Darkstar Ripclaw Presents...
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The most recent version of this FAQ may always be found at GameFAQs.com
1. Characters
a. Hibito's Story [WHBTS]
b. Kyle's Story [WKYLS]
c. Daichi's Story [WDBTS]
d. Guy's Story [WGUYS]
2. Quests [2QSTS]
3. Bullets [3BLLT]
4. Shop List [4SHLS]
5. Miscellaneous
a. Basics [MBBS]
b. A.I. Exploits [MAIE]
c. Titles [MTLE]
d. FAQ [MFAQ]
At the current moment, those who wish to submit content should refer to
the two paragraphs at the bottom of the FAQ for guidelines and my email. Not
following the guidelines and trying to email me shall result in a deleted
email.
~Darkstar Ripclaw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HIBITO'S STORY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[WHBTS]
1. Walkthrough
a. Foothill [HWFH1]
b. Melthea [HWMLT]
c. Seaside City [HWSSC]
d. Diver Coast [HWDVC]
ae. Gun Valley [HWGVL]
be. Oceana Spring [HWOCS]
af. Gearbourg [HWGRB]
bf. Aquapolis [HWAQP]
g. Darth Valley [HWDVL]
h. Alexandria [HWALX]
i. Midway City [HWMWC]
j. Thugger's Den [HWTHD]
k. Newtown [HWNWT]
al. Blingsville [HWBL1]
-Tournament
bl. Blingsville [HWBL2]
-Rescue
m. Citadel Ruins [HWCDR]
an. Oakland [HWOAK]
bn. Raiden [HWRID]
o. Synesthesia [HWSN1]
p. Foothill [HWFH2]
q. Maze Forest [HWMZF]
r. Mad Company [HWMDC]
s. Foothill [HWFH2]
t. Synesthesia [HWSN2]
u. Finale [HWFNL]
2. Quests
a. Let's Grap! [HQLG!]
b. QA Tester [HQQAT]
3. Fighting Strategies [KFGST]
-=-=-=-=
FOOTHILL
=-=-=-=-
[HWFH1]
After the inital bunch of story text, head right into another room of
the house. Continue right some more after Honoka is finished talking to head
outside, and once Honoka is done some more talking, head left (if you want to
talk to everyone in the right side of town, now is your only chance to do so).
More talking later, and you shall get into your first battle with a Variant. For
the first bit, just attack with your X and Y buttons. For the second segment,
add jumping using B and guarding with R to your arsenal. You will not
necessarily have to use all of the commands, however, as each battle will end
after a set amount of damage.
Once you return to town, head right a screen for another conversation
with Honoka (were you wishing to talk to everyone on the left side, this is the
only chance you have; also, the shop is currently not selling bullets at the
time). A few more talks later (head left when exiting the house), you will later
be put out on the World Map. Head over to Melthea next.
-=-=-=-
MELTHEA
=-=-=-=
[HWMLT]
Once the cutscene is over, head right a screen. Here, enter the building
with the mark similar to a spiral inside an S. Talk to the lady at the right
counter inside, and you will be brought into a brief tutorial of fighting in
Draglade. If you have already done any other character's story, skip these whole
next two paragraphs, as it is the exact same thing as every other tutorial.
You are technically supposed to use three light and three hard attacks,
then block three times, and use three Bullets, but I have seen on the occasion
that you can get away with less. For the fourth one, just tap the p Heal to
switch it with your p Fire, and then activate it. For the fifth one, press and
hold the L button, and hit the instructor with attacks in symphony with the
beat. For the sixth, you will have to be more exact with your beats. After some
more basics, you will need to fight the instructor.
Given the basics so far, you should not have too difficult a fight. Spam
your regular attacks for the most part, and use your beat combos when he leaves
himself open. If the two of you are separated by a fair distance, you can get
away with your p Fire. Also, if you get truly low on your MP, use p Heal, but
make sure that the instructor is out of the way; if he is next to you, he will
also be healed by the p Heal.
After the tutorials are finished, listen to the counter lady for some
background information on how to complete the goals set out for you by the
game's storyline. You will also get p Fire and p Water (automatically inserted
into your bullet customizer) as well as a generic beat combo.
Before leaving town, you can do optional sidequests by talking to the
clerk at the left counter in the G-Center in town. Quest strategies are detailed
in the quests section if you need them. You can also pick up preordained Beat
Combos up here (and you can customize them as well). Meanwhile, on the opposite
side of town is a bullet shop now open that will sell you new bullets (if you
have done anybody else's story at all so far, however, your bullets from that
story will cross over to here). Quest strategies can be found in the quests
section. After you are done, leave town, and head to Seaside City on the
overworld map.
-=-=-=-=-=-=
SEASIDE CITY
=-=-=-=-=-=-
[HWSSC]
Watch the cutscene coming into Seaside City, then head right. For the
most part, stay away from the bear variant, and instead shoot offensive bullet
after bullet into him. Only move in close for the attack if you are confident
that you can pull of a Dash+Y knockout move. If, for whatever reason you let the
bear close enough to hit you, it can do things; either he will slash his claws
at you, or (much more likely) he will curl up into a ball and roll straight
forward at you, knocking you down. Thankfully, after the latter attack he will
be dazed, so if the opportunity arises, use your Beat Combo relentlessly.
After, you obtain a p Water for defeating the bear variant. With that
out of the way, there is not much remaining to do in town. About the only thing
you can do in town is go to the Bullet Shop (which has some of the same stock as
Melthea and some new), but after that is over, your only remaining destination
is out of town. Once you have committed, proceed to Diver Coast.
-=-=-=-=-=-
DIVER COAST
=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWDVC]
Proceed right a screen from the entrance, and you shall take on a boss.
--------
MEGABOLT
--------
Megabolt is a large crab-like boss robot that likes to move around a
lot. It has three main attacks; the first is that it will disappear off the
screen, only to come back on rushing forward a constant amount of distance
before it stops. If you are in the way of its rush, you will get damaged by the
contact. The longer it is in contact with you, the more damage you shall
receive, so stay out of the way when it does this, and counterattack during the
crab's refractory period. After the lag, it will start moving from side to side.
For the first bit of time when it is doing this, you will not take damage, so
pound away. However, quickly retreat, as it will end this attack off by suddenly
jerking to one side and bowling over everything in its path.
The second attack for the crab is that it will jump up and down. If you
happen to be in its way when it starts coming down, it shall knock you out of
the way. However, you will not receive damage if you strike it while it is going
up. Its third and final attack is that it will start to face one way and then
rotate its arms in opposite directions, and start spitting fire out of its
mouth. This is when it is most vulnerable, as it will stay in that position and
carry on with its attack. Stay out of its way for the beginning, until you learn
to recognize what it does right before it starts to spit out fire. Once you have
learned its pattern, go behind its back next time before it has the chance to
breath fire, then relentlessly strike at its back with Beat Combos while it is
going away at the front. It simply CANNOT stop its attack halfway through,
leaving you plenty of time to take care of it. You should also stay in the
middle for the most part to exploit this attack, as you will have room to slip
behind to his back side with this.
So long as you become familiar with the pattern of the crab boss's three
attacks (and no, you cannot flip it over to deal massive damage), you can keep
smashing away at it while staying out of the way of its attacks.
After the battle has finished, head right into the next area, and enter
the G-Center here. Talk to the lady at the right desk to be directed to your
next G-Center, which will be home to the first major exam you shall take. Do the
optional quest and pick up any bullets as you will, then exit out onto the
overworld.
Now, Hibito's story begins to branch into two separate paths here. You
can head to the settlement of Aquapolis by way of Oceana Spring, or head to
Gearbourg through Gun Valley. If you wish to refer to the table of contents
offered at the beginning of the walkthrough for Hibito's Story, Oceana Spring
and Aquapolis will be referred to as ae and af, while Gun Valley and Gearbourg
shll be sectioned under be and bf. The branches will converge after awhile back
into one path.
-=-=-=-=-=
GUN VALLEY
=-=-=-=-=-
[HWGVL]
•Monsters: Fire Mouse, Fire Wolf, Wind Butterfly
For the most part, just travel right in Gun Valley until you hit the
next screen. You should, however, stick around to fight every enemy you come
across (of which there are only the two variety in this area) to get some quick
levelling up now, of which will be imperative very soon (you cannot revisit
areas until after you defeat the game, so you cannot expect to be able to farm
out some experience). At the end, you shall fight a Snake boss.
-----
SNAKE
-----
The Snake offers four different attacks. The first one is a physical
attack; when you get very close to it, it will turn around ever so slightly, and
its tail will appear out in front of it. After a few seconds, it will then smack
you with its tail, sending you reeling back. For the second attack, an orb of
energy will start gathering around the snake, and shortly after, it will start
breathing fire for a large amount of area in front of it. If it starts to do
this latter attack, you would be well advised to run away. The Snake's final
technique is to spit out three small fireballs, one heading straight left, the
other two up-left and down-left at 45 degree angles (or right if facing the
opposite way). Finally, the fourth attack is that it will leap into the air, and
then land down where you are standing about five seconds later. To coutnerattack
this last one, quickly dash to one side of the arena, then turn around and start
dashing the other way to give yourself the maximum amount of space to dodge the
landing.
For fighting the good fight, there are two different approaches you can
take to battling the Snake. The first is to be super-aggressive, and go forward
and start ripping into the Snake. As basically all of its attacks require some
downtime before it can perform them, you can pretty much cause some major damage
before it has a chance to respond. Furthermore, both of its fire-based attacks
can be interrupted by your mayhem, meaning that you can effectively just hack
and slash away at it until it finally uses its tail attack.
The alternative strategem is to stay back as far away as possible from
the snake, and shoot bullets after it. As the snake will pretty much stay stable
in one position for nearly the entire fight if it does not decide to leap up,
there is absolutely nothing to stop you from keeping a safe distance and firing
bullet after bullet at it. It is cheap, admittedly, but you are free to do
whatever works for you.
With the fight done, head on to Gearbourg.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
OCEANA SPRING
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWOCS]
•Monsters: Water Mouse, Fire Wolf, Water Tortoise
For the most part, just travel right in Oceana Spring until you hit the
next screen. You should, however, stick around to fight every enemy you come
across (of which there are only the two variety in this area) to get some quick
levelling up now, of which will be imperative very soon (you cannot revisit
areas until after you defeat the game, so you cannot expect to be able to farm
out some experience). At the end, you shall fight a Snake boss.
-----
SNAKE
-----
The Snake offers four different attacks. The first one is a physical
attack; when you get very close to it, it will turn around ever so slightly, and
its tail will appear out in front of it. After a few seconds, it will then smack
you with its tail, sending you reeling back. For the second attack, an orb of
energy will start gathering around the snake, and shortly after, it will start
breathing fire for a large amount of area in front of it. If it starts to do
this latter attack, you would be well advised to run away. The Snake's final
technique is to spit out three small fireballs, one heading straight left, the
other two up-left and down-left at 45 degree angles (or right if facing the
opposite way). Finally, the fourth attack is that it will leap into the air, and
then land down where you are standing about five seconds later. To coutnerattack
this last one, quickly dash to one side of the arena, then turn around and start
dashing the other way to give yourself the maximum amount of space to dodge the
landing.
For fighting the good fight, there are two different approaches you can
take to battling the Snake. The first is to be super-aggressive, and go forward
and start ripping into the Snake. As basically all of its attacks require some
downtime before it can perform them, you can pretty much cause some major damage
before it has a chance to respond. Furthermore, both of its fire-based attacks
can be interrupted by your mayhem, meaning that you can effectively just hack
and slash away at it until it finally uses its tail attack.
The alternative strategem is to stay back as far away as possible from
the snake, and shoot bullets after it. As the snake will pretty much stay stable
in one position for nearly the entire fight if it does not decide to leap up,
there is absolutely nothing to stop you from keeping a safe distance and firing
bullet after bullet at it. It is cheap, admittedly, but you are free to do
whatever works for you.
Once the battle is over, head off to Aquapolis.
-=-=-=-=-
GEARBOURG
=-=-=-=-=
[HWGRB]
After the cutscene, get some new stuff at the Bullet Shop if you require
it, then head right a few scenes until you get to the G-Center. Talk to Yuki
here and say yes to head inside. Talk to the lady at the right counter to start
your pair of fights.
Be prepared for these two fights; in the Gearbourg battle arena, you
have four pipes, two on each side of the screen. When the vacuum starts up, the
pipes will suck you in; the bottom-left pipe will suck you in and shoot you out
the top-left pipe, and vice versa. The same goes for the right side. While it
may interrupt what was becoming a good combo for you, you can also use it to
surprise opponents that are sticking to their guns, digging in their heels and
defending for the entirety of the battle.
------
HADCHI
------
Probably the best thing about Hadchi is that he only has 1200MP, and you
can actually cause reasonable amounts of damage when you get an open strike on
him (40-50MP apiece), so that this fight does not take longer than it should.
In any case, Hadchi has four attacks, two of them physical. The two
physical ones involve him slashing his sword Glade from top to bottom in a half-
circle attack, and is often coupled with him dashing forward. His second
technique is to do a jump and combine it with an upward sweep, which will knock
you off your feet if you do not defend yourself. His final two attacks involves
the use of a fireball attack, where he shoots out a straight bolt of fire that
goes in the horizontal direction he is facing and expands as it moves away, and
an f Toxin attack, which if it hits you, will keep you poisoned and losing HP
for some time.
The thing that is difficult about Hadchi is that he loves to dash
around, lots. And move around he will, onto the middle and top platforms,
dropping down the platforms, and between the opposite ends of the fighting
arena. Most usually, he will chase after you, and constantly harass you, giving
you little opportunity to stay on the defensive.
As such, you will be required to take the battle to him. As Hadchi often
will be quick to put his guard up, you can perform the Dash + Y attack to knock
him off balance. Mostly, however, take advantage of his love for motion. When he
is on the ground, jump up a platform, then do Down + B to drop down and change
your drop into a swinging cut at Hadchi. The reverse is also true; if Hadchi is
lured onto a platform, drop down a floor, then when he drops down, follow
through with a combo attack to cause great harm while he is unable to guard
(being in the air).
Finally, you can exploit the suction traps of Gearbourg yourself to your
advantage. If Hadchi is guarding to an annoying degree, just go through one the
bottom suction trap, land on one of the top platforms, then drop down and hit
him with a surprise strike (or the opposite, where you can go from top to bottom
and then come from underneath).
-----------
TURK MCDIRK
-----------
Turk McDirk, in terms of his two regular physical attacks and moving
around, is very much a carbon clone of Hadchi behind him. In fact, in this
aspect, the only two difference between the two is his size and reach. McDirk's
two normal moves are to slash downwards and do an upward sweep. He also loves to
move around a lot, jump up and down, along with defending whenever presented
with an enemy taking the offensive against him. Be careful though, as one thing
he has that Hadchi does not is a Beat Combo; if ever you get trapped between a
solid place and his Beat Combo, and you cannot see anyway out of getting hit,
DEFEND. He has a fairly strong physical attack, so it is imperative that you
take as little damage as possible.
Turk McDirk also has two VERY RARELY used water-elemental attacks. The
first involves him summoning a bunch of ice droplets coming from the heavens
above and falling to the Earth, which can damage anyone or anything that they
hit. The second involves him raising his hand above his head, and then bringing
forth a giant icycle, which he then throws forward. For either of these attacks,
definitely just run out of the way quickly. He will also charge up a ball of
energy before doing either attack; if you can manage to hit him from behind
during or before his bullet use, you can expose his backside for further damage.
After you win the battle, the lady at the counter will give you
directions to head to Darth Valley. Make any last-minute arrangements you need,
do the optional quest, then head out to Darth Valley.
-=-=-=-=-
AQUAPOLIS
=-=-=-=-=
[HWAQP]
After the cutscene, get some new stuff at the Bullet Shop if you require
it, then head right a few scenes until you get to the G-Center. Talk to Yuki
here and say yes to head inside. Talk to the lady at the right counter to start
your pair of fights.
-------------
DREAMIN' DRIM
-------------
There is not too much to say about Dreamin' Drim. For most of the
battle, he will try to make use of his imposing presence and stick to his common
physical attacking, with a quick jab using his arm and a down-cut. He very
rarely activates his Beat Combo, however. Lastly, if you jump into the air, he
has a tendency to follow you.
Near the end, he may tend to be a bit more aggressive, and will actually
use his lone Bullet, which allows him to summon a bomb that will walk forward
and explode on contact with you. To damage him, you can usually stick to a
strategy of luring him and then hitting him at point-blank range with either
long or short-range Bullets that you have collected so farto catch him off-
guard, or utilizing Beat Combos. Overall, he just happens to be a pushover.
------
SHELLY
------
Shelly is the first of the group of nine characters whom you can fight
with in multiplayer and wireless mode that you shall battle in the actual story.
This I must stress because it means that Shelly has in her arsenal more than
just a pair of generic regular attacks. She can perform several moves, as well
as her own unique Beat Combo.
The most major note that should be made is that she uses a bow, which
means to expect long-range attacks. She can shoot sideways, she can jump up into
the air and shoot diagonally down, she can shoot diagonally up (this latter
attack sending three arrows at once), and she can even shoot into the ground
when standing still.
What makes her more devastating is that nearly all her long-range
attacks will cause a sheet of ice to appear wherever their end points are, or if
they hit you. This means that even if you are out of the arrow's range, you can
still get hit by the ice if you are only slightly behind the arrow, and if you
get hit by the arrow, you get damaged to a further extent, and stunned by the
ice. Obviously, you can try to defend, which will work, but you should also try
maneuvering over some of the attacks (especially if you are in the air to begin
with). Her attack directly into the ground will cause a pillar of ice to appear
to either side of her.
Beware, as Shelly can also do close-range attacks with her bow; these
are usually of the slashing and sweeping up category, but she also can do her
own Dash + Y combo up front, so do not expect to be able to defend when she
comes in and being able to keep your guard. Finally, she has a lone Bullet that
she can use, in which she tosses a ball of ice forward that expands into several
icycles going up to either side of it once it hits the ground.
After you win the battle, the lady at the counter will give you
directions to head to Darth Valley. Make any last-minute arrangements you need,
do the optional quest, then head out to Darth Valley.
-=-=-=-=-=-=
DARTH VALLEY
=-=-=-=-=-=-
[HWDVL]
•Box Bullets: Aqua Vest, Swarm
•Monsters: Wind Wolf, Earth Mouse, Electric Butterfly, Earth Bear, Wind
Tortoise
There really is not much going on in here; just advance right through
the entire stage, and kill all enemies as you go along. I HIGHLY recommend that
you bring in a bullet that can hit two or more enemies at once with you, as you
will need it for later on in here. I especially prefer p Water, as it allows you
to shoot a straight stream of water that damages multiple times and goes through
anything it hits, allowing you to slaughter several foes at once.
After a cutscene, you will encounter some Thuggers.
--------
THUGGERS
--------
There may be two Thuggers. But that is all that they have going for
them. First of all, they are really slow on their feet, and when they do get in
range of your character, often times they will take forever before deciding to
finally attack. On top of that, they lack any sort of Bullet attack, and can
only do a jab and an upward slash, both of which lack any real sort of power
except for the jab being able to knock you off your feet. Worse yet for them,
they BARELY even defend themselves.
Additionally, both Thuggers lack a great amount of MP, so it does not
take long before you can finish them off. However, because of the openness of
the arena, and their tendency to just stay on the ground and run towards you,
you can use multi-hit Bullets to attack them, just as I recommended to you
early. After a bit, they will get smart and defend, but if you wait a few
seconds and let them run towards you again, you can shoot another Bullet and
catch them off-guard.
Afterwards, head off into Alexandria.
-=-=-=-=-=
ALEXANDRIA
=-=-=-=-=-
[HWALX]
Head right once done with the initial cutscene to the next screen, and
watch another cutscene. Once inside the laboratory, head right to the last room,
and enter the door at the end of the hallway. Montague will give you the Cleanse
Bullet after a long cutscene. When the converstation ends and you are put
outside, leave Alexandria and go to Midway City.
-=-=-=-=-=-
MIDWAY CITY
=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWMWC]
As soon as you come in, you shall have a rematch with the Thuggers from
earlier.
--------
THUGGERS
--------
There really is not much to say about the Thuggers. They retain
basically the same attacks as before with their jab and up-sweep slash, and so
you should use the same strategies. About the only modification to their
behaviour is that they will attack somewhat more aggressively, but not so much
that you can handle them with ease using Bullets and regular strikes. And of
course, they still have their pitiful MP, so dispatching them should again not
be too much of a difficulty.
Unfortunately, you will not get the chance to stay long in Midway City,
as you shall be forced automatically back out onto the world map. Head to the
Thugger's Den next.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
THUGGER'S DEN
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWTHD]
•Monsters: Poison Mouse, Poison Tortoise, Thugger A, Thugger B, Thugger
C
You will start the area off by fighting the scythe-wielding Thugger
alone. Once you have finished him off, take out a Poison Mouse, then continue on
and dispose of the rapier-wielding Thugger. You will also run into some carbon
clones of the scythe Thugger, as well as a new Thugger - a fist-fighting one.
Once you get to the end, watch a cutscene, then a boss battle.
----
ZEKE
----
It should be noted beforehand that defeating Zeke is OPTIONAL. You are
in fact expected to lose, and so this strategy is only for the masochist few who
wish to try toppling this monster.
Zeke loves to move all over the place. If you move away from him to the
opposite end of the battlefield, often he will close that gap within seconds and
start fighting you again. In addition to his normal jab and up-slash attack, he
is also highly capable of jumping into the air and causing havoc if you try to
come with an airborne assault. He also tends to be very aggressive, and can
easily break through your guard, so watch out. Zeke also will put up his defense
in an instant if you even think about striking him, and then counterattack when
you leave yourself open, so do not even think for a moment to hack away at him
until you see a good opportunity. Finally, be well aware of Zeke's Beat Combo -
it is VERY hard to break through, and at one point he actually spins around,
wielding his two swords like a lethal tornado. When he does this, get FAR away
from him, and counterattack with a long-range bullet, or else just get out of
his way and guard from the other side.
Zeke also has three Bullet attacks up his sleeve. Whenever he begins to
use any of the three, he will temporarily charge up before letting loose. The
first one is the reason why you should ALWAYS put up your guard as soon as Zeke
starts charging; he will let forth a beam of light that projects itself straight
across the screen. It will stay up for quite the long time, it will cause you
damage multiple times, and it will hurt. If you can guard, however, the total
amount of MP lost is usually reduced to less than 100. His second bullet
involves him throwing a ball of ice which lands on the ground. This ice will
then expand into an icycle, which then makes two icycles to either side of it.
This one is a fairly short-range attack, and you can either take the chance and
hit Zeke while he is in the middle of this attack, or run to the back end and
heal yourself. The final Bullet (which is VERY RARELY used) that Zeke has up his
sleeve is called Vanish, and you will not be getting it personally for quite a
while. In any case, Vanish allows Zeke to turn invisible temporarily, letting
him set up for a sneak attack (as soon as he makes his movement for attacking,
he will reappear). However, his shadow will still appear on the arena floor, so
if he performs this move, quickly get away from the shadow, and wait it out
until he runs out of time and reverts to normal, or shoot a long-range attack
and try to hit him (which will make him visible again).
In order to defeat Zeke, you will have to abandon any amateur attack
styles that you use (usually of the "go all-out and hope to kill the enemy
quick" variety). Instead, you shall have to innovate using your bullets and
regular attacks. For one, Zeke usually will only be fooled by Bullets and take
damage from them once before getting smart and defending himself; after, you
will have to catch him with his guard down when he is dashing or walking towards
you to have a chance at harming him with a Bullet again. You can try jumping
into the air and then smashing down on him again. Do not use this too often, as
while you may succeed some times, other times he will have your head on a
platter. Also, whenever you have a good amount of MP, use your Dash + Y attack
to knock him off his feet after inflicting a decent amount of damage, and then
follow it up with something to cause him damage once he hits the ground, such as
m Geyser.
Since you have a 100% chance of needing to heal during the battle, there
are a few things that you can do if Zeke constantly backs you into a wall and
then attacks you while you are summoning your Bullet. The first is to double
jump into the air and then use your Bullet, while hoping Zeke is unable to hit
you (he has the range to do so, but that does not mean he always will). Another
way to do this is to actually use your p Heal, then quickly use an attack that
will push him back if he is too close to you such that he cannot get the effects
of the p Heal as well.
Overall, however, you must realize this; if you are attempting this on
your first playthrough, do not be surprised if you get your behind handed to
you. Yes, Zeke CAN be defeated. However, given what is probably limited Glading
experience prior to this fight, your own natural skill may not be able to handle
what is likely a 3:1 HP ratio to a character who can cause heavy damage. You can
redo this fight after you beat the game, with better bullets and higher HP, so
do not fret too much if you are a perfectionist.
Once the battle is over, you shall turn up back in Midway City. Here,
exit the house, go right a couple of screens, and leave town. Head to Newtown
next.
-=-=-=-
NEWTOWN
=-=-=-=
[HWNWT]
Make your stop at the Bullet Shop as needed, and then head to the G-
Center. Do the optional quest if you wish, then talk to the lady at the right
counter in order to take the second exam.
Unlike the first Exam (and every exam after this) there will be no traps
operating in the G-Center in Newtown, so you do not need to alter standard
strategy to account for field effects. Also, you shall fight three people
instead of two this time around.
--------------
HARDBOILED RAY
--------------
There is not too much to say about Hardboiled Ray. For most of the
battle, he will try to make use of his imposing presence and stick to his common
physical attacking, with a quick jab using his arm and a down-cut. He very
rarely activates his Beat Combo, however. Lastly, if you jump into the air, he
has a tendency to follow you. Near the end, he may tend to be a bit more
aggressive, and will actually use his lone Bullet, which allows him to shoot out
two tornadoes, one on top of another. If he does this and you have the reaction
time to respond to it, guard. Otherwise, take the hit and then continue against
him. To damage him, you can usually stick to a strategy of luring him and then
hitting him at point-blank range with either long or short-range Bullets to
catch him off-guard, or utilizing Beat Combos. Overall, he just happens to be a
pushover.
------
ISSHIN
------
Isshin has pretty much only two attacks, both of them physical. The two
physical ones involve him slashing his sword Glade from top to bottom in a half-
circle attack, and is often coupled with him dashing forward. His second
technique is to do a jump and combine it with an upward sweep, which will knock
you off your feet if you do not defend yourself. His only Bullet is Speed Up,
which allows him to gain a great amount of speed.
The thing that is difficult about Isshin is that he loves to dash
around, lots. And move around he will. He likes to use his Beat Combo a lot, and
will dash into you and try to use his quick Beat before you have the opportunity
to blink.
As such, you will be required to take the battle to him. As Isshin often
will be quick to put his guard up when not dashing, you can perform the Dash + Y
attack to knock him off balance. Mostly, however, take advantage of his love for
motion. Lay a trap Bullet such as Rose Thorn to hit him while he is screwing
around, and then let loose a long-range Bullet while he is dashing towards you.
In any case, due to his low MP and the fact that he is not one of the story-
important foes that you will face, he should not end up being any kind of
problem.
-----
ASUKA
-----
Asuka, although not being one of the special four main characters, is
one of another set of four characters who are programmed with several physical
attacks as opposed to just a generic two-set. This means that there are a number
of things you should watch out for; in particular, Asuka has a fairly decent
range with her weapon, and can knock you out cold with a good number of them.
She also can spin around, hitting anything that comes in her path; when she does
this, hit her with a Bullet from a distance. Lastly, watch out for her Down + B
attack.
Asuka also has four bullets in her repetoire for her use. The first
allows her to shoot a small orb of energy that follows you around for about a
third of the screen before fading out. The second will cause a pillar of Earth
to spring up right underneath her (not in front or behind her, underneath her).
It is supposed to be for you to either walk into or be hit into and be further
damaged, but it fades away too fast to be truly a danger. The third allows her
to sprout a bunch of roses. After a few seconds, thorns will grow about twice
the length of the actual rose to either side of the flowers, so be sure to get
away from the roses once Asuka summons them. Asuka's fourth and final bullet
lets her send out a boomerang-like projectile straight across the screen that
spins around, able to damage you multiple times, and then returns back to her,
causing more damage.
For the most part, you can beat her in up-front battle, as long as you
press your advantage; Asuka has some nice attacks going on, but she lacks
aggressiveness, and fails to protect herself with a guard most of the time. Lure
her in as you will and unleash a bullet, and you can easily cause her a great
amount of damage. You can also knock her up into the air (which is fairly easy
for the most part) and let loose another bullet for her to hit on impact to
greatly hurt her.
After the battle, you shall be given a G-Con Type 2, which lets you
raise your BP up to 7. After, listen to the lady talk, then exit Newtown. Head
off to Blingsville.
At this point, it should be noted that in Blingsville, there are two
separate things that you can do in Blingsville. The first thing is taking a
tournament. The second event you can do is go through a forest area and fight a
boss as part of a rescue effort. However, you can only do one section during
your playthrough (but can revisit and do the other area after you beat the
game). The tournament section will be the first Blingsville part, and the rescue
section will be the second Blingsville part.
-=-=-=-=-=-
BLINGSVILLE
=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWBL1]
Head right from the entrance, and watch the cutscene. Pick up any
bullets you might need from the Bullet Shop on the left side of the town, and
then enter the nearby G-Center. Do the quest if you want, then talk to the girl
at the right side to take part in the tournament. As no names are mentioned, all
grappers are numbered instead of named here.
----------
GRAPPER #1
----------
This battle is basically the exact same as your fights with the Grapper
Hadchi if you have fought with him in any of the Major Grap Exams so far, so I
will (shamelessly) copy the Hadchi strategy.
Grapper #1 has four attacks, two of them physical. The two
physical ones involve him slashing his sword Glade from top to bottom in a half-
circle attack, and is often coupled with him dashing forward. His second
technique is to do a jump and combine it with an upward sweep, which will knock
you off your feet if you do not defend yourself. It should be noted, however,
that in comparison to Hadchi, he is MUCH quicker and more nimble on his feet, so
expect some lightning-fast attacks.
His final two attacks involves the use of a fireball attack, where he
shoots out a straight bolt of fire that goes in the horizontal direction he is
facing and expands as it moves away, and an f Toxin attack, which if it hits
you, will keep you poisoned and losing HP for some time.
The thing that is difficult about Grapper #1 is that he loves to dash
around, lots. And move around he will, onto the middle and top platforms,
dropping down the platforms, and between the opposite ends of the fighting
arena. Most usually, he will chase after you, and constantly harass you, giving
you little opportunity to stay on the defensive.
As such, you will be required to take the battle to him. As Grapper #1
often will be quick to put his guard up, you can perform the Dash + Y attack to
knock him off balance. Mostly, however, take advantage of his love for motion
and hit him with a Bullet or lay a trap Bullet when he is trying to rush towards
you.
----------
GRAPPER #2
----------
Another carbon copy fighter, which means another carbon copy strategy.
This time it is the Captain Hook foe from the Fish Rumble quest in Aquapolis.
Grapper #2 possesses two physical attacks. The first is where he will
take a really quick dash forward (and by quick, I mean it), and slash at you.
For the second attack, he will jump up into the air ever so slightly, and come
back down brandishing his hookarm with the motion of a down-chop. Both
techniques are fairly powerful, and so should be avoided under most
circumstances.
Grapper #2 can also go into his own Beat Combo. When he does this, he
tends to become more aggressive, and if he gets into your way, multiple slashes
will come in quick repetition, followed by an ending blow to knock you off your
feet. If you can, dodge this attack. You can get behind him and hit his back to
knock him out of Beat Mode. Otherwise, just defend yourself to take less damage
than the norm. Grapper #2 can also use his own fireball attack that is exactly
the same as the Bullet you fought in the last battle - it will start out slow,
then the ball of fire will expand into a circle of fire. So, if you want to
avoid damage, jump over it quickly at the beginning.
Of course, the frustrating part of the battle will come into play when
you are forced to come up with something to bypass his technique. Very rarely
will you be able to get a straight-up bullet past him, as he will constantly be
on his guard. The same goes for attacking him and using Beat Combos; only Dash +
Y hits will be guaranteed to break through his defense. The solution here is to
take advantage of something that #2 loves to do a lot - jumping around. When he
is in the air, #2 cannot defend himself, so take full advantage and knock him
out while he is in freefall, or activate your Beat Combo and use an Air Beat
Combo to knock the stuffing out of him.
Additionally, while he is on the ground, you should take this time to
heal up whenever it is needed. As said before, he has some strong techniques, so
you need to constantly heal up and stay at the top of your game. Finally, when
looking for bullets to pull out against him, do not use attacks that instantly
go for him; instead, use Bullets that take their time in getting to him, such as
Rose Thorn (which only activates after being on the field for a few seconds) or
Phoenix (which goes around diagonally before finally hitting its target). While
he will defend sometimes, he will not always expect them, and when he does not,
big time damage shall result.
----------
GRAPPER #3
----------
Grapper #3 is aggressive. This time, I mean it when I say he is
aggressive, as he is constantly attacking. While his attacks themselves are
relatively tame (the standard up-slash and stab, along with his Beat Combo), you
should watch out for his behaviour, and adapt to it. For the most part, take
advantage of it and knock him up into the air when he goes too fast, then steal
the moment and use it to beat him up further.
Grapper #3 also has three bullets that he can use. The first is an
Attack Up bullet, allowing him to increase his strength for a short period of
time. The second bullet lets him shoot a fireball, which slowly and then sharply
curves up after going straight. His final attack allows him to send a wave of
fire out of his hand that hits everything for about a quarter of the screen in
front of it, and can damage multiple times. If you have fought Hibito with any
of your other characters, then Grapper #3 is in the Bullets department an exact
clone of Hibito.
----
KYLE
----
And you will finally have your first showdown with one of the other
three main characters. As Kyle is a main character, this means that he can
perform a much larger variety of moves than all the other NPCs in the games. He
can jump up into the air and then stab his sword down. He can up-sweep you. He
is able to use Air Beat Combos. He can use this Dash + Y attack to break open
your defense and knock you into the air, and then follow up with any other
number of moves. In short, the advantage that you had over all your opponents up
to this point in having a wide variety of attacks is now negated, as Kyle is
someone who is you equal in that regard.
Kyle also uses a number of water-affiliated bullets. The first Bullet
lets him throw a wave of water that crosses the floor of the arena in a wave-
like motion, eventually dying out after three waves. This is VERY EASY to avoid,
and can be done by just jumping back a bit (as it has a short distance that it
can travel across before dying). Additionally, he can also use p Heal to heal
himself. If he does this latter attack, quickly go and push him away from it, or
at least try to take advantage of it yourself. His final bullet is Tuna-Tuna,
which summons a fish that flops around, and slaps you if you get close. However,
he uses this VERY rarely.
For the most part, if you need to attack Kyle up-front, you should
resort to quick in-and-out attacks, wherein you dash and attack him, then move
out of his range. This is because of Kyle's unusually long range - thanks to his
trident, he can easily hit you even if you are out of the range of most
attackers. His range applies to both land and air, as he can spin and swing
around his spear, warding off any slow attacks. You should try sticking to
staying far away and hitting him with long-range bullets, or laying traps for
him when he comes in close.
--------
MILL YUN
--------
Despite his demeanour, Mill Yun actually is a step up above most of the
competition that you shall have faced up to this point. His axe can deal quite a
bit of damage, and he has some flexibility with his standard attacks. He can
also come down from the air quite hard, and he can smash you up into the air,
even with your guard up. Finally, when he becomes quite volatile, he also has a
special attack in which he swings his hammer around him in a circle at super-
speed, crushing anything in its path (and yes, it can break through your
defense). And of course, he also his his Beat Combo.
He also utilizes a few good bullets. Mill Yun's first bullet is a basic
m Wall, which allows him to create a large wall of earth that will be hard for
you to jump over, and can effectively trap you on one side of the field until it
crumbles apart. His second bullet is a basic variation on the fireball bullet
that Grapper #3 had, except that his fireball will curve down a bit, and then
curve up. His final bullet allows him to summon a group of large icycles above
hisself, and then throw them down into the ground, smashing whatever is in
between.
However, like nearly every other enemy in the game, Mill Yun can still
be defeated by a simple divide and conquer strategy. Stick to just brainlessly
beating him to a pulp when you are near him, and then back off and let him waste
his breath trying to touch you, and leave traps and use offensive Bullets on him
to slowly drain his MP and finally finish him off.
After, you will be given the ? BOX bullet by Bill Yun. Exit and leave
the town, then go to the Citadel Ruins.
-=-=-=-=-=-
BLINGSVILLE
=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWBL2]
Head right from the entrance, and watch the cutscene. Pick up any
bullets you might need from the Bullet Shop on the left side of the town, and do
the quest in the G-Center if you want. When all of that is done, talk to the
lady in the purple dress, and offer to find her kid.
•Box Bullets: Speaker, Remix B, Tub Storm
•Monsters: Wind Mouse, Flower, Fire Bear, Phoenix
Walk through the regular stage per the usual. Same deal as always. At
the end, you will finally take on a boss.
-------
GORILLA
-------
The main reason that you should fear the Gorilla is for its sheer attack
power. Even if you are defending, it can still take off over 100 MP with a
single hit. Combined with its sheer height, if you need to heal, do not bother
staying on the ground for it; instead, double jump into the air and heal up
there.
In any case, the Gorilla only has one actual attack, in which it shall
slap your character full-body with its hand, and send you flying if you are not
guarding. The danger is in its quick attacking, as it can dash in before you can
blink to send you reeling. The Gorilla also has a couple of defensive maneuvers
that can actually harm you if you are in its path, but it shall not actively
attack you with. The first of these two techniques involves it beating its
chest, and increasing its attack power. Secondly, when it defends itself by
putting its arms in front, get away if you cannot execute a Dash + Y - it will
use the occasion to explode forward with some momentum once it gets out of its
guard stance.
To be sure, you do not want to be in the Gorilla's line of fire. The
best way to bypass this is to stick with using long-range bullets, so as to not
be in the Gorilla's range, and then jump over its head when it comes near you.
After, you shall be returned to Blingsville, and will automatically
obtain the Bullet Bam-Bamboo. Now that we are basically done in Blingsville,
head out to the exit, and go to the Citadel Ruins.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
CITADEL RUINS
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWCDR]
•Box Bullets: p Nut, Bolt Vest, f Fire, Bear Trap, Frost Bomb,
Boomwalker
•Monsters: Fire Statue, Water Statue, Firebomb, Water Bear, Electric
Zappers, Earth Statue, Wind Statue
You have another fairly simple runthrough in Citadel Ruins - in fact, if
you did the Temple Statues quest in Gearbourg, you should recognize the scenery,
as it is in fact basically the exact same layout. Some things to watch out for
are the high amount of boxes that you can break open (of which all of them can
offer some fairly nice goodies) and a new type of enemy, dubbed the Zapper.
These guys are basically mini-pods that fly around and shoot electric bolts from
underneath them at you. They are very fragile, but can often interfere when you
do not desire any, so take care of them quick and then focus on the real
threats.
At the end of the level, you shall face off against Yuki.
----
YUKI
----
Before I continue on with this, let me make it clear; this battle is not
required to be won. The strategy that follows is only for those who wish to gain
that feeling of completionness from defeating Yuki.
In any case, Yuki has a great amount of flexibility in his moves.
Probably the one that he loves to spam the most is an attack where he will jump
into the air, and use his rapier from bottom to top in a half-moon swing. He
also utilizes a technique where he dashes right at you, cutting a swathe of air
when he does it, and harms you as soon as he connects. Additionally, being one
of the noble nine characters that can be used in multiplayer, he has his own
Dash + Y attack (so do not think you can defend all battle), and several other
attacks up his arsenal.
Probably the most dangerous thing that he has up his sleeve is his Beat
Combo. Yuki borrows from a fencing style with his rapier when he brings out his
Beat Combo, and he also has a long range using it, able to tap you from a long
distance when he jabs his rapier out. His lone Bullet is the use of an m
Cyclone, where he will raise his hand out, and summon a tornado that stays
stable in one spot right in front of him.
In all, there really is not much that is unique to say about Yuki. He
has a high MP in comparison to yours, and if you get caught in an attack, you
can lose a lot of your own health in seconds, so be sure to heal up often. Even
so, at this point into the game, you should have been able to mesh your fighting
style well enough to respond to his actions with reflex and skill.
Afterwards, watch another cutscene. At this point, you will have another
VERY SHORT branch path, as you can go to one of two different locales for the
third Major Exam; Raiden or Oak Land. After you make your choice, head over
there.
-=-=-=-=
OAK LAND
=-=-=-=-
[HWOAK]
Do whatever you need to do with the Bullets shop, then head over to the
G-Center. Complete the quest here if required, and then talk to the lady to
start your two-fight exam.
In Oak Land, the G-Hall traps involves boulders that fall down from the
side of the screen and roll towards the center, eventually crumbling. Avoid
getting hit from them. You can also corner your opponent and hope for a stray
rock to distract him.
----------------
COBRA THE HELMET
----------------
There is not too much to say about Cobra the Helmet. For most of the
battle, he will try to make use of his imposing presence and stick to his common
physical attacking, with a quick jab using his arm and a down-cut. He very
rarely activates his Beat Combo, however. Lastly, if you jump into the air, he
has a tendency to follow you.
Near the end, he may tend to be a bit more aggressive, and will actually
use his lone Bullet, which allows him to summon a trio of icyles and send them
into the ground in front of him. To damage him, you can usually stick to a
strategy of luring him and then hitting him at point-blank range with either
long or short-range Bullets to catch him off-guard, or utilizing Beat Combos,
and luring him into the edges of the bottom floor to be hit by a boulder.
Overall, he just happens to be a pushover.
------
DAICHI
------
Once again, per the norm, I must stress the importance of the fact that
Daichi is a titular character. This means that he has more techniques and
attacks that he can use than the average Grapper, and also means that you are in
for a long battle. Daichi in particular is probably the slowest of the main
four. However, the strengths that he gets in tradeoff for this include an
intense amount of offensive power, and a large hammer that can beat out Kyle's
range with certain attacks.
For the most part, keep your distance from Daichi. This is because of
several of his regular attacks. The first one to watch out for his his ability
to spin around in a circle, flailing his hammer around. When he is like this, it
is nigh upon impossible to sneak in a hit without getting injured yourself, so
it is simply better to take advantage of him with a Bullet here. He can also
back you up into a corner and spam Beat Combo and this spin, so if you get into
this situation, immediately either put up your guard or try dashing past him.
Another thing that you should watch out for is that Daichi can do a sort of leap
and then fall flat on his stomach, while hammering the ground in front of him.
He can cover a surpising amount of distance in the setup for the attack, so keep
your eyes open. The last thing is to not try to go in for a Dash + Y attack;
Daichi can perform his own Dash + Y technique with ease, and he will do it as
often as possible. Do not intensify the match by putting yourself at risk.
Daichi's first bullet allows him to summon a pillar of rock in front of
him, which then shoots out two boulders at different trajectories. Once the
rocks hit the ground, they shall break on impact. His second one causes a rock
spike to come out of the ground right in front of him. Fortunately, he does not
use anything else, so there will not be any surprises.
Lastly, use this arena's rock traps to your advantage. If you fall
behind him in MP during the battle, knock him away from you for a bit and heal
yourself, and then press him against a wall to be knocked down by a boulder
coming down. Daichi might not be injured as much as you will be by the rocks,
thanks to him being Earth elemental, but he will be stunned long enough for you
to get your own attack in or heal.
After you have won against both of your opponents, leave town, and head
to Synesthesia.
-=-=-=
RAIDEN
=-=-=-
[HWRID]
Do whatever you need to do with the Bullets shop, then head over to the
G-Center. Complete the quest here if required, and then talk to the lady to
start your two-fight exam.
For Raiden's exam, the traps in the hall involve three pillars that pods
go up and down on. When two pods focus on each other, they will let out a beam
of electricity between them, damaging anything in between. You can move the pods
themselves by hitting them.
-----------------
MATTER TERMINATOR
-----------------
There is not too much to say about Matter Terminator. For most of the
battle, he will try to make use of his imposing presence and stick to his common
physical attacking, with a quick jab using his arm and a down-cut. He very
rarely activates his Beat Combo, however. Lastly, if you jump into the air, he
has a tendency to follow you.
Near the end, he may tend to be a bit more aggressive, and will actually
use his lone Bullet, which allows him to send a beam of energy across the
screen, making him probably one of the most dangerous generic Grappers you will
fight in the game. To damage him, you can usually stick to a strategy of luring
him and then hitting him at point-blank range with either long or short-range
Bullets to catch him off-guard, or utilizing Beat Combos, and luring him into
the electric traps. Overall, the Matter Terminator is still a pushover, even
with his bullet.
-----
ASUKA
-----
Having come off a win in Newtown over her, I must note once again that
Asuka, although not being one of the special four main characters, is
one of another set of four characters who are programmed with several physical
attacks as opposed to just a generic two-set. This means that there are a number
of things you should watch out for; in particular, Asuka has a fairly decent
range with her weapon, and can knock you out cold with a good number of them.
She also can spin around, hitting anything that comes in her path; when she does
this, hit her with a Bullet from a distance. Lastly, watch out for her Down + B
attack.
Asuka also has four bullets in her repetoire for her use. The first
allows her to shoot a small orb of energy that follows you around for about a
third of the screen before fading out. The second will cause a pillar of Earth
to spring up right underneath her (not in front or behind her, underneath her).
It is supposed to be for you to either walk into or be hit into and be further
damaged, but it fades away too fast to be truly a danger. The third allows her
to sprout a bunch of roses. After a few seconds, thorns will grow about twice
the length of the actual rose to either side of the flowers, so be sure to get
away from the roses once Asuka summons them. Asuka's fourth and final bullet
lets her send out a boomerang-like projectile straight across the screen that
spins around, able to damage you multiple times, and then returns back to her,
causing more damage.
For the most part, you can beat her in up-front battle, as long as you
press your advantage; Asuka has some nice attacks going on, but she lacks
aggressiveness, and fails to protect herself with a guard most of the time. Lure
her in as you will and unleash a bullet, and you can easily cause her a great
amount of damage. You can also knock her up into the air (which is fairly easy
for the most part) and let loose another bullet for her to hit on impact to
greatly hurt her.
After you have won against both of your opponents, leave town, and head
to Synesthesia.
-=-=-=-=-=-
SYNESTHESIA
=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWSN1]
Watch the initial cutscene in here. You can head to the G-Center and do
the lone quest offered in town if you want, but you MUST go to the Bullet Shop -
this will be the last time in some time that you will be able to buy new
bullets, and as you do not get the chance to return to earlier places until
after you beat the game, you may be hurting when you face off a certain boss.
Sell off any duplicates of Bullets you have, and buy m Heal if you still lack it
- trust me, it will come in heal.
After that is done, head to the center-north screen of town (it is the
one that is flashing on your top screen). Here, watch another cutscene. After
you are done in town, exit and head to Foothill.
-=-=-=-=
FOOTHILL
=-=-=-=-
[HWFH2]
Watch a scene. Go right, and enter the garage to watch a multitude of
scenes. After it is all over, head out of town and off to the Maze Forest.
-=-=-=-=-=-
MAZE FOREST
=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWMZF]
•Box Bullets: Tub Storm, Petal Vest, m Toxin
•Monsters: Dark Wolf, Dark Tortoise, Dark Butterfly, Dark Mouse
Not much to say about the actual area. Despite Dark Variants being built
up throughout the storyline as tougher than regular Variants, they are actually
MUCH weaker, and should succumb to about 1/2 to 2/3 the amount of damage that it
takes to finish off regular Variants. Near the end, you will face off against a
boss.
---
BAT
---
You may recognize this boss if you did the Uma mission in Synesthesia.
In any case...
The bat for the most part will move left and right while hovering in the
air all the time, making it somewhat painful to jump up and attack it. Its first
attack involves it floating until it happens to be right above you; at this
time, it will sink and hit the ground. If you get hit by its pincer, it will
drain some of your MP, so make sure not to be. The real bonus is if you dodge
it; sometimes, the bat-like boss will get stuck in the ground, and you can go
and hack away at it (including using Beat Combos) until it frees itself.
When you notice it charging up energy in its body, dash away from its
location. It will let loose a burst of sonic energy that expands out in a
circle. However, once you have seen the attack once and realized its range with
the attack, you can take the advantage next time to hit it with a bullet while
it is still in the middle of its sonic burst. It will sometimes let loose a
bunch of flames around its body, which slowly expands outwards to the edge of
the screen, as opposed to the sonic wave attack. Usually, you cannot dodge this,
so instead put your guard up against it.
Once you have whittled the Bat down to about half HP, it will start
using its final attack, in which it disappears off-screen, then flies in a u
shape across the screen, trying to knock you over. When it starts doing this,
either jump above it, or guard. It will use this attack a lot more after this,
so be sure to heal up when needed, and press the advantage when it is using its
other two attacks.
After, continue on to the Mad Company. SAVE YOUR GAME first.
-=-=-=-=-=-
MAD COMPANY
=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWMDC]
•Monsters: Robot Guards, Mad Guards, Robot Sentinel, Zapper, Firebomb,
Heavy Mad Guard, Ice Wolf, Ice Statue, Ice Butterfly,
Poison Statue, Ice Mouse, Ice Tortoise, Ice Bear
The Mad Company level is easily the longest section in the game, as it
is split up into three different runthrough sections, and five different boss
fights. If you lose even one of the fights, you will have to restart. Thus, be
very prepared.
In any case, the first runthrough will introduce you to a few new
enemies. Robot Guards are basic machines that run around the place; while they
can cause you some harm, they are easy to destroy if you just keep attacking and
do not give them a chance to respond. Mad Guards are upgraded versions of the
scythe-wielding Thuggers you fought oh so long ago, and are not very difficult
either aside from their surprising agility. Zappers you may remember from the
Citadel Ruins; they are once again easy to kill, requiring only one or two hits
to do so. Robot Sentinels are very tall knight-like enemies who rely on heavy-
handed hits and charging down the hallway, hitting anything in its path. When
taking on one of these guys, be sure to focus all your attention on it, and do
not get close to it unless you intend to go all out on attacking it.
Eventually, you will come to your first boss fight.
-----------------
DARK VARIANT #005
-----------------
As you already have Dark Mice, Bears, Wolves, and Butterflies, the next
Dark Variant in line is #005, which is actually a fairly refreshing battle to
fight against. #005 is a tall monster that most remembles a praying mantis, and
has a couple of attacks to watch out for. The first is when it will stand up
straight, and then slash both of its claws; this will send a wave of energy down
the arena as high as #005 itself. If you can dodge it quick enough, jump, but
otherwise guard; it comes VERY quick. #005 can also temporarily stop, dig its
tail into the ground, and have an extension of its tail pop out of the ground.
If you get knocked into this thing, it will damage you. Its final attack will
involve Dark Variant #005 going to one of the edges of the screen, creating a
minor shockwave in the ground, and then leaping diagonally down the screen at
your current location.
#005's first Bullet attack that it is capable of is a copy of the f
Water bullet; in short, a wave of water crosses the floor, dying out after three
frequencies. As long as you jump over it or stay far enough back, it will not
even touch you. It is also capable of sending out a fairly large purple ball of
toxin going straight forward - dodge it by jumping back or running the opposite
direction.
Overall, though, the fifth Dark Variant is a pushover. It simply almost
never guards himself, and it is so often setting up for an attack or suffering
lag from one it just did that you can bring in a Beat Combo and hack away at it.
This is particularly useful for its final physical attack, when it leaps down;
you can just guard and then quickly use a Beat Combo before it has time to
react.
After the battle, continue on through the next area. Watch out for
Firebombs, which walk along the hallway and will explode on contact. You shall
also face some new enemies in Heavy Mad Guards, which are basically underpowered
clones of Grappers you have fought before, such as Turk McDirk, and without the
Bullets as well. You will end up having to take on another opponent.
----
ZEKE
----
This time around, you will actually have to defeat Zeke. Fortunately,
the same strategy applies from before.
Zeke loves to move all over the place. If you move away from him to the
opposite end of the battlefield, often he will close that gap within seconds and
start fighting you again. In addition to his normal jab and up-slash attack, he
is also highly capable of jumping into the air and causing havoc if you try to
come with an airborne assault. He also tends to be very aggressive, and can
easily break through your guard, so watch out. Zeke also will put up his defense
in an instant if you even think about striking him, and then counterattack when
you leave yourself open, so do not even think for a moment to hack away at him
until you see a good opportunity. Finally, be well aware of Zeke's Beat Combo -
it is VERY hard to break through, and at one point he actually spins around,
wielding his two swords like a lethal tornado. When he does this, get FAR away
from him, and counterattack with a long-range bullet, or else just get out of
his way and guard from the other side.
Zeke also has three Bullet attacks up his sleeve. Whenever he begins to
use any of the three, he will temporarily charge up before letting loose. The
first one is the reason why you should ALWAYS put up your guard as soon as Zeke
starts charging; he will let forth a beam of light that projects itself straight
across the screen. It will stay up for quite the long time, it will cause you
damage multiple times, and it will hurt. If you can guard, however, the total
amount of MP lost is usually reduced to less than 100. His second bullet
involves him throwing a ball of ice which lands on the ground. This ice will
then expand into an icycle, which then makes two icycles to either side of it.
This one is a fairly short-range attack, and you can either take the chance and
hit Zeke while he is in the middle of this attack, or run to the back end and
heal yourself. The final Bullet (which is VERY RARELY used) that Zeke has up his
sleeve is called Vanish, and you will not be getting it personally for quite a
while. In any case, Vanish allows Zeke to turn invisible temporarily, letting
him set up for a sneak attack (as soon as he makes his movement for attacking,
he will reappear). However, his shadow will still appear on the arena floor, so
if he performs this move, quickly get away from the shadow, and wait it out
until he runs out of time and reverts to normal, or shoot a long-range attack
and try to hit him (which will make him visible again).
In order to defeat Zeke, you will have to abandon any amateur attack
styles that you use (usually of the "go all-out and hope to kill the enemy
quick" variety). Instead, you shall have to innovate using your bullets and
regular attacks. For one, Zeke usually will only be fooled by Bullets and take
damage from them once before getting smart and defending himself; after, you
will have to catch him with his guard down when he is dashing or walking towards
you to have a chance at harming him with a Bullet again. You can try jumping
into the air and then smashing down on him again. Do not use this too often, as
while you may succeed some times, other times he will have your head on a
platter. Also, whenever you have a good amount of MP, use your Dash + Y attack
to knock him off his feet after inflicting a decent amount of damage, and then
follow it up with something to cause him damage once he hits the ground, such as
m Geyser. Lastly, since in this case you are using Kyle, use your Long-Range
attacks such as Up + Y/X to your advantage; Zeke does not have as long a range
as you, and may not be expecting it if you hit him with the tip of your trident.
Since you have a very good chance of needing to heal during the battle
(unless you are during this for the umpteenth time), there are a few things that
you can do if Zeke constantly backs you into a wall and then attacks you while
you are summoning your Bullet. The first is to double jump into the air and then
use your Bullet, while hoping Zeke is unable to hit you (he has the range to do
so, but that does not mean he always will). Another way to do this is to
actually use your p Heal, then quickly use an attack that will push him back if
he is too close to you such that he cannot get the effects of the m Heal as
well.
Thankfully, your HP total should have increased since the last battle to
be on par with Zeke, and your Glading skills should also have improved. If you
were close to or pulled out a win against Zeke in your last match at him in the
Thugger's Den, then do not sweat it in your battle here.
Once the battle is done, continue on through the next area. You will
face some more token pockets of resistance from some Heavy Mad Guards and Robot
Sentinels, but considering that you have made it this far, they should not
present any sort of problem. Once you press your way through to the end, you
shall face off against a third boss.
-----------
PRESIDENT D
-----------
D's first attack is a vicious once, which you should watch out for; when
D slashes his sword at you, it will also let out a purple burst of energy that
travels along the floor, which goes as high as approximately his midsection.
Jump over it if you see it coming; otherwise, dodge if you lack the time to
jump. His physical speed in moving from edge to edge of the screen is very very
quick, within the blink of an eye, leaving you little time to guard against a
surprise strike; his speed is comparable with Terabolt in Kyle's Story.
D also has another weird attack up his sleeve; he can summon multiple
odd eye-like orbs that are dispersed across the screen. Because they shall
damage you and explode on contact, you will be forced to reroute all your jumps
to go around these eyes as opposed to just straight through. He also has a
variation of this, where he will summon a bunch of these eyes in front of him,
and then disperse them manually, hitting you if you are in the path of one of
them.
President D is also capable of using an Attack Up Bullet, which
temporarily powers up his offensive ability, as well as Defense Up, able to
strengthen his defense. Another Bullet he can use is the Beckon bullet, which
you cannot obtain until after you have completed the stories of all four main
characters; a shadow will appear in the ground, and a hand will come out to try
and grab you. If you see this shadow appear, MOVE AWAY. Most anything is
preferably to this.
Near the end, when President D is at around 1800MP, HEAL YOURSELF UP. I
must stress this. Once President D drops to the 1700MP mark, he will unleash his
ultimate attack, which is the pinnacle of brokenness - two tornado-like pillars
of shadow will appear next to each other wherever you are on the screen, suck
you up and throw you around, and ultimately cause a great amount of damage. Even
putting your guard up does nothing, as it will break through instantly and do
the same. Whenever you see D stop and do the motion of slamming his sword into
the ground, DASH AWAY. If you can move quickly enough, the attack will hit where
you WERE, but not where you are now. Also, do NOT JUMP OUT OF THE WAY. If you
jump, it is far too slow than if you just move away.
Thankfully, there are plenty of moments that you can exploit President
D. He normally does not defend himself unless he is absolutely stationary, so
while he is moving around, you can attack him without having to deal with his
guard. If he does put his guard up while you are straight up using your weapon,
use your Dash + Y weapon for some relief. Notably, however, he is also very
vulnerable when using his attacks. The two that you should especially take
advantage of are when he summons his eyeballs (which he takes his sweet time in
doing), where you should use a long-range attack, and his latter shadow tornado
attack, while he has his sword in the ground. The latter attack is especially
good, as you will need some time to hit him without being in risk of his siccing
the Shadow Tornado attack on you.
In all, expect to lose the first time through, at a minimal. D is a
godmoder, and he can easily take out 500MP+ at a time with only a couple of
attacks, and usually gives you very little time to pull out a healing bullet
without causing further damage to you. At some point in the battle, it comes
down to skill, and that is something I simply cannot help you in.
Another win, another battle after that...
----------
FINAL BOSS
----------
It is not exactly the final boss; however, storyline wise, this is the
climax of the plot, and I could not really think of a name otherwise for him.
Eh.
The arena itself is fairly long, and not restricted to a single frame,
so you can run around a bit.
Final Boss has two arms to either side of his head, the head being the
only vulnerable point on his entire body. The two arms can disform and reform,
bringing with it a shadow bat or a shadow creature on the ground. The bats can
additionally reform into a spike that throws itself at the ground, sacrificing
itself in the process. With the shadow creatures, if you sense an impending
attack is about to come from the FB, use a Dash + Y attack on the shadow
creature; you will be invulnerable so long as you are in the attack's animation.
The arms themselves are also capable of stabbing down at your position,
so make sure to watch from every side to guard yourself against them. They can
also do it both at once, and can move around flexibly. Thankfully, they do not
knock you over, so you at least have that annoyance out of the way.
Unfortunately, when each arm lets out a purple spiralling vortex, STAY IN THE
CENTER. This is because one of the shadow tornadoes from the previous fight will
appear on either end of the screen, and you do NOT want to be knocked into
either of those. Thankfully, they disappear after a short while.
A single arm can also let out a single vortex of energy, which lets out
a tornado that rolls across the screen. If you see this, DEFEND, and it will
just push you back until it dies out. If you guard against this tornado, then it
will not suck you up.
The head itself also has a single attack up its (figurative) sleeve.
When you see a purplish orb of energy emitting from its mouth, RUN AWAY from
wherever you are, as the Final Boss shall launch a blast of energy that slowly
expands outwards in a circular shape before imploding.
Fortunately, the battle is easy if you know what to do. Despite only the
head being vulnerable, it has no way of defending itself. This literally means
that you can just jump up and down during the whole entire battle, constantly
swatting at it. However, as some of the enemies will consistently try to hurt yo
during the battle, you will want to stick to bullets. For some Bullets that home
in on your target, such as Phoenix and Light Wing, double jump to the top of the
screen (where nothing can touch you) and activate your Bullet up there to be
floating in mid-air until you are finished summoning your Bullet. Others that
need to go straight, you can still do the same trick, but you need to line up
with the head and do it while there are no bat enemies around.
Finally, whenever you need to heal, do it when there ARE NOT any shadow
tornadoes to the side, and you should be good.
With another win in your pocket, you shall be put into another
underground area. Continue on and deal with all the Variants put into your path,
and you should soon reach the final boss of this level.
----------
DARK CLONE
----------
Your clone, being controlled by a computer AI, can probably pull of some
slicker moves than you can at times. Since you have controlled your character
for a whole story segment, however, you should be well aware of the strengths
and weaknesses of your opponent. Furthermore, you have two advantages over your
opponent; first, you likely have more MP than he does, and second, he has only
one bullet (involving the use of a fireball attack, where your clone shoots out
a straight bolt of fire that goes in the horizontal direction he is facing and
expands into a circle as it moves away). You have six.
Since you are playing with Hibito, I recommend that you be aggressive
throughout the entire fight. Every chance that you get to duke it out with your
opposite, hack and slash away, and he will back off. Use Beat Combos like they
are going out of style, and if your dark opponent wishes to fight long-range,
hit him with any of your own long-range Bullets that you have. In any case, he
should go down easily enough, especially if you have weathered the likes of
Zeke, President D, and the Final Boss, all in short order.
After the battle, watch some cutscenes, and then (manually) go back to
Synesthesia.
-=-=-=-=
FOOTHILL
=-=-=-=-
[HWFH2]
Watch the scenes, and then leave town.
-=-=-=-=-=-
SYNESTHESIA
=-=-=-=-=-=
[HWSN2]
Make your way to the G-Center, and then talk to the lady at the booth to
finally be allowed to take on the fourth and last Major Exam.
In Synesthesia's G-Hall, lava will momentarily burst out of select spots
on the ground that you should be able to identify by their appearance. Lava can
also fall down from the sky. Given your use of Hibito for this story, you will
take less damage overall than opponents will.
----
KYLE
----
And so begins the first of three battles to determine your Grapping
status. As protocol demands, I must repeat; as Kyle is a main character, this
means that he can perform a much larger variety of moves than all the other NPCs
in the games. He can jump up into the air and then stab his sword down. He can
up-sweep you. He is able to use Air Beat Combos. He can use this Dash + Y attack
to break open your defense and knock you into the air, and then follow up with
any other number of moves. In short, the advantage that you had over all your
opponents up to this point in having a wide variety of attacks is now negated,
as Kyle is someone who is you equal in that regard.
Kyle also uses a number of water-affiliated bullets. The first Bullet
lets him throw a wave of water that crosses the floor of the arena in a wave-
like motion, eventually dying out after three waves. This is VERY EASY to avoid,
and can be done by just jumping back a bit (as it has a short distance that it
can travel across before dying). Additionally, he can also use p Heal to heal
himself. If he does this latter attack, quickly go and push him away from it, or
at least try to take advantage of it yourself. His final bullet is Tuna-Tuna,
which summons a fish that flops around, and slaps you if you get close. However,
he uses this VERY rarely.
For the most part, if you need to attack Kyle up-front, you should
resort to quick in-and-out attacks, wherein you dash and attack him, then move
out of his range. This is because of Kyle's unusually long range - thanks to his
trident, he can easily hit you even if you are out of the range of most
attackers. His range applies to both land and air, as he can spin and swing
around his spear, warding off any slow attacks. You should try sticking to
staying far away and hitting him with long-range bullets, or laying traps for
him when he comes in close.
Given Kyle's somewhat irrational movement, you can also use the lava
traps to your advantage, striking him whenever he is stunned.
------
DAICHI
------
Once again, I must stress the importance of the fact that Daichi is a
titular character. This means that he has more techniques and attacks that he
can use than the average Grapper, and also means that you are in for a long
battle. Daichi in particular is probably the slowest of the main four. However,
the strengths that he gets in tradeoff for this include an intense amount of
offensive power, and a large hammer that can beat out Kyle's range with certain
attacks.
For the most part, keep your distance from Daichi. This is because of
several of his regular attacks. The first one to watch out for his his ability
to spin around in a circle, flailing his hammer around. When he is like this, it
is nigh upon impossible to sneak in a hit without getting injured yourself, so
it is simply better to take advantage of him with a Bullet here. He can also
back you up into a corner and spam Beat Combo and this spin, so if you get into
this situation, immediately either put up your guard or try dashing past him.
Another thing that you should watch out for is that Daichi can do a sort of leap
and then fall flat on his stomach, while hammering the ground in front of him.
He can cover a surpising amount of distance in the setup for the attack, so keep
your eyes open. The last thing is to not try to go in for a Dash + Y attack;
Daichi can perform his own Dash + Y technique with ease, and he will do it as
often as possible. Do not intensify the match by putting yourself at risk.
Daichi's first bullet allows him to summon a pillar of rock in front of
him, which then shoots out two boulders at different trajectories. Once the
rocks hit the ground, they shall break on impact. His second one causes a rock
spike to come out of the ground right in front of him. Fortunately, he does not
use anything else, so there will not be any surprises.
---
GUY
---
It is time for the final showdown, the match that decides your status.
Guy is potentially the most difficult of all the other three main
characters to take on. It is not even in the realm of that he has as many moves
programmed for him, but rather what his moves entail. While he does not have
quite as long a reach as Kyle, Guy is infamous for his blitzkrieg attacks; he
will move so fast that he literally will leave a blur, and he can also attack as
quickly, jabbing at you or knocking you upward before you have a chance to
blink. Furthermore, he has a one-two-kick combination which he can use to break
through your guard and send you sprawling, in addiction to his regular Dash + Y
attack.
However, even after that, he still has two more dangerous tricks up his
sleeve. The first is his Beat Combo. While you may think you can just defend
against it (and ideally, you can), oftentimes you may not even have the reflex
to do so, as Guy's Beat Combo literally consists of a few rapid-punches followed
up by an up-down attack. Lastly, Guy is unique among the characters in his
flexibility; whenever he jumps onto the figurative 'wall' of any battlefield
(the edge of the screen), he can actually bounce off that wall and in the
opposite direction, as opposed to having to go against momentum and turn around
and flail while falling down. Do NOT expect to get him up close with his back
cornered to a wall and be keeping it that way.
Because of all this, you are somewhat compensated; Guy only has one
bullet. Unfortunately, it is still a potentially deadly one, as it allows him to
send a beam across the arena that is as tall and still a bit higher than Guy
himself. If you see him charging up for a Bullet attack, JUMP out of the way, or
put your guard up. Either is better than taking the full brunt of his attack.
For the most part, take advantage of the arena's traps. Learn the
positions the fire falls down from or spurts up from, and push Guy back into
these areas. Once he gets hit by fire, he will temporarily drop his guard, so
you can throw a Bullet causing a lot of damage at him. You may also choose to
use this time to heal if his attacks are consistently getting to you while not
letting you touch him.
After, you will get a G-Con Type 3. You will also have the ability to
use the Phat Beat Combo in multiplayer or when repeating story scenarios. You
are not quite done yet, however; after some scenes, head to the center of town
and leave Foothill to fight what is truly the last fight of Hibito's story.
-=-=-=
FINALE
=-=-=-
[HWFNL]
Time for the final battle.
----
YUKI
----
This time around, winning is mandatory.
In any case, Yuki has a great amount of flexibility in his moves.
Probably the one that he loves to spam the most is an attack where he will jump
into the air, and use his rapier from bottom to top in a half-moon swing. He
also utilizes a technique where he dashes right at you, cutting a swathe of air
when he does it, and harms you as soon as he connects. Additionally, being one
of the noble nine characters that can be used in multiplayer, he has his own
Dash + Y attack (so do not think you can defend all battle), and several other
attacks up his arsenal.
Probably the most dangerous thing that he has up his sleeve is his Beat
Combo. Yuki borrows from a fencing style with his rapier when he brings out his
Beat Combo, and he also has a long range using it, able to tap you from a long
distance when he jabs his rapier out. His lone Bullet is the use of an m
Cyclone, where he will raise his hand out, and summon a tornado that stays
stable in one spot right in front of him.
In all, there really is not much that is unique to say about Yuki. He
has a high MP in comparison to yours, and if you get caught in an attack, you
can lose a lot of your own health in seconds, so be sure to heal up often. Even
so, at this point into the game, you should have been able to mesh your fighting
style well enough to respond to his actions with reflex and skill.
After, some more cutscenes, and the credit rolls. After, you will have
the ability to use Yuki in multiplayer battle, and also earn the title Fire
Major. If you go into Hibito's Story again, you can go to any location you have
gone before and repeat the storyline during that location (with a few
exceptions; if you visited a place twice during the storyline, such as
Synesthesia, you CANNOT redo the first one) with your current level, G-Con and
Bullets. However, you will have to start branch paths that you have not yet
completed from their first location. If you want to completely restart the whole
story, you will have to do it in the options button in the main menu.
-=-=-=-=-=-
LET'S GRAP!
=-=-=-=-=-=
[HQLG!]
•Location: Melthea
•Objective: Defeat your opponent
•Reward: p Water Bullet
Your opponent for this match will be a big burly brawler who will tend
towards using slow, heavy attacks that usually send you sprawling. He is also
capable of using of using basic Earth attacks - one will cause a rock to fall
down from the top of the screen and roll a small bit in the direction he is
facing, another will cause a small jagged rock to come out of the ground right
in front of him, and the last one will be him sending a number of small pebbles
across the screen.
Obviously, this means that you should stay away from him for the most
part. Stay away from him at the beginning and spam p Fire. When he starts coming
close to you, either use an Up + X to knock him off his feet, or activate your
beat combo and wait for him to start up an attack before striking; he will have
let his guard down in doing so. If he hesitates for even a moment, MOVE AWAY, as
he will likely use one of his Earth Bullets. You can also approach from above
with Down + X/Y, and even slip in behind his back and slash at him before he has
the chance to react.
-=-=-=-=-
QA Tester
=-=-=-=-=
[HQQAT]
•Location: Melthea
•Objective: Defeat your opponent
•Reward: Stun Gun Bullet
This is not a joke; if you do not keep your patience about you, you will
die in this battle. Your robotic opponent has 800MP, but more importantly, very
high defense and offense relative to you at this point of the game. It literally
can kill you in two hits.
In any case, the robot only has one attack; it will face a certain
direction, start shaking somewhat, and then rush forward about half a screen's
width across the screen, hitting anything in its way. You will be damaged ONLY
so long as you are in contact with it. Should you be standing right in front of
it when it starts its attack, you will take a lot of damage. However, if you are
at the end of its attack range, you shall sustain only a minimal loss in MP. If
you have to sacrifice yourself, make sure to understand how much MP damage it
can do relative to your distance from it.
However, its 'shaking' prior to an attack also gives you a good
indicator of when it is going to attack. React quickly and jump up and go behind
its back and let your mechanical foe be on its harmless way. When it has
finished its dash forward, there will also be a small amount of lag before he
can defend himself or do anything. Analyze its stopping distance (which is set
and the exact same each time), lure the robot into attacking, and then place
yourself slightly out of reach. Once it is done, turn on your beat combo and
wack away while it is defenceless.
As far as bullets go, you can ideally spam p Fire, but it is a slow
process, usually dealing only around 20 damage when the robot is not guarding,
and 5 damage when it does. The best way to go about this is to get it to attack,
run out of the way, then shoot a few bullets while it is dashing forward. You
can also pick up a few bullets from Melthea's Bullet Store to help out; p Blast
and p Burn can both deal some nice damage (better than p Fire) while Attack Up
increases your offensive might temporarily.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
FIGHTING STRATEGIES
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[HFGST]
As contributed by 'Zenofire'
Fire Grappler - Hibito's grab is unique, I like to take advantage of that using
Bullet 050 Light Wing. And to make sure i hit every time i would double jump to
the highest point then use the bullet. If the oppent is blocking i grab and kick
him straight up into the technique. If not, they get hit with it anyway so,
cool. ^^ usually doet around 500+ damage.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KYLE'S STORY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[WKYLS]
1. Walkthrough
a. Port Skam [KWPS1]
b. Selbuy City [KWSBC]
c. Seaside City [KWSSC]
d. Diver Coast [KWDVC]
ae. Gun Valley [KWGVL]
be. Oceana Spring [KWOCS]
af. Gearbourg [KWGRB]
bf. Aquapolis [KWAQP]
g. Mirage Desert [KWMRD]
h. Alexandria [KWALX]
i. Midway City [KWMWC]
j. Thugger's Den [KWTHD]
k. Newtown [KWNWT]
al. Blingsville [KWBL1]
-Tournament
bl. Blingsville [KWBL2]
-Rescue
m. Citadel Ruins [KWCDR]
an. Oak Land [KWOAK]
bn. Raiden [KWRID]
o. Synesthesia [KWSN1]
p. Maze Forest [KWMZF]
q. Mad Company [KWMDC]
r. Synesthesia [KWSN2]
s. SS Blue Whale [KWSSB]
2. Quests
a. Haywire Robot [KQHWR]
b. Phoenix Flock [KQPHF]
3. Fighting Strategies [KFGST]
-=-=-=-=-
PORT SKAM
=-=-=-=-=
[KWPS1]
Watch the scenes, and then you will get into a fight. For the first bit,
just attack with your X and Y buttons. For the second segment, add jumping using
B and guarding with R to your arsenal. You will not necessarily have to use all
of the commands, however, as each battle will end after a set amount of damage.
After, following a lengthy amount of cutscenes later, you will take on
another boss, this one being an actual fight. However, if you lose you wil just
repeat the fight.
--------
MEGABOLT
--------
Megabolt is a large crab-like boss robot that likes to move around a
lot. It has three main attacks; the first is that it will disappear off the
screen, only to come back on rushing forward a constant amount of distance
before it stops. If you are in the way of its rush, you will get damaged by the
contact. The longer it is in contact with you, the more damage you shall
receive, so stay out of the way when it does this, and counterattack during the
crab's refractory period. After the lag, it will start moving from side to side.
For the first bit of time when it is doing this, you will not take damage, so
pound away. However, quickly retreat, as it will end this attack off by suddenly
jerking to one side and bowling over everything in its path. Your long range
attacking here will help you, as you have a slight amount of distance you can
put between yourself and the crab.
The second attack for the crab is that it will jump up and down. If you
happen to be in its way when it starts coming down, it shall knock you out of
the way. However, you will not receive damage if you strike it while it is going
up. Its third and final attack is that it will start to face one way and then
rotate its arms in opposite directions, and start spitting fire out of its
mouth. This is when it is most vulnerable, as it will stay in that position and
carry on with its attack. Stay out of its way for the beginning, until you learn
to recognize what it does right before it starts to spit out fire. Once you have
learned its pattern, go behind its back next time before it has the chance to
breath fire, then relentlessly strike at its back with Beat Combos while it is
going away at the front. It simply CANNOT stop its attack halfway through,
leaving you plenty of time to take care of it. You should also stay in the
middle for the most part to exploit this attack, as you will have room to slip
behind to his back side with this.
So long as you become familiar with the pattern of the crab boss's three
attacks (and no, you cannot flip it over to deal massive damage), you can keep
smashing away at it while staying out of the way of its attacks.
A few more cutscenes later, you shall be put out on the world map. Head
over to the nearby Selbuy City.
-=-=-=-=-=-
SELBUY CITY
=-=-=-=-=-=
[KWSBC]
Watch the cutscene, and then head right two screens. In this area, enter
the building that has the mark similar to a spiral inside an S. Talk to the lady
at the right counter. If you have already done any other character's story, skip
these whole next two paragraphs, as it is the exact same thing as every other
tutorial.
You are technically supposed to use three light and three hard attacks,
then block three times, and use three Bullets, but I have seen on the occasion
that you can get away with less. For the fourth one, just tap the p Heal to
switch it with your p Fire, and then activate it. For the fifth one, press and
hold the L button, and hit the instructor with attacks in symphony with the
beat. For the sixth, you will have to be more exact with your beats. After some
more basics, you will need to fight the instructor.
Given the basics so far, you should not have too difficult a fight. Spam
your regular attacks for the most part, and use your beat combos when he leaves
himself open. If the two of you are separated by a fair distance, you can get
away with your p Fire. Also, if you get truly low on your MP, use p Heal, but
make sure that the instructor is out of the way; if he is next to you, he will
also be healed by the p Heal.
Once you are done with the tutorials, you can talk to the lady at the
left counter to purchase (optional) preset Beat Combos that can be customized,
or take on (optional) sidequests. Quest strategies are detailed in the quests
section if you need them. You can also visit the bullet shop at the other side
of town to pick up new bullets for your collection (recommended, as by this
point you only have two bullets, four if you do the quests (if you have done
anybody else's story at all so far, however, your bullets from that story will
cross over to here)). When you are finished with Selbuy City, exit out onto the
world map. Go to Seaside City next.
-=-=-=-=-=-=
SEASIDE CITY
=-=-=-=-=-=-
[KWSSC]
Watch the cutscene coming into Seaside City, then head right. For the
most part, stay away from the bear variant, and instead shoot offensive bullet
after bullet into him. Only move in close for the attack if you are confident
that you can pull of a Dash+Y knockout move. If, for whatever reason you let the
bear close enough to hit you, it can do things; either he will slash his claws
at you, or (much more likely) he will curl up into a ball and roll straight
forward at you, knocking you down. Thankfully, after the latter attack he will
be dazed, so if the opportunity arises, use your Beat Combo relentlessly.
Should you HAVE to go up close, make sure to keep a small amount of
distance between you and the bear; as Kyle has a good long reach with his spear,
you can achieve such an effect, and that may make all the difference in being
able to dodge an attack or not. Up + Y is also a very good attack to knock back
the bear with, with decent enough range to keep it from ever getting close to
you. Once you win the battle, you will obtain an m Water for your troubles.
After, there is not much remaining to do in town. About the only thing
you can do in town is go to the Bullet Shop (which has some of the same stock as
Melthea and some new), but after that is over, your only remaining destination
is out of town. Once you have committed, proceed to Diver Coast.
-=-=-=-=-=-
DIVER COAST
=-=-=-=-=-=
[KWDVC]
Head right from the entrance. One screen over, you shall enter another
fight.
--------
GIGABOLT
--------
Unlike your earlier fight with Megabolt, Gigabolt is actually fairly
easy to take on without taking too much damage, and can be done in within a
minute or less.
Gigabolt uses two attacks. The first attack is whereit will start
charging forward when triggered to do so (ie. when your character is in front of
it). It will stop after a specified distance, like most bosses with rush-forward
attacks in this game will do, and so long as you are in contact with it, harm
shall come to you. Hence, the further away that you stand from its initial
position, the less injured you will get if you do get in its way.
The second attack, however, is where it all falls apart for Gigabolt. If
you are far enough away from the robot, it will start rotating its arms about
180 degrees up and down, and then shoot them onto the ground (sometimes it will
go into the air, and then start falling down). The arms then go to the opposite
edge of the screen. They then come back, and if you are not aware of their
return trajectory, you can get knocked over by it.
The key section that you can exploit from the second attack is that the
arms always go to the opposite edge of the screen before returning. Lure
Gigabolt to one side of the screen, and make it shoot its robotic arms out. When
it does this, jump to Gigabolt's back side, turn on your Beat combo, and hack
away at it. When its arms finally come back, return to the front side and get
far away enough from it that Gigabolt will choose to shoot out its arms instead
of doing its short-range rush, and repeat. Eventually, you should be able to
cause enough damage to it to destroy the mechanical robot.
Once finished the battle, watch the cutscene, then head right a screen
and talk to the lady at the right counter, who will direct you to the exam
centers. Finish up in town at the bullet shop or do the lone quest offered in
Diver Coast, then head out onto the world map.
Now, Kyle's story begins to branch into two separate paths here. You can
head to the settlement of Aquapolis by way of Oceana Spring, or head to
Gearbourg through Gun Valley. If you wish to refer to the table of contents
offered at the beginning of the walkthrough for Kyle's Story, Oceana Spring and
Aquapolis will be referred to as ae and be, while Gun Valley and Gearbourg shll
be sectioned under be and bf. The branches will converge after awhile back into
one path.
-=-=-=-=-=
GUN VALLEY
=-=-=-=-=-
[KWGVL]
•Monsters: Fire Mouse, Fire Wolf, Wind Butterfly
For the most part, just travel right in Gun Valley until you hit the
next screen. You should, however, stick around to fight every enemy you come
across (of which there are only the two variety in this area) to get some quick
levelling up now, of which will be imperative very soon (you cannot revisit
areas until after you defeat the game, so you cannot expect to be able to farm
out some experience). At the end, you shall fight a Snake boss.
-----
SNAKE
-----
The Snake offers four different attacks. The first one is a physical
attack; when you get very close to it, it will turn around ever so slightly, and
its tail will appear out in front of it. After a few seconds, it will then smack
you with its tail, sending you reeling back. For the second attack, an orb of
energy will start gathering around the snake, and shortly after, it will start
breathing fire for a large amount of area in front of it. If it starts to do
this latter attack, you would be well advised to run away. The Snake's final
technique is to spit out three small fireballs, one heading straight left, the
other two up-left and down-left at 45 degree angles (or right if facing the
opposite way). Finally, the fourth attack is that it will leap into the air, and
then land down where you are standing about five seconds later. To coutnerattack
this last one, quickly dash to one side of the arena, then turn around and start
dashing the other way to give yourself the maximum amount of space to dodge the
landing.
For fighting the good fight, there are two different approaches you can
take to battling the Snake. The first is to be super-aggressive, and go forward
and start ripping into the Snake. As basically all of its attacks require some
downtime before it can perform them, you can pretty much cause some major damage
before it has a chance to respond. Furthermore, both of its fire-based attacks
can be interrupted by your mayhem, meaning that you can effectively just hack
and slash away at it until it finally uses its tail attack.
The alternative strategem is to stay back as far away as possible from
the snake, and shoot bullets after it. As the snake will pretty much stay stable
in one position for nearly the entire fight if it does not decide to leap up,
there is absolutely nothing to stop you from keeping a safe distance and firing
bullet after bullet at it. It is cheap, admittedly, but you are free to do
whatever works for you.
With the fight done, head on to Gearbourg.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
OCEANA SPRING
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[KWOCS]
•Monsters: Water Mouse, Fire Wolf, Water Tortoise
For the most part, just travel right in Oceana Spring until you hit the
next screen. You should, however, stick around to fight every enemy you come
across (of which there are only the two variety in this area) to get some quick
levelling up now, of which will be imperative very soon (you cannot revisit
areas until after you defeat the game, so you cannot expect to be able to farm
out some experience). At the end, you shall fight a Snake boss.
-----
SNAKE
-----
The Snake offers four different attacks. The first one is a physical
attack; when you get very close to it, it will turn around ever so slightly, and
its tail will appear out in front of it. After a few seconds, it will then smack
you with its tail, sending you reeling back. For the second attack, an orb of
energy will start gathering around the snake, and shortly after, it will start
breathing fire for a large amount of area in front of it. If it starts to do
this latter attack, you would be well advised to run away. The Snake's final
technique is to spit out three small fireballs, one heading straight left, the
other two up-left and down-left at 45 degree angles (or right if facing the
opposite way). Finally, the fourth attack is that it will leap into the air, and
then land down where you are standing about five seconds later. To coutnerattack
this last one, quickly dash to one side of the arena, then turn around and start
dashing the other way to give yourself the maximum amount of space to dodge the
landing.
For fighting the good fight, there are two different approaches you can
take to battling the Snake. The first is to be super-aggressive, and go forward
and start ripping into the Snake. As basically all of its attacks require some
downtime before it can perform them, you can pretty much cause some major damage
before it has a chance to respond. Furthermore, both of its fire-based attacks
can be interrupted by your mayhem, meaning that you can effectively just hack
and slash away at it until it finally uses its tail attack.
The alternative strategem is to stay back as far away as possible from
the snake, and shoot bullets after it. As the snake will pretty much stay stable
in one position for nearly the entire fight if it does not decide to leap up,
there is absolutely nothing to stop you from keeping a safe distance and firing
bullet after bullet at it. It is cheap, admittedly, but you are free to do
whatever works for you.
Once the battle is over, head off to Aquapolis.
-=-=-=-=-
GEARBOURG
=-=-=-=-=
[KWGRB]
After the cutscene, get some new stuff at the Bullet Shop if you require
it, then head right a few scenes until you get to the G-Center. Talk to Yuki
here and say yes to head inside. Talk to the lady at the right counter to start
your pair of fights.
Be prepared for these two fights; in the Gearbourg battle arena, you
have four pipes, two on each side of the screen. When the vacuum starts up, the
pipes will suck you in; the bottom-left pipe will suck you in and shoot you out
the top-left pipe, and vice versa. The same goes for the right side. While it
may interrupt what was becoming a good combo for you, you can also use it to
surprise opponents that are sticking to their guns, digging in their heels and
defending for the entirety of the battle.
------------------
DUG THE TECHNICIAN
------------------
The only real reason that you should have to fear your first official
battle is for his reach and heigh. Dug's two normal moves are to slash downwards
and do an upward sweep. He also loves to move around a lot, jump up and down,
along with defending whenever presented with an enemy taking the offensive
against him. Be careful though, as Dug also has a strong Beat Combo; if ever you
get trapped between a solid place and his Beat Combo, and you cannot see anyway
out of getting hit, DEFEND. He has a fairly strong physical attack, so it is
imperative that you take as little damage as possible.
Dug the Technician also has an annoying ability in which he can shoot a
ball of toxin out that will go straight for awhile. If you get hit by this, it
will poison you, and can cause quite a bit of damage. As such, avoid it by
either jumping over it or guarding against it to stop yourself from being
poisoned. He will also charge up a ball of energy before doing either attack; if
you can manage to hit him from behind during or before his bullet use, you can
expose his backside for further damage.
-----
ASUKA
-----
Asuka, although not being one of the special four main characters, is
one of another set of four characters who are programmed with several physical
attacks as opposed to just a generic two-set. This means that there are a number
of things you should watch out for; in particular, Asuka has a fairly decent
range with her weapon, and can knock you out cold with a good number of them.
She also can spin around, hitting anything that comes in her path; when she does
this, hit her with a Bullet from a distance. Lastly, watch out for her Down + B
attack.
Asuka also has four bullets in her repetoire for her use. The first
allows her to shoot a small orb of energy that follows you around for about a
third of the screen before fading out. The second will cause a pillar of Earth
to spring up right underneath her (not in front or behind her, underneath her).
It is supposed to be for you to either walk into or be hit into and be further
damaged, but it fades away too fast to be truly a danger. The third allows her
to sprout a bunch of roses. After a few seconds, thorns will grow about twice
the length of the actual rose to either side of the flowers, so be sure to get
away from the roses once Asuka summons them. Asuka's fourth and final bullet
lets her send out a boomerang-like projectile straight across the screen that
spins around, able to damage you multiple times, and then returns back to her,
causing more damage.
For the most part, you can beat her in up-front battle, as long as you
press your advantage; Asuka has some nice attacks going on, but she lacks
aggressiveness, and fails to protect herself with a guard most of the time. Lure
her in as you will and unleash a bullet, and you can easily cause her a great
amount of damage. You can also knock her up into the air (which is fairly easy
for the most part) and let loose another bullet for her to hit on impact to
greatly hurt her.
-=-=-=-=-
AQUAPOLIS
=-=-=-=-=
[KWAQP]
Watch the scene. Head left to the Aquapolis Bullet Shop to pick up any
new bullets that you may need, then proceed right of the entrance into the Major
G-Center. Do the optional Fish Rumble quest if you wish, then talk to the lady
at the right counter. Listen to her explanation, then take the first Major Exam.
After a cheesy cutscene, you will end up taking on the first competitor of the
exams.
-----
ZALGO
-----
Probably the best thing about Zalgo is that he only has 650MP, and you
can actually cause reasonable amounts of damage when you get an open strike on
him (40-50MP apiece), so that this fight does not take longer than it should.
In any case, Zalgo has four attacks, two of them physical. The two
physical ones involve him slashing his sword Glade from top to bottom in a half-
circle attack, and is often coupled with him dashing forward. His second
technique is to do a jump and combine it with an upward sweep, which will knock
you off your feet if you do not defend yourself. His first Bullet involves the
use of a p Wind, where he summons a tornado that goes in the horizontal
direction he is facing and up at the same time. He is also capable of using the
Stun Gun, which basically lets him shoot static electricity into the area right
in front of him.
The thing that is difficult about Zalgo is that he loves to dash around,
lots. And move around he will, onto the middle and top platforms, dropping down
the platforms, and between the opposite ends of the fighting arena. Most
usually, he will chase after you, and constantly harass you, giving you little
opportunity to stay on the defensive.
As such, you will be required to take the battle to him. As Zalgo often
will be quick to put his guard up, you can perform the Dash + Y attack to knock
him off balance. Mostly, however, take advantage of his love for motion. When he
is on the ground, jump up a platform, then do Down + B to drop down and change
your drop into a swinging cut at Zalgo. The reverse is also true; if Zalgo is
lured onto a platform, drop down a floor, then when he drops down, follow
through with a combo attack to cause great harm while he is unable to guard
(being in the air).
Lastly, since you are using Kyle, you should be able to exploit the
waterfalls of Aquapolis by breaking through them whenever Zalgo is blocked by
one and trying to cross through it (and failing) to deliver a quick surprise
blow, followed up by a couple of unanswered strikes. Always a fun time.
-----------
TURK MCDIRK
-----------
Turk McDirk, in terms of his two regular physical attacks and moving
around, is very much a carbon clone of Zalgo behind him. In fact, in this
aspect, the only two difference between the two is his size and reach. McDirk's
two normal moves are to slash downwards and do an upward sweep. He also loves to
move around a lot, jump up and down, along with defending whenever presented
with an enemy taking the offensive against him. Be careful though, as one thing
he has that Zalgo does not is a Beat Combo; if ever you get trapped between a
solid place and his Beat Combo, and you cannot see anyway out of getting hit,
DEFEND. He has a fairly strong physical attack, so it is imperative that you
take as little damage as possible.
Turk McDirk also has two VERY RARELY used water-elemental attacks. The
first involves him summoning a bunch of ice droplets coming from the heavens
above and falling to the Earth, which can damage anyone or anything that they
hit. The second involves him raising his hand above his head, and then bringing
forth a giant icycle, which he then throws forward. For either of these attacks,
definitely just run out of the way quickly (and if you are not playing as Kyle,
make sure not to get trapped on one side of the arena and unable to move out
quick because of a water fountain being on). He will also charge up a ball of
energy before doing either attack; if you can manage to hit him from behind
during or before his bullet use, you can expose his backside for further damage.
After winning both battles, you will be redirected to the Mirage Desert,
so head out of town and go to said Desert.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MIRAGE DESERT
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[KWMRD]
•Box Bullets: Whoops!, Fire Vest
•Monsters: Earth Mouse, Electric Butterfly, Wind Tortoise, Earth Bear,
Flower, Wind Wolf, Fire Mouse
This is a pretty basic walk-through stage, with nothing special going on
until the end. You will probably want to bring a Water or Wind Bullet to
dispatch most of the enemies. I especially prefer p Water, as it allows you to
shoot a straight stream of water that damages multiple times and goes through
anything it hits, allowing you to slaughter several foes at once. Having
anything that can hit two or more people at once will also be useful for later.
At the end, watch a cutscene, and you shall fight a pair of Thuggers.
--------
THUGGERS
--------
There may be two Thuggers. But that is all that they have going for
them. First of all, they are really slow on their feet, and when they do get in
range of your character, often times they will take forever before deciding to
finally attack. On top of that, they lack any sort of Bullet attack, and can
only do a jab and an upward slash, both of which lack any real sort of power
except for the jab being able to knock you off your feet. Worse yet for them,
they BARELY even defend themselves.
Additionally, both Thuggers lack a great amount of MP, so it does not
take long before you can finish them off. However, because of the openness of
the arena, and their tendency to just stay on the ground and run towards you,
you can use multi-hit Bullets to attack them, just as I recommended to you
early. After a bit, they will get smart and defend, but if you wait a few
seconds and let them run towards you again, you can shoot another Bullet and
catch them off-guard.
After the battle, cross over into Alexandria.
-=-=-=-=-=
ALEXANDRIA
=-=-=-=-=-
[KWALX]
Head right once done with the initial cutscene to the next screen, and
watch another cutscene. Once inside the laboratory, head right to the last room,
and enter the door at the end of the hallway. Montague will give you the Cleanse
Bullet after a long cutscene. When the converstation ends and you are put
outside, leave Alexandria and go to Midway City.
-=-=-=-=-=-
MIDWAY CITY
=-=-=-=-=-=
[KWMWC]
As soon as you come in, you shall have a rematch with the Thuggers from
earlier.
--------
THUGGERS
--------
There really is not much to say about the Thuggers. They retain
basically the same attacks as before with their jab and up-sweep slash, and so
you should use the same strategies. About the only modification to their
behaviour is that they will attack somewhat more aggressively, but not so much
that you can handle them with ease using Bullets and regular strikes. And of
course, they still have their pitiful MP, so dispatching them should again not
be too much of a difficulty.
Unfortunately, you will not get the chance to stay long in Midway City,
as you shall be forced automatically back out onto the world map. Head to the
Thugger's Den next.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
THUGGER'S DEN
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[KWTHD]
•Monsters: Poison Mouse, Poison Tortoise, Thugger A, Thugger B, Thugger
C
You will start the area off by fighting the scythe-wielding Thugger
alone. Once you have finished him off, take out a Poison Mouse, then continue on
and dispose of the rapier-wielding Thugger. You will also run into some carbon
clones of the scythe Thugger, as well as a new Thugger - a fist-fighting one.
Once you get to the end, watch a cutscene, then a boss battle.
----
ZEKE
----
It should be noted beforehand that defeating Zeke is OPTIONAL. You are
in fact expected to lose, and so this strategy is only for the masochist few who
wish to try toppling this monster.
Zeke loves to move all over the place. If you move away from him to the
opposite end of the battlefield, often he will close that gap within seconds and
start fighting you again. In addition to his normal jab and up-slash attack, he
is also highly capable of jumping into the air and causing havoc if you try to
come with an airborne assault. He also tends to be very aggressive, and can
easily break through your guard, so watch out. Zeke also will put up his defense
in an instant if you even think about striking him, and then counterattack when
you leave yourself open, so do not even think for a moment to hack away at him
until you see a good opportunity. Finally, be well aware of Zeke's Beat Combo -
it is VERY hard to break through, and at one point he actually spins around,
wielding his two swords like a lethal tornado. When he does this, get FAR away
from him, and counterattack with a long-range bullet, or else just get out of
his way and guard from the other side.
Zeke also has three Bullet attacks up his sleeve. Whenever he begins to
use any of the three, he will temporarily charge up before letting loose. The
first one is the reason why you should ALWAYS put up your guard as soon as Zeke
starts charging; he will let forth a beam of light that projects itself straight
across the screen. It will stay up for quite the long time, it will cause you
damage multiple times, and it will hurt. If you can guard, however, the total
amount of MP lost is usually reduced to less than 100. His second bullet
involves him throwing a ball of ice which lands on the ground. This ice will
then expand into an icycle, which then makes two icycles to either side of it.
This one is a fairly short-range attack, and you can either take the chance and
hit Zeke while he is in the middle of this attack, or run to the back end and
heal yourself. The final Bullet (which is VERY RARELY used) that Zeke has up his
sleeve is called Vanish, and you will not be getting it personally for quite a
while. In any case, Vanish allows Zeke to turn invisible temporarily, letting
him set up for a sneak attack (as soon as he makes his movement for attacking,
he will reappear). However, his shadow will still appear on the arena floor, so
if he performs this move, quickly get away from the shadow, and wait it out
until he runs out of time and reverts to normal, or shoot a long-range attack
and try to hit him (which will make him visible again).
In order to defeat Zeke, you will have to abandon any amateur attack
styles that you use (usually of the "go all-out and hope to kill the enemy
quick" variety). Instead, you shall have to innovate using your bullets and
regular attacks. For one, Zeke usually will only be fooled by Bullets and take
damage from them once before getting smart and defending himself; after, you
will have to catch him with his guard down when he is dashing or walking towards
you to have a chance at harming him with a Bullet again. You can try jumping
into the air and then smashing down on him again. Do not use this too often, as
while you may succeed some times, other times he will have your head on a
platter. Also, whenever you have a good amount of MP, use your Dash + Y attack
to knock him off his feet after inflicting a decent amount of damage, and then
follow it up with something to cause him damage once he hits the ground, such as
m Geyser. Lastly, since in this case you are using Kyle, use your Long-Range
attacks such as Up + Y/X to your advantage; Zeke does not have as long a range
as you, and may not be expecting it if you hit him with the tip of your trident.
Since you have a 100% chance of needing to heal during the battle, there
are a few things that you can do if Zeke constantly backs you into a wall and
then attacks you while you are summoning your Bullet. The first is to double
jump into the air and then use your Bullet, while hoping Zeke is unable to hit
you (he has the range to do so, but that does not mean he always will). Another
way to do this is to actually use your p Heal, then quickly use an attack that
will push him back if he is too close to you such that he cannot get the effects
of the p Heal as well.
Overall, however, you must realize this; if you are attempting this on
your first playthrough, do not be surprised if you get your behind handed to
you. Yes, Zeke CAN be defeated. However, given what is probably limited Glading
experience prior to this fight, your own natural skill may not be able to handle
what is likely a 3:1 HP ratio to a character who can cause heavy damage. You can
redo this fight after you beat the game, with better bullets and higher HP, so
do not fret too much if you are a perfectionist.
After the battle is over, you will be put out on the world map. Head to
Newtown.
-=-=-=-
NEWTOWN
=-=-=-=
[KWNWT]
Make your stop at the Bullet Shop as needed, and then head to the G-
Center. Do the optional quest if you wish, then talk to the lady at the right
counter in order to take the second exam.
Unlike the first Exam (and every exam after this) there will be no traps
operating in the G-Center in Newtown, so you do not need to alter standard
strategy to account for field effects. Also, you shall fight three people
instead of two this time around.
----------------
HIGH-VOLUME TICK
----------------
There is not too much to say about High-Volume Tick. For most of the
battle, he will try to make use of his imposing presence and stick to his common
physical attacking, with a quick jab using his arm and a down-cut. He very
rarely activates his Beat Combo, however. Lastly, if you jump into the air, he
has a tendency to follow you.
Near the end, he may tend to be a bit more aggressive, and will actually
use his lone Bullet, which allows him to use m Wall, which causes a stalagmite
to come out of the Earth in the area in front of and behind him. If he does this
and you happen to be standing right in either of these areas, and you have the
reaction time to respond to it, guard. Otherwise, take the hit and then continue
against him. To damage him, you can usually stick to a strategy of luring him
and then hitting him at point-blank range with either long or short-range
Bullets to catch him off-guard, or utilizing Beat Combos. Overall, he just
happens to be a pushover.
------
HADCHI
--