_______ __ __ ________ __ ___
\ \ |__| ____ |__|____ / _____/_____ |__| __| _/____ ____
/ | \| |/ \ | \__ \ / \ ___\__ \ | |/ __ |/ __ \ / \
/ | \ | | \ | |/ __ \_ \ \_\ \/ __ \| / /_/ \ ___/| | \
\____|__ /__|___| /\__| (____ / \______ (____ /__\____ |\___ >___| /
\/ \/\______| \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/
__________ __ __
\______ \ | _____ ____ | | __
| | _/ | \__ \ _/ ___\| |/ /
| | \ |__/ __ \\ \___| <
|______ /____(____ /\___ >__|_ \
\/ \/ \/ \/
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Author: A I e x |
| Began: September 21st, 2005 |
| Completed: September 30th, 2005 |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
____________________________________________________________________________
|~\/~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~\/~|
| || CT.TS || Table of Contents || CT.TS || |
|_||_______||____________________________________________________||_______||_|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| - Table of Contents.....................CT.TS |
| - Controls..............................CN.TR |
| - Walkthrough...........................01.00 |
| - The Way of the Ninja........01.01 |
| - The Hayabusa Ninja Village..01.02 |
| - Skies of Vengeance..........01.03 |
| - Imperial City Infiltration..01.04 |
| - The City of Fiends..........01.05 |
| - The Monastery...............01.06 |
| - Hidden Underground..........01.07 |
| - Tairon Under Alert..........01.08 |
| - The Military Supply Base....01.09 |
| - The Aquaduct................01.10 |
| - The Path to Zarkhan.........01.11 |
| - The Caverns.................01.12 |
| - The Fiendish Awakening......01.13 |
| - Vengeful Spirit.............01.14 |
| - The Core....................01.15 |
| - The Dark Dragon Blade.......01.16 |
| - Missions..............................02.00 |
| - The Path of Master Ninja....02.A0 |
| - Phase One...................02.A1 |
| - Phase Two...................02.A2 |
| - Phase Three.................02.A3 |
| - Phase Four..................02.A4 |
| - Phase Five..................02.A5 |
| - Fiend Challenges......................03.00 |
| - Chapter Six.................03.01 |
| - Chapter Seven...............03.02 |
| - Chapter Ten.................03.03 |
| - Chapter Ten.................03.04 |
| - Chapter Twelve..............03.05 |
| - Chapter Twelve..............03.06 |
| - Chapter Thirteen............02.07 |
| - Chapter Fifteen.............03.08 |
| - Enemy & Boss Guide....................04.00 |
| - Chapter 01 Boss.............04.MU |
| - Chapter 02 Boss.............04.MS |
| - Chapter 03 Boss.............04.DY |
| - Chapter 05 Boss.............04.HY |
| - Chapter 06 Boss.............04.BD |
| - Chapter 07 Boss.............04.AL |
| - Chapter 10 Boss.............04.GU |
| - Chapter 11 Boss.............04.DO |
| - Chapter 12 Boss.............04.SG |
| - Chapter 13 Boss.............04.AK |
| - Chapter 14 Boss.............04.GH |
| - Chapter 15 Boss.............04.FF |
| - Chapter 15 Boss.............04.SF |
| - Chapter 16 Boss.............04.FB |
| - Bat.........................04.BA |
| - Black Crystal Soldier.......04.BC |
| - Black Spider Ninja..........04.BS |
| - Brown Ninja.................04.BN |
| - Cat Demon...................04.CT |
| - Claw Demon..................04.CL |
| - Electric Worm...............04.EL |
| - Electric Worm X2............04.EW |
| - Evil Ryu....................04.EV |
| - Evil Ryu II.................04.E2 |
| - Evil Ryu III................04.E3 |
| - Fire Worm...................04.FW |
| - Ghost Fish..................04.GF |
| - Golem.......................04.GL |
| - Grenade Crystal Soldier.....04.GY |
| - Grenade Soldier.............04.GD |
| - Grey Crystal Soldier........04.GC |
| - Grey Soldier................04.GR |
| - Helicopter..................04.HP |
| - Horseback Archer............04.HA |
| - Horseback Spearman..........04.HS |
| - Magician....................04.MG |
| - Ogre........................04.OG |
| - Red Lizard..................04.RL |
| - Red Ninja...................04.RN |
| - Samurai.....................04.SM |
| - Satan.......................04.SN |
| - Stinger Bug.................04.ST |
| - Super Claw Demon............04.SU |
| - Super Lizard................04.SL |
| - Tank........................04.TK |
| - White Ninja.................04.WN |
| - White Soldier...............04.WH |
| - Windmill Ninja..............04.WI |
| - Yotunfrau...................04.YO |
| - Zombie......................04.ZO |
| - Item Checklists.......................05.00 |
| - Chapter 01 - Normal.........05.01 |
| - Chapter 02 - Normal.........05.02 |
| - Chapter 03 - Normal.........05.03 |
| - Chapter 04 - Normal.........05.04 |
| - Chapter 05 - Normal.........05.05 |
| - Chapter 06 - Normal.........05.06 |
| - Chapter 07 - Normal.........05.07 |
| - Chapter 08 - Normal.........05.08 |
| - Chapter 09 - Normal.........05.09 |
| - Chapter 10 - Normal.........05.10 |
| - Chapter 11 - Normal.........05.11 |
| - Chapter 12 - Normal.........05.12 |
| - Chapter 13 - Normal.........05.13 |
| - Chapter 14 - Normal.........05.14 |
| - Chapter 15 - Normal.........05.15 |
| - Chapter 16 - Normal.........05.16 |
| - Chapter 01 - Hard...........05.H1 |
| - Chapter 02 - Hard...........05.H2 |
| - Chapter 03 - Hard...........05.H3 |
| - Chapter 04 - Hard...........05.H4 |
| - Chapter 05 - Hard...........05.H5 |
| - Chapter 06 - Hard...........05.H6 |
| - Chapter 07 - Hard...........05.H7 |
| - Chapter 08 - Hard...........05.H8 |
| - Chapter 09 - Hard...........05.H9 |
| - Chapter 10 - Hard...........05.HA |
| - Chapter 11 - Hard...........05.HB |
| - Chapter 12 - Hard...........05.HC |
| - Chapter 13 - Hard...........05.HD |
| - Chapter 14 - Hard...........05.HE |
| - Chapter 15 - Hard...........05.HF |
| - Chapter 16 - Hard...........05.HG |
| - Weapon Techniques.....................06.00 |
| - Dragon Sword................06.01 |
| - Nunchuku....................06.02 |
| - Vigoorian Flail.............06.03 |
| - War Hammer..................06.04 |
| - Dabilahro...................06.05 |
| - Spear Gun...................06.06 |
| - Unlabored FLawlessness......06.07 |
| - Kitetsu.....................06.08 |
| - Dark Dragon Blade...........06.09 |
| - Lunar.......................06.10 |
| - Plasma Saber Mk.II..........06.11 |
| - Collectables Checklists...............07.00 |
| - Lives of the Thousand Gods..07.01 |
| - Life of the Gods - Normal...07.02 |
| - Life of the Gods - Hard.....07.0H |
| - Golden Scarab...............07.03 |
| - Jewel of the Demon Seal.....07.04 |
| - Spirit of the Devil.........07.05 |
| - Golden Scarab Rewards.................08.00 |
| - Normal Difficulty...........08.01 |
| - Hard Difficulty.............08.02 |
| - Item List.............................09.00 |
| - Legal.................................LE.AL |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~\/~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~\/~|
| || 01.00 || Walkthrough || 01.00 || |
|_||_______||____________________________________________________||_______||_|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+--------------------------------- CONTROLS ------------------------ CN.TR --+
+--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| X | Attack |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Y | Special Attack |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| B | Projectile Weapon |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| A | Jump |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Y + B | Ninpo |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| X + A | Wind Run |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| L | Guard |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| R | Centre Camera |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Black | Display Map |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| White | Karma Window On/Off |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Start | Bring up the menu |
+--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE WAY OF THE NINJA [CHAPTER 1] ---------------------------- 01.01 --+
You now take control of Ryu Hayabusa, one of the awesomest most ninja-badass
killing machines you will ever meet. You can take a moment to familiarize
yourself with his ninja abilities, but this will happen gradually anyway as
you proceed through the game. Begin by interacting with the body of the ninja
you just killed, by pressing the X button. This will get you an ELIXIR OF
SPIRITUAL LIFE. Now make your way up the hill ahead of you, the ramp on your
left. Jump up over the small ledges you pass by and soon enough some kind of
flower-knife will be thrown you way. It's a mere single jump to get over the
gap ahead of you, now simply walk up to the wall beside you and press the X
button to examine the object which was thrown. The scroll explains you to in
a lengthy fashion, that you have the ability to run up walls, and it's going
to become a practical tool in just a second. Ahead of you there is a vertical
wall. Jump straight at the wall and keep holding the A button to run up it
and grab onto the ledge. Shimmy to the right by pressing the analog stick in
that direction and then press the A button and climb up.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: The ninja you kill at the beginning
of the stage still holds an Elixir of Spiritual Life on the hard difficulty,
howeveras you make your way up the path toward the first treasure chest,
you will instead find the Map of the Ninja Fortress. This is the first of
what will be many treasure chests on this difficulty which have had their
contents changed or otherwise removed when you open them. I will be sure
to note each case in these little boxes. One other thing you will want to
note before you continue is that in your inventory right now you'll find
the Nunchukus, though you most likely never even touched them in the
previous file, for the first couple of levels they will prove surprisingly
useful, moreso than the level one Dragon Sword in many cases.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another scroll is thrown at the wall beside you, read it and the scroll
explains that you can look around at your surroundings using the right analog
stick. This will help in a moment as there is a not-so-obvious ledge above
you. Before that however take a look on your right, there is a small box at
your feet. Examine it with the X button to kick it open and acquire an ELIXIR
OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. Opposite the chest, you can run up this wall and grab the
ledge above. Climb to this higher area and proceed up the tree to the left,
where you will be ambushed by two simple ninjas in brown clothing.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: It's not just treasure chests
which have changed in the harder difficulties, enemies too are upgraded to
be more difficult. In this situation for example you must challenge two
White Ninjas rather than two Brown Ninjas. I would highly recommend you
equip the Nunchakus as I mentioned before and use them in this situation,
you will be surprised at just how well they actually work here. Blocking
is still necessitated but using the Nunchakus you can really keep a group
of weak enemies at bay simply by swinging and using the analog stick. When
you run across the wall ahead of you after defeating the enemies, and open
the chest on your left, you'll get an Elixir of Spiritual Life, a
disappointing downgrade from the Great Spirit Elixir, but get used to it.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thee will be the first enemies you defeat, and certainly not the last. Their
attacks are weak, and infrequent, basically they sit there and wait to die.
This of course doesn't mean they aren't dangerous in the slightest, but still
you should have any trouble defeating them. Simply angle the left analog
stick in their direction and tap the X button to attack. Between attacks hold
the L button to block anything they may try to do, the enemies should be
defeated in a matter of seconds. A new scroll will appear on the wall, this
one informs you that there is more than just one way to run on a wall.
The gap ahead of you is quite large, stand back and run beside the wall, when
you are about to go over the edge, jump and hold the A button while beside the
wall to run along it horizontally, this should be enough to get you to the
other side. Open the chest here on your left to acquire a GREAT SPIRIT
ELIXIR. Now jump across the next gap and Ryu will grab hold of the tree
branch sticking out, and spin around it. When you're ready, tap the A button
again to swing off the branch to the other side. Examine the scroll which
appears beside you to learn about the wall kick. Run up the wall on the left
vertically and then before you reach your peak, tap the A button to jump in
the other direction and land on the ledge above. Continue down the hall.
Two more brown ninjas appear, at this point in the game simply tapping the X
button should be more than enough to get you past them. Doing so will usually
have Ryu end with a kick, this kick can hit both of them simultaneously so it
helps out. Be careful as you make your way forward, before you reach the urns
a third ninja will pop out of the hall on your left. Smash the urns and you
should net some yellow essence. To your left is a dead end. Remember that
wall jump you did a moment ago? Well you can keep doing that over and over if
the wall is high enough, run up the wall and jump once, then again to get out.
Welcome to the Ninja Fortress, two more brown ninjas are going to run out from
here, by now you've already become accustomed to dealing with them. You can
feel free to smash the torches for some more yellow essence if you wish.
Follow the hallway up and then to the right where you will come across a door.
This door leads int oa room with three of the default ninja enemies attacking
you. The enclosed space will make blocking that much more appealing here.
Let me give you a couple of other tips. Since according t othe control
scheme, the attack button and interact button are one and the same, people
have a habit of opening doors, treasure chests etc while in the middle of
fights. Something like a chest should interfere too much but I still
recommend you try to stay as close to the middle of the room as much as
possible, unless of course your fighting style requires you to run wildly
along walls, in which case please feel free. Once the enemies are dispatched,
smash all the remaining urns for more yellow essence and then open the chest
on the right to get the MAP OF THE NINJA FORTRESS. The door leading out of
this room is actually a secret wall, on the upper left side of the entrance.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When you reach the room with all
of the urns, you'll be attacked by another group of White Ninjas, still no
Brown Ninjas in sight unfortunately. The treasure chest in this room no
longer contains the Map of the Ninja Fortress (since you have that
already, but now instead just a normal blue essence orb. You collect it
immediately as you open the chest, so don't even bother doing so if your
health is full, perhaps you can come back later if you need it. In the
next room the gate closes on you as it did before, and now you have to
take on a large group of about one dozen White Ninjas, three at a time.
At this point in the game you don't have a lot of technique options, but
if you're using the Dragon Sword I'm quite fond of the X, Y, X, Y
combination. It brings you into the air out of harms way, and will do
quite a bit of damage to the enemies below you when you stab downward.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Upon entering this next room, the gate drops down and from that you can really
tell something is afoot. There are ninjas everywhere in here, countless
ninjas, and each time you defeat one more appear! Fortunately no more than
three can appear at one time, and they do eventually stop. Be sure to make
good use of the block button (the L button) while fighting in here to maintain
your health, and try combinations of the A button and Y button with your
attacks to end up with powerful combos, there still aren't really that many
you can perform at this point in the game. Head through the door which
unlocks after all the enemies are defeated. Make a right and defeat the three
ninjas here. After doing so turn around and approach the suit of samurai
armour at the end of the hall. You're free to examine it but there is nothing
you can do with it right now. Instead what you simply want to do is examine
the shelf on the left, and the wall opposite the armour to get an ELIXIR OF
SPIRITUAL LIFE, and another ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. Turn around and run all
the way to the end of the hall, go through the white double doors here.
Another bunch of brown ninjas attack Ryu in this room, by now if you're an
inexperienced player your health is likely waning. When all the enemies are
defeated open the treasure chest at the side of the room to get the LIVES OF
THE THOUSAND GODS [001]. This special item is used in the menu and designed
to increase Ryu's maximum health a little bit, you had might as well go use it
right now. After doing do feel free to use a normal healing item if you need
it, always keep track of your health, I can't predict when you're going to be
hurt and when you aren't. Return to the game and take a look at the wall
scroll behind the sword rack, chop it once to reveal a hidden door out of this
room. Head through this path and prepare yourself for battle once again.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: After the hallway with the two
Elixirs of Spiritual Life (both of them are still there in hard difficulty
by the way) you'll reach that room with the single treasure chest in the
middle. Defeat all of the White Ninjas which drop down from the room
above and then open the chest to get your first Lives of the Thousand Gods
[001]. Now as you look over at the wall scroll you are supposed to chop
you should notice something in the urn next to it. The Lunar has been
moved from the second stage to the first in hard difficulty, not a big
transition but helpful nonetheless. Take the weapon and proceed.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's time to be introduced to a new type of enemy, the white ninja. His power
is far greater than that of the brown ninja and he is far more aggressive. I
will note of course that fighting the enemies in this area is totally
optional, but often the white ninjas drop health essence, so if you can manage
to defeat them without taking too much damage yourself, then you're probably
in pretty good shape. When they are defeated notice that up the small steps,
there is a slightly off coloured panel in the ground. Stand on it and you'll
drop through the floor in a secret area below, the Underground Storehouse.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: You should be so lucky as to
encounter those White Ninjas at this point, unfortunately what the game
throws at you is much more difficult. Black Spider Ninjas are jumping out
of the walls in this room, and despite your limited inventory, you're
expected to take them on without uttering a word. The Dragon Sword combo
I mentioned earlier isn't even enough to kill them in a single
combination, I cannot stees enough my recommendation of the use of the
Nunchakus, they seem to work flawlessly at keeping the Black Spider Ninjas
away. As they jump at you, sword flailing, the Nunchakus can club them
right out of the air. They don't help too much when it comes to avoiding
the Incendiary Shurikens, but it's always been up to you to dodge those
things anyway. There are only three of them at this point, and keep in
mind the fight is still optional, you're free to take the trap door.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This whole area is populated by bats, which when given the chance will really
syphon the ealth out of you. Don't give them that chance, forget the sword
they can be eliminated easily simply by throwing your Shurikens. Be sure to
wait near the corpses because they almost always drop health essence. After
the bats are taken care of, check behind where you fell to find a number of
urns, when they are smashed it reveals a chest behind them containing a GREAT
SPIRIT ELIXIR. Proceed up the hall and stop in front of the torches, examine
the chest to the left of them to get FANGS OF THE SAMURAI, the use for this
item will become clear to you very soon. Break the torches down and follow
the path out to the edge, and then up the ledge on your right. Examine the
scroll which is thrown in front of you and then jump up the grab the ledge.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When you land down in the
Underground Storehouse, the chest behind you after breaking all of the
urns still contains a Great Spirit ELixir on the hard difficulty. Make
your way up the path to those torches and glace at the chest beside them.
On normal, this chest contained the Fangs of the Samurai, an item required
in order to complete the level. Now when you open it up, you'll be
swarmed by a group of bloodthirsty bats, don't say I didn't warn you. The
Fangs of the Samurai will be found soon, don't worry about it too much.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This outer walkway leads you back around (past a couple of the brown ninjas
again) into a small room with a hole in the floor. Before doing anything,
open the chest beside you to acquire the TALISMAN OF REBIRTH, a special item
which will bring you back to life with full health when you are defeated, not
something you want to pass up. After you get it, drop down the hole in the
middle of this room and turn around. Head through the door on the northeast
side leading south (according to your map). This will take you back to the
hall with that suit of samurai armour. Approach it and interact with it to
place the Fangs of the Samurai in the mouth. The hand opens and Ryu acquires
the KEY OF COURAGE which you will be needing soon. Backtrack through this
hall to the room where you just came from, and from there go through the
hidden door into the room with the white ninjas and trap door in the floor.
Once again you can feel free to fight all the enemies but you do not need to,
jump over the trap door and slash the wall scroll, there is another hidden
door here. Head through it and take a look between the door and the stairs.
This is a save point, if you think you are doing well then you will want to
save. If you are doing poorly then perhaps not. Saving records the exact
state of your character, meaning that if you have wasted all your health
potions already, loading your game won't get them back, it would be easier to
simply start the mission over again. Either way, save the game and head up.
At the top of the stairs on the walkway you will be confronted for the first
time by two white ninjas simultaneously. Take extreme caution when battling
them, but note still there are far more difficult challenges to come. Examine
the scroll which is thrown ahead of you, it describes the rolling ability, you
may already have figured out which is performed with the L button and analog
stick. At the end of the walkway, use the Key of Courage on the large door
which opens up the way toward the Inner Sanctum, and to a dangerous fight.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: The door locks behind you as
always, but now you must face the most difficult challenge of the level so
far. At least three Black Spider Ninja swill be attacking you at once in
this room, and in case you've forgotten, you've got no Ninpo and very few
weapon techniques you can use to hold them back. Make absolutely certain
you equip those Nunchakus and get swinging like mad. Always keep moving
unless you are sure that you've got them all included in your combo,
otherwise you'll have Incendiary Shurikens lodging themselves in your
sides left and right. After defeating the enemies, if you feel you're
ready to take on Murai then head through the door to trigger the scene.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Immediately when you enter the room you are ambushed by three of the white
ninjas at once, this makes for a difficult fight. Try to position yourself if
possible so that you don't have all three of them coming as you at once, which
means standing perhaps near the opposite door, or on the stairs or something.
When one enemy is defeated, before you collect the yellow essence, if you hold
the Y button you can absorb the essence into yourself and release a very
powerful attack that might help out very much here. Although you don't
actually collect the essence you absorb, the resulting yellow essence that
comes out of the enemy you defeat is increased. When you think that you are
adequately prepared, then it is time to proceed to the boss battle.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- M U R A I --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Prepare yourself for one of the most difficult first bosses in the history |
| of video games. Murai is a nunchaku wielding death machine, and he's only |
| supposed to be testing your ability! There are literally over a dozen |
| things to keep in mind during this battle, so listen up, I'll try to cover |
| everything that I can. First of all we'll begin by running to the |
| opposite side of the room, there is an urn there you can break and inside |
| the urn is an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. It will come in handy for this |
| battle. Now you're going to have to approach him, you don't want to try |
| fighting him from a distance by throwing Shurikens, he'll just use his |
| nunchakus and deflect them back at you, hurting you instead of him. |
| |
| Approach the boss and prepare for battle, blocking is extremely important |
| during this fight. The boss' basic attack is just swinging his nunchakus |
| around, an attack which you can block quite easily. His next favourite |
| attack happens to be a kind of charge up attack, it has good range and |
| while it's true that you can block it, it actually throws you off balance |
| temporarily, so be careful when he uses it. Next, Murai has a normal kick |
| attack, nothing special there. Here are the ones you have to watch out |
| for. First of all, the block button is not going to act as your |
| "invincibility button" for this fight, quite the contrary. In fact you |
| are not going to want to block at all when he is close to you, instead |
| hold the block button and tap the analog stick away to roll. The reason |
| for this is that when you are standing directly beside the boss and |
| blocking, he will do a grab attack where he knocks you down and lands a |
| really powerful kick to your body. Only block from a distance. |
| |
| Attacking the boss isn't a means to avoid damage either, not only is he |
| fast enough to attack between your attacks (the reason why you have to |
| block between attacks), he is also capable of grabbing your arm in the |
| middle of a combination and knocking you to the ground like a throw. This |
| is frustrating, but it basically just means that using the normal |
| combination over and over isn't going to be very effective. Secondly, |
| while attacking every once in awhile the swords will clash and you will |
| get into a little stand still where you have to tap the button as fast as |
| you can to knock the boss back. This gives you an advantage since his |
| defense is temporarily lax, however if he wins then you yourself will be |
| temporarily off balance. Just be sure not to lose, they aren't too hard. |
| |
| Now that all the other stuff is out of the way, let's look at attacking |
| the boss himself. Like I said before, the default combo isn't very |
| effective, not only because he grabs you but also because he blocks every |
| hit in the combo virtually every time; meaning of seven attacks, you |
| usually only hit him without about one of them. Most of the other kinds |
| of combinations you will try out will likely be pretty inneffective too. |
| |
| The most widely accepted and used tactic for defeating this boss is the |
| downward strike from the air, called the Helmet Splitter in the technique |
| menu. Basically it consists of your jumping up into the air and pressing |
| Y to do either a downward stab or a downward slash. While this is |
| effective there is an even better way to do it. When pressing the Y |
| button after jumping off of a wall, the attack is even more powerful. |
| Lure the boss close to a wall and run up it, then come down with a Helmet |
| Splitter for massive, unblockable damage. Don't try running back up the |
| wall immediately or you will be hit, instead wait for him to do the charge |
| attack which leaves him off balance for a moment, at which point that is |
| the best time to try it again. Of course the boss is perfectly beatable |
| with normal combinations and skillful blocking, but for those who find him |
| to be the most difficult enemy ever, and there are some who do, at least |
| this will give you a chance to defeat him, and progress on with the game. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- M U R A I --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| If you're anything like most people you'll wonder what happened, and what |
| the developers were thinking, making Murai so much easier in the hard |
| difficulty. Well the answer is that he isn't easier, not at all, it's |
| just that after completing the normal game you come to realize how simple |
| this fight really was in the end. Of course if you're still going to try |
| and face him head on then sure, you might get your ass kicked, but |
| assuming you continue to stick with downward stabs, you'll waste him. |
| |
| The most notable difference in this battle by far is the addition of the |
| White Ninjas by his side. He will start out with two of them at the |
| beginning of the battle, and when you kill them they won't respawn. |
| Knocking Murai down to three quarters of his health triggers another two |
| White Ninjas, then again at half and once again just before he dies at 25% |
| for a total of eight White Ninjas. Given how easy they are to defeat, not |
| only will the fight remain at about the same difficulty, but they actually |
| make it somewhat easier. If you're able to kill them without being hit, |
| which hsouldn't be too hard with the Dragon Sword, they almost always drop |
| blue essence for you to collect. Do this instead of wasting items. |
| |
| Speaking of items you may have smashed that urn and noticed there was no |
| elixir inside, well that's just another fact of life when playing the hard |
| difficulty. Anyway if you've fogotten how to kick the crap out of Murai |
| without fail, here's a little reminder. All you have to do for the entire |
| battle is stand back, jump toward him, hit the Y button to do a downward |
| slash which will almost always hit him, and do quite a bit of damage. |
| When you land, roll away from him to avoid attacks, possibly jumping away |
| as well after the roll, then repeat the process until he dies. In a best |
| case scenario you should be able to accomplish this without being hit. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________________________________________________________________
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE HAYABUSA NINJA VILLAGE [CHAPTER 2] ---------------------- 01.02 --+
As this level begins you appear in the same room where you just fought the
boss battle, Muria is happy to give you a few pointers on how to fight and
utilize a couple of techniques, but I've already covered them so there
shouldn't be anything new to learn. Basically what you're trying to do now at
this point is simply get back to the very beginning of the game. Remember how
at the very start you went up the sloping ramp and climbed toward the Ninja
Fortress, well this time follow the ground level path around and it will take
you to a door which was locked before. The door is no longer locked so you
can proceed through it. Here you will find THE ART OF FIRE WHEELS scroll.
This is your first Ninpo magic spell, go to the menu and select this scroll,
now when you return to the game you can press the Y and B buttons
simultaneously to use the ninja magic. Below your health bar that is where
you can see how much ninja magic you can use. Refill this with items and such.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Just a couple of pointers when
you're running out of the ninja fortress. First of all Murai isn't really
interesting in teaching you anything on the hard difficulty, so don't
bother asking. On the way out you'll encounter a group of Black SPider
Ninjas in that room where you were trapped on the way in. This fight is
optional and doesn't yield any rewards besides the yellow essence they
normally drop. Just make your way out of the fortress normally.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Behind where you found the scorll there is a kind of elevator, stand on this
and press the X button to make it drop down. When you reach the bottom there
is a secret treasure chest behind you which contains an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL
LIFE. Make a right when you come out of the cave and stay close to the wall
on your left, jump beside it and run along the wall to get across the gap. On
the other side there is a very conspicuous chest which contains a SMOKE BOMB.
This is a special weapon you can equip as a projectile, you don't have an
infinite number of them. If you're playing the original then this chest will
contain an Elixir of the Devil Way, which refills your ninja magic.
Continue forward and you will encounter some new enemies, the samurais. They
have a habit of blocking much more than previous enemies you have faced, but
you'll find they aren't too much more aggressive. You have to take on three
of them at once here. After they have been defeated, then continue to make
your way down the linear path. At the end you will begin sliding down the
slope, just before you hit the water press the jump button to grab onto a tree
limb above. You can swing from tree limb to tree limb and eventually land on
the other side. If you happen to fall into the water accidentally (or on
purpose) then note the following controls. Press and hold the A button to
dive underwater, move about with the analog stick. Up on the analog stick
means you will go up and vice verse, it's not inverted. When you reach the
other side tap up on the analog to climb out of the water.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: You will encounter your first
Magician here like you did in the normal difficulty level. All enemies in
hard mode so far have had their difficulty levels slightly increased, but
this is the first enemy who truly acts different. You need to watch out
because now, his magic energy blast attack no longer shoots a single
fireball, but rather three fireballs at once. This makes it harder to
dodge, so make sure you're moving around when he fires it.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here you will face not only two more samurai but a new enemy as well. The
magician has the ability to attack and cast magic as well. He can also
teleport which makes him especially dangerous. He will cast magic from a
distance, a ball of energy he fires at you, and then teleports up close to
attack with his sais. While fighting other enemies, if you see him charging
magic in the background get ready to roll out of the way while blocking,
sometimes he teleports right into a combo you are doing, which always helps,
but most of the time you'll just have to wait for him to appear and attack,
then attack him yourself. Just a little bit forward there is a ladder leading
up to the top of a tower. Here you will find a chest with a MAP OF THE
HAYABUSA VILLAGE inside it. Drop down and follow the path forward.
When you arrive at the broken bridge, jump into the water and swim to the
southeast platform. Here you will find a flower scroll on the wall that tells
you how to run on water. Turn around and run into the water, the second your
foot touches it keep tapping the A button to run along it. If you move
straight across you should be able to run all the way to a ledge on the other
side which you cannot reach otherwise. Here you will find a chest containing
LIFE OF THE GODS [001]. This is a special item, different from the one you got
the first time. You need to collect nine of these before Ryu's health total
can be increased. Go to the menu and use it, one of the Japanese characters
at the top will light up each time you use one, when all nine light up, your
health maximum increases. Cross back over to the other side where you found
the scroll and run vertically up the wall here. At the top take a look on
your left for a chest which contains an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. Now go back
over and use the statue in order to save your game. Now ascend up the stairs.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When playing in hard mode, there
are a lot more Life of the Gods items than there were in normal difficulty,
and a couple less Lives of the Thousand gods items. The majority of the
original normal mode locations for Life of the Gods should be the same, but
remember to keep track of these little helpful notes to make sure you
find them all. When you climb out of the water and look beside the
save point, this chest doesn't contain an Elixir of Spiritual Life but
rather a whole pile of yellow essence, just as good I guess.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make an immediate left in your village and go around behind the house here,
there is a corpse on the ground and when you interact with it, you get an
ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. Head back to where you entered the village and go
straight down the path this time. You'll be attacked by quite a few samurais
here, the camera in the middle of the path can get a little awkward, so you
might want to run down to the bottom and face them there. Once all of the
enemies have been eliminated, take a look in front of the house at the bottom
of the hill and you should see some weird stone object on the ground. Examine
it to get the STATUE HEAD. Head back up to the top of the hill again and
place the head on the decapitated statue near the entrance, this will get you
another LIFE OF THE GODS [002]. Near the bottom of the hill on your left is
where you have to go, note a very low rooftop onto which you can jump, but
wait a moment. For those, at this point who are playing Ninja Gaiden Black,
you will find inside the golden urn a new weapon called the LUNAR. This is a
long staff which you can spin around quite spectacularly a-la Kilik from Soul
Calibur or perhaps to a lesser extent, Donatello from Ninja Turtles. Either
way your goal is to jump up from here onto the roof and go thorugh the window.
If you are playing Ninja Gaiden Black then there is a scene here where Ryu
obtains the BOW. If not, then all you have to do is drop down the hole and
examine the Bow on the ground beside the door to acquire it. After dropping
down into the place below, turn around and exmaine the statue of the old man.
This turns out to be one of the game's numerous shops where you can spend your
yellow essence like money. I would recommend you purchase The Art of Inferno
for sure, since new magic is always good. Beyond that it's basically spend at
your discretion, there's no harm in saving up as much as you like for later.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When checking out Muramasa's shop
one of the first things you are going to notice is the difference in
price. This is the hard difficulty so you're going to have to be ready to
accept the fact that things cost more. Keep in mind that it's chapter
three where you first get to upgrade your sword, if I were you I'd maybe
pick up The Art of Inferno, and then hang onto all the rest of the yellow
essence until at least that point. After shopping there is yet another
thing you will notice, the are no signs of normal's Elixir of Spiritual
Life and Elixir of the Devil Way on the nearby shelves. Too bad for you.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When facing the exit door, on the shelf to the left you can find both an
ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE and an ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL WAY. Upon leaving this
room you will be attacked by not only a few samurai, but a number of magicians
as well. If you're playing Hurricane Pack or Ninja Gaiden Black, this may be
a good chance to try out your Lunar, but I find the Dragon Sword seems much
more effective most of the time. When all the enemies are defeated, examine
the corpse beside the house on the left side to find some ARROWS, there are an
infinite supply of arrows in this guy's body so stock up. Note that there are
some kinds of targets over the fence. What you will want to do is run as far
away from these targets as you can and equip the Bow. Hold the B button and
move the left analog stick to aim. If you can get a perfect bullseye on the
left one, then it will start spawning blue essence, a perfect bullseye on the
upper right one nets you yellow essence and a perfect bullseye on the lower
right one gets you red essence. They are just small but with an infinite
supply of arrows nearby, you are free to do this as long as you like.
When you're ready, head in the opposite direction from the targets and make a
right when you reach the wall. Here the wall will crumble down behind you and
you'll be trapped. Two hosrse riding enemies appear, one with a spear and one
with a bow, both of them are really going to get on your nerves. The one with
the bow will be firing at you from a distance the whole time and the one with
the spear will be constantly charging. Always be blocking the spear attack
because when it connects, there's a good chance the spear guy will drag you
all the way around the field for quite a bit of damage. There is a corpse
here with an infinite supply of arrows, I think ideally the best best is to
try and hide and use the Bow to fire arrows and knock the enemies off the
horses. Personally I'm an awful shot, so I like the more offensive approach.
Chase after those damn horses, run and jump and do the X button attack in mid
air to knock them off and then kill them before they can even get up. There
are about two or three of each type to defeat, shouldn't be too bad.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: What you do here is still relative
to what you feel comfortable with. WHen I first played through the game
on normal I remember using the Bow here used to be quite difficult, but
now I find that simply aiming up without zooming in and firing a quick
shot at the rider makes it quite easy to knock them off. There are other
ways of course, approach them and do jumping Y button attacks. Casting
The Art of Inferno is a personal favourite, it will always knock them off
the horse. Whatever you feel works is fine, it's no harder than normal.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After they are dead, the fire goes out on the other pile of wreckage, jump
over that one. Here you will find a save point and beside it, a dead ninja
holding a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR in his hand. There is an optional area if you
go left, it takes you up to the Graveyard. It's optional because there is
absolutely nothing for you to do there at the moment, your real destination
lies to the right of the save point. Taking this bridge will lead you to the
boss battle. Before you go there make sure you've saved, and also make sure
that you have a full complement of arrows. When you're ready, then proceed.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- M A S A K A D O --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| The enemy you must face here is just a much more difficult form of an |
| enemy you have faced already. He's a spearman riding around on a horse, |
| except he cannot be knocked off, his attacks are much more powerful and he |
| has a lot more health. Also you must deal with the fact that there are |
| many respawning magicians that move around the field two at a time. There |
| are a couple of different ways to fight this boss, both of them effective. |
| |
| The slower but more difficult way is as follows. Forget the magicians for |
| the most part, you'll only want to kill them if they get in your way. The |
| Bow is the weapon of choice here, it does good damage against this boss. |
| Stand in a corner and wait for the boss to attack, block it and then when |
| he runs away, whip out the Bow and aim it toward him then fire. The |
| reason you have to aim instead of just tapping the B button is because you |
| will most likely end up auto-targeting one of the magicians instead of the |
| boss otherwise. The magicians can be killed in a single hit by the Bow, |
| so if you're aiming at the boss and see a magician casting a spell, feel |
| free to pick him off. Another benefit of taking them out is that they |
| usually drop blue essence, and every once in awhile they drop red or |
| yellow essence. If they drop red essence then you can use the Art of |
| Inferno for a strong magic projectile attack. If they drop yellow essence |
| then you can try the charge up Y button attack, it's quite powerful. |
| |
| The other way takes slightly longer, but is also relatively safe. It |
| relies on the fact that the magicians do not respawn forever, there are |
| somewhere between ten and fifteen of them, but no more than that. For |
| this reason you are going to want to take out every single one of them. |
| Given that they drop blue essence, it only reinforces the statement that |
| this way is slightly less difficult. Once all of them are dead, then you |
| are free to tap the B button quickly and fire auto aimed arrows at the |
| boss, regardless of whether you are actually looking or not. They are |
| strong enough so that fifteen will be able to take him down no problem. |
| |
| Finally you will want to note that the boss' attacks are quite powerful, |
| and regardless of which method you choose you will always want to be |
| careful to be blocking all the time. Magicians will not use magic while |
| they are off camera, but the boss has no qualms about appear for a charge |
| attack even from off camera so always be ready. Magic projectiles cannot |
| be blocked so be ready to roll at any time as well. If all else fails and |
| you run out of arrows, magic and sword attacks work well on the boss, it's |
| just a bit more difficult because the closer you are the more likely you |
| are to get spear'D or possibly horse kick'd in the process. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- M A S A K A D O --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Well just like the first boss battle, this one is fought with a number of |
| enemies at the boss' side. There difference is that there were already |
| there in normal mode anyway, in fact, it really isn't much different at |
| all. Most players wouldn't be able to discern this fight from the normal |
| one. The boss takes slightly less damage and you take slightly more, but |
| it ends about there. Regardless there are a couple of this to note. |
| |
| Just like in the normal mode, I think the best way to win this battle is |
| to eliminate all of the Magicians before going after the boss himself. |
| The Magicians will really get in your way, and killing them off will allow |
| you to colelct lots of blue and red essence if you happened to come into |
| the battle with very little of each. The best ways to kill the Magicians |
| are as follows: immediately after one of their sai combos, or just as they |
| are about to use a magic spell. They seem to go down so eaisly in hard |
| mode, that pretty much a single X button combination is almost enough to |
| take them out. With all of them dead you can then focus on the boss. |
| |
| Any Ninpo you have should now be used, specifically The Art of Inferno. |
| Before you risked accidentally aiming at the Magicians but no longer. |
| Arrows are still almost as powerful as they were on normal mode (which was |
| pretty damn powerful) so stick with those. For the most part you don't |
| even have to aim manually with these, just rol around while holding the |
| block button and when the boss stops for a moment, let loose a couple of |
| arrows for massive damage. Repeat this pattern for a surefire win. |
| |
| Now here is the primary difference, when you defeat this boss in hard mode |
| you will not find the Counter Attack scroll, you will instead find one of |
| the new LIFE OF THE GODS [028] items. Pick it up and go through the gate. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the boss dead there is a glowing item on the ground, interact with it |
to pick up the TECHNIQUE SCROLL: COUNTER ATTACK. This will allow you to |
counterattack by pressing the X or Y buttons while blocking enemy attacks. |
After you have picked it up, examine the door to trigger a cutscene. |
______________________________________________________________________________
__
(__/ )
/
) /
+-- (_/ KIES OF VENGEANCE [CHAPTER 3] ------------------------------ 01.03 --+
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: There are no items in the room
where you start this time, however if you go across into the opposite room
you'll still find an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE on the table there. Once
you open the chest to get the airship map you'll be introduced to both the
White Soldier and Grey Soldiers simultaneously this time around. Remember
this is where enemies start using throws, and dangerous ones at that.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right at the beginning of this level there is a save point beside you to use.
On the table next to the save point be sure to pick up the ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL
WAY. Leave this room and head straight across the hall into the next room,
there on the table is an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. Leave this room and make a
left, then another left into the first room you pass here. There should bea
trasure chest on the ground beside the bed in this room, open it up to acquire
the AIRSHIP MAP. The instant you try to walk away, suddenly two enemies will
break in through the glass. Both of them are new enemies, so let's take a
look at how they fight. The white soldier is more common and has less health,
the grey soldier has better defense and fights slightly better. The white
solder however is the one you have to watch out for, unlike the grey soldier
he has the ability to use a throw move where he grabs you through your block
and attacks, never block when right beside a white soldier. The grey one also
has a throw where he knees you in the face, but seems to do it less often.
Either way you should be careful when blocking near both of them will defend
with his shield quite often but if you jump and attack downward, that should
be reasonably effective. When both enemies are dead, leave the room.
All you will find in the room across from you is another one of those flower
scroll tips, no big deal. LEave this room and go up the hall, there is one
more door on your right, there you will find an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE on
the table. Leave this room, turn right and make your way to the end of the
hall where a few enemies appear. Same idea as before, grey soldiers and white
soldiers to eliminate. Be careful because they are equipped with projectile
weapons as well, so it's a good idea to always be blocking even when they are
off screen. When all of them are dead there is a shining object on the
ground, this is the WING KEY and it's used to open the door in front of you.
In this room you will see staircases on your left and on your right. Jump
down the stairs on your left to find another of Muramasa's shops at the
bottom. Forget everything else, what you really want to do is upgrade the
Dragon Sword to the second level here, that is the most important thing. It
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: It is just as important if not
moreso that you upgrade your Dragon Sword on the harder difficulties at
this point. As you know the enemies are only going to get harder, and the
need for extra items will be balanced by your ability to avoid taking
damage in the first place (due to your awesome quick killing skills.)
Unlike in normal mode, he does not carry the Izuna Drop scroll after you
upgrade your weapon, so don't worry about that ability quite yet.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
will not only increase it's power but unlock some brand new attacks as well.
Once you have done this turn around and climb back up the stairs again. At
the top head over to the opposite side of the room and run down the other
stairs. Both doors at the bottom happen to be locked, but there is a save
point there which you can use if you need to save your game again.
Note something I neglected to mention before, check the shop after you upgrade
your sword and a new item appears in the inventory, the Technique Scroll:
Izuna Drop, so you'll definitely want to pick that up. Climb the stairs
again and face the direction opposite the way you came in, there should be a
large set of double doors which you cannot pass through. Go left of these
doors and head through the door there to wind up in the kitchen. Open the box
at your feet, inside is a LIFE OF THE GODS [003]. Leave this room and go over
to the right side of the double doors this time, it will lead you through a
room to the Crew Compartment where a number of enemies attack you.
This room is small, so the close quartered fighting might seem a bit
difficult, but it's a great chance to use your charge up Y button attack, do
so after killing an enemy to absor the essence and let loose. There's nothing
really to be found in this room so once the enemies are defeated, head thorugh
the door on the left. Make a left in this hall and interact with the door
here to unlock it from this side. Turn around and go back through to the hall
again. Proceed through the door on the left, opposite the one coming from the
crew quarters. This takes you into the into a nice office-like room.
Laid out on the desk is some form of memo, most likely worth reading. Beside
it is the more important MAP OF TAIRON rolled up, you'll definitely want to
pick that up. Before leaving this room there is one more thing to do, check
the windowsill behind the desk and you should come across a glowing object.
Pick it up to acquire your first GOLDEN SCARAB [001]. This is one of many
special collectables that you can exchange with Muramasa the shopkeeper in
order to get some great stuff. When you're ready to go, step into the
elevator located on the side of this room and press the button to descend.
There's not much to do here so make your way around this part and take the
next elevator going down. At the bottom you will encounter a number of normal
white soldiers, you can take them on one at a time fairly easily. Once all
the soldiers are eliminated, a grey soldier is going to come down on the
elevator. As usual he's a bit more difficult, but not by much, Your reward
for defeating all of these enemies is the ID CARD, a special item which will
get you through most of the locked doors now. Before going back up the
elevator again, enter the room beside the elevator and kick open the chest to
acquire another LIFE OF THE GODS [004]. Leave this small room and take the
elevator back up again to the floor above you, where you came from originally.
This time take a few steps and head through the door on your left, it can be
opened now that you have the ID Card. Inside this roo mare a couple of white
soldiers, be careful because there really isn't any indication that they are
coming after you. Follow this hallway to the dragon statue where you have
been before. Save your game and then keep going in the same direction,
through the opposite door. Cross the walkway and enter the large cargo hold.
Near the large door at the back there is a crank, turn it three times and
you'll be ambushed by a number of white soldiers. Dispose of them easily,
feel free to break the nearby crates and use the essence to power up your
sword attacks. After doing this, turn the crank a few more times and the door
will be down. Before going any further make sure to equip the Bow, if you
need Arrows, an infinite supply can be found in the tub back near the entrance
to this room. When you're ready, go back to the large door you just opened.
Above you on your right is a long wire you can grab onto, but wait a moment.
Stand at the edge and face across to the other side, hold B to pull out the
Bow and move the analog stick to aim. Take aim and fire at the two white
soldiers who appear on the other side, you will definitely want to defeat them
before you go any further or they will shoot you off mid-way across. Jump up
and you'll automatically grab the wire. You can shimmy across using the
analog stick and when you reach the end, press down and the A button to drop.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Be extremely careful with this Grey
Soldier on the outer walkway, whether by being thrown, or jumping yourself,
the different ways to end up other the railing are plentiful in number.
Kill this guy as much as you can on the ground to avoid the risk. Around
the corner you'll remember that chest at the end, it no longer contains an
Elixir of Spiritual Life, but now instead holds a whole pile of large
yellow essence orbs. Breaking through the window works the same.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you run down the walkway be prepared to take on a Grey Soldier when you
come around the corner. I recommend extreme caution in this battle, believe
it or not the first thing which happened to me was have him grab me, knee me
in the face, and launch me over the railing. Instant game over, you don't
want that. Kick his ass any way that you can and take a look at the door.
It's locked still unfortunately. Follow the walkway to the end and open the
chest to get an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. Turn around again and look at the
window on your right, now very ninja proof. Jump and slash to break the
glass, then jump through it. Feel free to go nuts in this room with your
sword, destroy all of the machinery, that's your primary goal here. Doing so
will unlock virtually every single door on the entire ship. Now head back the
way you came, across the wire and through the cargo hold to the save point.
After saving your game, go up the stairs and make your way back all the way to
the beginning again. Go thorugh the door at the other end of the hall this
time and it will lead into a room with many crates. Your goal here is to get
to the back of the room, it isn't going to be too difficult to do. Simply run
and jump over crates, running up walls and grabbing edges where appropriate.
At the back of the room you will find a chest containing THE TALISMAN OF
REBIRTH, a chest containing ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL WAY and in between both
chests, a GOLDEN SCARAB [002]. At this point you basically want to turn
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When you arrive in this little
"bonus room" as they say, you'll still find the second Golden Scarab as
well as your first Talisman of Rebirth. The Elixir of the Devil Way found
in normal mode has been replaced by a pile of large yellow essence orbs.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
around and go straight in the other direction, through the living area,
through the part after that wit hthe two staircases, through the next hall and
you will reach a staircase leading to a couple of easy-to-kill white soldiers.
Make a 180 degee turn on your left and run up the wall here to reach the upper
area above the stairs where you came up. There are two white soldiers and a
grey soldier to kill here before you can proceed, watch out for the obstacles
in the middle, they may impede some of you combos. Before you go any further
you'll want to turn around and jump on top of the box behind you. From there
you can run up the wall and do the wall kick to land on a super secret upper
walkway. All that you find up here is a GOLDEN SCARAB [003] but I'd say
that's a pretty worthwhile reward. Drop down again and continue along the
path, you should pass on your right, a chest with a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR in it.
Run across to the platform on the right and jump to the platform on the left,
if you fall you'll simply have to try again. There are a few soldiers on the
other side, nothing too dangerous here. Jump up onto the crate and from
there, run up the wall and jump backward onto the walkway above. Once again
there are two more soldiers to kill here. Head forward until you reach the
ladder, don't climb up it but instead run up the wall on either the left or
the right of it, and wall jump up until you land in a secret hallway. At the
end of this hallway, pull the lever and drop back down to the bottom of the
stairs again. Once again don't climb the ladder, turn around and run to the
end of the catwalk where you will find a Dragon Statue. Note that you will
only find this statue if you are playing Ninja Gaiden Black, it does not
appear in the original game. I gues you're free to backtrack and find the
other most recent statue if you wish. Either way save your game here and
then, only then, should you turn around and ascend the ladder to the boss.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- D Y N A M O --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Prepare yourself for a battle against some kind of super human hybrid |
| robot monster thing. He's got just about every attack you would expect |
| something of this size to have, from a powerful robo-punch, to a machine |
| gun laser cannon. Defeating him however shouldn't be as difficult as you |
| might expect if you've got the right tactics, and perhaps a few extra |
| healing potions on hand. We'll begin with the boss' attacks. |
| |
| He only really has three basic attacks, and a fourth that he uses |
| extremely rarely. The first is the most common, he begins to charge up |
| his laser cannon and then fires a number of laser bursts in your |
| direction. If you are moving perpendicular to him the whole time then |
| this attack cannot hit you under virtually any circumstance, mostly it |
| seems to hit Ryu when he is changing direction or moving to attack the |
| boss. Secondly, when you get close the boss wil use his other attack, a |
| very powerful elbow-wrist drop on your head. This attack can be blocked |
| (unlike the laser blast) but leaves you disoriented for a moment, and |
| vulnerable to the boss' third attack he likes to use right after. |
| |
| The third attack is a grab and throw attack. After using his punch, if |
| you block the attack and don't move right away he will grab hold of you |
| and put the alser cannon right to your chest for massive damage. Do not |
| let this happen under any circumstance. Fianlly we have the additional |
| rare attack he hardly ever uses. He jumps into the air and creates a |
| protective barrier around himself, this barrier disappears momentarily so |
| there is really no reason to worry much about it too much at all. |
| |
| When it comes to attacking the boss, personally I find that the best |
| attack by far (I don't know the name), is the attack which requires the |
| Dragon Sword to be upgraded to level two. The attack where yu run at the |
| boss and jump, and while you're flying through the air you press the Y |
| button. Ryu executes a very fast and very powerful slash through the |
| boss' body and comes out the other side with plenty of time to move out of |
| the way. The problems come when the boss blocks this attack, he has a |
| habit of punching your immediately so always be ready to block. In order |
| to connect with this attack you absolutely must hit him head on, if you're |
| on even a slight angle the boss will block the attack and retaliate. |
| |
| This strategy should be enough to get you through the fight, provided you |
| are skillful enough to use it. Some other strategies that work well are |
| of course the Inferno fireball magic spell, the running double X button |
| slash (requires Dragon Sword level 2) and to be honest, the good old |
| fashioned normal ground based combo. Sure this leaves you open and |
| vulnerable to almost every one of his attacks, the the damage is quite |
| high if you connect, and it makes for a great offensive last resort. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- D Y N A M O --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Having those two White Soldier lackeys alongside him actually makes Dynamo |
| a fair bit more difficult than before. Fortunately however they also give |
| you an advantage of which I'm sure you're aware. Any enemies capable of |
| dropping essence are enemies capable of speeding up your Ultimate |
| Techniques. Use the Flying Swallow attack (jump at an enemy and press the |
| Y button) to decapitate them with almost a single swipe. I find it's very |
| difficult to prepare the right circumstances for a second level charge |
| Ultimate Technique on this guy, but nevertheless it's very possible. |
| |
| If you're looking for a more practical way to defeat hard mode Dynamo, |
| then give this a try. Forget second level Ultimate Techniques, if it's |
| all that's available then the first level will more than suffice, just |
| make sure you get close to the boss otherwise it will miss. I would |
| highly recommend against using the Flying Swallow on him, yes it will hit, |
| but he will block it the vast majority of the time, and often when he |
| does, he'll baseball you out of the air and shoot you before you even hit |
| the ground. There are more effective ways than that of course. |
| |
| The most effective way of beating Dynamo I find, is approaching him as he |
| is charging the gun, and doing the X, Y, Y combination which will let you |
| attack, upward slash, and downward stab. As you land make sure you're |
| blocking. He'll try to hit you and knock you back, do not try to attack |
| again after this, he often follows an attack with a throw attempt and this |
| is not blockable and will hit you every time if you're too close. One |
| more tip is to always kill the enemies when they respawn, they will get in |
| your way and just frustrate the hell out of you, even if you aren't trying |
| to use Ultimate Techniques just get them out of your way whenever you can. |
| |
| Generally I would say the overall idea of this battle is as follows: kill |
| the enemies quickly, but don't bother much with Ultimate Techniques. |
| Forget Flying Swallow, go in close and use a normal combination as he |
| charges up. Finish everything with a backward roll to minimize the amount |
| of times he grabs you. Run in circles around him (not rolling or jumping) |
| at a distance to avoid the laser fire. Hopefully this helps you out. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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_____
(, /
/
___/__
+-- (__ / MPERIAL CITY INFILTRATION [CHAPTER 4] ----------------- 01.04 --+
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Right away you'll be introduced to
two new types of enemies I call the Grey Crystal Soldiers and the Black
Crystal Soldiers. They are upgrades to the White Soldiers and Grey
Soldiers of the previous level. Basically they have the same type of
moves, except these ones are move aggressive and have added an impressive
backflip kick to their arsenel. Either of the soldiers is capable of
attacking your to knock you off balance and then backflip kicking you
through your guard, basically meaning that they can damage you while
blocking not only through throws, but normal attacks as well. Be careful.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Save your game here, using the Dragon Statue directly beside you and then jump
over the edge down onto the street. Jump down and face off against the three
white soldiers that are waiting for you down below. It's a pretty linear path
on your way down through the city, when you see a scroll thrown in front of
you, read it and learn about Han's Bar. Make an immediate left when you enter
the Twin Serpents Plaza and go thorugh the gate to find a chest containing a
GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. The path leading to the right just takes you to a locked
gate, so follow the centre path down the road to encounter some enemies.
Just another bunch of three white soldiers, the thin alley gives you a great
opportunity to run up the wall and use the jumping Y button attack which
should pretty much eliminate them in a single hit. Once the enemies have been
taken care of, approach the gate and open it up. Check immediately to your
left where you will find a dead ninja, on his body is the TECHNIQUE SCROLL:
GUILLOTINE THROW. Approach the opposite side of this area to spawn a number
of enemies, including one equipped with a grenade launcher. This sounds like
it would be a perfect time for you to try out that new Guillotine Throw, jump
toward a nearby enemy and tap X and A at the same time while in the air to
perform the throw, it should kill most easy enemies like this instantly.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: You're going to be disappointed to
hear that the body of the dead ninja in this area doesn't hold the
Guillotine Throw Technique Scroll this time, in fact he only holds a
pathetic Elixir of Spiritual Life. Unfortunately you'll have to find
alternate methods of killing the enemies that attack, at least for now.
You'll encounter another new enemy here, basically he's the same as all
the other crystal enemies, except he's got a grenade launcher (just like
the Grenade Soldiers you first fought when you came here on normal.)
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check the upper part of this area to find a ninja with Arrows in his back, you
can refill your supply as much as you like here. Now head through the gate
with the orange orb on it. Immediately when you enter the next area you'll be
attacked by three white soldiers, don't let them catch you off guard. Follow
the path straight ahead and around the corner to the right, there you will
find the STONE TABLET [TOP] on the ground. Turn around and go back, surprise
surprise, some more enemies have appeared while you were gone. Decapitate
your foes and take the path to the right, going down the stairs this time.
At the bottom of the stairs make a right and run along the path until you find
a flower scroll directly in front of you. Read it and them whip out your Bow,
there are two enemies across from you in this area you need to kill using the
Bow, do that now. Once you've done that head to the stairs leading down and
note the blue pipe running along above the stairs. Run vertically up the wall
here and Ryu should grab it when you do. Now you can shimmy along to the left
and drop down on the platform. Jump once again and this time, grab hold of
the wire that runs across the top of the square. It will take you over to the
other side where you can find a chest with LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [002].
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When you climb across the wire in
this area and open the treasure chest, you'll be disappointed to find the
second hard mode exclusive LIFE OF THE GODS [029] rather than the normal
Lives of the Thousand Gods. Better luck next time I guess.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After acquiring this item, a couple new white soldiers will appear on the
platform across from you, quickly dispatch them with your Bow once again.
Return to where you first read the flower scroll and run off the edge right
there, since there is a blue rail running along the side you will cartwheel
and grab hold of it. Make your way to the right and then when you reach the
end hold up on the analog stick and press A to climb up. Inside this chest is
a LIFE OF THE GODS [005]. Now drop down and follow the road to an enormous
gate with two yellow orbs on it. Open this gate and proceed forward.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Examine the corpse of the ninja
where you originally found the Nunchakus and this time he'll have an
Elixir of Spiritual Life. Technically since you already had the
Nunchakus, you just got an extra healing item that you didn't even get in
normal, that doesn't happen very often, you should appreciate it.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What you want to do here is go straight, and then when you reach a wall the
path forks, take the right fork and examine the body of the dead ninja to
acquire the NUNCHAKU, a brand new weapon. Head back to where you first
entered this area and now take the first fork leading right. Just past a
small cutscene where it shows you the door of a building, some gates will
close and some enemies will approach from behind. You've got a couple of
white soldiers, at least one grey soldier and a guy with a grenade launcher.
Either way it should be too difficult for you at this point, remember the
power of the Guillotine Throw. With the enemies defeated then you need to
turn around and go back to that door it focused on, enter Muramasa's Shop.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Things are obviously more
difficult to afford on the hard difficulty than on normal, so you kind of
have to pick and choose. At this point I would say it's a toss up between
the Armlet of the Sun, and the upgrade to the Lunar (which truly does
start kicking serious ass afer it has been upgraded at least once).
Perhaps if you're really been keeping busy, you'll have enough for both.
Don't forget to give Muramasa your Scarabs, at this point in the game you
should have three of them, and on the hard difficulty that will get you
the Technique Scroll: Counter Attacks, which the second boss didn't have.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are a couple of things to do here. If you're playing Ninja Gaiden
Black, then you are free to upgrade the Lunar to the next level, it looks far
cooler when you do. Also don't forget to pick up the Technique Scroll: Izuna
Drop if you haven't already, as well as the Guide Map to the Capital of Vigoor
(it's extremely cheap). Now leave the shop and make a right, then an
immediate left through the small blue edged door and up the stairs.
On the way up the stairs you'll encounter a couple of normal enemies, they
shouldn't be too hard to defeat, the upgraded Lunar works exceptionally well
here. Once you reach the top, prepare yourself for some new enemies. The
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Following with the same tradition
as normal mode, at the top of the stairs in the previous paragraph,
instead of being introduced to Black Spider Ninjas (whom you've already
fought many times) the game will introduce you to the Cat Demons. These
are some of the nastiest little things you will ever face. First of all
the Cat Demons are extremely fast so in order to avoid their attacks, you
have to move just as fast yourself. Their attacks are so quick that
blocking will only protect you from the first hit, all subsequent attacks
will damage you. They have a throw which they can use from a distance,
they jump and grab Ryu by the neck. For this reason you are never safe
when standing still and fighting Cat Demons. Your best bet is to get
close to one where it lands, and use the Dragon Sword to do the X, Y, X,
X, X, followed by X or Y combination. Take them out one by one.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
black spider ninjas are extremely dangerous, much moreso than any other type
of enemy you have faced so far. Not only are they extremely fast and flippy
with their swords, they drop inconspicuous grenades or even go so far as to
attach them to your body. The explosions from these weapons cannot be blocked
by any conventional blocking technique, so it would be a good idea simply to
keep dodging. Kill them the same way you would kill any other enemy and be on
your way. Through the door at the end here, inside the chest is a SPIRIT OF
THE DEVILS [001]. This is a special item which increases your maximum ninpo
magic slots, meaning you can now cast two magic spells without replenishing
(once you actually use the item that is.) Head back to the street now.
Make a left from the shop this time and pull the lever to the right of the
door to unlock it, then proceed thorugh. When you enter this area, another
Kunai scroll will be thrown. Read it to learn more about those damn spider
ninjas, not much more however mind you. To the left of where you came in your
should see a glowing aura in the water fountain, examine it to get another
GOLDEN SCARAB [004]. Turn around and return to the previous area, now enter
Muramasa's shop. Speak to Muramasa and choose the "talk" option. He will
tell you that in exchange for those Golden Scarabs, he is happy to give you
special items. At this point you should have about four of them, so pawn them
all off to get a LIFE OF THE GODS [006]. Leave the shop and go left.
Back in this are again what you want to do is make a right this time, at the
first fork. Ignore the cracked wall on your left, at the moment there is
nothing that you can do about it. When you come to a short alleyway, note the
platform up above. Run up the wall opposite it and jump backward to land on
the platform here. In this room you have to fight back three Black Spider
Ninjas, but your reward for doing so is the treasure chest in the corner. No
special item awaits you in there, just a stash of many orbs of all colours,
quite worthwhile for the minimum of trouble you went through for it.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: It's no longer a minimum of
trouble here, once again you can forget the Black Spider Ninjas, you've
got to kill three Cat Demons in this very awkward-camera-ish, pillar
filled room which can prove to be quite difficult if you aren't prepared.
Remember the reward is still only orbs, you don't have to do this!
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Head back once again to the entrance of this whole area, you can unlock the
gate from this side by the way to get out. Instead of taking the right path
this time, keep an eye on the left side for a small staircase leading up.
Head up the stairs and go around the path to the left, you'll have to fight
off a couple of Black Spider Ninjas along the way. After defeating the two
enemies, note the very small alley where one of them came out of. What you
want to do is run up the wall and jump from wall to wall to reach the rooftop
above. Jump across to the next platform from here, then to reach the one
after that you're going to have to do a horizontal wall run to make it.
This leads you through a door to the body of a ninja, examine his body and
read SUKE'S DIARY he seems to have in his hand, it's full of ninja secrets.
After this be sure to pick up the GOLDEN SCARAB [005] as well from the ground
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Once you find the fifth Golden
Scarab, jump right over the railing where you found it and you'll land in
front of Muramasa's Shop. Go in there and give him the fifth one, your
reward on this difficulty is the Technique Scroll: Izuna Drop. Be extremely
careful on your way back, three new Cat Fiends spawn near the fountain
in the area just outside of Muramasa's shop and to the left.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in front of you. At this point I would recommend you turn around and go back
to Muramasa's Shop. In exchange for the fifth Golden Scarab he will give you
THE AMULET OF POTENCY. This item (when equipped) will mean that your throw
attacks and your kick attacks do more damage than normal, perhaps it might not
be too helpful, but every bit counts especially in a game like this one.
Return back up to where you found the dead ninja and where you found the most
recent Golden Scarab. Continue further and after a mere few steps you will
come across a chest which contains a GREAT DEVIL ELIXIR. To your right you
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of a Great Devil Elixir,
on the hard difficulty this chest contains an Elixir of Spiritual Life.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
will find another lever, pull this lever and then drop down. The large door
is now unlocked so you are free to head through it. Follow the path until you
reach Han's Bar and then watch the scene when you arrive there. It seems you
are not allowed to attend this party which is unfortunate, but no matter,
there are always other ways. What you want to do is make a right and read the
Kunai scroll which gets thrown directly in front of your face. After reading
it, continue along the path to the Dragon Statue and use it to save the game.
Turn around and head back to the fork, when you do you should see a Kunai
scroll thrown again the wall here. Read the scroll and then note the alley
beside it. Run down to the end of the alley to find GOLDEN SCARAB [006].
After you have found it, return to where you found the Kunai scroll and look
closely. See those blue lines above it? Remember that blue means secret?
Stand back and run horizontally along the wall on these lines, jump before you
fall and run along the next set of blue lines, jump from these to the third
set of blue lines and from those to the ledge at the end. On the final jump I
would recommend you add an additional X button attack just to get that bit of
extra height you need. Here is where you will find the WINDMILL SHURIKEN as
well as some kind of X pedestal which refills your health back to the max.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: On the hard difficulty, the
Windmill Shuriken is not here. Don't worry about it too much, you'll find
it soon enough. For now you can just enjoy the free health restoration.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Backtrack to the previous area and enter Muramasa's Shop. There is now some
kind of promotional deal going on where you get a ticket to the party with
every purchase. For this reason all you need to do is open the shop menu, buy
anything and leave and it will get you HAN'S BAR PARTY TICKET. With this item
it's obviously time to return to Han's Bar. On your way back you'll be
attacked by three dangerous Black Spider Ninjas, dispose of them as you see
fit and then approach the bar. When you do a cutscene will trigger.
______________________________________________________________________________
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE CITY OF FIENDS [CHAPTER 5] ------------------------------ 01.05 --+
Right at the beginning of this level you start beside a chest, kick it open to
acquire the LILY KEY. We'll put that to good use later. Be sure to use the
Dragon Statue on the other side of this rooftop, once you've saved your game
then read the Kunai Scroll which landed right at the start. Now beside the
trap door there is a low ledge, jump over the side and when you land, open the
chest beside you to get an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. Go through the door now,
ignore the ladder on your left (it just takes you back up thorugh that trap
door) and begin down the stairs. There are a couple of white soldiers and a
grey soldier to take out in this stairwell. At the bottom you'll find another
chest on your left, this one containing an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE as well.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Inside the chest at the bottom of
the stairs on hard difficulty, instead of an Elixir of Spiritual Life you
will get a bunch of large yellow essence. Don't at the very bottom, past
the arcade machine (which you cannot use at this point, even if you
unlocked the game in another file, you will find the map on the bar but
the Elixir of the Devil Way which was there before is now gone. You may
have noticed there hasn't been a single Devil Elixir in the entire game so
far. Seems they want you to look to alternative means of restoring Ki.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Continue down the hall, defeating all of the soldiers which appear and attack
you as you go along. At the end of the hall is another staircase which leads
down uneventfully. You can feel free to examine the arcade machine at the
bottom, however there is no game in it. Don't worry, you'll be able to get in
some classic Ninja Gaiden goodness at a later time. Check the bar on the
other side to find an ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL WAY sitting there on the counter.
There's also a MAP OF DWORKU to be found on the other end of the bar.
The exit to the bar is located opposite where you found the map, when you get
outside you'll have to take on five or six of those white soldiers, and a grey
soldier as well. Keep killing them and they'll keep dropping into battle.
Fortunately it really doesn't make any difference how well or how poorly you
perform in this fight for one reason. After they are defeated, run along the
wall horizontally on those two blue lines again and jump back and forth to
reach the area with the giant X. This statue still refills your health back
up to full like it did before, so be sure to take advantage of it. Drop back
down and go in the other direction, toward the Dragon Statue and save your
game there. Now you're ready to leave this area, head for the exit gate.
When you leave this area, go straight ahead toward the door with the two
yellow orbs on it, and go thorugh that door as well. Be careful of enemies
using firearms from up above. Before going up any staircases, on your right
you will find a door with a Lily emblem on it. Use your Lily Key to unlock
this door and head forward. There are three normal soldiers to take out in
this alley, nothing you haven't seen a hundred times before. The alley itself
leads to a dead end, but you should come across a Kunai Scroll which will give
you a helpful hint. What you need to do is move to the area just before the
alley curves left and face the end. Run foward and jump to run horizontally
along the wall on your right, before you reach the other wall, jump and run
horizontally along that wall, then jump again to get over the fence and land
beside a treasure chest. Inside this chest you will find an ELIXIR OF
SPIRITUAL LIFE. Continue down the road to encounter some Black Spider Ninjas,
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Not in hard mode you won't, inside
this chest is the third of the unique-to-hard LIFE OF THE GODS [039]. Down
this path you'll want to be careful as well. Immediately as you round
the next corner you'll be ambushed by a bunch of those damn Cat Demons.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
they are extremely dangerous so be sure to always stay moving like usual, or
you'll end up being raped by the explosives. The path from this point is
quite linear, it will take you past a gate which you cannot open and
eventually to a large door with red orb shapes in it. Pull the switch beside
this gate to open it up, now you are free to return to Muramasa's Shop if you
like, this acts as a shortcut. When you're done looking around, return here.
Use the Dragon Statue which just happens to be right beside the lever. After
doing so you'll want to start ascending the stairs opposite the statue on the
other side. The path takes you up and out to the drawbridge square, where you
are challenge by a couple of normal soldiers. Turn around and face the
direction you came from, but look a little bit to the right, there you will
see a door with a blue orb in the middle of it, this is the door you want to
take. It leads to a long alley where a number of soldiers, including one with
a grenade launcher, are waiting for you up at the top. Dispatch them as
quickly and as painlessly as you possibly can. About half way up this alley,
on your left, keep an eye out for a treasure chest. Inside this chest is the
KEY OF PEGASUS, an important item which you are going to need quite soon.
Turn around and face the oppsote direction, it's a drop off here but there's
something else. Take a look to the left of the drop to see a shiny golden
object. What you need to do is jump and wall run horizontally on the right
wall, then transfer to the next wall and wall run directly into that little
area. Drop and pick up the GOLDEN SCARAB [007]. Now drop down from here to
the Moat Road and follow it up toward the tunnel again, you'll have to take on
the three Black Spider Ninjas a second time (or you could just try to run past
them I guess.) When you reach the gate on your left, use the Key of Pegasus
to open it up. Inside here you will find a lever, and this lever controls the
drawbridge. Pull the lever to lower the drawbridge down, and then run to the
end of the path and use the Dragon Statue to save your game once again.
Climb up the stairs opposite the statue to reach the drawbridge area again,
the enemies have most likely respawned so you'll have to deal with that
inconvenience. Now that the bridge is down, feel free to cross it and make
your way left to where you'll be attacked by another three dangerous Black
Spider Ninjas. As usual take your weapon of choice and cut them a few new
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: I just thought you should know
something, they didn't replace the Black Spider Ninjas with the Cat Demons
to raise the difficulty of the battle from normal to hard. They raised it
from hard to even harder. The point is that the Black Spider Ninjas
aren't replaced in this area, they're still Black Spider Ninjas, but that
sure as hell doesn't mean you can let your guard down, you'll get wasted.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
orifaces, personally I like the Lunar to use against these guys but if you
don't like it, or you're playing the original Ninja Gaiden, then the Dragon
Sword will work just fine. After they have been killed, be sure to use the
Dragon Statue in the little alcove there. Interestingly enough, directly
besude the statue on the right is another GOLDEN SCARAB [008].
Stand facing the Dragon Statue just outside of it a bit, the path you want to
take is the path on the right. As you make your way down the road, stick
beside the left wall. Soon enough you will pass a small little area where
there is another GOLDEN SCARAB [009] sitting on the ground. A mere few steps
further than that on your left again you'll come across an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL
LIFE inside a treasure chest. The linear road from here leads you to the
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Once again the treasure chest
which contained an Elixir of Spiritual Life on the other difficulty now
contains a LIFE OF THE GODS [031]. If you've collected every one of the
ones I've mentioned so far in hard mode, then you will now have enough to
use nine of them and increase your maximum health total a little bit.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monastery Plaza, there you will be forced to take on a few normal soldiers at
once, including one equipped with a grenade launcher. For such a large
battlefield, and for being locked in the enemies don't really put up much of a
fight. After you have won the battle, locate the gate to the monastery. It
is the large set of double doors which cannot be opened from this side. If
you want you can turn around and go up the stairs in the opposite direction to
reach the save point again, but you'll have to fight three Black Spider Ninjas
in order to do so. Either way your true destination is left of the doors.
Watch out for the Black Spider Ninjas which seem to come out of nowhere. Use
the walls here to your advantage and defeat them with all sorts of ninja wall
running and dash attacks. Once they have been defeated you are going to want
to go down the nearby alley and open the chest to acquire a GREAT SPIRIT
ELIXIR. Continue down the road and take out the next set of three Black
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: No Great Spirit Elixir for you
here, but worry not. Inside this treasure chest there is a huge stash of
yellow essence orbs, and when I say huge stash, I'm not kidding.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spider Ninjas, hopefully this isn't taxing your health too much because this
part can get quite difficult. When you reach the end of the path at the
Monastery Inner Clearing, you'll have to face off against a number of white
soldiers, but it makes no difference how many you kill as this battle is
timed. After about thrity seconds or so a scene will interrupt.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Fighting the Red Lizards on hard
mode is almost identical to normal mode. You can tell they have more
health (or perhaps it's just that I'm used to using the Dabilahro) but
other than that, the Blade of Nirrti attack is still the way to go.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You are now fighting one hell of a dangerous miniboss battle, three of those
red lizard monster enemies that Rachel killed during the cutscene in the last
level. They have numerous attacks they can perform. Firstly they like to
charge at you head first and knock you out of the way, they also have a nasty
claw attack they'll use when you're right in front of them, fortunately this
is blockable. Never come up on them from behind, they huge tail sticking out
of their ass isn't for show, it will swipe at lightning speed and knock you
away from them, you must always fight from the front here. The fire breath
attack doesn't seem too dangerous, I find that when they do it you can easily
avoid it by rolling up to them and blocking when close. Finally the one you
really have to watch out for is when they lift their head high into the air,
and come down onto you by chomping your head and flinging you away, this is a
throw so it's unblockable. As for attacking the beasts, normal combos work
great, but you will want to do everything you can to fight them only one at a
time. After doing a combo often the beast will go back for a head-eat attack,
so get the hell out of the way if you see any indication of this happening.
They really don't have that much health considering their size, and each time
one of them is killed it drops a large portion of blue essence, so don't waste
any items if you know one of them is about to be killed. When you win this
little "mini" battle as I call it, there's a scene and then the real boss.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- H Y D R A C U B U S --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| What you have here in front of you is one hell of a nasty looking tentacle |
| monster thing, at first you could be forgiven for having no clue |
| whatsoever how to begin fighting something of this size. Especially given |
| that when you run up and attack it, your blade only bounces off. Worry |
| not, for you are actually about to take on one of the easiest bosses you |
| have faced so far, one which can be defeated easily if you know how. |
| |
| Taking a look at the boss' attacks there actually isn't much to look at. |
| He was two tentacles coming out of his sides which seem to kind of flail |
| around randomly. Their range isn't all that impressive so you can always |
| avoid being hit by moving to the outer part of the arena. When you do get |
| close however, the tentacles will try to swipe at you. You can attempt to |
| jump out of the way, but simply running should be enough to avoid their |
| attacks for the most part. Now and then the boss will spin its core |
| around along with the tentacles, nothing too dangerous. The actual damage |
| taken when you get hit by them is mediocre at best. Besides that he has a |
| grab attack that he uses extremely rarely, it is likely that you will |
| never even see it used at all. After taking damage sometimes the boss |
| likes to expel large balls of acid or something out of his top, but these |
| can be avoided simply my moving to get away from where they are going to |
| land, most of the time you are given enough opportunity to move. |
| |
| Attacking the boss should also prove relatively easy, the target you are |
| aiming for is not the core but rather where the tentacles connect to the |
| core. Jump directly at them and press the Y button to perform the Flying |
| Swallow attack, do this over and over again, immediately when you land |
| each time to avoid having the tecntacles come around and hit you while |
| you're on the ground nearby. After about three hits the tentacle will |
| fall off and drop a small blue essence, feel free to pick this up and |
| restore your health a little. Do the same thing next on the other |
| tentacle. Now after doing this, the eyes on the boss will open and you |
| are free to go in for some massive damage. Just about anything works fine |
| here, his health really starts to deplete when you attack now, but the |
| most effective thing to do is hold the Y button and absorb that second |
| blue essence the other tentacle drops, then go in for a huge combo. |
| |
| This will repeat again and again until you finally eliminate the boss, |
| most likely the third time you eliminate both of the tentacles. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- H Y D R A C U B U S --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| The Hydracus on hard isn't too different from normal, but there are a |
| couple of little obnoxious aspects of this battle which really get in the |
| way. First of all, this is nothing new, but those damn tentacles just |
| fling around in every direction and it's so difficult to predict them. |
| Fortunately you can always block them when on the ground, it's when you |
| jump that you become vulnerable. Of course the boss has two enemies |
| fighting the battle with you, normal Claw Demons. They're easy enough to |
| kill as you probably know, and although using second level charge Ultimate |
| techniques is the best way to kill this boss, you had might as well just |
| kill the Claw Demons right off the bat. The tentacles themselves will |
| provide the orbs you need, and even if not, the eyes are open long enough. |
| |
| Stick with the Flying Swallow and Dragon Sword as the best way to cut off |
| the tentacles on hard. Jump toward the boss and whenever it looks like |
| you're about to get whacked, hit the Y button to do the FLying Swallow and |
| get temporary invulnerability. The danger still remains of being knocked |
| out of the air before you land, but that's just something you'll have to |
| learn to overcome with practice. After the second Ultimate Technique, the |
| boss will begin shooting those coloured blobs out of his head every two |
| seconds, and never stop (unlike on normal.) At this point just go on the |
| offensive, take out those tentacles and perform one final attack, you |
| should be able to finish it with no more than one Great Spirit Elixir. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________________________________________________________________
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE MONASTERY [CHAPTER 6] ----------------------------------- 01.06 --+
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Inside the treasure chest next to
the save points is a huge cluster of bats just ready to suck the life out
of you when you open it. Do so at your own risk. The other chest still
contains a Life of the Gods item, which is there in both difficulties.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From where you start in this level what you want to do is turn around and open
the two chests to get a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR and a LIFE OF THE GODS [007].
After collecting both of the items, turn around and begin making your way up
the stairs here. At the top of the stairs you will find an ELIXIR OF
SPIRITUAL LIFE. Collect this item and then enter the next hall, make sure the
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: At the top of the stairs in hard
mode the chest contains a Great Spirit Elixir instead of an Elixir of
Spiritual Life. It's another of those rare better-than-normal items.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
original Shurikens are equipped when you do. Begin throwing them around
wildly to take out all of the bats in this area. Head to the other side and
drop down into this area, there is a statue which will take you to Muramasa's
Shop once again, but there is nothing new here for you to get.
Leave this room and when you get outside, you'll be attacked by a brand new
type of enemy. Fortunately this type of enemy does not actually have any
throw attacks, so while blocking you are literally invincible. Use this to
your advantage and defeat them using mostly counterattacks, with perhaps a few
other defensive moves just to keep things mixed up. Once they are dead, turn
around and open the chest you probably passed by which has an ELIXIR OF THE
DEVIL WAY inside of it. Also be sure to examine the body of the ninja lying
on the ground, his corpse is holding onto a MAP OF THE MONASTERY.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: The chest out here no longer
contains an Elixir of the Devil Way, once again you are shafted out of a
Ki restoring item, however in return you get lots of yellow essence orbs.
So it works out pretty well anyway. Now prepare yourself for the hardest
normal battle you've had to fight yet. Instead of a whole pile of those
normal Claw Demons, it's about ten of those crazy Cat Demons. Three at a
time, but coming at you non-stop. Let me just remind you of the fact that
the cats have pure offense and virtually no defense. You'll get nowhere
blocking all the time, be extremely aggressive, that's the best tactic.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's an additional Dragon Statue over here on this side already. After
saving the game what you want to do is go up the stairs and examine the large
double doors, these are the ones which were locked in the last chapter, now
you can open them yourself. Turn around and go back through, head through the
large double doors at the bottom of the stairs this time. When you arrive in
the Altar Hall, go up either the ramp on the left side or the right side. At
the top, check between the two ramps to find a chest containing ELIXIR OF
SPIRITUAL LIFE. Afer acquiring this, approach the main altar for battle.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Replacing the Elixir of Spiritual
Life is another LIFE OF THE GODS [032], exclusive to hard difficulty.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You'll find yourself facing off against some brand new enemies, the floating
scythe demons appear from their statue-like state and attack from the air.
They have the ability to teleport and cut you with their sickle so it's
important to always keep moving. My personal attack of choice for defeating
these monsters is the Flying Swallow, jumping at them and pressing the Y
button. Soon enough you'll be join by at least seven or eight of those simple
claw demons as well, it's going to become a real party in this room. Always
keep an eye on your defenses and eliminate those scythe demons as quickly as
possible so you can focus a more defensive posture to get the claw demons,
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of an Elixir of the Devil
Way which you still have not yet found, there's a crappy Smoke Bomb.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just a few steps up and to the left of the first chest you got up here, is
another which contains an ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL WAY. Directly opposite this
chest is a thin door leading into the next hallway, this is the door you want
to take. It leads into the archives, and you won't have much time to check
out the reading material because you'll immediately be attacked by virtually
the same party you just fought, except this time it will be in a more enclosed
area (if you're playing hard mode, be sure to read the large chunk of text
below). Kill all of the enemies here and then ascend up the stairs. Since the
gate should have opened after all the enemies were defeated, you can now feel
free to smash the display cases with your sword and collect the many items you
find inside which include an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE, the STONE TABLET
[RIGHT], the INCENDIARY SHURIKEN and another GOLDEN SCARAB [010].
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[HARD MODE TIPS] ========= MINIBOSS: EVIL RYU =========== [HARD MODE TIPS]
Enter the room and the doors lock behind you. Here's something you may not
have expected, it's a hard-difficulty exclusive miniboss, Evil Ryu. This
guy is extremely dangerous for one reason alone, he's you! Pretty much
whatever moves you have at this point of the game, he has as well (plus
perhaps a few more). Of course you're probably familiar with your own
arsenel of abilities, but humour me for a moment as we look at this guy.
The main differences here are that he has a lot more health than you, and
as an artifically controlled set of computed algorithms, he is incapable
of human error. Fortunately you have one advantage, and that is human
intuition. With this you will be able to defeat your enemy. In this
battle I find that the unbalancing factor in your favour, if that the
enemy cannot defend nearly as well as you can. For this reason you
should be able to defend against most of his attacks while he will not be
able to defend the same ones coming from you (on occassion he will.)
Evil Ryu is equipped with the normal Dragon Sword and has most of its
moves up to level three. For projectile weapons he's got normal
Shurikens, Incendiary Shurikens and the Windmill Shuriken, each of which
he can use at any given time. When it comes to magic he can use both The
Art of Fire Wheels and The Art of Inferno. The longer the battle takes
the more magic he will use, so it doesn't seem like he is bound by Ki in
the same way you are. Here's a few tips to stay alive during the fight.
When battling normally, it's extremely important that you focus more on
blocking than dodging, which is untrue for many other enemies which is why
I stress it here. Just like you, Evil Ryu is capable of executing a lot
of fast attacks and throwing a lot of projectiles which will hit you out
of the air, virtually every one of these attacks can be blocked however,
so keep that in mind. There are a few unblockable attacks that you will
need to watch out for. The long X, X then Y button combination will knock
you off balance and strike you at the end, when you are knocked off
balance simply roll backward to avoid it. The next two are the Incendiary
Shuriken (you can't block explosions) and the Guillotine Throw (you can't
block throws). Both of these you need to watch out for, fortunately the
Guillotine Throw is relatively uncommon, good because it's hard to
predict. Dodging magic will come into play below in the battle strategy.
There are many offensive tactics that work very effectively against Evil
Ryu. His defenses as I've said before, are good, but leave something to
be desired. Once you actually manage to hit him, you can usually follow
with most of the rest of a combo before he manages to block again.
Furthermore, the Flying Swallow attack which is ineffective against so
many bosses works quite well against Evil Ryu (he can use it too, so be
careful.) Looking for the best way to kill this guy off? Simple, he's
considered a light weight enemy which means you can knock him into the
air, and subsequently perform the Izuna Drop. Approach Evil Ryu and press
X, Y, X, X, X, Y to do massive damage and finish with an even more massive
Izuna Drop. It's not always easy to get him in the air, but once you
manage to do do, Izuna Dropping him will follow quite easily.
Lastly there is the problem of his most powerful attacks, Ninpo Magic.
When he uses The Art of Fire Wheels then basically your best bet is to run
around and avoid him until it wears off. The Art of Inferno however is a
different story. Dodging this is extremely difficult, it can be done by
running up the stairs to put a barrier between the two of you, or
sometimes a quick roll and jump is enough. The risk is too high, and
when you're hit it will deal nearly 75% of your total health in damage.
The solution I find that works best is so intuitive, I can't believe it
took four test battles before I thought of it. Forget trying to dodge, do
not use magic on this guy at all while fighting him. About two seconds
after he begins to cast The Art of Inferno, start casting the damn spell
yourself. He'll fire first and it will do no damage since casting makes
you temporarily invincible, then you'll follow this by blasting him in the
face with your own magic. A great way to be offensive and defense at once.
Defeating this boss makes an item appear on the ground at the top of the
stairs, go up there and collect it to acquire THE ARMLET OF POTENCY.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also you may have noticed a number of conspicuous blue books around this area,
you'll want to go and collect all five of them which include THE HISTORY OF
VIGOOR I, THE HISTORY OF VIGOOR II, THE HISTORY OF VIGOOR III, THE HISTORY OF
VIGOOR IV and THE EMPEROR, LORD OF ALL CREATION. Each of them can be read
whenever you wish in the archives section of your menu. Afer collecting those
go back up to where you found all the other items in the display cases.
Equip the Incendiary Shurikens you acquired recently but don't start throwing
them, keep in mind you only have a limited supply. Walk along the walkway
here to the opposite end of the room on the second level and stand directly in
the corner, if you do this the camera should reposition itself so that you are
able to see a golden object on the ledge up above. All you have to do here is
run up the wall on the right and backflip off of it to land right beside the
GOLDEN SCARAB [011]. After collecting this, walk around to he other side
where you will find a cracked wall. As I said you should have the Incendiary
Shurikens equipped, so throw one at the wall and blast open the cracked area.
In here before you can reach the door, you have to fight off a couple of the
scythe demons and claw demons, the angled play field and close quartered
combat kind of give you a disadvantage, which is why you should try to use the
walls, as well as the floor. After going through the door you will realize
that you are actually above the Altar Hall. Make an immediate right and look
directly ahead. Slightly below you, along the top of a thin stone walkway
there is a lone chest at the end. Jump down onto this walkway and open the
chest to get a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Go back to where you jumped straight off
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: The Great Spirit Elixir in the
chest at the end of this path has been replaced by an Elixir of Spiritual
Life on the hard difficulty, and the Elixir of Spiritual Life has been
replaced by one of the hard mode exclusiive LIFE OF THE GODS [033] items.
On the other side, instead of finding a Great Devil Elixir you'll get an
Elixir of Spiritual Life, the next Golden Scarab still remains the same.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
and jump to the right this time. Open the chest you find here and collect the
ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. Make your way back to the door where you came from
the room with the cracked wall, and go around the path to the other side.
This side is exactly equivalent to the other side, so jump down onto the thin
walkway and open the chest to get a GREAT DEVIL ELIXIR, and then jump left
from the platform behind you to find a GOLDEN SCARAB [012]. Turn around and
jump back onto the platform, then finally go through the door beside you.
Enter this room and check the left side, beside the desk there is a shining
statue. Examine it to acquire the RAPTOR, DEITY OF SENTIMENT. Examine the
diary you can find on the desk, it says in highlighted print that it was
written on the 27th day of the 12th month, and ends with the phrase "left,
right, right, left." Games that involve badass ninja killing aren't there to
really twist your brain like perhaps a Silent Hill game might, however this
puzzle certainly gets the job done. Across on the other side of the room is a
safe with a four digit combination and the ability to move left or right. The
combination is of course taken from those dates, 27th and 12th, or 2712, and
the direction to turn from the final phrase. Examine the safe and move left
until you reach the number two, then move right past the 7 until you reach the
1, then go left again until you hit the number two and the safe will open,
netting you the BOOK OF THE EONS but another not-so-pleasant surprise.
Upon opening the safe it sets off some kind of trap which causes enemies to
spawn and fill the room. It's the same two types of enemies you've been
facing so far in this level, so take out this collection of more-of-the-sames
and be on your way through the door that you entered the room from. If you're
prepared for a challenge and have a number of healing potions, then you should
make your way back to the Archives, there's a challenge awaiting.
This is called the Sixty Fiends Challenge, and for anyone just tuning in you
can find it between chapter six and seven by entering the Archives in the
Monastery after acquiring the Book of the Eons from the safe. Just as the
name implies this challenge entials having Ryu take on a total of sisty fiends
in one room. This is just an approximation, but I would say there are
approximately twenty of the scythe demons and forty of the claw demons. It's
not randomized so if you happen to kill all of one type of demon, you will
only fight the other type for the rest of the battle. Knowing this might help
out because they have a habit of working well together. Here's how it works.
In the Archives, scythe demons and claw demons will just keep on appearing and
attacking, and you have to kill them all. The weapon of choice here at least
in my opinion is the Dragon Sword, I used the Lunar for awhile and while it
worked, switching to the Dragon Sword seemed to make life easier. The reason
I say the enemies work well together, is for the following reason: while
blocking you can defend against every single attack from the claw demons, and
that applies almost as equally to the scythe demon, but together it does not.
When struck by the scythe demon, you are temporarily knocked off balance so
the claw demons can actually hit you after the scythe demon attacks. The
scythe demon also has an unblockable magic circle attack, but that's another
story and it's easy to dodge. I would recommend focusing heavily on the
scythe demons if possible. They are harder to kill but they will almost
always drop large blue essence, and it's important to keep your health up.
The easiest way to kill them I find is the Blade of Nirrti attack. Strike
them with the X button, then hit Y to jump in the air, trike three more times
with X while in the air and ends with X for the Blade of Nirrti. The only
other thing which I would address is that you stay the hell away from the
door at all times, as I mention in the first chapter, Ryu has a habit of just
doing through doors in the middle of a fight if you get too close, and it
would be a shame for that to happen on enemy number fifty-nine.
Upon eventually defeating all sixty of these enemies, an impressive feat, you
are rewarded with a treasure chest on the level above. It contains a SPIRIT
OF THE DEVILS [002] which will increase your total magic Ninpo meter from two
slots to three slots, something which should help you out quite a bit in the
long run, so indeed it was worth it, if not for that then for all the yellow
essence you have collected. That's all there is to this particular challenge.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: This challenge is exponentially
more difficult than the one you encountered here on normal, as usual the
Claw Demons are replaced by Cat Demons which are much more aggressive and
capable of breaking through your defenses. Not only that, the phrase
"Sixty Fiends Challenge" no longer applies in hard more, when you come
across these there are always more like eighty or one hundred. In order
to win this battle I recommend the following above anything, spam the crap
out of the Izuna Drop on those Cat Demons. Kill as many as you possibly
can, with a few Art of Inferno Ninpo spells thrown in there for good
measure. Jumping off the wall and doing the Y button attack works too,
and the Blade of Nirrti is ideal for killing the floating Scythe Demons.
Trying to use the Izuna Drop on the Scythe Demons will inevitably lead to
using the Blade of Nirrti, so basically all you need to do is try using
the Izuna Drop for pretty much the entire battle and that'll work out the
best. Your reward for completing this is still Spirit of the Devils [002].
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leave the Archives and return to the Altar Hall. Before you go any further I
would recommend you backtrack and head for Muramasa's Shop. Give him all the
Gold Scarabs you have and if it totals more than ten (it should total twelve
by now) then he will give you a LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [003] in return.
On your way back be sure to stop and save the game at the Dragon Statue. Now
enter the Altar Hall and eliminate the few enemies again. Approach the altar
and press the X button to place the Book of the Eons on the altar. Behind the
altar a secret hole appears with a ladder going down, step up to it and
interact with it in order to descend. Take off the Incendiary Shurikens when
you land and put on the nromal ones. Take a few steps forward and start
throwing like mad to eliminate all the bats. You'll find GOLDEN SCARAB [013]
on the ground here right in front of you. Also be sure to examine the ninja
corpse for an unlimited supply of INCENDIARY SHURIKENS. Finally be sure to
open the chest to get the MAP OF THE UNDERGROUND CEMETERY and then once you've
done that, approach the Dragon Statue and choose to save your game.
Now what ou need to do is go through the gate, equip the Incendiary Shurikens
and be ready. Break the cracked wall and go through, prepare for a boulder
chase. The camera changes to be in front of you so move toward the camera.
At any point if the boulder hits you, you can just try again so don't worry.
Run straight down and here is a list of what you will encounter.
I - Jump over the first set of spikes with a single normal jump
II - Jump over the second set by running along the wall on the left
III - Dodge the third and fourth spike traps by staying on the right side
IV - Dodge the pillars by going left then right and then left again
V - Dodge the next spike pit by staying left and jumping once
VI - Dodge the next small one by sticking to the right side
VII - Dodge the next one by jumping normally in the small depression
VIII - Dodge the last big one by running along the left side wall
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Nothing really changes here with
regard to trap positioning and such, but I am quite certain it's more
difficult to outrun the large rolling rock on the hard difficulty than it
is to do so on the normal difficulty. Basically if you want to make sure
you get thorugh it without being overrun, then just make sure you don't
end up jumping down into any of the spike traps. Easier said than done.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You'll end up in a room, in true ninja fashion, swinging head over heals on
some kind of extended wire. Flip across and open the chest to get a GREAT
SPIRIT ELIXIR. Save your game at the Dragon Statue beside the chest and then
begin making your way down gradually. If you try and jump to the bottom, you
will be killed. On the way down eventually you will reach a bunch of those
claw demons, just kill them as you usually do without too much complication.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: For once the Claw Demons here
aren't replaced with Cat Demons, take advantage of this simple fight by
totally obliterating these pathetic enemies without taking a scratch.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Proceed through the gate at the edge of the ledge before it abruptly ends.
Enter the room carefully, don't jump down to the bottom. Jump to the first
ledge in the middle and you should be able to see a treasure chest across on
the other side. Jump left and run horizontally along the wall to reach it,
inside the chest is a LIFE OF THE GODS [008]. Drop down the the bottom and
head to the thin little corner (the southwest corner according to your map.)
From here you can wall jump up in this thin little area and you'll land in a
little alcove with a GOLDEN SCARAB [014]. From here you can jump out in the
opposite direction and grab the ledge on the next platform. If you need to
get back out of this room, turn around and face the direction of the Gold
Scarab (south), jump and run up the wall, then backflip off to reach the top
of the room again. Your real destination lies at the bottom, take the west
exit and drop down the stairs, save at the Dragon Statue at the bottom.
Make your way down gradually again to the bottom, taking out all the bats
along the way with your normal Shurikens. At the bottom you'll have to face a
number of the claw demons, no matter, once they are dead then take the only
path leading out of here. Along the way you should see a GOLD SCARAB [015] on
the lower part of the cave wall on your right, be sure to pick it up. Have
your normal Shurikens ready because there are a ton of bats in this room to
take care of. After doing this, drop down the ladder to find a whole bunch
more and then open the chest at the end of the path to get an ELIXIR OF
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of acquiring the Elixir of
Spiritual Life here, the chest contains the Vigoorian Flail. I'm not
quite sure why the switch was made, in normal mode you get these weapon in
the very next room. Ride the elevator down and defeat the claw enemies,
and then after you go through the door, open the chest which used to
contain the Vigoorian Flail. It now contains a stash of delicious
essence. No one will ever know the reason for the mysterious switch.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPIRITUAL LIFE. Stand in the middle of this room and examine the button, now
press the jump button and then the Y button in mid-air to slam down on top of
it and get the elevator moving. Just so you don't get bored while it
descends, a few claw demons are going to drop down to keep you company.
At the bottom when the elevator stops, go thorugh the door and check on your
right. There should be a treasure chest here which contains the VIGOORIAN
FLAIL, and band new weapon for you to kick serious ass with. head to the end
of this hall as well and go thorugh the door to trigger a scene. Afer a few
seconds you'll have to face some of the easiest enemies you've ever faced.
Simply jump around the room like a crazy ninja using the Flying Swallow
technique and you can't possibly lose. It's what happens after you eventually
defeat these enemies that becomes so difficult, a cutscene follows the battle.
Time to take on an army of zombies, each quipped with a different kind of
weapon. Most of them are relatively the same, but the fact that the archers
are equipped with long range capabilities means they should because your
primary target. Once the both of them have been dispatched it's a matter of
taking care of the rest of the zombies. Personally I like to use just normal
combos, as well as the technique where you run up a wall, backflip and come
down with a Y button attack. Also I find that the magic spell, Art of Fire
Wheels is especially effective against these particular enemies, you can get
combos upward of 100 hits or more if you use the spell effectively here.
After all of the zombies have been taken care of, pick up the HOLY GRAIL from
the wall in this room and then leave. There are more zombies here that you
can kill if you wish to do so, your destination is that large elevator again.
Take the elevator up, if it stops in the middle just kill zombies until you
can hit the bottom again. At the top, follow the path to reach the large room
with all the chains again. You have to make your way up the outer path but it
can get extremely difficult and frustrating. The archer zombies will hit you
and knock you all the way back down to the bottom, that is if you haven't
already fallen off yourself. The best thing you can do is try to kill them
from a distance, and Incendiary Shurikens are really the only good way to do
that. If you have enough you can try that, otherwise the next best thing
would be wait for them to fire, dodge and jump to the platform to begin a
combination. Either way once you get to the top, be sure to save the game.
Make your way up to the room again with that huge bone dragon zombie skeleton
and when you arrive, take a few steps left and place the Holy Grail into the
altar beside you. Only do this when you are ready for a boss fight.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- B O N E D R A G O N --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| The Bone Dragon is most certainly the biggest boss you've fought so far, |
| and with immense size often comes immense difficulty. This is partially |
| the case here, he's sure going to take a bit more work to drop than that |
| weird kraken thing you fought in the previous level. Still, keep a couple |
| of health potions in your inventory, and you'll get through this fight. |
| |
| This boss has quite a few different and unique attacks, fortunately you |
| don't have to worry too much about predicting which one he's going to do |
| since he can't use them randomly in a sense. Basically here's how it |
| works, the boss is always going to have one limb, either an arm or a leg |
| on the platform directly in front of you. Depending on which one he has |
| there he will use different attacks. We'll begin however with his |
| universal attack. Regardless of which limb is in front of you, the boss |
| has the ability to shake the screen a bit and then launch two bone |
| fragments in your direction one after another. This attack will likely be |
| the one which does the most damage through the entire battle, so you |
| should get used to either blocking or dodging it. I don't say this |
| because the attack is particularaly powerful, quite the opposite in fact, |
| but the boss does is so often that it'll likely hit you more than a few |
| times. It's possible to block this attack, it knocks you off balance but |
| the second bone fragment should make contact just as you regain your |
| balance, it's close but you can usually block both. If you're right at |
| the edge, then they may hit fast enough so you can't block the second, but |
| from a distance you'll be okay. Personally I think it's easier most of |
| the time to just try and dodge them. The attack is so frequent that if |
| you're always blocking them, you'll end up blocking the whole battle. |
| |
| Next we have the more powerful attacks, starting with the arms. If one of |
| his front limbs is in front of you then the boss is capable of performing |
| a horizontal swipe with his claw, either jump over this or jump backward |
| out of the way, don't try to block it. If one of the back legs is in |
| front of you, then the attack will instead be a vertical stomp. It's |
| extremely powerful, but much easier to dodge. Still impossible to block. |
| That covers the normal attacks, and finally we have the boss' two |
| transition attacks. I call them transition attacks because the boss only |
| uses them when changing the positions of his limbs. They are attacks from |
| the head and the tail. Basically if he is switching from his front right |
| arm, to front left arm, the head will pass you in the process, same goes |
| for back legs and the tail. If he switches from front arm, to back leg |
| then you won't have to worry about because there aren't any damaging |
| appendices on the sides of his body that you have to worry about. |
| |
| As the Bone Dragon turns and his head passes you, he might randomly |
| decide to pull the head back (this is your warning) and lunge toward the |
| camera and try to grab you in his mouth. He lunges so far forward that |
| for a second his head actually covers the entire screen, it's quite |
| frightening. If you get caught in the mouth then you will be victim to |
| the boss' most powerful attack (and throw) so it's unblockable. Dodging |
| it is easy, simply run to the side, I find it easiest to just run to the |
| right. When he switches between his back legs, every single time the tail |
| will swipe past you in the process. Don't try to block it, simply jump |
| over it like a jumprope. Everyonce in awhile he'll switch, then switch |
| back immediately, so the tail will swipe left, then right again. |
| |
| Now that we've covered the boss' many attacks, we can examine just how to |
| actually defeat him. As you may have guessed, attacking the body is |
| pretty much out of the question so we need to look at other avenues. The |
| answer is of course the limbs, when you run up to either the arm or the |
| leg planted in front of you and begin attacking, the boss will take |
| damage. Not too complicated, but it becomes difficult especially when |
| you're trying to dodge those flying bone fragments. Stick with combos |
| that involve jumping so that perhaps even while attacking, you'll |
| inevitably still end up dodging sometimes. Each limb makes up 25% of the |
| boss' total health, so you can win the battle by attacking a single one. |
| When it's taken enough damage a limb will shed the outer bone layer and he |
| will never put that limb in front of you again. Basically you just have |
| to defeat all four limbs and deplete his health, and the battle is over. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- B O N E D R A G O N --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Accompanying the Bone Dragon on this difficulty are a number of those |
| little flying creatures with the stingers on the bottom. These can be |
| both a blessing and a curse of course, depending on how readily you |
| dispatch them. I would recommend that you focus on these little enemies |
| as soon as they appear and kill them as soon as possible. Not only can |
| being stung deal a surprising amount of damage, but it often leads to |
| disorientation and being hit by another more dangerous attack. |
| |
| The Dragon Sword still works fine on this boss, as does the aforementioned |
| strategy, just make sure you kill those little flying buggers whenever |
| they show up. The health they drop can actually benefit you quite a bit. |
| Use the X, X, Y, Y attack on the dragon's feet and hands whenever they |
| stomp down and always be careful of the attacks he is capable of using |
| during the transition between one limb and the other. Don't bother trying |
| to block the bone projectiles, simply roll out of the way. Other than |
| that just use the same strategy as on normal, and you'll do just fine. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________________________________________________________________
____ ___)
(, / /
/---/
) / /
+-- (_/ (__ IDDEN UNDERGROUND [CHAPTER 7] ------------------------ 01.07 --+
That shiny object on the ground you see right when this chapter begins is
another LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [004], be sure to pick that one up. What
you want to do now is go through the gate and follow the path down to that
save point again, the one which served as the final save point before the boss
in the previous chapter. Run down the path but don't jump to the very bottom,
instead make your way back to the room where you found the Holy Grail. If you
like, it's time to take on the next Sixty Fiend Challenge room.
This particular one as previously mentioned, is found by returning to the room
where you acquired the Holy Grail, you can head right down there at the
beginning of chapter seven, however it's not limited to that time, in fact
unlike the first one you can return here almost anytime. Basically what you
have to fight are sixty of those zombie enemies, and as you know their health
total is quite high so this one is going to take quite a bit longer than the
first one. I'll share some of my wisdom that will hopefully help you out.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: On the hard difficulty, this
challenge is even more difficult. The enemies respawn seemingly without
end, so it's much more a test of endurance than a test of anything else.
I would recommend the following, I found it helped me out quite a bit. At
the beginning of the level backtrack all the way back to the monastery
again and use Muramasa's Statue. There you can upgrade the Dragon Sword
to level three, and come back down here to take on the challenge. It
certainly won't guarantee a win, but it will really help you out.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Of course these enemies may be strong and powerful, but they are also very
slow. You can really use this to your advantage here, but not at the
beginning because of those damn archers. Fortunately, similar to the first
challenge, there are certain amounts of each type of enemy, meaning that when
you kill all of one type, including archers, they will not appear again. What
you want to do at the start is basically focus only on the archers, there are
going to be about fifteen or so of them to kill, but once they are out of the
way it will make the whole fight significantly easier. Next you will want to
exploit the enemies' slow movement to help you win the fight. To do this I
recommend you rely heavily on the charge up attack. Just position yourself
somewhere away from the enemy group and hold the Y button. Charge up your
sword once, then wait until it powers up a second time and let loose the super
sword combination. This will kill any enemy you hit instantly and possible
others which are close by. There are two things to take into consideration
when doing this: first of all it's slow, but safe, so you can almost guarantee
a win if you're willing to do this the entire battle. You can really speed
things up if you are willing to absorb the essence which comes out of the
enemies, but you will be sacrificing quite a bit of spendable yellow essence,
it's up to you. Lastly, when you use this super attack, blue essence will
never be dropped, only yellow, so if your health is waning you might want to
opt for a few normal kills in hopes of getting some blue essence. Your reward
for finishing this challenge is another LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [005].
Head all the way back to the first Dragon Statue of the chapter and be sure to
save your game after doing something like that. Now that it's out of the way,
all you need to do is jump down the middle of this area to the bottom where
the Dragon Zombie's corpse landed. At the bottom you will notice there a
bunch of small indented ledges along the wall, go around them until you find
one which has a GOLDEN SCARAB [016] sitting on top of it. Now there is only a
single door leading out. In this hall you have to fight four zombie archers
simultaneously, it's quite annoying and extremely frustrating, but no matter.
Give them all you have with whatever weapon suits your fancy.
Coming up on the next room it's a very important visit to Muramasa's shop.
Not only does he have all sorts of stuff to do, but you've likely got quite a
bit of yellow essence after that fiend challenge. Here's what to do, first of
all and most important of all be sure to upgrade the Dragon Sword to its
maximum level. Second of all, you will also want to give him all of the
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When you reach Muramasa's Statue
here, give him all of the Scarabs you have acquired so far. If you've
been following the guide then you're up to 16 and in return for those he
will give you both the TECHNIQUE SCROLL: GUILLOTINE THROW as well as the
WINDMILL SHURIKEN. Both of these are good items, so don't pass them up.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Golden Scarabs you have right now, it should be enoguh to net you another
SPIRIT OF THE DEVILS [004]. Lastly you will want to upgrade the Vigoorian
Flail as well as the Wooden Sword I guess with whatever else you have. By the
end it will have cost over 100,000 yellow essence to max out the Wooden Sword,
but at level seven it becomes one of the strongest swords in the game.
With that out of the way, continue across through this next room and you'll
come to a Dragon Statue, before using it open the treasure chest nearby and
get the MAP OF THE HIDDEN UNDERGROUND. Now when you try to cross the bridge
nin the next room, some zombies will appear and take it out from underneath
you. When you land at the bottom, eliminate all of the zombies as well as the
claw enemies which appear soon after. Notice the door with the two orbs in
the middle of it, well the door you want to go thorugh is the one with the
blue plate on it, on the opposite side of the room as the double orb door.
When you get in here, quickly eliminate the archer zombie and then equip the
Bow, possibly for the first time in quite awhile. Take advantage of the arrow
filled corpse and then take aim at the two zombie archers way on the other
side of the room. Note that arrows will pass through those swinging spike
things no problem, so all you have to do is aim. When looking in first person
while shooting an arrow, you can zoom in with the R trigger. After killing
both of them, which each take about four or five hits, then collect enough
arrows from the corpse once again so that your supply is full.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of a Great Spirit Elixir,
you'll find a large stash of yellow essence inside this treasure chest.
Through the door with the red emblem you'll still find a Great Spirit
Elixir inside the chest there, but when you drop down and open up the one
that had an Elixir of the Devil Way, it now has a Life of the Gods [034].
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Drop down over the edge and turn around, there's a treasure chest here with a
GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR inside of it. Jump back up to the door again and whip out
the Bow. Aim up in the opposite direction as the door and you'll see a
glowing object, fire an arrow at this object and a magic blue path will appear
leading you to the other side of the room. Cross this path while being
careful of course, to avoid the moving spike traps. You can't accidentally
fall off this path unless you jump, unfortunately you do have to jump whenever
there's a gap in the path. Here's a neat tip, if you aim up with the Bow at
where the spike traps connect to the roof, you can shoot the coloured panel
and slow them down temporarily. Don't rely on this too much because the path
will disappear. At the end you have to run horizontally across the wall to
make it over the gap. When you get to the other side, press the button and
one of the barries blocking that large door will disappear. Drop down over
the edge here and turn around. Look behind the left pillar to get a GOLDEN
SCARAB [017]. Now head back to the previous room where you were before.
This time go thorugh the other door, take out the Bow and fire enough arrows
to kill all three of the zombie archers in this room. Open the treasure chest
beside you which contains a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR and then drop over the edge
below and open the other chest to find an ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL WAY. Now go
back to the beginning and get ready to run across the walkway. When you reach
the third swinging spike trap, it is absolutely essential that you shoot the
top of it to slow it down in order to get across, if you don't do this then
it's almost impossible, at least not without taking damage. When you reach
the other side press the X button to press in the red pupil and unlock the
door entirely. Turn around and once again return to the previous room.
When you're ready then go thorugh the doors and prepare for battle. THis
miniboss was originally a boss of course, it's that weird tentacle monster
thing, but now you've got a few new tricks, a lot more health, and a few more
Ki to really shake things up. Your weapon of choice here no question is going
to be the upgraded Vigoorian Flail. Here's what do do, jump at the tentacles
and press the Y button as if you were going to do the Flying Swallow attack
with the Dragon Sword, this is almost enough to eliminate the tentacles in a
single hit. Once they are taken out, cast a Fire Wheels magic, run up to the
boss and go absolutely crazy, the monster won't know what hit it. Your
victory is almost garanteed this way, once the monster is dead be sure to
collect the LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [006]. Leave the room now.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: This monster is ridiculously
difficult on the harder difficulties. Those damn Cat Demons really
distract you from attacking the boss, and those tentacles are much more
powerful now than they've ever been. Be sure to block constantly and
avoid rolling around too much, if you're rolling and you get hit by the
tentacles, even if you're holding the L button it will still really hurt.
Jump and use the Flying Swallow attack on the tentacles as well as The Art
of Inferno and basically anything else you can come up with that will help
you avoid taking too much damage. Eventually when you defeat this
"miniboss" you'll nab yourself another Lives of the Thousand Gods [006].
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Run over to the opposite side, furthest from this door. A little piece of the
wall has extended outward and you can wall kick your way up in between it.
When you reach the top be sure to open the chest beside you to get the LIFE OF
THE GODS [009] and directly across from it, another GOLDEN SCARAB [018]. With
this Life of the Gods, if you've been collecting them all, you can finally
upgrade your maximum health, and it's about damn time. Drop down below again
and wall kick up in the equivalent space beside the double orb doors where you
fought the miniboss. At the top here there's an item on the throne, examine
it to acquire the JEWEL OF THE DEMON SEAL [001]. This special item is
designed to increase the level of Ninpo magic. The only spell you have at
this point which can be upgraded is the Art of the Inferno, so use it on that.
Equip your Bow and move to the top of the stairs. Aim down and eliminate the
two zombie archers at the bottom. With them out of the way, proceed down the
stairs and fight off all of the other zombies waiting there for you. There is
a corpse of a ninja in the corner, be sure to examine it to get THE ART OF THE
ICE STORM. Equip the normal Shurikens again and head down the stairs to the
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: This is it, it's time to equip
yourself with the Vigoorian Flail and get ready. From this point on your
can no longer expect to be bothered by bats anymore, it's all about the
Ghost Fish right up to the end of the game. At the bottom of this ramp
you'll be ambushed by a swarm of super dangerous, flesh hungry Ghost Fish.
If I were you, I would be ready with the Vigoorian Flail and perhaps even
your newly acquired Art of the Ice Storm to keep them at bay. Included
in the next paragraph is a quick reminder of how to fight them:
The Ghost Fish is one of the most obnoxious and troublesome enemies you
will face in this game. They attack in large numbers and latch onto you,
syphoning your health away. Ghost Fish can be killed with even the
slightest touch of damage, but the problem is that they are so fast and so
many in number that sometimes you just can't keep up. The best weapon to
use when killing them undisputed, is the Vigoorian Flail, keep tapping the
X button and you should be able to hold them off for the most part. THe
Art of Fire Wheels, The Art of the Ice Storm and The Art of Inazuma all
work quite well as well since they area area attacks. The instant one
Ghost Fish latches onto you, jam your controller like mad to get it off,
before more latch on and start doing enormous amounts of damage. On the
harder difficulties this can kill you in almost a single attack if enough
manage to nab you, so always be ready to tap the buttons in response.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
bottom where you'll find some bats to take out. Now this is kind of a puzzle
room, you cannot touch the floor in this room of the object you are trying to
examine will rise into the air out of your reach. If this happens for
whatever reason, then from the door leading into the door, go right and step
on the button to lower it back down. What you have to do is make a left when
you get into the room, and run across the wall horizontally, when you land
you'll land on a platform which descend down. From here you can walk to the
large coffin without actually touching the floor. Examine it to acquire the
WOLF, DEITY OF WISDOM and then again to get the SKULL KEY.
Once again there are dozens of bats waiting for you outside of this room, be
prepared to hurl Shurikens. When you make your way far enough down the hall,
a scene will trigger over which you have no control. After this you will find
yourself floating in the water. What you want to do first is spin around and
keep tapping the R button to look in each direction. Eventually you should
see a golden object at the bottom, hold A to swim under and keep tapping it
while holding down on the analog stick to find a GOLDEN SCARAB [019].
Swim down through the underwater tunnel beside where you found the scarab.
Eventually it will lead you to a platform, and beside that platform is a
Dragon Statue. Before you opt to save the game, you should note that one of
the game's most difficult boss fights is coming up, and there's no shop you
can access. This is often where players find themselves unable to win, and
with no way of acquiring more items they must start a new file in an attempt
to do better. Don't make the same mistake, if you are unsure then simply save
on another slot. Swim back through the tunnel and when you reach the open
area again, note the elevator under the water. Swim down to it from the side
that faces most of the cavern and press X to open the doors, swim inside and
it will close automatically, taking you up. Do you remember how to fight
crazy, flippy ninjas? I hope so because they are ready to seriously hand you
your ass the instant you make it up to the top. Once you are able to defeat
the three of them, go over to the safe and examine it a second time. There is
a new combination on it now, the solution is right to 1, then left until you
hit 4, right until you hit 1, and left until you hit 0. Inside you'll find
another LIFE OF THE GODS [010]. If you're the kind of person who likes to go
out of their way to maybe save a little time, then I would recommend you go
back and save your game again right now. It's not a huge deal, but there's a
good chance you'll be retying the battle again numerous times, and there's
something to be said for not having to defeat the Black Spider Ninajs, and
open the safe again. When you're ready to take on the boss, then exit this
room and jump down to the Altar Hall. Approach the altar to trigger a scene.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- A L M A --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| This is definitely going to be the most difficult boss since Murai, and |
| if you had more trouble on some other boss than him, then it's going to be |
| harder than whatever boss that was. I'm not trying to give off the |
| impression that she's some kind of uber-unbeatable boss, but it will |
| probably take you at least a couple of tries depending on how many health |
| potions you use, just to get your head around the battle despite |
| everything that I tell you now. We begin as usual with the boss' attacks: |
| |
| Alma has so many attacks it's hard to know where to start, but you need to |
| know how to avoid them all so we'll work based on frequency and distance. |
| When you are a reasonable distance away from here, there are two similar |
| attacks she will almost always do. The first is somewhat difficult to |
| avoid because it kind of tricks you. What she does is create a purple |
| aura on her hand and then swing her arm at you as if she's throwing |
| something, but in reality there is nothing to dodge there. What she is |
| actually doing is using some kind of telekenetic energy to launch on of |
| the stone pillars beside her in your direction for massive damage. This |
| can be dodged easily but like I said, you need to know when to dodge. She |
| doesn't throw it when she swings her arm, she swings her arm and then it |
| gets throw, so delay for a second or so before you jump out of the way. |
| The second similar attack is when she creates a bunch of purple orbs that |
| swirl around her, in this case all four of them are going to fire in your |
| direction one after another, these can be dodged eaisly simply by running |
| to the left or right, as long as you're moving you won't be hit by them. |
| |
| Other than that there is one other attack she can do from a distance, she |
| will swoop out of the air and launch herself in your direction, not only |
| is this easy to dodge but it's actually better not to try and dodge it. |
| Instead while she is doing this, go for a Flying Swallow attack and it |
| can't miss, it won't knock her down, but it's free damage if you're quick. |
| |
| There are still many other moves in the arsenel of this boss, a large |
| portion of them only occur when she is in close proximity to you. When |
| floating in the air Alma has a habit of using a powerful ground pound |
| attack where she comes down in you feet first with the weight of her |
| entire body, dodge this attack with a roll whenever you can. The boss' |
| most powerful attack also occurs when she gets close. You'll see a beam |
| of purple energy begin to cover her vertically, if she moves over top of |
| you while this energy is in place, you will automatically gravitate toward |
| her and be caught in her grasp for an unblockable throw combintion which |
| ends with you being kicked to the floor. Even on the normal difficulty, |
| this can take anywhere between one third and a whopping on half of your |
| total health away, avoid it at all costs, just run or jump out of the way. |
| |
| Lastly the boss can also temporarily drop out of the air and walk around |
| on the ground. She will do this periodically and move calmly around the |
| room. She is still capable of using the four purple orb projectile attack |
| while on the ground, but that's nothing compared to the other attack |
| combintion she uses, somewhat similar to the air combination, except she |
| will simply attack with no purple beam warning, and it does almost as much |
| damage. This could arguably be her most "dangerous" attack, so always |
| remember to keep your distance from the boss when she's on the ground. |
| |
| As you can see, the recurring themefor this battle seems to be keeping |
| your distance, and that will not change when you learn the best way to |
| actually fight the boss. The Flying Swallow technique using the Dragon |
| Sword is by far the most effective way to fight the battle, it allows you |
| to keep your distance until the last second and then attack, which should |
| launch you a good distance behind her to a safe place. After doing it |
| though you will almost always want to jump out of the way in any |
| direction, because when it misses she has a habit of trying to counter |
| with a foot stomp attack. The thing is, this attack will actually only |
| hit about one in four tries, perhaps less on the higher difficulties. She |
| is quite good at dodging it, but when it actually does hit her, it knocks |
| her out of the air onto the ground where she is culnerable to any attack. |
| Run up to her and press X, Y, and then pound the X button when you get |
| into the air to perform a Blade of Nirrti attack which will really dent |
| her total health, she can barely survive three of these so you'll be in a |
| good position if you can manage to do it. Besides this you will want to |
| note as I mentioned before, you can hit her while she is swooping, and you |
| can hit her when she's walking around instead of floating, but neither |
| will knock her down and leave her vulnerable. When going for the big |
| damage, you must hit her with a Flying Swallow while she's in the air. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- A L M A --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| The difficulty spike between normal and hard from what I can tell, is much |
| larger than any other boss fight so far. Having to deal with a bunch of |
| little creatures while fighting Alma does not translate well at all, you |
| need to be able to focus 100% on dodging her attacks, no matter how |
| pathetic and insignificant they may be. The strategy you used on normal |
| won't work too well here, since too often those little claw things will |
| interrupt you in the middle fo trying to do something. If you want to win |
| this battle you're going to need healing elixirs, patience, and of course |
| most importantly, ninja skill. The time is takes to move between retrying |
| and getting to the boss again can be frustrating, if you seem to be dying |
| quickly before you can barely damage her at all it will probably take a |
| few tries. I highly recommend going back to save the game after killing |
| the Cat Demons and getting the Life of the Gods from the safe, it could go |
| a long way toward easing the difficult battle, and inevitable retries. |
| |
| The number one attack that you will have to worry about, is the stone |
| pillar throwing. Personally I find this attack will nail you more than |
| anything this time around, followed by the unpredicatableness of her |
| throw, followed by the flying lunge attack she uses. First and foremost, |
| there are four of those stone pillars flying at you whenever that attack |
| is used, menaing you have to be agile enough to dodge them while |
| simultaneously dodging the Claw Demons. If you haven't already, I would |
| highly recommend practicing the jump and roll technique. This technique |
| as I call it, is just jumping, rolling the instant you hit the ground, |
| then jumping the instant you stop rolling, and repeating. I find it can |
| really get you moving quickly and allow you to dodge both on ground and in |
| the air. This is the best way to dodge the pillars, as well as the purple |
| orbs and pretty much any other attack she will throw in your direction. |
| |
| When it comes to attacking the boss, there are two attacks you'll want to |
| use and two alone (that is until she's knocked on the ground.) Those two |
| attacks are the Flying Swallow and The Art of Inferno. Flying Swallow |
| misses so often you'll wonder if it's actually possible to hit her with |
| it, well it is, and it's one of the only attacks which will actually knock |
| her out of the air. If you hit her with the Flying Swallow right at the |
| beginning of battle, while she is initiating an attack, while she's |
| walking on the ground, or while she is lunging, it will damage her but not |
| knock her out of the air. If you hit her at any other time with it then |
| it will knock her down and make her vulnerable for a moment. The Art of |
| Inferno will also knock her out of the air, but you want to try knocking |
| her down with the firey aura, not the spell. By this I mean to try |
| casting it will standing below her, your aura will knock her down and then |
| the spell will never miss (unless you target one of the Claw Demons.) |
| |
| Once she's on the ground then you are free to use your best attack, I like |
| the X, X, Y, Y, Y attack but she is almost always back in the air before |
| it's finished. It still does a good amount of damage, so stick with it. |
| Remember to keeping using the Flying Swallow, and when you see the purple |
| aura begin to surround her, get the hell out of there. As for the Claw |
| Demons, there are two schools of thought. Killing them whenever they |
| appear has huge advantages, she is much easier to kill when there are no |
| other enemies around. It also has huge disadvantages: while killing the |
| enemies you are extremely vulnerable to just about every attack. Try |
| using an Izuna Drop as quickly as possible and moving on for best results. |
| The other school of thought is to simply ignore them and focus on the |
| boss. You have the added advantage of not being as vulnerable, but the |
| fact is you will accidentally target them all the time, they will hit you |
| while the boss is weak and crouching on the ground, and piss you off all |
| around. I would recommend the first option, just be quick about it. |
| |
| Remember that Alma is extremely difficult and you cannot get back to any |
| shop, hopefully what you've got on your is good enough otherwise you may |
| be in a lot of trouble. Some people have been forced to start a new game |
| here because they just don't have enough items. I'm saying in all honesty |
| that as long as you have at minimum either one Great Spirit Elixir, or two |
| to three Elixirs of Spiritual Life, then keep at it! Being able to heal |
| yourself fully even just once is more than enough to finish this boss, |
| many people can do it without any healing items. Keep this in mind before |
| you go ahead and make any quick decisions that may be unnecessary. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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+-- (_/ AIRON UNDER ALERT [CHAPTER 8] ------------------------------ 01.08 --+
Start this chapter by examining the Kunai Scroll which gets thrown into the
wall beside you. Turn around and head back into the monastery. On the left
side of the Altar Hall, lying on the ground you will find Rachel's WAR HAMMER.
This is a brand new weapon, very slow but very powerful. Return to the Dragon
Statue at the beginning and ascend up the stairs beside it. When you get out
here into this area, it's time to take on some new enemies. They are equipped
with machine guns, so blocking will play a key role in fighting these enemies.
Fortunately their health is quite low, so one or two Flying Swallow attacks
are more than enough to take off their heads. Take the stairs up once again
and kill the Vigoorian Troops on the way back, feel free to use that Dragon
Statue in the small alcove you may remember from one of the earlier chapters.
Eventually if you keep following the path you'll come to the drawbridge again,
beside the gate there is a lever, pull this lever to lower the drawbridge back
down again. When you get across to the other side you'll be faced with a
couple of new challenges. The enemies here are not only equipped with machine
guns, but have to fight back against rocket troops as well. On top of this,
both of those large military vehicles are equipped with an unmanned machine
gun on top, so the only way you can really hit those is with projectile
weapons. The Windmill Shuriken I find works the best since it doesn't consume
ammo, run up the side of the vehicle and jump, then throw it a couple times.
When you're ready to proceed forward, take the door with the blue orb in the
middle of it. Be extremely careful here, as you try to make your way up the
alley, there are going to be rockets flying in your direction, run along the
walls near the beginning but avoid that practice in the middle since the walls
end for a moment, and you risk falling down. When the troops are defeated,
equip the War Hammer and run to the end of the path. Use the hammer to smash
the cracked wall here. Inside the chest you will find some more SMOKE BOMB
items if you're playing Ninja Gaiden Black, or a Great Spirit Elixir if you're
playing the original Ninja Gaiden. Head through the gate at the end.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Even if you are playing Ninja
Gaiden Black, on the hard difficulty this chest has a Great Spirit Elixir.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make a right in this alley and go up the stairs. Make another right at the
top and then on your left will be a door with a skull on it. Use the SKULL
KEY to unlock this door and through it you will find GOLDEN SCARAB [020] as
well as a chest containing a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR, or perhaps an Elixir of
Spiritual Life if you aren't playing Ninja Gaiden Black. Lastly there is also
a statue that takes you to Muramasa's shop in this little area, make sure that
you take advantage of that. If you have 20 Scarabs now, at least in Ninja
Gaiden Black, then speak to Muramasa and you'll receive the DABILAHRO. A huge
freakin' Buster Sword made for really choppin' stuff up. You should also be
able to upgrade the Lunar and the War Hammer to the next levels here.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: If you give Muramasa a total of
twenty scarabs on the hard difficulty, he will give you the Wooden Sword.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While still in this little area behind the skull door, head to where you see
kind of a ledge up above, run up the wall beside it and jump to that ledge.
Jump from the ledge to the wall again and then backflip to the even higher
ledge. Follow the linear path until you reach a window, beside the window
hanging on the wall is the STRONGBOW, collect it by replacing it with the
normal Bow. That's the third new weapon you've acquired this chapter already,
pretty sweet. Head back to where you jumped up into this area, but don't drop
down over the ledge. Look to your left and you'll see a golden object. Jump
diagonally toward it and run horizontally along the wall to reach the GOLDEN
SCARAB [021]. Now what you want to do is drop down and leave this little
area. Go left and then when you reach the large open area, note the two gun
turrets beside the large gate which are firing at you. Kill the enemies
controlling them using the Strongbow, if you happen to run out of arrows you
can get more from the nearby ninja corpse. Defeating both of them triggers...
A sort of miniboss fight, without any of the actual fighting. The entire
battle can be won, without you being hit once, by simply holding the L trigger
to block the whole time. All you will basically to is deflect machine gun
fire for about a minute, and the helicopter will fly away. If you're anything
like me you'll begin to hear some neat rhythm with the blocking sound and the
music, but perhaps not. The point is, when the helicopter flies off, there
doesn't seem to be much to do. Approach the gate beside the ninja with all
the arrows stuck in him, and a rocket will fly toward you. Turn around and
use the Strongbow to kill the soldier up in the window, the same window to the
room where you originally acquired the Strongbow. You need to go back up
there right now, something is amiss! Head for that window, stand in it and
aim your Strongbow. You should be able to see a blue-ish coloured panel
through the window. Aim at it and fire, the first will not hit because the
window is in the way, but the second will hit and the large gate opens. Make
your way down to it, pick up some arrows off the corpose of the ninja again
and proceed through. Kind of nice to have a short mission now and then.
______________________________________________________________________________
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+-- (_/ HE MILITARY SUPPLY BASE [CHAPTER 9] ------------------------ 01.09 --+
You start this mission beside another Dragon Statue, so be sure to save your
game, and then proceed down the highway. At the end there is a lone door, so
head through it. Three more Vigoorian Machine Gun Soldiers attack you out
here, make short work of them with the power of the Dragon Sword, or perhaps
the upgraded Lunar, or anything else. When you reach the end of the tunnel,
equip the Strongbow and fire up at the soldier manning the turret which is
shooting at you. After doing that assuming yo uare still standing directly at
the end of the tunnel, take a look to your left to find GOLDEN SCARAB [022].
This next part can be quite difficult, so prepare yourself. First what you
are going to want to do is take out all of the turrets from afar if you can,
but that's not all. You're going to have at least one rocket soldier firing
at you from across the other side of the map, so take him out as well if you
can. It's dangerous but you must do as much damage as possible with the
Strongbow before you actually go in yourself, otherwise it'll be hell.
After killing all the enemies there, including all of the ones which come out
of the truck, pick up the shining blue item on the ground dropped by one of
the soldiers operating a turret, this is the WAREHOUSE KEY. The Warehouse Key
works on the door in the side of the warehouse, on your right if you're facing
the gate. Go through this door into the silent warehouse, and make a left.
Inside the chest here you will find an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. From the
door again make a right this time, and then a left when you get past the
raised platform. You should find a small set of stairs here between the
trains, go down them and break the crate to get an ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL WAY,
and then the next crate just past it for a LIFE OF THE GODS [011].
Make your way over to the left side around, about mid-way up and turn around
to face the door, there should be a staircase here leading up to a catwalk
about the room. Open the chest on your left at the top to get all sorts of
different orbs, and then go around the walkway in the other direction to
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of a pile of orbs, this
chest contains another the the hard exclusive LIFE OF THE GODS [036].
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
trigger a scene. After doing this don't try to kill them, run down to the end
of the path and go around past the stairs, not up them, to find a box willed
with an infinite supply of APFSDS CORES, more powerful arrows that you have to
equip seperately. Use these arrows to eliminate all of the laser heli-guns
that appear in this room, there are quite a few of them, but not an infinite
amount. After killing them all, go up the stairs beside the arrow box and
pull the large switch at the top to activate the lights and the stereo system.
There is another switch for you to pull at the end of this walkway, go over
there now and pull it. Jump down and run to the opposite end of the room, on
the wall near the crate you will see a purple button. Don't press this
button, rather go directly opposite it and look on the back of this pillar for
another button, press this one. Now it's time for a little jumping, hopefully
you've become somewhat proficient at doing that after all this time. What you
want to do is make your way up to the box where you got those APFSDS Cores,
and beside that there will be a moving platform. Jump to this platform and
wait for it to go to the end, and from there jump onto the walkway in the
middle. Jump from this walkway to the next wwalkway and then turn to face the
wall, the same wall with the door where you first entered this room. WHen you
look in this direction you should see a golden object. In order to get it not
only do you have to run and jump to the platform with it, you have to run,
jump and press the X button while in the air to get a bit of extra distance,
Ryu can't make the jump on his own. When you land get the GOLDEN SCARAB [023].
Jump back to the previous walkway and continue jumping in he opposite
direction as the arrow crate, now you need to jump to the second moving crane
platform. Jump from this one to the upper walkway on the opposite side of the
room and open the chest to get a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Run to the end and
climb the stairs, at the top on your right is another chest this time with an
ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL life inside of it. At the end of this path there is a
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of the Elixir of Spiritual
Life, you will get a ton of yellow essence when you open this chest.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
door leading into a small room. Pick up the SHUTTER CONTROL CARD KEY from the
table as well as the MAP OF THE MILITARY SUPPLY BASE. Leave the small room
and do not jump down. Turn around and jump at the door, holding the A button
to run up and grab the ledge above the door. On top of this little room is a
GOLDEN SCARAB [024]. Now drop down and examine the purple button from before.
The instant you enter this area it will be time to put that awesome Flying
Swallow technique to good use as a horde of normal boring Vigoorian Machine
Gun soldiers swarm you with their crazy firearms and bayonets. Kill
approximately ten or twelve of them to finally end the attack and then after
you're done with that, locate the wide open double doors. Through them you
will find not only a chest with an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE inside of it, but
also a Dragon Statue where you can save your game. Be sure to save here, I
found the upcoming part to be one of the most difficult challenges so far.
Leave this room and make your way left until you come to a normal sized door
in the wall beside a green button. Go through this door and a scene will
trigger on the other side. The instant it does you are going to want to equip
some of your APFSDS Cores. There are boxes in this area containing not only
APFSDS Cores, but also EXPLOSIVE ARROWS as well which are just as good, but
personally I think the cores work better here. Basically you are taking on
not one, but two tanks. Fortunately not simultaneously. Peeking out from the
top of the tank is an enemy soldier operating a machine gun and you'll likely
find this soldier to be the more dangerous of the two, the cannon blast is
easy to dodge, the machine gun is not. Begin by holding the B button and
aiming for the guy as close as possible. You don't have to hit him dead on,
in fact you can't hit him, just fire close enough so that he gets scared and
goes down into the tank temporarily, now for the next minute or so you won't
have to worry about the machine gun. (For an even better tip, check out the
little blur for hard mode just below.) This is good because you'll be busy
worrying about the cannon. Dodge the tank blast and then fire approximately
four APFSDS Cores at the tank, about now the soldier will pop back up and
you'll probably have to dodge again. Dodge the balst and scare him off again,
rinse and repeat. There are two recommendations I would make here from
personal experience. Forget blocking, you'll be blocking the gunfire and end
up freezing yourself in place unable to block the cannon blast, just keep
jumping. The second recommendation is to not zoom in with the bow, you just
don't have time and I'm sure you can manage to aim normally if you try.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: While this battle really isn't
much different than the normal one, I though I would include a little
blurb just because it's so damn difficult regardless of what difficulty
you're playing on. There's an additional tip I may have neglected to
mention before, when you use the Explosive Arrows rather than the APFSDS
Cores, the guy in the tank will be scared down inside with every shot
regardless of where it hits, so you don't have to aim manually. This
helps out quite a bit. In fact I would probably go so far as to recommend
you use Explosive Arrows for the entire battle and just stick near the box
since you'll have to refull fairly often. What you want to do is fire
four, then dodge the cannon's blast, fire four more, dodge, and repeat.
The jump and roll technique works great here, and if you use it you should
be able to dodge the cannon blast every single time. Use the same tactic
with the second one when it comes out and you'll have won before you know.
After you win make sure you don't forget to collect the Great Spirit
Elixir which is still there in hard mode, and also make sure you fill up
both Explosive Arrows and APFSDS Cores to the max for the coming battle.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A second tank comes out after you have destroyed the first one, but the same
basic strategy applies. Once both of them are destroyed, be sure to use the
boxes to refill your APFSDS Cores and Explosive Arrow stocks entirely. An
elevator came down after the second tank was destroyed, approach the elevator
but don't go into it. Instead open the chest beside the elevator to get a
GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Now take the elevator up to the higher area. Be sure to
notice the Dragon Statue beside the elevator when it reaches the top, this is
a good time to save. There are a couple of normal Vigoorian Soldiers you have
to defeat before anything else happens, and they are equipped with dangerous
rocket launchers. Do your best to dodge the rockets as you make your way
forward to them for the decapitation, at least in the North American version.
Upon doing this there is another miniboss battle which triggers already, just
as you were getting over the battle with those tanks too. Whip out the APFSDS
Cores again and aim your Strongbow up toward the helicopter and let loose.
The helicopter has only a few attacks. It can send a wave of missles at you,
dodge these by running perpendicular to them and jumping. It can also fire a
weak machine gun which is harder to dodge, but can be blocked. Lastly it can
fly over your head and drop explosives, this attack is much more rare and you
can avoid it by quickly running underneath and to the other end behind the
helicopter before it starts. Other than that just aim as good as you can and
fire arrows while dodging the incoming missles. There are boxes here where
you can completely refill your APFSDS Cores. A scene triggers after you win.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[HARD MODE TIPS] ========= MINIBOSS: HELICOPTER ========= [HARD MODE TIPS]
The Helicopter is a moderately difficult miniboss which can be defeated
quickly, and without even being hit if you're good. The problem is that
when you do get hit, you get hit hard and that can be a problem
(especially for your supply of healing items.) First of all, your weapon
of choice here without a doubt is the Strongbow with the APFSDS Cores.
Your ability to win this fight will depend on two things. Your accuracy
with the bow, including the ability to hit moving targets (very important)
as well as your ability to put down the damn bow and jump out of the way
when the need arises. This circumstance will come up more than once.
The Helicopter has three main attacks. The first is a weak machine gun
you can block faiirly easily, but most of the time you'll be too busy
firing arrows to block it. The second is a wave of missiles you cannot
block, get the hell out of the way when these start coming toward you, use
the jump and roll technique to avoid them. Sometimes the miniboss fires a
bunch, then a bunch more, one strema after another. Don't go back to
attacking until you've dodged them all. The final attack is when the
Helicopter positions itself to fly down the middle of the path you are on,
dropping bombs. You can avoid these by standing to the side.
Aim at the Helicopter not by tapping the button, and not zooming in, just
aim normally with the Strongbow and fire. A lot of the time the
Helicopter sticks with a relatively stationary position and you can do a
hell of a lot of damage. Other times you have to aim and fire ahead of
it, so when the arrow makes contact you accounted for the fact that the
Helicopter is moving. Keep firing and always be ready to dodge.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the miniboss dead you might want to stop and use the Dragon Statue a
second time. When you're ready turn around, and follow the path until you
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When you come around this corner,
stop and think for a moment. That chest in front of you contains
approximately twenty Ghost Fish just waiting to spring up and eat you
alive. Of course they drop all sorts of essence of all types too, so for
those who are willing to take the risk, equip the Vigoorian Flail and be
ready to start swinging like mad when they pop out of the chest. Besides
this there is one other thing to note. Up the wall here at the top is the
Golden Scarab [25], pick it up and give all twenty-five Golden Scarabs you
have to Muramasa and he'll give you the Dabilahro in return, which you can
upgrade once at this point. If you're looking for something to do with
all the extra yellow essence you may or may not have, sure you can blow it
all on elixirs, but if I were you I would put as much as possible into the
Wooden Sword. The Unlaboured Flawlessness will really help out later.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
come to a treasure chest, inside you will find an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
Beside this chest is a shop where you can't really do much in particular.
After visiting the shop, turn around. Just a few steps back from the chest
there is a thin area where you can wall kick your way up to the top. Right
when you reach the top you will find a GOLDEN SCARAB [025] on the ground in
front of you. After picking it up, drop down again assuming you have
collected all of them so far and give the 25th one to Muramasa, he'll give you
THE ARMLET OF CELERITY in return. This item is exclusive to Ninja Gaiden
Black. Jump back up and proceed through the door. A scene occurs when you
enter this area, before you do anything take a look to your left to find a
chest with a GREAT DEVIL ELIXIR inside of it. With that you will be attacked
by a number of normal Vigoorian Machine Gun Soldiers, waste them!
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Inside the chest on your left
there is no longer a Great Devil Elixir, but now rather a bunch of yellow
essence. Everything else is basicaly the same here, just like before I
would recommend you simply take it slow, kill all of the soldiers before
you start aiming at the tower. When you do finally start on the tower,
use Explosive Arrows and fire only one or two shots at a time before
jumping and rolling to a new position. Sometimes it's difficulty to hold
back a few extra shots, but you elixir inventory will thank you later.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With all of them defeated you absolutely must start moving, tons of rockets
are about to start flying your way and they're all coming from that
communications radio tower. When you look up at it you'll see there are nine
satellite dish-type things on it, regardless of what they are the point is
that all nine of them have to be taken out so equip the Explosive Arrows and
aim up. You will only have time to fire about two arrows before you have to
jump out of the way and avoid a rocket coming at you. This can be extremely
frustrating, especially if you've got issues with patience. Note that you can
refill your Explosive Arrows with the ones in the box in the corner. Once you
manage to take them all out then the enemies will disappear and the door will
unlock. Examine the Kunai Scroll which appears beside the door and go through.
Have your arrows ready, whatever type and just tap the B button when you enter
this area, auto-aim will take care of those two hovering heli-machines. Run
horizontally along the wall on your right to make it over the gap and then
follow the walkway around to the left. It will lead you to a door. In this
room here's what to do. There are three Vigoorian Rocket Soldiers in this
very confined space. Run along the wall, you cannot be rocketed while
running on this wall, then jump and press Y to Flying Swallow their asses.
Hold Y for a split second while they are disoriented and then let go, you
should be able to decapitate all three of them. Upon doing so open the chest
to get an ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL WAY and then take the exit right beside you.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of an Elixir of the Devil
Way, you'll find another of the hard exclusive LIFE OF THE GODS [037].
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm not quite sure why you have to do this but you do, you'll be back here in
a second but just keep going. Take the elevator down a floor and then go
through the door at the bottom. Defeat all of the enemies in this room and
then open the treasure chest to get a LIFE OF THE GODS [012]. Examine the
door and it will say that it's locked. Leave this room and go back up the
elevator again. When you backtrack even further into the next room, those
three Vigoorian Rocket Soldiers will have respawned. Kill them the exact same
way, by running along the wall and this time they will drop the CONTROL ROOM
KEY. Take it and go back down once again. Use the Control Room Key on that
locked door and then go into the next room. Pull the lever here and it will
trigger a cinematic cutscene which technically brings an end to chapter nine.
______________________________________________________________________________
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+-- (_/ HE AQUADUCT [CHAPTER 10] ----------------------------------- 01.10 --+
As I mentioned before, chapter nine is technically finished but chapter ten
has not yet officially begun. No matter, it will in a moment. Open the chest
on your immediate left to acquire a LIFE OF THE GODS [013]. Examine the box
to get an infinite supply of Explosive Arrows as well. Head through the gate
leading out of this small area and you'll find yourself in antoher area where
you cannot seem to escape from. Pretty much from what I can tell, the game
counts your steps or counts your jumps or something, because there is an event
which occurs on a timer here, but doesn't seem to happen unless you are
running around as opposed to standing still. So anyway, just run around a bit
and eventually some new Super Claw Demons will burst out from the sewer grate
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Fortunately the enemies you face
here, at least at the beginning, are pretty much the same as on normal
mode, from the Super Claw Demons to the Bats, not much has changed.
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and attack you. They fight quite similar to the normal Claw Demons, so don't
get too worked up about it. Similar to the normal Claw Demons they can't
really hurt you at all while you're blocking, they have no throws. Once they
have all been defeated, approach the hole in the ground and a Kunai Scroll
will be thrown. All it says basically is to drop down, so do just that.
When you land you'll find yourself beside a Dragon Statue, save your game
there and then proceed through the door leading out of this room. When you
appear here get ready to attack immediately because a number of Super Claw
Demons will jump you right away. Defeat all eight of them and then make your
way through the small door on your left as you approach the end of the tunnel.
There are another whole bunch of Super Claw Demons who attack you in the
stairwell, the camera might be a problem here, but you don't really need to
see your enemies too well in order to kill them now do you? Make an immediate
right at the bottom of the stairs and examine the corpse of the ninja in order
to acquire the MAP OF THE AQUADUCT. Your destination lies to the left from
the bottom of the stairs. As you do down the hall make a right and you'll
find yourself on the edge of a ledge, drop down and head forward.
This is the Aquaduct B3, and you're going to want to simply go straight ahead
toward the large double doors. Take a look on your right before you open the
doors, there you will find another Dragon Statue as well as a chest containing
a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Now proceed through the door. To the left of the
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of the Great Spirit
Elixir, all you get out of this treasure chest is a bit of yellow essence.
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large central statue in this room, you will find kind of a raised platform.
Stand on this platform and run vertically up the wall to grab onto the rail.
Shimmy to the right and then climb up when you reach the treasure chest, open
it up and inside you will find the KEY OF THE INSECT. Leave this room now.
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: There's no Key of Insect inside of
this treasure chest, instead it's just a normal Elixir of Spiritual Life.
Don't worry about it, you'll find the Key of Insect soon enough.
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Head back the way you came and when you come to a fork in the road, make a
left. Here you will reach some kind of stone elevator thing, stand in it and
it will take you down to the lower floor. There is a single treasure chest in
this room which contains a JEWEL OF THE DEMON SEAL [002], I would recommend
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Rather than a Jewel of the Demon
Seal, inside this chest you will get another Spirit of the Devils.
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you hang onto this item for the time being. It will however, trigger a scene
and cause some serious problems, I certainly hope that you're ready. WHip out
your weapon of choice and get ready for one hell of a battle. You're facing
off against some kind of mega bugs from hell here. There's no specific way to
take them all out easily, personally I like to just use the Flying Swallow
technique over and over again with the Dragon Sword, however your new
Dabilahro works quite well here too. The enemies have extremely low HP but
extremely high aggressiveness and power so whatever you do just keep moving
and under no circumstances should you let one close enough to latch onto your
face and suck out your brain. This will happen if you're not careful.
With all of the insects defeated then the elevator comes back down and you are
free to ride up it again. Take the elevator up and go back to the Dragon
Statue to save if you wish. When you're ready, ride back down again.
Welcome to yet another Sixty Fiend Battle, the first one in a few chapters
yet. Located in chapter ten, near the second Dragon Statue you ride down the
elevator to the bottom after you have already come back up from acquiring the
Jewel of the Demon Seal. Your opponents will be sixty gross bug monsters.
This battle will prove to definitely the the fastest of all the ones you have
faced so far, in fact upon completing it your first thought will likely be
"Over so soon?" The fact is that it really doesn't take very long at all to
slash sixty bug monsters to death. My weapon of choice here is the Dragon
Sword, but come to think of it the Lunar might have made a fine choice for
this battle as well, and the Dabilahro is always a good choice given you are
proficient enough with it to know when to swing and when to dodge, with that
weapon it's easy to find yourself frustrated by how long it takes to actually
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: You shouldn't have too much
trouble at all with this challenge, despite the copious amounts of
disgusting bug creatures that attack, it's really quite simple with a
fully upgraded Dabilahro. If you don't already have the Dabilahdo at
level three, jump back up the the level above the water part (B2 I
believe) and go right. Past the hall with the Super Claw Demons is a room
with Muramasa's Statue in it. Using the Dabilahro you can do the X, X, X,
X, Y combo which works quite wlel if you start using it a distance away,
or better yet run up the wall, backflip off and use the Y button attack.
Lure all the enemies toward the chest on one side, then jump to the other
side near the elevator and charge up a level two Ultimate Technique. Not
only will this kill tons and tons of them, each one will drop huge yellow
essence orbs. Repeat until you get The Talisman of Rebirth as a prize.
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get a combo moving, but once you do it's devastating. All I really did for
this battle were a few Flying Swallow attacks, then when given the chance I
would land and hold the Y button to absorb a couple of essence orbs and let
loose a super combo, trying to collect as many large essence orbs as possible.
Rinse and repeat this combination until you get THE TALISMAN OF REBIRTH.
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: There's something else you have to
do first if you're playing on hard mode. At the fork here, rather than
going back up to the previous level, head up the slope to your right. Go
through the door at the top and kill all the Super Claw Demons, then wall
kick up to the top. Turn around and open the chest at the back here, this
is the new location of the Key of the Insect that you will soon need.
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Ride the elevator back up a second time, and save your game for a third.
Return to the fork, coming from the Dragon Statue and go staright back to
where you dropped down. Run horizontally along the wall on your left, jump to
the next wall and then up to the ledge where you dropped from initially. At
the top here make a right and go through the door. You'll find yourself in a
long hallway with a bunch of those Super Claw Demons again. Take them all out
before you go any further, if nothing else then for all the yellow essence you
can collect. From the foor that you came in from, make a left. At this end
of the hall there are two lare double doors, proceed through them now.
A miniboss battle occurs when you arrive here, against the large electric worm
monster. This battle should prove to be one of the easiest you've faced so
far if you follow my instructions. Right at the beginning go forward and left
so that you are in the corner as close as you possibly can without falling
into the water, the only way you can fall into the water is if you jump, so
just don't jump. While standing in this corner, go the the menu and make sure
the Dragon Sword is equipped. The worm has three attacks and only one of them
is actually capable of hitting you while you're standing stationary in this
exact spot. The first attack, which cannot hit you is the most common one.
The worm draws back and then swings its enormous body like a whip in an
attempt to swipe you off the ground. The second attack is the only one which
can hit you, but it's much more uncommon. The worm shoots a ball of energy
directly at you. The final attack cannot hit you either, the worm pulls back
and electrifies all of the water, so if you're standing in the water, you're
going to be hurt. Here's how to win the battle. Stand in that corner on the
left and hols the Y button. Charge up past your first attack to the second
level of charge. When the worm swings its body, let go the minute the attack
stops, but before the worm pulls its body back, you'll perform the ultimate
combination for massive damage. Do this for the entire battle and you're
guaranteed a win. The one thing to note, is that if the worm goes back to
shoot the ball of electricity, let go of the Y button and you should launch
yourself in some direction, which direction doesn't really matter, either way
you should be able to dodge the attack. That's about it for this miniboss.
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[HARD MODE TIPS] ======== MINIBOSS: ELECTRIC WORM ======= [HARD MODE TIPS]
The Electric Worm is an exceptionally easy boss to defeat on any
difficulty using the tactic which makes it virtually impossible to be hit
on any difficulty. I'll discuss that in a moment, first you should note
the worm's three primary attacks and how they can be avoided.
The first attack is the electricity projectile which the worm will use
right a tthe start of the battle, avoid it simply by rolling. This attack
cannot be blocked so don't even try to do that. The second attack is the
full body swipe, you can avoid this by rolling into one of the corners
near the water as the worm swipes over you head. Doing this should allow
you to avoid being hit every single time. The last attack is where the
worm basically shoves its head into the water, electrifying it. You
should be staying out of the water anyway so don't worry about that.
Defeating the worm is remarkably easy. When you stand in the upper left
corner (not in the water) just on the edge of the water, beside the wall,
you cannot be hit by the full body swipe. You can only be hit by the
electricity ball attack and the worm doesn't use that too often. If it
does there are two ways to dodge, either roll out of the way (and then
again since the worm usually shoots too) or another method which I will
describe in a moment. To defeat the worm, equip the Dabilahro and stand
in this corner. Begin charging up to a level two Ultimate Technique and
then when you reach the second level, let loose. You can do it any time
the worm is outside the hole, just don't use it when the worm is hiding in
the hole. Since it shoots a wave of evergy, the sword itself doesn't
actually have to make contact in order for it to damage the miniboss.
Keep repeating this over and over, it shouldn't take more than three or
four to kill the boss. One more thing to note is that if the worm pulls
back to fire a ball of electricity and you are charging, if you have
reached either the first or second level or charge just release it.
You'll be invincible during this time (and thus dodge the attack), plus
you'll also damage the worm. It's a double bonus worth you while.
Also note that you will not get The Art of Inazuma scroll for defeating
this boss, you'll get that particualr scroll a little bit later.
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With the miniboss dead, the Ninpo scroll THE ART OF INAZUMA appears in his
place, be sure to pick this up and then use the Jewel of the Demon Seal on it
to upgrade it one level. Now go through the little tunnel where the worm was
coming out from and do a 180 degree turn. Run up the wall and grab the ledge
above which is somewhat hard to see, climb up and you'll find a GOLDEN SCARAB
[026]. Make your way through the tunnel until you reach the Hall of Balance.
Look on your immediate right to find a chest filled to the brim with orbs of
all kinds. Now go in the opposite direction and open the other chest to get
the RED TABLET OF THE STREAM. Continue around in that direction and at the
end of the upper walkway is a GOLDEN SCARAB [027] lying on the ground in front
of you. Head down the tunnel on your left and make a right turn when you come
to a fork, inside the treasure chest is a LIFE OF THE GODS [014].
Since the other path going from the fork doesn't actually lead anywhere except
to a number of enemies, turn around and drop down into the main Hall of
Balance area with the statue. Take the doors out of here and use the Dragon
Statue save point on your left. This time when you reach the fork here, make
a right and follow the tunnel to the end and go thorugh the door. Defeat the
Super Claw Demons which appear when you enter this room and then take
advantage of that little enclosed area to wall kick all the way up to the very
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Of course you've already been up
here and nabbed the Key of Insect, so obviously you won't be finding that
Spirit of the Devils (you already got that particualr item down below B3
when you fought all the bugs.) Turn around and nab the Golden Scarab
[028] and then open the other chest. Instead of finding the Great Spirit
Elixir, in here is another of the hard exclusive LIFE OF THE GODS [038].
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top. When you land on the top, turn around and go around the edge to reach a
treasure chest containing a SPIRIT OF THE DEVILS [004]. Head around to the
opposite side of this area and pick up the next GOLDEN SCARAB [028] off the
ground as well as the GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR from the treasure chest.
There also happens to be some kind of pedestal here with a weird indentation
it it. Examine the pedestal and Ryu will automatically use the Red Tablet of
the Stream. Once you do this of course, a whole bunch of Super Claw Demons
are going to appear in this room, be ready to take them out immediately.
Remember the Dragon Statue you saved at most recently? Basically all you want
to do is get back there. Save your game and head up to the fork in the path,
go straight and run up the wall as you did once before to reach the ledge
above. Make a left and run striaght to the door at the end, head through it.
Sitting on the ledge beside you is the STATUE OF THE WATER SPIRIT, be sure
that you collect that item. There's nothing else to collect here so turn
around and go back down a third time, to the fork in the path near that Dragon
Statue where you save most recently. Let's say you are moving toward the
forking path coming from the Dragon Statue, make a right but then make another
immediate right, there is a hidden path branching off of this one. Examine
the ninja corpse to receive TARO'S DIARY. Place the water statue on the door
and the lock will slowly slide out of the way. Go through the door and stop
when you reach a hole in the ground. Equip your Shurikens and throw them over
and over until you have killed as many bats as you possible can. At that
point jump down through the hole toward the bottom, you should be okay.
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Equip those Vigoorian Flails and
perhaps even The Art of Fire Wheels before you drop down here, it's not
Bats you are going to be facing but rather a bunch of Ghost Fish. As you
drop, try doing a Y button attack as you fall to kill as many as you can.
When you reach the bottom and begin down the next hall, there are even more
Ghost FIsh which attack you, keep the Vigoorian Flails equipped on you.
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Make your way forward and keep an eye on the right wall, soon it will open up
into a tunnel that leads a fair ways down. When this happens do a 180 degree
turn, facing the opposite direction of the tunnel and there in front of you
will be GOLDEN SCARAB [029]. Follow the tunnel to the end and get ready for a
miniboss fight, one twice as difficult as the last one that you fought.
Two giant electrified worms come out of the holes here and attack. Not only
do you have to face two of them, but it seems like they are more hesitant to
do the swiping attack allowing you to attack easily, so I'd actually say they
are more than twice as difficult. No matter, there is stil la corner you can
safely hide it, but not quite so easily. Hhead to the upper right corner and
you should be relatively safe there. While holding the Y button and charging
up you kind of duck down so it should work out even a little better. This
isn't however, a perfect solution, I swear that the one on the left will hit
you there anyway, but it seems to only happen after the one on the right is
killed. The solution? Make sure that you kill the one on the left first and
that should make the battle easier. You've got to be careful of both of them,
keeping an eye out to see which of them might use the electricity ball and
always be ready to dodge. Other than that it works pretty much the same way.
There is one thing I noticed however that might help you out. When charging
the sword, if you use the attack right after the first level of charge, the
single strike, it actually does more damage than the second level charge
ultimate combination. The difference isn't too pronounced so if you're
charging up and hit the second level before they swipe, don't bother letting
go and starting over, but keep in mind that if they swipe before you charge
fully, that you're not only free to attack then, it's actually preferable.
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[HARD MODE TIPS] ====== MINIBOSS: ELECTRIC WORM X2 ====== [HARD MODE TIPS]
Two Worms are of course, harder than one. However in this case that is
relative of course, with the Dabilahro equipped, you'll be an absolute
unstoppable worm killing machine. Similar to before, the corner is your
safe haven, however this time the corner you want is the upper right one.
It's not "quite" as safe as before, if you aren't absolutely tucked in
there right at the edge, the worm on the left can hit you with the swipe.
The following two things will help you dodge the attacks as well, so keep
them in mind: First, you crouch down while charging Ultimate Techniques
and being crouched will help you avoid the attack better. Second, if you
have to dodge quickly and aren't crouching, simply roll toward the corner.
The attacks the worms have are exactly the same as before, you just have
to be ready to avoid both. It doesn't matter which one swipes, being in
the corner you'll dodge both anyway. What you have to watch out for is
the electricity ball attack. Be ready to either let loose your charged
attack or roll out of the way. When it comes to actually damaging the
worms there is a neat trick you can use. Like I said before, make sure
you have the Dabilahro equipped and keep charging in the corner. When you
use a second level Ultimate Technique you should be able to hit one of
them easily, however if you use it right after one of them swipes, you
should be able to hit both the swiping worm and the worm behind it which
may have popped out of the hole. Hitting both at once will save a lot of
time and make the battle quite a bit eaiser in the long run.
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With the two of them dead you will see three tunnels ahead of you, the one on
the right has a chest with a LIFE OF THE GODS [015] inside of it and the one
on the left has a GOLDEN SCARAB [030] inside of it. With those taken care of,
follow the middle path and open the chest you pass on the way to get a GREAT
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Be ready with both the Vigoorian
Flail and The Art of Fire Wheels when you begin down this hall, there are
a ton of Ghost Fish here waiting for you and it would be a shame to die
here so soon after totally wasting the two huge Electric Worms. The chest
you pass does not contain an elixir, but rather a bunch of yellow essence.
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SPIRIT ELIXIR. Continue until you reach a room with water in it, this is
where you will be attacked by another group of Super Claw Demons. Don't jump
up on the rocks just yet, instead follow the path going away from the rocks
past the corpse of a ninja. Examine the corpse, he holds an infinite number
of Incendiary Shurikens. Just beyond him is a chest with an ELIXIR OF
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: The Elixir of Spiritual Life in
this chest has been upgraded to a Great Spirit Elixir for you, how nice.
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SPIRITUAL LIFE. Now turn around and go back to all those rocks in the room
with the water. Had you continued in the room you just came from, it leads to
a wall you can break, leading back to the place you dropped down from.
Jump up all of these rocks and at the top you will find a treasure chest
containing a GREAT DEVIL ELIXIR. Make your way toward the door here, before
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Inside this chest you won't find
the Great Devil Elixir but rather a hard exclusive LIFE OF THE GODS [039].
Also once again I feel it important to warn you that the next room does
not contain Bats, but rather Ghost Fish. They have become so common that
I cannot warn you every time, always be ready to equip the Vigoorian Flail.
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you go through it check your left for a chest containing ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL
LIFE. Be ready with your normal Skurikens when you enter this room, you'll be
swarmed by bats here. Examine the corpse of the dead ninja to find SABU'S
DIARY. The path from here is pretty linear, it leads you through a tunnel and
eventually to a swarm of weird flying bug monsters. Defeating them will allow
you to freely open the chest nearby which has a BLUE TABLET OF THE STREAM
inside of it. That's all you need to get from down here, backtrack all the
way through the whole recent area until you reach the tall shaft where you
dropped down through all of the bats, jump back up there again.
Make your way back to the Dragon Statue and save then game, then head up to
the fork and go straight, run horizontally along the wall to reach the ledge
above as you have done before. Make a right at the top here on B2 and go
thorugh the gate. Defeat all of the Super Claw Monsters in this room again
(they respawn whenever you leave) and then follow the hall up to your right
and go though the door on your left. There is a shop located in this hall,
you are free to upgrade whatever you like, take the Dabilahro for example
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: For thirty Scarabs you instead get
The Armlet of Celerity. Also the chest beside the statue no longer
contains Great Spirit Elixir, but instead a whole bunch of yellow essence.
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which can be upgraded to its maximum potential. By this point you should have
30 Golden Scarabs, so give them to Muramasa to get THE ARMLET OF BENEDICTION,
if you're playing Ninja Gaiden Black that is of course. With that out of the
way, make a left and open the chest right near you to acquire a GREAT SPIRIT
ELIXIR. Continue off now to the right toward the Blue Water Resevoir.
Examine the pedestal and place the Blue Tablet of the Stream into position,
this will lower the water level in front of you. Drop down and pick up the
GOLDEN SCARAB [031]. You'll have to fight your way through a few enemies
here. When you head down the hall the palce should look rather familiar.
Drop down in the hall of balance and go through the large door.
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[HARD MODE TIPS] ======== MINIBOSS: EVIL RYU II ========= [HARD MODE TIPS]
Evil Ryu is back, and he's even angrier this time around. He's dropped
the pathetic Dragon Sword and opted to equip a more suitable ninja weapon,
a huge friggin Dabilahro. Don't sweat it too much, he might seem
troublesome at first, but follow my lead and you'll have no problem.
Evil Ryu II has most of the same moves as the original Evil Ryu, the one
exception primarily being his new weapon of course. He's still able to
throw Shurikens, Incendiary Shurikens and the Windmill Shuriken at will.
All of the magic is the same from what I can tell, he will choose to use
either The Art of Fire Wheels or The Art of Inferno whenever either is
appropriate. You can try to use the pillars to dodge the Art of Inferno,
but as I mentioned before the best thing you can do is begin casting your
own Inferno before his finishes casting and launches in your direction.
With the Dabilahro, Evil Ryu II can use most of the same moves you can
with the same weapon. The most dangerous of all is the normal
combination, which is basically just sword slash after sword slash. While
you can block the Dbailahro, it becomes impossible to block every one of
the attacks in a combination since it knocks you off balance so easily.
For this reason, constant blocking really isn't a good solution for this
battle. Instead what you are going to want to do is block and then keep
trying to roll back out of his way to avoid the rest of the attacks.
Other attacks including the wall jump slash, and the overhead frontflip
slash are more powerful, but slower, and you can usually block them. He's
still capable of using the Guillotine Throw, but it's rare once again.
When it comes to actually attacking this boss, there are two weapons which
work well, personally I find one works much better than the other, but
either will suffice. We'll start with the infewrior blade, the Dragon
Sword. Using the Dragon Sword, this is much the same battle as before so
if you found the first Evil Ryu easy, it'll probably be the same deal. if
you found the first one hard, you'll likely find this guy hard too. He's
very weak to the FLying Swallow attack, he doesn't block it often and when
he does it knocks him off balance allowing you to get in a couple attacks.
The best combination to use is of course, the Izuna Drop combiantion
following the pattern that almost goes into a Blade of Nirrti. Sometimes
it's hard to get him into the air, but when you do the damage is worth it.
Beating out the Dragon Sword (by miles in my personal opinion) is your
very own fully upgraded Dabilahro. You can really wreck havoc on this guy
using this thing. Here are the two attacks you'll want to focus on, pick
whatever you like, or use both to spice things up. The first is the
attack where you run vertically up the wall, backflip off, and hit the Y
button to come doown with immense power. This doesn't hit as often as you
might like, but when it does it really hurts Evil Ryu II a lot. It's also
relatively safe to use since you spend a lot of the time in the air, and
temporarily invulnerable with the attack. During your only weak time, on
the ground, Evil Ryu II is usually stunned from the hit, or out of your
way from dodging the attack. Either way it gives you time to move.
Better yet, I would recommend using the powerful multi-swing combination.
Get yoruself a good few steps away from Evil Ryu II, and begin with the X,
X, X, X attack, followed lastly by a powerful Y button swing. Even if he
blocks it, rolls out of the way, jumps, or whatever: he won't be able to
attack very well without being totally obliterated. When I say totally
obliterated, I'm not kidding either. Under the best circumstances this
attack alone, in a few second, can do over 20-30% damage toward his total
health, and that's on hard mode. In fact if you're good, you can just
stick with this combo (remember to use it from a distance at the start to
avoid being hit when you first swing) and you should be able to beat Evil
Ryu II in less than a minute, with little to any damage to you. For
defeating him you are rewarded with a JEWEL OF THE DEMON SEAL.
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Time for yet another Sixty Fiends Challenge, this one takes place right here,
right now in this room against, of course the same enemy you have been
fighting through the entire chapter, the Super Claw Demons. It is found afer
placing the blue and red tablets of the stream in place, in chapter eleven and
then going through the large stone door inside the Hall of Balance. If you
are playing Hard Mode, then leave the room and go back after beating Evil Ryu.
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ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: This particular challenge is
pretty much the same as on the normal difficulty, just with more enemies,
and more damage (to you that is.) You can stick with the Dragon Sword if
it suits your fancy, but personally I like to stick with pretty much the
same strategy that worked on the second Evil Ryu. Equip the Dabilahro and
jump a little distance away from the enemies, then turn around and execute
a X, X, X, X, Y attack combination. If all goes well, you should swing
your sword with such a wide and powerful radius that most of them are
killed off. Rinse and repeat. If you've got magic, equip The Art of
Inferno (since you don't have Inuzama yet) and run to one end of the hall
before you let loose for best chances to hit multiple enemies.
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You'll face four Super Claw Demons at a time here in this large hall, there is
plenty of room to move around so you can take your time with this one, but
there is no need to. If you follow my instructions then you'll be able to
absolutely waste all the enemies. First of all you should have of course
acquired the Ninpo magic, The Art of Inazuma, it will play a key role here.
Secondly you should have upgraded it at least once if you've been following
the guide. Now note that almost anywhere you use this spell it is going to
kill all four of the Super Claw Demons around you in a single strike. You
should have a total of five Ki magic slots and they should be full, even if
they aren't you're likely stocked quite well with Great Devil Elixirs unless
you've really been relying heavily on magic up to this point. Begin by using
The Art of Inazuma once to kill all the enemies, then again to kill them all,
then again to kill them all etc etc etc. While they are being killed you
should of course be collecting the orbs, many of which will likely include red
orbs that refill your Ki and allow you to use the spell even more. Given
there are sixty fiends and you will four every time it would take fifteen
casts of the spell to take them all. If you don't collect enough red orbs to
cover that, then just a single Great Devil Elixir should be more than enough
to cover the rest, and then there's always (god forbid) killing them with a
sword or something. Your reward is a LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [007].
Open your map to get perspective, what you want to do is run to the south end
of the hall, and turn around to face north. Move the right analog stick so
you can look around, and look up. Notice when looking way up toward the
ceiling, that one of the pillars on the right side is missing the piece that
connects it to the ceiling? What you need to do is stand between this pillar
and another, then wall kick your way up to the top. You'll land on top of it
and find GOLDEN SCARAB [032]. Run to the north end of the hall and stand in
front of the goddess statue. Wall kick up as high as you can here and drop
down to press the button into the ground. Now the nearby door has been
unlocked. If I were you at this point, I'd head back and save the game, you
aren't going to have another chance before the upcoming boss.
Head through this next area and take out all of the bats. There's a very
sneaky little secret in this room. Approach the door leading to the next area
but don't go through it. Instead what you want to do is look to the walls on
either your left or your right, the ones that are actually kind of on an
angle, and backflip off of them after running vertically so that you land on
the walkway above. This walkway leads around to a chest containing LIFE OF
THE GODS [016]. Drop down and proceed into the Underground Sanctuary. Defeat
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Here is where you will first
encounter the Ogres, one of the most difficult enemies you will face in
the normal game (outside of missions.) Below here I will outline the
general strategy for fighting these enemies and then afer then a special
strategy that only really works in this room, be sure to check it out.
Ogres are huge, nasty creatures about ten times your size with a skeleton
helmet, and an angry temper. They are equipped with an enormous club
weapon that they spin around and slam into the ground. You will first
face these enemies either in mission mode, or in chapter ten on the hard
difficulty. Their main attack is to swing the club around, this can be
blocked but is so powerful it can easily break through your defenses if
you're moving at all, or get hit with a very powerful overhead swing.
They also have the ability to jump into the air and land on your, which
cannot be blocked, as well as grabbing you and throwing you, another
unblockable attack. Your attacks barely stun the Ogres at all which is
why it's so difficult to fight them traditionally. Try utilizing one of
the following techniques. First of all, use the Dabilahro for this fight.
Try running up the wall and backflipping off with a Y button attack, that
works quite well. You'll notice when they take damage, the mask breaks
and they change colour, getting even more aggressive. Be careful when
this happens. Another tactic is to run to the other side of the room and
try to charge up a level one or level two Ultimate Technique before they
can attack you, that works pretty well. Finally you can block or dodge
their attacks, and counter with a normal combo. That doesn't really work
too well, but however you take these creatures on is ultimately up to you.
In the Underground Sanctuary specifically, at the end of chapter ten there
is a special trick you can use, and I encourage you to use. Go into the
small room and run up the walls. At the top you'll be on that little
platform which overlooks the main room with the Ogres. Stand on the edge
and charge a level two Ultimate Technique with the Dabilahro. Let it
loose from here and it will actually hit any Ogres ahead of you, despite
the fact that they are on the floor below. Keep using this over and over,
then when they die, jump down to collect the yellow essence. I recommend
this because when you kill an Ogre with a level two Ultimate Technique,
they drop approximately 5000 yellow essence. Collect as much as you
possibly can, and if you haven't already upgraded the Wooden Sword to the
Unlaboured Flawlessness I suggest you do it now, it's a lifesaver.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
all of the Super Claw Demons which attack you in this room and then after
killing them all, look to the west side of the room to find another smaller
room. Enter it and then check the ground to find a GOLDEN SCARAB [033].
There is also a ninja corpse here with an infinite supply of arrows.
From where you entered this small room there is a small set of steps in front
of you on the right side. Stand on these steps and run horizontally along the
wall on your right. Jump immediately to the wall ahead of you and run along
that, then jump and run along the next wall. On the third wall jump, and you
should be high enough to land on a ledge above you. This leads you to the
previous room, except much higher up. Equip the Strongbow with the normal
arrows and take aim at that symbol across from you. A wall drops down which
you can run across to reach the ledge on the other side, and a set of stairs
which goes up from the glowing symbol. When you reach the top, cross the
little walkway and open the chest for a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Continue around
in the other direction and there's kind of a gap with a branch stick out.
Jump and grab the branch on kind of an angle to the left, and swing across.
Pull the sword out of the stone, this is the BRAND OF VALOR and is not used as
a weapon. Behind the pillar on your left is another GOLDEN SCARAB [034] and
in front of the pillar is a Dragon Statue. You may be wondering why I said to
save before because there weren't anymore save points, well the reason is
because this statue only exists if you're playing Ninja Gaiden Black, it's one
of three new save points found in the game. If you're playing the original
then you may wish to go back and save at this point as you are about to fight
a boss and have done quite a bit of stuff since you last saved the game. If
you think you're ready then drop down and examine the floor panel in the
middle of the Underground Sanctuary, use the Brand of Valor for a scene.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- G U A R D I A N --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| As if keeping with tradition, the developers bring you exactly what you've |
| come to expect up to this point in the game, another difficult boss. The |
| guardian has quite a few ways to absolutely kick your ass to the curb, and |
| offers many less ways for you to do the same to it, so listen close and |
| you should be able to defeat the boss with minimum damage to yourself. |
| |
| The Guardian's attack arsenel is extensive, so we'll start like before |
| with the frequency of use for the most part, at least at a distance. In |
| this battle you aren't really safe no matter where you are on the field. |
| The Guardian has two quite similar ranged attacks that it uses quite |
| often. Both of them involve a red laser beam which is fired in your |
| general direction. The laser itself doesn't actually hurt you, but what |
| it does do is trace a path for the blast of fire which follows it. After |
| the laser shoots, there will be a large wall of fire which shoots on a |
| relatively two dimensional plane, following the path of the laser. If the |
| laser was fired verticlaly directly at you, it's quite simple to dodge by |
| jumping either left or right. If it's traced horizontally it's slightly |
| harder to dodge, but I find that simply jumping toward the boss will have |
| you avoiding the attack with almost one hundred percent certainty. |
| |
| Besides these ranged attacks, the Guardian has many other, far more |
| powerful attacks he uses. His movement alone is an attack, and one which |
| is perfectly capable of hitting you from a distance. He usually takes up |
| a position on one side of the room, but when he gets tired of that he will |
| fly to the other side of the room. If you are in the way while he is |
| moving, you'll take quite a bit of damage, whether you're actually hit by |
| some kind of attack or not, the body contact alone is enough. To avoid |
| this there are many things you can do like rolling, or simply running. |
| It's when you're right in front of him that makes it difficult to dodge at |
| times. I find that using the Flying Swallow attack can actually be an |
| effectivw way to not only deal damage while he's moving in this case, but |
| also a way of avoiding the damage you take yourself. Now and then he'll |
| fly up to one of the ledges above you and possibly shoot laser fire from |
| there. In this case just move around and he'll come down on his own. |
| |
| If you're trying to actually get close to this boss, you'll have to be |
| extremely careful. Standing relatively close to it will trigger one of |
| three attacks. If you're near one of his feet, he'll try to stomp you |
| with the left or the right. If you're close to his body as a while he'll |
| try to jump in the air and stomp on you with both feet, or he'll cover |
| himself with his wings, and swing them outward to attack the whole |
| circular area around him, to avoid these attacks it's just a matter of |
| moving away from him assuming you aren't in the middle of some kind of |
| combo. No matter how you're attacking, don't even try to do it while he's |
| jumping in the air, just coming into contact with his body at that time |
| will cause severe damage to you. Finally there is one more attack, his |
| most powerful attack. if you are at his feet and attept to do any kind of |
| attack combination, he will, without fail, reach down with his head and |
| grab you in his teeth for an unblockable throw attack which takes off |
| nearly half of your entire health bar, and that's assuming you have |
| collected just about every health upgrade in the game. Not pretty. |
| |
| Given as I said, that he will use his most powerful unblockable attack if |
| you even try to use some kind of combination attack on him, this means |
| you're going to find some other way of damaging him, which is fine. On |
| one hand, using the explosive arrows is a reasonably good choice, but on |
| the other hand they don't offer that much damage particularly given the |
| risk. While it's relatively safe to fire Explosive Arrows at his head |
| from a distance, you aren't given very much time at all to dodge a laser |
| fire attack if he happens to use one unprovoked. A lot of people I've |
| spoken to prefer to fight this battle with the Stronbow, but I'll mostly |
| discuss what I consider to be a much more effective method for it. |
| |
| Basically the solution to this in my eyes, is the solution to everything |
| in my eyes, the Dragon Sword's Flying Swallow attack I love so much. It |
| solves the problem of being eaten everytime you try and attack his feet, |
| because it allows you to attack and get a safe distance back. If you |
| happen to do it and land right between his fight, forget attacking for the |
| moment and just focus on getting away from the attack zone. There are a |
| couple of annoying things about this tactic, sometimes when you do it |
| he'll quickly jump across the screen, meaning you'll nail him right as |
| he's moving and take damage yourself. Also every now and then you'll end |
| up doing the downward stab instead of the Flying Swallow, and he'll be |
| able to get a stomp on you almost guaranteed, but at least with the |
| latter, it's just a matter of practice and not something out of your |
| control. Eventually after you have hit the boss in the legs with about |
| seven or eight Flying Swallows, he will cry out in pain and drop his head |
| to the floor, now is you chance and listen well because this really works. |
| The instant he starts crying out, try to move in front of him, you still |
| have control for that split second while it's focusing on the boss even if |
| you can't see your character. Get as close as you possibly can to the |
| area directly in front of his head and then right away start holding the Y |
| button. Immediately as it charges to the first level, let loose and it |
| should hit his head for heavy damage. You have to be in front of the head |
| otherwise it has a habit of auto-targeting the legs which you don't want. |
| That's not all, unlike combinations he won't lift his head up after you do |
| this. When the powerful slash is done, right away hit X, Y, then X, X, X, |
| X to perform the Blade of Nirrti combo on the head, this is on top of the |
| first attack. He'll likely start to raise his head during the combo since |
| you've already taken so long, but assuming you were quick about it, you |
| will be able to get in every hit from the combination as well and end up |
| doing massive damage to the boss, on par with 25-35% of his total health. |
| Just keep doing this over and over and he'll go down no problem. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- G U A R D I A N --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| It's more of the same here, with some nasty little buggers to keep you on |
| your toes. It's those damn Super Claw Demons that will make or break your |
| strategy in this battle, so it's only fitting that I talk about how to |
| deal with them in this additional hard mode boss strategy. |
| |
| Obviously the question raised first is, do I kill off all these enemies |
| and then go for the boss, or go for the boss and ignore them? The answer, |
| put as simply as possible, is that you really should make a decent effort |
| to kill them if you can. The problem arises in the fact that once you |
| damage the boss, a whole bunch more are going to spawn, but the chance to |
| actually attack the boss is worth the effort you have to put into killing |
| them. Most bosses for example, can be hit almost all of the time. With |
| the Guardian, you have to damage it enough so it lowers its head, and then |
| you attack it. Given this very short time frame, if you happen to |
| accidentally target another enemy, it's going to be very frustrating. |
| |
| When it comes to actually damaging the boss, the basic strategy is the |
| same. Choose the weapon you like best and stick with it, dodge the |
| attacks and hit the boss low before he lowers his head, then you can go in |
| for the real damage. Using the Dabilahro and the X, X, X, X, Y attack may |
| prove quite useful to hit not only the bsos, but perhaps any enemies |
| swarming you. Attacks like this which actually take more than a few |
| seconds to execute are dangerous, because you never know when the Guardian |
| will spread his wings and spack you in the face. Always attack |
| immediately after he begins a new attack for best results in this fight. |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
| ~~ Unlaboured Flawlessness Strategy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |
| From this point on in the guide, for hard mode, I will be including a |
| special section relating to the Unlaboured Flawlessness weapon and tips |
| and tricks for using it on bosses. Pound for pound, if you're looking for |
| the best way to win this battle (and more to come) then this is the weapon |
| you want to use. I'll tell you how to wield this beast effectively. |
| |
| For those unfamiliar with the weapon you may have noticed it's not |
| actually that strong. Looks can be deceiving, when you get low on health |
| you will see the characters written on the weapon begin to glow. At this |
| point its power increases like 500% or something like that. For this |
| reason the weapon is super powerful, but super dangerous since you have to |
| use it with such low health. Hopefully these tips will help you beat the |
| Guardian without too many retires, but you'll still end up seeing the game |
| over screen more than a few times due to the low health you maintain. |
| |
| Begin the battle and do your best to kill off all of the Super Claw Demons |
| which appear, this is important. After this you will want to allow |
| yourself to be damaged to the point where the Unlaboured Flawlessness is |
| glowing red. Now it gets dangerous. What you need to do is wait for the |
| boss to settle, and run up near him (but not too close). Wait until he |
| begins to use an attack, make sure you are safely out of the way, and then |
| use the following attack: X, tap Y, X, X, X, X. This attack is similar to |
| the Blade of Nirrti. It will get you up in the air and allow you to |
| strike many times before slamming down. If you "press" Y as opposed to |
| "tapping" Y it will not launch you in the air, keep that in mind. |
| |
| When the weapon is glowing red and you do this, it should be enough with |
| this one attack to bring the Guardian to his kness. If all has gone well |
| the enemies still haven't responded. Approach the head and use the exact |
| same attack again. Assuming your health is low, that's about 60-70% of |
| his total health gone right there. At this point the Guardian will bring |
| its head up again and enemies will respawn. You've done so much damage |
| that enemies will be respawning until the cows come home. To those who |
| want to play it safe, I would recommend using a couple of Elixirs of |
| Spiritual Life and then killing him off using traditional weaponry (or the |
| Unlaboured Flawlessness with a bit more health). To those living on the |
| edge, you're free to try the same thing again, but keep in mind the Super |
| Claw Demons will really hinder your plan. Regardless of what you choose |
| to do, if you follow this strategym you should find that it's actually |
| much easier to beat the boss without wasting items that you thought. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________________________________________________________________
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE PATH TO ZARKHAN [CHAPTER 11] ---------------------------- 01.11 --+
Save your game using the Dragon Statue right at the beginning of this chapter,
and then open the chest beside the statue to acquire a MAP OF THE MOAT.
Behind it is another chest containing a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Before you
readily jump into the water, note the crazy fish monsters swimming about in
there. You might want to kill them from out here before you jump in, because
it starts getting rather difficult while you're swimming around. Jump into
the water and swim down by the nearby gate, there you will find a GOLDEN
SCARAB [035] at the bottom of the moat. Keeping swimming through the hole in
the gate down here and open the treasure chest to get a GOLD MEDALLION.
Turn around and swim back near the beginning, underwater in the other
direction there is kind of a pipe underwater which you can swim into. When
you reach a part where there are bubbles coming up, swim down and examine the
corpse of the ninja to find some kind of secret combination on the note, it
reads 0971, keep that in mind for later. Keep swimming through this pipe and
you'll pop out in antoher area with two enormous fish and two floating laser
pods firing at you, penetrating the water to hurt you. Forget everything
here, there's too much going on. Keep swimming in the same direction and go a
little bit to the right, you'll come across yet another tunnel. Before going
through it you might want to swim up for air. In the tunnel there is a
combination lock, but you can't do anything with it since it's so dark.
Keep swiimming into the next little gated off area and at the bottom there is
yet another dead ninja, examine his corpse to receive the OWL'S EYE from it.
Now that you have this item, go up for air, then swim back into the tunnel and
examine the lock again. Input the combination, 0971 to open the door. Note
that while you are putting in the combination, your oxygen meter is still
decreasing so make sure to do it quickly. Swim through the next tunnel and
come up for air as soon as possible. Climb up onto the ledge and examine the
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Nope, no spear gun for you to find
here instead you will acquire an Elixir of Spiritual Life from the corpse.
Assuming however that you have collected all thirty-five Golden Scarabs up
to this point, give them to Muramasa and he'll give you the Spear Gun.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
corpse of the ninja, you'll receive the SPEAR GUN designed for use underwater,
a projectile weapon which is nonetheless equipped as a normal weapon.
Along withthe ninja corpse up here there is also a Muramasa shop which you
will certainly want to check out. Be sure to give him the Golden Scarabs that
you have at the moment, assuming you have collected all thirty-five so far
he'll give you a very unimpressive GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. There really isn't
anything new or special you can purchase or upgrade, so leave the shop and
then jump into the water and swim into the tunnel leading to the southwest.
When you reach this next area, swim up to the surface and begin to take out
those heli-lasers using your sword attack while bobbing in the water. Any of
them which are higher up, simply climb out of the water and shoot them with an
arrow. On the ledge here you should come across GOLDEN SCARAB [036].
Jump down into the water again and swim through the tunnel below where you
found the scarab. Equip the normal Shuriekns and climb up onto the platform,
take out the bats and then open the treasure chest to receive a GREAT SPIRIT
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Be careful when you open this
chest because it doesn't contain a Great Spirit Elixir, instead upon
opening it you'll be attacked by a couple dozen Ghost Fish.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ELIXIR. There's a Dragon Statue here so use it to save your game, and then
head across to the other side here to find another chest, this time with a
LIFE OF THE GODS [017] inside of it. Only one more before you can increase
your total health bar. Jump now into the water and swim down under to go
through the tunnel leading southeast. It will curve around and open up at a
small room. When you reach this room turn right and you'll see some bubbles,
turn right again and there's another tunnel going southwest. Take this until
it leads you to a wide open area, make an immediate right and look at the
bottom of the moat to find another GOLDEN SCARAB [037] down there.
Directly to the south there is a broken gate underwater, and swimming through
it will be your next task. After a short scene, swim up to the sunken ship
and through the hole it it, open the crate here to receive the HAND CRANK.
Take the hand crank and swim up. Prepare for one of the most annoying fucking
endevours you've ever had to undertake. What you have to do is climb onto the
top of the ship. and just accept the fact that while doing so you're going to
be laser, knocked ten feet away and back into the water again. Perhaps there
is some easier way of doing this, I don't know, but it certainly doesn't stand
out at the moment so you'll have to deal with something over which you have
very little control. Once you manage to actually get a firm foot up there,
equip some APFSDS Cores and just let the Strongbow auto-aim and take out the
various heli-lasers around here. Examine the thing on the ship here and Ryu
will automatically use the Hand Crank on it. After doing this what you want
to do is jump into the water, and swim back into the boat once again.
Swim past the crate to the wall at the end, and then swim up, turn around and
you'll realize you're in kind of an upper part of the sunken ship, still
underwater. At the top there is a GOLDEN SCARAB [038] waiting to be picked
up, and in the opposite corner you'll find the OXYGEN CYLINDER. Now you need
to get out of this ship entirely, and leave the area back through the broken
gate once again. Directly north of the broken gate is another entrance into a
gated maze area. Get in there and make a right, swim to the end and go left
and left again. Keep swimming, there haven't been any branches, it's still
linear. At the next corner you'll come across a chest with the LIFE OF THE
GODS [018] inside of it. If you haven't been using them then now would be a
good time, this should be your second life extension. Make your way to the
end where you will find another chest, this one with a SILVER MEDALLION inside
of it. Now it's time to swim back to the most recent Dragon Statue.
Head through the southwest tunnel from here, the one on land not underwater.
Defeat all of the disgusting bug monsters at the end and then examine the
altar there and set both the Gold Medallion and Silver Medallion into place.
Now that you've done this, go back to the Dragon Statue and jump into the
water. Swim back through the tunnel, but this time when you reach that small
room where you go right and right again, go straight since the door is no
longer blocking your path. You can kill the enemies in this next area if you
wish, but your primary goal is to swim down thorugh the crack in the ground.
This basically takes you back to the areas you visited in previous chapters,
except underwater. When you come across the corpse of the huge Dragon Zombie,
keep swimming across to the other side to find another hole you can swim
through. It takes you through a long tunnel, and when you come out, make a
right to reach that room with the coffin where you couldn't touch the floor.
Swim all the way to the very top and check out the wall there you'll find a
GOLDEN SCARAB [039]. Swim to the very bottom and then go south through the
open door. This takes you back to anther area you've visited previously.
Swim down and into the elevator then ride it up to the room above.
Bet you haven't taken on Black Spider Ninjas in awhile, hopefully you aren't
too rusty. Take them out however you wish, using whatever weapon from the
Dragon Sword to the Spear Gun, then examine the diary on the table. Let's put
aside for a moment, whatever the code is. Anyone with any deduction skills
whatsoever will realize that when a safe instantly tells you when you're on
the right number, you don't need the code, all you need simply is the
direction. Given that the page says left, left, right, left, then go and do
just that. Examine the safe and go left until the light goes on, left until
the next light goes on, right until the third light goes on and then left
until the final light goes on. For doing this you receive a JEWEL OF THE
DEMON SEAL [003]. Access the menu and use this item on your spell, The Art of
Inazuma, that should max it out. Ride the elevator back down to the area
below and then swim down through the tunnel leading to the north. You'll come
out next to another Dragon Statue which you should use to save your game.
When you're ready then ride the elevator up to trigger a scene.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- D O K U --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Doku himself will be your opponent, it is a dramatic battle for the |
| survival of the future, or possibly something even more intense and |
| ambiguous than that! Prepare yourself for what promises to be one of the |
| most difficult battles you have faced so far. A battle that does well to |
| alienate players who even know exactly how to fight, and instead forces |
| you to play well no matter how familiar you are with the battle, because |
| with one single slip up you can find yourself close to death. |
| |
| The boss has quite a few attacks, and the majority of them are actually |
| easy to dodge believe it or not. The first attack which he uses primarily |
| when you are furthest away is the easiest of all of them to dodge. Doku |
| will lift his sword into the air and pierce the ground. This sends a blue |
| shockwave pulse out in all directions which can be dodged easily with a |
| single jump. Get used to the timing on it and you'll find that you are |
| virtually never hit by this attack, no matter when he does it. |
| |
| The next attack that is also used when you are a distance away is likely |
| going to be the one you see most frequently through the entire battle. |
| Doku reaches back with almost no prior indication and throws his sword at |
| you, pulling it back to him almost instantaneously like a boomerang. |
| You'll likely end up hit by this attack quite a few times because in order |
| to dodge it you must be a relative distance away from him and running |
| directly perpendicular to the throw. The further you are away the easier |
| it is to dodge. You can in fact, block this attack but it is not |
| recommended for reasons which will become obvious when I get to actually |
| fighting the boss. Simply circle around him and it'll usually miss. |
| |
| As you get closer, two more new attacks pop up. One of them which you'll |
| have to learn to predict (because it is the focus of my entire boss |
| attack strategy) is the attack where he kind of crouches down and puts his |
| hands on his holstered sword. In a few seconds he will lunge at you |
| extremely fast with a blazing sword swipe which will in fact, damage you |
| for about 60% of your total health. Yo uare almost guaranteed to dodge |
| this attack if you are running in pretty much any left or right direction, |
| so you should have to worry about the attack hitting you at all. The |
| other one he does when you get close, is take off his mask and project the |
| flame from his face all over the ground in front of him. If you're close |
| up you'll almost certainly be hit by this, which is why it's important to |
| always maintain a good distance, especially for the following reasons: |
| |
| When you get right up close to the boss, that's where all the nasty |
| attacks come in. There are very few if any practical circumstances when |
| you have to get close to the boss in this battle, unless you're |
| frstratedly trying to attack like mad, so there's no excuse for being hit |
| by some of these attacks. First of all he's got a normal sword swing as |
| you would probably expect. Secondly however he's got a five hit |
| combination which is really nasty, if it hits you it's probably his most |
| powerful attack, dealing about 75% of your total health. It's virtually |
| impossible to get hit by the whole thing however since even after you are |
| hit by the first one, you can usually end up blocking or rolling out of |
| the way of the other ones. Either way you can't hold the L trigger and |
| block them all, so when you see him start swinging the blade with a red |
| trail behind it, get the hell out of the way as fast as possible. |
| |
| The final up close attack is of course, the boss' throw, which is really |
| nasty. Instead of being his most powerful attack (it actually only deals |
| 30%-40% of your total health), it ends up being worse than if it dealt |
| more damage. What it actually does is syphon your health, and restore a |
| huge chunk of the boss' HP total. If you don't know what you're doing and |
| trying to fight the boss randomly with whatever weapon you havem you'll |
| probably end up being grabbed quite frequently and then by the time you're |
| dead, the boss is still at full health, having healed any damage you may |
| have done. Stay the hell away from him, that's all I can say. |
| |
| Finally we get into the true battle strategy, and I want you to listen |
| close because I am going to guarantee right now that this works, I tried |
| the boss over a dozen times, even after defeating him just to get this |
| right. I can assure you with 100% certainly, that as long as you aren't |
| impatient, you can in fact defeat this boss in a single hit. Before going |
| into the strategy itself, I will continue with my usual habit of delaying |
| things because I'd like to outline first what doesn't work, so you know. |
| |
| What doesn't work in this case is almost anything to do with the Dragon |
| Sword at all. If I remember correctly, in the original Ninja Gaiden the |
| Flying Swallow technique worked quite well, so if you're playing that game |
| then maybe it still does, but all I know is that from what I can tell in |
| Ninja Gaiden Black, they must have changed something because it sure as |
| hell doesn't work very well anymore, he blocks it about 90% of the time. |
| Beside that there isn't much left for you to do with the Dragon Sword, at |
| least nothing that doesn't involve you being grabbed over and over again. |
| I'll save you the trouble and say that most other weapons you might try |
| don't work well either, I'll give some credit to the Vigoorian Flails, |
| that can do some serious damage but once again you are forced to get way |
| too close, and the boss just has a field day with his best attacks. |
| |
| The answer is simple, and that answer is the Dabilhro. You can try other |
| methods if you wish, but if you want assurance on being able to take this |
| guy out without healing once, this is your weapon of choice. The reason I |
| say you need patience is because you are only going to attack in one |
| circumstance, no matter how vulnerable he might seem at any other time. |
| The attack I described earlier where he crouches down and then launches |
| himself at you to strike, that's the attack you are waiting for. After |
| doing this he has a good three seconds of guaranteed vulnerability and you |
| need to exploit it. Here's how to do it. For the entire battle you are |
| going to be circling the boss. Not so far away so that he does nothing |
| but throw the sword, and sure as hell not so close so that he tries to |
| grab you or use normal sword attacks. You want to maintain a circling |
| distance at the point where the main two attacks he uses, are the lunge |
| attack I mentioned, and the facial fire blast. While doing this you must |
| run clockwise and not counterclockwise. It may sound as if it makes no |
| difference but it does. When you're that close you risk being hit by the |
| facial fire, but when he does it he sprays right. While moving clockwise |
| you will stay ahead of it, instead of running into it if you were moving |
| counterclockwise. Important details like this help you stay alive. |
| |
| So now and then the boss should do the lunging sword attack, the second |
| you see him crouch down, take a few more steps and then stop. Don't keep |
| running all the way up to the point where he has already lunged, that's |
| too long, just a few steps will be enough to get you out of the way. By |
| the time you stop he will likely have lunged and be beside you. What you |
| do now is hold the Y button, not for one second, but not for three or four |
| seconds either, it's approximately two seconds. If the sword starts to |
| glow red then you waited too long, by this time the boss' vulnerability |
| will have worn off. Hold the Y button for two seconds and let go, |
| assuming you didn't take extra steps the boss should be close enough so |
| that you jump into the air, and come down on his head with a slash that |
| deals nearly 15% of his total health. If you hold it for one second it |
| will still hit, but the damage will be barely half that. Timing is |
| important but once you get it down, this will hit EVERY SINGLE TIME, I |
| cannot stress that enough, I tested and tested it and it works. After |
| doing this he will usually try to retaliate, but by the time he recovers |
| from it and swings the sword, you will have had plenty of time to roll out |
| of the way and repeat the procees again. I stress this, do not try to |
| attack him at any other point, I realize it seems like he's defenseless |
| after some of the other attacks as well, but this is the only one with the |
| guarantee, and if he blocks your attack, you can do nothing as he reaches |
| forward to grab you. Repeat this over and over and victory is yours. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- D O K U --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Accompanying Doku in this battle will be two Samurai enemies which aren't |
| particularly dangerous, but they do have a nasty habit of blocking |
| everything so they won't be as easy to kill off as say, some normal claw |
| demons. In this battle I would definietely recommend you kill the enemies |
| before going after the boss, not only will they really get in your way |
| when you're trying to fight him, but it's actually quite easy to take them |
| out without being hit by Doku's attacks. For the most part as long as |
| you're fighting them a good distance away from him, the only attack he |
| will ever use is that blue wave attack, which you can easily jump over. |
| Use something like the Dabilahro to quickly dispatch the samurais. |
| |
| Fighting Dku himself really isn't that much different, maybe his attacks |
| do a little more damage and yours do a little less, who knows. The |
| strategy I outlined above should work perfectly fine as long as you |
| incorporate the killing of the enemies into it. I like using the |
| Dabilahro in this battle, it works quite well with the X, X, X, X, Y |
| attack, and will usually knock him off balance so at least one of the hits |
| gets through, even if it's not immediately following an attack that leaves |
| him vulnerable. Of course the best strategy is the one which follows. |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
| ~~ Unlaboured Flawlessness Strategy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |
| Using the Unlaboured Flawlessness, the battle becomes significantly |
| easier. Here's how you will want to do about doing it. First of all, at |
| the very beginning, make sure to eliminate the two soldiers running around |
| on the field, they'll just get in the way. Now start yourself into the |
| same technique I outlined for the main strategy. Run around the boss in |
| circles in a clockwise direction, with a radius of only a few steps. Too |
| close and he will swing his sword, too far away and he'll basically throw |
| the sword almost every time. Soon enough he should crouch down to prepare |
| for a charge attack, and as you know this is when he's most vulnerable. |
| |
| After he lunges forward, turn around and use the X, X, Y button attack. |
| The reason for using this one is that you cannot knock him in the air, so |
| you get more bang for your buck. If all goes well and your health is |
| extremely low, this will damage him for about 50% of his life, and one |
| more of these will finish the battle. Of course after the first one, two |
| to four more samurai enemeis will spawn. Kill them at a distance like you |
| did before and always be ready to jump over the blue wave attack. Once |
| they're out of the way repeat once more to bring an easy end to the fight. |
| |
| If you go into the battle with full health, or a lot of health, then take |
| advtage of this by killing the two soldiers before you allow yourself to |
| get hurt. Once it's just you against Doku, some of his weaker attacks |
| include the sword throw, and the blue fire breath. Also the blue wave |
| isn't too powerful. Allow yourself to be hit by these attacks and |
| modulate your health so that it gets low enough, and you see the |
| characters on the Unlaboured Flawlessness start glowing red. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________________________________________________________________
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE CAVERNS [CHAPTER 12] ------------------------------------ 01.12 --+
At the very beginning of this chapter you will find the KITETSU on the ground,
a brand new speedy katana for Ryu to equip. If you wish to save you can ride
the elevator back down to the previous floor and use the Dragon Statue there.
Head up the elevator again to get back to the arena and go through the
opposite gate leading up from where Doku came from in the previous chapter.
In here on the wall across from the door you will find a lever which you can
push down, press this lever and a number of platforms in the previous room
will drop down from above. Before leaving the room you will want to check
over on left the side to find a GOLDEN SCARAB [040]. Leave the room and from
the perspective of leaving the room, look forward and to your left to find a
platform low enough to the ground that you can jump onto it. Press the lever
down here and another platform will move. Now run across to the opposite side
of the arena and jump onto the other low platform. There is a lever to press
down here as well, make sure to do that. From this platform you can see
another not too far away and a little bit higher. It's too high to reach off
the ground but if you run horizontally along the wall from here you will be
able to jump and reach it. Upon landing, run horizontally along the wall
again, and left around the corner to land on yet another floating platform.
Assuming you have followed the directions correctly up to this point, you will
find yourself beside another lever. Press this lever down to move a platform,
then jump across to the nearby ledge and open the chest containing a GREAT
SPIRIT ELIXIR. Across from you is one more platform, this one with a lever as
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Rather than a Great Spirit Elixir,
you will be rewarded with a ton of yellow essence orbs from this chest.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
well. Pull this lever and then jump back across to the ledge with the chest
on it. Jump over once more to the other platform and pull this lever a second
time. Now jump down to ground level. Remember the first low platform on the
left that you jumped onto after pulling the initial lever in the side room?
Jump on that one again, but this time run along the wall horizontally and
around the corner to the right where you should land on another, slightly
higher platform. Run vertically up the wall beside you, which is actually the
frame of the door that leads to the elevator. On top of this is another
GOLDEN SCARAB [041]. Drop down to the most recent platform. this time run
horizontally across the wall in the opposite direction as the Golden Scarab
you just picked up, around the corner to the left, then around the corner
again and if all goes well, you'll land on a platform which is quite high up.
From here you can make a short leap to another platform if all has been done
correctly so far, and then up over the broken railing to find two treasure
chests, one which contains a GREAT DEVIL ELIXIR, and the other which has a
LIFE OF THE GODS [019] inside of it. Jump from here across to the platform,
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Both of these treasure chests have
been robbed of their original items, and now both contain a whole bunch of
Bats. Sure it's a pain in the ass, but at least it's not Ghost Fish.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
past the chest with the Life of the Gods, and then over to the walkway on the
other side. Here you will find a lever you can pull which should do something
in that first initial room, that's the end of this whole platform puzzle.
Before you do anything else be sure to run to the end and open the chest there
to get LIFE OF THE GODS [020] as well as a GOLDEN SCARAB [042] beside it.
Don't proceed through that room here either, instead what you are going to
want to do is drop down and then take the elevator back down to the Dragon
Statue and save your game. Equip the Dabilahro and ride it up again.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: This challenge is extremely
difficult, I must admit that I kind of gave up and continued with the game
without actually completing it. If you can find a way (or find the
patience) to get through the whole thing then congratulations to you.
Basically all of the Red Lizards have been replaced by enormous Ogres.
There are literally almost 100 Ogres to kill here, and each one takes a
huge amount of damage before it actually goes down. I would highly
recommend the Unlaboured Flawlessness above any other weapon for this
challenge however even still, you run a big risk keeping yourself at low
health in order to keep the weapon powerful. If you jump to the second
platform on the left side, the one higher than the first but not quite as
high as the top of the door frame (where the chest is) then you can
actually hit the enemies beloew with the second level charge of the
Unlaboured Flawlessness. While you can dodge the vast majority of the
attacks up here, you are not 100% safe as now and then, one of the
overhead swings will inevitably hit you. Whichever way you attempt to
complete this challenge is entirely up to you, good luck with it.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the arena at the beginning of chapter twelve, after you have completed the
platformer puzzle you will have to face one of, if not the, most difficult
Sixty Fiend Challenges in the entire game. Here you will battle a total of
sixty of those red dinosaur enemies, three at a time. Using the Dabilahro
with the Armlet of the Sun equipped, it honestly isn't too hard to defeat all
of the enemies, especially given they drop blue essence virtually every single
time one of them dies. In other words, the risk of actually getting a game
over here is surprisingly low, basically it's just a question of whether you
have the patience to defeat that many strong enemies. I would recommend a
healthy usage of The Art of Inazuma, which at maximum upgrade, should be
enough to instantly kill all three of them assuming they are within close
proximity to you. When it comes to killing them individually, the normal X
button combo with the Dabilhro should be enough, after a couple of hits it
even knocks them off balance so the only time you have to worry about having
your head bitten or anything like that is if you attack as the enemy itself is
preparing for attack. When you finish this challenge, your prize appears up
at the top of this level, simply run up the walls the same way you did before
to reach the upper walkway and the LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [008].
Here's an additional trick you can use for this particular challenge. I have
been told by numerous people (thanks to all of them by the way), that you can
actually stand on the platforms around the side of this area and use something
like the Ultimate technique from the Dabilahro to kill the enemies, and they
are completely unable to attack you from here. Works pretty well in fact.
Take the path leading in the opposite direction as the elevevator from the
arena. You can now jump up the large steps on the wall here and make your way
to the path leading out of here. Read the Kunai Scroll on the side here which
will tell you that Muramasa wants to see you. The shop isn't too far off,
head down the path and open the treasure chest at the end to get a GREAT
SPIRIT ELIXIR. WHen you keep moving forward, you'll be attacked again.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: What you have here is a fiend
challenge which is virtually the same as the one from normal mode. A few
more enemies, that's about the only difference. Choose ideally either the
Dabilahro or the Dragon Sword and just go nuts. If you managed to
complete the Ogre challenge, then this is going to feel like child's play.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is another Sixty Fiend Challenge, after the arena at the beginning of
chapter twelve you will head down a path and at the bottom, there are
approximately forty of those Super Claw Demons to kill, along with about
twenty or so normal Claw Demons. You've faced a similar if not easier
challenge before when you took on the Super Claw Demons exclusively for the
challenge back in the Aquaduct, regardless of what weapon you choose this one
should be child's play for you. Keep The Art of Inazuma ready which works
well as always, and just rely on the power of the Dragon Sword to cut through
these enemies as quickly as possible. Once you eventually defeat all sixty of
them, another chest appears with a LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [009].
To the left of the large double doors down here, not the ones at the top of
the stairs, but the ones opposite them, there is the body of a ninja lying on
the ground. Examine the body to get SARU'S DIARY. Once you have it, proceed
through the doors beside the body to make your way back to town once again.
On your way back you will some brand new enemies. They carry the same weapon
as those White Soldiers but end up being much nastier. They block much more
frequently, and if you thought the white soldiers couldn't perform throws
anymore often, you'll be disappointed to here that throws are about the only
thing these enemies do when they get near you. The general idea is to stay
the hell away from them, attack from a distance, whether it be from far away
or even a sword's length, do not get too close or pay the price.
With the enemies dead, make a left turn at the fork in this area and on your
left you'll see a cracked wall you were unable to break before. Use any of
the heavy weapons like the Dabilahro or the War Hammer and you can break it
down with ease. Inside here there is a treasure chest right in front of you
with an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE inside of it. After getting this look to
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Rather than an Elixir of Spiritual
Life, open up this chest to get a huge stash of yellow essence.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
your right and you'll see a platform above, run horizontally along the wall
and jump up to that ledge, and then from there run across the wall to the even
higher ledge and there is a chest with a LIFE OF THE GODS [021]. Drop down
again and leave this area of town, you'll be back in the main CLock TOwer
Plaza where Muramasa's Shop is located. Go inside it and speak to him, there
is a brief scene. You'll basically learn as you had probably already assumed,
given the technique menu, that there is in fact another upgrade for the Dragon
Sword, but you are going to need some kind of item in order to acquire it.
Give him all of the Gold Scarabs you have colelcted so far, and if it's more
than forty he'll give you THE ARMLET OF FORTUNE. Leave his shop now.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When playing on the hard
difficulty, in return for forty scarabs you get The Armlet of Benediction.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember the area a couple of screens back where you found the ninja corpse at
the bottom of the large stairs, well head back there now and take the path
going to the right of the stairs. Jump over the dead tree and examine the
body of this ninja as well to get the MAP OF ZARKHAN. Across on the other
side you will notice that there are many head statues sitting atop the
platforms, equip a heavy weapon like the Dabilahro and smash those statue to
bits. Inside them you'll find a LIFE OF THE GODS [022] and a GOLDEN SCARAB
[043]. Use the Dragon Statue here to save your game and then follow the path
further. Remember how Ryu has the ability to run along water? Yeah, I barely
do either, but this is a prime time to use that ability. Drop to the water
and tap the A button to run along and reach the chest on the other side
contianing a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Follow the path further and take out a
heavy weapon again, there is a wall you need to smash down here.
Edit: There are a couple more items to collect here, important ones too. You
likely already explored the area, but if not, turn around and go back. Swim
underwater here and at the bottom you should be able to find a chest with a
LIFE OF THE GODS [024] and a GOLDEN SCARAB [047]. Note that neither of the
numbers which follow those indicate how many you should have at the moment,
don't worry about that, afterward just head through the cracked wall.
Equip the normal Shurikens and then approach the edge, dozens of bats come
down and it seems to take forever to actually kill them all. Unfortunately,
it's not a Sixty Fiend Challenge, just an assload of bats. A ninja corpse
lays at the bottom of this pit, examine his corpse to acquire a MAP OF THE
CAVERNS. Jump into the water in front of the ninja and swim down underneath,
you'll pop up fine on the other side on a path which leads straight down a
icy, ninja-surfying slope into the Ice Cavern. Make sure the Dabilahro is
equipped because when you land, you have to fight a whole bunch of those red
dinosaur things again. Assuming you did the Sixty Fiend Challenge against
them earlier, this will be an absolute cakewalk for you. When they're dead,
approach the stone wall on the edge and run vertically up the wall to the
right of it, then backflip to land on top. Open this chest and you'll get
another GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Next, hop up to the icy tunnel and head forward.
Around the next bend there is a gap you have to jump over, and a Dragon Statue
save point on the other side. Since we cannot proceed through this door at
the moment, drop down to the valley below and begin to eliminate those damn
Super Claw Demons one by one. When they have been eliminated you'll notice a
section on the wall here where you can wall kick back up, your destination is
on the opposite side, run up the wall and jump up the stair-like ledges until
you reach an ice door which can be shattered using any weapon. A number of
Super Claw Demons attack you once again here, whether you fight them or not
make a right turn and jump up to the next ledge. There is nothing you can do
about those icicles at the moment so just ignore them ofr now, make a right
and jump up into the air above the icy patch in the floor, press the Y button
while jumping with the Dragon Sword to stab down thorugh it. Yet another
group of Super Claw Demons, kick their collective asses and proceed up more
stair-like ledges to eventually reach the Ruins. Up here you can find the
SHIELD OF VIGOOR, an important item ued for opening that door beside the most
recent save point. With it in hand, jump back down and backtrack all the way
up again, wall kicking your way to the save point a second time.
Save your game again and then place the Shield of Vigoor into the door beside
you. With it now unlocked, head through to the Magma Cavern. Directly in
front of you on the ground is the final piece of that object you've been
collecting the whole game, the STONE TABLET [LEFT]. As the game tells you,
you now have all three pieces and it can be used soon enough when you visit
the Twin Serpents Plaza in Tairon again. In this area you need to be very
careful of the magma which you can accidentally fall into very frequently,
when you land you'll take quite a bit of damage (comparatively) and then a
very minimal amount of damage while standing in it. I bring this up because
it's important to note, you will take a lot less damage simply running through
the lava, as opposed to trying to jump through it believe it or not.
On the right side of this first area is some IRON ORE, be sure to pick that
up. Use the Dabilahro to kill the red dinosaur monsters in this room and then
jump down the fiery hallway which they previously occupied. After going
around the corner almost 180 degrees, the jump is almost too long to make.
What you have to do is run horizontally along the wall on the right, but don't
jump, just drop to reach the platform, then jump across even further again to
the next platform where you will find some more IRON ORE. Jump across once
more to safety, but it isn't particularly safe at all. Blasts of steam are
coming out of the wall here, so you have to carefully progress down the hill
until you reach the edge, be sure not to fall in. At the point take a look at
the wall on your left, then run up it vertically. You should be able to grab
hold of a rail on the side, and then gradually shimmy across to the right past
one more burst of steam. Make sure to shimmy all the way to the very end,
then you can drop off by pushing the analog stick diagonally down and left
(down by Ryu's perspective) and the A button to drop, it can be difficult at
times which is why I'm being so specific for it. At this point you will reach
a fork in the path, ignore the path ahead and make a left, then drop.
More dinosaur enemies ambush you when you drop, make sure your best friend the
Dabilahro is equipped. The path here leads into the Magma Lake. Beside you
is a button, press it by jumping straight up into the air and coming down on
it with a triangle button attack. When you hit this, some platforms rise up
out of the magma but they are only temporary so you are going to have to be
quick. Totally ignore those dinosaur monsters and jump onto the first
platform. As you can probably tell, the jump between the first and second
platforms is too far, fortunately there is a somewhat-hard-to-see rod sticking
out so that when you jump, you'll grab onto it and spin around until you let
go, and land safely on the other side. Jump across to reach safety, then on
your right be sure to examine the statue of Muramasa to access the shop.
When you've got everything you need, take a look to the right of the statue.
You'll see that aside from the main room, there seems to be some kind of
hidden magma path here leading into another room. To avoid damage simply run
and jump horizontally along the wall sticking out of the lava. Drop down and
take on the red lizards, then pick up the third IRON ORE on the ground here in
front of you. Beside the door where you came into this roo, there is another
one leading out and that's the one you want to use. You'll have to run
vertically up the wall to reach it. Proceed through the door and then look
immediately to your right. Take a step over the edge and drop down to find
another GOLDEN SCARAB [044]. In the middle of this room is an interesting
platform, reminiscent of Super Mario 64. Jump onto it and it tilts back and
forth depending on which side you are standing on. Stand on the far side and
turn around, above the door where you came into the room, wait until the
platform is at the highest point and run quickly to the end of it and jump,
you should be able to run up the wall a bit and hop into a secret room. Here
you will find more IRON ORE as well as a treasure chest filled to the brim
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Be careful when you open this
chest, this timearound it's filled to the brim with Ghost Fish. You'll
also want to be careful when you go around the next hall, up past the
tilting platform, there are tons of Ghost Fish in there as well.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
will all kinds of essence. Jump back down onto the tilting platform and wait
for it to get higher on the opposide side, then jump up there this time.
There are a ton of bats waiting for you here in this tunnel, wave after wave
of them but not an infinite number. Continue forward and you should come
across a large melting pot. Examine it a total of four times, assuming you
collected the four Iron Ores I mentioned, and it will drip and flow into the
Ice Cavern. Now all you have to worry about is getting back there again, so
drop down into the room with the tilting platform and go thorugh the door.
Keep going back to the Magma Lake and hit the button to the platforms rise up.
Cross this whole thing and backtrack to the entrance of the Magma Cavern
itself. Use the Dragon Statue to save your game just outside here and then
drop down again. Keep moving all the way until you get back to the Ruins, the
path is pretty linear. Examine the other stone structure to get the COG OF
VIGOOR. Also note the icicles have melted, so beside you is a Dragon Statue,
use it to save the game. Just past the Dragon Statue you'll find a GOLDEN
SCARAB [045] on the ground, pick it up and break through the ice at the end.
A miniboss battle occurs when you drop down here, against some kind of crazy
disgusting giant yeti monster. I find that this boss is one of the few in the
game where you can do almost as well without any strategy at all, it's a
pretty straightforward fight, dodge his attacks to avoid damage, and attack
him anywhere to cause it. I will however, of course outline the basic
strategy I like to use. My weapon of choice for this battle that I would
recommend, is the Dabilahro. Immediately when the battle begins, start
holding the Y button down. For whatever reason, it takes the boss a moment to
actually move at first, so you should have no problem charging your sword to
the second level and releasing before he's even moved, this should cause a
huge amount of damage right off the bat. Basically this is about the only
attack I use through the entire battle, the boss is extremely slow so you are
given plenty of time to charge, even if you don't even make it to the first
level of charge before you are forced to let go, it will still deal a lot of
damage. His attacks include stomping or punching with his arms, this can be
dodged by running to the side. The other primary attack causes ice to shoot
up from under you, running will avoid this easily. After doing the kind of
punch attack that he does, he'll rest for a few seconds and this makes a great
time to charge up the sword. If he follows up this by kind of jumping back
into position as opposed to executing another attack right away, you'll easily
have time to charge up to the second level again. Defeating this boss will
spawn an item in the middle of the room, pick it up to get the EYE OF ICE.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[HARD MODE TIPS] ========= MINIBOSS: YOTUNFRAU ========== [HARD MODE TIPS]
Similar to the challenge you may have faced already, you have to fight
this boss along with a few Cat Fiends. Begin the battle by eliminating
the Cat Fiends, and then you'll have a good amount of time to go after the
miniboss yourself. As I mentioned before he has a number of attacks, but
most shouldn't be too dangerous. As long as you are able to avoid his
arms when they swing around, and avoid the ice that comes up from the
ground during that one attack then you'll be fine. Since his attacks are
extremely slow, you've got time to charge up some powerful Ultimate
Techniques with the Dabilahro if you want, but there are better ways...
__________________________________________________________________________
~~ Unlaboured Flawlessness Strategy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Using the Unlaboured Flawlessness you can absolutely school this thing,
and I don't use that particular verb very often. Begin the battle the
same way, by killing off the two Cat Demons and then go after the boss
yourself. There are a couple of things you can do, first of all the X,
tap Y, X, X, X, X attack works extremely well, and will likely do at least
60-70% damage toward his total health if your health is low. I didn't use
this myself in battle, but I imagine since he moves so slowly, it may be
possible to get yourself down to low HP and then execute a second level
Ultimate Technique on the miniboss. I can only imagine how much damage
that would deal. If you need to take damage in this battle, let the cats
do it to you, or that ice attack the boss uses sometimes. If you let him
either punch or stomp on you, it'll probably deal a lot more damage that
you will want, and will make it difficult to get low health without dying.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Use the Eye of Ice to unlock this door and get out of here. You can wall kick
up to the top of this area, but you'll notice that along the way you pass a
chest. When you reach the top, hang over the middle ledge and drop down,
you'll be able to grab the ledge half way up and open the chest that you
missed which contains a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Get to the top again and then
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Rather than a Great Spirit Elixir,
you will finally find the scroll for The Art of Inazuma in this chest.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
you'll be able to drop down into a familiar area, backtrack to the Dragon
Statue beside the door leading to the Magma Cavern and save your game there.
Proceed through the Magma Cavern and head back to the ledge in the Magma Lake
where Muramasa's statue sits. The door not beside him, but beside that one
has an indentation in it which you can place the Cog of Viggor in to unlock
the door. Open the chest in front of you here to get yet another GREAT SPIRIT
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: No great Spirit Elixir for you
here, instead when you open it up you'll get a bunch of yellow essence.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ELIXIR. On your left you'll find another Dragon Statue which you can use to
save the game. Very slowly, walk up the hall from the Dragon Statue.
The reason I say to walk slowly is because there is a huge burst of fire in
the next hall which will seriously damage you if you get hit by it. Wait for
it to blast and then make a left and run quickly out of its path. Around the
next corner to the right you'll see another one at the end of the hall, and
there is a second one to the right when you reach the first fork. Wait for
the second one to shoot and then make a left at the fork to find a GOLDEN
SCARAB [046] on the ground here. This reminds me, turn around and go back to
Muramasa's Shop. Give him at least 45 Scarabs and you'll receive a JEWEL OF
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of the Jewel of the Demon
Seal for 50 Scarabs, you are rewarded with The Armlet of Fortune.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE DEMON SEAL [004]. Use it to maximize the level of The Art of the Inferno
is you haven't already done so. Now go back to where you found the most
recent scarab, perhaps save long the way, and wait for the statue ahead of you
to blast fire and then run to the end of the hall. Make a right and open the
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: No Great Devil Elixir for you in
here, the item has been replaced by an Elixir of Spiritual Life.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
treasure chest you find to get a GREAT DEVIL ELIXIR. When you're ready to
proceed, enter the next room and the door slams shut behind you.
You've faced off against one of them, two of them, but not one of them in a
fiery hell pit. Another of those huge worms pops out of this little hole and
its going to be even easier than all the others you've faced so far, by quite
a bit. Begin the battle by running and rolling into the upper left corner to
avoid the first attack. As usual, hold the Y button to charge up your attack,
but don't do it wil the Dragon Sword, use the Dabilahro. When you let loose a
second level charge attack on the worm after he swips down (and misses you
because you're in the corner) it will do damage equal to about 33% of his
health. Do this two more times, and that makes 99%, one more hit after that
will finish the battle entirely. Of course you don't have to wait for a
second level charge each time, you had might as well hit it with whatever you
have after just about every swipe. The only thing you have to watch out for
of course, is the projectile attack. The previous bosses shot a blast of
electricity, well this one shoots what seems to be a burning ring of fire
(RIP), that really isn't easy to dodge. Don't bother rolling, that doesn't
work well, just jump out of the way. Fortunately this attack is infrequent.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[HARD MODE TIPS] ========= MINIBOSS: FIRE WORM ========== [HARD MODE TIPS]
The Fire Worm is a dangerous creature, similar to the Electric Worm
however the main difference of course being the element of his attacks.
The Electric worm will launch balls of electricity while the Fire Worms
shoots rings of fire at Ryu, which are much harder to dodge. When you see
the worm pulling back to shoot one of these, you either have to jump and
roll well in advance or execute either a level one or level two Ultimate
Technique to avoid it. If I'm not mistaken you can actually dodge the
ring without moving at all if you're far enough back so that it goes all
around you, but I wouldn't rely on this too much, dodging works better.
The best way to attack this enemy is the exact same as the Electric Worm,
get to the upper left corner and whip out the Dabilahro. Charge u pa
level two Ultimate Technique and launch it either as the worm swings at
you, or use it for its temporary invulnerability when he shoots the fire
projectile. If your health is low then perhaps you might find the
Unlaboured Flawlessness to be preferable, but remember to stay out of the
magma, the worm doesn't need a special attack to make that area dangerous.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When this boss dies, an EYE OF FLAME will appear in its place. Continue
forward and you'll reach a new room with another of those buttons. Ignore the
button for now, drop down and take a look on your right for a chest containing
LIFE OF THE GODS [023]. Now here's what you need to do, go back and slam down
on that button with a weapon. Immediately jump across to the first stone
pillar and then up to the next platform, if you fall, just start over because
you don't have time for any mistakes. When you land on the ledge above, jump
again right away and grab the pole, swing around and jump to the next one,
then jump again. When you jump from the second pole, hold up on the analog
stick to run along the wall over the pit of fire and you'll barely make it
before the fire pillar shoots up again. This leads you back once again to the
Magma Lake. Go through the other door and save your game at the fire statue.
In the lake room again, hit the button so the platforms rise. Jump from the
first one across the pole to the next one, then go left. Jump from here
toward the path in the middle and run up it to land on top, alternatively you
can go back around and just head straight at the fork past the steam jets.
Jump from here to the door and collect the two piles of IRON ORE and IRON ORE
which really don't do anything as far as I can tell, feel free to let me know
otherwise. When you're ready, insert the eyes in the door and prepare for...
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- S M A U G A N --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| It's a boss battle! This one in particular, pits you against one hell of |
| a giant flaming magma dragon. To trigger the battle itself, walk up to |
| the glowing object in front of you and collect the DEVIL, DEITY OF |
| IMMORTALITY. A cutscene occurs and then the true battle begins. The |
| actual field of battle here is as interesting as the boss itself, you will |
| be fighting a boss who resides in a huge pit of fire, meaning that running |
| up to him really isn't an option at all. There are a couple ways in which |
| you can interact with your enviroment as well, using those buttons to |
| blast yourself higher and take advatage of the poor terrain. Before doing |
| any of this however, you'll want to know how to stay alive. |
| |
| Just a quick tip I'd like to make before I get into his attacks in case |
| you happen to start the battle first, in the same tradition as the yeti |
| monster you fought earlier, there is a period of vulnerability right at |
| the start of the battle. The dragon will lower his head down to your |
| level after a few seconds. For this reason, immediately as the battle |
| begins, equip the Dabilahro and hold down the Y button. You should be |
| able to charge the attack to the first, if not the second level before the |
| boss lowers his head down, when he does, release the button to execute an |
| extremely powerful attack. Don't stop now, right after doing that hold |
| the Y button again for a second or two and let go before the sword even |
| turns red, you can hit the boss' head as it goes up for even more damage, |
| doing upwards of 30% of his health before the battle even begins. |
| |
| With this out of the way, like I said, the battle will start and the boss |
| will begin using attacks. There are some things you can be doing right |
| away too, but I'll get into them after this. First of all one of the |
| boss' most common attacks it uses is to lower its head down and breathe |
| fire in a horizontal fashion from one side to the other, you can avoid |
| this attack simply by jumping over it in the opposite direction the fire |
| is moving. Secondly, and actually more commonly is an attack where he |
| keeps his head up high and simply launches a single fireball down at you |
| from above. You cannot block this attack at all, and for its frequency |
| it's surprisingly powerful, so just keep running in either direction. |
| |
| The third primary attack the boss uses down on this level, is the firewall |
| wing blast. He'll pull his wings back and shoot a wall of fire at you |
| which cannot be avoided by running or jumping. If you block this attack |
| with the L trigger, it will deal a surprisingly low amount of damage, but |
| even better than this, if you roll just before it hits you, it won't hit |
| you at all and can be completely avoided with good timing alone. |
| |
| Every once in awhile the boss will let out a mighty roar, and two of the |
| pieces of ground down here will shoot up into the air, if you're standing |
| on them you can jump off at the top and take on the dragon from this |
| raised position. If you don't feel like waiting around for him to roar, |
| just approach one of the buttons on the ground and land a Y button attack |
| on it like you would any other, this automatically sends the platform |
| launching up into the air. Fighting the boss up here changes this a bit. |
| |
| First of all he still has the horizontal fire breath attack, he still has |
| the wing firewall attack, but he no longer has the fireball shooting |
| attack. It seems to have been replaced with a much more powerful, but |
| less common attack where the dragon shoots his head forward and tries to |
| bite you in his mouth. I shouldn't say replaced since he can still do it |
| on the lower level, but it seems to be far more common of an occurrence |
| while fighting him up top. You can dodge this as long as you're moving, |
| but it can come as a surprise at times. If you do happen to be caught by |
| it, tapping the buttons really fast will avoid about half of the damage |
| you would take if you allowed yourself to remain in the mouth longer. |
| |
| Now to get back to actually fighting the dragon itself. While there are |
| many ways to do so, what I like to do at the very beginning is remain on |
| the ground, and equip the Strongbow with the APFSDS Cores. Aim upward and |
| fire them at the dragon's head, you'll notice that considering how fast |
| you can fire them, they deal a surprisingly large amount of damage to the |
| boss. If you have fifteen of these arrows fire all fifteen of them and |
| that will constitute a huge portion of his health. When I say huge |
| portion, if you began the battle with the jumping strike, and managed to |
| hit him with the majority of the arrows (without being killed yourself) |
| then we're looking at having the boss nearly 75% dead already, yikes. |
| |
| Whether any of this has worked for you so far, or you're just looking for |
| a good way to finsih him off, there is of course always the normal way of |
| fighting the boss. Get yourself onto one of the platforms which is |
| launched into the air, and get up to the higher battlefield. Continuing |
| the trend which seems to have been set by the majority of the level thus |
| far, my personal weapon of choice for this battle is the Dabilahro. When |
| you're up here with him, wait for the dragon to place his head close to |
| the edge and begin swinging it like mad with the X button combination for |
| massive damage. Considering the fact you should be able to roll out of |
| the way of those firewalls, roll out of the way of the bite-attempts, and |
| jump over the fire breath attack, we're seriously looking at a battle here |
| where with only a bit of practice, you can likely beat it without even |
| needing to heal a single time. I'm not exaggerating either, despite his |
| size, if you play this battle right, it's one of the easiest there is. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- S M A U G A N --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| What's the difference between the battle on normal and the battle on hard? |
| Not much, that's the answer. You've got a few zombie archers at the side |
| of the ring who are going to be firing a continuous stream of arrows in |
| your direction, however the inevitable rolling and dodging you'll be doing |
| to get away from the dragon's attacks should also be more than enough to |
| keep you a good distance from the arrows as well. You are free to run to |
| the sides and kill the archers of course. It may be a good idea since not |
| only will it get them out of the way, but they almost always drop blue |
| essence when they die. After that, whip out your favourite weapon. |
| |
| He's still got the same old habits, after attacking for a bit the dragon |
| will lower its head down and allow you to slash it repeatedly. The upper |
| section of the level is still the preferable battlefield, since the dragon |
| cannot use the fireball attack. There is a second benefit now, archers |
| from down at the bottom have more of a problem hitting you from below, |
| than they do when trying to hit you from above. Dodge the dragon's |
| attacks as I describe in the normal strategy, and basically do everything |
| the same way you would on any difficulty. The stategy outlined below is |
| extremely good however, if you've got the Unlaboured Flawlessness, use it! |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
| ~~ Unlaboured Flawlessness Strategy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |
| You are seriously going to totally kick the shit out of this boss with |
| this weapon, and here is exactly how to do it. It all starts when you |
| enter the room and before you even pick up the Devil, Deity of Immortaily. |
| Jump into the magma here and wait as your life slowly drains down into the |
| red section. Once your health is red, and the Unlaboured Flawlessness is |
| powered up, then pick up the statue. A cutscene begins and the dragon |
| pops out of the magma. Hold down the Y button, and while holding it press |
| start. When the battle begins you'll already be charging an Ultimate |
| Technique. The dragon will put his head down in front of you every time |
| at about the same time you hit the first level Ultimate Technique. Keep |
| charging until you hit the second level and let loose, it will hit every |
| single time and literally do mroe than 50% of his total life in damage to |
| the boss. The battle has only been going for mere seconds and he's |
| already over half dead. Even if you don't want to use this weapon for the |
| entire battle, you have a foolproof way to lower his health immensely, and |
| all it takes is a few ELixirs of Spiritual Life to heal back up. |
| |
| For those who don't wish to heal however, it may get a little difficult |
| here, and it may not. After doing this, a lot of the time the dragon will |
| still have his head down a little bit (not all the way.) Use the X, tap |
| Y, X, X, X attack and you can seriously end the entire battle in less than |
| ten seconds if circumstances permit. Sometimes they do not however and |
| you have to be ready. All it's going to take is one more head-lowering |
| from this boss and you can kill him with just about any combination from |
| the Unlaboured Flawlessness. The problem comes in trying to stay alive |
| during this time. Keep rolling over and over again to dodge the fireball |
| attack, you'll also be dodging arrows. While blcoking you can eliminate |
| almost all of the damage from the firewall attack, as well as block the |
| arrows. I say to block the firewall attack for two reasons, one because |
| dodging is difficult and if it hits you, you'll die. Second because |
| taking a little bit of damage shouldn't be enough to kill you if you're |
| only in the red, and it doesn't matter how much damage you take when |
| you're equipped with this weapon, you're trying to keep low health anyway. |
| |
| Lastly you can easily jump over the fire breath attack. Just do whatever |
| you can to stay alive, but keep your health low. If all goes well then |
| the dragon should lower its head soon enough, and you can go in with one |
| or two X, X, Y button attacks to finish off the boss quickly, for good. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the battle it's not 100% over, sure the fighting is done, but the danger
of that magma still remains, and don't underestimate it. I have seriously
died when trying to jump onto the dragon's corpse, and missed, landing in the
magma. Aim your movement carefully and run up his neck to the shiny thing in
his back, a LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [010]. Go through the door on the
other side and take a few steps forward to bring an end to the chapter.
______________________________________________________________________________
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE FIENDISH AWAKENING [CHAPTER 13] ------------------------- 01.13 --+
Proceed down the hall and examine the corpse of the dead ninja along the way,
in his hands you will find a COMPLETE MAP OF THE VIGOORIAN UNDERGROUND. He is
also holding SAN'S DIARY, you'll want to take a look at that as well. Take
off the Dibilahro for the first time in a while and enter the room with the
Dragon Statue, use it to save your game. In this room you should be attacked
by quite a few of those weird stinger monster bugs. Ignore them for the
moment and open the chest behind the save point to get another LIFE OF THE
GODS [026]. You can run up the walls toward the top if you want, but first...
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: This challenge is absolutely no
different than the one on normal mode. Equip The Art of Inazuma and just
wait by the save point down at the bottom. When they come down, use the
spell and colelct the essence. You should get enough red essence from
this to keep it going until the challenge is over. If you do it up top
you can do it faster, but it's much more difficult to collect the essence.
The chest at the top has your reward inside, The Talisman of Rebirth.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It just so happens that this is another of the game's numerous Sixty Fiends
Challenges. What you are going to want to do here, is use The Art of Inazuma
spell over and over again, not immediately one after the other, but use it
once to absolutely obliterate all the enemies in the area, and then a second
time when a bunch more respawn up top and descend down upon you. Repeat this
process about five or six more times and at the end of it all, you should have
easily cleared out at least sixty of those damn things. A treasure chest
appears up at the top of the room and you might be wondering how to get it,
the answer is in fact quite obvious. Begin running horizontally along one of
the walls and then jump to the next, over and over again and eventually you'll
reach the very top of this area. There is a corpse here with an infinite
supply of arrows, as well as a chest if you managed to kill all the enemies.
Open the chest and you will get another copy of THE TALISMAN OF REBIRTH.
Go thorugh the door beside the treasure chest and you should find yourself in
a familiar place, you're in the area just below the Aquaducts again. I'm sure
you generally remember you're way out of here, use another Art of Inazuma
spell to take out all those weird bugs in the first room here, and then
backtrack toward the pit leading up to the Aquaducts again, along the way you
will be stopped as a cutscene automatically triggers. Wall kick back up to
the Aquaducts again and go through the door. Basically what you're trying to
do here is get out of the Aquaducts, climb back up to the first floor and take
that ladder up and out of the sewer to reach the city of Tairon again.
THe gates which prevented you from going anywhere in chapter ten have been
lowered now, be careful because those enemies you faced in the city in the
previous chapter, are still here populating all of the streets. Basically at
the moment you are trying to get back to the drawbridge again, so head in the
direction of that Dragon Statue in the little alcove and save your game.
After doing that head off down the road in the direction of the bridge. Push
the lever and it will lower the bridge for you, across it you have to battle
three of a new type of enemy, and I think you'll like this battle.
The reason I say you'll like it so much, is because it's painfully easy and
yields geat rewards. Here's what you want to do, equip the Dabilahro and get
a safe distance from the enemies. Their attacks are reasonably short ranged
and they are just so damn slow you have plenty of time. Hold the Y button and
begin charging a charge up attack, charge up twice and then release, you
should hit at least two if not three of them. Rinse and repeat, it actually
takes a good three or four doubly charged up Dabilahro hits to kill these
things, they have a hell of a lot of health. Now here's the great part, every
one of them you kill with a doubly charged up attack drops 7000 yellow
essence, so that's 21,000 essence just for the three of them. Not only that,
killing all three of them will make a shiny item appear in the middle, which
turns out to be THE TALISMAN OF REBIRTH. With those enemies killed and out of
the way, go through the door beside the one with the blue orbs.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Rather than the weird new enemies,
it's just the plain old Ogres to fight in this area. When you kill all
three of them which isn't too hard, you still get The Talisman of Rebirth.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Down at the bottom here is antoher Dragon Statue, save your game and proceed
through the door with the red orbs. Now you're back in the Clock Tower Plaza
again, feel free to visit Muramasa's Shop if you like, but your real goal is
to go through the door with the yellow orbs on it. Follow the path here
along, up the stairs and then just keep going up, past the skull door, thorugh
the Military Gate area and you'll wind up back in the Twin Serpents Plaza.
Examine the pedestal beside the statue in the middle and insert all three
pieces of the Stone Tablet. After a scene you will find yourself once again
in the Hayabusa Ninja Village. Make your way up the path, and on your left, up
the hill is of course the very first cracked wall in the game. Smash it down
using one of your heavy weapons and behind it you will find a JEWEL OF THE
DEMON SEAL [005]. Half way down the hill in the village is the area where you
turn left and jump up through the window, do that now to reach the small hut.
Exit this structure after doing whatever shopping you needed to do, and then
when you get outside, follow the path up past where you originally fought the
enemies on horseback, to reach the Dragon Statue. Save your game and then
proceed up into the Graveyard to trigger another cutscene. Here, on the
tombstone is where you will find the upgrade to your main weapon, and acquire
the TRUE DRAGON SWORD. It is now technically level four, although it will not
show it. Take a look at the techniques menu to see that you are now capable
of performing every single one of them. Now you can keep moving through the
Graveyard toward the other warp portal. Step onto it and press the X button
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[HARD MODE TIPS] ======== MINIBOSS: EVIL RYU III ======== [HARD MODE TIPS]
These battles don't actually change all that much, the only real element
that differs is of course, the weapon which he is holding, and in this
case it's the Vigoorian Flail. It will be quite different than the one
you fought in chapter ten, unlike the clunky and slow Dabilahro, Evil Ryu
III can strike with lightning speed using both the Flail and the
projectile he has at his disposal. Most of the attacks that the Flail
uses aren't actually that strong, but they're likely going to catch you in
a combination of attacks, that add up to the point where you can actually
go from full life, to near death in a single string of multiple attacks.
When it comes to actually killing Evil Ryu III, I would recommend the True
Dragon Sword. It's difficult to get close to him without risking
yourself, but if you can manage to get off an Izuna Drop then that always
helps, and don't foret how effective the Flying Swallow technique can be
when fighting him. Have The Art of Inferno ready in case Evil Ryu III
uses any magic, and basically stick with whatever tactic you used to
defeat the first two clones. It's pretty much the same battle once again.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~ Unlaboured Flawlessness Strategy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is where things get really easy, and I mean really easy. Follow this
strategy exactly and you will be virtually invincible. It all starts
ideally in the city, before you take the teleporters, you are free to go
back there from the save point if you wish. Since there are no enemies
between the city, and the save point in the Hyabusa Village, you can allow
yourself to be attacked in the city until your health is low, and then
make your way all the way back to the save point in the Hyabusa ninja
village. If I were you I would go up and watch the True Dragon Sword
scene then save again so you don't have to watch it every time you load.
Going back isn't necessary of course if you already have low health, or
are willing to let Evil Ryu III hit you, and hope it won't be enough to
get killed. We'll start basically, assuming that you are in the battle,
and that your health is low, and the Unlaboured Flawlessness is equipped.
It is as simple as this, and I do not exaggerate. Jump toward a wall and
run up it vertically, then backflip off. Hit the Y button in the air to
come down with the Unlaboured Flawlessness on his head for approzimately
45% of his total health in damage. If you hit him he'll be temporarily
stunned, if you miss you should have time to roll out of the way, and run
up another wall to try again. After you hit him once, immediately run up
another wall and try again, I'd say you'll end up hitting him one out of
every three attempts, if not more. After hitting him twice, his health
will be so low you can just attack nromally for the kill, or just run up
the wall again if you want to stick on the safe and familiar side. It's
honestly this easy, wall kick and attack, he'll be dead before you know.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
to warp to an area with nothing besides another warp portal. If you're
playing the hard diffiulty mode however, you'll find four treasure chests here
after you beat the miniboss, check the note below for more info. Step on the
other portal to be teleported. Head through the door in front of you to
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Before you open any of these
chests you should first and foremost, take the warp portal back to the
village and save your game. Now come back here to the two warp portals
where you fought Evil Ryu III and note there are four treasure chests that
were not here on the normal difficulty. Two of them contain two hard
exclusive Life of the Gods. The other two contains an overflowing supply
of Ghost FIsh ready to rip your throat out. In case you don't want to
risk being attacked by Ghost Fish, I'll do my best to explain which chests
to open and which not to. Let's assume you just teleported from the
Hyabusa Ninja Village, and you are now staring staight ahead at the warp
portal up the stairs. The chest on your immediate left contains the LIFE
OF THE GODS [041]. The chest up the stairs, and to the right of the other
portal contains the LIFE OF THE GODS [042]. The others have Ghost Fish.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
arrive in the Magma Cavern. This is a very good place to save your game,
enter the Magma Cavern but don't take the warp portal. Instead go through the
door and use the save point in the Ice Cavern. Now go back and take the warp
portal here, the last one, and you'll arrive in a new area with the boss.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- A W A K E N E D A L M A --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Everyone has their own opinions about things, in I my own personal opinion |
| this is the hardest boss in the game you've fought so far. Don't get me |
| wrong, I'm going to give you a strategy that will work (at least on the |
| normal difficulty) and allow you to beat this boss quite easily without |
| being hit even once, but regardless that doesn't change the fact that she |
| is so frustratingly powerful and nearly impossible to hit using so many |
| tried and true tactics that work on other enemies. I literally tried this |
| boss battle over thirty times defeating the boss only the second try, but |
| using every subsequent one to try and come up with the perfect strategy |
| and it never came. Using a few healing potions and spamming the Flying |
| Swallow technique I was able to eventually hammer down the boss' health |
| without too much difficulty, but there were just so many nearly |
| unavoidable hits that I hestate to make any recommendations based on that. |
| Personally I consider "taking the True Dragon Sword and going at her like |
| crazy with it" to be a perfectly viable and useful tactic for this battle, |
| but I can't just say that and be on your way, I've got to try and come up |
| with something that will minimize if not eliminate damage you take, and |
| this tactic just doesn't cut it. As I mentioned before, I will outline |
| the final method I used to kill her without being hit once, but it still |
| uses far more magic that I would have hoped. The last two paragraphs |
| outline the best strategy I could come up with, you're free to skip down |
| there if you like but you'd miss out on tips to keep you alive through it. |
| |
| Before getting into how to kill the boss of course, it is very important |
| to understand the flow of battle and what to do when, so yo can move |
| quickly and get right to work. So many of her attacks are difficult to |
| dodge and inflict maximum damage, it's part of the reason I chose such an |
| offensive tactic, because the longer you stay in this battle it seems, the |
| less likely you are to survive. Starting with her ranged attacks we have |
| a couple similar to the earlier form, including the four purple orbs she |
| crates and then launches at you. This is one of the hardest attacks to |
| dodge that she has, running will guarantee a hit, jumping once will |
| virtually guarantee a hit when you land. There are two methods which both |
| seem to be somewhat effective, the first is jumping once, then again when |
| you land, the other is rolling out of the way of the first one or two, |
| then jumping for the last two. The latter seems to work a bit better if |
| you can get the hang of it. For whatever you use, it's extremely |
| important to note that the further away you are, and the more |
| perpendicular you are running to the attack, the easier it is to dodge. |
| When you get closer it becomes next to impossible to dodge that one. |
| |
| She also has another purple projectile, but this is just one, and quite a |
| bit bigger than the four of them. It can be dodged much easier, just make |
| sure you jump to the side as it is coming at you, rather than before it is |
| shot or you'll be hit as you fly thorugh the air. There is some very |
| serious damage associated with this one, get out of the way as fast as |
| possible. The last of the ranged attacks is another familiar one, she |
| will throw two stone pillars at you. Dodging these is about as easy as |
| the previously mentioned attack, jump once to avoid the first one and roll |
| immediately as you hit the ground, you'll almost surely dodge the second. |
| |
| When you get closer you had better be ready for the worst attack in the |
| history of the universe, this is a throw which is more powerful than any |
| other attack by any enemy in the game so far, can grab you from a larger |
| distance than any other throw and she does it over and over again, in |
| conjunction with other attacks as well. The instant you see her tail |
| swiping back in the air, she is about to grab you. Listen to these words |
| and listen well, do not try to jump out of the way of this attack in any |
| direction, especially not jumping away from the boss, she will nab you |
| every single time. When you roll, even rolling under her it will not grab |
| you and you'll be safe for the time being. If there's anything you take |
| away from this entire boss strategy, it's to roll to avoid this, not jump! |
| |
| Not only does she have all of these attacks in the normal state, she can |
| drop down to the ground and begin using all sorts of new attacks. When |
| she is on the ground and you're close, she will often do the one arm |
| swipe, other arm swipe, followed by jumping into the air and doing her |
| grab attack. If this happens you can kiss your entire enormous health bar |
| goodbye. When she's on the ground and you're far away, she will charge at |
| you and kind of do a body check, you'll take damage if you so much as |
| touch her at this point. I highly recommend you try to dodge this by |
| running and not jumping, I find trying to jump out of the way only makes |
| her change direction and charge at you in the air. If she hits you she |
| will just keep charging and charging pretty much until you die, or you |
| finally manage to dodge one of them. By this point you should have a |
| basic idea how to avoid just about anything she throws at you, even after |
| thirty tries I still get hit by those damn four orbs at least one in every |
| three times she uses it. It takes a lot of practice to avoid them all. |
| |
| Before going into the main strategy I'll outline three other strategies |
| that "kind of worked" but not particularaly well. If you can take ideas |
| and perhaps mold them into a better strategy, then that is why I suggest |
| them to you now. The first is the basic Flying Swallow tactic with the |
| True Dragon Sword. Her defenses are extremely good, meaning that if you |
| just use this over and over you will rarely hit her. Not only that, |
| randomly as you bounce off she will catch you in the air before you even |
| land and perform her devastating throws. This is the number one reason |
| why the tactic doesn't work. When it actually does connect, it knocks her |
| out of the air and gives you a chance to attack for good damage, but there |
| just seems to be too much randomness involved to make it really viable. |
| |
| The second idea which actually worked surprisingly well at first was, get |
| ready for this, the Spear Gun! I ran up to her and fired a shot, she |
| cannot block it under any circumstance. When she gte shit she will |
| automaticlly spin around once to try and move out of the way. At this |
| point you can fire again, she'll get hit, spin, fire again, hit, spin etc |
| and this goes on and on. Sure the damage is miniscule but I thought I had |
| found a foolproof method, until she inevitably spin far enough away to |
| dodge and then at that point it became extremely difficult to restablish |
| the pattern. I did manage to do it, but it was difficult. Interesting |
| tactic that sort of works, but extremely extremely impractical. |
| |
| The final method which sort of worked, but not too well was the kamikaze |
| method. Doing this will guarantee both big damage to her, and big damage |
| to you. Equip the True Dragon Sword and start dodging attacks like mad. |
| Eventually when she drops to the ground you should be as far away as |
| possible. When she charges at you, spin the analog stick 360 degrees and |
| hold the Y button. You need to time it so that you charge almost to the |
| first level or charge, but not quite. If you reach the first level it |
| will not work. Release the instant before she hits you and Ryu will spin |
| around, doing massive damage to the boss, along with taking massive damage |
| from the bodycheck himself. For whatever reason, if you reach the first |
| level of charge she will block it virtually every time, but if you don't |
| quite charge that long it seems to actually hit her virtually every time. |
| I don't understand it, you can try it yourself, but you really end up |
| taking quite a bit of damage trying to win like this, not recommended. |
| |
| Finally we get into the actual stategy I used for this boss that worked |
| extremely well, killing her very quickly and minimizing the damage to Ryu. |
| I can't imagine it would work too well in the harder difficulties, but you |
| never know. Basically what you are are going to need is the True Dragon |
| Sword, the Art of Inferno spell leveled up as high as possible, and a |
| couple of Great Devil Elixirs. When the battle begins, run right up to |
| the boss and get as close as possible. You want to wait until she starts |
| to use an attack, so if she begins to summon the purple orbs, or moves her |
| tail to grab, then the timing is correct. Remember at this point you want |
| to be so close, that standing directly below her is ideal. Hit the Y and |
| B buttons simultaneously with The Art of Inferno equipped and assuming you |
| are close enough, she will be hit by the fiery aura that surrounds you and |
| knocked to the ground. The timing with the magic spell, and her lying on |
| the ground is perfect so that you are guaranteed to launch the fireball |
| and hit her as she is lying on the ground. The damage from this is |
| nothing special, but it is something, especially when used over and over. |
| |
| And so you get the basic idea, with The Art of Inferno, you knock her out |
| of the air by using it while standing directly below her, then blast the |
| fireball as she is down. Here's where it gets interesting however. When |
| she gets up I would recommend allowing her to reset herself since she |
| moves fast here, and then trying again, as opposed to trying to knock her |
| down the instant she gets up which doesn't work too well. The next |
| important thing happens if you use the spell, but she avoids being knocked |
| down by the aura. This isn't bad at all, in fact it hopefully will happen |
| a couple of times. Now you will blast the fireball at her in the air. |
| Unlike while on the ground, she can both dodge and block the attack, but |
| there is also a somewhat (one in three or so) chance that it will hit her |
| and knock her down. Since she is on the ground and you have already cast |
| the spell, it's your best opportunity you have. Run up to her and press |
| the X button, then jam the Y button for about one second, and tap the Y |
| button twice (this is with the True Dragon Sword of course). The |
| combination here will end with you jumping into the air, right as you come |
| down hit the Y and B buttons to burn her as she is getting up, you should |
| have more time than normal so you can knock her down, blast her again |
| right after this combination. It all sounds so crazy, but I've done it |
| numerous times and it will in the end, deal nearly 40% off of her total |
| health. While casting these spells you are completely invincible which is |
| why this tactic works so well, you avoid the dangerous attacks |
| automatically most of the time. Be ready with a couple Great Devil |
| Elixirs (I only needed one whenever I did this) and soon enough, after a |
| heated battle, you will strike the killing blow, and trigger a cutscene. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- A W A K E N E D A L M A --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Awakened Alma is difficult on any difficulty but on hard, she becomes even |
| more of an obstacle. I don't think any other boss really compares to the |
| difficulty of this fight, but I guess that really depends on the player. |
| For the hard strategy I'll kind of outline a new strategy I started using |
| against her on this difficulty which is different than the one I described |
| for normal, but could probably be used on any difficulty. It involves The |
| Art of Inazuma rather than The Art of Inferno, and the True Dragon Sword. |
| |
| The two Super Claw Demons she has with her can get real obnoxious real |
| fast, so you're going to have to deal with them quickly. The problem is |
| that Awakened Alma has so many strong projectile attacks, that almost no |
| combination is fast enough to kill them safely. Here's the soltuion, and |
| it actually comes naturally from the strategy described below. |
| |
| Begin the battle by jumping forward, waiting a second or so for the |
| enemies to spawn, and then cast The Art of Inazuma. I'll paint a quick |
| picture of the ideal situation. When you cast the spell you are close to |
| the boss, but not so close that she is knocked out of the air by the aura |
| which surrounds you. You want to try and knock her out of the air with |
| the spell itself, but be close enough to her so that you can move in while |
| she's on the ground. If all goes well you'll have time to at least get |
| part of a Y, hold Y, Y, Y, Y combination off before she goes back up. |
| |
| That's just one small part of the strategy that you only use when the |
| enemies spawn. You should have about four Ki slots or so, and that should |
| be enough to take out all of the Super Claw Demons which spawn (this |
| doesn't count any Talismans of Rebirth you may use, that fully restore |
| your Ki.) The real meat and potatoes of this strategy comes from the |
| Gleaming Blade. The Gleaming Blade is performed as follows. Spin the |
| analog stick 360 degrees and hold the Y button. Don't tap it so you use |
| the attack right away, but don't hold it so long that you perform an |
| Ultimate technique, any length of time in between will suffice just fine. |
| |
| Now that you know how to use this move, you must learn when you use it. |
| What you want to do during this battle is spend as much time as possible, |
| as far away from Awakened Alma as possible. When you spend a lot of time |
| far away from her, she will eventually lower herself to the ground, and |
| charge at you. When she begisn to charge spin the analog stick and hold |
| Y, then let go just before she reaches you (better to let go early than to |
| let go late, since being hit will interrupt your attack.) If your timing |
| is good then this attack is unblockable and does quite a bit of damage |
| (15% or so of her total health.) The problem however is that 90% of the |
| time, you will also be hit during this attack, for about as mcuh damage as |
| a single Elixir of Spiritual Life heals. This boss strategy is somewhat |
| on the "kamikaze" side, but from what I can tell it's far and away one of |
| the best ways to damage her, and there are a few perks with it to help: |
| |
| First of all, any damage you do after The Art of Inazama while she's on |
| the ground, won't result in damage to you, so that's all a bonus. |
| Secondly, after she charges and you use the Gleaming Blade, you can |
| sometimes follow with a Y, hold Y, Y, Y, Y attack when you hit the ground |
| for a whole mass of extra damage. It does in fact leave you wide open for |
| being hit (or worse yet grabbed) but for the most part, she doesn't block |
| this either and it does a hell of a lot of damage. In this battle, the |
| multi-purple orb attack will inflict the majority of the damage you take |
| unless you suck at dodging stone pillars, so learn to roll out of the way |
| and jump as best you can and your results will improve. Regarding the |
| stone pillars by the way, the roll, jump, roll, jump technique works well. |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
| ~~ Unlaboured Flawlessness Strategy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |
| Believe it or not, as far as I can tell from my experiences from the boss, |
| there isn't one, you're going to have to wing this on your own. For some |
| reason, even with low health it never seems to do that much damage, and |
| don't even get me started on how difficult it is to last more than a few |
| seconds in this battle with low health. The best thing to do is learn one |
| of the normal or hard strategies well, and see if you can modify it to |
| something that works for you. If you can find a way to use this weapon |
| effectively in the battle then by all means please feel free to go for it. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This doesn't quite mark the end of the chapter, you'll need a heavy weapon
equipped in order to smash the cracked staircase and reveal a path forward.
When you reach five doors, take the second one on your left and examine the
corpse of the dead ninja to find the MAP OF THE PYRAMID. Go through the door
on your left and open the treasure chest to get a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Leave
the room and descend the stairs out here. Take a look left at the bottom and
you can see flames in the mirro, but not on the equivalent torches on your
side. Use Explosive Arrows, or if you don't have them, then fire magic to
light the torches and a JEWEL OF THE DEMON SEAL [006] will appear.
Return to the room with the treasure chest and examine the blue thing to get
the TABLET OF WATER. Place it in the slot beside the one you took it from and
it will spawn a ton of those weird bug monsters you fought back in the
Aquaducts. Kill all of them and then head through the door that opened up in
this room. Now take the second door on the right in this area, the one
already open for you. Follow the path down at the end and save your game
using the Dragon Statue. Head back up the small stairs and enter the room,
open the chest in the corner to get a LIFE OF THE GODS [026]. Take the TABLET
OF FLAME off the wall and go across to the room where you found the Tablet of
Water and place it in the other slot. Another whole group of bugs will appear
here, take them out using whatever weapon, or ideally The Art of Inazuma.
Return to the previous room and collect the TABLET OF LEAVES. A door will
open behind you leading to a room where you can collect the SERPENT, DEITY OF
CREATION. Turn around and place the Tablet of Leaves in the slot beside the
one where you took it from, after a scene the chapter comes to a close.
______________________________________________________________________________
__ __)
(, ) /
| /
|/
+-- | ENGEFUL SPIRIT [CHAPTER 14] ---------------------------------- 01.14 --+
Leave this room and save your game at the Dragon Statue at the bottom of the
stairs. Return to the entrance hall of the pyramid and go through the door
with the blue circle on it. Make your way through this area and when you
reach the bottom there is a quick scene. Run in the opposite direction of the
gate and there through the door you'll find another Dragon Statue as well as a
treasure chest with a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR inside of it. There is also a
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Instead of a Great Spirit Elixir,
this chest now contains a whole pile of yellow essence. Follow the
hallway down to the warp portal. In the Fiend Realm here, you no longer
have to fight Super Claw Demons, instead you face off against those weird
Golems with the plasma sabers. Use the Dabilahro to kill them off most
efficiently, also the True Dragon Sword works quite well too.
______________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
statue of Muramasa nearby here, you can make any purchases you want and then
continue down the hall to the end. When you're ready to proceed, step onto
the warp protal and prepare yourself for another scene and battle.
This is the Fiend Realm, somewhere not surprisingly, occupied by many fiends.
Kill all of the Super Claw Demons which attack you here and then open the
treasure chest to acquire the GRIFFON KEY. The warp portal has reappeared so
head back through it and save your game again at the Dragon Statue. Leave
this area and examine the gate, you can open it using the Griffon Key. Make
your way up the stairs and as you approach the door you'll be introduced to a
new type of enemy, the Ghost Fish. Read the Kunai Scroll which gets thrown
here and tells you to harness the fury of your Flail to destroy them, for once
this is extremely good advice. Equip the Vigoorian Flail and enter the area,
you should be able to absolutely destroy the them simply with the X button
combination. Make a left at the first fork and open the treasure chest to
find a LIFE OF THE GODS [027], if you're playing the normal difficulty this
will be the last one you find and should allow you to extend once more now.
Return to the fork and go straight this time, up the stairs there will be a
scene in one direction, don't go that way, instead turn around and jump up.
Make a left at the top and in front of you should be a chest with a GREAT
DEVIL ELIXIR inside of it. Go in the opposite direction and examine the body
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: No Great Devil Elixir to be found
in this chest, instead it's another hard exclusive LIFE OF THE GODS [043].
______________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
of the dead ninja to find GEN'S DIARY. Return to where you saw the scene (or
possibly haven't seen it yet, in which case it will trigger if you try going
in the only direction you haven't gone yet). Follow that path and down to the
bottom and prepare for yet another new enemy, some large hulking omnster with
crab clays amongst more Ghost Fish, you'll find half the ocean here in front
of you. Use the Vigoorian Flail along with some powerful Y button attacks to
kill the fish and new enemy simultaneously if at all possible.
Keep moving forward along the path and open the chest at the end to get a huge
amount of essence and such. Run up the wall vertically and you can climb up,
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: No "essence and such" to be found
in this chest, there's another hard exclusive LIFE OF THE GODS [044].
______________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
at the top you'll find a chest with a KEY OF THE LION inside. On the opposite
side there is a door leading back in the opposite direction, except on the
upper level. Follow it and it basically takes you back to the door where you
saw Doku's ghost, use the key to unlock the door and proceed through it. Make
a left and run to the end, it will lead to a very conspicuous GOLDEN SCARAB
[048]. Take the path on the right this time and follow it until it opens up
and branches to many. Jump up the stairs on your right, and if you're playing
Ninja Gaiden Black you can use the Dragon Statue here to save your game (this
particular statue does not appear in the original if I remember correctly.)
Head left of the statue, or lack thereof and open the chest behind the wall to
get another GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Jump down the stairs and make an immediate
right, follow the relatively thin path here and get ready to take on another
huge group of Ghost Fish. I find that The Art of Inazuma is extremely
effective against them, if they are leeching your health it doesn't seem to be
too difficult to just use it right there to not only kill them all, but
protect yourself too. At the end of this path you'll reach a fork, go left
and then make another immediate left to find GOLDEN SCARAB [049]. Only one
more remains to be found! Drop over the little edge here and turn left to
continue in the same direction, you'll reach antoher fork after a few steps.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: In the following section, you will
actually find the Ket of the Lioness in the chest down the first path,
down the second path filled with Ghost Fish, when you open the chest at
the end you are swarmed by even more Ghost Fish. Just avoid it entirely.
______________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Head down the first path and open the chest at the end to get a GREAT SPIRIT
ELIXIR. Head back and take the other path, be ready to endure a swarm of
ghost fish, and then open the chest at the end to get the KEY OF THE LIONESS.
Head all the way back to the stairs leaidng up to the save point in Ninja
Gaiden Black. You're about to fight a boss so if you want to save the game
in the original, you're going to have to go back to the other Dragon Statue
and use that. When you're ready return here and head down to the big open
area, you'll have to fight more Ghost Fish and a crab monster, but once
they're taken care of you can use the Key of the Lioness to unlock the door.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- G H O S T D O K U --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| This will mark the second time you have faced off against Doku, however |
| this round promises to bng a few new surprises, for one thing, he no |
| longer has physical form. That doesn't really stop Ryu's weapons from |
| cutting a few new orifaces into him, but it does allow him to move a lot |
| more freely and increases his striking range. I'll describe a couple of |
| different tactics for this battle because it's going to differ greatly |
| depending on whether you're playing the oriignal game, or Ninja Gaiden |
| Black (the original game with the Hurricane Pack falls under the Ninja |
| Gaiden Black tactic for this particular fight.) Before we get into either |
| of the offensive attacks, you hsould know what to expect from him. |
| |
| Doku has in his arsenel most of the same moves as he had before, except |
| with a few new surprises and a lot more power. The sword toss is still |
| there, but you can no longer avoid is simply by circling around him, it's |
| going to hit you every single time. To avoid it now, since the sword is |
| so long, you actually have to jump over it as it flies at you. Jump to |
| the side instead ofrunning to the side and you'll avoid it fairly easily. |
| |
| One new attacks he has in particular is about the most harmless you'll |
| come across in this battle. He has the ability to detach his arm and |
| throw it at you, this is actually an unblockable long distance grab |
| attack, if it grabs hold of you it will pull you in and he's going to chop |
| you up good. First of all the arm moves so slowly that you'll be able to |
| dodge it with ease. Second of all, even on the off chance it grabs you, |
| simply mash the buttons on the controller to jump out of it before it |
| pulls you in. Keep this in mind and you'll never be hit by it. |
| |
| Most of his other moves are the same, especially his close range ones. He |
| has the ability to charge up and lunge at you like before, but this is no |
| longer the primary way of hitting him, in fact from what I can tell it |
| really isn't a good opportunity at all, just dodge it. When he gets close |
| he tends to try and use one of his sword combinations, including that |
| eight slash combination like he had before. Being hit by this, will |
| without a doubt kill you in a single combo even with maximum health on the |
| normal difficulty. This may sound extremely bad but you can usually |
| manage to block a couple of them, or jump out of the way of most. |
| |
| He's stil got the grab where he lifts you up and stabs you, syphoning your |
| health and healing him. When this happens pound on the controller as well |
| and you can usually prevent almost 100% of the healing process, but you'll |
| still inevitably take a lot of damage. Lastly he has this one attack, |
| which I consider to be the worst, where he moves quickly toward you as if |
| he's going to start the long combination, but instead he does kind of an |
| uppercut swing. Jumping out of the way almost always results it being hit |
| by this powerful slash, so I would recommend either rolling or running, |
| but it's really hard to discern most of the time which one he's going to |
| use, so just do what you can and perhaps you'll find something that works. |
| |
| As for the attack strategies we'll begin with the original Ninja Gaiden |
| because the boss was so easy in that game. With the True Dragon Sword you |
| could just use the Flying Swallow attack over and over and believe it or |
| not, he wouldn't really block it at all. Sword combinations could juggle |
| him around and basically the boss was your bitch. When the Hurricane Pack |
| (and subsequently, Ninja Gaiden Black) came out, they changed it so that |
| these cheap tricks wouldn't work so well, and that of course left me with |
| the task of trying to find something that eventually would work, because |
| this simple boss quickly became a super defensive killing machine. |
| |
| After a few tries I did manage to come up with something for the Ninja |
| Gaiden Black and hurricane Pack players however and I think it worked out |
| quite well. First of all, go into the battle with the following setup: |
| Lunar staff equipped, The Art of Inferno magic equipped and full Ki slots |
| for magic use. Here's how it's going to go down: when the battle begins |
| immediately run up to the boss, holding the analog stick toward him and |
| jam the Y button, analog stick plus Y button combination leads to a very |
| strong, and very flippy attack that not only does a lot of damage, but |
| Ghost Doku has trouble blocking it a lot of the time (he will still block |
| or dodge it now and then.) Here's the catch however, when you land from |
| this devastating attack there is a somewhat lengthy recovery time where he |
| has the ability to totally waste you, and that's where the revised method |
| came in. Basically what I recommend is running up to him, doing the Y |
| button Lunar combo and then pressing B and Y immediately as you land to |
| not only avoid recovery time, but begin temporary invincibility, burn the |
| boss with your aura and then have about a 50-50 chance of blasting him in |
| the face with a fireball to knock him back (he dodges now and then). |
| |
| Forget doing anything else at this point of the strategy, if he got hit |
| with the fireball point the analog stick toward him, jump forward and |
| begin the Lunar Y button combination once again while he's still |
| struggling to recover. If you missed with the fireball do this anyway, |
| although he'll be more likely to block or dodge, even if he does you will |
| do The Art of Inferno as you land. One final note is that ideally you |
| should be pushing him back while doing this, because the strategy works |
| best if he's pincered between you and the wall. You might even want to |
| lure him toward the wall after the initial combo at the beginning. Repeat |
| this over and over and I guarantee you can beat him, in the Ninja Gaiden |
| Black / Hurricane version without using any healing potions at all. |
| |
| Once final note I figure I had might as well bring up, this tactic has a |
| habit of causing a glitch in the game, bad enough so that you would have |
| to reset and load your game again. It could be a fluke, but in my case it |
| happened for two out of the five times I used this strategy, both right at |
| the beginning of battle (this is Ninja Gaiden Black by the way, I imagine |
| it could happen in the original as well however). After the initial Lunar |
| combo I landed and did the Art of Inferno, simultaneously while I was |
| landing the boss threw his sword. It connected with Ryu the instant he |
| began using the spell and spun on him. It didn't stop spinning on him and |
| it cut Ryu and knocked him away when the spell finally resolved. The |
| sword itself remained just spinning stationary in the same spot without |
| moving after that point. The boss floats around like an idiot trying to |
| summon his sword back but it never moves and he cannot attack you. I |
| imagine you would probably think this would mean an easy victory, but |
| unfortunately the boss cannot be hit while his sword is thrown, so |
| basically you both run around like idiots until you reset the game. As I |
| said, this has happened to me more than once, but I would still say it's |
| far more likely for the battle to go normally, so just make sure you save |
| in advance, and don't worry about minor things like that. Good luck. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- G H O S T D O K U --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| When fighting Doku on the hard difficulty, it's pretty much the same as |
| fighting him on normal when it comes to the actual battle, the main |
| difference is those damn Ghost Fish. The solution I find works best, is |
| to enter the battle with full Ki and THe Art of Inazuma spell equipped. |
| Use it right away when the battle starts, and then begin fighting the boss |
| himself. When you have hurt Ghost Doku enough so that the Ghost Fish |
| respawn, use The Art of Inazuma once again to eliminate them, and repeat |
| this each time they appear. Between these you can of course use whatever |
| weapon you feel is appropriate for the battle, perhaps the Lunar, or the |
| True Dragon Sword or otherwise. The best weapon is of course, the UF. |
| __________________________________________________________________________ |
| ~~ Unlaboured Flawlessness Strategy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |
| This strategy actually works quite well, though it may take a few tries. |
| By the end after a bit of practice, if you're good you should be able to |
| defeat him without using any items, and if you can't quite manage that, |
| then no more than a few Elixirs of Spiritual Life should be needed. |
| |
| Here's how it works, as I mentioned before, go into the battle with full |
| Ki and The Art of Inazuma equipped. You should also be entering the |
| battle with as little life as possible. Use it immediately as the battle |
| starts, and you'll kill all the Ghost Fish. Now at this point you need to |
| be careful, there is likely a bunch of blue essence floating where the |
| fish died, and if you get it, it may weaken your weapon. You can either |
| collect it and hope it isn't too much, or hold the block button while |
| rolling away (since you cannot collect essence while holding L). |
| |
| Once you've gotten away, get close to a wall and wait. If you're far away |
| Ghost Doku will do one of a couple things. He may either throw his sword, |
| or throw his glove. If he throws his sword, the best thing you can do is |
| run up the wall and backflip off, this should be enough to dodge the |
| attack. With the glove it doesn't matter too much, since even if you are |
| grabbed, it's easy to struggle out of it. The third he can do, is start |
| moving toward you very quickly, this is your cue. Run up the wall beside |
| you as he approaches, then backflip off and hit the Y button. If all goes |
| well you will come down on his head and with an attack that deals damage |
| equal to approximately 35% of his total health, three will kill him. |
| |
| If you actually hit Doku with this attack, then you need to cast The Art |
| of Inazuma immediately, the damage will be enough to spawn more Ghost |
| Fish. After the spell resolves, waste no time at all, unless you are |
| absolutely 100% sure that his sword is coming down on you, run up the wall |
| again as fast as you can and try the attack once more. If you miss Doku |
| with the attack originally, forget casting the spell, just run up that |
| wall again as fast a you can and try to smash him a second time. |
| |
| The problem I find that comes up most often, is that you will hit him (or |
| miss) and end up being caught in one of his sword combos after you land. |
| This is why I revised the strategy to recommend you try to run up a nearby |
| wall again as fast as you can. I find that rolling and blocking to try |
| and get out of the way to find a safer wall, actually isn't very safe at |
| all. You can't block all the attacks in his big slash combination, and |
| sometimes you can't roll away fast enough either. Practice this technique |
| and it should work out for the best. After you manage to hit him a couple |
| of times with it, if you feel like you're doing good but don't want to |
| die, feel free to use a couple Elixirs of Spiritual Life and just fight |
| normally from that point. His health is already so low, it should be easy. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________________________________________________________________
______)
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/
) /
+-- (_/ HE CORE [CHAPTER 15] --------------------------------------- 01.15 --+
Equip the Vigoorian Flail right away and use it to kill all of those damned
Ghost Fish which gather around in this area, be quick about it because they
don't waste any time. When you're done, go through the small open door and
examine the body of the ninja to get a MAP OF THE LABYRINTH, then use the
Dragon Statue and save your game. Follow the path up to the right of the
Dragon Statue and open the chest to acquire a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Now head
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: No Great Spirit Elixir Elixir to
be found inside this chest, instead it's another LIFE OF THE GODS [045].
The chest up the path on the other side doesn't have the Great Devil
Elixir inside of it either, but rather an Elixir of Spiritual Life.
______________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
back to the statue and go in the other direction this time, you'll have to
take out a few Super Claw Demons and a crab monster along the way however.
At the top of the path is another chest, open this one up and you'll find a
GREAT DEVIL ELIXIR inside of it. Continue along the path with the VIgoorian
Flail equipped, you'll pass by another path branching off to the right, ignore
it for now and keep moving. Use the Vigoorian Flail as well as The Art of
Inazuma magic scroll to eliminate all of the Ghost Fish you come to right
before the large door. This large door is the same one which takes you back
to the large stairs, and to the city again. All you want to do is go thorugh
it and examine the ninja corpse to find the KEY OF THE DECAYED SOUL as well as
DAI'S DIARY. Head back through again and be ready to take on the Ghost Fish
which have already respawned. Remember the path I mentioned just ahead that
branches off, on your left coming from this direction? Take that now and go
upside down around to the gates of the castle. When you stop to go through
the doors, a scene will trigger, then you will enter the palace.
Immediately as you enter, equip the Dabilahro sword because the door is going
to lock and you'll be forced to take on eight of those red dinosaur enemies.
After they have all been defeated, examine the thing in the middle here and
set the Raptor, Deity of Sentiment into place. Now take the door at the back
of the room up to the next floor, make sure you swap to the Vigoorian Flail
along the way so you can take out all of those damned Ghost Fish. Open the
chest at the top of the stairs to get a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR. Switch back over
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: No Great Spirit Elixir for you to
find here, it's yet another LIFE OF THE GODS [047] items to be found.
______________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
once again to the Dabilahro and then go into the room here, another group of
red dinosaurs combined with a ton of those weird caterpillar monsters attack
here, and once again the doors are locked. With all of them eliminated, set
the Wold, Deity of Wisdom into place and continue through the next door.
Another group of Ghost Fish here not surprisingly, take them out and ascend
the stairs up to the door. Use whatever weapon you would normally use to kill
a crab fiend along with a bunch of the Super Claw Demons, and then set the
Devil, Deity of Immortality into place and take the next set of stairs, Ghost
Fish aplenty, same as always. Open the chest at the top of these stairs and
you'll find a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR inside of it. Notice that above the chest
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: No Great Spirit Elixir for you to
find here, it's yet another LIFE OF THE GODS [047] items to be found.
______________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
there is kind of a gap between the rocks and the wall, get as close to the
left wall as you can and slowly walk over the edge. If you do this correctly
you will land on like a secret pathway that takes you to GOLDEN SCARAB [050],
that's the last one in the entire game, if you wish to do so now (and I
suggest you do), head back to town and to Muramasa's Shop. It's not very far
if you leave this palace, make a right past the Ghsot Fish and go through the
doors to reach the giant staircase. At the bottom of the stairs is a set of
doors that will lead you right to his shop. Speak to him and give him all
fifty scarabs, in return he will offer you the original arcade NINJA GAIDEN if
you're playing Ninja Gaiden Black, and the original NES NINJA GAIDEN cartridge
if you're playing the original XBOX Ninja Gaiden. Either way, it's worth it.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: When you get all fifty scarabs on
the hard difficulty, you will be rewarded with the Plasma Saber Mk.II as
well as the Drak Dragon Blade for all of your collecting efforts.
______________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a Sixty Fiends Challenge located in the fifteenth chapter, head from
Muramasa's Shop left to the previous area and go right, where you broke the
crack in the wall open. Across from here there is a warp portal in the gated
area that warps you to hell and begins the challenge. I consider this the
most difficult one in the game (at least on normal difficulty where you don't
have to fight the harder enemies anywhere else.) There are approaximately
fifty Super Claw Demons and ten of those damn laser eyeball shooting crab
clawed monsters. Use whatever means you have at your disposal to take them
all out, focusing mainly on the crab monsters and then just cleaning up the
leftover mess afterward. In Ninja Gaiden Black you will get THE TALISMAN OF
REBIRTH for doing this, which isn't really worth it, but I do remember getting
a much better item here in the original, so anyone playing that will probably
want to check it out for sure, either way, at least you get something.
Regardless of what you do, make your way back to the fourth floor of the
palace and go through the door. There are four crab clawed monsters to kill in
this room, and they have this really annoying attack where they grab you and
pull you down to the third floor. Use magic or something so you don't have to
get too close to them. After killing all four of them, set the Serpent, Deity
of Creation into place and then take the other door. At the top of these
stairs here, are the Gates of Hell. Go around to the Dragon Statue and open
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: Be careful when you open up the
treasure chest beside the save point, you'll be attacked by a number of
Ghost Fish when you do. The other still has a Great Spirit Elixir.
______________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the chest beside it to acquire a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR and then save your game
here. There also happens to be a GREAT DEVIL ELIXIR in the chest just past
it. When you're ready to proceed, step onto the warp portal, and go to hell.
Equip the True Dragon Sword and begin taking out these pathetic Super Claw
Demons. After all of them have been killed, the devil will warp you into the
middle of a miniboss battle, a third fight against the kraken monster. This
monster has never been very difficult before, but that doesn't mean he still
isn't going to put up a fight here. His tentacles are waving around and do
low damage, but they won't stop flailing and it gets pretty frustrating when
you're trying to jump for a Flying Swallow to cut them off. When I get
frustrated here I just break out the ol' Art of Inazuma, it doesn't quite take
out the tentacles, but it gets them to the point where they're ready to fall
off at even the slightest touch. you may remember that your True Dragon
Blade's charge up attack was upgraded when you acquired the sword, use that
second level charge up attack after the tentacles are cut off for some serious
damage, it should be enough to practically kill him in three combinations.
Still no level to navigate through, it's just more minions. Tiny ones at
that, it's the filler battle before the next miniboss. THe next miniboss you
have to fight is the ice monster again, and he hasn't changed much since the
last battle except for one noteworthy thing, he now seems to be able to shoot
a blast of ice out of his mouth which I don't remember him being able to do
before (I could be wrong, it really makes no difference). Personally I
wouldn't change the strategy much at all, the Dibilahro still works extremely
well, but like I said before: given that this guy is so slow, you have time to
usually charge up a weapon to the second level, and the True Dragon Blade's
charge up attack is extremely powerful as you saw from the previous boss.
Just remember to start charging after he attacks, and that the cartwheel flip
he does is not an attack, you are free to keep charging if he does that.
Next we have another group of normal enemies, but this time the devil will be
firing blasts of fire at you from a distance. You can predict when they will
be thrown from the stupid old man laugh you hear before they come. Kill all
of the enemies and then he is going to want to take you on himself.
For a miniboss this guy is pretty difficult, he's hard to hit which can get
annoying but his attacks are relatively easy to dodge. There will be enemies
appearing constantly up to a maximum of three, you can try to kill them and
absorb the essence for a charge up attack, but I find it really isn't worth
it, and you'll end up hurting yourself more than the boss. Rely on normal
airborne attacks like the Flying Swallow when he is down at your level, or the
default jumping A button attack if he is higher in the air. The boss can
throw fireballs, or create pillars of fire from the ground, both of which
should be dodged by running and jumping. After of his attacks is when he
lowers himself to the ground and charges, same idea, jump out of the way. Now
and then he will curl up in the air and slam his entire body into the ground.
Just be moving constantly and you'll likely avoid this by accident anyway,
since it isn't always the easiest thing to see coming. The great part is that
after doing this, he just sits on the ground, vulnerable for a moment. Run up
to the devil and chop him up good during this time, using the Dragon Sword,
one of the level four combinations will be more than enough for him here.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[HARD MODE TIPS] =========== MINIBOSS: SATAN ============ [HARD MODE TIPS]
Satan poses quite a challenge to you, especially with all those Cat Demons
helping him out here. He'll spawn some every once in awhile just to get
in the way, but he's got quite a few other attacks of his own. Satan's
primary attack is a fireball blast where he launches a number of fire
blasts toward you, which spike up into pillars. Dodge these by jumping
and rolling out of the way. Another of his attacks is a charge where he
hurls all of his body at you at once, diving down through the air.
When you actually want to hit Satan, is when he does a huge diving crash
down into the ground. After this he'll kind of get on his hands and knees
for a moment, this is when he is most vulnerable and your best chance to
strike. With the True Dragon Sword equipped, use the X, hold Y, Y, Y ,Y
attack on him for maximum damage. When Satan is in the air, you can also
use the Flying Swallow, although pound for pound it's not quite as good.
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the battle pick up the Demon, Deity of Destruction from the pillar in
the middle. There should be a path now leading you back to a warp portal,
head across now to the warp portal and step into it. This will warp you back
to the area with the Dragon Statue. Save your game and then set the Demon,
Deity of Destruction into place across from the statue to unlock the door.
This is a special note for those who pay attention, that proceeding through
thr door marks the game's point of no return. From where you are right now
you are free to backtrack through the game and do anything which you have not
done, from this point forward it's all leading up to the final battle.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- F I R S T F O R M --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| I can't even begin to detail how easy this fight is on the normal |
| difficulty, for whatever reason (and I'm glad they did), they chose to |
| make the Art of Inferno spell the most powerful attack in the universe, |
| relative to bosses and magic that is. One hit from it deals nearly 20% of |
| the boss' total health, and I don't know how good your math is, but |
| emptying a maxed out Ki meter of five should pretty much get you an |
| instant win. It doesn't quite works out that nicely, but it's damn close. |
| |
| First of all you should know how to control this rock thing you're |
| floating on. Left and right on the analog will move you left and right, |
| up and down on the analog will move you closer and further respectively, |
| and lastly holding block and pushing up and down on the analog stick will |
| let you ascend and descend with ease. Get used to the controls before you |
| start the battle, you'll need to react quite quickly to dodge the attacks. |
| |
| The boss really only has two attacks as far as I can tell, maybe a couple |
| small variations of the second. The first is uncommon, basically he just |
| tries to punch you when you're in close, and if you get hit you'll be |
| knocked off your rock, but land on it safely (which is what always |
| happens.) The second is just the huge laser attack the boss does where |
| they spin around and you have to avoid them either spinning in the same |
| direciton, moving up or down to let them go over you, or in between if |
| they're going in kind of a frequency wave pattern. Fortunately, given how |
| ridiculously hard it is to dodge these with any consistency, you won't |
| have to worry about dodging them too much at all in practice. |
| |
| There are three attack points on the boss, the torso and two shoulders. |
| The torso comprises 50% of its total health and each shoulder is 25%. |
| Begin the battle by floating up to the torso, it gets difficult to get |
| very close on this one. Do some kind of combination with the True Dragon |
| Sword, it really doesn't matter, you're just trying to get some damage in |
| here. Keep attacking over and over until the split second when you know |
| for a fact you're about to be hit by a laser, at the point press Y and B |
| at the same time to start casting The Art of Infero. As I said before, |
| this attack devastates, and not only that in makes you invincible while |
| casting so that laser will harmlessly pass right through you. Once the |
| torso is dead, it's time to move onto one shoulder and then the other. |
| You probably get the basic idea now, combination and then inferno, with |
| this done correctly you're looking a victory in less than 60 seconds. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- F I R S T F O R M --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| This fight really doesn't change much time around, like usual the laser |
| beams are very difficult to dodge, so the most important thing is to move |
| quickly. Right when the battle begins, pick a shoulder and move for it. |
| When you come into this battle you should have full Ki, and one Great |
| Devil Elixir. If you don't, it'll be a lot more difficult. Move toward |
| the shoulder of your choice at the beginning, and start using either the |
| X, hold Y, Y, Y, Y combination, or the X, X, Y, Y, Y combination. Either |
| of these should do quite a bit of damage to the boss. Just like before, |
| he still has a huge weakness to The Art of Inferno spell, so that will |
| always be your backup plan and the reason it's important to have full Ki. |
| |
| After a couple of attacks on one shoulder you'll likely find yourself in a |
| position where you have to dodge. Don't even try, whip out The Art of |
| Inferno and it should be enough to totally obliterate that shoulder. |
| Waste no time here, move around to the other one and start attacking. |
| When it comes time to use The Art of Inferno again, it should be enough to |
| take out the second shoulder. Lastly you need to work on the torso, |
| you've got two magic spells and a powerful sword, it's more than enough. |
| I told you to enter this battle with full Ki and one Great Devil Elixir, |
| the elixir is for the next battle since this one likely emptied your |
| magic. Also note that for this battle and the next one, there is no |
| Unlaboured Flawlessness strategy, since the weapon is rather ineffective. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- S E C O N D F O R M --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| This boss too seems overwhelmingly impossible at first glance, and |
| reasonably easily defeatable in practice. You are no longer on your |
| floating rock which of course should make things easier for you, and it no |
| longer has the spinning laser attack that caused oh so much trouble last |
| time (well maybe not.) The point is that assuming you are reasonably |
| equipped, once again I think I can get you through this battle without |
| actually taking any damage at all by the time it's completed. |
| |
| What you will need in preparation for this battle is of course the True |
| Dragon Blade equipped, The Art of Inazuma maxed out and equipped, as well |
| as perhaps a Great Devil Elixir since the previous battle likely taxed |
| your Ki. Before anything as usual, we'll look at the boss' (surprisingly |
| few attacks). It's a generic pattern that he basically repeats over and |
| over. At the beginning of the battle he won't really do anything at all. |
| Soon enough some of the skulls on his body will begin to fly out and spin |
| around, more and more to the point where it's nearly impossible to predict |
| where they're coming. I don't really bother outlining a strategy for |
| dodging, as in the offensive part below I'll explain how to avoid the |
| damage entirely. For the most part however you can weave between them, or |
| even attack them to kill them before they can kill you. |
| |
| After this ends the head of the boss comes down to grab you in his mouth, |
| do not let this happen! Run out of the way if you need to, but this is an |
| unblockable throw, he'll chew you up and do massive damage, it's easy to |
| avoid so make sure you do. After this the entire core of the boss jumps |
| out of the magma close to you, run out of the way to avoid having it land |
| on you. Now it will send some skulls out on land, but you don't need to |
| worry about this too much, you'll be so busy attacking the boss you'll |
| probably smash every one of them that would have hit you anyway. |
| |
| For the offensive boss strategy, it starts right when the battle starts. |
| As I mentioned there is a period where the boss is doing nothing, whip out |
| your Explosive Arrows (APFSDS Cores I imagine would be just as good or |
| better, but I had none in stock to try, I would recommend you do though). |
| Aim the Strongbow up and fire at the boss over and over again, you'll be |
| amazed at the huge amount of damage you are doing to it. After awhile the |
| skulls begin flying off and it becomes impossible to stand stationary |
| without beind hit. No problem, as they spin around just hit Y and B to |
| cast The Art of Inazuma. Every time a skull gets destroyed the boss takes |
| a bit of damage, and tons of skulls will be destroyed as they hit your |
| magic casting aura. When you actually release the spell itself you'll |
| destory many more skulls and do quite a bit of damage to the boss. If |
| they are still spinning around don't hesitate to cast again, if not then |
| move out of the way to let the boss jump and land beside you. Use |
| whatever True Dragon Sword combo you fell like to attack the legs of this |
| boss, you're more likely to get hit during this part than any other boss, |
| but you should be doing so well that it really won't matter much at all. |
| Repeat this pattern once the boss jumps back again. Note that if you run |
| out of arrows, this is one of the few points in the game where I find |
| Incendiary Shurikens to be extremely effective, feel free to use those as |
| well. Good luck here, but if you think it's the final boss, think again. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- S E C O N D F O R M --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Any Explosive Arrows, APFSDS Cores, and Incendiary Shurikens should be |
| used here as a way of attacking the boss from a distance when you cannot |
| jump into the magma and attack yourself. We're going to base this |
| strategy on having only a few chances to cast magic, so you need to make |
| them count. You should have the Vigoorian Flail equipped for this battle, |
| and The Art of Inazuma as your magic spell. Begin the battle using all of |
| your projectiles on the boss until the skulls start flying. |
| |
| At this point you need to start swingin the Vigoorian Flails, each time a |
| skull comes close it will bes destoryed, and that deals damage to the boss |
| itself. Swinging those Flails around will not only protect you, but also |
| damage the boss. After a good ten second or so you should see the main |
| horned skull detach fro mthe boss and move, this is your cue to cast The |
| Art of Inazuma which should do a good amount of damage, and protect you |
| from the powerful and unblockable throw the main skull uses. |
| |
| Keep this going for a few repetitions. Any time the boss jumps onto the |
| solid ground you need to equip the True Dragon Sword and approach it, |
| swinging like mad to get in any extra damage you can. Hell, as a last |
| resort you can always jump into the magma and fight from there. The |
| damage you can dish out while standing in magma is approximately equal to |
| the damage you will take as longas the boss isn't moving, and as long as |
| you aren't jumping. It's not too much more difficult than on normal. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________________________________________________________________
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE DARK DRAGON BLADE [CHAPTER 16] -------------------------- 01.16 --+
And so we have the final stage of the game, with the exception of the boss
there are no enemies in this level, it is solely a platforming experience, and
a rather difficult one at that. You will start right near a Dragon Statue
save point. From here what you do is jump to the platform on your left, then
next up to the one on the right. Jump up left again and you'll find yourself
in front of a small area between two walls where you can wall kick your way
up. At the top, run up the wall beside you and then up to where you will fint
the Dark Dragon Blade. A scene occurs when you pick it up, and an invisible
timer starts. Basically you only have a certain amount of time to complete
this, if you don't then a cutscene will interrupt, and you'll just die. Note
that at any point if you fall, hold the X, Y, A, B, Back and Start buttons to
reset the game, you just don't have enough time to climb back up.
From the Dark Dragon Blade, you should be able to jump over a gap and land on
a platform below you. Climb up the walls from here to end up on the large
stone platform above, you'll know you're in the right place if you look kind
of to your left and see three swinging poles. Jump to the first and swing to
the second, then the third and after jumping from the third, hold left on the
analog stick and hold the A button to run along the wall and land safely.
Jump to the next pole and swing across, at about this time there will be a
quick scene of rocks falling from above. This is probably about the half way
point, don't worry, if it happens here you're doing just fine.
Go left a bit and run up the wall to grab the edge. Run up the next wall, on
the left side and you'll grab an edge that you cannot climb up. Shimmy to the
left until there is room, then climb up and run left. Jump over the gap to
the next platform, up the wall you come to and jump and run up the wall after
that. Turn left here and approach the edge, there is a large platform below.
If you've done this before run and jump, if not take a look over the edge
before leaping. When you land, run foward and run up the wall. Make a left
and approach the edge of the cliff where Rachel is hanging for a scene.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [NORMAL] +-- F I N A L B O S S --+ [NORMAL] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| We finally see the face of our true enemy, how very intense a moment this |
| is. There is no time to waste, that is unless you're playing the original |
| game. The boss strategies here are going to differ so much depending on |
| what version you're playing, because in the original this boss is an |
| absolute pushover, and in Ninja Gaiden Black he's really damn difficult. |
| The reason for this is basically as follows, in the original you had the |
| option of using the Flying Swallow technique over and over again. This |
| was so effective against this boss, that like many others, they downplayed |
| it's effectiveness in the Hurricane Packs and Ninja Gaiden Black almost to |
| zero, so that using it against this guy does virtually nothing. In the |
| Hurricane Pack you had the option of using the Intercept ability instead |
| to counter and retaliate against his powerful blows. In Ninja Gaiden |
| Black, they removed Intercept entirely. The difficulty of this boss on |
| normal in Ninja Gaiden Black is now almost more difficult than even he |
| harder difficulties of the original games, so it's a true test of skill. |
| |
| Normally as you know, I begin by outlining the boss' attacks, and I intend |
| to do the same here, however most of his attacks are generally similar to |
| the rest, and the only effective strategy I've managed to come up with |
| really doesn't focus on knowing how to avoid each one individually anyway. |
| Regardless, his primary attack revolves around the powerful sword he |
| wields. He has a large number of different combos, exactly how they |
| differ is irrelevant, but you can avoid them simply by keeping your |
| distance (this will prove harder than you think in practice, there aren't |
| any effective ways to fight him from a distance as far as I know.) |
| Blocking constantly helps, but almost every single strike he does will |
| deal damage whether you're blocking or not, it will just significantly |
| reduce the damage. I like to use a combination of blocking and a lot of |
| rolling, since as I said, you'll spend much of the battle face-to-face. |
| |
| His other attacks include a minimum of three different types of close |
| range throws, I find these hardest of all to avoid and no matter how |
| ninja-ish I seem to be flipping about, he always has a way of grabbing and |
| really dishing out the damage. Thirdly, he has the ability to summon a |
| bunch of Shurikens and launch them at you, avoid them by moving back and |
| jumping out of the way. There is one final attack you neeed to know how |
| to dodge, though it is quite simple indeed. More than likely at least |
| once during the battle he will warp up top of the rock in the background |
| and summon a huge dark serpent. What this summon monster does is fly |
| above the field and pass through the ground in the middle of the field. |
| If you're standing on the edge on any side you will avoid the core of the |
| serpent, but you will alos have to jump at the moment it hits the ground, |
| just to avoid the shocksave. Same idea as Doku's blue shockwave attack. |
| |
| Unfortunately since the game developers have decided to eliminate just |
| about every effective technique for this guy, you're going to have to |
| manage somehow yourself, with the limited help I can give. I'll tell you |
| honestly that with decent sword prowess (on the normal difficulty) just |
| about anyone should be able to get through this fight with no more than a |
| single Great Spirit Elixir or Talisman of Rebirth. If you have more then |
| you'll have no problem, if you don't have any you'll need to put a lot |
| more effort into it. Other items such as Devil Elixirs of either type |
| will help you out as well, basically you need to understand, this is the |
| final battle, and every single item in your inventory is disposable here. |
| |
| Here's what I do in this battle, equip the True Dragon Sword and go in |
| swinging! The damage that the boss takes from this blade is quite high, |
| you'll be happy to hear his defenses are quite weak, it's his offences |
| which will get the best of you. Approach the boss and wait for him to do |
| a sword attack combination, avoid as much damage as possible by rolling |
| and blocking, and hope that he won't try some kind of throw on you, |
| perhaps you might be able to reduce the risk by rolling backward. When |
| the combination ends, don't wait for even a second, hit the X button, hold |
| the Y button for one second and then keep tapping Y to do the level four |
| combination which ends with an up-slicing backflip. From what I can tell, |
| this combination not only does the most damage, but has the best chance of |
| knocking him off balance and allowing you to execute it. If you manage to |
| land successfully without being interrupted, I recommend following up with |
| The Art of Inferno the instant you land to avoid any attacks during the |
| short recovery pause. This spell also plays an important part in the |
| battle because it does reasonable damage to the boss, and helps out with |
| the temporary invulnerability it offers. Not only will you want to use it |
| after combiantions, you will also want to hang onto your magic for use as |
| a defensive tool if you get caught in a powerful combination of something. |
| |
| This method is anything but foolproof and doesn't offer a lot of |
| protection. Having at least one full healing potion should be enough, and |
| that even allows you to be hit at a reasonably constant rate while still |
| maintain enough offense to take him down. I realize that this strategy is |
| more than likely a little too dangerous to use on the harder difficulties |
| of Ninja Gaiden Black, but by the time you've played through the entire |
| game on a harder difficulty, I'm sure you can take whatever limited advice |
| from this and help to design your own effective strategy. I have no doubt |
| that regardless of what difficulty you're playing on, you have the ability |
| to complete this challenge and strike the final blow, ending the game. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| [HARD] +-- F I N A L B O S S --+ [HARD] |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| It's not too different on the hard difficulty, you might need a couple |
| more healing items due to the insane damage Murai does with his throw |
| attack, but if you can manage to dodge the grab for the most part, then |
| you should be able to get through this without too much problem. Stick |
| with the stategy outlined for normal, dodge his attacks and then attempt |
| an X, hold Y, Y, Y, Y attack, that shjould do a good amount of damage. |
| Use magic when necessary to avoid attacks and do a bit of damage (The Art |
| of Inferno works best) and generally just, practice makes perfect. I find |
| that the Unlaboured Flawlessness really isn't that helpful of a weapon to |
| use on this boss, so stick with the True Dragon Sword. Good luck. |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Congratulations on completing Ninja Gaiden! One of the most difficult games
of this generation. Now of course there still remain more difficulty levels
to finish, as well as fifty special bonus missions for those playing Ninja
Gaiden Black. To anyone who has completed the hardest, Master Ninja
difficulty and is searching out further challenge, speaking solely for this
generation, I would certainly suggest taking on the hardest sifficulties of
the original Devil May Cry, Shinobi, and Viewtiful Joe. I can attest to the
sheer difficulty of all three. Good luck with future gaming endevours.
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
|~\/~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~\/~|
| || 02.00 || Missions || 02.00 || |
|_||_______||____________________________________________________||_______||_|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P A T H O F T H E M A S T E R N I N J A
____________________________________________________________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 02.A0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+====================================+ === PHASE ONE ========================
| PHASE ONE 02.A1 |
+====================================+ The only weapons you are given here of
| [MELEE] Nunchaku...............N/A | any use will be the Vigoorian Flail
| [MELEE] Vigoorian Flail........LV2 | and the Kitetsu, and of the two I
| [MELEE] War Hammer.............LV1 | would say the enemies are weak enough
| [MELEE] Wooden Sword...........LV1 | to give the Vigoorian Flail the
| [MELEE] Kotetsu................LV3 | advantage over the other. This is the
| [PRJCT] Shuriken...............N/A | first mission of many to come so it
| [PRJCT] Incendiary Shuriken....x15 | would be reasonable to assume they
| [PRJCT] Windmill Shuriken......N/A | start out easy. Of course I doubt
| [PRJCT] Smoke Bomb.............x15 | you'll be surprised to find this isn't
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Sun..N/A | the case, you're immediately ambushed
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Moon.N/A | by all types of enemies coming from
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Celerity.N/A | all directions. The initial three
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Potency..N/A | won't offer too much to worry about,
| [NINPO] The Art of Fire Wheels.N/A | however yo uare soon joined by the
| [NINPO] The Art of Inferno.....LV1 | brand new Red Ninja, similar to the
|====================================| Black Spider Ninjas, this one is able
| [ENEMY] Brown Ninja............N/A | to throw Incendiary Shurikens that
| [ENEMY] White Ninja............N/A | will attach them to yourself. Their
| [ENEMY] Red Ninja..............N/A | blade is also infused with the power
| [ENEMY] Magician...............N/A | of fire, meaning that every time you
+====================================+ are hit by it you'll take a bit of
extra damage. These enemies don't
have a lot of health so just kill them as you would any other ninja. If you
happen to get hit by an Incendiary Shuriken, using magic or any other attack
which leaves you temporarily invincible, a throw for example, will have the
shuriken harmless explode without damaging you. Position yourself virtually
anywhere in the area and begin spinning the Flail like mad. For the most part
while spinning it you are safe from the White Ninjas and Brown Ninjas, but you
always have to be careful of the Red Ninjas and Magicians, since they both
have projectiles. In the case of Magicians they cannot cast magic if they are
off camera, so you really only need to worry about them when they are in front
of you. If at any point you feel overwhelmed I would recommend casting The
Art of Fire Wheels Ninpo, it seems more effective in a situation like this
than a level one Inferno. Just a couple more minor notes, first of all you
cannot fall through the trap door here as you probably already guessed.
Second of all the mission ends with a battle against three Red Ninjas at once.
=== PHASE TWO ======================== +====================================+
| PHASE TWO 02.A2 |
The default weapon you are given, the +====================================+
Lunar, is somewhat inneffective here, | [MELEE] Nunchaku...............N/A |
it doesn't work to kill the Red Ninjas | [MELEE] Vigoorian Flail........LV2 |
quickly enough and it certainly isn't | [MELEE] Dabilahro..............LV2 |
powerful enough to incapacitate the | [MELEE] Wooden Sword...........LV1 |
large lizards. At this point would | [MELEE] Lunar..................LV3 |
make your weapons of choice the | [PRJCT] Smoke Bomb.............x15 |
Dabilahro and the Vigoorian Flail, | [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Sun..N/A |
with more focus on the Dabilahro. | [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Moon.N/A |
It's difficult to stick with a single | [ARMLT] The Armlet of Benedctn.N/A |
one since the lizards and the ninjas | [ARMLT] The Armlet of Potency..N/A |
are so dissimilar. Here's what I like | [NINPO] The Art of Ice Storm...LV1 |
to do at the beginning, equip the |====================================|
Vigoorian Flail and go in with it, | [ENEMY] Red Ninja..............N/A |
directly for the Red Ninjas. Kill | [ENEMY] Red Lizard.............N/A |
either one or both of them and another | [ENEMY] Super Lizard...........N/A |
Red Lizard should spawn. Get all of +====================================+
them as close together as possible and
anyone caught in the blast radius, including the Super Lizards will be
instantly destroyed by it. Unfortunately you've only got one Ki slot, so
after you cast it once you've got to rely on your other weapons unless you
find some Red Essence. Keep the Vigoorian Flail equipped while you focus
solely on the Red Ninjas, it can get pretty dangerous trying to avoid the
attacks of the lizards, but the fact is that with this weapon the other
enemies are dangerous, and with the Dabilahro the Red Ninjas will kick your
ass, so it's faster to take them out first and then switch weapons after.
Note also that if you jump over the magma pit (which you should be avoiding
during this battle by the way) and run up the wall you can find an Elixir of
Spiritual Life up there to add to your collection of items you're already
holding. When the Red Ninjas are taken care of for the most part, switch to
the Dabilahro and start smashing the other enemies. THe best thing to do is
stand far back from them and begin with an X X X X button combination that
finishes with a Y button slash. This combo should move you forward as you do
it, so you won't be in the danger until you've actually started attacking.
Another effective method is to run up the walls and backflip off, then hit the
Y button to slam down with immense power, not only does it do a lot of damage,
but this attack will allow you to fight both the Red Ninjas and lizards
simultaneously without too much risk. Eventually once all of these enemies
have been taken out, there is a swarm of Stinger Bugs that spawns at the end.
At this point use either the Vigoorian Flail, Dabilahro or even whip out the
Lunar and use Y button attacks after jumping off a wall, when you come down
with thee weapons it will tear them to shreds and reduce the risk to you.
+====================================+ === PHASE THREE ======================
| PHASE THREE 02.A3 |
+====================================+ Your only goal here is to defeat
| [MELEE] Dragon Sword...........LV2 | Masakado, the red samurai who also
| [MELEE] Nunchaku...............N/A | served as the second boss in this
| [MELEE] Vigoorian Flail........LV2 | game. Despite being your only target,
| [MELEE] Dabilahro..............LV1 | Masakado does not fight alone, you
| [MELEE] War Hammer.............LV1 | will have to take him on along with
| [MELEE] Wooden Sword...........LV1 | two other horseback enemies
| [MELEE] Kotetsu................LV2 | simultaneously. Upon defeating these
| [MELEE] Lunar..................LV2 | two enemies, more will appear
| [PRJCT] Incendiary Shuriken....x15 | soonafter and generally I just
| [PRJCT] Windmill Shuriken......N/A | recommend you focus all of your
| [PRJCT] Smoke Bomb.............x15 | attention on the boss. In your
| [PRJCT] Strongbow..............x00 | inventory you will find both APFSDS
| [PRJCT] APFSDS Cores...........x05 | Cores and Explosive Arrows, I would
| [PRJCT] Explosive Arrows.......x05 | only recommend using these if you
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Sun..N/A | consider yourself fast and accurate
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Moon.N/A | enough to aim and fire at Masakado as
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Benedctn.N/A | he is charging at you. Otherwise it
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Celerity.N/A | will be too difficult to get an
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Potency..N/A | accurate shot before either the boss,
| [NINPO] The Art of Fire Wheels.N/A | or one of his minions ends up spearing
| [NINPO] The Art of Ice Storm...LV1 | you in the face. Another effective
| [ITEMS] Elixir Spiritual Life..x02 | attack for use in this battle is the
|====================================| Flying Swallow, use it over and over
| [ENEMY] Masakado...............N/A | again on Masakado whenever he is near,
| [ENEMY] Horseback Spearman.....N/A | trying to aim at Masakado himself and
| [ENEMY] Horseback Archer.......N/A | not the horse if you can, this applies
+====================================+ with the arrows as well. Make sure to
always defend when the enemies get
near, if one of the Horseback Spearmen, including Masakado himself gets close
enough, they'll jam you in the stomach and drag you around the field.
Eventually once you've done enough damage to him, you will knock Masakado off
of his horse. He doesn't die at this point but the fight becomes
significantly easier. First make sure that all of the other enemies are a
reasonable distance away, then go in with the Dragon Sword and perform the
normal combo slash (the sword level is too low to do the Blade of Nirrti.)
Before you know it, you'll be dnacing the victory dance on his corpse.
=== PHASE FOUR ======================= +===================================+
| PHASE FOUR 02.A4 |
Without a doubt this is the most +====================================+
difficult challenge of the first five, | [MELEE] True Dragon Sword......N/A |
what it asks you to do is to take on | [MELEE] Nunchaku...............N/A |
what seems like hundreds of enemies | [MELEE] Wooden Sword...........LV1 |
with no items, relying only on the | [MELEE] Kotetsu................LV3 |
health pickups they drop and a few | [MELEE] Dark Dragon Blade......N/A |
other little bonuses in your favour. | [PRJCT] Shuriken...............N/A |
First of all you should note an | [PRJCT] Incendiary Shuriken....x15 |
interesting additional to your | [PRJCT] Windmill Shuriken......N/A |
arsenel, this is likely the first time | [PRJCT] Smoke Bomb.............x15 |
you will ever get to handle the Dark | [PRJCT] Strongbow..............x00 |
Dragon Blade. For a sword so | [PRJCT] APFSDS Cores...........x05 |
legendary you will most likely be | [PRJCT] Explosive Arrows.......x05 |
disappointed by its performance, but | [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Sun..N/A |
that's not to say there isn't a place | [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Moon.N/A |
for it; quite the contrary actually, | [ARMLT] The Armlet of Benedctn.N/A |
it works quite well in this level, but | [ARMLT] The Armlet of Trnqlity.N/A |
it's not the best choice. In this | [ARMLT] The Armlet of Celerity.N/A |
case the best choice for use is the | [ARMLT] The Armlet of Potency..N/A |
True Dragon Sword. There is another | [NINPO] The Art of Fire Wheels.N/A |
thing to note for this battle, and you | [NINPO] The Art of Inferno.....LV3 |
could be forgiven if you never even | [NINPO] The Art of Ice Storm...LV3 |
noticed it. There is a special armlet | [NINPO] The Art of Inazuma.....LV3 |
in your inventory that you never found | [ITEMS] No Items...............x00 |
in the main game, The Armlet of | [ITEMS] No Items...............x00 |
Tranquility will gradually restore |====================================|
Ryu's health over a period of time, | [ENEMY] Brown Ninja............N/A |
and I would definitely say in a stage | [ENEMY] White Ninja............N/A |
like this, it's worth using over the | [ENEMY] Black Spider Ninja.....N/A |
slight boost in power that comes from | [ENEMY] Red Ninja..............N/A |
the Armlet of the Sun. Your supply of | [ENEMY] Windmill Ninja.........N/A |
magic is nothing to scoff at either, | [ENEMY] Samurai................N/A |
you've got every spell in the game, | [ENEMY] Magician...............N/A |
and each of them is maxed out +====================================+
completely. It's a shame you only
have one Ki slot, you're really going to have to ration your magic use. I
would recommend you equip The Art of Inazuma at the beginning of battle, move
to the centre of the stage and use it right away. There are two reasons for
this, first of all the enemeis don't really get harder as you go, so whether
you use it now or later is irrelevant for that reason. Secondly, using it now
is actualy preferable, since any red essence dropped by enemies and collected
by you accidentally, will restore your meter for a second use.
The sheer number of enemies, flinging Windmill Shurikens and Incendiary
Shurikens can really be taxing on your health, and if you're reading this
there's a good chance you're looking to find a way just to survive this
battle. I've got a cheap method that I use, it's not the most honourable of
combat techniques, but in this particular battle it ends up working extremely
well. Sticking near a wall for virtually the entire battle, running up it
vertically, then jumping off and doing a Y button downward slash from the air.
The True Dragon Sword performs this extremely well but if you're going to be
using this technique, I might also recommend the Dark Dragon Blade, the sheer
force of the weapon coming down is likely to sever many enemy heads. There
are just too many unique enemies fighting you here to come up with a specific
strategy that works well for every phase of this battle, the wall runnign
technique is quite good overall, but you'll more than likely find yourself
sometimes in a position where you just can jump away from a swarm of ninja.
In this case it pays to have that magic spell lying around, but it's
impossible to have it ready always unless you're lucky with the red essence.
+====================================+ === PHASE FIVE ========================
| PHASE FIVE 02.A5 |
+====================================+ As if the battle against Murai wasn't
| [MELEE] Dragon Sword...........LV2 | frustrating enough the first time, you
| [MELEE] Nunchaku...............N/A | now have to defeat him in a room
| [MELEE] Vigoorian Flail........LV1 | occupied by a number of other ninjas
| [MELEE] War Hammer.............LV2 | as well. By the time you've completed
| [MELEE] Dabilahro..............LV1 | the game and unlocked the bonus
| [MELEE] Wooden Sword...........LV1 | missions I think it's safe to assume
| [MELEE] Kotetsu................LV2 | you've got at least some working
| [MELEE] Lunar..................LV2 | strategy for Murai. As usual the
| [PRJCT] Incendiary Shuriken....x15 | belief that this guy is somehow
| [PRJCT] Windmill Shuriken......N/A | unbeatable is simply a rumour started
| [PRJCT] Smoke Bomb.............x15 | by those incapable of executing the
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Sun..N/A | jumping Y button attack, I'm not
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of the Moon.N/A | talking about the Flying Swallow, but
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Benedctn.N/A | rather the downward stab done from the
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Fortune..N/A | air, or even better, after jumping off
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Trnqlity.N/A | of a wall. You'll definitely want to
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Celerity.N/A | access your inventory and check out
| [ARMLT] The Armlet of Potency..N/A | the armlets, you've got pretty much
| [NINPO] The Art of Fire Wheels.N/A | all of them including The Armlet of
| [NINPO] The Art of Inferno.....LV1 | Tranquility which I would recommend
| [NINPO] The Art of Ice Storm...LV2 | you equip right now. Now, remember
| [ITEMS] Elixir Spiritual Life..x01 | the urn at the back of the room you
|====================================| broke at the beginning of the game
| [ENEMY] Brown Ninja............N/A | while fighting this guy? Well when
| [ENEMY] White Ninja............N/A | you break it this time, out comes a
| [ENEMY] Black Spider Ninja.....N/A | Jewel of the Spirit Smith, something
| [ENEMY] Red Ninja..............N/A | you never even saw in the main game
| [ENEMY] Windmill Ninja.........N/A | due to the effectiveness of Muramasa.
| [ENEMY] Magician...............N/A | This is exactly like the Jewel of the
| [ENEMY] Murai..................N/A | Demon Soul except it works on your
+====================================+ weapons instead of magic spells.
There are a number of ways to go about this fight, one of them as I mentioned
is to rely entirely on downward attacks until it's over but that doesn't take
into account the masive amount of punishment you could take from the other
enemies in the area. If you go ahead and kill them off even more powerful
enemies are going to appear, followed by a third wave and that's about as far
as it goes. The waves are based on Murai's health so they won't appear until
you start actually hurting him. For this reason there is a neat cheap trick
you can do if you're having trouble with the battle. Kill all of the enemies
surrounding Murai and then equip The Armlet of Tranquility. Since he acts so
calm and moves so slow when you're not around him, you can pretty much hide on
the opposite side of the room until your health fully restores, if he gets
close then run along the wall to reach the other side. When you're actually
fighting him I would recommend staying on the ground as much as possible, down
there you can block virtually all of his attacks except for his throw, but
when jumping around you're very sesceptable to his flailing nunchakus.
Furthermore, since you are now fighting him with a fully upgraded Dragon Sword
unlike at the beginning of the game, you have the opportunity to use
combinations you couldn't use before. The Flying Swallow for example is
surprisingly effective on him consdering how crappy it is on the other bosses
in the game. I wouldn't suggest using it much however, when he does actually
block it, he has a tendency to nunchaku you before you even hit the ground.
The other combination, X, X, Y, Y, can inflict huge damage if you manage to
catch him off guard, specifically after one of those instances where you clash
weapons and have to tap the button really fast. It's hard to actually iniate
one of these without ending up just being grabbed and throwm, but if it does
happen, remember this is exactly what you should follow up with.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~\/~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~\/~|
| || 03.00 || Sixty Fiends Challenges || 03.00 || |
|_||_______||____________________________________________________||_______||_|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+-- CHAPTER 06 ----------------------------------------------------- 03.01 --+
This is called the Sixty Fiends Challenge, and for anyone just tuning in you
can find it between chapter six and seven by entering the Archives in the
Monastery after acquiring the Book of the Eons from the safe. Just as the
name implies this challenge entials having Ryu take on a total of sisty fiends
in one room. This is just an approximation, but I would say there are
approximately twenty of the scythe demons and forty of the claw demons. It's
not randomized so if you happen to kill all of one type of demon, you will
only fight the other type for the rest of the battle. Knowing this might help
out because they have a habit of working well together. Here's how it works.
In the Archives, scythe demons and claw demons will just keep on appearing and
attacking, and you have to kill them all. The weapon of choice here at least
in my opinion is the Dragon Sword, I used the Lunar for awhile and while it
worked, switching to the Dragon Sword seemed to make life easier. The reason
I say the enemies work well together, is for the following reason: while
blocking you can defend against every single attack from the claw demons, and
that applies almost as equally to the scythe demon, but together it does not.
When struck by the scythe demon, you are temporarily knocked off balance so
the claw demons can actually hit you after the scythe demon attacks. The
scythe demon also has an unblockable magic circle attack, but that's another
story and it's easy to dodge. I would recommend focusing heavily on the
scythe demons if possible. They are harder to kill but they will almost
always drop large blue essence, and it's important to keep your health up.
The easiest way to kill them I find is the Blade of Nirrti attack. Strike
them with the X button, then hit Y to jump in the air, trike three more times
with X while in the air and ends with X for the Blade of Nirrti. The only
other thing which I would address is that you stay the hell away from the
door at all times, as I mention in the first chapter, Ryu has a habit of just
doing through doors in the middle of a fight if you get too close, and it
would be a shame for that to happen on enemy number fifty-nine.
Upon eventually defeating all sixty of these enemies, an impressive feat, you
are rewarded with a treasure chest on the level above. It contains a SPIRIT
OF THE DEVILS [002] which will increase your total magic Ninpo meter from two
slots to three slots, something which should help you out quite a bit in the
long run, so indeed it was worth it, if not for that then for all the yellow
essence you have collected. That's all there is to this particular challenge.
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: This challenge is exponentially
more difficult than the one you encountered here on normal, as usual the
Claw Demons are replaced by Cat Demons which are much more aggressive and
capable of breaking through your defenses. Not only that, the phrase
"Sixty Fiends Challenge" no longer applies in hard more, when you come
across these there are always more like eighty or one hundred. In order
to win this battle I recommend the following above anything, spam the crap
out of the Izuna Drop on those Cat Demons. Kill as many as you possibly
can, with a few Art of Inferno Ninpo spells thrown in there for good
measure. Jumping off the wall and doing the Y button attack works too,
and the Blade of Nirrti is ideal for killing the floating Scythe Demons.
Trying to use the Izuna Drop on the Scythe Demons will inevitably lead to
using the Blade of Nirrti, so basically all you need to do is try using
the Izuna Drop for pretty much the entire battle and that'll work out the
best. Your reward for completing this is still Spirit of the Devils [002].
______________________________________________________________________________
+-- CHAPTER 07 ----------------------------------------------------- 03.02 --+
This particular one as previously mentioned, is found by returning to the room
where you acquired the Holy Grail, you can head right down there at the
beginning of chapter seven, however it's not limited to that time, in fact
unlike the first one you can return here almost anytime. Basically what you
have to fight are sixty of those zombie enemies, and as you know their health
total is quite high so this one is going to take quite a bit longer than the
first one. I'll sahre some of my wisdom that will hopefully help you out.
Of course these enemies may be strong and powerful, but they are also very
slow. You can really use this to your advantage here, but not at the
beginning because of those damn archers. Fortunately, similar to the first
challenge, there are certain amounts of each type of enemy, meaning that when
you kill all of one type, including archers, they will not appear again. What
you want to do at the start is basically focus only on the archers, there are
going to be about fifteen or so of them to kill, but once they are out of the
way it will make the whole fight significantly easier. Next you will want to
exploit the enemies' slow movement to help you win the fight. To do this I
recommend you rely heavily on the charge up attack. Just position yourself
somewhere away from the enemy group and hold the Y button. Charge up your
sword once, then wait until it powers up a second time and let loose the super
sword combination. This will kill any enemy you hit instantly and possible
others which are close by. There are two things to take into consideration
when doing this: first of all it's slow, but safe, so you can almost guarantee
a win if you're willing to do this the entire battle. You can really speed
things up if you are willing to absorb the essence which comes out of the
enemies, but you will be sacrificing quite a bit of spendable yellow essence,
it's up to you. Lastly, when you use this super attack, blue essence will
never be dropped, only yellow, so if your health is waning you might want to
opt for a few normal kills in hopes of getting some blue essence. Your reward
for finishing this challenge is another LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [005].
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: On the hard difficulty, this
challenge is even more difficult. The enemies respawn seemingly without
end, so it's much more a test of endurance than a test of anything else.
I would recommend the following, I found it helped me out quite a bit. At
the beginning of the level backtrack all the way back to the monastery
again and use Muramasa's Statue. There you can upgrade the Dragon Sword
to level three, and come back down here to take on the challenge. It
certainly won't guarantee a win, but it will really help you out.
______________________________________________________________________________
+-- CHAPTER 10 ----------------------------------------------------- 03.03 --+
Welcome to yet another Sixty Fiend Battle, the first one in a few chapters
yet. Located in chapter ten, near the second Dragon Statue you ride down the
elevator to the bottom after you have already come back up from acquiring the
Jewel of the Demon Seal. Your opponents will be sixty gross bug monsters.
This battle will prove to definitely be the fastest of all the ones you have
faced so far, in fact upon completing it your first thought will likely be
"Over so soon?" The fact is that it really doesn't take very long at all to
slash sixty bug monsters to death. My weapon of choice here is the Dragon
Sword, but come to think of it the Lunar might have made a fine choice for
this battle as well, and the Dabilahro is always a good choice given you are
proficient enough with it to know when to swing and when to dodge, with that
weapon it's easy to find yourself frustrated by how long it takes to actually
get a combo moving, but once you do it's devastating. All I really did for
this battle were a few Flying Swallow attacks, then when given the chance I
would land and hold the Y button to absorb a couple of essence orbs and let
loose a super combo, trying to collect as many large essence orbs as possible.
Rinse and repeat this combination until you get THE TALISMAN OF REBIRTH.
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: You shouldn't have too much
trouble at all with this challenge, despite the copious amounts of
disgusting bug creatures that attack, it's really quite simple with a
fully upgraded Dabilahro. If you don't already have the Dabilahdo at
level three, jump back up the the level above the water part (B2 I
believe) and go right. Past the hall with the Super Claw Demons is a room
with Muramasa's Statue in it. Using the Dabilahro you can do the X, X, X,
X, Y combo which works quite wlel if you start using it a distance away,
or better yet run up the wall, backflip off and use the Y button attack.
Lure all the enemies toward the chest on one side, then jump to the other
side near the elevator and charge up a level two Ultimate Technique. Not
only will this kill tons and tons of them, each one will drop huge yellow
essence orbs. Repeat until you get The Talisman of Rebirth as a prize.
______________________________________________________________________________
+-- CHAPTER 10 ----------------------------------------------------- 03.04 --+
Here comes another Sixty Fiends Challenge. It is found afer placing
the blue and red tablets of the stream in place, in chapter ten and then
going through the large stone door inside the Hall of Balance.
You'll face four Super Claw Demons at a time here in this large hall, there is
plenty of room to move around so you can take your time with this one, but
there is no need to. If you follow my instructions then you'll be able to
absolutely waste all the enemies. First of all you should have of course
acquired the Ninpo magic, The Art of Inazuma, it will play a key role here.
Secondly you should have upgraded it at least once if you've been following
the guide. Now note that almost anywhere you use this spell it is going to
kill all four of the Super Claw Demons around you in a single strike. You
should have a total of five Ki magic slots and they should be full, even if
they aren't you're likely stocked quite well with Great Devil Elixirs unless
you've really been relying heavily on magic up to this point. Begin by using
The Art of Inazuma once to kill all the enemies, then again to kill them all,
then again to kill them all etc etc etc. While they are being killed you
should of course be collecting the orbs, many of which will likely include red
orbs that refill your Ki and allow you to use the spell even more. Given
there are sixty fiends and you will four every time it would take fifteen
casts of the spell to take them all. If you don't collect enough red orbs to
cover that, then just a single Great Devil Elixir should be more than enough
to cover the rest, and then there's always (god forbid) killing them with a
sword or something. Your reward is a LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [007].
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: This particular challenge is
pretty much the same as on the normal difficulty, just with more enemies,
and more damage (to you that is.) You can stick with the Dragon Sword if
it suits your fancy, but personally I like to stick with pretty much the
same strategy that worked on the second Evil Ryu. Equip the Dabilahro and
jump a little distance away from the enemies, then turn around and execute
a X, X, X, X, Y attack combination. If all goes well, you should swing
your sword with such a wide and powerful radius that most of them are
killed off. Rinse and repeat. If you've got magic, equip The Art of
Inferno (since you don't have Inuzama yet) and run to one end of the hall
before you let loose for best chances to hit multiple enemies.
______________________________________________________________________________
+-- CHAPTER 12 ----------------------------------------------------- 03.05 --+
In the arena at the beginning of chapter twelve, after you have completed the
platformer puzzle you will have to face one of, if not the, most difficult
Sixty Fiend Challenges in the entire game. Here you will battle a total of
sixty of those red dinosaur enemies, three at a time. Using the Dabilahro
with the Armlet of the Sun equipped, it honestly isn't too hard to defeat all
of the enemies, especially given they drop blue essence virtually every single
time one of them dies. In other words, the risk of actually getting a game
over here is surprisingly low, basically it's just a question of whether you
have the patience to defeat that many strong enemies. I would recommend a
healthy usage of The Art of Inazuma, which at maximum upgrade, should be
enough to instantly kill all three of them assuming they are within close
proximity to you. When it comes to killing them individually, the normal X
button combo with the Dabilhro should be enough, after a couple of hits it
even knocks them off balance so the only time you have to worry about having
your head bitten or anything like that is if you attack as the enemy itself is
preparing for attack. When you finish this challenge, your prize appears up
at the top of this level, simply run up the walls the same way you did before
to reach the upper walkway and the LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [008].
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: This challenge is extremely
difficult, I must admit that I kind of gave up and continued with the game
without actually completing it. If you can find a way (or find the
patience) to get through the whole thing then congratulations to you.
Basically all of the Red Lizards have been replaced by enormous Ogres.
There are literally almost 100 Ogres to kill here, and each one takes a
huge amount of damage before it actually goes down. I would highly
recommend the Unlaboured Flawlessness above any other weapon for this
challenge however even still, you run a big risk keeping yourself at low
health in order to keep the weapon powerful. If you jump to the second
platform on the left side, the one higher than the first but not quite as
high as the top of the door frame (where the chest is) then you can
actually hit the enemies beloew with the second level charge of the
Unlaboured Flawlessness. While you can dodge the vast majority of the
attacks up here, you are not 100% safe as now and then, one of the
overhead swings will inevitably hit you. Whichever way you attempt to
complete this challenge is entirely up to you, good luck with it.
______________________________________________________________________________
+-- CHAPTER 12 ----------------------------------------------------- 03.06 --+
This is another Sixty Fiend Challenge, after the arena at the beginning of
chapter twelve you will head down a path and at the bottom, there are
approximately forty of those Super Claw Demons to kill, along with about
twenty or so normal Claw Demons. You've faced a similar if not easier
challenge before when you took on the Super Claw Demons exclusively for the
challenge back in the Aquaduct, regardless of what weapon you choose this one
should be child's play for you. Keep The Art of Inazuma ready which works
well as always, and just rely on the power of the Dragon Sword to cut through
these enemies as quickly as possible. Once you eventually defeat all sixty of
them, another chest appears with a LIVES OF THE THOUSAND GODS [009].
ADDITIONAL HARD DIFFICULTY INFORMATION: What you have here is a fiend
challenge which is virtually the same as the one from normal mode. A few
more enemies, that's about the only difference. Choose ideally either the
Dabilahro or the Dragon Sword and just go nuts. If you managed to
complete the Ogre challenge, then this is going to feel like child's play.
______________________________________________________________________________
+-- CHAPTER 13 ----------------------------------------------------- 03.07 --+
It just so happens that this is another of the game's numerous Sixty Fiends
Challenges. What you are going to want to do here, is use The Art of Inazuma
spell over and over again, not immediately one after the other, but use it
once to absolutely obliterate all the enemies in the area, and then a second
time when a bunch more respawn up top and descend down upon you. Repeat this
process about five or six more times and at the end of it all, you should have
easily cleared out at least sixty of those damn things. A treasure chest
appears up at the top of the room and you might be wondering how to get it,
the answer is in fact quite obvious. Begin running horizontally along one of
the walls and then jump to the next, over and over again and eventually you'll
reach the very top of this area. There is a corpse here with an infinite
supply of arrows, as well as a chest if you managed to kill all the enemies.
Open the chest and you will get another copy of THE TALISMAN OF REBIRTH.
______________________________________________________________________________
+-- CHAPTER 15 ----------------------------------------------------- 03.08 --+
There is a Sixty Fiends Challenge located in the fifteenth chapter, head from
Muramasa's Shop left to the previous area and go right, where you broke the
crack in the wall open. Across from here there is a warp portal in the gated
area that warps you to hell and begins the challenge. I consider this the
most difficult one in the game (at least on normal difficulty where you don't
have to fight the harder enemies anywhere else.) There are approaximately
fifty Super Claw Demons and ten of those damn laser eyeball shooting crab
clawed monsters. Use whatever means you have at your disposal to take them
all out, focusing mainly on the crab monsters and then just cleaning up the
leftover mess afterward. In Ninja Gaiden Black you will get THE TALISMAN OF
REBIRTH for doing this, which isn't really worth it, but I do remember getting
a much better item here in the original, so anyone playing that will probably
want to check it out for sure, either way, at least you get something.
______________________________________________________________________________
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|| 04.00 || Enemy & Boss Guide || 04.00 ||
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+-- (_/ LMA [CH-07 BOSS] ------------------------------------ 04.AL --+
This is definitely going to be the most difficult boss since Murai, and
if you had more trouble on some other boss than him, then it's going to be
harder than whatever boss that was. I'm not trying to give off the
impression that she's some kind of uber-unbeatable boss, but it will
probably take you at least a couple of tries depending on how many health
potions you use, just to get your head around the battle despite
everything that I tell you now. We begin as usual with the boss' attacks:
Alma has so many attacks it's hard to know where to start, but you need to
know how to avoid them all so we'll work based on frequency and distance.
When you are a reasonable distance away from here, there are two similar
attacks she will almost always do. The first is somewhat difficult to
avoid because it kind of tricks you. What she does is create a purple
aura on her hand and then swing her arm at you as if she's throwing
something, but in reality there is nothing to dodge there. What she is
actually doing is using some kind of telekenetic energy to launch on of
the stone pillars beside her in your direction for massive damage. This
can be dodged easily but like I said, you need to know when to dodge. She
doesn't throw it when she swings her arm, she swings her arm and then it
gets throw, so delay for a second or so before you jump out of the way.
The second similar attack is when she creates a bunch of purple orbs that
swirl around her, in this case all four of them are going to fire in your
direction one after another, these can be dodged eaisly simply by running
to the left or right, as long as you're moving you won't be hit by them.
Other than that there is one other attack she can do from a distance, she
will swoop out of the air and launch herself in your direction, not only
is this easy to dodge but it's actually better not to try and dodge it.
Instead while she is doing this, go for a Flying Swallow attack and it
can't miss, it won't knock her down, but it's free damage if you're quick.
There are still many other moves in the arsenel of this boss, a large
portion of them only occur when she is in close proximity to you. When
floating in the air Alma has a habit of using a powerful ground pound
attack where she comes down in you feet first with the weight of her
entire body, dodge this attack with a roll whenever you can. The boss'
most powerful attack also occurs when she gets close. You'll see a beam
of purple energy begin to cover her vertically, if she moves over top of
you while this energy is in place, you will automatically gravitate toward
her and be caught in her grasp for an unblockable throw combintion which
ends with you being kicked to the floor. Even on the normal difficulty,
this can take anywhere between one third and a whopping on half of your
total health away, avoid it at all costs, just run or jump out of the way.
Lastly the boss can also temporarily drop out of the air and walk around
on the ground. She will do this periodically and move calmly around the
room. She is still capable of using the four purple orb projectile attack
while on the ground, but that's nothing compared to the other attack
combintion she uses, somewhat similar to the air combination, except she
will simply attack with no purple beam warning, and it does almost as much
damage. This could arguably be her most "dangerous" attack, so always
remember to keep your distance from the boss when she's on the ground.
As you can see, the recurring themefor this battle seems to be keeping
your distance, and that will not change when you learn the best way to
actually fight the boss. The Flying Swallow technique using the Dragon
Sword is by far the most effective way to fight the battle, it allows you
to keep your distance until the last second and then attack, which should
launch you a good distance behind her to a safe place. After doing it
though you will almost always want to jump out of the way in any
direction, because when it misses she has a habit of trying to counter
with a foot stomp attack. The thing is, this attack will actually only
hit about one in four tries, perhaps less on the higher difficulties. She
is quite good at dodging it, but when it actually does hit her, it knocks
her out of the air onto the ground where she is culnerable to any attack.
Run up to her and press X, Y, and then pound the X button when you get
into the air to perform a Blade of Nirrti attack which will really dent
her total health, she can barely survive three of these so you'll be in a
good position if you can manage to do it. Besides this you will want to
note as I mentioned before, you can hit her while she is swooping, and you
can hit her when she's walking around instead of floating, but neither
will knock her down and leave her vulnerable. When going for the big
damage, you must hit her with a Flying Swallow while she's in the air.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~ Notes for Hard Difficulty ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The difficulty spike between normal and hard from what I can tell, is much
larger than any other boss fight so far. Having to deal with a bunch of
little creatures while fighting Alma does not translate well at all, you
need to be able to focus 100% on dodging her attacks, no matter how
pathetic and insignificant they may be. The strategy you used on normal
won't work too well here, since too often those little claw things will
interrupt you in the middle fo trying to do something. If you want to win
this battle you're going to need healing elixirs, patience, and of course
most importantly, ninja skill. The time is takes to move between retrying
and getting to the boss again can be frustrating, if you seem to be dying
quickly before you can barely damage her at all it will probably take a
few tries. I highly recommend going back to save the game after killing
the Cat Demons and getting the Life of the Gods from the safe, it could go
a long way toward easing the difficult battle, and inevitable retries.
The number one attack that you will have to worry about, is the stone
pillar throwing. Personally I find this attack will nail you more than
anything this time around, followed by the unpredicatableness of her
throw, followed by the flying lunge attack she uses. First and foremost,
there are four of those stone pillars flying at you whenever that attack
is used, menaing you have to be agile enough to dodge them while
simultaneously dodging the Claw Demons. If you haven't already, I would
highly recommend practicing the jump and roll technique. This technique
as I call it, is just jumping, rolling the instant you hit the ground,
then jumping the instant you stop rolling, and repeating. I find it can
really get you moving quickly and allow you to dodge both on ground and in
the air. This is the best way to dodge the pillars, as well as the purple
orbs and pretty much any other attack she will throw in your direction.
When it comes to attacking the boss, there are two attacks you'll want to
use and two alone (that is until she's knocked on the ground.) Those two
attacks are the Flying Swallow and The Art of Inferno. Flying Swallow
misses so often you'll wonder if it's actually possible to hit her with
it, well it is, and it's one of the only attacks which will actually knock
her out of the air. If you hit her with the Flying Swallow right at the
beginning of battle, while she is initiating an attack, while she's
walking on the ground, or while she is lunging, it will damage her but not
knock her out of the air. If you hit her at any other time with it then
it will knock her down and make her vulnerable for a moment. The Art of
Inferno will also knock her out of the air, but you want to try knocking
her down with the firey aura, not the spell. By this I mean to try
casting it will standing below her, your aura will knock her down and then
the spell will never miss (unless you target one of the Claw Demons.)
Once she's on the ground then you are free to use your best attack, I like
the X, X, Y, Y, Y attack but she is almost always back in the air before
it's finished. It still does a good amount of damage, so stick with it.
Remember to keeping using the Flying Swallow, and when you see the purple
aura begin to surround her, get the hell out of there. As for the Claw
Demons, there are two schools of thought. Killing them whenever they
appear has huge advantages, she is much easier to kill when there are no
other enemies around. It also has huge disadvantages: while killing the
enemies you are extremely vulnerable to just about every attack. Try
using an Izuna Drop as quickly as possible and moving on for best results.
The other school of thought is to simply ignore them and focus on the
boss. You have the added advantage of not being as vulnerable, but the
fact is you will accidentally target them all the time, they will hit you
while the boss is weak and crouching on the ground, and piss you off all
around. I would recommend the first option, just be quick about it.
Remember that Alma is extremely difficult and you cannot get back to any
shop, hopefully what you've got on your is good enough otherwise you may
be in a lot of trouble. Some people have been forced to start a new game
here because they just don't have enough items. I'm saying in all honesty
that as long as you have at minimum either one Great Spirit Elixir, or two
to three Elixirs of Spiritual Life, then keep at it! Being able to heal
yourself fully even just once is more than enough to finish this boss,
many people can do it without any healing items. Keep this in mind before
you go ahead and make any quick decisions that may be unnecessary.
______________________________________________________________________________
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+-- (_/ AWKENED ALMA [CH-13 BOSS] --------------------------- 04.AK --+
Everyone has their own opinions about things, in I my own personal opinion
this is the hardest boss in the game you've fought so far. Don't get me
wrong, I'm going to give you a strategy that will work (at least on the
normal difficulty) and allow you to beat this boss quite easily without
being hit even once, but regardless that doesn't change the fact that she
is so frustratingly powerful and nearly impossible to hit using so many
tried and true tactics that work on other enemies. I literally tried this
boss battle over thirty times defeating the boss only the second try, but
using every subsequent one to try and come up with the perfect strategy
and it never came. Using a few healing potions and spamming the Flying
Swallow technique I was able to eventually hammer down the boss' health
without too much difficulty, but there were just so many nearly
unavoidable hits that I hestate to make any recommendations based on that.
Personally I consider "taking the True Dragon Sword and going at her like
crazy with it" to be a perfectly viable and useful tactic for this battle,
but I can't just say that and be on your way, I've got to try and come up
with something that will minimize if not eliminate damage you take, and
this tactic just doesn't cut it. As I mentioned before, I will outline
the final method I used to kill her without being hit once, but it still
uses far more magic that I would have hoped. The last two paragraphs
outline the best strategy I could come up with, you're free to skip down
there if you like but you'd miss out on tips to keep you alive through it.
Before getting into how to kill the boss of course, it is very important
to understand the flow of battle and what to do when, so yo can move
quickly and get right to work. So many of her attacks are difficult to
dodge and inflict maximum damage, it's part of the reason I chose such an
offensive tactic, because the longer you stay in this battle it seems, the
less likely you are to survive. Starting with her ranged attacks we have
a couple similar to the earlier form, including the four purple orbs she
crates and then launches at you. This is one of the hardest attacks to
dodge that she has, running will guarantee a hit, jumping once will
virtually guarantee a hit when you land. There are two methods which both
seem to be somewhat effective, the first is jumping once, then again when
you land, the other is rolling out of the way of the first one or two,
then jumping for the last two. The latter seems to work a bit better if
you can get the hang of it. For whatever you use, it's extremely
important to note that the further away you are, and the more
perpendicular you are running to the attack, the easier it is to dodge.
When you get closer it becomes next to impossible to dodge that one.
She also has another purple projectile, but this is just one, and quite a
bit bigger than the four of them. It can be dodged much easier, just make
sure you jump to the side as it is coming at you, rather than before it is
shot or you'll be hit as you fly thorugh the air. There is some very
serious damage associated with this one, get out of the way as fast as
possible. The last of the ranged attacks is another familiar one, she
will throw two stone pillars at you. Dodging these is about as easy as
the previously mentioned attack, jump once to avoid the first one and roll
immediately as you hit the ground, you'll almost surely dodge the second.
When you get closer you had better be ready for the worst attack in the
history of the universe, this is a throw which is more powerful than any
other attack by any enemy in the game so far, can grab you from a larger
distance than any other throw and she does it over and over again, in
conjunction with other attacks as well. The instant you see her tail
swiping back in the air, she is about to grab you. Listen to these words
and listen well, do not try to jump out of the way of this attack in any
direction, especially not jumping away from the boss, she will nab you
every single time. When you roll, even rolling under her it will not grab
you and you'll be safe for the time being. If there's anything you take
away from this entire boss strategy, it's to roll to avoid this, not jump!
Not only does she have all of these attacks in the normal state, she can
drop down to the ground and begin using all sorts of new attacks. When
she is on the ground and you're close, she will often do the one arm
swipe, other arm swipe, followed by jumping into the air and doing her
grab attack. If this happens you can kiss your entire enormous health bar
goodbye. When she's on the ground and you're far away, she will charge at
you and kind of do a body check, you'll take damage if you so much as
touch her at this point. I highly recommend you try to dodge this by
running and not jumping, I find trying to jump out of the way only makes
her change direction and charge at you in the air. If she hits you she
will just keep charging and charging pretty much until you die, or you
finally manage to dodge one of them. By this point you should have a
basic idea how to avoid just about anything she throws at you, even after
thirty tries I still get hit by those damn four orbs at least one in every
three times she uses it. It takes a lot of practice to avoid them all.
Before going into the main strategy I'll outline three other strategies
that "kind of worked" but not particularaly well. If you can take ideas
and perhaps mold them into a better strategy, then that is why I suggest
them to you now. The first is the basic Flying Swallow tactic with the
True Dragon Sword. Her defenses are extremely good, meaning that if you
just use this over and over you will rarely hit her. Not only that,
randomly as you bounce off she will catch you in the air before you even
land and perform her devastating throws. This is the number one reason
why the tactic doesn't work. When it actually does connect, it knocks her
out of the air and gives you a chance to attack for good damage, but there
just seems to be too much randomness involved to make it really viable.
The second idea which actually worked surprisingly well at first was, get
ready for this, the Spear Gun! I ran up to her and fired a shot, she
cannot block it under any circumstance. When she gte shit she will
automaticlly spin around once to try and move out of the way. At this
point you can fire again, she'll get hit, spin, fire again, hit, spin etc
and this goes on and on. Sure the damage is miniscule but I thought I had
found a foolproof method, until she inevitably spin far enough away to
dodge and then at that point it became extremely difficult to restablish
the pattern. I did manage to do it, but it was difficult. Interesting
tactic that sort of works, but extremely extremely impractical.
The final method which sort of worked, but not too well was the kamikaze
method. Doing this will guarantee both big damage to her, and big damage
to you. Equip the True Dragon Sword and start dodging attacks like mad.
Eventually when she drops to the ground you should be as far away as
possible. When she charges at you, spin the analog stick 360 degrees and
hold the Y button. You need to time it so that you charge almost to the
first level or charge, but not quite. If you reach the first level it
will not work. Release the instant before she hits you and Ryu will spin
around, doing massive damage to the boss, along with taking massive damage
from the bodycheck himself. For whatever reason, if you reach the first
level of charge she will block it virtually every time, but if you don't
quite charge that long it seems to actually hit her virtually every time.
I don't understand it, you can try it yourself, but you really end up
taking quite a bit of damage trying to win like this, not recommended.
Finally we get into the actual stategy I used for this boss that worked
extremely well, killing her very quickly and minimizing the damage to Ryu.
I can't imagine it would work too well in the harder difficulties, but you
never know. Basically what you are are going to need is the True Dragon
Sword, the Art of Inferno spell leveled up as high as possible, and a
couple of Great Devil Elixirs. When the battle begins, run right up to
the boss and get as close as possible. You want to wait until she starts
to use an attack, so if she begins to summon the purple orbs, or moves her
tail to grab, then the timing is correct. Remember at this point you want
to be so close, that standing directly below her is ideal. Hit the Y and
B buttons simultaneously with The Art of Inferno equipped and assuming you
are close enough, she will be hit by the fiery aura that surrounds you and
knocked to the ground. The timing with the magic spell, and her lying on
the ground is perfect so that you are guaranteed to launch the fireball
and hit her as she is lying on the ground. The damage from this is
nothing special, but it is something, especially when used over and over.
And so you get the basic idea, with The Art of Inferno, you knock her out
of the air by using it while standing directly below her, then blast the
fireball as she is down. Here's where it gets interesting however. When
she gets up I would recommend allowing her to reset herself since she
moves fast here, and then trying again, as opposed to trying to knock her
down the instant she gets up which doesn't work too well. The next
important thing happens if you use the spell, but she avoids being knocked
down by the aura. This isn't bad at all, in fact it hopefully will happen
a couple of times. Now you will blast the fireball at her in the air.
Unlike while on the ground, she can both dodge and block the attack, but
there is also a somewhat (one in three or so) chance that it will hit her
and knock her down. Since she is on the ground and you have already cast
the spell, it's your best opportunity you have. Run up to her and press
the X button, then jam the Y button for about one second, and tap the Y
button twice (this is with the True Dragon Sword of course). The
combination here will end with you jumping into the air, right as you come
down hit the Y and B buttons to burn her as she is getting up, you should
have more time than normal so you can knock her down, blast her again
right after this combination. It all sounds so crazy, but I've done it
numerous times and it will in the end, deal nearly 40% off of her total
health. While casting these spells you are completely invincible which is
why this tactic works so well, you avoid the dangerous attacks
automatically most of the time. Be ready with a couple Great Devil
Elixirs (I only needed one whenever I did this) and soon enough, after a
heated battle, you will strike the killing blow, and trigger a cutscene.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~ Notes for Hard Difficulty ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Awakened Alma is difficult on any difficulty but on hard, she becomes even
more of an obstacle. I don't think any other boss really compares to the
difficulty of this fight, but I guess that really depends on the player.
For the hard strategy I'll kind of outline a new strategy I started using
against her on this difficulty which is different than the one I described
for normal, but could probably be used on any difficulty. It involves The
Art of Inazuma rather than The Art of Inferno, and the True Dragon Sword.
The two Super Claw Demons she has with her can get real obnoxious real
fast, so you're going to have to deal with them quickly. The problem is
that Awakened Alma has so many strong projectile attacks, that almost no
combination is fast enough to kill them safely. Here's the soltuion, and
it actually comes naturally from the strategy described below.
Begin the battle by jumping forward, waiting a second or so for the
enemies to spawn, and then cast The Art of Inazuma. I'll paint a quick
picture of the ideal situation. When you cast the spell you are close to
the boss, but not so close that she is knocked out of the air by the aura
which surrounds you. You want to try and knock her out of the air with
the spell itself, but be close enough to her so that you can move in while
she's on the ground. If all goes well you'll have time to at least get
part of a Y, hold Y, Y, Y, Y combination off before she goes back up.
That's just one small part of the strategy that you only use when the
enemies spawn. You should have about four Ki slots or so, and that should
be enough to take out all of the Super Claw Demons which spawn (this
doesn't count any Talismans of Rebirth you may use, that fully restore
your Ki.) The real meat and potatoes of this strategy comes from the
Gleaming Blade. The Gleaming Blade is performed as follows. Spin the
analog stick 360 degrees and hold the Y button. Don't tap it so you use
the attack right away, but don't hold it so long that you perform an
Ultimate technique, any length of time in between will suffice just fine.
Now that you know how to use this move, you must learn when you use it.
What you want to do during this battle is spend as much time as possible,
as far away from Awakened Alma as possible. When you spend a lot of time
far away from her, she will eventually lower herself to the ground, and
charge at you. When she begisn to charge spin the analog stick and hold
Y, then let go just before she reaches you (better to let go early than to
let go late, since being hit will interrupt your attack.) If your timing
is good then this attack is unblockable and does quite a bit of damage
(15% or so of her total health.) The problem however is that 90% of the
time, you will also be hit during this attack, for about as mcuh damage as
a single Elixir of Spiritual Life heals. This boss strategy is somewhat
on the "kamikaze" side, but from what I can tell it's far and away one of
the best ways to damage her, and there are a few perks with it to help:
First of all, any damage you do after The Art of Inazama while she's on
the ground, won't result in damage to you, so that's all a bonus.
Secondly, after she charges and you use the Gleaming Blade, you can
sometimes follow with a Y, hold Y, Y, Y, Y attack when you hit the ground
for a whole mass of extra damage. It does in fact leave you wide open for
being hit (or worse yet grabbed) but for the most part, she doesn't block
this either and it does a hell of a lot of damage. In this battle, being
grabbed will result in most likely the majority of the damage you take,
unless you suck at dodging stone pillars, so learn to roll out of the way
of the grab as best you can and your results will improve. Regarding the
stone pillars by the way, the roll, jump, roll, jump technique works well.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~ Unlaboured Flawlessness Strategy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Believe it or not, as far as I can tell from my experiences from the boss,
there isn't one, you're going to have to wing this on your own. For some
reason, even with low health it never seems to do that much damage, and
don't even get me started on how difficult it is to last more than a few
seconds in this battle with low health. The best thing to do is learn one
of the normal or hard strategies well, and see if you can modify it to
something that works for you. If you can find a way to use this weapon
effectively in the battle then by all means please feel free to go for it.
______________________________________________________________________________
______
(, / )
/---(
) / ____)
+-- (_/ ( AT -------------------------------------------------- 04.BA --+
Bats are one of the most frequently found, and obnoxious enemies in the
entire game. You never know when they're going to pop up, fromthe very
first stage all the way to the end of the game you'll come across them.
The weapon of choice for defeating bats are the Shurikens, the basic
default Shurikens, and there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it, they work
great. If you get to close to a group of bats don't be surprised if they
suck half the life out of Ryu, you could be forgiven for thinking them
harmless, but these are full fledged vampire death bats. There is one
good thing to come out of them though (and I mean that literally.) If you
anticipate a bat attack you can equip the Shurikens and take them all out
from a distance, bats have a habit of dropp small yellow and blue essence
orbs, but lots of them, so combined they will really serve to refill your
health. If you're low on life, be sure to seek out nearby bats for this
exact reason, you'll find utilizing this trick really comes in handy.
______________________________________________________________________________
______
(, / )
/---(
) / ____)
+-- (_/ ( LACK CRYSTAL SOLDIER -------------------------------- 04.BC --+
The Black Crystal Soldier is the next level of the Grey Soldiers from
chapter three. They have many of the same weapons and moves. They are
equipped with a plasma saber and a gun, but also a shield. These enemies
have much better defense capabilities and more health than their weaker
counterparts. They can attack not only with the sword, but melee hand-to-
hand combat as well. Their throw is quick, and basically involves a knee
to Ryu's face. They can also take out their gun and fire at you from a
distance. Not only this but these special enemies now use a powerful
backflip kick which can break through your defenses if they use a quick
attack prior to knock you off guard. It can get extremely difficult to
hit this enemy, try knocking them off balance with the Dragon Sword from
an air attack, and then use your most powerful combination.
______________________________________________________________________________
______
(, / )
/---(
) / ____)
+-- (_/ ( LACK SPIDER NINJA ----------------------------------- 04.BS --+
Black Spider Ninjas will appear in the normal game periodically, first
appearing in the imperial city and then at numerous other times during the
game. The difficulty of these enemies spikes up exponentially compared to
other enemies you have faced before. Gone are the ninjas who were
unwilling to be aggressive and jump at you over and over again. Not only
are they agile and aggressive, they also have the ability to throw
Incendiary Shurikens very frequently. A Black Spider Ninja can be
eliminated fairly well with an upgraded Lunar Staff, as well as the normal
Dragon Sword. Either of these weapons will work, but when fighting Black
Spider Ninjas it's imporatant to keep moving at all times. If not you
risk being hit by one of the Incendiary Shurikens. The Incendiary
Shurikens are a very dangerous weapon in the hands of an enemy, if one
misses you and explodes nearby, Ryu will take damage; consequently if one
hits him it will remain stuck on his side until it explodes, doing quite a
bit of damage. The only way to avoid damage from an Incendiary Shuriken
attached to you is to perform a move which makes you temporarily
invincible, a throw is a good example as is a Ninpo magic spell.
______________________________________________________________________________
______
(, / )
/---(
) / ____)
+-- (_/ ( ONE DRAGON [CH-06 BOSS] ----------------------------- 04.BD --+
The Bone Dragon is most certainly the biggest boss you've fought so far,
and with immense size often comes immense difficulty. This is partially
the case here, he's sure going to take a bit more work to drop than that
weird kraken thing you fought in the previous level. Still, keep a couple
of health potions in your inventory, and you'll get through this fight.
This boss has quite a few different and unique attacks, fortunately you
don't have to worry too much about predicting which one he's going to do
since he can't use them randomly in a sense. Basically here's how it
works, the boss is always going to have one limb, either an arm or a leg
on the platform directly in front of you. Depending on which one he has
there he will use different attacks. We'll begin however with his
universal attack. Regardless of which limb is in front of you, the boss
has the ability to shake the screen a bit and then launch two bone
fragments in your direction one after another. This attack will likely be
the one which does the most damage through the entire battle, so you
should get used to either blocking or dodging it. I don't say this
because the attack is particularaly powerful, quite the opposite in fact,
but the boss does is so often that it'll likely hit you more than a few
times. It's possible to block this attack, it knocks you off balance but
the second bone fragment should make contact just as you regain your
balance, it's close but you can usually block both. If you're right at
the edge, then they may hit fast enough so you can't block the second, but
from a distance you'll be okay. Personally I think it's easier most of
the time to just try and dodge them. The attack is so frequent that if
you're always blocking them, you'll end up blocking the whole battle.
Next we have the more powerful attacks, starting with the arms. If one of
his front limbs is in front of you then the boss is capable of performing
a horizontal swipe with his claw, either jump over this or jump backward
out of the way, don't try to block it. If one of the back legs is in
front of you, then the attack will instead be a vertical stomp. It's
extremely powerful, but much easier to dodge. Still impossible to block.
That covers the normal attacks, and finally we have the boss' two
transition attacks. I call them transition attacks because the boss only
uses them when changing the positions of his limbs. They are attacks from
the head and the tail. Basically if he is switching from his front right
arm, to front left arm, the head will pass you in the process, same goes
for back legs and the tail. If he switches from front arm, to back leg
then you won't have to worry about because there aren't any damaging
appendices on the sides of his body that you have to worry about.
As the Dragon Zombie turns and his head passes you, he might randomly
decide to pull the head back (this is your warning) and lunge toward the
camera and try to grab you in his mouth. He lunges so far forward that
for a second his head actually covers the entire screen, it's quite
frightening. If you get caught in the mouth then you will be victim to
the boss' most powerful attack (and throw) so it's unblockable. Dodging
it is easy, simply run to the side, I find it easiest to just run to the
right. When he switches between his back legs, every single time the tail
will swipe past you in the process. Don't try to block it, simply jump
over it like a jumprope. Everyonce in awhile he'll switch, then switch
back immediately, so the tail will swipe left, then right again.
Now that we've covered the boss' many attacks, we can examine just how to
actually defeat him. As you may have guessed, attacking the body is
pretty much out of the question so we need to look at other avenues. The
answer is of course the limbs, when you run up to either the arm or the
leg planted in front of you and begin attacking, the boss will take
damage. Not too complicated, but it becomes difficult especially when
you're trying to dodge those flying bone fragments. Stick with combos
that involve jumping so that perhaps even while attacking, you'll
inevitably still end up dodging sometimes. Each limb makes up 25% of the
boss' total health, so you can win the battle by attacking a single one.
When it's taken enough damage a limb will shed the outer bone layer and he
will never put that limb in front of you again. Basically you just have
to defeat all four limbs and deplete his health, and the battle is over.
__________________________________________________________________________
~~~ Notes for Hard Difficulty ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Accompanying the Bone Dragon on this difficulty are a number of those
little flying creatures with the stingers on the bottom. These can be
both a blessing and a curse of course, depending on how readily you
dispatch them. I would recommend that you focus on these little enemies
as soon as they appear and kill them as soon as possible. Not only can
being stung deal a surprising amount of damage, but it often leads to
disorientation and being hit by another more dangerous attack.
The Dragon Sword still works fine on this boss, as does the aforementioned
strategy, just make sure you kill those little flying buggers whenever
they show up. The health they drop can actually benefit you quite a bit.
Use the X, X, Y, Y attack on the dragon's feet and hands whene