Party: Everyone, and Yuffie for good from here.
Key unlocks: Costa del Sol’s minigames (Card Carnival, Pirate’s Rampage, Run Wild, Cactuar Caper, Wheelie Rendezvous, the piano), the Corel region and its chocobo.
Watch for: The four beach conversations after the fight each have a best answer, Yuffie’s at Johnny’s inn is the fifth, and the swimsuit Cloud buys should match Aerith’s or Tifa’s if you are steering the date.
1. Swimwear
The story wants three outfits before it lets you on the beach, and it lets you earn each one two ways.
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1
Cloud’s
Card Carnival (three puzzles) or Pirate’s Rampage (10,000 points). Buy a suit afterwards; matching Aerith or Tifa is a point.
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2
Aerith’s
Run Wild, the Red XIII football game, or Cactuar Caper, a photo hunt across town. Run Wild’s first place without a tie is also the Silver Collar.
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3
Tifa’s
Wheelie Rendezvous, collecting coloured wheelies, or Tifa’s Theme on the piano.
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4
The conversations
Aerith, Barret, Tifa and Red XIII on the beach once the Grasptropod is down, each with a best answer; Yuffie’s comes at Johnny’s inn as you leave, and saying yes to her is the good one. Have them all before you leave.
2. Hojo, and the road out
The beach ends with the scientist and a plant.
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1
Grasptropod
Weak to lightning (ice is only a lesser resistance), immune to nearly every status. After its Breakneck Spin it overheats — that is the pressure window.
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2
Yuffie joins
Whatever you said to her, she is in. The Corel region opens west of town: thirty intel, Alexander, Cactuar Crush for the protorelic (only two parts until chapter 12), and its own chocobo.
3. Bosses
- Grasptropod: Lightning. The overheat after the spin.
4. Before you leave
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 16 September 2026 and re-checked on 1 October 2026 against the guides of Game8, PowerPyx, Vandal and EliteGuias. What is still unverified is the only thing reading cannot settle — nobody here has played it.