There’s a piece of yellow materia that’s tantalisingly unreachable in the Sector 5 church in the Final Fantasy VII Remake. Here’s how you get to it.
Warning: This post contains minor spoilers for the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but nothing too serious if you’ve played the original.
While the game fills in a lot of the gaps and fleshes out in-between moments from the 1997 original, the Final Fantasy VII Remake (mostly) retreads the same path.
That means that, after the bombing raid on the Sector 5 Mako reactor, Cloud will be separated from Barrett and Tifa, just as he was in the original. The Air Buster explodes and Cloud falls (apparently) to his death into the slums below the plate, as Barrett drags a distressed Tifa to safety.
But Cloud doesn’t die. He crashes through the roof of a church in Sector 5 and is reunited with Aerith, the flower seller he met earlier. But this charming and iconic moment is, just like before, spoiled by the arrival of Reno, the open-shirted jackass from the Turks, Shinra’s secret police.
After a battle against Reno, Aerith and her new bodyguard, Cloud, escape through the rear of the church. They’re seemingly assisted in their escape by some of the hooded spectres that are so prominent in the Final Fantasy VII Remake.
As you head for the stairs in the rear of the church, you’ll see an orb of yellow materia through a doorway, but it’s shielded by a flying wall of spectres. You may as well give up. There’s no way to get to it. At least, not at this time.
How to get the yellow materia from the Sector 5 church
After the rooftop escape scene – which is just lovely, by the way – Cloud and Aerith find themselves in Sector 5. You’ll have to take a detour from the station to the centre of the slum, but once you’re there, it opens up into a hub world, just like Sector 7.
With Aerith playing agent for Cloud, just like Tifa before her, you can undertake mercenary missions to help the people of Sector 5. Once you’ve done the requisite main quests and have the run of the place to complete side quests, you’ll be able to head back out to the Sector 5 station.
Follow the path from there, retreading the path from the station – which is a lot quicker when you do it all at ground level – and you’ll find yourself back at the Sector 5 church. Head inside, being careful not to step on the flowers, and go through the doors into the back of the church.
You’ll find that the swirling wall of spectres has dissipated, and you can now grab that yellow materia.
What is the yellow materia in the Sector 5 church?
It’s Chakra. Materia you’ve already got at this stage.
That’s not very exciting, after all that frustration and backtracking, is it?
Follow Thumbsticks on Twitter for news, features, reviews and, yes, guides. Found this one useful? Why not buy us a coffee or support us on Patreon?
