Onimusha II: Samurai's Destiny--Yagyu Sword Game Challenge FAQ (Hard Mode)
--By Hyprophant.
[email protected]
--Version 1.01, 10/20/2002
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Hyprophant. You are NOT allowed to post this FAQ on your websites, magazines
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the only one who could make any change in this FAQ legally. If you cannot
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Translating this FAQ into other languages besides English is absolutely
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Version History:
Version 1.0. 10/26/02: The first Yagyu Sword game challenge FAQ was released
to public.
Version 1.01 11/8/02: The Basic movements section is completed; and I have
decided to add strategies of completing Green/purple Phantom Realm to this
FAQ as an appendix, and it will be completed in the next version; added few
more frequently asked questions.
********************* **************
Table Of Contents How Far Down
********************* **************
I. Preface 1/50
II. Basic movements 2/50
III. General Strategies 3/50
--Explanation of general strategies 4/50
IV. Basic Issen Tips 6/50
V. Yagyu Sword Game Walkthrough 7/50
--Yagyu Village 7/50
--Imasho Town 8/50
--Imasho Gold Mine 9/50
--Ginghamphatts: First Match 10/50
--Imasho Town: Revisited 12/50
--Imasho Gold Mine: Revisited 13/50
--Gifu Castle 14/50
--Gogandantes: First Match 16/50
--Imasho Town: Third Visit 17/50
--Yagyu Village: Revisited 18/50
--Fog Valley 19/50
--Kotaro Helps 20/50
--Red Phantom Realm 20/50
--Blue Phantom Realm 21/50
--Ginghamphatts: Second Match 22/50
--Rocky Caverns 24/50
--Jojodormah 25/50
--Gongandantes: Second Match 27/50
--Oni Palace (Oyu) 28/50
--Oni Palace: Bridge 29/50
--Gifu Castle: Star Tower 31/50
--Gifu Castle (Ekei) 32/50
--Gifu Castle: Revisited 34/50
--Demon Cave: Magoichi 34/50
--Oni Palace: Blood Pond 36/50
--Gogandantes: Final Match 36/50
--Oni No Genbu 38/50
--Gifu Castle: The Finale 39/50
--Demon Base: Jubei's revenge 40/50
--Ginghamphatts: Final Match 40/50
--Oda Nobunaga 41/50
--Golden Evil Statue 46/50
VI. Frequently Asked Questions 48/50
VII. Appendix: Green/Purple Phantom Realm
VIII. Credit/Thanks 50/50
WARNING!!! SPOILERS AHEAD
I. Preface
Again, here is another "challenge" FAQ done by Hyprophant. I developed this
Yagyu Sword Game FAQ for those players who are confident about their gaming
skill and willing to attempt a Yague Sword Game in order to seek another
achievement and the most strategic playing of Onimusha II.
A "Yagyu Sword Game" is like the Normal Sword game of the first Onimusha,
your should prevent your main character from using any powerful magical
sword other than the sword he equipped at the beginning, and guns/arrows
will be allowed to use in order to help the main character in this game.
However, I am warning the audiences here first: If you don't use your
guns/arrows wisely, you will still screw your Yagyu Sword Game up easily.
Abusing them is not anywhere close to the solution of a Yagyu Sword Game,
advanced strategies and excellent combat skills are highly required.
I composed this FAQ as a guide of a Yagyu Sword Game in HARD MODE, ultimate
mode off in order to help advanced players who are willing to attempt this
challenge. If you think doing a Yagyu Sword Game in hard mode is too
difficult for you and you decided to go for the normal mode first, you can
still use this guide to help to complete your game and you will find that it
is much easier than what this FAQ described.
For a quick search for strategies of a specific boss, press Control + F
bottom, and input the name of the boss. It will lead you to the information
you are looking for quickly.
If you wish to contact me, you may use the E-mail address shown above and
leave your messages in my e-mail box. In many of my other FAQs, I warned
audiences that I won't reply any game playing questions through e-mail, but
this game is an exception. You are free to ask me game playing questions
through e-mail and I will apply as soon as I see your message. Also, if you
find any major error or something you think this FAQ should be improved, you
can e-mail me as well. If I accept your ideas, I will post it on the next
update and the credit goes to you. But DO NOT criticize this FAQ. Do not
tell me that this FAQ is useless. I didn't see you write one.
II. Basic movements
This section is to help players review the vital movements in a Yague Sword
game. I am only going to input Jubei's movements at this point right now.
Sub-characters' movements will be updated in the next version.
Yagyu Jubei:
--Attack: Square bottom.
--Defend: L1 bottom.
--Dash: Press up twice to dash forward; and press down twice to dash
backward.
--Side walk/dash: R1 + direction bottom/pressing direction bottom
repeatedly. This movement is EXTREMELY vital, you must master this movement
in order to finish a Yague Sword game in hard mode.
--Turning around: R2 bottom. It allows Jubei change his direction quickly.
--Kick: Square bottom + down bottom. IMPORTANT!!!
--Upward slash: R1 + up bottom + square bottom. It can knock some enemies
down and maybe fairly useful, but I don't use it often.
--Rush attack: Up bottom + square bottom. It allows Jubei rush toward to an
enemy and knock it down, it also has longer range than other Jubei's
attacks. It is an useful movement.
Onimusha Transformation:
Every time Yagyu Jubei collects five purple orbs, he will transform to
Onimusha, which is much more powerful than his human form, and few
additional moves are only available in Onimusha form.
--Onimusha attack: Press triangle bottom. Jubei will shoot five Oni orbs to
all opposing targets. This attack is extremely powerful, but it also reduces
Jubei's transformation period.
Ekei Ankokuji:
--Attack: Square bottom
--Defend: L1 bottom.
--Side walk/dash: R1 + direction bottom.
--Kick: Square bottom + down bottom.
--Horizontal Slash: Up bottom + square bottom. It allows Ekei knock the
enemies down.
--Charm attack: Press L2 bottom for throwing a charm on a single target, and
press L2 again and Ekei will blow the charm up. Also note that in order to
raise the accuracy of throwing charms, you must press R1 and L2 bottom
together or Ekei will miss the targets most of the time.
--Stop attack: Ekei's special attack. Press Triangle bottom to use this
attack. It deals small damage on all opposing targets with certain range,
and stops the enemies. It won't stop red bullhead monsters.
Fuma Kotaro:
--Attack: Square bottom
--Defend: L1 bottom
--Side walk/dash: R1+ direction bottom.
--Kick: Square bottom + down bottom. Kotaro will not be able to kick any
type of enemies down.
--Charge attack: Up bottom + square bottom. It allows Kotaro push a single
target away and knocks it down.
--Shuriken: Press L2 bottom and Kotaro will shoot five shurikens at once.
--Stealth attack: Kotaro's special attack. Press triangle bottom to use this
attack. It crates an illusion on the spot that Kotaro uses stealth attack
and draws enemies' attention. You can have the "real" Kotaro attack the
enemies while they are confused by the illusion.
Saiga Magoichi:
--Stab attack: Square bottom
--Shot: R1 + square bottom. It is Magoichi's main attack.
--Defend: L1 bottom
--Side walk/dash: R1 + direction bottom.
--Kick: Square bottom + down bottom.
--Flash bomb: Use it by pressing L2 bottom, this attack has a very short
range, it is only good if Magoichi is surrendered.
--Rapid fire: Magoichi's special attack. Press triangle bottom to use this
attack. It allows Magoichi shoot constantly with very short reloading time
by holding square bottom.
Oyu:
--Attack: Square bottom.
--Defend: L1 bottom.
--Side Walk/Dash: R1 + direction bottom
--Kick: Square bottom + down bottom. Oyu won't be able to kick most of
enemies down unless she has hard boots equipped.
--Throwing dagger: L2 bottom. In order to raise the accuracy, you have to
use this attack in conjunction with R1 bottom.
--Ready Charge: Oyu's special attack. Press triangle bottom to use this
attack. It does not increase Oyu's attack power much, but forces your
enemies drop soul every time they are damaged by Oyu's ready charge.
III. General Strategies
Since your magical sword is not allowed to use in a Yague Sword only game,
you must plan ahead before you can do anything In order to survive all those
tough battles.
In Onimusha II, Jubei has four friendly allies, and they have weapons that
are much stronger than Yague Sword; they can still use powerful magical
attack since a Yague Sword game does not have any limit on them, so pick
your best friend carefully and let him/her handle as many battles as
possible will be a basic combating method that could apply to many part of
this game.
However, this concept alone is not going to help you any in your Yague Sword
game, in order to complete it in HARD mode, you need more advanced
strategies.
If I want to beat a Yagyu Sword game with minimal effort, then I have to:
--Practice Issen against certain enemies and few bosses.
--Save herbs/medicines for the boss fight.
--Get one power jewel from each ally.
--Get as many medicines/herbs/secret medicines as you can from each ally.
--Get as many bullets as possible from allies, it is possible to have 99
bullets.
--Raise friendship value with everyone, especially Fuma Kotaro and Saiga
Magoichi.
--Magoichi MUST BE YOUR BEST FRIEND.
--Upgrade Jubei's armors as soon as possible.
--Acquire White Necklace from the shop owner in Imasho Town.
--Knowing all bosses' attack style and figure out the strategies to avoid
their attack.
--Avoid combats that are not necessary.
--Let your friends handle some boss battles for you.
--Once you save at the magic mirror, quit the game and reset it immediately,
and the enemies around the magic lamp area will be gone.
--Kicking enemies down and stabbing them on the floor rock sometimes if you
use this tip at the right place.
+-----------------------------------+
+ Explanation of general strategies +
+-----------------------------------+
--Practice Issen against certain enemies and few bosses: Issen is the most
powerful move that Jubei could perform, and it can be performed with any
type of weapon. If you issen an enemy, it will drop more souls and at least
one YELLOW SOUL and you will be able to recover Jubei's vitality without
using herbs/medicines.
Against bosses, issen attack is a good way to reduce enemies' vitality
quickly, especially against Gogandantes and Nobunaga. For more details about
issen move, refer to section III for more advanced strategies; and you can
find out how to issen bosses in Section IV.
Don't get me wrong at this point though, issen is NOT REQUIRED to complete a
Yagyu Sword game in hard mode. All enemies can be defeated without issen if
your dodging skill is good enough. Strategic playing is the key, and issen
could be a great help if you know how to perform it properly.
--Save Herbs/Medicines for bosses fight: You are not allowed to use more
than three medicines besides boss fights, especially if you are playing hard
mode, which is this FAQ about. Any time you feel Jubei's vitality is too low
and you cannot issen some easy enemies anywhere to recover his vitality,
reset the game.
--Get one power jewel from each ally: It will help you extend Jubei's
maximum vitality. You have to give each ally their favorite items in order
to acquire power jewels from them.
Ankokuji Ekei: His favorite things are drink and food. SO if you give those
items to him like Vodka, he may give you a power jewel as return. Also, some
funny stuff like Tangu Mask could please him very well, too.
Fuma Kotaro: He likes rare stuff, and that is it. Although he told you that
he likes simple stuff as well, but except some specific items, rare
items/imported items still works much better on him.
Saiga Magoichi: He likes to read, so giving him books should be one of the
best choice as your gifts to him, however, he still likes some other things
like Pipe and Dice. Personally, I would recommend giving him Dice and reload
the game over and over 'till he gives you a power jewel.
Oyu: She likes girly thing, it should be obvious for you to tell. Also, if
you give Rouge to her, she will give you Magoichi's best armor-Private
Custom.
Note: The item "Pair Ring" is a top rank item for anyone, you may use this
item for exchanging a power jewel, and the one receives this item will most
likely to be your best friend. You MUST give this item to Magoichi.
More detailed about gift exchanging will be listed in section IV.
--Get as many herb/medicines/ secret medicines as possible from the allies:
You will need them for BOSS FIGHTS, and you must NOT use them in any other
case, but sometimes maybe you are allowed to use one or two medicines/herb
if Jubei is really close to death, but try to consider using herbs/medicines
as your last option, since you can always issen enemies or using white
necklace to recover Jubei's vitality.
You can acquire Secret medicines from each ally if you give them their best
armors (not sold in shop). Also, if you meet Kotaro before you enter the
Gold Mine and you give him a globe, he will give you a secret medicine for
return.
You can acquire medicines from your allies by giving them their favorite
items: As I stated before, giving your allies' favorite items may give you a
power jewel, but it may also give you a magic jewel, a medicine or some
normal bullets. The odd is completely random. Also, remember that you can
only receive one power jewel and one magic jewel from each character, but
you may receive as many medicines as you want, as long as you have items in
the inventory. Also there is a chance that you will receive normal bullets.
I recommend save before you giving away gifts, if you think that you got too
many bullets and only few medicines, reset your game.
**Raise friendship value with everyone, especially Fuma Kotaro and Sagai
Magoichi: You may need those two characters to carry you through certain
tough part of this game, their movements look cool, too!
**Magoichi must be your best friend: Yes, you have to admit it. He is the
strongest among all four allies because of his attack range and speed. Also,
you will need him to carry you through the Demon Cave part. Are you planning
on fighting two bullhead monsters and one Bullhead King with Yague Sword?
Unless your issen skill is really top to none and you really want a
challenge so bad. Remember: Enemies in hard mode are MUCH HARDER to be
issened.
**Upgrade Jubei's Armor as soon as possible: It is a common sense that you
will have higher chance to be damaged by your enemies in a Yague Sword game,
since it may take you longer time to kill an enemy, so upgrade Jubei's armor
in the early part of the game will help you a lot.
Jubei equips three types of armor at the beginning of the game-Yague Armor
that presents the major defense power of Jubei; Foot armor that increases
the power of kicking, and I assume it increase Jubei's backward dashing
speed; and arm armors that increases the speed and the power of charging
weapons.
Since you cannot charge Yague Sword, so arm armor is the least important
among all three kinds of armor. You have to upgrade other two first. If you
are playing hard mode, before you go to Gifu Castle from the Gold Mine, you
have to have Yague Armor level two (max will be ideal), arm armor level one
or two and foot armor MAX. A powerful foot armor will allow Jubei to kick
almost any kind of enemies down to the floor, and you will have to use this
technique to pass few unavoidable fights in Gifu castle, guaranteed.
**Acquire White Necklace from the shop owner in Imasho Town: This item
allows Jubei restore his vitality automatically when he is standing still,
not useful during the combat but it is useful BEFORE the combat. In order to
acquire this item, you have to buy all the goods in the shop then talk to
the owner twice.
** Knowing all bosses' attack styles and figure out the strategies to avoid
their attack: See Section IV. You will find extremely detailed bosses
strategies there.
**Avoid combats that are not necessary: You only need souls that are enough
to upgrade all armors to the maximum level, after that, any combat is not
necessary except boss battles or some battles you cannot escape.
**Let your friends handle some bosses battle for you: This tip will apply
well to the battle against Ginghamphatts and Jujudormah. More details will
be displayed in section IV.
**Once you save at the magic mirror, quit the game and reset it immediately,
and the enemies around the magic lamp area will be gone: Around certain
magic mirrors you will encounter large group of enemies, and you could avoid
the fight by saving the game first, then reset the game. Once you are back
into the game again, all the enemies around the magic mirror will be gone
and you can avoid major lose of vitality.
** Kicking enemies down and stabbing them on the floor rock sometimes if you
use this tip at the right place: It is good against fighting FEW large
monsters at once. With foot armor level max, you can keep kicking them down
and stabbing them on the floor. NOTE: This trick takes you a long time to
perform and should not be used while there are more than two enemies in
front of you.
IV. Basic Issen Tips.
First of all, you have to keep this in mind that Issen is not the key of
completing this challenge. Since the issen timing is more critical in hard
mode, you will have trouble issening many larger enemies like bone warriors
or blue/yellow guardians. All bosses can be defeated without issen if the
strategies are used properly. However, issen does play an important rule in
a Yague Sword game, especially in hard mode. By issening enemies, you can
always absorb yellow souls to recover Jubei's vitality. It will definitely
reduce the using of herbs and medicines.
I will only list few enemies that you should know how to issen, for other
enemies, I highly recommend running away from them unless the walkthrough
section instructs. Also, this section does not provide any tip of Hajiki
Issen. If you want to learn more about issen attack, please refer to
Red777777's Issen FAQ for more valid and detailed information.
The enemies you must learn how to issen are listed below:
--Blue Oda soldiers: Press square bottom after the raise their sword above
their heads. You can also issen them be pressing square bottom while they
are rushing toward to Jubei.
--Red Oda Soldiers: Press square bottom after they attack and about to hit
Jubei. You may need some practice if you are not used to issen enemies,
since the issen timing in hard mode is more critical.
--Oda archers: Move close to them and they will use their sword instead of
bows. The rest is then same as blue Oda soldiers.
--Lizard soldiers: ONLY issen them when they after they inhale and press
square bottom right before they perform stab attack. The timing is vary
depends on what kind of lizard soldier is.
--Spiky Demons: Issen them when they are using rolling attack and very close
to Jubei.
--Core insects: Sometimes they will fly slowly toward to Jubei, if they do
so, press square bottom when they are getting close to Jubei. The timing of
issening core insects is very loose and easy to control.
That's about all you need.
V. Yague Sword Game Walkthrough.
NOTE: As I said it before, and I say it here again. This walkthrough is
based on a Yague Sword game in HARD mode, ultimate mode OFF. If you are
playing as normal mode, you can still follow this FAQ and it will make your
game even easier.
I am not going to describe ANYTHING that is not directly related to a Yague
Sword game, like the locations of Art Work/History books or something like
them. This section is purely and solely for strategic discussions how to
complete a Yague Sword game. If you are really interested in all those side
quests, then you are reading the wrong FAQ.
Let's get it started.
+---------------+
+ Yague Village +
+---------------+
--Jubei starts at Yague Village, save the game first. He will after a cut
scene, he will encounter three blue Oda soldiers, issen them quickly.
--IN the next area you Jubei will encounter several blue Oda soldiers and
one archer, the archer will make this fight tough. Ignore all the enemies
and process to the next area, don not worry about the treasure box, Jubei
will come back here later.
--When you reach the pond, there is a treasure box with a herb inside, don't
miss it.
--Go deep inside the cave and acquire a Charity Orb and a Play Instruction
and pick up the treasure inside the treasure box.
--Issen all the enemies on the way Jubei out of the cave, remember it is
dangerous to fight more than three soldiers at the same time, especially if
you are playing hard mode.
--Don't forget to absorb the souls inside the status at the entrance of the
cave.
--Get Buraitou outside the cave.
+-------------+
+ Imasho Town +
+-------------+
NOTE: You DO NOT have to give away all the items right now, just be sure to
give them before Jubei meet Jujudormah at the third visit of Imasho Town.
And I do recommend get power Jewel as soon as possible, if you want to use
the limited items to get three power jewels from Kotaro, Ekei and Magoichi
before you enter Gold Mine, you may have to reset the game a lot. Remember
they will only give you a power jewel for return if you give them their
favorite item.
--Shop and gift tips:
Egg: 50 Gold. Do not give it to anyone yet.
Grilled Fish: 150 Gold. Give it to Ekei.
Salt: 50 Gold. Give it to anyone you want. I would prefer Ekei.
Vodka: 300 Gold. Give it to Ekei.
Conch Shell: 300 Gold. Give it to Magoichi.
Magnetic Compass: 300 Gold. Give it to Kotaro.
Plant Book: 200 Gold. Give it to Magoichi
History Book 5: 100 Gold. Give it to Magoichi.
Blue Parrot: 500 Gold. Give it to Magoichi.
Wonder Flower: 200 Gold. Give it to anyone you want.
Art Work # 16: 100 Gold. This is just for your collection.
--After some events, talk to everyone in the town and check every treasure
box. You should find a Tangu Mask (for Ekei), a Globe (for Kotaro), a pipe
(for Magoichi) and an Ancient Document.
--Enter the building that is close to the exit of Imasho Town and pick up a
bow and cloth there.
--Save your game and head to Imasho Gold Mine, you will counter some Oda's
soldiers (blue and red), issen all of them and absorb their souls. Here is a
good chance to practice your issen skill, and you will find a treasure box
that contains a telescope inside. (for Kotaro)
--When Jubei reached Gold Mine, a mean looking guy prevent him from entering
the mine because Jubei does not have the permit. Go back to Imasho Town,
issen all the enemies on your way.
--You will meet Ekei and Magoichi in Imasho Town. After the events, talk to
two guys outside the building Jubei got bow from, then go back to the second
floor of the restaurant where Magoichi and Ekei are and you will meet
Kotaro. Save your game and start to give them some gifts. For all items you
could possibly have right now, it is pretty hard to get a power jewel from
Magoichi, pipe works sometimes. You MAY get power jewel from Ekei by giving
him Vodka or Grilled Fish; power jewel from Kotaro by giving him a Magnetic
Compass. If you are so deemed to get power jewels before the Imasho Gold
Mine, you may have to reset your game over and over. Giving Globe to Kotaro
and you will receive a secret medicine from him, but this method only
applies to Kotaro if you meet him before Jubei enters the Imasho Gold Mine.
Also, try to use pipe to get Rouge from Magoichi if you want, it will become
Magoichi's best armor later; but if you don't do it right now, you can still
do it later with other items, every Magoichi's favorite item could lead you
to Rouge. The last thing I recommend here is to give all the books you have
to Magoichi and hold other items, do not give them away too quickly so you
can ensure that Magoichi will be your partner in Imasho Gold Mine. Having
Magoichi in Imasho Goldmine is completely optional, but it is the best
choice, I must say.
--Talk to the guy lying on the second floor three times and you will receive
a History Book #9 from him.
--Go back and forth between Imasho town and Gold Mine and issen Oda soldiers
to absorb their souls. You should level Yague Armor to at least level two,
and foot armor to the maximum.
--It is better if you have more than 10,000 Gold in your account right now.
--Once everything is prepared, save your game, spend 100 Gold to buy a
Mountain Permit and head to Imasho Gold mine.
+-------------------+
+ Imasho Gold Mine +
+-------------------+
--Pick up History Book #4 at the entrance of the mine and other treasures as
well, then save your game.
--Go to the right path and go deep inside, you will encounter some alligator
soldiers, use issen to kill all of them quickly, here is a good chance to
absorb some extra souls.
--You will enter a narrow path and you will find out that the entrance and
the exit are sealed by some strange red light. You will have to defeat all
the lizard soldiers in order to process forward.
FIGHT: Green Lizard Soldiers
They are just many, but not powerful. You should not have trouble in this
part. Since they are likely gathered in a small area, an issen could take
three or four of them at the same time. If you really cannot issen them
easily, Magoichi should be here to help, so you can just stay away from the
enemies and have Magoichi take care of everything for you.
--Process deeper inside and get Hyoujin-Yari.
--Go to the place that is locked by a white seal, you should see a cut scene
with Ekei and Magoichi there. Use Hyoujin-Yari there.
--Save at the magic lamp in the next area. Don't forget to grab the medicine
inside the treasure box.
--If Jubei's vitality is too low, you can go back to the previous room and
issen some Lizard Soldiers there to recover Jubei's vitality, this is
entirely optional.
****************************************************************************
BOSS: Ginghamphatts-First Match
****************************************************************************
Ginghamphatts' is a violent monster with for legs and a huge axe as his
weapon, you may have an easy fight here before, but in a Yagyu Sword only
game, you will have a lot of trouble in this battle, even if you have
received three Power Jewels from Kotaro, Ekei and Magoichi, he could still
process a major threat in this game, don't underestimate him just because he
is the first boss.
Ginghamphatt has two forms: In his first form, his major attacks are: Axe
stab, vertical slash, horizontal slash, upward attack, cross slash, breath
attack, jump attack and charge attack.
Ginghamphatt's Axe stab deals medium amount damage on Jubei; his horizontal
slash deals about the same amount of damage as his axe stab attack, but it
has longer range. His vertical slash deals HEAVY damage on Jubei, and it
will knock Jubei on the floor if Jubei failed to defend and allow
Ginghamphatt have another chance to attack while Jubei is lying on the
floor. If you are hit by this attack, the best thing you could do is to
smash t-pod and have Jubei rolling around on the floor to avoid
Ginghamphatt's next attack.
Ginghamphatt's upward attack can be blocked, but this attack is very quick,
if you are too close to him, you won't have time to react when you spot that
Ginghamphatt is going to use upward attack. This attack deals medium amount
of damage and will blow Jubei away to a certain distance from Ginghamphatt.
Ginghamphatt's cross slash is one of his most deadly attack-it is a
combination of horizontal slash and vertical slash. This attack hits Jubei
twice in a row and Jubei will NOT be able to block the second wave of this
attack if he defended the first wave in close range.
If Jubei is out of Ginghamphatt's attack range, Ginghamphatt sometimes uses
breath attack to suck Jubei from afar to close to him, and followed by a
vertical slash. All you have to do is to defend his vertical slash, this
attack just looks scary, but it won't really harm you if you know what you
are doing.
Ginghamphatt's charge attack is on of the most annoying attack. It could hit
Jubei twice in a row in a close range, which means you can not defend this
attack if Jubei is too close to Ginghamphatt. Ginghamphatt needs less than
half second to use this attack, so it is very hard to predict if he is going
to charge or not, in order to spot and avoid his charge attack, some
practice may be required. You can avoid this attack by using R1 + direction
bottom properly.
Ginghamphatt rarely uses jump attack in his first form, but if he does use
this attack, it is hard to avoid sometimes because he does not aim for the
exact spot that Jubei is located. There is no guarantee that you could avoid
this attack if you move away from the place you are currently standing, and
Ginghamphatt's jump attack deals heavy damage on Jubei, too. Remember: I am
talking about HARD mode.
Ginghamphatt transform to the second form every time Jubei (and his ally)
deals enough damage on him, hits him enough times or Jubei survives certain
amount of time. Ginghamphatt will look much bigger than what he originally
was. He mainly uses jump attack in his second form, and every time he jumps,
there will be some falling rocks because of the impact from his jumping
attack. Those rocks cannot deal too much damage on Jubei, but they are quite
annoying. Ginghamaphatt rarely uses upward attack and slashes in his second
form. He will return to his first form if Jubei (and his ally) deals enough
damage on him or survive certain amount of time.
Since you are playing a Yagyu Sword game, this battle requires good combat
skill and some luck, you will die many times, so be patient and don't smash
your controller like I did.
Ginghamphatt always starts this battle by using a vertical slash at the
beginning and it won't hurt Jubei. Use Yagyu Sword slash him twice and dash
back away from him. After that try to run toward to him, and dash back
immediately when he is attacking, then move forward again and slash him two
to three times right after he finish an attack-it is a common sense of most
of action games-your enemies' weakest moment is right after they finish a
move. Do not attempt to hit him more than three times because it will take
Jubei a long time and he won't be able to pull away from Ginghamphatt if he
uses a cross slash-as I stated before, in close range, you won't be able to
defend the second wave attack of the cross slash.
Ginghamphatt may still attempt Jubei with vertical slash while Jubei is not
close enough to him. If you see Ginghamphatt attacks from afar and he is
most likely to reach Jubei, you must block immediately and pull away from
him as soon as possible. Jubei will be stunned for a short moment every time
he successfully defend an attack, and it leaves you no time to rush toward
to Ginghamphatt, slash him twice and pull back. If you insist to do it, then
prepare to have some taste of his cross slash.
If Ginghamphatt uses vertical slash while Jubei is close to him, that is
your best chance to attack-Issen dance works prefect in this case. Use R1+
direction bottom to move around him quickly so you can avoid this attack,
then hit square bottom just when his axe almost reaches the ground and you
will issen him. Even if you failed, don't worry, Ginghamphatt has to spend a
long time to charge his next attack after his vertical slash, it leaves you
a chance to slash him more than four times, still sounds good to me.
You should have Jubei defend when Ginghamphatt uses breath attack because it
is always followed by a vertical slash and it will hit Jubei for sure. Pull
away from him when you block his attack.
Ginphamphatt's jump attack in his first form is hard to avoid sometimes, but
you may still be able to avoid this attack by looking at his shadow
carefully, all you have to do is to pull Jubei away from his shadow. Also,
pray that he does not use charge attack too often in this battle because it
is a deadly attack. If he abuses it, you are probably going to lose anyway
since this attack is too fast, and too powerful, especially in hard mode.
During Ginghamphatt's second form, he most likely abuses jump attack- the
safest spot is standing between his legs. That's where the falling rocks
cannot reach. If he jumps, simply move forward/R1 + direction bottom to get
away from his shadow, either way is fine. And run back between his legs to
avoid the falling rocks and slash him. Block if he uses his axe to attack
Jubei.
Sometimes Ginghamphatt's tires to "trick" you-he jumps upside down in the
same spot, if you use the tactic listed above: Moving forward/R1+ direction
bottom, you will be hit either way. You must dash back if he just simply
jumps upside down at the same place.
You must try to deal as much damage as you could before your ally is here to
help you. Basically, when Jubei is close to death/getting hit certain times,
Jubei's friend will show up. Once your alliance is here, let him handle the
main battle and try to move Jubei to behind Ginghamphatt and start a pincer
attack. If you are not confident about your skill, you can just stay away
from the boss and let your friend take care of everything, but here is an
important thing you MUST REMEMBER here (as well as other boss fights later):
You can let your friends damage bosses, but they CAN NOT kill the bosses.
Jubei must be the one that launches the finish blow. If a boss has an empty
life bar, your friends' attack won't be able to deal any damage on him/her.
I have tested this many times and I am positive about it. I have never seen
that any of my allies killed any boss.
You should not use any herb/medicine in this battle, keep trying, it is
possible!!!
--After this tedious battle, go back to the magic mirror, save your game and
uses souls to strengthen your armors.
--Process further and you will see a guy sitting on the ground. Ignore him
and pick up the treasure and gold deeper inside the next area, then come
back and save him.
+------------------------+
+ Imasho Town: Revisited +
+------------------------+
--After save the worker in Imasho Mine, Jubei will receive a Red Ring. Save
your game.
--There are new people in Imasho town now, talk to every of them three
times, you should receive a history book #2 from a woman with yellow robe.
--Check out the variety store, you can purchase new items right now.
Lemon: 200 Gold. Give it to Tokaro.
Hair ornament: 30 Gold. Give it to Oyu later.
Fairy tale book: 200 Gold. Giving it to Kotaro is the best choice, but it
might let Jubei's friendship value with Kotaro excesses with Magoichi. You
can give it to Oyu instead, if you do so, the reward will be worse.
History book #5:100 Gold. Give it to Magoichi.
Silver Armor: 800 Gold. Oyu only.
Keimyo Hachimaki: 800 Gold. Kotaro only.
Western Boots: 800 Gold. Magoichi only.
Fudo Leg Guard: 800 Gold. Ekei only.
Red Parrot: 500 Gold. You can give it to anyone.
Love Potion: 500 Gold. Give it to Oyu.
Artwork #17: 100 Gold. Just for your collection.
--If you did not get all three Power Jewels from three allies, you can still
try it right now.
--Besides the armors sold in shop, everyone has a special armor that can
only be acquired from gift exchanging. You will receive a secret medicines
from each character by giving them their special armors. If you are not
lucky enough to get all four of them, at least try to get the Pirate Costume
for Magoichi. By giving Magoichi his favorite items (Pipe, Dice,
Documents...etc) you MAY receive Rouge from him. Give Rouge to Oyu later and
you will receive the Pirate Costume for Magoichi. Also, if you are really
worry about the battle against Nobunaga at the end of the game, I highly
recommend looking for all four special armors and acquiring four secret
medicines from allies. You may have to reload your game over and over in
order to do this though.
--There is a guy selling the map of Imasho Gold Mine that indicates the
locations of potassium nitrate, you need 200 Gold for that map and you MUST
but it.
--When you think you are ready, head to Imasho Gold Mine.
+-----------------------------+
+ Imasho Gold Mine: Revisited +
+-----------------------------+
--Ignore all ninjas before you reach the mine.
--There is a worker walking around the magic lamp at the entrance of Imasho
Mine. Talk to him twice and he will give you a dice.
--Save your game. You will see Magoichi in the next area, if you still did
not get a power jewel from him, give him the dice you have and you may get
one. If not, reload the game over and over 'till he give s you one.
--Process further and you will see a bone warrior is squeezing Kotaro.
Attack the monster and save Kotaro, and let him handle all the monsters in
that area for you.
--Take a look at the map that shows the location of potassium nitrate, turn
right first and walk to the deepest place, you can find one potassium
nitrate around this area.
--Now follow the map and find another two potassium nitrates. One of them is
located close to the magic lamp (and you will see Kotaro over there). Save
your game. You may want to ignore all the enemies on your way.
--If you are lacking of vitality or you want more souls to upgrade armors,
here is a good place: The previous section before the magic lamp you just
saved your game has a lot of rolling spiky demons there. They are very easy
to issen. Go to that area over and over issen tons of them 'till Jubei's
vitality is completely recovered. This part is entirely optional.
--In the next section after the magic lamp, you will find many rolling spiky
demons and one bullhead monster there, and the exit is block by a white
absorber.
FIGHT: White Absorber, Bullhead monster and Spiky demons.
Magoichi will be here to help you, so stay away from the White Absorber and
let Magoichi take care of everything. You can have Jubei issen some spiky
demons if they are using rolling attack toward to Jubei. After Magoichi
finish all monsters, take the white absorber down.
--You will see a big seal in the next area and you can use the Red Ring
there. Don't do it right now. Process to the next room and get the third
potassium nitrate.
--Go back to the magic lamp and save your game.
--Go back to the seal and use the Red Ring there. Jubei will be brought to a
mysterious area and the gate is sealed.
FIGHT: Blue Guardian x 2
This battle could be tough since it is VERY HARD to issen them in hard mode.
However, if you have foot armor with maximal level, you should be fine here.
The first blue guardian appears close to the gate, kick him down first and
stab him on the ground. Repeat kicking and stabbing and you may be able to
kill him eventually before the second blue guardian reaches Jubei. Use the
same tactic to finish the second blue guardian.
NOTE: If you don't have foot armor strong enough, you won't be able to kick
those two guardians down and this battle will be very tough.
--After you defeat two blue guardians, the seal will be broken. There is a
crystal orb inside the red treasure box, don't miss it. Also, there is a
blue box that can only be opened by Ekei, you may be able to get it later.
--Climb upstairs and you will see a Bone Warrior is guarding the exit. Since
the stairs is too narrow, you can't ignore this combat.
FIGHT: Bone Warrior
Kick him down and stab him on the ground. Repeat this tactic over and over
'till he is dead, simple and easy.
+-------------+
+ Gifu Castle +
+-------------+
--There is no enemy in the castle square. You will have a cut scene with
Magoichi instead.
--Enter the Castle Keep and ignore all the archers there. Rush to the small
room at the left side and solve the puzzle. You will receive a piece of a
Bronze Mask.
--Process to the next area and Ekei should be there to help you.
FIGHT: White Absorber & Ninjas
Every time Ekei is absorbed and trapped by White Absorber, he will cry for
help. Just ignore him and stay away from the absorber, he will be fine. Let
him handle most part of this fight and have Jubei attack the ninjas if he
has a chance, defending a lot is a wise choice as well.
--Solve the trick treasure box in the next area and acquire the POWER JEWEL
inside.
--Keep going and you will find a magic lamp, but there are also several
silver Oda soldiers there and one archer. If you want to fight them you
could be killed easily there because that archer is VERY annoying. The best
way to pass this part is to rush to the magic lamp, save your game, then
reset the game. The enemies will disappear this way.
--There will be some spiky demons in the next area, either issening them or
slashing them to death is fine. They are few and weak anyway.
--There is a small room beside the area you fought spiky demons, enter the
room and you will see a person is asking Jubei an item called "Purify Charm"
--Climb upstairs and you will be forced to fight many ninjas.
FIGHT: Ninja x 10
Ekei will be here to help Jubei, so stay in corner and defend while Ekei is
taking care of everything for you. This battle should not be tough.
--Process further 'till the room with a yellow seal in there and you will
find a Purify Charm there. A ninja will appear right after Jubei took the
Purify Charm. Simply slash him to death.
--Go outside and you will find three lizard archers are on the third floor
and Magoichi is helping you on the first floor. You can either knock them
down quickly or defend while Magoichi is taking care of those lizard archers
for you. But remember, there are also few ninjas on the first floor that
will draw Magoichi's attention, so I recommend fighting lizard archers here.
Jubei should kill each one with four to five slashes. When you hear the
sound of arrows, block immediately.
--After clearing this area, process further and you will see four red lizard
soldiers here-DO NOT fight them, rush to the stairs and leave this area as
soon as possible.
--Give Purify Charm to the person that was asking for this item and you will
receive another piece of the Bronze Mask.
--Save at the magic lamp and use two pieces of Bronze Mask on the sealed
door in the same area where the magic lamp is located.
--Go inside and you will find Oyu and Tokichiro there. After a cut scene,
Jubei will encounter two bone warriors.
FIGHT: Bone Warriors x 2
This battle is like a semi-boss battle. It is very hard to issen them in
hard mode. If you really want to issen them for a quick kill, you may have
to reset your game over and over in order to get a lucky issen. My favorite
method of defeating them to kick one of them down and slash another one
twice, then kick down the one I was attacking and slash another twice
again...repeating those step and you will kill one of them eventually, and you
when there is one of them left, you can kick him down and stab him on the
floor. It is easy to say, but it takes you some time to practice actually.
If you lose more than half of your vitality then you have to reset the game.
--After defeating them, pick up a medicine in this area and go outside and
save again.
--Return to the place you fought two bone warriors and process further to
the net area.
****************************************************************************
BOSS: Gogandantes-First Match
****************************************************************************
The first thing you have to know is: You cannot actually win this match. You
have to force him to block/lock swords certain times in order to trigger the
event that Oyu rescues Jubei.
Gogandantes does not have very powerful attacks, but he is quite agile. He
can move around Jubei and dodge his attack quickly. It increases the
difficulty of this battle.
Since the condition of ending this battle is to let him block/lock sword
certain times, this battle is very similar to a regular game. The only
difference is that you should NOT use any herb/medicine here. If you feel
that you need them, it warrants a reset of your game.
Gogadantes uses single slash and double slash. Both of them deals minimal
amount of damage on Jubei, also he uses charge attack that will turn his
sword into bloody red and stab Jubei from afar. This attack has quite good
range and medium power, and cannot be blocked.
If you slash him directly, you will receive strong counter attacks. As I
said before, Gogandantes is not powerful, but he is AGILE. He can do slash
combos and attack three or four times in a row on Jubei. Also, most of time
you attack him, he will dash back to avoid the attacks.
The best way to pass this battle is to attack right after Gogandantes's
slash attacks. Use regular attack to slash Gogandantes twice right after
Gogandantes uses single slash, if the timing is correct, you will force him
to block twice.
Use rush attack on Gogandantes right after he uses double slash-it has a
very high chance to lock swords with him this way. In order to win, smash t-
pod and square bottom like crazy and Jubei will push Gogandantes away. After
around eight to ten sword locking, this battle will be over.
In order to let Gogandantes use slash attack, you have to move Jubei back
and forth as a decoy-move forward to Gogandantes and he will perform slash
attack, dash back to avid his attack and slash him/use rush attack right
after he finished his move.
When you see Gogandantes is charging his sword to red and ready to attack,
use R1 + direction bottom to dodge his charge attack. This attack should be
very easy to avoid. He is able to attack one more time after he uses charge
attack, so after you dodge it, pull away from him!!!
--Once the winning condition is met, Oyu will help Jubei escape from the
battle arena. Jubei will acquire a faith orb from her. Place it on the big
steel ball, Jubei and Oyu will ride a steel horse back to Imasho Town.
+----------------------------+
+ Imasho Town: Third Visit +
+----------------------------+
Shop:
Black Pill: 100 Gold. Give it to Kotaro.
Pocket Watch: 300 Gold. Give it to Kotaro.
Pandora's Box: 700 Gold. Give it to Kotaro.
Calligraphy Kit: 300 Gold. Give it to Magoichi.
History Book # 8: 100 Gold. Give it to Magoichi.
Naughty Novel: 500 Gold. Give it to Magoichi or Kotaro.
Phirangi: 1000 Gold. Give it to Oyu.
Gabishi: 1000 Gold. Give it to Kotaro.
Goraishinki: 1000 Gold. Give it to Magoichi.
Houtengeki: 1000 Gold. Give it to Ekei.
Pair Ring: 3000 Gold. Give it to Magoichi!!!
Art Work #18: Just for your collection.
--Be sure to purchase every kind of stuff here.
--After you purchase everything, talk to shop owner twice and he will give
Jubei a White Necklace. Remember to equip it. It will gradually recover
Jubei's vitality if he is standing still.
--Give all the gifts you have to your friends. Many gifts you have right now
are from treasure boxes in Gifu castle or gift exchanging. For my own sake,
I am not going to tell you that which item should you give to whom here. As
long as you follow the shop guide in this FAQ so far, you are on the right
track. You can make your own judgments that which item is the best for which
person. It is not that hard.
--Here is the last chance you can acquire power jewels from Jubei's friends.
You should be able to get one from Oyu VERY easily. And if you did not get
three power jewels from three guys, save your game and give them all the
gifts you have and see if you can get all the power jewels. If not, reset
the game over and over 'till you get them!!!
--The egg in your inventory should become a Chicken and a brown egg now.
Give the chicken to Kotaro and the brown egg to Magoichi.
--There is a guy standing besides shop's backdoor. Buy black beer from him
and give it to Magoichi.
--Remember the potassium nitrate you got in Imasho Gold mine? Give them to
magoichi and you will get some burst bullets!!! (Sometimes you will get herb
instead).
--You can try to give Magoichi all the history books-three of them are from
Ekei, Kotaro and Oyu. You may acquire them if you give them a rank C or
lower items, and it takes you some luck. If you did gather all then history
books and gave them to Magoichi, you will receive a Talisman as your reward.
It will be a great help in your game. But remember, you should not use
Talisman anywhere besides battle against Nobunaga. Any time Talisman is
used, you must reset your game.
--Once you settle everything, go to the market place and you will meet
Jujudormah there.
+-------------------------+
+ Yague Village Revisited +
+-------------------------+
--Save your game first.
--You will encounter two blue guards and few lizard soldiers first. Magoichi
should be here to help you. Stay behind him and let him take care of
everything. Pick up the map in the treasure box now if you did not get it
before.
--Go across the pond and inside the cave. You will encounter some green core
insects and one Blue Guard at the end of the path. Ignore green core insects
and rush to the blue guard, kick him down and stab him on the ground four
times you should be able to kill him before those green core insects find
you.
--After the cut scene, pick up the Tokajo Ring on the ground.
--On your way back, you will encounter some green core insects again, use
the tactic listed in the Issen Tips section to kill all of them and recover
Jubei's vitality.
--Talk to Magoichi besides the pond and he will give you a Saiga bomb. Use
it on the rocky wall next to the Dragon Temple and you will find a Green
Necklace inside. Equip it and you will fins a secret medicine right in front
of you. And with this Necklace, you will find more valuable items later.
--Ignore bone warriors in the next area.
--Now you will encounter many silver Oda Soldiers and two archers. Fighting
them is not a smart idea because of the archers. The best way to pass this
part is using the cheap trick-rush to the save point, save your game, then
reset the game.
--Go inside the house. There are many silver Oda soldiers there waiting for
you. If you want to combat them inside the house, you may not be able to
issen them because the combat area inside the house is too small for Jubei
to dodge. The best way to defeat them is to lure them out to the wilder area
between the door and the main building (the entrance area), you will be able
to issen them easily there. Keep luring them out and issen them over and
over until you are sure that the entire house is cleaned, then enter. Pick
up the treasure on your way. The most important item is a POWER JEWEL, which
is inside a trick treasure box.
--Use the Tokajo ring in front of the orange chest and place Seiryu on the
right side; Suzaku on the bottom side; Genbu on the top and Byakko on the
left and the ladder will appear. There are some treasures in the room behind
the chest, you can choose to get them or not depends on Jubei's current
vitality. Also, you can always equip White Necklace to recover Jubei's
vitality to full, but you need to be patient.
--Cut the ropes in the next area and you will trigger the trap. Dash back to
the pitfall and hang Jubei there 'till the blade passed Jubei. Then climb up
and go forward.
+------------+
+ Fog Valley +
+------------+
--Save your game first and use souls to strengthen your armors.
--There are many red lizard soldiers here, issen them. It is not that hard.
--After you clean out the monsters, climb up stairs. You shall encounter a
bone warrior and several lizard soldiers. Ignore them and climb upstairs
instead. There is a green seal in this area, and you cannot break it now,
you have to come back later.
--You will encounter three yellow guardians here. Magoichi will appear if
Jubei walks to the half way of the bridge. Jubei should be pincer attacked
by now, one is from the back and two are from the front. Kick the one in
your back down and stab him on the ground, you should be able to kill him
with three or four stabs, while Magoichi will block the rest two for you.
--Process to the next area, pick up the treasure box and rush to the magic
lamp, save your game.
--Reload the game and the monsters around magic lamp will disappear. Touch
the green dragon and you will receive a Senpomaru.
--Go back to the place you saw the green seal. When you are trying to across
the bridge, you will see a yellow guardian and one archer behind him and
back him up. If you are so deemed to kill them all, unless you are VERY GOOD
at issen (and since it is hard mode... you may have a very hard time to issen
them). You may not be able to win this fight. Just kick the yellow guardian
down and rush through the ladder and get out of this area.
--Use the Senpomaru you just got and break the green seal. You shall receive
a "Nobunaga's Knowledge".
--Go back and Oyu should help you when you are trying to across the bridge
again. Kick your enemies down and let Oyu handle the rest for you. After the
fight, talk to Oyu and you will receive a herb from her. You may do some
gift exchange here if you want.
--Dash to the magic lamp and save your game. Then reset the game to make the
enemies around the magic lamp disappear.
--Go inside the forest and ignore all the enemies. If you followed this
walkthrough so far, Jubei should get lost in the forest and Kotaro will help
Jubei.
+--------------+
+ Kotaro Helps +
+--------------+
Having Kotaro help Jubei in this part is definitely an advantage in your
Yague Sword game. Without Kotaro's help, you may have a very hard time in
the forest. But it does not mean that you should be careless while play as
Kotaro. You MUST try to avoid using herbs or medicines in this part and save
it for Jubei. In a regular game you can blow your medicines and herbs like
crazy at this point, but not in a Yague Sword game. Anytime you use herb or
medicines more than three times warrants a reset of your game.
--Save your game at the beginning of course.
--Pick up the treasures in blue boxes. Kotaro should receive a Red Wedge and
a Blue Bracelet.
--Issen the lizard soldiers on your way and ignore the bone warriors.
--When Kotaro is close to the bridge, you should see a small area with red
light coming out, use Red Wedge in the red circle area and Kotaro will be
able to go inside the "Red Phantom Realm".
+--------------------+
+ Red Phantom Realm +
+--------------------+
LEVEL ONE: Green Lizard Soldiers
--Issen them whey they inhale. Since they are usually gathered around in a
small area, hopefully each time you issen, you could kill two or three of
them at the same time, if Kotaro is surrendered, use charge attack to push
one of them away and run away from them.
LEVEL TWO: White Ninjas
--If you are not careful in this level, you may waste a herb here since
those Ninjas have agility as high as Kotaro, and you are outnumbered. At the
beginning of the battle, there are three Ninjas in the second level. Have
Kotaro throw Shurikens to knock them down, then stab them on the ground one
by one. Once you finish these three ninjas, other ninjas will appear one
after another, and Kotaro won't be forced to fight three at the same time,
so things should be easy now.
LEVEL THREE: Red Lizard Soldiers
--The tactic of passing this level with minimum amount of losing of vitality
is about the same as the tactic of the first level, but remember to block
often, and avoid being surrendered.
LEVEL FOUR: Skeleton Warrior x 3 & Lizard Soldiers
--This level is annoying. You may want to have Kotaro move around the combat
area and keep those Skeleton warriors away from him, and issen the Lizard
Soldiers if he has a chance. The best way to kill the skeleton warriors is
to issen lizard soldiers when they inhale and are close to a skeleton
warrior. If you issen the lizard soldier, you can also issen the skeleton
warrior if he is close enough to the lizard soldier. If you really have a
hard time here, use Kotaro's special attack once and attack skeleton
warriors from their back.
LEVEL FIVE: Skeleton Warrior + Ninjas
--Throw Shurikens to knock Ninjas down first and see if you could finish the
skeleton warrior while the ninjas were still lying on the ground.
After clearing all five levels, Kotaro should acquire a red pole and a Blue
Wedge at the bottom of the Red Phantom Realm, other treasure Kotaro should
receive in the Red Phantom Realm are herb, medicine, and Kotaro's best
weapon-Rega Kunai.
You really should not use any herb or medicine here, but if you only used
one herb in Red Phantom Realm, I think you should be fine.
--After leaving the Red Phantom Realm, ignore the enemies on the bridge and
process to the next area.
--You will encounter several white ninja there, with Kotaro's best weapon,
killing them should not be difficult. Save at the magic lamp after the
fight.
--Jump up the cliff and keep going forward, ignore all the fish enemies on
your way. Don't forget to pick up Kotaro's Armor-Stealth Costume. And always
remember: Armor is very useless unless you equip it.
--Fight the lizard soldiers after the river. Issening them is not hard.
After the fight, process to the next section and you should see a magic
lamp. Save your game.
--Head on through the pond besides the magic lamp. Do not fight any fish
enemies. You should see a small area with blue light coming out, use the
Blue Wedge there and go inside the Blue Phantom Realm.
+--------------------+
+ Blue Phantom Realm +
+--------------------+
Blue Phantom is MUCH HARDER than Red Phantom Realm, and you are not allowed
to waste too many recovery items in Blue Phantom Realm since you have to
save them for Jubei. Basically, you should use no more than one herb and one
medicine in there. Also, if you received a Talisman from Magoichi at Imasho
Town, any time Kotaro is killed and the Talisman is used warrants a reset of
the game.
LEVEL ONE: Spiky Demons & Soul Suckers
--Issen Spiky Demons when they are rolling toward to Kotaro, simple as that.
Do not let your attention be removed by those soul suckers.
LEVEL TWO: Green Core Insects
--Move area the combat area and keep them away from Kotaro. If you see any
of them is using the slow charge attack, issen them when it charges close
enough to Kotaro. An easy level, too.
LEVEL THREE: Blue Guardian x 3 & Green Core Insects
--This level sure is tough. Use Kotaro's special attack at the beginning of
the battle and attack the blue guardians from behind, with Kotaro's powerful
weapon, hopefully you can defeat two blue guardians before Kotaro's
invincibility expired. The rest should be easy because those Green core
insects are godly easy to issen.
LEVEL FOUR: Bullhead Monster x 2 & Spiky Demons
--Try to stay away from Bullhead monsters and issen Spiky Demons if Kotaro
has a chance. Fight bullhead monsters after you clear all the spiky demons
in this area. Use R1+ direction bottom to move around bullhead monsters to
dodge their axes, and attack if you get any chance. With Kotaro's agility,
it should not be that tough.
LEVEL FIVE: Bullhead Monster & Red Bullhead monster
--At the beginning, there is only a bullhead monster in this level. Walk
forward a little bit and the Red Bullhead monster will appear. Dash back
away from them to far as possible, and throw all the Shuriken you have.
After you are out of Shurikens, use Kotaro's special attack at the middle of
the combat area (so there will be more room behind those two bullhead
monsters). Attack them from behind while they are attacking Kotaro's
illusion. You will need to use another Kotaro's special attack to finish the
Red Bullhead monster. He can take more than 20 hits from Kotaro's weapon,
TOUGH FIGHT!!!
You should acquire a Blue Pole at the bottom of the Blue Phantom Realm.
Leave the Phantom Realm and go back to the magic lamp and save your game.
With Blue Pole and Red Pole in your hand, you can unseal the forest.
--Go inside the forest and Kotaro will face some spiky demons and one
bullhead monster. Issen spiky demons first. Then ignore the bullhead monster
and process to the next section.
--A cut scene that Kotaro saves Jubei. Jubei's vitality will be fully
recovered here.
--GO BACK TO THE MAGIC LAMP AND SAVE. Do not process any further before you
do so because you will run into the boss in the next section. With the souls
that Kotaro gave to Jubei, you should have Max Yague Armor, Max Foot Armor
and Arm Armor level two.
--GO inside the forest again and you will encounter...
***********************************************************************
BOSS: Ginghamphatts-Second Match
***********************************************************************
This battle could be easier than the first one, but you have to know exactly
what you are doing. Ginghamphatts does not use the annoying cross slash
anymore in this battle, and he rarely uses charge attack, either.
Ginghamphatts' major attacks in this battle are vertical slash and rush
attack. His vertical attack allows Jubei have chance to attack, simply use
R1 + direction bottom to dodge his vertical slash then attack, experienced
players should be able to issen Ginghamphatts while he is doing vertical
slash. In order to issen, dodge his vertical slash and press square bottom
when his big hammer is about to hit the ground. Also, this attack is
defendable.
Ginghamphatts' Rush attack could be very annoying and the major reason that
you are killed over and over in this battle. Every time that Jubei (and his
ally) deals enough damage on Ginghamphatts or Jubei survives certain amount
of time, Ginghamphatts will jump into the forest and rush back and forth. It
is very hard to dodge this attack all the time. His rush attack is
defendable only if it is not a direct charge-it is a direct charge,
Ginghamphatts will trample on Jubei three times, Jubei could defend the
first one, and the other two will hit Jubei.
How do you dodge this attack? In order to test the best method, I have
fought him over and over more than twenty times, I figured out that
Ginghamphatts has few "blind spots" when he is using his rush attack. There
ARE certain spots that he is not able to rush directly. The best two spots
are besides the two trees in the middle of the combat area on both sides.
One tree's root is shown on the screen, and one is not. To know if you are
exactly on the safe spot or not, if you do, Jubei MUST FACE THE SCREEN and
there is a tree in his left hand side (right hand side in your view), and
Jubei has to defend. If you followed exactly what this FAQ is telling you to
do here, Ginghamphatt's rush attack will never be able to rush Jubei
directly, maybe barely touch Jubei once sometimes, and Jubei will be able to
defend it. Every time Jubei successfully defended Ginghamphatts's rush
attack, he will be pushed out of the safe spots, and you have to go back to
the spot and defend before Ginghamphatts attacks again.
Ginghamphatts' frequency of using rush attack has a negative ratio to his
current vitality, which means the lower his vitality, the more often he uses
rush attack, also, the speed of his rush attack will increase when his
vitality is low. But if you find the location of his blind spots, you don't
have to worry about it one bit ^_~.
Another attack you must pay attention is Ginghamphatts' upward attack. This
attack sure is defendable, but sometimes it comes in conjunction with an
extra vertical slash, and it will hit Jubei and knock him on the ground. I
notice that when he uses this combo move, his vertical slash can only hit
the area that is exactly in front of him, which means if Jubei is in his
left or right hand side, or anywhere is not directly in front of
Ginghamphatts' head, his vertical slash will miss after his upward attack.
Other attacks are not serious problems. Jubei could defend all of them.
After analyzing all Ginghamhpatts' attacks, now it is time to conclude the
strategy. Like the first battle, it is dangerous to attack Ginghamphatts
more than three times in a row, so every time you attack Ginghamphatts more
twice, you must pull back. Block his attack if it is necessary and the
attack is defendable. Try not to attack him from the directly front
position, as I have mentioned above, his upward attack + vertical slash
combo will hit Jubei if you are directly in front of him. The best chance to
attack him is after his vertical slash. You could attack him around six
times, or if you could issen him, it is even greater.
Every time he is using his rush attack, stay on the safe spots and defend.
He cannot harm you.
If you are hit around three times by Ginghamphatts, Magoichi should be here
to help. Once he is here, let him handle most part of this battle and pull
Jubei away from Ginghamphatts. But remember, Jubei must be the one finish
the boss, so you still have to attack Ginghamphatts if you have a chance, or
this battle will never end.
You should not use more than one medicine in this battle. Anywhere excesses
this limit item expense than that warrants a reset of your game. You will
acquire "Nobunaga's Reign" after defeating Ginghamphatts.
--Process to the next section and save your game.
--Go up to the steps to your right and break the blue seal with Buraitou and
you will find "Nobunaga's Knowledge". There is a yellow guardian in front of
the seal, kick him down and stab him on the ground several times he will be
dead for good.
--Go back to the magic lamp and save your game. An event with Magoichi will
take place while Jubei is trying to go through the pond. Magoichi is asking
Jubei to cover him while he is preparing his cannon to break the rock. You
will encounter many small fish enemies here, the only thing I could
recommend here is to slash them like crazy. You may be able to issen them
when they were jumping toward to Jubei, but the timing needs to be extremely
exact. After surviving certain amount of time, Magoichi will fire his cannon
and break the rock, and you will acquire a magic jewel and a POWER JEWEL as
your reward for helping him!!! Save your game after this event of course.
--Go through the pond and enter the building. In order to solve the puzzle
at the entrance, pull the lever and place the statues in order the screen
shows.
+---------------+
+ Rocky Caverns +
+---------------+
--You will encounter a lot of archers as your first fight in the first
section of Rocky Caverns. Climb upstairs first and Magoichi will show up
here to help Jubei. After Magoichi appears, dash back to the entrance and
defend, Magoichi will take care of the archers for you slowly. After the
archers are cleared, climb upstairs again and you will see a blue guardian
guarding the exit of this area. Kick him down and stab him on the ground
four times and he will be dead, simple as that.
--In the next section you will be in a small path, and it leads to a wilder
area where a tentacle monster is guarding the exit.
FIGHT: Tentacle monster & Lizard Soldiers.
This fight was very, very annoying to me, with your weak Yague Sword, it
will take you a long time to take the tentacle monster. First of all, you
have to get rid of the lizard soldiers first. Lure them into the narrow path
and slash/issen them. After all lizard soldiers are gone. Go to the tentacle
monster, slash him two or three times then defend his counter attack. If you
see him using seed attack, retreat to the marrow path so the seed cannot
reach Jubei.
NOTE: It is POSSIBLE to avoid this battle by cutting the Tentacle monster's
lower left tentacle off (right tentacle in your view) then process through
the door immediately before the tentacle is regenerated
