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The Official Final Fantasy VII Strategy Guide is an English strategy guide for Final Fantasy VII written by David Cassady and published by BradyGames. A retooled version of the guide was released as Final Fantasy VII Now for the PC Official Strategy Guide (also known as Final Fantasy VII for the PC Strategy Guide). The guide was reformatted a third time with Prima's Final Fantasy Box Set, with its content closer to the original version of the guide.

The guide is infamous for containing errors,[1] and creating the capitalization misconception of Weapon (WEAPON). The BradyGames guide was the only official English guide released for Final Fantasy VII (Piggyback Interactive had not yet been established), and is therefore the wiki's source of various names not otherwise listed in game, such as the Kalm traveler. Though there are no official alternatives, the guide has often been compared to Versus Books The Completely Unauthorized Final Fantasy VII Ultimate Guide.[2]

The PC version of the guide does update the controls, but appears to still be based on the PlayStation version in terms of content as it does not update the screenshots and still uses the PlayStation localization: The instance of the original guide erroneously referring to "Corral Valley Cave" as "Corel Valley Cave" has been changed to "Corral Valley Cave"—despite the PC version of the game changing the location name from "Corral Valley Cave" to "Corel Valley Cave".

The North American manual featured the Final Fantasy VII: Mini Strategy Guide, which adapted the Game Basics and Assault on Reactor No. 1 sections of the BradyGames guide, and served as an advertisement for the guide. The European manual had its own guide for the first mission of the game but was not related to BradyGames or any other guide.

Contents[]

This section is structured with preference to the original version of the guide. The Prima rerelease is not covered due to lack of access.

Game Basics[]

PS p.003-005
PC p.005-007

Information and tip about how best to play the game. It suggests to avoid back attack damage by tapping the Run buttons to face the enemy, although this trick does not effect damage.

Materia[]

PS p.005-007 ("Materia Combinations")
PC p.028-035 ("Making Sense of Materia")

The PS guide lists good combinations utilizing Support Materia and/or Mega-All. It also makes recommendations for Knights of the Round/W-Summon/Mime, and Pre-Emptive/Sneak Attack:Knight of the Round/HP↔MP.

The PC guide also has this section, although it gives many more examples, and gives an exhaustive list for Added Effect combinations. It also features more thorough coverage for Materia in general, going over the types of Materia and growth.

The Characters[]

PS p.008-025
PC p.008-027 ("Character Information")

The section gives a brief paragraph for the character's role in the story, their role in the game, and their Limit Breaks. Barret's Limit Break is still listed as "Ungarmax" despite being renamed "Angermax" in PC.

Cloud Strife

At age 21, Cloud Strife leads the life of a mercenary for hire. As an ex-member of Shinra's elite squad known as SOLDIER, his fighting skills are in high demand. Cloud joins the rebel group AVALANCHE for their first strike against one of Shinra's huge Mako Reactors that surround the city of Midgar.

Barret Wallace

Barret is the 35-year-old leader of the rebel team known as AVALANCHE. He leads the team in the quest to stop Shinra's Mako Reactors and save the life of the planet. Although he is truly devoted to the team, Barret often regrets having to leave his young daughter, Marlene, alone or in the care of others. Barret's motives are unclear, but most believe that Shinra was somehow responsible for the death of his wife.

Tifa Lockheart

Tifa and Cloud were childhood friends, but parted ways when Cloud left his hometown of Nibelheim to join SOLDIER. When her parents died, Tifa also left Nibelheim and headed for Midgar. Soon after opening her bar, Tifa's Seventh Heaven, she met Barret and joined his ragtag group of rebels known as AVALANCHE. It's her goal to make sure Cloud remains with AVALANCHE after his first mission with the team.

Aeris Gainsborough

A beautiful 22-year-old, Aeris is a bright spot in the middle of a dark and dreary town. While selling flowers near AVALANCHE's first target, Aeris' life was forever altered after a chance meeting with Cloud. Because of her mysterious background, Shirna has pursued her for most of her life. Now she must fight against those who would enslave her and destroy what she holds most dear.

Red XIII

Although his fiery red fur may make him look like a wild animal, Red XIII's intellect is well above that of most humans. Not much is known about Red XIII's origin. He's currently being held captive in Shinra's headquarters where he's forced to participate in their twisted experiments.

Cid Highwind

Cid is an expert pilot and mechanic who dreams of one day becoming the first man in space. His dream would have been fulfilled, but he aborted a launch in order to save the life of one of his crew. Now he spends his time trying to repair his inoperable rocket in the hopes that Shinra may one day reinstate its space program, giving him another chance at fulfilling his dream.

Yuffie Kisaragi

This 16-year-old ninja spent most of her time preying on helpless travelers until she met up with Cloud's party. Although she is reluctant to join AVALANCHE, her ulterior motives give her reason to tag along, if only temporarily. Her clever wit and ninja skills coupled with her selfish ways will either make her a powerful ally or a serious pain in the neck.

Cait Sith

Although Cait Sith's fortune telling ability may not impress you, his fighting skills are a sight to be witnessed. The party first bumps into this joker while wandering around the Gold Saucer. Cait Sith eagerly joins the group to see if his predictions prove to be true.

Vincent Valentine

Talk about a dark presence, Vincent sends chills down the toughest person's spine. Although he may look evil at first, there's a good soul trapped beneath his dark exterior. Vincent's plight is yet another example of Shinra's warped experimentation; however there's more to this story than just bungled scientific research.

Choco Bill's Complete Guide to Chocobos[]

PS p.180-183 ("Chocobo Breeding and Racing")
PC p.036-051

This section started as part of the "Side Areas" section in the PS guide, but was thoroughly expanded for the PC guide. In the PC guide the chocobos are referred to by their ability as they are in-game (e.g. Mountain-and-River Chocobo) as opposed to their color. The guides do not themselves mention that they grant access to the Ancient Forest and Lucrecia's Cave earlier than they otherwise could (although the sections for those locations state you can get to them with gold chocobos, despite green/mountain chocobos being adequate).

Walkthrough[]

PS p.026-175
PC p.052-214

In the PS guide, each section lists the items and basic info about enemies except bosses (taken verbatim from the Bestiary section), shops, and inns. In the PC guide, items and enemies including bosses are listed (without stats). Boss drops are included in the items list where they were not in the PS guide, and boss details are displayed with the boss strategy in the PC guide. In the Raid on Sector 5 Reactor section of the PS guide, the enemy details for Rocket Launcher display the Junon stats, including "Area—Junon".

The PS guide relies on displaying annotated maps of the areas, while the PC version does not (these maps have been moved to the Level Maps section of its guide). The PC guide therefore puts less emphasis on the placement of items and asks the player to keep an eye out, offering the more obscure ones in "item tips". The PS guide also explains the story events, while the PC version does not bother and just explains the general series of events. To illustrate, the PS guide spends an entire page detailing the series of events that take place in the Seventh Heaven, the PC guide sums it up by saying Catch up with the rest of the team at Tifa's bar, Tifa's Seventh Heaven. After speaking with everyone and learning about your next assignment (bombing Shinra's No. 5 Mako Reactor), you'll get the opportunity to do a little "slumming.".

Side Areas[]

PS p.176-193
PC p.190-206 ("A Few More Things To Do"; "Gold Saucer")

In the PC walkthrough this section is covered within the main guide prior to the Disc 3 content. The section outlines sidequests such as where to obtain ultimate weapnons, Level 4 Limit Breaks, and gives a thorough guide to Ancient Forest and things to do at the Gold Saucer.

Bestiary[]

PS p.194-211
PC p.254-272

The bestiary covers the enemies of the game. It features the enemy's name; area where it is found; level, HP, MP, EXP, Gil, AP; elemental affinity for the main nine elements; immunity to the statuses Sleep, "Return" (Frog), Confusion, Silence, Slow, Darkness, "Transform" (Small), Stop, Berserk, Poison, "Paralysis" (Paralyzed), Stone, "Slowly stone" (Slow-numb), Manipulate, "Death" (Death-sentence), and "Impossible to fight" (Instant Death); morph and steal items; and its attacks used, with additional special notes for enemy skills. In the PS guide bosses are highlighted in a yellow box. In both guides the statuses marked "No Effect" are for statuses the enemy is vulnerable to, and "Effects Monster" are for statuses the enemy is immune to.

In the PC guide the bestiary is moved to after the item lists.

For the PS guide, a page on their gave an index for the page each enemy was covered on.

Various enemies have vague locations, such as a location given as "Reactor" without specifying which, or the even more vague "Midgar". These are not listed among the errors below which only list factually incorrect location values. Enemies only have one location listed even though some appear in multiple and these are also not listed below. Locations are often referred to inconsistently, and these are referred to in the naming inconsistencies section of this article. Enemies also have abilities whose names do not display that are referred to in this guide, and no values listed for technically impossible things (like Morphing 1st Ray) which are pointed out as errors below for the sake of completion even do not reduce the usability of the guide.

  • 1st Ray
    • Listed as "1st Ray" in PC guide
    • Morph "Potion" listed as "N/A".
    • Attack Laser Cannon given as "Laser".
  • 2-Faced
    • Location PS "GS Prison" to PC "Corel Prison".
    • Morph "Hi-Potion" given as "N/A".
    • Attack "Self-destruct" given as "Self-Destruct".
    • Attack "Cure3" given as "Cure 3" in PC guide.
  • 8 eye
    • Listed as "8 Eye".
    • Poison deals instant death but listed as doubling damage.
    • Morph "Magic Source" given as "N/A".
    • Attack Eyesight given as "Life Drain". Also does not reference the other three versions of Eyesight.
  • Acrophies
    • Listed as absorbing Wind instead of Water.
    • Attack Big Red Clipper given as "Claw".
    • Does not list "Isogin Smoke" attack.
  • Adamantaimai
    • Attack "MBarrier" given as "Mbarrier".
    • Enemy Skill "Death Force" not highlighted in PC guide.
  • Aero Combatant
    • Enemy's elements listed only for its Flying form, while its attacks are listed only for its Gounded form.
    • Morph "Potion" given as "N/A".
    • Steal "Potion" given as "N/A" in PC guide.
    • Attack Propeller Sword given as "Propeller Slash".
  • Ancient Dragon
    • Nothing to mention
  • Allemagne
    • Listed as "Allemange".
    • Listed between "Ancient Dragon" and "Aps".
    • Steal "Eye drop" given as "Eye Drop".
    • Listed as vulnerable to Stop.
    • Listed as immune to Sleep, Confusion, Darkness, Small, Berserk, Poison, Petrify, Slow-numb, Manipulate, and Death-sentence.
    • Does not list attacks "Teardrop" and "Big Breath".
  • Aps
    • Gil 253 given as 0.
    • All elements listed as normal affinity.
    • All statuses listed as vulnerable.
    • Attack "Sewer Tsunami" listed as "Sewer".
    • Attack Tail Attack listed as "Tsunami Tail".
    • Attack "Lick" not listed.
  • Ark Dragon
    • Morph "Phoenix Down" given as "Pheonix Down" in PC guide.
    • All statuses listed as vulnerable.
  • Armored Golem
    • Morph "Guard Source" listed as "N/A".
    • Does not list ability "Snap".
    • Listed as immune to Slow-numb, Petrify, and Instant Death.
  • Attack Squad
    • Nothing to mention.
  • Air Buster
    • Listed as Airbuster in PS guide.
    • Listed between "Attack Squad" and "Bad Rap".
    • Listed Fire as normal affinity despite halving.
    • Attack Bodyblow listed as "Counter Attack".
  • Bad Rap
    • Location PS "Downed Plane" to PC "Gelnika".
    • EXP 1100 listed as 1050.
    • All elements listed as normal affinity.
    • All statuses listed as vulnerable.
    • Morph "Luck Source" listed as "N/A".
    • Attacks listed as "None".
  • Bad Rap Sample
    • Listed with Hojo's basic six stats.
    • Attack Whip listed as "Tentacles".
    • Attacks "Big Fang" and "Evil Poison" not listed.
    • Listed as immune to Paralyzed.
  • Bagnadrana
    • Listed as "Bagnarada".
    • Attack "Fang" not listed.
  • Bagrisk
    • Not even listed.
  • Bahba Velamyu
    • Location listed as "Rocket Town" when it is fought in the Nibel Area (which is near Rocket Town but not directly outside it).
    • Attack "Jumping Cutter" listed as "Jumping Bonecutter".
    • Attack "Magic Cutter" listed as "Magi-Bonecutter".
    • Attacks "Silence" and "Slow" not listed.
  • Bandersnatch
    • Location listed as "Bone Village" when it is only fought on the snow in the Icicle Area, which is not particularly close to Bone Village.
    • Listed as invulnerable to Ice when it only halves it.
    • Attack "Bite" listed as "Fang".
    • Attack "Howling" not listed.
  • Bandit
    • Location PS "GS Prison" to PC "Corel Prison".
    • Morph "Hi-Potion" listed as "N/A".
    • Attack "Hold-up" listed as "Hold up" in PS and "Hold Up" in PC.
  • Battery Cap
    • Location listed as "Rocket Town" when it is fought in the Nibel Area (which is near Rocket Town but not directly outside it).
    • Attack "Seed Shot" listed as "Seed Shooting".
  • Beachplug
    • Ice is halved while its affinity is listed as normal.
  • Behemoth
    • Enemy Skill "????" not highlighted in PC guide.
    • Secondary steal "War Gong" not listed.
    • Attack Behemoth Horn listed as "Horn Lift".
    • Attacks "Flare" and "????" not listed.
  • Bizarre Bug
    • Small status flagged as vulnerable.
    • Attack "Toxic Powder" listed as "Toxic Power".
    • Attacks Bodyblow and Scorpion Attack not listed.
  • Black Bat
    • Wind and Holy are doubled but are listed as normal affinity.
  • Bloatfloat
    • The PS guide lists a note that says "Uses Spiky Hell when killed", while in the guides cleanup it mistakenly converted this to "Enemy Skill—Spiky Hell".
    • Attack Bodyblow listed as "Body Blow".
  • Blood Taste
    • Morph "Potion" listed as "N/A".
    • Steal "Eye drop" listed as "N/A".
  • Blue Dragon
    • Enemy Skill "Dragon Force" not highlighted in PS guide.
    • Attack Dragon Fang listed as "Bite".
    • Attack Tail Attack listed as "Tail".
  • Blugu
    • Morph "Potion" listed as "N/A".
    • Steal "Eye drop" listed as "N/A".
    • Attack Bodyblow listed as "Bite".
  • Bomb
    • PS guide includes note that it uses "Bomb Blast" after it is hit 3 times, PC guide does not.
    • Steal "Right arm" listed as "Right Arm".
    • Attack Bodyblow listed as "Ram".
    • Attacks Bodyblow, Chill, and Fury Blast not listed.
  • Bullmotor
    • Listed between "Bottomswell" and "Boundfat".
    • Location PS "GS Prison" to PC "Corel Prison".
    • Listed as having Laser enemy skill instead of Matra Magic.
    • Morph "Turbo Ether" listed as "N/A".
    • Attack Bodyblow listed as "Body Blow".
    • Attack "Matra Magic" listed as "Mantra Magic".
  • Boundfat
    • Location PS "Bone/Shell Village Prison" to PC "Bone Village". Actually resides in the space between Bone Village and the Shell Village (Forgotten City).
    • Attack Bodyblow not listed.
  • Brain Pod
    • Morph "Deadly Waste" listed as "N/A".
    • Attack Bodyblow listed as "Ram".
    • Frog and Poison flagged as immune.
    • Instant death flagged as vulnerable (is immune and is healed by the damage).
  • Cactuar
    • Location PS "GS Prison Desert" to PC "Corel Prison Desert".
    • EXP 1 and AP 1 listed as 0.
    • All elements listed as normal affinity (this is true of Cactuer).
    • All statuses listed as vulnerable.
    • Morph "Hi-Potion" listed as "N/A".
    • Attacks listed as "None".
  • Cactuer
    • Not even listed.
  • Capparwire
    • Nothing to mention.
  • Carry Armor
    • Attack Damage Attack not listed.
  • Left Arm (Carry Armor)
    • Listed as "Carry Armor Left Arm" in PS guide and "Carry Armor—Left Arm" in PC guide.
    • The PS guide lists no location, the PC guide lists "Midgar", the location for Hellectic Hojo's Left Arm.
    • The PC guide lists Helletic Hojo's Left Arm's 6 stats, the PS guide lists a Level of "Area—", a HP of "Midgar", and the remaining 4 stats are Hellectic Hojo's Left Arm's first 4 stats moved two down (e.g. Gil: 400), with the last 2 stats being placed in the bottom-left of the box.
    • Helletic Hojo's Right Arm's elemental affinities and status vulnerabilities are listed.
  • Right Arm (Carry Armor)
    • Listed as "Carry Armor Right Arm" in PS guide and "Carry Armor—Right Arm" in PC guide.
    • The PS guide lists no location, the PC guide lists "Midgar", the location for Hellectic Hojo's Right Arm.
    • The PC guide lists Helletic Hojo's Right Arm's 6 stats, the PS guide lists a Level of "Area—", a HP of "Midgar", and the remaining 4 stats are Hellectic Hojo's Right Arm's first 4 stats moved two down (e.g. Gil: 300), with the last 2 stats being placed in the bottom-left of the box.
    • Helletic Hojo's Right Arm's elemental affinities and status vulnerabilities are listed.
  • Captain
    • Not even listed.
  • Castanets
    • Nothing to mention.
  • Ceasar
    • Morph "Potion" listed as "N/A".
    • Attack Bodyblow listed as "Ram".
  • Chekhov
    • Attack "Stare Down" not listed.
  • Chocobo
    • Not even listed.
  • Christopher
    • Listed as immune to Stop and Paralyzed.
    • Listed as vulnerable to Confusion, Frog, Small, Berserk, and Manipulate.
    • Attack "High/Low Suit" listed as "High/Low Suite".
    • Attacks Flutilizer, "Cure2", "Bolt3", "Aspil", "Frog Song", and "Suffocation Song" not listed.
  • Chuse Tank
    • Listed as vulnerable to "Frog".
    • Morph "Potion" listed as "N/A".
    • Steal "Potion" listed as "N/A".
    • Ability Claw listed as "Slap".
  • CMD.Grand Horn
    • Not even listed.
  • Cokatolis
    • Nothing to mention.
  • Corneo's Lackey
    • Location PS "Brothel" to PC "Corneo's Mansion".
    • Morph "Potion" listed as "N/A".
    • Attack Hit listed as "Stab".

Weapons[]

PS p.212-214
PC p.218-227

Lists weapons divided by character. Features data for name, buy price if applicable, Atk, Atk%, Materia slots and linked status, Materia growth multiplier, and where found. Some weapons have additional notes about increasing effectiveness (e.g. Yoshiyuki Sword is used when ally is down), while others are absent (e.g. Ultima Weapon does not mention damage is relative to HP). The PS guide lists numbers of linked/unlinked slots, while the PC guide shows a visualization. The PC guide also uses the official weapon artworks.

The Rising Sun is not listed.

Armor[]

PS p.215
PC p.228-229

Lists armor, and features data for name, buy price if applicable, Def, Def%, MDef, MDef%, Materia slots and linked status, Materia growth multiplier, and where found. Some armor have additional notes about elemental affinities and equip conditions. The PS guide lists numbers of linked/unlinked slots, while the PC guide shows a visualization. The PC guide also uses the official weapon artworks.

Accessories[]

PS p.216
PC p.230-231

Lists accessories, and features data for name, buy price if applicable, stated effect, and where found. The PS guide lists numbers of linked/unlinked slots, while the PC guide shows a visualization.

Items[]

PS p.217
PC p.215-217 ("Items"; "Rare Items")

Lists regular items and their effects. Lists key items (referred to as "Rare Items" in the PS guide) and when they are found.

The PC guide lists regular and key items before Weapons.

Materia[]

PS p.218-221
PC p.232-249

Lists Materia, where they are found, AP to master, and stat modifiers. For each ability, lists name, AP required, and MP. For Command Materia, the abilities effect is described.

The PC guide lists AP for each level for Support, Independent, and Summon Materia, while the PS guide only lists the AP to master. The PC guide is specific at what things do for each level (e.g. for Elemental) while the PS guide does not (e.g. Elemental Adds Materia element to equipped weapon or armor). The PC guide features images for each Magic and Summon ability. The associated elements and statuses are not listed, except for Summon Materia in the PC guide, although it is not clear that this is what it refers to, and Kjata's element is listed as "All".

Enemy Skills[]

PC p.250-253

This section did not exist in the PS version, however in its absence a page on their website was dedicated to it.

The enemy skills are listed with their effect, and from what enemy they can be earned and where they are located, although it makes no advice on whether to use Manipulate, or the single use of Pandora's Box. Chocobuckle's method of obtaining is explained in "Choco Bill's Complete Guide to Chocobos", but not mentioned at all in the PS guide.

Level Maps[]

PC p.272-317

In the original PS guide, maps are included throughout the walkthrough, where they have been collected here in their own section. Shows maps for every area, item locations, where the entrances and exits are, where the shops are and what are sold in them, and where the player can rest and at what price.

World Map[]

PS p.222-223
PC p.318-319

A map of the world annotated with the accessible areas. The PC guide uses a more legible font.

Naming inconsistencies[]

Below is a list of location names used to refer to places in the guide, particularly in section headers, the bestiary section, and item lists. The first listed and linked name prior to the colon is the wiki's name for the location. Various areas are given as "Midgar" without being more specific. Some sub-area names are sometimes given (e.g. "Shinra Tower Balcony") but not listed here for brevity.

Credits[]

Brady Staff[]

Publisher
Lynn Zingraf
Editor in Chief
H. Leigh Davis
Title/Licensing Manager
David Waybright
Marketing Manager
Janet Cadoff
Acquisitions Editor
Debra McBride

Credits[]

Development Editor
David Cassady
Project Editor
Tim Cox
Screenshot Editor
Michael Owen
Creative Director
Jean Bisesi (PS)
Scott Watanabe (PC)
Book Designer
Jean Bisesi (PS)
Carol Stamile (PC)
Scott Watanabe (PC)
Production Designer
Dan Caparo
Max Adamson

Author Acknowledgements[]

This has been adapted from prose written by Cassady in the "Special Thanks" section in the PS book and the Author Acknowledgements in the PC book.

List creation
Dan Dunham
Square Quality Assurance Department
Rick Thompson
Fernando Bustamante
And the rest
Squaresoft support
Kenji Mimura
Kyoko Yamashita
Kiomi Murazeki
Jun Iwasaki
Sony support
David Bamberger
Eidos support (PC)
Frank Horn
Gary Keith
Support mechanisms and sometimes alarm clocks
Heather Moseman
Carole Cassady

External links[]

References[]

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