Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Remake Chapter 12: Fight for Survival Walkthrough

Chapter 12: Fight for Survival is the 12th story mission in Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Remake. This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of the Fight for Survival Main Mission.

Fight for Survival starts when you complete Haunted.

Area: Sector 7 Slums
Requirement: Completed Chapter 12: Haunted
Objectives:

• Head for the Pillar
• Link Up with Avalanche
• Evacuation Orders
• Saving Marlene
  • The Rescue
• To the Top
• Showdown

Head for the Pillar

Starting this chapter you are at the Sector 7 station. Follow the girls forward to the open area. Here you will have to fight the Enigmatic Spectre along with a number of lesser Spectres again as you did earlier in the game. Defeat Lesser Spectres to cause the Enigmatic to fall into Pressure status, then push it into Stagger to deal damage. After it’s defeated, continue into Sector 7.

Link Up with Avalanche

Tifa and Aerith stay behind to tend to Wedge, and Cloud heads up the pillar on his own. On the bottom floor before proceeding up the stairs there is a bench and vending machine you can use. Head up the stairs, and on the first floor there will be a group of three Elite Security Officers and one turret to take out. On the second, two Elite Riot Troopers and one Elite Security Officer. On this second floor go around back of the circular pillar to find a chest that contains 2 Orbs of Gravity. After grabbing this chest it will spawn two Slug-Rays off the side of the walkway that attack you.

Go back around and head up to the third level to find Biggs. Respond to him how you want, then continue around to the back of the pillar to climb a ladder to the fourth level. On this level you fight a new type of human enemy, a Helitrooper. These are weak to both Wind and Fire attacks, but while they’re in the air they take a lot of Stagger damage when using Wind against them.

After they are defeated go around the other side of the middle pillar which is blocked from where you came up to find a chest that contains an Ether.

Climb up to the fifth level, then proceed around the back to find another Helitrooper and two more Elite Security Troopers. After they are defeated continue around to the back to climb the ladder to the sixth level. There’s nothing on the seventh level aside from a single Shinra crate, so you can run up the stairs to the seventh level immediately.

Evacuation Orders

After some cutscenes you will be playing as Aerith, following Wedge back to the bar.

Saving Marlene

Wedge stays behind to help people get out, so you need to head into town on your own to find Marlene. A helicopter falls in your path, so you need to go around the long way to get to the bar.

The Rescue

On the way you stop to help another child, who you need to carry over to Marle to get through the tunnel. After dropping her continue around the long way to the bar.

Head behind the bar to find Marlene hiding, then walk her to the front door.

To the Top

You’ll now be back as Cloud, with Tifa now in your party. Continue forward, then go around the back of the pillar and climb the ladder up. Go around to the front dealing with the machine enemies, and use the debris along the path to hide from the machine-gun fire from the helicopter. On the tenth floor there will be two Elite Riot Troopers to deal with, then you can hop over the barrier and go to the West side of the pillar to climb the ladder to the eleventh floor.

On this floor you’ll have to deal with two more Riot Soldiers, then a single Helitrooper and Grenadier. When they’re dealt with continue to the twelfth floor. Here you’ll need to deal with an Elite Shock Trooper, two Turrets, and two more Helitroopers. Before moving on grab the chest on 12th floor, containing an elixir. Then go off the ramp leading off the side of the structure around to the stairs to reach the thirteenth level.

Showdown

Continue up to the fourteenth level where you can rest at a bench and use a vending machine, then go up to the top floor to meet up with Barret. During the cutscene that follows you can hold if you need, and the game will put you in the inventory menu right before the boss fight starts, so you can change gear on Barret if you haven’t before now.

Boss Fight: Reno & Rude

Reno and Rude are back, except this time they’re together and are slightly stronger than last time. It’s worth noting these two are not immune to poison, so use your strongest poison Materia to deal continuous damage. Reno moves about quicker than before, whilst Rude deals more damage. Reno has a particularly annoying attack called Pyramid which locks the character in. To get out of it, switch to another character and attack it until it breaks.

You’ll start off against Reno whilst Rude makes bombing runs in his helicopter. Try to keep to the sides of the platform to avoid it and concentrate on Reno. Have Elemental-Lightning on armor to negate many of his attacks and use the old Punisher-counterattack combo, using your ATB for Focus attacks and Triple Slash/Unbridled Strength until he’s Staggered.

Once you pummel him in Stagger and take off 1/3 of his health, you’ll have to shoot the helicopter with Barret. It’ll crash and Rude will join the fray, meaning you’ll have to contend with both of them. As always when up against multiple foes, it’s best to take one of them out first. Rude joins the fight at half health, which makes him quick to kill. He is weak to Wind and is quicker to stagger and kill than Reno. He jumps around less than Reno which makes him an easier target, too. If you’ve already built up a Limit Break with one or two characters, now is the time to use it! If you have summons available, use those too (avoid Ifrit as Rude has resistance to Fire). An Aeroga will knock him down for a moment, which presents a perfect opening for a Limit Break which should take down most of his health. Once he’s down, Reno will be an easy target for you.

Hard Difficulty Tips: It’s our old friend Counterstance again. In this fight, since you have two characters in close proximity meleeing you, you’re almost guaranteed to successfully counter with it with every use. This should make this fight a formality. It is also worth, for this fight only (as generally he has the worst Magic stat), making Barret the healer as he’s the range fighter and doesn’t have to get involved up close with the others.

After you complete the boss fight you need to escape the pillar. Run around the outside edge to get to Tifa, then you will complete the chapter.

This finishes Chapter 12: Fight for Survival in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Now the mission A Broken World starts.

Next Up: Chapter 13: A Broken World

For all other Mission Walkthroughs, check out our complete Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Walkthrough.