You have to be tough to live in Midgar, the city that hosts Final Fantasy VII Remake. In fact, you have to be so tough that you consider an infestation of small, flying dragons a “nuisance,” rather than a major threat.
Take on the “Nuisance at the Factory” side quest in Chapter III of FF7R with the help of this illustrated guide.
Completing the Nuisance at the Factory Side Quest in the Final Fantasy VII Remake
This side quest can be a little tougher than it sounds. The primary enemies in it, Lesser Drakes, are flyers, with a surprising amount of health for enemies encountered this early in FF7R. (The design ethos for Chapters 2 and 3 seems to be “everything is cannon fodder except this one thing” and the latter is what gets you.) You shouldn’t get into any real trouble here, but it can be a rough fight if you’re still learning the ropes of FF7R’s combat system.
They’re primarily vulnerable to wind, but you can ground them for short periods with any magical attack. Despite being dragons, they have no special resistance to Fire, so Cloud’s starting Materia is enough to knock a Lesser Drake out of the air for a moment.
First things first, though. Once you meet Wymer and unlock side quests in Chapter 3, you can go visit the Junk Dealer in the northern part of the Sector 7 Slums. He’s got a few things for sale like basic potions, but he’s primarily interested in hiring you to clean the monsters out of the nearby abandoned factory.
The Junk Dealer will send you to meet Narjin, the budget Riddick cosplayer who’s guarding the entrance to the abandoned factory on the east side of the Slums. Speak to him and he’ll let you enter.
Your goal in the factory is to take out all five of the Lesser Drakes, which are holed up in two storage areas on opposite sides of the map. You’ll also run into a couple of packs of Gorgers, large insects with very little health and a vulnerability to ice magic. They’re little more than speed bumps.
The Lesser Drakes, however, do pose a larger problem. Use attack magic to knock them down so Cloud can bring his sword to bear on them. Tifa also has a weirdly high amount of aerial manueverability, and can chain-combo Lesser Drakes even when they’re still flying. More importantly, stay on top of your healing, as the Drakes can rack up the damage on your active character before you know it.
If you’re having trouble with the Drakes, don’t be afraid to retreat from here for the time being. One trick that works well here is to finish “Chadley’s Report,” which unlocks three more Battle Intel Reports for completion. The second one, Magic Elements Pt. 1, is easy to finish by using Blizzard spells on Gorgers and wererats around town, and you get a Wind Materia as a reward. You can then buy a second Wind Materia from Chadley for 100 gil, so you can equip one on both your current characters and level the Drakes one at a time by grounding them with Aero spells.
If you end up doing this side quest on Hard Mode, and there’s no particular additional reward for doing so besides the free HP/MP restore, you can walk in here like a tiny god and bulldoze the entire factory with the most expensive magic you feel like using. You get your MP restored for turning this quest in, so there’s no reason not to smite the Drakes with everything you’ve got. Go ahead, summon Bahamut on them. It’ll be fun.
If you’re doing this quest at the same time as “Rat Problem,” it’s a good idea to turn in “Nuisance” first, due to that free HP/MP restoration. This is particularly useful in Hard Mode, but even on Easy or Normal, you’ll have an easier time with the nearby Doomrats if you’re at full health when you start the fight.
You also get 500 gil for turning in “Nuisance at the Factory.” Once it’s completed, you’ll receive the option to pursue another side quest from Wymer, “Just Flew In from the Graveyard.”
You’ll want to finish all the side quests in Chapter 3 on your first trip through the game, in order to collect both useful rewards and to see a special scene with Tifa. If you’re working on anything else in FF7, you can check out our game hub for an assortment of other articles, such as:
- Unlock the Master of Mimicry Trophy
- What to watch out for when you start Hard Mode
- Crush the pull-up contest
Cloud’s career as a freelance monster exterminator is off to a good start, although Final Fantasy VII Remake isn’t done complicating his life by a long shot. Feel free to follow us on Twitter @PrimaGames, and tell us all your horror stories about that time you hallucinated that your neighbor was Sephiroth.
