Shopping in Mideel¶

If you’ve been talking to people while exploring with the Highwind, you’ll probably have heard some mention of the Lifestream and some “southern islands”, which, as far-fetched as that seems, is Cloud’s only chance of having survived. There are no other leads, so head over to some islands along the south-eastern corner of the map, where you may have done some grinding earlier in the game during the “Exploring With the Tiny Bronco” section of the guide. Now that you have the airship, you can land on the elevated part of the island that contains the town of Mideel, nestled in some jungles.

Enter the town, which seems unaffected by all the strife outside. Must be nice. There’s an item shop under a bridge to the east wherein you’ll find a… very aggressive shopper who has decided to make a run on the stores given the impending crisis. Talk to her and listen to her hysterics, then talk to her little white chickabo (that’s a baby Chocobo, of course) and, if you have some Mimett Greens, feed them to it and scratch behind its ear to get the Contain Materia .

Item Shop

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Give the greedy Chocobo some Mimett Greens and scratch behind its ear (left). For pleasing the Chocobo it’ll reward you with Contain Materia (right).

Head up some wooden stairs and enter a weapon shop, where the burgeoning monopolist is again trying to buy up the entire store’s stock. Talk to her again, then talk to the store owner, who will be selling what is arguably the best assortment of weapons and armor any shop has had yet. Most of the weapons have an Attack score in the mid 70s with six Materia sockets (three pairs of joined sockets). The Crystal Bangle is also an upgrade over the Diamond Bangle, but it’s debatable if it’s superior to any of the elemental armors you found earlier. Last and least, the Wizard Bracelet is a treat for anybody who wants as many Materia sockets as possible… and who doesn’t care too much about defense. Before you leave, inspect the back door in the weapon shop, which will allow us to obtain a free accessory shortly.

Weapon Shop

Return outside and continue up another flight of stairs, then cross the bridge to the west to reach the accessory shop, which doesn’t seem like much of a shop at a glace. Talk to the lady cooking and she’ll sell you some accessories. When you’re done here head outside and look for a man standing on the corner of the accessory store’s porch. Walk west from him until you head a “clink” sound, then search the ground to find a “Beat-up Useless Old Key”. Beat-up? Old? Sure. Useless? Not quite. Return to the weapon shop and try to use the key on the door. When things don’t go according to plan, tell the shopkeeper the truth and he’ll tell you a downright silly story about the door, but you will get a Cursed Ring accessory, which will greatly boost your stats… if you don’t mind being put under the effects of the “Death Sentence” spell every battle.

Accessory Shop

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Find the “Beat-up Useless Old Key” near the accessory shop (left) then try to open the “locked” door in the weapon shop to get the Cursed Ring (right).

Leave the weapon shop and head down the wooden stairs to the east, then go north to find another shop, this time a Materia shop. Talk to the deranged shopper again, then peruse the merchant’s wares, which… aren’t terribly impressive.

Materia Shop

Alive, But Not Well¶

Exit the Materia shop and then travel west under the weapon shop to find a dog, which Tifa can’t help but interact with. While doing so, she overhears two geezers talking about some “pokey-headed young thing” who “washed up here on the shore”. As they keep talking, they seem to be obviously describing somebody you know, and Tifa is only too quick to interrupt them. They’ll point her to the nearby clinic, and Tifa throws caution to the wind and rushes in, only to find out that “alive” doesn’t necessarily mean “well”.

A short time later, Tifa will come out of the clinic and make an unwelcome announcement. Apparently, Cloud is the only thing that matters to her, and despite the fact that sitting here with him will do no good, that’s exactly what she’s going to do. Well, it’s not like she could be out helping, or that Cloud is dead if Meteor hits anyways, right? Back on the Highwind what’s left of the team will discuss their next steps.