Went back and played a bit yesterday with a guide to start fulfilling some sidequests. The first thing I did was swap in Tifa for Yuffie and head to Nibelheim. I'm not sure how the hell you're supposed to know what melody to play without a guide, but Tifa gets a letter from her mentor at her piano and gets Final Heaven as an item. (I make Tifa the attacker from now on trying to get her to Level 3 - and succeed - but for some reason, she still doesn't learn FH when I use it on her. Does she need two L3 limit breaks before she can get FH?) Anyway, Tifa herself... doesn't really react. Next up I stopped by Cosmo Canyon and got Red XIII's best weapon by chatting with Bupenhagen. It's also a pretty low-key scene, though I like Nanaki's insistence that Bupenhagen will be back.
After that, I swap in Cid for Red XIII and
finally
excavate the Midgar Key - I do this solely by standing in the spot indicated by the guide; after five or so excavations, I'd only gotten Potion or nothing at all. I head through to Wall Market and Cid kicks a computer, which causes Tifa's best weapon to fall out, though I'm holding off on equipping it for now since leveling up Materia seems fun. I also stop by Rocket Town and just look around to find Cid's final weapon, which again I'm not equipping yet.
Next comes Vincent. I've already been to Lucrecia's cave, but this time on the sub I actually bump into the sunken ship! So I head in there, save, and start foraging around. The random encounters in here are tough, especially Unknown 2, which OHKOs Vincent sometimes and hands me a Game Over. I manage to escape with a bunch of strong equipment and Hades and my tail between my legs. Our second trip to that cave actually gives us both Vincent's weapon and his Lv4 limit break which, again, I cannot use yet. I do wish there were more substance to these seemingly significant scenes!
At this point, I haven't yet decided what sidequests comes next, when I see in my airship that there's a Weapon just chilling right next to Junon, in an interior place. Whaaaa?! I first try to enter via sub, but it's impossible to go under the eastern continent, so I poke around with the airship and realize I can land right on it. This triggers the same fight as in Mideel, I believe. It has a relatively strong attack that does around 25% of everyone's health to open the battle, but a few Ultima/Bahamut Zero quickly send it scurrying, just like last time... I heal up and give chase, bouncing off it several times, and meet it again in battle after it pauses to foster an energy ball of some sort.
Finally I wear it down into submission (Cloud/Vincent/Tifa) and it dies, killing Tifa with a Shadow Flare (bosses doing attacks after being beaten are officially my least favorite thing ever) and Cloud gets his final sword. Based on the guide, it seems like this also creates an opening for me to explore the Ancient Forest, so that's what I'll be doing next time!
yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness