The Planet's Judgment

The Planet's Judgment is the thirty-sixth and final chapter of Final Fantasy VII, and the final chapter of the fourth act, "Decisive Battle". After Cloud Strife's party stopped the Sister Ray at Midgar, because the Sister Ray had destroyed the seal around the Northern Cave, they could use the Highwind to enter. The party, having had time to search the planet for a reason to fight, came back for a final attack to defeat Sephiroth once and for all, which would allow Holy to stop Meteor and save the planet from destruction.
== Walkthrough ==
=== Preparations ===
Before descending to the final dungeon, it is ideal for the player party to be fully prepared, namely with regard to Materia and equipment, especially ultimate weapons and ultimate Limit Breaks. Knights of Round is also useful to acquire for the later boss battles.
For physical damage, giving Cover and Counter Attack to a party member (such as Tifa with her Premium Heart) is very helpful against physical-based enemies, as are Double Cut against single targets and Slash-All against groups. For magic attacks, powerful Magic Materia include Ultima and Comet, along with Summon Materia such as Bahamut ZERO or Knights of Round. These can be paired with Support Materia such as HP Absorb, MP Absorb, or Quadra Magic.
For defense, Phoenix paired with Final Attack can practically prevent a party from ever wiping. Other than this, pairing Restore with All is essential, as is equipping Ribbons and having a Revive Materia.
=== Initial descent ===
Flying to the North Crater, climbing down the ladder and heading down the hill leads to the Northern Cave, the final dungeon. Nearby is a chest containing a Save Crystal, which creates a save point at any point. This can be dangerous to use on some versions of the game due to the Save Crystal glitch, but can be used for Tents at certain points.
Among the enemies here are the Parasite, Master Tonberries and Dark Dragons. Dark Dragons are difficult foes with strong physical attacks and counter magic with Ultima; as such, the player should avoid magic attacks, and use Cover and Counter Attack. The Dragon Force ability for Enemy Skill Materia can also be learned if Dark Dragon is manipulated. L5 Death ability can be learned using Manipulate from Parasites. Master Tonberries have very high HP and can deal heavy damage if battles last long enough; using Bio3 to damage over time, or inflicting Stop (with Time Materia, paired with Added Effect or with the Stop spell, or Contain Materia's Freeze spell), are effective, and one should try to morph a Ribbon from it, best done with Yuffie's Conformer equipped.
To descend the first screens: begin by following the linear counter-clockwise path down, and pick up a Guard Source on the way. In the next area, jump down left, go left, and climb up to the Power Source, then walk right to grab the HP Absorb Materia. Head left and down to find an Elixir, then return back up and climb down right for a Mind Source and another Guard Source. Climbing left leads to a Magic Source, and heading right and down leads to the next area.
Here, drop to the right and grab the Mind Source. Walk right to the edge of the platform and jump, then go left and drop down and enter the cave for a Megalixir. Leave the cave and drop left again, then go down left for a long drop, where Hero Drink is found. Enter the cave, head right and take the Guard Source, then head up into the tunnel. Take the Power Source here, then go back out the tunnel and go left to get out back at the top. Drop right again, enter the cave, and circle around and down to the cave exit. Here, dropping down leads to the next area.
=== Deeper descent and fork ===
In the next area, the party can all be found, and the path divides three ways: right, left and up, and left and down.
Party members can be sent down the path to find one of the items in the treasure chests found along that path. Depending on which path the player sends the party members down, they will find:
Party member	Right 	Left, up 	Left, down
Barret 	Guard Source	Vaccine 	Remedy
Tifa 	Mystile 	Hero Drink 	Turbo Ether
Red XIII 	Mind Source 	Shield Materia 	Speed Source
Yuffie 	Megalixir 	Counter Materia (Command)	Vaccine
Cait Sith 	Elixir 	Remedy 	X-Potion
Vincent 	Megalixir 	Magic Source 	Mega All Materia
Cid 	Speed Source	Imperial Guard 	Elixir
Yuffie must be sent with an accompanying party member, or else she will claim to have not found an item at the end and the item will be lost. It is possible to use the Item duplication trick to obtain some items twice (namely the Mystile can be obtained twice if Tifa is sent down the right path separate from the player) or otherwise simply target party members to send down paths they do not wish to go themselves.
Ultimately, the simplest way to obtain items, outside of using the duplication trick, is to send all party members not in the party down the right path, and head left and up, then go down all paths themselves.
==== Left, up path ====
This area is a swamp-like area where a number of enemies are fought that drop a large amount of AP. In particular, Movers leave 800 AP, and Magic Pots leave behind 1,000 AP when fed an Elixir. Using the W-Item duplication bug, infinite Elixirs can be created to farm AP this way.
To obtain the items in this area: From the start, head right across a plant-like object and up, to reach a Magic Source. Return to the start, then head up until Cloud swims in the fluid; once he reaches the other side, head up, left, and up again for a Remedy. From there, head up and right to the next screen. Here, a Vaccine and a Shield Materia (which grants the powerful Shield spell that absorbs elements and blocks physical attacks) can be obtained by heading up, and then heading down and into the fluid leads to an Imperial Guard. Swimming back and heading down and right leads to a Hero Drink.
The exit is in the upper-right, leading to a circular room with a glow in the center. Down and left leads to a W-Magic Materia that grants the W-Magic spell casting two spells at once; this can be incredibly powerful for spellcasters, especially if the cast spell is also paired with Quadra Magic. From this, heading down and inspecting the glow leads to a Counter Materia—unlike Counter Attack, this is a Support Materia that can be paired with a Command Materia to cause that ability to be used as a counter. It is less slot-efficient and less straightforward than Counter Attack, however.
From the glow, heading through the stones down leads to the final area. However, the player can instead head right and leave to the end of the path that the player would have taken had they taken the fork left and then down from the part where the paths forked.
==== Left, down path ====
From entering from the end of the left and up path from the fork, one will reach the end of the path that could have been taken from taking the fork left and then down. This way they can choose to circle back around. Around here, Allemagne, Master Tonberry, and King Behemoth are fought. King Behemoth is best dealt with using negative statuses, either from using Enemy Skill Materia with Bad Breath or using Hades Materia, either by summoning or pairing with Added Effect.
Running to the top-right of the screen entered this way (a rocky screen with a green mako stream in the background) leads to a Turbo Ether in a chest. To the left of it is Mega All, which causes all physical and magic attacks to strike all enemies at once (applying once, twice, or three times based on its level), making it very slot-efficient. To the left of this is a chest with a Speed Source. Running up to the top of the screen leads to an X-Potion and then the other screen.
In the next room (a rocky screen without mako), heading to the ledge-path on the left and running behind leads to a Vaccine, and heading down leads to a Turbo Ether in the center section. Climbing to the top of the pillar leads to another screen (also a rocky screen), where on the left is an X-Potion, and jumping up is a Remedy.
Heading up the floating platforms circles back to the crossroads from where the paths forked, allowing the player to head right down the right path for reamining treasures.
==== Right path ====
The path from the right from the fork is mostly a spiral descent. A number of enemies are fought here, but the most notable ones are Malboro,Pollensalta, Death Dealer and Dragon Zombie, teaching skills for the Enemy Skill Materia.Pollensalta teaches Angel Whisper a powerful restorative ability when manipulated. Death Dealer teaches Roulette, an instant death ability. Dragon Zombie teaches Pandora's Box, an extremely strong spell that hits all enemies and ignores Magic Defense, but will only be used once per save file meaning there is only one chance to learn it. Using fractional damage such as Laser or Demi3 is effective against it. Malboro can be defeated with Aqualung due to its weakness to Water-elemental attacks, and is mostly dangerous due to the statuses it inflicts with Bad Breath.
At the bottom of the spiral on the first screen, heading down and dropping down again leads to another Mystile. Heading down this spiral leads to a green Elixir bag at the bottom. From there, head back up to the Speed Source chest, then go directly down to find a Tetra Elemental accessory (which can absorb all elemental attacks if equipped). Heading around the spike and then up leads to a Megalixir before the orange mako glow. Heading inside the glow leads to a final screen down the spine of a monster; no treasure is found inside, and the exit leads back to the windy room before the final battle.
At the end, after obtaining treasure from all paths, the player can run down to the bottom to hear a party member's voice. When the party members gather, the final battles begin.
=== Final battles ===
The party gather around the bottom of the cave, where the items are given by party members based on their path (see above). After choosing a final party and descending to the bottom, a series of final battles will begin.
The party should ideally be equipped with the following at minimum:
* The party member's ultimate weapon.
* Either Mystile, Escort Guard, or Minerva Band.
* The Enemy Skill Materia with Big Guard.
* Either a mastered Revive Materia, or Phoenix + Final Attack.
* Cure + All on at least (but preferably two) party members.
* Powerful spells, such as mastered Contain (with Flare), Comet, and Ultima, or powerful summons.
* Double Cut Materia, ideally mastered to give access to 4x-Cut.
* HP Plus on a party member responsible for healing, and one with Cover and Counter Attack.
* Knights of Round can be equipped, but should not be used until the final battle, as using it earlier will cause later battles to have increased HP.
* Long Range Materia for any physical attackers unable to use ranged weapons.
* Destruct Materia, with DeSpell learned, is ideal.
On top of this, any combination of powerful Materia preferred by the player can be used. As before, HP Absorb, Quadra Magic, MP Absorb, and others are good ways to bolster attacks.
When entering at first, the party will hop down platforms, fighting powerful enemies on the way. There is a chance for Allemagne, Iron Man, or Dragon Zombie. Iron Man is the most challenging of these with 20,000 HP, but Laser can half its HP right at the start; if in doubt, Water-based attacks such as Aqualung or Leviathan are effective.
At the bottom of a platform, the first of three final boss battles are fought.
==== Jenova∙SYNTHESIS boss battle ====
Jenova∙SYNTHESIS uses physical attacks from tentacles, and can inflict a number of negative statuses, including Poison by applying Bio3. She is also capable of casting Cure3 on herself and her tentacles, prolonging the fight. Jenova will later begin counting down to Ultima, which will deal heavy damage to the party and end the fight.
Casting Ultima or a powerful summon (avoiding Knights of Round, as doing so increases Bizarro∙Sephiroth's HP by 60,000 and Safer∙Sephiroth's by 80,000) can be a quick way to get rid of the tentacles and focus on the main form. The player should try to eliminate Jenova before she casts Ultima. If learned for Enemy Skill Materia, Shadow Flare and Pandora's Box are both very effective spells.
==== Bizarro∙Sephiroth boss battle ====
After Jenova is defeated, the party heads forward for a very short dialogue sequence where Sephiroth is encountered. A number of conditions determine if the battle is multi-party; if a second or third party are used, the player should equip them with their ultimate weapons and curative spells at minimum, as well as offensive spells and some capability for ranged attacks.
Bizarro∙Sephiroth has a main body, head, core, and a right and left magic. For this battle, the main body (with 40,000 HP) is the target, and once defeated, its core becomes vulnerable. To do so, the player can begin casting Ultima, Comet2, or Pandora's Box to kill off the arms and head, although they do regenerate. Though the player is prompted to change parties after killing off a body part, this is not necessary.
Bizzaro Energy is used by the boss to heal itself, and the boss has a number of physical attacks and elemental magic attacks. With Regen and Big Guard cast on the party, these attacks will not deal significant damage, making it primarily an endurance battle to defeat the main body.
==== Safer∙Sephiroth boss battle ====
Safer∙Sephiroth is fought with the main party (Cloud's party) from the previous battle. Sephiroth also begins the battle with Wall, reducing its damage taken. The party should remove this with DeSpell; although Sephiroth can also DeSpell to remove the player party's Big Guard or Regen, this does not mean the player should not use these statuses, as they are still very important.
Safer∙Sephiroth can inflict a number of deadly status effects if Ribbon is not used to protect against them. Sephiroth's strongest attacks are Heartless Angel, which reduces all party members' HP to 1 (necessitating an immediate heal), and Super Nova, an attack dealing fractional damage attack with a very long animation that will not kill the party, but gets them to near-critical. Before doing this, Sephiroth will fly into the air and can only be hit with ranged attacks.
The player can use both of these attacks to their advantage, as they will quickly charge their level 4 Limit Breaks. These can make quick work of Safer∙Sephiroth if used well, especially multi-hitting ones such as Omnislash, Catastrophe, Premium Heart, and Highwind. As before, strong spells and 4x-Cut attacks can be used well against Sephiroth, and the battle is mostly an endurance battle; ensuring the party stays healed at all times is crucial, while allowing counterattacks (from the Counter Attack, Magic Counter, or Counter Materias) and attacks in-between healing to otherwise do their job.
Once Safer∙Sephiroth is defeated, a cutscene commences, interrupted by a short cinematic battle (in which the player controls Cloud and has automatic access to Omnislash to win the fight) and then the final cutscene of the game plays, ending the game.
== Citations ==
Category:Chapters in Final Fantasy VII