Chapter 10: Rough Waters is the 10th story mission in Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Remake. This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of the Rough Waters Main Mission.
Rough Waters starts when you complete The Town That Never Sleeps.
Area: Sector 6 Sewers
Requirement: Complete Chapter 9: The Town That Never Sleeps
Objectives:
- Escape to the Surface
- Follow the Waterway
- Crossing the Trunk Line
- Crossing the Sluice Gate
- To the Sector 7 Slums
- To the Surface
- Operating the Pump
Escape to the Surface
You start the chapter inside the Sector 6 Sewers after Corneo drops you down there at the end of Chapter 9. Go over to Tifa and Aerith to get them up, then you’ll have an enemy come into the room from a hole in the wall.
Boss Fight: Abzu
After the nightmare of Hell House, this is a nice easy one and is also a more physical battle to boot as magic has little effect on his Stagger bar. Abzu is weak to fire, so load your three characters with Fire Materia, equip Elemental-Fire on Cloud and make sure one character can summon Ifrit. If you have Star Pendants, equip those to your characters as Abzu likes to use Poison frequently, or if you only have one then put Cleansing on Aerith and use Esuna to remove it when applicable or just use your Antidotes.
This will be a physical battle, which is handy as you have Cloud and Tifa in your team. The tried and tested method works well here; Cloud and Tifa building Stagger with Aerith on healing duties and chipping in with normal attacks or Fire spells on the Horn when she can. Knocking out the Horn will induce Pressured status, so this is a good time to hit Abzu’s main body with the Focused abilities. Bring in Ifrit as soon as you can and divert all ATB to him, with Crimson Drive and Radiant Plume doing far more damage than your normal attacks without the MP cost of Firaga.
Abzu will jump into the sewer to douse the flames, giving you a respite to heal or charge the ATB. There are only three attacks to really be wary of. For Pounce, Abzu will cling to the wall and prepare the attack. Dodge this by running away (not rolling) otherwise he’ll have you in Bound status and deal consistent damage until another character breaks him off. Backwater Blast can deal big damage but is far easier to dodge; just run as far away from the sewer grate to the left as possible and the sewage water will miss you. Finally, he uses Backwash Spout which creates poisonous whirlpools around the floor. Just avoid running into these and they’ll soon disappear.
After he hits half health, he’ll cast Enrage on himself and his attacks will do more damage but the strategy remains the same. Keep exploiting his weakness, use your Limit Breaks where possible and he’ll go down in no time.
Hard Difficulty Tips: There’s nothing to add for Hard Mode this time, except equip Elemental-Fire to both Cloud and Tifa to pack an extra punch. Aerith can also use Firaga on the Horn to really hurt him. Just be mindful that this boss fight is at the beginning of the chapter this time so you’ve got your whole journey through the sewers to preserve your MP for! No more bosses though, so you can run from battles when you can.
After the Abzu is defeated it breaks through the wall, allowing you to exit this area.
Follow the Waterway
Out in the hallway you proceed to the left to continue, but first, you should go to the right to find a chest that contains an Ether.
Ahead in the sewer a new enemy type will jump out of the wall to attack you, called a Sahagin. These enemies are weak to ice, and fire to a greater extent, so use those spells to fill their stagger guage to do more damage as they’re resistant to physical attacks.
Go around the corner and up the ladder, then before continuing through the next hallway grab the chest nearby that contains 2 Hi-Potions.
After pulling the switch to drain the water, go under the gate instead of up the stairs to find a purple chest, which contains a pair of Feathered Gloves.
Go up to where Tifa and Aerith are, then go into the next room. In here there is a bench you can rest at, and a vending machine where you can purchase disc 9. The Oppressed.
Continue forward, and you’ll have a couple of rooms with different groups of enemies to deal with. First room there is a group of three Wererats, then the second has two more Wererats and a new enemy named a Scissorclaw. These aren’t particularly strong, but are resistant to normal melee, while weak to ice. If they perform a move called Guard don’t attack them directly with melee, as they’ll perform a counter-attack at you while blocking your attack.
Go up the ladder in the second room, then go through either side of the dark room to the other side. Enter the door to the South, then pull the switch on the wall. This turns the power on, then you can go back through the dark rooms with the lights on.
Go into the East one first, and defeat the group of Scissorclaws. Pull the switch on the wall to drain the water, then go down below and pick up the Sewer Key.
Go around to the room on the West and pull the switch in there to drain the water, then go down and open the chest containing 800 gil.
Head back up, then go through the door opposite the one with the power switch using the Sewer Key.
Crossing the Trunk Line
In this next room, you need to find a way across to reach Sector 7. In this area you basically just follow the linear path, pulling the switches as you go between groups of enemies. When you climb back up for the first time go around to the platform on the right first, where you can pick up a Poison Materia.
Crossing the Sluice Gate
You will now have to walk across the second gate that you just lowered, then continue on. Go down and kill the Sahagin, then pull the switch and cross the now raised platforms. Head up the ladder for a cutscene.
To the Sector 7 Slums
In the next area follow the girls through the passageway. You’ll reach a room with another bench and vending machine, then continue on. At the first split go to the South first, in here you’ll find a group of Wererats in front of a chest that contains 2 Orbs of Gravity.
Go back and head up the ladder in the room, then squeeze through the passageway into the next area, defeating the group of Scissorclaws. At the T in the hallway go South first, then West into the next hallway. At the second split after going down the ladder first go North to grab a Warding Materia.
Continue along the path to the end where you can find a chest that contains a pair of Revival Earrings.
Go all the way back to the first split and follow the path North, going around towards the objective.
To the Surface
In the next room, you need to lower the water level to continue. Go to the right and head through the door, then interact with the panel.
Operating the Pump
Tifa makes Cloud stay behind at the panel, while she and Aerith go to clear the blockage. Interact with the covering by Tifa to open the Wastewater Pump. You’ll get a tutorial about how to operate it. You will have to operate the pump three times to clear the blockage. If you fail the downward pump you’ll have to try again, but the red target area will only decrease partway so you get more room to target every time if you need it. After the third successful pump, you can head back to Cloud and pull the switch to turn the pump on.
Exit the room and deal with the two Sahagins that jump up, then go down the ladder to the lower area and follow the path to the other side. Climb up the ladder and you’ll then have a group of three Sahagins to defeat, then continue to the exit ladder.
This finishes Chapter 10: Rough Waters in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Now the mission Haunted starts.
Next Up: Chapter 11: Haunted
For all other Mission Walkthroughs, check out our complete Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Walkthrough.
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