FINAL FANTASY VII WALKTHROUGH DISC 2

[ Disc 1 | Disc 2 | Disc 3 ]

Written by Ken Megura. Edited/Corrections by Sigma.

THE CAVE

You'll start off outside of one of the shell-shaped buildings on the east side of the Ancient City. If you walk to the left, Cloud will haveanother attack and you'll see the ghostly form of Sephiroth leaving the
Ancient City. Once Cloud has recovered, follow Sephiroth by heading north, then east along the path you couldn't take before. Note thatyou're free to go back through the Forest and return to the World Map,
but there's no point in doing so unless you wanted to buy some items or find Vincent or Yuffie (unless you already have them). Although you'renow on Disc 2, none of the other events that occur in this disc willactually happen until you get the Highwind.(meaning that if you were to return to the World Map, you couldn't go on the Huge materiaquests yet, dig up the Gate 5 Key, or bring Bugenhaagen back to the
Ancient City).

In the next area, ignore the white, spiked object for a moment. Instead, walk behind it (look for a path to your left). This will allow you toreach a chest containing a Viper Halberd (a weapon for Cid). Onceyou've gotten it, climb up the spiky object. It's a little tricky tonavigate due to it's spiraling shape, but you'll eventually reach a cave entrance after making your way to the top.

Inside, walk to the left and press against the second cleft in the wall. You'll climb to the top and be given two options (Right or Left). Pickthe bottom option (Left). Walk over to the next cleft and climb up it,
then choose the bottom option when you reach the top to land on a little ledge with a chest above it. You can open the chest from where you are;there's a Bolt Armlet inside. Face the cleft and choose the bottomchoice, then the top one to jump to the other side. Now, go to the rightand when two options appear, pick the bottom one. This lets you climbdown to where the first chest is; there's a HypnoCrown inside of it.Climb back up to the top of the cleft, pick the bottom option, then pressagainst it to try and get back on. When two options appear, choose thetop one. Then, make your way up to the ledge with the chest, and pick the top option. You can now take the Mega Elixir from inside the chest. Get back into the cleft and choose the bottom option to jump to the westside of the path.  Work your way to the left, climb up the cleft, andhead left a second time to reach a long ladder.  Selecting the bottomoption will left you climb down to the bottom of the ladder.

If you search using the O button, you'll find a purple materia (Magic Plus) near the lower-left corner of the screen. When you approach the ladder,you'll automatically climb up to the ledge you were at. Now pick the topoption after nearing the ladder and climb all the way to the top. Onceyou're off the ladder, run to the right and go through the opening on thenorth wall. In the next room, take the contents of the treasure chest(Power Source) before exiting through the far opening to the northwest.

Once outside, keep to the east. After heading along the coastline for a while, you'll come across a sharp curve that turns to the west.Just beyond it is a village and a deep valley, which you can't enterwithout exploring the village (Icicle Lodge) first.

ICICLE LODGE

Go to the far end of town and talk to the man in purple standing near the trees. Pick the top option. Two Shinra members will show up, alongwith Elena (a Turk). After confronting Cloud, she will try to knock himout. To avoid her strike, press left just after you see the transparentmessage box. If she does hit you, you'll wake up in one of the houses,but if she doesn't, then she'll roll right out of the town. It doesn'tmake a difference whether you get hit or not.

After that's done with, go to town entrance and check out the house that's just to your right. In the back room, there's a boy, a cat,and a snowboard. Talk to the boy and the cat will leave the room, enabling you to take the snowboard by examining it. You'll need it forthe upcoming event. Now, go to the inn, head to the upper floor, and examine the window in the lower left-hand corner to get an X Potion.
Leave and enter the house on the far right (near the snowman). Take the items in the back room (an Hero Drink and a Vaccine), thenexamine the map on the wall in the main room. You can examine it by
choosing the top option, but before you leave, you'll want to choose the bottom option to take it.

Finally, go into the house on the left side of town, just to the right of the weapons shop. If Elena KO'd you, this is where you'll wakeup. If you go down the stairs and look by the windowsill, you can get another item (Turbo Ether). You can also take a look at themachinery on the ground floor to see a series of pre-recorded videos dating back many years ago; they show Aeris's mother and her father, a 'renegade' Shinra scientist named Gast. There are several videos, but watching them has no effect on the game itself, aside from clueing you in to Aeris's past. There's a device to the left that will allow more light into the room, but it doesn't seem to have any purpose.

Before you leave the town, you may want to buy weapons, Hi-Potions and Tents at the shop. When you're ready to go, simply walk past theman in the back of town (the one near the trees), and the snowboardsequence will start up:

Your controls while using the snowboard are:
 

Brake
Jump
PAD
Move left or right, down to brake
START
Pause/Unpause
L1/R1
Quick turn left or right
Basically, you want to make your way through the mountains. You can collect balloons along the way, but I don't know what they do for you.There are also obstacles to crash into, like dead wood, pine trees,
igloos, moogles, snowmen, rocks, ice boulders, and chocobos. We'll take the left path twiceand go from there in this walktrough.

The characters will come in a white forest. From this point onward, you can press S to look at the map you took (but not in somescreens), which shows where you need to go but not where you are. Note that there'salmost nothing of interest in this area. So, we' ve simply described eachlocation and where it is on the map; getting there isn't much of aproblem. Your ultimate goal is to make it to the red check mark shown on the map.

The locations are:

ENTRANCE  (looks like a square at the bottom-center of the screen) Heading south from this area takes you back out to the World Map. Ifyou return to Icicle Lodge to heal yourself, you'll have to snowboard
in here again.

MOUNTAIN CAVE  (small opening just to the right of the ENTRANCE) You can hop across the ledges to the top of the screen, but in the nextroom, there's nothing to do but choose to fall/not fall down an icy
chute that has no effect aside from ejecting you back into the world map. The entrance to this cave is hard to see; it's in the lower-rightarea of the T-junction screen. You can also get here by going right
from the LAKE CAVE area.

FOREST  (forest divided by Y-shaped paths) In the main forest screen, there's an item (Mind Source) at the foot of atree near the upper left part of the screen. If this is where youlanded after the snowboarding event, then it's just up and to the rightof where you crashed.

BURIED AIRPLANE  (tail of plane sticking out to left of forest) Nothing here.

LAKE CAVE  (cave in the middle of the central lake) On the surface of the frozen lake, near the shore, there is a greenitem (a Potion). Be sure to get it. Then head to the left to reacha screen full of ice floes. Here, you'll have to jump on the floatingice chunks to get across, but the chunks surrounding the one you're currently standing on will submerge or raise depending on how theylooked when you arrived there. If you mess up and they are all submerged, you'll have to start all over. The key is to make sure thatyou're not jumping onto a floe when the ones surrounding it are all raised, or else they'll all submerge and you'll fall into the water.To get on the ice floats, choose the top option, then use the O buttonand the controller to jump around. Enter the cave in the next area,grab the item bag (it contains a Safety Bit accessory), and leave.

LONE TREE  (pine tree up and right from the LAKE CAVE) Nothing here, either.

ICE BOULDERS  (northwest corner, left and below the STONE FACE) Go into the small cave entrance and grab the item in the northwestcorner of the cavern (an Elixir), then go out the other entrance.

RIVER LOG  (above central lake, at mouth of river) There's nothing here.

STONE FACE  (left of the red check mark) Nothing here.

STEAMING LAKES  (south and east of the check mark)
You can touch the water on the lefthand bank if you want. In fact, you should, since you can't get the Alexander Materia any other way.(Keep reading for details.) Just maneuver yourself as close to the
shore of the left lake as you can, and when an option appears, pick the top one.

MOUNTAIN CROSSROADS  (top of mountain east of the STEAMING LAKES) Once you reach the crossroads head to the upper right corner of the screen to go off the map. In the next area, work your way up and to the left. When this screen repeats a second time, look for a Blue Materia (Added Cut) near the beginning of the screen, in the upper-right part of the path. This road takesyou to the Steaming Lakes area, but if you try to back the way youcame, you'll see that the screen has changed. Put another way, youcouldn't have gotten the Materia unless you took this path since the 'switching' road isn't marked on the map.

If you're fast, you can reach the 'lost in the snowfield' section (the red checkmark) before anything bad happens. But if you waste your timein this area, you'll pass out.

LOST IN THE SNOW

You'll awake in the house of an old man. Go up the stairs and let the old man talk to you; choose the bottom option twice when heasks you two questions. When you wake up the next morning, check out
the Save Point (since you probably haven't saved prior to entering the Icicle Lodge). If you want to spend the night again, talk to the oldman in the first room and choose the top choice. When you leave the
shack, your friends will be waiting outside. Make a new party if you wish, (see below for directions) then head south.You may have noticedthat you can talk to the man from the ground floor even though he is
above you.

If you don't want to explore the snowfield any more, skip this part. After all, you can return here at any future point in the game,providing you have the Highwind.

Outside, you'll be in a large snowfield. Use the O button to set down spikes that you can use to track your location (since your directionchanges when the wind picks up). If you want to explore the rest of
that first area that you left/passed out in, head south. When you leave the first area from the Steaming Lakes exit, you'll see a rock formationwith a cave entrance if you keep walking north. Inside, a Blue Materia(All) is lying near the tent. What's odd is that you seem to always run into this on your way back from the first area instead of onthe way to it (i.e. from the old man's shack).

If you head east, you'll go through some snowy areas, then arrive at a cave entrance. Talk to the purple fellow inside to enter a battle, but only if you touched the water back at the Steaming Lakes.

You can't Control or Morph her, but you can steal a Circlet during the battle. Her cold-based attacks (Cold Breath and Blizzard 2) are nothing to worry about, but be careful if she Amuletsone of your own members.

If you are victorious, she'll disappear and a Summon Materia (Alexander) will drop to the floor, so don't miss it. While you can use the map here,you can't reach this place normally from the first area. If you go right,then down the snowy path, you'll end up at the 'switching' crossroads inthe first area, though (sort of like a one-way path).

Going west from the snowfield takes you to an alternate entrance to the first area. There's not that much to do there, anyway, unless you wanta shortcut to the ICE BOULDERS area where an item is lying in a cave.

WHIRLWIND MAZE

Once you've had your fun in the snowfield, return to the old man's house and heal up or save your game if you need to. Then, go northfrom the shack to arrive at the slopes of a icy mountain. Keep in mind that you can't explore this area at any time other than rightnow in Disc 2, so make sure to get all the items and other stuff.

Now, get ready for some finger-smashing fun!  the meter that appears on screen when you're outside is your body temperature : it goes down because ofthe cold climate. To keep your temperature up, you need to rapidly hitthe S button. The highest temperature you can get to is 38, while thelowest is 27.  Any less than that (26), and you pass out and findyourself back in the old man's house. It sounds like keeping your heatup is easy, but you can only increase it when you're on one of the ledges, not while you're climbing up the rock face. So for those longclimbs, you have to max out your heat and climb as quickly as you can.Luckily, your heat doesn't go down during a battle. Remember, it's nothow hard you press the S button, but how fast you press it, so try to get in as many presses as you can to max out your temperature.

In this area, there's nowhere else to go but up, so climb along the rock face until you arrive at the cave entrance, pausing at each ledgeto restore your body heat. Always keep an eye out for the red flags;
they indicate which part of the wall you can climb. Inside, go through the two archways into the next cavern. Here, climb up the stairs andgo through the south exit. In the adjoining area, walk all the way to
the right to find a hidden chamber with a chest; inside it is a Ribbon. Then return to the main path and head north, then west, through the entrance. Cross the icy bridge in the third cavern and press the
SELECT button to bring up the cursor; it'll help you navigate through the twisting passage before you.  Once you reach the top, examine theboulder and choose the top option when it presents itself. This will
make you push the boulder and free up the blocked passage beneath you. You can still move while the boulder is rolling--notice that you canstand right where it falls and you will receive no damage.

Go back to the other room (where you got the Ribbon), and open the purple chest to the northeast; there's a Javelin lying inside it. Now,return to the room that you exited from the south (the one with the
formerly blocked passage), and go north along the passage until you reach another exit. This leads to the upper path above the chest withthe Javelin--keep following it and you'll find yourself outside.

Build up your temperature, then climb up the wall. After going a short distance, you're given a choice (up, down, or right). Pick the topoption (up), and head up until you reach a ledge. Keep climbing upward,
and you'll be prompted with another choice (right or down). Pick the top option and head right to arrive at another ledge. Then climb upuntil you reach the next ledge; it has a path going left and an unmarked path that goes to the right (i.e. there's no flag by it). Theright path is a dead end, so take the left path and keep climbing upalong the wall (you'll find another ledge on the way) until you reach asecond cave entrance.

This large cavern is pocked with holes. There's an exit and a treasure chest, but they are too high to reach, at the moment. Don't miss theSave Point between the chest and the exit. Nab the other chest in thelower right corner of the room (there's an Elixir inside of it), then gonorth from the chest to find a passage that leads outside.  Once you're out in the open again, head north, then go around the bend and headsouth and east.

In the next room, examine the area immediately to the right to find a chest with an Fire Armlet inside.  There are four huge icicleshere that you need to knock into the holes in the lower cavern. This isdone by 'fighting' them. Each icicle is guarded by several yellow bats.

The icicle can counter with 'Icicle Drop'. It will do this to any person who attacks it, tries to steal from it, orthe like. You don't have to kill the bats in order to win the battle(all you have to do is 'kill' the icicle), but since they can Silenceyour characters and recover HP when they attack you, you may want to get
them out of the way before attacking the icicle. Killing the icicle is worth 500 exp, 0 AP, and 0 gil, so if you want some AP and gil, you maywant to kill the bats.

Each time you win a battle, you'll be given an option. If you pick the bottom choice, you'll drop down to the room below, while picking the topchoice lets you stay where you are (so you can continue to 'fight' theother icicles. After knocking down the last icicle, choose to staywhere you are so that you can get the chest on the far left (it has a Mega Elixir inside). Then, go back along the path. Just before youreach the door, an option appears; pick the bottom choice to jump downto the room below.

When the icicles drop down here, the floor of the cavern is 'raised'. After knocking down 3 of them, you can reach the exit, knock down all4 and you can get the chest on the ledge in the upper left corner of
the room (which contains a Speed Source). When you're ready, go through the now-available exit by hopping across the stones. This leads to theleft side of the outer path. Be sure to examine the chest that's hereto get an Enhance Sword, then follow the path as it curves back onitself and leads to the lower passage in the icicle room.

Keep following the path, and you'll find yourself on the side of the mountain yet again. Grab the rock face and climb to the right. After a while, three options will appear (up, left, or right). Pickthe bottom choice and keep holding right to make Cloud ascend the side of the mountain. When you reach the next ledge, raise yourtemperature and take the path that leads to the left. As you're climbing, another set of options will appear (up, down, or right).Choose the top option and keep climbing up. Once you've made it beyond the second ledge, you'll find a final cave entrance.

This area has a hard-to-miss Save Point in it, and if you examine the nearby pool of light, your HP and MP will be completely restored, andall dead characters will be revived. Now is a perfect time to stock
up on goodies--you can use the pool to stay healthy while fighting the enemies for exp, AP, and gil, and you can learn Smelly Breath from theMolbols just outside (be sure to wear a Ribbon) Plus, you can win
Dragon Armlets from the Blue Dragons in this cave, which will halve damage taken from Fire, Cold, or Lightning attacks, and win MolbolTentacles from defeated Molbols. There's a boss encounter coming your way, so make sure you're ready to do battle, then exit the chamber bygoing to the far right.

In the adjoining hallway, you'll see one of those shrouded creatures (similar to the ones in Nibelheim be thrown to the floor. Before youhave a chance to examine it, you'll be attacked by a two-headed boss.

In case you're confused, the 'right head' is the scaly one, and the 'left head' is the one with horns.  Anyway, you should have the Aurora, Dragon,and Fire Armlets equipped on your members to reduce damage fromthe scaly head's Fire breath and the horned head's ice breath. UseMbarrier to up your defense, then Haste yourselves. Try using Earth and Comet spells, as well as summonings, like Alexander, Leviathan, andBahamut to soften the boss up. However, don't use Poison (which does no
damage) or the Kjata summon spell (which will heal both heads). Ice works well on the scaly head, and Fire works well on the horned head,but don't confuse the two since you will heal a head instead of hurt it.In addition to breath attacks, the boss can also use a dual cold/Fire breath attack, it can cast Quake,
and has an explosion type attack that will inflict around 1400 damage to all members. It will use this attack when each head is killed (soyou will have to deal with it twice during the battle, once when you
kill one head, and then again when you kill the other). I highly advise that you concentrate on one head at first instead of trying tokill them both at the same time because this attack will kill yourparty if it happens in succession (which means you lose). When it'sdefeated, you'll get a Dragon Fang from the boss.

If you were badly beaten during the fight, you can always return to the room with the pool to heal yourselves. Otherwise, continue down thepassage; it leads outside. Then climb the icy wall up to the top, where an automatic sequence willplay. After it finishes, head along the side of the inner crater. In
the next area, Tifa will talk with you if she's in your party; if she isn't, she'll promptly appear and insist on coming with you, whichmeans you'll have to kick a member out of your current group. Head to the left.

In the next area, climb down to the lower path and look for a red materia (Neo Bahamut) near the bottom edge of the screen. You can't doanything about the shrouded guy leaping off-screen, so ignore him.

After getting the materia, you can hop up to a small island of rock where thereis a Save Point. When you're done there, jump again to return to thetop path, and walk to the left. You'll see a short  intermission withthe three heads of Shinra and several scientists heading towards the Crater in the Highwind, the airship you saw back in Junon Town.

Once the intermission is over, walk left and you'll reach the first of three 'shield' screens. Talk to the two shrouded men, and they'lleach leave behind an item when they die (an Ether and a Hi-Potion). To get past the flickering shield that's in front of you, stand as closeto it as you can, then wait until the green aura is almost gone. Now,quickly run through it or you'll be knocked back when the shield's auragrows stronger. If you mess up, you'll be repelled by the shield and will be attacked by a monster:

For starters, you can steal a Hi-Potion from the Wind Wing, and you can transform it into a Phoenix Down. Even better, you can control it usinga Manipulate materia and make it attack itself!  In other words, this isan easy battle.

If you happen to touch the shield from the other side, you'll get knocked back to the beginning, so be careful.

In the next screen, more of those shrouded creatures are running around and dying. Ignore them, but don't miss the chest near the first leftturn of the path; there's a Kaiser Knuckle inside it. Follow the path
until you reach the next screen. The second shield is here, but unlike the first one, there's a surge of energy traveling along the shieldthat will knock you back even if the shield's aura is almost gone. So,
wait until the energy surge has passed and the aura is nearly invisible, then dash across. If either defense knocks you back, you'llhave to fight a second Wind Wing.

Beyond the shield, Sephiroth awaits. He'll cut down two more of those black creatures before turning invisible and toying around with Cloud.After he attacks the party, he'll summon a second version of Jenova tokill Cloud and his friends.

BOSS : JENOVA DEATH           LV: 55  HP: 25000  MP:800

Jenova will try to Silence your members from time to time, and uses a Red Light attack often (usually after being attacked with magic). Itcauses little damage, but too many of these will really mess up your
party. Jenova's last form of attack is a spurt of fire bubbles (even weaker than the Red Light attack). As you can see, this battle is nothard at all; just hack away with physical attacks, or if you think youhave enough HPs, use Comet and cast Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, andAlexander. It's advisable that you wear the Fire Armlet or Dragon Armlet, since Jenova's attacks all cause Fire-based damage.Give the Fire Armlet to your best spellcaster, and you can knock out Jenova and gain life back at the same time. You'll wina Reflect Ring when the battle's over.

After the boss is killed, you'll get the Black Materia back. Once you're back in control of Cloud,he confesses that since Sephiroth was able to manipulate him last time,he might try it again. Therefore, someone else should hold the BlackMateria and stay here while Cloud and the others follow after Sephiroth.Sometimes, only Red 13 will take the Black Materia. And sometimes, only Barret will. No matter what character you get, simply choose the top option when it is available (you won't get an option ifthat character refuses to take it). Finally, talk to Tifa.

When you're in control of Cloud again, head north. There's a materia here (MP Turbo), as well as a Save Point and a chest containing a Poison Ring. If you gonorth from here, you'll run into the third and final shield. In addition of having all the defenses of the previous shield (the glowingaura and the moving energy surge), bolts of lightning will strike theground repeatedly. Since the lightning strikes in short bursts withlong pauses in between, wait for the shield's aura to fade, the energy surge to pass, and wait for a pause in the lightning strikes beforeattempting to pass through the shield. If you're hit by any one of those defenses, you'll have to fight a Wind Wing again. Once you're past the shield, head along the
path. It leads to an exact replicate of Nibelheim.

This next scene is sort of like a 'semi-interactive' flashback. You get to see Sephiroth run around in Nibelheim, but this time, there's anotherguy following him (Zach, the guy you heard about in Gongaga Village).Talk to your other party member, then to Tifa. In the next scene,Zach will look around Nibelheim (which has been reduced to smoldering rubble), and chat with Zangan, who was Tifa's mentor.
Then, your partyappears in a flaming building, and Sephiroth appears. Instead ofattacking, he talks to the party. When you can move, talk to Sephirothand he'll teleport around the room. When you're in control of Cloud once more, talk to Tifa twice. Sephiroth warps around some more, then showsCloud a picture of him, Tifa, and Zach. After that, Cloud has anotherfit, and the screen fades out.

In the next scene, Rufus, Scarlet, and Hojo (the scientist) arrive at the crater. Before them is a monster encased in ice. It'sone of the three 'Weapons', which awakens and watches them, then startsmoving.  Following that, Sephiroth appears in the guise of Tifa andknocks out the other characters, then tricks whoever is guarding the Black Materia to go to the center of the crater. Your party willappear in the area where the Shinra members are at, and the person withthe Black Materia gives it to Cloud, who then flies to the structurewhere Sephiroth is at (while you can move around up here, the game takes over your controls in a few seconds anyway). Once Cloud's given theBlack Materia to Sephiroth, the whole crater starts to break apart andyour party (sans Cloud) escape on the Highwind along with the rest ofthe Shinra crew.

JUNON TOWN ATTACKED

When you come to, you'll find yourself incarcerated back in Junon Town. Without Cloud, you'll be taking control of Barret and Tifa for most ofthis section. As Tifa, talk to Barret. Rufus and Heidegger will show
up. Now that you're in control of Barret, follow Tifa as the guards take her away (don't miss the Save Point), and prepare to execute her. OnceJunon Town is attacked by the freed Weapon, one of the Shinra officialsknocks out Scarlet. It's turns out to be none other than Cait Sith,who helps Barret fight the two soldiers who are guarding him.

Physical attacks will do the trick here, although you can control them if you want. If this battle gives you trouble, you need to gain somelevels at some point in the game.

Examine the door in the lowerright corner of the screen and use the controller or the O button to make
Barret try to pull it open. An FMV sequence follows in which the Sister Ray is readied and Junon Town prepares to engage the approaching Weapon.When it collides with the city, gas starts pumping into the chamber Tifais trapped in. When you're in control of Barret, go and talk to CaitSith. Then go out the door and when it closes, head right, then out thedoor. Outside, head down the road. If you got Yuffie, she'll be heremasquerading as a newscaster; talk to her and continue to your left. Once the Weapon has rose out of the water, continue to the left until you arrive at the Airport. Then, run to the center platform and examinethe yellow box to be lifted to the upper level. From there, continuetowards the airship by heading right. When you're in control of Tifa again, you have to pick up the key onthe ground so you can free yourself from the gas chamber. Your controls are:
 

Move right arm
Move feet
Move left arm
Move head
You'll need to press the buttons in this order:  X, X, T, X+T, T+O, O. (Or, press X, X, T, X+T, T+S, S if you want to free her other handinstead...it makes no difference).

Pressing them has the following effect:

When you press X, Tifa will stretch out her legs. Pressing X a second time makes her drag the key towards her. Then press T to sit back inthe chair. Then press T and X at the same time (you don't need to holdthem, just press them), and she'll lift the key up with her feet andtake hold of it with her teeth at the same time. After that, T+O together will make her free her arm using the key. Finally, press Oso that she can grab the key and use it to release her other arm.

Feel free to take your time doing this since waiting around won't do anything to you.

Examine the back of the room by the left side of the chair to shut off the gas, then examine the door.  After the monster provides you withan exit, climb outside and work your way down the front of the tower
(don't worry about the guards). When you reach the bottom, head toward the upper left corner of the screen (the cursor will appear to help youkeep track of your location, but you can disable it if you want). In the next screen, make your way down to the frontmost cylinder of thecannon, then press up to go along the front of it and end up on the cannon barrel itself (this can be a little tricky). Just as you reach
the edge of the cannon, Scarlet. She'll start slapping you, so press the O button to slap back. If you're fast enough, you'll slap her to the floor after 5-6 good hits. If she gets in moreslaps, you get knocked over. Despite the outcome of the 'fight', Tifawill still be rescued by Barret in the Highwind.

Once in the airship, head to the cockpit where you'll talk with Cid. When he finishes, talk to Red 13 and Cid again, then chat with the manpiloting the airship. After that, go to the room marked 'Operations'
and talk to the man there. He will let you assemble a new group with Tifa as the leader. From this point onward, you can return to this roomand talk with the man to activate PHS, restore your HP and MP, or saveyour game. Now that you have a party, return to the cockpit and talk tothe man again. Choose the top option, and you can control the Highwind!To pilot it, use these controls:
 

When held, you can use the pad to fly without changing direction.
Press to land
Move the Highwind in the direction you're facing
Takes you inside the Highwind
PAD
Press left/right to turn, press up/down to rise or descend
START
Toggle world map
SELECT
Same as start
Notice that your other vehicles (the Gold Saucer vehicle and Cid's airplane) are gone for good. BTW, you enter the Highwind by pressingO when you're close to it (like other vehicles). To gain control of it again, just talk to the man at the wheel and pick the top option.At this point, you'll probably want to look around and go to variousplaces. However, you can only land on green, grassy ground, and nowhere else, which limits the areas you can explore (this doesn'tinclude the canyon floor on the Northern Continent). There are two areas you can now reach with the Highwind. The first one is a cavewith a sleeping man that's just beyond the mountain range near Midgar City (you can go here with the Buggy, but since you no longer have it,you'll have to use the Highwind). Also, there's a house to the right
of Icicle Lodge, you can talk to the green Chocobo inside to get a free Enemy Skill Materia, and the purple geezer who lives here will sell you various chocobo foods. Finally, if you return tothe Chocobo Farm, you'll find a purple materia (Chocobo Attract) nearthe edge of the now-empty Chocobo pen. From now on, you can breed Chocobos here.

There's also a barriersurrounding the Crater, and of course, a huge meteor is hanging in thesky (the result of Sephiroth casting Meteo via the Black Materia). Alot of places now sell different items, among them Junon Town, Fort Condor, Costa Del Sol, and Rocket Town, for example. There's alsosome new treasure to be found in Rocket Town: there's a chest with aFourth Bracelet in the store that sells accessories, in the back of theadjoining room.

Finally, keep in mind that there are some things that Tifa can't do, like enter the Gold Saucer or play the piano in her house in Nibelheim.Ditto with Cid, who becomes the leader during the next section.

WHERE'S CLOUD / NORTH COREL

Get in the Highwind and fly to the Southern Continent. Look around until you spot a forest with a small village nearby. Land in the grass, andenter the village, Mideel. Look around, and be sure to do some shopping;the items here are expensive, but well worth your money. When you'redone, go to the weapon shop and examine the door in the back of the room.You will try to knock on it. Go outside and climb up the stairs, thenwalk along the floorboards behind the house where you can buy accessories. You should hear a sound. If you press O to examine the floor, you'll receive a message. Return to the weapon shop and examinethe door in the back again. When an option appears, select the topchoice. You'll mess around with the door. When the shopkeeper askswhat's going on, pick the bottom option, and he'll give you the Cursed Ring accessory.

When you try to explore the north end of the town, Tifa automatically goes over to the cat in the middle of the screen. While playing withit she hears that a strange man has been brought to the hospital. Inside
is none other than Cloud, who survived the blast of energy back at the Crater. However, he's nothing more than a vegetable now. Tifa insistson staying by his side. Back at the Highwind, Cait Sith reveals thatthe Shinra are hunting for the four Huge Materia, which they plan touse in order to destroy the Meteo before it crashes into the Earth. Barret gets distressed when he learns that the Shinra plan to destroyNorth Corel in order to get the Huge Materia, then Cid declares himselfthe new party leader!  Despite his dorky running style, Cid makes agood front man. Once you're able to control him, go to the Operations room and make a new team.

Before you go anywhere else, land and return to Mideel. You can now check out the house in the middle of the town, where an old man sits petting his cat. There's a large green item on the man's bed (an
Elixir). If you try to leave, the cat turns out to be a ferocious dog!  When an option appears, pick the top one to admit that you tookthe Elixir. However, the man will let you keep it. On the other hand,if you pick the bottom option, Cid will feign innocence, until the oldman tells him that he took his Elixir. Either way, you still get the item. There's nothing else to do here (at least for now, anyway), soleave the town behind and board the Highwind (notice how Cid mentionsthe Fort Condor).

At this point in the game, two of the four Huge Materia sub-quests are available to you: you can either get the Huge Materia in North Corel,or get the one at Fort Condor. The choice is yours. If you want the
one in North Corel first, keep reading. If you'd rather pick up the one at Fort Condor first, click here.  Remember, you DON'T have to succeed at Huge Materia Quests; in fact, you can lose allfour and still proceed with the game.

Ready to go?  The next thing you have to do is stop a train from smashing into the town of North Corel.  You can pilot the Highwind to two places;North Corel, and then work your way back through the old train tracks tothe Mako furnace, or you can land at the nearby cave-like entrance thatleads to the furnace and take the train from there. Either way, you'llstill have to do a bit of walking, so it's up to you.  Anyway, onceyou reach the furnace, head to the center and you'll be attacked by someShinra guards (easy to defeat). After you do them in, a train willleave the furnace. What you have to do is catch up with it before it rams into North Corel. The next scene finds you and your companions ona train trying to catch up to the Shinra train.

You have to press Up and the T button in a steady, yet extremely fast motion to make Cid pull the leversof the train so that you can catch up to the Shinra train. Even worse,there's a time limit, you have to reach the train, board it, kill theenemies on board, and stop it all within 10 minutes. If you practice, you should be able to catch up to the train in about 23-30 seconds, butremember that you'll need about 4 minutes, at best, to beat the enemieson board, so work quickly. You fight monsters each time you leap toa new train car, (five battles in all) and while they're relatively easy to win, they do take up your time.   If you'relow on time, don't use Summon Materia because the counter still decreases during the casting (which usually takes some time).

Assuming you get to the locomotive with time remaining, wait for the conversation between Cid and your other characters to stop. You can now do the following; press up + T to slow the train, or down + X to
Speed Plus it up. Once Cid grabs the controls, press:

                Up + Triangle, Down + X, Down + X
                or:  Down + X, Down + X, Down + X

You can't enter either command while your buddies are talking to you, so skip through the conversations when they occur. The train willspeed up, but will slow just as it reaches the town, if you've done it
correctly.

If you stop the train in time, you get a Key Item (the Huge Materia), and a little boy gives you a green materia (Ultima). The next morning,go to the house below the inn and a lady in a hat will give you Barret'sLevel 4 Limit Break Manual. If you messed up, then the train runsstraight through North Corel.  You don't get the Huge Materia, and if youwant the Ultima materia, you'll have to buy it from the same kid for50,000 gil. However, you can still get the manual from the lady in thehat and spend some free time at the inn. So, it's really in yourbest interest to save the town.

FORT CONDOR

Pop into the Highwind and fly back to the blue tower with the big gold bird on it. Enter it, and climb to the top of the tower. Talk to the man in the room withthe locked door. Choose the middle option, and you'll get to play amini-game.

When you win, you can open the sealed door. On the rooftop is a red materia (Summon Phoenix), and if you talk to the man in white wearing the large hat in the lower room, you get a Huge Materia.

THE LIFESTREAM

Head back to the village on the Southern Continent where you left Tifa and Cloud behind. When you talk to Tifa, the screen will start toshake. Go outside, and you'll be attacked by a huge black dragon.

This boss has only two attacks, Quake, and the Ultima Beam. He's pretty easy to beat, so just keep summoning your best monsters and use physicalattacks to deal out damage. After you've injured it enough, it will flyaway.

After Tifa and Cloud take a dive, you'll find yourself playing with Tifa, who's in a strange world filled with Cloud's memories. First,talk to the northmost Cloud. You'll head into his memories of the trip he took to that one town near the Jenova plant with Sephiroth.When Cloud shows up, speak to him again. When you reach the 'center'of Cloud's mind again, speak to the Cloud on the left. Once you're incontrol of Tifa, converse with the Cloud sitting on the steps to the right (near the 'kid' Cloud).

Then talk to the 'kid' Cloud and look in the window. When you can move Tifa, talk to the 'shadow' Cloud.  Once you're back in Cloud'smind talk  to the 'real' Cloud and go back to the town area again.Everything else unfolds by itself (you can go to the Main Menu during the burning of Nibelheim)  At the end, speak with Cloudone last time, and you'll return to the 'real' world.

UNDER THE SEA

Back at the airship, prepare a new team and take control of the Highwind. You can buy goods that weren't available before back in Mideel, andyou'll want to get the Contain materia orb at some point. To get it,climb up the slope on the west side of town to where the hyperactive kidis running around. Talk to his White Chocobo and pick the first option (make sure you have at least one Mimetto Greens on you).
When a list of six options appear, pick the fifth one from the top. The chocobo will then reveal the Contain materia, which you can take.

Furthermore, if you went into each store in Mideel and talked to the hyperactive kid in each one, he will now be selling all the items thatyou could normally buy there! However, if you didn't go into any of
the shops, or only talked to him in one shop or two shops, then he will only be selling items from those stores or will be selling nothing atall.

Also, at this point in the game, the man who lost his keys will appear outside Midgar City, enabling you to get the Key to Midgar City, amongother things. You might want to take some time now to breed Chocobos, do some shopping, or maybe have some fun at the Gold Saucer (since youcan now get in with Cloud in your party).

Whenever you're ready to proceed with the game, head to Junon Town for the third Huge Materia quest (you can't do the fourth one until later).Head into the center of Junon, and go down the main road (you'll see ascene with Cloud inspecting the damage that the Weapon inflicted on thetown earlier). Keep walking until you arrive at the gray underpassage where a commander is drilling his men. He will order his men to runaway when he sees you. Continue down the passage until you see a door labeled '1' against the left wall. Enter it, and you'll find yourselfin an elevator. Two guards in here will attack you; dispatch them andlet the lady take you down to the bottom of the elevator shaft.

When you step out, you'll be attacked by more Shinra soldiers. Ignore the dog and go down the slope, then through the door. In the next room,head down the set of stairs until you reach another door. Past it isyet another set of stairs, and at the bottom is a Save Point. Go throughthe door here to reach a second lift which takes you to the bottom of the sea floor.  Head north until you reach the underwater tunnel, andfollow it until you arrive at the Mako plant. Inside, examine the redlight on the far wall to pump water out of the chamber. Step outsideand you'll find yourself in a huge undersea dock where several submarinesare sitting. Go along the walkway--it leads to a hall with a Save Point.Walk north from here to arrive at a room filled with guards. If you talk to the guard who's walking around, he'll attack you. You'llthen fight the two other guards by the opening in a second battle. Ifyou don't talk to the walking guard, then all three will ambush you.However, if you let yourself get ambushed, you won't have to fight the second set of soldiers by the other opening. Decide what you want to doand fight the guards accordingly. Then go through the opening to your right to find a chamber full of machinery. Cloud will
automatically stop in front of one of the machines as you walk past it. When you can control him again, head to the right to see the Red HugeMateria being loaded onto a Shinra submarine. Reno of the Turks ishere, and he'll summon a mechanical freak to take you out while he makesa hasty retreat.

This boss is composed of three parts. It can imprison two of your characters in his arms, and they receive 1/3 the amount of damage thatit receives from your attacks. However, since it has three parts, if
you're making an attack that hits more than once, your ally gets struck twice or even three times!  Furthermore, if the third character iskilled while the other two are imprisoned, the battle is instantly lost.
Destroying it's arms should be your top priority, but the arms rotate and switch sides when they are hit, so adjust your attacks accordingly.Summoning spells and enemy skills work well here. The boss' attacks arenot so strong, but they come quickly. The worst one is the Lapis Laserthat strikes all members for +1600 damage. BTW, the only way to free a character is to destroy the arm that's holding them, or have him or herdie. This makes the Phoenix summon very useful if you just freed afriend and want to revive and attack at the same time. You'll get theGod's Hand weapon when you kill it and both arms.

With the Carry Armor out of the way, head to the left to find a chest with the Battle Trumpet inside it.  Then go back to the right and runalong the pier until you reach gray submarine. Open the chest by the
stairs to get the Scimitar. To the left of that chest is a chest holding a Key Item: the Fire Extinguisher.
You'll need it later so be sure to pick it up. Go up the stairs to find a bunch of soldiers running around in place who will fightyou. Cloud will then enter the submarine and be ambushed by three soldiers. You may win a set of 'Shinra Relaxed Form Defense Tool' armor from the guards, but it's not that great.

Anyway, there's a SavePoint here, and when you're done using it, head through the northerndoor to reach the bridge of the submarine. Here, you'll meet two guards and their scared-as-hell commander.  Youcan either choose the bottom option and let them live, or you can pickthe top option and kill them.  You can steal the 'Shinra Armor TypeDefend Tool Reform' (very strong armor) from the captain if you
choose to fight. Whatever your choice, examine the captain's seat when you're able to and you'll be given three options. Pick the second oneto climb into the chair. From there, pick the top option to see adescription of the sub controls, or the bottom option to start up thesub and enter the submarine mini-game (explained below).

Your controls on the submarine are:
 

Fire torpedo
Backward thrust
Forward thrust
PAD
Move left/right, descend/rise
R1
Switch view
R2
Switch view
START
Pause
The walls of the ocean floor are shown in blue, and there are diamond-shaped mines that are invisible until you get close. You can tell how far they are from the floor by the red columns beneath them. The
purpose of this 'mini-game' is to destroy the the main Shinra sub (red) in the time allotted, although you can kill some of the ten yellowsubmarines if you want to. During the mission, the following warnings
will appear:

WARNING        When an enemy sub is approaching
ALERT             When an enemy sub is firing
MINE               You are about to run into a mine
CONFLICT        The sub cannot move because you are steering it against/along a rock face

You lose the game if one of two things happen; time runs out (you have 10 minutes to destroy the submarine), or if your life bar (which isrepresented by the red/green bar at the bottom of the screen) is
depleted as a result of being hit by missiles, crashing into the walls or floor once too often, or ramming another sub. If you win, then thesubmarine you're in is automatically piloted to shore. If you mess up,
your characters will jettison themselves from the sub. Either way, you'll learn that a Huge Materia is being transported from the JunonAirport. You can go there (it's the same place where the Highwind was
docked) to see some FMV of the plane taking off, or not (it's optional). At this point in the game, you have two options available to you. Youcan either sneak back into Junon and get yourself another submarine,or you can go to Rocket Town and do the fourth and final Huge Materiaquest. If you already have a submarine, then you can do some underwater exploring or do the last Huge Materia quest . If you need to get a secondsubmarine, then keep reading.

Go back into the main part of Junon Town and work your way back to the gray hallway, down the elevator with the woman, and to the room with theguards, a dog, and the sloping floor. Beat the guards and examine thedog. When he moves aside, follow him and examine him again. Choose thetop option, and you'll enter the red Shinra submarine. When the guardsshow up, choose the top option to let them go, or the bottom option tofight them. In the cockpit room, choose the top option to save the commander, or the bottom option to fight him and his men. Either way,you still get to pilot the sub.  Note that if you got the gray sub, youcan't go through here and get the red sub.

UNDERWATER ADVENTURE

This section outlines a series of side-quests and optional events. While some have to be done at a certain point, the others are listed here onlybecause you now have a submarine and can explore the ocean. You can skipthis section and go on  for the final Huge Materia Quest if you'drather do the things in here at a later point.

The submarine can cross deep water, but not shallows. If you can't get by an area while skimming the sea, try submerging and looking fora passage. If you can't get over a rock wall while submerged, try
ascending and looking for another way around. Also, the sub can only land at docks such as the one near Junon Town. BTW, the mini-game atthe Gold Saucer also becomes available once you have a submarine.

If you sunk the red submarine, then get in your submarine and look at the map. Head to the chain of small islands southeast from theweaponsmith's house (the guy who lived near the Gold Saucer).  Submergeand you'll find the red submarine. Should you touch it, Cloud willretrieve the Red Huge Materia from the wrecked submarine. If you failed to sink it earlier, then it won't be here. Note that you canwait and pick up the Red Huge Materia in Disc 3 if you'd rather not getit right now.

Next, return to the Junon Town dock and go west until you reach a jutting peninsula (or go north from where the red submarine was,assuming you sunk it). Go around the peninsula and head south until
you reach land (you'll be in a little bay, near a dock, and you should be able to see the Golden Saucer from where you are). Descend andyou'll find a wrecked plane lying on the sea floor. Touch it to board
the sunken plane.

Inside the plane, go down the ladder. Run to the left to find a Save Point and a treasure chest (inside is the Heaven's Cloud sword).Enter the northern door (the one with the Shinra emblem on it) and head east along the walkway. There's a green chest here with anEscort Guard in it. Go down the incline to the lowest level of this room and head to the upper-left corner. Hidden by a pipe is anothergreen chest; inside it is Yuffie's Ultimate Weapon, the Conformer. Now to all the way to theupper-right corner and search the wall for a hard to see yellow materia(Double Cut). Finally, return to the entrance and go north and then east across the beams. This leads to the final chest which has aMega Elixir inside of it.

Return to the main room and go through the door on the left wall. In the adjoining chamber are Reno and Rude of the Turks, who will talkto you briefly before attacking your party. (If you enter the sunken plane after you returned to Midgar then Reno and Rude won't be here)

Rude (the bald guy) can cast Ice 2 and Fire 2, while Reno will attack you with his Neo Turks' Light Ray attack. They also have the nastyability to confuse you, which can be a serious problem if the confused
member has a Double Cut or Slash All materia equipped. Once you inflict enough damage on one of them, that person will leave. Ifyou kill Reno, then Rude will simply stand around until you lower his
HP to zero. Since this battle is tougher than it might seem, Haste your characters and use your best attacking and summon spells. If he'slearned it, Cloud's B3/1 should be used whenever possible. You'll getan Elixir when the battle is concluded.

With the Turks out of the way, go through the northern door. A chest sitting near the entrance contains a Mega Elixir, and if you continuealong the walkway and go all the way to the right, you'll find another chest with a Spirit Lance inside. Go down the stairs to the lower area;near the bottom of the screen are two chests; one to the left and one to the right. The left one has an Outlaw gun in it, and the rightone contains Cid's Level 4 Limit Break Manual (Highwind). Before leaving, look by the wrecked helicopter for a shimmering red sphere(it's lying between the body of the helicopter and one of the broken, detached parts next to it).  It's the 'Summon Hades' materia, so pick it up and then head back to your submarine.  You don't need to returnto the wrecked plane again, although you can fight the monsters hereand transform them into various '-Up' items (you can also do this toseveral of the monsters in the Mideel Area). Considering this game's difficulty, you shouldn't have to do this, though.

Once you're in the submarine, look at your map. Just south and east of the southeastern tip of the Northern Continent are three islands in asort of a curving pattern. If you can't quite tell where you are, justgo along the coast of the Northern Continent until you reach an areasurrounded by shallows where there are three islands (you should be near snowy ground with patches of grass, in addition to a large
mountain). Submerge the submarine and look for an underwater tunnel around here (guide the submarine into the dead-end and turn around; youshould see it as you're moving). The short tunnel leads to a twisted,spikey object which you will take. Bugenhaagen asks you to find it later on when you return to theAncient City.

Finally, get back in your airship and fly to Wutai on the Westernmost Continent. Go up into the Dachao Statue area, and head along the pathuntil you reach the path that heads north. Follow it past the statue's head until you reach another crossroads with a cave entrance nearby.Enter the cave. Explore
the cave until you find a fire-pit.  Press against it and use the fire extinguisher. Now you'll be able to cross it and get a weapon for Yuffie and the Steal as well materia.

CID'S ROCKET

Return to Rocket Town (it's beyond the mountains near the Gold Saucer). Go to the launch pad. It's swarming with Shinra soldiers! Make yourway to the stairs leading up to the rocket and you'll be attacked bytwo soldiers. Deal with them and you'll be attacked by another pairof soldiers. At the top of the stairs, you'll fight two more soldiers and their captain. After killing them, Cid will show up and insist onjoining if he's not already with you. After you've made a party, pressX to continue playing, T to go to the Main Menu, or O to change yourparty's configuration (but Cloud and Cid cannot be removed from the current party). After you choose to continue playing, climb up theladder and you'll face off with two Shinra soldiers and Rude of the Turks. Use physical attacks to kill the soldiers and injure Rude, especially if you've got the Double Cut and Slash all materia equipped.Rude can use a jumping wave attack, but it only causes about 500 points
of damage. He can also create a Mbarrier which he usually casts when one or both of the soldiers are killed, and he can cast Bolt 2 and heal himself for about 1100 hit points. Despite all his powers, he's still
easily beaten. If you kill Rude before finishing off the guards, you'll automatically win the battle. You may win an S-mine once you win the battle.

Go inside the rocket ship, you'll have to fight another battle, but it's easily won. Press O to open the northern door, then go into the mainroom, where Cid will talk to the workers. After the rocket lifts off,
go to the right into the next room and climb up the ladder. Examine the Huge Materia in the next room and choose the top option. Cid will chatwith Cloud and several numbered boxes will appear. When they do, punchin the following code, one press per message box:

First Message (1):      O
Second Message (2):     S
Third Message (3):      X
Fourth Message (4):     X

If you did it correctly, the glass tube will open and you can take the Huge Materia. If you mess up, you'll have 3 minutes to get the coderight, and Cid will try to clue you in to the correct code. Should thetimer reach zero, the Huge Materia is lowered into the ground.

Whether you got the Huge Materia or not, return to the entry room and climb down the ladder; when you get near the sparking tanks, they willexplode. With a little help from Sheila, you'll free Cid from under a
piece of metal. Follow Sheila into the next room (which turns out to be an escape capsule). After a lengthy FMV sequence, you'll findyourself back in Highwind, and the Meteor hanging in the sky will now
be much closer than it was before. Alternately, you can do this part (see the tanks explode) and then go back and get/not get the HugeMateria, or you can even do this part and then take the escape pod
without even attempting to free the Huge Materia (which means you obviously won't get it).

RETURN TO THE ANCIENT CITY

Get in the Highwind and return to Cosmo Canyon. Make your way up to the observatory and talk to Bugenhaagen. Cloud will use the PHS system tocall the rest of his friends up to Bugenhaagen's home.  They'll alltalk about Sephiroth and Aeris, and then leave Cloud alone with Bugenhaagen, who offers to keep the Huge Materia at his observatory forsafekeeping. Touch any of the Huge Materia you have and pick the bottom option to return to the Highwind. Bugenhaagen will accompanyyou. Pilot the Highwind back to the Northern Continent and land in thecanyon where the Ancient City is located. At the crossroads, take theleft path and follow it into the chamber with the blue crystal that you couldn't do anything to earlier. Head right along the upper pathand take the stairs up to the crystal. Bugenhaagen will talk to Cloud and his friends. If you already got the key, Bugenhaagen uses it to create a waterfall. If you didn't get it yet, he'll remain here in the Ancient City until you find it and return to himwith it.

Once the waterfall has been activated, walk towards the crystal a second time. Pictures of Aeris will be shown in the falling waterwhile Bugenhaagen talks to your party. Now, leave the Ancient City. As you do, Cait Sith calls on Cloud's phone and tells him that the SisterRay in Junon Town has been re-installed in Midgar City, and that it'sgoing to be used to destroy the barrier around the crater (where
Sephiroth's at). After seeing some more FMV, return to the Highwind. Just as you're about to board it, another Weapon monster shows up andstarts advancing towards Midgar City. Since you can't attack it whilein the Highwind, and you can't reach it using the submarine, wait untilit reaches dry land, then try and touch it in order to see another FMV sequence in which the Sister Ray is used to kill the Weapon and breakthe shield at the same time.

At this point in the game, if you return to the lake near Junon Town, the Ultima Weapon will be hovering over the lake. You can battle theUltima Weapon by ramming into it while aboard the Highwind. However,it will fly away after fighting with you for awhile. From this pointon, it will fly around the sky and make it's way to various random locations. It might seem as if you could just wait around for the Ultima Weapon to show up here and there, but the beast will fly incircles unless you find it and ram into it repeatedly.  After 4 or 5tries, it will then head towards a new location and sit there until youattack again. After escaping a few more times, it will make a final stop at Cosmo Canyon. You can fight it to the death here , and when it dies, you get Cloud's Ultimate Weapon (the Ultima Weapon). Furthermore,it will create a crater when it crashes into the ground, wiping outseveral of the rock formations around Cosmo Canyon.  However, you cannow walk across the crater and go into the Ancient Forest! Normally, youcan't reach this place unless you're using a colored Chocobo. If youdon't want to fight the Ultima Weapon now, you still fight it duringDisc 3.

Anyway, pilot the Highwind back to the crater when you're ready. Before you can explore it further, Reeve (the guy who controls Cait Sith) reveals that Hojo (one of the members of the Jenova Project) is
planning to use the Sister Ray again, even though the results could be catastrophic considering how much energy it used up last time. So youhave to get back into Midgar City and stop Hojo beforehand.

When you're ready to raid Midgar City, fly the Highwind straight towards it, as if you were going to ram into it. Cloud and his allies willgather together on the airship's deck. You can now choose the top option to assemble a new party, or the bottom option to leap off theship and parachute into the city. When you can move, follow your friend to an alleyway where your pals are waiting. There's also a SavePoint here.  Talk to whoever is by the wooden panel and they'll open itto reveal a ladder leading down into the depths of Midgar City. At thebottom of the ladder, go along the metal passage and down the slope. Go up the the next slope and when you reach the wall, head right tofind a chest containing an Elixir, and then run to the left to find achest with a Mega Elixir inside of it.

Make your way back to the area with the ladder and take the stairs down to an area with a ladder. If you climb down the ladder, you'll reach along walkway; head east and then go north to arrive at another ladder.Climb up it and you'll have access to the green chest you saw earlier;it contains an Aegis Bracelet. Climb back down to the long walkway andrun to the right. The floor will give way and you'll be deposited on alower walkway. Head left, jump on top of the pipe, and then ascend theladder. When you arrive at another ladder, climb up it, too. Eventually you'll arrive at a path just below the one you were walkingaround on earlier. Walk along it until you reach a chute; walk into it and you'll be deposited in a new area. Check out the green chest to theleft (there's a Starlight Horn inside it). Then go to the right and openthe chest that's near the ladder (it contains an Elixir). Climb down theladder and press against the right lip of the platform in order to jumpdown to the chute labeled '42'. Enter the chute, and when you arrive atthe other end, head left and then go up the ladder. At the top, you'llfind a chest to the left; there's a Max Ray inside it. Retrace yoursteps until you're back at the other area, press left to jump off the chute and back onto the platform, and then climb up the ladder and goup the stairs to your left (it's right next to the chute labeled '12').At the top of the stairs is a Save Point. To the right of it is a crawlway. Make you way along it and you'll arrive in an undergroundtunnel system. Climb down to the floor and head south. While many ofthe passages here split off in two directions, one direction will always end in a blocked door, so keep going south. As you keep going, you'llrun into your friends (remember, who you meet up with depends on who isand isn't in your group). After heading south for a couple of screens,
you'll find a treasure chest lying against the left wall of one of those 'split-passage' areas mentioned earlier. Inside it is a Power Source. At the next split-passage area that you come across, there is a treasurechest in the area between the doorways. There's a Guard Source inside it.Keep going south, and when you reach the next split-passage area, therewill be two chests lying in the area between the doorways. The one tothe left has a Magic Source inside it, and the one to the right containsa Mind Source. If you go south from here, you'll arrive at a dead end.In the left corner of this area is a Save Point, and in the right cornerthere is a yellow materia (W-Item). If you press against the wall, you'll discover that you can't go any further.

So, go all the way back to the first area (where the ladder was). Try to head to the north and guess who shows up! It's the remaining Turks,and they're here for a final showdown with Cloud and his friends.

Elena is healed by lightning attacks, Reno by ice attacks, and Rude by fire attacks. Rude has a punch attack that hits one character for2000 points of damage, Elena can throw a firebomb that inflicts 500 to
600 points of damage (in addition to a Amulet attack), and Reno uses a spark attack which will cause 800 HPs worth of damage. Alone, they aren't much, but with all three of them fighting together, this becomes one of the toughest battles in game. Barrierand Haste your allies, then use spells like Ultima and Tornado to softenthe Turks up in addition to Limit Breaks. Try to save Phoenix until youreally need it, since it will revive your members but heal Rude. All three Turks will escape once you've defeated them in battle. You'll getan Elixir when the battle is over.

After the battle, go north. When you reach the split passage area, go north again. If Cid isn't in your party, he'll show up here. Take theright path and at the next split passage, take the left path. You'll
arrive at a blocked passage, but there's a ladder against the left wall that leads to the Shinra Building. If Cait Sith is in your party,he'll talk to you. Otherwise, you'll see him hop out of the building.Go up the stairs near the front and look for a door marked 'Accessories' near the other end of this floor. In the adjoining room,you can open two chests that a Shinra employee wouldn't let you examine earlier. The one to the right contains a Master Fist and theleft one has a Pile Driver inside of it. Before leaving, go up to the64th floor and look for the lockers (go north from the elevators). Ifyou examine the left end of the row of lockers against the wall, you'll find the HP Shout (Cait Sith's Ultimate Weapon that you couldn't
take earlier).

Return to the underground passages again. Go south past one split-passage room, and when you reach the second room, take the left path. You'll go outside. Walk towards the lefthand red beam to climb up it
and jump onto the main street. Head north and a huge mechanical monster will appear from behind you; it's being controlled by Heidegger andScarlet. After laughing in your face, they'll attack you.

This mechanical monstrosity has two parts; a head and a chest area that you can aim your attacks at.  The boss can only cause around 500-800points of damage, but it can kneel and fire a ray from it's back (theBeam Cannon attack) that causes 1100 damage to all members. Even afterdisabling the Jammer Armor (it can use it's Materia Jammer attack to disable your Materia), you'll still have to keep attacking the main partif you want to kill it. Spells and summonings work nicely, and youshouldn't worry about your HP until the boss kneels and readies it'slaser attack. You'll get the Ragnarok sword once the fight is over.

Once the machine explodes, it starts to rain. Head north. There are two chests near the entrance. The one closest to you has an Elixir init, while the one that's further away contains a Mystile. Use the Save Point that's nearby if you want to, then climb up the ladders.If he's not in your party, Vincent will be on the lower landing. Thesecond landing is normally empty, but if Barret is in your party, youwill see a green chest there. Open it to get Barret's Ultimate Weapon, the Missing Score. If Barret's not in you party, you won't find anythingon the landing, even if you search it thoroughly. Once you've climbed
all the way to the top, run to the right. Sitting at the Mako Cannon's (Sister Ray's) controls is Hojo, who will attack your party when youtalk to him.

Hojo can use his 'Capsule' power to summon the two 'Sample' monsters every time you kill them. So, concentrate on defeating Hojo instead ofthe lesser monsters. He'll then reappear as a huge monster with twoindependent arms (Heretic Hojo). Since Hojo can bring the arms back to life, aim your attacks at the main body of the boss. He may castConfuse or Silence on you, so I hope you have some ribbons equipped.The right arm will also inflict a lot of damage, so cast Barrierbeforehand. In his final form, Hojo can cast Slow and employ a multiple-hit attack (Combo), which will poison whoever is hit by it. As long as you keep your HPs up, this battle is a cinch. You'll receivea Power Source once you've killed Hojo.

[ Solutions | Disc 1 | Disc 3 ]