What Aeris Left Behind[1] is the thirty-third chapter of Final Fantasy VII, and the third chapter of the fourth act, "Decisive Battle". When the Shinra No. 26 rocket failed to destroy Meteor, Cloud Strife's party were at a loss as to what to do next. Red XIII suggested they talk to Geisel Bugenhagen, who suggested looking to the City of the Ancients to see what Aeris Gainsborough had attempted to accomplish there.
Walkthrough
Rocket Town
Returning to Rocket Town and talking to the old man who used to gaze at the rocket earns Cid's ultimate weapon: the Venus Gospel.
Cosmo Canyon
Cosmo Canyon, specifically Bugenhagen's observatory, is the objective of the quest. Depending on Huge Materia obtained, the player can access new special Materia:
- The blue Huge Materia, if both Bahamut and Neo Bahamut are obtained, will grant Bahamut ZERO, the second-strongest Summon Materia.
- The yellow Huge Materia will grant Master Command when all Command Materia are mastered. This is a very slot-efficient Materia, and allows multiple commands to all be paired with Support Materia, but takes significant investment to obtain.
- The green Huge Materia will grant Master Magic when all Magic Materia are mastered, identical to above.
- The red Huge Materia will grant Master Summon when all Summon Materia are mastered, identical to above.
Other than this, the player must talk to Bugenhagen. After a diaogue sequence, Bugenhagen will then board the Highwind.
Also in Cosmo Canyon, if not already obtained, new items that appeared in Cosmo Canyon around "A Shocking Reunion" can be obtained in the store reached by climbing a ladder on the ground floor, and heading behind the store counter: a Magic Source, an Elixir, and Full Cure. Full Cure fully heals the party, but the Materia must be leveled up once, and the spell is costly in terms of MP compared to simply using Cure3.
With "Toward the Sea of Stars" complete, the player can now also return to Rocket Town and obtain the Venus Gospel by talking to the old man staring at the rocket a number of times.
Key to Ancients
The Key to Ancients must be obtained using the submarine, if not already. This is found on the Bottom of the Sea, hidden under the Icicle Area. The party can find it by heading north toward Bone Village, west into the chasm nearby, and then around northeast from there to find a tunnel where the key is found.
Forgotten Capital
The Forgotten Capital is the objective after Bugenhagen boards the Highwind.
From the Forgotten Capital entrance, head left, then to the right center platform by heading right and then entering the furthest opening. When Cloud appears at the top of the stairs, the player can run down to the center crystal in the coral, beginning a dialogue sequence.
Bugenhagen then float towards the crystal in the center, and the player must reach him by climbing back up the stairs and heading around to the right and to the middle. If the player has Key to Ancients, the following sequence plays out fully; otherwise, Bugenhagen will ask for the key to proceed. When the key is provided for the box, a scene occurs, completing the quest and leading to the next, "Mako Cannon Rampage".
Citations
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega, p. 194