happy to take them out, so there's no need for you to do
anything. Things can still go wrong, though. Jenova might use W-Laser twice on
Aerith and the chance for that increases after one character is dead.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CJ9eQTwzH8
###############################################################################
Now you can climb up the ladder and pick up Yuffie's Wind Slash. Then leave the
boat. A new continent awaits outside.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.2 <> The Second Continent
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Power Source (Costa del Sol)
Motor Drive (Costa del Sol)
Fire Ring (Costa del Sol)
Wizard Staff (Mt. Corel, fall and go left)
W Machine Gun (Mt. Corel)
Star Pendant (Mt. Corel, fall and go right)
Turbo Ether (Mt. Corel)
Tent (Mt. Corel)
Mind Source (Mt. Corel)
Power Source (Mt. Corel)
Note: Don't sleep at an Inn or remove Fury from Aerith before Cosmo Canyon.
All the items in Costa del Sol are located in the basement of the first house.
There's nothing else to do here, but you should stop by at the item shop and
buy a couple of Softs for Demon's Gate. Leave for Mt. Corel when that's done.
You should replace Tifa with someone alive first, though. Two party members is
better than one. Reviving Cloud isn't necessary and since Aerith still has
Fury, she can easily maintain the party's HP.
Then get through Mt. Corel and make sure you go both left and right when you
fall through the railroad tracks. When you finally reach North Corel, it's time
to do some shopping again. Sell off all the Ethers and everything that can be
called equipment. Now, you should have more than 40000 Gil and you can spend
20000 of them on Molotovs. That's 50, in case you don't know your maths. Buy 99
Tranquilizers as well. That should be enough for the rest of the game. Since
Molotovs is the main item for dealing damage now, you can place them at the top
of your item list and move the Grenades further down. Next up is the Gold
Saucer, but you should leave town and save on the world map before you move on.
As you may have guessed, there's nothing to do here either, so just follow
Barret to Wonder Square, welcome Cait Sith to your party and then enter Battle
Square to trigger the sequence that will lead you down to Corel Prison.
When you get there, head for the save point as quickly as possible. You don't
want to run into the Bandits and get something important stolen from you.
Should it still happen, you have no choice but to load up and start playing
from North Corel again. A good way to prevent getting a battle before the save
point is making sure you get a battle just before you enter North Corel, so do
that if you have to load up. When you successfully reach the save point, you
can remove the Transform Materia from Cait Sith. Then enter the house, save
again and go beat Dyne. There's no need to spend more time than necessary here.
###############################################################################
B17: Dyne
HP: 1200
Dif: 1/10
1. Molotov
2. Molotov
3. Hi-Potion
4. Molotov
5. Hi-Potion
6. Molotov
That's your strategy. If one of his attacks misses, you only have to use one
Hi-Potion and there is a small chance you won't have to heal at all.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaiwYcg1akY
###############################################################################
Now just proceed with the story until you're back on the world map. Next up is
Cosmo Canyon and you know how to get there. Just stay away from Gongaga, as you
don't want to fight the Turks.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.3 <> Cosmo Canyon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Elixir (Inn)
Ether (Cave of Gi)
Black M-phone (Cave of Gi)
Fairy Ring (Cave of Gi)
Wizer Staff (Gi Nattak)
This is such a lovely place. First go pick up the Elixir at the Inn. It's on
the left side of the screen, between the bed and a table or something. You'll
find it. Make sure to check out the Turtle's Paradise flyer while you're there
as well. Just don't sleep there. Then you can just proceed with the story until
it's time to enter the cave. Form a party of Cloud, Aerith and Red and place
the boys in back row. Oh, and don't forget to check out the Turtle's Paradise
flyer by the Weapon Shop!
Inside the cave, don't enter any of the small caves in the first area except
for the one you have to enter to open the entrance to the next area. You know,
it's to the left of where the opening is. There are no items in the first area,
so just move on. When you reach the third area, you have to take out a couple
of spiders that are in the way...
###############################################################################
B18: Stinger
HP: 2200
Dif: 2/10
First have everyone throw Molotovs. Then have Cloud and Red throw Molotovs in
that order and have Aerith defend. The Stinger will now counter both of them
and they will get limit breaks. Now have Cloud activate his limit break before
Red finishes throwing his Molotov, to make sure he gets to use it before the
Stinger attacks again. Cloud and Red won't have much HP left by now and since
the Stinger likes to attack often, they will soon be dead. Have Aerith throw
the final Molotov when she's alone. You most likely won't have to heal in this
battle, unless Aerith gets attacked a lot. Use Healing Wind after Cloud and Red
are dead if possible, but if not, you can give her a Hi-Potion.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGA4YUo8O2w
###############################################################################
Revive Cloud and Red before the next battle and heal them back to full health.
You may use Hi-Potions if you don't have enough Potions. If you don't want to
use items, you can enter a battle and use Healing Wind. Aerith should still
have Fury after all. Before Gi Nattak, you only have to heal Aerith. Reviving
the others is completely pointless.
###############################################################################
B20: Gi Nattak
HP: 5500
Dif: Elixir/10
Just throw an Elixir at him and the battle will be over.
If you want to, you can try beating him without using an Elixir, but then you
have to load up and beat him with an Elixir afterwards, in order to save items.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhfQpCIY9bU
###############################################################################
Form a party of Cloud, Tifa and Cait Sith and give Tranquilizers to all of them
before you set your course for Nibelheim.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.4 <> Nibelheim & Rocket Town
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Luck Source x2 (Nibelheim)
Elixir (Nibelheim)
Turbo Ether (Nibelheim)
Platinum Fist (Nibelheim)
Magic Source (Shinra Mansion)
Silver M-phone (Shinra Mansion)
Twin Viper (Shinra Mansion)
Enemy Launcher (Shinra Mansion)
Rune Blade (Mt. Nibel)
Plus Barrette (Mt. Nibel)
Powersoul (Mt. Nibel)
Elixir (Mt. Nibel)
Sniper CR (Mt. Nibel)
Power Source (Rocket Town)
Drill Arm (Rocket Town)
Yoshiyuki (Rocket Town, talk to man in front of item shop twice)
Edincoat (Palmer)
Nibelheim. That means it's finally time to buy some Hi-Potions and Phoenix
Downs, but go pick up all the items in town first. All the items inside the
mansion are found on the first and second floor, so you don't have to enter
the basement. Then enter the shop and sell of all the equipment, all the
materia and the Ether you found in Cosmo Canyon and buy so that you have
99 Hi-Potions. What you've got left after that, you can spend on Phoenix Downs.
Head for the mountains when you're done shopping, but make sure to save first.
You might get an attack from both sides on the bridge and there's not much to
do but hitting the restart button if that should happen.
Find your way to the cave and enter pipe number two when you get there. Then
save. Heal Cloud if he gets hurt during random battles, but don't bother
healing Tifa and Cait, as you're not going to use them against Materia Keeper.
Since there's an Elixir and a weapon in the caves below here, you have to take
the exit next to Materia Keeper and then follow the path Cloud & Co took to the
reactor five years ago. You know.
Then it's time to kick some Materia Keeper ass. Form a party of Cloud, Aerith
and Red, give Tranquilizers to them and place them all in back row. Make sure
to heal Cloud back to full health as well.
###############################################################################
B21: Materia Keeper
HP: 8400
Dif: 4/10
Note: You need a calculator for this battle.
This is the toughest battle so far, but he's not as tough as you might have
thought he'd be. If he opens the battle with Trine, you can just forget about
it. If he doesn't, you can have Aerith throw a Deadly Waste on him and hope he
gets poisoned. It doesn't seem to work very often, so unless you're lucky, you
will have to restart a lot of times. I needed five restarts this time.
When you eventually manage to poison him, you just have to wait until his HP
reaches zero while making sure the party stays alive. But wait a minute. Won't
he start casting Trine again after a while? How the hell are we supposed to
survive that? Well, you can't, but fortunately there's a way to avoid the use
of both Trine and Cure2. Remember Bottomswell and how you avoided Waterpolo by
not attacking him? Well, it's the same deal here. NEVER EVER ATTACK HIM and he
will never use Trine and Cure2. As easy as that.
With Trine and Cure2 out of the picture, you only have to deal with Big Horn
and an occasional Hell Combo now and then. Have Cloud and Aerith defend all the
time and let Red take care of healing. Red must heal himself every time he gets
attacked, but you can safely let Cloud and Aerith's HPs fall as low as 160.
If Cloud or Red should get criticaled and die early, you can just keep playing,
as you're more than fine with only two characters. Let Cloud take care of
healing if Red should die. Your most important objective is to protect Aerith,
so she must defend all the time. If she should get killed, though, you must
have the others revive her and give her a Hi-Potion ASAP. Then have her defend
when she gets her turn and have one of the guys give her a Tranquilizer. If you
keep her HP above 200 HP all the time, only a critical Hell Combo kan kill her.
Stop healing Cloud and Red when Materia Keeper's HP goes under 4000. Hopefully,
they'll both die in time, but if one of them is still alive when it goes under
1000, you can use a Molotov. As long as Aerith's HP is full, only a critical
Hell Combo can kill her. Also make sure to use Healing Wind, to save at least
one Hi-Potion, but only when he uses Big Horn. Eventually, Materia Keeper will
die and the battle will be over.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz6in7lMRkE
###############################################################################
Quickly head back to the save point and save. Then leave the cave and head for
Rocket Town. As usual, there's no need to revive the others. Aerith is more
than fine on her own, and it doesn't matter if she actually should die on the
way to Rocket Town, as you just saved anyway.
Enter town when you get there and pick up all the items. They're both in houses
on the right side of town, so there's no need to check the ones on the left
side. Talk to the man outside the Item Shop to get the Yoshiyuki. Go find the
Tiny Bronco in Cid's backyard after picking up the items and then go talk to
Cid inside the rocket. Then leave town, switch Red for Barret and save. Your
next opponent is Palmer, the tougest boss in the history of Final Fantasy.
###############################################################################
B22: Palmer
HP: 6000
Dif: 1/10
Many people make fun of Guard Scorpion for being such an easy boss, but if
anyone should be made fun of, it's Palmer. I have yet to play a challenge where
he deserves anything more than 1 out of 10 on the difficulty scale.
Palmer's only attack is Mako Gun and he can only use it ten times before he
runs out of MP. With Sadness, it deals just above 300 damage each time, so just
use a Hi-Potion every time Aerith gets hit. You can also use Healing Wind
every third time. Needless to say, there's no point in healing Barret.
You have two choices when he runs out of MP: Attack or throw Molotovs. Just
attacking takes a very long time, though. Palmer has very high evasion, so you
can expect Aerith to miss at least half the time. Throwing Molotovs takes less
time, but you have to spend more time getting money later. I'm not sure what's
faster, but by attacking, you can just hold the button and watch some TV in the
meantime. You can also put some weight on the button and do something else.
It's all up to you. Just make sure to move Aerith to front row before you start
attacking, or else it'll take twice as long.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmaxHIwd4Is
###############################################################################
Next, we're going to take a break from the main story to acquire some important
items and money.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.5 <> Wutai & Gold Saucer Area
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Magic Shuriken (Wutai)
Hairpin (Wutai)
Dragoon Lance (Wutai)
Elixir (Gold Saucer)
Okay, it's time to take a trip to Wutai. We have to go there to get some Light-
and Lunar Curtains. Certain bosses are impossible without these items, so you
kinda have no choice. It's a long way there, but Aerith is fine on her own as
long as you keep her HP above 300 all the time. We're going to use Barret in
all the "Curtain battles", so just keep him in the party as long as we're here.
The first thing you can do when you reach town is to pick up the items. Two of
them are located in hidden rooms inside Godo's house. Yes, you can sleep for
free here, but why would you sleep? Aerith has Sadness status and she's the
only one alive and that's exactly what you want. The Dragoon Lance is located
in the "fire cave" at Da-Chao. Head back to the Item Shop after picking it up.
Sell off all the equipment and buy 9 Swift Bolts. That's all for now.
After shopping, it's time to go hunt for some Foulanders, the enemies you win
Lunar Curtains from. Head for Da-Chao and take the first right. Now run back
and forth here until you encounter a group of TWO Foulanders. Escape anything
else. Also, make sure Aerith's got more than 350 HP at any time. The other
enemies here most likely won't hurt you, so only healing at the save point
after each battle should be more than enough.
###############################################################################
B23: Foulander x2
HP: 800
Dif: 1/10
Throw a Swift Bolt and the battle will be over. They have an attack called
Flame Dance that deals 240 damage, but there's a very small chance that both of
them will use it. It has only happened once to me.
###############################################################################
Head back to the save point, heal and save if you receive a Lunar Curtain. If
you don't get one, you can try soft-reseting first, but if that doesn't help,
reseting the console most likely does. After reseting the console, I almost
always get two in a row before I have to reset again, but that might be just
me. Anyway, repeat this process until you have 9 Lunar Curtains, but if you
should be lucky and get two in one battle, I still suggest fighting 9 battles
to keep up with the battle plan. Take note that you might also win Fire Veils
from these guys and that's a good thing, as we're going to use them in the
Garuda battles. As long as you also get a Lunar Curtain, of course.
Next we have the Garudas. They are more dangerous than the Foulanders, but
Aerith is used to danger, so she can handle them on her own. Make sure you have
four Fire Veils before you head back to Da-Chao again and don't forget to save
first. To find the Garudas, you have to go right twice, to a hand that points
to the right of the screen. The battle we want is a group of two Garudas, so
escape everything else. Just be aware that they can also attack from both
sides, but you can just let them kill you if that happens. Aerith must have
660 HP or more when you enter the battle.
###############################################################################
B32: Garuda x2
HP: 1400
Dif: 1/10
This battle isn't difficult at all; you only have to throw two Fire Veils, but
there is a chance you might get killed. Ice2 and Bolt2 both deal just above 300
damage, so you will lose if they use these attacks more than twice. Thankfully,
that doesn't happen too often. This time, it only happened two out of 7 or 8
times here. Their regular physical attack deals just above 40 damage and their
last attack, Dance, only drains MP, so that one is completely harmless. With
700 or more HP, you can survive two level 2 magic spells and two regular
physical attacks at the most, but that never happened to me. They always used
Dance once, except for when they used three level 2 magic spells and killed me.
If you get to throw the first Fire Veil before the Garudas start attacking, you
will, of course, survive either way. You can turn the battle speed all the way
down to increase the chance for that to happen.
###############################################################################
Garuda is a unique enemy. They can drop four different items: Light Curtain,
Mute Mask, Ice Crystal and Bolt Plume. The chance of getting a Light Curtain is
the third highest, but it's lower than the chance of getting a Lunar Curtain
from a Foulander, but thankfully, we only need two of them. You need three
Swift Bolts or Fire Veils for the upcoming Flapbeat battles, but you can also
use Ice Crystals, in case you should get one in addition to the Light Curtains.
After getting 9 Lunar Curtains, 2 Light Curtains and enough items for the
Flapbeat battles, you can set your course back to the Tiny Bronco. You can also
switch Barret for Cait Sith now, as you're going to use him in the Flapbeat
battles. Park the Tiny Bronco outside Nibelheim and take the buggy back to the
Gold Saucer area and make sure to kill Cait Sith in a battle on your way there.
When you get there, you can look for a battle with three Flapbeats. Aerith's HP
should be above 450 before the battle, in case they all use Flying Sickle.
###############################################################################
B34: Flapbeat x3
HP: 330
Dif: 1/10
Throw a Swift Bolt/Fire Veil/Ice Crystal and the battle will be over.
###############################################################################
You know how this works now. Restart if you don't get anything, keep fighting
if you do and fight three battles even if you should get two in one battle.
When you have three T/S Bombs, it's time to make some money. That's the reason
why we brought the buggy here. Cactuars live in the desert outside Corel Prison
and they give you a stunning 10000 Gil when you defeat them. But before you can
start hunting for Cactuars, you have to take a trip back to Junon and buy some
Grenades. Drive the buggy "into" Costa del Sol and talk to the man by the ferry
to "buy your ticket". When you reach Junon, you can use the air taxi to quickly
get outside. The buggy will now be outside Junon. Then drive "into" town again.
The time has now come to make a choice. How do you want to deal damage to
Jenova-LIFE, Schizo and Jenova-DEATH? They become totally harmless after they
run out of MP and you can just pummel them to death with your weapon, but that
takes a while. We're talking more than 30 minutes against Jenova-DEATH. You can
choose to use items like Fire Veils and Swift Bolts instead if you don't want
to spend that much time attacking, but these items cost money and you're gonna
need a lot of them. In other words, if you choose to use items in all the
battles, you will probably end up spending as much time hunting for Cactuars
than you save by using the items. My suggestion is that you buy items for
Schizo and just use your weapon in the Jenova battles. The reason why you
should use items against Schizo is because of his final attack. You have to
prepare for this attack by putting up a Lunar Curtain at the right time, so you
can't juse hold the action button until you kill him. You have to keep track of
his HP and that's not very fun when you deal like 100 damage at the time.
If you don't want to hunt for Cactuars, you can use the Mythril trick instead.
However, you can't do this until you have the Highwind. You have more than
enough money to afford all the Hi-Potions you need before you get the Highwind,
even if you used Molotovs against Palmer, but you can't buy any Swift Bolts and
Fire Veils for the battles I mentioned above. Cactuar hunting is definitely
faster than the Mythril trick if you get the pattern of Cactuars I always get,
(explained below) but otherwise I'm not sure. It's your choice. If you decide
to use the Mythril trick, you can just make sure you have 99 Potions and then
head back to the Gold Saucer. The Mythril trick is explained in section 4.2.
If you want to hunt for Cactuars, you need to buy some Grenades, but how many?
It takes two Grenades to defeat a Cactuar and you have to have to fight at
least 12 of them, so you can make sure you have 24 Grenades first. Then...
* Add 2 if you used Molotovs against Palmer.
* Add 2 if you want to try defeating Red Dragon without poisoning him.
* Add 4 if you want to use items against Schizo.
* Add 4 if you want to use items against Jenova-LIFE.
* Add 10 if you want to use items against Jenova-DEATH.
Buy so that you have 99 Potions as well. When you're done shopping, you can
head down to the beach and let Mr. Dolphin escort you back to the cargo ship.
Use the [] button to blow the whistle down by the water and he'll show up. Back
in Costa del Sol, you have to do some more shopping. Buy two Hypers and two
Softs. That's all. Give the Hypers to Aerith, so that she gets Fury status.
Then head for the desert, save your game and drive the buggy "into" the houses
below the Gold Saucer to enter. Also, make sure to place Grenades at the top of
your item list before you start hunting.
The Cactuars have an encounter rate of 1/16, meaning they should only appear
once every 16th battle, but there seems to be a system for when they appear.
They always appear after a certain number of Land Worm battles and it never
fails. The first Cactuar shows up after 10-15 Land Worms and the same goes for
the second, but then you only have to fight one Land Worm between the next two
Cactuars. I could hardly believe it the first time this happened. I mean, the
encounter rate is 1/16 after all. I kept playing until I had fought one more
Cactuar battle before I quit playing that day, but when the same thing happened
again the next day, I knew it couldn't be a coincidence. The 5th and 6th
Cactuars show up after about 7 battles, but then it takes forever before the
seventh shows up, so I suggest going back to the world map to save after six
battles. You have to restart the console to restart the Cactuar pattern. But
for all I know, you may not get this pattern at all. I have no idea.
The Land Worms will always cast Earthquake, unless you manage to escape the
battle first. This attack deals around 125 damage and with Fury, it only takes
two attacks before Aerith's limit bar is full. That's about 1/6 of her HP, so
you can use Healing Wind in every third battle. You will gradually lose HP, but
just heal before you escape the second battle to get back to full HP again.
Also, make sure to stay in one area all the time. If you enter a new screen too
many times (I think it's 10), the chocobo cart will appear.
###############################################################################
BXX: Cactuar
HP: 200
Dif: 1/10
Throw two Grenades and the battle will be over.
###############################################################################
Yup, as easy as that. When you finally run out of Grenades, you can leave the
desert for good. Then head for the Gold Saucer and get things done there. Make
sure to pick the Elixir in the closet after the date and check the Turtle's
Paradise flyer at the hotel. Form a party of Cloud, Aerith and Red before you
leave and give Tranquilizers to everyone. Also, make sure to buy 19 more
Molotovs in North Corel if you used Molotovs against Palmer.
You have to take a trip back to Wutai now if you decided to use items in any of
the upcoming battles. Here's how many items you need for the following battles:
* 13 Swift Bolts if you want to try defeating Red Dragon without poisoning him.
* 21 Fire Veils for Jenova-LIFE.
* 22 Swift Bolts and 2 Fire Veils for Schizo.
* 58 Swift Bolts for Jenova-DEATH.
Head for the temple when you're done shopping.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.6 <> The Temple of Ancients
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Trident
Mind Source
Silver Rifle
Rocket Punch
Princess Guard (Clock, door IIII)
Trumpet Shell (Clock, door VII)
Megalixir (Clock, door VIII)
Work Glove
Dragon Armlet (Red Dragon)
Gigas Armlet (Demon's gate)
We're here. The Temple of Ancients. An infamous battles takes place here, but
first you have to pick up all the items. They should be easy to find. Make sure
not to fall down in the clock room, as the Ancient Dragons on the bottom will
slay you. Also, there's no need to enter any other rooms than the ones listed
above. Rest before you enter the room with the murals and give tranquilizers to
everyone. Red Dragon awaits inside.
###############################################################################
B37: Red Dragon
HP: 6800
Dif: 5/10
Note: You need a calculator for the next two battles.
It's time to use the last Deadly Waste. Have Aerith throw it and pray he gets
poisoned. Red Dragon seems to be the toughest boss to poison, so don't be
surprised if you have to restart many times. I poisoned him on my 4th attempt
this time. And yeah, I know, it sucks to go through all that talking before the
battle over and over again, but it really helps to put on some music.
When you eventually manage to poison him, you can have Aerith defend and use
Red as a healer. Red has enough HP to survive anything except a critical bite,
but Aerith can survive anything as long as she's defending. If Cloud doesn't
get killed by the first attack, you can have him defend as well, but there's no
point in reviving him at any point in the battle. You're more than fine without
him, but if he should survive long enough to get a limit break, you can use
Cross-Slash to paralyze Red Dragon.
Cloud and Aerith will only lose about 100 HP if they get hit by the tail when
defending, so just use a Potion if that happens. Use Hi-Potions in any other
case where the bite and tail attacks are used, even if the character only loses
200 HP. A critical bite will kill Cloud either way.
Red Dragon Breath deals almost 600 damage and is the most dangerous attack he
uses, since it cannot be reduced. If he uses it on Aerith, you can simply have
Red give her a Hi-Potion, as she can easily survive the attack again. If he
uses bite or the tail attack now, she will be back to full health again after
Red gives her a Hi-Potion again. If he uses Red Dragon Breath on Red or twice
in a row on Aerith, you must have Red use a Hi-Potion and then let one of the
others use a Potion on the target. Have Cloud do it if he's still alive.
If Red gets killed by a critical bite and Cloud is still alive, you can have
Aerith revive him and Cloud give him a Hi-Potion. Repeat the process if he gets
killed again, but have Aerith give him a Tranquilizer if he doesn't. If he gets
killed and Cloud is already dead, you need a lot more luck to get him back in
business again. After being revived, he must then give himself a Hi-Potion and
a Tranquilizer in that order without getting killed again. In other words,
Aerith must get attacked the next two times. Aerith can only get killed if she
takes a critical bite when she's not defending. The chance for that to happen
is very low, but use the same procedures to revive her if it should happen.
If Cloud is still alive when Red Dragon's HP falls below 2000, you can move him
to front row and stop healing him. Do the same with Red after it falls below
1000 and let him throw a Molotov on himself if his HP is full. Have Cloud do
the same if he's still alive. If Red doesn't get killed by the next two attacks
now, he must take himself out with another Molotov. When Aerith is left alone,
she must heal herself until the battle is over while praying she doesn't get
hit by a critical bite. You can use Healing Wind if her HP is higher than 300.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nssTND0qSkw
Note: This video doesn't really represent the strategy described above, as my
levels are lower than they are supposed to be.
###############################################################################
Next up is Demon's Gate. Rest, give Tranquilizers to everyone and turn the
battle speed all the way down. Also make sure to place Molotovs at the top of
you item list, followed by Hi-Potions, Potions, Light Curtains, Phoenix Downs,
Softs and Tranquilizers in that order.
###############################################################################
B38: Demon's Gate
HP: 10000
Dif: 7/10
Demon's Gate isn't as tough as you might have expected. Fighting him is
actually very easy when you have full control over the battle, but things can
easily go wrong if you don't pay attention. One small mistake can end the
battle way too early. Another thing that makes the battle tougher is luck.
Demon's Gate gets more criticals than any other boss and these criticals are
the reason for at least 1 out of 2 game overs. Also, you really can't waste
your time in this battle. I really suggest that you read and understand the
strategy before you take him on, as you can't just enter the battle and look in
the guide for what to do next.
First of all, you should know how he fights. From my experience, I have learned
that his main attack, Rock Drop, is used in series between Cave-Ins. These
series usually consist of two Rock Drops, but he might drop only one or as many
as three as well. He also has the ability to drop two rocks in one attack,
meaning that you can't do anything but to sit down and watch the characters
being tormented. His third attack, Demon Rush, will be used when you get his HP
below 7500, 5000 and 2500, so you will see this attack at least three times.
Before Demon Rush, he always starts waving his arms and then he waits for at
least one turn before he uses the attack. Your characters will get three to
five turns before the attack is used. His last attack, Petrif-Eye, isn't used
very often, but if he uses it, it most likely happens in the beginning or after
a Cave-In. He can also open the battle with any attack.
Just wait and see what happens when you enter the battle. Hit the reset button
if someone gets killed. Of course, it's not impossible to revive a character,
but why waste time and items when the battle had just started anyway? If he
uses Rock Drop on Aerith or Red, you can have one character heal, another throw
a Molotov and the last one use the first Light Curtain. If he opens the battle
with Cave-In, you can just heal Cloud and then follow up with a Molotov and a
Light Curtain. If he opens the battle with Petrif-Eye or he starts waving the
arms, you can throw two Molotovs and then use the Light Curtain.
The strategy itself is pretty simple. Have one character heal and the other two
throw Molotovs when he uses Rock Drop. After Cave-In, if the party had full HP,
you only have to give a Potion to Cloud, but use Healing Wind if possible. A
critical Rock Drop will deal close to 600 damage to Aerith and Red, but there's
no need to give them anything more than a Hi-Potion, as they have more than
enough HP to survive another attack. When he starts waving his arms before
Demon Rush, you can just throw Molotovs until he uses the attack and then heal
afterwards. Always heal Cloud first, as you might not be able to heal everyone
before he starts attacking again. Aerith and Red should have more than enough
HP to survive a rock if they had full HP before Demon Rush.
When Petrif-Eye is used, you can just give the target a Soft and the counter
will go away. If it's used on Cloud or Red near the end, you can just let them
get petrified. That's actually a good thing, as he can still attack petrified
characters with Rock Drop. Oh, and don't worry, characters who are petrified
at the end of the battle will not receive EXP.
You can take advantage of the fact that Demon Rush is used after his HP drops
below 7500, 5000 and 2500 HP. If he drops a rock and he's got less than 900 HP
above one of these numbers, you can have everyone throw Molotovs to trigger
Demon Rush. If Aerith or Red was hit by the rock before Demon Rush and they had
full health before that, you don't have to heal them until after Demon Rush.
Doing this will save you some time and time is important in this battle, as the
Light Curtains don't last forever.
The time will come when you have to use the second Light Curtain, but that's
easier said than done. First of all, you must wait until the Barrier is gone
before you can use the other Light Curtain, but you can't just use it as soon
as the Barrier guage goes empty. The Barrier doesn't wear off at the exact
moment when the gauge reaches zero, but it lasts for one more unit, if you know
what I mean. As you know, the gauge is built up by units, starting at full.
After a certain amount of time, it goes down by one. Let's say that certain
amount of time is 5 seconds. If so, then the Barrier will still last for 5 more
seconds after the gauge goes empty. Understand? Good. If he attacks when you
have one or zero units again, you can heal, throw a Molotov and use the Light
Curtain in that order. If he attacks when you have two units left, you should
just heal and wait until he attacks again. The best situation would be if he
started waving his arms for the 5000 HP Demon Rush when you have one or zero
units left. If the Barrier is about to run out and he's got less than 5900 HP,
you can have everyone throw Molotovs to trigger Demon Rush. The battle is
likely to fail here, but if you successfully put up another Barrier on the
party, you can just keep fighting until you get his HP below 300.
The killing process is probably the most fatal part of the battle. Many things
can go wrong here and you must hope for some luck. The worst thing that can
happen is that he starts an Aerith killing spree. Anyway, move Cloud and Red to
front row and have Aerith defend. If he drops a rock on Cloud, he will die, but
Red will survive if his HP is high enough. If he drops a rock on Aerith, you
can have Cloud give her a Hi-Potion and Red throw a Molotov on himself. Aerith
must defend and have her turn ready, so don't ever let her do anything. When
defending, she can survive anything, but a critical or a double Rock Drop will
kill her if the Barrier should wear off, something that will happen if the
killing process takes too long. If she should get killed when one of the boys
is still alive, you can just revive her and hope she doesn't get attacked again
the next time. Revive her again if that happens, but if Cave-In is used and the
other guy is low on HP, the battle will be over. If both of the guys should get
killed, you know what to do. Have Aerith throw the last Molotov ASAP when she's
left alone.
That's it. You might find the battle very difficult at first, but when you get
control over it and you learn how to handle the different situation, you will
find out that it's not that tough after all.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgRQHIgOTc8
Still lower levels, but this time there's no big difference, other than that
Red too can survive two rocks.
###############################################################################
With Demon's Gate out of the way, you'll have some cut-scenes to watch before
you wake up in Gongaga.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.7 <> Searching For Aerith
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: X-Potion (Gongaga)
White M-Phone (Gongaga)
Water Ring (Sleeping Forest)
Guard Source (Forgotten Capital)
Aurora Armlet (Forgotten Capital)
Magic Source (Forgotten Captial)
Elixir (Forgotten Capital)
Wizard Bracelet (Jenova-LIFE)
Form a party of Cloud, Barret and Cid when you get out on the world map. Then
enter the Tiny Bronco and set your course for Bone Village. The Lunar Harp is
located on the upper level, on the left side of the tent. Place three searchers
and you should find it.
After finding it, you can just proceed with the story until you reach the place
where a certain character's life ends, but don't forget to turn the battle
speed back up first. Escaping random battles on the lowest battle speed can be
really painful. Give Tranquilizers to everyone when you get there and then
save. Disc one will soon be over. Also, make sure to find out if Barret has
learned Mindblow yet. If not, he's gonna learn it in this battle.
###############################################################################
B39: Jenova-LIFE
HP: 10000
Dif: 4/10
How to survive Aqualung without the Water Ring? You can't. Then how the hell
are we supposed to get past this battle? Simple. Just make sure she doesn't use
Aqualung. That's right. It's possible for Jenova not to use Aqualung at all
before she runs out of MP, but it's all based on luck, so there's nothing you
can do about it. If you used Lunar Curtains, Cid and Barret would have been
able to survive Aqualung, but that would actually have made the battle tougher.
The strategy is very simple. Use a Hi-Potion whenever someone gets hit, but you
have to be quick. Enter the item menu as soon as you can, select Hi-Potions and
use it as soon as you see who she attacks. It's easy with Blue Flame, as you
have three seconds from when you first see who she attacks, but you have less
than a second when she uses Blue Light. Well, you'll be fine as long as you use
the Hi-Potion within a couple of seconds after the attack. Some times, she also
uses two attacks in a row before you get to heal, but both Barret and Cid can
easily survive two attacks. Cloud, however, can barely survive one. If he
should get killed, don't bother reviving him until she runs out of MP.
Don't bother attacking her until she runs out of MP. Just focus on staying
alive. Of course, Barret must use his limit break if he hadn't learned Mindblow
yet, but don't attack any more than that. Item users must absolutely not throw
any Fire Veils before she runs out of MP, as she'll counter with Reflect. When
she finally runs out, you can move Cloud to front row, kill the others and then
just hold the action button until she dies. Even item users can do that if you
set the cursor to "Memory".
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djsrZCfE00Q
I use Red instead of Cid in this battle, but there's no significant difference.
###############################################################################
This Jenova was pretty simple, but the next one will show no mercy. Disc one is
now over and it hasn't been too difficult yet, but you can look forward to some
really nasty battles during disc 2. Schizo and Jenova-DEATH will do their best
to make you want to pull your hair out.
Just for comparsion: I beat the first disc in 9:45.
===============================================================================
4 - Walkthrough: Disc Two & Three
===============================================================================
Are you ready to move on? Well, I ain't gonna stop you. You start disc two in
the Forgotten Capital, and it's time to head further north, but take your time
to recover the party before you move on. Just sleep in the little house you
slept in before the infamous event. It's free after all...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1 <> Adventures in the Snow
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items: Viper Halbred (Corral Valley Cave)
Bolt Armlet (Corral Valley Cave)
Megalixir (Corral Valley Cave)
Power Source (Corral Valley Cave)
Vaccine (Icicle Inn)
Hero Drink (Icicle Inn)
X-Potion (Icicle Inn)
Javelin (Gaea's Cliff)
Elixir (Gaea's Cliff)
Fire Armlet (Gaea's Cliff)
Megalixir (Gaea's Cliff)
Enhance Sword (Gaea's Cliff)
Dragon Fang (Schizo)
Hi-Potion (Whirlwind Maze)
Kaiser Knuckle (Whirlwind Maze)
Ether (Whirlwind Maze)
Reflect Ring (Jenova-DEATH)
Poison Ring (Whirlwind Maze)
Alright, you know where to go. When you reach Icicle Inn, you must fill up your
stock with Hi-Potions. Make sure you have 99 of them before you move on. There
are some items you can find at the Great Glacier as well, but they are far from
important, so don't waste your time looking for them unless you know where they
are. Consider them as bonuses if you find them. You can sleep for free at Mr.
Holzoff's, so make sure to do that when you get there. Then form a party of
Cloud, Barret and Cait Sith and give Cloud a Tranquilizer before you start
ascending the cliff. Try not to use too many Hi-Potions on your way up, as you
need about 75 for Schizo.
First find your way to the area with the save point. It's after the second
climbing session. Don't bother healing Barret and Cait Sith if they get hurt in
the random battles. It's just fine if they die. Just be aware that Stilva might
slaughter your party with Magic Breath if you should run into one of them. She
can open the battle with Magic Breath, so there's really nothing you can do to
prevent that. Place T/S Bombs at the top of your item list when you reach the
save point and then save. Next up is the Icicle battles. If Barret or Cait Sith
are still alive, you must kill them in a battle on your way up. Heal Cloud back
to full health when you get there and turn the battle speed all the way down
before you enter the first battle.
###############################################################################
B40: Icicle
HP: 3000
Dif: 1/10
Note: Don't attack the Evilheads.
This battle is very similar to the Garuda battles. You only have to throw a T/S
Bomb at the Icicle, but there is a chance you might die. The chance is very
small, though. For that to happen, three of the Evilheads must attack before
you and all of them must use Ultrasonic. It has only happened to me one out of
ten times. Just make sure to be quick and you'll most likely survive.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nzmCSrrFok
###############################################################################
Jump down and save if you want to, but I suggest that you just heal Cloud back
to full health and move straight on to the next Icicle. You only have to defeat
three of them, but you have to engage in a battle with the last one and then
escape if you want the "Last Elixir" on the other side. Heal Cloud back to full
health and turn the battle speed back up before you do that. You have to enter
the battle and escape it again to get back and after that you will be given the
option to jump down. The chance of being killed in these battles is close to
zero. Switch Barret and Cait Sith for someone alive before you move on. Next up
is Schizo. Hurray!
Form a party of Cloud, Cait Sith and Cid when you reach the next save point and
use the healing spring to recover. Then give Tranquilizers to everyone and turn
the battle speed all the way down again, as well as setting ATB to Wait. Yes,
you have no choise this time. Also place Hi-Potions at the top of your item
list, followed by Lunar Curtains. You can put Swift Bolts and Fire Veils after
that if you're going to use these to deal damage to him.
###############################################################################
B43: Schizo
HP: 18000 each.
Dif: 8/10
Note: You need a calculator for this battle.
This battle isn't very complicated; you only have to use a Hi-Potion whenever
someone gets hit, but the battle is very long and many things can go wrong.
First of all, you have to be able to use the first Lunar Curtain before Schizo
starts attacking. If not, you're most likely screwed. Cait Sith and Cid can
both survive an unprotected breath, so you can keep fighting if both of them
get attacked, but you have to heal them quickly.
Schizo has a pattern of attacks. First, both heads will use their regular
breaths three times each. Then they take a break for one turn before they use
double breath twice. This pattern is repeated until they run out of MP, which
happens after the 9th series of regular breaths. In other words, you have to
survive 70 attacks before you can celebrate your victory.
As I said, this battle is not very complicated. Once your the MBarrier is up,
you can just heal each time Schizo attacks. You have to quick, though. You must
enter the item menu as soon as they start attacking and you have to give the
target a Hi-Potion before he takes damage. By doing that, you will be able to
heal between every attack. Don't ever wait until after the target has taken
damage, or else they will attack twice before the Hi-Potion is used. I know,
the only way you can lose is if Cloud gets attacked twice, but this is a long
battle and you can't take any risks.
The double breaths are dangerous. You really have to pay attention when they
use these attacks, as it can be difficult to see who they attack some times.
And of course, if you don't give the target a Hi-Potion before he takes damage,
they will use the second double breath before you get to heal. That's something
you really don't want to happen, as no one can survive two double breaths. A
double breath deals more than 500 damage, but a Hi-Potion is more than enough,
as you will get back to full health again after a single breath.
The most fatal points in this battle is when you have to use another Lunar
Curtain, something you must do no less than three times. You learned how this
works in the battle with Demon's Gate, so it shouldn't be a problem. when the
Barrier gauge reaches zero, you must first wait until Schizo attacks and then
heal the target. After that, you can use the Lunar Curtain and this is where
it turns fatal. Two things can go wrong now: The Lunar Curtain might not be
used until after the next attack and he might use the next two breaths before
you can do anything. Take note that this can also happen when you use the first
Lunar Curtain in the beginning of the battle. As you know, both Cait Sith and
Cid can survive an unprotected breath or two protected breahts, but not Cloud.
If Cloud dies, you can just hit the reset button. This is the main reason why
this battle is such a pain in the ass.
Four Lunar Curtains will last almost exactly until Schizo runs out of MP, so
it's important that you don't do anything else than healing when you get
attacked and using Lunar Curtains when necessary. If you waste time doing
anything else, the last MBarrier will run out too early and you might die. He
can't kill you as long as he can't attack more than four times when it runs
out, but it'll last longer than that if you do as I said and don't waste your
time. My last MBarrier ran out when he had two attacks left. If it should run
out earlier, you can use X-Potions on Cait Sith and Cid when they get attacked.
When he finally runs out of MP, you can start depleting his HP. Revive any dead
characters and move everyone to front row first. If you decided to use your
weapon, you can simply attack both heads until they have less than 80 HP left.
DO NOT KILL THEM before that, or you're in serious trouble. If you decided to
use items, you can start by throwing two Fire Veils. This will heal the right
head, but that's exactly what we want. Cloud can't survive two final attacks,
so we don't want to take out both of them at the same time. Since the damage
from the items vary, you must keep track of the left head's HP. After throwing
the two Fire Veils, you can throw Swift Bolts until you reduce the left head's
HP to below 900. Then heal Cloud back to full health and use a Lunar Curtain.
Now, item users can have Cait Sith or Cid throw another Swift Bolt. The left
head will die and use the final attack. Cid will die either way, but Cait Sith
might survive if his HP was full. It doesn't matter, as he will get killed by
the next attack either way. Have Cloud heal himself back to full health and
continue throwing Swift Bolts until the right head dies. People who don't use
items can have Cait Sith or Cid attack one of the heads when the MBarrier is
up. Then heal Cloud back to full health and attack the other head. Very simple.
As I said, the battle isn't very complicated, but it gets the highest rating so
far because of all the things that can go wrong. If it hadn't been for these
things, the battle would have been as easy as Jenova-LIFE.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-_m0VSn2ac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miFh0KpUi7Y
###############################################################################
Don't head back to the save point after the battle. If you get into a random
battle before you leave this screen, you will, due to a glitch, not be able to
run away. The game apparantly thinks that you're still in the boss battle, so
logially enough, it won't let you escape. Instead, leave the cave through the
closest exit, but don't head back yet. You might run into a Blue Dragon before
you reach the save point and they can easily slaughter your party with Great
Gale. Instead, just proceed to the next save point, but don't forget to heal
Cloud back to full health and turn the battle speed back up first. After two
screens, Tifa will come running and force herself into the party. Form a party
of Cloud, Tifa and Red and give Tranquilizers to everyone and then proceed to
the next screen, where the save point is.
After saving, you have to go all the way back to Icicle Inn and buy more
Hi-Potions. Let Cloud's temperature fall down to 26 to quickly get down to Mr.
Holzoff's shack. Then find your way out of the Great Glacier. Use the map if
you don't know where to go. Make sure you have 99 Hi-Potions again before you
start your journey back. When you finally get back, you can proceed a little
bit after the save point and watch the scene with the Highwind. Then move on to
the next area and pick up the items from the black caped guys before you go
back to the save point. Hi-Potions are still at the top of the items list, and
make sure they are followed by Phoenix Downs, Tranquilizers, Potions and Echo
Screens this time. Save after doing that. Then move on until you reach the area
where the battle with Jenova-DEATH takes place. It's after the screen where you
have to dodge green whirlwinds. Don't go any further when you get here. You
don't want to enter the battle and not be prepared. Stop and turn the battle
speed all the way down first and heal everyone back to full health if they were
attacked on the way. Then you can move on and let the battle begin.
###############################################################################
B44: Jenova-DEATH
HP: 25000
Dif: 9/10
Yes, another "toughest battle so far". Jenova is the most unpredictable boss in
this challenge and that's the main reason why this battle is so frustrating.
Her main attack is Red Light, but you will never know how many times she's
going to use it and who she's going to use it on. Sometimes she uses it once,
other times twice, but most of the time she'll use it three times. When she
uses it twice or three times, you won't be able to do anything before she's
done. When she uses it three times, she will most likely attack everyone, but
once in a while she attacks the same character twice and you can guess what
happens to that character.
When someone is attacked, you must always have that character heal himself.
That's very important. As long as everyone is alive, you must never have a
character heal anyone else than himself. Let's say Tifa gets attacked first and
you have Cloud heal her right away. If Jenova uses Red Light three times in a
row now, you can be in serious trouble. Tifa could get attacked again and get
killed and Cloud might use the Hi-Potion on the character that didn't get hit,
thus wasting a turn. You must never waste a turn during this battle; one small
mistake will lead your party to death faster than you can imagine.
Red Light deals between 520 and 560 HP, so the characters will gradually lose
HP. Logically enough, you must never allow anyone's HP to fall below 560 during
the battle. This problem can be fixed with Potions, but you can't just wait
until someone's HP reaches 560 and then use one. If someone should fall below
560 before two series of three Red Lights, you're in big trouble. Of course,
you can be lucky with the damage, but you can't gamble like that in this
battle. Whenever you have a turn or two to spend, like when she uses Tropic
Wind, Silence or when she only uses Red Light once, you must use these turns to
give Potions to the characters with the lowest HP. As I said, never waste a
turn during this battle.
When she uses Silence, you should make sure to give the target an Echo Screen
if he gets silenced. If no one is silenced, she will give up a round of Red
Lights to cast Silence and that's a good thing for two reasons. First of all
because you don't have to heal anyone, but it also makes the battle last
shorter. Silence costs 24 MP, so the more times she uses it, the less times you
have to heal.
Cloud's Cross-Slash can be used to "buy time". It will put Jenova out of
function for at least one turn. Of course, you can't juse use Cross-Slash as
soon as Cloud's limit bar is full. You must save it until it's absolutely
necessary, like when someone gets killed or if someone's HP should get really
close to 560. If Tifa or Red should get killed, you must first heal the other
character who got attacked and then have Cloud use Cross-Slash. Then you should
have more than enough time to revive, heal and give the fallen a Tranquilizer.
If Cloud should get killed, you must hope for some luck. First heal the other
character who got hit and then revive Cloud. Now, hope she doesn't use three
Red Lights again