Final Fantasy VII Community Playthrough

[Flintlock]

Chapter 19: A little kid, sick and trembling in the middle of this huge universe
17th - 22nd June 2012

After retrieving the huge materia from the bottom of the ocean, Cloud and his team overhear an order instructing Shinra crew to report to Junon airport, from where the last piece will be transported. Visiting the airport is actually optional, but if you do go there, you will see the Gelnika plane taking off for Rocket Town, which is the next place to visit. Upon arrival, it transpires that Shinra have commandeered the rocket and are planning to fire it into meteor. Cid is obviously less than happy about that, but he can't stop the rocket from taking off - with him and the others inside it. Many emotional scenes later, it's time to visit Cosmo Canyon again to get a wise old man's advice.

The target is after you have visited Cosmo Canyon to deliver the huge materia, before going back to the Forgotten Capital. Picture below. The next chapter will include more optional things which should be done before progressing to disc three, but if you want to start on them now, feel free.

Questions:

• The return to Rocket Town features a lot of compulsory battles, but only one of them (against Rude and the attack squad) is really anything unique. Did you have any trouble?
• How do you feel about the space scenes, specifically regarding Cid finally realising his dream and then Shera being proved right?
• There has been a Cid in every Final Fantasy game starting from II (and a Cid has been retroactively added to the original game as well). Of the ones you know, who is your favourite and least favourite, and how does VII's Cid rank?
• How many of the four huge materia did you manage to get? If you're not sure, you'll find out in Cosmo Canyon.
• Is the new world map music annoying you yet?
  Spoiler: Reminder

  [23:33:40] <PrinceLex> MUH MEEEE MAH MUUUUUUUUUUU
  [23:33:48] <PrinceLex> MUH MEEEE MAH MUUUUU MEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

[Sprites]

Chapter 18
I got the Guide Book but it was actually tricky enough because the Ghost Ship did a move I&#8217;d never seen before, mostly because by the time I get the Guide Book I&#8217;m getting 9999 attacks and it dies really quick. Anyway this move knocked both Cloud and Tifa out of battle and I was stuck with using morph with Yuffie incase it countered a normal attack to get it&#8217;s HP down more by throwing her out of the battle and her morph attack was doing feck all in terms of attacking so it took forever.

About Carry Armour, right see this is the thing I must have really good luck with it or something because I&#8217;ve never had any problems with it, even when I did my first play through where I got to fight him, I didn&#8217;t have any bother and I was much lower levelled then. It did pick up Tifa and Cloud but by then I&#8217;d already got a limit break for Tifa and Yuffie and used my summons so Yuffie was grand to handle it.

I fought the soldiers and won the mini-game right away just good luck with my torpedo attacks . I first of all decided after visiting Junon and watching the Gelnika take off to go back to Gold Saucer and collect my last missing Turtle&#8217;s paradise flyer then made a little trip to Wutai to get my prizes and visit the cave there now that I have the Leviathan Scales. After that it was a trip underwater to pick up my huge materia, Key to the Ancients, and visit Lucrecia.

The one thing I liked about DoC was how they expanded on Vincent and Lucrecia&#8217;s relationship. I always got a vibe from the original game that Lucrecia didn&#8217;t actually like Vincent and that when he&#8217;s obviously declaring how he feels about her she gives off a &#8220;Get away from me!&#8221; vibe. I liked how they gave an actual reason during DoC for why she was so reluctant to act on her feelings for Vincent. Vincent&#8217;s turk model for some reason looks so much bigger in the flashback than his normal character model, really long and a bit more disproportionate to the other characters, I dunno just strikes me as funny XD

The fight with Reno and Rude on the Gelnika was pretty easy, I used a few summons, couple of magic breaths and stole the Touph Ring and Ziedrich, I&#8217;m not equipping either just yet though but it&#8217;s nice to have them in my inventory. The Conformer I&#8217;m not equipping either because I still have quite a bit of materia I&#8217;d like to level with Yuffie and the Oritsuru is fine for attacks at the moment, I think it&#8217;s her second strongest weapon) anyway I did however equip the &#8220;Steal As Well&#8221; which I&#8217;ll refer to as SaW when putting on my character stats to Yuffie as the Oritsuru has a full slot range so it&#8217;s perfect for equipping extra materia for her. The battles in the Gelnika are hard enough going at the moment but I am eventually going to make full use of the conformer when equipped with morph abilities to grab plenty of Source items to get my characters stats up a bit more, I don&#8217;t however have room for Double Cut at the moment but I will soon enough.

I definitely won&#8217;t be fighting Emerald yet, but I&#8217;ll be ready much later on and hopefully for the first time I&#8217;ll beat it. I&#8217;m also inclined to believe that the big crater on the bottom of the sea was left by Sapphire Weapon because of the closeness to Junon and because it&#8217;s one of the spots that Emerald seems to stall at sometimes, just made a quick trip to Kalm at the end to grab the Underwater materia for later.

In terms of how my materia is coming on, Ultima finally gained a level so now I can physically use it, Deathblow and Manipulate are both almost mastered, Contain reached the Break spell and a few Alls levelled up again. Not too much has changed in the layout of my characters except for a few equipment and armour changes and a few materia add-ons for Yuffie. There are still a few things for me to do and mostly in the next chapter I think I&#8217;ll start concentrating on chocobo breeding and getting the Key to Sector 5 to do some unfinished business.

Spoiler: Character Stats

Cloud: Level 61
Heaven&#8217;s Cloud: Hp+, MP+, *Enemy Skill, Luck+, Neo Bahamut, Deathblow
Escort Guard: Ultima, Comet, Lightning+All, Ice+All
Accessory: Ribbon

*Enemy Skills: Frog Song, L4 Suicide, Magic Hammer, White Wind, Big Guard, Death Force, Flame Thrower, Laser, Matra Magic, Bad Breath, Aqualung, Beta, Trine, Magic Breath, Goblin Punch, Death Sentence,

Limit Level 4: Omnislash

Tifa: Level 56
Crystal Glove: Restore+All, HP+, MP+ *Enemy Skill, Magic+
Dragon Armlet: Lightning+All, Heal+All, Fire, Alexander
Accessory: Ribbon

*Enemy Skills: Frog Song, L4 Suicide, Magic Hammer, White Wind, Big Guard, Death Force, Flame Thrower, Laser, Matra Magic, Bad Breath, Aqualung, Beta, Trine, Magic Breath, Goblin Punch, Death Sentence,

Limit Level 3: Dolphin Blow

Yuffie: Level 60
Oritsuru: Destruct+All, Hp+, MP+, *Enemy Skill, Fire, Manipulate, Morph
Dragon Armlet: Contain+Quadra, Ice+All, *Enemy Skill, Hades+SaW
Accessory: Peace Ring

*Enemy Skills: Frog Song, L4 Suicide, Magic Hammer, White Wind, Big Guard, Death Force, Flame Thrower, Matra Magic, Bad Breath, Aqualung, Beta, Trine, Magic Breath, Goblin Punch, Death Sentence

Limit Level 4: All Creation

Time Clocked: 39hrs39mins
Gil remaining: 120036

 

[Sprites]

Right guys I'm proposing we get back into the swing of things and arrange a skype playthrough and chat this week

 

[Flintlock]

Yes. I'm planning to post the next chapter later tonight, after the football finishes.

 

[Flintlock]

Chapter 20: Hope may be inside
24th - 30th June 2012

First things first: there are some sidequests you should do, or at least start, on disc two. Once you've placed the Key to the Ancients in the music box in the Forgotten Capital and returned to the world map, Diamond Weapon will appear, and after you have subsequently been to the Northern Crater again, you won't be able to fly over Midgar without continuing the story. So it's probably best to do them now, before you visit the Forgotten Capital. Here are some sidequests you should start now, if you haven't already (please let me know if I've made any glaring omissions):

Visit the sunken Gelnika, at least to fight Reno and Rude. You can steal a Touph Ring and Ziedrich from them respectively - they're very handy pieces of equipment. If you find the regular enemies there too tough, you can come back to explore later, but the fight can only be done before you visit Midgar again. If you decide to explore now, however, you can pick up Cid's final limit break and Yuffie's ultimate weapon, amongst other things. Yuffie's weapon is great for morphing enemies, and if you decide to do that in the Gelnika, you'll be rewarded with sources to boost your characters' stats.

While you're in the submarine, visit Lucretia's cave behind the waterfall. If you came here earlier, you'll now be able to get Vincent's ultimate weapon and limit break. If not, you'll have to return after fighting ten random battles. You can come back on disc three if you don't want to fight them now.

You can also get the Key to the Ancients before you're supposed to know you need it. It's underwater, in a place "even sunlight can't reach". If it's your first time playing and you don't want to jump ahead in the story, you'll be told when you need to go look for it. It's just easier to do it now.

If you didn't do the Wutai sidequest earlier, now is your last chance. You can still visit the town later and climb the Pagoda to get Yuffie's final limit break, but you'll miss out on the story. You'll also forego the chance to skip a battle with the Turks in Midgar (not that you should skip it, because they carry more great items). You should have got the Leviathan Scales from the Underwater Reactor, which you can now use to put out the fires in the Da-chao caverns and get a couple of new items.

If you visit Bone Village, choose to search for normal treasure and then find an item in spot 6 on this map, you can find the Key to Sector 5, which will allow you to return to Midgar by land, rather than by air, as you will do shortly. That will allow you to get Tifa's ultimate weapon, crap though it is. You can also get her final limit break from her piano in Nibelheim by playing the

Spoiler: main theme

X, Square, Triangle, R1+Triangle, R1+Square, X, Square, Triangle, R1+X, O, X, Square, X

.

With the Gold Saucer open once again, you can start properly raising Chocobos. Most of you probably know which kinds you need to breed them into different colours, but if you don't, look it up on GameFAQs or have patience with Chocobo Sage and he will eventually remember the required information. It's a bit too long for me to bother explaining here. It's time-consuming and expensive (at least for now; on disc three you can use the W-item glitch if you want to), but the rewards are great.

Once you're satisfied, head back to the Forgotten Capital, put the key in the music box, and then return to the world map. Diamond Weapon will appear, and you'll have to fight him. Next, fly over the Northern Crater and then head back to Midgar. That is the point of no return for this disc. The target is at the end of it - picture below.

Questions: (provided by Prince Lex - thanks!)

• What was your first thought when Bugenhagen asked to go to the Ancient City, and then when you found the Key to the Ancients?
  
• What did you think of the plot developments leading up to the return to Midgar, and of the pre-Midgar re-entry sequence itself?
  
• Since now almost all sidequests are open to you, are you planning on completing anything before returning to Midgar? (Chocobo breeding, materia caves, Key to Sector 5, Sneak Glove from weapon seller in Sector 6 (it's expensive!), various ultimate weapons and limit breaks).
  
• Did you collect all the items in Midgar? The underground section can be challenging to navigate for a first timer, and a lot of the items are missable (Barret and Cait's ultimate weapons for example). Did you return to Shinra HQ and collect the items available there?
  
• The return to Midgar features a gauntlet of boss fights and more-difficult-than-normal average encounters within the Underground itself. How did you do against Diamond WEAPON, The Turks (if you fought them), Proud Clod, and Hojo's 3 creepy forms?
  
• What did you think about the revelation that Hojo is
  Spoiler

  Sephiroth's father?

 

[Lex]

Flint, I think you mean "end of disc two" . Looking forward to skyping with you all again sometime soon.

 

[Kuroto]

I'm back! Just nine chapters behind schedule... Oops...

Spoiler: Chapter 11

How many of the above things did you do?

I did a lot. I got the new enemy skills, did the Wutai and most of the pagoda sidequest, and visited the blacksmith (for whitch I had to go get the Mithrill) and also I got Vincent now!

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?

I quite liked the place. I wouldn't say it's my favourite though. Well, I can see how people can make that kind of theories of the two places, but then again, I wouldn't say that modern Japan is much more further from resembling Shinra than USA.

How did you fare against Rapps, and what did you do to win the battle?

I have no idea how I did it. ^^' But I don't remember it being really hard to beat. I just did what I had to do.

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?

All of them! 8D I was prepared to fight one more fight when it stopped. It's unfair that you don't get any experience points from that though. It was really hard too.

I had a date with Aeris. And it was boring. :/ Or maybe I had too big expectations for it. The play was interesting though. I decided to kiss the monster.

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?

Well, in the light of what just happened in the game I do not like him. But his only my second least favourite. Because I still hate Cid. Hate him. I HATE HIM. And that's why I don't use him at all. Not that I used Cait Sith much more anyway. x)

I will really try to catch up with you guys this week. I'm a bit sad that I didn't get to do most of the playtrhrough the same time with all of you. I've just been really busy.

 

[Flintlock]

When shall we Skype then, guys? I'm available on Thursday night

 

[Fangu]

Okay so I need to do chapter 18 and 19, haven't done them yet
I'm available Thursday

Also I didn't notice this before

Is the new world map music annoying you yet?

Spoiler: Reminder

[23:33:40] <PrinceLex> MUH MEEEE MAH MUUUUUUUUUUU
[23:33:48] <PrinceLex> MUH MEEEE MAH MUUUUU MEEEEEEEEEEEE

dying

 

[Sprites]

I'm available Thursday but only after 10pm

 

[Flintlock]

I can stay up pretty late for a change, as I don't have work until 2 PM the following day. We might start before you get online, Sprites, but hopefully we'll still all be around when you eventually sign on

 

[Sprites]

No that's cool you guys can go on ahead and I can catch up, it's just my turn to do the late night shifts in work

 

[Kuroto]

Time for more chapters!

Spoiler: Chapter 12

Can you get through the maze by memory, or do you find it a difficult place to navigate? Did you get all the items there?

I did find it pretty difficult, but next time I could probably do it by memory. I did get all the items.

How did you get on in the other rooms, like the rolling rocks, the clock, and chasing the Ancient? In the clock room did you go straight to door VI or scout the others first? Could you be bothered to let the second hand of the clock knock you down to get the Nail Bat, or did you not know about such a possibility?

I looked up nearly all the rooms, got everything there was to get and had one battle too. I got the Nail Bat too, but just because Flint told me about it. ^^
Flint also had to tell me how to catch the Ancient, whicth could have taken a long time, but I guess I was lucky.

This chapter contains a difficult boss and a very difficult boss, though of course, there are strategies to make them easier. What were your set-ups and plans for Red Dragon and Demon's Gate, and how did your battles against them play out?

You mean an easy boss and a bit more challenging one. The first one wasn't much more difficult than a normal battle (it didn't take much longer than that) but the other one was more tricky. But I hadn't really made any special set-ups for them, I've just had some random materia on.

What did you make of everything that happens, story-wise, in this chapter? Specifically, the scenes from the Mural Room until Cloud wakes up in Gongaga.

As a character Caith Sith is really unnecessary. He had no other purpose than to be the spy and to sacrifice himself. Anyway the story was a bit confusing I think. Or it must have been, as I don't really remember much of it, even I just played it. ^^' But I'm sure it'll get clearer later in the game.

One thing I was thinking while I was playing was that Sephiroth must be fed up with everyone asking "What are you going to do?" and "How are you going to do that?". x)

When you leave Gongaga, you have the original line-up of Cloud, Barret and Tifa back in your party. Do you have a trio of characters you prefer to use over the others, and if so, why?

I don't think I have any special group that I would prefere. My favourite characters to use are Tifa, Aeris, Red XIII and Vincent, so I pretty much just change between them. First I tried to use all the characters equally, but I've given that up, since the others level up even if you don't use them.

Spoiler: Chapter 13

Did you only bother searching for the Lunar Harp in Bone Village, or did you get any other items? If so, what where they, and how long did it take you?

I only looked for the Lunar Harp really. But I did get some potions while doing it.

Did you have any trouble with Jenova LIFE? It's impossible to lose if you have the Water Ring equipped, but of course, you might not know that if it's your first playthrough...

I'm not really sure if I had it equipped or not... ^^' Actually I think I didn't. First I thought that I wouldn't survive, because the characters seemed to lose so much HP after an attack, but in the end I did. And I guess it didn't even take that long, when I realized (or Flint told me *cough*) to just use the physical attacks. I'm just hooked on materia magic.

What did you make of the events of this chapter? It contains one of the most famous and memorable moments in the whole game, and probably the whole Final Fantasy series. Share your thoughts on it in as much detail as you like. I'm only asking three questions for this chapter rather than the usual five because this one demands a little more detail.

When Aeris died I felt a bit annoyed. Annoyed because it had been spoiled for me. So I was expecting it. And maybe I would have wanted it to be more dramatic. Not that it wasn't already, but I just felt that she just died. I know many probably like the scene for being so simple, and for that it didn't have that "Cloud, save the planet! For me..." kind of speech. Come on! If I would be pierced by a sword, I'd definitely make some noise. But, I don't know. I feel sad that it wasn't a surprise for me, so I felt kind of detached from it.

I also have to say that I've been spoiled about the ending of FFX (I think, so please I don't want to know more about it!) too, but I think I'm still going to cry when I see it. I didn't cry when Aeris died, and I usually cry from the smallest of things. I don't know if it's also because the game is quite old, with poor graphics and no voice acting. Or because the story is confusing me, or that some characters are... I feel bad when all you are probably high in nostalgia while playing this and a newbie like me comes here to say things like this. ^^'

And I still like Sephiroth. I've forgiven him. Aeris would too.

I know my answers aren't the best, but I'm really just trying to be quick about it, so I can get forward and catch up. 7 more chapters to go! ^^'

 

[Lex]

^^^ It's so cool to have the perspective of someone who hasn't played the game before.

It's currently 7am and I can't sleep (because I haven't yet due to doing site work/ playing Uncharted with Fangu all night) so I've decided, for the sake of consistency, to post my chapter updates for the last few chapters.

This involves going through the thread and finding my last chapter update posts (groan). I loathe doing these. I should take a leaf out of Sprites's book and note things down while I'm playing...

I've just realised, this is becoming a habit. The last update I posted was for chapter 15. I haven't done 19 yet (saving it for later while Skyping with you lovely people) so that means I'm doing 3 chapter updates. Which is what I've done almost consistently since the beginning. Strange. I may be rambling because my mind and body should not be functional. I believe it's the sugar talking.

Anyway:

Spoiler: Chapter 16

Apart from Hundred and Heli Gunner, Junon is the first time in the game that you have to fight without Cloud in your party. It can feel pretty tough if you haven't been levelling Barret, Cait Sith and Yuffie (if you got her in the first place). How did you manage? More generally, if VII was one of the Final Fantasies that lets you switch the party leader out of the battle party, would you still use Cloud a lot?

Managed fine, although I totally forgot to give materia to both Cloud and Barret before carrying on with the battles, so it was slightly more cumbersome than it needed to be. I hate Cait’s attack animation for some reason, so I never like doing this section. Couple that with the fact that I generally never use Cait or Barret in a normal playthrough, and you’ve got another reason I hate this section. It’s a relief to get Yuffie, but there aren’t many more encounters after that point.

I actually once fiddled with removing Cloud from the party using a save editor. This has limited success, because paths aren’t programmed for every single character in the game. Adding paths using a program usually results in creepy shit happening, such as Jessie appearing where your main character should be. However, no matter what party you pick, the battles work fine. And having at least Cid or Tifa generally stops it from being game breaking. One of the places where you can have ANY party you want is Cosmo Canyon, because they all have that scene by the fire so they have paths in the first screen. If you go into the inn, a character won’t appear and you’ll be stuck.

I would love to not have to use Cloud. I like using Cloud, I just don’t like it when you’re levelling later and he’s disproportionately higher than the rest of them. Then there’s the awkwardness with the fact that once you get him to Level 99, you’re basically wasting EXP on that character slot.

You get access to the Highwind in this chapter. Obtaining an airship is an important moment in all Final Fantasy games, for the freedom it gives you and the sidequests it opens up (though VII has comparatively few sidequests available at this stage). How do you think the Highwind compares to other airships from across the series, and what did you get up to with it at this stage? For example: there are some new items to pick up at various places around the world, and many shops have new items, while this is also your first opportunity to raise Chocobos. You can also get the fourth Enemy Skill materia now and, by utilising a glitch, you can get the Quadra Magic materia without having to breed a blue Chocobo.

I really like the Highwind, because it’s the fastest airship of the PSX era. Or the world is smaller, so it feels like it’s faster. Stylistically, the Ragnarok or Invincible from 8 or 9 is probably my favourite. Can’t choose between the two. But I prefer the Highwind for it’s speed.

I picked up the Full Cure materia and grabbed the enemy skill. I also spoke to the Chocobo Sage. I didn’t use the Quadra Magic glitch, because I never use that materia anyway. Whether or not I bother to breed chocobos later remains to be seen.

Mideel has a lot of new items to buy, but they come with hefty price tags. There are a couple of things you can get for free - the Contain materia and the Curse Ring accessory - but only if you know how. What did you get?

Got the contain materia (woo added effect=contain AWESOME). I got the key for the curse ring but I was distracted and just hammering circle so I accidentally lied to the guy and missed the curse ring. I did get it from Ultima Weapon later though, so all is well.

Were you surprised by Tifa's decision to leave the party, particularly so soon after Cloud left? And do you think Cid was the correct choice to be the stand-in party leader, or would you have given the role to someone else? How do you think all the different characters would have performed?

The first time I played it, I kind of thought you were just going to lose all your characters to tragedy one by one then something big was going to happen to save them all. On subsequent playthroughs I was really pissed off (I still am) that they didn’t give Tifa more to do. Would it have been so much trouble to get at least one boss fight in there somewhere?

Yuffie could never have been the leader. Red might have made a good one. Vincent really would have, but he’s optional. Cait is a spy, so no on that front. I expected it to be Barret first time, but I understand why it was Cid and fully support it because Cid is awesome <3

Spoiler: Chapter 17

How did you do with the compulsory train battles, and did you manage to stop it before it hit Corel? If not, you might want to try again, because you miss out on the extremely powerful Ultima materia.

You can get the Ultima materia anyway, you just have to pay 10,000Gil for it. The first time I played it I somehow didn’t manage to stop the train, and was totally amazed to realise a year later that I could. Ah, youth.

What was your choice of strategy in Fort Condor? Did you fight it properly, use the quick (and cheap) way, or lose deliberately so you can fight the Cmd. Grand Horn and get the Imperial Guard?

I used the quick and cheap way, and will continue to do so until I’m doing a completest playthrough. I loathe the condor game.

Did you manage to steal a Curse Ring from Ultima Weapon, and if so, how many tries did it take? I have a bit of a grudge, you see... Did the battle pose any problems for you?

I managed to steal one, once again on the first try. I still feel bad that your luck was so shit both times

The battle was OK. Red XIII almost died, but that’s about it.

What are your thoughts on everything that was revealed in the Lifestream? Personally, I think the part where Cloud takes his helmet off is one of the greatest moments in the whole series. What's your number one?

That same part. I absolutely love that part, from the shock you feel learning that for the first time, to the unique music that’s been playing beforehand (On the Other Side of the Mountain, one of my all time favourites), to the way the second half of the Main Theme kicks in as soon as he takes it off. It’s such an amazing moment. Best sequence in the game.

The only gripe I have with it is listening to “Who Am I?” on repeat before it. That really creams my corn.

If you're a first time player, how well do you think you understand the story at this point? If you've played it before, how many playthroughs did it take you before you really "got" it?

About 3. And even then I think I was slightly confused before I discovered the internet and all of it’s wondrous fan-written assessments.

Spoiler: Chapter 18

The Underwater Reactor contains the interesting Ghost Ship enemy. If you visited the Kalm Traveller, you might have picked up on his tip and morphed the ship for a Guide Book, which you'll be able to trade for something else later. Did you do that, or will you do it in the Battle Square later? Or will you skip it altogether?

I forgot. I am stupid. If I need one, I’ll get it from battle square. But I doubt it’d take me 30 minutes to beat Emerald Weapon these days anyway, so I might not bother.

Carry Armour can pose a lot of problems, though the battle seems quite luck-based. How did you get on with him this time, and how have you fared in the past?

I distinctly remember having absolutely no problem beating him on my first playthrough, then finding him impossible to beat on my next one. He can be a true cunt. His chance of using the horrific Lapis Laser increases each time you kill an arm, like so: both arms, ¼ chance, one arm, ½ chance, no arms left, he uses it every turn. Knowing this, you should really just attack the body. But Magic Breath works so well on him I just can’t resist using it every time. Also Bolt 3=All is enjoyable.

Did you choose to fight or take prisoner the guards on the submarine? And how did you do with the submarine "game" itself? Don't worry if you fail, because you can still get another submarine. You won't be able to get one of the huge materias, but that doesn't really matter.

I took them prisoner, since they’re the buddies from the earlier Junon sequence <3. Submarine game was over in about 10 seconds.

Once you've got control of the submarine on the world map, you can do a few interesting things, including: retrieve the huge materia from the red sub; get the Key to the Ancients (even though you don't know what to do with it yet); visit the Gelnika (even though it hasn't taken off yet!); visit Lucrecia's cave so you can get Vincent's ultimate weapon and limit break a bit later on; and fight Emerald Weapon if you are somehow strong enough to do that. What did you do with it at this point?

I picked up the Huge Materia, I picked up the Key to the Ancients and I visited the Gelnika. I love the Gelnika. It’s creepy, it has amazing items, weapons and materia, and it has a Turks boss fight. The enemies are also a delicious challenge.

I actually forgot to head to Lucrecia’s cave, but I’ll definitely do that tonight when we do the playthrough. I’ve got a bit of catching up to do, looking forward to it.

Now, a thought has occurred to me. Since most of us are religiously writing up these chapter reports, wouldn't it be a great idea to compile each of them and include it in section of the new site? We could do a huge page with each of Flint's chapter posts and underneath each chapter:

Kuroto's Chapter X
Fangu's Chapter X
Flintlock's Chapter X
etc.

I imagine each person's name and chapter would be in something akin to the spoiler tags we have on the forum. I'm assuming that's not a difficult thing to do on a webpage.

 

[Flintlock]

Now, a thought has occurred to me. Since most of us are religiously writing up these chapter reports, wouldn't it be a great idea to compile each of them and include it in section of the new site? We could do a huge page with each of Flint's chapter posts and underneath each chapter:

Kuroto's Chapter X
Fangu's Chapter X
Flintlock's Chapter X
etc.

I imagine each person's name and chapter would be in something akin to the spoiler tags we have on the forum. I'm assuming that's not a difficult thing to do on a webpage.

A thought I had was that the people who have taken part in this might want to write a summary at the end. I think that would be a better thing to post on the new site than all the chapters. Let's discuss it further

 

[Lex]

Moar writing? Damn. And here I thought some copypasta would suffice

 

[Kuroto]

Spoiler: Chapter 14

The Icicle Inn seems like a nice enough place. There's a cozy inn and pub, a few houses with some people to talk to and items to pick up, and a weapons shop that sells expensive but powerful equipment. What did you get up to there?

I got the snowboard! But I don't really remember what else. I just talked to people. I probably bought some equipmrnt too, but can't remember for who.

There's also one empty house in the village that contains some videos about the planet and Aeris's past. What did you make of them?

I don't think I ever went there... ;____;

How good are you at the snowboarding game? What was your time, if you can remember, and which path did you take? Note for first-time players: don't worry about getting balloons, they don't make a difference at this stage

I sucked! I don't remember my exact time but it was more than four minutes. I don't know about the paths, but I turned right at least twice.

The Great Glacier is a vast place, and the map you picked up isn't particularly useful, so it's easy to get lost and possibly pass out before you've visit everywhere you want to. What did you do there, and how many visits did it take?

I visited the place only once ( I didn't really even think I could go there another time... ^^'). I don't really remember much about it, just the one place where you have to hope from an ice raft to another and get to the other side, which was easy, but fun.

Share your choice of characters, their levels and set-ups at the target. If you know what's coming up at Gaea's Cliff and beyond, do you feel adequately prepared, or do you regret not picking up a certain item or materia earlier, for example?

First of all, at the moment I'm well beyond this stage, so I have no idea what level my characters where at that point. Cloud was probably on level 45 or something? And also I couldn't be really prepared what was coming next. ^^'

Actually I could probably reveal some of my set-ups, because most of them stay the same a lot. Cloud usually has All + Restore, Lightning and Enemy Skill materia. Tifa had at least Fire, Heal, Comet and Enemy Skill. Vincent has Destruct, Enemy Skill and Odin (I think). Usually I give at least one summon materia to everyone in my current party. Most of the time I feel that I don't have enough useful materia and the characters outside the main party will just have the left overs. :/

I'll tell what my character levels are at the moment when I get to the chapter that I just played.

Spoiler: Chapter 15

Gaea's Cliff is one of the more difficult areas in the game to get through. As well as being a large and complex place that requires some backtracking, it has tough enemies like Stilva and Malboro, and a tough boss in the form of Schizo. How did you get on? Did you learn the enemy skills that the two aforementioned monsters know?

I don't remember it being that tough really. I did learn bad breath, but that's probably the only enemy skill I learned. Schizo was quite tough I have to say, but I managed.

How good are you at getting through the Whirlwind Maze without being hit by the wind/energy/lightning? Or did you deliberately get hit so you could fight some Wind Wings, who know the White Wind enemy skill?

The first and the third one weren't that hard to get through, but the second one took me quite a bit of time. If only I had realized to get the White Wind, but I didn't.

How did your fight with Jenova DEATH go, and what did you make of all the scenes before and after it? Specifically, Sephiroth showing Cloud the events of Nibelheim and making him question who he is - something Hojo also mentions.

Honestly I don't remember much of Jenova DEATH, so it wasn't probably much harder than the other Jenova's before.

I think the scenes were really confusing. First of all there was so much information given at the same time, Jenova reunion, that Sephiroth died five years ago, Cloud not being the one he thinks. It was pretty much impossible to digest all at once, and I'm pretty sure I have to play this game again to get all the pieces together.

The FMV near the end of this chapter, of WEAPON waking up, is ranked by most fans as one of the best in the game. What do you think of it, and what's your personal favourite FMV, if not that? And how do you think the videos of VII compare to other games in the series?

The FMV of Weapon waking up is really impressive, but I think my favourites would be the one where Aeris dies, and the one where Cloud let's her go on the lake and also the one where Sector 7 is destroyed in Midgar.

I think the best FMVs that I've seen in the series are in FFX. Of course these two game's FMV's cant be compared, because VII is much older and X has better graphics and so on. I think the FMVs in VII are really good if you think about how old the game is. Just don't look at the characters' faces, because sometimes they just look really silly. x)

After that scene, the Cloud-less party escapes with Rufus and the other Shinra executives on the Highwind airship. Cast your mind back to the first time you played VII (or maybe this is your first time) - did you believe Shinra and the party would maintain some level of cooperation in the face of their common enemies - Sephiroth, WEAPON, and now, Meteor? Do you think they should have done?

Absolutely they should have! But you can't get everything, and I thought after the escape, that it wouldn't last for long. But if you think about it, it would have been much easier for Shinra to cooperate with the main characters, because then they wouldn't have to fight against them the whole time, as they are going to be ruining Shinra's plans anyway. And if the planet is in danger, then why not continue fighting after it's safe? Shinra could have taken care of the Meteor and Cid, barret and the others could have fought the big beast. Then they could have gone after Sephiroth. But the bad guys aren't usually really clever like that, are they? ^^'

Then again I don't really understand why the main characters don't just let Shinra destroy the meteor? Because they don't really seem to have a plan of their own, so they are just trying to ruin everything, just because Shinra is bad. So where are they getting at? No where? Isn't that just great.

More coming up!

 

[Kuroto]

Spoiler: Chapter 16

Apart from Hundred and Heli Gunner, Junon is the first time in the game that you have to fight without Cloud in your party. It can feel pretty tough if you haven't been levelling Barret, Cait Sith and Yuffie (if you got her in the first place). How did you manage? More generally, if VII was one of the Final Fantasies that lets you switch the party leader out of the battle party, would you still use Cloud a lot?

I think I did pretty well. At this point Cloud, Tifa and Vincent are my most levelled characters (about level 50, Cloud couple levels ahead) and the others were probably about 44. So the fights took a bit more time than what they used to, but otherwise it was okay. I think it's actually good that you have to use other characters once in a while.

You get access to the Highwind in this chapter. Obtaining an airship is an important moment in all Final Fantasy games, for the freedom it gives you and the sidequests it opens up (though VII has comparatively few sidequests available at this stage). How do you think the Highwind compares to other airships from across the series, and what did you get up to with it at this stage? For example: there are some new items to pick up at various places around the world, and many shops have new items, while this is also your first opportunity to raise Chocobos. You can also get the fourth Enemy Skill materia now and, by utilising a glitch, you can get the Quadra Magic materia without having to breed a blue Chocobo.

I got really little done. I accidently got the fourth Enemy Skill materia, when I found the small chocobo place. I tried to visit couple of places, but the stupid thing wouldn't land, so I couldn't really do anything. :/ I didn't start rasing a chocobo because I just didn't have the patience to read all the necessary info for it.

I can't say much about how Highwind compares to the other airships in the series. They are all quite the same. But I like it that you can get inside it whenever you want. In the other games that I've played you are either inside or outside and you can't really do both... if you know what I mean... ^^'

Mideel has a lot of new items to buy, but they come with hefty price tags. There are a couple of things you can get for free - the Contain materia and the Curse Ring accessory - but only if you know how. What did you get?

I didn't get anything else except for an elixir. ^^' I was trying to open that one door in the weapon shop, but the key got stuck. :<

Were you surprised by Tifa's decision to leave the party, particularly so soon after Cloud left? And do you think Cid was the correct choice to be the stand-in party leader, or would you have given the role to someone else? How do you think all the different characters would have performed?

It was a bit surprising I guess, but then again, they couldn't have just left Cloud where he was. And I do understand Tifa's decision completely. But it was a bit weird that two of the main characters leave and then the third one won't be the boss? Wasn't Barret the boss of AVALANCHE? So why not now then? ^^' But I do see why Cid was chosen from the rest of the group. Cait Sith was a spy, Vincent is way too new, Yuffie isn't really the leader kind, and Red XIII is bit too quiet for it. Cid is the one who is actually able to make big decisions and fast.

Spoiler: Chapter 17

How did you do with the compulsory train battles, and did you manage to stop it before it hit Corel? If not, you might want to try again, because you miss out on the extremely powerful Ultima materia.

There was one really tough battle on the train (I think it was the third one), which took a bit of time. And when I got to the part where I had to stop the train, I really thought it wouldn't happen because the train just seemed to go faster. But it stopped in the end, and I got the materia! ^^

What was your choice of strategy in Fort Condor? Did you fight it properly, use the quick (and cheap) way, or lose deliberately so you can fight the Cmd. Grand Horn and get the Imperial Guard?

Imperial Guard? Cmd? I did it the proper way, which took ages, and now you say I would have got something better than just "stay here whenever you like" if I hadn't? That's great, just great.

Did you manage to steal a Curse Ring from Ultima Weapon, and if so, how many tries did it take? I have a bit of a grudge, you see... Did the battle pose any problems for you?

Ultima Weapon? Do you mean the fight in Mideel? I thought I would die, but then luckily it took flight and I was saved. If you don't mean that, then I have no idea. I knew nothing about the curse ring either.

What are your thoughts on everything that was revealed in the Lifestream? Personally, I think the part where Cloud takes his helmet off is one of the greatest moments in the whole series. What's your number one?

Well that sure was heroic, I give you that. But I think the story revealed gives minus points for Cloud's bad ass reputation. Well I don't know when is the last time I've actually thought that he iwas a bad ass, so I guess it doesn't matter. I think the scenes in lifestream answered lot of the questions left in the last few chapters. But not quite all.

If you're a first time player, how well do you think you understand the story at this point? If you've played it before, how many playthroughs did it take you before you really "got" it?

Oh I'm sure I still have to play this game a few times before I'll "get" it. Okay, I still have a lot to know about the story and the characters before the end.

I think the story is really complicated. I'm also a bit lost about who wants what, who is against who, and so on. Mainly this is, because the story and the characters seem to go with the flow really. If you compare it to FFX which is really straight forward really, the main idea is to defeat Sin and for that they need to get the Final Aeon. And that's the line of the story really, that's their goal. Where as in this game I wonder if even the characteers know what they are doing. ^^' Okay they want to defeat Sephiroth and Shinra. How they're going to do that is a mystery. They are just going to stop Shinra from destroing the Meteor, though that's what they want as well, but have never mentioned how they are going to do it theirselves. Problem here maybe?

I see we are getting close to the end. Already?

Oh! And I promised some

Spoiler: level information:

Cloud 52
Tifa 49
Barret 45
Red XIII 45
Cait Sith 44
Yuffie 44
Cid 45
Vincent 50

 

[Lex]

Here are my suggestions for the questions for Chapter 20. I've been a bit presumptuous and answered the questions because I was dying to get my chapter reviews out so I'm up to date .

• What was your first thought when Bugenhagen asked to go to the Ancient City, and then when you found the Key to the Ancients?
  
• What did you think of the plot developments leading up to the return to Midgar, and of the pre-Midgar re-entry sequence itself?
  
• Since now almost all sidequests are open to you, are you planning on completing anything before returning to Midgar? (Chocobo breeding, materia caves, Key to Sector 5, Sneak Glove from weapon seller in Sector 6 (it's expensive!), various ultimate weapons and limit breaks).
  
• Did you collect all the items in Midgar? The underground section can be challenging to navigate for a first timer, and a lot of the items are missable (Barret and Cait's ultimate weapons for example). Did you return to Shinra HQ and collect the items available there?
  
• The return to Midgar features a gauntlet of boss fights and more-difficult-than-normal average encounters within the Underground itself. How did you do against Diamond WEAPON, The Turks (if you fought them), Proud Clod, and Hojo's 3 creepy forms?
  
• What did you think about the revelation that Hojo is
  Spoiler

  Sephiroth's father?

Spoiler: Chapter 19

The return to Rocket Town features a lot of compulsory battles, but only one of them (against Rude and the attack squad) is really anything unique. Did you have any trouble?

This is actually one of my favourite moments in the game, or rather, one of my favourite periods in the game. I really like the way things play out during the rocket sequence and afterwards. Plot points are a bit ridiculous (lets work against people trying to acheive the same goals that we are), but the music is great and you've got Cloud back and you know something epic is going to happen. Rude was easy, I think he's one of the more unremarkable bosses in this game.

How do you feel about the space scenes, specifically regarding Cid finally realising his dream and then Shera being proved right?

Happy that Shera was proved right. The first time I played this game I remember thinking it was weird for Cid to be so horrible to her. Though the way Shera kind of just accepts it is graceful in it's way, I also think she should have stood up for herself at some point for great justice. As already mentioned, I love the space scenes.

There has been a Cid in every Final Fantasy game starting from II (and a Cid has been retroactively added to the original game as well). Of the ones you know, who is your favourite and least favourite, and how does VII's Cid rank?

Cid from VII is my favourite (shock shock horror) and Cid from VIII is my least favourite. I think because of how little of a man he is. He's just like "here, 17 year old, take over for me, I cba anymore". Also he spends a lot of that games just complaining, and he's a pretty ineffectual and shit headmaster.

How many of the four huge materia did you manage to get? If you're not sure, you'll find out in Cosmo Canyon.

I got all 4. No problems there. I can remember leaving it in a few times when I was younger to see if anything different happened.

Once you've got control of the submarine on the world map, you can do a few interesting things, including: retrieve the huge materia from the red sub; get the Key to the Ancients (even though you don't know what to do with it yet); visit the Gelnika (even though it hasn't taken off yet!); visit Lucrecia's cave so you can get Vincent's ultimate weapon and limit break a bit later on; and fight Emerald Weapon if you are somehow strong enough to do that. What did you do with it at this point?

I did all the things

Is the new world map music annoying you yet?

ALWAYS. The high pitched tones grate like nothing else.

Spoiler: Chapter 20

What was your first thought when Bugenhagen asked to go to the Ancient City, and then when you found the Key to the Ancients?

The first time I played the game, Aerith revival - NO APOLOGIES! I suppose I was also expecting something major to happen there. I suppose it kind of does, though not in the way I was expecting.

What did you think of the plot developments leading up to the return to Midgar, and of the pre-Midgar re-entry sequence itself?

What an excellent sequence of events. I love the scenes after defeating diamond, and the troll moment when you fly to the north crater. Parachuting back into Midgar is one of the games finest moments IMO.

Since now almost all sidequests are open to you, are you planning on completing anything before returning to Midgar? (Chocobo breeding, materia caves, Key to Sector 5, Sneak Glove from weapon seller in Sector 6 (it's expensive!), various ultimate weapons and limit breaks).

I got the Key to Sector 5 from Bone Village and checked around to find Aerith's ghost in the church, but I haven't really done anything else XD. Too lazy this time round, it hasn't been too long since the last time I did a semi-completist playthrough so chocobo breeding doesn't appeal to me in the slightest at the moment.

Did you collect all the items in Midgar? The underground section can be challenging to navigate for a first timer, and a lot of the items are missable (Barret and Cait's ultimate weapons for example). Did you return to Shinra HQ and collect the items available there?

Yes to all! I did make a bit of a derp and missed Red XIII's unique weapon from the stairs in the Shinra building, but I got the annoying W-Item materia (woo cheat taimu) and picked up everything else (including the totally sexual mystile, meaning Deathblow never misses mwahaha).

The return to Midgar features a gauntlet of boss fights and more-difficult-than-normal average encounters within the Underground itself. How did you do against Diamond WEAPON, The Turks (if you fought them), Proud Clod, and Hojo's 3 creepy forms?

I got really annoyed at Diamond WEAPON, because you're supposed to trigger his countdown to his special attack by using two limit breaks on him. Cloud had Omnislash ready but since physical attacks don't do any damage until the countdown is triggered I couldn't use it to own his ass. Disappoint. I could have skipped the Turks battle but I enjoy it too much. I found them the most challenging out of every boss, including Hojo. I took Vincent and Red XIII to fight Hojo for the extra dialogue from Vincent, but took Barret up the stairs first to grab the Missing Score.

What did you think about the revelation that Hojo is

Spoiler

Sephiroth's father?

WHAT A MINDBLOWING MOMENT THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME I PLAYED IT. The signs are technically there if you look hard enough, but it's not an easy thing to know before you're told.

 

[Lex]

Sorry for the double post but I have this to say:

Me: Hi thread. Why you die?
Thread: ...
Me: *prods with stick*
Thread: ...

I order everyone to post their chapter updates immediately!

 

[Sprites]

Sorry guys things have been kind of hectic round my way, I'll be available after Thursday, but I'll post my next chapter up when I get back from work tonight, it's done but just needs posted

 

[Flintlock]

If I recall correctly, Gemma suggested we could get together for some long-overdue FFVII time this evening. I'm available, how about everyone else?

 

[Lex]

Something I am more than definitely up for. I have so much to do beforehand though :S

 

[Sprites]

Long awaited chapter 19

There&#8217;s not as much for me to go into in this chapter as a lot of the sidequest stuff I did in my previous chapter, anyway

I didn&#8217;t have any trouble at all during the fights they were pretty easy as was the Rude battle. Yuffie was swapped for Cid as well as all materia and accessories however I swapped her back in after. The space scenes are great as is watching the sequences between Cid and Shera, there was something very humbling about watching Cid apologise to her and her not make a big deal or say I told you so to him, I like that all Shera cares about is making sure Cid is alright. You sorta feel a sense of accomplishment for Cid too that he made it into space in the end.

My favourite Cid, well there&#8217;s two of them, this one and FFIV&#8217;s Cid. FFVII&#8217;s Cid has some pretty amazing one liners and speeches, his speech in the Highwind before the team go to Cosmo Canyon again is really moving, like I said before when Cloud wasn&#8217;t available he made a fantastic leader and he&#8217;d definitely make a good motivational speaker. FFIV&#8217;s Cid is a good all-rounder in terms of personality, his banter with Tellah is funny and you can see a little bit of rivalry and his fatherly type figure to the other party members is really refreshing, but again he&#8217;s very motivational and very energetic. As for a least favourite Cid I guess it would be XIII&#8217;s mainly because he just doesn&#8217;t feel as involved, his neutrality and because I don&#8217;t feel we see enough of him or he doesn&#8217;t have a direct relationship with the characters, there&#8217;s just nothing that really makes me connect with him.

The world map music that changes in VII it&#8217;s probably my least favourite music out of all of them, so I&#8217;m glad when they highwind theme does take precedence a little while later, usually I travel by Chocobo later so that I don&#8217;t have to listen to it.

All four Huge Materia are in my possession and of course I grabbed the Bahamut ZERO materia. I made a trip to Bone Village to grab the Key to Sector 5 to get Premium Heart, but I&#8217;m not equipping it yet and then made a trip to Nibelheim to get Final Heaven and to watch THAT hidden cutscene which I won&#8217;t spoil for anyone who hasn&#8217;t seen it yet. There wasn&#8217;t much change to my materia but before I finish disc 2 I plan to fight Ultima Weapon, do some chocobo breeding and racing and visit the Ancient forest, a place that I actually really like and has a great Materia growth weapon for Cloud but I&#8217;ll cover that in my next chapter. There wasn&#8217;t much change between now and the previous chapter in terms of stats and growth but there&#8217;ll be a spot to go to soon enough.

Spoiler: Character Stats

Cloud: Level 61
Heaven&#8217;s Cloud: Hp+, MP+, *Enemy Skill, Luck+, Bahamut ZERO, Deathblow
Escort Guard: Ultima, Comet, Lightning+All, Ice+All
Accessory: Ribbon

*Enemy Skills: Frog Song, L4 Suicide, Magic Hammer, White Wind, Big Guard, Death Force, Flame Thrower, Laser, Matra Magic, Bad Breath, Aqualung, Beta, Trine, Magic Breath, Goblin Punch, Death Sentence,

Limit Level 4: Omnislash

Tifa: Level 56
Crystal Glove: Restore+All, HP+, MP+ *Enemy Skill, Magic+
Dragon Armlet: Lightning+All, Heal+All, Fire, Neo Bahamut
Accessory: Ribbon

*Enemy Skills: Frog Song, L4 Suicide, Magic Hammer, White Wind, Big Guard, Death Force, Flame Thrower, Laser, Matra Magic, Bad Breath, Aqualung, Beta, Trine, Magic Breath, Goblin Punch, Death Sentence,

Limit Level 3: Dolphin Blow

Yuffie: Level 61
Oritsuru: Destruct+All, Hp+, MP+, *Enemy Skill, Fire, Manipulate, Morph
Dragon Armlet: Contain+Quadra, Ice+All, Hades+SaW
Accessory: Peace Ring

*Enemy Skills: Frog Song, L4 Suicide, Magic Hammer, White Wind, Big Guard, Death Force, Flame Thrower, Matra Magic, Bad Breath, Aqualung, Beta, Trine, Magic Breath, Goblin Punch, Death Sentence

Limit Level 4: All Creation

Time Clocked: 41hrs17mins
Gil remaining: 30453

*I&#8217;m proposing that we make a skype date tomorrow ( Sunday 15th July) for a catch up and playthrough, I&#8217;ll start chapter 20 and we talk about perhaps the way we plan to finish the playthrough (can&#8217;t believe the end is near). If anyone is interested let&#8217;s hear from ya and don&#8217;t forget anyone is welcome to join in the playthrough at any time or even if they&#8217;d like to discuss where we are at the moment

 

[Flintlock]

I have to be in bed early on Sunday night so I can get up early on Monday morning for work, I'm afraid.