The Ruined Reactor¶

Make your way through Junon, back across the sea (you don’t have to pay on the return trip) then drive the buggy south across the river to reach the Gold Saucer. Much quicker than the first time, eh? South of the Gold Saucer is another river, which the buggy can conveniently also traverse. Cross the river and immediately turn east to find a house at the end of a peninsula. While it’s not very useful to us right now, here is where you can turn in that Mythril you found for some goodies. Make a mental note of it for now, you’ll be returning here later.

South of the river you’ll find a blasted town in the middle of a jungle, which is our next destination. Head to the town to reach a crude road through the jungle. Continue north to reach a fork, where the party will overhear Reno and Rude indulging in some guy-talk. As they fantasize, Elena will arrive, express her disappointment, then realizes that you guys are enemies.

Boss Battle: Reno and Rude¶

After Elena tattles on you, Reno, now accompanied by Rude, decides to pay you back for Sector 7. These guys aren’t too tough, their worst attacks are single-target attacks that deal around 150 damage, which is laughable at this point. The one exception that’s actually more dangerous is Reno’s “Turk Light” attack, which will deal a bit over 200 damage. Other than that… Rude can cast “Cure” to heal for a bit, to keep the battle going longer. The only rub in this entire fight is the fact that if you defeat one of the two, the other will leave. Unless you beat both of them at the same time, you’ll only get the XP, AP, Gil and item for one of them. Use some Sense Materia to scout them out, then when they’re both weak, blast them with “Beta”, “Aqualung” or perhaps a Summon Materia.

After the battle, the party will talk about the curious fact that Shinra just happened to be waiting for us. Cloud smells a rat, but there’s nothing you can do about it without evidence. Go up the path to the north-east to reach the reactor, passing through a desolate landscape in between. At the reactor head north to reach the core. What’s the catastrophic fail rate on Shinra’s reactors, do you think? Anyways, Cloud will be interrupted by Scarlet and her escort, Tseng. Scarlet will inspect the reactor for Materia, and, finding it wanting, will leave disappointed. Search where Scarlet was poking about to find a piece of Titan Materia , which is an earth elemental Summon Materia.

Gongaga Village¶

Return to the path through the jungle and, at the fork, head north-west to reach another screen. When you reach another fork, continue north-west a bit to find a chunk of Deathblow Materia just lying on the ground. Score. Backtrack to the fork and follow the path to the north-east to reach Gongaga village… or what’s left of it, anyways. Head east into the village and Cloud will gawk at the reactor you already visited. Afterwards, have a look around to see five small houses you can explore.

Enter the southern-most house and, if you have Aeris and/or Tifa in your party, you’ll be pestered by the townsfolk in the house, who recognize that glow in your eye and ask about their son, Zack. Aeris and Tifa will walk out of the house, leaving Cloud to ponder what just happened. Leave the house and talk to the two girls, which will get you a bit of approval. If you say “Poor guy” to Aeris (+1 Aeris) while saying “…jealous…envious…” will net you (+2 Aeris). Tifa is less picky about what you say, she’ll get (+1 Tifa) for just talking to her. If you ignore them, on hte other hand, you’ll lose approval (-3 Aeris, -3 Tifa). Interesting chronology, if you think about it… ten years ago, Zack leaves, five years ago, Zack disappears and the Nibelheim Incident occurs, four years ago, the Corel massacre, three years ago, Gongaga’s reactor explodes. Shinra has a horrible track record.

The building just north of Zack’s parent’s house just happens to be an item shop. Listen to the geezer’s story (if a sentence counts as a story) and/or shop, then head to the building to the north-west, which is an accessory shop that also sells Materia, include the new Time Materia and Mystify Materia. It’s expensive, and there’s plenty of good stuff worth buying shortly… but again, having one of each Materia is a smart way to play things safe. Climb a pole to the next level to reach yet another merchant, this one selling weapons. Fortunately nothing he sells should really interest you, and hence put a strain on your wallet.

Item Shop

Accessory/Materia Shop

Weapon Shop

Only two houses left now, both are north of the last one. In the eastern house you’ll find a chest containing a White M-Phone (less damage than Cait Sith’s default weapon, but it’s a three socket Double AP Growth weapon), while the western building is a small, reasonably priced (80 Gil) inn. Another chest awaits you in here, this one containing an X-Potion . Rest up if you need to, then leave town, heading north-west along the road where you found the Deathblow Materia to return to the world map.