THIS IS BEST VIEWED WHEN DOWNLOADED TO DISK AND VIEWED IN NOTEPAD WITH WORD WRAP ON So, having problems beating the game? Well here's the solution. Optional bosses are mentioned when you get the chance to kill them. You start off just outside Midgar. From here, you should head to the Chocobo Stables(Kalm isn't in this game). You'll get a notice that until Crystal Weapon is dead, the area isn't safe for chocobos. So you should cross the marshes, running or fighting Midgar Zoloms you encounter(they only have 800 HP here, and beta isn't very powerful - but it's an enemy skill, if you care). If you do want to fight it, it's not hard to kill. Go into the cave, and go through it, but pick up the treasure chest on the way. You'll encounter a boss on your way through... ------------------------------ BOSS: Rockerate ------------------------------ HP: 750 MP: 120 Weakness: Wind Immune: Fire, Thunder, Gravity, Earth, Poison Status Immune: All Attacks: Attack, Quake, Quake2, X-Potion, Ether Win: Quake Materia, 1000 EXP, 1100 Gil Strategy: Anyone with Ice should use it, and normal attacks are good as well for Cloud and Cait Sith(but not Tifa and Yuffie). And don't forget to use Limit Breaks if you get them - they're all good. You can dequip Tifa and Yuffie's weapons before the fight if you want to use normal attacks with them. ------------------------------ Now, proceed to Fort Condor. You'll encounter a guard outside... ------------------------------ BOSS: Fort Condor Guard ------------------------------ HP: 1000 MP: 0 Weakness: None Immune: All Status Immune: Death Attacks: Attack, Potion Win: Potion Strategy: He's easy. Just throw all your attacks his way, except Tifa who should heal anyone or just defend. ------------------------------ Climb up, and buy some more offensive moves for Tifa. Teach her Quake if you want. The guy on the left sells you stuff, the guy on the right is a tutorial, the guy even further on the right is an Inn, and the guy in the middle? Don't talk to him until you're ready to fight... ------------------------------ WEAPON: Crystal Weapon ------------------------------ HP: 1600 MP: 500 Weakness: None Immune: All except Fire Status Immune: All except Darkness(or All in first version) Attacks: Attack, Beta, Drain(enemy skill), Cure2, Crystal Beam, Ice, Ether Win: 2500 EXP, 3000 Gil, Ice Materia(not always), Crystal Beam Materia Strategy: This fight would be easy(but long), except for that 500-damage-to-one Crystal Beam attack. Well, just use limit breaks and Beta, and normal attacks, and you'll win eventually. Also, it may be worth learning Drain from him. You'll notice the Safer Sephiroth battle music is playing. This music marks a Weapon battle, though the first Ultimate Weapon battle doesn't have it, only the second does. ------------------------------ That was a bit of a toughie battle. Well, now that that's done, keep talking to the guy until he just keeps saying the same thing every time, then head back to the Chocobo Stable. You can now recieve your blue chocobo. Ride it to Temple of the Ancients, but you may want to go to Junon to stock up first. When you get to temple of the ancients, SAVE YOUR GAME BEFORE ENTERING. You'll see why. Anyway, fight outside until you have 1000 or more gil, though that shouldn't be a problem unless you've overspent. When you're inside, talk to the girl, and ask about the upgrade card. Pay her 1000 gil and you can go inside. Choose to jump down. Go to the red thing left of where you enter the room, which turns out to be a save point, but DO NOT SAVE YOUR GAME! Well, you can save if you want. Because the boss that's coming up, if you lose to him, you're just sent outside and you get another chance, but DON'T SAVE THE SECOND TIME, make sure you save outside instead, because that way if you're stuck and need to level up, at least you can do it. Anyway, get ready for a battle... ------------------------------ BOSS: Stephen ------------------------------ HP: 1100, or 900 the second time MP: 470 Weakness: None Immune: None Status Immune: All except Paralyze Attacks: Attack, Ancient Flash, Beta, Drain, Hi-Potion, Ether Win: 1200 EXP, 1250 Gil, Ancient Flash materia Strategy: Well, it CAN be easier to die the first time, and then waste his @$$ the second time, because you don't get anything less the second time and he has 200 less HP. But if you wanna go the hard way and fight 1100 HP, then that's just as possible(but not as easy). Limit breaks are good, but elemental attacks don't hit with their full power. Yuffie should only use attack, and make sure she has her weapon equipped. However, if Cait Sith has Inflictor, he should keep using that, freeing up Yuffie to do other stuff. Crystal Beam does around 500 damage so it's definately useful, and one last warning: Beware of Ancient Flash as it's equal power to Beta, has no element, needs 5-10 less MP than Beta, and can put the enemy to sleep. The only advantage Beta has over Ancient Flash is that Beta is 100% accurate while Ancient Flash is only 90% accurate. So basically, do not expect an easy win. Oh yeah, his first attack is ALWAYS Ancient Flash. ------------------------------ Whew, that was a long one. Not the battle, the solution I mean. Anyway, you can now proceed - or more like after you get the Phoenix Up and Megalixir from the treasure chest(go down the pole first). It won't be long before you encounter... It's just Reno from the turks. He doesn't fight you. Lol. But he does send this to fight: ------------------------------ MINIBOSS: Sludgy ------------------------------ HP: Infinite MP: Infinite Weakness: None Immune: All Status Immune: All Attacks: Sludgebuster, Sludge Bomb, Inflictor Win: Phoenix Up Strategy: Infinite HP? That makes him seem invinicble. What do I say about him being invincible? *buzzer goes off* WRONG! He can't be killed by attacks, as Reno says, but just survive for 16 turns and on the 17th he'll explode(be aware that the explosion does damage your party). He can attack any turn, but he only will definately attack on turns 5, 10 and 15 - the rest of the time he'll normally(but not always) do nothing. Sludgebuster is the same as the attack Kill that you'll be seing a lot of soon - it does 999 damage to one character(sorta like Light Pillar from Final Fantasy 8). Sludge Bomb is an annoying attack that does the same as Inflictor but also damages the enemies. And it's not an enemy skill. You should already know what Inflictor does - it inflicts every possible status effect, with the exception of Death, on all enemies. Protection Ring would be so useful in this battle, but unfortunately you can't get it... yet... ------------------------------ Okay. Check in the window Reno was looking through, and you'll recieve an Upgrade Card. Use it, then use the Weapon Radar. It shows that what Reno and Stephen have been saying is true - Pearl Weapon is in the temple. By the way, Pearl Weapon won't show up until you use the radar after upgrading it. So anyway, you can go to the water. You're probably highly in need of a recovery, so just look at it. That way you'll get a recovery. Now, you'll see four paths, each with a small plant in the way. Go for the third plant from the left first. Step on it and you encounter... those stupid Annoy Bugs. Ten of them to be precise. Just use Beta and it will kill them all. Ancient Flash also works. There's nothing up here... except... a save point. Oh, and Protection Ring. First, go to the save point. Then walk as far as you can left. Then as far as you can down. Then press enter. And a treasure chest you couldn't see will open, and give you Protection Ring. Go for the furthest right plant next. You'll encounter another 10 Annoy Bugs, just Beta or Ancient Flash them away(if you even care, Annoy Bugs only have 1 HP). Go up and flick the switch. Now go for the second from the left plant. Just kill the annoy bugs, then look! The first one is gone as well! If you fight the first one, it won't go away, and you'll just walk back off it after fighting, so don't fight it, unless you're in need of EXP or Gil(you do get 2000 of each per plant(NOT per annoy bug), and the first plant works an infinite amount of times as long as you don't beat all the others). But anyway, now that they're all gone, go up the furthest left and fight Kill Devil(you don't need to fight him now, but you'll need to do it either now or later, so it's better to just get it over and done with). ------------------------------ BOSS: Kill Devil ------------------------------ HP: 600 MP: 100 Weakness: None Immune: All Status Immune: All except Poison, Slow, Mini and Darkness Attacks: Kill, Magic Shatter, Ether, Beta Win: 6500 EXP, 10000 Gil, Magic Shatter Materia Strategy: Look at all that EXP and Gil. And only 600 HP? I probably shouldn't include a strategy. In fact, I won't. I'll just say that he only uses the Ether every 6 turns, only uses Beta right after Ether, and at other times Magic Shatter overrides Kill. And as you should already know, Kill is 999 damage to one. Also, his defense(but not magic defense) is very low. ------------------------------ After that, you can proceed. Talk to Pig Bomb, then go back. Stephen will say something along the way. Go to the room with the switch, and go inbetween the two stones. Read it. Remember the password. Now, keep reading it until it gives you the password again. While doing so, you'll get a Phoenix Up. Once you've got it, go back to Pig Bomb and tell him the password. Now, fight him - he's easy. ------------------------------ MINIBOSS: Pig Bomb ------------------------------ HP: 1000 MP: 0 Weakness: Ice, Poison Immune: Fire, Gravity, Earth, Wind Status Immune: Death, Sleep, Confuse, Silence, Slow, Stop, Frog, Paralyze Attacks: Attack, X-Potion, Selfdestruction Win: 900 EXP, 1100 Gil, X-Potion Strategy: Just treat this as a random encounter battle - it's that easy. However, be aware his Selfdestruction is one of the most powerful attacks in the game, and if he uses it and you survive, you don't get any of the items you normally get for winning(except of course, being allowed to pass). ------------------------------ Now, use Phoenix Downs to revive everyone that's dead(or just use a Phoenix Up), then use your Megalixir. Go save your game, because something BIG is coming up. Here's what... ------------------------------ WEAPON: Pearl Weapon ------------------------------ HP: 4500 MP: 1000 Weakness: Thunder Immune: Fire, Water, Gravity, Wind, Poison Status Immune: All Attacks: Attack, Pearl Blast, Kill, MP Dust, Magic Shatter, Ether Win: 4000 EXP, 5000 Gil, Pearl Blast Materia Strategy: Well, he's quite easy but long to beat. However, Pearl Blast is the most powerful attack(other than Pig Bomb's Selfdestructor and the attacks Sludgebuster/Kill) that you'll have come across so far. Okay, so Crystal Beam IS about two times as strong, but doesn't hit all enemies, so it would bring out the effects of Pearl Blast on one enemy when Crystal Weapon used it(since you wouldn't have had 500 HP then). Anyway, enough of this. Limit breaks RULE in this battle, especially Speed Cut, because that powers up everyone's limit break to the most it will do against Pearl, though Speed Cut already does it's strongest, so it only really effects the three others. Crystal Beam rules bigger than limit breaks, and if you have nothing better to do, Bolt away at it. Drain is also good if you have it, and using Magic Shatter at the start of the battle disables Magic Shatter and MP Dust, and also his 'biggie' Pearl Blast. Yes, he can recover MP, but if he does? You just Magic Shatter again. So he's pretty easy to defeat even though it takes forever. ------------------------------ Now, you can finally leave this place. Save on your way out, you don't want to die now. Then, when you leave, check the treasure chest that had a Phoenix Up and a Megalixir. It will now have a Phoenix Megalixir, SAVE THIS UNTIL YOU REALLY NEED IT AS IT IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE GAME. A Phoenix Megalixir is like a Phoenix Up and a Megalixir in one. That's why it was in the chest that had a Phoenix Up and a Megalixir. Lol, just joking about that last part. But yes, it is like the two items in one. Now, go up, and leave the temple. Head for Fort Condor, and use the Inn(it's only 25 gil), and then head to the Chocobo Stables. After talking to Choco Billy, head to Fort Condor, talk to the guy in the middle, then head for Chocobo Stables again. Now, head for Temple of the Ancients. Go in, and you'll see Stephen on your way. Talk to him and he'll open up the door that Kill Devil was guarding. You'll now have to kill the Kill Devil if you haven't already, but you probably have. Go through the door, and you come out in Materia Cave. Talk to the guy there, and then leave. Go to the other cave, and you'll come out near mideel. Go to mideel, but save your game before entering(you'll see why if you're using version 2, and if you're using version 1, the game will end when you get there). Talk to the guy who looks like Rufus. What do you get? Attacked, that's what. Not by him, however. It's by... ------------------------------ WEAPON: Ultimate Weapon ------------------------------ HP: 4000 MP: 9999 Weakness: None Immune: All Status Immune: All except Silence and Darkness Attacks: Attack, Quake2, Cure3(for no reason), Magic Shatter, Kill Win: 7500 EXP, 10000 Gil, Megalixir Strategy: Hmmm, doesn't look like any special attacks here. Cure3 is useless, because it's just like a Phoenix Down that only revives with one HP. And there's nothing else in this battle. Use Inflictor on him and he can't do much on you - just throw whatever you want at him. No special battle music plays, the weapon theme music keeps going. This is no special indicator. Well, you could say it's a fight with a weapon that you don't finish off that battle, but then you only encounter that situation once. ------------------------------ Now, you can leave and you have a Gold Chocobo! Head for Cosmo Canyon. Enter it, and Sephiroth is there and he's destroyed it. You may expect a battle with him, but no, Cloud just slices him in half. Now, go to the save point, and then go up to the rocks and press enter. And you'll fight... ------------------------------ BOSS: Cosmo Zolom, Cosmo Fire x2 ------------------------------ HP: 2500(CZ), 200(CF) MP: 650(CZ), 50(CF) Weakness: Ice(both), Earth(CZ Only) Immune: Fire(both), Thunder, Water, Gravity, Earth, Wind, Poison(CF Only) Status Immune: All Attacks: Attack, Cure3, Cure2, Beta, Drain, Kill, Cosmo Light(enemy skill)(CZ), Fire2, Attack, MP Dust(CF) Win: 4800 EXP, 1250 Gil, Cure3 Materia(all combined) Strategy: All attacks that don't hit all enemies should be aimed at the zolom himself - the Fires should only be killed if their Fire2 is doing too much damage or you need the MP they keep draining away(or if they're killed during a hit-all attack). Make sure you learn Cosmo Light, it's your only chance in the whole game to learn it. It's quite a good attack, it's a 50/50 chance of hitting and always does 250 damage. Even if it misses, you still learn it, so you'll get it if you give him enough time. It can help to kill the flames if you're going to just stall around waiting for him to use Cosmo Light, though be aware that Cosmo Zolom can revive them. Oh yeah, if you want to kill the flames quickly, one Pearl Blast will remove both flames and do good damage to Cosmo Zolom. ------------------------------ Another long load of text. After Cosmo Zolom, next stop is the Save Point. If you have a Megalixir, use it. Now, exit Cosmo Canyon to find that your Chocobo has moved to another point in Cosmo Area! Go towards it, but make sure that before you go to where the furthest left line of 'mountains' ends, you save your game - because you're going to have another fight with... ------------------------------ WEAPON: Ultimate Weapon ------------------------------ Okay, I won't go through all that stuff again since he's the same this time except he has 1000 more HP, gives you no EXP or Gil(or Megalixir, but there again he gives you Ultima Materia instead), and has an extra attack: Ultima. Oh yeah, he's immune to Silence and Darkness now, but is no longer immune to elements, except for Gravity, Earth and Poison. Now, you want to kill him ASAP, because Ultima will wipe you out one hit, guaranteed(unless you have used loads of HP Plusses). It does 850-950 to all, but it bumps the weapon down 500 MP. Ultima is almost definately the most powerful attack in the game, aside from Kill/Sludgebuster, but they only hit one enemy and Ultima hits 'em all. Note that Emerald's Aire Tam Storm is also stronger, but you can't get ATS while you can get Ultima. It may be of interest that until you inflict 1000 damage(first battle) or 1250 damage(second battle), all he'll use is normal attacks. In addition to that, in the second battle he won't use Ultima until you inflict 2500 damage. ------------------------------ Now that's what I call an unexpected battle. Now, you've completed Version 2 if that's the version you have. Although, if you've got any version(other than version 1, obviously) you can now go and fight an optional boss, Hyperdog. Go back to the Chocobo Stables and talk to Choco Billy. You'll fight the last Midgar Zolom you'll ever fight(well, unless you play on a new game, a different saved game or don't save after fighting it). After the fight, you'll notice a dog that wasn't there before. That's Hyperdog, the first optional boss. ------------------------------ OB: Hyperdog ------------------------------ HP: Approx 15000(exact HP depends on what damage is done to him) MP: 0 Weakness: None Immune: All Status Immune: All Attacks: Attack Win: 9999 EXP, 9999 Gil, Ultimate Armour Strategy: Ummm... well the best way of all is to dequip Tifa and Yuffie's weapons(DO NOT DEQUIP CAIT SITH'S WEAPON, THE MISSING IT DOES SOMETIMES IS MORE THAN MADE UP FOR THE ~200 DAMAGE FOR NO MP) and have everyone just use attacks, though Pearl Blast, Ancient Flash, Cosmo Light and Crystal Beam, are all good, put them all on different people. However, you probably already have at least 2 on one person. That's okay, get lots of MP Plusses, use them all on the other person, get lotsa Ethers, have them in stock, and teach that last person Ultima. If you have one on each person, give ultima to whoever has the highest Magic, then raise their MP with lots of MP Plus and use Magic Plusses as well if you can afford it. You'll get a great load of power out of Ultima that way, and equip MP Machine so that you can use it three times with no ether instead of just once. His attack is powerful, but I've never seen it kill anyone when they're at max HP, even with minimal leveling up and no HP Plussing to that point. Now, why isn't his HP exact? This has to do with the program used to make it: RPG Maker 2000. It doesn't allow HP over 9999 for monsters. But I wanted more. So I used a variable to store how much damage had been done, while making his Max HP 9999. But it only can read into it at the start of each round(well actually, I suppose I could set whenever during the round, but start is easiest). Bugger it. So it wouldn't make sense if he just suddenly died at the start of a round. So I made it so that it keeps putting his current HP down to 1 once more than 14999 damage has been dealt. So any damage will knock him out. But this means that his HP could be anywhere from 15001 to 18995. But the inteded HP is 15000. You'll most likely get around 16000. The same will be done with Emerald Weapon, except with much more HP. Probably not with Ruby though. A final note, to go off the topic of HP, is that you'll notice the Bizzaro Sephiroth music is playing. This indicates an optional boss. And finally, you can run from him. All you'll get in the way of bad stuff(aside from losing any items and time used up by the fight is) is Hyperdog calling you a chicken(yes, you can fight him again if you escape, or "Chicken Out" as hyperdog calls it). ------------------------------ Well, that's all for the walkthrough, until Version 3.