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  • Helping Hojo
  • Materia Fusion
  • Rescuing The Civilians
  • Boss Fight: G Eraser
  • Mako Reactor Five
  • Chasing Hollander
  • Boss Fight: Cutter Machine, Pile Machine, Shot Machine

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7's first two chapters bring bold new locales to the FF7 universe. But Chapter Three's scenery chiefly revels in what had already been known, with a trip through a Mako Reactor and more. Augmenting this sense of the familiar is the expansion of several themes vital to the story of the original game.

Related: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion - Fan Clubs, Explained

That's great and all, but what's the path of least resistance through this rather revelatory chapter? Our walkthrough continues with the inside scoop on monsters with human faces, scientists who run bizarrely fast, and more.

Helping Hojo

If helping Hojo sounds like a bad idea, congratulations, you know where this whole saga's headed. Anyway, as soon as you regain control in this chapter, you'll be advised to go see Sephiroth in Lazard's office, but you should totally make the guy wait so that you can hit the streets — and, indeed, the science room. The fellow outside the room will strongly advise Zack not to enter, so naturally, let's enter. (Talk to him again for a quick laugh before going in.)

Hojo will subject his willing subject to four fights in a row. You can bow out at any time, but let's be real, that's not something Zack would do. The first three fights are nothing new, nor noteworthy, but the fourth is somewhat rough. Experiment 88 has about ten thousand HP and a handful of physical attacks that can hurt. Among them, the worst of the lot is when it spins its tail, as the attack bypasses Zack's Vitality stat outright.

After that's been resolved, swing by Sector Eight again. You'll find a couple more missions from chatting with the locals, as well as another one from speaking with a SOLDIER 3rd Class inside the briefing room. The SOLDIER 3rd Class mission is the first in a string of them; we advise giving them your best shot, you'll receive 'Premium Tires' after they're finished.

Premium Tires are an item tied to a certain Aerith Gainsborough later in the game. Much later, in fact. Building a premium-quality wagon requires premium-quality parts, and it just so happens these tires have the word right there in their name.

Materia Fusion

Promotion to SOLDIER 1st Class isn't just a big deal narratively. You'll gain the ability to tap into six Materia slots, as well as (even more importantly) access to the Materia Fusion system. This is huge — we've even got a guide dedicated strictly to the system. Consult that for the basics, and then get to fusing.

Throughout the course of Crisis Core, you'll want to regularly revisit Materia Fusion, to see if any hot new stat-boosting wonders can be forged. As more powerful Materia becomes yours, mightier results await. You'll also be able to infuse the Materia duos with an item soon, but not until Chapter Four. You can be sure we'll let you know as soon as that happens.

Related: Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion: How To Level Up Quickly

Rescuing The Civilians

Celebrations are cut short when an attack upon the Shinra Building surprises the gang. Zack's given his orders, but we're going to want to semi-ignore them. The elevator will stall, and while you have the option to simply wait until it rights the course and remain aboard, you should head out onto the floor instead.

Here, numerous people are in need of rescuing from the robots and clones staging the assault. Inside the training room is a couple of not-so-loveless employees who have gotten themselves into some mortal mischief. The six Red Saucers here are enough to potentially overwhelm Zack, but a fine zap of Thundara or an AP-based equivalent will do them justice. Say you won't tell anyone about their little dalliance for a quick 5000 gil.

There's a SOLDIER 3rd Class out in the halls; he's not a civilian, granted, but he's about as useful in a scrap. Save him, as well as a researcher who can be found elsewhere, before hopping back on to the elevator.

Multiple fixed encounters occur once Zack reaches the bottom floor. Right near the exit door, you'll face four waves of foes, culminating in a quartet of Sweepers. Generally speaking, the prior fights, which all feature Genesis troops, can be made easier by targeting the troops before the mechs. They're smaller, so their antics are easier to miss, and they have more stagger capability than the Sweepers (and certainly the Red Saucers).

Barrier and lightning-elemental strikes are the ticket to success against the four Sweepers.

Be sure to save your game out in the streets. Say hello to Reno and Rude (or more accurately, get called 'slick' by Reno and ignored by Rude), and then head to Loveless Avenue, branching on to the side roads to save the man, then the woman and her kid. As with other rescues, you'll gain items. But if you've rescued everybody we've mentioned, and you're on PlayStation, Xbox, or PC, you'll also receive a trophy/achievement.

Boss Fight: G Eraser

Though the G Eraser has a high health pool (albeit not quite as high as Hojo's Experiment 88) and a decently-strong physical attack capability, he's also quite susceptible to getting staggered. If you're having trouble here, recall our advice for, of all things, the Behemoth in Chapter One's prologue. There's a size difference between these two enemies, to say the least, but encircling G Eraser to constantly remain out of range of its physicals is precisely the same approach.

G Eraser does have a four-shot long-range attack. You can guard against it to mitigate much of the damage, or if you'd prefer to risk it, you can attempt to dodge every bullet. The same applies to his Fire spell, though in that case, dodging is a better idea. G Eraser's Limit Break strikes five to seven times, so be ready to heal up after enduring it.

Related: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion - Beginner Tips

Mako Reactor Five

Cissnei, helpful as she is, will fork over access to Research Department QMC, which may very well be your first new shop. Basic Materia can be bought here, which might not seem like a great deal, and maybe in truth it isn't, but it'll be handy for Materia Fusion late-game tomfoolery... eventually.

Once you've arrived at Mako Reactor Five, save your game and note that a certain 'hot treasure princess' has a mission for you. We'll have a guide on these in short order, and we'll link it to you ASAP, but for now, here's the skinny: do these. Many of Crisis Core's finest rewards stem from Yuffie's questline, which encompasses several more mission strings than just this first one. The prizes might not seem too 'hot' for right now, but they get there.

You won't be able to tackle the stuff that's marked six stars or higher right now, if indeed the five-star missions are even doable. Don't sweat it. Like many of Crisis Core's missions, they'll spring up with precious little regard to what you can do now; all that matters is that you can beat them later.

Scrap the Sahagin ahead of you, and then enjoy one of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion's coolest CG sequences as Sephiroth reminisces over days gone. The lower resolution of these special cutscenes does stand out like a bit of a sore thumb on modern hardware, which is a weird quirk when they were the big graphical sellers behind the game on PSP; but the animation itself remains fantastic.

That's probably neither here nor there for the purposes of the walkthrough, though, so let's mosey on. There are multiple paths you can take here at Mako Reactor Five in order to achieve results, so slide down every ladder you find, interact with every button and nozzle you find, and of course, fight every scripted battle you stumble into.

We'll be more specific: turn left from the save point, descend the ladder, tightening the valve. Speak with Sephiroth, then move ahead to deal with another valve, which lowers a bridge. Return to Sephiroth's previous location, descend this ladder, do the valve thing again, and grab the Shinra Alpha (which provides a terrific Vitality boost). Back to Sephiroth once again, down another ladder, and enter the room ahead.

Chasing Hollander

Inside Hollander's little lab of horrors, have Zack read each of the three notes scattered across the room, then talk to Sephiroth. Hollander arrives thereafter, as does Genesis. Zack's goal is now to capture Hollander, but for reasons far beyond the expertise of your humble guide writers, Hollander is somehow capable of booking it like an Olympic sprinter.

At least this partly makes sense; you'll be ambushed by a high number of scripted encounters along the way. Your enemies will include more Red Saucers, G troops, and Angeal-face Sahagins, none of which will do much to prevent you from continuing.

Really, this entire sequence plays out akin to your average Midgar-plate-decorated side mission, except you can't hug the walls to circumvent your foes, and a mad scientist happens to be on the run the whole time.

Boss Fight: Cutter Machine, Pile Machine, Shot Machine

Individually, these three special-edition Sweepers are little more than a nuisance. Together, they present a threat. The biggest factor in how successful you are in this boss fight is how you handle the trio of mechs, specifically which order you take in destroying them. While you could try to use Fire-based spells for extensive coverage that multi-targets them, this is a pretty bad idea, since they'll all be around longer to bring more pain to your game.

Shot Machine has the lowest HP and presents the greatest challenge when its peers are still around, so get rid of this long-range pest first. Cutter Machine is going to hone in on you with its fierce saw strikes, which will mandate some dodging (don't bother blocking, as being stationary gives each of the three more of a chance to harm Zack). Barrier is a big boon here, by the way, since these are all physical attacks you're dealing with.

Things settle into a much more manageable rhythm with Shot Machine's missiles out of commission. We advise taking on Pile Machine next, since unlike Cutter Machine, it does have a single ranged attack (a bullet-based spray). Cutter Machine alone is little more than a dodging ordeal, but at this point, guarding is far less of a bad idea.

Witness the scenes that follow, and chuckle when Zack's life foreshadows Cloud's seven years later. You've finished Chapter Three!

Next: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion - Where To Find Every Summon