Final Fantasy VII/Gaea's Cliff

The second disc continues from the Forgotten Capital. Head forward, and you see Cloud's weird mind projection of Sephiroth heading to the right path.

The next screen should be fairly straightforward, head up the conch-like staircase. The chest, by going around and under the staircase, contains a Viper Halberd. The screen after that should likewise be fairly simple; you can climb up and down the vertical shafts. The chests contain Bolt Armlet, HypnoCrown and a Megalixir. On the bottom of the very long ladder, you'll find a Magic Plus materia. Head up that ladder, and out through the next cave that has a chest containing a Power Source.

Now you're back on the world map. Head northwest until you find a city.

Icicle Inn
This place seems to be the northernmost point of civilization. To get further north, you need two items. Talk to the folks in the big house, and you'll find out how to get the Glacier Map - it's actually hanging on the wall, and you can just grab it, though the owner thinks you're a bit bold for taking it before getting his permission. Then, as you find out, there's no way to get further anyway. As you investigate things, you'll find out that the kid in one of the houses has broken his leg and will let you take his snowboard. Stock up on items if you want and check the northwest house for a few videos talking about Ifalna, Aeris' mother, and a Turbo Ether in the basement. There is an X-Potion in the second story of the inn; it’s behind a wall visible through the window.

Then Elena and some Shinra soldiers show up. This is a little bit of a comedic cutscene: Use the controller/keyboard as indicated, move left out of the way to dodge. Either Elena manages to punch you in the nose, or she misses by a mile and goes down the hill. You can get the snowboard from the kid in the house with the dog out front.

Great Glacier
Next you should snowboard down the hill. Talk to the man to find out how to snowboard, and for more details look on the Snowboarding page. Then just head down the hill. It doesn't really matter what route you take, you just end up at a different part of the glacier.

Now, it's time to navigate around the glacier. Press to check the map. Your objective is to identify where you are, so look for landmarks in your current location that looks a bit like the ones in the map. When you've located your position, head toward the red checkmark on the map. Refer to the Great Glacier page for further details.

You will either reach the foot of the mountains on your own, or you'll wake up there if you slump down and freeze to near death. If you freeze, then the climber guy finds you and nurses you back to health.

From the climber guy's house, if you head south you'll reach a large snow field where you have to place markers to keep following a straight path through the snow. If you head directly south, there will be a cave with an All materia inside. Head all the way south by following your markers in a straight line, until you reach a new area with some hot springs. Go to the bottom left to touch it, then head back to the field and go directly east to reach a cave where a snow lady lives. If you touched the hot springs, you'll be able to fight her and win the Alexander summon materia. Head back north or get lost again to go back to the basecamp.

Rare items
There are six items within the Great Glacier:
 * In the left most part of a glacier is a cave containing an Elixir. (You can get an infinite number by exploiting a bug; leave the area before dismissing the item collection window.)
 * In the trees just north of the starting area is a Mind Source.
 * In the central area on the lake is a Safety Bit.
 * In the upper path from the eastern fork to the northern area, an Added Cut Materia. This is most easily accessed by going east from the snow cave on the north, going to the east, and taking the upper path back west once you head south.
 * In the Snow cave (just below the check mark on the north of the in-game map), the All Materia. You can also get the Alexander Materia by touching the hot spring and trying to defeat Snow.
 * A potion is south-east of the central island.

You will eventually collapse while in the Great Glacier; when you do, you will be transported to the safety of the cabin.

Climb the cliff
The climber will explain how to climb the cliffs and how to keep your body temperature up. You can take various paths that lead up and away. The first cave you enter has a Javelin, a weapon for Cid. Enter the cave and go up through the door. Then, go left and down through the next door. Go down and right across the ice bridge. After you get past the bridge, if you keep going forward you will go through the wall. You will find a chest with a Ribbon in it. Continue up into the next room and into the cave, which will circle you up to ledge. Push the boulder, which will clear the path. Now backtrack and go up the path that was cleared by the boulder.

This puts you on a second set of cliffs. There are some dead-ends, but you'll get to the caves eventually. There is a chest with an Elixir, and a save point in this room. Continue to the upper right and follow the path into a room with icicles hanging from the ceiling. On the right side is a Fire Armlet that is not much use here. Walk up to the icicles and you will have a fight. Don't jump down until you drop all 4 icicles. Grab the Megalixir and jump down. Grab the chest with the Speed Source and go north. Grab the Enhanced Sword and keep going.

There's not much to the caves, although they do have some monsters in them like the Stilvas, who teaches you interesting Enemy Skills, like Trine and especially Magic Breath, which is a very useful skill. On the cliff proper, you'll run into Malboros, which teach the Bad Breath Enemy Skill. Equip either a White Cape or a Ribbon, because this Enemy Skill has many status effects.

In the third cave you'll find a black-robed guy that seems to be dying. Then a big monster shows up. Be sure to touch the glowing pool next to the Save Point for full HP/MP restoration if need be.

After this boss fight, which turns out to be the hardest one in this section, it's time to head out and to the top of the cliff. A nice view over the Northern Crater.

Sephiroth
Go down the cliff. If Tifa isn't in your party, she shows up and insists on going with you. In the first room, there's a Neo Bahamut materia. Here you'll see the Shinra approaching from the skies. There are two screens where you need to cross the chasm. As the instructions say, time crossing the gaps when the wind is quiet, otherwise you get knocked back and you need to fight some weak enemies.

After passing a lot of black robes and picking up the Kaiser Knuckle from the chest to the right, you again meet up with Sephiroth, who's killing the black-robed guys.

Now things start to make a little bit more sense. Have Cloud give the Black Materia to either Barret or Red XIII (others will refuse to take it, and you can't give it to a party member either). After the Black Materia has been given to either Barret or Red XIII, there will be an MP Turbo Materia on the ground. The MP Turbo Materia will make your magic attacks more powerful in exchange of consuming more MP. There's a save point further ahead with a treasure chest to the left containing a Poison Ring. Head up after you've saved, and watch the long cutscene that follows.