Final Fantasy VII/The Forgotten Capital

Aerith has gone to the Forgotten Capital. She has left you her accessory (if any) and all Materia.

Excavations at Bone Village
Now, your path leads to the northernmost continent. The Bone Village is a place marked by big dinosaur bones sticking out of the forests there.

Here we find a lot of archeologists. They say Aerith has gone this way and, incidentally, so has Sephiroth. They also tell you can't get through the Sleeping Forest without the Lunar Harp.

The archeologists are willing to help for a little bit of money, specifically, 500 gil. Ask them to dig for the Lunar Harp, then set up each of the archeologists to their place. (Further hints: The Lunar Harp is somewhere on the top plateau in the Bone Village. It's not terrifyingly difficult to find, just ask them to dig for Lunar Harp and determine its location.) Once all five have been set up, each archeologist will turn to face the place where they think the item seems to be. Move Cloud to the point where their lines of sight meet, then hit the button. After the digs, you can then retrieve the item from the box on the front of the tent.


 * Todo: What else to dig from here?

Sleeping Forest
There isn't a great deal of stuff to do in the sleeping forest. On the first screen, the Kjata materia is floating through the branches. Grab it.

On the second screen, there's a box containing Water Ring. This is also a great place to train if you want tons of AP.

After the next screen, you make a brief jaunt to the world map, after which you find yourself in...

The Forgotten Capital
There's not much to do here - and you don't need to explore this place much right now, you'll return here later too. You can find some things here though. Most notably, you can find another Enemy Skill materia on the right side of the town, somewhere in the house with beds.

You need to sleep in this house and in the middle of the night, Cloud wakes up and tells where Aerith is. Specifically, in that prominently placed big house in the middle. Head there. On the top of the spiral, you'll find a Comet materia.

You can't cry underwater
Head down. After a long stairway, you reach a savepoint and a platform where Aerith seems to be praying.

Now, if you're thinking the whole scene is too calm, it's true. If you think Sephiroth just might be ready to leap from the shadows, I'd say you have a good eye for spotting obviousities. So, this is your chance to get ready for a boss fight. Give some character (Tifa, in my case) an Edincoat (or something) with crapload of summon spells, Heal and Life, and an (this is important) the Water Ring you found earlier.

Cloud heads up alone and then proceeds to almost slice Aerith in half, no matter what you're trying to do with your controller. (Patience! He's not really a genuine psychopath - you'll soon learn what's really going on!) And then Sephiroth comes and...

...okay, since this is one of the most famous scenes in history of CRPGs, I don't think this is a spoiler. Sephiroth kills Aerith. Dead. I won't tell how this scene goes, so you actually have some fun.

Sephiroth tells a lot of rather odd details on his plans, and Cloud is clearly not ready to take this in this situation. So, it's time to fight yet another weird part of the creature Sephiroth calls his mother.

Afterwards, you learn, through Jenova's thick accent, that Cloud is a puppet. And exactly what that means.

This concludes the first CD. Hunt for the madman Sephiroth continues on Final Fantasy VII CD 2: The Further Adventures of Tifa and C#&amp;%d - Lightning-Materia Boogaloo, included with your copy of Final Fantasy VII. Specifically, you'll then head into the cold. But now, it's time to save and have a deep breath and things like that.