can you kill the swamp thing?

[Gregoriev]

yeah, i took on that swamp thing because i got tired of trying to catch the stupid chokobos, you know, i figured i could do it.

with coud and tifia and that flower chick acting as a healer i was sure i would be able to wear it down over a long period of time. i have pleanty of eather, phoenix down, and potions to go around.

things started out well, it was a proven system. well, i got overzealous and had the flower chick fight instead of heal, and it all went to hell in a hand basket.

cloud is level 17ish, everyone else is 16

i had not realized that the all modifier materia only works a few times. i was counting on it to heal all my characters all at once, this would keep my healer perfect health and everyone else okay too.

but seriously, is it even possible to kill the swamp snake thing? it flicked tifia out of battle with it's tail (something that i thought wasn't possible) then i still continued to kick ass with my superior though deteriorating strategy until the damn thing went into like...beta mode or something and dealt a massive 1200 something attack to all party members. that's more than twice anyone's maximum health!!!

i don't think i can beat it now, but if i try to level up alot over the next week, i mean solid leveling, just running around fighint the same stuff, and assemble the same team except maybe with beret this time because tifia's limit break is like the lotto, win and loose, with beret it's always good. big shot works great, but mindblow hasn't matured enough to be effective.

i just want to strike down the beast. it has to be possible!!!

[TheAbominatrix]

It can be killed, yes. At that current stage in the game it's very difficult, and it's really not worth it. Not only do you not get anything substantial from the battle, but the monster comes back right away.

[battousai9439]

It's true, you do not get anything good out of killing it. If you still want to kill it, just get the Chocobo, go across, and come back later in the game... like, towards the end.

That's when ONE attack from Cloud will do away with it...


In short, just get the Chocobo and forget about the Zolom...

[Weimar Pluto Knight VII]

I usually skip the chocobo thing. You don't need the chocobo to avoid the Midgar Zolom, but it's hard. If you don't have a lot of money, I suggest you do things that way. Save your game at the edge of the swamp, wait for the MZ to move to one side, then run as fast as you can close to the moutains until you reach the Mythril Mine entrance. Save. Don't put Aeris in your party. Play up to the Turks. When that's done, reset. Put Aeris in your party and watch the Turks scene again.

[Mr.Mage]

At that level I don't believe it is possible. Unless you get lucky and it doesn't use beta on the party. It is possible to survive it's physical attacks though, but the attack where it flicks a party member out the battles does make it pretty much impossible. It's just not worth the time and effort. I just went back after I beat Ft.Condor and killed it. I think I was level 25, can't quite remember.

Well anyways, it's not worth the time and effort. It would be if you want to get beta, which I did at level 25 with moderate challenge. Just for future reference you can't learn and enemy skill and then run from the battle. It doesn't work.

[Captain Maxx Power]

If you managed to get an Elemental Materia from the Shinra tower, then pair it with a Fire on your armour to null Beta (I think either Elemental or Fire has to be Level 2, otherwise it just halves it).

[Mirage]

I killed it with Cloud at level 19 or 20, the others were 18 and 19. Elemental lvl1 only halves the damage, but that's enough to survive Beta if you've got about 700 HP.
I put all my characters on the back row, and had Cloud damage it with his limit breaks, I had climhazard at this point. I had the two others heal mainly Cloud, so that he would be able to survive Beta anytime. I also gave Cloud E. Skill, and used Beta at the Midgar Zolom after he used it at me. That killed him.

-Edit-
Oh yeah, I gave Cloud the Talisman accessory too, +10 Spirit. That reduced Beta's damage from about 800 to about 700.

So basically, you need just a bit more HP than what Beta removes, and then you kill it with your new-learned spell. You'll need like 10-15 more levels to survive an attack after it used Beta on you.
Getting your Elemental materia to level 2 isn't really an option either, as it needs 10000 AP for that.

P.S. Only pussies use a chocobo. :P

[~Tenderness~]

I've defeated the MZ with solo Aerith at level thirteen and according to people at GameFAQs it's possible to defeat it with levels even lower than that The reason that Aerith was as high as thirteen was because she was gaining all the experience points in my battle party since I was going solo with her so the other two characters were ko'd and I had to fight enough battles so she could defeat enough enemies to learn Breath of the Earth then Planet Protector. I revived them for the MZ fight though so there would be less chance of MZ using the attack that knocks a character out of the battle on Aerith. Aerith learning Planet Protector makes MZ battles easier since MZ can't cause direct damage whilst the invincible status is active. On my save Planet Protector was active for three rounds after it was used. That was three rounds without taking damage giving Aerith some chances to deal damage to MZ. Since her hit points aren't very high at level thirteen though MZ takes a hefty chunk out of them when it does get in an attack. Benifits? Makes limit bar fill up until she can use Planet Protector again Flaws? Means that when she is under the invincible status you have to have her ready to heal herself as soon as the status wears off. I managed to always heal her in time though and even managed to learn Beta with her since she was under invincibility when Beta hit MZ " I have lost so much of my health that I am now going to use my uber powerful fire skill on you to make you pay" *uses Beta ..... 0 HP damage :-o* xD *Having now learned Beta Aerith uses it back on MZ and takes him out* xDD

Since you are not going solo Gregoriev I suggest that perhaps you should maybe still go ahead and have Aerith the flower chick learn Planet Protector if she hasn't and use it if she has On a non solo game Planet Protector is cast on every character in the battle party not just her so they will all reap the benifits of it Also for more chances of surviving the fight equip the elemental + fire materia like Maxx Power suggested in the armour of the character that has the highest hit points, like Mirage said it will half the damage Beta does on that character if Beta hits when she/he isn't under the invincible status and if their hit points are high enough they will manage to survive it although I think they should heal immediately if they do, the Talisman equipped to someone like Mirage said also and perhaps even have two characters under the Sadness status so that MZ's attacks do less damage Having Aerith in the back row and under the Fury status works well I find

If you just want to defeat MZ without gaining the enemy skill Beta then just have Barret use Mind Blow to drain all of the MZ's magic points then it won't be able to use Beta due to not having enough MP xDD

Good luck in any case Gregoriev

[Mirage]

Well to be honest, the only reason I killed him was because I wanted Beta. It's so damned useful early in the game. :D

[theundeadhero]

Well to be honest, the only reason I killed him was because I wanted Beta. It's so damned useful early in the game.

Exactly, it's possible and well worth it to kill him in the beginning of the game. It's just not very easy like everything else in the game.

[Gregoriev]

It's good to hear that it's possible at this point, although disheartening that one person said it just comes right back again. i may try just running past it as one person suggested.

what's the deal with not having aeris in my party though? i can kick anyones arse! this whole game is not really based on free ranging, you are always going to be at a certain level by the time you are there. just make the right choices during battle and don't get over zealous thinking that you don't need to heal somebody.

one last thing, is it possible to move an item up in the listing? when trying to catch a chocobo i had to scroll almost to the end, then once the character threw the food the first monster had attacked and hte chocobo ran away. waste of time and effort there i guess. any practical suggestions?

thank you all for your advice, i will be sure to run around aimlessly until i level up five or six levels before i take down that swampy bastard. it's not that i am too lazy to get a chocobo or sneak by, it's just personal now...i mean the damn thing defeated me!!! it's all on now!!!

[Weimar Pluto Knight VII]

You could

a) customize your items. Go to your item menu, and I think the second option is arrange on top. Then select customize. Select your greens, then select something near the top. Voila. It's now easier to use them.

b) Avoid the Midgar Zolom on foot; follow my above suggestions. Trust me; you can make it! It's tough, though. Not nearly as tough as beating the MZ, even if you lvl up 5 more times.

[DMKA]

Well to be honest, the only reason I killed him was because I wanted Beta. It's so damned useful early in the game.

Yes.

[nik0tine]

It's not worth it to waste your time with him. I think if you don't want to catch a Chocobo, you can go out and before it catches you go to the menu and save. Then reset and when you load it up the midgar zolom won't be near you so you can keep going.

[One winged angel of death]

it is possible but it's as hard as heck. Another thing is that some people get there at lvl50 (they must be really board or really stupid) and that's all. my friend no lie got there at lvl29. So in away it's possible and in away if you can't pull it off, stick to the chocobo.