___________.___ _______ _____ .____ \_ _____/| |\ \ / _ \ | | | __) | |/ | \ / /_\ \| | | \ | / | \/ | \ |___ \___ / |___\____|__ /\____|__ /_______ \ \/ \/ \/ \/ ________________ _______________________ ______________.___. \_ _____/ _ \ \ \__ ___/ _ \ / _____/\__ | | | __)/ /_\ \ / | \| | / /_\ \ \_____ \ / | | | \/ | \/ | \ |/ | \/ \ \____ | \___ /\____|__ /\____|__ /____|\____|__ /_______ / / ______| \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ ____ ____.___.___ \ \ / /| | | \ Y / | | | \ / | | | \___/ |___|___| __ _____________ _____ __________________ _______ / \ / \_ _____/ / _ \\______ \_____ \ \ \ \ \/\/ /| __)_ / /_\ \| ___// | \ / | \ \ / | \/ | \ | / | \/ | \ \__/\ / /_______ /\____|__ /____| \_______ /\____|__ / \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ ________________ ________ \_ _____/ _ \ \_____ \ | __)/ /_\ \ / / \ \ | \/ | \/ \_/. \ \___ /\____|__ /\_____\ \_/ \/ \/ \__> =============================================================== I. CONTACT INFO [EMAIL] =============================================================== If you have a question concerning either the game or this FAQ, please send me a NeoPM (If you are a member of Neoseeker.com. My username is Chaos Swordsman), or send me an email at chaos swordsman gmail com with "Weapon FAQ" in the subject line (remove the spaces and replace the and with the proper characters). As a general rule of thumb, if I receive an email from an address or name I do not know, I will delete it without looking at it if the subject line does not denote that you are asking about an FAQ I have written. If your question is already answered within this FAQ, I WILL reply to your email or NeoPM. However, instead of answering your question, I will direct you to the section of the FAQ that addresses your specific problem. =============================================================== II. VERSION HISTORY [HISTORY] =============================================================== Version 1.0 (March 15, 2005): Added contact information, table of contents. Version 1.1 (June 16, 2005): Added title for FAQ, fixed minor errors. Version 1.2 (June 17, 2005): Added location for Ruby and Emerald Weapon. Version 1.3 (June 19, 2005): Fixed typo. Version 1.4 (May 2, 2007): Moved some things around. ================================================================ III. TABLE OF CONTENTS [CONTENTS] ================================================================ Note that the letters or words in all caps within brackets ([EXAMPLE]) are to help you find the section you want immediately by using the ctrl+F feature. I. Contact Info [EMAIL] II. Version History [HISTORY] III.Table of Contents [CONTENTS] IV. Introduction [INTRO] V. The materia caves [CAVE] VI. Getting prepared for Emerald Weapon [MASTER] VII. Emerald Weapon [MATERIA] VIII. Getting prepared for Ruby Weapon [DEATH] IX. Ruby Weapon [GOLD] X. Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ] XI. Legal Disclaimer [LEGAL] =============================================================== IV. INTRODUCTION [INTRO] =============================================================== If you're reading this FAQ, you have probably come up against Emerald or Ruby Weapon (or both!), which are two of the toughest battles you'll face throughout the game. Beware, however, as you'll need a Gold Chocobo (the best in the game), which can go anywhere on the world map, to be able to fight either Weapon. Note that you DO NOT need to have a Gold Chocobo to defeat Ultimate or Diamond Weapon, which are not featured in this FAQ. Diamond Weapon is an "optional" boss in the storyline on disc 2. I say optional because there is a way to avoid fighting him, as will be explained later in this guide. For now, though, just sit back, relax, and keep reading, unless you're some sort of FF7 genius. =============================================================== V. THE MATERIA CAVES [CAVE] =============================================================== To enter the materia caves, you must have a colored chocobo. If you require assistance on chocobo breeding, please see RPG_Master44's Chocobo Breeding FAQ (http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=54970&rid=50989). *SECTION CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER* =============================================================== VI. GETTING PREPARED FOR EMERALD WEAPON [MASTER] =============================================================== Get ready, because this guy's going to be a royal pain in the ass if you have too much materia. He has an attack called the Aire Tam Storm, which damages your characters for 1,111 damage multiplied by the number of materia they have equipped (ie. 0 materia equals 0 damage, 9 materia equals 9999 damage). This is why we're going to limit our materia usage. But, first, we've got to master a few key materia. Equip Cloud's Apocalypse sword, which you obtain from the Ancient Forest after you kill Ultimate Weapon. If you need help on getting the Apocalypse, I strongly recommend using Viper's Ancient Forest Guide (http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=36456&rid=34230). You'll also need to equip Cid with the Scimitar, found in the Underwater Reactor. The reason for this is that those two weapons are the ONLY weapons in the game that allow for triple growth of materia (in lame man's terms, it takes about a third of the time to master Knights of Round, which requires 500,000 AP to master). Equip Cloud with Knights of Round, W-Summon, and MP-Absorb in the Apocalypse, and let Cid have the Final Attack-Phoenix combination in the Scimitar. Now go to the Northern Cave and go to the screen where you have the option to go left or right. For the sake of mastering materia, go to the left, and take the path down until you reach a cave with a green light in it. There is an exit directly to the right (your right as the player, not Cloud's right). Take it and make sure you have the W-Item materia on your third character (I strongly recommend Yuffie. Doom of the Living will help out in the fight) and at least two elixers. When you get into a fight with a monster known as the magic pot, don't get in a rush to give it an elixer and defeat it. When Cloud's and Cid's time gauges fill up, skip them by pressing the triangle button for now. When Yuffie's gauge fills up, do the W-Item trick (If you don't know what it is, you select an item [in this case, the elixer] with the O button and designate a target by pressing O again. Select the item again, but instead of designating a target, cancel with X. Your number of elixers should have increased by one. Continue until you have 99). After that's done, give the Magic Pot an elixer, and then attack physically. It won't fight back, so there's no point in wasting MP in the fight, unless you're running low on HP. When it's defeated, you'll receive 8,000 experience points and 1,000 AP (3,000 for the materia in the Apocalypse and Scimitar) per Magic Pot. You can also find enemies called Movers, who always appear in groups of three. These things fight back, and unless you have the Slash-All or Mega All-Morph materia on Yuffie, cast Ultima or a powerful magic spell that hits all targets (if you want, you can use Knights of Round, but make sure you replenish your MP). You don't get any experience points from beating them, but you do get 2,400 AP (which is 7,200 AP for the materia in your triple growth weapons!), along with 90,000 (I'm not too sure on this, so if someone finds out the exact amount, please let me know) gil. If you haven't used your Save Crystal yet, you might want to use it here, so you can use a tent to heal up if you need to, and make sure you SAVE each time you gain a level with any materia, because you never know when a power surge may occur, causing you to lose any progress you may have gained with KoR. Keep running around in this area (and the one to the right) for a few hours, and you should master a lot of other materia before KoR is mastered, based on the sheer amount of AP needed. After (or before, it doesn't really matter) KoR is mastered, but BEFORE you attempt to fight Emerald Weapon, head down to the Underwater Reactor. In the tunnel where you can see the fish swimming around you, keep fighting monsters until you encounter a GHOST SHIP. Make sure NOT to have anyone attack him except for Yuffie, who needs to be equipped with the Conformer and the MORPH MATERIA. This should let you do about 3,000 (estimating here, it's probably more like 4,000 or more) damage per morph attempt. He should change into the GUIDE BOOK. Take it to the traveler in Kalm (outside of Midgar) to receive the UNDERWATER MATERIA. This will remove the time limit from the Emerald Weapon battle. ================================================= VII. EMERALD WEAPON [MATERIA] ================================================= Now that you have quite a bit of mastered materia, it's time to move on to Emerald Weapon. Equip Cloud with the Ultima Weapon, Ziedrich (stolen from Rude in Midgar and in the Gelnika), and Sprint Shoes (You get this accessory from the person at the entrance to Battle Square after the first time you win eight consecutive battles, and randomly as a prize from the S class Chocobo races. Note that you can also get it automatically by winning ten consecutive S class races with the same chocobo). Yuffie should have the Conformer, Ziedrich, and Sprint Shoes. Cid needs to have the Venus Gospel (Bother the old man in Rocket Town that gave you the Yoshiyuki in disc 1 after the huge materia quest until he gives it to you), Mystile, and Touph Ring (Stolen from Reno during the Midgar Raid). Your materia setup should be as I've outlined below. CLOUD (WS)=(MP) (DC)=(COUNTER) (KoR)=(MPA) (HP)=() Key: WS= W. Summon (Battle Square prize, 64,000 BP required) MP= Magic Plus (Needs to be mastered, obtained in the cave behind the Forgotten City at the beginning of disc 2) DC= Double Cut (Located in Gelnika, should be at level 2 [4xCut] or mastered) COUNTER= Counter (NOT Counter Attack. Counter is BLUE. You obtain it in the Northern Cave, after the second screen where you found the Magic Pots and Movers) KoR= Knights of Round (Needs to be at level four or mastered) MPA= MP Absorb (When combined with KoR, you'll recover about 1,000 MP, which is more than you need) HP= HP Plus (Costs 8,000 gil in Cosmo Canyon. Needs to be mastered) () denotes materia slots, ()=() denotes linked slots. Note that the Ziedrich does not have any materia slots, so only the slots for the Ultima Weapon are shown. CID (FA)=(P) (R)=(ALL) (MEGA)=(D.BLOW) ()=() Key: FA= Final Attack (Obtained after winning the special battle in Battle Square. Needs to be mastered) P= Phoenix (Obtained in Fort Condor during Huge Materia quest. Needs to be mastered) R= Restore (Needs to be level 3, 4, or mastered) ALL= All (Needs to be mastered) MEGA= Mega All (Obtained in Northern Cave. Have Vincent go left, but do not put him in your party. When you meet up with the rest of the group at the bottom, he will give it to you. Needs to be mastered) D.BLOW= Deathblow (Fine at level 1) () denotes materia slots, ()=() denotes linked slots. Since there is a limit on materia in this fight, there does not need to be anything in the Mystile, unless your materia is not mastered. YUFFIE (WI)=(UW) (ALL)=(R/T/BAR) (MIME)=() (GRAVITY)=(QM) Key: WI= W. Item (Obtained in Midgar raid) UW= Underwater (Removes time limit from Emerald Weapon, obtained from Kalm Traveler [see previous section]) ALL= All (Needs to be mastered) R= Restore (Needs to be level 3, 4, or mastered. Can be replaced by Barrier or Time materia) T= Time (Needs to be mastered. Can be replaced by Restore or Barrier) BAR= Barrier (Needs to be mastered. Can be replaced by Restore or Time) MIME=Mime (Fine at level 1) GRAVITY= Gravity (Obtained in Gi cave after defeating Gi Nattak. Needs to be at least level 3) QM= Quadra Magic (Obtained in materia cave. Must be mastered for full effect) () denotes materia slots, ()=() denotes linked slots. Since the Ziedrich does not have any materia slots, only the setup for the Conformer is shown. Note that you have an option of using Restore (Regen), Time (Haste), or Barrier (Wall) in this fight. I recommend Barrier, since Yuffie and Cloud already have the Sprint Shoes, and Cid can cast Regen on the entire party ten times. Now, to find Emerald Weapon. Board the submarine and submerge by pressing X. You should be able to find Emerald either near the sunken Gelnika airplane, or travelling around the bottom of the ocean. When you find Emerald, run into it and the fight will begin! DURING THE FIGHT... This one's going to be the tougher of the two Weapons, but I strongly recommend fighting Emerald first. Have Cloud start off by W-Summoning Knights of Round, and have Yuffie Mime it (NOTE: If Cid dies after KoR is W-summoned, he'll automatically cast Phoenix and be brought back, causing Yuffie to mime Phoenix instead). Cid will then need to use a Megalixer to heal the entire party (You need to have done the W-Item trick to obtain 99 Megalixers, you'll need them!). After this (KoR should have dealt a lot of damage, since Magic Plus increases its strength to hit approximately 9999 each time at a high level), you'll need to get ready to go on the defensive. If Emerald uses Emerald Shoot, he's about to open his four lasers (two blue, two orange). The orange lasers will blast your MP, and the blue ones will hurt your HP. If anyone reaches a limit break, use it when you can, but not before you heal yourself. Yuffie should use Doom of the Living, NOT All Creation or Gauntlet. Cid should be using Highwind, and Cloud should have Omnislash (duh!). Have Cid use the Deathblow or Slash-All command (it will affect the lasers as well, due to Mega All) to knock out a few lasers. If you have to, have Yuffie mime it. DO NOT LET THE LASERS LIVE. If you do, then it's as good as death for you if you don't heal every turn while they're out. When the lasers are dead, have Yuffie use Demi3 on Emerald. It will hit him for 9999 damage four times, due to Quadra Magic. Then you'll want Cloud to use 4xCut, provided he's still alive and has full HP. Continue this pattern until Emerald dies. ================================================== VIII. GETTING PREPARED FOR RUBY WEAPON [DEATH] ================================================== When you receive the Earth Harp for defeating Emerald, go to the Kalm Traveler and give it to him to receive the master materia (master magic, master summon, and master command) that let you use ALL magic, summons (unlimited summoning!), and commands (except 2xCut, 4xCut, Flash, Slash-All, W-Item, and W-Summon). Remove all of Yuffie's and Cid's materia and get into a random fight near Midgar. Kill both Yuffie and Cid (you don't have to use these two, but they're the best when it comes to multi-hit limit breaks), and then jump back in the Highwind and fly towards the Gold Saucer. ========================================= IX. RUBY WEAPON [GOLD] ========================================= Ruby's a MUCH different fight. You can only use one character, which is why you killed off the other two in a random battle. Give Cloud the Mystile armor and a Ribbon (you can get these by morphing Master Tonberrys in the Northern Cave), along with the Ultima Weapon. Cloud's materia setup should be as follows. Note that there is no materia limit this time, but you'll see some similarities with the setup. ULTIMA WEAPON: (WS)=(MP) (KoR)=(MPA) (MS)=(HPA) (MM)=(ALL) MYSTILE: (DC)=(COUNTER)(WI)=() (FA)=(REVIVE) Key: WS= W. Summon MP= Magic Plus KoR=Knights of Round (level doesn't matter this time) MPA=MP Absorb MS= Master Summon HPA=HP Absorb MM= Master Magic ALL=All (mastered for full effect) DC= Double Cut (4xCut or mastered) COUNTER= Counter (NOT Counter Attack. Should be mastered) WI= W. Item FA= Final Attack (mastered) REVIVE= Revive (mastered) () denotes materia slots. ()=() denotes linked slots. You're probably asking "Why is Knights of Round wasting a materia slot when you have Master Summon?" Let me explain. Knights of Round IS NOT wasting a slot here. With HP Absorb linked to Master Summon, every summon spell you cast (you have unlimited usage) absorbs HP, but with Knights of Round linked with MP Absorb, casting the strongest summon in the game will restore HP AND MP. Now, to fight Ruby! Board the Highwind and go to the Gold Saucer. You'll see a red claw-like thing sticking out of the ground and moving back and forth in the desert somewhere. Run into it and the fight will begin. Remember that Cloud should be the only one in the party that's alive! DURING THE FIGHT... Since you're only using one character, Ruby will stick his claws in the ground immediately. Start off by W. Summoning Knights of Round on the claws TWICE. Any damage dealt directly to Ruby with his claws in the ground will NOT do that much damage. The claws should die after the first KoR, causing Cloud to turn around and cast KoR directly at Ruby. He'll normally counter this with Ultima, but since you have the Mystile equipped, you should dodge it most of the time. Make sure NOT to use Phoenix, because it will revive your other party members, causing Ruby to use the Quicksand attack and remove one person from the fight, and you don't want to risk losing Cloud. Continue W. Summoning KoR until either Ruby dies or Cloud's limit bar fills completely, in which case you'll want to hit him with Omnislash. Don't worry too much about Cloud dying, because he'll just bring himself back to life with Life2, due to Final Attack. Also, it is ESSENTIAL that you have the Ribbon equipped, because this guy'll hit you with Ruby Flame, which throws every status effect in the book at you, and if you have no Ribbon, you're screwed. After you defeat Ruby Weapon, you'll receive the Desert Rose, which can be given to the Kalm Traveler in exchange for a Gold Chocobo (which is completely useless, since you already have one). ======================================== X. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS [FAQ] ======================================== This section is dedicated to answering the more popular questions people have asked me, so I don't have to reply every single time with the same answer, and will also save you the trouble of trying to contact me. *SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER* ====================================== XI. LEGAL DISCLAIMER [LEGAL] ====================================== This unofficial FAQ is copyright (c) to Chaos Swordsman. It may not be sold for profit. You are allowed to print this FAQ. If you wish to use this FAQ on your site, please contact me. If this FAQ is reproduced, it must be done so COMPLETELY, INCLUDING this legal disclaimer. This guide may not be changed in any way, shape or form without my expressed consent. The ONLY site allowed to host this FAQ is Neoseeker.com (http://www.neoseeker.com).