Final Fantasy VII [solve]

Final Fantasy VII [solve]

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::Radon::
radon@myrealbox.com
radon@gamebox.net
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Final Fantasy VII
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PART I
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Tips and Quirks

Final Fantasy VII has its fair share of little bugs and cheats, and here are
a couple
i When racing Chocobos, hold your Pageup, Pagedown, Camera and Target
buttons at the same time.
Your Chocoboås stamina will slowly build up again!
i Find the W-Item materia (found in the Shinra tunnels upon your return to
Midgar at the end of Disc two). Pick an item you want more of and use it on
someone. Now select the same item again, but instead of using it, hit
CANCEL. You see that you have an extra one of that item. Repeat as
necessary!
Put characters with ranged weapons on the back row, as they can dish out as
much punishment from there but only take half damage. Give everyone a
Restore/All materia combination Ñ this means that anyone can cure the whole
party if necessary. Also try to provide everyone with at least one offensive
spell.
If youåre facing several different types of enemy, take
out the more vicious ones first.
If there are two rows, knock out the front one first.
Never run away. Complete every battle to gain experience points, otherwise
youåll be seriously underpowered come boss time.

i To learn the second Limit Break of a level, the character must use their
first Limit Break of that level a certain number of times. This number
diminishes with each Limit Level.
i To go up a Limit Level, the character must kill a particular number of
enemies.
i The best way to force new Limit Breaks is to give the character you want
to learn a Cover materia (so they take more damage), stick them on the front
row and give them a Hyper potion to put them into Fury mode. Their Limit
gauge will build at double the speed so you can use the techniques more.
i To learn the Level 4 Limit Breaks, characters must use their Extreme Limit
Break Manuals (having found them first). The characters and their Extreme
Limits are as follows:
Cloud
Omnislash
See the Gold Saucer section below.
Aeris
Great Gospel
In Highwind or on a Chocobo, find a cave south of Midgar. In there is a
sleeping man. If the number of battles youåve had ends in two identical
digits (eg 266, 133) heåll wake up and give you the item Mythril. Take this
to the lonely Weapons Shop on the Central Continent and give it to the
bloke. Open the safe upstairs for the manual.
Barret
Catastrophe
Found in Corel Village after youåve saved it from the train. Go into a tent
in the top right of the village and talk to the woman. Sheåll give you the
manual in memory of her husband.
Yuffie
All Creation
Complete her subquest.
Cait Sith
Doesnåt have one.
Vincent
Chaos
See The Hidden Characters panel overleaf.
Red XIII
Cosmo Memory
Obtained when you defeat Lost Number when trying to get Vincent.
Tifa
Final Heaven
Make sure Tifa is in your party and has her Level 3 Breaks. Go to Nibelheim.
Play the piano in Tifaås house and tap out the Highwind theme by using these
key combinations: CANCEL, SWITCH, MENU, PAGEUP+MENU, PAGEUP+SWITCH, CANCEL,
SWITCH, MENU, PAGEUP+CANCEL, OK, CANCEL, SWITCH, CANCEL. Tifa will find the
manual in her sheet music.
Cid
Highwind
Found in the sunken plane. Use the submarine to find it Ñ dive and explore
until you locate the wreckage.


Natural Materias are âone
of a kindå materias. You
can spawn new copies by mastering the originals, though Ñ get enough ability
points and a new materia
is born
Hereås a run-down of the Natural Materia types:
Quadra Magic enables you to cast a paired spell four times. That includes
Summon spells (except Knights Of The Round). This materia can be found in a
cave on the southern continent, only accessible by Chocobo.
HP -> MP enables you to swap your maximum hit points with your maximum magic
points. This is found in a cave north of Corel, across a river and in a
little desert area.
Mime materia enables anyone to repeat the previous action at no cost to
their magic points. Mime is found in a cave on the Western Continent.
Knights Of The Round is the ultimate Summon spell. Thirteen knights hit all
enemies for between 5000 and 9999 points of damage each. To find the
materia, take a Gold Chocobo over the sea as far northeast as you can go on
the map. Youåll find a round island with a cave on it. The materiaås in
here.

Vincent  Valentine
Getting Vincent is tricky Ñ heås hidden in the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim.
Go to the Mansion, and into the alcove in the bottom-left of the first room,
and read the note on the floor. Now, you can either try and solve the clues
yourself (each clue points to something in the Mansion which has a number
written on it) or take the easy way out Ñ the combination to the safe
upstairs is: right to 36, left to 10, right to 59, right to 97. The safe
will open and Oh no! A boss!
Lost Number is one evil bastard. One half of him does magic and the other
does devastating physical attacks. The âmagicå side is vulnerable to
physical attacks, and vice versa. We recommend you take out the physical
side Ñ if you donåt, his special move Lost Blow will knock your party flat.
So magic away until he throws off his butch side and proceeds to blat you
with magic. Keep battering away and heåll be history.
Beating Lost Number gets you the Summon Odin materia and the key to the
basement. Go to the cellar and walk into the wall at the top left of the
passageway in the overhead view section. In there youåll meet Vincent in his
coffin. Tell
him about Sephiroth, ask who he is, then leave. Heåll join you.
Vincent is cool. His ranged weapons can cause hefty damage but his Limit
Breaks are a bit of a double-edged sword. Yes, he does turn into demons and
horror movie stars, but he also goes Berserk, at which time you have no
control over him whatsoever. This is good in normal battles, but bad in boss
fights.
To find out some of Vincentås back story, take the submarine or a Chocobo to
the pool and the waterfall in the middle of the Central Continent. Walk
behind the waterfall on Disc one or two for an oh-so-revealing surprise
Return again on Disc three to get Vincentås best weapon and his Level 4
Limit Break manual.

Yuffie Kisaragi
Double-crossing, back-stabbing little bitch Yuffie is another hidden
character. To get her, you need to have a number of fights in any of the
forests on the World Map. Eventually you meet an enemy called Mystery Ninja.
Beat her and you can talk to her. When she wants another fight, tell her
youåre
ãnot interestedà. Talk to her again and use these responses: ãPetrifiedà;
ãWait a second!à; ãThatås rightà; and ãLetås hurry onà. Sheåll join you.
When youåre a higher level character, go to Wutai on the far Western
Continent. Yuffie buggers off with most of your materia and you need to
chase the little tart around Wutai. She turns up in several places: her
fatherås house near the Pagoda, the doddering old manås house on the far
right, the materia store, and inside the pot outside the bar. When you catch
her, you go back to her house. She locks two of your party in a cage Ñ pull
the lever to release them.
Then go to the big gate near the Pagoda. Itås open Ñ
ring the bell. A secret passage opens and you find Yuffie accompanied by
Don Corneo. Agree to co-operate with
the Turks, and search the big statue for Don, Yuffie and Elena. When you
find them, you have to fight an easy boss
Ñ without materia. Make sure youåre in possession of plenty of Potions and
the like, as it can do some nasty damage if it feels that way inclined.
Save Yuffie and Elena and you get your materia back Ñ but in a messed-up
order. Sort it out, put Yuffie in your party and go to the Pagoda. Beat up
everyone all the way up the Pagoda until you reach Godo at the top. If you
get shrunk and donåt have a Transform spell handy, simply batter Godo with
magic attacks and Summons. The other fighters can all be beaten with
physical attacks and low-level magic.
Yuffieås a useful fighter. She uses ranged weapons so can be placed on the
back row, no problem. Her Limit Breaks are a mixture of defensive and
offensive, so theyåre a useful addition to your party.

Different colours of chocobo have different abilities. Hereås a summary of
what each can do:

YELLOW No special abilities
BLUE Can run over shallow water
GREEN Can run over mountains
BLACK Combines skills of blue and green chocobos
GOLD Can go anywhere

There are five types of chocobo to catch, and theyåre all yellow. If you
want different colours, you have to breed them. The types are crap, average,
walking, running and dashing. Crap and average ones can be caught on any of
the tracks. Walking ones can be caught near Gold Saucer. Running ones can be
caught on the South Continent near Mideel. Dashing ones can be caught on the
Northern Continent.
Buy some chocobo stables at the farm. Chocobo Bill will explain everything.
Catch a walking chocobo and a running chocobo Ñ of different sexes,
obviously. Now fly over the Northern Continent until you see an isolated
house with a little patch of grass around it. Land and visit the chocobo
sage, then wait outside on the grass until you have to fight a red dragon.
Steal from it until you get a carob nut. Take this back to the stables and
save! Breed the chocobo with the nut. If you donåt get a blue or a green
chocobo, reload and try again. If you constantly fail, feed them loads and
loads of greens (the sage sells the best greens in the world) and race them
at Gold Saucer. Win six races with each to make them Class A chocobos. Now
save and try breeding them again.
Assuming that worked right, save and repeat the process until you get a
chocobo of the other colour (green if you got blue already, or vice versa).
Also make sure your blue and green chocobos are of different sexes! Now go
and get another carob nut and loads of sylkis greens from the chocobo Sage.
Feed the greens to your blue and your green and race them until theyåre both
Class A. Save and breed them. If you donåt get a black one, reload and try
again.
Finally, to get the elusive gold chocobo, go to Goblin Island (the island
furthest to the north-east on the map display). Steal a zeio nut from the
goblins there. Go and catch a dashing chocobo of the opposite sex to your
black one. Save and make them shag. You should soon have a gold chocobo!
This can be used to find all the Natural Materias in the world.

Invest in a Gold Ticket as soon as you can afford it. There are loads of
things worth doing at Gold Saucer
CHOCOBO RACING
See chocobo panel above.
BATTLE SQUARe
Equip your best character with any protection you can (preferably a ribbon
if youåve got one Ñ these protect against all abnormal status) and keep
fighting.
Get as many points as you can. Get enough points and you get Cloudås Level 4
Limit manual and a materia called W-Summon which enables you to cast
two Summon spells in one turn. Pull this off and try again Ñ this time you
fight bosses. Beat this and you get Final Attack materia Ñ pair this with
a spell and, as that character croaks, the spell is cast. The ideal thing
to pair with this is Revive Ñ that way, as the character swoons theyåre
immediately revived.
THE SUB-GAMES
Any sub-games that youåve already played in the game (motorcycle, snowboard
and submarine) can be replayed at any time in Gold Saucer. The better you
do, the more GP (Gold Saucer currency) you can win.
Full tactics for the sub-games will be given next issue.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS
I wouldnåt bother, unless youåve got GP to burn.



PART 2
-----


Reviewed PCZ #66 Score 93%

If you're having fantasies involving Tifa Lockheart and a chocobo, let Pete
Davison counsel you back to the land of the sane...

If you followed part one of our guide to Final Fantasy VII last issue,
you'll know all about battle strategy, the secret characters and other
little gems. This month we take a look at the sub-games, how to defeat
Weapon and where to find all the Enemy Skills. We're not going tell you how
to beat the last boss, or how to cope with the untimely death of...
someone... but these tips should have helped you find out some things you
perhaps wouldn't have thought to look for otherwise. Good luck, O
spiky-headed one.

The Four Sub-games

There are four major sub-games which occur as integral parts of the plot.
Once you've played them as part of the story, you can go back to Gold Saucer
at any time and replay them. G-Bike is the first one you'll come across,
upon your escape from Shinra HQ on disc one.

G-Bike
You need to defend the truck - stay close to it. When an enemy bike appears,
pull up alongside (you can speed up and slow down using the 'up' and 'down'
keys) and give it a good whack with the sword while ramming it sideways -
this is the quickest method to kill 'em.
Remember which characters you chose to be in your party, as you'll have a
boss fight at the end of the road. Each character has an energy bar - if it
drops to zero, they start the boss fight with one HP. However, as the boss
always pre-empts you, one HP basically means curtains, so avoid getting into
this position.

Snowboarding

Snowboarding is a short way into the second disc, and it's fairly easy. When
you play it as a 'plot element', all you have to do is get down the hill -
ignore the balloons and stuff. Remember to use Pageup and Pagedown to
slide-turn for sharper cornering.
If you replay this one at Gold Saucer, however, you need to be a bit more
skilful. You are marked on your accuracy, how many balloons you hit and how
quickly you did the course. Different coloured balloons are worth varying
values of points: the red ones carry low points, blue ones are usually
hidden behind obstacles, while green one are practically impossible to get,
so they are worth loads of points.
Achieve a decent score and you'll be rated "Good". Replay the game to try a
new course and keep going until you complete the 'Crazy' course. Finish this
for prizes.

Fort Condor

This is like a basic Command & Conquer. Buy loads of troops at the start (up
to 20) - use a mix of fighters, attackers and defenders and forget the
others. When the enemies start arriving, send them into the fray. Leave a
few troops around the shed to defend it, but otherwise, swarming the enemy
is the best tactic.
When you play this one as a 'plot element' (where you're trying to recover
the Huge materia on disc two) you can either fight the battle through to the
bitter end... or go for the (much easier) option, which is to allow the
enemies to overrun the base. Do this and you'll have an easy boss battle. No
problemo.

Submarine Chase

As a 'plot game', this is easy peasy. You start out just behind your
target - the red submarine carrying Huge materia - so all you have to do is
shoot the shit out of it and wham! Mission accomplished.
At Gold Saucer, however, you have to take out every submarine in the area.
Use your sonar (Pagedown) to watch for blips. Follow them and take out the
subs. Take care to avoid the mines that are lying around, but be quick -
your sub's a bit sluggish and you've only got ten minutes.

Beating Weapon

There are actually four Weapons scattered around the world. If you don't
know who, or what, Weapon is, go to Icicle Inn on the Northern Continent. In
a house on the left of the village is a video player - watch the video to be
enlightened. For those of you who know only too well what Weapon is, you
probably want to beat him, right?
You don't have to defeat Emerald and Ruby. However, you do need to face
Ultima and survive (although you don't have to defeat him) and you do need
to defeat Diamond. It's worth killing them all, however, as good things can
happen.

Ultima Weapon

You'll meet Ultima Weapon once you've beaten the Fort Condor Huge materia
quest with Cid at the helm. (At this point Cloud is a gibbering wreck in
hospital.) Cid suggests you "pay the little fella a visit", so head for
Mideel on the Southern Continent. Speak with Cloud, and Ultima will attack
the village.
Before you speak with Cloud, ensure that at least one of your party members
has their HP well above 2000. If this isn't the case, go to Cosmo Canyon and
buy some 'HP Plus' materia.
Cid, trying to act the hero, taunts Weapon and engages him in combat. Attack
Ultima with all you've got but cast Cure if he twats any of your boys (or,
indeed, girls). After a while, the screen announces that he is about to use
his 'Ultima Beam' on you. This ominous, threatening (and lethal) blue beam
causes about 2000 HP of damage to all your party. To win the fight, all you
have to do is survive this blast and hit him again, after which he flies
away.
Later on, you can defeat Ultima entirely. You need Highwind, and you also
need to have defeated Diamond Weapon (see below). Ultima will be hovering
over a big pool just behind Midgar; fly into him and beat him up as much as
you can. He will fly off again - follow him and crash into him until he
flies to a particular place and stops over it.
Your final battle with Ultima takes place over Cosmo Canyon. Beating him
sends him crashing to the ground, and also gives Cloud his ultimate weapon.
This beast causes massive damage - but the damage done decreases depending
on how many HP Cloud has left.

Diamond Weapon

You'll meet Diamond after your visit to the City of the Ancients on disc
two. Diamond emerges from the ocean, heading for Midgar. Fly Highwind to
Midgar and wait on the beach for Diamond to arrive.
Physical attacks have sod all effect on Diamond, unless his breast plate is
open. Unfortunately, when it is it means he's about to kill you. So use your
strongest Summons and spells on him - there's no easy way to do it - but
make sure you use Cure or Elixirs regularly. Eventually, something truly
explosive happens...

Emerald Weapon

Emerald lives underwater, so you'll need the submarine to get to him. He
moves around a lot, so simply search around the centre of the map to
eventually find him. Bump into him and prepare for the hardest battle in the
game.
Fighting Emerald is only for the brave. Or people who have the following:
one mastered Knights Of Round materia, three Mime materias, one Final Attack
materia (see last month's Gold Saucer Battle Square comments), one W-Summon
materia (also from Gold Saucer) and at least one Revive materia at level two
or higher. And plenty of curative stuff. Got all that? Then you're all set.
Pair Final Attack with a Revive materia. That way, if whoever holds this
combo croaks, they come back to life! Also, get as many Counterattack
materias as you can - equip them all on one person. The more one person has,
the more times they'll counterattack if smacked.
Emerald will often pre-empt you with a stomp attack, but not always. Start
with W-Summon Knights Of The Round (ie cast it twice in one turn). All other
party members should Mime this. By this point, Emerald is ready to attack
again, so have something curative ready (a Megalixir's good). Cure, then
repeat the W-Summon trick (everyone should Mime it again). Continue this
process until Emerald is dead. It takes time - he has one million HP - but
keep at it and you'll beat him... eventually.
At some point, the eyes on his shell light up, indicating that he's about to
use some different attacks. Some eyes drain MP whereas others inflict
damage. Use a spell or Summon to destroy them. Be warned though - sometimes
when they're all destroyed, Emerald counters with his Aire Tam Storm attack,
which usually kills your entire party instantly. See why you need that Final
Attack materia now?
Remember, defeating Emerald isn't easy and you won't beat him straight away.

Ruby Weapon

Ruby Weapon lives in the desert near Gold Saucer, so you'll need a gold
chocobo to get near him (breeding one is a fairly long-winded process,
explained last issue). But before you go galloping up to him, get into a
normal fight with any weedy little enemy. Kill off two party members then
fight Ruby. If you don't do this, Ruby removes them permanently. Revive your
two members as soon as the fight starts.
You should have a Hades materia from the Sunken Plane (use the submarine to
find it) and ideally, you should also have the same materia as for Emerald
Weapon (W-Summon, Mime, Knights Of Round).
Open with Hades. This freezes Ruby in time, leaving you free to W-Summon
Knights Of Round and mime it a few times. As soon as you see him moving
again, cast Hades again. Then repeat Knights Of Round. That's basically it.
Ruby's a difficult baddie to finish off, but nowhere near as evil as
Emerald. It takes time, though - be prepared to stick at it.

Enemy Skills

Many people overlook the Enemy Skill materia, but it's a useful slot-saver.
One measly materia can hold 24 spells, most of which are highly destructive
and very cheap in terms of MP.
To obtain an Enemy Skill, an enemy must use the skill on a character
equipped with an Enemy Skill materia. This is easy for offensive skills, but
to get defensive skills, further tactics are needed. Equip a Manipulate
materia and manipulate the enemy with the ability. Then, on the manipulating
character's next turn, a new menu will pop up. Pick the skill you want and
use it on the character with the Enemy Skill materia.
The very minimum you should get is "Big Guard". This casts Barrier, Magic
Barrier and Haste on all members of your party - very useful.
Here's where to find them. Be careful - some places (such as Gaia's Cliff)
can't be returned to later in the game, so try and get the Skills on your
first visit.

Skill name Enemy who has it (location)

Frog Song Touch Me (Gongaga area, Central continent)
L4 Suicide Mu (near Chocobo Farm)
Magic Hammer Razor Weed (Western continent)
White Wind  Zemzelett (Junon area)
Big Guard Beach Plug (beach near Gold Saucer)
Angel Whisper Pollen Salitas (Northern crater)
Dragon Force Dark Dragon (Northern crater)
Death Force  Adamantaimai (beach on Western continent)
Flame Thrower Ark Dragon (Mythril Mine)
Laser Death Claw (Corel Prison)
Matra Magic Sweeper Custom (outside Midgar)
Bad Breath  Molbor (Gaia's Cliff)
Beta Midgar Zolom (swamp near Chocobo Farm)
Aqua Lung  Jenova-LIFE (City of the Ancients)
Trine Materia Keeper (Nibelheim Mountains)
Magic Breath Stilve (Frozen Mountain)
Goblin Punch Goblin (north-east of map)
Chocobuckle Cast L4 Suicide on a chocobo; it sometimes retaliates with this
L5 Death Parasite (Northern crater)
Death Sentence Gi (under Cosmo Canyon)
Roulette Death Dealer (Northern crater)
Shadow Flare Ultima Weapon
Pandora's Box Dragon Zombie (Northern crater)