Final Fantasy VII Remake: All Discovery Locations

The Discovery quests in the 2020 remake of Final Fantasy VII are subtle and well-hidden, but here's how to find them.

Discovery quests are special treasures, conversations, or other interactions that are hidden throughout the running time of the Final Fantasy VII remake.

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While some of them can’t be missed, there are several that take a little work to uncover. Let’s, well, discover the Discoveries in FF7R.

Unveil All the Discoveries in Final Fantasy VII Remake

Discoveries are labeled on your map like side quests, but are purple as opposed to side quests’ green.

While there aren’t any Trophies that are specifically attached to Discoveries, many of them are steps along the way to unlocking particular Trophies, or come with unique rewards.

Alone at Last

Complete all the side quests in Chapter 3, then go back to Cloud’s apartment block. As Marle requests, go to your apartment and interact with the sink to fix the filter.

Go next door to Tifa’s place and interact with her while she’s fixing her own sink. This spurs a long conversation between Cloud and Tifa, during which Tifa will ask your opinion of what she should wear on your evening out.

This is the only way you can get her to wear her Exotic or Sporty outfits later during Chapter 9, and is a necessary step along the way to receiving the Dressed to the Nines Trophy.

You’ll also receive a Crescent Moon Charm from Marle the landlady afterwards.

Collapsed Passageway

During Chapter 6, when you’re in Sector 4 – Plate Interior, shut down the first two sun lamps, then reach platform H-07 via the lower level. You’ll find a valuable Element Materia at one end of the walkway.

This is a bigger deal than you might realize at first. You can use Element in conjunction with other Materia to make your weapons inflict elemental-specific damage, or make your armor capable of halving, nullifying, or even absorbing an elemental attack. With a bit of grinding and foresight, there are a lot of fights in the game that Element Materia can make vastly easier.

Inside the Ventilation Fan

In Chapter 6, in Sector 4 – Plate Interior, Tifa will point at a Materia that’s blocked by a running fan on the Cargo Platform, but there’s no obvious way to get to it.

You have to wait until later, when you’ve successfully turned off all three sun lamps. At this point, you can find a terminal in one of the resting rooms that lets you turn off the ventilation fan for a short period of time.

To get there before the fan spins back up, however, you have to blitz through a room that’s filled with randomly-determined monsters. If you don’t win the fight in time, you’ll have to start over with a different group of enemies, but you can keep trying as many times as you like.

Once you win, grab the Chocobo & Moogle Summon Materia from inside the ventilation shaft. Really, isn’t being able to run your enemies over with a stampede of angry chocobos a reward in itself?

Waste Discovery

In Chapter 7, you can use Shinra Keycards on a specific set of terminals to weaken the Airbuster by diverting its parts. Each decision you make here has its own rewards, like stocking up on free items or getting some 500-gil vendor trash. To get those rewards, however, you have to get into the discarded equipment vault, which counts as a Discovery.

Near the end of the chapter, there’s a room where you and Tifa have to coordinate pulling some levers in order to move forward. Don’t leave right away once that’s done, though; there’s a second terminal in the same room that requires you to do the same synchronized lever-pulling four times.

When you do so, a door opens next to Cloud that contains your diversion rewards from the Airbuster, as well as a Magic Up Materia. Gaining access to this room completes the Discovery.

The Gate Won’t Open

This Discovery can’t be missed. You receive credit for it when you finish “Around the Gate” in the main story missions for Chapter 8.

The Language of Flowers

If you complete all the side quests in Chapter 8, you activate a bonus sequence when you return to Aerith’s house. Follow her into her garden for a short conversation.

Afterwards, you can move to the edge of the cliff near Aerith to find a free MP Up Materia, which is a big asset if and when you take on Hard Mode.

Vagabond Johnny

As you explore Wall Market in Chapter 9, Johnny will sprint past you at one point. It’s impossible to miss him, especially if you have subtitles on.

You do have to chase him down, however. Run after him and speak with him for a short cutscene, which completes this Discovery.

While you don’t get anything in particular for this besides a quick chuckle, this Discovery is a crucial step towards the easy-to-miss The Johnny Experience hidden Trophy.

On the Other Side

When you’re exploring the Sector 7 sewer system in Chapter 10, keep your eyes open for an easy-to-overlook ladder in Aqueduct 1. It’s near a roving pack of wererats led by a Blugu.

Deal with them, then go down the ladder to find a secret alcove that contains a useful Warding Material. You can link this with status-inflicting Materia in a character’s armor to reduce that status effect’s duration on that character, with total immunity when the Warding Materia reaches Rank 3.

The FF7R train keeps rolling here at Prima, with a few new guides every day. Check out our game hub to see some of our other guides, including:

The Discoveries are about equal parts rare treasures and Final Fantasy VII Remake fan shout-outs, representing several must-see conversations if you’re following the game’s story. Check out our official Twitter @PrimaGames to yell excitably about your new OT3.


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Thomas Wilde
Thomas has been writing about video games in one capacity or another since 2002. He likes survival horror, Marvel Comics, and 2D fighters, so that one part of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite where Spider-Man teams up with Frank West and Chris Redfield was basically his fanboy apotheosis. He has won World War II 49 separate times.