The other thing that totally took me off guard about the supposedly-open extra story mode which is anything but open to all comers...the individual areas will assign you a random assist character, but the real kicker is that you can choose to engage them like any other enemy on the board. I remembered reading some warning to the effect that they were going to behave differently, but it wasn't entirely clear...I just kinda wanted to see what these interlopers maybe had to say for themselves. "Oh, you want a fight, not assistance?" Wait, what? No, get out! Battle statistics?! You're locked in, you can't back out at this point. As it turns out they're Level 100, and once you're done fighting them, they'll be removed from the board and no more assist calls for you until you leave the area. --- The Emperor vs. Cloud Strife Order's Sanctuary ("Let the Battles Begin" Final Fantasy VII) The other thing about these fights besides all the baggage surrounding them is that they'll take ! place on Order's Sanctuary...but the gimmicky version. Which isn't to say much about gimmicks, actually, because this is the closest thing to a Final Destination in the whole game--yeah, with grind rails and little "walls" that look like somebody buried a seashell partway into the...uh...where the heck does all this ankle-deep water come from and why's it always look like it's flowing and rippling? Uh right, anyway, the (mostly) featureless stage has its added "gimmick" being the fact that the Stage
... 
