FF7 Rebirth Guide: Chapter 9 – The Planet Stirs
Area List (Tap to jump down the page!) |
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Jungles of Gongaga |
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The Village of Gongaga |
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The Shadows Beckon |
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Water Level |
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Specimen H1024 (Boss Fight) |
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Crimson Mare Mk. II (Boss Fight) |
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State of Things / Freeflier Pilot |
Chapter 9 of FF7: Rebirth begins right where the last one took off. We’re in the Corel desert and alongside Cait Sith, we have a buggy to travel around in and some open areas to explore.
Now, there’s a grand total of 22 World Intel spots here, along with 2 Side Quests. The first began in Costa Del Sol (if you picked it up) and can be followed through here. The other, unlocks at the start of the chapter in North Corel.
When you’ve done everything you want to do, head to the south of Corel. You can still pick up materials while driving the buggy over them, and you can also use it to travel over shallow water too.
When you get near the Run-Down Reactor, Cait Sith will reveal you all need to travel forward on foot from here on out.
Jungles of Gongaga
As soon as this mission triggers, you’ll get extra intel on Summon Entity: Kujata. There are also new quests in this area but given a lot of them need a Chocobo to traverse around, it’s best to wait until later in the chapter. These areas will have a yellow Chocobo symbol on them to show where to travel back to, like this one:
For now, when you control Cloud head into the cave and out the other side, following the river all the way down to the village. There are some enemies along the way too, so be sure to use your Assess Materia on them to continue your World Intel exploits.
It’s quite a long trek but eventually you’ll make it to the village; just keep following the torches and the dirt/wooden pathway.
The GYC’s Captain
When you get close to the village, a short cutscene will pave way to you following Cissnei over to the shrine.
The Village of Gongaga
You’ll be encouraged to go and rest but you can also now freely explore the village too. There are Queen’s Blood players to challenge here, and you can also speak to each of your teammates too. If you speak to Red XIII, be sure to pick the “Right Mushroom Patch” to deepen your ties with him.
Tifa and Barret are also here, while Yuffie is situated at the rest spot. Inside, you’ll find a purple chest which holds 1x Bird of Prey, a weapon for Yuffie. If you don’t pick this up now, there are several different moments in the chapter you can grab it too.
With Aerith, you’ll find her inside a house on the eastern side of town, which is your next destination.
Aeirth’s Acquaintance
Head inside the house by pressing triangle to open it up. During the cutscene, choose the dialogue option “You’re too hard on yourself” to deepen your ties with her.
Recuperation and Confusion
When you gain control of Cloud, head forward and go rest up for the day. You can choose to see the weapons vendor and the item vendor if you wish, and if you haven’t got it already, go and open that pink chest in your room. You can also speak to Yuffie and increase your relationship with her too while she hums an amusing song.
Finally, approach your bed and choose “Until it’s time to leave.”
The Mysterious Roar/Shadows over the reactor
Leave the house and follow Yuffie through town to the reactor.
Cry of the Planet
Your party will now be locked and you’ll have Barret and Cait Sith in your party. With your selections locked, head through the pathway south to the reactor.
The path itself is super linear but if you do get stuck, just keep following the pipes along the road, heading inside and traversing along the river too.
After dropping down the rope, swim through the water as far south as you can and you’ll emerge out to the east, right by a parking lot. Go to the other end and press Up to pass under the gap.
The Shadows Beckon
After the cutscene, be sure to use the vending machine and bench if you wish before descending down to follow the whispers.
Continue along the path and take out the first wave of enemies in the underground section. Hop over the broken rubble into the adjacent room and be sure to open the pink chest, which holds 1x Crystal Sword inside.
Return back out into the original chamber and squeeze through the gap to the west to proceed forward. There are several routes to go here, and although the left path is the correct one to follow, go through the right first and in the adjacent room you’ll find a yellow chest holding 1x Sapphire. There are also a few enemies so take them out and hop back to the original chamber.
Gate Generator
Now, head through the path on the left and up the big stairwell into the next room. After dropping down from the metal balcony area, there will be some enemies to face. Furthermore, there’s also a Generator on one side which needs power to turn on.
Just next to the machine, you’ll find a slope leading up. At the end is a plug. Grab it by holding L2 and then drag it back over to the machine. Press Triangle to plug it in and the door will open.
With the way forward open, head inside and defeat the enemies along the linear pathway. There’s also a good deal of materials here to grab and a few different pathways too. When you reach a T junction hallway, go northeast to find a chest that holds 3x Hazardous Materials.
When you head forward and end up in a room with water, go forward and after fighting the Grandhorns in this larger area, go north east on the map to find a little alcove with a yellow chest. This holds 1x Sage Armband.
Turn back and head over the metal bridge to trigger a tiny cutscene
Water Level
In order to press on, we need to modify the water level in this room. First, drop down into the pool and hop over to the adjacent platform and climb the ladder (pictured below).
At the top, follow the winding stairwell and squeeze through the gap to the other side. You’ll find a plug in the ground but before you pick it up, be sure to hold L2 and pull the crate back to free the cable.
If you move that crate as far back as you can, hop up and through the passage into the adjacent room. There, you’ll be able to open a Pink Chest which holds 1x Golden Collar. Return to the original room with the plug and if you haven’t already, plug it in to the adjacent generator. Then, head down the stairs and press Triangle to operate the water terminal console.
Climb back down into the water and proceed onto the adjacent platform. Along the way, you’ll find a passageway heading off to the right, which holds a few enemies and a chest with 1x Remedy inside.
Just beyond this, you’ll find a bench and vending machine. Do be sure to rest up here. Just over in the distance, along the south-west passage, you’ll find 1x Orb of Subversion Materia. Finally, head forward and into the Reactor.
Clash
After a brief cutscene, you’ll be fighting some monsters called Amalgam. These guys are easy to Stagger and they will revive a few times too, You can either brute-force melee strike them a few times to kill them once over, or alternatively use Fire Materia, as these guys are weak to fire and will burn easily, preventing them from resurrecting.
Either way, defeating these enemies will eventually pave way for a boss fight.
Boss Fight – Specimen H1024 |
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Specimen H1024 is an imposing figure but in all honesty, it’s not too much of a threat. It’s weak to Ice and it moves slowly, so you should be able to cast Blizzard or Blizzara on it quite easily. However, it does have a few big moves, including Mako Ingestion where it’ll buff its magical resistance. It also uses Fira and Thundara too. Finally, it uses Mako Explosion and Wrathful Wave, which are both close-quarter melee strikes. You can use Cait Sith to deal melee damage and build up that Pressure meter, while Barret’s Pressure Shot, alongside Cloud using Blizzard and strong melee strikes, should Stagger it quite quickly. With around 30% health left, Specimen will start using new attacks like Mako Shot, which sees a projectile smash in your direction. It’ll also buff its magical attack and magical defence too. Instead of Mako Explosion, it’ll use Mako Overdose here instead, which is a far more powerful move. However, keep switching your party and hit it with strong melee strikes and it should, go down quite quickly. Defeating this will net you 2900 EXP, 10 AP, 50 Party EXP and 1450 Gil. |
Crisis
Controlling Tifa, follow Cissnei over to the Chocobos. She’ll hand over a Grappling Gun. These Chocobos can travel massive distances when you bounce on these mushrooms, so go ahead and do that as you race over to Cloud and the others.
On this much higher pathway, you’ll find a spot just after a couple of mushrooms with a slightly bigger platform. This will have a yellow chest which holds 1x Sapphire.
After sliding down the metal pole, you’ll be at the parking lot.
Defeat the enemies outside and use your Grappling Hook to hold onto the higher ledge and proceed forward. The first spot is pictured below.
Rescue Effort
After hopping down to the other side, be sure to use the bench and vending machine before descending down into the same are Cloud and the others visited earlier on. It’s a linear path for most of it but when Tifa mentions the grappling guns in the room full of water, head over o the south side and look up to grapple higher.
Partway, if you face the south side and grapple the platform on the far side of the chamber, you can reach a pink chest which holds 1x Tiger Fangs.
Continue from here and grapple across the higher parts of the room. On the way over to the other side, you’ll also find a spot you can jump down to open a yellow chest which holds 2x Mega-Potions.
When you emerge out of this area (following the light beaming through the ceiling) head across this large area and climb up the ladder.
In order to move the plug over to the generator, you’ll need to circle around the room. Head all the way to the east side of the room and grapple up and around. Defeat the enemies on the way and get to the top of the room.
Circle around and at the far end of the room (the north west corner) look back whence you came and grapple over to the central suspended platform and down to the other side (pictured below).
When you find the green Mako machine, hold L2 and push it as far forward as you can. Then, drop down and use the plug to switch the machine on and head through to the other side. Follow the sound of the helicopter up and defeat the Shinra troopers in the large outside arena.
After, head along the path, defeating enemies on the way as you follow the helicopter. After defeating the Slug-Ray enemies, be sure to use the vending machines and the bench to rest up.
Turn right from the bench and grapple up, following the path until a cutscene triggers.
Boss Fight – Crimson Mare Mk. II |
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Out of all the bosses we’ve faced thus far (minus a couple of the summons, Crimson Mare is likely to cause the biggest problems. It has several different spots to target, including the main bulk, the Left Saber and the Right Saber. You need to target both of these first in order to then hit Scarlet and deal big damage. As this is a robot enemy, naturally you want to make sure the girls come equipped with lightning materia. It’s a good idea to actually attach this to all 3 of the girls so they can use this to try and stagger Scarlet as quickly and effectively as possible. Lightning Ninjutsu is a great option to use with Yuffie from afar so she can keep striking with ranged attacks, while Aerith should be used as a combination of magic attack and buffing the party out with healing. When you Stagger Crimson Mare the first time, it’ll regenerate with Cannons instead, which will fire rays of laser fire across the battlefield. Unfortunately, as this boss is flying around, it makes Tifa’s melee pretty useless so you’ll need to rely heavily on magic to get through this one. Synergy Attacks are also a great option here for when Crimson Mare is staggered, while you want to constantly dodge out the way of the Mako Cannons by getting behind Crimson Mare. The worst attack is Rotating Rail Laser, which will see two jets of lasers protrude out and slam around in circles on the arena.
The third phase of this fight (which usually shows after staggering Crimson Mare twice or getting it down to 25% health) will see the Cannon replaced by melee Gauntlets. These do float aroud the arena and can slam through you, so be sure to try and take these out as quick as you can, dodging out the way of their Rocket attacks. After destroying this tough boss, you’ll gain 3000 EXP, 10 AP, 1500 Gil and gain 50 Party EXP too. |
Magnus Materia
After the fight and controlling Tifa, head forward and grapple up to the higher platforms, following the linear path around to Scarlet.
Out Of The Frying Pan
After falling in the water, swim forward to Barret. From here, you’ll have a series of QTEs to complete, holding L2 and R2 in turn. Next, move to the left, right and middle and hold Triangle to see each of the cutscenes in turn.
After watching all of them, hold L2 and R2 again to trigger another cutscene.
Where She Belongs
As Cloud, step forward toward the creature.
State of Things / Freeflier Pilot
After the cutscene with Tifa, head out the room and if you didn’t pick it up earlier, you’ll also have another chance to open the pink chest with the Bird of Prey weapon inside.
Approach the couch and the next cutscene will see the gang ready to head off to the next spot – Cosmo Canyon. Cissnei will also give you instructions to find an old airfield pilot. Oh, and we also have Chocobos to use now too.
Road to the Airstrip
At this point, you’ll be free to head off and complete some side activities before continuing on to the next stage. Fast Travel is now open, while there are 4 Sidequests in total. All 4 of these can be accepted from the village noticeboard. Furthermore, there are some Queen’s Blood cards to grab from the store along with some players to battle, and a Piano sheet song too. This is located in the house south of the hut we travelled inside of with Aerith earlier in the level. The sheet music is just on the piano inside.
On top of all this, there are 28 World Intel spots, ranging from Summon Crystals to enemies so be sure to consult your mini-map for the location of the towers to make things easier. And be sure to summon a Chocobo to ravel faster too!
When you’ve done all of this, go south out of town through the locked gate and follow the path west, over the wooden bridge and eventually you’ll reach the airstrip.
Telephone Booth
Approach the telephone booth and press triangle to trigger another cutscene.
Price of the Fight
When Cid shows up, he’ll agree to take you to Cosmo Canyon, but only after paying 1000 Gil. Be sure to pay this (if you don’t have the cash you’ll need to rustle it up before continuing) and interact with Cid to trigger another cutscene.
Cid’s airship is actually motion-controlled so be sure to tilt your controller from left to right to fly it over Cosmo Canyon. You can turn it off if you wish and use your analog sticks but you’ll be able to control it down to the runway before another little cutscene brings this chapter to a close.
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Chapter 10 >> |
You can check out our full walkthrough and game guide here! |
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