Final Fantasy VII/Cosmo Canyon

Cosmo Canyon
There's very few pathways to take from Gongaga next: The only real way lies east, over the river, and to a mysterious place that tends to live in eternal twilight. (Not quite as cool at that as Tenebrae in Ultima VIII, but it has just a little bit better music. Not much though.) Here's the thing - you can't much miss this place. The game throws some really big hints toward you that checking out Cosmo Canyon would be a good idea. Among other things, if you drive past the town in the "buggy", the "buggy" will "break down" and "explode" and things, leaving you at the mercy of the local mechanic.

Red XIII, who appears to be called Nanaki here, joyously goes to see his grandfather. Who, in fact, turns out to be a 130-year-old man called Bugenhagen. This place is full of mysteries.

There isn't a whole lot to do in Cosmo Canyon right now. You can visit the Shildra Inn (which has one of those Turtle's Paradise posters) and pick up an Elixir after staying there. Or you can shop for weapons. There's also another Turtle's Paradise poster in the town.

Once done, climb all the way up to the topmost building, where Red XIII is talking with Bugenhagen. Red XIII wants Bugenhagen to show you his contraption, and for that, you need to hunt down two party members. Your party is scattered throughout the city; Barret, Yuffie, and Cait Sith are in the rooms in the mountainside, Tifa and Aerith are in the bar at the inn.

Once your party is selected, head back up. Bugenhagen will show you his holographic planetarium, and lecture you some of the basics of this... very thoughtful... typical... Japanese RPG... cliché... backstory. Basically, Mako-sucking technology is evil and the lifeforce in every living being is really cool. (In case you missed it, this is going to be one of the Central Themes of the game, so you'd better pay attention! Not that it's too hard to comprehend or anything!)

After this, everyone will retreat to the Cosmo Candle, the big bonfire in the lower plateau. You need to talk to everyone here. (Barret wants to rebuild AVALANCHE, Aerith thinks of how alone she is, and Tifa seems strangely lost in thought, thinking of the past again...) Last, you need to talk to Red XIII, who seems to be pretty mad, because he thinks his father was a wimp. Bugenhagen seems to disagree.

Cave of the Gi
You probably noticed a steel door that was closed down and some kid was wondering what kept it in place. Yes, a masterfully careful dash of Magical Superglue of Foreshadowing. Anyway, your party will now consist of Cloud, Red XIII and one character of your choice. Equip them well. Materia them well. Bugenhagen will follow you from a distance - too bad we won't see him in battles.

After the door, there's a long descent down, then a big room full of little caves. Each of the caves has a rock. If you hit one, you either get a bunch of not too happy Gi Spectors (sic - should be "specters", I'm not sure what ol' Warren thinks of this game), or the other cave opens up. The one you need to hit is the one nearest the wall up there, but don't worry too much about the battles either if your characters are at proper level. The worst trick the monsters in this area have in sleeve is the Death Penalty attack, which really isn't all that frightening unless you attack really really slowly. (You'll probably learn the enemy skill here. It's a pretty useless enemy skill.)

The next few areas up are a little bit of a maze. The chests contain some Stuff. After the door to lowermost area, you can head left and down to get to the ledge on the first floor - you can pick up Added Effect materia there. However, do NOT run on the brown stuff; you won't be able to stop, and if you hit the wall, you will get seriously injured. Not too bad, just heal up.

Head up the right side of the room and circle back to find the Black M-Phone for Cait Sith in the first chest you see in the room, you'll pass through a tunnel. As you head back up, go through another tunnel on the right to get an Ether in the other chest. In the next area you'll find five passageways, the first and the fifth one are connected, the fourth one leads to an X-Potion, the third one is a dead end, and the second one leads you through. After going through the second passage, head to the southwest and look for a secret passage in the tunnels to reach the chest with a Fairy Ring.

You should keep in the middle of the rooms and head up. A few times, you'll end up to some spider webs; walk in them and you need to fight Stingers. Keep your healing spells handy when fighting those; their Sting bomb attack tends to be really nasty. Before you head into the next room, look for a passage on the left to reach a chest with a Turbo Ether.

Eventually, you'll end up in a big cave with a nasty-looking rock face that... wait a moment... it's not a rock face, it's Gin Attack! Gi Nattak!

After the fight, pick up a Gravity materia from the floor. Happy ending to this little drama: Red XIII finds out that his father wasn't that much of a wimp, really. Awwww.

Time to leave Cosmo Canyon. Buggy gets repaired if it broke down. Red XIII will follow you, and now has a Seraph Comb weapon which you can equip as it's not really that bad. Onward, again!