Crisis Core Seven Wonders: How to Solve the Nibelheim Wonders
In Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core Reunion, Nibelheim is home to some major story developments - but also to the Nibelheim Wonders sub-plot and side quest. This is the world of FF7, so there's Seven Wonders to find, naturally.
The Seven Wonders of Nibelheim side quest is basically a series of rumors and mysteries around the town of Nibelheim that Zack can solve while he’s in town with Sephiroth and Cloud. However, this is an easy side quest to fail because of the nature of how events unfold in Nibelheim. It's easy to lock yourself out of finding all Seven Wonders and therefore miss some rewards.
This guide will help you to find all Seven Wonders of Nibelheim with puzzle solutions and timing tips to avoid locking yourself out. It'll also detail the Nibelheim Wonder rewards.
Crisis Core FF7: Seven Wonders of Nibelheim walkthrough
Before we get into how to solve the Seven Wonders of Nibelheim in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, there’s a few general things to note about how this mission strand works, and how easy it is to automatically fail.
About the Wonders & Story Progression
First of all, if you’re doing the wonder subplot, only talk to Sephiroth, advance the story, or head to the main objective marker when this guide tells you to. The story events in Nibelheim snowball quickly, and if you advance them too far, too fast, you’ll be locked out of solving some of the wonders.
However, some wonders require you to advance the story. So follow this guide, and advance it when we tell you to. Simple.
Seven Wonder Quest Rewards
If you’re wondering how worthwhile this quest is, here’s a quick run-down of what you’ll get for completing the Seven Wonders overall:
- Phoenix Materia & Phoenix added to the DMW
- 2000 Gil
- Safety Bit Accessory
- Vital Slash Materia
- Wall Materia
The First Wonder - Blood-Red Water
“Lately, the town’s drinking water has sometimes been coming out red. Could it be… blood?”
The young boy will give you a clue that states that the waters of Nibelheim have been running blood red. You need to investigate.
In the middle of Nibelheim’s central area, right near the boy, there’s a Water Tower. Walk up to the Water Tower, and you’ll find an interaction point to climb it. Do so, and you’ll see that a red materia is in the water, and its color is leaking into the water.
As a handy bonus, this red materia is the summon materia for Phoenix, and adds Phoenix to your DMW. When summoned, Phoenix deals Fire Damage and gives you rebirth status, meaning if your HP is depleted you are revived.
The Second Wonder - The Girl in the Painting
“That girl… sometimes leaves the painting and wanders around in our world!”
The second wonder concerns a painting inside the Nibelheim Inn. You need to head inside the inn but you must not talk to Sephiroth, as this will advance the story and prevent you from continuing with the wonders. Again, don’t talk to Sephiroth for any of this, even though you’ll be walking past him multiple times.
- Past Sephiroth, in the guest room, you’ll find a painting at the back-left of the room with a young girl. View it, then return to the boy to hear more about the painting.
- Return to the painting, and you’ll discover the girl is gone. Gasp! Make sure you actively interact with the painting again, so it registers that you’ve seen it.
- Now head back downstairs - but don’t leave the inn. Instead, turn back and head straight back upstairs. Now the girl is back!
- Go back downstairs and wait for a moment. This time, you’ll see one of the Inn owners, the man, begin to walk upstairs.
- Follow him, but not too closely, or he’ll notice. Upstairs, and into the room…
- The truth of the painting will be revealed, and you’ll also get 2000 gil for keeping quiet. Return to the boy when ready.
The Third Wonder - Bombs & the Gold Shard
“Rumor has it, one of the bombs is different from the others.”
The third of the Seven Wonders of Nibelheim is probably the most frustrating, because there’s a knack to it.
You’ll need to head to the Nibelheim Outskirts - this area has two southern exits leading back to the town proper, an exit in the west/left leading to Shinra Manor, and an exit to the north - that leads to the area we want.
There’s some kids around here that offer clues, and a dead end area where three Bomb enemies spawn. You need to defeat all three Bombs without them Self Destructing to get a special item, and that’s the third Wonder.
This is why it’s fiddly. The three bombs will naturally grow a little bigger, and if they get too big, they self destruct. The only way to keep them under control is to hit them fairly equally, as they shrink when attacked. So don’t focus on one - spread your attacks around and always focus on the biggest.
You will likely fail this a few times, but if you just walk down to where the kids are hanging around the Mako pool and then back up, the Bombs will spawn again. Remember, it's still a battle victory if the bombs self destruct, so make sure you actually kill them properly.
When you’re successful, the Bombs will drop the Gold Shard - return to the boy with this item to secure your third wonder. The boy also gives you a Safety Bit.
The Fourth Wonder - Shinra Manor’s Safe
“So they say there’s a safe inside this mansion, and every night, you can hear eerie laughter coming out of it!”
Players of the original Final Fantasy VII will be familiar with Shinra Manor and its safe - and it’s back in Crisis Core, though with a decidedly different puzzle. This one is complicated enough that we’ve got a separate Shinra Manor Safe Code guide - but we’ll give you the short version here, too.
Head to the Manor via Nibelheim Outskirts, this time taking that western exit. Inside the manor, on the western side of the upper floor, you’ll find a room with a safe inside. We need to open the safe.
Doing so is a puzzle - and the safe code is random for each Crisis Core save. We can help you to figure it out, though.
As shown in the image above, the safe digits are scattered around the mansion, but they’re not just something you can read - each is a puzzle. A quick explainer:
- Digit 1: “Knowledge Overflowing” (Books)
- Look through the keyhole of the room in the top-right of the Manor’s upper floor. Count the books that are not on the shelves of the bookcase, such as on top of the bookcase, on the floor, or on the chairs.
- Digit 2: “Unwelcome Faces” (Monsters)
- Look through the keyhole of the right-hand room on the ground floor. Inside, there are ghost-like monsters appearing, disappearing, and dancing around. Some might be right at the edges of your field of vision. Count the monsters carefully, and the number of them matches the digit.
- Digit 3: “Tasty reminders of home” (Care Packages)
- Go to the upper floor’s leftmost room, right near the room where the safe is. Look through the keyhole and count the purpleish Banora Apples that are scattered around - but be careful to not confuse them with the similar-looking perfume bottles.
- As well as Apples, there will sometimes be cans of Banora Apples - they count as one Apple. So four apples and one can means your digit is 5, for instance. They’re usually on the desks and tables.
- Digit 4: “Resting on all four feet” (Chairs)
- The final keyhole is on the left hand side of the ground floor. Peek in - there’ll be a bunch of chairs in the room. Count the chairs, and that’s your digit.
All of these are quite fiddly, so if the safe denies you, either go back and recount, or if there’s just one digit you’re uncertain of, play around with it until you get the right combination. There’s no punishment for getting the code wrong, so you can brute force it at least a bit.
The more fiddly ones in my experience are the Ghost Monsters for Digit 2, and the Apples in Digit 2, for what it’s worth. Grab the Vital Slash materia from inside the safe, and return to the boy once you’ve been successful.
The Fifth Wonder - Coffin Occupancy
“Did you know there are caverns beneath the Shinra Manor? They say you can hear these bloodcurdling groans coming from there.”
The boy will now detail the fifth wonder, which is again to do with Shinra Manor - and the Coffins in the basement. Fans of the original FF7 will know all too well what this is about…
Now, this is the point at which you can speak to Sephiroth at the Inn and advance the story. Move the story forward until Zack & Cloud visit the basement of Shinra Manor. It’s important when you reach the basement that you do not follow the story objective marker to where Sephiroth is, in the south, as this will advance the story and stop you progressing with the Wonders.
Keeping in mind that you must avoid Sephiroth’s door, visit the other two rooms. There’s a bunch of coffins scattered around, two of which are interactive in each room. One of these coffins has the figure you want inside - but which coffin it is is random each play-through.
To open the coffins you’ll need coffin keys - these are obtained by battling the enemies out in the main basement area. They’re weak to lightning, so kill a bunch of them - and stay away from that Sephiroth door!
When you get the right coffin, it’ll trigger a cutscene. At this point, you must return to the boy in Nibelheim proper - don’t follow the story objective! Return to the boy! Hand in the Wonder, and get ready for the next…
The Sixth Wonder - Burning Mysteries
“So the sixth wonder is an old legend called the “treasure within the flames.”
If you know your FF7, and know where Crisis Core is headed, hearing the word ‘flames’ in Nibelheim conjures up a very specific image - and yes, that’s what this sixth Wonder is about.
At this point, you can now continue the story by going and talking to Sephiroth in the basement of Shinra Manor. It will not hurt to make a save before you do this, however. The story will continue, and some… stuff will happen.
Anyway, eventually, after a lot of story scenes, you’ll exit the Inn to find Nibelheim on fire. The boy who’s been feeding you the wonders is outside the General Store, the place next door to the inn. You need to talk to him - his mother is trapped on the upper floor of the store. You’ll be given the option to enter the store to save her, which you obviously want to do.
This is difficult, and fiddly. You have to enter the store from a fixed camera angle and navigate your way through, unable to see Zack. The subtle shifting of the camera will help you to figure out where you are, as well as the sound of his footsteps. You have one minute.
There’s no exact science to this, but roughly speaking you’ll want to go:
- Right all the way
- Then up to climb the stairs
- Then left to the left-hand side of the upper floor
- Then down, to get to the front of the building’s upper floor
- Then right, to get to the right-hand upper floor window.
Once you’re up in that window and find her, you’ll then need to reverse your blind navigation to get back outside.
The boy, naturally, will be eternally grateful - and that’s the sixth wonder - his mother, trapped within the flames.
The Seventh Wonder - Zack’s Reward
The seventh wonder isn’t really a wonder at all - and you’ll need to advance the story quite a bit, until Cloud and Zack leave Shinra Manor together under quite a bit of duress. At this point, the town has more than been extinguished… it’s back to how it was before. Which is, y’know, strange.
In the Nibelheim outskirts, head to the far eastern area where there’s some houses. In a fenced off garden, there’s a glowing orange interaction point - interact with it to get a Wall Materia - not the greatest reward, but still.
In addition, if you’re on Crisis Core Reunion, the new remastered version of the game, you’ll get the “Seven Wonders Expert” trophy/materia.