1.5 - Chapter 5: Slum Market

After the scene, Aeris is added to the DMW. Check the chest in the corner for •ETHER x2, then head over to the Save Point. New missions have been unlocked yet again. You can now do 3-1-3 through 3-1-5, 5-1-3, and 7-2-1 all the way through 7-6-6. I suggest you at least get the Item Fusion Tome from mission 7-2-1 (allow Items to be fused with materia), the Keychain from mission 7-2-2, and the Backpack from mission 7-2-5, since they both add an accessory slot! This enhances your stats by a LOT. If you have some Power Wrists, equip some, combined with Shinra Alpha.

When you're done fooling around with missions, talk to Aeris and select the first option. After the scene, you'll be in the Sector 5 slums. Proceed and you will have to fight 2 Hedgehog Pies (1512 HP, 28 SP, 24 Gil). Go to the next area. This here should look somewhat familliar, especially the hole in the wall. Anyway, talk to the girl near the hole to unlock mission 2-1-4. Now approach the large gate and enter after the scene. You'll be in the shopping district, and a boy steals all your gil..!

Soon, a number of minigames must be done. The information presented here comes from the Ultimania guide, which was translated by Kouli, so credits go to him. Either way, first check your map and try to exit by the south.

Do the following things:

Now you'll have your Gil back! Go through the large gate again, into Slum Street. A scene will happen, and you'll have to go to the hole in the wall on the east. Three Worms appear (3300 HP, 36 SP, 58 Gil). After this, more scenes happen.

Now that you're back in the Slum Market, talk to the little girl to unlock mission 2-1-3. Now it's time for a few mini-games, although these are all OPTIONAL.

Head to the 'Shopping Paradise'. Here you can do a Cologne Blending Game. Pause the game and you can count the drops as measured below. Stop when it's at the amount that the shop owner specified.

• Drip = 1 Drop
• DripDrip = 2 Drops
• Splash! = 10 Drops

Now talk to the Materia Shop owner. You can do a Materia Collecting Game. The results are as shown in the table below:

Max Score Strategy:

ZIGZAG! You'll have to play it a few times to see for yourself that you have to get some materia sooner than others, but basically it's just steering the analog button in the right direction and tapping cicle. Record is 18.80, by Nathaniel Groves! Got better? Send me an email WITH PICTURE!

Now go talk to the boy and play the Number Guessing Game:

Guess how many children will pass by. The game costs 100 Gil to play, or only 50 Gil if you gave the boy 5 Potions earlier. If you don't get the number right you'll get a Tissue. If you guess correctly, you have these chances for items:

• Note: One of Aeris' Numbers is always correct, so the more affection she has for you, the better your chances become as seen in the table Aeris Prediction.

When you're completely done with the minigames, head over to the Accessory Shop. Here, you'll a •SOMA, •HI-POTION and •REMEDY if you checked all shops previously.

After the scene, choose the first option and exit Slum Market and watch more scenes. At the end of the scenes, return to Slum Market and exit south by choosing the first option there. A boy will give you •Steal (M). Be sure to equip it.

You'll get to the highway, where you can save your game. Do so, and proceed to fight 3x G Assailants (2040 HP, 60 SP, 77 Gil), 2x Moth Slashers (3500 HP, 1 SP, 26 Gil), and anoter 6x G Assailants. The last guy is a semi-boss...

Strategy

Magic hurts him more than physical attacks, unless you keep slashing hit back. This is a very easy fight, and later on this becomes a normal enemy for you to fight. If he silences you, attack him regularly.

Another scene takes place and you'll end up in Shinra Building Floor 67. Here you can save your game again. Simply go west and you'll end up in a room that should look more than familliar. Check the chests for an •X-POTION and a •REMEDY. Take the elevator up, and save your game if you want. Now talk to Hojo (he's the creepy, crazy, fugly man in the white labcoat, and also the only person that didn't leave apparently). Do the following things IN THIS ORDER, or you may skip some things.

After speaking with him, check the device that's near the elevator you came out of to battle 3 Worms. Zack gets special materia equipped just for this fight, as the game notes:

• Proto Spellblade (MP: 25, Base Strength: 45, +1 Magic per Level)
• Cura
• HP Turbo
• MP Turbo
• AP Turbo

After this, check out the similar device on the other side of the room, which is the 'SP Recovery Device'. Select the top option try it. A counter will initiate, but the counter only shows the rythm up to 3. After that, you must count in yourself and press the button at 0. If timed correctly, you can get between 10 & 100 SP. If not timed correctly, you lose 50 SP. Anyway, enough useless minigames for me.

Check the sample tube in the middle now. You'll get several options to choose from, and you get SP based on the answers you give him. The chart below clarifies this:

1st Question: Option 1 = 300 SP
              Option 2 = 100 SP
2nd Question: Option 1 = 200 SP
              Option 2 = 400 SP
3rd Question: Option 1 = 200 SP
              Option 2 = 300 SP

Now press the switch in the middle of the room near the bridge (first option). Save your game first, and be sure to have the Steal Materia equipped (should be one of the last materia, goldish, has only two characters). Head down and battle the six Experiment 97. First go down the hall, then go through the door to the Cell Area. Steal a Key from each of them. After this, open the 6 cells, which hold 3 chests per cell. You have 3 minutes to do this, and the counter does not count during battles. See the ASCII Map for the cell locations:

.------.
|3|  |4|
|2|  |5|
|1|  |6|--.
|         |
'---------'

• Cell 1: Ether, Silence (M), ATK Up (M)
• Cell 2: Cure (M), 2000 Gil, 500 Gil
• Cell 3: Potion, HP Up (M), Blizzard (M)
• Cell 4: Hi-Potion, 2 Gil, Remedy
• Cell 5: Fire (M), Potion, Hi-Potion
• Cell 6: Soma, Thunder (M), 3000 Gil

Enough fooling around. I'd like to battle a boss or something, don't you too? Save your game, talk to Hojo and pick the first option. After the scene, the game satisfies our needs to fight a boss, and unleases.. Bahamut Fury.

Strategy

It's claw attack is easy to dodge when you're closeby since he will first extend it's arm backwards for 2 seconds. The annoyance here is that it sweeps you back. The Hexafang attack can actually hit like 3 times but generally it won't. It's Cluster Sphere attack hurts when it hits, but he charges it up rather long. It's Exa Flare is another beautiful cutscene that cannot be dodged and takes away your HP/MP/AP. However, it cannot kill you. To defeat it, you'll just need to bash it alot. It's not so much to time your attacks, but to time your dodging. After Exa Flare, you'll want to heal so use an Ether and heal up, or use Potions.

End of Chapter 5 Picture: Aeris.