Final Fantasy VII [solve]
 
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 ::Radon::
 radon@myrealbox.com
 radon@gamebox.net
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 Final Fantasy VII
  ================
 
 PART I
 
 Tips and Quirks
 
 Final Fantasy VII has its fair share of little bugs and cheats, and here are
 a couple
 i When racing Chocobos, hold your Pageup, Pagedown, Camera and Target
 buttons at the same time.
 Your Chocoboås stamina will slowly build up again!
 i Find the W-Item materia (found in the Shinra tunnels upon your return to
 Midgar at the end of Disc two). Pick an item you want more of and use it on
 someone. Now select the same item again, but instead of using it, hit
 CANCEL. You see that you have an extra one of that item. Repeat as
 necessary!
 Put characters with ranged weapons on the back row, as they can dish out as
 much punishment from there but only take half damage. Give everyone a
 Restore/All materia combination Ñ this means that anyone can cure the whole
 party if necessary. Also try to provide everyone with at least one offensive
 spell.
 If youåre facing several different types of enemy, take
 out the more vicious ones first.
 If there are two rows, knock out the front one first.
 Never run away. Complete every battle to gain experience points, otherwise
 youåll be seriously underpowered come boss time.
 
 i To learn the second Limit Break of a level, the character must use their
 first Limit Break of that level a certain number of times. This number
 diminishes with each Limit Level.
 i To go up a Limit Level, the character must kill a particular number of
 enemies.
 i The best way to force new Limit Breaks is to give the character you want
 to learn a Cover materia (so they take more damage), stick them on the front
 row and give them a Hyper potion to put them into Fury mode. Their Limit
 gauge will build at double the speed so you can use the techniques more.
 i To learn the Level 4 Limit Breaks, characters must use their Extreme Limit
 Break Manuals (having found them first). The characters and their Extreme
 Limits are as follows:
 Cloud
 Omnislash
 See the Gold Saucer section below.
 Aeris
 Great Gospel
 In Highwind or on a Chocobo, find a cave south of Midgar. In there is a
 sleeping man. If the number of battles youåve had ends in two identical
 digits (eg 266, 133) heåll wake up and give you the item Mythril. Take this
 to the lonely Weapons Shop on the Central Continent and give it to the
 bloke. Open the safe upstairs for the manual.
 Barret
 Catastrophe
 Found in Corel Village after youåve saved it from the train. Go into a tent
 in the top right of the village and talk to the woman. Sheåll give you the
 manual in memory of her husband.
 Yuffie
 All Creation
 Complete her subquest.
 Cait Sith
 Doesnåt have one.
 Vincent
 Chaos
 See The Hidden Characters panel overleaf.
 Red XIII
 Cosmo Memory
 Obtained when you defeat Lost Number when trying to get Vincent.
 Tifa
 Final Heaven
 Make sure Tifa is in your party and has her Level 3 Breaks. Go to Nibelheim.
 Play the piano in Tifaås house and tap out the Highwind theme by using these
 key combinations: CANCEL, SWITCH, MENU, PAGEUP+MENU, PAGEUP+SWITCH, CANCEL,
 SWITCH, MENU, PAGEUP+CANCEL, OK, CANCEL, SWITCH, CANCEL. Tifa will find the
 manual in her sheet music.
 Cid
 Highwind
 Found in the sunken plane. Use the submarine to find it Ñ dive and explore
 until you locate the wreckage.
 
 
 Natural Materias are âone
 of a kindå materias. You
 can spawn new copies by mastering the originals, though Ñ get enough ability
 points and a new materia
 is born
 Hereås a run-down of the Natural Materia types:
 Quadra Magic enables you to cast a paired spell four times. That includes
 Summon spells (except Knights Of The Round). This materia can be found in a
 cave on the southern continent, only accessible by Chocobo.
 HP -> MP enables you to swap your maximum hit points with your maximum magic
 points. This is found in a cave north of Corel, across a river and in a
 little desert area.
 Mime materia enables anyone to repeat the previous action at no cost to
 their magic points. Mime is found in a cave on the Western Continent.
 Knights Of The Round is the ultimate Summon spell. Thirteen knights hit all
 enemies for between 5000 and 9999 points of damage each. To find the
 materia, take a Gold Chocobo over the sea as far northeast as you can go on
 the map. Youåll find a round island with a cave on it. The materiaås in
 here.
 
 Vincent Valentine
 Getting Vincent is tricky Ñ heås hidden in the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim.
 Go to the Mansion, and into the alcove in the bottom-left of the first room,
 and read the note on the floor. Now, you can either try and solve the clues
 yourself (each clue points to something in the Mansion which has a number
 written on it) or take the easy way out Ñ the combination to the safe
 upstairs is: right to 36, left to 10, right to 59, right to 97. The safe
 will open and� Oh no! A boss!
 Lost Number is one evil bastard. One half of him does magic and the other
 does devastating physical attacks. The âmagicå side is vulnerable to
 physical attacks, and vice versa. We recommend you take out the physical
 side Ñ if you donåt, his special move Lost Blow will knock your party flat.
 So magic away until he throws off his butch side and proceeds to blat you
 with magic. Keep battering away and heåll be history.
 Beating Lost Number gets you the Summon Odin materia and the key to the
 basement. Go to the cellar and walk into the wall at the top left of the
 passageway in the overhead view section. In there youåll meet Vincent in his
 coffin. Tell
 him about Sephiroth, ask who he is, then leave. Heåll join you.
 Vincent is cool. His ranged weapons can cause hefty damage but his Limit
 Breaks are a bit of a double-edged sword. Yes, he does turn into demons and
 horror movie stars, but he also goes Berserk, at which time you have no
 control over him whatsoever. This is good in normal battles, but bad in boss
 fights.
 To find out some of Vincentås back story, take the submarine or a Chocobo to
 the pool and the waterfall in the middle of the Central Continent. Walk
 behind the waterfall on Disc one or two for an oh-so-revealing surprise�
 Return again on Disc three to get Vincentås best weapon and his Level 4
 Limit Break manual.
 
 Yuffie Kisaragi
 Double-crossing, back-stabbing little bitch Yuffie is another hidden
 character. To get her, you need to have a number of fights in any of the
 forests on the World Map. Eventually you meet an enemy called Mystery Ninja.
 Beat her and you can talk to her. When she wants another fight, tell her
 youåre
 ãnot interestedà. Talk to her again and use these responses: ãPetrified�à;
 ãWait a second!à; ã�Thatås rightà; and ãLetås hurry onà. Sheåll join you.
 When youåre a higher level character, go to Wutai on the far Western
 Continent. Yuffie buggers off with most of your materia and you need to
 chase the little tart around Wutai. She turns up in several places: her
 fatherås house near the Pagoda, the doddering old manås house on the far
 right, the materia store, and inside the pot outside the bar. When you catch
 her, you go back to her house. She locks two of your party in a cage Ñ pull
 the lever to release them.
 Then go to the big gate near the Pagoda. Itås open Ñ
 ring the bell. A secret passage opens and you find Yuffie� accompanied by
 Don Corneo. Agree to co-operate with
 the Turks, and search the big statue for Don, Yuffie and Elena. When you
 find them, you have to fight an easy boss
 Ñ without materia. Make sure youåre in possession of plenty of Potions and
 the like, as it can do some nasty damage if it feels that way inclined.
 Save Yuffie and Elena and you get your materia back Ñ but in a messed-up
 order. Sort it out, put Yuffie in your party and go to the Pagoda. Beat up
 everyone all the way up the Pagoda until you reach Godo at the top. If you
 get shrunk and donåt have a Transform spell handy, simply batter Godo with
 magic attacks and Summons. The other fighters can all be beaten with
 physical attacks and low-level magic.
 Yuffieås a useful fighter. She uses ranged weapons so can be placed on the
 back row, no problem. Her Limit Breaks are a mixture of defensive and
 offensive, so theyåre a useful addition to your party.
 
 Different colours of chocobo have different abilities. Hereås a summary of
 what each can do:
 
 YELLOW No special abilities
 BLUE Can run over shallow water
 GREEN Can run over mountains
 BLACK Combines skills of blue and green chocobos
 GOLD Can go anywhere
 
 There are five types of chocobo to catch, and theyåre all yellow. If you
 want different colours, you have to breed them. The types are crap, average,
 walking, running and dashing. Crap and average ones can be caught on any of
 the tracks. Walking ones can be caught near Gold Saucer. Running ones can be
 caught on the South Continent near Mideel. Dashing ones can be caught on the
 Northern Continent.
 Buy some chocobo stables at the farm. Chocobo Bill will explain everything.
 Catch a walking chocobo and a running chocobo Ñ of different sexes,
 obviously. Now fly over the Northern Continent until you see an isolated
 house with a little patch of grass around it. Land and visit the chocobo
 sage, then wait outside on the grass until you have to fight a red dragon.
 Steal from it until you get a carob nut. Take this back to the stables and
 save! Breed the chocobo with the nut. If you donåt get a blue or a green
 chocobo, reload and try again. If you constantly fail, feed them loads and
 loads of greens (the sage sells the best greens in the world) and race them
 at Gold Saucer. Win six races with each to make them Class A chocobos. Now
 save and try breeding them again.
 Assuming that worked right, save and repeat the process until you get a
 chocobo of the other colour (green if you got blue already, or vice versa).
 Also make sure your blue and green chocobos are of different sexes! Now go
 and get another carob nut and loads of sylkis greens from the chocobo Sage.
 Feed the greens to your blue and your green and race them until theyåre both
 Class A. Save and breed them. If you donåt get a black one, reload and try
 again.
 Finally, to get the elusive gold chocobo, go to Goblin Island (the island
 furthest to the north-east on the map display). Steal a zeio nut from the
 goblins there. Go and catch a dashing chocobo of the opposite sex to your
 black one. Save and make them shag. You should soon have a gold chocobo!
 This can be used to find all the Natural Materias in the world.
 
 Invest in a Gold Ticket as soon as you can afford it. There are loads of
 things worth doing at Gold Saucer
 CHOCOBO RACING
 See chocobo panel above.
 BATTLE SQUARe
 Equip your best character with any protection you can (preferably a ribbon
 if youåve got one Ñ these protect against all abnormal status) and keep
 fighting.
 Get as many points as you can. Get enough points and you get Cloudås Level 4
 Limit manual and a materia called W-Summon which enables you to cast
 two Summon spells in one turn. Pull this off and try again Ñ this time you
 fight bosses. Beat this and you get Final Attack materia Ñ pair this with
 a spell and, as that character croaks, the spell is cast. The ideal thing
 to pair with this is Revive Ñ that way, as the character swoons theyåre
 immediately revived.
 THE SUB-GAMES
 Any sub-games that youåve already played in the game (motorcycle, snowboard
 and submarine) can be replayed at any time in Gold Saucer. The better you
 do, the more GP (Gold Saucer currency) you can win.
 Full tactics for the sub-games will be given next issue.
 OTHER ATTRACTIONS
 I wouldnåt bother, unless youåve got GP to burn.
 
 
 
 PART 2
 
 
 Reviewed PCZ #66 Score 93%
 
 If you're having fantasies involving Tifa Lockheart and a chocobo, let Pete
 Davison counsel you back to the land of the sane...
 
 If you followed part one of our guide to Final Fantasy VII last issue,
 you'll know all about battle strategy, the secret characters and other
 little gems. This month we take a look at the sub-games, how to defeat
 Weapon and where to find all the Enemy Skills. We're not going tell you how
 to beat the last boss, or how to cope with the untimely death of...
 someone... but these tips should have helped you find out some things you
 perhaps wouldn't have thought to look for otherwise. Good luck, O
 spiky-headed one.
 
 The Four Sub-games
 
 There are four major sub-games which occur as integral parts of the plot.
 Once you've played them as part of the story, you can go back to Gold Saucer
 at any time and replay them. G-Bike is the first one you'll come across,
 upon your escape from Shinra HQ on disc one.
 
 G-Bike
 You need to defend the truck - stay close to it. When an enemy bike appears,
 pull up alongside (you can speed up and slow down using the 'up' and 'down'
 keys) and give it a good whack with the sword while ramming it sideways -
 this is the quickest method to kill 'em.
 Remember which characters you chose to be in your party, as you'll have a
 boss fight at the end of the road. Each character has an energy bar - if it
 drops to zero, they start the boss fight with one HP. However, as the boss
 always pre-empts you, one HP basically means curtains, so avoid getting into
 this position.
 
 Snowboarding
 
 Snowboarding is a short way into the second disc, and it's fairly easy. When
 you play it as a 'plot element', all you have to do is get down the hill -
 ignore the balloons and stuff. Remember to use Pageup and Pagedown to
 slide-turn for sharper cornering.
 If you replay this one at Gold Saucer, however, you need to be a bit more
 skilful. You are marked on your accuracy, how many balloons you hit and how
 quickly you did the course. Different coloured balloons are worth varying
 values of points: the red ones carry low points, blue ones are usually
 hidden behind obstacles, while green one are practically impossible to get,
 so they are worth loads of points.
 Achieve a decent score and you'll be rated "Good". Replay the game to try a
 new course and keep going until you complete the 'Crazy' course. Finish this
 for prizes.
 
 Fort Condor
 
 This is like a basic Command & Conquer. Buy loads of troops at the start (up
 to 20) - use a mix of fighters, attackers and defenders and forget the
 others. When the enemies start arriving, send them into the fray. Leave a
 few troops around the shed to defend it, but otherwise, swarming the enemy
 is the best tactic.
 When you play this one as a 'plot element' (where you're trying to recover
 the Huge materia on disc two) you can either fight the battle through to the
 bitter end... or go for the (much easier) option, which is to allow the
 enemies to overrun the base. Do this and you'll have an easy boss battle. No
 problemo.
 
 Submarine Chase
 
 As a 'plot game', this is easy peasy. You start out just behind your
 target - the red submarine carrying Huge materia - so all you have to do is
 shoot the shit out of it and wham! Mission accomplished.
 At Gold Saucer, however, you have to take out every submarine in the area.
 Use your sonar (Pagedown) to watch for blips. Follow them and take out the
 subs. Take care to avoid the mines that are lying around, but be quick -
 your sub's a bit sluggish and you've only got ten minutes.
 
 Beating Weapon
 
 There are actually four Weapons scattered around the world. If you don't
 know who, or what, Weapon is, go to Icicle Inn on the Northern Continent. In
 a house on the left of the village is a video player - watch the video to be
 enlightened. For those of you who know only too well what Weapon is, you
 probably want to beat him, right?
 You don't have to defeat Emerald and Ruby. However, you do need to face
 Ultima and survive (although you don't have to defeat him) and you do need
 to defeat Diamond. It's worth killing them all, however, as good things can
 happen.
 
 Ultima Weapon
 
 You'll meet Ultima Weapon once you've beaten the Fort Condor Huge materia
 quest with Cid at the helm. (At this point Cloud is a gibbering wreck in
 hospital.) Cid suggests you "pay the little fella a visit", so head for
 Mideel on the Southern Continent. Speak with Cloud, and Ultima will attack
 the village.
 Before you speak with Cloud, ensure that at least one of your party members
 has their HP well above 2000. If this isn't the case, go to Cosmo Canyon and
 buy some 'HP Plus' materia.
 Cid, trying to act the hero, taunts Weapon and engages him in combat. Attack
 Ultima with all you've got but cast Cure if he twats any of your boys (or,
 indeed, girls). After a while, the screen announces that he is about to use
 his 'Ultima Beam' on you. This ominous, threatening (and lethal) blue beam
 causes about 2000 HP of damage to all your party. To win the fight, all you
 have to do is survive this blast and hit him again, after which he flies
 away.
 Later on, you can defeat Ultima entirely. You need Highwind, and you also
 need to have defeated Diamond Weapon (see below). Ultima will be hovering
 over a big pool just behind Midgar; fly into him and beat him up as much as
 you can. He will fly off again - follow him and crash into him until he
 flies to a particular place and stops over it.
 Your final battle with Ultima takes place over Cosmo Canyon. Beating him
 sends him crashing to the ground, and also gives Cloud his ultimate weapon.
 This beast causes massive damage - but the damage done decreases depending
 on how many HP Cloud has left.
 
 Diamond Weapon
 
 You'll meet Diamond after your visit to the City of the Ancients on disc
 two. Diamond emerges from the ocean, heading for Midgar. Fly Highwind to
 Midgar and wait on the beach for Diamond to arrive.
 Physical attacks have sod all effect on Diamond, unless his breast plate is
 open. Unfortunately, when it is it means he's about to kill you. So use your
 strongest Summons and spells on him - there's no easy way to do it - but
 make sure you use Cure or Elixirs regularly. Eventually, something truly
 explosive happens...
 
 Emerald Weapon
 
 Emerald lives underwater, so you'll need the submarine to get to him. He
 moves around a lot, so simply search around the centre of the map to
 eventually find him. Bump into him and prepare for the hardest battle in the
 game.
 Fighting Emerald is only for the brave. Or people who have the following:
 one mastered Knights Of Round materia, three Mime materias, one Final Attack
 materia (see last month's Gold Saucer Battle Square comments), one W-Summon
 materia (also from Gold Saucer) and at least one Revive materia at level two
 or higher. And plenty of curative stuff. Got all that? Then you're all set.
 Pair Final Attack with a Revive materia. That way, if whoever holds this
 combo croaks, they come back to life! Also, get as many Counterattack
 materias as you can - equip them all on one person. The more one person has,
 the more times they'll counterattack if smacked.
 Emerald will often pre-empt you with a stomp attack, but not always. Start
 with W-Summon Knights Of The Round (ie cast it twice in one turn). All other
 party members should Mime this. By this point, Emerald is ready to attack
 again, so have something curative ready (a Megalixir's good). Cure, then
 repeat the W-Summon trick (everyone should Mime it again). Continue this
 process until Emerald is dead. It takes time - he has one million HP - but
 keep at it and you'll beat him... eventually.
 At some point, the eyes on his shell light up, indicating that he's about to
 use some different attacks. Some eyes drain MP whereas others inflict
 damage. Use a spell or Summon to destroy them. Be warned though - sometimes
 when they're all destroyed, Emerald counters with his Aire Tam Storm attack,
 which usually kills your entire party instantly. See why you need that Final
 Attack materia now?
 Remember, defeating Emerald isn't easy and you won't beat him straight away.
 
 Ruby Weapon
 
 Ruby Weapon lives in the desert near Gold Saucer, so you'll need a gold
 chocobo to get near him (breeding one is a fairly long-winded process,
 explained last issue). But before you go galloping up to him, get into a
 normal fight with any weedy little enemy. Kill off two party members then
 fight Ruby. If you don't do this, Ruby removes them permanently. Revive your
 two members as soon as the fight starts.
 You should have a Hades materia from the Sunken Plane (use the submarine to
 find it) and ideally, you should also have the same materia as for Emerald
 Weapon (W-Summon, Mime, Knights Of Round).
 Open with Hades. This freezes Ruby in time, leaving you free to W-Summon
 Knights Of Round and mime it a few times. As soon as you see him moving
 again, cast Hades again. Then repeat Knights Of Round. That's basically it.
 Ruby's a difficult baddie to finish off, but nowhere near as evil as
 Emerald. It takes time, though - be prepared to stick at it.
 
 Enemy Skills
 
 Many people overlook the Enemy Skill materia, but it's a useful slot-saver.
 One measly materia can hold 24 spells, most of which are highly destructive
 and very cheap in terms of MP.
 To obtain an Enemy Skill, an enemy must use the skill on a character
 equipped with an Enemy Skill materia. This is easy for offensive skills, but
 to get defensive skills, further tactics are needed. Equip a Manipulate
 materia and manipulate the enemy with the ability. Then, on the manipulating
 character's next turn, a new menu will pop up. Pick the skill you want and
 use it on the character with the Enemy Skill materia.
 The very minimum you should get is "Big Guard". This casts Barrier, Magic
 Barrier and Haste on all members of your party - very useful.
 Here's where to find them. Be careful - some places (such as Gaia's Cliff)
 can't be returned to later in the game, so try and get the Skills on your
 first visit.
 
 Skill name Enemy who has it (location)
 
 Frog Song Touch Me (Gongaga area, Central continent)
 L4 Suicide Mu (near Chocobo Farm)
 Magic Hammer Razor Weed (Western continent)
 White Wind Zemzelett (Junon area)
 Big Guard Beach Plug (beach near Gold Saucer)
 Angel Whisper Pollen Salitas (Northern crater)
 Dragon Force Dark Dragon (Northern crater)
 Death Force Adamantaimai (beach on Western continent)
 Flame Thrower Ark Dragon (Mythril Mine)
 Laser Death Claw (Corel Prison)
 Matra Magic Sweeper Custom (outside Midgar)
 Bad Breath Molbor (Gaia's Cliff)
 Beta Midgar Zolom (swamp near Chocobo Farm)
 Aqua Lung Jenova-LIFE (City of the Ancients)
 Trine Materia Keeper (Nibelheim Mountains)
 Magic Breath Stilve (Frozen Mountain)
 Goblin Punch Goblin (north-east of map)
 Chocobuckle Cast L4 Suicide on a chocobo; it sometimes retaliates with this
 L5 Death Parasite (Northern crater)
 Death Sentence Gi (under Cosmo Canyon)
 Roulette Death Dealer (Northern crater)
 Shadow Flare Ultima Weapon
 Pandora's Box Dragon Zombie (Northern crater)