Welcome to Sash’s Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7 FAQ and
Walkthrough
Table of Contents
Introduction.....................................................int01
Basic Game Mechanics.............................................bgm01
Equipment and items..............................................eai01
Mission Complete Menu............................................mcm01
Basic Game Plot, as of the first mission.........................bgpo1
Beginning the Game...............................................btg01
Walkthrough......................................................walk1
Chapter 1........................................................cha01
Chapter 2........................................................cha02
Chapter 3........................................................cha03
-Obtaining the Ultimate Weapon
Chapter 4........................................................cha04
Chapter 5........................................................cha05
Chapter 6........................................................cha06
Chapter 7........................................................cha07
Chapter 8, part 1................................................cha8a
Chapter 8, part 2................................................cha8b
Chapter 9........................................................cha09
Chapter 10.......................................................cha10
Chapter 11.......................................................cha11
Chapter 12, part 1...............................................ch12a
Chapter12, part 2................................................ch12b
Secret Ending....................................................sece1
Tips and Tricks..................................................tip01
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Introduction.....................................................int01
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Howdy, and thanks for reading my guide to Dirge of Cerberus: Final
Fantasy VII. This guide is intended to assist you as you play through
the game from beginning to end with descriptions of maps, enemies, and
bosses. At the very least, this guide will outline all steps
necessary to complete the game on normal mode. The only real
difference between normal mode versus hard and extra hard are the
amount and frequency of enemies faced and the amount of damage Vincent
takes from being shot or mauled. I will put in as a side note any
significant differences between hard and extra hard, but since you
should not be playing extra hard before at least completing the game
on normal mode, I doubt it will be that crucial to your success at
that point. As a side note about extra hard mode, Vincent will retain
any weapons and gil he has acquired as of the final auto save in the
Omega chapter to be carried over to the beginning of the game should
extra hard mode be selected. Levels and ammunition do not carry over.
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Basic Game Mechanics ............................................bgm01
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DoS is at heart and action shooter game with elements of a Role
Playing Game added in. As Vincent progresses he will gain levels and
be able to upgrade his weapons.
- Saving/Loading
The game has 2 options for saving. As Vincent explores a level, the
game will auto save and create a log of Vincent’s exact inventory at
that point. The player can at any time replay the game from that auto
save point, even if he has progressed farther in the game. If, while
replaying, Vincent reaches another auto save point he has reached
before. The current data will override what has been saved
previously. Hence, if on your first attempt, you reach an auto save
point with an inventory of 2 potions and 150 bullets, any time you
replay from there you will start with those items. If, however, you
play from a previous point in the story and reach that auto save area
with an inventory of 4 potions and 225 bullets, that new data will
replace the old.
- Leveling
Vincent will not gain levels during missions, only after a mission has
been completed. As you progress, the game will keep score of the
amount of kills and gil you acquire. After a mission is over, you
will be given the option of using all the experience you gained to
increase Vincent’s level, or convert each exp point into 10 gold.
- Upgrading
After missions have been completed and you have chosen to level up or
receive money, you will be given the option to modify weapons and
accessories. Each basic gun can be upgraded 2 times before you must
decide how to specialize it. What you choose is really based on your
particular play style and what you find most useful. All guns have
advantages and disadvantages versus other guns.
- Memory Capsules
Hidden throughout the game (some hidden much better than others) are
memory capsules which when shot will cause an auto save file to be
created in your “Extra Features” menu which can be accessed from the
games main title screen. Once a capsule has been acquired you need
not ever find it again in any version unless you should happen to
erase your game data from your memory card. Once acquired, you may
enter your “Extra Features” menu and scroll to the “Event Viewer” to
see a video sequence that appears somewhere in the game. Should you
find all the capsules you may watch every video file the game has to
offer.
-Critical Hits vs. Normal Hits.
Enemies in this game have HP. When shot in vital areas, more damage
is done. You will know if you scored a critical hit because the
damage done appears in orange rather than white. All humans will
suffer a critical hit if shot in the head. Other creatures and
machines have different weak points.
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Equipment and Items .............................................eai01
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--Basic Equipment--
-Guns: Vincent’s main form of combat, your gun is your best friend in
this game.
Cerberus
Vincent’s basic gun, has average stats at all ranges, best for
medium/short range fights
Hydra
Vincent’s rifle. Most useful for long range combat. Shoots at a
slower pace and reloads slower, but has highest damage.
Griffon
Machine gun. Best at short range combat, unloads many rounds quickly
but harder to aim and does less damage.
-Barrels:
Short barrel: Quick fire rate. Does less damage the further away the
enemy is.
Medium barrel: Mainly for use in fighting enemies who are not in
places Vincent can reach on foot.
Long barrel: Used to fight enemies at long distances, power decreases
the closer an enemy is to Vincent
-Materia: Materia can be attached to a weapon and cast using
Vincent’s mana pool. There are 3 kinds
Fire Materia: When cast, Vincent will shoot a ball of flame which
explodes on impact, damaging all nearby opponents.
Lighting Materia: Vincent fires a powerful bolt of lighting which
damages enemies in a straight line.
Blizzard Materia: Vincent shoots a ball of ice that seeks out his
single target automatically.
-Accessories: Can be attached to weapons, enhancing their abilities.
Many can be upgraded at the machine shops.
Sniper Scope: Allows Vincent to zoom in on a target. Useful for
getting critical hits.
Materia Floater: Increases the level of equipped Materia
Power Booster: Increases the weapons power as well as weight, making
Vincent run slower while carrying it.
Gravity Floater: Decreases the total weight of the weapon.
Materia Booster: Another accessory to increase the level of equipped
materia.
Auto Reloader: Auto reloads a weapon when ammunition has been
depleted.
Cerberus Relief: Slightly increases defense.
Power Cross: Slightly increases power of melee attacks.
Recoil Limiter: Reduces Recoil, making aiming that much easier.
L-Adjuster: Increases accuracy of long range shots.
S-Adjuster: Increases the accuracy of short range shots.
Manaheart: Gradually replenishes MP, secret item found in Chapter 6.
-Items: Can be used during missions for various effects. Be careful,
the use of too many items in a mission can lower your score.
Potion: Heals a small amount of HP
Hi-Potion: heals a moderate amount of HP
Mega-Potion: Heals a large amount of HP
X-Potion: Fully heals Vincent.
Ether: Restores some MP
Elixir: Restores all HP and MP
Phoenix Down: When used, the next time Vincent is KO’d he will return
to life at full health.
Limit Breaker: Unleash the beast! Vincent will morph into a new were-
wolf type creature with devastating melee attacks as well as gain the
ability to throw balls of fire. Defense will be increased
dramatically and all HP will be restored. Vincent will return to
normal after a short time or you can remove the effects by holding
L1+R1.
Red Potion: Heal a random amount of HP
Red Ether: Heal a random amount of MP
-Bullets
Handgun Bullets: Used in handguns, Cerberus will fire 3 at a time.
Rifle Bullets: Used by the Hydra weapon.
Machine-Gun bullets: Used by the Griffon.
--Specialty Weapons/Items—
Bayonet Rifle: When carried, increases the power of Vincent’s melee
attacks.
Blast Machine Gun: Does little damage but knocks enemies down.
Ultimate Weapon: Just what it sounds like. Will make the going a lot
easier on you. Refer to my Chapter 3 section for details on how to
acquire.
Lucky S Barrel: Gain more XP for killing enemies with this barrel
attached.
Fearie L Barrel: A long barrel that quickly fires.
Elixor: Fully restore all MP and HP as well as gain the effect of
Phoenix Down.
Potion: Will appear in your inventory labeled “Potion” but will only
restore 1 hp. They won’t stack with normal potions so get rid of them
if you see them.
Moogle Dolls. Rare, and if you find them, just sell them at the
nearest shop, all they are good for is extra cash.
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Mission Complete Menu............................................mcm01
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At the end of each mission you will receive a score for that mission
based on your performance, granting you either a D, C, B, A, or S.
Here is what the game evaluates.
Targets Destroyed: Easy enough. Kill more people, get a better score.
Accuracy Rate: Based on how many bullets found their marks.
Damage Sustained: How many HP you lost during this mission. This one
is probably the toughest to get a good score on, as there are times
where you just can’t avoid getting shot.
Critical Hits: How many times did that little orange number pop up in
the mission?
Killchains: Whenever you kill targets in rapid succession you get a
kill chain. This doesn’t measure what your max kill chain was, just
how many times you acquired a kill chain, be it 2 enemies in
succession or 50 (though killing 50 enemies in succession would earn
you 49 kill chains). Interesting note: barrels and boxes count as
targets so if you see them stacked together, shoot them one at a time
to get a kill chain.
Items Used: The fewer items you use in a mission the better your rank
will be.
Magic Casted: How many times Vincent uses materia per mission. Easy
to get a good score on this one, if you run across a mako field with
full mana, fire off a few magic rounds at nothing before running over
it, you’ll get your score up and won’t lose any mana.
Mako Collected: This measure how many of the Mako Fields you ran over
during the mission. Sometimes they refresh after you have run over
them, so check back.
Times KO’d: How many times Vincent died in the mission.
Time Expired: How long it took you to complete the mission. This
score is almost always low if you are watching the videos, because for
some reason they did not program it so the timer stops while you watch
one. Whatever.
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Basic Game Plot – as of the first mission........................bgp01
======================================================================
3 years have passed since Meteorfall and the city of Midgar has been
deserted. Reeve Tuesti, also known to others as Cait Sith, has been
placed in charge of a militant organization known as the World
Restoration Organization, whose goal is to aid in the planets survival
and longevity after the devastating effects of the encounter with
Sephiroth. Recently, screams have been heard at night coming from
inside Midgar, and a team was sent in to investigate. None returned.
As the game opens, Vincent is resting in the town of Kalm during a
celebration of its recovery from Meteorfall. During the festivities,
Kalm is attacked by an unidentified group of soldiers. Vincent must
save the citizens and determine what is going on.
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Beginning the Game...............................................btg01
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If you have yet to complete the game, you will be prompted to choose
Normal or Hard mode. If you have already completed the game once and
have an auto save file in the Omega and Chaos chapter, you may chose
Extra-Hard mode and your games information will be carried over.
Once you have selected the mode you want, you will be prompted to
configure the game, with options such as Vibration and Sound Output.
I suggest putting on subtitles, as dialogue can be lost in many area
with lots of background noise or characters who speak softly.
You may also choose how you want your sight to work, Automatic, Semi-
automatic, or Manual. Pick whatever, based on how hard you want the
game to be.
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Walkthrough......................................................walk1
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Here I will take you through a step by step process of the games
levels. What I describe is based on the games Normal Mode. The main
difference in the game modes is the amount of enemies faced as well as
damage taken and how much damage the bosses can sustain. If there is
any significant change I will highlight it by adding in a *Extra hard
Mode* qualifier. I will also note where the game Auto Saves. This
Walkthrough will NOT discuss Memory Capsules, nor will I provide
descriptions of what happens in videos. You can skip a video at any
time by hitting “start” and then X button.
Chapter 1: Sea of Flames.........................................cha01
------------------------
Stage Missions
Protect the Civilians!
Save the abducted girl!
Locate the card key!
Assist the WRO!
After the opening video you will be facing 3 soldiers. Shoot them
quickly, they probably won’t have time to even fire on you. Walk to
the right, across the pipes, and pick up the potion. Climb the ladder
and shoot the soldier on the platform. This will alert the other
soldier on the platform above. If you move fast enough, however, he
will not have time to shoot you before you eliminate him as well.
Once you are on the wall, take a right and destroy the box you come to
for 500 gil. Turn around and continue until you see a group of
soldiers on a platform. Take care not to go far enough the can see
you. You will notice a barrel next to this group of soldiers. Any
barrels you see like this one throughout the game will explode when
shot. Shoot the barrel and it should kill all the soldiers on the
platform.
*Extra Hard Mode* The barrel is not on the platform, it is along the
path the soldiers will run to get at you.
Once past this area you will see 2 more soldiers standing in front of
a doorway. Take them out but don’t go into the door just yet.
Continue past it until you see a briefcase containing a potion. To
the left of this briefcase is another soldier standing on the roof of
a house with his back turned. Take him out and head back to the door
you passed. Head down the stairs. As you go down a voice will say
“Area clear!” After you hear this you will see 3 soldiers standing on
the steps. Kill them and move on.
Auto Save
Head down the street until you see a group of civilians running toward
you. You need to save as many civilians as you can in this level.
Start here by positioning yourself between the civilians and the
soldiers chasing them and shooting the soldiers before they can kill
the people. Once you have killed those soldiers take a left and
eliminate the ones holding the kids hostage. Don’t worry about
shooting civilians. You can’t do it, even on purpose (if that makes
you sad, seek help). Continue down the path and a robotic dog will
jump out at you, kill him fast as 2 more soldiers will be chasing a
boy toward you and you need to kill them before they kill the boy.
You can take a right at this point but don’t do it yet. Continue
straight until you reach the fire blocking your path and take a left.
Kill the 2 soldiers and the dog and follow along until you reach a
fence. Past it is a case with 500 gil and 2 places where you will get
a cut scene of Vincent telling some kids the path is safe. Come back
and head down the path you passed up before. Run over the mako field
and get the fire materia. Remember to equip it. Continue down the
street and take out the guards in the alley. Careful you don’t shoot
the explosive barrel if you are next it. Break the boxes for any
items they may have and walk over to the laser gate. After you
realize you need a key, a soldier will run out of the house behind
you. Kill him and the 2 more coming down the path and get the key to
the gate. Continue on and you will see a group of civilians fleeing a
helicopter. You can’t do anything for them at this point, so just
keep moving. Down the next street step into the mako field and be
prepared as soldiers will jump out from inside the buildings. One
will drop the Limit Breaker item. Eventually you will get a cut scene
with a girl being dragged off by robot dogs. This is your first side
mission, to save her. Don’t waste bullets on the dog as it drags her
into the crate, you can’t kill it yet. Once she is inside, kill off
the enemies that attack you, making sure you get the dog terrorizing
the mother to your right as well as the soldiers in the windows.
After you have defeated the first wave, walk over to the crate and
open it. Now you have to fend off attackers until the timer reaches
0. When it does approach the crate and kill the dog inside. The girl
is safe; don’t you feel like a hero?
*Extra Hard Mode* You must defeat 30 enemies in this mode rather than
wait for the timer.
Follow the street and take a right when you can, you will be prompted
with another stage mission, to locate the card key. Keep going the
only way you can and you see a girl being attacked by soldiers. Kill
them, talk to the girl, and be on your way. Next you will acquire the
sniper scope. Attach it and keep going straight down the street until
you see a fire on your left. People will appear running from guards
only to be trapped by the fire and you can’t reach them to save them.
If only you had a way of seeing enemies from a long way off. Use R3
to test out your new scope and pick off the guards before they kill
the civilians. Head back to the path you passed on the way to the
fire and follow it. Get the mana and kill the guards that pop out
(shoot the barrel). The card you need is on the right. Head back to
the laser gate. Inside some guards will come running down the steps,
you can take all 3 out with a blast from your fire materia, same for
the 2 shooting you from the top of the steps. Down the other side,
kill the 4 guards and pick up the Long Barrel and attach it, you’ll
need it for this next fight. Get the Handgun Bullets and Hi-Potion
before you walk out the door.
Auto Save
Your first boss fight. You ready?
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Boss fight: Dragonfly
A giant helicopter. Depending on how well developed your shooting
skill is, this can be over in less than a minute. Aim at him as he
flies over and just unload all your bullets, using the long barrel you
just acquired. His machine gun is hardly even worth avoiding it does
so little damage, but watch out for his rockets, they follow you. The
best way to avoid them is to position yourself so they crash into the
pillar in the center of the square. Once he has made a pass over the
square he will drop a group of soldiers to fight you. Take them out
as fast as you can, use the barrels to your advantage if they are
close to them, and continue blasting away at the helicopter,
eventually it will go down.
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Auto Save
After the video you will find yourself in a building. Behind the
table is a Phoenix Down. The room on the left has 500 gil and the
room on the right has 500 gil and a shop machine. The next room also
has 500 gil and bullets. Keep going down the hall where you can pick
up a short barrel. Honestly, I don’t even use this attachment as the
medium/long barrels are better suited for 99% of the situations you
find yourself in throughout the game. Put it on your 2nd or 3rd
weapon if you want as you are about to encounter a fight in a tiny
room with many enemies. Once you walk upstairs and watch the video
and kill all the soldiers who enter the room.
Auto Save
Afterwards you are back out in the square you just fought the
helicopter in, killing more enemies. There is a Limit Breaker on top
of the pillar if you want it. The enemies will spawn forever until
you run to the SE and WRO members come in to join you. Kill all the
bad guys in the square and head out the direction the WRO came in when
the way is clear.
*Extra hard mode* You will start in the square with the WRO and the
Deepground soldiers will come in from the SE. It’s actually easier
this way because you can kill them as they file in.
Talk to the soldier if you want and then follow them as they run down
the path, picking up the Griffon and bullets. You don’t really have
time though to equip it because you need to follow the WRO soldiers to
save them. At the fork, take a right first and kill all the Deepground
soldiers before they kill your allies. Run to the area behind the DG
soldiers and get the keycard inside the box, but don’t use it to open
the gate closest to you, move to the other side of the alley and open
that gate, getting the 500 gil and the extra card key. Still, don’t
go through the laser gate yet. Head back to where you saw the fork
and go the other way this time. Again, assist the WRO before they get
killed. Now go back to the laser gate you haven’t opened yet and go
through. Down the street are 2 WRO members under attack from snipers.
Take them out with your Long Barrel. There are 2 on the roof to your
right and 2 on the ground. Make a U-turn at the edge of the ramp and
get the mana and Handgun bullets. Now head down the street and into
town square for Vincent vs. Dragonfly: The rematch.
Auto Save
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Boss fight: Dragonfly GL
I guess the GL stands for “Good Luck winning round 2 with a busted up
helicopter”. This time the Dragonfly moves much slower and doesn’t
fly as high in the air. Stay farther away and use the Long Barrel to
aim for his damaged right wing. After blasting that for a few clips,
the helicopter will fall to the ground, exposing its weak point on
top, shoot it as many times as you can before he recovers. Repeat the
process. He still fires missiles at you and they are a bit harder to
dodge as you have no structures to hide behind. No soldiers this time
though, so he should go down no problem.
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Chapter 2: Showdown in the Wastes................................cha02
---------------------------------
Stage Missions
Eradicate the Guard Hounds!
After the videos, you will be given control back with Vincent equipped
with a mounted machine gun. Take out as many of the guard dogs as you
can, don’t worry about ammunition. The more you kill the better your
score at the end of this Chapter. After a while you will be given a
cut scene where Vincent jumps on the roof of the vehicle.
Auto Save
Once again, kill as many of the dogs as you can. They will jump on
the transport, damaging you in the process so try and kill them as
they are in the air. Once you are past this you will be given another
cut scene where the transport crashes.
Auto Save
Walk over the 3 mako fields behind the transport before you advance
into the ravine. You will find a mini boss in the next area.
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Boss fight: Crimson Hound
As the fight starts he will jump up on a pillar and let his buddy dogs
chomp on you for a bit. Kill them as fast as you can, if you are
quick enough none will get away and start running in and out of the
stones. If they do just strafe around the outside and shoot them as
you see them. When all are dead, target the boss on top of his perch,
and blast away. Eventually he will come down to fight you. Kill him
fast enough and he won’t summon any more help. The best way to do it
is run backward while shooting him.
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After the Crimson Hound is “dead” get his key card and head into the
next area, making sure to watch the cool video of Vincent finishing
the dog off. You will get another cut scene and fight the real bosses
of this level.
Auto Save
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Boss fight: Pegasus Riders
Five on one? Hardly seems fair, maybe Vincent should let them
surrender. He doesn’t of course. This fight seems daunting at first,
but there is a trick to beating them. Let them circle you a few times
and then move out of their pattern. Eventually they will break ranks
and charge you, which is when you want to shoot them, as they are
vulnerable from the front. One shot is sometimes enough to kill a
single rider. Just make sure they don’t hit you if they are charging,
it will knock you down and if you don’t jump up fast you are
vulnerable to another charge. They share a collective life bar, so
you don’t have to do all that damage to every one. Pick them off one
by one and that’s all she wrote for this mission.
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I suggest upgrading your long barrel at least once here.
When you get control of Vincent, turn around and head left. You will
see a case at the end of the alley with handgun bullets, take care of
the 2 dogs on your way there. Make your way through the mini maze and
kill any dogs that show up. Eventually you will cross the street and
find a mako field. Past that is a dieing soldier who tells you where
to go to save the people of Edge. Get his keycard (more dogs in the
alley past him if you want to get a few extra kills) and head back to
where you started the mission, opening the gate. Inside are a potion
and another new toy, the Hydra Rifle. This is for shooting those
pesky snipers and enemies that are a long way off. Put it in one of
your weapon slots and stick the long barrel on the end of it and a
Sniper Scope on it, your about to get some practice. Don’t equip it
yet though, you need your handgun to take out the 4 dogs in the alley
you will enter next. Once you’re past those, put on the new rifle and
walk towards the town square. You are now engaged in one of the
mission Special Objectives which is to kill as many snipers as
possible. Snipers are possibly the most annoying enemies in this game
cause they almost never miss and they do a lot of damage, on top of
being very hard to see. Honestly, the best way to avoid damage is to
know where they are going to pop up in advance and have your rifle
ready to shoot them before they shoot you. And that requires you play
a mission several times. I’ll do the best I can here telling you what
to expect. The worst thing you can do here is to run into the middle
of the square, because you’ll be getting shot from all sides. Back up
into the alley you just came out of and look for the sniper on the
roof to the North (your left from where you start). Take him out as
fast as possible since he’s already shooting at you, and if you did
not enter the square, no other snipers should have noticed you yet.
To the right of that first sniper is an orange tarp, and a bridge to
the right of that. There is another sniper there on the left side of
that bridge. In the center of the square is a pillar, to the right of
it is another sniper on the roof of the houses directly across from
you. There is another to the right of him on the building with the
white masonry. To the right of him is a spotlight, when it is at its
farthest right-facing arc, move your scope a bit farther to the right
and you’ll see another. After you have all 5 of them taken out, inch
out of the area you are in with your character facing north against
the wall. Once you are a few feet into the square look up and see a
sniper right above you. Kill him. Follow along the wall where he was
standing and you will see a rusty bridge, there is another sniper on
the building behind that bridge. Now turn around. In the alley
opposite the laser gate you can see is the last sniper who currently
poses a threat to you, he’s behind a box on the ground next to a mako
field. Kill him and head into that area, when you come out of it you
see a kid running in front of you, follow him. In the building he runs
to, you need to kill the 2 soldiers on the 2nd floor. There is a shop
machine here and the 3rd floor has a potion and machine gun bullets.
Head back down and the kid will run out. Follow him again and kill
the soldiers who chase him. After you have killed all 4 of them, you
get another Special Objective, which is to follow the kid and don’t
let him die.
Auto Save
A dog jumps down and grabs him before you get to the first building,
kill him before he gets to the kid if you can, it isn’t really an
issue if he does, just kill him before he mauls the kid to death.
Follow the kid in the building, get the 1000 gil on the bottom floor
before you go up the steps. Once he gets outside and climbs up the
ladder, he looks into an alley. Don’t bother going down there, it
leads to a case with 1 gil. Follow a bit farther and save him from
the 2 dogs that jump out. Across another bridge 2 soldiers will start
shooting from on top of a sign to your right. Just kill them and move
on. Another group of dogs jump out while you follow here. After that
group, switch over to your rifle again and when the kid stops moving
and makes a frightened sound, look across the square to see another
sniper, he’s above the orange tarp you see directly across from you if
you are standing behind the kid. Kill him and the kid lets you into
the building you are standing at. Inside is a normal soldier with the
key card. Grab it.
IF YOU WANT THE ULTIMATE WEAPON, READ THIS PART!!!!!
When you have control of Vincent again after escorting the kid around
the square, turn around and head back into the building behind you.
Inside there is a case with a Model Gun. Grab it. That is the non
upgraded version of Ultimate Weapon. That’s the good part. Here is
the bad. That weapon will cost you almost 300k gil to make into its
best form. You can’t even upgrade it until Chapter 8 anyway, and at
that point, you’re going to need to convert all your exp into gil for
the rest of the game and not spend any of it. Maybe if you do that
you can afford it by the last level when you have Vincent’s Death
Penalty gun which is the most powerful weapon on the game. So why did
they put this in? Well, if you plan on playing the Extra Hard Mode,
you will NEED this gun.
So your options are: Ignore it, finish the game because you kinda like
Final Fantasy and you plan on forgetting you ever played this as soon
as it’s over. Or, option 2: Starting at chapter 8, don’t buy any more
levels or upgrades, kill yourself trying to beat the game with under
leveled and underpowered Vincent in hopes you can afford the Ultimate
Weapon before you reach the final boss because your ego is directly
proportionate to the size of your gun. Then play the game through on
Extra Hard blasting away with it and feeling like a real man. (That’s
what I did).
All joking aside, once you have it, the gun is pretty amazing. It
holds 99 rounds, does more damage than any gun save the Gigant Hydra
(which only holds 1 round and reloads very slowly). Only this gun
does max damage from all ranges. It completely destroys bosses all
the way through the game because you almost never need to reload it,
so you can stand there and have a shooting contest with just about
every boss for the first 2/3 of the game without even moving and win,
and the rest of the game you may only need to use 1 or 2 potions. The
battle with Weiss at the end of the game when you are at the reactor
is easier on Extra Hard mode if you have that gun than it is on Normal
mode if you don’t.
Oh well, it’s your choice.
Back to the game
*Extra Hard Mode* at this point, more snipers will appear on the
rooftops, kill them for the best rating at the end of the mission. To
kill them, don’t move at all. If you stand still, none will notice
you. Now just search the rooftops and pick them off one by one.
Head past the big laser gate and fight the enemies that jump out at
the end of the alley. Head in the only direction you can. Before you
jump out into the next area though, slowly make your way forward and
look up to the top of the building in front of you. Kill the sniper
before he sees you. This will alert the guard below who will begin
stalking toward you, jump out and kill him. Around the next corner is
another sniper on the fire escape above you at the end of the alley.
Shoot him before he sees you and duck behind the wall again. Wait for
the next 2 guards to come into sight and pop out to shoot them.
Follow until you see a box across the street from you. Don’t run out
into the street, slowly make your way to the edge and look at the
bridge above you, snipe the girl standing there. Climb the steps to
your left and as you walk out onto the bridge you just killed the
guard on, look across the street to the NE, a sniper is on the roof in
the corner. There are some guards in the street with boxes ahead of
you. Try and kill them with stealth if you can, but I find the best
way is to jump out and blast with Cerberus. Kill them and continue
on, there is 3000 gil in the box on the roof to your left.
Auto Save
You will be at a point where there is a cut scene and you can see some
guards on a stairway. First, snipe the barrel above you and kill that
guard, then jump out and kill the guard on the lower steps. Hide
again behind the wall and wait for the 3rd. Kill him when he comes
down. When you get up the steps 2 guards will pop out, and one is
below the stairs you will descend after that. Along the path 2 more
guards will show up and then you will jump down into an alley you
can’t get back out of. One guard is at the end, kill her and snipe
the guard you can see between the buildings after you make a U-turn.
Wait for the 3rd guard to come around the corner and kill him. You
will see a fallen steel support beam. Jump down to it and in front of
you is a mako field with a soldier near it. Kill him and the other
guard to his left. Find the limit breaker under the spot you jumped
down from and climb the fallen steel support. Pull out your rifle and
aim over the fence past the mako field to kill the sniper. Before you
run to get the mako field, look to your left and kill the guards
behind the fence, once again, barrels are your friend. The last
sniper in the level is above you across from the shop machine. Buy
anything you need and step inside for the boss fight.
Auto Save
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Heavy Armored Soldier
You have to move from the start in this fight because he has 6 friends
shooting you and if one of his rocket blasts get you it’s a lot of
damage you’ll be taking, you may die before you can even recover.
Kill his friends first, you may want to use fire materia on his
friends in the catwalks to your left and right. After you hurt him a
bit he drops the rocket launcher and uses a machine gun. Stand behind
the boxes to avoid the spray of bullets. The last stage he uses a
sword which is the easiest version to beat. Just back up and fire as
he runs at you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 4: Headquarters Under Siege..............................cha04
Stage Missions
Assist the WRO members!
Hurry to the Command Center!
Swiftly eliminate the reinforcement squad!
It’s all action from the start during this mission. While you are
waiting for the Mission Objective screen to go away you can pull out
your gun and just fire at anything it may auto aim at. As soon as you
can see, however, train your gun onto the 2nd floor and take out the
rocket launcher up there. Clean up the rest of the bad guys on the
first floor (there is one to your left, don’t miss him) and run up the
steps, killing the guy that pops out. Once upstairs, to the right are
some boxes with items, break them if you want. Once you get back to
the steps, go left and when you take another left, look across the
building to the bridge on the 3rd floor. Take out the rocket launcher
up there and the gunman who is shooting at you. Turn right again and
blow up the barrel because it may get shot in the next fight when you
are standing next to it. As you progress, 3 soldiers will appear
around the corner. Kill them and move on where the next steps will be
blocked by a laser gate. Keep going along floor 2 and kill the
enemies you encounter to get the key. Head up and assist the WRO
members fighting on the 3rd floor. Don’t stand near them because a
rocket launcher will be shooting at you from the 4th floor to your
left and you don’t want the explosion kill your allies. Kill the 2
guards on the bridge and the rocket launcher and follow your WRO
members back to the open door. Inside is a Limit Breaker, Shop
Machine, and bullets. When you come out go along the path until you
come to another locked laser gate and kill the enemies who show up.
Use the door to your left to circumvent the gate. A solder is in that
hallway as well as a mako field. Head out and collect anything the
solders you killed dropped. There is a mako field to your left once
you are outside. Get it and head up the steps. Once you are up you
will see 2 WRO members running from some enemies. Kill the bad guys
and follow your WRO members. Before you go anywhere though, look
across the building from the steps you just came up. See that
explosive barrel? Shoot it now, if you don’t it will get shot in an
upcoming fight while several WRO members are standing next to it. Run
across this floor and assist the members in a firefight. Keep going
and save the last WRO member on this floor who is pinned against the
wall by 2 Deepground soldiers, one will drop a card key. Head up to
the top floor and take a left. When the DG soldiers see you they will
jump onto the elevator. Follow them down to the 3rd floor and kill
them. Hop onto the elevator which will go back to the 4th floor and
get off on the opposite side (West). Be careful on this next part.
You see ahead of you one of those mounted machine guns? A DG soldier
will run and jump on it as you approach. If you’re a crack shot you
can take him out, the best way to do it though is to use a fire
materia blast, or shoot the barrel next to him. When he is dead, head
into the room. After the cut scene you have 60 seconds to get to
Reeve to get the best rating on the special objective. Follow the
green arrows on the wall and kill anyone who gets in your way. Be
careful of the rocket launchers. Head back and get the mako field and
bullets. On your way out you will get another cut scene. After it is
over, you may notice the door on the opposite side of the top floor
that was locked is now open. If you head through the hall and make it
to the other end you can jump on the mounted gun and get a Special
Objective, which is to blast as many solders as you can as quickly as
you can. This really screws your accuracy rating for this mission, so
it’s up to you. Head back to the first floor via the elevator, there
is a mako field on the 3rd level if you want to go get it, but you’ll
have to climb the long way. Head back to the shop machine in the
corner and buy anything you need. After, go through the door and down
the hall. Assist the WRO girls when you get to them and don’t miss
the Limit Breaker and Bullets near them. Keep going down until you
see several DG solders run past you, get behind them and take them out
before they kill your WRO allies. The last one will drop a keycard.
Grab it and get the mana from your left. Open the laser gate and you
will be faced with a long hall of DG soldiers. The best bet is to
just blast into them with a fire materia, it will kill the soldiers
behind the shields. Again, the last one in the hall will drop a
keycard. You have 2 more soldiers to kill before you get to a shop
machine and a door to your right which will lead you to a fight with
the Tsviet, Shelke.
Auto Save
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Shelke
She moves really fast, this is actually one of the tougher fights in
the game if you are inexperienced. Double jump to avoid her charges
and if she gets too close melee her till she falls and back up, then
shoot when she regains her feet. A few key crit shots and she goes
down really fast, but don’t go zooming in on her because she will
destroy you if you do. After she gets low she will step up her melee
attacks and they become even faster and more devastating. If you want
to end it fast, use a Limit Break and go after her, beating her down
every time you get close. If you use Limit Break before she gets
below 50% you can throw fireballs at her when she’s in a corner and
she can’t ever recover. That doesn’t work, however, as soon as she
starts leaping off the walls to attack you. Eventually you’ll finish
her and you get another cut scene.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
After you regain control, buy anything you need and head into the hall
for another encounter with Azul.
Auto Save
During the video, Vincent makes the only joke I think you may ever
hear come out of him, and then you are thrown into a fight with……
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Azul the Cerulean
This fight can be the easiest boss fight in the game if you do it
right. You can’t shoot Azul because even a critical hit to the head
causes minimal damage, however, the explosive barrels will kill him in
no time flat. As soon as the fight starts aim at the barrel to his
left and blow it up. Back up and blow up the other two near him and
then hide behind the pillar to your right. Azul has 3 attacks. He
will shoot his cannon at you, he will use a machine gun or he will
slam the ground causing a shockwave in all directions. The pillar
will block all 3 quite nicely, though you may want to jump to avoid
his shock wave just in case. Run out and pepper him with bullets if
you want, just take care not to get hit with his cannon. If you can
position yourself correctly behind the pillar you can shoot him with a
sniper shot and he cant hit you, when he is standing still this is
great for racking up the critical hits. Eventually Azul will walk to
the center near more exploding barrels, just wait for him to do that
and shoot them when he is near. The bigger they are, the harder they
fall.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 5: Manor of Despair......................................cha05
---------------------------
Mission Objectives
Eliminate the Sahagin!
Sneak by the DG soldiers!
Collect the Omega Report files!
Deactivate the mines!
As this mission opens Vincent finds out he is not alone in this sewer,
and one of the mission objectives is to kill all of the Sahagin. They
are great targets because they run right at you and their weak point
is where the gun tends to auto aim, almost every shot yields a
critical hit. The best strategy for killing multiple targets is to
back up and let them come at you and pick them off one at a time.
Kill the 3 in here and proceed down the hall, getting the items in the
rooms and killing the bad guy who jumps down at you. To the right of
the laser gate is a ladder, go up and get the mana on top and jump
down. In front and above you a mage like Sahagin will begin throwing
something at you, shoot him and several will jump down on top of you.
Kill them all and get the card key. Keep moving through the sewer,
nothing you haven’t seen 100 times already will happen, just look in
all directions for items, don’t miss the Blizzard Materia to your
left. Eventually one bad guy will give you a card key for a laser
gate on your left. Inside you will fight a group of them and it will
lead to a case with 2500 gold. Go across the sewer from there, up 2
ladders and kill all 3 monsters on top and use the switch to open the
gate. Once that gate is open you can proceed to the next area,
explore some more and find the last few Sahagin to kill, the climb the
ladder past the gate you opened. Once up the ladder, shoot the guard
you see at point blank range in the back of his head for a laugh, then
look above you. Slowly move to the right and snipe the guard up there
and wait for his friend whom you will also kill. On the other side of
the elevator are 2 more guards. Past those 2 is a door you must duck
under. Inside is a room with 500 gold and a power booster and an
infinite supply of Deepground soldiers. Kill as many as you want for
XP, just remember your wasting a lot of health items. Once you are
done, head back and get inside the elevator and step off on the 2nd
floor. Take the mana behind the elevator and head down the hall,
killing the lone guard running up, and buy anything you need from the
machine. Head back to the elevator and get off on the 3rd floor. You
will cross a bridge in the next room and the door will slam in your
face, turn around and try to head back and the other door will close.
After this, the wall to the east will open and a series of soldiers
will come out to shoot you. After you have killed them, the door will
close and the west side will open. Kill that group and continue on…
*Extra Hard Mode* Between the two groups inside the walls another
group drops down from the ceiling to attack you on the bridge you are
standing on.
Auto Save
Surprise! Now you get to play as Cait Sith for a short time. Take a
right from the beginning and watch the video. In this Stage Mission,
you can’t let any DG guards see you. Fortunately those helmets they
wear seem to severely impair their vision. Wait for the first guard
to turn his back and get behind the box. As he comes back toward you,
sneak by him and go to the end of the platform. Jump as far as you
can off and try to land on either the platform below you or the pipes
before it. If you fall don’t worry, just climb the ladder back up.
Now you will need to get past 2 guards. When they both have their
back turned follow the one on your right and get behind the box at the
end of his walking pattern. Get close to that ladder and watch the
cut scene. No guards can see you from where you are standing now so
don’t worry. Look down. There is a guard below you who walks back
and forth. To your left are pipes leading up and you can see an
exploding barrel behind them. You need to jump behind those pipes
when the guard below you has his back turned. Careful not to go too
far though, because there is another guard on the other side who
wanders back and forth. When that guard has turned around, move
toward the barrel and get a short cut scene. When the timing is
right, walk up to it and push it at the guard to kill him. Careful not
to accidentally jump instead of pushing it or you’ll be seen. If you
are, you can always restart from the beginning of the Cait Sith
mission, or make a mad scramble to the pipe. Once that guard is dead
move down the path to the 2nd exploding barrel and another guard
beyond it. Push it when both he and the first guard have their backs
turned and dash across. Climb the boxes and jump behind the 2 guards
and climb into the pipe. In the next area, wait till the guard on
your right heads around the pillar and run to your left, jumping over
the barrel, and push it on the guard below when he is in position.
Move past this area and time your next dash between the 2 guards
walking in a circle. Jump into the pipe in your right.
Auto Save
Back to Vincent. Head across the hall using the shop machine if you
need, but trigger the cut scene with Lucrecia. A new Stage Mission
now becomes available, to find all of the Omega Report Files. There
are 4 total. I’ll guide you to them. You have one already from the
cut scene, so no need to worry about that. Start by going to the east
room and collecting the items there, kill the 3 guards. Head back to
the room you regained control of Vincent in and head south. A
soldier and his pet robot dog will attack you, and in the room to the
left is a potion. Head to the right and open the sliding doors, kill
the soldier who runs in. Exit the wooden door. Across the hall is a
3 room area with 1 soldier and a mako field. After that, head west,
kill the soldier and dog in this hall and enter the room on your left,
with a Limit Break and Bullets. Beyond that room is another with a
soldier and dog and behind the last bookshelf is the second omega
report. Back into the hall, head east this time and keep going until
the end and you enter an area that looks like a cave. There is a door
on your left here and inside may look familiar to the fans of the
Final Fantasy 7 RPG. Square-Enix missed a great opportunity for a
nostalgic moment here, as this is where you meet Vincent for the first
time in the old game. All they did was put a weak ninja type soldier
in the coffin where Vincent slept for 30 years. Kill the guy and get
his 1000 gil drop. Keep moving into the cave, killing the guards as
they show up. When you get past the laser gate, it activates and a
Stage Mission begins. You must deactivate 4 mines in the time limit.
It’s actually rather simple. Walk until the beeping becomes fast and
then slow down, but keep moving forward. When the mine appears, back
up a few steps and shoot it. There are 4 total, 2 on the right wall,
1 on the left, and one in front of the laser gate on the other side of
the cave. The last one you kill will drop a card key. The next area
has a moving bridge you must activate to get across. It doesn’t go
all the way across and you have to jump the last 2 feet. You may want
to fall down once though to kill the dog and get the mana down there.
Keep going after this until you see a group of guards wandering by an
exploding barrel. Shoot it and take them all out at once. The door
to the left of the charred guards leads to an area with a shop
machine, mako field, and a few items, and eventually back to where we
started this part of the level. When you have got what you need, head
back to the cave and continue on. You will come to a room where 2
ninjas and a gunner will run at you, take them out and as you enter
the next area 2 guards will be shooting you from above. Using a fire
materia is the best way to get rid of them fast. Head up the spiral
steps and kill the 2 guards at the top and the 2 more that run in at
the same time you do. The upstairs rooms of the Shinra Mansion have a
few items, make sure you kill the guards down below as you head into
the main area, and make sure you kill the guard in the far west room
to get the third Omega report. Once downstairs, more guards will
spawn above you. After you kill them, head all the way east, then
north, and behind the bookshelf is the final Omega Report. The only
place left to go is west from the downstairs area. Through the next
few rooms you will fight guards and eventually you will run into Rosso
the Crimson, who loves to monologue. After listening to her talk for
far too long, there will be a chase scene that leads back to the main
room of the Shinra mansion (make sure to jump over the mines).
Auto Save
Here you will fight the Chapter 5 boss.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Black Widow
Another fight against a machine. The secret to this boss is to never
stop moving. He has 2 very mean attacks that can combo to take you
out in a snap. As the fight starts he will charge you, knocking you
over if he hits you. You have to keep strafing around him and
shooting. If you run into a wall, start strafing back the way you
came, just don’t stop moving and don’t move in a direct line away from
him; always try to run in circles. He will periodically stop and use
his beam cannon on you, which is easy to dodge if you just keep
moving, but will do tons of damage if it hits you. After a while he
will climb up on the wall and shoot you with his machine gun. You may
not even want to attempt to avoid this, especially if you decided to
buy the M Cerberus with additional ammo capacity. Just trade bullets
and you will come out on the winning end. Just make sure to start
running if you see his beam cannon charging. What you want is for him
to crawl to the roof. When he does that unload everything on him and
he will fall on his head, exposing his critical weak spot. Shoot him
over and over if that happens. While he is on his head, if you want
to end the fight in 10 seconds, switch to Limit Break mode and melee
him to death. It just depends on how well your fights going, if you
have managed to avoid taking damage up to that point it’s probably not
necessary.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Destroy the helicopters attacking the base!
Assist the WRO members!
As the chapter opens you will fight 3 rocket launching robots at once,
just keep moving and it shouldn’t be a problem, make sure not to get
too close after you kill one or you will take explosion damage. Get
the card key and head past the machine shop. You will follow a path
through the woods, get out your rifle and snipe the guard dogs as you
see them, many times you can kill them before they see you. You will
also pass a group of odd looking birds, I don’t know if they are
supposed to be chocobos or not. Shoot them if you want, they drop red
potions.
*Extra Hard Mode* At the end of this ravine there is a giant pink bull
(Dualhorn) who will charge you. You can’t kill him, so duck behind a
rock and wait for him to go by; if he hits you it causes massive
damage.
*** update ***
It would appear you can kill this bull; I did it by running through
the ravine with all the dogs on my tail and stopping just short of
where the dual horn spawns, then killing all the dogs at once to get
my combo meter up. When the dual horn passed by I used the Ultimate
Weapon with the best medium barrel. I hit his weak spot by standing
about 2 feet away when he passed by me. It only took about 4 shots.
When you kill him you get the new weapon accessory, Manaheart, which
gradually replenishes mana.
***
Eventually you will come to a cave with a beetle inside of it. Kill
it and move on slowly, taking out the 2 guards you hear talking.
After that, stop and look to your right, you will see a camp of DG
soldiers below you. Your first target should be an explosive barrel
on the right side, after that use your rifle to look across the camp.
There is a hole and inside are several more of the beetles you just
killed. Shoot them immediately after you shoot the explosive barrel
and they will run out and attack the surviving DG soldiers. Pick off
anyone whose left during the confusion. When you jump down, 2
soldiers will pop out from the tent to the left. Kill anything left
in the camp and stock up on bullets at the shop machine. Head into
the cave and assist the WRO members under assault at the end of the
path. Aim for the barrels and use your rifle. After you have
finished them off comes a Mission Objective, which is to kill the
helicopters who are attacking the WRO base, there are 15 total, they
attack in groups of 1 to 3 at a time. You can use the mounted machine
gun to kill them, but a long barrel Cerberus is just as effective.
Additionally, if you use the mounted machine gun the missiles fired by
the approaching helicopters will cause damage to the WRO members who
will be standing next to you. If you use the mounted gun, make sure
to jump out when you see missiles coming for you. You will know when
you have killed a helicopter because the number on your screen will
advance, but it won’t crash, it will just fly off. Don’t waste
bullets by shooting at it after its dead, even though the WRO members
do. The helicopters attack from 4 directions. Here is the order:
First one from the NE
Second from the NE
Third from the NE
Fourth from the NE
Fifth from the SW
Sixth from the SE
Seventh from the NW
Eighth from the NE
Nine from NW
Ten from NE
Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen from the NE together
Fourteen and Fifteen from the NE together
You may want to use the mounted gun for the last 2 because helicopter
15 has a lot of HP. After the last one flies around a bit he drops 3
heavy armored swordsman. Kill them and get the cardkey they drop and
move into the base. When you come back outside, kill the guard in
front of you and the dog on the crate ahead of you and run to your
left behind the crate, killing the guard who will start shooting you
from the ground. Be quick here because 2 snipers are on the bridge
ahead of you. Get a location on them (they are just to the right of
the middle) and kill them with your rifle. Move to the left and keep
your gun trained on the bridge, another sniper will appear. When all
the initial guards are dead, move forward and more will spawn. Just
run back behind the trailer and take them out with your rifle, there
are seven or eight of them. Try to move forward again and you will be
delayed again by several dogs. Now move forward. On the second half
of this bridge you will be attacked by another dozen or so guards,
only this time you can’t be as conservative because WRO members are
also under fire. It really just requires quick action and good
shooting to come out of this situation with all your allies alive and
most of your health. Don’t miss the sniper on the bridge above you.
When all enemies are dealt with, head inside the open door and get
ready for some fancy shooting. A WRO member will be under fire from
DG soldiers, and everyone is standing in a narrow hall with explosive
barrels all around. If you run in guns blazing you will hit a barrel
and kill your ally along with the DG soldiers. Just do your best to
quickly get a bead on the enemies and take them out. Get the 1000 gil
and put on your long barrel weapon and head out. You come to another
bridge like the one you just passed with crates randomly strewn about.
2 soldiers will pop out from your left as soon as you exit the base.
Kill them and the 2 more soldiers behind the crates. Then take out
the 2 dogs and get the card key. Head back into the base once again.
Auto Save
In this next area you will be attacked by DG soldiers hiding all over
the place, which includes on the rafters above you. As you move
forward, more will spawn, so make sure to kill everyone you see before
heading deeper into the room. After all are dead, slowly head up the
steps. Don’t move more than 1 pace past the stairs and turn to your
right. Make sure to stay as close to the edge of the building as
possible so as not to trigger the next boss fight, its best to try and
walk along the lip of the cliff that looks like a rusted iron support.
Follow around and move to where you saw the soldiers shooting you from
above. There is a case up there with 5000 gil. Grab it and head back
for another fight with the Black Widow.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Black Widow II
Same guy as before really, only this time he has 4 soldiers to help
him. If this is Normal mode you should be able to take them out with
1 shot, so if your strafing skills are up to par you can just move in
a circle around him and take out the guards as they come into your
field of vision. There are a few things you can do to this boss. You
can use the same strategy as last time and run circles around him,
avoiding his charges and beam cannon, just try not to fall off the
platform. You can Limit Break and melee him to death real fast. His
weak spot is under him, and if you can get him positioned to fire at
you while you are standing on the steps leading up to the platform you
can get repeated critical hits from below him. You can also run back
to where I told you to get the case with 5000 gil and hop on a mounted
machine gun and blast away. That is dangerous though because you
can’t avoid his beam cannon if he decides to use it. You must also
use the mounted gun to blast any incoming missiles because you can’t
avoid those either. Whatever you pick, he isn’t any harder than
before.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Auto Save
You are now in the ruined WRO building, get the mako field behind you
and go down the hall, there is a DG soldier around the first corner.
When you open the door ahead of you there is a big fight going on.
Your first target should be the rocket launcher to your left. After
that pick off the regular soldiers one by one and move fast so you can
save your allies. Head into the room beyond and kill the 4 DG enemies
you will encounter in this hall. Keep going and watch the long cut
scene. Mission over. Either way you choose to allocate your XP
points for chapter 6, I suggest you don’t spend any money yet, because
there is a shop machine in the next chapter which sells items you
can’t buy at other shop machines and it sells bullets for 10% of their
normal price.
Chapter 7: The Shera.............................................cha07
--------------------
A breather chapter, there are no enemies to fight. When you have
control of Vincent, go talk to any of the crew you want, none of them
say anything relevant. Head outside and to your right is Yuffie, talk
to her and keep going to the right, past the door you will come to and
to the end of the hall. Inside is Shelke, talk to her and then leave.
Go back to the door you passed. The discount shop machine is here;
you can buy and do any upgrades you need. Talk to Reeve and then
watch the cut scene that unfolds.
Auto Save
When you have control again, go talk to Cid 2 times, Yuffie, and then
talk to Reeve until Cait Sith tells you to go get some rest. Go back
and talk to Shelke again and then head back to where Yuffie is, go
into the door you haven’t entered yet and down into the engine room.
As you try and leave, another cut scene occurs ending this chapter.
Escort the WRO squad to the central complex!
Save the surviving WRO members!
Defeat the Deepground commander!
Many areas of this chapter are a maze, as the majority of it occurs in
the Midgar train graveyard. I’ll do the best I can to guide you. As
the level opens you will see 2 WRO members ahead of you who run into a
line of bullets and get mowed down. I don’t think it’s possible to
save them. Shoot the barrel on the right side of the group of enemies
to take them all out at once. There is 2000 gil behind a crate in the
SW corner of this area. Move until you see a shop machine and a group
of WRO soldiers who are lost, you have to escort them to their
commander. After the initial fight with the DG soldiers you encounter
after agreeing to help the WRO keep moving past the open door and
rescue the WRO soldier who is hiding behind the box, then come back
and head inside. Through the hallway is an area with a group of DG
soldiers waiting for you. Kill them with 2 blasts from fire materia
and get the card key. Outside is another fight. There is a sniper on
the tower behind you. Keep going until the next cut scene and another
fight begins. When you have control again, turn around and head back
up the way you came and kill the guards sneaking up behind you, then
run back and assist the WRO members with the remaining DG guards.
After all of them are dead, walk to the laser gate. You don’t have
the card key yet so turn around and head back the way you came. A
heavy armed swordsman will drop down. Kill him and get the card key.
There is another fight in the next alley, if you run ahead far enough
you can take out all the soldiers before your allies even show up.
Keep going to the laser gate and when the WRO members get there, they
will be assaulted by guard machines like the ones in the training
mission. Kill them all (fire materia works great) and get the card
key. Head inside.
Auto Save
As you exit the building, look up and to your right. There is a sniper
on the tower. There is a mako field behind the train ahead of you
here; you have to jump over some boxes to get there.
*Extra Hard Mode* there is also 10000 gil in a case behind these boxes
There is 2000 gil behind the tower you shot the sniper on, grab it and
head to the right at the fork. Get the 2000 gil in this area and head
back to take a left. Jump inside the abandoned train and head inside.
When you jump out, look for 2 more snipers on another tower to the NW.
When you have killed them head along the path until you reach a point
where you see 2 WRO members shooting at some enemies who are behind a
train. Do not run out to assist them. Look to your right. You will
see another tower. On top is a foursome of DG soldiers with mounted
machine guns, one facing each direction. You need to snipe/fire
materia the 2 that can shoot you from here. Next, use your rifle and
crouch down, but do NOT approach the 2 soldiers under fire. Turn to
the train blocking your view of the soldiers currently shooting at
your allies. If you run too close to the WRO members they will
automatically be blown to bits by a rocket launcher. If you are in
the crouched position with the scope on though, you can see the legs
of the soldiers they are fighting. You need to kill the soldiers by
shooting them from under the train. You will know when it is safe to
approach because your WRO allies will stop fighting and move to
positions of safety behind the train. Afterwards, as you move
forward, a group of soldiers runs out to fight you. For some reason
in this game, Vincent can not hit targets which are moving into a
fighting position to save his life. So back up and wait for them to
all get ready for you, then run out and kill them. Around the next
corner are 4 WRO members being attacked by the 2 remaining mounted
machine guns. Kill them as fast as possible; else you will lose some
allies. Under the tower is a box with another 2000 gil. In the next
building are 3 DG soldiers and another 2000 gil. Once you exit, the
next area has no enemies, but another 2000 gil and a limit breaker can
be found here. Go into the next building. 2000 more gil on your
right, and another 2000 on the west wall. Eventually you will enter a
train with a soldier who is apparently blind. He tells you he
searched all over for the exit but could not find it, despite the fact
that it is 2 feet away. Shelke helps you out and you can use the shop
machine here before you enter the next area with a mini boss fight.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mini-Boss fight: Deepground Commander
The only thing that makes this challenging is the number of enemies.
Take out his normal soldier bodyguards and ignore the rocket machines,
just make sure to keep moving so you don’t get blasted. After the
soldiers are dead, kill the machines and then focus on the Commander.
You’ll get really tired of hearing him yell “HAIL WEISS” over and over
again and you want to kill him just to shut him up. After his initial
group of allies has been slain, he summons 3 heavy armored swordsmen.
He has quite a few HP, but he’s nothing special. Get his card key and
the 2000 gil behind the train to the east.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Go back and buy anything you may have consumed during the fight from
the shop machine and head into the underground alley. Get your sniper
rifle out and turn to your left, getting against the wall. Turn
around and look at the soldiers at the other side of the tunnel.
Snipe the one in the middle and if you can kill him in 1 shot he won’t
warn the others in the hallway beyond. Kill his 2 friends, and if he
did get to yell out, kill the heavy armored swordsmen who come in to
help. If he did not call a warning, snipe the 2 swordsman when they
aren’t looking in the next hallway, and use the fire materia to kill
the enemies who run in at the end of the final area. Now you are back
outside. If you take a left you come to a train with a shop machine
inside of it and 2000 gil beyond. To the right is a mako field. When
you are ready, head to the center of this area and to the North, you
will encounter another boss fight here.
Auto Save
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Shrikes
This fight is very annoying. These guys share a collective life bar
like the Pegasus Riders, so you only need to hit each one a few times.
In the beginning, try and take at least one out before they have a
chance to split up and you lose line of sight on them. The best thing
to do, as soon as the battle starts, is to target one and shoot it
while you are backing up as far as you can. They all fly over your
head and if you keep them in your range of vision at the beginning,
you can take out 3 or even 4 before they break formation and begin
traveling in random patterns. Eventually they will be flying all over
the place shooting you from all different directions. Use your damage
indicator map to see where they are coming from and search the sky for
targets. You may be tempted to stand next to the trains to prevent
taking damage from all directions, but this severely impairs your own
vision and you lose sight of targets much too fast. Just keep moving
and blast away when you get one in your crosshairs, none can last more
than a few hits.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the end of part one of chapter 8, you allocate your XP points
and upgrade here.
Chapter 8, part 2: Fight for the Central Complex.................cha8b
------------------------------------------------
Mission Objectives
Avoid the aerial mines!
Destroy the robotic assault units!
Assist the WRO members!
Defeat the sentry robots!
Follow the WRO members and kill the 3 guards on your left, getting the
card key. Open up the laser gate and as you walk through a horde of
enemy soldiers will attack. Just kill them as best you can, once
again, fire materia to the rescue. Follow the route and take out the
enemy soldiers until you get to another group of WRO soldiers. At
this point a stream of DG soldiers will come out of the room to the
left. You can use the mounted machine gun to kill them, but it is
much more efficient to just blast them as they run out of the room one
by one.
*Extra Hard Mode* There will be 3 mounted machine guns the DG soldiers
will use as they run out of the hallway. The best thing to do is get
behind them so the enemy soldiers will be in a crossfire between you
and your WRO allies. Snipe them, as they seem to have trouble
targeting you when you are that close.
Continue until you reach a ladder and you are thrown into a Mission
Objective of avoiding the floating mines. It is not that hard, just
wait until more than 1 laser gate is down in a row to minimize the
amount of time spent in their path. Halfway through, a DG soldier
will appear in front of you, shoot him before he begins blasting.
Continue on and assist the WRO members against the DG soldiers in the
next room. Follow the soldiers who run into the next area.
Auto Save
Here you must destroy the assault robot before he reaches the end of
the hall. It’s no big deal if you fail. The only way to do it is to
run all the way to the steps before he enters the hallway and shoot
his weak underside before he comes down, scoring a few critical hits,
then back up and fire while he chases you to finish him off. If he
makes it to your WRO allies they will die, and if he runs into you he
blows up for big damage. After the next shop machine is a soldier at
the end of the hallway with a mounted machine gun. If you can
position yourself exactly right, you can snipe him between the pipes
on the wall and he can’t hit you. Alternatively you can use Limit
Break and your defense is so high he can hardly hurt you as you run
down the hall after him. Kill him and head back the way you came into
a room with a maze of laser gates. If you look closely, in this room
are several black mines, shooting them deactivates certain gates.
There are 5 total, they aren’t hard to find. Shoot them all and get
2000 gil and a Hi-potion. Go back to the mounted machine gun. For a
bit of fun, you can hop on and about 10 DG soldiers come running down
the hall after you. This part is completely optional. Up the ladder,
kill the girl that comes out of the room to the right. Put on your
rifle and run past the room she came out of to the WRO soldiers. You
must duck and use your scope to kill the DG soldiers who attack your
allies here; you need to fend them off until the WRO have managed to
open the lock. The super high tech strategy for opening it is to
whack it 40 times with the butt of your gun. After this is over,
follow the soldiers down the hall and save them from the assault. DG
soldiers will shoot down barrels, you have to shoot them many times to
blow them up, and you need to blow them up before they reach the
bottom, else your allies will be killed. Once you are done here, head
up and get the items, especially the G-Report file. There are 3 of
these in the game and if you want the “secret” ending, you need to get
all 3. More details on this at the bottom of this guide. Head back
to the room you passed before and kill the half dozen soldiers inside,
and head into the elevator.
*Extra Hard Mode* in addition to the fact that there are more soldiers
in this room. A mine will be dropped every few seconds from the
ceiling. You have to keep moving or it will blow up and do about 50%
damage to you.
Up the elevator there is another suicide machine you have to kill
before it reaches your allies. Good luck with this one. You can run
into it and blow it up yourself before it kills the WRO members if you
want to save their lives. Up the steps is another Mission Objective.
You have to kill all the sentry robots. Just run into the elevator
but don’t hit the button. They can’t follow you and you can shoot
them.
*Extra Hard Mode* Apparently Square-Enix knew about that trick because
there is a laser gate in front of the elevator. Oh well, they are
just sentry robots.
Get in the elevator and equip your rifle. Once upstairs, don’t come
out of the elevator yet because there are more sentry robots. Use the
rifle to snipe the 2 rocket launcher enemies at the end of the hall.
Just move back and forth to avoid the rockets. Once they are dead
head out of the elevator and spawn more sentry robots. Use the same
trick as before to kill them. Down the hall is another shop machine,
use it before you exit the area and you will encounter...
An Auto Save!
and also...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Bloodburst Rosso
Listen to her flap her gums again and after an eternity she will start
attacking you. You need to be constantly moving to avoid the bullets,
and make sure to be ready to double jump out of the way when she
charges. She can be hard to target because she sprints around so
fast, but just keep strafing and wear her down. There are lots of
ammo boxes around, so you can pick up anything you are low on. After
she is hurt about 20% she talks some more and then rejoins the fight.
Now she starts hurling slow arcing discs at you, they are harder to
avoid than missiles, but can be done with quick dashing or jumping at
the last second. Another way to avoid them is to fight near the giant
pipes and move Vincent so the discs crash into them instead of him.
Listen to her totally sexy and never tedious Russian accent as she
taunts you over and over and over and over again during the fight.
Use the same strategy as described above, just being careful to avoid
her discs and her other new attack, which sends a streak of light
toward you in a quickly moving line that will knock you over if it
hits you. If you use Limit break and can get her pinned against the
wall, you can hurl fireballs over and over and she can never get up.
You should be able to outlast her with a full assortment of items.
Just stay far away and use a long barrel, and keep moving. After you
beat her, more talking and she commits suicide just before Vincent
slits his own wrists so he can stop hearing her voice. End of chapter
8.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again, don’t buy any items at the break between 8 and 9; just do
the upgrades if you can afford them.
Chapter 9: An Empire in Ruins....................................cha09
-----------------------------
Mission Objectives
Collect top secret Deepground data files!
Destroy the surveillance mines!
Begin the mission by running and collecting all the items you can from
the courtyard, then head to the shop machine and get the items you
need. Head inside and take care of the ninjas in here. When you
reach the east side of the 2nd floor, a group of enemies will run in
from the entrance of the building. Kill them as they come through the
door. Head up to the third floor and drop down the elevator shaft
after you get the 1000 gil case. Head through the hallway area,
killing the bugs who jump at you and Vincent will shoot out a grate to
lead him to the next level down. In this new hallway as you walk
forward a dog and 2 soldiers will come around the corner. In the next
room soldiers will run in on the top walkway and start to shoot you.
More will come from the other side after that. Continue into the next
room with the bug on the window. Another will drop from the ceiling.
In the next room a bug is guarding a mega potion, if you shoot him a
group of them will drop from the ceiling. Keep going and shoot the
barrel you see when the DG soldiers run out in front of it. In the
next room a dog will jump over the lockers to attack you and more
soldiers are on the other side. Keep going until you reach a room
with no enemies in it and several exploding barrels and boxes. Don’t
shoot any of them. As you enter the room, a DG soldier will run in
from up top. Kill him quickly. Now look up. See that case floating
in mid air? If you haven’t already blown the barrel under it to bits,
jump on top of it and then double-jump to get the 5000 gil inside the
case. In the next hallway, you will get a quick cut scene of bugs
landing behind you. Use a fire materia blast to take them all out and
then run down the hall. The bugs will spawn forever here, your only
choice to get away is to open the 2 doors and run into the next room
past the mako field where you will fight a boss.
Auto Save
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Black Widow TW
Deepground loves these machines. This time there are 2, one on the
ceiling and one below it. This encounter is probably the easiest of
the 3 however. If you have the Quantum Cerberus you can take out each
robot with 1 clip, you may not ever even have to move. Target only
the lower one at first and just blast it to death. Your strategy
shouldn’t be any different than before, you just have less room to
move around here. I suggest staying in front of both of them the
whole time however, the BW on the roof will drop bombs if you run near
him. After the lower one is dead get the one on the roof. He’s
pretty easy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Get in the elevator and head down. Your new mission objective is to
find the secret Deepground files, there are 5. There is no map here
so I’ll just say start by going in a clockwise direction. The first
corner room has sentry robots and a Limit Breaker/Mako Field. The
next room has no enemies, just 3000 gil. Next you will see a door,
don’t go through yet. The next room has 2 guard dogs and a DG
soldier, and a case with machine gun bullets. The last room has the
first Top Secret File. Now go back through the door you passed.
Through the next hallway are 2 flying soldiers, they have far fewer HP
than the boss ones you fought earlier, just shoot both of them twice
and they will go down. The next 2 rooms have normal soldiers; you can
deal with them, but make sure to grab the second Top Secret File in
the room with the 2 dogs and female DG soldier. As you walk around
the next hallway, 2 soldiers will pop out and run away from you, just
shoot them in the back. More soldiers come out of the next door and
then you get to another cut scene. After this you have a map of the
complex. The next area leads to an elevator and a new Mission
Objective, which is to destroy the floating mines. Do not get too
close to them when you shoot because they blow up. If you blow up one
while it’s near another, it will chain kill them. Once you are down
the elevator, head out the door and across the bridge. The next door
leads to a large room that is sub-divided into 4 smaller rooms. In
the First, second, and fourth rooms you will have to fight DG soldiers
who are so well entrenched you will probably lose a lot of life in the
process if you don’t do it right. To beat them, you need to get into
the room before they do and shoot them as they come through the door.
If you waste all your potions go back to the shop machine at the
bridge you passed to get here. The final 3 Top Secret Files are in
this area as well, in the first, third and fourth room. The next
hallway has soldiers who shoot you from behind shields. If you have
the mana, a few fire materia blasts will take care of them, otherwise
you’ll have to snipe them. The next bridge leads to another elevator
with mines to kill. This time, however, they move faster and pass
overhead, which means if you blow them up while they are above you,
you’ll take lots of damage. Also, soldiers come to shoot you on the
way down. At the bottom head out and into a room with 3 heavy armored
swordsmen. Just run away from them and shoot them. Go through the
next hallway, and in the next room you fight 2 rocket launcher enemies
in close proximity. Don’t get hit with 1 missile because a second is
always close behind. Use the exploding barrels. Travel again down
the hall, killing the enemies as they pop out until you reach a room
with a shop machine. The next room has the final boss of this level.
Auto Save
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss Fight: Neo Azul/Arch Azul
His first form is exactly like has old form, except you can damage him
for normal damage instead of being forced to shoot barrels. Use the
same strategy, he’s super easy. The fight becomes challenging when he
switches to Arch Azul, the bull on crack. He will charge you and ram
you with his head if you get too far away, it can be dodged but it’s
hard. He also can’t be damaged by bullets. You have to melee him to
death. The problem is that when you get too close to his head he
swipes you for big damage, and if you try to approach anywhere else he
swing his tail around for even bigger damage. The secret is to run in
to his front side and hold for a split second, then run out again
which will trigger him to use his claw swipe. After he does that jump
in and 3 hit combo him while you are in the air, then wait around in
front of him again until it is time to dodge him claw swipe. If you
are good enough you can get him in a forever loop like this and as
long as you dodge his claw every time, you can kill him and he won’t
even move. I usually 3 hit combo him, when I land I turn a circle on
the directional stick as fast as I can and end with me facing away
from him, then I run away just in time to avoid the claw. I jump back
in for another 3 hit combo and repeat the process. Your Limit Breaker
form does a lot more melee damage, but it is harder to avoid his
attacks because after you slam the ground you are vulnerable. The
difference being that it only takes 3 or 4 rounds of melee attacks to
finish him in Limit Break form, even on Extra Hard mode. After you
get him low you can use ice materia to finish him off. Also, after he
gets below 50% he starts using a missile attack. You will see him
charge energy from his horns and shoot them at you, they aren’t hard
to dodge.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 10: Shinra’s Dark Secret.................................cha10
--------------------------------
Mission Objectives
Eliminate the pursuers!
Swiftly neutralize the enemy onslaught!
Defeat 100 enemies!
As the mission opens, you are on a platform overlooking an underground
city. As you walk forward, you will have to kill a swarm of
gargoyles. They can be hard to find sometimes. After you kill them
all and the soldiers that pop out, you get a card key. Jump down,
kill more bad guys and head down the hall with the mako field. When
you come out you will be on a platform with 2 soldiers on the steps
below facing the other way. Snipe them real quick but don’t head down
the stairs just yet. See that case ahead of you in the crevice? There
is another crevice to the left of it. Take a note of it Also, do not
shoot the barrels on the far side of the room. Now head down and a
soldier will start shooting you from the platform to your left. Kill
him. As you run down the steps, a laser gate will activate and 2
aerial mines will pop out, only these start spraying bullets in all
directions and moving back and forth. These things have a lot of HP
and the best way to avoid getting hurt is to run into that crevice I
pointed out and shoot them as they fly by. The bullets rarely hit you
there. Once again though, if you kill them when they are too close
you will take damage. Get the card key and jump down, try to avoid
the barrels that will start rolling at you. On the next platform
there are many items to grab, but a DG soldier grabs them first. If
you can kill him before he gets them I tip my hat to you, I have never
been able to. Keep moving along and when another laser gate blocks
your way, a heavy armored swordsman will advance on you from behind
and several DG solders will start shooting you from the other
direction. Your best bet is to kill the swordsman before he gets to
you, he drops the card key. Now turn around and take care of the
gunners. You can do this quickly by shooting the barrels above them,
which will fall and explode. If you already blew up the barrels, I
guess you just have to take them out the old fashion way. In the next
area you encounter some of the most annoying enemies in the game; a
soldier who can’t be killed with bullets. The have the protection
spell on them. When you begin the fight, take out the commander in
the center who CAN be killed with bullets, it will just take several
shots to the head, the dude has a lot of HP. Then go around and melee
the other 4, you can also use magic on them. In the next room, before
you jump down, you can snipe the 3 guards you will see walking around.
Make your way down to the bottom floor, more guards jump out at each
level. Get the card key and head back up to the laser gate. Once you
are in the next hallway, move slowly into the room and some bullets
will rain down from above. After the spray, move forward to the next
corner and as you turn, more bullets come down. Then run to the end
of the hall.
Auto Save
Jump on the cart and away you go. You have a mission objective here
to eliminate the enemy pursuers. You can shoot them or the cart they
are on. I suggest the cart because that also counts as one of the
targets to eliminate and if it dies, so do they. The last pursuer is
a helicopter. I think it follows the same rules as the ones from
chapter 6. Even if you destroy it, it won’t stop flying its route.
Every single time I have killed it, it died at the last possible
second, I don’t think that is a coincidence, just that I had done
enough damage throughout the chase that it was considered dead long
before it blew up.
*** update *** Upon replaying this part, I did in fact confirm the
helicopter will die automatically at the end of the chase, assuming
you did enough damage to him
***
So just shoot it until it moves out of your line of sight behind some
buildings and when it comes back and starts blowing up chimneys, save
your ammo. If you have been scoring hits the whole time previous it
will die. Continue along the path and don’t worry when it falls out
from under you, you can’t get across anyway due to the invisible
barrier. Exit the pipe.
Auto Save
For some reason, in this area alone, Vincent starts talking to
himself. I don’t know why. In front of you is an explosive barrel,
don’t bow it up. Use the shop machine if you need and then kill the
soldiers to the east. Follow this path and kill the Protection
Soldiers who jump out. After you kill them and their buddies, turn
around and aim at that barrel I told you not to shoot (you didn’t
shoot it anyway did you?). Use it to kill the guards who show up and
quickly run back to get the elixir and 5000 gil, they disappear rather
fast. Keep moving and 2 more Protection Guards pop out with a friend.
Kill them and on the same roof they are on is another of the “secret”
ending G reports, that’s 2 of 3. There is 3000 gil in the case above
it. In the next building, 3 ninjas will jump out in a small area.
Kill them, get the card key and in the next hall a heavy armored
swordsman appears. Kill him and move on. Use the barrels to kill the
guards below the next area and take out the other guards who aren’t in
the blast radius. As you progress, you will hear Vincent say
“Great...snipers.” Look to the rooftops and try and shoot them before
they see you. Don’t go under the bridge with the case yet. There are
a total of 4 snipers in Normal mode, a lot more in Hard/Extra Hard.
Now get the card key, backtrack and go under the bridge. You will
pick up a new weapon, the Blast Machine Gun. If machine guns are your
thing, you may like this one. It does less damage but knocks over
enemies that it hits. You can’t upgrade it. Time to move on. When
you progress past the laser gate here you will see a box on a brick
balcony above you. Don’t shoot it. Instead, use a sniper scope to
aim past it and you will see an explosive barrel. Shoot that instead
and it knocks the box down to reveal a Fearie L Barrel, which has
better speed and weight than a normal long barrel, but less damage.
Jump over to the next area and you see a mounted machine gun. Hop on
and start a Mission Objective, which is to kill the enemy forces as
fast as possible. I believe it must be done in under 2 minutes to get
the best score. Just kill bad guys as you see them. You will know
you are at the end when 2 Black Widow type robots appear. The second
one drops a keycard. Use it to open the gate behind the mounted
machine gun rather than the one in front. Get those items and the
extra key card and then move forward. Kill the spawning bad guys and
move past the laser gates blocking your way to about 5 or 6 boxes.
Around the corner above you are 4 barrels. Shoot the second one and a
Cactaur pops out. I haven’t been able to kill him, feel free to email
me if you know what he drops. Head inside the room with all the boxes
and pick up the gil. You will be attacked by Protection Soldiers from
the other side of the laser gate and normal soldiers from the exit to
the room. Once you have killed them all head to the shop machine and
stock up. When you cross the bridge, the laser gates will activate
and you will have to fight several waves of bad guys. Use the Limit
Break if it gets overwhelming. After that, cross over and...
Auto Save
After the cut scene you can’t go back, so the only direction is
forward. Get anything you need from the shop machine and head up.
Kill the soldiers that pop out, the shop machine up here is a soldier
in disguise. In the next room you have an option of how you want to
progress. The first thing you should do is shoot the barrel above the
exit door. Now, look at all the black bombs. You can sneak by them
slowly if you want, or you can shoot them. If you choose to blow them
up by shooting them, or involuntarily blow them up by stepping on
them, a group of soldiers run out below you and start blasting, watch
out for the rocket launcher. Once past this room you see a hallway of
boxes. Shoot the boxes and kill the soldier that pops out, but don’t
run into the room yet. After all the boxes are gone, run halfway into
the room and then back out to where you were. A soldier should pop
up. Kill him and wait for the aerial mine to blow itself up. Then
sprint across the room avoiding the other mines. The next area has an
unending supply of exploding barrels being thrown over the wall, and a
soldier who jumps down when you open the gate. You can shoot them
(the barrels) over and over to get kill chains up if you want. When
you are ready to go, just wait until both barrels are thrown over the
edge at approximately the same time and run. Past this room is
another, and when you enter it, a timer starts. If you wait out the
timer, a Cactaur appears on the opposite side of the broken bridge you
can’t cross. He disappears real fast and I have never been able to
kill him. Make your way and out onto the steel steps. Across the way
you will see a roof with some soldiers hiding on the other side.
Shoot one and 5 run out. Kill them all. Now look to the NE. You
will see a sniper on the roof. You need to kill some soldiers in a
certain order here or they will all start firing on you. Kill the one
in plain site on the rooftop. Now look down/left. You will see
another in a window, kill him. Now kill the other one in plain site
who was below the first. Move down to the item case on the balcony
below you and zoom in on the ground. Snipe the gunner on the mounted
machine gun, which will cause alarm. Kill at least one more before
they see you. Now look top left at the barrel on the rooftop. Shoot
it, it will fall and blow up a few more soldiers, then move down the
steps. Use the shop machine and snipe the far soldier from the window
in the next room. Then head downstairs, kill the soldiers
congregating at the door, walk out and look top/left for a sniper on
the roof. Kill the other soldiers that jump down and get the key
card. Now you have an option. If you want to participate in the
optional Mission Objective here, go back to the shop machine and buy
every potion and bullet you can and come back out, head through the
laser gate to the east in front of the mounted machine gun. Go down
and kill all the enemies in the room, get another shop machine spawn
and use it if you need. Continue along here and you will find
yourself in a room where the mission objective is “Kill 100 enemies”.
You must kill all 100 without dieing or leaving, which you can do at
any time; you just can’t come back in. You can also be knocked out of
the room from a rocket blast. If you finish it you make almost 90,000
gil after you sell the gold moogle doll reward and collect the drops,
plus the tons of XP. It’s your choice. The only advice I can give
you is to kill the snipers that appear on the roof as soon as they
spawn every time, they will cause the most damage by far, assuming you
can dodge the rocket launcher attacks.
*** update ***
You can in fact reenter this room after you leave. In fact you can go
back to the shop and buy back all the potions you used and then do the
mission as many times as you like. Great for money/XP, bad for your
mission score.
***
If you decide to skip it or you have finished the side mission, go
back to the other laser gate but keep going past it to the end of the
rubble. Look to your right and you will see 2 mounted machine guns
and 2 soldiers. Kill the bottom machine gun first, then the top and
then the 2 regular soldiers. Go past the laser gate now and get the
3000 gil and mako field. Head down and you get another Mission
Objective, which is to find 4 items in this area. In order to get
them you need to follow these instructions and don’t use any of the
card keys until you have collected everything you can. Start by
taking a right and killing the guard who pops up. In that pipe is a
mine on the ceiling. Shoot it and get the card key. Next go up to
the mounted machine gun and look across the path to see a box, shoot
it down, but before you go get the key inside look to your right,
there is an exposed pipe with a mine in it. Shoot that mine. Now go
down and get the 2 keys. Go back to the machine gun and keep moving
past it, kill the 2 guards in the path. Climb the ladder past the
second guard and see the card key at the top; you have to jump from
the top of the ladder to get it. Climb the 2 ladders and blow up the
box at the top for another key, there is also one hidden behind the
shop machine up here. Jump down and follow the path till you reach a
small cliff. There is a card key at the lip of it, slowly move
forward and get it, but don’t fall because you can’t get back up. Now
head back to the beginning, there is a gate with 2 card keys behind
it, open it up and get them. Now go back to where you saw 7 gates in
a row, open them all up and get the Lucky S Barrel. When you kill
enemies with this, you get extra XP. Pretty useless this late in the
game, but if you plan on doing Extra Hard Mode you will have it the
entire time. Go now and open all the remaining gates. One has
Bayonet Rifle which allows for more melee damage and one has Elixor,
which fully restores all HP and Mana and adds a Phoenix Down effect,
and one is a normal Limit Break. Go back to the cliff from before and
jump down, get a cut scene.
Auto Save
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Nero the Sable
You finally get to face off against this guy, and it’s a rather
disappointing fight. If you have the Quantum Cerberus on normal mode
you can out-damage him simply by standing there and shooting and using
a Hi-Potion when you are low. Eventually he will split into 3 forms,
just focus on one at a time. He may blast you with some energy attack
you can dodge, he also has a spinning melee attack you can double jump
away from. If you get in trouble, for some inexplicable reason there
is a shop machine here. Use it to buy potions/bullets and come back
to finish him off.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 11: Beginnings..........................................cha11
-----------------------
Mission Objectives
Defeat the gargoyles!
Defeat the gargoyles 2!
Defeat all the targets on the central pillar!
Defeat the gargoyles 3!
Start the mission by collecting the cases and mako field in front of
you. As you follow the path, two Protection Soldiers will attack.
Kill them and the sentry robot. Beyond them is another PS who is on
the pipe and can’t be hit with anything but magic. Use Blizzard
Materia. Keep going until you reach the next mako field and kill the
gargoyle. Then kill the PS shooting you by shooting the barrel he’s
next to. One more PS on the pipes after that to kill, you have to use
magic or your limit break form again. Head past this room and restock
at the shop machine. In the next room is a Mission Objective to kill
the gargoyles. Use the rifle to get the sniper on the path way off in
the distance and kill the other 2 gargoyles. Move into the next room.
Jump down and kill the sentry robots. In the next area there are
several PS, don’t miss the one to your left. Eventually a rocket
launcher soldier will show up, kill him quick. If this area looks
familiar it is because this is where you controlled Cait Sith earlier
in the game. Jump down to the floor with all the gil cases and when
you walk over the mako field a group of beetles will attack, the last
one dead drops a card key. The next room has another “Kill the
gargoyle” mission, use the mounted gun if you don’t care about
accuracy points. Keep moving.
Auto Save
This room has a group of PS soldiers and rocket launchers on a pillar
in the center. The mission objective is to kill every one of them.
The way to do it is to snipe the boxes above them and shoot the
barrels that fall around them. Use magic on any surviving PS and
conventional arms on any rocket launchers. Every 10 seconds or so a
sentry robot will spawn while you are in the room; 2 robots on extra
hard mode. Good luck, this mission is a huge pain. The next room has
the final “Kill the gargoyle” mission. In the next room is a cut
scene and when it is over you need to kill the PS before the other
soldier gets his mounted machine gun set up. It isn’t hard.
Afterwards, jump behind the would-be gunner and shoot him in the back,
he doesn’t even turn and defend himself. If you hop onto the gun
here, a group of enemies attack you. If the soldier pushing it got it
set up in time, you can use it against them, if not you have to kill
them normally. In the next room are 3 PS, start the fight with a fire
blast and finish them off. The next room has 2 bugs with a ton of HP
and the room beyond has a group of PS who shoot you from up above, you
can’t kill them so just sprint through. The next room has a swarm of
regular bugs; a few fire blasts should do it. The next room has a
mako field in each corner and an unending supply of PS soldiers. Just
ignore them and stand on the center tile, which rises up. Jump to the
west and grab the final “G Report” for the “secret” ending. Head down
and get out of that room. Open the big gate and proceed.
Auto Save
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Dragonfly PT
Revenge of the Dragonfly. This time he has gargoyle friends with him
who swoop down and knock you off your feet. When you see one above
you, take it out quickly. There is also a periodic sentry robot
spawn. Other than that, no special tactic here. The best bet when
avoiding missiles is to position yourself so that they hit the pillars
on either side of the bridge. He will fly back and forth and behind
the reactor, just wait him out and shoot him whenever he is in view.
He doesn’t have any new tricks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Open the gate to the reactor and head inside. A PS yells “Hail Weiss”
and begins to run away. If you want to be a jackass, shoot him in the
back with a materia and melee him to death before he gets away.
Follow his route and you will come to a group of PS. Fireblast them
and run in for the melee kill when they are grouped together. Use the
shop machine and head into the next room.
Auto Save
Long cut scene and another boss fight.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Arachnero/Gorgonero
He will begin with a shield around him and 4 orbs which fly randomly
around the level. You need to kill these orbs. The best way is to
wait for one to stop and attack you and break its barrier, then kill
it. When all 4 are dead, shoot down Arachnero’s barrier and blast
away. Avoid his fireballs like any other missile and make sure to get
in as many hits as you can when he has fallen down. Eventually the
orbs will repsawn and cast his shield again. Repeat the process until
the next cut scene which will occur around 40% life
*Extra Hard Mode* You will have to get him down to 0% before the cut
scene.
Now you will be on a floating rock and Nero will be in front of you.
He will teleport to different locations, some in front of you, two
behind you and even right on your own little patch of land, you can’t
really move so just watch for where he appears and shoot. After a few
bullets he teleports again. If you attack him fast enough he won’t
even make any offensive moves, which is good because it is hard to
dodge given 1 square foot of space. Keep it up until he is dead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Next time you have control, Yuffie is hurt and you can use the shop
machine here. Go down the hall and trigger another cut scene.
Auto Save
The next time you have control, don’t even move, just let Hojo/Weiss
kill you, it is part of the plot.
Auto Save
Now when you regain control again, you can fight for real.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Weiss Empowered
He moves really fast and can sprint across the screen in the blink of
an eye. The best strategy is to try and stay far away from him and
dodge his bullets from behind the pillars. Jump out and shoot him
when it is safe but don’t waste bullets while he is twirling his
swords. I also don’t recommend fighting him hand to hand; he will
knock you down over and over. You can’t turn into your alternate
form, but using a Limit Break will fully heal you. During the fight
you need to avoid his melee charges, machine gun, and light streak
attack, similar to what you saw in the fight with Rosso, as well as a
shockwave attack such as you saw with Azul. Periodically, he will
jump to his seat in the back and fire some energy beams at you, block
them with the terrain and wait for him to come back out, you can’t
damage him while he sits there. Just keep your distance and keep
shooting. He is pretty tough as far as this games bosses go.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Don’t bother upgrading equipment here unless you are trying to max
everything out to carry over the Extra Hard mode.
Chapter 12, part 1: Omega and Chaos..............................ch12a
-----------------------------------
As this mission opens, Vincent is now in Chaos form with the most
powerful weapon in the game, the Death Penalty. It does 2000 damage
per attack and can hit multiple enemies at once. Its only downside is
that it really won’t score any critical hits, so if you are worried
about that score, switch back to your normal weapon. The enemies here
are not even challenging, as your new gun will take them out in 1
shot. Just make sure not to let them gang up on you, the lasers can
be hard to dodge when multiple enemies are shooting them. There is
really only one path to take here. Get the elixir and move along the
ruined Midgar structures. Eventually you will fall into a giant pipe
and a few steps out of it you will come to a cut scene. When you have
control again, go straight and take a right up the steps. Keep moving
and don’t miss the Omega report on the next platform, it’s behind the
crates. Up another set of steps and across the bridge, you will see
a second Omega report. Next, you will find yourself being led to a
platform where enemies will spawn all around you, just strafe in a
circle and kill them. When they are all dead, there is another cut
scene. You will be fully healed automatically here.
Auto Save
Next time you have control, Vincent is flying through a tunnel. Kill
the enemies as they move in front of you. Then in the next room kill
them until they stop spawning. You will find yourself climbing a
spiral path, make your way to the top and step on the circle.
Auto Save
You will be on a path in front of Omega with enemies flying around.
Kill them if you want, but it isn’t necessary. Just move to the end
of the path and you get some stage results. Use the XP for levels.
Chapter 12, part 2: Omega and Chaos..............................ch12b
Auto Save
The rest of this game is essentially a long boss fight. You begin
amidst a circle of organisms, the Crystal Feeders. What you need to
do here is watch for when a feeder is open and run over and melee it
to death. Creatures will spawn all over the place, use the rifle so
you don’t waste Death Penalty bullets, it auto aims at their weak
point and will kill them in one hit. Just make sure you don’t let too
many spawn or you will get blasted from every angle. When all the
feeders are dead, the Omega Cocoon rises up. Keep shooting the
enemies that pop up and just damage the cocoon as fast as possible,
eventually it will break. Now you fight the real and final boss.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss fight: Omega Weiss
Use the Death Penalty to aim at his center, the shots will hit both
Weiss and the robot he is controlling. He will fire slow moving
missiles at you like 75% of the bosses in this game, so avoid them
like always. Pillars will slowly begin to rise from the ground which
actually makes dodging his fireballs easier. After you hurt him a bit
he will summon a wall of blue shields in front. Take them out as fast
as you can because they become offensive weapons that will knock you
over. After they are dead, Weiss may jump down to attack you. Just
avoid him and eventually he will jump back into his golem. At this
point you will go back to avoiding fireballs and shooting him, be
careful not to stand directly in front of him because he has a habit
of slapping the group with his giant hand. When you see him retreat
into the air and start summoning a big ball of flame, just heal up as
much as you can, I don’t think it’s even possible to avoid taking
damage from the impending explosion. After that he comes back down
and returns to firing missiles, only he is a lot more offensive and
moves after you to hit you with his arms. Run circles around the edge
of the stage at this point, and keep shooting with the Death Penalty,
he won’t last much longer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations, you win the game! Watch the long video, you earned
it. There is more video after the song, especially if you found all
the files and got the……
Throughout the game are 3 items you must collect called “G-Reports”.
If you get all 3, after you see “The End” on the screen, you can hit X
and you will get a special ending. I describe in detail how to get
the reports in my chapter walkthrough, so if you need help, you can
read that. Briefly, here is where they are:
In Chapter 8, part 2, complete the side quest that requires you cover
the WRO soldiers while they open the locked gate.
In Chapter 10, there is one on the roof where you fight 2 Protection
Spell Soldiers and one normal soldier.
In Chapter 11, there is one in the room with the 4 mako fields and
infinite soldier spawn.
If you missed any and don’t want to replay all the way from chapter 8
to see the ending, I will describe here. Don’t read this if you don’t
want to know what happens.
Setting: A ruined Midgar, the camera pans out and then down,
eventually penetrating the ground and leading into a cave below the
city where you see the dead body of Weiss lying in the center of a
pool. There is an energy disturbance and from within a man American
Final Fantasy players have not seen before materializes from within.
He walks above the water toward Weiss’ body. Looking up into the air
while he picks up Weiss, he says “It is not yet time for slumber. We
still have much work to do...my brother.” One wing, such as the one
you see on Sephiroth’s One Winged Angel form in Final Fantasy 7, or
the CGI movie, appears from behind his body and he flies off with
Weiss in his arms.
If you look in your inventory at the G-Reports, it tells a story about
Shinra, in an attempt to create an all powerful Soldier, identified
only as “S”, made another soldier in the process, only identified as
“G”. No records of either soldier exist, though there is speculation
that “G” was a genetic prototype of “S”. They go on to say that
“soldiers branded with epithets of color... These are the hellspawn of
“G”. I wrote this on 8/26/06 and this is only speculation. But,
assuming that “S” refers to Sephiroth, and “soldiers branded with
epithets of color” to be Deepground, it is possible Square-Enix plans
on making this “G” a new enemy, Sephiroth’s genetic “brother”. Very
interesting....
A lot of these I mention in passing, here are just a few observations
I have noticed in the game.
-If you want a free heal, wait until you get to a point with an auto
save, and then quit the game and reload it, you come back with full
HP.
-You can beat the game with a technical 0 KO’s if you feel like
cheating the system. Whenever you die, instead of using the “restart”
option, use the “quit” option. Then reload the game. You will come
back at the same spot anyway, but the game won’t have considered you
to be KO’d.
-I have beaten the game multiple times on every difficulty and I never
even equip the machine gun. I know a lot of people like to use it,
but it really does not do enough damage to be useful. In all fairness
though, I will admit the Blast Machine Gun can be useful as it will
keep enemies knocked down.
-The “M Cerberus” line is the best gun for fighting bosses because it
can hold so much more ammo. Most bosses have moments of weakness when
you can shoot them without being counterattacked and you need to spend
as little time as possible reloading. However, if you can afford the
auto reloader, you need not worry about wasting time reloading.
-Same statement as above, but with the S Hydra line. It shoots so
fast that you can get in all 8 rounds before they can do anything
about it.
-If your mana bar is full and you come across a mako field, fire off a
few rounds before you run over it. You will get credit for “Magic
Casted” and you won’t lose mana for it.
-The save system can be confusing. It works like this. Whenever you
come to an auto save the game creates a log of exactly what your
level/XP and inventory are and remembers it. If you go back and redo
part of a mission you will start with whatever the game saved at that
point. So, let’s say a mission has 5 auto save locations and you beat
it. If you go back to where the first AS happened and replay it, you
will have whatever Vincent had when he reached that point. If you
pass the second auto save the game will record over the log it made
before with the new data, but nothing will have changed for the 3rd
4th or 5th AS unless you keep going past those points as well.
-Gigant Hydra will knock enemies over. If you buy the auto reloader
attachment, you need not worry about its one-bullet-at-a-time
downside. Using it you can knock over those annoying rocket launching
enemies and make them stay down.
======================================================================
Well, that’s about it. Thanks for reading and I hope this helped.
Howdy to all my old MLF buddies who may be reading this.
Legal Stuff
Copyright 2006 Kevin Pearson.
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or
otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use
of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display
is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. As of now, no
other web sites have permission to use this FAQ other than
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