Complete! Final Fantasy VII as played by Doomguy

The old man of this place whom Nanaki refers to as "grandpa" has something neat to show me.

Spoiler

Here in Cosmos Canyon they study the planet. The results is something we probably already know. The planet relies on "Spiritual energy" to sustain itself but the Mako reactors or stealing it. All life is suppose to go back to the "lifestream" and is born from it. Long story short, the planet is dying.

The party gathers around the campfire to discuss the next plan. Some soul searching occurs. Barret vows to renew his group of AVALANCHE, Aeris feels the pressure of being the last Cetra, Tifa wonders if Cloud is really Cloud (huh?), and Nanaki is angry at his cowardly father. Well the old man takes issues with that.

Spoiler

He tells the group to gather form up, he has something to show Nanaki but it's dangerous. I sense a dungeon coming up. MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU GO TO THE SHOP NEAR THE DOOR. They sell materia you can't find anywhere else. Talk twice to the shopkeeper, he's sleeping on the job.

Spoiler

Seriously? Short 76 gil?​

​

If I recall correctly everyone will hit the HP cap at certain levels so that one isn't all that important. No one will naturally hit the MP cap except for maybe one character. Don't quite remember who. When the materia levels up the percentage bonus will go up with it to a maximum of 50%. Nothing is better then spamming high level spells without worrying about running out of magic. Late game magic cost can go up to 100. Better have the MP up. Later on there's materia that could boost your other stats like Magic power and Physical Power. Good stuff.

Okay so I get rolling. I go into the cave and fight a whole boatload of random battles. Well I got my gil now...
Enemies like to spam a death move that has a countdown. Should be able to take them out before you expire. You might want to conserve magic, I couldn't find a save point before being thrust before the boss of this place.

Spoiler

You can beat this guy with "holy" element spells. For this guy in particular he is vulnerable to your healing spells and items. You can 1HKO by using an X-potion (not recommended, that's a waste), 1HKO by a phoenix down or revive spell (misses way too often), spam Cure 2 for over 900 dmg (my method), or just fight him normal (and get owned as he possesses your party and turns them against you.

This guy is tough the non-cheese way so I can't blame you if you get cheap. Especially if your low on magic at this point.

So after dealing with the zombie we witness a scene where Nanaki see's that his father did in fact do his duty and protected Cosmo Canyon from the Gi Tribe. On top of the cliffs lies Seto, Nanaki's father who was petrified by the Gi's arrows in defense of the canyon. We leave Nanaki alone with his petrified father, he needs the time alone. Talking with his grandpa, they come to the understanding that even if the fight to save the planet is a futile one, they have to at least try. Nanaki decides to fight with our party and help save the planet. I guess that means he's a permanent party member now!

Oh and the buggy is working now so I can finally leave. I see what you did there game.

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I'm noticing this game has a lot of little translation errors. Nothing major, they are usually hard to spot unless you read word for word. Since I'm doing a screenshot on interesting moments I'm being a little more careful on not to skim over parts. This part had a disappointing lack of screenshots. I really wanted to get out of here so forgive my haste.

 

My memory of this game get's a little foggy here, I'm having trouble remembering what's next.

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Oh that's right, we encounter Cloud's old hometown that was "burned" down by Sephiroth.

Spoiler

Hmm, looks fine to me. When I talk to the people here they completely contradict what Cloud says, saying this town was never burned down. Going into Tifa's house clears away this suspicious circumstance.

Spoiler

Just like the Shinra to hide it's accidents. There's some creepy black capped people walking around with numbered tattoos muttering about the great Sephiroth. One of them tells me he's nearby.

Spoiler

Finally progess! I go into the Shinra mansion. Now there's a secret here to get a new character which I highly recommend doing. It helps expand the plot line too so quite frankly this should have been mandatory. Unfortanately the means to get him is a colloasal pain in the ass. Hidden throughout the mansion are various codes to access the safe that holds the key to the basement door.

Screw that, I'll just look up the code on the internet right? Well I have only 20 seconds input four codes and I must be absolutely precise, much like a real life safe would be. The nature of the emulator and the uneven analog controls of my controller made this much harder then it should.
Well I kept trying and finally opened the safe where the game throws the hardest boss at me yet, Missing Number.

The first half of the battle he's not too bad. Once the second half kicks in however he starts to pound you for over 1,000 dmg! That's over my HP at this point in the game! The secret is either using Aeris's limit break move Seal Evil, or use the Choco\Mog summon to inflict stop on the boss. Make sure to save that summon for the END of the fight when the boss changes form. You will need it.

I got a game over on this guy so that's my first real death for the game. I beat him the second time and for my efforts I net the useful "Odin" summon. Now I have the chance to inflict KO moves on the enemy. I also get the key to the basement door. What's behind the door?

Spoiler

I hereby declare that the wife get's custody of the kids​

​

Vincent tells us some interesting information about Sephiroth. Apparently Jenova is not Sephiroth mother. Vincent is vague but we can infer that Sephiroth was born from a regular women who may have altered him in some way. A scientific experiment before even being born. This Shinra guys are pretty messed up. Anyway we can't convince Vincent to leave his coffin just yet, so we leave him for now to go to the library where we see...

Spoiler

Sephiroth says something called the "Reunion" is about to arrive and that we should meet him there. We don't know what crazy things he's going on about but that's what we got to do. Sephi flies away again so we give chase. Oh and there's some interesting information in the library at the end of this room. Anyone who played the game before might notice that it refers to the two "subjects" that escaped Nibelhiem 5 years ago :hint:hint:wink:wink:

On the way out of the mansion Vincent joins the party in order to confront Hojo. Honestly this should have been a requirement in this game instead of a bonus character. I missed him the first playthrough (and Yuffie too :/)

I save and quit here.

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I wish I have more materia slots, I have many materia now but I can't fit them all. I'll post the stuff I'm using later.

 

As promised, A screenshot heavy post because I know you guys love them! (And Cid is a quote machine)

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Mt. Nibel has a few secret paths going up. It's a little hard to see, make sure to pick up the new sword for Cloud and Red XIII.

Spoiler

I'm a tiny pixel​

​

Moving along I find this little area with a series of tubes leading to the bottom. In my brilliance I completely forget to lower the ladder in order to climb back up.

Spoiler

DAMN!​

​

Well that's just great. I can't go back up and get the items in this room. Being too lazy to load up a previous save I continue on and face another tough boss fight.

Spoiler

This guy is vulnerable to the Bio spell. It shaves off 200 dmg on each of his turns so consider using it. Also If you have the enemy skill materia you finally have a chance to get a pretty good move called "Trine". It hits for electrical dmg on all enemies. It's basically Ramuh in a can. You must get hit by this move in order to learn it. The boss seems to use it at a certain point in his HP.

After dealing with him (and using up quite a few phoenix downs) I leave this cave area and get out in the world map. Keeping in mind that Sephiroth was heading north I go up.

I wander into this town that has a rocket sticking out of it.

Spoiler

The Leaning Tower of Pisa​

​

This town (we'll just call it Rocket Town) is the birth place of Shinra's old space program. I'm almost glad that I don't have to upgrade my equipment at this point. The equips here are a gun for Vincent, some expensive materia which I don't have room for, and defense oriented armor that doesn't increase my materia capacity anyway. My rpg motto is "Attack is the best defense" and quite frankly I rather save my gil for weapons. I have cure 2 for a reason. Anyway that's just me. One of the houses has a plane in the backyard but I need the Captain's permission to use it. I head over to the rocket to find him inside.

Spoiler

I talk to him a little about the rocket. It seems Cid was suppose to be the first man in space but an accident and then budget cuts slashed his dreams apart. Now Cid spends his day's idling away hoping against hope that the Shinra will restart the space program.

We head to his home where he offers us some tea.

Spoiler

Best host ever​

​

Cid head out back to tune up the Tiny Bronco, his airplane. Shera, the women who hangs around Cid's place tells us about the accident with the rocket. Apparently she was the one responsible for the failed launch. Back then she stayed inside the rocket room engines to do a last second check on the oxygen tanks. She wasn't satisfied about the results and wanted to make sure. The launch however was already on the way with it's countdown and Cid had to make a last ditch effort to abort the launch in order to not fry Shera in the engine room

Spoiler

The engines cut off right after lifting the rocket off the ground a bit causing the rocket to crash back down and tilt in one direction. Shera owes Cid her life and is willing to put up with whatever abuse he has towards her. Today apparently is a very stressful day as the president of Shinra, Rufus, is scheduled to appear. Cid wonders if it's about the space program.

And then the Shinra appear.

Spoiler

Don't call me fat!​

​

Palmer tells Cid the president is outside. Also Palmer doesn't quite recognize us yet because the tea is more important.

Spoiler

Would you want a heart attack with that?​

​

We go outside and see that Cid's dreams of flying into space with the new president is a no go. The only thing Rufus wants is the plane Cid has in order to find Sephiroth.

Spoiler

Looks like Rufus is stalling for time, Palmar who is back in the house attempts to steal the plane so we rush back to stop him. Boss fight!

Spoiler

Oh no he didn't​

​

Guy's not that tough. I beat the lard right out of him and then he amusingly get's hit by a random Shinra truck at the end of the boss battle. The plane however is moving by itself so we hop on to escape. After whirling around we fly by Cid who hops on with us. The Shinra soldiers attempt to shoot down the plane and hit the tail. Brace for impact!

Spoiler

Don't open that drawer!​

​

We crash in the water but we can use the broken plane as a makeshift boat. You can't go into deep water so you have to stay close to shore. Since we're out of reach of the Shinra now is the time for our next course of action. Cid says Rufus was saying that Sephiroth is looking for something called the Temple of Ancients and that they were going the wrong way. That means going west is probably the wrong direction but Yuffie says we should check it out. Oh and Cid decides to join the party because...why not? It's not like he has any love for the Shinra either.

I now have the option to continue the story line and find the temple of Ancients. Or I could check out the western continent. I'm going west first, might as well get that place over with now. I hope it's not too hard (doubt it).

 

Hahaha...NO. Forget that idea, I don't have enough healing items to save me from the part I don't have materia. I'll come back later, for now I head east!

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I don't really know where to go but I do find this little place called Bone Town. The residents tell me where to go.

Spoiler

They also tell me something called the Keystone is needed for the Temple. Apparently some rich guy has one. I travel all the way east then go all the way south, then go west once again. This will take me the closest to the Golden Saucer. Along the way I see a little house where the guy there tells me he sold the Keystone to Dio of the Golden Saucer. I almost panic here when I realized I may need the dune buggy to cross the desert but skirting near the edges on the way north will take you back to Barret's old hometown. From there I could take the tram to the Golden Saucer.

I wish the town names were on the world map, only prior experience got me to remember where to go.

Inside the Golden Saucer you can find Dio's trophy room which has...

Spoiler

I got veto powers!​

​

Unfortunately Dio walks in and tells me the only way he'll give it to us is to "entertain" him. I don't like the sound of that.
Thankfully it's pretty easy, we only have to fight a battle in the coliseum. I did two battles and got bored so I called it quits. Since we did what Dio wanted he gives us the Keystone (even if I half-assed the battles)

My memory fails me here, I was convinced I was suppose to go on the date scene but I wander around the place trying to trigger it. Well it triggers when you try to leave the Golden Saucer. The attendant tells me the tram back down is broken. Well that's just great. Good thing for us Cait Sith has some pull in this place and get's us a free reservation at the hotel. Alright then, I just wish the save point was free :/

At the hotel Cloud repeats the story for the newcomers in our party. Oh and for Barret too.

Spoiler

The usual repeats, the only new tidbit of information regards the Black Materia.

Spoiler

It's suppose to be this big bad destructive materia. Well we certainly can't let Sephiroth get a hold of that. Also about those black capped men. There seems to be numerous one's around that I've been encountering. They are marked by numbered tattoos. Hojo may have his hand on this. Regardless our priority is to find the temple before everyone else.

Everyone calls it a night but I'm awakened by none other then...

Spoiler

It's about damn time​

​

I was aiming for Yuffie or Barret, that's what I get when I do this without a walkthrough. You can influence this choice by little choices through out the storyline.

So I head out to the station and my luck does not end.

Spoiler

Save points not included​

​

The first event I go to is a play for couples. Of course I'm the "lucky 100 visitor" and get the main role with Aeris. I proceed to botch the play by telling the dragon to destroy the knight. Aeris get's mad and punches out the dragon despite being a captive. Well that was an amusing diversion. Next up I go up to the gondola.

Spoiler

Nothing particularly interesting happens here (I remember the Tifa date had some substance). In the end Aeris does say that she want's to "meet Cloud". But he's right in front of her? Hmm.

Well we end the date and head back to the hotel for some fun time. Oh wait what's this?

Spoiler

Damn you Cait Sith. Damn you.​

​

He runs away from us and we give chase around the Golden Saucer. At the end of the chase we see that Cait Sith has the Keystone in hand, tossing it over to some Shinra helicopter who takes off. This is betrayal!

Spoiler

It get's worse, Cait Sith insists on staying on the party. His real body is somewhere else and he's holding Marlene hostage. It seems we have to do what he says. For now he insists on keeping the status quo, get to the temple and stop Sephiroth. We can't trust him but we have no choice.

I finally leave this place and save. Next stop, the Ancient Temple.[/spoiler]

 

I've been pretty sick. This one is going to be a short one. Also make ABSOLUTELY sure to have a save point outside the temple. Once inside there is no way to go back out in case you need to level up. I suppose you could level up inside but... better safe then sorry. It's a good habit to have two saves anyway.

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I go south to where my aircraft\boat is and set off to where I think the temple is. It's in a jungle sticking out near the tip of the continent to the south\east from here.
So heading inside we find another one of those creepy black capped people

Spoiler

I go inside the temple where we immediately see Tseng from the Turks. If you remember the Turks are the guys who were after Aeris and the promise land. They also have the keystone. Tseng is in no condition to fight. Actually he tells us the whole thing is a farce, the promise land is not what we think it is. He gives us back the keystone so we can see for ourselves.

Spoiler

Putting the key in causes us to fall through the floor. Now we have to explore the inside of this temple. It looks like a series of staiways and tunnels. Also some weird looking people are here. Let's see what they have to say.

Spoiler

Nub nub​

​

Clearly must be a cousin of the Ewoks. Also who remembers the classic nonremastered ending?

Anyway Aeris says these guys are spirits who have lost the ability to speak. They are tasked to watch over this temple. She senses that they are scared of something, that there is a great evil in the air.

So we keep exploring until we find a cave with a pool in it. From this pool we can see what those Ewok guys are trying to say.

Spoiler

Sephi is in the temple and is up to no good. It seems he can teleport around almost at will and every person he kills "returns to the planet" so he can gather their energy and become "one" with him. Sephi briefly tells Tseng that he can gather all that energy for himself and become one with the planet. Well that's obviously not good. Cloud says we should find that room where they were at. I continue off in this place.

The next section is this room with a giant clock in the middle. I'm suppose to move the minute and hour hand so I can go to the open doorways (I-XII).

Surprise!

Spoiler

What happened? Well there's two enemies hiding inside a chest with a whole bunch of eyes that one hit KO my characters one by one. I wasn't paying attention enough.
:sigh:
I need a break. I'll continue this later.

 

Wow you've gotten far since last time I stopped around here. Every time I restart this game I always seem to crap out about a third of the way through. I really want to play it from start to finish again though. I'm surprised you aren't playing with mods however. With the PC version at my disposal, fixing those atrocious box-hand models and restoring the PSX music are mandatory adjustments.

 

I'm playing through the epsxe emulator. Nice mention of the PC port, I remember trying out that version a long time ago. Yeah there were some mods for that If I remember, even some kind of "play as Sephiroth" mode. For the lolz of course. I don't think it get save states though. Yeah I needed save states for this play through...

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Loading back from my gameover I do everything all over again until I get to the enemy that killed me.

Spoiler

Not only does he have a move which shaves off all my health but he has a move that does the same to your magic points. Just unleash everything you have on him, you can refill your MP for free in this temple.
Make sure to go through all the doorways in the clock room. Once your done I decided to get knocked of the clock on purpose in order to fight these guys.

Spoiler

Oh hell were these guys hard. I died TWICE. Good thing I decided to be cheap and used save states this time
I'm getting a little nervous about the final boss of this place, I remembered him as hard before and I'm afraid I'm underlevel.
So we go south from the clock room (the #6 room) and get a little minigame where we have to capture the spirit ewok guy so we can get the key. Simple enough, I heal my health and go into the locked door.

Inside we find the room with the murals on the walls. And of course, Sephi is here. Aeris and the party ask him what he's planning, what is he doing. Sephiroth answers.

Spoiler

Someone wants to be God. That's not all, in order to gather all that energy the planet needs to be "wounded" so Sephi is in the middle of the healing process. What could possibly cause a wound to the planet that would cause all that energy?

Spoiler

The Egyptians were on to something​

Sephiroth disappears while we go check out the murals. Now things get weird as Cloud has a bit of a "moment" where he losses consciousness. We've seen hints of Cloud blacking out before but this time it looks pretty serious. When he comes to he seems to forget that he was just talking gibberish like one of those black capped men who serve Sephiroth. Hmm.

On the wall we see what Sephiroth was referring to as Meteor.

Spoiler

Not soon after a boss appears. Is it Sephi? Nope some dragon dude, he's kind of hard but I deal with him. He leaves behind the Bahumet materia, a very kickass summon you'll be using for the rest of the game.

I go back to that object at the end of the room. Aeris hears the voices again and tells us the object is a model of the Black Materia needed to summon Meteor. So that means...

Spoiler

We can't just take it out because it requires a step by step puzzle that every time you solve, the building shrinks along with the person solving it. A clever defense mechanism but futile against the suicidal flunkies under Sephiroth who are willing to sacrifice themselves to get the materia. Here is when Cait Sith volunteers to do the job. After all, his body is a mechanical doll that can be replaced. A sound argument but we're still mad at his earlier betrayal. Seeing no choice we leave the temple so we don't get caught in the process of the shrinkage.

Then this guy happens.

Spoiler

Tro lo lo​

I restarted 7 times. I finally figured out to put everybody in the back row, use your Bahumet summon and just spam defend, Cure 2, and limit break moves. Don't use any other moves, they do too little damage and you need to defend against his OP attacks. I'm going to be honest with you guys, I almost raged quit my whole playthrough because of this bastard but it's finally over. He's probably the real fear I had in this whole playthrough, glad I got through with him.

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I played more but I wrote enough for now. I'll tell you what happens next tomorrow.

 

I forgot there are some wickedly creepy monsters in this game. That boss at the end is just D:

 

I'm so SORRY!

I was deleting all kinds of junk from my computer in a huge "spring cleaning" of my household stuff. In the process I deleted gigabytes worth of junk.

I FORGOT I LEFT MY SAVE GAME FOLDER IN THERE!



I'm going to see what I can do. Hopefully I could find a save spot before the whole scene that's coming up (I know exactly where I am). I may need to skip a section but...well I'll look around the internet. Epsxe saves can't be hard to find for this game.

 

Right-click folder > Properties > Previous Versions...

Spoiler

 

Is that a nifty Windows 8 kind of feature?

Still stuck in 32-bit Vista wonderland (I'm upgrading my computer in a week Yay!). Well unless my car work becomes more expensive then they told me. I know the guy though so I think I'm good there.

Anyway good news! This nice site had exactly the save I need! http://www.fantasyanime.com/finalfantasy/ff7saves.htm That would be number 34. Oh don't look if you don't want to get spoiled btw. Well I assume most people reading this already know the game.

Looking at the save game this guy did a far better job then I did, he's level 40 (and I just beat the boss at 30 )
The bad news is he doesn't have Yuffie in his party. What's with that? Well I'll go back to get her. Also his materia setup is good but he doesn't have that MP boosting materia I always put in my playthroughs. I think I could go and get it too.

Unfortunately I lost my pictures for the parts between this save and the end of the Ancient Temple so I'll just give you a synapses below.

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After I dealt with the boss Cait Sith goes in the temple to sacrifice his body and retrieve the Black Materia. The temple shrinks and a huge hole is left. Inside the hole is the Black Materia, all we have to do is get it right?

Guess who shows up, Sephiroth!

He tells Cloud to give him the Black Materia. Yeah right like that will happen...
Wait what did Cloud do!?

Cloud has a "out of body experience" (literally, you lose control of him and gain control of a kid version of Cloud who can't be seen by others. He begs Cloud to stop).
The possessed Cloud gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth!

Once he does that Cloud attacks Aeris! Your party jumps in to stop him. We pass out and get a dream sequence with Aeris. She tells him in the dream that she will deal with Sephi herself. That Cloud shouldn't worry about things and leave it to her. In the dream Sephi appears too, he tells Cloud that "We need to stop her" or something to that effect. Great now Sephiroth is invading Clouds dreams.

When Cloud wakes up he's understandably upset. He doesn't know his connection with Sephiroth and doesn't understand himself. He's afraid to go after Aeris because he might harm her again and do something indescribably stupid and dangerous again.

Regardless we must search for Aeris and retrieve the Black Materia. The dream we had with Aeris showed a ancient forest. That would be at the north continent.

 

Oh it's April Fools? Well this post is no joke, it's time to get serious guys...

If for some bizarre reason you have never played this game and know *NOTHING* about it's storyline or characters then MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. Don't fail at my warning guys, it's not worth it in this gem of a game.

Spoiler

You've been warned


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I make it to Bone Village and now have to find the Lunar Harp in order to get through the Sleeping Forest. Easy enough, it's at the top left of this place. Oh and on the X on the ground (look at screenie below) you can find the Mop weapon. Just talk to the guy on the left, he'll tell you how.

Spoiler

Get the harp then head top left. Eventually we make it to the Forgotten Capitol of the Ancients. Along the way you'll find a water ring that absorbs water damage. I highly suggest equipping it for the next part.

Spoiler

I actually get a little lost here. Thankfully no random battles so scout out the place. You can find the Comet materia here. Good stuff. Eventually I figure out your suppose to go to the right inside one of the houses to rest (triggers automatically). Our party wakes up in the middle of the night judging how the lights turned all dim. Anyway I go back to the entrance (picture above) and Cloud says he thinks Aeris is towards the middle path. I go there and find something different.

Spoiler

That stairway wasn't there before so now we can go down. The place looks interesting (floating stairways and all), there's a save point here. Hmm. Moving a littler further and I find...

Spoiler

Great she's here! Lights start to flash again and Cloud nods his head. Wait what is he doing!?

Spoiler

Apparently even Cloud doesn't know?

Spoiler

And then flying down out of nowhere Sephiroth makes his appearence and does the unthinkable

Spoiler

Oh hell no​

​

Cue in appropriate music as Aeris's unique materia falls into the water below

Spoiler

Cloud feelings of despair and sadness surprises Sephiroth for some reason.

Spoiler

Sephiroth doesn't buy it, and leaves us hanging on why he doesn't believe Cloud. It seems we have to fight Jenova again.

Spoiler

Still playing Aeris Theme in the background for the FEELZ​

​

If you equipped the water ring this fight is a guaranteed win as Jenova only has water moves (very powerful ones too, even at level 36+ guys got 1hko). At some point Jenova will actually run out of magic points and be rendered useless. Also watch out since Jenova can use reflect on itself to protect against magic (not summons though).

After dealing with the monster, Jenova finishes what Sephiroth was trying to say

Spoiler

Beacause...? Come on how do you mess up here?​

​

A neat little touch at this part is how the party you just fought with react to the scene. I didn't know Yuffie would be so affected like this.

Spoiler

Cloud picks up Aeris and lays her to rest

Spoiler

She sinks into the water, gone forever.

Back at the rest house Cloud repeats that he can't control his actions any longer. He doesn't even know himself. However he knows one thing...

Spoiler

​

​

Game's worth playing just to get to this point. Damn that theme, it never fails to get to you somehow.

Onwards to disc 2!

 

I'm using Windows 7. Vista supports it too, but only on Business and Ultimate editions. Looks like it doesn't matter now though because you found a save.

Aeris' death... still one of the most powerful moments in gaming history.

 

DISK 2!!!

Okay off we go

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Disk 2 starts right where we were. Leaving our rest house Cloud get's a vision of Sephiroth going north to the ice fields. I noticed Sephi likes to go north a lot. Creepy visions aside we do as we're told and go north.
Navigate some caves and wander around a ice field in the world map. At some point I reach some Ice Town.

Spoiler

First thing I do here is go to the weapon shop to the leff and upgrade my stuff. Afterwards I go to the houses on the right where some guy tells me if I'm going north I should use his map on the wall. Take that then I head north.
Oh wait some guy tells me it's too dangerous. I can't argue further as Elena of the Turks (the Shinra spies) arrive.

Spoiler

She blames us for "doing" her boss in. The game implies Tseng was killed by Sephiroth in the Ancient Temple. I should remind you that my PS1 game differs in translations from the newer ports on other systems. I believe the other games fixed obvious translation errors but also messed around with some dialogue parts like this (and probably several of Barret's cursing scenes).
Don't you love censorship?

Bet Elena wished her failed punch was censored

Spoiler

That's one way to get down the mountain faster​

Now all we need is a way to go down the mountain. A kid in the house in the middle will give us a snowboard since he has no more use for it due to an injury.

Before we do that though there's an important story part you should get out of the way. It's optional but frankly you should do it for a full experience of the game. It should have been mandatory imo.
It's in some house with computers. One of the computers has a video record of some of it's previous owner's work. Who's work? Professor Gast, the one doing research on the Cetra and Ifalna, Aeris's biological mother.

Spoiler

Some interesting information. The Cetra seemed highly concerned about an enemy they called Jenova. It was such a threat that the planet (yes the planet) created something called "Weapon". There was no record of where Weapon was stored however. It seems the Cetra were able to contain Jenova.

Spoiler

Why was Jenova so dangerous? It seems capable of affecting the Cetra, driving them mad and destroying them with some virus. So long as Jenova exists the planet cannot heal itself.

Spoiler

The professor's report is very interesting. It even clears up the parantage of Aeris. One of the reports state that a child named Aeris belongs to both Professor Gast and Ifalna.
Further proof is the promise made by the professor to protect the both of them with his life.

Spoiler

We both failed there professor. It hurts to be reminded of Aeris even now. The last report shows the professors demise at the hands of a young Hojo. Remember Hojo? He was the one with the experiments early on in the game.

Spoiler

Hojo tracked down the professor and stole all of his work. Gast is killed and Ifalna slips away with the baby Aeris. The rest we already know from the details Aeris's adoptive mother told us in the early parts of the game. Was it really that long ago?

The somber scenes finally end and I leave the house ready to go snowboarding.

Wait what? Snowboarding now? You know what? I'm just gonna take a break here.

 

Okay where was I? Oh right. BTW just tossing this idea out there...

Is anyone interested in me doing a Chrono Trigger playthrough like this one?

=========================

Time to snowboard!

Spoiler

Judge Gives It a 11\10​

​

Crashed a few times, but not too bad. At the end of the course we crash land in the middle of an ice field. This is the part of the game that tests my patience because I just want to hurry up and get to the next part. Needless to say, I get lost. Oh wait I have a map!

Spoiler

Best map ever. Will recommend To my greatest enemies.​

​

Does this map even make sense? I think I landed near that tree on the right side but there's two other landmarks that look the same. Remembering past experiences in this place I go south so I get out of here and save on the world map (been using save states for a while. Really where are the save points?).

Now I know where I am.

Spoiler

Ticket Please​

​

Okay here's the deal with this place because it's different from most dungouns you play in. There's some kind of time limit going on here, one that I can't see. If I stay too long wandering around then my party will pass out from the cold. It's okay thought because you'll advance the storyline this way. Game takes pity on you this way because this place is easy to get lost in. For the most part you have to keep going up. Somewhere on this field is a Liavathen summon and an enemy that drops\or steal a ribbon accessory (don't remember on the later exactly).

Quite frankly I'm sick of this place and didn't even find them before collapsing at some point. Let's just keep going. I wake up in this cabin.

Spoiler

Praise The Creators!​

​

The retired hiker tells us how to climb the mountain up ahead. See that number there?

Spoiler

Repeatedly press the circle button (or was it X?) while stationary to keep it around 36. We climb up the cliffs and encounter a tunnel system inside the cliff sides. Explore around and make your way through the dungeon. Worth to note the interesting new monsters disc 2 reveals.

Spoiler

We told him Jar Jar Binks is the hero for the next Star Wars movie​

​

Don't forget the health warning from Square-Enix!

Spoiler

Nothing to do with the cigarette brand. Nope, not at all. Don't forget the move "Bad Breath" ​

​

We deal with the monsters and make it to the boss fight for this place. Sorry I forgot to save a screenshot of him, he looks like that dragon boss from the ancient temple but with two heads that you must fight. It's not that he's hard, you just need to be careful when you defeat one of the heads. When you do it let's out a powerful death move that knocks your whole party's health down by nearly a half. Keep your health up or you'll find that you'll be wiped out. A Sense materia might be useful so you see how much health he has.

I beat him and make my save here. The next part is good! I'm going to do it right now so get ready for a follow up post soon!

 

A couple of points about the snow fields for anyone who might want to know:

- It's not actually a time limit exactly, but a step limit- meaning you can get into battles, mess around with your party setup in the menus, have Cloud stand around scratching things he ought not to scratch, etc. and not worry about passing out. I don't think it's possible to grab all the treasure here without passing out at least once, but then I haven't tried it. I DID manage only one blackout though. The area consists of a few unique-ish locations that the landmarks on the map represent, but you also transition between those areas via some generic screens as well, which can throw you off if you aren't expecting it.

- The summon you get for fighting the mini boss here is Alexander, not Leviathan, which you get for fighting an optional boss in Wutai. From the boss you can steal an accessory (circlet I think) that boosts your magic and spirit by 30 each - well worth grabbing if you have the patience. You need to interact with the local hotspring before you can challenge her, however. The ribbon is actually located on a hidden path, inside the caves after scaling the cliffs. Very easy to miss though.

- One more item worth mentioning is the Added Cut blue support materia you can find in the snow fields. It's actually located on one of the generic transition screens I mentioned earlier (a specific one, though), but you'll need to check a guide for details on finding it, it pretty easy to miss.

Good to see someone else playing this game! I just got to the end of a playthrough myself. Always have a blast with the PS era FF games.

 

Yes! Absolutely right, now that you mention it that is exactly what lies on this field. All of that I got on a previous playthrough and quite frankly I just don't want to do that again.

We got the GOOD STUFF coming up!


Extremely long and epic post coming up. I'll split it into sections for your convenience.

Part 1!

Spoiler

We leave the caves and make it to our destination, a huge crater

Spoiler

This is where Sephiroth is, it's time to meet him. We're not the only one's who arrived here.

Spoiler

Rufus and his constantly laughing cronies have arrived via there airship. It's a race against time to get to the promise land. Making our way through the crater is a linear affair. Just keep going and don't forget to pick up the Neo Bahumut summon! Also Tifa "insists" on joining the party at this point so you'll have to sub someone out. I don't have her setup too well and she has poor equipment. A new weapon could be found for her here though. She'll be under level if you weren't using her but the game auto levels your characters a little so they don't fall too far behind.

Eventually I see a bunch of those black cape guys again.

Spoiler

They randomly go and kill themselves by diving off the rocks and stuff. What's up with that? Anyway after getting through one minor annoying path obstacle (crossing a bridge when the wind is not blowing) we find our arch nemesis.

Spoiler

Finally Found You!​

​

Well not exactly. He disappears invades our mind again.

Spoiler

Where's that voice coming from? Like the last fight he drops us a new form of Jenova to beat.

Spoiler

Despite the nearly useless Tifa (I forgot to give her materia) this fight is much easier then the last time. Make sure someone is equipped with the Fire Ring and you can't possibly lose. Sometimes the boss will hit one of your party members with the silence status effect (amusingly almost always on Tifa for me ).

After defeating Jenova it drops the Black Materia! Writing this I just realized...
Why is Jenova holding the Black Materia ? Well it serves the story in any case as you will soon see.

Spoiler

Good Thinking​

​

Mindful of the fact that taking the Black Materia any closer to Sephi is stupid (and the fact that Cloud is totally unreliable) we give it to someone who will stay behind. I can only give it to either Nanaki\Red or Barret. Barret! Make yourself useful.

Moving along we get hit with a random scene

Spoiler

This Again?​

Time for some mind games

Part 2!

Spoiler

We see the scene from earlier in the game (Cloud's "flashback")

Spoiler

Who's That?​

What's with this? Where's Cloud in this flashback? Sephi is messing with us apparently, Tifa in particular doesn't seem amused.

Spoiler

Whoever that is, it's not Cloud. Getting mad Cloud calls out to Sephiroth demanding an explanation to these scenes.

Spoiler

DEEP​

​

Now things get good, Sephi tells us we're a clone of him! Hojo has merged the cells of Jenova and Mako to create us!

Spoiler

That can't be right? What about our memories of Tifa? She remembers us...right?

Spoiler

Some words of encouragement would be appreciated, Sephi pushes her a little father.

Spoiler

I admit I'm curious​

​

Where was Cloud back then? Surely Tifa was there with him, oh I know! The picture!

Spoiler

The body on the left has it. Pulling it out reveals...

Spoiler

That's... not Cloud. Is this what Tifa was hiding from him? Why can't he remember?

Spoiler

Mental breakdown, everything Cloud thought he knew was a constructed in his mind. Sephi says it was the power he has from the Mako and Jenova cells. Even if we assume he's lying the fact that Tifa can't even refute the facts of the Nibelhiem incident is telling enough.

Part 3!

Spoiler

The scene now takes us over to what Barret is doing. Unfortunately Sephiroth's influence is felt here too because he blacks out the area stranding Barret by himself. Sephi, disguised as Tifa, tricks Barret that the group has moved on ahead and they need his help. Don't forget the Black Materia he says.

Now we see what's going on with Rufus's group. Seems they made it pretty far in. They found something.

Spoiler

Cloud and Tifa arrive here now (teleported more like it). Not to be outdone, Barret arrives just in time too. What do we do?

Spoiler

Cloud's in no state in mind for that! Now he's lost it.

Spoiler

And you too Tifa

Spoiler

Remember when Aeris told us on that date on where the real Cloud was?

Spoiler

One last thing, let's ask the professor to formally give us a number.

Spoiler

His answer?

Spoiler

Sad and hopeless Cloud get's pulled up to the ceiling while Hojo tells us how he experimented on the bodies of the clones. He knew that the experiments were going to where Sephi was but he couldn't find out where. The event was called the Jenova Reunion and it seems Cloud was the winner. Unfortanately.

The REAL body of Sephiroth finally appears.

Spoiler

And Cloud casually gives him the Black Materia through that gel like crystal he's in.

Spoiler

Here you go!

GAME OVER!!!

Alright settle down, last part for this post.
Part 4!

Spoiler

Black Materia activated, the Weapon's inside awaken to the new danger. It's too dangerous to stay around, Rufus tells everyone to get back to his airship leaving Cloud to whatever fate awaits him.

We're treated to cutscene goodness as we see Weapon awaken and get unleashed on the world.

Spoiler

Airship get's tossed around, and Tifa bangs her head on the deck. Oh nice screenshot.

Spoiler

Nice...gloves.

Blacked out and time for more flashbacks. This time it's from Tifa's point of view.

Spoiler

Oh I remember this place

She seems to not quite recognize him right away. Wasn't really important I guess. Cloud says the last time they met it was 5 years ago, the time of the incident. Tifa says it was 7.

Spoiler

This sums up everything

We wake up as Tifa and the situation is grim. We have no idea what happend to Cloud and Meteor starts it's descent on the planet.

Spoiler

Go back to Majora's Mask.

To make matters worse (okay actually not worse but now exactly helping), Rufus comes in to tell us we're to be publicly executed. I get the chance to save here.

Oh before I forget

Spoiler

NICE!

 

FF7 Remake!!!

Okay I got your attention, sorry for the lie but I have to grab your attention somehow . Don't ever give up thread!!! Cast Life 2.
We continue off from before. I'll like to get this game finished before the release of Trails in the Sky second chapter in America.

==================================================

Second disk starts with our planned execution

Spoiler

However we get a rude surprise when Weapon begins it's attack. Battle stations everyone!

Spoiler

Of course the cannon doesn't finish off the underwater weapon and everybody opens fire with the small guns. This scene is pretty good, dated graphics and all.
Tifa is locked up in the execution chamber and the gas has started up. Meanwhile Barret and Cait Sith are forced to leave her in there with no way to open the door. Conveniently a guard "dropped" (really game?) the key to her handcuffs so Tifa is able to use her very flexible body skills to pick up the key with her feet and use her head to pick open the locks. Shut off the gas but you still have no means to escape the room. Until this happens.

Spoiler

IMA FIRIN MAH LAZER!!!

Weapon rises out of the sea and blasts a hole conveniently in the same room Tifa was in. Now we can escape! As for what happens to Weapon...

Spoiler

We run to the end of the gun barrel until we reach the end of the line. Turn around to find Scarlett, the crazy women who ordered our execution. Now comes my favorite minigame in the game.

Spoiler

I like this game

Win or lose doesn't matter, Barret and company have stolen the Highwind, Shinra's very own airship. They come up from behind and tell Tifa to jump!

Spoiler

They toss a rope and we make it out! After some talking Red XIII says he thinks Cloud may still be stuck in the lifestream. There are places on the planet where cracks appear, maybe Cloud made it through after all?

I save my game here.

 

I think I was supposed to go to the observatory where Red XIII lives to get information from the old guy. I skipped that and went straight to where I knew Cloud would be. He's on the island to the south of the map, can't really miss it. Below where the Anchient Temple used to be and the only place we haven't gone to (excluding Yuffie's home but I'll save that for later)
Buy some new equipment and walk far enough into town so eventually Tifa overhears a conversation about someone who was found and in the clinic. It sounds like Cloud!
We go there and see...

Spoiler

Drugs are bad okay?

So Cloud is not really himself (didn't need the doctor's diagnosis for that one!). At least he's alive but for now there's nothing we can do for him. TIfa detaches herself from the party and stays behind with Cloud. We go back to the airship to plot our next move.
Cait Sith makes himself useful, we eavesdrop on a meeting between the Shinra Execs

Spoiler

It's like materia but BIGGER

The game is making stuff up as it goes I think. Anyway Shinra plans to take the Huge Materia from Coral (Barret's hometown if you forgot), and Condor (A lone tower looking structure that you couldn't do anything with up to now. They plan on blowing up the giant meteor with it.

Here's the one thing I never understood about this game and it bothers me immensely. That's a good plan, use the huge materia to blow up the meteor and save the world.
SO WHY ON EARTH OUR WE PLANNING ON STOPPING THE SHINRA!?

The game never explains to me why we have to stop the Shinra on this mission of theirs. This is dumb, they're actually doing something to save the planet and we're stopping them!? If I completely missed something then please tell me what it is. I thought maybe I'll get a clear reason from why we're doing this but replaying the game hasn't changed anything. It's been "Oh they're the Shinra. We got to stop them guys!"

The "Shinra is evil" plot line was over ever since Sephi took the antagonist role. Why are we still pushing that?
igh: End of rant.

Cid get's picked as leader and we head to Corel first. Some backtracking and wasting easy enemies and eventually we make it to the reactor you may have seen earlier in the game. We couldn't do anything about it earlier but now it's relevant. A train leaves the reactor with the huge materia and Cid comes up with a cunning plan.

Spoiler

We chase them down with our own train!
After a mini game of alternating buttons (took a minute of pressing two buttons, I thought I was doing it wrong), eventually we get close enough to jump on the other train. After a series of fights we take over the train. Now we have to do the same minigame but in reverse in order to stop the train.

I start to panic because the time was about to run out and this minigame doesn't indicate if your making progress. I had 30 seconds left when I was finally able to stop the train (game shows you speed up actually for comedic effect).

Succeeding get's you the Huge Materia and Ultima!

Spoiler

Next up we go to Condor to defend it against the Shinra. How many of you remember this little minigame?

Spoiler

You buy soldiers with your money and place them around the map. You have to hold out against waves of enemies. Look at that carnage!

Spoiler

I made the mistake of not building enough long range guys because their pretty useful. Well you can add troops in the middle of the battle so the only way you could lose if you fail to reinforce guys in times.

After the battle is won I get the Phoenix summon!

Spoiler

I make my save here.

 

We head back to the village where Cloud is, don't forget to pick up the Huge Materia from the guy in Condor (he sits around a table at the entrance. Jerk made me go to him instead of the other way around)

Cloud is still messed up when we get there. Unfortunately something is happening outside

Spoiler

&%$^%$ Weapon!

I unleash everything I have at Weapon including Neo Bahumut

Spoiler

The boss was pretty strong but just when I thought I had control of the fight he runs away! That coward!
The ordeal isn't over yet as the lifestream from the planet gushes up to swallow the entire village. The party was able to escape but Cloud and Tifa fell into the lifestream!

Spoiler

Flying Wheelchair is patented by Cloud Strife

Now the game pulls a new stunt on us. We "explore" Clouds subconscious. Yeah why not?

Spoiler

We revisit events in Clouds past. This time Tifa clears up the inconsistencies between what Sephi told us and what Cloud thought was real.

Spoiler

Tifa knows who Cloud is. Cloud is most definitely real in her memories but it's Cloud who struggles to remember. We finally get a break when Cloud opens up about his most "inner feelings". A tragic event during their childhood, Tifa's mom died and Tifa made a dangerous decision to cross the Nibelhiem mountains to find her (aren't you the bright one?). Kid Cloud followed Tifa but their was an accident crossing the bridge. Tifa went into a coma for a week while Cloud got by with "scrapped knees". This was in reference to a strange flashback earlier in the game.

The adults naturally blame the outcast Cloud for pushing Tifa into a dangerous situation (of course he didn't but the game needs to pin blame on Cloud for something)
Cloud vows to be strong enough that even Tifa would recognize him one day.

Spoiler

"notice me". Sorry text cut off[/img]

Alright so Cloud is starting to remember now. He's opening up his thoughts. At last we have a name for that guy Sephi should us.

Spoiler

So if he knew Zack then that means...

Spoiler

Aha!

Spoiler

So Cloud WAS in Nibelhiem! That's why Tifa didn't remember him, he was in uniform! The reason Cloud didn't reveal himself was because he never made it SOLDIER. He was just a lowly Shinra guy. He was too embarrassed to face his hometown so he hid behind the mask.

Spoiler

As for what happened to Sephiroth, after Zack lost to him, Cloud took the Buster sword and stabbed Sephi himself. Cloud suffered heavy injuries himself but was able to throw Sephiroth into the Mako reactor. Game doesn't say what happens then (Sloppy work here Square). I believe this is when Cloud get's injected with Mako making him as strong as Sephiroth. I forgot exactly, I think the game Crisis Core covers this part better then this game ever did.

Anyway Cloud is back to himself and we wash ashore on the remnats of the destroyed village. Our party is there to greet us, hooray! Cloud gives a rundown on what just happened to his party on board the airship. Tifa sums it up best.

Spoiler

I shouldn't be hard on this game as it's pretty old. It's still a tough pill to swallow, the guy "forgot" who he was in the past just because he wanted to impress Tifa? Yeah...

Next stop Junon Harbor! I make my save here.