******************************************************************************* SHADOW HEARTS II: COVENANT ******************************************************************************* Guide by: Sicondera byakko@blademail.net Present Version: 0.95 Added Dog Shrine side-quest and the one everybody's been waiting for: the second go-round in the Neam Ruins! Also, the Fort of Regrets side-quest is completed. Previous Versions: 0.9 Added Asuka Stone Platform, Doll House side-quest, Black Forest side-quest. Lots of little fix-its. I've missed more than one item here and there, it seems. Thanks for pointing them out, everyone! 0.85 Added Azabu Kamiyashiki and Queen's Garden. Lots of little tidbits here and there. Now there are elemental affiliations for each boss! 0.81 Gah. Real Life was inordinately persistant this week. Sorry for the late update, folks! Added Inugami Village thru Mt. Fuji, along with the side-quest Tiffauges! Included the "On Endings and Beginnings..." section. It's my translation of the comments by Matsuzo Machida, Head of Development for the Japanese version of the game. What are the comments on? The endings, of course! Spoilers abound there, so beware! Fixed a couple of missed items here and there, changed a minor (but relevant) detail about the fight with Yama Garan, thanks to much effort on the part of Nick Vale! I appreciate it! Added bunches to the first three levels of Sara's Challenge. Added an item I missed waaaay back in the first run through of Dom Remi. Thanks Jolin! More names! Evan, you're the best! 0.73 Added Nihonbashi thru Forest of the Wind. Lots of editing going on this time! Fixed a pair of points regarding Crests. I'd mistakenly put Halphas in the treasure chest in the Petrograd Great Square, when it should really be Furcas in there. Defeating Viktor gets you Halphas. Put Lottery Member #8 where he should be, in Warship Mikasa. Added a tiny, horribly incomplete section for Sarah's Challenge all the way at the bottom. I'll do more with this one next update, I promise! Of course, the requisite name-adjusting. I've got all the Crests down, so now I'm starting on Fusions, Towns and Items, thanks to Evan! Doomo! And yes I am reading it! What am I talking about? Read the Boards and you should find out. ::enigmatic smile::. Oh, and I'm a "she", BTW. ^.^ 0.68 - To all my loyal fans out there waiting, sorry!! I'm typing as fast as my stubby little fingers will go! Oh, I'm stuck Read Only on the boards, though I do visit often! More fiddling with names. Added Training Day and Foreigners' Graveyard FAQs. 0.65- Fixed some names to jive better with the English version, thanks to Frosty Dragoon and Aramas LuxDragon. Added "Affinity" section. Yokohama Warehouse District thru Warship Mikasa FAQ completed. 0.5 - Complete FAQ for Disc 1. Character Info 99.2% complete. Legal Stuff: Shadow Hearts: Covenant (hereafter "SH2") isn't mine. It's the brainchild of the wonderful people at Aruze, and brought to you by the nifty people at Midway. This Walkthrough, however, IS mine. It took me scads of time and a ton of research to write it, so I'd appreciate it if you don't go around saying it's yours. I am a nice person, though, so if you want to use parts of it or post it on your site, email me and ask, and I'll 99%-likely say yes. Put simply: Copyright 2004, Adrienne Beck. If you want to use any part of this, ask first. Credits: A million and three thanks go out to 3 sources who undoubtedly don't even know me. Top of the list are the great people at VR LAB (vrlab.info/sh2/). Their FAQ is detailed, well-composed and complete. I used it a lot. If you (and your computer) can read Japanese, I highly recommend you visit their site and check it out. Secondly, I must express my appreciation to the people who wrote the Shadow Hearts II: Official Navigation Guide and the Shadow Hearts II: Navigation Book. The maps and chara info in both of those books provided invaluable help in my getting this FAQ organized. Thirdly, a big THANX!! to all the players of the English Version who have been kind enough to email me and help me straighten out names and other things I've screwed up. Special kudos go out to Aramas, who sent me a list of all the Disc 1 Crest names, and a lot of the Disc 2 ones, in English. And Evan, who sends me Boss names and items gotten for massive multi-hit combos. And Jason for overall moral support. You guys ROCK!! Warnings: ***READ THESE PLEASE!!!*** First and foremost, SH2 is a totally 3D game, with lots of maps in which you can wander around freely. This makes giving directions awfully difficult. So, as a standard, all my directions are given from the *player's POV*. When I say 'go right', that means go to your right, no matter which way the character on the screen is facing. On some of the more confusing maps, I've done my best to establish some landmarks, but if there are any parts that are unclear or hard to follow, let me know. Secondly. SPOILERS, SPOILERS and a whole bunch more SPOILERS!!! I let slip quite a bit about the game's story line and what happens when. About the only thing that I don't blatantly spoil are the endings. You have to go and see those for yourself. For those of you hoping for in-depth, detailed boss-fight strategies, I'm sorry. I am a strong proponent of the simple theory that if you hit something long enough, it'll eventually stop moving. I cannot recommend Combos enough, they are very, *very* useful. Using them and the occasional spell about does it for my strategies. However, what I will tell you is what the Boss will try to use on you, and what you get for winning. This is more of a note than a real warning, but there's no other appropriate place to put it, so... SH2 is a direct sequel to SH1. That means there are neat goodies available if you play SH2 with a memory card that has SH1 save data on it. If you've got one, I definitely suggest you use it. Next, I played through the JAPANESE VERSION of both SH1 and SH2. The resources and FAQs I've used in playing these games were 90% Japanese. I've never seen the English version of either game. Hence I'm going to get names screwed up. It's inevitable. I've browsed through the SH1 FAQs to learn as many of the English names as I could, but there's lots of things in SH2 that weren't in SH1. I've made my guesses as intelligent as possible, but should you find mistakes, let me know please. Finally, for all you short-cut loving people out there who'd like to CTRL-F your way through this FAQ (which might not be a bad idea. this thing is HUGE), there are a couple tricks to doing it. 1) Enclose city names in <>. That'll take you right to the header for that particular place. 2) Enclose Chara names and Mini-game names in .: :. to get to their respective sections. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< TABLE OF CONTENTS ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 1. Characters - 100% finished. A. Abilities i. where to find them ii. how they work iii. what they do B. Ultimate Weapons & Armor locations 2. Affinity. How it works. - 100% finished. 3. Combo Magic - 100% finished 4. Walkthrough-- Europe (Disc 1) - 100% finished A. Tower of Apoina B. Dom Remy C. Ardenne Forest i. Graveyard D. Paris i. Old Apartment ii. Mon Martre a. Wolf Bout #1 iii. Champs Elysees iv. Subway Tunnels v. Old Cathedral (Notre Dame) vi. Back into the Subway Tunnels E. Le Havre F. The Winecellar i. Wolf Bout #2 ii. Lucky Box G. Southampton i. Grand Gama H. The Abandoned Mines of Rhonda I. Wales J. Firenze i. Wolf Bout #3 K. Isla Man Mariara L. S.G. Headquarters - Italy M. Wales - The Ruins of Neam i. Wolf Bout #4 N. Cannes i. Treasure Hunt Begins O. Ste. Marguerite i. Wolf Bout #5 ii. Treasure Hunt Clue #1 P. Petrograd i. The Palace Enthralled a. Wolf Bout #6 Q. Goreme Valley i. Castle of Mirrors ii. Treasure Hunt Clue #2 R. Petrograd Again i. Hall of the Dead a. Wolf Bout #7 S. Idar Flamme -- ONE SHOT DUNGEON!!! i. Wolf Bout #8 T. Tower of Apoina Again 5. Walkthrough -- Japan (Disc 2) - 95% finished A. Yokohama i. Warehouse District ii. Streets iii. Warship Mikasa a. Wolf Bout #9 b. Treasure Hunt Clue #3 iv. Training Day v. The Foreigners' Cemetary B. Tokyo i.Nihonbashi ii. Todo Laboratories -- ONE SHOT DUNGEON!!! iii. Nihonbashi Again a. Wolf Bout #10 C. Forest of the Wind D. Inugami Village i. Wolf Bout #11 E. Mt. Fuji i. Wolf Bout #12 F. Azabu Kamiyashiki G. The Queen's Garden H. Asuka Stone Platform i. Wrapping Up; side trips and more side trips a. Wolf Bouts #14 & 15 b. Nibelung Epilogue boss, Guardian. c. Shuten Doji fight. d. Dark Seraphim fight. ii. Bronze Bell, the Final Dungeon 6. Sidequests - 90% finished A. Wakuraba - Fort of Regret B. Tiffauge i. Wolf Bout #13 C. Zurich D. Neam Ruins Again E. The Doll House F. Black Forest G. Kurama's Dog Shrine H. The Man Festival 7. Mini Games - 99% finished A. Lottery B. Lucky Chest C. Treasure Hunt D. The Straw Millionaire E. Quiz Show! F. Sarah's Challenge 8. On Endings, and Beginnings... - 100% finished A. Yuri's Good Ending B. Yuri's Bad Ending C. Karin's Ending ******************************************************************************* CHARACTERS ******************************************************************************* .:YURI HYUGA:. Our rude-looking, ruffian of a Hero. Age: 25 Nationality: Japanese/Russian Affinity: Dark Weapon: Claws Ability: Fusion Details: Technically the "Hero" of the story, Yuri doesn't actually join your party until after you've cleared Dom Remy for the first time. Thanks to Nicholai, you'll find him much changed from the Godkiller you knew in SH1. Yuri's ability is Fusion; shapeshifting into any one of up to 21 Fusion Monsters (FMs). If you're looking for the same FMs he had in SH1, you'll only find two: Amon and Seraphic Radience, whom they're calling "Dark Seraphim" now. However, the principles behind the system are pretty much the same. Gather Soul Points through random encounters and use them to power up the FMs. Like in SH1, there are 6 basic FMs, one for each element. There are 3 Grades to each basic FM, and they all can be leveled up to LV10. Grade2 FMs cost 3 SP per round, Grade3 cost 4 SP and GradeMAX cost 5. That's *COST PER ROUND* folks. Every time Yuri's turn comes up, his SP are going to drop by that amount. Even with 40 SP, that's only 8 rounds with a GradeMAX FM, so be careful! .:BASIC FUSION MONSTERS:. Earth Water Fire Wind Light Dark Grade2 - Vastitas Amnis Karyl Malakia Radeus Nox -at LV.1 they learn Stats-up spell and low-damage attack spells. Grade3 - Sorm Mahrae Balbaria Grano Puera Orexis -at LV.3 they learn low level healing/protection spells. -at LV.5 they learn medium-damage attack spells. GradeMAX- Gaudion Veneficium Fides Libertis Miserati Somnion -at LV.6 they learn Stats-up spell, all allies. -at LV.8 they learn high level healing/protection spells. -at LV.9 they learn high-damage attack spells. .:SOUL CHARGE:. Gather enough Soul Points and you can do one of two things, raise a FM's *LEVEL* or raise it's *GRADE*. These are two separate procedures. Raising one doesn't automatically raise the other. ---Raising a FM's *LEVEL* Go to Yuri's "Personal" section in the main menu. There should be an option called "Soul Charge". Choose that option, then flip to the FM you want to charge, press and hold the O button and voila! Note: you can only charge the highest grade of any particular FM. Raising the highest grade automatically raises the level of that FM's lower grades. ---Raising a FM's *GRADE* Find a save point and enter Yuri's Graveyard. Go to the gravestone of the FM you want to charge and examine it. The option to charge the gravestone should appear. Press and hold the O button to get the job done. Note#1: This only works for raising a FM from Grade1 (existant but unusable) to Grade2, and then to Grade3. Raising a FM to GradeMAX requires a separate item. .:GradeMAX Fusion Monsters:. Raising any of the 6 basic FMs to GradeMAX requires a totally separate item: Soul Drop. You can find them any time after you've acquired the FM Amon. Here's where they are: ---In Dom Remy church, there should be a shiny yellow spot way in the back. ---Talk to Lawrence in Goreme Valley after you come back from the Castle of Mirrors. ---Prize for beating Lucky Box at 300 Cash. ---The place where the Crew gathers in Yokohama after Yoshiko's been kidnapped. Check the floor up and to the left. ---The Foreigners' Cemetary. After you've cleared it for the first time, examine the grave two to the right of the old man who gives you one of Karin's Nibelung chapters. ---Inugami Village. At the entrance to the village proper, there's a little wooden hut-thingy to the right of the path. Look in there. Soul Drops work on any FM, so you can raise them in any order you like. Once you have one, just go to that FM's gravestone in the graveyard and touch the Drop to the stone. At that point, you'll be dropped into a fight with a shadow-beast in order to acquire the FM. Each shadow-beast has about the same amount of power, they just use different spells. Defeat them and the FM is yours. .:SPECIAL FUSION MONSTERS:. Besides the 6 basic FMs and their 3 Grades, there are 3 more special FMs you can get; Amon, Neo-Amon and Seraphic Radience. ---AMON: Unlike SH1, Amon isn't an optional FM this time. You get him automatically. After escaping from Petrograd the first time and going to the Goreme Valley, Jovis will send Yuri and Karin into Yuri's Graveyard. This time the Door to Destruction will open, taking you into the Castle of Mirrors. Amon awaits you at the end. Defeat him and he's yours. Amon costs 5 SP per round. ---NEO AMON: He *is* an optional FM. Neo Amon awaits you at the end of the Tiffauge Castle. Neo Amon costs 6 SP per round. ---DARK SERAPHIM: Perhaps the coolest FM, he's also the hardest one to get. There are several requirements you need to meet first. Requirement #1: All 6 basic FMs must be at GradeMAX. Requirement #2: You must have both Amon and Neo Amon. Requirement #3: Kurando must have Shuten Doji. Requirement #4: You must have at least entered the Bronze Bell. Requirement #5: You must have both Yuri's Ultimate Armor, and his Ultimate Weapon. Fill all 5 requirements and the Stone of Rebirth should appear at the base of the tree in the Graveyard. There won't be any yellow light or anything to let you know it's there, just press the O button in the general area and you should pick it up. Stone in hand, go to the Door to Desire. It will open. Go in until an event triggers. After a long talk with Ben Hyuga, a fight with Dark Seraphim will start. Win, and he's yours. Dark Seraphim costs 7 SP per round. .:ULTIMATE WEAPON:. Chimera Claw The same one as in SH1, it's also hidden in exactly the same place; on the Moon. Once you''re capable of going between Asia and Europe freely, visit Roger at his house in Wales. You'll know it's the right time if he's standing next to the glorified hamster wheel that players of SH1 will recognize. Yup. Same weapon hidden in the same place, so it follows that you have to do the same thing you did in SH1 to get it; Spin Ring 10. ::whimper:: Fortunately, the hit areas take up 95% of the whole ring, so the first 8 or so spins aren't that hard, but damn are those last 2 difficult. Good luck!! .:ULTIMATE ARMOR:. Bike Jacket This one's a little bit more tedious to get. Once you're able to move freely between Europe and Asia, head to Cannes. There should be two kids standing on the beach. Talk to them and they tell you about a mean-looking giant guy they hauled out of the surf a few weeks ago. It's Lenny, who you probably thought was dead. Well, he's alive and well apparently, and also long gone from Cannes. So, go track him down. After talking to the 2 kids on the beach, head up to Petrograd. There should be an old lady standing by the bridge near where you go down into the Halls of the Dead. She'll tell you about this mean-looking giant guy who kept a thug from stealing her purse. Next, go to Champs Elysees. Standing somewhere in the middle of the sidewalk should be a hunched over guy that looks the world like an Iron Claw in street clothes. You know what? He really *is* an Iron Claw in street clothes. Intimidate him and he'll point you back to where this chase started. So, back to Cannes. At the long, double-back staircase, a new guy will challenge you to a math contest. Win, and he'll cough up Lenny's whereabouts: the cell in Ste. Margueritte where Roger had been held prisoner. It doesn't take too long to get this done, and you can do it relatively early in the game. HOWEVER. Lenny *won't talk to you* until *AFTER* the Stone Platform has appeared. Trust me, I tried. Go before that and you can hear a really amusing through-the-door conversation between Yuri and Lenny, (it's such a pity they didn't have voice-overs for it), but not much else. Once the Stone Platform has appeared, then Lenny will actually let you in the cell, and a neat little FMV will commence. At the end of it, Lenny will give you his coat. .:KARIN KOENIG:. Lovely, if somewhat confused, Heroine. Age: 25 Nationality: German Affinity: Fire Weapon: Sabre Ability: Sword Art Details: Heroine of the story, Karin is the only character that you keep through the entirety of the game. Even the Hero, Yuri, doesn't join the party until a couple hours in. Karin's special ability, like Blanc's Howl and Joachim's Muscle Arts, is limited to four different attacks. To learn/level up those four attacks, you have to collect pieces of the script to Wagner's opera, "Der Ring des Nibelungens". For brevity's sake, I'll just call them "Nibelung Chapters." There are 10 chapters in total, and to get them, you often just have to find and talk to the right person. .:Nibelung Chapter locations, in numerical order:. ---Prologue: You get this from Geppetto automatically when you first visit his Old Apartment. He'll give it to you after you beat the Iron Claws who invite themselves in. ---Chapter 2: Nimble-Fingered Locke will give this to you after you gather all 3 pieces needed to make the key during your trip through the prison on Ste. Marguerite Island. ---Chapter 3: There should be a guy standing at the entrance to the Japanese Warship "Mikasa". Talk to him to get it. ---Chapter 4: After the storm stops in Southampton, talk to Sergeant Apham, who's standing at the base of the staircase up the wall. ---Chapter 5: Old Boris in Petrograd has it. Once you have control of the whole Crew there, go from Edgar's shop towards the Great Square. Old Boris is standing on the left side of the street. ---Chapter 6: Foreigner's Graveyard. After you've cleared it once go back and talk to one of the old fogeys there. ---Chapter 7: In Florence, talk to Rich Merchant Jones, who stands on the south side of the water fountain. Listen to his sob story about Lucia's prediction, and at the end of it he will give you Ch.7 because he doesn't need it any more. ---Chapter 8: Examine the skeleton directly to your left when you first enter the Halls of the Dead. ---Chapter 9: After you have the first eight, go back to Southampton and talk to the weaving drunk Sepheau in the Inn. He's the same guy Katou rescued way back in the beginning of the game. If you don't have the others first, however, he won't give you a thing. ---Epilogue: Once you have Chapter 9, and you've cleared the Queen's Garden, head back there to the room where you beat the boss. Examine the center of the very back wall, and another boss will jump out at you. Defeat this Guardian to receive the Epilogue Unfortunately, you don't get the Chapters in neat, numerical order. Here's the order you do get them in: --Prologue->Ch.4->Ch.7->Ch.2->Ch.5->Ch.8->Ch.3->Ch.6->Ch.9->Epilogue Interestingly enough, according to the Official Navigation Guide, you will get the Chapters in the above order, *no matter what order* you talk to the people carrying them. Should you accidentally skip, say, Rich Merchant Jones in Florence and go on to talk to Nimble Fingered Locke, Locke will give you *Ch.7*, because that's where you are in the order. .:ULTIMATE WEAPON:. Durandal You get this at the end of the Fort of Regrets. .:ULTIMATE ARMOR:. Microskirt Once you've been in the Bronze Bell once, Healthy Runie gives it to you if you have 10,000+ steps on the pedometer. .:EXTRA OUTFIT:. Dating Outfit When Yuri already has both his Ultimates and Lucia has her Ultimate Weapon (whether gotten through the trading mini-game or just bought at the Junk Kingdom store), talk to Roger again and he'll give it to you. .:GEPETTO:. Old magician and old drunkard. Age: 60+? Nationality: French Affinity: Changeable Weapon: Strings Ability: Marionette Details: Alice's uncle, Gepetto met Yuri shortly after the last shovel-ful of dirt had been laid on her coffin. He's been tagging along with Yuri since then, and becomes a member of your party after the mess at Dom Remy church. Technically, Gepetto's weapons are strings, but the more visible component is the marionette at the end, Cornellia. Modeled after his long-dead daughter, she sometimes seems freakily alive. By changing the dresses she wears, you can change Gepetto's elemental affinity and add elemental spells to his "Marionette" spell list. But before you go about changing the dresses, you have to actually acquire them first. To do that, you need items called "Stud Cards". These are ....unusual.... collecter's cards which Pierre Mazymell is very fond of. Present him with a card, and he will make your choice of six dresses; one, of course, for each element. Wearing one of these dresses will change Gepetto's affinity to correlate with that of the dress, and it will permanently add an elemental "Cast" spell to his "Marionette" list of spells. It also ups Gepetto's magic power when casting spells of that element. To change the dresses, go under Gepetto's Personal section on the menu. There aught to be a "Change Dresses" option. Flip through the sketchbook and pick which dress you like. .:SPECIAL DRESSES:. Things wouldn't be nearly so fun if there weren't some extra dresses to find. To get these dresses necessitates an extra item, one to inspire Pierre's creativity. These extra items are different for each extra dress, of which there are 3 (4 if you have SH1 save data). ---Black Queen Once Idar Flamme has appeared, go back to Petrograd and look around in the room that was Rasputin's. On the bed, there should be an item called the "Purple Bondage". Get this and go talk to Pierre when you have a Stud Card to give him. Black Queen, for all its obvious leanings, is a affiliation None dress. It boosts the strength of Dark and Wind spells. It also adds the Marionette spell "Passion" to Gepetto's list. ---Beastmaster You have to wait until you get to Japan for this dress. After you clear the Yokohama Warehouse District, re-visit the first warehouse on the left, and talk to the item-selling smuggler. He has several odd and unusual things for sale, besides weapons. One of them will be a Stuffed Raccoon. Buy this and talk to Pierre when you have a spare Stud Card. Like the other 3 special dresses, Beastmaster is an affiliation None dress, and it boosts magic power for Earth and Fire, as well as giving you the Cast Spell "Ecstacy" ---Blue Virgin Once you have the first two special dresses and the Stone Platform has become available, go talk to Pierre. A short scene will commence, and Yuri will offer up for inspiration a dress that he supposedly designed himself. Pierre loves it, and with a Stud Card to pay him, you will get a dress that is exactly like Alice's outfit from SH1. An affiliaton None dress, Blue Virgin ups Gepetto's magic power with Light and Water spells. She also gives Gepetto the Marionette spell "Advent". ---Beautiful Fool (Inaccessible in N.A. English version) You can only get this "dress" if you have SH1 save data. Not just any SH1 save data, unfortunately. You need a clear file from "SH1: The Best", a version of the game that has, to date, been released only in Japan. But, for the sake of completeness, let's assume you do have that data. Then you can win the 10th Stud Card from the 1000 Cash round of Lucky Box. Manage to get that last card, and all you have to do is talk to the Pierre in *CHAMPS ELYSEES*. Talk to him anywhere else and he won't do a thing. Go there and Gerrard will lament that Pierre has gotten all moody after reading a particular book. Entice Pierre with the last card, (a super rare one), and he'll eventually relent and make the last "dress." I put dress in quotes because it really isn't a dress. It isn't *anything*, really. The curtain opens and Cornellia is stark naked. ...y'see, the book Pierre read was "The Emperor's New Clothes." ^.^;; Anyway, the "dress" is affiliation None, just like the other three special dresses, and like the special outfits for Karin, Lucia and Anastasia, it drops stats. In Cornelia's case, it isn't attack or defense, it's elemental power. .:Stud Card LOCATIONS:. ---Mr. Somlier: Yuri finds this in Gepetto's Old Appartment when you first go there. (If you have SH1 save data, you also get Mr. Matador here, not in Florence) ---Mr. Detective: You find this one in a treasure box in Southampton. Look in the hotel room that has 2 beds. ---Mr. Matador: Talk to Artist Peggy in Florence. She's in maid's clothing, wandering around the right side of the fountain. ---Mr. Swan: In the Hermitage in Petrograd, find Sentry Krile patroling the West Hall and talk to him right before Veronica fumigates the entire palace with pink mist. ---Mr. Chef: Clear the 100 Cash round of Lucky Box. ---Mr. Sax: Clear Sara's Challenge, Monk Level 3. ---Mr. Samurai: Go to the bar in Cannes and find the fat man hiding in the corner, Staring Anatole. Buy him a drink and he'll give you the Card. ---Mr. Doctor: Yokohama Streets, check under the black awning next to the Mazymell Bros. shop. ---Mr. Pro Wrestler: It's a card of the Grand Gama. >.< Don't look too close. You get it from Yamaguchi, the working guy who stands to the left of Gama's ring in Nihon-bashi. ---Mr. Meiyuan: Yes, you read right. Meiyuan. As in the acupuncture specialist from SH1. This is the special 10th Builder Card, and you can only get it if you have save data from SH1. Once you can move freely between Europe and Asia, head to the Wine Cellar and the Lucky Box game. You should get the option for a 1000 Cash round. This one is a super-difficult 4x4 grid. Good luck in beating it. The card is your prize. (note: can't do this in the NA version.) .:ULTIMATE WEAPON:. Crimson Thread Beat the boss of the Doll House side quest and you get these as a prize. .:ULTIMATE ARMOR:. Puppeteer's Cape Clear every one of Sarah's Challenges, and you get this as a bonus prize. .:BLANCA:. The animal sidekick who's usually smarter than the people he follows. Age: 2 Nationality: French Affinity: Wind Weapon: Whetstones Ability: Manifestations Details: Pet to the little girl Jeanne in Dom Remy, Blanca was the town's, well, watch-wolf. When the whole mess with Yuri and Nicholai happens in the church and Jeanne dies, Blanca tags along with Gepetto and Yuri. Nevermind the ghostly name to Blanca's ability, leveling it up means playing the non-spiritual game "Wolf Bout". The premise behind it is Blanca going one-on-one with the wolves you come across in the course of the game. Beat a wolf, and you get a paw-print stamp in a little booklet, plus, one of Blanca's skills goes up a notch. Collect a row of three stamps, talk to Earnest (the creator of the game) in Monmartre and you get a neat little prize. There are a total of 15 different Bouts, 12 regular and 3 hidden. Many of the wolves show up in a dungeon directly after you've cleared it, but a few are right there in your path. Earnest will actually give you hints about the first 12 wolves' locations, should you ask him. Or you could just look at the list below. Wolf Location Tetsu Monmartre. You're forced into this one when you first come through that area. Kelly Wine Cellar. After you clear the area, Kelly will appear in the very back room where the boss was. Jerome Florence. He's sitting in the one corner, near where the Mazymell Brothers are. Henri SG Headquarters - Italy. Like Kelly, he shows up right after you clear the area, in the back room where the wall gets blown in. Phillipe Ste. Marguerite. This is another that's unavoidable. When Blanca has to get into the island prison by himself, Phillipe gets in his way. R-3 Petrograd. From Edgar's clock shop, go down and right-ish. It's the road that doesn't go to the Great Square. About 15 steps down there should be a slim alley that branches off from the far side of the street. R-3 is back there once you've un-Enthralled the Palace. Necros Hall of the Dead. He's in a caged off nook, and the halls are dark, so it's pretty easy to miss him. Look carefully. Maya Dom Remy. Some time after you clear Ste. Marguerite, it'll become a viable destination again. Speak with the old guy who's walking circles behind the well to get the wolves to appear. Maya and his cronies are hiding in the dead end you hit if you go straight through the woods from the entrance. Carven Battleship Mikasa. Again, you have to clear the dungeon first. However, he doesn't show up in the last room. He's hiding in one of the dead-end hallways on the first deck. Elenore She's dead obvious in the park in Nihon-bashi. I mean, she's almost as pink as *Andre* for crying out loud. Matsunaga Another really obvious one. He's guarding the Sacred Spring in Inugami Village. Lobo You have to have beaten everyone else first. Place the colored stones in the order BLUE, RED, YELLOW to open up the proper path to his location. THE HIDDEN THREE Defeat the above 12 wolves, and it looks like you've completed Wolf Bout. Go back to MonMartre to brag to Earnest, but he's *not* *there*. Instead, Tetsu gives you a little note, informing you of another three wolves on the list. He's not around to give you hints, and you must defeat one before the next one will appear. Henri, again Tiffauge, once you've beaten the first 12 wolves, he'll appear. He's hiding in the back-most part. Have fun getting there again. Young Lobo Forest of the Wind. Beat Henri for a second time, then look on the trails in the forest. Wolfman Monmartre, where Earnest used to hang out. You have to defeat Young Lobo before he'll show up. PRIZES Earnest will hand out nifty little prizes when you collect a row of three stamps. Here's what they are: 3 Stamps - Thera Extract 6 Stamps - Crest Zagan 9 Stamps - Tarot Card "Emperor" 12 Stamps - 7th Key 15 Stamps - Beast Medal .:ULTIMATE WEAPON:. Beast Medal Make it all the way through the Wolf Bout game, and it's the last prize you get. .:ULTIMATE ARMOR:. Charm Pouch After the Stone Platform appears, stop by the church in Dom Remy. A short FMV should start up, Jeanne manifesting long enough to say some last words to her favorite wolf and bequeath the armor to him. .:JOACHIM VALENTINE:. ......yes, another 'Valentine'. Age: 400+ Nationality: Transylvanian Affinity: Earth Weapon: whatever he finds Ability: Muscle Arts (transformation) Details: Strapped for cash, the Crew hires on as part of the town patrol in Le Havre, so they can earn enough to book passage to Southampton. The first job they're assigned; do something about the weirdo vigilante who calls himself the Grand Papillion! After much ruckus and hullabaloo "mild-mannered" Joachim Valentine, alter-ego to the Grand Papillion, decides to join the Crew, nevermind what everybody else says. Joachim technically has 2 abilities, but you can only really affect one of them; Muscle Arts. The transformation ability is subject to the whims of the Joachithms. .:MUSCLE ARTS:. Except for Drain, all these abilities you learn from the Grand Gama. ---Drain Touch Joachim has this from the start. Drains HP from the enemy. ---Grand Slam Using his weapon like a baseball bat, Joachim whacks an enemy into the stratosphere. Sudden death effect or just minor damage. Get this by defeating Grand Gama the first time you meet him in Southampton. Be sure to equip a Leonard's Bear before going into the fight. ---DeathTron Hammer A 15-hit physical attack, the Hammer does respectable damage. Defeat Grand Gama a second time in Southampton. You'll need at least 200+ HP or a voodoo doll before going into this one. ---Artem Buster You have to wait until Grand Gama moves to Nihonbashi before he'll teach you this one. A one-hit, earth elemental damage move, it's basically one helluva body-slam. .:JOACHITHMS:. Instead of "biorythms", it's "Joachithms"! When the sine waves cross the fat gray cross, Joachim will transform into one of 3 things. ---Golden Bat When the gold line crosses the gray one, Joachim automatically becomes the Sparkly Gold Bat. Fans of SH1, you'll recognize it immediately. Yes, this is the same bat that gave Keith his ultimate weapon. The bat's HP are half that of Joachim's, but its attack power is double. ---Invisible Just as the name says, Joachim turns invisible when the irridescent line crosses the gray one. His HP don't change this time, but he is a lot harder for enemies to hit. ---Grand Papillion The rarest of Joachim's transformations, when *both* the gold and the irridescent line are crossing the gray one, he becomes the Grand Papillion! HP and MP don't change, but all his other stats go up. .:ITEMS:. ---Bat's Gold Forces transformation into the Golden Bat. Available with 5000 steps on the Pedometer, and findable in some dungeons. ---Strongoid Forces transformation into Invisible. Available with 4000 steps on the Pedometer, and findable in some dungeons. ---Getitup! Forces transformation into Grand Papillion. Available with 8000 steps on the Pedometer, and findable in some dungeons. .:ACCESSORIES:. ---Gold Wrist Increases the frequency of transformations into the Golden Bat. You get this as a prize for beating Sara's Challenge; Believer Level 3. ---Prism Wrist Increases the frequency of transformations into Invisible. This is the Red Square prize from Lotto Member #11. ---Elektro Wrist Increases the frequency of transformations into the Grand Papillion. This is the prize for beating Sara's Challenge: Enbodiment Level 2. .:WEAPONS:. You never have to buy a single weapon for Joachim. They're all lying around where you can find them. You just need to look. ---Aluminum Locker South Hampton, Grand Gama's ring. Check the bottom left part of the screen. ---Red Mailbox Right before entering the Nemeton Underground for the first time, it it should be very visible right next to Roger's house. ---Earthen Pipe After rescuing Yuri and the crew from Veronica, look in the room where she first knocked you out with her paralization perfume. ---Chilled Tuna After Rasputin's failed attempt to assassinate the Czar, go outside the Winter Palace and check the very bottom left corner of the Great Square. ---Red Pillar Yokohama warehouse district, in the storage room closest to the entrance. ---Announcer's Table Once you find Grand Gama again in Nihon-bashi check the table where the two announcers are standing. ---Clay Idol In Inugami Village, on the way to the sacred water fall, it's sitting alongside the grass path. ---Dark Tower Once you've cleared Mt. Fuji, head back to Le Havre and the Black Gull Cafe. There, you should meet the Peach Bat, Joachim's little sister (Is there no end to this family?). Beat her inside 4 rounds, not 5. .:ULTIMATE WEAPON:. The Nautilus Yup, a mini-version of that famous submarine. You get it in the course of the Fort of Regret side-quest. .:ULTIMATE ARMOR:. Rose Bondage It's the Red Square item from Lotto Member #1, the Silver Bat. .:LUCIA:. Part fortune-teller, part exotic-dancer, mostly bimbo. Age: 28 Nationality: Italian Affinity: Dark Weapon: fans Ability: Tarot Cards/Aroma Therapy Details: Roger missing, and only the word of a somewhat sketchy "Thomas" to go by, the Crew heads to Florence to look for a lady named Carla. They end up finding not only Carla, but also her young apprentice Lucia as well. Short Cash to pay for the info they want (gee, how surprising), the Crew agrees to pay for it "with their bodies". ^.^; A trip to Man Mariara and a botched assassination attempt by Lucia later, everybody discovers they're all on the same side, and Lucia gets sent along with you. .:TAROT CARDS:. Less of a fortune-predicting game, Lucia's Tarot Cards are more straight up gamble. Each card has different effects, and those effects change depending on whether or not the card is straight, reversed, or glittering. That makes all the cards potentially good or bad. Here's a list of the cards and where you can find them: Card Location The Hanged Man You have this one from the beginning. The Moon You have this one from the beginning. The High Priestess You have this one from the beginning. The Heirophant You have this one from the beginning. The Hermit You have this one from the beginning. Justice Defeat the boss of the SG Headquarters - Italy, and you get it as a prize. Temperance Defeat the guard dog Oscar in the prison on Ste. Margueritte and you get it as a prize. The Wheel of Fortune The 1st treasure in the Treasure Hunt game. The Magician Search a skeleton in the Halls of the Dead for it. The Fool In the Wolf Bout game, beat the 3-wolf pack led by Maya in Dom Remy to get it. The Empress Look under the teddy bear on the bench in Anastasia's room in the Winter Palace. The World Defeat Asmodeus at the end of Idar Flamme. The Sun Behind a lamp post on the Yokohama Streets. Lovers On the Battleship Mikasa, check the dead-end on the right side of the first deck. The Tower Behind the last decorative pillar on the right side of the bridge in Nihonbashi. The Emperor Get 9 paw prints in your little booklet and visit Earnest in Monmartre. Judgement Finish off the Shoki that terrorizes Nihonbashi. The Stars Outside Kurando's home in Inugami Village The Devil Right corner of the dead end, through the first travelable Mirror in Tiffauges Castle. Strength Defeat the boss of Queen's Garden, King Tamakos. Chariot Along one of the paths in the Black Forest. .:AROMA THERAPY:. Lucia can produce spell-like effects by mixing any 2 of 8 perfumed oils she finds throughout the game. Those effects are almost all status-affecting ones, and depending on which ones you mix in what order, you can do things ranging from a minor cure for Lucia to everybody getting a free Third Key for a round. Just like the Combo Magic spells, you won't know what any of them do until you try them first. Lucia can affect either herself alone, or everyone in the party excluding herself. The ones that affect the rest of the party will do so for 1, 2 or 3 rounds (rnd.). Now, a "round" equals the amount of time between when Lucia uses the oils and when her turn next comes up. So if you have a fast chara, like a high-level Yuri or Kurando, they might go twice before Lucia gets another turn; that means they get the oils' effect twice, even if it's technically only a 1rnd. effect. Here's the list of where you get 'em, and what they do: ---Marin Oil: Lucia has this from the beginning. X Misty Oil - 16MP, minor cure, Lucia only X Grass Oil - 20MP, minor cure, party X Night Oil - 24MP, medium cure, party X Moon Oil - 24MP, minor cure, party, 2rnd. X Shining Oil - 28MP, medium cure, party, 2rnd. X Sunrise Oil - 20MP, medium cure, Lucia only X Aurora Oil - 56MP, major cure, party, 2rnd. ---Misty Oil: Lucia has this from the beginning. X Marin Oil - 16MP, protection from status ailments, party, 1rnd. X Grass Oil - 20MP, protection from ring ailments, party, 2rnd. X Night Oil - 24MP, protection from status ailments, party, 3rnd. X Moon Oil - 20MP, protection from status ailments, party, 2rnd. X Shining Oil - 16MP, protection from ring ailments, party, 1rnd. X Sunrise Oil - 24MP, protection from ring ailments, party, 3rnd. X Aurora Oil - 48MP, protection from ring & status ailments, party, 3rnd. ---Grass Oil: This is hidden in the dry water-spout at the bottom of the long staircase in Cannes. X Marin Oil - 20MP, medium def. up, party, 3rnd. X Misty Oil - 20MP, medium magic def. up, party, 3rnd. X Night Oil - 16MP, minor magic def. up, party, 3rnd. X Moon Oil - 16MP, minor def. up, party, 3rnd. X Shining Oil - 24MP, major def, up, party, 3rnd. X Sunrise Oil - 24MP, major magic def. up, party, 3rnd. X Aurora Oil - 48MP, major def. up & major magic def. up, party, 3rnd. ---Night Oil: Beat Rasputin's lackey Viktor in the Enthralled Palace. X Marin Oil - 20MP, minor MP cure, party, 1rnd. X Misty Oil - 24MP, minor MP cure, party, 2rnd. X Grass Oil - 16MP, minor MP cure, Lucia only X Moon Oil - 28MP, medium MP cure, party, 2rnd X Shining Oil - 20MP, medium MP cure, Lucia only X Sunrise Oil - 24MP, medium MP cure, party, 1rnd. X Aurora Oil - 56MP, major MP cure, party, 2rnd. ---Moon Oil: Defeat Veronica's monster form on the roof of the Petrograd Winter Palace. X Marin Oil - 48MP, strike damage 50% up, party, 1rnd. X Misty Oil - 20MP, agility doubled, party, 1rnd. X Grass Oil - 24MP, critical hit rate 50% up, party, 1rnd. X Night Oil - 80MP, 100% critical hit rate, party, 1rnd. X Shining Oil - 20MP, critical hit rate doubled, party, 1rnd. X Sunrise Oil - 16MP, agility 50% up, party, 1rnd. X Aurora Oil - 600MP, 3rd Key effect on all party attacks, 1rnd. ---Shining Oil: Pester Yuuko 3 times in a row. She's standing around on the Streets of Yokohama, talking about perfume. X Marin Oil - 24MP, major atk. up, party, 3rnd. X Misty Oil - 16MP, minor magic atk. up, party, 3rnd. X Grass Oil - 24MP, major magic atk. up, party, 3rnd. X Night Oil - 16MP, minor atk, up, party, 3rnd. X Moon Oil - 20MP, medium atk. up, party, 3rnd. X Sunrise Oil - 20MP, medium magic atk. up, party, 3rnd. X Aurora Oil - 48MP, major atk. & magic atk. up, party, 3rnd. ---Sunrise Oil: It's in a chest in the 2nd floor room of the Inugami Village manor. X Marin Oil - 16MP, minor SP cure, Lucia only X Misty Oil - 24MP, minor SP cure, party, 2rnd. X Grass Oil - 28MP, medium SP cure, party, 2rnd. X Night Oil - 20MP, minor SP cure, party, 1rnd. X Moon Oil - 20MP, medium SP cure, Lucia only X Shining Oil - 24MP, medium SP cure, party, 1rnd. X Aurora Oil - 56MP, major SP cure, party, 2rnd. ---Aurora Oil: Complete the Black Forest sub-quest and take the flower back to Carla. She'll make the oil for you. X Marin Oil - 56MP, medium HP cure, minor MP&SP cure, party, 2rnd. X Misty Oil - 56MP, minor HP&MP&SP cure, protection from all status ailments, party, 2rnd. X Grass Oil - 56MP, minor HP&MP&SP cure, minor def. up, party, 2rnd. X Night Oil - 56MP, medium MP cure, minor HP&SP cure, party, 2rnd. X Moon Oil - 720MP, minor HP&MP&SP cure, 3rd Key effect on all party attacks, party, 2rnd. X Shining Oil - 56MP, minor HP&MP&SP cure, medium atk, up, party, 2rnd. X Sunrise Oil - 56MP, medium SP cure, minor HP&MP cure, party, 2rnd. .:ULTIMATE WEAPON:. Nemesis Follow the Straw Millionaire game all the way to the very end and you'll get this from Malkovich. Should you screw up the trades, you can just buy it from the Junk Kingdom item shop for 500,000 Cash. .:ULTIMATE ARMOR:. Dancer's Stars You get it from a treasure chest on the 2nd level of the Bronze Bell. .:EXTRA OUTFIT:. Bridal Dress Talk to Carla after you've cleared Black Forest and she tells you that Lawrence has been by and wants to talk to Lucia. Go and talk to him in Southampton, where he's waiting, and he'll give this to Lucia as an engagement present. .:ANASTASIA:. A Russian princess with a talent for snooping. Age: 14 Nationality: Russian Affinity: Water Weapon: mechanical eggs Ability: Snapshot/ Album Details: Anastasia's two abilities, Snapshot and Album, are interconnected. During random encounters and boss fights, you can use the Snapshot command to expose your enemy's HP, MP and Affinity. This works with any enemy; boss or random encounter. As a nice bonus, taking the picture of 10 particular enemies will add spells to Anastasia's Album. It's a concept very similar to the "blue magic" spells in the Final Fantasy series. Here's the list: SPELL ENEMY EFFECT Aqua Raise Penduram Water and poison damage. Direct Press Hati Cut enemy's HP in half. Castille Andre Steal Cash from an enemy. Restore Oscar Negate any status-boosting spells on an enemy. Thieving Gale Toy Tanuki Swipe nifty stuff from an enemy. Run Away! Tengu Run away from a battle. Hyper Cannon Mecha Lord 17-hit Affinity None attack, range like a laser spell. Spirit Ward King Tamakos Boot an enemy out of the encounter. Nightmare Cockroach Just like the SH1 version, lots of physical damage plus a schlew of ring and status disorders. Euthanasia Orobas As you might notice, a considerable number of these beasties are old news long before Anastasia joins your party. Some don't even show up in random encounters. The only way to get them is through Sara's Challenge. .:ULTIMATE WEAPON:. Golden Angel Collect all 5 Silver Angel pieces, then visit Edgar in Petrograd. Piece #1: In a corner of the Winter Palace's rooftop, after you beat Veronica's monster form. Piece #2: Hidden behind the rack of drying things in Inugami Village. Piece #3: Defeat Sara's Challenge, Worshiper's Trial #1. Piece #4: Hidden on the second floor of the Doll House. Piece #5: Clear the Stud Card Quiz run by Yamaguchi who stands near Grand Gama's ring in Nihonbashi. .:ULTIMATE ARMOR:. Prayer Coat Once the Stone Platform is available, head back to the Hermitage in Petrograd and go to the room behind the Ball Room. The whole Romanov family should be there. A cut scene starts up and at the end of it, you get the Coat. .:EXTRA OUTFIT:. Autumn Kimono Once Kurando has acquired Shuten Doji, go visit Saki one more time, and she'll bequeath it to Anastasia. .:KURANDO INUGAMI:. Loyal, honest, polite samurai. ...What's he doing with *this* crew? Age:17 Nationality: Japanese Affinity: Light Weapon: katana Ability: Fusion Details: What? Kurando uses Fusion, too? Did the folks at Aruze just run out of ideas? Nope, there's a viable reason behind this. Kurando and Yuri are cousins. Yes, they're related (though you'd never know without being told -.-;;). Kurando's mother Saki is younger sister to Yuri's father, Ben Hyuga. ...Yuri and Kurando were pretty shocked too. Anyways, Kurando is the last member to join your party. He shows up in Yokohama, your first port of call in the Japan half of the game. While everybody's busy worrying over Yuri's near-lethal case of sea- sickness, Blanca scouts out the area and comes across a lone samurai facing off against several soldiers. That meeting kicks off the storyline for the second half of the game. 8 years younger than Yuri and minus his experiences, Kurando's Fusion abilities are, not necessarily "weaker", but much less sprawling in scope than Yuri's. In fact, Kurando only ever gets two fusion monsters, Tsukuyomi and Ogre. .:FUSION:. Kurando's fusion ability works just like Yuri's, except for one part; both learn their new spells at Lv4 and Lv7. ---TSUKUYOMI You get her as part of the plot, defeating her when you first go through the Foreigner's Graveyard in Yokohama. She's equivalent to a GradeMAX FM, so she costs 5 SP per round. ---SHUTEN DOJI You have to wait for not only the Stone Platform to appear, but you must also have actually entered the dungeon. Plus, you need to clear the Dog Shrine side-quest. All that done, go back to Inugami Village. Talk to Saki once, then leave, turn around, and come back in again. Old Granny Sachi should meet you in the middle of the village. She'll tell you Saki is waiting for Kurando in the Sacred Springs. Kurando enters the Springs alone, and things fall out that he has to battle his mother one-on-one. Win, and the FM is yours. He's is right up there in power with Dark Seraphim, so naturally, he requires 7 SP a round. .:ULTIMATE WEAPON:. Mumeiro Make it all the way through the Kurama's Dog Shrine and it's waiting for you at the end. .:ULTIMATE ARMOR:. Devil's Loincloth It's in a treasure chest on the 4th level of the Bronze Bell. .:TEMPORARY CHARACTERS:. There are 4 additional characters who you have the (short) opportunity to play at various points of the game. They are: Nicholai Conrad, Ohka, Hien and Raiden. Seeing as how they are, well, temporary, their special abilities are limited to the point where they are essentially non-existant. Of course, there are no weapons or armor to get for them, either. ############################################################################### AFFINITY ############################################################################### Affinity is, in a nutshell, just how well two characters work together in a combo attack. The higher the affinity between between two charas, the more extra damage they're going to rack up when they go back-to-back in a combo. The more often you combo two charas together, the higher their affinity for each other gets. For example, take three charas; Blanca, Yuri and Karin. Say the affinity between Blanca and Yuri is a 5, between Yuri and Karin is a 10, and between Karin and Blanca is a 3. So, you're in a random battle and you want to combo those three charas. That's all well and good, but then comes the hard part; what order do you put them in? This is where you look at affinity. You're going to more extra damage if you put them in the order Blanca->Yuri->Karin or Karin->Yuri->Blanca. (basically, you don't want Karin and Blanca directly one after the other) Raising Affinity is the simplest thing in the world. When a chara's turn comes up, shift down in your command menu to the "combo" part, and combo with another chara. At that point, the affinity between those charas goes up 1. You don't even have to finish the combo. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ COMBO MAGIC +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Combo magic is an option that automatically shows up for the last character in a 4-man combo attempt. Look closely at your command menu when the fourth character's turn comes around. It should be the second one available, right under the fat bar for attack. When you first start out, all 7 Combo Magic spells are listed as ?????. The only way to find out which one's which is to pick one and cast it. Unfortunately, you only ever have a maximum 4 of the 7 available to you. Eternalm wrote in and mentioned that your spell selection likely depends on the elemental affinities of the charas currently in your battle party. Thanks!! The Ring for each one has 4 step-areas and one final, really narrow hit area. If your characters are working with a Technical Ring, be ready for a hit area narrower than most strike areas. All 7 spells cost 64 MP. Here's the list: Strong Earth - earth - circle:med - 1hit - down Limit Shock - water - circle:med - 1hit - shove Flame Mine - fire - circle:med - 1hit - shove Air Shot - wind - laser :med - 15hit - up Holy Pulse - light - laser :med - 1hit - down Meteor Burst - dark - circle:lg - 1hit - down Tempest - none - circle:lg - 1hit - down **IMPORTANT NOTE: While Yuri can't use regular magic, he *IS CAPABLE* of using Combo Magic. Kurando is the same way. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ WALK-THROUGH: EUROPE *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* 1915, Spring. WWI is well under way, and Germany has made advances deep into France. However, one small hamlet --Dom Remy-- refuses to submit. The few survivors of the German companies sent in there all shudder and whisper in terrified tones about an unkillable demon. Utterly worthless strategically, Dom Remy is instead a huge blot on Germany's military pride, and the upper echelons are willing to do whatever it takes to bring the village under control. One Karin Koenig, survivor of the latest normal attempt to subdue Dom Remy, is given orders to guide an exorcist from the Vatican to the place where she last spotted the alleged "demon", and assist with the attempt to send it back to where it came from. Before heading to Dom Remy, the exorcist, a charming young man named Nicholai Conrad, says that there is one thing they will need to acquire first; a very *special* weapon. One powerful enough to put a crimp in the lifestyle of even an immortal demon. To get that weapon, they must first travel to the--- ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< You first gain control of your party of two on the world map. The only place to go is the Tower, but I suggest that you open up the menu (triangle button) first and 1) save, 2) take a look at what Karin and Nicholai can do. Not that there's much that you can change. ^.^; Still, it's helpful to know that Nick has Cure, and Karin only has 3 SP. So. On to the game itself. Press the O button and you'll go to the Tower. There's a short cut scene, and you'll find yourself in the middle of a large, circular hall on the first floor. Go directly left and up a short little spiral staircase for a treasure chest with a Thera Leaf. Directly right and up a similar little staircase will bring up a "?". Press the O button to get a Talisman of Luck. In the midst of doing this, you will undoubtedly get hit by at least one random encounter. Your first two fights are more tutorials than real fights, so don't get too nervous if you're unfamiliar with the battle system. The Judgement Ring has received quite a few upgrades from SH1, and while it may seem pretty complex at first, you'll get the hang of it quick. Anyways, those two treasures are the only things of value on the first floor, so go down, then right for the stairs to the 2nd floor. There's a matching set of stairs curving up to the left, but at the present it's doors are locked tight. They won't open up until you come back to the Tower for a second go-round later in the game, so ignore them for now. Round and round the stairs (disturbingly reminiscent of the endless stairs of the Blue Tower in SH1 for a moment) we go, until the hall takes a 90-degree turn up, leading to a small intersection. Left and down will net you a Mana Leaf, right and up a Hit Area Expander. Follow the hallway all the way to the right, and you suddenly come across a creature...? thing...? ...er, the whatever-it-is calls itself the Spirit of the Ring, and it's something you want to find. Besides handing out additional attacks, it's an amusing character. I suggest you give Karin the additional attack, as you'll only have Nicholai until you reach the church in Dom Remy. That done, sally forth! Up the stairs, around and around we go again, to the third floor. Off to your right is a second sealed door. This one, too, won't open up until you come back later in the game, so you can safely ignore it for now. The big, glowing purple crest won't activate unless you press the O button first, so you can explore the two nooks off to the left and right. Well, the one to the right, anyways. The left one is empty, so it's hardly worth the fuss. In the right nook is a Pure Leaf. Warp through the crest, and again duck over to the nook on the right. The save point is obvious, the Tent hidden in the far right corner isn't so obvious. I definitly suggest you use the save point, and gird yourself for a boss fight. Go through the golden double doors, and after a short cut scene, you'll find yourself fighting in a--- ------BOSS FIGHT: GARGOYLE (Dark affinity) The first boss in the game, he's nothing special. Combo attacks don't gain you much in the way of extra damage just yet, but now's a good time to start practicing. The only thing you need to worry about are your SP levels. Karin's got a grand total of 3, and Nicholai isn't much better. You'll probably need to use at least one Pure Leaf, if not two, before you finish Gargoyle off. Defeat him, and you're off to--- ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> There's a short stretch of woods before you get into Dom Remy proper. You can talk to the soldiers stationed here and there, but they won't give you anything. There is stuff you can find, though. First take the left fork all the way up for a Mana Leaf. Go back two steps and to the right. On the next screen keep going straight until the dead end. A "?" should pop up. Press O and get a Thera Leaf. Again, go back two steps then up, past the soldier for another "?" that will net you a Hit Area Expander. Go right again to get to the village itself. First, talk to the soldier just on the far side of the bridge. He'll heal you if you need it. Then, take a look around your screen. You should see some thin yellow lines drawn here and there. Those are "tripwires". Touch them and you'll trigger a battle. Unfortunately, most are unavoidable. First, duck around the soldier and poke around in the hut-like thingy that's just to the left side of the bridge. There should be a Talisman of Luck in there. Next, check below the buildings to the right for a Strike Area Expander, and between them for a tent. Then go a little further up to what I guess is supposed to be the town square. It's a slightly broader area with a well in the middle. Go around the well counter-clockwise (you'll avoid a tripwire that way) and open the treasure chest for a Thera Seed. The soldier won't tell you anything interesting, so you can ignore him if you want. Then go up-around and behind the buildings on the right for one last treasure chest that will relinquish a Pure Leaf. Now head up and on to the church. Stop by the save point and then settle in for a nice long stretch of FMV that'll kick-start the game's plot. Yuri finally makes his appearance, (YAY!) and Nicholai shows his true colors (dang it, I liked him). In the ensuing fuss Karin gets royally confused, Yuri gets staked, and Life-In-General just gets really, really interesting. When Yuri finally comes to, you're in a cave in the ---- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< The situation has changed massively since you last had control of your party. Nicholai is out, for good, and Yuri takes over as the "Hero". Gepetto and Blanca also join you. Karin is still there, but she's out of the fighting lineup for the nonce. Open up the menu and tweak your three new charas as much as you like, then talk to Gepetto for a quick explanation on Crest Magic. He also gives you three of them to start off; ---Focalor, Furfur and Andras---. Equip those on whomever you like, then head out the bottom of the cave to leave. Go a few steps along the forest path and an event will trigger. Yep, Yuri is no longer the Godkiller he was at the end of SH1. Nor does he have the same fusion monsters any more. Things shift and you see Lenny and his long-clawed cronies in hot persuit. Time to get moving. Things back in hand, you find yourself at a fork in the road; one path going to the right, and another going across a bridge and to the left. Pick a direction, either direction. They'll both take you where you need to go. My suggestion? Go right first. Over one screen and the path branches off again. Right path gains you nada, so ignore it. Stick to the main path and go over another screen. You're confronted with yet another fork in the path. This time go left, then left again to pick up a Thera Leaf. Instead of going back the way you came, turn around and go straight, over the tree's roots. Over another screen and follow the edge of the pond. There's a hidden path branching off to the left about half-way up the screen. It's not shown on your radar map (in the upper left part of your screen). When you see a pile of rocks to your left, go straight right and that should put you on the hidden path. At it's end is a HAE. Back to the main path and up another screen. Then you'll come across, you guessed it, *another* fork in the path. Take the left side to get a Faerie's Sigh, then turn around and take the right side. Go over yet another screen and a raised drawbridge will come into view. To drop it, manipulate the levers in this order: RIGHT--CENTER--LEFT. The bridge will drop, and you can pick up a Hit Area Expander in the middle of it. **NOTE** If you screw up, or get confused, manipulate the levers a total of 10 times and the bridge will drop anyway. However, the HAE won't be there any more.** Use the save point on the other side. Now it's time to make a decision. Are you in a hurry to continue on in the story? Or would you rather take a little more time and pick up a couple more items (including a Crest)? Those in a hurry: head straight along the path and into the clearing to start an event. (skip the next 5 paragraphs) Those not in a hurry: turn around and head all the way back to that first fork in the road where you started. Yes, aaaallll the way back there. It isn't *that* far, so quit your whining. This time, take the left path, across the log bridge. Up one screen and along the left branch of the fork will take you to a treasure chest with a Mana Leaf. Take the right branch to continue on to, yes, *yet another fork*. Go right. Guess what. You get to a fork in the road. Who would have known? Well, take the right branch and cross the log bridge to find a treasure chest. In it is the ---Barbatos Crest---. It is possible to keep going right. However, it leads you to a place you've already been, so turn around and go left. Twice. That should take you out to a path along the edge of a rock wall. Dip down a few steps to a nook in the wall with a chest. Inside it is a Battery that you'll need shortly. Back up and follow where the path leads. Thank goodness, the forks are at an end. Don't forget to check the treasure chest for a Pure Leaf and get the Faerie's Sigh hanging on the wooden fence by the lift. Pop the battery into the gadget at the back of the lift and ride it down. Use the save point that comes into view and get set for a boss fight. (people in a hurry, you can start reading again) Half way into the clearing, Yuri suddenly collapses. Then we get our first look at his new--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> It's *quite* different than the one in SH1. For starters, there's this huge dead tree in the middle with a sleeping Yuri stuck in it. Two sets of stone double doors lead off to the left and right, and a plain looking set of wooden ones go north. You get control of Yuri for a while, so poke around to your heart's content. The stone doors to the left lead to another wide court, again with three stone double-doors leading north, west and south. These are doors to the Fire, Wind and Light fusion monsters. The stone doors to the right of the main court lead to a similar set up for the Earth, Dark and Water fusion monsters. The rickety doors to the north lead to another court, but this one has only two elaborately carved stone doors; The Door to Desire, and the Door to Destruction. Neither of these will open at this time. To get things going, you need to touch one of the gravestones in the fusion monsters' courts. Touching the stone will automatically suck out 20 Soul points and activate that fusion monster, so choose carefully which one you'll want. At this point, Yuri figures out he hasn't totally lost his fusion skills, so All is Not Lost. For details on how his abilities work, see his Character listing above. Events get rolling again, and this time Gepetto and Karin share a little talk about the last 6 months. Then Yuri starts having trouble. Lights flash and out pops-- ------BOSS FIGHT: ARACHNE (Earth affinity) Yuri does wake up in time for the boss fight, but Karin again stays out of it. Not much of an improvement on Gargoyle, the only slightly dangerous thing about Arachne is the poison attacks. Having Yuri fuse or not is your choice. At this point, there's not much of a difference. Use Faerie's Sighs if you get hit by the poison, and just whale away. Arachne shouldn't last all that long. As a neat bonus, you get the ---Crest Vassago--- when you win. ---Side Trip--- Squash Arachne and the World Map will open up, with the new destination "Paris" available. Unlike SH1, you don't immediately have to go there. If you want, you can go back into the Ardenne Forest. If you want two handy items, I suggest you do. You start out at the clearing where you fought Arachne. Go over to the lift and this time ride it all the way to the top. There should be a little nook, at the back of which is a Leather Cap. By the wooden fence is a tent. That taken care of, your free to go to--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< ...well, you get a quick cut scene before actually arriving in Paris. Apparently, the little girl Lenny held hostage way back in the Dom Remy church, Jeanne, died in the resulting ruckus. But, for some strange reason, she didn't go on up to Heaven. Instead, she's loitering around in Yuri's Graveyard, looking for something. Pick either answer to her question, it doesn't matter, ......I think, anyway. Anyways, finally reaching Gepetto's old apartment, he does a little research on the curse put on Yuri. Karin also gets a change of clothes. All 3 decide it's too dangerous for her to return to Germany, since Nicholai is out to "silence" her for witnessing the events in Dom Remy. So, she comes along. Now she's an official member of the Crew. Yay. Just then, some Iron Claws invite themselves in through the windows. Take a few seconds to show them the way back out, and another event starts up. Her skill with a sabre proved, Gepetto gives Karin the Nibelung Prologue. Yuri also finds a Stud Card; Mr. Somlier. (Have SH1 save data and you'll also get Mr. Matador). If you don't know what a "Stud Card" is, check out Gepetto's character info at the top of this FAQ. Once the crew is back under your control, pick up the obvious treasure chest sitting to your left for the ---Crest Crocell---. Then go through the door to the north. There should be another treasure chest tucked in the bottom right corner of the room. Open it for a Thera Leaf. That concludes your business in Gepetto's apartment for a good bit of time, so out the other door we go. Follow the sidewalk for a short ways, then take the steps going off into a nook to the right. Examine the square board (a "?" should pop up) to open a hatch down into the subway tunnels. (Should you try to go the other way, an Iron Claw will keep jumping out at you, preventing you from going through.) Go where the tunnel leads and you'll end up in--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> You can't ride the subway train just yet, so head up the nice, white marble stairs and into the town proper. Nobody there says anything importan, so tromp up the stairs all the way to the very top, first. A "?" will appear and you'll get a Hit Area Expander. Half-way back down the stairs, there's a landing where two men are loitering. Neither one says anything important, but the one to the left side of your screen is standing next to the door to a cafe. Duck inside and talk to the bartender, Louis, who's an old acquaintance of Gepetto's. He'll give you the idea to use the subway tunnels to sneak out of the city, and the location of Prof. Gauchet, who designed the entire layout of the tunnels. That concludes your business in Mon Martre for the moment, so back down the stairs and to the subway. Half-way there, you get stopped by a man named Ernest. At his side is a young wolf-pup named Tetsu. This serves as your introduction into Blanca's skill-acquiring game, Wolf Bout. Tetsu himself is all bark and no bite, so choose to fight the puppy and teach him a lesson. For more details on Blanca's abilities and Wolf Bout, check out his character info section above. Tetsu sufficiently reprimanded, head back into the subway and ride the train to--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< The station is void of interesting things at the moment, so up and out onto the most famous shopping street in Paris. The second you step out into the sunlight, you're greeted by a pair of........unusual.... fellows, the Mazymell Brothers (would you believe they're both over 50?!). More old acquaintances of Gepetto, Pierre will make dresses for Cornellia, provided you can hand over a Stud Card. Look over Gepetto's chara info above for details on the Cards and Cornellia's dresses. The other half of the pair, Gerrard, is the shopkeeper. He'll give you a discount card. This works quite a bit differently than in SH1. First of all, you only ever need that one card. Buy things for a discount, and you'll stock up points. Reach a certain number of points, and the card's rank will go up. As the rank goes up, so does the percentage discount you can get. Using the price-raising feature for selling goods does not get you any points. Second, you can choose what percentage discount you want to try for right at the beginning, so you don't have to do the Judgement Ring 3 times to get a 30% discount any more. Yay! At the moment, Gerrard has weapon upgrades for everybody, so pick them up and start racking up points. Swing around the back of the staircase you just came up and inspect the right side of the double doors back there for a LV1 Defense Down. Turn back around and head down the street. At the street lamp next to the mother and son oogling a car is a Thera Leaf. A little further down is the hotel. Go inside and duck around the far end of the front desk to find a treasure chest. In it is the ---Crest Haures---. Up the stairs are three doors, but you can only ever go in two. The one to the left is eternally empty, so from here to the end of the game, it is safely ignorable. The first door to the right never opens, and the guy inside is always in the shower. Again, ignorable. The last door leads to a nondescript room with an equally nondescript old man hanging out in there. This is the Professor you've been looking for, and it turns out he's a huge fan of Gepetto's, so he gives you all the info you need for free. Don't forget to open the chest between the beds there for a tent before you leave. So, back to the subway. Stop by the Mazymell's shop again and stock up on Faerie's Sighs. Critters down in the Tunnels will come at you with poison and paralysis. Down the nice, white marble stairs and to the bottom left. Talk to the kerchif-wearing guy, he's the Prof's #1 Student, Victor. He'll move, so that you can get at the short set of steps behind him. And beyond those are the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< The Prof said to go right when you reached the first fork in the tracks. Well, take that right and it's not to long before you come up against a huge engine car, and it ain't budgin'. No way to get around it where it is, and before you can start it up, you need to replace a fuse in the engine itself. Wonderful. Not much choice in the matter, off fuse-hunting we go. Take the left fork and go over a screen, and you find yourself confronted with three more tunnels to choose from. Wonderful again. Well, first things first; treasure. There's an obvious treasure chest in the far right-bottom corner with a Strike Area Expander. A "?" should pop up if you look around under the little dangling lightbulb to the left. That yields a Seashell Bracelet. Put that on somebody quick, you're going to need it. Next, take the leftmost branch. At the next intersection, take 2 steps left from the fat wooden pole to find another "?" with a Pure Leaf. Veering left only leads you to a dead end, so take the right branch. For the moment, ignore the two corridors that show up, and instead go all the way back until you reach a dead end. There, you get to see the Ring Fairy! ...er, Spirit of the Ring, I mean. Geez, he didn't have to get so mad about it. Put that extra attack on whoever you like, then back up three steps and go down the corridor leading left. At the T-section, dip down to open the treasure chest. It gives you an Magic Defense Down, LV1. In the distance, you can see a Save Point glowing, so go up there and save. Use a tent if you need it, the next save point is a ways off. Fiddle with the switch-box in the upper left corner. That causes two far off engine cars to shift. Then go back to the three-way fork. You can go back exactly the way you came, or you can take the tunnel going right that you skipped before, it doesn't matter. Both take you back to where you started, without anything interesting in between. This time, take the right-most branch at the intersection, then left at the next fork to get a treasure chest with a Pocket Watch in it. Retrace your steps and go down the right fork, then take the very next left you come across. Left again, then up all the way to the dead end. The treasure chest there has a Pheonix's Tail. Back 7 steps and left-then-up yet again. This treasure chest will give you a Talisman of Luck. Now, all the way back three screens to that first left turn you took, and go up. Not 10 steps later should be yet another left. Take it, then go up, past the tunnel to the right and to the dead end again. Grab the ---Crest Amy--- out of the chest and then go take that right tunnel you just passed. Head up at the T-section and you shouldn't need to go far before you see light! Yay! Climb the ladder and get some fresh air in--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Nobody amusing to talk to right now, so go down the stairs and check the boxes in the bottom left corner for a Faerie's Sigh. Use the save point, should you need it and duck into the Junk Land Item Shop. Talk to the proprietor once and he'll give you the fuse you need. Talk to him again to stock up on items you're running low on. *MENTAL NOTE*: Remember this store. Later in the game, you can get some nifty items for Gepetto, and at the very end you can buy HAEs and SAEs here. That done, dive back on down into the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Now, back aaalllll the way to the VERY beginning of the Tunnels. Fun, fun, fun. Do you remember the way? Down - left - down - right - doooooooowwwwn - down - down some more - oh, and down again, then hook a U-ie at the end. Don't go back to Champs Elysees by mistake, there's nothing you need there. Anyways. Stop at the save point, put the Pocket Watch on your main fighter (read: Yuri) and heal everybody up. After a length of FMV, you're going to get dumped into a boss fight. Preparations complete, go up to the engine car and get this whole thing rolling. Lenny finally catches up to the Crew, but bad luck and a cheezy gag send him off spinning his wheels elsewhere. But, unfortunately, at the end of the line, there's somebody else waiting for you. Enter Veronica! She calls in two of her "pets" to deal with you. -----BOSS FIGHT: KALTOS & BOLLUX (Fire and Water affinity) The red one is a Fire elemental, and the blue one is a Water elemental. They will Combo and pile on one chara, as well as use the most annoying Petit Ring on you, so pick one and get rid of it first. A possible strategy is to fuse Yuri with Karol/Balbaria and use Karin's Sword Art Feuerwelk in combo to bury the Water elemental first. Then shift Yuri's fusion to Amnis/Maale and use Ice spells to destroy the remaining Fire Elemental. In compensation for that nasty little adventure, you get not one, but *two* Crests; ---Sitri and Zebal---. Yay! Defeating those two and it's clear sailing to--- ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Down the steps and into town, and who do you see right in front of you? Gerrard! He's got armor upgrades to use all that Cash you earned in the Subway Tunnels on, but first check under the lamp post in the bottom left corner for a Seal of the Heart. **TIP**: Use the Seals in battle, not off the menu. Using them off the menu guarantees that you only get the lowest possible value whereas in battle, you get the middle to high value. Don't worry about failing the Ring, you won't lose the Seal, you'll only waste your turn. When you buy the armor upgrades, by one less Wool Coat than you need. There's a free one in a treasure chest elsewhere in town. Speaking of treasure, there's quite a bit of it lying around this town. First, head to your right from Gerrard's little shop and go across the bridge. There is a small little nook directly up from the other side of the bridge. Look in the back right corner for a Pure Leaf. Around the building to the far side for an obvious treasure chest with a Thera Seed. Go straight down from there to the tree to see the Spirit of the Ring. Don't forget to add that attack to a chara of your choice before heading back over the bridge to the other side. Follow the dock until you find two men standing side by side; Captain Milco and 1st Mate Petas. Talk to them about passage to England. They'll do it, for a price. One you can't pay at the moment. ^.^; 1st Mate Petas offers a suggestion to remedy that; join the Le Havre Town Patrol and earn the money. No counter-arguements available, the Crew decide to follow that advice. *Use the save point* to your left before heading off. Trust me. Continuing on your merry way, you don't get 7 steps before you get yanked to a halt by some strange guy. Turns out he's Lottery Member #16, Faukes. Here starts SH's grand old Lottery tradition. You have no choice but to do it, and the red square item is the ---Crest Bathin---. At the moment, you only have 1 ticket, too. Now are you glad you saved? Anyways. That done, skirt the edge of the sea into a deadend alley to pick up another two items; a Wool Coat in the treasure chest, and a tent secreted in the left corner. Back to the intersection and down past Faukes to the manor house, but before you enter the double doors, duck off to the storehouse on the right. On the right side of the door is a HAE. Half way into the storehouse and to the left is a SAE, and the treasure chest holds a Star Broach. Now you can go into the Manor House proper. Walk up to the group of four thugs who look like they came right out of 1920's Chicago. An event scene should trigger, and congrats! You're now officially a member of the Town Patrol! Oh, BTW, there's a Lottery ticket in the head of the bearskin rug, and a Thera Leaf hidden by the painting up the stairs. Don't forget those. Finish off any leftover preparations you might have left and talk to Patrol Leader Cole. Then go out for the start of the evening's rounds. You're given the assignment of patroling the south side of town, with the warning that there's a pretty tough weirdo wandering the night streets. Catch sight of him, and you're to call for help. That mentioned, they head off to the left, and you go to the right. Mosey on past Gerrard and across the bridge to the other side. You have to at least pass the center of the square before the next event will trigger. Nothing suspicious on that side of town, start back over the bridge. Before you can set foot on it, the screams of your fellow "officers" echo your way. Off to the rescue! ...but on the way stop at the save point, just in case. Dash over to the dead end alley on the other end of town and an interesting FMV scene greets you. Thoroughly whupped, your oh-so-brave fellow officers turn tail and run the second you show up, leaving you to deal with one of the cheeziest (in a good way) charas in the game: the Grand Papillion, champion of love and justice! -----MINI BOSS FIGHT: The Grand Papillion (Earth affinity) A fairly tough customer, the G.P. will come at you with a considerable physical attack, or the spell Drain. Make sure Gepetto and other charas on the low end of the HP scale stay healthy enough to take a hit, and combo until the G.P. gives up. Or, as is actually the case, runs away, turning into a sparkly gold bat and flying off into the night. .....waitaminute. Sparkly, gold bat? Yes, fans of SH1, he's *THAT* Sparkly Gold Bat. That thought aside, you still have to go back to your boss, Mayor Renaldo, and make excuses for the G.P. escaping. It turns out that it's not so big a deal, however, as Patrol Leader Cole takes you to the south side of town again. Lo and behold, right in front of the Black Gull stands the G.P., playing with some kids. Cole hands you a sack of money, says basically "you know what to do" and beats feet, ignoring your protests. The smell of fish in the air not being because of Le Havre's proximity to the sea, the Crew decides to talk to the guy first. You meet Granny Lotta, who runs the Black Gull, learn that the G.P.'s real name is Joachim Valentine (Yuri still can't place where he's seen the guy, the yutz) and everybody sits down to describe what's really going on in town. Deciding to change sides, head back to the Manor House to return the money Cole gave you. But first, look in the far back left corner of the Tavern to get a Mana Leaf. Talk to the Mayor, and he has a problem with the Crew deciding to defect to the other side. -----MINI "BOSS" FIGHT: Le Havre Town Patrol (Water and Wind affinity) I put "boss" in quotes because these guys hardly warrant the title. Yuri can take one out in a single hit. Heck, Karin can take one out in one hit. The only potential danger is letting them live long enough to combo. They'll make one big group to pile on a single chara if you don't wipe them out fast enough. After convincing the Patrol that no, they don't really have a problem with your quitting, head back to the Black Gull to spread the good news. You're barely there before Granny Lotta comes running in to tell you that the two kids Joachim had been playing with earlier were kidnapped. The note from Mayor Renaldo says that if you want the kids back again, you must bring the deed to the tavern to the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Joachim takes command for this dungeon, so arrange your party members to your liking and leave Le Havre. Don't forget to equip Joachim! He comes with the ---Crests Agares and Gremory--- too. While you're at it, make sure your Pocket Watch is on somebody and if you don't have enough Cash left over to buy another one from Gerrard, stock up on Pheonix Tails. Two of the baddies in the Wine Cellar (Thugs and Hoodlums) will come at you with Tight Ring and Fast Ring. Plus, save any left over Faerie Sighs you might have. The Centepedes you come across will try to hit you with Paralysis, and the Bugs will use Mental Break. You'll get a Rosewood Bracelet and a Silver Bracelet fairly quickly inside the Cellar, so you don't really need to buy one right now, unless you're paranoid. Equipped to your satisfaction, leave Le Havre and a new dot should mark itself on the World Map; the Wine Cellar. Save and head in. A group of Thugs much like the Town Patrol will attempt to stop you as you come in. They're also just as easy as the Town Patrol was. Just be careful that they don't have the chance to combo. Be amused by the FMV that follows, use the save point, should you feel the need, and continue on your way. Through the door, you're greeted by the sight of a long, straight hallway. Follow it all the way to the end, temporarily ignoring the two doors going to the right. The hall should dead-end with a door leading to the left. Duck through it and into the storeroom beyond. Cross the catwalk on the back wall, but don't go through the far door just yet. Instead, go up onto the catwalk lining the near wall to reach a treasure chest and the Seal of Knowledge inside. Now use that far door and move on to the next room. There isn't much in it at the moment, except for a treasure chest tucked by the back wall. Its contents is a Rosewood Bracelet. **MENTAL NOTE** Remember this room and how you got to it (not that it's terribly difficult). Once you clear the Wine Cellar, the Lucky Box mini-game appears here. Anyways. Rosewood Bracelet gotten and equipped on the chara of your liking, head back through the other storeroom and to the main hallway. This time take the first right turn you come across. Or the second one, should you want to take the long way around. It's not like you're going to miss anything interesting, one's just more roundabout than the other. What you do need to look for is the hallway leading up. Sit through the event, then hook a left where the corridor splits. Follow it until you can go left again, which shouldn't be that far. The door should lead you into another storeroom. Duck down to open the immediately available chest and the Thera Seed inside. Now go around the row of barrels blocking most of the center of the room and underneath the catwalk at the bottom of the screen. There, you'll find a switch. Hit it, and the stepladder on the left side of the catwalk will lower, clearing the path to the other side. Back around the barrels, over the catwalk and through the door. The only thing of interest in the next storeroom over is a treasure chest that has a Silver Gray Bracelet in it. Nab that and go back out to the hallway. This time, go up and across, ignoring the hallway branching up for the nonce, and then follow the hallway's turn down. Go 6 steps and duck through the door going to the right, into yet another storeroom. Clamber over the catwalk to your right, since that's the only way you can go at the moment and ignore the switch by the door. Instead, duck underneath the catwalk on the left to find a Mana Seed first. Then you can go and hit the switch by the door. That lowers the stepladder up to the catwalk on the left. Climb up on it to reach the switch that will finally unlock the door. Into the storeroom beyond and the lottery ticket inside the treasure chest. Back through the storeroom and to the hallway again. Go up, then up again and through two doors until you come to another storeroom, this one with a save point glowing a little off to your left. I'd suggest using it to heal up. Up the catwalk to the right and flip the switch. That lowers the stepladder to the other catwalk, the Catwalk to the Left. Now let's go over to the Catwalk to the Left and down the stepladder at its middle. Do a U-turn and peek under where you just went over to find another switch. Hit it to drop another stepladder. Retrace your steps back to the door, then go across the Catwalk to the Right. Pass the double doors and hit the switch to the left of them. That will lower one stepladder and raise another. Continuing to ignore the double doors, go up the stepladder just below you (the Catwalk to the Left) and across the bottom of the room and under the Catwalk to the Right, to reach the door hidden underneath it. That door should lead you to another storeroom. First, go under the catwalk lining the bottom of the room (the Bottom Catwalk) and flip the switch there to lower its stepladder. Climb up the Bottom Catwalk to reach another switch. This one drops the stepladder to the Top Catwalk. Rinse and repeat the process on the Top Catwalk. This time, the other stepladder on the Bottom Catwalk comes down. Back to the Bottom Catwalk. Go across it, then hook a U-turn to go underneath it for the last switch, to lower the last stepladder. Now you can get all the way across the Top Catwalk. Pick through the barrels to find a treasure chest with a Pure Seed in it. Peek into the storeroom beyond to snag the ---Crest Raum---. Shiny new Crest in hand, trudge all the way back to the save point. Use it and prepare for not one, but *two* boss fights. If you don't have many Thera Leaves left, stick a Crest with cure on Joachim. All set, open the double doors. The scene you come across is not one you'd have predicted. Patrol Leader Cole and Mayor Renaldo, who kidnapped the two kids in the first place, are laid out flat. The culprit stands in the center of the room, cracking her whip in impatience. Veronica. Righteously indignant over the treatment of the children, Joachim challenges Veronica at first, and procedes to get his hiney tanned until Yuma can toss him the butterly mask (oh, the melodrama). Transformed into the Grand Papillion, you take over control of Joachim for a quick--- -----MINI BOSS FIGHT: VERONICA (Water affinity) Grand Papillion vs. Veronica. This one shouldn't take too long. All Veronica uses is Evil Ray, or an inconsequential physical attack. Don't bother with any magic, just pound the snot out of her. Thoroghly chastised, Veronica makes a hasty retreat, leaving behind a "pet" to entertain you. -----BOSS FIGHT: MULSO (Wind affinity) This one is a little more serious. You have the whole crew to deal with this over-grown frog and his two insect cronies. Mulso himself doesn't do anything too effective besides Paralysis, but the Centepede and the Bugs can get really annoying if you let them live too long. Squish the two bugs first, then combo up and beat Mulso bloody. Your biggest worry should be your party's SP levels. Karin still has only 6 SP, and Blanca only 9. Those can disappear in a surprisingly large hurry, especially if you combo a lot, so pay careful attention to it. According to the Official Navigation Guide, if you manage a 15+ hit combo, you will get a weapons upgrade for Gepetto. To make 15 or more hits, you of course need to succeed on a 4-Man Combo, and somebody needs to use Evil Ray. Manage to slam Mulso into a wall in there somewhere and you can reach 16 or 17 hits, if not more. 15+ hits or no, you still get the ---Crest Sallos--- for winning. The scene then moves back to Le Havre. In appreciation for saving their lives (and stark terror), Mayor Renaldo promises never ever to bother Granny Lotta about selling the Black Gull ever again. Not only that, but with a little, ahem, "prodding", he also graciously offers to pay your entire way across the Channel to Southampton. Head on over to said Tavern to tell Granny the good news. In the FMV that follows Joachim becomes a permanent member of your Crew, and you get the item ----King Solomon's Key----. It becomes the top option on the second page of the menu. ----Side Trip---- Your business in Le Havre is now officially over with for the moment, but before going to Southampton, there are some things you can do first: Wolf Bout #2 and Lucky Chest. You can do these at any point later on in the game, too, but now is always a good time, so why procrastinate? Lucky Box: Go back to the room I asked you to make a mental note about earlier and there should be a man standing there. Talk to him and he'll start up the Lucky Chest memory game. Right now, you can only do the lowest level of the game, 100 Cash. But manage to beat it and you do get Thera Leaves, Mana Leaves and the Stud Card Mr. Chef for winning. Wolf Bout #2: Kerry. He's waiting for you back in the room where you just beat Mulso. Nothing special at all, Kerry comes at you with not much more than physical attacks. Fight fire with fire, and whale on him until he gives up. It won't take much. Anyways, when you're ready to move on with the plot, talk to 1st Mate Petas in Le Havre, and he'll take you to--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Typical England, it's pouring rain when you arrive. Take 2 steps and a short little cut scene informs you that the road to Wales is blocked by a landslide. Wonderful. There's nothing else you can do in town right now except get sopping wet, so hussle into the Inn before you catch cold. Step inside and you immediately get tugged into a fairly long set of FMV and cut scenes. You come across Katou, one of Yuri's acquaintances from SH1, as his huge presence alone stops a potential fight from breaking out among the inn's other patrons. Like Yuri, he seems to have had some major life-altering things happen to him since the two parted company in Shanghai little over a year prior. When it's mentioned you were headed to Wales, the guy Katou saved from a beating a few moments ago, Sefeau, pipes up and tells you about an alternate road, through the Abandoned Mines of Rhonda. So what if there are a couple strange critters lurking about in it? Nothing the Crew can't handle, right? However, there's no going there this night, as the rain doesn't look like it's going to let up until morning. Katou begs leave, Karin and Gepetto decide to get drunk, and Joachim and Blanca crash up in your room, so you're left on your own to explore the Inn. First, nab the Hit Area Expander in the chest right at the base of the staircase. Since it's still raining cats 'n dogs you can't go outside yet, so go on upstairs and poke around up there. The first door leads to your room, with Joachim and Blanca happily off in Zzz Land. Open the treasure chest between the two beds to get the Stud Card Mr. Detective. The second door opens into the room Katou is using. Talk to him to start up a short cut-scene that does more to bring him up to date on what's happened to you than give you any new info. He does stiffen up suspiciously when you mention Sapientes Gladio, though. The cut scene continues, and you find yourself in the Graveyard. Jeanne still hasn't found what she's been looking for in Yuri's soul. She does finally let you know what that something is, though; Yuri's happiness. Pick either answer to her question, I don't think either are right. ~.~; That done, morning comes and you're ready to tackle a town chock full of things to do. First off, head outside to the gate leading out. No, you're not leaving town, just look around the base of the lion statue there, where someone dropped a Strike Area Expander they weren't using. I'm sure you'll have a use for it. Next, go talk to the guy in a nice suit standing at the base of a staircase cut into the town walls. This is Sergeant Abham, and he'll give Karin a Chapter of the Nibelung Opera. Since you're right next to the staircase, go on up. Hook an immediate right to find a hidden chest that'll give you a Leonard's Bear. Equip that on Joachim right now. Trust me, you'll thank me later. While you're up there, go talk to the gentleman in a white suit standing close by; Imorahimovich, the Straw Millionaire. He will give you a straw, the first piece in an item-trade mini-game that can net you Lucia's ultimate weapon at the end if you do it right. That's it for the top of the Wall, so head back down and go up, towards where you see the Mazymells' car. Don't talk to them just yet, first duck off to the right to find a lottery ticket tacked on the wall, near where the lamp-post is. Take that ticket and talk to the stooped over old lady standing to the right of the Bros. She's Gossipy Molleen, Lottery Member #15. Her Red Square Item is a LV1 Slow, a really handy ring item. Next in line are the Bros. Gerrard has weapon upgrades for you, as well as an armor upgrade. Keep up a healthy supply of Faerie's Sighs and Phoenix's Tails, as there are critters in the Mines that use the highly annoying Paralysis and Blind Ring. *Bargain Hunter's Tip*: Don't buy the weapon upgrades for Karin or Blanca. You will get both for free in the Mines. Now head on left-wards, and go through the open gate in the wood fencing. You'll find yourself in a small yard, taken up mostly by a rather modern looking wrestling ring. Almost immediately, an FMV starts up, as Joachim recognizes the turbaned man in the ring. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's the Grand Gama! He's also Joachim's errant Mentor, and the two immediately launch into a training session. ---MINI BOSS FIGHT?(I guess...): The Grand Gama (Light affinity) A Leonard's Bear makes or breaks this fight for you. Equip it, and it's pathetically simple. Don't, and it's downright impossible. The reason is, about the only attack the Grand Gama will use is Grand Slam, which causes instant death. The Leonard's Bear cancels that little bit of friendliness, so instead the attack only does a piddling 10-20HP damage. Kryptangel was nice enough to write in and mention that instead of using a Leonard's Bear, Joachim being in Invisible mode will just as effectively get rid of that nasty little insta-death bit. Thanks! On the rare occasion when Gama uses only a regular attack, it'll still only do a handful of damage, nothing really to worry about. Smack Gama a couple times and the fight's yours, along with the Muscle Art Grand Slam!! Yay! It is possible to go another round with the Gama immediately, but I'd strongly suggest you wait until you're at least LV20 and/or have a voodoo doll or three to spare before attempting to get the DeathTron Hammer skill. Anyways, you get control of your party back, complete with new and improved Joachim. So lets explore the area. First off, go to the bottom left corner, and there should be a gray rectangle kinda off to the side. Examine it, and you discover it's an aluminum locker. Joachim instantly declares that he loves it and walks off with it, nevermind that it might actually already belong to someone. Ta-da! Joachim has just picked up his first weapon upgrade. See his chara info above to find the locations of his other weapons. Don't forget to actually equip him with it! Walk around to the left side of the wrestling ring for a treasure chest that contains a Seal of Aura. And that's the extent of interesting things in Southampton, for the moment at least. Make sure you've got all the supplies you need and pack your bags, we're off to--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Compared to the other dungeons you've been through so far, the Mines are huge. In here, you'll also face your first huge enemy; Ramton Worms. You'll know what I'm talking about when you come across one, trust me. They have (for this point in the game) mega-HP and they do considerable damage, so don't mess around. A 4-Man combo is just about right to take one out in a single round. This also provides a great oportunity for unveiling Combo Magic spells. Don't let it slip, because it'll be a while until you find another non-boss creature that can stand up to a 4-Man combo. So let's dive on in already! Take the first left you find. Pass the path branching upwards, it only leads to a dead end. When the tunnel takes a 90 degree turn, check the corner there to pick up a Lottery Ticket. At the T-section, go left and open the treasure chest at its end for a Mana Seed. That's it for this piece, so retrace your steps to the first tunnel and go up to the save point. You'll want to use it. Moving on, hook a right at the next intersection and poke around in the rubble at its end for a Thera Seed. Turn around and go straight through the intersection this time, round the fat bend to where the tunnel makes a 90-degree turn again. Hidden in that corner is a treasure chest with another Thera Seed. Take 7 or so steps and go right, then right again into a short nook. The treasure chest at the back of it holds a Casual Bone, Blanca's weapon upgrade. About face and go up at the intersection. Around the other 2 sides of the square, and go straight across the next T-section you find, as the path going down will only take you back the way you came. Don't forget to read the notice pinned on the post before riding the lift. You'll get a Lottery Ticket. Off the lift and you've only got one way to go. Follow where the tunnel leads and again poke around in the corner formed where the path makes a sharp left turn. You'll get to meet the Spirit of the Ring again. After it leaves in a huff (Yuri tried a little too hard, I think ^.^;), keep going along the tunnel. Skip the branch leading upwards, you can't go that way just yet, and take the branch going down. Ride the lift and it drops you off in a short tunnel that deadends into a shack 8 steps later. Peep into the shack and a "?" comes up immediately. Tap the O button, and you get the Key Item "Lantern" for your troubles. That will come in very handy in a moment. Back up the lift and head for that upward-branching path that you skipped 2 minutes ago. Turn the corner and the path suddenly goes pitch black. Yuri comes up with the brilliant idea of using the lantern you just found, and voila! the dark is no longer a problem. You can take about 4 steps before you run into another little shack. This one requires that you actually look to find the goodies, so search the boiler in the back corner for a Seal of Agility. Make a 180 degree turn (left or right, it doesn't matter ^.^) and go left at the intersection. Go until you hit a T-section, hang a right, then a left a few yards later. The path will deadend in a big, 2 level cavern, with an unopened treasure chest waiting patiently for you. In it is Karin's weapon upgrade, a Fine Rapier. Spin around, turn right at the corner, straight through the next intersection, and veer left at the next. You should only be able to go a little ways before you hit a stone wall. Dig around in the rocks at the bottom of it for a Pure Seed. Retrace your steps to the last intersection and take the left-ish way. Follow the twists and turns until you eventually come across another T-section. Veer to the right. Over one screen and go right again. You'll find yourself back in that cavern again, just this time on the other side. Pick your way around the outer edge and under where the treasure chest was before, and you'll meet Antisocial Anthony. He's Lottery Member #14. *WARNING*: BLIND RING!! You have 1 second to look at Anthony's ring before all the hit areas fade out! Pay careful attention and you can wrangle a Third Key out of him. Alright. That taken care of, go back an intersection and turn right. At the next fork, go left. Now for something new and interesting. Instead of a mere fork in the road, this one's almost a full-blown crossroads! Whoopie. First, and shortest, go straight ahead. It's more of a nook than an actual dead end, but the treasure chest there has a real Studded Belt in it. Take the up branch to get to a shack. Inside is...Gerrard?! How the heck did he get there? Ask and he'll tell you. Pick up enough Studded Belts to equip your party and re-stock on any items you might need. Once you're satisfied, head out and take the down branch of the cross-roads. Ride the lift down another floor, and use the save point you find. Prep for a boss fight. The path only goes one way, so on we go, nabbing the Pure Seed in the pile of crates to the right on our way. Where the tunnel widens out into a cavern, a short FMV should start up. Get ready, here comes a--- -----BOSS FIGHT: GRIMLOCK (Dark affinity) Grimlock uses Slow on you, and Gale on himself. A lot. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to counter this beyond using Gale yourself. Believe it or not, the ring item LV1 Slow works nicely on this guy. So you can use Gale on yourself, and Slow on him. It all evens out in the end. This is also a great chance to show off how good you've gotten at 4-Man combos. Grimlock is Dark Affinity, so nail him with the Combo Magic Holy Pulse (if you have it), or just about any spell besides Meteor Burst. Whichever spell you pick, 2 good combos and you should have this fight well under control. You get another Crest when you win, ---MurMur---. Also, according to the Navigation Guide, an 18+ hit combo will earn you a Voodoo Doll. Good luck pulling that one off. *NOTE*: Don't hurry out of here. I don't know if you caught a glimpse of it, but there is a treasure chest hidden at the base of the huge stalactite column in the middle of the room. It's almost impossible to see on screen, but put the exit diagonal from your chara's right shoulder and check the base of the column. It should be in that area. In it is a Seal of Power. Get that, and let's move on to--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> First comes a super-condensed recap of the events from SH1, as told from Yuri's POV. (If you have SH1 save data, you get a neat little picture-in-picture box at the bottom with footage from that game). Then you get to look around. Not a dungeon, yet not really a town, Wales is home to the Strange Creature, Roger Bacon. ...a very, very strange home, for a very, very strange creature. First thing SH1 fans will notice is there's a huge crevase blocking the way to the Nemeton Monastery, so that interesting old dungeon is off limits for the whole game. Drat. So down to the "house" we go. But first open up that obvious treasure chest right behind you for a Seal of Life. Head down the path and duck behind the first one of the "house's" huge "legs" that spans off to your right. Back there should be a chest with a Hit Area Expander in it. Now go back to the main "body" of the "house" and poke around the two uppermost claw/staple thingies tacking it to the ground. You'll meet the Spirit of the Ring. Last but not least (though certainly late), there's one more treasure chest to the left-ish of the staircase leading into the "house" that has a Bear Claw, a weapon for Yuri which you probably purchased in Southampton. Ah well. You can still sell it. Anyways. Onwards into the unknown wilds of the inside of this "house". A cut scene promptly opens up, Yuri and Karin looking around and calling for Roger. (Who anyone who's seen the opening movie knows has been kidnapped and, hence, is not home). You regain control with Yuri standing all the way at the top of the "house". Go down around the left set of stairs, they're shorter. Once at the bottom, go straight across, towards the bookshelves. You should see a treasure chest, and in it is the ---Crest Forneus---. Next, go down and around the near side of the red-checked stairs going through the floor. The screen will shift, then examine the fat book sitting farthest away from you on the counter for a Lottery Ticket. Lastly, head over to the save point, heal up (the damage you took in the tussle with Grimlock still isn't healed), and put Rosewood Bracelets on your most important people. You'll need them in the coming boss fight. Once you're ready to get things rolling, go down the red-checked stairs and out of the "house". Sit back and be very amused by the FMV that follows, (good Lord. What with both Joachim and Lenny, Yuri comes off as a regular Einstein...). Understandably annoyed after being duped by such a see-through trap (laid by Yuri, no less) Lenny at least gets the fight he'd been itching for. -----BOSS FIGHT: LENNY (Earth affinity) With him come two Iron Claw Commanders. Squoosh those two pests first, then concentrate on Lenny. He doesn't use magic, but his 6-hit physical attack will do considerable damage. Plus, he uses Paralysis, which can get royally annoying. As always, combos are a Good Idea. Still, it's going to take a while to convince Lenny to give up, so pay careful attention to SP levels, especially those of Karin and Blanca if they're in your party. Beaten, Lenny takes off with his tail between his legs and you get set to move on to Italy, when this rather sketchy character calling himself "Thomas" shows up. Claiming acquaintance with Roger, he gives you some rather basic info on the Sapientes Gladio organization, as well as the name and location of someone who theoretically knows more; one "Carla" in the Italian town of Florence. With nothing much else to go on, the Crew decides to trust Thomas and meet that Carla person in--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Your first visit to the Italian City of Flowers starts off with a very unique and ...enthralling (well, Yuri was quite enthralled, anyway) tarot card reading. Carla is a retired fortune-teller, apparently, and the reading was done by her successor to the business-- Lucia. Carla does agree to tell you what you ask, for the proper price. It doesn't take much of the old gypsy's fortune-telling skills to divine that you're nearly broke, so she offers a task to complete instead of demanding cash up front; retrieve a delicate flower from the gardens of a deserted island, Man Mariara, and bring it to her. Lucia would come along as a guide. No alternative choice readily apparent, the Crew goes along with the offer. So out into the city for supplies. And lots of useful treasure. Before leaving Carla's house, check out the pillar to the left of the curtains in the back to find a Strike Area Expander. Ouside Carla's house and directly to your left is a treasure chest with a Thera Seed in it. Go right from there, and peek in between the two wooden benches above the large water fountain. A "?" with the ---Crest Vapar--- should be there. Swing around to the south side of the fountain, and you'll come across Rich Merchant Jones, the poor sap who just had his fortune told by Lucia. Listen through his lament over the fortune, and you'll get the next Nibelung chapter from him. A little farther to your right, and you should see a lady in maid's clothing wandering around. This is Artist Peggy, and she'll give you the Stud Card "Mr. Matador". Against the far right side of town, a save point, the Mazymell Bros, and a wolf should be readily apparent. You can do either the save point or the Bros. first, it doesn't matter. Gerrard has armor upgrades for you, and you can get another dress in exchange for the Card Peggy gave you. Do make sure that your stock of Faerie Sighs is up to par, as the critters on the Isla will use Seal and Panic, ailments that are annoying enough, but not, IMHO, worth spending 3000+ Cash on the respective preventative items. There's also another treasure chest secreted to the left of their car. In it is the item "Bat's Gold", which will force Joachim's transformation into the Gold Bat. I'd definitely suggest you use the save point before fighting the Wolf (Jerome) waiting near the Bros., just in case. Jerome is a magic-user, his physical attack pathetic. He will occasionally use Seal, which will prevent you from using any magic, so just be sure to have some Thera Leaves/Seeds handy and pound the stuck-up brat into the ground. You should be able to do it before needing a Pure Leaf. Jerome sufficiently chastised, he will give you your third stamp in the Wolf Bout booklet. Yay! Before heading off to Isla Man Mariara, stop by Earnest in Mon Martre to get a nifty prize. But first, there are a last few things to pick up. Go one vendor's stall up from Jerome, and there should be a kerchiefed guy standing there. Talk to him and he'll ask you for the "Dirty Straw" that you got from Imorahimovich in Southampton. In exchange, he'll give you the Amateur Film. Go even further up, and check in the right side of the doorway for a lottery ticket. That about does it for stuff you can pick up, so head to the bottom right side of town for the way out. Half way out you get called to a halt by Healthy Roonie, who will give you a pedometer for free. Unlike SH1, this is the only one you'll get. You can't buy more. Plus, Healthy Roonie never leaves Florence, so whenever you want to check how many steps you have, or trade for a prize, you've got to come to Florence. When she finally lets you out of town, there's a short cut scene before you arrive on the "deserted"--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< For all that it's supposed to be deserted, there is a really lovely, and very large manor house on it. The house in which Lucia was raised, in fact. You'd think she'd remember a little more about it. ~.~;; There's nothing at all to see outside, so make sure you're equipped with the apropriate accessories, like your newly acquired Pedometer. Also, the critters inside occasionally affect you with either Panic or Seal. I don't think it necessary, but put on Feather Bracelets and/or Bell Bracelets as you see fit. All decked out, go up the long set of steps and into the manor house itself. Lucia's grand tour of her childhood home starts with her stepping on a trap switch. >.< Swat the critters and get Lucia out of the cage, then open the obvious blue treasure chest for a Hit Area Expander and use the save point to the right. Sticking to the first floor for the moment, go through the wide double doors at the back of this room, which we shall randomly name "The Foyer". Inside, another short cut scene starts up, where Lucia kinda-sorta remembers something. In the end, the only useful thing she tells you is that you need to collect 12 Zodiac Plates to unlock the three doors. However, which one of those doors leads to where you want to go, she can't remember. ::sigh:: Well, first, the Plates. Open the obvious blue treasure chest in the room to get the first three; Virgo, Aquarius and Taurus. Out into the Foyer and hook an immediate right. Let's start on the right wing of this manse. The room on the other side of the door is a circular one. Thank goodness there isn't much in here at all, because the camera is placed so that you can hardly see. To get the single treasure in the room, put the big, fat pillar directly in the center of your screen, and put your chara on the right of it, all the way at the back of the room. There's a treasure chest there with a Pure Seed in it. Take the door in the back of the room and get out of there, into a corridor that's much clearer of clutter. Go a short distance and another corridor will branch out to the right. First, check the lamps on the left side of the hallway at that intersection. You should find a Seal of the Soul. Now actually head up that corridor to the right, and open up the obvious blue treasure chest in the solar at it's end. You'll get the Libra, Aries and Capricorn plates. Staying in the solar, put Yuri in the lower left-most corner you can get him in to pick up a Lottery Ticket. Back to the center of the room, then right, towards the end of the solar. The Spirit of the Ring will pop up again, and before it (..he?) can leave, he lets slip about having ...a wife?! ::blinkblink:: Okay. So. Judgement Rings can get married. Right. Moving on. Back to the major corridor and up to the end. The solar on the other side of the door isn't nearly so fun-filled as the previous one was. There's a box with the Star Key in it, but that's about it. However, that Star Key will get us into the Left Wing of the mansion. So back all the way to the Foyer. Use the save point to heal up, should you so choose, and take the curving staircase to the left of the double doors. The door lets you into another innocuous-looking solar, with an equally innocuous-looking table in the middle, set for tea. Approach this table, and a "?" will appear. If you're insatiably curious, press the O button. The little dialogue box informs you that there are Fortune Cookies, do you want to eat one? You take your life in your hands should you decide to eat one, because these are Evil Fortune Cookies. They will randomly hurt or heal you, dropping or healing you 1HP or dropping you *to* 1HP. They could equally likely heal you completely. If you're really curious, go ahead and eat one, though do keep in mind what curiosity did to the cat. Otherwise, they're of absolutely no significance to clearing this dungeon whatsoever. Moving on. The Left Wing is a mirror image of the right wing, so going through the door will lead you to another corridor, this one with a branch going to the left. Duck down that corridor, and open the blue chest peeking out from behind the foliage on the back-left part of the solar. That'll net you 3 more plates; Sagittarius, Pisces and Scorpio. Nothing else to find in there, back to the main corridor and up to the doorway at it's end. On the other side is something a little Different. To continue on into the last room, you need to pass a little quiz; you must discover who in your party has AB type blood. Well, you don't really *have* to, you could just have random people try to open the door. But doing so, you'd lose the ring item LV1 Petrify, which is nice to have. To figure out who's the right person to open the door, you need to see which member of your party makes the big crystal lamp light up when standing opposite *both* Karin and Lucia; aka- Gepetto. (FYI- Yuri is O-type and Joachim is B-type) So get Gepetto to open the door, and the two treasure chests in the solar beyond will both hold nifty things. The one on the left has the LV1 Petrify (should you have opened the door with someone other than Gepetto, that chest would be empty). The one on the right has the remaining 3 Plates; Gemini, Leo and Cancer. The last of the Zodiac Plates in hand, let's head back to the Foyer and through into the room with the three locked doors. Place the plates in the following order to unlock all three doors: LEFT-MOST DOOR: GEMINI -- SAGITTARIUS -- LEO MIDDLE DOOR, LEFT PANEL: TAURUS CAPRICORN ARIES MIDDLE DOOR, RIGHT PANEL: SCORPIO CANCER PISCES RIGHT-MOST DOOR: VIRGO AQUARIUS LIBRA First, go through the Left-Most Door. It's a dead-end, but the treasure chest inside has a Fifth Key, which is extraordinarily handy. Next, take the Middle Door. It opens first into a short hallway, with another treasure chest. This one has a Thera Seed. Through the door at the far end and you find yourself in a wide, empty ball room sort of place. Swing an immediate left and check the potted plant there to get a free Feather Bracelet. The door to the right of where you came in links directly with the Right-Most Door, so unless you feel the insatiable need to unlock it just to have it unlocked, you can forget its existance. Use the save point at the far right side of the ball room, and equip your party with Pocket Watches. There's a boss fight coming. So, down the stairs and out into the garden. An event will unfold, the Crew busying itself hunting the myriad of flowers for the one Carla asked for, while Lucia slips off to the side... She flips this suspicious looking lever to open up the cage in the back of the garden, unleashing a giant, ferocious pink persian cat on you!! (that's ferociously pink, mind you. the cat himself has vim, but not enough to be worth calling "ferocious.") Or, well, she tries to unleash it on you. Kitty seems to think she looks tastier. After watching for a sec, the Crew decides it'd probably be the best thing if they saved Lucia from a mauling. -----BOSS FIGHT: ANDRE (Fire affinity) The most annoying thing the big, pink kitty will use on you is Fake Ring, which is right up there with Blind Ring as the Most Annoying status ailments in the game. Equipping Pocket Watches should take care of that problem neatly. The second most annoying thing Andre does is Castille, an attack where he not only swipes you with his claws, he also swipes a goodly bit of your Cash. Anything else isn't really all that much of a problem. By this point, the added damage from a Combo should start being really worth it, so see how many more of those Combo Magic spells you can open up. You get the ---Crest Peret--- when you win, and should you put together 35 or more hits in Combo, you'll also win a Western Belt. Subdue Andre, and Lucia admits that she and Carla had thought you all members of Sapientes Gladio. Back in Florence, Carla expresses her apologies in the form of the ---Crest Purson--- which she gives to you. She then launches into a condensed history of the Sapientes group and her connection to it, as well as the location of S.G.'s Italian Headquarters. As you try to leave, Carla gives you one last thing: Lucia. Yep, the fortune teller comes along as the 6th member of the Crew. Yay! The end of that long event leaves you in Florence, so use this chance to stock up on anything you might be running low on, and equip Lucia. She has the ---Crest Aim--- to start, but not much else. Keep Pocket Watches on, and you might want to purchase a Mirrored Bracelet or two. In S.G.'s Headquarters, there will be an enemy with Petrify. Lastly, as a bit of a side note, there is one last treasure left in the manse on Isla Man Mariara, in the grotto where you fought Andre. It is only a Mana Seed, however, and there is no way to get it on your first trip through there. If you think it's worth it to go all the way back through the house, then you're welcome to. Anyways. Time's a-wastin'. On to--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Leave Florence, and the HQ should pop up on your World Map. The enemies inside will use Petrify, Petit Ring and Blind Ring, so have Pocket Watches and Mirrored Bracelets handy. The first screen starts you outside the building, where there's absolutely nothing of interest at all. Go on inside. Again, the camera angle is positioned such that a lot of clutter gets in your way, but there is one treasure chest tucked behind the right-most pillar. In it, you'll find a LV1 Delay, a handy-dandy little ring item. Over another room, and you'll find yourself in a rather posh living room, like what you'd find in a normal, well-to-do gentleman's house. It's also, for all appearances, a dead end. Here's where you have start hunting. First and foremost, peek behind the piano for a treasure chest with the ---Crest Uvall--- in it. Second, check out the grandfather clock. At the moment, the little dialogue box should only say that the clock has stopped, and not much else. That clock is actually a hidden elevator, and your ticket to the next stage of this dungeon. But to make it work, you must first open the option to move the clock's hands. To bring those options up, there are four Books scattered about the living room for you to read. The one you're looking for is the Red Book, which sits on the table at the bottom-center of the room. In its little story is the time 9 o'clock. Go back to the grandfather clock, and the option to adjust its hands to 9:00 should be there. Move the hands to make the clock take you up a floor (with a *really* annoying rattle, I might add). There are another three books, Blue, Yellow and Black in various places in the room, and they'll add options for 3:00, 6:00 and 12:00 to the grandfather clock. However, putting the clock's hands at any of those times results in nothing but quaint, pointless, effects. Once you've set the hands at 9:00, you can't re-adjust them. Anyways. You're on the second floor. And it again looks like you're stuck at a dead end. To remedy that situation, examine the painting that's next to the potted plant. It's a fake wall that'll spin around and put you in a little room brimming with complex radio and computer equipment, a-la the fireplace in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (minus rabid Nazis and spreading fire). For lack of enough caffeine and a better name, let's call this place the "Control Room". Slide along the left wall until a "?" pops up, and flip the switch. That'll open up a section of wall, and make a dead end about 5 steps longer, with a door at the end. That particular section of wall is to the right and up the first branch from the hidden door into the Control Room. The room it leads to is a really cramped library. Go right, around the outer edge of the room first, and poke around in the resulting dead end to find a "?" and a Lottery Ticket. Back around the edge of the room, and down the left side. A treasure chest sits complacently next to a table and chair at the very bottom of your screen. Pop it open and walk off with the Thera Root inside. Follow the skinny aisle between the books, so that you end up close to the middle of the room. In the bottom-right corner of the nook at its end, some genius scribbled the Password on the floor. What the Password is, only Yuri knows. Go back to the Control Room and input the Password at the same spot where you flipped the switch. This'll make another section of wall slide open, giving you another 5 steps of space and a door. This time just go straight down from the revolving "door" to reach the new part. Inside, the revealed room is another extremely cramped library. Take the upper aisle first, then hook around the near-immediate switchback to reach a treasure chest, in what pretty well amounts to the room's upper-left corner. Nobody else is using the Hit Area Expander inside it, so go ahead and take it. Retrace your path 7 steps, and around the impeding book case to the room's upper-right corner. Hunt around a little and a "?" should obligingly appear. Flick the switch and, surprise surprise, the walls move. The bookshelves lining the bottom of the room shifted themselves a body-width, uncovering a secret staircase going down. Be reckless and see what's down there. All the fun stuff in this new room, one which looks a lot like a normal, cluttered basement, is on the right side. There's a treasure chest in the upper right corner, with a Toggle Switch inside. You'll need that in a sec, so take it along. Go down two steps and make a hard left. Digging through the boxes in that area should uncover a Seal of the Urn. Just a little further down from that should be a slightly more visible treasure chest, this one with a Strongoid, an item which forces Joachim to change into "Invisible". That does it for useful stuff down here, so let's head on back to the Control Room. Attach the Toggle Switch to the cylindrical thingy-bopper adorning the console at the back of the room and watch it start spinning. How it worked I have no idea, but now the grandfather clock will take you up another floor. The rattling ride will drop you off in a billiard parlor (did they have juke boxes in the 'teens?). Unfortunately, you can't play a quick game of pool while you're there, so just snag the Talisman of Mercy hidden in the second vase from the left and leave. Next on the list of Useful Things is the save point one room to the right. I'm pretty sure you'll want to use it by now, especially since you've got a Boss Fight coming in about 30 seconds. Fortunately, this one doesn't use any status effects, for once. You'll want to pile up on the defensive accessories, though. Finish your business and go one room back. Get half way in, and an event will start. If you hadn't already noticed, except for the large number of beasties, there isn't a single soul in the building. That includes the old fogey you're hunting for, Roger Bacon. Giving up, the Crew starts heading for the door, when there's a sudden, huge shadow looming behind. -----BOSS FIGHT: JANUS (Light affinity, believe it or not...) An uncomplicated sort of Boss, Janus simply aims to smash you into a gooey pile of mush with attacks that can do up to 70HP in damage. It wouldn't hurt to designate one memeber of your party as Healer, and use everybody else to attack. Of course, Combos are Good. 3-Man, 4-Man, whatever works; smack this guy harder than he hits you. Defeat him, and your biggest prize is Lucia's tarot card, Justice. Your second biggest prize is a Seal of Life, but that comes with the condition that you make at least 40 hits in Combo. Thinking they're finally done with things, the Crew yet again attempts to leave, when somebody hears this funny whistle-whine... The back wall of the room explodes inwards, Nicholai doing what is probably the world's first *fly*-by shooting. The Crew, of course, survives. But they're hacking and coughing in the stone dust for a while. Yuri recovers first, and Nicholai proposes a deal; Roger's life for the Emigre Tome. Players of SH1 will recognize that name instantly. It's one of three mystic spellbooks Yuri came across in his prior adventures, this one the Book of Resurrection. When one's opponent is on a floating ship with enough firepower to rip open a two-foot thick stone wall, it kinda negates any negotiational leverage you might have had. Yuri accepts the terms. Cut-scene over, the World Map opens up, giving you no choice but to go to Florence. Select the city, and yet another FMV starts up. Yuri sums up his knowledge of the Emigre Tome and the two other spellbooks associated with it in a short clip. He continues on to explain where he and Roger then hid them after that adventure was over. Well, where he hid the Emigre Tome, at least; in Wales, under the Nemeton Monastery. That's where we get to go next. Talk to Carla before you leave her house. From here on out to the end of the game, she'll heal your party for free. Don't bother with getting stuff in Florence right now, there's a whole bunch of new and nifty things you can get at Roger's "house" in--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ...but you might first like to re-visit the S.G.'s Italian HQ. Y'see, there's this wolf that's moved into the room so recently ...erm... redecorated, by Nicholai. You can just ride the grandfather clock all the way up to the 3rd floor this time, so it'll be a lot quicker trip. Stop by at the save point on that floor and equip Blanca with a Pocket Watch. Henri himself seems like the reasonable sort, but it seems he's gotten it in his head that he needs to defeat you to regain his proper form. His physical attack is decent, but by far the most irksome trick he uses is Reverse Ring. Having a Pocket Watch on will keep your Ring going clockwise, but the magic spell Thorn that Henri uses is unavoidable. Have either a Crest with cure, or a lot of Thera Seeds handy. Once you've got Henri's pawprint in your little book, it's time to set sail for Wales. Head on towards the door into Roger's funky, funky home and you might notice something that wasn't there last time you were here. Some sort of strange red pillar is sitting between the 3rd and 4th staple-thingies tacking the house to the ground. Go check it out, and Joachim decides he loves it. Conveniently ignoring the fact that theft of government property is a felony, he picks it up and walks off with it. Don't forget to actually equip him with his shiny new Red Mailbox on the menu! Anyways, on into the "house", where you'll find some more things that weren't there your first time through. For one, there's a new treasure chest near where the save point is at the back of the first floor. Raid it for the Rope Ladder, which will help immensely in getting to the Underground. Take 4 steps to the right of there, and you should see what really looks like a vending machine suspended from the wall with chains. It's the Continental ZERO, ver.2!! Check it out, pop some quarters in and buy some nifty stuff. It's inventory isn't quite so high-end as it was in SH1, but you can still get weapon upgrades and the armor upgrade "Face Guard". Critters in the Underground don't use any preventable status problems, so just make sure you have a stock of Thera Seeds handy. *BARGAIN HUNTER'S TIP*: Buy one less Face Guard than you need. You'll get a free one at the entrance to the Underground. Everything you need (or simply can afford at the moment) acquired, make tracks for the huge crevace to the north of the "house". Look over the edge of it, and a "?" should pop up, asking do you want to drop the rope ladder? Well, jumping down would be a lot faster but the landing's a bitch, so yes, I think you want to lower the ladder. Down the ladder and into the cave in the cliff we go, the insides of that cave rapidly becoming very un-cave-like. First things first, grab the Face Guard out of the obvious treasure chest to the left and definitely use the save point to your right. It's going to be a long, long ways to the next one. Now, the Nemeton Underground is a puzzle-dungeon. Fortunately, they start you out with an easy one. Walk into the next room and go until the block you're standing on moves. It floats you across the yawning chasm that comprises most of the floor, stopping when it reaches an island of blocks. There's only one way you can go, one that doesn't take too long in leading you to another moving block. Take a right when the block drops you off, go 10 steps and ride yet another moving block. You'll be riding a whole bunch of them in this dungeon, so get used to the idea. Anyways. This latest block will stop when it hits the far wall of the room. You can go either left or right. Since there's absolutely nothing to your left, going that way would be rather silly, now wouldn't it. Snatch the Mana Seed out of the chest on the right and re-ride the block you were just on. ...not that you have much of a choice in the matter. The blocks are annoyingly configured. You can't just cross them, you must ride it wherever it goes whenever you happen to reach its middle. That's going to get really annoying in a sec. Ride the block back, and cross the three stationary ones. The next one is rideable, but where you want to go is across it. However, it takes off before you can clear it. Very irksome. When it stops, get off then on again, then continue on your left-ward way when it stops. Of course, you only go another 7 steps before you're riding yet another block. This one dumps you off on a corner island with a choice of two more blocks to ride. The one to the left drops you off at the door you came in through. The one to the right drops you off by the door you have yet to go through. Don't forget to get the Talisman of Luck in the treasure chest off to your right on your way by. Step on the red block and it'll take you down a level. Again, you're in a room full of floating block islands, though this one is more colorful. You've been left on what's little more than a ledge with two blue blocks, one fairly dull and the other pretty glittery. At the very end of the ledge, a funky, large, triangle crystal is stuck to the wall. The glittery block is the one that'll take you to the next island, but you've gotta touch the crystal triangle on the wall. That'll shift the glittery block from blue to yellow. Step on the glittery now-yellow block and it'll take you to the island in the middle of the room. Now, there are a handful of glittery blocks attached to this island, but they will only move if they are attached to a dull block of the opposite color. At the moment, only one pair matches that description. Hop on it to waft over to a ledge with a treasure chest on it. Nab the Hit Area Expander inside, bop the crystal triangle-switch and float on back to the island in the middle. Again, there is only one pair of opposite-color blocks available to ride, so take it and go over to another ledge on the other side of the room. This time the treasure chest has a Thera Seed in it. There's no switch on the wall over there, so thank goodness a ridable block is right there waiting. Hitch a ride back to the center island again. Go straight from there to the block to your right. Yes, it's the same one that you took to get to that other ledge, but this time it'll take you in a different direction, trust me. The next island is a skinny one, and again, only one of the two dull/glittery block pairs is workable. Ride it to a dinky island in the corner, hit the switch and ride back. On the skinny island, the ridable block pairs should have changed, a newly- turned-blue block your ticket to the red-block elevator going down. B3F throws something different at you; glassy bridges that shift direction when you touch the crystal circle buttons stuck to the wall. For the moment, don't touch anything, just follow the path currently available. At the T-section, go right all the way to the wall and touch the switch. That should make the blue-glass bridges change, opening up a new way to the north. Head that way, picking up the Seal of the Body in the treasure chest to your left, until you can take a left onto a purple glass bridge. The little ledge it ends at has a purply button on it. Press said button and now the purple bridge leads down. It seems kinda silly, but from here you go around until you're back at the blue-ish switch you pressed at the start. Hit it again to put the blue glass bridges back where the were at the beginning. To make things even sillier, now you've gotta go all the way back to the purply button on the far side of the room again and hit it not once, but *TWICE*. Y'see, touching a switch moves a bridge 90 degrees, and there's one purply bridge that can swing through a 270 degree arc. Pressing that switch twice shifted one so that it now points directly at a really bippy little ledge on the left side of the room. There's room for a treasure chest on it, but not much else. Grab the lotto ticket out of it, then retrace your steps back to the purply button. Touch it another two times, and the purple bridges should now be arranged to take you to the red block elevator in the far left side of the room. On to B4F. There's a save point right at the elevator, a welcome sight by this time, I'd bet. Use it, heal up, and get ready to tackle one of the more confusing floors in this dungeon. No funky colors or glitter to the moving blocks this time, they just go when you step on them, so hitch a ride on the only one available to you. It'll float you to another island most of the way across the room. Step off that block, do a u-turn, and step onto the block directly above it. This one will take you down to the bottom of 3 levels. You haven't much of anywhere to go, except to the pillar that has a crystally diamond button on it. The color for B4F is orange, apparently. Bop the switch and ride the block back up to the top. Go left-ish from there, along the wall of the room. It won't be long before another ridable blue block appears. This one also takes you down. The floor of the room is a mix of blocks and chunks of flagstone. It's the flagstone bits you want to tread at the moment, since there is a pile of orange blocks, well, blocking (>.< sorry) the way you want to go. Following the flagstones will lead you in an a fat arc back to the far left corner of the room, and another orange diamond switch on the wall. Touch it to make those pesky blocking orange blocks sink into the floor. Go back the way you came, through the gap opened up when the blocks sunk, and carefully around the corner. I say "carefully" because if you make it a tight turn, you're going to find yourself accidentally stepping on a moveable block that doesn't take you much of anywhere yet. Note that it's there, but keep going on the ground floor for the moment. That trail will take you all the way to the back right corner of the room, where a treasure chest is hiding. Open it up and walk back to that blue block you just passed with a brand new Leonard's Bear in hand. The block will take you back up to the middle level. The camera should have pulled back a ways, so from where you're standing there should be a pair of blue blocks visible; one kinda to your left, another sorta to your right. I'm going to make landmarks out of them, so remember the names. The one to the left is now the Left-ish Block, and the one to your right I hereby dub the Right-ish Block. Firstly, grace the Right-ish Block with your presence, and ride it up half a level to a ledge. Nab the ---Phenex Crest--- out of the treasure chest on said ledge, and take the Right-ish Block back down. Next, you are *not* going to the Left-ish Block. Follow the flagstones up and to the left, going around the big stone pillar in the middle of your screen. The camera will make a sudden shift again, and you should be looking down on a blue block. Take it down a level, and follow the flagstones to the back left corner of the room. If you think you're having flashes of deja-vu, you're wrong. You really have been here before. And the diamond orange switch back there in the corner will raise the orange blocks that had so rudely gotten in your way earlier. Return to the block you just rode down and take it up again. Now, you're *still* not going to the Left-ish Block. Instead, go north, towards the far wall of the room and another diamond orange button. Tap it and turn around. Walk past the Left-ish Block. Near the bottom of your screen should be an orange stepping stone connecting the floor you're on with a flagstone ledge. At the end of that ledge is a treasure chest containing a Joachim-specific item, a Getitup!. Now you can go and ride the Left-ish Block. All the way at the top, hitch a ride on the blue block and on out the door. Whew! Finally done with that room. Enter the next one and an event promptly starts up. Besides that, there isn't anything else interesting to see, so be on your way to the next one. This new room isn't all that impressive, either. All that's in it is one screwed up staircase, and three lights in the floor at the base of it. Step on the BLUE LIGHT, then the GREEN LIGHT, then the BLUE LIGHT again to fix the staircase. On to the next room. Now you've got two screwed up staircases to deal with, and a yellow light added to the mix on the floor. For the staircase right in front of you, the magic order is: YELLOW --> GREEN --> GREEN Don't go up them just yet, take a step to your left for another go-round. This time, tromp on the BLUE LIGHT THREE TIMES, the YELLOW LIGHT TWICE, and the RED LIGHT TWICE. At the top of those steps is a chest. Yay! Inside that chest is the ---Crest Berith---. Even better! Snag it and make your way to the next room. And a doozy of a big room it is. ...is that the Mazymell Bros. off in the far corner?! How the hell'd they get in here? You can ask them and see, but first you're going to want to duck over into the right corner nearest you. In pops the Spirit of the Ring. ...and he pops right back out again when Yuri starts asking about his wife. Anyways. Go talk to the Bros. and hear their story about getting in there. They don't have anything new and different from the Continental Zero back in Roger's house, but if you couldn't get everything there, now's the time to grab the last of it. Also, if you don't have 4 Leonard's Bears, now's the time to get them. You will need them. That accomplished, use the save point and head on up to the last puzzle in this dungeon. Finally! So where the hell is the floor?!?! It's invisible. Oh, thrill. Step on the yellow blocks at the end of the ledge, and a white path will blink into existance, temporarily illuminating what little floor there is. Be carefull and take your time. You can fall off the edges of this floor, and it will land you in the big, open room you just came out of. You don't lose any HP or anything, it's just a pain in the butt to come back up the stairs and start from the beginning again. On a good note, those sections of invisible floor that you do successfully cross are lit up permanently, so you're not totally back at Square 1 should you fall off. There aren't any major tricky bits to this puzzle, so all I can do is say "tread carefully" and don't forget the Mana Extract in the treasure chest on the ledge in the far right corner. The red block on the far side will take you up one last time, and drop you off in a little chamber with a save point directly to your left. You'll want to use that. Also, put Leonard's Bears on all 4 of your party members. And just in case it might work, put LV1 Paralyze on the ring of one of your main attackers. That done, step into the next room, and a-- -----BOSS FIGHT: GRAIL GAZER (Water affinity) This giant, floating jelly-fish comes out with a pair of starfish pets in tow; Gazer Bits. Kill those little things, and kill them fast. Not only do they combo with Grail Gazer, they also use an instant death effect that works with disparing consistancy. Bury the Bits and Grail Gazer himself isn't anything a few well-done combos won't take care of. Be careful not to combo when Grail Gazer is guarding!! That'll automatically break your combo. Finish him off, and the ---Crest Ose--- is yours. Once you've put the giant jelly-fish in the ground too, an event promptly starts up. The first time he's touched the Emigre Tome since what happened at the end of SH1, Yuri's opinion of the book, and those who've used it before, takes a sudden, heart-wrenching about-face. It *is* the book which can bring back the dead, after all. But at the moment, it's the book the Crew needs to get Roger back. With it in hand, the World Map opens up, automatically adding the destination--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Cannes is full of goodies. Unfortunately, none of them are on the first screen. Use the save point off to the side if you want to, and go on down the steps to the right. You should almost bump into a guy who's pacing circles in the middle of the street, there. Talk to him, and you discover he's an aspiring film director, and he's quite interested in the Film you recieved from the straw worker back in Florence. You can give it to him, OR you can wait a couple minutes and talk to another person in the lower half of the town. Before hunting down that second person, you might want to check out the flower planters to the left of the lady on the far side of that street, Cannes-Born Clare. Some considerate soul secreted a Seal of the Heart there just for you. Go over one screen, and you're perched at the top of what I call the Double- Back stairs (mostly 'cuz they double back on themselves). Before taking the plunge, peek around the lamp post for the Lottery Ticket hidden there. On to the lower level of the town. At the base of the Double-Back stairs, there's a dry water spout against the wall. Lucia's third Aroma Therapy oil, Grass Oil, is in the bottom of it. Step over a screen and into the most active part of Cannes. Just about anything worth getting or doing is done in this half of the town. Top of the list is talking to the well-dressed gentleman standing right next to the first building of the row. His name is Big-Mouthed Croft, and he's in charge of the Treasure Hunt game. It's a neat little mini-game that basically involves following a clue to find useful hidden treasures. At the moment, he will give you the first of five clues. Check From there, go a little to your left. A little kid should be pacing circles in the street, much like the aspiring director back in the upper level of Cannes. The kid, however, isn't an aspiring director, he's an aspiring critic. You can give the film you have to either of them, at this point in the chase, it doesn't really matter which. The last thing you can do before ducking into the cafe next to Croft is talk to the lady standing at the end of the row of buildings. Cannes-born Maribelle is Lottery Member #13, and her Red Square item is the ---Crest Marchosias---. **WARNING** She uses a Petit Ring! Get out your bifocals. Next, lets move the plot along a little bit, shall we? Head on into the cafe. Talk to the fat guy in the far corner, buy him a drink, and he'll give you the Stud Card Mr. Samurai. He also makes the ...interesting... suggestion that Yuri pose for one. ^.^ But the guy you really want to speak with is the weaving drunk in the other corner. He's Nelson. Intimidate him a smidge and he'll not only give you his dinghy, but also a set of keys, so that you can sneak into island prison where Roger is being held. So now you just need to get to the boat. Leave the cafe, go a screen to your left, and the first sight that will greet you is the Mazymell car. You've got a Stud Card to burn, and Gerrard has armor upgrades for you. Buy away. *BARGAIN HUNTER'S TIP*: Get one less Western Belt than you need. There's a free one in a treasure chest at the end of the docks. Those docks are located just a bit to the left of the Mazymells, and the chest sits in a really obvious spot right next to a little boat tied to the end. Raid it's contents and check out that little boat. It's time to start rowing for--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< You tie up the boat in a little underground cave, a door to your left and a save point to your right. Equipping a Pocket Watch or three might not be a bad idea, since the Alligator Bugs in here will try to hit you with Up Ring. Otherwise, there isn't much in the way of status ailments you'll have to worry about right away. Equipped to your satisfaction, head towards the door. 3 steps shy of it, some brazen wolf streaks past and lifts the keys Nelson gave you and slips away through a crevace in the wall. It should go without saying that the crevace is entirely too small for any non-child human to fit through. It should also go without saying that, minus the keys, the Crew can't get into the prison (seeing as they have no proficient lock-picker, and to do something illegal and get arrested would defeat the point of having a way back out). The hole, however, is big enough for a wolf to fit through, since, well, one just did. So Blanca gets volunteered for the job. Your controlable party will then shrink to just Blanca. This will be a pretty short, painless outing (this time), so you needn't go through too much trouble equipping him. Squeeze through the hole in the wall, and you pop out in a small forest glade. Only two paths are available to you, one to the left, one to the right. You want to go left first. The wolf sitting next to the save point is not the one who stole the keys. He is Merchant Wolf Marche, and his wares pretty much resemble what the Bros. had in Cannes. Further to the left looks like a simple dead end, but diligent search in the underbrush back there will yield a fat prize; the ---Crest Camio---. Back up a little ways, and take the right trail. Again, there's a wolf sitting in the path, but you only have to go near him to trigger an event. This is the one who stole the keys, and he's got a very strong opinion on strangers coming to the island. Too bad he himself isn't as strong. Not a Wolf Bout fight, this puppy is easy to take down. He runs off, tail firmly tucked between his legs, leaving both keys and threats to tell the Alpha of his pack. I'm sure you're really scared (sheyah riiight). Anyways, the keys were the only thing of any real concern, and them in, er, paw, you automatically return to Yuri and the Crew continues on its way. At first, you haven't much of a choice in ways to go. The first corridor takes you to a wooden door, on the other side of which is a small room with only one other exit. Empty the treasure chest in the corner of it's Lottery Ticket contents before continuing on. The next corridor again does not present you with much in the way of variety. It's forward progress is halted by a metal bar door. Going in the door to the left results in an event that promptly boots you right back out again. So all that's left is the door to the right. That one opens into a cell block. There's only one door out, straight to the right. Unfortunately, it's got a combination lock on it. It's only a three digit combination, but that's still a whole lot of possibilities. Sitting there trying randomly (heck, even trying in a patterned fashion) will take forever and a day, so go talk to the inmates (more accurately, their cell doors) and see if they can give you any clues. Or you could just do things the easy way, and just read the next sentence. The combination is **8-6-4**. **NOTE: You have to examine the locked door and realize it's a combination before any of the inmates will give you clues. Regardless of whether you decide to figure out the combination the easy way or the hard way, you're going to want to visit the first cell in the middle hallway. The inmate's name is Thompson, and he's a panty-thief. He apparently really regrets his crimes, and has chosen to atone by bringing a little bit of happiness to whomever passes by. Or frustration. It depends on whether or not you succeed on the first try or not. Yep. Thompson the Panty Thief is Lottery Member #12, and he'll give you the ring item LV2 Slow, should you manage to hit the red sliver on his ring. Be warned, the bar stops quite a bit farther along than where you think you stopped it. Moving on. Through the once-locked door, down and around the stairs, deeper into the bowels of this prison. Halfway down that staircase, stop. The room beyond is a Point of No Return of sorts, and you will probably want to take this opportunity to unequip useful Crests and Accessories; for example, a Crest with Cure, the Paralysis or Slow ring items, and any accessories you happen to be fond of putting on your lead character. Once you enter the next room, an event will begin. Blanca smells something not to his liking, but the rest of the Crew moves on obliviously. Lucia also then notices something not quite right, but in her typical absent-minded way, she can't recall what exactly it is until *after* everybody's keeled over and well on their way to unconsciousness. What happened, basically, was Veronica. She'd liberally laced the room with a paralization perfume, and Lucia couldn't ID it before most of the Crew had inhaled too much. The only one to get out in time is Blanca. Unfortunately, there's nothing he can do immediately, except get the hell out of Dodge. You, however, have more pressing issues on your plate. Like picking who gets to be Veronica's new favorite toy. Yes, she has...erm, inclinations to match her outfit, and her arguement with Lucia has put her in the mood for some stress relief. No, not *that* kind of stress relief, just the usual stick-'em-on-a-rack-'n- pull-'til-they-scream sort of stress relief. And you get to pick the lucky victim. The list of panicked thoughts goes in this order: Yuri Karin Gepetto Joachim Lucia Choose whoever you wish to give a weapon upgrade to. (For the budget conscious, both Karin's and Joachim's next weapons are available free near the next dungeon, so you might want to choose someone else) Fans of SH1 will recognize the ensuing situation: your poor chara straped to a whacky looking machine by a nutcase all too eager to turn up the juice. So, do exactly what was recommeded to be done in SH1-- choose all the TOP answers. That'll keep you from getting fried, and put a weapon upgrade into a treasure chest as a consolation prize for later. Should you decide on other answers, there will be a Third Key in that chest. Either way, you're still left dangling on the rack and wishing Blanca would hurry up! At the moment, the Wolf in Question has just made it back to the underground mooring of your dinghy, all the way back at the beginning of this dungeon. Obviously, he's the only member left in your party. This time, you'll want to equip him for a much longer solo trip. While you're doing so, might I suggest you put a Silver Bracelet on? A ring item, like Paralysis or Slow, could be useful as well. You will appreciate them later. Slip through the hole, talk to Merchant Wolf Marche should you think your supply of Thera and Mana seeds in need of a suppliment, and take off down the path going right. At exactly the same point you got stopped on your first trip this way, you get stopped again. It seems that wussy wolf you dealt with earlier made good on his threats to whine to his boss. This drags you into a Wolf Bout with the Alpha of Ste. Marguerite; Phillipe. His arsenal will include Evil Bone and a Mental Break laced physical attack that packs a whollop even if the status ailment doesn't stick. Having a Silver Bracelet on will make sure that the MP-draining effect doesn't get a foothold, but there isn't much you can do about the other two attacks besides hope you've got enough in the way of Thera Seeds. Phillipe is fast, too. Slapping a Gale on yourself might help even the odds in the turns department. Tough it out until Phillipe caves, and you get an unexpected bonus. Now *you* are the Alpha of Ste. Marguerite. Whoop-de-thrill. What that means in more concrete terms is that now Phillipe's pack will now help you out however they can. At the moment, that consists of giving you directions on how to get into the prison again, which is easy. Just take the right fork where the path branches off again. Use the save point next to Marche. Trust me. The really hard part starts one screen over, and you'll likely want to reset should you screw up. Once you've got everything in order, suck in a deep breath and dive on down the path. The screen shifts, and you're back in the prison, although in a section you haven't been to before. Fate has been merciful, so you are not expected to take on alone random encounters like the one you faced with the whole Crew. Instead, we're going to try something New and Different: stealth! Blanca gets to try out his Solid Snake impression in this small part of the game, where we play Dodge the Guards. You're starting at the end of a long, straight hallway, so move carefully forward until you reach an intersection. At that point, a small cut scene will start, giving you the technical basics. The little navi thing in the upper left part of your screen is your friend. Use it. Even if you do trip up and get spotted, the guards aren't so difficult that you're in immediate danger of getting killed. But, should you manage to make it aa~~~llll the way to the end (this is LONG, folks) without getting made once, there's a Zodiac Bracelet in it for you. This first intersection is a cakewalk, as there is only one guard and half the time he's got his back to you. Wait until the little red arrow is facing away and dash right across. Follow the hallway up and round the corner. 12 steps later, there's another intersection, this time with two guards talking. Again, a short cut scene will trigger, giving you the technical basics about getting across a debris-covered floor without calling attention to yourself. This one should be even more of a cakewalk than the first intersection. So again go along the hall, turn the corner and go down until you reach yet another intersection. Now they're trying to get complex on you. It's a 4-way intersection, and the way you want to go is to the right, not straight across. There is not one, but two guards keeping an eye out here, and they're not moving at the same pace. And, just to put the icing on the cake, they're going to tempt you with a treasure chest in between the two of them. First; IGNORE the treasure chest. You'll be coming back through here later on with the whole Crew in tow, so you can get it then. Second; WAIT. There are no prizes for speediness. There is a point in their rotation where both guards face away for a good bit of time. It's plenty to get around the corner and through the door without getting caught. On to the next hallway. A very straight hallway. One with no intersections, and a guard coming *right* at you. Now Blanca gets to show off just how talented a wolf he is. A cut scene will interject again, explaining the technical stuff about getting Blanca to stand up and hide behind the columns projecting into the corridor. The second the guard turns his back to you, dash forward until the screen shifts, having you look at Blanca through the red bars of a (probably familiar looking) metal door. You're going to want to hide on the LEFT side of the column situated on the RIGHT side of the red-bar door. As soon as the guard passes, drop and duck around the column so that you're now hiding on the OTHER SIDE of the SAME column. It's going to take a sec for the guard to pass again, so be patient. The instant he's past, hide on the NEAR SIDE of the NEXT column. Wait until he's got his back turned to you again, and make a mad dash for the door at the far end of the hall. The next corridor is a little wider, but there's still a guard headed directly your way. Slip into the (thankfully empty) guard room just to your right. While in there, might as well grab the keys to the cells the Crew is being kept in. Unfortunately, the keys are hidden in a totally random one of several possible places in the room. You have about 4 tries in which to find them, or the guard will walk in on you. Good luck! Once you've got the keys, go out the door and head to the right. Nevermind the stairways, you can't use either one just yet. Keep going right until you get to another door. You're clear for about 14 steps, when you hit yet another intersection. You want to go up, so wait for the guard to walk right past you, then high-tail it for the staircase at the end. Wind down the stairs, and you're confronted with yet MORE guards and a choice of two ways to go, right or left. The room is a square, so either way will get you to where you want to go in the same number of turns, it's just much easier to go to the right, IMHO. You have 3 guards to worry about, all of whom are moving in random patterns. If you decide to go to the LEFT, immediately around the corner is a patch of debris, so WALK around the corner. Go until the corridor forces you to go right, and then take the first turn up, to the door. Should you choose to go RIGHT, the first two turns are safe, just be careful the guards don't get you in a pinch. Follow the hallway until it forces you to turn left, then WALK. There is debris all over the floor directly after that turn. Again, the way out is up. In the next room, there are only two guards. However, they are staring right at the door you want to be going through. What you have to do is let them notice you *deliberately*. Run straight ahead and up to the red-bar gate that separates them from you. Since they can't get at you through the gate, they'll immediately head around the sides, assuming that you'll be good and sit right there where they can catch you. Don't be nearly so polite. Instead, scamper back and around the right side of the room like you're tail's afire. No matter which side you choose to go around, there will be one guard coming at you, so choose a random column on the long side and hide on the near side of it until the oblivious guard wanders past. Once he's gone, full speed to the exit. Once you're through, FREEZE. Do not go barrelling into this next room, or you'll regret it. Take a second to switch the Silver Gray Bracelet out for a Shell Bracelet on your accessories list, and double check your store of Thera Seeds, you're getting ready for a-- -----BOSS FIGHT: OSCAR (Wind affinity) Take six steps into the room, and you find out quickly it isn't unoccupied. Veronica's "pet" Oscar is making sure no one gets through. The two-headed mutt uses both physical and magical attacks effectively, doing more than 30HP of damage each round. Plus, he's trying to poison you. Hopefully, you managed to get that Shell Bracelet on in time. Don't bother putting Gale or Shield or any other stats-raising spells on, he'll just immediately counter with "Restore", which will negate all of them. He's also got scads more HP than any Wolf Bout you've encountered up to this point. Whittling him down to zero is going to take some time. Keep an eye on your SP and get crackin'. Defeat him, and you get Lucia's Tarot Card "Temperance" for a prize. As soon as you've got Oscar cowed, check the floor and the chain winding around on it. Find the point where the chain is bolted to the floor and press the O button. You should pick up another of Lucia's Tarot Cards, this time the "Wheel of Fortune". There won't be any "?" to tip you off as to exactly where it is, so be thorogh. Congratulations. You've now gotten the first prize in Big Mouthed Croft's Treasure Hunt game. Before going through the double doors at the far side of the room, head up the short flight of stairs to the right and around the edge of the room to reach a treasure chest almost right above the door you came in. Inside is a Strike Area Expander. That taken care of, go through the doors and down the stairs to reach your eagerly waiting companions. A short little event starts up so that the programmers can avoid having to depict Blanca manipulating keys, and your party returns to it's normal configuration. Once more, Congratulations. You're now done with the second phase of this dungeon. But guess what. You've *still* got to get Roger out, so you're not done in here yet. ::SIGH:: Use the save point that's glowing peacefully off to your right, get up, stretch, grab a snack from the kitchen, and get ready to tackle Phase Three. First off, check out the room you're in. There's a treasure chest next to the left end of the cell block. Inside is the weapon upgrade for whoever it was who endured Veronica's tender affections. Hidden among the boxes to the left of that is the ring item Magic Defense Down LV2. That clears this room of interesting things, so retrace Blanca's steps through the room Oscar was in and on to the next one. Head around the room's RIGHT side. At the first corner, you should run into the Spirit of the Ring! The poor guy's got not only a wife, but a daughter and a morgage to worry about, so I guess we should start taking him a little more seriously. Additional attack acquired, time to move on. Breeze through this room and go on up the stairs. Five steps down the hall at the top, you get interrupted by a voice from the cell next to you. The guy's name is Nimble-Fingered Locke, and he helped design this prison. That, apparently, was his crime, and hence he's been stuck in here. As a chance to thumb his nose at the creeps who imprisoned him, Locke offers to jury-rig the special key needed to open the cell Roger is probably being held in. You just have to go round up the three supplies: a slim rod, a flexible wire, and some glue. Unfortunately, he can't really tell you where to find them. Drat. Well, since you probably can't open Roger's cell without that key, you don't have much choice in the matter. So we'll keep an eye out for those three things while we turn this place inside out looking for nifty treasure. The first of those is in a chest all the way at the bottom of this hallway. Make the trip down there to grab the tent in it before going through the door to the left. That puts you back in the hallway which has the staircase going both up and down. There's nothing stopping you from exploring them this time, either. Head down first. Raid the treasure chest at their base for a Daphne's Fruit, then move on to the next room; Veronica's "play room". Examine the right side of the Wacky Machine for a Seal of Strength and hussle on through. The next room is, naturally, the room where Veronica managed to capture almost all of you. Now you have a better chance to see what's inside of it. Most obvious is the round, green thing lying in the middle of the floor. The instant Joachim sees it, he waxes all poetic on it and adds it to his growing collection of weapons. Like the room where Blanca fought Oscar, there are two raised ledges running along the edges of the room. Up the near stairs and to the end, where someone tried, and failed miserably, to hide a treasure chest. One might say it's in plain sight, even. Take the Pure Root inside it and try your luck with the ledge going around the other side of the room. Hidden, this time with marginally more success, is a "?", under which is a Lottery Ticket. Get that, and that does it for this room. Go back out *the way you came*, back through Veronica's play room and up the stairs, all the way to the top this time. There isn't much up there, except for Nicholai' study. The results of Blanca's stealth operation are in the chest to the left. According to the Official Navigation Guide, getting caught zero times nets you a Zodiac Bracelet. 1-3 times is a Strike Area Expander, 4-6 times is a Pure Extract and 7 or more times is a Thera Extract. Then poke around Nicholai' desk, where sits a fountain pen quite conspicuously. That'd serve quite nicely as the "slim rod" part of the Jury-Rigged Key. Since Nick didn't leave us any other interesting/useful junk in here, I'd say we can leave this room forever and all time. Back down the stairs and on to the left. the next hallway should be somewhat familiar. You've been here twice now. Without that guard getting in the way, you can now unlock the red bar door. Duck through that and make an immediate left into the room that a cut scene used to boot you out of. This is the Storage Room. Remember this place. After you've cleared the Castle of Mirrors, the entrance to the Castle of Pale Leaves will appear here. At the moment, sort through the junk on the left side of the room to uncover some glue. Jury-Rigged Key, part #2, check. Back out and through the red bar door, and on to the left. Straight across the intersection to the treasure chest you were so cruelly taunted with way back when Blanca first began his infiltration career. The contents were worth the wait, too. You get the ---Crest Bifrons---. Seeing as you are still short a flexable bit of wire, you can't take the hall going up to Roger's cell just yet, so go all the way back down to the nook Blanca squeezed in through and see if the wolves outside can be of any assistance. In fact, you're hardly into the woods before Friendly Bolf (the same wolf who ratted on you to Phillipe, btw) bounds up to you and gushes on about the newest piece of trash he's found tossed out in the woods; a piece of wire. I'm sure you'll gladly take it off his, uhm, paws. That does it for the Jury-Rigged Key pieces, but before heading back to Locke's cell, you might want to stop by Merchant Wolf Marche again and use your newly acquired Cash to purchase some Water Mirrors from him, accessories that prevent Petrification. You'll be wanting those shortly. Take your newly acquired stuff and scamper all the way to Locke's cell, which involves going right as far as you can go and then up a few paces. He whips up the key for you in a jiff, and gives Karin another Nibelung chapter just to be nice. Now, the only thing standing between you and freeing Roger is an unlockable door. So go left as far as you can go, and then go up. There should be a save point right before the specially locked door. Using it is high on my list of suggestions, since you'll be facing off with not only a boss fight, but three forced encounters right before it, too, and no chance to heal or re-equip in between. Equip the Water Mirrors you acquired from Marche, and have the other two accessory slots filled with physical defense boosters. Also be sure you've got more than one chara with a cure Crest, you're gonna need 'em. Decked out and ready to party, step on through that door. A fairly lengthy FMV starts right up, but the gist of it is, you've finally tracked down Roger, but Lenny isn't going to let him go without several fights. You've got to go through three scraps in a row with three Iron Claw Admirals apiece. Fortunately for you, they often arrange themselves in patterns that can be neatly wiped out in one shot by an appropriate magic spell. Decimate the last of the Iron Claws, and Lenny steps in to deal with things personally. -----BOSS FIGHT: GODHAND (Lenny was earth, so this guy's also Earth affinity) Lenny's monster form, this guy hits, and hits HARD. It's not unusual for one of his six-hit strikes to drop a chara by 80HP. And if you don't have a Mirror Bracelet or the Zodiac Bracelet on, there's a good chance he's going to Petrify you too. Needless to say, he's not the easiest boss in the world. Rage and Gale help immensely, as does dedicating one chara to healing and using the other three to combo. Godhand also has tons of HP, so this is one is going to take a loooooong time to win. Don't forget to keep a careful eye on SP levels. No crests for winning, but put together a 31+ Hit combo and you can expect a Chain Vest for your troubles. Jack that up to a whopping 54 hits, and you'll get a Strike Area Expander. Be careful! It seems these two items are mutually exclusive. Get 54 hits, and you'll get *only* the Strike Area Expander. (thanks Nata!) Once you do manage to exhaust his store of HP, Lenny reels backwards, tipping out the hole he'd created earlier with a pitiful little whine of "...lost again." Roger finally rescued (no, you can't name him this time, either), he goes on a little rant about you handing over the Emigre Tome, but there's nothing you can do about it at the moment. Instead, let's get the heck away from this island. I don't know about you, but I've been here plenty long enough. The FMVs end, bringing up the World Map. At this moment, the only place open is Cannes. Use this opportunity to save first, should you like to do so. In Cannes, you find yourself in the cafe, which is a good thing. You're going to want a nice drink to sip on while Roger spiels on about what he knows of Sapientes Gladio. He winds up his monologue with a request to go to back to his home in Wales. However, control is given back to you, and there's no pressing need to go directly to Wales. Now is a lovely opportunity to 1) talk to Big-Mouthed Croft and get your next Treasure Hunt clue (I mean, he's right outside where you are and all) and 2) visit Grand Gama in Southampton and get Joachim's next Muscle Art, DeathTron Hammer. Talk to the in Southampton to start up the training match, but before you go in, you might want to have a Voodoo Doll on, as well as accessories heavy on the defensive element. Many Thera Seeds, or a Crest with Cure and the confidence that you can reliably hit a critical are also must-haves. Y'see, Grand Gama will come at you with his version of the Hammer for the first two rounds, doing around 70HP damage. On the third round, he'll unloose with a Third Key which, if you're lucky, will only do 200HP damage and leave you with about 10HP or so left. After the third round, he won't use Keys any more, but he will use the Hammer pretty consistently. Cure like mad with the Seeds and a powerful Cure, and hope you can outlast him. Finish up any other odd errands that might strike you, and wander on to Wales. Inside Roger's "house", he'll ask you to flip a switch that's located behind the latticework on the right side of the bottom floor. Just keep following that nook until you reach the back. A "?" should show up. Press O and a really sketchy looking gadget will bloom out of the middle of the floor. Ride that into the basement, and go left to find out what S.G. had been hounding Roger for; an airship. Roger then finally mentions the ringleader of the Lenny/Veronica/Nicholai circus--- RASPUTIN. And he is currently in--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ---sharing a rather interesting morning-after talk with Veronica. One that is being carefully, but not too successfully, eaves-dropped upon by a snooping girl in a blue coat. Taking it on herself to expose Rasputin for the traitor he is, our new (and at the moment, only) chara decides to track down the servant, Ivan, pump him for information, then return to her room to plot. So open up the menu and see what kind of chara she is. Note that she brings with her 4 new Crests ---Andrealphus, Dantalion, Balam and Botis---. Nothing insists that you go find this Ivan person immediately, leaving you quite free to explore a very large palace. The door to the north is locked, and you can't very well go barging in on Rasputin demanding answers, so it's down we go. All the way down. Two of the other three sets of doors have guards blocking your way, and the third set leads only to an empty room. The door to the south opens into a very similar corridor. The only room worth entering is the second one. On its far side lies a treasure chest containing a Seal of Life. This next door going south opens into a very grand Entrance Hall. Too bad the guards won't let you go down the massive marble stairs. Going left is the only option remaining. Oh, check the near left corner of the balcony. A treasure chest is rather well concealed there. Grab the LV2 Attack Down out of it, then make your way through the double doors. A mirror image of the two halls you just went through on the right side of the Palace (the East Halls), this new hall is named, aptly, the West Hall. The patroling guard is named Krile. Pest him and he'll give you the Stud Card Mr. Swan. The first room to the right is your own. To the right of the bed is a chest with a Mana Root. The second room to the right is the personal chamber Crown Prince Alexei, and his mother is along with him. But at the moment, there's absolutely nothing interesting going on with them, so you can ignore that room. In the third (and final) room to the right, you finally locate Ivan. He's hanging out in the bottom left part of the room. Talk to him, then return to your own room. Choose to sleep to set the next several events in motion. You get whisked off to Edgar's shop, on the far side of town. The old clock-maker putzes about his desk making both camera and mechanical egg (see Anastasia's chara data for info on how Snapshot and Album work). As she decides to go out, she bumps into this tall, heavily built Japanese man coming in... Katou. What his business in Petrograd is, who knows. However, his business in the Clock shop is simply to have his pocket watch repaired. You leave without prying. Anyways, time to set off on Patrol (aka: killing time). First, nab the blatantly obvious treasure chest near the top of your screen, then use the save point. Follow the broad street to your left, going straight through the T-section for the moment. It eventually leads you to the Great Square. Go forward until the camera angle switches, so that you're not looking down any more, then go as far to the back-left as you can. It's hard to see in the shadows and snow, but there's a treasure chest back there with a Hit Area Expander ripe for the picking. Over to the right. The ever-present Mazymell Bros. have set up shop in the bottom right corner of the Square, but at the moment you have nowhere near the funds to purchase anything. Wind you way around clockwise, ignoring the huge building on the left side (the Palace), until you've gotten to the furthest back left corner you can reach. Again, there's a really well hidden treasure chest back there, this time with the ---Crest Furcas--- in it. On your way back, check around the right pillar by the obelisque in the center of the Square. Theoretically, there is a Seal of Knowledge there. That cleans out the Square, so back towards Edgar's, hooking a right at the intersection. You don't go 6 steps before a short cut-scene interrupts you; Rasputin making his regal way in a direction that in no way leads to a Church. Keep going until the street makes a sharp turn up, and yet another cut-scene will start; Rasputin down a slim set of stairs right before the bridge leading out of town. Don't go dashing over there just yet. Raid the treasure chest in the corner the street makes to gain a Defense Down 2. Stop at the top of the steps, decide you don't have enough guts yet, go directly backwards to the street lamp and snag a Strike Area Expander, *then* decide you're ready to do something stupid. Sneak down the steps, and yet another event starts up. It seems you've stumbled into a conversation that you really weren't meant to hear. Plus, they noticed you're there, which makes the situation even stickier. They're kind enough to give you a head start in the running thing, but you only get up to the alleyway you used previously before they catch up with you. Or, more precisely, their little "pet" does. But, fortunately, the laws of Heroism are firmly in place in this game, and the Hero, namely Yuri, shows up in the nick of time. ---MINI BOSS FIGHT: Pendulam (Water affinity) This isn't too hard a fight. Just combo up and whale away. But don't forget to have Anastasia use Snapshot on the critter. It'll give you her first Album spell; Aqua Raise. Once the smoke clears, you find yourself back in Edgar's shop, with yet another FMV starting up. This one is quite the long one, in which black magic is discussed, names are revealed (Anastasia, princess of Russia), names are dropped (Rasputin), and bad ideas are shared all around. In the end, Anastasia winds up taking temporary control of the Crew in the hope that she can get them into the Palace and close enough to Rasputin to discover what he's up to. So off to the Palace we must go. Snag the Lottery Ticket that's hidden behind Edgar's counter and head out onto the streets. Using the save point might be a good idea, but it's not totally necessary at the moment. Aim for the Great Square, going straight through the intersection. Stop by the stooped-over old man standing on the street; Old Boris. He'll give Karin a chapter of Nibelung. You also now have plenty of Cash to warrant a visit to the Mazymell Bros, who have weapons upgrades for you. **BARGAIN HUNTER'S TIP** Don't buy Karin's upgrade. You can find it for free in the palace. Enter the building on the left side of the Great Square, and, contrary to your undoubted expectation to see the grand Entrance Hall, you are instead whisked off in another cut scene to a crude brick room with two familiar people inside. Nicholai and Katou. And the Emigre Tome? The two are cutting a dark deal that speaks of revolt and betrayal, Katou showing that a little over a year of time has indeed made him a much different man than he was in SH1. That deal is one that will have repercussions throughout the game. However, it will be some time before we see any of them. In the mean time, we will have to content ourselves with exploring a little more of the large palace called Hermitage. Let's do the lower floor first, so head through the huge double doors which are between the marble staircases. The short hallway beyond leads only to the left and more double doors, which, in turn, lead to a hallway much like the ones you explored in your last pass through here. In fact, this is the Lower West Hallway, and a direct copy of the hallway directly above it. However, the Lottery Ticket in the second potted plant, and Karin's weapon upgrade stashed in the treasure chest hidden poorly in the third room to the right are originals to this floor. Get those, and move the exploration to the main floor. First, stop by Anastasia's room in the West Hall (double doors to the left of the Entrance Hall, 1st door on the left). There should now be a teddy bear sitting on her bench in the back right corner of the room. Poke around underneath it to find the Empress card for Lucia's Tarot deck. A few East Hall (double doors to the right of the entrance hall) guards have gone off duty, so there are a few more rooms you can enter there. For example, the 2nd room has been opened for cleaning. Talk to the maid near the right side of the room to meet Lottery Member #11. *WARNING*: Reverse Ring! Unfortunately, there isn't much else left in the way of excuses for procrastinating any longer, so we might as well bite the bullet and go pay our respects to the Czarina. Go through the door to the north of you, then take an immediate left and go through the doors there. The next hallway should be empty of pretty much everything except a pair of white double doors. These lead to the Throne Room, where the Czarina awaits. As you expected, she is *not* happy. Not very happy at all. And she doesn't like the looks of the Crew either (well, they are some rather sketchy charas). After giving Anastasia a sharp scolding (in front of everybody, no less), she's about to turn the whole Crew out on their ears when a rescue is mounted from a most unexpected source: Rasputin. He convinces the Czarina to let them stay as "entertainment" for Anastasia. Entertainment for himself, as well, though he doesn't say this out loud. Once the Czarina retires, there is much sizing up going on between Rasputin and Yuri, but nothing happens just yet. As he leaves, Rasputin creates a standing "invitation" to visit him in the Lion Wing of the Palace. That encounter still leaving a bad taste in your mouth, go back to Anastasia's room to regroup. You're hardly in there before another FMV begins, this time Anastasia delving into a short history on how Rasputin came to be at the Palace and how the situation deteriorated from there. Yuri just gets done showing off his Nice Guy side when this weird pink mist starts wafting into the room, followed shortly by a weaving, hallucinating Czarina. Even more disturbing, she soon starts talking with Rasputin's voice. He didn't like the idea of a boring ball, so instead he had Veronica whip up a smoke that'd stone everyone in the Palace. Oh, and he's "watching over" Crown Prince Alexei, too. Choose you're party, folks, and get ready to storm--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Anastasia once again takes the lead in this foray, but everyone else is up to you. The creatures Veronica's conjured up lean heavily to the magic end of the spectrum, only the Pendurams bringing out a ring ailment; reverse ring. Put on Pocket Watches, should you feel the need, and use the save point. I guess they just that minute crawled in through the window, but both the Mazymells are right there next to you, with exactly the same stuff they had outside. Buy stuff or ignore them, it's your call. Anyways, let's get a look at what Veronica's funky pink mist has done to the Palace. A konked out guard blocks the upper door out of the West Hall, and you've already cleaned out the other rooms here, so go to the Entrance Hall. Another fallen guard blocks the double doors leading to the East Hall, leaving you with only one path to take. Through the huge double doors between the staircases, then on to the Lower West Hall. Again, you've already emptied these rooms of anything interesting, so proceed on to the northern door and a new part of the Palace. One that looks quite a bit like the Entrance Hall, except the staircases aren't curving. A comatose guard conveniently blocks the door directly to your right, but don't go up the stairs just yet. Duck between them and to the closet behind doors entirely too ornate to lead to just a closet. Shoved into the back left corner of that closet is a treasure chest. Even better, inside that treasure chest is the ---Crest Eligos---. Considering it has been left to gather dust in the back of a closet, I'd say no one else is using it, so feel free to add it to your collection. Now head on up the steps, and over to the left-side balcony. Follow it to the end for a really obvious treasure chest, this one containing a Bell Bracelet. At the end of the right-side balcony is your way forward. In fact, it opens into a hallway you left not all that long ago; the one that leads to the Throne Room. Stride through those white double doors again, and peek into the room behind the throne (either set of doors will do). Check the back side of the bed, and a "?" should appear, along with a Circlet. Back out of the Throne Room and onwards to the right, then immediately down into the East Hall. Use the save point that's there and heal up. Through the door just below you waits a--- -----BOSS FIGHT: VIKTOR (Fire elemental) ...and his pet Penduram, which is, at the moment, nothing more than a nuisance. Have Anastasia snapshot Viktor and use your other three charas in combo to put it out of our misery straight off. Viktor himself is hardly more than a nuisance. He's got a decent chunk of HP, but his physical attack leaves much to be desired. About the only thing you have to be careful of is the fire spell he unleashes, which could do around 100HP of damage. Convince Viktor that he's better off being elsewhere at the moment, and he takes your advice in such a hurry that he leaves both the ---Crest Halphas--- and his keys behind. The Crest has obvious immediate uses. Snitch the keys just to be contrary. Use the save point again, and head north, as nothing new and interesting has appeared in the other rooms on this hall. The next hall is barren except for one interesting thing in the second room. There's a chest to the left of the bed in there, where some forgetful person left a Pirate's Earring. I'm sure you have more use for it than they. Anyways, put Viktor's keys to good use on the north door, and head all the way to the solar at the far end. Rasputin is waiting, and he has quite the show in store, with the Crew as his players. He starts off with the typical Villain's Schpeil, which, while a done-to-death idea, is still a very well laid-out plan. Yuri tries to nip it in the bud by taking out Rasputin right there and then, but some sort of barrier keeps his strikes well shy of their target. Rasputin, on the other hand, merely reaches out and tweaks the curse, and Yuri keels over like a felled ox. Karin, Joachim and Blanca make brave attempts, but they meet with less success than Yuri had. Rasputin, of course, is amused to no end. To further entertain himself and make life that much more difficult for the Crew, he mesmerizes Anastasia long enough to make it look like she's about to kill Alexei right when her mother comes stumbling in. That rather thoroghly axes any plans for a long stay in Petrograd. The Crew high-tails it out of there, guards hot on their heels. Making a temporary pit-stop in at Edgar's, they pick up Roger, who has a lot of new info to share. It's obvious they've got to get out of Russia for the moment. Conveniently, Roger has just located a person who could shed a whole lot more light on Sapientes Gladio, Rasputin, and whatever it was that put that bloody annoying barrier on him. Said person is, luckily, not in Russia. However, don't go bidding Petrograd a hasty, but temporary, farewell so fast. Turn your steps towards the bridge where Anastasia eavesdropped, and duck into that short alleyway where Yuri and the Crew saved her from the Penduram. Two rather interesting, uhm, personages, have appeared back there, one of which looks like a dog in a white body sock, with a fishbowl on it's head. Go a little closer, and you realize the puppy's got green fur. The guy next to it isn't an icon of normality either. In fact, the pair politely introduce themselves as and R-3, envoys from Planet Suzuran (Planet Lily of the Valley? yeeeesh), sent here to scout Earth for an invasion in the near future, and would you mind matching your wolf against R-3? You might want to put on a White Feather Bracelet before this one, because R-3 does use Panic, which causes your SP to drop by 3 every round, and he uses it *constantly*. He'll break it up with an occasional Nova, but that doesn't do much in the way of damage. None of his attacks do, actually. Keep calm and avoid the Panic, and R-3 shouldn't be too hard to put down. He should be the 6th stamp in your booklet, so pay a visit to Earnest in Mon Martre before making your way to--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Your immediate welcome is not the warmest, but Thomas--er, Lawrence...whatever, interjects on your behalf and the guns get put down. Both Lucia and Roger seem to know the guy, so I guess he's safely on the list of "allies." Both Lawrence and Roger explain things in a little more detail, and inform you that the man who knows everything about Sapientes Gladio, Jovis, is waiting to meet them. Of course, you don't have to go see him immediately. There a couple things you can get first. I doubt you're surprised any more, but the Mazymell Bros. are waiting for you as well, just inside the Valley. Gerard has armor upgrades for you, as well. **TIP**: Buy one less Blue Cape than you need. There's one deeper in the Valley. Also, a treasure chest sits in plain view and nobody else seems in a hurry to grab it, so claim it's contents, the ---Crest Marax---, as yours. Try to go through the stone arch at the edge of the open valley, and you get called to a halt by a blonde, veiled lady. She names herself Sara, a servant of King Solomon (nevermind he's been dead for about 3000 years). She is the ring-master for SH2's version of Pit Fights: Sara's Challenge. The second half of the Solomon's Quest minigame-slash-sidequest, completing all of Sara's Challenges (and there are a LOT) will also get you Gepetto's Ultimate Armor at the end. At the moment, however, only the 4 Beginner Levels are available. You've got time, so try a couple of them, or not, it's up to you. Anyways, moving on to the inside of the caves. Peek into the first room on your right. At the back of it is a treasure chest. Who cares if this is somebody else's chest in somebody else's home. You found it fair and square, so take the Seal of Aura inside and get out. Up the stairs to the right, next. Poke around the bottom of the single stone pillar supporting the crude balcony's roof to find Treasure Hunt Item #2, the ---Crest Seere---. Back down inside, and on to the second door on the right. On the well-dressed inhabitant's table is a Lottery Ticket. Approach Lawrence, and head through the steel door bearing the Sapientes Gladio logo on it. It doesn't immediately open into the chapel, there's still a short stretch of tunnel. Another tunnel branches off to the right of that one about 5 steps in, and leads to Jovis's personal rooms, which are just as well furnished as any other room in the cave-town. The chest in the right corner has your last Blue Cape. All the freebies acquired, move on to the rather nice little chapel in the back of the cavern and meet this Jovis person. An FMV starts up, and you find out that the old, blind priest knows a whole lot more about Yuri and the events of SH1 than you'd think. Fortunately, he holds no grudges for Yuri's involvment in the downfall of his friend Albert Simon, even going so far as to volunteer all of the information about Sapientes Gladio and Rasputin that you need. Turns out the barrier around Rasputin is created by the FM bonded to him; Asmodeus, a demon god at the top of Hell's food chain. The only way to combat them is with one of the other two demons right up there on the same pedistal as Asmodeus, namely Amon. Jovis agrees to help you recover Amon, who is still buried somewhere in Yuri's soul, but he can only send 2 people in; Yuri, of course, and Karin. You have a moment to equip these two before everything starts up, so be sure to put Pocket Watches on, and the pedometer. Don't forget to update Karin's spell list! She'll be your only spellcaster. Go all the way back out to the save point and save, the next opportunity won't come for a while. When you're all ready, go back to the chapel, and through the door in the upper right corner. Walk around the RIGHT side of the circular room beyond, not the left. Why? Because you'll meet the Spirit of the Ring if you do! Apologies are exchanged all around, and for once the "ceremony" of sorts is carried out (mostly) seriously. Talk to Jovis to get the ball rolling, his spell sending the both of you spiralling down into Yuri's Graveyard. Neither door to the FMs' courts will open, your only choice is the wooden door to the north; the Door to Indecision. Jeanne awaits you on the other side with a pep talk, but not much else. The door that will open for you now is the Door to Destruction. Step across its threshold to reach the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> You find yourself in a fairly well appointed hall that's quite a bit of a contrast from the sparse Graveyard. You'll also quickly notice that there is no exit back to the Graveyard. You are stuck here until you've cleared it. Since there's no other direction to be going then, forward it is. Seeing as it's Yuri's soul you're wandering through, there isn't going to be much in the way of physical treasure you can plunder and take on back to Reality. So, with no potted plants to overturn nor corners to check, you can simply follow where the hall leads. Getting lost is no danger here. Do note the floor-to-ceiling mirror right before the first set of double doors, you'll need to remember where it is later on. On to the next part of the Hall, which is as uncomplicated as the first. Go until there's an arch connecting the two halls, which are layered like two spoons stuck together, and then turn up towards the double doors. The space beyond those is a little different. For one, it's not a hall but instead is a cozy little study. On the right wall is another of those huge floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Examine it, and Yuri makes the astute (especially for Yuri) observation that this is, after all, the inside of his soul. There aren't going to be any *normal* mirrors in here. Right on the heels of that statement, you get yanked into a fight with... yourselves? Well, your Evil Mirror Twins, anyways. Fortunately, they have exactly the same number of HP that you do, and they hit nowhere near as hard as you do. Clean them up, and the mirror warps you right through to the other side. As Jovis will shortly inform you, the mirrors function as gateways between Reality and the Other Side, though each only goes one way. If you need your HP/MP healed, talk to Jovis, but otherwise, you can go out the blue double doors. Those don't take you too far. The hall comes to an abrupt halt, a treasure chest decorating it's end. Inside is a Third Key, the only real treasure in this whole dungeon. Retrace your steps through the study and out the door in the bottom right corner. Down and to the right through the arch to the outer layer of the Spooned Halls, then go as though you're trying to get back to the entrance. This is the Other Side, so of course there won't be an exit all the way at the end. There will be another treasure chest, though. One which holds the Mirror Key. Grab that and go back up one hallway. Just before you go into the door leading to the Spooned Hallways, use the mirror there to get back to the Real Side. Continue your journey to the study from there. Once you've arrived, don't touch the mirror, thinking to have Jovis heal you. You'll just get sucked through to the other side again and have to make a big circle to get back here. Instead, just go straight through the blue double doors. The hallway beyond is a near copy of the one on the Mirror Side. It just doesn't end in a blank wall, but a save point and a set of really ornate doors. I don't think I have to tell you twice about using the save point, though while you're at it, change out the Pocket Watches for accessories which boost physical defense. Moving on. Step on the glowing crest on the floor in the grand room on the other side of the doors to start the FMV. Amon makes his appearance in grand style, reflecting himself over Yuri in the huge mirror before striding straight through it and starting up quite the chest-beating display. ---BOSS FIGHT: AMON (affiliation NONE) For all that this is *Amon* we're talking about here, he's dangerously close to a pushover. He'll use any one of his 3 magic skills, plus a decent physical attack. One round can see him doing over 60HP damage, but not much more. Use Karin to heal when necessary and pound through Amon's distressingly low HP count as quick as you can. Defeating Amon doesn't end things right away. Instead, Yuri insists on stepping through the mirror and into... a forest? A figure familiar to fans of SH1 sits on a bench at the edge of a wooded cliff, simply enjoying the peace. Yuri and Albert didn't part on bad terms in SH1, and that pseudo-friendship continues here, the two men sharing a heart-to-heart that does much for restoring some of Yuri's lost confidence. From there, things make a sharp change in direction best described by the one word "Meanwhile...." In Petrograd, Rasputin holds an audience with Nicholai. They talk of alliances made and plans for the coming war, including this one ship called "Lucitania" that's going to be making a trip from America sometime soon... Back in Goreme, Yuri and Karin try desperately to enjoy the beautiful sunset, while things depressing and things philosophical weigh on their minds. The moment is interrupted by Anastasia, who tells them to hurry to Jovis. Not in the best of health after sending Yuri and Karin to the Hall of Mirrors, Jovis tries his best to tell the Crew the last of what they need to know, the biggest part being a third demon equal to Amon and Asmodeus in power; Astarot. Like Amon is bonded to Yuri, and Asmodeus is bonded to Rasputin, so Astaroth has bonded to a human host. The question is who. The story jumps back to Petrograd, the Czar returning "triumphantly" from his trip to the front. He is *not* a happy camper about what happened to Anastasia and he's not really buying the explanation the Czarina attempts. He does, however, agree to have the Ball begin on schedule. A Ball which the Crew is going to have problems getting into. You've suddenly arrived at the gates to the Great Square, and the palace side is crawling with troops. The servant Ivan shows up in a nice coincidence, and directs you to the far side of town, where Anastasia first spied on Viktor and Rasputin. There's a secret entrance to the palace from there. So get going. Right after you make the last turn to the bridge, Yuri keels over, Jeanne clammoring for his attention. Her point, in a nutshell, is that GradeMAX Fusion Monsters are now available, you just need to get ahold of Soul Drops to wake them. If you want, you can turn on your heel right now, leave Petrograd and get the two freebie Soul Drops in Goreme (talk to Lawrence back in the chapel) and in Dom Remy (very back of the chapel). You may be tempted to deal with Maya's Wolf Bout on your way through Dom Remy now, but I highly suggest you wait. With Blanca at only LV20 or so, and with his current equipment, you'll just get pasted in the first round. Try again after you've been through the Halls of the Dead. Anyways, on to that spot where Anastasia crashed Rasputin's meeting with Viktor. Start down the stairs, and a nobleman will step forward, introduce himself, and open up the way to the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< From where you're standing, take two steps to the left and use the save point. In almost exactly the same spot, maybe just a little above, is a skeleton. Search him for another Nibelung chapter. Go four steps to your right and you're confronted with a closed gate. Karin makes the brilliant observation that the gate, and the lever next to the gate have the same Cyrillic letter on them. In a happy coincidence, that lever just happens to be the one that opens that gate. I should think you now have an idea how the rest of this dungeon is going to proceed. Unfortunately, not all the levers are right next to the gates they open. Follow the tunnel forward, and search the skeleton right before you make a sharp turn leftish-upish. It'll yield a Thera Root (the guy'd actually *used* it, maybe he wouldn't have died...) Turn into the first hall going up, the other two directions lead nowhere but to closed gates right now. Up one screen then hook a left at the next T-section. Strip the skeleton sitting in the corner made when that new corridor makes a sharp turn to get the Lottery Ticket it holds. Follow that side corridor to its end and flip the switch there, then return to the main hallway and go up. It opens up into what looks a lot like a sewer, open water flowing in neatly kept stone banks. Make a right and go through the gate you should have just opened. You'll hit another intersection shortly, this one giving you the choices of up-ish or down-ish. First, go down-ish. It's a pretty short tunnel. At the end is a lever that is theoretically moveable. Test that theory, and the lever does actually move in a quite satisfactory manner. Back up to the intersection. Choose "up-ish" this time. Turn around the corner and keep going straight until you very literally smack into the wall. Well, you would really smack into the wall if the Spirit of the Ring didn't show up and stop you, kind Soul that he is. Talk to him for a short while and he even agrees to do an impression of his wife next time, so you can see what she's like. Anyways, go down from there. It's another short hall, but with no switch. What it does have is very cleverly hidden treasure chest way down in the very bottom left corner. Inside is the ---Crest Leraje---. Confiscate that, make a 180 degree turn and go back the way you came. Round the corner and most of the way down the straight side, and you might notice a metal-bar door decorating the stone wall. If you look really hard, you might see the wolf in there. ...er, well, what was once a wolf, and is now the wolf-zombie Necros. Make sure Blanca has a Rosewood Bracelet on before starting this one, as Necros is really persistent with a Paralysis-laced attack. Negate that nasty little side-effect and Necros really isn't all that hard a hitter. However, he does move fast. Putting on Arc Gale is a definite recommendation. **TIP**: You may have noticed that I said "Arc Gale" there. Why "Arc" Gale when there's only one of Blanca? Shouldn't regular Gale be just as good, and half the MP to boot? Actually, no. Gale is noticably weaker than Arc Gale. For all that they theoretically raise your speed by the same amount, point Gale at a character, then point Arc Gale at them, and watch the turn bar at the top of your screen change. You should be getting considerably more turns for Arc Gale than for plain ol' Gale. Convince Necros that dying is a Good Thing, and move on. Go left at the intersection, back the way you came, and go up at the next intersection. Pull out your magnifying glass and give the ground a close once over when the hall makes a sharp turn to the left. Back there is Lucia's Tarot Card, the Magician. Pick that up and move over one screen. Before too long, the hall will make another right-angle turn down. Again, give the corner the once-over, take the Leonard's Bear there, and continue on your way. The hall comes to an end in a small, cramped little mausoleum. You might want to use the save point glowing serenely below you, and I'm sure you'll want to do a little nosey-poking between the bottom-most crypt and the wall. Somebody dropped the ---Crest Andromalius--- down there. Next, examine the upper-left-most crypt. Read the poor, dead Russian nobleman's dying words, then take the hall leading up out of the mausoleum. Hook a right at the T-section and you're pulled up short by a really quick dead-end. But it's got a lever there, so it makes the trip worth it. Pull the lever, then go back down straight through the mausoleum. Keep going a little ways until you can make a left turn. Go over a screen and raid the treasure chest sitting against the wall on the back-right. It gives up a LV2 Seal. From there, the hall makes a sharp turn down. Slide down along the wall, a couple steps along, you should trip over a "?" and it's Talisman of Luck. At the next crossroads, go left-down-ish. Over a screen, around the corner and on further down. Shortly, you'll notice another metal bar gate much like the one Necros was behind. This one has a Strongoid for you. Follow the twists and turns of the hall until you come to another T-section, one which you will go straight through. Far back against the wall is a not-too well hidden treasure chest. Take the useless armor out of it (you've probably already bought all the ones you need), it still has re-sell value. Flip the switch where the hall dead-ends, go back one intersection and turn right. After the hall makes a turn up, count out about 10 steps, then start watching the wall (or watching your Navi for a red dot) to find the switch. Hit it as you go by. At the next intersection, go right-down-ish. It's yet another short hallway, one with a switch at the end. The *last* switch. Flip it, turn around, and go straight up through the intersection. Go until the hall hits a T-section. Turn down. Shortly, a save point will come into view. Use it, should you feel the urge. From there, make the first turn down you find. Rob the skeleton of the necklace it had previously robbed from someone else, and retrace your steps past the save point, all the way up to the mausoleum again. In there, take a look at the middle crypt, and choose to give back the locket. Up out of the mausoleum, and make a left at the T-section. That hall will lead you to a staircase, which will in turn dump you out in the single closet you managed to find in the Palace. Talk to the noble there, then head out the bottom of the screen to kick the plot on its way. The Ball has begun, all the major players present; Rasputin, Nicholai, Veronica and Katou. ...and Viktor. Rasputin gives him a nod from across the room. Procuring a knife from somewhere, Viktor moves in on the zoning-out Czar, only to be interrupted by Yuri in the best instant to make a very big scene. Anastasia compounds Rasputin's problems by walking calmly into the stunned Throne Room. Her presence forces him to say nicey-nice words that have to stick in his craw. The present she gifts her royal father with, a photo album, then *really* compounds his problems. Guards come running in, and Nicholai goes slipping out. Veronica is still loyal enough to create enough of a smoke-screen for Rasputin to bug out. There's a short lived reunion between daughter and dad before the whole Palace starts shaking; Rasputin is obviously taking some exception to his recent treatment. The Palace shifts to red alert, and lucky you gets to go deal with the commotion. Conveniently, guards block off the ways you aren't supposed to go. Leave the Throne Room and go right, then down the stairs and through the door one level lower than the one you just came in. Surprise, surprise, the Mazymell Bros are there, as is a save point. Avail yourself of both their services. Leave this hall by going all the way to the end, and ducking down when you spot the strip of carpet. That opens up into the snow-covered garden. Go along the path for 15 steps and a cut scene will interrupt you, eventually dumping a truckload of enemies on you. Be careful with these guys, they're FAST. Clean them up and move on. Poke through the snow near the dry fountain in the center of the garden, where some unattentive noble dropped a Talisman of Mercy. Somewhat easier to find is the treasure chest, placed right where stone walk meets Palace wall on the left side of the garden. Inside is the ---Crest Ipos---. That warming comfortably in your pocket, return to the spiral staircase that rises up the center-back wall of the garden. Somewhere on you way up it, you will most certainly want to put Leonard's Bears on all four of your battle members, as the coming boss has the most uncanny and *annoying* ability to figure out and concentrate on the one character you may choose to equip with something else. Two steps before you reach the very top of the staircase, you will also very much want to heal everybody, because, for the first time, there is no handy- dandy save point up there. So by this point, you've probably guessed that topping that staircase will shove you directly into a--- BOSS FIGHT: NIGHT QUEEN (since Veronica was Water, this one'll be Water, too) Like Lenny, Veronica also has a monster form, and where he was the physical basher, she is the mage. Veronica uses spells of any affinity, and she almost always manages to catch more than one of your charas in the effect. Plus, they'll always to do at least 3-digit damage. Fu~~~n. All I can say is, have *plenty* of healing handy. But first things first, get rid of the two critters she's dragged into this fight with her. Then combo away. Night Queen has a considerable chunk of HP as well, so you're definitely going to want to watch the SP levels of Anastasia or Karin or whichever of the other frail-minded charas you have in the battle. Do manage to knock her HP down to zero, and you get Night Oil and the ---Crest Haagenti--- for your troubles. Of course, this isn't the end of things. Not quite. Here begins one of the cooler FMVs in the game. Not seeming to mind his lover dropping dead at his feet, Rasputin pulls the ages old looking-like-he's-leaping-to-his-death-but-is-really-jumping-to-his- ship maneuver, thinking that he's getting away scot-free. Unfortunately for him, Yuri chooses this moment to inform him that Amon is back in a very impressive display. The two end up duking it out on the bridge of Rasputin's airship. The end result is both the ship and Rasputin's vaunted Barrier get shattered. Heck, I think his sanity took more than a little bit of a beating, too. Not liking Amon upstaging him in the least, Rasputin calls on the deal he'd made with Asmodeus at the price of his soul, summoning forth the giant, living castle--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Which is precisely where we *don't* want to be going just yet. Idar Flamme is thrice as difficult as any dungeon you've crawled through so far, and there's quite a bit of preparation you should do before going in there. Finish up the informal war-council in Anastasia's room, and make one last round of the Palace. Go north out of the West Hall, down the stairs, right on the first floor and out into the Gardens again. In fact, go all the way on up to the rooftop where you trounced the Night Queen. Take a close look at the one corner, top left, and you should uncover a Silver Angel fragment. Collect all five and you'll get Anastasia's Ultimate Weapon. From there, go back into the Palace and up past the Throne Room, over into the hall just above the East Hall. The third door on the right is the only room you have yet to explore in the Palace; Rasputin's. To the left of his bed you will find some Tissues (we will not think to hard on that...), and on the right side you will find the item "Purple Bondage". You'll want to take that and a spare Stud Card to Pierre. Go down out of Rasputin's room and through the East Hall. If you chose to get the Straw Millionaire Item from Izicci the Wannabe Director, duck into the last room on your right and talk to Zubyoz for the next item. Out into the Entrance Hall and down to the save point there, which you might want to consider using, because you probably haven't saved since right before your fight with Night Queen. You will also very much like to talk to the fat businessman standing near there, as he can give you weapons *and* armor upgrades that, for once, the Bros don't have. *TIP*: Don't buy Lucia's upgrade. You can get that fairly early within Idar Flamme. Leave the Palace through the front door and a lengthy event starts up, in which we learn how big a personality transformation Rasputin has undergone, and some of the details in the twisted and thorny relationship between him and Nicholai. Where that relationship is going from here is, obviously, straight down hill. Once the scene returns to the Crew, standing patiently outside of the Palace, go straight down into the snowdrifts at the very bottom left corner of the Great Square. For some strange reason, there is a very big fish sticking tailfin first out of the snow there. Joachim reminisces on some memorable tuna-fights he had an undefined amount of time ago and walks off with the frozen version he just found, much to the surprise of Anastasia. If you got the next Straw Millionaire item from little Critic-Wannabe Fabio, then your next stop is the guy standing between the Bros. and the street leading out of the Square. Your last stop in Petrograd is Edgar's clock shop. Talk to him and you'll get the Anastasia-specific item Panorama Lens, which lets you Snapshot all the enemies in one go. Edgar will also insist on you staying for dinner and the rest of the night, which segues into another short FMV. Nicholai comes to Karin in a dream (?!) and declares that he's in love with her (?!?!). Karin chooses to stay by Yuri, slamming the door in Nicholai' face very thoroghly. And you can close the door on Petrograd, at least for a little while. A dot for Idar Flamme will appear on your map, but you still don't want to go there just yet. There's a short checklist of things you can get done right quick, before heading there. Firstly-> get your next Treasure Hunt clue from Croft in Cannes if you haven't already. Secondly-> Stop by the Junk Kingdom near the Old Cathedral, in Paris. The shop owner will sell you the Gepetto-specific item "Silver Seat" for 10,000 Cash. Thirdly-> While you're in Paris, take a walk down the Champs Elysees. The gentleman standing by the perpetually closed restaurant, Genardine, is very interested in the perogies you got in Petrograd. (It doesn't matter whether you got them from Zubyoz or Chagal). He'll give you a Talking Panda. Fourthly-> One last stop in Paris, back to Gepetto's Old Apartment. The landlady isn't happy that you're not keeping up with rent, but if you play the lotto, she'll let you off for this month. Yes, she's Lotto Member #10. Get quick on your trigger finger, her ring is FAST. Lastly-> Go back to Dom Remy and take care of Maya and his cronies in the eighth Wolf Bout. Put on a Shell Bracelet and make absolute sure you have the crest with Arc Gale, because you're going to need it. It's a three-on-one fight, and you start out surrounded. Use *items* to heal, since that will bring you back up on the turn bar faster, and slap an Arc Gale on yourself as soon as possible. Do watch your SP levels, as you will need to use at least one Pure Leaf during this fight. Take out Maltiger first, he's the weakest link in their chain, then Mathieu. Those two out of the way, Maya himself isn't all that hard to drop. He'll even cough up one of Lucia's Tarot Cards, the Fool, when you win. Alright, *now* you can go to Idar Flamme. Equip your party of choice to deal with critters who will dish out Panic and Mental Break, as well as an unhealthy amount of physical damage. Also, stock up very high on Thera and Mana items. Idar Flamme does not fight you with complexity, it hauls you into a war of attrition. It *SPRAWLS* with corridors that go on forever and a day before hitting another. Well, sooner started, sooner done. Step into the living castle and get this show on the road. Where the corridor first splits, hang left and pop open the red treasure chest sitting in just outside the intersection on your way by. It'll give you a Mana Root. Hike a good long ways to the next fork in the corridor and go right-downish. Follow the loo~~~~ng looping path to the bottom of the upside-down parabola, where a treasure chest just happens to be sitting innocently. Raid the contents of it, a weapon-upgrade for Lucia, as you pass. Keep trecking along and the corridor you're following will eventually feed into another. You'll want to turn down, take the 20 steps or so required to get to the next interesection, and make a right. Again, you're going for quite some time before something interrupts the monotony of the hallway; a treasure chest. Yay! Swipe the LV2 Paralysis out of it and keep going. Before too long you reach another split in the corridor. First go left for a little ways, then go right when the corridor splits again. Proceed one screen, and your path will be decorated by another red chest, this one with a Bat's Gold. Nab that and continue on your merry way to the next intersection, where you'll make a right. For a change, it's only a short distance before you come across yet another intersection. Go down, then follow that up with a quick right at the next split in the corridor. That particular branch actually comes to a rather quick halt, but, in recompense, it offers you not one, but *three* treasure chests to plunder. Your haul should include a Cosmic Bracelet, a Faerie's Sigh and a Strike Area Expander. Make a 180 and go up through the next two intersections. Round the bend and... waitaminute... is that the Mazymell Bros. car there? By this point, you shouldn't be surprised. They have Chain Belts, but nothing else much new. Up is the way out, but we're not quite going that way yet. There's one more treasure chest to get. Go left through that great convergence of corridors until, finally, you reach another small branching. Take the right path, and then straight on through the next intersection you come across. At the third fork, go leftish-upish. The dead end offers you another small cache of treasure, though only 2 chests this time, instead of three. You still get a Silver Gray Bracelet and a Mana Root, though. Go back one intersection, and hook a right. The next crossroads is the major artery that runs straight from the entrance all the way up to the exit, so you're going to want to go up here, until you spot the Mazymells and the save point again. Unless you feel the need to use said save point, you can actually just keep on going up and up until you pass into the next section, which is much different, and thankfully, much shorter than the one you just cleared. First off, go to the right until you can't any more, then go up. There should be a red treasure chest just kinda sitting there in plain sight. Since no one else seems to want it, go ahead and take the Third Key. From there, turn around and go back one intersection and up, to where there's a funky looking industrial sized fan, and a glowing purplish pad next to it. Poke the pad to shut down the fan, and thence open a door...er...valve. So go back one turn and up through that newly opened valve, then take the next right. Again, go as far to the right as you can, then down. Swipe your hand over the switch-pad, make an about face, go up and get the newly revealed treasure chest. Well, not the chest itself, but the Will Power inside it. Shift into reverse and pedal back a few steps, turn left at the intersection. Bop the switch, back one more intersection, and up. Right at the next T-section, which leads you to yet another switch. You know the drill. Spin around, go straight through the T-section and the newly opened valve. Not 15 steps later, you're at another T-section. Go down to the next crossroads, and go right. Yes, right. No, there's no hall there, but there is a treasure chest. One with a Hit Area Expander in it even. Once you've got that, proceed on down and hook a left to, surprise, a switch! Who would've thought there was one of those in here. Poke it, turn around and take the first hall going up that you can find. Pass a hall going right, up to yet another T-section. First go left, hit the switch, then go all the way over to the right and get the next switch. Back down to that hall going right you'd passed before, get the White Feather Bracelet out of the chest there and go back up to the save point. Use that save point to heal up and shift your equipment to deal with heavy magical attacks, and the occasional assault by Paralysis. As you move on to the next part of the dungeon, just behind the right panel of the valve/door is a treasure chest you can't see on screen. It's there, trust me. And in it is a Pure Root. That in pocket, continue up into a--- -----BOSS FIGHT: MOTHER FILARIA (Light affinity) Actually, you have to go through four of these overgrown earthworms, in two pairs of two. Fortunately, any single one doesn't have too terribly many HP. Unfortunately, their combo attack can *hurt* to the tune of 200HP. Plus, they can cure each other. Choose one of the pair and squash it first, then go after the second. Xerox that pattern for the next set of two. Deal with all four of them and you now have 1) more fishing bait than you'll ever need in one lifetime and 2) given the whole castle a case of cardiac arrest. But not much else has happened. Swing around the left side of the stopped heart, then along the left edge of the room to reach a treasure chest. Empty the Seal of Agility out of it and go back to skirt the right edge of the room. Around the 4th rib from the door should pop up a "?", and with it a Voodoo Doll. Grab those two things and head on through the door, into a hallway that has a save point, but not much else. You will definitely be wanting to use that save point, as well as making some major changes to equipment. I highly suggest you equip/have handy the following: Willpowers or a deep supply of Pure Roots, somebody with Arc Gale, somebody with Arc Rage, and preferably somebody with Arc Barrier. Save, and step through the last door and confront what used to be Rasputin. -----BOSS FIGHT: ASMODEUS (affiliation NONE) Use those three spells I suggested immediately, and make sure every member of your party keeps their HP over 200. Asmodeus can and will unleash a spell that can do that much in one heavy thwak. His other worrysome attack is SP Down, which does precisely that; it shaves off upwards of 20SP and more off a chara. This isn't a percentage thing, it's a straight number. That means basically everyone except Yuri and Joachim will go from perfectly fine to berserk in one hit. However, if you keep Arc Gale on, Asmodeus won't have that many chances to do that to you. He's not the fastest of bosses. Fuse Yuri with Amon, since Amon hits harder than Yuri does, and is mildly faster. Just be careful because his SP will drop by 5 every round. Finally, combos and more combos. That's the most reliable way to part Asmodeus from his HP in large chunks. Smack him all the way down to zero, and you'll get one of Lucia's Tarot Cards, the World, for your troubles. Manage to do that with a 28+ Hit combo attack and you'll get a Zodiac Bracelet, too. But no matter how you do it, in the end you'll learn quite a bit more about the curse on Yuri, like the disturbing things that it'll do, and the even more disturbing fact that there's very likely *no cure*. At the moment, however, there isn't much time to be thinking about that. When Rasputin died, the whole of Idar Flamme starts going with him, though Roger's airship gets you out in plenty of time. A few seconds later, Yuri and Jeanne do have time to start thinking about it, the two sharing a very frank talk about the very bleak turn Yuri's life has just taken. Choose either answer to Jeanne's question, I don't think it really matters at this point. Though the top answer seems to get the better response from her. But the curse isn't top of the Priority List. There is one last member of the failing Sapientes Gladio left to be dealt with. He awaits you on the top floor of the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> You might not want to go dashing off to the Tower right away. It's your last stop in Europe for quite some time, so if there's anything you've left undone (Lucky Box for last of 3 available Soul Drops, Wakuraba if you want to, leftover Wolf Bouts, etc...), now's the time to do it. Once you're satisfied that everything you can do is done, on to the Tower. The critters inside stick to ring ailments, so Pocket Watches on your battle members should be enough in the way of preventative measures. Nicholai has already sent the "party invites", I believe, so let's not keep him waiting long. Inside, the first floor of the Tower is pretty much as it was when you first visited here way back in the beginning of the game, except the door off to your left is unsealed. Going that way leads you outside again in short order. You should see two treasure chests, the nearer of which holds the ---Crest Belial--- and the other having a Strike Area Expander. Nothing more there, go back inside and wind up the staircase to the right. Slip straight through the second floor, there's nothing new there. The glowing crest that had been on the third floor is no longer there, but that doesn't mean it's as empty as the second floor was. Go back and to the left to meet the Spirit of the Ring for the last time in Europe. He'll wow you with quite an impression of his wife, and Yuri can't quite talk him out of continuing the trend with an impression of his daughter next time. ::sigh:: Anyways, you've got business on the top floor, so move along. You'll run into a sealed door pretty quick, leaving you little choice but to head into the back end of the floor. It's a cell block, kinda like the setup down on the second floor, except with actual bars, and for some strange reason, a large set of scales in the middle. Get the scales to balance, and the door will open. There's already a golden weight on the right side. What you must do is figure out which combination of four weights, quaintly named for crimes, will equal the gold weight, which itself is equal to 3 Arsons. You can read the plaque on the left side of that cell to get a cryptic description of the weight of each crime and attempt to figure it out for yourself (it really isn't too hard), or you can cheat and read the next line. One Arson and one Murder will equal the gold weight. Proceed on to the 5th floor. There are a handful of iron cages sitting around the floor, and it's going to be your job to get them to move up and down across the next two floors so that you can make it all the way up. The first lever is on the wall on the left side of the floor, right next to the stairs going up. Shift that one to the "up" position, then go up yourself. The walkways up here form 4 spokes, the uppermost of which you can't use just yet. The spoke going off to the left first and confiscate a Pure Extract from the treasure chest sitting there. Swing around the column in the middle of the room and cross the right spoke for the stairs up to the seventh floor. Going up the stairs, you'll see a treasure chest on the landing, until the screen shifts and you lose it. Check next to the thick black pole in the iron latticework you're looking through to find it, and the Seal of the Soul inside. Right before you enter seventh floor proper, there's a switch on the wall. Shift that to the "down" spot. Yes, I know that looks counterproductive, but it'll all work out in the end. As soon as that cage has moved, get yourself back down the stairs you just climbed up. As it turns out, there's now a cage completing the upper spoke, so you can get over there to that lever. Fix that one in the bottom slot too. Revisit the fifth floor, and you might notice the cages on the upper side of the room have changed a bit. In fact, the only one there has somewhere acquired a treasure chest. Swipe the ---Crest Paimon--- out of it and get yourself back up to the seventh floor. Put the lever back in the up slot, swing by the treasure chest on the upper spoke and nab the Hit Area Expander out of it, then cross to the other side and finish your trip up to the eighth floor. Go through the big wooden double doors and over to the save point. Heal up, shift out the Pocket Watches for your favorite defensive items, and make sure you've got Arc Gale, Arc Rage and Arc Barrier handy. **TIP**: Even if he's not in your battle party, equip some of the leftover, useful crests and equipment on Blanca. He'll be doing some solo work at the start of Disc 2. Save and head through the gold-inlaid double doors to your appointment with Nicholai, and the demon behind him--- BOSS FIGHT: Astaroth (affiliation NONE) Like Asmodeus, Astaroth is a quick bugger and he has magic and physical attacks that do 150-200HP damage. However, he does *not* have Asmodeus' SP drainer, and that makes him much, much easier. Fuse Yuri with Amon, slap on the three Arcs and combo the creep into oblivion. Beat him, and you get Galahad's Sword for Karin. Make 33 hits or more, and you'll get a Cosmic Bracelet for everybody. Yay. But that doesn't close the doors to Pandora's Box, nor staunch the flood of Malice into the world. The one who does that is Katou, who snuck in at some point. He also takes custody of the comatose Nicholai as, in accordance with the pact the two made over the Emigre Tome a short time ago, an heir to the Russian Throne. And at the moment, though he tries, there isn't anything Yuri can do about it. END DISC 1 *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* WALK-THROUGH: JAPAN +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Three months pass. The brutality level of WWI escalates, helped who knows how much by all the Malice Nicholai unleashed. The Crew ends up borrowing Roger and his airship to tail Katou, though they end up taking the Scenic Route to Japan. I guess, it being only 1915 and all, that they didn't know better than to let someone under 16 drive...er, fly. Anyways, the story picks up in the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ---where Yuri lies, bravely battling with a nearly lethal case of sea-sickness. -_-; So for the moment, nobody's going much of anywhere. Well, nobody except Blanca. Smart puppy that he is, he figures somebody's got to go to find help. So outfit him with any of the stuff you've got left over (since you can't access what's on the rest of your party right now), and raid the treasure chest sitting so arrogantly to your right. You'll want to put that armor upgrade on right away. Talk to the rest of the Crew if you want to, though they don't say much interesting, then go out the steel door to the left of Anastasia. It's night in Yokohama, your surroundings mostly quiet. For now, anyway. You are limited to skirting down-right along the edge of the building. Go far enough and a cut scene will trigger. Things are not as quiet as you'd have thought. A young samurai is running along the train tracks, trying to fend off a large posse of gunmen. A battle opens up, and you find yourself in charge of the samurai. You'll find out pretty quick that he has *zero* MP, but thankfully the three soldiers don't do quite so much damage that you have to worry about healing directly afterwards. Unfortunately, you're not done after just three. An option pops up for Blanca to join in the fun after the first bout. You're going to end up helping the guy in the end, so might as well dive in sooner rather than later. You're put through a total of three fights against sets of three soldiers before getting a breather. Now, there are a couple items floating around, but right now the area is charged with random encounters exactly like the three you just finished off. None of the items are immediately useful, and you'll be able to comb the area minus the random-encounter bit shortly, so let's do it then, shall we? In the meantime, there's plot to advance. Go right a couple steps to force the screen to shift, then go down on the right side of the stack of boxes. It shouldn't be long before you see the glow of a save point. Using it might be a nice idea. Straight to the right of the save point is one treasure chest that does have something immediately helpful in it; a weapon upgrade for Blanca. Put that on and go down along the right side of the smaller stack of lumber, way over on the very right edge of your screen. The screen will shift again, triggering another cut scene. Another posse of those soldiers has an old man and a little girl surrounded. I doubt they intend on escorting the two to safety. Your samurai companion doubts as much too, dashing off to the rescue. Faithful canine companion that you are, you follow. It's just another fight with a trio of the feebs, so it's no biggie. Clean 'em up and sit through some more FMV. The old man and his daughter are properly appreciative of your assistance, but they don't understand wolf-ese worth a darn (Snowball...?). You pick up the Blanca-specific item "Tortoise-shell Comb" automatically. Then things make a sharp shift over to an apparently recovered Yuri. Well, recovered enough to fake it, anyways. Take this opportunity to finally equip Karin with the Galahad Sword you swiped from Astaroth, and try to leave. That's when somebody finally notices that Blanca isn't there. Off we go to hunt for him! (And some nifty other stuff, too.) It's daytime now, no more random battles to get in the way of a leisurely scan of the entire Warehouse District. Get off that ledge you start on as soon as you can, and go far enough left to shift the screen to the train tracks. Follow the tracks up to the stopped car and slide up it's left side. Way in the back should be a treasure chest some poor soul utterly failed at hiding. Divest it of the ---Crest Naberius--- inside and go back down. Over as far left as the screen will go you'll notice that side of the District has a concrete ledge just like the right side. Tromp up the first set of steps you see. They should lead you right to a set of steel doors. Pop 'em open and wander on inside. As soon as you're in, go straight up. A "?" should pop up along the back wall. A Seal of Agility is just lying on the floor, apparently. I guess no one else is using it, so that makes it yours. Go left until the screen bumps over one, and you'll notice a guy in a white tank and green pants half-hidden in a nook along the back wall. You've just found Kensuke the Smuggler. Hey, this is an international dock, like there aren't going to be a couple like him around. Anyways, REMEMBER THIS GUY. He gets lots of neato stuff. If you scroll all the way down his list to the very bottom, you may even find the ---Crest Cimeies---, and this funky thing called a "Racoon Friend". You'll want both, the Crest for obvious reasons, the Racoon for Pierre. It's a fluffy stuffed animal. Pierre seems like the type that'd go for fluffy stuffed animals, don't you think? He's also got weapon and armor upgrades for everybody (except Karin and Joachim, of course). Outfit everyone to your liking and move just a little bit more to your left. Back against the boxes is another chest containing a Mana Root. Those are always useful, so swipe it and go back outside. Slide down the ledge a ways until you've got another door you can go into. Let's take a peek inside, shall we? Someone left a Lottery Ticket on the back-right end of the first table you see, and all the way on the left side is a treasure chest with a Hit Area Expander inside. Plus, there's this weird red log just kinda lying there. Check it out and see if Joachim likes it. He does. It's his new favorite weapon, the Red Pillar. Yay! Swipe it and poke around in the boxes behind it. Somewhere in there is the Small Jug. The next guy we're looking for is Lottery Member #9. He's a bit hard to pin down since he's wandering around along the tracks, but you can usually spot him just a little south of the lady in the pink dress, standing by the stairs out of the room you just went into. Calls himself "Murai". Manage to track him down and you can win a Big Jug off of him with quick thumbs and a bit of luck. Once you've got that dangling from your belt in good old drunk-samurai style, stagger on out of the Warehouse District and on to the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< You're barely there before Anastasia spots Snowba--, er, Blanca. The little girl rescued the previous night also spots him at about the same moment, and trots ahead of her young samurai bodyguard in her anxiousness to pet him. As she goes to cross the street, a Model-T screeches to a halt beside her. One of the soldier guys you saw plenty of recently hops out and nabs her, while another one keeps both Yuri and the samurai busy dancing with a Tommy gun. The car goes tearing off, with Blanca in hot persuit. The rest of the Crew opts to drag the young samurai, who got hurt somewhere along the line, back to a residence of the elderly gentleman who had been with the girl. Through the rest of the cut scene Anastasia falls head-over-heels in squealing love with the samurai (who's named Kurando, and doesn't notice a thing), Yuri insists on helping find the kidnapped girl, and Kurando, becomes a member of the Crew. Since Blanca trotted back in the middle of one of Yuri's arguements, you also know where that Model-T parked, so the next step in your journey isn't a mystery. But what say we frisk the Streets for some handy stuff, first. On the top of the list is the house/dojo-place you're in. Duck around the pillar the old gentleman is sitting near. Back in that nook is a thoroghly hidden treasure chest. In it is Soul Drop #4. You'll need that, I think. The house/dojo-place itself is located on the very far right side of the Streets, so going any further to the right is pointless. On to the left. You might want to use the save point that's near there. Or you might not. Your call. Keep going to the first corner. Going up will take you off the Streets inside 20 steps or thereabouts, so going straight across is probably the better plan. Yes. That is a real treasure chest just kinda sitting in plain sight on the far side of the intersection. It's even got the ---Crest Amdusias--- in it. I shouldn't have to tell you to get that one. One screen further to the left, and you'll find your own personal stalkers, the Mazymell Bros. Their selection looks much like what Kensuke the Smuggler had, plus an upgrade for Kurando. To the right of the Bros, you should see a slim black awning hung at an angle between the building and the ground. Step under it and poke around a bit. The Stud Card "Mr. Doctor" is hiding there, somewhere. Pocket it and continue on to your left. There's one more intersection, much like the one before it. In the middle of the street there should be a lady in a blue dress, Yuuko. Bug her 3 times and she'll give you the Shining Oil, just to make you go away. Follow the street lamps up the intersecting street, and behind the second-to- last one you'll meet the Spirit of the Ring! ...who gives you the usual shpiel all in baby talk. ^.^;; Thankfully, Yuri convinces him not to continue the trend with an impression of his dead grandmother. Kurando would probably appreciate the extra attack, so stick your new one on him and keep going up that sidewalk. Somewhere very close to the edge of the screen should be a wooden latticework square against the building. That's the Japanese idea of a door, and a close inspection of it should net you the Sun Tarot Card. That's a wrap on New and Interesting Stuff in Yokohama, so keep going all the way up and out of the Streets. On your World Map, a new destination should automatically pop up, the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< You start things on the docks, with a really weird camera angle to contend with. Up the gangplank isn't the first place you want to go. Instead, slide off to the left of it, where you might notice a stack of boxes. Go *behind* those boxes, to another stack that's under a shed of some sort. Poke your nose in there, and out pops the Spirit of the Ring! Didn't we just see him? And, he's looking to Yuri for marriage advice? ::blink:: Well, at least Yuri seemed to acquit himself well. Next stop is under the gangplank. Somebody thought they were hiding a treasure chest under there, to keep the ---Crest Vapula--- safe. Disabuse them of that notion and go on up the plank with Crest in hand. You'll want to speak to the sailor standing right there. He's got quite a bit to say on the state of Japanese modernity, plus a Nibelung chapter to give to Karin. There isn't much else to see on this top deck, so over to the right and down a set of stairs. Unfortunately, your arrival on board hasn't gone unnoticed (like you tried to be sneaky in the first place). A guy wearing thicker armor than a mideval knight, Lt.Col. Terada, is arguing with the Admiral of the ship over not getting his taxi....er, the Mikasa moving on time. Fortunately, the Admiral has no plans of getting his sailors involved, so those guys are safe to talk to. However, first you have to find your way through the complex, yet uncomplicated dungeon on this ship. How can something be complex, but uncomplicated? Stick with me for a couple minutes here, and you'll find out. The first thing that happens is Yuri and Kurando decide to split into two parties, Kurando taking the upper deck, Yuri the lower. You've got an even eight members now, so put whoever you want wherever you want. You might also want to make sure each party has a good healer, and several people with Rosewood Bracelets on. By default, you start out with Kurando's party. Hit the save point just this side of the staircase you went down, and head to the back of the room. Open up the blatantly obvious treasure chest sitting there to get Security Key #1. You'll need that momentarily. Just off to your left is a closed door, with two pedestals right next to it, both with funky Japanese letters on them. Now I could go into details about which one is "ee" and which one is "ro", but that would get confusing, so I'll just tell you which slot to stick the key in. At this moment, it's the second slot (ro). You might notice that this is not the letter that corresponds to the one on the door right next to you (ee), which also happens to be the first slot you can put the key in. It is very tempting to do just that, but trust me. First, you need to get Security Key #2. Hit the square button (check the bottom right corner of your screen) and shift over to Yuri's party, one floor below. He starts out, not in a room, but at the base of plain old stairs. Take the 7 steps needed to reach the closest intersection and go up. Cross over to the starboard side (or is it port?) of the ship and hook a right. If Kurando remembered to put the key in the correct slot, the door there (marked "ro") should be open. It'll lead you into a room much like the one Kurando is standing in, above. There's also another blatantly obvious treasure chest in it, too. Predictably, it contains Security Key #2. The door Yuri just came in through has a setup just like the one Kurando is facing. Put Key #2 in slot #1 (ee), so that the door in front of Kurando will open up. Shift things up to Kurando, *TAKE THE KEY OUT*, and go through the newly opened door. Key #1 in hand, walk through a mirror image of the halls Yuri just went through. Go down at the first opportunity, cross over to the port side (or is it starboard?) of the ship, and hook a right. It's a dead end, but if you look around the bottom of the pipes hard enough, you should spot Lucia's Tarot Card, the Lovers. Do an about face and go straight. You should go through another open door marked with the "ee" symbol, and shortly after that you'll want to go up. That hall will dead-end with a locked door, a key pedestal (marked with the Japanese letter for "ha") right next to it. Stick Key#1 in it, and change back over to Yuri. Obviously, Yuri's going to have to switch the slots Key#2 is in before he can go anywhere. Do that and go straight all the way across the ship until you dead end in front of a treasure chest. Open it, and put yet another key on your keyring. This one, however, is a Cabin Key, not a Security Key, and I know just the door to use it on. However, first, a detour. Go back 3 steps and take the first hall down you see. It'll dead-end in a hurry, with a sailor guarding a door that probably goes nowhere. Talk to this guy, who really isn't supposed to talk while on duty. Then again, he's also really not supposed to do the lottery while on duty, but if the commanding officer doesn't notice, it doesn't count. Lottery Member #8, Warrant Officer Watanabe has a Defense Down 3 for you, if you're quick and lucky enough. Hussle up and get this done, though. You don't want to get spotted. ^.^ Then retrace your steps further, taking the second turn down. Across to the other side of the ship, and make a left. 5 steps later, there should be a door in the wall. One which the Cabin Key, we hope, will open. The interior of the cabin is pretty posh, complete with a Lottery Ticket just lying on the coffee table in front of the green couch. I don't think anyone will notice if it's missing, do you? Next to the couch is a *really* out-of-place looking pedestal, with a lever on top. Fiddle with it to open a door somewhere else. Now, there's a uniform jacket hanging on the wall right next to the china cabinet there. I bet Big-Mouthed Croft would be really annoyed if you were to find the Death 2 hidden in its pockets. Annoying Big-Mouthed Croft is fun, though. Swipe it. Just to have a little icing on the cake, the sailor in the cabin will heal you if you talk to him twice. Leave Yuri loitering around the outside of the cabin, and go take a look in on what Kurando's been doing. Apparently, not much. Go down, left and on through the door Yuri opened for you. That'll dump you into a room that's a mirror image of the one on the other side of the ship. Ignore the two fancy-looking wooden doors on the left side of that room, they don't take you anywhere yet. Instead, make a bee-line for the back left part of the room, where there's another of those little pedestals with a lever. Return Yuri's favor by unlocking a door for him, then go over to your right to raid the treasure chest that's there. In it is the ---Crest Vine---. Yay! Give Kurando some time to ooh and aah over the Crest, and go drop in on Yuri. Head back up and right to the room with the pedestals and lock Yuri in there again by switching which slot his Key is in. Kurando's probably put the Crest away by now, so get him to hike the length of the ship back to his room with the two key-slot pedestals, picking up Key #1 along the way. Put it in the second slot (ro), so Yuri can get out and about. Have Yuri take Key #2 with him when he leaves. Go through the door, down and left past the Cabin. Take the next turn up that you can. That hall should shortly dead end, this time with a setup of two key-pedestals. Pop Key #2 in slot #2 and switch back to Kurando before he gets impatient. Before he can go anywhere, you've got to have Key #1 in slot #1. Once it's there, you get to go all the way straight across the ship. At the end of the hall isn't a dead end, but a staircase going down. Duck on down there to find yet another familiar-looking room. The only major difference with this one is there's a staircase smack in the middle of it. Take Kurando down there, talk to the sailor in there and find out how to work the console that's below, and switch back to Yuri. He doesn't have far to go to reach the same place, just go down and to the left and you should be right there. Head on down the stairs to start up a cut scene. The only way to open the huge door is for both Yuri and Kurando to hit the two buttons at exactly the same time. Thank goodness, you don't have to do this manually (has nightmare flashback of breaking into Shinra in FF7...). Beyond the door is a hall with nothing much except a save point. You will want to use that. Shuffle your party as much as you see fit, since Yuri's party ended up on top by default. You'll also want to beef up on the defensive accessories and have somebody with Arc Shield because the next thing you've got to deal with is a--- BOSS FIGHT: LT.COL. TERADA (Water affinity) ...and his four lackeys, which aren't much except cannon fodder. Wipe the lot of 'em out with a well placed spell or two, then concentrate on Terada himself. He's GodHand all over again, no magic but lots of hitting power. Without a Shield up, he can do at least 150HP damage. But otherwise, he's not anything special. Play Kick the Can with his tin butt long enough and he'll go away. The girl is, thankfully, unharmed and mostly untraumatized. Everybody finally sits down and formally introduces themselves. It turns out that the girl's name is Yoshiko Kawashima. ...Yoshiko Kawashima?!? Didn't a lady by that name get killed in SH1? That'd make Naniwa Kawashima, the old gentleman, the mysterious "father" Lt. Col. Kawashima had kept relying on and was eventually betrayed by. My, my. It's a small world after all. And getting smaller. Like prison-cell small. Y'see Mikasa's Admiral finally stepped in and has all of you tossed in the Brig. Since the whole Crew-in-a-Prison-Cell bit was done already back on Ste. Margueritte, the designers don't feel it necessary to do that again. Instead, the scene shifts to a pretty posh office Somewhere and we finally get to meet another Master Villain. This one's a pudgy, balding Japanese officer by the name of Ishimura. ..I liked Nicholai better. But Katou is there, along with this freaky looking midgit on a floating pillow. Ishimura orders them both around, ending up giving the floating midgit, named Garan, the job of dealing with Mr. Kawashima and the Crew. From there, things follow Katou, detailing a little bit about his pet experiment and it's connection to this lady Katou's named "Ohka", who's just waking up on her first--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< The room is decorated with a mix of mad-scientist-meets-abandoned-warehouse decor. Katou's disembodied voice echos from somewhere, telling you that your mission is to escape. So escape we shall. But first, a note. Don't worry about treasure chests or looking for hidden items. You'll come back through this place with the whole Crew a little later in the game. Plus, Ohka is only a very temporary character. Whatever you find would be useless for her anyways. That means you don't have to bother looking through this room much at all. Just go over and use the save point (you will want to, trust me), and open up the steel door slightly to the right of it. Your first obstacle is a fight with a guy dressed much like you, named Hien. Now, if you've opened up the menu and looked at what Ohka has to offer, besides an impressive level of 50, there ain't much. Fortunately, Hien is in the same boat. He's faster than you, so every now and again he'll go twice in a row, but you have healing items and he doesn't. Neither of you have "magic" except for a hand grenade attack (which does just about as much as a regular attack), so just go at it with fists and feet flying until he gives up. Win, and he agrees to be your subordinate. However, he's not going to help you at all in the next portion of your "training"; a time trial. Not only do you have to move quickly, at random points arget boards will come out either the walls, floor or ceiling and you have to hit the control-pad button that corresponds to the mark on them. But you don't want to be shooting any that have an image of Katou on them. Stay calm and deal with the one or two boards that appear while making your way straight ahead. Move into the next room and things get a little more complex. You've got to shoot through 30 boards before you can move on, all appearing randomly. Be careful about the Katou-boards! Cross the room and pass through the door on the far side, and you're in another hallway. Again, boards will randomly jump out at you, but not with too much of a surprise factor. Twist through the bends of the hall, and take the short, stubby hall to your right once you reach an intersection. More of the same in the next hallway, though you'll want to go up at the T-section. Lather, rinse, repeat in the next hall, just zooming straight across. Now you've got to deal with the 30 boards to shoot again, though this time all of them will slowly move towards you. If you let one get far enough forward, you'll get stuck with time penalties. Clear that, and the room's exit is to your left. Hang with me here, folks, you're almost there. Shoot straight all the way across the next hall. Four steps past that door is one last board to bust, and you're done! ...with the timed part, anyway. Time-wise, Katou considered 5:02 "more than adequate", while 6:00+ was "poor". Unfortunately four you, Katou is a stingy bastard, so you don't get anything. ...at least, I think you don't. This could be, of course, because you're still not *completely* finished with training. You've still got to beat one more guy dressed like you, a hunched over Quasimodo-type named Raiden who's waiting for you one turn down from where you finished the trial. Raiden is much slower than Hien was, so you've got an even exchange of turns going on. He also doesn't hit much harder than Hien did. Pound away and heal as necessary. Clean his clock and he also agrees to be your subordinate. However, you're STILL not done. Now all three of you have to team up and beat on one last machine. I suspect you received Defense Down 4s for beating both Raiden and Hien, so put those on whomever you like and go down through the door to start things. BOSS FIGHT: MINAZUKI (Light affinity) He doesn't have any magic. You don't have any magic. This one is a straight- up fist-fest. Combos are the best way of dropping the robot's HP by healthy (for you, anyway) chunks, and with those Def. Down 4s on, you should be doing more and more damage each round. You'll win after a while. Unfortunately, Minazuki is as much of a miser as Katou was, so you don't get anything. Anyways, back to the Crew. They're finally getting out of the brig after three days, thanks to efforts by Mr. Kawashima and some diplomatic passes the Czar had whipped up before you left. Sometimes it's not *what* you know, but *who* you know, y'know? ^.^ The World Map wants you to go back to the Yokohama Streets, but listening to a piece of paper is not always a good idea. Let's go poke around other places and see if nifty stuff has popped up yet. First on the list is re-exploring the Warship. Go on board and duck down one deck, then run all the way across the top hallway. Just before you'd take the staircase to the second deck, turn south into a little dead end. Back there is a wooden toy that's passing itself off as a wolf. Now, there's nothing behind the door Carven is guarding, and you can't go through it even when you win, but pick a fight with the wooden wolf anyway. Oh, before you do, be sure to put either a Zodiac Bracelet or Mirror Bracelet on first. With that on, breaking the little toy is child's play. His paw-print is #9 in your little book, but seeing as you can't get back to Mon Martre at the moment, you're just going to have to wait. From there go up, over, down, left and into the room that's there. If you're in the right place, it should be the room that had the fancy wooden doors I told you to ignore before. Well, they're open now. Take either one, they both go to the same place; the Admiral's cabin. There aren't any hard feelings apparently. Admiral Kaneda will even offer to give you a neat prize, should you be able to pass his Item Quiz. Try your hand at that before you finally go back to the Streets. You start out at the far end from the house/dojo-place, so you have to trudge all the way across the whole place first. On your way, you'll want to take a closer look at the people milling about the intersection right after you pass the Mazymells. In case you hadn't noticed, there's one extra guy standing still near the corner, to the north of a parked cart. It's Croft! He's followed you here from Cannes. He's not giving up on trying to stump you yet, so get your next clue. Since you're so close, might as well stop in on Mr. Kawashima. A cut scene will start up, Naniwa inviting the whole Crew along on a visit to the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Kurando and the Kawashimas arrive some minutes earlier than you, who come puttering lazily in, without a care in the world. It only takes a few seconds for Karin to realize something isn't right. Scroll your screen left a few paces, and you'll see why. There's a tree, and on the right side of it is perfectly normal graveyard. On the left is a hazy gray shadow world with a stone bridge leading off into the mist. Normal? I think not. ::Sigh:: I guess this means we've got to go and take care of the whatever-it- is that's causing the mess, too. Well, sooner started, sooner fun. ^.^ Use the save point conveniently located right there, and go desecrate the first grave on the right to find a Magic Defense Down 3. Nothing like starting off on the right foot, eh? Anyways. On to the weird and wonderful stone bridge. It's totally straight, leading you to a stone circle with a large yin-yang symbol imprinted on it. Now before you go stepping into that circle, you might want to take a moment to organize. In about 30 seconds, you're going to *really* appreciate having somebody with Arc Gale and Arc Sheild, 'cuz guess what... you're only 10 steps into the dungeon, but there's already a--- BOSS FIGHT: TSUKUYOMI First Kurando's comatose, then he wigs out and *fuses*?! Into a girl, no less... Well, this girl moves fast, and she smacks to the tune of 200HP damage if you don't have shields up. Her magic attacks are rarer, but just as painful. Keep your HP high and combo. Batter Kurando back into his senses and he gains Fusion abilities just like Yuri's in compensation for the beating he just took. You get the ---Crest Valak--- in compensation for the beating you just dealt out. Fair trade. ^.^ 46 hits in combo will get you a Loin Guard, to make the trade even more fair. However, that doesn't clear up this funky world you're stuck in, so onward! ...to the Mazymells?! Cripes! Those two take this stalker thing a bit too far. They don't even have anything new. Well, since they're there, you might as well stock up on Theras or Manas that you're short on, and you'll definitely want to use the save point that's off to your right. The next part of this wacked out place is through the red "torii" (the gate- thingies). Before long, you're on another of those circular stone landings, with the yin-yang imprinted on it. From here, you can go one of two ways; left or right. Take a closer look, and you'll notice there's a blue star overtop the left tunnel, and a red star over the right tunnel. Just like a traffic light, blue means "go" and red means "stop". So I guess we're going left, then. Oh, should you try to run the red ...star, you don't get a traffic ticket, but what you do get is warped back to the spot where you beat Tsukuyomi. Anyways, leftwards. Again, it's not too far to the next landing, though this one has a treasure chest sitting next to a bibbed Buddha statue. The buddha's a wiseacre, should you talk to him, so he's not about to go dispensing divine punishment for walking off with the Pure Root out of that chest. Nab it, check the stars, and head left. Wind your way up the precarious stone path and you'll eventually get to yet another of those round landings, though this one is obviously the end of the road. The only thing that's there is a chest with a Talisman inside. This'll turn the very first red star you came across to blue. So back down we go, past the Wisen-buddha, and down one more. Just walk over to the star. The world will flash, and the star will turn blue. That path will take you another short way to another stone landing with another treasure chest, but minus the sniggering buddha. Palm the Strike Area Expander inside, since no one is looking. Now, believe it or not, both of the two paths branching off from here will take you to the exact same spot. The left way will just take it's good old time getting you there. So break the pattern we've gotten into and go right first. 15 steps later, you're at another landing with two smart-mouthed buddhas and no treasure chest (drat!). The pattern resumes, since left is the way you need to go. Right will just wind you all the way back around to where you just came from. Though you just might want to take that right route anyway. Half way around, along the outer edge of the path, somewhere, is a Getitup!. Forgot to count torii on this one, so you're just going to have to look! (Thanks David!) A thankfully short space later, you're at another dead end, with another chest sitting serenely in the middle of the circle. Grab the talisman out of there, retrace your steps down thrice, over to the left path, and up to the second red star. Change it to blue and continue on your way. Slide up the left side of this path. I forget exactly where it is, but diligence will be rewarded with a Fifth Key. Somewhere along the path, there's a save point crammed into a small space between two torii. Take a break there and shuffle through your stuff. Switch out the Arc Shield you have for an Arc Barrier, and make sure you've got plenty of Mana items handy, you're about to get into a--- BOSS FIGHT: GARAN (Dark affinity) You know what, I think that little midget is supposed to be female. ::shudder:: At least, the voice in the Japanese version seems like it should be female. Dunno about the American side. Anyways, Garan uses exclusively magic, so you're going to want that Arc Barrier up quick. Otherwise s/he could nail multiple people for close to 200 HP damage. The other really annoying thing the little creep does is drain all your MP in one shot, so if you're really stuck on the idea of using spells you'll want some Mana Seeds and Roots handy. Add a little patience to the mix, and the rest of the fight shouldn't be a problem. Punt the mini-runt into the stratosphere and it'll drop the ---Crest Glasyalabolas--- for you. His/her little world also vanishes, depositing the whole Crew in a very mundane graveyard. Both Kawashimas are okay, much to Kurando's relief. The grave they happen to be visiting is a nice one for Yoshiko Kawashima, Naniwa's true daughter. Yuri the Yutz finally puts it together that this Yoshiko is the Lt. Col. he met in Shanghai. While the Crew and the Kawashimas share quiet thoughts about the past, the scene shifts over to what Yoshiko's former right-hand man Katou has been up to. More to the point, what he's had done to Nicholai, with the help of one Prof. Todo. It ain't pretty. Katou sits back and watches the latest attempt at wrenching Astaroth out of Nicholai, which kinda sorta works. But the end result winds up escaping... Somewhere else, somebody reminisces about a visit one army officer paid to an old gentleman over 20 years prior, Ben Hyuga meeting Naniwa Kawashima for the last time before he takes his wife and 3 year old son over to China. However, for the present, both Joachim and Anastasia sit in the Kawashima estate of Mukyoan, bored out of their minds. Given those two, that could be a very, very dangerous thing. To kill time, the pair decide to explore the area under the excuse of hunting down Yuri and Karin, who went to--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Stroll on over the bridge towards the single crossroads that make up the bulk of this district. But on the way, you might want to duck behind the last decorative pillar on the right side of the bridge. It's a pretty big pillar, you can't miss it, basically because even someone of Joachim's size can vanish behind it. Some streetside fortune-teller must not have been paying attention when he packed up shop, since The Tower is lying on the ground back there. Don't feel guilty about taking it. If said fortune-teller was any good in the first place, he should've predicted the loss. ^.^ This is your first time through Nihonbashi, so none of the more interesting people are hanging out at the Crossroads just yet. But, since we're in no hurry, you can sorta wander leftward through the area, loitering around in the doorway on the far left corner. Walk off with the Daphne's Fruit out of there when no one's looking. Left is good, so keep going that way. The scene makes a sudden change to a neatly kept, walled street. The break in the wall opens up into a public playground. One that's been taken over by a really familiar figure and his even more recognizable ring. Hold off on greeting the Grand Gama for just a moment, though. Shuffle through the leaflets pasted on the wall to the left of the guy standing there. Somewhere in that mess is a lottery ticket. Into the playground and around the left side of the ring. Yes, folks, we're doing a lot of "left"s here. Back in the far left corner are a pair of neatly dressed gentlemen standing in front of a standard, collapsible, japanese-style card table. Go on up to them and say hi. Well, say hi to the table, anyways, because that's about as far as Joachim's attention goes. Sit back and watch as he takes the whole table right out from underneath their noses. ...their utterly unimpressed noses. Well, these guys *are* announcing for the Grand Gama. They're probably used to this sort of thing by now. Anyways. Onwards around the back of the ring, and over to say hi to the other, uhm, colorful set of "groupies" the Crew has acquired; the Mazymells. Gerrard has weapon and armor upgrades for everybody, and you can get them all now (provided you can afford them) even though you don't have the whole Crew with you. **BARGAIN HUNTER'S TIP: Karin's weapon upgrade is gathering dust in a chest early in the next dungeon. However, there is a boss fight between now and that dungeon. Be sure to immediately equip Joachim with the new goodies. (While you're at it, spiff up Anastasia's equipment, and give her Arc Barrier if you have it handy.. unless Karin's got it.) Heck, you might even want to put a Voodoo Doll on, just in case. Why? Because you're going to go over to the center of the ring and have a tearful, chest- pounding reunion with the Grand Gama!! Since it's the Artem Buster you're looking to learn, that's what the Grand Gama is going to use. If you've upgraded all Joachim's stuff, you should only take around 80HP damage or so. But you've fought G.G. three times now. You should know that's not what you've got to worry about. Do or die round is #5, when Gama will open up with a 5th Key, of course. He'll do more than 400HP damage, but if you're around LV35 or thereabouts, that should leave you breathing with a 10-15HP. If, perchance, you got unlucky, that's what the Voodoo Doll is for. Survive round 5, and you should be able to take G.G. easily. That nets you the Artem Buster Muscle Art, the last skill Grand Gama will teach you. Don't waste much time getting all teary-eyed about it now, the Grand Gama isn't done with you yet! BWAHAHAHAHA...ha...ahem. <.< >.> >.<; Uhm, moving on then. There's only one more thing for you to get on this side of Nihonbashi at the moment. It's a treasure chest some idiot failed at hiding next to the tree to the right of the Mazymells. As punishment for the poor concealment job, take the ---Crest Buer--- out of it and stalk off. Stalk on all the way over to the right side of Nihonbashi, actually, where there's a really quaint little Park. Go inside, and eavesdrop as Karin interro--- I mean as Karin and Yuri share a discussion about family and the past. The Mood keeps building (Anastasia adding her 2 cents all the while) until Karin asks a Really Tactless Question. Yuri's really graceless escape is cut mercifully short as slavering monsters conveniently warp in and interrupt with a--- MINI BOSS FIGHT: (PAPA) SHOKI (Light affinity) Well, it's called "Shoki", I added the "Papa" part. You'll understand my reasoning in a sec. By default, you're stuck with Yuri, Karin, Joachim and Anastasia in your party. They should be enough to deal with the big lug, even though it does about 200HP a sorcerous smack. My cryptic instructions back before your tussle with Grand Gama should make more sense now. ^.^ And I bet you're appreciating having Arc Barrier there to control those massive spells that critter keeps tossing. But those shouldn't stop you from comboing him into the ground. Win, and you get--- baby shoki to deal with!! Fu~~n. Fortunately, that one's got a piddling 250-or-thereabouts HP and is easy to skewer. Take care of that one, and you get control of the party back long enough to go a whole 2 steps forward... and trigger another cut-scene. The rest of the crew arrive on the scene, having heard the screams or whatever. Now you can finally adjust everything to your liking. If you didn't get weapon upgrades from the Mazymells before, they're quivering conveniently near you. Never mind what sort of dangers are present, they're always willing to sell you stuff. Somewhere in here, you're going to want to put Leonard's Bears on your party. For some strange reason, Sara is also just off to your right. Should you feel the uncontrolable urge to Pit Fight, feel free. Otherwise, you might just want to 1) grab the Mana Extract that's behind the telegraph pole which is next to the save point, 2) *use* said save point and 3) talk to Karin to get this party started. The Black Steel troops that've been called in to get rid of the growing infestation are about as effective as a super-soaker is on a 5-alarm fire, and Katou's three green henchmen are sticking to their orders to watch without interferring. Until Katou himself deigns to appear and rescind that order... Which is right when Yuri and Crew arrive on scene. Yuri and Katou look hard at each other, but decide to work together just this once, because the Black Steel Troops, along with loads of bystanders, are still getting lambasted by those things. The trio of Ohka, Hien and Raiden get to take out three triplets of the baby shoki first, so that Yuri will have a clear path. It's three-on-three (I doubt they're interested in basketball, though) three times straight. The fights are straight-forward enough that I don't think you'll have to worry over-much about losing. Fortunately for you, the little creeps are always arranged so that you can take out two of them in one shot with a critical Hand Grenade. If you don't have quite so much confidence in your hand-eye coordination, it'll probably take you two rounds or so to clear them all out. Their job done, Katou sidelines the trio to watch and analyze the Crew as they get into a--- BOSS FIGHT: (MAMA) SHOKI (Light affinity...again) Time to off the last member of this disgusting looking "family". It's a repeat of the one you fought just a little bit ago in the park, just with the added thrills of a physical attack that'll give you a bad case of Death and more HP than any critter ever really needs. So repeat what you did with Papa Shoki (only the good parts), with the added protection of Leonard's Bears. Arc Gale and Arc Rage wouldn't hurt either. Smack at the thing long enough and it'll eventually keel over, coughing up Lucia's tarot card "Judgement" along the way. But that's not the end of things. Yuri fully intends on launching right into Katou from there, but his respect for the guy holds him back. The two have some Words, which shortly develop into full-blown Issues. Neither man can accept the other's terms so the two war-friends resolve to become enemies. Things settled in a totally unsatisfactory manner for Yuri, the Crew take a break back in Kawashima's home in Mukyouan. Everyone fills Naniwa in on what happened, Yuri the Yutz not thinking when he mentions that Ohka sounded an awful lot like the late Lt.Col. Kawashima had, so maybe that Yoshiko really is still alive. That particular tidbit shocks Naniwa enough that he collapses, giving everyone else the heart-attack they assumed he just had. He's fine, however. It does, however, set Yuri and Karin to speculating on Ohka and the late Yoshiko, and what one might have to do with the other. Out come the bad ideas again, Yuri getting on quite a roll. So the Crew decides to settle the Ohka/Yoshiko thing, as well as the Issues between Yuri and Katou all in one swell foop... er, that's "fell swoop" I mean, by raiding--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Lazy guards aren't usually Good Things, but when you're trying to sneak in, they're nice to have around. ^.^ Duck through the door next to the red light to swipe some uniforms (where did they find ones to fit Blanca and Anastasia?), then go in through the very unimpressive doors to the Lab. Inside looks like the lobby of any normal, boring office building. And like any normal, boring office building, there's absolutely nothing of interest in it. Take the back left hallway to a pair of guards, who are sufficiently fooled by your disguise that they let you on an elevator that goes directly to the Labs. Lazy guards are good, lazy and dumb guards are even better. ^.^ Unfortunately, it looks like the elevator ride is a long one, because the scene cuts away to Katou and Ohka, who share a touching moment of loyalty and remembrance. Once the little bell dings and the doors slide open, another gullible guard sends you to your post, which is conveniently front-and-center for the experiment. (Mad) Scientist Todo is geared up and practically hopping with glee on this second try to messily rip Astaroth out of Nicholai, and he isn't about to listen to Katou on the matter either. What does that silly Special Agent know anyways? He's only been studying magic intensely for who knows how long? Pshh! An utter novice knows more than he. ..or so went the secret thoughts of Todo until instrument panels start exploding. Oops. Well, it's not like it's a big problem. I mean, it's only Astaroth in a body all his own. And he's not intent on much trouble, just annihilating the entire world for kicks and giggles. See? No biggie. -.- Mad scientists. Time and again they're prime examples that intelligence and common sense are utterly unrelated. Anyways, Astaroth rudely takes off just as his guests arrive, so the Crew is stuck finding a different way out of the Labs before both Astaroth and Katou get too much of a head start on them. But don't get too far ahead of yourself. Take a moment and poke around the left side of that huge device Nicholai/Astaroth recently disentangled himself from. There should be a Loin Guard on the ground somewheres in that area. (Thanks g3ozLizh!) Take off leftwards, hit the save point and get geared up for a long hall...er haul. Hit one random battle and you're going to be having deja-vu flashes of the Mikasa. The enemies here look almost exactly like the ones you fought on the Warship, just tougher. Mirror Bracelets would be a very good idea, as would Pocket Watches. Oh, for those of you who are curious, yes, this is the place where Ohka had her Training Day. Now you're set to pick up everything she left behind. Though the thick double doors to the north and into a cluttered warehouse-like storeroom. Arc around the large cluster of barrels on your left to get to a treasure chest stashed in the bottom left corner, which disgorges an Agility Down 3. Wind and dodge your way to the staircase directly north from you. Clatter up it and around the catwalk all the way to the bottom right corner. There's a cage-like room there. Now, if they'd really wanted to keep the chest in there safe, that door would have been locked. Fortunately for you, it isn't. Nip the Thera root and book it back around the catwalk, down to the first floor, and over to the far right side of the room for the door out of here. Through that hall begins the never-ending blank hallways I'm sure you have such fond memories of, from way back during Ohka's first day. You don't have to deal with hitting boards or beating the clock this time, you just have to go about the usual hitting and beating of baddies. And collecting nifty treasure. Don't forget that part. The Pedometer's Triple Accelerator is in here, too. Wohoo! So let's get the party started. Up and to your right. Check around in the little vent-thingy near the bottom corner of the dead end for a Lottery Ticket. About face and ready-set-go! 100 yard dash to the next door. Take the first corridor down to a treasure chest and a dead end. Karin's Dragon's Head sword is in there. I'm sure you have a use for that. Back up, left, then up again for the next set of halls. It's the shooting range. Somebody zoned out at the end of practice, leaving a Lottery Ticket on the table of lane 4. Their bad. Snatch it and go. Next, the hall makes a 90-degree turn left. Poke around the nook that makes for a Strike Area Expander. Take the next turn down until you trip over a treasure chest, swipe the Pure Root out of it and return to the main hallway and move on to the next hall. More of the same coming at you, minus hidden items. Take the only left you can and get on to the next hall. Down and a quick left there. That'll put you in front of another treasure chest with yet another Strike Area Expander. Onwards. Zip straight through the next "hall", which is more a simple room than an actual hall, and into the one beyond that. Hook a left at the intersection and take a careful once-over of the bottom left corner of the dead end, about 2 steps away from the wall. Do things right and you'll get the Triple Accelerator for your effort. Stick that handy-dandy little item on your chara with the Pedometer and one step will magically become three! That does it for the excitement for a while, however. Scamper along this hall, the next one and you'll finally reach the room where Ohka woke up. There's a Magic Attack Down 3 on the right side of the "examining table" (geez that thing looks uncomfortable...), but that's it. The door out is behind there, and it opens up onto a staircase. Joy. Now we get to figure out how far down that elevator ride took us before (nightmare memories of FF7 again float to mind...). Nab the Daphne's Fruit out of the treasure chest sitting there so arrogantly, use the save point, do some stretches and prepare to get exhausted. Clatter up the stairs, around and around, until you get to the platform that has the 5F/4F sign on it. There's a Seal of Luck secreted near the wires going into the wall there, just to the left of the sign. I guess They figured you'd be too busy climbing and not paying attention. Up a little more, until you're in between the 4F/3F and the 3F/2F platforms. A treasure chest just barely peeks out at you from behind the column on the left side. Use it as an excuse to catch your breath, with the side benefit of picking up a highly useful Fifth Key, too. Nothing more awaits until you get to the top of the steps, where somebody put a treasure chest on a little balcony. I hope they hadn't wanted to keep the Tent inside, because it's just too obvious to ignore. The exit is right-ways, across a length of catwalk and out a steel door. The scenery abruptly changes to bland business-type as you find yourself back in the Lobby. Just above you is a save point. You're definitely going to want to use that, heal up, and get Leonard's Bears on all your battle members. Arc Shield and the now nearly givens Arc Gale and Arc Rage (those are *always* useful), might be a wise idea as well, since as soon as you try to walk out of here, you're going to get jumped on by a--- BOSS FIGHT: MASTER CYLINDER (Earth affinity) ..a contraption which looks an awful lot like a mish-mash of '70s anime mecha and an early MegaMan final boss. Strange knockoff that it is, Todo's still riding in it, and he uses a nasty little slice 'n dice technique to instantly kill a party member. Have Bears handy and their stuffing will gum up the works enough that the chara won't die. Otherwise, Arc Gale, Arc Rage, Arc Shield and combo the bucket of bolts until it falls apart. Top 43 hits in combo and you'll even get Warlock Earrings. Todo's not such a bad guy after all, then, is he? ~.^ Master Cylinder scrapped, your way out clears up, leaving Ishimura with quite a mess to deal with. And he almost spazzes himself into a heart attack. The Labs are destroyed, Todo's dead and Katou is off chasing Nicholai/Astaroth who-knows-where. That leaves Garan to deal with the Crew. Joy. How s/he's going to deal with them is another matter, since neither Yuri nor Karin can come up with a decent clue on where to go next. Naniwa comes to the rescue, assigning Kurando to the Crew on a more permanent basis than before and dropping a hint about someone who might know where Astaroth went. But before anyone can go dashing off anywhere, you've got to *find* everybody first. Utterly dedicated and serious about the search for Astaroth, everyone but Yuri and Karin have gone shopping in --- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< You've only been gone a short while, but quite a few new things have popped up. First things first, you may notice a guy standing by the last pillar on the right hand side of the bridge. No, he wasn't there the first time you came. I guess he was smart and hid away from all the rampaging destruction that'd been happening. Anyways, talk to this guy, Kinpei the Gambler, and he'll try to addict you to something. Too bad for him, you're already addicted. ^.^ Yep, Lottery Member #7. His Red Square Item is the Warning Device, not useful immediately, but indispensible later on. **WARNING: RANDOM RING!! It'll go half speed, normal or double speed. Watch out! On to the Crossroads in the middle of town. No, it isn't you, there really are a bunch more people wandering and/or loitering than there were before. One of them is wearing a straw hat, and is standing on the left, near corner of the Crossroads. The lonely guy has a problem talking with anyone. But you know what, he's *still* going to be a lonely guy with problems talking to people, because you are *NOT* going to give him the Talking Panda. He'd only give you a measly little Third Key for it. You have to find everyone in the correct order, so you need to go right over to the Park first. Sara is still hanging out in front of it, so you needn't worry about going without your Pit Fight fix, since Goreme is off limits for the time being. Step into the Park to find Kurando, Blanca and Yoshiko, who were all taking a nice, peaceful walk. Yuri teases Blanca, Yoshiko is sweet to him, and Kurando basically smiles and nods and stays out of it. Smart kid. While you're there, nab the Seal of Knowledge out of the treasure chest next to the tree back in the far left corner. That one wasn't hidden much better than the one over by the Grand Gama. Somebody, somewhere, is getting slack. Ah well, all the better for us then. ~.^ The other two people in the Park are uninteresting, though the lady will try to talk you out of your Panda. Be a snob and don't let her have it. She'd only give you a Third Key for it. That does it for the Park, so back out to the Crossroads. Go straight up, like you're trying to walk out the top end of the screen. You don't get too far before you come across Joachim and Anastasia, who were shopping. ...Actually, Anastasia was shopping and Joachim was carrying. I'm sure Joachim's thanking you profusely under his breath as you wander on over to Gama's ring. The last two members of the Crew wait for you there, Gepetto and Lucia, looking over some of the Mazymell's stuff. Do a quick head-count to make sure everyone's still there, then turn around to go out. At the gate, you get accosted by the last person you ever thought to see alive again--- Roger! (looks like you didn't dump him far enough out in the mountains ~.^) He's not exactly happy to see you again, but he *did* hunt you down, and he *did* fix up his airship, so I guess we should be happy to see him. Oh, this also means that EUROPE <-> JAPAN TRAVEL IS NOW POSSIBLE!! Yay!! Now, at this precise moment, there are three very big things you can do in Europe. 1) You can open the Tiffauges Side-quest and get Neo-Amon. It'll be a rough ride at your likely current level (40 or thereabouts), but it's not impossible. For details on how, check the Side-Quest section below. 2) If you've got a boatload of extra Cash about, you can set sail for Petrograd and purchase the ---Crest Asmodeus--- from the weaving drunk standing near where Anastasia eavesdropped on Rasputin for a whopping 100,000 Cash! 3) You can go through the Search for Yuri's Ultimate Armor and move that up to the very end. However YOU CANNOT ACTUALLY GET IT NOW. You have to wait for the Stone Platform. Otherwise, the next set of useful things you can do are all in the Foreigner's Graveyard. First off, go in 4 steps and straight down to a little tree. Somewhere in there you'll meet the Spirit of the Ring, who's still angsting over his wife's odd behavior. Second on the list is talking to the old fogey standing in the corner of the graveyard. His name is Iwai and he knows who's name is on the old watch you got in your last trip through Wakuraba. Next, go desecrate the second grave to the right of the other old fogey hanging out on the far left side of the cemetary. Dig around a little bit and you'll unearth your fifth Soul Drop. Heck, why not? Go on over and talk to that old fogey who just acted as a landmark for you so nicely. He's a polite guy, and generous. He'll give you another of Karin's Nibelung chapters. Thank him and go on your merry way. All the way to Southampton. That should've been the last of the first 8 chapters for Karin, so talking to the weaving drunk in the Inn will get you Chapter 9! Gotta hold off on the Epilogue, though. That comes later. Back to Nihonbashi. All the people hanging around in the Park must've gotten in the way before, because she disappeared. Now that it's calmed down, she's back. She who? Elenore! The pink wolf! She's got a big crush on Blanca. Yeah, this is news to him, too. He doesn't take it too well, either, being enough of a jerk in his refusal of her proposal that it leads to a fight. It's a fight that shouldn't be too much of a problem, however. Elenore really, really likes using spells, but none of them do lots of damage. Her very, very occasional physical attack comes with Petit Ring on it, so a Pocket Watch ahead of time might be helpful. It's not critical, though. Eventually, she'll give up, but she still doesn't *give up*, if you get my meaning. Poor Blanca. ^.^ Anyways, you get the ---Crest Stolas--- from her as a parting gift from the fight, which makes the whole episode worth it in the end. It doesn't stop Blanca from scampering out of there as fast as his four feet can carry him, though. For those of you with confidence in your trigger thumbs and perfect rates, you might want to stop in at Mukyoan again. Y'see, if you have a 65% or better perfect rate, Naniwa will give you the thoroghly excellent item called "The Extreme". Think Mind's Eye, only better. (thanks for pointing this out, David) Alright. Enough procrastination. Naniwa was kind enough to set up a mystery date for us somewhere in "Katsuragi", so we best not be late. To get there, we must first cross through the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Nothing much interesting awaits you in the first screen. The second screen has a Seal of the Soul hiding in the underbrush way back along the right side, which is somewhat interesting. It's the third screen that gets much more interesting, when a cut scene starts up. You probably hadn't noticed, but Karin does pick up on something. This is the same place that was on the other side of Amon's huge mirror in the Hall of Mirrors. Since that was inside Yuri's soul, it's reasonable to assume that Yuri has been here before. Then, Blanca notices something funky in the air. However, no one has brushed up on their wolf-ese enough to figure out what he's trying to say before the ground opens up and swallows everybody whole. The landing couldn't have been pleasant, but it doesn't look like anyone's broken any bones, which is a Good Thing. But it *does* look like you've been sucked into another of Garan's warped little pocket dimensions, which is Not a Good Thing. So we've got to go and boot Garan's teeny little self over the moon again. ::sigh:: To do that involves dealing with this little puzzle dungeon. Now, just above you is a giant torii (the red gate-thingies) that has a whole lot of weird squiggles closing it. To the right of it is a little table with a lot of candles set on random parts of a triangle design. Keep that picture roughly in mind. Beside the table is one of those red-bibbed smart-mouth buddhas. Talk to it and get told that it is, basically, a really dumb move to go through a torii twice. Tuck that info away in a readily handy portion of your head. From there go the only way available to you; right. The Mazymells are over there. I doubt you're surprised. I'm not anymore either. They don't have any new and interesting stuff for you, though. Stock up on any miscellaneous things you think you might need, equip Pocket Watches on your party and use the save point that's off to the side. For a change of pace, you can go one of two ways from there, up-rightish or up-leftish. In this particular dungeon, which way you choose to go at first doesn't so much matter as which way you end up going in the middle, so either way is as good as the other. But I'm not going to sit here and type out every possible solution for this puzzle (and there are loads). I'm going to pick one at random, and you're just going to have to live with it. ^.^ So take the up-rightish route, for absolutely no good reason whatsoever. If you're feeling contrary, go the up-leftish way and do the mirror action to whatever I say. Both will get you to where you need to be. Anyways. Up-rightish. Putz along up the stairs and pretty soon you'll see a red star decorating one of the torii. From your experience back in the Foreigners' Cemetary, you'd think that star means that gate is closed. But Garan's a perverse little twerp, so s/he's made all new, totally different rules from the first pocket world she stuck you in. Red stars no longer equal red lights. They're plain ol' switches. Walk under that one and the red complacently turns to blue. There's a quick screen change and you're looking at the board with the candles, one of which just lit itself. Get the picture now? The triangle pattern back on that table is a picture of the triangle pattern these stone stairs and paths make. The location of each candle on that pattern equals the location of a star-switch. To open the sealed torii back there, you've got to light each one of the candles. Walk under a star once, a candle lights. Walk under it again, the candle goes out. The trick is walking under all the stars just once. It isn't as hard as it sounds. Keep going along the staircase you're on, it won't be long until you hit a junction point, with 3 new paths to pick from. Be uninventive and just go straight up. Another short while later, you're at one of the corners of the triangle. In compensation for the lack of directions to choose from, you're given a treasure chest instead. I'd take that. I'd suggest you do as well. The Strike Area Expander in it can be useful on occasion. From there, you can go left, or left, or perhaps left. Hmmm... Let's go left. Mosey along down the stairs until you get to another fan of three ways to go (actually, there are four, but I'm not counting the go-back-the-way-you-came one). You did the straight-across thing the last time you were at a place like this, so let's mix things up a little. Go down-leftish. It won't be long before you get to another of those 4-way junctions. For the first time in a little while, there's even a treasure chest there for you, waiting to be plundered. Don't keep it waiting too long. The Hit Area Expander inside's getting lonely. Once it's in good company, go right-downish. Scamper across to the other side of the Triangle. You might notice that at the next junction, the treasure chest has already been raided. Yes, you've already been here. That's no problem. Just go leftish-up this time, instead of straight up. That path, too, will put you at a place you've been before. It still doesn't mean much. Go straight left up the steps from there. The next corner of the Triangle gives you another treasure chest. Brazenly take the Mana Root out of it and hike straight down all the way back to the Mazymells. Take a moment to refresh yourself at the save point, and change to a battle party that doesn't involve Anastasia, Gepetto or Lucia. They'll be as good as useless soon. The only magic you'll be needing will be Arc Gale, Rage and Barrier, ones that you don't need a powerful caster for. Once you're suited up go back to the big torii with the Weird Squiggles warding it and walk right up to it. If you've done everything right and all the candles are lit, the Ward will just disappear. At the base of that staircase is Garan's pavilion. Be amused by a lengthy, merciless Garan-bashing session and try to stop laughing long enough to deal with a--- BOSS FIGHT: YAMA GARAN (still Dark affinity...) ...and her three little toadies. Unfortunately, Yama Garan isn't the convenient punting size plain Garan was, so take it out on the three squatting demons s/he brought along. Send them flying, then focus on Yama Garan. MAGIC DOES **ZERO** DAMAGE. Even spell-like effects from abilities are hit and miss. Karin's multi-hit sword art *does* work. Joachim's DeathTron Hammer *does* work. Blanca's Soul Comet *doesn't* work. If it's magic, it ain't gonna work. If it involves bodies or blades actually striking the twerp, it should work. Thanks to Nick Vale for experimenting on all this! But Gepetto, Lucia and Anastasia are almost guaranteed to be worthless. Thus my instructions to leave the three mages out. But before you tear into the floating creep, get Arc Barrier up FAST. Yama Garan's spells do almost 300HP damage. S/he's even smart enough to target charas with spells opposite their natural affinity (i.e. ice spells on Karin) to do max damage. Fortunately, concentration on magic has left Yama Garan pretty weak against regular attacks. Arc Rage and lots of combos should deal with him/her pretty quick. In the end, you never do find out where those floating cushions are sold. I'd think they'd be next to the flying carpets somewhere in Arabia, though. But you do get the ---Crest Marbas---. So all's well that ends well, I guess. Anyways, you don't have the opportunity to go shopping for floor coverings right now, because you have just arrived in Kurando's hometown, --- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Actually, it's more like his miniature feif. Teens Japan may have been almost 50 years removed from the feudal ages, but back country areas still often had rich landlords owning towns worked by peasants. They just weren't called "samurai" any more. Kurando, er, well his Mom at least, looks to be a popular landlord though, so you don't need to worry on that score. After Anastasia embarrasses herself, Kurando is approached by an old lady, Granny Sachi. She tells him that his lady mother awaits him at the Sacred Springs. Well, let 'er wait. Let's explore first. With Kurando in the lead, go right until the screen shifts. You should be standing right in front of a little hut-like thingy. You can't go inside, even though it looks like you should be able to. The reason you can't is because there's a completely concealed treasure chest in the way. Kick it for being so rude, grab the last Soul Drop out of it and storm off. Storm down. That'll take you...outside? What're we going outside for? Aren't we exploring Inugami Village? Yes, we are. This is just a short little trip, I promise. Go back into the Forest of the Wind. Three screens in, you should notice a skinny trail branching off the main one marked on your navi-map. Take that one to reach the picturesque bluff where Yuri and Albert had their heart-to-heart so long ago. Somewhere up there is the ---Crest Malphas---. Poke around and you'll come across it eventually. Then turn around and go back into the woods. Stand perfectly still after the screen shifts, and just hit the O button. Yuri'll bend down and pick up a Blood Jewel. Congrats! You just solved the fourth Treasure Hunt clue. Alright. Back to the Village. Two little crop-fields dominate the center of the Village. You'll want to squeeze up the slim path that runs between them, to the two large huts behind them. Take about three steps right to make the screen shift conveniently, and a treasure chest will come into view near the little weed patch separating the two huts. This isn't really a *poor* village, but you still might want to make sure nobody's watching you steal their stuff. Steal the ---Crest Valefor--- to be precise. Maybe Kurando could just say he "requisitioned" it. Slide directly to your left from there. Near the corner of the hut, you should come across the Spirit of the Ring! Life is exponentially better for him, since his wife sprung a surprise birthday present on him. Be happy for the guy...er, spirit, and keep sliding to the left, keep going, keep going... Before long, you'll be behind the smaller rack of drying something-or-other. How it got there I don't know, but there's a piece of Silver Angel on the ground. You may want that. Let's continue our fascination with "left", maybe spicing it up a bit with a dash of "down", right over to the Mazymells. Weapon and armor upgrades abound, so help yourself. Hold off on the save point for a moment. Instead, go up to the one tree that is stuck between the Mazymell's car and the path leading into woodsy darkness. Look closely enough and you'll spot a ladybug. A *talking* ladybug. A *talking* ladybug who's also a *Lottery Member*. #6 to be precise. Don't think about it too hard. Just be careful of the PETIT RING. ...maybe you will want to hit that save point first. Your call. Anyways, from there up the stone steps to Kurando's house. Granny Sachi is in the way, so you can't go inside the manor itself just yet, but you can poke around in their postage-stamp lawn. Check out the upper left corner and you'll hit paydirt; Lucia's Tarot Card, the Stars. Nip that and scamper back down to the save point. Now you'll want to use it, and set up a battle party that has Arc Gale and Arc Shield, and decent speed. It'll be necessary in a little bit. Stroll on back the tranquil little forest path towards the Spring. Half-way along it sits a really out-of-place statue-thingy. Show it to Joachim and give Kurando a better idea what sort of people he's associating with, poor guy. ^.^ Further back, near the cave entrance, stands another guy. His name's Ikkaku, and he's got aspirations to weird varieties of showmanship. Give his career a boost and hand over your Talking Panda. In trade, you get 10 day old Rice. ...nastier stuff has come out of my fridge, but not by much. Have Joachim carry that, and continue on into the cave. Kurando's mother, Saki, has been expecting you. I doubt you were expecting her to look so young. She gives you a quick rundown on local history and just what the Spring can do, promising to locate the Harbinger of Doom that the Crew is looking for. She also knows Yuri from somewhere, and sends him a glance he *completely* misinterprets, the doof. From cut-scene to FMV, Saki delivers on her promise to point out Astaroth. Unfortunately, *he* also sees *her*. A clawed hand reaches out, *twists*, and all of a sudden you're dealing with a--- BOSS FIGHT: KOUENKI (Fire affinity) She uses Seal, which isn't really that annoying unless she does it to the chara who has your booster spells. I personally don't think it's worth it to waste an accessory slot on blocking that, but it's up to how paranoid you feel. A quick mover, you won't always get all four of your charas to go before she does, so you might want Arc Gale. Arc Rage never hurts. ^.^ The biggest nastiness Kouenki deals out is a spell called "Energy Charge". I bet you've heard of that one. The second you see her cast it on herself, make absolutely sure all your charas are at full health, because she's about to smack one of them for over 300HP in damage. In the end, however, you should leave more marks on her than she on you. Take her out in 5 rounds or under, and you'll even get Oracle Earrings. You don't end up killing her, which is a Good Thing, and she doesn't even hold a grudge, which is a Better Thing. Elsewhere, Katou and company are walking into something that just might get them killed, Astaroth sending them a fire-embossed invitation they can't ignore. Saki also sends you an invitation that's hard to ignore, once she's gotten better. There's nothing in the study, so go through the door you're so conveniently placed in front of, and visit the hallway. The design for the place is interesting, given the number of nooks they manage to squeeze in between the study door and the staircase that goes up and around to your left. Aim for that staircase, but miss on the high side. You'll slip into a nearly invisible nook there that's got to be a pain in the butt to clean. I mean, it has been ignored so long there's a Lottery Ticket just lying on the floor back there. Pick that up and shuffle whatever dust you see under the carpet. Take a better shot at the staircase and make it up this time. Saki is awake and fully capable of conversation. She leads you on an interesting one, too. She's met Yuri's dad, y'see. Knows him pretty well, actually. Which is a Good Thing, considering she's his younger sister. ...??! Saki is Yuri's dad's sister? That'd make her Yuri's aunt. Since she is Kurando's mom, that'd make Kurando and Yuri cousins. ...no *wonder* Kurando can use fusion. But family stories can be traded later. Nicholai/Astaroth is still out there, and he's very likely planning on blowing all of Japan out of the water. For some strange reason, you're starting back in the study again. So go back out into the silly little hallway (again), and go back up the stairs (again). Now you can actually explore Saki's room. Go say hello to the old man standing in the right back end of the room, then duck behind him into the corner to uncover a Seal of Aura. Stick that in your pocket while he's not looking. Now go over and pay your respects to the old lady on the left side of the room. Straight down from her is a nook you can disappear completely in. Smack in the middle of the you-can't-see-a-thing part is a treasure chest. Inside is Saki's secret stash of Sunrise Oil. Let Lucia swipe a bit, then get out of there. All the way out. Out of the room, out of the mansion, out of Inugami Village. Your next destination, Mt. Fuji, will conveniently engrave itself on your map, but there are a couple things we can do first. Like make another trip to Europe. Man, we're putting a lot of miles on Roger's airship. Anyways. Southampton. The Inn again, but not the commons room on the first floor. Go upstairs to the room with the two beds and talk to the mousy looking man in there, Flemmings. Trade him the 10 Day Old Rice you've got, and he'll foist some Dangerous Documents off on you. Tuck those in a safe place and wander over to the other side of the English Channel and go sample some wines in the Winecellar. Or give the 500 Cash Lucky Box round a shot. It should be open now. While you're in France, you might want to stop in the Junk Kingdom shop and pick up some Hit Area or Strike Area expanders. They should be on sale. If you want, you can stop by Sara down in the Goreme Valley, she should have some new Trials for you. Bags packed, let's go back to Japan. Stroll down the Streets and visit Mr. Croft, so you can get the last Treasure Hunt clue. This one's easy. Mosey over to the Kawashima residence in Mukyoan and examine the little stone statue thingy next to their mini-pond. Hidden in there somewhere is the Dog Bone, a new weapon for Blanca. And that's it! You've driven Croft completely off the deep end. Treasure Hunt Mini-Game: The End. Go to Grand Gama's ring in Nihonbashi and get a Stud Card from the guy in working clothes there, Yamaguchi, as a sop for your misery over the end of Mr. Croft's game. It's the Mr. Pro Wrestler card. Hang on to that for later. Heck, let's start a whole new shopping spree. Go back to the Warehouse District. I think Kensuke the Smuggler will have that ---Crest Bune--- for you by now. (Thanks Kaiwei!) Finally, back over to Inugami Village. With Saki back in the manor, the Springs are being guarded by one really stuck-up wolf by the name of Matsunaga. He's stationed on the right side of the cave, where the Springs are. Talk to him and he seems to have a big beef with Blanca, mainly because mangy wolves like him shouldn't associate with the Lord Kurando. Right, whatever. Smack some sense into the pup. You don't really need any special protective items with this one, since Matsunaga won't come at you with ailments. Instead, go heavy on the magic protection and speed. Y'see, the silly little guy will probably spend a turn or three trying to boost his magic power, and not do anything to you. Arc Gale to give you the occasional back-to-back turn, and pound away. You'll probably be able to waste the snob before he can get anything significant together. Take the stamp and the Defense Down 3 you get for winning and start the long hike up to--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Well, you're going into a mountain, so it makes sense that you start out in a cave. Way off in the distance you can see a bit of save point peeking out from behind some rock. Head on over there and get set up for this little adventure in combat-spelunking. You'll definitely want Pocket watches on, as getting smacked with Fake Ring isn't all that unheard of. However, put your priority on Shell Bracelets and other poison stoppers, since the hard-to-kill-in-one-round critter in here uses, not poison, but *deadly* poison, which does way more damage. Suit up to your satisfaction, then keep following the cavern. You'll go up a screen, then wind down a slope to a fork. In the joint of the fork is a strange looking setup that seems to involve a vaguely statue-looking thingy carved into the wall, with four plain gravestones arranged in a circle in front of it. That is, or will be shortly, a warp point. But first, you need to find the device which will activate it, and that's off to your left. That particular cavern will dead end after a short while, only a treasure chest decorating the back of it. Inside that chest is the Red Crystal. This'll activate the warp point. Before you do so, don't forget to check out the right branch of the fork. More treasure chest fun, this time with the ---Crest Samigina---. Now, go back to the shrine-warp thingy, and put the Red Crystal in front of the statue. All of a sudden, you're warped off to an entirely different part of the mountain. Onward! You've hardly gone anywhere when you pass another of those shrine-warps. This one is right in front of another fork. Well, for the moment, we don't have a crystal to put in it, so walk past. A short distance and the cavern splits again. The left-side is short, thank goodness, and a treasure chest sits innocently at the end. Divest it of the Blue Crystal inside and retrace your steps. The right branch of the split has another shrine-warp in it, but we're not going that way just yet. Go back to the first one you came across and put the Blue Crystal in there. You actually have to step on the glowing triangle and hit a button to warp this time, it's not automatic. This new warp dumps us into a new cavern, with a choice of two directions to go, up-ish or down-ish. First, down-ish. That'll take you to a treasure chest. I think you know what to do with treasure chests. ^.^ Take your newly acquired Yellow Crystal and go back up past the warp you came in, all the way up to yet another warp. All you have right now is the one, so Yellow Crystal it is. You're put in a new cavern, with a new split in the cavern to deal with. Fortunately, you can completely ignore the right side, because there's nothing down there. The left side looks just as empty, but behind the stalagtite column hides on the left side hides a neat present; a weapon upgrade for Lucia. That does it for here, so back to the warp and through. Don't forget to take the Yellow Crystal with you once you clear the warp. Trudge back to the blue warp and head through, again grabbing the Blue Crystal on your way out. Heck with it, let's go all the way back to the red warp and the very first shrine-warp thingie. Take the Red Crystal out, and, now that we have two other choices, put the Blue Crystal in. Even though you're using the same spot, putting the Blue Crystal in will warp you to an entirely different cavern. One that isn't really that interesting at first glance. Follow the slope downwards and you'll notice two tunnels branching off to your left. They form a loop. At the back of the loop is a shrine-warp. You'll want to put the Red Crystal in there. That leaves you at the bottom of a pretty steep sloping cavern. Clamber on up for about 10 steps and you should notice a treasure chest just sorta dropped there on the right side. Give in to curiosity and take a look at what's in it. The ---Crest Orias--- jumps out at you. Well. I lie. It doesn't. You can still have it though. Okay. Now you have to ask yourself something. Have you beaten the first 11 Wolf Bouts? If you have, good. Keep going. If you haven't, do not keep going, do not pass Go, and do not collect $200. In fact, go all the way back out and go finish up the fights you haven't done yet. If you don't feel like going to all that trouble, make a mental note of this route and come back later. It's not worth going on otherwise. Anyways, onwards and upwards for those of you who choose to. It shouldn't be long before you stumble over another shrine-warp. There isn't anywhere else to go, so stick your last crystal, the Yellow one, in the slot. You get warped into a really, really claustrophobic tunnel, with no way to go except forward. Thankfully, the cavern opens out into a spacious one, a white wolf waiting at the end, for some odd reason. He is Lobo, former King of Beasts, and if you want to ask him a question, you're going to have to fight to get him to answer. Well, before things get interesting, put on either a Crucifix or a Leonard's Bear, and maybe stack your accessories on the magic-protection side. Lobo will use some really high-end magic on you, but nothing that should do more than 80-90HP damage. I doubt you'll need to pull out a special strategy to take care of the rest of this one. Arc Gale if you want to, heal when necessary, and send the old guy packing. Defeat him, and Blanca not only gets almost all his questions answered, you also get a super-handy Death 3. Nowhere else to go in this deadend cavern, go back the way you came. Pick up the Yellow Crystal as you go by, and make tracks back to the red warp. Now, you might be tempted to take the Red Crystal out and see where you'll go if you put the Yellow Crystal in that slot. I'll save you the time and tell you the answer; you go nowhere interesting. So you can just skip that idea and go all the way back to the blue warp. Just to make sure we're all still on the same page, the Blue Crystal is currently in the very first shrine-warp place. Switch it out for the Yellow Crystal. You end up at the base of a slope. Take a couple steps and the screen will shift. Branching off to your left are two paths which join together at the back to make a loop. Look familiar? It should. You were just here, the Blue Crystal just warped you in at the other end of the cavern. Take said Blue Crystal, and put it in the shrine-warp at the back end of the loop. It dumps you out in a fairly normal tunnel, halfway along which is yet another shrine-warp. There's nothing at the end of the tunnel, so let's just pop the Red Crystal in here and see where it goes. The top of a hill is where it goes, apparently. Skitter down carefully. Where the slope levels out, there should be a mini stalagmite sticking up to your right. Check behind it for a Small Jug some previous traveller forgot. Their loss, your gain. Alright, back up the slope to the warp. Snag the Red Crystal out of it's slot and go down to the blue warp. Don't forget the Blue Crystal as you go through. Back to the Yellow warp. Slip on through, snag the Yellow Crystal, and put the Red one back in its place. Follow the cavern back to the one shrine-warp that's on your right. If you want, you can go on to the split in the cavern, take three steps along the right branch, and refresh yourself at the save point. There's yet *another* shrine-warp right next to that save point. This is the one we want to play with now. No, we did not experiment with the Yellow Crystal in the other shrine-warp. It isn't worth experimenting with, because the only place it'll take you is a blank cavern. So. The shrine-warp next to the save point. You know what? Putting the Yellow Crystal in this one leads you to a dead end. So let's not do that. The Blue Crystal sounds like a much better idea. Go right-ish down from where that warp leaves you. You should reach a fork in the cavern pretty quickly. Veer more to the right and you'll come up against a blank wall. Poke around a little bit, and the Spirit of the Ring will pop up! Say your tearful farewells, this is the last time you'll see him. Turn around and go up-rightish, drying the corner of your eyes while you walk. For once, it's a bit of a long and windy way before the cavern does anything interesting... like forming a loop off to the left again. No, this isn't quite the same place you were before, though it certainly looks like it, right down to the shrine-warp at the back of the loop. Before you put the Yellow Crystal in it's little slot, you might want to take a closer look at the ground about 1 step to the right of the warp. The guy who lost his Small Jug earlier seems to have left a Big Jug, too. Hook that on your belt and step through the yellow warp. For a change, you get dropped in a big chamber, which dissolves into three separate paths. Enie meenie miney moe... right is the way we shall go. The screen shifts and you're immediately presented with another fork in the paths. Neither branch is interesting this time, but the treasure chest plunked right in the joint of the fork is just begging to be plundered. Grant it's silent wish and take the Thera Extract along as you go. Next on the list is going to the far left. That branch ends quickly, but diligent search along the right-back wall should turn up a Seal of Life. Last, but not least, is the middle route. Follow its twists and turns for a screen or two, and it opens out into a big cavern. I mean a *really* big cavern. Big enough to have a river of lava running through the middle of it. Fortunately, there's a bridge across it. But first, you might want to go down to the very right corner of the screen and examine things carefully. There's a chest hidden *just* off screen. You can't see it, but it's got to be blatantly obvious to Yuri. Anyways, inside is a weapon upgrade for Kurando, so you don't want to miss it. From there, you can just go on across the bridge. Don't worry, it's safe, even though it looks really iffy in the middle. You duck through another tunnel for a little while before again emerging into a big cavern. This time, the lava river is a *lot* closer, and it doesn't have a bridge. But it's a nice lava river, and it splits itself for you. Before heading through, duck off to the right of the split, there's a little peninsula over there, with a treasure chest blending well into the bottom of your screen. Nip the Mana Extract out of there and be on your way through. Now, half to 2/3rds your way along that path, *walk* along the very left side. Some really, really diligent searching should bring up a "?" for a brief instant. That points to a Flare Brooch, a super-duper useful Yuri/Kurando item. There are only two in the game. From there, it's easy. A save point waits for you right in front of a big cave mouth. Use it, and stock up on magic defense. Having Arc Barrier would not be a bad idea, nor Arc Rage and Arc Gale. Those two make things go faster. Just into that cave sits the world's biggest quartz crystal, Nicholai's body floating serenely in the middle of it. Katou and his bunch are lolling off to the side, looking much the worse for wear. Yuri has about 10 seconds to express his concern for them before Astaroth/Nicholai pipes up, and dives into a Typical Demon Schpiel. Once he winds down, Yuri counters with one of the best lines in the game (well, in the Japanese, at least...). He get's the better of Astaroth/Nicholai, too, since all he responds with is the start of a--- BOSS FIGHT: NEO ASTAROTH (affinity NONE) For all that he's a new and hyped up version of the Astaroth you beat up back in Apoina, he's not too hard to beat. Yes, he'll pull out some pretty unpleasant spells to deal over 250HP of damage, but Arc Barrier should tone that down nicely. All that's left for you to do is Arc Gale/Arc Rage and combo the demon into oblivion. Or whatever battle strategy floats your boat. Astaroth leaves you a Delay 3, and his own ---Crest Astaroth--- for your efforts. He also leaves you a very, very frustrated Nicholai. Astaroth gone, Nicholai promptly took his body back. Karin is silly and/or trusting enough to try to be worried about him, but Yuri gets in the way of any mischief Nicholai might've tried. So instead the exorcist takes his annoyance out on Yuri, twisting the curse hard. Katou gets in the way of that, then Ohka gets in the way of what Nicholai tries in retaliation... ...and Yuri wakes up in his Graveyard. A really familiar voice is calling him from the other side of the Door to Desire, but the damned stone thing just won't open.... ...then Yuri wakes up for real this time, by the sacred springs in Inugami Village. Katou left a message with Karin, requesting Yuri's presence at the Foreigners' Cemetary at his earliest possible convenience. Well, Katou's waited three days for you to wake up already, so what's another one or two? Clearing up Mt. Fuji opens up a whole bunch of new stuff you can do. You can stop by the Yokohama Streets, going all the way across until you almost come out the other side. There should be a guy in a white suit hanging out on the right side of the Kawashimas' place there. He'll quiz you on Monsters. Show him how smart you are and he'll give you Anastasia's second strongest weapon in return. In Europe, you can stop by Le Havre's Black Gull Cafe to meet the Peach Bat, Joachim's little sister. She'll give you his second strongest weapon (not without a fight, though). Check the bottom of your List 'o Destinations, and you'll notice "Zurich" has been added. Go there for some neat cut scenes and a cool item. Plus, a visit to Mon Martre will earn you the last of the Wolf Bout prizes, but there are still three Bouts left to go, as Tetsu will inform you. You can start in on those right now, if you want, though higher levels would make them easier. Oh, and Sara has more Challenges for you, too. Finish up however many errands you wish to do, then visit the Foreigner's Cemetary. Katou and Yuri share a private talk on sad subjects; lost loves, hard choices in the past. Katou hands over the Emigre Manuscript like it was just a library book he'd borrowed for a few days, planting a very risky, very dangerous idea in Yuri's mind in the process. More importantly, Katou spills the location of his boss, Ishimura. That, Yuri files away for later use. Even more importantly, Katou also divulges what he's going to be up to next: completely erasing the entire world as we know it. o.O He leaves the Cemetary Yuri's most implacable enemy. Well, on that cheery note you go back to the World Map. On it automatically appears the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Okay everyone. Yuri's in a Mood, and it isn't a good one. Heck with fancy plans, let's just barge in the front door and walk over anyone who gets in the way. Like that silly guard who's charging you. Beefed up versions of the armored soldiers you've been trouncing since the Mikasa, spellcasting would work well on these guys since they're always grouped nicely. They don't try to stick any major ailments on you either. Mostly just the occasional Slow, which you can't really prevent anyways. Pound them to add another body to the floor. There's a set of double doors going off to your right, but the only thing in room past them is a Soldiers' Convention. Go inside to wipe them out, if you wish, but it's not critical. Follow the turn in the hallway and you find yourself face to face with some more soldiers. Thrash them. Moving on. Round the corner and guess what. Soldiers! I think you know what to do with them. Whew. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get a little tired. Duck inside the door to your right, into a locker room. It'll function nicely as a breakroom, I think. Check the wastebasket to the left of the save point for a lottery ticket before actually using said save point. While you're catching your breath, take a little look around. You should see a bunch of lockers around the back end of the room; two sets of two on the left and right walls, then four along the back. Make a mental note of them. Once you're ready, dive back out into the action. Going up a screen will bring you across more soldiers, suprise surprise. Deal with them as you've dealt with all the others, then storm on up the steps. The troops at the top are smart (for once), running the second they see you. There are more doors for you at the top of the stairs, so let's go in the one to the left, on the far side of the save point. Of course, a squad of soldiers is hanging out in there and they object to being barged in upon, but I bet you can silence them pretty quick. Before going out, loot the corpse closest to the bottom of your screen to get the Locker #5 Key. Put that somewhere you can reach easily, then go back into the hallway. Just below the save point is another door, this one going to the right. More soldiers, though this one seems more suicidal than the others. Grant his wish, then loot the corpse. That'll get you Locker #1 Key. Since we're on a looting spree, why don't you go after the treasure chest just below you and take off with the Seal of Strength inside. It's not like anybody's going to argue with you over it. Since going any further down the hallway will draw you into lots of cut scenes, let's go back down to the locker room on the first floor and see what these keys will get us. Locker #1 is the left-side one of the two on the left wall. I doubt the owner of the key will need the Mind's Eye in there any more. Locker #5 is the second from the right along the back wall. You'll only get a Pure Extract, which isn't much compared to a Mind's Eye, but it's still useful. Okay. Back up the stairs. You'll want to use the save point up there now, and set your party to something really, really heavy on the magic side. Be sure to have Arc Shield on somebody, too. That'll be useful. Maybe even Arc Surge for once. Heck, you might just consider putting Anastasia in the party. Set and ready to roll, let's go down through the doors. Lt. Col. Terada is waiting for you, with the last of his soldiers. Wipe out the six underings first, and all that's left is a--- BOSS FIGHT: MECHA LORD (Water affinity, since Lt.Col. Terada was Water) Remember Yama Garan, and how nothing magical would work? Well, Mecha Lord is his/her exact opposite. Nothing physical works on this guy. If it involves blades or bodies hitting the thing, it's going to do zero damage (hits still count, though, if you're racking up combos). So settle in for a long fight. Arc Shield would probably be a good idea, as this guy is fond of 6-hit attacks that'll knock 250-300HP off your totals, or a 17-hit laser that does about the same. Actually, Anastasia can Snapshot that laser. It's the Hyper Cannon Album spell. But anyways, you've got to use spells to get rid of this guy. Yuri and Kurando can use fusion spells, so don't get it too stuck in your head that you *have* to use Lucia, Gepetto and Anastasia. Finish putting the Lt. Col. in an early grave, and the road to Ishimura is clear. He and Yuri have an interesting talk, which does *not* go in the direction Yuri had thought it would. Ishimura turns out not to be the Big Bad Guy Yuri had thought him to be, and that almost makes Yuri into the "bad guy" type he thought he was fighting... It takes a pep talk from Roger a few days later to pull Yuri out of his depression, mostly thanks to a really risky idea that gets proposed. And for that idea to work, there's stuff that needs to be acquired in the--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< But before you go dashing off to Europe, you might want to consider going back through the wreckage at Azabu. Check out the one openable locker along the back wall, and you'll find the one soldier you didn't manage to get rid of the first time you came through here. In an appeal for his life, Cowardly Noguchi shows his stripes as Lottery Member #5. I'm sure you can find a little mercy in your heart, right? Watch out, he uses REVERSE RING!! But he does compensate with Slow 3, should you win. Head over to Europe when you're good and ready. The Queen's Garden will automatically add itself to your list, so you shouldn't have to worry about that. Drop in on the place and it's a rather dilapidated old castle, not a true "garden". Roger will hang out at the door, in case you should need healing. I think you'll be okay, though. Just have some Cure-alls handy, as one of the critters in here can whack you down to under half-HP in one hit. Some others will try to Panic you, but that's not too big a worry. All decked out and ready to party, head on in through the double doors. 15 steps will take you to a circular room, with doors in all 4 of the cardinal directions. You just came in through the south door. Now, just because I feel like it, I'm going to call this a Circle Room. There are several more that look like it in here. Okay. First things first. Open up the north door of this Circle Room, and you find yourself in a small dining room. Go around the right side of the table, and you should notice something shiny on the table. For some unfathomable reason, there's a chess piece, a knight, on the table. But Karin has a hunch, so pick it up. Winding around the back of the table, you should notice a "?" pop up as you pass the fireplace. There's a nook in the back of it just begging to have some key put in it. Yuri tries the Knight piece, but it's too small. So that is one of the mini puzzles of this dungeon, Find the Right Chesspiece. So complete your trip around the table, grabbing the Thera Extract out of the chest as you go by. Back in the Circle Room, the next door we will investigate is the West Door, off to your left. That'll open up into a long, smoothly curving hallway, which eventually leads you to a set of double doors. Those open up into another Circle Room. In the place of a West Door, there's a treasure chest. Pop it open and add the Hit Area Expand inside to your collection. Over to the East Door. This one leads you to a rather disorganized bedroom. Smack in the middle of the floor is another chest, just begging to be raided. Get the Pawn chesspiece out of it, and explore the rest of the room. You'll notice pretty quickly that a lot of "?"s come up, though only one, at the base of the grandfather clock, will give you any treasure (a lottery ticket). All the others will just be observations of one sort or another; i.e. "The vase is on the table." or "The couch is facing the door." Remember these. Onwards. From that Circle Room, go through the North door. Again, there's a long, smoothly curving hallway. You should have realized by now that you're going in a big circle. Yes, this Queen's Garden is all about circles. Open the double doors at the end of that hallway and you're in another Circle Room, directly north of the very first one you entered. Now, there's only one way you can really go; straight across. Going through the North door will only put you in a hallway where you endlessly repeat the same 10 steps, so let's skip that for now. The South door is locked by a strange device that requires a chess piece to open. Unfortunately, the Pawn piece you currently have is way too small. That leaves East, so straight to the right we go. The door, of course, opens to a long, smoothly curving hallway which takes us down around another quarter of the huge circle that is the Queen's Garden. That in turn leads to yet another Circle Room. A funky lock closes the West door here, too. Fortunately, the Pawn chesspiece opens this one. Beyond the door is a room that looks a LOT like the one you were in just a few minutes ago, right down to the treasure chest smack in the middle of the floor. But it won't open. Not until you've made this room look exactly like the other one. Now, any random number of 7 different things will be wrong, so I'll just tell you what needs to be right to get the chest to unlock. *The portrait on the floor must be sideways. *The glass pane must be on the floor by the bookcase, not on the fireplace. *The tapestry must be blue. *The hanging portrait's upper corner must point towards the tapestry. *The couch must be angled towards the door. *The vase must be on the table. *The chair must be pointed towards the bookcase. Once all those things have been arranged, then you should hear the click of the treasure chest opening. Inside is another chess piece. The Queen. Yay! Alrighty. Back out to the Circle room and up we go! Yes, up. Northward. We'll do South later. Round the curve of the hallway up to the next Circle Room. It's South door should still be locked with those weird chess-piece only locks. I wonder who made those... Anyways, the Queen chesspiece should unlock it. Peek through the doors, and you should find yourself in an old-fashioned game parlor, with some darts, a billiard table, a card table, and a game of, you guessed it, *chess* on a table in the bottom right corner of the room. It's an unfinished game, apparently, since there's a note asking you to place the Knight piece you have in the proper square to save the King. If you're a chess-fan, you may be able to figure that out in a moment or two. Fortunately, the people at Nautilus aren't that evil, they give all of us non-chess-players three squares to pick from. Eenie meenie miney moe, catch a tiger by its toe, if it..... meh. Just pick the bottom choice. That works. In return for saving it, you get the King chesspiece. Whoopie. Back out into the Circle room, and back through the East door. Around the hallway, and straight through the next Circle Room. Into the next hallway, and stop. Step over to the left side of the corridor and start counting torches, all the way up to seven. Directly underneath that seventh torch on the left side of the hall is a Paralysis 3. Who knows how the heck it got there. That in hand, or better yet on somebody's Ring, finish your trip along the hall and walk into the next Circle Room. This one should be the same one you entered when you first arrived in the Garden. So going through the North door should take you back into that messy dining room. In the back of said room is the fireplace with that weird nook. Use the King chesspiece. A faraway rumbling will tell you that something happened. That "something" happened all the way around on the other side of the Garden. So pick East or West, whichever direction you fancy, and stroll around to the Circle Room that had the door to the game parlor. Not that you're going into the game parlor, mind you. We're going north this time. Remember the hallway I told you to ignore, because you'd be stuck endlessly repeating the same 10 steps? Well, that's been fixed. Now you can actually reach the save point you see glowing faintly in the distance. You'll want to use that, too, I bet. Set your party to one of your stronger ones. Having Arc Gale handy might not be that bad an idea, either. Anastasia will also probably want to come along, if you're interested in gathering Album spells. Go through the door at the far end of the hall, and you find yourself in a spacious throne room of sorts. Nothing jumps out at you immediately, so feel free to wander around before stopping by the statue standing in the back of the room. Step around the altar and right up to the statue itself to start a cut scene, and another--- BOSS FIGHT: KING TAMAKOS (Wind affinity) For the first 7/8ths of the fight, this guy is no problem at all. It's when his HP hit the red zone that he starts getting difficult, mostly because he'll be so rude as to zap one of your charas right out of the fight with "Spirit Off". Then the odds are down to 3 on 1. Dawdle too much in killing him off, and he'll start smacking you with SP Down, too. Hustle, folks, hustle! So have one of your stronger parties put together, and have your combos good enough that you can drop 1500HP or so off this ugly looking puffball in only a round or two. Bury the creep, and you'll get Lucia's Tarot Card Strength. You also get the Moon Crystal, which is what you came here for in the first place. Cart the thing outside. Half way across the courtyard, Jeanne decides to interrupt, dragging Yuri way back into the depths of his graveyard. You don't find out anything interesting, but you do have to find your own way back out. That invovles going left for a long, long time. Jeanne pulled you way back in there, didn't she. Make a note of which way you came, you'll be coming back this way in a little while. Once Yuri comes too, you've got some travelling to do. First stop is Roger's house in Wales. Visit the right-hand room in the basement to kickstart one of the two most touching scenes in the entire game. The experiment ultimately fails, though everyone manages to come out of it in one piece. However, Roger can't give you much info on your next step. Only one person can, and she's in Inugami Village. So off to Japan we go. Before you set foot in the town, Yuri decides to visit the Graveyard. Head all the way straight back, through the Door of Indecision, the Door to Desire, all the way straight back until you reach the place Jeanne called you not too long ago. You can go through the door Jeanne did, and it opens up the other most touching scene in the game. When it's over, dry your eyes, then go visit Saki in her study in the mansion. She gives you a very clear idea on what Katou is up to, and where he's going to go about doing that, the --- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Leave Inugami Village, and a marker for it will show up on your map. Now, there is nothing ordering you to go right over there. Just having that little dot on your map opens up loads of things you can do. However, even *more* stuff will open up if you do. So let's go see what Katou's doing, and take a peep inside that dungeon of his. Stopping in at the Platform starts up a quietly intense FMV, as Katou spells out precisely what he intends to do. He summons the Final Dungeon, (much less impressive than Rasputin's castle, imo), and cordially invites you to visit him at the top. Well, let's see if this "Bronze Bell" place is any more impressive on the inside than it's rather plain outside. Step on the gold warp thingy and during your trip up, Jeanne decides to pay a visit to Yuri. It's a short visit, Yuri simply promising to tell Jeanne his Answer next time they meet. Trade the Graveyard for the inside of the Bronze Bell. It certainly is a bit more pretty than the outside, that's for sure. Okay. That's enough. Let's go back outside. Warp down to the Stone Platform, step out onto the World Map, and get ready for some--- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< There are enough of them this time that they get their own section. Opening up the Stone Platform was the magic key for not only the side-quests, but for a lot of other miscellany as well. Here's a quick list. Do 'em in whatever order you like. -Nihonbashi. Stop by the Grand Gama's ring and talk to the guy in work clothes over to the left. You got the Pro-Wrestler Stud Card from him. Now he'll quiz you on them. Win to get a Silver Angel. While you're there, talk to the Gama himself to open up the Man Festival, Joachim's Sidequest. Have some healing items stocked! -Goreme Valley. Sara has yet *more* trials for you. The Embodiment Levels are open. -Petrograd. For some strange reason, Gerrard of the Mazymells has taken up residence in the Throne Room. His inventory now includes every armor available in the game short of Ultimates, and Third Keys for 30,000 Cash each. Also, duck back in the family room behind the Throne room to get Anastasia's Ultimate Armor, the Prayer Coat. -Dom Remy. Visit the Church and Yuri will suddenly keel over. No he's not hurt, Jeanne just put him to sleep so she could have some private words with Blanca and hand over the Charm Pouch, his Ultimate Armor. -Forest of the Wind. If you've beaten Henri for a second time, Lobo should appear on the main trail of the Forest. You can do this fight any time after you've beaten Henri, but it's simplest to write it in here. ^.^ Anyways, Lobo has come back from the dead as his young self, just for the chance at fighting you. Equip a Leonard's Bear and oblige him. It's not going to be a fancy fight. He just tries to hit you really hard a whole lot of times. Prove that you can hit him harder than he hits you, and he'll fade away, leaving paw-print #14 in your book. -Mon Martre. Lobo gone again, now it's time to talk to the guy who's responsible for this whole mess; Earnest. You will want to equip some heavy defense items and make sure you have a lot of healing handy before you even set foot inside the city, because the fight will start the instant you do. It's not "Earnest" you end up fighting though, it's "Wolfman", a guy in a cutsey wolf costume. You've probably found out by now, but the sillier something looks in this game, the more dangerous it is. Wolfman is no exception. I would not try this one until Blanca is at *least* level 50. Otherwise you're going to be in waaaaay over your head. Wolfman hits hard enough to knock 200HP off your total, if you're lucky. If not, he's going to Energy Charge, and hit you for a whole bunch more. Plus, he's got to have somewhere around 2000HP of his own. So have some thick defensive items, maybe a Voodoo Doll if you're paranoid, and *block* when he uses Energy Charge. Do manage to smack him down to zero, and you'll get a couple things. First is a Magic Def. Down 4. Second is the last stamp for Wolfbout, which nets you Red Comet. And last is the Beast Medal, Blanca's Ultimate Weapon. Yay! -Florence. Start saving up steps. As of now, get 10,000 and Healthy Roonie will give you Karin's Microskirt, her Ultimate Armor. -Ste. Marguerite. If you've gone all the way through Yuri's Ultimate Armor chase, Lenny will now let you in. In where? The cell where Roger was held all the way back when Sapientes Gladio still existed. To get there, follow the only path until you get to the red-bar door. Go through there and turn left. Through the next door and go up, round the corner, then up again. At the end of the hall is the cell. Talk to Lenny, and at the end, he'll hand over his old Biker Jacket, Yuri's Ultimate Armor. -Paris; Old Cathedral. Make sure you got the Dangerous Documents from Flemmings in Southampton before coming here. Have them, and Malkovich will appear where the two sets of stairs become one. After a nice, nostalgic conversation, she'll give you Lucia's Nemesis, her Ultimate Weapon. -Queen's Garden. With King Tamakos out of the way, you can go get the Nibelung Epilogue for Karin. It's written on the back wall, *behind* the statue you got the Moon Crystal from. A "?" should pop up when you go back there. The other thing that'll pop up when you go back there is a--- BOSS FIGHT: GUARDIAN (Light affinity) He's fast, plus he uses Energy Charge to hit you. I'd go with Arc Gale and Arc Shield, so you have some chance of pulling off a 4-man combo. Voodoo Dolls are another suggestion, if you don't want to have all your charas blocking when Guardian does Energy Charge. And if you don't block, somebody's going down. Period. He does 500HP damage at two hits, and his full attack usually involves 5-6 hits. Thankfully, Guardian doesn't use Energy Charge every round. He mixes things up with some high-level spells. So be careful in this one, and well prepared. Take him down, and you finally get a chance to read what's written on the wall. Take him down in 55 or so hits, and you get Demon Earrings (?) to boot. Yay! - The Doll House. I'd suggest you do this one first, seeing as it's the shortest, and has the simplest critters. Talk to Mizuda on the Yokohama Streets to open this up. See the Side-Quest section for details on getting through here. -AFTER you've cleared the Doll House, re-explore the basement. There should be a Seal of Life on the right side of the rocking chair. - The Black Forest. This is probably the next one you'd want to do, since the Dog Shrine is complicated and Neam is just plain nasty. Talk to the weaving drunk in Le Havre's Black Gull cafe to get the location for this place, then check the side-quests area for details. ^.^ - AFTER everything in the Black Forest is done, visit Carla again. She'll give you a message from Lawrence. Now you can go get Lucia's special outfit. - The Dog Shrine. It's easier than Neam, so better do it first and get some levels. Go to Inugami Village and talk to Saki. She'll ask you to run an errand for her, into the Dog Shrine. Details in the side-quest section. -AFTER finishing off the Dog Shrine, a couple new things open up to you; namely Kurando's second fusion. Starting things of again involves talking to Saki. Well, trying to talk to Saki. Enter Inugami Village, and you should be stopped by the old granny Sachi. She should tell Kurando that her mother wants to see him at the Springs. Alone. Dun, dun, dun... (insert ominous music) (if this does not happen, leave the village, turn around, go back in and try again). Equip Kurando with a Flare Brooch and some heavy-duty protective accessories, save, and go see her. A long conversation later, she *forces* Kurando into the Shuten Doji form, to fight her. -AFTER Kurando gains Shuten Doji, make one last trip to Inugami Village and see Saki. This time she and Anastasia will have a long, private conversation. At the end of it, Saki hands over the Autumn Kimono, Anastasia's special outfit. -The Neam Ruins, Again. Not the most fun of dungeons, this one would probably be best done once you have some levels under your belt, and some healing handy. See the side-quest section for details. -AFTER you come out of the Ruins, Orobas in your pocket, you should make a bee-line right for Roger's House. Ceremoniously hand the old fart his Shanghai Angels magazine, and he'll pass you the White Panties. -AFTER you've got that little piece of cotton, leave Wales, make a U-ey and come right back in. Now Roger should be standing inside his house on the left side, near what looks to be a giant hamster wheel. Y'see, he wants to go back to the Moon, and he needs someone to power his machine. Succeed on a Spin Ring 10 (meep!), and he'll come back from his trip with the Chimera Claw, Yuri's Ultimate Weapon. -AFTER the Chimera Claw is snuggly wrapped on Yuri's wrist, and AFTER Kurando has mastered the Shuten Doji fusion, then you need to pay the Graveyard a visit. If you've done everything right, the Stone of Rebirth should be sitting under the tree. Pick it up, and go through the wooden doors to the north. Keep going north, onwards and deeper into the Graveyard, until you reach a point where a cut-scene triggers. Talk to Ben Hyuga, and eventually, you get pulled into a fight with Dark Seraphim. -AFTER you've cleared Neam, go back to Ste. Margueritte and finish the Fort of Regrets sidequest, since it nets you the Ultimate Weapon for both Karin and Joachim. ******************************************************************************* SIDE-QUESTS ******************************************************************************* .:WAKURABA- FORT OF REGRET:. Karin's Side-quest The earliest of all the side-quests in SH2, you can enter the Fort as soon as you've cleared the Hall of Mirrors for the first time. All you have to do is go back to the prison on the island of Ste. Margueritte at any point between then and beating the game. However, you can't *finish* the Fort until you're able to move freely between Europe and Asia, well into Disc 2. To start, stop by Ste. Marguerite. You'll immediately be accosted by Nimble- Fingered Locke, the guy who helped you make the Jury-Rigged key that got Roger out the first time you were there. He will tell you about mysterious wailings and the rumors of ghosts beneath the store room floor. So head on to the store room (go until you finally have a choice of paths to take, then go left). Karin will insist on investigating, so Yuri and Joachim clear out the floor and uncover a trap door. Since this is Karin's side-quest, she'll take the lead. 4 steps in, you're stopped by the Professor, a kindly and informative ghost. He tells you how the dungeon works, plus quite a bit of it's history, should you go back and ask. Basically, the Fort is a gathering place for lost souls. To get through this old castle, you have to find all the souls stuck here, and do whatever task they set you. This will allow them to pass on in peace, and get rid of the force sealing the doors to the lower levels. There are, I think, 4 levels in total. There are no random encounters here, nor hidden items, so I'll simply tell you who's on which floor and what they want you to do. 1st Floor: Serge the Sailor. He wants you to take an old engagement ring to a lady named "Irene" in Le Havre. Well, Le Havre isn't all that hard to find, and Irene is the old lady who's usually puttering around near the Black Gull (only this time, she's standing still waiting for you). Talk to her, give her the ring, and return to the castle. Talk to Serge again, lie through your teeth and watch him fade happily away. Darcy, Who Didn't Quite Make It. (you have to talk to him through the bars.) Oh, the poor sap. To die in the middle of taking a dump... ignominious, to say the least. Hand over a tissue so the guy can finally get some relief. 2nd Floor: Crybaby Kazuna. Take the mask she gives you and hand it over to the well-dressed gentleman standing right outside the door to the Junk Kingdom item shop near the Old Cathedral. Once you've got that done, talk to her again to send her on her way. The Clueless Sailor. He wants you to find something for him; his name. The only clue he has for you is an old pocket watch, with an engraving on the back too faded to read. Show that watch to one of the old fogeys in the Foreigner's Graveyard, who turns out to be an old shipmate of his. Depressed Ludovic. Lottery Member #3, he never got to do the lotto while he was alive. His Red Square item is a Mind's Eye, and you only have 3 tries to get it before he disappears. Good luck! 3rd Floor: The Professor. He's the only guy on the whole floor. Not that it is all that big a floor in the first place, but still. However, his problem is complicated enough to warrant a whole floor. What is it? That's the thing. He *can't remember*. ::SIGH:: Well, once you get Roger's airship back and can re-visit Europe, some deranged old fart should start hanging out on the beach in Cannes, ranting on about super-powerful weapons hidden under the sand. Listen to his schpeil once, then go back and talk to the Prof. He should tell you he's on the verge of remembering something, and you should come back later. So leave, and come right back. He'll then excitedly tell you about the Heiroglyph, which is hidden in some underground ruin. Then go do the hard part-- clear the Neam Ruins a second time, and bring the Heiroglyph to the Prof. (thanks to Jason for clearing this part up!!) Beat Neam Ruins? How do you do that? Well... first you wait until the Stone Platform is open, then you read my FAQ on it down below. ^.^ Once you have the Heiroglyph in hand, tote it on back to the Prof. He'll read it, and promptly go on about imminent world danger, buried on the Cannes beach. So go back to Cannes and head to the beach. You'll notice pretty quick that the ranting old guy isn't there any more, but something looking like a miniature submarine is. Of course, Joachim falls in the love with the thing. Pick it up, save the world. ^.^ Now, if you're in a hurry to get back to the Prof, you might notice that there's only one way out of there; back up the boardwalk. Up the wooden steps and onto the sidewalk, and you finally find the crazy old guy, who's name is really Professor Stein. Let him read the Heiroglyph, and let Joachim brag about saving the world. Stein gives you one last thing to say to the professor, so it's back into the basement of the Fort again. The Prof finally remembers everything, and in so doing, can pass on to the next world happily. He also leaves the last door unlocked. 4th FLOOR: .:TIFFAUGES:. Yuri's Side-quest This is where you find Neo-Amon. Get Roger's airship back and pay a visit to Florence. Wander around between the brick wall and the fountain in the middle of town. Somewhere back there should be a heavy-set guy in a gray suit. Talk to him and he tempts you with a cursed treasure in a decrepit castle over in Britagne (sp?). The treasure is a giant mirror, and, get this, a huge demon is supposed to fly out at whoever looks at it. Sound familiar? Thought so. Leave Florence and Tiffauges automatically adds itself at the bottom of your List 'o Destinations on the World Map. The second-earliest side quest, you can theoretically survive this dungeon starting at level 40 or so. If you do want to try it this early, I'd highly recommend equipping the Warning Device. The enemies are going to be fast enough to go before you do anyway, you just don't want the added discomfort of being stuck in an easily spelled circle. Also, pad your stock of Thera and Mana Seeds. This is one place the Mazymells haven't found their way into. Lastly, the critters in here use Tight and Fickle Ring with distressing frequency, every so often throwing in an attack with Seal. Pocket Watches are definitely a good thing. Bell Bracelet is up to you. Walk on inside and it really does look exactly like the Hall of Mirrors Jovis sent Yuri and Amon through, with one major difference. You're not stuck inside until you beat the boss. ^.^ Anyways, head on through the double doors and walk down the familiar looking hallway. Again, there's only one difference; the Mirror down at the end of it is broken. Hn. Interesting. But most broken things are useless, and this Mirror is not one of the exceptions. Move along, into the next hallway... ...that is utterly different. They ditched the "exact copy" bit pretty quick. You are now standing in a perfectly straight hallway. Were this a copy, it would have been what I'd named the "Spooned Hallways". Here's where Tiffauge starts getting complicated. Three of the Mirrors dominate this particular hall, though only the one in the middle is unbroken. The broken ones are, of course, pointless. The single whole one is tempting, though... Resist temptation. That Mirror is what I'm going to arbitrarily name a Fake Mirror. Touch a Fake Mirror and you get two things. 1- A random battle. 2- A broken Mirror. So touching Fake Mirrors isn't good for much besides leveling. How do you tell the difference between a real Mirror and a Fake Mirror? Touch it and see. Or you could just read on. ^.^ Right. So that middle Mirror is a Fake Mirror. Ignore it in favor of the treasure chest just kinda sitting up there above the last Mirror in the row. Get the ---Crest Ronove--- and continue on. The next hall isn't really a "hall" at all. It's more a huge crossroads. In the middle of it is a really pretty standing chandelier, with some guy standing next to it. He claims he's nothing more than a guide, but otherwise says nothing interesting. He is, however, the only living being on this side of the castle. Now, from here, you could go left. But that way only leads to a Fake Mirror, so ignore it. Then there's the whole going right idea, but that way leads to a Mirror that's one-way the wrong way. So right is out. That leaves up. Up is good. Up'll lead you to some doors that open into a cozy little study. The Mirror inside is broken, leaving the treasure chest just above the merrily crackling fireplace as the only potentially interesting thing in the room. Inside it is a Petrify 3. I'd say that counts as "interesting". Onwards to the next hall, which seems to twist and turn for no apparent reason. However, there is a broken Mirror on the long side, and it dead ends in the only useable Mirror on the Real Side of the Castle. Hold your breath, and break on through to the other side. ^.^ Unlike the Hall of Mirrors, you don't have to fight your Evil Twins this time. Battles only happen if you touch Fake Mirrors. Your first steps on the Other Side look a lot like the mirror image of the hallway you just traversed, except what was a broken Mirror before is now a workable one, as the little girl standing next to it will inform you. Hold off on that idea for just a moment, there's a dead-end pressing to be explored. Do your exploring job right, and you should come up with Lucia's Devil Tarot card in the right-side corner. Now you can go back and traipse through the Mirror. It dumps you out into the middle of another hall, with the choice of up or down. Well, up worked really well for us before, so let's do up again. Round a corner and it's a dead end. But, there's a girl there. She's a sharp-tongued little brat named Alice (big contrast with the other Alice most know). Her only redeeming feature is that she's Lottery Member #4. She promptly loses that feature because hers is a BLIND RING!! If you do manage to hit that skinny sliver of red, she'll fork over a Demon Ward Necklace. That could be handy right away, if you're having trouble. Otherwise, there's nothing else here. Make an about face and tromp over to the other dead end. It's got a workable Mirror, so it's not really a dead-end after all. Slip through and you're in another hallway that looks a lot like every other one in this place. But there's a boy standing at the corner, and he tells you something interesting... he's dead. Not that this has any relevance to completing the dungeon, it's just an interesting fact. Anyways, he also says he picked on a girl that's also here, so she locked the door to the study at the end of this hall. So you have him to thank for leaving you with only the Mirror on the long side of the hall as a way to go. But first you're going to want to go visit the end of the hall again, as there is a treasure chest there. Wouldn't want to leave the Daphne's Fruit behind, now would we? Back to the Mirror. That Mirror again dumps you into the middle of a hallway. But this one has a very, very noticeable difference. Go up a step or three to shift the screen and there's a SAVE POINT! Halleluyah!! Don't trip over yourself getting to it. Heal, save, rest, get a new drink from the kitchen. We're 3/4 of the way there. Alright, break time over. From here we go *down*. Yes, down. Yes, there's more hallway going up. We'll go there later. Down first. You eventually end up in another cozy little study (no treasure chest, durnit), and you might think you're supposed to go through the Mirror there. Well, it's a Fake Mirror, so don't waste your time. Remember, you can leave this room going down. Now you're in another hall that's like a giant intersection, just there's no random guy standing next to the chandelier. First things first. Somebody got tired of the "treasure chests in dead ends" idea and just stuck one in the middle of the intersection. Well, more like the bottom left corner of the intersection, but it's almost the same thing. Pillage the thing and you'll get your first Crucifix, the single most handy- dandy all-chara item in the game. While you're there, you might notice a little boy standing just a little above you. Talk to him, and he kindly informs you that the Mirror way off to the left will take you back to Reality. He isn't lying either. Choose to go through there and you'll end up in the first giant intersection, where the lone adult hangs out. Go straight down from there, and you'll find the exit. However, at this point, you're over 3/4 of the way to beating this place. Going back or not is your call, but if you're not desperately in need of items or hanging on to life by bare threads, you should be able to stick it out to the end. Might as well keep going counterclockwise from here, especially since there's a treasure chest with a Seal of the Urn in it ripe for the pickings should you go down. Snag that and go back to the chandelier, then hook a right. It won't be long before you see yet another Mirror. Getting tired of them yet? Slip through this one and you're only a few steps north of a dead end. Obviously, you don't need to go down. Up, round the corner and.... you're at another crossroads. Okay, this is a special one. You only really need to go up. That's it. Going straight across will lead you to nothing but a Fake Mirror. You don't need to go down, but you *do* need to note it. Going down will take you to the room the old wolf Henri will occupy once you've gotten far enough into the Wolf Bout sidequest. If you're coming through before you've cleared the first 12 regular fights, Henri's NOT THERE. You'll have to come back later. So that place duly noted, go up. The double doors open up on another cozy study, but there's a little girl in it. Talk to her and she squeaks in a very girlish fashion. Y'see there's this boy who spooked her, so she locked herself in this room to keep him away. I bet you've heard this story before. Yep. Somehow, we've gone backwards. But that's not a problem. This is where we need to be. Leave the room to the north. You shouldn't need to go back, so it won't matter that the girl locks the door behind you. Go up, up and further up, and you'll pass the boy, then see the save point. Remember we didn't go any further left than the save point? Well, we will now. Save. Pile on the defensive accessories, especially on Yuri, and give someone fast Arc Shield. Arc Gale, Arc Rage and Cure All (the cure HP to max spell) would also be extraordinarily handy. Continue left and follow the hallway from there. Ignore the Mirror on the side wall, it's a Fake. Do touch the Mirror at the end of the hall. It's a Fake too, but it takes the "break" idea a step farther. The whole thing puts a huge hole in the wall, a hole that leads to a totally different-looking hallway, which ends with very ornately designed double doors. The room is exactly the same as the one where you found Amon, though it's Albert who makes the sudden appearance this time. He's quite surprisingly informed about what's been going on in Reality, too. He offers a power to surpass that of Amon, and Yuri pounces on the opportunity, kick starting a--- BOSS FIGHT: NEO AMON (affinity NONE) Like Amon was, Neo Amon is a straight-forward sort of boss. He's out to squish Yuri, and he'll do it in 400HP chunks if you don't get an Arc Shield up in one heckuva hurry. Neo Amon won't do much of anything you can't get him to do, which means lots of physical attacks spiced up with the occasional The End (which does less damage). Every once in a while he'll do a Red Crest spell, so if you're going to fuse Yuri you might want to pick Fides, just so the elemental affinities match and you get low-end damage. Arc Gale should balance the number of turns in your favor, and a shot of Cure All every second round or two should keep Yuri on his feet. Combo long enough and even Neo Amon will go down. At the end of all that fuss and bother, the Fusion Monster Neo Amon is finally yours! Yay! Plus, you get the ---Crest Amon--- as a bonus. Double Yay!! And, thank all that's wonderful and holy, you don't have to find your own way out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wolf Bout #13 - Henri again If you hit Tiffauges early, chances are you haven't cleared the first 12 fights, so Henri won't be there your first run through. That means you have to go *back* into that place to deal with him later. Thrill. Well, here are quick directions to his hidey-hole for those going in later. From the start, go up and keep going up for forever and a day, or until you hit a dead end with a Mirror. Walk through there and go up some more. Shortly, you'll see a little girl next to a Mirror. Ignore her, slip through the Mirror. Down to the next mirror. On the other side, keep going past the boy and then look for a Mirror on your left. Use it. Down again, down through the room, down all the way to the crossroads. Go right, there. Shortly, there'll be a Mirror on the right wall. Warp through that one. Follow the hall to another crossroads. This time go down. You should pass another boy, and he'll tell you about the animal noises he's hearing that keep him up at night. That's your hint that you're on the right track. Keep going down all the way until you hit a dead end that looks a lot like the entrance, and Henri's guarding the non-existant door. Put on a Pocket Watch and talk to him. 2 sentences into the conversation, Henri undergoes a sudden personality shift and pounces on you. Unlike your first tussle with him, this Henri relies on brute force over magic. Thankfully, he doesn't have all that many HP, and he rarely uses any spells. If you want things to go a tad faster, Arc Gale would be nice, but otherwise just keep attacking. Henri'll come to his senses eventually. Like Lobo did, Henri mutters some half-formed thoughts on Earnest, and then shuts up on the matter. ::SIGH:: Well, get another stamp in your booklet and leave. Try to leave, anyway. There's no easy way out. Okay, up, up and away through the intersection, through the room with the scaredy-cat girl in it, and hook a left through the next Mirror you find. Now we go down, down and down some more, through another room (without a scaredy-cat girl in it), and make another left at the intersection. That Mirror will dump you out in the very first 4-way, with the only adult in the place guarding it. From there, it's down until you're out. .:ZURICH:. Not really a Side-quest Zurich isn't really a side-quest. It's more of an optional FMV, with a neat prize. After clearing Mt. Fuji, head back to Europe and it's automatically added to your list of destinations. Pay the place a visit, and Yuri will tell Karin a bit about the death of his lover, Alice. At the end, he'll give her Anne's Cross, the royally cool Karin- specific item that protects her from everything but the common cold. .:NEAM RUINS - AGAIN:. Anastasia's Side-quest Likely the most difficult side-quest, talk to Roger after you've opened up the Stone Platform. He'll go on a rant about some new and dangerous monsters that have moved into the lower levels of the Ruins. Anastasia, kind soul that she is, volunteers everybody else to go down and get rid of them. Of course, they need a leader, so she'll just have to go along. Actually, you're only forced to bring Anastasia and Kurando along. The other two members are up to you, it doesn't really matter. The enemies in the Ruins will bring just about every Ring disorder to the table, so you might want to consider putting Pocket Watches on. The new parts of the Ruins don't start until you've reached the fourth floor, so you're going to have to re-clear the puzzles on the first three. Here's a quick summary: 1st Floor: Just ride the blocks. You'll get there. 2nd Floor: Hit the switch to make your first set of blocks ride-able. Go to the middle island and hit the switch on the far back end of it. The block you will want to ride is the one sandwitched between two dull blocks. That'll take you to a long skinny island. Follow the available paths from there. 3rd Floor: The one with the Light Bridges. Hit the blue Switch, follow the bridges to the Purple Switch, hit it, go all the way back to the Blue switch, hit it again, then go to the Purple Switch and push it again. 4th Floor: New Stuff starts here! More specifically, the enemies get tougher. Up 'til now, you've probably encountered the critters that you faced when you first came through. On this floor, they've mutated into something harder to deal with. Use the save point, then ride the block across to an island. Take the next one down, hit the switch you find at the bottom, then ride back up. Get on the newly available block and go to the next island. The next block you find there will take you down. At the bottom, you get your first look at something out of the ordinary. Over on the small ledge of flagstones, a Red Block has appeared. That's the elevator to the new depths of the Ruins. You land on a simple cross of blocks, a Glittery Block a few steps below you. Since that is the only route available, hop on and ride. It'll waft you over to an island of yellow and blue blocks. Like on the floors above, you can only ride a Glittery block next to a dull block of opposite color. So get on the Glittery Yellow one and ride over to the wall. There'll be a switch over there. Poke it, ride back over, and get on the new Glittery Yellow block. It'll dump you off on another little island of blocks. The only other way off is a Glittery Block. Ride it down a level, onto what counts as a floor in this dungeon. Follow the block path up and away until the camera angle shifts so that you're looking down on Yuri. Over to your left will be a Glittery Block in the corner of two columns. Note that it's there, but walk on by above it for the moment. The screen shifts again, the block path splitting into routes north and south. Hmm. Let's flip a coin; heads we go up, tails we go north. I shouldn't have to tell you to ransack the treasure chest. It's got a Seal of Knowledge for you. Next, we get to pick between two Glittery Blocks, one closer to you and one farther away. The closer one, just over to your right, takes you up to the island you landed on when you first came down here. Unless you have any reason to leave, you can ignore it. The other Glittery Block farther away, however... riding it sounds like a good idea. It'll drop you off on a hidden ledge that goes nowhere, but has two more treasure chests. Pop 'em open and you'll get Delay 4 and a Thera Extract. Turn around and take the block back down. Keep retracing your steps around the corner and this time take the down option at the T-section. You'll wend your way down and around for a short ways, another Glittery Block elevator waiting for you at the dead end. Take it up a little ways to another small ledge. No treasure chests this time, just a switch. Bop it and take the Glittery Block back down. Backtrack to the intersection. Go right, back to that Glittery Block that was tucked between two columns. Now it goes somewhere. Ride it up and step on the Yellow Block that's up there. That'll carry you to a really tiny island. There's nothing to do there but get on another Yellow Block. This ride is a longer one, taking you through a gap in the wall into an entirely different room. You still don't have a choice on where you're going, so hop on the Glittery Block elevator and go down. The blocks make a path you can follow in a U-arc. At the end of it is, surprise surprise, a Glittery Block elevator. That one takes you down, too. You get dropped off in a place I'm going to call the Courtyard. The treasure chest off to your right probably grabbed your gaze right away, but hold off for just a second. Go left instead, towards the Neon Purple Blocks stacked there. Once you're in front of them, turn and go up 4 steps into a Nook. Look around in there to find the Shanghai Angels magazine. Put it away before Kurando sees it. ^.^ Now you can go over to that tantalizing chest and swipe the Strike Area Expand out of it. From there, keep following the path to the right. It'll split into two at the wall, one way going up, the other down. At the moment, you can't go too far up before smacking into some Gold Blocks, so that nixes that direction. Go down. That way dead-ends too, but there's a Purple Switch there, so everything's okay. Poke the switch and retrace your steps all the way back to the Courtyard. Those Neon Purple blocks you used as a landmark just a few moments ago have been raised, so you can slip underneath them. The space beyond is a long, vertical "room" sort of area, two Glittery Block elevators just south of you, and absolutely nothing to the north. That makes down the obvious choice. Take the Glittery Block elevator farthest from you, since the nearer one goes up to a blocked path. It'll drop you off on a corner ledge, with only another Glittery Block to ride. That one will float over to another island, though this one has some switches. At the moment, right is your only choice of direction. Hit the Purple Switch there, and the Neon Purple blocks over to your left go down. Now you can get across them to a Neon Green Switch. Again, two sets of blocks move, one set going down, one going up. Hop back on over to the corner ledge, and take the elevator block down a level. Now go to the elevator block that's closer to the Neon Purple Blocks. Ride it up to the pathway moving the Neon Green blocks opened up. More Neon Green blocks are in the way, but you can get around at least one side of them. All the way back almost against the wall is a Glittery Block elevator. Hop aboard and go down a level. It's just a little nook down there, but it has a gold switch. Poke it to move those Gold Blocks that'd been in the way all the way on the other side of the room. However, getting back to where those Gold Blocks were involves *undoing* just about everything you just *did*. So go all the way back to the place that had the Green and the Purple switches and hit both again so that you can squeeze back under the Neon Purple Blocks and get to the Courtyard. Cut straight across it to the right, then go up after the screen shifts. Those annoying Gold Blocks that had been in the way before are now gone, leaving your path upwards clear. A treasure chest sits up there in a corner, plain as day. Plunder it for a Pure Extract, then turn the corner. One screen to the left, and there's another treasure chest waiting for you, yay! Pop it open and get a Seal of Agility. A couple steps over is a Glittery Block elevator. Up we go! When the block stops, a Neon Green button is right in front of your face. Bop it and ride back down. Yes. We're going all the way back to the other side of the room. Be patient, it's worth it. So wend your way all the way back across the Courtyard and under the Neon Purple Blocks. Ride the elevator block closest to the wall up a level, then take the next one over to where the Purple and Green switches are. Poke them both. You may notice that when you hit the Green switch, the two sets of Neon Green blocks *both* go down this time. Back across the gap and down a level. 5 steps up to the other elevator block that'll take you to the path normally obstructed by a stack of Neon Green blocks. Go through the cleared gap, and you should immediately notice that the pile of Neon Green blocks to the left isn't there any more. Instead, there's a treasure chest. Open it and reverently remove the Eternal Key. Guess what. Now we get to undo everything we just did, *again*. Whoopie. Poke buttons and ride elevator blocks as necessary to get back over to the other side of the room. Wander under the Gold Blocks, around the corner and to the elevator block that dropped you off in front of the Neon Green switch. You can safely ignore that switch now, and instead hop on the elevator block nearby to go up yet another level. A treasure chest again greets you at the top, this one containing an ever-useful Seventh Key. That in hand, use the Glittery Block at the far end of the island to make your way back through the wall and over into the other room. The next island you land on is more ridable blocks than stationary ones. Hmm... eenie meenie miney moe, to the upper block I say we go. It'll take you down a level, onto a ledge that wraps around a pillar. A switch is on the wall. I think you know what to do with it. There's also a treasure chest. Kick it open and what do you find? The Heiroglyph! Store it in a safe spot until you can give it back to the Professor in the Fort of Regrets. But first we have to finish this place. Take the elevator block back up, then step on the block to your right. Not much choice on where to go on this next island. Ride the next block. Still not much of a choice on where to go, but they do make you hit a switch before continuing back through the wall and into the other room. *Still* no choice. Ride down. Okay, now they're going to make you walk, though it's impossible to get lost on the way. Don't forget to swipe the Daphne's Fruit out of the chest on your way. You'll shortly arrive at yet another Glittery Block. Hop on and go down. At the bottom are a pair of joyous sights. The first is a treasure chest. Pillage it for a Bat Gold. The second is a Red Block! Step on it to leave this maze. It drops you off in an opulent hall, the most joyous sight of all awaiting you: a save point! Wahoo!! Save, heal and set yourself up for a boss fight. Oh, you might want that Zodiac Bracelet in the blue chest in the right corner of your screen, too. Stride on down the hall and into the chamber beyond, listening to Anastasia's not-so-subtle reminder to Snapshot the upcoming unfortunate critter. Very unfortunate critter, since Anastasia launches on a vicious tirade the second it appears. When it finally gets it's act together, you get dragged into a--- BOSS FIGHT: OROBAS (affiliation NONE) *Don't forget to use Snapshot*!! Orobas gives you the 10th and final Album spell; Euthanasia. You'll get to see that spell's effects up close and personal, as Orobas has no qualms about using it on you. Fortunately for you, Orobas doesn't do much else. He's not particularly fast, Kurando and Yuri, both fused, can easily out-pace him. Nor do any of his spells do huge chunks of damage. Pick your favorite boss-strategy and wipe the floor with the guy. Just beating him nets you the third Crucifix (yay!) and, of course the ---Crest Orobas---. String 54 or so hits together and you'll get a Seal of Speed. And that's a wrap! .:THE DOLL HOUSE:. Gepetto's Side-quest Stroll down the Yokohama Streets once you know where the Stone Platform is, and a new guy shows up way over by the Kawashima's house/dojo place. He's to the left of the save point out on the street, wearing a blue suit. His name is Mizuda, and he'll comment on the doll Gepetto's carrying, and where he saw one just as good. Gepetto gets concerned about this, so leave the streets and mosey on over to the Doll House, which has conveniently just appeared on your map. The place is a falling down old European-style house, and it's totally infested with a nasty variety of cockroach. Have some Will-Powers handy, as they'll try to smack you with SP Down. Heavy healing is also recommended, because getting hit by Nightmare will drop you to 1HP. Oh, before you head inside, check under the second bush to the right. Somebody dropped a Thera Extract over there. The inside of this place is no neater than the outside. Gepetto insists on taking the lead, since he was the one who wanted to come in the first place. The other three party members are up to you. I'd suggest having Anastasia along for at least part of the way, since you can Snapshot Nightmare from the bugs in here. Anyways. Moving on. This first floor room is really cluttered, but sadly, none of the junk is stuff you'll need. There is a door way back on the left side of the room, but I think I'd rather start off on the second floor. So over to the right side of the room and up the rickety staircase. Reach the top and there isn't much choice in ways to go except through the door. That leads into a dark hallway. A treasure chest is trying to hide in plain sight on the left side of the hall right before it makes a sharp turn. Well, since this house is very obviously abandoned, that chest and it's contents must also be abandoned. Give the Petrify 4 inside a good home, then move on. Our first destination is the room at the very end of the hall. I'm guessing it used to be some sort of study. First things first, check the couch and cushions for spare change and the occasional Silver Angel, which is behind the left-side couch. The only other interesting thing in the room right now is on the right corner of the heavy-duty desk that's along the back wall. Whoever used to own this house was considerate enough to leave his journal lying right there for anyone to read. Browse some of the latest entries, and you'll find out a bit about what was going on with that super-lifelike doll the owner of the house was trying to create, and the other dolls he made along the way. He also says he did his work in a downstairs lab. One that's been thoroghly locked. Finish reading, and a mysterious voice pipes up, asking you if you'd like to know the password. The catch is, you have to call her by name. Her who? Well, walk around the back of the desk, and you'll find a doll sitting on the chair. Recalling what you read in the journal, there are seven doll names to pick from: Rebecca, who is always alone Elena, who always lies Geena, who loves trickery Barbara, who is gentle and kind Diana, who is silent Tina and Emma, who are best friends. Well, since there aren't any other dolls in this room, I'd guess that counts as being "alone". So name her "Rebecca". She, in turn, informs you that the password's FIRST LETTER = B. You have to find and talk to the other six dolls to discover the rest of the password, though. ::sigh:: Well, let's get going then. Back out into the hall, and go 6 or 7 steps downward. It's kinda hard to see but there's a door on the right wall. That opens up into the remnants of a child's bedroom. Go down first, so you can pick up the Crucifix stowed in the treasure chest in the bottom left corner. I'm sure you can think of a use for that item. ^.^ Go over to the bottom right corner of the room to find another doll, sitting placidly on a nightstand by the bed. Talk to her, and she talks back, just like Rebecca did. Name this one Barbara, and she'll tell you that the THIRD LETTER = I. Move on to the middle of the room, and the tea table there. Dolls occupy two of the dusty chairs around it. The one closest to you says nothing but "....". Now, you'd think that'd be a perfect fit for Diana, who's supposed to be silent. But remember, there's another doll who likes to trick people; Geena. See through her impersonation of Diana, and Geena will tell you that the SEVENTH LETTER = T. Talk to the other doll, the one sitting close to the ripped painting, and she'll sniffle and whine about being separated from her friend. Well, Tina and Emma were supposed to be the friends, so you have a 50/50 shot. Pick Emma. She's so grateful you got it right, she tells you that the FIFTH LETTER = G. Nothing else interesting in here, so let's go back downstairs. The main room on the first floor is just as empty of cool stuff as when you first came through, so move on to the next room through the door in the back left corner. Back there is the remnant of a dining room. Over in the bottom left corner is another doll. This one sagely warns you of a liar among the other two dolls on the far side of the room. Well, I'll tell you right now, *she* is the liar. And the doll known for lying is Elena. Thankfully, she tells you the truth when she says that the FOURTH LETTER = D. There's a table near the middle of this room, like there was in the bedroom, but only one doll sits near it this time. She pleasantly chats at you when you talk to her. Well, of the two doll names we have left, Tina and Diana, Diana is supposed to be silent. So the chatty doll here can only be Tina. Rambling right on, she mentions that the SIXTH LETTER = E. That leaves one doll left, sitting on the table under the painting. Name her Diana, and she gives you the last part of the password; SECOND LETTER = R. Put all 7 letters together and you get the name; BRIDGET. Go down the hallway off the left side of the room, and input that name into the huge, safe-like door at the end of it. Obligingly, it creaks open. The wooden staircase leading down looks surprisingly sturdy, considering the condition of the rest of the house. At it's base, a single doll sits grandly in a huge rocking chair. I guess this is Bridget. She's very happy to see you, since that means she has new toys to play with! BOSS FIGHT: BAAL (affinity NONE, for all that he uses lots of Wind spells) And, since he uses a lot of Wind spells, he of course uses Gale on himself. Plus, he's fast to start with. I'd suggest having Arc Gale handy just so you can get all your charas to go before he does. Arc Shield would be another priority on my list. Baal can hit for upwards of 500HP! You start hoping he's only going to use a spell on you for only 200HP or so. To put icing on the cake, Baal also tries to stick you with Mental Break. I'd just heal that as it happens, and not waste the accessory slot on an item to prevent it, though. Ground Baal's permanently and you get several nifty things; your second Flare Brooch, the ---Crest Baal--- and Gepetto's Ultimate Weapon, the Crimson Thread. .:BLACK FOREST:. Lucia's Side-quest While on your world tour after the appearance of the Stone Platform, you might want to consider stopping in at the Black Gull cafe in Le Havre. There's an actual patron there now, a weaving drunk who'll talk to anybody about the seven-colored flower that made his fortune. Lucia latches on to that flower idea, and whines until Yuri agrees to follow up on the guy's directions to the Black Forest. Step inside and you're almost instantly accosted by a ...white flower? Yes, the flower starts talking to you. And boy does it have a long winded speech. However, what it says is important, so listening would be a good idea. It seems there's more to getting through this forest than choosing the path that isn't a dead end. You have to talk to the flowers you find and constantly ask directions from them. To make things even better, the flowers lie, unless you talk to them in the correct order. Said order is thus: RED AFTER YELLOW BLUE AFTER RED YELLOW AFTER BLUE WHITE flowers always say how to get deeper into the forest, BLACK flowers always try to get you out of there. Lucia takes over from there, since it is her side-quest. Put in whomever you like for the other three party members. The critters here are pretty tough, but the only nastiness they try is either Seal or Panic, neither of which are really that damaging. Conveniently, directly over to your right is a treasure chest. What a treasure chest is doing in the middle of a forest, I have no idea, but take the PUre Extract out of it anyways. Using the save point over to the left might not be a bad idea either. It's not like you have a choice where to go from there, so onward we go. One screen up, you are immediately confronted with a fork in the trail, two different colored flowers hanging on the cliff that divides the paths. One flower is red, the other blue. First, talk to the red one. But *ignore* what it says, because it's lying through it's nonexistant teeth. The blue flower is the one you want to pay attention to, and talking to the red one first assures that you get the truth. In this case, the truth is you need to go down the LEFT BRANCH first, then take the MIDDLE BRANCH in the next screen. Should you be mildly dislexyc (like I am >.<), and end up going down the wrong branch, you'll get warped back to the beginning. Right now, that isn't a big deal, but it will be later on. So faithfully follow the flower's directions; right then middle. That puts you at a fork in the trail, two different colored flowers again waiting for you, though this time they're black and white flowers. Since black ones are all about you getting *out* of the forest, talk to the white one instead. He helpfully tells you to go first RIGHT, then RIGHT, then LEFT. Don't forget to pick up the treasure chest and Lucia's final Tarot card, the Chariot, on the second right. Three screens later, you're at another fork, with another cliff that has another two flowers on it, blue and yellow. Sensing a pattern here? Anyways, getting a good set of directions this time involves talking to the blue flower, completely ignoring what it says, then talking to the Yellow flower. It tells you to go LEFT, MIDDLE, MIDDLE, RIGHT. Listening to it is a good idea. On your way through the second middle, liberate the Slow 4 out of the chest off to the left. Make those four turns, and you're at *another* fork in the trail with cliff and flowers. Black and white ones, so you don't have to ignore one to get truth out of the other. The white flower says RIGHT, MIDDLE, RIGHT, LEFT, LEFT. Is it me, or are these directions getting longer every time? You might want to have note paper handy, because they're only going to get longer. So, right, middle, right, left, left we go. Only to find *yet another* fork and flowers. This is the last one folks, you're almost there. Okay, yellow and red flowers here, so talk to the yellow one and disregard what it says. The red one tells you the right way, which is going left. Six times. Oi. Well, better get hiking then. Even after all that, we're *still* not done. The sixth left path will lead you to the oh-so-familiar fork in the path with two flowers on the cliff. The floral combination is a little unusual though; a black one and a blue one. Since the black one will send you out of the forest no matter what, we're stuck relying on the blue one. It says to go RIGHT, LEFT, MIDDLE. Follow those instructions to the letter and... FINALLY!! A save point! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we've arrived. The maze is done. Save, heal up, and set up for a Boss Fight. Nothing special this time, though. You only have one more set of flowers to ask. Actually, they ask you. Now, I know you've been trusting the white flower the whole way in here, and it is tempting to do so now. But trust me, listen to the *black* one this time. Following the directions of the white one will lead to Game Over. Listen to the Black one, and the White one gets jealous. So much so that he cuts you off as you reach the next screen. How does a flower cut you off? He gets up and walks, that's how. Yes, walks. This isn't a simple flower, and he's just knocked you into a--- BOSS FIGHT: GAAP (affinity NONE, for all the earth spells he hurls around) Actually, it isn't really a flower at all, but one of the greater demons in the game, on a par with Baal. However, unlike Baal, Gaap is fairly standard boss fare. He'll use Rock Crest, and some high-level magic that'll do around 300HP in damage, but not much else. He shouldn't be too difficult to take down. Put together 65 hits in a combo, and Gaap will give you some Shura's Earrings. Otherwise you get Paralysis 4 and, of course, the ---crest Gaap---. But Lucia isn't really paying attention to any of that. She dashes over to the colorful flowers on the wall. Take those pretty things back to Carla in Florence, and you get the last of Lucia's Aroma Therapy oils, the Arora Oil. Yay! .:KURAMA DOG SHRINE:. Kurando's Side-quest Start this one by talking to Saki in Inugami Village once the Stone Platform is open. She should ask Kurando to run a little errand for her. If she doesn't, leave the Village, come back, and try again. The errand is a trip into the Inugami family holy-ground; the Dog Shrine. Saki has picked up some bad vibes from it, and wants Kurando to go check it out. Sounds harmless, right? Well, add in that the Shrine is a maze, and Kurando doesn't know the way through it. Saki doesn't either. ^.^; Great. Just great. Well, she does give you a map and five Pieces that'll help you get through. So let's get going. Leave the Village and go to the newly marked Dog Shrine. This is Kurando's side-quest, so he will lead. The other three characters can be anyone you want them to be. Go inside the cave, and you're in a very temple-like room. There's a save point off to your right side, and some sort of funky pedestal-like thing in the middle of the floor. Take a look at that first. On top of the pedestal is an open square in which 9 of those Pieces you got from Saki will fit very nicely, in a 3x3 square. Looking at your map, you should notice that there is a 3x3 square of gray spaces in the middle. Obviously, the square on the pedestal equals the square on the map. Next, take a good look at those Pieces. There's yellow stripes going various directions on each. The stripes are the hallways you're going to make. So the "|" Piece will give you room with a north door and a south door. The "+" Piece results in a room with doors in all four cardinal directions. It's going to be your job to connect the pieces together so that you can actually get somewhere. Speaking of going somewhere, let's try for the Red Room all the way over on the far left side of your map. Place 3 Pieces on the Pedestal in the following way: (star-filled spots equal an open space on the pedestal) *** *** *** *** *** *** ___ _|_ *** | *** *** | *** *** | *** Placing the Pieces that way will open the way for you to go UP, UP, LEFT, LEFT. You'll wind up in another room with a pedestal, plus a treasure chest in the upper left corner. Pop the lid on it to find another Piece, then go look at the Pedestal. This one only has two squares of space on it, side by side. If you look at your map, you'll see two gray squares on the far left side, just above the Red Room. To get to that room, you'll need to go UP, LEFT, DOWN, so place your Pieces like so: __ _| | | That'll give you precisely the path you need. In the Red Room, there are 3 treasure chests ripe for the plundering. Their loot is, in order from the right side; Poison 4, Talisman of Mercy, and a Strengthoid. And that does it for this half of the map. Go on back the way you came. On your way through the room with the 2-Piece Pedestal, take the Pieces there with you!!! You'll need them! Righto. Back in the 9-Piece Pedestal room. Looking at your map again, the Blue Room seems the next good place to go. Clear the Pedestal of your previous set of Pieces, so that you're starting with a fresh, blank slate again. You're going to place five Pieces this time: *** |_ _| *** | *** *** _|_ *** *** | *** __ ___ *** | Yeah, I know it looks funny, but it works. Trust me. Besides, you don't want to use the Piece with the vertical line on it. You'll need that one in a sec. So, now we go UP, RIGHT, RIGHT, UP, LEFT, UP, LEFT, UP. You end up in another Pedestal Room, though the treasure chest is over to the right. It gives you a Piece. Examining the Pedestal, we've got a 2x2 grid to work with this time, and there are only 2 Pieces left to put on it: *** ___ *** | *** | *** | That'll open doors going UP, UP, RIGHT, which leads you directly into the Blue Room. Only two chests here. Loot the pair of them, earning another Piece and a Seal of the Urn. Wahoo. Back we go again, WITHOUT FORGETTING to clean off the 4-Piece Pedestal on the way. So. Once again in the 9-Piece Pedestal room. Our next target is the White Room, which is kinda-sorta in the same direction as the Blue Room was. Clean off the Pedestal again. Next we want to do things this way: *** *** |_ *** *** | *** *** | *** *** | *** __ _| *** | | UP, RIGHT, UP, UP, RIGHT to reach yet another Pedestal Room, with a treasure chest (yay) on the right corner. This one *doesn't* have a Piece in it. Instead, you get an Ultra Belt, which is way more useful, IMO. Anyways. The Pedestal. It's another 2x2 grid. Wonderful. Put your Pieces just so: *** *** *** *** ___ ___ | So we go UP, and RIGHT, then RIGHT to get to... another Pedestal Room. No treasure chest. Phooey. There's only one square on the Pedestal. Put the _|_ Piece in it. | DOWN and LEFT from there leads you to the White Room. Two treasure chests sit awaiting you. Kick 'em open and walk off with the new Piece and a Mana Extract. Right. So back to the beginning for the umpteenth time, taking all the Pieces with you. Now we break the pattern. Use the save point and adjust your party to handle a fight in which magic is useless. Yes, folks, that's right. We're just about done with this place. Yay! Wipe the 9-Piece Pedestal clean yet again, and place two Pieces on it like so: *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** | *** *** | *** *** | *** If you'll look closely at your map, you should see that there's a fourth room, barely visible in the precise middle of the 9-square grayspot on your map; the Black Room. That's where we're going next. So UP, and UP it is, and we're there already. The number of treasure chests in these rooms just keeps getting smaller and smaller. This time there's only ONE. But in it is a worth-while prize; Kurando's Ultimate Weapon, Mumeiro. Of course, you're not going to be allowed to leave unmolested. A special guest comes back from the grave just to make your day worse. It's--- BOSS FIGHT: HOTOKE GARAN (affiliation NONE) Yes! She... I mean he... well, *it* is back! Again! And just like last time, MAGIC IS USELESS. Unless it involves blades or bodies hitting him/her, it ain't gonna work. And like before, expect Mind Assault and some heavy-duty magic attacks, including a big one that hits *everybody* for upwards of 400HP. Have Arc Cure and lots of Thera Roots handy. Survive those, and shoving the little creep back down into Hell isn't really that difficult. Just pick your favorite strategy and whale away. Win, and you get, well, Mumeiro. Kurando automatically equipped it to deal with the fight, so you don't have to do that separately. You also get the privilege of never, ever seeing the mini-freak again. ^.^ .:THE MAN FESTIVAL:. Joachim's Side-quest Learn everything the Grand Gama has to teach you, and then bug him one more time. He lays before Joachim the option of attempting for the ultimate greatness a wrestler could ever hope to achieve, and it awaits him on the 100th floor (...mat?) of the tower of Rings! ******************************************************************************* MINI GAMES ******************************************************************************* .:LOTTERY:. Aah. Only two games in the Shadow Hearts series, and already the Lottery is a tradition. ^.^ There are 16 members to find, and here's where they are, and what they have: MEMBER LOCATION RED SQUARE ITEM RING #16, True Lotto Member Faukes Le Havre Crest Batin Normal #15, Gossipy Moleen Southampton Slow 1 Normal #14, Antisocial Anthony Abandoned Mines Third Key BLIND #13, Cannes-Born Maribelle Cannes Crest Marchosias PETIT #12, Thompson the Panty-Thief Ste. Margueritte Slow 2 Normal #11, Volunteer Natalia Petrograd Prism Wrist REVERSE #10, Landlady Clemense Old Apartment Crest Alloces FAST #9 , Manual Laborer Murai Warehouse District Huge Jug Normal #8 , Warrant Officer Watanabe Warship Mikasa Def. Down 3 Normal #7 , Gambler Kimpei Nihonbashi Warning Device RANDOM #6 , Ladybug Inugami Village Oracle Earrings(?) PETIT #5 , Cowardly Noguchi Military Mansion Slow 3 REVERSE #4 , Alice in Mirrorland Tiffauge Demon Ward BLIND #3 , Depressed Ludovic Wakuraba Mind's Eye RANDOM #2 , Yoshiko Kawashima Mukyoan Pirate King Earr. RANDOM #1 , The Silver Bat Le Havre Rose Bondage RANDOM NOTE 1: When going to meet the Silver Bat for the first time, you must have a lottery ticket in your inventory, or he won't show up. NOTE 2: The Silver Bat's Yellow Square Item is the Comet Mask, which is also a really nifty item. Good luck getting it. NOTE 3: You need more than just a lotto ticket to play with Yoshiko, you need to have met all the Lottery Members before her, #16 down through #3. Accordingly, you can't skip her and go straight to the Silver Bat, either. .:LUCKY CHEST:. Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do to help you on this little game. It's a version of the game everyone knows (Memory) so the rules are easy. There are no patterns to what's going to be in which box, so about all I can do for you is give you a list of the prizes. LEVEL PRIZES 100 Cash Mr. Chef; Thera Leaf (x2); Mana Leaf, Pure Leaf 300 Cash Soul Drop; Thera Seed (x2); Mana Seed (x2), Pure Seed (x2) 500 Cash Crest Decarabia; Thera Root (x2); Mana Root (x2); Pure Root (x2); Tent; Talisman of Luck. NOTE: I think it's about as good as official. In the North American version of SH2, the 1000 Cash round is durn near impossible to unlock. This is not because Midway tried to censor it, but because the only thing that *can* unlock the round is data from a very specific version of SH1, one that was only released in Japan. 1000 Cash Mr. Meiyuan; Thera Root (x2), Mana Root (x2), Pure Extract, Tent, Talisman of Mercy, Daphne's Fruit .:TREASURE HUNT:. When you first arrive in Cannes, talk to Big-Mouthed Croft, and he'll propose a game where you look for treasure he's hidden. You get only one clue, but they're pretty obvious clues. Or you can just read the list below and find them all the easy way. ^.^ In numerical order: Location Treasure Ste. Margueritte Tarot Card, the Wheel of Fortune At the base of the chain tying Oscar. Goreme Valley Crest Seere Inside the cave, balcony/alcove where Karin and Yuri have a cut scene. Check the base of the single stone pillar. Battleship Mikasa Death 2 There's only one room in the ship that has a hanging uniform. Check it for the treasure. Forest of the Wind Blood Jewel Once you can go through the forest without getting yanked into an FMV, take the one path branching right until the screen shifts, then turn around and come right back. Don't take any steps, just press the O button right after the screen shifts back. Mukyouan Dog's Bone Examine the stone statue sitting next to the little pond. .:THE STRAW MILLIONAIRE:. This game is based off of an old Japanese folk-tale where a poor boy starts out with a single piece of straw and trades his way up all the way to his own estate. You get to play the part of the poor boy, starting off with a single straw. If you're lucky (or you read the cheat I'll write below), you'll end up with Lucia's Ultimate Weapon, Nemesis, by the end of the game. You'll start in: SOUTHAMPTON Imorahimovich || FLORENCE Massimo || CANNES Fabio OR Icizzi || || PETROGRAD OR HERMITAGE Chagal Zubyoz \\ // CHAMPS ELYSEES Genardine || INUGAMI VILLAGE Ikkaku || SOUTHAMPTON Flemmings || OLD CATHEDRAL Malkovich **NOTE: Do everything right, and Malkovich will give you Lucia's Ultimate Weapon. However, there are loads of people out there wanting you to give them stuff, and should you happen to trip up, that doesn't mean you're S.O.L. with Lucia's weapon. The Junk Shop near the Cathedral should sell it to you later on, for something like *500,000* (yipes!) Cash. .:QUIZ SHOW!:. Just to be sure you notice all the nifty little details the programmers and graphics designers have added to this game, they have created three quizes which will discover how closely you have (or haven't) been looking. Each quiz will ask you 10 questions. And you'll have precisely 10 seconds in which to answer (as a loud, prominent ticker at the top of the screen will inform you). However, there is a total of far more than 10 questions for each quiz. Each time you start the quiz, you'll get random questions, in a random order. Heck, even the answers are all randomly assigned to one of the 4 controler buttons. So you have to *pay attention* each time you do one. Of course, they aren't expecting you to go through all this for nothing. There are lovely, considerably useful prizes for completing them. Oh, and NO, I'm not going to try to translate all the questions and write the answers here. There's no charge for playing the quizes, so you can do them over and over. Figure them out on your own. They aren't all *that* hard. All three quizes are located in Japan, and become available at various points through the game. In no particular order--- MONSTER QUIZ - Yokohama Streets (available after clearing Mt. Fuji) Questions about persnickity details on the critters you've been bashing since the beginning of the game. If you're stumped, check out the Library of every one you've come across. PRIZE: Steel Black (Anastasia's second-most-powerful weapon) ITEM QUIZ - Warship Mikasa (available after clearing the Warship once) Which of the following four things appears in the graphic for a "Seal of Agility"? ...and other such really detail-minded things. Go through your item list, select an item and hit the triangle button if you're clueless. PRIZE: Crest Folas STUD CARD QUIZ - Nihonbashi (available after Mt. Fuji?) -.-;; Yes. There's a whole quiz revolving around the 9 (or 10) cards you gave to Pierre. Read through the short bios for each card and check what, if anything, they're holding. PRIZE: Silver Angel .:SARAH'S CHALLENGE:. Okay, just to dash all your hopes right off the bat, I'm not going to put up any strategies on how to beat each trial right away. Besides, some of them are easy enough that they don't really *need* strategies. However, what I *will* do is post how many of them there are, what they want you to do, and what you get for defeating each. NOTE: There a lot of trials that have you under some status ailment or another on the list. You must complete the whole trial under the status ailment! No healing yourself in the first round! So yes, on the poisoned trials, you're going to be taking a shot every tround. Have healing items. (opens when you first talk to Sarah in Goreme Valley) BEGINNER LEVEL 1 - Party of 1, win 5. Prize: Crest Sabnock BEGINNER LEVEL 2 - Party of 4 or less, use 28+ Hit combo to win. Prize: Blood Jewel Hints: use magic to get the hits, not abilities. BEGINNER LEVEL 3 - Party of 2 or less, reverse ring status, win 4, no miss. Prize: Third Key BEGINNER LEVEL 4 - Party of 4 or less, poisoned, no items, win 6. Prize: Mr. Sax (Stud Card) (opens right before Idar Flamme. must go speak with Sara to open it.) MONK LEVEL 1 - Party of 4 or less, win using 18+ hit combo, no abilities Prize: Golden Necklace MONK LEVEL 2 - Party of 2 or less, tight ring status, win 3 Prize: Fifth Key MONK LEVEL 3 - Party of 3 or less, win 5 Prize: Step Doubler Note: Andre among the enemies. MONK LEVEL 4 - Party of 1, blind ring status, win 5 in a row Prize: (opens after you've cleared Forest of the Wind) BELIEVER LEVEL 1 - Party of 2 or less, reverse & tight ring status, win 3. Prize: Warlock's Earrings BELIEVER LEVEL 2 - Party of 3 or less, poison & fake ring status, win 5 Prize: Crest Shax BELIEVER LEVEL 3 - Party of 1, petit ring status, win 4 Prize: Gold Wrist BELIEVER LEVEL 4 - Party of 4 or less, win 12 in a row. Prize: Seventh Key Note: All the early bosses here, plus the Toy Tanuki for an Album spell. (opens after you've cleared Mt. Fuji) WORSHIPPER LEVEL 1 - Party: Gepetto, Lucia, Blanca, Anastasia. No "attack", win 5. Prize: Silver Angel WORSHIPPER LEVEL 2 - Party: Yuri, Joachim, Karin, Kurando. No "magic", win 5. Prize: Ultra Belt WORSHIPPER LEVEL 3 - Party of 3 or less, fast ring, win 5. Prize: Dragon Fangs (Yuri's second strongest weapon) Note: The last fight is against Shoki, who does insta- death, so prepare accordingly. (opens after the Asuka Stone Platform has appeared) EMBODIMENT LEVEL 1 - Party of one, win 6 Prize: EMBODIMENT LEVEL 2 - Party of 4 or less, win 6 Prize: (opens after you've cleared all 6 side-quests?) CREATOR - This is the trial where you must face the Tin Lion. The *ONLY* ways to beat this thing is with *either* Joachim's Drain Touch, or a lucky shot with the ring items "Petrify" or "Death". Nothing else does any damage. To open Solomon's Key, not only do you have to put all the Crests in the right spot on the map, you also have to beat every single one of those trials listed above. Only when you've done both will Sara take you to meet Solomon. (Thanks to the Devil for all the trial names. Details of the pact will remain undisclosed. ^.~) ******************************************************************************* ON ENDINGS, AND BEGINNINGS... ******************************************************************************* SPOILERS!!SPOILERS!!SPOILERS!!SPOILERS!!SPOILERS!!SPOILERS!!SPOILERS!!SPOILERS! Okay, if you haven't cleared the game yet, and you don't want to know what's going on with the Endings, you don't want to be here. This is about the *content* of the endings, not how you get them. That, I tell you above. If you *have* cleared the game, you've probably a gazillion and three questions about just what the heck happened. Most people do. Both the "Good" and the "Bad" endings are pretty controversial. Unfortunately, I'm not proposing to clear everything up. I have my opinions, but I know nothing for sure. However, what I can do is provide you with the comments made by Matsuzo Machida, Head of Development over in Nautilus. He is, I do believe, the guy who *wrote* SH:C. In the Japanese guidebook "Shadow Hearts II: World Guidance," he adds his two yen to the whole Ending mess. I've done my best to translate them accurately below, but I'm no professional..... yet. At the moment, I'm not planning on doing anything with the other characters, they don't seem to have much arguement-inspiring stuff going on with them. .:YURI'S "GOOD" ENDING:. In the "Good Ending", Yuri watches his friends disappear one by one, each going to the place they most wanted to be. He never lets on about his own decision, to bring his life to a close there on the Plains. He was running. He was desperately trying to escape the terrifying turn his life had taken. He was *way* out of character... or so say the many letters we have received on the matter. That certainly seems the case, if you think Yuri was just giving up so he could get off easy. But Yuri did *not* give up his fight. The curse of the Holy Mistletoe is absolute. Yuri would, no matter what, lose all of his memories just a few moments later. Every single last fragment of the life he'd lived would be eaten away by the curse. All the days he spent with his friends and the fights he fought at their side-- gone. Alice, and his bottomless love for her-- erased. Everything, reset as if it had never been. That's the situation Yuri was facing. Drain from a person his memories and beliefs. What does that leave? Think about it for a second. Scary, isn't it. Take memory, belief and thought, ball them up and tie them together with the desire to live life to it's fullest and you get something which has, to my mind, value at least equal to that of life itself. Flip that around, and you have the idea that, being alive, you have the obligation to think for yourself and live a life you won't regret. Yuri made the decision to die after he talked with Alice in the train. He chose to protect the life she'd given him through death. It's a difficult concept to grasp. I'm sure Yuri had worries over whether or not he'd be understood. .:YURI'S "BAD" ENDING:. On the other hand, "Bad" Ending Yuri chooses to preserve his existance at the cost of his memories. They buy him a small glimmer of hope-- that maybe, someday, he'll be able to recover them. Or so it's implied. But I just want to make one thing clear for you. Yuri will *NEVER* be the same again! If, in the future, someone else decides to continue this story, they might try that idea, but in my mind Yuri can never recover completely. If he could, that would horribly cheapen Yuri's suffering, the terror of the curse, Alice's death and Karin's love. Still, there is something to be said for a quiet, peaceful life. Perhaps Yuri will eventually have some new adventures with Roger Bacon. .:KARIN'S ENDING:. No matter how much she loved him, Karin knew she could never replace Alice in Yuri's heart, and that caused her no small amount of pain. Ironically, that single-minded devotion to a woman was part of what charmed her about him. I think she, too, wanted to know what it was like to be loved like that. In her Ending, Karin had just finished internalizing all the pain and heart- ache she felt over Yuri when she met his father, Ben Hyuga. It's not portrayed in the game, but as she spends time with Ben, she puts all of what is technically her future (the events of 1915), into her past. To get on with her life and discover her happiness, she chooses to live life as "Anne". I don't think Karin's the type of person to fret much over why she was sent to the past, nor talk much on who she was. She'd probably stay silent on the whole affair. I don't think Ben would press her for answers she wouldn't willingly give, either. I mean, he *is* Yuri's father. He'd be cool like that. However, I do want to clear one thing up. Karin was in no way "compromising" with Ben. She didn't decide to stay with him only so she could see Yuri. She honestly and truly fell in love with Ben, and as a result, Yuri was born. You may have noticed it during Yuri's conversations with his dad, but Ben and Karin were head over heels in love with each other. In the end, I think Karin found her ultimate happiness. Alice did understand him, though. She had from the beginning. She did once say "Don't worry. I don't mind, no matter what the curse." Even if you forget who you are, my love for you will still exist. No one can take that from me. So I don't mind. Even if you choose death, it is the path you have chosen, and I will abide by it. Besides, didn't I once choose death to protect the soul which is you? ...that's what Alice was talking about. To Yuri, his most precious things are the soul that Alice loved, and the heart that loved her. Nothing else mattered. Protecting those things was everything to him. It was his "happiness". If he were so weak-willed as to let some weed's curse steal that away, he would have fallen for Karin's selfless devotion and forgotten all about Alice long ago. The time is 1913. Again. Perhaps for the third time? Or maybe the fourth. Yuri is in China, waiting for That Train. It's the one place his subconscious truly wished to be. This time around, maybe he really would create a future he could share, living, with his beloved. *X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*XTHE ENDX*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*