After trekking through the Mythril Mines you’ll find yourself in the Junon Region, and while there’s plenty of open-world goodness to explore, an area along the northeastern corner of the map will remain inaccessible to you. This is the settlement of Crow’s Nest, and while they openly proclaim their anti-Shinra proclivities, apparently being Shinra’s top enemy isn’t enough to gain access. This page will cover how to enter Crow’s Nest in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, including a full walkthrough for the side quest When Words Won’t Do.
How to Start When Words Won’t Do?¶
Simply put, to get into Crow’s Nest you’ll need an escort, and just such an escort can be found in Under Junon. Travel to Under Junon, defeat the Terror of the Deep and deal with the obligatory story fallout afterward, and when you’re free to explore again talk to Rhonda, who will ask you to deliver some money to her rebellious son in Crow’s Nest. Nothing can be simple or straightforward, however, so instead of just carrying a bag of gil to the castaway settlement, you’ll need to escort a pooch named Salmon there. He’s your ticket into Crow nest, as it turns out.
How to Escort Salmon to Crow’s Nest¶
Accept the odd request, then leave Under Junon. You’ll need to rendezvous with the dog just outside of Under Junon… and yes, you have to walk (or ride) the entire way there. Fortunately, Barret will have a parenting crisis en route, which serves as a form of entertainment as you walk/ride, and the odd monster spawn will help keep things interesting. Below are the enemies you’ll likely encounter as you escort Salmon across the Junon region:
Enemies |
---|
Fleetwing x2 |
Capparwire x2, Zemzelett x1 |
Zemzelett x2 |
Capparwire x3 |
Sandstorm Drake x2 |
Yes, it’s an escort quest. Salmon has a respectable 2550 HP and rarely gets involved in combat, however, so unless you’re terribly under-leveled or have a really bad stretch of gameplay, Salmon shouldn’t be an issue. Defeat the enemies and continue pursuing Salmon - he won’t run off, so you don’t have to worry too much about him.
How to Defeat the Sandstorm Drakes¶
The only real encounter you need to watch out for are the two Sandstorm Drakes, who are sturdy enough to last a while and protect themselves with an aura that shoots out small tornadoes when they take damage. These aren’t likely to injure you much, but they can deal damage to Salmon. Worse still, they can inflict the Petrify debuff with the tornadoes they expel when struck, which, unless you have Cleansing Materia Lv2 lying around, there’s not a lot you can do. In this game, the Petrify status lasts a set duration, and if you take enough damage during that time you’ll become petrified. Taking damage also seems to reset the duration counter, so you’d have to cure the debuff with Esuna or Gold Needle or avoid damage long enough for it to wear off. Since the Sandstorm Drakes don’t do a lot of damage, however, this shouldn’t be a serious problem unless you take a lot of hits.
We found using ranged attacks like Barret’s standard and Overcharge attacks and Cloud’s blade beams and Bullet Batter effective. These enemies are also weak to wind damage, so if you have Elemental + Wind materia, you could speed things up by equipping them in a linked socket on your weapon. Focus on one of the Sandstorm Drakes, batter it with attacks until it’s pressured (ideally from a safe distance - its tornadoes don’t travel far) and when it’s pressured hit it with Focused Strike/Focused Shot to stagger it. They’re not terribly durable once Staggered, and a single heavy attack like Braver should just about finish one off.
How to Gain Access to Crow’s Nest¶
Once these flying menaces are defeated, this quest is all but over. Salmon took a whopping 94 damage the entire trip (all of it during the Sandstorm Drake fight), so he really shouldn’t be an issue for this quest. When you reach Crow’s Nest you’ll trigger a cutscene and Barret will go full dad mode, convincing the young family he meets to take the money - pride doesn’t have much in the way of calories, after all.
After this scene ends you’ll be free to roam Crow’s Nest, where you can find more Queen’s Blood players if you wish to rank up even further, as well as new Side Quests.
No Comments