So I've started enjoying watching speed runs of games -- this time, Final Fantasy VII. Though glitched to buggery, by the looks of things. I think speedruns are probably the absolute opposite of what I'm doing here :P
Balamb Garden[]
Objective: Find Cid, kill Faculty.
Enemies[]
Draw Points[]
Items[]
You enter to see the Garden in chaos. The faculty are after Cid's blood, and the students are divided into two warring factions; those siding with Cid, and those fighting for the mysterious 'Garden Master'.
Junction across and get ready.
Head north and question the Faculty staff. He'll set monsters on you. Rude! They're easy pickings, though.
At the gates, talk to the slumped-over guy twice to receive a Mega-Potion. Inside, talk to Fujin and Raijin, who are with neither Cid nor the Garden Master -- they're with Seifer, of course.
Afterwards, you can go outside and fight the first Faculty member and his 2 Bombs. Inside, take a left to the infirmary. Fight the Granaldo (it's easy, seriously) and talk to Dr. Kadowaki afterwards for an Elixir.
Next up, the Quad. You'll be jumped by SeeDs. After responding (it's fine either way), talk to the guy in the middle for an X-Potion.
Continuing clockwise around the concourse (ooh, alliteration), talk to the Faculty at the end and defeat the Bomb he summons. Go north to the café. Cid's not here either. But there is a Demi Draw Point. Talk to the girl to the right of the counter twice to receive Gysahl Greens.
I didn't even know these guys had faces.
Up next is the Dormitory. The Faculty summons a Caterchipillar and legs it. Pfft. Save in Squall's room, and heal if you need to. We're off to the Parking Lot next. Fight off the Grendel (which may actually pose a challenge with its Tail Blade attack) and proceed, where you find Cid...'s hologram. Well, nice strategy guys. Talk to the guy on the left for a Tent.
We're off to the Training Centre next. The Garden Faculty actually has a competent monster for us to fight -- a T-Rexaur, to be exact. 10 AP for us.
Lastly, the Library. The Faculty spouts the same old nonsense, and summons...a Grat. Whoo. Inside the Library, talk to the girl on the right. If you brought Zell, you'll get a Mega Phoenix. Otherwise, you get a Remedy.
Back in the main hall, you'll find Xu. Follow her upstairs and to the end of the second floor corridor. Turns out that Cid's in his office. And no-one thought to check?
Head up to the 3rd floor and enter Cid's office. He has an idea -- to go down to the basement level and boot up and old defence system. Worth a shot, I suppose. Get blown to bits on the ground floor, or get blown to bits slightly underground. One last adventure, eh.
The lift stops on the way down, so examine the console, then the floor panel to open the emergency escape hatch. Nice of them to put a ladder there. Head down and holy shit we nearly got squished.
Balamb Garden Basement[]
Objective: Protect Garden from missiles so you can play more cards.
Enemies[]
Draw Points[]
Items[]
The only picture I could find. Boo.
Here, some enemies are weak against Fire, so junction Fira to your Elemental Attack and enjoy the ride.
Head straight, down the ladder and into the room. Here, examine the valve and mash 
. It won't work the first time, but after at least the second attempt it'll say 'Done' and open the floor in the previous room.
Climb down the ladder and descend the stairs. There's a Full-Life Draw Point here. Around the back of the pillar, have Squall climb the ladder. It collapses after a certain amount of climbing, and Squall crashes through a window into a control room. Examine the console and climb back down, then answer however you like and open the gate with the glowing green button.
Note that on this level you can find the Tri-Face enemy. If your average party level is 30 or higher, you can draw powerful magic from them, namely Pain and Flare. Flip the switch near the Save Point (which you should use, obviously) and proceed forwards. Two monsters will jump out at you.
| Boss Battle: Oilboyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Level: 1-100 |
Steal Rate: 25% Drops:
Draw: Status Vulnerability:
Weakness:
Resistance: - Absorbs: - | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Strategy: That Fire weakness makes this pretty easy. Summon Ifrit and use your Fire-bathed physical attacks. Sonic Wave inflicts Curse as well as party-wide damage, so watch out for that. They'll counter with Oil Blast after you take away 1/3 of their HP, and it deals 62.5% of your HP, so make a note of that too. If you're using Irvine, Fire Shot will nail them good. Casting Meltdown to negate their Defences first is good if you're not confident with your physical attacks on their own. Also, Quistis' Degenerator actually works against them. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
An Octopus' Garden.
Head forwards and down the ladder. Examine the console of whatever the hell that thing is, and it'll activate, turning Balamb Garden into a shielded, moving fortress!
Fucking awesome. Head down to the second floor. At the end of the corridor is a door -- go through it to the balcony. Watch the scene, and head back inside (if you can, fnar fnar).
You'll be accosted by Xu; apparently Cid's in trouble. Turns out he can't steer the thing, so surprise surprise, he makes Squall do it. He fiddles with some buttons and manages to turn the place around, narrowly avoiding smashing into Balamb Harbour.
A while later, Squall is moping around in his room. Save your game; there's stuff to be done! Stuff we'll get to next time. Besides, it's snack time. One of my favourite of all times.
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→ Part 13: A Garden Uprooted.