=========================================================================
d. THE CRATER / TORNADO LABYRINTH
=========================================================================
ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Ribbon, Javelin, Elixir, Ardent Flame Bracelet,
Last Elixir, Speed Up, Enhance Sword, Fang of
Dragon Pair, Bahamut Reborn, Ether, Hi Potion,
Kaiser Knuckle, Reflect Ring, MP Turbo materia,
Poison Ring.
Once you've had your fun in the snowfield, return to the old man's
house and heal up or save your game if you need to. Then, go north
from the shack to arrive at the slopes of a icy mountain. Keep in
mind that you can't explore this area at any time other than right
now in Disc 2, so make sure to get all the items and other stuff.
Now, get ready for some finger-smashing fun! the meter that appears on
screen when you're outside is your body temperature (the kanji you see
by the numbers, 'do' actually means 'degrees'): it goes down because of
the cold climate. To keep your temperature up, you need to rapidly hit
the S button. The highest temperature you can get to is 38, while the
lowest is 27. Any less than that (26), and you pass out and find
yourself back in the old man's house. It sounds like keeping your heat
up is easy, but you can only increase it when you're on one of the
ledges, not while you're climbing up the rock face. So for those long
climbs, you have to max out your heat and climb as quickly as you can.
Luckily, your heat doesn't go down during a battle. Remember, it's not
how hard you press the S button, but how fast you press it, so try to
get in as many presses as you can to max out your temperature. If you'd
rather cheat, refer to the Game Shark code section in the second part
of this FAQ--one of my 'fix-all' codes is in there that will give you a
high body heat no matter how long you stand around.
In this area, there's nowhere else to go but up, so climb along the
rock face until you arrive at the cave entrance, pausing at each ledge
to restore your body heat. Always keep an eye out for the red flags;
they indicate which part of the wall you can climb. Inside, go through
the two archways into the next cavern. Here, climb up the stairs and
go through the south exit. In the adjoining area, walk all the way to
the right to find a hidden chamber with a chest; inside it is a Ribbon.
Then return to the main path and head north, then west, through the
entrance. Cross the icy bridge in the third cavern and press the
SELECT button to bring up the cursor; it'll help you navigate through
the twsiting passage before you. Once you reach the top, examine the
boulder and choose the top option when it presents itself. This will
make you push the boulder and free up the blocked passage beneath you.
You can still move while the boulder is rolling--notice that you can
stand right where it falls and you will recieve no damage (then again,
Cloud is the same guy who can run around in the cold wearing a
sleeveless shirt and not die of hypothermia...must be those cornflakes).
Go back to the other room (where you got the Ribbon), and open the
purple chest to the northeast; there's a Javelin lying inside it. Now,
return to the room that you exited from the south (the one with the
formerly blocked passage), and go north along the passage until you
reach another exit. This leads to the upper path above the chest with
the Javelin--keep following it and you'll find yourself outside.
Build up your temperature, then climb up the wall. After going a short
distance, you're given a choice (up, down, or right). Pick the top
option (up), and head up until you reach a ledge. Keep climbing upward,
and you'll be prompted with another choice (right or down). Pick the
top option and head right to arrive at another ledge. Then climb up
until you raech the next ledge; it has a path going left and an
unmarked path that goes to the right (i.e. there's no flag by it). The
right path is a dead end, so take the left path and keep climbing up
along the wall (you'll find another ledge on the way) until you reach a
second cave entrace.
This large cavern is pocked with holes. There's an exit and a treasure
chest, but they are too high to reach, at the moment. Don't miss the
Save Point between the chest and the exit. Nab the other chest in the
lower right corner of the room (there's an Elixir inside of it), then go
north from the chest to find a passage that leads outside. Once you're
out in the open again, head north, then go around the bend and head
south and east.
In the next room, examine the area immediately to the right to find a
chest with an Ardent Flame Bracelet inside. There are four huge icicles
here that you need to knock into the holes in the lower cavern. This is
done by 'fighting' them. Each icicle is guarded by several yellow bats.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIPS: TSURARA LEVEL: 30 HP: 3000 MP: 300
(weak agains Flame, Earth, and Gravity)
IBIRUHEDDO LEVEL: 28 HP: 740 MP: 45
The icicle (Tsurara) can counter with 'Tsurara Otoshi' (Icicle Drop).
It will do this to any person who attacks it, tries to steal from it, or
the like. You don't have to kill the bats in order to win the battle
(all you have to do is 'kill' the icicle), but since they can Silence
your characters and recover HP when they attack you, you may want to get
them out of the way before attacking the icicle. Killing the icicle is
worth 500 exp, 0 AP, and 0 gil, so if you want some AP and gil, you may
want to kill the Ibiruheddos (which, incidentally, you can Metamorphosis
into Holy Torches.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each time you win a battle, you'll be given an option. If you pick the
bottom choice, you'll drop down to the room below, while picking the top
choice lets you stay where you are (so you can continue to 'fight' the
other icicles. After knocking down the last icicle, choose to stay
where you are so that you can get the chest on the far left (it has a
Last Elixir inside). Then, go back along the path. Just before you
reach the door, an option appears; pick the bottom choice to jump down
to the room below.
When the icicles drop down here, the floor of the cavern is 'raised'.
After knocking down 3 of them, you can reach the exit, knock down all
4 and you can get the chest on the ledge in the upper left corner of
the room (which contains a Speed Up). When you're ready, go through
the now-avilable exit by hopping across the stones. This leads to the
left side of the outer path. Be sure to examine the chest that's here
to get an Enhance Sword, then follow the path as it curves back on
itself and leads to the lower passage in the icicle room.
Keep following the path, and you'll find yourself on the side of the
mountain yet again. Grab the rock face and climb to the right.
After a while, three options will appear (up, left, or right). Pick
the bottom choice and keep holding right to make Cloud ascend the
side of the mountain. When you reach the next ledge, raise your
temperature and take the path that leads to the left. As you're
climbing, another set of options will appear (up, down, or right).
Choose the top option and keep climbing up. Once you've made it
beyond the second ledge, you'll find a final cave entrance.
This area has a hard-to-miss Save Point in it, and if you examine the
nearby pool of light, your HP and MP will be completely restored, and
all dead characters will be revived. Now is a perfect time to stock
up on goodies--you can use the pool to stay healthy while fighting the
enemies for exp, AP, and gil, and you can learn Smelly Breath from the
Molbols just outside (be sure to wear a Ribbon!) Plus, you can win
Dragon Bracelets from the Blue Dragons in this cave, which will halve
damage taken from Flame, Cold, or Thunder attacks, and win Molbol
Tentacles from defeated Molbols. There's a boss encounter coming your
way, so make sure you're ready to do battle, then exit the chamber by
going to the far right.
In the adjoining hallway, you'll see one of those shrouded creatures
(similar to the ones in Nivelheim be thrown to the floor. Before you
have a chance to examine it, you'll be attacked by a two-headed boss.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS TIPS: TSUINHEDDO LV: 43 HP: 18000 MP: 350
TSUINHEDDO LV: 43 HP: 18000 MP: 350
In case you're confused, the 'right head' is the scaly one, and the 'left
head' is the one with horns. Anyway, you should have the Aurora, Dragon,
and Ardent Flame bracelets equipped on your members to reduce damage from
the scaly head's flame breath and the horned head's ice breath. Use
Mabarrier to up your defense, then Haste yourselves. Try using Earth and
Meteorite spells, as well and summonings, like Alexander, Leviathan, and
Bahamut to soften the boss up. However, don't use Poison (which does no
damage) or the Kujata summon spell (which will heal both heads). Ice
works well on the scaly head, and Flame works well on the horned head,
but don't confuse the two since you will heal a head instead of hurt it.
You may also want to use Tsuika Kouka and attack a Flame or Cold materia
in order to attack with that sort of element (but don't attack the
other head, for the same reason). In addition to breath attacks, the
boss can also use a dual cold/flame breath attack, it can cast Quega,
and has an explosion type attack that will inflict around 1400 damage
to all members. It will use this attack when each head is killed (so
you will have to deal with it twice during the battle, once when you
kill one head, and then again when you kill the other). I highly
advise that you concentrate on one head at first instead of trying to
kill them both at the same time because this attack _will_ kill your
pary if it happens in succession (which means you lose). When it's
defeated, you'll get a Fang of Dragon Pair from the boss.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you were badly beaten during the fight, you can always return to the
room with the pool to heal yourselves. Otherwise, continue down the
passage; it leads outside (Cloud sure moves slow out here, doesn't he?)
Then climb the icy wall up to the top, where an automatic sequence will
play. After it finishes, head along the side of the inner crater. In
the next area, Tifa will talk with you if she's in your party; if she
isn't, she'll promptly appear and insist on coming with you, which
means you'll have to kick a member out of your current group. Headto the left.
In the next area, climb down to the lower path and look for a red materia
(Bahamut Reborn) near the bottom edge of the screen. You can't do
anything about the shrouded guy leaping off-screen, so ignore him. After
getting the materia, you can hop up to a small island of rock where there
is a Save Point. When you're done there, jump up again to return to the
top path, and walk to the left. You'll see a short intermission with
the three heads of Shin-Ra and several scientists heading towards the
Crater in the Highwind, the airship you saw back in Junon Town.
Once the intermission is over, walk left and you'll reach the first of
three 'shield' screens. Talk to the two shrouded men, and they'll
each leave behind an item when they die (an Ether and a Hi Potion).
To get past the flickering shield that's in front of you, stand as close
to it as you can, then wait until the green aura is almost gone. Now,
quickly run through it or you'll be knocked back when the shield's aura
grows stronger. If you mess up, you'll be repelled by the shield and
will be attacked by a monster:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIPS: UINDOUINGU LV: 36 HP: 1900 MP: 350
For starters, you can steal a Hi Potion from the Wind Wing, and you can
transform it into a Phoenix Tail. Even better, you can control it using
a Manipulate materia and make it attack itself! In other words, this is
an easy battle.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you happen to touch the shield from the other side, you'll get
knocked back to the beginning, so be careful.
In the next screen, more of those shrouded creatures are running around
and dying. Ignore them, but don't miss the chest near the first left
turn of the path; there's a Kaiser Knuckle inside it. Follow the path
until you reach the next screen. The second shield is here, but unlike
the first one, there's a surge of energy travelling along the shield
that will knock you back even if the shield's aura is almost gone. So,
wait until the energy surge has passed _and_ the aura is nearly
invisible, then dash across. If either defense knocks you back, you'll
have to fight a second Wind Wing (see the above strategy).
Beyond the shield, Sephiroth awaits. He'll cut down two more of those
black creatures before turning invisible and toying around with Cloud.
After he attacks the party, he'll summon a second version of Jenova to
kill Cloud and his friends.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSS TIPS: JENOBA*DEATH LV: 55 HP: 25000 MP:800
Jenova will try to Silence your members from time to time, and uses a
Red Light attack often (usually after being attacked with magic). It
causes little damage, but too many of these will really mess up your
party. Jenova's last form of attack is a spurt of fire bubbles (even
weaker than the Red Light attack). As you can see, this battle is not
hard at all; just hack away with physical attacks, or if you think you
have enough HPs, use Meteorite and cast Bahamut, Bahamut Reborn, and
Alexander. It's advisable that you wear the Ardent Flame Bracelet or
Dragon Bracelet, since Jenova's attacks all cause flame-based damage.
Give the Ardent Flame Bracelet to your best spellcaster, and you can
knock out Jenova and gain life back at the same time :) You'll win
a Reflect Ring when the battle's over.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the boss is killed, you'll get the Black Materia back (and it's
actually black this time :)) Once you're back in control of Cloud,
he confesses that since Sephiroth was able to manipulate him last time,
he might try it again. Therefore, someone else should hold the Black
Materia and stay here while Cloud and the others follow after Sephiroth.
The first time I got here, only Red 13 would take the Black Materia.
This time, only Barett would. No matter what character you get, simply
choose the top option when it is available (you won't get an option if
that character refuses to take it). Finally, talk to Tifa.
When you're in control of Cloud again, head north. There's a materia
here (MP Turbo, but notice that it's yellow when you pick it up!), as
well as a Save Point and a chest containing a Poison Ring. If you go
north from here, you'll run into the third and final shield. In
addition to having all the defenses of the previous shield (the glowing
aura and the moving energy surge), bolts of lightning will strike the
ground repeatedly. Since the lightning strikes in short bursts with
long pauses in between, wait for the shield's aura to fade, the energy
surge to pass, _and_ wait for a pause in the lightning strikes before
attempting to pass through the shield. If you're hit by any one of
those defenses, you'll have to fight a Wind Wing again (refer to the
strategy section above). Once you're past the shield, head along the
path. It leads to an exact replicate of Nivelheim.
This next scene is sorta like a 'semi-interactive' flashback. You get
to see Sephiroth run around in Nivelheim, but this time, there's another
guy following him (Zekkusu, the guy you heard about in Gongaga Village).
Talk to your other party member, then to Tifa. In the next scene,
Zekkusu will look around Nivelheim (which has been reduced to smoldering
rubble), and chat with Zangan (sp?), who I think was Tifa's mentor.
(BTW, you can go to the Main Menu while Zekkusu is running around. It's
pointless, but I thought it was sort of amusing :)) Then, your party
appears in a flaming building, and Sephiroth appears. Instead of
attacking, he talks to the party. When you can move, talk to Sephiroth
and he'll teleport around the room. When you're in control of Cloud once
more, talk to Tifa twice. Sephiroth warps around some more, then shows
Cloud a picture of him, Tifa, and Zekkusu. After that, Cloud has another
fit, and the screen fades out.
In the next scene, Rufus, Sukaaretto, and Houjou (the scientist)
arrive at the crater. Before them is a monster encased in ice. It's
one of the three 'Weapons', which awakens and watches them, then starts
moving. Following that, Sephiroth appears in the guise of Tifa and
knocks out the other characters, then tricks whoever is guarding the
Black Materia to go to the center of the crater. Your party will
appear in the area where the Shin-Ra members are at, and the person with
the Black Materia gives it to Cloud, who then flies to the structure
where Sephiroth is at (while you can move around up here, the game takes
over your controls in a few seconds anyway). Once Cloud's given the
Black Materia to Sephiroth, the whole crater starts to break apart and
your party (sans Cloud) escape on the Highwind along with the rest of
the Shin-Ra crew. |