FAQ And Walkthrough (Japanese Version) - Guide for Yakuza 4
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RYà GA GOTOKU 4 Densetsu wo tsugu mono F.A.Q. / Walkthrough by Patrick Coffman E-mail: ryled [at] yahoo.com PSN: hatoriki_kai YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ryled Version 0.7 (March 17th, 2011)--Skeleton. Bare bones. WARNINGS! ⢠This document is for the Japanese game. In the event that they ever do release a "Yakuza 4" in the West, the translations will be different. Probably, less literal. Certain names will be different including: Hanaya -> Kage (the "Legendary Informant") Kazama Shintarô (only mentioned in video recaps) -> Fuma Shintaro Sai no Kawara -> Purgatory Another problem arose with the localization of Ryû ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3), where some 20% of content was removed. Hopefully in the future I'll make changes to that FAQ identifying cut content. For now, however, if you're using this for a European/Australian/American "Yakuza 4," please visit the boards on GameFAQs. The people there are very knowledgable and probably going through the same thing as you with cut content. ⢠There are a lot of spoilers in this guide!! Particularly in the reference section about the main characters. IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS, please see the "spoiler-free character guide" at GameFAQs. ⢠I talk a LOT. This is a verbose document full of rambling and pratter. If you want to just know where to go, please follow the "step-by-step story walkthrough." If you want to see what to do for each side mission, at the end of my text describing the mission and what happens in it, I will also list clear, step-by-step instructions with just essential information. COPYRIGHT information: This FAQ is to be hosted only on sites with the author's consent, such as GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com), and IS NOT TO BE SOLD, but distributed freely. Full credit to the author must be given for replication of all or part of this document. The author's expressed written permission is also needed--just like the NBA! TABLE of CONTENTS: 1. INTRODUCTION 1a. How to Use This F.A.Q. 1b. A Word from the Author 1c. Mini-F.A.Q. 1d. Japanese Names 2. The BASICS 2a. The Adventure 2a-I. Controls 2a-II. Display 2a-III. Menu Options 2a-IV. Building Up 2a-V. 4 Different Adventures 2a-VI. Story Progression 2b. Fighting 2b-I. Akiyama 2b-II. Saejima 2b-III. Tanimura 2b-IV. Kiryû 2b-V. General Battle Advice 2b-Va. Easy Reference Commands List 2b-Vb. Strategies for Enemies by Type 2c. Chase Battle 3. IN-DEPTH STORY WALKTHROUGH 3a. Introduction 3b. Part 1: Akiyama 3b-I. Chapter 1: The Mysterious Moneylender 3b-II. Chapter 2: The Fateful Lady 3b-III. Chapter 3: Trouble in the Tôjô Association 3b-IV. Chapter 4: Promises 3c. Part 2: Saejima 3c-I. Chapter 1: Run to the Truth 3c-II. Chapter 2: The Tiger and the Dragon 3c-III. Chapter 3: Twenty Five Years Wasted 3c-IV. Chapter 4: The Brothers' Oath 3d. Part 3: Tanimura 3d-I. Chapter 1: The Kamuro District Tick 3d-II. Chapter 2: The Real Culprit 3d-III. Chapter 3: The Door to the Truth 3d-IV. Chapter 4: What Makes a Detective 3e. Part 4: Kiryû 3e-I. Chapter 1: Meeting Again 3e-II. Chapter 2: To the Kamuro District 3e-III. Chapter 3: A Chance Encounter 3e-IV. Chapter 4: A Chain of Betrayals 3f. The Final Chapter: Requiem 4. STEP-BY-STEP STORY WALKTHROUGH 5. APPENDICES 5a. Missions 5a-I. Overall Mission List 5a-II. Akiyama Missions 5a-III. Saejima Missions 5a-IV. Tanimura Missions 5a-V. Kiryû Missions 5b. Extra Skills & Power-Ups 5b-I. Revelations 5b-II. Training 5b-IIa. Saigô Training (Akiyama) 5b-IIb. Helping Out the Hermit (Saejima) 5b-IIc. Nair Sparring (Tanimura) 5b-IId. Komaki Training (Kiryû) 5b-IIe. IF7-R 5c. The Underground Arena 5d. Romancing the Cabaret Club Girls 5e. Make the No. 1 Cabaret Club Girl! 5f. Make a Fighter! 5g. Skill Games & Gambling 5h. Spoiling Haruka 5i. Coin Locker Keys 5j. Maps 5k. Shops 5l. Items 5l-I. Weapons 5l-II. Armors 5l-III. Accessories 5l-IV. Effect/Healing Items 5m. Weapons and Armor Modification 5n. Main Characters List 5o. Completion Lists 5o-I. Coin Lockers 5o-II. Restaurant Menu Items 5o-III. Weapons and Armor Modification 5o-IV. Allies 5o-V. Revelations 5o-VI. Mini-Games 5o-VII. Cabaret Club Girls 5o-VIII. "Make the No. 1 Girl" Girls 5o-IX. Make the No. 1 Cabaret Club Girl! 5o-X. Saigô Training 5o-XI. Helping Out the Hermit 5o-XII. Nair Sparring 5o-XIII. Underground Arena 5o-XIV. Make a Fighter! 5o-XV. Police Dispatch Radio Battles 5o-XVI. Team Encounter Battles 5o-XVII. IF7-R 5o-XVIII. Heat Actions 6. EXTRAS 6a. Unlockables 6a-I. Unlockable Items 6a-II. Premium Adventure Mode 6a-III. Ultimate Fighting Mode 6a-IV. "Extra Contents" 6a-IVa. Versus Modes 6a-IVb. Version Updates (DLC) 6b. Trophies 6c. Demo Walkthrough 6d. Trivia 7. MAIN STORY CINEMA TRANSLATIONS 8. GLOSSARY 9. "THANK-YOU"'S ---------------- 1. INTRODUCTION ---------------- --------------------------- 1a. How to Use This F.A.Q. --------------------------- I recommend using the "Find" or "Search" function of your browser or word processor when browsing this voluminous document. The easiest way to quickly jump to a section will be to search for the word "contents" with a colon after it, which will get you to the table of contents, then to look for the index number/letter I have the particular section (or subsection) filed under. Because this FAQ is for the Japanese version, and I realize many people using this document lack Japanese language skills, there are many instances in which I will list things more than one time. For instance, I will describe each item alphabetically (under the name I've given it based on the original Japanese name) under "armor" or "weapons." That way, someone could find it easily if they chose to print that portion of the FAQ out. But then, because hunting for the item might be a little hard in the items box, I've also listed the order everything is displayed in there to help people try and figure out if they have something or not. In those instances, you may have to cycle through the results of a "Find" or "Search" feature. I'm sorry for that in advance. There is a solution but for the time being it is a little time consuming. Simply open a new document in a word processor (you can do this with Notepad on a PC by going to the Start Menu, then to All Programs, then to Accessories, then to Notepad), then select the tables you might need to search through, then copy that text and paste it in the new document. This will be helpful for the weapons and armor modification aspect of the game. I know a lot of people are reading this and laughing like hyenas right now, like "C'mon, Patrick, WTH you gotta even mention this stuff?" But you know, believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there who don't live on their computers who might want to look up a few things about this game. --------------------------- 1b. A Word from the Author --------------------------- Wow, the fifth game! That's right, this is the fifth title, and it's my fifth FAQ for this series. For five years now, a few months of my year, I've been almost sequestered in my room with my computer and PlayStation, my scant free time lost completely to trying to make a document that covers 100% of a game. Five years! Stuck on my eyes! What a surprise! ...My brain hurts a lot! *ahem* Sorry about that. Anyway, my point was that I've been writing these guides for some time now and I feel like taking a vacation. If I feel like this, how must the development team feel? Nagoshi, Yokoyama, and crew all push these games out, one every year. I know a lot of people have a lot of criticism to give these guys, and I know that I have my own problems with the games that I wish they would address, but I do also think we owe them a little credit. They really do keep coming out with a fine product, and they do it quickly. That's why so much of the game's content and system remain the same from year to year. But I think they've made changes and additions here and there that have honestly made a better product from year to year, and they've managed to keep engaging and fun stories each time. The last game had a mixed reception in the West, but the fact that they recycled so much content had little to do with it. Unfortunately, SEGA of America cut some twenty percent of the game's "side" material. That material dwarfs the amount covered in the main story in this series, so it's fair to say that about twenty percent of the game was lost. The upshot of it is that it has made more people want to import than before. My guides are always written based on the Japanese version. In fact, Kenzan!, the one title in the series not set in modern-day Tokyo but in the Edo Period (1605 a.d.), never even saw a release in any language other than Japanese and I wrote my FAQ still, hoping importers would be able to play the game and use my guide to help. So if you're wondering why I've done things like list things more than once or try to keep everything in the order it's displayed on the screen, thus listing things that are already plainly listed, provided this does one day have an English-language release.... That's why. That's why my translations do not match verbatim. That's why names of items and people are different. I'm sorry for the confusion it creates but I do hope that importers and those buying domestic, English-language product (if it ever does get made) can use this guide and get 100% of the game. I do have to say, however, as I've always said, that I feel that playing this game in a language you can understand will be a much better experience than reading summaries in a text document. SUPER CRAZY EDIT!!! *thinks of the wrestler, Supercrazy, remembers ECW* So, like, it's been an ENTIRE YEAR. It's been almost an entire year since I looked at this document. Since then, the game has come out in America! I understand almost nothing was cut this time just Answer x Answer (the arcade trivia side game) and the "Butterfly City" track used as the opening theme. If you get a remix of "For Faith," consider yourself lucky. I actually prefer that song and think it fits with the game. However, this walkthrough is far from complete! I'm sorry, but I'll have to just give the bare-bones version, which is practically nothing. But, I want to have something for St. Paddy's Day so Happy Let's-All-Pretend-To-Be-Irish Day! (ThePatrick is actually only 1/4 Irish, but he's not pretending, folks) A better FAQ will be up at some point in the future. I promise, it's coming. It'll be on THE SELFLESS DAY (there's no freedom~~) *ahem* --ThePatrick 3/17/2011 ---------------- 1c. Mini-F.A.Q. ---------------- Q: What is this series? Is it GTA in Japan? Is it Shenmue? A: No.... Shenmue does fit more than GTA does, but it's really neither game. It's most like an "action/RPG" title, where the setting is a crime/action movie, and the random encounters and bosses are handled by brawling (think Final Fight, Streets of Rage, or even Def Jam Fight for New York). Q: What's this crap, they don't have full voice?!!? A: Did you see how much text you have to swim through in this title?? It's actually something I don't like about this series, but there's a huge amount of chatter going on. I don't just mean in the main story parts. I mean, when you go to play darts, people talk to you. When you go to modify weapons, Kamiyama talks to you. I know it sounds like a weak argument but there really is a lot they'd need to record in a year's development time (that is, assuming they start on development immediately after the previous title is finished, which most likely is not the case). If you can't stand text, then you probably also can't stand the fact that there are invisible walls in some places. You probably also can't stand the fact that you have to muck around so much to collect tons of items in various mini-games and in the many stores about town to bring them to a location and have a guy build you better weapons. It seems like a tedious and unpolished game, yet it's really the lack of polish that keeps these titles from taking three years to come out. By comparison, Final Fantasy XIII had years of development and received very vocal complaints about the lack of towns and such--the kinds of things that would have complicated the game and delayed it even more, if they wanted to keep it polished. I understand the complaint about full voice, but I also think it's just a cosmetic problem and I believe everyone's put up with this before. In the end it's up to you whether you can stomach a game like this or not. Q: What's the deal with four protagonists? A: Up until now, this series has only had one playable character for the main story: Kiryû Kazuma, the "Dragon of Dôjima." Even in Kenzan!, it was Musashi Miyamoto, who went under the alias "Kiryû Kazumanosuke." That's not true anymore. This game has four playable characters, as I'm sure people following gaming news may have heard. I'll explain it all later, but the basic idea is that you play through one person's story, then another's, then another's, and then finally Kiryû's. Then, the last chapter is basically a "you can tie ends up or just beat the boss" idea, where you can switch to whichever character you want so you can go around and take care of unfinished business. This is good for two reasons: it breaks up the action by switching between four different styles of fighting and it allowed them some freedom in writing the narrative. If it were only Kiryû, we would basically want to focus on Kiryû's life and how the events of this game impact him. However, we now have four different perspectives. Three of those characters were like fresh starts to Yokoyama and his writing staff, and I think they were opportunities to write new backstories and character designs. In a way, the three new characters breathed some life into this series. Anyway, as I said before, I'll explain as the FAQ progresses, but each character does have his own fight style, and his own specific nuances to the activities available about town. Q: Kamuro again?? Is there anywhere else to go in this game?? A: You've probably already heard that there is the underground shopping area (between subway stations...a common thing in Tokyo really), the sewers, and the rooftops. There's also "Asian Alley," an area of back alleys where foreigners live and have businesses. But the fact is that no, this time, there is no "other city." Ryû ga Gotoku 2 had Osaka, 3 had Okinawa's Naha. So why no additional city this time? I can't say for sure. But why did they keep Kamuro? I know skeptically it could be said that they want to keep the same map so they can lazily recycle material, and that's partly true, but there's another reason: the Kabuki District. In real-life Shibuya in Tokyo, there's a district known for its adult entertainment, bars, and its yakuza, called the Kabuki District. The Kamuro District, in which all four modern-day Ryû ga Gotoku titles have been set, is a lampoon of this area. Seriously, go to maps.google.com, put in "Kabukicho," and as you type you should see a selection offered that says something like "Kabukichô, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, Japan." If it doesn't show up just type that thing in. Zoom in two or three times, then grab the little orange man near the zoom in/out gauge and drag him over to the southwest corner of the 7-11 in the southwest of the map. Turn so you're facing north. Look familiar? So...yeah, I do agree that part of the reason for them reusing the same map is because they want to recycle code and designs and churn out sequels more easily. There's good and bad to that philosophy itself, but at the same time, what's going on here is that they're just reusing a map based on the area most famous for yakuza stuff. It's like, if you played a series of games about swashbuckling pirates...you'd expect every one of them to be set in the "Spanish Main" (the Caribbean), right? I mean, unless it's just a fantasy game with a pirate theme, it's not too surprising. Or how about a World War II game, you'd expect they'd pick either the European, Japanese, or African theatres, right? But this time, there is only the Kamuro District, unfortunately. Honestly, with all the weird restrictions on side materials, though, it did leave a bit more finagling when there were two cities you had to switch between. I think in this title, the main idea was to focus on having four protagonists, while streamlining the rest of the game and it helps, in that respect, to not have to come up with solutions to the problem of jumping from city to city. Q: Is there multiplayer this time? Online?? A: So far, there are only offline versus games, just like in Ryû ga Gotoku 3 (where they were available as updates). These head-to-head titles are still all based on side content; there's no way to fight against, nor alongside, another player. However, there are now leaderboards for the various side games, so you can see how you rate against the rest of the fans. Q: How hard is it to Platinum this game? A: Not as bad as it was with #3. I think it's actually not too hard this time around thanks to the removal of the "complete all mini-games" Trophy that took a long, long time to achieve in #3. I will warn you that you will need to play through the story mode 3 times, as one Trophy needs you to play on Normal without being demoted to Easy by continuing, and another needs you to play Ex-Hard, which is unlocked after beating Hard. So you will need to play on Normal, Hard, and EX-Hard. Refer to the section on Trophies for more information. Q: I can't speak Japanese--let alone read it! How hard is this game to play for importers? A: I can't speak for myself but I know people have completed both Ryû ga Gotoku Kenzan! and Ryû ga Gotoku 3 using my guides. If those games were possible, this game is definitely possible. It's much easier to get 100% in than the others because it's been streamlined quite a bit. Besides Akiyama's side missions becoming unavailable after you complete his part of the story because of a certain character leaving, everything else is "get-able" by the end of the story. After the story, you can just go into Premium Adventure and finish up the stuff you didn't do. But besides that, there's less side stuff. Less complications. There's just not as much convoluted things that will demand you know exactly what is said at what time--especially because "failing" or "succeeding" at side missions no longer matters so much; just that you went through them. So, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time should no longer be too big an issue. There are only four things you will need to be able to recognize Japanese (or Chinese) text in order to complete. One is mahjong, for which you will need to be able to recognize six commands and 9 numbers. One is the hostess creation sidegame, for which you will need to be able to recognize six diff- erent words given as clues on how to dress up your girl. The last one is the ability to recognize the names of the various streets around town, which you will only need for Tanimura's radio dispatches. The name of the area with a disturbance will appear in a pinkish color, so if you can memorize most of the names about town you should be able to recognize the place you're supposed to go and figure it out. The fourth one may be hard until I can upload enough stuff on YouTube or as images at GameFAQs or something. I'm talking about the items. You'll need to know what items you have and which ones you're using, of course--especially if you want to complete the weapons and armor modification list. The thing is...if an English version does come out and you speak, read, and write English, I believe you will probably find that a much more enjoyable experience. Q: Where's the shogi parlor? A: You can find answers to questions like this in the Maps section. Please open this file in Notepad or view it online and have a look...looking on Word or other programs might switch fonts and destroy the spaces that glue the streets and such in place, so to speak. Q: Is there "New Game+?" Can I carry items over? A: All will be revealed in good time. Seriously, yeah; there's a mode of mission-like challenges, a new game+-like mode in which you keep all your skills and power-ups and items (not the story ones, though, of course), levels, experience, and money, and a storyless mode in which you can start from scratch or keep literally everything vfrom your play through the story. If you don't know what that stuff means don't worry about it; you can find out all the information in this FAQ. Near the end, there's a section on stuff that unlocks after you beat the game. Q: What the hell's up with Bob Utsunomiya? And...um, why are there two of him?! I mean, seriously who is this guy?! A: Um...he's a totally normal person? Hello? You act like you've never seen a guy in a white leisure suit with clown makeup on, who's also got a lot of other hims hanging around with him before or something! Man, I mean, what kind of character would YOU put in a crime story game? A cop? A guy in a regular suit? Pshh. Q: I wrote you an e-mail, but you never replied. What gives? A: I have tons of e-mails. If you were just giving me respect, that's awesome, and thank you. I really do appreciate it. If you were reporting a problem, I'm sorry I didn't reply. But I'm a very busy man with work and personal issues on top of FAQ writing and video games, so I also find myself short on time to respond to e-mails and I'm sorry to all those people who had messages fall through the cracks. ------------------- 1d. Japanese Names ------------------- I know it's the days when everyone and their little brother is taking Japanese in high school and all that, but there are still people who scratch their heads over Japanese terms and names. First of all, I will almost always state a person's name in the order they would state it. In other words, for an American or European name, I'll probably give their personal name first and their family name last. That's the accepted way to do so. For East Asian names, I'll give them in the reverse order. Family names gen- erally come first in East Asian countries, then comes the personal name. Almost all of the time, when I refer to a Japanese character in the game, since it's awkward to type out their entire name, I will be using their family name. So, if you're wondering why I keep calling Kiryû Kazuma "Kiryû" and not "Kazuma," or if you're wondreing why I call Akiyama Shun "Akiyama," etc, that's just because that's how they generally do it in that country. For instance, if you pay attention to what's being said in Yakuza 2 or Yakuza 3, even though the subtitles may say "Kazuma," you'll notice that everyone's saying "Kiryû." Maybe it'll take a bit of listening because many people still can't pronounce Japanese, or haven't had much practice hearing it. I know I, myself, have an American accent in Japanese, but I think that's mostly because it's hard to go from speaking English directly into speaking Japanese. So if you watch my vids, I might sound a little bad...well besides my horrible voice. There are tons of resources online on how to pronounce the words I write here, including a section in my previous 4 FAQs. I know that most people skip that section or roll their eyes at that section but if you're slightly curious about how to say those words in front of you, it's worth it to look around online. Just about all answers can be found online. Still I'll give a few little pointers here for those interested: "Stress." There's no "stress" in most words in Japanese, and when there is, it's not too heavy. You generally don't want to go around stressing syllables as you do in English. For instance, the word "yoshimura" is not really "yo-shi-MUR-ra," as a lot of native English speakers would like to say, but just "yo-shi-mu-ra." "Spanish" vowels. In English, it's often hard to figure out how to say a vowel, but in Japanese, it's like in Spanish. It's easy. They're generally pronounced the same way...almost always, in fact. And they follow the simi- lar pattern of "a" = "ah," "e" = "eh," "i" = "ee," "o" = "oh," and "u" = "ooh," you know? It's usually like this with foreign languages, actually. "Long" vowels. There's a difference between what an English-speaker considers a "long" vowel and the "long" vowel found in Japanese. Any time you see a circumflex (that's the little "Ë") over a word in this document, it means that the vowel is said for a longer period of time than usual. About double the time, they usually say. There are a couple of problems, though. It is true that "û" will always be "u" + "u," for a longer "u" sound. But "ô." This time around, I'm not going to use the same Romanization style I used to and include different ways to write "ô." The problem is, sometimes it's "o" + "o," and sometimes it's "o" + "u." It's almost always "o" + "u." But it's not "ow" as in "cow." I know some people see "shirou" and think it's like "shee-row," where the "ow" is like in "cow," but it's not...it's "oh" + "ooh," which comes out sounding like an elongated "o" sound anyway. The other problem...well, isn't really a problem, but other long vowels do exist. "Ii," for instance, is two "ee" sounds. Meanwhile, "ee" is two "eh" sounds, and "ei" is "eh + ee," but it usually sounds like a long "eh" to most people anyway. The other diphthongs, you must just read the two sounds, one after the other. "Ai" = "ah" + "ee." Most people read this as "eye," which isn't a bad approximation and works, though it's not 100% perfectly exactly what Japanese people say...or whatever *shrug*. "Double" consonants. How do you say "atta?" Well, you make a bit of a "stop," they say. You're saying the two "t" sounds...but like, without a break be- tween them. Say the "ah," stop the sound off, hold it for a beat, then say "tah." They say this is "stressing" the sound, but that's actually a little different. Stressing the consonant is what they do in Korean. But...that's neither here nor there, the thing is, it's not just "ata," it's "atta." The "r or l??" problem. It's not just some racist joke, Japanese people have difficulty when learning English between "r" and "l." Why is that? Well, it's because Japanese only has one phoneme there. They think of a letter that we would normally write in the Roman alphabet as "r," and they use it to write out both what we would call "r" and what we would call "l." In reality, they don't have an "r" sound like the English "r." Most languages don't, actually. They have a "flap," which is where you touch your tongue to the little ridge behind your teeth. It sounds like a soft "d," almost. That sound also only comes in the middle of words. At the start of a word or phrase, Japanese uses a sound very much like our "l." I know it's a bit confusing, but because of the way the rules of their language are, they "think" of them as the same sound. Is the Street Fighter character "RYE-you" or "REE-you??" Neither. There is no vowel sound before the "y." Just like when we say the letter "q," we say "kyoo." We don't say "kee-yoo." It's the same for the Japanese "kyu" an it's the same for the Japanese "ryu." Whispered "u." You may have heard that the word "desu," which comes at the end of many Japanese sentences, is pronounced "dess." Well that's not really 100% true but if you say it like that it's not going to ruffle too many feathers. The truth is that the "i" and "u" sounds in the Japanese language are some- times muted to the poin that it sounds like they were just whispered, or not even said at all. This happens between "voiceless" consonants (ones you don't use your vocal cords for, such as "s" or "k") and at the ends of words. You can still distinctly pick up the sound sometimes, especially when someone is deliberately speaking properly. Nasal "n." There are really two "n" sounds in Japanese, and they write them differently and conceive of them as separate. But when written in Roman letters, "n" is used in both cases. First, there is the "n" that sounds much like the English "n," which is always at the start of a syllable (really a mora, but that's a little technical). It's always followed by a vowel. However, there's the other one, the stand-alone, which is the only consonant that stands by itself in Japanese. This "n" is nasalized, like the French "n," meaning that you say it through the nose. The tongue typically does not touch the roof of the mouth. That sound also occurs in the middle of words. When followed by a "b" or a "p," since those close your mouth, the mouth is also closed during the "n," which basically makes it a "m." Sometimes, I will write it "m" and sometimes I may forget and leave it as "n." I'm sorry in advance. If it occurs in the middle of a word I will put a an apostrophe "'" after it, and it should be said as a separate sound. "Ine" is read "i" + "ne," but "In'e" is read "i" + "n" + "e," as three mora/syllables instead of two. One final note on Japanese names is that whenever a word is Japanese but it has a standard spelling in English, I'll use that spelling instead. For instance, the capital of Japan is written "Tokyo" commonly, but as it turns out, both "o" sounds are really long "o" sounds. I would normally Romanize such a word "Tôkyô," but since everyone knows it as "Tokyo," I'll just leave it alone. Similarly, if they're just using their writing system and language rules to say a non-Japanese word, I'll write out the accepted English spelling. For instance, I don't write "geemu" or "ge-mu" or some such thing; I'll just put the word "game." I find writing it out, like how they released the Japanese, original version of "The Ring" as "Ringu" in the U.S., to be ugly, confusing, unneccessary, and maybe even a bit arrogant or misleading. -------------- 2. The BASICS -------------- ------------------ 2a. The Adventure ------------------ 2a-I. Controls --------------- D-Pad: In battles, use to switch between unarmed or one of the three assigned weapons. You can assign these weapons in the Pause Menu. Also, pressing down will cause you to drop a weapon if you've picked one up during a battle. As Kiryû, pressing down will cause him to light a cigarette to taunt the enemies. Also used to navigate menus and in various mini-games, such as setting the area of the ball to strike in golf. Left Analog Stick: Use to walk or run. You can also use this to move the cursor in menus. Right Analog Stick: Use to move the camera. Start: Use to pause the game and bring up the Pause Menu. Select: Use to pause the game and bring up the Quit Menu. Square: Use for weak attacks. Rapidly tap this to help your character get up when knocked down. Triangle: Use for heavy attacks. Rapidly tap this to help your character get up when knocked down. Also, this is the button for Heat Actions, when you're in Heat Mode and when a Heat Action is available (you'll see a prompt at the top of the screen). Circle: Use to confirm selections in menus, talk to people, or to examine items. Press while talking to someone to speed up their text. Use to grapple people or pick up objects in battle. Rapidly tap this to help your character get up when knocked down. Press during a conversation with R1 held down to skip the entire conversation X Button: Use to back out of menus. Press while talking to someone to speed up their text. Use to sway (sidestep). If you don't hold a direction on the Left Analog Stick, your character will just step backwards. If you want to move to the side or in front of you, hold down the R1 button to "shift" (lock-on and then strafe), and then hit X while holding a direction on the Left Analog. Rapidly tap this to help your character get up when knocked down. Rapidly tap this when grappled to break the grapple, when prompted. L1: Press and hold to guard. L2: Use to set the camera behind Kiryuu. L3 (press the Left Analog Stick in): Toggles the on-screen mini-map between a wider view, a closer view, or no mini-map at all. R1: Hold this to target the nearest enemy. Since the targeting system is not clear, this will often just result in having your character "strafe" in one direction. During a conversation, hold this button and press the Confirm Button to skip all dialogue! R2: Use to taunt, which will build Heat Gauge. R3 (press the Right Analog Stick in): Use to set the camera behind your char- acter during battle, or, during adventure mode, to enter First-Person View. 2a-II. Display --------------- During regular gameplay, the screen should look something like this: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ,--, + + | | + + '--' + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Well..except not a crappy ASCII art attempt, obviously, and hopefully with, like, your character and the city and stuff. Not too much to talk about here, except that the circle in the lower left is your mini-map. You're obviously the blue thing, the cone coming out of you represents your field of vision, and the other stuff is buildings. The red dot is telling you where to go...if it's off the map, it will be turned into a red arrow along the map's edge. That's the place that advances the story...not necessarily somewhere you wanna go to wrap up a side quest, or whatever. Sometimes there will be a green round thing behind you with an arrow shape inside. That's the person following you, plus the direction they're facing. The red "non" symbols that sometimes appear are obviously places you can't go, and the red "A" symbol that means "Asia" (don't worry about it too much if you can't read kanji) is for Asia Alley. The only other thing I can think of that shows up on the mini-map while not in battle is the cops, whom you must avoid when you play as Saejima. But...there may be a few others. The name of the street you're on shows up briefly as you enter that area of the map, too. The way the map is situated depends on how you have your options set. The default setting has up on the circle representing north on the map, but the other setting is to have up be the direction you're facing. I almost always just stick to the default setting. Sometimes you'll see a Circle button and a Japanese word appear in the upper right. This is when you can perform an action, such as talking to someone or investigating a piece of the scenery. When you get into battle, however, the screen will look something like this (well, without all the people and stuff): ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + ----- + + ============ + + ,,,,,, , , , + + + + + + + + + + ,--, + + | | @@#$ + + '--' ========== + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The --- in the upper left is your experience gauge. The === in the upper left is your health gauge. The ,,,,, , , is your Heat Gauge. In the lower right, you will see your opponent's health gauge as === and his or her name (@@#$). Enemies will also appear on the map during a battle. Sometimes you will see a Circle button appear in the upper right with a Japanese word next to it. That is to pick something up or to grab ahold of an enemy. Sometimes you will also see a Triangle button appear a bit to the left of where the Circle button does, more to the center of the screen, with a kanji next to it. That is your special attack prompt. 2a-III. Menu Options --------------------- First of all, the Main Menu. I mean, after you hit Start on the title screen, of course. You will see a number of options. Some will unlock after you play through the game's story one time. For more information on these modes, please check the unlockables section. Most options will be self-explanatory. Here are those options: NEW GAME - Self-explanatory. Starts a new play through the story. You will then be prompted to select a difficulty. In the beginning, you will only have Easy, Normal, and Hard to choose from, but you will unlock EX-Hard if you beat the game on Hard. EASY - Enemies rarely attack, do little damage. NORMAL - The normal A.I. for the game. If you die and choose to continue a certain number of times, you will be asked to play on EASY. HARD - Enemies attack often, guard often, and do heavy damage. EX-HARD (unlocks after clearing the game on Hard) - Slightly more difficult than Hard. Also in this mode, YOU CANNOT CONTINUE WHEN DEFEATED. LOAD GAME - Choose to load a saved game file. Note that you cannot load a Clear Data (the saves with black icons that are created when you clear the game's story or when you choose to create such a data in Premium Adventure Mode). PREMIUM NEW GAME (unlocks after clearing the game once) - Choose to start a new game playing through the game's story, but launched from Clear Data. You will keep your items, money, experience, gambling points and casino chips, Eco Points, and e-mails from Bob Utsunomiya from checking off all the items in the various Completion Lists. The lists will appear with the "king" mark, but if you check them, they'll actually be reset so you can complete them again, if you so choose. Just like in New Game, you will be able to select a difficulty. PREMIUM ADVENTURE (unlocks after clearing the game once) - Choose to start a game in Premium Adventure Mode. After selecting, use the top choice to start playing from a Clear Data Save. Unlike Premium New Game, you will keep just about everything, including side missions and Completion List items. Make the bottom selection to start from scratch at ground zero. Premium Adventure is always set to Normal difficulty so you won't be prompted to select your difficulty here. ULTIMATE FIGHTING (KYÃKYOKU TÃGI) (unlocks after clearing the game once) - This is a separate mode from story or adventure in which you can undertake 35 challenges. Please refer to its section under Unlockables for more infor- mation. REMINISCE (KAISÃ) - Use to view the cut scenes unlocked during the main story. The first three selections have cinemas summarizing the stories of the three previous modern-day titles. There's a Trophy for watching all of these recap movies, but you can simply select each one and then quit to remove the "NEW" mark and get the Trophy. Hit Triangle when selecting a set of cut scenes for each chapter, recap, or side mission and you can play them all back-to-back automatically. Hitting Start in this mode will skip the scene and move on to the next. Hitting the cancel button will go back to the Reminisce menu. SPECIAL GAMES - There are two other side modes you can unlock. The top choice is a set of two-player, versus-style games. These are not online games. You must first obtain the Trophy for each of five side games (Billiards, Darts, Answer x Answer, Golf, and Bowling) to unlock them here. Refer to the Troph- ies section for more information. The bottom choice is for Special Karaoke. These are unlocked during system updates (DLC). Before you beat the game, only Haruka singing "Kitto Change Myself" will be available. The others require you to first clear the game. AS OF APRIL 22ND, 2010 (v.1.05), here are the three special karaoke games: Harkua "Kitto Change Myself" (requires a system save from Ryû ga Gotoku 3 or online update) Hana (Epilogue Version) "rain drops" (unlocked after beating the game) Akiyama & Hana (Epilogue Version) "Kamuro True Love Song" (unlocked after beating the game and after an update) Note that this is just for fun and the score does not seem to be recorded anywhere in the game. NETWORK - I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it anymore? No, no...after each update, this mode will explain what got upped. That's the top choice. You can also choose the bottom selection to manually make it look for updates. Below that, in the lower right-hand corner, your version should be displayed. Here is a list of updates AS OF APRIL 22ND, 2010 (v.1.05): ABOUT THE NETWORK (explains updates) HARUKA "KITTO CHANGE MYSELF" - Choose from Special Games in the main menu. AKIYAMA & HANA (EPILOGUE VERSION)"KAMURO TRUE LOVE SONG" - Choose from Special Games in the main menu. ADDITIONAL COSTUME (AKIYAMA) - The fourth outfit for Akiyama in Premium Adventure Mode. Change clothes in hideouts. ADDITIONAL COSTUME (KIRYû) - The fourth outfit for Kiryû in Premium Adven- ture Mode. Change clothes in hideouts. ADDITIONAL COSTUME (HARUKA) - The fourth outfit for Haruka in Premium Adventure Mode. Change clothes in hideouts. UNDERGROUND ARENA SP "INSTANT KILL KING TOURNAMENT" - Talk to Bob Utsuno- miya in Naomi's Mansion in Premium Adventure Mode to play. UNDERGROUND PARKING SPEED RACE KING TOURNAMENT - Talk to Bob Utsunomiya in Naomi's Mansion in Premium Adventure Mode to play. SPOILING HARUKA ADDITIONAL RANK "EX" - Haruka's trust can reach level EX- SSS in Premium Adventure. ITEM PACK 01* ⢠Staminan Royale ⢠Tauliner ++ ⢠Toughness Emperor ⢠Titan Driver ⢠Bulletproof Breastplate ITEM PACK 02* ⢠Staminan Royale ⢠Tauliner ++ ⢠Toughness Emperor ⢠Hyper Stun Gun ⢠Gambler's Sarashi ITEM PACK 03* ⢠Staminan Royale ⢠Tauliner ++ ⢠Toughness Emperor ⢠Compact Street Sign ⢠Blood-Stained Sarashi ITEM PACK 04* ⢠Staminan Royale ⢠Tauliner ++ ⢠Toughness Emperor ⢠Konpeitô ⢠Tourmaline Bracelet ITEM PACK 05* ⢠Staminan Royale ⢠Tauliner ++ ⢠Toughness Emperor ⢠Cherry Blossom Blizzard ⢠Payback Ring S-ITEM PACK 01* ⢠Heart Ring ⢠Popularity Bracelet ⢠Fine Swiss Wristwatch S-ITEM PACK 02* ⢠Spiral Amulet ⢠One Hit Sit Talisman ⢠High Yield Stone S-ITEM PACK 03* ⢠Tigerskin Belt ⢠Staminan Spark ⢠Staminan Spark S-ITEM PACK 04* ⢠Gold Hawk ⢠Master's Ball ⢠Spiny Lobster S-ITEM PACK 05* ⢠Triple One Talisman ⢠Even Stevens Prayer Beads ⢠Bias Brand Cigarettes *Note that both regular items packs and "S-Item Packs" are available from Bob Utsunomiya in Naomi's Mansion, just like items unlocked from completion of side material. However, "S" packs require you to have beaten the game first. OPTION(S) - Here are the options you can adjust: Camera (Vertical) - Normal / Inverted (default) Camera (Horizontal) - Normal / Inverted (default) First-Person Camera (Vertical) - Normal / Inverted (default) First-Person Camera (Horizontal) - Normal / Inverted (default) Mini-Map Display (Up) - North (default) / Straight Ahead Subtitles - Off / On (default) Event Skip - Off (default) / On Once this has been set you can press Start during cut scenes to skip. I highly recommend setting this option to "on!" Brightness Font - Auto (default) / Mincho / Gothic If you don't know what these are, don't worry about it. Of course, once you start a game, you'll probably want to know what the options on your pause menu are. It might help a little. Thankfully for the non- Japanese-speaking folk, they put the options in English, too! Note that on the top of the screen in all sub-menus of the pause menu, you will see your current health, experience, and heat meters on the left and your money on the right. You will also see the sub-menu you're in on the lower left, the area you're in to the right of that, and what buttons do what to the right of that. If you can't read Japanese and you have the Japanese version, this may not be of too much interest to you. Also appearing on the pause menu's top menu, next to your character's name, is your current level. You can go up to level 20. On the right, you will also see a map of your current area, with a small dialogue box below telling you what's going on in the main story. It may say something like "I'd better head back to Sky Finance," which is a hint (albeit a very obvious one) as to where to go to advance the main plot. ITEM - Here, you can use the items you are carrying, or change your equipment. The right window, obviously, has the 20 items you are carrying. Select one and press the Confirm button (Circle for the Japanese game) to either use or equip it. Press the Square button to select it and move it to a new spot. Press the Triangle button to unequip an equipped item, or to throw away an item that is not equipped. It will ask "Yes / No," and the cursor will be on "no." The three items in the top part of the box on the left ar your equipped weapons. The one on the left in a sky blue is the weapon you have assigned to "left" on the D-Pad. The one in the middle (in green) is the one you have on "up" on the D-Pad, and the one on the right in purple is the one assigned to "right" on the D-Pad. The three items below the weapons slots are where you equip defensive items. The box on the left in red is your armor. You can only have one armor on at a time. The other two boxes are for accessories. Below those are written numbers. That is the basic defense added per item, and the total written below represents the total of those three numbers. There are two other values that can be assigned by defensive items: defense against blades and defense against bullets. Unfortunately, you can't see those in this display. Instead, if you have the cursor over a defensive item, it will display the values there in the description window on the bottom of the screen. The left number is the basic defense, the middle is blade defense, and the right is bullet defense. That window also shows a description for all items, whether they are equip- ment, usable items, or just items you can sell or use for weapons and armor modifying. If you have the Japanese version of the game and cannot read Japanese, this window may be useless to you. On the lower right, next to the description window, you will see a little box. This tells you who can equip the current item. The top is Kiryû, the second is Akiyama, the third is Saejima, and the bottom is Tanimura. If a character can equip an item, a colored orb will appear next to their name (white for Kiryû, red for Akiyama, green for Saejima, and blue for Tanimura). If he cannot equip it, an "X" will appear. This is really only for certain weapons. Hitting R1 will get you to a different set of items. These are your "prec-" ious" items, a term a lot of RPG-ers may be familiar with. They're story items that do not (thankfully) take up a slot in your normal items menu, so you can still have them without needing to go to your items box, retrieve them, and use them at the right time. You can select one and hit Circle to look at it...that's about all this is for. Things like card keys to open certain doors and glam-shot posters won in the batting cages go here. Your points for Japanese-style gambling and chips for Western-style gambling also go here, as well as your Eco-Points, but they're not always displayed. For instance, if you start a Premium New Game or a Premium Adventure Game, although all your points and chips are still there, you curiously might not have them listed here because you have not yet bought them with that char- acter. The best way to check that is still to go to their respective places of redemption. MAP - This will show you the map you're currently in. If you're indoors, it's not going to do much more than just move the map that was already in the little window to the right on the pause menu over to the center of the screen, but if you're outdoors, you get the map to the city. You then have a few options. You can hit the "Confirm" (Circle on the Japanese game) button, L2, or R2 button to zoom in, the Square, L1, or R2 button to show the four "levels" about town (rooftops, street-level, under- ground, and sewers), so you can select different maps, or Triangle to call up a list of points of interest in that particular map. When you zoom in, Square, "Cancel" (X in the Japanese version), L1, or R1 will zoom back out. It will display your current position, if you're on the map. From there, you can move around with the left analog stick or the D-Pad. Pass the cursor over a street, area, or a point of interest and its name will be displayed in the text box below the map. You can still press Triangle in this mode to bring up the points of interest. When you "zoom out" to the four-level map selection, move up and down on the D-Pad or left analog stick to cycle through the different maps. Once you've selected the map you want, hit the "Confirm" button (Circle on the Japanese version). Hitting "Cancel" (X in the Japanese game) on this screen will quit back to the pause menu. The greyed-out buildings are not so important, but the colored ones are your points of interest. The little taxi icons (with a T below the taxi) are obviously taxis; you can take them as shortcuts to other taxis on the map for a fee. You can also take them to reach the Docks and Golf Course areas. The blue "S" symbols represent save points. You can save your game here or access your items box to store items on your possession or retrieve items and put them in your personal inventory. The key icon represents the coin lockers. All keys for the lockers on the street level (the one near the Millennium Tower on Taihei) are found on the street level map and its various points of interest, whereas the ones in the Kamuro Underground Shopping Area are are found on the other three maps and in Cuez Bar. The big, blue "up" arrows are ways up to higher levels, the big, red "down" arrows lead to a level down, and the smaller, green "down" arrow icons (with the little bar over the arrow) represent manholes. These manholes go to the lowest map (sewers). The red icons.... There are two of them, depending on where you are in the story. They may be hard to discern at first. Some of them will be "non" symbols--you know, like in a "no smoking" sign. Those mark dead ends. You cannot go past this area in that part of the story. The other red icons have a Chinese character in them (usually read "ah"). This is the first Chinese character in the word "Asia," when they write it out in Chinese characters. These represent entry points to the "Asia Alley" area that is unlocked after you reach Tanimura's point in the story. The glowing, red dot on the map is your objective. Go to this area to ad- vance the main plot. When you hit "Triangle," the points of interest will appear as a list on the left side of the screen. The yellow pointer that appears on the map is marking the selected point of interest's location. If you press the "Confirm" button here, you can zoom in to show it a little better. The orange-colored buildings are restaurants and bars. The yellow-colored buildings are shops. The violet buildings are mini-game spots, such as the bowling alley and pachinko parlor. The magenta ones are "night spots;" places that offer adult entertainment such as cabaret clubs and the massage parlor. The blue areas are story places--except maybe Naomi's Mansion, which is mostly used to retrieve bonus items or to play bonus games. ABILITY - This is where you spend your souls to buy power-ups and special moves. I'll go into more detail about that in the "building up" section, but there are a few things I can mention here. First of all, the upper left shows you how many souls you have to spend. The right gives you a list of skills and moves you can purchase. Hitting L1 or R1 will toggle to the left or right of different lists. The default list, on the very left, shows you ALL moves and power-ups available for that character. Ones you've already purchased will have their orbs filled in. Otherwise, the orbs will be grey. From there, from left to right, it's: 1-Soul Items, 2-Soul Items, 3-Soul Items, 4-Soul Items, Mind Items, Technique Items, Body Items, and Extreme Items (these are your Heat Moves). Use the "Confirm" button (Circle in the Japanese game) to purchase an item and the "Cancel" button (X in the Japanese game) to back out of this menu. The text below the list explains the selected item, while the little box to the left of the text shows you your level, current experience, and experience needed to reach the next level. Hitting Triangle will bring you a list of all your skills and power-ups for that character. This is not a screen where you purchase power-ups, but just a screen that explains everything that character can get. It's useful for two reasons: it explains moves (even default moves your character had to begin with), and it can be used to figure out what you have left to get for that character. I'll list everything in order in the "building up" section so you can figure out what you still have left for each character. CELLULAR PHONE - This calls up your inbox, so you can check your messages. The red ones are unread. They are filed by sender. Select all unread messages to get rid of the little envelope icon on the normal game screen. (NOTE: Saejima has no cell phone, so this option is greyed out and is not selectable for him) CHARACTER - This lists the major players. You can use the L1 and R1 buttons to shift between different factions of the story. Which characters are avail- able, along with what text is displayed for their information, will change depending on where you are in the main story. Press the "Confirm" (Circle in the Japanese game) button to call up the character's information, or the "Cancel" button (X in the Japanese game) to go back. SUB STORY - These are your missions. The game will call up the missions avail- able for the character you're currently playing, but you can check all four characters' missions here by pressing left or right on the left analog stick or D-Pad. Place the cursor on a side mission to read some information on it that will usually give you a hint such as "The fortune-teller near Stardust on Tenkaichi, huh...? Sounds like nonsense, but I'll go check it out." The side missions with white bullets next to them are still unfinished, and purple markers mean they're over with. There's a Chinese character on the right to tell you if you've finished it correctly or not. A "kan" ("complete") marker means you finished it "correctly," whereas the "shû" ("finished") marker means you didn't get the best ending possible for that side story. If you can't read Chinese characters, don't worry about it. That's a trivial piece of information anyway; you can still complete all side missions and receive the according Trophies and bonus items regardless of whether you did the right thing or not. The problem with side missions is that the game does not alert you in any way to side missions that you have not completed, but that you also have not yet initiated. This might not be a very useful list, therefor, for someone who cannot read Japanese who is playing the Japanese version. See the "missions" sections for more details. COMPLETE - These are the completion lists. You will basically get the special items in this game as rewards for completing certain tasks. As you complete a list, a little, gold crown mark will appear next to it. There are 18 display- ed here. I'll go into detail on each of them more in the completion lists section of this document, but for now, I'll let yo know what they are: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1. Coin Lockers 2. Restaurant and Menu Items 3. Weapons and Armor Modification 4. Allies 5. Revelations 6. Mini-Games 7. Cabaret Club Girls 8. "Make the No. 1 Girl" Girls 9. Make the No. 1 Cabaret Club Girl! 10. Saigô Training 11. Helping Out the Hermit 12. Nair Sparring 13. Underground Arena 14. Make a Fighter! 15. Police Dispatch Radio Battles 16. Team Encounter Battles 17. IF7-R 18. Heat Actions TIPS - This is where the various information in your memo pad is stored. You will find people about town with a blue marker over their head. Talk to them and you will get 500 experience, plus some information on the various things to do in the game. Once you collect a tip, look at it here in this menu to remove the "NEW!" flag. Once you have collected all of them and removed all of the "NEW!" tags, you will get a Trophy. Refer to the Completion Lists section for more details. OPTION - Here are the options you can adjust: Camera (Vertical) - Normal / Inverted (default) Camera (Horizontal) - Normal / Inverted (default) First-Person Camera (Vertical) - Normal / Inverted (default) First-Person Camera (Horizontal) - Normal / Inverted (default) Mini-Map Display (Up) - North (default) / Straight Ahead Subtitles - Off / On (default) Event Skip - Off (default) / On Once this has been set you can press Start during cut scenes to skip. I highly recommend setting this option to "on!" Brightness Font - Auto (default) / Mincho / Gothic If you don't know what these are, don't worry about it. 2a-IV. Building Up ------------------- As is the fashion these days, you do not start out with a fully-powered guy to beat dudes' faces in with. You will need to build your character up as the story progresses--especially if you want to get all Trophies! There are some moves your character will learn by training or by revelation, but other than that, you will need to build him up naturally by gaining exper- ience points. Every enemy you defeat gives you experience points. In previous games, land- ing a Heat Move would grant you an experience bonus, but that does not seem to be the case anymore. The other principle way to gain experience points is to finish side stories, called "missions" in this document. There are other ways to get experience, of course. It's just that the other methods, with the exception of dating girls and beating tournaments, don't usually give too much experience. Here is a brief list of some of the other ways to get experience: ⢠Breaking "found" weapons. Every weapon lying around the map when you're in battle will give you experience when you use up all of its uses and destroy it. You can do this by hitting the weapon when it's on the ground (usually done with Triangle, like Kiryû's "Bound Kick" attack) and drop- ping it over and over, if you want, rather than hitting enemies. ⢠Ordering food or drink from restaurants and bars. You get a healthy bonus the first time you order something from a menu and a pittance every time after that. ⢠Getting a cabaret club girl's hearts to 20 and then going on their final date, then completing it correctly. Note that Saejima won't visit the clubs. ⢠Winning a tournament in the arena. Again, you get a healthy reward the first time you win a specific tournament, and then much less each time after that. Only Kiryû and Saejima can enter the tournaments. ⢠Beating an opponent in IF7-R. You must first donate 200,000 yen to the IF7-R machine's development in order to get experience points. You also get a nice reward the first time, and then a small reward each consecutive time you beat an opponent. ⢠Completing a certain training offered by Saigô (Akiyama only). ⢠Defeating each gang's boss in Team Encounter Battles (Kiryû only). ⢠Completing each of the two special dispatches sent to you over the police radio (Tanimura only). Once you reach certain amounts of experience points, you will automatically reach a new level. You'll see "LEVEL UP!" on the screen, plus it will show 3 "Skill Souls" get added to your total. You can use these souls to purchase new techniques, skills, and power-ups in the "Ability" submenu in the start-button pause menu. In the "Ability" menu, you can switch between groupings the game will display by hitting the L1 and R1 buttons. From left to right, they are: All, 1-Soul, 2-Soul, 3-Soul, 4-Soul, Mind, Skill, Body, and Extreme (Heat Moves). I'll list them in the order they appear under "all," but the game makes this list by combining the mind, skill, body, and extreme sorts, one after the other, so they're still grouped by type, if you're curious. Not sure if that will help if you don't read Japanese, but I'll mark the divisions in case you wanna look at each individual list for whatever reason. Here is a list of what items you can purchase and how much they cost: = AKIYAMA = (Mind) STATUS OF THE WHITE TIGER - 1 Soul Akiyama gains Heat Energy when taunting an opponent with R2. STATUS OF THE RED PHOENIX - 2 Souls *Status of the White Tiger required Akiyama gradually gains Heat Energy automatically when his Health Gauge is low and flashing red. STATUS OF THE DARK TORTOISE - 3 Souls *Status of the Red Phoenix required Akiyama gains Heat Energy when successfully guarding enemy attacks with L1. STATUS OF THE BLUE DRAGON - 4 Souls *Status of the Dark Tortoise required As long as Akiyama is in Heat Mode, when he runs out of health, he cannot die. NOTE: Akiyama will not enter Blue Dragon Status with the War God Seal equipped. MOCKING CROUCH - 1 Soul *Status of the White Tiger required Akiyama can taunt an opponent who has been knocked to the ground by hitting R2 near them. CHASTISING GLARE - 1 Soul *Status of the White Tiger required Akiyama can taunt with R2 while holding them (after grappling with Circle). ROUSING RISE - 1 Soul *Status of the White Tiger required When lying on the ground, Akiyama can get up taunting the opponent with R2. TAUNT MASTER - 3 Souls *Mocking Crouch, Chastising Glare, and Rousing Rise required Raises the amount of Heat Energy gained by all taunt abilities. SECRET OF DRUNKEN POWER - 1 Soul Makes all attacks do more damage when Akiyama is in the drunken state. (Skill) RISE KICK - 1 Soul When lying down, hit Square to get up with an attack. REVERSAL SLIDING - 1 Soul *Downed Recovery required Hit Triangle while in the air after being hit with an enemy attack to have Akiyama recover with an attack rather than end up lying down. DOUBLE BLOW KICK - 2 Souls Hit Triangle again after a Blow Kick (Triangle) for a 2-hit string. DOUBLE FINISH KICK - 4 Souls After ending a Weak Attack string with a Heavy Attack, hit Heavy Attack again to extend the combo. TRIPLE FINISH KICK - 3 Souls *Double Finish Kick required After Square (x 4), Triangle, Triangle string, press Triangle for a final attack. COUNTER KICK - 4 Souls *Must be Level 12 or higher When Shifting and facing an enemy (locked on with R1), press Triangle as they attack to counter with a reversal. SWAY ATTACK - 2 Souls Hit Triangle during a Sway for an attack. COMBO SPEED UP - 3 Souls Makes Akiyama's attacks faster. (Body) DOWNED RECOVERY - 1 Soul Hit X while in the air after being hit with an enemy attack to have Akiyama land on his feet and be standing rather than lying down. REGUARD - 1 Soul After your guard has been broken, release L1 and hit L1 again to guard the next attack (usually you're defenseless when your guard is broken). DOUBLE SWAY - 2 Souls Press X (plus a direction) to have Akiyama Sway again during a normal Sway. SWAY EVASION UP - 2 Souls Lengthens the distance traveled in a sidestep. CANCEL SWAY - 2 Souls *Sway Evasion Up required Press X (plus a direction) to have Akiyama Sway during most attack strings when not in Heat Mode. CANCEL SWAY+ - 2 Souls *Cancel Sway required You can use Cancel Sway in or out of Heat Mode. (Extreme) ULTIMATE PURSUIT - 1 Soul Heat Move: When near a fallen enemy in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. GUARDRAIL CRUSH - 3 Souls Heat Move: When near an enemy who is near a guard rail, when prompted, hit Triangle. AN ADDITIONAL ATTACK CAN BE LEARNED BY USING THIS MOVE OVER AND OVER! POLE CRUSH - 3 Souls *Guardrail Crush required Heat Move: When near an enemy who is near a lamppost or tree, when prompted, hit Triangle. WALL CRUSH - 3 Souls *Pole Crush required Heat Move: When near an enemy who is near a wall, when prompted hit Triangle. AN ADDITIONAL ATTACK CAN BE LEARNED BY USING THIS MOVE OVER AND OVER! = SAEJIMA = (Mind) STATUS OF THE WHITE TIGER - 1 Soul Saejima gains Heat Energy when taunting an opponent with R2. STATUS OF THE RED PHOENIX - 2 Souls *Status of the White Tiger required Saejima gradually gains Heat Energy automatically when his Health Gauge is low and flashing red. STATUS OF THE DARK TORTOISE - 3 Souls *Status of the Red Phoenix required Saejima gains Heat Energy when successfully guarding enemy attacks with L1. STATUS OF THE BLUE DRAGON - 4 Souls *Status of the Dark Tortoise required As long as Saejima is in Heat Mode, when he runs out of health, he cannot die. NOTE: Saejima will not enter Blue Dragon Status with the War God Seal equipped. STATUS OF THE IRON BODY - 1 Soul When in Heat Mode, many of the enemy attacks that would normally knock Saejima down will cause him to simply stagger instead. TRUE STATUS OF THE IRON BODY - 2 Souls *Status of the Iron Body required When in Heat Mode, even more enemy attacks that would normally knock Saejima down will cause him to simply stagger instead. STATUS OF THE VAJRA - 4 Souls *True Status of the Iron Body and Status of the Dark Tortoise required, plus must be Lvl 15 or above Saejima will continue moving, uninterrupted by enemy attacks, during attacks while in Heat Mode. ("Super armor" in fighting games jargon) STATUS OF THE YELLOW DRAGON - 2 Soul *Status of the White Tiger required Hold R2 to gradually charge Heat Energy. STATUS OF THE YELLOW DRAGON EXTREME - 2 Souls *Status of the Yellow Dragon required After holding R2 to gruadually charge Heat Energy until the vibration kicks in on the controller, release to gain an additional boost of Heat Energy. THE DRAGON GOD'S PROTECTION - 2 Souls *True Status of the Iron Body and Status of the Dark Tortoise required When in Heat Mode, Saejima can guard bladed attacks with L1. (Skill) DASH TACKLE - 1 Soul While running, hit Triangle for an attack. CHARGE TACKLE - 2 Souls *Dash Tackle required Continue holding Triangle during the Dash Tackle to throw enemies when in Heat Mode, at a slight Heat Energy cost. DOUBLE CHARGE FINISH - 4 Souls During a Charge Finish, hit Triangle again for a follow-up attack. TRIPLE CHARGE FINISH - 2 Souls *Double Charge Finish required After Square (x 3), (hold) Triangle, (release), Triangle, hit Triangle again for a final attack. DOWN GRAPPLE - 1 Soul When near an downed enemy, hit Circle to either grab their foot or to stand them up. CHARGE KNEE KICK - 2 Souls While grappling an enemy, hold Triangle to charge the knee attack's power. REPELLING - 2 Souls Just after successfully guarding an enemy's attack with L1 (and not having your guard broken), hit Triangle for an attack. COMBO SPEED UP - 3 Souls Makes Saejima's attacks faster. (Body) REGUARD - 1 Soul After your guard has been broken, release L1 and hit L1 again to guard the next attack (usually you're defenseless when your guard is broken). QUICK STAND - 1 Soul Less tapping of buttons is required to stand up when lying on your back. SWAY EVASION UP - 1 Souls Lengthens the distance traveled in a sidestep. GRAPPLE STRENGTHENING - 1 Soul Less tapping of Circle is needed to throw enemies. HERCULEAN GRAPPLE - 1 Soul *Grapple Strengthening required Makes it so enemies who normally would automatically and instantly break your grapple can be grappled. ESCAPE GRADE UP - 1 Soul Less tapping of X is required to break enemy grapples. (Extreme) ULTIMATE PURSUIT - 1 Soul Heat Move: When near a fallen enemy in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE SWING - 2 Soul *Requires Down Grapple Heat Move: When holding a fallen enemy by the foot, in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE HERCULEAN STRENGTH - 2 Souls Heat Move: When grappling an enemy, when low on health so the Health Gauge is flashing red, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE DOUBLE-HEADER - 2 Souls *Requires Ultimate Herculean Strength Heat Move: When grappling an enemy, when low on health so the Health Gauge is flashing red, near another enemy, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE MOUNT - 2 Souls *Ultimate Pursuit required Heat Move: When low on health so the Health Guage flashes red, near a fallen enemy, when prompted, hit Triangle and then repeatedly tap Square. ULTIMATE STACKING THROW - 2 Souls *Ultimate Herculean Strength required Heat Move: When grappling an enemy, near a fallen enemy, when prompted, hit Triangle. = TANIMURA = (Mind) STATUS OF THE WHITE TIGER - 1 Soul Tanimura gains Heat Energy when taunting an opponent with R2. STATUS OF THE RED PHOENIX - 2 Souls *Status of the White Tiger required Tanimura gradually gains Heat Energy automatically when his Health Gauge is low and flashing red. STATUS OF THE DARK TORTOISE - 3 Souls *Status of the Red Phoenix required Tanimura gains Heat Energy when successfully guarding enemy attacks with L1. STATUS OF THE BLUE DRAGON - 4 Souls *Status of the Dark Tortoise required As long as Tanimura is in Heat Mode, when he runs out of health, he cannot die. NOTE: Tanimura will not enter Blue Dragon Status with the War God Seal equipped. STATUS OF THE YELLOW DRAGON - 2 Soul *Status of the White Tiger required Hold R2 to gradually charge Heat Energy. STATUS OF THE BODHISATTVA - 3 Souls *Lvl. 10 & up When standing still during battle mode or an action stage, Tanimura will gradually regain Health. STATUS OF THE YAKSHA - 3 Souls *Lvl. 12 & up PLUS Status of the Yellow Dragon required When parrying an enemy with L1, Tanimura gains Heat Energy. (Skill) SWAY ATTACK - 2 Souls Tanimura can attack while Swaying with Triangle. DROP KICK - 1 Soul While running, hit Triangle to perform a drop kick. ARM HYPEREXTENSION - 2 Souls When grappling a foe in the Armlock, hit Square to pull on their arm, damaging them. RISE KICK - 1 Soul When lying on the ground, hit Square to get up with a sweep. ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 4 Souls Adds a fifth attack to Tanimura's weak attack string, and an additional heavy attack after that. COMBO SPEED UP - 3 Souls Makes Tanimura's attacks faster. (Body) DOWNED RECOVERY - 1 Soul Hit X while in the air after being hit with an enemy attack to have Tanimura land on his feet and be standing rather than lying down. REGUARD - 1 Soul After your guard has been broken, release L1 and hit L1 again to guard the next attack (usually you're defenseless when your guard is broken). DOUBLE EVASION - 2 Souls While Swaying, hit X (plus a direction) to roll. QUICK STAND - 1 Soul Less tapping of buttons is required to stand up when lying on your back. SWAY EVASION UP - 2 Souls Lengthens the distance traveled in a sidestep. GRAPPLE POWER UP - 2 Souls Raises the damage of grapple attacks. THROWN ENEMY STRENTHENING - 2 Souls Makes it so normal enemies hit when you throw another enemy at them will get knocked down. PARRY STRENGTHENING - 3 Souls Makes Tanimura invulnerable to other enemy attacks when he is successfully parrying an enemy's attack. (Extreme) ULTIMATE PURSUIT - 1 Soul Heat Move: When near a fallen enemy in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE ARREST - 3 Souls *Ultimate Pursuit required Heat Move: When near a fallen enemy writhing in pain on the ground in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle, then follow on-screen prompt. ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 4 Souls Heat Move: When in Heat Mode, hit Triangle after a heavy-attack-finish to a weak attack string. ADDITIONAL ATTACKS (for each combo ender except the final one!) CAN BE LEARNED BY USING THIS MOVE OVER AND OVER! ULTIMATE ARREST DIFFICULTY DOWN - 2 Souls *Ultimate Arrest required When performing the Ultimate Arrest Heat Move, the time the button prompt stays on the screen is increased, making it easier to do. ULTIMATE ARMBAR - 2 Souls Heat Move: When in Heat Mode, facing an enemy who is rising from the ground after being knocked down, hit Triangle when prompted. = KIRYà = NOTE: Kiryû has some power-ups and moves already purchased when you reach his part of the story. I'll mark those as "Already purchased." (Mind) STATUS OF THE WHITE TIGER - 1 Soul (Already purchased) Kiryû gains Heat Energy when taunting an opponent with R2. STATUS OF THE RED PHOENIX - 2 Souls (Already purchased) Kiryû gradually gains Heat Energy automatically when his Health Gauge is low and flashing red. STATUS OF THE DARK TORTOISE - 1 Soul Kiryû gains Heat Energy when successfully guarding enemy attacks with L1. STATUS OF THE BLUE DRAGON - 1 Soul *Status of the Dark Tortoise required As long as Kiryû is in Heat Mode, when he runs out of health, he cannot die. NOTE: Kiryû will not enter Blue Dragon Status with the War God Seal equipped. STATUS OF THE IRON BODY - 1 Soul When in Heat Mode, many of the enemy attacks that would normally knock Kiryû down will cause him to simply stagger instead. TRUE STATUS OF THE IRON BODY - 1 Soul *Status of the Iron Body required When in Heat Mode, even more enemy attacks that would normally knock Kiryû down will cause him to simply stagger instead. THE DRAGON GOD'S PROTECTION - 1 Soul *True Status of the Iron Body and Status of the Dark Tortoise required When in Heat Mode, Kiryû can guard bladed attacks with L1. STATUS OF THE YELLOW DRAGON - 1 Soul Hold R2 to gradually charge Heat Energy. SECRET OF THE WIND GOD - 4 Souls When not in Heat--and unarmed--the Sway's distance is increased. SECRET OF THE THUNDER GOD - 4 Souls *Secret of the Wind God required When running while in Heat Mode, enemy attacks will not cause Kiryuu to flinch or to be knocked down. STATUS OF ASURA - 4 Souls *Status of the Yellow Dragon required When Kiryû's health is low and the gauge is flashing red, when in Heat Mode, hit L3 and R3 to restore a small amount of Health in exchange for Heat Energy. (Skill) DROP KICK - 1 Soul (Already purchased) While running, hit Triangle to perform a drop kick. COMBO SPEED UP - 1 Soul (Already purchased) Makes Kiryû's attacks faster. LOTUS HOUSE FLASHING ENERGY PALM - 1 Soul Hold Triangle longer than the charge for the Charge Kick and release for a different attack. DOUBLE FINISH BLOW - 1 Soul Hit Triangle during a Finish Blow (Heavy Attack at the end of a Weak Attack string) for an additional attack. DOWN REVERSAL - 1 Soul Hit Triangle while in the air after being hit with an enemy attack to have Kiryû recover with an attack rather than end up lying down. BOUND HOLD - 1 Soul In Heat Mode, after a Finish Blow (after ending a Weak Attack string with a Heavy Attack), hit Circle to grab the enemy at a slight cost of Heat Energy. KOMAKI-STYLE PUNISHING STRIKE - 1 Soul Kiryû can attack while Swaying with Triangle. BREAKING THROW - 1 Soul When grappled by an enemy, hit the Circle button to reverse and throw them instead. KOMAKI-STYLE REPELLING - 4 Souls *Must be Level 10 or higher Just after successfully guarding an enemy's attack with L1 (and not having your guard broken), hit Triangle for an attack. KOMAKI-STYLE TIGER KILLER - 4 Souls *Komaki-Style Repelling required When Shifting and facing an enemy (locked on with R1), press Triangle as they attack to counter with a reversal. KOMAKI-STYLE FLOWING CATCH - 4 Souls *Komaki-Style Tiger Killer required When Shifting and facing an enemy (locked on with R1), press Circle as they attack with a weapon or with a punch to counter with a reversal. (Body) SWAY EVASION UP - 1 Soul (Already purchased) Lengthens the distance traveled in a sidestep. KOMAKI-STYLE CATFLIP - 1 Soul (Already purchased) Hit X while in the air after being hit with an enemy attack to have Kiryû land on his feet and be standing rather than lying down. KOMAKI-STYLE DHARMA EVASION - 1 Souls (Already purchased) While Swaying, hit X (plus a direction) to roll. GRAPPLE POWER UP - 2 Souls (Already purchased) Raises the damage of grapple attacks. THROWN ENEMY STRENTHENING - 3 Souls (Already purchased) Makes it so normal enemies hit when you throw another enemy at them will get knocked down. QUICK STAND - 1 Soul (Already purchased) Less tapping of buttons is required to stand up when lying on your back. REGUARD - 1 Soul (Already purchased) After your guard has been broken, release L1 and hit L1 again to guard the next attack (usually you're defenseless when your guard is broken). ESCAPE GRADE UP - 2 Souls (Already purchased) Less tapping of X is required to break enemy grapples. GRAPPLE STRENGTHENING - 2 Souls (Already purchased) Less tapping of Circle is needed to throw enemies. CANCEL SWAY - 3 Souls (Already purchased) Press X (plus a direction) to have Kiryû Sway during most attack strings when not in Heat Mode. (Extreme) ULTIMATE PURSUIT - 1 Soul (Already purchased) Heat Move: When near a fallen enemy in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE HERCULEAN STRENGTH - 2 Souls (Already purchased) Heat Move: When grappling an enemy, when low on health so the Health Gauge is flashing red, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE STACKING THROW - 2 Souls (Already purchased) Heat Move: When grappling an enemy, near a fallen enemy, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE SWING - 3 Souls (Already purchased) Heat Move: When holding a fallen enemy by the foot, in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE MOUNT - 3 Souls (Already purchased) Heat Move: When low on health so the Health Guage flashes red, near a fallen enemy, when prompted, hit Triangle and then repeatedly tap Square. ULTIMATE SMOKING - 1 Soul (Already purchased) Heat Move: After lighting a cigarette by pressing down on the D-Pad when un- armed, facing an enemy in Heat Mode, when prompted, press Triangle. ULTIMATE DOUBLE-HEADER - 1 Soul (Already purchased) Heat Move: When grappling an enemy, when low on health so the Health Gauge is flashing red, near another enemy, when prompted, hit Triangle. KOMAKI-STYLE UNARMED REVERSAL - 1 Soul Heat Move: When unarmed, while not Shifting (not holding R1), when an enemy attacks, in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. KOMAKI-STYLE SWORDLESS REVERSAL - 1 Soul *Komaki-Style Unarmed Reversal required Heat Move: When unarmed, when attacked by an enemy Kiryû is facing who is armed with a sword, in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. KOMAKI-STYLE HARQUEBUS MUFFLER - 1 Soul *Komaki-Style Swordless Reversal required Heat Move: When unarmed, near an opponent armed with a firearm in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE KOMAKI-STYLE DRAGON KING - 4 Souls *Komaki-Style Flowing Catch required, also must be Level 15 or higher Heat Move: In Heat Mode, after stunning an opponent by successfully hitting them with the Komaki-Style Flowing Catch, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE EXTREMENESS - 4 Souls *Must be Level 15 or higher Heat Move: In Heat Mode, in front of a stunned enemy (except those stunned by the Komaki-Style Flowing Catch), when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE VAULTING - 1 Soul Heat Move: In Heat Mode, when facing an enemy standing with a guardrail between you and him, when prompted, press Triangle. ULTIMATE BREAKING GRAPPLE - 1 Soul Heat Move: In Heat Mode, when grappled by an enemy, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE POLE DANCE - 1 Soul Heat Move: When drunk and in Heat Mode, near an enemy, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE FORWARD ROLL - 1 Soul Heat Move: While rolling forward with an enemy in front of you, in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE SELF-DESTRUCTION - 1 Soul Heat Move: When facing an enemy attacking with a heavy, two-handed weapon, when in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE REVERSAL - 1 Soul Heat Move: When lying on the ground, near an enemy, in Heat Mode, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE FACE SMASHING - 1 Soul Heat Move: When in Heat Mode, facing an enemy who is rising from the ground after being knocked down, hit Triangle when prompted. ULTIMATE HUMAN TEN-PIN - 1 Soul Heat Move: When in Heat Mode, while your life is low and the gauge flashes red, while grappling an enemy and facing 3 or more enemies, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE SURPRISE - 1 Soul Heat Move: When in Heat Mode, running towards a group of 4 or more enemies, when prompted, hit Triangle. ULTIMATE DRUNKEN IRON MOUNTAIN - 1 Soul Heat Move: When in Heat Mode and drunk, while Shifting towards an enemy (locked on with R1), when prompted, hit Triangle. In addition to using Skill Souls to buy moves and power-ups, there are two other principle ways to get moves for your characters. One is by the "Revelation" system, in which you enter the third-person mode to look at a specific event, hit the appropriate buttons to receive the appropriate enlightenment, and then choose the right revelation to have. This gets you some more Heat Moves. The other way is training. Generally speaking, training tempers some of your skills and normal moves. Each character has a master they can train with. Kiryû and Saejima actually get some more moves from items bought at Ebisuya, and the three "new" guys can learn some of Kiryû's stuff from IF7-R, a game- within-the-game, but for the most part, you'll be training or having Revel- ations. I'll cover specifics on getting each one in the Extra Skills & Power-Ups section, but since I've already listed the skill-purchasing part of the Ability submenu, I might as well list all moves here so you know how to fully build up your characters. THE LAST FEW OPTIONS ON THE MOVES LIST ACCESSED BY HITTING TRIANGLE ON THE ABILITY MENU ARE THE ONLY ONES I WILL LIST HERE! The first seven or so are basic techniques and basically re-listings of the moves I've already written up there under "Mind," "Skill," etc. so I don't want to really waste space with them. Giving you the last 5 lists here will let you see what moves, if any, you still haven't gotten for your character. If you haven't gotten the move or power-up I've listed here, it will appear as "???"'s on the in-game list. So, I'll list them now, along with the method to get them so you can reference the appropriate section of this FAQ to figure out how to get the move. Note that there are also power-ups involving your Heat Gauge for all characters as you defeat specific enemies in IF7-R that will not be listed here. Refer to the IF7-R section for more info...or, just remember that you should play all levels of IF7-R with all characters to get all your stuff maxed out. = AKIYAMA = 8. SAIGà TRAINING DASH KICK SLASH KICK (alpha) DASH KICK DOUBLE SLASH KICK (beta) DASH KICK TRIPLE ATTACK POWER UP 9. REVELATION SKILLS ULTIMATE ADVERSITY ULTIMATE BULL'S-EYE ULTIMATE WALL JUMP 10. SKILLS FROM IF7-R ULTIMATE POLE DANCE ULTIMATE VAULTING 11. LIST OF SUPER ARTS THAT CAN BE IMPROVED THROUGH USAGE ULTIMATE PURSUIT GUARD RAIL CRUSH WALL CRUSH 12. LIST OF SUPER ARTS ULTIMATE ENVIRONMENT ATTACK ULTIMATE WEAPON ULTIMATE PURSUIT GUARD RAIL CRUSH POLE CRUSH WALL CRUSH ULTIMATE ADVERSITY ULTIMATE BULL'S-EYE ULTIMATE WALL JUMP ULTIMATE POLE DANCE ULTIMATE VAULTING = SAEJIMA = 8. HERMIT TRAINING FOCUS: WIND-UP TOP UNARMED ATTACK POWER UP ULTIMATE FOCUS: GREAT MT. FUJI ARMED ATTACK POWER UP HEAT ACTION ATTACK POWER UP 9. REVELATION SKILLS ULTIMATE PIERCING CRUSH ULTIMATE TEMPLE BELL RINGER ULTIMATE POWER LARIAT ULTIMATE SUPER-HEAVY WEAPON 10. ANTIQUES SKILLS (Learn by buying the Wooden Musashi Figurine at Ebisuya) SECRET SWORD: ENSNARING KITE SLASH SECRET SWORD: RAGING BULL MIGHTY SWORD: MAKING FLIES CRY 11. SKILLS FROM IF7-R ULTIMATE HUMAN TEN-PIN ULTIMATE FACE SMASHING 12. LIST OF SUPER ARTS THAT CAN BE IMPROVED THROUGH USAGE ULTIMATE WALL TOSS ULTIMATE POWER LARIAT ULTIMATE TEMPLE BELL RINGER 13. LIST OF SUPER ARTS ULTIMATE ENVIRONMENT ATTACK ULTIMATE WALL TOSS ULTIMATE WEAPON ULTIMATE PURSUIT ULTIMATE SWING ULTIMATE HERCULEAN STRENGTH ULTIMATE DOUBLE-HEADER ULTIMATE MOUNT ULTIMATE STACKING THROW ULTIMATE PIERCING CRUSH ULTIMATE TEMPLE BELL RINGER ULTIMATE POWER LARIAT ULTIMATE SUPER-HEAVY WEAPON SECRET SWORD: ENSNARING KITE SLASH SECRET SWORD: RAGING BULL MIGHTY SWORD: MAKING FLIES CRY ULTIMATE HUMAN TEN-PIN ULTIMATE FACE SMASHING = TANIMURA = 8. NAIR TRAINING PARRYING TIME LENGTHENING ULTIMATE PARRYING ARM LOCK BREAKING THROW ULTIMATE FORCIBLE SEIZURE KOMAKI-STYLE HARQUEBUS MUFFLER 9. REVELATION SKILLS ULTIMATE THROWN LEG DROP ULTIMATE CROTCH-REACHING THROW ULTIMATE STUN 10. SKILLS FROM IF7-R ULTIMATE BREAKING GRAPPLE ULTIMATE REVERSAL 11. LIST OF SUPER ARTS THAT CAN BE IMPROVED THROUGH USAGE ULTIMATE CROTCH-REACHING THROW ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 1 ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 2 ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 3 ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 4 12. LIST OF SUPER ARTS ULTIMATE ENVIRONMENT ATTACK ULTIMATE WEAPON ULTIMATE PURSUIT ULTIMATE ARREST ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 1 ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 2 ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 3 ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 4 ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK - 5 ULTIMATE ARMBAR ULTIMATE PARRYING ARM LOCK ULTIMATE FORCIBLE SEIZURE KOMAKI-STYLE HARQUEBUS MUFFLER ULTIMATE THROWN LEG DROP ULTIMATE CROTCH-REACHING THROW ULTIMATE STUN ULTIMATE BREAKING GRAPPLE ULTIMATE REVERSAL = KIRYà = 8. KOMAKI TRAINING UNARMED ATTACK POWER UP ARMED ATTACK POWER UP HEAT ACTION ATTACK POWER UP 9. REVELATION SKILLS ULTIMATE PROVOCATION ULTIMATE PICK UP 10. CLASSICAL TEXT SKILLS (Some texts are given by Komaki after completing each training, the rest are bought from Ebisuya) SURE-KILL SWORDS: DANCING CAT SURE-KILL SWORDS: TWIN HEAVENS MIGHTY SWORD: MAKING FLIES CRY KODACHI COMBINATION: ILLUSORY WOLF SECRET SWORD: ENSNARING KITE SLASH SECRET SWORD: RAGING BULL 11. LIST OF SUPER ARTS THAT CAN BE IMPROVED THROUGH USAGE WALL CRUSH ULTIMATE PURSUIT 12. LIST OF SUPER ARTS ULTIMATE ENVIRONMENT ATTACK WALL CRUSH ULTIMATE WEAPON ULTIMATE PURSUIT ULTIMATE STACKING THROW ULTIMATE SWING ULTIMATE DOUBLE-HEADER KOMAKI-STYLE UNARMED REVERSAL KOMAKI-STYLE HARQUEBUS MUFFLER ULTIMATE MOUNT ULTIMATE EXTREMENESS ULTIMATE HERCULEAN STRENGTH ULTIMATE SMOKING KOMAKI-STYLE POT SMASH KOMAKI-STYLE SWORDLESS REVERSAL ULTIMATE KOMAKI-STYLE DRAGON KING ULTIMATE VAULTING ULTIMATE BREAKING GRAPPLE ULTIMATE SELF-DESTRUCTION ULTIMATE POLE DANCE ULTIMATE SURPRISE ULTIMATE REVERSAL ULTIMATE FORWARD ROLL ULTIMATE DRUNKEN IRON MOUNTAIN ULTIMATE FACE SMASHING ULTIMATE HUMAN TEN-PIN ULTIMATE PROVOCATION ULTIMATE PICK UP SECRET SWORD: ENSNARING KITE SLASH SECRET SWORD: RAGING BULL SURE-KILL SWORDS: DANCING CAT SURE-KILL SWORDS: TWIN HEAVENS MIGHTY SWORD: MAKING FLIES CRY COMBINED KODACHI - ILLUSORY WOLF 2a-V. 4 Different Adventures ----------------------------- This game opened with a record-breaking 1st week of sales in Japan, if Nagoshi's blog is to be believed. I don't have the raw figures in front of me to back up his claim, and sites like vgcharts are always coming under scrutinous attack, so I don't even know if I could offer them if I had them. The setting is the same. Kamuro. In fact, where Ryû ga Gotoku 2 and 3 each had a different city to play around in BESIDES Kamuro, this game has a smaller environment--and a very familiar one. So it's not exactly Kenzan!, in the sense that we don't get a whole new world to play around in. So what makes this game special? It's the fact that you now can play as four different characters. Except for some of Kenzan!'s "battle mission" side games (which are nowhere near as interesting as they sound), this is the first time we get to control someone other than Kiryû Kazuma in the game. With those four characters come four separate stories, that unite in the end. You will play the characters' stories sequentially; each part of the story focuses on one character for four chapters, and then culminates in a "final," seventeenth chapter in which you basically can play around in the world until you feel like challenging the final battle to wrap things up. Besides the difference in fighting, each character has his own unique set of things to experience about town. This was obviously to make it so you could feel more like you were playing four games--or the same game but from four different perspectives. Here is a brief rundown on each character's experience around Kamuro: AKIYAMA - Akiyama is a rich moneylender who owns a cabaret (hostess) club. His charisma and his interest in the goings-on about town make him a relatively well-known face in Kamuro. So, one of his special gameplay aspects is that he can "make friends" with people about town. Playing as Akiyama you can befriend a few targets around the city by doing things like buying from certain merchants. You will know which ones you can befriend because when you get close enough to talk to them and the little speech balloon appears over their head, you will see a special balloon that shows their mood. A ":|" will show someone you haven't yet befriended, and a ":)" will show in the speech balloon of the ones you've won over. They will help you out in some way. I will go more into detail on this in the appropriate section in the FAQ. The other thing unique to Akiyama is his club. After a certain point in the story, the manager of the club calls Akiyama and asks for his help in managing the place. This is the "create a hostess" side game I put in the "Make the No. 1 Cabaret Club Girl!" section. Although he can't visit the three girls in that mini-game and woo them, he can still see three girls--Noa and Elena at JeweL and Rio at Shine. He can visit Karaoke-Kan with them, but he can also go by himself if you'd like. Since he can visit Karaoke-Kan, 3 songs are available to him: Rain Drops, Get to the Top!, and Kamuro True Love Song. At the Weapons Shop and Works Kamiyama, nunchakus and kali sticks are only available for purchase if you're playing as Akiyama. SAEJIMA - Saejima's story starts in a daring jail break. As an escaped con, his stay in Kamuro will be hampered by the need to avoid police. At first, it won't be too big a deal--there will only be a few police around, and running into them will initiate a short, relatively easy Chase Battle sequence. But it does make it so he has some trouble in a couple of story moments. You will need to head towards the rooftops and sewers and parking garage all over town just to navigate about the map--but don't worry; it's only really at a couple of points in his story, and your route is mapped clearly on your mini-map. Getting caught when there are a lot of police does result in a "Game Over," however. Besides trying to avoid the cops and being able to lift the heavy manhole covers about town to access underground areas, there are two other things that Saejima gets to do. First, he gets to participate in the underground fighting arena in the Sai no Kawara underground pleasure district area. Only he and Kiryû can do this. He can also help train arena entrants, who will both appear as opponents in the arena and as tag team partners. This is something unique to Saejima; while Kiryû can fight against the trained fighters and use them as partners, he does not get Saejima's opportunity to train them. If you try to go into cabaret clubs, Saejima will say he's not interested and won't even go in. He'll do the same with Karaoke-Kan. At Works Kamiyama and the Weapons Shop, only Saejima can buy brass knuckles, swords, and hammer type weapons. He also has two guns available to him, but they're also avail- able to Kiryû. There are two swords only Saejima can buy at Ebisuya Pawn Shop. TANIMURA - Tanimura is a police detective who has strong ties with immigrants from other East Asian countries. Since he can speak many languages, and since he likes to stick his nose in the affairs of the immigrant community, he has access to the "Asia Alley" are of the map. Until you reach his part of the story, you will see alleys blocked by people who say things to you in Chinese about how you can't enter unless you can speak their language. Just ignore those until you get to Tanimura's part of the story. The main unique "Tanimuraism" to the game is that as a cop, he receives dispatches over his radio he keeps plugged in his ear. You can go to the areas about town, find the disturbance in question, and then resolve it, one way or another (it'll usually end in you either running a criminal down in Chase Battle or beating him up). This will mostly just give you some extra money to play around with, but a few special events will also happen as you do more and more police dispatches, so check that section for more details. Note that you also need to take care of dispatches to complete Tanimura's training. Tanimura can visit the cabaret club girls Chihiro at JeweL and Himeka at Shine. He can also see Nanami at Elise, but you have to first make her reach the No. 1 rank as Akiyama's side game. Since you can visit Karaoke-Kan with them, Tanimura has 3 songs he can sing there. You can visit alone if you'd like. The songs are Rain Drops, Get to the Top!, and Kamuro True Love Song. At the Weapons Shop and Works Kamiyama, only Tanimura is offered staff/spear and tonfa type weapons. KIRYà - The original badass, Kiryû was called "The Dragon of Dôjima" for a rea- son. As the hero of the previous 4 games, he basically went around as a one- man army, cleaning up all the messes of the entire town. He was even made head of the powerful Tôjô Association of yakuza, but is now retired and living in Okinawa, taking care of Haruka, a girl like his own daughter, and a bunch of other orphans. Like Saejima, Kiryû can also fight in the underground arena at the Sai no Kawara pleasure district. To fight in tag tournaments, you will need to first complete training for characters as part of Saejima's side game. Kiryû's unique experience around town is against gangs. They call it the "Team Encounter Battles." Those familiar with the old games may remember the "Encounter Bosses" in the second title. This is their new form. You fight random encounters belonging to special gangs about town during the game and as you fight them, they will reveal their boss's locations. Beat their boss for more experience, and then the next time you see the gang in question, you'll get an Emblem from them as a reward. You can trade these in with a man named Akaishi, who wears a red Robin Hood hat and hangs around at Theater Square. He runs a neighborhood watch association of sorts around town called "Kamuro District Shield." Kiryû can also romance girls at the three cabaret clubs. He can see Maya at JeweL and Shizuka at Shine. In addition, he can date Hiyori and Kyôko at Elise, but you must first raise them to No. 1 rank in Akiyama's side game. He can sing all 11 songs at Karaoke-Kan. At the Weapons Shop and Works Kami- yama, there are guns that are only offered to Kiryû for purchase. For those of you who don't want to wade through that sea of text: AKIYAMA: ⢠"Make Friends" side game ⢠"Make the No. 1 Cabaret Club Girl" side game ⢠can romance girls at Shine and JeweL ⢠can buy nunchakus and kali sticks SAEJIMA: ⢠has to avoid cops ⢠"Make a Fighter" side game ⢠can fight in the arena ⢠cannot romance girls ⢠can buy swords, guns, brass knuckles, and hammers TANIMURA: ⢠can respond to calls about disturbances on his police radio ⢠can romance girls at Shine, JeweL, and Elise ⢠can buy tonfa and staff/spears KIRYÃ: ⢠"Team Encounter" side missions ⢠can fight in the arena ⢠can romance girls at Shine, JeweL, and Elise ⢠can buy guns I should make one final note--that you cannot access the "Dragon Palace" area until satisfying certain requirements. The Dragon Palace is located in the middle of the northern end of the map, on Kôenmae Street, between the Hotel District and Kamuro Bathhouse (it's pretty much to the north of JeweL on the map). Kiryû can visit his master, Komaki Sôtarô, there, but the main attraction will be the casino and gambling hall. The gambling hall is where you can play all of the Japanese-style gambling games. Here is how to gain access to the Dragon Palace: AKIYAMA - Befriend the homeless man near the West Park (on the north side of Kôenmae near its eastern end--near where you spy on Arai meeting with Shibata in Chapter 1) SAEJIMA - Complete the side mission "Dragon Palace Bodyguard" made available in Part 2's Chapter 3, which requires you to have first completed "Brother and Sister 1," another side mission availabe in the same chapter. TANIMURA - Complete the side mission "Gambleholic Blues" made available in Part 3's Chapter 1. KIRYà - Kiryû can enter the Dragon Palace after receiving a message from Komaki when he leaves New Serena after first arriving in Tokyo. 2a-VI. Story Progression ------------------------- The basic concept of this game is to head towards the blinking red dot on your map. That will be your next story point. But now that you know where you're going, why not take some time and mosey around picking fights, romancing girls, playing mini-games, and taking care of side stories? There is no "real time" in this game, meaning that the "time of day" is actually fixed by the point of the narrative you're at. So, don't worry if Kiryû says something like "Egad! I better run back to New Serena right now!" You still have time to mess around, it's just that your next goal is to get back to New Serena to move the story. Speaking of the story, since you play as four protagonists, it is divided into four parts. Unlike games like Suikoden III, which allows you to choose the character you'd like to focus on for the next part, you basically are forced to play the four characters' stories in order. You must first play Akiyama, then Saejima, then Tanimura, and then Kiryû. To avoid spoilers, they've crafted the story so that the four parts actually come sequentially. In other words, you won't see the whole story as Akiyama, then see the same events as Saejima, then again as Tanimura, or whatever. You'll see the first part of the story as Akiyama, then the second as Saejima, and so on. In the end, our four heroes will find themselves together with a common goal in a moment not unlike a "standard" JRPG's world opening up because you have the airship. You can end the story in the final part, or you can go around and take care of everything you didn't do before. If you're going for 100% of everything in your play through the story, I must warn you that they have, once again, made an error here, and crafted the story so that it interferes with side material. This time, thankfully, it only effected Akiyama. Because a major character leaves at the last bit of Akiyama's part of the story, you MUST COMPLETE AKIYAMA'S SIDE MISSIONS BEFORE FINISHING HIS PART OF THE STORY. Otherwise, in the end, when you can select all four characters, you'll probably find that some of his side missions still can't be done because a major character involved in them is missing! You'll have to wait until Premium Adventure or Premium New Game plays to complete those side missions. ⢠Go to the red dot to progress story, but remember not to rush it if you want to do side stuff. Don't worry about time running out to reach the red dot. ⢠Five parts to the story. You're locked with one protagonist until the last part. ⢠Time of day is locked at a set time depending on point of the story. If you need to do something at a certain time of day like golf, and you're able to golf, you might not want to advance the story. You can change the time of day in Premium Adventure and in the last part of the story manually. Things to note about time of day: = Golf is only available in "Morning" time. = Caffé Pronto has two different menus: one for "Morning" and "Evening," one for "Night." ⢠Weather is locked, depending on your point in the story. If it's raining, some things will be unavailable: = Rooftop areas = Cabaret Girl "dates," apparently = Some characters for side missions will not appear ⢠If you miss side material you can take care of it at the final part of the story or in Premium Adventure. MAKE SURE YOU DO AKIYAMA'S SIDE STORIES BE- FORE THE FINAL PART OF HIS FINAL CHAPTER, THOUGH! ⢠Your inventories are locked for your protagonist until the final part or a Premium New Game playthrough. THIS INCLUDES COIN LOCKER KEYS. If you want a certain character to have the item in the locker during his story part, you must leave that key on the map until you are playing as that character. In the final part and in a Premium New Game or Premium Adventure play, all four characters share items in storage, including Coin Locker Keys and this is a non-issue. ------------- 2b. Fighting ------------- The fighting in this game is something close to a hybrid of a traditional brawler like Final Fight, where you face many enemies at once, and a wrestling game like Def Jam: Fight for New York, where you have limited options and environment and try to wear guys down and defeat them with special moves. Controlwise, it's a lot like a "Musô/Warriors" game. You have a basic, weak attack string, and you can end it with a strong attack that varies depending on which point of the string you were at. The various string enders have different properties and effects. Your basic goal in combat is, of course, to get your enemy's health gauge down to nothing and not get yours knocked down to nothing. You gain Heat Energy from hitting opponents and through various conditions and actions as you build your character up, such as taunting. While avoiding enemy attacks and success- fully landing your own, you'll want to get the enemy into a position where you can spend your Heat Energy to perform Heat Moves, which do considerable damage. Besides barefisted striking, you can grapple enemies or use weapons to defeat them. One general thing to keep in mind with grapples is you will need to tap the "throw" button a lot to successfully throw many of the heavier enemies. You will want to break opponent's grapples by tapping buttons immediately, too. As for weapons, I personally don't care too much for them usually but they do offer you some benefits which vary from weapon to weapon. For instance, bladed weapons can't be guarded by most unarmed enemies--and you can similarly pick up a weapon and use it to defend against an enemy's sword. Let me offer some information on the various techniques in the game: WEAK ATTACK STRING ENDERS. It's of the utmost importance that you understand your character's weak attack string enders...because this is your "bread and butter." You'll be using these techniques the most. Does the move make enemies collapse? Does it knock them down? Do they seem unable to guard it? If they do guard it, does it break their guard? Does it "bound" enemies? If you're unsure what those mean, don't worry; I'll explain more later. One last thing to mention about weak string enders is that if you find enemies interrupting you often, keep in mind that you don't HAVE to finish a string with a heavy attack. You can just stop at any time. A lot of enemies will wait until you hit the heavy attack button and use that split second to hit you. This is especially important to understand when fighting bosses or arena entrants, who often have moves that go right through attacks and must be guarded. You'll usually hear a bell sound when they use them, and they'll usually unleash them when they're guarding your attack string. Basically, you'll want to stop attacking and deal with their attack as it comes out be- cause if you go into your string ender, you'll probably get caught by the attack. GUARD. The most important thing to learn in any game with a combat engine is how to defend. Learning great attacks is fine but learn to defend and you will learn to prepare for fights against many different enemies with many different strategies. In the Ryû ga Gotoku/Yakuza series, there are two main ways to defend: to evade and to guard. Here are a few pointers on the guard system: ⢠You can generally only guard from the front. When he has "Kali Stick" weapons equipped, Kiryû can guard from all directions. ⢠One of the first things you should purchase for each character is the ability to reguard. When your guard is broken by a heavy attack, you are susceptible to an attack unless you have the ability to guard again. Make sure you let go of the guard button and then press it again to guard the next attack. ⢠Another thing to buy early on is the Status of the Dark Tortoise. This will cause you to generate Heat Energy when successfully guarding. ⢠Weapons can help you guard other weapons or attacks that normally break your guard, but they do lose a "use" every time they are used to guard an attack. ⢠Some attacks just cannot be guarded. This includes all "low" attacks, such as sweep kicks. ⢠Tanimura is unique. For a short time at the beginning of his guard ani- mation, he'll have an aura about him. If he is attacked in this state, he will parry the enemy, shoving them off in the direction they were attack- ing. Should they hit a wall, they'll be Wall Bound, take damage, and collapse. If they hit other enemies, they'll damage the other enemy. He can even do this against mêlée-weapon-based attacks. After that brief, initial period, however, he guards just like everyone else. EVADE. The evasion system in this game is called "Swaying." It basically lets you take a quick sidestep in one of the four cardinal directions. If you time it right, you'll avoid almost every enemy attack if you Sway right when they're trying to hit you. The good thing about this is that you can con- ceivably get behind your opponent and mess 'em up as they're left open. However, an important thing to note in Ryû ga GotokuLand is that most enemy attacks charge up before the attack comes out, and that during that time, they "track" you. In other words, if an enemy comes running up with his head down and you know he's going for a shoulder charge, the time he's running up, he'll follow you as you sidestep! The same goes for enemy attack strings. On the flip side, though, just so you know, the bulk of YOUR attacks will NOT track enemies. You'll often notice that as you attack, enemies barely move to the side, without even a special technique like a Sway, and evade your attacks willy-nilly. Don't worry, there are ways around it and the game is generally quite easy. What you want to do is to focus on swaying just as an enemy attacks to avoid the attack properly. That doesn't include wind-up for moves that have one. You can avoid unblockables with Sway, too--including gunshots. "SHIFTING." Another thing about this game is the "Shifting" system, also known as the "Is there a lock-on or isn't there??" system. Shifting supposedly locks onto the nearest guy. When pressing towards the guy during weak attack strings, you'll pretty much be achieving the same goal (even if you're not shifting) with the game's "soft lock-on" system. However, it's pretty poor. Generally speaking, you WILL want to Shift with your one opponent in mind, especially if you want to reverse them. But it's so bad that enemies can barely move and avoid your lock-on, making this more of a "strafe" system than anything else. So...just be prepared for enemies getting behind you. When they do, you will pretty much have to let go of the Shift button and press towards and attack. Note that some moves only work while Shifting, and others when you are NOT Shifting. So bear that in mind. This is one of the most aggravating points of the game's design. It seems like one of the ways they make some enemies more difficult than others is to make them harder to lock onto. Boxers, martial arts experts, and enemies with weapons are the most common offenders here. You will often find it very hard to force your guy to attack the guy you want, and I'm positive it's by design. The best plan of attack is to do a big move that stuns, collapses, or knocks enemies down and clear the crowd a little before approaching enemies that are hard to focus on. HEAT MOVES. Your goal is to land Heat Moves, especially against bosses. Heat Moves are basically your "super moves" and score big damage. They also take you out of the action and into a small cut-scene-esque animation, during which time you are invulnerable. I've actually used Heat Moves to get out of situations before. The best is that even if opponents were attacking, when you come back from your Heat Move, you'll find that everyone's pretty much back to "just set on the map" status and their actions will be canceled. Here are some tips about Heat Moves: ⢠Wait for the prompt. It's possible to hit the Triangle button before you are prompted and just do a heavy attack. For instance, when you throw an enemy down and want to stomp on his face with the Ultimate Pursuit move, if you mash the Triangle button, it's possible to get a normal stomp, or even a heavy attack that will just sail over their body. ⢠ENEMIES IN MOTIONS OF ATTACKS, WIND-UPS, AND SWAYS CANNOT BE HIT WITH HEAT MOVES (except "reversal" type moves, of course). You'll notice this most when you're going for weapon-based Heat Moves or Akiyama's Wall, Pole, and Rail Crush moves. ⢠If you can't hit an enemy with a Heat Action because they were moving or you weren't prompted, you will not get a "missed" animation (like you do in fighting games when you miss a throw). You will not use your Heat Energy. Instead, you'll do a Triangle-button-based attack. This is a relatively good thing about sharing the button with heavy attack. ⢠If you want to do a Triangle-based attack instead of a Heat Action but a Heat Action is available, too bad. This is the bad thing about sharing the button with heavy attack. For instance, if you just want to stomp a guy to get him to stop lying on the ground all day long, and you don't want to waste your Heat Gauge on him, well...there's no way to different- iate the two attacks. ⢠Certain Heat Actions can be followed up with an additonal attack when prompted on the screen. Note that this uses up more Heat Energy, so it's not always advisable. ⢠It's very rare, but certain boss-like enemies have Heat-Move-like attacks. You can sometimes avoid at least some of their effects by pressing the buttons that show up on screen, but you'll sometimes have to take the whole attack. The characters who use these generally must be in certain ersatz Heat Modes, where they have auras about their bodies. After they hit you with their Heat Move, they will generally lose the aura and status effects. Of course, almost all bosses have special actions that show up once per fight. That's slightly different from what I was talking about, but the general principle is the same: press the buttons as they appear on the screen. ⢠Different Heat Moves do different damage, and they also take different amounts of Heat Energy. ⢠Enemies have different hidden defense stats for Heat Moves than they do for regular moves. Most common enemies are obliterated by one Heat Move, but you'll notice some of the harder bosses don't seem to take too much damage from that same Heat Move. Enemies also seem to have a second hidden stat: defense against consec- utive uses of Heat Moves. In other words, bosses tend to have a "vs. Heat Move" defense stat, and then a (much higher) "vs. 2nd time they use that move on me again" stat. IN ORDER TO DEFEAT BOSSES EASILY, IT'S ESSENTIAL TO VARY HEAT MOVES USED AGAINST THEM. Against a tough boss? Grab him, get him near a wall, use the Wall Smash Heat Action. Is he down? Use the Ultimate Pursuit. Got him down again, and you're using someone with a Heat Move against rising opponents? Wait for him to start to get up again and use that Heat Move rather than the Ultimate Pursuit. Otherwise, you'll notice the damage yielded by your Heat Move will drop dramatically. Using the same Heat Action again and again after you've already hit with it before will still hit the enemy, but it's almost like throwing Heat Energy away if you can figure a way to use a different Heat Action. Using different weapons is useful for this. ⢠For fans of the series, I should note that although the first two titles gave you experience bumps for using Heat Actions, they kinda removed that in Kenzan! It seems like you still are not rewarded in this way for using Heat Moves. HEAT MODE. When you fill your Heat Gauge to a certain point, you'll hear a "ding" and you'll get an aura about you. You are now in Heat Mode, and you can use Heat Moves. Of course, you may want to refrain from Heat Moves, since they spend Heat Energy, and stay in Heat Mode, depending on the circumstances. As you build up, your character will gain benefits from being in Heat Mode. Generally speaking, you will be harder to knock down. Fully built-up characters will not die when in Heat Mode, though be warned that when you are hit, you lose some Heat Energy and can potentially fall back out of Heat Mode (then, the next hit will kill you). It's rare, but some boss-like enemies have an ersatz Heat Mode (or two). At certain points in fights against them, you will hear the tell-tale "ding" and see them get an aura about their body that will bestow some effects on them. This varies from boss to boss, of course, but they generally will lose the aura when they perform a certain powerful move or Heat-Move-like attack. They can usually also lose the aura naturally after a certain amount of time has passed, so you can usually just stay away from them and see if it goes away by itself. Kiryû has a special "Red Heat" he can enter when he gets his Heat Gauge filled to the last two little bars. This basically lets him use a few more, heavy- hitting Heat Moves. REVERSALS. There are a lot of moves that I'll write "with opponent's attack," or "as opponent attacks," or something. Just like evading enemy attacks with Sway, you will want to time these with an enemy attack. Anyone who plays a lot of action games will probably be familiar with this concept. RUNNING. You will often be asked to "run" towards enemies. Since pressing firmly on the analog stick makes you run, it just basically means you have to start moving towards them, so don't think you need to take a number of steps or anything. GRAPPLES. When you grab someone, you don't immediately throw them. Instead, you hold them by the lapels (or whatever) and can drag them around and stuff. You can hit them with heavy attacks to knock them down, weak attacks to hit with a string, or with the grapple button to throw them. Note that bigger enemies will require you to tap the button quickly when you try to throw them, or they'll fall on you, causing damage. If you can't handle that, you might want to just hit them with heavy attack, or something, instead. Enemies can break your hold, just like you can break out with repeated tapping of the "X" button. Some enemies can pop right out of it rather quickly. Some enemies are big strong brutes and will break your holds immediately with a special animation. This is annoying, but Saejima is a big ol' bruiser him- self and can still grab almost all of these guys. One key thing to remember about being grabbed: WHEN YOU ARE GRAPPLED BY AN ENEMY, EVEN IF THE ENEMY FAILS TO EXECUTE A THROW, YOU LOSE HEAT ENERGY RAPIDLY. You should also be aware of grapple reversals. Kiryû and Tanimura can reverse grapples by either tapping the circle button for the Breaking Grapple move or hitting Triangle when in Heat Mode to execute the Ultimate Breaking Grapple Heat Move. WEAPONS. There are two types of weapons in this game: items sitting around on the ground and items you already have in your inventory. For the ones in your inventory, you'll have to equip those and assign them to either up, left, or right on the D-Pad so you can "ready" them. Pressing down on the D-Pad will put your weapon away or drop a weapon you picked up off the ground. I won't list the many, many different moves weapons have in the characters' sections. All weapons are pretty much the same, in essence: you hit Square to do weak attack strings, you hit Triangle to do a Heavy Attack, and you hit Triangle when prompted to do a Heat Action. Circle will either do a special attack for equipped weapons or throw found weapons at opponents. For some weapons, you can hold down Triangle to charge the heavy attack, and others such as guns or sprays will have a special attack with Triangle that will exhaust their ammo. COMBO-EXTENDING "BOUND" SYSTEM. One of the biggest improvements to the battle system in Ryû ga Gotoku 3 was the addition of the "Bound" system. I'll explain more when I talk about statuses below, but basically, when a body is being juggled/combo'ed, they can be struck with "Bound" moves that keep them combo-able. A struck victim is either bounced off the ground slightly or thrown against a wall, which causes them to collapse. This is a great addit- ion because before, you could stun someone, have them collapse in front of you, and you wouldn't really have much to do except maybe sneak in a kick. Since Ryû ga Gotoku 3, you can hit them while they collapse and bounce them slightly, and try to hit them so they fall againt a wall and start comboing over again. KICKING STUFF. See all the weapons around the stage you're fighting at? Or, see, like, all those little rocks and cans and stuff that pop into existence when a fight starts? You can hit those with attacks that Bound or hit low...or just most attacks that don't aim high like jabs. Primareily, you'll use your standing Triangle attack to hit these. Why? Because you can knock items into enemies. The item striking them is unblockable, and even though it can sometimes mess up set-ups, it can be very valuable against block-happy foes or to add damage to wall bound juggles. STATUS. There are several different "statuses" enemies and player characters are in during combat. For instance, you can be collapsing, standing, Swaying, etc. I'll give a brief run-down of them: ⢠DOWNED. Simply, a character lying on the ground. You know, after you hit them with a heavy attack, or grab 'em and throw them down. Characters can get from this, sometimes with attacks, but they can opt to just lie there for a while, too. They won't stay down forever, though. Downed characters are basically only open to pursuit attacks and Ultimate Pursuit Heat Actions. A quick rule of thumb is if you hit 'em when they're down, they'll get up. Do a pursuit attack to make people get up. ⢠KNOCKED DOWN. This use of "down" is a bit confusing but I couldn't think of a better way to put it off the top of my head. This is when someone is hit by something that sends them sailing through the air--a "knockdown." All playable characters except Saejima can learn ways to recover as they land from this state, otherwise they'll just end up downed. Characters in "knocked down" state are airborn and susceptible to "Bound" attacks, which will basically leave them open for more attacks they will not be able to defend. In other words, you can be knocked down, hit a wall, and then enter a collapse, during which time you are open to attacks that will make you back in a "knocked down" state. ⢠RISING. After a character has been knocked down, and they roll around and all that, then they get up. During this time, they are invulnerable, except for certain Heat Moves against rising enemies. Everyone except Akiyama can learn a Heat Move like this. Note that enemies who automat- ically rise after eating a Heat Move or enemies who stand up from a nor- mal pursuit attack are not vulnerable to such Heat Moves, however. ⢠COLLAPSE. Gut punches and being smashed against walls will cause charac- ters to slowly slump over. They'll eventually end up downed, but if they are hit (including your character) while like this, they will be "juggled," and kinda bounced a bit through the air as though they suffered a knock- down. ⢠BOUND. There are two ways a character is "Bound:" a ground bounce when they're hit with certain attacks when they've been knocked into the air and when they've been knocked down and hit a wall. The latter is called "Wall Bound." This basically extends the "airborn" or "knocked down" state and makes combos possible as characters have no defense when in the air. ⢠STUN. There are two different ways characters can be stunned or dizzied. They can be just stunned so that they are standing and open to another attack, or they can be stunned on the ground. You'll notice that after enemies are in the "downed" state, they'll sometimes grab their stomach or whatever and roll around a bit. That's the "downed stun" state. In this state, they can usually not be hit with pursuit attacks, but bound attacks will work. ⢠GUARD BREAK. When guard is broken, the character staggers a bit. When it happens to you, be sure to release the guard button and press it again, so long as you have the ability to re-guard. Otherwise, characters are ren- dered helpless to a follow-up attack. ⢠COWERING. I hate this. There are two types: standing cowering and fall- ing cowering. Standing enemies who cower are basically defenseless, while ones who fall down to the ground, annoyingly, are in a downed state and can only be hit with pursuit attacks or grabbed by Saejima or Kiryû. RANDOM ENCOUNTERS. Most of your fights will be confined to a small space. As you walk around town, guys will be all "OMG dude let's go!" and come run- ning up to get you. Unlike true action titles like GTA or Darksiders or whatever, you cannot attack people until you're in "battle mode," so I think this aspect of random encounters makes the game more like an "action-RPG" than an action title. ACTION STAGES. The other way you'll be fighting is in certain points of each characters' story, when youwill be called to certain locations and have to make your way from one point of a special map to another. These stages are few and far between (too few for my personal tastes), and even though they have healing items littered about them, you'll probably want to bring some with you. Generally speaking, they have gates you'll have to break, waves of guys you'll have to beat, and a boss at the end. DRUNKENNESS. Unlike most games, you pretty much want to be inebriated. When you order an alcoholic beverage at a restaurant/bar or at a cabaret club--or when you drink one you bought from a convenience store, or whatever--you get a little bottle symbol on the upper left-hand corner of the screen. See it? It should be flashing red. It flashes more as you get more drunk. When you reach maximum sloshed-icity, you will not be able to order drinks at a bar, butâ¦other than that? No big deal. You won't end up spilling your guts all over the place like in most "sandbox" titles, you won't lose control of your dude (except it does blur your vision for billiards and darts). So what are the effects? Oh, you'll get much, much more Heat Energy for hit- ting enemies. Seriously, try fights sober and fights all drunked up. I'll bet it's like 30% more, or something. You can use drunkenness to abuse Heat Moves. I've seen strategies for taking out the supposedly super-hard "extra bosses" involving bringing a lot of Japanese Sake with you. On top of that, it causes random encounters to appear more frequently! If you wanna level up or just feel like busting some heads, being drunk sure helps. ITEMS. The last thing I wanted to mention about fighting is that if you want to use items such as Staminan, or you want to adjust your equipment, note that you cannot call up the pause menu unless you are standing still, downed, or rising. That means if an enemy's hitting you with some crazy combo or what- ever, you will have to wait until it's over to use a healing item! 2b-I. Akiyama -------------- Called a "speedster" (or "speed star," rather) by the designers, Akiyama is a pressure character. He can unleash an almost unending string of attacks on his enemies. Generally speaking, as Akiyama, you'll want to get his ability to cancel sway. You can improve him so that he can cancel even in Heat Mode, unlike Kiryû, which will let you attack, dodge, attack, dodge, attack almost ad infinitum with very little window for enemies to interrupt. He's built for "zoning" enemies. Using the rapid kicks at the end of his weak attack string and cancels to keep it going, you can force enemies up against "hazards" of the environment. His Heat Actions generally focus on get- ting enemies to stand at certain places. For instance, his Wall Crush, Pole Crush, and Rail Crush all demand that you get the enemy near one of those respective hazards. The Ultimate Wall Leap needs you to get a bunch of enemies relatively grouped together. The Ultimate Vaulting has a rail between you and the enemy. The Ultimate Bull's-Eye requires an enemy attack you from behind. All of these mean you want to situate yourself and the enemy in various locat- ions. So luckily, his seemingly endless strings can be used to force people in certain directions. Another great thing about Akiyama is that he can get Heat Energy very quickly once you've built him up some. He can taunt in various situations, and he gets a substantial boost for doing certain taunts. The most useful is probably the Chastising Glare, which is performed while grappling an enemy. This gives him a nice boost, but it also lets him throw enemies against hazards. You have to wait a second to grab them again or perform a Heat Action, tho', so they can get out of the animation from being pushed back. Here is a brief sketch of good moves for Akiyama: ⢠SLASH KICK (alpha, beta). Akiyama can unleash a huge flurry of kicks on his opponents. After stunning or bounding enemies with the second or third Finish Kick to his combo and getting them over to a wall, it's great to unleash the Slash Kick (especially when you've powered it up with Saigô training) and hit them a kajillion and a half times (give or take). You can end the Slash Kicks with the final Finish Kick, too, of course. ⢠RIGHT HORIZONTAL EXTENDED SPIN KICK. Or, the Finish Kick after his first weak attack. This has a wide range and makes enemies collapse. Essential when trying to get good combos. Enemies also rarely guard against this when they're getting off the ground. You can beat almost any character once they've been knocked on their back by starting the combo while they're in- vulnerably rising from the ground and then using this attack right when they get up. ⢠LEFT NAERYEO CH'AGI. This is the Finish Kick after the second attack in his weak string. It basically bounds foes by knocking them to the ground in a special way, which leaves their feet up in the air. During this time, they can still be combo'd. ⢠RIGHT HEEL LANCE, RIGHT OVERHEAD KICK, RIGHT SIDE KICK. This is his Triple Finish Kick. When juggling a guy against a wall with a Slash Kick combo, this is a fitting end. You can pause it at the Right Overhead Kick to Bound the enemy. ⢠COUNTER KICK - This didn't come into play as much as I would have thought when I played the game, but it's worth mention that Akiyama is the only one of the "new guys" to get a move that's basically the same as Kiryû's Tiger Killer reversal. ⢠CANCEL SWAY, CANCEL SWAY+. When he learns Cancel Sway+, the "you must not be in Heat Mode" restriction is removed and Akiyama can cancel attacks at almost any time to sidestep and start over again, making him ridiculously powerful. ⢠WALL CRUSH, GUARDRAIL CRUSH, POLE CRUSH. These three Heat Moves are great weapons. Akiyama can force people against hazards in a few ways, and so long as you hit the Triangle button right as the enemy is not performing an action and they're against a hazard, you can drain a lot of health. This is great for "big guys" who instantly break throws because you don't need to grapple them to use the environment against them for Heat Actions. ⢠ULTIMATE WALL JUMP. Got a bunch of chowderheads in your way? Run towards them in Heat Mode and hit Triangle to hit three opponents at once. It's not the most damaging Heat Move on the planet, but it's nice to take care of some of the rabble. ⢠ULTIMATE BULL'S-EYE. Trying to think of a way to keep damaging a boss now that you've already used the Ultimate Pursuit? Consider this move. It works wonders against Minami. Here is a list of Akiyama's moves: - Strikes - Move: Left Side Kick Command: Square Move: Right Horizontal Extended Spin Kick Command: Square, Triangle Collapses foes. Move: Right Knee Command: Square, Triangle, Triangle Knock-down. Guard Break. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Right Side Kick Command: Square, Square Move: Left Naeryeo Ch'agi Command: Square, Square, Triangle Special Knock-Down (like a Bound). Move: Rising Right Spinning Back Kick Command: Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle Special Knock-Down (like a Bound). Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Right Naeryeo Ch'agi Command: Square, Square, Square Move: Turning Right Side Kick Command: Square, Square, Square, Triangle Knock-down. Move: Jumping Right Naeryeo Ch'agi Command: Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle Knock-down. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: First Slash Kick Command: Square, Square, Square, Square Move: Slash Kick Command: Square, Square, Square, Square, (tap Square) More hits can be done after learning alpha and beta versions by Saigô Training. Move: Right Heel Lance Command: (During First Slash Kick or Slash Kick), Triangle Special Knock-Down (like a Bound). Move: Right Overhead Kick Command: (During First Slash Kick or Slash Kick), Triangle, Triangle Bound. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Right Side Kick Command: (During First Slash Kick or Slash Kick), Triangle, Triangle, Triangle Knock-down. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Rise Kick Command: When downed Square Knock-down. Unblockable. Move: Blow Kick Command: Triangle Bound. Move: Double Blow Kick Command: Triangle, Triangle Knock-down. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Turn Kick Command: While Shifting, Back + Triangle Move: Kick Counter Command: While Shifting, Triangle with enemy attack from the front Knock-down. Invulnerable. Move: Dash Kick Command: While running Triangle Must be learned through Saigô Training. Move: Dash Kick Double Command: While running Triangle, Triangle Special Knock-Down (like a Bound) Must be learned through Saigô Training. Move: Dash Kick Triple Command: While running Triangle, Triangle, Triangle Bound. Must be learned through Saigô Training. Move: Face Stomp Command: Near downed foe Triangle (not in Heat Mode) Move: Reversal Sliding Command: When landing from a knock-down Triangle Knock-down. Invulnerable. Unblockable. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Sway Command: (direction, neutral) + X Move: Double Sway Command: (direction, neutral) + X, (direction, neutral) + X Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Shoulder Charge Command: Forward + X, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Horizontal Spin Kick Command: (Left or Right) + X, Triangle Must be purchased wiht Skill Souls. Move: Retreating Straight Kick Command: Back + X, Triangle Standing Stuns. Move: Cancel Sway Command: during most strikes, (direction, neutral) + X Purchase with Skill Souls when powering up. First purchase will allow you to use move only when NOT in Heat Mode; purchase of Cancel Sway+ grants ability to use move whenever. Move: Downed Recovery Command: When landing from a knock-down X Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Taunt Command: R2 Move: Heat Charge Command: Hold R2 Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Mocking Crouch Command: Near downed foe R2 Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Rousing Rise Command: When downed R2 - Grapples - Move: Grapple Command: Circle Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Elbow Command: Grappling Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Stomach Punch Command: Grappling Square, Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Wild Hook Command: Grappling Square, Square, Square Knock-down. Move: Grapple Turn Kick Command: Grappling Back + Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Side Kick Command: Grappling Triangle Knock-down. Move: Shoulder Throw Command: Grappling Circle Downs foe. Move: Chastising Glare Command: Grappling R2 Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Throw Break Command: When grappled rapidly tap X - Heat Moves - NOTE: You must be in Heat Mode to use these attacks. They cost Heat Energy. Move: Ultimate Environment Attack Command: Grappling near hazard, Triangle Move: Ultimate Weapon Command: With weapon equipped, Triangle Move: Ultimate Pursuit Command: Near downed foe, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Guardrail Crush Command: Near enemy who is standing near guardrail, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Pole Crush Command: Near enemy who is standing near pole or tree, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Wall Crush Command: Near enemy who is standing near wall, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Adversity Command: When guard is broken, Triangle Learn through Revelation. Move: Ultimate Bull's-Eye Command: As enemy attacks from behind, Triangle Learn through Revelation. Move: Ultimate Wall Jump Command: Running towards 3 or more enemies, Triangle Learn through Revelation. Move: Ultimate Pole Dance Command: When drunk, running towards enemy, Triangle Sobers up about 1/2 maximum possible drunkennness. Learn by beating final stage of IF7-R. Move: Ultimate Vaulting Command: When standing with guardrail between you and enemy, Triangle Learn by beating final stage of IF7-R. - Weapons - Here are the character-specific weapons Akiyama can and cannot use: Heavy Objects (such as motorcycles, oil drums): No Hammer: No Sword: Yes Knife: Yes Kali Sticks: Yes Nunchaku: Yes Tonfa: No Brass Knuckles: No Spear: No Gun: No (except Golden Gun) Shotgun: No Machine Gun: No Character-Specific Weapon Heat Actions: Heavy Objects (such as motorcycles, oil drums): No Hammer: No Sword: Same as "single-handed weapon" Knife: Yes Kali Sticks: Yes (unique) Nunchaku: No Tonfa: No Brass Knuckles: No Found Weapon Pole: Yes, same as Saejima Spear: No Portable Stove: No 2b-II. Saejima --------------- Saejima is the "big dude." He's what the Japanese would call "chikara makase;" he's an overpowering bruiser rather than a technical wizard. His greatest assets are being able to pick up huge objects and huge enemies (including those "auto-throw-break" enemies), and his "super-armor"-like ability to take hits and not be interrupted if he's attacking or charging attacks. The latter is, of course, only available after building him up a bit. He does have some big weaknesses you may find yourself struggling with, how- ever. For one thing, he's very slow. Especially after playing as Akiyama, you will probably feel like you're floating on the moon or fighting underwater, or something. This really doesn't matter as much once you can "absorb" hits with your "super armor," though. Another problem with Saejima is his Heat Gauge is relatively short. You'll definitely want to play IF7-R with him to extend his gauge as much as possible. The good thing is that he seems to build Heat Energy quickly with his heavy hits, so even if you use up your Heat to bust out some crazy super move, you'll probably be able to get it back rather quickly. He also has an extra little burst, once you've built him up, at the end of his "hold R2 to charge Heat" thing that gives him a healthy boost of Heat Energy. The final really handicap I'd like to point out in his design is that he has no "recovery" options from falling. Other guys can land on their feet or even retaliate with an attack, but he just has to fall flat on his back. Even with his shortcomings, I think his "pluses" are actually ridiculously powerful. I'd go so far as to say Saejima has the easiest time fighting in the game. I think the best tip is probably to go ahead and make use of his Status of the Vajra and just combo the snot out of groups of guys, or use the Wind-Up Top to clear out groups of them, and when people are bounding around maybe throw out an Ultimate Power Lariat or Ultimate Temple Bell Ringer. Against powerful single enemies such as bosses or in the arena, Wind-Up Top and Great Mt. Fuji are indispensible attacks. Saejima has a lot of Kiryû's moves. This is because both are basically big bruisers, when it comes down to it. I did find the Ultimate Stacking Throw and Ultimate Face Smashing fairly useful, but for some reason I didn't end up using the foot grab or pick-up ground throws as much with him. The Ultimate Herculean Strength and Ultimate Double-Header are not as useful as Kiryû's versions be- cause, rather than build to Red Heat, you must be low on health to use them. Here is a brief sketch of good moves for Saejima: ⢠WILD OVERHEAD HOOK PUNCH. This is his charged heavy attack ender after the first weak attack. It bound enemies, so you can easily use the Ultimate Power Lariat Heat Move as a follow-up. ⢠RISING KNEE, DOUBLE HAMMER HOOK, DOUBLE HAMMER UPPERCUT. This is his Triple Charge Finish. Great when you have a crowd, since with the Status of the Vajra he will not be interrupted and complete the combo, generally, and it knocks down. After the second hit (Double Hammer Hook), you can pause and follow with the Ultimate Power Lariat, but you must be facing them so it sometimes is a little hard to get the game to recognize what you're doing. ⢠FACE ELBOW, BODY STRIKE, RIGHT KNEE. These are his "uncharged" heavy attack string enders. Each is useful in their own way and if you have a crowd of people, it's not a bad idea to throw out Right Knees or Face Elbows to keep moving without pausing to charge an attack. ⢠FOCUS: WIND-UP TOP. A great move that has relatively short charge time, the Wind-Up Top is useful for cutting through multiple enemies. Smaller enemies will stagger around. It's possible to get multiple hits on the same enemy with this great move. ⢠ULTIMATE FOCUS: GREAT MT. FUJI. Tiger Uppercopyright infringement! This is unblockable and knocks enemies down. It also yields a lot of Heat Energy. A nice thing to do is to follow up with an Ultimate Pursuit. Great against tough single enemies like Adabana. ⢠REPELLING. Simply a great move, part of Kiryû's repertoire, this offers Saejima some options when people come charging in with attack strings. ⢠CHARGE KNEE KICK. This is a great move that can be followed up with two attacks just like the normal Rising Knee. It's just as useful. You can use it to set up Ultimate Temple Bell Ringers, too. Just take the guy a step or so away from a wall so it doesn't do a normal Ultimate Wall Toss, face it, and Charge Knee Kick him into it. Press towards him if you have to, and hit the Triangle Button as he collapses from the Wall Bound. ⢠ULTIMATE POWER LARIAT. Besides just throwing guys, smashing their faces with the Ultimate Pursuit, and bashing them with weapon Heat Actions, this is Saejima's "go to" super move. There are a number of ways to Bound opponents, justâ¦it's a little hard to land the super afterwards sometimes because he'll end up staggering past them if they are near a wall or another enemy often. To correct this, pick a move that really bounces them high, and then press towards them just a litle to turn towards them and wait until they are just about to hit the ground. ⢠ULTIMATE TEMPLE BELL RINGER. This is almost a variant of the Ultimate Power Lariat, only it's a bit harder to set up as you need to Wall Bound them. Again, press towards them a little and wait for them to almost hit the ground from the collapse and it should work out OK. ⢠ULTIMATE SUPER-HEAVY WEAPON. Well, this and using super-heavy weapons at all. Other characters have to try kicking heavy items at enemies, but he can just pick 'em up and abuse them. If there's a crowd around you and an oil drum is just sitting around, pick it up and swing away to clear 'em out. Use the Ultimate Super-Heavy Weapon Heat Move for a ton of damage. ⢠ULTIMATE PIERCING CRUSH. Originally, I thought this would be a bad move because most enemies that guard a lot only did so when you were attacking them in previous games, it seemed. But this is a great move actually; you'd probably be surprised to see how many guys want to come up to Saejima's face and just start guarding. ⢠ULTIMATE FACE SMASHING. As with the other three guys with a similar move, the ability to hit rising foes with a Heat Move is great because it gives you another option besides just Ultimate Pursuit. ⢠ULTIMATE STACKING THROW. This is a nice way to damage two guys at once. ⢠DOWN GRAPPLE. It's worth mentioning that Saejima has the Down Grapple, just like Kiryû. Knocked a guy down but don't want to Ultimate Pursuit him? Just grab his foot and toss him back down--or pick him up by goin to his head's side, if he's a boss. Bosses and many stronger enemies break the foot grab automatically. ⢠ULTIMATE SWING. In addition to having various Heat Actions from swinging the guy into various hazards, you can also clear crowds by doing an Ultimate Swing out in the open. Here is a list of Saejima's moves: - Strikes - Move: Right Body Blow Command: Square Move: Face Elbow Command: Square, Triangle Collapse. Move: Wild Overhead Hook Command: Square, hold Triangle, release Bound. Move: Right Uppercut Command: Square, hold Triangle, release, Triangle Knock-down. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Left Body Blow Command: Square, Square Move: Body Strike Command: Square, Square, Triangle Knock-down. Move: Right Body Hook Command: Square, Square, hold Triangle, release Collapse. Move: Straight Kick Command: Square, Square, hold Triangle, release, Triangle Knock-down. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Right Hook Command: Square, Square, Square Move: Right Knee Command: Square, Square, Square, Triangle Collapse. Move: Rising Knee Command: Square, Square, Square, hold Triangle, release Bound. Move: Double Hammer Hook Command: Square, Square, Square, hold Triangle, release, Triangle Knock-down, Bounds air foes. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Double Hammer Uppercut Command: Square, Square, Square, hold Triangle, release, Triangle, Triangle Knock-down. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Bound Kick Command: Triangle Bound. Move: Turn Kick Command: While shifting Back + Triangle Move: Focus: Wind-Up Top Command: Hold Triangle until Saejima grunts, release Mutli-hit. Knocks down. Must be learned through Hermit Training. Move: Ultimate Focus: Great Mt. Fuji Command: Hold Triangle until Saejima changes stance, release Knock-down. Unblockable. Must be learned through Hermit Training. Move: Dash Tackle Command: While running Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Knock-down. Move: Charge Tackle Command: In Heat Mode, while running hold Triangle Throws opponent down. Heat cost. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Pursuit Stomp Command: Near fallen enemy, Triangle (not in Heat Mode) Makes opponent rise after hit. Move: Repelling Command: Holding R1, after successful guard without guard break, Triangle Move: Roll (or Hop Back) Command: (direction or neutral) + X Move: Taunt Command: R2 Move: Heat Charge Command: Hold R2 Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Heat Boost Command: Hold R2 until Saejima grunts, release Must be purchased with Skill Souls. - Grapples - Move: Grapple Command: Circle Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Elbow Command: Grappling Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Stomach Punch Command: Grappling Square, Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Wild Hook Command: Grappling Square, Square, Square Knock-down. Move: Grapple Turn Kick Command: Grappling Back + Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Right Knee Command: Grappling Triangle Knock-down. Move: Charge Knee Kick Command: Grappling hold Triangle, release Bound. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Double Hammer Hook Command: Grappling hold Triangle, release, Triangle Knock-down, Bounds air foes. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Double Hammer Uppercut Command: Grappling hold Triangle, release, Triangle, Triangle Knock-down. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Military Press to Body Slam Command: Grappling Circle Downs foe. Move: Grappled Backfist Command: When grappled from the front, Square Move: Grappled Face Kick Command: When grappled from behind, Square Move: Throw Break Command: When grappled rapidly tap X Move: Down Grapple - Ankle Hold Command: Near downed foe's feet, Circle Ends in Ankle Hold. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Down Grapple - Pick-Up Command: Near downed foe's head, Circle Makes foe stand up. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ankle Hold Back Kick Command: Holding enemy's foot, Back + Square Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Stomach Hip Kick Command: Holding enemy's foot, Triangle (not in Heat Mode) Knocks-down. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ankle Hold Flapjack Command: Holding enemy's foot, Circle Downs foe. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. - Heat Moves - NOTE: You must be in Heat Mode to use these attacks. They cost Heat Energy. Move: Ultimate Environment Attack Command: Grappling near hazard, Triangle Move: Wall Toss Command: Grappling near wall, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Specific Heat Action, part of Ultimate Environment Attack Heat Move, listed twice because of follow-up. Move: Ultimate Weapon Command: With weapon equipped, Triangle Move: Ultimate Pursuit Command: Near downed foe, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Swing Command: Holding enemy's foot, Triangle Normal version hits nearby enemies, can be performed near hazard for various Heat Actions. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Herculean Strength Command: When life is low so bar flashes red, Grappling Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Double-Header Command: When life is low so bar flashes red, Grappling near other foe Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Mount Command: When life is low so bar flashes red, near downed foe Triangle Follow button-tapping prompt to prolongue attack. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Stacking Throw Command: Grappling near downed fow Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Piercing Crush Command: Near guarding opponent, Triangle Learn through Revelation. Move: Ultimate Temple Bell Ringer Command: Near opponent hitting the ground from collapse of a Wall Bound, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Learn through Revelation. Move: Ultimate Power Lariat Command: Near opponent hitting hte gruond from a Bound status, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Learn through Revelation. Move: Ultimate Super-Heavy Weapon Command: With super-heavy weapon equipped, Triangle Learn through Revelation. Move: Secret Sword: Ensnaring Kite Slash Command: With sword weapon equipped, as enemy attacks from the front, Triangle Learn by purchasing Wooden Musashi Figurine at Ebisuya. Move: Secret Sword: Raging Bull Command: With sword weapon equipped, shifting, facing a far away enemy, Triangle Follow up by tapping Square when prompted. Learn by purchasing Wooden Musashi Figurine at Ebisuya. Move: Mighty Sword: Making Flies Cry Command: With hammer weapon equipped, near opponent near a wall, Triangle Learn by purchasing Wooden Musashi Figurine at Ebisuya. Move: Ultimate Human Ten-Pin Command: When life is low so bar flashes red, grappling facing 3 more enemies, Triangle Learn by beating final stage of IF7-R. Move: Ultimate Face Smashing Command: As opponent rises from downed, Triangle Learn by beating final stage of IF7-R. - Weapons - Here are the character-specific weapons Saejima can and cannot use: Heavy Objects (such as motorcycles, oil drums): Yes Hammer: Yes Sword: Yes, unique style Knife: Yes Kali Sticks: No Nunchaku: No Tonfa: No Brass Knuckles: Yes Spear: No Gun: Yes Shotgun: Yes Machine Gun: No Character-Specific Weapon Heat Actions: Heavy Objects (such as motorcycles, oil drums): Yes (unique) Hammer: Yes Sword: Same as "single-handed weapon," plus 2 "Secret Sword" Heat Action Knife: Yes Kali Sticks: No Nunchaku: No Tonfa: No Brass Knuckles: Yes (unique Heat Action against standing enemies) Found Weapon Pole: Yes, same as Akiyama Spear: No Portable Stove: Yes 2b-III. Tanimura ----------------- Tanimura is a technical character. His basic premise is to reverse people and tangle them up in locks and holds to break their bones and make them submit. At the start of his guard animation, there is a rather generous window (that can be lengthened) in which he glows a bluish white. In this defensive mode, he parries any attack that comes to him except gunshots. He will push the attacker forward while turning to face them as they race past. While staggering, the parried character will hit into others in his path to damage them, or against walls and hazards for a wall bound collapse. When you unlock Parry Strengthen- ing, Tanimura can parry enemies without fear of other enemies hitting him in the second or so he recovers. Successfully parrying will grant a built-up Tanimura Heat Energy and make the enemy back-turned. He can also initiate a Heat Move at this point (Ultimate Parrying Arm Lock) and might be able to get a Wall Bound, which he can follow with Bound attacks or a quick Jumping Knee combo (Square, Square, Triangle). When an opponent is back-turned, Tanimura has a good chance to grapple the victim from behind and initiate the Ultimate Stun Heat Move. A fully built-up Tanimura has a long Heat Gauge and can then Ultimate Arrest the sunned foe, basically killing them. But even with that very powerful defensive technique, Tanimura's attack string is quite powerful. That's because once he has purchased the Ultimate Additional Attack Heat Move, he can quickly and easily go into Heat Moves at the end of his normal combo strings. Since the Heat Move at the end of each heavy attack combo ender is considered its own Heat Action, he has a lot of options. Here is a brief sketch of good moves for Tanimura: ⢠BACKHAND CHOP. This is the heavy attack finisher after his first weak attack. It has decent range and stuns enemies, plus with the button held down, he will use the "Lingering Mind" technique to charge up his Heat Gauge. On block-happy opponents, making the first attack whiff and then landing the chop is a good way to get the Ultimate Additional Combo Attack Heat Move in. ⢠JUMPING KNEE. This is the heavy attack finisher after his second attack in his weak attack string. A quick and effective knock-down, it's fairly safe to use this when enemies have been parried into a wall, generally speaking. Since many enemies don't guard this move very well, this is a very easy way to sneak in the Ultimate Additional Combo Attack Heat Move. ⢠JUMPING RIGHT SIDE KICK. Or, the Additional Combo Attack. The heavy attack ender to Tanimura's built-up string. What's so great about it? If you can start his string and guide it towards enemies, the whole string is a pretty reliable way to build up from 0 Heat Energy to Heat Mode, and then you can toss out an extra Triangle to go into the Ultimate Additional Attack Combo Heat Move for a very damaging string. ⢠PARRY. One of his greatest combat features, he can parry just about all mêlée attacks. As I discussed above, send people into walls or into each other...or, just use this for a defensive maneuver! It's great when you're surrounded by enemies because he can parry an attack from any direction and easily deal with weapon-wielding foes or sweeping attacks. ⢠RETREATING STRAIGHT KICK. This is his "Sway Attack" while retreating (back or neutral + X). What's so great about that, you ask? Well, the move dizzies opponents, which basically sets them up for AN INSTANT KILL IN HEAT MODE (provided you purchase the "Ultimate Arrest" Heat Move). ⢠BREAKING THROW. A great move from Kiryû's repertoire, you can reverse any enemy grapple just about by tapping Circle. It feels good to give the computer a taste of its own medicine, considering a lot of bosses and arena entrants auto-reverse throws. ⢠ARM LOCK. I should note that Tanimura doesn't throw people when you hit (or tap, with big guys) the Circle button. Instead, he switches to another hold, which has its own set of attacks. The most useful is the throw, a directed wrist lock (kotegaeshi). During the attack, Tanimura is invulnerable and the enemy being jostled and eventually toppled can hit other enemies and knock them down once you've built it up. ⢠ULTIMATE ADDITIONAL COMBO ATTACK. Right next to parrying, this is Tanimura's second-best weapon. Why? Because it's almost a sure thing! I'm sure you will get on the offense sometimes and start wailing on guys with weak attack strings, even if you intend to use Tanimura as a defensive tactician. But don't let that bother you! You can use the Ultimate Additional Combo Attack to score huge damage. Another great thing about this Heat Move? Since there are five variants, you can use it on tough enemies, such as bosses, to vary your Heat Actions. You know, if you use the same Heat Action on the same boss more than once, it does way less damage than the first time, right? ⢠ULTIMATE ARREST. This is a way to kill a foe in one hit. You'd be amazed at how easy it is to stun enemies with the Retreating Straight Kick. A lot of big, tough guys with long life bars actually can be stunned by that move, and since Ultimate Arrest works both on standing and downed stunned opponents, you can take care of some pretty tough customers easily this way. It's great against down stunned foes, too, of course, but they usually have such low health that a normal Ultimate Pursuit would have killed them, anyway. It costs a little more to make the window for the QTE-esque button prompt long enough that you'll have a really easy time using this move, but it's definitely worthwhile to do so. ⢠ULTIMATE THROWN LEG DROP. This is useful against crowds of people since it damages two opponents at once. ⢠ULTIMATE PARRYING ARM LOCK. This is a nice option from parrying an opponent because if you have a lot of Heat Energy (and Tanimura gets the longest Heat Gauge, by the way), you can perform this Heat Move and then end up in the arm lock position. From there, you can do the Ultimate Crotch-Reaching Throw, but be warned that enemies who normally instantly break your grapple will just pull their arm out of the lock once you hit them with this Heat Action. ⢠ULTIMATE CROTCH-REACHING THROW. Really, the greatest thing about this is the fact that you can do it after the Ultimate Parrying Arm Lock and basically combo two Heat Moves together--provided you have a lot of Heat Energy to spare. ⢠ULTIMATE ARMBAR. This basically offers another way to damage downed foes. Use it as an alternative to Ultimate Pursuit against boss-like enemies that take way less damage from a Heat Action's consecutive uses. ⢠ULTIMATE FORCIBLE SEIZURE. The nice thing about this move is that you steal the opponent's weapon on a successful hit. I mean, it won't work for fire- arms or two-handed weapons, but there are some enemies that love their weapons and it's nice to just take 'em from them willy-nilly and leave them to come up with new strategies. Kiryû used to be able to do this to most sword-wielding enemies in KENZAN!, and I used to use it to really mess up the boss-like wanted criminals. Nice to see a total badass reduced to "generic brawler." Ah...memories. ⢠ULTIMATE BREAKING THROW. Tanimura gets one of Kiryû's best Heat Actions, in my opinion, in this move. When an opponent tries to grab you and you're in Heat Mode? Whoops, looks like they're eating a bunch of damage. Here is a list of Tanimura's moves: - Strikes - Move: Left Jab Command: Square Move: Backhand Chop Command: Square, Triangle Collapse. Hold Triangle for "Lingering Mind" (charges Heat Gauge). Move: Right Overhead Hook Command: Square, Square Move: Jumping Knee Command: Square, Square, Triangle Knock-down. Move: Left Body Blow Command: Square, Square, Square Move: Left Side Kick Command: Square, Square, Square, Triangle Collapse. Hold Triangle for "Lingering Mind" (charges Heat Gauge). Move: Left Hook Command: Square, Square, Square, Square Move: Jumping Right Overhead Punch Command: Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle Knock-down. Move: Right Roundhouse Command: Square, Square, Square, Square, Square Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Jumping Right Side Kick Command: Square, Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle Knock-down. Hold Triangle for "Lingering Mind" (charges Heat Gauge). Must be purchasd with Skill Souls. Move: Rise Kick Command: When downed Square Knock-down. Unblockable. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Bound Kick Command: Triangle Bound. Move: Drop Kick Command: Running Triangle Knock-down. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Pursuit Attack Command: Near downed foe Triangle Makes opponent rise from downed. Move: Sway Command: (direction or neutral) + X Move: Shoulder Charge Command: Forward + X, Triangle Move: Hook Command: (Left or Right) + X, Triangle Move: Retreating Forward Kick Command: (Back or neutral) + X, Triangle Stuns. Move: Downed Recovery Command: While landing from a knock-down, X Move: Parry Command: Tap or Hold R1 (only for the first few moments of animation) Move: Taunt Command: R2 Move: Heat Charge Command: Hold R2 Must be purchased with Skill Souls. - Grapples - Move: Grapple Command: Circle Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Elbow Command: Grappling Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Stomach Punch Command: Grappling Square, Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Wild Hook Command: Grappling Square, Square, Square Knock-down. Move: Grapple Turn Kick Command: Grappling Back + Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Side Kick Command: Grappling Triangle Knock-down. Move: Arm Lock Command: Grappling Circle Ends in arm lock. Move: Arm Hyperextension Command: In arm lock Square Ends in arm lock. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Double Arm Hyperextension Command: In arm lock Square, Square Ends in arm lock. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Final Arm Hyperextension Command: In arm lock Square, Square, Square Downs foe. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Arm Lock to Hook Kick Command: In arm lock Triangle Knock-down. Move: Breaking Kotegaeshi Command: In arm lock Circle Downs foe. Move: Grappled Backfist Command: When grappled from the front, Square Move: Grappled Face Kick Command: When grappled from behind, Square Move: Throw Break Command: When grappled rapidly tap X Move: Breaking Throw Command: When grappled rapidly tap Circle Downs foe. Learn through Nair Training. - Heat Moves - NOTE: You must be in Heat Mode to use these attacks. They cost Heat Energy. Move: Ultimate Environment Attack Command: Grappling near hazard, Triangle Move: Ultimate Weapon Command: With weapon equipped, Triangle Move: Ultimate Pursuit Command: Near downed foe, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Arrest Command: Near stunned or down stunned foe, Triangle, follow prompt Removes foe from battle (kills foe). Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Additional Combo Attack - 1 Command: Square, Triangle, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Additional Combo Attack - 2 Command: Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Additional Combo Attack - 3 Command: Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Additional Combo Attack - 4 Command: Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Additional Combo Attack - 5 Command: Square, Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Armbar Command: As opponent rises from downed, Triangle Must be purchasd with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Parrying Arm Lock Command: After successful parry, Triangle Learn through Nair training. Move: Ultimate Forcible Seizure Command: As opponent armed with one-handed weapon attacks, Triangle Learn through Nair training. Move: Komaki-Style Harquebus Muffler Command: Near opponent armed with firearm, Triangle Learn through Nair training. Move: Ultimate Thrown Leg Drop Command: Grappling near another enemy, Triangle Learn by Revelation. Move: Ultimate Crotch-Reaching Throw Command: In arm lock Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Learn by Revelation. Move: Ultimate Stun Command: Grappling opponent from behind Triangle Stuns. Learn by Revelation. Move: Ultimate Breaking Grapple Command: When grappled Triangle Learn by defeating final level of IF7-R. Move: Ultimate Reversal Command: Downed near opponent Triangle Learn by defeating final level of IF7-R. - Weapons - Here are the character-specific weapons Tanimura can and cannot use: Heavy Objects (such as motorcycles, oil drums): No Hammer: No Sword: Yes Knife: Yes Kali Sticks: Yes Nunchaku: No Tonfa: Yes Brass Knuckles: No Spear: Yes Gun: No (except Golden Gun) Shotgun: No Machine Gun: No Character-Specific Weapon Heat Actions: Heavy Objects (such as motorcycles, oil drums): No Hammer: No Sword: Same as "single-handed weapon" Knife: Yes Kali Sticks: No Nunchaku: No Tonfa: Yes (unique) Brass Knuckles: No Found Weapon Pole: Yes (unique) Spear: Yes Portable Stove: No 2b-IV. Kiryû ------------- Anyone who has played the other Ryû ga Gotoku/Yakuza games has played as Kiryû. If you played the other three modern-day titles, you'll already be kinda famil- iar with his techniques. In fact, if you played 3, you'll pretty much only notice that two of his "when prompted during boss fights" moves are now avail- able during normal battles with slightly different parameters, and that he's lost two moves, but gained two Heat Moves. That, and it's easier to completely build him up. Getting moves took a bit more effort in the previous titles. A lot of Kiryû's abilities you'd have to purchase with other characters are already purchased for Kiryû, which is nice. His cavalcade of Heat Moves generally cost a single Skill Soul, too. If Saejima is supposed to be the "powerhouse" wrestler, Kiryû's a bit more of a well-rounded, brawling wrestler type. He doesn't have as many ways to dis- miss crowds of people as Saejima does, nor does he have the ability to hoit hefty motorbikes and such, but he's still a bruiser who retains an awful lot of power moves. On top of that, he can use all weapons and has the great ability to reverse throws you might have experienced as Tanimura. The king of Kiryû's attacks is the Hammer Hook. Square x 3, Triangle, Tri- angle. The computer A.I. often finds it indefensible, and if both Triangles hit (which is usually the case), most enemies will Bound and be ready for a Bound Kick or two, or a Shoulder Charge to push them towards a wall. Hit a wall? Start comboing again. Landed on the ground? Pick 'em up from their head's side and you'll be behind them. You can generally just start comboin again right there. Kiryû has another great weapon--or rather, set of weapons: reversals. He can Tiger Killer people for a quick and devastating knock-down that shoves them so far back they usually wall bound. He's invulnerable during it and can hit just about any kind of mêlée attack with it. Against punches and mêlée weapon attacks (not lows, tho'), he can generally use the Flowing Catch. This stuns the foe and leaves them open for one of his most devastating Heat Moves, if he's in Red Heat. Someone going crazy on Kiryû and attacking like a madman? Spam- ming attacks while you stand there, guarding? Repel 'em with Triangle after a successful guard to stop 'em. And against a group of peons, just stop Shifting and stand there. In Heat Mode, when they attack, you can reverse them with Triangle for a nice chunk of health with the Ultimate Unarmed Reversal. Kiryû has the unique ability to get into an extra Heat Mode, the Red Heat. The last two segments of his Heat Gauge will cause him to enter it, and the bluish aura of regular Heat Mode will be replaced with a red one. This basic- ally gives him a few more Heat Moves--Heat Moves that do a LOT of damage. Two of them involve stunning enemies, making the Flowing Catch, Retreating Forward Kick, and Down Reversal indispensible attacks. Incidentally, in case you were wondering, the two moves they removed from him this time are the Rise Kick (why?--not that it really makes that much a differ- ence) and the Hell on the Floor move, a Heat Action that was only available against bosses and involved him chaining various holds together à la mixed martial arts. Here is a brief sketch of good moves for Kiryû: ⢠HAMMER HOOK. This is seriously his bread-and-butter. I think you could actually beat most opponents in the game by just spamming this over and over. This is the Double Finish Blow to his third attack in his weak attack string. The first hit is a knock-down; the second bounds the opponent. For some reason the computer doesn't seem to be able to guard the second hit. Follow the bound up with Bound Kicks or by Shoulder Charging them into a wall to continue the combo, or just pick them up when they land, standing at their head's side, to be behind them. ⢠RIGHT BODY HOOK. This is the heavy attack finisher to his attack string after two weak attacks. It has decent range and collapses guys so you can step forward and combo 'em again to juggle. Or, you could just Bound Kick 'em. ⢠LEFT UPPERCUT. This is the Double Finish Blow after a single weak attack. I usually step forward and do this after a collapse move to juggle the opponent, then hold the Triangle button to use the "Lingering Mind" tech- nique and charge Heat Energy. ⢠ABISEGERI. This is his final Double Finish Blow. A bound attack, this is very useful in areas where you'll be juggling people up, like the arena (with its cramped walls). ⢠KOMAKI-STYLE TIGER KILLER. A reversal with Triangle, Kiryû is invulnerable during its animation and counters all mêlée attacks with it. This is a great knock-down that can blast opponents into a wall since it quickly knocks them pretty far away. It gives Kiryû a considerable amount of Heat Energy, too. ⢠KOMAKI-STYLE FLOWING CATCH. I use this more than the Tiger-Killer, person- ally, because it has a bigger window and stuns foes, setting them up for more comboing or the Ultimate Komaki-Style Dragon King Heat Move, which does a ton of damage. It won't counter kicks, low attacks, or missile attacks (naturally) but most enemies charge in with punches, anyway. ⢠KOMAKI-STYLE REPELLING. When you successfully guard an attack, hit Triangle to punish the attacker. Great for times it seems like there's a hail storm of attacks raining down on you. ⢠BREAKING THROW. Tap Circle to throw people who grapple you. This is great because enemies are often very grab-happy, and it feels good to give boss- like characters who automatically reverse your throws a taste of their own medicine. Pretty much the only guy who grabs you you won't be able to use this on is Komaki, as he goes into his throw really quickly and you won't have time to respond. ⢠BOUND HOLD. This costs Heat Energy, but it's worth mentioning because it's a sure-fire way to get those silly big guys down (you know, the guys you can't normally grapple). ⢠ULTIMATE FORWARD ROLL. Got Heat Energy? Some guy driving you crazy? Roll towards them and mash Triangle. Sure, it won't work while they're in their attack animation, but the animation for the roll is invulnerable and actual- ly pretty lengthy and you're almost sure to hit every enemy with this attack. ⢠ULTIMATE UNARMED REVERSAL. When attacked by an unarmed opponent while you are not Shifting, hit Triangle in Heat Mode to land one of four Heat Actions against them, depending on where they're standing in relation to you. Great for crowds. ⢠ULTIMATE SURPRISE. Run towards a group of enemies in Heat Mode and hit Triangle, then follow the on-screen prompts to attack them all. Good for crowds. ⢠ULTIMATE STACKING THROW. Grab an enemy and drag him to a downed one and hit Triangle in Heat Mode to kill two birds with one stone. Thin the herd out a little. ⢠ULTIMATE DOUBLE-HEADER. Same as above, but the other guy doesn't need to be on the ground, which makes it easier to land. ⢠ULTIMATE HERCULEAN STRENGTH. If you're in Red Heat, just grab a guy and hit Triangle. So long as you aren't near a hazard, so you don't get the Ultimate Environment Attack, you'll do a lot of damage to him. ⢠ULTIMATE BREAKING GRAPPLE. Kiryû can use Heat Energy when in Heat Mode to counter any opponent grappling him and cause them a great deal of pain. ⢠ULTIMATE SMOKING. This is a fun way to take care of an enemy and, like the Ultimate Weapon Heat Move, doesn't require you to grapple the enemy, or any- thing like that. Just stand near them smoking. ⢠ULTIMATE PROVOCATION. Same as above but easier to land. ⢠ULTIMATE PICK UP. Picking up a face-up opponent with the Down Grapple at their head's side is actually quite easy to do, considering they land that way from most bound combos. If they're landing face-down, try and hit a Sway Hook to make them flip over onto their back. Then, with Heat Energy, just pick 'em up and use your Heat Move to do a lot of damage. ⢠ULTIMATE KOMAKI-STYLE DRAGON KING. You'll be landing a lot of Flowing Catch moves, I think. If you're in Red Heat after landing one, stand in front of the dizzied guy and use this move to do a LOT of damage. ⢠ULTIMATE EXTREMENESS. This move is so great it used to be hard to unlock! Standing stun an enemy. You can do this by the Down Reversal, Retreating Forward Kick (sway back + Triangle), a lot of weapon attacks, or just by beating them until they're down stunned and then picking them up. Then, stand in front of them in Red Heat and hit Triangle to really let 'em have it. This is a very damaging move. Here is a list of Kiryû's moves: - Strikes - Move: Lead Jab Command: Square Move: Right Overhead Hook Command: Square, Triangle Knock-down. Guard break. Move: Left Uppercut Command: Square, Triangle, Triangle Knock-down. Hold Triangle for "Lingering Mind," which charges Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Flapjack Command: In Heat Mode Square, Triangle, Circle Throws opponent down. Costs Heat Energy. Triangle must hit. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Right Hook Command: Square, Square Move: Right Body Hook Command: Square, Square, Triangle Collapse. Move: Right Knee Command: Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle Knock-down. Guard Break. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Fireman Carry to Bodyslam Command: Square, Square, Triangle, Circle Throws opponent down. Costs Heat Energy. Triangle must hit. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Left Overhead Hook Command: Square, Square, Square Move: Double Hammer Uppercut Command: Square, Square, Square, Triangle Knock-down. Hold Triangle for "Lingering Mind," which charges Heat Energy. Move: Hammer Hook Command: Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle Bound. Hold Triangle for "Lingering Mind," which charges Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Mini Giant Swing Command: Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Circle Throws opponent down. Costs Heat Energy. Triangle must hit. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Right Kick Command: Square, Square, Square, Square Move: Left Side Kick Command: Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle Knock-down. Hold Triangle for "Lingering Mind," whcih charges Heat Energy. Move: Abisegeri Command: Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle Bound. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Bound Kick Command: Triangle Bound. Move: Charge Kick Command: Hold Triangle until Kiryû grunts, release Special knock-down (like a bound). Move: Lotus House Flashing Energy Palm Command: Hold Triangle until Kiryû changes stance, release Collapse. Unblockable. Invulnerable. Kiryû charges Heat while charging and also does not break out of the charge when hit during it. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Forward Kick Command: Shifting Triangle Move: Turn Kick Command: Shifting Back + Triangle Move: Drop Kick Command: Runing Triangle Knock-down. Move: Komaki-Style Tiger Killer Command: Shifting towards enemy, with enemy's attack Triangle Knock-down. Invulnerable. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Pursuit Attack Command: Near downed foe Triangle Makes opponent rise. Move: Down Reversal Command: When landing from a knock-down, Triangle Invulnerable. Stuns. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Komaki-Style Flowing Catch Command: Shifting towards enemy, with enemy's punch or weapon attack Triangle Special standing stun. Invulnerable at the start. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Sway Command: (direction or neutral) + X Move: Cancel Sway Command: during most strikes, (direction, neutral) + X Can only be performed when NOT in Heat Mode. Move: Shoulder Charge Command: Forward + X, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls Move: Sway Hook Command: (Left or Right) + X, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls Move: Retreating Forward Kick Command: (Back or neutral) + X, Triangle Stuns. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Komaki-Style Dharma Evasion Command: (Direction) + X during Sway Move: Komaki-Style Catflip Command: When landing from a knock-down, X Move: Taunt Command: R2 Move: Heat Charge Command: Hold R2 Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Cigarette Lighting Command: Down on the D-Pad - Grapples - Move: Grapple Command: Circle Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Elbow Command: Grappling Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Stomach Punch Command: Grappling Square, Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Wild Hook Command: Grappling Square, Square, Square Knock-down. Move: Grapple Turn Kick Command: Grappling Back + Square Ends in grappling state. Move: Grapple Side Kick Command: Grappling Triangle Knock-down. Move: Seoinage Command: Grappling Circle Throws opponent down. Move: Grappled Backfist Command: When grappled from the front, Square Move: Grappled Face Kick Command: When grappled from behind, Square Move: Breaking Throw Command: When grappled rapidly tap Circle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Throw Break Command: When grappled rapidly tap X Move: Down Grapple - Ankle Hold Command: Near downed foe's feet, Circle Ends in Ankle Hold. Move: Down Grapple - Pick-Up Command: Near downed foe's head, Circle Makes foe stand up. Move: Ankle Hold Back Kick Command: Holding enemy's foot, Back + Square Move: Stomach Hip Kick Command: Holding enemy's foot, Triangle (not in Heat Mode) Knocks-down. Move: Ankle Hold Flapjack Command: Holding enemy's foot, Circle Downs foe. - Heat Moves - NOTE: You must be in Heat Mode to use these attacks. They cost Heat Energy. Move: Ultimate Environment Attack Command: Grappling near hazard, Triangle Move: Wall Crush Command: Grappling near wall, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Specific Heat Action, part of Ultimate Environment Attack Heat Move, listed twice because of follow-up. Move: Ultimate Weapon Command: With weapon equipped, Triangle Move: Ultimate Pursuit Command: Near downed foe, Triangle Use a certain amount of times to learn follow-up attack, which is performed by following button prompt on screen and costs more Heat Energy. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Stacking Throw Command: Grappling near downed fow Triangle Move: Ultimate Swing Command: Holding enemy's foot, Triangle Normal version hits nearby enemies, can be performed near hazard for various Heat Actions. Move: Ultimate Double-Header Command: When in Red Heat Mode, Grappling near other foe Triangle Move: Komaki-Style Unarmed Reversal Command: When not Shifting, as unarmed opponent attacks, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Komaki-Style Harquebus Muffler Command: Near opponent armed with firearm, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Mount Command: When life is low so bar flashes red, near downed foe Triangle Follow button-tapping prompt to prolongue attack. Move: Ultimate Extremeness Command: In Red Heat Mode, in front of a standing stunned enemy, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Herculean Strength Command: When in Red Heat Mode, Grappling Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Smoking Command: With cigarette in mouth from Cigarette Lighting, Triangle Move: Komaki-Style Pot Smash Command: Grappling foe near bench-height platform hazard, Triangle Basically Ultimate Environment Attack Heat Action, but listed twice. Move: Komaki-Style Swordless Reversal Command: As enemy armed with a sword attacks from the front, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Komaki-Style Dragon King Command: In Red Heat Mode, in front of enemy stunned by Flowing Catch, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Vaulting Command: When standing with guardrail between you and enemy, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Soiuls. Move: Ultimate Breaking Grapple Command: When grappled Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Self-Destruction Command: As enemy with super-heavy weapon attacks, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Pole Dance Command: When drunk, running towards enemy, Triangle Sobers up about 1/2 maximum possible drunkennness. Move: Ultimate Surprise Command: Running towards a group of 3 or more enemies, Triangle Follow button prompts to complete move. Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Reversal Command: Downed near opponent Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Forward Roll Command: (direction or neutral) + X, (forward or neutral) + X, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Drunken Iron Mountain Command: When drunk, Shifting, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Face Smashing Command: As opponent rises from downed, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill Souls. Move: Ultimate Human Ten-Pin Command: When in Red Heat Mode, grappling facing 3 more enemies, Triangle Must be purchased with Skill souls. Move: Ultimate Provocation Command: R2, Triangle Does not work on boss-like enemies. Learn by Revelation. Move: Ultimate Pick Up Command: Near face-up downed foe's head, Circle, Triangle Learn by Revelation. Move: Secret Sword: Ensnaring Kite Slash Command: With sword weapon equipped, as enemy attacks from the front, Triangle Learn by clearing the Second Komaki Training and receiving Black Text. Move: Secret Sword: Raging Bull Command: With sword weapon equipped, shifting, facing a far away enemy, Triangle Follow up by tapping Square when prompted. Learn by clearing the Second Komaki Training and receiving Black Text. Move: Sure-Kill Swords: Dancing Cat Command: With kali sticks weapon equipped, shifting, facing a far away enemy, Triangle Learn by buying Red Text at Ebisuya after clearing Komaki training. Move: Sure-Kill Swords: Twin Heavens Command: With kali sticks weapon equipped, in Red Heat, Triangle Learn by buying Red Text at Ebisuya after clearing Komaki training. Move: Mighty Sword: Making Flies Cry Command: With hammer weapon equipped, near opponent near a wall, Triangle Learn by buying Blue Text at Ebisuya after clearing Komaki training. Move: Combined Kodachi - Illusory Wolf Command: With knife weaponn equipped, running towards 4 enemies, Triangle Follow button prompts to complete move. Learn by clearing the Third Komaki Training and receiving White Text. - Weapons - Here are the character-specific weapons Tanimura can and cannot use: Heavy Objects (such as motorcycles, oil drums): No Hammer: Yes Sword: Yes Knife: Yes Kali Sticks: Yes Nunchaku: Yes Tonfa: Yes Brass Knuckles: Yes Spear: Yes Gun: Yes Shotgun: Yes Machine Gun: Yes Character-Specific Weapon Heat Actions: Heavy Objects (such as motorcycles, oil drums): No Hammer: Yes Sword: Yes (unique) Knife: Yes (plus special Actions against wall and against platforms) Kali Sticks: Yes Nunchaku: Yes Tonfa: Yes Brass Knuckles: Yes (Pursuit version only) Found Weapon Pole: Same as Spear Spear: Yes (unique) Portable Stove: Yes 2b-V. General Battle Advice ---------------------------- == 2b-Va. Easy Reference Commands List == Character Differences: Technique Akiyama Saejima Tanimura Kiryû Various Taunts Yes No No No Super-Heavy Weapons No Yes No No Parry No No Yes No Red Heat No No No Yes Inventory Guns No Yes No Yes Inventory Spears No No Yes Yes Kali Sticks Yes No No Yes Nunchakus Yes No No Yes Tonfa No No Yes Yes Grappled Turn Kick No Yes Yes Yes Rise Kick Yes No Yes No Downed Recovery Yes No Yes Yes Downed Reversal Yes No No Yes Turn Kick Yes Yes No Yes Downed Grapple No Yes No No Throw Reversal No No Yes Yes Cancel Sway Yes No No Yes LEGEND: S = Square, T = Triangle, X = X, O = Circle, (H) = in Heat Mode, (R) = in Red Heat Mode, (L) = Low Health, (S) = Shifting (locked on) Downed Foe = Near a downed enemy. Falling = While landing from being knocked down. Hazard = Near a hazard. 2nd Foe = Near another enemy. 2nd Downed Foe = near another enemy who is downed. 3 Foes = facing 3 enemies. 4 Foes = facing 4 foes. Attack = reverses an enemy's attack. * = There are more button prompts after the move is initiated. Akiyama Saejima S S S,T,T S,T S,S S, hold T,T S,S,T,T S,S S,S,S S,S,T S,S,S,T,T S,S, hold T,T S,S,S,S,(Sx12) S,S,S S,S,S,S,T,T,T S,S,S,T S,S,S,S,(Sx12),T,T,T S,S,S, hold T,T,T Downed S T T Hold T T,T Hold T (longer) Run T,T,T Run T (S)Back + T (H)Run hold Near Downed Foe T (S)Back + T Falling T Near Downed Foe T (S)Attacked T X X R2 X,T Hold R2 X,X Hold R2 (longer) during attack X O Falling X O,S,S,S R2 O,Back + S Hold R2 O,T Downed R2 O,hold T Near Downed Foe R2 O,hold T,T,T O Near Downed Foe's head O O,S,S,S Near Downed Foe's feet O,Back + S O,Back + S Near Downed Foe's feet O,Back + S O,T Near Downed Foe's feet O,T O,O Near Downed Foe's feet O,O O,R2 Grappled S (H)O, near Hazard T (H)O, near Hazard T (H)Armed T (H)O, near Wall T* (H)Near Downed Foe T* (H)Armed T (H)Foe near Wall T* (H)Armed w/Super-Heavy Weapon T (H)Foe near Pole T (H)Near Downed Foe T (H)Foe near Rail T* (H)(L)Near Downed Foe T* (H)Attacked from rear T (H)(L)O,T (H)3 Foes, Run T (H)(L)O, Near 2nd Downed Foe T (H)Guard broken T (H)Near Downed Foe's feet O,T (H)Drunk Run T (H)Near Guarding Foe T (H)Foe on other side of rail T (H)Bound T* (H)Wall Collapse T* (H)(L)O,3 Foes T (H)Rising Foe T (H)Armed w/Sword, Attacked by Sword T (H)Armed w/Sword, (S) Far T* (H)Armed w/Hammer, foe near Wall, T After successful guard with L1, T Tanimura Kiryû S S S,T (+ hold T) S,T S,S S,T,T (+ hold T) S,S,T (H)S,T,O S,S,S,T (+ hold T) S,S,T S,S,S,S,T S,S,T,T S,S,S,S,S,T (+ hold T) (H)S,S,T,O Downed S S,S,S,T (+ hold T) T S,S,S,T,T (+ hold T) Run T (H)S,S,S,T,O Near Downed Foe T S,S,S,S,T (+ hold T) X S,S,S,S,T,T X,T T Downed X Hold T Attacked L1 Hold T (longer) R2 (S) T Hold R2 (S) Back + T O Run T O,S,S,S Near Downed foe T O,Back + S X O,T X,T O,O X,X O,O,S,S,S during most attacks X O,O,T R2 Grappled tap O Hold R2 (H)O, near Hazard T After successful guard with L1, T (H)O, near 2nd Foe T Falling X (H)Armed T Falling T (H)Near Downed Foe T (S)Attacked T (H)Near Stunned Foe T* (S)Attacked by punch or weapon O (H)Behind foe O,T O (H)O,O,T* O,S,S,S (H)Attacked L1 T O,Back + S (H)Attacked L1 T,S,S,S O,T (H)Attacked L1 T,T O,O (H)Attacked L1 T,O Near Downed Foe's head O (H)Attacked L1 T,(H) T* Near Downed Foe's feet O (H)S,T,T* Near Downed Foe's feet O,Back + S (H)S,S,T,T* Near Downed Foe's feet O,T (H)S,S,S,T,T* Near Downed Foe's feet O,O (H)S,S,S,S,T,T* Grappled tap O (H)S,S,S,S,S,T,T (H)O, near Hazard T (H)Attacked by armed foe T (R)O, near 2nd Foe T (H)Near Foe Armed w/gun T (H)O, near Wall T* (H)Rising Foe T (H)O, near bench-height Hazard T (H)Grappled T (H)Armed T (H)Downed near foe T (H)Armed w/sword (S) far T (H)Armed w/sword attacked by sword T (H)Armed w/Kali Sticks (S) far T (R)Armed w/Kali Sticks T (R)O,T D-Pad Down (H)D-Pad Down,T (H)R2,T (H)Run 4 Foes T* (H)Drunk run T (H)O, near 2nd Downed Foe T (H)Near Downed Foe's feet O,T (H)X,Forward + X,T (H)Unarmed attacked T (not Shifting) (H)Armed w/knife run 4 Foes T* (H)Near Downed Foe T* (H)Near Downed Foe's head O,T (H)Downed near foe T (H)Grappled T (H)Rising Foe T (H)Attacked by sword T (H)Near Foe armed w/gun T (R)Near Stunned foe T (R)(S)Attacked w/weapon, punch O,T == 2b-Vb. Strategies for Enemies by Type == Here are the main types of enemies you'll face and a few notes on how to hand 'em their butts: THREE-HIT THUG. This is your "standard" foe. He kinda hunches down a bit with his arms at his side, folded so his fists are near his face. There are both big and small guys with this fighting style, so, as usual, be ready to tap the Circle button like mad if you wanna hurl him. I call these guys "three-hit thugs" because they do this canned, three-hit combo almost all the time. It's an overhead punch, a turning face kick, and another wild overhead hook that makes them stagger a bit. Note that durin their attack string they duck like mad so you might not hit them too easily with your normal Square-button moves. The other thing they like to do is grab you. I think they're almost mainly put in the game as cannon fodder to just grab you so you'll lose Heat Energy real fast and so that other guys will have a chance to whup you one upside your defenseless little head. They like to slowly circle you. Even on EX Hard difficulty, they don't really attack too often. Their string is slow, but that also makes it a little annoying to counter sometimes because there's an awful lot of wind-up involved and so you have to wait to time reversals or side-steps. But overall these are the easiest guys in the game. You'll encounter a LOT of them. You can almost just lay into 'em and combo away, or just grab 'em and huck 'em around. When you do shocking things like beat everyone else in the encounter, this type of enemy will grovel in fear. BRAWLERS. These are pretty much boxers. They stand with their left side towards you and kinda hop in place with their hands near their face. I've lumped boxers and the bigger guys together in one because most of the time, boxers are big dudes in this game, and big dudes seem to have a lot of the boxing moveset anyway. Almost all of their attacks are punches, so you can reverse them with Kiryû fairly easily with Circle. Since these guys are almost all big, it's annoying because they don't generally get knocked down. They just stagger a bit. However, that does mean you can shove them against walls and combo their faces off, generally. Boxers will duck under Square attacks often, but you can use your stun move (usually Square, Square, Triangle, but just one Square then Triangle for Akiyama) to hit at a wide range and interrupt them. Perhaps the best thing to do to these guys, tho', is to just grab 'em. Hit 'em with the three-hit Square combo to get a good amount of Heat Energy. Un- like HUGE rikishi-esque guys, they normally won't automatically break your grapple. They like to rush towards you, too, and do a shoulder charge. The only real thing to keep in mind about this is that you must sidestep or counter as their shoulder attack comes out; if you counter too early while they're run- ing up, you'll mess up and get hit. When you do something shocking like beat everyone else in the encounter or taunt these guys, they get angry and start constantly attacking. It's hard to hit them with a lot of Heat Actions if they're constantly moving around, but you can sidestep or reverse them just fine. RIKISHI (SUMO WRESTLER). These guys aren't really ALL sumo wrestlers, of course. I just call them this because they were rikishi in Ryû ga Gotoku KENZAN! They're really, really big. Because of this, only Saejima can grab them. Having played the old games, though, it's great to have a character who can grab them finally as they usually just do this automatic throw-break move! They have three main attacks: headbutts, punch rush combos, and a strange charge move that ends in a kabuki pose. The headbutts are slow wind-up attacks. You might notice your jabs just sail right over their heads as they do this. You'll probably want to refrain from attacking them and watching for this move so you can counter it and not get caught. Heabutts will often make your character slowly collapse, so don't get hit by 'em. The punch rush is basically the same thing enemies with Brass Knuckles do. Each punch can break guards so be careful and re-guard after you see your character stagger. After the initial flurry of attacks, they wind up and toss out a big ol' haymaker. So long as you pause and pay attention so you don't counter too soon, you can exploit this to get around 'em or reversal them. The kabuki charge isn't really worth mentioning almost. It's similar to the one the big dudes use, but they linger in a strange kabuki pose for a while after the attack in a defenseless stagger. The main strategy with these guys is to pummel them. You'll just make 'em stagger with your attacks; you won't knock 'em down so much. However, they generally aren't too defensive and (except for ones in the arena, maybe), they won't counter you too well. Getting them down is nice, and it does take a little more than other enemies, but it is possible. For instance, Kiryû can use the Bound Hold attacks to throw 'em down at the ends of combos. Reversals can wall Bound 'em or knock 'em down. Be aware that many of their attacks are actually not interruptable; you will not make them flinch as you attack them if they're doing things, so try and get behind them and unleash your combos. I mean, they really are much easier this time around. In KENZAN!, some of these guys could reverse you as you attacked, but they also had a quick reach that resulted in a uwatenage throw. YOU COULD NOT DEFEND OR BREAK THIS TECHNIQUE. Man, that was annoyingâ¦I used to Shift with my back to them so they'd end in a back throw, instead, which could be defended (or reversed). These guys also get angry and attack more if you do something like taunt them or beat all other enemies. KICKBOXERS. You don't see many of these guys, unless you fight in the arena. They basically act like normal big brawler types, but one thing you should bear in mind about them is that they have a roundhouse kick that will leave you standing stunned. They also have a couple of low attacks, and a rush that ends with a low, so be aware that you will have to counter that some way othe than guarding (ex- cept for Tanimura's parry guard, of course). These guys generally get angry when you defeat other enemies. MARTIAL ARTS EXPERTS. These are mostly karate guys, but there are a few notable wu-shu-esque kung fu fighters in the arena, too. Those guys generally just flip around a lot and evade, so you'll have to keep the pressure on them or grapple them. But the karate guys will be a little tougher. You'll notice them slowly walking sometimes, in a slightly different stance. Do not attack them during this time. They will reverse your attacks--even your throws, generally! Another annoying thing these guys do is to use "combo breakers." If you see them guarding during a weak string--or when you use a heavy string finisher-- you'll probably hear a "ding!" sound and see a reddish aura about them as they do an attack. This attack is generally invulnerable. They use this when you are pressuring them. Although it sounds bad, this is actually their biggest weak point because you can do a couple of weak hits and wait for the sound, then sidestep or counter the attack and they'll be open. Note that these guys generally do not flinch when you land attacks during their attacks, so you'll probably want to make sure you keep moving and get behind them. These guys generally get angry when you defeat all other enemies or taunt them. LUCHADORES. These guys are very similar to kickboxers but be aware that they will do a charge with a plancha/body splash at the end. And be aware that if this move connects, you will be auto-thrown in a kind of a swing DDT. They also leap towards you and do a frankensteiner throw with their legs. So avoid those two attacks. GUNMEN. Besides Tanimura's final battle? Kill these guys first. Kill these guys first. All work and no play makes Patrick a dull boy. KILL THESE GUYS FIRST. Don't even be like Schwarzenegger and be all like "You're a funny guy I'll kill you last, heh heh heh" just kill them. It's annoying to keep listening for vocal cues and sidestepping during fights, which is what you basically have to do. BASEBALL BAT DUDES. I know enemies grab all sorts of items around the stages, and that's cool and all, but I thought I'd point out one particular weapon you should be careful with. When enemies have baseball bats, they have a combo that stuns you. It stuns you, and then they hit you with a powerful homerun swing. The problem? It's much more common to not hit you with the last swing, but to end with you stunned. Then, they'll do it again. And again. They can conceivably just do that until you die (don't worry, they usually won't). So my solution is to take care of these guys first! Orâ¦second, after gun- men. ----------------- 2c. Chase Battle ----------------- In the last title, they inroduced a new element to the game called "Chase Battle." This is basically an homage to all those old-school detective/cop/ action films and whos, where the detective has to chase down the informant or criminal or run from a threat. Fortunately, it's become much easier. In the old game, you could easily get stuck on things. You had to press a "gas pedal" button to run faster and use up your meter. There was a particularly annoying Chase Battle inserted in the middle of an action stage, which took place before you could build your gauge up at all. Oh yeah--you had to build your gauge up. Lots of annoyances in Chase Battle's first appearance, but they've largely been fixed! People who groaned at Chase Battle in the last installment will be happy to know it's been made quite easy this time around. Others who want a challenge might not be so glad to hear that, considering this game is actually pretty easy except for completing the "mini-games" list, butâ¦that's the way the cookie crumbles? Anyway, there are two types of chase battle (ignoring a unique action mode in Tanimura's story): running after someone and running from someone, basically. You'll almost always be running after someone. Here's the basic premise: you have a Chase Endurance Gauge. This builds up as you level up. If it runs out, you're pretty much out of luck and lose. On the right side of the screen is a little gauge showing you how far away you are from your target or those pursuing you. On the ground, you'll see a path drawn out. It turns red as you get farther away from your quarry or your goal and turns green as you get closer. Follow and generally make sure you take corners tightly. Jump over obstacles with X. Grab stuff on the ground with the blue aura around it to recharge your Chase Endurance Gauge. WHEN RUNNIN' DOWN THE TRASH. When you chase guys, you can do shoulder checks with Square. Hit them with this to damage their Endurance Gauge. The basic idea is to get close to them, hit 'em with Square, and then empty their gauge and tackle 'em with Square. You can also hit them with thrown weapons. These are the things all over the ground with orange auras around them. As you run over them, your charac- ter will automatically pick 'em up (unless he already has one in his hand). Press Circle to throw the weapon at your enemy. It's best to do this on a straightaway because if there's a corner, they can usually take it and avoid the object. As it strikes, they'll lose some Endurance Gauge. You can even knock guys out with a weapon throw, provided their Gauge has been exhausted and they're just kinda staggering around. Another thing to be aware of while chasing guys down is that you can take corners with a tight, 90-degree leap by pressing left or right on the Left Analog and htiting R1. This is your way to close in on guys. Seriously, take a step or forward instead of turning with the corner, and then do this so you leap towards the enemy. You'll close the distance a bit. Oh one last thing--when you bring a guy down to 50% energy, he'll almost always trigger a cut scene. This is always the same. Hit the buttons on the screen as they appear. It's supposed to be fast, but if you know what buttons are coming, it's no big deal right? Hit X, Square, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle. When you're done, the guy will stagger around a bit for a brief moment and if you're close enough you can get in a shoulder charge. WHEN THE MAN'S PESTERIN' YOU. People tryin' to run you down, eh? You scamp. When you're running from guys, you can jump with X as usual, but your Square no longer does a shoulder charge. Instead, you roll. This is so you can try to avoid guys as they tackle you from behind. The other action you have in "run from the guys OMG" mode is the "Heat Action"-esque move by hitting Triangle if someone's right on your tail. Hit the button on the screen to punch the guy and delay him. You can only use your special, Triangle attack ONCE PER CHASE BATTLE. ------------------------------ 3. IN-DEPTH STORY WALKTHROUGH ------------------------------ ----------------- 3a. Introduction ----------------- NOTE: BEFORE YOU BEGIN, unless you like watching the same cut scene like 300 times when you die or whatever, go to the options menu and turn the "Skip Cinemas" option on. Then you can skip them with Start. You can also race through dialogue by holding R1 and the "Confirm" button (Circle in the Japan- ese version, probably X in the U.S. version). You can't skip animation, tho', so a cut scene with Akiyama in the beginning of his story and a rather lengthy one with Tanimura cannot be skipped. Sorry about that. Here is a bit of background information for those who did not play the first three modern-day Ryû ga Gotoku/Yakuza titles. You are in Kamuro, a fictional district in Tokyo based very closely upon the real life Kabuki District of Shibuya, Tokyo. There's all sorts of dirty deal- ings going on, as this is the town of "night life" such as hostess clubs, where you basically pay to drink and eat with a female companion (employed by the club). A lot of stuff going on here is adult entertainment and is, therefore, run by the yakuza. So, it's a bit of a yakuza metropolis. This game takes place 25 years after an incident with two rival gangs of the area, the Tôjô Association (a large collective of yakuza families) and the Ueno Seiwa Association, a smaller group. After being discharged from prison, Ueno Yoshiharu, the association's chairman, went to eat ramen with some 17 of his top-ranking yakuza underlings. These 18 men were then shot in an assault by Saejima Taiga, lieutenant of the Tôjô Association's Sasai Group. In the 25 years Saejima has been in prison, a lot has happened in Kamuro. A young orphan entered the Tôjô under the wing of a man who had become a father to him, Kazama Shintarô. Kazama belonged to the Dôjima Group, led by Dôjima Sôhei, who eventually became chairman of the entire association. The orphan's name was Kiryû Kazuma, and he became one of the most promising young members of the association--and one of the most revered yakuza of all time. A folk hero who took care of his association and who understood the needs of the people in his area, Kiryû was on his way to becoming lieutenant--or more--when his childhood friend, Nishikiyama Akira, got in a dispute with Chair- man Dôjima because Dôjima assaulted the target of his affections, Sawamura Yumi. During the confrontation, Nishikiyama shot the chairman to death. Kiryû, who cared deeply both for Yumi and Nishikiyama, decided to take the blame for the shooting so that Nishikiyama could still make a name for himself. He was sentenced to jail for 10 years, despite protests by one of the main detectives on the case, Date Makoto. Date's career was basically destroyed as he would not let the case alone and always suspected what was truly behind the shooting. After 10 years in prison, Kiryû returned to the streets of Kamuro to find that the Tôjô Association had once again been thrown into turmoil after the assassin- ation of then-chairman Sera Masaru and the theft of 10 billion yen (roughly a hundred million U.S. dollars) from its banks. Despised as a "father-killer" for killing the chairman, Kiryû became a target for the warring Tôjô factions, who were at the same time trying to chase down the money and to find a success- or, since Sera seemed to have left no will. Kiryû found a reason to keep going: a young girl named Haruka. The rival yakuza factions were after this child, who was apparently involved in the theft. In the end, it turned out that the reason the money was missing was because Chairman Sera and Kazama Shintarô (Kiryû's father figure) were laundering it for a mysterious shadow government military man named Jingu Kyôhei. Jingu, as it turned out, had married Kiryû's childhood love, Sawamura Yumi, and the two had a daughter--Haruka. Jingu was not an honorable man. Fearing Jingu, Yumi conspired with Kazama Shintarô to abscond with the money. She left the key to the vault with the cash with Haruka and had her placed in the same orphanage that reared Kiryû, the Sunflower. Sera knew of this and realized that the association might fall into the wrong hands, such as Jingu's, and decided to write a will before he ended up getting shot. This will was given to Kiryû, who showed it to all atop the town's towering landmark, the Milennium Tower. It stated that Kiryû was to be the fourth chairman of the Tôjô Association. After a bloody battle, Kiryû defeated Jingu and the Tôjô groups against him. Standing in front of the money itself in the Milennium Tower, he had to fight one last foe: his old friend, Nishikiyama, who had turned against him because he felt that Kiryû had forced him to live the live he was living. When Jingu showed up wounded at the scene and tried to shoot Kiryû, Yumi stood to protect him and was shot. Nishikiyama detonated a bomb attached to the money and the result was that Haruka and Kiryû were the only ones left alive on scene, while the money rained down on the people of the Kamuro District. Kiryû almost immediately resigned from the post of chairman so he could live the good life with Haruka. With Date's help, he was able to leave the scene without going to jail. He eventually moved with Haruka to Okinawa and opened an orphanage there, the Morninglory, to take care of fellow orphans as the Sunflower had taken care of him. Although there were more plots against the Tôjô Association that required Kiryû to step in and take care of business, he basically left things in the hands of Dôjima Daigo, son of the old chairman, Dôjima Sôhei. Also during this time, the Tôjô Association seems to have become allies with the Ueno Seiwa Association whose leader their member, Saejima, had shot so many years ago. After the shooting, one of the major detectives on the team was shot to death. His son, Tanimura Masayoshi, spends his life looking for his killer as a detec- tive in the Tokyo Police's Public Safety Division. He is based in the Kamuro area. All of these events are somehow connected to a mystery woman, Lili. When this woman shows up at the office of a former-homeless loan shark named Akiyama Shun, it looks like the events of the past will surely be stirred up in another caper looming on the horizon. -------------------------- 3b. Part 1: Akiyama Shun -------------------------- Akiyama is a loan shark. Well, he wouldn't use those words to describe himself, but that's basically what he is. He's a moneylender. There are a lot of these guys in Japan who make small loans and come visiting you to collect. It's a little more informal than "pay- day" loans here, but it's basically the same thing, plus they'll come around to your place and stick their noses in to see if you'll pay them back. A former homeless man, Akiyama lends money out to whomever he sees fit. He lends to people who others wouldn't, but makes them pass unique tests and gives them special conditions on their loans. This is the way the writers paint him as a kind of hero of the streets, showing that he does what he can for people who have little hope to help them out, but also tries to help people reform and be better. They even say he has the nickname "The Refuge of Kamuro. He still hangs out with homeless people and displays bizarre work ethics, often leaving all the work to his assistant/secretary/office manager, a chubby young woman named Hana. A smooth talker, he's quick to approach women. That's not a bad trait, con- sidering he owns a cabaret club in town, Elise, and often takes a personal hand in management of the place. They don't explain how he has fighting prowess but it's mostly kicking, like Taegweondo. He also uses his jocular nature in fights, since he can taunt in a few more ways than other characters. 3b-I. Chapter 1: The Mysterious Moneylender --------------------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: (None) Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) The game starts with an aerial view of the "entrance" to the Kamuro District. You're at the soutwest of the map, on Tenkaichi Street ("Tenkaichi," incident- ally, means "Best in the World"). The Kamuro District is a fictional district in Tokyo, based off the real-life neighborhood called "Kabuki" in the Shibuya area of Tokyo. It's March 1st, 2010, and the building we're looking at in our nice little establishing shot contains the Sky Finance office. This is where our intrepid hero works. Of course the term is used loosely as you can see. That's Akiyama there, reading a local gossip rag. There's an article about a serial killer in the Kamuro District. "Scary stuff!" remarks Akiyama, who tosses it on the table and rolls over to nap. In fact, he naps right through the phone ringing. And yes, he's supposed to be at work. For some reason his personal cell phone on vibrate is enough to rouse him. It's Hana, his assistant--the same person, of course, who was trying to call the office phone just a few seconds earlier. Hana ain't so happy with Akiyama lazily sleeping all over the sofa (go figure!) during business hours. So she berates him and asks if he's even out of the office, like he should be, on that day. She asks, "You DO remember what day this is, right?" Akiyama guesses, "Umâ¦is it, like, your birthday, or somethin'â¦?" "NO!" shouts Hana. "Look at the wall calendar!!" Ahh! Collections day! Today's the day Akiyama has to go around the neighbor- hood and knock on doors to see if anyone's gonna finally give him the money they owe him. "Well," he says, "I was GONNA go out, butâ¦you know, something came up." "'Something came up?' Such asâ¦?" asks Hana. "Well, I mean, it's raining today!" says Akiyama, who looks out the window and sees that it must have stopped raining some time ago. With no more excuses, he agrees to go out and collect while Hana stays out, picking up some special kalbi lunch sets from the Tokyo-style Korean BBQ res- taurant, Han Rae. She likes that fatty food (maybe a little too much, as you'll see). So out he steps, looking like the Joker with the purple jacket and black hair that looks green because of the weird graphics. And guess what? It starts to rain again. It figures, right? Akiyama figures he'll go north to the Hotel District. It'll appear on your map as the flashing red dot. That dot is your friend. For almost the entire game, it will guide you. Don't know where to go for the main story? Follow that dude--he knows what's up. On your first playthrough, you get the self-musings of Akiyama and away you go. On consecutive ones, tho', if you got mail from Bob by completing lists, you'll get interrupted by those mails again now. All you can do is wait for them to shut up. If you have a lot of them to go through, try running to your first event while they're going off! I've only made it as far as Volcano be- fore. You can enter Poppo and Matsuya along the way and get one mail, then the barrage will stop for a bit, if you want. Nothing too interesting butâ¦getting 24 messages to your phone takes a while and is kinda uninteresting as it is. Also on your first playthrough, you'll see a weird dude hanging out with his arms folded in the middle of the street just north of Sky Finance. He has a workout towel on his shoulders (even in the rain), wears fingerless gloves, and has a ponytail and bizarre goatee. This is Komaki Sôtarô, someone who will come up again in Kiryû's part of the story. For now, he just randomly stops you to tell you that you look like you have physical prowess and mentions he runs a dojo. Joining a dojo doesn't really sound like Akiyama's cup of tea, but Komaki gives him a Memo Pad with some stuff about fighting jotted down in it. If you find people with blue arrows over their head (as opposed to the normal, green arrow people get when you can talk to them), talking to them will give you tips on how to play the game that will go down on that pad. You'll also get exper- ience points, and there's a Trophy for getting all the tips around town. So off you go towards the Hotel District. Run past Matsuya at the end of Tenkaichi and you'll have to turn right onto Taihei Street for a bit, then turn left to go north again in the southern part of Theater Street. This is the southeast part of the Theater Square area. Go north past Volcanic Volcano (a pachinko parlor) and you'll automatically be approached by three goons hanging out near the railing of Theater Square. These guys are rival moneylenders from an organization called "Loans Kamuro." They're gonna get in your way and claim Akiyama has unfair business practices. *Fight Music: "Speed Star" by Shôji Hidenori, off soundtrack vol. 1* Basically, you gotta resolve this with your fists. This is your first fight, and it's a tutorial. Follow the directions on the screen and you'll get exper- ience for each goal. First, you have to hit them with weak attacks (the Square button). You can link together weak attacks to make an attack string, and you can end it with a Triangle (heavy attack). What point of the string you are at when you hit Triangle changes the end attack. That's your second goal: land Heavy Attack Finishes. Your third goal is to grab an enemy with Circle and then land grapple attacks. Square gives you a 3-hit string, Triangle a knock-down heavy hit, and Circle throws the guy. I recommend using the Square button to finish it quickly. Your final goal is to pick up a weapon lying about the stage with Circle and hit the enemy with it, using Square for an attack string, Triangle for a heavy hit, or Circle to toss it. I recommend the bicycles as you can hit more than one enemy at once with their swings (which counts for more than one hit), but you can also pick up the pylons and such. Then, beat those three chowderheads the heck up. Start to go north along Theater Street and you'll come to a big fat dude in the middle of the street. This is Kamiyama Renji, a guy who modifies weapons in his little shop in the northeast. Don't worry about him yet; you can't go over there just now. He gives you a catalog. This has "recipes" for equipment. When you want to build equipment with him you will need recipes and ingredients so you can have him make something for you. Again, this isn't too important at this stage of the game. Now, continue north to Shichifuku, then slight west a little and north some more. This is the Hotel District's west alley, and it houses M Store and the Yoshida Batting Cages. It also houses Kanemura Industries, which sounds like a nice business but is actually a lesser yakuza family in the Tôjô Association that owns the streets in the Kamuro area. As you approach, a guy named Kido Takeshi runs past Akiyama. Akiyama seems to know him, so he figures he'll follow him to their headquarters to have a look- see. Inside the office we see Kido in a foul mood. He's looking for his superior, the second-in-command of Kanemura Industries, a man named Arai Hiroaki, who is unfortunately out with the head of their parent yakuza organization, Shibata Kazuo. Seems they're inspecting the progress of the construction of a building they have interests in, the Kamuro Hills building. One of his subordinates asks what's wrong. It seems some guys from a rival organization, the Ueno Seiwa Association, are drinking at a cabaret club in their turf called "Elnard." I'm not sure what the significance of it all is, but Elnard is the name of an old Enix RPG on the Super Famicom. Maybe they named it that as some kind of hommageâ¦? His underling doesn't see the problem. I mean, they're not necessarily there to cause trouble or anything! Maybe they're just there for a drink! Of course, a rival group drinking on your turf is, itself, a problem. Kido tries to explain it to his underling. The Ueno Seiwa Association is allied with the Tôjô Association, the umbrella organization over the Shibata Group, which is in turn over the Kanemura Industries family. But they aren't really equals. In exchange for not invading the Ueno land and taking over, Ueno pays the Tôjô, just the same as Shibata or Kanemura does. But then, here they are coming into the Tôjô land themselves. Kido says the relationship between the Tôjô and Ueno is kinda like the Tôjô Association is the U.S., while Ueno is like Japan. The underling really isn't following very well, and interrupts Kido, who yells at him. But then he regains his composure a bit and shrugs it off, saying that even if they know about the Ueno men being there, there's not much a little organization like them can do about it. So the underling thinks about it. "Aniki," he says, using a term that means "big brother" but is said to people you respect of higher rank in yakuza terms, "so, if the Tôjô and Ueno have this relationship you're talking about...then, well, if they come and drink here, then it's no problem, right?" Kido is less than impressed with this logic. "Well I mean, if the Tôjô and Ueno are allied, they can come in our land and drink in our clubs, right?" Kido kicks the table. "Are you an imbecile?!? This is why you're useless to us!" And then along came Akiyamaâ¦. "Yo!" he says. "Ohâ¦Akiyama-san." Akiyama wonders if he came at a bad time? Of course, to be polite, Kido tells him it's OK and invites him in. As he's collecting right now, Akiyama figured he should come by and see how things are with Kanemura. Kido tells him that Kanemura's not in, and Akiyama guesses his lieutenant, Arai, is out, too, which Kido confirms. Akiyama leans back in the couch. "Well? Aren't we going to continue that conversation? Aren't you going to teach your underlings why you can't have others come drinking on your turf?" Kido asks if Akiyama was eavesdropping and Akiyama explains that anyone could hear them, they were shouting so loud! He then addresses the clueless underling and asks him about himself. Hearing the guy has only been there three months, he quickly sizes him up as a punk who was just pulling petty crimes around town and saw how cool Arai was and thought he would like a taste of that life, so he joined. Kido tells Akiyama they're busy and Akiyama nods. "Yeah, I seeâ¦. 'Really busy,' huhâ¦?" he says, and gets up to leave. As he gets to the door, he pauses in front of the clueless underling. "Man, you guys are really in trouble!" he notes. The underling seems confused still by his comment, so he starts to explain. "Don't you know what it means in your line of work when the 'lower guys' come into the territory of the higher-ups? Whether it's a direct relationship or an allied relationship--it's the same thing! I mean, say you wanted to get a drink. You wouldn't go off to Shibata land to do it--the land of the boss of your boss, would you? Like some big shot?" The underling responds, "N-No, that's crazy!" "That's right!" says Akiyama. "That's crazy. I mean, it would cause a lot of embarrassment for Kanemura--and then, I don't think I need to tell you what a chewing out you'd get from Arai, right?" "This is the same," he explains. "I mean, Ueno guys coming in, waving their Ueno lapel pins around like some big shots, breaking promises and invading the Tôjô land like that--this is, in itself, a funny story! Do you know what that means?" Kido tries to stop Akiyama, but the underling asks, "Whatâ¦what does it mean?" "Well," says Akiyama, "it means you Kanemura guys are really the lowest of the low!" "What?" asks the underling. "I mean, I'm sure the Ueno guys are saying 'Oh that's Kanemura turf, so, it's OK!' Man, even for a third-rate organization like you guys--who are not only under the Tôjô, but even farther below that, under the Shibata--that's going a little too far. Man!" The underling gets mad. "Hey, *****, you making fun of us?!" Akiyama smiles. "Finally, you get it. This is the way it should be! Being a yakuza isn't just about how big that family crest pin is on your lapel. There's no use for a yakuza who doesn't get mad at anyone who makes fun of that crest!" "So, you know, give it your best shot, man!" he says. "If you guys don't do your job, then people like me can't do ours, you know?" As he goes to leave, he suddenly pauses again. "Oh, Kido-chan! Could you give your boss a message for me?" He then steps back into the room and speaks loudly to the back door. "If you let people mock you and your organization without responding, your life as a gangster is over! I won't lend any more money to a guy who's a gangster only in name like that! Please remember to uphold the 'terms' you agreed to when I lent you money!" Then he leaves. Out of the back office comes Kanemura, to the surprise of the confused under- ling. "That little punk, Akiyama, clear outta here?" he asks. "Well, we do have a problem. What're we gonna do?" Kido promises to call up Arai and keep leaving messages. He's sure that Arai can handle it in a peaceful way; it'd be best to avoid trouble. After Kanemura goes back into his office, the underling asks Kido who on earth this Akiyama dude is, anyway, and Kido explains. "He's a 32-year-old guy running a moneylending businss called 'Sky Finance.' People call him the 'Kamuro District Refuge.' You could say he's a loan shark, but he doesn't see it that way. He does differ from other moneylenders with his tests and special terms he makes people agree to." "Where's the merit in that kind of action?" asks the underling, but Kido has no idea. He doesn't even understand how Akiyama makes loans like that! He also notes that people who borrow money from him never do it again, though he doesn't know why that is, either. He ends by warning the underling it's best to stay away from that weirdo. As he explains, we see Akiyama buying beer and such. He pays a visit to some of his old homeless buddies, drinking with them at the eastern end of Kôenmae ("In Front of the Park") Street, near the entrance to the West Park, where the future Kamuro Hills building is under construction. Out of the site come Arai and Shibata. Arai's cell phone rings, but Shibata doesn't seem upset. Instead, he gives Arai some money and tells him to get something to eat for his hard work. Arai answers the phone as Shibata leaves, frowns, and says "Elnard, right? I'll handle it." You're now back in control. Yes, this is a cut-scene-heavy game. That's why I told you to turn on the "event skip" option in the options menu, because if you ever mess up, you'll have to swim through all this stuff again. So Akiyama decides to head on over to Elnard and stick his nose in this busi- ness. The area is marked on your map, on east Shichifuku. Go west down Kôen- mae and then south down the alley between Han Rae and the Shichifuku Parking Lot. When you come to the corner of the back alley and Kôenmae, guess what? Those three moneylenders you beat up earlier? They're back, but with their big brother! He'll learn you! This is another tutorial. First, hold down R1 and move around to "Shift," which is an ersatz lock-on that ends up being more like a "strafe" button most of the time. Next, use L1 to guard enemy attacks. Hit X and you can "Sway," which is basically a semi-invincible side step. You can direct the Sway with the left analog stick. Now, the game prompts you to build up Heat Energy until you are in Heat Mode. Heat builds principally by taunting and attacking. If you're playing after beating the game with the War God Talisman equipped and have infinite Heat, you should take it off before this part. If you waited too long, do a Heat Move to waste your energy after removing it. Then, once you have no Heat Energy, simply equip it again to get in Heat Mode. Don't worry about that if you don't know what I'm talking about. Lastly, do Heat Moves. When you first start off, you pretty much only have the Heat Move where you grab a guy, get near an environmental hazard such as a wall or railing, and hit Triangle when prompted, and the one where you pick up a weapon and get near a guy and hit Triangle when prompted. Now beat the last guys up. So, it's time to finally get down to Elnard. You guys wanna cruise over to Elnard? Get some Elnard action? ⦠As you get to the club, one of the waiters there stops you as you enter. He apologizes for the inconvenience, but it seems that some yakuza are in there causing trouble. Unfazed, Akiyama goes right ahead on in. In the club, the two Ueno Seiwa Association members are, indeed, causing trouble. They've drunk a considerable amount of alcohol and are treating the girls roughly. The more ridiculous-looking of the two, the guy with sunglasses on his head and an outlandish purple suit with ugly shirt underneath, yells at the waiter. "Where are those 100 bottles of champagne we ordered?? It's been ten minutes!" This annoying fellow is Ihara Masaru. The other guy, with blonde hair, is Mishima Yutaka. Mishima mocks the waiter. "What, does this club wait until people order drinks before getting 'em in stock?" Akiyama approaches. He coolly dismisses the two, looking at the empty bottles with scrutiny. He complains that they just wasted the precious, fine alcohol just gobbling it down like glutons, instead of savoring them. Ihara asks who he is, but Akiyama ignores him. Mishima gets up and yells at him at this, but Akiyama further ignores him! He takes a swipe at Akiyama, who deftly ducks out of the way and responds by breaking an empty bottle over Mi- shima's head. Ihara looks confused. "What?? This isn't the way it was supposed to go down!" he says, to which Akiyama gives a puzzled look. Just then, in comes Kido. Seems Arai's still on his way. Ihara suddenly bursts out, "So! You're trying to start a war with us, huh?" Akiyama asks him "What's all this weird stuff you keep saying, man?" But Ihara seems unflappable. He says, "If you hurt us here, we'll strike back! We'll kill your whole gang!!" So, Kido steps in. "Who do you think you are, *****, coming around to other peoples' turf and saying **** like that??" Akiyama stops him from getting into the fight, though. He explains, "This is my fight. I'm a moneylender, running Sky Finance. I have nothing to do with any yakuza family. If it's a fight, it's just me and these guys, go tit?" Ihara doesn't seem to have a problem with that. *Fight music: "Rebellions" by Takagi Yasuhiro off soundtrack vol. 1* Welcome to your first boss fight! Aren't you thrilled? Eh, this guy's not exactly enthralling, I know. If you're struggling, don't forget you can kick the items around the floor at him with Triangle, or you can pick 'em up and smash his face in. When you get him low enough, you'll trigger your first special Heat Action, a "Quick-Time-Event"-like cinema where you must hit the buttons as they appear on screen to finish it properly. After you get to a certain point, the game will explain these special moments to you and give you a certain amount of time to build up Heat Energy, which is done, in this case, by following the button prompts as they appear on the screen. Once you've got a full gauge, it will prompt you with Triangle to perform a devastating attack. So you beat him up, and in comes Arai. Akiyama gives him an almost-disturbing look of admiration. He tells him, "Araiâ¦seems you're a little late!" to which Arai responds, "Yeah, and I see you're as tough as ever." Akiyama apologizes for beating up someone that was their business, offering the rather lame excuse that they just rubbed him the wrong way. He reaches to get a cigarette, and there's Arai, offering him one of his own. Akiyama praises Arai, saying that he always understands him, but Arai says it was just a matter of habit, since he had it beaten into him by his superiors when he was younger to always have a cig or lighter handy when they needed one. Akiyama tells him that's not what he was talking about. He meant that Arai didn't even ask him why he picked a fight with those guys. Arai responds that he figured it had something to do with the special terms he set for the loan to their boss, Kanemura, which it did. After all, Akiyama doesn't make loans with- out special terms. Akiyama asks if he knows what the special term is this time and Arai says that although Kanemura didn't tell him directly, he thinks it must have been a request that Kanemura retire. It was such a request. It seems that Akiyama wants Arai to inherit the Kane- mura Industries family and make a name for himself. He believes Arai can be as famous a yakuza as the former fourth chairman of the Tôjô Association, Kiryû Kazuma. But Arai's not so sure. After all, he and Kiryû have completely different circumstances. Kiryû was formerly in the Dôjima Group, whose boss was actually chairman at the time, while as for himself, he's just in the lowly Kanemura Industries family. Akiyama thinks he's mistaken. He points out that he became all that he is now because money literally fell down on him from the sky when he was homeless. He believes people have chances just rain down upon them randomly by fate, and what is necessary in life is to just take those chances, make the most of them, and rise up. He says even if it's from a lower-league group such as the Kanemura, being a Group Head in the yakuza is still being a Group Head. If you're going to one day make something of yourself in that world, it's not such a bad thing, really. Just then, Ihara props himself up and draws his pistol. Akiyama curses at him, but Arai reminds him that this is, after all, his business. He asks Ihara if he has the courage to pull that trigger, knowing that there will definitely be a response from his family. Ihara tells him it's a matter of the Ueno Seiwa Association's pride, and Arai says he understands, but if Ihara shoots, then he will shoot back. He tells Ihara that if he hands over the gun they'll let them leave, no questions asked. Ihara starts to lower his gun and Arai walks forward and puts his hand on it, too. As the gun lowers, it goes off, shooting Arai in the stomach. As Akiyama and Kido come to Arai's aid, Ihara grabs Mishima and high-tails it out of there. It's just a flesh wound. Seems the bullet grazed off of Arai's side. He sends Kido out after Ihara but tells him not to get carried away if he does find him. Like a split second later, he gets a call from Kido and he's like "What's that?? Oh, manâ¦well, OK. I'll go looking for him, too." So, what was that, like 10 seconds Kido looked before he calls Arai and tells him he lost his trail? Oh well who am I to question the logic of Ryû ga Gotoku World, right? Off he goes, and you're left alone. I don't know why, but they don't auto- matically put you out of Elnard. You're still inside, butâ¦there's, like, nothing for you to do here. So go on out! Once outside, Akiyama gets yet another call from Hana. Apparently, she's tried to call him 30 times! She asks him to please head on back to the office. It's already past midnight! The day's changed! It's not fair that she should have to do all the chores, in her opinion, if he can just come and go as he pleases. She starts to list off the chores she has to do like cleaning up the office and ordering supplies, and then she mentions that she has to go get food and he responds by saying, "Hey, that has nothing to do with it! You just want to eat, that's why you go buy food all the time." He further explains he doesn't understand why she didn't just go home herself. I mean, she has a key! Why did she wait around for him? But she says that she couldn't go home because something scary was going on. Seems some punks were outside in a street fight, and she was afraid! What if she was raped? Akiyama starts chuckling. "Raped? YOU??" "Did you laugh just now!?" she asks. He apologizes and asks what's so special about these guys. She says they had a handgun, and one of them mentioned "Ueno." Dun-dun-DUNNNNN!! CAPTION: Head to Sky Finance *Background music: "Nervousness" by Takagi Yasuhiro off soundtrack vol. 1* So head over there. Along the way, you'll probably notice the game has start- ed spawning people who will stop you and get into fights. These are the random encounters of the game. You'll want to fight them, probably, as you need to get lots of experience points to level your dudes up. I dunno, it's up to you. If you want to avoid them, just run past them and don't let them get too close. As soon as you get close to Sky Finance, an event will automatically happen. Someone will shoot someone. Akiyama heads to the back alley near his office, around the corner, and finds Arai standing above a fallen Ihara, who has a bullet between his eyes. "Looks like I won't be able to take that chance you were trying to give me," he says, and runs away. Some guy in a blue "Members-Only"-esque jacket pushes past Akiyama and starts to investigate Ihara's dead body. He remarks that one bullet straight to the head is an execution-style killing, and tells Akiyama to run. After all, if he sticks around, the cops will think he's the killer, and he thinks that some of the bad guys down at the station might beat a confession out of him. Hana yells down to Akiyama, but it's too late. Cops are there. They arrest him, and the man in the blue jacket tells him to hang in there. Sugiuchi's interrogations are kinda famous. It seems Akiyama knows this Sugiuchi guy. As he's dragged away, he calls to Hana. Hana calls back to him. Poor guy. 3b-II. Chapter 2: The Fateful Lady ------------------------------------ Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠The Cost of Restructuring ⢠Request to Become an Apprentice ⢠Gourmet Reporter ⢠A Recruiter's Guide ⢠Project Geek Makeover ⢠The Way to Use Money ⢠Cabaret Club Walkthrough, Akiyama Edition Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: Taihei Lockers keys (46/50): A1 through D1, D4 through E2, E4 through H4, I1 through J5 (basically, all except: D2, D3, E3, and H5) Kamuro Subway Shopping Lockers keys (34/50): A1 through A4, B1, B2, B4, C1 through D1, D3 through D5, E2, E3, E5, F1, F4 through G1, G5 through H3, I1, I2, I4 through J1, J4, J5 (all except: A5, B3, B5, D2, E1, E4, F2, F3, G2 through G4, H4, H5, I3, J2, and J3) Side games made available in this chapter: All mini-games and gambling games Allies (Befriending system) Cabaret club girls Mizutani Noa and Aihara Elena at JeweL, Rio at Shine 1. Enter Sky Finance, gain Hideout 2. Exit Sky Finance, get phone call from Kido 3. Meet Kido on roof of Club SEGA at Theater Square, defeat Shibata Group members 4. Chase Battle: run from police to roof of Sky Finance 3b-III. Chapter 3: Trouble in the Tôjô Association ---------------------------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠The Whereabouts of 300 Billion Yen ⢠Hana-chan's Depression ⢠The Fake Ticket ⢠Defiance of an Apprentice ⢠A Wife's Feelings ⢠Make Money with FX Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Head towards Theater Square, defeat men harassing girl 2. Chase Battle: catch pickpocket 3. Talk to Saigô 4. Enter Sky Finance, conversation with Sugiuchi 5. Take Lili to Milestone (in Kamuro Subway Shopping Area), talk to worker, select a dress 6. Take Lili to Le Marche, talk to worker, select a necklace 7. Enter Elise (across the street from the Milennium Tower), dress up Lili 8. Go to Theater Square, get call from Elise's manager, meet Lili 9. Go with Lili to the entrance to the Champion Mall from north Senryô, event 10. Defeat Shibata Group yakuza 3b-IV. Chapter 4: Promises ---------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠Retry ⢠Beware of Imitations ⢠Cabaret Club Training Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Phone call with Elise's manager 2. Take Lili to Elise, receive 100,000 yen business account, dress up Lili, walk around Elise until Akiyama says he's heard enough, return to the back room, repeat 3. Go to Marimba, a club in the southwest corner of the Champion Mall, event 4. Talk to transvestite outside Club Deva 5. Look at points of interest: ⢠Clothes ⢠Lighter ⢠(Corpse) ⢠(Floor) 6. Exit 7. Enter Sky Finance 8. Talk to Mack Shinozuka, pass first Revelation by zooming in on the girl across on the other roof, correctly hitting the three buttons when prompted, then choosing top option (8A. Talk to high school students near Sky Finance on Tenkaichi, talk to female office worker on the southwest corner of Tenkaichi and Taihei) 9. Talk to man in front of Coin Lockers near Milennium Tower on Taihei 10. Talk to bums in front of escalator in Theater Square Underground area 11. Enter back door to Milennium Tower underground from south side of Shichi- fuku 12. Go left, then up stairs to Milennium Tower Electrical Room 13. ACTION STAGE: defeat Hatsushiba Group members, break gate, run upstairs, hit X when prompted (the bum named "Sukegawa" joins as an ally), defeat enemies until you come to a closed door, examine door, run back to room with escalator where you meet Sukegawa, find the bum named "Kakuta," go back to door, defeating enemies on the way, examine door, progress up stairs, defeat- ing enemies and examining door to call Kakuta over again and again, find Hatsushiba members harrassing Minamita, defeat enemies, enter Hatsushiba Group Headquarters, DEFEAT BOSS: MIDORIKAWA TAKUMI phase 1 (gun), defeat Hatsushiba Group members, DEFEAT BOSS: MIDORIKAWA TAKUMI phase 2 (chainsaw) 14. Return to Sky Finance, Akiyama decides to go to Elise 15. Enter Elise, train Lili, walk around Elise until Akiyama decides he's heard enough, go back to back room, repeat 16. Return to Sky Finance, get call from Elise's manager 17. Enter Milennium Tower 18. Enter elevator, answer "yes" 19. Cut scene, telephone conversation with Hana, telephone conversation with Elise's manager 20. Return to Sky Finance, talk to Hana 21. Chase Battle: pursue Hana (you cannot catch her; just follow her to Jidô Park on West Shichifuku) 22. Telephone conversation with Elise's manager 23. Enter Elise, DEFEAT BOSS: MINAMI DAISAKU --------------------------- 3c. Part 2: Saejima Taiga --------------------------- 3c-I. Chapter 1: Run to the Truth ----------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: (None) Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Defeat inmates Tutorial: Use Charge Heavy Attack Finsher, defeat remaining enemies 2. Talk to Kamiyama next to save point 3. Talk to guys in a group of three in the nothwest 4. Talk to Kataoka, third member of the trio in the northwest 5. Defeat inmates within 1 minute 6. Talk to Kamiyama 7. Talk to group of two men in the east 8. Talk to Kawana, the man standing more to the east of the two 9. Talk to man smoking in the south, Ozaki 10. Talk to Kawana 11. Talk to guard near gate in the east, walk to the south, pick up lighter (flashing light) 12. Talk to Kawana 13. Defeat inmates within 1 minute 14. Talk to Kamiyama 15. Talk to Hamazaki 16. Check spot in northeast, place grappling hook under panel 17. ACTION STAGE: Defeat prison guards, defeat prison guards, hit Triangle when prompted, run up stairs, hit Circle when prompted, hit X when prompted, hit X when prompted, DEFEAT BOSS: SAITÃ, examine body to pick up key, exam- ine panel next to exit door to use key, defeat enemies, go to the roof, avoid sniper while breaking gates, enter stairwell, go down, defeat enemies, go to yard, go to corner with grappling hook, DEFEAT BOSS: SAITà (plus other enemies) 3c-II. Chapter 2: The Tiger and the Dragon -------------------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: (None) Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. DEFEAT BOSS: KIRYà KAZUMA (big chapter, huhâ¦?) 3c-III. Chapter 3: Twenty Five Years Wasted --------------------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠Older Sister, Younger Brother 1 ⢠The Thing Caught When Fishing ⢠The Cats and the Homeless Men ⢠The Woman With Men After Her ⢠Remains of Chivalry ⢠Ryûgûjô Bodyguard ⢠The Bodyguard ⢠Older Sister, Younger Brother 2 ⢠Cause for Retribution ⢠Parent and Child ⢠Disturbance at the Address Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Talk to old man in alley near Works Kamiyama by the east end of Kôenmae (1A. Talk to old man near the coin lockers in Kamuro Subway Shopping Area without any alcoholic beverages in your possession) 2. Purchase Japanese Sake or other alcoholic beverage from a convenience store 3. Talk to old man near the coin lockers in Kauro Subway Shopping Area with alcoholic beverage in your possession, choose to give it to him 4. Enter Champion Mall, event with Kido 5. Chase Battle: catch Kido! 6. Meet Kido at the entrance to the Theater Square Underground Area by the coin lockers on Taihei (follow him if you want or wait for him to get there), meet Kido at the escalator down to the undergound area (follow him or wait for him to get there), go to Hatsushiba Headquarters, enter. This is now your Hideout. 7. Take escalator to Theater Square Underground area, automatically trigger event with Ken (a homeless man) leading you to help The Hermit 8. Choose to help The Hermit, defeat enemies 9. Talk to the homeless man across the bridge in the Central Sewer area, on the west side 10. Go north and to the east, take exit from sewer areas 11. Go to the restrooms in the entrance to the West Park area on east Kôenmae, to the last stall in the men's room, event 12. Talk to Tsurumi, the construction worker on the northeast corner of the intersection near M Store and the Yoshida Battin Cages, promise not to tell 13. Go to the manhole in Jidô Park, defeat gang members 14. Go into the sewers, take path to the Sai no Kawara underground area 15. Go to Hanaya's mansion and enter, event 16. Talk to Hanaya in front of the arena gates, say you're ready 17. DEFEAT BOSS: IVAN IBRAHIMOVIC 3c-IV. Chapter 4: The Brothers' Oath -------------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠Everyone Had His Own 25 Years ⢠Older Sister, Younger Brother 3 ⢠Older Sister, Younger Brother 4 Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Leave Sai no Kawara underground through manhole to sewers to Jidô Park 2. Answer Sodachi; either way, you'll end up in his dojo 3. Leave Sodachi dojo, go to the west end of Theater Square, take staircase to roof of Club SEGA, run to exit from West Rooftops to Sky Finance, meeting Kamiyama along the way 4. From outside Sky Finance, go towards the Third Park and enter Kamuro Under- ground Parking, run across to exit to Pink Street Back Alley, down the alley to the stairs to the East Rooftops, to the exit to the Pink Street Back Alley near Kyûshû Ichibanboshi Ramen, north along Senryô to Shichifuku Parking Lot, take manhole to the Milennium Tower Underground, take elevator up to Milennium Tower Back Entrance on Shichifuku, stay on the south side of the street and head to entrance to Theater Square Underground Area, down escalator and into Hideout 5. Enter Hideout again, talk to Kido, choose to rest until night 6. Exit Hideout, up escalator, north to exit to Shichifuku, east to back entrance to Milennium Tower Underground, up to Shichifuku Parking Lot, down Senryô to staircase to East Rooftops, down to Underground Parking, manhole to Central Sewer, exit to Milennium Tower's gardens, enter Milennium Tower. 7. Defeat Majima Group members, DEFEAT BOSS: MINAMI DAISAKU 8. DEFEAT BOSS: MAJIMA GORà -------------------------------- 3d. Part 3: Tanimura Masayoshi -------------------------------- 3d-I. Chapter 1: The Kamuro District Tick ------------------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠Gambling Addiction Blues ⢠Be My Boyfriend, Please ⢠Cabaret Club Walkthrough, Tanimura Edition ⢠Let's Go on a Group Date Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Enter Luk Laan Jong, talk to shopkeep, talk to young man at mahjong table 2. Either gain enough points in mahjong to trade them in for 2 Silver Plates, or go to nearby Ebisuya Pawn Shop and buy 2 Fake Silver Plates 3. Give 2 Silver Plates or 2 Fake Silver Plates to young man in Luk Laan Jong 4. Go to Shichifuku Parking Lot, talk to "Try and Hit Me!" guy, defeat him Tutorial: Parry attacks, defeat remaining enemy 5. Leave Shichifuku Parking Lot, get dipatch message over radio 6. Automatically change scenes to Theater Square, defeat thugs, talk to Akaishi, get phone call from Zhao 7. Go to the Chinese restaurant on east Taihei Street, on the north side, between Pink and Senryô, cinemas, talk to Zhao, get phone call from Midori's manager, gain Hideout 8. Go to Midori in the alleys to the east of Nakamichi 9. Defeat Shibata Group Members 10. Take taxi to the Docks 11. ACTION STAGE: Defeat Shibata Group Members, run along path, hit Triangle when prompted, defeat enemies, hit X when prompted, defeat enemies, avoid slipping on oil by Shifting and not Swaying, hit Square when prompted, defeat enemies, break gate, defeat enemies, Hit Circle when prompted, defeat Shibata Group Members 3d-II. Chapter 2: The Real Culprit ------------------------------------ Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠Another Case ⢠The Clue ⢠Witness ⢠A View From Above ⢠L'Ãtranger ⢠Auto Break-In ⢠The Stolen Bribe ⢠The Silent Majority Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Talk to Yasuko and Zhao, talk to Nair outside, automatically move to aban- doned space Nair uses for a base, talk to Nair 2. Go to Underground Parking (2A. Check car in space 101, fight yakuza) (2B. Check car in space 402, defeat punks) 3. Check car in space 307 4. Exit Underground Parking Lot, get Unknown Number call, get picture message 5. Go to the East Rooftops, to the western edge where you can see the view in the picture and talk to homeless man there 6. Talk to Katsuragi on the phone 7. Go back to Hideout in Hometown in Asian Alley 8. Talk to Zhao in Hometown, agree to rest until morning 9. Go to the garden in front of the Milennium Tower, strolling conversation event with Katsuragi 10. ACTION STAGE: (Defeat Ueno Seiwa Association Members), run to where path is blocked near Kotobuki Pharmacy, defeat Ueno Seiwa Association Members, lose attache case and defeat more Ueno Seiwa Association Members, Chase Bat- le: catch fleeing Ueno Seiwa Association Member, defeat Ueno Seiwa Associat- ion Members, Chase Battle: Flee to west entrance to Asian Alley, defeat Ueno Seiwa Association Members 3d-III. Chapter 3: The Door to the Truth ------------------------------------------ Missions activated in this chapter: (None) Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Talk to Hisai, agree to go to Police Headquarters 2. Examine shelves closest to Hisai and read about the case 25 years ago 3. Return to Hometown, talk to Zhao (NOTE: If you have not done the side mission "Another Case," it will be automatically triggered when you try to enter Hometown. Follow it until you rescue Zhao near Karaoke-Kan and he will be back at Hometown so you can continue the story) 3d-IV. Chapter 4: What Makes a Detective ------------------------------------------ Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠Dangerous Play ⢠The True Identity of the Bridge ⢠That Which Is Inherited ⢠Mei-hua's Letter Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Go to Sky Finance, talk to Akiyama 2. Take a taxi to the Docks to meet Mishima 3. Special Chase Battle: chase down Sugiuchi's boat, ramming it with Square and shooting with Triangle when reticle turns red 4. DEFEAT BOSS: SUGIUCHI JUNJI -------------------------- 3e. Part 4: Kiryû Kazuma -------------------------- 3e-I. Chapter 1: Meeting Again -------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: (None) Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Gain use of Hideout in Morninglory Orphanage, talk to Haruka on the beach 2. Talk to Hamazaki in front of Morninglory Orphanage, say you're ready to go 3. ACTION STAGE: Defeat prison guards including Saitô, go down, defeat guards, breaking barriers, go downstairs, hit Circle when prompted, DEFEAT BOSS: SAITà 3e-II. Chapter 2: To the Kamuro District ------------------------------------------ Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠Yûya's Way ⢠That Incorrigible Guy ⢠Color Gangs ⢠The Return of a Wily Man ⢠Kôtarô Goes Job Hunting ⢠Cabaret Club Walkthrough, Kiryû Edition ⢠Curry Chase ⢠Town Hero (note: Mission cannot be completed in Part 4, Chapter 2) ⢠Duel Between Master and Apprentice ⢠The White Lie Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Go to New Serena, event, enter New Serena 2. Talk to Date, gain use of Hideout in New Serena, leave New Serena, talk to Date 3. Go near garden in front of Milennium Tower 3e-III. Chapter 3: A Chance Encounter --------------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: (None) Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Return to New Serena, enter, talk to Date, exit 2. Walk north up Tenkaichi, see Yasuko, go to intersection near Matsuya, see Yasuko, go to alley running to southwest Theater Square, see Yasuko, go into Theater Square, see Yasuko, go to Shichifuku, see Yasuko, enter manhole in Jidô Park 3. DEFEAT BOSSES: AKIYAMA SHUN and TANIMURA MASAYOSHI 4. Follow path to Sai no Kawara Underground, told by bum to open manholes along the way, gaining access to underground areas, go to Hanaya's Mansion, event 3e-IV. Chapter 4: A Chain of Betrayals ---------------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠The Condition of Family ⢠A Doctor's Soul Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Talking scenes at New Serena, exit, phone call from Hanaya 2. Go to the entrance to the West Park through the toilets at the eastern end of Kôenmae, enter through last stall in men's room 3. ACTION STAGE: Defeat Ueno Seiwa Association Members, enter Kamuro Hills building, press Square when prompted, keep moving up and breaking barricades and defeating enemies until you get to an elevator and defeat all waves of enemies, defeat enemies in the maze of corridors then in a room, then when you enter the next room hit X when prompted, defeat enemies, when you come to a gap in the floor hit X when prompted, in the dark room hit X when promp- ted, defeat enemies, examine glitter of light near fallen enemy to pick up key, unlock and exit door, defeat four boss-like enemies, go up stairs -------------------------------- 3f. The Final Chapter: Requiem -------------------------------- Missions activated in this chapter: ⢠Green-Colored Shadow ⢠Kiryû Day Care ⢠The Language of Flowers ⢠The Hills Rumor ⢠Amon Coin Keys made accessible in this chapter: (None) Side games made available in this chapter: (None) 1. Talk to Date and say you're ready 2. DEFEAT BOSS: ARAI HIROAKI as Akiyama 3. DEFEAT BOSS: KIDO TAKESHI as Saejima 4. DEFEAT BOSS: DÃJIMA DAIGO as Kiryû 5. DEFEAT BOSS: MUNAKATA SEISHIRà and underlings (recommended to defeat under- lings first) as Tanimura ---------------------------------- 4. STEP-BY-STEP STORY WALKTHROUGH ---------------------------------- Part 1: Akiyama Shun --------------------- Part 1, Chapter 1: The Mysterious Moneylender ---------------------------------------------- 1. Run north on Tenkaichi (1A. Receive Memo Pad from Komaki; only happens first playthrough) 2. Go to Theater Square, fight three moneylenders Tutorial: use weak attacks, use heavy attack string finishers, use grapple attacks, use weapon attacks, defeat remaining enemies 3. Run north, near Shichifuku, receive "Kamiyama Weapons Catalogue" from Kamiyama. 4. Near M Store, event 5. (automatically placed on east end of Kôenmae) Run west then south along west edge of Shichifuku Parking, defeat three enemies plus yakuza Tutorial: Shift, Sway, enter Heat Mode, use Heat Actions, defeat remaining enemies 6. Go to Elnard, cabaret club on Shichifuku, enter, DEFEAT BOSS: IHARA MASARU 7. Telephone conversation with Hana, then go near Sky Finance, automatically enter event. Part 1, Chapter 2: The Fateful Lady ------------------------------------ 1. Enter Sky Finance, gain Hideout 2. Exit Sky Finance, get phone call from Kido 3. Meet Kido on roof of Club SEGA at Theater Square, defeat Shibata Group members 4. Chase Battle: run from police to roof of Sky Finance Part 1, Chapter 3: Trouble in the Tôjô Association --------------------------------------------------- 1. Head towards Theater Square, defeat men harassing girl 2. Chase Battle: catch pickpocket 3. Talk to Saigô 4. Enter Sky Finance, conversation with Sugiuchi 5. Take Lili to Milestone (in Kamuro Subway Shopping Area), talk to worker, select a dress 6. Take Lili to Le Marche, talk to worker, select a necklace 7. Enter Elise (across the street from the Milennium Tower), dress up Lili 8. Go to Theater Square, get call from Elise's manager, meet Lili 9. Go with Lili to the entrance to the Champion Mall from north Senryô, event 10. Defeat Shibata Group yakuza Part 1, Chapter 4: Promises ---------------------------- 1. Phone call with Elise's manager 2. Take Lili to Elise, receive 100,000 yen business account, dress up Lili, walk around Elise until Akiyama says he's heard enough, return to the back room, repeat 3. Go to Marimba, a club in the southwest corner of the Champion Mall, event 4. Talk to transvestite outside Club Deva 5. Look at points of interest: ⢠Clothes ⢠Lighter ⢠(Corpse) ⢠(Floor) 6. Exit 7. Enter Sky Finance 8. Talk to Mack Shinozuka, pass first Revelation by zooming in on the girl across on the other roof, correctly hitting the three buttons when prompted, then choosing top option (8A. Talk to high school students near Sky Finance on Tenkaichi, talk to female office worker on the southwest corner of Tenkaichi and Taihei) 9. Talk to man in front of Coin Lockers near Milennium Tower on Taihei 10. Talk to bums in front of escalator in Theater Square Underground area 11. Enter back door to Milennium Tower underground from south side of Shichi- fuku 12. Go left, then up stairs to Milennium Tower Electrical Room 13. ACTION STAGE: defeat Hatsushiba Group members, break gate, run upstairs, hit X when prompted (the bum named "Sukegawa" joins as an ally), defeat enemies until you come to a closed door, examine door, run back to room with escalator where you meet Sukegawa, find the bum named "Kakuta," go back to door, defeating enemies on the way, examine door, progress up stairs, defeat- ing enemies and examining door to call Kakuta over again and again, find Hatsushiba members harrassing Minamita, defeat enemies, enter Hatsushiba Group Headquarters, DEFEAT BOSS: MIDORIKAWA TAKUMI phase 1 (gun), defeat Hatsushiba Group members, DEFEAT BOSS: MIDORIKAWA TAKUMI phase 2 (chainsaw) 14. Return to Sky Finance, Akiyama decides to go to Elise 15. Enter Elise, train Lili, walk around Elise until Akiyama decides he's heard enough, go back to back room, repeat 16. Return to Sky Finance, get call from Elise's manager 17. Enter Milennium Tower 18. Enter elevator, answer "yes" 19. Cut scene, telephone conversation with Hana, telephone conversation with Elise's manager 20. Return to Sky Finance, talk to Hana 21. Chase Battle: pursue Hana (you cannot catch her; just follow her to Jidô Park on West Shichifuku) 22. Telephone conversation with Elise's manager 23. Enter Elise, DEFEAT BOSS: MINAMI DAISAKU Part 2: Saejima Taiga ---------------------- Part 2, Chapter 1: Run to the Truth ------------------------------------ 1. Defeat inmates Tutorial: Use Charge Heavy Attack Finsher, defeat remaining enemies 2. Talk to Kamiyama next to save point 3. Talk to guys in a group of three in the nothwest 4. Talk to Kataoka, third member of the trio in the northwest 5. Defeat inmates within 1 minute 6. Talk to Kamiyama 7. Talk to group of two men in the east 8. Talk to Kawana, the man standing more to the east of the two 9. Talk to man smoking in the south, Ozaki 10. Talk to Kawana 11. Talk to guard near gate in the east, walk to the south, pick up lighter (flashing light) 12. Talk to Kawana 13. Defeat inmates within 1 minute 14. Talk to Kamiyama 15. Talk to Hamazaki 16. Check spot in northeast, place grappling hook under panel 17. ACTION STAGE: Defeat prison guards, defeat prison guards, hit Triangle when prompted, run up stairs, hit Circle when prompted, hit X when prompted, hit X when prompted, DEFEAT BOSS: SAITÃ, examine body to pick up key, exam- ine panel next to exit door to use key, defeat enemies, go to the roof, avoid sniper while breaking gates, enter stairwell, go down, defeat enemies, go to yard, go to corner with grappling hook, DEFEAT BOSS: SAITà (plus other enemies) Part 2, Chapter 2: The Tiger and the Dragon -------------------------------------------- 1. DEFEAT BOSS: KIRYà KAZUMA (big chapter, huhâ¦?) Part 2, Chapter 3: Twenty Five Years Wasted -------------------------------------------- 1. Talk to old man in alley near Works Kamiyama by the east end of Kôenmae (1A. Talk to old man near the coin lockers in Kamuro Subway Shopping Area without any alcoholic beverages in your possession) 2. Purchase Japanese Sake or other alcoholic beverage from a convenience store 3. Talk to old man near the coin lockers in Kauro Subway Shopping Area with alcoholic beverage in your possession, choose to give it to him 4. Enter Champion Mall, event with Kido 5. Chase Battle: catch Kido! 6. Meet Kido at the entrance to the Theater Square Underground Area by the coin lockers on Taihei (follow him if you want or wait for him to get there), meet Kido at the escalator down to the undergound area (follow him or wait for him to get there), go to Hatsushiba Headquarters, enter. This is now your Hideout. 7. Take escalator to Theater Square Underground area, automatically trigger event with Ken (a homeless man) leading you to help The Hermit 8. Choose to help The Hermit, defeat enemies 9. Talk to the homeless man across the bridge in the Central Sewer area, on the west side 10. Go north and to the east, take exit from sewer areas 11. Go to the restrooms in the entrance to the West Park area on east Kôenmae, to the last stall in the men's room, event 12. Talk to Tsurumi, the construction worker on the northeast corner of the intersection near M Store and the Yoshida Battin Cages, promise not to tell 13. Go to the manhole in Jidô Park, defeat gang members 14. Go into the sewers, take path to the Sai no Kawara underground area 15. Go to Hanaya's mansion and enter, event 16. Talk to Hanaya in front of the arena gates, say you're ready 17. DEFEAT BOSS: IVAN IBRAHIMOVIC Part 2, Chapter 4: The Brothers' Oath -------------------------------------- 1. Leave Sai no Kawara underground through manhole to sewers to Jidô Park 2. Answer Sodachi; either way, you'll end up in his dojo 3. Leave Sodachi dojo, go to the west end of Theater Square, take staircase to roof of Club SEGA, run to exit from West Rooftops to Sky Finance, meeting Kamiyama along the way 4. From outside Sky Finance, go towards the Third Park and enter Kamuro Under- ground Parking, run across to exit to Pink Street Back Alley, down the alley to the stairs to the East Rooftops, to the exit to the Pink Street Back Alley near Kyûshû Ichibanboshi Ramen, north along Senryô to Shichifuku Parking Lot, take manhole to the Milennium Tower Underground, take elevator up to Milennium Tower Back Entrance on Shichifuku, stay on the south side of the street and head to entrance to Theater Square Underground Area, down escalator and into Hideout 5. Enter Hideout again, talk to Kido, choose to rest until night 6. Exit Hideout, up escalator, north to exit to Shichifuku, east to back entrance to Milennium Tower Underground, up to Shichifuku Parking Lot, down Senryô to staircase to East Rooftops, down to Underground Parking, manhole to Central Sewer, exit to Milennium Tower's gardens, enter Milennium Tower. 7. Defeat Majima Group members, DEFEAT BOSS: MINAMI DAISAKU 8. DEFEAT BOSS: MAJIMA GORà Part 3: Tanimura Masayoshi --------------------------- Part 3, Chapter 1: The Kamuro District Tick -------------------------------------------- 1. Enter Luk Laan Jong, talk to shopkeep, talk to young man at mahjong table 2. Either gain enough points in mahjong to trade them in for 2 Silver Plates, or go to nearby Ebisuya Pawn Shop and buy 2 Fake Silver Plates 3. Give 2 Silver Plates or 2 Fake Silver Plates to young man in Luk Laan Jong 4. Go to Shichifuku Parking Lot, talk to "Try and Hit Me!" guy, defeat him Tutorial: Parry attacks, defeat remaining enemy 5. Leave Shichifuku Parking Lot, get dipatch message over radio 6. Automatically change scenes to Theater Square, defeat thugs, talk to Akaishi, get phone call from Zhao 7. Go to the Chinese restaurant on east Taihei Street, on the north side, between Pink and Senryô, cinemas, talk to Zhao, get phone call from Midori's manager, gain Hideout 8. Go to Midori in the alleys to the east of Nakamichi 9. Defeat Shibata Group Members 10. Take taxi to the Docks 11. ACTION STAGE: Defeat Shibata Group Members, run along path, hit Triangle when prompted, defeat enemies, hit X when prompted, defeat enemies, avoid slipping on oil by Shifting and not Swaying, hit Square when prompted, defeat enemies, break gate, defeat enemies, Hit Circle when prompted, defeat Shibata Group Members Part 3, Chapter 2: The Real Culprit ------------------------------------ 1. Talk to Yasuko and Zhao, talk to Nair outside, automatically move to aban- doned space Nair uses for a base, talk to Nair 2. Go to Underground Parking (2A. Check car in space 101, fight yakuza) (2B. Check car in space 402, defeat punks) 3. Check car in space 307 4. Exit Underground Parking Lot, get Unknown Number call, get picture message 5. Go to the East Rooftops, to the western edge where you can see the view in the picture and talk to homeless man there 6. Talk to Katsuragi on the phone 7. Go back to Hideout in Hometown in Asian Alley 8. Talk to Zhao in Hometown, agree to rest until morning 9. Go to the garden in front of the Milennium Tower, strolling conversation event with Katsuragi 10. ACTION STAGE: (Defeat Ueno Seiwa Association Members), run to where path is blocked near Kotobuki Pharmacy, defeat Ueno Seiwa Association Members, lose attache case and defeat more Ueno Seiwa Association Members, Chase Bat- le: catch fleeing Ueno Seiwa Association Member, defeat Ueno Seiwa Associat- ion Members, Chase Battle: Flee to west entrance to Asian Alley, defeat Ueno Seiwa Association Members Part 3, Chapter 3: The Door to the Truth ----------------------------------------- 1. Talk to Hisai, agree to go to Police Headquarters 2. Examine shelves closest to Hisai and read about the case 25 years ago 3. Return to Hometown, talk to Zhao (NOTE: If you have not done the side mission "Another Case," it will be automatically triggered when you try to enter Hometown. Follow it until you rescue Zhao near Karaoke-Kan and he will be back at Hometown so you can continue the story) Part 3, Chapter 4: What Makes a Detective ------------------------------------------ 1. Go to Sky Finance, talk to Akiyama 2. Take a taxi to the Docks to meet Mishima 3. Special Chase Battle: chase down Sugiuchi's boat, ramming it with Square and shooting with Triangle when reticle turns red 4. DEFEAT BOSS: SUGIUCHI JUNJI Part 4: Kiryû Kazuma --------------------- Part 4, Chapter 1: Meeting Again --------------------------------- 1. Gain use of Hideout in Morninglory Orphanage, talk to Haruka on the beach 2. Talk to Hamazaki in front of Morninglory Orphanage, say you're ready to go 3. ACTION STAGE: Defeat prison guards including Saitô, go down, defeat guards, breaking barriers, go downstairs, hit Circle when prompted, DEFEAT BOSS: SAITà Part 4, Chapter 2: To the Kamuro District ------------------------------------------ 1. Go to New Serena, event, enter New Serena 2. Talk to Date, gain use of Hideout in New Serena, leave New Serena, talk to Date 3. Go near garden in front of Milennium Tower Part 4, Chapter 3: A Chance Encounter -------------------------------------- 1. Return to New Serena, enter, talk to Date, exit 2. Walk north up Tenkaichi, see Yasuko, go to intersection near Matsuya, see Yasuko, go to alley running to southwest Theater Square, see Yasuko, go into Theater Square, see Yasuko, go to Shichifuku, see Yasuko, enter manhole in Jidô Park 3. DEFEAT BOSSES: AKIYAMA SHUN and TANIMURA MASAYOSHI 4. Follow path to Sai no Kawara Underground, told by bum to open manholes along the way, gaining access to underground areas, go to Hanaya's Mansion, event Part 4, Chapter 4: A Chain of Betrayals ---------------------------------------- 1. Talking scenes at New Serena, exit, phone call from Hanaya 2. Go to the entrance to the West Park through the toilets at the eastern end of Kôenmae, enter through last stall in men's room 3. ACTION STAGE: Defeat Ueno Seiwa Association Members, enter Kamuro Hills building, press Square when prompted, keep moving up and breaking barricades and defeating enemies until you get to an elevator and defeat all waves of enemies, defeat enemies in the maze of corridors then in a room, then when you enter the next room hit X when prompted, defeat enemies, when you come to a gap in the floor hit X when prompted, in the dark room hit X when promp- ted, defeat enemies, examine glitter of light near fallen enemy to pick up key, unlock and exit door, defeat four boss-like enemies, go up stairs The Final Chapter: Requiem --------------------------- 1. Talk to Date and say you're ready 2. DEFEAT BOSS: ARAI HIROAKI as Akiyama 3. DEFEAT BOSS: KIDO TAKESHI as Saejima 4. DEFEAT BOSS: DÃJIMA DAIGO as Kiryû 5. DEFEAT BOSS: MUNAKATA SEISHIRà and underlings (recommended to defeat under- lings first) as Tanimura -------------- 5. APPENDICES -------------- ------------- 5a. Missions ------------- What would an action-RPG-esque game be without a lot of side quests, right? Well, this series is kinda famous for having lots of side quests to do. I mean, besides the other side material like all the messing around town with cabaret club girls and playing darts and such, your characters will run into a bunch of people around town who need you to do something for them. In this installment, there are the lowest number of side missions in the entire series. Having said that, there are still more side missions than in most games out there, by far. In the past, they made it pretty convoluted. You had to activate missions by being at exact points in the story or by using a taxi service a certain number of times and you had to make sure to have certain things in your inventory and that it was the right time of day and all this. Well, the time of day is back, but that's neither here nor thereâ¦. My point is, they very obviously did TRY this time to get rid of that stuff. In the final chapter, since you can freely roam around as whatever character you please and change the time of day by resting on the couch, and since missions with requirements such as "win at billiards X number of times" were removed, I think it's pretty clear they wanted to make it so that you could race up to the very end and then take care of business as you pleased. In that light, just so you know, I'm going to list these missions first in the order they appear in the list from the various characters' start-button-pause menu, then I'm going to give you how to do them in order they occur. The thing is, when they're presented in relation to the main story's chronology, it's a bit misleading because it can be interpreted that you HAVE to do them AT THAT SPECIFIC POINT. YOU DO NOT. You can do the missions later on if you wish. With ONE EXCEPTION. AKIYAMA. IF YOU WANT TO DO ALL OF AKIYAMA'S SIDE MISSIONS IN THE MAIN STORY INSTEAD OF WAITING UNTIL YOU CAN USE YOUR SAVE DATA IN PREMIUM ADVENTURE, YOU MUST DO ALL OF HIS SIDE MISSIONS BEFORE GETTING THE MONEY TO LILI IN PART 1, CHAPTER 4. I guess they didn't quite work out all the kinks, but, wellâ¦"A-" for effort? Another thing to note is that side missions probably will not be available when it rains, and that they almost always require you to be going around alone. 5a-I. Overall Mission List --------------------------- These are how they appear from the start menus of each of the four characters. Note that the official English translation will be different. If you're missing missions, use this list to figure out what's missing, then look in the follow- ing, character-specific sections to find them, though those sections will have them by chapter so be aware you might need to hunt a bit. AKIYAMA ------- The Whereabouts of 300 Billion Yen The Fake Ticket The Cost of Restructuring Request to Become an Apprentice Defiance of an Apprentice A Wife's Feelings Retry Gourmet Reporter A Recruiter's Guide Make Money With FX Beware of Imitations Project Geek Makeover Cabaret Club Training The Way to Use Money Hana-chan's Depression Cabaret Club Walkthrough, Akiyama Edition SAEJIMA ------- Ryûgûjô Bodyguard Green-Colored Shadow Older Sister, Younger Brother 1 Older Sister, Younger Brother 2 Older Sister, Younger Brother 3 Older Sister, Younger Brother 4 The Bodyguard Everyone Had His Own 25 Years Disturbance at the Address Parent and Child The Thing Caught When Fishing The Cats and the Homeless Men Cause for Retribution The Woman With Men After Her Remains of Chivalry TANIMURA -------- Be My Boyfriend, Please Dangerous Play Another Case The Clue The True Identity of the Bridge That Which Is Inherited A View From Above Let's Go on a Group Date Witness L'Ãtranger Auto Break-In Gambling Addiction Blues Mei-Hua's Letter The Stolen Bribe The Silent Majority Cabaret Club Walkthrough, Tanimura Edition KIRYà ----- The White Lie Kiryû Day Care The Condition of Family Yûya's Way A Doctor's Soul Color Gangs The Language of Flowers Return of a Wily Man The Hills Rumor Kôtarô Goes Job Hunting Cabaret Club Walkthrough, Kiryû Edition Town Hero That Incorrigible Guy Curry Chase Duel Between Master and Apprentice Amon* *--The mission "Amon" does not "count" for Kiryû's total as far as the Completion Lists aspect goes and does not appear on his list until all other missions for all characters have been completed. 5a-II. Akiyama Missions ------------------------ IMPORTANT NOTE!: If you're trying to get all of Akiyama's side missions done in story mode, you MUST do all of his missions before going to get the money for Lili in Chapter 4. After you get her money, an important character who appears in many of Akiyama's missions leaves. Part 1, Chapter 2 ----------------- - After talking to Lili at Sky Finance - THE COST OF RESTRUCTURING Time of Day: Daytime Required Missions: None Activates: Request to Become an Apprentice 1. Get phone call from Hana outside Sky Finance 2. Enter Sky Finance, automatically enter event talking to Shiohara 3. Any response; repeat until out of choices 4. Go to West Shichifuku, talk to president of Paradise Expansion in front of the soba shop "Umamoto" 5. Talk to Shiohara in Jidô Park 6. Defeat man Reward: Action Star's Posthumous Work, 5,000 Experience REQUEST TO BECOME AN APPRENTICE Time of Day: Daytime Required Missions: The Cost of Restructuring Activates: Defiance of an Apprentice (Part 1, Chapter 3 mission) 1. Go near Naomi's Mansion on Tenkaichi, automatically bump into Shiohara 2. Defeat man Reward: 5,000 Experience GOURMET REPORTER Time of Day: Daytime Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Examine fallen man on east Taihei near Kotobuki Pharmacy 2. Go to Atenshi in the Champion Mall, talk to Mikawa, answer questions about barbecue restaurant: ⢠Han Rae ⢠Special Top-Quality Roast ⢠Special Top-Quality Tender Diaphragm Meat 3. Leave Champion Mall, return to Atenshi, talk to Mikawa, receive reward 4. Talk to Mikawa, answer questions about ramen shop: ⢠Kyushu Ichibanboshi on the Back Alley Near Pink Street ⢠Homestyle Rich Pork Bone ⢠Mentaiko straight from Kyushu 5. Leave Champion Mall, return to Atenshi, talk to Mikawa, receive reward Reward: 50,000 yen x 2, Diamond, 5,000 Experience A RECRUITER'S GUIDE Time of Day: Daytime Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Talk to recruiter standing in front of Elise 2. In 5 minutes, get three or more girls to agree to come to interviews. Here are the five girls who will say "yes:" ⢠Sexy, Beautiful Woman (you have to fight a yakuza to get her to agree) ⢠Gorgeous Girl ⢠Womanly Girl (tell her "You should have an alluring job") ⢠Unfaithful Girl (you have to fight a man to get her to agree) ⢠Modern Woman ("Because you're attractive!") Reward: 5,000 Experience PROJECT GEEK MAKEOVER Time of Day: Daytime Required Missions: None Activates: Cabaret Club Training (Part 1, Chapter 4 mission) 1. Get close to nerd hiding near Elise 2. Meet Taniguchi at garden in front of Milennium Tower (he's in a suit) 3. Any answer 4. Any answer 5. Any answer, but finish with "Read the atmosphere" Reward: Sprakling Love Shine!, 5,000 Experience THE WAY TO USE MONEY Time of Day: Daytime Required Missions: None Activates: The Whereabouts of 300 Billion Yen (Part 1, Chapter 3 Mission) 1. Get near the woman near Matsuya Tenkaichi 2. Talk to woman (Yôko) 3. Return to Sky Finance, talk to Yôko 4. Go to Sushiya Gin, see Yôko, enter shop, talk to chef 5. Go to Le Marche, see Yôko, enter shop, talk to worker 6. Go to Adam, a host club in the east-west alley in the Hotel District 7. Defeat Yakuza 8. Go to Sky Finance and talk to Yôko Reward: Amulet, 3,000 Experience CABARET CLUB WALKTHROUGH, AKIYAMA EDITION Time of Day: Daytime Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Go near couple in front of MEB on Shichifuku 2. Go to JeweL and Shine, choose "Free," visit all three girls made available 3. Go to Cuez in Kamuro Subway Shopping Area, talk to Minamisawa, choose which girl to give answers for, answer questions properly: = RIO = ⢠Champagne Rosé ⢠A dog ⢠Porn actress = Mizutani Noa = ⢠Ballet ⢠Chicken Basket ⢠A man who is a good driver = Aihara Elena = ⢠A rich man with a tough exterior, but who's sweet with women ⢠Kyoto ⢠Yamazaki 12-Year 4. Leave, return and talk to Minamisawa, receive reward 5. Repeat for other two girls Reward: 30,000 yen x 3, 5,000 Experience Part 1, Chapter 3 ----------------- THE WHEREABOUTS OF 300 BILLION YEN Time of Day: Any Required Missions: The Way to Use Money Activates: Hana-chan's Depression 1. Talk to Nishihama behind New Serena 2. Choose "OK, I'll hear you out" then "Let's see if you pass a test." 3. Walk along Tenkaichi, get a phone call from Nishihama 4. Go back to Sky Finance, pick up attaché case 5. Meet Nishihama at the Taihei coin lockers, answer "Let's go together" 6. After event, talk to Miki's friend in Jidô Park 7. See Miki in front of Le Marche 8. Talk to witness on Senryô just north of Shôwa 9. Talk to the two students at Theater Square 10. Talk to the taxi driver parked on the west side of the street in front of Yoshida Batting Center 11. Enter Red Renga Hotel 12. Defeat Nishihama Reward: Gold Plate, 5,000 Experience HANA-CHAN'S DEPRESSION Time of Day: Any Required Missions: The Whereabouts of 300 Billion Yen Activates: The Fake Ticket 1. Near Han Rae, automatically activate event to buy kalbi lunch sets 2. Go to Sky Finance, talk to Hana 3. In any order, choose the four choices and exhaust them: ⢠Talk to the man who likes big breasts inside MEB ⢠Talk to the nerdy man to the east of Club SEGA from Nakamichi ⢠Go to Theater Square, event ⢠Talk to the manager in front of Elise 4. Talk to the man near the place you finished the last choice 5. Talk to the recruiter on Pink Street Reward: 5,000 Experience THE FAKE TICKET Time of Day: Any to activate, but finished in Night Required Missions: Hana-chan's Depression Activates: Beware of Imitations 1. Go to Sky Finance, talk to Hayashida 2. Enter Sushiya Gin, talk to chef 3. Talk to the manager at Poppo in Nakamichi 4. Talk to the homeless guy on Kôenmae 5. Walk around until you get a phone call 6. Go to Pink Street, talk to man who looks like the sketch, Chase Battle 7. AT NIGHT, which only happens in Chapter 3 of Part 1, go to the docks on a taxi 8. Defeat Fishy Men Reward: 5,000 Experience DEFIANCE OF AN APPRENTICE Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Request to Become an Apprentice Activates: A Wife's Feelings 1. Go to Theater Square, talk to Yûma 2. Go to Sky Finance, talk to Shiohara 3. Go to the white building across the street from M Store, talk to the troubled man 4. Go into the white bilding and talk to then fight Shiohara Reward: 5,000 Experience A WIFE'S FEELINGS Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Defiance of an Apprentice Activates: Retry 1. Go to Sky Finance, meet Yûma's wife, Sadako 2. Event in front of Elise 3. Defeat Yûma Reward: 5,000 Experience MAKE MONEY WITH FX Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Behind New Serena, get message from FX 2. Go to the intersection near Karaoke-Kan, talk to salesman, say "I came to hear the sales pitch." 3. Talk to the president of FX, choose "So, I have to give money," "Whatever happens," "Sounds like you're swindling me, eh" 4. Defeat men Reward: 80,000 yen, 2,000 Experience Part 1, Chapter 4 ----------------- RETRY Time of Day: Daylight Required Missions: A Wife's Feelings Activates: None 1. Talk to Shiohara at the south end of Tenkaichi 2. Talk to the yakuza across from the Third Park in the back alley area, trade for stomach pills 3. Talk to the old man hunched over with stomach probles on the west side of the intersection right near the Third Park at Nakamichi, trade for a pair of consert tickets 4. Talk to the celebrity by the gate at the south end of Tenkaichi, trad for name card 5. Talk to the man in Theater Square, trade for expensive watch Reward: 10,000 Experience BEWARE OF IMITATIONS Time of Day: Daylight or Night (not Evening) Required Missions: The Fake Ticket Activates: None 1. Near the coin lockers on Taihei, talk to man who was tricked by Sky Finance 2. Talk to angry woman on Theater Street, hear about fake Sky Finance location 3. near Works Kamiyama, talk to host 4. Enter fake Sky Finance 5. Beat up fake Akiyama Reward: Super-Strong Battery, 5,000 Experience CABARET CLUB TRAINING Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Project Geek Makeover Activates: None 1. Talk to Elise's manager in front of the store 2. Say "Be more frank than in the store," "Order what your partner likes," "Go for a family atmosphere," "Take your wallet out and pretend like you're gonna pay" Reward: 5,000 Experience 5a-III. Saejima Missions ------------------------- Part 2, Chapter 3 ----------------- - After gaining Hideout - OLDER SISTER, YOUNGER BROTHER 1 Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: Ryûgûjô Bodyguard 1. In the Kamuro Subway Shopping area, have 3,000 yen stolen by a kid 2. Pay 1,000 yen to the homeless man near the wall to find out the kid's location 3. Go to space 312 in the northeast of the Undergound Parking Lot 4. Defeat Tadokoro's Minions twice Reward: High Yield Stone, 5,000 Experience THE THING CAUGHT WHEN FISHING Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Take a taxi to the docks and talk to the man by the water's ege 2. Talk to the old man by the dock 3. Successfully fish three times. The third time will be the attaché case. 4. Defeat man 5. Talk to the man by the water's edge, hand case over Reward: Ruby, 5,000 Experience THE CATS AND THE HOMELESSS MEN Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: Cause for Retribution 1. Talk to homeless people near Hideout in Theater Square Underground Basement Level 1, choose to give it a try 2. Choose to make a cat's meow, then to get milk 3. Go to M Store and buy milk 4. Go back to the cats in Theater Square Underground Basement Level 1, give milk, receive pendants 5. Go to Basement Level 2, in the southwest, examine flashing light on wall 6. Go back to Basement Level 1 to where the cats were, examine fire extinguish- er, get "Cat's Key" 7. Go to Basement Level 2, to the northeast, examine bookshelves 8. Defeat homeless men, receive Kamuro Subway Shopping Coin Locker B-3, give the two cats names 9. Go to the lockers and open, choose to hand 50,000 yen over Reward: Cat's Key, 5,000 Experience THE WOMAN WITH MEN AFTER HER Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: Parent and Child 1. In the electrical room in the Basement Level 3 of the Theater Square Under- ground area, save woman by beating suspicious men 2. Near the entrance to the underground area from Theater Square, defeat sus- picious men 3. In the back alleys to the east of Pink Street, defeat suspicious men 4. In the Milennium Tower Underground area, defeat suspicious men Reward: Player Chess Piece, 5,000 Experience REMAINS OF CHIVALRY Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Approach the people gathered by Jidô Park 2. At the alley running to the east near Stardust from Tenkaichi, defeat street gang and save Katagiri 3. Leave and come back to the area and talk to Katagiri and Irie Reward: Theories of Fighting in the Feudal Era, 2,000 Experience - After checking restroom door to West Park - RYÃGÃJà BODYGUARD Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Older Sister, Younger Brother 1 Activates: The Bodyguard 1. Go to your Hideout, event with Tadokoro's messenger 2. Talk to Tadokoro near the entrance to the Ryûgûjô, receive 300 chips 3. Exit, defeat punks Reward: 5,000 Experience plus Saejima becomes able to use the Ryûgûjô THE BODYGUARD Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Ryûgûjô Bodyguard Activates: Older Sister, Younger Brother 2 1. Talk to Tadokoro's messenger in front of your Hideout 2. Talk to Tadokoro's messenger in the parking spaces behind the Milennium Tower 3. Defeat hitman, protecting target 4. Defeat suspicious man, protecting target 5. Defeat hitman, protecting target Reward: 5,000 Experience OLDER SISTER, YOUNGER BROTHER 2 Time of Day: Any Required Missions: The Bodyguard Activates: Everyone Had His Own 25 Years 1. Return to Hideout, event 2. Go to Luk Laan Jong, defeat punks outside twice Reward: Dragon's Iris, 5,000 Experience CAUSE FOR RETRIBUTION Time of Day: Any Required Missions: The Cats and the Homeless Men Activates: None 1. Save homeless man on Theater Street north, defeat Morimoto 2. On Theater Street, defeat Morimoto 3. Defeat Iguchi Reward: Exquisite Umbrella, Iron Nail, Banker Chess Piece, 5,000 Experience PARENT AND CHILD Time of Day: Any Required Missions: The Woman With Men After Her Activates: Disturbance at the Address 1. In Theater Underground area, just north of the Taihei Coin Lockers, get near office worker, give any response and become Makiko's bodyguard 2. Go to Shichifuku Parking Lot and defeat man Reward: Diamond, 5,000 Experience DISTURBANCE AT THE ADDRESS Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Parent and Child Activates: None 1. Rescue Numai in front of the Milennium Tower, say "I'll keep an eye out" 2. Talk to the pair of hooligans in the west chuckling and saying it's about time to go crazy 3. Defeat punks Reward: 5,000 experience Part 2, Chapter 4 ----------------- EVERYONE HAD HIS OWN 25 YEARS Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Older Sister, Younger Brother 2 Activates: Older Sister, Younger Brother 3 1. Near the north entrance to the Theater Underground from Shichifuku, see Tadokoro's messenger 2. In the northeast of the Hotel District, talk to Motoyama and defeat him 3. Talk to Tadokoro's messenger in front of Hideout Reward: 3,000 Experience OLDER SISTER, YOUNGER BROTHER 3 Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Everyone Had His Own 25 Years Activates: Older Sister, Younger Brother 4 1. In your Hideout, talk to Tadokoro 2. Talk to Tadokoro in the underground arena in the Sai no Kawara area, enter special Weapon Master Grand Prix tournament, where enemies have weapons but you don't 3. Defeat Grand Chef Cheung 4. Defeat Headmaster Kariya 5. Defeat Hunter Ozawa 6. Take manhole back to Jidô Park 7. Chase Battle: catch Tadokoro 8. Defeat Tadokoro Reward: 5,000 Experience OLDER SISTER, YOUNGER BROTHER 4 Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Older Sister, Younger Brother 3 Activates: None 1. Take to Tadashi in Hideout 2. Go to the back alley to in the southwest of Theater Square, talk to Tadashi 3. Defeat yakuza three times Reward: Dragon Seal, 10,000 Experience The Final Chapter ----------------- GREEN-COLORED SHADOW Time of Day: Night Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Talk to angry homeless man in front of escalators in Theater Underground Area 2. Talk to homeless men near staircase down from Basement Level 1 3. Enter Theater Underground Hideout, event 4. Talk to man in Jidô Park near manhole 5. Go to M-Store, buy cucumbers 6. Go to the manhole, choose to leave cucumbers 7. Go back to the manhoel and choose to leave cucumbers aga 8. Go to Sushiya Gin with cucumbers in your possession, spend 750 yen and get Kappa Roll 9. Return to Jidô Park, leave Kappa Roll 10. Chase Battle: Catch Kappa? Reward: Stun Gun, 5,000 Experience 5a-IV. Tanimura Missions ------------------------- Part 3, Chapter 1 ----------------- - After gaining Hideout in Hometown - GAMBLING ADDICTION BLUES Time of Day: Day, Night (not Evening) Required Missions: None Activates: Be My Boyfriend, Please, The Stolen Bribe (a Part 3, Chapter 2 Mission), and Dangerous Play (a Part 3, Chapter 4 Mission) 1. Talk to the couple to the west of Hometown in Asian Alley 2. Talk to the homeless men in front of the Ryûgûjô 3. Find the three people in question (in any order): ⢠Akune: Go to parking space 402 in the northwest of the Underground Parking Lot, talk to Akune, Chase Battle: catch Akune ⢠Kamei: Talk to Akune near Shellac in the Champion Arcade, defeat Kamei ⢠Maria: Talk to Maria in the garden in front of the Milennium Tower, defeat Bodyguards Reward: Huge, Huge, HUGE EXPLOSIVE FISHING!!!, 5,000 Experience, plus allows Tanimura to use the Ryûgûjô area BE MY BOYFRIEND, PLEASE Time of Day: Day, Night (not Evening) Required Missions: Gambling Addiction Blues Activates: None 1. Go to Homeland, talk to Fei, answer "OK, I'll be your boyfriend" 2. Go to Shellac, talk to Fei 3. Defeat Isawa, receive Insta-Freeze MAX 4. Go to leave the Champion Mall, defeat Isawa 5. Follow Isawa to Senryô, talk to ei 6. Enter Purple Moon clug on north Pink Street 7. Chase battle: catch Isawa Reward: Insta-Freeze MAX, Sacred Tree Woodchip, 5,000 Experience CABARET CLUB WALKTHROUGH, TANIMURA EDITION Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Go near couple in front of MEB on Shichifuku 2. Go to JeweL and Shine, choose "Free," visit all both girls made available 3. Go to Cuez in Kamuro Subway Shopping Area, talk to Minamisawa, choose which girl to give answers for, answer questions properly: = Kawasaki Himeka = ⢠Chicken Basket ⢠She has a client she hates ⢠She likes comedians = Ichiki Chihiro = ⢠Don't order strong alcohol ⢠Kabuki ⢠She wants to become an actress 4. Leave, return and talk to Minamisawa, receive reward 5. Repeat for other girl Reward: 30,000 yen x 2, 5,000 Experience - After "Find Yasuko" caption (before going to the docks) - LET'S GO ON A GROUP DATE Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: L'Ãtranger 1. Near Watami, talk to two young men, agree to go on date 2. Answer the following: ⢠"Ryûta" ⢠"We'll leave this to Yûsuke" ⢠"He's really cute" ⢠Throw Yûsuke a bone ⢠Suggest a shower ⢠"Why don't you just leave it to Yûsuke?" Reward: 50,000 yen, 3,000 Experience Part 3, Chapter 2 ----------------- ANOTHER CASE Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: The Clue 1. Go near Hometown, encounter Mei-hua, receive Staminan X, Toughness Z, auto- matically exit Asian Alley 2. Go to the alley running east off of south Senryô near Karaoke-Kan, defeat yakuza 3. Go to Naomi's Mansion 4. Go to Pink Street, look for ⦠"woman" with purple muffler named Saki-chan, talk to her 5. Chase Battle: catch Saki-chan 6. Take taxi to the docks, defeat suspicious men near warehouses Reward: 5,000 Experience THE CLUE Time of Day: Daylight Required Missions: Another Case Activates: The True Identity of the Bridge 1. On north Senryô (near the entrance to Asian alley), receive police radio dispatch, then phone call from Saki-chan 2. Go to Shellac, talk to Saki-chan 3. Go to the building behind Club SEGA on Nakamichi, enter 4. Defeat yakuza 5. Go to Naomi's Mansion, talk to Naomi, pay 50,000 yen 6. Go to Cuez Bar, talk to the bartender 7. Go to the Kamuro Subway Shopping Area Coin Lockers, talk to strange man, defeat him Reward: Dragon's Iris, 5,000 Experience WITNESS Time of Day: Daylight Required Missions: None Activates: A View From Above 1. Talk to the man on the east side of Theater Square, say you'll catch the guy, receive sketch 2. Talk to the guy in black clothes with blonde hair and defeat men Reward: Blackjack Amulet, 5,000 Experience A VIEW FROM ABOVE Time of Day: Daylight Required Missions: Witness Activates: None 1. Talk to the woman on the west side of Theater Square (near Mach Bowl) 2. Go up the stairs near Volcanic Volcano to the spot where you can look down, see other place to go to on West Rooftops area 3. Go to other spot 4. Chase Battle: catch peeping Tom Reward: Spy Item Collection, 5,000 Experience L'ÃTRANGER Time of Day: Daylight Required Missions: Let's Go on a Group Date Activates: None 1. Go near Marietta, the club to the east of Shichifuku Parking, save foreigner by defeating yakuza 2. Agree to guide the foreigner 3. Answer "Shogi, right?" and then "A bathhouse" Reward: 50,000 yen, 5,000 Experience AUTO BREAK-IN Time of Day: Daylight Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Hear about auto break-ins at the northwest alley in Theater Square 2. Get near the two people near a car near Jidô Park 3. Slowly walk towards them by pressing lightly on the left stick or holding L1 to walk instead of run 4. Ask "Is that the key to this car?" 5. Defeat criminals Reward: Red Gem, 2,000 Experience - After dropping off the attaché case with Zhao - THE STOLEN BRIBE Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Gambling Addiction Blues Activates: The Silent Majority 1. As you leave Asian Alley from dropping off the attaché case, get call from Mei-hua 2. Go to Hometown, talk to Mei-hua 3. Go to the vacant back alley space across from the Third Park, talk to Yanagi 4. Defeat Yanagi Reward: Ruby, 5,000 Experience THE SILENT MAJORITY Time of Day: Day, Night (not Evening) Required Missions: The Stolen Bribe Activates: None 1. Talk to Zhao in front of Homeland 2. Talk to Nguy in the little alley behind Homeland (to the north) 3. Find Nguy in the shop to the east of Homeland (use first-person view) 4. Talk to Tao on the second floor, in front of Nair's room 5. Find Tao under the staircase to the west (use first-person view) 6. Talk to Myeong by the trash cans in the southern part of Asian Alley 7. Look up near the Homeland to find Myeong hiding on a catwalk Reward: 5,000 Experience Part 3, Chapter 4 ----------------- DANGEROUS PLAY Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Gambling Addiction Blues Activates: None 1. Talk to the rich old man in the Ryûgûjô casino, accept challenge 2. Choose the following: accept the challenge, pull the trigger with a strong feeling, accept the final challenge, pull the trigger with a stoic feeling Reward: 30,000,000 yen, 5,000 Experience THE TRUE IDENTITY OF THE BRIDGE Time of Day: Any Required Missions: The Clue Activates: That Which Is Inherited 1. Go in front of the Poppo Mart Nakamichi, fight man 2. Go to Shellac, talk to Saki-chan 3. Go to Naomi's Mansion, talk to Naomi 4. Go to the garden on the rooftops above Volcanic Volcano, talk to Saki-chan 5. Defeat mysterious man 6. On Tortoise Street, the southern street running off to the west from Tenka- ichi, enter building, defeat Tsugawa Reward: 5,000 Experience THAT WHICH IS INHERITED Time of Day: Any Required Missions: The True Identity of the Bridge Activates: None 1. After clearing The True Identity of the Bridge, go to leave the Champion Mall and Naomi will call you 2. Go to Naomi's Mansion, talk to Naomi 3. Go to the street runnin to the east from Pink Street and defeat assassin 4. Defeat yakuza 5. Chase Battle: catch Katsuura Reward: Dragon's Iris, 10,000 Experience MEI-HUA'S LETTER Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Talk to Zhao in front of Homeland 2. Go to the park area at the east end of Kôenmae Street, defeat punks 3. Go to the nothwest corner of the Hotel District, defeat yakuza twice Reward: 5,000 Experience 5a-V. Kiryû Missions --------------------- Part 4, Chapter 2 ----------------- - After visiting Date at New Serena - YÃYA'S WAY Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: That Incorrigible Guy 1. Talk to Yûya outside of Stardust (on Tenkaichi, across the street from New Serena), talk to Kazuki inside Stardust automatically 2. Talk to the girl on a cell phone across the street from Smile Burger 3. Talk to Shin'ya near Watami on Nakamichi, defeat Shin'ya Reward: 5,000 Experience THAT INCORRIGIBLE GUY Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Yûya's Way Activates: Color Gangs 1. Get near Stardust, automatically talk to Yûya 2. Go to Club SEGA Theater Square 3. Go to Smile Burger 4. Go to east Champion Mall, defeat Fake Kiryû Reward: Popular Bracelet, 5,000 Experience COLOR GANGS Time of Day: Any Required Missions: That Incorrigible Guy Activates: None 1. Go near Coffee Baron, the shop next to Jewel, talk to Shiraki 2. Go near Pronto on Nakamichi, talk to the Akai brothers 3. Talk to the man talking on the phone to his girlfriend at the intersection of Nakamichi and Taihei 4. Go to the back alley area behind Kotobuki Pharmacy and Poppo Nakamichi, defeat Aota Reward: 5,000 Experience THE RETURN OF A WILY MAN Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: Kôtarô goes Job Hunting 1. As you leave New Serena, you'll get a message 2. Talk to the representative in front of Yoshida Batting Cages 3. Hit one of the ten pitches Reward: Sacred Tree Woodchip, 5,000 Experience KÃTARà GOES JOB HUNTING Time of Day: Any Required Missions: The Return of a Wily Man Activates: None 1. Go near the ramen shop next to Bantam, event with Kôtarô 2. Go near Han Rae, fight off street punks 3. After a while, receive a message from Kôtarô 4. Talk to Kôtarô at the southern end of Nakamichi, defeat, punks Reward: 5,000 Experience CABARET CLUB WALKTHROUGH, KIRYà EDITION Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Go near couple in front of MEB on Shichifuku 2. Go to JeweL and Shine, choose "Free," visit both girls made available 3. Go to Cuez in Kamuro Subway Shopping Area, talk to Minamisawa, choose which girl to give answers for, answer questions properly: = Saitô Shizuka = ⢠Embalmer ⢠Show your back ⢠Vegetable Sticks = Mori Maya = ⢠Model ⢠Ask about her work ⢠Chocolates 4. Leave, return and talk to Minamisawa, receive reward 5. Repeat for other girl Reward: 30,000 yen x 2, 5,000 Experience CURRY CHASE Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: Town Hero 1. Near the entrance to the Ryûgûjô, talk to man surrounded by construction workers 2. Try to leave twice and then accept his request 3. Go to Matsuya and order take-out "Very Large Original Curry Pouch" 4. Go to New Serena, event 5. Go talk to the man near the entrance to the Ryûgûjô Reward: Staminan Spark, 5,000 Experience TOWN HERO Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Curry Chase Activates: The Condition of Family WARNING!! Finishing this mission requires going near the Millennium Tower, which will advance the main story if you are in Chapter 2!! 1. Near the Third Park, see man in tights 2. Near Poppo Nakamichi, see man in tights 3. Save the man in tights at the garden in front of the Millennium Tower 4. Go to Matsuya, order take-out "Original Curry Pouch" 5. Talk to man in tights Reward: Fitness Gear, 5,000 Experience DUEL BETWEEN MASTER AND APPRENTICE Time of Day: Any Required Missions: None Activates: The White Lie 1. Enter Kyushu Ichibanboshi Ramen 2. Talk to Ueda inside Ichibanboshi, agree to help 3. Talk to the customer across the street from Kyushu Ichibanboshi 4. Talk to Matsuyama in the parking lot across the street from the Champion Mall's south entrance 5. Talk to Matsuyama in front of Kyushu Ichibanboshi, exhaust two or three options, choose final option "Just go make it normally" Reward: 5,000 Experience plus you can now order "Black Pork Bone Ramen" from Matsuyama inside Kyushu Ichibanboshi (last item on Kyushu Ichibanboshi's list in "Complete" section) THE WHITE LIE Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Duel Between Master and Apprentice Activates: None 1. Talk to the bartender in Bantam, event with Chigusa, choose to go out with her 2. Defeat criminal Reward: Platinum Pair Rings, 5,000 Experience Part 4, Chapter 4 ----------------- THE CONDITION OF FAMILY Time of Day: Any Required Missions: Town Hero Activates: Kiryû Day Care 1. Talk to Date's daughter, Saya, in front of New Serena 2. Talk to Minoru in front of the Millennium Tower 3. Defeat the purse snatcher at Shichifuku Parking Lot 4. Talk to Minori in front of the Millennium Tower Reward: 5,000 Experience A DOCTOR'S SOUL Time of Day: Night Required Missions: None Activates: None 1. Go to the docks at nighttime, talk to wounded man 2. Talk to Tanimura at New Serena 3. Defeat Se Waa Members Reward: 5,000 Experience The Final Chapter ----------------- KIRYà DAY CARE Time of Day: Day or Night (not Evening) Required Missions: The Condition of Family Activates: None 1. Go into New Serena, baby event, choose "Did he wet his diaper?" 2. Talk to witness in front of New Serena 3. Talk to man looking in back alley at New Serena 4. Go to parking space 404 in Underground Parking Area, defeat men 5. Name baby Reward: Nothingness Gem, 5,000 Experience THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS Time of Day: Day or Night (not Evening) Required Missions: None Activates: The Hills Rumor 1. Talk to Takashi in front of the Millennium Tower, lead him to Hanaya 2. Talk to Takashi in the Sai no Kawara underground area 3. Go near Fukkantei, event 4. Go near Poppo Nakamichi, event 5. Go to the empty space off to the east of the southern exit of Champion Mall, event 6. Talk to Hanaya at his mansion in the Sai no Kawara underground area 7. Talk to Takashi in front of the Millennium Tower Reward: 5,000 Experience THE HILLS RUMOR Time of Day: Day or Night (not Evening, but Night works best as the mission ends in Night) Required Missions: The Language of Flowers Activates: None 1. Talk to the lower-ranking Ueno Seiwa Association members in the Third Park 2. Talk to the gossipers near MEB 3. At night, enter the West Park area through the toilet at the east end of Kôenmae 4. Examine the Kamuro Hills building, enter 5. Defeat Gary "Buster" Holmes Reward: Dragon Seal, 5,000 Experience AMON Time of Day: Night Required Missions: (All of them) Activates: None NOTE: "Amon" does not count toward's Kiryû's completing his missions list, but it will appear on it once you've activated it. 1. Clear all 62 other missions (for all four characters) 2. In New Serena, Tanimura will hand Kiryû a letter from Amon Jô 3. At night, talk to the driver at parking space 307 of Underground Parking, talk to him again and agree to go 4. DEFEAT BOSS: AMON KAZUYA (as Akiyama) 5. DEFEAT BOSS: AMON JIRà (as Saejima) 6. DEFEAT BOSS: AMON SANGO (as Tanimura) 7. DEFEAT BOSS: AMON Jà (as Kiryû) Reward: Ryûjinmaru, later Amon's Sunglasses (from Bob) ----------------------------- 5b. Extra Skills & Power-Ups ----------------------------- 5b-I. Revelations ------------------ 5b-II. Training ---------------- == 5b-IIa. Saigô Training (Akiyama) == == 5b-IIb. Helping Out the Hermit (Saejima) == == 5b-IIc. Nair Sparring (Tanimura) == == 5b-IId. Komaki Training (Kiryû) == == 5b-IIe. IF7-R == -------------------------- 5c. The Underground Arena -------------------------- ------------------------------------- 5d. Romancing the Cabaret Club Girls ------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- 5e. Make the No. 1 Cabaret Club Girl! -------------------------------------- -------------------- 5f. Make a Fighter! -------------------- --------------------------- 5g. Skill Games & Gambling --------------------------- -------------------- 5h. Spoiling Haruka -------------------- --------------------- 5i. Coin Locker Keys --------------------- --------- 5j. Maps --------- ---------- 5k. Shops ---------- ---------- 5l. Items ---------- -------------- 5l-I. Weapons -------------- -------------- 5l-II. Armors -------------- -------------------- 5l-III. Accessories -------------------- ---------------------------- 5l-IV. Effect/Healing Items ---------------------------- ----------------------------------- 5m. Weapons and Armor Modification ----------------------------------- ------------------------- 5n. Main Characters List ------------------------- --------------------- 5o. Completion Lists --------------------- To get 100%, you'll have to have all four guys each visit both Kamiyama locat- ions and buy everything available to them at Beam (the video store). You'll also need to use all four to buy specific weapons at the Weapons Store, at Works Kamiyama (the weapons one), and at Ebisuya Pawn Shop. You'll need to complete each character's specific side games, including making all three girls available at Elise with Akiyama and all partners available as Saejima, then completely romancing every girl available and winning every tournament available. You'll also need to eat all the menu items and unlock all coin lockers, which will basically require getting access to all areas (going through almost the entire story). You'll need to "imprint" your memories in IF7-R with all four main characters, too. You can complete the "mini-games" list with just about anyone since they can all play all games except Karaoke. For that game, you'll need to have Kiryû available. You'll need to do all Heat Actions, which will ob- viously require using all four guys for their own, unique Heat Moves. 5o-I. Coin Lockers ------------------- 5o-II. Restaurant Menu Items ----------------------------- 5o-III. Weapons and Armor Modification --------------------------------------- 5o-IV. Allies -------------- 5o-V. Revelations ------------------ 5o-VI. Mini-Games ------------------ 5o-VII. Cabaret Club Girls --------------------------- 5o-VIII. "Make the No. 1 Girl" Girls ------------------------------------- 5o-IX. Make the No. 1 Cabaret Club Girl! ----------------------------------------- 5o-X. Saigô Training ----------------------- 5o-XI. Helping Out the Hermit ------------------------------ 5o-XII. Nair Sparring ---------------------- 5o-XIII. Underground Arena --------------------------- 5o-XIV. Make a Fighter! ------------------------ 5o-XV. Police Dispatch Radio Battles ------------------------------------- 5o-XVI. Team Encounter Battles ------------------------------- 5o-XVII. IF7-R --------------- 5o-XVIII. Heat Actions ----------------------- ---------- 6. EXTRAS ---------- ---------------- 6a. Unlockables ---------------- 6a-I. Unlockable Items ----------------------- 6a-II. Premium Adventure Mode ------------------------------ 6a-III. Ultimate Fighting Mode ------------------------------- 6a-IV. "Extra Contents" ------------------------ == 6a-IVa. Versus Modes == == 6a-IVb. Version Updates (DLC) == ------------- 6b. Trophies ------------- --------------------- 6c. Demo Walkthrough --------------------- ----------- 6d. Trivia ----------- ---------------------------------- 7. MAIN STORY CINEMA TRANSLATIONS ---------------------------------- ------------ 8. GLOSSARY ------------ ----------------- 9. "THANK-YOU"'S ----------------- Thanks to DingoEnderZOE2, Bustah_Woolf, samzam2060, ancaryvan, Bruno Malta, and all the folks at the GameFAQs message boards, to Aaron Webb, Yas Noguchi and the guys at SEGA of America for delivering what appears to be an awesome version to the West, Nagoshi, Kuroda, Yokoyama, Kikuchi, Ugaki, Yamadera, Kugimiya, and everyone else who worked on and supported this great title at SEGA (of Japan)! Nihon no minasamani, goanzenwo oinoriitasimasu. Subetewa koko kara desu node, ganbatte kudasai! Special thanks to my good friend Damon for the times I've been typing busily at his place to write the guide while playing on his TV, to Mama ThePatrick for delicious food, my dog Sam (Baekgu) for driving me crazy, and Pat Yap for school- ing me at fighting games while he has no video game system of his own (wth dude, seriously), and to Nakayama Take-san, thanks for keepin' your rad store open. And as usual, thanks to Serge Gainsbourg, Busdriver, Gil Scott-Heron, DJ Krush nujabes (R.I.P.), Mingus, and, of course, EDAN THE HUMBLE MAGNIFICENT for keeping my ears happy during the writing of this-here document.