~B
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/~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~//~/ /~//~~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~~/ GideonD's Limit Break
/ /~~~~~~/ /~~~~~~/ / / / ~~~/ /~~~ ~~~/ /~~~
/ ~~~~~// ~~~~~// / / / / / / / Mechanics Guide for
/ /~~~~~~/ /~~~~~~/ / / / / / / /
/ / / / / / / / / / / / Final Fantasy VII
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
/ / / / / ~~ / /~~~ ~~~//~~~ ~~~/ Email: hertic6@yahoo.com
~~ ~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
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Version 1.2 Current as of 03/12/2002. (c)2001-2002 GideonD
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CONTENTS
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1) Contents
2) Disclaimer
3) Updates
4) Introduction
5) Learning New Limit Breaks
6) Limit Break Mechanics Study
7) Conclusion
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DISCLAIMER
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All work in this guide is original and gained through my own experience with
the game. This guide is copyrighted material and may not be altered or posted
in any way without my express permission. You may of course print, view, or
reproduce this guide in any other way for your personal use only.
Feel free to post this guide at your personal website so long as it remains
unaltered from its current format and you don't try to make any money off of
it. I'd also appreciate it if you email me and let me know the URL of the
site you are posting it at.
Addendum: Arct!c has full permission to use any of the information found in
this guide in his own Final Fantasy VII Rumors/Newbie FAQ.
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UPDATES
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I wasn't originally intending to do any updates to this text guide, but since
I've received a few requests for certain information here are a few meager
updates.
v1.1 --> v1.2: New info added on a known glitch in the limit learning system.
v1.0 --> v1.1: New information added on how to more efficently go about
accumulating the required kills and uses needed to learn new limits.
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INTRODUCTION
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This document contains an explanation of the Final Fantasy VII Limit Break
System and a study on how exactly the system works. While how to use limit
breaks in battle is common knowledge, the process by which you gain new limit
breaks is often found to be in question. Even among those of us who know how
the basic limit gaining system works there remains much debate on the exact
mechanics of that familiar system. The information below is a summarized
version of the Limit Break Mechanics study, designed to be used as a guide
for gaining limits breaks in your game. The full study can be found at
http://www.vaix.net/~gideond.
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LEARNING NEW LIMIT BREAKS
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First of all, for reference I will explain the notations I'll be using.
There are 4 sets of limit breaks for most of the characters in the game.
Likewise, most of the characters have 2 limit breaks per level. When referring
to these limit breaks separately I will be using the following notation: X/Y.
X = the level of the limit break. Y = the number of the limit break within
the level indicated by X. For example the notation 2/1 would indicate the
first limit break in the second level or set of limit breaks.
Now I will explain the basic mechanics of learning new limit breaks.
Each character in the game starts with one limit break already in his/her
possession. This is limit 1/1, the first limit in the first set of limits.
Now, to learn the next limit in that same set, limit 1/2, you simply need
to use the first limit of the set, limit 1/1, a certain number of times. The
actual number of times you need to use the first limit in a set varies from
character to character. This formula holds true for each set of limits. In
other words, to learn the second limit in any set of limits you simply use
the first limit in that set a certain number of times. Everyone who has a
4th level limit break will have only 1 limit break in the 4th level. Therefore
this formula is irrelevant to the level 4 limit breaks since there is no second
in the set. Also, certain characters, namely Vincent and Cait Sith, have only
one limit per level, so this formula also does not apply to these two
characters.
Example:
Cloud starts the game with Braver as his 1/1 limit break. He uses Braver
in battle 8 times and he learns Cross-Slash, his 1/2 limit break. Likewise,
he would use his 2/1 limit 7 times to learn his 2/2 limit, and he would use
his 3/1 limit 6 times to learn his 3/2 limit. You may notice that the number
of times a limit need to be used declines as the limit level increases.
Now to gain the first limit break in a new set the procedure is entirely
different. Gaining the first limit break in a new set has nothing at all to
do with using previously gained limit breaks. Instead, a character must make
a certain number of kills to gain the first limit in a new set. What this
means is that the character you wish to have gain the new limit break must
actually deliver the killing blow to a certain number of enemies. The number
of enemies varies from character to character. You may deliver the killing
blow using any means possible, physical attacks, magic, enemy skills, summons,
or limit breaks are all viable options. This formula holds true for each set
of limits, except level 4 limits. Level 4/1 limits are taught to a character
by using special limit manuals found during the course of the game. These
manuals are items and are used from the items menu on the character whose
final limit the manual details. Level 4 limits may only be taught to a
character after that character has learned all of his/her previous limit
breaks. This formula applies to all characters in the game, including Vincent
and Cait Sith. Cait Sith, however, only has 2 sets of limit breaks and only
1 limit in each set, limit 1/1 and limit 2/1. Therefore he has no level 4 limit
manual.
Example: (continued from above example)
Now that Cloud has learned Cross-Slash he simply continues to kill enemies,
dealing the killing blow each time. Once he has killed 115 enemies he gains
his 2/1 limit, Blade Beam. After using Blade Beam 7 times he learns his 2/2
limit, Climhazzard. Continuing to fight, Cloud kills 195 enemies and gains
his 3/1 limit, Meteorian. Cloud then used Meteorian 6 times and learns
his 3/2 limit, Finishing Touch. Cloud may now use his level 4 limit manual
if he has it to learn his 4/1 limit, Omnislash.
One thing of note is that limits aren't always gained in exact order. If
you simply go around killing enemies like mad for a few hours you can learn
the first limit in each set before you ever learn the second limit in any
of the sets. You can not learn all of the second limits in each set before
the first, however, because you need to use the first limit in each set in
order to gain the second in the set.
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This section details my personal method for gaining limits as quickly as
possible early in the game.
The first thing you'll want to do is progress through the game until you reach
the Mithril Mines. You'll want to make sure to grab the matra magic enemy skill
along the way as well. Now usually I'll make my way through the mines to the
Junon area on the other side of the mountains. Here you'll find a patch of
forest you can use to obtain Yuffie early on. By this point you should now
have Cloud, Barret, Aeris, Tifa, Red XIII, and Yuffie, all of whom you can now
start aquiring limits for. That'll leave only Cait Sith, Vincent, and Cid to
work on later.
Now you can save up and begin the limit learning process. Take three people
into the mine. You'll want to go to a specific room. To find this room, enter
the mines from the Junon(western) entrance and head north on the first screen
on the mine. In this room you will always fight enemies in groups of 4-5.
From this point forward it's quite simple. Simply have the person you are
trying to gain limits for use matra magic to slaughter these large groups of
enemies. If you missed getting matra magic of the Enemy Skill materia, then
you can use a multi-target magic instead although they tend to cost more MP to
cast. This will quickly net you the kills you need to gain the ?/1 limits.
Use your limits whenever they come up to get you closer to the needed uses.
By the time you are done with learning the ?/1 limits you'll still be working
on the ?/2 limits in most cases. At this point you'll want to start looking
for a specific enemy. This enemy comes with a group of 3 other enemies and is
basically a flying dragon with fairy wings. I believe he's called an Arc
Dragon. He has the flamethrower enemy skill, which you'll want to pick up.
When he uses this skill on you it'll also deal a good bit of damage at this
point of the game, which means it's about the quickest way to fill up your
limit gauge and get the needed uses to learn your ?/2 limits.
Just repeat these steps to learn limits for all of the people you currently
have in party and then switch to the others to learn theirs. You can come back
later to learn limits for the other 3 characters and it'll be even easier since
Vincent and Cait Sith only require kills, and Cid's uses can be gotten easier
since you'll have the manipulate materia and can target flamethrower on Cid
only.
By the time I left the Mithril Mines for Fort Condor, I had all the limits up
through level 3/2 for all 6 of the people I had. As an added bonus they were
all about level 30 and I had 99 hi-potions in inventory since the enemies in
the mines tend to drop those alot.
Happy hunting!!
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Now just for reference I'll give a brief run through on where to find
everyone's level 4 limit manuals and how to get them.
Cloud Strife:
You gain the Omnislash manual for Cloud in the Gold Saucer Battle Square.
You'll need to take plenty of gold with you, at least 200 to be safe, and fight
until you earn 32,000 battle points. You can then buy the manual as an item.
If you do this on disk 1 I've been told the price for the manual is about
52,000, so I recommend you wait until disk 2 or 3. You don't really need
Omnislash any earlier anyway.
Barret Wallace:
You can get the Catastrophe manual for Barret any time after stopping the train
in Corel on disk 2. Once this part of the game is done, enter the house
closest to the inn on the upper tier. There is a lady inside who says something
about her late husband and will give you a memento of the man, which is the
Catastrophe manual.
Tifa Lockheart:
Tifa's Final Heaven manual can be gained on disk 2 or later, anytime after
getting Cloud back from his coma. You simply return to Nibelheim with Tifa in
your party, and make your way to her room in her house. You want to play the
piano there. You'll need to remember the tune you played in the flashback. If
you can't recall, it goes like this: X, Square, Triangle, R1 + Triangle,
R1 + Square, X, Square, Triangle, R1 + X, O, X, Square, X. If you did it
correctly she should say something about having the sheet music for the song
and you'll also get her Final Heaven manual.
Aeris Gainsborough:
This one is a bit tricky to get. It has to be done on disk 1 if you actually
intend to teach it to her so I'm writing this assuming you will be trying for
it on disk 1. Okay, to get Aeris's Great Gospel manual you'll first need to
wait until you have the buggy, just after the Corel Prison sequence. Once the
buggy is in your possession, drive it into Costa del Sol. Note: do not get off
the buggy before entering town, just drive it right on in. Now head to the
docks and talk to the sailor by the cargo ship. He'll let you ride the ship
back to Junon for 100 gil. When you get to Junon leave town and you'll discover
you've brought the buggy along with you. You now want to head north east to the
river. There is a shallow spot you can cross using the buggy. Do so and head
east until you find a cave entrance. Inside the cave you will find a sleeping
old man. He won't talk to you much until you battle a certain number of times.
The trick is to make the last two digits of the number of battles you fought
match. For example, when you've fought 33 battles or 244 battle he will talk to
you since the last 2 digits match. Just fight outside of his cave until you
get a number that works. When you talk to him again he will give you an item,
sometimes it's a Bolt ring and sometimes it's Mythril. You are after the
Mythril. If he gives you a Bolt ring just go outside and fight 11 more battles
to get to the next number of fights that puts your last 2 digits at the same
number. For example if you have fought 33 times and he gives you a Bolt Ring
go out and fight 11 more times. You'll now have 44 fights and he'll talk to
you again. Just keep doing this until you get the Mythril.
Now you can proceed with the game until you get to Rocket Town. Once you go
through the Rocket Town sequence you'll have Cid as a party member and you'll
also have use of the Tiny Bronco. Take the Tiny Bronco to Nibelheim. Once there
use the plane to travel up the river and across the continent. You should come
out near Gold Saucer. Near the end of the river you'll see a little house on
your right. This house was previously unoccupied, but now you can get off the
plane and go inside. The guy inside will talk about the keystone for a bit.
When you get the chance tell him to change the subject and he'll talk about the
weapons he makes and having a shortage of mythril. Give him the mythril and
he'll reward you by letting you pick a chest as a prize. Go up the stairs to
the top floor and go all the way left. Open the little box on the wall to
receive the Great Gospel manual. The big box on the lower floor just contains
a Gold Armlet.
Red XIII:
You get Red XIII's Cosmos Memory pretty early in the game, on disk 1. The first
time you get to Nibelheim you'll be heading to the Shinra mansion. You'll need
to open the safe on the 2nd floor to get the Odin materia and the basement key
that you'll need to find Vincent. When you open the safe you'll fight a boss
called the Lost Number. For winning this fight you'll receive the Cosmos Memory
manual.
Yuffie Kisaragi:
You can get Yuffie's All Creation Manual as early as disk 1 when you have the
Tiny Bronco. Simply travel to Wutai and challenge the masters of the Pagoda.
Once you beat the last boss, who is Godo, Yuffie's father, you'll receive a few
prizes, one of which is the All Creation Manual.
Cait Sith:
He has no level 4 limit break and therefore no manual to teach it to him.
Vincent Valentine:
You can get Vincent's Chaos manual as soon as you gain access to the submarine.
Simply put him in your party and then take the sub to the river mouth north of
Cost del Sol. Make sure not to miss it altogether. Dive underwater and look
for a small cave entrance. Just follow the path until you come to a circular
room. Surface and you'll be in a small lake. You can dock the sub on the side
and go into a cave hidden behind the waterfall. You'll see a flashback sequence
with Vincent here. Once its over leave the area, and go somewhere that you can
fight. I suggest the Gold Saucer area since it's the closest sub dock. After
you've fought at least 10 times return to the cave where he had his flashback
and you'll receive the Chaos manual and his final weapon, the Death Penalty.
Cid Highwind:
Cid's Highwind manual is easy to get. Once you have the sub travel to the Gold
Saucer sub dock. Now you want to dive underwater. There will be the wreckage of
a cargo plane nearby. You can find all kinds of goodies in this plane, called
the Gelnika. One of the chests in the cargo room contains the Highwind manual.
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A Special Note: A Glitch in the System.
There is a known glitch in the limit break system that can cause some major
problems with your game. This glitch generally does one of two things.
1) When you start a new game sometimes this glitch will occur. When this
happens you will find that instead of starting out with just your 1/1 limit
break your character(s) will have all limit breaks already learned. This may
appear as a wonderful occurrence at first but don't count it as a blessing just
yet. I'm not sure what ramifications if any this has later in the game. It's
possible this could screw a few things up later on, such as getting Final
Attack from Battle Arena since you need to buy Omnislash and teach it to Cloud
as one of the requirements to access the special battle. You can't exactly
teach it to him if he already knows it and I'm not sure if the game will count
it or not. I haven't had this glitch happen to me so I'm not sure if this would
really happen but it definitely seems possible. Anyone who has learned
omnislash via GameShark will know that the game doesn't count it when you try
to access the special battle, so it's quite possible the game won't count the
glitch either. If anyone knows for certain that there are problems caused by
this glitch please let me know so I can list them here.
2) The second occurrence of the glitch can be even more frustrating. Have you
ever learned all of a character's limits except the last one and then tried to
use his/her manual but the game still won't let you learn the level 4 limit?
Well that would be the glitch coming into play again. Once again I haven't had
this happen to me, but I know a few people who have, and by all reports they've
never found a way to fix the problem short of starting a new game. Basically
you just have to start all over or just keep playing without use of the level 4
limit for the character(s) that this happens to.
Those are the two most common results of the glitch. There are a few other that
I've heard of but I don't know for certain if there is any truth to them, never
having personally witnessed them. I'll list them anyway for reference.
1) You can't learn limits at all. You get stuck with your 1/1 limit for the
entire game no matter how many times you meet the requirements to learn the new
limits.
2) Learning a new limit gets delayed. You make the required number of kills or
uses to get the next limit but you still don't learn it. Then later on,
sometimes after learning the limits after the one that wouldn't work, you'll
suddenly learn the limit you missed for no apparent reason.
Well that's all I can tell you on that topic. This glitch is known to happen,
but fortunately it doesn't seem to happen very often. I've played through FF7 a
total of 12 times so far and I've never had any of it happen to me. Just hope
you are as lucky as I've been.
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LIMIT BREAK MECHANICS STUDY
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Below are charts of the actual statistics each character needs to gain limits,
that is the number of times each limit needs to be used and the number of
kills each character must make. This section will be updated as more people
submit their data. I will begin with my own personal game data. The entire
point of this study is to compare statistics to see if the numbers needed
are preset or at least somewhat random. Many people believe that the numbers
remain the same every time you play, but others believe that they change from
game to game.
The values below are approximate, not exact, though to the best of my knowledge
the number of times used for everyone should be dead on, and the number of
kills needed should always be within 5 of the true number.
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Submitted by GideonD|North American Greatest Hits Version|Counted by 3 People
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Cloud Strife
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Limit 1/1: Braver | Used 8 times to learn Limit 1/2: Cross-Slash
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Limit 1/2: Cross-Slash | 115 kills made to learn Limit 2/1: Blade Beam
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Limit 2/1: Blade Beam | Used 7 times to learn Limit 2/2: Climhazzard
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Limit 2/2: Climhazzard | 195 kills made to learn Limit 3/1: Meteorian
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Limit 3/1: Meteorian | Used 6 times to learn Limit 3/2: Finishing Touch
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Limit 3/2: Finishing Touch| Omnislash manual used to teach Limit 4/1: Omnislash
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Limit 4/1: Omnislash | All limits learned.
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Barret Wallace
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Limit 1/1: Big Shot | Used 9 times to learn Limit 1/2: Mind Blow
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Limit 1/2: Mind Blow | 80 kills made to learn Limit 2/1: Grenade Bomb
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Limit 2/1: Grenade Bomb | Used 8 times to learn Limit 2/2: Hammerblow
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Limit 2/2: Hammerblow | 70 kills made to learn Limit 3/1: Satellite Beam
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Limit 3/1: Satellite Beam | Used 7 times to learn Limit 3/2: Ungermax
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Limit 3/2: Ungermax | Catastrophe manual use to teach
| Limit 4/1: Catastrophe
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Limit 4/1: Catastrophe | All limits learned.
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Tifa Lockheart
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Limit 1/1: Beat Rush | Used 9 times to learn Limit 1/2: Somersault
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Limit 1/2: Somersault | 96 kills made to learn Limit 2/1: Water Kick
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Limit 2/1: Water Kick | Used 7 times to learn Limit 2/2: Meteodrive
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Limit 2/2: Meteodrive | 96 kills made to learn Limit 3/1: Dolphin Blow
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Limit 3/1: Dolphin Blow | Used 6 times to learn Limit 3/2: Meteor Strike
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Limit 3/2: Meteor Strike | Final Heaven manual used to teach
| Limit 4/1: Final Heaven
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Limit 4/1: Final Heaven | All limits learned.
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Aeris Gainsborough
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Limit 1/1: Healing Wind | Used 7 times to learn Limit 1/2: Seal Evil
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Limit 1/2: Seal Evil | 80 kills made to learn
| Limit 2/1: Breath of the Earth
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Limit 2/1: Breath of the | Used 6 times to learn Limit 2/2: Fury Brand
Earth |
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Limit 2/2: Fury Brand | 80 kills made to learn Limit 3/1: Planet Protector
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Limit 3/1: Planet | Used 5 times to learn Limit 3/2: Pulse of Life
Protector |
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Limit 3/2: Pulse of Life | Great Gospel manual used to teach
| Limit 4/1: Great Gospel
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Limit 4/1: Great Gospel | All limits learned.
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Red XIII
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Limit 1/1: Sled Fang | Used 8 times to learn Limit 1/2: Lunatic High
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Limit 1/2: Lunatic High | 70 kills made to learn Limit 2/1: Blood Fang
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Limit 2/1: Blood Fang | Used 7 times to learn Limit 2/2: Stardust Ray
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Limit 2/2: Stardust Ray | 70 kills made to learn Limit 3/1 Howling Moon
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Limit 3/1 Howling Moon | Used 6 times to learn Limit 3/2: Earth Rave
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Limit 3/2: Earth Rave | Cosmos Memory manual used to teach
| Limit 4/1: Cosmos Memory
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Limit 4/1: Cosmos Memory | All limits learned.
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Yuffie Kisaragi
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Limit 1/1: Greased | Used 8 times to learn Limit 1/2: Clear Tranquil
Lightning |
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Limit 1/2: Clear Tranquil | 63 kills made to learn Limit 2/1: Landscaper
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Limit 2/1: Landscaper | Used 7 times to learn Limit 2/2: Bloodfest
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Limit 2/2: Bloodfest | 63 kills made to learn Limit 3/1: Gauntlet
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Limit 3/1: Gauntlet | Used 6 times to learn Limit 3/2: Doom of the Living
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Limit 3/2: Doom of the | All Creation Manual used to teach
Living | Limit 4/1: All Creation
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Limit 4/1: All Creation | All limits learned.
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Cait Sith
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Limit 1/1: Dice | 40 kills made to learn Limit 2/1: Slots
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Limit 2/1: Slots | All limits learned.
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Vincent Valentine
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Limit 1/1: Galiant Beast | 42 kills made to learn Limit 2/1: Death Gigas
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Limit 2/1: Death Gigas | 52 kills made to learn Limit 3/1: Hellmasker
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Limit 3/1: Hellmasker | Chaos manual used to learn Limit 4/1: Chaos
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Limit 4/1: Chaos | All limits learned.
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Cid Highwind
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Limit 1/1: Boost Jump | Used 7 times to learn Limit 1/2: Dynamite
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Limit 1/2: Dynamite | 60 kills made to learn Limit 2/1: Hyper Jump
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Limit 2/1: Hyper Jump | Used 6 times to learn Limit 2/2: Dragon
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Limit 2/2: Dragon | 80 kills made to learn Limit 3/1: Dragon Dive
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Limit 3/1: Dragon Dive | Used 5 times to learn Limit 3/2: Big Brawl
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Limit 3/2: Big Brawl | Highwind manual used to teach Limit 4/1: Highwind
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Limit 4/1: Highwind | All limits learned.
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Section Complete
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CONCLUSION
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Well that concludes my Limit Break Mechanics Guide. This is considered an
Alpha copy and is complete for all foreseeable purposes. I'll only be updating
the text version of this guide if I find something to be in error.
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END
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