Chapter 1: Sea of Flames
Objectives:
After the opening video you will be facing three soldiers. If you shoot them quickly, they probably won't have time to even fire on you. Walk to the right, across the pipes, and pick up the potion. Climb the ladder and shoot the soldier on the platform. This will alert the other soldier on the platform above. If you move fast enough, however, he will not have time to shoot you before you eliminate him. Once you are on the wall, take a right and destroy the box you come to for 500 Gil. Turn around and continue until you see a group of soldiers on a platform. Take care not to go far enough the can see you. You will notice a barrel next to this group of soldiers. Any barrels you see like this one throughout the game will explode when shot (Exploding barrels? In a shooter? What a crazy idea). Shoot the barrel and it should kill all the soldiers on the platform.
Once past this area you will see two more soldiers standing in front of a doorway. Take them out but don't go into the door just yet. Continue past it until you see a briefcase containing a potion. To the left of this briefcase is another soldier standing on the roof of a house with his back turned to you. Take him out, then head back to the door you passed. Head down the stairs. As you go down a voice will say "Area clear!" After you hear this you will see three more soldiers standing on the steps. Kill them and move on.
Head down the street until you see a group of civilians running toward you. You need to save as many civilians as you can in this level. Start off here by positioning yourself between the civilians and the soldiers chasing them and shooting the soldiers before they can kill the people. Once you have killed those soldiers take a left and eliminate the ones holding the kids hostage. Don't worry about shooting civilians, as they must be using shield hacks or something, since your bullets won't harm them. Makes you wonder why they are afraid of the soldiers. Anyway, continue down the path and a robotic dog will jump out at you, kill him fast because two more soldiers will be chasing a boy toward you and you need to kill them before they kill the boy. You can take a right at this point but don't do it yet. Continue straight until you reach the fire blocking your path and take a left. Kill the two soldiers and the dog and follow along until you reach a fence. Past it is a case with 500 Gil and two places where you will get a cut scene of Vincent telling some kids the path is safe.
Come back and head down the path you passed up before. Run over the Mako field and get the Fire Materia. Remember to equip it. Continue down the street and take out the guards in the alley. Don't shoot the explosive barrel if you are next it ( I hope I didn't need to tell you that, but I did anyway). Break the boxes for any items they may have and walk over to the laser gate. After you realize you need a key, a soldier will run out of the house behind you. Kill him and the two more coming down the path and get the key to the gate. Continue on and you will see a group of civilians fleeing a helicopter. You can't do anything for them at this point, so just keep moving.
Down the next street, step into the Mako field, and be prepared as soldiers will jump out from inside the buildings. One of them will drop the Limit Breaker item. Eventually you will get a cut scene with a girl being dragged off by robot dogs. This is your first side objective, to save her. Don't waste bullets on the dog as it drags her into the crate, you can't kill it yet. Once she is inside, kill off the enemies that attack you, making sure you get the dog terrorizing the mother to your right as well as the soldiers in the windows. After you have defeated the first wave, walk over to the crate and open it. Now you have to fend off attackers until the timer reaches 0. When it does approach the crate and kill the dog inside. The girl is safe at last; don't you feel like such a hero?
Follow the street and take a right when you can, you will be prompted with another objective, to locate the card key. Keep going the only way you can and you see a girl being attacked by soldiers. Kill them, talk to the girl, and be on your way. Next you will acquire the sniper scope. Attach it and keep going straight down the street until you see a fire on your left. People will appear running from guards only to be trapped by the fire and you can't reach them to save them. If only you had a way of seeing enemies from a long way off... Oh well, looks like they're screwed.
I'm kidding of course. Use R3 to test out your fancy new sniper scope and pick off the guards before they kill the civilians. Head back to the path you passed on the way to the fire and follow it. Get the Mana and kill the guards that pop out (shoot the barrel, it's easier). The card you need is on the right. Head back to the laser gate. Inside some guards will come running down the steps, you can take all three out with a blast from your Fire Materia, same for the two shooting you from the top of the steps. Down the other side, kill the four guards and pick up the Long Barrel and attach it, you'll need it for this next fight. Get the Handgun Bullets and Hi-Potion before you walk out the door.
Welcome to your first boss fight. Are you ready? 3-2-1-GO!
Boss: Dragonfly
Hey look, it's the giant helicopter again. Depending on how well developed your shooting skill is, this can be over in less than a minute. Aim at him as he flies over and just unload all your bullets, using the long barrel you just acquired. His machine gun is hardly even worth avoiding it does so little damage, but watch out for his rockets, they follow you. The best way to avoid them is to position Vincent so they crash into the pillar in the center of the square. Once he has made a pass over the square he will drop a group of soldiers to fight you. Take them out as fast as you can, use the barrels to your advantage if they are close to them, and continue blasting away at the helicopter. Eventually it will go down. Congratulations, you beat your first boss. Let's take some time to savor the moment.
After the video you will find yourself in a building. Behind the table is a Phoenix Down. The room on the left has 500 Gil and the room on the right has 500 Gil and a shop machine. The next room also has 500 Gil and bullets (people love leaving money around apparently). Keep going down the hall where you can pick up a short barrel. Honestly, I don't even see the point of this attachment as the medium/long barrels are better suited for 99% of the situations you find yourself in throughout the game. Put it on your 2nd or 3rd weapon if you want as you are about to encounter a fight in a tiny room with many enemies. Once you walk upstairs and watch the video, kill all the soldiers who enter the room.
Afterwards you're back in the square you fought the helicopter, killing still more enemies. There is a Limit Breaker on top of the pillar if you want it. The enemies here will spawn forever until you run to the SE and WRO members come in to join you. Kill all the bad guys in the square and head out the direction the WRO came in when the way is clear. Talk to the soldier if you want and then follow them as they run down the path, picking up the Griffon and bullets. You don't really have time though to equip it because you need to follow the WRO soldiers to save them. At the fork, take a right first and kill all the DeepGround soldiers before they kill your allies. Run to the area behind the DG soldiers and get the keycard inside the box, but don't use it to open the gate closest to you, move to the other side of the alley and open that gate, getting the 500 Gil and the extra card key. Still, don't go through the laser gate just yet. Head back to where you saw the fork and go the other way this time. Again, assist the WRO before they get killed. Now go back to the laser gate you haven't opened yet and go through. Down the street are two WRO members under attack from snipers. Take them out with your Long Barrel (There are two on the roof to your right and two on the ground). Make a U-turn at the edge of the ramp and get the Mana and Handgun bullets. Now head down the street and into town square for Vincent vs. Dragonfly: The Rematch.
Boss: Dragonfly GL
Look who's back for Round 2. Apparently GL is some DeepGround code for "a beat up version of the previous one", because this time the Dragonfly moves much slower and doesn't fly as high in the air. Stay farther away and use the Long Barrel to aim for its damaged right wing. After blasting that for a few clips, the helicopter will fall to the ground, exposing its weak point on top. Shoot it as many times as you can before he recovers and fights back. Repeat the process. He still fires missiles at you, and they are a bit harder to dodge as you have no structures to hide behind. No soldiers this time though, so he should go down with no problem.
Chapter 2: Showdown in the Wastes
Objectives:
After the videos, you will be given control back with Vincent equipped with a mounted machine gun. Take out as many of the guard dogs as you can, and don't worry about saving ammunition. The more you kill the better your score at the end of this Chapter, so let that MG rip After a while you will be given a cut scene where Vincent jumps on the roof of the vehicle.
Once again, kill as many of the dogs as you can. They will jump on the transport, damaging you in the process. Try and kill them while they are in the air to keep this from happening. After a while you will be given another cut scene where the transport crashes.
Walk over the three Mako fields behind the transport before you advance into the ravine. You will find a mini boss in the next area.
Boss: Crimson Hound
When the fight starts he will jump up on a pillar and let his buddies chomp away at you for a little bit. Kill them as fast as you can; if you are quick enough none will get away and start running in and out of the stones. If they do end up doing this, strafe around the outside and shoot them when you can. Once you've killed them all, target the boss on top of his perch, and blast away. Eventually he will come down to fight you. Kill him fast enough and he won't have time to summon any more help. The best method I've found is to run backward while shooting him.
After the Crimson Hound is dead, get his key card and head into the next area. You will get another cut scene and fight the real bosses of this level.
Boss: Pegasus Riders
A five on one fight? While it hardly seems fair, there is a trick to beating these roadsters easily. Let them circle you a few times and then move out of their pattern. Eventually they will break ranks and charge you; now is when you want to shoot them, because they are vulnerable from the front. One shot is sometimes enough to kill a single rider. Just make sure they don't hit you if they are charging, as it will knock you down and if you don't jump up fast you are vulnerable to another charge. They share a collective life bar, so you don't have to do all that damage to every one. Pick them off one by one and soon they'll be nothing but scrap.
Chapter 3: Silent Edge
Objectives:
Once you get control of Vincent, turn around and head left. You will see a case at the end of the alley with Handgun bullets; be sure to take care of the two dogs on your way there. Make your way through the mini maze and kill any other dogs that show up. Eventually you will cross the street and find a Mako field. Past that is a dieing soldier who tells you where to go to save the people of Edge. Get his keycard (there are a few more dogs in the alley past him if you want to get some extra kills) and head back to where you started the mission, opening the gate. Inside are a potion and another new toy, the Hydra Rifle. This baby is made for shooting down those pesky snipers and any enemies that are a long way off. Put it in one of your weapon slots and stick the long barrel on the end of it and a Sniper Scope on it, as you're about to get some practice. Don't equip it yet though, because you need your handgun to take out the four dogs in the alley you will enter next. Once you get past those, equip on the new rifle and walk towards the town square.
You are now engaged in one of the mission objectives, which is to kill as many snipers as possible. Snipers are probably the most annoying enemies in this game because they almost never miss and they do tons of damage, on top of being very hard to see. The best way to avoid damage is to know where they are going to pop up in advance and have your rifle ready to shoot them before they shoot you. Unfortunately, this usually requires that you play a mission several times. I'll do the best I can telling you what to expect. The worst thing you can do here is to run into the middle of the square, because then you'll just be getting shot from all sides. Back up into the alley you just came out of and look for the sniper on the roof to the North (left of where you start). Take him out as fast as possible since he's already shooting at you, and if you did not enter the square, no other snipers should have noticed you yet. To the right of that first sniper is an orange tarp, and a bridge to the right of that. There is another sniper there on the left side of that bridge. In the center of the square is a pillar, to the right of it is another sniper on the roof of the houses directly across from you. There is another to the right of him on the building with the white stonework. To the right of him is a spotlight, when it is at its farthest right-facing arc, move your scope a bit farther to the right and you'll see another.
After you have all five of them taken out, inch out of the area you are in with your character facing north against the wall. Once you are a few feet into the square look up and see that there is a sniper right above you! Kill him quickly, then follow along the wall where he was standing and you will see a rusty bridge. There is another sniper on the building behind that bridge. Now turn around, and in the alley opposite the laser gate you can see is the last sniper behind a box on the ground next to a Mako field. Kill him and head into that area, when you come out of it you see a kid running in front of you, follow him. In the building he runs to, you need to kill the two soldiers on the 2nd floor. There is a shop machine here and the 3rd floor has a potion and Machine Gun bullets. Head back down and the kid will run out. Follow him again and kill any soldiers who chase him. After you have killed all four of them, you get another objective, which is to follow the kid and don't let him die.
A dog jumps down and grabs him before you get to the first building, kill him before he gets to the kid if you can, if not just kill him before he mauls the kid to death. Follow the kid in the building, and get the 1000 Gil on the bottom floor before you go up the steps. Once he gets outside and climbs up the ladder, he looks into an alley. Don't bother going down there, it leads to a case with 1 Gil (whoopee). Follow him bit farther and save him from the two dogs that jump out. Across another bridge two soldiers will start shooting from on top of a sign to your right. No sweat, just kill them and move on. Another group of dogs jump out while you follow here. After that group, switch over to your rifle again and when the kid stops moving and makes a frightened sound, look across the square to see another sniper (he's above the orange tarp you see directly across from you if you are standing behind the kid). Kill him and the kid lets you into the building you are standing at. Inside is a normal soldier with the key card. Grab it.
Note: If you want to get the ultimate weapon, read on.
When you have control of Vincent again, turn around and head back into the building behind you. Inside there is a case with a Model Gun. Grab it. That is the non upgraded version of the Ultima Weapon. Sweet huh? Here's the catch (of course there's a catch): That weapon will cost you almost 300,000 Gil to make into its best form. You can't even upgrade it until Chapter 8 anyway, and at that point, you're going to need to convert all your exp into Gil for the rest of the game and not spend any of it. Maybe if you do that you can afford it by the last level. So why bother? Well, if you plan on playing the Extra Hard Mode, you will need this gun. It holds 99 rounds, does more damage than any gun save the Gigant Hydra (which only holds 1 round and reloads very slowly). It also does max damage from all ranges. It completely destroys bosses all the way through the game because you almost never need to reload it, so you can stand there and have a shooting contest with just about every boss for the first 2/3 of the game without even moving and win, and the rest of the game you may only need to use 1 or 2 potions. The battle with Weiss at the end of the game when you are at the reactor is easier on Extra Hard mode if you have that gun than it is on Normal mode if you don't. It's up to you if it's worth it or not.
Back to the game
Head past the laser gate and fight the enemies that jump out at the end of the alley. There's only one way to go, but before you jump out into the next area slowly make your way forward and look up to the top of the building in front of you. Kill the sniper before he sees you. This will alert the guard below who will begin stalking toward you, jump out and kill him. Around the next corner is another sniper on the fire escape above you at the end of the alley. Shoot him before he sees you and duck behind the wall again. Wait for the next two guards to come into sight and pop out to shoot them. Follow until you see a box across the street from you. Don't run out into the street, instead slowly make your way to the edge and look at the bridge above you, sniping the girl standing there. Climb the steps to your left and as you walk out onto the bridge you just killed the guard on, look across the street to the North-East. There is a sniper is on the roof in the corner. There are also some guards in the street with boxes ahead of you. You can try and kill them with stealth if you can, but I think best way is to just jump out and blast away with the Cerberus. Continue on and collect the 3000 Gil in the box on the roof to your left.
After the cutscene snipe the barrel above you and kill the guard, then jump out and kill the guard on the lower steps. Hide again behind the wall and wait Number 3, killing his when he comes down. Once you get up the steps two guards will pop out, and one more is below the stairs you will descend after that. Along the path two more guards will show up and then you will jump down into an alley you can't get back out of. One guard is at the end, kill her and snipe the guard you can see between the buildings after you make a U-turn. Wait for the third guard to come around the corner and kill him. You will see a fallen steel support beam. Jump down to it and in front of you is a Mako field with a soldier near it. Kill him and his buddy to his left. Grab the Limit Breaker under the spot you jumped down from and then climb the fallen steel support. Pull out your rifle and aim over the fence past the Mako field to kill the sniper. Before you run to get the Mako, look to your left and kill the guards behind the fence. Once again those exploding barrels are your friend. The last sniper in the level is above you, across from the shop machine. Buy anything you need and step inside for the boss fight.
Boss: Heavy Armored Soldier
You're going to have to move from the start in this fight because this fellow has six friends shooting you, and if one of his rocket blasts get you it hurts like no other. Kill his buddies first, either with conventional means or using Fire Materia. After you hurt him a bit he'll drop his big old boom stick and use a machine gun. Stand behind the boxes to avoid the spray of bullets and keep the returning fire when possible. The last stage he uses a sword, which further affirms that you never bring a sword to a gun fight; just back up and fire away as he runs at you.
Chapter 4: Headquarters Under Siege
Objectives:
This mission is all-out action from the start. While you are waiting for the Mission Objective screen to go away you can pull out your gun and just fire at anything it may auto aim at. As soon as you can see, train your gun onto the 2nd floor and take out Mr. Rocket Launcher up there. Clean up the rest of the bad guys on the first floor (there is one to your left, be sure to not miss him) and run up the steps, killing the guy that pops out. Once upstairs, go to the right where there are some boxes with items. Once you get back to the steps, go left and when you take another left, look across the building to the bridge on the 3rd floor. Take out the rocket launcher up there and the gunman who is now shooting at you. Turn right again and blow up the barrel because it may get shot in the next fight when you are standing next to it, and that would frankly suck (not that it's ever happened to me). As you progress, three soldiers will appear around the corner; kill them and move on where the next steps will be blocked by a laser gate. Keep going along the 2nd floor and kill the enemies you run into in order to get the key. Head up and assist the WRO members fighting on the 3rd floor. Just don't stand near them because a rocket launcher will be shooting at you from the 4th floor to your left and if you're to close the explosion will kill your allies.
Take out the two guards on the bridge and that rocket launcher and then follow your WRO members back to the open door. Inside it is a Limit Breaker, Shop Machine, and some bullets. When you come out go along the path until you come to another locked laser gate. Kill all the enemies who show up, then use the door to your left to bypass the gate. There is a solder in the hallway as well as a Mako field. Head out and collect anything the solders you killed dropped. There is another Mako field to your left once you get outside. Get it and head up the steps. Once you are up you will see two WRO members running from some enemies. Save you're WRO pals and follow them. But first, look across the building from the steps you just came up. See that explosive barrel? Shoot it now, because if you don't it will get shot in an upcoming fight while several WRO members are standing next to it, and that won't be good. Run across this floor and assist the members that are in a firefight. Keep going and save the last WRO member on this floor who is pinned against the wall by two DeepGround soldiers, one of whom will drop a card key. Head up to the top floor and take a left. When the DG soldiers see you they will jump onto the elevator. Pansies. Follow them down to the 3rd floor and kill them. Hop onto the elevator and take it back to the 4th floor and get off on the opposite side (West, for the direction impaired).
Now you'll need to be careful on this next part. You see that mounted machine gun up ahead? A DG soldier will run and jump on it as you approach. If you're a crack shot you can take him out easily, but an easier way is to use Fire Materia or shoot the barrel next to him. Once he is dead, head into the room. After the cut scene you'll have sixty seconds to get to Reeve to get the best rating on the special objective. Follow the green arrows on the wall and kill anyone who gets in your way, being careful of those pesky rocket launchers. Head back and get the Mako field and bullets. On your way out you will get another cut scene. When it's done, you may notice the door on the opposite side of the top floor that was locked is now open. If you head through the hall and make it to the other end you can jump on the mounted gun and get a Special Objective, which is to blast as many solders as you can as quickly as you can. Sounds great huh? Well this really screws your accuracy rating for the mission, so it's up to you whether to take it or not.
Head back to the first floor via the elevator, there is a Mako field on the 3rd level if you want to go get it, but you'll have to go the long way. Head back to the shop machine in the corner and buy anything you may need. When you're done, go through the door and down the hall. Assist the WRO girls when you get to them and don't miss the Limit Breaker and Bullets that are near them. Keep going down until you see several DG solders run past you, get behind them and take them out before they can kill your WRO allies. The last one will drop a keycard. Grab it and get the Mako to your left. Open the laser gate and you will be faced with a long hall of DG soldiers. Though daunting looking, just blast into them with a Fire Materia, as it will kill the soldiers behind the shields as well. Of course, the last one in the hall will drop a keycard. You have two more soldiers to kill before you get to a shop machine and a door to your right which will lead you to a fight with the Tsviet, Shelke, so stock up one last time if you need.
Boss: Shelke the Transparent
Shelke moves really fast, which can make this one of the tougher fights in the game if you are inexperienced. Utilize the double jump in order to avoid her charges. If she gets too close, melee her until she falls and back up, shooting her once she gets up. A few key Critical shots and she'll go down really fast, but don't go zooming in on her because she will absolutely destroy you if you try it.
Once she gets low on HP she'll step it up with her melee attacks, become even faster and more devastating. If you want to end it fast, use a Limit Breaker and go after her, beating her down every time you get close enough. If you use Limit Breaker before she gets below 50% you can throw fireballs at her when she's in a corner and she'll likely never get a chance to recover (Hurray to cheap tactics!). This doesn't work when soon as she starts leaping off the walls to attack you though. Eventually you'll finish her and get yet another cut scene.
After you regain control, buy anything you need and head into the hall to face Azul.
During the next video, Vincent makes the only joke I think you may ever hear come out of him. Savor it and prepare to battle.
Boss: Azul the Cerulean
This fight can be the easiest boss fight in the game as long as you do it right. You can't shoot Azul because even a critical hit to the head causes minimal damage, however, the explosive barrels will kill him in no time flat. As soon as the fight starts aim at the barrel to his left and blow it up. Back up and blow up the other two near him and then hide behind the pillar to your right. Azul has 3 attacks: He will shoot his cannon at you, he will use a machine gun or he will slam the ground and cause a shockwave to go in all directions. The pillar will block all 3 quite nicely, though you may want to jump to avoid his shock wave just in case.
Run out and pepper him with bullets if you want, just take care not to get hit with his cannon. If you can position yourself correctly behind the pillar you can shoot him with a sniper shot and he cant hit you, when he is standing still this is great for racking up the critical hits. Eventually Azul will walk to the center near more exploding barrels, just wait for him to do that and shoot them when he is near.
Chapter 5: Manor of Despair
Objectives:
As this mission opens Vincent finds out he is not alone in this sewer, and one of the mission objectives is to kill all of the Sahagin. These dudes are great targets because they have this great strategy which is to run right at you. This, plus the fact that their weak point is where the gun tends to auto aim makes almost every shot a critical hit. The best strategy for killing multiple targets is to back up and let them come at you and pick them off one at a time. Kill the three in this room and then proceed down the hall, getting the items in the rooms and killing all the bad guy who jumps down at you. To the right of the laser gate is a ladder, go up and get the mana on top and jump down. In front and above you a mage-like Sahagin will begin throwing spells or something at you, shoot him and several will jump down on top of you. Finish them all to get the card key and keep moving through the sewer. Nothing you haven't seen a billion times already will happen, just look in all directions for items (don't miss the Blizzard Materia to your left). Eventually an enemy will give you a card key for a laser gate on your left. Inside you will find a group of them. Follow the path to a case with 2500 gold, then go across the sewer from there and up the two ladders. Kill all three monsters on top and use the switch to open the gate. Once that gate is open you can move on to the next area, explore some more and find the last few Sahagin you need to kill.
Climb the ladder past the gate you opened, shoot the guard you see at point blank range in the back of his head, then look above you. Slowly move to the right and snipe the guard up there and wait for his friend to appear before taking them out as well. On the other side of the elevator are two more guards, and past them is a door you must duck under. Inside is a room with 500 gold, a Power Booster, and an infinite supply of DeepGround soldiers. Kill as many as you want for experience points, just be sure to not waste a lot of health items. Once you are done, head back and get inside the elevator and step off on the 2nd floor. Take the mana behind the elevator and head down the hall, killing the lone guard and buying anything you need from the machine. Head back to the elevator and get off on the 3rd floor. You will have to cross a bridge in the next room, only to have the door rudely slammed in your face. Turn around and try to head back and the other door will close (Surprise!). After this, the wall to the east will open and a series of soldiers will come out to shoot you. Kill them all and the door will close, opening the west side. Kill that group and continue on...
Auto Save
Now you get to play as Cait Sith for a short time. I can almost hear the squeals/screams of happiness/anguish. Take a right from the beginning and watch the video. In this Stage Mission, you can't let any DG guards see you. Fortunately those helmets they wear severely impair their vision apparently. Wait for the first guard to turn his back and get behind the box. As he comes back toward you, sneak by him and go to the end of the platform. Jump as far as you can off and try to land on either the platform below you or the pipes before it. Don't worry if you fall, just climb the ladder back up.
Now you will need to get past two guards. When they both have their back turned follow the one on your right and get behind the box at the end of his walking pattern. Get close to that ladder and watch the cut scene. No guards can see you from where you are standing now so don't worry. There is a guard below you who walks back and forth. To your left there are pipes leading up and you can see an exploding barrel behind them. You need to jump behind those pipes when the guard below you has his back turned (be careful not to go too far though, because there is another guard on the other side who wanders back and forth). When that guard has turned around, move toward the barrel and get a short cut scene. Time it just right and push the barrel at the guard to kill him. Be careful not to accidentally jump instead of pushing it or you'll be seen (not that I did that...). If you do get spotted are you can always restart from the beginning of the Cait Sith mission, or make a mad scramble to the pipe.
Once that guard is dead move down the path to the 2nd exploding barrel and another guard beyond it. Push it when both he and the first guard have their backs turned and dash across. Climb up onto the boxes and jump behind the two guards and climb into the pipe. In the next area you need to wait till the guard on your right walks around the pillar and then run to your left, jump over the barrel, and push it on the guard below when he is in position. Move past this area and time your next dash between the two guards walking in a circle, before jump into the pipe to your right.
Auto Save
Back to Vincent. If you need to you should head across the hall and use the shop machine, then go and trigger the cut scene with Lucrecia. A new Objective now becomes available, which is to find all of the Omega Report Files. There are four total, and I'll guide you to them so don't worry. You have one already from the cut scene, so there's no need to worry about that. Start by going to the east room and collecting the items there, killing the three guards. Head back to the room where you regained control of Vincent and head south. A soldier and his pet robot dog thing will attack you but they shouldn't be much trouble. Grab the potion in the room to the left and then head to the right through the sliding doors, killing the soldier who runs in. Exit through the wooden door and you'll see that across the hall is a three room area with one soldier and a Mako field.
After that little side trip head west, kill the soldier and dog, and enter the room on your left with a Limit Breaker and Bullets. Beyond that room there is another with a soldier and dog, and behind the last bookshelf is the second omega report. Go back into the hall, heading east this time. Keep going until the end and you enter an area that looks like a cave. There is a door on your left here and inside may look familiar to the fans of Final Fantasy VII (which I'm assuming all of you are). In my opinion Square-Enix missed a great opportunity for a nostalgic moment here, since this is where you meet Vincent for the first time in the original game. All they did was put a weak ninja type soldier in the coffin where Vincent slept for 30 years. Lame. Anyway, kill the dude and get his 1000 Gil drop before moving into the cave, killing the guards as they show up.
When you get past the laser gate, it activates and an Objective appears. You must deactivate the four mines in the time limit, which is actually rather simple. Walk around until the beeping becomes fast and then slow down, but keep moving forward. When the mine appears, back up a few steps and shoot it. There are four total, two on the right wall, one on the left, and one in front of the laser gate on the other side of the cave (the last one you destroy will drop a card key). The next area has a moving bridge you must activate to get across. It doesn't go all the way across though, so you'll have to jump the last two feet. It's up to you, but you may want to fall down once to kill the dog and get the mana down there. Keep going after this until you see a group of guards wandering by an exploding barrel. You know what to do, but I'll tell you anyway: Shoot it and take them all out at once. The door to the left of the charred guards leads to an area with a shop machine, Mako field, and a few items, and eventually back to where we started this part of the level. Once you have got what you need, head back to the cave and continue on.
You will come to a room where two ninjas and a gunner will run at you; take them out and as you enter the next area two more guards will be shooting you from above. Fire materia is the best way to get rid of them fast, but whatever you do take them out and head up the spiral steps. Kill the two guards at the top and the two more that run in at the same time you do. The upstairs rooms of the Shinra Mansion have a few items, so make sure you kill the guards down below as you head into the main area, and make sure you kill the guard in the far west room to get the third Omega report. Once downstairs, more guards will spawn above you. Kill them, then head all the way east, then north, and behind the bookshelf is the final Omega Report. There's only place left to go, and that's west from the downstairs area. Through the next few rooms you will fight guards and eventually you will run into Rosso the Crimson, who loves her monologues apparently. After listening to her talk for what seems like far too long there will be a chase scene that leads back to the main room of the Shinra mansion (make sure to jump over those mines).
Auto Save
Boss: Black Widow
Yet another fight against a machine. The secret to this boss is to never stop moving, since he has two very mean attacks that can combo to take you out in a snap. When the fight starts he will charge at you, knocking you over if he hits you. You absolutely need to keep strafing around him and shooting. If you run into a wall, start strafing back the way you came, just don't stop moving and don't move in a direct line away from him; always try to run in circles. He will periodically stop and use his beam cannon on you, which is easy to dodge if you just keep moving, but will do tons of damage if it hits you. After a while he will climb up on the wall and shoot at you with his machine gun. You may not even want to attempt to avoid this, especially if you decided to buy the M Cerberus with additional ammo capacity; just trade bullets and you will come out on the winning end. Just make sure to start running if you see his beam cannon charging.
What you want is for him to crawl to the roof. When he does that unload everything you've got on him and he will fall on his head, exposing his critical weak spot. Shoot him over and over if that happens. One method is to switch to Limit Breaker mode while he is on his head and melee him to death. It just depends on how well your fights going, if you have managed to avoid taking damage up to that point it's probably not necessary and just a waste of a Limit Breakerer.
Chapter 6: DeepGround Strikes Back
Objectives:
This chapter opens with you fighting three rocket launching robots at once; just keep moving and it shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure not to get too close after you kill one or you will take explosion damage. Grab the card key and head past the machine shop. You will need to follow a path through the woods, then get out your rifle and snipe the guard dogs as you see them (many times you can kill them before they see you). You will also pass a group of odd looking birds, I don't know if they are supposed to be chocobos or not, but I do know that if you shoot them they drop red potions.
Eventually you will come to a cave with a beetle inside of it; kill it and move on slowly, taking out the two guards you hear talking. After that, stop and look to your right where you will see a camp of DG soldiers below you. Your first target should be an explosive barrel on the right side (as always), after that use your rifle to look across the camp. There is a hole and inside are several more of those beetles you just killed. Shoot them immediately after you shoot the explosive barrel and they will run out and attack the surviving DG soldiers. Always better to have someone (or something) do your dirty work. Pick off anyone who's left after the confusion.
Once you jump down, two soldiers will pop out from the tent to the left, so take them out. Kill anything left in the camp and stock up on bullets at the shop machine. Head into the cave and assist the WRO members under assault at the end of the path; aim for the barrels and use your rifle. After you have finished off the attackers you get a new Objective, which is to kill the helicopters who are attacking the WRO base. There are 15 total, and they attack in groups of 1 to 3 at a time. You can use the mounted machine gun to kill them, but a long barrel Cerberus is just as effective, so it's up to your tastes. However, if you use the mounted machine gun the missiles fired by the approaching helicopters will cause damage to the WRO members who will be standing next to you. Therefore, if you use the mounted gun make sure to jump out when you see missiles coming for you. You will know when you have killed a helicopter because the number on your screen will change; the chopper won't crash, just fly off. Don't waste bullets by shooting at it after its dead, even though the WRO members do. The helicopters attack from four directions. Here is the order:
You may want to use the mounted gun for the last 2 because helicopter 15 has a lot of HP. After the last one flies around a bit he drops 3 heavy armored swordsmen. Kill them and get the card key they drop and move into the base. When you come back outside, kill the guard in front of you and the dog on the crate ahead of you and run to your left behind the crate, killing the guard who will start shooting you from the ground. Be quick here because there are two snipers on the bridge ahead of you. Get a location on them (they are just to the right of the middle) and kill them with your rifle, then move to the left and keep your gun trained on the bridge, since another sniper will appear. When all the initial guards are dead, move forward and more will spawn. Just run back behind the trailer and take 'em out with your rifle, there are only seven or eight of them. Try to move forward again and you will be delayed by several dogs. Once that's taken care of move forward. On the second half of this bridge you will be attacked by another dozen or so guards, only this time you can't be as conservative because WRO members are also under fire. It really just requires quick action and good shooting to come out of this situation with all your allies alive and most of your health. Be sure not to miss the sniper on the bridge above you.
Once all enemies are dealt with, head inside the open door and get ready for some fancy shooting. A WRO member will be under fire from DG soldiers, and everyone is standing in a narrow hall with explosive barrels all around. If you run in guns blazing all you'll do it hit a barrel and kill your ally along with the DG soldiers, which isn't what we want. Do your best to quickly get a bead on the enemies and take them out. Get the 1000 Gil, put on your long barrel weapon, and head out. You come to another bridge like the one you just passed with crates randomly strewn about. Two soldiers will pop out from your left as soon as you exit the base; kill them and the two more soldiers appear behind the crates. Then take out the two dogs and get the card key. Head back into the base once again.
Auto Save
In this next area you will be attacked by DG soldiers who are hiding all over the place, including the rafters above you. As you move forward, more will spawn, so make sure to kill everyone you see before heading deeper into the room. Once they are all dead, slowly head up the steps. Don't move more than one pace past the stairs and turn to your right. Make sure to stay as close to the edge of the building as possible so as not to trigger the next boss fight; its best to try and walk along the lip of the cliff that looks like a rusted iron support. Follow around and move to where you saw the soldiers shooting you from above. There is a case up there with 5000 Gil. Grab it and head back for another fight with the Black Widow.
Boss: Black Widow II
This is the same guy as before really, only this time he has four soldiers to help him. If this is Normal mode you should be able to take them out with 1 shot, so if your strafing skills are up to par you can just move in a circle around him and take out the guards as they come into your field of vision.
There are a few things you can do to this boss to take him out. First, you can use the same strategy as last time and run circles around him, avoiding his charges and beam cannon; just try not to fall off the platform. Or you can Limit Breaker and melee him to death real fast. His weak spot is under him, and if you can get him positioned to fire at you while you are standing on the steps leading up to the platform you can get repeated critical hits from below him. You can also run back to where I told you to get the case with 5000 Gil and hop on a mounted machine gun and blast away. That is dangerous though because you can't avoid his beam cannon if he decides to use it. You must also use the mounted gun to blast any incoming missiles because you can't avoid those either. Whatever you pick, he isn't any harder than before.
Auto Save
You are now in the ruined WRO building. Get the Mako field behind you and go down the hall, taking out the DG soldier around the first corner. When you open the door ahead of you there is a big fight going on. Your first target should be the rocket launcher to your left. After that pick off the regular soldiers one by one. Move fast so you can save as many of your allies as possible. Head into the room beyond and kill the four DG enemies you will encounter in this hall. Keep going and watch the long cut scene. Mission over. Either way you choose to allocate your XP points for chapter 6, I suggest you don't spend any money yet, because there is a shop machine in the next chapter which sells items you can't buy at other shop machines and it sells bullets for 10% of their normal price.
Chapter 7: The Shera
This is a breather chapter, since there are no enemies to fight. Once you have control of Vincent, go ahead and talk to any of the crew you want, but none of them say anything relevant. Head outside and go to your right to find Yuffie, talk to her, and keep going to the right. Go past the door you come to and head to the end of the hall. Inside is Shelke; talk to her and then leave. Go back to the door you passed and go in. There is a discount shop machine here; you can buy any upgrades you need. Talk to Reeve and then watch the cut scene that unfolds.
Auto Save
When you have control again, go talk to Cid twice, then Yuffie, and finally Reeve until Cait Sith tells you to go get some rest. Go back and talk to Shelke again and then head back to where Yuffie is. Go into the door you haven't entered yet and down into the engine room. When you try and leave another cut scene will occur.
Chapter 8, Part 1: Midgar Assault
Objectives:
A lot of the areas in this chapter are like a maze, so I'll do the best I can to guide you. As the level opens you will see two WRO members ahead of you who run into a line of bullets and get mowed down (I don't believe it's possible to save them). Shoot the exploding barrel to the right of the group of enemies to take them all out at once. Don't miss the 2000 Gil behind a crate in the SW corner of this area, then move on until you see a shop machine and a group of WRO soldiers who are lost. You now have to escort them to their commander. After the initial fight with the DG soldiers you encounter after agreeing to help the WRO members keep moving past the open door and rescue the WRO soldier who is hiding behind the box, then go back and head inside. Through the hallway is an area where a group of DG soldiers is waiting for you. Kill them with two blasts from Fire materia and grab the card key. Outside you'll get into another fight; there is a sniper on the tower behind you that you need to take out.
Keep going until the next cut scene and yet another fight begins. When you have control again turn around and head back up the way you came to kill the guards that are sneaking up behind you, then run back and assist the WRO members with the remaining DG guards. After all of them are dead walk to the laser gate. You don't have the card key yet so turn around and head back the way you came to activate a switch that causes a heavy armed swordsman to drop down. Kill him and take the card key. There is another fight in the next alley, if you run ahead far enough you can take out all the soldiers before your allies even show up, making it that much easier to keep them alive. Keep going to the laser gate; when the WRO members get there they will be assaulted by guard machines like the ones in the training mission. Kill them all (again, Fire materia works great here) and get the card key. Head inside.
Auto Save
As you exit the building, look up and to your right to see the sniper on the tower. Take him out. There is a Mako field behind the train ahead of you here (you have to jump over some boxes to get there.)
There is 2000 Gil behind the tower you shot the sniper on, grab it and head to the right at the fork. Get the 2000 Gil in this area and head back to take a left. Jump inside the abandoned train and head inside. When you jump out, look for two more snipers on another tower to the northwest. Once you've killed them head along the path until you reach the point where you see two WRO members shooting at some enemies who are behind a train. Do not run out to assist them. Look to your right. You will see another tower. On top is a foursome of DG soldiers with mounted machine guns, one facing each direction. You'll need to snipe/Fire materia the two that can shoot you from here. Next, use your rifle and crouch down, but do not approach the two soldiers under fire. Turn to the train blocking your view of the soldiers currently shooting at your allies. If you run too close to the WRO members they will automatically be blown to bits by a rocket launcher. If you are in the crouched position with the scope on though, you can see the legs of the soldiers they are fighting. You need to kill the soldiers by shooting them from under the train. You will know when it is safe to approach because your WRO allies will stop fighting and move to positions of safety behind the train.
Afterwards, as you move forward, a group of soldiers runs out to fight you. For some reason in this game, Vincent can not hit targets which are moving into a fighting position to save his life (thanks Square). Back up and wait for them to all get ready for you, then run out and kill them. Around the next corner are four WRO members being attacked by the two remaining mounted machine guns; take the guns out as fast as possible. Under the tower is a box with another 2000 Gil. In the next building are three DG soldiers and yet another 2000 Gil. The next area has no enemies, but there is 2000 more Gil and a Limit Breaker to be found here. Go into the next building and grab 2000 more Gil on your right, and another 2000 Gil along the west wall. Eventually you will enter a train with a soldier who is apparently blind. He tells you he searched all over for the exit but could not find it, despite the fact that it is two feet away. Bright folks we have here in the WRO. Anyway, now Shelke helps you out and you can use the shop machine here before you enter the next area with a mini-boss fight.
Mini-Boss: DeepGround Commander
The only thing that makes this challenging is the sheer number of enemies. Take out his normal soldier bodyguards and ignore the rocket machines (just make sure to keep moving so you don't get blasted). After the soldiers are dead, kill the machines and then focus on the Commander. Trust me, you'll get really tired of hearing him yell "HAIL WEISS" over and over again pretty fast want to kill him just to shut him up. After his initial group of allies has been slain, he summons three heavy armored swordsmen. He has quite a large amount of HP, but he's nothing special. Get his card key and the 2000 Gil behind the train to the east.
Go back and buy anything you may have consumed during the fight from the shop machine and then head into the underground alley. Get your sniper rifle out and turn to your left, getting against the wall. Turn around and look at the soldiers at the other side of the tunnel. Snipe the one in the middle and if you can kill him in one shot he won't warn the others in the hallway beyond. Kill his two friends and, if he did get to yell out, the heavy armored swordsmen who come in to help. If he did not call a warning, snipe the swordsmen when they aren't looking in the next hallway, and use some Fire materia to kill the enemies who run in at the end of the final area. Now you are back outside. If you take a left you come to a train with a shop machine inside of it and yet another 2000 Gil beyond. To the right is a Mako field. Once you are ready, head to the center of this area and to the North to encounter another boss fight here.
Auto Save
Boss: Shrikes
This fight is very annoying. These guys share a collective life bar like the Pegasus Riders, so you only need to hit each one a few times. In the beginning, try and take at least one out before they have a chance to split up and you lose sight on them. The best thing to do, as soon as the battle starts is to target one and shoot it while you are backing up as far as you can. They will all fly over your head and if you keep them in your vision at the beginning, you can take out 3 or even 4 before they break formation and begin traveling in random patterns. Eventually they will be flying all over the place shooting you from all different directions. Use your damage indicator map to see where they are coming from and search the sky for targets. You may be tempted to stand next to the trains to prevent taking damage from all directions, but this severely impairs your own vision and you'll lose sight of targets much too fast. Just keep moving and blast away when you get one in your crosshairs, as none can last more than a few hits. Eventually you will come out on top.
This is the end of part one of chapter 8, you can allocate your EXP points and upgrade here.
Chapter 8, Part 2: Fight for the Central Complex
Objectives:
Follow the WRO members and kill the three guards on your left, grabbing the card key as you go. Open up the laser gate and as you walk through a horde of enemy soldiers will attack. Just kill them as best you can; once again, Fire materia is endlessly helpful here. Follow the route and take out the enemy soldiers until you get to another group of WRO soldiers. At this point a stream of DG soldiers will come out of the room to the left. You can use the mounted machine gun to kill them, but it is much more efficient (and in my opinion easier) to just blast them as they run out of the room one by one. Continue until you reach a ladder and you are thrown into a Mission Objective of avoiding the floating mines. This really isn't that hard, just wait until more than one laser gate is down in a row to minimize the amount of time spent in their path. Halfway through a DG soldier will appear in front of you, just shoot him before he begins blasting. Continue on and assist the WRO members fighting the DG soldiers in the next room, then follow the soldiers who run into the next area.
Auto Save
Here you must destroy the assault robot before he reaches the end of the hall, though it's no big deal if you fail. The only way to do this is to run all the way to the steps before he enters the hallway and shoot his weak underside before he comes down, scoring a few critical hits, then back up and fire while he chases you to finish him off. If he makes it to your WRO allies they will die, and if he runs into you he blows up for massive damage. After stopping it head to the next shop machine. Past this is a soldier at the end of the hallway with a mounted machine gun. If you can position yourself exactly right, you can snipe him between the pipes on the wall and he can't hit you. Alternatively, you can use Limit Breaker and your defense will be so high he can hardly hurt you as you run down the hall after him. Kill him and head back the way you came into a room with a maze of laser gates. If you look closely, in this room are several black mines; shooting them deactivates certain gates. There are five total, and they aren't hard to find. Shoot them all and grab the 2000 Gil and Hi-potion.
Now go back to the mounted machine gun. For a bit of fun, you can hop on and about ten DG soldiers come running down the hall after you (this part is completely optional). Head up the ladder, killing the girl that comes out of the room to the right. Equip your rifle and run past the room she came out of to the WRO soldiers. You must duck and use your scope to kill the DG soldiers who attack your allies here; you need to fend them off until the WRO have managed to open the lock. The super high tech strategy for opening it is to whack it 40 times with the butt of your gun. After this is over, follow the soldiers down the hall and save them from the assault. DG soldiers will shoot down barrels, you need to shoot them many times to blow them up, and you have to blow them up before they reach the bottom or else your allies will be killed. Once you're done here, head up and get the items, especially the G-Report file. There are three of these in the game and if you want the "secret" ending, you need to get all three. More details on this at the bottom of this guide.
Head back to the room you passed before and kill the half dozen soldiers inside, then head into the elevator. At the top is another suicide machine you have to kill before it reaches your allies. Good luck with this one. You can run into it and blow it up yourself before it kills the WRO members if you want to save their lives, just make sure you have enough health and a Potion handy. Up the steps is another Mission Objective; you have to kill all the sentry robots. Just run into the elevator but don't hit the button; they can't follow you in and you can still shoot them. Get in the elevator and equip your rifle. Once upstairs, don't come out of the elevator yet because there are more sentry robots. Use the rifle to snipe the two rocket launcher enemies at the end of the hall. Just move back and forth to avoid the rockets. Once they are dead head out of the elevator and spawn more sentry robots. Use the same trick as before to kill them. Down the hall is another shop machine, use it before you exit the area and you will encounter...
An Auto Save!
and also...
Boss: Bloodburst Rosso
Listen to her flap her gums again and after what seems like an eternity she will finally start attacking you. You need to be constantly moving to avoid the bullets, and make sure to be ready to double jump out of the way when she charges. She can be hard to target because she sprints around so dang fast, but just keep strafing and wear her down. There are lots of ammo boxes around so you can pick up anything you are low on. After she loses about 20% of her total life she decides to talk some more before rejoining the fight. Now she starts hurling slow arcing discs at you that are harder to avoid than missiles, but can be done with quick dashing or jumping at the last second. Another way to avoid them is to fight near the giant pipes and move Vincent so the discs crash into them instead of him. Listen to her totally sexy and never tedious Russian accent as she taunts you over and over and over and over again during the fight. Really, not annoying at all Square.
Use the same strategy as described above, just being careful to avoid her discs and her other new attack, which sends a streak of light toward you in a quickly moving line that will knock you over if it hits you. If you use Limit Breaker and can get her pinned against the wall, you can hurl fireballs over and over and she can never get up (cheap tactics ftw). If you opt not to do that you should be able to outlast her with a full assortment of items, just stay far away, use a long barrel, and keep moving. After you beat her, more talking and she commits suicide just before Vincent slits his own wrists so he can stop hearing her voice (oh wait, that's me).
Once again, don't buy any items at the break between Chapters 8 and 9; just do the upgrades if you can afford them.
Chapter 9: An Empire in Ruins
Objectives:
Start the mission by running and collecting all the items you can from the courtyard, then head to the shop machine and get any more items you need. Head inside and take care of the pesky ninjas in here. When you reach the east side of the second floor, a group of enemies will run in from the entrance of the building; kill them as they come through the door and move on. Head up to the third floor and drop down the elevator shaft after you get the 1000 Gil case. Go through the hallway area, killing the bugs who jump at you and Vincent will shoot out a grate that leads you down to the next level. In this new hallway a dog and two soldiers will come around the corner once you've walked far enough, but they shouldn't be hard. In the next room some soldiers will run in on the top walkway and start shooting you, with even more coming from the other side after that; finish them all and move on. Continue into the next room with the bug on the window. Kill it and the one that will drop from the ceiling. In the next room a bug is guarding a mega potion, if you shoot him a group of them will drop from the ceiling; take them out and grab it before heading on.
Shoot the barrel you see when the DG soldiers run out in front of it to take the all out at once. In the next room a dog will jump over the lockers to attack you and more soldiers will com on the other side. Keep going until you reach a room with no enemies in it and several exploding barrels and boxes. Don't shoot any of them. As you enter the room, a DG soldier will run in from up top. Kill him quickly then look up. See that case floating in mid air? Assuming you haven't already blown the barrel under it to bits, jump up on top of it and then double-jump to get the 5000 Gil inside the case. In the next hallway, you will get a quick cut scene of bugs landing behind you. Use a Fire materia blast to take them all out and then run down the hall. The bugs will spawn forever here, so your only choice to get away is to open the two doors and run into the next room past the Mako field where you will fight a boss.
Auto Save
Boss: Black Widow TW
Man, DeepGround must really love these machines. This time there are two, one on the ceiling and one below it. Still, this encounter is probably the easiest of the three. If you have the Quantum Cerberus you can take out each robot with one clip, you may not even have to move. Target only the lower one at first and just blast it to death. Your strategy shouldn't be any different than before, you just have less room to move around here. I suggest staying in front of both of them the whole time however, as the BW on the roof will drop bombs if you run near him. After the lower one is dead get the one on the roof. Pretty easy.
Once you have control get in the elevator and head down. Your new objective is to find the secret DeepGround files, of which there are five. There is no map here so I'll just say start by going in a clockwise direction. The first corner room has some sentry robots and a Limit Breakerer/Mako Field. The next room has no enemies, just 3000 Gil. Next you will see a door, but don't go through yet. The next room has two guard dogs, a DG soldier, and a case with machine gun bullets. The last room has the first Top Secret File. Now go back through that door you passed. In the next hallway are two flying soldiers; they have far fewer HP than the boss ones you fought earlier, so just shoot both of them twice and they will go down. The next two rooms have normal soldiers; you can deal with them, but make sure to grab the second Top Secret File in the room with the two dogs and female DG soldier.
As you walk around the next hallway, two soldiers will pop out and run away from you, just shoot them in the back and move on. More soldiers come out of the next door and then you get another cut scene. After this you have a map of the complex. The next area leads to an elevator and a new objective, which is to destroy the floating mines. Do not get too close to them when you shoot because they blow up. If you blow up one while it's near another, it will chain kill them, so do that if possible. Once you are down the elevator, head out the door and across the bridge. The next door leads to a large room that is divided into four smaller rooms. In the first, second, and fourth rooms you will have to fight DG soldiers who are so well entrenched you will probably lose a lot of life in the process if you don't do it right. To beat them you need to get into the room before they do and shoot them as they come through the door. If you waste all your potions go back to the shop machine at the bridge you passed to get here. The final three Files are in this area as well, in the first, third and fourth room.
The next hallway has soldiers who shoot you from behind shields. If you have the mana, a few Fire materia blasts will take care of them, otherwise you'll have to snipe them. The next bridge leads to another elevator with mines to kill. This time, however, they move faster and pass overhead, which means if you blow them up while they are above you you'll take lots of damage. Also, soldiers come to shoot you on the way down. At the bottom head out and into a room with three heavy armored swordsmen; just run away from them while shooting. Go through the next hallway; in this room you fight two rocket launcher enemies in close proximity. Do your best to not get hit by one missile, because a second is always close behind. Use the exploding barrels to take them out quickly. Head down the hall killing the enemies as they pop out until you reach a room with a shop machine. The next room has the final boss for this level.
Auto Save
Boss: Neo Azul/Arch Azul
His first form is exactly like his old form, except you can damage him with regular attacks instead of being forced to shoot barrels. Use the same strategy as before and he'll be super easy. The fight becomes challenging when he switches to Arch Azul, which is like a crazed bull. He will charge you and ram you with his head if you get too far away, and while it can be dodged it's hard. Once again he can't be damaged by bullets; you have to melee him to death. The problem is that when you get too close to his head he swipes you for big damage, and if you try to approach anywhere else he swing his tail around for even more damage.
The secret is to run in to his front side, hold there for a split second, and then run out again, triggering him to use his claw swipe. After he does that jump in and do a three-hit combo while you are in the air, then wait around in front of him again until it is time to dodge him claw swipe. If you are good enough you can get him in a forever loop like this and as long as you dodge his claw every time you can kill him and he won't even move. I usually three-hit combo him, when I land I turn a circle on the directional stick as fast as I can and end with me facing away from him, then I run away just in time to avoid the claw, jump back in for another three-hit combo, and repeat the process.
Your Limit Breaker form does a lot more melee damage here, but it is harder to avoid his attacks because after you slam the ground you are vulnerable. The difference being that it only takes 3 or 4 rounds of melee attacks to finish him in Limit Breaker form. After you get him low you can use Ice materia to finish him off. Also, after he gets below 50%, he starts using a missile attack. You will see him charge energy from his horns and shoot them at you, but they aren't hard to dodge.
Chapter 10: Shinra's Dark Secret
Objectives:
As the mission opens, you are on a platform overlooking an underground city. As you walk forward you will have to kill a swarm of gargoyles. After you kill all of them and the few soldiers that pop out you get a card key. Jump down, kill more bad guys and head down the hall with the Mako field. When you come out you will be on a platform with two soldiers on the steps below facing the other way. Snipe them real quick but don't head down the stairs just yet. See that case ahead of you in the crevice? There is another crevice to the left of it. Take a note of it. Do not shoot the barrels on the far side of the room. Now head down and a soldier will start shooting you from the platform to your left; kill him. As you run down the steps a laser gate will activate and two aerial mines will pop out, only these start spraying bullets in all directions and moving back and forth. These things have a lot of HP and the best way to avoid getting hurt is to run into that crevice I pointed out earlier and shoot them as they fly by. Once again though, if you kill them when they are too close you will take damage. Grab the card key and jump down, doing your best to avoid the barrels that will start rolling at you.
On the next platform there are many items to grab, but a DG soldier grabs them first. If you can kill him before he gets them I tip my hat to you good sir, as I have never been able to. Keep moving along and when another laser gate blocks your way a heavy armored swordsman will advance on you from behind, with several DG solders shooting you from the other direction. Your best bet is to kill the swordsman before he gets to you, since he drops the card key. Now turn around and take care of the gunners. You can do this quickly by shooting the barrels above them, which will fall and explode. If you already blew up the barrels, I guess you just have to take them out the old fashion way.
The next area you encounter has some of the most annoying enemies in the game; soldiers who can't be killed with bullets. They have some sort of protection spell on them. When you begin the fight, take out the commander in the center who can be killed with bullets (it will take several shots to the head, as the guy has a lot of HP). Then go around and melee the other four or use magic on them. Before you jump down in the next room you can snipe the three guards you will see walking around. Make your way down to the bottom floor, with more guards jumping out at each level. Get the card key and head back up to the laser gate. Once you are in the next hallway, move slowly into the room and some bullets will rain down from above. After the spray, move forward to the next corner and as you turn, more bullets come down. Run to the end of the hall.
Auto Save
Jump on the cart and away you go. You now have an objective to eliminate the enemy pursuers. You can shoot either them or the cart they are on; I suggest the cart because that also counts as one of the targets to eliminate and if it dies, so do they. The last pursuer is a helicopter; it will die automatically at the end of the chase, assuming you did enough damage to him, so just shoot it until it moves out of your line of sight behind some buildings and when it comes back and starts blowing up chimneys, save your ammo. If you have been scoring hits the whole time previous it will die. Continue along the path and don't worry when it falls out from under you, you can't get across anyway due to the invisible barrier (game physics ftw). Exit the pipe.
Auto Save
For some reason, in this area alone, Vincent starts talking to himself. I don't know why, nor do I care. In front of you is an explosive barrel, but don't blow it up. Use the shop machine if you need, then kill the soldiers to the east. Follow this path and kill the Protection Soldiers who jump out. After you kill them and their buddies, turn around and aim at that barrel I told you not to shoot (you didn't shoot it did you?). Use it to kill the guards who show up and quickly run back to get the elixir and 5000 Gil, as they disappear rather fast. Keep moving and two more Protection Guards pop out with a friend; kill them. On the same roof they are on is another of the "secret" ending G reports, which makes that two of three. There is also 3000 Gil in the case above it.
In the next building, three ninjas will jump out in a small area. Kill them, get the card key and in the next hall a heavy armored swordsman appears. Kill him and move on. Use the barrels to take out the guards below the next area and kill the other guards who aren't in the blast radius. As you progress, you will hear Vincent say "Great...snipers." Look to the rooftops and try and shoot them before they see you (don't go under the bridge with the case yet). There are a total of four snipers. Now get the card key, backtrack and go under the bridge. You will pick up a new weapon, the Blast Machine Gun. If machine guns are your thing, you may like this one. It does less damage but knocks over enemies that it hits. However, you can't upgrade it.
When you progress past the laser gate here you will see a box on a brick balcony above you. Don't shoot it. Instead, use a sniper scope to aim past it and you will see an explosive barrel. Shoot that instead and it knocks the box down to reveal a Fearie L Barrel, which has better speed and weight than a normal long barrel, but less damage. Jump over to the next area and you see a mounted machine gun. Hop on and you'll start an Objective, which is to kill the enemy forces as fast as possible. I believe it must be done in under two minutes to get the best score. Just kill bad guys as you see them. You will know you are at the end when two Black Widow type robots appear. The second one drops a keycard. Use it to open the gate behind the mounted machine gun rather than the one in front. Get those items and the extra key card and then move forward. Kill the spawning bad guys and move past the laser gates blocking your way to about five or six boxes. Around the corner above you sit four barrels. Shoot the second one and a Cactaur pops out. I haven't been able to kill him, feel free to email me if you know what he drops.
Head inside the room with all the boxes and pick up the Gil. You will now be attacked by Protection Soldiers from the other side of the laser gate and normal soldiers from the exit to the room. Once you have killed them all head to the shop machine and stock up. When you cross the bridge, the laser gates will activate and you will have to fight several waves of bad guys. Use the Limit Breaker if it gets overwhelming. After that, cross over and...
Auto Save
After the cut scene you can't go back, so the only direction to go is forward. Get whatever you need from the shop machine and then head up, killing the soldiers that pop out (the shop machine up here is a soldier in disguise, the tricky little fellow.). In the next room you have an option of how you want to progress. The first thing you should do is shoot the barrel above the exit door. Now, look at all the black bombs. You can sneak by them slowly if you want, or you can shoot them. If you choose to blow them up by shooting them, or involuntarily blow them up by stepping on them, a group of soldiers run out below you and start blasting; watch out for their rocket launchers. Once you get past this room you'll see a hallway of boxes. Shoot the boxes and kill the soldier that pops out, but don't run into the room yet. After all the boxes are gone, run halfway into the room and then back out to where you were. A soldier should pop up; kill him and wait for the aerial mine to blow itself up. Now sprint across the room avoiding the other mines.
The next area has an unending supply of exploding barrels being thrown over the wall, and a soldier who jumps down when you open the gate. You can shoot them (the barrels) over and over to get kill chains up if you want (hooray for game exploits!). When you are ready to go, just wait until both barrels are thrown over the edge at approximately the same time and run. Past this room is another, and when you enter it, a timer starts. If you wait out the timer, a Cactaur appears on the opposite side of the broken bridge you can't cross. He disappears real fast and I have never been able to kill him and am pretty sure you can't.
Anyway, make your way along and out onto the steel steps. Across the way you will see a roof with some soldiers hiding on the other side. Shoot one and kill the other ones that come out. Now look to the north-east; you will see a sniper on the roof. You need to kill some soldiers here in a certain order here or they will all start firing on you. Kill the one in plain sight on the rooftop. Now look down and to the left to see another in a window and kill him. Next kill the other one in plain sight who was below the first. Move down to the item case on the balcony below you and zoom in on the ground. Snipe the gunner on the mounted machine gun, which will cause alarm. Kill at least one more before they see you. Now look top left at the barrel on the rooftop. Shoot it to make it fall and blow up a few more soldiers, then move down the steps. Use the shop machine and snipe the far soldier from the window in the next room. Head downstairs, kill the soldiers congregating at the door, walk out and look up and to the left for a sniper on the roof. Kill the other soldiers that jump down and get the key card.
Now you have an option. If you want to participate in the optional Mission Objective here, go back to the shop machine and buy every potion and bullet you can and come back out, head through the laser gate to the east in front of the mounted machine gun. Go down and kill all the enemies in the room, get another shop machine spawn and use it if you need. Continue along here and you will find yourself in a room where the mission objective is "Kill 100 enemies". You must kill all 100 without dying or leaving, which you can do at any time. You can in fact reenter this room after you leave though and go back to the shop machine. There just buy back all the potions you used and then do the mission as many times as you like (this is great for money/XP, bad for your mission score). You can also be knocked out of the room from a rocket blast. If you finish it you make almost 90,000 gil after you sell the gold moogle doll reward and collect the drops, plus the tons of XP. It's your choice, though I honestly don't see why you wouldn't do it. The only advice I can give you is to kill the snipers that appear on the roof as soon as they spawn every time, they will cause the most damage by far, assuming you can dodge the rocket launcher attacks.
Whatever you decide, once you're done go back to the other laser gate but keep going past it to the end of the rubble. Look to your right and you will see two mounted machine guns and two soldiers. Kill the bottom machine gun first, then the top and then the two regular soldiers. Go past the laser gate now and get the 3000 Gil and Mako field. Head down and you get another Mission Objective, which is to find four items in this area. In order to get them you need to follow these instructions and don't use any of the card keys until you have collected everything you can. Start by taking a right and killing the guard who pops up. In that pipe is a mine on the ceiling. Shoot it and get the card key. Next go up to the mounted machine gun and look across the path to see a box; shoot it down, but before you go get the key inside look to your right. There is an exposed pipe with a mine in it. Shoot that mine and go down to get the two keys. Go back to the machine gun and keep moving past it, killing the two guards in the path. Climb the ladder past the second guard and see the card key at the top; you have to jump from the top of the ladder to get it. Climb the two ladders and blow up the box at the top for another key; there is also one hidden behind the shop machine up here. Jump down and follow the path until you reach a small cliff. There is a card key at the lip of it, slowly move forward and get it, but don't fall because you can't get back up. Now head back to the beginning; there is a gate with two card keys behind it, open it up and get them.
Now go back to where you saw seven gates in a row, open them all up and get the Lucky S Barrel. When you kill enemies with this, you get extra XP. Personally I find it to be pretty useless this late in the game, but if you plan on doing Extra Hard Mode you will have it the entire time. Go now and open all the remaining gates. One has Bayonet Rifle which allows for more melee damage and one has an Elixor, which fully restores all HP and Mana and adds a Phoenix Down effect, and one is a normal Limit Breakerer. Go back to the cliff from before and jump down to get a cut scene.
Auto Save
Boss: Nero the Sable
Okay, this part really bugged me. I mean, you finally get to face off against this guy, and it's a rather disappointing fight. If you have the Quantum Cerberus on normal mode you can out-damage him simply by standing there and shooting and using a Hi-Potion when you are low. Eventually he will split into three forms, just focus on one at a time. Sometimes he may blast you with some energy attack you can dodge; he also has a spinning melee attack you can double jump away from. If you get in trouble, for some inexplicable reason there is a shop machine here. Use it to buy potions/bullets and come back to finish him off. Thanks for the anti-climatic fight Square-Enix.
Chapter 11: Beginnings
Objectives:
Start the mission by collecting the cases and Mako field in front of you. As you follow the path you will be attacked by two Protection Soldiers. Kill them and the sentry robot and move on. Beyond them is another Protection Soldier who is on the pipe and can't be hit with anything but magic. I suggest Blizzard Materia. Keep going until you reach the next Mako field and kill the gargoyle. Then kill the Protection Soldier shooting you by shooting the barrel he's next to. One more Protection Soldier on the pipes after that to kill, you have to use magic or your Limit Breaker form again. Head past this room and restock at the shop machine.
In the next room is a Mission Objective to kill the gargoyles. Use the rifle to get the sniper on the path way off in the distance and kill the other two gargoyles. Move into the next room. Jump down and kill the sentry robots. In the next area there are several Protection Soldiers; don't miss the one to your left. Eventually a rocket launcher soldier will show up, kill him quick. If this area looks familiar it is because this is where you controlled Cait Sith earlier in the game. Jump down to the floor with all the Gil cases and when you walk over the Mako field a group of beetles will attack; the last one you kill drops a card key. The next room has another "Kill the gargoyle" mission, use the mounted gun if you don't care about accuracy points. Keep moving.
Auto Save
This room has a group of Protection Soldiers and rocket launchers on a pillar in the center. The mission objective is to kill every last one of them, and good luck, because this mission is a huge pain. The best way to do this is to snipe the boxes above them and shoot the barrels that fall around them. Use magic on any surviving Protection Soldiers and conventional arms on any rocket launchers. Every ten seconds or so a sentry robot will spawn while you are in the room. The next room has the final "Kill the gargoyle" mission. In the next room is a cut scene and when it is over you need to kill the Protection Soldiers before the other soldier gets his mounted machine gun set up, this shouldn't be too hard by now. Afterwards jump behind the would-be gunner and shoot him in the back, as he doesn't even turn and defend himself. If you hop onto the gun here, a group of enemies attack you. If the soldier pushing it got it set up in time, you can use it against them, if not you have to kill them normally.
In the next room are three Protection Soldiers, start the fight with a Fire blast and then finish them off. The next room has two bugs with a ton of HP and the room beyond that has a group of Protection Soldiers who shoot you from up above; you can't kill them so just sprint through. The next room has a swarm of regular bugs, so a few fire blasts should do it. The next room has a Mako field in each corner and an unending supply of Protection Soldiers soldiers. Just ignore them and stand on the center tile, which rises up. Jump to the west and grab the final "G Report" for the "secret" ending. Head down and get out of that room. Open up the big gate and proceed.
Auto Save
Boss: Dragonfly PT
Man, remember Chapter 1. Seems like it was so long ago now. Anyway, this is the revenge of the Dragonfly. Too bad he doesn't have any new tricks, though this time he has some gargoyle friends with him who swoop down and knock you off your feet; when you see one above you, take it out quickly. There is also a periodic sentry robot spawn, but other than that no special tactic here. The best bet when avoiding missiles is to position yourself so that they will hit the pillars on either side of the bridge. Dragonfly will fly back and forth and behind the reactor, just wait him out and shoot him whenever he is in view.
Open the gate to the reactor and head inside; A Protection Soldier will yell "Hail Weiss" and begins to run away. If you want you can shoot him in the back with a materia and melee him to death before he gets away. Follow his route and you will come to a group of Protection Soldiers; just Fire blast them and run in for the melee kill when they are grouped together. Use the shop machine and head into the next room.
Auto Save
Long cut scene and another boss fight.
Boss: Arachnero/Gorgonero
He will begin with a shield around him and four orbs which fly randomly around the level; you need to kill these orbs. The best way is to wait for one to stop and attack you and break its barrier, then kill it. Once all four are dead shoot down Arachnero's barrier and blast away. Avoid his fireballs like any other missile and make sure to get in as many hits as you can when he has fallen down. Eventually the orbs will repsawn and cast his shield again. Repeat the process until the next cut scene which will occur around 40% life. Now you will be on a floating rock and Nero will be in front of you. He will teleport to different locations, some in front of you, two behind you and even right on your own little patch of land. You can't really move so just watch for where he appears and shoot. After a few bullets he teleports again. If you attack him fast enough he won't even make any offensive moves, which is good because it is hard to dodge given you have about one square foot of space. Just keep it up until he is dead.
Next time you have control, Yuffie is hurt and you can use the shop machine here. Go down the hall to trigger another cut scene.
Auto Save
The next time you have control, don't even move, just let Hojo/Weiss kill you; it is part of the plot so there's nothing you can do about it.
Auto Save
Now when you regain control again you can fight for real.
Boss: Weiss Empowered
This guy moves really fast and can sprint across the screen like no other; the best strategy is to try to stay far away from him and dodge his bullets from behind the pillars. Jump out and shoot him when it is safe but don't waste bullets while he is twirling his swords. I also don't recommend fighting him hand to hand as he will just knock you down over and over. You can't turn into your alternate form, but using a Limit Breaker will fully heal you so... yeah. Not sure how that works, but whatever. During the fight you need to avoid his melee charges, machine gun, and light streak attack, similar to what you saw in the fight with Rosso, as well as a shockwave attack such as you saw with Azul. He will periodically jump to his seat in the back and fire some energy beams at you, but just block them with the terrain and wait for him to come back out; you can't damage him while he sits there. Just keep your distance and keep shooting. He is pretty tough as far as this games bosses go, though... yeah. Not saying too much.
Don't bother upgrading equipment here unless you are trying to max everything out to carry over the Extra Hard mode.
Chapter 12, Part 1: Omega and Chaos
As this mission opens, Vincent is now in Chaos form with the most powerful weapon in the game, the Death Penalty. It does about 2000 damage per attack and can hit multiple enemies at once. The only downside is that it really won't score any critical hits, so if you are worried about that score then switch back to your normal weapon (if you're like me and love the gun keep it). The enemies here are not even challenging though since your new gun will take them out in one shot. Just make sure not to let them gang up on you, the lasers can be hard to dodge when multiple enemies are shooting them.
There is really only one path to take here. Get the Elixir and move along the ruined Midgar structures. Eventually you will fall into a giant pipe and a few steps out of it you will come to a cut scene. When you have control again, go straight and take a right up the steps. Keep moving and don't miss the Omega report on the next platform, it's behind the crates. Up another set of steps and across the bridge, you will see a second Omega report. Next, you will find yourself being led to a platform where enemies will spawn all around you, just strafe in a circle and kill them. When they are all dead there is another cut scene. You will be fully healed automatically here.
Auto Save
Next time you have control, Vincent is flying through a tunnel. Kill the enemies as they move in front of you. Then in the next room kill them until they stop spawning. You will find yourself climbing a spiral path, make your way to the top and step on the circle.
Auto Save
You will be on a path in front of Omega with enemies flying around. Kill them if you want, but it isn't necessary. Just move to the end of the path and you get some stage results. Use the XP for levels.
Chapter 12, Part 2: Omega and Chaos
Auto Save
The rest of the game is essentially a long boss fight. You begin amidst a circle of organisms, the Crystal Feeders. What you need to do here is watch for when a feeder is open and run over and melee it to death. Creatures will spawn all over the place, use the rifle so you don't waste Death Penalty bullets. Just make sure you don't let too many spawn or you will get blasted from every angle. When all the feeders are dead the Omega Cocoon rises up. Keep shooting the enemies that pop up and just damage the cocoon as fast as possible, eventually it will break. Now you fight the real and final boss.
Boss: Omega Weiss
Use the Death Penalty to aim at his center, the shots will hit both Weiss and the robot he is controlling. He will fire slow moving missiles at you like 75% of the bosses in this game, so if you don't know what to do by now I honestly have no clue as to how you got here. Pillars will slowly begin to rise from the ground which actually makes dodging his fireballs a lot easier.
After you hurt him a bit he will summon a wall of blue shields in front. Take them out as fast as you can because they become offensive weapons that will knock you over. After they are dead, Weiss may jump down to attack you. Just avoid him and eventually he will jump back into his golem-mech thing. At this point you will go back to avoiding fireballs and shooting him, be careful not to stand directly in front of him because he has a habit of slapping the group with his giant hand.
When you see him retreat into the air and start summoning a big ball of flame, just heal up as much as you can, I don't think it's even possible to avoid taking damage from the impending explosion (or maybe I just suck, who knows). After that he comes back down and returns to firing missiles, only he gets a lot more offensive and moves toward you in order to hit you with his arms. Run circles around the edge of the stage at this point, and keep shooting with the Death Penalty and he won't last much longer. Congrats, you just beat Dirge of Cerberus. Now please, take a shower, I can smell it from here.
Final Fantasy VII on the forums...
Pulling a BoB here and making a separate thread by chapter. 
Will include any spoilers through chapter 1.
The prologue was surprising.
FFVII:DoC Pages
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