Bar Skip
Bar Skip is a type of Paralysis Dodge which can be triggered during the Don Corneo questline within Wall Market in Midgar. After acquiring certain items, it is carried out by going to the bar and speaking to the dress shop owner, a patron in the bathroom, and another patron all at the same time, negating Cloud's paralysis and saving approximately 10-12 seconds over waiting for the patron in the bathroom to leave the bar once they give Cloud the Sexy Cologne. There is a possibility of this strategy causing a softlock, so it is recommended you practice with a save file or emulator save state until you feel confident with the technique.
Method
[edit | edit source]During the Don Corneo questline, there are several items that speedrunners acquire in Wall Market to ensure that Don Corneo picks Cloud instead of Tifa or Aerith. Bar skip can be performed after you have acquired the Digestive from the Pharmacy, the Diamond Tiara from the Materia Shop owner, and spoken to the Dress Shop owner's son, who will tell you that he is in the bar.
Softlock Potential: If you attempt to speak to the person in the bathroom from too far away at any point during the skip, it will softlock your game. Make sure that every time you go to the bathroom door to speak to the patron inside, you release run as you approach (or after bonking) to make sure Cloud "scoots" as close as possible to the door before clearing any text boxes or starting a conversation.
Upon entering the bar, perform the following actions to complete the skip:
- Go to the bathroom door as closely as possible and press Circle. The woman inside will throw open the door and have a single text box ("HEY..."). Do not clear the text box.
- With the text box still up, run towards the entrance of the bar and initiate a conversation with the Dress Shop owner, who is sitting on a stool. The box from the woman in the bathroom will clear, but she will not shut the door. You have now dodged paralysis from talking to the dressmaker and can move freely.
- Run back to the bathroom door and then run a little bit away from it, which will close it without you having to press anything. You should stand far to the left of the bar patron doing a "I gotta pee" dance, far enough away that you won't trigger a conversation with him. If you can't see Cloud under the bar awning, that is good position.
- Mash through text boxes in the dressmaker conversation until Aerith says "So, that's why I wanted a cute dress for him." As soon as you clear that text box, run Up next to the bathroom door, again releasing run for the last frame so you are as close as possible to the door.
- When the dressmaker says, "A tough lookin guy like that?!" press Circle to clear that text box and open the bathroom door at the same time.
- With the bathroom patron textbox "HEY..." still up, run straight down and stand closely to the left of the bar patron in green at the bottom of the middle bar table.
- Press Circle once to clear the bathroom patron text box and begin talking to the patron at the table at the same time. Run back up to the bathroom (release run last frame), the door will still be open.
- Speak to the woman in the bathroom, clearing her textboxes and the dressmaker's until you see a selection "Give her Medicine", at which point you press Circle to give her the Digestive.
- Run back down right next to the entrance to the bar, near the doormat. Clear the text box for "What kind of dress do you want?" and on the next two selections, chose the second option both times ("that feels soft", "that shimmers").
- Let the final two text boxes fully type out all the way. Press Circle to clear them both at the same time.
- Aeris will run in to you, then exit the bar without clearing the text box which says "Received Key Item: Sexy Cologne!"
You will have the cologne in your inventory and can now proceed with the rest of the dress quest.
Video Examples
[edit | edit source]Bar Skip Video Tutorial by CreativeEly
In-Depth Bar Skip Tutorial (timestamped) by DashRetro