From Rocket Town to the end of disk 1
[ The Rocket Town ]
o After noticing the tilted rocket that seemingly has been rusting away for the past several years, explore the little rocket town.
o Head over to the house located within the upper area of the town. Go through the back entrance of the house, where you will discover a plane (codename: "tiny bronco") - a brief sequence will follow.
You will shortly encounter Shiela, who will tell you to talk to the project organizer of the Rocket town, if you wish to borrow the plane. As the conversation follows, you soon learn that the new Shinra president, Rufus, is due to arrive in the Rocket town shortly...
o Head towards the rocket site. You will encounter the project organizer of the Rocket town - Cid!
(The name screen will pop up - customize Cid's name to your own preference or leave as is.)
[!] o Upon introducing himself, Cid will ask for your reason being here. You can respond:
Top Choice -> Ask Cid about the situation with the rocket.
Middle Choice -> Ask Cid about Rufus coming to the Rocket town soon.
Bottom Choice -> Ask Cid if you can borrow his plane ("tiny bronco").
(If you chose the top choice (about the rocket), Cid will go on to explain how the rocket was once a highly anticipated research & development project initiated by the Shinra corp, back during the "Great Wars" before the discovery of the makoo energy. You soon learn that on the very day of the rocket launch initiation, Shiela, who was Cid's assistant at the time, somehow caused the entire project to collaspe....and within time, the Shinra Corp. ceased to support funding the project, upon the discovery of the makoo energy....and so shortly enough, the people's interest in the rocket project faded away -- and Cid's dreams of flying & exploring the vast new worlds & galaxies in space were left unfulfilled...)
(If you chose the middle choice (about Rufus), he will excitedly state that Rufus is in fact coming shortly, feeling reassured that a person as young as Rufus would better understand Cid's dreams of reestablishing his rocket project & exploring the galaxies...)
(If you chose the bottom choice (about borrowing the plane), he will ridicule you for asking such a stupid question - the plane is one his prized possessions.)
o Now head back to the Cid's house (where you discovered the plane). You will encounter Shiela once more - Upon Cid's return, a brief sequence will take place, as Shiela will explain to you what had happened during the very day of the rocket launch that had shattered Cid's dreams of navigating the stars...
(As Shiela recalls of the very incident, you soon learn how she was so concerned with the functionality & success of the mission to launch without any failures, that she was willing to sacrifice her own life...for the mission...and for Cid's dreams...
As the final countdown of the launch had initiated, Cid had found himself caught in a turmoil between his dreams of becoming the first to navigate the stars and the value of saving a human life...
...Shiela's life...) o Leave the house - Rufus has finally arrived. As you will soon learn that Rufus has come to borrow Cid's plane for their purposes in finding Sephiroth, Shiela will urge you to talk to Palma (the fat Shinra head operative), who is outside by the plane.
o Go through the back door to the plane - talk to Palma. Prepare to engage in one of the most hilarious battles yet. (^o^) A CG fmv sequence will follow. Cid will then after officially join your party.
o Now that you have acquired Cid's plane, you can explore through the vast shores of the lands at your disposal.
[OP!] HOWEVER, before continuing on with the normal routine of your | saga, I will now sidetrack to an optional event which will take | place in Yuffie's hometown -- so, what this means is that you will | need to have found Yuffie already. If you have not found Yuffie | yet or plan to recruit her later in the game, you can skip over | this optional event section & come back to it later.
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Town of Uutai - In Yuffie's Hometown
o Head towards the island located to the very left on the world map. It is the island where Yuffie's hometown is located.
(NOTE: Press the [select] button in the 3d environment mode to enlarge the world map or to disable it.)
o Upon proceeding through the mountainous area of the island, a brief (and hilarious) sequence will follow.
(As Yuffie will try to keep you from proceeding ahead -- and note that the rest of the characters do not know that this is Yuffie's hometown yet -- you encounter the Shinra guards.)
(^o^) -> Have you noticed that all your materia orbs are missing?
(As the wind breezes by you, you soon realize that Yuffie had taken off along with all your materia! Through the entire journey with Yuffie, her main objective was to steal your materia! (^o^))
o And so....hurry on up through the mountainous trails to Uutai, Yuffie's hometown.
o Upon arriving in the town of Uutai, you will immediately notice Yuffie running away. Go explore the town & find her.
(If you go to the Kamedo bar, you will notice that the Taaks are there - Reno, the leader of the Taaks, will not pursue to engage in a battle.)
If you go to the item/materia shop (located next to the save-point flag), you will find a chest there - upon opening it, Yuffie will jump down & steal that materia from you too! (^o^)
Go over to the house near the entrance of the town - There, you will find Yuffie hiding behind the.....
Go towards the outside entrance of the Kamedo bar - you will find Yuffie hiding behind the.....
o Upon catching Yuffie, she will agree to return all your materia. After the little sequence with the Taaks, follow Yuffie to her room - a brief sequence will follow.
(...Yuffie recalls of the glory & power the town of Uutai had once so long ago retained - However, that glory & power had shortly come to an end upon losing in a battle...a battle to which despite the very peace the town had achieved afterwards as you see now, it had lost something else along with it....something that once gave the people hope & dreams....
Yuffie goes on to explain that because of this, she wanted to obtain as much materia orbs to become stronger in helping regain that hope & glory her hometown had once achieved long ago....)
o Yuffie will tell you to pull the left control lever/switch to get all your materias back...
[!] - You will be given the choices:
Top Choice -> Pull the left lever/switch
Bottom Choice -> Pull the right lever/switch
And then..... (^o^) -> Surprise, Surprise! - Yuffie has tricked you.....AGAIN!
(Yuffie will boastfully ridicule you for actually being so gullible and for believing her little sad story! You soon learn that her true reason for stealing your materia was for money and money alone.)
(NOTE: In case if you were wondering about the level/switch choices, pulling either one will get you the same result.)
o Leave Yuffie's house & head towards the high temple area, located to the far left of the item/materia shop.
o Ring the big bell/gong - it will reveal a secret passage. Upon entering through the secret passage, you will encounter.... ...Don Corneo! (remember this pervert back from the slum town?) He will claim both Yuffie & Irina (from the Taaks) as captives for his own personal......deeds.
o After battling against the Shinra guards, leave the temple area. You will find the Taaks (Reno & Roodo) outside - you both agree to temporarily make truce for the time being until they can reclaim back their captives.
o Head towards the mountainous area of the Dachao statues, located towards the further northern end of the town. Battle your way through.
o Upon finding Corneo & the captives (Yuffie & Irina), prepare to battle against Corneo's new pet, "Rapusu".
[!] - Upon defeating the subboss, Corneo will ask you:
When should a person expect the worst in a given situation... You can respond:
Top Choice -> When a person is prepared to die.
Middle Choice -> When a person is winning/victorious.
Bottom Choice -> When a person does not know what is going on.
(Every choice will get you the same result - go ahead & pick any)
o A brief sequence will follow, as Corneo has threatened to drop the captives from their positions -- However, to Cloud's surprise, Reno of the Taaks saves the captives and sends Corneo to his well-deserved demise...
o As the events follow, Yuffie will return all your materia - She will even try to place & organize all the materias for you on each character.
(Unfortunately, you will find that all the materias are mixed up and placed on the wrong characters -- you will have to reequipt all the materia on your own for each character.)
Yuffie will still be persistant in joining with you on your journeys. And as usual, there will be some suspicious hidden motive behind her plans... (^o^)
o Your task here is done -- at least for now. There are yet 2 other optional side events here as well, in dealing with Yuffie's situation with her father and the passage within the mountains, BUT I will come back to these later on, as Yuffie will need to be at a fairly high level to survive....
o Leave the island & board your plane once more.
(And now, back to the normal routine of game....)
o Explore & become accustomed to the areas that you can access.
o Across the river from the area of the Gold Saucer, there will be a little house near the edge of the shores, where you will find a blacksmith there. Go there - you will learn about the "keystone" that will unlock the gates of an ancient ruins...
[!] - Talk to him once more. You can ask him:
Top Choice -> Ask him where this "keystone" is located.
2nd Choice -> Ask him where the ancient ruins is located.
3rd Choice -> Ask him a different topic.
Bottom Choice -> Do not ask him anything.
(If you chose the top choice (about the keystone), he will tell you that he just sold the keystone to Dio, the manager of the Gold Saucer.)
(If you chose the 2nd choice (about the ancient ruins), he will tell you that as far as he knows, it is just a mere mythical tale - however, he has heard rumors that the ancient ruins contain a special destruction magical power deep within...)
(If you chose the 3rd choice (about the different topic), he will boastfully tell you that all the weapons you see in the house are his creation. He will you that there recently has been a great shortage of supply in materials (such as mithril) to build with though...)
o Your task now is to obtain the keystone from Dio at the Gold Saucer. Head over to the rural town of North Corel & ride the trailer to get to the Gold Saucer.
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[ Gold Saucer - Getting the Keystone ]
o Upon arriving in the Gold Saucer, head over to the Battle Square. In the Battle Square, there is a room called "Dio's Show Room", where you will find the keystone on display. Upon searching the keystone, Dio will enter the room - eventually, he will offer to let you borrow the keystone if you (Cloud alone) enters the battle arena & showcase Cloud's fighting abilities for Dio's amusement.
(Choose the top choice to agree to his terms & enter the arena)
[Tip!] - In the battle arena, you will be battling against groups of monsters at a time by yourself (meaning 1 character only). Everytime you win a battle, you will be prompted to choose if you wish to continue on fighting the next group of monsters.
Left Choice -> Keep on fighting.
Right Choice -> Stop fighting & leave the battle arena.
- And, everytime you choose the left choice to keep on fighting, a slot-machine will pop up, which will determine a random handicap status your character will be in for the next fight.
(SO, in other words, if you got a "MP" on your slot-machine selection, your magic points may get halved or even disabled for the next fight! Or if you got a "LV-" on your slot machine selection, your character is decreased 5 or so levels down! But fortunately, the handicaps are only effective within the Battle Square, so there is NO need to worry about the handicaps being permanent or such.)
o After obtaining the keystone from Dio, head on out to the entrance of the Gold Saucer - you will soon learn that the trailer is temporarily out of service at the moment. Cait Sith will enter the scene and urge you to rest at the hotel for the night.
o As everyone gathers back together at the hotel, a brief sequence will follow - In the course of the conversation, it becomes even more clear that Sephiroth is also pursuing to obtain the destructive power of the "black materia"...
o In your room, Aerith will shortly enter the scene, requesting Cloud to accompany her on a date. (^o^)!
[!] - Aerith will ask you if Cloud has ever gone on a date before. You can respond:
Top Choice -> Of course you have.
Bottom Choice -> To be honest, you have never gone on a date before.
(I will leave this choice up to you)
o As Cloud & Aerith arrives in the main jumpstation area, an event announcer will urge you to take part in the special showcase inside. As the 100th couple to enter in the event square, Cloud & Aerith will find themselves as participants in the special showcase!
(...the showcase is of a mythical fairy tale in which a young hero comes to save the fair princess from the grasps of the evil dark dragon lord Valvados. Cloud, who plays the obvious role of the young hero, will be requested by the king to save her daughter & princess, Rusa, who is obviously played by Aerith.)
...and so, in defeating the evil dark dragon lord Valvados, the king will tell you that you will need proper guidance from either the knight or the wizard:
[!] You will be given a choice:
Top Choice -> Talk to the knight.
Bottom Choice -> Talk to the wizard.
[!] After choosing one of the two, you can respond to them:
Top Choice -> Tell him (the one you chose) to fight the dragon.
Bottom Choice -> Tell him (the one you chose) to fight the king. (^o^)
[!] ...and so, as the dark dragon Valvados comes enters the scene, you will be challenged - you can:
Top Choice -> Approach bravely towards Aerith & the dark dragon.
Middle Choice -> Approach back towards the king.
Bottom Choice -> Run away cowardly.
(the outcome will depend on what choices you made)
o After the special showcase event, Aerith will suggest to ride the gondora next at the Round Square area. A visually impressive CG event will follow.
[Tip!] - Make sure to press [left] on the directional pad & the [circle] button whenever Aerith looks out the window and urges you to watch.
(This event is extremely creative in its design & simply innovative in how it is executed w/its combo between fmv & polygonal usage.)
[!] o As Cloud & Aerith exit the gondora ride, she will ask you if you would not mind going with her on the gondora ride sometime in the future once more......you can respond:
Top Choice -> Tell Aerith you do NOT want to go with her again.
Bottom Choice -> Tell Aerith you do not mind going with her again.
(I will leave this choice up to you - (^o^)
o A sequence will shortly follow afterwards. You soon discover that Cait Sith has stolen the keystone! Well, what are you waiting for? Chase after him!!
(As the event begins to unfold, you soon learn that Cait Sith has been working as an undercover spy for the Shinra Corp! -- moreover, Cloud has no other choice but to allow Cait Sith to accompany you on your journeys, upon learning that Marin (Barrett's "daughter") had fallen under the Shinra Corp's captivity...)
o As everyone gathers back together in the hotel lobby, you will be prompted to choose the characters you will take along with you to the ancient ruins.
(You will only be able to choose 1 character of your choice, as both Cloud & Aerith are necessary to go on this mission.)
o Your task now is to head off to the ancient ruins in search of Sephiroth & the "black materia". Leave the Gold Saucer & board your plane.