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Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)

Complete the Temple of the Ancients using magic only, initial equipment, without healing at an inn (full rules in description).
Ancient Steps Retraced (25) (94)
Complete the Temple of the Ancients using magic only, initial equipment, without healing at an inn (full rules in description).

Created by FBernkastelKues on: 25 Aug, 2019 02:19
Last modified: 27 Jan, 2022 15:56

Won by 102 of 1507 possible players (7%)


Recent comments: (All 88)
rlxldk 3 Jan 2023 11:50
Yes to both questions
d13sel 4 Jan 2023 16:56
Prep

Have 3 MP Plus materia at level 4 or higher.
Cloud/Aerith/Cid at levels 49/47/47 or higher
Elemental Materia at level 2
A Fire, Ice and Lightning at level 3

Materia's
Cloud
Transform + MP Plus

Aerith
Ice/Lightning

Cid
Poison, Restore, Mp Plus, Mp Plus
Added Effect + Transform, Destruct, Fire
d13sel 4 Jan 2023 17:04
Fights (have ATB set to Wait in Config to make these easier)
I: Bio on the lady, Fire2 on frogs
III: Bio on Hecteyes
Nail Bat fight: Mini on each Dragon, then Bio to proc poison and wait for poison damage

Before Red Dragon, swap Added Effect for Elemental and pair with Fire in the Armor, and swap Cloud's Transform with a Ice/Lightning

Red Dragon: Bio to proc poison and Cure to keep HP high before Demon's Gate, Defend when characters aren't doing to mitigate damage

Demon's Gate: Cast Fire3/Ice3/Bolt3, will require around 30 casts to kill, use Cure sparingly, I'd say if someone falls below 1200 HP and still has MP then use the Cure.
Enzis 5 Jan 2023 02:26
Item map for first area
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/197341-final-fantasy-vii/map/6880?raw=1
Enzis 5 Jan 2023 06:01
These trash achievements man... it's not the job if the achievement author to artificially add content. This is one of the best games ever made, but this is so stupidly restrictive, the author just wants you to waste hours on end posting very specific buttons. No creativity or journey.

You will have to grind 3 master MP Materia. More is wasted. Then grind Cloud, aeris, Cait Sith as close to 50 as you can. Cait Sith is more important bc he holds 8 Materia, and 2 mp plus.

My setup:
Cloud, 52
Buster Sword, Bronze Bangle,
Mp plus mastered, ice at least lvl 3

Aeris, 51
Guard stick, Bronze Bangle
Lightning at least lvl 3

Cait Sith, 47
Yellow m phone, silver armlet
Restore (only use lvl 1)
Poison (only use lvl 1)
Mp plus mastered x2
Fire at least lvl 3
Hp absorb (barely helped]
Hp plus (was 3 stars)
Sense (for last 2 bosses)

All went in with Sadness and in back row. My man's going in was 709, 512, 780. Had something like 200 to 250 spare, but had a near perfect run. You might have to cast more cures or bio to get poison.

Tips: the first battle is most dangerous. The woman on clock battle 2 I think can cast confuse = auto reset. Immediately use a level 3 fire or ice or lit to kill. The frogs will keep re frogging and unfrogging. Kill them in 2x any level 1 fire/lit/ice, but no bio. The mobs you fight when the clock shoves you down do a lot of damage. Will have to swap casting bio lvl 1 and cure 1 till their poisoned. I added an extra lvl 1 ice/lit to kill them faster. The Dragoon just needs bio 1 till poisoned then spam cure 1 till he's dead. Do not overhead! Use sense if you're bored or curious. You'll want to be topped off on health with no over heal for the last fight. In last fight, I casted zero heals. Opened with sense then everyone spammed their lvl 3 fire/lit/ice till death. My guys health was near 1k by the end, so getting close to needing heals, but still OK.
Enzis 5 Jan 2023 06:03
Other tips, since this achievement is buggy AF, once in the clock room, drop down from the seconds arm LAST. Also, I recommend recording a video from start to finish just in case. You won't want to do this trash twice.

Special thanks to other commenters here for the help. Hope my comments help others
d13sel 5 Jan 2023 06:08
Agreed, achievement actively hurts the rest of the gameplay experience, now my save file is at level 50 going onto disc 2 lol, so nothing is a challenge at this point. To make it more interesting I'd suggest allowing either limits or items, but add another clause that every character has to be lower than level 25 or so.

Regardless this achievement is pain.
d13sel 5 Jan 2023 06:18
Interesting idea to use Cait instead of Cid, but I'd throw out the HP Plus and Sense and just stack some extra green materia's for MP pool increase and Magic Attack increase, and swap out the HP Absorb for an Elemental+Fire to mitigate damage on Red Dragon
Enzis 5 Jan 2023 06:39
100% bonus mp is highest bonus you can get. 2x master MP plus already puts you there. I went Cait Sith bc he starts with 8 Materia spots. Elem+fire is smart
d13sel 5 Jan 2023 06:42
I'd say it's still worth for the magic stat increase, if you want to know boss HP use a calculator
cainslove 7 Jan 2023 15:57
are you allowed to run from fights?
Enzis 7 Jan 2023 16:27
Yes. Run from all fights
cainslove 7 Jan 2023 16:33
Ok good. That's about what I was thinking. I'm not quite there yet. Just getting an idea for this one. Thx ๐Ÿ˜Š
Enzis 7 Jan 2023 17:22
#1 is being high enough level and having 3x mastered MP plus. Due to all the restrictions, the only way it's actually possible is those 2 things for enough mana
Enzis 7 Jan 2023 17:23
The Tiny Bronco let's you get to a small grass patch near Mideel where I grinded for quite a few hours
cainslove 7 Jan 2023 17:32
Good to know thank you!
d13sel 8 Jan 2023 10:37
You're also allowed to Defend in fights, at least until it's patched lol
cainslove 11 Jan 2023 14:53
if anything prepping for this is a good time to get all your limits grinned out lol
cainslove 12 Jan 2023 21:24
i followed d13sels set up. worked like a charm. was in my mid /low 50s
AlphaDragon 20 Jan 2023 06:04
Seems to be a bit tricky making sure you have all the right information before you dive in. Someone in the older comments transcribed the rules (which I was unable to access otherwise) which had the most helpful information. I would suggest heading up to bone village, grabbing some rune armlets to help with grinding MP+ materias (plus anything else you need, the level three elemental materias are pretty crucial for demon wall, the other important materia is poison but it doesn't need to be leveled). I went with Cait Sith over Cid but I put everyone in intial equip as I had read that was necessary (so I'll also state as previous folks have, Cid's default armour is the Gold armlet, not Silver as stated in that one gamefaqs guide). If you master your HP+ materia then the only real risk for your health is the 8-eye attack (2k+ damage) so don't panick about chip damage If you're back row then red dragons physicals won't hit far above 500 damage and you'll focus down demon wall way faster then it can damage you.

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