Welcome to the Jegged.com walkthrough and strategy guide for Final Fantasy VII! As with any strategy guide or walkthrough, please note that these pages contain spoilers. Don’t read too far ahead if you don’t want to ruin the story.

Let’s get started…

The game begins with an opening cinematic sequence set in Midgar.

Platform

A train will pull into the train station. Walk down towards the train platform at the far end of the screen. You can press the ‘Cancel’ button to run () unless you customize the controller, which is worth considering.

Unlike later games on the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3, the developers configured Final Fantasy VII with a controller configuration that is standard for Japanese players but non-standard for North American players.

Examine the body of the knocked-out red guards to receive two free Potions. You will be thrust into battle against two guards as you work your way across the train platform.

They enemies are easy to defeat, but you have to be fast. Final Fantasy VII uses live battles rather than a turn-based combat system, another change from some of the previous games in the series. One attack with your sword will take care of each of the Soldiers.

Sector 1 Train Station

Enter the next screen and speak to the AVALANCHE team members near the closed doorway. The game will provide you with an opportunity to choose a name for the main protagonist.

This author recommends that you not change his name from Cloud as he will be referred to as “Cloud” throughout this strategy guide. This recommendation applies to all the other main characters as well.

Sector 1

Continue along the pathway and through the doorway. As you move through Sector 1, you will be thrown into random battles against soldiers and guards. Keep an eye on your HP and use a Potion if it gets too low.

No. 1 Reactor

Take a right at the T-intersection. Speak to Barret at the top of the stairs for a quick conversation regarding the reactor. He will join your party, and you can now fight with him in regular battles.

You should immediately take this opportunity to move Barret to the back row as he fights using a long-range weapon. He will take less damage while in the back row, and his being in the back row will not negatively impact his attack strength. Check out the Tips and Tricks section for more information about the front and back row mechanics.

To move Barret to the back row, select the “Order” option in the main menu, choose Barret’s character icon, and then put him in the same place by pressing Select again. His profile picture will appear indented to the right of Cloud’s profile picture, as shown in the screenshot below.

Talk to Biggs (the character near the locked door) to open the door. Talk to Jessie in the second room to decipher the code on the second door and move in.

Move down into the southeast section of the next room to find a chest that contains a Phoenix Down. Speak to Jessie near the elevator and jump in.

Barret will give Cloud another speech about reactors and what they are doing to the planet. Follow Jessie out the door of the elevator.

Follow her down the stairway and through the door at the bottom. Walk up towards the gap in the floor, and Cloud will automatically jump over it. Jessie will give you some information on how to use the ladder.

Grab the Potion lying on the ground in front of Jessie (the flashing blue vile). Continue down the pathway and take the ladder down to the pipe below. Follow the pipe around the path to the left and take the next ladder down to the scaffolding below.

Save your game at the Save Point before you continue, as you have a boss battle coming up. Continue down the path leading to the bottom right.

There is a small blue orb blocking the pathway—pick it up to receive a Restore Materia. You cannot use or equip the Restore Materia until later on in the game after you receive instructions. Ensure that Cloud and Barret are at full HP before continuing into the next area.

Walk towards the pipe, and Barret will begin speaking again. Cloud and Barret will set the bomb, and then the Guard Scorpion will ambush them.

Don’t forget to equip the Assault Gun that the Guard Scorpion after the battle concludes!

A timer will start up as soon as you defeat the Guard Scorpion. It is time for you to make a hasty exit! Pausing the game does not stop the timer, nor does entering the save menu; therefore, you will need to be quick.

Once Jessie has been freed, she will go upwards and open the locked doors for you on the top floor.

Talk to Jessie at the first door (orange hair), and then talk to Biggs at the second door. Sector 1 will then explode as team AVALANCHE makes their exit.

Sector 8

Follow Barret up the stairs.

Cloud will run into Aeris for the first time here in Sector 8. Aeris will ask, “What happened?” and Cloud will have two options for responding:

• “You’d better get out of here.”
• “Nothing…hey, listen…”

Some of the interactions that you have with characters will have an impact on a scene later on in the game at Gold Saucer. They are of a waste of time to worry about during any general playthrough of the game, though, unless you are trying to obtain all the available achievements or trophies.

During your first time playing the game, and you’re not concerned about achievements or trophies, you can ignore the “Best Bromance” information windows listed throughout this guide. For more information on the Gold Saucer Date Side Quest, use the link in the information window below.

There is a Potion on the left side of the next screen (shown in the screenshot below). Continue southward into the next area, where more Soldiers will ambush Cloud.

The game will provide you with the option to either fight the soldiers or run away. Don’t waste your time fighting, and select the “Later” option every time. Cloud will jump onto the train below as it passes.

Follow Barret, Jessie, and Biggs to the front of the train when they leave the car that Cloud lands in. Speak to Jessie again to have a look at the Midgar Railway System Map. Walk towards Barret after Jessie gives you an overview of the railway system and the city of Midgar.

Sector 7 Station

Go and talk to Barret and the team when he calls everyone over at the station. Follow the team to the left after he orders the team to move out.

Sector 7 Slums

You can examine the pillar when you reach the next area if you talk to the man to the north near the Save Point. Follow Barret and then speak to him to gain entry into the building that he chases everybody out of.

7^th Heaven

This establishment is Tifa’s 7^th Heaven, a bar in the Sector 7 Slums and the primary hideout of Team AVALANCHE. You will have the opportunity to change Tifa’s name.

Try to leave the bar, and Barret will burst into the room with more dialogue that continues to move the story along. You can talk to Tifa behind the bar for some more conversations and dialogue. Follow the team down the pinball machine trap door and go over to speak to Barret with continue the story.

Take the pinball machine elevator back up to the top floor and walk towards the exit. Tifa will come upstairs to talk with Cloud and to try and convince him to join Team AVALANCHE. Barret will give Cloud his payment of 1,500 gil and then offer to join Team AVALANCHE on the next mission.

Ride the elevator up to the main floor the next morning. Speak to Tifa first and then speak to Barret to learn about the next mission: the Sector 5 reactor. Barret will ask Cloud for an explanation of how Materia works.

If this is your first playthrough of the game, watch the full tutorial. Alternatively, you can check out the Tips and Tricks section for some advanced tactics.

Sector 7 Slums

Walk downwards towards the bottom of the screen. There is an item shop on the left where you can buy Potions, Phoenix Downs, Antidotes, and some basic Materia.

The doorway on the right leads to the Sector 7 Weapon Shop. Go up to the second floor and enter through the doorway. Speaking with the different people in this room will provide you with some basic explanations of game mechanics, including Save Points, treasure chests, Limit Breaks, and more.

There is an All Materia in front of the man at the bottom of the screen. A treasure chest will also fall from the roof, and it contains a free Ether.

You should attach your All Materia to the Restore Materia that you already have so that you can instantly heal all three of your party members.

Both Cloud and Barret have a weapon equipped with a paired Materia Slot that allows you to attach a support Materia (the blue ones). Check out the Tips and Tricks section for more information about Materia pairing.

Speak to the Weapon Shop owner before you leave and stock up on some items. The Iron Bangle that he sells will increase the defense stat of each of your characters while adding a Materia Slot. Buy three of them before you leave.

You should also purchase one Fire Materia as well. Cloud comes pre-equipped with a Lightning Materia and an Ice Materia, but some of the monsters and bosses that you will be fighting throughout the game will have weaknesses to Fire-based magic attacks.

Train

Walk back to the Sector 7 Station and follow Team AVALANCHE onto the train to continue the story.

Walk over and talk to Tifa when she asks you to look at the Railway Map Monitor. The alarm will sound, and Cloud will have to run towards the front of each of the train cars before the timer runs out.

There is a man in the first car that you can speak to who will give you a Phoenix Down. In the second train car, a man will ask you a question. Selecting “Yeah…” will get you a free Hi-Potion.

The third car has a man who will steal your gil as you run past him (you will hear a ‘ding’ noise as he passes you). Just run back and talk to him and select “That’s right.” to get your gil back. Speak to Tifa to jump off of the train with the rest of the team.

Winding Tunnels

Head away from the screen down the tunnel. Light beams will block the pathway on the next screen. Use the hatch to the left of the beams of light and choose the option to “Go down.”

Grab the Ether (the green flask) along the pathway and climb down the ladder at the end.

Lower Sector 4 Plate

Climb down both ladders into the large open area. Climb the ladder just to the left of the one you climbed down (shown in the screenshot below).

Follow the duct along until you reach the room where Jessie is standing. There is a Potion to the left of the duct near where Jessie is standing (again, shown in the screenshot below).

Take the ladder on the left side of the screen, and don’t worry if you end up taking another pathway or a wrong turn. All the paths end up in this same area. Pick up the Tent lying on the ground and then save your game at the Save Point.

No. 5 Reactor

Use the pipe to the right of the doorway to slide down to the lower level. This reactor has the same layout as the last reactor (the No. 1 Reactor).

Follow the pathway down the ladders and across the pipes and save your game at the Save Point.

Walk towards the No. 5 Reactor and have Cloud place the bomb.

Go back the way you came, but take the stairway up to the top level rather than the pipe that you previously slid down. Ride the elevator back to the upper level.

Open the chest to receive an Ether. Enter the room to the north, and Tifa and Barret will both step over to the machine in the center of the room.

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret must all press the buttons simultaneously to activate the door. It may take a couple of tries for you to get it right, but you have an unlimited number of tries. Save your game at the Save Point, as there is an upcoming boss battle.

Go down the steps and follow the pathway north until a cutscene triggers.

Air Buster will explode once it is defeated, leaving a massive hole in the platform, which Cloud will fall into. Cloud will eventually fall into the lower levels of the Sector 5 Slums.