Final Fantasy VII

Disc 2: Whirlwind Maze

Now you get to run down the mountain side. I like to make sure Cloud gets a limit break here, but don’t use it; save that attack for Jenova-DEATH. You’ll have lots of time to build it while you wind through the various places here fighting random encounters.

Head left a screen. On the next screen, pick up Neo Bahamut Materia; it’s on the same screen as the save point. When you reach the save point, go through it to the far side, save if you want, then turn left. You should see the airship cutscene.

Head left to the wind screen. Talk to the black dudes; they’ll disappear and leave you with Hi-PotionRestoration ItemsTarget: 1, Restores 500 HP and EtherRestoration ItemsTarget: 1, Restores 100 MP. You have to wait until the wind looks like it’s died down, THEN run. Walk up to the place where the wind cuts through the rock and be ready to sprint when it calms down.

On the next screen, don’t forget to open the chest for Tifa’s weapon Kaiser KnuckleTifa's WeaponsTifa's Weapon. Attack: 44; Attack %: 110; Connected Slots: 2; Unconnected Slots: 6. Be sure to talk to the dead black-cloaked guys. You will have to examine a ledge or two to jump over them.

On the next screen, you have a similar wind dash challenge, but this time there’s also a green wavy line that will hurt you. Time things the same way as before and head up to the next screen.

When you get to this screen, you have a small area at the bottom where you can run around and get into random encounters, and you can swap weapons, armor, and accessories. I recommend getting Cloud a limit break with Omnislash if you can, or Meteorain if you don’t have Omnislash yet.

Once you move past the bottom quarter of the screen, you’ll run across an old friend with a very long sword. And of course you get another battle.

Boss: Jenova-DEATH

Jenova-DEATH has 25,000 HP and 800 MP. If Cloud has a powerful sword, an Omnislash limit break, and if you did a little Str-Up morphing earlier, it’s totally possible to end this with a single action.

If that’s not where you are in the game, don’t worry. Give Enemy Skill Materia with Magic Hammer to the other two characters and drain those 800 MP as quick as you can. That will render this enemy pretty much useless. You can also use Big Guard and White Wind as appropriate and wail on ‘em.

Don’t bother stealing, using Demi, or casting Bad Breath. Beta works for about 1,000 HP each shot, but Magic Breath is about 30% more effective. Finish off the battle and you should get Reflect RingAccessoriesAccessory: Automatically casts Reflect at start of battle.

Black Materia

Only Barret and Red XIII can take the Black MateriaKey ItemsKey Item: Don't worry, you won't have it long enough to care what it does. ;). Give it to Barret, talk to Tifa, pick up MP Turbo Materia, open the nearby chest for Poison RingAccessoriesAccessory: Drain Poison Attacks, protects against Status Abnormality: Poison, and most importantly, don’t forget to save your game.

No, I don’t know why MP Turbo appears yellow on the screen there; it’s a blue Support Materia.

Let me be clear here. If you WANT to go back and do anything you’ve forgotten this side of Icicle Inn, you can do so now. I’ve verified that you can backtrack all the way to wherever you landed when you did the snowboarding earlier. But if you haven’t forgotten anything, there really isn’t any reason to do anything more here.

So… when you’re ready to continue, head out along the path.

Wind, Light, and Lightning

The next screen has wind, light, and lightning. Better time this right! It’s pretty irritating, to say the least.

Run right up to the edge, then wait for the wind to die down. Before you successfully run through the windy area, unequip All Materia and accessories from Cloud and give him the worst armor you have.

When you make it through, you’ll get a fun flashback scene. You’ll watch a bunch of scenes you can only peripherally participate in, and you’ll watch the Weapons get let out. I count four.

A week later, you wake up as Tifa in Junon.