THE FINAL FANTASY 7 FAQ FOR WINDOWS 95/98 ------------UPDATED VERSION 3------------ Version 2 - Updated on 1:11 AM 31-DEC-98 Version 3 - Updated on 1:53 PM 21-MAR-99 Written by Kelvin Leen (E-mail: hideurface@tekkenking.com & billykane@mindless.com) Intro notes : This is the first FAQ I wrote for a Final Fantasy game. I have only written 2 so far, one being this and the other a Real Bout Fatal Fury Game Boy guide. As far as I'm concern getting updates on infomation from other gamers is important in any aspects of gaming, which I hope to receive for this FAQ. Most importantly, I would respect people to give me some credit for writing and not claiming themselves unless they have contributed to an update of info, which I have to know too. Otherwise, please leave the FAQ unchanged. UPDATED VERSION (Ver.2) CHANGES:- Due to some big response to things I've left out in version 1, this update will contain the most requested things from the e-mails that I got. Worry not, keep those mails coming, I don't mind addressing your questions one by one, if time is what you've got. On this version, I will address on the Character's abilities, advantages & so on. I felt that players should share their ideas, especially for an FAQ like this one. VERSION 3 UPDATE :- Okay, after getting more than a hundred E-mail for the past months since the FAQ was released, many questions have been posted and answered, but still many are still lost in the game. Frankly I must admit that I'm a little behind time with this update, but hey, we all have a life outside the gaming universe, right ? Honest to god, Squaresoft and Edios haven't really done a good job in releasing patches to prevent crashes, AI and fixing some gameplay problems .... I must say that I have got many E-mails of people trying to find a spot to climb ladders and other objects, and really got angry about it. This problem is annoying even for me, but please be patient ! You'll make it ! This update will help as I'm updating it many tips and info that many gamers have sent me. Many thanks for the kind comments of the FAQ, I promise that if FF8 is ever released for PC, I will write another groundbreaking guide like this one ! Keep on gaming and thanks a lot ! There will be some changes in the hint guide, so read it. As for new additional info, they are found at the ending part of the FAQ. Oh yeah, I also wrote 2 mini-faq for Simcity 3000 and SNK's Last Blade 2. If you need help, E-mail me okay ? Differences in the PS & PC versions : There isn't much differences in the 2 versions, except the gameplay which is tougher for the PC. I understand that the PC version isn't as popular to gamers in my homeland (S'pore), because many have gotten the chance to beat the PS version. However, this version is the Japanese's International version, the version with all the extra cinemas, less bugs, new monsters and bosses - for those who don't know. Also, if your PC is a low-grade pentium, worry not, you can play a slower but real stable version of FF7, if run on Windows 95 or 95 Plus version. It's VERY common to see that your game will hang on Windows 98, as the Windows OS itself has a lot of bugs that will hang & might corrupt your gamesaves. This FAQ is written because I feel that people need to know a thing or to ease their trip to finish the game. Tips and other clues are given, so this is a little bit of a spoiler. Oh yeah, one reason I would think led to the unpopularity in the game is the tendency to CHEAT. I did, but not without making life diffcult for myself, however, I did not find ways (like PS players) to bring the beautiful Aerith back to life ! No way .. she's gone I'll keep it that way ! ALWAYS ! So to those people trying to ask or cheats of her resurrection, forget it, I won't help in this. She's gone, just let Tifa have Cloud okay ? :) There are parts that require you reset if you did something wrong. Heck if you can, hit ALT-F4 or ALT-Q if you saved beforehand and want to quit and reset. Anyhow, here are the hints for the game :- -To buy flowers from Aerith, choose the 2nd option when you first meet her at Midgar. It's cheap to buy one, later giving it to Tifa or Barret's daughter is your choice. (No, Tifa will not be angry or jealous.) -When cornered by the soldiers at the bridge, fight them all unless you are short of HPs. It adds count to your number of kills for your 2nd level limit break. -At the train ride to the next reactor to wreck, remember that talking to some of the commuters inside will grant your party items (Potions ... etc) -Timing is very important here ! If you can't get out of a section, it means that you cannot move on to the next section and collect items there ! -After escaping the train, keep going to the foreground will land you in the hands of a lot of Shinra baddies, which can help increase your EXP points. Do it at your own risk. -When you meet Aerith at the church, do treat her nicely. -Near Aerith's house at the Garden is a COVER materia. It's free so take it ! -Sneaking out ? Walk, don't run or else Aerith will know. -Don't forget that one of the homes near Aerith's house is a house with a TURTLE'S PARADISE FLYER. It's on the 2nd floor on the wall near the stairs. (The 1st floor has a boy watching TV.) -When you get to the Area 6 (Red light district), you need to get a lot of items before getting to Tifa. Below are the things you'll need to do - they may or may not work. 1. Enquire about Tifa at the brothel at the Southeastern part of town. 2. Go to the top of the town to Don Corneo's mansion to learn that Cloud has to dress as a woman. 3. Go to the dress shop and go get the kid's father back from a bar near the mansion. 4. Answer carefully about your preferences for the dress. He will then make it. 5. After trying out the dress, go to the gym and win at the squats minigame. 6. Go to a sushi bar lookalike bar and order the today's special. Say it taste great and get a coupon. 7. Trade the coupon for some laxatives at one of the buildings. (Man behind counter) 8. Go to the bar where you found the dress-maker. Go to the top room and give your medicine - after a while, you'll get a perfume. 9. Go to the brothel and talk to the guard at the entrance. 10.Exit the screen and talk everyone you see. you should get a membership card from a man. 11.Go to the shop near the save point. You ought to help the shop owner in getting an item from the inn. Stay at the inn and get the most expensive item from the machine. (I think it's a condom.) 12.Trade and get another key-item. (Forgot what it was...) 13.There is also another item found at the brothel. Enter and find it, return to the dress shop to change up. After that, head straight for the mansion. If you found everything, BE PREPARED TO BE DISGUSTED !!!! -While inside the sewers, after fighting APS boss, remember to get the STEAL materia lying nearby. -At the train graveyard, when you encounter an ememy (Ghost rider is it's name I think.) steal from it ! The item is a staff which is only available after you leave Midgar ! Aerith will need this upgrade if you intend to conserve your magic ! -If you got the time & guts, try training for anybody's limit breaks at the train graveyard. Cloud had better have that Blade Beam Limit break if possible ! -When fighting Reno, any allies pyramided in his attacks should be attacked by anyone else, to free them. If all 3 are hit by the condition, the party's dead. Cloud's Blade beam Limit break is able to break away the pyramid condition on your party member. -When you are climbing up the mess to the Shinra HQ, you can pick up items if you explore with care. -At Shinra HQ, do save the game whenever you can. My advice is to go fight up to the 60th floor, it helps make your party stronger. -At the back of the 1st floor, you can find the 2nd TURTLE's PARADISE FLYER at the board. -On the 2nd floor, there is a shop that has 2 chest that can be opened. You can only do so, at Disc 2 .... Don't forget to watch the Shinra product video after the couple leaves the shop. -Just keep fighting the guards at 60th storey if you aren't fed up of getting scolded by Barret. There is a fixed amount ... beyond that then there will be none. -Before heading off to the 62th storey, return to level 1 to save. At the 62th floor, the man will ask you to guess the answer. Get it in one try, if you can you'll get an ELEMENTAL materia will is useful at this point. If you fail but save your game, try again until you can get it right. (ANSWER IS RANDOM FOR EVERY NEW GAME.) -63th Storey slove - From where you encounter the computer, go to the top right side of the room. You will open one door, walk through and open the door nearest the center room, you will then get into the left-most room already. Take the bag, and climb the Airduct to the the right-most room to collect another bag. Exit the room and open the door to the center room to get the last bag. Use the airduct in the right-most room to get back to the computer and get everything. Easy ? -Make a very early mental note that if you return during DISC2 on this floor hides Cait Sith's ultimate weapon, at the locker area. (Cloud should say "It's not mine." at this point.) -At the exercise room, don't dunk 200 gil for a drink, you'll be cheated. Come back at Disc 2 and get source items. -On 65th storey and later levels, you might meet 2 ememies that are important to you. One is a machine with a lot of blades at the bottom - steal Carbon Bangles from it ! The other enemy you ought to steal from is the enemy solder with a blade (Those who can cast level 2 (eg.ICE2) spells), you'll get HARDEDGE swords from them. Cloud's weapon upgrade at Shinra HQ is VERY useful indeed. -When fighting the boss at different platforms, REDXIII's limit break will still hit the boss. Have Barret in your party for a much easier fight. -At the motorcycle minigame, keep going after those closer to the pickup. Different color bikes inflict different amount of damage ! The best is to beat as many of them down as possible. Remember to minimize the damage done. -Outside Midgar, pick your 1st enemy skill - MATRA MAGIC from the Custom sweepers enemies. Wait for them to cast it and you to learn it (Equip anyone with the ENEMY SKILL MATERIA first!) Anyhow, steal from the Custom Sweepers. They will grant access to ATOMIC SCISSORS, a weapon for Barret. -At Kalm's inn, at the 2nd floor is a MEGAEIXLIR that can be found near the stairs. Reach for it 5 times and you'll get it. -During the flash back, you ought to touch Tifa's cupboard and table for strange things. However, Tifa won't be pleased about you doing that ! -Playing with the piano will reap results, but not the Elemental or Final Heaven manual as yet. -Explore cupboards, doors under stairs carefully for many items in Kalm. Enjoy ! -At the Chocobo farm, remember to talk to the Chocobo nearest to the fence for a MOG materia ! -There is a 2nd Chocobo Lure at the ranch, as you walk into the area by the fence. (Not for PLAYSTATION version ... I think.) -Even with a Chocobo, you still will encounter the Midgar Zolom if you stand around. (IDIOT.) -At the Mithril mines, at the room to the right, there is a LONG RANGE materia. Be prepare to be fed up in trying to reach it. You can only climb the vines up to reach it a certain odd angle. -At the mines, steal from the enemy swing a ball and chain for GRAND GLOVE, a weapon for Tifa. -To increase the kill rate, use Matra Magic to blast your foes dead. Use it when large groups attack your party. -At the forested areas near the exit/entrance of the mine, beware of the blue colored birds. Their attacks reap heavy damage but they give a BOOMERANG when you steal, a weapon for Secret Character Yuffie. -At this point there are 3 things to do. Get Yuffie, go either Junon or Fort Condor. Save Junon for the last one and get Yuffie first. -At Junon, save the little girl's life by letting your lungs fill up with air completely for about 4-6 times. -To jump up to the next level, swim near the pole and blow the whistle for the girl's pet to jump you up there. Keep trying, it ain't tough. -When you are learning the marching steps, it's easy at first but when you march with the group later, it's really tough. Don't worry though, the ratings rarely go up fast unless, you are really good at it. (I love it when you flop like hell.) -Later at the send off part, keep your results to an average and you'll get a HP-PLUS materia from Rufus. Do any better, you'll get a FORCE STEALER for Cloud. (Getting the HP-PLUS is better then the weapon.) -When you're inside the ship, talk to EVERY person you see ! If not you won't find Barret. -At Costa Del Sol, go and head for the beach at once. See Hojo there and chat with him. Do not sleep at the inn first or else he's gine the next day. -Can you afford a house ? You can buy the house at the bridge area for 300,000 gil. I like this idea. -Going on the mountain path to Corel, at the Mako reactor area, you'll fight turtle-like creatures. Steal from them DIAMOND PIN which is for REDXIII. -At the track area, Save the game and switch back to Windows. There, change your keyboard Repeat speed to the maximium and then switch back to the game. Later when you allow yourself to fall through the tracks, tapping either left or right and the OK button is much easier with the repeat rate increased. You will mostly likely fall on the area with the treasure hanging around. (Trust me, this worked for me.) -Gold Saucer is an interesting place, but you have only some minigame available to play. The motorcycle one is great for earning GPs, you'll get 10GP for 10,000 points and above. The first try you make in getting 10,000 and above score earns you 10GPs and a spd source. -Gold Saucer has a secret. When you meet an extra person moping around the tram's parking zone, talk to him. He's sell you GPs for Gil, but only a certain amount. It's like 1 out of 50 times you'll bump into him. Good Luck. -Always remember, buy the ticket that allows unlimited entering. -At the bottom of the prison, when you face an enemy with a lot of spikes, use Cait Sith's MANIPULATE materia to control and use the skill "LASER" on your party member with the enemy skill materia. (If you explored hard, you should have two. One is from Shinra HQ and the other is at Junon.) This step is important. -If you have managed to earn Barret's 3 level 2nd choice Limit break before fighting Dyne, then use it here. Once it's all it takes to kill Dyne. -Don't take chances with the thieves you fight in the prison. They might escape with your items, which may include your weapons ! -When racing Chocobos, don't forget that there's a Materia lying around the room before you race. Switching to Auto is useful, after your Chocobo overtakes the others by much distance, switch to manual and race all the way ! (Collect the materia, it's only one chance to do so.) -You lose the race too often ? The computer will then let you win after much trying. -The area around Corel and the desert of Gold Saucer has a type of dragon foe who has an attack named "Flying Sickle" that rises one's limit gauge quite fast & causes quite bad damage to weaker character. Have one character hold the MANIPULATE materia to control these beast and use the Sickle attack on your own party members. This is to allow your party to train in their limit breaks. Just note that even at stronger levels the attack still does a sum of damage ... so if you wish to, you can come back and train later. -The buggie you get can be transported to and fro from Jumon & Costa Del Sol! Just drive into the city and pay the fee to go across, and then exit. The buggie is for your useage later ! -Using the above method, drive beyond the forested area between Mithril mines and Junon through a river and get to a cave on the other end. If you have fought (in terms of normal combat) enough times to make your last 2 digits same - (E.g. 12011) you will get Mythril. This will grant you the Great Gospel, the Limit break for Aerith later at a house near the Gongaga area. (After the Rocket town part) -Don't forget to bring Tifa along to Gongaga area. She's the key person to one family's question. Also down forget to visit the ruin reactor to get Titan Materia. -Go to Cosmo Canyon, or rather you can only stop at Cosmo Canyon. The buggie cannot go beyond there, as it breaks down. -You'll see 2 TURTLE PARADISE FLYERS here, one's at the inn counter and the weapon's store counter. Look hard, you'll miss them ! -Ready your MANIPULATE AND ENEMY SKILL MATERIAS here. The cave of GI scene will have tough foes, with a useful ENEMY SKILL to learn. Also don't forget, that you have to walk on the slimy ground in one part of the cave. Running will send you to the wall spikes. -If anyone is dead, ramming into the spikes will bring them back to life, with one HP. -The spider sub-bosses are all tough. Ready your limit breaks if you must. -I wonder if this is true but I heard from a gamer that using an X-potion or Pheonix Down will kill the boss in the Cave of Gi at once ! Lazy to try this but you might wanna try it out ! -Getting to Nibelheim, you will meet all sorts of black robed figures. You can get items from them. -Don't worry about the way people react. Your recollections at Kalm are right. Just go to Tifa's house and read a report on her dressing table for further evil details. -The "Piano tunes" is a pain in the ass. I sloved it any it might not get the Final Heaven limit break manual, so try again. For the PC version (Using the default keys) the tune is: Cancel Switch Menu Pageup+Menu Pageup+Switch Cancel Switch Menu Pageup+cancel OK Cancel Switch Cancel Start There are 4 effects : Get 1 gil, Get Elemental Materia, Get nothing, Get Manual -Inside the Shinra mansion, slove the Safe part by turning to :- 1) Turn to your right until it says 36, press OK 2) Turn left till it says 10, press OK 3) Turn to your right to 59, press OK 4) Turn to your right to 97, and press hit OK Just do the following to get the door unlocked. Plain and simple, just follow ! -There are enemies that are Scales inside the Mansion. You can learn the ???? enemy skill from them, so arm the Enemy Skill materias. (Cannot be manupilated) -Vincient can be found at the corridor to the libary. Just move up and you find a small room with coffins inside. -To get Vincient, just answer his questions like this :- *Talk to him and choose the bottom answer *Open the coffin and talk to him again, answer with the second answer. *Leave the room, and continue exploring. He will come to you before you go upstairs. -Get to the caverns and the first thing is to activate the ladder, not go into any pipes first. Once you can keep going up and down the room, then slide through the pipes to get items. -Leave the place by the only unblocked exit at the cave, explore the area until you get to the reactor. There is a small door at the background. Hit ASSIST button to see it. Exploring will get you a CR SNIPER & ELEMENTAL MATERIA. CR SNIPER is for Vincient. -CR Sniper is useful for a trick I've learned. It's attack percentage is 255%, which means it's virtually impossible to miss any shot, Link the DEATHBLOW materia and cause HEAVY damage. However, CR Sniper is only useful for several stages ... weak later on. -Do not bring Vincient along to fight the boss blocking your way, especially with his limit breaks. His Gillian Beast's flare will cure the boss. -You have to learn TRINE from the boss, as this spell is only available on 3 enemies, one of it is this one. Equip Lighthing materia with elemental materia on your armour to recover lost HP during TRINE. (Better have 2 enemy skil materia ready here !) -Getting to Rocket town, talk to the old man staring at the rocket for a blade for Cloud. (Keep talking to him.) -Rocket town's boss is Palmer, the fat Shinra Space division officer. If you use ODIN summon on him, you can die laughing at the attacks made on him ! (I love it when he loses.) -It's been known that for lower performance machines, that the escape scene from Rocket town is know to hang the game application very easily. Please save before entering the town. Your best bet to spot the error is to see a Shinra soldier firing on the plane itself. After that, it just hangs. -If you brought Yuffie along, when the plane crashed into the sea, she will imply going west. Following her instructions will lead you to her hometown of Wutai, and also to the reveling of her true identity. Remember this, once you get here, you must complete the subquest or else you can't leave the island. -At western island, there are several bridges for the player to cross. There is a path that leads you to nowhere. The other leads you to Wutai. -Wutai enemies provide good items. Hang around here to get a lot of stuff ! -The Razor Weeds around Wutai have a very important and useful Enemy Skill, Magic Hammer. The beach area has a Turtle that has the Death force Enemy Skill. Steal from it an item as well - Adaman Bangle. This item may have few materia slots, but it can be sold for a fair amount of cash. -The first thing you should do when in Wutai is head to the western most building at the city area, to a place where you'll meet up with the Turks, who are taking a break. Make sure you get this done first, before meeting up with Yuffie. -Upon getting to Wutai, look around and talk to everyone. You will get to meet Yuffie if you manage to open the box at the Item shop. She will appear and snatch your materia away. After that, go the house nearest the entrance. She's hiding behind a board, so search there and then she will hide in a huge container outside the Turtle's Paradise Tavern. The container will shake as a clue. Hit it twice and she'll be caught. -Once at her house, pulling either of the controls will still result in trapping your party. Outside that room on the wall is another (Final) Turtle Paradise Flyer. -After this part, go to the Turtle Paradise and read their signboard. After that enter the tavern and meet up with the Turks. After all this, go to the counter and talk to the man. If you got to find all the flyers, you'll be rewarded. -At the western area, there are 3 places to visit. Go to the bell and hit it once. A door opens below it, go in and meet a friend who's taken Yuffie & Elena (Turk) as hostages. Once you can access to the Mansion do search around the whole house for secret passageways that will grant you the Magic Shuriken & Hairpin. -Go up the Da-Chao Statues now, Reno & Rude will guide you on the right path to take. If you manage to find a cave hole, enter to get Cid's Dragoon Lance. After that, you'll meet up with your "friend" again. Fight a sub-boss here and after all this, Yuffie will return your party's Materia again. She screws up during the distribution of the materia, and that's quite funny. Before leaving, under her house is room with a lot of cats. Walk straight and talk to the cat. It leaves and you'll climb up to get a HP ABSORB materia. -If you trained well, you can visit the Pagoda at the very western end of Wutai. Fight your way up and at the final level you'll face off with Yuffie's papa, Godo. He also uses TRINE eneemy skill, so you can learn from him. During this whole time, you should equip strong defensive equipment and use a Hyper on yourself to be able to increase the limit gauge faster. If you win, you'll get Yuffie's limit break, as well as another summoning materia. -To get a keystone for the Ancient Ruins, go to the house near the Gongaga area to get infomation on the Keystone. The house is situated at the far east of Gongaga area near the coast area. -Return to Golden Saucer to fight in the BATTLE ARENA for Dio's amusument any amount (up to 8 matches.) to get the Keystone for the TEMPLE OF ANCIENTS. Be careful ! -Remember, if you win a complete 8 matches, when you leave the Arena, talk to the lady outside and you should get a pair of Running Shoes (Cast Haste spell !) -Oh yeah, if you've got Mythril at this point, you can trade for the Great Gospel, the 4th level limit break for Aerith. -When Aerith dates you, screwing up on the stage act will result in Aerith slapping you, perform well and get a good laugh, but screwing up provides a better one. -There is a possiblity of either Yuffie, Tifa, Aerith and Barret (It's true !) dating Cloud. It all depends on your treatment to the characters listed here ! -When you're inside the Ghost Inn room, check for an item in the cupboard. -At the ground floor of the Ghost Inn, check at/near the shop for another Turtle Paradise Flyer. -Going to the Ancient Ruins ? Better have a good party as the enemies are quite a challenge for some or weaker parties. If you used Vincient's CR Sniper trick, it should ease the way for many. -Remember that everything here can be collected. Just keep walking and you'll find a path somewhere. Only 2 spots can be acessed at the clock room. -At the second part of the maze, where strange pillars roll down onto you, just keep pressing on. You'll make it at the end. -At the clock room, treasure chest with monsters inside do not offer any items for you. One of the enemies in one of the room is known as the Magic Eye, they are able to absorb 1500 and above HP from your members during the fight ! Just cast Bio to kill them off. -At the clock room, you can fall into the bottom of the room, to get Nail Bat, a strong weapon with no material slots for Cloud. -At the 4th hour of the clock, you can get Princess Guard, the only Ultimate weapon for Aerith. -When you get to room of holes, if the impish fella go into the hole at the right bottom most hole, the only way to counter it is to what for it at the hole next to the sealed door. -When fighthing the Red Dragon boss, just wear or equip fire protective equipment. No DEMI materias or Spell to be casted against this beast !!! -When your party reaches the clock room, DISEQUIP Aerith at once. Strap her with any lousy armour or staff, don't give her any accessories as well. This is ... after this part, she is out of the them forever. You can always use her Limit breaks during the boss fight later, since she takes more damage and increases her gauge faster. -When you visit the bone village, remeber that you'll never make it to the end of the forest without the Lunar Harp. Just dig around the lower left hand side of the skull head tent. -At the forest, wait either at the left or right hand side to collect a materia floating in the air. The red orb floating around is what you want. -At the shell village, you'll get another enemy skill materia at one of the rooms, the one where you can rest. It's around the bed furthest from the ladder. -Look carefully, for there are some items to be taken. -Equip your party with water protection equipment. After Aerith dies, the Jenova boss uses Aqualung and many water spells to attack. Good time for those with ENEMY SKILL materia to equip and learn the attack. -Save game here, you're changing disc here ! -Follow your way out of the place, and get to Glacier Lodge village, the original hometown of Aerith. -At one of the houses, you can get the Glacier map, some items and info. Visit every house in the village for infomation and many other things. -When Elena wants to slap Cloud .... just keep tapping Left as she readies to hit you. She'll then tumble down the snow. Get the snowboard from the injured kid's house and ride your way into the snow. -At the snowy place, remember that being in the snow for too long if harmful to you. Explore around until you faint. Remember that you can only get what you missed only at the ending part of Disc 2 and the whole of Disc 3. Also, if you managed to make it to the southern most part of map with a sign board, you can walk back to the village from here. -When climbing up the mountain, remember to keep your body at 38 degrees before climbing again. -There are 2 puzzles to slove while inside the cave, one is getting a blouder to clear a path and the other is breaking 4 stalacities to go on. Also, in the caves is a red colored spider (Stilva) that has 2 Enemy skills to learn from. (Trine & Magic Breath) -When facing the 2 headed sub-boss, steal a protect ring from it. The left head is easily subjected to physical attacks while the other is subjected to magical attacks. -At the crater you have to fight your way up. There are barriers to crossed. Just notice the pattern, and cross with care. If you fail, dragons will attack you. -Later at Junon, make your way to the Airport with Cait Sith and meet Yuffie there. On the way you can fight some enemies, without proper care, you might lose. When Tifa tries to free herself, you can press two buttons to combine a series of movement to escape. Press your button to slap the Shinra Bitch. Please don't lose, it won't look nice for Tifa !!! -When flying, flying pass the Gold Saucer desert is extermely dangerous. you might bumb into a red color thing in the sand. It will release the Giant Ruby weapon to fight you !! -Get to Mideel, at the small island towards the south-eastern corner of the world map. There you'll find Cloud but he is in no condition to fight. Before entering the town, disequip Tifa's materia if you need them, and have at least one of every Chocobo green. (I forgot which) Find a white chocobo and scratch the the chocobo's ear. You will get a power magic materia, Contain. -There is a key up at the balcony and walking around the side of the house (The one that sell accessories) and searching the ground. You'll find a key and use it on the door at the weapon shop, and then be honest to the shopkeeper to get a Cursed Ring ! -Get the elixir from one house and be honest to the owner. (Honesty is the best policy here) -After Tifa leaves the party to care for poor Cloud, Cid takes over the party. You cannot do several things at places when Cid is the leader of the party (If you bought the villa at Costa Del Sol, you cannot rest there.) -Return to North Corel first (your choice) and do the train scene. You have to climb from the mountain path to get to the Reactor, and then ride another train to chase it. You have to quickly catch up with the train. Pull the controls quickly ! Only 10 mins to spare !!! -Hope you brought Barret along, so that he can clear up his name at Corel, only if you make it for this mission. -Fight your way to the control car, on the way, try to steal from the Bird like machine, Eagle Gun, as it grants you the Warrior Bangle. During any fight you should not cast any summon magic as it takes to long for most of them to do damage. -To stop the train, one clue which I think should work is to pull the controls upwards. If you make it, then the cinema of a train stopping will be shown. After that, you should get the ultima magic materia and also Barret's Final limit break from one black woman inside the town. Remember, pull the levels upwards and that's it ! -Oh yeah, you can access a hidden cinema at this point on about Cloud's past at Nibelheim. Just go to the lab downstairs and you'll see the flashback ! -Go to the Condor Fort for yet another fight. My advice is to let the enemy get to your fort and fight the commander. Steal from the commander and get the Imperial Guard armour here ! It is very useful for Cloud for the rest of the game ! -After all this, return to Mideel to look for Cloud. Before entering Mideel, I advice your party to change your materia on your armour so that an Earth Magic Materia is linked with an ELEMENTAL MATERIA. Everyone should do this, and then enter the town. There will be an earthquake and the party will see the Ultima Weapon flying around. Wait on it to fight your party, the first attack it often (99% sure of it) is a Quake 2 spell !! Hope you took my advice earlier. Steal a Curse Ring from it before it flies off. -Inside the life stream part, just keep talking to all the different Clouds. You never know which you have to speak to. -The party with Cloud on the team will have to return to the Junon Port to go below to the underwater reactor. You should talk to the guard guarding a big door at Junon and pay him to access the upper levels of the base. -When you make it to the underpass area, you have to fight your way down into the base below. The guards here are still push-overs. When you get to the underwater tunnels, morph an enemy known as the Ghost ship for an item that you can trade later at Kalm. -When you meet up with Reno at the Submarine base, you will fight a horrible machine that has two powerful arms to catch your party ! Once in it's grasp, your team-mates are in danger. Your best bet is to equip yourself with powerful weapons with materia slots enough to hold plenty of summons or magic materias. It's as easy as that, the boss is also weak to Lighting spells, so you have a save bet to destroy it fast with your magics. Once you win, you'll get the God's Hand, a 255% hit percentage weapon for Tifa. Equip this with a DEATHBLOW materia for 100% deathblows !!! (A very important upgrade for the team from here onwards) -Don't forget the Leviathian scales in the box next to the submarine. Take your time to search around, as this doesn't affect the headstart of the enemy submarine. -I leave it to you whether to kill the Shinra guards, they will never put up a tough fight, but leaving them alive shows you that those guys are acutally wimps. -When you control the Submarine, your best bet is to get close to the enemy sub and blast away ! Just pummel your torpedos away, and the sub will then sink. Get it in the first try, as failure would meaning running through the bloody complex again, though I heard about a shortcut that you can take to get to another submarine. -Beware of the ocean's biggest object swimming around. You don't wanna die in it's hands, although you can run from it. -Use the submarine and locate the following things :- *Sunken Plane near the coast of the Gold Saucer Desert (Near the only place at the Gold Saucer where your Submarine can park) *An Ancient Key, located under the northern island. Just keep searching until you find a path that leads you into a cavern with a spiky object erected in the cave's center. *The Sunken submarine, a red object nearby the Junon Sea reactor. (Beware of the emerald weapon, it swims around that area !!!) *The cavern that leads you to the Waterfall. This is where you can get Vincient's ultimate weapon and 4 level limit break manual. *Killing the Emerald Weapon that swims around the whole ocean. Other than this, there is nothing in the ocean for you to explore. -It is possible that the Emerald Weapon just appear beside your Submarine when you exit out of the Sunken plane ! Just quickly float the Submarine up and he'll go away ! THE SUNKEN PLANE SLOVE :- Okay, for those people who are really in need of an adventure or training, then come here. You'll collect some of the most important items for your party to enhance themselves here, as well as the best training ground you'll have. (Until you get to the ending of the game that is.) The Hallway of this plane has a save point and a chest. Have Yuffie here (Useful character) Save game before heading into any of the rooms. The first room near the save point has got several items. Use the following instructions to get them ALL ! Once you enter, Go straight to the chest on your TOP right hand corner. Next walk back to the other VISIBLE CHEST near the stairs. Go down, and walk all the way to the left, then go straight up. Search and get the CONFORMER - the Ultimate weapon for Yuffie (You'll need it, trust me !) >From the spot you stand, go all the way to the right and move up all the way. Search here and get the added cut materia ! Okay, go back and save. If you have survived, then how do you feel about the baddies here ? Using the Conformer, you'll beat them all in seconds. Strap the MORPH MATERIA WITH A HP ABSORB MATERIA and you'll beat them real flat ! Steal from them different armour and morph them into different enhancements for your statisics !!! You'll face off with Reno and Rude here, at the room on the Hallway's left. They are both tough here, my advice is to rob them both of their items, as they really are enhancements ! Reno carries Sephiroth's TOUGH RING, and Rude carries a ZIEDRICH, a materia-less armour of SUPER defence ! In the next room, you guys will get Cid's 4th level manual as well as another summon materia (Hades) here. CHART FOR REFERENCE : THE ENEMY AND BONUSES NAME GIL (With Gil Plus Materia equipped) MORPH STOLEN Unknown 1 - 10000 POWER SOURCE FIRE ARMLET Unknown 2 - 20000 GUARD SOURCE AUROA ARMLET Unknown 3 - 15000 MAGIC SOURCE BOLT ARMLET Serpent - 5000 MIND SOURCE WATER RING Poodler - 5000 SPEED SOURCE TURBO ETHER Bad Rap - 5000 LUCK SOURCE INK Train here, trust me the experience you'll get is plenty, with Yuffie's morph + conformer trick used here, you'll reap rewards in no time ! -Okay, the last Huge materia to rescue is at Rocket Town, so go there and have Cid in the team, (He'll makes things more lively here.) and rush into town. -You'll need to square of with Rude here. Steal another Ziedrich from him before he loses. Rude despite the fact that he's badly beaten, is not dead as yet ! -The passcode for the release of the materia inside the rocket is :- OK BUTTON, SWITCH BUTTON, CANCEL BUTTON TWICE -Upon returning to earth, return to COSMO CANYON to safekeep the huge materias as well as moving on to another mission. Before you go, find the ancient key to save time for next scene. -Okay now that your party has gotten the 4 huge materias, it's time to trade them for easy to use Master Materias ! At this point, you might only be able to get the BAHAMUT ZERO materia, if you had gotten the Bahamut & Neo-Bahamut to MASTERED level. -To get the Master Command Materias of Yellow, Red & Green, you'll have to get at least one of every materia of the 3 colors to master level. Red & green need everything, while Yellow only needs some of the materias. This means that you'll need to go get the Knights of the Round materia for the Red Master Materia. -Oh yeah, fly your airship back to Midgar and talk to the man at the front of the city gate about a missing key. -Anyway, moving back to the story, you'll need to get to the ancient forest again, if you followed the tip from above, then go talk to the man and start digging once again. Just go all the way to the crshed aircraft's nose tip and search. You'll get the Midgar city key after trying. Your team should be facing north, the back of the characters's icon is facing the enterance and the front of the icons should face the nose tip. -Getting the Midgar city Key, return to explore the old stomping grounds, and get few items that should help you on the way. (Eg. Tifa's Ultimate weapon, Sneak Glove .. etc) -Once getting into the ancient city, a sequence should follow, after that return to Midgar once the Diamond Weapon resurfaces. Wait at the coast near Midgar and the thing will fight you once it comes into contact. Believe me, you'll better have Exp plus, Gil Plus materias as well as any weapon that doubles or triples the materia growth rate, as this Weapon helps you earn a hell lot of points ! Anyhow, do steal Yuffie's Rising Sun from it, but the Conformer is more powerful, but the Rising Sun can gain 2x Materia Growth Points. Your best bet to destroy the Diamond Weapon is to keep using Trine or Lightning spells. -This next part is one part that needs a lot of time. Your next objective is to drop into the Midgar City and ruin Hojo's plans. Before this, you can do the following suggested objective first. -Fly near Fort Condor. You see a familiar Black Dragon there ? It's the Ultimate Weapon (A bastard Dragon ... you'll find out.) Strap your team with the right equipment and materias. Do have enemy skill materias and heavy assualt materias (HP absorb, MP absorb and many others) equipped. This bastard carries different items each time you meet it, so don't forget to steal from it. It will escape so just fly around and chase it. You might get bumped off but it's finally burial ground is nearby the mountians of COSMO CANYON, which later allows access into the Ancient Mysterious Forest, for yet another puzzle awaits. (OPTIONAL) You can learn the enemy skill, Shadow Flare from it before it dies ... Dangerous, as you might be killed. -Okay if you're ready, the dangerous Midgar city adventure awaits ... you will battle a whole lotta bosses here, so keep your power up always. Also, this is one place that you can only return to once, so figure out how to get everything you see ! -If you had faced off with Reno and Rude at Wutai, then you'll have the chance to pass off a duel with the Turks ... advice is, that you shouldn't ! You'll get the following if you steal from the Turks :- Elena will be carrying a Minerva Band (An armor for ladies) Reno still carries a Tough Ring (A ring orginally owned by Sephiroth) Rude still carries a Ziedrich (A powerful armor for those materia-less lovers) This fight can be tough ... good luck defeating them all ! -Using elemental protection is handy for those who lost to the Turks. A lot of HP and cure spells are pretty useful for this fight if you plan to attack them every round. -Search all Tunnels. Going Northwards will sent you to Shinra's HQ where you can go get somethings that you couldn't carry out the first time you visited. (Refer to the early chapters for details) and going Southwards, will grant you the W-item materia. Useful for an infamous duplication trick that really helps you along the way ! -When you fight the massive armor machine, it's best to keep everyone's status up, I almost died fighting this bastard ... he's tough. -When climbing up to get to Hojo, bring Barret and a treasure chest containing his Ultimate weapon, the Missing Score will be available. Without him, the item is not there at all. -When you face off with Hojo, bring Vincient and RedXIII will not say great and wonderful things for those who are really curious. I expected Vinicent to say something about the past and RedXIII to say something great but no they are quite lame here. -Hojo is really easy to beat. At least have one character with Ultima materia equipped and his 2 & 3 forms are TOAST. If you've got Yuffie, use her Conformer + Morph trick here and it'll be even easier ! -After this part, the only thing you'll need to do, is to go into the final CD and load the final stage of this game. I won't spoil anyone's surprise here, but here are tips to aid your journey into the center of the planet to destroy the great Sephiroth. + There is no save point but rather, you'll get a Save Crystal. Do not activate this item until you get to the level where the party/everyone's deciding which path to take. + There are items to be collected, and they should be. It's worth to take another trip to scoop all the items back as you train your party here. + It doesn't matter if you cheat here, the enemies are tough so morph them with the Yuffie Conformer Trick / Tifa's God Hand Deathblow Trick ! + Remember that there is a way to return to the airship, only if you never made it to the core of the planet ! Your last chance to turn back is where everyone is waiting to be split up into 2 groups. (At the place where I advice you to place the save crystal.) + Your party should take the left path if you intend to win the game fast. (Wimps) + Your party ought to take the right path, with Enemy Skill Materias equipped. (Heroes !) + Sephiroth can be destroyed if you just keep using 4x cut ! Keep it up and he should rot away ! + Safer Sephiroth's SUPER NOVA attack is worth hanging around for ... Cool spell. + For those who wonder if Cloud will die in the final duel, try NOT pressing anything at once the time gauge fills up. FAQ FOR CHARACTER ANALYSIS:- CLOUD STRIFE- Being the main hero of the story, he cannot leave the party unless the story states he's not in. Cloud is basically an attacker and no way should he be placed as a BACKUP healer or BACKUP fighter ! His weapons are able to deal heavy damage, with the proper levels and materias. Useful Weapons :- Hard Edge, Butterfly Edge, Organics, Crystal Sword, Apocalypse, Ultima Weapon Useful Limit Breaks :- SHOULD UPDATE HIM AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE. For players lazy to get his level 4 break, stick to Level 3 then. He really packs a wallop. Useful Materia chain for him :- Enemy skill, HP absorb + mastered Steal, Counter + Mastered Knights of the Round with Mime + Counter, and as much HP plus as possible for his Ultimate Weapon. Best Weapon info :- ULTIMATE WEAPON ~ Keep HP as high as possible, as the more you have is the more damage dealt. BARRET WALLACE- Barret is the founding father of Avalanche and acts as Cloud's backup attacker in fights. What he lacks is MP but his attack power kind of made up for that. He should not be a front line fighter unless he has close combat weapons, other than that, he inflicts pain from back rows at the same time, taking less damage from the back position he's at. Unless, your fave character is him, he should rot waiting for some action. Bring him for Corel's Huge Materia mission and the Midgar Assualt at Disc 2, that's where he shines ! Useful Weapons :- Atomic Scissors, W Machine Gun, Enemy Launcher, AM Cannon, Maximum Ray, Missing Score Useful Limit Break :- Forget his level 4, go for his level 3 breaks and you'll win big time ! Useful Materia Chains :- HP Absorb + Steal, Counterattack, Mime Best Weapon info :- MISSING SCORE ~ The better your Materias are, the stronger the weapon. So place MASTERED MATERIAS and you'll hit big time ! AERITH GAINSBOROUGH- She's the main reason why FF7 had so much problems with people hacking to get her. She's the party's main Magic healer and attacker. Other than that forget about her, she dies at the end of Disc one and really not so worth it to try training her up. I acutally hoped that she and Cloud can make it as lovers but she died ... what a cursed fate. Useful Weapons :- Striking Staff, Wizard Staff, Prism Staff, Aurora Rod, Princess Guard Useful Limit Break :- Everything she's got. She has no doubt the game's most useful limit breaks, but the level 4 one is the best. Try to get and use it once before she dies and you'll know what I'm talking about ! Useful Materia Chains :- Anything, as she a real magic attacker, strap her with anything magical in nature. Best Weapon info :- PRINCESS GUARD ~ It's the only Ultimate Weapon that acutally earns AP unlike all the rest. It enhances as she defends her team-mates. TIFA LOCKHART- The babe of the game, Tifa is the next strongest attacker after Cloud. However, her place is more often taken over by Cid and Yuffie, only after they have earn their best weapons or have extremely powerful levels. She possesses the strength to really drain enemy HP, so try her. She's got a powerful cheat in one of the weapon, known as the GOD-HAND cheat which I mention earlier. Useful Weapons :- Grand Glove, Tiger Fang, Diamond Knuckle, Dragon Claw, Crystal Grab, God's hand Useful Limit Break :- Just upgrade to level 4, her attacks keep getting more deadly as you upgrade. Useful Materia Chain :- Death Blow + HP Absorb (Only on the weapon God's Hand), HP-absorb + Steal, Contain + added effect Best weapon info :- Premium Heart may be the acutally ultimate weapon for her, but it really sucks in battle. It's weak and not really worth getting. Instead, abuse the 255% hit rate of God's Hand and do deadly damage on every one you see ! Therefore GOD'S HAND is the best wepon for Tifa, despite the low materia space it has ! RED XIII- You can forget about using this guy for most part of the game, as he isn't as valuable as other members ! RED XIII is able to support much battles in Disc 1 but ends up useless for many missions. He shines as a backup but Barret's a better choice than him. Use him as a healer or a backup fighter. Useful Weapons :- Diamond Hairpin, Silver Barrette, Gold Barrette, Adamantium Clip, Crstal Comb, Seprah Comb, Behemoth Horn, Limited Moon Useful Limit Break :- Stick to level 3 or 2. His level 4 isn't worth anything either. Useful materia chain :- I advise players to invent a proper chain for him. Remember that he isn't really worth it but throw in Double Cut, Mime, Steal with HP/MP absorb and he's great as a fighter too ! Also, he can act as a bonus character, by carrying those materias like Gil up, Enemy Lure and other independent materias ! Best Weapon info :- Limited Moon ~ With more MP he's left, the damage increases ... Worth it ? I don't think so !!! CID HIGHWIND- One character that really whacks Cloud's attacking power out is Cid. His power is greater than Cloud anytime, so he's also worth keeping in your main party. He shines at any point of the game, but don't forget to train his limit breaks when you get him ! Useful Weapons :- Trident, Mast Axe, Partisan, Dragoon Lance, Spirit Lance, Flayer, Venus Gospel Useful Limit break :- For damage, anything from level 3 to 4 is good enough. Useful Materia Chain :- Counterattack, and anything listed at Cloud's section. Best Weapon info :- Venus Gospel is supposed to be the best, but it needs more MP to become stronger ! Anyhow, FLAYER is better as more damage is dealt with it and it gains AP ! CAIT SITH- For those who enjoy the sight of big things, Cait here is one character that's cute and deadly as well. You might not see the person of this guy, but he is the Shinra employee named Reeve. (The finance minster of Shinra !) Cait's attacks aren't strong and MP too is weak. But strap him with any Summon type of materia with HP and MP plus, he's useful. One thing about him too, you can find his items almost everywhere you go. Useful Weapons :- Green M-phone, Blue M-phone, Gold M-phone, Crystal M-phone, Battle Trumpet, Starlight Phone HP Shout Useful Limit Break :- Using level 1, you can deal out damage from dice roll. A full set of six is as good as getting hit with Super-Nova or worst ... his level 2 is jackpot which has a risk of killing everyone (Allies) with the wrong a set of pictures formed ! Choose well as each has it's own set of benefit and disadavantage ! It is also possible to kill Safer Sephiroth with his level 2 break. (Get 777 and it's ALL OVER for your foes !) Useful Materia Chain :- Anything that is magical and two or more spaces for HP and MP plus materias. Best Weapon info :- HP SHOUT ~ The more MP you have, the greater damage. Worry not, even at low MP rates, as long as level is high, this rule might be overwritten. YUFFIE- Trust me, this thief is gonna be your member during the final clash with Safer Sephiroth. She's a ninja thief, out for stealing your party's materia as well as grow stronger. She never really cares about others, but her attacks are the 3rd strongest in the game ! She should be trained as soon as she joins your party ! Don't put her in front, just strap her behind the party ! Useful Weapons :- Pinwheel, Hawk Eye, Twin Viper, Magic Shuriken, Rising Sun, Oritsuru, Conformer Useful Limit Break :- Stay at level 3 ! Her Level 4 doesn't really do damage for stronger foes ! Useful Materia Chain :- HP Abosrb + Morph (Conformer only), HP Absorb + Steal, Double Cut (Mastered) Best weapon info :- CONFORMER ~ The stronger your foes are, the more damage dealt to your foe. Using Morph on your enemies will do tons of damage, and will morph them upon death. Vincient Valentine- An ex-Turk who was recreated into a monster by Hojo, this guy is deadly. His limit breaks are really dangerous, but at times, not useful ! Your team should carry this guy often if you plan to equip him with his best weapon. Keep him as a backup fighter as he works best behind the attackers. Useful Weapons :- Shotgun, Shortbarrel, Winchester, Peacemaker, Long-range rifle, Sniper CR Supershot ST, Outsider, Death Penalty Useful Limit break :- Upgrade to level 4 as quickly as possible. Useful materia chain :- Death Blow + HP Absorb (Long Range Rifle & Sniper CR only), Manipulate + Steal, HP Absorb + Steal or any attack materia Best Weapon info :- DEATH PENATLY ~ This weapons accounts for those foes dead in Vincient's hands. If the kill rate of his is low, I advise you to switch to OUTSIDER, which provides AP gain as well as a fair sum of damage ! ******************************************************************************************** FORT CONDOR - THE MYSTERY Okay, I got this mail from someone (Vertgo4731@aol.com) who wrote to me about the items he got from the Fort Condor Battles. It's an interesting list of items so try to find all items. Some of them I heard have no effect, they are just useless that's all ! Here's the list :- Magic Comb Seraph Bomb (Contact the person to find out more about this item.) Peace Ring Tinctures (I have heard about these items being useless.) Pheonix Materia (Quest item) Huge Materia (Quest item) Pretty cool listing eh ? ******************************************************************************************** The case of that G-spot : First it was found at the Myrthil Mines, pulling the levels at Yuffie's house and then later during the hunt of Lunar Harp. Shit, it's the case of that G-spot, the one which allows players to climb up a ladder or rope to get somewhere else ! As diffcult as finding a real G-spot (Sorry if this phrase is offending to some !), you'll need to do 2 things, One: return to Windows and change your keyboard typing speed to the max. Second: move near the area which you cannot climb up and keep moving along the object and hit your interaction button (Default as Enter Button) and if you do find the spot, you'll automatically climb up ! It's not simple at all, but I really wish that the Square or Edios acutally came up with patch to correct this matter. It looks stupid that a ladder is so wide and I can only climb it from an angle ! Bloody irritating ! ******************************************************************************************** Protection or Destruction :- Use of the added effect materia Take a materia that has a certain effect and equiped it linked to an Added Effect materia. Check your status screen and look at your protection chart. If you strap your added effect and materia on the weapon, you'll hit your foes with an extra effect. If you equiped it on your armour, then you're protected from that effect's harm. Many people don't know how this used, but I'll tell you, it's important. Try to earn as many added effect if you're intending to have an easier time in the game. Some well known match ups and effects :- (AE = Added Effect) Note : Due to the long period of time that I have not played the FF7 game, there will be some info being omitted. I will update if I have the chance ! Contain + AE = Attack - Stop foe, stone foe (Death), Protection from being stone to death or frozen in time. Destruct + AE = Attack - Kills foe outright, Protection from Death spells. Elemental spell materia + AE - Attack - Attack enhanced with elemental spell element, Protection from the element Mystify + AE = Attack - confusion, Protection from confusion Seal + AE = Attack - sleep, silence, Protection from sleep and being silenced Time + AE = Attack - Slow or Stop time of foe, Protection from any Slowing or stopping of time on player. Transfrom + AE = Attack - Turns foe into Frog or Mini person, Protection from Frog or Mini Status. Alexander + AE = Attack - Attacks enhanced with Holy, Protection from Holy attacks Hades + AE = Attack - Mixed and random effects on foe, Protection from a list of effects Ifreet, Shiva, Phoenix, Titan, Choco/Mog Kujata, Leviathan & Ramu + AE = Attack - Respective element damage enhancement, Protection from respective element. If anyone knows extra effects or mistakes, please E-mail me at once ! ******************************************************************************************** Some matters to clear up - There is no possible way to revive Aerith. (I'll kill the next idiot who insist this is possible !) There is no unlimited gil trick. It's a bloody rumour ! (Max, if you're reading this, then we can start laughing about this matter !) There is no way Sephiroth will ever join the party. If he did, then who's left to fight in the end ! You cannot change your name after you set it the first time ! You can however download a Trainer (Cheating program) which allows you to edit your player stats. I really wished to change my player names too, but think about this ... if you had a name, would you change it ? You can view the game's full motion videos from the CD, just use Windows explorer to locate the movie files in the disc. Each disc has it's own movies, several are repeats. ******************************************************************************************** All the thanks to these following people .... Squaresoft and Edios - Thanks fro bring FF to the PC but no thanks for the problems you caused us gamers !!!! :( GAMEFAQ - For posting up my FAQs ! The ever great F**king "O" Ong Kok Hwee - My mentor who guided me through the tough parts ! My loving Rei Ayanami - Love ya ALWAYS !!! :) Anthony G Willis - Thanks to this guy, I beat this game with some tips from him ! All those E-mails - For reminding me of mistakes, extra tips & info and also list out problems to help others !! Also the comments send ! ******************************************************************************************** ALL RIGHT, IF YOU'LL MADE IT THIS FAR, THIS IS THE END OF THE FAQ ! HOPE THIS HAS HELPED YOU IN WAYS ... EVEN IT DIDN'T YOU CAN SEND ME AN E-MAIL TO TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROBLEM ! E-MAIL TO : billykane@mindless.com OR hideurface@tekkenking.com Anyhow, hope you beat the game with this help. Other infomation like Chocobo mating is simply follow the tips given by the Chocobo sage or other FAQ on the net. Don't fret about defeating the Ruby and Ememard Weapons either, I followed other's instructions on tactics to beat them both. Good luck, may all the luck be with you.