Final Fantasy VII Community Playthrough

[Flintlock]

Chapter 10: Hold on to your drawers, an' don't piss in 'em
4th - 7th May 2012
Skype and stream (provisional): Saturday the 5th of May, 23:00 UTC.

After leaving Cosmo Canyon, the repaired Buggy (or the Buggy that never broke down, for some of you) takes us across the river to the north and to Nibelheim, Tifa and Cloud's home. It was burnt down five years ago, wasn't it? Yet it's still standing. Very strange. The Shinra mansion has a puzzle and a few secrets, including an appearance by the man who supposedly set the place on fire. Then it's onwards, through the mountains and to Rocket Town at the other side. The town is dominated by a precariously leaning space rocket, which has a whole story behind it. The captain is happy to tell you all about it, after which Rufus shows up. Not for the first time, he's after the same thing as Cloud's group, but in the end, neither get exactly what they want.

Our target is whichever beach you like the look of after you get the next vehicle, the Tiny Bronco. You can't save on the water, which is why you have to land somewhere. The picture below is just a little to the west of where you start. It's the closest beach to you, and it's also home to a rather long sidequest, which we'll be covering in the next chapter.

Questions:

• What did you do in Nibelheim? You can visit the shops, talk to the clones, play the piano, visit the Shinra Mansion, etc. If you went to the mansion, what did you do there? Did you bother finding all the codes this time, or just look them up? And what was your strategy against the powerful Lost Number?
• How much of Mt. Nibel did you explore? There are a couple of nice items if you can be bothered to climb the spiral mountains, and there's also an Elemental materia and a pair of chests to find if you really want to go out of your way.
• The area with the pipes has powerful Dragons, which you should be familiar with from the flashback, as well as the boss Materia Keeper, who can be tough if aren't overlevelled or if you don't know your strategy in advance. How did you get on there? Tip: use the stairs before you go down any of the pipes, then climb down the bottom ladder until it unfolds. That will allow you to reach the top again if you want to go down different pipes.
• What are your thoughts on the Cid/Shera scenes and their relationship? You can either answer based on only what you've seen at this part of the game, or with what you know from the rest of the game. Consider using spoiler tags if you decide to go for the latter.
• How did the fight against "fat man" Palmer go? Feel free to share your characters, levels and set-ups for the fight here.

 

[Fangu]

Spoiler: Chapter 8

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 stole some Left Arms and leveled up quite a lot and got all the limit breaks (minus lvl 4 of course), but I didn't steal the Phoenix Downs and I didn't get the items below the railway tracks (I forgot!). I did go into the cave.

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?

Not much, I got the few GP you get from the Mog game, and that was basically it. Lazy...

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 first time I played the game I wandered around in the desert for ages I did lose a Luck Source to one of the guys down there and I was furious

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 didn't have any specific problems.

What did you make of the Chocobo race? Did you win first time? And did you "cheat"?

I used Manual, and failed the first time. Then I cheated. But I can do it without cheating, I have been before. Hehe.

Spoiler: Chapter 9

How many of the things I listed above did you do with the Buggy, and how did they go?

I learned Big Guard, Frog Song. Gonna go back to learn the other stuff back in Junon, and maybe also look up Aqualung. Definitely getting White Whind. I also want to try and get Beta.

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 had Aerith and Yuffie, and of course did the heartbreaking scene thing :3

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 didn't bother too much with the Summon materias the first time I played the game, but I do like having Shiva and Ifrit in there; also I used ChocoMog a lot because I thought the little video that plays when you use it is so cute Also I never got the hang of Elemental, but that's because I was too lazy figure out which enemies use/are vulnerable to certain elements. Someone on Skype just mentioned HP/MP so I'm tossing in that as well

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?

Cosmo Canyon, yes, definitely. I remember totally loving the place when I got there the first time I played the game. I have to say that I love how the CC music slowly dissappears when you enter the Cave of the Gi.

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 Death Sentence for both my Enemy Skills materias. I used Frog Song on the spiders and stole Ethers from them. I only bothered to fight two of them.

Woo late night chapter 10 tomorrow, excellent

 

[Lex]

How many of the things I listed above did you do with the Buggy, and how did they go?

I did this already in the previous chapter (oops). Got all enemy skills that are available to you at that point in the game.

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 usually always take Tifa and Aerith since I think they have the best story related dialogue. Other than that I actually hate Gongaga. I picked up Titan and bought any accessories that I didn't already have, spoke to locals etc. Picked up the almighty DEATHBLOW. Woo.

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?

Oh damn, a question that requires thought. Off the top of my head, Transform is crap, Mystify is crap, and so is Seal. Oh, and Escape, that's pretty shit aswell.

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?

Really? It's that depressing orangey-dusky way. I think I might jump off Bugens observatory if I was there too long. It's quite cool looking, but I don't think being stuck in perpetual dusk is my thing. Though I suppose it would be cool to live there for a while.

If I had to live in FF7... that's really tough. I don't fancy Costa Del Sol, too many hipsters. If Nibelheim wasn't inhabited by creeps, then I'd say Nibelheim (Shinra Mansion? Mwahaha) or even one of the small houses. I quite like the look of Nibelheim, it's near the water and the mountains. Other than that Midgar or Icicle Inn, because I like the idea of Skiing.

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?

Got death sentence, though may never use it. First stinger got a sting bomb out, the other 2 went down easier. Gi Nattak died on the first hit as usual (Elixir). Also I picked up the gravity materia after el battle.

 

[Sprites]

Chapter 9

Another chappie, another write up, so what have I done so far?

First of all I decided to go scouting about for enemy skills. My enemy skills learned are listed at the bottom along with my character stats. Now then, I decided to go back to Junon and level in the tunnel for a bit, not that I’m under-levelled or anything but it was to pick up AP to start learning level 3 spells more quickly and it paid off as in a few battles my characters reached Level 3 spells on nearly everything and Yuffie reached her Doom of the Living limit (one of my favourite limit breaks) so all that’s left is to pick up her final limit a bit later on.

I went back to the first continent to learn Beta and White Wind without much difficulty and to get some of the original ones for Yuffie and Cloud that I missed altogether, like L4 Suicide however I’ve purposely not picked up any Mythril yet, as you can’t get anything with it until after Rocket Town and Aerith hasn’t learned Pulse of Life yet at any rate. Characters significantly levelled, it’s time to move on, I went into a forest opposite Gongaga and successfully manipulated a Touch Me in order to Learn Frog Song.

My first ever time playing FFVII and despite having a guide I still somehow managed to avoid Gongaga without meaning to, so on my second playthrough I made sure to stop off along the way and always do these days. Fighting Reno and Rude was very simple, I used a Fire3+all combo and a Beta on them to stop them pretty much right away. I decided on using attacks that would hit both for similar damage at the same time so they would be defeated together and I could aquire both the X-Potion and Fairy Tale weapon for Aerith.

I always love exploring Gongaga anytime I’m there and talking to everyone, there was nothing in the shops worth purchasing as there’s loads of new stuff in Cosmo Canyon. I did however purchase a Mystify and Time materia to add to my collection Aerith is still in my party at this point so I got the usual dialogue and chose the option “Poor Guy” when she talked about Zack instead.

Zack was definitely and intriguing character at this point mostly because he’s mentioned by Aerith and he too was in SOLDIER, I dunno if anyone else wondered but I always figured there was more to Zack than meets the eye during VII.

Materia that’s barely worth picking up, hmm well I like having at least one of each in my inventory, but I can honestly say that the summons you acquire early in the game become pretty redundant especially once you learn the level 3 spells, I’ve de-quipped them myself and the next one I’ll probably use will be Leviathan. A lot of the materia I do have though does end up not being used after Midgar essentially, so if there’s any duplicates I’d normally discard them I never really use Transform, Mystify or Gravity really, but I find most of the command materia in the game very useful.

Cosmo Canyon is one of my favourite towns in any FF game, there’s so much to do and explore in it and, you get a nice introduction to some new weapons, armour and materia. In terms of where I’d like to live in the FFVII world I love the Icicle Inn area, sure it’d be cold but it still seems like a nice place to live, plus it’s a pretty cool place to go exploring and snow boarding.

I purchased, 3 MP+ and HP+ materias for my characters. I don’t necessarily need them but they’ll come in handy later and for when I go to the Gold Saucer battle Arena later on. I also purchased a selected assortment of weapons and armour for my characters and re-equipped them, I now also finally have enough slots to equip my last All Materia I got on the Cargo Ship in Junon way back when, I’ve just never had enough slots as I was using Double Growth weapons mostly. I chose Aerith come with Cloud and Red XIII, I always do and at this point the fact her magic stat is doing well is always a bonus. I also exchanged all of Yuffie's materia and obviously gave it to Red XIII.

In the Gi Cave I really didn’t have any problems, I even in the first part broke the rocks that cause you to get into battles. I never used to do that as during my first ever playthrough this place gave me a hell of a lot of trouble. I picked up every single treasure chest and really had no problems at all with the Stingers none of them even got a chance to use their Sting Bombs on me which was nice.

For Gi Nattak I decided to do the battle in a normal way rather than defeating him with one item, again no problems and very simple to beat, couple of level 3 spells and he was finished, I also picked up the Gravity materia on my way into the back of the cave. The scene that follows, I find very emotional and the music accompanying it just gives the whole feel to Red XIII and how he feels at that point.

So after a shuffle around of my Materia and Equipment, I decided to give the other Enemy Skill Materia to Aerith instead of Yuffie as her magic stat is higher. I made sure to equip Aerith with the Wizer staff as it has 4 slots and double growth so it's very useful for levelling materia again.

Spoiler: Character Stats

Cloud: Level 40
Butterfly Edge: Lightning, Poison, Ice+All
Silver Armlet: HP+, MP+, DeathBlow, *Enemy Skill
Accessory: Power Wrist

*Enemy Skills: Flame Thrower, Matra Magic, Laser, Big Guard, Frog Song, L4 Suicide, Beta, White Wind, Aqualung, Death Sentence

Limit Level 3: Complete

Aerith: Level 39
Wizer Staff: Heal, Lightning, HP+, MP+
Silver Armlet: Restore+All,*Enemy Skill, Fire
Accessory: Talisman

*Enemy Skills: Flame Thrower, Matra Magic, Laser, Big Guard, Frog Song, L4 Suicide, Beta, White Wind, Aqualung, Death Sentence

Limit Level 3: Planet Protector

Yuffie: Level 37
Pinwheel: Ice+All, HP+, MP+
Silver Armlet: Fire+All, Manipulate, Earth
Accessory: Protect Vest
Limit Level 3: Complete

Time Clocked: 21hrs27mins
Gil Remaining: 72472

 

[Fangu]

Chapter 10

What did you do in Nibelheim? You can visit the shops, talk to the clones, play the piano, visit the Shinra Mansion, etc. If you went to the mansion, what did you do there? Did you bother finding all the codes this time, or just look them up? And what was your strategy against the powerful Lost Number?

Lost Number was a little bit of a pain but not too bad. Big Guard and White Wind came in handy (I went back to Junon and got White Wind and Beta in between the chapters). Then just random blows.

How much of Mt. Nibel did you explore? There are a couple of nice items if you can be bothered to climb the spiral mountains, and there's also an Elemental materia and a pair of chests to find if you really want to go out of your way.

I picked up the stuff from both chests.

The area with the pipes has powerful Dragons, which you should be familiar with from the flashback, as well as the boss Materia Keeper, who can be tough if aren't overlevelled or if you don't know your strategy in advance. How did you get on there?

I skipped most of that room, I more or less went straight for Materia Keeper. I kept using Big Guard, healed and attacked with Limit Breaks, Ice and kept hitting him. Since I'm sorta over leveled I had no problems. I also learned Trine for 1 of my Enemy Skills materias.

What are your thoughts on the Cid/Shera scenes and their relationship? You can either answer based on only what you've seen at this part of the game, or with what you know from the rest of the game. Consider using spoiler tags if you decide to go for the latter.

Spoiler

For some strange reason I always presumed Shera died in the game. I have no idea where that comes from.

I think their relationship is amongst one of the most realistic ones in FF. To love a man like Cid you have to be able to tolerate his less pretty sides. Notice how Shera never comments on his nagging? She knows Cid probably needs to feel like the man of the house or something when they have guests. Fairly sure he makes it up to her when the guests are gone. So at first sight it might look like he's just bossing her around, but I think there's more to the relationship that what we see. Cid's just very bitter. His whole life was about just the one thing, and then that was taken away from him, and he's probably going through some sort of mid life crisis as well.

How did the fight against Palmer go? Feel free to share your characters, levels and set-ups for the fight here.

He was way too easy. I'm almost dissapointed

I'll update with stats later.

 

[Flintlock]

Spoiler: Chapter 10 questions reminder

• What did you do in Nibelheim? You can visit the shops, talk to the clones, play the piano, visit the Shinra Mansion, etc. If you went to the mansion, what did you do there? Did you bother finding all the codes this time, or just look them up? And what was your strategy against the powerful Lost Number?
• How much of Mt. Nibel did you explore? There are a couple of nice items if you can be bothered to climb the spiral mountains, and there's also an Elemental materia and a pair of chests to find if you really want to go out of your way.
• The area with the pipes has powerful Dragons, which you should be familiar with from the flashback, as well as the boss Materia Keeper, who can be tough if aren't overlevelled or if you don't know your strategy in advance. How did you get on there? Tip: use the stairs before you go down any of the pipes, then climb down the bottom ladder until it unfolds. That will allow you to reach the top again if you want to go down different pipes.
• What are your thoughts on the Cid/Shera scenes and their relationship? You can either answer based on only what you've seen at this part of the game, or with what you know from the rest of the game. Consider using spoiler tags if you decide to go for the latter.
• How did the fight against Palmer go? Feel free to share your characters, levels and set-ups for the fight here.

I did everything I could in Nibelheim. In the Shinra Mansion, I went around finding the safe combination, as it's not that far out of the way when getting the treasure. Then I fought Lost Number with my level 27 Cloud. I was expecting it to be tough, and it was. I died the first time after the magic side was exposed, so on my second try I made sure to get the physical side. In the back row with Sadness and regular uses of Cure2, it wasn't too difficult. In the whole battle I used one Meteorain, one Aqualung and one Right Arm, with the rest of the damage coming from Deathblows. I then got Vincent, even though I'll never use him, the Destruct materia from Sephiroth, and the ???? Enemy Skill.

The "no escaping" part of this challenge made me spend a very long time in the mountains, as I wanted to get all the items there. I didn't die at all, but many of the groups of enemies there made for long battles. Dragons have 3500 HP, Kyuvilduns come in large groups and use the fairly powerful Lay Flat move every turn, and Twin Brains always open the battle with Stare Down, which causes paralysis. Materia Keeper felt easy by comparison. Poison, Choco-Mog and Deathblows made light work of him. I learnt Trine, too.

The first thing I think of with Shera is that it's amazing she survived. In the Rocket Town sequence, Cid aborts the launch, but the rocket's engines still ignite and it rises a little way off the ground. If the heat and the flames didn't kill her then, what part of the launch would have done? Anyway. I think both Cid and Shera are well thought-out characters. They're pretty much polar opposites in terms of personality - Cid is loud and brash, not always thinking things through in great detail, while Shera is meticulous and thoughtful - but there is something about them that makes them entirely believable as a couple.

Side note: the first time I saw or heard anything about Final Fantasy VII was when this trailer was included with an Official UK Playstation Magazine demo disc. The trailer starts with a clip from the rocket launch, which always made me think it would play a major part in the game. Even though that actual clip doesn't come until disc two, I remember feeling very pleased to reach Rocket Town the first time, for a combination of that reason and because of the difficulty Mt. Nibel had given me (I had ran out of Phoenix Downs and found it impossible to beat the Dragons of Materia Keeper).

Even though I only had one character to use, the Palmer fight was easier than ever before. That's all thanks to the most useful piece of equipment in this challenge: the Yoshiyuki. If one ally is knocked out, it deals double damage, and if both are, it deals triple damage. In case anyone doesn't know, you can get it by talking to the old man in front of the item shop in Rocket Town twice and agreeing to look at the rocket with him. If I remember rightly, I opened the battle against Palmer with a Deathblow, which missed. Then, before I could do anything else, Cloud hit him with a critical counter attack for an incredible 2931 damage Prior to that battle I had been dealing about 350 damage per attack, so it was quite a big improvement. Palmer only has 6000 HP, so that one counter removed pretty much half of it straight away, and I just finished him off with a few more regular attacks.

Here was my set-up:

Cloud
Level 32
Limit level 3 (Meteorain, Finishing Touch)
Yoshiyuki (Deathblow, Enemy Skill)
Gold Armlet (Restore, HP Plus, Counter Attack, Long Range)
Power Wrist

Tifa and Red XIII were in the party too, but knocked out. Now that I've got Cid, I'll be switching him for Red XIII to keep him and Tifa at low levels, so I won't gain any advantage later when they become the party leaders.

 

[Sprites]

Two in one day, just finished Chapter 10


I didn’t do too much in Nibelheim Town and spent most of the time in the mansion but I did explore all the houses and get all the items from the Clones. One of the sad things in the town is realising how far Hojo’s experiments go. In one of the houses you encounter two very small looking clones and it’s the realisation that these are the two children who come up to Cloud in the flashback and say stuff like “SOLDIER” and “Salsa”, you can tell from the way one says “Reunion” and the other mimics it with “……ion” like in the flashback. It’s sad because you realise that they obviously survived but were captured and Hojo didn’t care who he experimented on.

I pretty much always remember the Code for the safe without needing to go through the mini puzzle so the first thing I did was grab the items available in the mansion and then went straight to the safe. I was left with Lost Number’s Magic Form in the end but there was no trouble as my characters are well levelled at this point.

I gave up on my first ever FFVII game here due to being extremely low levelled (I remember it very well) and due to the guide I had and being young I assumed it was a compulsory battle. It wasn’t until about a year and a half later after having just completed FFVIII I decided to have another go at it. Obviously I picked up the Odin materia, picked up Vincent and encountered Sephiroth in the basement, one of my favourite things about the basement is the little hints about what happened to Cloud and Zack here only you don’t realise until later what it was referring to.

The Nibel Mountains: One of the things that I’m aware of here is how much stronger the enemies seem and how much better the EXP is if you’re low levelled. The Rune blade is again a very good weapon as it’s stronger and of course had double growth so levelling up materia was pretty quick and easy. I grabbed all items available and throughout the course of the battles I had 2 All materia level ups and the Restore materia reach Regen. One of the things that’s always surprised me however is the fact there’s no dialogue around the reactor which I always thought there should have been something considering it’s significance.

Materia Keeper: I was very lucky to start this battle off with three limits ready so after casting Big Guard with Cloud I used Planet Protector then used Doom Of the Living with Yuffie to get a head start on physically attacking, after a deathblow from Cloud he used Trine and I finished him off with a Meteorain, nothing to it. I also Gained pulse of Life for Aerith after this battle so she’s ready for her Level 4 Limit. Picked up the Counter materia and equipped Aerith with the Jem Ring.

Rocket town: I found a little piece of dialogue that I didn’t know existed in the inn here. If you go behind the counter of the inn, the person there will ask you to move away and Cloud will enquire if Sephiroth has stayed there, not overly interesting but it’s amazing how you still find things even now. Bought an Exit and Barrier materia, I won’t really need the Barrier materia, considering I have Big Guard but I might level it later in order to use Reflect and Exit is there purely to be in the inventory. I did of course talk to the old man in order to get Yoshiyuki, which I won’t use now but will come in handy for the next chapter.

Cid’s theme is one of my favourite FFVII music pieces In terms of Cid and Shera’s relationship, I couldn’t understand why the two of them were together in the beginning because of how horrible he was to her but it’s nice to see the turnaround later on in the game. As a character I really like Shera and think her quiet, thoughtful personality matches well with the ever swearing Cid so I guess I really like that about them as a couple.

Favourite line from Cid: “Shut up! Sit your ass down in that chair and drink your goddamn TEA!” Just cracks me up everytime and “Hold onto your drawers and don’t piss in ‘em!” Classy

Palmer Battle: Absolutely no trouble, for me it’s an amusing battle because Palmer is pretty much an idiot, in fact he’s much easier than some of the other battles previously and it makes for a nice break. Couple of level three spells and he was gone though I must admit my favourite bit about this battle is when he ducks the plane wing at the end but then proceeds to get hit by a Shinra Truck, priceless

I love if you have Yuffie in your party when the Tiny Bronco crashes she suggests going west, to Wutai Just before saving I got into a fight along the beach of the Wutai area, fought an Adamantaimai and used Manipulate on it to learn Death Force for Cloud and Aerith’s Enemy Skills and that’s that.

Spoiler: Character Stats

Cloud: Level 43
Rune Blade: Lightning, Ice, HP+, MP+
Gold Armlet: Poison+ALL, Deathblow, *Enemy Skill
Accessory: Power Wrist

*Enemy Skills: Frog Song, L4 Suicide, White Wind, Big Guard, Death Force, Flame Thrower, Laser, Matra Magic, Beta, Aqualung, Trine, ????, Death Sentence.

Limit Level 3: Complete

Aerith: Level 42
Wizer Staff: Heal, Lightning, HP+, MP+
Gold Armlet: Restore+ALL, *Enemy Skill, Fire
Accessory: Jem Ring

*Enemy Skills: Frog Song, L4 Suicide, White Wind, Big Guard, Death Force, Flame Thrower, Laser, Matra Magic, Beta, Aqualung, Trine, ????, Death Sentence.

Limit Level 3: Complete

Yuffie: Level 40
Pinwheel: Ice+All, HP+, MP+
Gold Armlet: Fire+All, Manipulate, Earth
Accessory: Protect Vest
Limit Level 3: Complete

Time Clocked: 22hrs54mins
Gil Remaining: 45770

 

[Flintlock]

one of my favourite things about the basement is the little hints about what happened to Cloud and Zack here only you don’t realise until later what it was referring to.

Yeah, I mentioned that on Skype last night.

Spoiler: Don't read this if you haven't played through disc two yet

Those books in the basement library contain a big clue that things are not what they seem with Cloud. They mention that there were two subjects in the experiments, A and B. A was in SOLDIER but B was just a "regular". A was shot dead while B escaped. Cloud couldn't have been A, as he is still alive, so he must have been B and therefore not in SOLDIER!

 

[Sprites]

Spoiler

Yeah plus the tanks they were in also have their first letter initials so you can tell who was in what one, they're referred to as CodeZ and CodeC, I'm pretty sure the initial on Cloud's would change if you renamed him

 

[Flintlock]

Spoiler

Yeah plus the tanks they were in also have their first letter initials so you can tell who was in what one, they're referred to as CodeZ and CodeC, I'm pretty sure the initial on Cloud's would change if you renamed him

Hmm, I wonder if it would. Not much use if you name Cloud Zebedee, then it'd be CodeZ and CodeZ

 

[Flintlock]

Chapter 11: I still don't know what the hell's goin' on
7th - 11th May 2012
Skype and stream (provisional): Wednesday the 9th of May, 19:00 UTC.

The Tiny Bronco is busted, but it still works as a makeshift boat for rivers and shallow waters. That opens up some new exploration possibilities for us. The western continent contains the town of Wutai, Yuffie's home. She succeeds in making it a memorable visit for the party, who also bump into the Turks, but for once not as enemies. After things return to normal, it's time to go looking for the Temple of the Ancients, and before that, the Keystone, which is required to enter it. A blacksmith in the Gongaga area points us in the right direction, but the journey is interrupted by fireworks and a spy in our midst.

Our target is outside the Temple of the Ancients, after visiting the Gold Saucer. Picture below.

Here are some of the optional things you might want to do with the Tiny Bronco:

• Learn the Magic Hammer and Death Force enemy skills in Wutai. Magic Hammer is used by Razor Weeds (grassy areas), and Death Force is used by Adamantaimais (beach areas), both of which you must manipulate.
• Do the Wutai sidequest. If you don't have Yuffie in your party, get her from a forest near Rocket Town, where she has a near-100% encounter rate. Then go to the western continent and head north, up the slope. You'll trigger a cut-scene to initiate the sidequest. It might seem irritating, but aside from one boss battle, it's really not too difficult. In fact, I've always found it to be a lot of fun, and a nice change. You'll get a lot of good items and gil along the way (or when it's done), and you'll open up the...
• ...Pagoda sidequest. You can do it now, but you might want to at least leave the fifth and final boss fight until after you've got the Highwind, so that you can learn Trine on all four Enemy Skill materias. There is nowhere else to get it in the game at that point, as the only other enemies that know it are Materia Keeper (boss) and Stilva (enemy in a one-time location). You might find the last boss too difficult now anyway, unless you know what's coming and are prepared accordingly. The other four can all be problematic if you haven't faced them before, but they are easily beatable with an normally levelled Yuffie.
• Get Kjata, a powerful but annoying summon. You will be visiting the area where you can pick it up - the Sleeping Forest, beyond Bone Village on the northern continent - in the course of the story very soon, but if you want to grab it now, you can.
• Speaking of Bone Village, you can dig up some items there. Not the Lunar Harp, which you'll be needing later, but you can get a Mop, for example, which would make a fine weapon for Cid in the Wutai sidequest.
• Level up in the Mideel area. If you take the Tiny Bronco to the north of the Temple of the Ancients, go around it and then head south when you can, you'll eventually be able to access the southern continent. You can't visit any locations there yet, but you can fight some fairly powerful monsters like Head Hunters, who are good for levelling up and learning new limit breaks.
• Visit the blacksmith to the east of Gongaga. When you get there, you'll have a conversation about the Keystone. Afterwards, you can talk to him again and he'll ask you for Mythril. If you got some from the sleeping man in the cave on the first continent (see chapter 9 for details), you can exchange it for the contents of either a big box or a little box. The big one contains a Gold Armlet - nothing special, considering you have been able to buy them since visiting Rocket Town and steal them since visiting Mt. Nibel - while the small one contains Great Gospel, Aeris's final limit break. If you want to teach it to her, now is the time.
• Fight another Fort Condor battle, if you want to.
• Catch up on anything you missed in the earlier parts of the game. If Lost Number was too difficult for you before, you might want to try again now so you can get Vincent to join your party. He can be pretty useful to have with you in Wutai. Or perhaps there are some Enemy Skills you skipped getting earlier.
• Visit the Gold Saucer, not just for the compulsory story (which is triggered by looking at the Keystone in Dio's gallery), but for everything there. There is a prize in the Speed Square which isn't available for much longer, and although you can still get them a little bit later, now is the most convenient time. You need over 5000 points to get it. Now is the first opportunity to get Omnislash, Cloud's final limit break, from the Battle Square, as well. It will be much easier to get it later - you'll need fewer points, and you'll also have access to a very handy accessory - but if you're already on his third limit level, you might want to get it now.

Questions:

• How many of the above things did you do?
• What did you make of Wutai - the town itself, and everything that happens there? There's a fairly well-known theory that Wutai and Shinra mirror Japan and the USA from the real world. How accurate would you say that is?
• How did you fare against Rapps, and what did you do to win the battle?
• How many of the rounds did you survive in the compulsory Battle Square fight? It doesn't matter if you die there, so you might as try to go as far as possible. After that, who did you date, and how did it all go?
• Cait Sith is my least favourite character of the main FFVII cast. What do you think of him, and who is your worst character and why?

 

[Sprites]

I won't be available to skype for the next few days, my chappie probs won't be up until Thursday night at some point, but I'll probs make a start now on it so I can get things ready for Thursday.

 

[Lex]

I'll be in an exam while the Skype chat is happening tomorrow

 

[Fangu]

I'd say the two last posts are valid reasons to postpone
Except Sprites can't do it on Thursday

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Chapter 8

• 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 got all the items. I did not stick around to learn limit breaks... I saved that for the next chapter.

• 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?

I didn't do too much. In real life I suck at arcade games. Saved these for the next chapter as well 'cause I had no money at the time.

• 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 got lost in the desert on purpose and made sure to fight all the enemies you find. I also got the Laser and Matra Magic E. Skills.

• 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?

Okay. The right arms I'd stolen earlier were helpful.

• What did you make of the Chocobo race? Did you win first time? And did you "cheat"?

It's the craziest "legal" way to break out of prison I've seen. And yes, I did cheat... in several different ways. Not only did I press R1 and R2 at the same time, I assigned them to the same key on my keyboard (emulating a PS on my laptop)!

The whole Corel/North Corel/Gold Saucer/Corel Prison situation is one of my biggest wtf! moments of the game. Nothing about it make sense design-wise. If you compare North Corel's location to Corel's location in the flashback, it turns out North Corel is actually south of Corel. The only way to get into Gold Saucer is to go through Norht Corel. That really doesn't make much sense as Shin-Ra probably doesn't want anyone to know what happened to Corel. And then there's Corel Prison where Shin-Ra supposedly dumps their lawbreakers. Only when you get there it turns out that everyone is waiting in line to win a chocobo race to get out of jail. I would really like to know what Shin-Ra thinks about all this... it seems really out of character for them.

 

[Flintlock]

I'd say the two last posts are valid reasons to postpone
Except Sprites can't do it on Thursday

When should we do it, then? I'm free tomorrow afternoon and evening, Thursday evening, Friday morning and evening.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Chapter 9

Did all this... only I had gotten Beta on the first E. Skill materia the first time I went through the marsh. I think the E. Skill materia is the most useful materia in the game.

• 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!

This is where I got everyone's Limit Breaks (up to 3-2) and got most of my magic materia up to the next-to-last star. I also Mastered an All and sold it. By the time I finished here, Cloud was at Lv. 45 and everyone else was around Lv. 40. After that it was off to Costa del Sol (I want my villa!) and Gold Saucer.

Okay, I cheated a lot in Gold Saucer with my emulator (save states). Particularly when it came to betting on the chocobo races, and winning Speed Square and the motorcycle mini-game. It didn't really make that much of a difference in Battle Square. Actually, using save states doesn't really make that much of a difference in game play, except where things like points matter. In Battle Square I walked out with 3 Championship belts and 3 Speed Plus materia. I tend to be a speed over strength person.

• How many of the things I listed above did you do with the Buggy, and how did they go?

See above.

• 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 didn't get too much in Gongaga; most of my stuff was better then theirs. I had Tifa in my party when I went to Zack's parent's house. My response to her was "Okay, something's up with her."

• 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?

When Scarlet says "junky materia", I'm thinking it's somehting that can't do anything. Titan at least does something and is more predictable then Kjata. Just don't use it against flying monsters. Also, you need Titan for the Master Summon.

• 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?

While I wouldn't want to live there, Cosmo Canyon is one of my favorite video game locations. What I like about it is how well it strikes the balance between idealism and practicality. The idealism is in the anti-mako reactor sentiments the people have and the practicality is in the fact that there are armed guards and they have weapon and materia shops. It's even wired for electricity! This gives Cosmo Canyon the feeling of being steeped in tradition, but also aware of the outside world. Even the music is this way; it starts out sounding like tribal music only for an electric guitar to take up the melody midway.

• 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?

Got all the items and E. Skills. Restorative magic works wonders and I had done enough Fort Condor battles to have X-Potions to spare!

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Chapter 10

• What did you do in Nibelheim? You can visit the shops, talk to the clones, play the piano, visit the Shinra Mansion, etc. If you went to the mansion, what did you do there? Did you bother finding all the codes this time, or just look them up? And what was your strategy against the powerful Lost Number?

Did everything. It's funny that after you play the Main Theme, Cloud says he's heard it somewhere. Also disturbing is how the clones give Cloud Sources. I actually did bother finding the codes for the safe. It took me forever to find some Jerseys to learn the E. Skill ???? off of. I think I leveled my entire team up 2 levels and filled up their limit breaks. One of the funnier things to see in the mansion was that the books in the bookcase make a "\/||" shape in several places. Once I got Vincent, I put him in my party so my party now is: Cloud, Tifa, Vincent.

• How much of Mt. Nibel did you explore? There are a couple of nice items if you can be bothered to climb the spiral mountains, and there's also an Elemental materia and a pair of chests to find if you really want to go out of your way.

Explored everything. I still wonder why it's called the Nibel mountains when all the mountains look like some weird fossilized forest. I left most of the KOing to Vincent so he'd get to Hellmasker faster (as well as start accumulating kills for Death Penalty) so by the time I got to Rocket Town he was at Hellmasker.

• The area with the pipes has powerful Dragons, which you should be familiar with from the flashback, as well as the boss Materia Keeper, who can be tough if aren't overlevelled or if you don't know your strategy in advance. How did you get on there? Tip: use the stairs before you go down any of the pipes, then climb down the bottom ladder until it unfolds. That will allow you to reach the top again if you want to go down different pipes.

I'm way over-leveled at this point. Materia Keeper, . Next time I play through FFVII I want to do the initial equip challenge (no changing a characters initial weapon and armor).

• What are your thoughts on the Cid/Shera scenes and their relationship? You can either answer based on only what you've seen at this part of the game, or with what you know from the rest of the game. Consider using spoiler tags if you decide to go for the latter.

If this was all we saw of them, I would think, "Why is she staying with this guy?" With all the other info we know,

Spoiler

I think Shera knows that Cid is really mad at Shin-Ra, but there's no way for him to take it out on them.

• How did the fight against Palmer go? Feel free to share your characters, levels and set-ups for the fight here.

Is this guy even a boss? I think I cast Beta 2-3 times and that was it.

Party Set-Up:

Cloud Lv. 52
Rune Blade: Heal Exit Gravity Barrier
Gold Armlet: Elemental=Ice Speed Plus Poison
Champion Belt

Tifa Lv. 48
Powersoul: Titan Odin Long Range MP Plus
Gold Armlet: Elemental=Lightning Speed Plus Enemy Skill
Champion Belt

Vincent Lv. 49
Sniper CR: Added Effect=Time HP Plus Pre-Emptive
Gold Armlet: Counter Attack Deathblow Speed Plus Enemy Skill
Champion Belt

 

[Lex]

I'm down with either Thursday or Friday. My last exam is on Friday so that's obviously preferable. Or even better... Saturday, for double chapter madness. If people are available tomorrow, or even tonight, I'll do it anyway. I won't get home tonight until around 9-10pm my time though, that's the only limitation. I would like to do it tonight aswell.

Basically what I'm saying is, pick a night and I'll be there. Some nights are just better than others.

EDIT: My exam timetable this week is as follows (just to explain my position)

Wednesday: Reproduction & Development, 18:30 - 20:30 (it's also my dad's birthday)
Thursday: Cells & Tissues in Health & Disease, 14:00 - 16:00
Friday: Microbiology, 09:00 - 11:30.

So any time after 22:00 tonight, any time after ~16:30 tomorrow, and any time after 12:00 on Friday.

 

[Flintlock]

Or even better... Saturday, for double chapter madness.

I'm not available on either Saturday or Sunday evening, I'm afraid. That's why I suggested we do a double chapter on Friday. I finish work at 20:00 my time, so the usual start of 22:00 would be good

 

[Lex]

Like I said, I'll do whatever.

 

[Sprites]

Not available tonight, available tomorrow evening, not available from Saturday to possibly for most of the following week

Sorry guys I've got a hell of a lot on at the moment I don't even know when I'll get my next chapters up but have fun anyways

 

[Fangu]

I think the decision fell on a double chapter on Friday, eh guys? My bf has some stuff he's doing Friday night so I'm gonna finish the chapters on Friday anyway

 

[Lex]

OK I'm definitely down for the double chapter on Friday. I'll be having a few drinks during the day post exams but I'll be home before it starts I'm sure.

 

[Kuroto]

I know I'm falling behind a little, but you just have to bear with it. ^^'

Spoiler: Chapter 10

What did you do in Nibelheim? You can visit the shops, talk to the clones, play the piano, visit the Shinra Mansion, etc. If you went to the mansion, what did you do there? Did you bother finding all the codes this time, or just look them up? And what was your strategy against the powerful Lost Number?

I think I visited all the houses and then went to Shinra Mansion. I didn't really understand the clues to the code so I didn't bother with it (but now I wish I had ;____; ). But as I didn't open the safe, I didn't fight Lost Number either (had to look that up). But I did get a new enemy skill.

How much of Mt. Nibel did you explore? There are a couple of nice items if you can be bothered to climb the spiral mountains, and there's also an Elemental materia and a pair of chests to find if you really want to go out of your way.

Quite a lot, because I was really confused about where to go. >.< I got the elemental and the counter materia. I also opened one chest.

The area with the pipes has powerful Dragons, which you should be familiar with from the flashback, as well as the boss Materia Keeper, who can be tough if aren't overlevelled or if you don't know your strategy in advance. How did you get on there? Tip: use the stairs before you go down any of the pipes, then climb down the bottom ladder until it unfolds. That will allow you to reach the top again if you want to go down different pipes.

I got on quite well with the Materia Keeper in the end (so this is the boss Flint had trouble with). I used Aeris's Seal Evil a few times, and that made the fight easier. But I must admit, it still wasn't an easy fight. It did take some time to finish.

Pipes? What pipes...

What are your thoughts on the Cid/Shera scenes and their relationship? You can either answer based on only what you've seen at this part of the game, or with what you know from the rest of the game.

Well there's two most stupid FF characters I've yet met. Really. Why is Shera suposed to be in debt for Cid for saving her life, when she herself said that she wouldn't mind dying? She's so pathetic. Cid can say what ever he wants and she does nothing about it. Not that she seemed to do anything before the rocket incident either.

And Cid. I had rather took that Materia Keeper on my party than him. I hate him. He swears all the time, he (in my opinion) takes advantage of Shera, and plaims her for something that actually was his own choise. I didn't want him in my team. WHY GOD, WHY?!!

How did the fight against "fat man" Palmer go? Feel free to share your characters, levels and set-ups for the fight here.

I expected it to be an easy fight, and so it was.

Spoiler: Character stats

Cloud 36
Rune Blade: Lightning, Counter Attack, Enemy skill and Deathblow.
Silver Armlet: All + Restore, Steal and Ramuh.

Barret 31
Heavy Vulcan: Barrier and Time
Silver Armlet: Elemental + Earth

Tifa 33
Tiger Fang: Fire and Ifrit
Silver Armlet: Enemy skill