Disc Two




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4 .    D  I  S  C      T W O      W  A  L  K  T  H  R  O  U  G  H
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  4 . 1      t h e   c a v e
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ITEMS IN THIS AREA:  Viper Halberd, Bolt Armlet, HypnoCrown,
                     Mega Elixir, Magic Plus materia, Power Source.

You'll start off outside of one of the shell-shaped buildings on the east
side of the Ancient City.  If you walk to the left, Cloud will have
another attack and you'll see the ghostly form of Sephiroth leaving the
Ancient City.  Once Cloud has recovered, follow Sephiroth by heading
north, then east along the path you couldn't take before.  Note that
you're free to go back through the Forest and return to the World Map,
but there's no point in doing so unless you wanted to buy some items or
find Vincent or Yuffie (unless you already have them).  Although you're
now on Disc 2, none of the other events that occur in this disc will
actually happen until you get the Highwind in section 4e (meaning that if
you were to return to the World Map, you couldn't go on the Huge materia
quests yet, dig up the Gate 5 Key, or bring Buugen Haagen back to the
Ancient City).

In the next area, ignore the white, spiked object for a moment.  Instead,
walk behind it (look for a path to your left).  This will allow you to
reach a chest containing a Viper Halberd (a weapon for Cid).  Once
you've gotten it, climb up the spiky object.  It's a little tricky to
navigate due to it's spiraling shape, but you'll eventually reach a
cave entrace after making your way to the top.

Inside, walk to the left and press against the second cleft in the wall.
You'll climb to the top and be given two options (Right or Left).  Pick
the bottom option (Left).  Walk over to the next cleft and climb up it,
then choose the bottom option when you reach the top to land on a litte
ledge with a chest above it.  You can open the chest from where you are;
there's a Bolt Armlet inside.  Face the cleft and choose the bottom
choice, then the top one to jump to the other side.  Now, go to the right
and when two options appear, pick the bottom one.  This lets you climb
down to where the first chest is; there's a HypnoCrown inside of it.
Climb back up to the top of the cleft, pick the bottom option, then press
against it to try and get back on.  When two optoins appear, choose the
top one.  Then, make your way up to the ledge with the chest, and pick
the top option.  You can now take the Mega Elixir from inside the chest.
Get back into the cleft and choose the bottom option to jump to the west
side of the path.  Work your way to the left, climb up the cleft, and
head left a second time to reach a long ladder.  Selecting the bottom
option will left you climb down to the bottom of the ladder.

If you search using the O button, you'll find a purple materia (Magic Plus)
near the lower-left corner of the screen.  When you approach the ladder,
you'll automatically climb up to the ledge you were at.  Now pick the top
option after nearing the ladder and climb all the way to the top.  Once
you're off the ladder, run to the right and go through the opening on the
north wall.  In the next room, take the contents of the treasure chest
(Power Source) before exiting through the far opening to the northwest.

Once outside, keep to the east.  After heading along the coastline
for a while, you'll come across a sharp curve that turns to the west.
Just beyond it is a village and a deep valley, which you can't enter
without exploring the village (Icicle Lodge) first.
 

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  4 . 2      i c i c l e   l o d g e
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ITEMS IN THIS AREA:  X Potion, Hero Drink, Vaccine, Turbo Ether.

Go to the far end of town and talk to the man in purple standing near
the trees.  Pick the top option.  Two Shinra members will show up, along
with Elena (a Turk).  After confronting Cloud, she will try to knock him
out.  To avoid her strike, press left just after you see the transparent
message box.  If she does hit you, you'll wake up in one of the houses,
but if she doesn't, then she'll roll right out of the town.  It doesn't
make a difference whether you get hit or not.

After that's done with, go to town entrance and check out the house
that's just to your right.  In the back room, there's a boy, a cat,
and a snowboard.  Talk to the boy and the cat will leave the room,
enabling you to take the snowboard by examining it.  You'll need it for
the upcoming event.  Now, go to the inn, head to the upper floor, and
examine the window in the lower left-hand corner to get an X Potion.
Leave and enter the house on the far right (near the snowman).  Take
the items in the back room (an Hero Drink and a Vaccine), then
examine the map on the wall in the main room.  You can examine it by
choosing the top option, but before you leave, you'll want to choose
the bottom option to take it.

Finally, go into the house on the left side of town, just to the right
of the weapons shop.  If Elena KO'd you, this is where you'll wake
up :)  If you go down the stairs and look by the windowsill, you can
get another item (Turbo Ether).   You can also take a look at the
machinery on the ground floor to see a series of pre-recorded videos
dating back many years ago; they show Aeris's mother (Ifaruna, a Setora
just like Aeris) and her father, a 'renegade' Shinra scientist named
Gasuto (Gast).  There are several videos, but watching them has no
effect on the game itself, aside from cluing you in to Aeris's past
(providing you can read it :))  There's a device to the left that will
allow more light into the room, but it doesn't seem to have any purpose
(NSS).

Before you leave the town, you may want to buy weapons, Hi-Potions
and Tents at the shop.  When you're ready to go, simply walk past the
man in the back of town (the one near the trees), and the snowboard
sequence will start up:

Your controls while using the snowboard are:

S               Brake
X               Jump
Pad             Move left or right, down to brake
Start           Pause/unpause
L1/R1           Quick turn to the left or right when used
                with control pad

Basically, you want to make your way through the mountains.  You can
collect balloons along the way, but I don't know what they do for you.
There are also obstacles to crash into, like dead wood, pine trees,
igloos, moogles, snowmen, rocks, ice boulders, and chocobos.  I believe
there are four different 'exit' paths; I'll take the left path twice
and go from there in this FAQ.

My characters came to in a white forest.  Did yours?  From this point
onward, you can press S to look at the map you took (but not in some
screens), which shows where you need to go but not where you are.  I
spent hours trying to map this place out, only to discover that there's
almost nothing of interest in this area.  So, I've simply described each
location and where it is on the map; getting there isn't much of a
problem.  Your ultimate goal, BTW, is to make it to the red check mark
shown on the map.

The locations are:

ENTRANCE  (looks like a square at the bottom-center of the screen)
Heading south from this area takes you back out to the World Map.  If
you return to Icicle Lodge to heal yourself, you'll have to snowboard
in here again.

MOUNTAIN CAVE  (small opening just to the right of the ENTRANCE)
You can hop across the ledges to the top of the screen, but in the next
room, there's nothing to do but choose to fall/not fall down an icy
chute that has no effect aside from ejecting you back into the world
map.  The entrance to this cave is hard to see; it's in the lower-right
area of the T-junction screen.  You can also get here by going right
from the LAKE CAVE area.

FOREST  (forest divided by Y-shaped paths)
In the main forest screen, there's an item (Mind Source) at the foot of a
tree near the upper left part of the screen.  If this is where you
landed after the snowboarding event, then it's just up and to the right
of where you crashed.

BURIED AIRPLANE  (tail of plane sticking out to left of forest)
Nothing here.

LAKE CAVE  (cave in the middle of the central lake)
On the surface of the frozen lake, near the shore, there is a green
item (a Potion).  Be sure to get it.  Then head to the left to reach
a screen full of ice floes.  Here, you'll have to jump on the floating
ice chunks to get across, but the chunks surrounding the one you're
currently standing on will submerge or raise depending on how they
looked when you arrived there.  If you mess up and they are all
submerged, you'll have to start all over.  The key is to make sure that
you're not jumping onto a floe when the ones surrounding it are all
raised, or else they'll all submerge and you'll fall into the water.
To get on the ice floats, choose the top option, then use the O button
and the controller to jump around.  Enter the cave in the next area,
grab the item bag (it contains a Safety Bit accessory), and leave.

LONE TREE  (pine tree up and right from the LAKE CAVE)
Nothing here, either.

ICE BOULDERS  (northwest corner, left and below the STONE FACE)
Go into the small cave entrance and grab the item in the northwest
corner of the cavern (an Elixir), then go out the other entrance.

RIVER LOG  (above central lake, at mouth of river)
There's nothing here.

STONE FACE  (left of the red check mark)
Nothing here.  Seem familiar?  The stone face has also appeared in
Secret of Mana and FF5j.

STEAMING LAKES  (south and east of the check mark)
You can touch the water on the lefthand bank if you want.  In fact,
you should, since you can't get the Alexander Materia any other way.
(Keep reading for details.) Just maneuver yourself as close to the
shore of the left lake as you can, and when an option appears, pick
the top one.

MOUNTAIN CROSSROADS  (top of mountain east of the STEAMING LAKES)
Once you reach the crossroads (da dum da da :))  head to the upper
right corner of the screen to go off the map.  In the next area,
work your way up and to the left.  When this screen repeats a second
time, look for a Blue Materia (Added Cut) near the beginning
of the screen, in the upper-right part of the path.  This road takes
you to the Steaming Lakes area, but if you try to back the way you
came, you'll see that the screen has changed.  Put another way, you
couldn't have gotten the Materia unless you took this path since the
'switching' road isn't marked on the map.

If you're fast, you can reach the 'lost in the snowfield' section (the
red checkmark) before anything bad happens.  But if you waste your time
in this area, you'll pass out.  (This will still happen to you even if
you reached the snowfield, but then returned to any part of the 'first
area'.  If that happens, go to the next section.  If you made it to the
snowfield area, then skip the first paragraph to find out where you are.

Personally, my suggestion is that you follow the example in the FAQ
and take the left path twice so that you land in the Forest.  From
there, you can go right to the Lake Cave area, then continue right
past the Mountain Cave area (the T-junction), and up into the Mountain
Crossroads, where you can take the switching path to the Steaming
Lakes, and then head left into the snowfield.  Not only is this a
fast way to get through this area, but it also lets you pick up all
the items along the way and get the Alexander Materia later on (since
you touched the lake on your way out).

Also, you'll start off at the bottom end of the snowfield when you first
get there, so you can just head up to the cave to get the Blue Materia,
then keep heading north to reach the old man's shack (if you're in need
of healing and a Save Point).  After talking with him, you can go to the
Stone Face Area, head south to the Ice Boulders area where an Elixir is,
then backtrack to the snowfield and go to the right in order to get the
Alexander Materia before returning to the shack.  Voila!  You've just
cleared out this _entire_ area in only a few minutes!

Remember, you _will_ pass out eventually if you return to the first
area--there's nothing you can do about it, even if you've already
gone to Horuzofu's shack.  If you don't want to waste too much time
backtracking just run around in the same few areas until it happens,
then leave the old man's shack and continue exploring.  Why this still
happens to you after clearing out this area doesn't seem to make much
sense, as it's more of a nuisance than anything else, but there's not
much you can do about it.  If you return to the first area after
falling unconsious and wait around there again, you'll pass out a
second time.  In fact, this will always happen to you, so get moving!
 

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  4 . 3      l o s t   i n   t h e   s n o w
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ITEMS IN THIS AREA:  All Materia, Circlet, Alexander Materia.

You'll awake in the house of an old man (Horuzofu).  Go up the stairs
and let the old man talk to you; choose the bottom option twice when he
asks you two questions.  When you wake up the next morning, check out
the Save Point (since you probably haven't saved prior to entering the
Icicle Lodge).  If you want to spend the night again, talk to the old
man in the first room and choose the top choice.  When you leave the
shack, your friends will be waiting outside.  Make a new party if you
wish, (see below for directions) then head south.  You may have noticed
that you can talk to the man from the ground floor even though he is
above you :)

If you _didn't_ pass out, then go directly to the shack so that you
won't pass out.  There, you'll meet an old hermit named Horuzofu.
Talk to him, and when he asks you a question, answer any way you like.
The second time he asks you a question, choose the bottom reply.
You'll spend the night at his shack, and when you leave the next
morning, your allies will be standing around outside.  Choose either
choice when an option appears.  Then talk to any member and pick the
top option to accept a party change or the bottom option to decline,
if you want to change your members.

If you don't want to explore the snowfield any more, skip to section d.
After all, you can return here at any future point in the game,
providing you have the Highwind.

Outside, you'll be in a large snowfield.  Use the O button to set down
spikes that you can use to track your location (since your direction
changes when the wind picks up).  If you want to explore the rest of
that first area that you left/passed out in, head south.  When you leave
the first area from the Steaming Lakes exit, you'll see a rock formation
with a cave entrance if you keep walking north.  Inside, a Blue Materia
(All) is lying near the tent.  What's odd is that you seem to
always run into this on your way back from the first area instead of on
the way to it (i.e. from the old man's shack).

If you head east, you'll go through some snowy areas, then arrive at a
cave entrance.  Talk to the purple fellow inside to enter a battle, but
only if you touched the water back at the Steaming Lakes.

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: SUNOU  <Snow>                        LV: 32  HP: 4000  MP: 160
                                                (weak against Fire)

You can't Control or Morph her, but you can steal a Saakuretto
(Circlet) during the battle.  Her cold-based attacks (Cold Breath and
Blizzard 2) are nothing to worry about, but be careful if she Amulets
one of your own members.
_________________________________________________________________________

If you are victorious, she'll disappear and a Summon Materia (Alexander)
will drop to the floor, so don't miss it.  While you can use the map here,
you can't reach this place normally from the first area.  If you go right,
then down the snowy path, you'll end up at the 'switching' crossroads in
the first area, though (sort of like a one-way path).

Going west from the snowfield takes you to an alternate entrance to the
first area.  There's not that much to do there, anyway, unless you want
a shortcut to the ICE BOULDERS area where an item is lying in a cave
(refer to the previous section for more information).

If you're really having trouble navigating around, think of the
snowfield like this:

                       Old Man's Shack
               +-----------------------------+
            S  |                             |  A
         1  t  |                             |  l  M
         s  o  |                             |  e  a         N
         t  n  |                             |  x  t         |
            e  |                             |  a  e     W-- + --E
         A     |                             |  n  r         |
         r  F  |       Cave                  |  d  i         S
         e  a  |                             |  e  a
         a  c  |                             |  r
            e  |                             |
               +-----------------------------+
                 First Area (Steaming Lakes)

So no matter how far you are along a boundary, you'll still enter that
area when you hit it.  The same applies to the corners -- you'll hit
one boundary or the other, so going in a diagonal direction won't get
you to a new place.  Don't worry about finding an 'exact' spot to enter
an area, just head in that direction.  The only real landmark is the
cave with the All materia, but if you head north from the
Steaming Lakes exit, you're bound to spot it.
 

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  4 . 4      t h e   c r a t e r  /  t o r n a d o   l a b y r i n t h
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ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ribbon, Javelin, Elixir, Fire Armlet,
                    Mega Elixir, Speed Source, Enhance Sword, Fang of
                    Dragon Pair, Neo Bahamut, Ether, Hi-Potion,
                    Kaiser Knuckle, Reflect Ring, MP Turbo materia,
                    Poison Ring.

Once you've had your fun in the snowfield, return to the old man's
house and heal up or save your game if you need to.  Then, go north
from the shack to arrive at the slopes of a icy mountain.  Keep in
mind that you can't explore this area at any time other than right
now in Disc 2, so make sure to get all the items and other stuff.

Now, get ready for some finger-smashing fun!  the meter that appears on
screen when you're outside is your body temperature (the kanji you see
by the numbers, 'do' actually means 'degrees'): it goes down because of
the cold climate.  To keep your temperature up, you need to rapidly hit
the S button.  The highest temperature you can get to is 38, while the
lowest is 27.  Any less than that (26), and you pass out and find
yourself back in the old man's house.  It sounds like keeping your heat
up is easy, but you can only increase it when you're on one of the
ledges, not while you're climbing up the rock face.  So for those long
climbs, you have to max out your heat and climb as quickly as you can.
Luckily, your heat doesn't go down during a battle. Remember, it's not
how hard you press the S button, but how fast you press it, so try to
get in as many presses as you can to max out your temperature.  If you'd
rather cheat, refer to the Game Shark code section in the second part
of this FAQ--one of my 'fix-all' codes is in there that will give you a
high body heat no matter how long you stand around.

In this area, there's nowhere else to go but up, so climb along the
rock face until you arrive at the cave entrance, pausing at each ledge
to restore your body heat.  Always keep an eye out for the red flags;
they indicate which part of the wall you can climb.  Inside, go through
the two archways into the next cavern.  Here, climb up the stairs and
go through the south exit.  In the adjoining area, walk all the way to
the right to find a hidden chamber with a chest; inside it is a Ribbon.
Then return to the main path and head north, then west, through the
entrance.  Cross the icy bridge in the third cavern and press the
SELECT button to bring up the cursor; it'll help you navigate through
the twsiting passage before you.  Once you reach the top, examine the
boulder and choose the top option when it presents itself.  This will
make you push the boulder and free up the blocked passage beneath you.
You can still move while the boulder is rolling--notice that you can
stand right where it falls and you will recieve no damage (then again,
Cloud is the same guy who can run around in the cold wearing a
sleeveless shirt and not die of hypothermia...must be those corn
flakes).

Go back to the other room (where you got the Ribbon), and open the
purple chest to the northeast; there's a Javelin lying inside it.  Now,
return to the room that you exited from the south (the one with the
formerly blocked passage), and go north along the passage until you
reach another exit.  This leads to the upper path above the chest with
the Javelin--keep following it and you'll find yourself outside.

Build up your temperature, then climb up the wall.  After going a short
distance, you're given a choice (up, down, or right).  Pick the top
option (up), and head up until you reach a ledge.  Keep climbing upward,
and you'll be prompted with another choice (right or down).  Pick the
top option and head right to arrive at another ledge.  Then climb up
until you raech the next ledge; it has a path going left and an
unmarked path that goes to the right (i.e. there's no flag by it).  The
right path is a dead end, so take the left path and keep climbing up
along the wall (you'll find another ledge on the way) until you reach a
second cave entrace.

This large cavern is pocked with holes.  There's an exit and a treasure
chest, but they are too high to reach, at the moment.  Don't miss the
Save Point between the chest and the exit.  Nab the other chest in the
lower right corner of the room (there's an Elixir inside of it), then go
north from the chest to find a passage that leads outside.   Once you're
out in the open again, head north, then go around the bend and head
south and east.

In the next room, examine the area immediately to the right to find a
chest with an Fire Armlet inside.  There are four huge icicles
here that you need to knock into the holes in the lower cavern.  This is
done by 'fighting' them.  Each icicle is guarded by several yellow bats.

_________________________________________________________________________
TIPS:  TSURARA  <Icicle>                     LEVEL: 30  HP: 3000  MP: 300
                                  (weak agains Fire, Earth, and Demi)
       IBIRUHEDDO  <Ibil Head?>                LEVEL: 28  HP: 740  MP: 45

The icicle (Tsurara) can counter with 'Tsurara Otoshi' (Icicle Drop).
It will do this to any person who attacks it, tries to steal from it, or
the like.  You don't have to kill the bats in order to win the battle
(all you have to do is 'kill' the icicle), but since they can Silence
your characters and recover HP when they attack you, you may want to get
them out of the way before attacking the icicle.  Killing the icicle is
worth 500 exp, 0 AP, and 0 gil, so if you want some AP and gil, you may
want to kill the Ibiruheddos (which, incidentally, you can Morph
into Holy Torches.
_________________________________________________________________________

Each time you win a battle, you'll be given an option.  If you pick the
bottom choice, you'll drop down to the room below, while picking the top
choice lets you stay where you are (so you can continue to 'fight' the
other icicles.  After knocking down the last icicle, choose to stay
where you are so that you can get the chest on the far left (it has a
Mega Elixir inside).  Then, go back along the path.  Just before you
reach the door, an option appears; pick the bottom choice to jump down
to the room below.

When the icicles drop down here, the floor of the cavern is 'raised'.
After knocking down 3 of them, you can reach the exit, knock down all
4 and you can get the chest on the ledge in the upper left corner of
the room (which contains a Speed Source).  When you're ready, go through
the now-avilable exit by hopping across the stones.  This leads to the
left side of the outer path.  Be sure to examine the chest that's here
to get an Enhance Sword, then follow the path as it curves back on
itself and leads to the lower passage in the icicle room.

Keep following the path, and you'll find yourself on the side of the
mountain yet again.  Grab the rock face and climb to the right.
After a while, three options will appear (up, left, or right).  Pick
the bottom choice and keep holding right to make Cloud ascend the
side of the mountain.  When you reach the next ledge, raise your
temperature and take the path that leads to the left.  As you're
climbing, another set of options will appear (up, down, or right).
Choose the top option and keep climbing up.  Once you've made it
beyond the second ledge, you'll find a final cave entrance.

This area has a hard-to-miss Save Point in it, and if you examine the
nearby pool of light, your HP and MP will be completely restored, and
all dead characters will be revived.  Now is a perfect time to stock
up on goodies--you can use the pool to stay healthy while fighting the
enemies for exp, AP, and gil, and you can learn Smelly Breath from the
Molbols just outside (be sure to wear a Ribbon!)  Plus, you can win
Dragon Armlets from the Blue Dragons in this cave, which will halve
damage taken from Fire, Cold, or Lightning attacks, and win Molbol
Tentacles from defeated Molbols.  There's a boss encounter coming your
way, so make sure you're ready to do battle, then exit the chamber by
going to the far right.

In the adjoining hallway, you'll see one of those shrouded creatures
(similar to the ones in Nivelheim be thrown to the floor.  Before you
have a chance to examine it, you'll be attacked by a two-headed boss.

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: TSUINHEDDO  <TwinHead: Right Neck>  LV: 43  HP: 18000  MP: 350
           TSUINHEDDO  <TwinHead: Left Neck>   LV: 43  HP: 18000  MP: 350

In case you're confused, the 'right head' is the scaly one, and the 'left
head' is the one with horns.  Anyway, you should have the Aurora, Dragon,
and Fire Armlets equipped on your members to reduce damage from
the scaly head's Fire breath and the horned head's ice breath.  Use
Mabarrier to up your defense, then Haste yourselves.  Try using Earth and
Comet spells, as well and summonings, like Alexander, Leviathan, and
Bahamut to soften the boss up.  However, don't use Poison (which does no
damage) or the Kjata summon spell (which will heal both heads).  Ice
works well on the scaly head, and Fire works well on the horned head,
but don't confuse the two since you will heal a head instead of hurt it.
You may also want to use Tsuika Kouka and attack a Fire or Cold materia
in order to attack with that sort of element (but don't attack the
other head, for the same reason).  In addition to breath attacks, the
boss can also use a dual cold/Fire breath attack, it can cast Quega,
and has an explosion type attack that will inflict around 1400 damage
to all members.  It will use this attack when each head is killed (so
you will have to deal with it twice during the battle, once when you
kill one head, and then again when you kill the other).  I highly
advise that you concentrate on one head at first instead of trying to
kill them both at the same time because this attack _will_ kill your
pary if it happens in succession (which means you lose).  When it's
defeated, you'll get a Dragon Fang from the boss.
_________________________________________________________________________

If you were badly beaten during the fight, you can always return to the
room with the pool to heal yourselves.  Otherwise, continue down the
passage; it leads outside (Cloud sure moves slow out here, doesn't he?)
Then climb the icy wall up to the top, where an automatic sequence will
play.  After it finishes, head along the side of the inner crater.  In
the next area, Tifa will talk with you if she's in your party; if she
isn't, she'll promptly appear and insist on coming with you, which
means you'll have to kick a member out of your current group.  Head
to the left.

In the next area, climb down to the lower path and look for a red materia
(Neo Bahamut) near the bottom edge of the screen.  You can't do
anything about the shrouded guy leaping off-screen, so ignore him.  After
getting the materia, you can hop up to a small island of rock where there
is a Save Point.  When you're done there, juMP Plus again to return to the
top path, and walk to the left.  You'll see a short intermission with
the three heads of Shinra and several scientists heading towards the
Crater in the Highwind, the airship you saw back in Junon Town.

Once the intermission is over, walk left and you'll reach the first of
three 'shield' screens.  Talk to the two shrouded men, and they'll
each leave behind an item when they die (an Ether and a Hi-Potion).
To get past the flickering shield that's in front of you, stand as close
to it as you can, then wait until the green aura is almost gone.  Now,
quickly run through it or you'll be knocked back when the shield's aura
grows stronger.  If you mess up, you'll be repelled by the shield and
will be attacked by a monster:

_________________________________________________________________________
TIPS:  UINDOUINGU  <Wind Wing>                  LV: 36  HP: 1900  MP: 350

For starters, you can steal a Hi-Potion from the Wind Wing, and you can
transform it into a Phoenix Down.  Even better, you can control it using
a Manipulate materia and make it attack itself!  In other words, this is
an easy battle.
_________________________________________________________________________

If you happen to touch the shield from the other side, you'll get
knocked back to the beginning, so be careful.

In the next screen, more of those shrouded creatures are running around
and dying.  Ignore them, but don't miss the chest near the first left
turn of the path; there's a Kaiser Knuckle inside it.  Follow the path
until you reach the next screen.  The second shield is here, but unlike
the first one, there's a surge of energy travelling along the shield
that will knock you back even if the shield's aura is almost gone.  So,
wait until the energy surge has passed _and_ the aura is nearly
invisible, then dash across.  If either defense knocks you back, you'll
have to fight a second Wind Wing (see the above strategy).

Beyond the shield, Sephiroth awaits.  He'll cut down two more of those
black creatures before turning invisible and toying around with Cloud.
After he attacks the party, he'll summon a second version of Jenova to
kill Cloud and his friends.

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: JENOBA*DEATH  <Jenova*Death>         LV: 55  HP: 25000  MP:800

Jenova will try to Silence your members from time to time, and uses a
Red Light attack often (usually after being attacked with magic).  It
causes little damage, but too many of these will really mess up your
party.  Jenova's last form of attack is a spurt of fire bubbles (even
weaker than the Red Light attack).  As you can see, this battle is not
hard at all; just hack away with physical attacks, or if you think you
have enough HPs, use Comet and cast Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, and
Alexander.  It's advisable that you wear the Fire Armlet or
Dragon Armlet, since Jenova's attacks all cause Fire-based damage.
Give the Fire Armlet to your best spellcaster, and you can
knock out Jenova and gain life back at the same time :)  You'll win
a Reflect Ring when the battle's over.
_________________________________________________________________________

After the boss is killed, you'll get the Black Materia back (and it's
actually black this time :))  Once you're back in control of Cloud,
he confesses that since Sephiroth was able to manipulate him last time,
he might try it again.  Therefore, someone else should hold the Black
Materia and stay here while Cloud and the others follow after Sephiroth.
The first time I got here, only Red 13 would take the Black Materia.
This time, only Barret would.  No matter what character you get, simply
choose the top option when it is available (you won't get an option if
that character refuses to take it).  Finally, talk to Tifa.

When you're in control of Cloud again, head north.  There's a materia
here (MP Turbo, but notice that it's yellow when you pick it up!), as
well as a Save Point and a chest containing a Poison Ring.  If you go
north from here, you'll run into the third and final shield.   In
addition to having all the defenses of the previous shield (the glowing
aura and the moving energy surge), bolts of lightning will strike the
ground repeatedly.  Since the lightning strikes in short bursts with
long pauses in between, wait for the shield's aura to fade, the energy
surge to pass, _and_ wait for a pause in the lightning strikes before
attempting to pass through the shield.  If you're hit by any one of
those defenses, you'll have to fight a Wind Wing again (refer to the
strategy section above).  Once you're past the shield, head along the
path.  It leads to an exact replicate of Nivelheim.

This next scene is sorta like a 'semi-interactive' flashback.  You get
to see Sephiroth run around in Nivelheim, but this time, there's another
guy following him (Zekkusu, the guy you heard about in Gongaga Village).
Talk to your other party member, then to Tifa.  In the next scene,
Zekkusu will look around Nivelheim (which has been reduced to smoldering
rubble), and chat with Zangan (sp?), who I think was Tifa's mentor.
(BTW, you can go to the Main Menu while Zekkusu is running around.  It's
pointless, but I thought it was sort of amusing :))  Then, your party
appears in a flaming building, and Sephiroth appears.  Instead of
attacking, he talks to the party.  When you can move, talk to Sephiroth
and he'll teleport around the room.  When you're in control of Cloud once
more, talk to Tifa twice.  Sephiroth warps around some more, then shows
Cloud a picture of him, Tifa, and Zekkusu.  After that, Cloud has another
fit, and the screen fades out.

In the next scene, Rufus, Scarlet, and Hojo (the scientist)
arrive at the crater.  Before them is a monster encased in ice.  It's
one of the three 'Weapons', which awakens and watches them, then starts
moving.  Following that, Sephiroth appears in the guise of Tifa and
knocks out the other characters, then tricks whoever is guarding the
Black Materia to go to the center of the crater.  Your party will
appear in the area where the Shinra members are at, and the person with
the Black Materia gives it to Cloud, who then flies to the structure
where Sephiroth is at (while you can move around up here, the game takes
over your controls in a few seconds anyway).  Once Cloud's given the
Black Materia to Sephiroth, the whole crater starts to break apart and
your party (sans Cloud) escape on the Highwind along with the rest of
the Shinra crew.
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4 . 5      j u n o n   t o w n   a t t a c k e d !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Enemy Skill materia, Chocobo Attract
                    Materia, Fourth Bracelet, Yoshiyuki (if you
                    didn't get it the first time).  Note that none of
                    these items are actually found in Junon Town, but
                    since I talk about them in this section, they're
                    listed here.

When you come to, you'll find yourself incarcerated back in Junon Town.
Without Cloud, you'll be taking control of Barret and Tifa for most of
this section.  As Tifa, talk to Barret.  Rufus and Haidekka will show
up.  Now that you're in control of Barret, follow Tifa as the guards take
her away (don't miss the Save Point), and prepare to execute her.  Once
Junon Town is attacked by the freed Weapon, one of the Shinra officials
knocks out Scarlet.  It's turns out to be none other than Cait Sith,
who helps Barret fight the two soldiers who are guarding him.

_________________________________________________________________________
TIPS:  xxxx                                     LV: 34  HP: 1300  MP: 100
       xxxx                                     LV: 34  HP: 1300  MP: 100

Physical attacks will do the trick here, although you can control them
if you want.  If this battle gives you trouble, you need to gain some
levels at some point in the game.
_________________________________________________________________________

Notice how the guard will run away and disappear after the battle?  I
guess that glitch went unnoticed...anyway, examine the door in the lower
right corner of the screen and use the controller or the O button to make
Barret try to pull it open.  An FMV sequence follows in which the Sister
Ray is readied and Junon Town prepares to engage the approaching Weapon.
When it collides with the city, gas starts pumping into the chamber Tifa
is trapped in.  When you're in control of Barret, go and talk to Cait
Sith.  Then go out the door and when it closes, head right, then out the
door.  Outside, head down the road.  If you got Yuffie, she'll be here
masquerading as a newscaster; talk to her and continue to your left.
Once the Weapon has rose out of the water, continue to the left until
you arrive at the Airport.  Then, run to the center platform and examine
the yellow box to be lifted to the upper level.  From there, continue
towards the airship by heading right.

When you're in control of Tifa again, you have to pick up the key on
the ground so you can free yourself from the gas chamber.  Your
controls are:

S       Move right arm
X       Move feet
O       Move left arm
T       Move Tifa's head

You'll need to press the buttons in this order:  X, X, T, X+T, T+O, O.
(Or, press X, X, T, X+T, T+S, S if you want to free her other hand
instead...it makes no difference).

Pressing them has the following effect:

When you press X, Tifa will stretch out her legs.  Pressing X a second
time makes her drag the key towards her.  Then press T to sit back in
the chair.  Then press T and X at the same time (you don't need to hold
them, just press them), and she'll lift the key up with her feet and
take hold of it with her teeth at the same time.  After that, T+O
together will make her free her arm using the key.  Finally, press O
so that she can grab the key and use it to release her other arm.

Feel free to take your time doing this since waiting around won't do
anything to you (Tifa's invincible!  Mwa, ha ha!!)

Examine the back of the room by the left side of the chair to shut off
the gas, then examine the door.  After the monster provides you with
an exit, climb outside and work your way down the front of the tower
(don't worry about the guards).  When you reach the bottom, head toward
the upper left corner of the screen (the cursor will appear to help you
keep track of your location, but you can disable it if you want).  In
the next screen, make your way down to the frontmost cylinder of the
cannon, then press up to go along the front of it and end up on the
cannon barrel itself (this can be a little tricky).  Just as you reach
the edge of the cannon, Scarlet.  She'll start slapping you, so
press the O button to slap back (go Tifa, go)!  If you're fast enough,
you'll slap her to the floor after 5-6 good hits.  If she gets in more
slaps, you get knocked over.  Despite the outcome of the 'fight', Tifa
will still be rescued by Barret in the Highwind.

Once in the airship, head to the cockpit where you'll talk with Cid.
When he finishes, talk to Red 13 and Cid again, then chat with the man
piloting the airship.  After that, go to the room marked 'Operations'
and talk to the man there.  He will let you assemble a new group with
Tifa as the leader.  From this point onward, you can return to this room
and talk with the man to activate PHS, restore your HP and MP, or save
your game.  Now that you have a party, return to the cockpit and talk to
the man again.  Choose the top option, and you can control the Highwind!
To pilot it, use these controls:

S       When held, you can use the Pad to fly without changing the
        direction you're facing
X       Press to land
O       Move the Highwind in the direction you're facing
T       Takes you inside the Highwind
Pad     Press left/right to turn, up/down to rise or descend
Start   Reveals/enlarges/hides the map
Select  Same as Start

Notice that your other vehicles (the Gold Saucer vehicle and Cid's
airplane) are gone for good.  BTW, you enter the Highwind by pressing
O when you're close to it (like other vehicles).  To gain control of
it again, just talk to the man at the wheel and pick the top option.
At this point, you'll probably want to look around and go to various
places.  However, you can only land on _green, grassy_ ground, and
nowhere else, which limits the areas you can explore (this doesn't
include the canyon floor on the Northern Continent).  There are two
areas you can now reach with the Highwind.  The first one is a cave
with a sleeping man that's just beyond the mountain range near Midgar
City (you can go here with the Buggy, but since you no longer have it,
you'll have to use the Highwind).  Also, there's a house to the right
of Icicle Lodge, you can talk to the green Chocobo inside to get a
free Enemy Skill Materia, and the purple geezer who lives
here will sell you various chocobo foods.  Finally, if you return to
the Chocobo Farm, you'll find a purple materia (Chocobo Attract) near
the edge of the now-empty Chocobo pen.  From now on, you can breed
Chocobos here (refer to the 'Secrets and Strategies' section for
details.

If you look, there's a lake near Junon now (I thought this didn't
appear until Disc 3 *sheepish grin*)  There's also a barrier
surrounding the Crater, and of course, a huge meteor is hanging in the
sky (the result of Sephiroth casting Meteo via the Black Materia).  A
lot of places now sell different items, among them Junon Town*,
Fort Condor, Costa Del Sol, and Rocket Town, for example.  There's also
some new treasure to be found in Rocket Town: there's a chest with a
Fourth Bracelet in the store that sells accessories, in the back of the
adjoining room.  And if you didn't get the Yoshiyuki from the
old man in Disc 1, you can get it now.

* In very last area of Junon, there's a man standing out in the middle
   of the road.  If you talk to him and choose the bottom option,
   nothing happens.  But if you choose the top option, the Shinra
   helicopter lands and you're given another choice.  Pick the top option
   and you can ride it back to the first area of Junon Town!  If you
   choose the bottom option, you'll be flown back out to the World Map.

Finally, keep in mind that there are some things that Tifa can't do,
like enter the Gold Saucer or play the piano in her house in Nivelheim.
Ditto with Cid, who becomes the leader during the next section (keep
reading).
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4 . 6      w h e r e ' s   c l o u d ?  /  n o r t h   c o r e l
             e x p r e s s
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ITEMS IN THIS AREA:  Curse Ring, Elixir.

Get in the Highwind and fly to the Southern Continent.  Look around until
you spot a forest with a small village nearby.  Land in the grass, and
enter the village, Mideel.  Look around, and be sure to do some shopping;
the items here are expensive, but well worth your money.  When you're
done, go to the weapon shop and examine the door in the back of the room.
You will try to knock on it.  Go outside and climb up the stairs, then
walk along the floorboards behind the house where you can buy
accessories.   You should hear a sound.  If you press O to examine the
floor, you'll receive a message.  Return to the weapon shop and examine
the door in the back again.  When an option appears, select the top
choice.  You'll mess around with the door.  When the shopkeeper asks
what's going on, pick the bottom option, and he'll give you the Cursed
Ring accessory.  (If you want to see your character act funny, pick the
top option instead--works better with Tifa than with anyone else, IMO.
Of course, you'll have to reset and try again if you want the Cursed
Ring.)

When you try to explore the north end of the town, Tifa automatically
goes over to the cat in the middle of the screen.  While playing with
it she hears that a strange man has been brought to the hospital--inside
is none other than Cloud, who survived the blast of energy back at the
Crater.  However, he's nothing more than a vegetable now.  Tifa insists
on staying by his side.  Back at the Highwind, Cait Sith reveals that
the Shinra are hunting for the four Huge Materia, which they plan to
use in order to destroy the Meteo before it crashes into the Earth.
Barret gets distressed when he learns that the Shinra plan to destroy
North Corel in order to get the Huge Materia, then Cid declares himself
the new party leader!  Despite his dorky running style, Cid makes a
good front man.  Once you're able to control him, go to the Operations
room and make a new team.

Before you go anywhere else, land and return to Mideel.  You can now
check out the house in the middle of the town, where an old man sits
betting his cat.  There's a large green item on the man's bed (an
Elixir).  If you try to leave, the cat turns out to be a ferocious
dog!  When an option appears, pick the top one to admit that you took
the Elixir.  However, the man will let you keep it.  On the other hand,
if you pick the bottom option, Cid will feign innocence, until the old
man tells him that he took his Elixir.  Either way, you still get the
item.  There's nothing else to do here (at least for now, anyways), so
leave the town behind and board the Highwind (notice how Cid mentions
the Fort Condor).

At this point in the game, two of the four Huge Materia sub-quests are
available to you: you can either get the Huge Materia in North Corel,
or get the one at Fort Condor.  The choice is yours.  If you want the
one in North Corel first, keep reading.  If you'd rather pick up the
one at Fort Condor first, skip to section 4g below.  Remember, you
DON'T have to succeed at Huge Materia Quests; in fact, you can lose all
four and still proceed with the game (if you decide to do this, just
ignore any mention of Huge Materia for the remainder of the FAQ).

Ready to go?  The next thing you have to do is stop a train from smashing
into the town of North Corel.  You can pilot the Highwind to two places;
North Corel, and then work your way back through the old train tracks to
the Makoro furnace, or you can land at the nearby cave-like entrance that
leads to the furnace and take the train from there.  Either way, you'll
still have to do a bit of walking, so it's up to you (check out sections
3n and 3o if you don't remember what I'm talking about).  Anyway, once
you reach the furnace, head to the center and you'll be attacked by some
Shinra guards (easy to defeat).  After you do them in, a train will
leave the furnace.  What you have to do is catch up with it before it
rams into North Corel.  The next scene finds you and your companions on
a train trying to catch up to the Shinra train.

Remember the digit-damaging fun you had back at the Frozen Mountain?
Well, this time, it's worse.  You have to press Up and the T button
in a steady, yet _extremely_ fast motion to make Cid pull the levers
of the train so that you can catch up to the Shinra train.  Even worse,
there's a time limit--you have to reach the train, board it, kill the
enemies on board, and stop it all within 10 minutes.  If you practice,
you should be able to catch up to the train in about 23-30 seconds, but
remember that you'll need about 4 minutes, at best, to beat the enemies
on board, so work quickly.  You fight monsters each time you leap to
a new train car, (five battles in all) and while they're relatively
easy to win, they do take up your time.  If you have learned it by now,
Degeon can be used in the first two battles for a quick win.  If you're
low on time, don't use Summon Materia because the Counter Attack still
decreases during the casting (which usually takes some time).

Assuming you get to the locomotive with time remaining, wait for the
conversation between Cid and your other characters to stop.  You can
now do the following; press up + T to slow the train, or down + X to
Speed Plus it up.  Once Cid grabs the controls, press:

                Up + Triangle, Down + X, Down + X
                or:  Down + X, Down + X, Down + X

    (if there are more commands then these, let me know, pls)

You can't enter either command while your buddies are talking to you,
so skip through the conversations when they occur.  The train will
speed up, but will slow just as it reaches the town, if you've done it
correctly.

If you stop the train in time, you get a Key Item (the Huge Materia),
and a little boy gives you a green materia (Ultima).  The next morning,
go to the house below the inn and a lady in a hat will give you Barret's
Level 4 Limit Break Manual.  If you messed up, then the train runs
straight through North Corel.  You don't get the Huge Materia, and if you
want the Ultima materia, you'll have to buy it from the same kid for
50,000 gil.  However, you can still get the manual from the lady in the
hat and spend some free time at the inn ;P.  So, it's really in your
best interest to save the town.  If you really want to keep playing
after losing the Huge Materia, then continue on to section 3g, or if
this is your second attempted quest, go to section 3h.
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4 . 7      c o n d o r   f o r t
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(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 3l 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.  For instructions/strategies, please refer to the 'Having Fun'
bit in section 7.

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....
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4 . 8      i n s i d e   c l o u d ' s   h e a d
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: ARUTEMAUEPON  <Ultima Weapon>       (you can't see his stats.)

This boss has only two attacks, Quega, 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
Shotgundeformed, 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 'center'
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.
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4 . 9      1 0 0   l e a g u e s   u n d e r   t h e   s e a
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ITEMS IN THIS AREA:  Contain materia, God's Hand, Battle Trumpet, x ryuu
                     x getsutou, Suishin x no Uroko (it's a Key Item, but
                     since you don't have to get it, I'm listing it up
                     here.)

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 Contain 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 Greens on you).
When a list of six options appear, pick the fifth one from the top.  The
chocobo will then reveal the Contain 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 Shinra 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 unil you reach the underwater tunnel, and
follow it until you arrive at the Makoro 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 submarines
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 Shinra subMarlenee.  Reno of the Turks is
here, and he'll summon a mechanical freak to take you out while he makes
a hasty retreat.

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: KARIIAAMAA  <Carry Armor>          LV: 45  HP: 24000  MP: 200
           MIGIUDE  <Right Arm>               LV: 45  HP: 10000  MP: 100
           SAUDE  <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 recieve 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 it's 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' 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's 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 submarine.  Open the chest by the
stairs to get the Scimitar.  To the left of that chest is a
chest holding a Key Item: the Suishin x no Uroko (Fire Extinguisher).
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 submarine and be ambushed by three
soldiers.  You may win a set of 'Shinra 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 submarine.

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 'Shinra 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 submarine mini-game (explained below).

Your controls on the submarine are:

S       Shoot torpedoes (only when you're near an enemy craft)
X       Backward thrust
T       Forward thrust
Pad     Move left/right or descend/raise
R1      Switch between close-up or bird's eye view
R2      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 the main Shinra sub (red)
in the time allotted, although you can kill some of the ten yellow
submarines 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 submarine), 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
submarine 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 submarine,
or you can go to Rocket Town and do the fourth and final Huge Materia
quest.  If you already have a submarine, 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
submarine, 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 submarine.  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.
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4 . 1 0    u n d e r w a t e r   a d v e n t u r e
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ITEMS IN THIS AREA:  Red Huge Materia (listed here because you don't
                     have to get it), Heaven's Cloud, Escort Guard,
                     Conformer, Continuous Slice, Mega Elixir x2,
                     Elixir, Spirit Lance, Outsider, Highwind Manual,
                     'Summon Hades' materia, Old x x no Key (listed
                     here because you don't have to get it just yet),
                     Oritsuru, Steal as well materia.

This section outlines a series of side-quests and optional events.  While
some have to be done at a certain point, the others are listed here only
because you now have a submarine and can explore the ocean.  You can skip
this section and go on to 3k for the final Huge Materia Quest if you'd
rather do the things in here at a later point.

The controls for either submarine (gray or red) are as follows:

X       Submerge/Ascend
O       Propel forward
        - (doesn't work in overhead view)
Pad     Move in any direction
        - (raise or lower while underwater)
L1/R1   Turn to the left or right
L2/R2   Switch from side/overhead view
        - (doesn't work while underwater)
Start   Show/enlarge/hide map
        - (cannot enlarge map while underwater)
Select  Same as Start

The submarine can cross deep water, but not shallows.  If you can't
get by an area while skimming the sea, try submerging and looking for
a passage.  If you can't get over a rock wall while submerged, try
ascending and looking for another way around.  Also, the sub can only
land at docks such as the one near Junon Town.  BTW, the mini-game at
the Gold Saucer also becomes available once you have a submarine.

If you sunk the red submarine, then get in your submarine and look at
the map.  Head to the chain of small islands southeast from the
weaponsmith's house (the guy who lived near the Gold Saucer).  Submerge
and you'll find the red submarine.  Should you touch it, Cloud will
retrieve the Red Huge Materia from the wrecked submarine.  If you
failed to sink it earlier, then it won't be here.  Note that you can
wait and pick up the Red Huge Materia in Disc 3 if you'd rather not get
it right now.

Next, return to the Junon Town dock and go west until you reach a
jutting peninsula (or go north from where the red submarine was,
assuming you sunk it).  Go around the penninsula and head south until
you reach land (you'll be in a little bay, near a dock, and you should
be able to see the Golden Saucer from where you are).  Descend and
you'll find a wrecked plane lying on the sea floor.  Touch it to board
the sunken plane.

Inside the plane, go down the ladder.  Run to the left to find a Save
Point and a treasure chest (iniside is the Heaven's Cloud sword).
Enter the northern door (the one with the Shinra emblem on it) and
head east along the walkway.  There's a green chest here with an
Escort Guard in it.  Go down the incline to the lowest level of this
room and head to the upper-left corner.  Hidden by a pipe is another
green chest; inside it is Yuffie's Ultimate Weapon, the Conformer
(in English, it means 'Conformer').  Now to all the way to the
upper-right corner and search the wall for a hard to see yellow materia
(Continuous Slice).  Finally, return to the entrance and go north and
then east across the beams.  This leads to the final chest which has a
Mega Elixir inside of it.

Return to the main room and go through the door on the left wall.  In
the adjoining chamber are Reno and Rude of the Turks, who will talk
to you briefly before attacking your party.

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: RENO                                LV: 42  HP: 15000  MP: 230
           Rude                               LV: 49  HP: 20000  MP: 280

Rude (the bald guy) can cast Ice 2 and Fire 2, while Reno will attack
you with his Neo Turks' Light Ray attack.  They also have the nasty
ability to confuse you, which can be a serious problem if the confused
member has a Continuous Slice or Slice Everybody materia equipped.  Once
you inflict enough damage on one of them, that person will leave.  If
you kill Reno, then Rude will simply stand around until you lower his
HP to zero.  Since this battle is tougher than it might seem, Haste
your characters and use your best attacking and summon spells.  If he's
learned it, Cloud's B3/1 should be used whenever possible.  You'll get
an Elixir when the battle is concluded.
_________________________________________________________________________

With the Turks out of the way, go through the northern door.  A chest
sitting near the entrance contains a Mega Elixir, and if you continue
along the walkway and go all the way to the right, you'll find another
chest with a Spirit Lance inside.  Go down the stairs to the lower area;
near the bottom of the screen are two chests; one to the left and one
to the right.  The left one has an Outsider gun in it, and the right
one contains Cid's Level 4 Limit Break Manual (Highwind).  Before
leaving, look by the wrecked helicopter for a shimmering red sphere
(it's lying between the body of the helicopter and one of the broken,
detached parts next to it).  It's the 'Summon Hades' materia, so pick
it up and then head back to your submarine.  You don't need to return
to the wrecked plane again, although you can fight the monsters here
and transform them into various '-Up' items (you can also do this to
several of the monsters in the Mideel Area).  Considering this game's
difficulty (the lack of, that is), you shouldn't have to do this,
though.

Once you're in the submarine, look at your map.  Just south and east of
the southeastern tip of the Northern Continent are three islands in a
sort of a curving pattern.  If you can't quite tell where you are, just
go along the coast of the Northern Continent until you reach an area
surounded by shallows where there are three islands (you should be
near snowy ground with patches of grass, in addition to a large
mountain).  Submerge the submarine and look for an underwater tunnel
around here (guide the submarine into the dead-end and turn around; you
should see it as you're moving).  The short tunnel leads to a twisted,
spikey object which you will take (it's called the Old x x no Key;
Buugen Haagen asks you to find it later on when you return to the
Ancient City in section 3l).

Finally, get back in your airship and fly to Uutai on the Westernmost
Continent.  Go up into the Dachao Statue area, and head along the path
until you reach the path that heads north.  Follow it past the statue's
head until you reach another crossroads with a cave entrance nearby.
Enter the cave.  Try to walk into the first fire-pit twice and Cloud
will use the Suishin x no Uroko on the Fires each time, exposing a
green chest which contains a Oritsuru (a shuriken for Yuffie).  Explore
the rest of the cave until you find a second fire-pit.  Press against
it to douse it with the Suishin x no Uroko.  This allows you to take
the blue materia lying on the floor (Steal as well).
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4 . 1 1    c i d ' s   r o c k e t
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ITEMS IN THIS AREA:  Nothing!

Return to Rocket Town (it's beyond the mountains near the Gold Saucer).
Go to the launch pad.  It's swarming with Shinra soldiers!  Make your
way to the stairs leading up to the rocket and you'll be attacked by
two soldiers.  Deal with them and you'll be attacked by another pair
of soldiers.  At the top of the stairs, you'll fight two more soldiers
and their captain.  After killing them, Cid will show up and insist on
joining if he's not already with you.  After you've made a party, press
X to continue playing, T to go to the Main Menu, or O to change your
party's configuration (but Cloud and Cid cannot be removed from the
current party).  After you choose to continue playing, climb up the
ladder and you'll face off with two Shinra soldiers and Rude of the
Turks.

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: Rude                                LV: 42  HP: 9000  MP: 240
           xxxx                                 LV: 34  HP: 1300  MP: 100
           xxxx                                 LV: 34  HP: 1300  MP: 100

Use physical attacks to kill the soldiers and injure Rude, especially
if you've got the Continuous Slice and Slice Everybody materia equipped.
Rude can use a jumping wave attack, but it only causes about 500 points
of damage.  He can also create a Mabarrier which he usually casts when
one or both of the soldiers are killed, and he can cast Bolt 2 and heal
himself for about 1100 hit points.  Despite all his powers, he's still
easily beaten.  If you kill Rude before finishing off the guards, you'll
automatically win the battle.  You may win an S-mine once you win the
battle.
_________________________________________________________________________

Go inside the rocket ship--you'll have to fight another battle, but it's
easily won.  Press O to open the northern door, then go into the main
room, where Cid will talk to the workers.  After the rocket lifts off,
go to the right into the next room and climb up the ladder.  Examine the
Huge Materia in the next room and choose the top option.  Cid will chat
with Cloud and several numbered boxes will appear.  When they do, punch
in the following code, one press per message box:

First Message (1):      O
Second Message (2):     S
Third Message (3):      X
Fourth Message (4):     X

If you did it correctly, the glass tube will open and you can take the
Huge Materia.  If you mess up, you'll have 3 minutes to get the code
right, and Cid will try to clue you in to the correct code.  Should the
timer reach zero, the Huge Materia is lowered into the ground.

Whether you got the Huge Materia or not, return to the entry room and
climb down the ladder; when you get near the sparking tanks, they will
explode.  With a little help from Shiera, you'll free Cid from under a
piece of metal.  Follow Shiera into the next room (which turns out to
be an escape capsule).  After a lengthy FMV sequence, you'll find
yourself back in Highwind, and the Meteor hanging in the sky will now
be much closer than it was before.  Alternately, you can do this part
(see the tanks explode) and then go back and get/not get the Huge
Materia, or you can even do this part and then take the escape pod
without even attempting to free the Huge Materia (which means you
obviously won't get it).
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4 . 1 2    r e t u r n   t o   t h e   a n c i e n t   c i t y  /
             m i d g a r   c i t y   u n d e r   s i e g e
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ITEMS IN THIS AREA:  Ultima Weapon, Elixir x3, Mega Elixir, Aegis
                     Bracelet, Starlight Horn, Max Ray, Power Source x2,
                     Guard Source, Magic Source, Mind Source, W-Item
                     materia, Master Fist, Pile Banger, HP Shout,
                     Ragnarok, Missing Score.

Get in the Highwind and return to Cosmo Canyon.  Make your way up to the
observatory and talk to Buugen Haagen.  Cloud will use the PHS system to
call the rest of his friends up to Buugen Haagen's home.  They'll all
talk about Sephiroth and Aeris, and then leave Cloud alone with Buugen
Haagen, who offers to keep the Huge Materia at his observatory for
safekeeping.  Touch any of the Huge Materia you have and pick the
bottom option to return to the Highwind.  Buugen Haagen will accompany
you.  Pilot the Highwind back to the Northern Continent and land in the
canyon where the Ancient City is located.  At the crossroads, take the
left path and follow it into the chamber with the blue crystal that
you couldn't do anything to earlier.  Head right along the upper path
and take the stairs up to the crystal.  Buugen Haagen will talk to
Cloud and his friends.  If you already got the Old x x no Key, Buugen
Haagen uses it to create a waterfall.  If you didn't get it yet, he'll
remain here in the Ancient City until you find it and return to him
with it.

Once the waterfall has been activated, walk towards the crystal a
second time.  Pictures of Aeris will be shown in the falling water
while Buugen talks to your party.  Now, leave the Ancient City.  As
you do, Cait Sith calls on Cloud's phone and tells him that the Sister
Ray in Junon Town has been re-installed in Midgar City, and that it's
going to be used to destroy the barrier around the crater (where
Sephiroth's at).  After seeing some more FMV, return to the Highwind.
Just as you're about to board it, another Weapon monster shows up and
starts advancing towards Midgar City.  Since you can't attack it while
in the Highwind, and you can't reach it using the submarine, wait until
it reaches dry land, then try and touch it in order to see another FMV
sequence in which the Sister Ray is used to kill the Weapon and break
the shield at the same time.

At this point in the game, if you return to the lake near Junon Town,
the Ultima Weapon will be hovering over the lake.  You can battle the
Ultima Weapon by ramming into it while aboard the Highwind.  However,
it will fly away after fighting with you for awhile.  From this point
on, it will fly around the sky and make it's way to various random
locations.  It might seem as if you could just wait around for the
Ultima Weapon to show up here and there, but the beast will fly in
circles unless you find it and ram into it repeatedly.  After 4 or 5
tries, it will then head towards a new location and sit there until you
attack again.  After escaping a few more times, it will make a final
stop at Cosmo Canyon.  You can fight it to the death here (it's a
pushover, so don't expect too much of a challenge), and when it dies,
you get Cloud's Ultimate Weapon (the Ultima Weapon).  Furthermore,
it will create a crater when it crashes into the ground, wiping out
several of the rock formations around Cosmo Canyon.  However, you can
now walk across the crater and go into the Old Forest!  Normally, you
can't reach this place unless you're using a colored Chocobo.  If you
don't want to fight the Ultima Weapon now, you still fight it during
Disc 3.

Anyway, pilot the Highwind back to the crater when you're ready.  Before
you can explore it further, Reeve (y'know, the guy who controls Cait
Sith) reveals that Hojo (one of the members of the Jenova Project) is
planning to use the Sister Ray again, even though the results could be
catastrophic considering how much energy it used up last time.  So you
have to get back into Midgar City and stop Hojo beforehand.

<KM's note -- Upon getting back in the Highwind, I talked to the pilot
near Cid in order to take control of the airship.  He said something
about the airship reaching it's "Level 14 Limit Break" and most of the
text was flashing in rainbow colors (same effect as when you have the
All 7 Fever).  Does anybody know why this happened?>

When you're ready to raid Midgar City, fly the Highwind straight towards
it, as if you were going to ram into it.  Cloud and his allies will
gather together on the airship's deck.  You can now choose the top
option to assemble a new party, or the bottom option to leap off the
ship and parachute into the city.  When you can move, follow your
friend to an alleyway where your pals are waiting.  There's also a Save
Point here.  Talk to whoever is by the wooden panel and they'll open it
to reveal a ladder leading down into the depths of Midgar City.  At the
bottom of the ladder, go along the metal passage and down the slope.
Go up the the next slope and when you reach the wall, head right to
find a chest containing an Elixir, and then run to the left to find a
chest with a Mega Elixir inside of it.

Make your way back to the area with the ladder and take the stairs down
to an area with a ladder.  If you climb down the ladder, you'll reach a
long walkway; head east and then go north to arrive at another ladder.
Climb up it and you'll have access to the green chest you saw earlier;
it contains an Aegis Bracelet.  Climb back down to the long walkway and
run to the right.  The floor will give way and you'll be deposited on a
lower walkway.  Head left, jump on top of the pipe, and then ascend the
ladder.  When you arrive at another ladder, climb up it, too.

Eventually you'll arrive at a path just below the one you were walking
around on earlier.  Walk along it until you reach a chute; walk into it
and you'll be deposited in a new area.  Check out the green chest to the
left (there's a Starlight Horn inside it).  Then go to the right and open
the chest that's near the ladder (it contains an Elixir).  Climb down the
ladder and press against the right lip of the platform in order to jump
down to the chute labled '42'.  Enter the chute, and when you arrive at
the other end, head left and then go up the ladder.  At the top, you'll
find a chest to the left; there's a Max Ray inside it. Retrace your
steps until you're back at the other area, press left to jump off the
chute and back onto the platform, and then climb up the ladder and go
up the stairs to your left (it's right next to the chute labled '12').

At the top of the stairs is a Save Point.  To the right of it is a
crawlway.  Make you way along it and you'll arrive in an underground
tunnel system.  Climb down to the floor and head south.  While many of
the passages here split off in two directions, one direction will always
end in a blocked door, so keep going south.  As you keep going, you'll
run into your friends (remember, who you meet up with depends on who is
and isn't in your group).  After heading south for a couple of screens,
you'll find a treasure chest lying against the left wall of one of those
'split-passage' areas I mentioned earlier.  Inside it is a Power Source.
At the next split-passage area that you come across, there is a treasure
chest in the area between the doorways.  There's a Guard Source inside it.
Keep going south, and when you reach the next split-passage area, there
will be two chests lying in the area between the doorways.  The one to
the left has a Magic Source inside it, and the one to the right contains
a Mind Source. If you go south from here, you'll arrive at a dead end.
In the left corner of this area is a Save Point, and in the right corner
there is a yellow materia (W-Item).  If you press against the wall,
you'll discover that you can't go any further.

So, go all the way back to the first area (where the ladder was).  Try
to head to the north and guess who shows up!  It's the remaining Turks,
and they're here for a final showdown with Cloud and his friends.  I
could swear that the first time I came through here, they asked if I
wanted to fight or not...but I guess not, since nothing like that
happened this time around.  Perhaps it has something to do with
completing Yuffie's sub-quest before coming here?

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: Elena                                  (can't see her stats.)
           RENO                                LV: 50  HP: 25000  MP: 200
           Rude                               LV: 51  HP: 28000  MP: 250

Elena is healed by lightning attacks, Reno by ice attacks, and Rude
by fire attacks.  Rude has a punch attack that hits one character for
2000 points of damage, Elena can throw a firebomb that inflicts 500 to
600 points of damage (in addition to a Amulet attack), and Reno uses a
spark attack which will cause 800 HPs worth of damage.  They all have
more attacks than these; but I'm listing the ones the seem to use most
often.  Alone, they aren't much, but with all three of them fighting
together, this becomes one of the toughest battles in game.  Barrier
and Haste your allies, then use spells like Ultima and Tornado to soften
the Turks up in addition to Limit Breaks.  Try to save Phoenix until you
really need it, since it will revive your members but heal Rude.  All
three Turks will escape once you've defeated them in battle.  You'll get
an Elixir when the battle is over.
_________________________________________________________________________

After the battle, go north.  When you reach the split passage area, go
north again.  If Cid isn't in your party, he'll show up here.  Take the
right path and at the next split passage, take the left path.  You'll
arrive at a blocked passage, but there's a ladder against the left wall
that leads to the Shinra Building.  If Cait Sith is in your party,
he'll talk to you.  Otherwise, you'll see him hop out of the building.
If you didn't read Kamedouraku Flyer No. 2 the first time around, you
can check out the billboard at the back end of the first floor to read
it now.  Go up the stairs near the front and look for a door marked
'Accessories' near the other end of this floor.  In the adjoining room,
you can open two chests that a Shinra employee wouldn't let you
examine eaarlier.  The one to the right contains a Master Fist and the
left one has a Pile Banger inside of it.  Before leaving, go up to the
64th floor and look for the lockers (go north from the elevators).  If
you examine the left end of the row of lockers against the wall, you'll
find the HP Shout (Cait Sith's Ultimate Weapon that you couldn't
take earlier).

Return to the underground passages again.  Go south past one split-
passage room, and when you reach the second room, take the left path.
You'll go outside.  Walk towards the lefthand red beam to climb up it
and jump onto the main street.  Head north and a huge mechanical monster
will appear from behind you; it's being controlled by Heidegger and
Scarlet.  After laughing in your face, they'll attack you.

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: PURAUDO KURADDO  <Proud Cloud>         (can't see it's stats.)
           JAMAAAAAMAA  <Jammer Armor>         LV: 62  HP: 20000  MP: 300

This mechanical monstrosity has two parts; a head and a chest area that
you can aim your attacks at.  The boss can only cause around 500-800
points of damage, but it can kneel and fire a ray from it's back (the
Beam Cannon attack) that causes 1100 damage to all members.  Even after
disabling the Jammer Armor (it can use it's Materia Jammer attack to
disable your Materia), you'll still have to keep attacking the main part
if you want to kill it.  Spells and summonings work nicely, and you
shouldn't worry about your HP until the boss kneels and readies it's
laser attack.  You'll get the Ragnarok sword once the fight is over.
_________________________________________________________________________

Once the machine explodes, it starts to rain.  Head north.  There are
two chests near the entrance.  The one closest to you has an Elixir in
it, while the one that's further away contains a Mystile.  Use the
Save Point that's nearby if you want to, then climb up the ladders.
If he's not in your party, Vincent will be on the lower landing.  The
second landing is normally empty, but if Barret is in your party, you
will see a green chest there.  Open it to get Barret's Ultimate Weapon,
the Missing Score.  If Barret's not in you party, you won't find anything
on the landing, even if you search it thoroughly.  Once you've climbed
all the way to the top, run to the right.  Sitting at the Mako Cannon's
(Sister Ray's) controls is Hojo, who will attack your party when you
talk to him.

_________________________________________________________________________
BOSS TIPS: Hojo                                LV: 50  HP: 13000  MP: 250
           PUDUREA SANPURU  <Pudurea Sample>   LV: 42  HP: 10000  MP: 200
           IBIRURAPPU SANPURU  <Ibirurappu S>  LV: 34  HP: 11000  MP: 120
           HERETIKKU Hojo  <Heretic Hojo>      LV: 55  HP: 26000  MP: 200
           MIGUIDE  <Right Arm>                LV: 55  HP:  5000  MP: 300
           SAUDE  <Left Arm>                   LV: 55  HP: 24000  MP: 400
           xxxxx Hojo NA  <Hojo NA>            (can't see his stats.)

Hojo can use his 'Capsule' power to summon the two 'Sample' monsters
every time you kill them.  So, concentrate on defeating Hojo instead of
the lesser monsters.  He'll then reappear as a huge monster with two
independant arms (Heretic Hojo).  Since Hojo can bring the arms back
to life, aim your attacks at the main body of the boss.  He may cast
Confuse or Silence on you, so I hope you have some Ribbons equipped.
The right arm will also inflict a lot of damage, so cast Barrier
beforehand.  In his final form, Hojo can cast Slow and employ a
multiple-hit attack (Combo), which will poison whoever is hit by it.
As long as you keep your HPs up, this battle is a cinch.  You'll receive
a Power Source once you've killed Hojo.
_________________________________________________________________________

You'll return to the Highwind after killing the boss.  There's a short
sequence with Tifa and Cloud afterward, then the Highwind blasts off
into the sky.  Well, that's the end of this disc!  My time...17:25 the
first time around, and 14:24 for the rewrite.