ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Buntline, Kjata materia, Water Ring.

Make your way up to the Northern Continent by going around the left side of the Western Continent after going along the river by the Gold Saucer.

Head to the right edge of the continent, where you'll find a forest surrounded by mountains. In the middle of the forest is a big rib cage and a large skull. Approach it, and you'll find yourself in a excavation site where a bunch of archaeologists spend their time digging. Before doing anything else, you might want to head up the ladder and go through the hole in the back to reach the Sleeping Forest, the same one from Cloud's dream. Keep walking until you reach the second forest screen. If you stand here for a moment, you'll see a red Materia floating on the left side of the screen. It will switch to the right side and back again every few seconds. Try to predict where it will show up and use the [Ok] button to grab it. Your reward is the Kjata materia. If you try to continue through the forest, you'll find that this screen repeats endlessly. So, go back outside. Before going on to the next part of the game, you may want to buy some bracelets and items; talk to the man sitting near the rib cage and pick the second option in order to buy things from him.

What you need to do at this point in the game is commission one of the men to dig up the Lunar Harp for you. As long as you have it in your possession, you're able to pass through the Sleeping Forest.

- First, talk to the man sitting just outside of the rib-cage room. Pick the first option twice*. The screen will fade out.

- When the screen fades back in, all the men will be gone. What you do is choose a place where you want a digger to stand and press the [Switch] button. It costs 100 gil to place a digger. Use the top option to place a digger, or the bottom option to quit. You can place up to five diggers.

- You'll quit once you choose the bottom option or after you've placed five diggers. Now, press the S button to set off an explosion. You'll hear a music cue, and the diggers will turn in different directions.

- Stand where you want one of the diggers to search through the night and press [Switch] again after clearing the dialogue box. You'll find yourself back at the bottom of the screen the next morning. The treasure chest nearby will be closed, and it may or may not hold an item, depending on where you chose to dig.

- The key to getting the right item is to watch the diggers after the explosion occurs. They'll all look toward the location of the item you need, so try placing them in compass-point style layout so that you can follow their vision to the place where the item lies. If you're really stuck, the Lunar Harp lies just a little ways to the west and ever so slightly south of the tent on the upper ledge.

* Normally, the first option is used to dig for the Lunar Harp (all the diggers will look in the direction of the harp). The other two options are used to dig up other items (the diggers will look in the direction of the closest item/next item to be found). But not only do you not have to place diggers in order to find an item, but you can use any of the three choice to dig up the Lunar Harp or any other item--it's just that the diggers won't look in the correct direction if you don't use the first option, and you can't use the first option after obtaining the Lunar Harp.

How do you know if you got the right item? Well, it will show up on the Key Item menu (where the important stuff like the PHS is kept). Also, if you talk to the digger sitting by the room, and choose the first option twice, he won't let you select and place diggers. Finally, try going into the forest. If the screen turns green, then you've got the right item.

When you've got Lunar Harp, go into the forest. When you reach the second area, the screen changes to a green color, and the forest will no longer repeat. Beyond the forest is a rocky area. First, go under the tree trunk to reach the treasure chest with a Water Ring inside. Climb up the rocks near the pink mass of coral, then go through the fallen trunk and head north to reach the next area (you can't climb up the vine in the first area, so ignore it). Walk along the curving path and you'll find yourself back in the World Map, in the canyon near the forest. Head straight forward to the top-like object to continue your quest.

If you have Vincent in your party, you can also get a weapon for him here, the 'Buntline'. Search for 'good treasure' and dig a few steps above the tallest latter, a bit to the right.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------1.22 forgotten capital / forgotten city

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ITEMS IN THIS AREA: Magic Source, Aurora Armlet, Comet materia, Guard Source, Elixir, Enemy Skill materia, Wizard Brace.

This area looks a lot like the floor of the sea; there's shells and coral everywhere. At the crossroads, take the left path. It leads to a stone building--inside of the building is a Save Point, and there's a chest on the upper ledge with a Magic Source inside it. There is a patch of glowing green light here that conveys the 'message of the Ancients', but I've never been able to do anything with it. Leave the building and continue past it, following the path east into the rock face. Inside, go down the stairs and head all the way right to find a chest with an Aurora Armlet in it. You can check out the blue crystal if you want, but there's nothing you can do with it at this point in the game. Return to the crossroads and take the middle path. Enter the shell building and climb the spiraling walkway to the very to to find a green materia lying on the ground (Comet). Go back to the crossroads yet again and take the right road. It leads to an area with several shell buildings. Go all the way to the right, then go north to enter the building before you. Climb all the way to the top level. There's a chest here containing a Guard Source.

There's nothing else to do in this area but enter the last shell house; your friends won't let you take the path leading out of the city, and the main path leads to another part of the chamber with the blue crystal, but there's nothing you can do there. So, if you're ready to proceed, enter the shell house to the right of the main path. On the ground floor is a chest holding an Elixir. Take it and climb up the ladder. When you approach the beds, you'll be given an option. You can choose the bottom option, grab the yellow materia behind the headboard of the third bed (Enemy Skill), exit the house, then enter it again, approach the beds, and choose the top option to go to sleep. Or, you can just pick the top option the first time around, go to sleep, and when you wake up in the night, grab the materia (it's easier to see at night, too). Originally, I though this was a 'bug' materia (don't I feel silly now), but it's not.

No matter what you decide to do, go to sleep when you're ready to. You'll wake up in the middle of the night. After Cloud's companions join him, return to the crossroads a final time and take the middle path again. When you enter the shell building, the fish floating in the middle of the spiraling passageway will have disappeared; there are blue steps in it's place. Go down them and you'll find yourself in an underwater palace. At the bottom of the stairs, leave the building and take note of the Save Point before going down both sets of stairs below.

Aeris is here, and you have to get to her by jumping across several pillars. Press in the direction of the next pillar to get proceed, but you'll have to use just Cloud; your allies will wait for you back on the ground. Once you get close to Aeris, Cloud has another spastic fit and will draw his sword. You can press the controller and the buttons to make Cloud do different things, but pressing [Ok] three times will make him try to strike Aeris. Luckily, he'll come to his senses beforehand with some help from his friends, but Sephiroth makes an appearance and attacks Aeris. After her death, Sephiroth escapes, leaving behind another monster in his wake.

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BOSS TIPS: JENOVA LIFE LV: 50 HP: 10000 MP: 300

This boss is weak against earth attacks, so use Earth and Titan. Also, Comet, Bahamut, and Kjata all work very well. Physical attacks do a surprising amount of damage. The boss will cast Reflect on itself the first time you cast a spell on it, so be wary about using spells too often. Jenova*Life's attacks are not that strong (about 400-700 points), but it has an ultra-deadly blue bubble attack (Aqualung) that inflicts +1500 damage to each character. Be sure to have some Restore Materia handy. Considering it's the last boss on this disc, this is not a very hard battle. You'll get a Wizard Bracelet when you win the battle. Be sure to have a Enemy Skill materia equipped if you haven't gotten Aqualung already.

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After beating the boss, there's another FMV sequence, then you're given the option to save your game. Guess what? You just finished Disc One!

Now before you go any farther, please realize something. Aeris is dead, and she stays that way for the rest of the game. You cannot revive her, restore her, or ever see her again (in the flesh, that is--you'll see her again when Bugenhagen and you return to the Forgotten Capital in Disc 2). So...wipe your eyes, keep an old save file if you want to play with her from time to time, or use a GameShark code (see section 8) to put her back in your party in a later disc. Ready to go? Pop in Disc 2 and keep playing!