Dangerous Voyage

Dangerous Voyage^[1] is the thirteenth chapter in Final Fantasy VII, and the fourth chapter of the second act, "Pursuit". Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace, Tifa Lockhart, Aerith Gainsborough, and Red XIII travel aboard the Cargo Ship to Costa del Sol in pursuit of Sephiroth. As they cross the ocean to the western continent, they have their first encounter with him.

Walkthrough[]

Cargo Ship[]

Cloud arrives in the Cargo Room of the Cargo Ship. The objective is to talk at least three other disguised party members who can be found on the ship. To the left of the starting position is a treasure chest with an Ether, and to the right, an All Materia in-between several boxes. If Yuffie was recruited, she is disguised as a sailor and blocks the path to the All Materia; talking to her and giving her a Tranquilizer will increase her date mechanics score. In the top-left, Aeris is disguised as a soldier; talking to her and agreeing to take her on an airship ride will increase her date mechanics score.

The stairs from the Cargo Room lead up to the Deck. Here, Tifa is disguised as a soldier atop a platform; agreeing with her that uniforms should disappear increases her date mechanics score. The sailor on the top sells items to restock on after answering "Something's missing" to him, and answering "I'm tired..." will lead him to sell an "Invisible Alpha" for 250 gil, which restores HP/MP instantly, though this is unnecessary (it effectively acts as the "inn" on board the ship). To the left, Red XIII is disguised as a soldier, struggling to walk upright.

After talking to all of the disguised party members, return to the Cargo Room and talk to Aeris again to proceed the quest. She will mention Barret, who can now be found at the Cabin area, found by climbing to the Deck and heading left to the front of the ship. The path to the Cabin was previously blocked by a Shinra soldier, but talking to Aeris about Barret has him move. Talking to Barret outside the Cabin a few times will proceed the quest, as an alert is sounded from the ship. Return to the Deck to regroup with the other party members and select a party and return to the Cargo Room below.

Random encounters are now fought in the Cargo Room against Scrutin Eyes and Marines. From Marines, Shinra Beta armor can be stolen, which comes with four Materia slots and strong stats, making it a worthwhile steal. The Marines themselves are fairly weak enemies, which can inflict Sleep, but otherwise deal minimal damage. Scrutin Eyes are a more considerable threat as they deal more damage, but can be defeated by group-cast magic with All Materia, or with Matra Magic from Enemy Skill Materia. Finally, if Yuffie was recruited and was blocking the All Materia, it is now also available.

After obtaining the items from the Cargo Room, the door at the back leads to the Engine Room. Climb the ladder on the left and run to the back to obtain the Wind Slash weapon for Yuffie, then climb down and talk to the commander to begin a boss battle.

Boss battle[]

Jenova∙BIRTH has no elemental weaknesses or resistances, meaning any spell or Limit Break is equally effective. It is important to keep Restore on at least one character, and pairing it with All Materia is useful as Jenova∙BIRTH can attack multiple party members at once. Jenova∙BIRTH's most dangerous attack is Stop, which inflicts the Stop status and can freeze a party member in their tracks, with no way of resisting it at this stage. Instead, the player must work around this by guaranteeing two sources of healing (for instance, if one of Aeris or Yuffie is in the party with Healing Wind and Clear Tranquil, a different party member should have Restore Materia, so that if one is frozen, the other can still heal).

After Jenova∙BIRTH is defeated, a short dialogue takes place, in which Cloud can choose to explain the history of Sephiroth. The Ifrit Materia can be picked up before leaving the room, at which point the Cargo Ship reaches its destination. If Cloud exits the room without picking up the Materia, Ifrit will be permanently missed.

Costa del Sol[]

Costa del Sol has no required objectives, but several events can be triggered before eventually leaving the town to travel to Mt. Corel, the next destination. The first major event is talking to Professor Hojo, who is on the beach. He can only be talked to if Cloud does not sleep in the inn first. When talking to him, he will mutter under his breath that the party should head west (toward Mt. Corel) for Sephiroth. The other events depend on who is not in the party, with no effect on date mechanics:

• Aeris and Tifa are on the beach, having found Hojo sunbathing. After talking to Hojo, they split up:
  • Aeris is in the inn, where she ponders over her loneliness as a Cetra, and Cloud can try to cheer her up.
  • Tifa is found in Johnny's New House, located to the right of the Bar del Sol, and will catch up with him.
• Barret is in the inn's bathroom checking himself out in the sailor suit he had used as a disguise for the Cargo Ship stowaway. If Cloud tries to open the door, Barret will drive him away. The innkeeper will complain about Barret if talked to before Hojo.
• Red XIII "plays" ball with the kids on the street. Cloud can kick the ball at him to annoy him.
• Yuffie gets a part-time job at the Materia Shop. After staying in the inn, the shopkeeper will mention that Yuffie stole the shop's Materia, though the player will obtain none of them.

Across the bridge at the top-left end of Costa del Sol is a door to the House for Sale. Cloud can buy the house for 300,000 gil, though at this stage the player is very unlikely to have that much, making it a luxury endgame purchase. In the bottom right is a staircase down to a cellar, where a Fire Ring (accessory with immunity to Fire), Power Source (stat boost item), and Motor Drive (a weapon for Tifa with moderate stats but double AP growth) can be picked up.

At the Materia Shop, no new Materia are available, but if the Revive Materia was missed previously, now is a good time to buy it. The Item Shop sells, and advertises, Softs, which are useful for the upcoming dungeon. In Bar del Sol, there is also a Weapon Shop that sells armor. If three Shinra Betas were stolen aboard the cargo ship, the armor can be skipped; otherwise, Carbon Bangle provides the best stats and three Materia slots, while Platinum Bangle provides double AP growth for two slots, making it relatively useful though quickly outclassed.

Staying in the inn will cause the party to leave Costa del Sol. The player can sleep there as the next destination requires a lengthy trip on the world map. The story continues in the next chapter, "Barret's Past".

Citations[]