.--------------------------------------------------. ./ _____ _ _ _____ | ./ / ____| (_) (_) / ____| | ./ | | _ __ _ ___ _ ___ | | ___ _ __ ___ '----------. ./ | | | '__| / __| / __| | | / _ \| '__/ _ \ | ./ | |____| | | \__ \ \__ \ | |___| (_) | | | __/ .----------' ./ \_____|_| |_|___/_|___/ \_____\___/|_| \___| | / | '----------------------------------------------------------------. Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*oO || FFVII: Crisis Core Minerva Guide || || Version: 1.40 || || Copyright: Absolute Steve || || Email: faq@shillatime.org || || All rights reserved (C) 2008 || Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*oO facebook.com/absolutesteve ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || Foreword: Introduction to the FAQ || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO It's quite simple. This FAQ will tell you how to get to Minerva, a very powerful, optional boss in Crisis Core, and how to beat her. This FAQ offers a detailed strategy on how to defeat her, with multiple possibilities for equipment. This FAQ also covers the reward(s) for beating Minerva. - Absolute Steve Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || Donation (Experimental) || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO Please take a minute to read this and step out of the Guide for a second. You can greatly support me and others, perhaps even for free. I sincerely hope you will find this Guide useful. If you found it to be handy and useful, consider the possibility of sending a donation. I'm a student and.. you can probably figure the rest. I will continue to work on Game Guides, although your help is greatly appreciated. You also automatically help supporting the free online gaming comminuty. Thank you very much. For more info regarding donations, visit my website: shillatime.org o Supporting can be done by two means: o Donate by Paypal, Donation Account: faq@shillatime.org ------------------ If you can't donate (through PayPal, or at all), then maybe: o Buy something at Amazon (OR.. have your parents/friend/relative buy something that they would buy online *anyway*) and use the following Amazon Search Box: ===================================== http://www.shillatime.org/amazon.html ===================================== o If something is bought through that search machine, a small referrer fee (4%) will be given to me, so if you were going to buy something anyway, remember you can support me. This does *not* cost you anything extra, by the way. Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || Table of Contents || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO Use Ctrl+F to find what you're looking for, and copy/paste the brackets {}. {MIS-9-6-6} Optional Boss Minerva {MAX-1} Super Fast Gil & SP {MAX-2} Maxing Stats with Materia {BAT} Battle Specifics {REW} Reward(s) {IMG} Images of Minerva Version History Credits Copyright Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || {MIS-9-6-6} Optional Boss Minerva || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO Minerva is the goddess of the planet. In Mission 9-6-6, she can be fought against. Since she has 10 million HP and has devastating attacks, be sure to prepare yourself well. To start off, you should have good equipment. A Protect Ring will be very useful to have since it grants Auto-Barrier and Auto-Magic Barrier. It's best to also have 255 Vitality and 255 Spirit, to reduce the amount of damage most of Minerva's attacks do. Genji Shield is normally even better than Protect Ring since it also absorbs all elemental attacks and blocks all bad status effects, but since Minerva doesn't use any elemental attacks or any bad status effects, you can consider it to be equal to a Protect Ring. You'll also need Genji Glove (which breaks the damage limit up to 99999, and also grants 100% Critical Hits), and Genji Armor (which breaks the HP limit to 99999 and also grants Auto-Endurance and Auto-Regen). These two are just as essential as the Protect Ring/Genji Shield. The fourth and last accessory should probably be the Genji Helm, simply because it grants 0 MP/AP consumption (and also Auto-Libra), which will save you a lot of trouble when Minerva drains away your MP and AP. An alternative for the Genji Helm is the Ziedrich, which boosts your Str, Vit, Mag and Spr with +100. Use this only if you don't already have max stats, which you should have gotten through the use of materia fusion. Which brings me to materia fusion. You should fuse materia to boost your stats, and keep in the back of your head that your stats should be at max, or at the very least have 65000+ HP. Minerva's Ultima cannot exceed 64583 damage if you have 255 Spirit, Magic Barrier, and if you also Block. In short, equip the following accessories: - Genji Shield OR Protect Ring - Genji Armor - Genji Glove - Genji Helm OR Ziedrich As for Materia, you'll definitely want to be able to heal yourself, so have a Curaga Materia equipped. If you have Genji Helm equipped you don't need to worry about MP and AP, but if you don't, you should also have a healthy stock of Elixirs. Equip the Costly Punch Materia, as this is the key attack for winning the battle. Costly Punch has a very high attack power (38 base), plus it does more damage the higher your current HP is (unless you go over your own Max HP by 1.11, then it does 0 damage). It also ignores the enemy's Vitality. Therefore, Costly Punch can easily inflict 99999 damage versus Minerva. It's not the quickest attack, but it's still quick enough to be of extremely good use. Also equip a Steal or Mug Materia. You can steal 99 Phoenix Downs from Minerva, something that'll do you good in this battle. This way you can maintain the ReRaise status throughout the whole battle, should anything go wrong. You'll need many Phoenix Downs, since Minerva's strongest attack, Judgement Arrow, negates all status effects (except Invincibility), so it also negates ReRaise. Then again, 99 should be enough, don't you think? Have ReRaise when you enter the battle. Also, if you have some time to prepare, get an SP Master Materia and save up on a LOT of SP before going into the battle. If your SP Master Materia is mastered you will take a full 100% reduction of all damage as long as you have SP. Since your SP gets drained VERY FAST, be sure to have over 10 million SP to at least last a decent while. You can get this much SP by doing the Gil trick by selling the 99 Phoenix Downs from Minerva, getting killed, buy/convert Dualcast Materia and .. profit! One last note: It may also be useful to increase your Luck stat to 155+. If you do this, some of Minerva's attacks cannot do double damage to you anymore. This isn't essential, but it can certainly help. Materia Fusion can help you accomplish this. So once again, in short, here are the best Materia to equip: - Costly Punch - Curaga - Steal OR Mug - SP Master With the proper preparation, half the battle is already fought. If you've got max stats and the above equipment, the battle isn't all that hard. It'll be long, but not extremely hard. Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || {MAX-1} Super Fast Gil & SP || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO Note: This trick does NOT work in the Japanese Version of the game. In that version, you will get Game Over if you fail a Mission, thus it won't work. Super Fast Gil & SP =================== o You must get to Minerva first. I know, that's a hard task, so give it all you can. It's going to be worth it. o When you have access to the Minerva Mission (9-6-6), equip Brigand's Gloves and a Steal/Mug Materia, and enter the battle. Brigand's Gloves make sure that you'll steal with a 100% success rate. The very first thing you'll want to do is steal from Minerva, which should be no problem if it is your very first command. 99 Phoenix Downs are now yours. Watch how Minerva slaughters you, and return at the Save Point. o Sell the 99 Phoenix Downs for nearly 500000 Gil at any Shop. o Repeat the process until you've gotten a few Millions. o Go to Net Shop Shade (you should have it, since you have access to Minerva as well; It's in a chest in Mission 9-5-4). Buy yourself a load of Dualcast Materia. For one 'run' (500000 Gil), you can buy 16, nearly 17 of these. o Go to Materia in your menu and convert these 16 Dualcasts into nearly 290000 SP! It turns into 18040 SP per Materia, so it's quite efficient! Money is no issue either, so it's infinite Gil and SP for you! With a large supply of Gil and SP, you can now build any Materia to Max Stats without too much effort. Simply buy equipment and keep fusing Materia together to get enormous boosts! Detailed information will come soon. There are also other methods if you haven't been able to reach Minerva yet, but these are much slower. They also require a lot of progress through Missions, so in the end they're not all that much worth it. Quick SP ======== o Mover enemies (three little bouncing balls) give a lot of AP. They appear in various Missions. The best would be Three Stars, which appear in Missions 9-5-2 and 9-5-3, and give 20000 SP a piece. Quick Gil ========= o Tonberry enemies drop quite alot of Gil. The best would be the Holy Tonberry, which drops 20000 Gil. Unfortunately, this is in one of the later Missions, 9-6-2. Also try Mission 9-4-5 for Tonberry enemies. Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || {MAX-2} Maxing Stats with Materia || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO Maxing Stats with Materia ========================= After receiving various emails on how to do this, I just went and expanded the previous section with this section. Using the Minerva trick will make this process a breeze for you. 1. Make a few million SP with the trick in {GEN-3}. 2. Get 99 Phoenix Downs. 3. Buy or get the Materia you want to be in the final result. If you want the Materia to be an Ultima Materia, get it one way or another (Flare + DMW). 4. Buy three new, fresh DMW Materia (Research Dept. QMC+). 5. Fuse the Ultima Materia with a DMW Materia, and use ONE Fat Chocobo Feather so you get an Ultima Materia with a HP+% as result. 6. Fuse your Ultima Materia with an other DMW Materia, and throw in the 99 Phoenix Downs. This will surely give you a HP +999% Ultima. 7. This is already a great result. If you want a different stat instead of HP, simply fuse the Ultima Materia with the last DMW Materia, and throw in ONE Hero Drink OR Adamantite OR Dark Matter OR Mythril OR Gysahl Greens. Note: If you need Fat Chocobo Feathers, you can get them from Humbaba in Mission 6-6-6. For a list on the other items, look at {LIS-2}. Now take your powerful materia and use them to beat the hell out of Minerva! With the proper preparation, half the battle is already fought. If you've got max stats and the above equipment, the battle isn't all that hard. It'll be long, but not extremely hard. Let's go over to the battle specifics. Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || {BAT} Battle Specifics || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO .==============. .================. |Name: Minerva | *20 million HP on Hard Mode. | Class: Minerva | |=============================================================================| | Level: | *HP: | MP: | Strength: | Vitality: | Magic: | Spirit:| Luck: | | 100 |10000000| 999999 | 255 | 201 | 255 | 255 | 255 | |========o========o========o===========o===========o========o========o========| | EXP: 0 | SP: 40000 | Gil: 0 | Auto-Status: --- | |========o========o==========o=========oo=========o=========o========o========| | Fire: | Ice: |Lightning:| Gravity:|| Poison: |Silence: | Stun: | Stop: | | [HALVE]| [HALVE]| [HALVE] | [IMMUNE]||[IMMUNE] |[IMMUNE] |[IMMUNE]|[IMMUNE]| |========o========o==========o=========oo=========o=========o========o========| | Death: |Blow Away:|Zantetsuken:|Action Time:|Stagger:|Cast Stagger:| Float: | |[IMMUNE]| [IMMUNE] | [IMMUNE] | 2 sec. | 5 | [IMMUNE] | [YES] | |=============================================================================| | DROPS: --- |Common: --- |Rare: --- | |=============o==============================o================================| | STEAL: 25% |Common: Phoenix Down x99 |Rare: Phoenix Down x99 | |=============o===============================================================| | LOCATION(S):| 1. [BOSS] Mission 9-6-6. | |=============================================================================| | ATTACKS: | ZACK's VIT & SPR: 255 & 255 + BARRIER + MBARRIER| | ======== '=================================================| | Moment Slash [Physical Attack, 1st Hit: Max 4520 Damage, 2nd Hit: Max 5725| | Damage. Double Damage if your Luck is below 155] | | Photon Feather [Physical Attack, Max 2712 Damage*x] | | Crimson Flare [Magical Attack, Max 30148 Damage] BLOCK THIS for ~3k DMG.| | Cocytus [Magical Attack, Max 14322 Damage] | | Thor Hammer [Magical Attack, Max 21534 Damage] | | Ultima [Magical Attack, casting time is only 2 secs, BLOCK AGAINST | | THIS or it does 99999 Damage, With Block: Max 64583 Damage] | | Anti Material [Physical Guard for 20 seconds, Casts in 1 sec] | | Anti Magic [Magical Guard for 20 seconds, Casts in 1 sec] | | Absolute Barrier [Invincibility for 20 seconds, Casts in 2 sec] | | Blessing Light [Recovers some HP, Casts in 1.3 sec] | | Judgement Arrow [Physical Attack, Reduces HP/MP/AP, Scene, No Block, | | Max 33150 Damage, Ignores all status effects except | | Invincibility] | |=============================================================================| |Strategy: Come equipped with the Genji Shield (or Protect Ring), Genji Armor,| |--------- Genji Glove, Genji Helm (or Ziedrich) as explained above. While | |Minerva has a ton of attacks (only 11 actually, but I like to exxagerate),| |there are only two attacks that you should REALLY watch out for, which are| |Ultima and Judgement Arrow. You know how to recognize Ultima, and when you| |suspect it's coming, be sure to BLOCK. If you don't block, Ultima *will* do| |99999 damage and it'll either kill you or use up your ReRaise status, if you| |still have it. Judgement Arrow is the sequence which looks admittedly awesome| |and does not only deal a fair amount of damage, but also negates all your| |status effects, more specifically ReRaise! (It doesn't negate the Auto status| |effects, which is why we have our precious Genji equipped). But the negation| |of ReRaise is troublesome. Right after this attack, quickly dive into your| |items and use a Phoenix Down. This counters the attack. Also heal immediately| |after. | |Keep the above in mind, and you can start the battle. When the battle begins,| |be sure to kick in a bunch of Costly Punches (of which you need to deliver| |at the very least 101, but most likely more because of Minerva's healing| |abilities). You should steal the 99 Phoenix Downs somewhere at the start of| |the fight, if not right away, so you're sure you have a healthy supply of| |those. Be sure to keep your HP above 65000+. If you keep it above that figure| |you're essentially fine if you block her Ultima. Keep attacking, dodge her| |attacks as much as you can (or maybe better, block them), and keep delivering| |your Costly Punches. After some time, she'll do her thing and Judgement| |Arrow'll negate ReRaise. You know what to do, just use another Phoenix Down. | |When she casts Ultima, block block! (If you're REALLY precise, dodge it..) | |The fight will certainly last a while, but literally don't let your guard| |down and you will come out victorious. | '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------' Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=Oo=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || {REW} Reward(s) || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO Your reward for clearing Mission 9-6-6 is a Divine Slayer. This accessory will increase your HP, MP and AP by +100%, increase all your stats +50, break the HP, MP, AP limits, and gives Auto-Libra. In addition, if you cleared all Missions (and 9-6-6 is the hardest), you'll receive the Heike Soul accessory. This accessory grants a huge amount of great bonuses: Heike Soul: =========== o Break HP, MP, AP, and Damage Limit o Add Sudden Death, Poison, Silence, Stop and Stun to 'Fight' command (and adds them to some other physical techniques as well) o Absorbs All Elements o Auto-Potion o Increases Drop Rates for enemies o 100% successful steal o Stolen and Dropped items are 100% rare o Doubles Gil, Item/Materia from enemies o Smart Consumer Level 1 (increases item effects) o Double Magic o Auto-Libra o SP Master Level 1 (spend SP to increase damage done and reduce damage taken) Combine that with Genji Helm and Genji Shield, plus one other thing of your choice, and you're a god yourself. The fun thing is, you can re-do any Mission you like as often as you want! I'm not sure if you'd actually want to, though.. Images of Minerva: ================== http://www.shillatime.org/finalfantasy7/crisiscore/images/ Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || Version History || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO December 3rd, 2007. =================== First version complete. Preparations, Strategies and Rewards covered. March 31th, 2008. ================= o I now accept Donations. Thanks in advance. :) o Updated Guide layout. o Added tricks on how to quickly boost Gil/SP/Stats. April 9th, 2008. ================ o Birthday update. :) o Small corrections here and there. June 26th, 2008. ================ o Minor additions. Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || Credits || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO Main Credits: ============= o Kouli: His FAQ is excellent, and was a reference here and there. o CC Ultimania: What'd you think? o Absolute Steve: For writing this Guide, all rights reserved. o My Readers: Thank you for reading this. If I missed anyone, please let me know by email. Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO || Copyright || Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO This may *not* be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may *not* be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. Do *not* copy or alter information slightly from this guide, and do not present it as your own. The creation of this guide took a lot of time, please respect that. Below is a list of sites that are allowed to host this document. The latest update of this file can always be found at GameFAQs.com. Allowed sites are: GameFAQs.com, Supercheats.com, Chaptercheats.com. *NOT* allowed: CheatCC or Cheat Code Central, nor any other cheat websites owned or affiliated with David Allison (Dave), owner of CheatCC. Dave/CheatCC has infringed the copyright of countless FAQs/guides and cheats and has altered the copyright sections of countless more FAQs/guides, often removing 'GameFAQs' and other trusted websites from the list while adding 'CheatCC'. This is a serious violation of simple authorship rights and it has been going on for over a decade and a half. If you ever receive an email from CheatCC regarding the hosting of your guide, I would *highly* recommend you to friendly decline the offer and check the CheatCC website within a week to see if they have taken your guide (or someone else's guide) without permission. If you have given permission to CheatCC before, I would recommend that you revoke your permission and have your guides removed from that site; otherwise you are indirectly supportive. Oo*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-oO Writing a thank-you email takes a minute. The pleasure of reading it lasts all day..