Final Fantasy VII has always been an essential part of the RPG gamer’s canon. It is an enduring classic, the first 3D RPG game that turned Square Enix into a household name. Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Aeris- even non-gamers would recognize some of these names.
Two years ago I wanted to relive my RPG-playing childhood days once more, so I downloaded a PC version of FFVII onto my netbook. Some of the titles that I had played through when I was a kid were Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Legend of Mana, Breath of Fire IV, FF Origins, FF Tactics, FFVIII, FFIX- but no FFVII. Thankfully, the wonders of technology allowed me to get a copy of the game without having to scrounge around for an old PlayStation unit.
Fast forward two years later and I still haven’t finished the damn game (I play about a couple of hours per week, please don’t shoot me). The first year, I resolved to play through everything without reading a game guide (sometimes erroneously called as “FAQ”), but then I got tired near Rocket Town and promptly quit playing for nearly six months.
So, here I am, with a game guide downloaded from GameFaqs.com in hand, trying to wrangle myself out of this RPG rut I got myself stuck into. I’m happy to report that I’m nearing completion of the game, with only the Northern Crater and Sephiroth himself left to beat.
my Cloud’s stats right before taking on Emerald Weapon
At this point in the game, you might want to take on the Weapons. These are optional bosses; while not necessary for game completion, these monsters provide a shitload of AP and experience points.
Emerald Weapon is easily the toughest one among the lot (1 million hit points!). Absolute Steve’s guide has three strategies on how you can take Emerald down, but I found that these strategies really won’t work right if you don’t have the right Materia leveled up.
Strategy 1 won’t work for me because I don’t have W-Magic yet. Strategy 2 will also not work since I only have one Mime and I’m too lazy to level up some more (I managed to get KoTR though, very helpful Summon). Strategy 3’s use of Lucky 7777 was promising, and I actually had a little bit of success with it. My only problem is that I can’t seem to get the timing right; my characters would go into Lucky 7777 mode but would promptly revert back since I stupidly threw them a Megaelixir a turn beforehand.
So this is what I did. My main man is RedXIIII with his Limit set at Level 3 . I equipped him with the 4xCut Materia, four Counter-attack Materias, an HP Plus, and a Speed Plus. Cloud and the other character (I used Cid) both held an Enemy Skill materia and an HP Plus materia each. No need to use the Underwater materia; you can kill Emerald in less than ten minutes.
Big Guard should be cast on the first turn if possible. Attack with RedXIII only, while the other two characters support him and the party with Big Guard and Megaelixirs. Once Red’s Limit has been reached, go for the Howling Moon. This casts Berserk and Haste on him, and gives him an Attack boost. Red does 4x 7000-9999 damage if he attacks, which includes counters. You could be looking at a minimum of 80,000 damage per turn.
You can attack with the other characters’ Limit Breaks if you want to (especially Cloud’s Omnislash), as long as you keep an eye out on your party’s health. Hero Drinks are also especially useful to give your characters stat boosts. The reason why Cloud and Cid only got two Materias each is to give them a chance to go into Lucky 7777 should Emerald cast Aire Tam Storm (deals 1111 damage x number of equipped Materia).
Using this technique, you’ll be able to take out Emerald Weapon in no time. Here’s a screenshot of me beating Emerald in just six minutes using this strategy.
Emerald Weapon goes down in six minutes
There you go. This is the lazy man’s way of beating Emerald Weapon. Use this strategy if you have a poor sense of timing, lots of Counter-attack Materias, and no extra Mime Materia.
Solo Hustling 