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Junon

You will arrive in an area listed as the “Junon Area” when you exit the Mythril Mines. There are two optional side quests that you can complete in the Junon area.

The items and rewards you receive for completing the Fort Condor side quests and missions throughout the game, while helpful, are negligible and are certainly not required to complete the game. The reward for completing the Fort Condor side quest now, on your way to Junon, is a Magic Comb weapon for Red XIII.

There isn’t much point to completing the Fort Condor mission at this point, but you should take this opportunity to obtain Yuffie, one of the two secret optional characters in Final Fantasy VII. Yuffie has a chance to appear during any battle in a forested area of the game.

The likelihood of her appearing depends on the forest, but the forest outside Junon only has a 12.5% likelihood that she will appear when the battle begins, so you have to be patient. It could take many tries!

Check out the Secret Characters section for more information about how to obtain Yuffie. Remember to place her in the back row if you decide to add her to your main party.

Yuffie in the back row

You can also steal a Boomerang weapon for Yuffie if you plan on using her. You can steal Boomerangs from a “Formula” enemy, as shown in the screenshot below. It has much better Attack and Attack % stats than the 4-point Shuriken that she comes equipped with.

Stealing a Boomerang from a Formula

Continue onward to Junon, a city located on the west coast behind a small hill, as shown in the screenshot below.

Junon from the world map

Under Junon

The section of town you first arrive in is called “Under Junon,” a smaller section in the city located at the base of the wall surrounding Junon.

Entrance to the town under Junon

The Weapon Store near the entrance to town does not sell any actual weapons. You can purchase:

At this stage of the game, you should already have armor that is stronger than Mythril Armlets for most of your characters.

The Weapon Store in the town under Junon

A boss battle is coming up, so be sure you equip your characters with any Materia they may need. Melee characters will not be able to attack the boss with regular physical attacks.

You can get around this by equipping melee characters with magic-based Materia (Fire, Ice, Lightning), using Long Range Materia, or just using characters with long-range attacks (Barret or Yuffie).

Heading down to the beach in Junon

Go down to the beach for a cutscene involving Priscilla and “Mr. Dolphin.”

Speaking to Priscilla and Mr Dolphin
Bottomswell
Boss Battle
Boss Battle against Bottomswell

HP: 2,500
Reward: Power Wrist

As mentioned above, you will not be able to use regular melee-based Attacks against Bottomswell. You can use Long Range Materia to allow a melee character to use attacks, and Barret and Yuffie can get around this by default as their attacks are long-ranged.

Equip each of your other characters with magic Materia, Enemy Skill Materia (to use “Flame Thrower”), or the Choco/Mog Summon. Bottomswell is also susceptible to Bio, so use Poison on him very early on in the fight.

Bottomswell will use a spell similar to Reno’s Pyramid attack called Waterpolo. It will prevent a character from moving or attacking, but this time, it will also leech HP from that character. You will have to use a magic spell to break it.

Bottomswell using Waterpolo on Cloud

A video demonstration of this battle is included below for reference:

The group will notice Priscilla passed out and not breathing, lying on the beach. Cloud will have to perform CPR on her to bring her back to life.

A breath size indicator, shaped like two lungs, will be displayed on the screen indicating how full Cloud’s lungs are. He can break in up to 10 ‘ticks’ on the lung meter before he must exhale. It takes approximately 41 breaths to revive Priscilla.

You can aim for 8 or 9 ‘ticks’ on each exhale and not have to worry about going over the maximum of 10, which will restart the inhalation process.

Priscilla with Mr. Dolphin

The old man will take Priscilla away once you have revived her. Rather than follow the old man and Priscilla, go and speak to the lady in pink and red standing outside the house near the entrance. She will suggest that you “come in for a while.”

The woman in the town under Junon offering up her house

Choose to rest in the lady’s home when presented with the option to do so.

Follow the team out into the middle of town when Cloud awakens the next morning. Priscilla will emerge from the house once you try to climb up the steps. She will hand over an ‘amulet,’ which is the Shiva Materia—your next summon Materia.

Priscilla giving Cloud the Shiva Summon Materia

Follow Priscilla down to the beach again. She will call over “Mr. Dolphin” to try and help you get to the top of the transmission tower in the middle of the water.

There is an easy trick to getting “Mr. Dolphin” correctly aligned in the water to get Cloud up there. Rather than moving Cloud around at all, just blow the whistle twice in succession without moving. Cloud and Mr. Dolphin properly align themselves after the first jump to get you up on the second. Travel towards the base of the structure and climb up.

Cloud using Mr. Dolphin to climb up to Junon

Junon Airport

This is your first glimpse at the Highwind! Walk towards the camera and then towards the control panel on the large platform. Use the control panel to lower the large platform. Walk towards the southeast to enter the Junon Airport barracks.

The Highwind docked at the Junon Airport

The red guard will scream at you to get into the changing room. Do what he says and open the locker to change into the Shinra Soldier uniform.

Cloud wearing the Shinra Soldier uniform

There is a Save Point just past the entrance to the Junon Airport Path, which you can grab after changing.

Saving in the Junon Barracks

Junon

Exiting the barracks leads into the large city of Junon.

The city of Junon cinematic The large cannon in Junon

This mini-game can be challenging even for long-time fans of the series. The rewards are based on the ratings, which are displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen:

  • Less than 29%, and you will receive a Grenade
  • Between 30% and 39%, and you will receive 6 Potions
  • Between 40% and 49%, and you will receive 6 Ethers
  • More than 50%, and you will receive 5,000 gil

The video below demonstrates how to achieve above 50 percentage points, focusing on three main points outlined below.

The three things you need to do to get above 50% are:

  1. Get down to the bottom right corner of the formation as soon as you can. The best way to do this is to run straight towards the camera and through the lines of soldiers as they pass. It’s much easier than trying to go around in the way shown in the examples.
  2. Keep Cloud in line with the Shinra Soldiers. It does not matter if their steps line up. The most important factor is that you are in a straight line, or as straight of a line as possible, not too far ahead or behind.
  3. Press PlayStation Circle Button (or PlayStation Cross or X Button in the PlayStation 4 version of the game) each time you see the words “Now” on the screen. The “Now” command will only come up if you are perfectly in line with the other Shinra Soldiers.

The command will continually pop up while you are in formation, and you can easily press it 8 or 9 times before the screen fades to black. Staying in line and pressing PlayStation Circle Button multiple times is the easiest way to get a high rating.

Use the video below to help you understanding the timing:

At the end of the following sequence involving Rufus and Heidegger, one of the Red Shinra Soldiers will ask you, “You messing with the army?” It does not matter which response you choose.

The captain of the Shinra Soldiers talking to Cloud

The next scene in the locker room will provide an opportunity to practice the next mini-game, which is essentially Simon Says, using the PlayStation controller’s buttons. Following the tutorial, you will be free to explore the city of Junon (also known as Upper Junon).

Instructions for the demonstration coming up for Rufus

Upper Junon

The first store is the Materia Store which has a man standing out front. You can purchase the following:

Both Seal Materia and Revive Materia are new. Seal Materia will allow you to cast Sleepel and eventually Silence once properly leveled. These two spells are of questionable value, so you should avoid purchasing Seal Materia altogether.

The streets of Junon

Revive Materia essentially replaces Phoenix Downs as your method of reviving KO’d characters. The downside is that equipping Revive Materia will reduce that character’s Strength, Vitality, and Max HP, while increasing the character’s Magic, Magic Def, and Max MP.

As such, you should only equip it to a character who will focus on magic-based attacks (if you choose to equip it at all).

The Junon Materia Store

Travel down the alleyway to find the Weapon Shop. You can purchase the following weapons:

You may already have many of these weapons if you stole them from previous enemies listed earlier on in this guide, but you can purchase them in the shop if you missed any. You will the Turks in the basement, but there is nothing else that you can do down there.

The Junon Weapon Store

The Item Store is the next door to the left of the Weapon Store. You can restock the following items:

You may have noticed that some of your characters were afflicted with the ‘Sadness’ status effect after battles in the Junon Area. You can counteract this status effect, which causes the Limit Break bar to charge more slowly, by purchasing some Hypers.

The last doorway on the left leads to the Barracks (pictured in the screenshot below). Speak to the Shinra Soldier in the corner of the first floor to gain entry to the “Respectable Inn.”

The Barracks

Speaking to each of the Soldiers, as well as the ghosts in this area, will allow Cloud to explain certain aspects of the game to both the person he is speaking to and, by extension, you as the player. These explanations include more advanced information about Limit Breaks, Materia, and combat in general.

There is also an Enemy Skill Materia on the ground in the corner.

The Respectful Inn

Proceed to the second floor of the Barracks to find a Mind Source, a Luck Source, and a 1/35 Soldier lying on the ground. This 1/35 Soldier item has no actual use in the game and is one of the many superfluous items that you will come across. Oh well, there’s no point in leaving it behind.

Picking up a 1/35 Soldier item

Finally, on the third floor, you will find a Power Source and Guard Source on the ground.

Retrieving the Power Source from the second floor

Exit the barracks and proceed west down the main roadway, past the elevator and the small road leading south and into the other side of Junon.

The Junon Inn

Once you reach the opposite side of Junon, you will notice a group of soldiers, sailors, and guards running ahead of you. These are your teammates dressed up in disguise. The first doorway leads to the Shinra Member’s Bar, where you will find the last three Turks (but there is nothing else to do in this room).

The next door to the left leads to the Junon Inn. You can save at the Save Point here, but there is no point in resting because you have not engaged in a battle since your last rest in Lower Junon. There is a Materia Store on the second floor of the Inn where you can buy:

On the third floor, you will find your first Item Store that specializes in the sale of Accessories. The two accessories that the shop sells (Silver Glasses and Headbands) do not necessarily warrant the steep prices (3,000 gil), but you can purchase them if your goal is to collect all the weapons, armor, and accessories in the game.

The Junon Item Store which sells Accessories

One door to the left leads to another Barracks. There is a Speed Source on the first floor and another “1/35 Soldier” on the second floor.

Picking up a Speed Source Picking up the second 1/35 Soldier

The last door to the left is another Weapon Shop that contains worse weapons than the one on the other side of Junon, so don’t waste your time. Continue to the northwest in the direction that your team ran to continue the story.

Now it’s time to play Simon Says. Press the buttons as the captain shouts out each command as quickly as you can. You will earn 10 points for each move you complete, but no points when you are turning right or left. You also get 30 points for completing the finishing move successfully.

Ensure that you are always facing the proper direction, or you will not receive any points, even if you complete the correct commands. The prizes that you receive will be based on President Rufus’ mood gauge and are as follows:

Heidegger will give Cloud his reward once the demonstration is complete. Follow Rufus and Heidegger and jump on the Cargo Ship with the rest of your team once you are back in control of Cloud.

Make sure to equip Cloud’s Force Stealer if you were successful in obtaining it, as the Force Stealer has double Materia growth, which is excellent for speeding up the growth and leveling of your key Materia.

Performing in front of Rufus

The Cargo Ship will begin sailing to Costa del Sol, but the story will continue partway through the journey.