So I am replaying this game

[Bubba]

I think Aeris has enough screen time anyway to develop an emotional attachment to her. I personally wouldn't use her constantly, unless I'm trying to get her final Limit Break.

[Loony BoB]

I would use her if you like her character and not use her if you don't. That's probably the best way to play.

[Bubba]

I would use her if you like her character and not use her if you don't. That's probably the best way to play.

Actually yeah, this...

[krissy]

i use her and tifa in the same party and go to the inns a lot

like


a lot

if you knows wut i maen

Final Fantasy 7 Good Night Text Alert Tone SMS Ringtone - YouTube

[Raistlin]

I wouldn't bother trying to get Aerith's last limit break unless you want to spend A LOT of time grinding in disc 1.

The Midgar Zolom is tough to beat when you first encounter him, but its Beta Enemy Skill can make disc 1 a piece of cake. Other notable Enemy Skills available in disc 1 are White Wind and Big Guard (available from enemies around Fort Condor and Costa del Sol respectively after you get the Manipulate materia) and Trine (cast by various enemies and bosses). Enemy Skills are far superior than magic materia for most of the game.

Unless you feel a dire need to grind for levels/AP, I would advise you to wait until you get the Tiny Bronco later in disc 1. Then I believe you can reach the island of Mideel (southeast corner), and its surrounding forest is one of the best places to level up in the entire game (arguably until the final dungeon).

I would advise getting Yuffie as soon as possible, which allows you to do the Wutai sidequest after you get the Tiny Bronco. It can be fairly difficult at that time, and some people find it very annoying, but I think it's very entertaining (if a bit frustrating if you're unprepared and under-leveled). It's also worthwhile to get various items, including the Leviathan summon.

[Laddy]

Equip your characters with Materia that plays to their strengths. For example, Cait Sith, Aerith, and Red XII make great casters, whereas Barret and Cid are good fighter types.

[Citizen Bleys]

I advise grinding outside the chocobo ranch (near Kalm) until level 30 -- this goes fast if you try to unlock a few limit breaks using hyper and cover. Then you don't need to dodge the Midgar Zolom on a chocobo, you can just beat the bastard, and get Beta at the same time. (Make sure your character with the Enemy Skill material doesn't do much damage before someone gets kicked out).

Later, after you get the buggy, drive into Costa Del Sol on the buggy and stow away on the ship to Junon. Very near where you come out at the Junon ship, you'll see several Shinra troops drilling. Beside them is a...red thing. Press it, and alarms will go off and you'll start getting strong (for that level) random encounters, giving 80-160 AP per fight, and a fair amount of exp and gil. You should have some double materia growth gear at this point, so you can master a bunch of them. I went to level 50 there before setting foot in Gongaga. At level 50, you can easily one-shot the boss in Cosmo Canyon with a limit break. It also basically means you'll never have to level again. This is the best place to level on Disc 1, but by the time you hit Disc 2 regular enemies will be just as good.

[maybee]

I advise grinding outside the chocobo ranch (near Kalm) until level 30 -- this goes fast if you try to unlock a few limit breaks using hyper and cover. Then you don't need to dodge the Midgar Zolom on a chocobo, you can just beat the bastard, and get Beta at the same time. (Make sure your character with the Enemy Skill material doesn't do much damage before someone gets kicked out).

Later, after you get the buggy, drive into Costa Del Sol on the buggy and stow away on the ship to Junon. Very near where you come out at the Junon ship, you'll see several Shinra troops drilling. Beside them is a...red thing. Press it, and alarms will go off and you'll start getting strong (for that level) random encounters, giving 80-160 AP per fight, and a fair amount of exp and gil. You should have some double materia growth gear at this point, so you can master a bunch of them. I went to level 50 there before setting foot in Gongaga. At level 50, you can easily one-shot the boss in Cosmo Canyon with a limit break. It also basically means you'll never have to level again. This is the best place to level on Disc 1, but by the time you hit Disc 2 regular enemies will be just as good.

^ Holy trout ! You're not telling a fib ?

I must try this. :O_O:

You don't really need a Chocobo to dodge the Zolom. If you time it right and twist the camera angle, you can just run for it. I do it every-time.

[Citizen Bleys]

What, about the levelling spot in Junon? It works like a charm.

[krissy]

you can also reach the southern islands using the bronco on disc 1, another great levelling spot, especially if you have beta. you can spam beta on most groups of enemies there and take them out with one hit, and it's really good exp/ap

[Raistlin]

Later, after you get the buggy, drive into Costa Del Sol on the buggy and stow away on the ship to Junon. Very near where you come out at the Junon ship, you'll see several Shinra troops drilling. Beside them is a...red thing. Press it, and alarms will go off and you'll start getting strong (for that level) random encounters, giving 80-160 AP per fight, and a fair amount of exp and gil. You should have some double materia growth gear at this point, so you can master a bunch of them. I went to level 50 there before setting foot in Gongaga. At level 50, you can easily one-shot the boss in Cosmo Canyon with a limit break. It also basically means you'll never have to level again. This is the best place to level on Disc 1, but by the time you hit Disc 2 regular enemies will be just as good.

It's good for that area, but after Rocket Town the forest outside of Mideel is better, which remains one of the best areas to level up in the entire game. I'm not entirely positive you can reach the forest in disc 1, but the grass areas on the islands have some of the same enemies and should be better than anything else in disc 1. The enemies are worth about 80 AP each and come in groups of 2-4. But considering you can fight in Junon well beforehand (there are a few bosses between Costa del Sol and when you can go to Mideel), Junon is also a great place to stop for a while. If you wanted to do the Wutai sidequest as soon as possible, I would recommend the Mideel islands.

[krissy]

yeah that's what i meant.

the only thing you migth have trouble with is the sandworm.

but quite honestly don't worry too much about anything we're saying and just have fun exploring and getting into trouble

[Pumpkin]

I have done some of the things mentioned. I did use the Chocobo to cross the swamp, after getting everyone to level 20, and then I built up some more in the Junon area (which I'm still doing), and went back and fought the snake and got Beta. I found an interesting strategy that worked.

1. Equip [Red XII] with monster magic (I have decided he will be my blue mage).
2. Equipe [Red XIII] with Fire and link it to Elemental on his armor. That way he takes less damage from Fire attacks (Beta).
3. I had Cloud do damage (mostly Quake) and Tifa heal as Red XIII guarded and waited for him to kick Cloud out of the party, because he generally kicks out whoever is doing the most damage.
4. When he uses Beta, Red XIII, still had about 400~ HP, instantly cast Beta.
5. Win fight.

It took a few tries because I either a) poorly timed my actions or b) jerk-snake kicked out Red.

now I got Yuffie and am doing the optional mountain sidequest and trying to get everyone to level 25.

Everyone excpet Aeris is now at the Limit level 2, and Red XII also has his level 3 limit. Cloud has his Climhazzard. My Fire, Lightning, Ice spells are level 2. So is cover and choco/mog and my two all materias. One of my Restores is almost at level 2.

EDIT

Also, if anyone cares, I am blogging my progress under My First Day in the blog section.

[PoolHandMan]

I didn't do any fancy strategies to kill Midgar zolom, all I did was equipping one character with a fire ring (you find it in Costa Del Sol) and then Equip the same character with the Enemy Skill materia. When that bloody snake cast beta on me, my character survived and I just kept attacking 'till I killed it.

One final hint: in this game, you don't need to worry too much about leveling up, just go through the game smoothly, (of course you need to level up, but you don't need to overdo it) do not train that hard and you'll like it (one time that I played I decided to level up too much and the game got so easy that it wasn't so fun)

[Skyblade]

FYI, the Midgard Zol doesn't kick out the person who does the most damage, he kicks out the first person to attack him after he stands up. Just don't queue attacks so you can be sure to control who that is and he'll always attack the one you want.

Ok, technically, I'm lying. The Zolom doesn't always target the first person to damage him after he stands up. It's actually the person whose attack takes him under a certain HP amount, which isn't quite the same thing. He stands up at 3/4 health lost, and ejects at 1/2 health lost. I'm used to fighting him with hard hitting characters (or by using Poison for the majority of my damage), so the rules get played with some. Once an attack drops him below 1/2 health, he ejects the person who did the attack. If Poison drops him below 1/2 health, he ejects the next person to attack him. Either way, though, he targets that person, regardless of how much damage they've done throughout the fight.

Also, the Fire Ring completely negates fire damage, so combining it with Elemental + Fire in someone's armor is a waste. If you're going for Beta after getting the Fire Ring, give one person the ring, another Elemental + Fire, and get the third kicked out so your whole party will live.