Final Fantasy VII - Part 13 Supplied by Keeks Continued from Issue 75 7. Condor Fort -------------- (Remember, you can do this before or after the North Corel Huge Materia quest; it's your choice). Pop into the Highwind and fly back to the blue tower with the big gold bird on it (read section 12 disk 1 if you don't remember where it was). Enter it, and climb to the top of the tower. Talk to the man in the room with the locked door. Choose the middle option, and you'll get to play a mini-game. While you can play this game at an early point in your quest, (at least, I could swear that I played it in Disc 1 once) you'll have to play and win if you want the game to progress once you reach Disc Two. What's written here are brief instructions and a simple strategy for winning; the game relies heavily on instructions which I (of course) can't understand. The object of the game is to prevent the enemy from taking your land (this is indicated by a pink bar to the left of the screen), and to wipe your foes out before they finish you off. Your guys are blue; the enemy's force is red. In the beginning, you'll be in control of a cursor and there are no enemies on the screen. You can use this time to place your allies before the battle begins (while you can place icons during the battle, it's easier to start off right now). You can only set people as far as the red line; if you can't place a person, a red X appears over the hand cursor. Placing icons costs money (gil). Remember, you can't place bad guys! The types and statistics of each icon (good and bad) are as follows: STATS. OF THE GOOD GUYS _______________________ NAME HP ATTACK RANGE COST STRONG/ WEAK Vs (Boulder) 100 20 1~4 480 n/a (Triple Boulder) 150 30 1~5 1000 n/a (Catapult) 100 18 1~5 480 n/a (Fire Catapult) 120 25 1~6 600 n/a Fighter 200 30 1 400 n/a Attacker 180 25 1 420 Beast / Barbarian Defender 220 35 1 440 Barbarian / Wyvern Shooter 160 20 1~3 520 Wyvern / Beast Repairer 160 10 1 480 n/a Worker 160 15 1 400 n/a STATS. OF THE BAD GUYS ______________________ NAME HP STRONG AND WEAK AGAINST Beast 230 Shooters / Attackers Wyvern* 190 Defenders / Shooters Barbarian 100 Attackers / Defenders Commander 250 ??? * These guys can fly over obstacles, giving them more range. The bad part about all this is that it cost real money (your money!) to play this game. So it's best that you stock up on gil before playing this game. To buy an icon, use the controller to select them and press Ok. Then choose where you want to place one and press O again. If you're placing a (Fire) Catapult or (Triple) Boulder, then you'll see a red circle or wedge-shape when you place them; this indicates their line of fire. Use the Control Pad to choose how you want them to aim their attack. When you're ready, press X and choose the top option. The battle begins! Your controls work like this: Ok Accept a command. Place the cursor over a character and place this button and you'll be given an option; see the list of icons to see what options are available. Cancel Decline a command Page Up Decrease the speed of the battle Page Down Increase the speed of the battle Start Pause/unpause the game Select Show/hide instruction screen (big help, that one....) Every time one of your icons finishes walking, enters battle, or is killed, you will be asked if you want to go to their location/give them a new command (if they died, it asks if you want to place a new one). Press Ok to accept, or Cancel to decline. ICON OPTIONS (Please note that the option names are made up and not the exact ones: equivalent). (Boulder) TOP OPTION - RANGE CHANGE. You can (Triple Boulder) redirect either type of droppers' line of fire. BOTTOM OPTION - DISMANTLE. The dropper is destroyed. (Catapult) TOP OPTION - RANGE CHANGE. You can (Fire Catapult) redirect either type of catapult's line of fire. BOTTOM OPTION - DISMANTLE. The catapult is destroyed. Fighters OPTION - WALK. Pick where you want any Defenders of the three icons to move to and press O. Shooters If they can't walk to a certain location, an X appears over the cursor. Repairer OPTION - WALK. Works just like the WALK command explained above. If you make a Repairer walk near a damaged Catapult, Fire Catapult, Boulder, or Triple Boulder, he can repair them (give them back HPs). These guys can automatically fight, too. Worker TOP OPTION - WALK. Works just like the WALK command explained above. BOTTOM OPTION - BOMB. Creates a bomb that explodes when enemies approach. The 'Dismantle' command for the catapults and droppers may seem useless, but once an enemy force has passed beyond the range of one of these icons, they are useless. To free up space for more icons, (you can only have 20 at a time, remember?) you'll want to use this ability. Basically, the battle is fairly automatic. People attack when close, the catapults and droppers fire continuously. All you have to do is move, replenish, and place new members. The battle ends when the 'land taken' meter maxes out (i.e. they reach the little brown hut) or you win the battle by destroying all the enemies. Including the boss who shows up when most of the enemy force is defeated, there are about 40 enemies in total, who climb up the screen in a more or less steady, continuous wave. If you've played FF3, this feels a little like those 'mass-crazy-fight-till-you drop battles', but without the rush of adrenaline that usually accompanies such a fight. STRATEGY Hope you have some money. Start by placing Triple Boulders at the top of each path and angle their line of fire to follow the path (that's 4). Then, buy another one and place it at the main junction and make it fire straight forward. Now, purchase four Fire Catapults and place them at the bottom of the paths, as close to the red line as you can. Angle their line of fire to hit where the Triple Boulders can't. If you can spare the gil, place two more just a little ways south and to either side from the main Triple Boulder for added protection. Still with me? Place some Defenders and Attackers down at the bottom, then place a whole bunch of Fighters, Attackers, and Defenders at the top of the screen. Last, stick in some Shooters in hard-to-reach areas where they can pelt the enemy. As your instalments are destroyed/killed, all you have to do is place new ones. If you have a _lot_ of cash, then just go crazy with the Triple Boulders and keep placing new ones (since they'll instantly fire). If the enemy gains too much ground, start amassing forces of Defenders and Attackers to take your opponents out and defend your installations. The boss is easy to kill since he's slow and shows up when there's not a lot of people left (leaving him all buy himself). Just gang up on him with Defenders and Fighters, and if you've placed them earlier, try to steer him towards the Bombs that the Workers can lay. Or if you are lazy and a cheap skate you can wait until the enemies reach the top of the screen and enter a battle which you can easily win. It is a much simpler, cheaper and quicker way to win. When you win, you can open the sealed door. On the rooftop is a red materia (Summon Phoenix), and if you talk to the man in white wearing the large hat in the lower room, you get a Huge Materia. For a condor's baby, that bird sure looks like a Chocobo if you ask me.... 8. Inside Cloud's Head ---------------------- Head back to the village on the Southern Continent where you left Tifa and Cloud behind. When you talk to Tifa, the screen will start to shake. Go outside, and you'll be attacked by a huge black dragon. Ultima Weapon (you can't see his stats.) This boss has only two attacks, Quake, and the Ultima Beam. He's pretty easy to beat, so just keep summoning your best monsters and use physical attacks to deal out damage. After you've injured it enough, it will fly away. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The next scene with Tifa and Cloud is so funny! They're puffy and superdeformed, and well let's just say any sense of danger or surprise at this sudden attack is forgotten once you see their wide- eyed faces as they escape the crumbling village. After Tifa and Cloud take a dive, you'll find yourself playing with Tifa, who's in a strange world filled with Cloud's memories. First, talk to the northmost Cloud. You'll head into his memories of the trip he took to that one town near the Jenova plant with Sephiroth. When Cloud shows up, speak to him again. When you reach the 'centre' of Cloud's mind again, speak to the Cloud on the left. Once you're in control of Tifa, converse with the Cloud sitting on the steps to the right (near the 'kid' Cloud). Then talk to the 'kid' Cloud and look in the window. When you can move Tifa, talk to the 'shadow' Cloud. Once you're back in Cloud's mind talk to the 'real' Cloud and go back to the town area again. Everything else unfolds by itself (you can go to the Main Menu during the burning of Nivelheim--again!) At the end, speak with Cloud one last time, and you'll return to the 'real' world. 9. 1000 Leagues under the Sea ----------------------------- Back at the airship, prepare a new team and take control of the Highwind. You can buy goods that weren't available before back in Mideel, and you'll want to get the Sealed Off materia orb at some point. To get it, climb up the slope on the west side of town to where the hyperactive kid is running around (remember him?) Talk to his White Chocobo and pick the first option (make sure you have at least one Mimetto Vegetable on you). When a list of six options appear, pick the fifth one from the top. The chocobo will then reveal the Sealed Off materia, which you can take. Furthermore, if you went into each store in Mideel and talked to the hyperactive kid in each one, he will now be selling all the items that you could normally buy there! However, if you didn't go into any of the shops, or only talked to him in one shop or two shops, then he will only be selling items from those stores or will be selling nothing at all. Also, at this point in the game, the man who lost his keys will appear outside Midgar City, enabling you to get the Key to Midgar City, among other things. You might want to take some time now to breed Chocobos, do some shopping, or maybe have some fun at the Gold Saucer (since you can now get in with Cloud in your party). Whenever you're ready to proceed with the game, head to Junon Town for the third Huge Materia quest (you can't do the fourth one until later). Head into the center of Junon, and go down the main road (you'll see a scene with Cloud inspecting the damage that the Weapon inflicted on the town earlier). Keep walking until you arrive at the gray underpassage where a commander is drilling his men. He will order his men to run away when he sees you. Continue down the passage until you see a door labeled '1' against the left wall. Enter it, and you'll find yourself in an elevator. Two guards in here will attack you; dispatch them and let the lady take you down to the bottom of the elevator shaft. When you step out, you'll be attacked by more Shin-Ra soldiers. Ignore the dog and go down the slope, then through the door. In the next room, head down the set of stairs until you reach another door. Past it is yet another set of stairs, and at the bottom is a Save Point. Go through the door here to reach a second lift which takes you to the bottom of the sea floor. Head north until you reach the underwater tunnel, and follow it until you arrive at the Mako plant. Inside, examine the red light on the far wall to pump water out of the chamber. Step outside and you'll find yourself in a huge undersea dock where several subMarlenees are sitting. Go along the walkway--it leads to a hall with a Save Point. Walk north from here to arrive at a room filled with guards. If you talk to the guard who's walking around, he'll attack you. You'll then fight the two other guards by the opening in a second battle. If you don't talk to the walking guard, then all three will ambush you. However, if you let yourself get ambushed, you won't have to fight the second set of soldiers by the other opening. Decide what you want to do (fun, isn't it?) and fight the guards accordingly. Then go through the opening to your right to find a chamber full of machinery. Cloud will automatically stop in front of one of the machines as you walk past it. When you can control him again, head to the right to see the Red Huge Materia being loaded onto a Shin-Ra subMarlenee. Reno of the Turks is here, and he'll summon a mechanical freak to take you out while he makes a hasty retreat. Carry Armor LV: 45 HP: 24000 MP: 200 Right Arm LV: 45 HP: 10000 MP: 100 Left Arm LV: 45 HP: 10000 MP: 200 (all weak vs. lightning) This boss is composed of three parts. It can imprison two of your characters in his arms, and they receive 1/3 the amount of damage that it receives from your attacks. However, since it has three parts, if you're making an attack that hits more than once, your ally gets struck twice or even three times! Furthermore, if the third character is killed while the other two are imprisoned, the battle is instantly lost. Destroying its arms should be your top priority, but the arms rotate and switch sides when they are hit, so adjust your attacks accordingly. Summoning spells and enemy skills work well here. The boss's attacks are not so strong, but they come quickly. The worst one is the Lapis Laser that strikes all members for +1600 damage. BTW, the only way to free a character is to destroy the arm that's holding them, or have him or her die. This makes the Phoenix summon very useful if you just freed a friend and want to revive and attack at the same time. You'll get the God Hand weapon when you kill it and both arms. ----------------------------------------------------------------- With the Carry Armor out of the way, head to the left to find a chest with the Battle Trumpet inside it. Then go back to the right and run along the pier until you reach gray subMarlenee. Open the chest by the stairs to get the Scimitar. To the left of that chest is a chest holding a Key Item: the Leviation Scales. You'll need it later so be sure to pick it up. Go up the stairs to find a bunch of soldiers running around in place (ha!) who will fight you. Cloud will then enter the subMarlenee and be ambushed by three soldiers. You may win a set of 'Shin-Ra Relaxed Form Defense Tool' armor from the guards, but it's not that great. Anyway, there's a Save Point here, and when you're done using it, head through the northern door to reach the bridge of the subMarlenee. Here, you'll meet two guards and their scared-as-hell commander. You can either choose the bottom option and let them live, or you can pick the top option and kill them. You can steal the 'Shin-Ra Armor Type Defend Tool Reform' (_very_ strong armor) from the captain if you choose to fight. Whatever your choice, examine the captain's seat when you're able to and you'll be given three options. Pick the second one to climb into the chair. From there, pick the top option to see a description of the sub controls, or the bottom option to start up the sub and enter the subMarlenee mini-game (explained below). Your controls on the subMarlenee are: Switch Shoot torpedoes (only when you're near an enemy craft) Cancel Backward thrust Menu Forward thrust Cursors(L/R) Move left/right or descend/raise Page Up Switch between close-up or bird's eye view Page down Switch between near, overhead, or cockpit view Start Pause; show control screen The walls of the ocean floor are shown in blue, and there are diamond- shaped mines that are invisible until you get close. You can tell how far they are from the floor by the red columns beneath them. The purpose of this 'mini-game' is to destroy the main Shinra sub (red) in the time allotted, although you can kill some of the ten yellow subMarlenees if you want to. During the mission, the following warnings will appear: WARNING When an enemy sub is approaching ALERT When an enemy sub is firing MINE You are about to run into a mine CONFLICT The sub cannot move because you are steering it against/along a rock face You lose the game if one of two things happen; time runs out (you have 10 minutes to destroy the subMarlenee), or if your life bar (which is represented by the red/green bar at the bottom of the screen) is depleted as a result of being hit by missiles, crashing into the walls or floor once too often, or ramming another sub. If you win, then the subMarlenee you're in is automatically piloted to shore. If you mess up, your characters will jettison themselves from the sub. Either way, you'll learn that a Huge Materia is being transported from the Junon Airport. You can go there (it's the same place where the Highwind was docked) to see some FMV of the plane taking off, or not (it's optional). At this point in the game, you have two options available to you. You can either sneak back into Junon and get yourself another subMarlenee, or you can go to Rocket Town and do the fourth and final Huge Materia quest. If you already have a subMarlenee, then you can do some underwater exploring or do the last Huge Materia quest (refer to section 3j for the former and section 3k for the latter). If you need to get a second subMarlenee, then keep reading. Go back into the main part of Junon Town and work your way back to the gray hallway, down the elevator with the woman, and to the room with the guards, a dog, and the sloping floor. Beat the guards and examine the dog. When he moves aside, follow him and examine him again. Choose the top option, and you'll enter the red Shinra subMarlenee. When the guards show up, choose the top option to let them go, or the bottom option to fight them. In the cockpit room, choose the top option to save the commander, or the bottom option to fight him and his men. Either way, you still get to pilot the sub. Note that if you got the gray sub, you can't go through here and get the red sub. More next issue - o -