=============================================================================== Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army =============================================================================== This FAQ may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Written by: Daniel Acaba GameFAQS ID: Misfit119 Contact me at: eternalmisery718@yahoo.com System: PlayStation 2 Version 2.0 - 10/11/2007 This FAQ Copyright 2007 Daniel Acaba List of Sites that may host this FAQ: www.ign.com www.gamefaqs.com www.gamerstemple.com www.cheatcc.com www.gamesradar.com / www.cheatplanet.com ========================================================= Index ========================================================= 1 - Update History 2 - About This FAQ 3 - Controlling Raidou 4 - Gameplay Basics 5 - Devil Summoning and You 6 - Items 7 - Walkthrough 7.1 - Prologue 7.2 - Episode 1: The Missing Girl 7.3 - Episode 2: The Red Cape 7.4 - Episode 3: Dark Summoner 7.5 - Episode 4: The Case of the Missing Shipments 7.6 - Episode 5: Confrontation 7.7 - Episode 6: Secret of the Five Fudou 7.8 - Episode 7: The Cursed Detective 7.9 - Episode 8: The Demon and the Steel Tower 7.10 - Episode 9: The Two Summoners 7.11 - Episode 10: The Capital in Flames 7.12 - Episode 11: Mission to Space 7.13 - Episode 12: Bonds Between Us 7.14 - Side Quests and Events 7.15 - Hard Mode - A mini-FAQ 8 - Beastiary 8.1 - Pyro 8.2 - Frost 8.3 - Volt 8.4 - Wind 8.5 - Fury 8.6 - Pagan 8.7 - Skill 9 - Demon Skill List 9.1 - Fire 9.2 - Ice 9.3 - Electric 9.4 - Force 9.5 - Death 9.6 - Status 9.7 - Recovery 9.8 - Physical 9.9 - Almighty 9.10 - Support Skills 10 - About the Author ========================================================= 1. Update History ========================================================= Version 0.5 - 10/08/2007 - Initially posted. Mostly complete. Version 1.0 - 10/10/2007 - Walkthrough completed. Next are side quests, a Hard Mode mini-FAQ, beastiary and skill charts. Version 2.0 - 10/11/2007 - FAQ completed. If anyone has anything they would like to see in this guide send me an email. ========================================================= 2. About This FAQ ========================================================= This is the first of many FAQs I will be writing based around the Shin Megami Tensei series of games. I hope to, someday, write walkthroughs for every game in all of the various series. This will take some time and patience since many are not translated to the US as of yet and the rest are rare so the prices of them are incredibly prohibitive to buying them but it is something I am dedicating myself to. Unlike the other games in the Megaten series, Devil Summoner features a very different approach to the games. You will control Raidou, the typical silent protagonist, in an action RPG type setting where the combat is quasi-realtime with pauses for a variety of actions. Thus you will literally get to fight alongside all of your favorite demons from the previous games, matching sword to claw with some infamous baddies. ***************************************** Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army ***************************************** By the Japanese calender, it's Taisho year 20, and the tension between the ancient ways and modern technology is tighter than a noose. The stage is set for a hard-luck detective and his young assistant to meet a dame with a shocker of a request. "I want you to... kill me." Before Shouhei Narumi and Raidou Kuzunoha can come up with an answer, some mysterious figures snatch the girl and the game is afoot. What these two don't know is that a simple kidnapping is about to spark a chain of events that will shake the nation... and that the search might lead them over their heads in a deep pool of darkness. ---------------- Devil Summoner ---------------- The Kuzunoha Clan and the Japanese gods go way back. The Kuzunohas made a name for themselves in ancient times, when four up-and-coming Devil Summoners showed Yatagarasu's enemies the door. Ever since, the names of the four Devil Summoners have been handed down as honorary titles in the Kuzunoha clan, and the best of 'em was Raidou. If anyone can get to the bottom of this kidnapping, it's the newly-appointed Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th. ========================================================= 3. Controlling Raidou ========================================================= Field Controls ================ Directional Pad - Move Raidou, Move cursor in menus. Left Analog - Move Raidou, Move cursor in menus. Right Analog - Not Used Square Button - Menu Triangle Button - Open Map X (Cross) Button - Confirm, Check area. Circle Button - Cancel, Use demon social skill. L1 Button - Activate demon investigation skill. R1 Button - Open demon menu. ================ Battle Controls ================ Directional Pad - Move Raidou, Move cursor in menus. Left Analog - Move Raidou, Move cursor in menus. Right Analog - Not Used Square Button - Swing Sword (Press repeatedly for three hit combo) Triange Button - Fire Gun X (Cross) - Hold to block, Press to confirm menu decision. Circle - Confine demon, Cancel L1 Button - Summon Demon to your side. R1 Button - Open Battle Menu. Select Button - Map Start Button - Pause / Resume Game. Left Analog stick in any direction + Square Button - Thrusting attack Hold Square button down and release - Spin attack Square + X Button - Combo Skill (Demon must have learned their skill). ========================================================= 4. Gameplay Basics ========================================================= Devil Summoner is a game of a number of conflicting gameplay styles. On one hand the combat is real-time but on the other hand it can also be paused to allow you to summon new demons and reload ammo. You will spend much of your time doing fairly mundane things, such as gathering info, but you will have to fight off demons all the while. This section is built to help novice players get used to the game as painlessly as possible. ========================= Investigation ========================= Since you are a private investigator, and this is an RPG, you can expect to do lots of running around. Several of the quests in this game will essentially amount to you running around, talking to people and gathering information. This can get a bit hard on the nerves at times since you will be fighting demons all the while, so you may wish to carry around a Repulse Water or two to make these sections of the game a bit more bearable. However it can be fun to run around and piece things togethr as you are exploring and making friends. ========================= Combat ========================= When it comes to actually having to off an enemy you will have a few options to choose from when dealing with them. Not only will you have your sword and your gun but you can use demons and a variety of bullets. While the combat might intially seem very simplistic (hack, hack, hack sort of simple) there is a fair bit of depth to it once you get later into the game. ============== Sword Fighting ============== The sword is the strongest too at Raidous' disposal however it is also fairly limited. When you are using the sword to attack you will be able to stagger enemies and prevent them from attacking in kind (mostly) but you will have to get close enough to them to use the sword in the first place, which can be a challenge at times. Many of the demons in this game prefer to sit at a range and fire off magic spells at you so getting close to them can be a challenge in and of itself. There are three ways to use the sword in combat: 1. The three hit combo: By pressing the square button three times in a row you will be able to string together three successively more powerful attacks. The first hit is weak but it will usually stagger enemies. The second attack is a fair bit stronger but the third is stronger still. If all three connect with a target then you will do a serious amount of damage. 2. You can do a lunging attack by pressing square and a direction on the analog stick at the same time. This does damage that is slightly less than the third hit in the combo but it also has the benefit of knocking an enemy back. The downside to this attack is that you can knock an enemy out of the way of your demons attacks but it is also very good for rapidly closing the distance to the enemy you are trying to take out. 3. If you hold down the square button you can charge up a spin attack. This does an amount of damage depending no how long you charge it up. If you simply execute the move it is comparable to the second hit in the three hit combo but if you fully charge it (indicated by the blue energy swirling around him) the damage can be more so than the even your strongest combo strike. Spamming this when surrounded by enemies can rapidly kill them and knock them back. Your sword can be made to do more damage by forging it with a demon in the Gouma Den. In addition to doing more damage you can also gain resistances to a single type of attack that depends on the demon sacrificed (someone that nulls fire damage will let you resist fire) and it will also boost your stats. This is a serious boon and should be done as often as possible. ============== Gun Fighting ============== The gun is a fairly weak weapon even with the best bullets in the game. However it is not meant to be your primary weapon it is merely a tool. You can use the various types of bullets to stun enemies, attack their weak points or inflict status ailments on them. This leaves the gun as a way of weakening the enemies for you and your demon to pound on them. Take note that you are stuck in place while firing the gun so do not do this right near an enemy unless you are fully sure that he will be to stunned to attack you back. The major downfall to using the gun is that, in addition to how weak it is, if an enemy is weak to ice but immune to bullets your ice bullets will have no effect whatsoever. In these situations you will have to rely on your demons in the entirety since your gun will be useless in the extreme. ******************** Gun / Sword combo ******************** When you are using your gun you will fire three shots and then have the ability to move around. Sometimes the recovery time is a bit too long and you miss out on time to exploit an enemys weakness. However there is a trick to using the gun that can, for the most part, eliminate this problem. Press Triangle to fire the gun and while Raidou is shooting the enemy begin to press the Square button repeatedly. As soon as Raidou finishes the third shot with the pistol he will immediately switch to a hard sword strike, the last hit of his three hit combo. This can do some pretty heavy damage and while it means you have to be close to the enemy its easy to use this to kill off a weakened foe before you get hit. ============== Blocking ============== One of the things that makes the fights in this game fairly easy is the ability to block attacks. Even though it is very hard to move out of the way of attacks there are only a few attacks in the entire game that you cannot block so make sure to block often. The damage from attacks is reduced drastically and any of the side effects of the attack are negated (an attack that would stun you does not actually stun you). It is essential that you learn how to time your blocks to stop most of the enemies bigger attacks especially when dealing with the bosses and later enemies. Your demons can also block when you are controlling them solo so you do not have to worry about not having the ability while controlling them. ========================= Exploiting Weaknesses ========================= Raidou isn't exactly a powerhouse, even when his strength is getting into the mid-30's and his sword has been fully powered up. The Fury demons will still do a fair sight more damage than he does and most spells put his sword attacks to shame. However he isn't meant to defeat enemies just by hacking away with his sword until they die. Being a Devil Summoner requires a bit more of a... battle plan than that. To defeat enemies as quickly, and efficiently, as possible you will want to go after their weaknesses. When you encounter a new enemey you have to try and figure out what its weakness is. Switch out demons, change your bullets around and just keep attacking until you learn what it is weak against. For some of the enemies it is fairly obvious (Jack Frost is weak vs. fire, duh!) but some others will be harder to figure out. Once you have learned an enemies weakness once you can remind yourself of it at any later time by using the Analyze command from the R1 menu. This is totally useless during Boss fights and challenges even if you have fought the enemy before so don't even try. As soon as you know what the enemy is vulnerable to make sure to exploit it at every oppurtunity. This will prevent the enemy from harming you and allow you to kill it off quicker, getting through fights faster and raking in more and more Experience points. Always exploit an enemies weak spots, it will make some boss fights actually somewhat easy when they initially seem near hopeless (I am looking at you Mishaguji). ========================= Leveling Up Raidou ========================= As you gain enough experience Raidou will slowly but steadily gain levels. Whenever you level up you will gain one single point that can be placed in any of your four attributes; Strength, Vitality, Magic and Luck. In addition you will gain Hit Points, usually in fairly large lumps. Each of the four stats effects something different: Str (Strength): Increases the amount of damage that you do with sword attacks. Vit (Vitality): Increases your total hit points with each point put into it. Mag (Magic): Decreases the MAG cost to summon demons and increases their power. Luck: Seems to effect many aspects such as items found and other minor things. When your Magic starts to get higher your demons will gain purple bars to their stats, increasing their effectiveness. It isn't really anything all that big, three bars to at max to certain attributes when your magic is in its 30's but it is a nice boost. You should consider what sort of character you wish to make early on. The most common suggestion is to increase your Vitality and Magic over almost anything else and let the various Incense items you find increase your other stats, but to each their own. Never use the Incense items on your demons, they are put to much better use by being put on Raidou. If you are obsessed with increasing your demons stats use the Sacrifice ability at the Gouma Den with a cheap demon, recall it from the Demon Compendium and then sacrifice it again. ========================= Status Ailments ========================= Most of the status ailments in the game have two different effects, how they effect Raidou and how they effect his demons. As such both will be explained in the following sections. Take note that most status effects will end when the battle is completed if you choose not to use an item, or the Patra skill, to clear them up. However some status effects do not end after a fight, namely Poison and Mute, these will fade away when the next new moon arrives. ******** Burn ******** Demon - This is a status ailment caused by getting hit with fire when that is the demons weakness. It isn't the sort of ailment that is caused by any one spell and it represents the vulnerable state a demon is in while weakened by the fire spell. It will only go away after a few seconds of the demon being in the weakened state. ******** Charm ******** Raidou - When Raidou is afflicted by the charm status ailment he will stand in place and not move no matter what happens. However the status ailment rarely phases him for very long and you will recover soon enough. If you and your demon are both hit though you could very well end up dead very quickly. Demon - Should one of your demons get charmed then you are likely in for some major problems. They will begin to chase after you while trying to pummel you with their spells and attacks or, worst case, start healing your enemies. This can be a serious issue in some of the boss fights and cause you to lose a fair amount of work. Luckily for you this doesn't last all that long so if you can dodge your demon it will end soon enough. ******** Dead ******** Raidou - When Raidou himself dies that's it, game over. You will need to reload from a previous save and hope for better fortune this time. If you died due to a status ailment or some other unexpected turn of fate make sure you are ready for it this time. Demon - Death for demons is more of an inconvenience than anything else. All you need to do is use a Jin Dan or a Balm of Life to bring them back from the dead and summon someone to fight by your side again. The only way this can be a real nuisance is if a boss kills your demon right before he dies, causing the demon to miss out on the experience from the fight. ******** Dizzy ******** Demon - This is a status ailment caused by getting hit with physical effects when that is the demons weakness. It isn't the sort of ailment that is caused by any one spell and it represents the vulnerable state a demon is in while weakened by the physical spell. It will only go away after a few seconds of the demon being in the weakened state. ******** Freeze ******** Demon - This is a status ailment caused by getting hit with ice when that is the demons weakness. It isn't the sort of ailment that is caused by any one spell and it represents the vulnerable state a demon is in while weakened by the ice spell. It will only go away after a few seconds of the demon being in the weakened state. ******** Impede ******** Demon - This is a status ailment caused by getting hit with force when that is the demons weakness. It isn't the sort of ailment that is caused by any one spell and it represents the vulnerable state a demon is in while weakened by the force spell. It will only go away after a few seconds of the demon being in the weakened state. ******** Mute ******** Raidou - When Raidou has been muted he cannot confine demons. As such this is a fairly negligable status effect. It does note fade away when a fight ends so you might wish to get rid of it if you are planning on capturing any demons any time soon. Demon - A demon who has been muted cannot use any of their skills until the status effect is removed. They will be forced to rely on their regular strike attacks which can be a problem for many demons although in some cases it can be fairly ignored (especially for creatures like Siegfried). ******** Panic ******** Raidou - Panic is essentially the Devil Summoner version of confusion. While he is under the effect of Panic your controls will be reversed and you will be unable to access the command menu (R1). Since this ends as soon as the battle does it usually isnt that big of a threat. The best way to handle it is to spam the thrust attack and spin attacks to ensure you hurt your foes. Demon - When your demon is under the influence of a Panic effect they are a threat to both you and your foes. They will pick a target at random and attack them be it you or a foe. Depending on the fight, and demon so panicked, this can either be a serious problem or something you can ignore. ******** Poison ******** Raidou / Demon - This works exactly the same on both Raidou and his demons. When you get poisoned you will lose HP slowly over time both in and out of fights. This one takes some time to go away (next new moon) so it is advised that you get rid of it as soon as possible before it drains your health and you have to heal yourself in addition to removing the poison. ******** Rage ******** Raidou - When Raidou has been enraged his attacks will be 150% as useful as they normally would be (that is you do 50% more damage) and you will also take about 50% more damage with each hit. As you can tell it can actually be fairly useful to leave yourself enraged for a bit. Since you can still use your gun you should use that to limit the number of times they can attack you back. If you can hit an enemies weakness with your gun (or demon) you can beat the utter crud out of them with your sword thanks to the Rage. Demon - Much like Raidou the demon will do more damage in melee and it will take extra damage from their attacks. However, unlike Raidou, they will not use their ranged attacks and will charge for the nearest enemy. While this isn't a big deal for the more melee oriented types of demons it can, and will, get the spellcaster types dead really fast. ******** Seal ******** Demon - This is a status effect for demons only and it only comes up a scant few times. When a demon is struck with this status effect they will be knocked out of the fight, unsummoning them and locking them into their tubes. You will not be able to summon that demon for the duration of the fight so if you see the attack coming try to return it to its tube before it gets knocked out of the fight entirely. ******** Shock ******** Demon - This is a status ailment caused by getting hit with ice when that is the demons weakness. It isn't the sort of ailment that is caused by any one spell and it represents the vulnerable state a demon is in while weakened by the ice spell. It will only go away after a few seconds of the demon being in the weakened state. ******** Sleep ******** Raidou - As you might expect when struck with a sleep attack you will be unable to move or take any actions. Any enemies who strike you during this time will get the rare benefit of doing a critical strike to Raidou. However this seems to accelerate how quickly you wake up. You will heal some of your HP every few seconds or so while you are asleep so it isn't all that bad. Demon - This operates in the exact same way that it works for Raidou except for two differences. The demon doesn't wake up for nothing, no matter how many times they get hit. Secondly they will recover some HP and MP for every few seconds that they remain asleep. Due to this it can actually be a very useful thing for you when they fall asleep so long as your demon isn't getting hit by the enemies. ******** Sluggish ******** Raidou / Demon - This isn't so much of a status ailment as it is an accessory effect to another type of magic. It is very rare for a demons attack to cause the status ailment in and of itself but a number of spells (like Hellfire and Cocytus) cause this in addition to the damage and possibly hitting a demons weakness, causing a number of issues for you to deal with. ******** Stone ******** Raidou / Demon - This is a really deadly status ailment and it is both useful for you and incredibly deadly for you to be on the recieving end of it. When someone has been turned to stone they are in serious danger of suffering an automatic death. Anyone who is petrified can be shattered by a strong strike, the lower their health the more likely that they shatter. ******** Stun ******** Raidou / Demon - When a demon is stunned it is essentially the same thing as being put to sleep except that you do not heal anything. Your character will be rooted to the spot for the duration of the effect although this doesn't really last long enough for it to be that big of a problem. ========================================================= 5. Devil Summoning and You ========================================================= This section of the walkthrough will focus on explaining the things that a novice Devil Summoner will need to know to proceed through the game without too many hitches. If there is something that I have failed to include here simply send me an e-mail and I will add a section for it in a future update. ========================= Moon Phases ========================= Much like in most other MegaTen games, the moon plays a large role in this game. Depending on the moon phase creatures will act differently. Certain types of demons can only be captured during the full moon and the stat boosts you can gain from the soda join will only last until the next new moon. Keep your eyes on the moon phase and make sure that you do the things you need to do during the appropriate phase. ========================= Magnetite (MAG) ========================= Magnetite is the secondary currency in this game and its sole purpose is to be used as appeasement for your demons. You will need Magnetite to summon your allies both inside and outside of battle. Whenever you open a menu to summon your demon the Magnetite cost will be displayed across from their name under a green symbol, somewhat reminiscent of the symbol for Yen. In some rare few cases you will need to give it to demons you meet on maps to barter for items or information. During your first playthrough Magnetite should never be a problem. The amount that you get from enemies compared to the amount that you spend should be more than enough to keep you comfortably summoning whichever demons you want as much as you like. So do not hesitate to switch demons around multiple times in a fight if you have to. To reduce the cost of summoning your demons, and spare yourself some Magnetite, increase your Magic rating. This lowers how much MAG you need to spend to summon a demon. While not important at first later demons will cost upwards of 70 MAG to summon and you may or may not get that much back after killing groups of enemies, so be careful. ========================= Demon Confinement Tubes ========================= The Demon Confinement Tubes are where you store your demons after you have captured them. You only have a finite number of them, starting at six and going up to twelve of them, so you have to be smart about who you bring with you. A good spread of demons with the right investigative skills, strengths, skills and resistances will go a long ways towards making your life easy. To capture a demon you must first strike it with its weakness and then run up to it and press the Circle button. This will start the confinement mini-game. You have to jam on the button as quickly as possible to draw it into the tube. It is possible to fail in this for a number of reasons: 1. If you get hit by another enemy you will automatically fail. Due to this it is suggested that you get rid of all but one enemy and then capture them. 2. Should you not hit the button fast enough it can pull away, so make sure you are cramming away on the button. 3. You must be at least equal level with the demon you are trying to capture. If you are lower level than him you will automatically fail to capture them and they will taunt you over this fact. 4. If you are trying to capture a Skill-order demon it will always fail to be captured UNLESS you try to do it during a full moon. Should you try it at any other time they will tell you what you are doing wrong. So if you really want to capture that demon simply loiter around the area until the moon shifts in your favor and capture it. ========================= Loyalty & Title ========================= As a devil summoner there are two incredibly important things you will need to have on you at all times. Magnetite and demon confinement tubes are important to handling and controlling your demons. When Raidou first begins the game he will only have six confinement tubes and the ability to use a minimum amount of Magnetite that he can carry. The only way to increase the amount of Magnetite that you can carry is to gain your demons loyalty. Loyalty will increase as you defeat enemies and it will appear under your Experience earned for the fight. When your demons gain enough loyalty to you, you will prove yourself as a Devil Summoner and earn title increases. These will allow you to carry more Magnetite and, at certain levels, will provide you with more tubes. You can speak to the Herald of Yatagarasu at the Nameless Shrine to gain a superficial title to go along with the increased capacity for Magnetite. The following chart illustrates what title you can get, what loyalty you need to have (this can be viewed from Raidou's status screen), how much Magnetite the loyalty level will allow you to carry at a time and how many Confinement tubes you will carry. ========================= || Title Changes || ||=====================||=========================================\\ || Title || Req. Loyalty || Max MAG || Demon Tubes || ||=====================||==============||==========||=============|| || Initiate || 0 || 1000 || Tubes 6 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Promising Youth || 120 || 1200 || Tubes 6 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Taisho Swordsman || 700 || 1500 || Tubes +2 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Local Hero || 1200 || 1800 || Tubes 8 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Urban Mystic || 1700 || 2100 || Tubes +2 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Prodigy || 2200 || 2500 || Tubes 10 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Recognized Summoner || 2700 || 2900 || Tubes 10 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Gallant Hero || 3200 || 3400 || Tubes +2 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Avatar of Spirits || 3800 || 3900 || Tubes 12 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Rising Star || 4400 || 4400 || Tubes 12 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Renowned Summoner || 5100 || 5000 || Tubes 12 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Master of Demons || 5900 || 5500 || Tubes 12 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Morning Star || 6800 || 6100 || Tubes 12 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Demons Terror || 7800 || 6700 || Tubes 12 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Vigilant Guardian || 9000 || 7300 || Tubes 12 || ||---------------------||--------------||----------||-------------|| || Timeless Summoner || 12800 || 8000 || Tubes 12 || \\================================================================// ========================= Getting Demons Drunk For Fun and Loyalty ========================= While on your travels you will find a number of different types of Sake (for a full list check the items list below). These alcoholic drinks will provide your demons with a quick and easy boost to their loyalty towards you. While this may seem to be a quick and convenient way of raising loyalty it sadly is not to be. Any loyalty that you get via this method will not go towards your loyalty total which means that you will end up missing out on possible loyalty gains from the demon you use it on. Since Sake is worth so much (1,000 Yen at a minimum) you are far better off just selling it and doing some Experience and Loyalty grinding later on. That way you can raise your title quicker and carry more Mag and Tubes. The only use Sake really has is if you are filthy rich (unlikely) and you have an abundance of money. Simply stockpile Sake and when a demon comes along that you want to fuse but don't feel like fighting alongside it just get it drunk enough that its loyalty will max out and then fuse (or Forge) away with it. See that? Getting a demon drunk and taking advantage of it is fun and useful. ========================= Leveling Your Demons ========================= Whenever a demon levels up it will automatically gain a boost to one of its four attributes. These boosts seem predetermined by what sort of creature it is so don't expect strength boosts for the spellcasters. They will also gain a fairly small boost to their HP and MP but it is rarely anything all that big unles they have a high vitality or magic rating (which seems to boost how much HP or MP they get when leveling up). The first time that a newly captured, or fused, demon levels up it will learn its combination art, which are covered below. The second time that it levels up it will learn its secondary skill, a support type skill. It is usually a good idea to let your demon learn its support skill so that it can pass that on to any demons that you fuse it with. Also when a demon levels up there is a chance that it will give you some sort of itme. Usually this will be one of the healing items (Medicine, Anti-Poison, etc.) but occasionally you might be given ammunition or, more rarely, one of the sellable items. ========================= Combination Attacks ========================= Combination attacks, learned at your demons first level up, come in a variety of flavors. Some demons will learn a variety of attack type powers and some will learn powerful defensive skills. These are very powerful and important to learn since they can easily swing the nature of a fight, especially a boss battles where you will be fighting long enough to use a combination skill more than once. To actually use a combination skill you will need to get your demons morale up to maximum. When a demon is beating up on enemies or, better yet, you and the demon are exploiting an enemys' weakness. They will lose morale when they are getting beat up or their weakness is being exploited. When it maxes out the demons status box will glow green and you can initiate the attack by pressing the square and Cross (X) buttons at the same time. It is hard to say what sorts of combination skills you should be bringing into fights with you. The -shot attacks are powerful, and ranged, but if an enemy is immune to bullets then it will have no effect. The -spin/storm attacks are yet more powerful but their range is incredibly limited. The elemental attacks that your demon can fire as a combination attack (Fireball, Thunderbolt) are very reliable but they are projectiles and an enemy can easily move out of the way of one of these attacks, wasting it. Probably the most reliable ones are the Null or Drain combinations. These will allow you to ignore enemies attacks or even heal from them. If you are going up against a demon that uses plenty of ice attacks and you can drain ice attacks then you will be getting healed instead of hurt for most of the fight. ========================= Demon Orders ========================= Demons come in a variety of types, known as Orders. These different Orders all have some of affiliation with a common type of demon, even if they don't all act like it (Susano-O is a Fury Order but he acts like a Pyro). Generically speaking these Orders usually have much in common, namely their resistances and weaknesses and their Investigative skills. ****** Pyro - Demons of this order tend to be, by and large, of the spellcasting type. While there are those who break that mold many of them fill this role although they can have a variety of support spells. Most of them have vulnerabilities to either ice or force based magics. Several of them are immune or resistant to bullets as well. ****** Frost - Frost demons run the gamut between spelllcasters and melee types. They are all over the place when it comes to both their attacks and their variety in their weaknesses. There is also serious amounts of variety in the investigation skills that they might possess. ****** Volt - Most of the Volt demons in this game are of the spellcasting variety. There are several that are more physical based but they're in the minority for the most part. Most of them seem to be lacking in the investigation skill area usually having only the one investigation skill, Inspect. Some few of them have the Sneak skill but for the most part it seems to be empty more often than not. ****** Wind - The lions share of your Wind order demons are able more akin to moderate strength spellcasters who can do both melee and cast magic. Many of them come with one offensive and one support magic spell however they are usually lacking in the investigation skills department. They aren't usually that bad off should they be forced into melee. ****** Fury - The fury demons are almost uniformly physical based with a few fairly high strength spellcasters in the mix. They are good for mixing it up with the enemies in melee or using more physical based attack skills. For the most part they are ideal for being sent solo however you do have to be careful when you send them solo. Make sure that their weakness doesn't get hit while they are going solo or they might get killed on you. ****** Pagan - These are the most useful demons in the entire game mainly thanks to their Read Mind investigation skill. However another side benefit of this is that they will have odd combinations, like casting ice magic and a weakness to force magic for example. They are all over the place as far as their strengths and weaknesses and it is pretty easy to find one or two that have skills that you will find useful. ****** Skill - You can make your way through the entire game without using any of the skill order demons for much of anything. Their "investigation" skill is pretty much useless (Demonstrate) and they rarely have any other skills that are very much worth anything. Their strengths and weaknesses are fairly useless most of the time and they have a penchant for having status effect spells, like Petra and Pulinpa. ========================= Investigation Skills ========================= All demons, regardless of anything else, will have at least one type of Investigation skill related to their order. Pyro order demons will all have the Ignite skill and all Pagan order demons will have the Read Mind skill. Some individual demons will also have a second investigation skill particular to that one type of demon. Due to this quirk it is very important that you keep one of each type of demon so that you have access to all of the Order skills. All of these, except for Demonstrate, will come in useful at some point. However certain ones you do not need to keep around at all times since if a skill is needed you can, more often than not, find a demon in the area with that skill. Simply capture it and put it to use. Then you can dismiss it or keep it and level it up. Some of the unique demon skills will come up at times but very rarely are they something you will be required to use to advance the storyline. Only Fly and Sneak ever come up in this regard and plenty of demons have Fly. ********************* Skills by Order ********************* Cool Down ************ You will find this skill on, you guessed it, Frost-order demons. It has limited applications in the game both in and out of social situations. When talking to people you can use it to calm down upset or angry people or those who are so emotionally upset that they wont speak to you. There are only four or five situations this comes in useful, only one of which is quest related. It can be used to freeze things as well, such as water, however this was only used once or twice in the entire game. ************ Demonstrate ************ This is a quirky little skill found only on Skill-order demons. It has a few uses but it's useless by and large. When you have a demon with Demonstrate following you around on the field, or dungeon, map there is a chance he will seek to Demonstrate for you. If you allow them to do this they will produce one of a number of random results. This can range from transforming useless items like Old Underwear or Sticks into something useful like Balms of Life, to randomly increasing your stats or even healing or damaging you and your demons. Its a serious game of chance that rarely if ever pays off in any meaningful way. Keep one out for some time and see what it's like but overall you are much better off with keeping someone more useful out. ************ Ignite ************ Ignite is located, fittingly, on the Pyro-order demons. You can use it either literally or figuratively. Literally only comes up a few times and it will be used, obviously, to set things on fire. However you can also use it to tamper with the emotions of others. You can use it on people who are feeling down in the dumps or feeling somewhat defeated. It can be hard to figure out who this is used on since it will sometimes be used on people who seem to be concealing things, much like Read Mind would. However it is quite good for getting people who are timid or shy to blurt things out. ************ Inspect ************ Inspect is found only on Volt-order demons. Via the use of their spiritual energy they will search an area. They can find hidden items through the use of this (even secret areas later in the game). If you happen to find a place where there is a dead end with nothing in it use a Volt order demon to search the area. Used in conjunction with the Wind demon Scout skill you can narrow down how many items are hidden in an area and then use Inspect to find them. You do not need to keep a demon with Inspect out at all times though since this is only useful every so often. ************ Read Mind ************ Without a doubt this is the single most often used of all the skills and will be found only on Pagan-order demons. When used it will allow you to hear what people are thinking. Typically this will be used to find out little bits of information but it will also be used to advance the storyline in certain areas of the game. When playing on Hard mode it is a good idea to keep a Pagan-order demon out at all times since they will be useful more often than any other. ************ Scout ************ This is the province of Wind-order demons and it really isn't going to be used all that often. When you activate this skill it will send the Wind demon flying up into the air and they will return with information. They will tell you what sort of demons are located on the map and how many items are left to be found there. Occassionally they will find items and bring them back to you, these can range from useless Sticks to healing items. The higher your loyalty the greater the chance that they bring something back. ************ Use Force ************ Much like Cool Down Fury-order demons and their skill, Use Force, don't really see all that much use. When used it by a demon it will be able to forcefully knock an obstacle out of the way to clear a path. However this skill was only used about two or three times over the course of the game so you really do not need to worry about it. ********************* Skills by Demon ********************* Allure ************ This is an investigative skill much in the vein of Cool Down or Ignite, you will use it to make friends with people. It only comes up two or three times and all those times there will be a demon in the area that you can capture to use the skill. Essentially it fills the air with pheromones that will cause the person its used on to be inclined to do whatever it is that you wanted them to do. Useful but not necessary. ************ Fly ************ There are numerous places that you simply cannot get to and you will require a demon with the Fly skill to reach. There are plenty of small situations where this comes up but since there are a large number of demons with this skill it won't be a problem to catch one of them when you need it. However it isn't a bad idea to keep a demon with the skill around you at all times to prevent you having to chase one down. ************ Intimidate ************ While Provoke makes you more prone to encounters Intimidate scares them off. A demon who uses this skill scares off enemies and lowers the encounter rate like a Repulse Water item. This one can be useful when going through a dungeon and you are expecting a boss fight. Since you don't want to go into one of those fights weakened from fights you can chase them off. However do not overdo it with this skill or you will be underleveled and not have as many demons as you really could have. ************ Loose Change ************ This skill and Scavenger are related and, fittingly, they are two of the most useful skills. When you have a demon with Loose Change following you around it will occasionally stop you and find Yen on the ground. This can range from only a few Yen, around 30 or so, to a few hundred. It isn't really as good as Scavenger though but it doesn't really hurt. ************ Provoke ************ More a matter of taste than anything else, Provoke acts as a free Attract Water item. When used it will increase the rate of your encounters which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Since the encounter rate is high enough as it is this may be a bit of overkill unless you are trying to level up. Be careful when you use this skill as you might seriously weaken yourself before a boss battle due to the random encounters. ************ Scavenger ************ This is the single most useful demon skill in the game and it is also one of the rarest ones. When the demon is out on the map there is a fair chance that it will find an item, ranging from a Medicine to a Balm of Life. This is really useful and it happens quite a bit when you have them following you around. I kept a level 24 Jack Frost with me throughout most of the game to make sure that I had someone with this skill, it is just that useful. ************ Sneak ************ This skill means that your demon is small enough to make their way into spaces that most others couldn't get into. While it only comes up a few times during the course of the game it is something of a nuisance since none of the later demons in the game have this skill. You may need to pull a demon out of the Demon Compendium to actually use it when the situation comes up. Since it only comes up two times during the course of the game it shouldn't be that big of a deal. ========================= Demons Going Solo ========================= There will be times when your demon needs to be sent by itself. You may want to let them level up on their own or you might have to send them through a Tainted Gate or some treasure on the other side. Whatever the reason for it you will have to be careful when your demon is going by itself. When your demon is going on its own you will control it much like you control Raidou himself. The square button will do a basic strike, triangle will do one of its spells and circle will do the other. You can use the cross (X) button to block attacks much as Raidou can, this is of high importance when controlling your demon. Should your demon get hit by its weakness without you blocking it you will be stunned and start taking critical hits from the enemies. If you block it you will suffer little damage and no weakness stun and it is really important. Blocking is your best friend here. The major boon to controlling your demon is that when they die you will simply go back to controlling Raidou. You can bring the demon back from the dead, resummon them and send them on their way. Also they will act like Raidou when suffering from status ailments. So while this means that they will be stuck in place when charmed they won't accidentally kill Raidou and cause you to deal with a game over. =============================== Victor's Gouma Den =============================== Even more important than Kunnou-Ya is the Gouma Den. Here the mad scientist Victor will pioneer a variety of techniques for using your demons via fusions. Some of the better demons in the game can only be gotten via fusion after you have defeated them as a boss fight (nearly every boss can be fused). ========================= Binary Fusion ========================= Fusion should be no stranger to any who have played previous games in the Shin Megami Tensei series. Essentially you will be choosing two of your demons, getting rid of them and turning them into one brand new demon that probably inherited some stats and skills from its parents. Before you can actually get a demon to agree to be fused you must have fully filled its Loyalty meter. Once this is done you can send them to the fusion cages and get something new out of them. In addition you have to actually be of a high enough level to conrol the creature that is to be so created. If you are looking to craft a level 30 demon you will need to be, at a minimum, level 30 yourself. Otherwise you will be told that they will be too much for you to handle and the fusion will not occur. There are four types of fusions: 1. Normal Fusion - This occurs when two demons of different orders, but neither being of the Pagan or Skill order, are fused. The results are fairly easy to figure out and no matter what demons are involved only certain abilities will carry over and it will be the same abilities every time. This is the fusion for those who don't feel like taking any risks. 2. Identical Fusion - When you fuse two demons of the exact same order they will always create a Pagan or Skill type demon. However what sort of abilities that they inherit, if any, is pretty much up in the air. However it is a fair bit easier to get Skill demons via this route as opposed to trying to actually capture them. 3. Unstable Fusion - If you include a Skill demon in your fusion then you will have to deal with this type of fusion. The results of this type of fusion are always random and you can never tell what sort of demon is going to come out of it. It will usually be a fairly low level demon of a random type. 4. Inverted Fusion - These are fun. Whenever you include a Pagan Order demon in a fusion the results are interesting to say the least. The type of demon that it will produce is fairly consistant, what isn't consistant is what abilities the demon will inherit. You can create some pretty incredible demons via this route, such as Jack Frosts with fire spells and other such oddities. There is the chance that your attempt at Fusion will result in what is known as a Fusion Accident. After Episode 3 there will be a chance that any fusion you attempt will end up as an accident. The chance is incredibly small but becomes a fair sight more likely during a full moon (damn that moon). The demon that comes out of this will be a random demon with an ungodly random assortment of skills. Some pretty bizarre demons can come out of these accidents. The various types of Legion demon can only be created via fusion, it's impossible to get through any other means. ========================= Sacrifice ========================= At the beginning of Episode 2 Victor will offer you the ability to sacrifice your demons to boost one of your other demons stats. Usually it will be a one point boost to one of th stats however later fusions will even grant you a two point boost to one stat or even a one point boost to multiple stats. This is very limited in its usefulness since it is much easier to simply fuse your demons in a binary fusion and get rid of them that way. However if you do not have any reason to do a binary fusion then you can sacrifice it in this fashion. It's a nice way to get rid of an unwanted demon so if you have caught all the demons you can hold and a few of them are useless sacrifice them. The major benefit to the sacrifice ability is that your sacrifice doesn't need to have loyalty maxed out. So you can literally run around outside of the Gouma Den and snatch up Alps and use them as fodder for the fusion. However at no time can you actually fuse a demon that is higher level than you are. If you want that level 30 demon you have to be level 30 as well. This will likely only be a problem early in the game and very late in since those are the points when demons are likely to be considerably higher level than you. ========================= Forge ========================= Victor will offer you the ability to forge demons into your sword in the early stages of the game (Episode 3). By using this process he can forge a demon into your sword, granting you a bonus to your damage and even resistances. The Order of the demon that you fuse into the sword has little to do with what sort of resistances you get. The changes that it makes to your sword are dependant on a number of factors: 1. The higher level and more powerful the demon is, the bigger the boost that it will provide to your swords damage rating. You can get a serious boost to your swords damage from the piddling power of 12 that it starts off as to the power of 50 point. There is even a supposed way to boost your swords damage to the point o being up to a power of 100. 2. The higher the demons stats the bigger a boost it will provide to your four attributes. Usually it will only boost one stat by two points or so by certain Forgings will provide you up to a four point boost or a two or three point boost to multiple stats. 3. You can also stock demon forgings on top of each other to power up th sword more and more. One of my favorite sword combinations was fusing an Orthrus, Shouten and Oumitsunu slowly over the course of the game gave me a serious boost to power (Power: 48). 4. Depending on what the resistances of the demon demon who is forged into your sword are you will gian resistance to one type of attack. So if you fuse in a demon who nullifies damage from fire you will likely get fire resistances. It can get tricky figuring out what the resistance will be like when it's a demon who has multiple resistances or nullifications. ========================================================= 6. Items ========================================================= Raidou does all of his shopping in one place: Kunnou-Ya. The man who runs the place is something of a seedy old man who is rather a nuisance. However he has everything a Devil Summoner could need, from healing items to the various types of ammo that Raidou can use in his pistol. As you frequent his shop more and more, and spend more and more money, the old man will start to offer you a variety of things. This could be new types of items to use or even the rare discount. You get these perks by increasing your customer rank. Your Customer Rank is determined by how much you buy from him. Selling things to him has no effect on your rank. As such you should always buy as much ammo from him as possible whenever you can. Also try to keep your consumable healing items with a 5 minimum early on and at an 8 minimum later in the game. This way you are always spending money on him. Also take note that your customer rank follows you through to successive game playthroughs. This means that if you have it maxed out when you start a second cycle you will have access to all the perks from the beginning of the game. =========================== Kunnou-Ya Customer Rank =============================================================================== Rank || Required Yen Spent || Effects ========||====================||=============================================== Rank 1 || 10,000 Yen || Can now purchase Life Stones. --------||--------------------||----------------------------------------------- Rank 2 || 28,000 Yen || Can now purchase Muscle Drinks. --------||--------------------||----------------------------------------------- Rank 3 || 57,000 Yen || Can now purchase Balms of Life. --------||--------------------||----------------------------------------------- Rank 4 || 138,000 Yen || Get 10% extra Yen when selling. --------||--------------------||----------------------------------------------- Rank 5 || 236,000 Yen || Get a 10% discount when buying. --------||--------------------||----------------------------------------------- Rank 6 || 395,000 Yen || Can now purchase Chakra Drops. --------||--------------------||----------------------------------------------- Rank 7 || 598,000 Yen || Get 20% extra yen when selling instead of 10% --------||--------------------||----------------------------------------------- Rank 8 || 795,000 Yen || Get 20% discount when buying instead of 10% --------||--------------------||----------------------------------------------- Rank 9 || 1,400,000 Yen || Can now purchase Fatal Clip and Ammunition. =============================================================================== The following is a list of all the items in the game. The ones that you can buy in Kunnou-Ya's will have a price listed in the buy column. However most items in the game need to be found and, as such, come in only limited quantities. One of the major challenges of Devil Summoner lies in the management of your rather limited inventory. =============================================================================== Healing Items || Buy || Sell || =================||=======||========||========================================= Medicine || 150 || 75 || Restores 75 HP to 1 ally. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Ox Bezoar || 1,000 || 500 || Restores 250 HP to 1 ally, || || || Acts as an aphrodisiac. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Life Stone || 2,800 || 1,400 || Restores medium amount of targets' HP. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Muscle Drink || 2,200 || 1,100 || Restores large amount of targets' HP, || || || Causes random status ailment. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Bead || N/A || 2,000 || Full restores targets 'HP. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Bead of Life || N/A || 10,000 || Fully restores partys' HP. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Chakra Chip || 800 || 400 || Restores a small amount of targets' MP. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Chakra Drop || N/A || 1,500 || Restores a medium amount of targets' MP. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Chakra Pot || N/A || 4,000 || Fully restores targets' MP. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Great Chakra || N/A || 12,500 || Fully restores party's MP. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Soma Drop || N/A || 7,500 || Fully restores allys' HP & MP. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Anti-Poison || 300 || 150 || Cures poison status. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Anti-Mute || 300 || 150 || Cures mute status. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Anti-Stone || 300 || 150 || Cures stone status. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Anti-Mind || 800 || 400 || Cures sleep, panic, charm, rage status. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Jin Dan || 1,000 || 500 || Revives KO'ed demon, restores some HP. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Balm of Life || 5,000 || 2,500 || Revives KO'ed demon, fully restores HP. =============================================================================== ////////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ =============================================================================== Stat Increasing || Buy || Sell || =================||=======||========||========================================= St Incence || N/A || 5 || Increases allys' Strength by 1. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Ma Incense || N/A || 5 || Increases allys' Magic by 1. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Vi Incense || N/A || 5 || Increases allys' Vitality by 1. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Lu Incense || N/A || 5 || Increases allys' Luck by 1. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Mansaku" Sake || 3,000 || 1,500 || Increases demons Loyalty (S). -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Homura" Sake || N/A || 2,000 || Increases Pyro demons Loyalty (M). -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Fubuki" Sake || N/A || 2,000 || Increases Frost demons Loyalty (M). -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Raiden" Sake || N/A || 2,000 || Increases Volt demons Loyalty (M). -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Arashi" Sake || N/A || 2,000 || Increases Wind demons Loyalty (M). -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Gouriki" Sake || N/A || 2,000 || Increases Fury demons Loyalty (M). -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Yamiyo" Sake || N/A || 2,000 || Increases Pagan demons Loyalty (M). -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Takumi" Sake || N/A || 2,000 || Increases Skill demons Loyalty (M). -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Shishiou" Sake || N/A || 3,500 || Increases demons Loyalty (M) -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- "Kotetsu" Sake || N/A || 5,000 || Increases demons Loyalty (L). =============================================================================== ////////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ =============================================================================== Accessory Items || Buy || Sell || =================||=======||========||========================================= Attract Water || 1,000 || 500 || Briefly increases encounter rate. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Repulse Water || 1,000 || 500 || Briefly decreases encounter rate. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Foxtail || N/A || 5 || An irresistible grass toy for a cat. || || || -- Nine required for a hidden quest. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Sealed Letter || N/A || 5 || A binding contract from the Demon Lord. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Smoke Ball || 2,000 || 1,000 || Instantly escape from battle. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Purity Charm || 1,000 || 500 || A talisman said to expel evil. =============================================================================== ////////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ =============================================================================== Sellable Items || Buy || Sell || =================||=======||========||========================================= Wood Ornament || N/A || 1,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Asuka Mirror || N/A || 3,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Stag Bettle || N/A || 5,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Bakuyou Chalice || N/A || 6,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Beetle || N/A || 7,500 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Javenese Figure || N/A || 10,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Roman Coin || N/A || 13,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Persian Vase || N/A || 18,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Theban Jar || N/A || 22,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Cretan Goddess || N/A || 27,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Babylon Tablet || N/A || 35,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Giza Mask || N/A || 50,000 || Fetches a hefty sum at Konnou-Ya. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Dainty Snack || N/A || 500 || A popular bar snack. Demons like it too. || || || -- Keep one for use in an event. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Twig || N/A || 1 || A plain old twig, Theres no use for it. -----------------||-------||--------||----------------------------------------- Old Underwear || N/A || 1200 || A garment favored by virgins long ago =============================================================================== ////////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ ========================================================\\===================== Ammo || Buy || Attack || Effect || Episode Available || ========||=====||========||========||===================|| Normal || 10 || 12 || N/A || Episode 1 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Heavy || 100 || 25 || N/A || Episode 5 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Fatal || 500 || 40 || N/A || *Special* || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Fire || 30 || 6 || Burn || Episode 1 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Ice || 30 || 6 || Freeze || Episode 1 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Elec || 30 || 6 || Shock || Episode 2 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Force || 30 || 6 || Impede || Episode 2 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Phys || 30 || 6 || Dizzy || Episode 3 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Death || 30 || 8 || Stun || Episode 5 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Poison || 30 || 8 || Poison || Episode 5 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Sleep || 30 || 8 || Sleep || Episode 6 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Charm || 30 || 8 || Charm || Episode 8 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Panic || 30 || 8 || Panic || Episode 8 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Mute || 30 || 8 || Mute || Episode 9 || --------||-----||--------||--------||-------------------|| Stone || 30 || 8 || Stone || Episode 8 || ========================================================//===================== ////////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ =============================================================================\\ Clip || Buy || Description || Episode || =============================================================================|| Normal || 5,000 || Increases Normal bullet capacity. || Episode 2 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Fire || 10,000 || Increases Fire bullet capacity. || Episode 3 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Ice || 10,000 || Increases Ice bullet capacity. || Episode 3 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Elec || 10,000 || Increases Elec bullet capacity. || Episode 5 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Force || 10,000 || Increases Force bullet capacity. || Episode 5 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Phys || 10,000 || Increases Phys bullet capacity. || Episode 5 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Death || 15,000 || Increases Death bullet capacity. || Episode 6 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Poison || 15,000 || Increases Poison bullet capacity. || Episode 6 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Heavy || 50,000 || Increases Heavy bullet capacity. || Episode 8 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Sleep || 15,000 || Increases Sleep bullet capacity. || Episode 8 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Panic || 15,000 || Increases Panic bullet capacity. || Episode 8 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Charm || 15,000 || Increases Charm bullet capacity. || Episode 9 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Mute || 15,000 || Increases Mute bullet capacity. || Episode 10 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Stone || 20,000 || Increases Stone bullet capacity. || Episode 11 || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Fatal || 100,000 || Increases Fatal bullet capacity. || *Special* || --------||---------||---------------------------------------||---------------|| Aurora || 5,000 || An infinite supply of Normal bullets. || Second Cycle || =============================================================================// *Special* - Both of the items marked special are only available once you max out your customer rating in Kunnou-Ya. The old man will then offer the Fatal clip and ammo to you as something that can be bought. This makes some of the late game fights much more manageable so work towards it. See the chart above to find out what the required amount of money spent is to reach that rank. =============================================================================== Shin-Sekai Soda Joint =========================== More than just a place to get a refreshing drink, Shin-Sekai serves a threefold purpose. First of all you can come here to speak to the patrons. All of them are aware of the Dark Realm and the fact that demons are real. Each of them will give you tips and reminders about certain aspects of the game, notably things that deal with demons. The second reason to come here is to exhange demons for MAG. While you will not likely need to do this on your first playthrough, or any Normal difficulty one for that matter, it becomes much more important on the Hard difficulty. The way that this plays out is that the shop owner will give you a certain amount of MAG determined by how high level your demon is. This can be useful if you are running low on MAG but the same effect can be achieved by fighting enemies for some time and gaining Experience while you do so. The third reason, arguably the most important, is the drinks that they offer. These aren't your run of the mill soda drinks these are mystically empowering drinks that have a number of uses. See the chart down for more information on this facet of the Soda Joint. =========================== Shin-Sekai Customer Rating =============================================================================\\ Rank || Customer Rating || Effects || ========||=================||================================================|| Rank 1 || 50 || Dragon and Mandra soda can be bought. || --------||-----------------||------------------------------------------------|| Rank 2 || 150 || Miracle Nectar can be bought. || --------||-----------------||------------------------------------------------|| Rank 3 || 300 || MAG Exchange +10% (110%). || --------||-----------------||------------------------------------------------|| Rank 4 || 600 || Muscle Nectar can be bought. || --------||-----------------||------------------------------------------------|| Rank 5 || 1,200 || Valhalla and Miracle Pop can be bought. || --------||-----------------||------------------------------------------------|| Rank 6 || 1,500 || Mag Exchange +20% (130%). || --------||-----------------||------------------------------------------------|| Rank 7 || 2,100 || Elixir and Midas Pop can be bought. || --------||-----------------||------------------------------------------------|| Rank 8 || 2,700 || Harvest Pop can be bought. || --------||-----------------||------------------------------------------------|| Rank 9 || 3,300 ||Deus Pop can be bought, Mag Exchange +20% (150%)|| =============================================================================// - Your customer rating is affected by how much Yen you spend and how much MAG Exchanging you do. It seems to be roughly 1 per 100 Yen you spend and about 1 for every 10 MAG you exchange for (so 1500 yen drinks give you 15 points and a 1,000 MAG exchange gives you 10 points). =========================== Shin-Sekai Special Sodas =========================== This is the real reason for coming to Shin-Sekai in the first place. The drinks that they offer you will have a variety of good effects, from healing you to boosting a stat of yours. Any stat boosting effects last until a New Moon comes up on the moon phase so they are quite limited in this respect. If you want to get the most of your drinks walk around outside of the Soda Place until a new moon passes. As soon as that happens run inside, get the soda you want and run for wherever you need to be. ===================================================================\\ Drink Name || Cost || Effects || =================||========||======================================|| Valhalla Soda || 800 || Raises Raidous Strength by 3. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Magical Soda || 800 || Raises Raidous Magic by 3. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Muscle Soda || 800 || Raises Raidous Vitality by 3. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Miracle Soda || 800 || Raises Raidous Luck by 3. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Doctor Soda || 800 || Restores Raidous HP (M). || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Dragon Soda || 1,000 || Raises Raidous Str. & Vit. by 3. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Mandra Soda || 1,000 || Raises Raidous Mag. & Luck by 3. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Valhalla Nectar || 2,000 || Raises Raidous Strength by 5. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Magical Nectar || 2,000 || Raises Raidous Magic by 5. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Muscle Nectar || 2,000 || Raises Raidous Vitality by 5. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Miracle Nectar || 2,000 || Raises Raidous Luck by 5. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Elixir Pop || 1,500 || Restores Raidous HP completely. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Midas Pop || 1,500 || Increases Yen dropped by enemies. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Harvest Pop || 3,000 || Increases item drops by enemies. || -----------------||--------||--------------------------------------|| Deus Pop || 3,000 || Increases all stats by 5. || ===================================================================// ********************* Hard Difficulty Note ********************* While it is of dubious use on the normal difficulty, Mag exchanging is of the utmost importance on the Hard difficulty. Due to the Mag shortages you will have to deal with it is important that you capture demons for the sole purpose of turning them in for Magnetite. You should do this whenever you have less than half the max amount you can carry. Simply snatch up a few demons from the plentiful random encounters and head of to the Soda Joint to trade them in. As a side effect this will also boost up your customer rating which will increase your Mag exchange rate bonuses and give you better sodas to use. The Midas Pop can make Hard mode much easier. ==================================================== Red and Blue Crystals ==================================================== The Crytals are the treasure chests of this game and are where you will find the majority of the items. While some will be lying on the floor, or you might need to use the Inspect command to find them, most will be in these crystals. Blue Crystals can be opened by either Raidou or one of this demons and they always contain the same items. Every playthrough the items in these will be the same, essentially these are set. Red Crystals are very different. They are mutable things that can only be opened up by demons. In addition, different types of demons will get different items out of the chests. You can tell what demons are of which type by their voices, the things they say and how they talk. I have found a few groups but the most notable are the ones who talk LlliiKE TttThhHHhhIIiiSS! Or some other rubbish like that. These ones, which include Turdak, Hitokotonusi, Ippon- Datara, Oboroguruma and Rakshasha seem to find valuable items that you can sell in Kunno-Ya for money, like the chalices and the ornaments. In addition Mokoi and Obaryion, while they do not talk like this seem to find the same sorts of items. I suggest using them to open Red Crystals unless you want healing items which is what the others usually will get. Well that or Sake but the Sake is useless. ========================================================= 7. Walkthrough ========================================================= Now to the meat and potatoes of this FAQ, the Episode by Episode walkthrough itself. As you play through each section of the game you will come across a variety of quests, called Events in this game. These will grant you some really awesome rewards or show you extra parts of the storyline. There is a heck of a lot to this game and money is hard to come by so never pass up any rewards. ==================================================== 7.1 - Prologue ==================================================== The Prologue is essentially one giant training mission. Simply head in the direction that the game wants you to move (theres only one way to go) and you will get into a fight with two zombies after a primer. You will fight all types of zombies throughout the game and due to their slow speed they are rarely any real threat. Simply use your three hit combo to kill these two and move on. Now is as good a time to establish one core facet about this game, you can not (I repeat can not) capture any type of undead enemy so don't even bother trying. In the second fight you will be instructed to learn how to use the thrusting attack and the spin move. With these attacks it is even easier to kill them, so do so and head on towards the next fight. You will likely gain a level at this point. Move on and you will be given a lesson in confining demons. If you want to make your life simple get into the habit of injuring the demons before you try to capture them. Use Ice bullets and sword strikes to weaken the Ukobach before you try to capture it. Once you're ready run over to it and suck that bad boy into a confinement tube. Now you have a demon familiar. This next fight will be you and your new Ukobach versus a bunch of zombies. They are all weak vs. Fire so you will have little to no problem wiping out the lot of them. You will likely get your first chance to see just how much damage you can do to a weakened enemy. Both you and your Ukobach will gain a level when this fight ends, this will allow your demon to use its combination skill. Move past the next ghost and get into the next fight with the zombies. Exploit their weakness and then you will get to see how much damage your combo attack can really do. The final challenge in this section will have you fighting off your first boss who is something of a pushover. Okiko-Mushi are weak against fire but she has a pretty mean ice attack. To make this fight simple as can be get rid of one of the zombies and then command your Ukobach (from the R1 menu) to target her with its fire attacks. Beat on her until you can do your combo attack and then shoot her with that. If she is still alive she wont be for long. Finish her off to complete this section and become Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th. Some storyline sequences will play. After you speak to Kaya it is time for a storyline battle. This fight will work out the same way no matter what happens and you will not get any Experience even if you "win" the fight. Essentially this is really just a test of how much damage you can do to these two soldiers even this early in the game. If you refuse to lose then it is suggested that you get good with blocking, their melee attacks can knock you out in two hits and the gunner will cut you to pieces if you aren't careful. The fight will end either when you reduce one soldiers health to 25% or if they take you out. Either way, once this battle is over it is time for prologue to end. ==================================================== 7.2 - Episode 1: The Missing Girl ==================================================== Tsukudo-Cho =================== Time to start up the detective work. Head out of the Detective Agency and you will be stopped by Detective Kazama. Talk to him and you will be given your first chance to use your demons investigation skills. Summon Ukobach to follow you around on the world map via the R1 menu and then use the Ignite command on Kazama. He will tell you why he is lingering around outside the Agency. ******* Event - Raidou's Pay - As soon as you finish chatting with Detective Kazama go right back into the Detective Agency. Narumi will give you 1,000 Yen to play around with. There is nothing to really do with it just yet but it will come in handy all the same. ******* Now you will need to make your way towards the Daidouji residence. Before you do that you may want to head towards Kunnou-Ya and check in on the things you can buy there as well as checking out the Gouma-Den. You might also want to run around and capture an Alp as soon as possible. Her ability to Read Minds will be somewhat useful when talking to people around the city. Also, there are a few items scattered around the city, just lying on the floor. There's no reason to move forward with the game until you have gotten used to the game a bit more, this mystery won't solve itself. ******* Event - Marital Difficulties - Head south along the street towards Kunnou-Ya after completing event 1. You will meet a woman who talks about how men need more meat on their bones. Use the Ignite command on her and she will give you the Ox Bezoar. Later, whe you are near the Ushigome-Gaeri bridge, head to the east and you will meet a man who wants the Ox Bezoar. If you are curious why use the Read Mind skill to find out (Alp should have it) and you will discover he has some... male problems. Give him the Ox Bezoar and he will give you 2,000 Yen as a thanks. ******* To actually reach the Daidouji mansion you will need some directions if you plan to find your way there. Make your way towards Kamishiro-Zaka, the street that runs from the bridge, past the Tamonten Shrine and exits to the north. If you talk to the gossiping woman she will allude to some sort of family curse in the Daidouji line. However the person of importance here is the guy with the bike outside of the shrine. He will explain to you that you simply need to head north up the street to reach the Daidouji mansion. Head that way, leave the area and head to the mansion when you reach the world map. =================== Daidouji Mansion =================== Now that you are inside of the mansion head on over to the butler and show him the Butterfly Brooch, he won't help you otherwise. You will get to meet the surrogate master of the house Kiyoshi Daidouji and have a chat with him. Once that is done you can explore the mansion for some items and shake down the staff for some flavor information. Once that is done you will need to explore Master Daidouji's study. Since Nakamura the butler won't let you through you will need to come up with something else. Gouto will suggest you use a demon since humans cannot see demons. Pick your Ukobach and send him through the door, down the hallway and into the rearmost room (the storage room has some use later). The demon will find a photograph of Kaya here and return to you. Head on out of here and return to Tsukudo-Cho. =================== Tsukudo-Cho =================== Take your photo and go find the school girls that the old man was perving on before. Talk to them and show them the picture and, in standard RPG form, they will direct you to talk to someone else. Apparently Kaya had a friend she spoke to often so time to find her. The girl, Rin, is located in the alley from the main street that leads towards Kunnou-Ya. You really can't miss her, just look for the other girl in the purple school girl outfit. Your soon to be conversation gets interrupted by her poofing into thin air. Gouto will explain what just happened and explain to you that it is time to head to the Nameless Shrine. Head towards the Ushigome-Gaeri Bridge and exit the map there. Once on the city map you can search around for some treasure lying around but then head for the red circle, that is how you use the streetcar. Head to Shinoda from there. Enter the Nameless Shrine and head for the altar. You can chat with the two statues if you like, save your game and then ring the bell to call the Herald of Yatagarasu. Ask her to send you to the Dark Realm via the Ritual of Entry. =================== Dark Tsukudo-Cho =================== Once you appear in the Dark Realm you will have some zombies to take out so have your Ukobach at the ready and wipe them out. Start heading north from here to find the person... demon rather, who has snatched Rin here. While you are moving around this area try to capture a Frost Azumi and Volt Agathion. There is a treasure to the east of the bridge that requires you to have a demon with the Fly skill to reach. You cannot complete this area with a Volt demon but you might as well get the Azumi to have as many elements as possible. ******* Event - Bug Collecting - You will need to be in Dark Tsukudo-Cho to start up this quest. Once you are there head into the alley on the west side of the street north of the bridge and you will meet an Agathion who talks about collecting bugs. Now retreat back to the real world and go back to Tsukudo-Cho. Send a demon on a solo investigation towards the Sweets Shop and Fujiko Parlor located across from Kunnou-Ya, near the mouth of the alleyway. The demon will retrieve some Syrup from one and some Ice Cream from the other. Now head to the nameless shrine and use the Ice Cream on the large tree near the save point. Wait until the full moon and check it to find a Beetle. Now place the Syrup on it to find a Stag Beetle. With those in hand get back to Dark Tsukudo-Cho and talk to the Agathion. He will give you two items to sell at Kunnou-Ya's, totaling near 30,000 Yen as your reward for this quest. ******* When you head far enough north you will be stopped by your first of many Dragon's Jaws. These nuisances are impassable walls that you cannot get past by any means, requiring you to find an alternate route around. To go around the wall successfully head through the alleyway towards Kunnou-Ya, searching it for items and finding another Dragon's Jaw. Once you reach Kunnou-Ya run towards the Detective Agency and fight off the three Obaryion (they're weak against Ice and Force). Now head up the alley right near the Detective Agency. In the small dead end to the right you will find Nakisawame. This friendly spirit is really depressing (cry, cry, cry all the time) but she will heal your wounds for a fairly exhorbant price. Do not pay for it, if you are hell bent on paying for healing wait until you can use Victor instead. Head through the alley and you will find yourself in a fight with an Electric Shikimi no Kage. It will be guarded by Azumi so get rid of them and then let your Agathion wipe out the Shikimi. Head out onto the street to find Rin's kidnapper and get ready to beat his six legged behind. ** Tip: To make this fight easy you may want to make sure that your Azumi has leveled up at least once. This will give her the Freeze Shot combination skill which makes this next fight super easy. ------------------- Boss Fight: Tsuchigumo x3 --------- Tsuchigumo - Resist Electricity, Weak vs. Ice, Weak vs. Force --------- - While they are fairly powerful the Tsuchigumo are weak to ice, meaning that if you took my advice and captured an Azumi you should little problem here. Use your ice bullets to weaken them while you send the Azumi to battle one on its own. You should be able to take them out quickly so long as you go after them one by one, weakening them with ice bullets and then destroying them with your sword. You cannot capture them since this is a boss fight so don't even try. The Freeze Shot combination skill is an absolute killer here. ------------------- After the fight is over head through the portal nearby to get yourself and Rin back to the normal realm. You will need to calm her down by assuring her that everything is just fine. Once she is better she will tell you some odd things, so you might want to go check on the Daidouji manor again. Don't forget her clue as it will be necessary to proceed (or just keep reading the walkthrough). While in town you can restock at Kunnou-Ya, visit Victor, save your game at the Agency and chat with townsfolk to gain some more flavor information. Whenever you are done head to the mansion. =================== Daidouji Mansion =================== You can talk to the servants here again and, with the help of some proper... convincing, you can get some information from them. The woman will need to be bought off but the man in the hallway can be threatened all subtle like to the same effect. You need to head through the northern door along the west side of the main hall on the first floor. Go through the hallway (the man who you can get info from is in here). Inspect the first room for items and the second room is where you need to be. Search the area and Gouto will suggest you look closer, so take out your Agathion and use Inspect. Your attention will be drawn to the books on the shelf, pick up the book titled "Demons and this Earth" as Rins' clue tipped you off to. The secret passage will open up when you do this. Head into it. You will now be in the Daidouji mansion basement near a save point. You can find a very useful Pyro Jack down here, a replacement for your Ukobach, so you might wish to spend some time capturing demons. Head across the bridges and take the item from the crystal here. Now head north and leave this area, you'll end up outside on the city map. Grab the Soma Drop and head back inside. You will meet a very large turtle looking demon called the Tarrasque. He will not let you across the river unless you get him some Red Wine (apparently he acts as a raft). You have no choice but to get the Red Wine for him. Head back upstairs and talk to the Irritated Servant, she was the one griping about the new servant being late. She tells you that another servant went into Tsukudo- Cho to get some Red Wine for guests. You will need to head to Tsukudo-Cho but before you do search the mansion if you haven't done so already. In one of the upper rooms you will find Pricey Beer on the floor, grab it up and keep it with you. It will come in handy soon. Head for Tsukudo-Cho and you will see a maid standing by on the street. Go talk to her and then have a Pagan demon use Read Mind on her (Alp again). Now ask her if she is all right. She will be grateful enough to give you the Red Wine and go to goof off in Fujiko Parlor. Now head back to the Tarrasque and give him the Red Wine. Of course this prompts him to attack you. ------------------- Event Fight: Tarrasque --------- Azumi - Null Ice, Weak vs Fire Tarrasque - Null Death, Resist Ice, Weak vs. Fire --------- - This isn't a real boss fight per se but it's still pretty tough if you are not properly prepared. The Tarrasque and his Azumi friends are all Frost type demons so grab your Fire Order demon and your fire bullets. Get rid of the Azumi and focus entirely on him. He has a powerful melee attack but the real threat here is that he can heal himself, that is bad. What you really need to do is get him somewhat injured, hit him with a fire spell and then beat the living daylights out of him. Once he has lost most of his health he will give up the fight and surrender. ------------------- After you beat him up he will complain about being thirsty and want the Pricey Beer you found upstairs. Give it to him and, while he will loathe the taste of it (Us young'uns don't know whats good for us) he will still take you across the river to another area. Open the blue crystal and send a flying demon to get to the elevated one. Up ahead you will find what looks like a hidden jail cell. Do not examine this room until Pyro Jack has learned the Fire Spin Combination skill. Otherwise what follows will be harder than it needs to be. Experience grind here until you have leveled him up and get the skill. Now go into the small jail cell and use Inspect. You will find a book that ends up being Kayas' dictionary. After you read it it's time to head on out of here. As you try to leave you will be jumped by three enemies. ------------------- Event Fight: Gashadokuro, Turdak x2 --------- Turdak - Weak vs. Fire, Weak vs. Force Gashadokuro - Null Death, Drain Ice, Weak vs. Fire, Weak vs. Force --------- - This fight is really hard if you aren't prepared for it properly. You will need fire bullets and your Pyro Jack. Keep on stunning the enemies with the attacks and hitting them with your sword while weakened. They have a pretty remarkable amount of Hit Points and they don't take much damage from melee type attacks so you will need to weaken them. Once you have the ability to do the Fire Spin combination attack use it while attempting to hit at least two of the enemies. This will seriously damage them and bring the fight to a quicker end. ------------------- When you beat them continue along your way to the main hall. Save your game at the save point and head upstairs. You will hear snippets of a converstaion between Kiyoshi and another man. The butler will stop you from going over there to listen in more so send a demon over to listen in. Now get out of here and go talk to Narumi at the Agency. Once you have finished chatting with Narumi head back to talk to Kiyoshi. ******* Event - Catnip Crazed Gouto - After you have talked to Narumi about your findings at the Daidouji mansion you will have to head back there to talk to Kiyoshi. Rather than doing that, send Raidou down the path that your demon took earlier to find Kaya's photo. If you search the storeroom Gouto will start to freak out. Pick up the Foxtail (which is basically catnip) and he will stop. What you need to do is collect nine Foxtails and Gouto will give you a reward of a Bead of Life, Great Chakra and a Soma. You will have until chapter 11 to complete this event so don't get too stressed about it. Keep your eyes open for Foxtails you will find inside of blue crystals. You can also find them by defeating Nekomata demons, these will start being an enemy you can encounter in Episode Five, in Kasumidai. This quest does not have to be completed any time soon, either. You will have until early in Episode 11 to complete it so don't bother stressing over it until you are nearing the end of Episode 10. ******* Go talk to Kiyoshi in the living room to watch a really strange cutscene. You will end up in the Dark Realm when all is said and done. When you move to go after him you will be in for a boss fight. ------------------- Boss Fight: Ichimokuren --------- Turdak - Weak vs. Fire, Weak vs. Force Ichimokuren - Null Fire, Null Death, Weak vs. Electricity --------- - This guy is a fair pain in the butt due to how you have to fight him in two stages. The first stage involves it floating there with its eye closed and then summoning in two Turdaks. These guys are vulnerable to fire but they pack some serious punch behind their attacks. Keep your distance and kill them off via fire bullets and sword strikes. Make sure your demon stays nearby or they will kill it on you rather fast. Once the Turdaks die it will open its eye and start to execute a fairly strong spin attack. This is your chance to wound it, shoot it with electric bullets and let your Volt demon open up on it with Zio spells. While it's Weak from the electricity beat on it with thrusts or combo attacks to hurt it some. After a bit it will resummon the Turdaks, get rid of them the same way as you did before and keep attacking it. When it gets low on HP (around 30% or so) it will summon in more Turdaks but it will keep its eye open and start spamming its spin attack. Ignore its two minions and focus on the boss. When he finally dies this Episode is over. ------------------- Episode clear! ==================================================== 7.3 - Episode 2: The Red Cape ==================================================== Alrighty now we are getting into the thick of things, slowly but steadily. Tae will come around bothering Narumi and you for some help, lucky you. Now that you are free from the storyline for a bit, it is time to get to Kunnou-Ya and the Gouma Den. Make it a point to come here at the beginning of every single new Episode since Kunnou-Ya will have stocked new types of ammo and clips for you to pick up. Also, fusing demons at the beginning of a new Episode can help you get through said Episode by giving you more powerful demons so always keep on the lookout for good fusions. Now head on out of the city towards the bridge and get to the streetcar. Take a trip over to Hongo and go pick up items that are just lying around there. Once you have gotten them all head back onto the streetcar and ride it to Ginza-Cho. You will be told about the Shin-Sekai Soda Joint as soon as you get to that portion of the map. Go check it out before you do anything else, it's a nifty little place. =================== Ginza-Cho =================== Make your way to Ginza-Cho proper once you are all ready. As you should on all new maps, make sure to search the area for items and new demons. Ignore the underpass for now and take some of the side exits from Ginza-Cho to find some items on the city map. ******* Event - A Bum's Ransom - Underneath the overpass, in the construction area, you will find a homeless man standing in the corner. When you talk to him he will talk a fair bit of nonsense but if you Read Mind him you will learn that he is holding something. Ask him about it and he will try to convince you to buy it for 50,000 Yen. Yeah even if you have the money it would be a waste, tell him no. When you turn him down he will have a change of heart and offer it to you for 50,000 Yen. If you have the Lucky Charm, it will effect events a bit later on. You will get a couple of free jugs of "Shishiou" Sake when you finish this episode. This is a good way to get some money. ******* Whenever you're ready to proceed forward take the road that goes through the underpass and keep heading that way. A woman will stop you to ask you a few questions before she heads off. Once shes gone exit the map and head for the Ryugu Resturant. Talk to the Owner of Ryugu, a woman dressed in a green kimono. Show her the photograph of the Red Cape that Tae gave you and then ask all of the available questions about Kiyoshi and Denpachi, the rickshaw runner. You will be pointed in the direction of Fukagawa-Cho, another 800 Yen streetcar trip it seems. Get back to the streetcar station and ride on over to Fukagawa-Cho. =================== Fukagawa-Cho =================== ******* Event - Amazing Science Labs - As soon as Fukagawa-Cho becomes available on the map you should head right for the Amazing Science Labs. Apparently they're trying to build some sort of high tech device there. You can chat with the people but come ready with a Volt Order demon. Run around and use the Inspect skill to find some items, namely a Wood Ornament and St Incense. Also while you are here make sure to use the Read Mind command on the dog that is locked in the cage. He will explain his sad story to you and then ask you if you have a dream. You will then be asked to name said dream, go ahead and do so but make sure you keep a note of what it was somewhere. It will come into play right before the final battle of the game and it gives you a really nice boost right when you could most ask for it. ******* Head on into Fukagawa-Cho and you will be stopped by two people, punks under the employ of the local Yakuza it seems. When asked tell them that you are looking for someone and they will send you into Daikoku-Ya, the bath house. As soon as you go inside you will be stripped of your clothes and weapons and two thugs will pick a fight with you. You can do a simple punch combo and these dorks aren't really that much of a threat. Move on in and start beatign on them until they go down. If you see them wind up for an attack simply block and then counterattack until they go down for the count. Once they are down you can talk to their boss, a man by the name of Satake. Satake, unlike his cronies, is a fairly friendly fellow and he will offer to help you out if you need someone found. Since he is being so helpful he will point you in the direction of Denpachi, apparently he lives on the east side of Fukagawa-Cho. However once you go over there you will be captured by two of the red guards and punted into the Dark Realm. You will break out and have to fight two Zombie Guards, these guys are pushovers. Take out fire order bullets, or a demon with a fire spell, and beat them down. Heck, Triglav can handle them by himself if you let him. Once they are gone talk to the man in the cell. The door is locked and you will need to figure out some way to open it. You will need to find something to open the door so head to the portal and get back to the mortal realm. Head back to Tsukudo-Cho and go back to Kunnou-Ya and he will offer to sell you a lock pick for 2,000 Yen. Agree to it, restock on items and head out. Do NOT head back to Dark Fukagawa-Cho just yet, instead head towards the Daidouji mansion. Go to the upstairs level and begin to open the doors that were locked with the lock pick. You should find some items worth keeping here. Of special note is the bottle of Vodka you will find. ******* Event - An Old Demons Addiction - With the bottle of Vodka in hand head back down to the Daidouji basement to talk to the Tarrasque. Give him the vodka and he will, in exchange, take Raidou to a small island with some treasure on it. You will find a Soma Drop and a Lu Incense in blue crystals here. ******* Once you have done that head to the Nameless Shrine and use the Ritual of Entry to head back to Dark Fukagawa-Cho. =================== Dark Fukagawa-Cho =================== Once you get into Dark Fukagawa-Cho head to the south, to find a couple of blue crystals with items. Head to the east and you will find a red crystal, the items in these crystals are determined by the type of demon that opens it. Some demons will get valuables they can sell while others will find two or three Life Stones and other such healing items. I prefer to get the valuables so I use Mokoi's to open these crystals. When you head across the bridge you will notice that there are guards blocking the way. Gouto will not want you to get into a scuffle with them, forcing you to take a very particular path. Head south until you reach the river. Send out a demon with the Fly skill to head up the river (make sure it is someone high enough level to fight). Stop off at the second pier as there is an item to be picked up but your actual target is the third pier. Go to the east and unlock the gate across from Proferssor Mokoi. Go through the newly opened door and go into the river. There is a boat in the river, bring this back to Raidou. Get onto the boat and take it to the very last pier. Get off and head north until you find a Bullet Shikimi no Kage. It will have some Tsuchigumo guarding it but since it is weak versus bullets you can ignore them and just shoot it to death really fast. No sweat here. Continue going north until you reach another door to get past, open it up and you will be in the area you started off in. Go to the door and unlock it to free the man. You will be attacked by two of the special guard which is some bad news. ------------------- Event Battle - Special Guard ??? --------- Special Guard - N/A --------- - These guys are really bad news, especially at this point in the game. One will come after you in melee and the other will use a machine gun. If the melee one catches you off guard he can do some serious damage but the most dangerous one is the gunner. He can cut your health down incredibly fast if you aren't blocking when he fires his gun. Sadly the most effective weapon at your current disposal will be your sword, nothing else does too much damage to them. The best way to handle this fight is to have a Triglav with you. He is fully immune to bullets and very resistant to physical attacks so he can stand up to these two pretty well. Once you have that in hand all you really need to do is focus on using your gun to stagger the melee enemy and then pound on him. Have Triglav use the Winged Fury skill on the gunner to keep him occupied until you have killed off the melee soldier. As soon as the melee soldier has kicked the can you can now turn your full attention to the gunner. Wait for him to get down into position to fire his gun at you and then move to get behind him. Once you are sure that he isn't going to be hitting you unload on him with a few combos. If you and Triglav continue to beat on him he will be done for sooner than you can say "Shazbot!" ------------------- Free the man, revealed to be Denpachi, and you two will return to the mortal realm. He will be of no help to you unless you find his runaway sister, Shizu. I love how you rescue him from the a realm full of demons and he still has the audacity to demand something from you to help you out... punk he is. =================== Fukagawa-Cho =================== Go back to the bath house to talk to Satake and ask him about Shizu. Turns out that she is working in the Red Light District as an... entertainer to pay for her boyfriend in the hospital because she wouldn't ask her brother for help. I love how this girl thinks. Anyways head on over to the Red Light District and she will be right there to chat with you. Talk to her and she wants you to find her boyfriends attacker... I hate people. Leave by the farthest exit and check the city map for items before you head back to Narumi and save the game. Head to the Shin Sekai Soda Joint and chat with Tae about what you have learned thus far (that is to say, nothing). Turns out that strange accidents are going on during full moons at Ginza-Cho. Seems as good a place to start as any so go on over to Ginza-Cho and head to the construction underpass. Keep running about down there until a full moon occurs. You will end up in a fight with a demon car and its driver, collectively called the Oboroguruma. ------------------- Event Battle - Oboroguruma --------- Oboroguruma - Null Gun, Drain Electricity, Weak vs. Ice --------- - This guy isn't really all that big of a deal. He is immune to your bullets and he can do some pretty bad damage but he is weak to ice. When he attacks you he uses a pretty wicked three hit combo where he rams you and spins the car around. Not only does this hurt but he can hit you with it repeatedly rather fast and kill you off. Make sure that you block the attack when you see it coming and let your ice demon attack him. When he is rendered vulnerable from an ice attack begin to beat on him until he recovers and then go back to playing it safe again. Just repeat this until he dies, he isn't that big of a deal. As a note, after you beat him you can fuse him at the Gouma Den. Once you are high enough level to control him I suggest you make him. He is a powerful Volt based demon who tends to get valuables from the red crytals. ------------------- The Oboroguruma will give you a Rickshaw Knob after the fight, essentially saying he didn't mean to hurt you, he was looking for the guy that hurt him. It seems that whoever it is that hurt Shizu's husband may have been responsible for the creation of this demon. You would think that you could talk to Denpachi about the Rickshaw knob but he isn't at his house (of course). You need to find someone who might know where he is so go chat with Shizu in the Red Light District. She will have no clue as to where he might be either. ***** Event update - If you bought the Lucky Charm from the bum earlier Shizu will ask for it. Give it to her, it works out in your favor soon enough. ***** Our last person who might have seen Denpachi is the owner of Ryugu Resturant so make your way over there. When you chat to her you will be given the clue to head back over to Ginza-Cho. As you head to the underpass you will see the Red Cape but he will poof into the Dark Realm before you get the chance to confront him. Make your way back to Nameless Shrine and have the Herald send you to Dark Ginza-Cho to chase him. =================== Dark Ginza-Cho =================== Head down the street to your right and you will see an Oni that will tell you that the Red Cape is upstairs on the overpass. Go up there and pick a fight with him. Don't really stress over this fight he will flee shortly after the fight starts. Once the fight ends he will sprint off down the stairs. Follow him down the stairs and go over to the parked car. Talk to the demon there and then examine the car. Now hunt for the Red Cape again and after this fight the little Poltergeist demon should run off. Once the little guy has run off go over and have one of your Fury demons use the Use Force investigation skill on the parked car. This will knock the car in the gap between the stairs and the building, locking the Red Cape into the underpass area. Now that he cannot run away from you time to go beat him down. Gouto will warn you before you enter the fight, letting you know that this is going to be a tough fight. ------------------- Boss Battle - Red Cape --------- Red Cape - Null Death, Resists Fire --------- - This guy is more of a pain than he really has any right to be. Not only is he very strong but he is incredibly fast and can easily move out of the way of your thrust attacks. In addition to all of that he can teleport around the battlefield on you. He only has two attacks to start with but one of them is a doozy. The first a move where he makes his cape stab you, nothing big here. It is easy enough to see coming, when he kneels down he is going to try the move so simply block. The other is a bit more annoying and he will usually attempt to hit you with it after he has teleported. This move, the Doubt / Frustration beam does some pretty nasty damage and will sometimes cause a status ailment in you and your demon (Doubt seems to cause panic and frustration seems to cause rage). Once he has lost about a third or so of his health he will start to use an attack where his flames ripple out from him (Anger Blast), this causes some pretty bad damage especially to any ice demons. He isn't really all that hard to battle at first. All you need to do is summon in a more melee oriented demon and let them start to beat on him along with you. Use your normal bullets to stagger him and then beat on him a bit, repeating this as possible. You should whittle his health down pretty quickly. It is imperative that you not let him hit you too much since he can do really wicked damage with his beam or the Anger Blast. Once you get him down to about 40% of his health he will start to use a new ability called Justification. This will heal him for a fair amount of his HP every time he does it so it is very important that whenever you hurt him you start to stagger him with your gun. Otherwise this fight is going to take forever to finally end it. It might help if you summon in an Orthrus who will take no damage from the Anger Blast and have it begin to beat the Red Capes blue face in. ------------------- After you beat him down the scenes that follow will depend on whether or not you have given Shizu the Lucky Charm. If you have then you will get some free jugs of Sake, if not then you are missing out. Episode clear! ==================================================== 7.4 - Episode 3: Dark Summoner ==================================================== Well it seems we might have some sort of idea on where we need to go to find Kiyoshi finally. Luckily for you Kunnou-Ya and the Gouma Den will have some new stuff to make your detective work a bit easier. Go check them out and then get on your way. Make your way to the Daidouji mansion and go talk to Nakamura, the butler. Tell him what's going on and he will give you Cuff Links to give to Kiyoshi. Search the mansion if you already haven't and then you can leave. ******* Event - Everyone Loves Tofu - Before leaving Tsukudo-Cho for the Daidouji Factory head on over to the main street (the one that runs from the bridge past the Tamonten Shrine). Along the left side of the street is a Tofu Resturant, opposite Fujiko Parlor. If you examine it you will read a sign that says that they are closed. Send a demon on over to it and it will snatch up some Tofu. Take that piece of Tofu to the Nameless Shrine and go talk to the Inari statue on the right. He will take the Tofu and tell you about the various Training Halls located across the Capital. Not only that but he will also tell you how to get into the Training Hall in the Nameless Shrine. These are some great areas to get some treasure and experience. ******* Now head on out and take a streetcar over to Fukagawa-Cho and head to the east and then the north. A security guard used to block the way here but now you can get to the factory. Head on inside. =================== Daidouji Factory =================== As soon as you walk inside of the factory you will find a cane on the floor, it is Kiyoshi's. Pick it up and head further inside. After a little conversation Tae will be passed out and there will be six floating dolls. Ignore them for now and head into the east door to find some items and head into the western door to find a save point. Once that is done you will need to enter into a complex maze called the Matrix Labyrinth to retrieve the three shards that will allow you access to Kiyoshi. While the Labyrinth isn't all that complex it depends on how you enter it. There is a simple way to get through it, listed below. * Go to the the first doll along the right side. * Head south and the west to find a worker. Respond: Go! Leave this to me! * Go east twice to find the second worker. Respond: How about a stiff drink? * Go north, then east to find the third worker. Respond: Run, or you're going to die! * Head south to find a Fire Shikimi no Kage. It will have two Jack Frosts with it so it helps to come into the fight with a demon who has fire spells but no weakness to ice. A custom creature can do wonders here or simply kill off the Jack Frosts and then go after it. * Continue south to find the Blue Shard. You will have to fight off a whole bunch of Okiku-Mushi to actually get your hands on it though. ------------------- Event Battle - Okiku-Mushi Horde --------- Okiku-Mushi (Small) - Drain Electricity, Null Death, Weak vs. Fire Okiku-Mushi (Large) - Drain Electricity, Null Death, Weak vs. Fire --------- - You will have to fight off a small army of these demons in this fight. Not really, it's three of the regular ones and three econmy sized boss Okiku-Mushi. This fight is pretty bad if you do not have plenty of Anti-Minds since these pains in the butt use plenty of charm spells. They are all vulnerable to fire so an Orthrus is ideal here. The three big ones are somewhat problematic however. They do not always suffer a weakness reaction to fire spells and bullets, it seems to happen one in three or four successful hits so keep at it. Persistance will pay off here but you have to keep your distance and fight carefully. ------------------- * Head north and east, killing off the Ice Shikimi no Kage in your way. It is protected by two Oshichi so knock them off and then kill of the Shikimi no Kage with ice spells. By now the Shikimi no Kage fights should pose little to no real threat to yourself. * Keep going east until you see a white series of circles floating in the air. These will teleport you back to the factory. * Save the game and then go the second doll on the left. * Go east to find a Tainted Gate. Send a demon through it to get the item off of the floor. * Head west until you find yourself stuck in a fight with a Red Cape. This one is a pushover compared to the boss fight you had in the last chapter. Take out your gun and your strongest demon and beat on him. He will not survive as long as the boss one did. * Keep on going west until you find the next shard (Yellow I believe), lying on the ground. I will put the fight information here as well for ease of use. ------------------- Event Battle - Okiku-Mushi Horde --------- Okiku-Mushi (Small) - Drain Electricity, Null Death, Weak vs. Fire Okiku-Mushi (Large) - Drain Electricity, Null Death, Weak vs. Fire --------- - You will have to fight off a small army of these demons in this fight. Not really, it's three of the regular ones and three econmy sized boss Okiku-Mushi. This fight is pretty bad if you do not have plenty of Anti-Minds since these pains in the butt use plenty of charm spells. They are all vulnerable to fire so an Orthrus is ideal here. The three big ones are somewhat problematic however. They do not always suffer a weakness reaction to fire spells and bullets, it seems to happen one in three or four successful hits so keep at it. Persistance will pay off here but you have to keep your distance and fight carefully. ------------------- After you beat them, take the item off the floor and use the nearby exit from the Labyrinth. * Go save your game again and then touch the third doll on the left. * Head north twice taking out the Electric Shikimi no Kage along the way. He is nothing to worry about, the two Lady Zombies that protect him are super easy to get rid of so take him out at your leisure. * Go south, then west to find the fourth worker. Respond: Calm down! * Make your way west to find the last worker. Respond: Don't give up! * Make your way west, taking out the bullet Shikimi no Kage. It is guarded by two Mokoi who can be pretty dangerous thanks to their Might Blow ability. Use fire bullets and spells to take them out and then use your gun to take out the Shikimi no Kage. * Head west and you will find the last shard. This is the last fight with the Okiku-Mushi, so let's do this once more with feeling. ------------------- Event Battle - Okiku-Mushi Horde --------- Okiku-Mushi (Small) - Drain Electricity, Null Death, Weak vs. Fire Okiku-Mushi (Large) - Drain Electricity, Null Death, Weak vs. Fire --------- - You will have to fight off a small army of these demons in this fight. Not really, it's three of the regular ones and three econmy sized boss Okiku-Mushi. This fight is pretty bad if you do not have plenty of Anti-Minds since these pains in the butt use plenty of charm spells. They are all vulnerable to fire so an Orthrus is ideal here. The three big ones are somewhat problematic however. They do not always suffer a weakness reaction to fire spells and bullets, it seems to happen one in three or four successful hits so keep at it. Persistance will pay off here but you have to keep your distance and fight carefully. ------------------- All three pieces will come together now to make the Blood Chrysoberyl. * Make your way east and then south before heading east to find a Force Shikimi no Kage. It is protected by two Oni's, these guys are weak against electricity but they are also the first demons who make liberal use of the blocking ability which will negate your weaknesses. You are probably better off acting as a human distraction while your minion takes out the Shikimi no Kage. * Go east three times and then north and you should find the exit. Now that you are out of the Matrix Labyrinth you should go save your game. Whenever you are ready head for the sealed door to the north and go on in. You will get an interesting little cutscene with Kiyoshi and a red thing before you have a boss fight. ------------------- Boss Fight: Chernobog --------- False Chernobog - Drain Ice, Null Death, Weak vs. Fire Chernobog - Vulnerable to Fire (extra damage, no weakness), Drain Ice --------- - Although he looks, and acts, pretty fearsome Chernobog is actually something of a pushover. All he really has going for him is a fairly strong sword thrust attack and a few moderately strong ice attacks. He starts off as a bunch of fairly weak illusions, coming at you one then two and finally up to three at a time. However they aren't that big of a threat, simply use fire bullets to get them weakened and beat on them. They die prettyy fast all things considered. If he is actually causing you any problems come into this fight with a ice demon forged into your sword to resist ice so that you take less damage from the various attacks that he will throw down. Another idea is to bring something like a Pyro Jack who has a ranged fire attack and stand in front of him and block for him. This way you can harm the Chernobogs without actually having to let your demon get hurt in return. Like I said, compared to the Red Cape this guy is a serious pushover. ------------------- Episode clear! ==================================================== 7.5 - Episode 4: The Case of the Missing Shipments ==================================================== Do not even bother going to Kunnou-Ya's for the duration of this Episode, he will be charging double for anything you might want to buy. To start with take the streetcar over to Harumi-Cho and make your way to the right towards the pier. Chat with the owner of Ryuga who is standing around and then head back to Narumi for a little talk. He will point you towards Satake so go chat with him and then head back to Harumi-Cho. Talk to the owner of Ryuga again and another shipment will poof. Talk to her and the owner of Konnou-Ya before you head to the Namless Shrine and make your way to Dark Harumi-Cho. =================== Dark Harumi-Cho =================== As soon as you enter the Dark Realm you will run into a sailor who is being attacked by Anzu demons. This is something of an event battle that you will have to go through two more times but the basic strategy is the same. Get out your electricity bullets and open up on them. You will have to fight about eight or nine of them but they aren't too difficult. ******* Event - A Fine Thank You - After you save each sailor use the Read Mind skill on them. If you do this they will hand over a reward, each one giving you a different one. One gives you a Medicine, another a Jin Dan and the last will give you a Wood Ornament. ******* Go across the bridge and you will see a ladder leading downwards. Take it and get out your Frost-Order demon. Use the cool down command on the water in the reservoir to form a walkway. Head across the ice and up the other ladder. Time to rescue the second sailor from some Anzu, so get rid of them and then head back across the ice. Continue along the path in front of you and you will find the third sailor being attacked by Anzu demons. Defeat them and you will have freed all of the sailors. Now it's time to find the demon responsible for the kidnapping of these men in the first place. Save your game and head towards the pier that the owner of Ryuga was standing near to start a fight. ------------------- Event Battle - Triglavs --------- Triglav - Resist Physical, Null Gun, Weak vs. Force --------- - Fighting this group of enemies is a serious pain in the rear. Not only are they really powerful but they are immune to bullets and really resistant to all physical attacks. The worst part of this fight is their spells; they have the Petra skill, which can turn you to stone, and the Winged Fury skill, where they throw their sword at you and knock you on your butt. If you see the horse rear and they look like they are around to throw the sword you have to block. You could find yourself dead if they hit you with this attack. The only way to handle this fight without tearing out your own hair is to summon a wind demon and command them to use their Zan skill on one particular Triglav. Single on