Final Fantasy VII owned by Square Enix.
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Part Twenty-Six: Underground Reactor and the Crashed Gelnika

Rocket Town

- Pop into Junon Harbor and check out the airport, at the top of the first elevator and through the first doorway on the right. You’ll catch one of Shinra’s Gelnikas taking flight.

- Pop over to Rocket Town and check out the rocket itself. You’ll have to fight some soldiers at the base of the rocket, more up the ramp, yet more near the ladder, and, at the top, Rude. Sadly, Rude just isn’t strong enough to consider him a boss. Thwomp the guy with your strongest attacks. You can Steal a Ziedrich from him, so don’t take him out too quickly. Just before you face Rude, Cid will force his way into the party. Makes sense.


- One battle later, you’ll be inside the rocket. Cid launches the thing. Most of this scenario is on auto pilot (rimshot), but one section requires your attention: retrieving the Huge Materia. It’s locked into the core of the rocket, and you need to input a four-button code to get it out. After the first input of the password, likely incorrect, you’ll only have three minutes to guess the proper code before the Huge Materia is locked into place. Cid will provide a string of clues that will help you puzzle out the code; if you don’t want to take the risk, the code is, in fact, circle, square, x, and x.

- Before moving on with the story, return to Rocket Town and speak to the old man who likes to look at the rocket. He’ll give you the Venus Gospel, Cid’s ultimate weapon. Nice.


Forgotten Capital

- After the rocket debacle is out of the way, visit Cosmo Canyon. Speak to Bugenhagen and he’ll join the party for a little while. (No, he won’t help you fight. Wouldn’t that be awesome, though?) When you climb up to look at the Huge Materia, check the blue crystal. Assuming you have the Bahamut and Neo Bahamut materia, you’ll receive the Bahamut ZERO materia.

- While you’re in Cosmo Canyon, check the store up a ladder on the far right side of Cosmo Canyon’s ground level. You’ll find a back room, newly opened, that contains a Full Cure materia, an Elixir, and a Magic Source.

- Head to the Forgotten Capital and take the left street that leads west. You’ll find a large, arena-like area that you may have seen on your first visit. Follow Bugenhagen over to the central fountain-like structure and he’ll tell you to go looking for a key. It’s supposedly located in a place where even the light cab’t reach…


- … and that hint is on the nose. Fly over to Junon Harbor and hop into your submarine. Submerge, then sail northwest from Junon, towards the northern continent. You’ll find a thin pathway between the landmasses that will soon narrow into a cave, one that’s almost parallel with the Forgotten Capital on the main map. Inside is the Key to Ancients.

- Pop back to the Forgotten Capital and take the Key to Bugenhagen for a cut scene. It will explain a few things, as well as strongly hint at your next destination. Get back to the airship…

- … and something crazy will happen: one of the Weapons will emerge from the water and start walking towards Midgar. You need to head over and stop it. (Despite what the game may suggest, though, you have as much time as you like to get there.) Land the airship somewhere nearby and rush up to fight it. Make sure you have lots of attack materia equipped - you’re gonna need it.


Diamond Weapon

Though not quite as powerful as Ultima Weapon, Diamond Weapon is still pretty powerful. It is, at least at first, utterly immune to physical attacks, and only magic and Limit Breaks will inflict any damage. That said, Diamond Weapon will change from relatively straightforward single-hitting attacks to a countdown if you use Limits or Summons, and when the countdown is done everyone will be hit by a gravity-based attack that also inflicts silence. Very painful for your party… but during this countdown Diamond Weapon is vulnerable to normal, physical attacks. If absolutely necessary you can use this to do damage, but I recommend sticking with straightforward magic - preferably lightning magic, like Bolt 3 or Trine - to do your damage. This will make the battle relatively easy. You can Steal a Rising Sun from Diamond Weapon.

- Pop back to the airship in the wake of the battle. A few cut scenes will pass, and you'll have to visit the Northern Crater, which has since been opened... but you can't visit it yet. Things will happen, and you’ll parachute into a place you’ve not visited in a long time: Midgar.

Part Twenty-Eight: Midgar