Infiltrating Shinra HQ
Items/Skills/Materia
| Elixir (Stairs) | Carbon Bangle | Elemental Materia (62) | Star Pendant (63) |
| 4 Slot Armor (63) | All Materia (63) | Phoenix Down (64) | Ether (64) |
| Hard Edge | Poison Materia (67) | Enemy Skills Materia (67) | Potion x 4 (67) |
Now the sensible thing to do would be to listen to Tifa and take the stairs, but who wants to be sensible? Still, there are some advantages to taking the stairs. These include: 1- NO ENEMIES! (But also no chances to build levels) 2- There is an Elixir on the stairs, about midway up. If you don't grab this now, you will be unable to get a nice weapon 50-60 hours later, when you return. However, taking the stairs means that you'll miss out on several great things, including: 1- A Turtle's Paradise ad (You can check it out later, but getting it now means you can get the bar's prize on disc 1 instead of disc 3) 2- A gift shop where you can buy some basic supplies if you need them 3- A cool FMV segment in the gift shop (Now you'll know what exactly Shinra sells!) 4- A chance to gain more levels and steal some great armor Tempted yet? My recommendation is that you take the stairs and grab the elixir, but then head back down and go in the front. This way, you get the best of both worlds!
This paragraph is for those of you who headed into the building. The stairs are pretty self-explanatory. IF you need further explanation, well, here it is. Walk up the stairs. Ok, now onto the building. On Floor 1, fight the guards and head to the bulletin board in the back. Read the Turtle's Paradise ad and go up to Floor #2. Go throught the green doors in the back and enter the gift shop. You can stock up on basic items here. Make sure to check out the monitor for the FMV sequence. The chests in the back of the shop can't be opened until much later. Gett on the elevator and head upstairs. It doesn't matter where you stop; you'll eventually wind up on Floor 59. Kill the enemies, making sure to try stealing if you see any Moth Slasher enemies. These large robots have Carbon Bangle armor, which you won't be able to get for a little while.
When you reach Floor 59, fight the guards and get Keycard 60, which gives you access to (You guessed it!) Floor 60. You can try and avoid the guards here by hiding in the shadows and calling your team across, or fight them for extra XP.
Sneak on up to Floor 61. Here there are no enemies, just Shinra employees. Talk to the man walking around here and he'll give you Keycard 62. Let him think you're with the maintenance crew.
When you get to Floor 62, you'll have to answer Mayor Domino's riddle to get Keycard 65. You'll need to pick the book that doesn't belong in each library and use the number on it to get one letter of the password. (ex. - 5 Jenova and her race = V is the letter) Do this in each library and go talk to Domino. If you get the password right on the first try, you'll get an Elemental Materia as well as the Keycard. It's a decent materia if you have the space for it. Connect it to an elemental on your weapon and you can attack for typed damage of that elemental. Hook it up to an elemental on your armor and you can cut damage from that element by 50%, 100%, and later absorb it as HP!
After you get the Keycard, head up to Floor 63, an optional bonus floor. If you don't want to, you can skip this floor, but you'll miss out on some nice prizes. You need to open three doors and get the bags. I'll give you a couple of hints. 1- One of the doors is in the back of the room. 2- Use the vent system to go between two of the rooms and back to the redemption machine. The prizes for the bags are as follows: A- Star Pendant B- 4 Slot Armor C- All Materia. After you're done, head up to Floor 64.
In the Health Club, you can rest and save your game. Search the locker room lockers for a Phoenix Down and an Ether. What's a Megaphone doing here, you ask? Remember it you can pick it up later. Put money in the vending machines here. You won't get anything now, but when you return, your drinks will finally come out. After resting up, head on up to Floor 65. There will be enemies on the next floor, so be prepared!
The puzzle on Floor 65 is nothing to sweat over. It's just a scale model of Midgar. Search the chests and put the parts in the model as you get them. When you're done, a chest will open up with Keycard 66. Grab it and move on.
On Floor 66, some of Shinra's top execs are meeting. Naturally, you want to know what's going on, but they won't let you just barge in and listen. So you're going to need to find an alternative way to eavesdrop. Head to the bathroom and stand on the toilet. Use the vent and listen to the conversation. After it's all said and done, follow Hojo to Floor 67.
Follow Hojo over to the specimen chamber on Floor 67 and examine the area. Steal the Hard Edge sword from Soldier 3rd's if you can to double Cloud's attack power and Materia slots. You won't be able to buy it for a while. Pick up the Poison Materia in the chest by the save point. Save, rest, and prepare to fight a boss.
On Floor 68, follow Hojo and find out his plan. After seeing his "specimens" and watching the events, remove either Barret or Tifa's stuff, as one of them will escort Aeris out while you fight a monster with your newest compatriot.
BOSS: HO512
This boss uses the Poison technique, so give one of your team members the Star Pendant you just got. Red XIII comes with Sense, Fire, and All materia, so he can toast this boss. Give your other members Fire as well, but don't bother with poison, as it only heals him. Don't bother with the small guys; just keep hitting HO512 with everything you've got until he dies. Fire spells, Limit Breaks, and regular attacks are your best bet against this guy. Heal when necessary and cure any poisoned members. After winning, you'll get a Talisman.
Before heading upstairs, pick up the Enemy Skill Materia in the specimen chamber. Don't equip it yet; it's useless until you leave Midgar. Pick up the 4 Potions on the floor and grab Keycard 68. Go back down to Floor 66 to save and heal before heading to the elevator to meet your friends. However, you'll be met by somebody else who wants you to meet the President! What a great opportunity!
Well, that wasn't so great, and now you're all trapped in jail. There's nothing you can do, so talk with your teammates and go to sleep.