Final Fantasy VII owned by Square Enix.
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Part Five: Train Graveyard

Wall Market

- After several cut scenes, make your way to the Sector 5 Slum and check Aeris’s house. (If you didn’t steal 5 gil before, check with the boy in the right-most house here for a Turbo Ether, as well.) You’ll receive a number of cut scenes detailing Aeris’s past, then get directed back to Wall Market. Make sure you check the south end of the park on your way to Wall Market for Sense materia.

- Not much has changed in Wall Market. The one exception is the weapon shop in the north, where the owner (the dude on the tank turret) will give you three Batteries for 100 gil apiece. You’ll need these to reach your next destination.

- To the right of the entrance to Don Corneo’s mansion is a path to a massive wall leading up to your next major destination, the Shinra Building. Start climbing the wire.


- On the next screen you’ll see what looks like a socket on the right. Loop along the wreckage to the left to reach it and you can use a Battery on the socket to make a propellor above move. You can then use the propellor to hop over to a makeshift ladder. Stick another Battery in the socket at the top of the ladder to raise a barrier, creating a path upward.

- There’s a swinging bar above. First, climb past the prompt to jump to find a socket that opens a box containing an Ether, then climb back down to the jump point. You need to jump down just as the bar is about to reach the left of its swing, but before it starts to move back to the right. Tricky and annoying, but you’ll get it eventually. Keep climbing, and, after one more screen, you’ll reach the top. 


Shinra Building

There are two ways to enter this place:
  • Bust on in. You’ll fly through the front door and shoot up the place. This route is more dangerous, but it’s a great deal less dull, as well. You’ll face some standard soldiers at the entrance, then you’ll be free to explore the lobby, albeit dogged by random encounters. Check the billboard by the elevators on the first floor for Turtle’s Paradise Newsletter No. 2, then climb the stairs and check the green-lit store in the north for an item shop. You can’t open the chests in this store until much later. You need to enter one of the elevators on the first, second, or third floors, and you’ll be fighting your way to your next stop. Have fun!
  • Sneak in quietly. This option has you slogging your way up dozens of flights of stairs to your destination. You’ll be treated to some interesting conversation along the way, and you’ll find an Elixir to boot. Repetitive, but a good way to preserve your overall health.

- Regardless of your route, you’ll wind up on the 59th floor. Take out the guards near the second bank of elevators in this room and climb aboard. You’ll gain a Keycard 60, granting you access to the next floor up. You can also use this elevator to return to the ground floor if you wish.


- Floor 60. Enter the security room on your left. From here you need to move Cloud from bust to bust, avoiding the sight line of the patrolling guards. Once you get to the central hiding spot, wave Barret and Tifa over. Do the same again on the other side. Not too difficult, but if you get caught you’ll be forced into a pincer battle. 

- Floor 61. This is a recreation area. One of the wandering businessmen will give you Keycard 62 if you remain quiet when he asks you why you’re here. Use it to access the next floor up via the stairs.


Floor 62

This place is host to a puzzle. Speak to the mayor, Domino, to get the puzzle started. It’s pretty simple: the mayor has moved books from the four library rooms near his office out of place, and you need to spot which books are out of place. Each library is devoted to a different subject, so the out-of-place book (for example, ‘Biological characteristics of the Ancients’ in the Urban Development section) is pretty obvious. Each book has a corresponding number; this will help you figure out which letter in the title is important to the puzzle. You can check the subject of the library by reading the signs outside each of the four rooms. Note that each book shelf has two books, not one. 

If you guess the answer correctly on the first try, Domino will give you an Elemental materia; on the second you’ll get an Elixir; third, an Ether; fourth, a Potion; fifth of beyond, nothing besides Keycard 65, which you’ll also get with the other prizes. (The Final Fantasy Wiki has a nifty note on how to speedrun through this puzzle.)


Floor 63 

You can skip this floor entirely, if you want, but it’s home to a fun little puzzle with some great returns. Check the computer in the southeast corner and you’ll be granted access to a puzzle wherein you can open three doors, and only three doors, in an attempt to retrieve item coupons. Do the following to get all of the coupons: 
  • Head north along the eastern wall to the top of the corridor
  • Open the door leading west
  • Open the second door to your left
  • Grab the A Coupon from the westernmost room
  • Climb into the vent in this same room to reach the room nearest the stairs, which contains the B Coupon
  • Go through the door on your left and into the next room to reach the C Coupon
  • Climb back into the air duct and crawl to the computer room

Once you return to the computer you can either clear your progress and start over or exchange your coupons for a Star Pendant (A Coupon), a Four Slots (B Coupon), and an All Materia (C Coupon). You can only exchange coupons once, so make sure you get everything you want.


Floor 64

Not a whole lot to see here other than exercise equipment and pampered employees. There’s a rest room on the far left where you can nap and save your game, and if you look in the lockers in the changing room you’ll find a Phoenix Down, an Ether, and… a megaphone? Cloud refuses to pick this up right now, and needless to say, it’s really really good for a future character. Stupid Cloud.


Floor 65

Puzzle and random enemy time. There’s a large model of Midgar in the middle of this floor, and it’s quite incomplete. You can find the pieces for it in adjacent rooms. You’ll have to open the chests and restore the Midgar Parts in a particular order to complete the puzzle… though in all honesty, you can open any chest after you’ve opened the first (which is in the room directly to the left of the model) and get more Midgar Parts, regardless of which chest you opened. The chests are located in the two western rooms, as well as the small room to the northwest. Open the chest by the stairs after you’ve completed the model (save Sector 6, which always has a gap) for Keycard 66.


Floor 66

The main meeting room here is locked, so head to the bathroom in the northwest and enter one of the stalls. You can use the toilet to climb into the air ducts and get a look at the bigwigs of Shinra, Inc. as they discuss the future of their company - and the future of the game’s plot. Leave the ducts once the meeting is done, then follow Hojo, the creepy scientist, up the stairs to the next floor.


Floor 67

The door’s open, so no need for a security card. This area has more random battles, and here you’ll face some new enemies. Of note are SOLDIER: 3rds, which you can Steal from to receive valuable Hardedges. These are excellent weapons for Cloud at this point in the game. You’ve already seen Moth Slashers, which will also appear down here, and while you’re hunting SOLDIERs you can also Steal from Moth Slashers to earn Carbon Bangles for your entire party. Not a bad idea to collect five, if you have the patience. Make your way west and, after a cut scene, you’ll find a Poison materia and a save point near an elevator. Pop inside, and…

Floor 68

Cut scenes ensue. In the fracas that follows you’ll gain a new party member, by default Red XIII. At this point he’s just a solid attacker with a decent capacity for casting spells. Choose someone to take care of Aeris (Barret or Tifa - Barret’s the better choice to fight), then get ready to rumble.


Sample: H0512

Looks like something out of Resident Evil. H0512 is accompanied by a group of Sample: H0512-opts, smaller creatures that allow the main H0512 to attack from the back row and take less damage overall. You can get rid of them, but H0512 will revive them enough times that it’s not worth killing any. Focus on H0512 with spells (Fire or Ice) and Barret’s long range weaponry. Aside from poisoning your group, H0512 focuses on physical hits that aren’t terribly dangerous. Destroying H0512 will get rid of its cronies as well. You’ll gain a Talisman for winning the fight, and immediately afterward you’ll find an Enemy Skill materia in its enclosure.

- After leaving the enclosure, speaking to the guy on the upper platform to your right to get Keycard 68, and look south along the walkway to find two Potions. You’ll find two more Potions back on the ground and through the right door, leading to the stairs.

- Head back down to Floor 66 and make for the elevator. When you try to use it… oh dear.

Part Seven: Escaping the Shinra Building