Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Rebirth Chapter 2: A New Journey Begins Walkthrough

Chapter 2: A New Journey Begins is the 2nd story mission in Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Rebirth. This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of the A New Journey Begins Main Mission.

Area: Kalm/Grasslands
Objectives:

• Searching for Friends
• Bucolic Kalm
  • Maghnata Books
  • Armed and Dangerous
• A Date with Aerith
• View from the Top
• Quite the Sight
• Fugitives
• Fleeing the Scene
  • Help from a Local
  • Up and Over
• Down and Out
• On Our Way
• Abandoned Dock
• Bill’s Chocobo Ranch
• Shopkeeper Chloe
• Tracing the Tracks
• Chocobo Wrangling
• Home on the Range
• Downtime
• Bringing the World to Life
• Piko’s Prep
• Practice
• Break in the Saddle
• Through the Swamplands

Searching for Friends

From the start of the chapter, you will first be in Kalm, located in the Grasslands region. To start, head out of the room and you will automatically receive the Queen’s Blood card set. Queen’s Blood is a card game that you can play against specific people throughout the game, with many possible cards to collect. You aren’t required to play it to progress the story, though it is required for completion and there are some spots where it has a component in the story (which you can skip).

Head downstairs and speak to the Innkeeper, who says your friends have left to look around town and explains a bit about folios.

Bucolic Kalm

Outside you’ll automatically speak with Red XIII, then are free to wander around town. Just nearby you can find Tifa, who can be interacted with for a relationship interaction. When you see your party members in an area like this with a speech bubble above their head you can interact with them, and your response will change your relationship, affecting a scene that occurs in Chapter 12.

You can then also head into the building left of Tifa where Barret is hanging out at the bar for another relationship interaction.

Head to the southwest near the village gate (which you can’t currently leave through) where you can find Red XIII and speak with him for another relationship interaction.

You can also find the first Queen’s Blood players here around town and buy some cards from the vendor. Check out Queen’s Blood – How to Play, Best Decks & Strategies.

• Queen’s Blood Card: 013 Crystalline Crab – Won from Ned just outside Kalm Inn.
   
• Queen’s Blood Card: 012 Cactuar – Won from Nene located on a raised area slightly south of the center of Kalm.
   
• Queen’s Blood Booster Pack: Suppressive Strikers (002 Riot Trooper, 006 Toxirat, 016 Devil Rider, 018 Flan) – purchasable at Kalm Item Vendor for 500 gil, on the eastern side of the river (contains 4 cards).
   
• Queen’s Blood Booster Pack: Ruffians (003 Genadier, 010 Mandragora, 014 Quetzalcoatl, 015 Zu) – purchasable at Kalm Item Vendor for 500 gil, on the eastern side of the river (contains 4 cards).
   
• Queen’s Blood Card: 017 Screamer – Won from Zahira, located in the northeast corner of Kalm next to the river. She’s in the downstairs area, if you approach from the bridge upstairs you can climb down the red ladder.
   

Maghnata Books

Head over to the southeast marker where you will run into Aerith, and be automatically prompted to respond to her about going to the clock tower. Whatever you respond here you’ll be prompted to go to the clocktower regardless, so respond how you would like to affect your relationship with her.

She’ll leave to go buy tickets, and you can head into Maghnata Books where you will be prompted on Folio upgrades and how they work. SP is spent in Folio to unlock new skills or passive upgrades, with increasing your party level unlocking further levels of upgrades in every party member’s Folios.

Armed and Dangerous

Head to the northern marker on the upper level of Kalm to the weapon shop, where you will be prompted on weapon upgrades and how they work. You can also buy a new weapon for Cloud at this vendor if you somehow manage to get the extra Gil, but this isn’t recommended as you can get that weapon for free later on in this chapter.

A Date with Aerith

When you’re done looking around town and are ready to continue the story (you won’t be able to explore Kalm again for a bit so make sure you’ve done everything you’ve wanted), head to the northeast corner of Kalm where you meet up with Aerith outside the clock tower.

View from the Top

Follow Aerith up the stairs to the top of the clock tower.

Quite the Sight

At the top, follow her over to the northwest side.

Fugitives

After the scenes, you’ll need to head back down the clock tower. After the first set of stairs, you can slide down the pole behind Aerith.

Fleeing the Scene

Help from a Local

Outside the tower, you’ll be stopped by the Innkeeper. Follow him through as he leads you through the town avoiding the Shinra troops.

Up and Over

Once he stops you, climb the pillar to his left and follow the path to the end over the top of the town.

Once you reach the end, slide down the pole and keep following Broden back to the inn. Inside he’ll give you the Item Transmuter, which you can use to make consumables and equipment items using materials found throughout the game world.

Down and Out

After you’re finished playing with the Item Transmuter, head through the now-open hole in the wall and down to the path below where you meet back up with the rest of the party. Follow the path to the end, along the way while waiting for everyone else to head through the hole you can open a chest containing some extra materials.

On Our Way

After heading through the door at the end of the tunnel, you will be in the open-world Grasslands area. From here you don’t yet know where the next story objective is, but you can go to the marked Discovery Coconspirator where you can speak to the farmer who tells you where the next story objective is.

You can also use the nearby bench and vending machine if needed. Most vending machines you come across will have certain discounted items available as highlighted in orange, and these are always useful to buy whenever you see them available.

Abandoned Dock

After speaking with the farmer, you will now have the Abandoned Dock marked a fair distance to the south. Make your way in that direction, it is recommended you don’t do a whole bunch of extra exploring yet as you will unlock the ability to complete the open-world activities in a short time.

As you approach the dock you can see a purple chest by the building, which contains the Sleek Saber weapon for Cloud.

Bill’s Chocobo Ranch

After a scene at the dock, you’ll be prompted to head to the Chocobo Ranch nearby. Keep following the road as pointed out by the signs to reach it. When you reach the ranch you automatically speak with Bill out front, then are prompted to head over to the barn. Before going inside, you head around the back where there is a chest that contains an Aureate Pinion accessory.

After picking that up you can head over to the barn.

Shopkeeper Chloe

Billy wants you to speak with Chloe, so head toward the back of the barn. Directly to Chloe’s right, you can find another purple chest that contains the Timeless Rod weapon for Aerith. You can also climb the nearby ladder to the upper floor to find a chest that contains 1 x Moogle Medal.

After picking up that weapon speak with Chloe to continue.

Tracing the Tracks

Chloe gives you some info about Golden Plumes which you can trade for Chocobo Gear, then you need to head outside to start looking for the missing Chocobo. On the ground you can see tracks and yellow feathers, keep following them along the path leading southeast, which will lead to the location below.

Chocobo Wrangling

In the field, you need to sneak towards Piko without being spotted by the other two Chocobo. The first one is always facing to the right, so you just need to walk behind it to the left. The second one rotates between looking left and right, so wait in the tall flowers until it turns left then sneak towards the large patch near Piko.

Piko is always looking towards you, so you need to distract it by throwing a rock. Pick one up from the edge of the flower patch, then aim with to throw the rock behind Piko to make it turn around. You can be sure Piko will turn for the rock when it has the circular marker on it when the rock spot is near to it. After it turns around sneak up and interact to wrangle it.

Home on the Range

With Piko wrangled, you can make your way back over to the farm and speak with Billy.

Downtime

After speaking with Billy there is still the Discovery in the barn for Golden Plumes. You can now go over and speak with Chloe and trade 2 Golden Plumes for one of the available Chocobo cosmetics. These items are purely visual in the open-world gameplay, but affect Chocobo stats in the Chocobo Racing minigame later in the game, so it is good to collect plumes and trade for the cosmetics as you go.

Once you’re finished head out of the barn where you will run into a familiar face from the prior game.

Bringing the World to Life

Chadley is who most of the open-world activities become available through, along with a return of the Training Simulator matches. Before that though, follow him nearby to the large tower and interact with the marked panel.

These Remnawave towers appear in the open world locations, and when interacted with in this way mark the other open world objectives on the map for you to more easily find.

Piko’s Prep

After you’re finished speaking with Chadley, head back over to the barn where Piko is now fully prepped.

Practice

Billy gives you the chocowhistle which is how you call your Chocobo in the open world, and suggests you get in some practice riding before continuing. You can also interact with the signpost nearby to complete The Chocoboutique Discovery if you traded for one of the items with Chloe. When you’re ready to continue head over to where Billy is just outside the fence.

Break in the Saddle

When prompted call your Chocobo with , then move near it to climb on and then speak with Billy. You’ll now get to play the Hustle de Chocobo minigame, which is a short time trial requiring you race through checkpoints in a lap around the ranch. To reach sprint speed you can quickly mash to make your Chocobo sprint, then make your way through all checkpoints.

Through the Swamplands

Now with your Chocobo ready, you’ll be prompted about Side Quests, which you can now take part in through the Grasslands area and back in Kalm. Now is the best time to explore the area if you want before continuing the story as all the activities are now available to you. Grab any World Intel and finish all remaining Side Quests.

Grasslands Side Activities Cleanup

Note: You need to assess 16 different enemy types in the Grasslands to unlock the Combat Simulator Challenge “Biological Intel: Blinded by Light”. If you were to forget about this it could get frustrating as some enemies only show up once during Side Quests and World Intel events. Going forward remember to assess every new enemy type you encounter using Assess Materia (can be bought from Vending Machine at Bill’s Ranch). You can view the progress by pressing Touchpad > Chadley (R2) > Combat Simulator (R1) > Biological Intel. Each region will have a challenge like this that requires assessing many enemies, so always assess every new enemy you encounter throughout the rest of the game.

30 World Intel:

• Grasslands World Intel Locations – grab all 30 World Intel

5 Side Quests:

• Side Quest: Flowers from the Hill – at Bill’s Ranch (available after playing the first Chocobo Race).
  
• Side Quest: Livestock’s Bane – started at Oliver’s Farm
  
• Side Quest: Lifeline in Peril – started in Kalm, by talking to the man in the town center.
  
• Side Quest: Where the Wind Blows – started in Kalm, inside the Inn west of the town center. (also unlocks Accessory: Whistlewind Scarf)
  
• Side Quest: A Rare Card Lost – started in Kalm, in The Rusty Arrow north from the town center.
  

When you’re ready to continue, head back toward the Abandoned Dock. With the Chocobo now useable you can ride it through the water of the swamplands, continuing south toward the marked objective.

Along the way through the swamp make sure to grab the purple chest that contains the Hi-Caliber Rifle weapon Barret on the island directly ahead when there is a cutscene.

Boss: Midgardsormr

• Weaknesses / Status Ailments: Ice
• Lesser Resistances: Fixed Damage, Stop, Petrify
• Greater Resistances: Fire
• Immunities: Proportional Damage, Berserk, Slow, Poison, Silence, Sleep, Stone, Morphable Items
• Absorbed Elements: —
• Items Dropped: —
• Rare Items Dropped: —
• Stealable Items: —
• Assess Info: Inflicting enough damage by exploiting its elemental weakness will pressure it. Hitting it with synergy abilities will pressure it instantly.

Midgardsormr is by far the hardest enemy you’ve faced yet. Firstly, you’ll want to equip your strongest Ice magic (you should have at least one leveled to Blizzara by now) and it might be handy to bring Barret and Aerith along for their ranged attacks. Also put the Shiva summon on one of your characters in case you get the chance to summon in the battle, and never use Fire attacks.

When the battle starts, Pressure the boss by using your Ice spells and chipping away its health. Soon, it’ll start charging up an attack after a cutscene, at which point run as far away from it as possible. After discharging its flame attack, you can target the Cranial Dome weak point on the serpent’s head, which is where you should focus all your attacks. Build Stagger while using Ice and ranged attacks, and when it eventually Staggers, hit it with your strongest abilities and possibly offensive Synergy Abilities if you’ve built them up.

At about half health, the boss will burn the trees in the area and fire projectiles at you, so hide behind the burning trees for protection until it stops. Occasionally it will also grab a party member in its jaws, so deal enough damage to force it to drop the character. If not, it will swallow the character for a while until it spits it back out and they can rejoin your party.

Hard Tips: As Midgardsormr is fire-based and weak to ice, you can choose to play the offensive here by loading up your party members with Elemental-Ice on your weapons, or go defensive with Elemental-Fire on your armour (with one Ice and Fire). If you choose the former you will likely want to have at least one character with Reprieve as the fire attack can instakill everyone. Cloud, Aerith and Tifa will all have the option for Reprieve, so they are good members to use. If you have Elemental-Ice on your weapons you can simply wail away to exploit its weakness, otherwise use whoever has Ice and Fire to cast Blizzaga on him. As this fight is right at the end of the chapter you can freely use all your MP up here.

 

After the Midgardsormr is defeated there is no longer anything in your way, so you can follow the path forward to the tunnel ahead which completes the chapter.

This finishes Chapter 2: A New Journey Begins in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Next Up: Chapter 3: Deeper Into Darkness

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