Final Fantasy VII - Part 5 Walkthrough by Keeks @~Continued from last issue 14. Costa Del Sol ------------------ Grab the red Materia (Summon Ifrit) after the battle and wait for the boat to dock. Talk to the people here and then go up the stairs. A short automatic sequence follows. In the next area, go into the door to meet a shady guy who will sell you this room for 300,000 gil; you can sleep here for free anytime you want afterwards. Climb down the stairs in the bottom part of the room to reach a basement with a sleeping man. You can get a Power Up and a Motor Drive here, as well as a Flame Ring from the treasure chest. You'll meet Mukkii (from the cabaret in the Wall Market) in the bar, as well as some of his friends. If you go down to the beach, you'll run into Hojo (the scientist you met in the Shinra HQ). You can talk to him if you want, but you won't get anything out of it. Outside of the town, head through the mountains and across the bridge. You'll find a cave-like entrance. Talk to the man on the hill, then keep heading north. Eventually, you'll reach a walkway that leads to a large Mako furnace. Head south and follow the train tracks; there's no point in looking around here. Keep going, and you'll come across some curving tracks and a Save Point. As you walk along the tracks, you can get the following items: Double Machinegun, Ether Turbo, and a Transform materia. These tracks are rickety, and when you walk across them in certain areas a message will appear telling you to press O so that you don't fall through them. It's better to let yourself fall, because you can then hold left or right and rapidly press O to land beneath the tracks. Then, press Up to climb back up. If you landed on the left side of the tracks, you can pick up a Wizard Rod. If you landed in the middle, you can't get anything, but if you landed on the right side, you'll find a Star Pendant. There are three places where you can fall through the tracks, so be sure to get these items. Take the upper rail path to the next area. Are your friends waiting for you on the lower track? If they're not, then go back and take the lower path. You'll get an option to summon them using the PHS system. Assuming they're there, take the upper path and keep walking until you find a wooden shed. Enter it and pick the top choice when you're prompted to make a decision. This will lower the tracks on the bottom path. Before returning to the lower rail path and following after your allies, you can walk to the end of the path you're on and climb the wall; you'll hear birds chirping if you're in the right place. After finding the nest, you can choose to take the treasure in the nest (the top option), or leave the birds alone (the bottom option). If you choose the top option, you're attacked. Cocatrice LV: 17 HP: 420 MP: 0 This guy's easy; just attack until it dies. You'll get 10 Phoenix Tails should you kill it. You can get two Gold Needles from it; one by stealing, the other by killing it with Metamorphosis. You'll get 10 Phoenix Tails after the battle is over. Cloud will then return to the train tracks. Keep in mind that this is a one-shot deal; whether you decide to take the treasure or not, you can only make a choice one time. As you're travelling along the lower rail path, you'll see a part where the track splits in two directions. Take the left path (the one that turns back). Walk north (towards the bridge), then right (under the first bridge). It may sound confusing, but you'll end up in a little shack where there's a bunch of items and a man resting on a bulldozer. There's a Mind Up and a Power Up here, and the chest has a Tent inside of it. Leave and follow the other path across the bridge in the next area to reach the town of North Corel. 15. Gold Saucer ---------------- There's some merchants here at North Corel and an inn. You can also learn more about Barett here, whether he's in your party or not. When you're done shopping and chatting, go to the sky lift. After Barett has a flashback about his friend Dyne, take the lift up to the Gold Saucer. You can return to the World Map by heading right from the bottom area of the town, but there's nothing to do out there (aside from saving your game or riding around on a Chocobo). You'll see a Save Point in the background of the first area of the Gold Saucer, but you'll need GP (not gil, like what you've been using) to activate it. Pay the man to get in (the first choice is for a one-time entrance, the second choice will let you enter as often as you'd like), and then choose the path of your choice after your companions separate. If you try to leave the Station Square (the area where you're at; all the areas in the Saucer are divided into 'squares'), Aeris will join you. As you explore the rest of the Gold Saucer, you'll discover that Shinra soldiers are snooping around, looking for Sephiroth. When you're ready to move on, go to the Wonder Square. Here, you'll meet Cait Sith, a would-be fortuneteller. He'll automatically join you since you only have two members (you and your friend) at this point. Go to the Battle Square and you'll find a bunch of dead bodies; the handywork of Sephiroth. As you're talking to the few who are still alive, Dio, the proprietor of the Gold Saucer shows up and promptly blames you for the carnage. Cait Sith makes a dash for freedom, but after following him, the party is trapped. Dio and his henchmen then summon three large robots that throw you and your allies through the 'Gateway to Heaven' to a desolate area, the Corel Prison, which lies at the base of the Gold Saucer. Here, you'll find Barett. After he runs away, examine the dead body and talk to the other guy before going though the southern gate. There is a treasure chest here (in the chamber at the base of the ladder), but it's already opened (anyone know if there's supposed to be something in it that you could have gotten earlier?) In the second area, talk to everyone here. The building to the far southeast is a bar, and a man inside will sell you items. After looking around here, enter the building to the east (it doesn't matter which entrance you take). Barett will show up once you're inside, as will Tifa and Aeris. After Barett's flashback (in which his best friend falls down a gorge and North Corel is razed to the ground), reassemble your team and go back to the first area. Examine the guard (who is dead), then either leave through the gate. If you exit by going through the area between the gate and the building to the right, you'll end up wandering around in a wasteland until a caravan (the same one that Tifa was captured in) shows up. When it does, pick the top option to get a ride back to the area beyond the gate or choose the bottom option to stay where you are (in the middle of nowhere...you'll have to keep wandering around until the caravan shows up again). Anyway, once you've gone past the gate, talk to the man out here and go to the _right_. Any other direction leaves you stranded in the desert (read the above paragraph again if you want to get back on track). This takes you to the caryard. Go up from here and you'll run into none other than Dyne (the guy from Barett's flashback). He tells Barett about Eleanor and Marlene (who is actually his daughter), then (for what reason, I have no idea), decides to attack Barett. In the battle, you're forced to fight using just Barett. Dyne LV: 23 HP: 1200 MP: 20 The easiest way to kill this boss is simply let him hit you; his attacks increase your Limit meter quickly. Use the Restore Materia to restore lost life, then hit him with the Big Shot when your meter maxes out. A summoning Materia (like Shiva or Ifrit) is also a good way to inflict added damage. Just make sure you have all the MPs you need, and you can win in no time. The boss can pull off a final attack before dying, so keep your life up (but he can't do it if you kill him fast enough). You get a Silver Bracelet for beating him. After Barett's friend dies, you'll find yourself back in the trailer. After talking to Kooshi , you'll be invited to become a Chocobo racer. In the elevator shaft, choose the top option to have the racing process explained to you , or pick the bottom one to skip it. In the room with the other men, check the alcove by the Chocobo poster for a red Summon Materia (Ramuh). Then, talk to the girl in pink (Esuto) to start racing. The more you Dash, the slower your walking speed is, so conserve your Dash Meter for when you really need it. You have to keep racing until you win, so get good fast! Esuto will explain the controls to you again prior to the race if you choose the top option, or you can conclude your conversation with her and start racing by choosing the bottom option. If you can't get the hang of it, then just keep racing using the Automatic Sequence mode until you get first place. After winning, you'll receive the Buggy as first prize, and can now roam freely about the overworld and even pass through shallow rivers! (Look for lighter-shaded fords along the rivers.) Your controls are set up in the following manner: You _can_ run into enemies in the buggy, so be careful. Also, you can only return to the Golden Saucer if you take the sky lift from North Corel Town; you can't get there using the buggy. If you go across the river south from the Golden Saucer and look around, you'll find a house on a peninsula; you can't explore it yet, so ignore it for now. BTW, you can return to the desert if you get in the buggy, enter the dirt pit surrounding the Saucer, and touch the houses at the base of the Saucer. However, you'll find that there's nothing to do here but wander through the desert -- do so long enough and the same cart that Tifa was abducted in will pull up and offer you a ride back to your vehicle. Choose the top option to accept and the bottom option to stay where you are. And as the help menu indicates, it's possible to return to Junon Town and take the Buggy with you. After you've completed the scenario with Cid, you can explore the house on the peninsula; you can also get Aeris's Level 4 Limit Break manual at that point in the game. @~More next issue - o -