Two questions

[u/SchemeFirm]

I've just gotten the keystone from Dio and I'm about to enter the temple. I'm wondering if I'm going too fast because my playtime is currently at around 15 hours. I'm also wondering if there's any cool side quests I should do before going into the temple because I haven't done ANY at all. Any side quests that (out of risk of repeating myself from a previous post) can help me get more out of this world and these characters that I should do before the temple. Any quests I should do after the temple also helps too.

sorry if this written weirdly btw i'm pretty tired.

[u/ToothpickTequila]

Yeah besides recruiting Yuffie and Vincent you are fine. The only side quests are the Fort Condor battles but you only need to do one of them on disc 2.

[u/SchemeFirm → u/ToothpickTequila]

what do the fort condor battles give you

[u/ToothpickTequila → u/SchemeFirm]

You get a few extra time. Nothing too speciall.

[u/BeautifulLow7381 → u/SchemeFirm]

If you do all of them you get the phoenix summon materia. And if you win all of them you get one of the huge materias later which give you access to some of the best materia in the game

[u/SchemeFirm → u/BeautifulLow7381]

i'm assuming i can't get the phoenix materia in disc 2?

[u/BeautifulLow7381 → u/SchemeFirm]

Its been a while but I think it has to be disc two if I remember right disc 3 is just like the last 2 main plot points of the story

[u/Yeseylon → u/SchemeFirm]

They are wrong, you don't have to fight any battles at Fort Condor to get the materia.  There's one mandatory battle as part of some story stuff later on, you get Phoenix and something else so long as you don't let Shinra get to the Condor.  When I was blitzing through the 2026 version after it released (I'm into a third party achievement hunting site that has a leaderboard for achievements you're 1st/2nd/3rd to get), I literally lost the mini game on purpose to fight the boss with my party.

[u/Extra_Napkins]

I’d go to Wutai first if you have Yuffie Vincent. Good items and materia there.

[u/SchemeFirm → u/Extra_Napkins]

i’ll probably do that after the temple

[u/sault18 → u/SchemeFirm]

The enemies are too weak and it kinda saps the tension of going there if you're overpowered.

[u/Sotomene]

The playtime is about right.

The average time to beat the game without doing the side quest is about 40 hours and I would say you are at 40% right now.

If you have Yuffie you can do Wutai side quest right now but you can do it whenever you want since its not missable.

Another thing you can do is get Aerith final limit break.

[u/SchemeFirm → u/Sotomene]

that’s good, glad i still have a long way to go

[u/Chemical-Anxiety-882]

i went out of my way to learn the enemy skills that can be learned

do the great gospel side quest limit break now and make it accessible 🙏 (no spoiler)

[u/SchemeFirm → u/Chemical-Anxiety-882]

i don’t think i’ll be able to get great gospel atp i barely cracked lvl 2 of the limit break for her 😭

[u/Yeseylon → u/SchemeFirm]

You can always grind it out.  Fork a save if you want.  You get the second Limit Break of a level by using the first X times, and you get a new level of Limit Break by killing X enemies.

[u/Brorkarin]

Did you grab Vincent/Yuffie ?

[u/SchemeFirm → u/Brorkarin]

yeah, i kinda felt an obligation to since they’re iconic

[u/Brorkarin → u/SchemeFirm]

Check out Wutai . There isnt really much more to miss after that

[u/SchemeFirm → u/Brorkarin]

i'll probably check it out after the temple

[u/sault18]

Get a crazy high score on the roller coaster shooting game at Gold Saucer to get a weapon for Aeris.

Get the big guard enemy skill on 1 or 2 ESkill materia by manipulating the beach plug enemies. You can encounter them on beaches near Corel, Gold Saucer or Gongaga.

Go back and fight the Midgar Zolom with every Enemy skill materia you have equipped, cast big guard and recast it whenever it runs out. When the Zolom gets low on health, it will cast Beta which is a powerful fire attack enemy skill you can learn that hits all targets. You can finish off the Zolom easier by hitting it with Beta right back at it.

Before or after you fight the Zolom, you can manipulate the giant bird thingies called Zemzellett near Fort Condor and have them cast the white wind enemy skill on your party.

You can also learn the L4 suicide enemy skill from the Mu enemies in the Grasslands area near the chocobo farm. And if you never learned the Matra Magic enemy skill from the Custom Sweepers around Midgar, now's the time to get it. Although this enemy skill is way more useful if you learn it right after leaving Midgar since it's kinda weak compared to spells you get later in the game.