Chapter 8 takes place in the Sector 5 Slums and features six side quests. Three of them are available straight away while the other three are unlocked as you progress. The number of quests that you complete will have an impact on Aerith's dress a little later on in the game and completing them all is a requirement for the Best in the Business trophy.
6 Kids on Patrol
To get things started speak with Ms. Folia, the young woman outside the Leaf House Orphanage. She'll ask you to round up a bunch of missing children who are late back for their lessons. There are five of them in total and they're spread out all over the slums.
Their locations are as follows:
- Outside the community center near the orphanage.
- Near the Weapon Store in the central district.
- In a concrete pipe to the south of the slums.
- At the town gate north of the central district.
- To the east of the central district not far from the item shop.
After you've found them all, return to the orphanage and some kids will tell you about a creepy monster called the Toad King who's been hanging around near their hideout. Head to the hideout through the gap in the fence and follow the path around. You'll run into quite a few Hedgehog Pie monsters in this area so make sure that Aerith has ice Materia equipped to exploit their weakness.
Eventually, you'll run into the Hedgehog Pie King himself. He's effectively just a tougher version of the Hedgehog Pies and can be taken down fairly easily with physical attacks and a few casts of Blizzard. Once he's been taken care of, return to the orphanage and the kids will give you the Nail Bat, a rather unique weapon for Cloud. You'll also unlock the A Verified Hero and The Angel of the Slums side quests.
5 The Mysterious Moogle Merchant
This is undoubtedly the easiest side quests in the game and shouldn't take more than about a minute to complete. Return to the kids' hideout and look for the one dressed in a Moogle costume. Speak with him and buy yourself a Moogle Membership Card and the quest will be completed.
4 Weapons on a Rampage
To initiate the quest, you'll need to look for the scared man wearing the pink shorts on the path between the slums and the station. He'll tell you about five Shinra weapons that are causing chaos in the scrapyard and ask Cloud to track them down and destroy them.
Head into the scrapyard and keep following the path around to the left until you reach a large open area. You should see one of the weapons on the raised area, so stick to the left wall and you'll find a ladder that takes you up there. Take a right at the top of the ladder and pass through the gap you made earlier by moving the green shipping container. From here, you just need to follow the path down and you'll encounter two of the weapons.
Their forcefields can make them incredibly annoying, but if you time it right you can take them out fairly easily with a combination of physical attacks and Aeroga casts. Once you've defeated them, head back the way you came and take a right at the green container followed by another right. Follow the path down and you'll find the remaining three weapons.
Use the same tactics as before and then return to the scared man (who has since moved to the central district) to hand in the quest. He'll give you a pair of Protective Boots and also tell you about an old guy near the Weapon Store who might need your help. Head over there later to find the Paying Respects side quest.
3 A Verified Hero
This one is more of a minigame than a quest and is actually quite enjoyable, but it might take you a few tries to get the top prize. Head back to the kids' hideout and Oates will tell you about Whack-a-Box, which you can play by speaking with the little girl near the gap in the fence.
The aim of the game is to score as many points as possible by destroying boxes. Each box has a set amount of points assigned to it and there'll be a 90 second time limit - although this can be extended by breaking the red clock boxes. There are three different target scores, with each one offering different prizes.
- 10,000 Points - Elixir
- 20,000 Points - Crescent Moon Charm
- 30,000 Points - Spectral Cogwheel
If you're able to score 30,000 points, you'll also unlock the Crate Annihilator trophy, but for now, you'll only need 10,000 points to complete the quest. You can retry whenever you like though and will get a chance to take on some harder Whack-a-Box challenges later on in Chapter 14.
2 Paying Respects
Head over to the Weapon Store and look for the old man standing outside. He'll ask you to clear out a nest of monsters at the graveyard and pay your respects to his late wife. Before you can head over there though, you'll first need to get your hands on the Graveyard Key.
Make your way back to the kids' hideout and Oates will tell you that the key just so happens to be on sale at the Moogle Emporium. It only costs one Moogle Medal so you should be able to afford it. If not, play a single game of Whack-a-Box and you'll get one for your troubles.
With the graveyard key now in hand, leave the slums in the direction of the station and take the first right to enter the scrapyard. Keep going straight until you see a little path on your right with a locked gate at the end of it and use the key to unlock it. You'll need to defeat three Venomantises and can do so fairly easily by exploiting their weakness to ice attacks. Just make sure both Cloud and Aerith have Esuna Materia equipped though as they like to cast sleep. Once you're done with them, return to the old man and he'll give you a Studded Bracer.
1 The Angel Of The Slums
To begin the quest, you'll first need to speak with Damon, a reporter who's hanging around near the orphanage. He'll ask for your help tracking down information about a Robin Hood-style vigilante known as the Angel of the Slums.
Once you've finished talking to him, head into the nearby community center and speak to the old lady with the beanie and the flight goggles on her head. She'll offer to help and instruct you to go back to the reporter and wait for her. Thankfully, you won't have to wait too long at all and she'll tell you that the Angel's hideout is at Lookout Point in the scrapyard.
Now that you know what you're looking for, make your way back to the scrapyard and follow the quest marker to the Angel's hideout. When you arrive, you'll need to defeat a Chromogger enemy which can be fairly challenging for inexperienced players. Try to get behind it if you're planning to use physical attacks and be sure to keep your distance whenever it unleashes one of its area attacks. Like most robots in the game, it's weak to lightning attacks, so hit it with Thunder as often as you can to speed things up.
Once the Chromogger is out of the way, explore the hideout a little and you'll find one of the Guardian Angel's calling cards. Take it back to the reporter and he'll get distracted by news that the Angel is planning another heist and leave before giving you your reward. Thankfully, Mireille, the old lady from earlier, has 'borrowed' 2,000 gil from the reporter's pocket and hands it over to Cloud as payment.