If you're having fantasies involving Tifa Lockheart and a chocobo, let Pete Davison counsel you back to the land of the sane...
If you followed part one of our guide to Final Fantasy VII last issue, you'll know all about battle strategy, the secret characters and other little gems. This month we take a look at the sub-games, how to defeat Weapon and where to find all the Enemy Skills. We're not going tell you how to beat the last boss, or how to cope with the untimely death of... someone... but these tips should have helped you find out some things you perhaps wouldn't have thought to look for otherwise. Good luck, O spiky-headed one.
The Four Sub-games
There are four major sub-games which occur as integral parts of the plot. Once you've played them as part of the story, you can go back to Gold Saucer at any time and replay them. G-Bike is the first one you'll come across, upon your escape from Shinra HQ on disc one.
G-Bike
You need to defend the truck - stay close to it. When an enemy bike appears, pull up alongside (you can speed up and slow down using the 'up' and 'down' keys) and give it a good whack with the sword while ramming it sideways - this is the quickest method to kill 'em.
Remember which characters you chose to be in your party, as you'll have a boss fight at the end of the road. Each character has an energy bar - if it drops to zero, they start the boss fight with one HP. However, as the boss always pre-empts you, one HP basically means curtains, so avoid getting into this position.
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a short way into the second disc, and it's fairly easy. When you play it as a 'plot element', all you have to do is get down the hill - ignore the balloons and stuff. Remember to use Pageup and Pagedown to slide-turn for sharper cornering.
If you replay this one at Gold Saucer, however, you need to be a bit more skilful. You are marked on your accuracy, how many balloons you hit and how quickly you did the course. Different coloured balloons are worth varying values of points: the red ones carry low points, blue ones are usually hidden behind obstacles, while green one are practically impossible to get, so they are worth loads of points.
Achieve a decent score and you'll be rated "Good". Replay the game to try a new course and keep going until you complete the 'Crazy' course. Finish this for prizes.
Fort Condor
This is like a basic Command & Conquer. Buy loads of troops at the start (up to 20) - use a mix of fighters, attackers and defenders and forget the others. When the enemies start arriving, send them into the fray. Leave a few troops around the shed to defend it, but otherwise, swarming the enemy is the best tactic.
When you play this one as a 'plot element' (where you're trying to recover the Huge materia on disc two) you can either fight the battle through to the bitter end... or go for the (much easier) option, which is to allow the enemies to overrun the base. Do this and you'll have an easy boss battle. No problemo.
Submarine Chase
As a 'plot game', this is easy peasy. You start out just behind your target - the red submarine carrying Huge materia - so all you have to do is shoot the shit out of it and wham! Mission accomplished.
At Gold Saucer, however, you have to take out every submarine in the area. Use your sonar (Pagedown) to watch for blips. Follow them and take out the subs. Take care to avoid the mines that are lying around, but be quick - your sub's a bit sluggish and you've only got ten minutes.
Beating Weapon
There are actually four Weapons scattered around the world. If you don't know who, or what, Weapon is, go to Icicle Inn on the Northern Continent. In a house on the left of the village is a video player - watch the video to be enlightened. For those of you who know only too well what Weapon is, you probably want to beat him, right?
You don't have to defeat Emerald and Ruby. However, you do need to face Ultima and survive (although you don't have to defeat him) and you do need to defeat Diamond. It's worth killing them all, however, as good things can happen.
Ultima Weapon
You'll meet Ultima Weapon once you've beaten the Fort Condor Huge materia quest with Cid at the helm. (At this point Cloud is a gibbering wreck in hospital.) Cid suggests you "pay the little fella a visit", so head for Mideel on the Southern Continent. Speak with Cloud, and Ultima will attack the village.
Before you speak with Cloud, ensure that at least one of your party members has their HP well above 2000. If this isn't the case, go to Cosmo Canyon and buy some 'HP Plus' materia.
Cid, trying to act the hero, taunts Weapon and engages him in combat. Attack Ultima with all you've got but cast Cure if he twats any of your boys (or, indeed, girls). After a while, the screen announces that he is about to use his 'Ultima Beam' on you. This ominous, threatening (and lethal) blue beam causes about 2000 HP of damage to all your party. To win the fight, all you have to do is survive this blast and hit him again, after which he flies away.
Later on, you can defeat Ultima entirely. You need Highwind, and you also need to have defeated Diamond Weapon (see below). Ultima will be hovering over a big pool just behind Midgar; fly into him and beat him up as much as you can. He will fly off again - follow him and crash into him until he flies to a particular place and stops over it.
Your final battle with Ultima takes place over Cosmo Canyon. Beating him sends him crashing to the ground, and also gives Cloud his ultimate weapon. This beast causes massive damage - but the damage done decreases depending on how many HP Cloud has left.
Diamond Weapon
You'll meet Diamond after your visit to the City of the Ancients on disc two. Diamond emerges from the ocean, heading for Midgar. Fly Highwind to Midgar and wait on the beach for Diamond to arrive.
Physical attacks have sod all effect on Diamond, unless his breast plate is open. Unfortunately, when it is it means he's about to kill you. So use your strongest Summons and spells on him - there's no easy way to do it - but make sure you use Cure or Elixirs regularly. Eventually, something truly explosive happens...
Emerald Weapon
Emerald lives underwater, so you'll need the submarine to get to him. He moves around a lot, so simply search around the centre of the map to eventually find him. Bump into him and prepare for the hardest battle in the game.
Fighting Emerald is only for the brave. Or people who have the following: one mastered Knights Of Round materia, three Mime materias, one Final Attack materia (see last month's Gold Saucer Battle Square comments), one W-Summon materia (also from Gold Saucer) and at least one Revive materia at level two or higher. And plenty of curative stuff. Got all that? Then you're all set.
Pair Final Attack with a Revive materia. That way, if whoever holds this combo croaks, they come back to life! Also, get as many Counterattack materias as you can - equip them all on one person. The more one person has, the more times they'll counterattack if smacked.
Emerald will often pre-empt you with a stomp attack, but not always. Start with W-Summon Knights Of The Round (ie cast it twice in one turn). All other party members should Mime this. By this point, Emerald is ready to attack again, so have something curative ready (a Megalixir's good). Cure, then repeat the W-Summon trick (everyone should Mime it again). Continue this process until Emerald is dead. It takes time - he has one million HP - but keep at it and you'll beat him... eventually.
At some point, the eyes on his shell light up, indicating that he's about to use some different attacks. Some eyes drain MP whereas others inflict damage. Use a spell or Summon to destroy them. Be warned though - sometimes when they're all destroyed, Emerald counters with his Aire Tam Storm attack, which usually kills your entire party instantly. See why you need that Final Attack materia now?
Remember, defeating Emerald isn't easy and you won't beat him straight away.
Ruby Weapon
Ruby Weapon lives in the desert near Gold Saucer, so you'll need a gold chocobo to get near him (breeding one is a fairly long-winded process, explained last issue). But before you go galloping up to him, get into a normal fight with any weedy little enemy. Kill off two party members then fight Ruby. If you don't do this, Ruby removes them permanently. Revive your two members as soon as the fight starts.
You should have a Hades materia from the Sunken Plane (use the submarine to find it) and ideally, you should also have the same materia as for Emerald Weapon (W-Summon, Mime, Knights Of Round).
Open with Hades. This freezes Ruby in time, leaving you free to W-Summon Knights Of Round and mime it a few times. As soon as you see him moving again, cast Hades again. Then repeat Knights Of Round. That's basically it.
Ruby's a difficult baddie to finish off, but nowhere near as evil as Emerald. It takes time, though - be prepared to stick at it.
Enemy Skills
Many people overlook the Enemy Skill materia, but it's a useful slot-saver. One measly materia can hold 24 spells, most of which are highly destructive and very cheap in terms of MP.
To obtain an Enemy Skill, an enemy must use the skill on a character equipped with an Enemy Skill materia. This is easy for offensive skills, but to get defensive skills, further tactics are needed. Equip a Manipulate materia and manipulate the enemy with the ability. Then, on the manipulating character's next turn, a new menu will pop up. Pick the skill you want and use it on the character with the Enemy Skill materia.
The very minimum you should get is "Big Guard". This casts Barrier, Magic Barrier and Haste on all members of your party - very useful.
Here's where to find them. Be careful - some places (such as Gaia's Cliff) can't be returned to later in the game, so try and get the Skills on your first visit.
Skill name Enemy who has it (location)
Frog Song Touch Me (Gongaga area, Central continent)
L4 Suicide Mu (near Chocobo Farm)
Magic Hammer Razor Weed (Western continent)
White Wind Zemzelett (Junon area)
Big Guard Beach Plug (beach near Gold Saucer)
Angel Whisper Pollen Salitas (Northern crater)
Dragon Force Dark Dragon (Northern crater)
Death Force Adamantaimai (beach on Western continent)
Flame Thrower Ark Dragon (Mythril Mine)
Laser Death Claw (Corel Prison)
Matra Magic Sweeper Custom (outside Midgar)
Bad Breath Molbor (Gaia's Cliff)
Beta Midgar Zolom (swamp near Chocobo Farm)
Aqua Lung Jenova-LIFE (City of the Ancients)
Trine Materia Keeper (Nibelheim Mountains)
Magic Breath Stilve (Frozen Mountain)
Goblin Punch Goblin (north-east of map)
Chocobuckle Cast L4 Suicide on a chocobo; it sometimes retaliates with this
