Our journey begins on the Upper Plate of Midgar, the largest and most technologicaly advanced city in the world. When you get off the train, you'll be just simply "Ex SOLDIER," a young warrior with a sharp tongue and a bad attitude. Check the dead guards for some potions, then follow your friends to the next scene. There you'll be able to name your first characters (to keep things simple, I'll just call everybody by their default names here), and you'll learn that you were hired to help a rebel group called AVALANCHE destroy a Mako Reactor.. The path here is pretty simple, with no side paths to treasures or anything, (although be sure to grab the Pheonix Down, which is right by the entrance.), so just follow Jessie. Although Cloud comes pre-equipped with Bolt and Ice magic, save your MP's as much as possible. You'll see why when you and Barret reach the end of the line.
Ah, the first boss! Fear not, the Guard Scorpion isn't quite as bad as he seems. Hit him with Bolt and Limit Breaks, and STOP when his tail goes UP, or else you're going to be sorry. Once the tail goes back down, you can continue wailing on him. Once he's been clobbered, have Barret equip that nice new Assault Gun, then go back the way you came. Be quick about it, too, since there's a ten-minute timer on that bomb! Oh, and don't forget to help Jessie as you come back up the stairs. Aren't you a nice guy? (Well, actually, you need her to open those locked doors.)
When you out to the street, the flower girl from the FMV sequence will come up and talk to you. This (in case you didn't figure it out from the game manual) is Aeris Gainsborough. You'll be seeing a lot more of her later, but for now, tell her that nothing's wrong, and comment on the flowers. Buy one from her, and you'll have scored your first "Love Point." That's right, this game actually remembers and records your responses to various characters (namely Aeris and Tifa, but also some of the others). While this isn't incredibly important to the outcome of the game, there are several scenes that are dependent on the amount of Love Points you have with Aeris or Tifa, so if you want these girls to like you, you should be nice to them, and use them often in battle. Of course, if you don't want them to like you, then go right ahead and be a heartless bastard :-)
At any rate, take that flower and follow Aeris south, where you'll be waylaid by a bunch of Shinra troops. No matter, just fight them or run from them until Cloud gets sick of it and jumps onto a passing train heading down to the slums. Eventually, you'll find yourself in Tifa's 7th Heaven Bar, where you can then give the flower to Tifa. She'll love you for it. Follow the story for a while, and make sure to take note of the reminiscences Tifa and Cloud have together.
While In Sector 7, make sure to buy anything you might need, and grab the Enemy-All on the second floor of the Weapon Shop. Whether you hook it to Lightning or Restore, it's your call. Also, as with any RPG from the beginning of time, talk to everybody! They'll all have pretty interesting things to say, and that information will help you get a clearer view of what's going on. When you're done, hop on the train to the east.
Oh dear! This is bad. No problem, just get to the other side of the cars in time, and watch out for the man in the 3rd car who steals some of your money or your items. I'm not sure if it's possible to avoid him or not, but he's always there. When you make it to the last car, talk to Tifa and Barret, then jump. When you land, run north to get to the Number 5 reactor, or if you've got time to kill, run all the way south to fight hordes of Special Combatants for fun and profit. (I recommend doing this, as it's an exellent way to earn those second Lvl.1 Limit Breaks.) However, you'll never get to the reactor this way, so when you're done, take it back north.
This reactor's identical to the last one, except you come in from a diffrent way. There's not much in the way or treasure, and the enemies aren't too tough (except for the sets of five Machine Guns--waste 'em with an Enemy-All'd Bolt spell). At the end of the line, though, a nasty surprise awaits, so make sure your health is up. The Air Buster boss is relatively tough, although all the damage he deals will cause your limit gauges to go up awfully fast, and you know what that means . . . clobber him! Eventually, with Limit Breaks and Bolt spells, you'll be able to take him out.
Uh-oh, more misfortune has befallen our heroes. Don't worry about Tifa and Barret for now--they can take care of themselves. Besides, you've got somebody else to worry about now. After talking to Aeris for a while (she'll like you more if you can remember her from before), some jerk named Reno (this won't be the last time you meet him, btw) will start harrassing you. Get Aeris out of trouble by going up the stairs and pushing the barrels in this order: leftmost, topmost, rightmost. She'll be impressed by how cool you are. Equip her with that Titan Bangle you won from Air Buster, and move on out.
As you explore the next slum, take note of the house in the lower right. Inside are two things of interest: first is the first of the six Turtle's Paradise Ads you'll find (more on that later); second is the hidden dresser drawer--you don't need 5 gil, so leave it, and when you come back later, the kid'll give you a Turbo Ether. In the next screen on the right is Aeris' house, where you can find an Ether and a Cover Materia in the garden. When you're getting ready to leave the hospitality of Aeris' mom, walk (don't run!) to the stairs and move on. Don't worry that you ditched Aeris--she won't let you stay away for long.
Make your way to the raunchier side of Midgar, Wall Market, where you'll discover that Tifa's been kidnapped! Better save her, huh? Right, but how? The bouncer at the mansion in the north side of town won't let anybody but women get through, and that's where Tifa is. What's a resourceful adventurer to do? Aeris knows. Well, get set for one of the most hilarious and unusual sequences FF7 has to offer, because Cloud is going to have to be a girl for a while. Well, getting the dress and the wig is the easy part, but there are actually more items you can get, and the better your outfit, the better you'll look to Don Corneo. (Why anyone would WANT to is beyond me:-) First of all, the guy relaxing in the northernmost store in the bottom half of the map will give you a diamond tiara if you stay at the inn and buy the most expensive thing in the vending machine. If you eat at the restaurant just below that store, and tell the cook that it was "all right," you'll get a coupon for the pharmacy just to the south. Get the Digestive medicine, then go up to the cafe in the top part of the map and give it to the lady in the bathroom. The Sexy Cologne is yours. Now, if you've got the stomach for it, talk to the guy in the lower left-hand corner in the bottom half of town. He'll give you a card for the Honey Bee Inn, which, as I'm sure you guessed, is a brothel. Well, Cloud's a man of the world, right? Go on in and explore a little, and try not to laugh too hard. For the lingerie, um, participate in the upper right-hand room. The lower right-hand room doesn't get you as good an item, but you can go in there just to see . . . if you dare! I'm warning you now, the lower room is far, far more disturbing.
At any rate, when you've got as many cross-dressing items as you can stand, change in the dressing room, stop laughing at how silly Cloud looks, and go back to Corneo's mansion. Tifa's in the basement, and the three of you will confer for a bit before you're called up to talk to Don Corneo. Depending on the quality of your outfit, he'll either pick you or someone else, and then it's just a matter of running away from the lecherous freak(s) until either you come to Tifa or Aeris' rescue, or they come to yours. When the conversation's over, you'll wind up in the sewers. Yuck! (I suppose it IS better than being back up there, but...)
First off, you'll have to fight a boss, but he's not that tough. Every once and a while, he'll cast a Tidal Wave spell that does high damage to him, but almost none to your people. Be careful though, because eventually he'll reverse the attack, and it can kill you if you're not ready for it. When the dust settles, grab the various free stuff here (including the Steal materia!), and make your way up to the Train Graveyard.
This place is big, but pretty easy to figure out. However, stick around long enough to find the rare enemy Eligor, who looks like a guy in a chariot of some kind. Try out your newly acquired Steal materia and get Aeris a Striking Staff, a weapon you won't be able to buy for another 5 or 10 hours of game time!
Eventually, you'll wind up back at Sector 7, or rather, the plate support just before you enter Sector 7. Things don't look too great, do they? Talk to the folks and save, then run up the stairs to find Barret, valiantly standing against the Shinra. Pretty soon, you'll meet up with Reno (remember him?), and you'll do battle. Reno's not as tough as he looks, but those pyramids he puts you in are bad news. Attack it as soon as he puts one on somebody (you won't hurt the person trapped within). When he's finished with, escape, and you'll wind up back at the old playground. There's a Sense materia waiting for you, and although you could go back to Wall Market, why not go back to Sector 6? You have to anyway, so do it. Talk to that kid in the house I mentioned earlier and get a nice juicy Turbo Ether (if you left the 5 gil alone), then revisit Aeris' house. Dontcha just love flashbacks? When all that's done with, head back to Wall Market. Not too much has changed, although the guy who gave you the tiara is actually selling something, namely materia. Don Corneo is nowhere to be seen, but one of his subordinates is trapped in the dungeon, and you can ransack the place for a Phoenix Down and/or a Hyper (if you didn't get them when you were here the first time). Talk to the garbage collectors across the street from the gym, who will direct you to the weapon shop. Buy the batteries and enter the alley. The route to the Shinra building is fairly straightforward, save for that damnable bar you have to jump on. You have to get it just before it swings all the way left. If you're like me, you're going to have to do it like fourteen times until you make it. Also, look for a place where you can climb down a pipe to use the third battery. You get an ether for your troubles.
Well, you've made it to Shinra Headquarters! Do we go up the stairs or through the lobby? If you want to get everything the game has to offer, the answer is both. In order to get a weapon for Red XIII 40 hours later, you'll need to make the trek all the way up the stairs. When you've reached the top, then go back down to F1 via the elevator to see the second Turtle's Paradise ad, which is on the message board in back. On F2, there's a little store with some people in it you can scare (you also won't be able to get in those chests until much later), and on the left is a TV screen that you can watch a hidden FMV on. When you're done with all that, go back up to F59 and get the Key Card 60 from the Mighty Grunts in front of the elevator on the right.
F60: Sneak by the guards by hiding behind the statues when they're looking, and moving when they're not. It's relatively easy to do, and once you're across, you'll have to signal Barret and Tifa, basically doing the whole thing all over again. Twice. Oh well. If it's too hard to not get caught, just fight the guards over and over again. eventually, they'll die, and you ccan cross unmolested. When you're across, go up to . . .
F61: Talk to everybody, and when the one guy give you the chance to ask about Aeris, don't. Let him think you're maintenance, and he'll give you Key Card 62.
F62: Ooh, a puzzle! At first, it seems pretty hard, but if you think about it, it's not all that bad. Don't even bother wasting money on the guy that offers to give you hints. Just go through each little library, taking note of what types of books are supposed to be in that library. There are also numbers before each book title . . . all right, do you want me to tell you? Don't read on if you don't want to know! What you do, is you take the number before the title of the book that doesn't belong. So, for example, if you had "3 The Love Life of Cloud Strife" (now that would be a scary book, huh?), you'd remember the letter E. Do this for every library and you should have a word. Tell it to the Mayor, and if you get it right on the first try, he'll give you an Elemental Materia and the Key Card 65.
F63: This is just a bonus floor. You have to figure out which doors to open in order to get all the Coupons. To get them all (here's another one that you shouldn't read on if you don't want the puzzle ruined), open the top right door, then the second door leading south from the upper hallway. From this point, enter the little room, get the Coupon, and go into the duct. Take the top right vent out, open the first door across the hall to the left (not the one right outside the door!), and get the third coupon. Now you can take the duct back to the computer room and cash in your prizes.
F64: Another bonus floor, where you can rest, save, and look through everybody's lockers. Oh yeah, and you make Cloud pass out on the treadmill for fun!
F65: This puzzle is so easy it's not really worth explaining. Just search the chests, get the model piece, put it in, and do it again until you've got the Key Card 66. Actually, what's of more interest here are the Moth Slasher enemies you meet. Why? Because you can steal Carbon Bangles from them, powerful armor that won't be available for a long while yet. Get at least 5 before you leave the Shinra building.
F66: There's a grate above the toilet in the bathroom that will let you peek into a secret meeting with all the Shinra bigwigs. When it's all done, follow Hojo and sneak upstairs after him.
F67: Hmmm, things are getting interesting, aren't they? Before you grab the Poison Materia and head up the elevator in the back, stick around until you meet a set of Soldier 3rd enemies. You can steal Cloud's Hard Edge weapon from them, yet another item that won't be available for a while! It's worth the hassle, too, since it's a very powerful sword this early in the game.
F68: Now that you're well equipped, meet up with Hojo and save Aeris and Red XIII. There's a boss here, too, and it's a doozy. Concentrate on the big guy instead of his little friends, and whatever you do, don't cast Bio on him. Fire, Ice, and Bolt will work fine. When he's dead, grab the Enemy Skill materia he leaves behind, and talk to the guy waiting for you before going back downstairs to meet your friends. He has the Key Card 68 for you. Unfortunately, the Turks, namely Rude, are waiting for you as well....
Talk to Aeris, then just go to sleep. You can talk to the others, if you want, but they won't really tell you anything useful. Don't worry about escaping, because somebody else already has it covered. When you wake up, you'll see why. Follow that trail of blood up to the top floor, where you'll find yet another surprise. Btw, save that game at the F69 save point! There's going to 4 boss battles in a row, and you'll want to be able to go back if you screw up. When the party splits up, be sure to split up your materia so that whoever you're using at the time has as much as they need. First, Barret, Aeris, and Red XIII will run into two big bad bosses in the elevator, which can't be reached with normal weapons (except Barret's gun). Cast Bolt often, and use Limit Breaks as much as you can. Once those are dispatched, you'll go back to Cloud. Give him some materia, then take on that little femme Rufus and his panther. This one is pretty easy. Just consenrate on Rufus and ignore his little feline friend. Rufus will bail out once you've done about 500 points of damage. Once that's over with, go back down, meet Tifa, and head out. Watch the FMV (This is one of my all-time favorite FMV's. Cloud is so cool.) and take the opportunity to rearrange your materia if you didn't already. The hardest boss is yet to come.
Now, the Motorcycle Event game can be really hard until you get the hang of it, so be sure to save on Floor 69! There's no real trick to winning easily, except practice.The only suggestion I have is: if you think you're really going to do bad, have Restore paired with Enemy-All, and cast Cure at the begining of the battle. Now, Motor Ball is the hardest boss you've seen yet, with 2600 HP and some pretty formidable attacks. Also, watch out for his special attack, "Rolling Fire", which brings almost every one's life down to critical. However, he's weak to lightning, so use Limit Breaks and Bolts until he bites the big one.
When Motor Ball is defeated, you at last get to escape the confines of Midgar. Make yourself a new party, (I suggest Cloud, Aeris, and Barret), and head out to Kalm.