-------------------------------------------------------------------------
t h e t e m p l e
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Trident, Mind Source, Silver Rifle, Turbo Ether x2,
Rocket Punch, Luck Plus materia, Morph materia,
Princess Guard, Ribbon, Hou xx, Mega Elixir, Nail
Bat, Dragon Armlet, 'Summon Bahamut' materia,
Gigas Armlet.
At the top of the temple is a black creature, similar to the ones you
met in Nivelheim. If you talk to it, it floats into the air in a flash
of light. Inside the temple, you'll find the Turk, Tseng. He was badly
wounded by Sephiroth. He gives you the Kiiston so that you can go after
his attacker; examine the dais in the center of the room and you'll be
transported into the depths of the temple.
This area has a very confusing layout; it's a mass of stairs, walkways
and passages. There are chests everywhere, and a kooky old man in a
blue robe is also running around down here. From where you arrived,
head up, then left, then up again and go down the stairs to the ground
level. There's an opening just above you; go in it, turn to the right,
then climb down the vines clinging to the wall beneath you. If you
run underneath the long staircase nearby, you can reach a treasure chest
that has a Trident inside of it. From there, head right, go down the
stairs, then turn and climb up the wall using the vines. Head past the
opening (which you can't enter at this point, anyway) and go up the
stairs. The old man will dash away; ignore him for now and climb up the
vines to reach a platform. There's a shiny pink item here (Mind Source).
Take it and go down the stairs, then enter the door to your left to find
a room with a treasure chest and the old man. Inside the chest is the
Silver Rifle. Talk to the geezer twice and he'll offer his services
to you:
- Purchase Items
- Restore HP and MP to maximum
- Save your game*
- Nothing
* Choose the top option to decline or the bottom option to accept and
save your game.
Outside, go back up the stairs and down the vines, but this time, head
down and to the left. You can pick up a green item here (Turbo Ether).
Then go down the long stairway. At the bottom, climb down the smaller
set of steps to your left, then work your way towards the southwest
corner of the screen. Ther's a small patch of vines here that you can
climb down. Be sure to open the nearby chest; there's a Rocket Punch
inside of it. Now, go down the stairs and walk northeast along the
path to find some more vines and the old man, who scampers away when
you get too close. Climb up the vines, then go up the stairs next to
you, go through the archway, turn east and go down the stairs, and
climb up the long stretch of vines on the nearby wall. Head left,
underneath the staircase, and you can nab a purple materia (Luck Plus).
Now, go back the way you came (go right, down the vines, up the stairs
and down and out through the archway so that you're back on the path
that the old man was standing on, just above the vines). Walk to the
east until the path stops, then head south and turn east again to enter
the nearby door. As you enter, the old man will dash away. There are
huge hollow boulders that are rolling down this walkway. To get past
them, time your dashes so that the hollow part will be directly over
you, causing Cloud to kneel as the boulder rolls over you. Then keep
going until you reach a side path that leads to a pool of water. Grab
the Morph materia near the pool, then continue along the
walkway, avoiding the boulders. Once you reach the end of the path,
they'll disappear for good, but remember that if you get hit by a
boulder, you'll be dragged all the way back to the beginning of the
path (ouch!) Alternately, you can wait until the boulders disppear and
then go back and pick up the materia after the sequnce with Sephiroth.
Once the boulders are gone, Aeris will sense a powerful prescence in
the chamber and return to the pool. Light will erupt from the surface
of the pool, and you'll be able to see what I presume is a flashback of
Tseng and Elena (both Turks) running around in the shrine. After Elena
leaves, Sephiroth shows up and creates a double of himself. While he
busies himself with attacking Tseng, the laughing double flies up into
the air. After this sequence is over, Sephiroth's double will descend
into the pool and then fly away (is this supposed to mean anything?)
When you return to the end of the passage, the old geezer will be
waiting for you, and will once again offer his help:
- Restore HP and MP to maximum
- Save your game
- Nothing
When you're ready, go down the stairs. There's a huge room here with
twelve doors labeled I to XII. In the center of the room is the ever-
annoying talking clock. I was ready to use my FF7 discs as frisbees
by the time I figured out how to solve this little 'mini-game'. Here's
how it works:
If you press O (Roulette), the hour and minute hands move around very
quickly. Even when you press O again to stop the hands, they'll both
move three more spaces in the direction they were traveling.
If you press T, you're given two options: one in blue, one in green:
BLUE: This gives you four _more_ options, one in blue, one
in green, one in red, and one in white.
- BLUE The hour hand moves ahead by one space.
- GREEN The hour hand moves ahead seven spaces.
- RED The hour hand moves ahead by 17 spaces.
This invariably sets the minute hand ahead
by at least one space.
- WHITE This does nothing.
GREEN: This gives you _another_ four options, in blue,
green, red, and white, respectively.
- BLUE The hour hand moves back by two spaces.
- GREEN The hour hand moves back by ten spaces,
setting the minute hand back by one.
- RED The hour hand moves back by 20 spaces.
This makes the minute hand decrease
by at least one space, too.
- WHITE This does nothing.
If you press X, the damn clock shuts up and you're free to move onto
the hands of the clock (providing you've aligned them properly). You
can only walk on the hour and minute hands of the clock.
Isn't this fun? Well, there are twelve passages (labeled I to XII),
and you get to explore them by setting the clock to various positions.
Here's a list of what's in each passage:
I - When you open up the chest, you'll be attacked by
monsters. You won't get anything for beating them,
either.
_________________________________________________________________________
TIPS: JEMINISUMII LV: 24 HP: 800 MP: 80
POIZUNFUROGGU LV: 26 HP: 500 MP: 100
POIZUNFUROGGU LV: 26 HP: 500 MP: 100
The Poison Frogs are weak against Reiki, so use cold-based attacks/spells
on them. Their attacks will turn you into a frog, but they attack so
often that it's better for you to wait until they hit you again (turning
you back into a human) instead of wasting a Maiden's Kiss or other
restorative item. The woman (Jeminisumii) is weak against Poison, so
use one of the Bio spells on her for good results. The only point in
fighting this battle is if you want to learn Song of the Frog from the
frogs (providing you have a Enemy Skill materia equipped).
_________________________________________________________________________
II - This passage is blocked off by rocks. You can't
do anything here, so return and pick another path.
III - A treasure chest. It contains monsters, too.
You won't get anything for defeating them.
_________________________________________________________________________
TIPS: HEKUTOAIZU LV: 30 HP: 500 MP: 220
HEKUTOAIZU LV: 30 HP: 500 MP: 220
Both of these red, multi-eyed monsters are weak against Poison, so use
the best Bio spell you've got, or simply attack to dispatch them. If
you've got Morph equipped, you can morph both of them into
Magic Source items, which is really the only point in fighting this battle.
Although weak, either enemy can drain _lots_ of HP from you (around 1200-
1400 points!)
_________________________________________________________________________
IIII - Shouldn't this be IV? Anyway, there's a chest
here, and Aeris's Ultimate Weapon, the
Princess Guard is inside.
V - This passage leads outside to the gold chest you
could see but not normally reach. Inside it is
a Ribbon.
VI - Read below to find out what to do here.
VII - There's a chest here. A weapon for Cait Sith,
the Hou xx, is inside it.
VIII - You can get a Mega Elixir from the chest in
this room.
IX - A passage blocked by fallen rock.
X - This is where you came in, bud!
XI - Yet another blocked passage.
XII - What a creepy room! You'll be seeing more of
it soon enough.
At some point, you should stand on the hour or minute hand and let the
second hand approach. When it passes over you, it will knock you down
into the pit below. When you land, you'll find yourself in a room with
a treasure chest. Before you can open it, you'll be ambushed by two
monsters.
_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: ENSHYANTODORAGON LV: 34 HP: 2400 MP: 450
ENSHYANTODORGAON LV: 34 HP: 2400 MP: 450
(weak against Demi)
Using Demi or some Summon Materia will kill these dragons quickly.
Even physical attacks work well. Either enemy can only attack for about
500 points of damage, or use a Sazankurosu (Southern Cross) attack that
hit's one enemy for the same amount of damage, so they don't pose too
serious a threat. You can also control them, even though they're bosses.
You'll win an Turbo Ether for defeating both of them.
_________________________________________________________________________
In the chest is the Nail Bat, the strongest weapon Cloud can get during
Disc 1. Take it and leave the room. You'll find yourself back at the
door you couldn't enter earlier (in the area with the vines and
staircases. Simply work your way back to the talking clock, and pick
up any items you might have missed the first time around.
PASSAGE VI
Before going down this passage, make sure you've cleared out the other
rooms since you won't be able to go back to them after the next event.
When you step out into the open, the bouncing old man will see you and
run away. When Aeris asks you a question, pick the bottom answer if
you want to return and explore more of the clock puzzle room (NSS), or
choose the top answer if you want to hunt down the old man. To find
him, simply go through the passages; you want to end up going into a
passage that he plans to come out of. You can go down to another set
of passages by going to the left end of each ledge and pressing the O
button to jump down a level. The passage entrances and exits are
random, but you can catch him without too much difficulty. Don't forget
to take the chest lying on the lowest level; there's a pair of Army
Cotton Gloves inside. As usual, beat the old man at his own game and
he'll help you in return:
- Restore HP and MP to maximum
- Save your game
- Nothing
Now that you've caught the old man, the large door on the top level will
open. Go inside and head to the right. You'll encoutner Sephiroth four
times. Up to his usual evil, Sephiroth talks about the energy within
the temple as he as swings his sword around, his every motion trailed by
the double that he made earlier. After disappearing, Cloud will suffer
from some sort of fit (something about the Materia taking over his body?)
After coming to his senses, the party examines a mural on the wall which
shows a meteorite speeding towards the people of the earth. Aeris talks
about the spell 'Meteo' which Sephiroth is planning to cast, when the
party hears Sephiroth's voice. The temple starts to shake, and a large
red dragon appears and attacks the allies.
_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: REDDODORAGON LV: 39 HP: 6800 MP: 300
Slow the dragon and Haste yourself to gain the upper hand. Some Summon
Materia will also even the odds, but don't use Kjata since it will heal
the boss by about 2100 points. Also, Demi won't work against it.
Limit Breaks and physical attacks should do the trick. You'll win a
Dragon Armlet should you win the battle.
_________________________________________________________________________
Pick up the summon materia that's left behind (Bahamut). Then go back
and examine the floating gold object on the dais. Aeris refers to it
as the 'Kuro Materia' (Black Materia) but it's _gold_...in any case,
Aeris will then ask you a question. It doesn't matter which answer
you choose. At this point, if Cait Sith isn't in your party, you'll
here a ringing sound and Cloud will answer the PHS phone. Cait will
talk to him through the phone. If he is in you party, then he starts
hopping around and talking to you. When he finishes, leave this
chamber, let the old man heal you if you need it, then go back to the
clock room. The only direction you can go in is straight up through
passage XII. When you examine the door in the room beyond, yet another
boss appears to finish you off.
_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: DEMONZUGEITO LV: 45 HP: 10000 MP: 400
The bad news is that the boss can hit for lots of damage. The good news
is that most of his attacks (especially the earthquake and body slam
attack) quickly max out your Limit bars. Now's a good time to try out
the Bahamut materia, but most other Summon materia don't do much damage.
Make good use of Aeris's B1/1 and Cloud's B2/2, and you'll want to
Barrier and Haste yourselves. Luckily, this boss can't instantly kill
you as a similar boss in FF2 could. You'll win a Gigas Armlet from
this boss if you're victorious.
_________________________________________________________________________
Once the boss is defeated, Cait Sith will have an animated conversation
with your party. If he's not in your group, then he bursts out of the
door and starts talking. He'll then return to the chamber where the
Black Materia was and take it. Afterwards, the entire temple vanishes!
In the following scene, Cloud and Aeris go down into the foundation
of the temple and retrieve the Black Materia, but Sephiroth shows up
and forces Cloud to give the Materia to him. During this time, you
control a ghostly image of Cloud as a child. If you stand in Cloud's
path and keep talking to him, you'll prevent him from approaching
Sephiroth, but there's no point in doing this since Cloud will continue
to advance until you give up. After Cloud gives Sephiroth the Black
Materia, he will attack Aeris (and you can't do anything about that,
either). Cait Sith will show up (actually Cait Sith 2--the same person,
but with a new robot body since the first one got trashed when the
temple was destroyed. He sure got there fast, huh?) Then your other
party member will leap down and prevent Cloud from killing Aeris.
After what I take to be a dream sequence, you'll awake in, of all
places, the inn at Gongaga Town, with Barret and Tifa by your side.
Answer Barret's question any way you like, then go outside. Tifa and
Barret will join your party, but you don't have to keep them as
permanent members. Look for the Tiny Bronco on the southern shore near
Gongaga Town.
Also, Aeris has left your party for good. However, you'll have all of
her weapons, equipment, accessories and materia in your item menu. Now,
you need to go to the forest that you saw in Cloud's dream. First, get
in the Tiny Bronco.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
e x c a v a t o r s ' s i t e / t h e f o r e s t
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ITEMS IN THIS AREA: 'Summon Kjata' materia, Water Ring.
Make your way up to the Northern Continent by going around the left side
of the Western Continent after going along the river by the Gold Saucer.
Head to the right edge of the continent, where you'll find a forest
surrounded by mountains. In the middle of the forest is a big rib cage
and a large skull. Approach it, and you'll find yourself in a excavation
site where a bunch of archaeologists spend their time digging. Before
doing anything else, you might want to head up the ladder and go through
the hole in the back to reach a forest, the same one from Cloud's dream.
Keep walking until you reach the second forest screen. If you stand here
for a moment, you'll see a red Materia floating on the left side of the
screen. It will switch to the right side and back again every few
seconds. Try to predict where it will show up and use the O button to
grab it. Your reward is the Summon Kjata materia. If you try to
continue through the forest, you'll find that this screen repeats
endlessly. So, go back outside. Before going on to the next part of
the game, you may want to buy some bracelets and items; talk to the
man sitting near the rib cage and pick the second option in order to
buy things from him.
What you need to do at this point in the game is comission one of the
men to dig up the Runahaapu (Luna Harp) for you. As long as you have
it in your possession, you're able to pass through the 'endless'
forest.
- First, talk to the man sitting just outside of the rib-cage room.
Pick the first option twice*. The screen will fade out.
- When the screen fades back in, all the men will be gone. What you
do is choose a place where you want a digger to stand and press the
S button. It costs 100 gil to place a digger. Use the top option
to place a digger, or the bottom option to quit. You can place up
to five diggers.
- You'll quit once you choose the bottom option or after you've placed
five diggers. Now, press the S button to set off an explosion.
You'll hear a music cue, and the diggers will turn in different
directions.
- Stand where you want one of the diggers to search through the night
and press S again after clearing the dialogue box. You'll find
yourself back at the bottom of the screen the next morning. The
treasure chest nearby will be closed, and it may or may not hold an
item, depending on where you chose to dig.
- The key to getting the right item is to watch the diggers after the
explosion occurs. They'll all look toward the location of the item
you need, so try placing them in compass-point style layout so that
you can follow their vision to the place where the item lies. If
you're really stuck, the Runahaapo lies just a little ways to the
west and ever so slightly south of the tent on the upper ledge.
* Normally, the first option is used to dig for the Runahaapu (all
the diggers will look in the direction of the harp). The other
two options are used to dig up other items (the diggers will look
in the direction of the closest item/next item to be found). But
not only do you not have to place diggers in order to find an item,
but you can use any of the three choice to dig up the Runahaapu or
any other item--it's just that the diggers won't look in the correct
direction if you don't use the first option, and you can't use the
first option after obtaining the Runahaapu.
How do you know if you got the right item? Well, it will show up on the
Key Item menu (where the important stuff like the PHS is kept). Also, if
you talk to the digger sitting by the room, and choose the first option
twice, he won't let you select and place diggers. Finally, try going
into the forest. If the screen turns green, then you've got the right
item.
When you've got Runahaapu, go into the forest. When you reach the second
area, the screen changes to a green color, and the forest will no longer
repeat. Beyond the forest is a rocky area. First, go under the tree
trunk to reach the treasure chest with a Water Ring inside. Climb up the
rocks near the pink mass of coral, then go through the fallen trunk and
head north to reach the next area (you can't climb up the vine in the
first area, so ignore it). Walk along the curving path and you'll find
yourself back in the World Map, in the canyon near the forest. Head
straight forward to the top-like object to continue your quest.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
a n c i e n t c i t y
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Magic Source, Aurora Armlet, Comet materia, Guard
Up, Elixir, Enemy Skill materia, Wizard
Brace.
This area looks a lot like the floor of the sea; there's shells and coral
everywhere. At the crossroads, take the left path. It leads to a stone
building--inisde of the building is a Save Point, and there's a chest on
the upper ledge with a Magic Source inside it. Leave the building and
continue past it, following the path east into the rock face. Inside,
go down the stairs and head all the way right to find a chest with an
Aurora Armlet in it. You can check out the blue crystal if you want,
but there's nothing you can do with it at this point in the game. Return
to the crossroads and take the middle path. Enter the shell building and
climb the spiraling walkway to the very to to find a green materia lying
on the ground (Comet). Go back to the crossroads yet again and take
the right road. It leads to an area with several shell buildings. Go
all the way to the right, then go north to enter the building before you.
Climb all the way to the top level. There's a chest here containing a
Guard Source.
There's nothing else to do in this area but enter the last shell house;
your friends won't let you take the path leading out of the city, and
the main path leads to another part of the chamber with the blue crystal,
but there's nothing you can do there. So, if you're ready to proceed,
enter the shell house to the right of the main path. On the ground
floor is a chest holding an Elixir. Take it and climb up the ladder.
When you approach the beds, you'll be given an option. You can choose
the bottom option, grab the yellow materia behind the headboard of the
third bed (Enemy Skill), exit the house, then enter it again,
approach the beds, and choose the top option to go to sleep. Or, you can
just pick the top option the first time around, go to sleep, and when you
wake up in the night, grab the materia (it's easier to see at night, too).
Originally, I though this was a 'bug' materia (don't I feel silly now),
but it's not.
No matter what you decide to do, go to sleep when you're ready to.
You'll wake up in the middle of the night. After Cloud's companions join
him, return to the crossroads a final time and take the middle path again.
When you enter the shell building, the fish floating in the middle of the
spiraling passageway will have disappeared; there are blue steps in it's
place. Go down them and you'll find yourself in an underwater palace.
At the bottom of the stairs, leave the building and take note of the Save
Point before going down both sets of stairs below.
Aeris's here, and you have to get to her by jumping across several
pillars. Press in the direction of the next pillar to get proceed,
but you'll have to use just Cloud; your allies will wait for you back
on the ground. Once you get close to Aeris, Cloud has another spastic
fit and will draw his sword. You can press the controller and the
buttons to make Cloud do different things, but pressing O three times
will make him try to strike Aeris. Luckily, he'll come to his senses
beforehand with some help from his friends, but Sephiroth makes an
appearance and attacks Aeris. After her death, Sephiroth escapes,
leaving behind another monster in his wake.
_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: JENOBA*LIFE LV: 50 HP: 10000 MP: 300
This boss is weak against earth attacks, so use Earth and Titan. Also,
Comet, Bahamut, and Kjata all work very well. Physical attacks do a
surprising amount of damage. The boss will cast Reflect on itself the
first time you cast a spell on it, so be wary about using spells too
often. Jenova*Life's attacks are not that strong (about 400-700 points),
but it has an ultra-deadly blue bubble attack (Aqua Breath) that inflicts
+1500 damage to each character. Be sure to have some Restore Materia
handy. Considering it's the last boss on this disc, this is not a very
hard battle. You'll get a Wizard Bracelet when you win the battle.
_________________________________________________________________________
After beating the boss, there's another FMV sequence, then you're given
the option to save your game. Guess what? You just finished Disc One!