Now that the prelude is done, those who were new to the community playthrough should have just about caught up with those who were taking part the first time around. That means we can all carry on together!
The prelude seemed to work well at a pace of two chapters per week, so we'll stick with that. Here is a rough idea of how it will pan out, subject to change:
This post will be updated with links to the chapters as they go up, usually every Monday and Friday.
Mog had the idea that different people could come up with the discussion topics for each chapter. I think that would be great. They could do the chapter descriptions, too, as I did in the prelude part. Let me know in this thread if you want to be responsible for any of the above chapters, and give at least a first and second choice, in case someone else wants to do the same one.
I'll be posting the first chapter later today. There will be a list of questions for you to answer, but don't feel obliged to answer all of them, and don't hesitate to go beyond them to discuss whatever you want. Don't worry if you fall behind, as there is no time limit for posting about previous chapters. One last thing: there is at least one new player taking part in this, so please use spoiler tags if you want to write about parts of the game we haven't reached yet.
Chapter 7: What the hell was that soldier doing?
23rd - 27th April 2012
Skype and stream: Tuesday the 24th of April, 19:00 UTC.
We pick up the story with Cloud wearing a Shinra uniform, as he used to do regularly. This time, though, he has been roped into taking part in President Rufus's welcoming ceremony, which involves a televised march and a formation send-off at the dock, where Rufus is boarding a ship for a new continent. Cloud and the others become stowaways, and their disguises seem to be working until an alarm is sounded. There's a warning of a strange character on board, but if it's not them, who is it?
Our target is outside Costa del Sol, after leaving the Cargo Ship. Forget my earlier advice, if you saw it: go walk around town, talk to everyone, buy some stuff. Buy the villa The exit can be found by passing under the bridge in the first screen after the dock.
Questions:
How did you do in the marching task? In case anyone didn't know, the marching can be done much more easily by just tapping O rather than trying to do it according to the instructions. You can see it working in this video.
There is a lot to explore in Junon. There are some familiar people to meet and some items to pick up, including a few useless ones. Did you go everywhere and get everything?
What was your score and prize in the send-off?
How did your fight with Jenova BIRTH go, and what was your strategy?
This chapter contains a lot of memorable music, be it for good or bad reasons. There's Rufus' Welcoming Ceremony, It's Difficult To Stand On Two Feet, Isn't It?, Trail of Blood, and of course, J-E-N-O-V-A. Thoughts?
Ummmm Flint, I don't recommend leaving the shopping and exploration til the next chapter if we're going to be leaving Costa Del Sol first. If you do that, you miss dialogue with the characters you don't have in your party, not to mention the scene with Hojo.
Do saves count? I'm grinding Giga Giants in the Crater in search of an Earth Mallet (8/64 chance of dropping) but it's before Cloud gives Sephrioth the Black Materia. I do have saves that go all the way back to Junon though. (Emulator = infinite memory cards.)
Ummmm Flint, I don't recommend leaving the shopping and exploration til the next chapter if we're going to be leaving Costa Del Sol first. If you do that, you miss dialogue with the characters you don't have in your party, not to mention the scene with Hojo.
I didn't know that. I agree with you, but what do you suggest we make the chapter ending point? It will either be before Jenova or after everything in Costa del Sol. The first one results in the Cargo Ship being split up into two sections, the second results in a very long chapter now and a much shorter one next time.
Actually, is there a save point in the inn? It's definitely not there in disc three - I checked last night - but I did have a recollection of it being there before.
Do saves count? I'm grinding Giga Giants in the Crater in search of an Earth Mallet (8/64 chance of dropping) but it's before Cloud gives Sephrioth the Black Materia. I do have saves that go all the way back to Junon though. (Emulator = infinite memory cards.)
How did you do in the marching task? In case anyone didn't know, the marching can be done much more easily by just tapping O rather than trying to do it according to the instructions. You can see it working in this video.
I did okay after several tries. low thirties percent and it got me six potions, better then I usually score.
There is a lot to explore in Junon. There are some familiar people to meet and some items to pick up, including a few useless ones. Did you go everywhere and get everything?
Yup.
What was your score and prize in the send-off?
40 and it got me an HP Plus. Though it again took me several tries.
How did your fight with Jenova BIRTH go, and what was your strategy?
Cloud: Beta Yuffie: Fire 2 (why I got Fire 2 way ahead of Bolt 2 and Ice 2 even though I've definitely been equipping those materia since the start of the game I don't know) Red XIII: Shiva. Worked out pretty well.
This chapter contains a lot of memorable music, be it for good or bad reasons. There's Rufus' Welcoming Ceremony, It's Difficult To Stand On Two Feet, Isn't It?, Trail of Blood, and of course, J-E-N-O-V-A. Thoughts?
Rufus' music is as annoying as ever, but again, I got through Junon much quicker then usual so I didn't have to suffer it that long. Usually it goes on for hour and half and it gets really hard to remember life before Rufus' music starting playing. My PC wasn't rendering JENOVA theme properly which was a real shame.
After that I got to Costa Del Sol, talked to the team, talked to Hojo, talked to Aerith, eavesdropped on Johnny and Tifa and got out. Too broke to shop anyway.
The game I was playing previously for this community playthrough was done to practice things for the race - fat lot of good that did me. With the race over, I didn't really want to continue playing a save file which has already missed a lot of items. So I started again. Yes, really.
Because FFVII is very easy and because I have already got a highly complete disc three save, I decided to impose a challenge on myself. Well, two challenges really. The first is that I am only allowed to use the party leader in battles, the second is that I'm not allowed to escape any battles. These challenges usually get a long-winded acronym like LLNMIENA, so I'd better make one too. Party leader only, no escaping = PLONE.
I get to make up the rules, and here they are. In random battles, everyone except the party leader must kill themselves immediately. They are not allowed to do anything productive, such as attacking an enemy. They are not allowed to be alive at the end of the battle. If it is possible to get into a random battle before a boss battle, then that must be done, but if not, they must kill themselves at the start of the boss battle. That rule actually saved me from an impossible scenario - see below. The no escaping rule is self-explanatory.
Because I've started again, I'll give you a quick idea of how the first seven chapters panned out. I won't be answering all the questions again, just describing the boss battles.
Guard Scorpion - easy, I just used Bolt.
Air Buster - he is normally easy because he can only attack one character at a time, and because he has a weak side. When fighting with just one character, it's an endless stream of Big Bombers and Energy Balls, which are quite powerful, and his weak side is never exposed. The battle was very long, but I was glad to get a challenge from this usually pathetic boss. I pretty much repeated a cycle of two attacks and one cure, where the attacks were either bolt or Braver, until I ran low on MP, after which I switched to grenade-potion-Braver-potion.
Aps - easy, I just used fire.
Reno - if two characters had started off dead, he would have used a Pyramid on Cloud on his third turn, giving me a Game Over. I definitely wasn't in the mood for power-levelling in the train graveyard to get Meteorain so I could kill him before his third turn, so it was just as well that Barret started the battle alive due to being out of the party up to that point. With one character dead, Reno's pyramid comes on the second turn. The first time it went to Cloud and I had to do a soft reset, but the second time it went to Barret. Cloud then freed Barret and threw as many grenades as possible at Reno before the next pyramid, which also went to Barret, fortunately. Reno then killed Barret, who had been attacking himself on every turn he wasn't imprisoned as per the rules, and Cloud was able to make Reno say "it's time".
Sample:H0512 - I had to heal more than in a normal battle, and it obviously took longer, but otherwise it was easy. I just threw lots of grenades.
Hundred Gunner and Heli Gunner - this was a challenge. The party leader going into this battle is, as I'm sure you all know, Aeris. In my case, a level 8 Aeris. I knew she wouldn't be able to survive the battle at that level, so I had to do a bit of levelling up. The 69th floor of the Shinra building is actually quite a decent place to level up a magic user like Aeris, because both Zenenes and Brain Pods use almost exclusively poison-based attacks, which can be easily nullified with the Star Pendant, and because they can both be killed with a single cure spell. Once she was level 10, I tried the battle. Hundred Gunner was very easy, but on my first try, Heli Gunner put me to sleep all the time and ended up killing me. I realised that I didn't need any more levels, though, so I tried again, this time with Sense materia so I could see Hundred Gunner's HP and make sure Aeris had both full HP and MP before Heli replaced him. That made things easier, and I managed to beat them at the second attempt. I just used lots of bolts and grenades, with cure and Healing Wind to recover.
Rufus - Dark Nation was despatched with a Braver before he even took a turn, after which I attacked Rufus five times with the Hardedge I had stolen from a Soldier:3rd to end the battle. Normally I would just use four grenades.
Motor Ball - Barret and Tifa were alive again at the start of the fight, annoyingly, meaning they had to be knocked out. Cloud just used a lot of bolt spells against the boss and healed once. Back row placement, the Talisman and elemental-fire in his armour made light work of Motor Ball's attacks.
Bottomswell - Similar to Reno, I was worried about a single Water Polo giving me a Gave Over, but I looked up his mechanics online and it turned out that he would only use that as a counter-attack after he has lost a certain amount of HP. So I just cast bio on him twice, when it stuck, and defended for the rest of the battle as the poison took care of him. The most boring fight with him I've ever had!
Jenova BIRTH - Blade Beams and grenades took care of her, along with frequent healing. Whenever Cloud's HP went below half, I lined up a cure spell, even though I didn't need it right away. It turned out to be prudent as, at one point, when Cloud was stopped, she used lots of lasers in a row to put him in critical HP, but he then healed himself as soon as the stop wore off. It took a long time to reduce her HP to zero with just one character.
I've had a lot of fun so far. It's always good to find something new to try in a game I've completed so many times already.
How did you do in the marching task? In case anyone didn't know, the marching can be done much more easily by just tapping O rather than trying to do it according to the instructions. You can see it working in this video.
Horrible, I did get the bomb.
There is a lot to explore in Junon. There are some familiar people to meet and some items to pick up, including a few useless ones. Did you go everywhere and get everything?
Just about. One of the more interesting people is the guy who runs the Accessory Shop. He says he's a retired SOLDIER, which makes me wonder, "Why are you still alive?" I also like how the two Accessory Shops are competing with each other for customers and how the Weapon Shop owner says he messed up the last time he ordered and to come back later. Little lines like that add so much character to the game.
What was your score and prize in the send-off?
I forget what my exact score was, but I know I kept retrying until I got Force Stealer.
How did your fight with Jenova BIRTH go, and what was your strategy?
Piece of cake. The Shinra Betas I stole (from Marines, L4 Suicide does wonders) helped out a lot. Mostly used Beta, Shiva, Poison and Limit Breaks.
This chapter contains a lot of memorable music, be it for good or bad reasons. There's Rufus' Welcoming Ceremony, It's Difficult To Stand On Two Feet, Isn't It?, Trail of Blood, and of course, J-E-N-O-V-A. Thoughts?
I really like J-E-N-O-V-A and It's Difficult To Stand On Two Feet is funny because that's one of RedXIII's lines. Trail of Blood is creepy and Rufus' Welcoming Cereomony... most annoying song in the game.
How did you do in the marching task? In case anyone didn't know, the marching can be done much more easily by just tapping O rather than trying to do it according to the instructions. You can see it working in this video.
There is a lot to explore in Junon. There are some familiar people to meet and some items to pick up, including a few useless ones. Did you go everywhere and get everything?
The fight went surprisingly well. I still keep expecting that the boss fights are much more difficult than they are. I don't really have any strategies, but I can tell you that I fought with Cloud, Tifa and Red XII.
This chapter contains a lot of memorable music, be it for good or bad reasons. There's Rufus' Welcoming Ceremony, It's Difficult To Stand On Two Feet, Isn't It?, Trail of Blood, and of course, J-E-N-O-V-A. Thoughts?
Rufus's Welcoming Ceremony is fun for the first 5-10min maybe, but after that it starts to get a bit irritating. x) It's Difficult to Stand on Two Feet, is not that different from the other music in the game in my opinion. But it's quite funny I have to admit.
TRAIL OF BLOOD! That music is one of the best I've heard in the game and the most effective too. I love it. It's like instant shivers through my spine. And you know Sephiroth is around and something bad's going to happen.
And J-E-N-O-V-A. The best boss music so far. Loved it too. A nice change to the usual boss music.
I have lots of work this weekend, but hopefully I have time to play throught the next chapter.
Sorry this is a day late. I was busy having fun in IRC last night!
Chapter 8: We're gonna go play
27th - 30th April 2012
Skype and stream: Sunday the 29th of April, 19:00 UTC.
Having arrived on a new continent, Cloud and the others are left chasing rumours and reports of Sephiroth. They head west from Costa del Sol, passing through Mt. Corel, which was once Barret's home. He doesn't exactly receive a warm welcome, though. A trip to the Gold Saucer amusement park results in a new member of the team - whether you want him or not - but it doesn't end with fun and games. Is there another man with a gun on his arm?
Our target is outside the Gold Saucer, once you've got the Buggy. Picture below. Note: our next chapter will include some things which can be done with the new vehicle, including learning a number of Enemy Skills. You're welcome to do them now, but that will make the next chapter quite short.
Questions:
Did you get everything in Mt. Corel, including the items below the railway tracks, in the hidden cave, and from the bird's nest? Did you steal any items, like Right Arms? The location is also good for levelling / learning limit breaks, so did you make use of it for that?
What did you do in the Gold Saucer before advancing the story at the Battle Square? And how did you do on the games you tried?
How did you get on in prison? It's not a nice place to be if you're a new player. You can get items stolen from you, you can get into some difficult battles, and you can get lost in the desert.
The boss fight can also take you by surprise if you're underlevelled and not prepared for it. I don't imagine it would give you much trouble if know it's coming though. How did you do?
What did you make of the Chocobo race? Did you win first time? And did you "cheat"?
Hold R1+R2 to give your Chocobo infinite stamina. It's not technically a cheat, as it's part of the game, which is why I put it in inverted commas. I suspect it's something the game developers put in for testing purposes and then forgot to take out.
The first Enemy Skill of the game is available here, namely Matra Magic (from Custom Sweepers in the grey land around Midgar). Did you bother to get it?
The flashback. Love it or hate it? Although it has a reputation amongst experienced players for being one of the most boring parts of the game, it doesn't take very long if you know how to run through it. On the other hand, if you want to explore everything, it can take forever.
I remember the first time I played the flashback, I loved how you fight with Sephy and he's like... WHAM 3500 damage. It's like... this is the guy you're gonna fight in the end. He's baaaad.
How did you get across the marshes? There are plenty of options: catch and ride a Chocobo, use the saving trick, time your run perfectly, or beat Midgar Zolom in a battle (make sure to save first!). If you chose to fight, did you learn the enemy skill Beta?
No, not a chance X) I have to admit I did try, but I gave up quite easily. I managed to run across without the save trick.
There are two screens in the Mythril Mines which are completely optional, but which contain some useful items and large groups of enemies, which makes them perfect for learning limit breaks and levelling up at the same time. The Flame Thrower enemy skill is also available there. Did you make use of them at all?
Did you encounter the Mystery Ninja? And did you get her to join your party? The forests where you can meet her are also great places for levelling/learning limit breaks, by the way.
Cloud, Barret and Aerith. It was fairly straight forward, using elemental magic and Matra Magic and healing.
There is a lot to explore in Junon. There are some familiar people to meet and some items to pick up, including a few useless ones. Did you go everywhere and get everything?
Jenova was really easy. I had 2 limit at the start of the battle, so I just used Aerith for healing, Cloud used Attack and Matra Magic and Barret used Attack and assorted spells - and I think he had Cover but I can't remember.
This chapter contains a lot of memorable music, be it for good or bad reasons. There's Rufus' Welcoming Ceremony, It's Difficult To Stand On Two Feet, Isn't It?, Trail of Blood, and of course, J-E-N-O-V-A. Thoughts?
I LOVE the march. It's one of my favorite tunes from FFVII. I don't know why - maybe it's the optimistic tune to it that makes it sorta funny. Jenova is another great track.
Did you get everything in Mt. Corel, including the items below the railway tracks, in the hidden cave, and from the bird's nest? Did you steal any items, like Right Arms? The location is also good for levelling / learning limit breaks, so did you make use of it for that?
What did you do in the Gold Saucer before advancing the story at the Battle Square? And how did you do on the games you tried?
How did you get on in prison? It's not a nice place to be if you're a new player. You can get items stolen from you, you can get into some difficult battles, and you can get lost in the desert.
The boss fight can also take you by surprise if you're underlevelled and not prepared for it. I don't imagine it would give you much trouble if know it's coming though. How did you do?
What did you make of the Chocobo race? Did you win first time? And did you "cheat"?
I got everything in Mt. Corel this time. I got seven right arms - I was only trying to get four, but then I got into three more Bomb battles than planned and decided to steal from them as well. I didn't hang around for any levelling, and somehow, I made it all the way through without encountering any of those mushroom enemies that come in large groups.
At the Gold Saucer, I played Super Dunk a couple of times and got a bit of GP. I was going to use it on the Speed Square, but then I realised I couldn't be bothered. I might have a go on it later. I didn't play anything else, but I've done them all before.
I had a Cornucopia stolen from me in the prison Also Eye Drops and Barret's Assault Gun, but I got them back.
Because he's been dead for pretty much the whole game, Barret was only level 8 when he faced Dyne. No matter; a Right Arm took care of him like it always does.
For probably the first time in my life, I didn't use the infinite stamina trick when Chocobo racing, and I still won Not by much though.
Well here we go I'm officially back on the playthrough, must admit it's great to get back into this and back to writing essays about my experiences again enjoy.
Did I get everything in the railway tracks? Yes, yes I did because I’m obsessed with getting everything possible on the way, but no I didn’t steal Right Arms mostly because I tend not to use the steal materia after you leave Midgar. The location is fantastic for levelling and for getting limits I managed to get everyone on their level 3 limits and high levelling.
So what I did in the Gold Saucer….I spent over an hour and the others on the skype chat can verify I did this going back and forth between the two screens hoping the GP dude would show up as I want to try and get Omnislash on disc 1 and was hoping I might be able to get some easy 100GP early but no, not once did he show up, I am officially annoyed grrr. After that I just went straight to the Battle Arena mostly because I was too annoyed to do anything else, before I spent an hour wasting my life I was planning to play some mini-games but I’ll come back to that later, I think this is the first time in an entire playthrough I’ve actually not played the Mog-House mini game the first time I’ve come to Gold Saucer.
Prison I breezed through got into a couple of battles with the two-faced enemies and some thieves but anything they stole I took it back right away. I didn’t get lost at all because I’m used to it but I did get lost there all the time when I was younger and had to constantly be brought back by the man with the chocobo carriage. I took the time to equip Barret with my new Manipulate materia, got into a fight with a Death Claw or two and learned the Laser enemy Skill.
Dyne: Well I didn’t bother equipping Barret with any other materia because he’s levelled up enough that physical attacks would do the trick throwing in a Hi-Potion or two (he’s level 27 at this point). Turns out I didn’t need that strategy because although I’d forgotten to change Barret’s limit break bar to level 3 but he was close to hitting a limit on level 2 anyways . It only took one attack from Dyne to hit a Limit Break and it only took one Grenade Bomb and one normal attack from Barret to finish the battle. Dyne used to kill me all the time when I used to play FFVII, many a time I would have finished him but his final Molotov Cocktail attack would just finish me off so I’d end up with a game over.
Chocobo Race: yes, yes I did “Cheat” although I don’t classify it as cheating, picked up the Ramuh materia too, I know there’s been many a time in the past where I’ve forgotten to pick it up so I always make sure to grab it on the way.
In terms of materia levelling, the newest things to occur were Heal Materia gaining a level so I can now use Esuna, Earth and Poison gaining their second levels, I also learned Matra Magic and Laser for my second Enemy Skill materia with Yuffie and just after leaving Gold Saucer equipped her with my new Silver Armlet so she has enough slots to equip the Manip. materia. I headed over to the Costa Del Sol beaches in order to also go on ahead and let Cloud and Yuffie learn Big Guard after that I saved as I’m saving the sidequests for the next chapter.
As this is a continuation of my last playthrough my last save was just at the start of the Corel Save point, but I did bit of levelling and as usual in the last playthrough I’ll post my character stats, gil and ingame time clocked.
Cloud: Level 32
Forcestealer: Lightning, Ice, Shiva
Carbon Bangle: Poison+All, *Enemy Skill
Accessory: Power Wrist
*Enemy Skills: Flame Thrower, Matra Magic, Laser, Big Guard.
I got all the items in Corel aside from the birds nest items. On a normal playthrough I tend not to go up there, because I don't like taking the items from the birds and if I physically go up I find it hard not to take them, even though the option is there. I stole 4 or 5 right arms, but I wasn't actually hunting for them.
I didn't bother with any of the games in the Gold Saucer. Afterwards I did come back and accumulate around 800GP from the basketball minigame in order to attempt to get Omnislash on Disc One.
Got laser in the prison, threw a right arm at Dyne, and didn't use the stamina "cheat" (for the first time) in the chocobo races.
After that, I decided to go back with the shiny manipulate materia and grab some enemy skills. Luckily the bull motors in the prison also cast matra magic so my other E.Skill got that. Got Big Guard from the Beach Plugs and White Wind (I LOVE WHITE WIND) from the Zemzellet. While I was back getting white wind I decided to pop into the sleeping man in the cave and he immediately woke up and gave me the mythril! First time that's ever happened. Also Aqualung from the Harpy in the corel desert.
I then went back to Junon and used the alarm trick to fight the Disc 2 enemies. Levelled up a treat, as well as a few materia level ups. I think this'll really help in the Battle Square when trying to get Omnislash.
On my way back I realised I had amassed quite a sum of gil, so I bought the Villa in Costa Del Sol and spent the night there. Ahhh bliss.
While doing that, silly me forgot to put Cait Sith in my party to get his slots limit break (and therefore have the option to never use him again). I had already crossed the ocean again, so I just went to corel and got it in about 10 minutes or so.
I've decided to wait until after the next chapter to get omnislash since it's marginally easier with the added effect materia.
Party: Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie.
Cloud
Level 46
Weapon: Force Stealer
Armour: Shinra Beta
Accessory: Power Wrist? (I can't remember)
Chapter 9: The cries of the Planet
30th April - 4th May 2012
Skype and stream: Thursday the 3rd of May, 19:00 UTC.
Dio's apology to the group for wrongly imprisoning them is a shiny new Buggy, which can cross deserts and rivers. That opens up a few new possibilities, including a river crossing directly south of the Gold Saucer, funnily enough, which leads to Gongaga, the latest location where Sephiroth is rumoured to have gone. We haven't seen him in a while, have we? It's a different enemy that we bump into in Gongaga, though. After a quick visit to the village, it's onwards to Cosmo Canyon, Red XIII's home. "Grandpa" gives a quick lesson on the workings of the planet, before taking Red to see his father.
Our target is outside Cosmo Canyon, after returning from the Cave of the Gi. Picture below. Note: Gongaga is completely optional, but if you try to go past Cosmo Canyon, the Buggy will break down and you'll be forced to go inside to find someone to repair it.
Here are some of the optional things you can do in this chapter (or whenever, really, but now is a good time):
Learn Big Guard from a Beach Plug enemy on the beaches near the Gold Saucer. You must use Manipulate, which came equipped to Cait Sith, to make them use the skill on you.
Learn Aqualung from a Harpy enemy in the desert on the world map outside the Gold Saucer. It's a powerful skill, so it might be a good idea to save before you try getting it. You should be able to survive it at full HP unless you're somewhat under-levelled, in which case, Big Guard will help.
Learn Frog Song from a Touch Me enemy in the forests/jungles in and around Gongaga. The White Cape dropped by Jenova BIRTH will make the battles with them much more straightforward.
Go back to Costa del Sol - don't get out of the vehicle, just drive the Buggy straight into the town. Then, go to the harbour and pay 200 gil to get on the cargo ship, which will take you to Junon again. Go all the way back to the place we saved at in chapter 6, then take the bottom-right exit to find an elevator which will bring you back to Lower Junon. There's nothing new to do there, but if you return to the world map, you'll have the Buggy with you. That means you can cross the river to the north of Fort Condor to reach a man sleeping in a cave. He will tell you how many battles you've fought or escaped. If you make the last two digits of your battle count the same, for example 122, he will give you an item. If they are even, you'll get a Bolt Ring accessory, and if they're odd, you'll get a piece of Mythril. That doesn't do anything on its own, but you can trade it in for something later.
While you're back on the first continent, go back to Fort Condor. If you've been doing all the battles up to this point - I never bother, personally - you can win a Megalixir this time around, which is a good prize. If you haven't done any yet, you can win a Magic Comb, which is a weapon for Red XIII with Double growth. A much better weapon will be picked up in Cosmo Canyon, though.
Learn White Wind from a Zemzelett enemy in the grassland between Fort Condor and Junon. As with Beach Plugs, you have to manipulate a Zemzelett to make it use the move on you. You must do it before the enemy uses either White Wind or Thunderbolt, otherwise it won't have enough MP to cast it on you.
Learn Flame Thrower, Beta and L4 Suicide on the second Enemy Skill materia (which can be found in the Junon beginner's hall). Learn them on the first materia as well if you didn't before. Flame Thrower is taught by Ark Dragons in the Mythril Mines and L4 Suicide is taught by Mus in the Grassland Area on the other side of the mines. Beta, of course, is used by Midgar Zolom. With the Fire Ring from the Costa del Sol villa basement equipped to the character with the Enemy Skill materia, it is much easier to learn than it was before. Even so, you have to do certain things in order for the skill to be used. You must attack the Midgar Zolom after its HP falls below 3000 to make it stand up, and then again once its HP is below 2000 to make it kick someone out of the battle. Make sure that second attack is made by a character who does NOT have Enemy Skill materia equipped. Then, attack a third time once its HP is below 1500 and it will use Beta. Use Sense to find out exactly what its HP is. You can use the Laser enemy skill and poison to reduce its HP quickly. Make sure to heal your characters after physical attacks, of course.
In the tunnel in upper Junon, there is a button that can be pressed to trigger an alarm. While the alarm is on, run around and you'll get into battles with some tough enemies, who wouldn't normally appear until disc two. That makes it an excellent place to level up, so long as you can survive!
Questions:
How many of the things I listed above did you do with the Buggy, and how did they go?
Assuming you visited Gongaga, what did you get up to there? The shops have some new items to look at, and everyone has a story to tell. The scene at Zack's parents house varies depending on who you have in your party - who did you have, and what was your response to them afterwards?
I've always found the Titan materia that you find in Gongaga to be one of the least useful materias in the game. I suppose Scarlet described it as "junk" for a reason. What are your nominations for materia that is barely worth picking up?
I love Cosmo Canyon, and the things that happen there. If I had to choose, I think I'd rather live there than anywhere else in the FFVII world. What would be your choice?
In the Cave of the Gi, did you pick up all the items and the Death Sentence Enemy Skill? And how did you get on with the Stingers and Gi Nattak?
Did you get everything in Mt. Corel, including the items below the railway tracks, in the hidden cave, and from the bird's nest? Did you steal any items, like Right Arms? The location is also good for levelling / learning limit breaks, so did you make use of it for that?
I didn't do much anything BECAUSE SOMEONE TOLD ME ABOUT A SAVE POINT THAT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO PAY TO USE, BUT WASN'T CLEAR ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU CAN'T GET BACK FROM THERE. >8( *points her blaming finger to Flint*
How did you get on in prison? It's not a nice place to be if you're a new player. You can get items stolen from you, you can get into some difficult battles, and you can get lost in the desert.
I don't think the battles were difficult and I didn't get lost in the desert. But the enemies that used only mug were really annoying. >.< Otherwise the place was fine. A bit boring maybe. And the story bits there were really confusing and not really logical, I think.
The boss fight can also take you by surprise if you're underlevelled and not prepared for it. I don't imagine it would give you much trouble if know it's coming though. How did you do?
I did fine (again). It might have been worse if Barret wouldn't have had Cure, not that I didn't have enough potions. I wouldn't have lasted much longer than I did though. Still, it wasn't a difficult fight.
What did you make of the Chocobo race? Did you win first time? And did you "cheat"?
I could have cheated if I wanted, as I noticed you discussing about it here. I didn't want to though, so I didn't even look up how I could do that. I won on my second attempt, so it didn't even take that much time in the end. Otherwise the race was quite fine. I prefere the chocobo race in FFX though. ^^'
You guys are much more levelled than I am. o.o Except for Flint of course.
Learned the Frog Song while fighting six frogs, and it was a really long fight...
Went to Junon, where I did a lot of levelling in that tunnel and learned mantra magic for the second time.
Went back to Forth Gondor, fought the first fight, and succeeded. Won't do it again because it was slow and quite boring.
Did something that Flint didn't mention on the Chapter 9 post. I got Yuffie!
Assuming you visited Gongaga, what did you get up to there? The shops have some new items to look at, and everyone has a story to tell. The scene at Zack's parents house varies depending on who you have in your party - who did you have, and what was your response to them afterwards?
I don't know if there was much anything in Gongaga really. I think I bought some items, found some new materia and that's about it. I had Aerith on my party and I think nothing much happened there either. She just ran off, and no answer was ever given. :/
I've always found the Titan materia that you find in Gongaga to be one of the least useful materias in the game. I suppose Scarlet described it as "junk" for a reason. What are your nominations for materia that is barely worth picking up?
I remember picking up some materia in Gongaga, but I don't think it was Titan, because I don't remember seeing it on my materia list (I got some weird obsession this morning, and I just arranged them all... ^^'). Personally, I don't really like the Throw materia. And I'm a bit confused how to use the Elemental materia.
I love Cosmo Canyon, and the things that happen there. If I had to choose, I think I'd rather live there than anywhere else in the FFVII world. What would be your choice?
Can't really say, where I'd like to live the most, as I haven't played the whole game yet. But I have to agree, I really loved the story in Cosmo Canyon! I got really sentimental (yes, I cried) when Red XIII gets to know the truth about his father and saw him there, turned to stone. And the tears... ;____; Oh and the music, loved that too!
In the Cave of the Gi, did you pick up all the items and the Death Sentence Enemy Skill? And how did you get on with the Stingers and Gi Nattak?
I didn't pick up all the items as I didn't know how to reach all the places where they were. But I did get the Death Sentence. I think the stinger looks nasty, because I hate spiders. But fighting it wasn't that bad, it just had more HP than the other monsters.
I felt a bit desperate with the Gi Nattak. I felt like the fight would never end, I was running out of ethers, and it felt just hopeless. I was also really scared of losing the fight, because it had been ages since I saved the last time before that. But I survived quite well in the end.
I have to say that this was probably one of my favourite chapters so far.
Elemental materia works in two ways, depending on whether you equip it in your weapon or armour. If you have it in your weapon, it makes your physical attacks use the element of the materia it is linked to. For example, if you have Elemental-Fire or Elemental-Ifrit, your attacks will deal fire damage. That means you will be more powerful against enemies that are weak against fire, but less powerful against enemies that are strong against it. If you put it in your armour, on the other hand, it will affect how much damage you take from elemental attacks when they are used against you. The same combination of Elemental-Fire in your armour will make you stronger against fire attacks. The level of the Elemental materia affects how much damage you will take: at the first level, you will halve it; at the second, you will nullify it; at the third, you will absorb it.
I felt a bit desperate with the Gi Nattak. I felt like the fight would never end, I was running out of ethers, and it felt just hopeless. I was also really scared of losing the fight, because it had been ages since I saved the last time before that. But I survived quite well in the end.
There is a much easier way to win that battle, which I will describe in my own chapter write-up in just a moment...
How many of the things I listed above did you do with the Buggy, and how did they go?
Assuming you visited Gongaga, what did you get up to there? The shops have some new items to look at, and everyone has a story to tell. The scene at Zack's parents house varies depending on who you have in your party - who did you have, and what was your response to them afterwards?
I've always found the Titan materia that you find in Gongaga to be one of the least useful materias in the game. I suppose Scarlet described it as "junk" for a reason. What are your nominations for materia that is barely worth picking up?
I love Cosmo Canyon, and the things that happen there. If I had to choose, I think I'd rather live there than anywhere else in the FFVII world. What would be your choice?
In the Cave of the Gi, did you pick up all the items and the Death Sentence Enemy Skill? And how did you get on with the Stingers and Gi Nattak?
I got Big Guard, Aqualung, and Frog Song. I did go back to the first continent, but I soon ran into a problem which made me do a soft reset, and I didn't go back after that. I wanted to learn White Wind from Zemzelett. After I manipulated him, I made him use the ability on Cloud. On the next turn, however, I was stuck. Zemzelett's manipulate moves are White Wind and Thunderbolt, both of which require more MP than he has left after casting White Wind once. Without a way to physically attack him (as my other two characters were dead), I couldn't escape the manipulation to end the battle. The only way I'll be able to learn the skill now is by confusing a Wind Wing in the Whirlwind Maze on disc two.
I had Tifa and Cait Sith in my party in Gongaga, and because I'm being nice to Tifa in this playthrough, I went to talk to her after she walked out of Zack's house. The Turks were very easy to beat, by the way - I forgot to ask about it in the questions. I bought a Headband accessory because sleep is a very annoying and potentially dangerous status in a single-player game. Speaking of accessories, I wish I had fought a couple of Fort Condor battles now. The prize for winning the second one is a Peace Ring, which prevents confusion and a few other statuses. That would come in very useful for the Shinra Mansion, which is coming up. I'm not sure whether my level 22 Cloud will be strong enough to beat Lost Number on his own anyway, as the battle is usually hard enough even with three characters around that level. If that's the case, I'll come back after Wutai. By that time I will have a Peace Ring from Rapps and an incredibly useful weapon for this challenge from Rocket Town.
I already mentioned Titan as a useless materia, but after I posted that, I thought of a couple more: Kjata and Typoon (Typhon). They are both multi-elemental, but if the enemy halves/nullifies/absorbs even one of their elements, the whole attack is halved/nullified/absorbed. That severely limits their effectiveness. Typoon is a wind-element materia, so you might think it would be good to use against flying enemies, but in fact its attack uses earth, not wind, and will miss them completely, at the cost of 160 MP. It also comes at a stage in the game, after Ultima Weapon has been defeated or a gold chocobo has been acquired, when the only summon I bother with is Knights of the Round, as Slash-All and Double/4x Cut are both very strong, without requiring MP or tedious summon animations.
Edit: I also forgot to mention the HP<->MP materia. I can't think of a single battle where I've needed ridiculous amounts of MP without using any Ethers Turbo Ethers or Magic Hammer, but I can think of plenty where I would have been severly hampered with only a few hundred HP.
As I said, I'd like to live in Cosmo Canyon. If not there, maybe Icicle Inn, but only if it's not too cold. I wouldn't mind the snow in itself. There aren't many nice places to live in the world of FFVII, come to think of it.
I got everything in the Cave of the Gi, including Death Sentence. I used Frog Song to deal with the Stingers easily. As for Gi Nattak, I thought I would try to fight him properly for a change, but with only one character, the battle is extremely slow, even with the battle speed on the highest setting and the ATB mode set to active. The Soul Fires in particular spend ages making each turn, and it's often just casting Fire2 on themselves to heal them when they already had full HP. I got bored and used an X-potion.
The next chapter will be put up today as well, you lucky people!
You mean Added Effect? That is similar, but it uses statuses instead of elements. So Transform-Added Effect in your weapon will turn enemies into frogs or shrink them, while putting it in your armour will protect you from getting those conditions yourself.
The exit can be found by passing under the bridge in the first screen after the dock.
Also Eye Drops and Barret's Assault Gun, but I got them back.
enjoy.
