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(1 of 2) Once again, Fira + Magnify will get you through most of the fights in this chapter.

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Once again, Fira + Magnify will get you through most of the fights in this chapter. (left), After the garage, your next battle is the “Three-Person Team vs. Mayor Is Best” VR battle, which is actually not in Hard mode. (right)

Quite possibly the easiest chapter in the game… at least the easiest since Chapter 2. Make sure you’re equipped to blast Shinra troopers (Fire + Magnify, Fire + MP Absorption) then proceed to the garage, where a series of running battles will occur. This section isn’t dissimilar to Chapter 15’s running battle with Shinra troops, and they can be dispatched just as easily with Fira + Magnify. These battles are as follows:

• 3x Elite Security Officers.

• 3x Elite Security Officers, 2x Elite Grenadiers.

• 2x Elite Security Officers.

• 2x 3-C SOLDIER Operators.

• 1x Elite Security Officer, 1x Guard Dog.

• 2x Elite Grenadiers, 2x Guard Dogs.

• 3x Elite Riot Troopers, 1x Guard Dog.

• 2x 3-C SOLDIER Operators, 2x Guard Dogs.

Against the 3-C SOLDIER Operators you may need to resort to two blasts of Fira and/or follow up with significant attacks by other characters to finish them off, but largely Fira + Magnify spam will get you through. After all that fighting we had expended a total of 9 MP with Cloud and 11 with Barret (the latter used a Curaga to heal everybody up), which is hardly anything considering the garage accounted for almost all the fights in the chapter. After this you need merely go through the Shinra building, which is mostly just a matter of walking around and skipping cutscenes. If you want to ignore even more fights, use the stairs, not the elevator.

• The next fight is the Three-Person Team vs. Mayor Is Best simulation, which has you squaring off against two Cutters. There’s… no Hard difficulty component for this fight, nor do your HP/MP from the main chapter seem to carry over, so just kill the bots and move on.

• Up next is the fight with Specimen H0512, which, as usual, will get its own Hard difficulty boss page. Defeat it to obtain The Art of Swordplay Vol. XII.

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(1 of 4) Defeat the first batch of troopers Hojo throws at you with Fira + Magnify.

• Only two more battles left in this chapter, and they’ll occur sequentially. Use the rest bench nearby, and make sure you have Lightning Materia on everybody, as well as at least one Time Materia. Fire + Magnify will serve Cloud well. Continue on until you find Hojo again, at which point he’ll summon 2x Elite Security Officers, 2x Elite Riot Troopers and 2x Elite Grenadiers to deal with you. Fira + Magnify should take them out quickly enough, after which you’ll need to dispatch 2x Armored Shock Troopers. Fight defensively, charge up everybody’s ATB to max, then hit one of the Armored Shock Troopers with Stop. Once affected, have all three of your characters target them with Thundaga - with any luck you’ll outright kill the Armored Shock Trooper before they can use “Eject” and transform into Enhanced Shock Troopers. It’s an expensive solution, MP-wise, but it’s the end of the chapter, so… go nuts! Armored Shock Troopers are weak to lightning, of course, and can deal immense damage with their… light sabers… not to mention the demolition of their armor during “Eject”. If they change to Enhanced Shock Troopers, switch to Tifa and try to take them out with “Omnistrike”, which will deal significant damage to the now unarmored troopers.

After this, chapter 16 is all but over… but the marathon that is chapter 17 lies ahead.