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Gaea's Cliff is an unrevisitable location in Final Fantasy VII. From the ground, it seems to be a mountain, but is actually the side of the North Crater. Due to its height and location past the frigid wastes of the Great Glacier, the cliff is so cold few can survive the climb-up. There is a large system of caves that connect in and out from the cliff, which must be explored in order to the reach the top.
Mr. Holzoff and a friend of his attempted to climb Gaea's Cliff only to have his friend killed. Holzoff decided to wait in a cabin just at the base of the cliff to help out potential climbers. Cloud Strife and his party climb Gaea's Cliff in order to reach Sephiroth at the Whirlwind Maze.
When Cloud is not party leader, the player is prevented from snowboarding at Icicle Inn and cannot enter the Great Glacier from the World Map. When Cloud is party leader during Meteorfall, Holzoff will prevent the player from climbing up. Before the Raid on Midgar Holzoff will tell the player it's dangerous because of the barrier, while after he only tells the player they shouldn't climb unprepared.
Due to the name of the planet being Gaia this location name may appear as a reference to it, however "Gaia" (ガイア, Gaia?) has never been used to refer to the planet in any Japanese media so the connection is likely coincidental.
Locations
This section about a location in Final Fantasy VII is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.First Ascent
Archway Cave
First cave.
Boulder Cave
There's an ice rock that can be pushed.
Second Ascent
Water Level Cave
Dropping icicles into this room raises the water level that leads to an exit.
Icicle Cave
This area is in two parts. At the top icicles are fought, cracked, and dropped.
Mountain Paths
- Left Mountain Path
- Right Mountain Path
Third Ascent
Healing Spring
Spring heals HP and MP, and despite not saying it removes status effects too.
Ice Tunnel
Schizo fought in here.
Final Ascent
Short ascent before an FMV starts.
Quests
Keeping body temperature up
Cloud keeping warm.
At the cliff area, the player can choose to climb up a cliff by going near the red flag and tap 
. The player must keep the party's temperature above 30° Celsius by repeatedly tapping 
to increase the temperature. This can only be done while Cloud is on each cliff platform and not while climbing. Cloud's body temperature can assume values between 26 and 38 °C, and Cloud will pass out at 26 °C. If Cloud passes out he will wake up at Holzoff's hut; there is no Game Over. While Cloud's body temperature is above 32 °C it takes 5.7s for it to drop a degree, but at below 33 °C it only takes 3.7s to drop.
This part of the game was more difficult in the game's original Japanese version where the player's temperature dropped much faster and few managed the climb on the first try. In the international release the difficulty was reduced.
Items
- Ribbon (found by walking through a wall after crossing ice bridge upon reentering first cave area)
- Javelin
- Elixir
- Fire Armlet
- Megalixir (inconsistently translated as "Last Elixir" when picked up in the PlayStation version)
- Speed Source
- Enhance Sword
Enemies
Battle background.
Outside (All screens except the last)
- Headbomber x2 (Back attack)
- Headbomber x2, Zolokalter
- Headbomber x3
- Malboro
- Zolokalter x2
Battle background.
Inside (All screens)
- Stilva
- Stilva (Back attack)
- Headbomber x2, Zolokalter
- Zolokalter x4
- Evilhead x2
- Evilhead x2 (Ambush)
- Evilhead x4, Icicle (Four set battles only in last screen)
Schizo's Lair (Both screens)
- Cuahl, Headbomber x2
- Cuahl x2
- Cuahl x2 (Back attack)
- Blue Dragon
- Evilhead x3
- Schizo (Boss) (only in 2nd screen)
Other appearances
Final Fantasy Record Keeper
This section about a location in Final Fantasy Record Keeper is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
This section about a location in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.Gallery
Etymology
Gaia or Gaea was the goddess or personification of Earth in ancient Greek religion, one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia was the mother of all: the heavenly gods, the Titans and the Giants were born from her union with Uranus (the sky), while the sea-gods were born from her union with Pontus (the sea). The Greek word "γαῖα" (transliterated as gaia or gaea) is a collateral form of "γῆ" meaning Earth. Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was named Gaea (Terra in more ancient documents). This is alluded to in Final Fantasy IX with the existence of Gaia's twin world.
The mythological name Gaia was revived in 1979 by James Lovelock, whose Gaia hypothesis proposes that living organisms and inorganic material are part of a dynamic system that shapes the Earth's biosphere, and maintains the Earth as a fit environment for life. In some Gaia theory approaches the Earth itself is viewed as an organism with self-regulatory functions. This theory is especially alluded to in the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within take on Gaia as the planet's soul.
Trivia
- A pre-release shot shows an area that can never be accessed in the final game. This area is only seen in very old footage shown before the game's release.
- Gaea's Cliff is home to one of few areas in the game where the player can encounter the inescapable battles glitch, in the area in which Schizo is fought.
