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Mideel(ミディール,Midīru?) is a hot springs town in the southern part of the Planet in Final Fantasy VII. The town is known for being a place where the Lifestream is close to the surface. It is located on a large island south of the eastern continent.
The party comes to Mideel to hunt for their lost leader, Cloud Strife, without even knowing if this person they have known since the events of Midgar is even the real Cloud, or just another Sephiroth Clone. Their lost comrade was last seen falling into the Lifestream at the Northern Cave, but since Mideel is close to the Lifestream, the party figure there is a good chance Cloud might have surfaced there.
Cloud is found in the doctor's clinic. He had washed ashore a week earlier, but is in such a state of Mako Poisoning that his mind has shut down. All he can do is sit in his wheelchair and mutter incoherently. Tifa Lockhart stays with him, hoping to help out her childhood friend. The rest of the party goes off to fight Shinra for the Huge Materia, with Cid Highwind taking over the leader's role.
Shortly thereafter, the town is shaken by a series of earthquakes. The party has returned to check up on Cloud and Tifa, only to get caught up in the destruction as the Ultimate Weapon appears in the sky. The party does battle with the monster, but it flees.
A massive flow of the Lifestream begins to erupt out of the ground and the entire town is destroyed leaving nothing but a puddle of Mako in its wake. Cloud and Tifa are pulled into the Lifestream.
During their time within the Lifestream, Tifa and Cloud explore Cloud's Subconscious to find out his true past and identity. They survive their time in the Lifestream and return to the Highwind with the party, Cloud returning to the role of leader.
Cursed Ring - the player must cross the bridge, find a key around the house, use it on the door in the Weapons Shop, and tell the guy the truth. Must be done before the town is destroyed.
Before the town's destruction the player can find a busy shopper running through all the shops. Post-destruction the other shops lose most of their stock, but the previous busy shopper will sell the party all of the previously available stock, albeit with inflated prices.
A good early Level Grinding spot is by taking the Tiny Bronco to one of the Mideel Area islands to fight enemies designed to be fought part way through Part 2 of the game.
When spoken to in his mako poisoning state, Cloud will mutter on about Xenogears, another RPG that was in development at the same time as Final Fantasy VII. Interestingly, Xenogears also includes a reference to Final Fantasy VII by displaying a poster of Tifa in one of the in-game areas.
According to Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega[1], Cloud's rescue scene was originally planned to be even longer; after washing up on the shore of Mideel with Tifa, Cloud would have been unconscious and Tifa would have had to revive him with CPR. During this stage Cloud would have a vision of being experimented by Professor Hojo in Nibelheim, and of his escape with Zack. The scene was moved to be viewed in the Shinra Mansion Basement in the game's final version.